A/N: I wish I had a knack for clever story titles but sadly I don't, so I'm stealing Shakespeare's famous line because I'm willing to bet that our Prince Charming smells very sweet indeed by any name. What I do have, however, is an impatience to see the scene where Charming tells Snow that his real name is David and he's a shepherd. I'm sure they'll get around to filming it one of these days, but I just can't wait, so here's my version of how it happened.

Not beta read, because, as I said: impatient! Hopefully I've done a reasonable job of proofreading though.

Disclaimer: Once Upon a Time is not mine. This story is just for kicks, not for coins.

A Rose By Any Other Name

Once Upon a Time, in the Enchanted Forest, there lived a princess, who, after many years of running and hiding from her evil stepmother, had found her heart's home with her one true love...

Snow paced impatiently as the darkness finally began to fade and a tinge of pink appeared on the horizon to the east. She hadn't slept a wink all night, too full of plans of happiness and love.

She was getting married! She was engaged to her Prince Charming, her True Love; the bravest, truest soul she'd ever met. And he loved her, he'd saved her over and over, her life, her heart and her soul, and then he'd asked her to marry him.

She was wearing his mother's ring.

Nobody in all the realms could possibly be, or ever have been as happy or as deeply in love as she was.

It had been so hard to say goodnight and watch him head for the tent he was going to sleep in with the dwarves while she went to the smaller tent they'd set up for her.

She and Charming were engaged! Their hearts were joined in a joyous vow of love. Surely that meant they should be together every moment from now on. But no, apparently propriety dictated that they shouldn't spend the night together until they were formally married. Stupid propriety!

She'd watched him by the waning light of the embers of their fire, memorising his stride, until he paused and turned to wave and smile and then disappear through the tent flap. Then she'd gone to her tent, laid down in her bed and tried to relax and sleep, but all she could think about was the fact that he was so close by, just a few yards across the clearing, but not in her arms.

She'd rolled from one side to the other, then on to her back and then her front, trying to get comfortable. She'd got another blanket, then thrown it off. She'd tried to fall asleep and dream of him, she really had, but she just couldn't relax because she kept thinking about their future. Their wedding, their home, their children.

She couldn't wait for the morning, so instead of fighting a losing battle, she'd wrapped herself in a blanket and gone to sit at the edge of the lake and indulge her daydreams until sunrise, when she could see him again.

She thought about growing old together and how handsome he'd be with grey hair and how he'd still smile at her in that way that crinkled his eyes and caused her breath to catch in her chest.

And now it was almost sunrise. A few more minutes and she'd see him again. He would pull her into his strong arms and kiss her good morning and then she'd lay her head on his chest, feeling his warmth, hearing his heart beat with his love for her.

'Morning!' The first voice she heard was Happy's cheerful greeting and she tried not to be disappointed. He was followed out by Grumpy, who barely managed a grunt rather than actual words. Then the rest of the dwarves. But no Charming yet.

She busied herself with collecting water to heat on the fire that Bashful was starting, but every few seconds, her eyes were drawn to the tent, expecting to see him emerging.

Then breakfast was almost ready and he still hadn't joined them.

'He's still sleeping,' Grumpy said rolling his eyes as her gaze slid to the tent for about the thousandth time. 'Looks like you got yourself stuck with a lazy layabout prince for a fiancé.'

She'd kind of been hoping that like her, he'd been awake all night counting the seconds until he could see her again, and she had to admit she was a little hurt that Charming didn't seem as excited to see her as she was to see him, but, she told herself sternly, some people just weren't early risers.

'Not everyone's a morning person, Grumpy,' she defended.

'Humpf,' he replied.

'I'm going to go wake him for breakfast,' she said, finally deciding she couldn't wait a moment longer.

Snow ducked through the tent flap and passed each of the seven bedrolls, each blanket embroidered with each of the dwarves' names until she reached Charming, still curled up on his own bedroll at the far end of the tent.

She knelt down next to him and for a moment she just looked at him. He was so beautiful it took her breath away. He was lying on his side, his face half buried in his pillow, one hand resting next to it, his fingers loosely curled. He looked so peaceful she almost didn't want to wake him, but they had a long day ahead of them, planning their campaign to take back the kingdoms from Regina and George, and they'd need their breakfast to keep their strength up.

'Hey sleeping beauty,' she called softly, but he slept on. 'Charming?'

She stroked his forehead, and frowned. His skin was much hotter than she would have expected.

'Oh my goodness, you have a fever!' she exclaimed.

She was considering what to do next when she caught movement out of the corner of her eye. She turned to see Grumpy approaching but wasn't fast enough to prevent him from emptying out a full bucket of freezing lake water over her sleeping fiancé's head.

'That ought to do it,' Grumpy declared as Charming bolted upright in bed, gasping in shock.

'Grumpy!' Snow protested helplessly.

'What's happening?' Charming gasped, blinking water from his eyes and trying reorient himself.

'Hey, it's ok,' Snow reassured him, stroking his arm. 'What were you thinking, Grumpy?'

'You wanted him up; he's up!' Grumpy said; palms up indicating Charming's wakefulness as evidence in his own defence.

'Grumpy, he's not being lazy. He's sick, he has a fever!' Snow remonstrated.

'I'm not sick,' Charming insisted, then put a hand to his pounding head and groaned.

'Ugh, maybe I'm a little sick,' he admitted grudgingly, rubbing his eyes.

'Sorry, I didn't realise!' Grumpy said, a little abashed.

'S' ok,' Charming mumbled, flopping back down and closing his eyes again.

'Hey, don't lie down there. You can't sleep in a wet bed. You'll get even sicker,' Snow said. 'Come on, I'll help you up, you can sleep in my bed until this one's dry again.'

As she took hold of his shoulder to help pull him up, Charming's eyes flew open and he let out a hiss as he flinched away from her touch.

She pulled back as though burned. 'Charming? What's the matter?'

'It's ok, sorry, you took me by surprise,' he said, kicking himself. He really hadn't wanted to worry her.

'Are you hurt?' she asked, her voice full of concern.

'It's fine, it's just taking a while to heal, it got a little infected...' he said, sighing as she moved her hand slowly back towards his shoulder to push aside his shirt. There was no avoiding this.

'Oh my god, my arrow!' she exclaimed, wincing at the sight of the wound and horrified that she hadn't remembered and thought to check on the injury already. She'd just got so caught up in the joy of their reunion and his proposal.

'I'm so sorry, Charming. Grumpy, can you go and get Doc please?' she asked. Grumpy nodded and picked up his bucket.

'It really isn't that bad,' Charming asserted.

'Not that bad? You have an infected arrow wound and a pretty high fever.'

'Ok, it's not great I'll admit, but there's nothing for you to apologise for. It wasn't your fault.'

'Well I guess that's true. I wasn't aiming for you after all,' she managed a wry smile.

'Exactly,' he smiled back.

'How did it get so bad?' She remembered King George's knight roughly yanking the arrow out, but it looked like even more damage had been done since then, the wound was torn and the flesh was red and swollen with red lines of infection spreading out like roots from the centre.

He shrugged his good shoulder. 'Well there was getting thrown in George's dungeon, then Regina's. Then there was a fight with Rumpelstiltskin, then a dragon and a swim across a pretty big lake...'

'You've had a busy few days,' she commiserated.

'It was worth it to get back to you,' he replied, taking her hand and interlacing their fingers.

Charming was in her bed for the first time, but this was not how she had imagined it.

He had slept all morning and into the late afternoon, lying on his side because his back was badly bruised from being thrown around so much lately. Doc had checked him over thoroughly, bound his shoulder up with healing herbs and was satisfied that if he got some rest and avoided aggravating the injury for a while it would be fine.

Snow had tried to leave him to sleep in peace while she got on with chores around the camp, but she kept being drawn back to his side like a magnet. Between jobs she had sat beside him, watching over him and using all her willpower in keeping herself from waking him, but desperate to talk to him, to hold him.

She put the back of her hand to his forehead, relieved to feel that the fever was starting to come down and he was a little cooler. And relieved that she had a good reason to wake him up. Doc had agreed that it would be a good idea for him to eat something.

'Charming?' He stirred and murmured under his breath then relaxed again.

'James?' She called again, thinking maybe his real name would do the trick. She stroked a lock of hair back from his forehead. 'James?'

Charming woke slowly, blinked and then focused on Snow, smiling at the sight of her in a way that warmed her heart.

'There you are,' she said gently. 'How are you feeling?'

'Better,' he replied.

She nodded towards the plate of bread and cheese she had placed next to them. 'I brought you dinner.'

She helped him sit up so he wouldn't have to put weight on his injured shoulder, and then handed him some bread and then bit a chunk off her own piece. Charming turned his over in his hands.

'You're not hungry?'

He looked up at her pensively.

'There's something bothering you?' she asked.

'Snow, there's something I need to tell you. I've been meaning to tell you for a while, but things have been so...' he tailed off.

'Hectic? Bizarre? Dangerous?'

'Exactly. Look I should have told you before I asked you to marry me, but I just... I was so relieved when you woke from the curse that all I could think about was kissing you and holding you and never letting you out of my sight for the rest of our lives.'

Snow smiled and took his hand. 'I know the feeling, Charming. You can tell me anything,'

'I hope so, but I will understand if it changes how you feel about me and about our engagement.'

'You're my true love, James,' she reassured him. Nothing is ever going to make me love you any less, I promise you that.'

He winced at the use of his brother's name. 'You should hear me out before you promise that,' he warned, his voice heavy now that he was really going to say it.

'First of all, my name isn't James. It's David. And secondly, I'm not a prince. I'm not King George's son. I'm just a shepherd.'

Snow smiled and squeezed his hand more tightly, 'I knew you didn't look like a James!' she said.

David huffed a laugh, 'James was my identical twin brother. I look exactly like a James.'

'No, you look exactly like a David, or a Charming. Not a James. And I knew you weren't King George's son. He told me. That's why I had to tell you I didn't love you. Because he said he'd kill you. And I only believed that he'd do it when he said that you weren't really his son.'

'You knew I wasn't a prince? Why didn't you say anything?'

'Like I said, hectic, bizarre, dangerous. We've only had time to say the most important things. That we love each other and that we will always find each other.'

'You're not upset with me?'

She shook her head and lifted his hand to kiss it. 'How could I be upset with you when you risked everything for me? You were afraid that I wouldn't love you, no matter what?'

'I was afraid you'd realise you needed to marry someone who was really noble, really a royal.'

'You think you have to be royal to be noble? Charming, King George was born royal but he is the farthest thing from noble I have ever seen. You were a shepherd, but you were never just that. You are the kindest, bravest, most noble man I have ever met, and when we marry you will be a prince. You'll be one because you deserve to be and because you'll be good at it, because you care about doing the right thing. And because I love you more than anything.'

Charming pulled her into his arms. 'I love you too and I'm going to do my absolute best every day to deserve you and to make you so happy.'

'You've already made me happier than I could ever have imagined. Now, eat something, and then I want you to tell me a story. I need to hear the story of how a shepherd became a prince and found his true love.'

Snow lay curled into Charming's embrace, ready to hear a thrilling tale.

'Once upon a time,' he began. 'There was a shepherd, who lived on a farm and wished everyday for the opportunity to meet his true love.'

Snow stared at the roof of the tent listening to the sound of seven snoring dwarves and wishing she was sleeping in the arms of her fiancé. He'd fallen asleep in her bed, so she'd taken his now that it had dried out. Though it was far from restful. Clearly Charming had only been able to sleep the night before because he'd been so completely exhausted and feverish.

Tomorrow night they were going to have to rethink the sleeping arrangements. She was a bandit of the forest and he was a shepherd. They didn't need to be so high and mighty in their rules about propriety. And practically speaking, they'd never get any sleep this way. It was no way to begin a mission to win back the kingdoms.

The darkness was fading and dawn was on its way. She could make out more distinct shapes, Grumpy's beard, Doc's hat, Bashful's pickaxe.

She sighed and gave up trying to sleep, and just like the night before, she wrapped her blanket around her shoulders and tiptoed out of the tent, careful not to wake her friends. She needed fresh air, and the sound of the water lapping the shore and the birds preparing their dawn chorus would be far more soothing than the dwarves' deafening snores.

As she approached the water she could make out the outline of another person against the beginnings of the dawn light and she smiled in happiness.

'Snow?' Charming's hushed voice carried clearly across the camp to her ears. 'I'm so glad you're awake. I missed you.'

'I missed you too. I couldn't sleep with you so close by.'

'And with all that snoring too, I bet!'

She laughed and leaned against his chest, sighing in contentment as his arms slipped around her waist. He leaned down and their lips met in a passionate kiss.

'How come you're up so early,' she said when paused for breath. 'Were you in pain?'

'Actually I feel a lot better. It's just habit. I'm a farmer. We get up early.'

'That's good, because I'm a bandit and we do too.'

She rested her head against his chest and allowed his warmth to suffuse her and the sound of his heartbeat to ground her.

'So, we have some time before our friends wake up,' she said. 'What shall we do with it?'

'I can't think of anything I'd rather do than just watch this sunrise with my true love safe in my arms.'

'I think I can arrange for that wish to come true,' she replied.

And they all lived happily ever after... eventually!

The end.

Until next time, girls and boys, sleep tight and don't let the bedbugs bite!

Thanks for reading. Reviews = happiness!