Regina opened her front door and stood in the grand entrance. As she placed her keys on the table, David ran up to her and squeezed her tightly. "Regina, where have you been? I was worried sick. I called 10 times and you didn't answer. I was about to send out a search party for you."

"I'm sorry, David. I went to my vault…to put flowers on my father's grave. I didn't realize it when I had left, but my phone died. I am terribly sorry to have worried you."

David let out a sigh of relief. "It's okay. Just next time, leave a note…please." The tone of his voice sounded slightly exasperated.

"Of course" she replied with a hint of guilt in her voice.

—-

When Regina woke up the next morning, she had another headache. "Really? Again?" she thought. She thought about getting some aspirin from her purse, but then she remembered that she had magic. She could just magically heal herself. It was tempting. She didn't want to get out of bed and walk all the way downstairs. David was still sleeping next to her, and she also didn't want to disturb him. A little reluctantly, she gave in to her impulse. She held her hand above her head and felt her headache melt away. She let out a deep breath because the pain was gone. However, she did feel a little bit weary. Perhaps, she shouldn't have used magic again so close to the last time. It had been 30 years since she last used magic and it only made sense that she needed a little bit of time to adjust to it. "Oh well," she thought. "I guess I will just sleep it off."

Regina heard David get up out of bed. She was so tired though, she just continued in a state between sleep and consciousness. She heard David in the bathroom getting ready for work. When he finished, he tiptoed over to her side of the bed and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, " he whispered. "I have to leave before I am late for work. I'll see you this afternoon."

"Okay. Bye David. Love you," she said sleepily.

Another hour or so after David left, Regina was awoken by a knock on her bedroom door. Slowly, she saw the door creak open. "Mother," she said slightly annoyed to be awoken again. "What are you doing here? What if David sees you?"

"Don't worry about that dear. I am keeping tabs on the whereabouts of your shepherd."

"Still…what are you doing here? I told you to stay in my vault. What if someone sees you?"

"Regina, no one is going to see me. I transported myself here. I wanted to see you. I've missed you." She came down and sat on the edge of the bed, next to Regina. Regina turned her head and closed her eyes.

"What's wrong, dear?" Cora asked. She could tell that Regina was not feeling well.

"I had a headache, so I magically healed myself. But, then I felt like all of my strength had been drained from me."

"Oh, darling. I'm sorry. You know what you need? A boost of magic. That will help you feel better instantly." With that, Cora waived her hand and her spell book magically appeared in front of her. Regina looked at her intensely for a while. She knew she should stop using magic. The problems were becoming cyclical.

"I shouldn't" she groaned. "This is the 3rd time in less than 12 hours that I have used magic to solve a problem. David would be so disappointed."

"David, David, David…You should stop thinking about what he wants all the time and what you need. You're miserable right now, Regina. I can tell. Let me help you, please. I hate seeing you like this."

Regina sighed, but took the book and opened it up to a page. She breathed in deeply the magic, and she felt the energy and life return to her body. It felt so good, like experiencing fresh air for the first time.

"Darling, I am going to put this spellbook over here for you. If you need it again, it will be right here."

"Mother, no. Please take it away. Its too tempting for me to use it. I never should have began using magic again" Regina sulked.

Instead of arguing with Regina, Cora made the spell book disappear into thin air.

"Mother, let's go downstairs and have breakfast. I will go start cooking for us. Is there anything you want in particular?"

"That would be lovely, Regina. I am sure that whatever you make will be just fine. You go on downstairs and I will be down in just a second."

"Okay, I'll see you downstairs," Regina said as she left the room.

When Cora heard Regina was downstairs, she made the book reappear again with the wave of her hand. She looked around the bedroom for a place to hide the book where Regina would find it. Cora had no doubt that her daughter was suffering from a magical affliction. In a few hours, Regina would need a magical boost again or risk falling ill yet again. Eventually, when her magic had fully returned, she would no longer need these "doses" of magic. It had been 30 years that she had managed to go without magic, though. Cora wasn't sure how long it would take for Regina to regain control of her magic.

Cora wanted Regina's magic to return as soon as possible, and for that Regina needed to absorb magic on a regular basis. When Regina was powerful once again, they could use their combined strength to overcome the Dark One. Cora needed Rumplestilkskin to be gone. He was dangerous…both to her and to her daughter. They needed to get rid of him once and for all.

Cora finally decided on placing the spell book in a chest drawer that Regina would be certain to open. By the time Regina found the spell book, she would be in need of a magical dosage again. She took one last look around her daughter's room, and proceeded down the stairs to join her daughter for breakfast.

—

David came home that night exhausted. He walked in to the aroma of roast cooking and Regina standing in the kitchen standing over the stovetop. "I smell something amazing cooking."

"Roast. It should be done soon. How was your day at work?"

"I am not going to lie; it was a little rough." David walked over to stand behind Regina, who was still stirring the pot. He moved her hair to one side, and placed a kiss on her shoulder. " But that doesn't matter now, because I am here with you." Regina turned around and gave him a huge smile. She put her arms around his neck and placed a kiss on his lips. "I'm sorry David. Why don't we have dinner and you can tell me all about it."

David told Regina that he would be right back. He needed to wash up a little bit before dinner. This allowed Regina to finish preparing for dinner. She placed the dinner out on the dining room table, along with a bottle of wine. Regina thought this would be a perfect opportunity to show David how much she appreciated him. She decided to light some candles and put them on the table and gazed proudly at the dining room.

"Wow, Regina. This looks amazing." David's smile reached the corners of his eyes. He moved over to where she was standing and placed his hands on her hips and kissed her. "I love you so much Regina," David said in between kisses.

"David…the dinner is going to be cold by the time we eat," she mentioned.

Dinner was wonderful, and more than that, it was peaceful. It felt normal, and that is what Regina loved most about it. She loved knowing that David was going to be here tonight, and from then on.

"So…I hate to ruin our pleasant conversation, but I am curious. What happened at work today?"

David sighed. "Mr. Gold. He seriously assaulted Mr. French today and nearly killed him. It took both Emma and I to pull Mr. Gold off of him. Not a very pleasant day."

Regina became concerned. She hadn't thought about Mr. French in years. "Did he say why?"

"Apparently, Mr. Gold believes that Mr. French is responsible for the death of Belle."

Regina's eyes widened and her breathing ceased. She also had not thought about Belle in a long time, but Regina knew exactly what had happened to Belle. At the beginning of the curse, Regina had put her in the floor of the hospital basement. All this time, she had totally forgotten about Belle. She knew that she should say something to David. What would he think of her though? She had kept Belle a prisoner in a cell for nearly 30 years.

This thought, totally ruined Regina's appetite. She looked down at her plate and started moving nervously the food around. Her body started trembling slightly. David could tell that his previous comments about Belle and Mr. Gold had made Regina nervous. He probed the situation to try to get more information. David took her hand in his. "Hey, what's wrong?" he asked softly, not wanting to scare her. In truth, he was scared because he could tell that she knew something about Belle's situation.

"David," Regina started nervously. "There is something that I have to tell you."

David braced himself for what he knew was going to be a confession. His heart started beating wildly in his chest, wondering what she had done this time, and his mind was already coming up with ways to fix it. Perhaps, they could say nothing to Mr. Gold. If Regina had killed her 30 years ago, there is no way that Mr. Gold would be able to figure that out now. They could just keep quiet about it.

"Belle…she is not dead." Relief and confusion immediately swirled around inside him. However, if she wasn't dead, than what had happened to her. "Do you know where she is, Regina?"

Regina took a deep breath and braced herself for David's reaction. "When I cursed the town, I put Belle in a cell…in the hospital basement. I wanted to keep her, to use as a bargaining chip against Rumplestilskin. But then, years passed and I…forgot about her."

David stood up and paced the room anxiously, but didn't say anything. "So, where is she now?" he finally said in an even tone.

"I am not sure. I haven't visited her in so long. I can't even remember how long it has been. But, I assume that she would still be in the hospital."

"You're mad, aren't you?" Regina asked him.

David had conflicting emotions. Technically this was something that she had done a long time ago, even though they were having to deal with it now. He tried to remain calm though.

"Regina, you kept her in a prison cell….for nearly 30 years. I have a right to be a little upset by that information." He tried to not use inflammatory language, but still explain to her how he felt.

"We need to find her, before Mr. Gold does. Rumplestilskin has his magic and who knows what will happen if he finds out what you did to her."

"What are we going to do when we find her?" Regina asked.

"I…I don't know yet. But the humane thing to do right now is to get her out of that cell. You can't leave her in there any longer, Regina."

David stood up and got his coat. When he was ready to go, he looked for Regina who was still standing in the dining room, looking at the dinner she had prepared, sullenly.

He walked over and gave her a hug, as he knew that she felt terrible. "It's going to be okay. We're going to get through this." He gave her a light kiss on the lips.

"David, I am so sorry," she cried. David stroked her hair in an attempt to comfort her.

"You should go back to Snow," she attempted to tell him in between cries. "You would never have to worry about things like this with her. You don't deserve to be stuck with me."

"Regina, I love you, and that is not going to change. I want to be with you, regardless."