So I had this long, inspired chapter typed up and then it somehow disappeared from my documents. Here is my best rewrite of it from memory, with a little added part in the middle because it just happened that way, haha. By the way, David does not have the same history with Midas and Abigail as on the show. And yes, they will end up in Storybrooke at some point but not for a while. Keep reviewing! xxx
"What are you all dressed up for?" David's daughter pulled him from his thoughts as he stared down at the pocket watch wondering if they'd ever leave the house. Regina and Granny had been upstairs for the entire afternoon and he was beginning to wonder if his bride was having second thoughts.
"Going to a ball," He sighed and gave a shrug as he pushed his hand into his suit pockets and leaned against the archway to the foyer. "Or at least I think I am."
"Is she going with you?" His daughter gave him a disapproving look, the same one Snow had given him countless times. Too bad Emma had inherited his hot headed temperament instead of her mothers calmer one. Perhaps she'd be easier to deal with if she had.
"Regina? Yes, she is," He nodded once, bracing himself for the fit Emma was bound to throw. He'd found it increasingly harder to connect with her lately and he didn't know how she was feeling about all of this, but he couldn't imagine it was good. He'd noticed she'd become moody and snippy like a typical girl her age and the addition to their family couldn't be easy.
"You're actually going to go parade her around in public?! Do you know how humiliating that is?" Emma's mouth dropped as her face reddened, "Everyone knows she's a vixen who got her claws into a lonely widow. She didn't want you, she wanted the lifestyle and its embarrassing that everyone knows that but you!"
He looked at her a little stunned before giving a chuckle at how wrong his daughter was about Regina. Then a shot of irritation ran through him at the fact his own flesh and blood would believe rumors of the kingdom about what was going on in her own household, "Regina did not want this marriage anymore than I did, I'll have you know. Her mother and Leopold arranged this whole thing. She's to be treated with respect, do you understand?" He frowned at the young girl who he'd let get away with too much since the passing of her mother.
Emma glared at him slack jawed, but something else caught his attention in the heat of the moment, causing him to lift his head quickly.
He saw Granny at the top of the stairs gently nudge a small frame from behind hers, making Regina step forward. Her dress was a deep blue, low cut in the front and the back, embellished with simple silver and blue jewels around the neck and waist. The top of her hair was pulled back and twisted into a simple knot, showing off her slim neck and shoulders. His eyes caught her lips that were painted red and something inside of his coiled.
He realized he was staring, seeing her hand grip the railing of the steps as she looked at him insecurely. David shook his head in awe before giving her a smile of approval that she returned with a hint of relief as she made her way down the stairs. He caught Granny in the corner of his eye, standing near the top with a smug expression. Old bat knew what she was doing.
He'd forgotten his heated conversation with Emma until she'd apparently witnessed the moment between he and Regina and let it be known. "I hate you both!" She yelped before running for the stairs, knocking Regina in the shoulder on her way past. David sighed and began to follow her until Granny caught his and motioned him to go before following the girl herself.
"I'm sorry about that," David said, coming over to the bottom of the steps and holding his hand out for Regina as she got to the last one.
"What's wrong with her? Why is she upset? Did she want to go?" Regina looked up at him with her brow furrowed slightly with worry. He knew Emma had been a brat to her but she still looked concerned and he couldn't help but smile at how caring she could be.
"No, no she's upset because...well...because of my reaction to you," He admitted, running a hand over the back of his neck as he gave her a sheepish smile. It was pointless to deny at this point after the moment they'd shared when she appeared at the top of his staircase looking like a goddess. "You look stunning."
The smile that she gave him shattered and warmed his heart at the same time. It was if she was expecting a criticism instead of a compliment and it took her by complete surprise. "Thank you," She took his arm that he offered and walked close to him towards the door. He noticed how appreciative she seemed to be of small gestures and he wondered if she'd truly been that neglected her entire life. Had no one told her she was beautiful? Had no one showed her affection? He couldn't imagine how, but it seemed they hadn't.
David noticed the heads of the guards quickly turn at the sight of Regina when they came outside and he couldn't blame him. But when he felt her lean into him shyly at the sudden attention, he gave them all a firm look that had them straightening their stances immediately. Regina had come from a decent family, surely she'd been invited to balls and dances. Surely she'd experienced dressing up and enjoying the attention of a special someone. Or had she really been so sheltered that she really wasn't used to turning heads when she entered a room?
"After you," He helped her up into the carriage first when the driver held the door open for them, not being able help but notice the feminine curve of her bottom as it neared his line of vision on her way into the carriage.
He stepped up into the carriage next, deciding to take the seat across from her instead of beside her. There was a flicker of disappointment in her eyes at his choice, but he wasn't sure how they were acting tonight. They had agreed to be friends, but would they pretend to be in love at the ball for the sake of publicity? He wasn't sure, but there was no reason to confuse things anymore so by cuddling on the way there.
"So how long does it take to get to Midas' kingdom?" Regina asked casually, turning her head to look out the carriage window.
"About an hour. Long enough for us both to bitch about Granny making us go tonight," He smirked at her with a wag of his eyebrow and they both chuckled. He was glad they were at least comfortable enough around each other to laugh. There seemed to be a mutual admiration for each other, but David felt something still held both of them back from even considering the possibility of evolving their relationship.
"Why do you call her Granny?" She asked him curiously, mindlessly playing with the seams of her gloves in her lap.
"She was a friend of my mom's, I've known her since I was a little boy. She was older than my mom and all of us kids in the village called her Granny," He gave a shrug, "When I married Snow my mother had just died so I invited Granny to come live with us as family, but she insisted she had to have a job to do. So she's been running the household ever since."
"You grew up in a village?" He glanced up to see her looking at him with one of her perfectly shaped eyebrows raised and he grinned.
"I grew up on a farm, not even in the village," He chuckled at her confusion, "I was a shepherd. I met Snow by chance and somehow her father agreed to let her marry a commoner like me."
"My first love was a stable boy," Regina admitted with a small, understanding smile, "But my mother would never allow me to marry 'beneath me' as she put it."
"But you loved him all the same," David nodded looking at her knowingly, realizing this must be the love Granny had mentioned she lost, "What was his name?" Regina had to live with reminders of his dead wife, it was only right that he learn about her past love.
"Daniel," Regina smiled as if she were thinking of a memory when she said his name out loud, "He's gone now."
"What happened?" He watched the young woman bow her head at his question and he regretted asking for a moment at the toll it seemed to be taking on her.
"My mother," She let out a breath with strangled words before she lifted her chin up to tell the story. He watched her shoulders visibly sag at the weight of the burden she carried, "Once she and Leopold had arranged our marriage she was determined to not let anything get in the way of me becoming Queen. After I found out about the marriage I told Daniel and we made plans to run away and elope...but apparently my mother had been watching me even closer than normally and she..followed me the night I met him in the stables...She made us think she was going to give us her blessing only to get close enough to take his heart."
David stared at her in shock, never hearing of a mother doing something like that to their daughter...Or of a mother doing something like that to anyone. What kind of things had Regina experienced under the thumb of a mother cruel enough to rip love away from her?
"Regina...I'm so sorry," He frowned deeply, trying to decide what to say next. He had a million questions for her, but he noticed the way her eyes turned hesitant as if she had something else to say.
"That is why I do not like that I have been cursed with magic. I want nothing to do with my mother or her ways," She said before he could reply and he realized that she was apologizing for who she was in a way. She was suppressing her abilities because she was afraid they would make her into Cora. She was denying any association with magic to him so he would not think her to be like her mother. How sad was it that she felt she couldn't be loved as she was?
"Regina it isn't possessing magic that makes you bad or good, it's what you do with it," He looked at her seriously but she only bit her lip and shifted from his gaze. "There is nothing wrong with you."
"But everything bad that's happened to me, magic has been at the source of it," She swallowed hard and he noticed the endearing crease in her brow that happened when she was struggling to speak. She was a beautiful creature, even in her pain. "My mother used magic to taunt me and punish me all of my life, she used it to control my father, to kill my fiance. And my own magic, if I'd have known how to control it I could've saved Daniel, I could've protected us both."
"You can't blame yourself for Daniel's death," He recognized the burden she carried, knew it all too well for he had went through years of blaming himself for Snow, "I beat myself up for years thinking I could have done something to save my wife. I didn't think I deserved to live when she didn't and that I should have tried harder. I went through scenarios of how I could've searched for a better healer, how I could've made a deal with a sorcerer for her to live. But things happen that are out of our control. You have to stop torturing yourself."
"I suppose it's easier said than done," She nodded once with a tight smile as she bit down on her bottom lip and looked up at him. So much hurt laced her dark brown eyes; there was a wisdom and age to her soul that should be so young.
"You'll find love again," David found himself reassuring her, though he didn't know why he made the promise. Life was fleeting and nothing was for certain; he'd long since made peace with the fact that his time with Snow was the only time he'd know true happiness.
Regina smiled sadly and gave him a look that made him feel like she was seeing straight through him, "How will I?" She asked simply and he knew exactly what she meant. He knew they understood that both of their hearts were broken and their baggage was immense. Their union made it impossible for them to go in search for love even if they wanted to, and the walls around their hearts held them back from seeing if there may even be something special right in front of them.
"I hate her!" Emma exclaimed to Granny, throwing herself onto her large feather bed, "She's ruining our lives!"
Granny pressed her hands to her hips before letting out a deep breath, approaching the girl on the bed and sitting down beside her, running a hand over her blonde hair, "How has she ruined your life, Princess?"
"Don't tell me you like her, Granny," The girl lifted her head from her pillow and frowned at the older woman incredulously, "You know she's playing Father for a fool. You even said yourself you didn't like the sound of this marriage when it first came to be."
"That was before I met Regina," Granny raised an eyebrow over her glasses, "She didn't want this marriage anymore than your father did, Princess. Her mother arranged it for her just like your Grandfather Leopold arranged it for your father. Regina isn't out to use your father for his money or his status."
"How do you know?" The blonde leaned back against her headboard and crossed her arms in a defiant manner. Granny had seen such a change in the young girl since her mother died, but she couldn't blame her. Emma was dealing with being motherless as well as she knew how. She was much like David, coping without really letting anyone help her, which meant they were too much alike to help each other. She was approaching a difficult age where she needed guidance from a woman, though Granny herself felt she was too old to relate to her. Regina was the perfect in between, wiser than her 18 years but still young enough to give advice to the preteen, if the stubborn girl would only give her a chance.
"I believe the only thing the young Queen wants is to have a family, people who care about her," Granny smiled weakly, "Much like you do."
"I had a mother, I don't need another."
"I didn't say you did."
"Then what are you getting at, Granny?"
"I'm saying you should give her a chance, you both could use a friend. And not friends like those little snits you bring over to the castle, real ones," Granny rolled her eyes at the thought of the sniveling little brats that Emma was accompanying herself with lately. She had normally been such a level headed kid, but the change she'd seen in her recently was not a positive one. She understood the girl was hurting, though, in need of a woman in her life to lead her. But Emma was much too protective of her father and that is what made her unable to give Regina a chance.
"Don't you think the King has seemed a little less...grumpy, lately?" Granny suggested to the young Princess who shifted her eyes away to avoid agreeing with her.
"Do you think he loves her?" Emma asked after a moment, clenching her jaw and blinking just a few too many times to keep her true emotion hidden from Granny.
"I don't believe they're quite there yet, Emma," She softened her tone, understanding how the girl must be feeling. Her father was the only parent she had left and Regina was a threat to that, "But if that were to happen, I don't think Regina would ever be the kind of woman to put a wedge between you and your father, or try to replace your mother's memory..." She could tell she had planted a seed of thought in Emma's mind and that was good enough. The change wouldn't happen over night, but at least she got the young girl thinking. Emma didn't reply, so Granny stood and pulled the covers up over the girl, tucking her in as she had done for years, "Get some sleep, Princess."
"It's grand, isn't it?" She heard David say as she wrapped her hand and wrist around his strong arm, letting him lead her towards the entrance of the castle. The rest of their carriage ride conversation had lightened considerably and she'd been fully relaxed by the time they'd arrived. But now that they'd exited the comfort of just the two of them in the carriage, her heart was in her throat. She saw lords and ladies and other members of society look up from their conversations across the lawn to gawk at the new King and Queen. It was their first public appearance and Regina's first real appearance at all, besides their wedding. Luckily her nerves had allowed her to block out the crowd then, but now it felt suffocating.
"Wait until you see the inside." He added as he led her towards the receiving line. David was a natural, smiling and greeting people that he knew. She felt frozen, unconsciously digging her fingers into his arm tighter as she forced polite smiles at the women who made no attempt to cover their disdain for her and the fact that their husbands expressed everything but. She also didn't fail to notice the women who raked David over with their gazes like Regina wasn't even there, but her husband gave them the same polite greeting and kept walking.
The music became louder, as did the chattering of the people inside as they approached the carpet covered steps up to the large front doors. Regina tried to swallow the lump in her throat. She'd never felt like more of an outsider than she did right now. "Regina? Regina?" She heard David's voice bring her from her thoughts as she turned her head to look up at him with wide eyes. "What's the matter? You look pale."
"I can't do this, David," She whispered, breathing a little heavier as the panic rose inside of her.
"What do you mean?" He looked down at her, obviously bewildered by her sudden change of mood from inside the carriage to here. He glanced around before pulling her by the arm behind one of the large pillars of the castle to privacy, "I don't understand."
"These people are expecting you to be married to a Queen, but I don't know the first thing about being Queen," She admitted, all of her insecurities bubbling up and out of her. Her corset suddenly felt like it was taking the breath from her and she clutched at the neckline of her dress, "I don't want to make a fool of your kingdom or you, but look at me. I don't even know how to dance!"
Her eyes were downcast but she could feel him studying her, felt his big hands reach out and take her own away from tugging at the low lying neckline of her dress where it met her corset. Her hands nearly disappeared in his own as he used his thumbs to rub the back of her hands in soothing circles, saying nothing for a few moments. She wasn't used to someone being so gentle with her when she was upset and it only made her want to break down even more. That was until she noticed he was smiling when she finally had control enough to look up at him without bursting into tears.
"Do you think this is funny?" She frowned quickly, irritation replacing her anxiety in an instant, causing him to laugh at the quick flare of her temper.
"No, come on," He said, tugging her by the hand as he took off down a dimly lit pathway to go around the castle. She frowned in confusion, glancing back at the people near the front of the castle that didn't seem to notice before following him. She kept glancing up at him as she made quick steps to keep up with his long legged strides, trying to decipher his mood when he glanced at her and smirked.
David led her to a dimly lit veranda on the side of the home. No guests had found this space yet, for she figured that would come much later in the night when couples snuck off to look for a private corner. He let go of her hands once he led her under the covered veranda, leaving her to glance around at the new surrounding. She could still see the night sky through the flower and ivy that vined up the posts of the structure and over the trellis' above. The stars and solitude calmed her considerably, though her attention was brought back down to David when she saw him reach into his suit jacket and pull out a flask.
"What is that?" The mischievous grin on his face made a smile appear on her own as she watched him screw off the lid and take a sip, blowing through his teeth and scrunching up his face after he swallowed, "Don't tell Granny," He added, making her chuckle. She sensed she was seeing a younger David, one who wasn't so guarded and got into mischief and charmed women like herself.
He held the flask out to her and though she'd never had liquor she took it, tipping it up and taking a drink from it before making the same face he did and coughing a little, hearing him laugh again at her reaction. She shook her head, handing it back to him with wide eyes, "That's disgusting."
"But it'll help with the nerves," He nodded with a smile, tucking the flask back into his suit while she already felt the warming effect of the liquor on her empty stomach.
"Now," He held his hands up in a waltz position, "Time to teach the Queen how to dance," He smiled encouragingly for her to give him her arms. She took a deep breath, finding it rather endearing that he'd pull her to the side and help her shake her anxiety in such a way. She lifted her hands and let them be encased by his larger ones.
"Just feel it," He nodded as he secured her arms where they should be and lowered one of his own to her waist to pull her a bit closer. "Step back with your left foot."
They'd barely started to move before she did the opposite of what he said and stepped forward on his foot, instantly huffing and pulling back in frustration. She hated when she couldn't do something well, hated the feeling of failure and looking like a fool. Cora would always mock her or scold her until she perfected whatever she was doing. To mess up in front of him, well that was a whole other level of embarrassing.
"It's okay, it's okay, it's fine," David reassured her with a patient smile, "Don't be so hard on yourself," He coaxed her back into trying before she gave him a nod. He started counting softly, moving his feet slow enough to guide hers and allow her to find a pattern with the movements, "You're a natural."
She rolled her eyes but couldn't help but smile at his encouragement, beginning to enjoy the feeling of him being leading her around the veranda. It was a rather simple dance, but it still surprised her how easily she felt herself catching on. The warmth of his hand penetrated her lower back, calming her down and giving her butterflies at the same time. He watched her with vivid blue eyes when he no longer had to count to keep their steps on time, and she met his gaze with her own. There was something about him she felt she could trust; something about him that made her feel safe.
"By my guess," His voice came out low and almost secretive as he pulled her a little closer, making her breath catch her in throat, "You're going to be asked to dance by so many men here tonight, you'll be a professional by the time this ball is over."
"Hmm," She smiled up at him, glancing down at his lips before back at his eyes. He'd made it so clear he was still in love with his late wife, but it felt an awful lot like he was flirting with her. "You think so? And what will you do?" She played along, seeing his smile stay on his lips but his eyes seemed to grow a shade darker.
"I'd imagine I'll be a little jealous."