Just a heads up that this chapter relies heavily on dialogue from the episode "The Doctor." It's changed in places to set up what I'm doing later and the scenes needed to stay because of that. Just thought you should know. *faints* harry potter references ftw.

Regina drove as fast as was possible in the driving rain. She was at the hospital in less than five minutes. She ran in and scaled the stairs, too impatient to wait for the elevator.

She opened the door to room 302 and Henry hit her like a pro football player. The woman stepped back to keep her balance and wrapped her arms tightly around her little boy. She rubbed his back for a few moments before drawing back enough to see his face while still keeping him in her arms.

"Where are your grandparents, Henry?" She fully expected to be accosted by the obnoxious couple the minute she walked in.

"Gramps had to go man the station after they figured out that Emma wasn't going to die. Grams is somewhere with one of the doctors going over things that could have caused Emma to pass out like this."

Regina scowled. "They shouldn't have left you alone like that."

"You're here now."

"I suppose I am."

Henry disengaged fully from the hug and went to sit in the chair he had pulled up to Emma's bedside. Regina regarded the scene in front of her. Emma was pale, almost deathly so. She hadn't seen the woman look that sick in her whole tenure in Storybrooke. Tubes and wires led out from various parts of Emma's body, keeping track of her vital functions and delivering whatever medicine the doctors deemed necessary. Henry was holding tightly to the only hand that had no tubes attached to it.

There was something else beyond her general pallor that made Emma look even sicker. Something that Regina couldn't quite put a finger on. It was like Emma's body was here, but Emma herself, the personality, the life, the soul of her, wasn't in that body anymore. It worried Regina quite a lot more than it should.

She drew up a chair beside Henry and sat down. She put and arm around her son and rubbed circles around his back. He didn't pull away from physical contact that she had initiated for the first time in ages. It warmed her from the tips of her toes to the roots of her hair. If only the circumstances had been a little different it would have been perfect.

"How long ago did they bring her in?" She asked Henry after they had sat like that for a few minutes.

"A couple of hours ago. Grams didn't let me come until a little while ago. And then she went off with the doctors and I just got scared, so I called you."

"You can call me anytime you need me, you know that." She squeezed his shoulder gently.

"What if she doesn't wake up, Mom?"

"She will, Henry. Trust me, she will." Regina looked away from her son. Now that she was in the room she wasn't quite so sure. Without that essential life energy that made up Emma being in the room…it didn't look good.

Henry nodded and leaned against her, still gripping Emma's hand like it was the only thing keeping him alive. They sat like that for a long time. Eventually Snow came in but didn't say a word to Regina. She drew up another chair to Emma's other side and gently grabbed her other hand, avoiding the IV line carefully.

She felt Henry's head sag against her a while later. Snow nodded off not long after, laying her head beside Emma's body and drifting off. Regina watched silently for a long while, but eventually succumbed to sleep herself.

She wasn't ready for the dream that crept up on her in the slightest.

The air around her smelled like hay and the distinct musk of horses. She opened her eyes and looked around. She was in the stables outside her manor. She sighed heavily. She hadn't had a dream like this in such a long time. Why had one come back now?

The door crashed open and Daniel lead Rocinante to his stall. Once the horse was secured Daniel stepped towards her and smiled. Regina felt herself moving towards him without her conscious command.

"Well hello there," Daniel said looping one of his arms around her shoulders.

She smiled back at him brightly, happiness suffusing her being. "And who might you be, stranger?"

"Oh, I wouldn't know. Just some lowly stable boy, I suppose."

Regina scowled minutely. "There's nothing low about you Daniel. I love you. In my mind there will never be anyone higher than you."

Daniel's arm tightened around her. "I love you too, Regina." He kissed her lightly on the nose. "Just remind me of that again when the ponies your mother wanted get here. Why does the woman even want ponies? What use are they to her? You are grown. Why would anyone need a pony after their children gotten big enough for a full sized horse?"

Regina's face scrunched up. "You won't have to deal with them long, Daniel." Her mother probably wanted them for some spell she was working on.

Daniel cocked his head confused, but shrugged a second later. "Good riddance. I'm glad I came here after you were big enough for Rocinante. Horses are beautiful, majestic animals. But ponies? Ponies are the spawn of demons and have the tempers to match."

"Oh, come now. The pony I had when I was younger was a sweet old girl. Her name was Gwendolyn and she loved carrots." Regina laughed at the memory.

"And I bet you never refused her a carrot either."

"Well of course not. She was my gallant steed. She deserved a reward for her hard work."

"Right, well, trying being around a pony when you don't give them the treat they want. It doesn't end well for your feet. Have you ever been stepped on by a pony? It hurts. A lot."

"I think someone's being over dramatic." Regina reached up and booped him on the nose.

Daniel smiled warmly at her. "Perhaps a little, but I'll have the last laugh when the ponies get here for your mother. I know I will. One of them has to not like you. Then we'll see who's being over dramatic." He adopted a high pitched voice that was supposed to be an imitation of Regina but fell very short. "Oh, Daniel, that pony just hates me! Why won't it love me Daniel, am I a despicable human being?"

Regina hit his shoulder lightly. "I will say nothing of the sort."

"The ponies will be here in three days time, want to bet by the end of next week you won't be lamenting that one hates you?"

"What, exactly, are we betting?"

"Well…" Daniel brought his hand up to his face in mock thought. "If I win you have to figure out a way to get away from your mother for an entire day. There's this place I've been wanting to take you, but there isn't enough time during our lessons to get there."

"And what would we do while we're at said place?" Regina cocked an eyebrow.

"Well, as the winner it would be my choice." He smiled at Regina roguishly.

"Hmm, well what do I get if I win?"

"I'll teach you how to jump oxers if you win plus I'll clean Rocinante's tack and bridle and your saddle for you."

Regina bit her lip to keep from smiling. Either way she really couldn't lose. "Deal."

Daniel brought her in for a kiss. Once they drew apart Daniel rested his forehead on hers. "Well now that that's settled I think it's almost tea time. And a lady should never be late for her tea time." He winked at her. He'd heard her say it dozens of times over.

Regina head-butted him gently. She sighed and turned to go, drawing away from his comforting warmth. "Alright, but no cheating. You don't get to rig it so one of the horses hates me just so you get your way."

Daniel scoffed. "Now why would you ever think I would do that?"

Regina rolled her eyes and walked slowly out of the barn. "Don't think I do not know about you rigging my stirrups to fail so I'd fall into your arms when you first came here."

Daniel sputtered behind her trying to deny her accusations. Regina walked out of the stables laughing merrily.

Regina bolted upright from the chair she had fallen asleep in. Daniel. She had forgotten about that particular memory in the fog of time. She most definitely remembered losing the bet spectacularly and what had happened at the picnic they had had at the wonderful little waterfall Daniel had led her to. It had been their first time together. Regina's hands drifted to her neck where an over enthusiastic Daniel had left a hickey. Explaining that to her mother had been difficult to say the least. Her mother had bought the story of accidently hitting her neck off the pommel of her saddle though, and she had only gotten lightly beaten for her clumsiness.

Regina shivered at the memory. She gasped a second later as the haze of sleep finally abated.

Daniel.

His body was gone. She had seen him. He was alive. And there was only one person who would know anything about it. She had gotten distracted by Henry. She looked down at her little boy, now slumped on the bed in much the same position as Snow. She needed to go. She needed to go now and figure out something. But Henry needed her here. But he wasn't alone now.

She took a deep breath. She would sort out the mess with Daniel and then she would come straight back to Henry. Regina reached out and swept the hair away from Henry's face.

"Henry," she said softly, not wanting to wake Snow as well.

Her son blinked up at her, tired and confused. "Mom? What's wrong?"

"Henry, there's something that I have to go take care of, ok? I'll be back as soon as I can, alright?"

He sat up more fully and looked over at Snow before looking back at her. "Ok, Mom. Just…please hurry back?"

"I promise." She tugged him forward in a hug and kissed the crown of his head. "I'll be back before you know it. Try to get some more sleep, ok? You look exhausted."

Henry nodded and laid his head back down. "Bye Mom."

"Bye my sweet prince."

She hurried out of the room and down to Whale's basement lab.

Everything was eerily silent in the basement. The cold air drifted across Regina's skin leaving goose bumps in its wake. She walked quietly down the hall until she got to the door she wanted. It was cracked open but dark inside. She swallowed hard before pushing it open slightly.

"Dr. Whale? Where are you?" Her voiced echoed slightly.

She stepped more fully inside the room and flipped the light switch by the door. The light flashed on intermittently, setting her further on edge.

"Dr. Whale?"

Now that the light was flashing she could see that the room was a mess. Things were strewn everywhere. Surgical equipment mixed with medicine and syringes and other detritus on the ground. The light itself has hanging on by a thread, dangling a foot or so off the ground. The hair on the back of her neck stood up. Something bad had happened here.

She walked over to a rolling table covered in a blood spattered sheet. Regina spotted the outline of something under it. She reached out, hand shaking and flipped back the sheet. She gasped and backed away quickly, hitting the drooping light. It was a severed arm. Dear god. She felt like her knees were going to give way under her.

She stepped forward once again. Something under the table hand caught her eye. She touched the table gingerly and shoved it out of her way. Dr. Whale was lying on the ground covered in blood with a bandaged wrapped hastily around the stump that used to be his arm. She knelt down beside him quickly.

"Whale, Whale." She brought her face to his. "I know you took Daniel's body and I know you took one of my hearts, why? Why?!"

Dr. Whale's face scrunched up, but he said nothing.

"Did you bring him back?" She asked in a shaking voice.

"I did it," Whale ground out.

"He's alive?" she whispered almost involuntarily.

"Yeah, I brought him back, but he—he's not Daniel."

Regina felt her face scrunch up. "What?"

"He's a monster," Whale replied, face full of fear.

Regina turned away from the man, shaking. What did that mean? Had Daniel done all of this? Caused all of this destruction? He couldn't have. That wasn't the Daniel she knew.

Whale grabbed her with his one good arm. "Please. Help me," he begged.

Regina looked down at him. Why should she help this man that was calling her true love a monster? She should leave him here to die.

But there was another love in her life that would hate to see her do such a cruel thing. Regina sighed and got up. Walking towards the door, she turned back to Whale.

"I'll be back with help soon."

She fled up the stairs from the destroyed basement and ran to the nearest nurse, explaining the situation quickly and leading a team down to help the man she wasn't quite so sure she really wanted to save.

An hour later she stood outside of Whale's room looking through the glass at the man resting in the bed, pale as the sheets he lay on. She still didn't feel quite right about saving him, but once she had explained to Henry what had happened and that she had saved Dr. Whale, the little boy's face had lit up. She supposed saving the drunk letch's life had been more than worth the smile her son had given her.

Regina heard heavy footsteps coming up behind her, announcing the presence of Charming.

"What's going on? I just got a call that Dr. Whale was attacked," he demanded.

Regina turned towards the man. "You'll have to ask his doctors." The man acted like she could actually rip off a man's arm, that it was her fault that Whale was like this.

"No, I'm asking you."

Apparently he did think she had done it. Magic could do much, but it could not make her strong enough to rip an arm clean from its socket. The man was an idiot, but then again what did she expect from a shepherd.

"I went downstairs after I left Emma's room to speak with him and discovered he was hurt," she sneered.

He looked at her disbelievingly.

"It's the truth!" she shouted, gesturing with her hands to emphasize her point.

"What else? What did you go to speak with him about?"

She lowered her eyes and drew her hands closer to her. "Someone from my past…I believe he's come back," she said quietly. "Daniel, his name is Daniel."

Charming nodded understandingly. "The man you were supposed to marry."

Regina's head snapped up and she looked at him. How exactly had he...?

The man tensed and stepped towards Regina. "Snow told me what happened…and how it was her fault that he died."

Snow. Of course it was always Snow blabbing her secrets.

"Yes," she said looking Charming in the eyes. She looked away and added. "He did."

"Then how can he be back?" He put his hands on his hips, brushing his jacket back.

She pointed behind her and said, "Whale." Leaning inside Charming's personal space. She straightened up and went on. "He believed he could bring him back from the dead and I don't know how, but he has." A watery smile lit up Regina's face.

"You don't know how? Guess." Charming crossed his arms in front of him.

She stepped closer to David once again. "He practices something more powerful than magic, or that's what I was told. All he needed was a heart, and he took one of mine." Happiness flitted through Regina. Daniel was alive out there somewhere. Maybe she really could have her happy ending.

Charming grabbed her arm and led her a few steps away from the door to Whale's room. "You have hearts here?" he asked disgusted.

She nodded quickly. "In my vault."

Charming looked at her horrified.

"From our land." She fought the temptation to roll her eyes.

"Whose heart did he take?" Charming's eyes widened.

"I have no idea…" she trailed off, looking down, giddiness quickly seeping out of her system. "I took so many it was impossible to keep track." She blinked and shook the melancholy off. "I need to go. I have to help him!"

Charming reached out and stopped her from leaving. "No. Where is he? Look what he did! He's dangerous."

"No, not to me," she stated. "He won't hurt anyone else, David, I promise."

Charming shook her lightly. "You know I can't take that chance. You have two choices Regina. Tell me where he is or jail."

Regina paused for a moment, thinking. If she was in jail she couldn't help Daniel and she left him at the mercy of the Charming idiot. It was better to tell him and go with him than to not go at all.

"I think it's like when you awoke from your coma."

Charming nodded urging her to continue.

"I think he's following his final thoughts to where he last met me…the stables."

Charming looked at her and nodded. "Let's go then."

Regina nodded and followed him out of the hospital.