Frick, I am so sorry this took sooooooo long! This chapter was an absolute bitch to write, I had the worst case of writer's block, I just wanted to jump ahead and write other chapters. But here it is! A transition chapter. I hope you enjoy it! It shouldnt be anywhere near as long a wait for the next update :)

His hands on her skin felt better than any magic flowing through her veins. It was soft and tender, his fingertips caressing her figure from her hip to her shoulder as his lips pressed the most precious kisses to her neck. Soft and sweet, ghosting over her skin as the warm morning light poured in through the windows.

She laid on her side, tangled in the blankets and her arms hugging the pillow beneath her head. And David laid behind her, slowly waking her with his lips and fingertips on her body.

"Regina?" He breathed softly and she drew in a deep waking breath and let it out slowly.

"Shepherd," she hummed in a groggy and sleeping voice, acknowledging his inquiry of her being awake with a soft confirmation that she was just that. Even though she kept her eyes closed.

"Good morning," he murmured softly before pressing a kiss to the side of her neck and listened to her hum softly in delight.

"Good morning," she parroted quietly and his arms wound around her waist. When she rolled over, she was met with the kindest blue eyes and the most loving smile. He made her heart soar with love and warmth and then his fingers were caressing her face and tucking her hair behind her ear. She could do nothing but smile at him.

It was so peaceful and calm. So soothing to her tired and beaten heart.

And she wondered when the time would come where she would remember it to be a dream before she woke.

When would she find herself in that very same dream she had found herself in so many times before, and remember that despite how it felt, none of it was real. It was just a dream.

It was always just a dream.

She only ever remembered when she opened her eyes. When there were no lips pressed to her skin, no hands wandering her figure, and no warmth on the other side of her bed. For it had been a dream.

And she was alone.

David was just across the yard, living in the barn loft. But she didn't think he had ever been so far out of her reach.

For he was married to Snow White.

If she thought on it too long, she was left furious and in tears with a heart throbbing in her chest. So she decided to swallow it back down instead and face the day with her head held high. Eventually things would be alright.

At least, that was what she kept telling herself. Perhaps there would come a day she would even believe it.

...

"So this David fellow," Richard started and Regina tried to hide how she tensed at the change in subject.

"Yes?"

"Why have you not spoken of him before?"

"It is complicated."

"So you have said. All week," he noted and she had no intention of freely discussing the topic any further. So he pushed a little harder, "how long have you known him?"

"Years."

"How long have you been together?"

"That is complicated."

"It shouldn't be."

"I know it shouldn't be," she laughed under her breath in unease. And then all form of laughter disappeared entirely, "but it is."

"Alright. How long have you loved him then?" He asked and watched her fidget as she finished tidying up from breakfast.

"A year or so...close to two now I'd say," she replied in unease, entirely unpracticed and untrusting of speaking of her feelings to anyone outside the direct recipient of her affection. For all of her lovers had been a secret. But Richard remained ever so kind.

"And he loves you?"

"He claims to."

"Do you believe him?"

"Sometimes."

"Does he believe you love him?"

"Yes."

"...Then I am afraid, Miss Regina, I do not see the complication. Nor any reason for the contention between you two that is so obviously there," he told her and she stayed quiet for a little while as she tried to find something to do, another item to adjust on her counter. But there was nothing left to do. So she conceded and came and sat with him at the table and he watched her with the most patient and kind expression.

"David and I spent many years at one another's throats. There have been many occasions where we have nearly killed one another."

"I don't think I can picture either one of you as the murderous type. Especially you, Regina," he chuckled and she huffed a quiet laugh with a raise of her brow.

"Well...we were different people then. And we just didn't get along," she dismissed and Richard listened. "He hated me more than I hated him. It seemed his life mission was to have me killed at the stake. And then one day, everything changed. He put me at my lowest point, saw things I had shared with no one, and he suddenly dedicated his life to getting me back on my feet. Out of the dark. Happy," she shook her head and looked out the window and let her eyes glaze over as she watched the children play in the meadow.

"Neither one of us expected to come to feel as we do. Neither one of us expected to...fall in love with one another, of all things. But...we did. Without even noticing."

"You speak of him with great love in your voice," he told her and she blinked her eyes back to him and they held more vulnerability than ever before. "Even though you are clearly upset with him, it is obvious that you love him," he spoke gently and watched as she seemed to crumble before him.

"Why are you so easy to talk to?" She shook her head slowly with her breathed words.

"I am your friend, Regina, I hope that you can trust me with anything you have to say. Just as I hope I can trust you with anything I may have to say."

"Of course you can."

"Then please, Regina. Tell me what is troubling you. Maybe I can help."

"You can't help. Not with this," she denied and he reached across the table and took both her hands in both of his and left her with her strength wavering and her heart yearning to have guidance.

"Tell me anyway."

Regina could only shake her head as her eyes fell to his hands holding her own. He grounded her in a way she had never felt, "I wish I had met you before I had fallen in love with that wretched shepherd," she told him and he gave her a lopsided smile.

"Talk to me," he urged softly as he rubbed his thumbs over her hands with a tilt of his head and she finally caved.

"He had been promised to someone else. And he chose her over me," she told him and when his kind face fell in to a deep sorrow, she shook her head and quite suddenly burst in to tears despite herself, "and I just hate him for it," she cried and then quickly worked to steady herself. Richard only squeezed her hands in support and held her gaze with the deepest sympathy.

And when she could no longer look him in the eye and he found himself unable to say anything of any comfort, Richard stood from his chair and carefully urged her up from hers and coaxed her in to a strong hug. She returned it in earnest and gave a long sigh in to his neck and his heart ached for her in a way he had never felt for anyone before. He had never known someone in such a predicament and he didn't know what to say to it. So he just held her and made certain that she didn't feel alone.

"I am sorry."

"It's not your fault," Regina breathed as she tried to calm her tears and leapt at the opportunity to be held up for just a little while. She hadn't realized how much she had missed it.

"No. But we should all be able to be with the ones we love. And I am sorry that you cannot," he told her and held her close as she sunk in to him a little heavier.

...

David returned from town with the groceries to an empty house and an empty barn. Regina was nowhere to be seen and it left him frowning.

The pair of them weren't necessarily on speaking terms despite his best efforts. There were moments where they got along, moments where they would forget and laugh, moments where they would enjoy one another's company. But then it seemed she would remember what he had done, who he had married. And she would shut him out once more.

And he couldn't even blame her for doing as such.

He had hurt her in the worst way, he deserved far worse than her cold shoulder. Upon leaving the barn, David spotted her dark silky hair amongst the long green grass where she sat watching the horses graze amongst the sheep.

He approached her without a thought and offered her a smile when she turned her head to see who it was disturbing her solitude. She didn't smile back but she also didn't throw him a scowl before she turned her attention back to the animals.

"Good morning," he greeted gently and her eyes fell from the animals to her hands hanging clasped over her knees.

The kindness in his voice only mimicked that of the voice in her dream. The dream she had had countless times during his leave and his recent stay. It only reminded her of how desperately she wished things could go back to how they were in that brief time in her Dark Palace. She would give anything to just go back and try again.

She didn't say anything in reply and it had him frowning just a little as he looked out at the sheep. "I've been here a little over a week now," he started softly, "and we have barely been able to carry a conversation longer than a minute. I came back here, Regina, not only to see how you were fairing, but also because I simply missed you. I missed being in your company. I missed being your friend..." he drifted off softly and she stayed silent. Didn't speak a word.

Not until he was drawing in a new breath to speak once again, did he hear her voice.

"I miss it too," she confessed ever so softly and felt her heart lurch in her tight and aching chest.

Letting out his breath on a near silent sigh, David frowned deeper, "why can we not go back?"

"Because a person cannot just decide to stop loving someone, shepherd," she snapped curtly and with the full weight of her grief pulling on her voice, "I have tried. For years," she told him. She had tried with Daniel, with Snow, and with him, "it doesn't work that way," she promised and he held her eye when she turned her gaze his way. His blue eyes we're just as tired and tormented as her own and it frustrated her more than words could say.

"Can you tell me any different?" She pressed and waited for his reply. It came in time, it came slowly, and it came quietly with his eyes never once shying from hers.

"No," he breathed, "no, I cannot," for she was right. A person simply could not just decide to stop loving someone. He too had tried to stop loving her. For it would be so much easier if he could. But he too had failed in doing so.

She could only nod in reply, her lips and jaw tight as she swallowed down her emotion and turned her head straight.

"Around and around we go, the Evil Queen and Prince Charming," she singsonged softly, tired and heartbroken.

"It has never been my intention," he told her gently but she only shook her head and looked to her hands on her knees.

"You kept leaving."

"You kept kicking me out," he defended softly. Even though it was barely an excuse.

"Well it certainly wasn't hard to convince you to leave."

"That's because Snow-."

"Takes priority. Don't I fucking know it," she cut him off bitterly, the words leaving a horrid taste in her mouth and left her biting the side of her tongue to keep her temper from snapping.

"Well we were engaged, Regina," he reasoned quietly, unable to look in her direction at all, "of course she came first. You were...an affair...an affair that got far out of hand."

"But you wanted more," she dared to voice and felt her terrified heart beg her to fall silent before she was hurt once more, "you wanted me," she breathed and he found the courage to look her in the eye and the devastation in his expression glossed her eyes with tears but she wouldn't let them fall.

"Every time I tried to choose you, you threw me out the door," he stressed with a lost and defeated shake of his head and wished he could comfort her. And that she could comfort him.

"You should have fought," she argued and his shoulders dropped but his eyes never left hers, "you should have tried harder, I would have caved, I was right there," she breathed and shook her head and looked down at her hands once more, "that last morning we spent together. In the Dark Palace. If you had asked me then, I would have married you. Without hesitation," she confessed softly and then breathed a single pained laugh, "and then you were gone."

"I tried to stay."

"I know you did," she breathed and her tears threatened to fall.

"You forced me out."

Regina could only nod. For she had done exactly that. "I didn't trust you. You had told me I was a risk you couldn't take, how could I trust you. And yet, if you had followed me, if you had told me you were staying, if you had denied me my self destruction...there would not have been so much as an ounce of fight left in me. I was so cruel because you were so close to finally breaking through and I was terrified of what you could do to me. I didn't trust you," she shook her head and nearly choked on her vulnerability.

But it was so therapeutic to let some of it out. To talk about how she felt. Being out of that dark palace had done wonders on her mind and soul. She hadn't truly realized the extent of it until then, until she could speak without all of her walls raised around her heart.

David was amazed that they were even having such a conversation. Just a few short years ago, she wouldn't so much as bid him good morning. Would rather set his clothes aflame or throw him out a window. And now there they were, sitting in a field talking about things they had never spoken aloud before. Things residing in their hearts closely guarded every moment of every day.

It was incredible to him how far they had come. How far she had come. And yet, it was just a little too late. It was devastating. "I nearly proposed to you that very same morning," he breathed out with a pitiful and mournful little laugh and turned his eyes downward when she turned her head straight to hide the tears pooling higher in her eyes. "I didn't trust you to react as I hoped you would, I feared you would throw me out and I would ruin such a perfect morning. So I kept quiet..." he shook his head in dismay.

And then he laughed in exhaustion with his heart throbbing in his throat, "and now here we are."

Regina could only shake her head and swallow her tears. And then she breathed miserably, "here we are."