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It’s a strange thing to get used to – only being awake while your other half is sleeping. But they figure it out, and it’s a lot better than the alternative.
At least they’re still alive. At least they’re not lost, not separated by space or time. They know what they’re dealing with. And despite what the Evil Queen might have hoped, they’ve been through worse, Snow thinks grimly as they get David back to the loft and they settle him into their bed. She’s sad and angry, of course, but she decides, after being reminded today, that she doesn’t have to give in those emotions. She has a Prince who believes in her.
She gets Neal back from Granny and feeds him a bottle as her family gathers around their table and comes up with a game plan. Having her son in her arms, gazing into his little face as he blinks at her sleepily and feeling his tiny fingers curl around hers brings her immeasurable comfort after the day’s dramatic events and renews her determination to be strong.
They’ll have to rely a little more heavily on Granny, Ashley, Aurora, and the fairies to look after Neal now that he’ll be one parent down, but the ladies are more than happy to help. Snow and Emma outline a rough sleep/wake schedule to try to accommodate both her job and David’s, with Emma covering for David and Jasmine covering for her a few days a week. Snow makes a plan to cook meals ahead of time for him. She knows her husband is perfectly capable of feeding himself, but it makes her feel better to still be doing something to look after him, to be giving him something of herself even though they can’t be present at the same time. And then she gets another idea.
It’s later that afternoon, when the baby is napping and the others have dispersed to go work on their newest plan to trap the Evil Queen, that she digs out the old tape recorder from the back of her closet and finds a cassette to slip into it, closing the device with a soft click. She carries it with her over to where David lies in their bed and climbs onto the mattress next to him. Memories flash through her mind of how she used to watch him sleep back during the original Dark Curse, back when she knew him only as John Doe, a beautiful stranger who, even in a coma, somehow found his way into her heart.
Snow stares at David for a few long moments, watching the slow rise and fall of his chest, tracing the lines of his peaceful expression, and biting her lip with the awareness that what he’s experiencing in the fiery confines of the dream world isn’t nearly as peaceful or as comfortable as his face would suggest. She closes her eyes and lays a hand on his chest, focusing on the beat of his half of her heart, and her agitated pulse slows as if to try to sync up with his. He’s here, she reminds herself. He’s safe.
She glances back down at the tape recorder and takes a deep breath before depressing the worn buttons.
“Hi David, it’s me,” she starts shakily, trying to overcome the simultaneous feelings of not knowing what to say and wanting to say everything. The reel turns steadily and silently as the machine listens to her. “I know Emma and the others will explain it to you when you wake up, but the Evil Queen has cursed us so that only one of us can be awake at a time.” She folds her lips together momentarily, willing away the burn of tears. “She wants us to both be alone, sweetheart, but she’s failed, because I’m sitting right here next to you watching you sleep, and I have you, and I have Neal and Emma and the rest of our family, and I am not alone. And neither are you.” Her voice grows increasingly forceful and determined, and Snow strokes her husband’s face with a soft finger. “We’re going to get through this, David. We’re going to find a way to beat her and break this curse like we’ve broken all the others. We always find a way.” The corner of her mouth pulls into a sad little smile. “And until then, I thought we could leave messages for one another to stay in touch.”
She pauses and thinks, imagining what she would say to him if he were awake and it were any other day. “Dinner will be in the refrigerator by the time you wake up. I’m going to make a batch of your favorite beef casserole that should last you a few days. Granny and the others already know we’re going to need extra help watching Neal for a little while. I don’t know what we’d do without them. Oh, and the bathroom faucet is leaking again, so if you could work your magic on that, that’d be good.” She chuckles. “See? I still get to boss you around.” She falls silent again. “I miss talking to you already, and I can’t wait to hear your voice soon. Be safe, David. I love you.”
Snow sniffles a little as she stops the recorder. She leans over to cup David’s strong jaw, thumbing his cheek affectionately and trying to will away the worry that presses at the edges of her heart. She wants to kiss him, wants to be able to touch her lips to his lips or his brow or the back of his hand, but she knows she can’t, at least not right now – not until it’s his turn to wake, not until Emma returns to be there to explain everything to him. A heavy sigh escapes her, and she sets the recorder on the bedside table and rewinds the tape for him before getting up to scribble a note that she leaves taped to the machine.
For when you wake up.
Then she crawls back in bed and hugs his side, tucking herself under his arm and savoring the weight of it draped over her shoulder. She needs to get started on that casserole she promised to make him in a little while. But for now, just for a few minutes, she’s going to enjoy this moment nestled next to her true love – this precious time that, until the Evil Queen changed her mind in the cemetery, they were never even going to have.