As relieved as Regina was at having found Snow, she still wanted to know where the child had gone. The young woman held Snow by the shoulders and bent forward so she was looking the little girl in the eye.

"Where did you go, Snow?" She asked sternly.

Snow looked down at her feet sadly and dug her toes into the ground. "I...I don't know." She whispered.

Regina released Snow and stood up straight, crossing her arms over her chest. "You don't know? Young lady, that's not good enough." The young woman said as she raised an eyebrow.

Snow looked back up at Regina and inwardly gulped. "I found a butterfly and...and it went into the woods-"

"A butterfly?! You went into the woods on your own because of a butterfly?!" Regina exclaimed as she paced.

"I'm sorry." Snow whimpered as tears pooled in her eyes.

"Sorry doesn't cut it, little girl. Do you know how worried we were? Anything could have happened to you. You could have been ki-" unfortunately, Regina hadn't seemed to have noticed Snow's distress whilst she went off on her rant. However, Daniel had been observing the child the whole time and the look on her face and the distraught glaze in her eyes had caught his attention. He had to stop Regina before she went too far.

"Regina! That's enough!" He yelled over his fiancé's lecture.

Regina stopped pacing and went to tell Daniel where to go, but then she saw him gesture towards Snow. She looked at the young girl closely and her face fell when she saw a tear fall down Snow's face.

"Oh, baby. Come here." She frowned when Snow limped over to her and once she was stood in front of her, Regina lifted up the skirt of Snow's dress. The young woman gasped when she saw the nasty bloody graze on the little girl's knee. She looked up at Snow and smiled. "How about we get this fixed up?" She asked softly.

"Ok." Snow complied as Regina took hold of her hand and settled her on a log by the campfire.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you. I was just so worried." Regina spoke gently as she cleaned up the blood and removed any dirt from the cut. She then rifled through one of their bags and found a clean rag to wrap the knee up with. Once Snow's injury was seen to, Regina pressed a soft kiss over the makeshift bandage and smiled. "There. All better." She announced before sitting by Snow on the log.

Regina wrapped her arm around Snow and pulled her closer to her side. "I'm sorry, Regina." Snow said again and Regina rubbed her upper arm.

"That's ok. Just don't run off again." Regina warned as Daniel came and sat down beside them.

Daniel lifted Snow briefly so he could scoot over next to Regina before he put the little girl back down on his lap. He wrapped one arm around Snow and the other around Regina.

There was a few moments of comfortable silence until Regina remembered what Snow had called her when she returned. "Snow?" She asked, looking to the little girl.

"Yes?" Snow whispered. Was Regina still mad at her?

"You called me 'Mama' when you came back with Daniel." Regina pointed out and the smile from Snow's face suddenly fell.

"I'm sorry. I won't do that again!" She insisted, pleading with her eyes. What if Regina and Daniel didn't want to be her new mama and papa? What if they decided to leave her here now? She had caused them so much trouble already. She was the reason why they were on the run from the King's knights. They probably would have been married and living a quiet life somewhere by now if they didn't need to rescue her.

"Snow, calm down, honey. It's ok." Regina quickly assured the child after she saw the panic in her eyes. "I didn't mean you can't call me 'Mama'. I would love that. I just want to make sure that you know you can call me that...whenever you're comfortable with it, of course."

"Really? You want to be my mama?" Snow's emerald eyes were wide but Regina could see the relief in them.

"I would love to be your mama. I'm...I mean, Daniel and I will be looking after you from now on. We both love you like you're our own child already. Don't we, Daniel?" She looked at Daniel who nodded and ran his fingers through Snow's hair.

"We sure do, princess." He confirmed and Snow smiled.

"Thank you!" The little girl exclaimed.

"No need to thank us, sweetie." Regina told her. She and Daniel chuckled when they heard Snow's stomach rumble, telling them she was hungry. "I think it's time for breakfast."

XXX

"Ok. This is where I will leave you." The huntsman announced as they reached a village just inside King George's Kingdom.

"Oh, Graham! Do you have to leave? Can't you stay?" Snow asked sadly.

The huntsman looked down at the child and shook his head. "I don't belong here, Snow. My home is in the forest but look, I made you this..." From behind his back, he pulled out a miniature version of his bow along with a dozen arrows.

Snow gasped as she looked over the archery set before launching herself into the man's arms. "Thank you!" She cried.

The man stiffened slightly and hesitated momentarily before patting Snow's back gently. "You're welcome, Princess." He replied just as Snow pulled away. He handed her the bow and arrow set and the child turned and showed Regina her gift.

Daniel held out his hand towards the huntsman and the two men shook hands. "Thank you for all your help." The former stable boy said.

"You're most welcome." The huntsman said with a nod. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Snow hugging his wolf friend and was aware that Regina was walking towards him.

"Will we ever see you again?" The young woman asked. This man had mostly saved her and her family's lives. She didn't know what they were going to do without him.

"Maybe. For now I think it's best we go our separate ways. You and your family will be able to blend in a lot easier without me. You should be safe as long as you stay here." He explained. He held out his hand to her and Regina promptly shook his hand.

"Well...I hope we will see you again." Daniel said, shocking both the huntsman and Regina. He wrapped his arm around his finacé's waist as they watched the huntsman mount his horse.

"Until then." The huntsman nodded before turning around and riding out of the village.

Once he was out of sight, Daniel looked between Snow and Regina and smiled. "How about we find ourselves an inn for the night? We can look for a home tomorrow." He suggested.

"That sounds like a great idea. I think I see an inn over there." Regina said as she looked over to the other side of the village square.

Daniel followed her gaze and nodded. "It looks good enough. Come on, let's see if they have any vacancies."

...

The trio stepped into the warmth of the inn and were greeted by an elderly woman who stood behind a desk. "Hello, how can I help?" She asked kindly.

"My family and I have just arrived in the village and we were wondering if you had a room?" Daniel asked as he gestured to Regina and Snow.

"You're in luck! We only have one room left. It has both a single and double bed." The lady smiled.

"That's great." Daniel said as he looked at Regina who nodded. The place seemed nice enough so far.

"Good. How long will you be staying for?" The innkeeper asked.

"As soon as we find a place of our own nearby." Regina said as Daniel handed over some money.

"Ok. Your room is just up those stairs. You turn left and then carry on until you get to the bottom of the hall. The door is on the right." The old lady instructed. "By the way, my name is Elsie Adams." She introduced herself.

"I'm Daniel and this is my wife Regina and our daughter S-" Regina nudged him in the side and he choked.

"Our daughter Mary Margaret." His fiancé intervened, wincing as she stumbled over the made up name.

Elsie looked at them suspiciously and her eyes settled on Snow before she looked between Regina and Daniel. She raised an eyebrow. "Your daughter? You don't seem no older than twenty five." She commented.

"We get that a lot." Daniel chuckled uncomfortably.

"Either way, you make a beautiful family." Elsie said and with that, she watched them go up the stairs. She frowned conspicuously once she was sure they were out of sight before yelling over her shoulder.

"Trevor! Bring me the poster those guards gave us yesterday!"

Moments later, an old man came out from one of the back rooms and handed her a piece of paper. Elsie gasped when she saw the picture of the missing princess and waved it in her husband's face. "We're going to be rich! We found the princess!" She announced.

...

"So? What do you think?" Daniel murmured as he wrapped his arms around Regina.

Regina covered Daniel's hands which were placed on her stomach whilst she scanned the room, smiling when she saw Snow trying to neatly fold one of her dresses she had manage to sneak them whilst they planned their escape from the palace. "It's...nice. I think we could actually have a life here." She nodded.

"Good." Daniel whispered as he placed a kiss to her neck.

Regina giggled and extracted herself from him before she could get distracted. "Not now, Daniel." She scolded lightly and Daniel groaned.

"Mama?"

Regina's grin widened as she turned to look at Snow. "What is it, baby?" She asked as she went over to Snow. She ran her fingers through the child's ebony locks and frowned when she realised how tangled it was.

"Can you help me? I don't know how to fold my dresses like Johanna did." Snow admitted sheepishly.

Regina smiled softly and nodded. "Of course I'll help you." She agreed before showing her how to fold the dresses so that they didn't get creased.

Daniel smiled tenderly as he watched Regina with Snow. His heart melted at the sight of them bonding. His smile fell slightly when he realised that Regina was now 'Mama' whilst he was still just 'Daniel'. Would Snow ever accept him as her father? Or had the King's actions prevented her from doing so? Once again, Daniel found himself cursing the King who was thought to be all loving by his people.

"Daniel?" Snow's sweet voice pulled Daniel out of his dark thoughts and the young man blinked.

"Yes, honey?" He raised an eyebrow knowing that the expression Snow had on her face meant that she was about to ask him something.

"Can I go out and play? I saw some children playing out in the square before. I've...I've never hand friends my own age before." The child said, looking down at her feet sadly.

Daniel looked over to his fiancé who was looking at him. They communicated through expressive eyes before Regina shrugged in a 'I don't mind unless you do' gesture. Daniel smiled and looked down at Snow who was still waiting for a response to her request.

"Of course you can, darling. Just be back before dark." He relented. That's when he realised he was going to be in trouble. How could he ever say 'no' to Snow? She already had him wrapped around her little finger! He didn't stand a chance! He inwardly groaned at the thought of what was to come in her teenage years but the dread left him when the child in question lunged forward and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Thank you, Daniel!" She exclaimed as he wrapped his arms around her in return with one hand landing on the back of her head.

"You're welcome, Snow. Now go have fun." He told her. He ruffled her hair affectionately as the little girl skipped past him.

Daniel heard Regina chuckle and he looked up only to see her walking towards him. "What's so funny?" He asked with one eyebrow quirked.

"She's already a papa's girl." Regina proclaimed with a tender smile.

Daniel smiled and shook his head. "Nope you heard her. She's a mama's girl. It's two nil to you." He pointed out and Regina frowned.

"What are you talking about?" She asked confused as Daniel pulled her into his arms.

"She's called you 'Mama' twice now. I'm still 'Daniel'." He reminded her and the young woman scoffed.

"It's not a competition, honey." Regina told him, shaking her head a little in amusement. She gasped mockingly and placed her hand against her cheek. "Are you jealous, dear?" She teased.

"Maybe a little." Daniel's voice was sheepish as he took Regina's hand into his own.

"Aww. Don't worry. I'm sure she'll be ready to call you 'Papa' any day now. The past few days have been hectic for such a little girl." Regina reasoned and Daniel sighed and nodded.

"I just wish she was actually ours." He admitted.

Regina's eyes widened. "Daniel, she is ours now." She said strongly.

"I know, Regina. I'm just afraid someone is going to come along and take her away from us. She's already got her own piece of my heart...I don't know what will happen if we ever lost her now after all this time." Daniel let out a laugh and Regina looked at him curiously, wanting an explanation. "I'm sorry, honey. It's just look at me. A month ago all I was worried about was when I would be able to kiss you next. I didn't even think about becoming a father and now here I am, fretting over whether Snow calls me 'Papa' or not." The young man rambled after catching Regina's look.

Regina smiled softly before pressing her lips against his in a passionate kiss, preventing him from talking. Once they pulled apart they were both breathless. "I love you so much right now." Regina whispered before linking her hands together behind his neck and pulling him into another kiss.

XXX

Daniel awoke a few hours later with his arms wrapped around his fiancé's waist. He sighed in contentment and brushed a piece of her dark hair out of her face so he could get a good look at her peaceful expression.

The young man smiled fondly. He loved seeing Regina so almost-carefree. He hated seeing her in distress and he was pretty sure that most of the heartache in his love's life was brought to her by her own mother.

Daniel sighed and looked around their rented room, only just realising that it was quite dark outside. He looked over to Snow's bed, thinking that maybe the child had returned whilst he and Regina were sleeping. However, he was shocked to see that the little girl's bed was empty.

The former stable boy chuckled quietly and shook his head slightly, thinking that maybe the excited child had simply lost track of time and was stills playing out in the square. He gently untangled himself from Regina and got out of the bed before padding over to the large window across the room.

Daniel opened the window fully and leaned out of it so that he got a good look out on the square and was surprised to see that it was virtually empty except for a couple passerbys now and again. His heart stopped when he remembered that Snow had promised to stay within the square.

Knowing Snow wasn't the type of child to go back on a promise, he took in a deep breath and his voice was raspy with sleep when he called over his shoulder: "Regina! Someone's taken Snow!"

AN: Hi guys! So I know it's been a while since I updated and I hope no one has forgotten or given up on this story because I can assure you that I haven't. I've had most of this chapter written for quite a while but between exams and other stuff I haven't had time to focus on any writing which is kind of sad. Fortunately, my last exam is on Friday whicj means I will have plent of time to update! (Hopefully) so...I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and please comment on what you liked/disliked and also tell me what you would like to see happen in future chapters. I've got a few ideas in my head and I know where this story is going but I just need a few filler chaptoers so that the story isn't rushed. It can be fluff, angst etc...

By the way, sorry for the long author's note.