It's early morning and the Huntsman is waiting outside in the garden just as Emma's note had requested. He fiddles with the rust colored scarf around his neck that he always wears, as he leans against the banister of the outside staircase. It isn't long before the sound of shoes on stone reaches his ears and pulls him out of his thoughts.

Turning around, he finds Emma descending down the staircase towards him. She's dressed in a lovely lavender colored dress and her hair is down, draping rather perfectly over her shoulders.

She looks stunning and he can't help but stare. The blonde exudes a most royal quality about her. And though she's never treated him as such, he can't help but feeling terribly beneath her in that moment. It's a reminder that she is a Princess and he's just a Huntsman. When they were traveling in the woods together he had forgotten all about that, but now it was hard to ignore. The overwhelming urge to bow in her presence comes over him and surprisingly he does so.

Emma stares at him perplexed by the action, then she playfully smacks his shoulder, "What are you doing? Get up." She says with a laugh.

"Come on, we're sneaking out for a bit." Emma tells him, as the hunter gets back on his feet. "I'm sick of all these stupid wedding arrangements." She told him as she rubbed her temples. "I need a break." If she didn't get away for a while, she would have wound up punching the next person who even said the word "wedding" to her.

"Up this early on your own? Color me impressed." The Huntsman tells her with a slight smirk on his face as he follows behind her. It wasn't long ago she was groaning and complaining about the early wake up times in which they traveled at.

She turns her head back to look at him. "Ha ha, very funny. I guess maybe your old man tendencies are rubbing off on me." Emma says with a chuckle as she pushed through the forest.

The hunter scrunched his face some, clearly taken aback by the comment. "Just because I wake up early doesn't make me an old man." He retorted with a slight pout. When you grew up in the woods like he did, if your weren't up before the sun, something else already was. It was both a thing of safety and a means of finding food before another hunter had.

"I'm only teasing." She replied. Then Emma stopped and stood there for a moment, distracted by their conversations she hadn't really taken notice on where she was going. Looking around she pauses, she didn't want to go to far into he forest. The princess needed to get back before anyone noticed she was gone.

The Huntsman comes up beside her and points forward, "There's a clearing just up ahead. We can stay there awhile before heading back." The hunter states as if reading her mind.

He takes the lead and Emma shook her head and laughed. "I should have guessed you had already scoped out the area." Leave it to the Huntsman to already know the layout of a part of the woods he's only been in once.

In a matter of minutes they reach the clearing that the Huntsman spoke of and Emma sits down on a nearby tree stump that she spots. The Huntsman sits against the back of a tree trunk a few feet away.

Breathing in the crisp nature air, the blonde felt the tension in her body slowly start to melt away. "I'm gonna miss being able to come out here into the forest. I mean the Prince's garden is nice and all but, it just doesn't have that same feel as the woods do." She enjoyed that sense of the unknown at times, it kept her on her toes.

The Huntsman nods in agreement as he too takes in the fresh air around him. Resting his head back against the tree, he then proceeds to grab a few stray twigs laying beside him and starts fiddling with them.

Emma enjoys the pleasant calmness around her. No one rushing her off somewhere or asking her about flower arrangements or seating, just the occasional birds tweeting and the sound of leaves rustling gently in the wind.

They sit like that in quiet for a little while. It's then she glances over to find the Huntsman still messing with the twigs he had earlier. A look of confusion crosses her face as she tries to figure out what exactly he's been doing with them all this time.

Noticing her staring, he holds up what he's been working on so that Emma may see. It's a group of twigs intertwined together to form what looks like a ring of sorts. "Here, so you can always have a piece of the forest even when you're in the castle."

The Huntsman walks over to her and places the item into her hand. It's simple, yet somehow intricate at the same time. She places the gift on her ring finger on her right hand.

"A perfect fit." He comments as he sees her wearing it. Emma stares down at it incredulously, "Yeah... I guess it is." The thought of the Prince's ring sliding off her finger creeps into her mind. She glances over at the Huntsman, his sentiment echoes in her mind. 'A perfect fit.'

Upon realizing it's getting late she tries to shake that thought off. "Thank you." She tells him with a genuine smile, unlike the one she gave when seeing Prince Anderson's ring.

Standing up, she tells him, "We should probably be heading back to the palace now." The hunter gives a nod of understanding and the two make their way back through the forest once again.

The Huntsman and Emma return to the castle. Making their way up the steps and inside of the palace, the Princess stops in her tracks at the sight she sees before her. "Mom? Dad?"

Standing a few feet in front of her is none of then her parents Snow White and King James. They greet her with a look of excitement and relief.

"Emma you're alright!" Snow exclaimed, rushing over and pulling her daughter into an incredibly tight bear hug. For such a small woman, her mother had one heck of a grip. James followed, but in a much calmer fashion.

"We were so worried about you." Her mother said, still squeezing the heck out of her. Her father James, nodded from behind Snow in agreement.

Slightly dazed from the tight hugging, she finally manged to ask "How did you guys get here so fast?" The blonde was rather puzzled about that. Sure, carriages were way faster than traveling by foot, but she hadn't expected their arrival this soon.

"You'll be surprised how fast determination to see your child will get you here." Charming stated.

"That and a little bit of fairy dust on the horses hooves." Snow added as she finally released her daughter from her bear hug.

Emma chuckled, "Handy." She commented.

As Emma was having her little family reunion with her parents, the Huntsman stands off by himself, staring down at his feet. So that's what a family looked like, it was an interesting sight. But it was also a sight that made his heart ache a little. It was something that he never really had, and probably something he never really would.

Letting out a small sigh, he considers leaving as to give them some alone time together. But before he can, he hears his blonde companion speak up.

"Oh! I want you guys to meet someone." Emma said, with a cheerful smile. Turning around, she walks over towards the Huntsman and grabs his arm, dragging him over in front of Snow and James.

"This is the Huntsman." She introduces, "He's the one who helped me get here safety. If it wasn't for him I'm not sure what would have happened to me out there." He shifts awkwardly under the attention. He's not used to having the focus on him and when the focus was on him, it was never of the good variety.

Charming takes a step forward, staring at him "So, you were the man that's been traipsing around the forest with my daughter all this time..." He stares at the Huntsman with a stern expression on his face. Both women shoot him a look simultaneously and James clears his throat.

"But... We owe you our gratitude for helping her. So you have our thanks." His stern expression lightens some into to a slightly friendlier one, but not by much. He still wasn't fond of the fact this fellow had been alone in the woods with his daughter these past few days.

Snow smiles warmly at the hunter before her, "Thank you good Huntsman, for looking after our daughter."

The Huntsman, uncertain how to react or what to even say, bows his head slightly in acknowledgement.

Snow then turned to look at Emma. "We're set to meet with Prince Anderson's parents in a few minutes so we have to be off. Emma, your father and I will you see later on."

Staring at her daughter for a moment, her eyes start to water a little and she pulls her into one more hug. "We thought we'd lost you." Snow whispers into her ear. Emma eyes water a bit at her mothers kind sentiments. "Thanks mom." Emma says quietly, tightly hugging her mother back.

Pulling apart, Snow then rejoins her husband across the room.

As her parents head down the hall, Emma turns around and notices the Huntsman hasn't moved from the spot where he was standing. She tilts her head slightly as she looks at him, waiting for him to speak.

Taking a deep breath, he tells her "I should... I should be going now." He didn't mean going as in somewhere else in the castle, he ment going as in he was leaving for good.

"You're leaving?" She didn't know where it came from, but a sudden sense of panic crept into her voice as she asked him that. It really shouldn't have come as such a shock to her, but somehow it did.

Letting out a deep exhaled breath, he shakes his head. "You don't need me anymore, Princess. You have the Prince now, you no longer have a need for a... Huntsman." There's a hint of sadness in his voice he tries his best to hide.

Her mouth hangs open slightly, she doesn't know what to say. Sure, maybe he wasn't exactly needed anymore, but that didn't mean he wasn't wanted. Looking down, the blonde quietly asks, "Huntsman, what'll you do now?"

The hunter shrugs his shoulders slightly, "I'll return to roam the forest, just as I did before. You needn't worry about me." After a moment, he nods a farewell before adding "Take care Emma." Then starts heading towards the castle doors.

"Wait!" Emma exclaims, almost frantically. The Huntsman stops but doesn't turn around, because he knows that if he does it will only make this harder. But why was he finding leaving so hard anyway? Maybe because for the first time in his life someone didn't want him to leave. He was far more used to it being the opposite, everyone had always wanted him gone.

Finding herself not wanting him to go, she blurts out the first logical reason she can think of. "Stay for the wedding!"

It's then he turns around to look at her, an expression of uncertainty crosses his face. "Emma... I don't know if I..." He trails off.

"Just at least stay until the day of the wedding. If you don't want to stay for the wedding itself then you can leave in the morning, no questions asked. Please?" She gives him surprisingly pleading look and he sighs.

Emma's never been one to make requests like this to people before. Maybe it's because she doesn't want to let go of the life she had before marriage, or maybe it's really something else entirely. All she knows is she doesn't want him to leave yet.

"What'll you tell the Prince?" The Huntsman finally asks. His question sends a flicker of hope within her that he's considering staying.

"I'll just tell him you're staying for the wedding. If you choose not to attend then I'll make up some story about you having to leave."

Thinking it over a moment, he gives in. She's starting to have that effect on him it would seem. An expression of relief washes over her faces.

It's then a bell chimes and Emma turns to look at the towering clock the stood in the corner of the room. It's noon, the time she was set to meet Prince Anderson for lunch.

"I've gotta go." She explains in a rush, lifting part of her dress up knowing she'll have to run. "But I'm glad you're staying!" The blonde shouts over her shoulder as she dashes down the hall towards the dinning room.

Elsewhere in the castle, Snow and James were chatting on their way to meet with Anderson's parents.

"I like him." Snow states, referring to meet the Huntsman, as she and her husband walk down the long stone hallway of the castle. "He seems like a nice boy."

Charming frowned a little, being the ever protective father he was, any new boy around his daughter was not something he was fond of. "He's seems a bit rough around the edges if you ask me."

Snow smiles, locking her arm and his "If I recall, you were a little rough around the edges yourself Charming." She teases, nudging him slightly with her elbow.

Back on the other side of the castle, Emma entered the dining room to find the Prince is already there. He stands upon seeing her. "Sorry I'm late." She apologizes, "I lost track of time."

"Perfectly fine." Anderson tells her as he pulls out her chair for her to sit down. Almost immediately her plate of food is placed in front of her by a servant.

"I guess after having bandits chase after you twice, it's taught you run pretty quickly." He said with a chuckle.

At that comment, Emma looks up abruptly. "When did I tell you they attacked me twice?"

Anderson blinks a moment. "You mentioned it earlier." He states matter of factly, as he digs his fork into a piece of food.

Emma pauses to think. The princess was fairly certain she hadn't brought that up to anyone, but given how tired she was from everything lately, maybe she had. Shrugging it off, she left it alone.

Fidgeting slightly, she had to find a way to bring up the Huntsman staying. She attempted a casual approach. "You know that Huntsman friend of mine? I thought it would be nice if he could stay for the wedding, after all it was thanks to him that I managed to get here." Emma hoped slipping in an implied, you kind of owe him, would better the chances of him being able to stay.

The Prince tensed slightly at the question. "If you want him to stay then he may, but you've only known that man for a couple of days, do you really think you can trust him?"

For some reason, the accusation strikes a nerve with her. "I could say the same about you." She counters defensively. The words fly out before she can even realize what she's said, and though she means every word of it, she realizes she can't risk sabotaging this arrangement for her kingdom. "Sorry..." Emma mutters quickly, trying to smooth things over.

"Fair enough, my bride." The Prince responds, a slight hint of annoyance in his tone. "But don't you find it coincidental that every time you were attacked that he just happened to be around." He points out.

Emma narrows her eyes at him slightly. "What are you saying?"

Scooting one of the carrots around the plate with his fork, he then explains. "I'm saying that for all you know, he could be working with them."

"He's not like that." The blonde says firmly.

The Prince nods, "Alright then. I'm just concerned for you safety."

"Well, thanks." She tells him as the two continue their meal.

Later that night Emma finally meets up with her parents again. She never expect to miss them so much.

"That's a nice ring, when did you get that?" Snow asked her daughter curiously.

Emma glanced down at her hand, she had forgotten that she was still wearing her gift from the Huntsman. "Oh, something I pick up along the way here." She says, before casually slipping the ring into the pocket of her dress when her parents weren't looking. She really wasn't in the mood to explain that topic at the moment.

"So how are things in the kingdom?" The young princess asks them, hoping to hear some kind of good news.

James frowns and Emma can already tells where this is leading. "The crops are still failing and the food supply is dwindling. We've been trying to trade with surrounding kingdom but that supply will only last so long."

This wedding arrangement was turning more dire than ever. There was no way out of this now. Emma could start to physically feel the pressure starting to way down on her.

"We're still looking for a way to fix it though, there's still time." Snow interjected trying to lighten the mood. But it was no use, time was slipping away and Emma highly doubted a solution would magically produce itself just in the nick of time.

Emma looks down and shuts her eyes. She could feel the hope that she had of getting out of this situation fading. "Can we talk more tomorrow, I'm really tired." Exhaustion and disappointment fills her voice and her parents understand.

They both give their daughter a quick kiss goodnight before heading of to their chambers.

Entering her room, the young princess sits at her desk with her elbow propped up, her chin resting in the palm of her hand. Two days. Two days and she would be married. It had never hit her more until that very moment. hopefully the fact of knowing her parents and the kingdom would be taken care of would be enough to get her through this.

Sighing she places her hands in her lap. Her fingers tips graze something she doesn't recognize at first and then realizes she still has the ring in her pocket. She takes the ring-shaped branch and gives it another look. Looking around a moment, out of curiosity she carefully slips it onto her ring finger, but this time on her left hand. Staring down at it, a small smile crept across her face.

The Huntman's face flickers through her mind for a moment, as does what he said when he gave her the gift. 'A perfect fit.' His voices echos in her head.

Letting out a sad sigh, she shakes her head and places the ring down on the table. She was getting in too deep.


A/N: This chapter took a little longer to finished than I intended, I blame in on the whole Graham's Letter thing that came out recently for distracting me. Anyway, thank you all once again for reading and for you reviews! There's a pretty big reveal that happens in the next chapter, and there was a subtle hint in this chapter on what it might be. Either way, expect some interesting drama next chapter.