Bored in the house and in the house I'm bored. So I thought I'd do another Evil Charming fic oops. I'll begin by saying there is a trigger warning through this whole story for mentions and actions of an eating disorder so don't read if that's uncomfortable for you or not your cup of tea. I don't really know where this story is going but enjoy...

A child? How on earth had she ended up with a child? She couldn't even have children. If it wasn't for her eerily similar looks Regina would have sworn the child wasn't hers. Did she have a name? How had this happened? Who with?

So many questions and yet there wasn't a single answer. A child. She was so so small. Her mind was a total mess. It just didn't make sense that this new born child was hers. Just... how? "Regina!" It mustn't have been the first time Snow had said it but Regina couldn't move her eyes from the child. Her child. "Oh my god, Regina." Her whisper came over her shoulder as she too stared at the baby girl.

Footsteps were heard and the presence she felt next to her soothed her worries somewhat before she turned and saw him. David's face held the same shock as hers did and the second they looked at each other they knew. This child, her child, she was his too.

More questions.

How had that happened? Did people know? What was going on? "I..." Regina started but lost her train of thought as the child opened her eyes. Oh they were definitely David's eyes. Looking back up she flitted her eyes between David and Snow. "I don't understand." The child in her arms moved a little. "We were just stood here. We were just about to leave. How...?"

"I think we need to figure a few things out." David knew as well as Regina did.

All Regina did was nod and with the thought of going to her mansion they were there, leaving all the other town folk to figure it out for themselves. As they appeared Regina took Snow in for the first time and couldn't help but notice her protruding stomach. "I believe a congratulations is in order." Regina said dryly.

"Right back at you." Snow looked at the baby. Did Snow know? Had she guessed? The smile she gave Regina told her otherwise.

"This is messy." Regina began to bounce the baby a little in her arms. "This is very messy." She whispered lightly as she made her way into the kitchen and sat down. Snow and David followed but before David could take a seat the baby began to scream. Very loudly. The windows shattered almost instantly and they all rushed into the front room. It was almost an instinct for her to pass the baby to David, like they'd done it a hundred times before.

Placing the baby on his shoulder, David hushed and cooed in her ear until she settled against him. That was all the confirmation he needed to know this baby was his. Looking up to Regina he saw the soft look on her face and it was the first time he'd seen her like that. And yet it felt so natural to see her in that way.

Moving her back down to his arms, they all breathed a sigh of relief at her steady breathing. Regina sent a silent curse. Of course she had magic. "Well she's definitely yours." Snow raised her eyebrows.

"Believe it or not, I was actually pretty tame. The whole... anger thing came later." Regina automatically moved to the child in David's arms and rubbed the pad of her thumb across the baby's cheek before noticing the note tucked into the blanket of the child. "Oh I am good." She took the note and began pacing as she read it eagerly.

"What is it?" David took a step closer as Regina scanned the page.

Her eyes shot up to his and he saw the anger. "Well I've been rather vague." She took a shaky breath. A sister? What was happening. To calm herself she looked back at the baby. "But at least I know what she's called." She couldn't stop the smile as she stared at her. Regina placed a hand on the baby's head. "This is Sarah."

"Sarah?" David breathed and Regina looked him in the eye. Oh she was in deep.

...

Enchanted forest, 1 and a half months into the missing year...

They sat on the bench. Their bench unofficially. The air was crisp and clear as she stared up at the sky willing the tears to go away. It was another down day. Another day without her little boy.

David had come as a shock. He was the only one who seemed to understand and let her grieve in peace. He didn't put on a facade and act like everything was going to be okay, he didn't lie to her and say things would get better, he let her cry and he let her scream at him.

They'd developed a sort of friendship in their mutual upset and it was one that Regina cherished. It was strange but comforting at the same time. "How are things with Snow?" Her eyes remained on the sky. He'd told her they'd been struggling. Snow wanted another child and he told her they couldn't just replace Emma like that. He'd confided in Regina about his doubts surrounding his marriage and just like he did for her, she listened. For the first time in a very long time he felt heard.

A light chuckle escaped him. "Distracting yourself?"

Closing her eyes she dropped her head and smiled a little before looking at him. "Don't avoid the question."

Huffing dramatically he rolled his eyes. "We're at a stand still. We avoid things we argue about so I guess you could say we're not really talking at the moment."

"She's still pushing for the baby?"

"There's just no stopping her now she's set her mind on it. It's like she thinks that having a baby will fix us, that it'll take our minds from Emma and Henry but I don't want a child as a distraction. It's not fair. It's not right and she knows it but all she does is bury her head in the sand. I can't be with someone like that and she doesn't seem to understand."

Placing her hand over his she gave a light squeeze. "I know you want to steer clear of the big argument that's coming but you need to get it out of you. You need to tell her everything you're telling me, you can't keep bottling it up."

"I know. You're right." He tipped his head back and Regina removed her hand from his.

"I usually am." She shrugged and he tilted his head in her direction just in time to see the smile spread across her face. He mirrored her action subconsciously.

They resumed their silence with small smiles lingering lightly on their lips. "Remember when life was simpler?" David huffed.

"Not particularly, no." Regina said and they both laughed a little. "I can't say it's ever been simple, even in Storybrooke, all I did was work or look after Henry or worry I was going to get found out."

"How do you find work for yourself in a town you created that no one knows exists?" David frowned a little with a teasing smile on his face.

Facing him she gave a dry laugh. "Believe me, there's always work."

"If you could have chosen any job in the world what would it have been?"

A small chuckle escaped her. "What?"

He shifted slightly so he was more side on, more facing her. "Humour me."

Taking a second to think she smiled. "Here or Storybrooke?"

"Here."

"I'd have done something with horses probably."

A broad smile spilled onto his face. "A stable girl? Fitting I suppose."

"Yes. Yes, I suppose it is." She bit her lip. "What about you?"

"Well that's a long story." His mood died down a little.

Regina shifted closer slightly. "I've got all day."

"Okay." David took a breath. "When I was younger, about ten, I wanted to be a circus instructor. Every year the circus would come to a village about a two day ride from us and I'd beg and plead my mother to go and every other year or so she'd save up enough to take me. I liked the idea of travelling around with friends, I didn't really have many growing up so I guess the thought of having so many excited me. I'd watch in absolute awe and sometimes after, we'd travel to Rivers Edge and visit my aunt Mary. It was always a short visit but this one time we stayed for a while and this time aunt Mary had a child. Her and my mother wrote to each other so I guess she knew but I didn't remember. The last time I'd been I was four and she was two. The child was called Sarah. She was eight and she was so full of mischief and love." His face fell a little.

"What happened to Sarah?" Regina found his eyes and held them.

"We stayed for the summer and me and Sarah grew really close. I'd never had a friend like her and we did things that kids do, hide and seek, ride the horses, disobey our parents." They both laughed a little before David sobered quickly, a haunted look gracing his features. "They lived at Rivers Edge. I don't know if you've ever been but there was a giant river than ran right through the town and part of it was only round the corner from her house. We'd gone off on our own playing a game about knights when we got to the river. It was flowing so fast and the rocks were sharp but we didn't notice that. We swung across on a rope some other kids must have made and we played all day until the darkness fell. The rule was that we had to be back for night fall but we got carried away, we were late." His voice broke a little and Regina's hand found his again.

"Aunt Mary called us so I grabbed the rope and I went first. I swung over the river and threw the rope back to her. She... I didn't know." A tear fell. "She swung on the rope and it... it just... snapped. I watched her fall. The rocks were so sharp and she screamed so loud. Our parents came running but it was too late. No one could do anything. She was... it was so fast. The current... she just..."

"Shh." Regina wrapped her arms around him and felt him cling to her. There was nothing else she could say so she let him cry. She did for him what he always did for her.

...

"Sarah?" Snow's voice was a lot stronger. "Wait, what's going on here?"

"There's a woman." Regina brushed the real meaning of the question off. "She's called Zelena. She's the new enemy and apparently I cast the curse. How, I have failed to specify." Regina bit her lip. She had an idea but that didn't explain why he was standing holding their child.

"Why?" Snow's voice was colder than before. Regina looked at her and frowned slightly. "Why cast the curse?"

"Emma. We need light magic. I get to see Henry again." Regina held the note out for Snow to grab.

"It's been a year. The baby is Sarah. Yes she's yours. You cast this curse, you need Emma. We need light magic to defeat her, she's called Zelena, she's your sister and she is strong. She put a memory potion in the curse, she's got Rumple. She wants Snow's baby so focus on getting Emma back."

"I was clearly stuck for time." David slipped Sarah back into Regina's arms and watched her kiss the baby's head without thinking and David's heart jumped. What the hell had happened in a year? How had things changed so much?

"You have a sister? Rumple? He's dead." Snow was so confused and she could see Regina was just as confused.

David shook his head but he couldn't take his eyes away from Regina. "I don't understand."

"It's clear you two have a lot to discuss." Snow saw the way he was staring at Regina and she couldn't take it.

Just as she began to move Regina took a step in front of her. "You can't leave, Snow." The fear in her eyes was clear as day and Snow knew she must be scared. Scared of being a mother again, scared of what had happened in that year.

Snow softened a bit. "I know it's unfair of me to feel like this when none of us remember what happened but it's clear that this baby is David's. How did that even happen? How am I pregnant too if you're both so clearly together?"

"I..." Regina looked between the pair. "I don't know. I don't have a clue how this happened and I'm sure that when we get our memories back you'll hate me but we need to work together on this one. I can't do this alone with a child. Nothing makes sense." Her eyes began to water and she cursed being a new mother because clearly her hormones were out of check.

"We need to figure out how to protect the baby." David seemed to look at Snow for the first time and he could feel her heartbreak. "I'm sorry." He saw the pain in her eyes.

Regina rubbed Sarah's back lightly. "Regina's right. We need to figure this out together." Snow swallowed her pride and gave Regina a shaky smile. She couldn't bring herself to look at David.

Sarah began to move a little and Regina realised that there wasn't actually anywhere to put her. They had nothing here that they could use, she never expected another child after Henry. She was damn certain she couldn't conceive a child and she didn't think she'd adopt again. Awkwardly grimacing at Snow for a second, Regina but her lip nervously. "Sorry, Snow, could you just...?"

Snow looked to the other woman before accepting the child she was holding out. Well this was weird, holding her husbands child that he conceived with their arch enemy. While Snow was overthinking the situation, Regina went back to the kitchen and repaired the windows her child shattered before summoning a Moses basket. Once she was happy she returned to the front room and took Sarah back before they all made their way into the kitchen. "You're rather quiet, David." Snow kept her head down as she said it.

David fumbled a bit trying to look for an answer. "I... it's just a lot to process. I don't understand how any of this happened." He glanced at Regina and saw her go to put Sarah in the basket she'd summoned. He couldn't seem to let her just yet so took Sarah from her and just held her. He couldn't bring himself to let go of Sarah just yet, this was his child, he had a beautiful baby girl that he could spoil and care for like he never had the chance to with Emma.

"We need to find a way to get to Emma and Henry. They should be our main focus." Regina nodded to herself.

David joined the nod. "But even if we found them how would we get them to remember? How do we get us to remember?"

"I guess I'll have to create a memory potion. Maybe test it on myself first."

"Count me in on that. I'd love to know what happened in that year."

"You and me both." They looked to the baby. "How?"

"I don't know but I love her. So much."

"I never thought I'd feel this after Henry. Not again, not like that. But here I am, in love with another little human."

Snow watched the small interaction, not a single argument sparking. It was so natural how they seemed to flow and Snow couldn't remember the last time she felt that with David. Regina's intentions had been somewhat fulfilled with the curse because they were never the same after it'd been broken. He'd been sleeping with Abigail and Snow had slept with Whale and they just weren't the same. They'd never had a chance to settle between running from Regina and planning a way to save their child and still, even in Storybrooke, there was no settling period. Except for the missing year. Clearly they were no good when settled or he wouldn't have a child with another woman.

"How do we make a memory potion?" Snow interrupted them and watched both of them startle a little. She couldn't remember the last time herself and David had been that lost in each other.

Clearing her throat Regina shook her head. "I'll make it, well, I'll try and make it. I could really do with Rumple right now, he'd know what to do." She closed her eyes briefly trying to wish away the hurt she felt when she thought of him dying, at the thought of him being alive but choosing some witch.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry. I know you had a weird relationship but it was clear you both meant a lot to each other. I'm sorry you had to see him die." Even if he wasn't dead, Snow reminded herself.

"Thank you." Regina crossed her jaw to stop the tears. "I just... I hate not knowing. I hate... this."

"Not being in control." Snow stared at Regina until she couldn't take it anymore and closed her eyes again.

...

Enchanted forest many years before...

It had started before she'd lost herself, it had been in the process actually. They chipped and chipped at her, isolated her, conditioned her with pain until it had become her only anchor to the real world. The numbness the King brought was consuming but the hunger was feeling, the hunger was what it meant to be alive. It was something she could control, a constant in her nothingness of a life.

The process had been slow. It had taken her a while to realise that the pain was the only feeling she had left. The start had been accidental; she felt ill so she missed a meal or two or maybe a lot more, he noticed, it didn't cause him any emotion but he'd mentioned so she made sure she didn't miss another meal but that didn't elicit emotion either. He was a void to her no matter how much she tried so she tried skipping meals again. The hunger soon became a companion, the only thing she had left. He'd taken her innocence, her virtue, her name. Everything had been stolen but this was something no one could take from her. She was in complete control.

What a feeling that was. No part of her life had been by her choice but this one thing was all her. It was her own little secret with herself, a secret no one could spread or ruin lives with. Not all secrets were bad, it couldn't be bad, not when it was the only thing that meant something for her. The hunger was good, it was a reminder that she was still fighting, that she was still winning.

Twenty two. Today was her twenty second birthday and no one knew. No one cared. Things were slipping from her grasp rapidly but she couldn't show it, nobody could know just how much she was struggling. It hadn't been intentional, she hadn't meant for it to go this far but she didn't know how to stop. The only control she had left was that over herself and if she lost that, well, it wasn't worth thinking about.

"Regina?"

Her head felt heavy. Just looking at the door took energy she didn't have. "Daddy." Regina smiled lightly. Almost airily.

Henry walked closer to the seat his daughter was in. He was worried but he couldn't help her, he didn't know how. "Happy birthday sweetheart." He leaned down and kissed her forehead softly.

"You remembered?" She frowned slightly.

Henry looked at her in disbelief. "Of course I remembered. You're my daughter, Regina."

"I..." She thought about arguing but realised she didn't have the energy. "Thank you, daddy."

His hesitation was clear to even Regina. "The king has asked to see you this evening."

A grimace appeared on her face. "Of course he has." The hunger suddenly became more prominent. It was comforting her. "I'll see you later, daddy."

The hint was taken. "Have a good day, my love. Try to get outside." His lips found her forehead again before he left her in the chamber.

Hours passed as she sat in the company of her only friend, movement limited to shifting position in the chair because she truly had nothing else left. It got to the time where the hunger was at its best. It screamed at her knowing exactly where she'd be going in an hour, letting her know that she had something to go back to.

"Regina."

The word came again but this time the voice was small and child like, even if she was now sixteen. Regina shut her eyes knowing exactly who it was. At least she'd not called her 'mother' this time. "Snow." Regina grimaced until she caught the scent of something. Turning quicker than she probably should have her vision finally focused on the tray she was holding in her hands. "What's that." She chastised herself for the fear present in her voice.

Snow came further into the room. "I thought I'd bring you some soup. I've not seen you in the dining hall for a really long time and I thought you might be hungry."

"You thought wrong." And still her eyes couldn't move from the tray. It was times like this that the hunger worked against her. Just like any other friend there were times in which conflict sparked. Her head told her to stay away from the food, it told her that filling the hole would leave her with nothing but the hunger fought back saying that it wouldn't be gone forever, that it could so easily be brought back, that one meal didn't count, that it wouldn't do anything.

And if it wasn't for the kings summon she might have just listened. But she couldn't face him feeling numb. That would only leave him to focus on and she couldn't cope with that.

Snow frowned. "You don't look too well. Do you want me to go and get the doctor?"

"No!" Her voice came out strong as she stood shakily. "I'm fine. Leave please. And take the tray with you." Her head was spinning. The word weak echoed in her head but the hunger reminded her that she was being strong.

"Just eat it, Regina. It's only a little bit." Snow brought the tray within reaching distance.

"No."

"Please, you don't have to eat it all." She stepped even closer and the smell hit Regina even more.

"I said no!" Regina batted the tray from Snow's hands and watched it spill all over her carpet. It left a mess but at least it was gone.

Snow startled and took a step back before she noticed Regina swaying and grabbed her arms to steady her before sitting her back down. She felt so thin, the garment she was wearing clearly drowned her. How had no one noticed? "Regina, please." She reached into her pocket and revealed a bread roll. "Just eat something."

"No." A tear fell from her eye as she gritted her teeth. She couldn't do it.

"Why? Why can't you just-?"

"Because I can't! I can't lose control!"

...

"Yes." Regina looked up and saw the same memory play over in Snow's mind. "But I can't focus on that right now. Emma and Henry have to be our priority."

"Regina's right." David stood and placed Sarah in the basket. "We need to start trying to find them and I think a town meeting is needed. We need to sort this mess out."