A/N: Thank you so much for the response to the first chapter, I'm so glad you're liking this incursion in the EC fandom.

Here is the prequel or what led Regina down the path to the sleeping curse. M-rated, unbetaed, all mistakes are mine.

Mentions of drug withdrawal.

Disclaimer: see chapter 1

Of Withdrawal and Broken Hearts

It had started as a normal enough night, if normal was a word one could use when living in a town which appeared out of nowhere populated by fairy tales characters with memory issues.

A normal night, with David and Henry eating out at Granny's, because as the shepherd turned Prince turned Sheriff had been informed by his grandson -and wasn't it a strange notion to have a grandson when he only remembered putting his minutes old daughter in a wardrobe?- he wasn't the best of cook. David, no matter how much he tried to avoid thinking about it, had had a taste of Regina's cooking and he could understand that after knowing this all his life, Henry could be a bit picky.

So dining out at Granny's it had been, and then homework, and then bargaining for bed time because Henry had been that close to finish that hard level in his video game that had been driving him crazy for days. Not an unpleasant routine all in all, even if he would still have given everything he had to share it with his wife and daughter.

David had been nodding off on the couch, he hadn't even noticed when the procedural series he had been watching had ended and been replaced by some reality show, when he had heard Henry screaming.

He had been by his side in mere seconds, suddenly alert and wide awake to find his grandson sat up, breathing hard and calling for his mom. David had tried to comfort him, had said that he missed Emma and Snow too, but they would see them again soon. The way Henry had frozen and stiffened had let him know that the boy hadn't been dreaming about his biological mother.

He had sighed and Henry had looked down, ashamed. David had felt something break inside him as he had realised for the first time that, no matter how happy Henry had been at the thought of being proved right and discovering himself a whole new family in the process, he had still been separated from the one parental figure he had known all his life.

Regina was many things but even David couldn't deny she had been a good mother to Henry, until everything came crashing down around her.

"Do you want to go see your mother, Henry?" He had asked, and the tentative way Henry had looked up at him then had achieved to convince him.

"It's just that we haven't seen her around in a few days and it's weird." The unsaid 'ever since I stood her up for lunch to sneak in her vault' had hung heavily between them. "You would know if something had happened to her, would you?"

It is a heavy responsibility to have the whole trust of a young child resting on one's shoulders and David had never felt its weight more than in this moment. The truth was, he couldn't answer Henry with absolute certainty. Ever since Regina had been asked to step down as Mayor, his workload had doubled up, and the fact that she had seemed to be staying out of trouble had been enough for him to place her in a far corner of his mind until further notice. He couldn't even remember the last time he had seen her.

"I'm sure she is fine," he had settled for an easy answer, hoping to placate the worried boy and had sent a silent prayer not to be proved wrong.

It hadn't even been 10pm when he had parked the truck in front of the mansion. Henry had been out of the car before it had fully stopped and David had hurried to catch up with him, the absence of any visible light on had made him feel uneasy.

His grandson had used his keys to open the front door and had called for his mother but had received no greeting in return.

David had asked him to stay in the hallway while he had gone and looked for the elusive Queen himself, dread slowly settling in the pit of his stomach.

The ground floor had been void of her presence, although he had noticed the suspicious absence or destruction of any and all mirrors that had once been there, and he then had made his way upstairs.

When he had finally found her, he had thanked whatever deity had given him enough sense to stop Henry from coming himself because he had absolutely no doubt that Regina would never ever want her son to see her like this.

A mess, that was the only word that had come to his mind to describe her as she had been sitting on the cold marble floor of her ensuite bathroom, clutching the round porcelain of the toilet bowl so hard her knuckles were white, dry heaving every once in a while, her long -too long- sleeved shirt sticking to her skin as if she had been sweating profusely and yet she was still shivering as if freezing, her hair were messy and pulled back in an attempt to keep them out of the way.

"Regina?" He had breathed her name out, wondering if he wasn't hallucinating the whole thing, it would make much more sense. "What's going on with you?"

She had turned her head towards him, only becoming aware of his presence, and he had been surprised at how pale she had looked.

"I have been keeping my promise to Henry, I haven't used magic," she had replied, teeth shattering, her voice nothing like what he was used to hear from her, so faint and broken.

He had frowned, not really making the connection, but then a thought had struck him: could magic be compared to a drug and be as hard to quit? If it was true then… The Evil Queen who had relayed on her powers for years, only to be unable to use them in this world without magic, before being abruptly reunited with them when Gold had come out to play,

was suffering from withdrawal symptoms to keep her word and regain her son's trust.

The part of him that had still thought and acted like David Nolan, a man who had called Regina a friend, had felt admiration and respect and had wanted to help the shaky and pale woman in front of him. The part of him that had remembered what Regina had done to his family and friends had been more perplexed and struggled to do the right thing.

"What are you doing here?" Regina had asked but before David had had a chance to answer, Henry had called him out from downstairs.

"Grandpa, what's going on? Did you find her?"

Regina's eyes had widened in surprise and shock and she had shaken her head.

"Henry is here? He can't see me like that!" Her tone had been desperate and she had sent him a pleading look that in other circumstances would have probably caused him to mock her.

"He was worried. He had a nightmare and he called out for you, he wanted to make sure you were alright, since you have been AWOL for the past few days."

He hadn't been able to ignore the tears that had suddenly appeared in the dark brown orbs.

"He was worried about me?" She had whispered in that broken voice that definitely unsettled him.

He had shrugged. "Of course, you're still his mother, one of them anyway, no matter how much we all hate the idea."

She had flinched and he had regretted his words, biting his bottom lip and looking down for a minute.

"Grandpa, you never answered me..." He had heard from behind him and he had turned towards Henry.

The boy had gasped as he had set eyes on his mother. "Mom? What's wrong with you?"

Regina had attempted a reassuring smile but the mere effort had cost her too much. She had slumped back against the toilet seat.

"It's nothing to worry about Henry, I'm just a bit sick, I will be fine soon enough," she had explained.

David had watched the exchange silently and had almost smiled at Henry's narrowed eyes and pinched lips as he had tried to determine if his mother had been lying or not. How was it possible that those two could look so much like each other without having any drop of blood in common?

"But you're never sick!" The boy had exclaimed.

"Just because you never saw it doesn't mean it never happened," Regina had replied tiredly and there had been something in the way she had said it that had given David pause, a hidden meaning he hadn't been sure he could grasp properly. "She has always been very good at hiding how she truly feels, I never suspected what she was really capable of until it was almost too late." Snow had said once, David had remembered and he could certainly understand what she had meant.

"I'll be fine Henry. I just need some rest and to keep some food down," Regina had said and David could see that she desperately wanted her son to leave the room to give herself a chance to be more presentable for him.

"Henry, why don't you help me prepare a snack and some tea for your mom while she freshens herself up? " Utter surprise and then gratefulness had flickered on the woman in question's face in rapid succession.

Henry had seemed to hesitate though, unwilling to leave his mother while she looked so frail.

"It's just for a few minutes Henry, and I would really like some tea. David will only make a mess if you don't show him where everything is," she had scrunched her nose, faking disdain, and it had made David snort.

"I guess he will, he isn't exactly the best in the kitchen," Henry had whispered conspiratorially and Regina's eyes had widened dramatically.

"Has he been starving you?" she had asked, looking scandalized.

David had coughed. "He is still there and he has been told that his cooking needed improving so Granny took pity on us," he had replied, slightly irritated.

Regina and Henry had exchanged an amused look. "And he is talking about himself using the third person, power is getting to his head," she had stated, arching one elegant eyebrow, and Henry had guffawed, the tension finally releasing around him.

"Well, you will have to keep me in check then," the interim Sheriff had said, and this time both of Regina's eyebrows had flown up. "Come on, Henry, let's go down."

The boy had looked back at his mother who had sent him a small smile that was meant to be reassuring but David could see how tensed it really had been.

"Just a few minutes," she had repeated and her son had finally nodded and followed his grandfather out of the room.

The kitchen had been its usual pristine self, but a quick inspection of the cupboards and the refrigerator had let them know it hadn't been used in a little while.

Henry had been a bit shocked at seeing them so bare, he had never known this room to be anything else but full stocked.

"She probably didn't see the point, with me choosing to live elsewhere," he had muttered, his head hung down.

David had put his hand on his shoulder, squeezing comfortingly. "Heh, your mom is a big girl and a hunger strike isn't her style. She wasn't feeling well and probably couldn't keep food down, that's all, it will get better."

Henry hadn't looked convinced. "She always took care of me when I was sick, always knew what to do to make me feel better, but the one time she is, she was left all alone. She doesn't have anyone else but me, Grandpa!" he had blurted out, tears swirling in his eyes; he had wiped them away angrily, sniffling.

David had squeezed the boy tightly against him. "She isn't alone anymore, is she? And she said she needs to eat and drink, so we should prepare a light something for her, alright?" he had ruffled Henry's hair in an attempt to make him smile and had been rewarded by a slight lifting of one corner of his lips.

The kettle had been filled with water and put on the heater, they had found an unopened box of crackers in the back of a cupboard and some herbal tea which had relaxing properties from what David had read at the back of the box. While he had gathered a cup, a spoon, a small plate to put on a tray, he had kept an eye on Henry out of the corner of his eyes and had seen how restless the boy was, looking towards the door every few seconds.

"Go on up," David had finally said and Henry had turned towards him with wide eyes. "I've got it from here, go be with your mom."

Henry hadn't needed to be told twice and had raced towards the stairs, taking them two at a time.

David had shaken his head, smiling fondly just as the water had boiled. He had taken the tray to Regina's room and the sight that had greeted him had tugged at his heartstrings.

Regina had changed her clothes and had been leaning against a couple of pillows, her arms around Henry, one hand on his back, the other in his hair, while her son rested his head on her chest, his arms around her middle. Both had their eyes closed but when David had stepped on a creaking floorboard, Regina had opened hers, startled, tightening her embrace around Henry.

She had observed David, lips pinched, a frown marring her face.

"It's okay, you can relax, Mama Bear. I'm not taking him anywhere, I think he is right where he wants to be," David had whispered, putting the tray on the bedside table and watching as Regina's eyes had become too heavy for her to keep open. She had burrowed her face against her son's curls and her breathing had slowed as she had fallen asleep.

David had brought a chair closer to the bed and had settled in it, readying himself for a silent watch over a part of his… family? Henry definitely was but Regina? He had found he had no proper definition of his relationship with the woman. He couldn't call her a friend when he still wasn't sure that he could trust her, but for Henry's sake he knew he had to look after her. It had also become more and more evident that she could be a precious resource to get Snow and Emma back, if only they could make a suitable deal.

He had rubbed his hands over his face and leaned back, crossing them over his chest.

Morning had come rather quickly. David had managed a couple of shuteyes but had stopped after being rudely awakened by a combined nightmare of both mother and son around 3 am. Screams, whimpers, tears and heavy breathing had been rather difficult to calm down, and then both Henry and Regina had been trying to convince the other that they were perfectly fine, nothing to worry about, despite their shaky voices and shifting eyes.

He had been in the kitchen, trying to prepare breakfast, but given the state of the cabinets it had been a rather difficult feat, when Regina had walked in. She had looked a bit better, less pale, the dark circles under her eyes had receded a bit, and if the grumble he had heard coming from her stomach had been any indication, her nausea had abated.

She had still wrinkled her nose at the cup of coffee he had been holding and he had prepared her a fresh cup of tea instead.

They hadn't exchanged a word, she had studied him intently, probably trying to guess why he had shown her any kindness, first by bringing Henry to her and then by taking care of them both.

She had sipped her tea slowly, closing her eyes as the warmth settled in her still troubled stomach, and had nipped at the crackers he had had brought down.

David had observed each of her gestures, and when Henry had stumbled in half an hour later, showered and dressed, the whole scene had looked so domestic, it had felt unreal. He had realised he had not known this since he had been living in the farm with his mother. His time with Snow, after their wedding, had been filled with worries and battle plans and councils. even during their honeymoon they had tried to find a way to beat Regina; and with Kathryn things had been too awkward.

He had shaken his head, dismissing the strange notion that he was sharing a serene breakfast with the woman who had been the bane of their existence, and had almost missed when she had spoken.

She had cupped Henry's cheek, her thumb stroking it slowly, and she had heaved a sigh.

"I think I should go see Dr Hopper. I thought I could do this on my own but it has proved more difficult than I had first anticipated," she had announced.

"Giving up magic?" Henry had asked and she had nodded.

"I can drive you there, if you want," David had proposed and she had turned her attention towards him, eyebrows raised.

"Want to make sure I keep my word?" She had asked, the faintest hint of amusement in her tone.

"What I saw last night was proof enough," he had replied and he had felt some satisfaction when she had looked surprised. It was good to know he could keep her in her toes.

They had finished breakfast, conversations flowing more easily. He had sent her upstairs to get ready while he and Henry had cleaned up, and she had looked mildly put out at being ordered around in her own house.

They had dropped Henry at school, even if he had bargained to stay home given their not so restful night but Regina had argued that if she had to go and sit with Archie, he could at least pay attention to his replacement teacher for a few hours. It had all seemed almost normal until Henry had leaned over the space between the two front seats and kissed his mother's cheek, whispering "I'm proud of you".

She hadn't had time to reply, Henry had been out of the car, waving to them before disappearing in the building. The rest of the drive was silent, Regina had writhed her hands together nervously, looking out of the window, and when the car had stopped again in front of Archie's office, David had put one of his hand over her fidgeting ones, causing her to jump.

"You're doing the right thing. It will be alright," he had reassured her.

"At least, I'm not pucking my gut out anymore, so there is that," she had retorted, scrunching up her nose at the thought of what he had seen the night before.

"See, bright spots all around," he had laughed. "Archie is a good man, he will do whatever he can to help you," he had added more seriously.

"We shall see," she had said, inhaling deeply, gathering her courage.

"Just give me a call when you need me to pick you up."

"My, my, people are going to talk if you keep going," Regina had remarked dryly.

"Let them talk."

"What a brave shepherd you are!" She had gone out of the car, taking a few steps and then turning back towards him.

"Thank you," she had said, and the sincerity of the statement had made no doubt to him.

He had nodded, waiting until she had entered the place before driving away.

Regina hadn't been able to stop staring down at her hands ever since she had arrived back home. She wasn't quite sure how she had made the journey from the stables to Archie's office and then to the Manor in one piece, given how distracted and shaky she had been, still was.

She had always had the feeling that she could see the blood on her hands if she squinted hard enough, and even if this time no blood had been spilled, she had the distinct impression all her past sins were written right there.

After all this time, she had finally had Daniel back. For a few short moments, she had been able to touch him, talk to him, just be with him, and her heart had almost burst at how filled with joy it had been. A few short, way too short moments, and it had all been shattered to pieces. He hadn't really been Daniel, not fully, and no matter how hard she had wanted to hung unto him and never let go, she had known he would only suffer, and he had been through enough of that.

All her efforts to give up on magic, to rid her system of it and to process how to live without it, all the mind searching, letting Archie probe the darker corner of her buried memories and traumas, and it had all flown out of the window to kill her true love once and for all. The mere notion had been untolerable.

"Phhew," a low whistle coming from the living room entrance had broken through her thoughts and her head had snapped to the side too quickly, causing her to wince as her muscles protested.

The pretend Prince had made it a habit - a very bad one at that- to barge into her home uninvited, and even if she hadn't recently expressed her displeasure at the repeated intrusions, he had really chosen the worst moment to express his burglar talents.

"David, leave. You have done quite enough for today, I really want to be left alone," she had said using what little strength she had left to put in her tone, shaking her head, raising her hand to ward off his approach.

He had ignored her, of course he had, and made a cautious descent towards her, stepping over the debris of the furnitures that had surrounded her. She had unleashed all her bottled up feelings and her living room had taken the brunt of it.

"I wanted to check up on you after what happened earlier. I guess I don't have to ask how you are," the interim Sheriff had stated, looking around from the torn and partially burnt curtains to the pieces of what had once been the coffee table, to the frames ripped from the walls, the paintings they had contained nowhere to be found. The only things that had been left untouched were Henry's pictures.

She had rolled her eyes, her lips had thinned. "Can't I ever get a moment of peace?" She hadn't had anymore fight left in her. "Please, just leave," her voice had broken, she had pressed a hand against her mouth to stifle a sob but it had only made him move to her quicker.

He had sat close to her, "No one should be left alone under those circumstances. I'm really sorry it had to come to this," David had whispered, squeezing her shoulder and had frowned when he had caught proper sight of her neck, around which she had known bruises in the form of an handprint had started to bloom.

She had turned her head away, had curled up, hugging her knees to her chest, pressing her face to them but she hadn't shrugged off his hand. He had kept it there for a minute, before rubbing her back, and then getting up again to fetch them something to drink.

He had brought back two full glasses of cider, along with the bottle, and had pushed one of the glasses in her shaky hands.

"Encouraging me to drink? What kind of example are you trying to set?" She had asked, but her attempt at humour had fallen flat, she just hadn't been able to put her heart into it. "How is Henry?"

"He is fine, a bit shaken, but more by what happened to you than by meeting Daniel. He wanted to come but I didn't think it was a good idea."

She had nodded in agreement.

They had downed the first glass in silence, Regina's sobs had died down, and she had struggled to get her breathing back under control.

He had served them a second and then a third drink, before he had broken the quiet. "Tell me about him. Daniel. How did you meet? What was he like?"

But Regina had frantically shaken her head. "I can't…" she had started and then paused. "I have spent so many years grieving for him, I have lost count and now… I can't do that... He was everything, David, everything I had, and he was taken away right before my eyes. I couldn't do anything and today… Today, I had to…" She had been heaving and panting and struggling to let the air in and David had drawn her to him.

She had fisted his shirt in her hands. "All I wanted was to bring him back, I learned magic to do just that but he was right there and I… I failed him and I failed Henry too. I broke my word. You were right to keep him away, everything I touch turns to ash, and it's only a matter of time before something happens to Henry because of me…" She had been rambling, self-loathing so deeply internalized she never doubted her words were true but suddenly, she had been cut off, a hand in her hair to bring her head back, lips pressed against her own, and her thoughts had shut down.

"Shhh," he had whispered against her lips when he had finally ended the kiss. "Stop doing this to yourself. There was nothing you could do to save him and Henry is fine, we got there in time."

She had only looked at him with wide eyes, his shirt still clutched in her tight grip and he had seemed to only realised what he had done. "I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me, I shouldn't have done that," he had said hurriedly but she hadn't moved nor had she replied.

She had brought one of her hand from his torso to his cheek and his lips, wiping away some remnants of her lipstick with her thumb.

He had frowned. "Regina?" He had called out softly, but just then she had brought his head down and crushed his lips against hers.

She had moaned in abandon, her jumbled mind disconnecting enough to let her enjoy something that wasn't the visions of horrors that had been plaguing her all evening. She hadn't even noticed when her tears had started falling again.

"Regina, stop," David had said, holding her arms and straightening up to put a bit of distance between them.

She had leaned back, as if electrocuted.

"You're crying, you're in pain, it's not right," the Prince had stated, wiping her tears away.

"You started it. Don't tell me you forced yourself to kiss me," she had replied, a slight tremble in her voice that had betrayed how much what she had wanted his answer to be.

"I know I did and I don't regret it, but I am married and you have just witnessed the man you loved dying for the second time. This isn't right."

"Your wife isn't here and you may never get her back, Daniel is gone and I can't stop thinking. I need to stop thinking just for a moment. I need to feel something different, if just for a little while," she had looked so desperate, so broken and her words had made something in him snap.

If he had tried to reason with himself and justify his actions, he would probably have said that he and Snow barely had time to properly reconnect before she went down the portal with Emma. Everything that had happened before the curse had been broken had still been fresh in his mind, and he had been confused and lost, thinking his family was lost to him forever.

However, in that moment, with Regina right in front of him, open in a way he had never thought possible, vulnerable and yet willing, the only defense he had for himself was 'Why the hell not?'

She had seen the change in his eyes immediately, he had always been an open book, much like his precious snowflake of a wife, he had always worn his emotions and his heart on his sleeve, and the moment he had decided to give in, she had known.

He had fused their mouths back together and this kiss had had nothing to do with the two previous ones, no more inhibitions, no more qualms. She had lost her balance from the force with which he had embraced her, and if it hadn't been for his muscular arms around her frame she would have landed harshly on her back.

Instead, he had eased her on the ground, his tongue sneaking past her lips and she had gripped his hair with one hand and bunched his shirt with the other, moaning at the intrusion.

His hands had traveled along her leggings covered legs to her knees, making them bent and settling properly between them, his jeans rubbing against her center and she had thrown her head back, a loud gasp leaving her mouth.

Why did something that was so wrong felt so right? She had thought, the irony that a couple of weeks ago she had tried to seduce him, to no avail, to hurt an unaware Snow, and that in this very moment he was the one to take charge, had registered somewhere in her mind.

"Stop thinking," he had said, cupping her cheek with one hand, the other slowly going up her leg to her hip and under her shirt. "We need to stop thinking."

She had shivered at the contact of his warm palm against her stomach and brought his head back down. She had been craving intimacy like this ever since Graham... No, even with Graham, it hadn't been real, he had been cursed, controlled, molded into doing her bidding. David was none of those things, not anymore.

A thrill had run through her as she had finally realised that Charming, Snow's Charming, was between her legs, kissing her into oblivion out of his own free will, and that, more than anything else, had been the determining factor into ultimately letting go.

She had tugged his damned flannel up until he had taken it off along with his t-shirt, leaving his chest and back bare for her nails to roam.

"Your turn," he had said, helping her out of her blue long sleeved shirt. She hadn't bothered with such a trivial thing as putting on a bra after the scolding hot shower she had taken to try and scrub off any traces she had left of the stables, and his usually clear blue eyes had turned dark with lust at the sight of what he had just uncovered.

"So that's what your dresses back there were hiding," he had whispered, and had shrugged at the single eyebrow she had arched. "Can't blame me for being curious, I'm a hot blooded man after all."

Her gaze had swept down until it had reached the evidence of his 'hot bloodedness'. "I dare say you are," she had replied and he had smirked proudly.

"It would seem I like what I see," he had muttered against her collarbone, nipping his way down to the swell of her breast, licking and biting gently around, leaving her nipple entirely untouched and she had growled, an irritated sound resounding in the back of her throat. She had gripped his hair again, trying to guide him where she had wanted his mouth most but he had denied her, switching to her other breast and giving it the same treatment.

She had arched her back, hoping to entice him into giving in but it hadn't worked. He had let go of her breasts entirely, and made his way to her navel and the waistline of her leggings. He had brought it down along with her panties, brushing his lips along one leg on the way down and the other on the way up after he had thrown the garments somewhere behind him. He had stroked the inside of her thighs with his nose, picking up on her scent as he had gotten closer and closer to her mound.

His sweet torture had continued there, he had licked at her opening, nipped at her lips, brushed his nose against her clit, never applying enough pressure for her to feel any kind of relief, but in a way it had had the desired effect. She had been so focused on his every actions that she couldn't think about anything else.

A loud whimper had escaped her when his tongue had entered her, but the sensation had been short lived because he had only used his tongue, no fingers, no more contact with her clit and it just hadn't been enough, and the bastard had known that. He had batted her fingers away when she had tried to take matters in her own hands and had kept fucking her with his tongue.

"More, I need more," Regina had whined at last and she had felt his grin against her thigh as he had ceased his movements.

"You only had to say it," he had told her and he had finally let his fingers join the show. Who would have thought this Charming Prince could be such a damn tease?

With his fingers stretching her and his tongue at her clit, Regina had finally been able to feel an orgasm starting to build and had been quite vocal about it, but just as she had thought she might find her release he had stopped again, straightening up to shimmy out of his shoes, socks, jeans and boxers.

She would never admit it even under torture, but she had quite liked what she had seen and it had been enough to distract her from her cheated climax. He was well-built, with strong and defined muscles that hadn't seem to suffer from his extensive coma. His shoulders were broader than Graham's, her Huntsman had been more angular, thinner, and she had never had the feeling she had gotten with David that he could crush her, but right then it had suited her just fine.

Her eyes had dropped to his proudly standing erection and she had encircled it with her hand, causing him to grunt. He had covered her hand with his and they pumped slowly for a few moments.

He had taken her hand off his cock and lowered himself back between her opened legs.

"You sure?" He had asked, and she had nodded, her retort of 'Just get on with it already' dying on her lips as he had thrusted into her slowly.

Her hips had met him thrusts for thrusts, his mouth had finally latched on her nipples, she had been so close, so close. He had kissed her again, raw passion had slowly dwindled into something more sweet, more intense in a way and it had reminded Regina of her very first kiss, and everything that she had pushed back since she had thrown herself at David had come back at once. She had buried her face in David's neck to hide it from him, she could feel the tears forming again behind her closed eyelids, and God she really had thought she had no more to cry.

She had disguised her sobs as whimpers of pleasure, long years of practice with her husband had rendered it second nature. All hope for release had eluded her then and David must have felt something had been wrong. He had slowed his thrusts down, taken her face in his hands, and had looked horrified at the sight of her tears and that he hadn't noticed.

"I'm sorry… I can't…" she had cried out, pushing him away and stumbling to her feet, grabbing her shirt in an attempt to cover herself.

She had fled to her room, not looking back, falling on her bed, burying herself under the covers, and had sobbed her heart out.

David had joined her after a while, dressed and uncertain. Seeing her like this had been too much for him though and he had lied down behind her, taking her in his arms. She had only wept harder, until she had had no energy left and he had stayed, eyes wide open well into the night, adjusting his embrace around her, wondering what the hell he had gotten into and why he hadn't felt the slightest amount of guilt at any given moment that evening?

The end?