A/N: This was originally intended as part of my Romantic Snow Queen fic series This Thing We Do, but as the story developed it turned out to be a BroTP stand alone fic. For those of you reading TTWD you can assume this fic does fit in that universe. For those of you who are not no previous knowledge of that fic is required.

It had been nearly a fortnight since they had retaken the castle and people were finally starting to settle into a routine. Granny turned out to be quite a good seneschal managing the castle and keeping everyone fed so that the royal family could deal with the larger matters of the kingdom. Regina doubted she'd ever seen the place better run and she told herself she might even tell the old bitch that sometime.

She was surprised that Snow hadn't made more changes. She'd tentatively asked Regina about perhaps changing the stone color in some of the public spaces back to the white of her youth, and Regina was willing to grant that the black was probably a bit much, and she might get around to that some day. But the darkness suited her soul when she'd changed it and it suited it now. She was walking through the halls towards one of the studies when little Roland nearly knocked her over and she found herself smiling as she moved down to his level. "Where are you running?"

"Away. Papa and the prince are chasing me playing hide and seek."

Regina smiled. It seemed the right mental age for David to join in. "Well, your papa and the prince don't know this place as well as I do. If you see that statue there, you can hide behind it and they'll come running past without noticing."

He smiled up at her and she winked at him. "Thank you, M'jesty."

Regina winked. "Call me Regina."

"Papa said you were the queen."

"I am, but you can call me Regina anyway."

"Why are people afraid of you, Regina?" He asked innocently, smiling up at her and reminding her of Henry once, when he was not much older, asking about good and bad.

"I used to do bad things, but I had a little prince not much older than you teach me to be better."

"But you don't seem bad." Roland said confused.

"Bad people rarely look bad, Sir Roland, that's very important to know. Now, off you go to hide before the hunters find you."

"I'm a Sir?" He asked excited.

"Of course you are. You are one of my most important knights." She smiled and pat his back and he went to hide behind the statue of one of Snow's ancestors. A few minutes later, boy did she miss wrist watches, or clocks of any sort that didn't involve burning candles, the two men came around the corner and asked if she'd seen the boy. She smiled at them and said no, but her eyes darted to his hiding space and the two men smiled.

She shook her head and walked past them as imperious as ever. Regina found Snow in one of the castle's large sitting rooms, a fire blazing and the princess standing on a box while two seamstress' pinned a new dress.

"I have never understood your obsession with White, Snow." Regina said from the doorway with the shake of her head. "It's not like you are virginal."

She smirked a little and Snow gave her narrowed eyes, "Well, I have given birth."

"Exactly. But I suppose it's still good propaganda."

"I like White. And besides, you are hardly one to talk about one color. Black..."

"Black is my color. And it doesn't show dirt or blood."

"You haven't gotten blood on your clothes in your life."

"You weren't around me for a lot of years."

"Oh but you were a much cleaner psychopath than that Regina." Snow teased and Regina grumbled. "Still, new clothes?"

"A few, what I got from Philip and Aurora were nice but a bit limiting. You should have some made as well."

"This was my castle, I've hundreds of dresses."

"They might not convey exactly the message you desire these days."

"Stay away from me or I'll snap your neck and set you on fire. That's generally the message I want to send. Besides, it's a pointless expensive given that I am not in need of clothing."

"And you can't wear sensible pant suits? I know for sure I'm missing the age of not dealing with corsets."

"Clothing is about image projection for a ruler Snow. Comfort is less important." She paused. "And if I could get the Enchanted Forest fashion to change over to dresses and suits for women I'd love it. But I've got a bit more on my plate. Like a wayward Princess to teach how to rule."

"Your confidence in me is reassuring, Regina."

Snow smiled at her as Regina moved towards the fire and more into her view. "David seems to be settling in." The queen ventured with a careful tone. Servants had ears after all.

"He's a little stir crazy. He wants to take a tour of the kingdom and take stock."

"He should."

"With me."

Regina frowned, but said nothing. "I told him that for the moment I thought it best that I stay here and try and coordinate our information gathering on the witch. Are you sure she is your sister?"

"Quite. There is no other way she could have gotten into my mother's crypt."

Regina was just a little satisfied to see the princess shift a little and even more when she got stuck with a pin by one of the seamstresses. "Mostly I want to get my feet under me more. The castle changed so much since I was a child. I got lost in the west tower yesterday."

"Perhaps keeping better track of where you are going might help." Regina asked with a smirk.

"Perhaps I just need to do a bit more exploring." Snow countered.

Regina smirked. "Careful Snow. This castle holds a lot of secrets."

"And not all of them yours, I'm sure." Snow smiled.

Regina looked up into her eyes. "Don't kid yourself, Snow. Everything in this castle is mine."

There were fewer people in the castle now, David, Robin Hood and the Merry Men took a large group of peasants who wanted to settle back out on the land before planting seasons started to reestablish some of the major farming villages not far from the castle. But there were still more people inside the walls of the Dark Castle than Snow remembered even from the busy time of her childhood when her mother and father used to hold parties and balls often.

Just the sound of people seemed to brighten up the place, though as much as she might complain, she did have to admit Regina's esthetic had some positive points. Perhaps with some flowers and a few paintings or tapestries in the halls? Animals, birds, that sort of thing.

She found herself wandering down a hallway she didn't recognize. There had been parts of the castle when she was a child that her father had always told her to stay out of. The dungeons, a few of the towers. There were bad people in the kingdom and she shouldn't have to see them. There were only a few prisoners in the dungeons now. A petty thief and a rapist while they decided what to do with him. Regina had offered to light him on fire and Snow was tempted. At the very least she'd ignore Regina's paying him a visits to frighten him into a cowering lump in the corner of his cell.

It was good for him. And for her. Not that Snow would ever actually approve or encourage such things. Though she was terribly jealous that she couldn't tie him up by his manhood herself.

She turned the corner and found herself looking at a dusty old door with more than the usual amount of cobwebs. From her dress she pulled the rattling set of skeleton keys she'd gotten from Regina and found the one that fit and opened the door into a dank room with a bed and a side mirror-broken-and a few small pieces of furniture. There was a tiny window that gave a view out over the valley, and in the corner she saw a small journal and Snow inhaled quickly.

She set the lantern down on the side table and leaned down to pick it up. She'd seen dozens of these leather bound volumes over the years, with a dancing horse on the front. Snow closed her eyes for a minute, offering a silent prayer that it wasn't what she thought. Yet when she opened the pages she saw Regina's neat and swooping handwriting.

... it has been two weeks since the King locked me away in the tower.

"You really don't want to read too much of that." A voice came from behind Snow. Regina stood in the doorway.

"What is this place?"

"It's not important." Regina said, walking over and taking the journal from her.

"Regina, what is this place." Snow repeated again. "You were here. Why were you here?"

"Don't be a naive little girl, Snow. It doesn't suit you."

"You've been calling me that for ages. Rainbow kisses and all."

"I call you that because I expect better of your. You're smarter than that."

Snow bit her lip. "My father locked you in here? I know he sometimes locked your rooms a night to keep you away from ..."

"Rumplestiltskin? Do you really think a door lock could stop the Dark One?"

"Did my father know about that?"

"No... I think the servants tried to warn him I had magic but he wasn't ever that interested in me enough as a person to see me as a threat." Regina moved to the window. "I wished upon a start for the last time from this window. The fairy came later but it turned out she wasn't supposed to..."

Snow tilted her head. "When were you locked in this room Regina. I don't remember it."

"I spent my honeymoon here, Snow."

"But you went away with my father."

"No, he went away. I spent a month in here until I learned my lesson."

Snow inhaled, "Which was?"

"Do the math, Snow."

Snow turned red and looked down.

"I'm sorry Regina... I didn't know."

"Of course you didn't. You lived in a bubble where everything was perfect."

"I should have known."

"Of course you should have. I may have been irrational but I didn't hate you entirely for telling my mother about Daniel."

"I knew you hated me... I just never understood why."

"I suppose it would have been hard imagining the ugly things of the world if everything you knew was so beautiful and perfect."

"You were beautiful and perfect to me, Regina."

Regina shook her head. "I was damaged long before I came riding down that hill to save you Snow. You aren't responsible for that."

It was the first time Regina had ever said any part of their complicated history wasn't her fault. Snow came close to her and reached down to hold her hand. "Someone should have protected you."

"You were a child."

"Someone should have protected you. It shouldn't have had to have been me." Snow looked up at Regina's eyes and thought in the low light of the dank room she saw a single tear.

But Regina shook her own head. "There was a monster in this castle Snow, one out to hurt you, and someone should have protected you from her. And it should have been me. I should have protected you from me. I just... I needed that anger to keep going."

"Regina... the best thing you ever did for me was send the Huntsman after me. I was an entitled brat of a princess and I would have been a shallow entitled brat as an adult too. I wouldn't recommend your methods for character building, and might I suggest a little less homicidal intent next time, but as strange as it might sound trying to kill me saved me."

"So I was an utter failure at murder too?" Regina asked with a small laugh.

"Oh, no, you succeeded in that a bit too much. But you didn't ruin my life."

"Not for lack of trying."

"You aren't even going to let me win this one time are you?"

"No." Regina offered a little smile.