So, I'm a little new to fanfiction. I read a lot (fanfiction and regular books) and this idea was just gnawing at me so I thought, why not take a chance and post it?
This is just a oneshot, but I had a lot of fun writing it so maybe, I might do prompts? Just as a sort of writing exercise to get me more comfortable? So if anyone likes the story or has a prompt, just let me know and I'll try and do it :) (no smut though, sorry, that's not really my forte, I can't even read it without turning red lol, so it would probably be awkward)
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Pardons and Promises
Regina stood there, watching as the happy family reunited, watching as what was meant to be her second chance at love was holding his first chance and closed her eyes, deafening herself to the pleas and apologies of Emma. She didn't want to hear it, she just didn't. There was nothing Emma could say that would make it better, there was no apology she could give that would undo this. She didn't mean to, she didn't know, she was sorry, it was like an endless loop but it meant nothing. She was the Savior, she saved people, even if she knew that it was Marian, she would have done the same thing.
Because Emma was a hero and heroes, no matter what they screwed up and who they hurt, always got their happy endings.
She had a world of regret in her life, she owned all her mistakes, she tried to make up for them. She cursed the town to a world without magic and stole their memories from them…she broke a similar curse that erased memories with true love's kiss, she gave up her own happy ending in her son to see them alive, she saved all their lives from Tamara trying to destroy them all and would have willingly given her own to do it. She had caused for Emma to grow up without her parents, had forced them to lose their child…she had protected Prince Neal from Zelena, she had given up her own child to save them. She had harmed many people and now she was trying to protect them. She had done so much, she had tried so hard.
At first it was for Henry, to prove she did love him, all those years. She knew, she had suspicions of who he was, whose child, and she kept him, because she loved him. Even though she knew his birth mother would likely be her ruin. She had learned her lessons, she had tried to let go of her anger…all it did was hurt her in the end. She lost her mother, she lost her father, she lost her sister and her son and her first love, twice mind you, she had lost every single person in her life that she had ever loved or ever had some sort of familial tie to.
She kept losing everyone…and everyone else gained it all.
Her mother broke her down, Rumpelstiltskin kept her broken just so she could enact his curse. And wasn't it ironic that Rumple and Hook, two classic villains, were both getting their happy endings. Though she supposed, in the grand scheme, looking at it from a fairytale perspective, if Peter Pan was the real villain, then Hook was actually a hero. And looking at it from intention, Rumple only did all he did to find his son again and no one, especially not the Charmings (or even her) could fault a parent wanting to be reunited with their child.
No, it wasn't villains that didn't get happy endings.
It was evil.
And no matter what she did, that cursed moniker of 'The Evil Queen' would always be with her. Because she'd done too much evil, apparently, too much of it and harmed too many people and done it all out of hate and anger and hurt instead of for 'good' reasons.
EVIL didn't get happy endings.
She lost her mother to her empty heart, and upon returning it lost her mother to death at her own hand, tricked by Snow White. She lost her father to her own blinding anger and need for revenge, or as Rumple would say her capacity to love. The irony wasn't lost on her, that the Evil Queen had the biggest heart of all, that she could still love despite that. She'd lost her first love to her mother's desire to go up in the world and then again in the need to protect her son and others from the monster Daniel had become. And Zelena, her sister, would rather die and kill herself than take a second chance and, maybe, be true sisters one day (if she could forgive and protect Snow White, why not hold out hope for Zelena). And Henry, her son, she could still recall the days he called her the Evil Queen, when he looked at her with distrust and hate, when he ran to Emma the first chance he got and hardly looked back.
Everyone she loved was always lost, at her own hand. She killed her mother and father and first love and her sister died to be rid of her and Henry left her because of her past and then she lost him again to the false memories she'd given him.
She should have learned, her resilient heart should have warned her that it couldn't take any more of this.
But that was the problem with resilience, it was too strong to break entirely, it would keep going no matter how weak it felt or how much it wanted to just give up. It would live out in sickness and despair and sorrow to the end of her days and just keep beating.
No matter how much she wished it would stop.
Because now, when she had finally opened her heart to someone, had lowered her walls, had fallen in love with someone, someone who saw her as just Regina, someone who felt despair at letting her down, someone who actually thought her blackened heart was valuable…he broke it. She felt tears in her eyes at that, he'd lost her heart once and he'd let her down but it was to protect Roland. She would never fault him for it. And now, she knew, she couldn't fault him for this either. She knew, she had done the same, when Daniel had returned, she'd run to him and hugged him. But she hadn't been in a relationship then, she hadn't met her soulmate.
She had actually thought about this once, just for a moment or two, after Neal had been born. She had heard Snow and David discussing names when she had gone to just make sure the baby was ok. She knew, ahead of time, they planned to name it Neal. But more yet…she knew that his full name was Neal Daniel Nolan. They'd named him Daniel to make amends with her, that even his name lived on and had life to it. It had made her think, if Daniel had been there, what would she do? She had come to terms that she wouldn't be as shocked. Perhaps it was because she'd already seen him back from the dead once. But she knew that if he were ever back she would have approached him slowly, given him a brief hug perhaps, and taken Robin with her to introduce him. Robin was her soulmate, Daniel was her first love. First love wasn't always true love, and she knew Daniel was dead and she'd mourned and moved on and raised a son alone.
Just as Robin had.
They had connected on such a deep level, so instantly, and he pursued HER. In the Enchanted Forest, she'd seen his tattoo then as well, when he'd been practicing archery with his men on a warmer day, his sleeves up, she'd seen it. She'd pushed him away, she'd pushed and snipped and snapped and shouted and everything she could think of to keep him back because this, THIS was what she was afraid of. He'd get to close and she wouldn't be able to push him out, even before she'd seen his tattoo he'd managed to get under her skin in a way no one ever had. She pushed him and pushed him and he pushed back, he didn't give up, he went after her and he followed her and he fought for her. He made her believe she could trust him. She should have known because she KNEW he'd get too close and that he'd end up with the power to hurt her.
And he was, right now.
He was hurting her in being with Marian and she knew it shouldn't hurt. Because it was his wife, his first love, his first choice, and she was just his second chance. With Marian there…why would he need her? His wife was back, she understood, he'd pick her, he'd be with her, if (and she actually felt bad for hoping this) not for any love of Marian than to give Roland his mother. She felt a crack in her heart at that, Roland, the little boy she had started to see as a son. She and Roland had been close in the Enchanted Forest, ever since she gave him that stuffed monkey. He would be with Marian now.
And that, that was good and right and fair and she wanted Robin to be happy.
She took a breath and turned, about to head for the door, to remove herself from the situation, not sure if it was because she didn't want to spoil it for them with the 'Evil Queen' still being there to frighten Marian or if it was because others would stare or because she didn't want him to introduce her or feel conflicted. She tried to say she was leaving to make it easy for him, to show him she was letting him go to be with his wife again, a wife he'd said just before that he'd walk through hell for. She tried to think that…but she knew a larger part was that it hurt so badly and she wanted to cry and she didn't want the others to see her so weak.
Fate and luck never seemed to be on her side though, for she'd only taken a single step when she heard Marian speak, "I never thought I'd see you again," the woman was gushing, tears in her voice, "I was to be executed only hours from now but when Princess Emma saved me from the Evil Queen's dungeon…"
"The…Evil Queen?" Robin spoke.
Regina stopped walking, her heart shattering in her chest. She had only heard him use that name a handful of times, but never like that. He'd used it to try and say she didn't appear to be the great and terrible Evil Queen of legend but just Regina…now though it sounded like he was realizing that THE Evil Queen had something to do with all of it, he sounded like he forgot who the Evil Queen was.
"Regina?" Robin called and she slowly turned to look at him, "YOU?" he shook his head, seeming almost stunned, seeming horrified, "You were the one to kill Marian?"
"No!" her defense was instant, her memories of the event feeling fresher at the mention of the dungeons, as her mind connected the dots to when Emma and Hook had appeared in the past, the time they had. She knew the too-fresh memories were likely the result of their tampering, her memories had rewritten themselves and the newer versions were more prominent. But with that came the actual solid knowledge of what she had done and who Marian was, her face, and her fate.
"I was in YOUR dungeon!" Marian shouted, "You were going to have us all executed in the morning!"
"I was planning to yes," she put on her Madam Mayor mask, one that was powerful but different than the Evil Queen, she crossed her arms, trying to make it seem more like she was trying to be intimidating than holding herself together.
"My god…" Robin breathed.
Regina tried not to notice how he pulled Marian closer to him, as though he wanted to protect her from him.
"I was PLANNING to," she emphasized, "But I let all the prisoners go that morning instead."
"You're lying!" Marian glared at her, shaking in Robin's arms, "Why would you, of all people, let those go whom you were about to murder!?"
"Because I thought I'd won!" Regina huffed, her mask breaking for only a moment at a crack in her voice before she took a breath, "I thought I had finally gotten rid of the woman responsible for the death of my first love," she added more calmly, "What need had I to keep prisoners for their knowledge of where Snow White was when I had already defeated her? I pardoned them, I let them all go, whether or not you were in that cell come daylight is your business," her gaze flickered to Mary Margaret, "It wasn't till later that day I learned she was still alive and by then the prisoners had gone," her attention returned to Marian and Robin.
And there it was, in Robin's eyes, for just the barest fraction of a moment, but it was enough to shatter the broken pieces of her heart into dust.
"You don't believe me," she realized, starting to shake her head at that.
"Regina…" Robin tried to speak, but she held up a hand.
"I suppose that moniker isn't quite so overstated, is it?" she let out a breath before her gaze drifted around the room, people shifting and eyeing her, clearly not knowing what to believe. She saw Marian clutch Roland closer, a fierce look on her face as though a mother protecting her young from a danger, "Believe what you want," she nearly snapped, turning on her heel to storm out of the building.
"Mom!" Henry cried, rushing after her.
"Henry…" Emma reached out for him, "I don't think she wants anyo…"
"No!" Henry yanked his arm back, glaring at Emma with tears in his eyes, "She was a hero! She used light magic! She's saved you all time and again and she finally got a happy ending that everyone keeps trying to take from her," he shook his head, "Don't talk to me Emma till you fix this."
Emma felt her own heart break at the absolute fury and utter disappointment in her son's eyes as he turned and ran after his mother again.
"Was she telling the truth mate?" Hook looked not at Robin but at David, at Mary Margaret, "You and Snow White, you'd know better than most of us."
Mary Margaret looked at them all, Neal in her arms, "She did release the prisoners," she nodded, "As hard as it may be for some of you to believe," she glanced at Leroy and Marian, "Regina was a magnificent queen unless you tried to help ME," she turned to Robin, "She DID pardon them, she did let them go, I remember hearing the cheers in the villages when their loved ones returned."
"And…" David hesitated.
"What?" Robin whispered, his voice deep but soft, sounding strained, like he was trying to make sense of it all.
David glanced at Mary Margaret and sighed, "I don't think she would have killed Marian anyway."
"Regina never killed mothers," Mary Margaret told them, "At least not those with babies or small children to get back to."
David nodded, "Midas told me about it once, Regina never killed children or harmed them. Even before Henry, she had a soft spot for children. She…if she found out Marian had just had a child, she wouldn't have killed her anyway."
Emma closed her eyes, thinking about the story of Hansel and Gretel from Henry's book, that story hadn't changed. The Evil Queen, even then, had offered the two children a place in her palace, as her children, to be a family together. But the children wanted their father and she just let them go.
"The Huntsman," Mary Margaret added, "He let prisoners go too. Even if she refused to tell her name or who she was, he always tried to let as many out as he could before the public executions. He helped me escape once, he spared my life, he sent me warnings and messages when he could. When he thought the Queen wouldn't find out."
Robin closed his eyes, hearing his own words echoing back to him, and swallowed hard. He ran a hand down his face at that, either way, in the altered past or the real one, there was a slim to none chance that Regina had actually be responsible for Marian's death. He didn't know, didn't remember, would likely never know what had happened in the real past, the one Emma and Hook hadn't altered. But what he did remember now, was Marian disappearing, going missing. There had been no word of any execution and Marian, despite his efforts to remain hidden, was known to be his wife to the townspeople they visited. They would keep her identity and his a secret from the Queen, but they KNEW him. If she had been executed by Regina, he would have known.
No, not by Regina, by the Evil Queen. Hadn't he JUST been telling her that he didn't see her as evil, that he saw her for what she was now? Hadn't he just realized she wasn't merely a true love for him but the woman he was destined to be with, his soulmate? Hadn't he just gotten her heart back? And now…
He felt ill, he'd broken it, likely shattered it.
He took a step towards the door, needing to see her, needing her to know that he was sorry, for ever even assuming that she had killed his wife, for looking at her like she was still the Evil Queen, for having a shred of doubt when she said no. He knew Regina, if she knew about Marian she'd have admitted to it when confronted, her instant defense, SHE knew better than anyone the faces of those she saw executed.
"Robin!" Marian's voice cut through the haze of his thoughts, the woman reaching out to grab his arm, "What are you doing?!"
Robin let out a heavy breath and turned back to her, "I must go after her."
"Why?!"
"Marian…" he began, not knowing how to truly start, "I am so sorry."
"Sorry for what?" she shook her head, at a loss.
"You must understand, it has been…more than 30 years since you have gone missing," he told her, "I thought you dead when we couldn't find you, we searched for ages but there was no trace of you. I…I mourned you Marian, I let go of my built, and I moved on. My heart healed of your death and…" he swallowed, "It opened to another."
Marian shook her head, not wanting to believe it…and then it hit her, just WHO his heart had opened up to, "To the Evil Queen!?"
"She's not evil, not anymore."
The voice that spoke greatly surprised her.
"Little John?" Marian breathed, shocked that he, of all people, would defend that monster!
"Aye, milady," another of the Merry Men stepped up, "She has…it is as the boy said, she saved us all."
"She saved me from the monkeys," even Roland defended her.
"She used light magic Marian," Robin told her softly.
"It must have been a trick," Marian argued, the woman she'd just seen had been about to kill her! She HAD to have killed her! She was evil, as evil as they came!
"It was not," Robin shook his head gravely.
"How could you possibly know that!?" Marina snapped, feeling so overwhelmed by everything. The fact that that horrible woman had been right there and no one had even reacted! Not even Snow White! It made her head spin, she didn't understand.
"Because I held her heart in my hand when she did it," Robin admitted, speaking for the first time of what he felt when he'd touched Regina's heart in stopping Zelena, the wave of emotions that he had felt radiating off it from the moment she'd used her light magic, "And I felt it, it was pure…love," he finished with a breath.
It had been love for him, for Roland, especially for Henry, even for Snow White, for her family and…friends, the people she had only just started to consider friends. He would never speak a word of how completely overwhelmed he'd been to feel the emotions pouring into him when that light had appeared in Regina's hand, how her eyes had locked on his for a mere moment before it happened. It was warm and encompassing and nearly drowning and maddening to him how strong it was. Regina's heart was a part of her, a part of her entire soul and he felt it in that moment, how strong and capable of love and how true and pure and powerful her love was. And to know a part of it was for him…
He'd felt tears in his eyes and he'd lowered his bow, so distracted and surrounded in the feeling. It hadn't been till after Zelena went flying across the floor that he realized he needed to focus.
"I do love you Marian," Robin looked at her once more, "You will always have a place in my heart, you will always be Roland's mother, and I will not abandon you to this world on your own but…things cannot be as they once were. I have been a father, on my own, for years now. I have grown, I have changed, and I feel and think differently than the man you married," he took her hand, seeing tears in her eyes, but equally seeing an understanding. She had felt it, she had to have, in how he greeted her. He always kissed her lips, touched her face, spun her around when he'd meet her after a heist, but this time…this time he'd kissed her forehead, put an arm around her to hug her, touched the back of her head instead, she knew, she knew he wasn't the same, he wasn't acting the same, his heart wasn't the same, "I love differently. My heart has changed Marian, it has struggled and lost and grown stronger and guarded and…I will not apologize for finding happiness to pull me from my despair. I would have wished the same for you."
Marian closed her eyes, a tear falling from them, "I know," she breathed.
Of all things that had changed, and changed they had, her husband was more guarded in his eyes, more a father than a petty thief, less moral from a burden of hardship and needing to get by, and more deeper in feeling yet harder to reach from the loss of her death. But in all that, he was still the good man she knew he was, he still cared, he still wished the best for her. If the roles were reversed, she would have hoped he'd be happy she had managed to find love again than to close herself off to the world and to happiness just to cling to someone long since gone. She supposed she should be thankful, if she had lost his care that would be an unbearable fate, but he was still there, still there for her.
"Go," she whispered, offering him a small smile, it would take time, it would take a good deal just to settle to this new world, to come to terms with the fact that his heart was no longer hers, that decades had passed for him while mere weeks were for her, but she could see the pain in his eyes, the pain that she had used to see when he'd go on a longer heist, the pain to leave someone you loved. But he hadn't left her, he was right there, that pain…it was for the Ev…for Regina, he loved her and he was suffering being away from her, "Go after her."
The breath that Robin let out, the breath of relief and gratefulness and thanks, should have broken her heart but she felt…lighter, she was doing something that would make him happy and that was all she wanted for him, to be happy, even if it wasn't for her. She realized now, that was what Regina had been trying to do before, she had been willing to leave Robin to her, to his wife, to see him happy. But Regina, neither she nor herself, could have guessed that his happiness was not in being honorable and staying with her out of obligation…nor did she want him to do that, feel obligated and forced and trapped into being with her…but in following his heart to his new love.
"Thank you," Robin leaned in and kissed her forehead.
"Go," she repeated, nudging him on though she kept her grip on Roland, she could let her husband go to his new love but her son…she did need time with her boy who had been years younger than he was, she'd missed too much time with him.
Robin nodded and turned, rushing out of the diner and into the chilly night air, needing to get to Regina, needing to tell her what he knew she was fearing.
She was not his second choice, she was not his second chance, she was not his second love…she was his only one.
He didn't even realize he was running till he'd reached Regina's door and found himself panting, hunched over from the distance. He took only a minute to gain his breath back before he straightened and knocked on it, not stopping till it was thrown open.
"What do YOU want?" Henry glared at him, sticking up his chin, leaving no doubt in Robin's mind who the boy's mother was, that look had Regina all over it.
"I must speak to your mother."
"Go away," Henry tried to shut the door, but Robin stuck his foot and hand out to stop it.
"Henry please…"
"No!" he cut in, "You don't get to talk to her, you don't get to hurt her and then think you can come here and hurt her more by telling her you're going back to your wife after you kissed her and…"
"I'm not," Robin told him gently.
Henry looked at him suspiciously, "Not what?"
Robin offered him a small smile, "I'm not going back to Marian."
Henry blinked, "You're not?" he asked, sounding more like he was trying to determine if Robin was lying just to be able to speak to his mother.
"No," Robin nodded, "But please, I MUST speak to Regina."
"There's nothing to say," Regina's voice spoke from behind Henry and Robin's breath nearly caught in his throat as he looked at her, standing with a cup of tea, her heels and jacket off, "Henry could you go into the living room please?" Henry hesitated, glancing between them, before seeing the promise in Robin's eyes and nodding, heading off but giving his mother a hug first. Regina smiled and it made Robin's heart clench painfully to see how small and pained even that was as she returned the hug with one arm. She waited till Henry had entered the other room before she moved to stand before him in the doorway, not letting him in, "Why are you here Robin?" she asked quietly, setting her cup on a side table.
He opened his mouth and closed it, doing a rather poor impersonation of a fish he was sure but there was just nothing in his mind right now at the sight of her. Her eyes were red and despite her attempts to wipe the tears away he could see the faint trails of them on her cheek. Her voice was quiet but hoarse and it killed him to know that she had cried because of him. Worse yet…when she looked into his eyes he could see it. The fire, the spark, the blazing in her eyes was just gone. Her eyes were sad and hollow and (he shuddered) dead. It was like every bit of happiness and hope had been removed from them. Her eyes, god he remembered them sparkling in the firelight just hours ago, the vulnerability, the compassion, the empathy he saw in them, the love. She had been happy with him, she had trusted him, and he had truly let her down.
But as he had gotten her heart back once before, he was determined to do it again.
"You should be with your wife," Regina murmured, "It's ok," she tried to smile when he just kept standing there, but didn't quite manage it, "I understand. Your Marian's back, she's alive, your wife and the mother of your child," she shrugged, "What we had ends, it always does," she added the last part quietly.
"Regina…" he began, feeling his heart breaking all over at that.
This woman, just before she'd confessed she was scared of being with him, had implied it as he read between the lines, because she thought everyone she loved, that because someone loved her, she lost them. And it had been proven to her, in her mind, over and over and he'd become a part of that chain, of that reaffirmation that she didn't deserve happiness. This woman who had given up and lost so much, she truly believed that she didn't deserve a happy ending, that it wasn't for her, that she would never get one…
She had never had one.
And that was the painful truth. Regina, at no point in her life, had ever had a happy ending, and there he was her chance at one…and he had crushed it just as she was daring to hope. That was the cruelest thing he could have ever done to her.
"It's ok Robin," she said softly, "I understand. I do."
He shook his head, her voice was empty. It was like she was just giving up and it pained him to realize, to her, why should she bother fighting? Why should she bother trying to keep going, trying to keep hoping, trying to be happy when everything seemed set against her? She WAS tired, he could hear it in her voice, she was tired and hopeless and she just wanted it to stop, she'd given up…or she was and he couldn't let her.
"I'm afraid I don't, milady," he started to speak, "I don't understand how you can expect me to move on from YOU and all we had."
"All we had?" she nearly scoffed, her tone almost bitter if it hadn't been laced with sorrow, "You have your true love back Robin, the woman you would have walked through hell for. She's right back there in the diner, the walk back is hardly as difficult a trek as one through hell."
The 'believe me, I know' seemed to be a silent add on that only he heard. Her life had been a living hell from the moment she'd been born. The bright spots snuffed out by her mother or Rumpelstiltskin just to try and keep the darkness infesting her, the anger boiling, the hatred growing. Every single bright spot had been taken from her at one point or another and she never fully got it back. Even Henry she didn't fully have any longer now that Emma was there.
"But it would be hell to take a single step away from you," he tried.
Regina closed her eyes, "Robin," she shook her head, "I am trying, I really am," he wanted desperately to reach out and touch her cheek when he saw a tear finally fall, but she was quicker, she wiped it away and opened her eyes, "I'm trying to be good now. So please, go back to your family. You don't need a second chance when the first has returned."
"Was she though?" he asked her.
"Was she what?" Regina let out a breath, and he could see she was starting to get exasperated.
"Was Marian my first chance," he elaborated, "You know, Henry had quite a few tales to tell me about Neverland, about Tinkerbelle, about how long the fairy had been on that island," he nearly smiled when he saw her stiffen at that, "If he is to be believed, Tinkerbelle was there before king Leopold was ever killed, years before that. Marian and I," he shook his head, working it all out now, he hadn't even realized he'd been considering this till it started spilling out, "We did not wed or have Roland till years after the king died," he looked at her, his eyes slightly wide as the realization hit him, "YOU were always meant to be my first chance Regina."
She had told him a little more after she'd brought up his tattoo and the pixie dust that led her to him all those years ago. How Tinkerbelle had wanted to help her when no other fairy did merely because of who her mother was. Cora had destroyed her life and kept her controlled and weak, Rumpelstiltskin had manipulated her and practically influenced all aspects of her life and happiness to get her the bitter and evil and cruel woman she had been, and the fairies! Even the fairies were responsible for Regina's life and the mess it had been, if the pure and good Blue Fairy, of all people, had just stepped in to help her instead of ignoring her and keeping back because of Cora and Rumpelstiltskin, Regina's life would not have been the misery and darkness it was.
And he would have met her first.
"Don't you see?" he reached out to touch her cheek, "Regina…you were meant to be my first chance."
"And now I'm not," she tried to step back, but he stepped forward, "I'm just your second chance."
"First, second," he shook his head, "It matters not…"
"No, it really does," she tried to snap at him but the tears in her eyes kept him from flinching. Her walls were down, they were always down around him and even when they were up it felt like there were no walls at all at times, he could always just…see through them and he saw the woman she was behind the mask of Madame Mayor or the Evil Queen, "I can't do it Robin. I can't be someone's second choice, I have suffered many injustices in my life and I have caused enough harm to deserve every single injustice done to me afterwards but I can't bear that."
"Then don't," he whispered, stepping closer, touching her face with his other hand as well, cupping it in both his hands, "Because you aren't. Regina," he smiled, "There is NO choice to make. You are my truest love, my only love."
Regina's eyes searched his and he knew she was looking for a single shred of doubt, of a lie, of falsehood…and he knew there would be none.
"Don't do this," she breathed, her voice so soft.
He truly had hurt her in his reactions and his words and gazes that night, that he was there before her, offering her his whole heart, and she was still hesitant to take it, that she was having a hard time trusting him to hold her own and not harm it any more than he already had.
"Think about what you're doing…"
"I have," he cut in gently, stepping even closer, "I have thought of it. And I have spoken to Marian already, I have made my heart clear," he looked deeply into her eyes, "She was my wife, she has released me from my vows. She is still Roland's mother and will be in his life, that cannot be changed," he felt more than saw the barest hint of a nod on her part, agreeing on that, knowing all too well what it was like to be a mother separated from her son, "She merely wants me to be happy and I am, happy. Happy with YOU."
Regina blinked rapidly, trying to keep her tears in, "You…pick me?"
He nearly let out a soft laugh at that, as though there could be any question, "First love does not always mean true love," he remarked wisely, "It is all about the timing," he leaned in more, his nose brushing hers, "My time with Marian has passed, my time with you has just begun and I swear to you, Regina, if you trust me with your heart just one more time, I promise on all I hold dear I will protect it and cherish it to the end of time," he stroked her cheek, seeing she still wanted the answer, she wanted to know, she wanted to hear it said out loud, "Yes," he nodded, "I choose YOU."
He should have known, or perhaps he did, that the moment those words left his mouth Regina would kiss him. And so she had, just as she had in the forest, gripping the edges of his coat and pulling him to her. That first kiss they shared had been initiated by her, and nearly every single kiss after had been HIS doing (not that he could be faulted for that, she wasn't just 'quite a good kisser' she was exceptional, exquisite, addicting). The ones she initiated, the ones she desired always meant so much to him, because she was so guarded and it meant she wanted him closer. And he swore, right then and there, he would never leave her side again.
He let out a soft breath as they pulled away a few moments later, both breathless, their eyes closed, their foreheads resting against each other's, "I love you, Regina," he opened his eyes to look into hers, wanting her to see the truth in it.
But Regina kept her eyes closed, a small, happy smile on her face, not needing to look into his eyes to see the truth, to know it was true now, "I love you too."
She opened her eyes a moment later, her brown eyes swimming with tears but with such happiness and love it stole his breath. She looked to the side and gently took his wrist in her hand, lifting it slightly off her face to turn it and press a soft kiss to his lion tattoo.
-(-)-
AN: I hope you all liked it :) I had a lot of issues with the whole "who killed Marian" thing and wanted to explore Regina's Redemption.
I think I'd like to try my hand at prompts if anyone has any, mostly Outlaw Queen though, please and thank you :) I'm not sure when I'd update, it would depend on the prompt, inspiration, and time with work and all. But I would try for at least once a week, maybe 2 or three times, depending :)