A/N: Jumping ahead in time now, because starting a story with Regina only 2-3 months pregnant means a lot of time to kill. I think everything's pretty clear, but let me know if questions arise!

This was a really fun chapter to write. Enjoy!

Six months later

"All right, my dear, I'm off to visit Rumple."

Regina looked up to see Maleficent in the doorway. "What for?" She'd learned a lot about Maleficent in her months of captivity, one of the first things being that the sorceress detested Rumplestiltskin.

"To see about getting rid of you, of course," the blonde teased, stepping into the room and looking Regina up and down. "God, pregnant women are repulsive."

"So you've said." Regina rose to her feet and walked to the full length mirror, turning sideways to see the drastic changes to her once slender frame.

"I can't imagine why anyone does it." Maleficent sat on the edge of Regina's bed, wrinkling her nose as her prisoner turned towards her. "All of these months of looking and feeling hideous, and what do you get out of it? A child." She shuddered dramatically. "At least you won't have to keep yours."

Regina offered her a tight smile and sat down beside her. "I guess not," she said, absentmindedly resting a hand on the curve of her stomach.

"I suppose I should be grateful that I'm saddled with you and not one of Rumple's little nightmares," Maleficent said with a sigh. "He talked my dear friend Gothel into taking a stolen child off his hands and she locked herself up in a tower with the wretched thing. I haven't seen her in years."

A sudden smile bloomed across Regina's face as the baby kicked just under her hand. She supposed she should be used to it by now, but she was enthralled by everything having to do with her pregnancy, especially in these late stages. Between her sheltered childhood and her days in the palace, she'd never been around women who were with child. The ladies at court retreated to their country homes as soon as any changes began to show, and the one maid in her family home had been fired as soon as Cora picked up on her morning sickness. Regina longed to have someone to guide her, tell her what to expect, but all she had was Maleficent. "Would you like to feel her kick?" she teased.

Maleficent shot to her feet. "Absolutely disgusting. I'll see you later tonight."

Once Maleficent was gone, Regina crept out of her room and down the hall to the blonde's study. She had free reign within the house, but the building was charmed so that no one but Maleficent and Rumplestiltskin could leave or enter.

It had been about a month since Regina stumbled upon the study for the first time, but by now the space was familiar, filled with potions and ingredients and spell books. Even in the dark she could find the book she wanted, the one she'd been borrowing every time her captor left her alone. She carried it back to her room and stood in front of the mirror before opening to the page she'd been studying this week.

Rumplestiltskin had been right when he'd warned her that light magic wouldn't be easy for her, but Regina saw it more as an issue of circumstance than an inheritance from her mother. The longer she was trapped, the closer she got to giving up her child, the harder it was not to tap into despair, fear, and anger. Her history was filled with darkness, from her mother's tyranny to her husband's, and now her suffering was at the hands of the Dark One himself.

She closed her eyes and dipped again into her few happy memories, the effort sending a wave of exhaustion through her. All she could use was her fierce love for Snow, the knowledge that she was here now for her stepdaughter's protection. She recalled those few stolen moments during their week on the run, replaying them again and again until the magic surged within her.

The imprisoned Queen opened her eyes again and lowered her lips to the page, blowing until the letters lifted off the page. She closed the book, watching intently as the smoky wisps of magic collided with the surface of the mirror. For the first time all week, she saw tiny ripples forming everywhere the letters touched. They grew and traveled outward until the whole mirror was shimmering like water.

She spared no time on being excited that it worked, that she'd finally turned her ordinary mirror into an enchanted one. "Show me Snow White," she whispered breathlessly, and the image slowly came into focus.

Snow slid down easily from Rocinante's back, running towards the wild turkey she'd finally managed to fell with a perfectly aimed arrow. She knelt down and whispered her words of thanks before grabbing a second arrow out of the tree. It was higher than the bird was tall, and she turned and waved it towards David. "You're really terrible at this, you know."

"I'm a shepherd, not a hunter," David complained as he caught up with her.

Snow raised her eyebrows. "And I'm a princess. Don't use that excuse with me." She hurried to mount the horse again, waiting for David to gather the large turkey before she rode back towards camp.

She'd never intended to spend so long in the company of those who had separated her and Regina in the first place, but as the months went by she'd come to rely on them, and they on her. They were all fugitives now, David, Red, and Belle's sketches added to the papers hanging in every town. There had been too many close calls to count, and Snow's companions had gotten her out of a few really bad situations. They'd come to trust each other as they scoured every corner of the land for Rumplestiltskin.

The others had told Snow early about the ring, about how David was supposed to be her true love. She wasn't sure she believed it, and she certainly wasn't going to let some enchanted object dictate something so important. Especially when that object came from the hands of the very man who now held her stepmother captive. She'd been wary around David since the beginning, and early in their travels she generally stuck with the other girls.

For the past month, however, she'd found herself with him more and more. It wasn't by design on either of their parts. As time went on, Red and Belle had shifted from friendly smiles to lingering gazes, and when one volunteered for a duty the other was now quick to follow. The four had finally established an unspoken pattern when they made camp for the night. Red and Belle tended to firewood and collected whatever roots and greens they found nearby, while Snow and David hunted.

Of course, Snow was the only one who ever caught anything, but it was nice to have the company. And David's sense of direction, she thought with a laugh as he called out that she'd turned the wrong way.

She whispered for Rocinante to stop, realizing just seconds after David yelled to her that she'd reached the edge of the forest and was just feet away from being out in the open and exposed. She didn't turn the horse, though, instead calling back over her shoulder. "David, come see this."

David came up beside her, and they both stared silently at the building at the other side of the meadow. It was dark and a little decrepit, with large spires and black imposing windows. Exactly the house that had been described to Belle when she'd carefully cloaked herself and slipped into a village to gather intelligence.

"We're here," Snow breathed, and it took all her restraint to turn back to camp rather than charging across in search of Regina.

Once night fell, the full moon lighting the clearing where the four were camped, Red rose to her feet. The others had been all agreed on going straight to Rumplestiltskin's house and demanding Regina, but she'd talked them out of it, remembering the little she'd seen of his power and intellect all too well. Instead, she'd proposed collecting what information she could as her second self.

She headed into the forest alone, but even in her human form her increased wolfstime senses picked up on Belle's presence. She turned to face the other girl, who blushed at being caught. "I didn't know you were coming with me," Red said affectionately, retracing her steps until she stood just before Belle.

"I thought I'd see you off." Belle took one of Red's hands between hers. "I've never seen you as a wolf before. I'm curious."

Now it was Red's turn to feel self-conscious. Granny was the only person she'd ever made the change in front of, and she had no idea how it looked. "All right," she said after a pause.

"There's another reason I'm here," Belle said with a shy smile, although there was a quiet confidence in her eyes when they met Red's. She let go of Red's hand and closed the space between them, bringing her hands up to the other girl's shoulders before leaning in to kiss her.

It was a chaste kiss, but they lingered there, Red reaching up to brush her fingers through Belle's hair. Belle grabbed at the bow holding Red's cloak in place and they broke the kiss before she finished easing the garment off her.

Belle hardly noticed the amber glow in Red's eyes as the change began, instead focusing on how her lips curved slowly into a smile. And then Red turned and leaped, the transformation so swift and smooth that Belle was shocked to see a wolf come down instead of the girl. She watched the creature disappear into the forest and headed back to camp, tucking Red's cloak around her.