A/N: Alright guys, another interlude chapter with multiple PoVs. I've been getting feedback both through comments and private messaging expressing some concerns regarding Snow's and David's characters. This chapter should alleviate some of them.

(edited and updated as of 11/10/2015)

A Gambit in Trust

Interlude II

Snow I

Snow shifted in the hard-backed plastic chair and failed to find a position that did not highlight every ache and pain in her body. She held back a grumpy sigh at the passing thought that she should have been used to these chairs by now. She ignored it, forcing the depressing realization of how much time she had spent in this hospital out of her mind to worry about later.

Ruby chose that moment to groan a low, pain-filled whine. Snow had stopped letting the sounds inspire hope that her friend might wake. It stopped the crushing disappointment when the woman simply settled back to her rest after whatever pained her had eased.

Snow hoisted herself onto tired feet and trudged to her friend's side. A hefty bowl of ice water had been left at Ruby's bedside by one of the nurses, a small pile of cloths tucked beside it. Snow took one, dipped it, and began to mop Ruby's forehead. The woman suffered from a fever on the "cusp of turning critical" according to Whale, and each of these episodes seemed to drive Ruby further in that direction.

She bit her lip and focused on her task, pointedly ignoring the bandages snaking Ruby's body from her neck down. Snow knew all too well how painful burns could be, and hated the thought of Ruby suffering that particular agony after only trying to protect a friend. When they found Cora – and they would, she promised herself – she was going to bring that monster down.

"Is this a bad time?" Snow started, surprised by the gentle timbre of Archie's voice. She looked up to find him watching her from the room's doorway, genuine concern shading his gentle gaze. He nodded toward her hand, and Snow realized that her arm was shaking, squeezing all the water out of the cloth.

With a slight flush, Snow fought to control her emotions and dunked the cloth into the chilled liquid, resuming her ministrations. "Not at all," she said after she had gathered herself. Archie smiled and took a seat in the chair she had spent most of the day in.

It was odd, she mused, to see him without his usual tweed outfit or Pongo at his side. She spotted bandages poking out from beneath the sleeves of his loose plaid sweater, and assumed he had opted for comfort while he healed. It was another reminder of the good people hurt by Cora's mere presence in her town, and Snow had to cross her arms to keep them from starting to shake once more.

Cora had so much to answer for, but here she was. Feeling utterly helpless.

"How is she holding up?" Archie's question drew her back to the present, and Snow took a steadying breath before answering.

"About as well as yesterday." She busied herself tidying a small vase of wildflowers sitting next to the water bowl. "I still can't believe that witch used silver."

She heard the grimace in Archie's response. "She certainly has a vindictive streak." He rubbed at a wrist in an absent motion. "Using tactics that will affect the most people in a personal way." He peered at her, thoroughly without judgement, and Snow let her eyes fall. "Do you have anything on your mind, Snow?"

Her first reaction was annoyance, but Snow crushed it before it could surface. Archie meant well, always, and had earned his nickname dozens of times over during her campaign to claim her father's throne and well beyond. Still, she hesitated as a silence drew on, broken only by the machines measuring Ruby's vitals. Archie seemed content to wait her out, twiddling with his sleeves in his pleasant, unassuming manner.

"I wouldn't even know where to begin," she said with several weeks' worth of frustrations brimming under the surface.

"I know many folks were having difficulties with the transition," Archie suggested. "Once the curse broke, there was quite a bit of confusion with their senses of self." Snow nodded. David had told her about how he had rallied the panicking townsfolk together to embrace both sides of themselves – original and cursed alike.

"I never had a chance to think about it," Snow said, considering. It had only been a few hours after regaining her memories that found her following Emma through the portal back home. It'd felt like she hadn't missed a day. "I just picked up where I left off. I had to." Other than her… meekness, Mary Margaret had not been so different than Snow White.

"And how was the homeland?" Archie asked with a slight frown. It was a question many of her friends and acquaintances had sought her out to ask in the last few weeks. She had always avoided the question, not wanting to sully their memories. The look in Archie's eyes as he peered at her hinted that he might have already had an inkling of the state of things.

She spoke true. "It was… not good." Archie's raised red eyebrows met her understatement. "Less than a ghost of what it used to be." She explained, fingers drumming silently on Ruby's bed. "There were survivors, refugees, and some people from different kingdoms, but the way they were living…" She trailed off, shaking her head. "Their fate was much worse than ours."

And Cora had ended their fragile hopes and simple lives as an afterthought. A massacre to send a message. Her stomach turned.

"Was?" Archie prompted.

"She killed them all. No mercy. Children, Archie!" The memory of it made her want to rage and destroy something, curl up in a ball and cry, scream her lungs empty in her frustration. That the woman had followed them back burned at her. That everyone's lives were in jeopardy because they did not end the woman back in the Enchanted Forest filled her with a guilt so complete that it threatened to cripple her some days.

Archie's complexion faded to ashen at the thought. "I'm sorry you had to witness such a thing." His words did little to ease the weight on her shoulders. "I can't imagine how it must have been for Emma," Archie said, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Trapped in a foreign realm, everything alien to her…"

An echo of a smile graced Snow's lips as she pushed the awful memories away and focused on the brightest spot in her life. "Emma did amazingly well." Her daughter's perseverance, determination, and do-good nature inspired immeasurable pride in Snow. "It was never easy, but she kept her eyes forward." She let herself gush, just a bit. "We worked together so well, it was almost exactly like I had pictured us becoming when I'd been pregnant…"

A familiar pang of disappointment at lost opportunities flared through her, gone as quick as it had come.

"Nothing forges bonds quite as quickly as working together to survive," Archie said with a short nod.

Snow's face fell. "It hasn't seemed to last since we've been back." She tried not to let the bitter tone of regret stain her words. "There just hasn't been any time…"

Archie reached up and pulled at his collar with a grimace. "There's an evil to focus on, and I'm sure Emma feels somewhat responsible for Cora being in Storybrooke, just as you do." He quirked an amused half-smile. "She is your daughter."

"I see it sometimes," Snow said with a wistful glance out the window. The town below them bustled with midday activity. "There are moments when I feel like I never missed anything." She shook her head, looking back to Archie. "But every so often it feels like I don't know her at all. That I can't understand the choices she makes."

Archie sat without comment, curious eyes watching her every move. Snow fidgeted with the sleeves of her sweater, wondering why it had been easier to speak to Archie when he was a cricket than it was now.

"She was so adamant about Regina's innocence of—" She stopped herself and gave Archie an apologetic look, but he just waved her on to continue. Snow chose her words with more care. "I admire her compassion, but I just don't understand how she can forgive Regina so, so easily.

"And now Emma's been spending almost every waking moment together with her trying to 'protect' Regina from her mother." Snow held her hands out wide, trying to emphasize her point. "I can't help but to worry about the influence Regina is having on her. That Regina is putting one of my loved ones in danger again." She clenched her firsts opened and closed, wishing for an answer to appear. "I want to trust in Emma's instincts, but I can't wrap my head around where she's coming from." Her arms fell to her sides and she looked to Ruby. "I don't know if I can get past what Regina has done. To all of us."

She could not support her daughter's choices, and that thought nibbled on the edge of her thoughts at all times.

It was maddening.

When Archie spoke, it was with the hesitant cadence of someone treading lightly. "Putting aside personal biases," he said. "Is difficult. But it's critical to do so if you want to try to see the world from an alternate perspective." He stood and leaned his hands on the plastic footrest at the end of Ruby's bed, fingers drumming against the plastic.

"I've spoken to the Sheriff several times since she ended the curse," he said. "It seems to me that she's been focused on one thing above others: defending Regina."

"For Henry," Snow was quick to point out. The stories all told how her own heart was supposed to be as pure as driven snow, but it was Henry that possessed the most forgiving heart. Even after she lied to him for his entire childhood, the young boy still found it in him to forgive Regina. Snow was as proud of him as she was concerned.

"Partially." Archie agreed. He turned his eyes upward and seemed to hesitate before continuing. "The two of them share several similar qualities." Snow's eyes narrowed toward a glare on instinct. "It isn't surprising that she would be drawn to Regina as a kindred spirit. Of sorts."

Snow wanted to argue the point, but a stray thought gave her pause. I know that look, her daughter had said. I know her. I believe her.

The empty, echoing pain of regret ate at her and Snow had to turn away from the man. Her time with Emma in the Enchanted Forest had drawn them together, but it was a far cry from the bond they'd lost out on when Snow had placed her into the wardrobe those many years ago.

And since they had returned, Regina had been Emma's entire focus, the woman sparing time only for Henry and a few brief moments with her parents. It boggled Snow's mind how even after everything Regina had done, Emma seemed closer to her than she did her own mother.

"She was close with Mary Margaret." The memory of their time as roommates usually filled Snow with immeasurable joy, knowing how good Emma had been to someone who was little more than a stranger, but now it left only the ache of longing behind.

"But you're not completely Mary Margaret anymore." Archie said the words gently as he if he were treading on dangerous ground. "Just as your husband isn't just David Nolan, and I'm both Archie Hopper and Jiminy Cricket."

"It's taken some adjusting," Snow said, though she believed herself to be at peace with their new reality.

"You have a stronger sense of self than most, Snow." He smiled at her briefly, but sobered. "But imagine how it must have been for Emma? Everyone that she thought she knew…"

"Was suddenly someone else." The thought had not crossed her mind before

"Except for Henry and…"

Realization dawned on Snow. "Regina."

Archie nodded. "In times of turmoil, it's human nature to cling to things that are familiar. That Cora is added to the mix only intensifies that feeling, I'd imagine."

Snow remained quiet, studying her comatose friend's face. Cora's handiwork was vindictive and terrifying and Ruby had not even been her target. Snow let herself forget that it was Regina in danger and imagined if it were Emma or Charming or Henry in the crosshairs. The bottom falling out of her stomach told her all she needed to know.

If Emma truly cared about Regina, for the reasons Archie believed or otherwise, then Snow could understand how her daughter's focus had been taken so completely these past weeks. She did not agree, but she did not have to.

Snow felt a sudden rush of shame. After almost thirty years of absence, she'd tried to impose her own views on her daughter.

"Thank you, Archie," she said. She resolved to ease up on the Regina issue, but knew better than to let her guard down completely. She needed to find a balance or risk ostracizing her daughter completely.

"Never a problem."

"Oh. Should I come back?" Snow started once more at another new voice. Bell stood just inside Ruby's room, bouncing on the balls of her feet and fidgeting with an array of vibrant gray-blue flowers she held in a bundle. The librarian looked between Snow and Archie with something close to apprehension, but Snow understood. The tiny room simply did not have enough space to house all three of them.

"I was just on my way," Archie said before Snow could speak. He gave the unconscious woman's hand a gentle squeeze, bid them all a quiet goodbye, and slipped out the door.

"How has she been?" Belle sidestepped around Snow and started placing her flowers in the vase on Ruby's bedside. The relaxed gray contrasted well with the wildflowers, she thought.

"About the same as yesterday." Belle looked as if she had braced herself for worse news and sighed in relief. "But what about you, how are you holding up?"

"The fairies were unique company," Belle said with a halfhearted laugh. She finished fussing with the flowers and turned her attention to Ruby, laying a feather-light hand on the woman's arm. "But I didn't get much rest." Snow offered a sympathetic smile, but Belle did not see it with her attention focused entirely on Ruby with an inscrutable expression.

"Have you heard—" Snow's question was cut off by Ruby's heartrate monitor spiking to a terrifyingly quick pace. Belle whipped her gaze toward the machine, eyes wide and panicked as Ruby started convulsing.

Snow moved to the opposite side of Ruby's bed, swallowing fear and slamming the call button on her way, and got up under Ruby's arm and hoisted the woman to her side. She tried to keep her friend steady, but the spasms were stronger than any Snow had ever seen. Belle backed to the corner of the room, not tearing her eyes off Ruby, looking entirely lost.

Snow could not spare her further thought until a team of nurses bounded into the room and took her place, forcing both Snow and Belle out of the room, only able to poke their heads in the doorway to watch them work on Ruby. Snow swore she did not draw a true breath for the long minutes until Ruby's seizure had passed. When Ruby stilled and the monitor's beep returned to a steady rhythm, Snow sagged in exhausted relief.

Beside her, Belle slid down to the floor, head in her hands. "I don't know if I can handle this," she said, voice tight with emotion. Snow willed away her own anxious apprehension and gripped the other woman by the shoulder. Surprised as she was at Belle seemingly folding under pressure, Snow did not let it show. She knew better than most the pain of feeling overwhelmed and helpless.

Especially with the addition of guilt to the mix, deserved or not.

"I know it's not easy, but Ruby is a fighter." Snow repeated her daughter's words. "She'll survive this, and so will we."

Belle let her head fall back against the wall, her eyes closed. "I hope you're right." She sounded unconvinced.

Snow peeked back into her friend's room to find the nurses stripping the werewolf's bedding and lining ice packs along Ruby's body. She paled at the sight

"I have to be," she whispered.

The alternative was far too awful for her to even fathom.

David II

"So I have to ask," David said as he walked through Storybrooke's graveyard side by side with the woman who had chased after his wife for the better part of Snow's adult life. "Why the secret hideaway?" He stepped around a pair of tombstones breaking down and crumbling with the inevitable corrosion of time. "Couldn't you have just set up something in your basement? It's not like anyone would've been looking for magic at your front door."

Regina spared a halfhearted glare his way. She stopped arguing about his presence hours ago, but she still made it clear she wanted him gone each time he opened his mouth. Her cold shoulder and curt words could drive most anyone away.

David was not sure if he was patient enough to endure it or just too stubborn to disobey his daughter's request, but he managed to stick around.

"It's pretty morbid too," he said when the former queen maintained her silence. "A vault in a tomb? Were you trying to hit all the clichés on purpose?" Regina's nostrils flared.

"It's from the old world," she said with a flicker of heat. "I don't suppose you would understand the wisdom of having a safe place of retreat."

Only spent years beating you and your armies back, he thought. Naturally without any understanding of strategy. He held back from voicing his objection and instead studied the mausoleum they approached.

It seemed standard for what it was, as far as David could tell. Built from stones in varying shades of gray and standing at least a couple dozen feet tall, it stood out separate from the gravesites surrounding it that now seemed pedestrian in comparison. An iron gate secured an entrance flanked by Greek-style columns, and a wild ivy grew up its sides in a controlled display of chaos.

It seemed a regal resting place. Fitting for an evil queen to choose for her hideaway, David supposed.

Regina did not use a key, opting instead to wave a hand over the gate. The metallic click of a release lock echoed against the stone around it and the graveyard beyond, sending an unsettling chill along David's spine. Regina strode down steps carved into the earth with all the confidence of someone who had done so many times before. David followed at a more reserved pace, eyes sharp for hidden traps or dangers.

"Nothing's going to pop out of the walls." Regina stopped at the end the subterranean hallway just as David took another slow, deliberate, step within. She stood in an open doorway with a scowl on her face, blocking his view of the room behind her. "This isn't Indiana Jones." Fighting a flush in his cheeks, David upped his pace.

The woman rolled her eyes and stepped into the chamber beyond the hall. When he caught up, David found Regina pushing against a sarcophagus with all her might. The scraping of stone against stone irked his ears even as he was dumbfounded by the display. The stone coffin should have weighed at least a ton, but Regina moved it with ease.

Another set of stairs proved to be what lay beneath the tomb, and Regina wasted no time in descending those as well, not even sparing him a glance. David's stomach twisted in an unpleasant way. Using a shell of a mausoleum to house a vault was one thing, but to actually use the fallen as a secret doorway offended his sense of decency.

It was his sense of duty that pushed him onward despite his hesitance, and he thought a silent apology to the poor soul housed resting within the sarcophagus as he followed Regina further down into her lair.

The stairs leveled out into another claustrophobic hallway, and David spotted Regina up ahead where the space bloomed into a domed room the size of Snow's apartment. The former queen stared at a wall, pale-faced and resigned.

The vault proved more cluttered than David would have expected. A variety of artifacts were on display throughout the space, held on low stone tables or pedestals the same style as the columns outside. A series of bookshelves had been carved into one of the walls, each filled with tomes of various sizes and color, sporting languages David were not sure were even real. Regina's attention was captivated by the wall opposite the books, which was covered in what seemed to be security deposit boxes with decorative hearts carved in their fronts.

David felt nauseated, instantly aware of what he was seeing.

"How many did you take?" He did not bother to keep the disgust from showing. There were dozens of the boxes, and David was certain each had held someone's heart at one time.

She did not seem to hear him. "It's gone," she said. David noticed she held one of the boxes in her hands, open and empty.

"Good," he said and started pulling the cages out of the wall at random, making sure each was empty before moving on to the next. Regina did not try to stop him.

"Not good," she backpedaled until she hit one of her display tables and rested her weight on it, letting the heart box fall from her hands. "That one was my mother's."

David halted in his justified path of destruction. Regina's words churned in his mind, but he could not fathom what her logic could possibly have been.

"You had her heart." His tone came out dull. Regina bowed her head in what might have been a nod and David struggled to remember why they were giving her another chance. "How did you not tell us?"

"I had to know." Regina's head snapped back up, eyes full of defiance. "She knew I had it," she said, regaining her feet. "And if I made a move to use it, she'd have known I was working against her."

David did not see the problem. "And how would that have made any difference? You could have controlled her. Ended the threat before it had a chance to begin." He ran a hand through his hair, trying not to picture the opportunities lost to them.

"I needed to know what she was after." Regina repeated herself.

"I'll be sure to explain that to Ruby if she ever wakes up." David barely caught the flinch before the woman hid it beneath the cold expression she often favored.

"There was no guarantee it would have worked, anyway." David crossed his arms, eyebrows rising in question. Regina chewed on a thought before answering. "Before the curse, I hired Hook to kill my mother."

"That worked out well."

"Clearly." Regina met his sarcasm with her own. "He delivered her heart to me, and I assumed he was successful."

A bit of realization dawned on David. "And since they're working together now, it probably wasn't her heart."

"It was," Regina said without a trace of doubt. "But that meant she wanted me to have it."

"A sign of good faith?"

Regina scoffed. "Temptation. I've no doubt she had something protecting it."

"So she wanted to be sure of your loyalties." David laughed without humor, and rubbed at his temples to stave off a headache. Gods save him from these women. "What did she offer you?"

"Excuse me?" Regina seemed taken aback.

"You said it yourself. You both needed to feel the other out." David leveled a hard look her way. "She trusted you enough with her heart, trap or not. She had to think you'd end up on her side."

"You'd be better off leaving the heavy thinking to your wife," Regina said and made to leave the vault. He grabbed her arm in a firm grip, jerking her to a stop. Regina studied the hand for a moment before turning a glare filled with cold fury his way. "Not enough," she answered him in a low voice. The air around them felt charged with the promise of danger. David pressed on.

"And if it had been?" Her hands flexed and David braced himself for a fight.

"I don't need your trust or faith, Charming." She yanked her arm out of his grip and regarded him with an expression of mixed anger and… hurt? "Just be glad Emma is far wiser than you could ever hope to be."

She turned and strode out of the vault with purposeful steps, leaving David feeling a curious combination of relieved and chastised as the pent up energy in the atmosphere dissipated. From her reactions, David could only believe Regina was on the level regarding her mother. He did not – and probably could not – trust her completely, but he no longer doubted Regina was on their side.

For now.

He followed her out, only catching up to her at the mausoleum's gate. Regina leaned against the stone portal, head held in both hands and what David could see of her face contorted with pain.

"You alright?" He rested a hand on her shoulder, and she did not recoil, which unnerved David more than her sudden change in demeanor.

"Wards." She bit the word out through gritted teeth and David felt the adrenaline pump through his blood. He had his phone out and the convent's number pulled up in a flash, but Regina grabbed his wrist before he could dial out. "Not magic," she said and took several unsteady steps away from the tomb.

"How can you tell?" David caught up with her and held an arm to her back to help steady her. She did not acknowledge it, but picked up her pace.

"Because I'm not unconscious."

David blinked in surprise and mild confusion. "How helpful could they be if they'd knock you out if Cora attacked?"

"The feedback is not supposed to be that strong." There was a hesitation he had never heard in her voice that might have been a touch of embarrassment.

David put two and two together, having been in the former queen's company since the early morning hours at Emma's request, and only just managed to keep the laughter from his voice with a sheer display of will. "Hangover not helping, I take it?"

The glare she leveled his way confirmed his guess.

"If not Cora, then who?" David asked after taking a moment to enjoy a rare reminder that Regina was as human as the rest of them.

"Someone without magic that holds ill intent towards me or the property," Regina said as they reached her Mercedes. David felt a pang of longing for his truck as he climbed into the passenger side of the vehicle. "Who in town could possibly fit that description?" The sardonic question emphasized the position they were in, and David spent the trip trying to narrow down what or who to expect.

Fifteen minutes and several broken traffic laws later, Regina pulled to a stop at the end of Mifflin Street and killed the engine. The two traded a glance before moving out, and David let Regina take the lead. He pulled his gun and clicked the safety off as they moved through Regina's neighbors' backyards, and tried to ignore the instincts that wished he held a blade in its stead.

When they crossed Regina's property line, David spotted the intruder standing in the middle of the yard with his back toward them. He moved to the crouch, tapping Regina's shoulder as he did so, and she paused long enough to send a questioning look over her shoulder. He tapped a finger to his lips and then to his ear. She nodded her agreement and matched his stance.

The trespasser was remarkable in the fact that there was nothing about him that stood out as far as David could see. He was of average height and weight and his cropped hair highlighted more than hid the fact that he was balding. He wore boots, blue jeans, and a flannel jacket, and he held his head cocked to the side to keep a cellphone tucked between his shoulder and ear. The professional-grade camera the man held drew most of David's curiosity.

The stranger's conversation carried to them as they crept closer to him. "—to hide it. Just like I told you." He snapped several photos and started side stepping to the right, eyes locked on his camera's digital screen all the while. "Yes I'm absolutely sure." He sounded exasperated. "How are things on your end?" He took more pictures while David assumed the person on the other line responded.

"Well go to him anyway," he said with a begrudging sigh. "I've got a feeling it's going to start moving soon." He held the camera down, and David and Regina made it within ten feet of him. "You too," the man said and lifted his head to its proper angle. The phone slipped off his shoulder, but he freed a hand to catch it.

David chose that moment. "Can I help you?" The mystery man jumped high enough to break the local track records and spun toward them. His face proved to be as average as the rest of him, with a rounded, clean shaven chin and dull brown eyes wide with a healthy amount of shock and fear as they darted between Regina, David, and the gun.

"Who are you?" Regina demanded and David shot the former mayor a surprised glance. Regina knew everyone in Storybrooke. His heart dropped even as it sped up.

A stranger had come to Storybrooke.

"G-greg Mendell," he stuttered, bringing his hands up to hold high. They shook so much David thought the camera might disassemble. David lowered his weapon and held out one hand in a placating gesture.

"Easy." He holstered the gun and fished for a believable excuse, not wanting to reveal magic to someone native to this realm. It was a can of worms he did not relish the thought of opening. "We received a report of a stranger trespassing in the area." The lie slipped off his tongue and he flashed his deputy's badge. Greg's body language eased up some and he let his hands come to his sides, but he still seemed ready to embrace the flight half of survival instinct. "Mind telling us what you're doing here?"

David wracked his brain trying to figure out a solution to this new problem. They had spent so long trying to figure out how to get out of the town, they had never considered the issue of someone else coming in.

"I've been driving all the way up the east coast. You know, doing the whole foliage spotting thing," he said with a hesitant smile and a gesture toward his camera. "Just got into town an hour or so ago."

"Doesn't explain what you're doing here." Regina said, and David could see the wheels churning behind her eyes. A flush rose to Greg's cheeks.

"Right, sorry. You see, I actually studied to be an architect in college." He turned to point at the mayoral manor. "And that, is a beautiful example of classic New England architecture." Regina remained unmoved by his complement. "What is it? Eighteenth century? Early nineteenth?" He asked the question with an inflection of academic joy David was used to hearing from the dwarves when they spoke about their work.

Regina's hard glare did not ease up, and Greg's excitement bled away. "Look, I'm sorry for trespassing." He hung the camera off a strap around his neck. "But sometimes I get so into things that I forget to think about them." He offered a half-hearted chuckle and gulped when neither of them responded in kind. "I can just be on my way. Head out to photo the foliage like I meant to. No harm, no foul. Right?"

"Absolutely not." Regina narrowed her eyes at the man. "I take my privacy very seriously, Mr. Mendell." The man's mouth opened and closed without making a sound.

"Hang on," David raised a hand to each of the other two in a placating gesture. "Could I see your camera, sir?" The man hesitated, but complied under the weight of Regina's consistent glower. David took a few seconds to get familiar with the bulky equipment, but soon found the device's history. Besides the pictures of Regina's home from various angles, there was nothing but an outrageous number of pictures of trees in varying shades of yellows, reds, and oranges.

"Most of these are pretty well done," David said as he handed the camera back to a grateful Greg. "But I couldn't help but notice there were no pictures of yourself in there."

The man let out a rueful laugh. "Curse of traveling alone."

"The entire east coast on your own? Has to be pretty rough."

He shrugged. "You get used to it. Plus the phones help." He waved his cell to emphasize the point. "I hate to rush you, officer, but could I get out of here? The light's great right now. Don't want to miss it."

"Deputy," Regina said with an echo of her old commanding demeanor. "Arrest him."

"What!?" Greg recoiled, face draining of color. "Sir, you can't."

"Regina," David admonished. They had the barest of causes to do so and she had to have known that. "I'm sure this is all just an innocent mistake."

"I don't care," Regina turned to him, eyes narrowed. "He broke the law, Deputy, now do your job." Greg spluttered objections as David heaved a sigh and pulled his handcuffs off his belt. Other than constantly muttering how ridiculous the situation was, Greg did not resist as David secured the man's hands behind his back and led him toward the cruiser he'd parked in Regina's driveway that morning.

The former queen followed behind them, but did not speak until David shut Greg in the car, cutting off his mumbled objections.

"You need to find out everything about him," she said the moment he turned to her. "Where he came from, how he got here, and what he wants." David caught the hint of fear Regina tried to hide from her cadence.

"It's possible he is what he says he is," David said. "Without the border, it makes sense that people will stumble upon the town."

"He set off the wards, Charming. That should be evidence enough." David sighed, ceding the point.

"Locking him up isn't going to solve anything," he said. "He'll be out in an hour as long as he can pay the fine."

"It buys us time." Regina's attention focused on the man in the car. Greg watched them both with fearful eyes. He looked like he'd be afraid to harm a fly.

"Is there any way you can monitor him or something instead?" Regina blinked at him, surprised.

"That could work." Her brows furrowed in consideration. "I'd need something of his."

David had a flash of inspiration and pulled open the squad car's door. "Greg. Working for you here, but I need the camera again, okay?"

"Not exactly in a position to argue," Greg said with a sigh, his eyes lowered. David frowned and pulled the camera off the man's neck and closed the door once again.

"Act like you're looking through the pictures." He handed Regina the camera. "And put your tracker on it."

She looked mildly impressed. "Block his view." David made sure his body covered the cruiser's rear window. Regina wasted no time in popping out the camera's SD card while pulling a blank coin from within her jacket. If David had not been looking for it, he may have missed the spell. The tiny memory stick glowed with purple light for no more than a heartbeat before it pulsed onto the coin and Regina returned the card to the camera.

"Wherever this goes," she explained at his puzzled look while holding up the camera. "This coin will be able to find." She stuffed it back into an inside pocket and shoved the camera his way. "I would still appreciate if you discouraged him from coming anywhere near here."

Without waiting for a reply, she spun on her heal and strode up the walkway toward the house.

"I'll be back in ten," he said and moved around the cruiser.

"Wonderful." David considered the resurgence of sarcasm as a good sign.

His passenger remained silent as David pulled away from the mayoral manor, and did not make a peep all the way to Granny's. When he pulled to a stop outside the bed and breakfast, Greg perked up.

"So I convinced her not to press charges," David said to break the quiet. Greg seemed taken aback.

"Thank you," he said. "Does that mean I'm free to go?" David heard the handcuffs strain against two quick yanks.

"Yes, but I'd recommend you avoid that part of town while you're here."

"Shouldn't be a problem." David studied Greg in the rearview. The man appeared nothing but earnest. "I should've known better," he said. "All politicians get a bit paranoid about their private stuff." David frowned, but left the car to let Greg out.

"Free to go." David unlocked the handcuffs and handed him the camera. He shouldered the strap with a relived sigh.

"Thank you again, Deputy." Greg said with a smile, massaging his free wrists. "I'm sorry for the trouble."

"Just keep your nose clean," David said. "And enjoy the foliage." Greg nodded with a wide smile and waved, setting off down the street. David watched as he went with a growing sense of foreboding.

How had the man known Regina was a politician?

E/N: And there you have it! A heartless Belle wanders around undetected and a bumbling stranger falls onto David's and Regina's radar as several different threads from canon start to converge in (hopefully) unique and interesting ways.

I hope you all enjoyed a peek into the minds of Once's most charming couple! I wanted to make it very clear: At their core, both David and Snow are good people. Self-righteous sometimes, overbearing at others, but overall good. We've seen David's PoV briefly before where I think that was clear, but Snow's was a new place for us to go.

Behind Emma and Regina's eyes, it's hard to make Snow sympathetic where we are now. Regina straight up doesn't like the woman, and Emma is still avoiding a confrontation with her emotions that she had to face much earlier in canon. Given Snow's PoV, though, should give a quick insight to where her state of mind is, and Archie is invaluable in helping to urge even the most stubborn of characters into opening their minds.

Next chapter will travel back to NY for a Henry PoV, setting up our next bit of action packed mayhem with some rising action of its own. In the meantime, please let me know what you thought of the chapter! Good, bad, ugly?