Regina was shocked, at everything that had happened this day. She really felt like she had forgiven Snow for everything in their past. After all this time. Her. The Evil Queen had stopped hunting down the little girl who couldn't keep a secret. And had now realized she had come this close to her and her family over time, she didn't just want to protect them for Henry's sake only, but because she cared about them.
And Snow felt the same way. What she had said to her had shaken her, but she knew she was right. She couldn't hold back. Even her half-sister was right about her. She never took risks. And now, she finally wanted to take one. A big one.
Somehow, her feet had taken her to the place she wanted to go, even though her head kept telling her to run back inside her house. She had walked into the forest and easily found the camp where Robin and his merry men lived, even thought it was too dark to see clearly and everything seemed the same to her. The sky was pure black but the moon and stars was all she needed to find her way. The tall trees surrounding her had given their place to a small clearing and as she took a look at it, she immediately recognized Robin poking the fire with a stick, sitting on a log. Everyone seemed to be in their tents sleeping. She stood there for a few moments but as she replayed Snow's words in her head, she took all the courage she could master and walked in the small clearing.
Robin was sitting next to the fire, thinking all evening. He felt so much guilt for what had happened earlier this day. He couldn't believe he had lost Regina's heart without a fight. But he had no choice. He had seen the Dark One's expression as he pointed that arrow at Roland. There was something between sadness and pain, at the thing he was about to do to his son, but also determination.
He wasn't bluffing.
He would kill a small child to get what he wanted.
Can't steal something that's been given to you, Regina had said to him the night she gave him the satchel with her dark beating heart. And he had sworn to himself he would keep it safe for her. And then, he had handed it to a witch who wanted nothing but to harm her.
Footsteps shook him out of his thoughts and when he lifted his head, he saw the beautiful black-haired woman walking towards him.
He immediately stood up and when she was right in front of him, the distance between them amazingly small, he looked at her with guilt as his mind went to his previous thoughts "Milady, I'm sorry I let you down. Your heart was lost to Zelena on my watch." he said apologetically and although he saw the uncertainty and nervousness in her eyes and that other unreadable feeling in her face, he continued "But I promise I will get it back" he said with determination, but before he could even think what her response would be, she grabbed him by his jacket closing the distance between them and crushed her lips with his in a hard passionate kiss. Robin closed his eyes, like she had, shocked by her move, although happy about it. But before he could respond to it, she was gone. He opened his eyes, finding her a step back from him looking at him at shock with herself. She looked at him and he recognized the fear of rejection in her eyes but Robin's shocked expression was long gone, replacing it with lust as he, this time pulled her close to him returning the kiss, tilting his head as their noses brushed the side of their faces.
The smell of the forest and something else familiar had immediately hit Regina's nose, something she secretly always liked about him and his lips felt smooth and soft against her own as they remained clenched tight. She could feel his one hand wrapped around her side and the other one brushed a lock of her hair and then reaching her back.
Regina pulled back to take a breath, her forehead resting in his. When she looked at him, she could see a genuine smile cross his face, a small smile forming in her mouth as well.
"Well, that was rather unexpected I'd say" he said with a smile as they parted but stood close to each other. Truth was he wanted to do just that since the day they met.
For some strange reason, the Evil Queen had drawn his attention as no other woman had, no matter how pretty she was. Although, he had to admit, Regina was one of the most beautiful women he had ever laid eyes on. "Why was that?" he asked, still surprised at her boldness to kiss him.
"I needed to do it" she answered truthfully, "I needed to take a risk. And that was the biggest one I could've taken." she added and when she saw Robin's smile grow even wider, she knew he felt the same as she did.
He was ready to say something when they heard light footsteps of someone from behind approach them. They both turned around only to see a sleepy Roland a few steps away.
"Papa, can I have some water?" he asked and that was when he noticed his father was not alone. "Who's the lady?" he said with confusion in his voice. Robin took him in his arms and turned to face Regina.
"She's a friend, but you can meet her tomorrow if you want" he said looking at his son and then Regina. "Now, let's get you some water and get you back to sleep" he added giving a tender kiss to his cheek. He looked back at Regina silently asking her if she was going to stay.
"It's pretty late" she said with a sweet smile looking at Robin with the little boy in his arms. "We'll talk tomorrow" she added and before she started walking, she looked at Robin's eyes which thanked her with a small wave of his head and a silent promise that they would meet soon.
She watched them go to their tent before she walked into the forest with her smile still not fading in her face as the dark trees surrounded her once more.
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The next morning, Regina woke up and headed to Granny's diner early. She felt very stressful about everything. She worried about Zelena and what she could do now that she almost had every ingredient to cast the curse that would practically kill her and a bunch of other people, but most importantly, Henry would never have been born. She now knew her half-sister was mad if she believed she could actually succeed, even though she was herself a bit uncertain about that.
But that wasn't the only thing on her mind. She would replay last night's events in her head all night as well as this morning.
On one hand, she was really excited about having a second chance at happiness. But on the other hand, she was also scared to death at the possibility of loving someone again. After Daniel's death, she thought she would never feel that warm feeling in her heart. And for so many years, she believed she had already lost her second chance until Robin came after the curse.
And just last night, she had almost felt genuinely optimistic about her chance at love.
A car that was passing through the main street took her back to reality and she realized she had reached her destination. Truth was, she highly doubted Robin would show up today. He hardly ever saw him inside the town but she thought that in case he came looking for her, Granny's would be the first place to look.
Even the new citizens of Storybrooke had come to know Granny's was the place to find everyone.
As she walked in, she heard the little bell of the door ring and the melodic sound calmed her down just a little. She looked at the large clock on the wall. It was 9:15 in the morning, pretty early for her. She sat at a small table at the other corner of the door to not draw too much attention. As always, Granny already knew what coffee she liked, as she came here for coffee every day for the last two decades. Luckily, no one she knew too well to approach her was there at this hour, and as she was about to let a sigh of relief, a familiar face walked into the diner.
She had spoken too soon.
The moment the young woman spotted Regina, she hurried to her direction, a small smile in her face.
Regina couldn't even begin to react to the unpleasant company when Tinkerbell took a sit across the table.
"Good morning" she said warmly with a joyous look on her face. Regina wondered why the fairy was so kind to her after she found out she was again running away from her chance at happiness and gave her a fake smile but didn't tell her to leave. The moment Tinkerbell was about to say something, Ruby came to give Regina her morning latte.
"So, how are you doing, Regina?" Tinkerbell asked as she watched Ruby walk away from them. "I heard the Witched Witch stole your heart" she continued without waiting for an answer to her previous question. Her face light up even more when she added "I also heard you entrusted it to a thief who unfortunately lost it to protect his son" she said and now her smile had reached her ears.
"It was nothing" Regina immediately said, but couldn't hide a small smile that appeared in her face.
Damn, that thief really did make her feel like a teenage love struck girl.
Tinkerbell realized more had happened and said "Oh my god, Regina tell me what happened NOW" with impatience in her voice as she moved closer to the table.
"What?" Regina started "I'm not gonna talk about what I do with a man…with you anyway" she said although her need to talk to someone about it was winning her over.
And when Tinkerbell saw that in her eyes, she added "Regina, if you don't talk to me about it, who will you talk to?" giving her a reassuring smile.
Why was that stupid fairy still trying to give her a second chance after all she'd done?, Regina thought. For a moment, she thought that maybe Tink truly wanted happiness for her.
That single thought made her feel something warm and welcome in her belly.
"Alright" Regina finally gave in after a few moments of silence "We kissed" she said before she could stop the words coming out of her mouth and Tinkerbell's mouth hung open for a few seconds before she started giggling like a ten-year old girl.
"Shh..." Regina said trying to make her stop but almost everyone in the little diner had already turned their heads to see what was happening. "Can you please stop that irritating sound? It's not that big of a deal…" she added hearing her laughing out of joy and although she had tried stopping herself, she couldn't keep a smile from showing up.
But she understood her happiness. She was the one who had tried so hard to make Regina realize there was another path except for dark magic when she needed it and she had lost her wings in the process.
When she finally stopped laughing and was again able to talk, all she said was "I'm so happy for you!" as a wide smile crossed her face once more.
Regina continued drinking her coffee and Tink ordered tea. They continued their conversation, Regina catching her up with all the details of the new enemy they were now facing.
It almost felt like they were friends.
It was around 10 o' clock when Emma and Henry came for breakfast, and as Emma just gave her a greeting smile followed by Henry who didn't even looked at her, she was reminded that even the one love of her life had managed to become a stranger to her.
What if the same thing-or even something far worse happened to her again? She couldn't go through the pain of loss again. And as her mind filled with those kind of thoughts, she heard the sound of the little bell ring again and when she turned to look who had just entered the diner, he saw the Charmings and Hook followed by another man.
Robin, she thought as a smile spread across her face.
She noticed he wasn't on his own. A little boy was following his footsteps holding his hand and that made her smile even wider. Upon seeing that, Tink followed her gaze and couldn't stop a little excited scream from escaping her mouth.
Luckily he didn't notice because he was talking with Snow and David. That was strange, she thought. She didn't know they knew each other and when they all started moving towards her instead of Emma's table, she was quite shocked.
When they reached the table she was sitting, Snow greeted her and spoke first "Regina, I would like to introduce you to Robin, a trusted friend of ours. He helps petrol the woods to keep away the flying monkeys from attacking. And this is his son, Roland" she pointed at the little boy who was looking around with an excited look. He must have never seen a normal house, she assumed as she looked at him. But when she looked at Robin, he gave her a warm smile but didn't speak. When Roland looked at Regina though, he immediately recognized her.
"Papa, that's the pretty lady you were with last night!" he spoke, happy to see her again.
Snow, Charming and Hook looked at them with confusion as Tinkerbell started laughing again.
"Well, I should go" Tink said and with that, she finished her tea and stood up. "I hope to hear from you soon" she added before walking away and joined another fairy that was sitting a few tables away. But now, the Charming's and Hook's eyes were moving from her to Robin and back again.
"Have you two met before?" Snow asked without realizing what exactly their relationship was.
"We met when… I was looking for clues at Zelena's house a few days back" she said nervously not wanting to have to explain anything more.
"Exactly" Robin said with a smirk. But before any of them could say something else, Hook started laughing similar to Tinkerbell's a few minutes before.
"What?" Regina asked , glaring at him threateningly.
"Well, the boy surely didn't see you together in the Wicked Witch's cabin" he said, amusement in his voice. But before he could add any other comment, Robin interrupted him.
"I helped her hide her heart in the forest before she faced the Witch and I was apologizing to her for not protecting it more" he explained and she was really relieved he had decided to skip the part where she had kissed him.
"Aww, well then…That's great" Snow continued "He volunteered to help us more with fighting Zelena and before you say that he can't help us, I would like to remind you we need all the help we can get" she quickly said.
"Okay" she replied with indifference and when Regina didn't say anything more, Snow could see something was off with her. She knew her well enough to be sure she wouldn't react that well hearing that practically a stranger was going to help them. How well did she know him? She, herself didn't know him long enough, although she had heard of his nobility back in the Enchanted Forest.
And this man had helped her hide the most valuable and object Regina had?
Something was terribly off.
"Are you going to fully inform me now?" Robin suddenly spoke and she turned around to look at him.
"Yeah, if you don't have anything else urgent" Charming said "Come on, let's go sit somewhere" he added showing them a nearby table.
"Papa, can I sit with the lady?" Roland said, stopping his father from sitting in the table where Snow, Charming and Hook were already chatting.
Regina was surprised by Roland and when his father said "Of course, if Regina doesn't mind" and Regina genuinely smiled at both of them.
"I don't, really" she replied "Take a sit Roland" she sweetly said to him, waving at him to sit in the chair next to her.
The little boy smiled innocently and gladly sat at the table.
"I'll be back in a few minutes, okay son?" Robin said while admiring the lovely view of his son and Regina together.
"Okay" Roland replied shaking his head.
Regina watched Robin walk away from them and sitting next to Hook. That was when she realized the others had been staring at them the whole time and only turned away when Robin had approached them.
She decided to ignore them.
Roland's voice made her turn away from them. "It's very nice here, don't you think R'gina?" he asked and she noticed he couldn't pronounce her name correctly but it sounded so cute.
"So, Roland have you eaten breakfast?" she asked him.
"No…" he answered.
"Well then, what would you like to have?" she asked as a smile spread in his face.
Robin had been glancing at Regina and Roland from time to time to see what they were doing. Regina had bought him breakfast and now they were talking. It seemed the boy had taken a liking in her instantly. He wouldn't stop talking and he heard his laughter all the time and although he had feared they wouldn't get along, it was clear Regina was very good with children.
That made him wonder… Did she have a child of her own? She looked like she had the touch of a mother.
As if Snow was reading his thoughts, she said "Regina seems to like your son" she stated as Charming and Hook were discussing something he didn't hear about.
"She clearly does" he said when she heard her laugh at something Roland had just said.
He mentally noted that her laughter was one of the most melodic sounds he'd ever heard.
"I thought it would be… difficult for her to be around another child" she continued and then she realized he wasn't aware Regina was Henry's mother because he looked at her with confusion. "Aww, I only said that because… "she trailed off not sure if Regina would want him to know that much about her. He was a stranger after all.
"Why?" Robin asked and then assumed the worst " Have she lost a child?" he said, already sadness in his eyes.
"No" she quickly said "It's just, when she cast the curse to take us all back to the Enchanted Forest and save us all, she had to pay a price and that was her son" she motioned at the direction of the table Emma and Henry were still sitting.
"Henry is her son?" Robin asked surprised. "I thought he was Emma's" he said even more confused than before.
"He is" Snow told him "but Regina raised him. She adopted him when Emma couldn't take care of him and when the curse was broken, she had to make him forget about the whole life he had here" she said, bitterness in her voice.
That explained a lot.
"Aww…" Robin said and turned to look at Regina who was now saying something to Roland that made him giggle. "It must have been hard for her" he said "I didn't know".