Okay I reeeeeaaaally want to hear what you all think of this chapter! Don't leave me with nothing ;) I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
"Tell me about Daniel."
Regina furrowed her brow just a little, almost unnoticeably as she moved the dagger down David's jaw, "why?"
"Do you not want to talk about him?" He questioned gently and she kept her eyes on the stopped blade, "I don't imagine you have told anyone about him before and I thought you may like to. Not everybody knows about him and those that do don't truly know anything about him aside from his relationship status with you," he paused to let her finish her movement she had put on hold while he spoke. When the dagger moved off his chin he gently prodded her once more, "tell me about him."
Regina shook her head and swallowed her tears at the offer to tell as she brought the blade to his cheekbone again, "I don't know where to start."
David shrugged and smiled a little while she took great care to keep her eyes from meeting his, "what did he look like?"
"You saw him when I gave you that first memory of Snow."
"Not long enough to get a good look," he urged softly and watched her shoulders drop a little.
No she had never talked about Daniel before. Who did she have to tell? She had had no friends or family she could express her joy to and when he was killed she had no one to share her grief with. "He was only a couple inches shorter than you," she started and continued with the dagger over his skin, "his hair was brown, not dark and not light, just brown and it was just a little longer than most men kept theirs but I liked it. I remember him enjoying the feel of me running my fingers through it when we were close."
She paused for a few moments to pull herself together as the kind face she loved so dearly formed behind her eyes. She missed him so much, her heart ached with every memory of him, "like yours his eyes were blue but," she shook her head and lifted her gaze to study the prince's irises, "they were more...saturated. And darker around the circumference. They were not as sharp but were just as breathtaking," she whispered the last word breathlessly and stared in his eyes for barely half a second longer before she blinked quickly and dropped her eyes to the dagger's blade so she could focus on making it move again.
It felt like her heart was in her throat and she fought the desire to cry over her lost love as well as cursing the burn she felt begin to grow in her cheeks at her unintentional confession. "His hands carried the perfect unique balance of strength and gentleness, the balance only found in a person who has worked with horses all their life. They were large like yours only they were calloused with hard work. His touch was so gentle I sometimes could hardly feel it but I always knew he did even if the pressure was unnoticed. My heart skipped every time and I could never truly stop the smile that came with the feeling."
She smiled just a little and flicked the dagger off David's jaw and listened to the quiet ring of the metal in the silence between them. As she moved to the other side of his face she continued quietly but her voice had started to take on a happier and less mournful sound, "when he looked at me I felt like there was nothing else in the world that mattered to him and that was amazing and freeing when everyone else looked at me like I was theirs to own. I lived to make that man smile," she found herself smiling to herself and her smile suddenly grew in to laughter.
"Our first kiss was in the stable. I had come to him to talk just as I always did and this time I was rambling on about something exciting but for the life of me I cannot remember what it was," she shook her head with a quiet laugh and slowly moved the blade down beside his smile, "you would think I would remember something like that because there weren't all that many occasions I had such joyous things to talk about but I have no recollection whatsoever. I was talking a mile a minute while I sat on a bale of hay in the wheelbarrow and he worked around me smiling and laughing quietly at my enthusiasm. I didn't think anything of it when he walked toward me, I stood because I assumed he needed the wheelbarrow or hay from it but instead he silenced my chatter with a soft kiss. My first kiss.
He stole my breath and it felt like the entire world stopped spinning. I was stunned and unbelievably giddy and I knew right then that I was to be with him forever. He moved something inside me and there was no going back. When he pulled back he stayed close and we both smiled and I remember lifting my hands to rest over his that remained holding my face. Then he told me he loved me and my smile only grew. I believed every word and I felt like I could fly," she smiled and shook her head as the memory played in her mind and David's hands held her waist, "so I kissed him again. And he kissed me back."
With another shake of her head she tilted David's head back and placed the edge of the dagger against his throat, "I didn't tell him I loved him right away. I know he knew I did though. I told him roughly a month later when we snuck out one night to Firefly Hill for the first time. That was also the time and place," the corners of her mouth lifted a little higher for a moment and she finished her task with flicking the blade off his chin for the final time, "he took me for the first time. And the second," she grinned and had her eyes follow her hand as she placed the dagger back on the ground beside them, "and the third," she chuckled and heard David laugh quietly as well while she put her hands in her lap, unable to wipe the smile off her face and unable to look David in the eye.
"He saw me for who I was, not who I could be and not who I should be. He saw me. He enjoyed me," she kept her voice down to a near whisper and shook her head at her hands, her smile now gone, "I would give anything to have that again," she confessed quietly and watched as her hands were covered by David's without a word. Her heart began to ache at the contact and tears began to prick her eyes as she left her hands limp and allowed him to move them as he pleased. It was familiar and after remembering Daniel she could no longer deny it. No matter how much she wanted to deny it, she couldn't.
I love you. He almost said it. It was on the very tip of his tongue and his mouth was open ever so slightly in preparation for the sound of those three words but with all the will in the world he just barely stopped himself. Instead he lifted a hand to hold her face but she flinched away from the contact and ripped her hands away as she stood up and ran off, "Regina? Regina!" He pushed himself up to his feet and ran after her.
She pushed through ferns and branches that he had to push away as they whipped back at him. She was quick and agile and they both made it rather deep in to the forest before he caught her by her arm and yanked her to a halt, "Regina, what are-"
"I love you!" She screamed and then continued to fight for breath as her tears fell quickly down her face. He snapped his mouth shut but she could not read his expression and it had her panicking all the more. "I love you David and I don't know what to do!" She yelled and covered her mouth to ebb away a sob with the hand that wasn't with the arm he still held on to. "It doesn't make any sense! I can't love you, I shouldn't love you! But I do! I do love you and you are only going to hurt me! You are married to Snow White! Your love is Snow White! I know all of that and yet I have let my heart fall so carelessly in to your hands!"
Still he said nothing and simply stood there with an unreadable expression so she ripped her arm from his grip and she continued seamlessly with tears and a sore heart, "it's not fair David! You are not fair!" She cried and drew in a shaky breath in a poor attempt to stop her tears while his eyes kept their pinpoint focus on her own. "You have everything and no matter what you do you will still have everything! You will never be the bad guy, you will never be the villain in your story! I will always be the villain and this time I have done nothing wrong!"
She pointed at him but still he did not move, "I pushed you away, I told you 'no', I did not want this, but you," she gritted her teeth and her hand started to shake while her tears continued to fall, "you kept trying," she jerked her hand back down to her side and shook her head at him. Her voice turned vulnerable and shaky which only increased it's heartbroken nature as she closed her eyes and took another breath, "you kept trying. You won my heart and now you are going to throw it away because you have had your fun with me and your wife is back in Storybrooke working night and day trying to find a way to get you home. She will love you no matter what you do. You are careless! You kissed Regina? Regina's fault! You had sex with Regina!? Regina's fault! She's a witch, she's evil, she cast a fucking spell on you! It's never David's fault, he's Prince Charming, he could never hurt anyone!"
"I love you," he shook his head with a needy and gravelly voice that was almost a growl as he walked up to her. Startled by his sudden words, her mask of anger was fumbled with and then dropped and he heard her breath catch in her throat as her eyes widened. When he was within arms reach of her she began taking a step back for every one he took forward, tripping and stumbling over the uneven ground as her eyes focused nervously on his. "I love you Regina, I have loved you for the majority of this journey but I kept it to myself so I wouldn't scare you. Am I angry for betraying Snow? Most definitely. Do I feel an excessive amount of guilt for loving you when I should be loving my wife? Absolutely. Is it irrational that we have fallen so hard after such a short time? Perhaps. But is it so much different than falling in love after a single glance after an ordeal with stolen jewels? Any different than a single kiss in a stable?" He questioned and her back collided roughly with a tree as fear filled eyes stared back at him with tears falling helplessly.
He didn't let her look away and kept his intense gaze as a trap to hold her as he stepped closer to keep her pinned against the tree, "is it impossible for a woman so dark to love a man so opposite?" He whispered and she choked out a small cry as her tears fell faster, "is it impossible for a man so opposite to love a woman so dark in return? Some may think so. But we know better," she shook her head and cried through her teeth as her eyes focused on his mouth and she tried to squirm away from beneath him.
"Do we though?" She whispered nervously and almost to quiet to hear as she clawed at the tree behind her to try and pull herself off to the side and out from underneath him.
David caught her chin with his finger and she let out a quiet gasp and stopped squirming when he sharply tilted her head up so her dark tear filled eyes had no choice but to look in to his steady blue. "Yes," he answered definitively and she opened her mouth to protest as her tears continued to fall but instead of hearing what more she had to say he dropped his head down and kissed her.
His kiss was hard and firm and the love she let herself feel for him overwhelmed him as she kissed him back and took tight fistfuls of his shirt. He knew quite well however that she could give him so much more than that. She just had to let herself. "I love you," he whispered against her parted lips before quickly kissing her again so she couldn't reply. She whimpered against his mouth and tried to shrink away but he held her up against him and kept her pinned so she couldn't run.
"No," she managed to mew out before he came down on her again. She wanted to run away and she never wanted to stop running but she also wanted him too much to truly commit herself to fighting her way out of his arms. Her heart rate was high with stress and fear as his love came so strong and seamless to her and knocked her off balance while her own fought furiously and viciously in its buried cage for its freedom and to show the world what it was capable of. "David," she whimpered in another momentary breath of air and this time he let her speak but he hovered over her mouth only far enough away so their eyes could focus on each other, "you're scaring me," she confessed shakily in the smallest of whispers.
He knew she was scared, even if he hadn't been aware of the fact she was terrified of love he would have known by the way she was practically shaking against him and by the way every muscle in her body was tense along with her short and shallow breaths. So yes he knew she was scared, "I want," he whispered and lifted her chin once again, a little gentler this time, "to see you be brave," he finished and fresh tears fell from watery eyes.
Her jaw clenched and unclenched repetitively as she focused on his clear blue eyes while his thumb moving softly over the side of her chin slowly chipped away at the chains around her heart. It felt like there was an animal inside her, an animal with claws that wanted to see the light of day and wanted to fill its lungs with fresh air. She was suffocating under his gentle touch.
There was no point in saying no, there was no point in denial. In Storybrooke he would do the right thing and he would leave her no matter how much she wished and hoped he wouldn't. He was too good to do the wrong thing. She loved him and she did with every fibre of her being and for now he claimed to feel the same and truthfully all she needed was the illusion of love to reel her in. True or not, his love for her was enough to have her reaching and she could have it if she let go of her cage bars and leapt.
So leap she did.
With what courage she could muster paired with a small panicky whimper, she fell in to him and pulled his head down to meet her in a kiss. She clung to him and cried at the pain and cautious worry in her sore heart as she put it to use once again after so long. Soon enough those tears of fear and hurt and worry were joined with those of relief. Relief that she could use her heart, relief that she could feel, relief she had someone to feel for, and relief that the soreness in her heart was slowly beginning to dissipate.
It felt like his heart was ripped from his chest it was so sudden and strong. Her love stole his breath and flipped him around, it was the ride of his life and he wasn't about to let it go. So he kissed her harder and she reciprocated with just as much want. Tears pricked his own eyes and his heart began to ache because with such a taste of Regina's love...he knew he would not be able to go back to Snow's.
...
She hadn't said so much as a word since they had returned to their little camp by the river. David had let her be knowing that she was a woman of careful planning, a woman who hated surprises, a woman who was a master of control, but was now a woman who lost her control with a surprise of something entirely unplanned. She was trying to cope. She sat on a log with eyes glazed in thought and fingers fidgeting with unease while her expression gave up nothing.
Without a word he walked up behind her and she jumped when he bent down and tucked her hair behind her ear before leaving a soft kiss on her neck, "things do not have to change between us," he whispered and placed another kiss on her neck, "not immediately."
"David," she breathed out slowly in protest but he hushed her gently and her eyes fluttered shut as he kissed the corner of her jaw and moved a his hand slowly to hold her waist. She moved her arm back a little and placed her small hand over his while she tilted her head to give him more of her neck to cover. His breath was hot against her skin and it caused her to shiver. He stayed close as he stepped over the log, the hand on her waist moving across her lower back only to settle on the other side of her waist.
His touch was soft and gentle as his other hand moved over her jaw and in to her hair so his fingers curled around the nape of her neck and his thumb rested against her temple. He did not kiss her right away, he teased her with breaths skimming across her parted lips and his nose brushing against her nose and cheek. As she tilted her head in to his hand and turned her head to find his mouth he met her with a kiss. His mouth closed around her top lip and hers around his bottom in a kiss that had her melting away.
When he moved the hand over her waist to the buttons on her shirt their kiss was not impeded with the added task but was rather even more enjoyable. His fingers moved slow and it had her stomach fluttering with warmth and her heart skipping in anticipation. One by one her buttons were opened and she cocked her head further to change the angle of their kiss and he allowed her to deepen it. His hand only left her head to aid him in removing her white shirt and tossing it on the log next to her.
His hands moved lightly over her bare skin and it had shivers coursing through her body. At his silent request she stood from the log and moved her hands from resting against his chest to hold his head and stepped in to him as close as she could. As light fingertips moved over her back and unclasped her bra, her own fingers had dropped to open the buttons of his dark shirt so her palms could move over warm chiselled muscle.
His kiss was strong and it had her breath becoming hard to find while the softness of it left her falling harder for him. Tossing her bra to the side after his fingers pushed the straps down her arms, she rose to her toes and wrapped her arms around his neck as she hovered over his mouth and he let go of her to shrug off his shirt. She moaned softly across his lips at the feel of him moving against her, muscle moving against muscle with each of their heavy breaths.
Slowly, he pulled her down with him and maneuvered her so she was sitting in front of him with her knees bent up on either side of him and he leaned forward to kiss her, one hand bracing his weight on the ground next to her hip and the other moving down her thigh and calf. Her fingers curled around the nape of his neck and she arched her back toward him as she opened his mouth with her own only to close around it as his fingers found the zipper on her boot and pulled it down.
With her boots tossed to the side he pushed her down on her back and kissed her mouth hard before pulling away only to give her another quick soft kiss and then move his attention slowly downward. Large hands moved up her body, feeling every curve as his mouth tasted every part of her. His mouth was hot and he had the ache between her legs growing stronger with every touch. She wanted him lower.
Regina breathed out a soft pleasured whimper and her fingers clenched in his hair as he thumbed a pebbled nipple before closing his mouth around it while the fingers of his other hand drew patterns over the side of her thigh. She was a beautiful woman and the sounds coming from her, well, he wanted them louder. As he continued getting her heart rate up with his mouth and hand on either breast he moved the other from her toned thigh to rub her slowly and heavily between her legs, moaning against her skin himself as she pushed her hips up in to the contact with a needy moan of her own.
With one hand he unclasped her trousers and then gave her breast one more knead before lowering his other hand to help him pull down the navy blue fabric and black lace from her hips. He felt her breaths run shorter and shorter as he kissed lower and lower and her expensive trousers and panties left her slim figure. He left her waiting anxiously for a few moments without contact just to watch her stomach rise and fall with short heavy breaths. With a smile twisting his lips he dropped his head down and left a soft kiss on her hip bone and it had her cursing under her breath and gasping for air.
His hands moved to hold her steady and gently pushed her leg open a little more and her anticipation was finally satisfied when he closed his mouth around her clit. She groaned at the sensation and her fingers clawed at the soil and grass as she opened her eyes and pushed her head back when he moved his tongue over her. Closing her eyes once more she gritted her teeth with pleasure before choking out a small scream at the wet heat of his tongue pushing against her sensitive nerves.
"Fuck, Charming," she whimpered and then continued to fight for air through her erotic moans. She arched her back off the ground with a shaky scream as he kissed her harder and moved his tongue a little faster for a couple seconds before slowing back down and running his tongue up and down over her and closing his mouth around her again. Her breathing was ragged and her legs threatened to close with the warm pleasure tensing all of her muscles but he held held them open so he could continue; one hand on the inside of her thigh and the other wrapped around the outside of her other thigh.
Her fingertips grazed her round breasts as she moaned and pushed her head back and closed her eyes while her face creased with the sweet pressure of her building orgasm. She writhed at his continuous movement and cried out in pleasure, her nails on one hand scratching across her flexing stomach and the others digging in to the ground next to her. He continued as she came, kissing her and sucking her in to his mouth as she writhed and quivered with her screams and attempts to get enough air to rid herself of the white specks behind her eyes that many called stars.
When he lifted his head and crawled over top of her she was panting and vibrating with the excessive amount of pleasure he provided her with. Paired with the evident tie of some form of love between them, she had never felt more satisfied. As she opened her eyes she found him crawling closer and her eyes dropped to his mouth when his tongue darted out to clean herself from his lips. It had her creasing her brow and moaning quietly as her eyes remained focused on his mouth and she lifted her knee higher to urge him closer.
"Just a minute," she whispered breathlessly as he began lowering his head to her own and a hand held her around her ribs with a thumb underneath her breast.
"No," he whispered back with a grin and continued slowly dropping his head as she laughed happily beneath him with a bright smile. He did pause when he was hovering over her just in case she truly did need a minute or two to catch her breath but she lifted her head from the ground and met him with a kiss. With the reaction to his mouth only moments ago, he opened his mouth in invitation to let her taste and she eagerly accepted with a pleased moan in to his mouth and pulled herself higher with arms she wound around his neck.
Perfectly happy and relaxed, she pulled away softly and with a smile. She hadn't been this happy in years that she had long since lost count of. With her smile still in place and her breath not yet caught, she removed one arm from around his neck and moved it so her fingertips rested against his bare chest. She left a light kiss on the corner of his mouth and then another one on his jaw and whispered slowly against his ear, "I love you," it was terrifying to say and she didn't imagine she would say it often but she wanted to say it then. Perhaps it would will him to stay with her forever.
At his happy hum she kissed his jaw again and then his neck as her fingertips brushed across his chest. The kisses were soothing and tender and he loved them. His quiet and calm state was only disturbed when her fingers made it to the waist of his jeans without his notice and she slipped them inside slowly and rubbed his hard length. The disturbance of his peace was not minded in the least.
...
It was dark now and there was a chill in the air but it was warm by the crackling fire. Regina was curled up right next to him wearing his heavy leather jacket to ward off the cold, her legs were pulled up to her chest and her head rested on his shoulder. She didn't need the coat but he loved seeing her wear it so he insisted she take it. It made her look small and preciously so. He had his arm wrapped securely around her and if not for the way she played with his relaxed fingers between her soft hands he would have believed her to have been asleep long ago.
Everything felt right, everything felt stable, both were rather ridiculous things to feel for he was now in a relationship with the hot headed, ill tempered brunette with a truck load of psychopathic tendencies on the side. What he should feel was hate, fear, distrust when in actuality he felt love, safety, and could easily trust her with his life. However he did not fall in love with the Evil Queen, no he fell in love with Regina. That woman was entirely different. He couldn't even think of Snow without feeling his heart begin to tear to shreds at the betrayal or without tears coming to his eyes. Was he a coward for not facing the decision completely and thoroughly? He supposed some could appoint such a title. Either way he was taking the easy way out for now and let himself forget about his title of husband and instead moved his focus to Regina and tried once more to empty his mind.
"You're thinking about her," she whispered and bent one of his fingers.
"Hmm?"
"Snow," she whispered plainly, "you're thinking of her."
David frowned and lowered his head to leave a soft lingering kiss on the top of her head, "yes...but not about what you think."
"Not about how this tale of ours is going to crush her?"
"...alright perhaps it is exactly what you think," he whispered with a frown and rested the side of his head atop hers.
Regina nestled in closer and allowed her eyes to fall shut with the exhaustion of the day. With a quiet and carefully emotionless whisper she spoke, "you'll do the right thing. You always do."