Once Upon a Time 1. Stable Kids

As the chestnut stallion quickened his stride into a trot, Daniel sat up on his bare back, and the four-year-old girl perched on the saddle in front of him tightened her grip on his hands over the reins. She frowned and looked up at him with big brown eyes.

"Too bouncy, Daddy."

"When we go faster it will feel less bouncy, Lenora Gail," Daniel promised. He glanced at his father-in-law's large house, placed about the same distance away from the stable as his own home was. The house was empty. Henry was probably off at work for the day.

"Faster, Daddy, faster!"

"Okay, baby," said Daniel. He smoothed back her dark curls. "Hang on tight!"

Back at the house, Regina was sitting in her rocking chair cradling her one-year-old son as he whimpered incessantly because of an upset stomach.

"Do you want me to take him, M'lady?" asked the maid as she hung up the last of the wash. "Your husband took little girl out for a ride on Sylvester, and I think the twins are in the barn."

Regina shot up from the chair. "The _barn_? I specifically told them not to get the horses out until I was ready!"

"Well, maybe they're just playing outside," offered the maid helpfully.

"Would you mind holding Noah for a moment?" asked Regina

"Not at all." The maid took the baby and Regina marched outside and into the barn where here two eight-year-olds were opening a sack of grain.

"Henry! Helena! Get out of there right now!"

"We aren't getting the horses out, Mama," said her daughter.

"Daddy asked us to feed them!" called her son.

"Oh," said Regina. "Alright. Did he tell you which ones get hay and which ones get grain?"

"The pony only gets grain, the black mare only gets hay, and the rest get both," said Henry.

"Mama, can we ride the pony?" asked Helena.

Regina thought about it for a moment. "Maybe while your baby brother is taking his nap you can each ride in the arena for a little while."

"Grandpa said he'd teach me how to go over a jump soon," said Henry.

Helena pouted. "What about me?"

Henry smirked and put a hand on his hip. "Only _men_ are supposed to learn how to jump."

"I'm sure you can jump too, Helena. Your grandfather taught me how to jump, too."

Helena beamed with satisfaction. "Is it true that you and Daddy decided to get married in here?" asked Henry.

"Yes," said Regina. "We met for the first time in this barn. We talked for the first time in this barn." She didn't tell them what else they'd done for the first time in that barn.

"Is it true that Grandpa's name is Henry too and I was named after him?" asked Henry as he dumped a bucket of grain into a horse's stall.

Regina smiled. "Yes. And your father's father is named Noah."

"What was Daddy's mother's name?" asked Helena.

"Gail," replied Regina. Before either of her children could ask the next question, she replied, "My mother's name was Cora, and she wasn't a good person."

"Oh." Helena bit her fingernail. "No wonder you never talk about her."

"I assumed she was dead," mumbled Henry as he tossed a flake of hay into another stall.

"She is," said Regina bitterly.

"Did she die in a fire like Daddy's parents?" asked Helena.

"No. She got into a fight with a terrible, powerful man."

Two pairs of skeptic brown eyes starred up at Regina. "Finish feeding the horses and come on back to the house," she instructed. "It's time for your chores." Both children let out an exaggerated groan. "Be good and maybe we can invite grandpa over for dinner later."

"Having to be good is annoying," Henry whispered thinking his mother couldn't hear him.

"They have _ no_ idea," muttered Regina on her way back into the house.

**A/N: A few days before Regina would have met Snow White, Cora backed out on a deal she'd made with Rumpelstiltskin. He ripped her heart out and discovered it was already black anyway. Then he crushed it. Regina told her father about Daniel immediately, they got married a few years later, and had four kids. The twins came first, three years later they decided they wanted another one, and Noah was an oops baby. The two girls look more like Regina and the two boys look more like Daniel except that all four babies have Daniel's eyes and all but Noah have pitch black hair. Lenora is the only one with curls and Noah basically looks like Daniel's clone. And acts like it. The twins are more like Daniel personality wise but also very mischevious sometimes because there are two of them and feed off of each other when doing something they know their parents won't approve of. Lenora, ironically, is the most like Regina but is very much a daddy's girl, following him around anytime she can get away with it and always wanting to do things the way he does. And of course, Henry the first is the most loving doting grandfather ever, especially because he is the only living grandparent.**

**Related: it is slightly possible that I am becoming too obsessed with this pairing.**


	2. Daniel Becomes An Orphan

"Do we really have to have teatime every single day?" fifteen-year-old Regina complained. "I wanted to spend some extra time reading before riding practice."

"A lady never misses her teatime, Regina," said Cora firmly in that voice of hers that sounded so cold all the time that one could picture frost around every word. "Why don't you remind me again of the four cornerstones of ladyship?"

"Charm, politeness, tact, and grace."

"And what is the most important thing you can do to make sure someone important will want to marry you?"

"Be a _lady_," whispered Regina bitterly. She nearly screamed when she suddenly found both her hands anchored to the table with metal clamps.

Cora raised her eyebrows. "Repeat that, my love?"

"Be a lady," said Regina again, firmly and with a smile. Cora smiled broadly at her and made the clamps disappear.

Few things disgusted Regina more than when her mother referred to her as "my love". She knew Cora didn't love anyone or anything but herself and power. If she really loved Regina, Regina could have told her that she didn't want someone important to marry her. She knew exactly who she wanted to spend the rest of her life with, and she couldn't have cared less if he had a crown on his head. When she was a child and they became best friends she had wished she could be his sister. She would have traded her comfortable life for a complete loving family in a heartbeat. When Daniel talked about little things from his childhood, like how if he wasn't feeling well his mother would take the day off of work to be with him and how she patted his head when she was happy with him and called him saucy boy when he was naughty, Regina tried to tell him how much she envied him. He thought she was trying to make him feel better about not having lived the life she lived, but that wasn't true at all. His simple goodness didn't allow him to understand how a mother could not possess an ounce of love for her own daughter. Not even when she was a child.

At least Regina and Daniel had always had equally endearing relationships with their fathers. Except for the part where Daniel's father never had to feel guilty about not being able to protect him from his own mother.

"Now, what's this book you've been reading?" asked Cora.

"A book Daddy got for me."

"What's it called?"

"The self-made woman," admitted Regina.

Cora frowned. "That doesn't sound like something I would approve of. Why would he give you that?"

"It's just entertainment, mother," Regina replied reassuringly.

"I'm home!" came Henry's voice from downstairs along with the sound of his heavy boots.

"Come join us for tea, Daddy!" called Regina softly. A lady never raised her voice any more than necessary, after all.

"Alright!"

Henry came upstairs and sat down between Cora and Regina. "How was your day, dear?" asked Cora politely, mostly to set a good example for Regina.

"Fine, thank you," replied Henry. "I heard the most dreadful news a few minutes ago. Our stable boy, Noah, and his wife Gail were killed last night in an accidental house fire."

Regina froze. Her heart dropped into her stomach. "What?"

"How terrible," said Cora stiffly. "Does this mean you're finally giving up the horses?"

"No," said Henry. "I've taken his son Daniel on as a full time stable boy."

Trying to keep her voice from shaking, Regina asked, "Is he here?"

"Yes," said Henry. "He's down in the barn right now. He was quite insistent on still giving you your riding lesson today."

Regina's heart pounded. "Good," she whispered.

"Have you heard any news from the king lately?" asked Cora.

"I received a telegram from him a few days ago, he's decided to enforce a new law that…"

As her parents chattered on about the going on of the village, Regina's eyes darted around the room anxiously. Trying to get away with just jumping up and running down to the stables would never work. Cora would hold her back and maybe even try to keep her from going down there at all that day. If she tried faking sick, as she had done in the past to get out of teatime, then she also wouldn't be allowed to go down to the stables because her parents would both assume she must be too sick to ride.

Luckily, Henry noticed how anxious his daughter looked and smiled at her. "Why don't you go for your riding lesson now, 'Gina? I have some private business to discuss with your mother."

Regina tried unsuccessfully to repress a grateful smile. "Alright. If I must." She walked slowly and carefully down the stairs and out of the house. Then as soon as she was outside, she burst into a run.

When she got close to the stables, she started walking to catch her breath. Other than two horses frolicking in the pasture, there was no sign of life in or around the building. Regina walked over to the door and nudged it open.

"Daniel?" she whispered softly

In the dim light, she could see him sitting hunched over on a tack trunk holding a pair of old, warn, riding gloves in his hand. He looked up at her with tear-filled eyes but didn't say anything. She shut the door behind her, went over, and held his head against her chest. Neither of them knew what to say.

"Were those your father's?" asked Regina finally after what felt like ten minutes but was really slightly under an hour.

"Yeah," Daniel whispered.

Regina squeezed his hand. "Why don't you put them on?"

"Not yet."

She held him closer for a moment. Neither had ever seen the other this sad before.

"You didn't have to come here today," said Regina. "I would have understood. I even could have taken care of all the horses for you."

"No. I needed you. You're all I have now."

Regina put her head down on Daniel's head and let out a tiny sob.

"Besides, I have nowhere else to stay," Daniel admitted. "The whole house burned down. Your father said I can sleep in the tack room for as long as I need to."

"You don't have anywhere else?"

"No," said Daniel, pulling her closer against him. "No friends or family nearby. Just you."

Regina bent down and gave him a sweet kiss, knowing that was the moment she became as much his world as he already was hers.


	3. Bedtime Stories

"Daddy, will you button my nightgown up?"

"Daddy, can I wear my new riding gloves to bed?"

"Daddy, can I get a drink of water now?"

"DADA! UPPA UPPA!"

Daniel held his hands up in surrender. "Hold on! One at a time!"

"I'll button Lenora's nightgown if you let me wear my riding gloves to bed," Helena offered sweetly.

"Nooooo!" wailed Lenora. "I want _Daddy_ to help me!"

"Lenora, let your sister help you," Daniel instructed as he scooped up baby Noah off the floor. "Henry, yes, you may get a drink of water, but be quick about it."

Lenora pouted as Helena buttoned her nightgown and smoothed her dark curls back while Daniel pulled a bottle out of the icebox and put it in Noah's little hands.

"Is Mommy gonna be back tonight?" asked Helena.

"I already told you, she and grandpa won't get back for another two days," said Daniel as he set the baby down on the bed in his bedroom and pulled on a warm coat over his white nightclothes. Henry and Regina had left just yesterday for a trip to King Leopold's palace; Henry because he had a meeting with the royal family, and Regina because she wanted to sell a mare of theirs, offer up a stallion for breeding, and possibly come home with a new yearling. And because it was the maid's day off, Daniel had all four kids and the family's horses all to himself. His and Regina's business was growing, and it had been difficult enough for them to fit in the barn chores and a daily training session for each horse _before_ the babies started coming. The strain was enough that they were considering hiring a stable boy to do the menial barn chores and the grooming. How ironic would that be?

"Hey, Daddy!" said Helena. "When you left to go buy a new horse Mommy let me sleep in her bed in your spot one time. Can I sleep in her spot tonight?"

"NO!" screamed Lenora before Daniel could open his mouth. "He's _my _Daddy!"

"He's _all_ our Daddy," said Henry, coming back in with an empty glass and setting it down on a shelf.

Daniel sighed. "Why don't _all _of us sleep in the same bed tonight?"

All three of the older kids started cheering. Then the twins both climbed into Regina's spot on the bed, essentially taking up the whole thing. Baby Noah noticed them, crawled over, and plunked himself in between. He just barely fit. Henry grinned and snuggled Noah against his chest. He had been the most excited when Regina had had another boy, mostly because counting their grandfather the boys in the family now outnumbered the girls. And now he had a little minion.

When Daniel turned to climb into his spot in the bed, Lenora was sitting on his pillow and grinning sheepishly. She giggled when Daniel climbed in and snuggled her close. Helena scooted closer so her head was almost on the same pillow as Daniel and Lenora. Daniel counted the small heads in bed with him and gave a victorious sigh. He had successfully managed to wrestle all four children into bed all by himself two nights in a row.

"Time for a bedtime story!" announced Helena.

Daniel sighed. "Why don't you tell it?"

"No, you!" said Lenora.

"Yeah!" said Henry.

"Yeah!" said Noah, not even understanding what they were talking about.

"Okay, fine!" Daniel turned onto his side and propped his head on hand. All four kids turned to listen. "Once upon a time, there was a king who lived in a castle high on a mountain. He loved three things more than anything else in the world: his kingdom, his horses, and his daughter, the princess. The princess was a very beautiful girl who also loved three things more than anything else in the world: her father, the king, horses, and a handsome young horseman with chestnut brown eyes. The princess loved the horseman, and the horseman loved her and wanted to marry her very much. There was only one problem…" Daniel hesitated until he thought of a way to tell the next part of the story, "There was a huge monster keeping the princess and the horseman apart. She wanted them to stay unhappy so that she could eat the king for breakfast and take over the whole kingdom and rule it as her own."

"Aww," whispered Helena.

"Cool," whispered Henry. Helena reached over Noah sandwiched between them and swatted her twin. "What did the monster look like?"

"Oh, it was terrible," Daniel went on patiently. "It was black as night, big as a house, had thirty million eyes, and breathed purple smoke. And rumor had it that if it found someone who was too happy, it would crush them."

Lenora let out a tiny scream and clung harder to her father. "The princess and the horseman waited day and night for the monster to give up and go away, but she never would, and she never did. Until one day, an even bigger monster came along." Lenora screamed again. "No, no," Daniel continued. "This was a good monster. When he saw what the smaller monster was doing to the princess, the horseman, and the rest of the kingdom, he snapped his fingers and turned the smaller monster into a bowl of dust. And then he ran away back to his own kingdom and the princess and the horseman got married and had lots of beautiful children."

"And lived happily ever after," mumbled Helena dreamily.

"Still scared of the monster, Daddy," whispered Lenora firmly.

Daniel sighed and began rubbing his daughter's back. "Hush a bye, don't you cry, go to sleep my little baby. When you wake, you shall have, all the pretty little ponies. Blacks and bays, dapples and greys, all the pretty little ponies. Way down yonder in the meadow…"

When Daniel paused, he realized that all four of his children were already asleep. He smiled to himself and laid his own head down on the pillow, content in his children's assumption that the bedtime story he had told them was just that: a story.


	4. Waiting

Daniel could not have been looking forward to Regina's return more. For one thing, without being able to wake up with her next to him, call her name and hear her voice answer, and look around the corner and see her face, it felt like a part of him wasn't alive. For another…the farm and household were becoming impossible to manage on his own. Every morning, Daniel had to get the children up, feed them, do the barn chores while they ate, then walk Henry and Helena to school while Lenora and Noah stayed with the maid, and then Noah would go down for his nap while he groomed and exercised every horse in the barn.

"Can I help, Daddy? Please?" begged Lenora.

"Not with this one, Lenora Gail," replied Daniel. "He's too young. He could step on you and hurt you."

Lenora pouted. "No he won't. I'm a _good _horsewoman!"

Daniel had to smile. Except when she was pouting, there were moments when Lenora could look up at him and for at least a brief moment, she looked exactly like Regina. "If you really want to be a good horsewoman, you can get the saddle soap out of my little box and clean my jumping saddle."

Lenora brightened slightly. "Okay."

Daniel glanced to make sure the little one was obediently reaching for a sponge and saddle soap before walking around to the back of the stall and taking the two-year-old horse's tail to comb.

"When's Mommy and grandpa gonna be back?" he heard Lenora ask.

"They're supposed to be back this afternoon," said Daniel. He glanced out the window of the stall and noticed that the sky looked overcast. "I hope the weather isn't holding them up."

"Holding them up on where?"

Daniel laughed. "It just means if it's a bad storm they might be stuck someplace."

"Oh."

Daniel finished grooming the young horse and several other horses while his little daughter scrubbed his saddle and sang random songs to herself.

"Honey, I need to take some of the horses out for a ride now," explained Daniel. "Why don't you go inside and see if Miss Jodie needs help with the washing?"

"I wanna stay out here and help you ride," complained Lenora.

"If you go inside now, I'll have more time to play with you and your brother later," Daniel promised.

"Okay," Lenora half-whined. He watched her run up to the house in her little brown dress and black boots. Such a Daddy's girl.

Daniel managed to get through exercising and re-grooming half the horses before he had to walk back to town and pick up the twins. Then he managed to help them with the homework while bouncing the baby in his lap and Lenora incessantly begging to go for a ride even though that was impossible with so many kids around. Daniel fed all the kids and left the babies with the maid while the twins helped him with the evening barn chores. When they were done, Regina and Henry still weren't back.

"I miss Mommy and Grandpa," said Henry.

"Me too," said Helena.

Daniel glanced up at the setting sun. "I'm sure they'll be back soon." But he was beginning to worry, too. "Both of you get back inside, time for bed."

The maid left for the day soon after that, and Daniel had a relatively easy time putting his four children to bed that night. Helena and Lenora slept together in their double bed in their room and Henry slept in his own single bed in the bedroom he shared with Noah, who slept in a handcarved wooden crib. Daniel glanced out the window again after he made sure that his last child had fallen asleep. Still no sign of Henry and Regina.

Daniel finished getting himself ready for the night, put on blue flannel nightclothes, and got into bed. He stayed up for awhile trying to convince himself that everything was okay. After an hour, he was still awake. Then, for a brief moment, he started to imagine what life would be like if they never came back. Every day would be just like today. Him taking care of all the kids and the horses alone. Only every time he made a decision about what horse to buy, breed, or sell, or how to train a horse, or how to handle a problem with one of their kids, he would be questioning whether or not Regina would have made the same decision. He would have to answer every child who asked him when their mother was coming back and explain why he'd been wrong, why they had never returned. And how long would it be that he could look at Lenora's face and not feel his insides twist when he was reminded of how his wife smiled, or frowned, or thought hard about something? Probably years.

Daniel lifted his head wearily when he heard footsteps down the hall and got out of bed. It must be Lenora asking for a drink of water or to get in bed with him or something. He opened the door, and there was Regina. He instantly pulled her into his arms and sighed with relief. She was wearing dirty riding clothes and her hair was full of rain. But she was there.

"Is everything okay? I was worried."

"We just stopped to wait out a storm," whispered Regina as she stepped into their bedroom and closed the door. "Daddy's up at the house and the horses are all taken care of."

Daniel wondered if everything she'd intended to accomplish with the horses had been successful and how Henry's meeting had gone and how long they should wait before training the youngest group of new horses to jump. But there was plenty of time for that tomorrow. For now, he just pulled off her wet coat, cupped her head in his hands, and kissed her lightly.

"Don't ever make me find out what life would be like without you," he pleaded as he scooped her up and set her down on the bed.

"Never," whispered Regina.

**A/N: You people really need to stop leaving anonymous reviews if you want me to be able to respond to your questions! :) That said, all the reviews I've gotten are marvelous, thank you so much! I DEFINITELY plan on continuing with this verse, just oneshots for now but maybe eventually a full story, too. If you ever want to follow me on Tumblr, my name is gleeisjoy and my youtube multifandom account is TheMostPowerfulMagic.**


	5. He's Not A Monster

"I used magic," Regina confessed softly, tearfully.

Dr. Hopper, as expected, warmly invited her in. She sat down on his couch and he sat down in a chair right next to her.

"What kind of magic did you use?" he asked gently.

At that moment, Regina's face broke into a smile. "Love. The most powerful magic of all."

Confused, Dr. Hopper nodded. "Tell me about it."

"As I told you, Dr. Whale took a heart from my collection and put it in Daniel's body," Regina began. "At first Daniel started behaving like a monster. He wandered around the town doing god knows what for hours, and then he went down to the stables and scared the horses and attacked Henry."

"Is Henry okay?" asked Dr. Hopper.

"He's fine," Regina reassured him. "Prince James was with me and helped me get him out safely. When we did he stood guard outside the door to the stables when I talked to Daniel."

"What was that like?" asked Dr. Hopper.

"It was…a little scary a first. It was clear that there were two people in his body…this monster that Dr. Whale had created, and the Daniel I knew and loved, who loved me. That Daniel started begging me to let him go, make the pain stop, try to love again…"

Regina paused long enough to choke back tears. "And then I kissed him, and just like Prince Charming's kiss broke Snow White's curse, he turned back into a man again."

Dr. Hopper's face visibly lit up. "Regina…that's wonderful! Is he okay now? Where is he?"

"At the hospital," said Regina. "The nurses promised to keep an eye on him for me. I can't stay for too much longer, but I came here because it's more important that I redeem myself than ever now. I can't lose him again. I can't use magic again."

Dr. Hopper smiled and squeezed Regina's shoulder. "You didn't. Using true love's kiss to break a spell or, in this case, something else, doesn't count as using magic. Anyone can do it as long as their love is strong enough. And apparently, your love is stronger than anyone could have thought possible. Even me." Regina smiled. "Now go back to your true love. He needs you."

And that is how Regina was reunited with her beloved fiancé at last. She knew working to redeem herself in Storybrooke and taking care of him until he got better would be hard, but it was all worth it. When Daniel was well enough he and Regina started giving Henry riding lessons, and when Regina was finally able to help Charming find a way back to the enchanted forest to get Emma and Snow back, Henry stayed with her and Daniel during his quest. Regina did not tell Daniel about all the terrible things she'd done to avenge his death right away. When she finally did, she started with the part about how Rumpelstiltskin manipulated her into becoming evil like her mother. She had to stop Daniel from killing Mr. Gold in his sleep after that. In the end Daniel and Henry both forgave her for everything. Regina and Daniel were properly married the night after the Charming family returned safely from the Enchanted Forest. Emma was the maid-of-honor. Regina, Daniel, and Henry lived next door to Snow, Charming, and Emma for awhile so that Henry could live with Regina but visit his biological family as much as he wanted to. Eventually Emma had to leave for awhile because since she was good at finding people and the only resident of Storybrooke able to come and go as she pleased, Rumpelstilskin made a deal with her: she would find his son Baelfire, and he would whisk them all back to the Enchanted Forest. Once that was done, Snow, Charming, and Emma all moved into the palace and Regina and Daniel were made masters of the royal stable. When Henry grew up he moved into the palace too but always considered Regina his mother.

AND THEY ALL LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER.


End file.

Once Upon a Time