A/N: I'm sorry that I've been MIA, but I didn't forget about you guys. Hopefully, you're still interested in this story. Without further ado, Chapter Ten. Happy New Year and Happy Reading!

10.

After

Regina tends to forget about her magic when she is in the thick of her motherly duties. Such as attaching a car seat to a stroller that is far more complicated than the one Henry had eleven years ago. Or, when she gives up fighting with the stroller and car seat altogether, switching an almost fourteen-pound infant into a carrier strapped to her chest. "I know, I know. Mommy knows you hate it," she coos at Ethan, one hand supporting the back of his head while the other fidgets with the strap on her right shoulder. For nearly three months—nine and a half weeks—she has been doing this again and she still can't wrap her mind around how much work is involved in bringing an infant anywhere outside of the house.

She is nearly at the front entrance of Town Hall when she realizes that she could've just poofed herself and Ethan inside. But her intentions are to surprise David, not give him, or the rest of the citizens of Storybrooke, a heart attack.

David has been back at work for a little over two weeks now. And Snow, as acting mayor, has tasked him with speaking about something or another during this month's town hall meeting. He seemed prepared enough when she last saw him this morning before he left. But she knows he's nervous. She has suffered through many hope-filled, brain numbing, speeches of one Prince Charming that made her want to claw her ears off in the past. So, she knows it's not a phobia more than it is him stressing about saying the wrong thing.

She doesn't see David among the crowd—a small crowd, she notes—but she does see Henry. He is sitting next to a friend from school and their heads are close as they smile down at a smartphone. His head snaps up suddenly and turns to look at her over his shoulder. He gives her a smile, one that shows his teeth, and wave before turning back to his friend and the phone between them.

"You just missed him," Emma says from somewhere to her left. "He just stepped away. Bathroom, I think."

"Miss Swan," she says and turns to find the savior tossing a soda can into the recycling bin. Emma wipes her mouth with the back of her hand and when it falls back to her side, she is wearing that stupid Charming grin. This is what she has to look forward to.

"Is he asleep?" Emma asks.

"No," she sighs. "But he's trying his very best to fight it."

Emma bends down to come face to face with her baby brother. Ethan takes hold of Emma's index finger when she reaches it out to rub his hand. A hey, little buddy falls from her lips. Ethan blinks at his big sister sleepily and a slow smile tugs at his lips before a yawn escapes him. It is, dare she admit, a cute little moment and finds herself smiling as well.

"Would you like to hold him?"

"I, um—"

She appreciates that Emma doesn't take their complicated family history out on her baby brother. Whenever Emma visits, she makes it a point to sit with Ethan during tummy time or when he is in his baby swing. Emma will even watch him whenever she wants to spend time with Henry or David alone. And she has even assisted in changing a diaper once, even if it was to only hand her said diaper.

"He's a baby, not a poisoned apple, Miss Swan," she says. "You can hold him."

"Yeah, yeah," Emma rolls her eyes. "I know. Give him to me."

Her hands stay on Ethan's back until she is sure that Emma has secured her hold of him against her shoulder. Emma rolls her eyes when she asks her if she's sure she has him. Yes, Regina. Go to the bathroom. I've got him. She gives one final look at her baby—it always surprises her, his complete lack of hair at the back of his head—before she makes her exit. She's not actually going to the bathroom to use it but in search of David. She misses him. And for Emma's sanity, they try and keep their PDA to a minimum.

Curiosity gets the best of her when she finds that David is not in the bather. And her feet instead walk the familiar path to her office. She doesn't expect Snow to have made any significant changes. And if the acting mayor is anything like she was with a sea of paperwork flooding her desk, she hopes to catch a glimpse of what's been going on around town. David keeps her in the loop as best he can, but he and Snow aren't really on the best of terms right now. She can only imagine the things that Snow isn't telling him. Her footsteps slow when she hears voices coming from her office.

"What do you mean I can't fucking tell her?" David snaps.

"You know how she is," Snow says. "It'll only make her angry."

"It's not going to stay secret for much longer—"

She walks through the already open door and is relieved to find that Gold is in the room as well, leaning against the desk. There is a smirk on his face. He heard her coming. She looks from David, to Snow, to Gold and back and takes a deep calming breath through her nose.

"Hello, dearie."

"What won't stay secret for much longer?" she asks David because he is the only person in the room who won't lie to her.

"There was an incident," he says. "At the town line."

"What kind of incident?"

David leads her out of the office and into the hallway. They stand in a corner where she can still see into her office. Snow and Gold are now in a deep, whispered conversation. She does not like being out of the loop, and if Gold is involved that means it has something to do with magic.

"It happened around lunch time," David confesses. "I was going to tell you after this. Snow and Gold thought they'd found a way to open a portal back to the Enchanted Forest. Rumple's magic alone wasn't strong enough."

"Was anyone hurt?"

"No," he says, running a hand down her arm. "No. Thank God. But it could've been so much worse."

"I see."

So, they want to go back to the Enchanted Forest.

The rustling of sheets steals her attention away from Ethan, who she has just put back into his bassinet after a late-night feeding. David is tossing and turning on his side of the bed closest to the door. She knows immediately that it is a nightmare because David rarely moves from whatever position he falls asleep in.

"Hey, hey," she says as she crawls over to him on the bed. "David, wake up."

She reaches out a hand to caress his face, stroking his cheek with her thumb to calm him. He jerks his head to the side, his nose pressing firmly against her palm. His breaths are coming out in short, rapid breaths. She calls out to him once more and his blue eyes open wide. He nearly jumps out of the bed, but she grabs hold of his wrist.

"It's just a nightmare," she says. "You're okay. You're safe."

David nods, finally taking in his surroundings. She sits beside him, stroking his cheek. His breathing evens out while he stares past her at Ethan's bassinet. She thinks that something bad must've happened to Ethan in his dream but then she remembers the look of sheer terror in his eyes when he opened them. When he saw her.

"Was it…me?" she asks. Rather, the Evil Queen.

"What?" David's face contorts into a frown, and he turns his attention to her, as if he realizes for the first time that she is there. "Regina? No. No, it was snakes. A lot of fucking snakes."

"Oh."

David pulls her to him, so that she is lying flush against his side, her head on his chest. All this talk about the Enchanted Forest this evening has her mind troubled. She doesn't want to go back, and she told David just as much, "Henry and Ethan were born here. My life is here with them." He presses a kiss to her hair.

"The dreams that I had about you back then were, um…"

She snaps her head up to look at him with a cheeky grin and his face turns beet red.

"Did Prince Charming have naughty dreams about the Evil Queen?"

"Maybe once or twice. Or a handful of times," he smiles. "What? It was the leather."

She presses a kiss to his chin and then his mouth.

"Thank you for coming tonight. And bringing the Big E Man."

There is not enough poise in the world, from what her mother taught her to what she learned in the King's court, to hide the deep belly laugh that escapes her. It is a terrible nickname but, in a cavity inducing, sweet kind of way.

Three days later, David bounds into the master bedroom not bothering to close the door behind him. Thankfully, Henry won't be home for another few hours.

"False alarm. He's still sleep…ing," David stutters. He shakes his head, his eyes narrowing in disbelief. A wicked, red smile stretches across her face. This is a common reaction that most people give when greeted by the sudden presence of the Evil Queen.

She sits at the foot of the bed, her legs clad in leather, the right crossed over the left. She wears her hair half up, half down. The top is an intricate design of curls and swoops secured with what feels like a million pins, but it is all slung over one shoulder. David swallows. Her foot waggles anxiously. Though she drums her fingers against the comforter, giving her best 'I have better places to be, things to do, people to torment'scowl.

A gown would've been quicker, easier but, like David, she has always preferred her leather pants. And her coats, those were nice. The coat she has chosen is red and velvet, its shoulders pointed and the tail hangs just enough to trail behind her as she walks. The top cuts down into a V shape. And while her breasts haven't been completely demolished by breast feeding, the corset she wears beneath it is doing a great job at keeping them perked up. It also helps to accentuate her already narrow waist. She has tried to match her outfit as closely to how David described it from his dream as she can.

"A little birdy told me," she says, in her best nonchalant tone. "That you dream of me."

"Regina," David drawls.

She dresses him, with the wave of a hand, in black. He doesn't have any formal black robes, but she has always liked the prince in black. She also finds it fitting for the mood. It really doesn't matter; she will have him out of it soon. David glances down at his waist where his sword now rests in its sheath. This is usually how he described the start of his dreams. His blade against her neck. Go ahead, do your best, she would challenge. And now that she thinks about it, Ethan was conceived under the same circumstances. A heated confrontation turned into an impromptu romp—minus the sword and fashion and titles.

"Well, Charming," she makes a dramatic gesture with her hands to emphasize her presence, and winks. "Here I am."

"You are amazing," David says.

"Show your queen," she says as he moves between her legs. "Just how amazing she is."

Their mouths meet in a clash of lips, teeth, and dueling tongues, but it is hers that wins out in the end. David lets out a moan as her tongue explores his mouth and she retracts it. Bites down on his lower lip only to tease him, not hard enough to draw blood. David pushes her back onto the bed in retaliation. And she bites down on her own lip before an un-Evil Queen whimper escapes her mouth at the loss of physical contact. She uses the time apart to catch her breath. They've not been at it long, but she is already lightheaded. It's been almost thirty years since she wore a corset, let alone fucked in one.

She watches David's hands fumble about at his waist. He's trying to rid himself of his sword and sheath without taking his eyes off of her. What a vision she must be with her hair—longer than she wears it now—fanned out over the ivory comforter. Red lips smudged and cheeks flushed. She beckons him to him with her finger while simultaneously unlatching his sheath. He is too focused on her with lustful eyes to notice. David tosses it to the side and the sword lands somewhere across the room with a thud. There was nothing special about the haphazard way he did it but the sight of him doing it hits her low in the belly. This is a man that can make brushing his teeth look sexy. David grins at her as he settles his knees on either side of her thighs. He moves further into her field of vision, one hand pressed into the mattress beside her head to support his weight, so he doesn't crush her.

David presses a bruising kiss to her lips, and she lets him control it as her hands cup his head and neck. She pulls away first to catch her breath, pressing her cheek against his as she breathes in the air her lungs so desperately need. David's thumb rubs soothing circles through the leather of her legs at her hips. His mouth moves to her neck, and she lets out a moan when he sucks at the tender spot just behind her earlobe. It took three times for her to understand what David likes, doesn't like, and loves in bed. But David is a much quicker learner.

There are too many layers between them. And the leather is becoming much more uncomfortable with how aroused she is. Still, she doesn't use her magic to rid them of their clothes—something she did often during her romps in the Enchanted Forest. She wants David to indulge in the experience of undressing the all-powerful Evil Queen. And despite a few hiccups, he gets her legs free in record time. David lets out a low growl when he finds that she is bare beneath the leather. She watches with lustful eyes as he dips his head, and his mouth meets her skin where the leather met her corset. His tongue dips into her bellybutton on his descent. His mouth leaves a trail of wet kisses as he heads south. He kisses her stretch marks, nips at the skin of her inner thighs before finally—finally! — his mouth finds the place she needs him most.

She has been anticipating this, him, since he left for work this morning and she is not going to last much longer. Her hips buck upward of their own volition. She feels, rather than hears, him laugh against her swollen clit. And the hand not twisted in his hair, fists into the comforter as the pressure builds.

"Fuuuuu—"

She has never been a quiet lover, but there is something about the way that David Nolan works that damn mouth of his, as he laps at her folds, that steals her breath, her words away. He has proved himself to be a generous and gentle—minus, their first time—lover. It is not sucking or nipping at her core but a kiss that sends her over the edge.

His mouth does not relent, even as she rides the aftershocks. And when she does come down from her white hot high and chances a look at him, he is watching her. His chin rests on the apex of her thighs and there is a sly smirk on his face. She tugs him up by his hair and pulls him in for a kiss and tastes her release on his lips, his tongue.

"You taste," David says between kisses. "So good."

His words bring a smile to her lips as she recalls the first time, he told her this. The night they first made love, the first time he'd ever gone down on her. She was the most nervous that she'd ever been with a man. More so because David is the only man to have watched a baby come out of her. No, seriously, you look like sin he had told her. But you taste like Heaven. She'd laughed in response. And then she'd hooked her leg over his and he made love to her for the second time that night.

This is starting to reflect that night a little too much.

David lets out a surprised gasp when she pushes him away, flipping them over so that she straddles him. She is much stronger than she looks. The surprised look on his face is quickly replaced by one of sheer lust. David sucks his bottom lip between his teeth as he watches her small hands, adorned with intricate rings, fumble the rest of the way with his belt and pants. She lifts her hips just enough so that he can kick off the denim and his boxers. A moan escapes both of them when their naked lower halves meet, and she reaches between them to take his manhood in her hands.

"How do you like it, Charming?"

He doesn't have time to respond when she guides him to her entrance, and she braces her free hand on each of his shoulder as she slinks down on him. Instead of taking him inch by slow inch as she has in their previous love making, she takes him fully. He would not get a true experience otherwise. The Evil Queen simply does not make love. She allows herself a moment to adjust to him before she starts moving her hips.

"Fuck, Regina," David breathes. His hands find her hips as she steadily increases her rhythm. She lets out a moan and squeezes her eyes shut as her head falls back. Her hands run up and down his sides, her nails digging into the fabric of his shirt. She groans in frustration both because she is chasing release and because David is wearing to much clothing still.

"Off," she orders, her hands threatening to rip the elegant Enchanted Forest fabric if he doesn't get out of it soon. David's hands abandon her hips to assist. He sits straight up to shrug out of the shirt, and it makes her take him deeper. David presses a kiss to her lips to suppress the scream that follows. She rakes her nails down his back, her breath falling in short rasps when David abandons her mouth for her neck. He has taken control of the pace again, understanding her need for release. With one final rut upwards and pull, with his hands on her hips, forward she comes undone for the second time that night.

The noise that escapes her is a hybrid between a hiccup, a gasp, a moan, and a scream. David thrusts again, purposefully this time, only to hear her make the noise again. It must be some power trip, hearing a woman as powerful as her make such noises. Her nails claw at David's back and she is not sure if her body's response is trying to push him away or urge him closer. David lifts her slightly, so that he can pull out.

She stares at the bed post with blurry vision as her nerve endings finally start to settle down from the ferocity of her release. Her vision is blurry not from that alone, but from tears. She can feel David's hand moving sweaty strands of hair from her face and one loosed hairpin. He tosses it aside. The hand that is wrapped around her waist rubs soothing circles against the exposed skin there. The Queen, even before her evil reign, never had a bed partner show her tenderness or love. She pulls back to look at him and touches her lips to his in a chaste kiss. Together they work to remove her coat and when David finally unhooks the corset, she takes her first real breath of the evening when she moves from on top of him.

She can feel David hesitate at her change in position. At her willingness for him to take her this way, on her hands and knees. It is something that she has been so expressively against, until this very moment. She gives him a reassuring smile over her shoulder.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," she says. She has never been surer of anything in her life. Her breath hitches when he enters her like this. Slowly, allowing her time to adjust to him or protest. When she doesn't, he presses a kiss to her shoulder as he begins to move. She lets out a low moan. They find a rhythm together at a medium pace. "Just like that."

"Let go, Regina."

She collapses onto her forearms, her body buzzing as her release flooding through and out of her. David is not too far behind. He catches his weight on his hand as he pulls out. His other hand rubs up and down her side. He drops a kiss to her sweaty back. She catches him by surprise when she pulls on the wrist of the arm supporting his weight. His front meshes with her back. She welcomes the weight of him.

"Only for you," she says.

"Sleep well, my Queen," David tells her.

Now

"Hey, it's me," David's voicemail picks up. "You know what to do."

Beep.

She doesn't hang up quick enough. The few seconds that it takes for her breath to catch in her throat are now recorded and taking up space in David's inbox. He's going to call her back; she knows he will. And she is not sure yet what she will say to him, or if she will even answer. They were on such a high before everything came crashing down. Now, she cannot even stand the sight of him. With a heavy sigh, she pulls her eyes away from her cellphone. The screensaver is a photo of her boys, Henry and Ethan and David. All in white. It has been months since she forced them to take the photo. Their smiling faces are like a punch to the gut. The screen goes black, but it does not end her pain. She has half the mind to hurl the phone across the room.

She feels hollow inside. As if her insides have been carved out and disposed of, her very being emptied and discarded like trash at the end of the driveway. This is what she deserves in life. A knock at the door steals her away from her troublesome thoughts. At first coming back to work, burying herself in the never-ending paperwork was a welcome distraction. But her demons still wait for her beyond this building.

A small part of her hopes that it is David, come to end the vicious cycle of phone tag. She is not so lucky. It is Granny—she's not so sure when she stopped calling her Widow Lucas—the only person, apart from David, who dares enter her office these days. The gray-haired woman has a takeout bag in her small hands, and she smells the grease from the fries at the bottom of the bag. As long as there is a burger to accompany the fries, she will tolerate whatever it is Granny has come to say.

"David thought you might be hungry," Granny says, setting out the contents of the bag. "This burger's nice and hot, like you like it."

As if there is any other way to enjoy a burger.

"Hmph," she lets out a breath, rolls her eyes. "Why didn't David bring it to me, then?"

"He knows you need the space. It's good for the both of you," Granny rolls her own eyes behind her glasses. Regina shoves a fry into her mouth so that she doesn't have to respond. So, the older woman continues. "I know things are difficult right now with all that's happened. But I don't want the two of you missin' out on what you've got because you're both too stubborn to admit you're scared and hurting."

What you've got…

She stares unblinkingly beyond Granny's shoulder at the empty doorway and chews on her lip. Granny is waiting on a response from her, she knows, and the woman won't leave until she gets one. But all her body can produce is a mild shrug. Granny clicks her tongue, shakes her head.

"I've said all I'm going to say about it," Granny says. "Now, eat. You're skin and bones."

"Will you tell him…thank you?"

"Tell him yourself."

An hour passes, then two, and before she knows it, it has fallen dark outside. Her eyes burn with the force to keep them open. She is so tired. The long nights at her vault are wearing her thin. David's voicemail picks up when she calls him back and the cycle continues. She missed his call by accident, having dozed off after lunch. Her back and legs protest as she pushes away from her desk, stiff from being in the same rigid position for hours. What she needs is a hot shower and to climb into bed and sleep for a few days. Instead, she climbs into her car, puts it into gear and drives toward her vault. It is the same drive that she has made every night for forty-two nights. Only tonight there is a pickup trucking waiting for her.

When she parks her car beside David's truck, she expects to see him sitting behind the steering wheel, waiting for her arrival. He hasn't done it the last forty-two nights. Her vault is the absolute last place she would expect to find him, even now, after everything. He usually steers clear of it both physically and in conversation, not that they are having healthy communication these days. And she wonders what has happened today to change that. She takes a moment to gather her bearings before she makes her way inside.

"Fuck!" she hears him hiss and it is followed by a loud thud. It is not until she hears another, and another, and something shatters against the concrete walls, that she realizes he is throwing things. She hurries her steps because there are some things down here that he really shouldn't be throwing. A gasp escapes her when she finds her vault in more of a chaotic state than she left it this morning.

She finds books littering the floor, shelves emptied of their contents, furniture overturned and displaced. And a spiraling David at the center of it all. Glass crunches beneath her heels as she sidesteps a giant tome, lying with his spine facing upward, the pages folded in on themselves. She has never seen him cry before and her heart plummets at the sight. But she is only granted a few moments pause before his fist collides with the concrete wall to his left. And from the looks of his knuckles, split open and bleeding, this isn't the first time tonight.

He punches into the wall twice more before she finally finds her voice. "David, stop." She repeats it like a mantra, "David, stop. David, stop!"

His eyes grow wide when she grabs a hold of his wrists. As if he didn't realize she was there. Or that he's realizing for the first time that she is stronger than she looks. He tries to jerk away but she pulls him back to her. It is a violent collision that nearly forces them onto the concrete floor beneath them. They realize at the same time, she thinks, that they haven't been this close in weeks. She slowly releases his wrists from her grasp and wraps her arms around his neck. His arms come to wrap around her waist. He pulls her closer and she buries her face into his neck, breathes in the familiar scent of him.

"They can't just be gone," David says. "There's got to be something that we're missing."

"I have tried everything, David," she sounds defeated when she whispers the words. It hurts to admit that all her efforts have been exhausted with no results to show for it. She has depleted her energy to the point where she has blacked out, woken up on the hard floor of her vault hours later. Her brain trying its hardest to pound its way through her skull. And when the fog clears, coming to terms with the fact that Ethan is gone. Sucked through a portal to God Knows Where with…Snow White. And her heart breaks for her baby, for David. This is the third time that fate has stolen a child—a baby, away from him.

"Are you coming home, tonight?"

Home.

"I can't, David," she responds after a long pause. He nods beside her, she feels it more than sees it, and breathes deeply though his nose. He leaves without another word; all of the fight gone out of him. Left on the floor at her feet with the ruins of her vault. She collapses on the floor with it and as the tires of David's truck screech away and fade into the distance, she screams and screams and screams.

to be continued.

A/N: I will update soon. Let me know what you think :)