I quite enjoyed writing this chapter :) I hope you enjoy reading it! Please leave a review and let me know what you think!
"Now feel free to slap me for asking you this but have you ever slept with another woman?"
Regina hummed lowly through her smirk and leaned back on her hands, "yes I have," she answered truthfully and watched David try to hold back a smirk at the images she knew were running wild through his mind. "She was a favorite actually. There is something especially appetizing about the female figure; soft and pretty. She was quite a beautiful woman and contrary to popular belief all of my sexual partners over the years have been willing and she was especially keen. Her hands were wonderful," she smirked a little and gave a suggestive raise of her eyebrows.
Then she cocked her head and looked up in to the tree canopy, "now your daughter," she nodded and pursed her lips and cocked her head the other way, "I expected her to be a little more fierce, have a little more fight," she shrugged her shoulders as if to say 'oh well' and then met his eye. She nearly burst in a fit of laughter at the pale and horrified face looking back at her. She watched him with a simple serious expression for a good long while, soaking in the long silence before she put the poor man out of his misery and gave him a wink with a trademark smirk.
"You're kidding!" He exclaimed in relief and she began laughing loudly, "fuck Regina that was not funny!" He shook his head and then groaned in to his hands as he brought them to rub his face in an attempt to bring the blood back.
"Your face!" She clapped her hands once in amusement as she laughed and he groaned again but this time she could hear laughter in his voice.
"Shut up!" He laughed and dropped his hands back in to his lap to find her eyes closed as she laughed, "that was-god, Regina!" He laughed again with a shake of his head and his hands to rid himself of his nervously racing heart, "not funny! Why would you say something like that?!"
...
"David!" She shrieked his name as she laughed and sprinted through the forest, "I was kidding!" She laughed as she leapt over a fallen log and heard David's running footsteps not too far behind her. She was fast but she didn't imagine she was that much faster than him so his distance behind her could only be because of her small body being more agile than his own and it had her laughing all the more.
As she ran she looked over her shoulder and saw no sign of him but instead ran in to something. Or someone. Regina yelped at the sudden contact and stumbled to catch her balance as foreign hands gripped her waist to try and keep the body they belonged to from hitting the ground. Paying no mind to the hands still holding her waist Regina looked up to find wide green eyes staring at her in disbelief.
"You!" She cheered happily.
"You?!" Regina furrowed her brow and shook her head, too stunned to back away from the girl's grip.
"I found you!" She laughed in excitement and without warning wrapped her arms around Regina's neck only to have her protest with the start of sentence but then just give in to an irritated sigh as her hands rested on either side of her ribs.
"Aurora," she deadpanned and the girl hummed happily with her head resting on her shoulder, "get off me."
"No."
Regina rolled her eyes and tried to step away but Aurora simply clung to her and didn't allow for it. At the sound of rustling bushes Regina snapped her head to him, "David! Get it off me!"
"After what you put in my head? No way," he laughed with a shake of his head and Regina groaned and dropped her head so her chin rested on Aurora's shoulder, "hello Aurora," he greeted as he pulled out his phone.
"Hello David."
"Put that away!"
"No," he laughed and aimed the phone at her.
"David!" She whined and tried once more to get away from Aurora's grip.
"Hey kid, this is Aurora or as you may know her, Sleeping Beauty," he smiled and Regina grumbled some form of insult under her breath, "your mother is thrilled to have crossed paths with her again."
"Absolutely ecstatic," she agreed with such a slow and enunciated tone that it could only mean the opposite.
"Who are you talking to?" Aurora questioned as she looked at David who held a small black rectangle in his hands, "what is that?"
"We are doing a video log for Regina's son so he can see this place and apparently the people still in it," he smiled and Aurora looked at him as though he was speaking an entirely different language, "we'll show you later. It's kind of hard to explain."
Aurora nodded and eyed over the black rectangle one more time before gasping, "oh that's right! I have news for you!"
"Yes well if you would be so kind as to let go-"
"No," she cut her off and wrapped her arms tighter.
"Why not?!" She snapped and tried once again to get free.
"Because I need to do something right on this trek and letting you disappear would be the end of my sanity!"
"I'm flattered, really I am but I am not going to go anywhere."
"They'll be back soon and then I will let you go."
"David!"
He only shook his head and leaned his back against a tree, crossing one ankle over the other as he watched with a grin and kept the video recording.
"Oh come on! I never touched your daughter I swear! I never even thought about it!" She couldn't help but have laughter lace her voice as she shook her head and all but begged for him to get her out of Aurora's arms. "You know if I use magic Cora will find me and therefore you," David only shook his head with a laugh so with a pout she rested her chin back on Aurora's shoulder, "if I hug you back will you let me go?"
Aurora smiled and breathed out a laugh as David laughed a little louder, "no but I wouldn't mind if you did."
"No," Regina snapped and both David and Aurora laughed at her suffering.
"Aurora!"
"Mulan! Mulan look!" Aurora beamed and let go of Regina only to move behind her and place her hands on the woman's arms just beneath her shoulders, "I found her!"
"Yes," Regina deadpanned with a nod at Mulan, "she found me."
"You are very difficult to find," Mulan breathed out almost frustratedly but also allowed for a relieved laugh to lace her voice.
"Yes well I've been hiding from someone."
"Cora."
"Yes," she nodded and then her eyes snapped to the voice behind Mulan as he came from the trees.
"I suppose I really should apologize for that slight inconvenience your majesty."
"Slight inconvenience!?" She laughed coldly and snarled as he walked closer.
With a quiet laugh David allowed Aurora to gingerly take the phone from his fingers to study it as it continued recording, "who is that?" He nodded his head to the man Regina was currently yelling at. The fact that she was arguing already didn't surprise him in the least. She had a lot of enemies.
"He was a blacksmith in our safe haven," Mulan answered simply and David nodded as they both watched him and Regina interact while Aurora wandered around with the phone, "what is she holding?"
"It's a device from our land. It's called a phone but it has many other uses. Right now she's taking a video...I'll show you later."
"Mulan! You are inside this little black box!" She grinned excitedly and David laughed and shook his head while a sudden eruption of rage occurred behind her that had all three turning to see what it was about.
"So not only did you not kill her but you kept her alive so she could rip my heart out and crush it!?"
"Well when you put it like that love, it makes me sound rather terrible."
"I don't see anything false about that statement," she shook her head slowly with eyes widened a little and her arms spread out at her sides.
"Oh, well that just hurts," he retorted smoothly and then raised his eyebrows and sighed a little as he continued, "But what can I say? Her offer was better."
Furious with the smug grin on his face she gritted her teeth and held his blue gaze steadily before sending him stumbling backward with her fist connecting hard with his jaw. As he stumbled back she moved her hands quickly and without his knowledge in to his satchel, stepping up close to him again with unbridled rage.
"I must admit you have quite a good arm your majesty," he laughed off his irritation and spat out a mouthful of blood of to the side, a result of his jaw biting down hard on his tongue because of her blow. He was then pushed hard against a tree and let out a tight sigh through his nose when he felt the cold sharp point of his hook digging in to his skin beneath his jaw.
"Why are you here Captain?" She hissed and pushed a harder with the hook and he lifted his chin a little higher to escape the pressure.
David rubbed his hands over his face with a long sigh and held his hand out toward Aurora and she gently placed his phone in it. He smiled his thanks and then turned the camera to face him, "we'll check back in a little later bud. We're missing you," and with that he ended the video and pushed the phone in his pocket before walking up to Regina.
"Well this certainly brings back old memories," he grinned and his hook pierced his skin as a result. He cringed a little and then laughed as he gave in, "I want to kill the Dark One," he stated simply and her dark eyes dug in to his skin, "dearest Cora has promised me a journey to the world he resides in so long as I keep an eye on you and deliver you to her at some point."
Regina's lip curled back in a snarl and she slowly shook her head, "I have no plans to be permanently reunited with my mother."
"Well offer me a ride back to your world and I'll make sure you'll stay free of your mother's care."
"Not on your life!" She growled and dug the hook in a little more and watched him squirm against the tree in discomfort.
"Hey," David touched her arm and her murderous hand stopped, "come on," he encouraged softly and began pulling on her arm. He glanced at the man he had put together to be the infamous Captain Hook and he looked back at him with a silent thanks as Regina lowered her arm from his jaw at his gentle touch. Out of new habit he gave a soft kiss on the side of her head as his hand covered hers and she closed her eyes with a deep breath and gave up the metal hook from her deadly grip.
He didn't think anything of the tender gesture until he looked back up to find Hook staring at them both with startled curiosity. Without an explanation David handed the man his hook and steered his stubborn Regina away only to find Mulan and Aurora watching them with blank expressions as they tried to process what exactly it was they had just witnessed.
"Why is it you two have been looking for me?" Regina questioned the two women curiously with an underlying sharp tone, remnants of the anger directed Hook's way.
"Oh, yes, right," Aurora stumbled over her words and quietly cleared her throat, "your son Henry-"
"How do you know my son's name?" She interrupted quickly, her voice heightening half an octave with a sudden distrust toward the princess.
"I've been speaking with him while I sleep," she offered and the queen furrowed her brow and cocked her head irritably with guarded angry eyes, "we have both come to the agreement that it is a side effect of the sleeping curse. The nightmares after we wake up," she nodded and spoke with her hands, her gaze caught for a moment when David inhaled slowly in recognition, "it appears as though victims of the curse have the ability to communicate in this netherworld and he found me. He's worried about you, about you both and he asked us to look for you after he found out that we had crossed paths upon your arrival to-" she was cut off when Regina stepped forward and snatched her wrist up in an iron grip to study her forearm.
Regina's heart beat wildly in her chest as she studied the burns down Aurora's arm. With her voice and breath audibly shaking in panic, rage, and self loathing she slowly raised her free hand and pointed at the burns before meeting Aurora's eye, "these burns. You got them while you were in that netherworld didn't you."
"...yes," Aurora whispered reluctantly, knowing quite well that the brunette was thinking about the similar burns etching in to her son's skin. The woman's grip tightened uncomfortably around her wrist but Aurora didn't say a word and simply bit her tongue patiently waiting for her to let go.
Regina threw the woman's arm down with her jaw clenched and her eyes furiously pushed shut as she spun around and walked away a couple steps and pushed tense fingers through her hair.
"Regina," David tried to soothe as he walked up behind her anticipating the blow out that he was prodding her for so she didn't bottle it up inside. He reached forward to touch her but the instant his fingers touched her shoulder she jerked away from it.
"Don't touch me," she hissed in a slow whisper.
"Regina-" he tried again and she snapped and spun around.
"Don't touch me!" She screamed viciously at the top of her lungs and hit his chest hard with both her hands sending him stumbling backwards as tears started to fall from her eyes. He remained calm and understanding without the slightest hint of anger or hurt in his expression and that only had her tears falling faster, "my son is hurting because of me! He can't sleep without waking up with crude burns all over him!"
"That is not your fault, Regina-"
"It is my fault!" She screamed at him and pointed at herself as she leaned forward, "I brought the curse there! I put him in danger!"
"He was not the target," he soothed and stepped forward but she stepped back from him but kept her posture aggressive.
"It doesn't matter! I know him better than that! He knows me better than that! I am his mother! I didn't think hard enough about the consequences! I should have paid mind to the fact that he would be in Emma's company, that he would have seen the turnover, that he would have put the pieces together like the smart boy that he is and that he would have put himself under that god damn curse just to make Emma believe! I put my son in danger and now he is still getting hurt! Because of me!"
"He is a brave and strong boy Regina-"
"That does not matter," she shook her head and laughed humourlessly as her tears fell on her son's behalf, "I am his mother! My job is to keep him safe not put him at risk for falling under a sleeping curse!"
"You didn't know."
"That is not the point David! I should have known! I let my revenge and selfishness pull rank over the well being of my son! My son! And now he's lost in some flaming hell of a dream world terrified and burning himself alive and there is absolutely nothing I can do about it!"
At the break of silence between the pair, Aurora took a small step forward and watched another tear fall down the queen's face, "if I could just interject," she broke the silence quietly and Regina turned her head to look her in the eye, "he loves you," she stated gently and Regina's jaw clenched and unclenched as her eyes welled up with more tears, "when we found you he wanted me to tell you that he loves you and he misses you."
Regina closed her eyes and staggered slightly to catch her balance as she breathed out a quiet cry with a shaking hand hovering over her mouth and the other over her stomach. She hadn't heard her son tell her he loved her in nearly a year. Not since he had gotten that book.
This time when David reached forward and touched her arm she fell in to him and let him wrap his arms around her as she cried in to his chest. "He loves you," he assured slowly with a strong but gentle voice that was steadfast with the belief that his words were true. He thought of asking but he decided against it. He didn't want to know how long it took without them for a mother to break in to tears at the return of the three little words.
...
After returning to her and David's small camp to gather their possessions, the five of them carried on. Regina had not divulged their destination to anyone but Mulan for she found her trustworthy and was not entirely keen on Hook meeting up with Cora to tell her where she should meet up with them. Although with Hook near she imagined her mother could be making more appearances and that put her on edge.
With Hook sitting on his own and David talking with Mulan, Regina walked up to Aurora and sat down next to her on the ground in front of the fire. With gentle fingers she picked up one of the princess' wounded arms and Aurora allowed the contact without a fight. Frowning at the burns she brought a soft purple glow to her hand, "do they hurt," she asked quietly and moved her hand up the girl's arm.
"Yes," she nodded and watched the burns erase from her skin, "but I've sort of gotten used to them and Mulan concocted a salve to ease the pain...I thought you didn't want to use magic so that Cora couldn't find you?"
Regina shrugged a little and moved her hand back down Aurora's arm to assure everything was healed, "with Hook working so closely with her I do not see much point in hiding any longer."
When Regina held her hand open Aurora pivoted toward her a little and pushed her other arm forward for Regina to heal, "I suppose that makes sense. We had no idea he wasn't who he said he was..."
"That is quite alright. I do not blame you for that and neither should you. He is an adept liar. I'm afraid with my mother's careful planning he has only become more so."
Aurora nodded silently and waited for Regina to finish and let go of her arm, "thank you."
"Are there any more?"
"No."
Regina squinted her eyes and shook her head, "do not lie to me dear. Not when I've started to like you," at the girl's falsely innocent stare back Regina glanced at her side and then back up to her eyes, "lift your shirt."
Aurora smiled and breathed out a laugh before opening her mouth to assure the woman she had no more burns but then thought better of it. It would cause nothing but trouble if she were to lie to Regina, "fine," she caved and glanced over at Hook before standing up and walking away with an understanding Regina following close behind.
Once out of sight from the rest of the group Aurora stopped and Regina stood patiently but Aurora didn't move, "come now dear don't be shy. I won't bite." After a deep breath she watched as Aurora moved reluctant fingers to unbuckle the brown leather vest and dropped it on the ground before she turned her back to her and took the hem of her white shirt and pulled it over her head leaving her torso completely bare under the moonlight. Regina cringed at the ugly scar up her back and stepped closer to her so she could rid her of it.
Aurora was tense and uncomfortable with the arrangement and Regina was not oblivious to it. So in a moment of bravery she started talking in the hopes of perhaps easing the girl's discomfort, "his name was Daniel," she started softly as her hands began between Aurora's shoulder blades, "he was our stable boy but I didn't care. I loved him all the same. No one knew, we kept it a secret. A princess and a stable boy is not particularly a proper pairing...when it was arranged that I was to marry the king we decided to run away together."
She paused and blinked slowly as her hands healed Aurora's skin over her lower back, "he proposed with the ring he had pulled off a saddle and naturally I agreed. But dear Snow White had decided to come to the stables that evening as well," she laughed quietly and bitterly with a shake of her head as she swallowed her tears. "I made her promise me she wouldn't tell a soul and she was overjoyed that I had found happiness. But her promise lasted not twenty four hours and the following night my mother caught Daniel and I trying to run away. She ripped his heart out right in front of me and I watched him fall as she crushed it in to dust."
She shook her head and looked over Aurora's back for any further blemishes before bending down to pick up her leather vest as a signal that she had finished. When she stood back up Aurora was straightening the hem of her loose white shirt and Regina handed her the vest. "I do know what it's like to lose a loved one. You tried to get me to talk before but I wasn't ready to share a story I held so close to my heart," she gave a sad smile and then looked up a little as she took a deep breath before meeting Aurora's eyes.
"There is no way to cure the dead and it took me a very long time to accept that. Be grateful Aurora that you can save Phillip. Be grateful that at some point you will see him walking around once again. Be grateful that someday soon he will hold your hand and tell you everything will be fine when you know for a fact that nothing will be," she whispered shakily with a subtle and unsteady rock of her head as her tears fell slowly from her eyes.
Aurora nodded but couldn't speak for she had no words and instead hurried forward and hugged Regina tight and this time the woman slowly wrapped her arms around her in return and dropped her head on her shoulder.
"And thank you for keeping my son company when he was scared and alone," she whispered and closed her eyes.