Myyyy liiiife is falling apaaaaaart hahahahahahahahahahaha! Enjoy the update you guys! I'm trying to finish the update for Catch Me as fast as I can :) happy Sunday! Finally the show is back! Woohoo!
"When," he started with his voice even more soft and gentle than before as he moved his thumb softly and slowly over her bottom lip and her face creased with the saddest pain, "was the last time he kissed you and erased every worry you held?" More tears fell from her closed eyes and her lips parted ever so slightly to allow for her to suck in a better breath but his thumb remained on her bottom lip moving ever so slowly and softly.
"Get out," she pushed out in the saddest and weakest of whispers as his gentle touch pained her heart and his strong body warmed her soul back to life after she had buried them both deep to try to never feel this endless ache again.
He didn't leave though and her her breath was pushed from her lungs when he pressed a soft kiss to her cheek. When his lips left her cheek he rested his forehead against hers and she drew in a shaky breath that may as well have been a cry, "please. Just g-" she was cut off with the softest of kisses and as her face twisted with heartache a small whimper was muffled against his mouth.
He kissed her softly with one hand on her hip and the other still holding the side of her face and she slowly began to fall in to him while her tears continued to fall. Her hands slowly moved up his strong chest and as he swivelled his head, her hands found his neck and held him to her.
Now who moved first, she couldn't say, but soon she was pulling at his shirt and he her gown. He kissed her neck as he pulled gently at the dark silk and she turned her head in to his, her eyes closed and her lips parted as she enjoyed his gentle touch. His mouth only left her skin when she pulled his shirt over his head and when he looked at her through those blue eyes, so kind and tender, she felt a tear fall down her cheek and she dropped her gaze to his mouth. Once more she felt his thumb along her bottom lip and then he was cradling her head and lifting it to meet him in another soft and slow kiss.
Her hands rested on his sides and soon she found that her fingers were softly moving up and down his sides from the top of his ribs to the waist of his pants, memorizing and enjoying every rise and dip of his muscles as he kissed her in a way that made her putty in his hands. After unlacing the back of her dress he began sliding the fabric from her shoulders with such gentle fingers she found herself shivering under his touch. As her dress fell to the floor she stepped in to him and opened her mouth a little more as granted permission for him to further the kiss a little more as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
A small and still rather sorrowful moan sounded from her as he kindly took her offer to deepen the kiss and his warm work calloused hands moved over her bare sides. It was she who stepped a little to the side and started bringing him down with her as she sat on the bed and he followed without hesitance and without changing his soft approach. She opened his belt and pants without breaking his wonderful kiss and as she started to crawl backward further on to the bed he kicked his remaining clothing to the floor and followed her on to the bed.
After removing her panties he settled on top of her with one hands moving over her neck and through her hair while the other drew soft patterns over her thigh that had her shivering in delight. His soft mouth had her moaning quietly and his weight on top of her had her warm and relaxed while his hard length against her pelvis had her heart skipping in anticipation. Her hands roamed everywhere over him, feeling him, enjoying him, exciting her.
Her breath caught in her chest when he lowered his mouth to her neck and slowly kissed lower and lower. He was kind to her, he was treasuring her, he was loving her and it put her right back on the verge of tears as his perfect kisses reached her breasts. She didn't want him any lower, she wanted his face over her own so she could busy her thoughts with him rather than what he was making her feel. She wanted back that tender air of lust he had created.
She caught his head in her hands and with one last kiss below her sternum he followed her gentle pull. His eyes were so blue and so understanding and she hated the tear he wiped away with his thumb as he smiled that small and incredibly kind smile before he dropped his head and kissed her again. Long and slow.
Still emotional but wanting more, she began slowly rocking her hips beneath him and he gave a long quiet hum against the corner of her jaw and placed a hand on her hip to keep her steady. He kissed her neck and her jaw as he slowly pushed himself inside her and she pushed her head back in to her pillow with a choked breath and a long moan as her fingers dug in to his back.
"Mom," Henry called quietly and she turned her head as she took a sharp breath in and her dark eyes flashed open. She then proceeded to look around her bed and then the room and herself as she slowly sat up, "you okay?"
"...yes..."
"You sure? You were moaning in your sleep a little bit and now you're crying," he nodded toward her and she furrowed her brow in confusion and brought her fingertips to her cheek.
She was only further confused when her fingertips met a wet tear on her cheek and she pulled them away to examine the wet gloss to them now. "It was just a dream, Henry," she answered quietly and then closed her eyes and sunk back in to her bed on her back to try and erase the images of the vivid dream from her mind.
With a frown Henry cocked his head and after a few seconds of watching her troubled expression he climbed up on to the bed with her. He slipped beneath the heavy blankets and snuggled himself right up in to her side, his head on her chest and his arms around her middle. Her skin and her dark blue silk nightgown were soft against his cheek and hands and he let his eyes fall shut when her fingers started combing through his hair and her other hand reached over her a little to hold his forearm over her stomach.
"What time is it?"
"Late morning. You're usually up with the sun and I could find you anywhere. So I came to check here just in case."
"Hmm."
...
David turned to the window as he finished folding and rolling his letter up as small as he could and then looped a small string around it to keep it secure as he whistled for a bird. Just as he finished tying it a smokey grey pigeon perched itself on the windowsill and he smiled as he picked up the bird and moved to tie the message to its leg. Only the small rolled message was snatched from his hand before he could tie it, "hey!"
Regina looked at the rolled paper between her thumb and finger and then to David, "what is this?"
"A message."
"To whom? Your perfectly delightful flake of snow?" She raised her eyebrows with a subtle shake of her head.
"No of course not, I'm not an imbecile."
"Oh I beg to differ."
David sighed irritably and pushed his hand forward for her to put it back in his hand, "it is a message to my mother. Telling her not to worry and that I am perfectly alright."
"Why does she care?"
David furrowed his brow and shook his head at the odd question and Henry rolled his eyes behind Regina at his confused reaction. Clearly he was missing something but he didn't know what, "she is my mother, why wouldn't she care to know of my safety?"
"Hmm," Regina hummed shortly and turned eyes back to the tightly rolled parchment. And then she started opening it.
"What are you doing?"
"Reading it?."
"That's private, Regina!" He raised his voice irritably but she didn't seem to care and continued on her way. So he tried to snatch it back but she poofed away and reappeared behind him.
"Surely if it does not concern me then you would not have such issues with me reading it."
"It doesn't concern you!"
"Then why such hostility?"
"Because I am hiding her from king George and I don't need anyone knowing about her except me!"
Regina paused her movements now that the letter was open but she did not read it. She held David's eye and tried to figure out where such ferocity came from when it occurred between a mother and her child and a vice versa.
"Oh...crap..." Henry broke the tense silence with a small cringe and when David turned around to face him, Regina watched his back for a moment or two and then began reading the letter.
"What?"
"I forgot about king George."
"And?"
"That you were too late to...save your mom..." He winced a little and David blinked and shook his head.
Regina looked down at David's neat and tidy scrawl and read it without much of a care, her dark eyes moving quickly and easily across the paper.
Mother I am writing to tell you that I am alright. I unfortunately will not be able to visit you for some time for I am caught up in something important and am unable to leave. I am safe and I am well, there is no need for you to worry. Please stay out of sight.
I love you dearly. Stay safe.
David.
Her brow furrowed at it for it indeed was exactly what he had said it was. A letter to his mother assuring her of his wellbeing. She flipped it over to inspect the back but found nothing so she then held it up to the window to check for any hidden message but again found nothing. So she looked at the message again in case she missed something. But her full attention was caught by Henry's voice when it claimed David's mother would die.
"You don't know that."
"I do," Henry cringed quietly and David let out a long stressed breath and pushed a hand through his hair, "he knows where she is, he's known for awhile and is just waiting for the right time to follow through. I don't know when that is going to be though anymore because I've taken us so far from the original timeline."
"When did it happen in your world?" He forced out through his tight jaw.
"After my mom put Snow under a sleeping curse and after you broke that curse. You proposed to Snow and then there was a huge battle to overtake the throne from my mom. You were retreating from a surprise stealth attack from king George's army and told Snow that you'd meet her at the cabin with your mother. You got there in time to fight his men but you missed the archer that shot a poisoned arrow over her heart..."
Regina's eyes flicked from Henry's face and to David's rigid back. There was a tense silence that hung in the air that only broke the moment David spun on his heels and tried to storm off but was stopped when she stepped in front of him and placed a firm hand on his chest, "stop."
"Get out of my way!"
"I will not!"
"I am free to leave am I not?!"
"Yes of course," Regina answered irritably, "I am true to my word."
"Then let me pass!"
"Take me with you."
"What?!"
"You heard the boy. You are not successful on your own."
"I am not taking you with me!"
"Risking your mother's safety over your trust in me?"
...
He knew that their mission was one of urgency and not one he should be smiling about but he couldn't help the smile that pulled at his mouth as he galloped side by side with the queen. It was exhilarating and freeing. The horses hooves pounded against the forest floor and the air sped past them as did the trees. He hadn't been trusted to go at a full gallop until now and he was loving it. His mother turned her head to check on him once more and she smiled at him as he laughed when Rocinante leapt smoothly over a log in her path.
His favourite part though was racing through the river. The cool clear water spraying up around him and soaking him to the bone as Rocinante worked hard beneath him to get him across water that was up to her chest. The horses were growing tired after a few hours of galloping and cantering with small walk breaks in between but they kept going without complaint or hesitation when asked and soon enough they were galloping down the well hidden road to Ruth's secret cabin.
David leapt off his bay mare before slowing her to a halt and Regina did the same from her stallion which had Henry promising himself to learn the same trick and mastering it before he returned home to Storybrooke.
"Mother?!" David yelled as he sprinted toward the cabin and Regina started searching the property for George's men, "mother?!"
"David?!" Ruth called back as she ran from the house toward his voice, "what is-?!" She was cut off by his strong arms crushing her in a hug as he whispered incoherent words to himself, "David what is going on?"
"You're safe," he whispered and hugged her tighter as she hugged him back.
"Of course I'm safe, dear. Why wouldn't I be?"
"David!"
He shot around at Henry's panicked voice to find Regina reaching and then catching an arrow out of mid air right next to his head where Ruth's had been resting on his shoulder during their hug. His breaths were sharp and his eyes were wide as he stared at the arrow in Regina's smooth hand and his surprise was not all that affected when Regina scorned him.
"You mean to tell me that we rode all the way here to save her from this arrow and you turn your back to the trees to let it happen, you god damn fool!" She waved the arrow in front of his face and he stared at it wide eyed.
Ruth shook her head at the woman, her eyes wide as well as recognition brought the woman's name to her tongue and the arrow caught in her hand confused her further, "you're the queen."
Regina spared her a glance and then looked back to David and whacked him upside the head with the feathered end of the arrow causing him to hiss and put a hand up to his head, "you damn twit. It is a true wonder to me how you haven't gotten yourself killed yet," she snapped and flung the arrow in to the ground so it's poisoned point stuck in to the soil and she returned to gathering her previously magically frozen knights in the trees and bushes around the small clearing.
David watched with his mouth still slightly agape as she moved her hands and lifted king George's frozen men in to the air and gathered them all in the middle of the clearing. The archer included. "Thank you, Regina," he breathed out and she looked halfheartedly over her shoulder with half a nod and then continued with her floating group of men. "I'm serious, Regina," he shook his head and let go of his mother so he could walk up to her and turn her around. She did so with a sigh and irritated shift of her weight but she did turn at his touch and looked him in the eye.
"You saved her life and you didn't have to. Thank you," he nodded and she nodded once more.
"You're welcome," she replied and when he stepped closer she scrunched her face and leaned away, "don't-" she pushed an irritated sigh out her nose and rolled her eyes when his arm wrapped around her, "hug me."
David breathed out a light chuckle in to her dark hair at her irritation and held her anyway. She was rather nice to hold and she smelled incredibly good this close but he did let go of her before he lost his arms to her magic. Henry was laughing quietly from beside Rocinante and David couldn't help but laugh with him when Regina shot the boy a disapproving look.
"What?" Henry laughed and raised his hands up and to the sides as he shrugged his shoulders in innocence.
"Keep laughing and I'll have your tongue, boy."
"No way! I'm calling your bluff! You like talking to me," he grinned with his tongue between his teeth as he laughed.
"Oh just go gather the horses," she waved him off and he turned with a laugh to go do as he was told and she turned her attention back to George's men.
Ruth watched wide eyed at what was going on before her and when David came back to her she shook her head and whispered quickly, "what is going on, David?"
"It is a very long story, mother."
"I don't have anything else to do," she shook her head, her words quick and panicked as she tried to make sense of it all.
"I'll explain everything once we are safe back at the queen's ca-"
"I don't want to go to the castle, David! Tell me what is going on!"
"Mother-"
"I captured your son with every intention to use him against dear Snow White. However before I could put my plans in to motion I was convinced by that boy to wait for he had other plans for me. He then convinced me to let your son out so he could convince him to aid him in his plans for me as well and he succeeded. The topic of yourself was brought up this morning and the boy remembered a vital piece of information regarding you dying a slow death by George's men via their poisoned arrow to your chest," she interrupted David and David put a hand over his eyes and shook his head while the older woman gaped at her, her eyes wide and confused.
"What else...yes Henry is from what seems to be a parallel universe set rather far in the future," she nodded and Ruth remained silent, "I believe that's it."
"Mom," Henry laughed and shook his head as he walked up to them and Ruth shot her eyes down to him.
"Oh yes. In that parallel universe I am his mother," she nodded and smiled and the older woman looked back up at her in disbelief, "really it's not so much a long story as it is one that is difficult to believe."
When no one said anything more she nodded and clapped her hands together, "so now that that's out of the way shall we get out of this forest?"
"Regina I don't want those men reporting back to George as to what's happened here."
"Understood," she nodded and Ruth looked between her and David in confusion, "Henry, my boy, eyes forward."
"Okay," he quickly turned his back to the men floating in the air and made sure he had all three sets of reins still in his hands and that three different coloured sets of four legs were beside him.
David watched Regina's hands move in a gesture and then there was a small pause to seal the spell before she quickly pulled her hands away from one another and David's eyes moved to the men just in time to see the bundle of them sliced in half right through their waists. Like a wire cutting through a block of soft clay it had been wrapped around. He cringed at the image and placed a hand on Ruth's back when she yelped as the bodies fell to the forest floor in sets of legs and torsos.
Henry frowned but kept quiet. He understood why David asked it of her and he knew his reasons were fair. They needn't be endangered by word of mouth. Didn't mean he liked that his mother could kill so easily. A few moments later he found himself standing on cobblestone and when he looked around he recognized the palace stables and with a smile he turned toward it and talked quietly to the three horses he led behind him.
Regina watched Henry leave with the horses and a small and pleasant smile graced her lips as she did. Such a good boy. However when she turned her attention back to David and Ruth her smile was replaced with a small frown. Ruth was frazzled and reasonably so and David was trying to soothe her. What she didn't appreciate was that she could not decipher Ruth's expression whenever the woman looked her way.
It wasn't one of anger or fear or disgust but nor was it one of kindness or understanding or acceptance. Not even worry or caution. It was unreadable and Regina didn't like that.
With David and Ruth distracted, Regina examined her hand slowly as she cocked her head. The same hand that had snatched the arrow from the air. David was right. She didn't need to do it. Under any other circumstances she likely wouldn't have either. The woman was of no importance to her, she didn't know her, had never seen her before that moment, why did it suddenly matter to her if the woman lived or died?
It was frustrating to not have an answer. What had changed? Why did she demand to go with David in the first place? What possessed her to do such a thing? Was it because of that bizarre dream that even still had her stomach flipping and twisting with a need for him? Her mind was changing and she was no longer in control and she hated that. This whole day was proving to be just horrible.
"Regina," he called again a little sharper after she ignored him the first two times and her dark eyes snapped up to his in a threat to call her name in that tone again. It only had him smiling a little and holding back a lighthearted chuckle as she lowered her hand from her eye level, "what would you like us to do now?"
"I suppose your mother would like to get settled in a room," she offered but it wasn't really a question. She was turning to lead the way before David had finished his single nod of agreement.
-Storybrooke-
"Regina?" David called as he walked in to her home. He received no answer which wasn't at all surprising but what did concern him was that the house was silent. There was not a sound to be heard. No flipping of a page, no incoherent mumbling, no books being thrown, no angered scream, just nothing. He didn't think he had ever heard the home so quiet.
"Regina?" He called again with a frown as he checked the study only to find it to be empty. He walked further in to the room anyway though with a deeper frown for there were no books left open. There weren't even any on the table. They were all stacked on the floor in haphazard towers and none were on the table waiting to be read. She must have searched through them all.
He checked the kitchen next but didn't find her there nor did he find her in the living room. After searching the main floor he walked upstairs to look for her there. He had never been upstairs before and he felt like he was intruding but he wanted to find her and make sure she was okay. He had been nominated to be the one to check up on her most often because it seemed he was the only one she would listen to. That and he put up with very little of her shit.
He walked down the hall to what he guessed to be her room and was proven to be correct but he didn't find her there either. Didn't stop him from looking around a bit though. He wandered around the room and in to the bathroom, touching different bottles of different thing, looking at photographs of her and Henry and some of horses, smiling at things he found here and there that made her seem so incredibly human like the rest of them. Like the collection of pretty coloured sea glass in a small jar on a shelf next to a stack of books by Jane Austen and Charlotte Brontë.
The sight had him breathing out the softest laugh and he turned and left the room in search of others she may be hiding in. The next one he opened was merely a linen closet but the one after that he discovered to be Henry's room and fast asleep on his bed was the evil queen herself. She was on her side with her knees pulled up a little, her face half buried in to the blue pillow she hugged so closely in her arms.
He shook his head at her with a sad smile and walked up to the side of the bed. He didn't want to wake her so he didn't touch her but he couldn't help but study her and the longer he did the deeper his frown became. She had dark bags under her eyes and her cheeks showed signs of dried tear tracks. Her face seemed to be sharper, her cheekbones more prominent with the loss of what little fat she had on her body before she lost Henry and stopped eating. Her skin was paler than it should be and her clothes fit a little looser than they used to.
With a frown still on his mouth, he moved to the foot of the bed and slowly and gently pulled the stilettos from her feet and placed them on the floor before he unfolded the extra blanket draped over the corner of the bed and carefully placed it over her sleeping figure. With one final look over her he left the room silently and walked down the stairs and in to the dining room before calling Snow to tell her he was going to stay until she woke up so he could make sure she would at least eat.
...
It was a full day and a half later when she finally stirred awake. The movement of her drawing in a deep waking breath and nuzzling her face deeper in to Henry's pillow brought David back from his thoughts and when those remarkable dark eyes tiredly blinked open and focused on him sitting in a chair he nodded and gave half a smile and a quiet, "hey."
Regina didn't smile in return. Instead it was her usual half scowl that seemed permanently fixed upon her mouth whenever he was near. Although he was not convinced of its colder nature when she remained groggy with sleep while hugging her son's pillow.
"What time is it?"
David looked down at his watch and read it out to her, "five forty three," and then he looked up at her with a longer sigh, "on Thursday."
"I never know what day it is anymore. I haven't been bothered to keep track."
"Well that's not like you," he stated plainly and she closed her eyes and turned her face back in to Henry's pillow, "I came to check on you yesterday morning but found you asleep. You haven't woken up until now," he explained but she didn't move. She hadn't fallen back asleep and she had heard him but she didn't react. "Regina you need to take care of yourself. You need to eat, you need to sleep, you need-"
"What are you doing here, David?" She cut him off tiredly, her irritation and exhaustion clear in her voice as she opened her eyes again.
"Making sure you don't let yourself die. We need you, Regina."
"Yes of course you do. You need me. But as soon as I get you what you want I am cast aside without so much as a thank you or a recognition. I am nothing to you people until you need me."
"That isn't true."
"Give me one example where it hasn't applied and I will take it back," she offered quietly and he opened his mouth to give an example but closed it again soon after, "hmmm," she hummed indifferently and looked him up and down and then closed her eyes once more.
With a frustrated sigh David rubbed his hands over his face and leaned forward in his chair so his elbows were on his knees and his hands fell limply in front of and between his legs. "I don't know what you're going through, Regina. I can only guess at what you're feeling. I'm not going to try and claim otherwise. I do not know the hurt of losing a child like this," he shook his head and her eyes remained closed but her brow twitched in to grief the longer she listened.
"You took Emma from us. You took her from me. But I never truly felt the loss. I passed out moments after I put her in the wardrobe and then we were cursed and then I was in a coma. When the curse was broken my little girl was standing right in front of me. I had missed her life, I had missed her growing up, but I never had the time or the mindset to...feel the loss, to feel the hurt. She was leaving my arms one moment and the very next she was standing in front of me taller than her mother.
"However you have spent every waking moment with Henry for the past eleven years and now he is gone. I am not going to pretend I know I know what that feels like. I don't want to. He is my grandson and I love him incredibly but I am not going to tell you our ache over his leave is the same for I know it is nowhere near it. He is your son, Regina. You are his mother and we will no longer disregard that fact. I know you will not accept my apology for the others but I apologize for my behaviour. Henry is your son and it was cruel of me to ever say and act otherwise," he shook his head a little with his sincere apology and those time stopping dark eyes slowly opened once more.
"Yes it was."
He shook his head again at her smooth and plain tone with her eyes held his, "I'm sorry, Regina," he frowned and gave his head one last shake, "it wasn't fair."
"No it wasn't."
Silence hung in the air for awhile. It was a silence that made him feel all the more guilty. Sometimes that woman made them seem like were so completely simple in the head. after several more seconds of silence David stood up and Regina watched him, "get up and have a shower. I'll make you something to eat," he nodded and she rolled her eyes and let them fall back shut as he was turning away to do just that.