Title: Every breath, every hour has come to this.
Fandom/Pairing: Once Upon A Time, Snow/Charming
Rating: R
Word Count: 2,300
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Short Summary: Everyone deserves a wedding night, especially Snow and Charming.

It is half a days journey back to their new camp site and the entire time Snow thinks of her life. Of her new life with Charming. Her Charming. Her husband. It is ... Gods, it is mind blowing to think that this beautiful man is her husband. That he married her. That he wants to be with her for all of eternity and whatever lies beyond that.

Her true love. And to think there was a time when she believed that true love was not for her, that she would be content with a life of solitude, far away from everyone.

She can never think that way again. To think of a life without Charming? No, never ever. She loves him. Snow loves him and would do anything for him. She would die for him without a second thought. That is how deep her love for him goes and she knows it is the same for him.

She knows that he loves her just the same and that is something Snow never thought she would have. She is able to trust him completely. She is able to give him her whole heart and although it is chipped and cracked, he still wants it, still keeps it safe in his warm, loving hands.

Oh, she loves him. She loves him.

"Snow!" Red calls out excitedly from the fire. All seven dwarfs are there, as well as Granny and they all look happy to see the two of them. "We were so worried!" Red exclaims, engulfing Snow into a very tight embrace. "But you're back and we're all so happy for you."

Snow laughs, though she glances at Charming over Red's shoulder, giving him an inquisitive look.

"I told her," Charming admits. "I could not help it, Snow. I wanted to share our news."

"And what good news it was," Granny chuckles. "Congratulations!"

Grumpy rolls his eyes.

Doc elbows him in the side.

"Yeah, congrats," Grumpy mutters. "Better keep her happy or else."

Charming grins. "I intend to do just that for the rest of my life."

Snow swoons. She swoons and she never thought she would do such a thing. Here she is, swooning over her husband. Her husband!

"Come with me, Snow," Red says. "I have something to show you."

Charming has joined their friends by the fire, but he still looks over, nodding at Snow as she smiles at him.

And is then promptly dragged away to wherever it is by her best friend.

"Red, slow down!" Snow laughs.

"In you go," Red sings, pushing Snow into the tent.

Snow takes one look at her surroundings and gasps. "Oh ... oh my," she breathes.

The tent which had been used as a room to plan their next attack of Regina has been transformed into ... something magnificent. There are candles everywhere, lit and illuminating their surroundings. And there, in the center of the tent, is a makeshift bed of furs, layers and layers of them, with quilts and pillows and -

"Are those roses?" Snow asks, her cheeks suddenly coloring. "Red," she murmurs.

"Snow," Red echoes, holding her friend by her shoulders. "This is one thing you deserve. One normal thing. One normal moment in your life. I wanted you to have this, something everyone deserves. A wedding night with your husband. A proper one at that."

Snow's eyes fill with happy tears.

Red shakes her head. "Don't cry," she teases. "There's no crying on your wedding night!"

"Did you tell anyone else?" Snow asks. She hopes her friend did no such thing. It is one thing for Red to do this, but for the dwarfs to know? Snow would be mortified. She loves her seven friends dearly but they do not need to know such intimate details about her life. She doubts they would want to know in the first place!

Red begins to shake her head again and stops. "I told Granny," she confesses. "She's the one who helped me with all of this."

Snow is blushing madly by this time. "Oh!" she squeaks. A moment is what she needs to compose herself. "I ... I suppose it is all right for Granny to know but no one else. No one else, Red!"

"No one else," Red agrees, miming the act of locking her lips and throwing away the key.

The two friends erupt into a fit of giggles together.

"Are you nervous?" Red asks once they have both calmed. "I know I was when Peter and I -"

"You ... with Peter?!" Snow asks, shocked. She is completely shocked. "I had no idea."

Red smiles sadly. "It was only once ... before he ..."

Snow clutches Red's hands tightly and nods in her understanding.

"I am happy to have had our one night together," Red tells Snow. "I shall never forget it."

"If I was to only have one night with Charming, I would," Snow finds herself admitting. "I love him, Red."

"I know," Red smiles, squeezing Snow's hands. "I know."

"I am not nervous," Snow says then, finally answering the question. "I find myself quite calm. I want this. I want to be with my husband. I want to experience this act of love with him. I want to love him in this way."

"Then let me help you ready yourself," Red says. "I've flowers for your hair since I have a feeling he shall like that."

By the end of it, Snow does indeed have flowers in her curls, which cascade down her back. She is clad in the cloak she wore after Charming kissed her awake and proposed and nothing more and she likes that. She misses him. She wants to see him, to hold him and to kiss him and to love him.

Her husband.

Red has been gone for minutes when she hears him speaking to someone. Hearing his voice has such a profoundly deep effect on her and Snow smiles to herself as she presses her hand to her heart, which has begun to pound madly.

"Snow?" he asks as he walks into the tent.

And when he sees her, he stops. He stands there, unmoving, and stares, his eyes wide in his surprise. Clearly he was not expecting this and Snow stands as well, her hand still pressed to her heart.

"Charming," she answers softly. "Won't you come to me?"

Her arms are out, to reach for him and her ever faithful Charming is there, holding her, pressing his face to the welcoming crook of her neck. She sighs happily, pressing her eager hands to his shoulder blades, to clutch him to her.

"I love you," she tells him unwaveringly. "I love you."

She wants to tell him forever, to never stop, so that he knows just how much. She wants him to know that she is grateful for everything he has ever done. She wants him to believe that every sacrifice he has made is cherished, that his mother's death was not in vain. She wants him to know that she intends to make him happy, to give him all he deserves. A life, a wife, and children. They shall have such beautiful children, starting with a little girl.

Ruth's necklace remains around her neck, the pendant pressed to the center of her chest as her heart beats wildly within its cage, wanting to be set free, to flutter away like hummingbird's wings.

"My darling," he says, murmuring the term of endearment into her skin. There it will remain, forever hers to keep. She is his darling. Her pulse beats against his lips and she feels him smile.

Snow shudders, holding him tighter to her.

"Are you happy?" she whispers. "My husband, are you happy?"

He lifts his head and his gaze is piercing as his eyes lock with hers. "Yes, Snow," he answers. "I am happy. You make me happy."

Snow smiles adoringly and holds his face, gently strokes his cheeks. He is precious to her. He is all she loves and she will never let any harm come to him. "Come with me," she asks of him. "Be with me."

His hands hold hers as she leads him to the bed, his eyes glued to hers. She feels as though she may float away. No one has ever looked at her in this way. There is such yearning, such desire and such love in her husband's stormy eyes.

All for her.

Does he see it mirrored in her eyes? Does he see how she adores him? How she needs him?

A sudden desire to undress him comes over her and Snow's hands are at his jacket, to run her nails over the leather and feel his chest as it rises and falls from his shallow breaths. Once she has pushed it over his shoulders, it falls to the floor and she dances her fingers up and down his suspenders.

"Snow," he laughs.

She smiles. "I love my husband," she tells him, pushing his suspenders down.

"I love my wife," he replies. "I love her very much."

This act of undressing him drives her mad, yet she finds herself falling so much more deeply. Here is this man, who trusts her completely. He trusts her with his heart, his beautiful heart. She will keep it safe. She will.

His skin is like silk beneath her eager hands, her palms smoothing up and down his bare chest. His muscles clench as she touches him and Snow finds herself swelling with pride and pleasure. She is able to do this, to make him feel such good, heated things.

"Touch me, please," she begs. "Charming, please?"

His hands are upon her before the second please and her cloak is gone from her body a mere moment later.

Snow shivers, but does not wrap her arms around herself as she would normally.

Because he is staring at her, taking her in and she warms up rather quickly. It is a different kind of warmth, one she would read about when she was young and in the large library back home in her castle. She would reach of epic romances and a hero who would save a damsel in distress and they would make love and it ... is absolutely nothing like the real thing.

This is a million times better.

"You are beautiful," he tells her. His fingers are tracing her skin, driving her mad, but she wants this sort of madness. She wants this forever.

She gasps as he brushes his fingertips across her breasts, to roll them over her nipples.

"Oh," she breathes, her eyes fluttering.

His hands still, but she shakes her head. "No," she rasps to him. "No, don't stop."

Because she does not plan to stop. No, Snow's own fingers are at his trousers, undoing the button and ties, pushing them past his hips because they are equals. They are both bare now and she walks right into his embrace, to press her body flush to his.

He moans. It is the most wonderful sound and as her eager lips press themselves to his throat, she feels his Adam's Apple move as he swallows and Snow smiles.

They are on the bed soon, Snow cradling Charming between her legs as they kiss and kiss and and kiss like never before. She had no idea just how much she wanted this until now and now that she has it she refuses to be without him, without him.

"Snow," he whispers, his forehead resting against hers. She can feel his fingertips ghosting between them, to touch her.

Her breath catches.

"Charming, please," she begs. "Please. No more waiting. No more. I love you, oh, I love you."

"I do not want to hurt you," he says, his voice breaking.

She loves him all the more, but she shakes her head as she holds his face. "It is nothing," she tells him. "Whatever the pain, it is nothing. It is one small moment, that is all. Think of all we have, all we shall have. I love you, but please, please no more waiting. I do not wish to wait for anything ever again. I finally have you. You are mine, and I am yours, and I want you now and forever."

There is something in his expression that changes. This ferocity she has never seen before.

It thrills her.

And then there is no more waiting because he is inside of her.

It does hurt. It does, but she is brave and does not cry out, though her eyes to tear up. He must notice because he kisses the tears that fall and she sobs, but with joyful laughter and not sorrow.

"You are mine," he whispers huskily.

"Forever," she agrees. Her hips rock beneath his and she feels him tense up. Wanting to relax him, Snow drags her fingers down his back, then up, then repeats this motion until he is melting beneath her touch.

Then he moves. He moves and Snow loses all coherency. Her sanity is gone now. All she knows is her Charming, how he feels, so right, so perfect inside of her, his strokes firm, full of passion and she meets him thrust for thrust. It is like they have resumed a dance they have danced hundreds of thousands of times and they are home.

They are home. He is her home. It makes sense.

She is home.

Finally, finally.

She will never be alone again. If she runs, he will run with her.

And when they reach completion, when they find it together, Snow relishes the frantic beating of his heart against her chest as he kisses her so desperately. She has never felt more wanted and more loved than she does now as Charming kisses her.

She cannot live without him. She knows that now more than ever.