Fair warning: there's a teeny bit of Outlaw Queen sex in the middle of the chapter…feel free to skip over it.

Camelot:

He's been here for forty days.

When Zelena sent him through the portal, he was reluctant, but seeing as Roland's life and any chance he had of getting back to Emma and Henry depended on it, Neal Cassidy found himself jumping through a portal. After being discovered by several of the King Arthur's guards, to his surprise, he was taken directly to the King himself.

"Who are you and what sort of magic do you possess?" Arthur looked exactly like he'd expected him to; tall, dark haired, and extremely good looking.

"My name's Neal, I'm from the Enchanted Forest," Arthur regarded him with skepticism.

"And just pray tell how did you end up here in my realm? Camelot's been cloaked by magic for centuries. Most people assume it's a myth,"

"He appears to have come through a portal your majesty," Lancelot, one of King Arthur's knights informed him.

"Who sent you?"

"The Wicked Witch of the West; she thinks that your sword has the ability to destroy magic," Neal swore internally when he saw Arthur's eyes light up with interest.

"Tell me more about this, Wicked Witch you speak of…"

oOo

Neal has managed to become quite chummy with Arthur over the last forty days, though he has yet to get anywhere remotely close to Arthur's sword. In fact, he hasn't even seen it yet, which makes him wonder if the sword is even in Camelot. And if it is, Arthur is keeping it hidden using some very powerful magic. Neal spends most of his days in the lovely room Arthur had provided to him, a clear indication that he's not to be trusted. He does, however, manage to sneak down into the library at night to do some reading, though nothing has proven to be of any use yet. It isn't until one particular night just after Arthur retired to his chambers for the night that Neal is able to sneak into the library where he finds something particularly interesting.

Neal may not be a practitioner of magic, but he knows its pulls from anywhere. While flipping through a book about Camelot's history, he's pulled towards a particular bookshelf. He stands up and carefully walks toward it; the shelf is hidden towards the back of the library. His hand lands on the fourth book from the right; it's relatively small when he pulls it from its confines on the shelf.

"Alright, let's see what you're talking about," Neal muttered to himself; however the pages suddenly begin to flip on their own.

They stopped on the next to the last page; folded inside was a small piece of paper. Curious, Neal pulled the sheet from the book and opened it.

To his surprise, he finds a message scribbled in ink that only he can see.

The answers you seek lie within an old Oak tree on the palace grounds

"Well, this just got interesting,"

oOoOo

She may not have been around for Regina's curse, but Drizella knew all about the Evil Queen. It was impossible not to know who she was; she cast the most deadly curse in all the realms. It was what inspired Drizella's revenge against her mother. However, after her meeting with the queen, she quickly learned that she wasn't as evil as everyone had hyped her up to be. In fact, she was rather…dull and, pretty boring. Nothing remotely remarkable about her; she'd gone soft, just like Zelena said she had. Still, she needed to get close to her in order to get revenge on her mother. Regina's Dark Curse was exactly the kind of thing she needed. If she were to succeed, she needed to find a way to get into the queen's good graces; perhaps the warrior girl could help.

"So, how long have you known the queen?" Mulan was to be with Drizella at all times, which apparently included escorting her down to breakfast.

"I've only met her once while on a mission, I don't know her personally; I only know of her," Mulan kept her eyes forward as they walked the corridors.

"Well, obviously she trusts you if she put you in charge of guarding me," Mulan sighed heavily.

"Like I said, I don't know her personally; I know her through Robin. And if Robin trusts her, so do I,"

"Robin, as in Robin Hood?"

"Yes, why?" Mulan suddenly stopped, rounding on Drizella.

"Isn't he like, her boyfriend or something?" Mulan sighed heavily; she's one of the few people privy to Regina and Robin's marriage and their impending pregnancy.

"They're…together,"

"Hm. How do you know Robin Hood?"

"What's it to you?"

"Look, I just…Regina's interesting and, I wanna know more about her," Mulan scoffed.

"You're up to something,"

"No I'm not, honest; I admire the Evil Queen,"

"She's not the Evil Queen anymore, I saw it firsthand," Mulan answered automatically, causing Drizella to chuckle.

"Honey, she cast the worst curse imaginable; she destroyed half this land. Someone's always gonna see her as evil, no matter what she does. Now, how do you know Robin Hood?"

"How I know Robin is my business; now, what do you want with the Queen?" Drizella smirked.

"Thought you said you didn't know her?"

"I don't,"

"You're awfully protective of someone you claim not to know very well," Mulan sighed.

"I've seen her since they returned from the other world. She's…changed; I tend to give people a second chance,"

"What about me?"

"I don't trust you, not yet; you haven't given me a reason to. So until then, I've got my eyes on you," With that, she turned around and continued on towards the great hall.

This would definitely be harder than she expected.

oOoOo

It was a moment of fleeting passion, a moment to (finally) consummate her marriage to her husband.

Husband.

The word still sounded foreign on her tongue; the last time she'd had a husband she was essentially a child bride. She was barely 18 when she wed Leopold and those were the worst ten years of her life.

Robin was a stark contrast to her relationship with Leopold, especially in the bedroom.

They'd only been together a handful of times since meeting in Neverland; one of those times resulted in the conception of their unborn daughter. Still, despite their lack of intimacy, Robin was completely in tune with her body and what it needed during sex.

Like right now; he's holding her close, one hand gently squeezing her left breast while the other hand gently grips her right hip. It's early in the morning; the sun's rays are just starting to peak through the airy curtains of the open balcony. There wasn't much time for this last night; Regina had been too exhausted and there was a meeting with the council about Zelena and Lady Tremaine that lasted well past midnight.

So they've settled for this, making love as the sun comes up.

Robin has pushed the hair away from her neck, landing soft suckling kisses there which make her moan softly. He's sliding into her at the perfect angle, causing her to grow wetter and wetter with each stroke. He can tell that mentally, she isn't with him; she can't be when she's got a deranged half twin sister hell bent on destroying her.

"Do you want me to stop?" Robin's breath is labored; he wants this but if she can't be fully present with him, he's willing to wait until she can be.

"No, don't; it feels good," Her voice is breathy, but not as breathy as it could be.

"Are you sure? Because we don't have to-" Regina sighs heavily as she reaches behind her grabs his other hand, placing on her other breast; he gets the point and squeezes.

"We don't know when we'll have time for this again and I really, really want to. I've been looking forward to this since last night," Robin chuckles, turns his head towards her for a sloppy kiss.

"Looking forward to having your way with me, eh your majesty?" Regina nods; she pushes her hips into his, hoping that he'll get the hint, that he'll start moving again.

"It's like every time I see you, I have to have you; damn hormones," She mutters; she takes the opportunity to gently tug at his lower lip when he kisses her again.

"I think I'm rather going to enjoy you and these hormones," Robin pulls out of her, turning over so that they're face to face. He reaches out to stroke her cheek, an action that easily causes her to lean into his touch.

"Don't be such a tease Robin," He finds the pout on her face to be quite adorable, easily kisses it away.

"Ah, but it's quite fun teasing you," Regina shakes her head and grins; she leans in close, cupping his cheeks before kissing him.

The kiss grows deeper and deeper; soon, Regina's legs are dangling over his thighs as his hands coast up and down her back. Their hips are rolling slightly against one another, a gesture that makes Regina whimper into his mouth.

"Mmm, Robin, I want you…"

"Patience milady," Robin mutters in between kisses.

He reaches between them and grabs his cock, allowing it to tease at her entrance and slide through her slick, wet folds. Without warning as she's rolling her hips against him, he slides into her. The action takes her by surprise, causing a gasp to tumble from her lips. Regina closes her eyes at the sensation; her hands are firmly planted on his chest as she allows herself to take him in inch by inch.

"Is this alright?"Robin's hands maneuver into her hair; he gives it a light tug, forcing her to look down at him.

"It's more than alright," Regina bites at her lip before leaning in to kiss him.

"Yeah?"

"So good," Her voice is deep; throaty, breathy, and tight and yes, that's more like it.

Robin keeps things slow, sliding out halfway and then pushing back into her. He can't help the way his cock seems to grow harder at Regina's response; she's moaning and pressing kisses to his chest. He keeps this up; he moves his hands to her hips to guide her over his cock just the way he likes it, and apparently, exactly the way she needs it. With each pass, she becomes more vocal, allowing herself to get lost in the feel of everything.

"That's it love, let yourself go," Robin's voice is soothing as he pulls her down harder over his cock, a zinc of pleasure going deep into his belly at the shout that comes out of his wife.

Regina's hands move from his chest to slightly above her head; Robin watches in amazement when the walls begin to glitter a purple color that quickly vanishes.

"Wha-"

"Soundproofing spell; I can't enjoy myself if I'm worried about-" Her voice is shaky, she can barely get her words out. Robin shushes her with a kiss, pulling her against his chest and crushing her lips to his.

"No need for explanation; just feel," Regina shuts her eyes and lets out a rather loud moan, stirring a sense of pride in the pit of his stomach.

"That's it love, let me hear you; don't hold anything back," It only takes the one command before her voice, cries of his name, is echoing off the walls of their bedroom.

He feels her body relax as she completely surrenders herself to the moment, allows herself to enjoy every second of pleasure he gives her.

Orgasm seizes her sometime later; she falls over the precipice with a scream of Robin's name. He follows moments later, his thumb rubbing tight circles against her clit as he empties himself into her until he is spent; his body sags against hers. Their breathing is labored but they kiss; they kiss, and kiss, and kiss until they're forced to come up for air.

"If being married starts out like this every morning…" Regina lets the sentence linger for a few moments before chuckling.

"Is this something you can get used to?" Robin has been rather quiet since they've come down from their post coital high. His hands are coasting up and down her back in soothing passes; he runs his fingers through her hair.

"What, having incredible sex with you?" Regina grins down at him.

"Actually, I meant being married again,"

"Oh," Suddenly, Regina becomes self-conscious; her body goes stiff as she pulls the sheets over her chest.

"I didn't mean to upset you," Robin sighs.

"You didn't; I just…being with you like this, as your wife, it doesn't…this is exactly what I wanted with Daniel," Tears well up in her eyes, causing Robin to take her into his arms.

"I hate that those moments were stolen from you," Robin reaches out and wipes away a few stray tears.

"After Leopold I thought I'd never want this, to be with anyone, to be claimed as someone else's. But with you it, it doesn't feel like I'm being claimed; it feels like nothing's changed and that scares me. What if one day this all wears off? What if we're feeling this because of Tink's prophecy and your tattoo? What if-"

"Regina, what I feel for you, for this child is…I haven't felt this way in years. And if I'm honest with myself, even Marian and I didn't have this kind of connection,"

"You, didn't?"

"I loved her of course but, there's a connection between you that I can't explain, Regina, I love you. I've been in love with you for, quite some time now and I don't think that's ever going away…we can't get away from each other now, especially because of" Robin's hand gestures to her stomach. Regina, however, is silent, staring at him in wonder, completely unsure of what to say.

"I…" She pauses, hesitates; they've been like this, together, for the better part of their time here in the Enchanted Forest. Deep down she knows; she loves him with every fiber of her being.

But loving her is weakness; love is weakness.

"You don't have to say anything,"

"No! I do, I…Robin, I feel the same way but, I can't say it, not yet," Robin sighs heavily, reaches out to squeeze her hand and nods.

"I understand," Regina moves in close, resting her forehead against his.

"I'm scared; I've never had anything good in my life that I didn't lose or screw up,"

"You didn't screw up with Henry,"

"But I did; Henry isn't here because of me," Robin shook his head.

"Henry isn't here because of Zelena, but Regina I promise you we will get him back. You'll be united with your boy if it's the last thing I do," Regina grins.

"That's my line,"

"Well, what's yours is mine and what's mine is yours, your majesty,"

oOoOo

Neal waited until well past midnight to make his way out of his room and down to the courtyard. He had no idea where this tree was located, but he knew that the only way he could've found that note was through magic.

Unless Arthur wanted him to find it.

Neal shook his head and kept looking; he knew Arthur was suspicious of him, but still, there was this tug in his heart that said the note wasn't from Arthur. He stood still in the middle of the courtyard, he needed to think. He knew magic, understood how it worked; his father was The Dark One for crying out loud!

"C'mon, show me a sign," he muttered.

He stood still a few more moments, waiting for a sign of any kind that would lead him to the tree. After nothing happened, Neal sighed heavily and headed back to his room. However, just as he was about to head inside, he felt something hit him across the face.

"What the hell?" Neal muttered as he pulled the object off of his face. To his surprise it was a feather; he frowned.

"Uh, is this supposed to be a sign?"

When there was no response, Neal decided to see if anything else would happen. A few moments later, another feather appeared, though this one flew away from him. Curious, Neal followed the feather across the corridor. The wind picked up, causing the feather to float higher in the air. Neal continued to follow the feather until it led him to a large oak tree in the middle of a field. He didn't have to guess any further, this was the tree; this tree had the answers he needed. This tree would lead him back to Emma and Henry.

"Okay so, I've found the tree…now what?" Neal stood in front of the tree hoping for another sign.

This was going to be a lot harder than expected.

Chapter 37 to follow…

Yes, I know this is cruel but I promise things will get better. This is what we call a "filler chapter", basically we needed to move the story along so I wrote a few things that were less important but would give us an update on what's going on with some of our faves. The next chapter will more than likely have a time jump where we might get an update on Zelena and a few other reveals.

I hope you all enjoyed, I'll see ya next time!

Xx