I own no one but my own people
"Can we keep it, Regina?! Please?!"
"Every young boy needs a dog, Regina."
"Mom, I PROMISE you won't have to walk it or feed it or anything!"
Regina had heard all of it and then some before by the three men in her life. The Storybrooke pet shop was on the way to the bus stop where they dropped off Henry and Roland and there was always a new batch of puppies either jumping energetically at the window or sleeping adorable in the dog beds.
But those dogs were at least clean and well groomed.
This one they had found at the beach… Well… not so much
It was scruffy, dirty, slobbery, with short wiry dark grey fur on top with lighter grey coloring on his underside and even a bit on his face giving him the appearance of having a rather bushy mustache…
God it was disgusting. Regina had actually warned her boys against getting too close to it, sure that it was just covered in fleas and dirt and Lord knows what else.
"Henry, Roland, get away from that thing, it's probably diseased," Regina protested as the children ran up to it.
"It's so cute though!" Henry protested as he blatantly ignored her warnings and instead eagerly pet the slobbering dog, making his tail thump happily in the sand.
"He's such a good puppy!" Roland gushed as he hugged the grey colored mutt around around the neck. The curly haired four year old picked up a wet stick that he found on the beach, throwing it for the scruffy animal who picked it up and ran around with it before he allowed Roland to take it from him with a playful growl and throw it again.
Regina rolled her eyes as she leaned back in her beach chair while Robin sat beside her watching his son with a smile.
"He is a cute little scamp," said Robin finally turning to her. "It'd teach the boys responsibility…"
"He's the mangiest looking thing I've ever seen," Regina argued. "If we WERE to get a dog It'd be one from the Charmings litter. They have these little cocker spaniels and they have this adorable brown one I was actually considering buying and she's just the most well behaved little lady…"
"Regina, kids don't want a little well behaved cocker spaniel lady, they want a dog like that," Robin said as he pointed to the grey dog that rolling playfully around in the sand with Henry.
"No. Because dogs like that climb up on couches and trek in mud and chew on everything and slobber everywhere…" Another shake of her head. "No."
Robin sighed, wanting to continue the argument but he also knew her well enough to know when she had made up her mind.
So he instead just leaned back and enjoyed the sun beating down on them. At one point Roland had come up to them wanting to go swimming and they said he could so long as he stayed with Henry and kept his life jacket on.
The little boy was less than pleased at the restraints but, nevertheless, grudgingly accepted them and followed Henry, who promised to keep an eye on him, into the clear blue water, the dog following them up to where the water reached his chest, a happy little doggy smile on his face.
The adults were content watching the small boys for a few minutes, the two of them even joining them in the water for a while before they went back their spots on the beach.
After making the boys promise to play on the shore, the water was getting too rough for them to play in, and making Henry promise to look after Roland, the two of them took to relaxing in their own way.
The dog trotted up to the adults, stood besides Regina, and shook the excess water from its fur getting it all over the brunette as if he had targeted her intentionally, prompting the brown eyed woman to yell at the boys to get the dog away from her while Robin laughed at her misfortune.
Regina eventually abandoned her beach chair for the towel that Robin was sitting on, taking her rightful place between his legs and leaning against his chest as she closed her eyes while he wrapped his arms around her, the warm sun beaming down on them and the smells and sounds of the ocean lulling them both into a peaceful sleep…
...Until they were both abruptly awoken by Henry screaming their names and that blasted dog barking obnoxiously loud.
"ROLAND WENT IN WITHOUT HIS LIFEJACKET!" the thirteen year old cried, fear and desperation in his frantic voice.
Regina quickly moved from her spot as both she and Robin quickly stood, the two of them scanning the waters for the small boy.
"Where is he?!" Robin shouted, his voice hitched in a terror he had never felt before as he looked out over the water.
"I don't see him!" Regina cried out.
Why did the waves have to be so damn high?!
Then, all of a sudden, the dog that had alerted them awake took off like a shot, running into the water and began paddling as quick as his legs would carry him. Her eyes followed the animal for a moment before she gripped Robins shoulder.
"There!" she yelled as she pointed to a barely visible mop of brown curls in the distance. "There, where the dogs going towards!"
Robin looked to where she was pointing and as soon as he spotted his son he sprinted towards the water, diving in headfirst and swimming as hard and as fast he could.
"Mom, I'm sorry!" Henry cried as Regina wrapped her arms around her son. "I- I told him not to but then he just ran in and the- the waves, they- he didn't listen to me!"
"It's okay," she told him with a trembling voice as she stroked his hair. "It's not your fault, Henry, it's not your fault..."
With how hard Robin was swimming she expected him to reach him first but, oddly enough, the stray dog had. She watched the animal grab hold of Roland's T-shirt with his teeth and yank him up out of the water, struggling to keep the boys head above the water and trying to paddle away from the pull of the strong waves.
Regina's heart jumped into her throat when she noticed that Roland wasn't moving.
Another wave crashed down on top of the two of them, forcing them beneath the waves for a moment before they re-emerged, the dog still holding onto the boy as tight as his teeth would allow.
Robin reached the pair and grabbed hold of Roland, holding him tight to his chest as he began to swim back to shore with the dog by his side.
Regina closed her eyes as she hugged Henry tighter, half to comfort him, half to keep him from running over to father and son and prevent him possibly getting in the way.
Please let him be okay, Regina screamed to herself as she watched Robin, as soon as he could stand, run back to the shore, falling to his knees and setting Ronald down in the sand with the dog sniffing at Roland's hair and nudging his head with his snout, his whines audible from even where Regina was standing.
"Is he okay?!" she yelled out, shifting Henry ever so slightly so that he couldn't see the unconscious- just unconscious, he had to be- child. "Robin, is he alright?!"
Robin didn't answer her. He just tilted Roland's head back, pinching his nose shut and putting his mouth over his so he could give the tiny boy a breath, all the whole the dog whined and nudged at Roland with his snout.
Once, twice, three times Robin gave his son CPR with no reaction. Regina was about to grab her phone to call 911 when a cough, a single beautiful sounding cough, came from Roland's mouth. Then his brown eyes flew open and Robin quickly twisted him to his side so he could get the sea water out of his lungs and stomach.
"Roland!" Regina cried as she ran over to the boy while Robin clapped him hard on the back to get all the water out with Henry hanging back nervously.
"Papa!" Roland gasped out tearfully once he could talk again. Robin wrapped him in a tight hug, shutting his eyes tight against his tears.
"it's alright, my boy," Robin told him, kissing the top of his brown curls as Roland cried. "You're alright…"
Then he remembered exactly why he was soaking wet with regurgitated sea water all over him.
"Why did you go into the ocean without your life jacket?" Robin scolded as he pulled Roland away so he could look at him, trying his best not to let his fear turn into shouting. "Me and Regina told you not to go into the water."
"I just wanted to swim," Roland answered, tears still freely falling as he clung to his father.
"If Henry hadn't of woken us up, something very bad could have happened, something much worse than what happened."
"I just wanted to swim," he said again.
Robin sighed, wrapping his arms around him again. "It's alright, my boy. I'm just glad you're alright."
After a long moment of the two of them embracing Robin stood up with Roland in his arms while Regina rubbed the small boy's back with small comforting circles.
"We should go to the hospital just to get him checked out," Regina told the father and son duo. "I think our visit at the beach is gonna be cut rather short for the day. We'll come back tomorrow."
Robin nodded in agreement and both Roland and Henry knew better than to argue with them. The blue eyed man handed Roland to Regina for a moment, the brunette wrapping her step son in a warm hug.
"You alright, Sweetie?" she asked, being answered with a rather pitiful nod.
"Robin, I'm sorry!" Henry told him frantically, tears welling up in his own green eyes. "I- I told him not to go in the water, I looked away for one second and he- he was already under the waves!"
Robin shook his head.
"No, it's not your fault, Henry, you have nothing to apologize for." He clapped the still nervous boy on the shoulder. "You did the right thing when you realized what was happening, you got your mum and me, you didn't try to rescue him on your own…"
Henry's lip shook as he wiped his tears with the back of his eyes. "So you… you aren't mad at me?"
"No. Because there's nothing to be mad AT. Come here, Lad."
Robin wrapped his arms around the thirteen year old, graciously pretending not to notice him wiping his eyes again and clapping him on the back before they released the embrace.
Robin took Roland back in his arms, kissing the top of his head before he set him down on the ground beside Henry who immediately took his brother's hand.
"You two head to the car, I wanna talk to your mum about something real quick," Robin told them.
When the two of them were alone and the boys were safely out of view, Robin and Regina wrapped their arms around one another tight, the blue eyed man pulling her as close to him as possible.
"That was the most frightened I've ever been in my life," he admitted, finally letting his voice quiver with the fear he had felt since Henry first awoken him that he didn't want his boys to see. "That whole swim back I was praying for him to wake up and then when I noticed he wasn't breathing I- I just thought…"
"I know…" Regina said, her own voice hitched in tears. "God I was so scared, Robin…"
"If I had lost my boy, I don't-..."
She graciously pretended not to notice the wetness that fell from his eyes onto her shoulder.
"I know," she told him again, nuzzling as close as she possibly could to him. "I know…"
They held one another for the longest time, both of them trying desperately to remember that Roland was okay. He was here with them, he was safe, their small little family was still whole.
And they were never going to let one another go.
The gentle moment between the two was interrupted, however, by a very wet, very sandy, very dirty grey dog resting up against Regina's leg.
The pair of them looked down at the animal as he looked up at them, big brown eyes wide and almost sympathetic like he too had been afraid for the small boy and was joining in on their sorrow fest.
Regina reached down and scratched the top of his head and, for the first time since he had trotted up to their little group, smiled at him, telling him the two words that made every dog happier than anything else.
"Good boy."
His tail thumped against the sand and once again a little doggy smile appeared on his face again.
Robin chuckled and he kneeled by the dog, giving him a much beloved pet before he looked up at Regina and she almost laughed at the pleading look on her husband's eyes, the same look Roland and Henry looked at her with when they asked her if they could keep him .
"He did save Roland… Surely that warrants a warm place to sleep at night and a steady stream of kibble."
The dog whined slightly as he turned his attention back to Regina, his eyes big and round and pleading as if he understood what Robin was asking on his behalf.
Regina sighed as she reached out and scratched the mutt behind the ear.
God he was so mangy looking… All of her white furniture would have dog hair all over it, not to mention the accidents he would inevitably have in the house until he was fully house trained...
But, instead of voicing any of that, she just remembered the sight of this dog, this stray scraggly mutt, grabbing her step sons shirt and bringing him up to the surface, and she nodded.
"We can keep the dog."
Robin beamed at her and stood up, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her as his, first of many, thanks.
"Are we keeping the dog?!" a duo of voices called out from the car and both adults laughed before Robin turned towards the car and gave them a thumbs up, laughing once more when a chorus of cheers erupted from the backseat.
Regina kneeled down in front of the dog, brown eyes looking into brown. "You chew on any of my shoes, especially my Prada, you're gone."
The dog let out a loud bark which Regina took that to mean 'I understand' and she scratched behind his ear again. "God you're such a mangy little tramp…"
"Mangy little tramp… Mangy little tramp…" Robin pursed his lips. "M'lady, I do believe you've just named our families first dog." He looked down at the dog. "How do you feel about that, Tramp? You like that name?"
Another way of his tail, another bark.
"Guess he's Tramp then," Regina said as she stood back up. Robin wrapped his arm around her waist and the two of them walked to the car with Tramp following faithfully beside them.
"So I was thinking we go out tonight for dinner to that little Italian joint we saw when we drove into town?" Robin suggested. "Maybe bring the newest member of our family a doggy bag of spaghetti?"
Regina scoffed as she opened the back door to let Tramp jump in much to the excitement of the boys.
"What the hell kind of dog do you know that eats spaghetti and meatballs?"
"Just a suggestion, M'lady," he said with a chuckle as they got into the car and drove off, their perfect little family finally complete.
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