A bulk of the rest of the day passed with Regina hiding in her room, her thoughts going over and over the kiss. The kiss. He was attractive; she'd always known that, there wasn't much hiding it. And kind, brave, more intelligent than she'd imagined, and perceptive, too perceptive. But he was a good man, what was he doing kissing her? And gods it was a good kiss. The perfect combination of passionate and curious, of giving and taking, of lips and tongue. He was a good kisser. Her mind ran over questions of why, was it a pity kiss? Was he just trying to make her feel better? No. No, it couldn't be that, they'd been playing around before the kiss, having… fun, she had actually been enjoying herself.

There was a knock at her door shortly after dinnertime, which she had skipped. Moving to the door, Regina opened it to see none other than the man who had consumed her thoughts all day. He was holding a tray with bread, meat and berries, and a glass of wine at the edge of the plate.

"David… what are you doing here?" Regina asked, her tone far more tense that usual.

"You missed dinner. I figured I would bring you some… see how you're doing." She stood there, staring at him without saying anything, completely uncertain of what to say. Clearing his throat, David spoke again. "May I come in?"

Regina turned her torso, looking behind her at her bedchamber, before looking back at the prince. "I suppose so," she answered, waving her hand as though it was no big deal. He walked past her, entering the room and turned to wait for her to close the door.

After the door was closed and Regina was facing him, David grinned and offered her the tray of food. "Hungry?"

Humming noncommittally, she looked over the tray and picked up a handful of berries, popping one into her mouth and giving a close-mouthed smile as she chewed. She swallowed and nodded. "You can set the tray on the table by the lounge."

"Was that a thank you?"

Raising an eyebrow, Regina shook her head at him, finding that she was smiling again. "What do you want, shepherd?"

"Did you have a nap and wake up on the wrong side of the bed?" he teased, placing the tray where she'd told him to.

Narrowing her eyes, Regina challenged him. "No. Actually, someone thought they could make me their plaything, their… shiny new toy. People toying with me puts me in a bad mood."

David stepped close to her, his eyes raking over her face as he gripped her biceps in his hands. She stiffened at the touch, but didn't move away. "Regina, that wasn't my intention. We were goofing around and then… it suddenly seemed right. I'm sorry. It was never my intention to make you think I was playing with you." Regina hummed, muttering something like I'm sure and since when does kissing the Evil Queen just seem right? and David shook his head. "Regina, you're not evil, not anymore. We both know that. Please, just… I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done it."

"But you did."

"Yeah, well, I wanted to, and next time I'll tamper down that urge. But I did have a reason for coming here."

"What is that?"

"I remember once, while Snow and Emma were here, in the Enchanted Forest and Henry was staying with me, it snowed. The snow started at… I don't know, maybe eight at night, and it was a vicious snowfall, rapid, sticking stuff—"

"Do you have a point?" Regina asked sharply, her tone short and bordering on rude.

"I'm getting there. Shush." David paused as he watched her, making sure she was going to let him continue. Once he was certain she would, he spoke again. "Anyway… he came and woke me up at three in the morning. It was gross outside, and cold and it was the middle of the night, but he said that he'd checked outside and the snow reached the top of the bottom step." He watched her face change slowly, her eyes lighting up the way that they did only when she thought of Henry, so David continued. "So Henry dragged me out of bed, in the middle of the night, dressed in his pajamas, a coat, gloves, scarf, hat, I mean he was bundled up really well. He told me I had to get out of bed and get dressed because there was enough snow on the ground that he could build a snowman. His exact words were, 'mom always lets me build a snowman once the snow reaches the bottom step.'

"He then went on to explain that we had to do it in the middle of the night because he had school in the morning, then I had work and by time we got home the snow would be too deep. So, we went out and we built a snowman. In the middle of the night."

Regina had tears pooling in her eyes, a couple spilling over the brim and onto her lashes, and she brought one hand up to brush away the wetness from her cheeks. Looking up at him, she gave him a small smile, saying, "Thank you."

"So, Regina," David said, smirking like he was pleased with himself. "The snow is at the first step of the castle entrance. Would you like to go outside with me and make a snowman?" Looking away from him and trying to paste on her most unamused glare, she looked back toward him, hitting him with the expression. He was unimpressed, the smirk still playing at his lips, and he kept a hopeful look on his face. Finally she relented, saying, Fine and then But only for Henry. David accepted that answer, telling her he'd be back in a few minutes in warmer clothes so they could go outside, encouraging her to eat first.

Half an hour later they were both outside, bundled up tight and warm. Regina smirked at him, pointing out that the cost of his fur shawl could feed an entire village before the curse and that for being so conscious about taking care of his people, it was a poor choice of ownership as the prince.

"Like you can talk. You could have fed the entire kingdom with the jewels on half your dresses alone."

"Yes, well, my kingdom didn't have food problems like the one you took over from George."

"Fair enough. Snow commissioned my clothing, anyway. I have an excuse."

"Sure. And, well… I suppose that doesn't surprise me. She was always too naïve to truly understand how to run a kingdom." She looked away hesitantly, then flickered her eyes back over his features, pleased and surprised to see that he didn't seem angry. "I don't mean it as an insult. Truly, I don't. It's just the truth. Perhaps Leopold had wanted her to take over the kingdom from her, but he never conditioned her for it; he spoiled her, let her roam free and toted her along on all his ventures to meet with other kingdoms in hopes to find her a husband who could do it for her."

"I know. But, I didn't bring you out here to talk politics. I brought you here to build a snowman. Shall we get on that?"

"Yes, whatever you say, prince."

They worked for nearly an hour, rolling three different sized snowballs, all large and nearly perfect in roundness. Regina left to the kitchen to get a carrot and David hunted for small stones for buttons and his eyes and mouth. Regina returned and they finished the snowman's appearance, but she stared at it, head tilted and hands on her hips, trying to figure out what was missing,

"He doesn't look right."

"No, he looks weird, you're right." David brought his hands up to her neck and pulled her black scarf from it, his thumbs stroking the skin it was leaving behind. "Maybe this will help." Turning, he wrapped the scarf between the head and middle snowballs of the snowman. He returned to her side and looked at it again. "It's still not right."

"Oh! He needs arms!" Regina said, smirking and looking around on the ground.

"There are plenty of twigs in the woods. We could go pick some out."

Nodding, Regina led the way and the pair began hunting for twigs. She wanted them to be perfect, though, so when David showed her a couple of options, Regina shook her head and kept looking. He picked up another branch when they were nearly fifty feet away from where they entered and poked her in the side with it.

Regina turned to him and looked at the branch, apparently still unimpressed and she shook her head, "No."

"Well, can you tell me what we're looking for? It's kind of cold out here."

"Well, if you're too cold, you can go back without me."

"Nope, that would hardly be a charming thing to do."

"Well, I hardly think you're that much of a charmer, anyway."

"Yes, you do."

Regina snorted and turned fully to look at him then. "Do I?"

Grinning, David stepped closer to her, until he was in her space and looking into her eyes. "Yes, you do. You don't know why, but you do. And I unnerve you."

"Do you?" she asked, her voice lower than before, but he was closer than before, too. His chest was only inches away from hers. Regina turned her face up to look into his bright blue eyes and she gasped when she realize just how close they were.

David bent his neck and caught her lips in a kiss, their mouths slightly parted but not quite moving yet. When one large hand came up, slipping into dark tresses and pulling her closer, Regina opened her mouth wider, sliding her tongue out to meet his. Her arms snaked around his neck and David's other hand dropped the twig and wrapped around her waist, his palm flat on the small of her back, pulling her tighter to him.

Regina whimpered at the eagerness of his kiss, at the way he held her close to him. It had been a long time since anyone had shown passion in kissing her, in the way his hands were now moving over her ass, pulling her hips tight against his. Everything in her brain was screaming at her to stop, to walk away before she hurt everyone left that cared for her. But his hands were so large and comforting and they were exploring her body while they kissed and she was only human, after all. Pushing her backward, David pressed her against a tree, his lips moving from her mouth to her jaw, nipping at the skin below her ear.

Regina scratched the back of his head absentmindedly while he kissed down her neck. Her breaths were unsteady, heavy and panting, hitching occasionally when he hit a spot she enjoyed. Whenever he heard that hitch, he stopped to concentrate there for a minute before moving again. Moaning, Regina grabbed his face and brought his mouth back to hers, nipping his bottom lip and sucking it into her own mouth. David let out a groan and his hands moved up to her breasts, cupping her through the layers she was wearing.

"There's too much," he breathed, breaking their kiss. "I want to touch more of you."

Nodding, Regina rolled her lips together and took one of his hands, tugging it under the bottom of her shirts to touch her waist, so he could feel the top of the thick cloth of her pants and a strip of bare skin above it. David searched her eyes, checking to make sure she was certain it was okay for him to touch her. When she nodded, he slid his hand along her skin to her back, fingers dipping beneath the band of her pants, skimming along the swell of her ass. She moaned softly, the cold of his fingers barely registering in comparison to the long lost touch on that part of her body.

"More," Regina groaned, meaning so much with that one small word. David bit her bottom lip and moved his hand along the band of her pants to her front. Pushing his fingers past the band of her panties, which was low, very low, and down past a small strip of hair to her clit, circling it for a moment before pushing further and finding her slick folds. Warmth and wetness covered his fingers and he slid two into her, pleased that her pants had enough give for him to work his wrist a little. She gave a sharp gasp as he curled his fingers in her, deep moans following that David quickly swallowed into a kiss.

She smoothed her hand down his chest to his abdomen, feeling the strong muscles through his thick clothing and twisting her wrist halfway down so her fingers were pointing to the ground. Further, just a bit further until she was sliding her fingers and palm over the hardness in his pants, causing his hips to push forward into her hand, his throat releasing a thick groan. David began grinding the heel of his hand against her clit as his fingers continued working against the sensitive spot within her. It wasn't long before she was rocking into his hand, trembling at his touch, tensing around his fingers. He was certain he'd never felt anything so delicious, but that thought was gone the moment she came on his hand, the sounds she was releasing sending a sweet thrill through his body. Slowing his hand to bring her down easy, David let his lips travel down her jaw and throat, breaths heavy and slowing.

Regina tossed her hands up and when David opened his eyes, they were in her bedchamber. He pulled his hand from her pants and began shoving off her layers as she did the same to him, and soon all their clothes, with the exception of their underclothes, were lying in small piles littering the floor. Regina curled one hand around his neck, the other hand on his lower back as she pulled him toward her bed. He followed, hands on her hips until they got to the bed and he picked her up, dropping her lightly on the bed and hovering his body over hers. David whispered words of her beauty against her skin as he kissed down her body, stripping her of her undergarments as he went. Her legs were too close together, pinned between his, so she nudged his thigh, urging him to shift, and he did. She sighed, letting her legs fall open once her panties are off, giving him more room to work with as his hand slid between her legs. Pushing one, then two fingers into her, he moved back up, kissing her jaw. His mouth found hers again, kissing her deeply, tongues moving together fluidly, like they were the most natural pairing in the world, and while he kissed her, his thoughts never once took him to feeling guilty. David moved again, kissing slowly down her body once more. Regina whimpered at the loss of his lips, but only for a moment, because they were still moving lower and lower and Ah!—he's right there, so close to where she needed him, and half a second later they're there, on her clit and she moaned, deep from her chest and he grinned.

Sucking her clit between his lips, David moved his fingers harder, faster, twisted and turning them inside her as he lifted his mouth off her, moving it along her flesh, kissing the crease where her thigh and pelvis join, then switching to the other side, kissing her the same there. He lowered his kisses down the inside of her thigh until she began squirming beneath him.

"David," she whimpered, a sound he had, until they ventured into the woods earlier that night, never imagined he would hear from her, but was finding that he enjoyed it the more she did it, especially when it came out in the form of his name. She was being selfish—she'd already had an orgasm, though she found she didn't quite care enough to stop him, not if it meant his mouth on her and his fingers inside her.

Finally, he brought his mouth back to her clit, but only when she was writhing so much he was certain she could take no more. And he sucked, hard with strong suction, his tongue brushing side to side over her clit between his lips, his fingers working harder and faster than before, pounding into her, making her certain she would be sore for Christmas Day.

It took no more than a few more moments until she was crying out loud, covering her mouth with the back of her hand as she came hard, her body tensing again, muscles locking up, thighs squeezing his head. David didn't seem to mind, he didn't say anything anyway, just continued working her until she relaxed against the bed. She tugged at his shoulders, pulling him up her body. Sliding his fingers out of her, he obeyed, stopping to pay attention to each nipple, licking, sucking, biting, fingers tugging where his mouth wasn't working.

Regina moved her hand down between their bodies once more, her fingers sliding beneath the band of his underwear and curling around his erection. She squeezed him teasingly before she began stroking her hand up and down, base to tip, thumb brushing over the soft skin of the head every time she came upon it. David groaned, hips automatically rocking into her touch, moving her hand faster over him just by pure instinct. Their lips met again, silencing his groans and the occasional hitch in his breath.

"I'm close," he whispered, after several more moments of her hand on him. She nodded against him, telling him, Okay, just come, that's fine. And he did, he fell into her touch for a moment as he finished, his release spilling onto her flat stomach and her fingers.

Taking a deep breath, David dropped half on her body, half on the bed. They only laid there for a handful of minutes before Regina was urging him to get dressed and go to bed, his wife was waiting for him, they both had to be awake at a decent hour because of the holiday and the patrol walk and whatever else would wake them early. He nodded, leaning up to kiss her once more before climbing out of bed and dressing in his clothes again, then David headed out of her room to his, chocolate eyes and scarlet lips on his mind.