It was 5:30 in the morning. The sky was still dark and Storybrooke was as silent as the dead. The only sounds to be heard were the ramblings of two lovers.
"I don't know what I'm supposed to do here. I'm as confused as you are." Robin paced along the front corridor of Regina's house. She could tell from the discoloured circles under his eyes he had already been up all night, before deciding to knock on her door in the early hours of the morning.
"Robin, it's fine; there's no need to worry about this now. Get some rest and think things over when your mind is clear. C'mon, let's get you to bed." Regina moved towards him and placed her hand gently on Robin's elbow to direct him upstairs.
Robin flinched at her soft touch and moved a step back as if she had burned him. Not missing the hurt look in Regina's eyes, he sighed and moved forward to her.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that." He rested his forehead on hers but didn't touch her anywhere else. "I don't know what to do," he whispered, eyes closed.
Regina took a deep breath. Breathing in his scent and committing it to memory. She needed all the strength she could muster to get her next statement out.
"Marian is your wife, and the mother of your son. You should do what is best for your family." She confessed painfully.
Robin opened his eyes to look at her, and then titled her chin up so their eyes could meet. He knew the same look of regret and agony on her face was mirrored in his as well.
"Marian may be my wife, the mother of my son and my first love, but you are my true love, my soul mate. That makes things so much more complicated. How can I live my life with her, knowing that you'll be hurting?" Regina opened her mouth to answer but he cut her off.
"I can't. I could not live with myself. When I thought Marian was dead, it took me a long time to heal and be at peace with her passing. But I accepted it and I learned to move on with life. But her being here changes everything. How could I deny Roland the chance of having his family together after he thought he had lost it?
"This is just the most difficult choice I've ever had to make. No matter who I choose, it ends in heartbreak."
"Let me make it easier on you. I'm not giving you the burden of making a choice. I don't want to be the reason Roland grows up with a broken family." Tears had started to pool in Regina's eyes. She reached for Robin's hand and held it in hers.
"Maybe one day, we can be together again. When the timing is right." She said, choking back soft sobs. "Just know that I will always love you and I will always be here when you need me."
"I don't accept that," he told her sternly. Robin took her hand and placed it on the back of his neck. He wrapped his arms around her waist and held her tightly, as if she may vanish from him at any moment.
"You can be a part of our family. Maybe we won't be a traditional family but I hear step-parents are quite common for children to have in this land. You can be Roland's step-mother.
"I will never deny Marian the right to know and see her child but that doesn't mean Marian and I absolutely must be together for Roland's sake. There has to be some way to work all this out that makes everyone happy."
Regina turned her face towards his and gently kissed his lips. She put all of her love and passion into it before pulling away from him entirely. "There's not," she told him with tears running down her cheeks.
"If I have to choose between my happiness and your family's, I will choose the latter every time. After all, it's what heroes do." Regina turned her eyes from his pained expression and walked away without giving him a chance to speak, knowing she would change her mind in an instant if she heard him say one more time that he wanted her.