So sorry for the extremely long delay. Life. Anyway, this one is short but the next installment will arrive quickly. As always, thank you for reading!
It was Tuesday. Not his birthday, not Christmas, not any other day that would hold any significance, but it was a Tuesday that broke her. She felt the emptiness hit her square in the chest, harder than any physical blow she'd ever endured and Regina staggered under the force of it. She had welcomed the distraction of the Wicked Witch, found herself looking forward to the next attack that she could thwart by firing magic at her simian army that burned in her blood and forced her to focus on the rage, the pain, everything but the thing she loved most. The child lost to her forever.
Regina couldn't breathe. The loss was suffocating. She needed air, needed to get away from this prison that held too much darkness. So she ran. Her feet pounded the forest floor, skirts tearing on branches. She ran until she could hear nothing but the blood pulsing in her ears, feel nothing but the sweat on her skin and the burning in her muscles. She ran until she collapsed in a tangled heap of dress and shaking limbs and then she screamed.
Snow was pregnant. David smiled, he held her, told her how happy he was, how much he loved her, and how he agreed: this child would fill the void in their lives since being sent back to the Enchanted Forest. And he was, truly was all of those things, but he was also furious. Unlike his wife, David hadn't given up hope of being reunited with their daughter. He missed his life in Storybrooke; the curse Regina had cast gave him opportunities he would never have had here, even as king. Especially as king. He missed working with his daughter, teaching his grandson to sword fight, having a beer at Granny's with Leroy. He missed being David Nolan. Maybe it was selfish, but he had never asked for this life and was growing weary of always having to be Prince Charming.
The Prince had no destination in mind when he mounted his horse and headed into the woods. He just needed to clear his head, to get away from stone walls, ceremony, and duty. He concentrated on the steady rhythm of the stallion's hooves, trusting the beast to take him where it would.
She'd somehow found her way to their little shack in the woods. Somehow her magic seemed to draw her to this place. Regina heard him approach, his horse utterly spent from the hard gallop from the castle. She wondered if he planned on coming back here, or, if like herself, it was just where he needed to be. She didn't move when he came through the door, made no excuse for her disheveled appearance, or offered no explanation for her being there. She didn't have the energy or the will to put her walls back up. It was only David, after all, and he'd already seen them come crashing down.
She wasn't broken when he came upon her; David had come to realize that there was no force strong enough to break Regina Mills. But she was as close as he'd ever seen her and David knew he was one of the few that had seen her teetering on the edge of falling apart. It was a curious bond that he had with the queen. He was certain on some level they both still hated each other deeply, but it was a feeling he was finding it harder to hold on to. They were both two people: Regina and the Queen, David and the Prince. They understood that, respected that, often reminded the other with a look or an inconsequential touch which persona was needed.
David said nothing when he entered the abandoned cabin. The fact that Regina was curled into herself on the tattered cot should have surprised him, but somehow it didn't. She didn't move when he tossed his cloak at her feet; she didn't blink when he sat next to her; she didn't flinch when he pulled back the hair that had fallen lose from her braid; she didn't pull away when he leaned in to kiss her.
He didn't know he had ever thought about kissing her until his fingers were tangled in the hair at her neck and her lips were moving softly against his. There was a fleeting moment when he thought that he shouldn't be doing this, when he remembered that what had driven him from the castle today was Snow's incessant hope-filled bantering about the announcement of their pregnancy. David stopped. He pulled his lips away but didn't release her neck as he stared at her with wide eyes that showed the uncertainty of his actions.
"You should go, Charming." Her whispered words echoed in the silence that surrounded them. Regina patted his cheek and ran her thumb across the first lips that had touched hers in years.
He should go. Every part of David knew this to be true. He should get up, get back on his horse and get himself back to his wife, back to duty; trusting Regina to never speak of this indiscretion again. So why wasn't he moving? Why were his fingers still exploring her skin? Why were his eyes still darting between her bloodshot eyes and swollen lips? "And if I don't want to?" he finally asked.
She was quiet a moment too long and David expected her to vanish in a dramatic cloud of purple, or to use her magic to send him back to his wife, but she didn't. "Then you should kiss me again." There was desperation in her voice that David had rarely heard. Her entire being shook with it. She was alone, he realized. While he was running from, she was running to.
Rating is going up next chapter. If that's not your thing, please skip to the end. Best!