Snow stood in front of the horse the Huntsman had procured for them, waiting while her stepmother packed the saddlebags with fruits, vegetables, and what remained of the deer and the rabbit they'd been living on for the past few days. The Princess didn't look towards either of her human companions, instead staring nervously at the animal.
"Thank you for everything," Regina said to the Huntsman, and Snow finally turned to face them and echo Regina's sentiments. The Huntsman disappeared into the forest unceremoniously, and the Queen turned her attention to Snow.
"You know how horses frighten me," Snow said in almost a whisper.
Regina stepped forward and stroked the animal's neck lovingly. "We've both faced many things that frighten us," she said, offering her stepdaughter a smile and a hand.
Snow reluctantly stepped forward, letting Regina help her mount. She held tight to the saddle, the distance between her and the ground forcing her to raise her head and look off into the darkening forest. "What if I fall?"
Regina pulled herself up in front of Snow easily, placing a reassuring hand on her stepdaughter's leg. "Why are you afraid, Snow?"
Snow let go of the saddle cautiously and wrapped her arms around Regina's middle. "You know why. The runaway horse when I was a child. The day you saved me."
"I didn't let you fall then," Regina said, spurring the horse to begin moving slowly. Snow stiffened behind her. "What makes you think I'll let you fall now?"
When Regina glanced back over her shoulder, she saw the slightest hint of a grin on Snow's lips. "Thank you," the girl said almost too softly to hear.
Regina covered one of the hands at her stomach with her own. "Hold on." She leaned forward into the animal and Snow grabbed on tighter as the horse sped up.
Red sat by the faint glow of the fire, unable to sleep. The night before, the deal she'd made allowed her to drift off happily, but something about having not only David but Belle sleeping nearby was unsettling. There was a witness now, someone who could throw an unexpected twist in her plans.
Someone who, she couldn't help thinking, David could turn to instead of Red when the Princess broke his heart.
Still, Red didn't regret inviting the girl along. Belle's presence was comfortable, as if she'd been there all along. Red trusted her for reasons she couldn't articulate, and even though she'd told Belle almost every secret she had during their walk today—not just about her feelings for David, but her wolf as well—she didn't feel exposed.
Red twisted around to look at Belle who was lying close, sleeping with a faint smile on her lips. The book she'd been carrying was between them, and Red picked it up, hoping maybe it would lull her to sleep if nothing else. She opened the book across her lap and began the section she opened to in the flickering firelight.
The bond between a True Love pair is perhaps the hardest aspect of the phenomenon to deal with scientifically. Couples often take a while to manifest this connection, although in some cases an early attraction or an implicit sense of trust may occur.
One universal truth about True Love is that the pair is drawn together as if a pair of magnets. Even if there are initial clashes between the Lovers, they display a tendency to find each other. The pair cannot be permanently separated. Despite great distances, marriages to others, and a host of other complications, all of the couples studied have returned to each other eventually. The bond can only be severed by the death of one of the two.
Red could feel her energy waning as she gave up on the heavy text. She flipped forward lazily to a dog-eared page, suddenly bolting back awake as she looked at the diagram Belle had bookmarked.
It was, without a doubt, the ring Rumplestiltskin had given her the day before, the ring that was leading them to the Princess. As she scanned through the text, queasiness rose in her. The ring was leading David towards true love.
And, if this book was to be believed, true love was impossible to cure. No matter what Rumplestiltskin did to separate David and his love, they would find their way back to each other. Red would never be enough to keep them apart.
She closed the book, tears rising in her eyes as she looked over at David. His hand with the ring was stretched out in front of him, glowing deliberately but not enough to give Red hope that maybe she could be his destiny.
Rumplestiltskin had lied to her. He couldn't possibly do what he promised. Red held the book towards the fire until it caught flame and then dropped it in, curling up on her side in an attempt to sleep.
As the night darkened and Red finally fell into a fitful sleep, the gem on David's ring began to grow steadily brighter.
As the first strains of dawn began to appear, Regina stopped the horse and slid off. She reached up to help Snow down, keeping her hands on the girl's waist after her feet hit the ground. "I'm so proud of you," she said before letting go.
They tied up the horse, ate, and settled down to sleep as the morning grew brighter. They stretched out on the ground beside each other, and Snow rolled to face the Queen after a moment.
"What are you going to name her?" she asked, breaking the comfortable silence.
Regina stayed flat on her back but turned her head in Snow's direction. "I don't know. Names are such heavy things." She folded her hands over her stomach. "From the moment I was born all my mother could think about was my being Queen. I was never anything more than that to her."
Snow nodded, the smile with which she'd asked the original question fading. "I'll never be my name again," she said, and Regina saw her eyes shimmering with tears. "I'm supposed to be pure."
Regina immediately moved closer, putting an arm around her stepdaughter. "You are pure. You're pure of heart."
"But I'm—" Snow started, tears beginning to run loose.
"What your father did to you was unforgivable," Regina interrupted, "but it's about him, not you. You have done nothing wrong, Snow."
Snow buried her face in Regina's shoulder. "But I'll never be the same again."
"No, you won't," Regina agreed. "You're stronger and braver now than you've ever been."
The Queen fell silent, gently stroking her stepdaughter's back as the girl sobbed. After half an hour of crying, Snow finally went quiet. Regina closed her eyes, assuming the Princess had fallen asleep and trying to do the same.
"If I had a daughter," Snow said suddenly, still very much awake, "I'd name her Emma."
"That's pretty." Exhausted from doing magic the day before and riding all night, drained by Snow's sadness, Regina could feel herself slipping away. "You'll have to help me find something for mine."
Rumplestiltskin stood over his map of the forest, moving a marker to the new position of the royal fugitives. It was ever so close to the marker he'd set the night before, and he let out a gleeful laugh as he looked at his handiwork.
"Not much longer, dearest Regina."