Quick little drabble of a conversation I imagined happening after Robyn met Chad since so many people were saying he looked liked Robin, and Regina felt because of it all. Enjoy!
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Her Father's Eyes:
"Is Chad actually my father?" Robyn asks Regina as they're closing down the bar for the night.
He and Kelly had left together last week, back to San Francisco to hopefully live the rest of their lives in blissful matrimony. Robyn had only met Chad the day they left, all four of them going to lunch together as one last goodbye. She thought he was nice, good for her mom, but there was something about the way he looked...
Looking up, stunned, Regina stammers out, "Wh-what?" meeting her niece's gaze. Her eyes are so blue, crystal almost, just like his had been. It never fails to send a shock to the center of her soul each time she looks into her eyes.
"I mean," Robyn begins, shrugging a nonchalant shoulder up in the air as she finishes stacking the cash collected tonight into a pile, "he looks so much like me. Blonde hair at least. His eyes are too dark of a blue, but I have my mom's eyes anyway."
It's true. Chad did resemble Robin in small ways - his blonde hair and scruffy jaw making Regina's heart stop for a second the first time she met him. His eyes were blue but were darker than Robin's had been. They almost had a green hue to them. No dimples though, thank God, those were all Robin, and luckily her niece had inherited that feature from her father, too. She'd told Zelena of the resemblance, but her sister had laughed it off, saying she didn't see the similarities at all. Regina figured she wouldn't; she loved Chad too much to associate him with such a terrible time in her life, but that didn't stop the ache in Regina's heart each time she saw the man. She misses her version of blonde hair and blue eyes, misses the way his scruff would tickle her skin as he nuzzled into her neck, playfully dotting kisses there.
Regina smiles sadly, coming to sit on the bar stool next to Robyn, who she has to remind herself daily to call Margot. She rests her hand over the younger girl's and looks into her eyes.
"You don't have you mother's eyes."
Zelena's were blue, sure, but Robyn's eyes were all him. His eyes had been as blue as the clearest part of the ocean where you could still see your feet and all the fish swimming below. So loving and comforting all in one. His eyes always brought a sense of peace to Regina; just staring into them would seem to calm her down no matter what demon, monster, or unknown form of magic they were facing in their town.
"What?" Robyn laughs incredulously, scrunching her nose up and re-adjusting her large framed glasses, "They're blue just like hers."
"No," Regina breathes sadly, smiling softly at the memory of who she gets those baby blues from, "they're different from Kelly's. More of an ocean blue."
She sighs, closing her eyes for a moment before cracking them back open slowly and saying, "You have the color eyes that someone could gaze into for the rest of their life."
She thinks back to his eyes again, the eyes that were always so kind and understanding. So loving. Regina feels her chocolate brown eyes begin to water and turns her head, stealthily wiping away the tears that threaten to fall.
She'd been frozen as Roni for so long, not knowing about what she'd lost so long ago. Now that she's awake though, everything reminds her of Robin. Her soulmate. The "R" that hangs around her neck, which she now tells herself is for his name, not hers, all the arrows scattered throughout her bar, which had been a nice but gut wrenching detail to wake up to as Regina, all of it. She misses him so much. Thinks she somehow did even as Roni, yet now that she's awake again, the ache in her soul that she'd felt for so many years after his death came rushing back to her, breaking her heart all over again.
Robyn stands, picking up her purse and making a quip about how, "Aunt Roni has had a bit too much to drink tonight while behind the bar."
They share a laugh, Regina going around the bar top to collect her belongings. She slings her leopard print bag across her body and walks toward her niece.
"Maybe one day you'll tell me who my dad is."
Regina's steps falter, just for a moment, before she smiles, wrapping her arm around Robyn's shoulder. She hopes one day she can... again, anyway. Robyn had once known about her real father. Grew up hearing stories from Regina and Henry about all his thieving and cunning ways, about how much he loved her and his children, how he was the only man to ever see Regina for who she truly was and accept every part of her. Robyn grew up knowing how wonderful and amazing her father was. Knew that he was so selfless that he willingly gave up his entire existence so his daughter and soulmate could live. She even started practicing her archery skills when she was seven years old to be closer to him, and she'd been amazing at it.
She and Zelena, still Kelly to her daughter, had never come up with a story as to where or who her father was, never quite needing one for their cursed identities. He was always just the mysterious biological father, a man who in their cursed memories had gotten Kelly pregnant and left her behind for a 'better life' when she was eight months along. A painful memory, but none more painful to Regina than what actually happened, though she's learned to forgive her sister for that over the last twenty five years, despite how difficult it'd been in the beginning.
"Maybe I will." Regina tilts her head side to side with a small grin on her face. "One day."
Robyn chuckles at that, and as they make their way upstairs to the apartment they share (for now), she once again thanks whomever is responsible for bringing her niece back into her life.
Now, she can look into his eyes whenever she wants.
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Thoughts?