so i was just watching ouat clips on youtube and i got to the one in 2x08 where henry wakes up after talking to aurora in the fire room and you can see david and regina both wake up after falling asleep watching henry, and it really made me think about how at that point in the series they absolutely still saw each other as threats to each other so them being able to do that says so much to me about where their relationship must have been. this wasnāt too long after 2x05 when daniel came back, so davidās already seen her at an incredibly vulnerable point in her life, arguably more than any time heās ever seen her before. heās exhausted trying to find a way back to snow and emma, keep the town in line, and keep henry from doing anything stupid. reginaās exhausted dealing with the aftermath of the curse breaking, everything with henry, and then just having to kill her first love. and they donāt have much in common, have every reason to hate each other, but theyāre able to come together for henry, for his safety and security. i imagine they both waited for him to fall asleep to start talking, and of course itās david who starts the conversation because regina is more than happy to sit in silence and act as though he doesnāt exist. he talks about henry, what heās been up to when regina isnāt there and thatās easy for her to discuss, itās safe, itās henry. and they talk for a while about nothing before he canāt help himself anymore and asks about daniel, about what their lives were like before snow and the king and the curse. if sheād had a little more rest regina wouldāve shut down the topic before it even started, but sheās exhausted and worried out of her mind and heās the first person to really ask (snow never wondered what her life was like before, never cared) so she tells him about daniel, about the life she really wanted with him and the story of how she got the scar on her lip, and in turn he tells her about his farm and his mother and that he didnāt really want to live like this either, that they arenāt as different as they think. reginaās quiet, practically asleep to the lullaby of lives never lived, and she whispers to him that she knows sheās evil because she doesnāt regret anything because it got her henry, and david goes quiet himself, letās the confession sit in the air for a moment before he tells her that she wouldāve been a great shepherd, but sheās an even better mother. and reginaās eyes well with tears when she tells him he makes a decent prince, but heāll make an even better father. and itās this conversation, that doesnāt change anything but explains so much, that under any other circumstances wouldāve never happened, that lets them take their walls down enough to fall asleep in the same room.