Six weeks had passed.

Six weeks, and yet the taste of Regina's lips upon his had not faded. Six weeks, and yet he still saw her smile every time he closed his eyes and smelled the fresh, sweet scent of her apple shampoo in the loft apartment he shared with his wife and son.

He should move on. That much he realized. Crossing the town line was permanent, and as much as he wished to, he knew he could never go back. Regina wouldn't want him to live his life in constant pain; she would want him to heal and be happy. But how could he, when she was always on his mind?

He worked a low-level retail job at a store selling sporting goods and camping equipment. Dealing with obnoxious customers who thought they were always right was not exactly his preferred way of surviving, but Regina had warned him against living as an outlaw in this new land.

"You'll want to keep a low profile," she had said. "I'm sending you across to help Marian, and you can't do that if you're in jail. Anyway, you don't have a social security number or any legal identity in this world, and that could prove tricky if you got into trouble with the law."

So here he was, the Prince of Thieves working for minimum wage and trying to sell poorly-made tents and camping gear to some of the most obnoxious people he had ever crossed paths with. One family in particular was getting on his last nerve, with a mother and father who wouldn't stop screaming at each other, a teenage daughter who knocked over an entire rack of fishing poles because she was too busy staring at the screen of the strange talking device she carried, and a young son who ran up and down the aisles, singing off-key at the top of his lungs. It certainly didn't help that it was already fifteen minutes past closing time, or that Roland had discovered Disney movies the day before.

"Look, daddy! It's you and mama!" he had said, holding up a DVD case. On the cover …

"Wh – why on earth are we foxes?" Robin stammered, looking from the box to Marian and back. "What exactly is this?"

"Apparently the people here think we're all just stories," said Marian. "I picked up a few of these for Roland today. I'm not quite sure how to use them, though …"

Robin smiled for a moment at the memory of Regina showing him how to use a TV for the first time, but his smile vanished as he caught sight of another of the DVDs.

"Snow White?" he asked, reaching for it. On the cover was a girl with pale skin and dark hair who, he supposed, looked a bit like the Snow he knew. But the other woman on the cover … well, she looked nothing at all like Regina. A lump formed in his throat as he dropped it on the table.

"Oh … I'm so sorry, I didn't think …"

"No, it's okay," said Robin, forcing a smile.

But of course it wasn't. Because if there was anything worse than knowing you would never see the woman you loved again, it was seeing a completely inaccurate version of the woman you loved as the villain of a children's cartoon and knowing it was the closest you would ever come to being near her again.

"Yes, thank you very much," Robin said as the obnoxious family left the store, putting as much hostility into his polite words as he could. "Do come again soon."

Six weeks of this job and he was already at his wits' end. Maybe it was time to steal one of these tents and go live in the woods with just his wife and son for company. Or better yet, find a way back to Storybrooke. As if that was ever going to happen.

"See you tomorrow, then?" one of his coworkers, a college boy named Caleb Brown, asked as they closed up the store.

"No, it's my day off," replied Robin.

"Oh, well, Tuesday then."

The lock slid into place. Finally the store was closed, and he could go home and try to pretend that a piece of his heart wasn't missing.

Suddenly, a movement in the corner of his eye caught Robin's attention.

"Watch out!" he cried out instinctively as a woman stepped out from the shadows.

She looked perfectly normal at first glance, a black woman with a weary, disgruntled expression on her face. For a moment, Robin thought that his years as outlaw had gone to his head, making him imagine danger around every corner. But then she spoke.

"This is him?"

"Indeed."

Now that voice, Robin knew.

"Can we get this over with?" a woman with a British accent asked, stepping out from around the corner. One half of her hair was white and the other half black, and she wore an enormous fur coat over an all-black outfit. Robin thought he recognized her from one of his son's new cartoons, but he couldn't quite place her.

"Rumplestiltskin," said Robin, speaking to the man who still lurked in the shadows of the alleyway. "What are you doing here?"

"Haven't you heard? I was thrown out of Storybrooke. Villains don't get happy endings, dearie. But don't worry, we're going to change that."

"Who a-are you people?"

Robin had almost forgotten that Caleb was still there.

"That doesn't matter," he said, turning to face his young coworker. "Run!"

Caleb didn't hesitate.

"He's heard too much," said the woman with the black and white hair, moving to follow him. "We should deal with him."

"No," said Robin, blocking her path. "Please, let him go. He's just an innocent."

"It's not worth the effort," said the other woman. "We have what we wanted."

"What do you want with me?" Robin Hood demanded, eyeing the trio suspiciously.

"That, dearie, is our business. Just know that you're going to come with us, and you're going to do it without a fuss."

"And why exactly would I do that?"

Rumplestiltskin smiled.

"Because we both want the same thing."

"Do we, now?"

"Indeed we do. It's time for villains to get their happy endings."

Robin took a step backwards, a horrifying realization dawning.

"That's what this is about," he said. "Regina. You're … you're going to use me to try to get to her?"

"Well, aren't you a clever one?" said the woman in the fur coat mockingly.

"No!" he shouted. "Whatever you're doing, leave her out of it!"

"Quiet down," said the dark-skinned woman. "We don't want to be bothered by the police."

Robin took another step backwards, but she caught him by the arm, pulling him back into the dark alleyway. Before he knew what was happening, she had a knife pressed into his throat.

"Let me go!"

"Not going to happen."

"Now, now, Ursula," said the woman in the fur coat. "I'm sure our friend here will cooperate. After all, we wouldn't want to have to hurt his lovely wife and sweet little son, now, would we?"

"You leave them alone!"

Rumplestiltskin took a step closer.

"How about this? I'll make you a deal. You come with us and do exactly what we tell you, and we'll let your little family live. How does that sound?"

His tone was deceptively gentle, but Robin knew that his offer was a threat. Cooperate, or Marian and Roland would be killed.

"You won't harm them," he said in a shaky voice. "You won't tell someone else to harm them, you won't do anything that might lead to them getting hurt. None of those loopholes you're so fond of. I want you to guarantee that you'll leave them alone."

A strange smile crept across the other man's impish face. If Robin didn't know better, he might even say Rumplestiltskin looked impressed.

"You have my word."

"Then let's get this over with."