A good and long chapter for you guys :) so much to fit in! And can I just say that I am so excited to write the next chapter for you guys! I have been wanting to write it for forever and now I finally get to! Super pumped! I hope you enjoy the update :) please leave a review!


"You getting up yet?" She chuckled quietly as she pushed a diamond earring in to her ear while standing at his side of the bed. She got a small grunt in reply and she laughed a little more and climbed on to the bed, walking on her knees as she finished with her other earring, "what do you want to do on this lovely Saturday morning? Hmm?" She grinned and he opened one eye and smiled a playful smile up at her.

His hands shot up to her hips and she gave a startled yelp of laughter that was followed by that gorgeous, warm, and rich laughter when he sat up and pushed her so she fell on to her back on the bed and he was on top of her with that big grin. She had her knees up on either side of his ribs and his hands were still on her hips while he looked down at her through sharp blue eyes.

"I want," he grinned and slowly slid his hands up her sides, pulling her dark purple silk shirt from her perfectly pressed and tailored black trousers, "to say good morning to the baby," his smile never faltered and she laughed quietly and happily as he pressed a kiss to her flat stomach, "good morning baby."

"It can't hear you."

"Excuse your mother's rudeness, little one," he apologized and Regina laughed, her arms bent lazily to rest on the bed above her head, "of course you can hear us."

"I'm sorry."

"That's better," David smiled up at her and she laughed again as she met his eye and then looked back down at her stomach as his thumbs moved back and forth over her soft skin. "I bet you are going to have your mother's dark hair," he grinned down at her stomach, "my genes aren't going to stand much of a chance against your mother's dominant ones but maybe, just maybe, you'll have my blue eyes. Either way you will be beautiful. You can't go wrong with us two as your parents," he chuckled and Regina hummed a laugh and tilted her head to the side.

"You'll definitely be stubborn like your mother."

"Oh like you're any better," she scoffed with a laugh and he looked up at her with a wide grin.

"I bet you'll have her quick tongue too."

"You say that like it's an insult," she grinned and he laughed through his open smile.

"I just hope you don't have her sex drive," he whispered against her stomach, barely holding back his laughter.

"I don't hear you complaining," she laughed and swatted the side of his head and then much to her surprise, she started talking to the tiny being inside her, "there is nothing wrong with having a lot of sex."

"Hey!"

"Nothing at all-!"

"Watch your mouth!" He lunged up at her with a laugh and she fought him and continued speaking with her laughter growing louder and freer.

"-so long as you communicate with one another, don't keep secrets, and you're careful so nobody gets knocked up!" She finished with a wild laugh and David finally managed to climb on top of her and clamp a hand over her mouth while she continued to laugh.

"Do not listen to her! She doesn't know what she's saying!" He laughed as he spoke and she laughed freely beneath his tight hand.

"What's going on in here?" Henry questioned with a light and amused laugh as he walked in to the bedroom.

"Your mother is in trouble, Henry. Tell me," he laughed over at the boy, his hand still muffling Regina's constant laughter, "is she ticklish?"

"Well yeah," Henry laughed and his mother started shaking her head and tried to squirm out from underneath David but her laughter never stopped, "right around her ribs and stomach if you do it right," he chuckled and nodded toward her and David gave a single victorious 'ha!' down at Regina and she shook her head faster and laughed even more.

"Henry!" She shrieked the moment David's hand left her mouth and grabbed at her sides along with his other, her laughter growing louder and wilder as David tickled her and she tried to get away, "stop! David!"

He didn't let up at all and Henry couldn't help but laugh with them both as she thrashed and twisted on the bed to try and get free of David's weight and tickling fingers. "I'll save you!" He laughed and charged the bed, jumping on it and then climbing up on David's back.

"A double agent! What is this!? Why am I surprised?!" David laughed and reached behind him to try and pull Henry from his back. Regina squirmed and laughed beneath him and was almost free when he managed to pull Henry of his back and fling him on to the bed, the boy laughing uncontrollably as he landed with a bounce and immediately tried to attack him again, "you can't stop me!"

"Yes I can!" He yelled and jumped on his back again, wrapping his arms around his head.

David roared and flopped on to his back, sandwiching Henry between him and the bed and the boy laughed wildly with what air was left in his lungs. "No!" David laughed and sat up again to wrap his arms around Regina's waist as she made a break for it, "you are going nowhere! You're both all mine!" He growled and laughed and she gave a loud and rich laugh as she pushed his face away with both hands and he laid on top of her with Henry still attached to his back.

"She's mine!" Henry challenged and shot himself backward with his arms wrapped securely around David's head. David reared back with a comical roar and spun on his knees and dropped backwards again, a shriek from both mother and son music to his ears as he lay across Regina's middle with Henry between them. All three of them laughing as they tried to get out from beneath him, "you will never escape!" He growled and quickly rolled so he was on his stomach and wrapped his big strong arms around Henry and Regina so they couldn't get away.

...

"Run!" Henry shouted as he sprinted down the hall after his mother, the pair of them laughing so hard their stomachs hurt as David stumbled after them.

Regina could not remember the last time she had had such fun. She couldn't remember the last time she had played such a game. Perhaps with Daniel? Or perhaps it was with her father when she was a child? She could not stop laughing and bounced to an abrupt halt when Henry yelped behind her to find him being dragged back toward the master bedroom with David's grip around his ankles.

"Keep running!" He laughed hysterically and kicked to try and get free while his hands clawed at the floor, "save yourself!"

Cora entered the house silently and immediately her head was turned up and to the left toward the staircase and the source of the laughter that filled the happy home. She stepped a little further in to the home and craned her neck, curious to know what the growling and roaring was for.

"Henry?!" Regina called up the stairs having stopped on the small landing between the two staircases. She was still laughing and she was out of breath and she only laughed harder when she laid eyes on the reason for her boys' comical death sounds. Henry sat on David's shoulders with his arms out in front of him just like David's as they turned to come down the stairs.

"I have moulded him in to me!" David growled as he laughed, Henry's legs hooked underneath his arms so he would not fall, "you have no chance now!" He bellowed and Regina laughed wildly on the landing as she slowly backed away. He took three steps down slowly to test his balance with Henry on his shoulders and when he was satisfied he sprinted down the rest causing Regina to yelp and spin and run down the rest of the stairs with him hot on her heels and their laughter filling the home again.

Cora watched with a gentle smile, a small but amused smile when she saw her daughter leap off the last two stairs and sprint in to the dining room, her expression one that was filled with joy and excitement. Her eyes flicked next to David and Henry and she furrowed her brow a little bit but her smile remained in place as they chased after Regina, growling and roaring and laughing as they went. Curious and amused, Cora stepped up the stairs in to the foyer and followed the sound of them through the dining room to the kitchen.

"We've got her cornered now!"

"Oh do you?" Regina laughed as she tried to catch her breath, a wooden spoon in her hand as she stood in a corner on one side of the island and David and Henry were on the opposite corner to her. David simply nodded with a grin and stepped closer to the island counter and when he was close enough Henry stepped on to the counter and David took a step back and began walking one way around the island while Henry hopped down and covered the other side.

"That's not fair," Regina blurted out and then started laughing again while she weighed her options.

"You can't run," Henry chimed in with a laugh as he neared her and she and David laughed with him. But then at the last second she leapt forward and gracefully pulled herself up on to the island and scrambled across the top of it, "hey!" He shouted and immediately both he and David spun and ran to catch her on her landing.

Regina was laughing as her feet touched the kitchen floor and it quickly turned a little shrill when David's burly arms wrapped securely around her middle and lifted her from the floor, "no!"

"Gotcha!"

"No! Let go!" She fought and laughed as she dropped her head back against his shoulder and kicked her legs out.

"Never," he growled in her ear and her laughter grew all the more uncontrolled as he tickled her again and she started thrashing to try and get free.

"We have a witness!" Henry announced and climbed up on to the island again to point at Cora who had been standing silently off to the side with a smile and her hands clasped behind her back. His mother'a laughter calmed a little bit when David stopped tickling her and turned to discover Cora as well.

"Well, well, well," David grinned and Cora cocked her head at him while Regina turned hers to see what was going on. He laughed when Henry jumped from the countertop and on to his back so he could scramble up on his shoulders once again, "seems we must take care of this. There mustn't be any witnesses," he shook his head with a grin and slowly unwound his arms from Regina's laughing figure as he turned and walked up to Cora who had straightened her posture a little with doubt in her eyes.

There was no reason for her to run. She doesn't run anyway. It is not proper. What were they planning to do to her anyway. She wasn't ticklish like her daughter apparently was. But as they got closer she began to get a little wary. Their grins grew bigger and their hands came up as they stalked closer. She took a step back and the pair of them laughed in unison and her eyes darted all over them in search of a motive for their coming closer. David jumped forward and she jumped back, her expression incredulous while the boys laughed through toothy grins and Regina's song worthy laughter was heard from behind them.

Another jump from them had her jumping back and then another and another and when David started running, sure enough Cora spun and ran away. Much to everyone's excitement and Regina couldn't help but laugh and clap her hands together as Henry and David took chase, growling and laughing after her confused mother.

...

"Madame Mayor?" He called politely and tapped his knuckles against the door as he walked in to her office. It seemed to be empty and for a few steps he believed that maybe he had caught his first lucky break but then she came in to view as she walked to her desk from the other side of the large table on the left side of the room.

"Good afternoon, Greg," she smiled politely before turning her back to him and filing away the small stack of files in her arm in to the tall black filing cabinet, "what can I do for you? I trust you're healing well?"

"Yes I am, thank you. I just came in here to apologize. I feel we got off on the wrong foot."

"Do you?" She asked over her shoulder and then turned back to put her last file away.

"Yes. I was not quite myself," he excused and stepped around the desk a little and leaned his hip against the short side of it just as she closed the drawer and turned to face him.

"Oh?"

"I hate to admit it but I found myself quite jealous over your little family."

"Really?" She questioned with her eyebrows raised and a small shake of her head paired with a smile, "whatever for?" She knew the answer.

"Well I unfortunately grew up without one," he shrugged and folded his arms over his chest and she furrowed her brow and shifted her weight on to one foot.

"What about your father?" Her voice was convincingly confused and honest but her memories of killing him with a dagger to the heart and his warm blood coating her fingers nearly brought a twisted smile to her face.

"That's why I'm here," he half lied and she nodded her head a little but he couldn't tell if she was truly being as honest as she seemed, "I haven't seen him since I left this place and I was hoping he would still be here. If not with you then somewhere else in this town."

"With me?" She shook her head with a small laugh and he shrugged and looked her up and down, "I'm flattered I suppose, but no, dear, I was never close with your father. He left the town two days after you and I have not once seen him since."

"Really?"

"Yes. I saw him off myself," she nodded and suddenly became aware of something that was different about him. Something she couldn't quite place her finger on, something that separated him from everyone else other than the fact he was not from Storybrooke.

"Where would he have gone? Why didn't he come for me?"

Regina shrugged and shook her head with a falsely regrettable, "I couldn't tell you," and then his attention was caught by running footsteps and when he turned from her to see who they belonged to, she let her instincts do what they wanted and she subtly threw a little magic at him. What it should have done was freeze him on the spot but it didn't and instead the magic bounced right off of him and she would be lying if she said she wasn't panicking a little now.

Her magic had worked just fine on him in the hospital but now it was bouncing right off of him. What had he done in that short time period to make him immune to magic? What was he doing in her town that he felt the need to protect himself entirely from magic? Her stomach was churning and her heart was racing and when she saw Henry running toward her she resisted the urge to run to him and put him behind her to protect him. Instead she smiled and stood her ground while she masked her fear.

"Mom are you coming or what?" He chuckled as he jogged to her with a skip in his step.

"Yes I am I just got held up for a moment," she smiled and he stopped in front of her and turned to face Greg. She nearly snatched Henry's hand herself when he reached forward to shake Greg'd offered hand.

"I'm Greg," he smiled and the boy smiled at him and took his hand and shook it.

"Henry," he smiled and felt the hairs raise on the back of his neck and politely let go of his hand and backed in to his mother to feel her safety surround him to ward off the fear that had startled him.

"It's nice to meet you Henry," he smiled and the boy smiled and nodded in return. This mission was going to be harder than they had previously thought. Getting the boy from Regina was going to be near impossible.

"Nice to meet you too," he lied and looped an arm around his mothers waist and pushed his hand in to her pocket at her hip, holding her close to him as she hummed and placed a hand on his upper arm just below his shoulder and rubbed her thumb back and forth. She was scared of this man too, he could feel it in the tightness of her body and the way she made their clinging to one another seem like mere affection while it was also the need to be protected and the fierce protection.

"I'm afraid we must be going," she excused them and began moving toward the door of her office and Greg turned and walked toward it as well when she motioned her arm toward it in a request for him to get out. She followed him with her dear Henry still glued to her side, "you have caught me once again when I have a previous engagement."

"No worries, Madame Mayor," he smiled over his shoulder as he stepped over the threshold, "I'll try and catch you when you're free next time. Thank you for making a little time for me."

"Of course," she nodded and smiled and they made it out of the building without another word and she was beyond grateful when he turned left and they went straight. She hugged Henry tighter and he did the same and when they reached David's truck she kissed the top of his head with a whispered, "good boy," and he jumped in to the back seat with Cora and she got in the front seat beside David.

"Regina," he frowned as she took a deep breath to calm herself down and he immediately felt the fear wafting from her, "Regina what's wrong?"

"Just drive, David," she whispered with an underlying 'I'll tell you later' so he started the truck and put it in to drive and when he glanced at the rear view mirror he saw Henry had practically gotten in to Cora's lap and was holding her hand tight between both of his. Cora looked concerned and confused but didn't say a word and let him stay close. She even moved her thumb across the back of his hand and watched Henry relax a little more.

...

If there was one thing that she had to pick from David that was her favourite, it would be his ability to erase fear. He had erased it in her on the drive there as he held her hand and while it was just a temporary fix she knew he would quickly get to work on erasing it permanently as soon as he had finished his talent with Henry.

She watched as David sparred with her son barefoot on the lush green grass, metal blades clashing together as laughter erased her precious boy's fear. It brought a smile to her face and she felt herself start to relax a little bit more. Nothing was going to happen to them. It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon and they were spending it in the park on a blanket underneath a giant tree with a basket full of food.

"What happened, Regina," Cora asked softly and Regina crossed her jaw a little and dropped her eyes to the blanket they sat on. Her knees were up and her arms laid across them, one hand holding the wrist of the other so it dangled between her knees. Her short hair had been pushed to one side of her head with her fingers and had been kept that way by the gentle breeze softly blowing in the same direction from time to time.

"No one comes in to this town. Technically speaking it does not even exist according to the laws of this world. It cannot be found and therefore it does not exist."

"So that man who has entered?"

"He's been here before..."

"I take it he is not here to take a trip down memory lane."

"No..."

"Do you know what he is here for?"

"No but I know it has something to do with me," she turned her head and looked at Cora only to frown at the worry and concern in her mother's expression, "and Henry," she added quietly and dropped her eyes to the space on the blanket between them.

"You will be able to protect him, Regina," she tried to soothe but tears started to shine in her daughter's eyes and that had Cora frowning and her shoulders dropping.

"He's immune to magic," she whispered because that was the only volume she could muster through her thick throat, "I don't know how, I don't know what he's done, but it just bounces right off of him. How am I supposed to protect anyone from him if I am helpless against him myself?"

Cora shook her head and moved closer to her so she could place a finger under her chin and lift it back up so she could look in to her tearful eyes, "you are not alone, Regina. Not anymore," she shook her head again and when tears started to fall down her daughter's cheeks she lifted both her hands to her face and wiped them away as she held her head steady, "you have people now, darling. Strong people who care about you, who love you. You are not alone, you will find a way to keep your boy safe. You are too strong to fail," she whispered and wiped away another tear.

She held those dark scared eyes for a good few seconds and when Regina dropped her eyes she also started to lean down toward her. It caught Cora by surprise but she did not so much as think to push her away when she warily fell in to her and rested her head on her chest and carefully wrapped her arms around her waist. Cora simply held her in return and tried so hard not to overstep and cause her to pull away.

"I'm scared," she admitted at a whisper and squeezed her closed eyes tighter when Cora rested her head atop her own and began combing her fingers through her dark hair. Scared for Henry, scared for David, scared for the tiny baby growing inside her.

"Our finest work often stems from our greatest fears," she whispered back and Regina turned her face in to her chest and wound her arms a little tighter around her.

"...why did you do it?"

"Do what?" She whispered as she watched her fingers move through Regina's hair.

"Break me," she whispered and felt a tear roll down her cheek despite her closed eyes and Cora's fingers faltered for a few moments.

"I was selfish," she whispered and began combing her fingers through Regina's hair once again, "and I was cruel. I was blinded by power. You were not what I believed I wanted. You were not built the way I wanted. I wanted a queen, I wanted a girl who cared about her status and would stop at nothing to achieve it. I did not want a girl with bloody knees and dirt beneath her nails or twigs in her hair. Or at least that is what I thought. So we fought and I had thought I was winning. Until you pushed me through that mirror."

"What changed your mind? What made you decide to try and fix...us..."

Cora let out a long breath and nuzzled the side of her face in to the top of Regina's head and dropped her combing fingers to hug around Regina's shoulder, "I had a puppet in Wonderland and she was much easier to maneuver and manipulate. For a while I was satisfied and entertained but I grew to miss the challenge you were. At least I believed that that was what I had been missing. I didn't realize I had been missing you until you ran from me back in the Enchanted Forest and you deciphered my cloaking spell. I was missing my fiery little daughter who fought for what she wanted and tried to make me see it too," she whispered and then let out a small laugh when Henry won the spar and David fell to a dramatic death and Henry ran circles around him while shouting with his arms and sword up in the air.

"I can see it now. I can see it. This...it is worth fighting for."

...

She had been sitting there in silence for a good ten minutes now. She had come in frantic and scared and he didn't call her out on it because he knew she believed she wasn't a woman who was allowed to be frantic or scared. But as soon as they had taken a seat she hadn't said so much as a word. "Regina," he called gently and immediately her face creased with stress and fear, "what is on your mind?"

"I don't know what I'm doing."

"In what respect?"

"All of them," she laughed a teary laugh for a moment and then stopped and quickly wiped away her tears before they fell too far down her face.

"Do you have a list?" He pushed gently, his heart aching a little at the sight of tears already in those eyes.

"Henry, David, Cora, Emma, Snow, Greg, you."

Archie nodded and watched as she swallowed down a sob, "anything you are sure about?"

"Rumplestiltskin," she breathed out with a teary and stressed laugh.

"Why?"

"Because he doesn't break a deal."

"And you have made a deal with him?"

"Long ago. He's holding up his end quite...kindly..."

"Do you mind me asking what the deal was?"

"That if I didn't follow through with killing myself after marrying the king he would help me find my happiness if the dark curse didn't find it for me," she admitted without so much as a thought to it until the words had left her mouth and when they had she immediately regretted it and closed her eyes as she rocked forward and brought a shaking hand to cover her mouth.

Archie was caught off guard to say the very least and gaped at her for a long while, his jaw slack, his lips parted ever so slightly, his eyes wide behind his glasses, his hand poised to write what she was going to say only to stop when he heard the unexpected answer. He knew he had to say something before she ran but he was stunned. So they sat in silence for a little while longer while he tried to gather his thoughts.

"I'm sorry..." He apologized and she slowly started shaking her head, "I wasn't expecting such an answer," she didn't say anything in response and after a few more seconds of gathering his thoughts he dropped the topic and went back to safer territory, "you said you didn't know what you were doing with David," he started and she took a shaky breath to pull herself back together, "care to elaborate a little? I thought the two of you were getting along famously."

"We are."

"Then why the doubt?"

"I'm...pregnant."

"I see...and does David know?"

"Of course he does. He's over the moon."

"And you are not?"

"I..." She shook her head and tried to find the right words only to fail and push a hand through her hair.

"Do you want this child?" He rephrased and she wrapped an arm around her stomach and whether it was a conscious movement or not he couldn't say.

"Yes I do. I've always wanted a child of my own blood I just...I'm...afraid."

"Of what?"

"I don't know."

"You're more clever than that," he argued gently and she sighed and conceded.

"David is a good man he doesn't deserve to be hated by this town because of me. Because of this baby..."

"You're worried for him."

"...yes."

"There is nothing wrong with that," he smiled and shook his head a little, "so long as you are there to help him through it if he needs you to," he nodded and she nodded in return, accepting that for now. "And what of Emma?"

Regina let out a single laugh and shook her head as her fingers rested over her lips and she shrugged her shoulders up, "we are um...we are becoming friends it seems."

Archie let out a quiet laugh of his own and when she started laughing with him his laughter grew a little more free, "well isn't that a turn of events."

"Indeed," Regina chuckled and sniffed quietly while Archie continued to laugh quietly.

"Well a friend is a wonderful thing to have in times of hardship. Perhaps try confiding in Emma. It doesn't have to be much, she won't need much. She is a very loyal person," he nodded and she nodded in return once more. They fell in to silence once again. It seemed that the queen truly was a little lost. She was not a woman often lost for words.

"And what of Snow?" He asked delicately knowing it was a touchy subject.

"I do not wish to speak of her."

"Alright," he nodded and she ran her hand through her hair once again, "what about Cora?"

"I don't know what to do with her."

"You don't know what to do with much now do you," he teased lightly and she gave a halfhearted laugh, "you two still fighting?"

"No."

"Well that is good."

"Is it?" She whispered thoughtlessly.

"Is it not?"

"All we've ever done is fight. To not fight anymore feels...well I don't know what it feels like. It just isn't right."

"What makes it wrong?"

"Because she doesn't feel anything, she says she loves me but she cannot feel it, she says she's sorry but she can't mean it. But it feels like she does mean it and that she is capable of loving me, it feels like..."

"Like she is the mother you have always wanted her to be," he offered and she replied with a few nods and kept her eyes down at her fidgeting fingers. "Regina," he started and looked off to the side and when he looked back he smiled at those big brown eyes, tired and wary eyes, "I am getting the impression that you know how to fix this issue with your mother."

"...I know how to change things. Whether or not it will fix it I do not know. Nor am I certain I am brave enough to do it."

"Well bravery certainly is a funny thing," he sighed and sat back in his chair a little and she started to hang off his every word which had him smiling just a little. "It's never there when you feel you need it most. However when it really comes down to it, when you really and truly do need it most, it is there," he nodded and her dark eyes remained glued to his. "Perhaps it is time you start setting up. Get ready to do this frightening task in regards to your mother. Get it all set up until that last and most frightening step just so that you are ready for when you do have that spontaneous moment of bravery to actually follow through."

She held his gaze silently but he knew the gears were turning in her head and that she was taking his words to heart and truly considering them. "Set it all up and see what happens. Get the ball rolling and see if you can find the bravery you need. All you will need is a few seconds to say what you need to say or do what you need to do. You could even try a count down. Three, two, one, and then do it," he suggested and she nodded and looked down at her hands, "and you can come to me when you've done it if you feel you need to talk about it. Or hide from it," he added and she breathed out a single laugh which had him smiling a little more.

Deciding to leave the topic of her mother on a happier and thoughtful note, he changed the subject to someone else on her list, "now what is distressing you in regards to Henry?"

"I believe him to be in danger."

"Oh?"

"The man visiting this town. I believe he is planning to hurt me and the best way to do that would be through Henry. It has been a long time since Henry has clung to me out of fear and after he shook Greg's hand he did just that. It is not a pleasant feeling to have your son cling to you out of fear and there is nothing you can do to ease his mind," she shook her head and crossed her jaw and Archie remained silent and listening, "I don't know what that man has done but he is...magic proof. Magic just bounced off of him. It didn't before, I healed him in the hospital with no difficulty but now I can't touch him."

"Have you ever seen anything like it before?"

"No."

"And what about Rumplestiltskin?"

"I haven't asked him yet."

"Well surely it can't be-"

"I do not think you understand what is going on, cricket," she started quietly and looked up at him, "this man has found us, has come in to this town with less than pleasant intentions, and has protected himself from magic. He knows, cricket. He knows what this town is, he knows who we are," she shook her head and she watched as realization hit him and worry shone in his honest and kind eyes and creased his mouth, "this town is not safe anymore."