A/N: Another chapter that is light on plot but heavy on groundwork. I hope you like it anyway. I promise we're only a montage and a couple chapters away from a thickening plot. I hope y'all will stick with me! To move things along, I'm considering moving some interactions "off-screen," so to speak (like Henry's knight lessons), so if there is a particular scene that you would like to read, let me know, and I'll be sure to include it. Okay, on to the chapter! As always, reviews are appreciated!

Before David could even make it to his car, he was accosted by a middle-aged woman carrying groceries. "King Charming!", she called to him, quickly approaching.

David reluctantly turned to greet the woman, though his patience was wearing thin. It seemed he couldn't go anywhere anymore without some member of the town demanding he sort out one problem or another. He suspected the only reason he hadn't been bothered sooner was because people were still scared of Regina. He couldn't help a small smirk at that thought. Maybe working with her would have other benefits beyond his quest to retrieve Snow and Emma.

"King Charming," the woman continued, having set her groceries on the hood of his car. 'Nice,' he thought sarcastically. "This is just completely unfair. You simply cannot allow it."

David regarded her blankly, but not unkindly. "Allow what?"

"Well, allow that man to take away my Caroline, of course!" She said.

The situation was beginning to appear in his memory. That's right. This woman was a Ms. Charlotte Jones, and Caroline's Fairy Tale identity was Wendy from the Neverland stories. The curse had separated her from her brothers, John and Michael—James and Anthony here—who lived with a Mr. Alan Martin. Both Charlotte and Alan were loving parents (interestingly, the curse seemed to make sure that children were taken care of), which was prompting quite the custody battle now that the siblings remembered each other and wanted to be reunited.

"I apologize, Ms. Jones," David placated her. "I remember now. Have you filed a petition with the sheriff's office?"

"I have, indeed!" she responded indignantly. "And I have yet to hear back!"

"Once again, I am sorry," David told her. "As you can imagine, there is a lot to sort through now that things are . . . different. I am working as fast as I can. In the meantime, if you and Mr. Martin can come to some kind of visitation agreement to allow the children to see more of each other, I'm sure Caroline would really appreciate that." Okay, he was playing a little dirty, using her love for her daughter to slap a band-aide on the situation, but, if there was something he had already learned from Regina, it was not to underestimate maternal love.

"Fine," Ms. Jones begrudgingly replied. "But I'm not letting him take her," she stated firmly before picking up her groceries and heading on her way.

David sent up a desperate plea to any deity that might be listening for patience and strength of character before diving into his car and throwing it into gear. It seemed saner to just avoid the rest of the townspeople for a while rather than depending on patience he may or may not have.

He knew he should head to the sheriff's office and attempt to make sense out of some of the petitions that were slowly but surely filling covering every available surface, but he didn't want to run the risk of having to moderate disputes between disgruntled townspeople that had taken to stalking his office.

On autopilot, he headed to the animal shelter. Between the chaos that followed the curse breaking and the additional demands on his time with his new roles as Henry's guardian and Acting Sheriff of Storybrooke, he was struggling to make time to take care of his animals. Now seemed as good a time as any to check in on them. Besides, spending time with them always restored his spirits.

xxxxx

Refreshed from a few hours taking care of his animals (he couldn't help thinking of them as his, despite his lack of technical ownership), David waited outside the school, contemplating how much of his conversation with Regina to share with Henry.

"David!" Henry called as he ran up to the truck. He had tried calling him 'Grandpa' once, but it was still too weird for the both of them.

"Hey, buddy! How was school?" David ruffled Henry's hair affectionately while he scrambled into the truck.

"Good! The other kids are talking to me more now that I'm living with you instead of her," Henry explained happily.

David hadn't exactly forgiven Regina for all of her sins to his family during her reign as Evil Queen, but he was still relieved that she wasn't in the car to hear this. He feared that he had underestimated how easy it would be to convince Henry that his mom had joined the good guys; his use of a pronoun rather than 'Mom' or even her name could hardly be considered a good sign.

"That's good, Henry. I'm glad you're making friends," David said. "But, hey, try to remember that your mom does love you—whatever mistakes she has made in the past." This was for Henry, David told himself. Whether Henry realized it or not, a good relationship with his adoptive mother was important to him. This had nothing to do with feeling sorry for Regina or wanting to help her. Nothing. This was about Henry. Really.

Henry's exuberance was subdued by David's comment. "She told me. But she's The Evil Queen. She lies."

"Not about this," David said. "And everyone lies, Henry. Not just evil queens. And everyone is more complex than any label you can attach to them." He sensed that he was rapidly entering philosophical ground beyond the scope of a ten year old's interest. "What I'm trying to say is that you should believe your mother when she says she loves you. And, when you're ready, you should try to see her as more than The Evil Queen. Things are rarely that simple."

"But they are that simple in my book," Henry defended his beliefs. "You and Snow White are the good guys, and you belong together because you found true love, and it is wrong to separate true love. Mom kept trying to split you guys up. That makes her the bad guy. Nothing can make up for what she has done to you. To everyone in this town."

David was once again grateful that Regina was not in the car. If this kept up, he was going to be forced to acknowledge that he cared about her feelings. He considered how to weaken Henry's certainty before the boy entrenched further in his Evil Queen stance on his mother. "Henry, why do you think your mom tried to split up Snow and me?"

"Umm, because she was jealous that Snow was prettier than her," Henry summarized the story from his book.

"Henry, is Snow prettier than your mom?"

"Umm, I guess so." Henry's certainty was wavering. Good.

"Would you think so if you hadn't read it in your book?"

"Umm, yes?"

"Henry, Snow and your mother are both beautiful women. Trying to decide which is more beautiful is almost absurd. It's almost just a matter of taste." David might be married to Snow, but he'd have to be blind not to notice that Regina was gorgeous, evil or not. "And do you really think your mother is so ridiculous and petty that she would curse us all because she wanted to win some sort of beauty pageant?"

Henry chewed his lip thoughtfully, so David concluded his argument with an undeniable piece of logic. "Besides, if she really just wanted to be prettier than Snow, why didn't she just curse her with boils or some kind of skin disease? We know she is a really powerful sorceress; surely she had spells at her disposal that could ensure she was the more beautiful of the two of them, if that was truly what she cared about."

"So why did she do it them?" Henry demanded, accepting, but unwilling to admit, defeat.

"I don't know, Henry. I don't know."

xxxxx

A/N: Thanks for reading, and please let me know if you have any requests!