"Honestly, David, it's not like we've never shared a bed before." Regina flopped down exhausted onto the sorry excuse for a mattress, pulling her cloak tightly around her and making the slightest room for him on the other edge. David just stared down at her. He could have fallen asleep where he stood to be honest, they'd traveled several more miles than either had intended today before this storm got the better of them. Still, the thought of a mattress, lumpy as it was, beneath his tired muscles was inviting. "Thirty more seconds and I'm taking the whole damn bed, Charming," Regina grumbled into her pillow. She was turning to lay on her back square in the middle when she felt the mattress dip and his body stretch out beside her. Regina kept turning anyway until her head rested on his shoulder. She could feel his eyebrow raise without needing to look at his face. "You're far more comfortable than that pillow," she huffed out, settling further against him.
She bounced as David chuckled, reaching around her to steal her abandoned pillow for himself. After all, if she was going to use him, he had every right to it. He flopped and wiggled a bit more, trying to find the least uncomfortable position, untangling his own cloak before spreading it over them both. When he settled in the middle, Regina had ended up practically on top of him although she didn't seem to mind. In fact, David was sure out of the two of them she'd had the better position. Still, ever the gentleman, he had to ask "You good?" as he settled an arm around her shoulders, the other slung over his head.
She Mmmhmmm'd into his chest. "Thank you for coming with me. And for everything else." She mumbles the last under her breath.
"What else?" He squeezes her shoulder when she doesn't answer.
"You saved me at the ball. You didn't have to do that. I didn't even realize you'd done it until I heard you and Robin plotting last night. Everything was such a blur."
"We weren't plotting," he defends, laughing when he sees the look on her face that tells him she knows everything. "Ok," he relents, we were plotting. But only because we both know how stubborn you are." She'd been set to go off on this quest of hers alone. To find a bean or a hat or some other way to get them back that didn't involve Merlin because as the minutes ticked by they were all losing hope of ever freeing the legendary wizard. "He was afraid you would turn him to stone if he tried to follow you," he joked, but regretted it immediately when she stiffened beside him.
"I wouldn't have done that," she said too quickly. "I don't use magic on people I care about. I just didn't want him to get hurt again." David opened his mouth to assure her that Robin Hood was well, but she kept talking so he let her continue uninterrupted. "I know Emma healed him, but he's still hurt. He still needs to rest and he didn't need to be trekking through the woods after me and…"
"Regina," he cut her off. She was spiraling and David knew her well enough to know she was headed down a dark path she'd have trouble returning from.
"He almost died, David. He should have died. Another minute and he...he…" her breath was coming in short shallow gasps.
"Regina!" David rolled onto his side and she fell to her back. It took a firm grip on both of her arms to get her to focus on where and when they were. "I was joking. It was a bad, stupid joke. Okay?," he waits for her to focus, for her to knod against the hand now cupping her cheek before he settles back into the mattress, pulling her with him. "We weren't plotting. He was worried. He loves you and he was worried about you. That's all. I promise." He kissed the top of her head without thought. "I needed to come with you anyway. I needed to do something besides sit around and wait for Merlin to come out of a tree and save my daughter."
"We're going to save her." Regina was beyond exhausted, her body and mind utterly spent from the events of the last few days. David was sure she hadn't slept since Emma was taken by the Dark One, but there was an unwavering certainty in her voice, tired as it was, that the Prince held on to.
"Sleep, Your Majesty," he pulled the cloak back, covering her completely then stayed perfectly still while her breathing evened out and her body relaxed into the rest it craved. David lay awake in the dark. He couldn't help his mind from traveling back to the last time he was with her like this. Before Snow, before the Evil Queen, before revenge and curses. It was another land, another life. How ironic that fate thought to bring them back around to each other.
"I need to shower, that carriage ride was unbearable. Can we make this very, very quick so I can get clean before I have to put on another bloody ball gown?" She had her corset unlaced and dress pooling around her hips before David turned around.
He'd been gazing absently out the window watching the carriages approach. There was to be a feast tonight for King Leopold and his wife. He knew nothing of them and was simply told by Richard not to screw up their little charade. He'd hoped to avoid the entire affair, hole up in his room and get the gossip from the staff later in the evening. It would seem, however, that there were to be other plans.
He stared dumbfounded at the woman who had barged into his chambers unannounced, then looked anywhere but when her dress finally fell to the floor and she stood before him in nothing but a slip that left very little to the imagination.
"I'm sorry...I…" He stammered, completely unsure of what he was supposed to do. His Prince training hadn't yet covered a woman coming to him unrequested.
"What on earth are you waiting for? Was I not clear that we have to hurry this along? Don't tell me you're not in the mood. I think I know you better than that."
David stole another look as he heard the bed creak. She had moved to the middle of the bed and was on her knees facing him, reaching for the hem of her slip. This was absurd. "Please stop. You don't...You don't have to do that." He reached over to her, removed her hands from her own thighs and placed them at her sides.
"What the hell has gotten into you. Of course I have to do this. So do you. Your father will have both of our heads if his plan doesn't work out."
He knew. That bastard, of course he knew. Of course he was always plotting and planning something, but David thought George would at least have had the decency to tell him this.
"James?" the woman asked again, sitting back on her heels and staring at him, waiting for him to make sense. "You're not him," she said after a few awkward moments of silent staring. "What is going on? Who the hell are you?"
He'd expected her to shirk away at the realization that the man she was about to share a bed with wasn't who she thought; he thought she might cry, question what he had done to her lover or how any of this came to be; he hadn't expected her to pounce out of the bed, grab his sword and hold the blade deathly still against his throat. "I'm not going to ask one more time before it won't matter anymore: Who the hell are you?"
"His brother," David answered quickly, trying to pry the blade from his throat. Whomever this woman was she was a lot stronger than she looked. "I'm not lying to you," he continued when she made no move to release him. "I'm his twin. James was killed and they took me from my village to replace him. I didn't even know he existed until a few days ago. I'm not lying," he told her again, watching her as she decided whether to believe him or to slit his throat.
"So George had a spare?" she laughed in his face, returning his sword to the scabbard at his hip and flopping back down on the bed. "I knew he was a man with a plan, but this...this is something else. I suppose he didn't tell you about me, then? About his grand plan for James and I to unite the kingdoms? Under his careful guidance, of course," she rolled her eyes as she flopped back against his pillows.
"No. He didn't." David sat on the very edge of the bed, avoiding contact with the bare legs stretched out along the mattress. "He didn't. Apologies, Madame, but I don't even know who you are?"
"Regina, Queen of Misthaven," she extended her hand to him. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
I started this almost 2 years ago with the intent on not posting until it was complete, but I'm hoping posting will hold me accountable to the completing. Hope you enjoy!