A bit of a less 'fighty' chapter for you all ;) the neeeeext one will probably have more conflict though...hmmmm ;) enjoy and please review!

It was odd watching him move around her home as though it was his as well. She supposed it wasn't a bad kind of odd but it was odd nonetheless. She didn't say much because she didn't know what to say and she knew that any objection on her part as to him choosing to be with her would be immediately silenced by him. So she stood silent in her kitchen watching him rummage through her fridge of something for them to eat.

"Well there's not a whole ton in here that isn't moldy, sour, or questionable," he concluded with a nod of his head and let the door swing closed. When he looked up again he found her standing with tense muscles and a worried and timid expression. She tried to cover it all with a smile but it wasn't a good effort, "you're waiting for me to leave aren't you."

Regina cocked her head and searched his face for anything to hold on to and she whispered, "I am."

"You're going to be waiting awhile."

"I don't think so."

David sighed through his nose and walked toward her, smiling just a little when she tilted her head back ever so slightly to keep her eyes locked on his. "You look absolutely stunning this afternoon," he smiled and brought the backs of his fingers to touch the side of her face when she bowed her head with a shy smile. It had him humming softly and love swelled in his chest so he dropped his head and gave her a soft kiss.

A soft lingering kiss before he pulled away and she rolled her lips in to her mouth causing him to smile, "we are going to be alright. I'm not going anywhere," he whispered and she nodded but did not say anything in reply.

"There might be some crackers or something in one of the cupboards," she offered quietly to change the subject.

"I think I'm a little too hungry for crackers," he smiled and rubbed her side over the purple silk in an act of comfort and reassurance before wandering over to the bowl of fruit on the counter by the sink, "so that leaves us with going to the grocery store to buy food and make ourselves a proper meal or we can run down to Granny's and just sit there while someone makes food for us," he shot her a smile over his shoulder to find her expression showing displeasure with both options.

Regina watched him with her mouth pressed into a thin line but it soon relaxed in to a smile when David lifted a rotten and shriveled apple by its stem only to drop it immediately with a startled gasp laced with a sound showing his disgust as he flapped his hand around in the air.

"Well yeah mhm that's um yep you should probably just magic that whole thing away before it eats us in our sleep," he nodded and hurried away from the fruit only to take Regina's hand in his and pull her along behind him as she laughed quietly. "Come on," he encouraged as he walked a little faster and continued to pull her behind him, "we have to regroup before we can face the scary monsters that live in your kitchen."

...

Red turned her head to the sound of the bell ringing as the door opened to allow for two laughing customers to enter. They were talking quietly and laughing loudly and it brought a smile to her face as she approached them, still having not seen their faces for the man's back was to her and the woman was kept from sight behind him. "Would the two of you like to-oh my god! David!" She laughed and lunged at him with open arms, pulling him in to a hug that he happily returned, "when did you get back!?"

David let go of her with a laugh and shrugged his shoulders, "a couple hours ago I would think. I haven't really been keeping track of time."

"Does Snow know you're here?!"

David nodded and smiled as he savored the friendly nature of the werewolf before all things went to hell, "of course!" Before she could question him further he hurried to continue, "neither of us have eaten a good proper meal in nearly two months so we came here in hopes that you and Granny could fix that."

Red cocked her head curiously and then for the first time in a long time she laid her eyes on Regina, a woman she didn't particularly miss being around, "oh. Oh! Yes, yes of course. So are you two all like buddy buddy now?" She shrugged her shoulders and smiled a forced smile as she hugged the menus and looked between the pair.

"Well when you only have one person to talk to for that long you tend to find a way to get along," he answered with a smile while Red kept eyeing over Regina, "she's quite a decent human being," she still looked doubtful and understandably so, "can we get a booth?"

Red nodded but kept her eyes on Regina who held her stare but not so much in a threatening manner as it was defensive, "follow me," she smiled at David and turned on her heels to lead them to a booth and watched them sit down across from one another.

"We'll just get a couple burgers," he spoke before Red could put the menus down and she shot him a questioning look before turning her head to Regina and he found himself laughing again as she clarified.

"He told me if I tried one of the burgers here then he would take care of the, and I quote, 'zombie fruit' in my kitchen," she cocked her head at David with a smile and watched as he continued to laugh and plucked a few sugar packets from the small dish.

Red squinted her eyes suspiciously and responded slowly, "okay..." What on earth would David be doing in Regina's house she didn't know, "Snow meeting you here?" David shook his head but it was Regina who answered with words.

"No it seems Snow isn't all that keen on the 'buddy buddy' relationship we've acquired," she shrugged and quieted her voice, "I'm sure it will pass," she jumped when she was hit on the cheek and she looked up to find David reloading his spoon catapult with another sugar packet, "David!" She scolded but could not keep the smile creeping on her face at his childish behavior.

"What did I say?" He raised his eyebrows and smiled, his voice warning and playful and when she didn't answer he launched his second sugar packet and she barely got her hand up fast enough to block it.

"You are such," she laughed and reached over the table to fight the spoon out of his hands, "a child!" She sat back down successfully with his spoon in her hand.

"What did I say?"

"To put a little faith in you," she sighed and flicked one of his thrown sugar packets and he caught it under his hand.

"Thank you."

"Alright I'm gonna go and get your food..." She announced her leave with one last look over the unexpected couple sitting in the diner before walking away.

"Thanks Red," he nodded and then looked back to Regina, studying her as she focused on spinning the second sugar packet.

"This whole town is about to go up in flames."

"They'll get over it."

"No they won't."

"They'll have to at some point," he smiled and she huffed out her nose.

"You are annoyingly optimistic."

He laughed quietly and shook his head as he readied his fork, "and you," he released another sugar packet off his fork catapult earning him a smile and a laugh when it hit her on the shoulder, "need to smile more."

"David!" She cheered and laughed as she hurried up to his side, "welcome back!"

"Thank you!" He grinned and looked up at the old woman when she stopped beside him, one arm resting on the back of the booth.

"Regina."

"Granny," she mimicked the woman's bitter tone with a rock of her head and a small outstretch of her arms toward the table in a silent question as to what exactly she had done to deserve her name said with such poison.

"Where is Snow?" She questioned, entirely ignoring Regina's question and the woman surprisingly dropped it as well and busied herself with a packet of sugar to ignore her in return.

David shrugged a little and answered with as much vagueness as he could, "at home I would imagine. She got caught a little off guard when we got back and she just needs a little time to herself to cope," as though on cue Snow came in to the diner and when she met his eye and then glanced to see who was in his company she stormed over with a fury burning in her eyes he had never seen in them before. It was rather unsettling.

"You!" She growled viciously and pointed at Regina as she marched furiously up to her and Regina simply rose gracefully to her feet to meet her in the middle with smooth strong strides, "after all of this you are in here with him! The nerve, Regina! You-"

Regina clapped a firm hand over Snow's mouth while her other kept her in place by the back of her neck as she moved in closer so her red lips nearly grazed the back of her hand with every word she whispered, "you are about to embarrass yourself, dear," she warned and the girl's furious shaky breath blew across the back of her hand from her nose, "I suggest you stop talking now."

The entire diner was silent and tense. The drop of a pin would have echoed through the diner with little effort to hear. Regina stepped a little closer so their bodies were nearly touching and kept her voice down to a calm but stern whisper as Snow's eyes burned in to her, "I will deal with whatever you choose to say. But do not make a fool of yourself. It will get out soon enough. When and how is almost entirely up to you. I do not have the right to do so."

She waited a few moments longer until she was satisfied that Snow would not start yelling again before she slowly removed her hands from her mouth and neck and let them hang at her sides. Snow stood before her vibrating with rage and she couldn't help but feel just the tiniest bit satisfied.

"I hate you," she whispered slowly through a snarl, her voice shaky and tense with absolute loathing. Regina simply nodded her head once in acceptance but did not say a word to disrupt the tense silence that filled the building. She moved to turn and leave but before she committed to walking away she swung her arm and delivered a hard slap across Regina's face causing her to stumble to the side with a hand to her cheek as startled gasps were sounded off from the people in the diner.

"Snow!"

"That felt so good," she growled with a shake of her head as she ignored David and viciously met Regina's dark eyes through the hair that had been tossed across her eyes with the sudden motion. The woman flicked the hair from her eyes with a quick toss of her head as she stood up tall and ran her tongue across her teeth beneath her top lip and Snow was only further enraged when there was only a mere flicker of irritation in her calm demeanor as she removed her hand from her cheek and gave her hair a final toss.

"I suppose one could say I deserved that."

"You think?!" She squinted her eyes as she hissed at the woman before her, not breaking Regina's eye contact with so much as a blink until David approached her.

"Snow-"

"Don't touch me!" She spat a whisper and snarled at his partially outstretched hands. He shut his mouth and she lifted a hand to point at him as she spoke through a jaw wanting to be clenched shut with anger and heartbreak, "you carry more of the blame than she does!"

She glared at him one final time before she spun on her heels and walked furiously to the door. He ran after her but only made it two strides before Regina caught his arm and brought him to a halt as Red hurried after her instead.

"You will only make it worse," she whispered loud enough for only him to hear and moved a thumb over his arm in a small subtle act of comfort before she let go of his arm to keep their audience from seeing what they were trying to hide for the time being. "Granny," she called as she turned around and found the older woman watching the door where Snow had left and Red had followed. When she looked her way, Regina continued, "I believe we should take that order to go."

"Yes," she nodded slowly and looked the woman up and down curiously before she turned and walked back in to the kitchen. Regina had not fought back, hadn't even shortened her temper. It was not normal, it was strange. She still couldn't make any sense of what had just happened.

...

"You okay?" He asked softly with a worried tone as he followed her out of the diner with a paper bag containing their food.

"Fine."

David frowned at her short snappy reply and fell in step beside her, "you do know that you can tell me when you're not fine right?"

"I've been better. I've been worse."

"Stubborn," he deadpanned and she shot him a furious glare which he blatantly ignored and opened the bag and the styrofoam container inside to get access to some fries to ward off his rumbling stomach, "I'm only trying to make it easier for you-"

"This isn't easy, David!" She cried out with an irritated laugh and stopped walking, "none of this is easy!"

"Easier," he enunciated his previous word and she scoffed and rolled her eyes before continuing forward, "we are going to have to help each other, Regina. I can't work through this oncoming shit show without you and I know that you can't do it alone either. We are both going to be shut out by this entire town and I don't need you shutting me out as well."

"David-"

"Ah ah ah."

"Da-"

"Ah."

"D-"

"Ah."

She growled furiously and turned around so she was facing him and brought her hands up to hover over his neck, her fingers tense and partially curled in preparation to wrap around his neck, "I could strangle you right now!" She hissed quietly through her clenched jaw.

David laughed softly under his breath as she lowered her hands but kept her eyes on his neck, "I could kiss you right now," he whispered with a playful smile and she huffed angrily.

"You should not be this relaxed about this who thing!" She hissed furiously under her breath, "you should not be following me around like a bouncing puppy when-"

"When what? When I have left my wife for you? When I have left my loving wife who hasn't done a single thing wrong and have instead chosen to be with you? The woman who has done everything wrong, who has made everyone's life hell?" He questioned tenderly in a loving whisper and smiled a little when she tried to work through her confusion at the contrast between his tone and his words.

"Yes."

"I'm trying to stay relaxed," he whispered and nodded a little as he leaned in just a little closer to her, "because you are panicking."

"I'm not-"

He placed a gentle finger over her lips and she let out a furious breath out her nose at his frequent interruptions, "you are," he nodded and she moved her jaw around with her boiling frustration as he lowered his finger, "we can't both be having a mental breakdown at the same time. I am not okay. But I will be okay until you are."

Regina shook her head slowly and looked of to the side, "this is insane, David," she whispered softly and then looked him in the eye once again.

"I know," he nodded and resisted the strong urge to touch her, "I know that quite well," he chuckled quietly and put some fries in to his mouth before taking some more out and offered them to Regina.

She stared at the fries with a sharp huff out her nose and then took them from his fingers and mumbled, "if I weren't so hungry I'd throw these in your damn face."

David laughed quietly as he chewed and reached back in to the bag, walking next to Regina when she started moving again, "love you too," he laughed quietly against her ear and she ignored him entirely save for the subtlest upward curl of the corner of her lips as she tried to hide her smile. The catch had him humming softly and moving the bag to his other hand so he could place his now free hand on her back between her shoulder blades and rub her muscles a little before moving his hand up to the nape of her neck and proceeded to hook his arm around her neck and shoulder and pull her in to him in a friendly manner.

She rested her head on his chest for a few steps and closed her eyes, allowing his presence to calm her down before she continued to face the day. When her couple steps of allowed time had passed, she lifted her head and opened her eyes with a deep breath. Under any other circumstances she would have stepped out of his hold on her but she enjoyed the warmth and she enjoyed the comfort. And she wanted to hold on to what contact he offered her before he was gone. Friendly or intimate.

"Where is Henry?"

"I don't know," he shook his head and tilted the bag in an offer for her to reach inside. An offer she took hesitantly and reached inside, "we can certainly walk around until we find him though," he smiled a little at her nervous silence for he knew precisely what it was attached to, "he's going to be thrilled to see you."

"But how long will it last..."

"It'll come," he encouraged quietly and she frowned so he pulled her in a little more for a step, causing her to cross one leg over the other to keep her footing. "I'm sure the time apart did you both some good. Got you two thinking a lot. Now you both know what you can do better," he smiled and she gave a quiet sigh and a single nod. "Plus you took out a whole bunch of ogres and dragons and even fought a dragon as a dragon," he nodded and motioned with his hand, the bag still in his grip as she began to laugh quietly.

"And you saved me a whole bunch of other times and you got us both home safely and you turned a unicorn white and you can hunt and you didn't kill anyone despite wanting to and you climbed a beanstalk and you befriended a giant and-"

"Okay, okay, okay, I get it," she laughed with him and shook her head.

"Point is you were a hero over there," he smiled and she turned her head to look up at him as though she hadn't heard him correctly, "and that is one hell of a way to prove yourself to your son."

"Hey!" Emma laughed as she jogged up to David and Regina, taking an analyzing look over the both of them as David kept his arm lazily hung around Regina's shoulders, "you two actually made it back!"

"Yes of course!" David laughed happily and debated pulling Emma in to a hug but being unsure of her boundaries he kept his arm around Regina, "you can't get rid of us that easily."

"So what you two are friends now?"

"Something of the sort," Regina nodded with a smile and risked another subtle glance behind Emma in search of Henry only to be tackled from the side causing both her and David to stumble to catch their balance.

"Mom!" He cheered and hugged her as tight as he could.

Her arms held him out of instinct but it took her a few moments for her to realize what was happening and soon there were tears in her eyes. Her arms wound tighter and she turned away from David's hold and buried her face in to his hair, "Henry," she whispered and then let out a shaky tear filled laugh as his arms squeezed her even tighter.

"I missed you," he laughed quietly against her.

"I missed you too," she smiled and sniffed back her tears and breathed out another shaky laugh. She clung to him and pushed her head against his a little more, "I've missed you so much."

Henry nuzzled his face in deeper to her chest and laughed as her warm breath moved his hair. It felt so good to be back in her arms. He had forgotten how nice it was to be in her care and he had most certainly taken it for granted. Even when he rejected her as the Evil Queen he didn't quite grasp how much having her had meant to him, "I love you."

Regina cried a quiet laugh against him as she curled around him and pushed her fingers through his hair to hold his head in place and wound her other arm tighter around his middle. "I love you," she laughed quietly as her tears rolled down her cheeks and in to his hair as she placed a kiss on top of his head. She combed her fingers through his hair slowly and laid the side of her head on top of his and she broke out a small laugh when his hands took fistfuls of the back of her purple silk shirt.

Henry grinned as he moved a little and lifted his head from her chest so he could look at her face and she looked back down at him with tears of joy in her eyes as she laughed and held him close. He missed her and when she dropped her head to leave a kiss on his forehead he laughed happily and hugged her tight.

David watched the reunion with the widest of smiles and then turned his attention to Emma while Regina and Henry shared quiet words. Emma caught his eye for a moment and then did a double take and her smile that was already in place because of Regina and Henry, grew in a question the longer he looked at her.

"What?"

"One?" He questioned and raised a single finger as her grinned and Emma laughed. When she nodded her hesitant permission he only grinned more and stepped toward her so he could wrap his arms around her and she wrapped hers around him in return. He laughed happily at the contact and rested his chin on her shoulder and moved a thumb over her shoulder blade. "I'm sorry," he whispered slowly in to her blonde hair and allowed a smile as he savored the embrace knowing it wasn't going to happen again for a good long while.

He was sorry for too many things. Sorry for leaving her as an infant, sorry for leaving her to grow up without him, leaving her alone, coming back to her only to leave again and tear her family apart again to be with Regina instead. So for everything he was sorry and he held on to her and held on tight as she held on a little tighter too.

"We have a gift for you," she smiled and he bounced excitedly in her arms.

"From the Enchanted Forest?!"

"Mhm," she nodded with a smile and combed her fingers through his hair to smooth out the rogue strands.

"What is it?!"

"Well throughout our entire trip David managed to keep his phone on him," she smiled and Henry grinned wildly in his growing excitement, "and we took videos and pictures of our time over there. There are unicorns, ogres, dragons, giants, magic, beanstalks, fights, introductions to technology to a trio of locals, and many other things we thought worthy enough for you to see."

"No way! Really?!" He laughed and bounced from foot to foot but refused to let go of her.

"Most definitely," she grinned and he let out a laugh rich with excitement.

"Hey now you mustn't forget the scale I took from that dragon you took down," David chuckled and pulled the large scale from his back pocket and handed it to Henry.

Henry took it with a slow laugh and stayed as close to Regina as possible as he moved the green opalescent scale from hand to hand, the scale as big as his entire hand, "whoa!"

"Hey, kid, let me see," Emma laughed and Henry gave it one last look over before passing it on.

"Wait," he laughed lowly and looked up at Regina, "you killed a dragon?!"

"She killed a whole bunch of dragons," David laughed and Regina smiled down at Henry.

"I need to see that!" Both Emma and Henry said simultaneously, the blonde doubtful but glad to be proved wrong and the boy jittery and overwhelmed with excitement.

"Well you will have to stop by the house then," Regina smiled and moved her fingers through Henry's hair above his ear once again, "we are going to put all of the pictures and videos on the computer before we give it to you to keep."

"Well let's go now!" Henry grinned and took Regina's hand in his and started pulling, "we were going over there to come find you anyway!"