Chapter 11 everyone *clapsherhands*. I hope you're still as excited as I am about where the story is leading our two ladies. I have to admit, I just write down what comes to my mind when I'm already in the process of writing. Lol. I do love ideas and recommendations from you guys though. So if you want anything included - tell me and if I like the idea I just might.

A big shoutout to jupitersthunder. This is your chapter - thanks for your kind review. I hope you and everyone else enjoys this.

-np

Regina had eventually fallen into a restless sleep, tossing and turning on the small cot and waking up with a cry on her lips every so often.

It was well into the night, when Snow White quietly entered the cell that held her sleeping stepmother, the smell of sex still clinging to her.

She didn't know why she was here or even how she got there. It was her wedding night and she should be next to her husband - shouldn't she? It had felt like her feet and legs had developed a life and will of their own. She'd carefully climbed out of the bed she shared with Charming and tiptoed out of the room so as not to wake the peacefully snoring man. How could he sleep like a baby when her heart and mind were in turmoil next to him? Didn't he... 'feel' it? But then he hadn't felt anything amiss earlier when he'd grunted and had come inside of her.

She slowly took a few more steps towards the cot and sunk down on the floor next to it, watching Regina sleep.

Opposite to David, her face was contorted into a pained grimace and she was moving so much that Snow feared she'd fall off the bed. Watching Regina, she felt like the chaos inside of her was mirrored on the sleeping woman.

She considered waking her for a moment but then shook her head to herself. It wouldn't do Regina nor herself any good if she woke her up.

But suddenly the woman gasped and sat up, her breathing hard and rushed and her body sweaty.

"Snow," she quietly whispered into the room, her voice full of despair and longing.

Snow found it odd as she was a hundred percent sure that the older woman hadn't detected her yet. Why would she call out for her? Why would she do it with such emotion in her voice?

"Snow?" She heard it again, but this time it was a question and she sensed the woman's gaze on her.

"I'm here," she whispered. It would've felt wrong to speak loudly into the emotionally laden silence.

Regina looked at Snow in the dim torch light of the dungeons. The young woman seemed conflicted, she could see it in her eyes and posture.

Snow sat on the floor of her cell, barefoot and only wearing a thin white nightdress.

"You will catch your death," she stated worriedly. Then she drew back her legs and patted the now free space on the cot.

"Join me?" she quietly asked.

Regina didn't think she actually would but Snow surprised her and scrambled off the floor, hesitantly taking a seat on the hard cot. She hadn't looked at Regina once since she'd woken up.

"What am I doing here?" the young woman asked into the silence, finally letting her gaze shift to Regina. "What. Am. I. Doing. Here?" Snow repeated, emphasizing every word.

Regina could see that something was troubling her, that her feelings were battling inside of her. There wasn't a notion yet as to whom would emerge as the victor of the battle.

"I don't know," Regina replied after a few seconds had ticked by. "But I'm glad you're here. Somehow we always seem to be drawn back together. Just like two magnets."

Snow didn't question as to why she was glad about her presence. She had a feeling the answer was complicated and difficult to understand. It was something to be thought about at another time.

"I… umm ... I don't know what to say," Snow looked into Regina's dark eyes, not finding the usual contempt that was reserved for her alone. All she found was... love? She rubbed her eyes. It was the middle of the night and she was tired. She must've misread the other woman's expression. It couldn't be.

"Then don't say anything," Regina gave her a small smile. "We can just stay silent together."

And they did.

Until Regina saw that Snow was shivering. She was freezing as well but she didn't really care at the moment. All she ever cared about was her. Her family.

"You're freezing," Regina stated, disrupting their companionable silence. Snow turned her head to look at Regina. The woman had shrugged off her beige riding jacket and was holding it out for her. "Take it," she prompted her, already feeling the intensified chill on her own arms.

Snow stared at the jacket for several moments before she carefully took it and slipped her arms into it.

"You should still go," Regina then said, watching Snow snuggle into her riding blazer. She gestured at the woman's bare feet and legs. "It is too cold down here and you are not dressed for the occasion," she quietly joked. "I wouldn't mind undressing and giving you all of my clothes but I preferred it if this happened in... different circumstances."

Snow blushed at Regina's words but also recognized the truth in them. It WAS too cold for her to be walking around barely dressed as she was.

So she got up from the cot and looked a last time at the older woman before leaving the dungeons.

Back in her bed, she whispered a quiet "Good night Regina" into the darkness before finally succumbing to sleep.

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When Regina woke the next time, the guards were just handing out breakfast to the prisoners. She tried to get up but felt her bones ache and her surroundings blur before her eyes so she let herself fall back onto the cot. Her throat and head hurt like hell and seconds later she was shaken by a terrible coughing fit. It was so cold. Even after Snow had left, she'd woken many times drenched in cold sweat, shivering and freezing to the bone. She'd curled up into a tight ball but it hadn't really helped at keeping the cold out. Another coughing fit hit her and she fell from the cot, landing hard on her head. Then... Nothing.

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"Your majesty." A young guard, barely 20, ran up to her during breakfast. "The other guards sent me. The Evil Queen has fallen very sick and they want to know if they should just let her die?"

"Let her die?" Snow jumped up from her chair, knocking over her glass of juice in the process. 'How could they even consider?' "What barbarians are you?" she asked with disbelief. She threw her napkin on the table, ready to rush off, when a hand firmly wrapped around her wrist.

"Sweetheart," David said, looking into his wife's eyes, trying to make her understand. "You have to admit the idea has some merit. The last time we captured her, you were too weak to let the executioner do his work and she escaped and continued to terrorize us. Just let her die and we will finally be rid of her. It will be a natural cause and..."

"Stop it right now!" Snow bit out, fury whirling in her eyes, shocked at her husband's words. "We will not let her die. This is my last word."

Then she turned to the young guard. "Take Regina to the guest room next to the royal chambers and find the court physician."

Then she rushed out of the room, banging the doors behind her.

She was already waiting in the guest room, when two guards carried the stretcher with the passed out woman inside and quickly laid her on the bed.

Snow excused them and walked up to the still form of her stepmother. She pulled the blanket out from under her and carefully tucked her in, pushing the sides of the blanket under her body. The woman was deathly pale and drops of sweat were on her forehead. Snow pulled a tissue out of her dress and gently wiped over Regina's face. Then she hesitantly took a cold limp hand into her own and waited for the doctor to arrive. There really wasn't anything else she could do.

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The doctor looked at his queen with a frown on his face. He'd listened to the woman's lungs, her heartbeat, measured her fever and had checked her pulse and throat.

"There is not much we can do but wait," he said to Queen Snow. "It is not the willow fever which is good and bad at the same time. Bad because with willow fever we would at least know how to treat her. The thing is, this isn't just a common fluenza either."

"There has to be something we can do for her," the young queen said desperately and the doctor raised his eyebrows at her exclamation. Did the queen still care about her stepmother? It seemed obvious that she did.

"Keep her warm and dry," he advised, taking another look at his patient. "If she wakes, try to make her drink as much water as you can and also some nettle tea. It'll help clear the mucus in her throat and lungs. Other than that you can do nothing but wait and pray for a wonder. It does not look good."

Snow nodded at the man and thanked him for the examination. Then she excused him and sat down on a chair next to the bed.

Why did she even care so much if Regina survived? Why did she feel like her heart was about to break when she considered the possibility of her death?

"Snow?" Charming entered the room without knocking and approached his wife who was sitting on a chair next to the bed, wiping the sweat of the sick Evil Queen's face. She didn't look at him but he went on nonetheless. "Come to bed, sweetheart. I am your husband now and I would like to make love to my beautiful wife," he said in the hope of sounding charming. "You've played nurse enough for the evil bitch," he added angrily when he didn't get any reaction. "Snow!"

His wife finally turned her head and raised her gaze to meet his. Her eyes were red rimmed and she looked exhausted.

"Even when she's dying she manages to hurt you," he spat out, glaring at the unconscious woman on the bed.

"David," Snow managed to get out between gritted teeth. "I will not leave this room until her condition changes for the better or… she... she dies..." she choked out with pain. "Now if you don't understand that, you are welcome to leave."

David just stared at his wife, his hands twitching with anger; then he stormed out of the room before he did something he would regret. The witch would probably die during the night and he'd have his wife back.

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"Snow?" Belle walked up to the other woman and sat down next to her, ordering a latte from Ruby. Snow seemed to be lost in thought, so Belle gently touched her shoulder. "Hey, are you alright?" she asked when the green eyes finally landed on her.

The woman looked even paler than usual and she could see that she was exhausted.

"I… I'm fine," Snow took a sip of her hot chocolate before she looked at Belle again. "Actually... I really am not," she quietly admitted to her wife's best friend.

Belle nodded in understanding. "I miss her too," she said sadly.

"I had a weird dream last night and I'm starting to think it wasn't a dream at all," Snow's eyes were clouded with worry. "I mean… Gold said something about memories that could possibly start appearing once Regina and my old self meet. And that they would probably come to me in my dreams."

"What did you dream?" Belle wanted to know. It couldn't have been good by the look in the other woman's eyes.

"We met at the willow and I took her back to the palace as my prisoner; let them throw her into the dungeons," Snow guiltily began to retell what had happened. "I was married to David the next day and Regina fell very sick that night. The last thing I remember is sitting at her bedside and waiting for her to wake up." She paused and averted her gaze. "I… she didn't look good. The doctor said she probably wouldn't survive the night..."

"Snow," Belle waited until the other woman finally looked at her once more. Her eyes were teary and full of fear. "This is Regina we're talking about. She will not just succumb to a nasty cold and a fever."

She tried to make her voice sound hopeful and carefree but she couldn't really hide the fact that she was afraid as well.

'Come on, Regina,' Belle thought to herself as she quietly took Snow into her arms. 'You have so much to live for. Fight. And then come back to us. '