AN: This story is just begining dearies. *smiles* It's my first MadQueen fic so be gentle with your reviews? Also. Italics are memorylikethingies. SHANK YOU! Rating will go up in later chapters. *shrugs*

Disclaimer. I do not own anything that has to do with OUAT.. I only own the plot of the story. Which, I don't think there is one.

His laugh. It always made her melt, fall weak at the knees. She wouldn't let it compare with anyone else's laugh. He'd told her that only the worthy had heard his laugh, that it was their little secret, and she believed him. Young, impressionable Queen Regina believed him with ever fiber of her being because she'd loved him. He was her first love. Her only love. Nothing would ever change that. Not her mother, not the horrendous King Leopold, and definitely not Snow White. So far, her secret affair had been indeed kept a secret. Her mother, long banished to Wonderland for making Regina marry the old king in the first place, had no knowledge of her affair before she was banished. Snow had caught her once, and Regina set her in her place. If she were to tell the king, Regina didn't know what she would do, but it would be treacherous.

She watched him as he laughed at a simple joke she'd made at the king's expense. She lay on her stomach tangled in her royal bed sheets with him on his side directly beside her. Her eyes slipped closed for mere moments to relish in the feeling of his fingers tracing patterns on her back. It was such a sweet, calming gesture that it made the queen slip a tear out of her eye. Of course, she'd caught it before her lover even saw it. "I love you." She whispered for the very first time since they'd started this. Although she'd loved him long before she'd care to admit.

They would sneak around while the king was out of the castle, or she would ride off of the castle grounds on Rocinante to meet up with him somewhere. For Regina, the admission of love was difficult, especially give the situation. But the moment she didn't hear it back, she just pretended he had, she knew he had his reasons and she respected them. She nearly tackled him and kissed him deeply until laughter reverberated from his throat. She rolled her onto her back and began to tickle her, she couldn't control her laughter either.

...

Mayor Mills shot up out of bed from the sweet dream she'd just had. But the funny thing was, it wasn't a dream. It was a beautiful memory. She sighed and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath and inhaling the scent on her pillow. It was purely him. She had gone through lengths keep him by her side. He was her knight in shining armor, although some say he's mad, insane even. The former queen saw nothing of the sorts. She heard the shower running as she rolled onto her back and a slow smile spread across her face as she heard the raspy voice attempting to sing in the shower. She rolled her eyes and stifled her giddiness. Regina slid out of bed, wrapping the bed sheet around her naked form as she sleepily sauntered into the bathroom. She leaned in the doorway on her hip for a few moments, watching the beautiful man before her shower and sing without the knowledge of her sudden presence. Part of her believed that he knew she was standing there. But she dropped the sheet, quietly opened the glass shower door and slid into the shower without his acknowledgement. How she managed that? She had no clue. It wasn't until she wrapped her arms around him that he acknowledged her with a simple 'Good morning' and he turned in her arms to give her a kiss.

Later on that morning, she stood barefooted in the kitchen, hair still a little damp and a wide smile on her face. She wore nothing but that smile and the enlarged shirt of her lover as she patiently waited on the coffee maker to finish brewing. The aroma of the coffee making her want to drool. It was her favorite smell from this new land. The land without magic. Only her and her lover knew the truth about The Dark Curse. Regina, because she cast it, and her lover because he was banished here long before the curse was even thought of. She closed her eyes in remembrance of her horrible journey and the things she had to do get back the man she loved.

...

The king had caught them. He had come home early from a trade with King George because Snow had begged him to. He walked into her bed chamber without a knock and it was all over. The king had caught Regina and the other man in a passionate tryst, neither of them noticing the king until he cleared his throat. Both wuickly hopped off of the bed and covered themselves. Suddenly her happiness was ripped away. Regina was locked away in her bed chamber and her lover? He was sent to a world without magic, banished for as long as he may live.

She had spent may a nights crying upon her bed for her lost love. She was unhappy and her wretched husband knew it. She was stuck, stuck in a loveless marriage, stuck with a step-daughter whom she knew was the reason her father came back to the castle early that day. Neither Leopold, nor Snow would admit it, but the young queen knew better. She planned her revenge on the young girl quickly. But one thing stood in her way.. The king. It wasn't until a month after a stranger came to the castle, after one of the king's visits to the beach, that Regina had gotten her idea for revenge on the king as well.

The stranger had fallen for her, easily of course, and had killed her husband. Rumpelstiltskin had taught Regina well, very well so in fact that she was never suspected for the king's mysterious death. The stranger, having been devastated, ended up being her magic mirror due to his weakness for her. Love was indeed weakness, and Regina knew that. It became her undoing. The evil inside of her brewed because of her lost love. She had spent years trying to go after Snow White instead of trying to find out which realm her lost love was banished to.

...

A laugh echoed through the kitchen of the mayors mansion and she turned quickly. "You scared me!" She swatted her husband's bare chest with a shake of her head. It was the simplicity of everything that made him laugh nowadays. He laughed a lot more often in this world with her than he did in the Enchanted Forest. They were no longer 'queen and forbidden lover'. They were a happily married couple, completely away from everything that could tear them apart. The simplicity of his laughter, it was the only thing that made her completely at ease. She leant up on her tippy-toes to kiss him and was stopped abruptly when the coffee maker began to beep, signaling it was finished. She grinned and turned around, but he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back to him. It was then her turn to simply laugh and turn around in his arms. She placed her delicate hands on the back of his neck and stood on her tip-toes to kiss him softly. "Let me get my coffee.. I've been waiting forever."

He looked at her with the most amused smile her could muster before whispering in her ear. "The coffee maker only takes twenty minutes to brew." He smirked as he pulled away and turned his back to her, opening the nearest cupboard for two coffee mugs.

She remembered how they first met. She always would. It was one of those memories someone just couldn't forget.

...

He was sitting with the king, her husband, going over some nonsense about a hat to wear to young Snow's birthday ball. Regina had thought it was incredibly absurd. The king was bald, he didn't need to hide it with a hat. She was only twenty years old, having been married to Leopold since she was eighteen. The young queen had walked into the throne room, forgetting about her husband's meeting. She immediately froze. No one had noticed her yet, her eyes were transfixed on the hat maker. Her eyes took in his features. Although he was sitting, he looked rather tall, muscular even. For a hat-maker, he was incredibly beautiful. She found herself staring for a little too long and quickly shook her head of the improper thoughts that crossed her mind. But then he looked up at her and they locked eyes for mere moments. Her breath caught in her throat and she could no longer breathe. She gulped and turned away, pretending to be picking at the hem of her dress the moment the king noticed where the hat maker's gaze was laid. He cleared his throat, something the queen heard a lot, and told Regina that she needed to have her gown hemmed immediately. She nodded quickly and walked away without any arguing. The look of the hat maker still etched in her mind.

It was a week later when she had another encounter with the mysterious hat maker. She had yet to know his name, but every night she had dreamed of his eyes. Just that gaze alone had sent shivers up her spine. He had come into the throne room looking for the king. But to Regina's advantage, the king had been out and would be gone for a few days at the least. Her breath had caught once again the moment his heated gaze came across her. She knew in that moment that she was done for.

...

They sat at the dining room table, both barefoot and half dressed, playing footsie under the table whilst they ate breakfast and drank their coffee. Both refused to acknowledge the game of footsie going on under the table until Regina burst into a fit of laughter and nearly fell out of her chair the moment his big toe grazed the bottom of her foot. "Ticklish?" He smirked.

"You know I am!" She threw her napkin at him with a hint of playful anger, and picked her fork back up. This was always their Saturday morning routine. Neither had to work, nothing pressing to do, so they'd just lounge around the mayoral mansion and goof off. Sometimes they'd spend the day in bed. Other times, it would be spent in the living room, or in a long soak in the bathtub. Their routine depended on their mood, and when they couldn't agree, they'd compromise. It was simple really.

She finished breakfast, waiting for him to finish eating before leaning over him in his chair, planting a kiss on his lips and sauntering into the kitchen the way she always did. She stood at the sink, slowly doing the dishes, waiting to feel his presence come into the room. Her body visibly relaxed once she knew he was behind her. Sometimes, the flashbacks seemed almost too real, as if she were le-living them all over again. All of the pain and anguish of being away from the man she truly loved. The pain of knowing he was trapped in some other land and had no magic to return home to her.

...

"You know Dearie, I know how to get your beloved hat maker back to you."

Regina remembered Rumpelstiltskin's voice from that day all too well. She had been trying for years now, to get to him, or to get him back to her. All of the magic beans were gone from the wars with the giants years ago. The king had destroyed Jefferson's hat with ease after he was banished. She had no way of getting to him. She remembered her reaction too. The now 'Evil' Queen had been all too eager.

"How?" She said rather quickly, she would do anything to find her loved one, to bring him home to her, or to even just be with him in the land without magic. As long as she was with him, it did not matter where she was.

"The Dark Curse." He said with a grin. "We can just.. Add a twist. It'll bring him to you after the curse has been followed through with. But there is a catch.. It takes everyone from this land, and takes them to the land without magic. Everyone will be frozen in time. It will take away their happiness. It will destroy all happy endings." Rumple had giggled in that moment.

"Since when do I care about anyone's happiness but my own?" She snapped and walked off, scheming, thinking about how she wanted the curse to work.

...

On the couch, they cuddled together, still in their state of half-dressed, as they watched old back and white movies. Regina loved them personally. she liked to imagine what color things would be in the movies if they were in color. She knew it sounded very childish, but she didn't care. It was her little secret. Her husband was lying on the couch flat on his back, Regina was nestled between the back of the couch and his side. Her leg was draped her his and her head rested just over his heart. She was incredibly comfortable just laying there in his shirt, watching movies with him. She wouldn't have it no other way.

She had fallen asleep halfway through the second movie, the sound of his heartbeat and his finger's fiddling with her shoulder length hair had made her sleepy. Her mind gently floated off to the night she had found him again. She dreamt of the kiss they shared in her office. The feeling of her lost love returning had made her smile so much she felt her cheeks burn.

...

She had in her office, doing the same thing she had for the past week. It had been a week since she'd woken up in this land without magic and she still had not found him. He had not found her either. How was she to know whether or not Rumple had lied to her? The twisted little imp was good at such things. He liked to toy with her. Use her for his own gain. Maybe her lover was in a different land without magic? She did not know. But she was stuck in this curse until it was to be broken by prophecy. She sighed, set down her pen, and leaned her head back until it rested against the back of her chair. Regina closed her eyes and rubbed her temples.

"I'm looking for Mayor Mills?"

Her eyes shot open. Her mind was playing with her now, she was hearing things. No, not just things. It was him. She was hearing him. She was hearing the man she'd fallen for all those years ago. She sat up quickly and her eyes widened, tears pricking them. "Jefferson?" She whispered in disbelief. The tears sliding down her face. She was frozen in her spot, but she knew it was him. His eyes gazed into her's much like they had the night they met.

She heard it then, his silky, smooth voice. "Regina..." He too had tears in his eyes. Regina didn't know why he'd come here, what brought him here.. But it definitely didn't matter. She stood and slowly walked into his arms. She immediately let her head rest on his chest and his arms circled around her. She could feel the evil bitterness leave her body the moment he touched her. They stood there for several minutes, Regina crying, Jefferson trying to sooth her as tears of his own fell.

Simultaneously, they both looked up at each other. Regina was speechless, she had never thought that she would actually succeed. No matter how much she worked her ass off to find him, she actually had believed she would fail. She slid her hands from his chest to the back of his neck and pulled him down to kiss her. It was the most emotionally powered kiss she had ever experienced in her life. She didn't want to let go for fear of it all being a dream. But when she had no other choice than to pull away and breathe, she kept her eyes on his. "You're really here.." She whispered breathessly.

His voice was music to her ears. "That I am." He kissed her once more. "I'm not going anywhere now."

...

"Regina..." She moaned and hid her face. "Darling...?" She didn't open her eyes. "Gina!" She sat up quickly, startled to find that her husband, Jefferson, no longer beside her on the couch. But instead, he was standing in front of her with a huge smile and this time he had a t-shirt on.

She smacked him on the chest playfully. "You scared me!" She rolled her eyes when he feigned hurt and she leaned up to kiss him. Regina of course, she was up to no good. instead of meeting him half-way for the kiss, she pulled him down on to the couch with her. He laid half on top of her and half on the couch, laughing hard against her neck.

"Why on earth did you do that?" She felt the vibrations of his voice against her neck and she shivered a little.

"Payback is a bitch." She said with a little smirk and turned her face to kiss him languidly. She bit down on his lower lip and tugged until he groaned. She pulled away, winked, pushed him off of her and hopped off the couch. "That's what you get for waking me up like that!"

It took her almost five extra seconds to realize that he had hopped up off of the floor and was preparing to chase her around the house. He stared her down with a quirked eyebrow, and she knew he was waiting for her to run. She smirked and waved her hand, disappearing into a plume of purple smoke. She laughed as she heard him call out after her. "You cheated!"

She sat on the edge of their bed, still wearing his over-size white shirt but she added one of his hats into the mix. She placed the hat on her head crookedly and crossed her long, bare legs. She stretched her arms out behind her and leaned on her hands as she waited for her husband to show up. Her eyebrow quirked up once again when he ran into the doorway of their shared bedroom, out of breath and staring at her in disbelief. "You cheated." He panted.

"I did no such thing. I simply got you to come to the bedroom faster." She winked and crooked her finger at him. Jefferson complied and leaned over her to kiss her, effectively letting Regina fall back onto the bed with him leaning over her. She pulled his face down closer to her's and kissed him even deeper before trailing her fingers up the back of his t-shirt. "See something you like Hatter?" She grinned and then laughed loudly when he pushed her higher up onto the bed.

...

"The king will be back tomorrow." She whispered as her fingers trace patterns over his naked chest. "I won't be able to see you for a week." She refused to look in his eyes, not wanting to cry. The most they had been apart was three days, but for seven? Regina would surely not survive. She had grown accustomed of seeing Jefferson nearly every day. She'd told him things she swore she would never tell anyone else. She knew they were meant to be together, but if it weren't for the king, they could have ran off together and had their own happy ending. "I love you." She said as she placed a kiss on his shoulder.

The first time she had told him, he hadn't responded and she understood why. She was the queen, he was a simple portal jumper who knew how to make hats. So instead, she had made light of the situation and attacked him, not in a horrible way of course. She understood that he didn't think it would last because of the king and he wanted to spare his own heart. She understood more than most women would. This was how had to be. But her eyebrows rose to her hairline as she heard those three little words come out of his mouth.

"I love you Regina."

In that moment, she froze and looked him in the eyes. "You said it." She whispered.

"That I did," He grinned and rolled onto his side. "And I plan to say it every time I see you until we die." She ran his fingertips over her arm and down to her sheet covered hip.

"You love me.." She muttered, looking deep into his eyes, almost into his soul.

"And I always will."

...

She was panting as she laid on top of Jefferson in the quiet of their bedroom. His heavy breaths mingled with her's as they both tried to calm from the imense pleasure they had both recieved. Regina swore her eye sight had gone out for a few seconds. She placed a few soft kisses to her husband's neck and tangled the fingers of her left hand with his right.

AN: REVIEW for another Chapter. :)