So close so so so so close ;) I hope you guys enjoy it! SLBP should be updated soon as well :)

"Take your shirt off."

David turned around to find Regina walking toward him and he put his hands up, still not calmed down after nearly kissing her, "Regina I'm not-"

"David," she interrupted quietly and looked at his side and then up to his eyes once more, "please take your shirt off."

"Regina this is a bad idea I-" she resorted to walking up to him herself and he began backing away, "Regina-" his voice failed him entirely when her fingers hooked in the waist of his jeans to make him stop moving away. His breath was shallow as he dropped his head to watch her lift her left hand up to rest gently on his right side. He cringed and hissed at the contact, sharp pain shooting up and down his side and as she withdrew her hands he saw it to be coated in blood.

"Please," she tried again quietly, his eyes focused on her hand, "take your shirt off," after another moment's pause he obeyed and began trying to remove the layers of clothing from his torso starting with his leather jacket. It was hurting him though so she stepped forward to help him and gently hushed him when he tried to object.

He remained silent and tense as she moved her fingers down his front undoing the buttons of his dark shirt exposing the bare skin and hard muscle beneath. He was certain she could feel his breath hitch and his heart race as she moved so their fronts touched so she could reach behind his neck and take the collar of both leather jacket and button up shirt and begin pulling them down off his shoulders. His focus was on her face and she kept it down but when soft dark brown eyes were lifted to look him in the eye he could see the same desire in them that he was sure he had in his.

She was thinking about acting on it, he could tell when she parted her lips and her eyes dropped to look at his own mouth as her fingertips rested lightly on his bare chest. She shifted her weight subtly and he felt her breaths run short and far in between. He wanted her and he wanted her bad.

"Sit down," she whispered and cleared her throat gently as her heart pounded against its cage, "please," she didn't know what had happened to her, what he had done to get in her heart. Perhaps it was that he had repeatedly seen her vulnerable and didn't hurt her. Perhaps it was that he was kind to her when quite literally no one else was. Perhaps she just missed being touched and was greedy for more. She wouldn't kiss him. She wouldn't. She couldn't. He was dangerous.

He did as he was asked and lowered himself to sit back on his knees and she dropped down to straddle his lap and took the water skin hooked to his belt. "This may...sting a little," she glanced up at him before looking at the long and rather deep cut on his side, "and it will be a little cold," she added and poured the water slowly down his side, frowning when he hissed and flinched away from it momentarily. She caught the pouring water from his side in her other hand to bring it back up over the gash, "sorry," she whispered and cringed her face for him when she moved her thumb over the wound and he groaned through gritted teeth.

"There," she whispered and brought a long thin sliver up to his eye level, "couldn't very well heal you up with that in your side. It'd tear you up from the inside out."

David took it gently between his thumb and pointer finger, "what is it?"

"A sliver from a spike on a dragon's tail," she answered and brought a soft purple glow to her hand and watched his wound heal carefully, "it happens more often than you would think. Many knights just live with the pain without knowing that it can be fixed, others get infected and they die if it isn't treated. It seems dragons just like to make sure you have a little reminder of them. You're lucky it only grazed you."

"I thought I dodged it..." He whispered as he spun it and studied it.

"Adrenaline is a wonderful distraction."

He nodded in agreement and began to relax when he felt the pain disappear from his side, "how did you know it was there?"

"I didn't," she whispered and gave his side one last look to assure there was no scarring before she sat up straight again, "but I thought I'd better check," her eyes dropped to his mouth again and she smiled a small, reluctant, and nervous smile when his hands slowly moved up to hold her waist, the sliver discarded on the forest floor. "David," she breathed out in a slow whisper, unable to move away despite every fibre in her body screaming at her to run, "I'm not strong enough," she shook her head, her eyes still focused on his mouth, "to say no."

He nodded slowly and brought a hand up so the backs of his fingers gently caressed her jaw and cheekbone. Starved of love and affection, how could she say no, "then I will," he whispered and felt her relax a little further as her breath came back to her. It was wrong. Prince Charming and the Evil Queen, they were wrong. However before he let her go he moved in so his mouth was against her ear and whispered slowly, holding back a wide grin when her breath was lost once more, "I don't want to though."

...

"David my mother found us but I am not exactly certain if that means she knows where we are going. We need to get to that beanstalk and I don't think we can afford another trek. Well we could but we need a uh...escape plan."

"Your mother? When?!"

Regina waved her hand around in the air in a randomly chosen direction, "with the dragons and the ogres. She brought them there for us as a sort of test I would imagine to see what she is dealing with; how strong we are."

"You say these things like they're common knowledge and while I do appreciate you talking to me like I am at the same level of intelligence as you, I have recently discovered that I am so not," he laughed quietly and shook his head, "please take it easy on me."

Regina hummed softly through a smile and turned to face him, finding it hard to look him in the eye after the morning they had had, "I don't know what my mother wants with me but she wants me and I do not trust the result would be beneficial to either of us."

"Why? I mean I know that she's crazy and psychopathic, no offense," he received an indifferent shrug from her and continued, "but why is it that you are wanting to take such extreme measures to stay away from her?"

"Because she is my weakness. For many reasons she is such and I do not want to be close to her. She will break me and there is nothing I can do to stop her."

"Nothing?" He raised an eyebrow and she shook her head.

"I resorted to sending a man to kill her in a world I banished her to and she is still alive and well following us around the Enchanted Forest David. So no there is nothing."

"Stubbornness runs in the family," he teased and found the smile beneath her scowl, "so the escape plan then? Oh and isn't there an enchantment or something on the beanstalk?"

"I think you're more clever than you give yourself credit for," she allowed a smile to curl her lips as she watched him swell with a little more self confidence at her comment. "Yes there is an enchantment on the beanstalk and I'm trying to create one that will counteract it for us. I'll figure it out but we actually need to get to the beanstalk."

"Okay and the escape plan is what?"

He smiled at her and she smiled back because of the trust he was showing her and the eagerness to learn and work with her. She pulled her dagger out and dropped down on her knees and began drawing in the soil, "I don't want to use magic if I don't have to but if it's needed I can take several objects or life forms and scatter them around the forest while I, as you have so titled it, magic smoke us to the beanstalk."

"Making it more difficult for Cora to pinpoint which dot is us on her magic radar," he smiled at the simple map between his and Regina's knees as she finished drawing several little x's.

"Exactly," she laughed quietly and shook her head.

"Can you pull it off?"

"It'll take a lot of accuracy and organization but yes I do believe I'll be able to pull it off."

"What if you just turned into a dragon again and flew us around instead?" He grinned and she shook her head at the ground with a quiet and amused laugh.

"Because it's tiring," she smiled and lifted her head and darkened her tone with a playful cock of her head, "and I am not your pet," she moved back so she was sitting straight instead of holding her weight on one hand so she was leaning over the map because that was all she could do to avoid getting close to him again, "besides aren't you scared of heights? I mean we could always try the dragon thing. I'll even throw a few barrel rolls in there for you," she smirked and he laughed at her.

"No! Scratch the dragon idea then if you're going to be like that!"

Regina laughed with him and leaned forward as she did, regretting the movement almost instantly because she found she lost her footing and her mind went wild. What would it feel like to kiss him? To have his stubble gently scratch her neck? Rough calloused hands holding her against him, giving her no means of escape as he grazed his teeth over her skin, his hot breath skimming her jaw. Hard muscle moving against her own lithe body with each of their anxious breaths, his fingers moving over her, toying with her, sliding inside her, making her moan and scream as she arched her back off the ground and in to him.

"Regina."

"Yes! What?" She took in a sharp breath and let the glaze quickly slip from her eyes but could not hide the remaining lust in her startled voice

David smirked and caught the way she swallowed nervously and watched him with wide and caught eyes, "whatcha thinking about?"

"Nothing."

"Looked like a whole lot more than nothing," he grinned and she continued to struggle to regain her composure after slipping in to whatever lustful daydream she had succumbed to.

Regina shook her head finding it in her to actually move and blink away the images that lingered, "it was nothing."

"If I'm not mistaken I'd say you were thinking about kissing me," he pushed quietly with a grin.

"...no..."

"Yes," he whispered and leaned a little closer, his gaze caught by her chest as it rose and fell with short and uneven breaths, "I want you," the words slipped out before he could stop them and he found his heartbeat to begin racing when her already short breath caught in her throat and she opened her mouth to try and find words only to fail and close her mouth for a moment before trying once more.

"This is a bad idea," she managed a soft whisper with her gaze focused on his parted lips.

"Bad ideas are the best ideas."

"How so?"

David's mouth twisted into a smile as he answered in a whisper, not entirely certain as to how he had gotten so close to her, "they make the best stories," her eyes flicked down to his mouth once more, her lips parted as she shivered through a shallow breath at his words. He moved even closer, feeling no air come from her lips for she held it only to let it go when his mouth found her neck.

"Shit," she gasped quietly, her breaths rough and shallow as she involuntarily moved closer to him. She arched her back in to him as she turned her head against his, her mouth open and looking for his as his stubble had her body tingling with excitement. His mouth was hot and his tongue was quick causing her to moan softly as he crawled forward, slowly pushing her backward on to her back.

Another gasp was pushed from her and had her pushing herself closer to him when his teeth took hold of the corner of her jaw. She tasted sweet and the way she was responding to him was sending him on a high. He wanted more. He wanted to feel her mouth move against his own, he wanted to taste more of her and judging by the way she brought one hand up and began pulling him down by his shirt as the other arm braced her weight behind her, she wanted the same.

Lifting one hand from the ground and moving it to hold her waist he pulled back from her neck and went in search of her mouth, following the sharp heavy breaths skimming hotly across his jaw. He felt the pull on his shirt grow harder so he obeyed and lowered down closer to her, their noses just touching.

"Oh my!" She started and laughed as she blinked quickly and repetitively as the pair jumped up and away from one another, "now that is something I was not expecting to see."

Regina wasted no time. She spun around quickly, dragging her foot over the map she had drawn showing their destination as the beanstalk and as she finished her circle she pushed her hands forward sending a strong wave of magic from them. It threw Cora backward and quickly Regina pulled all three of them in to purple smoke as well as a deer, a squirrel, a bird, and a fox.

Cora landed roughly, catching herself with her hands as she laughed off her frustration through her teeth, "that was new," she grumbled and pushed herself back on her feet. "Oh you clever clever girl," she laughed irritably but there was also a flicker of pride in the fact that Regina was able to best her. She had absolutely no idea where she was, she had never been to this area of the forest Regina had sent her to and she had no idea which one of the five signatures in the area was actually her daughter. She had a long trip ahead of her. Long and unexpectedly frustrating.

...

David stumbled a bit as they reappeared from the smoke as he was stumbling before he was taken because of the starling sensation of whatever Regina had produced to throw Cora. He looked around to find themselves somewhere else in the forest and not at the beanstalk as he had assumed she had wanted to take them given her plan beforehand, "where are we?"

"I don't know just give me a minute," she closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she walked away from him.

"I thought-"

"Shut up!" She spun around to face him, "my nerves are a little fried just give me a minute," she looked him up and down and he smiled smugly at her, understanding that half of the reason for their misdirection was caused by him and his kiss. She wanted it back, she wanted his hands on her, she wanted him on top of her, she wanted his mouth on her, she wanted his stubble scratching her skin, she wanted him to tear her clothes of as she did his, "from now on we stay at least six feet apart from each other."

"Agreed," he nodded once and she took a deep breath as she ran her fingers through her hair. There was no hesitance in his response because he knew it was for the best despite his mind's desire for other things. He didn't believe this agreement of theirs was going to last very long at all.

"This way," she directed quietly and began walking, listening when he waited a few seconds before following her just so the distance between them would increase.