Author's Note: I feel awful about how long this has taken to update. And I'm not perfectly happy with this chapter, but it is a rough emotional one, and that may just be my reaction to it, and it's actually an okay read.

To recap: You could read all the previous parts, but perhaps this is all you need for now... After preventing Daniel's death in the past, Emma's magic has dropped her into another alternate timeline where she is 18 years old and living with her parents in the Enchanted Forest. Regina is here also. The Dark Curse has not been cast. Regina is married to Daniel, and yet, happy endings don't quite seem right. What's a girl to do?

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Emma had come back from the fields, trailing behind Regina, nursing a muscle spasm in her palm from the hard work. It hadn't seemed so difficult at the time, so focused was she on stepping carefully, doing only what Regina did - not making the other woman angry enough to order her away.

She had managed to keep to the side as Regina cleaned up from the fields and then made herself useful once more as Regina set about sorting and cutting the ingredients for an evening meal. It was meager, but the aromas reminded Emma so strongly of walking into the mansion back in Storybrooke so many times that she almost could close her eyes and imagine they were back.

She must have dozed, because when she jolted upright at the sound of hooves pounding the ground she had to blink twice to realize the Regina rushing to the door was not in one of her Storybrooke signature skirt suits, but a gray homespun dress.

"Regina! Regina!"

"Daniel!" Picking up her skirt, Regina flung open the door and rushed outside into the late afternoon sunshine. Emma reached the doorway and held herself upright even as her knees threatened to buckle at the sight of husband and wife reuniting.

Daniel swung down with practiced ease - reminding Emma of her own relatively recent clumsiness - from the saddle atop a sleekly beautiful brown gelding. He had moved barely three steps before Regina was in his arms, her arms reaching around his neck and her body pressed and clinging to his as their mouths magnetically came together.

Faced with Regina's obvious true love in the way they fit and clung together, Emma's resolve wavered. It now seemed selfish to change things again and bring Regina home to a non-existent Henry. The woman was happy here. It might not be Emma's vision of Regina's happiness, but what had her mother Snow said once? "Happy endings aren't always what we think they'll be."

Emma swallowed and shifted, intending to go through the house and leave out the back before Regina entered with Daniel, leaving the couple to their contented life. But the unexpected movement by the doorway drew Daniel's attention. His gaze found her even as she tried to slink back into the shadows unnoticed.

"Who's…?" He started forward, hand going to the hilt of a dagger tucked into his belt. Then his alarm faded as he recognized her and he threw his hands away from the weapons, inviting in a gesture of unmistakable welcome. "Princess Emma!"

Regina turned behind Daniel as he strode toward Emma, who noticed the way the other woman clung to his arm. He patted his wife's hand almost absently then detached and held out his hand again to Emma.

"What a great pleasure, princess!" he greeted her effusively. "What are you doing here?" He looked questioningly between Emma and Regina

"We had a planned lunch," Emma replied, keeping it simple.

Unfortunately Daniel took that as reprimand. He dusted at his clothing, and looked from Regina back to Emma, then took off his cap. He dropped his eyes as he approached her with rounded shoulders, petitioning and meek.

"My apologies, princess," he said, head down. "Your father required my advice on horses for your wedding gift. I told Ned to tell you why I had to leave so quickly."

"He told me," Emma replied, smiling tightly. She'd known what her father was doing, even if she wanted to laugh sadly at why he couldn't be further from the truth. She looked longingly at Regina. "I thought I would come spend the noon meal with Regina."

"You're welcome into our humble home anytime," Daniel said eagerly. "I assure you Regina is the finest cook in our entire village."

Emma watched him wrap his arm around Regina, his wife. Watching them brought a painful tightness to her chest. Regina's hand fell easily against his chest as she looked up at his face. The woman's pleasure at Daniel's presence was unmistakable. Emma recalled that look being given to her, another lifetime ago. She reacted to the soft scene shoving her fists into the pockets of her breeches. She should, she must, withdraw. Regina was happy. "I should be going."

Daniel's head snapped up from nuzzling Regina's hair. "No, please. Stay for the evening meal. I have good news." He stepped back from Regina and rushed to his saddlebags. "The gelding was only part of your father's payment for my services today." He flipped open the leather flap covering the saddlebag and withdrew a heavy cloth pouch that bulged at the seams.

Regina's eyes widened at the sight; for that matter, so did Emma's. Her father couldn't have paid that just for horse advice.

Emma sputtered, "What was that for?"

Daniel opened the pouch and lifted several pieces, giving them to Regina. He then spoke with his gaze adoringly upon his wife. "Prince James was extremely pleased with my advice. The animals were of superior quality. Fine boned and healthy lines. There was this mare… You would have enjoyed seeing them," he told her.

Regina fingered the coins. "Why would he pay you so much?"

"He said it was past time he rewarded my many years of loyalty properly."

"This is dozens of times our yearly living," Regina said, her eyes narrowing with what Emma recognized as suspicion. "What additional tasks has he set you?"

"None. I am still his master of horses." He hugged her and kissed her. "But it will help us achieve dreams we have long held."

"What dreams?" Emma asked.

Regina spoke to Daniel over Emma's curiosity. "We have all we need."

Daniel looked at his wife and smiled benevolently. "The whispers will stop."

Regina looked stricken and pained. Her hands fisted at her sides and she inhaled and exhaled before staring at Emma and then turning on her heel. "Dinner is inside," she said in a brittle tone.

In bewilderment, Daniel followed his wife. "Regina?"

Left alone outside, Emma walked to her horse, mounted and turned its head quickly, uneasily leaving before she could screw things up any further.

Dismounting in the stables, Emma found Da…She shook her head before calling out for him. He was coming in from another barn, striding broadly across the open outer ward. He smiled beatifically at her and opened his arms. "Good afternoon, Emma. Are you going out for a ride?"

She neared and let him wrap his arm around her shoulders. She felt awash with indecision, both wanting and abhorring the comfort. "Just coming in," she said. "I rode out to town."

"Fancying something at the market?"

"Ran into one of the small holders," Emma said. "Assisted in some harvest."

"You're in breeches." He sounded surprised, having just noticed.

Emma nodded. "Better suited for work."

"You know you don't have to do that. I have great hope you will find your prince within the walls of the castle tonight," her father said.

"Dad," Emma drew him back from the archway entrance to the main castle.

He stopped, his hand automatically gently covering hers on his arm. His eyes searched hers. "What is it?"

"I went to see Regina…" David's look of confusion prompted her to clarify, "The lady I danced with last night."

"The stablemaster's wife," David supplied. He looked a little concerned. "Is she well?"

Emma inhaled. "She is well. But I think she is unhappy."

"Emma, you shouldn't concern -"

"But it does concern me -"

"They have property, a good living with her husband's position here," David began.

"Daniel says -"

"You ran into Daniel?"

"He came in after our time at the fields. Invited me to dinner."

David winced.

Emma ignored that and went on with her question. "What are the town whispers about them?"

He frowned and shrugged. "I have no idea."

"He's served a long time as the White stablemaster. Hasn't he talked with you?"

"Emma, you seem to forget, they're not nobility."

"So, you just don't care about their lives?"

"It's just not done, Emma."

Emma glared at him. "Stop that! You came from nothing," she grumbled.

David grabbed her arm. "I told you not to say anything about that!" he hissed under his breath. Emma grimaced, but bore her father's anger in silence. He dropped her arm quickly when a scullery maid scurried past with a dead chicken.

"You made it, so you don't have to worry about anyone else?" Emma was frustrated. Her parents in Storybrooke had cared so much about the rest of the town. Here though they behaved like every pampered royal figure she'd ever read about in the storybooks.

"We take care of the kingdom's people," her father said. "Snow makes sure of it."

"How? Throwing money at their meager lives? They tend the fields but give most of it to those who live in the castle."

"And we protect the land." He shook his head. "You weren't like this just a few days ago. What's changed?"

"I'm seeing the truth," Emma snapped. "Daniel and Regina-" She pushed her way into the castle, frustration riding her hard.

"I thought you only met that couple on the day of the ball?" Emma turned to see Snow had stepped into the inner ward, catching sight of them.

"Haven't you ever just clicked with someone?" Emma asked.

Snow paused as she neared them. "The woman's name...Regina, right?"

Emma nodded.

"I think she may be very familiar to me." Snow looked at Charming. "A young woman saved me when I was just a child on a runaway horse. But I never got the chance to thank her." Her eyes sheened with tears which surprised Emma. "My father and I … she wasn't there when we went back." Charming took Snow in his arms.

She collected herself and spoke more quietly to Emma. "Something had happened in the family home."

Her father addressed Emma over Snow's head. "Perhaps that is the gossip you referred to?"

"Gossip?" Snow asked.

"Daniel called them whispers," Emma explained. "Regina seems hurt by them." She hugged herself. "Would it be all right if I spent more time with Regina and Daniel?"

"Daniel's got his responsibilities here," David said hurriedly. "But," he added, "perhaps you can bring Regina here, have picnics in the outer ward."

"That sounds nice," Snow said eagerly. "Bring her to meet me. I can see if she is the same woman I remember." Emma's mother smiled indulgently.

"Uh, yeah, I'll see about that." Emma groaned, but her parents were already wrapped up in each other and walking away. Alone in the inner ward, she pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes, pushing back the threatening headache from all the threads of changed realities swimming in her head.

She still had no idea which one was truly the right one, but this one...this one was definitely wrong.

Regina stared at the invitation brought home the next afternoon by Daniel. "They want me at the castle?"

He smiled at her. "I'll bring you with me in the morning. You're to spend the entire day with the young princess."

Regina sighed. "So the queen wants a nanny for her princess. Don't they already have someone?"

"Actually I don't think so. Princess Emma seems to be managing quite well on her own."

"I have things to do around our home," Regina protested. She felt it would be wrong to spend more time in the company of the young princess. There was something about the way the blonde looked at her… She shook herself and handed back the invitation. "Tell them I simply cannot take time away from my own responsibilities."

"You can't refuse a royal invitation," Daniel said. "But look, we'll go see the seer tonight. Find out what his visions say about it."

"I don't want to know my future from a seer, Daniel."

"But we…" He trailed off. "Regina, I worry about you, sitting here alone day after day."

"I'm not bored," Regina said. "I care for our home. There is more than enough to do."

"I want you to be caring for our child," Daniel blurted.

Regina reeled back, feeling struck. Her voice, when she found it, was barely a whisper. "I know." She turned away. "I'm sorry I haven't made you happy in that way. I'm trying everything else."

"We haven't tried everything. Come with me to see the seer," Daniel implored. "Please."

Regina leaned hard on the back of the chair and bowed her head. Slowly she lifted her head. "All right." She swallowed. "All right, I'll get my cloak."

Daniel beamed, hugged her and grabbed her cloak himself, laying it over her shoulders and kissing her cheeks as he met her fingers tying the strings at her throat. "I love you."

Regina kissed him back fiercely forcing back the tears that threatened. "I know." She exhaled. "I love you, too."

In a cave on the westernmost edge of the White lands, a man of green-hued skin, scaled like a reptile smiled at the vision of a brunette woman and her husband mounting a horse. He looked around at the array of items scattered about the cavern's hewn shelves, vials and pouches, items gathered over a century's seeking. He sensed the darkness laying quietly in the heart of the one riding toward him. A crucial piece of his puzzle, though he knew, by this time, it should have been fully formed.

With a flick of his fingers, the looking glass image changed to the interior of White Castle. His divining potion said True Love resided in that castle. It had grown stronger in the last week, as if it had tapped into its power, begun accessing its potential.

"What have you done, dearie?" He pondered the many unclear images. He knew the queen, Snow, and her prince, Charming. He had followed the signs to bring them together when their courses were diverted unexpectedly. Somewhere within that castle now resided a reshaping force, just learning their potential.

Having eternity to work with hadn't made him a patient man. In many ways, however, he grew more impatient with the passing days and his goals remained out of reach.

"You will not cast the curse. Someone else will," he mocked his memory. "And you will not break the curse. Someone else will." He had thought Cora to be capable of casting his curse, but when the blasted woman took out her own heart, professing her love for him stood in her way of power, he knew he had chosen foolishly. That she vanished only meant he hadn't required getting rid of her himself. Messy busy pushing around other people's fates, he mused.

"What ho, inside! You have visitors, seer!"

He closed his eyes and poofed himself casually to the entrance of his cave, looking up at the man just dismounted from horseback, helping his lady wife down from the saddle.

"It's the middle of the night, dearie."

"We've brought tribute. We seek your Sight, seer."

He studied the downturned dark head of the woman. Familiar strands of her essence wafted from her. "And who are you?"

The man stepped in front of her, blocking his advance. "My lady wife, sir."

He closed his eyes, speaking what he had already seen. "You wish to ask me about children," he said.

"We have been married many years."

"Long enough for many of your contemporaries to have not only children, but grandchildren," he said, seeing it clearly. "And your lady wife, she's not getting any younger." The woman frowned at him. "But your age matters not."

"It does not," Daniel interjected. "Regina will make a wonderful mother, I know it."

Closing his eyes, the seer saw that, too, was true. "I see a son," he said. "First of the things I will need," he requested. "Your names."

"What could you do with that?" The woman spoke up. "We are nobodies."

"Oh, dearie, everyone is somebody. I cannot see a future to which I cannot pin a name." The woman winced; the man held her hand.

"I am Daniel, stablemaster of the White stables. This is my lady wife, Regina."

"Regina…" Closing his eyes, he smiled. "Yes, I see." He grinned wider, seeing more. "I see a magnificent future for you, my dear."

"I told you, Regina, the princess's invitation was a sign. Things are turning around for us." He cupped his wife's cheek.

She tried to smile, but she turned quickly to him, pinning him with suspicion. "I don't need a magnificent future, imp." She rounded her shoulders. "My life is mine, my choices. I have my husband."

"But you have no children. What little cottage can be a home without children, dearie?" He flourished his hand, swirling the vision in his looking glass. Their eyes were drawn to the display, as he had wanted. He touched Regina's arm when they were not looking, getting a sense of the hidden power within the woman.

The touch was broken when Daniel plopped a stuffed bag of gold onto his table next to him. "We have been told of your price, seer. You will see it there."

"Gold? Children are more precious than any amount of gold, dearie."

"So how do we get one?" Daniel asked.

"I assume you've tried the usual way." He cackled at his own joke, watching his words redden Regina's cheeks, even as he felt the dark anger flare within her. Her power was untapped. He subsided, intrigued. "Of course you have. What you seek is a little magical assistance." He flourished his hands, and bowed low. "That will take a little sacrifice."

"What sort of sacrifice?" Regina asked; he would have applauded her suspicious mind if it wasn't at such cross purposes with his goals.

"Oh, dearie, I'll share that later. For now," he said, grabbing a small vial off the wall. "Take this with your meals." Daniel caught it out of the air. "It's for your wife, dearie. It will… allow the energy to flow."

Daniel pressed the vial into Regina's hands, cupping hers between his and kissing her soundly. "Thank you, seer. Thank you!"

He watched them mount and ride away. Closing his eyes, he saw the future swirling, a little less cloudy now. Regina was definitely meant to be part of his plan.

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