And after this let the Enchanted Forest fluff and Storybrooke angst ensue! Lol! i hope you enjoy the chapter :) thank you so much for your reviews on these chapters! They mean so much to me!
He had snuck out just as the storm stopped. The sun had already risen above the horizon but with the late night they had had he told himself she would still be sleeping. He just needed to make sure. That was all. He was coming back to the castle regardless but he needed to know where his heart truly sat. He didn't want to break any hearts unnecessarily. So off he galloped through the gates and in to the forest on his borrowed bay mare and breathed in the fresh scent that is the earth after rain.
...
Regina stood on the balcony at the front of her castle, frowning as she watched David ride away. She didn't know why and she didn't know where and she didn't know when he would return. If he would return. She was confused and annoyed and angry. But mostly hurt. She had been so happy when she woke up that morning and now her soothed heart was sore again. She was trying to be optimistic. But she was not known for that skill.
"Morning," Henry grinned as he skipped up next to her. He had hoped to find her in better spirits because he had hoped that David finally took the leap and kissed her but when he caught sight of her face his grin slipped away.
"Good morning, Henry."
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"Where's David?"
"Gone."
"What do you mean gone?" Henry protested, his voice reaching a slightly higher pitch with his disbelief.
"He just left," she stated plainly while her heart throbbed as she watched him ride in to the tree line.
"But-I-we-what happened?! He wouldn't leave if he didn't have a reason! Is he coming back?!"
"I don't know."
Irritated now and a little bit frantic, Henry snapped a little harshly, "you're being awfully indifferent for someone who just watched their love ride off in to the distance!" He regretted the words the moment he said them and swallowed when she finally looked at him. She was livid and heartbroken and he felt himself shrink back in an apology, "I didn't mean it like that, mom. I'm sorry. I just really wanted it to work out...but I get it. Not David. I don't get that but...I know why you're still standing here."
"And why is that," Regina hissed but felt her tears start to burn in her eyes. If Henry noticed he didn't acknowledge it.
"You're confident in a lot of things but love is not one of them. You are afraid that if you were to follow him he would turn you away and you would appear weak and foolish. I know you won't but you can ride after him. He couldn't have gotten too far," he shook his head and her expression appeared to be condescending and depreciating but her eyes gave her up. Hurt and mistrust and the inability to figure out what she had done wrong. Then his breath felt like it was knocked from his lungs and he blinked and spoke quietly, "he kissed you last night," he stated and she quickly blinked and straightened her neck so she looked back out at the forest, "he did didn't he!" He cheered happily but not all that loudly.
"Yes. He did."
Henry laughed and jumped in place a little, "I told you he would! What was it like? Did it feel good? Did it feel right? Did you feel loved?"
"It doesn't matter. He's gone."
"He has to come back," he argued as he stepped closer to her, "Ruth is still here. He wouldn't have left her here if he didn't intend to come back."
"What's the point, Henry," she breathed out with an exhausted laugh and a shake of her head, "it wouldn't have been any more than an affair anyway."
"You don't know that," he argued and she shook her head and crossed her jaw but didn't say anything more because that hopeless argument was more or her own benefit. Trying to convince herself of a mere affair so it would hurt less than losing a true and honest love for the last of her days. "He'll be back, mom," he insisted and she shook her head, "trust me," he nodded and with one more shake of her head she turned and walked away and he let her with a frown.
-Storybrooke-
To say she was having a bad day would be an understatement. She had woken up in a bad space and it seemed as though it was the day's goal to piss her off further. She was seriously contemplating setting fire to the birds in her yard that were singing what should be a lovely tune that distracted her from her thoughts on Henry. Perhaps she could fire up her barbecue and cook a chicken right in front of them.
Her fingernails thrummed on the countertop as she stared out the window and when she heard the knock at her door she bristled and clenched her jaw, her fingers silent and still now. She wanted no company. She didn't believe herself capable of tolerating even David's presence. She was angry and sad and had spent all day on a teetering point between sobbing helplessly over Henry and burning her entire house to the ground over the fact that she could do nothing but wait for him to return.
At the second knock she let out a long furious breath and wondered what possessed people to knock more than once on her door if she didn't answer it the first time. She was always punctual unless she didn't wish to be. Had people not noticed?
There was no third knock. No the door was pushed open and the sound of Emma's voice calling her name reached her ears and made Regina's lip curl back in a snarl. She didn't answer and simply kept her furious focus on the singing birds flying around her yard and stealing worms from her garden. Bastards. Who gave them permission to eat her worms.
Emma's voice grated her eardrums again. Calling her name as she ventured deeper in to the home. Really did these people have no respect? Regina still didn't answer but it seemed it didn't matter to the blonde.
"Regina," Emma huffed out tiredly with a frown when she stopped at the other end of the kitchen and laid her eyes on the woman's back.
"I'm curious, Miss Swan. Tell me, when the home owner does not answer the door does that give the unwanted company permission to enter regardless and search their home?"
"You were ignoring me," Emma countered as Regina turned to face her, her head held high and her posture straight and regal and thoroughly furious.
"Your point?"
"Alright. I'm sorry. I just...it's been a shitty day."
"So, naturally, you come to find me."
"If I go back home I'm going to be bombarded with hope speeches and all that bullshit so yes, Regina, I came to find you," she bit back and caught the brunette a little off guard but the woman's expression was no less angry. "They don't get it, Regina. I mean I know they understand because they had to lose me and there was all of that pain leading up to the actual event of sending me through the wardrobe but they just don't get it," she shook her head as she stepped a little closer and felt her throat start to tighten and her eyes start to burn with tears of sorrow and rage, "I don't want someone to tell me everything is going to be fine! I don't want someone to tell me to keep my head up and have faith! I don't want to have hope! I don't want to be cheerful! I need someone to tell me the god damn truth! Will we ever see Henry again?!"
Regina was thrown by Emma's demeanour and her exhausted tears while her voice left her throat equally as exhausted and angry. She herself was still furious with her presence and the method of which she obtained her company but she did understand now, "I don't know."
"You've locked yourself away in this big empty house and throw kitchen knives at anyone who tries to step through your door," Emma cried out miserably as she motioned in the direction of the front door behind her but Regina didn't so much as blink those furious dark eyes, "the last time I was in here there were books stacked to the ceiling and there was reason for your malice! But now you stand here alone doing nothing while Henry is out there on his own?!"
Overstepped.
"Do not disregard my feelings for Henry," Regina snarled as she stalked up to her.
"You are doing nothing!" Emma cried furiously as her tears rolled down her cheeks and she saw them start to gloss Regina's eyes as well, "he is alone out here and you are doing nothing but enjoying the silence!"
"This silence deafens me! It rings in my ears and drives me to insanity! You think I am so cold as to leave my son out there with no hope of returning?! You think I am so heartless as to find joy in the fact that the only person I love has been lost to me?! I am lost without Henry, Miss Swan! I have no one else! I can hardly find it in me to get out of bed every morning even if I have managed to sleep!" She shouted furiously as her voice began to crack and shake with the tears rolling down her cheeks, "I can do nothing! I have read every book and every journal and every spell! There is nothing!"
"That is bullshit, Regina! There has to be something!"
"If there was a way I would already have done it no matter the cost!"
"Why the hell can't we just follow him?! Just grab ourselves a magic bean and think of him and jump through?!"
"It is not that easy, Emma!"
"Why the hell not?!"
"There are an endless amount of worlds out there! Thinking of just a single particular person isn't going to be strong enough to send us to the right place!"
"How do you know for sure?!"
"Yes let's question my knowledge of magic! That is a great way to get nowhere! If you don't believe me you are welcome to give it a try but I promise you the result will be the same as Henry's and no one will be able to come and get you."
"So what does this mean?! We have to just sit around and wait for Henry to find a way back to us?!"
"We don't know where he is. But he knows where we are," Regina's voice broke in to a hoarse and heartbroken whisper as her tears continued to fall and Emma shook her head at her in disbelief.
"Regina this...this can't be it!"
"I have done all I can. Storybrooke is a big flashing lighthouse; easy to locate by any portal means. Be it hat, door, tree, book, painting, mirror, rabbit hole, bean. If Henry finds a method the rest will be easy."
"Regina! He is eleven years old! And alone! How do you expect him to get back here on his own?!"
"Do not insult me, Miss Swan," Regina growled and her tears continued to fall as did Emma's, "I raised my boy to be resourceful and clever. If he can find you and drag you from Boston in the middle of the night on his own then he is perfectly capable of getting back to Storybrooke. It is all about people and Henry is good with people. It is a simple matter of how much time it will take. I keep to myself because I do not handle the waiting game well. I clean this house to distract myself, I still cook for two people but I rarely eat a single bit of it, I come up with colourful ways to kill the birds in my yard and sometimes I follow through, I throw knives at Girl Scouts because I don't want their damn cookies and those little half-wits are a disgrace to their name if they don't know how to handle a knife."
Emma couldn't help it. She laughed. She brought a hand up to cover her mouth as she cried and laughed. She hadn't laughed honestly in a long while and she wished she could enjoy it more but the thought of Henry still hung heavy in her mind.
"Gretel and I never got along anyway. Conniving little wretch knocked on my door on purpose, I know she did," she dismissed plainly and then nodded, "you should try it sometime. Their eyes just sort of pop out of their head," Regina demonstrated with her hand and Emma laughed a little more which had Regina smiling and laughing just a tiny bit as she sniffed softly, "it's rather satisfying when you're having a bad day."
"I can't throw knives at children, Regina," Emma laughed as she cried and shook her head, "I'm the fucking sheriff."
"And I'm the mayor," Regina argued with a shake of her head and a small teary laugh, "what the hell does it matter. You don't actually aim for them and it is so much more effective and pleasing to the eye than a 'no soliciting' sign on your property."
"Yeah sure I'll keep that in mind," Emma laughed quietly with a shake of her head.
Regina hummed quietly with a small smile as Emma held her eye. And then Regina cocked her head just a little and spoke quietly, "I do not exactly agree with the whole concept of faith and hope, Miss Swan. So I do wish you take it to heart when I tell you to have a little faith in me and in Henry. I have done everything I can. It is now up to him to do the rest," she nodded once and after a moment Emma nodded as well. "Now if you would be so kind as to let yourself out as graciously as you let yourself in, I have a bird to silence."
-Enchanted Forest-
He had been sitting there for nearly an hour now. He had ridden to two other locations before he stopped here and all were empty. No sign of her to be seen. They were meeting locations that only they knew about and he had hoped to maybe find her camped out at at least one of them. But he was no longer all that motivated. The further he got from the castle the stronger his heart ached and now here he sat on a moss cushioned log staring at his hands while his mare grazed behind him.
It was hard to wrap his head around. The fact that the love he thought was so potent and unbreakable now felt so insignificant when compared to what he felt for the queen. The malicious queen. The blood thirsty queen. His darling queen.
He heard Snow's voice echoing in his mind, assuring him that Regina was a woman with a beautiful heart and he now felt rather guilty that he had disregarded her words then only to turn around now and take her heart for himself. His intentions had been selfless in the beginning. He wanted to show Snow that she had been right about Regina and while he still wanted her to see it, he wanted to have Regina to himself and never let her go. He adored her, he loved her. Even when she lost her temper and strangled or crushed her defenceless guards beneath her shoe and threatened to do the same to him. He loved fighting with her, loved how quick and witty her tongue was even when she was angry. He loved watching her teach Henry how to shoot and how to ride, he loved watching her play with the boy. He loved the way she would scowl at the words in a book when she couldn't find the answer she wanted, he loved the way she walked with such easy regality, he loved her voice, he loved her hands, he loved those breathtaking brown eyes, he loved everything about her. The good and the bad.
So with a long sigh and a small smile he spun around on the log and gathered his mare's reins before mounting her and pointing her to the direction of the castle he now liked to call home. And as he cantered away he remained entirely unaware that if he had waited a mere four minutes longer, Snow would have found him sitting on that moss covered log.
-Storybrooke-
He came home irritated. He was tired and cranky and hungry and so incredibly done with people. Done with people, done with their problems, done with their stories, done with their voices, just done. The last thing he wanted to do was put on a good face for his wife and Emma but he did it anyway and closed the front door behind him.
"You're back late," Snow observed cheerfully as she slid their dinner in to the oven.
Great. Dinner wasn't even done yet. "It was a busy day."
"Sorry I couldn't be there to help today," Emma apologized and then stared back in to her mug, bracing for the reassuring comment regarding how everything was going to be okay and that she was allowed to take a day to regroup. But the comment never came and her shoulders dropped their prickly tension when he rubbed a hand up her shoulder blade and then squeezed the top of her shoulder without a word. She could have cried in relief at that plain understanding and lack of false hope.
He noticed her reaction and made note to speak less to her as he slipped his hand from her shoulder and walked around the island to Snow, "what's in the oven?"
"Chicken," she chirped with a smile and wiped her hands on a towel, "and then we've got mashed potatoes, gravy, and peas."
Her voice was grating his eardrums and rubbing him the wrong way and it normally didn't bother him but today he wasn't in his usual head space. But he forced a smile and a, "sounds delicious," and she grinned back and started talking again but he wasn't really paying all that much attention to what she was saying. Her voice was the equivalent of nails on a chalkboard and her constant state of cheeriness had him actually putting effort in to not letting his lip curl back in distaste.
How could she still be so cheery after everything that had happened and after everything that was happening. She went on and on about her day, about her students, about how funny it was that a cat sat beside her during her lunch and David simply couldn't take it anymore. He could not stand in her company without staring at her like she had seven heads he wished to sever from her shoulders. So he turned and walked away and toward the door.
"Oh and then there was-David? Where are you going?"
"To Regina's."
"Why?"
"I have to talk to her about something," he answered plainly as he tugged on his leather jacket and grabbed his keys.
"Now?"
"Yes. Now," he replied almost a little too sharply and opened the door.
"Will you at least be back for dinner?!" She called after him in disbelief while Emma watched him leave from her seat perfectly content and able to draw lines between his dots.
"I don't know," he answered shortly and the door shut behind him with an unnecessarily loud bang.
Snow stared at the door completely speechless and was only drawn back from her thoughts when Emma hissed sharply that her tea was too hot after she tried taking a sip. Her eyes snapped to her blonde daughter but Emma didn't look up at her and instead scowled at her tea, willing it to cool down faster. "What just happened?"
"What do you mean 'what just happened'," Emma mumbled tiredly, "he's going to go rant to Regina about the shitty day he's had."
"...why?!"
"Because she's not a happy person and won't offer him any sympathy. Why else?" She shook her head as if it were an obvious answer but when she looked up at Snow the woman was still completely lost. So she sighed and spoke frankly, "a person is allowed to be angry, Snow. They don't always want apologies and sympathies shoved down their throats. Sometimes they just want someone to listen to them and then tell them to get over it and stop whining unless they're dying. And Regina is more than capable of that. She does it on a regular basis whether you want her to or not. You just go straight for the sympathy card. You're too nice."
"I am not too nice!"
"Relax, Snow. If you were any different it would be weird," she sighed and went back to staring at her tea.
...
Regina huffed irritably under her breath when she heard her front door open and close. Gracefully she stood up tall after sliding her pizza in to the oven and walked to the front door to find David jogging up the stairs in to her foyer, "I feel perhaps I should simply take my door off its hinges. Save everyone the hassle of opening it. It's not as though they knock."
He gave a small relieved breath at the sound of her smooth but clearly irritated voice, "it's not a terrible idea actually," he teased and her mouth and eyes pushed in to an irritated smile.
"Why are you here," she grumbled as he made himself at home and walked past her.
"I'm tired of being Prince Charming."
"Ah so you've finally decided to stay the night with the Evil Queen," she smirked playfully with a rock of her head, a little arrogant now that she was aware her company was more desirable than Snow's, "took you longer than I expected but I suppose it's better late than never," she shrugged as she turned around and when she did she saw him coming at her and then he was pulling him in to her with his hands on her hips and she quickly slammed a hand against his chest and leaned backward from him with wide eyes, "what the hell are you doing?!"
"Calling your bluff," he smirked and then grinned when her wide startled eyes softened and she began to laugh quietly and relax her hand on his chest.
"If you want me to stop all you have to do is tell me."
"I know," he smiled and rubbed his hand up and down her side over the silk of her shirt as he stepped away from her and she followed him once his back was to her and he made his way to the kitchen, "to be honest I rather enjoy the banter," he confessed and she laughed quietly behind him.
Shaking her head and unable to wipe the smile of her face she asked, "why are you really here?"
"I told you. I'm tired of being Prince Charming."
"Oh?" She chuckled and raised an eyebrow.
"It gets exhausting holding up that image, you know? Always putting on a good face, always being happy and charming, swallow down any foul emotion for the sake of those around you," he shook his head and she hummed in agreement which had him smiling and laughing just a little as he looked over his shoulder, "I guess you do know the feeling."
"The redeemed Evil Queen? She's not hard to maintain at all," she replied with a shake of her head, her expression and voice both dripping with heavy sarcasm, "and I never throw knives at Girl Scouts."
David burst out laughing at that. A true and honest laugh, something he didn't think himself capable of after the day he had, "do you know how many phone calls and angry visits I got after that?!"
"Excellent, my master plan to keep you thoroughly unimpressed in that office was successful," she teased and he shook his head as he laughed and she got him a wine glass and placed it next to hers so she could top hers off and pour him a glass.
"This is what I love," he nodded as he leaned back against the island and she glanced up at him beneath her dark lashes as she poured him a glass of wine, "I don't need to be anyone around you. I don't feel like I have to be Prince Charming, I don't feel like I have to be anyone, I can just be...David," he shrugged with a smile and she walked up to him with their glasses in hand, "and you can just be Regina," he smiled and took his offered glass while she smiled back at him, "no more expectations than that."
Regina smiled at him but had no words. He seemed to understand though that she felt the same way. He was right. She held no expectations of him and she supposed that yes, like her with him, he would feel relief with that knowledge that he could just be himself with no judgement. "To bad days," she lifted her glass with a smile and David lifted his to lightly clink against hers, "and good company," she nodded once and David laughed under his breath as they withdrew their glasses and took a sip.
"Are you staying for dinner?"
"Depends on what it is and if it's better than what Snow's got," he teased but they both knew very well that he had every intention of staying. They were just getting through the formalities they both knew were pointless.
"There's a homemade pizza in the oven, plenty of wine and cider, and Netflix."
"You have Netflix?"
"I have an eleven year old boy," Regina laughed quietly with a shake of her head and tried her best to ignore the sharp pang that echoed in her sore and tired heart.
"Well I can't very well say no to pizza and Netflix," he grinned as he lifted his glass to his lips and Regina rolled her eyes and walked past him to the oven and when she opened it to check on the pizza and the smell of it filled the kitchen, he was suddenly starving again.
-Enchanted Forest-
She was staring out at the forest from her favourite hall again. The glass sided one that helped her mind wander. Not always to the best places, but wandering all the same. And then a small flower came in to her line of sight. A delicate little daisy with soft blue petals and a long sturdy stem. She took it gingerly as her eyes flicked up and met David's and she then couldn't decide between relief and anger.
He didn't say a word and she turned to face him without a word of her own and then without looking away from him she killed the flower. Burned it to a black crisp before it fell in to ashes and she flicked the remnants of it off her fingertips. David watched the flower burn and when he looked back to Regina's eyes he truly appreciated the effort she was putting in to not doing the same to him as she did the flower. "I am not going to lie to you," he started gently but not cautiously, "I am not going to coddle you either. You deserve better than that," he nodded and she listened to his every word while her expression remained almost unreadable aside from the hurt and anger in her eyes.
"I left this morning to look for Snow and I am going to tell you why," he assured so she wouldn't blow up or stop listening as he took a step closer so she had to tip her head back ever so slightly to keep her eyes on him. "I wanted to make sure that what I feel for you is real," he started and her brow twitched as she tried not to furrow it in confusion, "I wanted to be certain that I wasn't just caught up in you because I have been in the company of no one else. I needed to know if I were to cross paths with Snow again, who I would choose. I wanted to be sure of all of these things so that I did not hurt you or make you feel like my play thing. That wouldn't have been fair."
Regina stared at him in silence, stubborn and afraid while he remained patient and sure. "And what conclusion have you come to?" She finally spoke. Sternly. And he merely smiled at her and shook his head.
"I am here am I not?"
"What for?" She questioned sharply and he nodded as if to say 'fair enough'.
"Your majesty it appears as though I am falling helplessly in love with you," he confessed with a smile and watched as the words got caught in her throat and she stared at him wide eyed and dumbstruck, "if I haven't fallen already," he added on and she stared at him speechless. He hadn't really expected anything different. It wasn't like she was accustomed to people telling her they loved her. "I never did find Snow," he shrugged and stepped forward just a little more which had her threatening to take a step back, "but to be honest I wasn't looking all that hard."
"Why not?" She dared to speak, her voice just above a whisper. Her blood was pounding in her ears and her chest was tight with a mess of fear and hope and want.
"Because I had a beautiful and precious friend waiting on my return," he answered softly with an honest smile as he presented her with another flower identical to the first one she had burned and she took it with a small and shaky smile, "however angry she had been."
Regina laughed a little and tried to fight the tears burning in her eyes but it was just so much to hear at once, "how many flowers do you have behind your back," all the things she had been wanting to hear for so many years had all left his lips in a matter of moments. She had earned his friendship and that meant more to her than anything. Except for the part where he wanted more of her, that he wanted her to be his lover just as she so desperately wished to be.
"Just the two," he replied with a smile and felt his heart ache for her when he lifted his hand and she leaned in to the contact. Her hair was soft and left down and it made him smile a little more, "I love it when you wear your hair down."
"I know," she laughed out quietly and felt a tear roll down her cheek as she looked up at him rather than down on the delicate flower.
He grinned at that as a soft breath of laughter left his lips and she tilted and pushed her head in to his hand a little more as he wiped away her tear with his thumb, "may I kiss you now?" He questioned and the most beautiful smile spread across her face at the question. One that showed all of her with teeth and creased the corners of her watery eyes and took years off her face. It was breathtaking and he hoped to see it more now.
She nodded and her, "you may," was barely heard before his lips were on hers in a strong kiss that had her voice resonating low in her throat. His hands were in her hair and his body was flush against hers so his warmth seeped in to her. It was just that one kiss though. Firm and slow and lingering before he pulled back softly and kept his forehead against hers.
David hummed through his smile and felt her eyelashes against his cheek when she opened her eyes and tilted her head back to look up at him. "I make good choices," he smirked as he slowly slipped an arm around the small of her back and began pushing her backward as she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth as she laughed quietly. And then he was kissing her again and her back hit the railing along the glass wall of the hall.
She simply melted in to him as she opened her mouth beneath his and closed her hand around the shirt over his heart while her other hand slid up his forearm and curled around the underside of his wrist against her neck and jaw as his hand remained in her hair. This kiss was slower but deliciously thorough and she felt weak. Her stomach flipped and tingled while her heart leapt and her legs became jelly beneath her but she savoured it. It had been far too long since she had felt this way and she didn't want it to ever stop.
He felt warm. Everywhere. His heart was giddy and her hair was like silk between his fingers just as he had always imagined it would be. Her scent surrounded him and the softness of this dangerous woman drew him in even closer as he went for another taste and she moaned against his mouth. There was a special kind of satisfaction in making the Evil Queen moan and he was quite ready to learn how loud he could get her going. But he kept his kiss slow and strong and she did the same for he didn't want more yet. He pushed his hand further in to her hair and wound his arm tighter around her back as he swivelled his head and kissed her again.
The change earned him another moan as she moved her hands behind him and urged him closer. With one hand fisting his shirt in the middle of his back and the other curled around the nape of his neck he was able to lean heavier in to her and kiss her with no air between them at all anymore. He surrounded her and she felt like she was suffocating but it was in the very best way. As much as the fear in her wanted her to run before she was hurt again, she made herself stay.
Her mind screamed that this was weakness but she ignored it because surely a weakness this seductive and strong could not be wrong. He smelled like that damp fresh forest he just returned from and combined with his entire body finally being pressed against hers she was feeling incredibly dizzy and breathless. So she pulled his head down for more and a small groan was muffled by her mouth as his hand took a fistful of her hair.
A few moments later he pulled away and was happy to see her follow for more before she stopped herself and remained content breathing his same breath. He smoothed her hair back down and felt a heat grow deep in his gut as her short and heavy breaths blew across his lips. Then he tipped his head forward, gently bumping his nose against hers before he rested his forehead upon hers with a smile and spoke for only her ears, "am I arrogant to think that you return my enkindled love?"
"Yes," she whispered and heard him hum through his exhale and her stomach flipped and jumped while her hands threatened to shake as she shook her head once and smiled uneasily, "but you are not wrong," she whispered and was rewarded with the biggest of grins that she couldn't help but give in to and grin back at before he caught her in another kiss. And then another and another, the pair of them smiling through each happy and tender kiss before they stopped and Regina buried her face in to his neck and took her hand from his back and placed it on his jaw.
David hummed as he smiled and wrapped his arms around her in return, his nose pushed in to her hair as she let out a long exhale down his chest and relaxed against him. Her breath was warm and her hand was soft and he couldn't help but scold himself for waiting so damn long to give in to his heart in the first place. He felt whole. More than he ever had before with Snow which was something he hadn't thought possible until now. "I promise to be here when you wake up tomorrow."
"It is words like those that mean nothing to me, shepherd."
"Then I shall prove to you in the morning that I mean what I say, my queen."