"And there's a lot you don't know about me - about Red, specifically." Her voice is gentle, even if she's persistent. What, like being told no, you're wrong! is going to help anyone? No way. Sometimes the soft approach is better. Several decades with Granny and her bulldozer effect had gotten that well and truly in her skull, alongside the importance of explanations rather than plain, arbitrary seeming instructions.

Now, if there's one thing Red has come to learn over the past several decades, it's that the Charmings cry easily. She's pretty sure Snow and she had cried on each other multiple times within days of knowing each other. David, he was a crier too, it was amazing. Emma was different. She was a Charming through and through, but she'd had to hold herself together so different, had dealt with an entirely different world and set of risks and dangers. The number of times Ruby has seen Emma cry was way below the standard Charming threshold.

And she's not stupid. She can smell the salt of tears before Emma even tries to wrestle with them, and she inches forward. So much for holding her hand, that's just not going to cut it. Not when her friend is hurting and struggling like this, and not when Emma thinks that she's some kind of monster. Red leans forward, one arm catching around Emma's waist and the other around her shoulders as Red leans into the embrace.

"Yeah, you are. And I'm gonna help. I've got your back," Ruby murmurs, squeezing Emma a little as she rests her chin on the blonde's shoulder. "I promise."