The Charmed Life

Summary: An arrow wielding assailant is discovered living in the Storybrooke Library. David tries to help and is met with another "friend" of his brother James as she tries to kill him. The bigger surprise is, when he meets her son. Characters David/Prince Charming, Jacqueline/Jack/Robin Hood, Emma Swan, Mary Margaret/Snow White

Ch 3

-Sherwood Forest-

The heavily decorated carriage moved along the road getting closer by the minute. Her men were unsure about attacking the King's carriage, and maybe her boldness would cost her, however he had always been her target. Stealing directly from King Richard was a bigger insult than anything they had done so far.

The carriage neared the fallen tree; the horses whinnied as the carriage slowed to a stop. The two drivers and the Kings men that were riding in another carriage behind them disembarked and went to investigate. One of them told the King to stay inside and drew out his sword, the others followed suit and surveyed the forest.

Robin Hood and the merry men grinned from the trees, they all drew their bows back, counted to three and fired their warning shots. The arrows landed in front of the feet of all armed men. The knights jumped back from almost having their feet impaled, taking advantage of their momentary shock Robin Hood and her Merry Men swung down from the trees kicking their feet into their chests.

The knights recovered and the fight began, it was metal clashing against wood. What the knights did not know was the bows with Robin's men were made from enchanted wood and were unbreakable. Her men fought against the onslaught of knights, hopping away from their swings with wide grins and then slamming their bows into their faces. The men that had been waiting in the forest walked out and went to the carriage to steal whatever gold or jewels the King brought with him on this journey.

Robin swung her bow upwards striking the knight underneath his chin, his head snapped backwards and she kicked her foot into his chest and he hit the ground with a loud thud. She turned and brought her bow into the gut of the knight that was charging at her and kicked him the back and pushed him to the ground. She was grinning as well.

The King exited the carriage demanding a sword. Never denying the King anything, his knights obliged. Robin laughed as the rotund King almost tripped over his clock trying to wield his sword. He had once been a great warrior, a legend among men. He had usurped the former King and took the throne. But now he was nothing but an overweight glutton.

Robin would not miss this chance to battle the great warrior King. She stepped in front of him and let him take a few swings; they were low and slow, so she just danced around him. She was disappointed; this man would've once been a worthy opponent, now he was just pathetic. So when the King raised his sword high above his head sluggishly in a move Robin could only assume was meant to be a killing blow. But at the speed he was moving anyone could've killed him three times already. She swung her arm back then forward and hit him right in the stomach with the tip of her bow. He dropped the sword behind him as he grunted and fell to his knees. She shook her head and looked at him as he struggled to breathe.

She had met many royals in many different lands in her travels and they were all the same, power hungry, greedy cowards that cared of nothing but themselves. His kingdom was starving and he was continuing to raise the taxes so he could stuff his fat face even more. So she decided she would take from this gluttonous King and his wealthy congregation and give it to the people that needed it more.

The ground began to rumble, they looked up and saw a dust storm approaching and heard the clapping of many hoofs. Robin swore under her breath, they were prepared for an attack, he had more men waiting. Now it was the Kings men that were smiling.

Then they heard a high pitched scream. Robin turned to look and saw that one of her men coincidentally named Jack, had taken a woman that was struggling to fight back against him. The Princess! Robin's eyes widened in shock, she had not thought the King would bring his daughter down such a dangerous road. He never did before. Her plan was falling apart at its seams and she didn't want this. She breathed out quickly she couldn't afford to look like she had lost control of her men, so she kept her face hidden underneath her hood and stood her ground.

The army of knights was getting closer and she could see they were even more than she had guessed. She knew when it was time to fight and when it was time to fly. They had got what they came for and they had no choice but to take the Princess with them. Robin stuck her index finger and thumb in her mouth and whistled loudly. Bo came bounding out of forest as he ran past she hopped on his back and rode away with her men following.

The men in the back turned just as the army was nearing the carriage. They stopped and turned their horses to face them and took out an arrow, rubbed against the slate in their other hand igniting the tip, they readied the arrow, pulled back and let the arrows fly.

When the arrows struck the fallen tree a wall of flames erupted from the oil they had soaked the tree in earlier. The knights were stuck behind it. Her men continued the ride cheering and yelling.

She woke to the smell and sounds of meat cooking, she opened her eyes lazily not remembering where she was. The back of her head hurt for some reason. She looked down to see she was some kind of ratty blanket. She looked around and saw trees, lots and lots of trees she was in the forest, she had never slept outside before. She slowly sat up and rubbed her eyes. When she could focus she saw a fire with a pheasant roasting on a spit. She was starving forgetting the last time she ate something. A woman with reddish brown hair walked out of the forest and to the fire she threw more logs down and used a stick to make the flames lick the roasting bird to char it.

Everything was gradually coming back to her. She was with her father in the carriage they were going to meet one of her suitors then the carriage suddenly stopped and they were attacked by Robin Hood and his merry men, she supposed they got that name because they were always smiling. One of them grabbed her and she tried to free herself but he was too strong.

She focused on the woman again; she was dressed in green breeches and green leather bodice. The woman turned to look at her and that's when she noticed the green hood.

"You're a woman!" the Princess proclaimed incredulously.

Robin Hood turned to face her. "That I am" she told her as she ripped a leg off the bird, put it on a plate and walked over to the Princess and handed it to her.

"They think you are a man" she said taking the plate, eyeing her cautiously. She had seen her fight, she fought like a man.

"What they think does not concern me. Princess Marion" Robin Hood replied and went back to the fire to get her food.

-Storybrooke-

David tried to comfort his wife when they arrived back at the hospital. Earlier he had to stop Tiny from doing anything to Jack. He told him that Jack was dying and Dr. Whale didn't think he could do anything to save her. Then he pointed to Will telling him that little boy was her son and all he knows is that he is losing her mother. Tiny looked at Will then nodded his head in understanding. He told him to keep watch on the beanstalk and make sure Cora and Regina didn't find it.

Now they were back here again. He placed his hand on his wife's shoulder. He wasn't going to bring up her saying she wanted to kill Cora because he was hoping she only said that out of anger and mourning. She was trying to save her friend no one would fault her for that. However she was right in saying that Cora's much worse than Regina.

"Cora and Regina have the dagger" Grumpy said gruffly. David shut the door of Jack's or Robin's or whatever her name was room, they had gathered here with the dwarfs to discuss what they planned on doing. The curse was broken, they knew who they were but it seemed as if their problems were far greater now.

"They needed to be stopped" he told them but he didn't know how. He also didn't know how to tell Emma that they lost the dagger and they'd have to deal with the wrath of the Dark One on top of wondering what Cora and Regina planned on having him do to them.

"And how do you propose we do that?" Grumpy asked irritably. "They have the dagger; they have control of the Dark One. And we have…let me think about it for a moment…that's right, nothing"

Snow opened the door slamming it closed from the outside. David glared at Grumpy and followed his wife. "Snow!" He called out to her retreating back. She stopped and he ran up to her. "No one blames you" he told her softly.

"It is my fault" Snow White told her husband. "Even Johana told me not to let them have the dagger…but I couldn't let them hurt her. I couldn't risk her life for maybe saving the lives of others" she said as the tears welled up in her eyes again. "And in the end it didn't even matter" She said as she fell into her husband's arms.

"Mom?" they heard from behind them. Snow pulled away from David and turned around to see Henry standing there with Emma and a man she didn't recognize holding up an unconscious Rumpelstiltskin between them.

"Emma?" she asked worriedly as she looked at her daughter covered in blood.

"It's not mine" Emma made sure to point out seeing the concern in her mother's eyes. "Hook had poison on his…hook" she told them as she and Neal dragged him to an empty room and Neal lifted him onto the bed.

"Poison, again. That seems to be the weapon of choice" Grumpy said joining them.

"What? Who else is poisoned?" Emma asked watching Neal wipe his father's forehead with a damp cloth then turned to her parents and Grumpy. Happy went to go find Dr. Frankenstein.

"Robin Hood" Grumpy answered.

"Robin Hood? Robin Hood is here too!" Henry said excitedly.

"Yep, she also happens to be Jack the Giant Killer" Grumpy told him stoically.

"Robin Hood's a woman?" Emma asked somewhat surprised. "Who knew fairy tale writers were misogynists" She said mostly to herself. "So someone poisoned Robin Hood too? Was it Hook?"

"I don't know. All we found out was she stowed away on Hook's ship from our world. Then she didn't get to say much else before she went into a coma" David told his daughter.

Viktor entered the room and took one look at his new patient, turned around and left the room. "Hey!" Emma shouted after him. "Where are you going?"

"You expect me to help that…thing?" Viktor asked her. Emma looked at him than at Rumpelstiltskin. "I've made monster's before, but that is pure evil and if it's going to die I think we'd be better off if we let it" He told them.

"He's my father" Neal said angrily from Rumpelstiltskin's bedside.

Viktor looked at the scruffy man. "Then I am terribly sorry about that" he told him and started to walk away again. David stepped in front of him blocking his path. "You can't order me to do anything; I told you once before you are not my Prince"

"You're a doctor, you took a vow to help people" David told him.

"Keyword being people" Viktor sneered at him. Then the entire Charming family stood in front of him and stared at him. "Really?" he asked them. "If this is the way you are, you must be incredibly lucky to still be alive" he then turned and walked over to Rumpelstiltskin.

He watched as they all left the room and closed the door. He heard them talking so he knew they were just outside the door and would stop him if he tried to leave. He supposed he could go through the window, but he did have other patients here he was trying to help.

Emma noticed as Neal looked back at the door as it shut. "Don't worry, he's in good hands with Dr. Frankenstein" she told him with a small smile.

"Wait? What? That's Dr. Frankenstein?" Neal asked in distress.

"Well he's the only Dr. I know that has experience working on monsters" Emma said then remembering who Rumpelstiltskin was to him. "Sorry…I…"

"Its fine, that thing in there is not my father. The darkness took hold of him and changed him" Neal said with a sigh. Emma breathed out unsure of what she should do. She wanted to comfort him but she was still angry at him and confused about her feelings for him and he had a fiancé. So she sighed along with him then turned to see her parents staring at her.

"Right!" She said. "This is Neal…or Baelfire?" she said looking at him.

"Neal" he said holding out his hand to them. David looked at his hand, then back at his face. Finally he gripped his hand and shook it tightly and locked his eyes on to his.

Emma looked from Neal to her parents. "So Robin Hood was poisoned?" She asked to break the awkwardness and talk about something other than her and Neal.

"Sorry" Red said. "He wants to see his mother and I don't know what to do" She told them as she walked up to them with Will holding on to her hand.

Snow nodded. "Of course" she said smiling down at the boy. "I'm sure it will cheer your mother up knowing you are there by her side" Snow then looked at David. This was his nephew so it was his call.

David smiled at the boy and held out his hand. "It couldn't hurt" he said to Snow and walked inside Robin's room.

"Robin Hood has a son?" Henry asked, happy to see someone else that was his age.

"He's also your cousin" Snow told them rubbing the back of her neck with her hand.

"Cousin?" Emma asked to make sure she heard correctly.

"Yes, Will is your father's twin brother's son" Snow said smiling slightly at how messed up their family was.

"My father has a twin brother?" Emma asked.

"Had" Snow told her. "He died in a battle a long time ago" there was much more to that story, like David taking his brother's place as King. But those were stories for another day.

"Are we related to every fairy tale character?" Emma asked. First she didn't have any family and now she had more than she could handle.

"Seems that way" Snow replied with a shrug.

-Sherwood Forest-

Marion looked around. "Where are your men?" she asked noticing for the first time that it was just the two of them.

"I sent them home to enjoy their riches" Robin replied ripping off a piece of meat with her teeth.

"What are you going do with me?" Marion asked coming to the conclusion that she would not be getting any utensils to eat her food with. She was starving, so she would have to eat like a barbarian if she intended to eat.

"I'm taking you home" Robin replied. She told her men that they could not have the maiden, that's not what they did. They took from the rich and gave to the poor and the poor had no need for a princess.

"That's it; you are just going to take me home?" Marion asked surprised. "My father will surely pay a heavy ransom for my safe return"

Robin studied the Princess, surprised how well she was handling herself. She had heard she was like any other spoiled royal, but she sat there like she was trying to show there was more to her even when she as trying to daintily eat pheasant with her teeth. "I like to take things not be given them." Robin told her. "And prisoners are more trouble than they are worth"

"How so?" Marion asked.

"You don't have to feed gold coins" Robin replied with a smirk.

Marion nodded her head and chews her food. She was still coming to terms that Robin Hood was a woman, a beautiful woman with blue-green eyes, flawless pale skin and hair the color of copper. Her father had always told her a woman's place was in the castle in pretty dresses not outside fighting was, that was for the men. Robin Hood didn't seem to follow that rule; she was out here leading men. Marion looked up startled as the ground shook beneath her and the largest man she had ever seen came rushing through the forest on his beast of a horse.

"Little John, what is it?" Robin Hood asked bounding to her feet. She had no need to hide her face from him, he was her most trusted confidant.

"Little John!" Marion exclaimed in surprise, there was nothing little about that man. He looked more bear than man.

"It's the church, Robin" he began saying trying to catch his breath. "They're ransacking the church"

Marion saw Robin stumble backwards with fear in her eyes; her horse somehow sensing he was needed ran to her side. She threw herself on his back and rode off into the woods.

Tbc…