Alright so I accidentally lied to you lol! But I forgot that a few of you had asked for this particular scene between the mayor and the king so that pushed what I had planned for this chapter in to the next chapter. But it should be up soon anyway ;) and with where I left it off I am sure you're aaaaaaall going to know what is going to finally happen in the next update ;) lol! Happy reading! Please leave a review! I'm going to skip off now to work on the next chapter.
"Kiss her."
"What? Kiss who?"
"Regina," the queen answered as she stood in front of her husband who sat on the bed with his feet on the floor and a look of utter confusion and disbelief.
"Wha-no."
"David-"
"Regina, why would I kiss her?"
"Consider it a favour."
"For whom?!"
"Me."
With a sound that was part sigh and mostly scoff, David shook his head and leaned forward so he could brace his weight on his knees, "why?"
"Because she is being a god damned fool, David! She is stuck and needs her eyes and heart opened! She needs to be shaken!"
"My darling wife, why are you so troubled by this woman's personal life. It is hers to live. Not yours," he told her kindly and she grew all the more animated and agitated in her speaking and movement.
"Because it could have been mine! I understand what she is feeling! I have been alone and angry and hurt while hopeless dreams of love plagued my mind! I do not know what she is feeling because what she is feeling is more potent than I have ever felt! But I can understand it! David, you have taken me out of that destructive prison and I don't ever want to go back! You helped me change for the better and I do not know how I survived in such a dark place for so long! And yet she has lived there longer! She is absolutely miserable and I want her to feel the relief that man's love can bring her just as yours brought me!"
"Regina, I am not hers. I am not the man who loves her."
"But you look like him and that is enough for her to let you in," she insisted and he gave an irritable scoff.
"She's not simpleminded, she knows the difference between us!"
"She has mistaken you for the other David before!"
"Because she was drunk!"
"She wasn't that drunk," Regina argued with a roll of her eyes and David gave a tight sigh out his nose, "just...kiss her! Make her feel something again!"
David shook his head and rubbed a hand over his face, "do you understand how catastrophic this could be?"
"Then you had better not screw it up," she told him plainly as she flicked her fingers at him and his tasteful clothes from the mayor were enveloped in purple smoke and as the smoke dissipated it revealed an unbuttoned blue plaid shirt of soft fabric with the sleeves rolled up and a grey tshirt beneath it and a pair of lighter jeans. He looked the part but he did not look at all pleased that she was having him do this.
...
Much to Regina's genuine surprise, the town had been very accepting of the royal couple. It was tentative and hesitant and not without whispers and gossip but it was manageable. They were getting along. Actually the queen and Red were growing to be quite close friends. Much to Snow's displeasure. It had been four days since the town meeting.
Four days since her talk with Henry in the park.
She had put plenty of thought in to her son's words but she had avoided David at all costs. She still was not convinced that she should pursue David. Nor was she convinced that she could die happy with him. Old and grey. She was trying to do the right thing. But was the right thing really the right thing if everyone in question was miserable? She couldn't really say.
She frowned at the sound of her front door opening and closing. It was late in the evening and she hadn't been expecting guests. Henry was fast asleep and the king and queen had retired for the night long ago. So it was a mystery as to who was walking through her door after eleven thirty at night. She looked over her shoulder as she slowly and warily turned around when the footsteps decided to approach the kitchen where she stood. She relaxed though when she saw David.
"What are you doing here so late?" She asked gently with a smile as she turned back around to finish wiping down the sink and then drape the cloth over the divider between the two sink basins.
"Couldn't sleep," he improvised and copied her gentle tone. He didn't know how the pair of them acted together when they were alone.
"Does Snow know you're here?"
Her voice dipped to a new tone and it made the question very important. Depending on how he answered he would receive a drastically different outcome and he didn't know her well enough to know what his options were. So the king simply picked an answer as he walked closer to her and her back remained turned to him, "no," he told her and was given a couple nods in reply as she slowly dried her hands on a towel, "would you prefer she did?"
Regina shook her head tiredly and felt her frown pulling down her mouth, "it is your life, David. What you tell your wife is your business."
"Perhaps. But I am asking you."
"What does my opinion matter."
"It matters because you matter to me," the king told her gently and she gave a single quiet and doubtful laugh. Her back remained turned to him and for that he was grateful. He knew that she would figure out his facade in a matter of seconds once she really looked him in the eye. His heart did ache for the woman though. It wasn't hard for him to connect her with the woman he called his wife. In fact he was starting to find he wanted to kiss her. Just to show her she could be wanted. He knew she wouldn't really take it that way though.
"David, I don't want to get in to this..." She told him quietly and was met with silence. And then she was being touched and her whole body went rigid as she shrugged her shoulders up. He was behind her with one incredibly gentle hand on her waist and the other trailing softly up her arm toward her shoulder, skimming softly back down to her elbow as he pressed a soft kiss to her shoulder. "David," she tried to stop him but her voice failed and came out in a shaky whisper, "don't," she breathed with her brow furrowed and her lips parted in a tortured frown but her head was turned so her eyes could focus on what part of his face she could see as his lips lingered on her shoulder over the fabric of her blue dress. Her fingers gripped tightly on the edge of the counter as shivers flew beneath her skin and down her spine while her heart raced and her breaths grew shallow.
"No," the king whispered against her neck and felt her shiver while her muscles stiffened further.
"You are married," she pressed but her resolve was failing, "to Snow."
"But it is you who holds my heart," he argued gently and a tense breath blew out her nose as he kissed her shoulder again as his fingertips trailed lightly up the soft skin of her arm.
"David, you promised I wouldn't have to worry about this happening again," she breathed out as her chest tightened with want and dissolving restraint.
He wanted to pause and look at her, it was reflex to stop and try and figure out why she had made her David promise such a thing. But he didn't. Because if he had he would have alerted her to his true identity and he had her so close to giving in and accepting what she wanted. "Have you been worried?" He countered as his lips grazed the skin behind her jaw and below her ear causing her to shiver against him and her hands to grip tighter around the edge of the counter. Her breaths were shaky and her slightly turned head pushed a little heavier in to the side of his as she fought herself.
"No," she whispered and he pressed a gentle kiss to the side of her throat.
"Then my promise has been kept," he whispered back and she straightened her neck and bowed her head. He let her stay there for a few moments as he wrapped his arms around her middle and held her as he rested his forehead against the back of her head. "I am tired of being unhappy and alone," he told her quietly and slowly she let go of the counter so she could hesitantly move her hands over his arms over his stomach and hold him there. "I know you are too," he finished and after a moment or so in silence, she turned around in his arms so her back was against the counter and she was facing him.
She was beautiful and tortured and he wondered what those dark eyes had seen that made them so sad and endless. It certainly wasn't a look he saw in his own wife. His hands moved slowly up her side and her arm and her breath caught sharply when he took half a step closer so their bodies were touching and her back was pinned against the counter. She was incredibly tense and he knew her hands were still gripping the countertop behind her when his fingers buried themselves in her short silky locks. Her eyes remained down until he gently tilted her head back.
Her eyes focused on his mouth and the want and lust in her expression made even his heart jolt and grow warm. She was making it easier and easier for him to accept kissing her instead of his wife. Her lips had parted ever so slightly with the smallest release of her jaw and when her eyes flashed up to meet his, that desire from her only intensified. And then it faltered. A glint of confusion and pause changed her expression minutely and he knew that she had begun to recognize him for who he really was. But it was hardly a moment before she was distracted from truly recognizing him by his mouth catching hers.
She sucked a sharp breath in through her nose as her body recoiled at the contact but upon reflex she kissed him back. She was hesitant but he was not. He had her head spinning with the mere warmth of his body pressed against hers. His hands in her hair had her whimpering against his mouth and his warm pliant lips had her heart hammering out of control. It felt so good. It felt amazing and she forgot any doubt that she had that this was not her David. She forgot about her sudden suspicion that it was the king kissing her shoulder and neck. She forgot because she wanted to believe that it was the foolish sheriff kissing her now.
With another whimper and a moan, her brow furrowed as she let go of the last of her restraint and kissed him back properly. Her hands released the counter and instead took hold of the unbuttoned flannel shirt he wore and pulled him closer as she pressed herself right against him. Her head was still spinning and her breaths were sharp pants against his open mouth while his hands tangled further in to her hair as he kissed her hard enough to make her tilt her head back. It was exhilarating and freeing and everything she had ever dreamed and that was the only reason she stopped. Because dreams were dreams and no dream played out exactly as it did in your head. Real life was always more potent than any dream.
She broke the kiss sharply and bowed her head so he couldn't get to her again. Their breaths were quick and sharp and his hands were still in her hair just as hers still held handfuls of his shirt over his chest but now her grip was to simply keep her steady as her balance wavered and she leaned a little more in to him. Her heart was still racing but now it ached with distrust and she whispered, "why are you lying to me?"
The king felt a jab of pain through his chest at her small voice as her forehead rested upon the bridge of his nose. Softly and kindly he pressed a kiss to her nose and smoothed her hair back down as he whispered, "clever little mayor."
Regina frowned a little deeper and pushed her head against his a little harder, seeking comfort but not certain she wanted it from him. Ordinarily she would thoroughly disapprove of the title but it was what the king called her and when he said it it was endearing and she found she liked it. But only from him. "Why?" She pressed her question and he moved his thumb over her temple and her hands relaxed their firm grip on his shirt. A shirt the queen must have dressed him in.
"To show you what you want," he answered kindly so she would not take offence or feel the need to pull away and shut him out, "you can tell the difference between myself and your David. You stopped kissing me. You know what you want and it isn't me. All you need to do is reach for it."
Regina's frown remained untouched as she watched her thumb slowly rub the flannel shirt. She didn't move for awhile and neither did the king. He stood still save for the slow soothing path of his thumb moving over her temple every once in a while. He was right. He had made it crystal clear what she wanted. But he didn't make it any easier to take. However he never said the word 'take'. He said 'reach'. She liked that better. But it still didn't make it easier...but perhaps it did.
"Have courage, little mayor," he told her softly and felt her eyes fall shut as she let out a long breath and he soaked in the rare occasion of her body being almost entirely relaxed as opposed to completely rigid, "offer him an inch and he will leap the miles you have put in place."
...
He queen had watched in the background that night as her husband kissed the stubborn mayor and she was quite pleased with the results. She didn't need to see him kiss another woman beside herself again but he had done as she had asked and she had made her presence nonexistent when the mayor began to slide from between him and the counter. It was a risk and it had worked and it would cover plenty of ground between the town's sheriff and its mayor.
However, the queen was not expecting to be thrown against a wall by the vicious mayor in question when she came down that morning, "what the hell?!" She bellowed as she snarled at the furious mayor and swatted the woman's hands from the lapels of her blazer and effortlessly rose to the woman's challenge, standing up from the wall she had thrown her against.
"What game are you playing at?!" Regina shouted in the queen's face, her teeth bared in a snarl that the queen easily mirrored.
"I am not playing any game," she bit out furiously in reply.
"I trusted you!" Regina shouted again and felt the hurt settle in her chest but the queen didn't back down, "I trusted you and you turned around and stabbed me in the back!"
"I did no such thing!"
"It is my life, Regina! Something I had hoped you of all people would understand and respect! But you still went behind my back and pulled strings! You manipulated me! You tricked me! I am not your puppet to play with! My life is not your chess game!" She roared and the queen let out a furious laugh and took a step closer
The queen pushed a hard finger against the mayor's chest causing her to take half a step backwards before she swatted her hand away, "you are the problem," she growled lowly and the mayor tilted her head in a livid threat, "I am only trying to help."
"You lied to me," Regina snarled and her anger boiled.
"I showed you exactly what you want," the queen bit and the mayor seethed, "it is not my fault you are too stubborn and selfish to live in misery for the rest of your god damn life," she hissed and the mayor blew up.
...
The king winced in the kitchen when he heard the two women start and Henry looked curiously in the direction of the furious voices. This is exactly what he had been wary of when his wife had brought up the kiss last night.
"What happened last night?" Henry asked the king in complete and utter confusion. They had all been getting along so well the day before. Henry didn't get an answer. Instead he followed David as he reluctantly wandered over to the screaming queen and mayor. It was bound to happen. The pair of them fighting was inevitable but it probably could have been avoided.
David rounded the corner to see yet another side of the mayor. She was wild with anger but she was still controlled and to the point, her tongue sharp and precise. He had once thought that his wife was terrifying when she fell in to the persona of the Evil Queen. That woman was a darling kittens ugh an attitude in comparison to the developed and experienced Evil Queen of Storybrooke. The mayor was more experienced in her craft, her eyes were wild and her gestures were smooth and flamboyant but still controlled in her rage. She had him second guessing his decision to break them up. And it seemed she had even caught her son by surprise for the boy took half a step back when he saw his mother.
But the part that was most unnerving was that the woman was right. Both his wife and the mayor were right in their own separate arguments. But the mayor was more right. They shouldn't have butted in to her personal life, they had no right to do so and the woman felt violated. Rightfully so. Even if it would be better in the long run, it wasn't better now. Their continued shouting was proof of that. With both these women it was everything or it was nothing. And this was everything.
It escalated higher and higher with each exchange of words and David could not bring himself to confront either woman while they were in such a state of unbridled rage. Until it escalated to magic. "Whoa! Hey! Enough!" He shouted as he ran toward them but was ignored and his wife was sent flying after she provoked the mayor with her own magic.
"Mom!" Henry cried out in shock as the queen rolled harshly across the hard floor of the foyer upon her landing, "what are you doing?!"
Emma walked in to that house at the wrong time. She had come to take Henry to school not stand witness to a magic fight between too Reginas. She almost turned and left but was stuck in place with her back against the front door as a recently tossed queen pushed herself back to her feet with a low threatening laugh and magic pulsing at her fingertips while the mayor stood tall, still, livid, and superior in every way over the younger queen.
"Mom, stop!" Henry shouted and risked only a step toward his mother. It was the king that ran to her and stood between them.
"Stop," he breathed as he gently took the mayor's arms in his grip just below her shoulders. Her eyes were cold and hard as ice but they burned with a vicious fire that unsettled him, "just stop."
"This is my life. I will not have it controlled by outside parties any longer," she snarled and tried to pull out of his hold but his grip tightened until she stopped.
"We crossed a line," he pressed and she listened, "I am sorry. It won't happen again. We did it with the best of intentions."
"Did you think to put any consideration for me in to your precious plan?" She purred cruelly and the king shook his head and looked between her eyes.
"Not enough it would seem," he replied gently and she snarled.
"Insolent fools," she bit and he nodded once and then let her go when she jerked herself free of his hold, "call off your hound before I put her down," she snarled as she walked past him and toward the door.
The queen's lip curled back further at the insult. She was no dog that could be called off, David was not her master. She took a step toward her but David very quickly caught her and held her back which only infuriated her further.
"You okay?" Emma asked earnestly and quietly but only got a sharp glare from the brunette as she reached for the door knob and tugged the door open almost too quickly for Emma to hop out of the way. Once the door was slammed shut silence filled the home and Emma looked between David and the rage filled evil queen. Once they mayor's Mercedes roared to life in the driveway, Emma cleared her throat and looked up at Henry, "you ready for school, kid?"
...
"I told you she would be angry."
"I don't want to play the 'I told you so' game, David," Regina hissed and at his irritated glance she silenced herself and let him continue dabbing the warm wet cloth at the blood on her lip.
"She is stronger than you," he noted quietly and she sighed, only speaking when he moved to the cut on her eyebrow.
"So I have noticed," she grumbled and he let out a sigh of his own as he lowered the cloth and just looked at her, "what."
"How long until you can heal yourself?"
She simply shrugged and looked down at her hands in her lap, "I don't know. She wanted to make an impression. Blocking any and all healing spells is certainly an effective method. I have been trying to learn that spell for years," she shook her head. She had been absolutely furious all over again when she realized what the mayor had done to her. She hadn't even noticed the restriction on her magic until she tried to heal the cuts and coming bruises from her graceless collision and tumble with the cold hard floor of the foyer. She didn't let David help her with them until she calmed down and stopped seeing red long enough to let him settle her on the countertop.
"She will figure it out, Regina," he assured her and she crossed her jaw and shook her head as she furrowed her brow.
"David...what happened to her? What could have possibly happened to me that would turn me in to...that..."
"I don't know, my love," he told her quietly and she gave a long exhale, "perhaps you should ask her."
"I am not certain I want to know."
David nodded in understanding and dabbed the cloth at her eyebrow again, "well no more deceit. She clearly does not respond well to games in the shadows."
"I wouldn't either," she grumbled and then frowned, "I didn't know she had put such trust in me. It is hard for me to hold any trust in anyone. I can't imagine what it took for her to trust me...if I had known I wouldn't have told you to do that to her," she shook her head and he lowered the cloth from her head. Then she gave an exhausted and tired laugh as she looked up at him and let her head loll to the side, "I made a mistake."
David smiled a small sad smile and tilted his head and she bowed hers again, "it is a mistake that can be fixed, my love."
"I am horrid at mending relationships."
His smile grew more affectionate at her quiet mumble and he kissed her forehead, "an apology is always a good start."
...
"Mom can I borrow your phone?"
"Whatever for?"
"Cause mine's dead and I forgot to tell Hansel and Gretel something about our group project," he lied but she didn't notice and shrugged so he took it upon himself to grab her purse and rifle through it for her phone. It wasn't a complete lie. He was in a group project with Hansel and Gretel and his phone was dead.
"Your day go better than the morning?" He asked tentatively as he looked for David's number.
"Yes. But that wasn't exactly a hard thing to top."
"That's true," he chuckled a little and started typing a message.
"I fought with David too," she admitted for reasons unknown to her.
Henry paused on sending the message and looked up at her, "sheriff David? Why?"
"I don't know."
Henry smiled a little and rolled his eyes as he went back to the message and deleted the whole thing and instead typed 'I am sorry I yelled at you' and then thought about it and changed it to 'I am sorry I screamed at you' and then sent it off, "you should probably apologize."
"Later," she ended the topic and drove in silence for a little while.
Accepting it for now, Henry started a new message 'I need your help. Meet me at the house in the den' then he sent it and went and started a new message to Hansel just because he knew his mother would check.
"I'm sorry you had to see that this morning, Henry."
"It's okay, mom," he shrugged and smiled, "I mean you're loads scarier than the queen but at least you're harder to set off," he teased lightly but she didn't smile. "Mom," he called a little more seriously and she looked at him for a moment before looking back at the road, "it's okay. She's difficult. She and I have fought lots too. It was inevitable that you two would. You lasted longer than I thought you would actually."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence."
"I'm serious."
"I know."
"Everything will work out."
"It doesn't feel like it."
"It will," he assured and she sighed and her phone vibrated in his hand with David's reply of 'I'll be there in ten'. "If you really feel bad and feel the need to make it up to me we can always stop by Granny's on the way home and pick up some hot chocolate," he smirked and earned himself a small smile and mostly silent laugh from his mother.
"Granny's is not on the way home."
"But it could be," he grinned and she shook her head with a smile and at the next intersection she turned right instead of left. Granny's instead of home, "awesome."
...
"Come on, come on, come on!" He laughed as he pushed her forward with his hands on her back.
"Henry, what are you doing?" She laughed in amusement as he pushed her harder so that she'd move faster toward the door of the den. The one with the fireplace and the couches and thousands of books that made up all four walls.
"Just go!" He laughed and gave her a final shove through the door. And just as he suspected, her laughter died once she entered.
"D-avid," she stuttered in surprise and shook her head in confusion, "what are you doing here?"
David shook his head and furrowed his brow in confusion, "what do you mean? You asked me to come."
"I did no such thing," she scoffed and folded her arms and then both their attentions were caught by the door clicking shut and Henry standing there with a mischievous grin that had all the pieces falling in to place in her head, "Henry," she scolded with a low growl as she unfolded her arms and marched to the door but when she tried the handle it didn't budge, "Henry, enough, this isn't funny."
"You can try all you want but that door isn't going to open," he shook his head with a smile and she scowled furiously back at him. He had played these questionable tricks and games on the queen and of course got away with them and they turned out rather successful. However, playing them on his mother was an entirely different story. She could ground him for years and rightfully make his life a living hell as punishment for such things. He just had to hope the outcome of this would be as successful as he intended it to be.
"I had the queen enchant it so that once I close it I am the only one who can open it. Only works once though," he smirked and his mother grew all the more angry and he feared for his life for just a moment.
"Henry. Open this door."
"I am not opening the door until you two kiss one another once," he stated and she clenched her crossed jaw tight and he held her burning gaze with practice until she gave up and hit the side of her fist against the door and walked away to the corner of the room furthest away from David who sat on the couch in confusion.
"Henry..." David started tiredly but didn't really have any other words to say. It was clear that Regina had never sent him any texts which led him to assume it had been Henry. Manipulative little hellion.
"Nobody leaves this room until you two kiss. That's the deal," Henry nodded and David sighed at him before turning his head to look at Regina who was still standing in her corner with her arms folded and a scowl while her irate eyes focused on the books shelved on the neighbouring wall. Nobody said a word more.