Next chapter! Okay, I'm terribly sorry for the long wait! I hit a rough path with my depression, and it makes me not want to write. I'm starting up again, though, so I will not leave you hanging for four more years.

Disclaimer is in the first chapter!

Previously

…Rocinante made a noise and shook his head and stamped his hoof. I yelped and jumped back a few feet and Regina burst out laughing. It was the most beautiful sound I had ever heard. She held her hand out to me. I took a deep breath,

"Oh, boy."

before taking her hand and moving closer to the horse, whom I was pretty sure was planning to kill me.

"Oh, Emma!" Regina giggled as I fell off the saddle for the fourth time in 20 minutes. We weren't moving anywhere yet. Regina was holding the reins to keep Rocinante from running, and trampling me.

"How about you ride, and I'll sit here on the fence and watch?" I suggested. I really did not want to get back on that horse. Regina, however, was having none of it.

"No. Wait, I have an idea." She hoisted herself up onto the horse and scooted as far forward as she could in the saddle. She looked so happy, so free. And ever the Queen. I found myself wondering what it would be like to get my Regina to go riding. She might loosen up a little. I was drawn from my thoughts by this Regina calling out to me. "Emma! Get up here." She patted the saddle behind her and smiled brightly.

"We're not going to fit." I started to protest, "Yes we are! Come on. It's not respectful do deny the Queen what she wants."

I reluctantly moved closer to the pair and, slowly, pulled myself up into the saddle, with much less grace than Regina had used. I slid in snugly behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist to keep from falling. Again. I may have let out a very non-badass yelp when we started moving, and tightened my arms around her. The faster we went, the tighter I held. I missed holding her, but at the same time, it felt a little like I was cheating.

The wind blew past us, along with everything else, and I felt like I was flying. Regina guided the huge animal beneath us with such precision and delicacy; she practically turned it into an art form. We galloped through a pasture, down a winding dirt road and came to a stop at a stream flowing peacefully along the edge of the forest. We dismounted, and Regina lead the huge creature to the water. I stood back, watching her laugh as Rocinante splashed water all over her, and himself. She tied him to a three, and turned to face me.

"Are you going to keep standing there, Emma, or are we going for a swim?" She sounded so innocent, so like a child, and I realised then that this was probably one of the very few moments she had of being one. I felt a pang of sadness in my chest, and I wanted so much to envelope her in my arms. She was forced to grow up so quickly, although to what extent, I had not even begun to understand.

I heard a splash of water, and looked up to find her gone. Before long her head bobbed up from under the water. Her hair clung to her cheeks and I couldn't help but think of my Regina. How she looked when she got out of the shower, or on those rare occasions when she would actually get in the pool, instead of just lounging in a chair. I missed her.

"Emma! Are you coming?" she asked. "Uhm…" I looked around sceptically, and my eyes landed on a neatly folded pile of clothes. Regina's clothes. "Wait, are you naked?" I should have known, Regina would never go swimming fully dressed. My cheeks reddened. "No, Emma. I have my underclothes on. Now are you coming or not?" I looked at the water and determined that, once inside, neither of us would be able to see anything. "Fine, turn around." she giggled, but did as I asked. I slipped out of my clothes and made my way over to the water. I dived in just as she turned back to see what was taking me so long. It was freezing. I sputtered to the surface and tried to catch my breath. "Crap, Regina! You could have told me it was below freezing!"

"It's not, technically, the stream would be frozen then." she swam towards me with a mischievous glint in her eyes. I slowly started paddling backwards.

"Well, it's close enough. What are you doing?" I didn't trust myself too close to a half-naked Regina, and the determined look on her face reminded me of when Regina, my Regina, wanted something…personal…from me.

"I'm swimming," she ducked under the water suddenly. I scanned the surface of the water for a sign of where she might be, I saw nothing, but I felt something grab my ankle and pull me under. When I resurfaced, she was a few feet ahead of me, laughing at my dishevelled look. "I'll get you for that." I said as I made my way over to her. She shrieked and started swimming toward the shore. She made it out before I got to her. I was about to follow her, and throw her back in the water, when my eyes caught faint bruises on her stomach, hips and inner thighs. Some looked like they were in the final stages of healing, others were more recent. "Regina…"

Her smile faded as she realised what I was looking at. She turned to get her clothes, but I was out of the water and at her side in moments. "It's nothing, just leave it." She started to put her shirt back on, I stopped her. "No Regina, that isn't nothing. What happened? Who did this to you?" I reached out to gently run my fingers over an oddly shaped bruise on her hip, it was only when my hand touched her skin that I realised what the shape was. Fingers. She shied away from me and wrapped her arms protectively around herself. Her eyes were filled with unshed tears. "Regina…I am so sorry. This is...you're…No one should touch you like that!" I was close to crying myself. Regina had told me terrible stories of the things that had happened to her in The Enchanted Forest, but she had not once mentioned this. A single tear slid down her cheek, and she whispered, almost too soft for me to hear "The King can do as He pleases." Leopold. My blood boiled. If I ever met the man, I would kill him.

I took a step closer to her and put my hands on her shoulders. "No, he can't. He can't hurt you like this, Regina." I pulled her close to me, she allowed it, but didn't remove her arms from between us. She spoke softly against my neck, "I belong to him, Emma. Mother says I should be what he wants me to. Do as he commands. It's what a good wife does."

My heart broke into a million pieces. "That's bullshit. No one should get to do anything to you that you don't want. No matter what they are. You should be respected, and loved, and treated like a princess. And anyone who doesn't, well they don't deserve you. Any of you." She relaxed into my embrace. I felt her body shake with silent sobs.

"Do you love me?" I was shocked at the question, but she continued, "In your time, I mean. Do you love your Regina?" She lifted her head to look into my eyes, I saw so much pain. And so much longing. I was swept up the moment. I placed a loving kiss on her lips. She kissed back, and finally let her arms slip from between us, to encircle my shoulders. We clung to each other, kissing like our lives depended on it. And maybe it did.

Later, after drying out in the sun, we let go of each other to get dressed. "You're going to make me get back on that thing again, aren't you?" I eyed the horse suspiciously. He paid me no mind.

"Well, it is long way to walk back to the stables, Emma." She sounded happy again, although I knew now that it was just an act. I sighed as I tucked the shirt into the trousers, and walk over to her. She untied Rocinante and told me to get on. I just stared at her. "You're sitting in front this time."

"What, why?"

"Because I said so, now come on. Up you go." She gave me a little boost, and I nearly fell, head first, off on the other side. She snickered, and I gave her a stern look. It only managed to turn her snickering into full fletched laughter. "Move forward a bit Emma." she patted me on my lower back. She hoisted herself up onto the horse, and I subconsciously tilted my body slightly forward, in order to avoid touching her bruised thighs. She took hold of the reigns, trapping me with her arms on either side of my body, and made a clicking sound with her tongue. The horse started slowly walking up the path. The path was somewhat bumpy, and my leaning forward now caused the pommel of the saddle to bump against my groin. It hurt. "Wait stop!" I half shouted. Regina made a shush sound and Rocinante stopped in his tracks. "What's wrong?" she asked, she was leaning her head on my shoulder to get a look at my face.

"Well, I…this is uncomfortable." I suddenly didn't know how to voice my problem. It seems like she understood, though. She transferred the reins to one hand and used the other to pull my body upright, and flush against hers. "That is because you're not sitting properly." She said with slight amusement. Her left hand stayed on my stomach as she clicked for the Rocinante to move once more. Soon, we were galloping back through the same pasture, toward the stables.