Note: I'm so sorry about the delay on this fic. I know it's been almost a year. I've essentially lost my muse for a while and then got really busy with work. I'll finish it (might take a while, hope you stay with me!)

Trial

The trial had started three days earlier, with DA Spencer on the offense. David knew he didn't care about Regina but he wouldn't pass the chance to put his enemy behind bars. Spencer had been eying the mayor's office for years. But like most people in this town, he was too much of a coward to run against Leopold White.

David had mostly stayed away from the courtroom. He hated to admit that Mary-Margaret may have been right about his relationship with Regina. Their marriage may not be everything he had hoped for but he had made her a promise. And he was too honorable not to keep it.

However, as the sheriff involved in the original arrest, his wish to stay out of the courtroom conflicted with his duties and despite weak protests from his wife, he entered City Hall this morning, his mood darker than the coffee cup he was holding.

"Sheriff!" Spencer motioned him over. "A few minutes to spare."

David grunted in exasperation but followed the DA to his office, where Malerie was buried in notes. "Albert," she started without sparing one look at David, "we cannot put David on the stand today." The DA shut the door behind them quickly, hoping that the sound proofing would be sufficient to keep the shouting match that was about to follow away from prying ears.

David frowned at her remark but held his tongue. The ADA was fuming. "What the hell were you thinking?" Malerie snapped at him.

"What are you talking about?"

"Regina." Malerie supplied. "Why did you kiss her?"

David's eyes widened. How did she know? Did Mary-Margaret know? Malerie shook her head at David's dumbfounded expression. He wasn't denying it; her worst nightmare was becoming true. "You know what Gold will do with that information, don't you? Leopold's entire defense is to slander Regina's character and you just gave him the ammonitions to do so. With the pictures of Graham and now that kiss, he won't have any troubles painting her as a slut!"

Spencer motioned for his assistant attorney to calm down. "You've made your point, Malerie." Turning towards David, he added. "But I must agree with her. We cannot put you on the stand today."

"How do you know?" David was slowly processing the information he had been bombarded with in the span of three minutes.

"Anonymous tip." Malerie answered. "But since you're not denying it, I'm assuming it's true." She finished.

David nodded slowly. "She just had surgery…" He tried to blame it on the sedatives. "I stopped it before it went anywhere."

"Save it." Malerie dismissed with a wave of her hand. "It doesn't matter what you did after that. All you're confirming is that Regina is the one who kissed you."

David shut his mouth and stayed silent. He understood why the two attorneys were desperate. Not only did that kiss give Gold everything he needed to get Leopold acquitted but he was in no shape to take the best defense attorney in the state. "Thomas can probably testify on my behalf. Everything is my report."

"That's not an option." Spencer dismissed the idea immediately. "Gold will just subpoena you. At least, if you're a witness for the prosecution, we can control the narrative." He added, going through his own thoughts aloud. "We can probably stretch Dr. Whale's testimony. The judge has been cutting the day short every day. So I don't think he'll let us bring another witness if it means going past 11am." It was a gamble, but a safer one than putting David on the stand. One glance at his watch told him he needed to leave soon. "David, you and Malerie stay here until your face doesn't give away your feelings for the mayor's wife." Before David could protest, Albert Spencer had stormed out of the room.

"He's not wrong, you know." Malerie said in a softer tone, sitting behind the large desk and motioning for David to do the same. "How is your wife actually reacting to all of this?"

"It hasn't been easy." he admitted.

Malerie nodded, shuffling her notes. "Let's get started, shall we?" If the ADA had any personal opinions about his soon-to-be very public domestic life, she didn't let on. The woman in front of him was all business.

EC

When Albert Spencer entered the courtroom, all eyes were on him. It was the last two days of the prosecution's case and everyone was expecting for the biggest jokers to be drawn. But Spencer didn't have any. Any advantages he could have further comprised Regina: Henry's disappearing act when Regina was a teenager would be exploited by Gold in cross, and Spencer had been reluctant on putting the man up as a witness. To Henry's defense, he had hired a private detective to find his daughter. But that private detective had been found to have had an affair with the woman he has been charged to rescue. Or at least, the only pictures showing the two of them together could be interpreted in such a way. Dr Whale was his second most important witness but the good doctor had closed his eyes on Regina's injuries for years. Then there was the Sheriff. He had hoped that David could be the light in what should have been an easy case, but apparently the man couldn't resist the brunette's charm.

Not that he hadn't thought about Regina that way before himself. He had taunted with the idea to bed her to gain leverage on the mayor. And the fact that she was easy on the eyes hadn't escaped him. He smiled at the soon-to-be ex-Mrs White on his way to his table. As was customary, she was flanked by Granny Lucas and Wendy Balaur, Malerie's niece. He didn't know Window Lucas well except for the fact that she hated Leopold White as much as he did and it was enough for him to consider her an asset.

"All rise." The clerk announced as the judge entered the courtroom. Spencer sat down, feeling Gold's eyes on him. The crocodile smirked at his enemy. Leopold may be the worst son of a bitch in town but Gold would never pass an opportunity to crush D.A. Spencer in the courtroom.

EC

"No! No! No!" Malerie threw her notes in exasperation. "You cannot describe this."

David ran his palm over his face. "It's in my report, Malerie. I asked Regina to open her thighs so I could sign off on the evidence. You know as well as I do that it is standard procedure. She was wearing underwear and consented."

"You don't get it, do you?" She roared. David swore he could see smoke coming out of her nostrils. "No one on that jury will read your report. They will listen to you! The sheriff who rescued a battered wife! All they need to know is that you corroborated the evidence. Don't give more details."

David huffed in frustration. "Which Gold will bring in cross anyway."

"Let him! It will make it unlikable. And that's not something he will risk. Not when he has pictures of Regina and Graham up his sleeve and probably the knowledge of that kiss. When he'll play one of these two cards and if you testify to asking Regina to part her thighs and her agreeing to do so, all the jury will see is the slut Gold is painting her to be!"

"It was months apart! Regina is not the same woman!"

"But for the jury, it will be five minutes ago. David, we have to play it smart here."

David closed his eyes and let out a slow breath. "We need to know who told you about that kiss."

"It doesn't matter. Like it doesn't matter who took the pictures with Graham." Upon seeing David's shocked expression, Malerie frowned. "Spencer didn't tell you?" She blushed.

"Who gave Gold these pictures?"

"Your wife."

EC

David burned all the speed limits in town. He climbed the stairs leading to the loft four by four and slammed the door open, making Mary-Margaret jump. "David! What…"

"How dared you?" He interrupted, fuming. "Why did you give these pictures to Gold of all people? Why not come to me?"

Mary-Magaret's expression turned from shock to anger. "When, David? You're hardly ever here and when you are, you wish you could be anywhere but with me. With Emma!"

"Don't play this game with me!" He shouted.

"Fine! I did it because Regina is coming between us!" She spat. "I just want her out of Storybrooke! Why can't she leave?"

David closed his eyes and took a deep, steadying breath. "Snow," He started with a calmer tone, "when all of this started, you gave me the recording that essentially sealed your father's fate. You told me you believed Regina… What has changed?"

The brunette averted her eyes. "I want her gone, David." Nothing had changed: she believed Regina. She believed her father had beaten his wife. And she had been ready to help the woman. But Regina had pushed her away and had taken David from her.

David sighed. "She can't go anywhere with your father free. He will find her and I think you know what he is capable of."

"David, do you really think that Regina is innocent in this? You've asked me why I didn't give these pictures to you but you never asked me how they were in my possession in the place."

David frowned. He had assumed she had gotten them from the house. But then, if Leopold knew of their existence, he could simply have asked Gold to retrieve them.

"Ruby Lucas took them." Snow supplied. "She wanted out of this town and out of her granny's diner. See, Widow Lucas never had any other ambitio, than for Ruby to take over the diner. But Ruby wanted more. She wanted to be a singer. She wanted to be famous."

"And these pictures would ensure that Leopold would finance her dream."

Snow nodded. "We argued about them the night of the accident. I… I didn't want her to show them to Daddy. I thought he loved Regina and this would have crushed him."

David rolled his eyes but held his tongue. They had all been blind to what was happening under the roof of the perfect mayoral mansion and he wasn't about to throw Snow the first stone. "And she crashed the car into the town sign."

"No. I was driving that night. Ruby didn't need the pictures anymore. I didn't have my license yet and Daddy was more than happy to have Ruby shipped to Hollywood."

"So they both got what they wanted."

Snow nodded. "David, this needs to stop. It's destroying us."

"I've made you a promise. I will keep it."

"You also promised to love me…" She reminded him. David stayed silent. His own feelings for Regina had clouded his judgement. He had hoped that the time apart would allow him to refocus on his family but it had only driven all of them further apart.