Long time, no see! I have to tell you guys, it was a horrible month :P But, I passed all my tests, so: hola 1 month holidays! I'm the happiest human being on Earth right now.

This chapter will start before the last chapter ended, and it's what Snow and Charming were talking about/doing while Ruby and Emma drowned their sorrows :) Hope you all Snowing fans will like it, because I know I've been kind of neglecting you.

Also, this story is coming to an end, I'll try to extend it until chapter 25, but I don't promise you anything. Three chapters more are a sure deal, tho!

Hugs,

Mara.

MARY MARGARET'S POV

The night couldn't have turned worse for Emma. I really felt sorry for the poor girl. She had opened her heart to Regina, which was a huge step for Emma I'm-afraid-of-commitment Swan Nolan, just to get rejected. Then, she had seen her brother's ex-girlfriend in town and just assume the worst; I'm not going to lie, I was scared by Kathryn's presence too, but David and I had already talked about it, and she was no threat to our relationship - at least as much as I could see. And just to make things even worse, Emma had to pull her best fake smile and come to work and face her boss, who was no one than the same woman who had broken her heart few hours ago.

Even if David had come to the party with Kathryn, he decided to stay in front of the waiters' zone with Ruby and I rather than mingling with her. I appreciated that. We were having a drink and commenting on the mess that this night had turned out to be, David of course still didn't know what had happened between her sister and Regina, and neither Ruby nor I felt like filling him in.

I realised that Ruby also wore a fake smile in her face, but I didn't want to ask about it - I was sure it had nothing to do with Emma's heartbreak, but I guessed that my brunette friend would tell me when she feels comfortable. Despite Emma's misfortune (that I was trying to put aside in my mind), and Ruby's pretended happiness, we were trying to have a good time. Good as in: no one was crying and David was trying his best to make me and Ruby smile.

But then even his gorgeous smile abandoned his face and he closed his jaw tightly, I turned around to see what was going on. I didn't really understand what was going on, there were a bunch of people talking, and a guy looking around. The guy seemed familiar, but I couldn't put a name to the face.

"David?" I asked, "Is everything alright?"

He clenched his teeth, "No," my boyfriend replied, "That guy," he pointed at the familiar face "that's Daniel,"

Well, fuck. I just stared at the guy, realising that with his appearance all of my hopes that Regina would eventually fix her relationship with Emma had disappeared, died, drowned. This was just the cherry on top to Emma's horrible night.

"We need to find Emma," Ruby was the one that broke the silence, and now I could see that behind that fake smile, she had started to worry about our friend.

"Why?" David asked confused, he was still clueless about the fight between his sister and his best friend.

"Emma and Regina had a fight today," I said, trying to keep it simple and I started to look around to see if I could find Emma's blonde mane.

"They did? But Regina just jumped into Emma's defence when we were fighting," David looked even more confused now.

I sighed, the truth needed to be said, otherwise David wouldn't understand the gravity of the situation "Emma told Regina she loved her," I said, "And Regina didn't say anything back. So Emma is under the impression that Regina doesn't love her back,"

"So Daniel being here will hurt her," David commented.

"Understatement of the century" Ruby rolled her eyes, "We seriously need to get Emma off this boat, I haven't seen her since the party started,"

I nodded, I hadn't seen her either. "The yacht is not that big. David, go and look for her, Ruby and I will stay at the entrance ramp just in case she's leaving," they both nodded and then David disappeared in between the crowed.

"Emma is going to be wrecked if she finds out that Daniel is here," Ruby commented.

"I'm pretty sure she knows," I replied with an expression that was a mirror of Ruby's worried face. "The boat is pretty small, I just hope we get her out before she has a breakdown in front of everyone, you know how she hates letting her guard down,"

"Damn that Regina! I wish I could tighten my hands around her neck!" I could see the rage on Ruby's eyes, and I would be lying if I would say that I was not feeling angry towards the brunette. I was about to open my mouth when I saw Emma run towards us with her eyes filled with unshed tears: she knew Daniel was here.

"Emma!" I let out, a little bit relieved to see her in front of me, "We've been looking for you," Ruby nodded.

"I can't find -" David shut up when he saw his sister. He hugged her and said something to her ear.

The sound of a firework startled me. I studied Emma's face, she had been so excited about the firework show, she wouldn't shut up about it for a whole month. Emma's face darkened and her expressions showed nothing but pain, I could feel my heart shrinking just by looking at her.

"Can we please go somewhere else?" Emma asked in an almost inaudible voice tone.

"Sure, sweetie," Ruby was the first one to reply "Let's go, home,"

But, we all knew that Emma didn't need to go home, what she needed was a drink - and a strong one. It must have been a tough call for David, because even if he was starting to accept that his sister was a grown up woman, he still had problems when she behaved like a reckless adult. But we all knew that Emma could use some good-time at the moment, we would deal with the problem as adults tomorrow morning, when the emotions were not so sensitive. So, instead of going home, David drove to the Rabbit Hole.

"Hey," I felt David gently grabbing me by the elbow, "Can we stay here? I don't feel like going into the pub,"

My gaze went from David to the girls that had just opened the pub's door. I could hear the loud music until the door was closed behind my two best friends. Then the night was almost silent; the music still sounded, but it was a soft, almost inaudible sound.

"Sure," I smiled at David and grabbed his hand. "But I have the feeling I'll be cold in no time," I added with a grin.

David smiled at me and guided me to the back of his trunk. He let go of my hand to get on the pickup truck bed and opened the metallic box that was part of his car. I looked inside, there were few blankets and an emergency kit. He took the blankets out and, from the emergency kit, he grabbed two granola bars.

"Cherry or apple?" he asked raising both bars.

"Cherry," I replied to his simple question.

He handled me the bar and placed his inside his pocket, then he extended one blanket across the pickup truck bed. I tried to get on the truck bed, but it was too hard to do so wearing the dress I had on, so David jumped down and helped me by lifting me by the waist. He gently placed me on the edge of the truck and I moved towards the blanket, where I waited for him.

He sat next to me and wrapped me in his arms, instantly I felt warm and protected. David placed another blanket on our legs and smiled at me. "This is nice," he commented,

"It is," I said and rested my head against his shoulder.

After that, we stopped talking, it was not an awkward silence, at least not for me. I was just savouring the moment, even if a part of me felt guilty because I was happy and Emma was a complete mess who was drinking to drown her conscience and sorrows.

"Thanks for believing in me, M," David broke the silence after a while and held me even tighter against his chest,

"Huh?"

"When I told you about Kathryn," he explained, "Thanks for believing in me and not jumping into wrong conclusions,"

I smiled and raised my hear to face him, "I trust you," I said, "For some reason I don't fully understand, but I trust you blindly,"

He closed the distance between our mouths and kissed me shortly, then smiled against my lips, "And I trust you, until the end of the times,"

"I'm glad you told me, though," I said, returning my head to it's favourite place: David's shoulder. "I think that all problems start because of lack of communication,"

He nodded, agreeing with my statement and dropped the topic. He broke the silence once again to ask another question "Do you think she'll be alright?"

It took me a moment to understand who was David referring to. "I think Emma will be fine," I assured him, "We all get our hearts broken every once in a while," I shrugged, "Emma is not the fragile girl you knew when you felt for college, David, she's a tough cookie," I squished his hand.

"And I am as naive as I was in high school," he lowered his gazed and studied our interlocked hands. "I can't believe I was stupid enough to think that Regina had changed,"

I sighed, somehow I knew that David would feel guilty for Emma's suffering "David, you can't live your life mistrusting the people around you," he caressed my hand, "Regina is your friend,"

"Exactly, I should know how she really is,"

I pursed my lips into a line and stayed in silence. I still believed that Regina had a valid and good explanation about not telling Emma that she loved her back, but everything was more complicated now that Daniel was back in her life. Stupid Daniel, couldn't he pick a better time to come back? I snuggled into David's chest and neck and decided to enjoy the moment and stop talking.

We were not in peace for a long time. It was Ruby's voice the one that broke our comfortable silence.

"Guyssss," Ruby was holding onto Emma, and Emma was holding onto Ruby. Both supporting their own drunk weight on the other girl, "We are going to get some ssssushi, wanna come?"

"You don't have to, tho," Emma added. I studied her, she was drunk, and she was hurt, but she didn't look suicidal or something along those line, she would be fine on her own. "We can manage on our own,"

David kept quiet for a while, probably also studying Emma's state, "Fine, but call me if anything happens, alright?" he said. Emma nodded and then both girls left. "Do you think they'll be fine?" David asked me.

I nodded, "It takes more than alcohol to injure those two girls, trust me," I said with a half smile, "Let's go home? I'm freezing and you can wait with me until Emma comes back," I proposed. He nodded and helped me up and down from the the truck bed.

We drove in silence to my place, it was not an uncomfortable silence, I didn't try to break it with small chat, I knew David's mind was going over and over the fact that Regina had broken Emma's heart, just as he had said from the beginning. But I knew he was not happy to be right about this matter, he wouldn't tell Emma 'I told you so,' the next day. He looked like he needed a hug, and that was exactly what I gave him as soon as we were inside the apartment.

David hugged me back, and strongly, as if his life depended on it. He was scared for Emma, probably because this Emma I-m-drinking-to-forget-my-heartbreak was completely new for him. It was fairly new for me too to be honest, Emma had never been really in love with someone, but I somehow knew that Emma would be alright. More than being Emma Swan, she was like Emma Phoenix, and she would raise from her ashes like she always did.

"David, she'll be fine, trust me," I whispered to his ear, he let go of the hug and looked me into my eyes.

"Thanks," he said, he looked a little bit more calmed now, "I should go home, it's late and you must be tired,"

"You could always stay," the words left my mouth faster than my brain's ability to process them.

David smiled at me and rubbed my arms, "As tempting as that sounds, if we waited this long, I'd prefer our first night to be a less messed up night," I pursed my lips into a smile and looked at him. "What?"

"You're every girl's prince charming,"

"I just want to be your prince charming," he smiled, "That was cheesy,"

"It's ok, I like your cheesy," I admitted, "And for the record, when I invited you over, what I really meant was for us to sleep together, not... you know..." I felt my cheeks blush.

'Are you blushing?' I heard my inner voice yelled 'You just think about sex and you blush?! Oh, for god sakes, Mary Margaret! How old are you? Fourteen?'

It was not like I didn't want to make love with David, because I wanted. And the more time I spent with him, the more sure I was that he was the one. But David was right, tonight had been a pretty shittie night for all of us. Even if the only one that was heartbroken was Emma, both of us cared too much about her; both of us felt, to a certain degree her pain. So, I didn't think any of us was in the mood of having sex.

"Would that be alright with you?" he asked, gentleman as always.

I nodded, "I said you could wait here until Emma comes back, right?" it was his time to nod, so I grabbed him by the hand and led him to my room, "I think I've got some sweatshirts that will fit you fine,"

'Or he could sleep shirtless,' I hushed my internal voice and handled him a Twisted Sisters sweatshirt. He looked at the shirt and then at me with an eyebrow raised, then he grinned.

"I don't really picture you listening to this type of music,"

"I don't," I admitted, "Emma made me go to one of the Masters of Rock festival when we were on the Czech Republic couple of years ago," it had been a pretty awesome concert, I must admit. Rock had never been my type of music, but being at the concert, surrounded by all those crazy hard rockers, it had been an amazing experience.

David proposed that I could change in the bathroom and he'd change in the room, by the time I walked out of the bathroom David was already below the sheets, I bit my lower lip at the sight, I could get used to it.

"I took my pants of so they don't wrinkle, do you mind? I can sleep at Emma's bed if -"

"It's alright, David," I interrupted him and climbed into the bed, next to him, "It's not like I'm going to break if I feel your leg against mine," I teased him.

"Well, I do hope so," he smiled "Good night, Mary Margaret,"

"Goodnight, David," I turned around to switch the lights off, and stayed in that position: giving my back to David. I don't know why I didn't turn to face him, maybe I was afraid that our relationship just got real; or maybe I was afraid I couldn't resist his charm, and I really didn't want to look back and remember the night that Regina broke Emma's heart as the night we had sex for the first time.

Then, I felt the bed shifting, and David's strong arm sliding down my stomach and pulling me closer to him. He kissed my shoulder-blade and whispered, "Is this alright?"

"Yes," I said without second thoughts, because it was nothing but the truth. This was more than alright, this was perfect.