They felt the wave of magic as Regina kissed Henry's forehead and broke the curse. The queen nearly collapsed at all the memories that suddenly came to light. David and Killian nearly keeled over as they too were assaulted by the shattering of a spell neither had known had been cast. Emma put an arm around the pirate and Henry tried to comfort his mother.

"Regina?" David took a deep breath. Regina straightened up and looked into his eyes.

"David?" She said in a breathless whisper. She looked over at Hook. "Killian."

"What's going on?" Emma asked. She tried to ask her mother...but Snow was gone.

"Leave us, Henry." Regina commanded softly. She gestured to Emma without breaking eye contact with David. "You too, Emma."

"No. I want to know what the hell's going on." The blonde hissed, only to be teleported away, along with Henry.

Regina rushed into David's arms and kissed his lips. Powerful arms engulfed her and he kissed her back with as much passion as he could muster. The hole in her heart ached painfully as she turned from David and was welcomed into Killian's grasp. His kiss was less tender, crying out for her desire, and she was more than happy to answer. David and Killian shared a hug and followed her out to her car, completely ignoring Robin Hood when he tried to talk to her. There was one more. One more love that she had to find. She found him running through the streets like a madman. Jefferson barely waited for her to get out of the car before grabbing her and crushing her to his chest. She felt as though a weight had been lifted off her shoulders and the hole in her heart had been mended just from being back with her loves. As happy as she was, a dark rage was boiling in all of them. Someone had done everything to tear them apart. Someone had taken their memories, their love for each other and replaced them with hatred and darkness. Someone had turned them into monsters for selfishness, and now everything was messed up. Regina lead the men to her house and found Emma, Henry and Robin waiting in her living room.

"What's going on, Mom?" Henry asked.

Regina sighed as she motioned for him to sit next to her on the couch. "Henry, I know this is weird. But your storybook...is wrong." She magically conjured it in her hands and opened to a picture of her as the Evil Queen. "She never existed. She was created, not by me giving in to the darkness, but by the Dark One making a deal with someone. The real story...is far less interesting."

"Then tell me. Start at the beginning. You guys…" He looked at each of them in confusion.

"I met David long before he met Snow, and we were friends. So were Jefferson, Killian and I. Whether or not, we are true loves, I don't know. But we did-"

"Do." Jefferson corrected.

She smiled. "We do love each other. Would you like for me to tell you the story, Little Prince?"

"Please."

Regina nodded. "It was a very long time ago, my dear. I had been living as a bandit and a thief in the woods for the last decade after escaping my mother, but she almost caught up with me. She didn't." Regina smiled and looked at the prince at her side. "Thanks to David…"

The sound of thundering hooves was all she could hear as she urged Rocinante faster, tearing up the soft earth in their desperate attempt to flee. The forest was starting to thin around her and finally gave way to farmland, but it only exposed her even more to her pursuers. Still, she was not going back to her mother. There was the twang of a bow string and the next thing Regina knew she was eating dirt. Rocinante stumbled hard and fell onto his side, screaming and desperately rolling to get up. She picked herself up and turned to immediately receive a kick in the chest that knocked her back down.

"We've been searching for you for a long while, your majesty." said one of the black riders from behind his helmet. There were four of them, all circling her like a pack of dogs. She raised her hand, releasing a high pitched noise that made their horses rear, furiously shaking their heads and throwing their riders. Regina quickly pulled out a dagger and stabbed one of the riders in the chest. She unsheathed her sword as one of the others did and parried their strike, throwing the dagger and killing one of the other riders. One of the remaining riders threw dirt at her and she turned momentarily to protect her eyes. The rider thought he had the best of her, but she set him alight with a well placed fireball. He screamed, filling with the air with his cries of anguish and the smell of burning flesh. She covered her mouth as the man collapsed, still burning. "Give up. Cora will get you eventually."

Regina turned to the last rider. He pulled out his sword and advanced. She deftly managed to hold off his onslaught. Using a sword was a minor skill of hers, and a straight out battle was not something she was going to win. She tried another fireball, but her mother must've placed a shielding spell on him because it had no effect. He forced back and managed to knock her off her feet and tried to stab her with her sword. She managed to move at the last second but still got her side sliced open.

"Give up." He said, pointing the weapon at her throat. "Tonight, you return home, your majesty."

"Hey!" The rider turned as a man raced down the road on horseback. Regina chose that opportunity to magically shatter the rider's sword and sliced off his arm at the elbow with her own. He only glared at her, even as blood spurted from the stump of his arm. She scowled and swung her sword, unleashing a burst of magic to slice off his head, but chopping off someone's head was no simple task. She viciously hacked it off with three hard shots and collapsed with a sigh. "Hey, are you alright?" She looked up into the kind eyes of a handsome man with bright eyes. He was built, no doubt a farmer by his simple clothes and long messy dark hair.

"I'm fine, dear, but if you don't mind helping me build a fire pit please?" She panted, getting back to her feet.

He looked confused, but assisted her in building the pit and setting it on fire. They tossed in the bodies of the black riders, as well as their horse tack and tied their horses to the farmer's horse. "There you go. Free meat or free help." Regina said.

"Why-" He started to ask, but she collapsed to the ground, her vision going black almost instantly.

/

When Regina came to, she was laying on a soft bed in a small, neat room. She groaned and looked around, trying and failing miserably to sit up. The room was simply decorated with mostly the barest necessities present, except quilts draped over everything. She pushed away the warm blankets covering her and looked down at the wound on her side that had been cleaned and stitched up. Finding nothing wrong with it, she stood up on shaky legs and looked out the small window. The farmer from before was using the riders' horses to help him tend to the fields and his crops. He was shirtless and she tilted her head at seeing all that powerful flesh glistening in the sun. It'd been 10 years since she'd even spoken to another human being while constantly being on the run from her mother, much less had any sort of relationship with one. Snow was grown now, she didn't understand why her mother was still chasing her, but she wasn't about to wait and find out.

"Oh good, you're awake." Regina whipped around, her hand going to her waist for her sword, but it was nowhere near. "Relax." the older woman said. She had a kind countenance and long black and white hair. She exuded a gentle aura and was clearly aging with grace. "David told me about those men chasing you and you giving him their horses. Thanks to you we have enough money to last us until next spring. But you must be hungry." She said, obviously knowing the answer already. Regina's stomach chose that moment to rumble rather loudly.

"I suppose you might be right." She smiled sheepishly, causing her hostess to laugh.

"I'm Ruth. I'll get your bag so you can change and then get some food in your belly." The woman turned to leave.

"Regina."

"What was that, dear?"

"My name's Regina."

Ruth smiled over her shoulder before leaving to retrieve her things. Regina magically cleaned herself and quickly changed out of her clothes. The going was slower than she would've liked due to her wound, but she was too weak to do much at the moment. She put on a long sleeved lace up hooded cream colored shirt and dark leather pants. Her boots, made of old worn leather would need to be replaced soon. She headed out of the room and found Ruth laying out a table with food. The smell was enough to make her faint.

"David'll be in after he washes up. He's taken good care of your horse for you."

"Thank you." Regina said, completely unused to such kindness. She sat down and Ruth served her a plate piled high with mashed potatoes, roasted beef, garden vegetables and cooked fruits. "Um, ma'am, I appreciate this, but the longer I'm here, the more danger you'll be in. I should leave before you get hurt. More people are going to come for me."

"You've been unconscious for 4 days." Ruth said, fixing a plate for David, who Regina assumed was her son. "I alerted the town Sheriff and he and his boys are keeping the roads clear of black riders. You're safe, dear." She smiled and put the plate in front of an empty seat. She turned to fix another as David stepped in. The man bore the same kindness and integrity as his mother. One could tell from his appearance. He sat down, the chair creaking heavily under his weight.

"Are you alright, ma'am?" He asked.

Regina nodded. "Thanks to you and your mother."

He offered his hand. "I'm David."

"Regina." She said, shaking it. He quickly turned to his food and dug in hungrily. She looked down at the mouthwatering mountain of sustenance in front of her. She didn't want to just dive in like David, but neither did she eat prettily like a princess. Ruth informed her that since her attack, David had brought her back to the farmhouse and she'd tended to her wounds. There hadn't been any more reports of black riders in the area and the local Sheriff was patrolling the roads.

"We've been taking care of your horse too." David said. "He's a little old to be running around, isn't it?"

"Rocinante? He's a hard old boy. Is he alright?"

"Yeah, he's fine. He's beautiful by the way."

"Thank you. He's like my oldest friend. But you are right, he's too old for this life."

"What kind of life is that, dear?" Ruth asked gently.

Regina sighed. "That's a long and dark tale."

"I have all day and plenty of firewood."

She smirked despite herself. "I suppose I owe you dearly for saving my life."

Ruth said nothing, only blinked, waiting for Regina to begin. She told them both about growing up with her mother who abused her physically, emotionally and psychologically with magic. She told them about her cowardly father, whom she still loved deeply despite everything, and meeting Daniel and falling in love, saving Snow, being forced to marry the King, plotting to run away. When she told them about what Cora had done to Daniel that night, the old woman was close to tears. Regina continued to say that she planned to escape once more, but to do that she would need to kill the king. It was during the consummation of their marriage when he tried to force himself on her that she stabbed him the chest. Everything after that was a little hazy for a while, but she did remember a lot of blood and later found out that she'd carved out the man's heart with the knife and stabbed him at least 20 times. She'd run then, taking Rocinante from the stables and tried to escape the kingdom, but her mother caught up to her, angered that Regina had ruined her plans. She attacked and Regina defended herself, using magic for the first time to incapacitate her mother just enough to get away. She'd never looked back, but Cora still refused to let her go.

"I'm so sorry, dear." Ruth put her arms around her and Regina just broke down, shaking and sobbing. Ruth held her quietly, stroking her hair like her own mother had never done. "It's alright, dear. You're safe here."

"I'm not." Regina quickly moved away, wiping her eyes as she stood up. "Thank you for your kindness, the both of you, but I should leave before I hurt you too." She grabbed her bag and headed out to the stables. Rocinante and the other horses were tied up in the large barn and she quickly grabbed her saddle and threw it onto Rocinante's back, but paused as she looked into her old friend 's eyes. "You are getting too old for this, aren't you?" She sighed and pushed the saddle off, once again grabbed her bag and started to leave.

"Hey." David said, appearing in the door. "Just wait a second, Regina."

"David, this is for the best. Would you care for Rocinante for me?"

"Regina." He took her hand and pulled her over to a hay bale and made her sit. "Maybe it's time you stopped running."

"She'll find me if I stop."

"You'll die if you keep going. What kind of life are you living?"

"What about you, Farm Boy?" She countered. He only smirked.

"Listen, my mother would like for you to stay. You can help around the place. Life should be more than running and fighting and fear."

"i am a perfect stranger. For all you know I lied about everything I told you."

"You didn't." He stated matter of factly.

Regina looked around, remembering the life she'd planned to live with Daniel. She'd been willing to give up all of her possessions and lavish lifestyle for a single chance at true happiness, at true love. "A queen, living with a shepherd and his mother?"

"You can be the Farm Queen, Queen of Horses." David grinned foolishly. "I just want to help."

She sighed again. "A week. I'll stay for one week, if you'll have me."

"We will." He said, throwing up his arms. "Come on, there's a lot of things you can learn on a farm."

"You mean how to turn the dirt? Or pull up weeds?"

"Don't knock it til you try it."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"I stayed with Ruth and David for 3 years." Regina said. "For 3 years, I could live free."

"And Rocinante?" Henry asked, making her smile.

"Rocinante died unfortunately, but not before I bred him with a good mare. I named his foal Rocinante as well, to continue his legacy so to speak."

"Rocinante the Second is at the stables?"

"No, but I'll explain it. Anyways, that's how David and I met. It wasn't until later that I encountered-"

"Everyone's favorite handsome devil." Killian interrupted with a pose.

Regina rolled her eyes and noticed the hurt look in Emma's eyes, but it really wasn't their fault. "As I was saying Henry, before I was annoyingly interrupted, I met Killian a little while later. He wasn't a pirate then, but a military officer."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Regina had never seen the sea up close. She had never gotten the time when she lived with her parents, whose estate was nowhere near the ocean. She was instantly mesmerized by the wide expanse of water. Ruth chuckled at her awestruck look and David only smirked as he came to her side.

"Beautiful, isn't it, Love?" Both of them turned as a handsome man with devilishly good looks swaggered towards them. He wore a pristine white and gold naval officer's jacket, white pants and boots with his hair tied at the nape of his neck. Pretty blue eyes fell upon Regina, followed by a dashing smirk.

"Yes, it is beautiful." She smiled as he kissed her hand.

"Killian Jones, at your service."

"I'm Regina. This is David and Ruth."

"And what brings you to port?" Killian asked. "Business or...pleasure?"

Ruth laughed and David only rolled his eyes. "Business, just selling some crops."

"Farming? Ugh, such a dull profession. Being stuck in one place all the time. A real man needs a ship." Killian said.

"Small ship." David muttered.

"Hey. Don't ever insult the size of a man's ship."

"And your ship is where?"

"Alas, don't have one of me own yet. All in due time. However, my brother possesses a ship of fine make. Care for a tour?"

"I would love one." Regina accepted Killian's arm as he bowed. Ruth went off to conduct business, leaving David and Regina to accompany Killian aboard a beautiful vessel. "The Rebecca?" Regina said. "Who's Rebecca?"

"Just some lass my brother was sweet on." He gave them a tour of the Imperial ship and even introduced them to the crew and his brother. Liam Jones seemed like a good man. He was very devoted to his position and it was clear that Killian idolized him. After the tour, Killian lead them to a small seaside bar for a drink and Regina listened intensely as he told these grand tales of all the adventures he'd had. David only seemed mildly impressed. "We ship out the day after tomorrow for uncharted lands that's said to house a great weapon. The Royal majesties want us to bring it in."

"Sounds exciting." Regina said. She looked at David and kissed his cheek to make him smirk.

"You two are together?" Killian asked.

"Yes and no." David replied.

"You're welcome to spend the day with us if you're not busy." Regina added. "Or if you're bored. Farm life isn't so dull."

"Alright then, Regina." He flashed that devilish smirk of his again and kissed the back of her hand. "The longer I am within your company, the happier I shall be."

Killian proved to be a lovely companion. He and David got along a lot better than they would've admitted, always picking at each other and telling jokes. Regina was just glad to be among the company. She was a little sad when she had today goodbye to Killian as he shipped off with his brother. David gave him a hug and he kissed Ruth's cheek, smirking again. When he and Regina were alone on the docks, Killian tore a piece of his uniform off and knelt on one knee, silently asking permission. She nodded and he tied the strip of cloth around her thigh. "I'll remove it when I return, Miss Mills."

"Your friends will be waiting." She replied, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"When he returned," Regina said. "He was the infuriating man you see today."

Killian grinned. "I quit the Navy of course and my crew split, leaving me with the Rebecca. AKA, the Jolly Roger. I used the ship to make deliveries for Ruth and get us some more money."

"It wasn't until we met Jefferson that we got rich." David added.

"The tale of our meeting is by far the least interesting." Jefferson said. "So we won't bore anyone."

"You were spying on me while I was taking a bath." Regina frowned at him.

"As I said, not very interesting." Jefferson said, looking at Henry. "I mastered my hat and used it to take us all on adventures around the worlds. We brought back some treasured artifacts and gold and made Ruth rich. We bought her a big house by the lake."

"By that time, years had passed." Regina explained. "That's why the Rocinante in the stables is not Rocinante the Second, but the Third. He was getting old so we had to breed him again. Anyways, things were peaceful for a while."

"Wait a minute, so...all of you..are together? Like together together? How-"

"To answer your question, yes. You don't need to know how." She wasn't sure what had changed between them. What had caused the shift from good friends who were constantly fighting and bickering to something far more. All she knew was, she was theirs and they were hers. And for so long, things had been perfect. They'd even been in the process of deciding whether or not to have a child when her mother found her. The battle had not lasted long and it left devastating effects. Regina was stabbed through the stomach and any chances of having a child was taken from her. Because they weren't strong enough to kill Cora, Jefferson had opened a portal with his hat and Killian and David had knocked her through it, along with the rest of her riders which were swallowed by the portal's winds. Ruth had been killed in the attack, unfortunately and things were less than perfect after that. Then Rumpelstiltskin had intervened just as things were getting back to normal. "Snow and David had met and Snow had fallen in love with him, but he was in love with me. With a heart full of unrequited love, she made a deal with Rumpelstiltskin to get her True Love and he completely took her wish and destroyed it and as usual, made it his own. He had the Author rewrite our stories and then the Author betrayed him by writing the god awful stories that are in your storybook. See? The truth is less interesting, that's why he spiced them up and completely screwed all of us."

"But Killian." Emma said, looking up at the pirate. "What about us?" Killian merely took her hand and escorted her out of the room.

Regina sighed and looked down at her lap. "So...how was the missing year with Emma?"

"Great." Henry said. "I got pretty good at math. Oh, and I saw an apple tree like yours in the park. Didn't know it then, but I know it now."

"That's good."

"So...what's going to happen now?" He asked.

"I have no idea."

"Are you mad at Grandma?"

"No. She just wanted her happy ending and after everything I've been through, I can't fault anyone for that. Gold is to blame for this. He shouldn't have distorted Snow's wish." She sighed. "I guess we take it one day at a time."

"In the meantime." Jefferson said, touching Regina's leg. She looked up at him. "How about you come meet Grace. I would love for her to meet the real Regina."

Regina smiled, blushing brightly. "Okay."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It had been a long day. The curse being broken and being reunited with her loves, having to explain to her son and Emma and former soulmate, not to mention all the craziness with her sister. Regina was exhausted. She was so tired and she just wanted to lay down and sleep for a week. But she couldn't, there was far too much to be done.

She was standing in her bedroom at the foot of the bed in her pajamas. The room was dim. She felt a pair of strong hands start to undo her clothes. By their size, she knew they were David's. Snow had yet to have been found, but nothing could deter her men from claiming her again. When she was completely naked, he turned her around and tossed her back onto her bed. He took his place between her legs. She gasped at feeling his tongue start to lap at her center, but it was swallowed by Jefferson's soft lips on hers. Killian's mouth attached themselves to her breasts. She giggled when Killian's facial hair tickled her skin.

"Regina." Jefferson leaned away to say. David and Killian both paused, looking up at her.

"Yes?"

"I do hope you don't plan on walking tomorrow."

She grinned. "I'm counting on it."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Read and Review!

A/N: This chapter is from my other story Once Upon a Time: Odd Couples. Feel free to go check that out. I was asked by EvilQueenWinchester to continue this little one shot and thought why not? I'm afraid it won't be very long though, but I hope that you enjoy it.