Once Upon A Time
Dagian tried to keep a brave face as she stared into the blackened hook of the dark one. She couldn't see his face and if being alone with this man wasn't bad enough then that made it all unsettling.
"What do you want?" she asked again. He was cloaked and hunched over, but she really doubted she could outrun him. He'd just waved her knife out of her hand; the last thing she was going to do was to anger him with any sudden movements. She dind't care how old he seemed to be.
"I've heard a lot about you," he said and she cringed. It was impossible to know how to react when she didn't even know how he was looking at her but his words and the way he said them really made her wish that she wasn't alone right now, "The daughter of a retired powerful general now wife to the man who ran. Interesting fall from grace."
She didn't say anything; she just frantically looked for an escape.
"It's a shame that you're going to bear that title for the rest of your extremely long life if you stay here with him."
She remained silent, she usually regretted what she said when she opened her mouth.
"As will your son."
Dagian tensed at that and she felt her chest tighten. He could do whatever he wanted with her but he was not going to touch her son, "What do you want?"
"You know what happens to the town coward when the town heroes return," he said, "What do you think happens to the coward's wife?"
She tensed. Sometimes the fallout fell harder on the loved ones of the coward than the coward themselves. She'd seen it happen before in one of the villages that she'd grown up in. A man that had run from battle had returned home in shame and his wife had received a lot of spite and abuse from the others because somehow she was supposed to sense that he was a coward when she married him before the war came.
The abuse was so bad that she hung herself in the house
Dagian thought of that woman daily and kept making promises to herself that she wouldn't go that far.
"It was a pointless war," she said, "He wasn't even supposed to be there."
"A lot of people weren't supposed to be there," he said, "What makes him so special?"
"You tell me," she said, "He must be important because you're here. Well, we must be quite popular."
"I'm just here to see the family that has every village in this realm talking."
He was lying, there were numerous villages in the Realm just like them and she doubted that everyone could know about one man that ran when she imagined there were hundreds that had.
"I'm not lying," he said as if he read her mind, "That's what happens when you anger more than one recruiter and they're desperate for someone to be made an example out of."
"What are you talking about?"
"They're telling every village that the reason your husband has a bad leg is because they made sure he would never run again."
"That's not true," she shook her head and tried to keep from losing her dinner, "He was hit with a club and he just barely escaped-"
"You trust the word of a coward. Perhaps that's what you're looking for in a husband. You share his bed; you're going to bear his children…rebellion agains what your father believed a man should be…"
"He did what he thought was best."
"And do you love him for it?"
She couldn't keep her mind from racing.
Or perhaps you despise him, and that feeling you're fighting deep inside is hate. You just don't want to acknowledge that the only reason you're staying with him is because of pity. Not love.
She tried to drive the thoughts out of her mind but when the seeds of doubt took root hten they grew like a weed.
He's going to be the town coward now Dagian, you know what that means, you know that he's going to be ignored and abused by everyone here and if you just leave with him then the other villages will probably kill him. The only reason they won't kill him here is because they know him and they know you. If you go somewhere else with him then don't expect the same warm reception that you'll get here.
"Well it seems like I'm doomed no matter what I do," she whispered.
"There is a way out of this."
"Oh yeah?" She scoffed, "What's what?"
"I think you know."
Her eyes widened and she shook her head frantically. She couldn't do what he was suggesting…she couldn't leave her husband, she loved him. They could ride this out; they could survive it, "Why do you even care what we do?"
"Because let's just say that I'm very invested in whatever decision that you make."
She closed her eyes tightly, hoping that she would just…wake up and find herself asleep in her husband's arms.
"Why should my decision affect anything?" she asked and opened her eyes.
He was gone.
She put a shaking hand over her mouth and walked back to the village. Her heard raced in her chest and when she approached the house she saw her husband waiting outside for her.
"Dagian, I was starting to get worried about you" he said in relief and embraced her. She tensed at the gesture and tried to distance herself from feeling his lips on her face.
"Rumpelstil-" she tried to say his name and the words caught in her throat, she wanted to tell him what she saw but she couldn't. How could she explain something that she couldn't even explain herself?
He pulled her away, "Darling why are you shaking?"
She wiped tears from her face, "I d-dropped the pitcher."
He looked at her in confusion, "It's just a pitcher Dagian, we can make another one."
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
"Well, it's hardly anything to get upset about," he said and kissed her, "Oh darling you look ehausted, why don't you come back to bed? Our guests have settled down to try and get some sleep so I imagine you'll be able to rest now as well."
His hand slipped into hers and she turned her head and focused on the ground in shame at the fact that she was actually thinking about what that…thing…had told her.
What she saw was a delusion because she was so tired. It was just her mind playing tricks on her. She hadn't seen anything.
Her husband helped her remove her cloak and she slipped back in the bed. Her hopes that it was all part of her mind made her feel even worse. Would she really feel that? Deep down in her mind was she really capable of that?
She kept her back to her husband as he slipped behind her on the bed and wrapped his arms around her. She gripped his hands tightly and stared at the dark stone wall that was slightly illuminated by the fire.
He kissed her cheek, "I love you darling."
She didn't deserve him.
She felt tears fall past her face and she drew in a breath, "I love you too."
It was another night that she barely slept.
Once Upon A Time In Storybrooke
Dawn opened her eyes the next morning and lifted her head when she heard someone come into the room.
"Ah," her husband said and held up a tray, "You see, I was hoping that you'd wake up because otherwise I'd have to leave it here and I didn't want you to knock it over when you rolled on your side because darling I haven't slept next to someone in years and you have a bad habit of moving around a lot."
"Well maybe I'm not used to someone continuously cuddling up behind me when they promised that they wouldn't lay a hand on me without my permission."
"I need something to hug at night," he said with a smirk, "I imagined that the teddy bear I used to sleep next to at night would've worried you."
She nearly spit out the orange juice that she was drinking and set it back down, "Don't make jokes while I'm drinking."
"Most people don't laugh."
"They don't laugh because they're scared to death of you; they're worried if they laugh and it's not supposed to be funny then you'll raise their rent. I figure that now I might have a one up on everyone
He smiled and sat at her bedside, "If physical contact bothers you then I'll keep my embraces to myself."
"No," she shook her head, "It's comforting, actually….I'm just not used to it."
He smiled and a hand through her hair affectionately, "I have to go to work soon."
"Aw," she pouted, "and I thought we were going to have a day together. You know, go out for a jog, embrace each other and roll down hills, hold hands and skip through fields. You know just like real couples do."
He gave a little half smile, "I can't buy you nice things if I don't go to work."
"Well when are you going to take a day off? I'm just curious because I'd like to have a day where we do get to know each other."
"You mean like a honeymoon?" he raised his eyebrows, "We can't leave town dear, I have rent coming up next week and there is work."
"No, I don't care about a long honeymoon…I was just thinking that maybe we could…go off somewhere nearby…spend the weekend together-"
"You know you seem to have had a big turnaround since yesterday."
She shrugged, "Maybe I've had time to think about the advantages-"
"And because I'm not going to kick you out when I get bored is that it?"
"That might have something to do with it, yes," she smiled and pushed her hair back over her shoulders, the thick voluminous curls were always such a mess when she first woke up.
"Very well," he said and folded his hands in his lap, "I'll take you somewhere this weekend. Will that be sufficient? It'll be quiet…just the both of us."
"You're taking me to the cabin in the woods aren't you?"
"Is it that obvious?"
"There's nowhere else that we can go that would ensure us being alone," she shrugged, "These townsfolk are everywhere."
"Well that's a good point."
"Don't know what I'm going to do with my time though…."
"Well you must be running out of clothes. I'll leave you some money you can get some shopping done."
She blinked, "Are you serious?"
"Well, you're my wife now Dawn, I believe one of the benefits is a shared bank account."
"I can buy anything I want?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
"That was the indication, yes."
She smirked, "You better be glad I'm me darling, because a lesser woman would be taking advantage of that."
"Now why would I have married you if I knew that you were going to drown my bank account?"
She shrugged, "I thought it was because you liked redheads."
"Well there was that/"
She picked up her fork and gasped in faux glee, "You made me waffles?"
Present Day
The morning was unusually warm for February, but it was still chilly enough to wear a coat. Dawn pulled a black leather jacket over her clothes and pulled her hair back so that its mess of red curls wouldn't blow in her face.
It was going to be a long day.
"Good morning darling," She smiled at the sound of her husband's voice and turned her head so that he could kiss her, "You look lovely this morning."
"I have a few errands I have to run before going to work later today."
He frowned, "I thought you had an agreement with the manager that you would only work some mornings."
"Well, it's the day before Valentine 's Day and apparently a lot of people use today to buy bread…which is odd but I've been told to expect that during these little holidays. Anyway, you've got that glow in your eyes so I know that you probably have some loans to collect anyway and that'll probably take you all day."
He grabbed a razor and some shaving cream, "What errands do you have to run?"
"Oh just some…things to get us ready for Valentine's Day."
"You know I hate it when you go all out on this overrated holiday, dear. There's absolutely nothing about it that you and I don't do several times in the year already."
"Or a week," she smirked and kissed his neck, "If it bothers you then just treat it like any other normal day because I have a new dress that I bought and you're going to like it."
"I think that you just issued me a challenge dear."
"Well you know what, I know how you feel about tomorrow because you remind me every year. Now I try to make sure you're happy and satisfied by the end of that, the least you could do is offer me the same courtesy and try and be cheerful because I'm going through a lot of planning and trust me darling if it all goes the way I'm hoping then this is going to be a valentine's day that you'll never forget."