"It has been almost five years to the day that Virginia Lewis and Lord Anthony brought a very odd band of people together and in the process saved the Nine Kingdoms and found her destiny with the help of one prince turned dog and a wolf in a land thought to be only a fairy tale in her land. Many things have happened in this five years. Peace has spread beyond the borders of the Fourth Kingdom into all of the others. It seems the days of happy ever after were not truly gone but slumbering, waiting to spring to life again come the right moment."

Wendell stood at his desk practicing a speech he was to give in only a few days to the council of the Nine Kingdoms. As he did this he did not register the sound that was coming up behind him and did not realize what or actually who it was before it was too late and he was lying face down on the floor. Wendell looked up to see a pair of shoes coming into the room to save him from who had knocked him over.

"Could you please get this little goblin off of me?" Wendell was trying to sound upset but he was laughing too hard to be angry very long, not to mention the person that had knocked him over was Rose, Wolf and Virginia's daughter, and Wendell just could not be angry at the little munchkin for long.

"Hi Unkie, what cha doin?"

"Oh! Rose, right now being used as a trampoline while your father sits there and laughs."

"Oh, okay."

The little girl continued to jump on Wendell's back for a few more seconds before stopping, scratching her temple, and finally asking Wendell a question.

"Do you want me to get off of ya, huh, Unkie?"

"Yes, Rose, I do, please."

"Okay. Oh, hey, um, do ya want to see what Daddy showed me?"

"Sure, short stuff, show me."

The little girl did a little bobble that was supposed to be a curtsy so Wendell just played along and kissed her hand, telling her that was what he was suppose to do when a pretty girl curtsied to him.

Wolf finally able to stop laughing, apologized for the interruption, and was about to grab the little girl that was beginning to tell Wendell about her invisible friend.

"Okay, Rosie, I think Uncle Wendell needs to get back to his work. Why don't we go see if the cook has anything cooked up for two wolves?"

"Okay, Daddy. Unkie Wendell do you want to have a snack with me and Daddy? Come on, please?"

"Well, how can I pass up a chance to eat with such a beautiful young lady like you?"

"Are ya sure you can spare any time, Wendy? The meeting is only one week away."

"Listen, Wolf, I can do this speech anytime. In fact it is almost done. You, Rose and Virginia are only here for a short time and I want to spend every minute that I can with my favorite niece."

"Well then, huff puff, let's hurry!"

They all raced down the stairs straight for the kitchen (the cook always had little snack foods for Rose waiting).

Virginia came into the dining room were they all ate casual meals to find her husband, daughter, and stepbrother eating chocolate chip and gingerbread cookies with milk.

"Yeah, eat without me why don't ya?"

"Okay!" all three of them chimed at the same time and began to laugh.

"Oh yeah, Virginia, I was going to ask you something. I noticed that you and Wolf never get time to be with each other alone since this munchkin was born. So I was wondering - actually it is a gift from me to you."

"Oh, for heavens sake, what is it Wendell?" Virginia was waiting, wondering what her brother had up his sleeves.

"Okay, I have ordered you and Wolf a carriage to take you both to my hunting lodge for two weeks and I will take this rug rat with me to the council meeting - Oh, and I already have supplies waiting for you both at the lodge so there is no saying no."

"Cripes, are you sure it is no trouble Wendy? I mean taking a little kid to a council meeting - isn't that against the rules or something?"

"Wolf, I want to take her for two reasons - okay, three. First, you two need some time alone, second, I want to get used to having little kids around, and third, Queen Cinderella wants to meet the offspring of the heroes. She loves children also."

"Well, ask Rosie if she wants to go with you."

"So, Rose, what do you think? Would you like to go with me to the council meeting? It will be fun."

"Unkie, I would like to but can I have a pretty new dress to wear?"

"Well, you can definitely tell she is her grandmother's granddaughter. She loves clothes," Virginia mused as she swiped a cookie from Wolf's plate.

"Rose, I already have a dress being made for you. We leave in the morning, okay?"

"All right."

Early the next morning they all piled into their carriages - Wolf and Virginia into the one to take them to the hunting lodge, Wendell and Rose into the carriage to take them to the palace of Cinderella, where the council always met. On the way Rose jumped on the seats, ate all of the food stored in the carriage, and had to be punished with tickling once or twice by Wendell for spilling something. Rose finally fell asleep three miles from Cindy's castle and had to be lifted out of the carriage by Wendell.

"Wendell how good it is to see you, and who is this sleeping beauty?"

It was Cinderella that was greeting everyone at the door. She had very few servants; she enjoyed doing some of the things on her own - they kept her feeling young.

"Good morning, Cindy. This is Rose, Wolf and Virginia's daughter. I am taking care of her for them so they can have a couple weeks by themselves."

"Oh, okay, well then, you are in luck. Red brought her two little brats with her. Maybe little Rose here can straighten them out."

Wendell chuckled at the thought of Rose biting one of the Hood offspring - Dameon or Lucifer (not really their names but that was what Virginia called them at her wedding when they tore down all of the streamers and knocked over some of the flowers).

"So Red brought the twins with her?" asked Wendell, still holding the sleeping form of Rose.

"Yes, sadly. They have already torn up the play room. Maybe I should forbid her from bringing them two with her, or I could just make them stay outside until we are finished with the meeting in two days. What do you think?"

"Well maybe you should, but I am going to have to warn them not to pick on Rosie here. She is like her dad and will bite them - maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow - but someday. Then I will never hear the end of it."

Cinderella chuckled as she showed Wendell to the nursery where he had spent a few days in his childhood when his grandmother would bring him with her. Wendell could already hear the yells of the two devil children down the hallway. It even woke Rose up and she started to cry.

Cinderella reached for the little girl. It had been so long since she calmed a crying child she really missed it. After Wendell handed the little girl over to Cindy, Rose stopped crying and just before she fell back to sleep said, "You smell good Queeny Lady, just like Daddy said you did." Both Wendell and Cinderella broke up about that one and continued down the hall, talking about various topics to be disscused at the meeting. As they walked, the screams from the toy room were getting increasingly loud.

"IT'S MINE!" "NO IT'S MINE!" "I SAW IT FIRST!" "NO, I DID!" "LET ME HAVE IT!" "NO!" "I'M GOING TO TELL MOM!" "NOT IF I TELL HER FIRST!"

Wendell and Cinderella were outside of the toy room door now.

"Well, I see they still have not lost that Riding Hood charm."

"You can say that again."

Both monarchs began laughing but stopped because Rose was still asleep.

"Unkie, do I have to go into that toy room?"

"Oh, Rosie, your awake! When did you wake up? Don't answer that, Baby."

"Unkie, why can't I go with you to the meeting? I will be quiet and good. Please let me come."

Cinderella was the one that answered the little girl this time. "Rose, I have no doubt that you would be as good as an angel, but the meeting is long and boring. A little girl like you should be playing not sitting around listening to a bunch of old people jabber."

"Hey, I'm not old - I am only twenty-six - but Cindy is right, Rosie Posie. I will see you after the meeting."

"And Rosie, if you have any problems with those Hood boys, just tell a passing servant and they will come and fetch your uncle at any time, okay?"

"Okay, Cindy Lady. See you at supper."

Wendell looked at the little girl. He had forgotten about the one rule in her house. "Um, Cindy, in Rosie's house it is a rule that you be at the supper table. No if ands or buts. Would you join us? It is actually a lot of fun, especially with Rose. It is the time of day when everyone is home and they can all catch up on each other's lives."

"Oh well, I should have guessed the most important part of the day in a wolf house would be supper, but it truly does sound fun. How about we all meet in the small dining room at five, you know where that is, Wendy, right?"

"Yes, Cindy, we shall be there. All right, enough stalling from the both of us. Shall we?"

As they opened the door to the toy room, Rose's jaw dropped. She could not believe how many toys that Cindy had in this one room. The room itself was the size of three normal rooms and every inch of it was covered with some sort of toy.

"Um, Cindy Lady, do you have any kids?"

Cinderella laughed at the seriousness of the simple question. "No Angel, my children all died long ago."

"Then why do you have all of these toys? There are more here then me and Daddy have put together."

"Oh I will tell you why later during supper. Right now I believe I need to go see to the other guests. Even though I would rather stay here and play with you all day, I have work to do."

"Okay. Cindy Lady, see you at supper at five."

"Bye, Rose." Wendell could hear the yelling of the two obnoxious Hood boys from behind a tarp in the wall.

When the twins spotted Wendell they dropped whatever toy they had been fighting over. They knew better then to fight in front of King Wendell - he was best friends with their father and would surly tell him if they were bad. Their father had told them one more stunt like what happened at Lady Virginia's wedding and they would be on the next carriage to military school.

"Good morning, Your Majesty." The twins always said it in a pair which annoyed Wendell to no end but he took it in stride.

"Morning, Gabriel, Mikeal. How are you two doing this morning?"

"Fine, Your Majesty." Wendell gritted his teeth. If these two were not his old friend's offspring, he would clobber them and get it over with.

"May I introduce you both to my young niece Rose. Rose, these are the Hood boys. They well introduce themselves."

"Good to meet you Rose. What a pretty dress you are wearing." It was Mikeal. He was spoiled but not as bratty as Gabe, though he had his moments.

"Now boys, be nice to Rose and remember I was turned into a dog and still can hear many things. I know Rose's howl so be good. And Rose, if you need me you know what to do. See you in a little while."

Wendell turned and left the room hoping that the boys would listen to his warning about Rose but deep down he knew he would be coming back to this room in a short while, probably to pry Rose's teeth out of one of those little brats.

Rose wandered off to see what treasures she could find to play with. She didn't need much to amuse herself with in fact she would have a lot of fun playing with those Hood boys.

"How dare King Wendell put a filthy animal in here with us." Gabriel was starting to talk about Rose moments after Wendell was out of the room.

"I know. You would think that she was a normal little kid, but we know the truth, don't we Gabe? I wonder if she has a tail? Do you want to find her and find out? The only wolf tail I have ever seen is the one in the throne room."

"Ah I have a better idea. Let's play hunter and find her, shall we?"

Now if the boys had ever listened to their lessons instead of arguing all the time they would have known the intensity of a wolf's hearing. All of a sudden out of no where came Rose's voice, "Don't you boys know it is not nice to talk about your plans out loud especially in the presence of a wolf?"

We aren't going to hurt you. We want to play with you."

"Ha! Like I believe that. Find me if you can but I have to warn you wolves are the best players at hide and seek."

"You are a simple filthy animal. How can you know how to play a sophisticated children's game?"

"Ah but was it not a filthy animal that saved your mother's life from the poison of the Evil Queen"

"No, Mother had it all under control - she was just faking. She was going to catch the Queen but that filthy wolf drugged her and took her glory." The boys were trying to get Rose to talk enough so they could find her.

"That wolf was my father and he is an honorable wolf just like his parents before him and their parents before them," Rose was actually one of the best at this game; she had even fooled her father.

"Is it true that you are descended from that madwoman the Evil Queen? I heard that she hated your mother so much that she was going to kill her, if not for your mother murdering her before the Queen had a chance. Oh, and your father is only going to kill you and eat you when you're big enough. That is what wolves do." Both of the boys were laughing and continued on with their statements, "And King Wendell is only humoring you because he wants to put all of your family into the Snow White prison and forget about you, and your mother is probably going to leave your father just as your grandmother left your fool of a grandfather."

"If it was not for my father, your mother would be lying in some royal crypt and you two would be dead also. Do you really think the Evil Queen would have left you alive?"

"The Queen would not have been able to get to us. Unlike Wendell, we are intelligent and can take care of ourselves. We would not trust a filthy, lying, no good wolf to do anything for us."

That was the last straw. All the Hood boys saw was a flash of brown and grey as Rose pounced from behind a pile of toys, knocking both boys down and pinning them to the floor. She bit them both just to get their attention. "Now I think you both need a lesson in how to speak about a noble citizen of the Kingdoms. First, wolves bath quite regularly. second, wolves are no more animals then humans. Got that, Monkey Boys? Oh and yes I am descended from the Evil Queen and yes, my mother did kill her because of self-defense. My grandfather is not a fool. He may be an old oaf sometimes, but not a fool." Rose flashed her eyes yellow just to cause some shivering in the two boys beneath her. "Oh, and wolves mate for life and do not eat their young. Got that?" Rose could smell the two boys sweating and could hear their hearts beating a mile a minute. Rose tilted her head back and howled long and loud. Wendell came running, but not alone. The rest of the council came with him. Some even were handing each other gold coins. Apparently bets had been made on if Rose would bit them.

"How dare you let an animal be in the same room as my little angels? To think if the mongrel had not howled I would no longer have my babies." Red was kneeling next to the two beastly boys stroking their heads and checking the bite marks on their necks as though it was Rose that started the entire thing. "That little beast bit my boys. She should be thrown into a dungeon and kept there until she learns her place."

Wendell was getting a little tired of the Hood family. The only one with any sense to him was Jack Hood, the twins' father. "Red, would you please shut the bloody up and let Rose explain herself!"

"Ha, like a filthy wolf would tell the truth."

"Red, do shut up or I will ban you and your children from the First Kingdom for as long as I wish." It was Cinderella. She walked a little slower then the rest but knew that the Hoods were not the most intelligent family in the world, excluding of course the first Red and of course, Jack. Both had good heads on their shoulders. "Now let Rose here tell us what happened."

Wendell looked down on Rose who was staring up at Cindy like a granddaughter amazed by what her grandmother just said. "Now Rose would you please tell us all why you bit the Hood boys?"

"Yes, um, they said that Daddy was going to kill me, that he didn't really love me, um, Mommy was going to leave me like Grandma left and that Wendell you were going to put us all into the prison so you wouldn't have to look at us any more."

Wendell just held the now crying little girl hugging her wishing he could hug all of the evil words away but his thoughts were interrupted by a voice that usually was not heard.

"Red, that is it. I will not have anyone taking over the kingdom after I die that can not even play nicely with a little girl that is half their age. Boys you will be going to the Military camp in the Third Kingdom first thing next week. I have already notified Bluebell and he is expecting you."

"But Dad, we don't want to go to that camp. Can't we go to one in the Second Kingdom?"

"And have every one know who you are and treat you like royalty? No way. You are going to the Third Kingdom and that is final. And I don't want to hear it from you, either, Red. I have spoken and it has been long overdue."

As the Hood family headed off to have a family discussion, the other rulers headed off to their own business.

"Unkie, I'm hungry can we go eat now?" Rose said with sparkling blue eyes like her mother and a scratch of her brow like Wolf.

Cinderella giggled. "Yes Rose, I believe we should all go and get something to eat. Shall we, Wendell?"

After they finished eating, Rose looked up at Cinderella. "Cindy Lady you never told me why you have so many toys."

"Well Rose, you have heard the story of my life, about my stepmother and sisters and how I was a servant in my own home. Well when I married Eric, my prince, he asked me what I wanted for a wedding gift and the one thing that I could think of was some toys because I never had any in my childhood. The day after the wedding Eric blindfolded me and led me to that room where he had put a few toys just for me. As the years went on every year he would give me a new toy like your Mommy and Daddy probably give you for your birthday. After Eric died I kept buying a toy each year and you see the end result with my toy room."

"Wow, that was a really cute story, Cindy Lady."

"Well, Rose, I have a gift just for you." Cinderella rung the bell that was by her hand and a servant brought over a small box and handed it to Cinderella, who in turn handed it to Rose. "Now Rose, this is a very special gift and you must promise me you will take care of it because it is very old just like me." Rose lifted the top of the box and inside sat a very worn out doll. "Rose, this doll was given to me by my dad when he brought home my stepfamily. I kept it all of these years but I see something in you that reminds me of myself; all of those years of servitude to my stepfamily - it is a fire that burns inside you. Never let any one put it out."

Rose looked at the doll and carefully lifted it out of the box, cradling it between her two small hands. "I think it is the prettiest doll I have ever seen I will keep it always and when I have a daughter I will give it to her, thank you, Cindy Lady."

"Oh, Rose, I do have one request. Would you call me Granny Ella? I don't have any grandchildren of my own."

Rose ran to Cindy and embraced her, giving her the biggest hug she could muster in her little body.

Early the next week Wendell and Rose arrived back at the palace of White to find Wolf pacing the step in front.

"Rosie, I missed you! Did you have a good time? Did Wendell take good care of you? Tell me all about it!"

Wendell rolled his eyes. "Wolf, you are simply exhausting. How about Rose tell you all about the trip after we all have some lunch?"

"Oh, I know, how about we all go on a picnic? Virginia would like to hear all about Rosie's little adventure."

"Oh, Daddy, I was invited back to the meeting next year as long as I promise not to bite anyone again."

Wolf scratched his head wondering if his little girl was joking.

"Wolf, old chap, Rose is not joking. She in fact bit both of the Hood offspring if you can believe that."

"Oh, I can believe it. I wish I could have bitten them at the wedding."

"Hello, Wendell, was it a productive meeting?"

"Yes, very nice of you to ask, Virginia, and I trust you and Wolf got plenty of rest and some exercise on your trip."

Virginia blushed and Wolf just grinned "I found her eleven times in hide and seek."

"Oh, Daddy, Granny Ella gave me this dolly. Can I tell you the story behind it?"

"Well, that was nice of her. Did you thank her and give her plenty of those special wolf cub hugs?"

"Yep!"

Virginia just looked confused. Since when did her little girl begin to call Queen Cinderella Granny Ella?