Please let me know what you think my leaving a review/comment! They mean the world to me. There's also a little italicized bit at the beginning that I took from the end of the last chapter since it's been so long since I've updated.

Leaving had felt so good, and she still put a spell on the house so she would know if Cora refused to comply with her demands. She got into her car, deciding she'd head over to the park where she used to watch Henry play. She didn't care that it was now raining; she simply wanted to be alone with her thoughts in a place Cora couldn't find her around every corner. The rain grew heavier as she drove, trying to make her way across town to where the park was. Turning on her wipers, she continued on, stopping at a stop sign and squinting a look around as the day grew darker from the sun hiding away behind the clouds. There was a flash of lightning, and Regina startled when she saw a sight she never expected across the street, on the corner, and she whispered to herself.

"Daniel?"

Just then her phone rang, pulling her eyes away to see David's name on the screen, she picked it up, looking back to the corner at another flash of lightning to see nothing, so she frowned and answered the call.

"Regina? I need you to meet me at the hospital. It's Whale."

"His arm was literally ripped from his body and he kept saying your name. You don't think your mother was behind this?"

"No, I'd have known if she left the house. He didn't say anything else?"

David shook his head. "He said it was for you, he said he did it for you, and that the monster ripped off his arm."

Regina looked into the room where Whale was, then held her hand up for David to wait a minute. She went in, moving to the side of Whale's bed. "What happened?"

"Daniel… I did it. I brought… I fixed…" he trailed off, the drugs clearly affecting his ability to speak coherently. "He's not… Daniel, Regina, he's a monster."

She gasped. She'd seen him, it hadn't been a hallucination. Regina hurried out of the room, telling David she had to go, had to find Daniel.

"What do you mean, find him? Regina, isn't he dead?"

"He ripped off Whale's arm! Whale brought him back, that was why—I need to go, I can't discuss this right now, I have to go find him."

"Well where do you think he is?"

"I think it may be like when you woke from the coma and you were searching for Snow. I think he may go looking for me… at the stables."

A look of terror came over David's face. "Henry's at the stables."

"I thought he was in New York!" Regina grabbed his arm, pulling him toward the exit. "We need to get there right now."

"They just got back, I was going to let you know, but I didn't know until I got the call about Whale, and Emma and Snow left him with me to go with Gold to the shop to try to figure out a way to stop Cora from being able to control him with the dagger. I left him at the stables when I got this call because I didn't want him to see this."

"Why didn't you call me?" she yelled, opening his truck door. "You shouldn't have left him alone with Cora on the loose!"

David got in, starting the truck and taking off once they were both in. "I didn't think she'd hurt him because of you. I'm sorry." He rubbed one hand over his face, shaking his head. "Regina, I'm so sorry."

"Just get there. Hopefully he's fine." She looked out the window, pursing her lips. If anything happened to Henry, she'd never forgive herself.

Getting Henry out of there had been her first priority, but once he was safe it had quickly become a fight to get David to agree to let her try to talk to Daniel. He had been hesitant, but eventually agreed and went to check on Henry, leaving her staring at the big door between her and her once fiancé. Regina swung it open, hoping maybe seeing her would be enough to calm him. She hadn't expected him to grab her by the throat, so when she whispered that she loved him, choked it out as she gasped for air, the relief she felt at the release of his hand had given her false hope.

Hugging him had been so overwhelmingly wonderful, and for the first time in what seemed like forever, she felt someone's love again, brief as it was. He was her Daniel again for only a moment, a cruel trick, a painful reminder that she'd lost the only person who had ever really loved her just for who she was. And his request that she love again had almost made her laugh; it would have, if she hadn't had to turn him to dust and watch him die in front of her all over again.

The sob she let out as she fell to the ground sounded foreign to her ears, like the girl she'd once been, the one who had felt love stronger than any other emotion. That girl seemed so far away now, for decades had passed of her being the hardened woman who felt anger stronger than anything else.

She looked up at the sound of footsteps rustling on hay, finding David standing there and looking as though he wanted to say something but couldn't find the right words. Regina merely shook her head and stood slowly, though she couldn't stop her tears even with him standing right in front of her.

"Regina, I'm so sorry," he murmured, rubbing her arm gently.

"I can't see my mother tonight. I can't go home. If I see her tonight, I'll try to kill her, and I can't beat her, so I can't go home."

"Don't worry. I'll take you to the inn, I'll drop you and Henry there on my way to Gold's shop."

"She won't give me a room." Regina shook her head. "What about the cabin in the woods?"

"Alright." She waved her hand, an urn appearing on the floor. Regina bent, taking the lid off it and scooping Daniel's remains, dust or ashes, whatever it was, into the urn.

"Regina, I'll drop you off, and then once I make sure everything is okay on that end, I'll come back. I don't want you to be alone."

"I'll have Henry. I won't be alone."

"That's not the same. He's a child, he won't truly understand."

She shook her head. "Stay with your wife and daughter. I'll be fine, David."

"Will you, though?" he pressed softly, kneeling down beside her. "You know you don't have to hide how you feel from me. We're friends, and I'm here for you. I know how much you loved him."

She finished scooping the last bit she could, then wiped her hands on her pants. "I'm used to dealing with things on my own." Then, putting the lid back on and picking up the urn, she stood. "I put a spell on my house so I'll know if she leaves. I'll let you know if I feel it."

"Regina—"

"I don't want to talk about it. I've lost enough. I can't talk to you and confide in you, and end up losing that all over again, too. Please… just leave it alone. Let me be. I'll figure it out."

David dropped it, rubbing her arm and nodding. "I'm sorry." He should've been a better friend to her, he should've been seeing her more since they'd gotten back, but he left her alone and now she was stuck and hurting and he couldn't help her. "If you change your mind, I'm here. I'm not… you can call me and I'll be there in a heartbeat."

She nodded, then looked away. "We should go see Henry. He's probably wondering what's going on."

"Yeah." David brought his hand to her face, wiping the tears from her cheeks. She was so beautiful, even in her sadness, and all he wanted was to see her smile how she did when it was just the two of them in the Enchanted Forest.

Regina dipped her head, then moved around him to walk to his truck. Henry was inside, fear and worry etching his features. When she climbed into the passenger seat beside him, she rubbed his hand. "It's okay, you're safe now. David's going to take us to a cabin where no one can find us while he, Snow, and Emma try to figure out how to protect Gold from my mother."

"Are you okay, Mom?" Henry looked at her, his green eyes sad and thoughtful.

"I am not, but I will be, sweetheart. And it'll help knowing you're where I can keep you safe, okay?"

"Okay." He nodded, looking at David as he got into the truck, before looking at the urn in Regina's lap. "Mom?" Waiting until she said yes? and looked at him, he asked, "Who was that man?"

She didn't answer right away, trying to find the strength that would help her answer him without crying again. After a few moments, when David was heading them toward the cabin, she let her gaze drop to the container of her fiancé's remains. "That was my— my Daniel. My fiancé."

"You were engaged?" he pressed, surprised he'd never heard about it before.

"Yes." Regina nodded, then held the urn closer, looking out the window. Everything hurt, and she just wanted to be alone and surrounded by nothing but silence and her own covers, hiding her away from her pain.

David gave Henry a look when Regina wasn't paying attention, one that let him know not to pry any further, at least not at the moment. So Henry dropped it, and the car was silent for the rest of the ride to the cabin. David walked them in, looking around.

"Do you want me to start a fire before I go or do you think that'll draw too much attention?" David asked.

"No, we'll be fine. It's comfortable in here."

Regina looked at him, and while he could tell she was trying to hide her sadness, he could see it in her eyes.

"Okay. I'll come back soon with food and toiletries. How long should I plan food for?"

Considering, she shrugged. "Just a few days, I suppose."

David nodded. "I'll be back soon. Do you want anything else?"

"Is there a TV here?" Henry asked. He didn't have his video games, or his books.

"I'll tell you what, I'll bring a laptop and some movies," David promised.

"Cool." Henry dropped down on the couch.

Regina watched her son for a moment, then looked back at David. "You should go."

He looked down at her, noticing the way she wrapped her arms around herself like she was holding herself together, and it struck pain into him. "The uh… urn… do you want me to bring it in here?"

"No, I already used magic to send it to my vault." She pressed her lips together, avoiding looking up at him because it would only make her more emotional.

He finally left, leaving her and Henry to the cabin while he went to get things for them. Regina wanted to distract herself, so she got Henry to clean the place up with her. The weather had cleared up, so they opened the windows to let in some fresh dusted and cleaned the windows, beat out the rugs in the backyard, which was really just a wooded area. There was clean bedding in the linen closet, so they changed the bed in each of the two bedrooms. There was a bathroom with a shower, and the water worked. She'd wait to shower for now, even though she could feel the dust and dirt clinging to her skin and hair from all the cleaning they'd done. She was hungry, too, which was a good sign, because she usually couldn't eat when she was anxious. She hoped David thought to bring extra clothes for them, not that she knew where he'd get them with her mother being at her house. And she really, really hoped he wouldn't tell his wife and Emma where she and Henry were. Those two probably wouldn't care if her mother found her.

"Mom?" Henry asked, breaking her from her thoughts as she sat down on the couch with him. "Yes, sweetheart?" She looked at him, knowing what was coming and that she wasn't really ready to talk about it, but she knew putting it off would only make him more curious.

"I didn't know you were engaged. Was that… was it after grandma's dad? It wasn't in the story book."

"It's a sad story, are you sure you want to know?" She asked. When he nodded eagerly, Regina took a long moment. "Most of my story isn't in that book, only the parts where I was… the Evil Queen. I met Daniel when I was a teenager. My mother didn't know about him and me, not for a long time, because I knew she wouldn't approve. She wanted me to marry a king, or a prince, one that was first in line for the throne. She'd wanted that for her own life, and when she couldn't she wanted to make sure I was. That's why she named me Regina, because she wanted me to be a queen.

"I didn't care about that, though. I just wanted to be happy. I met Daniel because he was our stable boy, and I loved riding horses. I was skilled at it, and he taught me everything I knew about it. He taught me how to treat the horses and how to take care of them, then how to ride them and do tricks." She smiled faintly, remembering the first time she'd met him and how she'd fallen into his eyes right away the first time they'd been alone. "He was wonderful, he was kind and so very good. I knew my mother wouldn't approve, so we saw each other secretly. One day, I went to meet him, and we heard a cry for help. I jumped on my horse when I saw a little girl go past me on her out of control horse, nearly ready to fall off. I jumped on my horse and chased her, caught up and saved her.

"She introduced herself to me as Snow White. I told her who I was and she thanked me for saving her life. She was so sweet, and so cute, and I told her not to let the horse scare her off from riding again, and we went our separate ways."

"Wait, you saved grandma when she was a little girl?"

"I did." Regina nodded. "And then to thank me, her father proposed marriage. My mother accepted the proposal for me, even though I didn't want to marry the king, I wanted to be with Daniel. I went to Daniel and I told him we had to run away, to leave so my mother couldn't make me marry the king. He gave me a ring from a horse's saddle, and we agreed to run away and get married. Snow saw us, though. She saw us kiss and she ran away. I followed her, begging her not to tell anyone. I explained that I didn't love her father because I already loved Daniel and he was my true love. She agreed to keep it a secret, so I thought we were safe.

"We had our plan." Glancing at Henry, she saw she had his rapt attention. "I went to meet him, and we were about to run away when my mother showed up. Snow had told her my secret and she came to pretend she was going to give us her approval. Instead, she killed my Daniel. She ripped out his heart and crushed it right in front of me. And then she forced me to marry the king."

Henry's eyes were wide and she couldn't read what he was feeling. But after a moment, he wrapped himself around her and tucked his head against her chest. She wrapped her arms tight around him and pressed her cheek to his hair, silently weeping again, the emotions too raw to contain herself.

"I'm sorry, Henry," she whispered. "I'm sorry I made you believe that I didn't know who you are, and I'm sorry I made you feel like you were crazy. I wasn't a good mother to you, and you didn't deserve that."

It took a moment, but Henry let go and looked up at her. "You weren't a bad mom. It was just after I got that book, when you wouldn't tell me the truth. But for my whole life before that, you were just my mom, not the Evil Queen, or anything else."

"Thank you, sweetheart." Regina took a slow, quivering breath. He would never know just how much those words meant to her. "I love you so much. I was scared of Emma taking you away from me. I was scared of the curse breaking and everyone coming after me. I wasn't always evil, and I didn't want to be evil. I just wanted to be happy. I know the ways I tried to make sure I could be weren't the right ways, but I'm trying now. I'm trying really hard."

"I know, Mom," he said simply.

They were interrupted by a knock on the door. Regina looked up to see David letting himself in after the three raps he'd sounded on the hard wood.

"I brought the provisions I promised." He held up the bags he was carrying in his hands. There were grocery bags in one hand, then a duffel bag and a backpack in the other. Henry got up, reaching for the backpack.

"Henry, sweetheart, why don't you go take a shower," Regina suggested. He nodded eagerly, and she figured he must feel as dirty as she did after all their cleaning up.

He was in the bathroom with the water running in no time. In the meantime, Regina followed David into the little kitchen and started putting the food he'd brought them into the cabinets and fridge.

"Thank you. This… um, we appreciate it."

David gave a little hum of acknowledgment, then bunched the bags together and handed them to her. "These will probably be good garbage bags for a couple days, until we figure out a better place for you guys to be. I don't like the thought of you two being in this cabin all alone."

"David, we'll be fine. I'm a big girl, we can handle it."

He turned to face her, bringing his hands up to grip her upper arms. She hated when he touched her. He was so comfortable doing it, too. It wasn't that she hated his touch, no, it was quite the opposite, in fact. She had grown to desire his touch, almost to need it. She missed him, missed being with him the way they'd been together in the Enchanted Forest. She wondered if he missed her the same way, but she figured he didn't, not really, not now that he was back with his true love and his daughter.

"What?" she asked, looking up at him and trying to shrug off his grip. He didn't let go, though.

"Regina, please… I just… I just want to help."

"What can you do, David? There's nothing you can do right now, you can't fight my mother. It's going to come down to a battle between her and me, and I… don't know. I don't think l can win."

"You can," he said, so much determination in his voice she could almost believe him.

"I can't. Not even for Henry's safety. When we leave this cabin, you have to take him, you have to keep him safe. I don't care if it means you need to leave Storybrooke. David, you have to protect him at all costs. I will have to fight her, that's the only way."

He looked down at her, squeezing her upper arms lightly. "Regina, I know you don't have faith in yourself, but I do. I know you're stronger than you think, and you're so much more than you believe you are. You can do this. You just need time to come up with a plan, and hopefully staying here for a couple days can do that for you." He moved one hand to her chin, lifting it so she was looking into his eyes. "You're so much more than you think you are, Regina. So much more."

She stared into those striking blue eyes, brows furrowed together as she took in the expression that showed that he truly believed what he was saying. "How do you have so much faith in me? I don't understand it."

He looked into her eyes for a long moment, then leaned in and pressed his lips tenderly to her forehead. "You'll see. One day you'll surprise yourself."

Regina closed her eyes, wanting so badly to have their intimacy from the Enchanted Forest back. She missed him, missed him so much it made her ache, and that ache was only worsened by what had happened with Daniel only hours before. "David… I…"

"What, Regina?"

"Nothing, nevermind." She shook her head. It was stupid. She couldn't ask him for comfort.

"Please tell me," he pressed. After a moment of those gorgeous eyes boring into her, taking her in and watching her war with herself.

"I…" she started, meeting his gaze intently. She reached up, gripping the collar of his flannel and pulling him down to her, crashing her lips to his. With the knowledge that Henry was in the shower and David was right here, right in front of her, wanting to make her feel better, she hadn't hesitated. She parted her lips against his, closing her eyes and nearly whimpering when he responded in kind. He slipped his arms around her waist and pulled her firmly against his body. She kissed him hungrily and he did just the same.

Regina dragged her teeth over his lower lip, then slipped her arms around his neck and arched into him. She knew it would only hurt more once they stopped, she'd only feel more like an empty shell at the loss of Daniel and the loss of David all over again. But right then she didn't care. She just needed something, and he was everything she could ask for. His hands dropped to grip her hips, lifting her onto the counter as he stepped between her legs and she wrapped them around him as they kissed each other desperately. She was wrapped so entirely around him, their bodies flush together as their mouths worked together in a way that hadn't in far too long for her. God, how she wished they were back in the Enchanted Forest just for a little while, just long enough for them to connect again without having to stop. This man she hadn't ever actually had sex with, this one who belonged to another woman, this one who would never be hers… she wanted him so wholly and so desperately and she could never truly tell him what he meant to her.

She vaguely heard the shower shut off, and he pulled back from her quickly, her limbs falling into place as he stepped away and straightened himself. Regina watched him turn, watched the motion of him reaching into his jeans to adjust himself. She must have, at the very least, had an effect on his body even if she didn't have an effect on his heart the way that he did hers.

"Henry," he said, glancing toward the closed bathroom door.

"I know." She nodded, sliding off the counter and settling on her feet. She sighed softly, touching her lips. "You should go home to your wife, David. Henry and I will be fine here. Figure out a plan to keep my mother from getting to Gold. Then we'll see when Henry and I can come out of hiding."

"Regina, I—"

"No," she said, cutting him off. "Don't. Not right now. I can't take it right now."

He was fighting internally on if he'd push, she could see it in his eyes, but he settled on, "I'll check on you guys soon, let me know if you need anything." And with that, he left the cabin.