Thank you for all of your reviews, they keep me going :) Another new chapter because, let's face it, I owe you.

Chapter 11: The Way Home

"What?" David nearly whispered the word. There were so many different thoughts swirling in his head and he was having a difficult time sorting them all out. How was it possible for Regina to have become his true love in so short a time? He loved her, there was no doubt about that, but wasn't true love something that took time? How could he have gone from hating her to her being his true love in two days? He felt shocked, happy, guilty and anxious all at the same time. Weighing even more heavily on his mind was how to get back. If what Gold said was true – and it seemed that it just might be – then he was stuck here until he was woken with true love's kiss. Meaning that Regina would have to kiss him; the Regina who hated him, who worked against him at every opportunity except when it was beneficial to both of them. They may have been working more together recently, but it was a reluctant partnership and one that seemed borne of necessity. Henry was the only uniting factor.

"I'm never going to wake up," David said quietly, the terrible realization suddenly hitting home.

"Of course you will," Regina said, her voice strangled by emotion. She cleared her throat and sat up straighter, drawing more strength from inside. "You will," she said more firmly and looked at Gold. "What can we do?"

"Dearie, I don't think you understand," Gold said mockingly. "David here seems to have reached the conclusion; I'm surprised that he beat you to it. Then again, the way you feel, perhaps it's not as surprising that you wouldn't think of it."

Regina inhaled sharply. "We hate each other where you came from," she said to David. It hit her hard and she dropped his hand.

"Now you're starting to understand," Gold said. "And you can hardly expect true love's kiss to occur when his true love is his enemy."

David felt hollow. To find out that the last two days was nothing but a dream made up in his own mind made him feel sick. He hadn't even noticed that none of it was real. It wasn't that it had been unpleasant – the opposite of that – it was that none of it made any difference. If he didn't find his way back, this world didn't seem so terrible, but knowing that none of it was real would torment him endlessly. If he did find his way back, he would have lost so much. He'd have to explain to Snow why it was Regina's kiss that woke him and not her own. He'd have to explain to Regina. Regina. That thought hurt as well. He loved her so entirely now and what if she wasn't real either? Of course Regina was real, but what if this Regina didn't exist? The gentle, loving Regina that laughed with him and showed a vulnerable side that he'd never seen before. It occurred to him that going back, he might lose a second true love and that was the most painful thought of all.

"There's nothing we can do?" Regina asked, bringing David out of his thoughts.

"Well…" Gold considered this thoughtfully. "I suppose there is something…"

"What is it?!" Regina snapped irritably.

"Snow."

"What?" David fully refocused on the conversation, feeling he'd missed something.

"Well, you're still under the sleeping curse, aren't you? And those who've been put under the sleeping curse once before can find their way back. I imagine your lovely wife will be finding some way to check in on you; to see you again and try to find a way to wake you."

"You mean the red room?" David asked, and Gold nodded. "But…if I'm still under the sleeping curse, how am I supposed to find her?

"Well, you don't need to be in the red room for that, dearie. You just need to let her find you."

"That doesn't sound difficult," David said.

"Well, no, that part isn't," Gold hissed. "It's telling her what you need to tell her to wake up that's going to be the difficult part."

David's heart sank.

"And then there's the question of whether or not she'll relay that information to the…proper parties," he said with a sneer as he looked at Regina.

"She will," David said confidently. "As much as it will hurt her," David said sadly, "she'll do the right thing."

"Oh, it's not just going to hurt her," Gold told him. "It's going to break her little heart, and I think we all know what a broken heart can lead to," he said, his gaze once again falling on Regina.

David stood suddenly. "Thank you for your help, Gold. We're done here." His voice left no room for argument.

"Very well." Gold stood up and nodded at both of them before turning to leave. "I do hope you find you find your way out," he added at the doorway.

They waited until they heard the door open and close again, and then still a few moments after that just to make sure he was truly gone.

"It's true, isn't it?" David finally asked, breaking the silence. "I'm still under the sleeping curse."

Regina stood as well and leaned into him, letting out a sigh as he brought his arms up to wrap around her. "It makes sense," she said quietly. "But I don't want it to," she whispered and turned her head into his chest.

"I don't either," he told her. He laid a gentle kiss to the top of her head. "I wish it wasn't true."

"I wonder what's going to happen when you wake up. Will Henry and I still exist here alone?"

"No," David said firmly. Of course, he didn't know what would happen, and Regina knew this as well, but she found comfort in him saying it anyway. "I take you with me," David continued. "I'm going to find a way for us all to be together, Regina, no matter what. I'm certainly not going to let a silly little sleeping curse get in my way."

She let out a weak chuckle. "Your determination is not nearly as irritating when it's directed at keeping us together." Sobering again, she said, "But I won't love you."

"Maybe not at first," David said, "But if you'll recall, yesterday morning, I didn't love you either and now look. You'll come around."

"I hope so," Regina breathed. "I don't think I could keep going without you in my life."

"Well lucky for you," David said, "I can be very persuasive." He tilted her head up and brought his lips to hers.

Regina hummed, enjoying the kiss before she pulled back to speak. "David…" she looked down, frowning slightly and when she looked back up, he could see that she was holding back tears, "If you wake up from this, when you wake up from this…whatever happens, whoever you choose, just—"

He silenced her with another kiss. "Regina," he said when he came up for air, "your kiss is the only one that will wake me. You're my true love, and for a reason. I choose you."

She gave him a small smile, but it was still troubled. "David, I'm just trying to say that if anything changes," she held up a hand when he started to interrupt, "for whatever reason. If you do end up with Snow, just…be gentle with me okay? Not that I'll know that I loved you, it's just, before I fell in love with you, I was lonely. No friends, no family except a son that hated me. I could barely stand it, and I—"

"I understand," David said gently, not wanting her to have to continue. "I won't let you be alone."

"Thank you," she whispered.

He pulled her closer into him and rubbed her back. "Now," he said, "how about we forget about all of this for a while?"

She nodded and pulled back, a glint in her eye. "I can think of a way to distract ourselves."

"Oh, really?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

She nodded and the kiss that followed got his heart racing.

"But Henry's upstairs," he managed to say when he could gather his thoughts again.

"Henry!" Regina called loudly. She smiled deviously at David when he looked at her in confusion. "You can't expect us to play a board game together if he's upstairs, can you?"

"A board game?"

"Yes, I said I knew of something that could distract us. Why? What did you think I meant?" She smirked at him.

"Ohoho," he chuckled. "You are pure evil."

"So they tell me," she said and laughed when he shook his head.

"You owe me," he said shaking a finger at her.

"Well, dear," she said as they heard Henry's approaching footsteps, "How did you think we were going to distract ourselves tonight?"

She finished the sentence just before Henry turned the corner into the room, leaving David standing there, thoughts freshly jumbled.