Author's Note: I decided to put this one in the Outlaw Queen one-shot series, because, although it is mainly Snow Queen friendship/family feels, there are multiple references to Outlaw Queen UST. Also, part two of the principal Regina fic will be done soon, this one just REALLY wanted to get written first!

Please review and let me know if you're interested in me continuing to post these. Thanks!

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Something was wrong. Snow spotted it immediately as they came up the hill. David had taken out a group patrol just outside the protective barrier around the castle. It was a monthly security precaution that they set up soon after taking it back.

Since she got pregnant, of course, she'd been forced to stay behind. The group that went out today consisted of a few of the knights from the old days who had decided to go back to their old jobs, Robin Hood and the Merry Men, who had basically become a reconnaissance team since joining with the Storybrooke group, and, of course, Regina.

The Queen insisted on going on every one of these patrols, even-though she made no effort to hide how much she loathed the company. Snow was grateful, though, because Regina had been correct in her reasoning that they'd need her to uncover any magical traps the Wicked Witch had set. More than once she'd found and disarmed Zelena's dark magic.

As the party made their way up toward the gate, Snow saw Regina stumble in her steps. Robin Hood, who, as usual, was close by her side, helped her up, and, to Snow's surprise, Regina did not shrug him off until they were actually in the castle's courtyard.

Snow, who had been watching from an upper balcony, turned and hurried down the stairs to meet the group.

David and the knights greeted her as she stepped out into the courtyard.

"Any problems?" Snow asked, subtly glancing Regina's way. She was alarmed by what she saw. The Queen was extremely pale, and, even under her make up, Snow could see dark circles around her eyes.

"Just the usual," David reported, "We didn't see any flying monkeys, though. It almost seems like Zelena has given up on getting through our barrier.

Regina let out a noticeably raspy sigh, "If it seems like she's given up it means she's planning something!"

She gripped her chest after barking out the opinion.

"That may be true," Charming acknowledged, "We should increase our patrols within the barrier just in-case."

"Well that's your department," Regina bit out gruffly, before turning and storming her way inside.

Robin Hood and Snow both noticed the other's gaze following her retreat. Snow met his eyes and nodded subtly.

As Charming launched into a review of the castle's security measures, the princess excused herself and followed in the direction Regina had gone.

She found her former step-mother less than a hundred paces away leaning against a wall.

As Snow got closer she heard the other woman gasping for air. Her breath labored.

"Regina?"

The brunette whirled and opened her mouth, no doubt to say something scathing, but did not get that far. Instead she doubled over coughing violently.

"Regina, are you alright?" Snow gently patted her back.

She gasped sharply for breath, "I'm-"

The sentence was once again cut off by a fit of wheezing coughs. Her body jerked wildly and dark black blood spurted from her mouth.

"Oh my God!" Snow gasped, "Regina, what's wrong?"

She didn't answer, though, already coughing up another stream of blood that coated down her bodice all the way to her waist.

Snow held her up, encouraging her to breathe.

"You're burning up," she observed, "Just hang on, I'll go get Doc."

"No!" Regina gasped out, grabbing Snow by her gown as she turned to rush off.

She drew a wheezing breath, "I don't need the help of...some quack dwarf!"

"Yes, you do! You're sick!" Snow argued.

Fighting through coughs Regina forced the words out, "Not sick...poison."

"What?!" Snow asked in horror.

"Zelena...a trap...one of your idiot knights tripped it!"

"Is he okay?" she asked.

Regina nodded, "Intercepted it."

"You intercepted the trap? Why?"

"Thought...I could contain..." she gasped out in between coughs, "...done it before. Different this time."

Regina held her hand over her mouth but Snow could see that she was coughing up more blood as it ran down her wrist and through her fingers.

"What do I do?" she asked anxiously, "Regina, what do I do?"

"Need to get to my chambers..." Regina wheezed, "...magic."

"Ah...okay," Snow nodded quickly moving to help the other woman continue on. They made it to the stairwell, but at the first step Regina's legs seemed to go out from under her.

"Regina, I think I should go get someone."

"No!" Regina growled between clenched teeth as she clutched her chest painfully, "Get me to my chambers!"

Snow ducked under her arm to lift her back to her feet, and basically dragged her up the stairs.

The other woman collapsed through the doors once they arrived at her chambers. Snow moved to help her, but between coughs Regina ordered her to stay back.

Snow watched cautiously from the door way as she forced herself to her feet, stumbled to her vanity, and shakily rummaged through the potion bottles that littered the top. Finally, she picked up a bright green glass orb, which she smashed onto the floor. The shards evaporated into an identically colored miasma.

The vapors drifted up into the air, and Regina inhaled deeply, taking them all in.

She stood quietly for a moment taking deep breaths, before wavering on her feet. She stumbled a few steps toward the bed where she crumpled into a heap.

"Regina?" Snow called, cautiously stepping into the room. When she got to the bed she flipped Regina onto her back and shook her hard, calling her name again. The other woman showed no sign of response.

Turning, she rushed from the room yelling her husband's name.

"David!" she called again as she sprinted through the castle's wide marble corridors "David-"

She slowed when she saw David, as well as most of the patrolling party, running towards her in the opposite direction.

"Snow, what's wrong?" Charming asked, eyes wide with alarm.

"It's Regina, something's wrong!"

"What?!" Robin Hood and David demanded simultaneously.

"What do you mean? What's wrong?"

"She said there was a poison. Some kind of trap the Wicked Witch left," Snow explained quickly.

David looked alarmed, "There was a trap, but she stopped it like she always does."

"Apparently it was worse this time."

"Is she alright?" Robin asked.

"I don't know. She used some kind of magic thing and it seemed to help, but now I can't wake her up!"

The three rushed up the stairs, both men quickly out pacing Snow. When they made it to Regina's bedroom, the two were clearly shocked by sight of the blood covered Queen.

"David, I don't know what to do."

"I don't either," he shook his head, "Do you...do you think we should ask Blue if she can help?"

"Yes!" Snow decided immediately, "I'll call her right now."

With that she rushed off to their chamber where she kept the summoning crystal that Blue had given her before taking the fairies back to their realm.

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The Blue Fairy arrived fairly quickly, though it was a tense wait.

David, Robin Hood, all of the Merry Men, and even a few of their knights had gathered in Regina's chambers, so the room was crowded. On top of that, word of what happened had spread fast, and few more people began arriving to see what was going on. Snow suspected that, for many of them, it was out of curiosity and worry this might be a trick of the Wicked Witch's.

She sent away as many as she could, but a few people including, to her surprise, Grumpy, refused to leave.

When Blue flew in from the balcony Snow and David quickly filled her in on what happened.

The fairy spent about 10 minutes looking over Regina, and occasionally asking questions about the trap she'd walked into.

"It looks like a body corruption potion," Blue told them, "From how it attacked her respiratory system, most likely in powder form."

"Will she be alright?" Snow asked.

"The orb you described, it sounds like a healing vapor. It's a form of dark magic that forcefully repairs any physical damage from injury or illness. It's harsh, though," Blue explained with a disapproving look on her face, "It likely exhausted her. Also, if any of the poison made it into her blood it will take time to work its way out. She may feel the effects for several hours."

"But she'll recover?"

"Only time will tell for certain," Blue declared pragmatically, "But there's nothing else I can do for her."

David thanked Blue quietly and walked her to the balcony where she flew off back to the fairy realm.

"Alright! Everyone out!" Snow ordered as walked over to the bed and began undoing the laces of Regina's blood soaked corset.

"David, not you," she halted him as he began following the crowd out the door, "I need you to lift her into the bathtub for me."

The expression on his face was a classic deer in the headlight's look.

"Um, I don't-"

She raised her head, pinning him with a look that conveyed that it hadn't been a request.

"Okay," Charming finally answered with a sigh.

She rolled her eyes at the fact that his demeanor would suggested he was going to his own execution. Snow couldn't decide if it was comical or just over-dramatic coming from someone who'd battled dragons.

And, judging by the smirk he was (barely) trying to hide, there was at least one man in the room who probably would have liked to volunteer for the job.

Regina would definitely be mortified by that, though, so her husband was the best option. He would just have to get over it.

As Charming shut the door behind the last of the crowd, Snow went back to stripping off Regina's soiled clothing.

Once she managed to get her out of all of her complex Evil Queen garb, she filled up the tub in the attached bathing room. During her childhood running water had been a luxury that only her family's castle and a few other places had. The water was lukewarm, but Snow was grateful for it all the same.

David carried Regina into the bathing room and lowered her into the water without complaint, but quickly retreated afterward.

After a moment's thought Snow took a sheet from the wardrobe and draped it over the edges of the tub. She knew that deep down Regina was actually more modest than her provocative outfits would suggest, and it was about more than her body being seen. She kept so much of herself hidden. She always had. For much longer than Snow ever imagined.

With a sigh, she picked up a cloth and set to work.

The blood she coughed up had dried from Regina's lips to her chest in malevolent looking streaks. Grimacing at the sight, Snow carefully washed away every inky speck.

Regina protested, batting weakly at the cloth a few times, but Snow took the fact that she was moving as a positive sign. Once she had finished cleaning her skin, the princess pulled a stool over and, with a bath sheet and bowl in her lap, meticulously washed her hair.

It was a frustrating process since the only things she had to work with were talc and apple cider vinegar. Particularly since, like her own, Regina's hair was now extremely long.

With a smirk she considered that maybe she should ask Regina if she could conjure shampoo with magic. If she could it would probably instantly make her the most popular person in the castle!

Snow laughed to herself, acknowledging that the thought was an exaggeration...but only barely.

In public Snow didn't take part in any of the gripe sessions about "things we miss about the Land Without Magic." She wanted to set a good example for their people and encourage them accept that they were back to a simpler life, but, in truth, her list was as long as anyone else's; including Happy with his unrivaled love of gadgets.

With a sigh, Snow looked at the woman next to her, "You'd better be alright, ya know? We need you here. You helped make this our home as much as anyone."

It was true. When they first took back the castle, she and David had decided it was for the best to keep referring to Regina as the Queen, while the two of them kept the titles Prince and Princess. At first it had been for the sake of the three of them showing a united front, but, to her own surprise, she found the roles ended up being surprisingly fitting.

Even when they took King George's castle, she and David had always been war-time leaders. Fighters at heart. Regina was more of a natural manager. Perhaps it was from being mayor in the other world for nearly 30 years, though Snow suspected there was more to it than that.

Moving an entire town's worth of people into a castle that stood unoccupied for decades had been problematic to say the least. There was enough space behind the walls, but even the task of feeding everyone was a challenge. The people naturally looked to Granny and Red, but they were only used to cooking in bulk with electricity and Land Without Magic appliances. In this land they had been simple farmers.

They tried their best, of course, and never complained, but the poor women were quickly overwhelmed by the demands of preparing enough to feed an entire castle. In the end, Regina recruited the person who ran the kitchens before the curse back into the position.

That had been somewhat embarrassing for Snow, because the woman was the head of the cafeteria at her school in Storybrooke. They saw each other almost every day, but Snow had never asked who she was back in their land.

Not that it, in any way, excused what Regina had done to him, but, moving back into her father's castle, and the difficulties of doing so, ended up showing Snow some harsh truths. One of which was that, for all the times her father spoke of her succeeding him and becoming Queen, there was surprising amount he'd failed to teach her about what ruling this land actually took.

It was very disturbing considering why that might be. She'd always known her father as the kindest of men, and as a beloved King. However, his lessons in ruling had mostly focused on processions where they visited people throughout the kingdom. He'd always said that the people needed the presence of their King. To see and know who their leader was.

It made sense at the time, but, looking back, she did wonder who was actually running the kingdom during all the time they spent traveling. When she was really young she remembered her mother running the castle, and constantly being at her desk looking over papers that Snow was too young to understand.

All that time, had her mother been the one doing most of the work? And had Regina eventually taken over those tasks?

It was a bitter pill to swallow, realizing that her father might not have been the perfect King she'd always thought him to be.

Brushing away her distracted musings, Snow eased Regina's head around over the tub so that she could rinse her hair out.

As the cold water slid over her scalp, Regina lifted her head with a confused gasp. She blinked at Snow with delirious, uncomprehending eyes.

"Mother?" she murmured under her breath.

"Uh...it's me, Regina. Snow White."

With a soft hum Regina leaned her head back against the edge of the tub and drifted off again.

Snow stared open mouthed for a second. That was startling.

She had learned the hard way just what sort of person Cora Mills actually was, and she could only imagine what growing up would have been like with her as a mother.

However, seeing Regina, a woman she'd always known to be poised, intelligent, powerful, even fearsome, looking so vulnerable...as if, deep down, she was actually still a child longing for a mother's love.

The thought was heartbreaking.

Clearing her throat, Snow set aside the bowl she'd used to clean Regina's hair, and stood. She pulled the sheet off the tub, and with some words of encouragement and tug at her arm got the other woman to stand up on her own.

Snow quickly wrapped her up in a clean bath sheet, and lead her back into her bed chamber. The princess had to support her most of the way, as she was still groggy and unaware of her surroundings, but at least she was strong enough to be on her feet for a short time.

To Snow's relief, she got Regina to the bed and into a nightgown before she passed out again. As Snow pulled the thick comforter up, she briefly felt her forehead. The bath seemed to have helped bring her fever down.

Satisfied that all was well for the moment, Snow exited her former step-mother's chambers and made her way down the corridor to the ones she and Charming shared.

Stepping inside, she found David sitting next to the fireplace. He stood as she entered.

"Hey. Is everything alright?"

"I guess," she answered, "She woke up for a little while, but was pretty out of it. I don't think we'll be able to tell until morning."

David sighed, "Well, I'm sure she'll be alright."

"I hope so," Snow bit her lip, "Seeing something hurt Regina this much...imagine what it could do to someone who didn't know how to handle magic-"

"I know," he acknowledged.

"David, we can't afford to lose her now."

"Snow," he stepped forward and gripped her hands reassuringly, "You and I know better than anyone how strong Regina is. She'll get through this."

She nodded, "I need to get back."

"What?" he asked.

"We still don't know what all this poison did. I need to stay with her until we're sure she's better."

"But, you shouldn't exhaust yourself," he argued, "We can find someone else to sit with her tonight."

"I'm not exhausting myself."

"Snow, I now you're worried about Regina, but you need to be reasonable," he persisted, "think about the baby."

Snow bristled at the implied accusation in the words, but she reminded herself that this was her husband. He loved her. He was just worried about her.

"David, the baby is fine, and so am I. I'm just going to sleep on the couch in her room tonight," she said to him steadily and leaned up to give him a soft peck on the lips, "I love you. I'll see you in the morning."

He didn't exactly look happy with the decision, but kissed her back and saw her out the door without argument.

Back in Regina's chambers she found the other woman sleeping undisturbed.

Satisfied that there was nothing more she could do for the moment, Snow retrieved an extra blanket from the wardrobe and settled down onto Regina's couch to get some sleep.

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Snow woke the next morning to Regina's voice calling her name. She blinked her eyes open, finding Regina sitting up in her bed.

"You're awake!" Snow tossed back the blanket and rose from the couch.

"What happened?" Regina asked hoarsely.

"You ran into a nasty curse from Zelena."

"I know that," Regina answered irritatedly, "I meant after-"

"Well apparently that healing magic took a lot out of you," Snow explained, "You were delirious."

The Queen looked at her, "Did I...?"

"What?" Snow prompted.

"Nothing," she shook her head, moving to the edge of the bed, "I'm fine now. You can go,"

"No!" seeing that she was planning to try getting up, the princess rushed forward and pushed her back down.

"Excuse me?" Regina demanded.

Snow hesitated for a moment. Stopping her had been instinctive, but she and Regina's relationship was still tricky. She always had to make an effort not to overstep.

However, Snow also contemplated what Regina had unknowingly revealed last night. True, she hadn't been in her right mind, but...

Straightening her spine Snow stated, "Well, as your nurse, I can't very well let you get out of bed until you prove that you can keep down water and clear liquids."

Regina looked at her incredulously, "You're not serious!"

"Of course, I am," Snow answered, reaching over to the nightstand to pour her a glass of water from the pitcher. She held the glass out to the former Evil Queen expectantly, "So just stay where you are, and if you do alright with this I'll have some broth brought up for breakfast."

Regina rolled her eyes and snatched the glass harshly, but didn't seem intent on throwing fireballs or trying to get up again.

With a triumphant smirk, Snow turned to head to the corridor and, hopefully, catch a servant going past.

She knew this was a strange turn of events, but their dynamic had always been strange. Snow had once expected Regina to be a mother to her, but maybe what they actually needed was, somewhat, the other way around.

THE END