First of all this was not beta'd so I'm sorry for any typos you might find. Secondly: this fanfiction is based on the photos leaked a few days ago of the cast filming and Robin coming back to Storybrooke.
The water tips quietly on the shower floor, the drops barely noticeable throw the fog inside the bathroom. But he could see two things clearly.
One was her heart. The small thing laid there on the sink, so close to the edge it made him wonder if she had just tossed it there carelessly, not caring if it stayed up or if it fell. Perhaps even hoping that it would fell. That it would crash on the ground and turn to dust.
Her form below the shower surely made him wonder as much.
He called her name. Loud and clearly and she flinched but he knew she hadn't hear him. Just the noise, the familiar sound but not the words. Not Regina, what's happening? Not Regina, look at me. Not Regina, I'm going to hug you now.
He entered the shower and touched her. She was naked in all her glory but he didn't think of that, would never think of that when she was so desperately still and taking such a warm shower.
She'd always liked her showers a little bit cooler than he did. Even when they were back home, back at the Forest where the hot water was either scalding, warm or freezing cold.
She'd always made a flame with her hand, waving it close to the water long enough for the chilling to be banished. It was still cold though. So cold that Roland had cried when she'd tried to give him a bath once.
But the water was hot now.
Too hot.
Almost at the point of burning, twinkling in his skin as he wrapped his arms around her from behind. She flinched again but didn't shake him off, didn't turn around. She still stared at the wall and the drops of water hit her whole body but she didn't feel it.
He was there. Robin was there. He was right there. His back flush against her and he clutched her tightly and she wanted to feel him, to hear him but she couldn't. She couldn't.
Her sister had been Marian. She had played Emma, played Robin, played her and destroyed her.
Zelena got what she wanted after all. She got everything Regina ever had.
She won.
But they had found out her plan, she had slipped and let information pass and Robin wasn't stupid, never stupid and he noticed the details missing, the edginess on his wife's voice that just wasn't there and then he had called.
Asked for help and of course she would. How could she say no to him?
So to the city she went. Emma and herself in that Godforsaken yellow bug all the way to New York and they had defeated the witch again.
And Robin had come back. Had hugged her and tried to kiss her but he wasn't hers to kiss, wasn't hers to touch but Marian had never been alive, had never truly been a burden in their way.
But she had. And Robin had left. He had chosen her but had left because his wife was dying and he hadn't called in months and she couldn't admit it to herself because it hurt. Even without her heart it hurt like a mother.
She couldn't admit that it hurt. That she had missed his accented voice and his always there forest smell and those goddamned dimples.
And she wanted to feel something besides the pain. Besides the ache and the water was a ticklish thing against her and it made her breath better.
Regina, we're getting out of the shower now alright?
His words didn't register in her head. He knew that. He saw that because he turned her around to face him, he looked into her beautiful face and her eyes were cold. Her beautiful, beautiful eyes weren't happy or confused or afraid. They were sad and cold and he couldn't quite understand why but he twisted the shower tab and reached for her towel. He dried her gently. As best as he could without feeling awkward about it.
He shouldn't feel like that, he shouldn't feel out of place but seeing her stared at him like that made him ask himself if it would've been better to let Snow enter the bathroom as she proposed since the start.
He dried her even so. And he picked up her clothes and helped her on it, and thank gods she seemed a little bit more aware of her surroundings. Of his presence. He picked her heart from the sink gently, her abandoned and blackened heart. He picked it up and guided her out of the fog mustered room. Henry was waiting outside the door, the savior and Snow too and they were about to say something, mother and daughter opening their mouths at the same time but Henry nodded to him when he saw his mother's eyes and the boy was clever and so spot on.
The women closed their mouths and watched with worried eyes as Robin guided Regina to her bedroom.
He didn't think about how he'd always loved the soft decoration she had done to that place, he didn't think about the fact that the door stayed right open or that he was still in his shoes and damp clothes.
He helped her in her bed with a hand, the other still holding her heart and he hoped in it with her, assembling this broken woman in his arms, this Queen that had never been so evil.
He held her to him and tried to recall what she had taught him about hearts as he helped her put hers back on not so long ago.
He was lying there with her and his smell was all she could breathe and she couldn't quite take enough of it in. He was there and he held her heart again with the hand with the tattoo right under it and damn it her eyes were filling themselves with tears as she extended her palm to his wrist, touching the skin softly with her thumb.
We need to put it back in.
His voice was barely a whisper, his lips kissing her forehead softly and saying the words against it.
Just like the last time, come on
She had shock her head a no slipping pass her own lips and he caught her gaze and was looking directly at her saying come on, please and is us, just us and her tears were threatening to fall right then and there because it was them. It would always be them for now on he promised and he would never leave her again because he chose her.
Her hand wrapped more firmly around his wrist and she brought it closer to her, her heart approaching her chest and soon, after a soft push it was inside her. Pulsing and spilling her tears and making her say that she missed him, that that wasn't her, that she wasn't broken but she'd missed him. Her tears didn't continue to fall. Her resilient heart only causing the already existing ones to run down her cheeks.
He kissed her forehead again, and her temple and her cheeks and every inch he could reach and he was the broken one. He was the one heavy with guilt and anger and he just wanted to kill Zelena.
I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry
The words sounded through the room time and time again as he hugged her closer, kissed her more and Robin was there and he was sorry and damn it he had been gone for so long.
Her arms found their way around his waist and her head was on his chest felling his heartbeat. She felt everything now. Every ache, every bruise, every dark spot and every longing.
You're mine. Mine, mine, mine.
He seemed to be repeating his words often now and he wouldn't stop and gods she never wanted him to. She never wanted him to be quiet again, away again and he still smelled like forest.
Even with his months in New York he still smelled like forest and had that thick accent and his stumble and I'm never leaving again he kept promising and she knew it was true, she knew it was.
Gina?
It was a small voice by the door and soon enough Snow was calling him back, saying that he needed to leave his Gina and his papa alone for a little bit but Regina suddenly wanted the small boy close too. She sat on her bed and reached for him and in an instant his small body was there. She hugged him and kissed his forehead. His little hands were on her cheeks, looking at her with his beautiful chocolate brown eyes and those invisible dimples.
I missed you Gina.
He knew how to say her name, she had taught him as much some time ago. When they were at the place where she was still the queen and he was her brave knight. He knew how to say her full name, but he chose not to. He chose to have a nickname only he was allowed to use. He enjoyed that and so did she.
I missed you too baby.
And then Robin was hugging her from behind too and Roland was seating on her lap, head resting on her chest and she just needed Henry, just needed her handsome prince and she would feel closer to alright because Robin wasn't leaving and Roland missed her and her little prince loved her and had helped her with operation Mongoose.
Robin was the one that called for him. He didn't detach himself from her. Didn't lose his hold on her, just turned his head and called for the boy that soon came too, discarding his shoes and popping on besides his mother.
His mother who he had treated so badly when he was younger, his mother that had changed everything in her to keep him because he was everything right then and still was and he had treated her so badly, had almost died to prove her wrong. His mother that never lashed out, just reached out more and more and never let him know how bad he was hurting her.
His mom.
His amazing mom that was so broken but never gave up.
His mom that now cried quietly because she had her family in her arms. Because they were back and so was her happy ending.
His mom that had been hurt and had turned evil, casting a curse that destroyed the lives of everyone he knew. His mom that loved him so much that turned good again. His mom that had found a love worth loving.
Disclaimer: nothing is mine (sadly)