I am soooooo sorry for the long wait you guys. I've been so caught up in Twisting The Tale that I just haven't been able to focus on this story as much as I would like to. Now I've got some news. This story is going to be coming to a close quite soon. Just a few more chapters left. Like maybe three. Maybe even two. But along with those last chapters there will be a final epilogue that ties up the loose end I will leave. I do have another story that is being groomed to replace this one I just have to figure out a title and get in to more detail with it.

Anyway! Enjoy the update! The next one will be more fun and fluff and cuteness and I'll be bringing back some missed characters ;) happy reading! Please leave a review!

Her entire body was sore and tired. It was better after sleep but it was far from what it should feel like. It was okay though. All of her people were safe and under her roof. Everyone was alive, no one was hurt, they were merely bruised and battered and tired. And hungry. The preparation took longer than it should have. Her hands weren't functioning at their full capacity yet but she was getting there.

She jumped and gasped when someone wrapped their arms around her from behind. She nearly stabbed them with the knife in her hand before she recognized the feel of him, "David," she breathed out on a shaky and panicked breath and let the knife fall back on to the cutting board from her now shaking hands, "what the hell made you think grabbing me like that was a good idea after what just happened?" She snapped as she took a deep breath and he held her tighter as he kept his face buried in the crook of her neck.

"I am sorry, my darling. I just needed to hold you."

"Announce your presence next time. I nearly killed you," she hissed but it didn't come off as strong as she had hoped. Not even close for she was suddenly on the verge of tears. Now that the rush was over and there was no danger, she felt the brunt of it all come back up to the surface. All the dread and pain and terror all bubbling up to the surface as she was held in the arms of her lover. That in of its self was overwhelming and she quickly turned around and wrapped her arms around his middle and pushed her face in to his chest. It was such a relief to have a person there. A person she truly loved and trusted. She had never had that before in any of her previous traumas. It made a difference.

David frowned as she hugged him tight enough to make his heart ache with sorrow. So he crushed her little frame against his chest in his arms and felt her breaths grow shaky with unheard cries. "I love you so much," he whispered with a small shake of his head and she hugged him even tighter. They stayed like that for many long and peaceful minutes and it was so soothing to have her there and safe and breathing. Such a relief. And then she started tipping her head back and that was all the hint he needed.

His hand was cradling her head and his fingers were threaded through her hair as his lips met hers in a slow kiss. It sent her head spinning and her heart racing and aching and then she was being backed in to the cupboards behind her. David broke the kiss for only a moment so he could assure that when he lifted her he was putting her nowhere near the knives and herb covered cutting board. The whole movement was easy and graceful and David's soft and loving mouth was back on hers in moments.

She sighed against him as her hands moved through his hair and around his neck as he held her flush against him and her legs slowly looped around his hips. She let herself be kissed, she let him take the lead and it was such a welcome feeling. To give herself to someone rather than be taken by someone. It was slow and passionate, deep and strong when it needed to be and then chaste and gentle when it needed to be. It was dizzying and needed and she didn't want it to ever have to stop. There had been a moment in that cannery where she had believed she was never going get to kiss this man again and it seemed David had had mutual thoughts about her.

So they kissed. They made it important, they shared their worry and their fear and then settled. They reassured and loved and didn't stop until they were interrupted by Cora. But that was many many minutes later and it was with a gentle smile, a long quiet hum, and adoring dark eyes that once looked at her and David with such disdain and anger.

"Would you like help catching up on dinner?"

Her mother's smooth and happy voice hit a soft spot in Regina's heart and she turned her head a little to look at her and David rested his forehead to her temple, "I would very much appreciate that," she replied quietly and when Cora smiled and nodded in return, Regina smiled and closed her eyes as she hugged David again and nuzzled her face in to his neck for a few moments more.

...

This place, this home, was a place of refuge. A place of solace and happiness, a place for friends and family to gather and enjoy one another's company. It was a place of safety and acceptance and love. It was a place of knowledge and teaching, it was neutral ground. If Snow weren't seeing it for herself she would never believe that Regina's once feared property was now all of those things.

Never had she even pondered the thought of Cora and Rumplestiltskin, two of the most deadly and feared magic users to exist, to be laughing with one another until they were bent over with tears in their eyes over past tales. But there they were doing just that as they stood by the drink table in the living room, each with a crystal tumbler in their grasp containing an amber liquid. Nor did she believe she would see the day that Regina and Emma would talk and laugh like old friends, touching one another from time to time as they spoke. Really the only thing that was even remotely normal was David and Henry sitting on the couch playing a card game. And that was only normal if she ignored the lingering worried and loving looks David gave Regina more often than not.

She did find herself smiling from time to time though as she nursed a mug of hot cocoa. Apparently she had had quite the evening. Apparently they all had. When she had initially woken up to Regina she had tried to follow her but miserably failed when her vision faltered and her head throbbed. She had fallen back asleep and had only awoken when the rest of them had in the late afternoon and early evening. Rumple had slept on the couch, Cora with Henry in his bed, David in the chair beside her bed in the guest room, Emma on the bench at the foot of the guest bed, and Regina had finally passed out in her own bed after she had had a shower. The Mills home was filled with guests of all sorts and no one seemed all that keen on leaving.

Snow couldn't say she blamed them. Even she wasn't all that ready to leave the surprisingly comforting atmosphere in the home. She watched like a hawk when Regina dismissed herself from Emma's company and made her way to the kitchen and then was quickly following her. She walked cautiously in to the kitchen to find her opening the oven to check on dinner. A couple of lasagnas. She had yet to try the infamous lasagna Henry had always raved about.

"If you have something to say then say it. You know better than to sneak around."

Snow smiled and shrugged her shoulders, "old habits die hard I suppose."

Regina scoffed a light laugh as she looked over her shoulder and then back at the lasagnas before closing the oven, "what is it you need, Snow."

"Rumour has it you finally got to stab me in the chest," she started with a light smile and Regina shrugged with a playful smile.

"It's been a long time coming."

Snow's smile broke to show her teeth as she breathed out a laugh and Regina's smile spread a little wider with her short hum, "I suppose it has," she nodded and then looked in to her mug held between both her hands, "I was a little disappointed that you didn't leave a scar."

"Well...I can always try again if you like," she smirked as she leaned her hip against the counter and folded her arms.

"I think I'm good," Snow nodded with a furrow of her brow and laughed a little when Regina breathed a laugh out her nose.

"Well the request is noted if there ever happens to be a next time."

"Glad to hear it," she smiled and Regina hummed before the silence started to creep back in. As it did she placed her mug on the counter and dug in to the pocket of the pair of Regina's jeans she had managed to squeeze in to and Regina watched her curiously, her friendly expression only faltering when the necklace was pulled from her pocket and recognized.

"...why do you have that."

"Emma had sent me upstairs to find something of yours to use the locator spell on," Snow replied as she moved her thumb over the little horse pendant and the chain stayed hooked around her fingers of her other hand, "why do you still have it?"

"It is beautiful craftsmanship. Couldn't bring myself to fling it out the window with the rest of them."

Snow smiled and huffed a small single laugh out her nose as she looked up at Regina, "are we still lying to one another?" She asked quietly and Regina didn't move a muscle. Simply stared at her with no whisper of an answer. "Regina..." She called her name softly as she slowly stepped closer to her until she was just out of arm's reach and could clearly see the tension in her stepmother's body, "a person doesn't go to such extreme lengths to save a life that means nothing to them. They especially don't put their own life on the line in the process."

"What do you want from me, Snow," she breathed out irritably, on edge that she was put on the spot so soon after nearly losing her.

"I want the truth, Regina," Snow pleaded, verging on desperate as she took half a step closer and in moving that much closer she had Regina's eyes dropping to the floor as she tried to step back but the oven hit her back and she was stuck. That reaction alone had Snow's heart aching as her hand closed tighter around the necklace, "we have spent all these years wasting time, Regina. Telling lies, putting up walls, hurting one another, for what? For Daniel? For my father? You've only ever given me riddles with no answers, whispers of truths, please just stop with the word games, stop with the lies and excuses. Just tell me the truth. You owe me that much," she whispered and silently cursed at the tears pricking her eyes.

"Snow-"

"Stop lying, Regina," she breathed out in exhaustion and Regina let out a frustrated breath of her own, her nostrils flaring a little as she looked to the side, "why did you save me? It would have been so much easier to have just let me die."

"I've never been one to take the easy route now have I."

"Regina..."

With an irritable shift of her weight and a deep breath she tried sorting out the words in her head but there was no combination that would satiate the stubborn girl. No combination but the honest and vulnerable truth that Regina was never going to be ready to say aloud. "We have a complicated past, Snow White. I cannot simply answer that question."

"You had better try," she whispered lowly with a slow shake of her head, it was almost a threat. But not quite. She wasn't going to back down this time and it didn't seem like Regina was in the head space to fight her and win as she always had in the past. It was like the fight she had always saved for her had been entirely drained.

How had these tables turned? How had it become Snow demanding from her rather than the other way around? Where had her anger gone? Why was she only left with sorrow and pain? She knew her voice would be shaky, she could feel it in the tightness of her throat and the tears that longed to shine in her eyes as she pushed an unsteady hand through her hair and let her eyes fall to the silver chain of her necklace looped around the knuckles of Snow's closed fist.

"I...I don't know how I'd manage without you and I wasn't particularly keen on finding out. You've always been here. Whether I hated you or loved you, you were always there and the idea of you suddenly not being there..." She shook her head and gave a soft and teary laugh through her fingertips that she had lifted to her lips as she came to terms with what she was about to say, "it scared the hell out of me," she whispered and made herself look Snow in the eye only to find her on the verge of tears as well.

"You and your stubbornness has always been something I could depend on. No matter what was happening you were always there to hate or...to love if the circumstances were in order. I kept the necklace because it reminds me of a few truly rare occasions when you and I were on good terms. Those times are not memories I wish to forget because as much as I truly and thoroughly loathe you, my admiration and love for you is almost equal," she forced the words out but she meant every one. She knew they were festering old wounds but they had become rather numb over time. Now the pain was back and she knew she had to get the words out despite the reluctance her habit provided. Her heart broke the moment a tear rolled down Snow's cheek.

She couldn't speak for she knew if she tried a sob would come out instead. She had been expecting Regina's words to affect her but she had not been expecting them to knock the wind out of her and make her want to fall in to Regina's arms and never leave them. She didn't expect them to mean so much. "I tried-," she cried and drew in a shaky breath as she lifted the back of her hand to her mouth and tried to find her voice, "I tried to save you, I-" she closed her eyes and more tears fell from her eyes, "I tried to fix us."

"I hated you too much," Regina whispered with a frown and tears glossing her eyes.

"Why? Why do you hate me so much?" She cried out quietly, desperately, "I love you so much but you..."

"There are many reasons."

"Regina-"

"Snow I cannot possibly tell you them all without ruining you. But you played such a big role in tearing me away from my happy ending when I quite literally had no hope for any happiness in my life to start with. From day one I had to fight for even the smallest of joys. Losing Daniel took such a toll on me that no one is aware of. It broke me. And then having to raise you amongst other things occurring in that castle while watching you get every joy handed to you on a silver platter ane I vigilantly continued to suffer...it drove me over the edge. A combination of jealousy and insanity had me wishing for your blood. And every time you slipped through my fingers it became more and more personal and I grew all the more deranged and obsessed," she answered quietly but the words came easier and easier but the tears threatened to fall.

"You were jealous of me?"

She laughed at that. A quiet and pained laugh as her tears finally fell down her cheeks, "was I jealous of the pretty little treasure adored and valued by all who surrounded her? The girl who held no single worry in her mind? Who had every freedom she could ever dream of? The happy princess that smiled and laughed? The bandit that found her love in a poor shepherd who lived long enough to marry her?" She shook her head as her hot tears rolled down her cheeks and Snow bowed her head with a soft breathy cry as Regina whispered, "of course I was jealous, dear."

The words hit her hard and she looked back up at Regina with a rather guilty and heavy heart as her tears continued to fall, "I wish we could start over."

"There is no starting over for us," Regina replied softly and Snow nodded with a swallowed cry and looked down at the necklace in her hand, "but there is nothing saying we can't try again," she added quietly and the hope in Snow's eyes was enough to make even Regina's heart ache.

"I'd like that very much," she nodded as she sniffed back her tears and when Regina smiled the smallest of smiles, Snow gave a sudden and teary laugh as she cautiously stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Regina's neck. She was overwhelmed when she felt Regina's wary arms wind around her middle as she returned the hug. She laughed and cried in Regina's neck and hugged her as tight as she could for she had wanted to hug her for much too long and knew that she would not likely get another chance to hold her close again, "I should have gotten myself shot years ago," she teased and sniffed back her tears.

"Years ago I would have let you die," Regina retorted with a quiet and teary laugh of her own. It felt good. She felt a little more...at peace.

...

"Miss Swan," Regina stated in slight surprise as she walked in to the foyer and laid eyes on the blonde, "I thought you had left."

"Yeah...uh Snow's waiting...in the car," she answered awkwardly and shoved her hands in her jean pockets when Regina stopped in front of her with her head cocked curiously.

"Did you need something more?"

"I just wanted to thank you for being a paranoid psychopath and staying at least somewhat ahead of Greg and Tamara," she smiled a little and Regina smiled a little in return, "and I wanted to thank you for saving Snow. I've waited my entire life for a mother...it'd be a shame to lose her after not even a year of knowing she existed."

"Well thank you for the appreciation," Regina nodded but Emma remained uncomfortable as she rocked a little on her toes and heels, "something else?"

"I uh...I freaked out when you were taken...at first I kind of thought it was ridiculous but...I have never really had anyone in my life. I've always been on my own but you," she shook her head and gave an uneasy laugh as her voice grew thick and tight, "you pushed yourself in. You cleared out a space and made yourself at home and I didn't really notice until you were taken away from me. You are important to me and I can't lose another person," her voice cracked and her head bowed as she sniffed back her tears, no longer able to look at Regina's soft expression without bursting in to tears.

"I couldn't leave without letting you know that you make the lonely go away," she told her quietly as she stared at her feet. The silence hung there for a moment before Emma took a deep breath and began walking backward toward the door as she lifted her hands from her pockets to wipe away the tears that had not yet fallen as she laughed uneasily, "anyway," she cleared her throat and made herself smile up at Regina whose expression remained soft and gentle, "I should go 'cause Snow's waiting and stuff," she excused herself awkwardly and as she turned to walk down the stairs to the door, she was stopped by Regina's voice.

"The feeling is rather mutual, Miss Swan," she replied quietly and then a silence drifted back between them. It wasn't a heavy silence or an awkward one. It was just that neither woman was particularly good at speaking of such personal things. "Thank you for helping Rumple and staying with Henry."

"Thank you for saving my mother," she told her again and Regina nodded with a slightly strained smile. Neither of them were comfortable but neither of them were regretting their words. Even still Emma felt the need to take it upon herself to change the subject, "is it alright if I leave the bug in your driveway and ride back home with Snow? I'll come pick it up tomorrow."

"If you must. I don't believe I will be leaving the house tomorrow so I shan't lay eyes on the dreadful thing," she retorted with a shift of her weight and an easier smirk to which Emma responded with a roll of her eyes and a breath of laughter.

"Works out great then. I'll see you tomorrow," she smiled and Regina nodded.

"Tomorrow."

...

Everything was silent now. Rumple had gone home as had Emma and Snow and Cora was in Henry's room reading to him until he fell asleep. Every now and then their soft voices and quiet laughter could be heard down the hall and it put Regina at ease. She was laying in bed on her back and David was beside her on his side with his head on her breast and his hand moving over the swell of her pregnancy.

He had pushed her shirt up to her sternum so he could touch her bare skin and the contact was soothing. It erased all her lingering fear and worry as she watched him trace invisible patterns over her belly while she let her fingers play in his short hair. It was calm and quiet and she loved it. She needed it.

"You scared me."

"I know," she whispered.

"I was terrified I was never going to see you again."

"I was terrified I was never going to see you again," she whispered in response.

"I have never been that terrified. Don't put yourself at risk like that ever again. I know you didn't intend for it to happen, and I do appreciate that you took Rumple with you. But I cannot go through that again."

"I think we are safe now," Regina whispered as she slowly and repetitively combed her fingers through his short hair.

"Even still."

"I cannot be a suburban housewife, David," she commented lightly but there was still a threat in her words. A threat he heard and laughed softly at.

"I know that," he whispered and placed a lingering kiss on her growing belly before he rested the bridge of his nose against it and let out a long exhale. "Just lay off the hero work for a while," he breathed out and she hummed in agreement.

"It is an exhausting line of work."

"One that a working mother doesn't need to uphold," he replied as he pulled himself higher on to the bed so he could look her in the eye and rest his head on her pillow. "I love you," he whispered and she smiled.

"I love you more," she whispered back and a smile spread over his face and creased the corners of his eyes. With a single breathed laugh and a tired smile she rolled on to her side and nuzzled her face in to his neck and chest as she wrapped her arms around his middle. A long exhale left her nose when his arms wrapped around her in return, warm and snug and heavy, "when did you fall in love with me?"

David smiled and let out a relaxed exhale, "I fell in love with you slowly. I cannot tell you the exact moment it began. It snuck up on me and then all of a sudden I woke up with you half clothed in my arms and I couldn't imagine waking up without you. You doubted me and I was patient because I loved you and you were stubborn and wary. But every day since I have only grown to love you more."

Regina hummed against him with a smile and then asked quietly, "talk to me until I fall asleep?"

"Of course," he whispered and held her close.