Look at me so quick with an update! Lol! I hope you enjoy it! Laugh a little, tear up maybe, yell at me a little at the end, whatever you like ;) hahahahaha please leave a review and let me know what you think!
Regina was sitting in front of her vanity slowly and mindlessly brushing her long hair over her shoulder. Her eyes were down and glazed as her mind ran wild with thoughts of David. Once again screwing with the huntsman left her feeling more empty than before. And that emptiness lingered throughout the prior evening and in to this new morning. She couldn't help but wonder how satisfying it would be to share a bed with David.
Even just a kiss.
Or just another touch of his fingers upon her skin to spark her back to life.
Her heart was aching in her throat and she was so grateful for the distraction when her eyes caught movement in her vanity mirror and settled on the reflection of her father. "Good morning, father," she greeted with a kind smile that he returned.
"Good morning, child," Henry nodded as he approached her and placed his hands on her shoulders, his heart aching at the sight of those tortured dark eyes that he should have shielded from the horrid things she had seen.
"What brings you here?" She questioned curiously. He hadn't stepped foot in her chambers in...well she didn't know how long. But that was mostly her fault. She had screamed at him to do just that.
"Well," he started and gently pulled her hair from over her shoulder and combed his fingers through it as it all hung behind her in a cascade of dark silky waves, "I wish to discuss something with you and I believed it best we do it in private."
Regina furrowed her brow in curiosity with a small frown and watched him in the mirror as he began pulling her hair back from her face and began braiding it in a french braid, "what is it?"
"Your affections toward David," he nodded once with his gentle voice and in the mirror her expression grew steely and cold. But he continued to braid her hair. Slowly. He was never as good at it as she was. Even though he had taught her in the first place. "Your dear pet brought it to my attention yesterday and with a day of watching you with David I must say I agree with him."
"He is not my pet," Regina snapped quietly and her vulnerability grew all the more present which had her all the more vicious and ready to strike.
"I know," the older man smiled gently as he gathered more hair from above her ear in to the braid, "but you are dodging the topic at hand."
"I do not wish to speak of David," she bit out harshly and her father's gentle hands continued in her hair. He hadn't braided her hair since she was just a little girl and it was touching another particularly sore spot in her heart.
"Well I wish to speak of David," he replied and her eyes grew all the more deadly in the mirror while her snarl threatened to be shown.
"There is nothing to speak of," she practically hissed as her temper began to flare and his large old fingers gently added more hair to her braid.
"You love him. Of course there is something to speak of."
"I do not love that man! Do not-!"
"Regina I am your father," he bellowed lowly to cut off her own bellowing voice and she jumped noticeably at the change of his tone. Not once had he ever used such a stern and loud voice and he felt guilty for using it now but he had learned that things needed to change. He needed to be stronger. For her. His fingers had stopped in her hair and he held her gaze in the mirror with kind but strong eyes while hers were wide with vulnerability. He had startled her and left her stunned and she hadn't looked this small since before her mother had vanished.
"I am your father," he repeated with a softer tone and immediately there were tears in her eyes and she closed her mouth and dropped her shoulders while his fingers continued the braid. "I have not been strong enough in the past. I know you don't think I did but I knew about your love for Daniel," he nodded and she quickly bowed her head so he wouldn't have to see her tears fall in the mirror. He nearly dropped the braid when she moved but he kept it and added more to it as he spoke, "I made sure your mother remained oblivious to it. But I should have done more. I knew she would never let you go. I should have woken you in the night and given you each a packed horse with money and provisions and sent you off to live your lives with one another," he shook his head and she looked up at him in the mirror with tears streaming down her face.
"Believe me when I say I blame myself for that man's death as much as you do yourself," he shook his head with a quiet voice and frowned at the way her hand shook as she rested her fingers against her lips. "I am not about to make the same mistake again, my child," he shook his head and gathered the last stray pieces of her hair at the base of her neck to add in to the braid, "now tell me. Do you love this man?"
She shook her head miserably as her heart throbbed and her tears fell silently and his gentle hands braided the free length of her hair. It hurt. Everything hurt. But he was so gentle and patient and she replied with a tortured whisper, "yes."
Henry could see it. Could physically see the pain she was in and it hurt him almost to tears but he stayed strong for her now and nodded his head as he reached around her shoulder for the black satin sitting upon her vanity table so he could fold it in half and braid the two halves of the ribbon securely in to the end of her braid before tying it around the end in a tidy bow. A trick he had learned from a horsewoman long ago to keep the ribbon from simply slipping off the end of his daughter's silky hair.
"Well then we will convince him to stay," he nodded and pulled gently at the braid to make it appear even fuller, "for you. Together."
Regina shook her head and more tears fell down her cheeks before her miserable voice was heard, "daddy he is a good man, I do not deserve such a gift after all I have done."
"Hush, child," he shook his head with his soft voice and she let out a quiet cry that shook her shoulders once as she stared at herself in the mirror rather than at him.
"What have I done? Who am I? I don't understand," she shook her head and her voice cracked with a sudden sob as both her hands came to cover her mouth and her father's hands squeezed her shoulders in an attempt at support and comfort.
"Everyone makes mistakes, child."
"Everyone turns right instead of left, everyone uses the wrong fork for the wrong meal, everyone forgets to tighten the girth before they mount their horse, everyone misspells a word, everyone drops an item of value! No one slaughters villages, no one rips hearts from people and locks them in a box, no one kills just because it's Tuesday!"
"Those are mistakes all the same. Just bigger than most."
"I am a monster."
"You are not a monster," he replied firmly and she shook her head and failed to calm her frantic breathing and sporadic but quiet cries.
"How can you say that?! After all I have done, after every life I have ruined if not taken!"
"Hope is not lost on you, my sweet daughter," he shook his head and she simply cried silently in to her hands while her shoulders shook in his grip. "Look at the progress you have made in just the months since that boy appeared on the road. You have learned and remembered so much," he smiled and squeezed her shoulders and she let her hands tiredly fall from her face as she lifted her head so she could meet his eye in the mirror. "You have remembered how to smile, you have remembered how to laugh, you have learned to control your anger, you have learned to hold back your magic, you have remembered to enjoy the little things, and most importantly you have remembered how to love."
Regina's face twisted in pain at those words but she held her teary eyes on her father's through the mirror and he softly pulled her braided hair back over her one shoulder and she felt more tears fall down her cheeks when she looked at it. So even and careful and precise and beautiful. It touched her heart and she couldn't help but remember the times when she was happy and he would braid her hair every day he could. She missed it.
"You are always your best when you follow your heart," he nodded and she cried silently and still as her eyes looked in the mirror at the braid over her shoulder, "your heart was torn apart. So you hid it away. Rightfully so. But it is time to listen to it again, my child. It has healed as much as it can on its own. It is ready to beat again," he smiled with his quiet voice and felt his eyes start to fill with his own tears because he too missed the bright woman she had given up on, "it is ready to fight for you again," he stated with more strength in his voice and she met his eyes only to have more tears fall from hers, "you just need to be brave and let it. Listen to it again, follow it again, it will not lead you astray. It never has and it never will. Trust it and I know you will not regret it."
Regina sniffed quietly as her tears fell and after a few moments of silence she carefully stood from her seat and turned so she could wrap her arms around her father and hug him tight. She left a kiss on his temple before she buried her face in to his neck and as his arms wrapped firmly around her in return she couldn't stop the tears that dampened his coat. She couldn't remember the last time she had hugged him. He used to try to hold her but her temper would flare at any contact he tried to offer and over the years of her reign he learned to stop trying and keep his distance.
It hurt to hold him close but it was a good kind of hurt and she found she didn't want to let go. It didn't seem like he wanted to let go of her either and she could understand why. It had been too long.
...
Her father's words were still floating around in her head as she walked across the courtyard to the stables playing with the end of the braid in her hair. She felt different after their talk and she couldn't yet tell if it was a good different or a bad different. She was on her way to ride with Henry as they did almost every day around this time but her mind was nowhere near the horses or Henry. They were all on David and her father's words.
"Regina," he greeted happily and she jumped at the sound of his voice and looked up at him with wide dark eyes, "sorry. Didn't mean to startle you," he chuckled lightly and she remained silent and still. It was odd for her to be silent and her wide eyes quickly fell to the ground as she swallowed and quietly cleared her throat which had him furrowing his brow as he stepped closer to her only to have her step backward with her eyes still down, "is everything alright?"
"Fine," she replied shortly and then walked around him, only lifting her eyes once she had passed him for she wasn't sure of what he would see in them if he looked in them right then. "Why is my horse already saddled?" She questioned suspiciously when she laid eyes on her black stallion.
Shaking off her odd behaviour for now when her strong and accusing voice returned to his ears he replied, "Henry was keen to get us all moving and you were running late."
"...us?"
"Yeah," David smiled when she looked over her shoulder with her brow furrowed and her eyes returned to their guarded and analyzing appearance, "he's got some secret plan or something. I don't really know but he's waiting for us outside," he nodded toward the door at the other end of the stables and Regina looked him up and down. He could have sworn he saw hesitance in her expression, "unless you don't want me to join you two?"
"Don't be ridiculous. Why would I care if you came or stayed. Unless you are trying to find an excuse to stay behind?" She shook her head at him with her eyebrows raised and secretly hoped he would come up with some excuse to stay at the castle. She was going to have to throttle Henry later for his meddling.
"Nope," David smiled and Regina nodded and proceeded to untie her stallion and lead him out of the stable with David and his mare following them shortly after.
...
"Right here! This tree!"
Both David and Regina looked to the tree that Henry directed Rocinante to and they both looked up at its branches but it was only Regina who spoke, "this tree? Whatever has you wishing to stop here?" She shook her head and dropped her eyes back to Henry only to furrow her brow when she found him preparing to stand on his saddle after halting Rocinante as close to the tree's trunk as possible.
"Because it's got nice thick branches," Henry replied as through it were obvious and once he was on his feet on Rocinante's saddled back he reached up above his head for the lowest branch but couldn't quite reach it. So he jumped and with a huff and a grunt he pulled himself up in to the tree and grinned to himself when he heard David and the queen's quiet laughter.
"What are you doing?" Regina questioned with a laugh as she brought her stallion beneath the tree next to Rocinante and looked up in to its branches.
"Climbing," he laughed and peaked down under his arm before clambering up the next branch.
Regina shook her head and laughed and then turned her attention to David when she heard him dismount. He was smiling himself and gave his mare a friendly pat before he let her graze and walked up to gently hold the reins of her black stallion.
"It doesn't appear we will be going any further," he smiled and she laughed a sweet and quiet laugh through her smiling lips.
"No it appears not."
"Shall I help you down?"
"I am quite capable of getting off him myself."
"I never said you weren't," he smiled and her smile was uneasy and rather forced but slowly it grew easier and more honest the longer she looked at him before she averted her gaze with a shortly hummed laugh and gave a quick nod. His smile grew wider as well with his laughter and he walked up to the stallion's side and when he lifted his hands Regina swung her leg over the horse's neck and let herself slip from the care of the stallion and in to his own hands. With his hands on her waist he helped her gently to the ground with a smile and she smiled quietly up at him before she turned and walked away.
"Untack the horses. I don't imagine we'll be leaving soon," she smiled over her shoulder as she unbuckled and slipped the saddle from Rocinante's back and then moved to rid her of her bridle, "they won't go far."
"Hey David!"
Once again both Regina and David's eyes were lifted far in to the branches of the tree. He was up rather high but it only had Regina laughing so he didn't worry about it too much, "yes?"
"Can you throw me the rope?"
Regina watched curiously as David agreed and untied the seemingly unnecessary rope tied to his mare's saddle and returned to the tree below Henry. The rope was thick and long and Regina had questioned its purpose before they had left the palace and David hadn't had an answer for her. He merely shrugged and looked to Henry who had then claimed it was for just in case. It seemed he had had a plan all along. She couldn't say yet what that plan was though.
She continued to watch them as she removed the tack from the other two horses and she couldn't help but smile as David taught Henry from the ground how to tie a proper knot for his purposes in the tree. He was thorough and patient and precise and did it with a smile as Henry straddled a thick branch a good fifteen feet from the ground and laughed and grinned as he worked on his project. With the horses now free to do as they pleased, Regina folded her arms and walked around behind David, looking him up and down as she passed and then stopped and leaned her back against the thick trunk of the tree and looked up in to the branches once more.
As much as she loved watching Henry she found that her eyes kept falling back down to David as he laughed and nodded and moved his hands as though he was tying the knot he was describing to Henry. It made her smile and she relaxed a little more of her weight in to the tree as she quietly studied and admired him without his notice. She was stuck in both her mind and her heart. Like her father had said her heart did indeed long for him but she was much to wary to let it go to him. Not that it hadn't gone to him already. Traitorous organ.
She simply didn't trust him to stay. Nor did she believe she was worthy of him. But if her father was ready to raise his voice at her over David then perhaps she should try anyway despite her thoughts on herself. Perhaps she should try to be happy, to take a risk she swore never to take again. With the way her heart was aching and fighting her now, she supposed there could be some merit to her father's words about it being ready to love again. But it was her mind that was her issue, not her heart. The mind is not so willing to forgive as easily as the heart. The mind remembers more of the bad than the heart ever bothers to try to retain.
But would be hurt her? Would be bring her grief? Or would he love her in return and soothe every ache and every fear? So she unintentionally mused instead on what it would be like to be his. Being close to him, touching him, being held by him, laughing with him, kissing him.
When she caught where her train of thought was heading she shook her head clear and looked to the rope dangling from the tree as Henry climbed down it and landed back on solid ground. "What is it for?" She questioned curiously as she continued to clear her impossible thoughts from her mind.
"It's a swing," David chuckled in recognition as he put his hands on his hips and watched as Henry tied a big knot in the end of the thick rope for their feet.
"Yup!"
"A swing?"
"Yeah," David smiled with a laugh and then looked at her and shook his head at her confusion, "have you never played with one?"
"Well no. I've never seen such a thing."
"You love them back where I'm from," Henry laughed as he tightened the knot and then stood up on it with his hands gripping the rope as he bounced a little to test the branch's sturdiness, "we used to play on the swings all the time when I was little. And the rope ones were your favourite."
"What is their purpose?"
"To swing on!" Henry laughed and jumped off the rope and ran backward with the rope in hand and when he was as far as he could go without letting go and without the bottom knot being too high for him to reach, he jumped on it and it swung him back toward his mother and David. He laughed as he swung and David laughed with him while Regina watched in fascination with a smile.
...
David sat on the ground with his legs outstretched in front of him and one ankle crossed over the other as he leaned back against the large tree and ate an apple while he watched Henry and Regina. It had taken a little bit of convincing and instructions but they had successfully gotten Regina on the rope and she was enjoying it more than the rest of them. He was smiling as he watched her and often found himself laughing with her contagious joy.
Henry had the tail of the knot in his hands and was pulling the rope back with Regina still holding on tight. The pair of them were laughing freely in their excitement and amusement as he pulled her back as far and as high as he could so her body and the rope were nearly parallel to the ground and she was practically yelling at him to let her go as she clung to the rope and laughed that rare and rich laugh. David couldn't help but laugh when the boy let her go and Regina shrieked for a moment and then followed through with an exhilarated laugh as she sped past on the swinging rope and Henry hollered and laughed as he ran after her.
She had never been more beautiful to him than she was this evening. Her deep blue coat was like the water to the green around her and the strands of dark hair that escaped her braid flew across her eyes as she swung on the rope, dark eyes lit up with pure joy. Her body was finally loose and relaxed with her happiness, and her smile so wide and bright and open you couldn't help but smile with her no matter who you were. Even Grumpy would smile at that smile and that beautiful laugh lending music to the forest around them.
He wanted to make her laugh like that.
With a laugh Henry caught her legs and brought her to an abrupt halt after being dragged for a couple feet and Regina laughed as she swung around and clung to the rope as Henry had instructed through his laughter. As David finished his apple he couldn't help but feel just a twinge of jealousy toward the boy as he spun Regina around and around, twisting the rope tighter and tighter on itself. It was a harmless jealousy that made him smile a little. Henry was allowed to touch her and she loved it when he did, David could tell. And as the boy's hands moved easily and thoughtlessly over her hips and waist to spin her and the rope, David couldn't help but wish the woman would grant him such a privilege.
Still smiling at the laughing pair, David pushed himself to his feet and offered his bay mare the core of his apple and she took it eagerly from his palm before he turned his attention back to Regina and Henry.
"Are you ready?" Henry laughed, absolutely thrilled and amused that he had gotten the evil queen laughing so easily and so eager to keep playing.
"No!" She half shrieked out and he let out a hysterical laugh before he gave her a sharp spin in the opposite direction and the rope began to quickly untwist itself.
David let out a hearty laugh of his own when Regina let out a whoop of contagious laughter as she clung to the spinning rope and Henry let out a rich laugh with them. He watched and laughed as she spun and spun and he tried to memorize that expression of unbridled joy. For the times that he felt like he may throttle her.
"Henry!" She laughed out as she felt herself grow more and more dizzy but the boy only laughed harder. And then she felt the spinning start to slow and she laughed even more as it spun either way until it came to a halt and she carefully stood back on solid ground. It was the walking that proved to be more of a challenge though.
David laughed as she attempted to take one step forward and ended up taking one sideways all the while Henry laughed until his ribs were hurting. She cursed him through her laughter and tried to walk again but this time went the other way rather than forward. Laughing a little more, David moved his arms forward to catch her when she began again to stumble off to the side and as he took a couple steps closer so he could reach her, she caught her toe on a root and with a yelp and a laugh she gripped his shirt over his chest and brought him with her.
Her back slammed against the trunk of the tree but she only closed her eyes and laughed as she gathered her feet beneath her and stood up straight again. David was laughing as well but his was a little quieter with his unease of being so close to her. He had her pinned against the tree and his hands on her waist from their stumble and as much as he felt he should back off, he didn't want to.
She was warm and beautiful and her smile and laugh caused his heart to skip and that heart was not soothed by her fingers still lazily curled around his shirt over his chest. The urge to kiss her was growing stronger and stronger as her scent filled his senses and when she opened those dark eyes that urge was almost unbearable. Dark eyes smiled up at him as her laughter quieted to a happy chuckle and just as he had seen in his dream, flecks and ridges of amber accented the various warm dark browns in those stunning irises. He smiled and it must have been a different smile for she cocked her head with a curious grin and a laugh.
"What?"
"Nothing," he replied with a light laugh and a small shake of his head and a low happy laugh resonated in her throat as she smiled up at him. He'd be lying if he said his breath didn't catch a little when she relaxed herself against the tree and her eyes began to wander over his face. This. He wanted this.
Her smile faltered just a little when his hands moved a little higher up her sides and his thumb began moving slowly back and forth. She didn't want it to but she felt her fear and self loathing begin to creep in again and tell her to run. But she didn't because he felt good and ever since that dance she had felt deprived of his touch and now she had it back. Even if just for a little while. It was then that she noticed her hands on his chest and his heart beating beneath her fingertips and whether it was habit or her tendency to push too far, her fingers curled a little more as if to snatch his heart from his chest.
But he didn't so much as waver at the change and it caused her heart to jump in her chest and her confusion to grow. This trust was entirely foreign to her and caused her to pause. What was happening? Lust she could wrap her head around but this unwavering trust and faith that she would not harm him was so much more than simply lust. Before she could stumble upon the answer her attention was caught by his hand lifting from her side to gently tuck her hair behind her ear and proceeded to trail his fingers along the length of the braid over her shoulder.
"Beautiful," he complimented softly and she blew a slow and rather shaky breath out her nose.
"Thank you."
Henry watched silently with a wide grin and his bottom lip caught between his teeth. Yes it was a little odd to see his mom and David so close and gentle with one another but Henry found that he actually kind of enjoyed the look of them together. Once he got over the initial shock and confusion of it. However she was not yet ready. He didn't have any time to spare so he had to get this right the first time and the queen was not yet ready. Despite David being more so. But that was because David hadn't been hurt like she had. She was more wary and untrusting while he wore his heart on his sleeve.
She needed just a little more time to relax and accept the concept of David. So, silently, Henry pulled the rope back and carefully aimed his swing before he jumped on the rope with a laugh and then yelped in his purposeful mistake, "whoa! David look out!" And with the full weight of his body he collided in to David's side causing the man to be knocked down to the side with a small grunt while Regina remained standing against the tree trying to remember how to breath without David's touch.