Thanks for all the reviews and faves/follows. For the guest review, if you don't like outlaw queen, this is probably not going to be the fic for you.

No Beta. Please ignore the writing mistakes. I am no professional writer.

Chapter 2-Little Dove

After Maleficent had poofed them back to the room she was staying in at grannies, she lead Regina to the attached, private bathroom. Without a word, she sat her down on the edge of the white, porcelain and proceeded to fill the tub with scalding hot water, adding a little calming lavender bath soap.

Waiting for the tub to fill, she looks at the blank, sad stare in Regina's eyes, with a solitary tear tumbling down her cheek and wishes she could take her pain away. To wash away the dirt, and may be some of the pain as well, Maleficent slips the two coats off Regina's shoulders, unzips and removes her heeled boots, and leaves the bathroom for just a moment of dispose the clothing in the hamper.

Returning to the bathroom, Maleficent turns off the faucet and guides Regina, who still holds the same blank stare, to her feet. Reaching behind her to the zip of her dress, Maleficent searches out Regina eyes, and wordlessly asks the queen if she can undress her. With a shaky breath, Regina simply nods.

Slowly, Maleficent slides the zip down, frees the dress form Regina's shoulders, and lets the black, muddied funeral dress fall to the floor. With a shiver, Goosebumps arise on Regina's skin at the loss of the warmth from the clothes. Before further undressing her, Maleficent rubs her hands up and down Regina's arms for warmth and then continues to her back to unclasp her bra, letting it fall to the floor. Blush arises on Regina's cheek.

"None of that little dove. Nothing I haven't seen before." Maleficent grins before she softly pecks the tip of her nose and kneels to continue undressing her, bringing her tights down and helping her to step out of them . Looking up from her kneeled position on the ground, Maleficent meets Regina's eyes that are staring down at her, smiles, softly kisses her stomach right below her belly button, and lowers her underwear, tossing it with the other clothing.

After rising from her crouched position, Maleficent gently leads Regina to step into the tub and guides her into the calming , tepid water. Immediately, Regina brings her knees to her chest and rests her crossed arms upon them in an effort to comfort her self as she silently observes Mal grabbing the sponge, wetting it, and adding a good dollop of soap. Resting the side of her head on her arms, Regina leans forward as she allows Mal to scrub and rinse her back. When Mal finishes that, she has Regina lie back into the water and proceeds to soap her neck and chest, her breasts, then down to her stomach, followed by her privates, and finishes with her legs.

As Mal rinses Regina, she looks at her and mocks, "You got your hair and face all caked with mud little dove, we can't have that now can we, your majesty?" Regina smirks at her before she continues, " And don't worry, I too have come to love the expensive face and hair care products of this world. I feel younger already."

An actual half of laugh leaves Regina's lips and Mal feels like she has won already. Then she washes the mud off of her face and out of her hair before conditioning her dark locks, giving her one final rinse, and helping her to stand from the tub to wrap a warm, fluffy towel that Regina clutches to herself.

Taking her by the hand, Mal leads her to the living space and has her sit on the bed to brush out and then simply braid her hair. She goes to her drawers and returns to help Regina dress into a pair of purple plaid sleep shorts and a matching purple tank top.

Mal slinks behind her to the bathroom again and comes back with a glass of water and aspirin in hand.

"Drink this and take these or you will regret in the morning." Mal told her with a knowing smirk and raised eyebrow, not really giving Regina much of a choice.

Regina nods and as she pops the tabs into her mouth and gulps down the water, not realizing how thirsty she was,as Mal turns the bed down for her.

"come on little dove, lets get you tucked into bed." Mal said lightly padding the pillow.

Without argument, Regina crawls to the head of the bed and snuggles herself under the covers before she breaks her silence. "Why do you call me that?"

Maleficent tilts her head in confusion. "Call you what Little Dove?"

"That…after all these years, I have never asked" Regina questions.

"Birds are often a sign of freedom. Doves themselves have many symbols—love and peace just to name a few. They are portrayed as white and gentle, sweet, and loving…said to be so pure that they are the one form Satan himself can not transform into. Doves are said to represent life after a storm. But most of all, Doves are monogamous animals, said to love so deeply, they love with their whole soul. These are all things I see when I look at you."

"The last thing I am is pure Mal." Regina scoffed.

"Maybe not in the traditional sense but you endured and fought your way out of the darkness because deep down into your soul, the darkness could not reach and destroy who you really are." Mal squeezed her hand as she watched Regina bring the back of her hand to her mouth and yawn.

"Come on lets get you to bed." Mal commanded as Regina nodded with sleepy eyes as she laid her head against the pillow.

Getting up, Mal went to go get changed when she heard Regina mumble, "How am I going to get through thisMal…and not turn evil again?"

Mal turned and leaned down to place a kiss on her forehead as she said, "You aren't alone this time. You aren't playing step mother to a girl who you blamed for your Love's death. Your light is not be smothered by a selfish King who only took what he felt was his, used you a trophy to have on his arm, and was so unaware of how unhappy you were to marry him in the first place. You have your son, family, and friends to support you. That is how you are going to make it through this."

Regina squeezed her hand, "Thank you Mal."

"No need to thank me. Now Get to sleep, you are going to have one hell of a headache come morning. You drank like a fish."

Regina chuckles, "Good night, Mal."

"Good night my little dove." Mal whispered before she kissed Regina, once again, on the forehead, allowing her to only have good dreams.

Twelve hours later, a particularly throbbing headache and strong beam of sunshine that made its way through Granny's cheap blinds woke Regina up. With scrunched eyebrows, she groaned and rolled over on her other side to avoid the annoying brightness. Her reprieve would not be granted for long when Mal came in and, what seemed like to her, slammed the door shut with a granny's to go bag in her hand.

"Did you have to slam the door shut so loudly? My head feels like it's going to explode thank you very much." Regina moans while she roles on her stomach and covers her head with the pillow.

"Well whose fault was that?" Mal retorts back while crooking her head to the side and slipping her one hand not holding the bag into her trouser pockets.

Peaking from under her pillow, looking towards Mal, Regina replied matter of factly "I needed something to the numb pain."

Mal sighed and made her way over and sat down on the bed. "did it help?" She asks with a raised eyebrow?

Hiding her head underneath the pillow again, Regina mumbles a quiet "No."

Holding up the bag up towards Regina , Mal questions "Maybe this will?"

As Regina peaks again and turns to sit up on her elbows and looks towards the bag, she inquires, "What's that?"

"A little comfort food always helps. Share a double stack of Apple pancakes?" Mal wags her eyebrows at Regina.

"A dragon going after my heart through my stomach with one of my favorite foods?" Regina tries with a heavy heart.

Mal smiles gently in return as she takes her hand and squeezes. "Some thief already stole your heart and now it's broken with loss. I and everyone else who loves you can only try to mend the pieces back together."

As Regina squeezes her hand back, she tries to fane a smile back as she responds with a nod, "Then let's eat."

Without much conversation, they devour the pancakes while fighting over the sweetened apple pieces and whip cream on top when there is a knock on the door. Mal sighs and rises to answer the door, slinking over in a way only a dragon could. On the other side lies Emma Swan, who shoots past Maleficent once she sees Regina there. "Yes please come in, Swan." Mal sighs with a roll of her eyes.

Short of breath, Emma walks to stand in front of Regina. "Thank God I finally found you! I've been looking everywhere for you."

"Well you found me. Now spit it out Emma, what do you want?"

"The people from Camelot are going back to the Enchanted Forest. With the apprentice's wand, we can use the door to open a portal. You or Zelena could do it."

"Well have Zelena take care of it. I don't want to get involved nor does it really involve me to begin with." Regina breathed with a huff. As she fell back in the pillow, crossing her arms in the process.

"That's not why I am here." Emma replied back.

"Then why are you here?" Regina says curtly, clearly getting annoyed.

Emma takes a deep breath before she meets Regina eyes, not prepared for the devastated look on the Queen's face. "The Merry Men are going too and they are taking Roland with them."

AN: Don't hate me. Stick with me here, it will be worth it. There's just some darkness before the sunrise. reviews—good, bad, or in between are always appreciated. Makes me want to write quicker .