A/N: This is my entry for Day 3 - Regina and David are married during the Curse. I had no motivation whatsoever and that's why this is so late. Anyway, hope you'll like it. Reviews are always appreciated.
Regina slammed the front door shut and marched up the stairs, her heels clicking loudly against the floor. Everything had been going so well, and now it was falling apart, unraveling at her fingertips thanks to Emma Swan's presence even though it had barely even been a day since she was in town. Regina had no intention of watching her perfect life burn down around her like a sheet of paper set on fire. She had no intention of losing her family.
"Is everything all right?" David peeked out from the kitchen where he was working on dinner. He often insisted on cooking instead of her so that she could relax. He reasoned that his job at the pet shelter felt more like a hobby rather than an obligation, especially compared to her job as the mayor. A real Prince Charming indeed.
She usually found it sweet, at times even ironic, but today it made her sick. It was a part of their old lives which she hated for it reminded her that the ones they had in this land were fake. Fake and unstable while Emma Swan's presence was a very real threat to her ever-so-fragile happiness. Emma was the Savior. Which meant she was David's daughter. And that made him Henry's grandfather. And that, in turn, made such a mess of things that all she wanted was to forget. Forget that she was the Evil Queen and he was Prince Charming, forget that he only loved her because her Curse had made it so, forget everything but him.
She pulled him into a kiss, crashing her lips against his hastily, hungrily, desperate to feel something else other than the desperation that had taken over her. Her hands clutched at his flannel as if to keep him from slipping away, and she pressed her body against his, seeking the comfort of his presence. She'd never admit it but the warmth of David's body was so much more pleasant than that of the fireballs she'd used to summon with her magic.
David kissed back, even though her sudden fervency had obviously caught him off guard, and only pulled away when she broke the kiss. Even so, he pulled her closer and wrapped his arms around her waist, the affection only making her fear of losing it worse. His eyes found hers and he waited for her to speak, his expression gentle and inviting.
She kissed him again instead, her tongue too preoccupied with his own for her to even form a proper thought. The only thing she managed was a groan of protest when he broke the kiss.
"What's going on?" David asked, a little breathless from her onslaught, and wasn't that a pretty sound? Prince Charming was so affected by the Evil Queen's kiss that he had to catch his breath. What would dear old Snow White think?
"I want you," Regina said firmly, trying to ground herself in the present. Because she didn't want Snow White's husband. She wanted her own husband, and there was such a vast difference between the two.
"What about Henry?" David asked and she knew it was a logical question of a caring father, but in her frightened mind it sounded like rejection and that only made her anger flare even more fiercely.
"I imagine he won't be home any time soon," she hissed, the thought of her son running to Emma Swan instead of her causing all the venom in her to resurface, but it just made David's expression soften. Twenty-eight years was enough time for him to learn how to read her. Though she knew he'd been able to do that from the very start, from the first moment he'd looked at her. The real her.
David stroked her cheek with the back of his fingers. "Is that what this is about?"
She knew he didn't mean it like that, but to her it sounded like a mockery. Because of course, to him Emma Swan didn't seem like a threat–she was his daughter–and, of course, he liked her–she wasn't trying to take his child away for Henry was his grandson.
"This is about us," she said and it sounded raw and sincere rather than sweet and seductive as it had always been supposed to be. The Curse had been supposed to be her revenge, and so had been her marriage to David. But for her things never went according to plan, and so there she was, drowning in her feelings for a man who... who loved her. She'd fallen in love with the David who saw and cherished the real her and she did not intend to lose him.
She tugged on his flannel, pulling him down and crashing her lips on his once again. Her arms wrapped around his neck as she attacked his mouth, causing David to tighten his hold on her.
"What about dinner?" David asked between pants when they finally parted, turning his head to glance back at the kitchen, but Regina's hand on his cheek stopped him and redirected his attention back to her.
"I don't care about dinner," she said and leaned in again.
David met her halfway, kissing her fiercely and causing a little yelp to fall from her mouth when his hands found the back of her thighs and he picked her up, making her wrap her legs around his waist. He headed for the stairs and up to their bedroom, all the while peppering kisses and the occasional bite on the skin that was left exposed by her dress and she moaned.
She loved it when he was no longer sweet and careful with her and got all possessive and primal. Because Snow had given him every piece of herself, but Regina was making him work for it and take it from her. And he did. He took away all the worries and all the memories of her troubles to the point where she could hardly remember her name in the heat of his embrace. And later when she had to throw away the burnt dinner and put up with the burn of Henry's words, the warmth of David's touch soothed her, reminding her that she had him to lean on now rather than having to rely on the destructive power of the fire conjured by her magic.