"Regina, we shouldn't be here."

Robin's voice was frantic as he chased after her. He grabbed her arm and tried to pull her back, away from the pulsing time portal, but she shook him off.

"I have to take care of this," she insisted. "Before something horrible happens. The laws of magic are not to be messed around with."

She took a step closer to the barn, raising her hands as if to perform magic, although she had absolutely no idea what spell to use. Suddenly, the doors flew open, and Regina was thrown to the ground, sucked forward toward the jet of golden light. Robin grabbed her hand, but as she dangled over the portal, she knew he wouldn't be able to hold on forever.

"You have to let me go," she shouted. "Save yourself. Get out of here."

"Never."

And with that, he threw himself forward into the portal with her. As they fell, he held her in his arms, and for a moment, she felt safe – ridiculous as that was, knowing all too well that they would land in some strange time and place with no way of returning.

Then they came crashing down to the ground in a dark alley far from home. Regina looked around in dazed confusion as a realization dawned on her. She recognized this place, but she hadn't been here in decades. Not since …

"Robin, we need to hide," she hissed, scrambling to her feet.

"Why? What's going on?"

"Later! Just get out of sight. Come on – over here."

They ducked behind one of the buildings just in time to see a dark-haired woman dressed in white and an excited blonde fairy land in the street. Regina inhaled sharply as she watched them from around the corner. Robin wrapped his arms around her and whispered in her ear:

"Is that you?"

She could only nod speechlessly as her younger self stood in the doorway, her face filled with hope for just one blissful moment before panic overtook her and she fled. Tears stung Regina's eyes, but she fought them back.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

She shook her head.

"This is what you told me about," he said softly. "Isn't it? That woman with you – was she Tinkerbell?"

"Yes. The way portals work, they take you to wherever – or whenever – you're thinking of. And I was thinking of you." She shook her head sadly. "I was too scared to go in. Maybe if I had, things would have worked out differently."

Robin cupped her chin in his hand and looked into her eyes.

"Things worked out as they were meant to."

"How can you say that? Do you have any idea who I became or what I did because I couldn't choose hope over anger?"

"That's not what I meant," he said. "I know your reputation, I've heard the stories, and I don't doubt that many of them were true. But I also know that it's a lot more complicated than that. You're not that person anymore, and we did find each other, when the time was right. Besides, if you had gone into that tavern tonight, our sons would never have been born. I would never dream of trading them for a quicker path to our happy ending."

"Neither would I. Of course not."

"Then let's put this behind us and focus on getting home," said Robin.

To get home, they would need Rumple's help. Robin was hesitant to approach him, but Regina insisted that it was the only way. Her magic couldn't open a time portal – the fact that one had existed to start with was a violation of the laws of magic – but no one knew more about magic than the Dark One, and if anyone could get them back to their own time, it was him.

"But are these disguises really necessary?" Robin protested as Regina dressed them in peasants' clothes and concealed their faces with a glamor spell. "What's the point?"

"The point is that Rumple is unlikely to help me if he knows it's me," said Regina. "Let him think we're just a couple of strangers from the future who could throw his grand plan off course if he doesn't get us home."

"Are we sure he won't just kill us or lock us away somewhere?"

"No."

"Well, that's a pleasant thought," said Robin. "Anything else I should know?"

Regina silenced him with a kiss.

"Your Majesty. And Robin Hood."

So much for the disguises, Regina thought as she let her spell drop.

"Did you do something with your hair?" Rumple quipped.

Regina rolled her eyes and stalked toward him in full Evil Queen mode.

"I am not the Regina you know," she hissed, a ball of fire forming in the palm of her hand. He let out a gleeful laugh. She simply glared at him and explained their predicament, careful to refer to Robin only as "the thief" and give no indication of her feelings for him. She knew that Rumple would see her love as a weakness to be exploited.

The solution was actually surprisingly easy: a wand that could recreate any spell that had ever been cast. Where Rumple got his hands on these random powerful magical objects, Regina had no clue, but they certainly did prove useful sometimes. But when Regina reached for it, Rumple vanished into a puff of smoke and reappeared across the room.

"It's not something for nothing, dearie," he called. "If you want to get back to your own time, you'll have to make a deal."

Regina sighed.

"What do you want?"

"Tell me about the future."

"You see the future."

"Bits and pieces," he said. "Not the same as hearing about it from someone who's been there."

So Regina told him about the Dark Curse and the new world in the Land Without Magic. She told him about the Savior who arrived on her twenty-eighth birthday. She told him that he found his son and didn't mention what happened after. He quipped that he was surprised she was still alive, and for a moment, she was no longer in the Dark Castle, but facing the firing squad of arrows, strapped down with electric shocks coursing through her body, and staring at the mark of the wraith on her hand. It was all she could do not to throw a fireball at him as she thought of the young girl somewhere in this world who he was preparing day by day for her fall into evil.

"Maybe I found redemption," she said. "A second chance. Would that surprise you?"

"I suppose it really doesn't matter," said Rumple. "You'll be gone in a moment, and I'll make myself a potion to forget everything you said. I just needed to know …"

"Whether you would find your son. I understand."

And she did. She might never forgive Rumple for putting her younger self on the path to darkness, but if there was one thing Regina did understand, it was being willing to do anything for the sake of a child.

As Rumple drank the potion, Regina took Robin's hand, and the two of them stepped back through the portal into their own time together.

A week had passed since their return, and neither of them had mentioned the things they had seen in the past. Robin sensed that Regina would rather not talk about it, but one day, as they sat together on the couch in Regina's office, he couldn't help but ask:

"Were you tempted at all? To change things?"

She looked away, not meeting his eyes.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have."

"No, it's okay," she said. "And yes. You have no idea how badly I wanted to push her through that tavern door and make her choose hope. But changing the past is a risky business, and there's no way of knowing what might have happened. It might have just ended in tragedy, especially if Rumple or the King found out. And even if we could have been happy together, there's no way Henry would ever have been born. I'd do it all again to be his mother, and I'm sure you feel the same way about Roland."

Robin nodded. "Of course."

"Maybe you were right," said Regina, resting her head on his shoulder. "Maybe it's all about the timing."