She Knows
AN: I do not own Once Upon a Time, and make no profit from this work of fiction
AN2: This is sort of a companion piece to "He Knows"… but not a sequel. this is what would have happened if David did leave Kathryn in "The Shepherd".
He moves in.
It was horribly forward of her and she did have Emma to think of, but he had nowhere else to go once his marriage was over and it was silly for him to get his own apartment on ten hours notice. The past few hours were spent furiously cleaning and organizing everything. Dinner was in the oven, Emma was home from work and still she kept finding new dust bunnies. Being this- cleanly- had felt foreign even while she was doing it but everything had been properly scrubbed before he would arrive in ten minutes.
"Dinner smells great Mary!" Emma called from behind her door.
"Why thank you, Emma."
It was a little absurd to have a conversation through the door (so she knocked) and Emma stood there in her underwear, towel in hand. "I'm going to shower and then we'll talk, okay? Remember be cool!"
David chose that precise moment to open the door, bag of clothing on his back and a box with various items sticking out of it in his hands.
"Um. Hi. Again." The blonde doesn't even blush. One would assume being naked in front of someone who was practically a stranger would be odd to say the least, but Emma had been oddly understanding of the whole amazingly awkward situation.
David avoids his gaze and hands her a NY Jets t-shirt out of his box. Emma pulls the shirt on over her head and continues her path to the bathroom.
"Mary Margaret." David smiles in greeting, his dimples just so cute-
"David. Welcome to my home." She did the whole tour (thankfully she was well versed after giving Emma the same tour) living room, bedrooms, laundry corner, "Now dishes are your own responsibility, I'm not a dishwasher and we can all tidy up after ourselves like good little dwarves."
David doesn't notice the slipup. She feels red in the face, her pulse racing- she had been reading too much of Henry's fairytales and David will surely notice how strange she's acting, she's definitely noticed and she's rambling in her own head while he stares on smiling. He's going to bolt out the door and it was a stupid idea because it's crazy, she's crazy-
Instead he leans over to kiss her cheek and she finally feels like something is going right in her miserable life.
She makes dinner for three and they sit and eat like it's an everyday occurrence. She's halfway through her own chicken pot pie when she realizes her couch is not a proper accommodation for a man of his size and she can't even remember the last time she'd shared a bed with a man for sex, let alone sleeping. Her children and her birds kept her busy and this is why she didn't date, where would he sleep? She hated the couch-
Emma kicks her underneath the table and motions towards David. 'Be Cool' she mouths.
David clears the table, washes all of the dishes and picks up his duffel bag.
"I-II-I have some drawers for you." She stutters, opening the door to her bedroom and opening the door to her closet. Her dresses were all color-coordinated and she got the succinct feeling that she was not normally this organized. In fact she couldn't remember the last time she even wore pants.
He shoves his clothes into the drawers and takes her hand before going into the living room. "Tell me about your day and I'll tell you how I outran my physical therapist in the woods."
She goes over names, details- Henry is outshining every other student in the class so she has to find ways to keep him busy, and her beloved Bluebirds finally made a nest in the birdhouse she made them and there will probably be more, and there's a pesky squirrel who sits outside her birdfeeders at home.
They talk about his run in the woods and how he loves running and he kisses her again, not breathless but it gives her the oddest feeling of warmth and whenever she's with him she doesn't worry about things like laundry or her kids dioramas that are due on Tuesday. She's in love and wants to tell everyone because he's handsome and charming and perfect for her. He's carrying her back to her (their) bedroom and she feels so empowered-
They wake up at 5AM on the dot and she drags him outside jogging. The woods had never looked more beautiful, green and the smell of moss usually started her allergies symptoms and she doesn't remember buying running shorts but she's running laps around him and even throws a cartwheel in for good measure. Something tells her that his poor pride is wounded so he speeds up and hefts her over his shoulder before jogging around the street light and heading back for the apartment. Her lungs hurt from being exerted but her body feels great and she's giggling like an idiot and she doesn't care who hears it.
"Put me down James!"
"Never!"
She maneuvers so she's not going to dislocate his shoulder, and holds on to his back as he runs them to Granny's Diner and slides into her favorite table (the one she propped up with an old twig) and orders her favorite breakfast without asking and proceeds to talk about silly things like how many kids they'll have and going hiking in the woods next weekend.
They walk hand and hand back to her apartment and she can't think of a time she'd showered with a man and he escorts her to school, her lunch bag in his hand, swinging back and forth as they walked.
"You're wearing Jeans today Ms. Blanchard?" Henry remarks strangely, as if she'd never worn jeans before. (Jeans were easier to chase after her students with afterall) . Of course she would have to chase after the children, she was one of the most active people she knew. No way staying cooped up inside all day was something she enjoyed. The boy gives James a 'thumbs up' before dashing into the school building.
"Love You, Princess." James murmurs kissing her cheek ."Have a good day with the children."
She skips into the school building, just as the bell was ringing (how unlike her) and she doesn't realize it until the children leave for recess that she went jogging in the morning. Called David 'James' all day. Glancing at her birdhouse, a baby bluebird was flapping along happily, and there was a curious rabbit staring at her as well as a baby deer. In the middle of town nowhere near the forest.
"Henry, could we talk for a second before you go outside?"