Sometimes he was so fucking tired of sitting and waiting that he wanted to beat his head against the damn wall! It should have been easy! So simple! Snow and David were together, they were happy, they were kissing. Kissing should have led to a little something more, then to a pregnancy, then to an angry Regina and then to a Curse! It was simple!

But of course, that wasn't what had happened. He'd forgotten something in their story, something the Seer had shown to him time and time again, something he'd planned for and yet had completely forgotten about by the time Snow and David were together. All because of one conversation.

Unable to bring himself to go back to his tower and watch he'd followed the False Prince and Princess to the shore, a bank adjacent to King George's castle. And then watched it all play out with happiness and then horror.

"How did you do it?" she asked him, her hands in the crook of his elbow.

"With this," he pronounced, producing his mother's green ring. "It's my mother's ring. It…led me back to you. And now…I never want it off your finger."

Snow stared at him in happy shock as he got down on one knee and held it out before her.

"Will you marry me?"

She said nothing. Just smiled as she held out her left hand for him, fingers spread in anticipation of what would settle there. He slipped it on and as she held out her hand to examine it there, he got to his feet once more.

"What do you think?" she questioned before stepping closer so that she could kiss him. It would have been a perfect moment, for all parties involved, a truly happy ending that would lead to the Savior…if she hadn't pulled away.

"What is it?" David asked.

"There's the little matter of your father and my stepmother."

"Ah…that. I'm open to suggestions."

"Here's one," Snow glanced over at the castle on the sea in the distance. "Let's take back the kingdom."

"How?"

"Like we shall do everything…together."

And so it was. War. That was what one conversation had led to; among other things. There was a quick confession to Snow about who he really was, that his name wasn't James, that he wasn't a prince that George wasn't his father, that it was his brother who had really been the prince and his mother was out living cabin he'd apparently hidden her in sometime after defying George. She took it well, kept her head about her, and stayed focused. He was a false prince but she was a real princess, and she saw a better life ahead of them if the Kingdoms united under the pair of them. In his mind, he'd always known Snow was bound to sit on the throne once more and that their future together would lead to war, he'd warned Clopin about it not long before David had taken on the alias of Prince James. But he hadn't assumed he would ever grow as frustrated with it as he did.

He'd been right about Snow and David. They traveled together everywhere they went, but unmarried as they were they never shared a bed, at least in nothing that he'd seen. The closest they'd ever come was when they camped out with Red one night and it had snowed. They'd slept side by side that night for warmth but that was all it was for. No one made a move, no one attempted to initiate anything beyond sleep. He needed this war over with. He needed them back in their castle, sitting on their thrones, because he knew that the second they were was when they would wed and finally share a bed.

The problem in all that was that it wasn't going well. They traveled about both Kingdoms, David, under the name James as they agreed not to tell the Kingdom until after he was crowned about his heritage, and Snow. Red and Granny helped David to keep Ruth hidden away and, unafraid of Regina and King George, they attempted to rally troops in both lands, people who were tired of George and Regina and wanted the pair stopped. But George was already putting up a fight against them and Regina…

Regina had been alerted to the fact that Snow was awake almost immediately after it had happened. Although she hadn't yet approached George about an alliance to put what she considered "the rebels" down, he knew that it was coming. For now, however, she believed that mere force was enough to scare them away. Regina showed up to one of her rallies and made a spectacle with her magic, tied David up, addressed her step-daughter, and then attacked a young girl in order to provoke an undignified response from Snow. He watched from his tower as Snow ran across the space between them, dove for the Queen either to tackle or kill with the sword, he couldn't be sure, but Regina disappeared before anything could happen. Snow fell into the mud, staining her clothes, mud smeared on her chin, hair wild from sleeping in the forest so long…she looked far from a regal Queen. And Regina, while too terrible to be called regal, at least looked the part, not to mention, she was also terrifying. No one would follow after Snow, not with the way the cards were stacked, not now.

Regina addressed her once more and he could tell just by the look in Snow's eyes that whatever she said to her had an impact. The look followed her back to the tents that the dwarves and David had been using as their headquarters as they traveled through the Kingdom. They met outside, chatted around a table near a stream, but not close enough for him to hear what they were saying. He had no choice but to watch and he was alright with that. Whatever she was saying David disagreed with, that much was obvious. The dwarves seemed to agree with her, but there was no surprise there. The conversation ended with a few stern words to David from Snow before she got up and walked away.

As the dwarves rounded on a distraught David, he watched Snow. He kept his eyes on her as she went inside and began to pack her things; began…but never ended. She started to get things together, but eventually sat down in defeat, the lost look in her eyes overtaking the rest of her face before she started to cry. And the others?

Seeing nothing of note happening with Snow he turned his attention back to the men. The dwarves and David appeared to be arguing, probably over what Snow had said; whatever it might have been. And then they left David there, left David at the table looking more determined than he ever had. He paused for a few moments before getting up and sneaking around back of the tent, then he reached into the small satchel he had with him and pulled from it a small vial filled with…

Well! That was a surprise. The last time David had come to see him, he'd used a transportation potion that Grumpy had given him. He thought that he'd used all of it then, but it appeared there was one swallow left. He watched as he swallowed it down and a moment later he felt David's presence at the edge of his property. He rolled his eyes. Some people just never learned to solve their own problems. For centuries people accused Dark Ones of being addicted to magic but no one ever said anything about the people that came to see them for answers and magic over and over and over again. What of them? Couldn't one say they were addicted as well?

What matter was it to him? He needed their child just as much as he'd needed Cora's child. Though the Seer was whispering in his ear that he shouldn't interfere, he knew he always would, as long as they always came to him. Until he got to Baelfire, he would do whatever was required of him to get that child. If this helped them get one step closer to going to bed together then so be it.

When David finally arrived he didn't go downstairs to greet him as he had before. The truth was that he'd only seen scenes play out, he could take guesses as to what had happened, but he didn't know for sure. If that were the case he wanted to be here, in his Tower where he could work magic if necessary. So instead he used his voice, magically amplified to draw the False Prince up to his chamber where he sat working on the Great Wheel. When they finally made eye contact, he looked away.

"You again? Didn't I just help you wake your princess?"

"Now I need your help once more. Long ago you made Snow remember who she was when a spell blinded her. I need you to do it again."

"Gone blind again has she?" he piqued, choosing his words carefully. What he needed was for David to tell him what was happening, what he wanted was for it not to look like he was fishing for the information. "My, my that does seem to happen often! Has she tried a pair of spectacles?"

"No, not…not physically blind. She just can't see who she is."

"And who do you say she is?" he prodded, carefully assessing. Regina had said something to her, something that bothered her, something that hit her self-esteem. That was what he'd figured so far.

"A Queen!" David roared. "The Queen of her father's Kingdom!"

"Oh, well, perhaps it's you that needs clarification, her father's Kingdom already has a Queen."

"Regina is not worthy, Snow is," he insisted. "Snow deserves to sit on that throne, it'll be a better Kingdom under her rule. Regina knows it that's why she's threatening Snow. Snow has everything she needs to fight her, she just has to see it. We could take Regina's offer, go off with the dwarves, run away and live in exile like Regina wants but she'll never be happy, not really. I have to convince her this is the wrong decision to make."

Oh, how he loved the gullible ones. He'd heard enough to put the pieces together easily enough. Regina wanted them gone, Snow, David, the dwarves, and in return she'd promised not to kill her and probably not to kill others as well. If she stayed, well the opposite wasn't hard to figure out. David thought Snow just needed a little self-esteem. He wasn't wrong. If his assessment was correct that certainly would help. But what would also help was her figuring out what she wanted. For so long all she'd wanted was David and to stay alive. Now she had David and her life and so the deal was appealing to her. He had to make it unappealing. And he had an idea about how he might do that. It all hung on David.

"Well…I'm sorry to say, but what you seek…it doesn't exist."

"Oh…come on…you must have something that can change Snow's mind."

"If she doesn't wanna fight the Queen, there's nothing I can do to change that."

"I just need a way to make her believe in something that I already know. That she can face Regina and win."

It was almost cute how easy he thought that was, but changing a mind hadn't been done because it was one of the most difficult things to do. But he could see he wasn't going to back down easy. He was desperate. Time made people desperate. He recalled how he saw Snow go into the tent and begin to pack. The offer Regina made had a time restriction. They had to leave right away. He was desperate because they were running out of time. But that didn't change things. It just meant that they had to figure something out quickly.

Confidence was an interesting topic in the magical community. There were often two types of spells given for confidence. The first was a bitter potion that took just as much confidence to make it as it produced. It took three moon cycles to create and he currently didn't have any sitting around in his tower. However, that potion was not what the Princess needed. That spell was for people who did, in fact, lack confidence; who had none to begin with. Snow wasn't that person. He'd been watching her all her life, he knew that she did have confidence she just needed a little bit of help to harvest it. For that kind of confidence, the potion was easy.

It was a placebo. It was something given to the individual so they could be told it was exactly what they needed only to find later there was actually no magic to it. Most sorcerers used water, convinced their clients that it was a potion, and when they took it they assumed it brought them what they already had and that was what made it work. He couldn't see Snow taking another potion. Not from him. And if David gave her a potion she'd immediately suspect where he'd gotten it. He knew what he wanted to do, what trick he wanted to pull.

"Magic can't make someone believe, dearie," he snapped rising to his feet. "It works the other way around. Belief must come from within. You know, the Queen's offer was a fair one. Do yourself a favor and take it. Ruling a kingdom ain't all it's cracked up to be. Just ask your dear old brother. Oh, wait. He died. You see my point!" he laughed giving him a friendly shove and moving around him.

"No…" as he sat back down at the wheel David suddenly spun and grabbed his spool, keeping him from his work. "I didn't come here to take "no" for an answer. Now you must have something. You always do. Just name your price."

"I can't give something away that's already been taken, dearie."

"Already taken…what does that mean? The answer exists? Someone else has it? Tell me who I'll find it, I'll get it!"

"Oh, I doubt you'll have the time for that!" he blanched sitting back at his wheel. "The fact that this individual has it would contradict that."

"'It', what is 'it'?"

He took a breath and turned in his seat to face David again. "Ever heard of a sword in a stone? The legendary proclaimer of Kings…or Queens."

"Of course…the sword in the stone…you know where it is?"

"Well of course I do, and it won't help you?"

"I'll do anything."

"Heroic, but useless," he smiled turning back to his wheel and picking up the ball of yarn he was currently turning into gold. "The sword has been pulled. Shame. It sounds like exactly what your princess needs to remind her who the real ruler is."

He didn't look back at David, but the silence spoke for itself. He'd been watching the boy all his life he knew that he was often quiet before he came up with a grand idea. He didn't know if he could call this one grand, though, since he'd practically given it to him on a silver platter.

"Send me back," David insisted, appearing on the other side of the wheel. "I know you've done it before, whatever the cost, I'll pay it."

Don't interfere, the Seer told him. Perhaps there was something to that.

"The cost is you stop bothering me without being welcome," he growled. "I can't solve all your problems, dearie. Some of them you have to handle yourself. You are a prince now after all."

David nodded. "Deal."

And this right here folks is the chapter that really broke this entire fiction. Figuratively speaking of course. I had a goal to clock this fiction in at around 200 chapters and up until this point I did. It was prompted at 204 for the longest time and then we got to "let's take back the Kingdom" and I realized there was a lot of stuff I'd left out of prompts but couldn't ignore in order to tell the story. This is where the fiction went from 204 to 219. So if you are looking at the chapters left and thinking to yourself "how am I not done yet?!" Blame it on Snowing deciding to take back the Kingdom.

Thank you dear Jennifer, Alarda, and Grace5231973 for your continued reviews and comments. I know this chapter isn't the most exciting as it covers quite a bit of time, but there are a few gems in here. Personally, I'm a fan of the Seer's "don't interfere" comment when Rumple wonders what he should ask from David. Is she talking about now? Or later? Hm? Peace and Happy Reading!