I couldn't leave it at that ;)
Ok so for this fic there are no smart mobile phones because that would make things too easy for them.
He hadn't spoken to her for six years. After spending almost their whole lives talking to each other at least every other day, he lost contact with her.
International calls proved too costly and besides the signal was terrible. Sending letters became their contact of choice but school work proved too much, as did cost and eventually they stopped exchanging mail. Besides when they both moved to college and neither knew the other's new address.
He still remembered her though; not that he could ever forget.
So with the close of his education and qualifications under his belt he headed back home, not just back to America but to Storybrooke, where he could only pray she'd be.
After what was only hours but seemed like days he got off the plane and hopped in a cab for the small town.
His parents had told him he was crazy, she could be married or living in China or both for all he knew. They wanted him to at least have a job and a house before he went over but he couldn't wait that long.
So after he had finished his tedious journey which seemed like the pilot had taken a detour around the world on, and the taxi ride which he was pretty sure the driver had left Maine and drove to LA before arriving at Storybrooke, he headed straight to Granny's diner to get a room.
However he came to a stop when he saw a small family. The father and his daughter, who could have only been about 4, came out of the diner when they spotted a petite brunette with a pixie cut. The little girl ran to her and she picked her up, spinning her round in her arms. It was then David got a look at the woman's face. His heart became as still as he did.
That was his Snow.
She was greeting the young girl with so much happiness and love, she couldn't look any more right with a child. 'Unless it was mine' something in the back of his mind said.
She put the girl down and they walked hand in hand over to her father, who she greeted with a warm smile and all three headed in the direction of the library. She hadn't seen him, she'd been too wrapped up with her family.
He knew he should give up on her, she is clearly living happily without him but the tiniest part of him couldn't help but hold onto the hope that they still have a chance. So he entered the diner feeling quite heartbroken but not completely hopeless.
Everything about the town has a memory attached, the diner especially so and each and every memory takes him back to Snow. It's a raw pain to his heart which hurts but proves to him exactly how he feels about her.
In his whole life he had never once seen Ruby speechless but when he walked through the door, her jaw dropped and she fell silent.
"No way" she gasped "David?"
He grinned and moved over to where she stood still with her mouth open and embraced his old friend.
"Missed me Rubes?" he teased and judging by the grip with which she returned the hug, she had missed him.
She seemed to get over the initial shock and anger took it's place.
"What the hell are you doing here? You can't just show up unannounced like this! You're meant to be in England and you just waltz into my diner like it's no big deal" she ranted "we don't get any word for however many years and then-"
"I'm sorry!" he cut her off before she had the whole diner staring.
She just pulled him back into another hug with a loud sigh muttering something about Nolan always being trouble and granny warning her back when she first met him.
"Where is granny?" he asked, suddenly missing her presence in the diner.
A sombre mood took over and Ruby's face darkened. He knew that could only mean one thing.
"We lost her. About a few months after we lost contact with you" Ruby grimaced "it was completely unexpected, she worked here up until her last day and hadn't told anyone she was ill"
He dropped his head and tried to hold together all his emotions, knowing Ruby wouldn't be able to see him upset. Instead he offered his sympathy which she thanked him for and then quickly brushed off but he didn't miss her eyes filling up.
"Can I get a room?" he asked, changing the subject for her benefit.
"Of course, forest view sound good?" she asked, nodding gratefully.
"Perfect"
He only meant to have a quick nap but when he awoke, it was dark out and he could hear what sounded like half of Storybrooke in the diner downstairs so following both his curiosity and his now large appetite, he went to investigate.
He walked into the middle of a party of which he seemed to recognise no one and every one.
He started looking for Ruby to ask for some food but more importantly for some guidance when he heard a laugh. Melodic and contagious, like something out of a song. It could only belong to one person. His Snow. Though he has no right to call her that anymore.
He was about to turn and retreat up to his room when she emerged from the crowd and caught sight of him.
The drink she was holding fell from her hand and shattered on the floor around her. The sound of it seemed to bring her back to her senses and she began to fluster over the glass, somehow without taking her eyes off him.
A waiter came over and dismissed her from trying to clean the mess, leaving her completely free to either run away from him or straight to him.
He knew that would be the last moment he saw her with the innocence of his childhood. He memorised her in this light so he could keep it forever. A moment before the realisation of their age and the time apart would take them, before they would see how reckless things have been between them.
She slowly walked over to the edge of the room where he stood but moved past, walking into a corridor out of the main room. He understood that he was to follow.
"You said when you left me that you'd moved overseas" she said, her voice barely loud enough for him to hear but he did hear the catch in her voice when she said 'left' like a gun shot.
"I came back. I didn't want to shock you but nobody told me that you'd be here" he gently tried to explain.
Her gaze finally fell as she dropped her head. He knew her well enough to know that she was hiding her emotions from him. That hurt, a lot.
"Snow?" he tried after too many moments of silence between them.
"Don't" she cut him off, looking back up. He heard the raw emotion in her voice, he saw the tracks of tears on her cheeks and he felt the walls around her heart.
"You can't just walk back into my life and pretend everything is fine, like you didn't abandon me. Returning back here after college was so hard because everything took me back to when you were here but I adjusted and I was healing. You can't just do this to me David! she finally broke down.
He reached out to touch her but she moved back out of his reach.
"Sn-Mary Margaret, my apologies will never be enough but you know that I never wanted to leave you and even when we stopped writing I knew I would travel the world until I found you. A part of me, no all of me, has been holding on in case you still care because I know I do"
She looked back up into his eyes and seemed to decide he was speaking the truth, so she can still read him like an open book as he can her.
"I do, I never stopped caring but you can't expect me to just drop everything for you, nor after you left"
"Your husband and daughter?" he asked though it was more a statement.
"I'm not married David and I've hardly had time to give birth since college have I?" she told him, confusion clear on her face.
"But I saw you earlier" he weakly attempted.
That seemed to explain things to her as understanding filled her expression.
"That was Peter and his daughter, Ruby's family, not mine" she explained, finally smiling for the first time, but because of them and not him.
She lifted her hand to brush some hair from her eyes and he caught sight of a sparking green gem.
"My ring?" he just about gasped.
She looked to the promise ring from all those years ago on her hand and back to him again.
"I guess I still care" she whispered.
That was it. He couldn't hold back any kings and besides he couldn't make things any worse.
He closed the space between them, cupping her face with his hands, he kissed her.
She tensed for a moment but for just that because she wrapped her arms round his waist and returned the kiss, using her tip toes for extra height.
This was right. This was Snow.
They broke apart and pressed their foreheads together.
"Charming" she whispered into his lips before burying her face in his shoulder and collapsing into his embrace.
He immediately wrapped her up in his arms and held her steady as she let the tears fall. Whispering comfort and kissing her hair, he gently rubbed her back.
They stood for minutes before she pulled back and looked into his eyes again.
"This is your last chance Charming, you leave me again and that's it" she warns, and he can tell she means it.
"I promise you I will never leave you again. I'll spend every day with you and hold you every night. You'll never doubt how much I love you again Snow White. I would hurt myself before you" he tells her, never dropping eye contact and meaning every word.
"I'm pretty sure I'm crazy but I love you too Prince Charming" she replies before falling into his embrace again.
He stays good to his word, she never once doubts him and he never leaves her. To the surprise of no one, he moves his promise ring to her wedding finger and they are married within a year, both making unnecessary excuses about not wasting any more time. The year after that a baby comes along and everyone can see they love their child just as much as they do each other, which needless to say is a lot.
'It was just like a movie,
It was just like a song,
When we were young'
Fin.