Thank you all for the lovely reviews. It's so good to know you're still reading! Sorry again for the wait on this. My new job leaves me little time during the week to be creative, but I'll try to always update on the weekend xoxo
"Careful," David said when they entered the tomb, putting a hand under Regina's elbow when she approached the stairs down to her vault. She tensed under his touch, her dark eyes shifting up at him in an annoyed manner.
It was late morning, and even though she looked tired, she'd insisted they get a decent start on the day. The night before had been awkward when Emma dropped them off at Regina's, both of them unsure how to act. David slept in the guest room, walking on eggshells around the brunette who seemed to prickle at any interaction. Neal had stayed with Emma and Killian since it had been so late, which was probably for the best given how tense it was in the Mills household.
"I'm pregnant David, not stupid," She sniped, tugging her elbow from his hand before stomping down the stone stairs in front of him. He followed, keeping an eye on her steps. He didn't know why any pregnant woman would still insist on wearing heels as high as hers.
"Excuse me," David gritted with an eye roll, glancing back out at the cemetery through the tomb door before descending the stairs behind her. "Your mothers things are down here?" He questioned with a skeptic tone. Regina was a little odd, yes, but keeping a shrine to her mother in the basement of a vault? Strange.
"Must you always ask stupid questions?" She huffed, making her way over the dark antique rug that laid over the floor of her vault. It was decorated rather nicely, vintage items, old books and spell ingredients adorning every surface and shelf. David got the feeling there was many layers to Regina that he didn't know just from the feel of the room.
"What's this?" David walked around, picking up a bottle with a strange looking liquid inside.
"Don't touch that," She frowned in disapproval, the scar on her lip more prominent with the slight pout to them from her irritation. Regina turned back to the chest when he sat the glass vial down, starting to open the ornate wooden trunk that belonged to Cora. She'd kept a few things of her mother's to remember her by, and of course, in case she ever needed them for magical reasons to defend herself. Sadly it had turned out for the latter.
"Here," David saw her straining to lift the lid, stepping over to pull it up with ease, "Don't be too stubborn to ask for help, Regina."
"Oh, so now you want to help me?" She perked an eyebrow at him in defiance. Her emotions were in turmoil inside of her, wanting to hate him one moment and kiss him the next. She missed his touch and the way he used to look at her. It had once made her uncomfortable how vulnerable he could make her feel with one of those looks, but she longed for it now. To be so close to someone and be able to rely on them for love and strength was something she'd taken for granted when they were together. It wasn't something she'd been able to share with many people and now was a time that she needed it most.
"Can we not do this?" He shook his head in exasperation, "Look you think it's fun for me not having my memories? Not knowing where I stand with anyone or how I should be acting? The least we can do is not bite each other's heads off."
"Always so sensitive," She grumbled with an eye roll before lowering down to her knees, her bump pressing against the front of the trunk as she picked up one of Cora's pendant necklaces. "This should do for Rumple's magic."
David nodded, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jacket, "You really think Rumple will be able to locate Snow...er, Cora? Whoever the hell it is."
Regina stood from her kneeling position and nodded, "If it is my mother using Snows body as a vessel, Rumple's globe will be able to tell us where in the hell she is. Then I can confront her."
"Confront her? Regina what about the baby?" David frowned, his eyes shifting to her rounded stomach.
She shifted on her heels, fisting the necklace in her hand, "That's the whole point of finding her, is it not? I'm going to end this with my mother once and for all. And to think I actually grieved for her when she died," Regina let out a bitter chuckle under her breath, her gaze finding the necklace in her hand.
"I'm sorry," David said quietly, seeing the pain in the brunette's expression. She had clearly changed, that much he knew. He'd been too blinded by rage before to really notice her feelings, and now that she didn't bury them as deeply made them easier to see.
She gave a slight shake of her head before looking up at him, "We should get going, the sooner we get this to Rumple-"
"The sooner you'll find me?" A cheerful voice sounded from the doorway of the vault, bringing both of their attention quickly to the raven haired woman standing there. Snow gave them a charming smile, though her eyes remained demonic.
"Snow," David replied breathlessly, standing frozen as Regina put a hand out in front of him so he wouldn't approach her.
"Who are you and why are you here?" Regina steeled her expression, the glint in Snow's eyes leaving no doubt in Regina that this wasn't Mary Margaret. She couldn't deny the way the sight of her still clenched her heart, though, and as much as it hurt her to acknowledge, she knew this was hard for David. Seeing Snow White's appearance was haunting.
"What's the matter, Regina? Is Prince Charming not all he's cracked up to be?" She smirked at her, making Regina coil in response.
"Why did you do this?" She hissed back at her, glancing at David who was pale now. He obviously recognized that this wasn't his wife, no matter that she looked like her.
"Did you really think that David Nolan was your happy ending, Regina? After all you've done to others, the way you lived your life, did you really think that he would love you?" Snow raised a brow, stepping towards them slowly. Regina felt emotion rise in her throat when David stepped closer to her, putting himself halfway in front of her and their child to guard them from Snow.
"What do you want from us, Cora?" David gritted, his voice low and warning.
"Cora?" Snow gave a chuckle, "You all really are clueless aren't you?" She shook her head, a green glow starting to emanate from her frame as she brought her hands up, playfully showing off her magic as Regina's eyes grew wide. "What's the saying, sis? Fool you once, shame on me. Fool you twice, shame on you?" Zelena's voice came from Snow's throat, startling them both with a loud cackle.
"You bitch!" Regina growled, starting for her before David grabbed her arms and held her back.
"Who the hell is it?" He glanced between the two of them, feeling the anger in Regina's small frame.
"My sister," She hissed, glancing up at him with eyes so dark his blood ran cold. Regina was obviously not close to her sister.
"See when you contained me to my castle in Oz, I had plenty of time to brood and study ways that I could get back at you with out actually being here," Zelena smiled smugly, the sound of her voice coming from Snow's body making it hard to process it all, "I watched you and David getting cozy from afar with my crystal ball, and after a while I mastered a conjuring and transporting spell since it couldn't actually be me totravelto Storybrooke. Then I thought, what would be more appropriate than using Snow as a vessel?" Zelena cackled again, "Oh it's just too good. You see initially I was just going to come back as her, similar to the Marian thing, you remember that one don't you sis?" She grinned, "But then I saw how foolishly in love David was with you and I knew that the only way to make him see you as you really are was to remind him of the past."
Her eyes sparkled with malice, turning a light shade of green, "And then I remembered I snatched up one of these handy little things the night Emma had me chained in her basement," She grinned, making the dream catcher appear in her hands, "It all came together so brilliantly, don't you think?"
"Give him his memories back Zelena, so help me," Regina glared at her sister, feeling David's protective arm around her.
"Not when I'm enjoying your misery this much," Zelena shook her head with a cocky smile.
"David let me handle this," Regina glanced at him before procuring fireballs in her hands, "Give me the dream catcher now!" She yelled at her sister, hurling one ball of fire towards her.
"Not until you get a taste of your own medicine, sis," Zelena cackled, enveloping in a cloud of green smoke before the vault shook violently, causing Regina to stumble.
David lost his balance, reaching out for Regina to pull her into his arms before he fell backwards, ensuring that she landed on him, "Are you okay?" He looked up at her once they'd landed and the shaking had stopped, putting a hand on her bump. She'd landed sideways on him, lifting herself up gently as she nodded.
"I'm fine, are you? Did you hit your head?" She frowned worriedly, forgetting for a moment the situation between them as she slipped her hand beneath his head to feel as he raised into a sitting position. Regina was sideways on his lap, too preoccupied with the bump on his head to notice their nearness as she ran a magic hand over the back of his scalp, healing the knot that had formed. "Thank you for catching me."
"Of course," David nodded, feeling the pain from his head dissolve with the touch of her small hand. He looked up at her for a moment, swallowing hard at her nearness.
Regina looked into his eyes, seeing intimacy and confusion mixed in the blue depths, "We should go, make sure Emma and Henry are okay," She swallowed when David nodded, placing a hand on his shoulder to lift herself up. The warmness in his expression had startled her, being so familiar and reminiscent of the way he'd looked at her before he lost his memories. His hands came to her hips, helping her find her footing before standing up behind her. She walked for the stairs to the vault, turning the corner to look up and find nothing but darkness from the upstairs. She brought a hand up to open the doors with her magic, hearing David stop behind her.
"What's wrong?" David frowned, watching her huff and wring her fists again when the opening above them didn't budge.
"She contained us here," Regina said quietly, feeling her sisters magic counteracting her own. "Like I did to her in Oz."
"For how long?" David watched her turn and walk back into her vault, sinking into the small antique sofa on the far wall, "Regina?" He watched her shoulders sag.
"I don't know," She looked up at him helplessly, her eyes glistening over with tears, "Henry and Neal and Emma, they're out there, and I can't protect them," Her voice choked.
David made his way over to the sofa, sitting down on the edge and resting a hand on Regina's shoulder, "Emma will take care of them Regina. I know she will. We just need to find a way out of here."
"Zelena is right though, I didn't deserve what I had. I've been waiting for this," She ran a hand over her face, looking away from him.
"What did we do to Zelena in Oz?" He asked, not knowing how to approach what had apparently happened between them there.
"I contained her there to that world. She had taken Robin's baby there-" She glanced up at David's confusion, realizing she'd have to explain more, "When I was with Robin she...came back as his dead wife, so Robin left with her thinking it was Marian," Regina admitted, looking down at her hands as she spoke, "When I went to get him and tell him it was Zelena, it was too late he'd...they were having a baby together. I tried to make it work with him, but we couldn't I-"
"I'm sorry, Regina," David watched her speaking, his heart sinking at how tortured she seemed. He may have hated her just days ago, but even through that he could see how lonely she was. The way she held tight to Henry and didn't want to share him with Emma was proof that she had no one else, and didn't want to be alone again.
"We went to get their daughter back in Oz and I used a containment spell to make sure she could physically never come back here but," She gave a weak shrug, "I never imagined her using someone else's body to. The lengths she'll go to for revenge is further than even I would. When she lets us out of here, David...the baby...I," She choked up again.
"Don't worry about that Regina, we'll find a way to keep us all safe," He reassured her, though he didn't know how they would. All he knew is he would die trying.
"Where are Mom and Grandpa?" Henry frowned, pulling the curtains back to look out Emma's living room window, "They were supposed to be here hours ago."
"I don't know kid," Emma frowned, swallowing the unsettling feeling she had as she paced with Neal in her arms, trying to get him to go to sleep. It was just getting dark, the late evening making her worry about the whereabouts of her father and Regina.
"And Killian? He was supposed to be back from the docks by now, too," Henry worried his bottom lip, looking at his mother whose expression mirrored his own.
"I've tried calling him a million times," Emma pulled her phone out of her pocket to check for responses again before signing at the lack thereof. Something wasn't right, she could feel it. Killian would've been back by now, only going to the docks to ask some of the shipmates if they'd noticed any unusual activity at night. She couldn't go look for him, or David and Regina, and leave Henry and Neal by themselves with Cora out and about. She couldn't take Henry and Neal with her in the middle of the night and potentially put them in danger, either.
"Mom hasn't responded either," Her son sat down on the couch, tossing his phone beside him, "This isn't like her. Someone has them or somethings happened, she barely leaves my side when stuff like this happens."
"I know, but I'm sure she and David are all right," Emma replied seriously, "Whoever is doing this wants to mess with them, if they wanted to hurt them they already would've by now."
"I hope so," The boy agreed with a nod.
"Hey, you've exhausted yourself enough for one day," David interrupted Regina's reading, taking the ancient spell book from her hands and shutting it. She'd been researching ways to fight her sisters spell for hours now to no avail.
"What else do we have to do down here?" She sighed from her seat on the rug, watching him set the book back on the shelf.
David gave a shrug before sitting down beside of her, resting his back against the wall, "Why don't you tell me about us?"
"Us?" She looked at him hesitantly, their gazes locking for a moment.
"How we came to be together?" David nodded once, "Otherwise you'll just have to sit here and listen to my stomach growl." He added, earning a chuckle from her that gave him a satisfying feeling.
"Well...I guess it started one night Emma and I had had a bit too much to drink at granny's. Robin was there and we'd just broken up and you'd stopped in to get your takeout," Regina glanced at him, "You didn't come out much since Snow and we didn't really see you. But that night you came over, and insisted you take me home so I wouldn't end up back at Robins. I suppose Emma had informed you how weak I was when it came to him," She sighed.
"So you were still in love with him?" David asked, watching her as he listened.
"I thought I was, but I was more lonely than anything. Robin kept playing on my feelings, we couldn't make it work together but he'd keep me close enough that I wouldn't find anyone else. Until Emma started hounding me to cut ties with him," She rolled her eyes with a hint of a smile, "But you took me home that night and I was nice to you, which was rare. Then you started finding reasons to show up at my office," She smirked a little when her eyes found his.
"I started dropping by?" David chuckled, shaking his head, "Hey take it easy on me though, I haven't courted in how many years? I'm rusty."
"Courted?" She flashed an amused grin his way, making his heart skip a beat at the beauty she was when she let her guard down, "I'd hardly call what we did courting. Anyways, one day Robin showed up when his child and Zelena disappeared and blamed me. You were there and you stood up for me. You ended up following me to Oz to find the baby...we talked about a lot of things...Snow White, my past," She shrugged almost self consciously, "Before we left you had to wash in the Truth Pond to rid yourself of Zelena's spell and..."
"And what?" He raised an eyebrow in interest, watching her intently now. Her posture had relaxed, leaning back against the wall beside of him.
Her face heated at his gaze and what she was about to admit before she continued, "You told me I was captivating and you kissed me."
"Bold," He remarked with a half grin, "What happened then?"
"I said we should get back, opened the portal and we left," She chuckled, "You startled me...I didn't know what to do and I was still a mess over Robin. But when we got back, Robin started to apologize to me and say everything I'd wanted to hear from him, but then I realized I'd already gotten what I needed from Emma and Henry and...well you."
"Your majesty," David mocked flattery before smiling, "So how did you win me back after rejecting me? I hope I made you work for it."
"Actually," Her eyebrow raised, "I came to your apartment and told you Robin and I were finished and we..."
"What?...Oh," David's mouth opened slightly, though his interest didn't fade. He looked at her lips as his expression changed. Regina noted how he'd seemingly become more comfortable around her, as if the intimacy of their touch before had reminded him of what they'd once shared. "So I was easy for you then."
Regina laughed at his comment, a rosy tint to her cheeks, "Very much so," She admitted, glancing down at her lap.
David pondered it all for a moment, seeing the flush to her face and the almost shy nature of her, "I really wish I could remember Regina. From what everyone's told me we were really happy," He said softly, "I'm sorry I've been distant, I've just been trying to wrap my head around it all."
"It's not your fault, you don't have to apologize. If it was me in your shoes I know I'd be a terror, you've handled it well," She glanced at him then, "I just wish I knew how to fix it."
"I was thinking... There's something we haven't tried yet," David watched her eyes search his.
"What?" Her brow raised in curiosity.
"True loves kiss is supposed to break any curse," He suggested.
"You don't even remember loving me David, how would that work?" She frowned.
"Love is in your heart Regina, not your memories," He raised an eyebrow, seeing her swallow hard as her eyes shifted to his lips and back up at him. "What do you say?"
Her eyes met his again before she gave a gentle nod, "Uh..okay," She replied, her voice barely audible.
David bit his bottom lip slightly before reaching out, cupping her chin with his thumb and forefinger and tilting it up as he leaned in. He looked at her full lips, devoid of her usual dark lipstick. They were a soft pink, accented by the exotic scar adorning the top one. He smelled her perfume as he came near before their lips met. His pressed against hers, his senses stirring at the soft and feminine plushness of her mouth. Adrenaline ran through him as his hand found the back of her neck, hearing her sigh softly into the kiss. His heart constructed at the contact, as if he was reunited with the other half of himself. He felt the love he had for her awaken inside of his chest, his heart thumping as he pulled back after a moment and stared at her bewildered.
"Did it work, do you remember?" Regina asked him urgently searching his expression, her lips flushed and eyes hopeful.
His throat worked but he couldn't speak yet, the overwhelming feelings he had for her hitting him all at once, "...I...I don't have my memories back but I...I know I love you," He looked at her face as if seeing it for the first time, "I love you so much Regina. I know that much."
She gasped slightly in relief, "David," She wrapped her arms around his neck tightly as he threw herself into his embrace. His arms wrapped around her, holding her to him as she pressed her face into his neck, "I've missed you so much, I love you, too."
Regina brought her hand down to rest on his chest over his heart as David brought his own to rest on here before replying, "I don't remember how or when, but I'm in love with you Regina. If all else fails, we can make new memories."
She lifted her head to look down at him tearfully, "True loves kiss worked to awaken what you felt in your heart. You must not have gained your memories back because they're trapped in the dream catcher and not a curse, so we'll still have to get that back before you know the how or whens," She breathed heavily, overwhelmed with relief and happiness.
He ran a hand over her hair, "I can't wait for you to tell me all about the how and whens in the meantime," He smiled warmly, pressing his forehead to hers.