Author's Note: Nonmagical Outlaw Queen AU with a generous helping of Henry and Roland being adorable. Slightly inspired by the music video for the song "Everything Has Changed" by Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran. Thanks so much to Lala-Kate for looking everything over and offering her feedback!

Robin is never late.

It is something he takes immense pride in, even though John and Will gave him hell for it every time. Now, though, it seems like the universe has come to personally punish him for bragging about his punctuality in the past. Today has been a day that defines Murphy's Law like no other, starting with two bad meetings with suppliers (both of which ended poorly and ran over time), followed by cancelled appointments, a mix-up at his favorite lunch restaurant, a flat tire, and now, traffic at a standstill as the clock on the dashboard clicks over to 3:20 on the dot—ten minutes from the time he is supposed to pick Roland up from kindergarten, and he is at least twenty minutes away from his destination. And that's if God is on his side and he doesn't hit a single red light between here and Roland's school.

Somehow, he thinks that's unlikely.

"Oh, come on!" he cries out. He considers leaning on the horn, going out to check what the hell is holding up all the damn traffic, walking the rest of the way to Roland's school because he might actually get there sooner at this rate, but suddenly he sees the taillights on the car ahead of him blink on, and he shifts his own car into drive for the first time in what has to be fifteen minutes. "Finally," he mutters, stepping on the gas, finally passing the intersection. He sees the culprit right away, a precarious telephone wire, no doubt shifted by the heavy winds last night, and wonders why he didn't hear anything on the radio about the traffic jam.

He's going at a pretty good clip, one eye on the clock and one on the road, when the brake lights on the car in front him go on once again, and he steps on his own brakes with a jerk. "Are you kidding me?" His eyes scan the road, wondering what the hell has gone wrong this time.

"Damn it," he says as he hears that all-familiar clang of the bell, and looks up to see the gates at the railroad crossing lowering to block the traffic. A train—a long one, full of coal and other cargo, from the looks of it—is exactly what he doesn't need right now.

Swearing once again under his breath, feeling strangely thankful for once that his son isn't here to hear him use such language, Robin digs in his pocket and pulls out his phone. "Come on, come on…" His fingers drum out an anxious pattern on the steering wheel before he finally hears a familiar, accented voice pick up.

"Belle? It's Robin. So sorry. I'm running a little late. I need you to do me a favor…"

"Where's my daddy?"

Roland's voice is full of excitement, and he can hardly wait to tell his daddy everything he did at school that day. He looks around the classroom hopefully, as if his daddy will magically appear, but there is no sign of him. All of his friends have already been picked up by their mommies and daddies already, and it is only him and Miss French left. Her phone sits on her desk where she left it a minute ago, and now as she looks down at him she has a funny look on her face. Roland tries again. "Where is he?"

"He's not here yet, Roland. He's running late today."

"But he's always here." A little crease appears between Roland's eyebrows, his lips pursed together as he tries to process this new information. "When's he coming?"

"He's going to get here as soon as he can, okay? In the meantime, you're going to hang out with me and the rest of the kids. Remember when I told you about the after-school program here, the one I run so someone can look after all the kids whose parents have to work late?"

Slowly, Roland nods.

"Well, today, you get to join our group! I don't think there's anyone from our class here today, but there's a few you might know from the park, and there's some of my morning kindergarteners, and—"

Roland's lip trembles. "But I want Daddy."

"I know, Roland, and he's coming to get you as soon as he can. But for now—"

"Hey, Miss French."

Roland looks up at the sound of the newcomer, and he and Miss French turn to see a dark-haired, somewhat lanky boy stride in. A book is tucked securely under his arm, but his other one is free as he offers himself to Miss French for a hug.

"You, Henry Mills," Belle says with a smile, wrapping her arms around him and squeezing tight, "need to stop growing. You're going to be a foot taller than me at this rate."

He gives her a grin as she ruffles his hair. "What, like that's hard?"

Throughout this exchange, Roland stares up at Henry with interest, although his eyes still threaten tears. Henry looks down at him and smiles. "Who's this?"

"Henry, this is one of my students, Roland. He's going to be hanging out with us today." Belle kneels so that she can look into Roland's eyes and puts a hand on his shoulder, pointing up at Henry. "Roland, this is Henry. He was in the very first class I ever taught, a long time ago."

"Like a million billion years?" Roland asks, naming the biggest number he knows.

Henry laughs, shaking his head. "I'm not quite that old. And neither is Miss French, for the record. But she's still my favorite teacher, even after all this time."

Roland brightens a bit at this. "Me too. But she's my only teacher."

"This is Roland's first time staying over after school. I think he's a little nervous."

"Oh, don't be nervous, it's fun!" Henry says quickly. "I stay after almost every day. My mom has a really, really important job, so she has a lot of meetings to go to and usually can't pick me up right away. But it's fun to stay after. Sometimes it's even more fun than regular school."

"Really?" Roland asks, his tone suspicious.

"I promise. Sometimes, if I stay late enough, she even takes me out to dinner after she picks me up."

Now that didn't sound too bad to Roland. A faint smile crossed his face, and he saw Miss French smile too. "How about Henry takes you over to the snack table and you can talk? I think Morgan's dad brought us ants on a log today."

Roland still looks unsure, and Belle is about to continue when a shriek is heard on the other side of the room. "Miss French!" a little girl wails, crumpled on the floor clutching her skinned knee, and Belle rushes over to administer Band-Aids and kisses. Henry is left alone with Roland, and the two of them study each other intently for a moment.

"So, how about those ants on a log?" Henry asks.

When they are both seated at a table—Henry's legs are so long that he looks almost as silly as daddy as he tries to fit into a child-sized chair—and munching on celery and peanut butter, Roland looks up at Henry thoughtfully. "What does your mommy do that's so important?" he asks. Mothers are a mystery to him—he barely remembers his own, and he treats others with the same sort of reverence that other kids use for Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy.

"She's the school superintendant."

"What's a super-intemdant?"

Henry thinks a moment, crunching down on his celery stick. "She kind of runs the whole school district, I guess. She's in charge, and if people want to change things they usually have to ask her first."

"Like a queen?"

Henry smiles at that. "Yeah, I guess so. Kind of like a queen."

"And what about your daddy?"

"I don't have one. It's just me and my mom."

"Oh!" Roland says, his eyes widening, the bite of celery he had been about to take frozen in midair. "That's sad! I don't know what I'd do without my daddy."

"You love him a lot, huh?" Roland nods vigorously, his celery stick still halfway to his mouth. "Well, tht's what it's like with me and my mom. It's like she's both parents at once, kind of. We have each other and that's what matters, you know?"

"Yeah!" Roland says brightly. "It's just me and my daddy too. My mommy died when I was little."

A funny look comes over Henry's face at that, and the only sound is the crunching of their celery for a while. It's almost like the older boy doesn't know quite what to say. Roland looks over his shoulder for Miss French, but she's across the room again, giving paper and crayons to some second graders. A few other kids are reading quietly to themselves. Roland looks back at Henry, his gaze falling on his book. "What's that?"

"What? Oh. It's a book of fairy tales my mom gave me. She said I was going through all of my other books too quickly, and that these might slow me down. They're written kind of old-fashioned, but they're really good. The pictures are really cool too."

"There's pictures?"

"Yeah. Do you want to see?"

Roland nods eagerly, scooting over to see as Henry opens the book. His mouth falls open at the sight of the illustrations, huge and colorful and so real that when he stretches out a hand to touch them he half-expects to feel the softness of Rapunzel's hair instead of thick, creamy paper. "Wow!" he whispers, looking up at Henry in amazement. "It's so pretty!"

"Want me to read you one?"

Roland's excitement all but steals his breath away, and he can only nod.

"Okay. Let's start from the beginning, okay?" Henry flips through the gold-edged pages, giving Roland glimpses of what is to come. "Okay. Once upon a time…"

When Robin finally runs in, out of breath, at 4:15, he finds Roland and Henry sitting on the overstuffed couch in Miss French's room, bent over a thick book as Henry reads out loud. "I'm here!" he calls out. "I am so sorry, Belle. I was stuck behind a twenty minute train. Twenty minutes! And then there's all that construction on Riley and—"

"It's okay, Robin," Belle says immediately as Roland hops down from the couch, rushing over to his father. "I think Roland had fun today, didn't you, Roland?"

"Daddy!" Roland's only response is slightly muffled as he throws his arms around his father's waist. "You're here!"

"I am so sorry I wasn't on time, Roland. It will never happen again, I promise." Robin kneels down with his son still in his arms, moving to hold him at arm's length with his hands on his shoulders. "I promise."

"It's okay. It was fun! There were snacks and Henry read to me from his book."

"And who might this Henry be?"

Henry himself clears his throat, giving Robin a little wave. "Right here. We just read some fairy tales together. He really seems to like Snow White."

"Well, thank you for looking out for him today. I really appreciate it."

"Any time. He's a great kid."

Robin beams proudly and opens his mouth to thank the boy, but his words are cut off by the approaching sound of high heels. "Henry, let's go. If we hurry, we can make the next showing of the movie you've been going on about all week."

Robin and Roland turn to the sound of the voice, taking in the sight of a dark-haired woman with a deep purple dress and heels to match. Her demeanor might seem intimidating to some, but her smile is bright, which puts both of the Hood men at ease. Henry looks amused. "Mom, what are you doing here? I thought you weren't going to be here until five."

"My meeting ended a little early, so I thought I'd surprise you. Are you ready?"

"Yeah, hang on a second." Henry puts his hands on his knees and crouches to look at Roland. "It was really fun hanging out with you today, Roland. I hope we can do it again soon."

"Me too!" Roland crows happily. He beams up at Regina. "Henry says you're like the queen of the whole school."

Regina smiles, locking eyes with the small boy "Well, I'm not sure I'm exactly like a queen. But it's nice of you to say it. I do think it would be fun to be a queen." Her gaze settles on Robin, and she smiles."I don't believe we've met. Regina Mills." She holds out a hand for him to shake. "You must be a new parent. I get to know everyone pretty quickly. Henry's in 8th grade, and it's hard to believe that this is going to be his last year here."

"Robin," he responds, shaking her hand. Hers is warm and soft, and her grip his firm, and there's something in her eyes that makes his heart speed up a bit. "And this is Roland. I think he and your son have already met. And I know who you are. You run a lovely school here, Miss Mills."

"Regina," she corrects softly. "And thank you. I'm happy to hear that, and we're very glad to have you here."

"Daddy, can Regina and Henry come over for dinner?" Roland blurts out. The adults look down at him, their eyes wide. Henry bites his lip to hold back a chuckle.

"Roland…" Robin stammers, looking back over at Regina. "You can't just…invite someone over for dinner like that." His mind is already going a mile a minute, wondering what he has in the kitchen that he could possibly make, if it would seem lazy to just order a few pizzas and maybe make a nice salad, if Regina and her son are vegetarians…when was the last time he vacuumed the living room? Has he been living in squalor with his son and hasn't even noticed? And will Miss Mills judge him for it, judge their tiny home when she no doubt lives in the sort of house that Roland would insist is a castle? Not that he thinks that Regina Mills seems the type to judge a person for something as inconsequential as that, but…

"Besides, it's rude not to think of Henry's father—"

"Henry doesn't have one!" Roland chimes helpfully. "They're like us, Daddy. The Two Musketeers."

Robin's face softens, and he glances at Regina with understanding in his eyes. "I see."

"So can they come?" Roland presses, tugging at his father's hand. "Please, daddy?"

"That's very nice of you…" Regina begins. "But I wouldn't want to impose…"

"Come on, Mom," Henry cuts in. "Might be fun, don't you think?"

"Henry…"

"We could even bring your famous apple pie."

"Well, that does sound tempting," Robin said, attempting to make a joke. He studied her for a moment, her dark eyes and full lips, which were now smirking at him slightly. She was beautiful, but it was more than that that intrigued him. It was the instant camaraderie of meeting another single parent—Robin knew there were more within the school, but he had yet to meet any of them—her obvious love for her son, her gentle compassion that he can see exists even beneath her professional exterior. He likes Regina Mills, he decides in an instant—at least, she is someone he'd like to get to know.

"Please, please, please daddy?"

"I…I guess it's all right, Roland. If—if you'd like to," he adds quickly, his blue eyes flashing up to meet Regina's once again. "You're more than welcome. We'd be happy to have you over."

She still looks unsure. "I wouldn't want to impose…"

"You wouldn't be imposing, I promise."

"Then we'd be more than happy to come."

"YAY!" Roland cries happily, grabbing for Regina's hand. "Let's go!"

"Henry and I already have plans tonight, Roland," Regina says gently before Roland can start bouncing with excitement "How about another time, though? Would that be okay?"

Roland thinks a moment before nodding exuberantly. "Okay!"

Robin takes a deep breath. He hasn't gone on more than a handful of dates since losing Marian…but, he supposes, if the boys are there, it doesn't really count as a date. "How about…Friday night?"

Regina's eyes widen just a fraction, and she ignores when her breathing speeds up against her will. "Friday sounds great."

"Sounds like a plan then." Robin looks at Regina with a bit of a shy smile, wrapping his arm around his son absently. "So…I guess I'll see you soon."

Regina's arm comes around Henry's shoulder, and she turns to shepherd him out the door. "Looking forward to it."