Took me longer to get around to editing this than I originally thought, but it's here, and before the new episode (in my time zone, at least). I was pretty okay with how it turned out. I wrote it at 2 in the morning, so I was thinking I'd find more half-sentences and nonsensical statements than I did.

I realized today that I've given my tumblr name to the readers of 'Twice Cursed' but not to you all. It's alyrae13 if anyone has any interest in following me.

I'm off to start writing more chapters and then to watch Once! Eeeep! Thanks for the reviews :)

Chapter 12: Past, Present, Future

Regina hadn't been asleep for more than an hour. It had been difficult for her to quiet her thoughts enough to sleep. The day's events; putting David under a sleeping curse, bringing Emma and Snow home, trying to understand why Snow's kiss hadn't woken David – had taken their toll on her. It shouldn't bother her as much as it did, but damn it! She was trying to redeem herself and with that came these foreign feelings of concern. She felt responsible for David in a way – utterly ridiculous, because his current condition was absolutely not her fault.

It had taken her an hour to escape the back room of Mr. Gold's shop. Snow had begged her to come up with a solution, but she had no idea what to tell her. Stepping out of the shop, she'd come face to face with an angry crowd of dwarfs. They all blamed her for David's current state and they wanted to make sure she knew it. No matter that Henry was standing witness to all of this. Though she supposed it didn't matter; after what had happened, it seemed unlikely that short of setting the town on fire, there wasn't much Regina could do to lessen Henry's opinion of her.

That's how Regina had found herself with nothing to do but go home and sleep and was now being startled awake by someone pounding on her front door. She sat up in bed, gasping for breath and trying to regain her senses. As her head cleared slightly, she glanced at the clock to see that it was 1:14. Far too early for any visit that could be considered remotely good. She climbed out of bed and pulled aside the curtain of her bedroom window, trying to get a glance at who might be at her front door at this time of night. She was shocked to see Snow White. It wasn't really the woman's presence that surprised her; it was the fact that she was alone.

Regina let out a heavy sigh. As the pounding continued, it became clear that Snow had no intention of stopping, not until Regina answered the door. Annoyed by the incessant noise, she made her way quickly down the stairs, running a hand through her hair in an attempt to smooth the chaos that had been caused by sleep. She flung the door open to catch a surprised, but determined Snow with her hand up mid-knock.

"What on earth are you doing?" Regina demanded. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

Snow's surprise that Regina had simply opened the door to her faded quickly as the determination completely took its place. "You weren't answering your phone."

Regina shook her head, closing her eyes. "Of course I wasn't answering my phone. It's one o'clock in the morning."

"I was thinking," Snow said, stepping past Regina into the entryway, not even noticing the open-mouthed gape she received for the action. "When Emma and I were in our world, Mulan had a sleeping powder that allowed me to sleep deeply enough to reach...that place." Snow shivered at the thought of the horrible room with flames. Regina was still standing next to the wide open door in disbelief. With somewhat of a huff, she slammed the door shut, realizing that Snow was not going to notice the inappropriateness of what she'd just done.

Indeed, Snow blazed forward. "I couldn't go back when I woke up because there was no sleeping powder. But I'm here now! I was thinking, maybe we could have Dr. Whale put me under some kind of medically-induced coma or something; anything that could get me back there. I can find James again and maybe he can help us figure out what's wrong! There has to be something!"

Regina said nothing, simply staring at her.

"Regina?" Snow asked, finally noticing Regina standing there tiredly in her pajamas, hair a mess, looking at her in complete bafflement.

"I'm trying to understand why you came to me," Regina said finally, shaking her head again. "This sounds like something you'd want to discuss with Dr. Whale."

Snow blinked. "I...I suppose."

"So why come to me?"

"Because..." Snow suddenly floundered for an answer. "You...you were the one to put him under the sleeping curse."

"Yes, but I've already told you - I did everything expected of the sleeping curse. Whatever happened to change the outcome had nothing to do with me. I have no idea what caused it and I can't help you."

"But what if James knows what's wrong and I can't fix it? What if it has something to do with magic?"

Regina pushed her lips together in a thin line. "So you don't want me using magic except when it benefits you." It was unmistakably a statement, not a question. "I don't think you understand the effects of using magic on a person. Either you want me to use it, or you don't. You can't have it both ways. I can't keep doing this - not without consequences."

Snow turned her head downwards and to the side, considering what had been said. She hadn't actually thought about what magic did to a person. She'd only ever thought of it as something a person did - not something that could do something back. She took a few long breaths, hoping to calm herself, but the fear of losing Charming had a furious grip on her heart, and no matter what Regina said, she couldn't allow that fear to become a reality. Finally looking up, she cursed herself when the next word came out a choked whisper. "Please?" It was desperation, pure and simple, and the fact that she was here in the house of her enemy, trying to use it to gain her help made her feel physically ill.

The intense gaze Snow held her with made Regina intensely uncomfortable, but she couldn't bring herself to break the contact. She stared into her eyes and saw the pain there that threatened her sanity. She saw that she was barely hanging on. And so, as much as they had behind them in the past, Regina found herself nodding. "Alright."

Snow let out a shaky breath of relief. "Thank you," she whispered. She stepped forward and for a panic-stricken moment, Regina thought she was going to hug her. Instead, Snow looked back into her eyes, trying to relay what she was feeling. "Regina - thank you."

Regina swiftly nodded her head, wanting nothing more than for this uncomfortable moment to be over. "I'll talk to you tomorrow." It took a great effort not to add, 'now get the hell out'. Fortunately, Snow seemed to take the hint anyway and nodded before hurrying to the door. She didn't look back as she pulled it open and closed again behind her.

Regina stood silently in her entryway for a moment, not sure how to process what had just happened. "What am I doing?" she asked herself in irritation. She abruptly shook her head at herself and started back up the stairs. The middle of the night was certainly not the best time to begin pondering these kinds of questions. That was what mornings were for.

David thought for sure that Regina was asleep. He couldn't tell from his position. With her head on his chest, he could only see the top of her head. She'd been silent for so long, he'd simply assumed that she'd drifted off. He stopped the continuous circles he was gently tracing on her back and closed his eyes, ready to get some sleep himself.

It was then that Regina spoke. "I wish that I could remember all of this."

David jumped slightly and Regina turned her head up to look at him. "Sorry," she apologized. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"I just thought that you'd fallen asleep," he told her.

She shook her head gently against his chest before laying it back down. "I couldn't if I wanted to."

David was silent for a minute. "I've been wondering..." he started. "You know something about magic."

When she lifted her head again to raise her eyebrow at him, he chuckled lightly. "Yeah, okay, you know a lot about magic."

She laid her head down again, satisfied with the amendment of his statement.

"It's just...if this is all a dream caused by the sleeping curse, then..." he trailed off and sighed. "This sounds ridiculous to say aloud if it's true."

Regina finally pulled herself to a sitting position and scooted back to lean against the headboard. She looked down at him. "What is it, David?"

He pulled himself up onto his elbows and looked at the wall in front of him. "Is this all really just in my head? Talking to you right now - is it just like talking to myself? Is any part of this real at all, or is it all completely fabricated - some elaborate dream that I've concocted for myself."

Regina gave him a small smile. "You're not talking to yourself. Well, not really. You're not talking to me, either, obviously, but you're not talking to yourself." She sighed. "This is hard to explain, partly because I don't fully understand it myself." She played with her fingers in her lap trying to think of the best way to put it. "The way I understand it, with the sleeping curse, your mind initiates the reality you put yourself into, but after that, the curse takes over. You're no longer in control; at least, not fully."

David sat up and leaned back so that he was next to her. "Okay, but what about the rest of it?"

"What do you mean?" Regina asked.

"I mean, you." He shook his head at her confused look. "I'm not doing very well at explaining this, am I? The way you are...your memories; are they yours, or are they something that my mind - or the curse - created." At Regina's offended expression, he quickly said, "I didn't mean-"

"It's alright," she said.

"No, it sounded terrible. I'm just trying-"

She placed a hand on his arm and rubbed it gently. "I understand David. I know what you were trying to say. There's no way to guarantee that it's true, but they are actually my memories. Or, they should be. The curse extrapolates information from everyone and everything around it. It takes what it needs to create a believable and realistic reality."

"So when I get back, you'll be the exact same person, but without the memories of our relationship?"

"Yes," she said sadly. She leaned heavily against him, sliding down slightly to tuck herself into his side.

"I know one way to find out if that's true, and it just might go a little way toward getting you to trust me when I get back."

"Oh?" she asked with interest.

"Tell me about yourself. Things I wouldn't know unless you told me."

Regina smiled, wrapping her arms around him and settling comfortably into his arms. "Hmmm - the life and times of Regina Mills: Evil Queen of the Enchanted Forest. You think knowing my innermost secrets will get me to trust you?" she asked skeptically.

He rubbed her back, knowing that even though her tone was joking, she was mostly serious. "You're not the Evil Queen anymore. And they don't have to be your innermost secrets. In fact, why don't you tell me something from before you became Queen? Just a happy memory."

Regina hummed in thought. "Well, when I was young, my mother had me in 'lady lessons', as she called them. I'd get so fed up with sitting up straight, using my silverware correctly, remembering the 'proper' and 'lady-like' things to say to people at dinner parties; I'd run off in the afternoons to my secret spot."

"A secret spot?" David asked with interest.

"Mmmhmm. Really, it was just a spot in the woods that I'd picked out and staked claim on. It was somewhere I felt I could hide from my mother - she never ventured into the forest unless she was on business. Anyway, there was one tree that had a hollowed out spot, sort of hidden from view. I'd keep a few special trinkets there, just little things I wanted to keep away from my mother. Also, pants and a shirt I stole from the laundry line one day. I think they belonged to one of the help's sons."

David raised an eyebrow at this. "And why, might I ask, were you stealing clothing from young boys?"

She playfully pushed him with one of her hands and he chuckled. "I didn't take them to steal something, I took them because I needed something to climb in."

"Well now I'm even more curious," David said, smiling.

"It was all of those ridiculous lessons. I'd get to a point where I couldn't take them anymore, so I'd escape to my hide-out, change into the pants and climb the trees. I could get as dirt-covered and unladylike as I wanted."

David laughed. "I can't picture you climbing trees."

"Yes, well, it's not something I make a habit of doing these days. I could climb them, wash up in the nearby lake and then go back home in my dress with no one the wiser."

"And this is how you spent your days? Climbing trees? I would never have guessed," he teased her.

"I was quite the tomboy growing up. Not that that was anything my mother ever knew. I just didn't like being limited by gender; riding horses, climbing trees, wearing something other than a dress." She smiled and tapped her fingers against his chest. "What else can I tell you? I love horses – everyone knows that – but I spent almost all of my teen years in the barn. Whenever I didn't have my lessons and mother wasn't breathing down my neck, I'd be out there with either my father or…or Daniel," she said sadly, but then she smiled again. "Those were happy times."

He watched her face. "You haven't had it easy since then, have you?"

She laughed, and the threads of darkness were once again present. "Oh, David, I never really had it easy. But I'd have to say the last few months – that's been the closest thing to easy I've ever had. You've made me happier than I've felt in a very long time and at a time in my life when I was no longer under anyone's thumb. My whole life, I was always controlled by someone; my mother, the king, Rumpelstiltskin…"

"That's why you went through with the curse?" David asked. "To regain some of that control?"

She nodded silently.

"Let's try to get some sleep," David said after a while, pulling them both back down.

Once they were settled, Regina said. "I've finally found my happiness, and now it's not real."

"It will be," Daniel said firmly. "And that's a promise."

"It'd better be," Regina said sleepily.