A/N: This is a new prompt verse where Robin and Regina adopt all three of their children. I hope you enjoy it!
All they wanted was to be parents.
And, oh, how hard they tried.
He still remembers the moment he first saw her. Every little detail. Exactly.
The curl of her hair (flipped out where it reached her chin), the shade of her lipstick (berry plum) and the color of her dress (light blue with a navy blue floral pattern).
It was supposed to be a simple presentation, one he'd done at least a dozen times before but she'd knocked him off his game. The minute he'd looked into her dark chocolate eyes his heart had skipped a beat.
He'd basically made a fool of himself in front of 25 kindergartners, stuttering over stranger danger tips simply because she'd been there.
Luckily, she'd found his fumbling attractive enough to agree to a date. He'd taken her to a local place, nothing special but the food. Still she liked it.
He never expected a schoolteacher to hold her whiskey so well.
Falling in love with her was the easiest thing he'd ever done. He was head over heels in a matter of hours.
In his heart he'd known that she felt the same. But getting her to admit it? Well, he'd never had a harder job in his life. Or a more rewarding one.
Earning her open heart was the most important thing he'd ever done.
One year after stuttering through stranger danger tips he recited his vows to her. And he didn't stammer once.
Those first two years were some of the happiest of his life. He loved her, she loved him. They were happy, stable, together.
Children were the next step. The last thing they needed to complete their happy ending.
They'd both wanted it.
They just… hadn't foreseen the struggle.
It only took a couple months for them to get worried. They tried to keep the faith but once they passed 12 months they knew it was time to see a doctor.
After that it was a blur of hormones and needles and trials and failures. It… it ran them into the ground. He'd married a resilient woman, he knew that, but even her heart had its limits.
They were a cop and a schoolteacher, and their funds buckled under the weight of their dreams.
One round was all they could afford. And when it didn't work… her heart broke.
That fourth year of marriage was the hardest of his life. He'd cried more times than he can count, heard her cry behind closed doors and into pillows.
That open heart he'd worked so hard to gain access to sealed up like a vault. She wouldn't talk, wouldn't listen. Kept him at arms length emotionally… and physically.
He could see the end in sight, could almost feel her literally slipping between his fingers.
She was going to leave him. He knew it… but damn it if he was gonna let her walk out without a fight.
He threw a hail mary.
He confessed.
Everything.
Everything that he'd hoped, everything he'd felt, all the pain he'd hidden away for her sake. He confessed it all in a way she couldn't ignore, not that she didn't try. She hadn't wanted to listen, she tried to run but he didn't let her.
It was a hard, long night… but she came back to him. Little by little she'd opened back up, poured out everything she'd held in.
They'd held each other 'til the sun came up and had a cry over what wasn't meant to be.
Acceptance was difficult but it'd allowed them to move on together.
It took work and effort, from both sides, but they learned how to be happy again. Together.
It took a few months for him to work up the nerve to ask about adoption. Turns out to be a short conversation.
She was completely on board.
They look into all the agencies and avenues but it turns out he finds their first baby all on his own.
He was working the late shift. Got called to the scene of the accident, a car crash. The couple in the front seat had died on impact but all he had eyes for was the toppled car seat in the back.
It was a small baby boy, no more than one year old. The car crash had been brutal and the baby certainly wasn't unscathed, one look was all it took to know that.
In all his years on the job he'd never been more scared.
The EMTs came and carted him off in record time, thank god, but he hadn't been able to get him out his head. After his shift ended he drove straight past home to the hospital without even thinking about it.
There was a bit of internal bleeding, some bruises and cuts but the doctors said he would recover. He'd waited around, hoping to talk with some family or a caregiver but no one showed up except the social worker.
Apparently the mother had been an orphan and the father hadn't been in contact with his family in years. There was no one to get in touch with.
Their baby was alone.
Without his parents all he had left was his name.
Henry.
Perhaps it was out of line, maybe even unhealthy but… he just couldn't leave him.
He was so small and so hurt with nobody there… it was too much.
So he visited. Twice on his own, just to check on his condition, spend a little time with him.
The third time she asked to come with. She was curious about the child who'd left her husband so captivated.
She'd tried to play it cool but he'd seen it in her eyes, in the way her face had lit up. The nurse had said she could hold him and he hadn't seen a brighter smile from her in years. She took one look into his hazel eyes and she was in love.
Together, they stood over his crib in the pediatric ward and in one simple moment they looked into each other's eyes and they knew.
This was their son.
It took time. They had to jump through so many hoops and hurdles, convincing the social worker, making sure things were in order but two months later their home became his. And six months after that so did their name.
It felt like a relief signing those papers. Knowing that the wait was over, that they'd no longer have to wonder, if and when they'd ever be parents. Their wait was over. He was a father and his wife was a mother. And he'd felt 20 pounds lighter.
It was an adjustment having Henry, one they were happy to make but truth be told another baby was the last thing on their minds when they decided to bring a second child into their lives.
Things hit closer to home this time.
In all his life he'd only loved two women, however the first had decided that she also loved women. Despite this their split had been rather amicable. So much so that she'd even made him the godfather to her son, a beautiful, brown-eyed little boy that he loved but saw rarely at best. It was a role he'd expected to be more fluff than concrete.
Oh, how wrong he'd been.
He'd never forget answering her call and hearing her news. She'd been such a vibrant, unstoppable force to him. Yet, all it took to bring her down was a 3cm growth on the left side of her brain.
They'd caught it early but detection didn't amount to much. All it did was give her just enough time to say goodbye.
Within six months he watched as his wife held his first love's hand and promised to care for her son as if he was her own. She slipped away only moments later, right before their eyes.
It was a rougher transition this time. Honestly, it took months for him to actually start feeling like their little boy instead of hers.
With the shadow of his birth mother hanging above them it was hard not to feel like they were intruding in a space that they should never have had the chance to fill. They struggled with what they wanted him to call them, it was a discussion that went on for weeks, until one day he'd looked up and called him "daddy."
It was in that moment they knew they'd never correct him. They hadn't exactly chosen their second son but he did choose them. And that was enough to make things clear.
They agreed to do whatever it took to keep his birth mother's spirit alive in his life but from now on Roland was their son. No one else's.
Two boys turned out to be a handful. Even with her watchful eyes and his strict tone the house was more often than not in a state of chaos.
Things changed. Saturdays morning were now for cartoons, not gym time. Her more elaborate meals had been replaced with mac and cheese. The house was never quiet and sleeping in was certainly a thing of the past.
But they loved it. They loved their lives and they loved their boys. With everything in their heart, they loved them. Things were so close to perfect, their life was nearly complete...
But still there was something missing.
It was an ordinary Tuesday morning when she'd rolled over in bed, tapped him on his chest and said the words he never knew he'd been waiting for.
"I want a little girl."
It took two years to find her.
Two years of close calls and almost maybes, of stress and heartache and changed minds… but they found her.
They found their little girl.
Her birth mother was just a kid, barely out of high school. Smart, driven and clearly kind, with clear blue eyes that she'd passed down to their daughter.
She wanted to give her baby more than she could offer. Once or twice a year she visits but keeps her distance for the most part. She'd said it was the only thing that helped to keep the pain at bay.
Sometimes it made him feel guilty to know that the hardest day of her life had been one of the best of theirs but he'll always be grateful for the decision that she made.
She gave them their baby girl and they'll never be able to thank her enough.
Their little Elizabeth is absolutely perfect.
From the moment he'd met his wife all he'd wanted to do was give her a fairytale happy ending. But he'd forgotten that happy endings don't come before difficult journeys, they come afterward.
Sometimes he wonders how different things would be if they'd gotten the ending that he'd originally planned. Would things have been easier? Simpler? Less heart wrenching?
Maybe.
But then he thinks of his three children and he remembers that even if their family had been planted in pain, it bloomed into joy.
All three of their children have different stories, none with a happy beginning. And if he and his wife had gotten the happy ending they'd originally wanted then maybe their children wouldn't have gotten theirs.
And that's a thought that neither of them can bear to entertain.
None of their three children had come into the world as theirs but in the end that doesn't really matter.
All that matters is that they'd wanted nothing more than to be parents.
And now they finally are.
I hope you enjoyed this one! If you did please leave a review!
Remember this is a prompt verse so if there's a moment you'd like to read about let me know!