A/N: I wanted to get this up before the new episode tonight, so this chapter is not as well proofed as I would like. I have been replacing prior chapters as I notice typos/errors that were previously missed, so, if you'd like something corrected, just let me know (review or PM), and I'll fix it. I hope you like this installment.

xxxxx

Astrid was pretty sure that she understood why the Prince was no longer Snow White's true love.

He was now someone else's.

Regina sank onto the couch and held her head in her hands. She was completely exhausted. Ever since Emma Swan had come to town in that little yellow bug of hers, she had been on a constant rollercoaster of emotion, scheming, and action.

And, somehow, Emma Swan falling through a hat and out of Storybrooke had made Regina's life more hectic. That seemed backwards, somehow.

But here she was, completely drained.

The panic that had thudded against the inside of her skull in the library last night had faded into a bone-numbing sense of dread.

It was time to face the implications of Rumpelstiltskin's process for returning to magic to Storybrooke for their retrieval operation.

And she didn't want to.

"Regina," James asked, concerned with her sudden collapse onto the sofa. "What's wrong?"

Regina allowed herself a deep sigh before pulling herself up into a more traditional seated position.

"As we discussed," she began, "since you are no longer Snow's romantic true love, you cannot perform the enchantment to call Ms. Swan and Snow home."

David nodded in understanding, waiting for the additional bad news of which Regina's body language forewarned him.

"Which means," she continued, "we need someone else that has close personal relationships with both of them to do the spell." She looked at him, waiting for him to reach the inevitable conclusion.

"Henry," he stated unhappily.

"Henry," she confirmed. "He's a blood relation to both of them, and we know that Emma truly loves him, since her kiss broke the curse. He's the only option." She knew that the prince didn't need her explanation, but she felt compelled to say the words out loud, if only to convince herself that involving Henry was necessary.

David sat down beside her. "There has to be another way," he said. Since the curse broke, he and Regina had shared a primary, common goal: to keep Henry away from magic. Neither of them wanted him subjected to the corrupting influence that accompanied such power or the risks and costs that came with wielding magic.

David's eyes lit up with excitement as he thought of an alternative. "What if I performed the spell to bring Emma back?" he asked. "And then she performed the spell to bring Snow back?"

Regina gave him a small smile for his effort. "I thought about that," she said. "It might work, but we really aren't sure how much power we are going to need to do each spell, and we don't know what unintended consequences we might cause with this magic. We would run the risk of bringing Emma back and not being able to summon the resources or deal with the magical 'price' to retrieve Snow as well."

She shook her head slowly. "The cost of performing magic isn't linear," she explained. "Performing one spell on two people is easier than performing the same spell once on two different people."

"Our best chance," she said somberly, "is for Henry to do the magic."

David suddenly stood and began to pace around the room. There had to be another way. He looked at Regina, hoping she would have another ingenious idea that would allow them to keep Henry far, far away from magic. For the first time in their history, however, the queen looked small to him.

Once upon a time, the brittle appearance of this woman would have been a source of triumph.

Now, the smallness and stillness of Regina filled him with a feeling he recognized as preceding panic.

He paced faster.

Abruptly, he stopped and stood in front of her. "We can't do it."

Regina looked up at him in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"We can't do it," David said. "We can't put Henry in danger like this. It's too risky, and it's too much pressure."

Regina was dumbfounded. Was he suggesting what she thought he was suggesting?

"What happens if Henry does the spell, and Emma and Snow don't come back?" David asked rhetorically. "He will be crushed."

"And what happens if Henry does the spell, and Emma and Snow do come back, but the force of the magic kills him?" David continued. "Or, what if everyone survives, but the magic corrupts him? What if this is the path that causes him to become the next Dark One?"

A shudder went down Regina's spine. These were the scenarios that had haunted her since she had been chained to Belle in the library.

She ran her hands through her hair and looked up at the resolute prince.

"Do you understand what you're saying?" she asked him.

David nodded with restrained emotion. "We don't do the spell," he said.

"We leave them in the Enchanted Forest," Regina said back to him.

He dropped into a seated position next to her. "We have faith that they will find a way back to us."

Regina looked at the man beside her. The man who would risk never seeing his wife or daughter again to spare his grandson possible anguish, darkness, or death.

It was her turn to pace.

Wasn't this what she wanted? To try to retrieve Ms. Swan and Emma only to be thwarted by something outside her control? To look like she was one of the "good guys," while regaining Henry's affection and attention?

And the thought of introducing Henry to magic made her physically ill. It hadn't been too long ago that she had tried to tempt him with it, but she felt light years removed from that moment. And she refused to go back. Henry did not want to be her, and she quite agreed with him.

So why, then, wasn't she agreeing with David and declaring Operation Boomerang over?

Grasping at a non-decision, she returned to her spot beside David and took his hand in hers, somewhat comforted by the familiar magical hum.

"Let's not decide this today," she said in a firm, but gentle voice. She pre-empted his protest by continuing, "My concern is that Henry will resent us making this decision for him."

She shook her head to silence his impending interruption. "If we don't tell him, someone else, probably Gold, will," she said sadly. "Something like this does not stay a secret."

"My concern," she concluded, "is that, we don't tell him, but Gold does. And Rumpel's first priority will be Rumpel, and not Henry. He could manipulate Henry into doing something more dangerous—and without our help and protection."

She looked at David, resignation in her eyes, "If Henry attempts this, I want him to attempt it with us. Not without us."

David nodded in understanding. "It's still too dangerous," he said, "but we can resume this argument tomorrow." He flashed her his Charming smile.

"Now," he said, "Onto happier topics."

"I am deeply sorry for behaving like such a complete ass yesterday," he said.

She couldn't help but let out a laugh at his choice of a "happier" topic. She had no intention of letting him off easy though.

"You should be," she said, but any anger that once would have accompanied those words had melted away—against her will—sometime during the course of the morning. His accusation still stung, but only because it served to remind her just how little she deserved his trust, given her past transgressions.

"I am," he affirmed seriously, standing. It was time to give them both some space. "Would you like to join Henry and I at Granny's for dinner later? I know you two are going to the stables tomorrow, but I think he'd like to see you sooner. He won't say so, but he'd feel better seeing that you're safe. Part of him seems worried that George's mob was really after you, and not Ruby."

"Of course," Regina said, gratified that her son cared about her safety and grateful that David was not denying them access to each other. Not that he would be able to stop her if she wanted to see Henry. No one would. But this situation was certainly more pleasant than the alternative.

"Seven 'o'clock," he said.

At her nod, he gave a brief smile and let himself out.

When the door shut, Regina flopped back onto the couch in an uncharacteristically un-lady-like manner. This whole playing-nicely-with-others strategy for redemption with Henry was taking its toll on her patience and energy. She was remembering why she had resorted to brute power in the past. In many ways, it was more efficient. Certainly quicker. Definitely the best short term strategy.

A long-term relationship with her son was the goal, however, so she would continue with the frustrating process of winning cooperation from others.

That gave her a few hours to think of the best way to convince David that, if she, Henry's mother, thought Henry should do this spell, then so should he. After all, her only interest in the matter was Henry. David was the one with a conflict of interest.

And she was pretty confident that she knew how to minimize Henry's risk during the spell.

Which begged the question: why wasn't she using a short-term strategy?

xxxxx

As usual, Regina felt worse rather than better after her session with Archie.

A few days ago when she had snapped this observation at him, he had said something about having to work through all the negativity before being able to move on.

She supposed this was one of those short-term/long-term conundrums again.

She was losing patience with them. She wanted to feel better now, not later. That's why she was doing all of these ridiculous things—like letting a cricket chirp at her for an hour at a time each day—so she could feel better now.

Time to shake these thoughts off, Regina told herself as she prepared to enter the diner. She didn't want to spoil her time with her son. Dinner with her son—that was a happier thought.

Even if David had to be there too. The Prince was a complicating factor with which she could do without. Her life was complicated enough.

Despite this rational assessment, she felt lighter as soon as David smiled at her in greeting from across the diner. She unintentionally answered his smile with one of her own and crossed the diner to the booth.

She was about to ask David where Henry was, when she noticed him talking animatedly with Jefferson and Grace at an opposite table.

At her sudden tensing, David lightly shook her hand to regain her attention. "He'll be fine."

She raised a skeptical eyebrow at his platitude.

"Really," he said. "Apparently Henry helped reunite them."

Regina wasn't sure how to respond to this piece of information but decided that it did indicate that Henry, indeed, was not in any danger. Her protective instincts appeased, she took a seat across from David.

"I know we said we'd sleep on it," David said, "But I'm confused."

Regina quirked her eyebrow in a silent question. Her brow line was working overtime with these people, but at least it saved her the trouble of speaking.

"How does a woman that thinks talking to someone in a diner is too dangerous to be permissible also think that performing highly powerful magic isn't?"

"You've oversimplified both sets of circumstances," Regina replied calmly. "I think Henry talking to a man who loathes me without my protection is dangerous, just as I would think him performing magic without my protection is dangerous."

David was once again curious about Regina's history—why would Jefferson have any more or less reason to hate her than anyone else? Like so many other questions he had regarding her past, though, he set it aside. Now was not the time.

"I never would have suggested we ask Henry about performing this spell if I didn't think I could minimize or re-allocate the risk to which he would typically be exposed," she asserted.

David was receptive, but unconvinced. "How?"

Regina scanned the crowded diner. "This is not the appropriate venue to get into details, but I'm confident that the risk to Henry will be minimal." Her gaze then turned more earnest. "The success of my idea, however, hinges on Henry's emotional stability."

"Children performing magic is particularly dangerous for one simple reason," Regina explained quickly. "Their tendency toward quick, strong shifts of mood and attention can 'confuse' their magic and create unintended consequences. In our case, the unintended consequence that we must prevent is Henry pulling himself through dimensions to Snow and Ms. Swan in the Enchanted Forest rather than bringing them back here."

David looked alarmed at this possibility. How could Regina think this was a good idea?

"Which means we need to perform additional magic to 'anchor' Henry to Storybrooke," Regina finished quickly as Henry bounded over to the table.

"Mom!" he exclaimed. He hadn't noticed her until Grace pointed her out. He had been facing the other direction at their table.

"Henry," she smiled broadly.

"We'll discuss this tomorrow," David told Regina in a mildly authoritative voice.

She just gave a brief nod, savoring the hug from her son, as Henry asked, "Discuss what?"

"How many times you fall off your horse," David teased.

Instantly excited, Henry turned to Regina from his seat next to her, "Am I really going to get to ride?"

"Maybe," Regina said. "We'll have to see how you and your horse get along first."

At Henry's disappointed look, she said, "Don't you think the horse should have some say in whether you ride him?"

"I guess so," Henry said, still a bit sulkily. Then, he suddenly brightened, "The horse will like me. I'm sure of it. I just know he'll let me ride him."

Neither David nor Regina could suppress their smiles at Henry's determination and conviction. He really was a great kid. They couldn't help but feel that maybe they had each done something right.

xxxxx

Ruby was observing the threesome with interest. She had been too distracted during Wolfstime to notice the distinct absence of antagonism between the prince and the queen. When Belle approached her the day after, though, asking if the two were together, Ruby had vehemently denied it. Charming was Snow's husband and true love. Regina had offered to help him get Snow and Emma back. End of story.

But watching them now as they shared a smile about a story Henry was telling, she had to admit that, if she hadn't known who they were, she would have thought they were a family. A happy family.

Her compulsion to meddle was strong. No one would steal her best friend's man on her watch!

But she knew all too well the dangers of interfering in matters of the heart. Snow, more than anyone, had taught her that.

Ruby sighed. She suspected her friend would need her more than ever when she returned to Storybrooke.

xxxxx

Henry was so excited. He was really enjoying his knight lessons. Ruby was a really good tracker, obviously; she was a wolf. And it was really cool learning from her since she had taught his grandmother some of the same stuff when they were hiding out in the Enchanted Forest.

And learning to swordfight from his grandfather Prince Charming was awesome, even if it was really hard work. David kept making him repeat the same basic motions over and over. It made his arms tired and his mind bored. But still. He was learning to swordfight from a real life hero! A real life hero that he was related to!

And today—finally—he was going to start learning to ride a horse! When Gramps first told him that he could take riding lessons from his mom, he was worried. His mom was really smart and sneaky. What if this was some kind of trick to take him back or keep Snow and Emma away?

But then when Ruby dropped him off earlier that week for dinner at her house and David was a toad, and she taught him how to catch him and change him back—and he saw what a mess the house was; their house was never messy at all! He knew then that she was telling the truth. She was really trying to help.

He was happy that his mom was trying to help. Maybe she didn't have to be evil. Maybe she could be good. And if they needed magic to get his mom and Snow back, then his mom was the one to help. Was it okay to call them both his mom? Because Emma was his mom, but she was also Emma; she hadn't wanted to be his mom at first. But his mom was his mom, even if he didn't always believed that she loved him. He was starting to believe what she said about not knowing how to love very well. And David seemed to think she was telling the truth about that. Though he always got really quiet when Henry asked what would make Regina not know how to love.

He was glad that he believed his mom. Because now he was at the stables, brushing his horse's coat, while she went to let the stablehand know that they were there. He didn't know why the stablehand should care, but his mom seemed to think it was important, and she was usually right about that stuff.

It was really cool to see his mom around horses. Just like with the other animals at the shelter, she seemed to really like them, and they seemed to really like her. It was too bad the other people in the town couldn't see her this way. Maybe then they would give her a second chance. Like David.

"Hi, Horse," Henry said. His mom had said that he would know the horse's name when the horse wanted him to know it. He wasn't sure how that made sense, but her horse seemed to like her, so he believed her. "Do you have anything you want to tell me?" he asked his horse. The horse could tell him its name whenever, but he thought the horse should go ahead and tell him that it was okay to go for a ride.

Then, all of a sudden, all of the horses started panicking. His threw him aside and bolted from the stall. Henry was instantly scared. Was his mother back and evil? Is that what scared the horses? Had Ruby shown up somehow in her wolf form?

Before Henry could sort through his fears, a man was standing in the doorway. He thought he and his mom and the stablehand were the only ones there that morning, and this guy didn't look like he was at work. He looked . . . off. And he was bleeding!

"Are you okay?" Henry asked. This man made him scared, but knights helped people even when they were scared. "Let me help you." As Henry held his hand out, the man panicked and shoved him down. Henry clawed at the ground and clutched some dirt and hay in his grip, ready to throw into the man's eyes, when he heard his mom call, "Henry?"

The man, who had been closing in on him, suddenly stopped and turned toward the sound of her voice.

"In here!" Henry yelled. "Be careful!"

But his mother was around the corner and at the doorway of the stall before he could tell her anything else.

She was breathing hard from running—she must have seen his bolted horse or something and gotten worried—but the color drained from her face when she saw the man.

His mother didn't look like his mother anymore. She looked frightened and hopeful. It scared him.

"Daniel?" she said as she took a step closer to the strange man. Her voice sounded weird. And how did she know his name?

Carefully, Henry stood back up, but kept the dirt in his hand.

His movement startled Daniel's attention from Regina, and he lunged at Henry again.

Regina, snapped out of her shock by the threat to her son, launched herself at her fiancé, knocking them both to the ground and leaving the doorway clear.

"Run!" she told Henry. "Now!" she ordered when he hesitated.

Scared, and knowing his mom could resort to magic, Henry ran from the stall.

But he didn't want to run too far away—what if his mother needed him after all? He ducked into the next stall and found a crack between the slats to peer through. Now he could see and hear in case his mom needed him.

And maybe she did! Maybe he shouldn't have left! The man had his mother pinned on the ground with his hands around her throat. He was strangling her! Just as he was about to run back to help, he heard her whisper, "Daniel . . . I love you . . .".

Recognition dawned on the man's face, and he loosened his hold on his mother's throat. "Regina?" he asked, confused.

Regina attempted to nod, but Daniel's hands were still closed around her throat. "Yes, Daniel, it's me."

Henry was transfixed. He couldn't make sense of the scene before him, but he was intent on absorbing every detail. He would figure it out later. Maybe his book could help.

Daniel moved his hands from his mother's throat to caress her face. "What's happened to you, my heart?"

Tears escaped his mother's eyes. "You were gone," her voice cracked. She pulled herself to a sitting position, an expression of joy and wonderment on her face. "But now you're here," she said, as she hugged him.

The man that had just been strangling her held her closely, as though she were the most precious creature in the world.

After a moment, Daniel pulled back and looked his mother in the face. "I can't stay."

Instantly distressed, Regina protested, "Daniel, no." She clutched him harder. "I can't lose you again," she said desperately.

"Yes, you can, my heart," he replied. "You have the greatest capacity to love of anyone I have ever known."

A humorless laugh escaped his mother.

"Regina, whatever has happened to me . . . I can't stay. There's something awful in me, and it's starting to win." He stood and pulled completely from her embrace. "Once it comes back, I don't think I'll be able to."

"Daniel, no," Regina protested as she reluctantly stood.

"You need to run," he told her. "And then you need to find a way to stop me. So I don't hurt anyone."

"But I love you," she said.

"And I love you," he said, moving forward to kiss her briefly. "So love again," he told her earnestly, before retreating from the stall.

When his mother followed Daniel out of the stall, Henry changed his position to peer out of his stall into the larger, more open space.

The man saw him, and his face contorted as though two beasts were fighting inside his body. Then, the struggle was over, and the man looked enraged.

The man lunged at Henry, and Henry moved back into the stall.

But the expected attack never came. Before the man's right foot left the ground, he had been frozen in place. Henry couldn't believe it. It looked like a DVD that had been paused. No person should be able to stay in that position.

Henry stood and walked toward the frozen man slowly, as his mother, completely focused on the frozen man, stood facing Daniel.

Henry watched. He was so confused and fascinated. But he felt so sad as he heard his mother, tears trailing down her cheeks, whisper "Goodbye."

Then she waved her hand slowly, and the frozen man seemed to dissolve into thin air.

If Henry hadn't been so worried for his mother, he would have thought it was really cool.

Regina stared at the now-empty space for a moment. Then a shudder went through her body.

She turned to look at Henry. Her blank eyes made him feel more worried. "Are you all right?" she asked him.

Henry nodded.

"Good," she said. Then, without warning, she sank to the floor, her hand falling to the spot where Daniel had last stood.

"Mom?" Henry asked.

But it was like his mom wasn't there anymore. Her eyes gazed, apparently unseeing, at the dirt floor where her hand rested.

"Mom!" Henry yelled at her, and he shook her shoulder.

Still, he received no response.

He kept his hand on her shoulder—maybe it would be like when David could hear Mary Margaret when he was in his coma—maybe, somehow, his mother still knew he was there.

David! Henry wanted to smack himself on the forehead. Wasn't this the exact reason his mother had given him a cell phone? Okay, so maybe a stable attack by a man-monster was not the exact reason she had given him when she gave him the phone, but this was definitely an emergency.

"Henry!" he heard his grandfather's worried voice after only one ring.

"Gramps!" Henry replied.

"Are you okay? Where are you? What's going on?"

Henry rolled his eyes. When would grown-ups realize that they needed to pause between questions if they wanted any answers?

"Gramps!" Henry interjected forcefully. Being raised by Regina had taught him how to command attention when he wanted it. "I am okay. But you need to come to the stables now." He spoke the last sentence clearly and calmly, but with an air of authority. It was the tone his mother used right before she arched her eyebrow. The eyebrow that let him know if he didn't get his backpack off the stairs, he was going to be on dish duty for a week.

"There was a man here," Henry explained. "He was fine, and then he wasn't, and Mom had to use magic to stop him. We're not injured, but something's wrong with Mom."

Now that Henry had done his job and made sure help was on the way, the shock of the day was passing and the fear was creeping in. "Something's wrong, Grandpa," he started to sniffle. "She won't talk, or move. I don't even think she knows I'm here." The tears were falling thick and fast now.

"It's all right, Henry," David said. "I'm on my way. I'm setting the phone down while I drive, but I'm going to leave it on speaker until I get there. It'll be okay."

xxxxx

David drove almost directly into the stables. He threw the truck into park and leapt from the car, so close to the building that he didn't have time to accelerate into a full run before he was already inside.

He took in the scene. Regina was sitting, slumped, on the dirt in the middle of the walkway, and Henry was curled up beside her, hugging her with his eyes tightly closed, seemingly to will her back to him.

"Henry," David called, as he trotted over to the pair. Henry's eyes snapped open in response, but he didn't move from his mother's side.

"She still hasn't moved," the boy said quietly.

David ruffled his hair, "It's going to be okay, kiddo," he said. It appeared that Henry's report on the phone was accurate. He didn't see any signs of blood, so physical injury was unlikely to be an immediate issue. From the looks of things, though, one could hardly declare that Regina was all right.

"Regina," he tried, but was unsurprised when she didn't appear to hear him. If she wasn't reacting to Henry, she was unlikely to react to anyone.

He had the sudden urge to punch Whale—again. The injured doctor had been less than forthcoming about the events that had cost him his arm, and the prince doubted that mere coincidence was responsible for the timing of the events in the stables.

"Did she know him?" David asked Henry.

"I think so," Henry said, unsure how much of his eavesdropping he should share with his grandfather. His mother must have kept the man a secret for a reason, and it seemed like not all of her reasons were evil. Maybe he should let her decide how much she wanted people to know.

"Did she kill him?" David asked.

"I think so," Henry said. "She froze him in place, and then waved her hand, and it looked like he disintegrated or something."

David nodded grimly in understanding. Whale had been going on and on about the Queen owing him a favor, but it appeared the doctor's plan had misfired in a terrible fashion.

David sighed. If his hypothesized reconstruction of the day's events was correct, then it might be kinder to allow Regina to remain catatonic for a bit. The return to reality was going to be harsh.

He rubbed his hand over his face. Unfortunately, Henry was pretty freaked out, and plenty of the townspeople were still out for Regina's head. Sooner or later the stablehand was going to find the last of the bolted horses and bring them back in here. It wouldn't do for him to see the Evil Queen so vulnerable. It might encourage people to exploit the opportunity, especially with Snow and Emma gone.

Reluctantly, he stood near Regina's hand and squatted in front of her. "Regina," he whispered. "Henry and I need you to come back now."

No response.

He placed two fingers under her chin to align her unfocused eyes with his.

At the spark of magic that ignited with his touch, however, she flinched and jerked back into reality.

"David?" she asked, confused. Feeling something squeeze around her waist, she looked down, "Henry?"

She kissed the top of his head, bewildered at why her son was so upset and the prince was looking her over with such an assessing, concerned gaze.

"It's all right," she assured Henry, as she struggled to a standing position. Why were her legs so stiff?

"Henry," David said. "Why don't you go out to the truck and make room for you and your mom? We'll come back for her car later."

Henry was looking worriedly at his mother, but he nodded. David would help.

After the barn door shut behind Henry, Regina asked, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

David wasn't sure what to do. First, she had gone catatonic, and now her brain had performed some kind of post-traumatic selective amnesia on her. Once again, he wondered if that wasn't for the best.

Well-adjusted people did not cast dark curses on entire populations of people. And Regina had seemed to be doing well lately, working to redeem herself for Henry. He didn't want today's events to undo all of her progress.

He didn't want Whale's foolishness to cause the return of The Evil Queen.

He didn't want that for Henry. He didn't want that for the people of Storybrooke. And he didn't want that for Regina. She deserved better.

Having nearly crashed his car when his memories returned, however, he didn't want hers to re-emerge at an inopportune time. Maybe, with Henry just outside, this was as good a time as any to try to jog her memory. And maybe he could talk her into accepting some support from him or from Archie.

David cautiously took a step into her personal bubble. "How did riding with Henry go?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" she asked, her voice tinged with confusion and the beginnings of irritation. Why wasn't he answering her question? "We haven't gone yet," she said. "We only just got here."

"Look at your watch," David instructed.

Fully irritated at being ordered around like a child, Regina let out a huff of frustration, but humored him nonetheless. "This can't be right," she looked at David, her irritation replaced with worry at the time displayed.

"Tell me what happened," Regina demanded. "How did I lose an hour of my life?"

At her aggressive stance, David became worried that his concern over the re-emergence of the Evil Queen was not misplaced.

Charming, however, was a man of decisive action. He strode forward and pulled a shocked Regina into a sudden, fierce hug, the magic between them humming once more.

Holding her firmly, even as she was stiff and tense in his arms, he whispered in her ear, "Allow yourself to remember, Regina." He could feel her shock fading from her stance as he continued, "And, when you do, please remember that Henry loves you. Remember that Henry loves you and needs you to be his mother, and not the Evil Queen."

"Don't leave us," he pleaded.

Regina's eyes were squeezed shut, and her arms moved upwards to return the prince's hug without her brain's conscious permission.

This caring embrace. The stables. This was all too familiar. It reminded her too much of Daniel.

Daniel.

Oh god.

The floodgates opened, and Regina began sobbing uncontrollably in David's arms, sinking to the floor once again. Only this time, she wasn't alone. David sank to the floor with her, not releasing her.

He had no comforting words to offer—no platitudes. He just held her tightly to his chest and rocked her as she cried through what he suspected was decades and decades of pain.

xxxxx

A/N: I hope I did Daniel justice, and I hope Henry's POV worked for y'all. I'd love to know what you think, and I'm already working on chapter 15, though it might take a few days for me to get it finished. Hopefully this isn't too brutal of a cliffhanger for you.