a/n: oh lord, I started a monster when I wrote my first Once Upon a Time fic. Here is some moar Mary/David. It's set... in the future a little, I guess.

Warnings & Disclaimer: I don't own the show, nor do I own "A Thousand Years". Excuse any and all mistakes.

–

'colors and promises'

'And all along I believed I would find you,

time has brought your heart to me.

I have loved you for a thousand years;

I'll love you for a thousand more.'

–

one.

The cart had a bad wheel and kept bucking every so often threatening to tip over all the flowers that had been so carefully placed on top of it. Mary Margaret sighed in irritation, trying to figure out a new way to hold the wayward cart without dropping anything or hitting anyone. When she finally made it to the ward that she frequented, she began setting out plants like always. She refused to lift her eyes to that room.

She knew it would only hurt that much more if she saw him in there with his wife, hugging and kissing, while she remained, ever alone on the outside. She busied herself with the placement of the flowers and reached up to brush her dark hair from her face before realizing there was nothing to move. Sometimes she would think she had much longer hair, though she could never remember ever having longer hair than she did now.

The feeling of something being missing was always there in her heart, it was there as soon as she woke up until the moment she fell asleep at night. She liked to believe she was an optimist but sometimes being optimistic was the hardest thing in the world. She sighed and stretched out her fingers to straighten Mr. Worthington's bed sheets, before stepping across the aisle.

Her eyes flicked up involuntarily and she saw him, simply sitting on the edge of his bed, a dark coat covering his torso. She wondered if everyone in this town was just as lonely as she was; one glance at David told her all she needed to know. In his large hands was clutched a familiar wilted white flower, and she gasped softly when he looked up, his gaze landing on her.

He was on his feet, pushing himself to where she stood with her cart, a light smile lining his handsome face. It didn't take him long to make his way to her and soon she was engulfed in his scent, like cinnamon and nature. It reminded her of something, but she just couldn't put a finger on what it was.

The flower was still clutched between his forefinger and thumb and he held it up to her, "The nurses told me you left this for me." His tone was quiet and she could only nod at him. "I waited to leave to say thank you. For everything."

Mary blushed, before plucking another flower from in front of her and handing it to him. "It seemed the honorable thing to do." She whispered, a smile lighting her pretty face. He grinned down at the small plant and pulled it from her fingers. His hand brushed hers ever so gently and she felt a chill erupt over her spine.

Clearing her throat she straightened her dress, "I hope that things work out for you; I mean getting your life back, that's a blessing." She spoke awkwardly, but he simply continued to stare at her before nodding a little.

"Why are you so familiar? I know I've seen you somewhere before here." He asked abruptly, causing her to give him a look of alarm. Something was not right here and she hated not knowing what it was. His eyes seemed too bright under the fluorescent lights, but she knew the exact shade, down to the flakes of light blue.

"David! I thought you were coming home hours ago!" A loud voice interrupted the staring contest and both participants jumped around to see Katherine standing at the end of the ward, looking expectantly towards her husband.

Mary allowed the sinking feeling of disappointment to hit her heart and she gave him a quick, forced smile, feeling tears creep their way into her eyes. She brushed her face briskly and turned to tell him goodbye, but he was still gazing at her with wonder.

"You should go to her." She voiced after a moment, "You deserve to go home and enjoy your life." Her soft tone shook with the last word, but he gave her a smile.

"We'll meet again, Mary Margaret, I'm sure of it." Before she could respond he had made his way towards the woman at the end of the long room and Mary stood dumbfounded, but a small smile managed to light up her face with hope.

–

two.

"Henry, for the last time, I haven't seen David in several weeks." Mary sighed, looking down at the eager boy in front of her, "He went home with his wife and I'm sure he's very happy." She sighed, reaching over to collect more of the books from the desks lining the room.

Henry shook his head quickly, "No. You and I both know that there's more to it than that." His voice was so earnest and persistent that Mary just looked over at the small boy with a sadness in her dark eyes.

"Sometimes things don't work out the way you think they should." She breathed gently, setting the stacks of books in the cupboard to the back of the room. When she turned back, Henry was walking away, shaking his head.

At the end of the day teachers still had to eat and so she made her way to the local market to stock up on food for the next week. Then again, it was easier to buy groceries with Emma splitting half the rent, though it felt odd to live with someone, especially someone so unusual. Emma gave her a sense of calm sometimes, like she was a blanket to shield Mary from Regina and all the rest of the bad things in the world.

Henry was one of the most talented children she had ever met and after meeting his mother, she knew exactly where he got his spunk from. Mary didn't like causing trouble, though, and messing with Regina was sure to cause trouble in Storybrook. She sighed as she grabbed a cart, musing that she spent a lot of time wielding carts around various places. Of course, in her amused thoughts she hadn't been paying much attention to where she was headed and the sharp sound of metal clashing caused her to look up in alarm.

"I am so sor-" David stood opposite from her, his hand holding the handle bar on his cart, he stopped speaking as soon as he realized who he had run into. For a moment they both simply stood in the fruit section, not really knowing what to say.

"It's good to see you out and about." Mary finally said kindly, looking him up and down, relieved that he looked very healthy for a man who had previously been in a coma for years. He smiled up at her with that familiar expression that sometimes haunted her dreams.

"Yeah, well, I hear that to stay alive you've gotta eat." He chuckled, holding up a bag of apples in his left hand. Mary Margaret's nose involuntarily wrinkled at the sight of the red and harmless fruit in his clutches.

He raised an eyebrow at her and she just shook her head softly. "I don't know, I just really don't like apples, I never have." She whispered, trying to remember why she didn't like apples, but kept drawing a blank.

"Ah, well I'm much more a banana man, but these are for Katherine." He spoke softly, dropping eye contact with the woman who seemed to be falling more in love with him by the second. "We don't have much in common actually..." He admitted cautiously, staring at the apples with a confused expression, like he didn't fully understand something.

"Well, opposites attract, I guess." She offered gently, looking up at him, a sort of grimace marking her pretty face. She reached over him to grab a container of strawberries and caught a whiff of the cinnamon smell from the hospital.

He leaned in to grab his own carton of strawberries and gave her an amused look. "Maybe if I could remember her that might mean something but since all I remember is your voice-" He cut himself off, blushing and she looked up so fast she felt her head spin.

"I'd better get home," He said quickly, pushing his cart out of the way before stepping around Mary, "It was nice seeing you again." His voice seemed strained and the shock in Mary's mind clouded her from being able to say anything.

She watched as he retreated from her, running one hand agitatedly through his hair and she had to wonder: "What on earth just happened?"

–

three.

Winter was easily one of her favorite times of year, just because of how beautiful everything looked with snow on it. Though she did miss the vibrance of Spring, it was still nice to feel the warmth of scarves and a nice bed at night. She spent many winter nights curled up in a bed with a book and a nice cup of hot chocolate and even if she ached for something she couldn't place, it was moments like that which made her happy.

This year she wouldn't be alone for the winter, which she realized as Emma had stumbled sleepily into the kitchen looking for coffee and complaining about the draftiness of the house. Mary had just smiled at Emma's obvious lack of being a morning person because it was just so nice to wake up to someone else in her large apartment. Things finally felt like they were on the right track and that alone would serve to put a broad smile on her face.

It was early morning, too early for most of the sleepy town to be awake on a Saturday, but Mary rarely slept in past nine on the weekends. She was too busy to sleep her days away, it often felt like sleep was a waste of her time. This morning found her pacing briskly to the warm and familiar diner, the cold air coloring her cheeks a rosy shade. She could see her breath in front of her face with every step but smiled at the sight of Christmas tree in the town center.

She pulled the diner door open, quickly being rushed with a comforting warmth and stepping towards the counter, smiling to Jack, the owner. He didn't even have to ask what she wanted and after a moment he sat down a cup of hot cocoa with a spoon full of cinnamon sprinkled across the whipped cream. She smiled in appreciation and wrapped her cold fingers around the warm mug, sighing in content.

"Cinnamon does tend to make hot chocolate even better." Came a voice from behind her, turning she saw it was David, sitting alone at one of the wide booths, back turned from the window. She wondered how she could have missed him on her way in the door.

He motioned for her to join him and she stepped down from the bar and cautiously carried the warm beverage to where he sat, his own cup of half drunk cocoa sitting in front of him. He looked tired, his skin was pale and there were bags under his eyes that hadn't been there the previous time she had run into him. He was still handsome though, one of the most handsome men she'd ever laid eyes on, and honestly he scared her to death.

"What brings you here so early?" She asked conversationally, looking over to where he was gazing out one of the wide windows beside him.

He sighed heavily, turning back to the woman across from him, "I had to go somewhere." He shrugged simply, but with a questioning look he added, "I found out last night that Kathrine isn't actually my wife. The mayor hired her to fake everything." The admission was quiet but the raw emotion in his voice made her heart ache for him.

"How- how did you find out?" She asked sympathetically, watching as he ran his hand through his hair in frustration.

The mug in front of her remained untouched and his eyes focused on the ceramic cup as he answered, "She let it slip last night after I heard her on the phone talking to Regina about 'the plan going well'." Anger filled his tone and he looked up at her with pain written in every line of his face, for a moment it looked like he was about to be swallowed whole with hurt. Unthinkingly she instinctively stuck her hand out to cover his, her cool fingers warmed by his touch.

"I just got my life back and it wasn't even my life." He spoke after a pause of silence, "It's almost as if I can't trust anything." He leaned back but did not remove his hard from under her own and she felt that was a sign.

"That's an awfully depressing way to live." She whispered, her fingers giving his large hand a squeeze in earnest.

"What do I have to trust then?" He challenged, lifting his mug to his lips, quirking an eyebrow at her.

She looked around the room for a moment, collecting her thoughts before she spoke. "Trust in yourself. Trust honesty and trust that life will go on." She said with conviction, "In my experience, once people stop trusting in those things they cease to exist."

They lapsed into an easy silence, staring at each other without really know what to say, but Mary felt that for once words weren't needed. She found that it wasn't essential to find someone to fill up the silence, but rather could sit in silence with her for hours and it feel just purely natural. So they sat in the quiet pause of conversation until the sheriff walked into the diner, striking up a conversation.

When she left, Mary turned around to wave goodbye to David, and found him smiling at her retreating form causing a wide grin to spread across her own features.

Maybe, just maybe, things would work out in the end.