Well hello! Thank you SO MUCH for the awesome reviews. I'm elated that my insane hiatuses have not dampened your interest in the story. I was worried for a minute when I wasn't getting as much feedback that I had lost you. I am also sorry for not getting this update out sooner. Life has been insane with work, obligations and unforeseen things that I did not have the time to work on this like I thought I would. This chapter was a tough one and I had to do a lot of thinking about how I wanted to handle it. I hope you are pleased. Please let me know what you think! xoxo
PS. I said this would be the last chapter, but i lied. the scene you're about to read ended up being the length of a chapter itself and theres a bit more i want to touch on ;)
Regina frowned when she heard the sudden pounding on her front door and glanced at the time on the microwave. It wasn't even eight o'clock yet and she'd barely taken a sip of the morning coffee she hurriedly placed back onto the counter. Her curiosity turned to worry when the pounding continued, getting louder and more urgent as she made her way to the front door.
She hastily undid the lock and swung it open, coming face to face with her ex-husband whose fist was raised to knock again, "David? What in the hell-" Her jaw instantly clenched, looking at his raised fist and then to him for an explanation.
"Henry, I went to wake him up for school but he-" David shook his head, looking at her with wild eyes that made her immediately aware that he was truly concerned, "Is he here? Did he come here last night?"
"No," Regina's own eyes widened, "Oh my god. What time did you notice he was gone?!"
"Not until a half hour ago, I went to wake him up for school and his bed was empty and his bag is gone, too-" David frowned and threw his hands in the air, "I searched the apartment building and checked Granny's on my way here-"
"Why didn't you try calling me?!" She snapped, panic rising in her chest as she stepped aside to let him in. He was typically the one who kept a level head when something happened with their son and his demeanor now sent fear through her.
"I tried! A million times. I told you that you needed to start keeping your phone on you-" He snapped and brushed past her, running up the stairs, "Henry! Are you here?!"
"He lost his spare key, David. He wouldn't of been able to get in if he had come here last night or this morning-" Regina frowned deeply and walked to the living room, ruffling through her bag and couch pillows for where she had left her cellphone as her mind began to spin.
"Has he tried to call or text you or anything?" David asked as he ran back down the steps, seeing her pick up her phone and scroll through the notifications. "Well?!" He asked impatiently with a clipped tone and she flashed him a glare.
"No, but I do have a voicemail from your mother if you'd give me a second!" She bit back at him and unlocked her phone with a shaky hand. "It looks like she just called about ten minutes ago, my phones been on silent so I didn't hear-"
"Play it!" He motioned with one hand towards her as his anxiety spun out of control, making Regina's quickly catch up.
"I'm trying!" She snapped and pushed the speakerphone option to play it out loud, holding it up between them as she stared at the annoying little device she couldn't seem to remember to keep on her being.
Good morning, Regina - it's Ruth. I seem to have someone that belongs to you. Don't worry, Henry is with us and he's safe. He says he took the bus here. I called David but he didn't answer. I assume you both are panicking right about now. We'll keep him occupied until the two of you get here.
"Oh thank god," Regina exclaimed and they both let out a pent up breath.
David pinched the bridge of his nose and put a hand against the wall beside him, leaning into it as if he'd just run a marathon, "What the hell was he thinking?" He muttered aloud and ran a hand through his disheveled hair.
"Obviously neither of us know what's going on with him if he's leaving for your parents in the middle of the night-" Regina frowned deeply, walking back into the foyer to grab her jacket. "I'm going to get him."
"I'm going with you-" David frowned and pulled his keys from his pocket.
"You think?" Regina scoffed sarcastically and snatched her own keys from the dish on the side table. "As much as I'd rather avoid going anywhere with you, he needs both of us right now. But we're taking my car."
"No we're not-" He muttered and followed her out, swinging the door shut behind him, "I hate driving your car, my knees are in the dash-"
"We can always drive separately-" She grit out, feeling combative after the roller-coaster of emotion combined with his abrasive energy. Knowing her son was safe and with his grandparents was an immense relief and the instant shift from panic mode had left her legs feeling like jelly and her nerves shot. "Besides I never said I was going to let you drive. You don't get to order me around anymore, you know, you lost that right when-"
"Regina, can you just shut up for once and get in the truck?" He enunciated firmly and threw her a sideways glare as he walked around her, stalking to his driver door. She suppressed a retort, knowing he had been in a panic over their son longer than she had and that she'd be just as venomous if the tables were turned.
"Fine," She growled, heels clicking on the sidewalk as she rounded the metal monstrosity. Her eyes narrowed when she jerked open the squeaky door and saw him already climbing in his side, irritation bubbling that he didn't try to help her up in it like he would've before. She wouldn't of accepted the help, but still. "I'm getting too old for this hunk of rusted junk-" She muttered as she hoisted herself up into the passenger seat with help of the handle, glancing at him briefly to see if he'd witnessed how ungraceful the movement had been.
David luckily ignored her as he settled into the driver seat, reaching up to turn on the ignition and push the brake in. "I need to call Emma and tell her I won't be in today-" He mumbled almost to himself before reaching down into his pocket and feeling it empty, "Shit I must've ran out without my phone."
"You need to keep your phone on you," Regina mocked him from earlier, pulling out her cellphone when he glared at her. "I'll text her. I need to tell my secretary to start rescheduling my meetings now before town hall goes up in flames without me."
"Are you sure you want to go? I would hate for your son to inconvenience you-" David said sarcastically as he pulled out of her driveway. He knew the probable reason Henry ran away and the guilt was gnawing at him, making him lash out at Regina instead. He was deflecting from his own mistake by bringing up her rigorous work ethic, something he'd resented after it's toll on their marriage. It wasn't fair, but he couldn't seem to hold himself back from baiting her when really his aggravation was with himself.
"Excuse me?" She turned her head to look at him blankly, "I said nothing of the sort. I know this is upsetting but I'm not the one who lost track of our son so please watch the tone in which you're speaking to me."
"I tucked him in! The last I saw of him he was sound asleep-" David glared back at her accusation and threw a hand in the air, "How was I to know?!"
"Please keep both hands on the wheel," She replied with a clenched jaw before continuing, "I'm just trying to get to the bottom of this, David. Happy kids don't just run away from home. Somethings going on with him or something happened. And since he was in your care at the time, I'm asking you!"
"I don't know!" David snapped and gripped the steering wheel angrily with both hands as he stared straight ahead. He felt her eyes on him and he knew she could see right through his guilt. She had been able to anytime he had screwed up during their marriage and he couldn't hide the truth from her.
"Are you sure about that?"
His gut twisted with guilt and he took a deep breath, glancing sideways at her reluctantly, "He might of overheard Mary Margaret and me fighting..." He admitted. He'd been so angry and so loud at the time that looking back on it now he felt sure Henry had heard.
Regina's chest tightened and her stomach turned at the thought of what Mary Margaret had told her the day before. Self loathing and rejection and feelings of inadequacy spiraled within her at the proof that he was fighting for his marriage. Mary Margaret meant enough to him to stick it out and Regina hadn't. She felt bitterness seep into her bones but her pride refused to let her show how hurt by it she truly was.
"Well maybe you and Mary Margaret should work on your marital issues when our son isn't around if you can't do so quietly like adults."
David smiled bitterly and shook his head slowly, "Yeah, well, I'm sorry that not everyone's relationship is perfect. Maybe you and Robin can give us some pointers."
Regina's mouth dropped a fraction as she turned her head to look at him, surprised he was being so intentionally mean about her failed relationship with Robin. If he was trying to make it work with his wife then why would he still hold a grudge about her ex-boyfriend? "Why are you still so obsessed with Robin?!"
"You think I'm obsessed with-" David forced a laugh and glanced at her, scrambling to act as if he couldn't care less, "-why would I care about Robin? I'm just saying that it's typical of you to criticize other people's issues because you can't deal with your own," He shrugged smugly, turning the conversation's focus back onto her.
David couldn't admit that he was jealous over the rekindling of her romance with the man, so he let his anger take the reigns and redirected the trajectory of their argument. They had so many unresolved issues that it wasn't hard to bring up something he knew would make her explode and effectively take the heat off of him. He had his pride to save, after all.
"I can't deal with my own issues? Where have I heard that before," Regina threw her head back with a fake laugh, "You know when we divorced I thought I'd finally get a break from hearing what you thought about my issues and what I should do to fix them. Clearly I'm not the only one who was naive."
"Oh here we go again," David rolled his eyes and leaned back in his seat with a sarcastic smile, expelling a pent up breath as a laugh, "Please continue. I haven't heard your lecture about how I have a great family and had a good childhood and know nothing about the real world in a while."
"Are we seriously going to go there?" She glared back at him before growling when the truck hit a pothole, sending a sliver of anger through her at the sudden startle. Her frustration skyrockted and sarcasm dripped form her words when she continued, "I am so sorry that I dealt with my past in a way that made you feel uncomfortable. I am truly, truly sorry that you had to suffer through my baggage. And most of all, I am sorry if the magnitude of my issues ever made your own feel belittled in anyway."
"There it is," He gripped the steering wheel with white knuckles as his anger intensified. "You always discount what we've been through together. You always make me out to be some asshole that left because I couldn't handle you-"
"Well isn't that what you did?!" She snapped back, her heart pumping furiously with emotion and adrenaline.
"You pushed me away! I had no fucking choice!" He yelled now, losing control of his temper. She saw his neck flush and his frame tense in the way that always told her he was truly angry and she needed to quit antagonizing him. Too bad she couldn't.
"Because I just needed space and you wouldn't give it to me!"
"Regina you were my wife! You were my best friend-" He shook his head exasperatedly, "I didn't know how to give you space! We were together since we were dumb kids. We grew up together! Every problem we had we dealt with together and then suddenly you shut me out!"
"Because my mother came back into my life and it brought up issues for me! What part of that is so hard to comprehend?!"
"The part where I told you before it happened that inviting Cora into our lives was going to be a mistake! And the worst part was that you knew I didn't approve of her being in our son's life and you went behind my back and did it anyways. Can you imagine if I would've done that to you?!"
"I was a young mother who still wanted my own mother's approval-" Regina laughed bitterly and refused to look over at him as she crossed her arms, "I know it seemed stupid and self sabotaging to you but I can't make you understand."
"After what that woman did to you?! After what she let happen to you?!" He glanced at her with wide eyes, "Yeah, it is hard for me to wrap my head around that you would still want anything to do with her!"
"Because you have a real mother!" She yelled back at him and her voice faltered with emotion, "Ruth is loving and warm and everything a mother should be. Cora is the opposite-"
"Then why would you go back to her and expect anything different?!"
"I don't know! Wishful thinking, I guess," Regina's voice faltered and turned her head to look out the passenger window, pausing for a moment so it wouldn't crack again. "For 18 years she was the only example of a parent I had. When she would manipulate or demean or antagonize me, I thought it was normal. She told me for years that I was useless and unlovable. It made me feel like I was lucky she kept me around at all. That anyone would. I thought she treated me like I deserved to be treated."
David stayed quiet for a moment, her vulnerability chipping away at his rage. It was rare for her to give an open and honest answer during an argument like this and he swallowed his anger, softening his tone considerably when he glanced her way, "But we...we were so happy with Henry and... you had my family, you and my mom were so close. When you decided to give Cora another chance, I don't know, it felt like me and my family weren't enough for you..."
"That was never the case. I'll never forget what your family has done for me. I didn't even know what a real family was until I met yours," Regina shook her head, "But not everything is about you or how it makes you feel, David. I was going through something and it upset you because I wouldn't share it, but some things you have to sort out on your own. I needed to know that I could handle it on my own-"
"But you didn't have to, I was your husband..."
"That's not the point," She caught his gaze for a second before he glanced back to the road. "I know now that it wasn't my responsibility to make you feel better about what I was going through."
"That wasn't what I expected and you know it," He frowned deeply, his expression flickering with hurt, "I just wanted to help you."
"Maybe at first, yes, but then you got angry and resentful towards me."
"I, what?"
"You never agreed with me inviting Cora into our lives and when it went south you grew resentful. I wouldn't let you help me and you became angry at me for making the decision in the first place. Looking back now you act like I was the only one with a problem David but you held a grudge against me, you blamed me from the beginning and you never took accountability-"
"Accountability for wanting to be there for you? Accountability for wanting to protect you from the woman that hurt you your whole life? Because that's all I ever wanted and you're twisting me out to be some selfish asshole-" David shook his head, "Yeah, I was upset when it didn't work out because I saw what it did to you. I was angry at myself more than anyone for letting you go through that all again."
Regina took a deep breath and glanced down at her lap, hating that she understood his side of things, "I'm just saying that we're both to blame. We both played our parts in our marriage unraveling. It wasn't just me being damaged and crazy like you like to paint out."
"I never called you damaged or crazy-" He glanced at her, brow furrowing in aggravation again. Her doubting his commitment and loyalty had always been an issue and he bristled at her familiar accusation. "Quit putting words in my mouth. You're a stubborn pain in my ass sometimes, but I've never thought you were damaged. I know who raised you and I know what you've been through and I have never held that against you. I spent our whole marriage trying to convince you that you weren't all of the terrible things she accused you of being."
"Yet here we are," She retorted and leaned her head back against the headrest. They were talking in circles and she was tired of it. They'd been talking in circles for two years now.
"I see it's back to being my fault now, huh?" He pressed his lips into a bitter expression and turned his gaze back to the road. Silence filled the truck cab when she refused to bicker back and he glanced at the clock, realizing he'd been so distracted arguing that a half hour had passed. "Please text my mom and tell her we will be there in an hour and a half."
"I already have," She replied evenly, reaching to check her phone again for any response. "Emma text back saying she and Killian had everything under control at the station and if any big cases came in they'd fill you in tomorrow."
David nodded and rested his elbow on the window sill as he propped his head against the palm of his head, "Yeah, my own missing child's case is going to be enough for today."
"What are we going to say to him when we get there?" Regina's brows furrowed at the mention of their son and the situation they should be focusing on. "I mean do we...do we punish him for this or how do we handle it?"
"I don't know," David ran his propped hand up over the back of his neck, trying to rub away the tension there. "He's been stuck in the middle of our bullshit for so long that I can't blame him wanting to run away to my parents."
"He's heard us fight before and he's never ran away. Something must be really wrong here, David," She frowned and turned her head to study his profile, "It doesn't make sense that he'd be that upset over you and Mary Margaret having a disagreement."
"Yeah, well, I wouldn't just call it a disagreement," David troubled his bottom lip hesitantly before admitting what he should have much earlier. "She might of brought up you and I during the fight."
Regina's brow arched immediately, "She what? What did she have to say?" She asked with a clipped tone.
"We were arguing about things that happened recently and it escalated. She brought up you and I still sleeping together and-"
"Henry knows you and I have been having an affair?!" Her jaw dropped and dread filled her immediately. "It wasn't enough that you had to clear your guilty conscious and tell your wife about us but you had to let our son find out?! Are you out of your mind?!"
"It was a mistake. I didn't know he was awake, Regina!" He replied through clenched teeth, "We lost our tempers, I'm sorry-"
"Can you imagine what he's thinking right now? That we've lied to him! That he can't trust anything anymore?!" Regina berated, angry at them both for letting their issues hurt their son. "This is all your fault!"
"Excuse me? I didn't climb on-top of myself and fuck me, Regina-" He replied defensively, "You were a very willing participant!"
"But you are the one who had to tell your wife about it!" She snapped back, voice raising in volume considerably. "You needed to clear your guilty conscious so that the two of you could work through it and start over. Who cares about your first family, right?"
"Are you joking?" David hit the brakes harder than necessary at the stop sign they approached, glancing at her with a bewildered expression before steering the truck onto the side of the road.
"David what in the hell are you doing?!"
She watched him shift the vehicle into neutral and hit the parking brake before slamming his door open, "I can't be in this truck with you anymore!" He yelled, jumping out and rounding the front of the truck to storm for the treeline.
Watching him stalking away from their fight only triggered her once more and she found herself out of the passenger side before she realized what she was doing. "Walking away again? How original David."
He stopped and turned from where he was pacing on the side of the road, closing the distance between them with aggressive strides. "I told Mary Margaret about us for YOU!"
She sputtered, taken back by his statement as he invaded her personal space, causing her to have to tilt her head to look up at him. "That's a lie and we both know it," Regina spat back at him when she finally found her words, heart beginning to pound at what he claimed. Why would he play with her like this?
"I knew going into that weekend with you and Henry that I wanted you back!" David locked eyes with her, "And then we get to my parents and it's like stepping back in time. You and I were getting along and we saw old friends and we didn't just have sex, we were intimate. I told you I loved you, and I meant it. I decided then I was going to end things with Mary Margaret as soon as I got back, and I did-"
"If that's true then why didn't you say something to me? We came home and you went back to her like nothing ever happened-" She shook her head, eyes glossing over as she began to take a step back from him, "I don't believe you."
"Ask my Dad if you don't believe me! He caught me coming out of your room the morning after and nearly throttled me," David raised a brow, reaching down to grip her elbow and prevent her from backing away, "Regina the moment I had the chance to speak to Mary Margaret alone after we got back, I told her."
"She said that you admitted everything to her and begged her to give you another chance," She replied through a clenched jaw, her tears threatening to spill over her lashes at any moment despite how desperately she was trying to keep it together.
"She what-" David looked back at her and his expression became one of confusion, "She talked to you about it?"
"Yesterday when I dropped Henry off at school," Regina frowned and cursed inwardly when one tear escaped down her cheek. "She said that you had realized over that weekend what you felt for me was gone and you wanted to be honest with her and fight for your marriage. That you two were going to work it out."
"Regina, that's absurd," He shook his head in disbelief at how calculating Mary Margaret turned out to be.
"If it's so absurd then why didn't you come to me and tell me you had left her? You sure you weren't trying to keep your word to her that you wouldn't see me?" She frowned at him pointedly and swiped the tear from her cheek, "Do you think I'm stupid enough to believe that you went home and broke up with her only to continue to live together? You've avoided me for weeks!"
"Because when I came to tell you I had ended my marriage, I saw you and Robin!" David finally admitted, throwing his hands up in defeat as he looked away from her. "I realized you were back together and I didn't know what to do. Mary Margaret refused to leave the apartment and my names on the lease. What was I gonna do? Live at Granny's bed and breakfast with Henry?!"
"Back with Robin?" Regina was frowning cluelessly when he looked back at her question.
"Yeah, I came to our house and I saw the two of you in the kitchen kissing-" David shifted his gaze and his jaw twitched in frustration at the memory. "And I didn't want you to find out I had ended things with Mary Margaret for you. Not when you already moved on and I was just being pathetic and unfair. You deserve to be with him if that's what you wanted and I knew I had to stop keeping you from moving on-"
"David I didn't-" Regina interrupted and shook her head, not even knowing where to begin. Suddenly his behavior in the past month made sense if he was in fact telling the truth. "I didn't get back with Robin. He came that night to apologize to me for how things ended between us. I admitted to him that I wasn't over you and he was trying to comfort me. We both had drinks in our system and he tried to kiss me but I ended it. We're just friends..."
"You..." David stared at her as he processed her words, "So you're not...? What about when he came up to you in the diner, you two seemed...h-he was touching your arm..."
"You mean to comfort me after you had stormed off?" Regina swallowed at the lump forming in her throat. Had the past few weeks all been a misunderstanding? Could it really be that simple? Did he really leave his wife?
"Shit," David mumbled as he realized how grossly he had misinterpreted things between she and Robin. He had been a tool since they had returned from his parent's house and it was all because he had assumed instead of communicating with her. Had he learned nothing? He could kick himself. "You still have feelings for me?"
Regina rolled her eyes, another tear escaping before she locked gazes with him again. "You mean you didn't pick up on that after all of this? You really are an idiot," She mumbled but it lacked the bite of before. Her voice wobbled with emotion and she had to tense her frame to keep from visibly trembling. Did he really want her back?
"Regina, I'm sorry. I just thought...when I saw you and Robin, I thought I had missed my chance. I was angry and hurt because I thought we both felt the same after my parent's house," David's heart pounded against his rib cage wildly. "I just wanted you back. I knew that nothing in the past mattered because we could make it work again."
"How could we ever make it work again when we can't even communicate better than this?" Regina shook her head, hating the words as she said them but being too logical not to. "We can't put Henry through all of this again."
"Our issues aren't going to go away overnight. I know that," He locked hopeful eyes with her and she saw him brace himself with optimism. They were polar opposites in that regard and he always had a way of making her think that anything was possible with his reassurance and confidence. "We clearly have some resentment and things to talk through. But I think we've both seen where we went wrong and what we don't want it to happen again."
"But we're both so stubborn, and we get so angry-" Regina argued, fighting to talk through the emotion constricting her throat. She was scrambling desperately for some sensible way to talk them both out of it but she knew he wouldn't let her.
"We'll go to counseling-"
"What if that doesn't work-" She shook her head and her voice became barely audible. "You left me."
David's heart threatened to shatter at the wavering tone of her statement. He was supposed to be the one person who never left her. Who never disappointed her. Who was always there for her. She had been so used to being used and discarded in her life and he was supposed to be the one who had changed that, but he had failed. "And I've spent the last two years of my life regretting it every day, Regina. Why do you think I could never leave you alone?"
Her shoulders sagged and her chest ached to accept it. She wanted to believe him. Both of them were responsible in their own ways for the demise of their marriage, but she had trust issues and she couldn't pretend they didn't exist. Not dealing with her problems had been what upended her life in the first place and she couldn't go through it again. "I've worked on myself, but I can't guarantee that things from my past won't creep up again."
"I can handle it-" David ran has hands up to her forearms, looking at her intently, "I love you, Regina. Every one of your complex layers."
"I don't get why you want to come back to this-" Regina frowned stubbornly, frustration building in her at him saying everything right. "You know what we're like when things aren't good. We're messy and explosive and hostile-"
"We've had way more good times than bad-" He cut her off before giving her a half smile, "And you know what we're like when things are good. We're fun and we're good parents and we're happy. We can be happy again."
"I'm not easy to love," She replied firmly but her bottom lip trembled despite her tone. Her chin tilted up to him as if it were most obvious statement in the world and she attempted to harden her gaze to keep her composure.
"Nothing has ever come easier to me than loving you," David replied with his eyes locked on her, causing her own gaze to shift away from him at how vulnerable she felt. When she glanced back to him the right corner of his mouth curled up in a half smile and his eyes twinkled mischievously, "Now, dealing with your stubbornness is a whole other subject."
"I hate you," She mumbled as her trembling lips turned up in a watery smile, dipping her head for a moment to hide her reaction. She loved him.
"I love you, too," He murmured, reaching out to run a hand over her hair. She knew her argument against them was futile, but she wouldn't admit it out loud. Luckily David knew when not to push Regina, and when it was exactly what she needed. "Would you really try again?"
Regina swallowed thickly as she slowly lifted her head, big brown eyes studying him hesitantly. She saw his confidence falter momentarily while waiting for her response, prompting her to finally speak up after a shaky breath, "Maybe if you'd ever man up and ask me."
He let out a laugh of relief at her response and pulled her closer to him, "Regina Mills-Nolan, will you give me another chance?" He asked, leaning down to graze his lips over hers gently.
"...I guess it couldn't hurt to give it a try." It could hurt. It could hurt immensely, but she was trusting him that it wouldn't.
David's eyes glistened when he smiled, reaching to cup the back of her neck and bring her lips to his. She responded eagerly to his closeness, tilting her head to the side and deepening the kiss. His fingers threaded her hair as their tongues brushed and they both moaned, hands roaming and tugging each other closer.
Regina whimpered as they stumbled backwards, feeling her back thud against the side of the truck as his hands travel down her waist and hips. Her stomach tensed with arousal almost instantly and she was ready to reclaim him. For him to reclaim her.
"Fuck, why did we have to have this out right now?" David groaned in good humor against her lips as his hands cupped her ass and he pulled her hips against his.
"You mean on the side of the highway, no bedroom or alleyway in sight and a difficult conversation with our son waiting for us?" She smirked breathlessly when he pressed his forehead to hers and nodded with a disgruntled noise.
"Exactly."
"Have we ever thought anything through?"
"You're right. Why start now?" David grinned playfully and gave her bottom a squeeze before sighing in forfeit, running his hands back to her waist.
"Lets go get our son," She pulled back to gaze up at him and her whiskey eyes grew a shade darker, "We'll finish this when you come home."