Well I decided to rewrite this chapter before posting it, hence the delay. But here it is! Enjoy!

It had been a stressful ride back to the palace. She had been full of sorrow leaving the farm. Leaving Richard and his children, leaving Rocinante. She had been a mess.

In the middle of the journey she had found joy in galloping her stallion, his powerful body carrying her over the ground with strength unmatched, his hooves beating against the forest floor, the cold autumn air rushing past them. He made her laugh, made her happy, freed her from the weight of her grief and stress.

But once he tired and they were left to walk, the stress and worry began to creep back. The chill of the air threatened to awaken the cold in her heart. And when the spires of the Dark Palace could be seen in the distance, she wanted nothing more than to spin around and gallop in the other direction.

However, onward she rode.

She felt sick to her stomach the moment her feet left her stirrups and landed on the cobblestone in front of the stables. Her stallion paid no mind, he was happy to call this place home, but she wanted to watch it burn. She wanted to cry she was so suddenly overwhelmed with the horrid feel of the place. All of the memories and hardship she had lived through there.

She hated it.

But then out of her peripheral, she saw the only shining light that could be found on such an awful property and her stress dissolved instantly.

"Daddy," she huffed on a tearful breath as his elderly steps hurried toward her. And when she smiled at him, his arms stretched wide and he smiled right back.

She ran toward him and collided with him hard enough to force him to step backward to catch his balance. It resulted in both of them laughing, Regina's far more teary and tainted with cries than his but neither more delighted than the other.

"Oh I have missed you, child," he laughed in to her hair, utterly blown away by how she had accepted his company and greeted him. There was so much relief and happiness in her, so much more freedom and willingness than before she had gone. She was almost like her younger self again. It amazed him.

"I have missed you so much," she cried in to him, hugging him as tight as she could as she let out another laugh.

"How long has it been now?"

"Just over eight months now," she answered with a teary sniff.

"Much too long," he shook his head and pulled back just so he could look at her and feel his heart burst over the change he saw in her.

"Far too long," she agreed and let him hold her face between his hands.

"You look so well, child. My goodness how you have changed," he laughed in happiness and watched her smile the brightest smile he had seen in years, "you must tell me of your trip."

"I would love to," she nodded and he grinned.

"I love you so much, my child."

"I love you most of all," she told him, her heart overjoyed that she was able to say such a thing aloud.

...

David had arrived at his castle nearly an entire day after Regina had arrived at the Dark Palace. Had she left when she had planned that was. For the farm was closer to the Dark Palace than his castle and he and Regina had taken that in to account in their plans and he had tried to insist upon her staying at the farm and waiting for him there. But she insisted otherwise. She never gave him a true answer as to why but regardless of that fact, he knew seeing her father again would be good for her.

He had arrived travel weary and uncertain of how to tell Snow he wanted to leave her despite having had almost two days to himself to figure it out. He was anxious and unsure, he didn't want to hurt her but he knew there was no avoiding it. So he murmured to himself as he walked the halls, walking himself through different words and scenarios in his head.

He even pondered waiting until the next day, waiting until he was well rested and fed before he found Snow. But that would only prolong it and, really, what would it matter if he were well rested and fed? It wouldn't make any difference. So he kept walking the halls, looking for her in all of the places she knew she liked to spend her time.

Eventually he ended up outside and saw her standing with her back to him overlooking the water from the back garden. Instantly he was tense, instantly his stomach churned with distress. He didn't want to break her heart, didn't want to hurt her. But living a lie would only hurt them both. So he steeled himself and took a deep breath.

"Snow," he called and smiled at her when her head whirled around to look at him. Her smile made his heart jump just as it always had but nothing, absolutely nothing could have prepared him for what came next.

Nothing could have prepared him for when her body followed the turn of her head and she rushed toward him with a belly so pregnant she must be due any day now. His eyes widened in shock, his body froze in confusion, and his heart raced in his ever tightening chest. What had he done.

"David!" Snow greeted with an excited laugh as she ran to him and pulled him in to a hug, "where have you been! I was beginning to think I was going to have to have this baby on my own," she laughed and then playfully rolled her eyes as he awkwardly hugged him back.

"I uh-, I wow...what happened" David stuttered and Snow laughed.

"What happened is you got me pregnant and then ran off with another woman," she teased and David stuttered even harder which only made her laugh more.

"Oh relax, I am only teasing, I know it wasn't like that at all," she chuckled as she took his hands in hers and began to walk backward toward the palace, bringing him with her, "now come, we have much to catch up on! I didn't expect you to be gone so long."

...

David walked down the steps in to the dungeon alone, instructing guards to leave him be whenever he came across them. They were reluctant but his tone left them with little room for debate. It was only once they were completely alone, only once the isolated dungeon was silent that Rumplestiltskin crept out of the dark and wrapped his glittery fingers around the cold damp iron of his cell bars. The imp grinning a wild grin and David scowling at him.

"Oh dear, dear, dear," Rumplestiltskin singsonged as he slunk in to the bars, "what a predicament you have found yourself in," he noted and then giggled a shrill sound.

"You find this humourous?"

"Oh yes, very much," he grinned and then laughed, "I do hope you haven't come to me for advise on which lover to choose!"

"When you gave me that ribbon three years ago and you told me the price would come in time, is this what you meant?"

"Meddling in the affairs of others always come with a price, Charming," Rumple sneered, "now you must choose who will suffer for your actions!" He giggled wildly, "poor, innocent Snow White and your dear unborn child? Or the darling queen whose heart you have solely won? Decisions, decisions," he grinned as he pressed himself to the bars.

"What did you gain from this?"

"Entertainment mostly," he sighed and then flashed a menacing grin, "a little insurance as well. You had best protect that child of yours, Charming, you wouldn't want her to be in the way when the queen discovers her existence and the role it will play when the time comes

"She wouldn't hurt my child."

"You sound so sure," Rumple laughed easily, "and what if I told you the child is the sole weakness in the queen's grand plan for the realm? What then?"

"I am not afraid of her," he told him sternly and in response, Rumplestiltskin threw his head back in a wild laugh that sent shivers down David's spine and left him with a sinking feeling in his gut.

"Oh, shepherd! You should be!" Rumple laughed with wild abandon, "you should be! A storm is coming, dearie, and your daughter is the queen's only threat to success! You should be very very afraid."

Four days later

"You are anxious, child," Henry noted kindly and out of habit, prepared for her to lash out at him. But she surprised him and did no such thing. Instead, she answered him with an open honesty he had never received from her.

"I am anxious," she replied quietly as she stared at the flames in the hearth.

"Regarding your timeline?" He inquired, encouraged by her openness to keep talking.

"It has only been five days...which means he has been with her for four and we agreed upon seven being the maximum length of time before he reaches out..."

"But you want to know if he is on his way back to you," Henry surmised and she nodded, "well, much can happen in four days. I can't imagine it being an easy conversation to hold. You will hear from him. In the meantime, why not appease yourself by looking in to one of your mirrors?"

"Because I am afraid I will see him with her," she replied seamlessly.

Still unused to her being so open and honest, Henry was taken a little aback by her response. But he smiled a little regardless and then took a deep breath and let it out on a long sigh. "Well, there is no sense in drawing out the inevitable," he noted and her dark eyes blinked up at him from the fire, "whichever outcome it may be."

She did not answer for quite some time. She merely studied her father's face, his kind eyes and loving smile. How she wished she had treasured him more through the years. "I cannot take another break in my heart," she told him softly and he reached over and took her hands in his.

"I am not certain you will have to," he replied just as softly and the pair of them fell in to silence once more. Only the crackling of the fire filling the room.

"Mirror," she summoned, her voice still unsure.

"Yes, my queen?"

"Show me David," she instructed but did not look up at the mirror over the mantle. Instead she kept her eyes down at her hands in her lap, her heart racing and sickly.

"Of course."

She watched in her peripheral as the genie began to fade away. But before anything was brought to the glass, they were interrupted by a bird. A small little thing, chirping as it flew through the window and landed on Regina's knee. It caught everyone off guard and they all stared at it curiously as it happily hopped around, tipping its head from side to side as it looked at Regina.

And then upon closer inspection, it had a scroll tied ever so carefully to its leg. Interest peaked at the sight, Regina carefully leaned forward and retrieved the scroll without a word, watching the bird as she did. She had never personally received anything through such means.

Once the scroll was in her hand, the bird flew away singing a tune of a task complete. Curiosity filling her mind, Regina began to unroll and unfold the thin parchment and her father watched with matched curiosity.

"It's from the shepherd," she noted aloud. She would recognize his handwriting anywhere.

My dearest Regina,

I do not know how to even begin this letter. I miss you so dearly, I wish for nothing more than to be back on that farm with you. To be anywhere with you. I wish we had never left. I crave your presence like I crave the air I breathe. You mean the world to me and I need your guidance for I simply cannot find a way out of the mess I have created.

Our circumstances have changed and they have not changed for the better. For while I was with you these last eight months, Snow has been with child. I promise you the weight in the pit of your stomach now is no different than the one I felt when I first laid eyes on her. No different than the one I feel every time I see her. And while I am thrilled by the thought of having a child, I am utterly devastated by the thought of not returning to you. I am truly at a loss for words. My heart belongs to you, Regina, but I know that I cannot have it all.

I need you.

David

Regina felt numb. She did not cry, she did not scream, her ears were ringing. She simply stood there with the parchment hanging in her fingertips while her gaze focused on nothing at all. She knew their attempt to escape their lives would not go smoothly. But this was not what she had had in mind.

The only thing that brought her from her momentary numbness was the small gasp of disappointment that left her father's throat when her mirror lit up in her peripheral. And as though she didn't know what she was going to see, didn't know why her father would make such a sound, Regina turned her head to her mirror.

Her glazed eyes grew sharp and focused.

For there stood David in her mirror, looking out at the water from his balcony. His posture and expression entirely forlorn and exhausted. He looked miserable. It gave her the very smallest bit of comfort that he was not happy without her but not enough that she was calmed about the letter he sent. And while it was David that caught her eye first, it was the woman walking up behind him that left her heart sinking to the floor and her fist crumpling the paper in her hand.

Snow White.

So pregnant she looked to be due any day now. The betrayal felt like a hot knife through her heart, her jaw clenching tight in utter rage as tears pricked her eyes. She knew he did know, she knew the last eight months he was not with Snow, she knew had had been solely her own before they parted ways, she knew all of it. And yet it felt like absolutely nothing now.

It felt like the last three years were all for naught, it felt like everything she had accomplished was worthless, it felt like she was right back where she started. Back at the very beginning, alone and angry in her dark palace.

With her jaw aching with her clenching Regina watched as Snow came up behind David, wrapping her arms around his middle, her hands unable to meet in front of him for her belly was too large. And David smiled. Strained, but a smile nonetheless. It left Regina so angry and devastated that she didn't even know what to do.

There was nothing to do but stare and watch her future get stolen from her once again. She couldn't look away, she couldn't find her voice, she was frozen where she stood.

And then without so much as a word, she shattered the mirror. She and her father stood in silence for a moment, her father watching her while she paid no mind to him. And then she quirked her head, rolling her neck to the side as she crossed her jaw, her lips pressed together as she closed her eyes in a slow blink.

And then she laughed. Short and completely lacking any form of humour, she laughed and rocked her head to the other side. "Well isnt that just something," she smiled, her own voice bitter on her tongue as she opened her fist and let David's letter fall to the stone floor, her fingers stiff from being clenched so tightly.

"Regina..." her father started softly but even he didn't know what to say.

"Why do you suppose it is that every time I find something good in this life," she started quietly, her voice too calm and too precise as her temper brewed, and then she yelled furiously, "it is taken away?!"

Henry flinched at the sudden change in her voice but it did not surprise him and he listened with a heavy heart as tears or heartbreak and rage filled his daughter's eyes.

"Every single thing!" She shouted and barely refrained from pulling at her own hair. "I have nothing left! Daniel?! Stolen! Snow White?! A selfish liar behind the mask of a child! My title?! Tainted with blood and hatred! My freedom?! Nonexistent! Death?! Interrupted! David?! A chance at happiness nothing more than a carrot dangling off the end of a stick! I don't even have my horse any more! What is the point of any of this!" She roared as tears fell down her cheeks and blurred her vision.

"Why does it feel like no matter what I do it will never be enough?! Why is it that I am destined to never find happiness and peace in this world!" She cried out in exhaustion and then turned her back to her father so she could try and compose herself.

Henry kept silent for a little while longer to ensure his daughter had said all that she had kept inside for so many years. And when she remained silent, he found the courage to speak.

"While you were away I often found myself in your study behind the library. I missed your company and that small corner of the palace gave me comfort while I waited for your return. And whilst I waited I took the opportunity to familiarize myself with your projects. One in particular really," he told her and she kept her back to him. She was listening but she was not invested.

"Much of it was in other languages but I had time on my hands to translate what I could through other books. And from what I have been able to understand, you have a method of taking this life to another world," at those words her exhausted posture went rigid, "a world where you can start fresh. A world where you have every opportunity to find the happiness you seek."

Absolutely sick to her stomach, Regina shook her head and turned to face her father, "I am not willing to do that."

"Why not?"

"The price is far too steep."

"The heart of the thing you love most?"

"Yes," she told him, her voice breaking to a whisper as her throat tightened and her chest was weighted with grief.

"Me."

"Yes," she confirmed and he gave her the most loving smile that left her even more sick than before and tears instantly welled in her eyes. Silence filled the room, her heart breaking for she could read in his face exactly what he was going to say well before his voice was heard.

"I have not been a good father to you," he began and when she opened her mouth to argue, he raised his hand in a gentle gesture for her to refrain. "It is the truth, my child. I have not fought for your best interest. You are so strong, and so resilient but you shouldn't have had to be. I should have protected you."

"That's not-"

"No, child," he shook his head softly and tears rolled down her cheeks as he stepped up to her and took her hands in his. "This world has not been kind to you. No matter what you do, no matter how hard you fight you cannot win. Let me help you."

"No," she argued with a miserable shake of her head, his old hands cradling hers ever so tenderly, his voice kind and steadfast.

"I cannot watch you live the rest of your days in misery."

"You will watch nothing at all if I do as you ask," she cried softly, trying so hard to fight the tears rolling down her cheeks and the sobs aching to be released from her chest.

"I am old, my child, I do not have many years left as it is," he reminded lightly, trying to make her smile but her brow only furrowed deeper in sorrow as she shook her head.

"Let me do this for you. Let me give you the rest of your life free of confinement and misery, let me leave this world knowing that I have finally done something right for you," he insisted as he squeezed her hands but she shook her head harder and a sob pushed free from her lungs.

"I dont want to live in a world without you," she cried and he brought their clasped hands up so he could press a kiss to her knuckles, "I cannot kill you."

"You are my daughter, I am not meant to out live you, you are not meant to die before me but you will if things continue as they are. Let me do as a father should, let me do what I have failed to do throughout these years, let me give you one last piece of me so that you may finally live the life you wish. That you deserve."

"Daddy I-"

"Regina, my child, I do not have that many years left. Let me die as I choose. Let me die so that you may live, my sweet, beautiful daughter."

Nothing could ever compare to the unconditional love of her father and how much she appreciated it and lived off of it. He loved her no matter what. No matter the darkness that consumed her, there was no doubt in her mind that her father would ever turn his back on her and she loved him for it. She loved him most of all.

She could not hurt him. And yet his words left her crying not only over the thought of killing him but over the absolute selflessness of his request. And when he stepped closer and tipped his forehead to hers, she crumbled in to pieces before him. Sobbing as she pressed her head in to his and squeezed his hands as tight as she could.

"Take it, my child. It has only ever belonged to you," he told her softly as he brought her hands to his chest over his heart. She only cried harder, her palm spreading open as she shook her head against his, "take it."

"No," she sobbed, her whole body shaking, her mind and heart fighting violently between her love and her father's logic. Logic that, as much as she hated it, made perfectly reasonable sense.

"Please, Regina, take it," he insisted and she choked on another sob.

"No, I love you."

"Which is precisely why you must take it."

"But I love you, I can't."

"You can. Take my heart, build the life you deserve, build the life I failed to give you. Take it, take my heart," he pressed as tears of his own began to fall down his face. "I love you so much, Regina, please take it," he cried softly and felt her hand start to push heavier against his chest as she cried through her teeth.

"You can do it, you are strong enough," he told her as he kept his hand over here so she could not pull it back.

"I love you," she cried miserably as she tipped her forehead heavily against his once more.

"I love you most," he told her softly as his tears fell. And where he thought he would feel pain as his daughter's magic reached his heart, he could only smile for he was overwhelmed with a soul deep peace that left him unafraid as he whispered, "thank you."

Regina felt her heart die as her father's full weight fell against her and she sunk to the ground with him, the room absolutely silent for her sobs were so bone deep that no sound left her open mouth. Not until he laid in her lap with his head cradled in her arms against her chest was she able to finally breathe.

Each breath was a sob more painful than the one before, wracking her entire body to the point of nausea. The entirety of the castle was filled with cries that resembled nothing human as she held her father closer than she ever had before. Her tears fell endlessly in to his thinned silver hair as her fingers took hold of it to keep him close while her bloodied hand took a fistful of his coat, never to let go.

From this she knew she would never recover and she dared not look at the heart that laid on the floor beside them.