Kisses and Riding Lessons

A Stable Queen story

Rating: K+. Genre: Romance. Disclaimer: Once Upon a Time, Regina, Daniel, and Rocinante belong to Disney/ABC, Adam Horowitz and Eddy Kitsis. Summary: Regina and Daniel's first kiss, and confession of love.

Feedback is always welcome. Enjoy!

Regina skipped across the lawn. The sun was starting to break through the clouds. Today's riding lesson wasn't on her schedule, but she jumped at the opportunity to ride. It was the only time she could be free, and she felt like she could truly be herself.

Then there was the stable boy – Daniel. He was her riding instructor and her only friend. He was as handsome as he was kind, and she could talk to him about anything and everything. He believed in chivalry, too, which was a practice that was fading in the kingdom, or so she'd heard.

Seventeen-year-old Regina was also sure that she was falling in love with him. He made her so happy – about everything – herself and the world around her. Even the simplest things, like flowers, clouds, the sun, the stars, reminded her of him. She was also sure he was in love with her too. He hadn't said so, and they hadn't even kissed. But she had caught him gazing at her sometimes, not saying a word , and she was almost positive she saw all the love and adoration in the world in his eyes.

She'd dreamed of kissing him once. He took her in his arms, held her around the waist with one arm, and with his other hand stroked her cheek and ran his fingers through her hair. And then he'd pressed his lips against hers, and their kiss slowly increased from innocent and chaste to passionate and hungry. If this kiss had been real , Regina knew her lips would've been swollen and even redder. When she woke in the morning, she could swear her lips still tingled from her dream.

What Regina didn't know was that her instincts about Daniel's love for her were completely right. He thought of her every moment, and when he came to work every morning, he always took a second to stare up at her window. She was from a much higher class, descended from royalty, so the thought of being with her could be no more than a dream. This broke his heart almost daily when he thought of her. She was sweet, graceful, and absolutely beautiful. To him, she was perfect and everything he'd ever wanted to find – in a true love. She could never be his, no matter how much she haunted his dreams. Oh yes, he dreamed of her too, and always felt guilty when he woke up. He always kissed her in his dreams. But beautiful, angelic, perfect Regina would never be his.

Regina was out of breath when she got to the stables. She smiled wide; he was there. "Hello, Daniel."

"Hello," he smiled brightly back to her. "But, my lady, you have no lesson today."

"My mother said I should spend more time with Rocinante," she said. "So I would like a lesson, if it's not a problem."

He smiled. Any time spent with her was a blessing. "Of course not, my lady. I'll saddle up your noble steed."

She nodded and stood off to the side while Daniel strapped the saddle onto her horse. Calling Rocinante her noble steed made her giggle. Not that Rocinante wasn't noble, it just sounded more heroic and dramatic than simple riding lessons. Cora didn't approve when Regina rode faster than a trot, but she loved to gallop across their field. It felt like she was flying, and she loved the way the wind blew through her long dark curls. She wished she could ride Rocinante - with Daniel on his own noble steed – into the sunset, through the Enchanted Forest, and never turn back. She would marry him first, of course, and then they would travel the kingdoms and go on all kinds of adventures before settling down in a cottage by a stream to have a family…

"Alright, my lady, he's ready for you," Daniel smiled, pulling her out of her daydream.

She petted Rocinante's neck. "Hey, wanna fly again today?" she said. "I'm ready." She turned to Daniel. He put his hands on her hips and lifted her into the air. "Wait…" she whispered, before he set her up on her horse. She was suddenly overcome with feelings and desires. Regina reached up and stroked his cheek. "Put me down, please? I need…a moment."

His eyes locked with hers and he set her gently back on the ground. "Are you alright, my lady?"

"I'm fine, I just…" She couldn't say what she wanted. So instead she reached up and cupped his face in her hands and pressed her lips to his. To her surprise, and his for that matter, he returned her kiss.

He hugged her close to him, and kissed her with all the love he could possibly pour into a simple kiss. The real kiss was better than the ones in his dreams. He could really feel her lips moving against his, her body pressed against him, the curve of her back under his hands, her perfect ringlet curls cascading down her back, and with her this close, he could smell her apple perfume. Even if he never kissed her again, although he hoped with all his heart that he would, he would remember this first kiss for the rest of his life.

They broke the kiss finally, breathless. "I love you," he told her as soon as he found words again. "I always have."

"You…love me?" Regina exclaimed happily, still reeling from the kiss. She took his hands. "And I love you."

"You don't know how long I've dreamed of kissing you, my lady."

Regina blushed. "I've dreamed of you too." She smiled and stood on her toes to kiss him again. "And please call me Regina, since I am yours now."

He smiled. "My Regina." He ran his fingers through her curls. "My sweet, beautiful Regina."

She kissed him once more. "My Daniel."

He lifted her onto the horse and he led her out across the field for her riding lesson. Now Regina had yet another reason to love riding and her lessons; she could see Daniel. The more time they spent together, the more they fell in love. Regina was sure that one day, her dreams of marrying her stable boy and riding off on adventures with him would come true. She knew Daniel was her escape, and her happily ever after.

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