Set Post-Curse Prince Charming realizes that he owes his true love a lot of kisses, several hundred apologies and more than a few rounds of fervent lovemaking to make up for all the pain he has caused. With so much ground to cover, he had better get started right away.

Disclaimer: All of these wonderful characters and their worlds belong to ABC.

Right now I am giving this a Teen rating for some sensuality between Charming and Snow. Nothing gratuitous or graphic though. I may change the rating for a subsequent chapter.

This is my first fan fic here. I gladly accept suggestions or advice.

Chapter 1: Rediscovery

Prince Charming ran his thumb across the swollen lips of his beautiful wife. Her lips were even redder than usual because they had just been thoroughly kissed seconds before.

"Are you alright?" He asked his wife, his voice dripping with concern that was only surpassed by the concern in his eyes.

He would sooner cut out his own heart than do anything to cause her pain. Unfortunately, as David Nolan, he had repeatedly hurt the woman he loved more than life. He knew that it was going to take more than a few kisses, several hundred apologies and much more than a few rounds of fervent lovemaking to make up for all the pain he had caused.

If the glow on her lovely face and the sparkle in her eyes was any indication, the last 20 minutes had been a good start.

"Of course, I am better than alright, I am euphoric," She assured him with a smile as she fastened the top buttons on her shirt, tried to smooth down her hair and to regain some of her composure.

The red flush began to recede from her cheeks. She looked down the alley and then up at her newly re-found husband. Charming wore a goofy grin on his face and there was a light in his eyes that she had not seen in a very long time.

What had started as a passionate kiss in the middle of Main Street of Storybrooke, had ended with Prince Charming taking his wife, Snow White, up against a wall in the alley behind Granny's Diner. It had been quick and lust filled, as if 28 years of passion had been stuffed into a balloon and it had suddenly exploded in white heat.

"28 years is a long time to be apart," Charming whispered as he skillfully moved in to steal a kiss from his gorgeous wife. "I missed you, Snow."

She smiled and took hold of his hand, squeezing it tightly, "I missed you too," She could hardly bear to look away or let go of his hand, she was afraid that if she did, he would somehow slip away. Vanish before her very eyes and she would find that the last 20 minutes had been nothing but a dream.

"I just can't believe that we did that in an alley of all places." It feels kind of naughty," She sly admitted as her cheeks turned red once more. Thankfully, the streets seemed to be deserted.

His eyes twinkled and a smile crept across his face, "Give me a few hours and I'll show you the meaning of the word naughty." He grabbed her hand and led her out of the alley and she realized that she would follow him anywhere.

First, they needed to stop and refuel. The diner was empty, except for Ella who was behind the counter. She looked up when they entered and joyously greeted her friends.

"James, Snow, I seems like it has been ages since I last saw the two of you!" Ella exclaimed, as Snow hugged her friends.

"Ella, what are you doing here?" Charming asked.

A puzzled expression crossed the face of the blonde princess.

"I was watching the diner for Granny and Red or rather Ashley was watching the diner. It is very confusing, although you two don't seem confused at all."

She gave them both a look of approval. She had caught enough footmen and chambermaids in the kitchen pantry of the palace to know what her dear friends had been up to. She also knew that they sometimes got so caught up in their roles as royal leaders and protectors that they forgot to save time for each other. Ella sometimes wondered how the two workaholics had found the time to sire a child. Maybe that was changing.

"I take it you had no trouble reconnecting?" Ella gave them a pleasant smile.

Snow blushed, if only her friend knew the half of it.

"Do you need to find Thomas?" Charming asked.

Ella shook her head, "I just spoke to him on the phone; he and Alex are fine, confused, but otherwise well."

She looked at her friends as if she suspected they knew more about what was happening than they were willing to admit.

"The four of us will get together soon," Charming promised. "We have much to discuss."

Ella gave him an exasperated look, "James, you can not save everyone all the time. Thomas and I are fine. However, I except a dinner invitation from the two of you, provided we can get a sitter for Alex and you and Snow are paying at the nicest restaurant in town."

"Consider it done," He gave her a mock bow and a grin.

"Now, what can I get for you? I guess I am in charge until Red and Granny come back, if they come back," Ella seemed a little frightened.

"I saw them on the street about 30 minutes ago," Snow reassured her friend. "Ella, I don't think anyone has gone anywhere. Why don't you pack us up some sandwiches and pie and then close up here. Go home to your family."

Ella smiled as she bagged up the order, "Snow, you always have the best ideas."

The two princesses hugged and promise to be in touch soon. Ella hung a closed sign on the door as they left. Charming led his wife to his truck and started out for a surprise location.

He had brought a blanket from his truck and had placed it on the floor of the front room of the cabin. He had built a fire in the fireplace and found cushions to place on the floor as well. He found a dozen candles in a trunk and lit those.

He looked around the room and decided that it might just be romantic enough for his wife. When you came from a fairytale land you didn't have to try to be romantic. With the lush palaces, curse breaking kisses and endless woods for dreamy saunters, romance just seemed to happen by magic. In this strange world that he now found himself he realized that romance was a challenge.

He hoped that he had gotten it a little right. The last time they had been in the cabin, as Mary Margaret and David, he had been in the process of breaking her heart, they thought his fake wife might be pregnant and it had been raining. This time, he wanted everything to be perfect. He wanted to erase those old feelings and create new memories.

"Charming, can I come in yet?" His wife asked impatiently.

He opened the door and led her into the room, holding on tightly to her hand. Even in the dim light cast by the candles and fire he could see tears forming in her eyes. He was afraid that she was dwelling on their last visit to the cabin.

"This was a bad idea, I am so sorry. Snow, say something!" He pleaded.

She swallowed a lump that was forming in her throat. "It is beautiful in here and so perfect."

He let out a breath that he hadn't even realized he was holding.

He helped her settle on the blanket and cushions.

"Are you hungry, should we eat?" He asked.

She shook her head, "No." "I'm not hungry…yet."

That was the answer he wanted to hear. This was going to be different from the alley. They would take their time and explore each other's bodies and reconnect on a level that only true love could bring.

He knelt down on the blanket and reached out to intertwine her hands with his own. They stayed like that for what seemed like a small eternity as if they wanted desperately to savor the moment. He ran his finger across the ring on her left hand. His mother's ring, the one that led him back to her what now seemed like a lifetime ago.

"How did you keep track of it for all these years?" He asked.

"Simple, I never let it leave my finger." She answered honestly.

Being there together was almost too good to be true. Mary Margaret and David had been together several times over the past year, but there always seemed to be something missing from those encounters. They had never truly felt free to each give themselves to the other. His fake marriage had hung over that relationship like a hammer about to drop and squash their love.

Nothing stood between now. There was no reason for them to be apart for even a moment longer. Charming kissed his wife lightly on the lips and then pulled back to look at her face.

She was not satisfied with his gentle peck on the mouth and she pulled his face towards her until they were engaged in a passionate embrace.

She ran her hands through his hair and she used her fingers to message at the nape of his neck and kissed him with an intensity that left him nearly breathless.

"That is nice," He moaned before kissing her on the lips, the throat and behind each of her ears.

She let out a whimper as he hit a sensitive spot.

He was thankful that after all the time they spent apart, he still knew her sensitive spots, the areas that he only had to kiss lightly or run his tongue along in order to drive her mad.

She was thankful too, but she was too concerned with getting his shirt off to worry about much else. She longed to feel his skin beneath her hands and to move him the way he was moving her. She felt her pulse quicken as he ran his tongue along her throat and she found it increasingly difficult to concentrate on her task.

"Are you trying to drive me crazy?" She asked him with baited breath.

She finally undid the last button on his shirt and slipped the offending garment off of his shoulders and ran her hands down his smooth chest.

She stopped when her eyes fell upon the scars. The oldest and lightest one was from the arrow that had pierced his shoulder when he had stopped her from killing Regina.

The other two were on his shoulder and chest right over his heart.

Of course, the one on his chin was from the rock she had used to knock him off balance so she could escape at their first meeting.

She ran her thumb along the blemishes.

She had seen them before when he had been in the hospital. She had occasionally helped the nurses change his gowns. She had presumed that they were scars from the accident that had sent him into the coma. Now, she realized they were scars from the arrow he had taken in order to save her from darkness and the near mortal wounds he had suffered while saving their daughter. He saw tears fill her eyes as her gaze lingered on the scars.

"You never had any scars until you met me," She said as she ran her thumb along the scar on his shoulder.

He felt her body shake in his arms and he wanted to reassure her, he needed to reassure her.

It had been true. He had fought a dragon and come out without a scratch, yet within minutes of meeting the love of his life, he had ended up with a bloody chin.

Still, he would never dream of changing a moment of his life since he had met her. He proudly wore every scar as a symbol of his devotion to her, their family and to their love.

He took her hand and lifted it to his lips in a gentle kiss, "Don't feel bad for me. I would gladly suffer a thousand similar wounds in order to protect my family."

Snow felt that those were the most beautiful words anyone had ever spoken to her.

"I love you so much," She told him as she kissed him slowly and thoroughly starting with the scar on his chin and working her way down to the one over his heart.

He moaned something that she didn't catch, but it sounded like, "I love you too, Snow," and then he proceeded to quickly unbutton her shirt and slip it off of her shoulders. They took turns kissing each other on the lips, neck, and shoulders.

When neither one of them could stand being apart for a moment longer, Charming carefully lowered his wife's body onto the blanket where they proceeded to give into their passions slowly and methodically for the better part of the afternoon.

Afterwards, he held her on his lap as they ate their take out lunch. They did not bother to get dressed. The fire had warmed the room to a comfortable temperature and they both delighting in just being together.

"Where are we going to live?" Snow suddenly asked.

Charming hadn't even considered that question. David had taken a room at Granny's, but he had been on his way out of town to move to Boston, so he had let that room go. Mary Margaret had an apartment with Emma. That might be a little awkward now that Emma knew who her parents were.

"I suppose that Abigail will want to live in the house with Fredrick," Charming stated.

"Fredrick is here in Storybrooke?" Snow asked.

"You never met him since he was handling that troll uprising at the same time as our wedding. Here I think you know him as the gym teacher at your elementary school." Charming casually informed her.

Her face fell and then it turned scarlet red.

"Are you positive that is Frederick?" She asked biting her lip nervously.

Realization dawned on his face, "You slept with Frederick?" He asked his voice filled with disbelief.

"I showered with him is more like it, it was during a heat wave at the school and the power had been interrupted. We had been left there to make sure that nothing happened during the black out."

"Fredrick?" He asked again with skepticism in his voice.

"We were alone and maybe we got bored and we ended up in the shower in the boys locker room and you were in a coma for 28 years!" Her voice was rising as well.

"The curse made us both do stupid things, for god sake, David gave me the wrong card on Valentine's Day!"

She was right they had both made mistakes that they were going to have to learn to forgive and forget.

"Besides, have you seen him?" She asked defensively.

"Clearly, not in the same light as you have," He teased, and then continued, "You can take Fredrick as a free card. One night, after several bottles of wine, David and Katharine tried to reconnect." He gave her a guilty look.

"I figured that it had happened at least once, hence her need for a pregnancy test," Snow pouted.

"If it makes you feel any better, it was pretty horrible, but I think it makes us even as far as Fredrick and Abigail are concerned. It may be a little awkward at Thanksgiving dinner, but we'll survive," He teased.

"We are not having dinner with Abigail and Fredrick, Thanksgiving or any other day," Snow was adamant.

"Point taken," he admitted.

"Do you think Fredrick will tell Abigail?" She asked.

"He is most likely doing so at this very moment." Charming cringed.

"Do you think she will slap me again?" Snows eyes grew big, but she tried to suppress a giggle at the same time.

"You might want to keep your distance for a while," He tried not to laugh as well. "I might have to cancel the Labor Day backyard barbeque." He shrugged.

She gave him a shocked look and then they both burst out laughing. It was an emotional release that had been building for a long time.

"Some of it was just so ridiculous," She said shaking her head.

"Still, 28 years was a long time to wait for me. Is there anything else I need to know?" He waited with baited breath.

Snow thought for a moment, bit the side of her bottom lip and gave him a serious look.

"There was one guy that I really connected with, I think I could have loved him nearly as much as I love you. Physically, the relationship was pretty great," She watched his face register jealousy.

He stood up and walked over to the window. His body was illuminated by the candles and the late afternoon light streaming in through the cabin windows. Snow felt her breath catch in her chest. She couldn't see his face and she was relived, it would easier to say this if she didn't have to look him in the eyes. She pulled the blanket up close to her chin. What she had to say was going to be painful for him to hear, but it had to be said if they were going to have any chance of moving on.

"He made me feel special and beautiful and sexy," She continued.

"You are all of those things," Her husband whispered.

"Maybe I needed someone to remind me of that. He made me so happy at times," she said wistfully. "I had not felt that way in a very long time," She continued.

She watched his body language and saw him become tense. "Emotionally, He and I just couldn't connect though. And that hurt me so badly"

"Is this mystery man still here?" Charming whispered as he turned around to face the woman he loved more than life.

He knelt back down on the blanket beside her. He looked towards the fire, which had started to burn down and wondered if he should add more wood. Mostly, he wanted to know who this man was who had hurt her so badly. This was no ordinary degree of hurt that she had suffered; he could see that much in her eyes and hear the pain in her voice.

"Thankfully, he appears to be gone for good," She reached up and caressed his cheek, titled her head and gazed up at him, wondering how long it would take for him to understand.

The truth finally dawned on him, "Was it David?" He asked with sadness in his voice.

"Yes, it was." She answered in a matter of fact voice.

"I am so sorry!" Tears glistened in his eyes. "I know that mere words are not enough to erase all the pain I caused."

He had said it so many times in the past few months and it never had been enough. Snow realized that because of the curse, David had never been capable of making her believe that he really was sorry and that he could change and not hurt her again. David had said the words to sooth his own ego and he had always peppered them with excuses. Her Prince Charming stood before her now naked, literally and figuratively, and spoke the words with love in his heart and a voice tinged with pain and she believed every syllable.

The minute the curse had ended he remembered who he really was, while at the same time he couldn't forget who he had been for over a year. He felt the pain of every thing that he had said and done as David. Every sharp word, every moment of mistrust, every time that he had failed to choose her, those moments were scars on his heart that he would carry for a long time. They hurt as much or more than the physical scars on his body. He wondered if her forgiveness was too much to ask.

She looked up at him and he saw love in her eyes and he also saw forgiveness and it felt wonderful.

"It is enough," She answered simply.

She pulled him back down to her and wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned her head on his shoulder. She inhaled the scent of his skin and reveled at being in his arms. Every painful and lonely moment from the past 28 years evaporated. She knew him well enough to know that he would take it hard though. He would feel the pain of his betrayal for a lot longer than she. He would try and make it up to her over and over, which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. She had a few sins to atone for as well. One was preying on her mind at the moment.

"You know about my fling with Dr. Whale I suppose?" She asked, pulling back to look him in the eyes.

"Dear, everyone knows about that," He remarked sarcastically. "I have to admit I wanted to throttle him at the time. A part of me still wants to hurt him badly. I really need to find my sword first" He shrugged.

Snow imagined a scenario where Emma had to arrest her father for killing Storybrooke's leading physician.

"Dr. Whale is so not worth it," She nonchalantly informed her husband. "But, if Fredrick is my freebie?" She asked hesitantly.

"You are going to have to pay dearly for your dalliance with Dr. Whale," Charming dryly informed his wife, but there was a teasing gleam in his eyes.

"Actually, I think am going to enjoy paying that debt." She leaned over and kissed him passionately.

He looked over at the fire again. Maybe he should add more wood. On the other hand, if they didn't get dressed soon they might end up in jail for trespassing.

"In that case, where shall we go next, my love?" He whispered in her ear.

"You already took me to heaven and back," She smiled. "We have so much to make up for, so many places with sad memories that I want to replace with happy ones."

Snow thought for a moment and a grin spread across her face, "We should go to the animal shelter. That was the first place that you really started to lose faith in us."

She tried not to show how much it still hurt.

"Whatever my lady wishes, all she has to do is say the word." Her husband informed her.

"In that case, let's finish lunch first," She kissed him again, and then she swiped part of his sandwich.

Next Up: The Toll bridge