Lets get this ball rolling again, shall we? Also, I am so sorry about the mix up on the last chapter! It was swapped for the right chapter so if you missed it, go ahead and read :)

It was a perfect day. The sun was out, barely a cloud in the sky, the breeze was soft and warm, the air smelled sweet, and Regina found a moment of peace as she stood at the top of the field and watched the wind move the grass as though it were wave of shimmering water. It was beautiful, it was perfect.

And yet she was tormented.

For the grass was growing longer, the sheep's sheared wool had grown back thicker, the spring lambs had grown older, and the days were becoming shorter, even the leaves on the trees were beginning to trade their lovely green for a warmer tone. All were absolutely ordinary things for the transition of summer in to fall. However, it also meant she was even closer to the end of her borrowed time on the farm. For she knew it was not bought land but rather borrowed. But be that as it may, she had no desire to leave at all.

And then as if her thoughts had called him to her, the shepherd's arms wrapped around her middle from behind and he rested his head against the side of hers with a pleasant sigh that soothed her right to her core. It was amazing what just his presence could do to her.

"Hello, beautiful," he greeted softly and pressed a kiss to her temple as her arms settled over his.

"Shepherd," she returned and felt him smile against her.

"I require your assistance."

"Oh?"

"Mhm, you see, I once had this terrible little habit that I just couldn't stop. Now, since being here with you, I have been forced to sideline this habit of mine but I have recently discovered it is by no means broken," he told her with a playful smile and she shook her head with a small laugh.

"And what is this habit?"

"Well, it is that whenever I am without you, I must find myself one of these to keep me company until I return," he smiled as he opened his hand in front of her and revealed a little blue horse carved out of stone.

Regina immediately smiled when she laid eyes on the horse in his palm and as her fingertips met the blue stone, a light laugh bubbled up in her throat. She had thought he had been talking about something far more serious, "and how exactly does this habit require my assistance?"

"Well you see, I need you to once again take care of them for me as you have in the past," he told her and hugged her tight once the little horse was in her hands. "Continue to keep them as a reminder that you are always on my mind and that I will always return. Even if I only leave to gather supplies," he teased but they both knew it meant far more.

Regina hummed through her smile and sunk backward in to him. It had been a long time since he had gifted her such a horse, she had almost forgotten about her collection of them at the palace. Seeing one again left her incapable of wiping the smile from her face as her heart soared with love and delight. And then she was shaking her head and laughing, "wherever did you ever find such a thing?"

"Special request," he smirked and she shook her head once more.

"I love it, thank you," she smiled as she turned her head to look up at him behind her.

"You are most welcome," he told her and she looked back down at the small gift. Then he asked, "what were you thinking so hard about?" David smiled as he held her to him.

"Just pondering," she brushed off with a small smile as she leaned backward in to him. And while she knew he wasn't satisfied with her answer, she did appreciate the fact that he didn't wring the truth out of her right away.

Instead of pushing her, he stood with her, holding her in his arms and waited for her to give it up to him. One could say he was nothing but patient. Another could say he was simply greedy for her company. It didn't matter, both were true.

"It's a beautiful view from here," David admired and Regina hummed in agreement, the raspy sound sending the best kind of shivers through his skin.

"How much longer do we have here?" She asked outright without taking her eyes away from the moving sea of grass before them.

David let out a long and slow breath as he too kept his gaze out to the grass as well. It was absolutely beautiful the way it moved and flowed with the wind, "not as much as either of us would like. Snow only managed to bargain it for a year."

Regina simply nodded and let the silence linger between them for a few moments before she asked, "and then what?"

David shook his head in uncertainty and then gave a small shrug and an honest, "I don't know."

The silence returned and the both of them stood there with an odd mix of apprehension but comfort that they were both there together in the same predicament.

"What do you want to do?" Regina asked timidly, hoping for an answer she was not sure she would receive. David stood there behind her in thought and when she dared to turn her head to look at up him, his attention was kept on the field of shimmering grass.

"It is easier to leave. Isn't it," she prodded and he immediately began shaking his head.

"No," he shut her down promptly but kindly, "no it is not easier to leave you," he assured her rather sternly. Then she dropped her little blue horse in her pocket and began to turn in his arms. He loosened his grip to accommodate her and watched her lovingly while she kept her eyes down.

She didn't say anything at first, and while the mood was rather heavy, David couldn't help the smile that softly lifted his face when Regina brought her fingers to his chest and let them wander. He loved it when she touched him. She used such gentleness now. It didn't seem like it was all that long ago that she was beating the hell out of him with a cast iron skillet in the middle of the woods. Who would have thought they would have ended up here.

"Snow would never have to know about this," Regina noted aloud, her fingers trailing down the middle of his chest between his muscles, gentle, tender, thinking, "you could go back and she would be none the wiser."

"But I would not be happy," he argued gently, content to play through the scenario.

"You would have her. You would cope."

"You would be alone."

"Yes."

"And unhappy."

"That is nothing new," she stated plainly as her fingertips travelled back up his chest and his arms hung around her hips and waist.

"I do not wish for such things."

"You could forget me."

"Impossible."

"I could make you forget me," she told him, the words coming before she had even processed them herself but once they were heard, David fell dead silent and her hand fell still upon his chest over his heart. She was simply gutted by the words that left her mouth. She could make him forget her. It would be so easy, so quick. But she would be devastated.

"I wouldn't let you."

"You would never know," she replied, the words once again coming too fast for her to filter them and it left her utterly miserable that such a thought would even be concocted in her own mind.

Confused and saddened that she would dare say such things to him, David shook his head with a heavy heart, "is that what you want?" He asked and she was quick to shake her head and close her fist around his shirt over his heart. It left relief washing over him and he kept his composure and followed her conflicted train of thought.

"No," she breathed and the wind tossed her hair over her shoulder as she stepped just a little closer in to him. "But...if I made myself forget you as well..." She drifted off with a miserable shake of her head and then shrugged her shoulders with a miserable smile, "then we would never miss this."

"We would never know it either."

"It would be easy."

"It would be devastating," he amended and she didn't say anything in return. Only stood there before him with fingers still pulling at his heartstrings. "We could run away," he offered but she shook her head.

"I don't want that."

"What do you want?"

"I want to marry you," she told him, the words rushing out from under her breath before they were buried from him forever. And that fear of rejection she still held inside her threatened to overcome her the moment she had said it. But the fact that he only reacted by lifting a hand to cradle her head, soothed the anxiety instantly and she slumped her posture in sorrow and defeat, "but you belong to her."

David exhaled slowly through his nose, his posture deflating right along with hers as he rubbed his thumb over her cheekbone. "My hand may belong to her, Regina," he began with a shake of his head and her dark eyes met his with exhaustion but without conflict, "but my heart is solely and most undoubtedly yours."

"But what is there to be done about it?" She pressed and he let out a quiet sigh.

"Break the marriage," he told her quietly and she shook her head with a humourless laugh under her breath.

"You can't do that."

"Why not?"

"It would ruin her. Her name, her respect, her reign, all of it would be tarnished beyond repair, as would yours."

"Would you care about any of that?"

"No. But you would," she pressed and he shook his head in the same exhausted frustration she carried.

Still shaking his head, David looked past her and in to the flowing grass once more. And then he asked, "all of those supplies you had me help gather. All the black market trips and the excessive amount of wolfsbane. What was it for?"

"What do you mean?"

"What were you planning?"

"It was for a curse on this whole realm. Why?"

"You had said to me once that it was a new beginning, did you not?"

"I thought it was."

"Could it not still be?" He asked and she looked him dead in the eye and did not blink. A whole different silence filled the air between them and David truly didn't know what to make of it. It was uncharted territory and he did not know if he had crossed a line or not.

"It is not just any curse, David. It is the Dark Curse, the curses of all curses-"

"But what does it do?"

"No one truly knows, it has never been cast before."

"Regina, come on, you must have some idea otherwise you wouldn't have been making preparations to cast it."

"It is supposed to take everyone somewhere horrible, somewhere where everything you love and hold dear is ripped away from you. Somewhere without magic. Time will stop and everyone will be trapped in misery for the unforeseeable future. No more happy endings."

"Except for the caster?"

"To be honest it is a little grey but, in theory, yes, the caster should remain unaffected. However, even if the caster were affected, anything would have been better than the life I had been living when I was preparing that curse to be cast. I was more than willing to take the risk."

"Surely a place claiming to be so horrible could carry a higher chance of there being an acceptable method of breaking a marriage?" He asked and right then he watched the pin drop in her mind. Right then he saw the pieces click in to place and he raised his brow ever so slightly in his wait for her reply. And when he got it, it was blunt.

"No."

"If our hands are tied here, we can't live on the run, we can't drag Snow down, we can't do anything without serious consequences, why not-"

"I can't believe I, of all people, am the one saying this to you, but you can't just transport one entire realm to another just to suite your own desire. Especially when the outcome is not even remotely guaranteed!"

"But could it not be done?" He insisted and she laughed in annoyance.

"It would tear people apart, David! Families! Like Richard's! You cannot seriously look me in the eye and tell me that you want Sarah, Hailey, and Sam torn away from their father, can you!?"

"No of course not, Regina. But could you not manipulate the curse? Spare those you care for and-"

"And what am I to do? Go through the entire population person by person and determine what level to curse them? No, David, cursing this entire realm to a time loop in some godforsaken realm is out of the question."

"If from where we stand everything is impossible, why not make an outrageous choice and rewrite all the rules!"

"David-"

"Regina, I cannot stand this anymore!" He cried out and her shoulders slumped in understanding, her beautiful dark eyes softening for him and instantly made his heart lurch for her because she knew exactly how he felt before he even ranted, "I cannot float around in this limbo any longer, I am tired of being dishonest, I am tired of carrying secrets, I am tired of yearning and not doing anything about it, I am tired of waiting for something to happen, aren't you?! I need something to change, I need something to be certain, I need to move on! I need to tell Snow, I need to be here," he told her as he stepped in to her and held her face gently between his hands, "right here."

Her hands hanging from his wrists, Regina tilted her head in to his right hand with a quiet exhale through her nose, not once breaking eye contact, "I am not casting the curse," she denied him and he let out a sigh but nodded his head in acceptance. "So now what, shepherd?"

"Then we leave this place. Find ourselves a manor with plenty of land. We settle down together, be with one another, no more secrets, no more obstacles, no more walls, we just be."

"And what of Snow?"

"We do what we can as the consequences present themselves. That is all we can do."

"You say this all as if it is just that easy."

"It's not going to be easy. But it is a start."