They are walking together, fast, in sync, still talking and laughing. They've managed to cover a lot of ground.

"We should stop," she says, you didn't get hardly any rest last night. It's your turn." He wants to argue that he could go longer but he does feel exhausted. "I don't know if we should build a fire tonight," she adds.
"Because of the black knights?" he asks.
She nods.
"You are right, we shouldn't, just in case."
"We do have an extra blanket, you shouldn't be too cold," she explains. They sit down together and they talk for a while. It's easier to talk in the dark, she notices.
"How long have you worked for king George?" she asks.
He shrugs. "As long as I can remember."
"Is he as terrible as they say?"
"Worse."
"How?"she wants to know.
"Well his kingdom is bankrupt," he replies, "so he is in a foul mood all day everyday. He'd show up at the stables every other day and change the rules trying to say that I did everything wrong. You know, saying you must do this first thing every morning and then show up and say how come this wasn't done last night or this afternoon,or at noon?' Just waiting to find out what I did so he could change the rules afterwards..."
"Just with you, or everybody else?"
"I don't know, I always worked alone."
"'You were the only one working at the stables?"
He nods.
"Well he sounds awful. How did he expect one guy to take care of all his horses?"
"I don't know. I must have done something to him in the past that I don't remember..."
"No, not necessarily" she says and she places her hand on his shoulder. "He's a tyrant. That's what tyrants do," she says."Besides you have sword fighting skills. He is completely wasting your talent making you work at the stables."
He glances at her. It feels so weird and unexpected to have someone finally on his side.
"You should get some rest," she adds.
"Alright. Don't let me sleep more than five hours," he says. "Do you know which star comes out in about five hours?"
"The eastern star, right? They also call it the fairy star on the shepherd's crook constellation?" she asks.
He turns and looks at her surprised."Yes, but only shepherds call it that. When the eastern star comes out, wake me up."
She nods and she hands him their blankets.
He lays down and he thinks about today's events and how today was by far the most adventurous and fun day as far as he can remember. He closes his eyes. As soon as his breathing becomes even and she knows he is asleep she takes a couple of steps towards the moonlight and she pulls down her shirt exposing her right shoulder. She tries to see if she does have a mole on her right shoulder. She can't see anything. He opens his eyes and he sees her bathed in the moonlight, her shoulder exposed, long curls falling down her back, she looks as if she's a fairy herself. He forces himself to close his eyes and turn to the other side. She hears him stir and she pulls her shirt back on just in case. As she is buttoning up her shirt she notices that there is a string hanging around her neck. She pulls it up. There's a ring hanging from it. She looks at it surprised. She inspects it in the moonlight. She does have a ring after all. Its a silver band with a light green stone. She looks at the stone and can't remember what its called. It's a beautiful ring. She takes it off her neck and she puts it on her finger. She then takes it off and wraps it in a piece of cloth and hides it in their bag in the folds of the white dress she picked up at Philip's house. She walks around to stretch her legs. She is feeling really tired and cold.

He is in a large banquet hall in front of a large dining table filled with the most amazing variety of foods. There are trays of meats, three different turkeys and several types of breads, bowls of fruits and some amazing looking deserts he can't even name. He is sitting at a large chair when Mary Margaret pulls out her knife and puts it at his throat.
"What are you doing?" he asks.
"Helping you remember!" she replies. "Tell me husband, what does my ring look like?"
Philip is sitting right next to him.
"A golden band with a diamond!" Philip says. Mary Margaret looks at David and asks "Is he right?"
David shakes his head.
"A ruby!" Philip says. Mary Margaret looks at David.
He shakes his head.
"An amethyst?"
David shakes his head.
"A sapphire? An emerald? A pearl?" Philip tries again.
Mary Margaret steps behind him and whispers in his ear. "Do you want to help him out? He is never going to get it!"
"A peridot." he says.
She turns around and smiles. "That's right. Now ask yourself, David, how do you know that?"

He opens his eyes. It's morning. He sits up. Where did she go? Wasn't she supposed to wake him up earlier? Maybe she fell asleep too. Their bag is still here, her cape is here, her bow and quiver is here but she is not. He grabs the bag, her weapons and her cape, he hangs his sword on his belt and he looks around carefully. There are several sets of foot prints and several broken twigs so he follows the trail. It has to be black knights. How could he sleep through Mary Margaret being kidnapped? He is going as fast as he can, he can't loose her, he just can't. He's only known her for two days and yet he feels all this intense anxiety for her fate. He follows the trail for a couple of hours. And then he reaches a stream. How is he supposed to track them through water?
You might as well forget her, she's gone, a voice that sounds strangely like king George says. He shakes his head and doesn't reply. If it's black knights then they are taking her to Regina's kingdom. Regina's kingdom is towards the North, so he turns to the North guided by blind faith more than anything else. He walks fast, scanning the ground with his eyes, when he sees signs of struggle on the ground. Someone got dragged . If they are dragging her, if they hurt her, he is going to end them, it's as simple as that. He is running now, running as fast as he can when he hears them. He hides behind a tree and looks. They are at a clearing about a hundred feet away. They must be taking a break. She is sitting on the ground, her hands tied behind her back and a piece of cloth tied around her mouth. He counts five of them but he assumes that there must be more. He nocks an arrow on her bow. He aims at the guy that's a few feet away from her. The guy falls down, David's arrow sticking out of his heart. Her eyes get big as she follows the trajectory of the arrow and she sees him as he aims for the leader of the group this time. The guy falls down with a thud and now the remaining three are scrambling for cover. One of them rushes up to her with a knife in his hand so she knows she better do something now. This whole time she's been working on the ropes binding her hands so she releases her hands with a final tag, she ducks and grabs the sword of the fallen knight next to her and she rams the guy walking towards her. David is running towards them, sword in hand fighting the two guys remaining. She removes the cloth form her mouth and she watches him as he ducks and turns, pulls out the second sword and with two swift moves both guys are on the ground.
"Is there any more of them?" he asks.
"No, I don't think so."
"Are you alright? What happened?"
"I'm not sure. I think I fell asleep, and when I woke up I was already gagged and I couldn't make any noise. How did you find me?"
"They weren't very careful, they left footprints everywhere. I actually lost their tracks at the water but then there were signs of a scuffle at the other side.
She smiles. "Yes, I thought it'd be hard to track us after the water so I decided a bit of resistance was in order. I gave them a hard time."
"Good thinking. Did they hurt you?"
She shrugs, "not really."
He knows that means yes and he can feel his blood boil. He grabs the body of the closest knight and he drags him to the side.
"Do you need help?" she asks and she helps him with the other two bodies. Then he walks to the fourth guy and he takes his helmet and armor off. He does the same with the fifth guy. Then they drag the other two bodies and over them up with branches and leaves as best as they can.
"Here's what I am thinking," he says, "you said that the Queen can see us through reflective surfaces but the best way to disappear is if we walk up stream towards the east. So we become dark knights for a while. It will take her some time to figure out what we are doing. What do you think?"
"It's a really good plan," she says.
He looks at her and then he looks down. Having someone agree with him and tell him his ideas are good is not something that has happened to him a lot, not till the last couple of days. "I'll go change first." He disappears in the bushes and when he comes out she jumps. The sight of a black knight still scares her. He takes the helmet off.
"Sorry" he says.
"No, it's good, you look very convincing."
It's her turn to put on her disguise. The armor is a little big but she makes it work. She comes back out.
"How can they stand those awful helmets that cover up their whole face?" she asks.
"I don't know. Look, you don't have to wear it until we reach the water."
They walk upstream for five hours. It is so much harder walking in the water and they also are carrying their bags and their clothes. Mary Margaret has a hard time breathing through the dark knight helmet.
"I didn't say thank you," she tells David. "You saved my life."
"You can totally handle a sword," he says. "We should keep one of their swords for you."
"Alright," she agrees and then she says "I want you to show me how to do the move with the two swords. It looks familiar. I think maybe I used to know how to do it."
"Sure," he says and they walk, they walk, they walk some more. It's almost dark when they get out of the water and walk back into the forest. He starts a fire while she changes to her regular clothes, then she stands by the fire to warm up and dry up. She pulls all the food they have out of the bag and she munches on bread while she waits for him to come back. He walks back and hands her both his swords. Then he grabs the black knight's sword.
"Do you know what to do first?" he asks.
She nods. She swings the sword on her right hand at him and as he blocks she drops to her knee turns and swings the sword on her left hand.
"That's right, that's really good" he says, "now try doing it faster."
"What do I do if there's a third guy on the left?" she asks.
"You block with your left. Try the first move one more time then I'll show you."
She starts over and as she swings the sword with her right hand she winces in pain.
"What's going on?" he asks. "Are you hurt?"
"It's nothing, just a scratch," she says.
"Let me see" he asks.
She want to argue that she's had a lot worse but she just knows that he will just stand there until she complies so she takes off her cape and pulls up her sleeve.
There is a scratch on her arm that looks swollen and infected.
"Oh, no," he says. "Did the black knights do that?"
"Yes, what is it?"she asks. "It didn't look that bad earlier."
"You've been marked," he explains. "They cut you with a blade dipped in a special poison. This way if you escape them they are certain... the Queen has the antidote."
"Certain that I'll die?" she asks and looks at him.
He pauses. He can't let her die, he just can't. She sits down on the ground.
"You are not dying," he says, "not on my watch. We'll figure this out."
"Look," she says, "you've done more than enough for me already, it's not like anyone is going to miss me," she says. "My life has been pretty awful anyway," she says and as he hears her saying that, he wants to argue, he wants to make her see how important she is. He doesn't know how, he doesn't know hardly anything about her. He knows better than to bring up the baby now that she might be dying.
He sits next to her. "Well that can't be true," he argues.
She looks at him and doesn't reply.
"I'll miss you," he adds.
She looks at him, a sad smile on her face. "That's very sweet of you to say David, but the truth is that I'm in your way. If you weren't trying to help me you could be on your way looking for your wife," she says.
That's strange, he thinks that ever since Mary Margaret got kidnapped this morning he hasn't thought of his wife, not even one time.
"Well you are not dying, Mary Margaret, we'll figure something out" he says. "Are you hungry?"
He knows she needs to eat now before fever takes over so he gives her most of the food and plenty of water and he bandages her arm as tight as she can stand it to prevent from any more swelling. Then he throws dirt on the fire.
"Why?" she asks. I thought we were spending the night here."
"We can't," he replies and he hopes that she won't ask him why.
She looks at him questioningly.
"They marked you because they really want you alive. That means there are definitely more knights coming. And even thought we bought ourselves some time we need to keep moving," he explains.
She nods and tries to get up but she cannot. She looks at him, and the world around him is spinning.
"Mary Margaret!" he yells and he grabs her on time right before her body crushes to the ground.
"Let me go, just save yourself," she mumbles.
He shakes his head. He is going to save her if its the last thing he ever does, even if it kills him in the process. He doesn't quite understand why but he knows he absolutely has to.
He gathers all their belongings he straps her sword and her bow to his back, then he picks her up, careful not to push on her hurt arm, as one would carry a small child. Her head leans on his shoulder. She is pretty light, he thinks. She wasn't kidding when she said the Queen made her skip meals.
"Are you ready?" he asks. She mumbles something. He starts heading east. He is walking slowly carefully, trying not to leave any foot prints behind but he knows that an expert tracker could easily follow him.
"Come on," he mumbles, "We can do this," more to himself than anybody else.
Are you really that desperate for someone's approval that you are willing to drag a dead woman through the forest? The voice in his head that sounds like king George asks.
He shakes his head. She is very much alive and I am going to keep her that way. This isn't about me. This has nothing to do with me.
Keep telling yourself that, the cruel voice says. The truth is you like the half dead girl. You think you have a chance with her. Once she figures out how incompetent you are, she isn't going to want anything to do with you. They kidnapped her from right under your nose.
He laughs. "The good thing about being in the forest, carrying a sick woman, chased by black knights is that I don't have to listen to you anymore. I don't have to do your bidding. Ever!" he replies and that makes the voice go silent .
He walks for fifteen minutes then he rests for five, he is making progress but its too slow.
He places Mary Margaret down, one more time. He feels her forehead. She is burning up. He puts some cold water on a cloth and places it in her head. She winces and opens her eyes and looks at him.
"Hi Charming," she says quietly. "Were have you been?"
He knows she is not really talking to him but he replies anyway.
"I'm here. I am not going anywhere. But you got to stay with me, alright?"
She nods.
"What's your name?" he asks.
"Did you forget my name Charming?' she asks and smiles.
"I did, help me out," he says.
"You can call me whatever you like. Names are not that important," she replies and closes here eyes.
"Mary Margaret wake up!" he says.
She turns around and asks "Is the baby safe Charming?"
He desperately wants to say yes, but he can't lie to her, not when she is laying there looking at him with so much trust in her eyes.
"I don't know," he replies. "That's where we are going, to get your baby. But you got to stay with me, I can't do this on my own."
"I'm too tired," she whispers. "You can go get her and bring her to me. I want to say goodbye."
"NO, no goodbyes, no!" he feels as if he's going to cry and he knows it makes no sense because he's just met this woman. "You can't leave me! Please stay with me!"
She looks at him and whispers " I'm so sorry."
He pulls her hand in his. "Look, all you have to do is hold on. I'll do all the work. Just try for me please?"
She nods and closes her eyes. He feels her forehead. She is still burning up. If she dies he is going to go to the Queens castle and burn it to the ground, he decides.
He lifts her up again and he walks further away. He tries to remember all the new information he just got about her. Its' not much. She is really in love with the guy who fathered her child. Her whole expression changes when she talks to him. She is sweet and kind and all her usual sass and anger is gone. She is a whole different person really. He feels a little envious of the guy who gets such a drastic personality change out of her. He wonders if he deserves it. He wonders who she was before the Queen messed with her head. Probably a little bit of both, he figures. Both tough and kind. He wonders where he is right now. Probably rotting in the Queens dungeon somewhere. Maybe he can find him too. He envisions Mary Margaret walking away with her guy and her baby and that thought makes him feel so alone, so broken. You can't fall in love with her, he tells himself. He wonders if its too late. Does he love her already? You have a wife somewhere you promised to find, he thinks and that thought alone seems to sober him up a bit. It's time to rest again. He places her down gently on the ground.
"Mary Margaret?" he asks. "How are you feeling?"
She opens her eyes and glances around. "I've been here before," she says.
"Have you? That's great. You remember. What's your name?" he asks.
She doesn't reply.
That's when he hears thunder.
"Ιt's going to rain. We have to take cover," he says.
"Why don't you go to my tree stump?" she asks.
"Your what? Where?"
"It's just ten trees over," she replies.
So he lifts her up and he walks towards the direction she pointed. There is a hallowed out tree stump just like where she said it would be. Its like a tiny room barely big enough for both of them to fit in. He puts her down, again. She is still burning up.
"This is great," he says." Please wake up!" But this time she doesn't stir at all. He puts a wet cloth back in her forehead. He folds a blanket and places it under her head. He takes her boots off, he opens her vest. He doesn't know what else to do. He sits next to her and holds her hand. He looks at her injured arm. The sight of it scares him.
"You have to fight his," he says. "You are a fighter, you are tough, you can do this. Come on." He sits beside her for the rest of the night, wetting her forehead. There is a storm outside, lightening and thunder. They are safe and warm inside this strange little hiding place. He realizes that all his tracks are being washed away. They are definitely safe from the Queen's knights. He ends up falling asleep leaning at the wall.

Lightening strikes a tree nearby and that's when he jumps. He is awake. It's dark and raining outside so its impossible to tell how long it's been since he fell asleep. He touches her forehead again. It feels frozen cold.
"No!" he says and he jumps up. He feels her face, her neck, her arms. She is so cold, that for a second he thinks that she is gone. He stares at her holding his breath. Her chest goes up and down but just barely. He is so relieved.
"You really scared me Mary Margaret," he says. He covers her up with both their blankets, her cape and his cape, but she still remains frozen cold. He can't start a fire because any kind of wood he could gather is soaking wet form the rain. There is only one thing he can do and he really doesn't want to. He waits ten more minutes and when she still is shivering he shakes his head.
"I'm sorry about this" he says. "I'm just trying to keep you alive, alright?" he says. He takes off his doublet and opens up his shirt. He slides under the blankets, next to her. He turns her around so her back is resting at his chest and he places his arm around her. He knows the right way to do this is skin to skin but there is no way he is going to remove her shirt. He can feel her temperature slowly rising as his chest gets colder.
"Come on Mary Margaret," he whispers. "You got to live long enough to yell at me for what I just did," he smiles. "Stay with me."
She stirs in her sleep.
He is feeling scared now. Whatever you do don't turn around, he thinks.
She stirs again and then she turns around, her eyes still closed.
He is looking at her, his heart beating really fast. How badly is she going to freak out, he wonders. Will she give him a chance to explain or will she just punch him out right away? If her head wasn't resting on his arm he could pull back and she'd be none the wiser, but he cannot, not without waking her up.
She opens her eyes and looks at him.
"I can explain," he says but she just smiles. "Hi Charming!" she whispers. Then her eyes get wider and she gasps.
I am definitely getting punched, he thinks as he stares back at her.
She slowly lifts up her hand and touches the scar on his left shoulder. "What happened?" she asks. "Who did this to you Charming?"
He shakes his head and doesn't reply.
She places her palm on his scar now. "Did it hurt?" she asks.
"No," he whispers. Even if he was Charming, which he is not, he has no memory of how he got that scar, so he wouldn't know what to say anyway.
She leans in slowly and he stares at her frozen, completely mesmerized as she kisses his scar, and in that split second he feels as if he is the one who got struck by lightening, electricity burning through his veins. She lays on her back and closes her eyes. He is sitting perfectly still, holding his breath, watching her, his heart beating so fast. Why did she have to go and do that? How can he not fall in love with her when she is being like that, he wonders. It is impossible not to. She is breathing normal now, her temperature rising, the color is returning to her face, so he slides out of the covers, he puts his doublet back on, he sits on the ground and falls asleep sitting against the wall.

When he wakes up he is laying down flat, covered by both blankets and his boots are off. He sits up slowly. She is sitting at the entry of the tree stump.
She turns around and smiles."Good morning," she says."Did you get enough rest? You could sleep more. It's still your turn."
He gets up and puts his boots on. "I'm up," he says quietly."You are feeling better."
"I am," she says and she looks at him as he sits down next to her. "You saved my life, twice in two days! It must be some sort of record. Thank you!" she says and then she smiles "now I just need you to do something reckless and dangerous so I can save you. It's definitely my turn."
"I'll get right on that," he smiles.
"I bet you will,"she smiles. "How did you even find this place? It's a perfect hiding spot!"
He turns to her surprised "You don't recognize it?" he asks.
She shakes her head."Why would I recognize it?"
"Coming here was your idea. You said 'my tree stump is ten trees over'."
"What? My tree stump? What kind of person owns a tree stump?" she wonders.
He shrugs."The kind of person who is hiding from somebody?" he offers."I tried to ask you what your name was, since you were remembering things. You said 'names are not important'."
"Are you serious? How incredibly philosophical on my part," she replies as she rolls her eyes. "What I wouldn't give to at least find out what my name is."
"I'm sorry, maybe I should have pushed for your name harder."
"No,no,no,no." she shakes her head firmly. "You saved my life and somehow managed to keep me alive through this. You do not apologize for anything, not today," she replies. "Did I say anything else?"
"Nothing incredibly useful," he replies. A small selfish part of him wants to not say anything further but he squashes that part and he continues. "Except that when you remember who you are you seem to really like your husband, lover, whatever he is. So I'm going to say married and very much in love."
She looks at him surprised. "Are you sure about this? Because right now I am feeling single and incredibly angry."
"Positive,'' he replies.
"Alright," she says,"if you say so. Maybe if I find him I'll punch him in the face first, then apologize nicely later. How is that for a plan?' she asks.
He laughs and doesn't reply.
"Look," she points "the tree that got struck by lightening might be dry enough. We can build a fire. There are some mushrooms behind that tree and there are some cracked eggs on the bird's nest on that broken branch. I never steal eggs from nests but those are already cracked. I already asked the bird for permission. Are you hungry?"
He glances at her for a brief second and then they get busy building a fire and making breakfast and all that talk about husbands and love get completely forgotten.

So there's my new chapter. I think I used every trope that ever was and I'm not even sorry, it was so much fun writing this. So review, reply, comment, complain, send me your theories and by all means yell at me. Than you for taking the time to read this!:)

baratta jennifer chapter 3 Great chapter

thank you kindly

Guest chapter 3 Poor snow has nightmares of the worse moment of her life. She called him charming tho. I wondered what David was dreaming about since he had such a happy smile. I also had the feeling that Phillip was no good. I'm so glad that there's no new Kathryn. Snowings partnership is shaping up nicely they are becoming a team.

I gave you a dream today. Thank you so much for asking this question.

Guest chapter 3 . Nov 10 I like the way you have MM tell David to stay with her. Wondering where Emma is being hidden. So the imagery of tying the guy with his own intestine, did it come from your own mind or a movie? I was thinking of Machete. There is a scene where he jumps out a window using a guy's intestine as rope.

I would like to think that it's original but who knows? I've watched so many movies, it could totally come from one of them. I haven't seen Machete but I do remember the intestine jump from the commercial. Also -gross technical explanation coming up, avert your eyes if you are queasy- I thinks that intestines are stretchy, you couldn't really tie someone up with them. Machete should have crashed to the ground and died.- eeeewwwwww, moving on...

Guest chapter 3 . Nov 10

I loved this so much! MM being reminded every night of the baby she has lost. I knew that guy was shady and I definitely thought the food was poisoned . I'm glad that David was there with and for MM. Saying that baby Emma was dead was so cruel but thankfully nothing else bad happened.

Yes that was incredibly cruel. Even as a fake husband Philip was terrible at it.

Austenphile chapter 3 . Nov 11

They're just too freaking adorable falling in love all over again and feeling guilty about it
I heart them...Hands down my favorite fairytale couple of all time