Six times. Since he'd become the Dark One, he'd slept through the night only six times. Last night had been number seven. Snow White and Prince Charming together , the True Love potion steeping for the night, he'd gone back to his bedroom with a proud smile on his face, sat down in his chair next to the fireplace and let the images he had of Belle play across his mind just because he could. He let the guilt of her life wash over him with the knowledge that there was nothing else he should be doing for it was all done. She was the last thought he'd had when he drifted off, and her smile was what greeted him when he woke the next morning feeling rested and assured. He took a few moments to mourn her all over again, to swallow down tears and sobs. And then he pictured Baelfire. He'd taken a night off, but that was all he could afford. There was still work to do.

The potion was perfect. The helix of the hairs were dissolving into purple liquid that shimmered with gold and silver in the light. It was beautiful, gorgeous even, but he expected nothing less for a potion of True Love. And it was potent. Forget just getting a drop or two out of it, it was only half done with its dissolving and already the vial was half filled. When it was done it would fill the glass bubble at the bottom of the vial perfectly. With any luck, he'd be able to apply it to the Dark Curse by evening. He'd apply all it needed and the rest…the rest would need protected without a doubt. He had plans for it in another world if only because the Seer had plans for it in another world. But what those plans were was a problem to worry about once his work with that was finished. Besides, as he looked over at the egg he'd been tinkering with over the last few days of watching, he had an idea of sorts. He knew where he could put the potion, he knew how he could store it, make sure it arrived safely to it's new home with it's magic intact. It was another answer he didn't even have to work for. No wonder he'd slept so well. Things seemed perfect and fulfilled.

But like all things in life, it was temporary. That night, as he sat in his tower painstakingly extracting and binding a drop of True Love potion to the scroll of the curse, he was suddenly overwhelmed by a sense of anxiety. There was something going on. The Seer knew it, the forest, the trees, even the very magic in the air seemed to sizzle with it. Something was happening. Something more than just adding potion of weakness into the strongest most well-made curse ever crafted. He wasn't the source of dis-ease. So what was?

He groaned, looking over at his ball and cauldron. He rubbed his forehead as he considered his other options and even thought once more about Pirithous before reminding himself firmly that his ship had sailed. As much as he didn't like it, as much as he felt like he'd lived in front of his cauldron for the last few weeks, he sat himself down in front of it again that night and began checking through his usual suspects. It turned out that finding the culprits was not difficult. It was exactly who he expected them to be and yet…not.

He would have thought that David and Snow would be together. That was, after all, how he left them yesterday, kissing in the woods. After finding one another again, it seemed like a reasonable expectation that they might be with one another at the dwarves' house or even in her old cottage for some privacy. He didn't think Snow White was the kind of girl to take someone to her bed on any night other than her wedding night and he couldn't see David trying to seduce her before that night, they were both traditionalists in that sense, but he could easily see both of them settling in somewhere familiar for the night while they figured out what to do next.

But when he asked to see them in his mirror together his magic reacted strangely, in a way that he'd never seen it react before. It shifted and warped before him, moving between two separate images, like it couldn't decide who it wanted to show or focus on. An image of Snow crying "no", an image of David crying. Snow reaching out, David staying still. The mirror was getting something, but it wasn't a clear picture, and after a few moments of staring at it, he felt like he knew what was going on. Wherever the couple was, they weren't together, even if they seemed to be talking to one another. How?

So he asked for one, in front of his mirror he asked for Snow and found her in a dank cell of some kind with bars and an open door behind her. She was looking right at him through the mirror, which could only mean one thing; suddenly all became clear. The mirror hadn't been able to focus, because they were both looking into a mirror. They were communicating much the way he and Regina used to. They were, without doubt, apart. And by the look of it, neither were happy about it. He used his crystal ball to watch Snow and found it was true. She was in a jail cell, looking into a mirror in which her Prince Charming was looking through, clearly upset.

He nearly threw the crystal ball across the room as he used his crystal to summon the image of David so he could watch them both. Damn these two…could they not even go a single day without being apart?! No child was ever going to be conceived if they couldn't stay in the room long enough to get married.

"Oh, no!" Snow cried, clearly just now discovering this for herself.

"The Queen took me to her palace," David explained sadly. The only words he needed to really use for both he and Snow White. The Queen…Regina had him. How she knew about Snow and David…he wasn't surprised. Rumors only ever spread, and there were enough leaks in George's castle that she would have heard about it all eventually. The question was, what the hell did she want with him and not Snow? Bait? Probably, that's what he would have done if he were a lesser being as Regina was. But what was her plan?

"But I'm rescuing you," Snow stated with irony in her voice. Trapped or not David let out a small chuckle before Snow laid her hand against the glass of the mirror. He glanced into his crystal ball and realized that she wasn't doing it alone, David was touching his side of the mirror as well.

"Snow…"

"Is this always going to be our life?" Snow asked. "Taking turns finding each other?"

Not if he had anything to say about it.

"We'll be together," David promised. "I know it. Have faith."

He watched in the mirror as suddenly, Snow's expression changed. One minute she'd been looking at him with sadness and longing and the next she took a small step back and squared her shoulders as shock crossed her face.

A familiar laugh came from the mirror, echoing off the caverns behind Snow. He knew that laugh. He glanced back into his crystal ball for confirmation. David had disappeared from the mirror…Regina now stood in his place. In a flash, he refocused the mirror, asking it to call on Regina's image and found her facing him as if she was talking to him and not to Snow. She was in her room at her palace, not the summer palace, her own palace. She'd gone back home and taken David on the way.

"I just had to stop you. I have no interest in cleaning tongue marks off my mirror."

"Let him go!" he heard Snow reason as the Queen glared straight ahead. "Your fight is with me."

"My thoughts exactly. Have you ever heard of a parley?" Regina asked. "We break off all this messy fighting and have a little talk. Just you and me. Come unarmed."

"Where do I meet you?" Snow asked without hesitation and in all seriousness. Stupid girl. She was going to play right into her step-mother's hands. Couldn't she see the trap Regina was laying out for her? Couldn't she see this would end badly?! Apparently not. Love was blind, and for the vast majority of people, it was stupid too. Were it Belle held by Regina he'd have figured out a way to save her before giving Regina what she needed. Snow, however, was too innocent to do anything other than listen to Regina's instructions.

"Where it all began…" Regina drawled before disappearing from view. The Evil Queen didn't elaborate, but there was no need to. He knew where it all began, and so did she.

And the next chapter is where it gets interesting because there is something we never saw in the series, a very important moment that has to happen now. When you read it, you'll probably think it's late, but as I'll explain there really is no choice. It has to be right this second. A&E tied me down on this one (which is probably why they never showed it themselves).

Thank you Alarda, Jennifer Baratta, and Grace5231973 for your continued reviews. Ready for a change up? Ready for a scene you haven't already seen? Then on to the next we go! Peace and Happy Reading!