Three Words
Right now she was happy, but unfortunately she knew it would last long, with the witch still around. She had her son back and she was finally letting go of voice telling her, that she would never love again. Not after Daniel. She had Henry back and he remembered her, but tonight he was with Emma. And she was ok with that, he deserved his biological mother and with his dad gone it was best for him to have both of them. Anyway, now she could spend some time with Robin, as Roland wanted to stay with the merry men for the night.
Regina and Robin, were just sitting in back garden of Regina's house, each with a glass of wine in their hand. They were just talking about anything and everything, the night was perfect with the full moon beaming down on them. Even Regina's sister, Zelena couldn't ruin this night, not with Regina's barrier formed with light magic. They had been talking almost all night and were getting tired. Regina's head rested on Robin's shoulder. Robin's next choice of words, broke Regina out of her sleepy trance and suddenly she was fully awake.
"I love you" Robin said while breathing in her scent of apples and cinnamon.
Regina froze at those words. No man (except her father) had said that to her since Daniel, moments before his death. This thought brought tears to her eyes and Robin noticed this. He let her out of his grip and turned to her.
"Regina, what's wrong my love." He asked, with love in his eyes.
She didn't answer and in seconds purple smoke engulfed her. When it cleared, she was gone, leaving Robin extremely confused.
Regina appeared in her vault and immediately started pacing, trying to work out what to do. Should she say it back? Should she break up with him?
She too was confused.
Meanwhile Robin was still sitting in her back garden alone trying to understand what he did wrong. Finally he came to the conclusion, that he needed help. Who was the one person who knew Regina better than anyone, who knew fully about her past and hopefully what had caused her to react in this way? Tinkerbell.
He went to Granny's (where he knew she would be staying) and found her sitting at the counter with an ice tea in her hand. She heard him rush over and without even turning around to see who was before her she spoke.
"What did she do this time?" she said, as though she had been expecting this.
"Tink, I need to talk to you about-"
"Regina. I know!" she interrupted confidently.
"But, how?" he was now even more confused than before and he had come to her for help.
"Regina hasn't told anything, has she? Not to worry, I'll fill in the gaps."
"W-what do you mean, how did you even know about us, Regina wouldn't tell anyone. The only reason Henry knows is because he saw us when he had lost his memories"
"I know Regina better than anyone, and besides I saw your tattoo" She saw his confused look, so she started to explain.
"I think the best place to start is when it all started, all her emotions and pain, her first love Daniel. Daniel was the stable boy that worked for Regina's family, the started as friends, but it turned out to be more. They knew, they could never tell Cora as she would disapprove and use her magic to harm them. One day Regina, snuck off to see Daniel and suddenly they saw a little girl in distress on the back on an out of control horse. Regina jumped onto her own horse and raced after her"
"Wait, I never even knew Regina had ridden before, never mind being an expert" Robin interrupted.
"Now, you see what I mean about me knowing her better than anyone, I may not know much of her time here in Storybrooke, but I know every detail of her past. Anyway, Regina quickly caught up the little girl, just as she was about to fall and grabbed her, slowing her own horse to a halt. She let go of the girl and dismounted her horse to check on the girl. The girl thanked, and introduced herself as Snow White."
"Whoa, whoa slow down. Regina saved Snow when she was a young child, why was she so filled with hatred against Snow." Robin asked.
"I'm getting to that, stop interrupting!" Tink snapped as he held his hands up in surrender.
"A few days after that Regina received a visit off King Leopold. He wanted to meet the woman who saved his child and to Regina's surprise, he asked her to marry him. Regina was in love with Daniel, but her mother wouldn't let her turn down a chance of royalty, so Cora accepted for her. After that Regina ran to Daniel with her dilemma and they agreed to run away and get married in secret. Unfortunately, thanks to Regina's advice Snow was coming to have another go at riding and caught them kissing. Regina made Snow promise to keep her secret and she did until the night Regina and Daniel were planning to run away. Her mother sold Snow this sob story about wanting to make Regina happy and losing her. Snow spilled and told Cora everything, so they didn't manage to escape before Cora caught them and confronted Regina. Cora tricked Regina into thinking she was changed her mind and suddenly she plunged her hand into his chest. She ripped his heart out, crushed it in front of Regina which killed him instantly. As you already know she was forced in to a loveless marriage with the King, but Cora became so infuriating, Regina looked in dark places for help. Rumplestiltskin. He helped her banish Cora from the Enchanted Forest to Wonderland. Soon after this happened, Rumple started training her with magic in hopes she could revive Daniel. Sadly, bringing back the dead is even beyond the capabilities of magic."
"As Rumplestiltskin put it, dead is dead." She continued. "That, same night she fell of her balcony, she said it was an accident, but even to this day I didn't believe her. I saved her and gave her a second chance, I thought I could help her." She whispered sadly.
"I'm guessing, you couldn't" Robin spoke up.
"At the time. I told her, the only way to bring her happiness again, was love, so I stole pixie dust from Blue which is why I lost my wings, and it lead use to a tavern, to a man. I never saw, his face and neither did Regina because she freaked out and left. But we both saw-"
"My tattoo" he was finally catching on.
"Yes! The next day I went to check on her and ask about it. And she said she had true love and that he was dead. I left and Blue caught me and took my wings. I never saw Regina after that until after her curse and she went to Neverland in search of her son. I stalked her, intending to kill her because of what she had cost me. I knew Regina wouldn't face me, not after everything, so I waited for the others to leave. And kidnapped her by knocking her out with poppy dust. She knew I couldn't hurt her, not with magic anyway, I threatened her with nightshade, which kills you if you leave Neverland. She wanted to die, by my hand, well she wanted to show me her heart and talk me out of it. She took her heart out and gave me the choice of choosing hope or revenge (like she did). She told me if I chose revenge then I was looking at my own heart in the future. I still confronted her about being selfish for not finding you and ruining your life as well as her own. I confronted her again when she told me she already knew about her soulmate in Storybrooke and refused to act on any feelings in fear of getting hurt. The only reason she took a leap of faith was one of the only successful pep talks Snow has ever given Regina. And trust me there have been thousands."
"Ok, back to why she ran away, she already knew about the tattoo, so what do you suggest?"
"Did you say or do anything different to other nights you've spent together?" she questioned.
"Wait, that's it. I told her something she obviously wasn't ready to hear, I said I love you."
"She couldn't have taken that well, the last man to tell her that was Daniel, moments before Cora killed him!" she exclaimed.
"What do I do now?" he asked.
"I only know of two places in Storybrooke that she would go when she is feeling this way: a walk in the woods or her vault. And with the witch around she wouldn't relax with a walk, but her vault is where she would go."
Before Tink could even finish, Robin was straight out the door. "Thanks"
He arrived at her vault and made his way in, to find her sleeping on a mattress in a back room in her vault. She must have come to think, he thought. But most of his thoughts were taken up by how peaceful she looked. He decided to lie beside, so when she woke up they could talk. She stirred at the sound of her phone buzzing. She saw the caller ID was Emma so she answered it without hesitation or a thought of why Robin was there beside her. She walked out of the room to the main part of her vault, so she could talk to Emma. She just hoped it had nothing to do with Henry.
"Hello" Regina answered.
"Hey, Belle has a lead on what Zelena wants. Meet us at Granny's in about 10 minutes."
"Great, I'll be there." She confirmed, closing her phone and headed for the door. Before she could take a step, a strong hand grabbed her arm causing her to turn around.
"Where do you think you're going" he asked in that thick accent of his. "We have to talk about this, I understand."
"Later, wait, understand what?" she seemed confused and a little worried.
"I know why you ran away, Tinkerbell explained everything."
"I knew I shouldn't have trusted that moth" she snapped bitterly.
"I get that you're afraid, I am too, and I didn't even feel this way with Marian"
"I never got the chance with Daniel, before he was killed. But it's easier for you, Marian hasn't been dead for over 30 years, I shut everyone out, I hurt and even killed the one person who still loved and believed in me, even when I was evil. My father. I can't feel without someone getting hurt, whether it's me or someone else. All I know is that I've had enough pain to last me a lifetime."
"You don't need to worry about that, Regina. All you need to know is I Love You. And I will never leave you. I don't care about your past, I know it's all behind you."