A/N: Hey guys! This is my second Outlaw Queen story and the very first time that I am going to attempt to write a story that is more than just a one-shot. That is, I will continue only if I get enough reviews saying that they wish me to :) I know where I want this story to go, and I plan on somewhere between five and ten chapters. This first chapter is only to set up the story and is only another version of what happens after Marian comes back. This is somewhat based on what people heard happened on set last week. My other Outlaw Queen Story happens to be another version of this scene, but is a slightly different interpretation on how both Regina and Robin act. Please read it if you wish. It is called, I Wouldn't Dream of It.

Disclaimer: I do not own OUAT, no matter how much I wish I did.

THE SECOND CHOICE

Was being happy such a terrible fate? Years ago, Regina Mills would have agreed with this idea wholeheartedly. There would not have been a doubt in her mind that this statement was true. After all, all her fear, hatred, and loneliness became her undoing. Love was weakness. Happiness was weakness. Her thoughts then became reality, and love and happiness became absent from her life. Regina became the Evil Queen.

She never thought of the possibility of her second choice. That would have been to say no to the darkness, and welcome in the light.

"Regina! Regina!"

Years later, as Regina strode out of Granny's Diner as swiftly as she could, she was able to hear his faint and desperate voice disappearing into the wind. She could not let herself glance back. If she did, then she would be glancing back into the past where everything else in her life had gone wrong, and at this moment she could not comprehend the fact that once again love was being taken from her life. She was in a state of shock. Who would ever guess that this would happen? Just that day, Robin was hers. Just thirty seconds ago, she was awaiting her chance to be able to awaken in his arms. They had been together, and she had been happy. All was right in the world, and she knew he was meant for her. Nothing in her life had fit so perfectly since Henry. However, in this situation there was nothing more to do then to walk away.

"Regina wait!"

In the moment, curiosity and longing got the best of her, and she stopped dead in her tracks to look back at the man whom she just had believed to be her second chance. His soft blue eyes shone of both yearning and guilt, while he stumbled out of Granny's and made his way towards her with his arms stretched out. Now that he had her attention, he was silent. She didn't move, couldn't move, and as he neared her and now only stood a few feet away he spoke. Their eyes met, and she was sure that she had stopped breathing and that her trembling knees would collapse.

"Regina, I don't know what to say, I don't wish to hurt you…" His voice cracked while he squinted his eyes and his forehead tied together in desperation. "… but I can see that I already have. Regina I…"

"Please don't say anything Robin. This is a shocking enough situation as is." Regina couldn't move, and frankly was shocked at how words managed to escape her lips at all. However, her voice did not fail her, and she was able to come across as more confident than wounded.

"But Regina, you have to know that this doesn't change my feelings for what we have."

"You mean what we had." She sternly corrected him.

It appeared that his words died on his lips and his breathe deeply hitched in his throat.

"Robin?" a clear and questioning voice was then heard from behind him, and all the hope that had just rose within Regina, all at once came flooding out. It was Marian. He turned around to face her.

"Marian…"

"Robin, what are you doing out here with her?" She gulped, her voice starting to tremble. She shook in fear. "Do you know who she is?"

"Yes Marian, I…"

"She's the evil Queen! No less than a day ago she had me captured and brought into her dungeon in wait to be executed!" The other woman's voice seemed to beg Robin in despair, and tried hopelessly to convince him of her words.

These words were foreign to Regina.

She watched as Robin's face completely transformed. He seemed to be as in astonishment as she from these words. His face seemed to go from horror, to plain shock, to sorrow, and finally to confusion. He turned to face her, and his eyes shown hurt and a whole new level of desperation.

"Regina?" He questioned her.

"Regina…" Marian whispered, her eyes shining in some kind of realization. "Robin, do you mean to tell me that you really know this woman? That you have some sort of relationship with her? That she is in your life?" Marian grew from astonishment to outrage in her tone of voice. "Is she in Roland's life?" She was now yelling at Robin in an angry desperation.

Regina then noticed that they were becoming the main attention of a crowd that began to form around them. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Emma, Henry, Snow, Charming, Hook and many more that started to file out of Granny's. Roland began to come toward his father in fear. But all of it was a blur in Regina's eyes. Her mind was hazy and time seemed to freeze. The only thing that seemed to briefly relive her from this horrid dream was Henry. He now stood not far from her and his face seemed to not say that he pitied her, but that he had hope for her. She loved him for that.

"Robin answer me!" Marian shouted.

"Marian, she isn't the woman you think…" He began to say.

"No Robin! She isn't the woman you think she is!" She then began to shed tears and looked at Robin as if she was deeply betrayed. Marian then directed her attention away from her husband and to Regina herself. "She is a monster!"

The words cut Regina like glass. In that moment, it was as if she was missing her heart once again.

"Come on Roland." Marian then stepped forward and reached frightened Roland. She scooped him into her arms, and walked away in the opposite direction despite Roland's quiet pleas for his father. As she and Roland disappeared around a corner. Regina was finally able to think again, so she avoided Robin's eyes and turned around as swiftly and steadily as she could manage. But she wasn't quick enough. Robin had reached for her shoulder. By this point the crowd started to disperse, except for Henry and Emma, who stood close by.

"Regina," He looked right into her eyes, as he did the night he told her he would get her heart back no matter what. He was sure. "You are not a monster."

"You heard your wife Robin. I killed her."

Her words seemed to affect him slightly, but he then quickly shook his head and said, ignoring her last comment, "You are not. I didn't fall in love with the evil queen, I fell in love with you Regina."

These words scared her more than any others that were spoken that night. That was the first time she heard him tell her he loved her. Even if it wasn't in a direct way, it still meant the same to her. He loved her. And that is why she had to get him to leave her be.

"Well I'm not just Regina." She spoke back in a matter of fact tone. "I'm also the evil queen. And if you don't see that, then I'm afraid you don't know me like you think." She shook her head and pursed her lips. The fact that he was still here trying to plead with her was confusing her more and more as the seconds went on.

"The evil queen is a part of me. She, I, killed so many innocent people, tortured hundreds, ripped family away from family, cursed most, and lastly killed you wife, Robin." As tears began to flood her eyes, her voice slowly changed to a venomous snarl. She wanted him to leave. "You might not, in some twisted way, see me as a monster, but I am. The evil is always going to be a part of me. Take it or leave it, but don't deny it."

Robin was once again lost for words, and Regina slightly began to feel angry with herself that she was pushing him away. But she felt as if she needed some power in this situation. She was crushed enough. But It's not his fault, she thought to herself. And she knew she was right. He was powerless. The woman who he spent thirty years wishing to walk through hell for had just left as soon as she came.

"Robin listen," She started calmly. "Go to your wife. You said you didn't want to hurt me. I already know what you are going to do, so please don't drag it out any longer." She began to beg him "Just go to your wife. Since I am telling you to do so, you shouldn't feel guilty."

He didn't answer. He didn't move.

"I already know how this is going to end. I know I am your second choice so please don't make me feel like it."

He smiled sadly, nodded his head, and slowly walked the way his wife and son had headed. But before he had gone too far, she heard him faintly say, "You're my second chance, not my second choice…"

A/N: Thanks for reading. Again, I have a plan for where I wish to go with this story, but I only want to continue if I am reassured that some of you out there are interested :) So please, please, please review. Thanks again!