Day 2: Prompts 2. Leave me alone/11. You promised you wouldn't/27. I have every right to be angry/40. I'm not going anywhere

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Up In Flames

"Stay here!" Robin yells over the roar of the fire. "I'll go get Henry and Roland."

"Robin!" she shouts, standing from the bed where they've been peacefully sleeping, wrapped in each other's arms. Regina grabs her robe, slinging it on as she hurries toward their bedroom door.

Robin stands there, pulling his green t-shirt on quickly to cover his chest. He leans over, pecking a kiss to her lips, saying she needs to try and get outside. He'll grab the kids and get them out, too. She fights him at first, saying she can help, but he'll hear none of it. He wants her out safely. He says he won't be long, he'll run in, grab them, and run out. It'll all be over quickly, he'll be out quickly, he promises.

Tears well in her eyes when he opens the door, revealing the scorching flames down the hallway, inching their way closer to where her children sleep at night. Her eyes widen in fear as she hears her babies yelling, shouts of, "Mama! Mama!" echoing from both boys' rooms. Regina looks over to Robin, covering her mouth so as not inhale too much smoke.

"I love you!" she yells over the flames, breaking glass, and screams. Her husband nods, covering his mouth after telling her he loves her too and ducking down low, crawling to where their sons are trapped.

She looks around, checking the stairs. There's flames there, burning their way up to the family portraits she loves so dearly, but it's not too bad, she thinks. Surely she can make it. She presses her body as close to the railing as possible, slinking her body down the stairs and out the front door. She makes it to the front yard, shaking her head, cursing herself for not going with Robin to get Henry and Roland. He wouldn't have let her, though, she knows he wouldn't. He would've insisted, did insist in fact, that he could grab them both and be out. He'd be able to focus more if he knew she was out of danger.

"Mom!" she hears, pulling her from her thoughts. A smile breaks out onto her face, beaming as her eldest, Henry, comes bounding her way. He's coughing, a smear of smoot on his cheek, and she instantly begins to cry. Sobbing, she wraps her arms around her little boy, kissing the top of his head and whispering that they'll be alright.

"Where's your father and Roland?"

Henry shrugs frantically, shaking his head, saying they had been right behind him. Panic builds in her chest at that, stepping closer to the house. A window up top, their bedroom, burst from the heat pressure, causing Henry to scream in fear, crouching down to cover his face.

She looks back at him, assuring her son that it will all be okay, despite not truly believing it herself.

"Robin!" she shouts at the house, praying he can hear her. "Robin!" The tears sting her eyes, streaming down her sweat covered face when there's no sign of her husband or baby boy. "Robin! Roland!"

The neighbors have gathered by now, watching on in shock and terror as the beloved Locksley's house goes up in flames. One neighbor, Mrs. Lucas, comes over, running a hand along Regina's shoulder and telling her she's called 911.

Regina nods mutely, wrapping a shaky arm around Henry and yelling for her family still inside. Her voice is hoarse by now, but she'll yell until she has none left if it'll help bring her husband and youngest son back to her.

She can barely see the house now from the tears in her eyes, but she doesn't miss the small form emerging from the house. "Mama!" Roland shouts in fear, chubby little toddler legs running toward her.

She sobs his name, running to swoop him up in her arms, kissing his face all over. Her tears land on his smoot covered face, and she reaches up, wiping them away and cleaning his face off as best as she can. "Where's papa? Roland, where's your papa!?"

Roland looks from her to the house, pointing. Fear grips her then, more tears falling as Roland wraps his arms around her neck, crying into her shoulder as Henry's grip around her waist tightens, burying his nose into the side of her hip. He's still not out. She can hear the sound of the ambulance and fire truck sirens blaring from somewhere behind her. Can feel the EMT's hand as it tries to gently guide her to the back of their vehicle. She fights them though. "Leave me alone," she screams, pulling away from them, demanding they go find her husband, while simultaneously allowing them to whisk her boys to their van, checking them over for injury and attaching breathing masks to their little faces.

She falls to her knees once she knows her boys are taken care of, letting her knees sink into the dewy grass beneath her. Her hands come up, covering her face as she sobs out his name over and over again. Visions of their wedding day, a decade ago now, flash through her mind. Images of their first date, his proposal, when she found out she was pregnant, seeing their children on the ultrasound for the first time… all their happy memories that she feels are literally and figuratively going up in smoke in this very moment. It all flies by in her mind, like 4x6 glossy photos falling around her. She can't lose Robin. He has to make it out… she can't imagine life without him. He's been by her side more than anyone ever has. He's her other half, her soulmate, he can't die in this fire.

She feels a hand on her shoulder, shaking her and calling her name. "Regina!" she hears again, finally recognizing the voice through the fog that clouds her mind.

"Papa!" she hears shouted from behind her. She drops her hands, looking up from where she's still curled on the grass of their front yard. "Robin?" she asks incredulously, not believing that he's actually there, actually alive and breathing, looking down at her in concern. He'd been in the house for so long, too long, no one could've made it out, not with the way the flames ate away at the house they'd bought their first year of marriage, the house they'd raised their children in. She looks passed where he stands in front of her, back to the house that the firemen are trying desperately to calm the flames on. There's nothing left, all the windows have busted, every room she can see is filled with flames. It's all gone… every last moment of the last ten years, every memory they've ever made destroyed by one little fire. She wonders briefly what caused the fire, thinking frantically over what she'd left plugged in.

"I'm here, I'm alright," he assures, swooping down to pick her up. He carries her, legs draping over his arms, to the ambulance. He sets her down gently outside of the van. The boys are both inside, sitting up on stretchers with wide smiles peeking out behind their breathing masks.

Before the paramedic can check her over, she spins, furrowing her brow as she looks her husband over. She swats him on the chest, crying angrily, "You promised you wouldn't take too long!"

He smiles despite himself, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and pulling her closer to his chest. He waves off the paramedic still standing there, asking her to give them a moment. Robin places a kiss to the top of Regina's head, shushing her cries and whispering, "I'm here now."

She huffs, frustrated at how nonchalant he's being. He'd been in a burning house, rescuing their children, and something had happened to detain him, to keep him there far longer than anyone should've been inside. The paramedic comes back, urging him to let them check him out and get an oxygen mask on him. Regina looks up at him, scolding him for being such a careless idiot and saying he needs to get some oxygen.

"Are you angry with me?" he chuckles, taking the mask from another paramedic. He places the mask around his face as the young man listens to his breathing with a stethoscope.

"I have every right to be angry!" she says ferociously, wiping frustrated and heartbroken tears from her cheeks. "You scared me. You were in there way too long. What were you doing anyway?"

He huffs, reaching into his pocket. He lifts the mask from his face briefly, coughing out a, "Getting this," as he holds up her wedding ring.

Tears form in her eyes again, shaking her head at him. "You idiot," she cries forcefully, "You're far more important than my ring. We could've gotten another one."

Robin smile sadly at her then, saying he likes that one. It reminds him of how young and in love he was the day he'd picked it out with her in mind. He reaches over, pulling her closely by the waist, slipping the ring on her finger and asking Henry and Roland if they're okay.

The boys nod, shoving each other playfully as they talk like Stormtroopers in the back of the ambulance.

She sniffles, smiling at the innocence of her children and pulling away to look into his blue eyes. "I thought I'd lost you. Don't ever do that again, okay? I can't lose you," she vows, whispering, "You're my everything."

Robin sighs behind his mask, tilting his head and looking at her with nothing but love in his eyes. "I'm not going anywhere. You can't get rid of me that easily," he smirks, causing her to roll her eyes as she smiles over at him before she looks back over her shoulder sadly to all their memories that have been incinerated by the flames.

The paramedic brings her a mask, asking they all hop inside so they can drive them to the hospital for a full examination. Robin stretches out his hand, and she takes it, linking their hands as they step into the vehicle. They sit down, her on Roland's stretcher and Robin on Henry's. Her youngest son climbs into her lap, wrapping his arms around her neck as his breathing deepens, adrenaline from tonight clearly wearing off.

As they're driven toward the hospital and away from their house that is no more, Regina looks around, taking in the faces of the three boys she loves more than life itself. She realizes that the house may be gone, all their worldly possessions vanquished by that fire, but the memories they've created together will never fade. Henry is playing rock, paper, scissors with Robin as Roland snores softly against her chest, and she's reminded just how precious this life really is.