Don't really have much to say right now hahaha but I hope you enjoy this chapter! And I am looking forward to the reviews so don't let me down! ;)

Anton walked quietly in to the dining room with breakfast for his guests in hand, placing his feet as silently as he could on the floor so as not to shake them awake. With the tip of his tongue caught between his lips in concentration he gently put down the plate next to the small crates and then ducked down to check and see if Regina was awake yet.

He quite enjoyed her which was something he did not really expect only because he swore to himself that he would never befriend a human again. When he found her bed to be empty though he frowned. Perhaps he should have expected them to sneak around and look for the compass behind his back. Humans lied, none of them should be trusted and one would think that he would have learned his lesson the first time. However before rage and betrayal truly got the chance to settle in him he caught glimpse of someone in David's bed and upon closer inspection he found both of them sound asleep and holding each other close.

He breathed out a sigh of relief and allowed for a smile to relax his face at the sight of them both still where he had left them. Sort of. The sudden realization that he was going to have to say goodbye to them and he was going to be alone again hit him hard and his smile was replaced with another frown. Sure he could keep the compass from them and make them stay longer but he didn't want to anger them and he didn't want to force them to go behind his back to find it themselves when they had stayed true to their word and did not harm him or anger him but instead made him laugh and forget about being lonely.

So he placed the compass just outside of the crate so they would see it and then he turned and walked away.

...

When David woke up it was with several heavy blankets up to his neck and an awake Regina in his arms watching him with wide dark eyes. "Hello," he smiled and took a long deep breath of the fresh morning air and stretched his muscles without hardly moving at all.

"Hello," she greeted in return and nuzzled the side of her head a little further in to his arm.

"You stay warm?" He breathed out and let his head drop heavier in to his pillow. She nodded against him as her reply and gave him a smile with it, "good. How long have you been awake?"

"I don't know. Doesn't matter."

"You don't talk much in the morning," he observed with a smile and she shrugged.

"I don't talk when I'm thinking."

"What are you thinking about?"

Regina smiled and shook her head, "I said I don't talk when I'm thinking."

"I'll be patient then," he smiled back and began playing with the soft ends of her hair that fell behind her shoulders. He didn't speak nor did he think, he simply watched her and let his smile grow when she shrugged her shoulders up so she could bury her nose back in to the collar of the jacket to keep it warm.

She wanted to stay there, she didn't want to go back out in to the cold that awaited outside of his arms. Both metaphorically and physically. He was safe, he was warm, and he allowed her to use her heart but if that use went without consequence she didn't yet know but she doubted it wouldn't. When it came to herself no matters of the heart went unpunished be them good or evil.

She didn't know what this was though...why he had stayed...she knew why she stayed. She stayed because she was practically helpless against any form of affection or love when it was directed her way. But as to why he kept coming back to her, kept fighting for her, she hadn't the slightest clue. Or perhaps she did and she was ignoring it, turning a blind eye because she didn't want to know why he stayed and why he desired to hold her so close and why with every kiss he put so much effort in to make it feel like more than just a kiss. Unless he wasn't putting effort in and that was simply what it felt like to kiss him.

She didn't exactly appreciate that thought. That he, perhaps, had begun to love her...that was not okay. She couldn't even find it in herself to ask him if he did or not for she was nervous for either answer and didn't really want either of them.

Without a word she sat up straight and he followed suit a moment later while he watched her with curious blue eyes. She turned her head to look him up and down and after a few seconds of doing so she looked away and swung her legs off the edge of the bed and stood up to wander the crate in search of her shirt and panties. She bent down to pick up the discarded black lace and then reached a little further forward to take a corner of her white shirt between her middle and pointer finger. When she stood back up she found her back to be pressed up against his chest and she tensed, that tension only growing when his hands found her hips and his mouth met her ear.

He enjoyed feeling her body through his large leather jacket more than he thought he would and when his slow moving hands settled around her waist after starting at her hips and traveling up her ribs he spoke quietly in to her ear, "you need to stop thinking so much. Your thoughts are making you worry."

She tried to stay grounded, she really did, but when he left a soft lingering kiss on the pulse point on her neck all was forgotten and her eyes fluttered shut as she relaxed against him with a satisfied moan and slightly hated herself for it, "I've stopped."

"Good," he approved quietly and kissed her neck once more.

...

"Hey! You!" She yelled with her hands on her hips and an unimpressed cock of her head. Anton jumped a little and turned around to look down at them and he opened his mouth to talk but she cut him short, "you think we are this selfish?" She questioned and lifted the compass so it dangled on the chain off her fingertips, "that we would take this and be on our merry way without so much as a thank you or a farewell? Then you go and hide away? Really you think that little of us? ...pun unintended or whatever," she smirked and David breathed out a chuckle behind her.

"I'm sorry."

"As you should be!" She scolded and then pushed her arm out behind her, "now that we have found you in this enormous place would you be so kind as to join us back in the dining room so we may not get pneumonia and die?"

Anton breathed out a laugh and nodded at the wonderfully temperamental brunette, "of course."

"Thank you."

...

"You are beginning to look homeless, Charming."

"Well I don't have a razor so you're going to have to deal it up darling," he grinned and she rolled her eyes.

"We have two daggers. You can't manage with one of those?" She raised an eyebrow and smirked as she tucked her legs up beside her.

"But it's harder that way. And I don't have a mirror."

"It's not that hard," she chuckled and shook her head.

"You do it then!"

"Alright," she shrugged and stood up to retrieve the dagger. She was expecting him to back down and keep her from literally putting a blade against his throat but when she snatched up her dagger with her fingertips and stopped in front of him he was smiling up at her and laughing quietly. With a flick of her head to remove the hair from her eyes she lowered herself to her knees and straddled his lap, moving in close so she could make sure she wouldn't cut him.

"So this place you two are from? What is it called."

"Storybrooke," she answered and paused before bringing the cold blade in to contact with David's face just to give him another chance to change his mind. With a smile he turned his head a little to give her a better angle to start at and held his hands around the back of her knees so she carefully moved the blade down over his stubble, feeling more than delighted that he allowed his trust to fall in her, "it is a town that is part of a very large world."

"How far away is it?"

"A good portal jump away," she smiled and removed the metal from his chin only to bring it back up to his cheek again.

"And your son?" He asked and caught the beginnings of a frown before she hid it.

"He's still there. He's a good boy I'm sure he's doing just fine without me. He's very clever."

"Pretty sure he gets that from you," David smirked and she pulled the dagger away from is face and widened her eyes in playful irritation as she nodded.

"Do you want me to cut you?"

"No," he laughed and shook his head.

"Then stop talking," she instructed and allowed him to let out another laugh before she brought the dagger back to his face with a smile curling one corner of her mouth.

"You guys are awesome," Anton chuckled and folded his arms on the table and rested his chin on the back of his hands.

"Well you're not so bad yourself," she smiled but kept her focus on David's face as she tilted his head the up a fraction with her fingers underneath his chin unintentionally making him smile. "You weren't even all that bad when you were crushing David," she grinned and David's smile grew in to a laugh, "stop moving," she scolded light heartedly.

"You're doing a good job," he smiled and turned his head when her soft fingers asked for the motion.

"Glad to hear it," she chuckled and made quick work of his cheek and jaw before moving to his upper lip and chin. She was aware of his thumbs moving back and forth over the sides of her thighs above her knees but she did not pay any mind to the affection behind the gesture. The thought that there was affection in the movement truly didn't even cross her mind. She pushed his chin up a little higher and placed the sharp edge of the dagger against his jugular, "nervous?"

He smiled and she laughed under her breath as she moved the blade up over his skin, "should I be?"

Regina hummed thoughtfully and watched the metal move his skin, "perhaps a little," she smirked and flicked the blade off of his chin. He blinked slowly with an amused laugh as he levelled his head again so he could look her in the eye while she checked for any spots she missed. Placing the dagger on the tabletop they sat on, she moved her hands up to feel for any missed spots that her eyes couldn't see and she found herself smiling at him when he grinned at the contact, "much better."

"Thank you," he nodded and then leaned in for a quick stolen kiss. Just a mere peck on her lips that had her immediately tensing but he couldn't help himself. She stared at him with wide stunned eyes and he smiled as though nothing happened, "what?"

"...nothing," she shook her head clear and cursed the burn that was rising to her cheeks. It had been far too long since someone had given her a kiss like that. One of affection and perhaps love rather than desire and lust. It made her feel good.

He could only adore her when she tried to bite down the smile that wished to match the life in her eyes and the slight blush to her cheeks. Wonderfully giddy, she shrugged her shoulders up and then dropped them as she bowed her head when she was unsuccessful in hiding and her smile grew to show her teeth.

He made a mental note as he smiled widely down at her and that was to take consideration in the smaller things for her and toward her. If a quick chaste kiss could get him such a beautifully heartwarming reaction then what would holding her hand do? Writing her a note in the morning if he could not be there when she awoke? Giving her a flower? He had a whole arsenal of gestures at his disposal and he couldn't wait to use them.

"You guys are awesome," he repeated himself with a smile but neither of them responded, too caught up in the other to even glance his way.

...

"I feel bad for leaving him up there all alone..."

"I'm sure he'll be alright," he reassured as he happily climbed down the beanstalk with the ground a safe distance below them. If he were to fall now there would be little if any injury and that allowed him to relax.

"It isn't okay to be alone for so long," she frowned and looked up the beanstalk as she continued downward.

"Well," he stretched down for a secure foothold and when he found one he continued, "he did have a cutting from the bean crop left. Perhaps when he finds a good place to start a new crop he'll take a vacation and find some more giant folk."

"Perhaps..."

He smiled at her as she continued down with troubled thoughts, "he did offer."

"I know," she sighed and shook her head, "but we can't wait that long. Who knows how long it would take to find suitable land and then wait for the plant to actually grow...we couldn't stay that long."

"I'm sure I could manage," he smiled at her and she looked up at him with an expression portraying no single emotion. There was no smile though and she looked back down to watch her feet.

"It only would have been harder to say goodbye anyway."

"I suppose that's true," he nodded and then checked to see how high he was from the ground before he jumped off the stalk and waited for her to join him, "besides I don't particularly want to make that climb ever again."

Regina chuckled under her breath and stepped down from the beanstalk and onto flat ground, "may I see the compass?"

"What?"

"The compass," she insisted with her hand out between the both of them in a request for him to place it in her hand, "may I see it?"

He could just feel the blood drain from his face, "I don't have it."

"...what do you mean you don't have it?!"

"I gave it to you!"

"You did no such thing!"

"Yes I did!" He panicked as he checked all of his pockets, patting them down and pushing his hands in each one multiple times, "I swear I gave it to you!" He spun around and looked on the ground for the metal in the dirt as he continued checking all of his pockets once more. He stopped at the sound of low laughter and after a moment's pause he spun back around to find Regina grinning madly and dangling the compass on its chain from her fingertips.

"That's not funny."

"Oh I think it's rather hilarious," she cocked her head and grinned as she began swaying the compass a little.

"That's cause you have a twisted sense of humour," she only laughed through her toothy grin at him, "give me that!" He snatched the compass from her with a laugh and gave it a quick look over before pushing it in to his jeans pocket, "making me think we had to climb up that god damned beanstalk again," he grumbled under his breath in a manner that made the words hard to decipher. But she was a clever woman.

"I doubt it'd be as bad as the first time," she shrugged and raised her eyebrows as she looked up at him with her lips barely kept closed in a smile.

"I'm not about to go testing your theory," he growled playfully and lunged forward for her waist and she let out a small yelp through her laughter as she jumped away from his grasp and took off running with him hot on her heels. They didn't make it very far though before Regina planted her feet in to the soil with a startled gasp and he bumped in to her with his attempt to stop in time.

"I haven't heard you laugh like that in ages," she began softly and smiled a little. Regina simply stared back at her with wildly nervous eyes and the man behind her looked uneasy as well but still held his hands around her waist in quite a protective manner.

"Don't move anywhere until I come find you," she instructed quietly over her shoulder but held her mother's eye contact as her heart skipped frantically in her chest.

"What? No!"

Despite his protests Cora watched him disappear in her daughter's purple smoke behind her, "that wasn't necessary."

"Yes it was."

"I am not going to hurt you darling."

Regina stared at her for a little while and when she felt her throat start to tighten with swallowed tears she started to laugh, "you know I almost believe that," she nodded and ran her tongue over her teeth while her eyes burned with tears she didn't want to show.

"Regina-"

"Why are you here? What do you want? What more could you possibly want from me!?"

Cora shook her head and took a step forward only to have Regina take one back and hold her chin a little higher. She couldn't help but smile if only just a little at the sight of something she had drilled in to her head when she was younger. "I've missed you," she confessed quietly.

"You've missed me?" She rocked her head on her shoulders cynically, her lips tight with heartbreak as a tear rolled down her cheek, "you've missed me!?" She repeated bitterly with the beginnings of a snarl curling back her lip, "what," she choked out, suddenly finding it hard to breathe as more tears fell, "what is that!?"

"It's the truth."

"Is it though!? After everything you have told me in the past has turned out to be some master plan of yours how am I supposed to believe you now!?"

"I know I have done wrong by you, Regina," she nodded and heard her voice run a little thick with sorrow and self hatred at the tears falling down her daughter's face, "please I just want another chance. I want to be better for you."

"I have been giving you second chances my entire life," she growled through bared teeth and leaned forward just a little, "I will not give you another one. I am done." Cora reached forward once more and opened her mouth to speak but Regina ripped her arm away and began yelling instead, "do not touch me! This is unhealthy mother! My entire life I wanted your love and your pride in me and every time I believed I had it it would simply turn out that you were playing a part, forcing me in to a life I never wanted, playing games with my life so that I could live the one you had wanted for yourself but never got!"

"I know," she admitted with a solemn nod of her head, "it wasn't fair to you and I am sorry Regina, I truly am."

"Then why mother?" She begged, allowing one breath be heard in a quiet cry between questions, "why couldn't you just let me go? You knew I didn't want this life, you knew I didn't want to be queen, you knew I would never be happy, you knew I wanted to be with Daniel so why mother? Why did you kill my only friend? Why did you kill the man I loved with all of my heart?"

Cora shook her head and looked to the ground, unable to hold Regina's awfully heart wrenching gaze, "because I knew you could do better than a stable boy."

"I didn't want better," she whispered with a shake of her head as new tears fell.

"You didn't know what you wanted," she replied quietly and hesitantly looked back up.

"I knew exactly what I wanted! And I had it! I had everything I wanted! I had love, I had happiness, I didn't need nor want anything more. To this day that is all I want and to this day I have not caught more than a glimpse of it since you took it from me!"

"My intentions were not to make you unhappy."

"Your intentions were selfish," she hissed as she felt her heart break and snap with her harsh words to the woman she had only ever wanted love from but had only received pain.

"Yes they were," she agreed quietly, the guilt of what she had caused beginning to churn her stomach and bring tears to her own eyes, "I never should have made you marry the king," she whispered and Regina closed her eyes and began shaking but it was not shaking that should be paired with tears of any sort. It looked to be stemmed more from fear than anything else and it confused her. "I understand why you rid yourself of me and I do not hold that against you my darling daughter," she shook her head and managed to get half a step closer to her before Regina opened her eyes for more tears to fall.

"The life of a wife of a stable boy would have been hard and unfitting for a woman such as yourself. I could not let you live the life I did when I knew you could have a better one."

"I would have taken that life over the one I lived any day," she whispered furiously.

Cora shook her head and blinked slowly, "you lived well darling. You are a queen and you have everything at your disposal, every comfort you could possibly hope for. All of the power in the world at your disposal. How do you not see that despite the king not truly loving you, you were taken care of and given everything?"

"He raped me!" She screamed, her temper finally snapping in hearing the things she should have been grateful for. She did not miss the way her mother flinched and stopped breathing as her small smile immediately vanished. Her tears streamed down her face and her voice was tense and shaky with the cries she barely held back so she could get her words out instead, "over and over and over again he asked me to his room! I eventually gave up fighting him because I learned that when I fought he only hurt me more!

"I was eighteen! Leopold was practically three times my age and to him I was nothing more than a babysitter for his daughter that he didn't have to pay for and a doll he could dress up as his wife and fuck until he was satisfied only send me back when he was finished! Rumplestiltskin's was the only shoulder I had to cry on, the only one I had to help me and keep me from jumping off a god damn turret! You were my mother! You were supposed to protect me! You were supposed to keep me safe! You were supposed to be the one at my side, the one I could run to when I was scared and alone! But you threw me to the wolves because you thought power was more important than your own daughter!" She screamed and cried because she could not stop the memories from flashing behind her eyes and making her hurt and panic.

She could barely see her mother through her tears and her jaw was beginning to ache from the tension she kept the muscles in. From what she could see through her tears there was a tear that rolled down Cora's cheek, "Leopold was not the man he was known to be and contrary to popular belief I did not have him killed so I could take the kingdom, I had him killed so that I no longer had to be frightened at night by the possibility of being requested in his chambers. I had him killed so I could sleep without the aid of magic! And so help me if you say that Leopold's cruelty was just a price I should have been happy to pay then I will show you exactly what I should have been happy about!" She bellowed and brought a memory to her palm, her fingers bent stiffly with rage and pain as her tears fell from her eyes.

"No," Cora whispered and shook her head as her stomach twisted in disgust and flooded with even more guilt. She was at a loss for words and let another tear fall down her cheek, "no...I..." She watched the memory dissipate from Regina's shaking hand. "Regina-" she took a step forward with her arms outstretched a little but Regina stepped back and closed her eyes only to bow her head and cry helplessly despite her efforts to remain silent and strong.

What was left in her chest in place of her heart ached stronger than ever and she quickly took advantage of Regina's closed eyes and silently stepped up to her and raised her hands to gently hold either side of her daughter's face, "I have ruined you," she whispered and frowned as another tear fell at Regina turning her head in to her right hand as her beautiful face creased with further conflict and pain.

"I am so sorry," she cried slowly and shook her head while her daughter's tears rolled in to her aged hands, "please," she begged in a whisper, "let me do better."

Regina shook her head in refusal, her heart aching and wishing to say yes but her experience showing her better, "no," she whispered slowly and savoured her mother's gentle touch.

"Please," she cried quietly but Regina simply continued to shake her head. "Please," she whispered once more before Regina backed out of her hold and her hands were left empty save for Regina's tears, "Regina?" She didn't want to be alone anymore. She wanted someone with the ability to love her and she knew her dear daughter could love her.

She didn't open her eyes for she knew that if she did she wouldn't be able to follow through and would instead fall back in to Cora's open arms, "no," she whispered and then turned on her heels and walked away with hurried steps and a hand over her mouth to further quiet her cries as she left her mother standing alone and quietly pleading her to come back.