She nearly slides to the ground and lands on her ass when he makes a sharp turn to the right that catches her off guard. Roland giggles madly at almost fooling her and Regina grunts, a rough sound that's a poor imitation of the troll she's supposed to be, taking a moment to regain her balance Smart boy she thinks, lurching forward again. This time her fingers brush against his back, but she decides not to catch him, not yet at least, but the touch is enough to make the kid screech, a piercing, high pitched, sound filled with glee and then run even faster, though his tiny legs don't match his eagerness and soon Roland slides on the mud and falls on his back laughing even harder.
"I think it's time we go to bed now dear" she says, breathless, falling on her knees next to the boy and smiling down at him. "No, I want to splash more!" he cries, throwing his arms up so she can pull him back to his feet. Regina grabs his little hands and pulls him up and Roland promptly wraps his arms around her neck, nuzzles on her shoulder and she stands holding him against her chest.
Just as she gains balance he yawns, long and loud and Regina chuckles softly "It seems to me like you are plenty tired already little knight" she says, poking his ribs playfully making him wiggle in her grasp "I am a little sleepy" he admits and yawns again "But I don't want to sleep" he continues. She smiles and ruffles his hair "Little boys need sleep if they want to get big and strong dear" she points out, but something about his voice makes her think he might have ulterior motives for delaying bedtime "Are you scared to sleep Roland?" she questions and the boy simply nods without a word "Why dear?" she asks, a hand rubbing up and down his back soothingly.
"I miss papa" he whispers, and even with his curls clouding her sight as she breathes him in, in her mind's eye she can see those big brown puppy dog eyes as he says the words and feels stupid for not having realized this before.
"Honey he'll be back in two days, it will go by so fast you won't even feel it". Roland pulls back to look her in the eye "But what if something happens to him and he never comes back? Then I won't have a momma or a papa." His eyes are growing watery and she wants to bang her forehead against one of the tree trunks in the garden for not having noticed he was scared before.
"Oh Roland" she whispers, shifting her weight from one leg to the other when a fat tear spills I'm an idiot she thinks before catching it with her index finger and brushing the back of her hand against his skin to clear off it's wet path "He went out with all the Merry Men and a handful more, to a forest he knows better than he knows you" She pokes his nose to accentuate the word you and sighs curling a strand of his mud drenched hair on a finger as he pouts "He will be fine" she completes, and he nods but doesn't seem completely content
"I can stay with you until you fall asleep, would that make you feel better?" she offers, uncertain if that is really her place, but he lights up at the suggestion and says he would like that, so she returns the smile and puts him back on the ground.
"Come on, get going, I will pick up your shoes" She taps his back encouragingly, watches the boy wiggle halfway toward the exit then turns her back to him, shuffling through the mud in search of his dark green shoes. It's not an easy task, but she gropes and feels until she finds one foot and cries Aha! before diving back for the other. She doesn't get a chance to find it though because Roland's voice stops her.
"Papa?"
What?
"Papa!"
Oh.
He is early.
Her spine straightens instantly at the one word, eyes going wide, and it's no mistake because a beat after that Robin's voice echoes in the open space as well "My boy!" the sound washes over her, and Regina realizes Roland wasn't the only one who'd been worrying. "What are you doing up this late?" a pause, Roland's giggles return "And why are you covered in dirt?" and in spite of the laugh she can hear in his voice Regina worries for a moment that he will disapprove of her indulgence then quickly brushes off the though. He lived in the goddamn woods; surely dirt is not a problem.
"Regina?" Oh great, he's seen her "Yes?" she answers, trying to keep her voice neutral and failing when the word comes out sounding like a squeak. She stands and turns to look at him, suddenly keenly aware of what she must look like: hair un-styled, in her night dress, barefoot and covered head to toe in mud. And as if she did not feel out of place enough the sight of him makes her heart leap and she scowls at the ridiculousness of it fighting the urge to hit herself over the head.
"Roland couldn't sleep so he suggested we played a bit to get him tired enough for bedtime" she speaks perhaps too quickly to sound nonchalant and Oh dear God she needs to get a grip but Robin's smile only widens as he fixes her with a soft gaze that tugs at her spine but she is strong enough to at least not return the gesture.
"It's okay" he assures her and then "But I do hope you have a way to get him clean?" he chuckles, but she catches the apology that seems to seep into his words, like he's not sure if he can ask for her magic help. He can, of course, it is no trouble and with a wave of her hand Roland is enveloped in a cloud of purple smoke and emerges clean and giggling "Do it again!" he shouts tipping back and almost falling off his father's grasp.
She raises her hand again to clean herself this time, but Robin stops her with a cry of "Wait!" as he puts his son down and knees in front of him to level their gazes "Roland why don't you go ahead, I need to speak to the Queen alone for a moment and I'll soon be there to tuck you in" the boy nods, agreeing, and looks back at her one more time with a big wide grin that melts her heart and leaves her no choice but to smile herself before running back inside, little legs wobbling awkwardly as usual.
When her eyes land on Robin again she's still smiling, but only takes notice of her own expression when he smirks knowingly "Seems like someone's got you heart, your majesty" he comments pushing himself off the ground and making his way toward where she still stands inside a mud puddle "Maybe" she answers, once again trying and failing to seem uncaring and he chuckles at her poor attempt "Don't bother, he pulls at everyone's heartstrings"
When he crosses the line of trees just past the entrance stepping out of their shade and into the torch lights that surround the garden her breath catches at the sight, the slight curve of lips that still lingered from her memory of Roland fading slowly as she takes in his bruised face, slashed and cut in more places than she can count How had Roland not noticed that? The realization that he probably did notice but had seen his father come home like that too many times already to still worry hit her not a split second later.
This is her first time though and she finds it difficult to act the same.
"What happened?" she frowns, concern marking her features as she tries to pull her feet from the mud making ridiculous sloshing sounds that actually anger her and she raises a hand again to rid herself of the dirt but before she can complete the spell his fingers wrap around her wrist and lower her arm gently before letting go "Hold on a bit" he whispers.
Now that he is up close she can see every gash marking his skin, none seem too deep, the most worrisome one is a red line oozing blood from temple to neck that she subconsciously reaches out to touch before thinking better of it and letting her hand fall away "What happened to you?" she asks, narrowing her eyes and to her dismay he chuckles "Am I mistaken or do you seem worried about me, your majesty?" she rolls her eyes Typical "Answer me" it's clearly a demand and the tone seems to throw him off as she knew it would, it is the first time he's ever heard her Evil Queen voice and it's hard not to smirk at the satisfaction of having at least someone to whom that side of her still hasn't lost its power.
"We were attacked, that is why the early arrival" he answers, seeming a bit conflicted at the perspective of just having followed an order "Flying monkeys?" she questions and he nods, confirming. Regina huffs out a frustrated breath "Green bitch" she mutters and he agrees again with another nod "It was some fight, but I killed two, the men got four more, no one is dead but…" he trails off and for a second she sees something dark flicker behind his blue eyes "A man lost his leg" Oh. "You think it's your fault?" it's blunt but she doesn't care and neither does he apparently, just scowls and lets his sight go vague for a moment like he's seeing something other than the present.
"I was leading the party" he answers after a few seconds "It is my fault" The damn code she thinks and has to exercise some serious self control to keep from rolling her eyes "The only beings to blame are the ones who did the deed and the one who gave the order" she pauses, and looks for his eyes to lock their stares before completing "I would know, I've been both"
Robin opens his mouth to question but something catches his eye and his thoughts diverge "You are covered in mud" he points out suddenly, giving Regina a once over that makes her shift uncomfortably with the intensity of it "Well, you would too if you'd been running after a four-year-old in these puddles" she says defensively and he smiles "I think this is the nicer I've ever seen you look" their eyes meet again, and there it is, the softness of the way he's always looking at her, like she's his favorite thing Absolutely ridiculous she thinks, but feels her heart stutter traitorously all the same.
"Well, I can fix the leg" she says, to get herself out of this dangerous situation they always seem to find themselves in "Healing is not my strong suit but I can manage" he smiles so widely and so beautifully her breath catches "Would you?" and there it is again, the hesitation about magic "I would, as long as you brought the leg back" he nods, says they have and smiles that big grin again that makes her legs feel a little bit less steady.
"Well then, I better get clean and get going. Night thief" she says and means to walk away but he catches her forearm and she stops "What?" he takes a step backwards to face her again and with Regina barefoot their heights have a considerable gap that allows him to actually look down on her "Thank you for watching Roland" he says "You're welcome" she answers and then "Your hand will be dirty now" he looks at where he's still grasping her arm and lets go to look at his palm, true, it has a coat of mud now as well.
"Interesting" he whispers, grinning mischievously before reaching out and wiping some of it on her cheeks, the only bits of her that hadn't been tainted yet, and jumping back before she can react. "What did you just do?" she asks looking absolutely dumfounded and he starts laughing so hard his body trembles with the force if it "Don't you look adorable" he teases and her mouth falls open with indignation.
"I'm going to kill you thief" she growls, her cheeks underneath the mud tinted pink with outrage and she raises a hand, waves it and then he is falling on the puddles himself, back hitting the dirt and she's there throwing mud balls at his front.
He wiggles trying to get away from her aim but the surface is too slippery so instead he grabs her foot and pulls it from underneath her body and Regina comes down, a mud ball still in hand but he'd managed to at least sit upright and breaks the worst of the fall by catching her waist.
"One assumes you'd have better reflexes" he teases again and she elbows his ribs, makes him let go of his grasp on her and she falls sitting on the mud as well. "Did you seriously grab my foot?" she asks, less anger now and more amusement and he shrugs "The opportunity presented itself and I took it" he says simply and she snorts a laugh "That was literally a low blow" she points out "I'm a thief what did you expect" he tries to push himself off the ground but his hand slips and he crashes down again landing flat on his back.
She laughs and the first thing that crosses his mind is that he'd do it again just to hear that sound one more time.
"You have a beautiful laugh" he can't help the comment as much as he knows it only draws her away when he says things like that, to soften the excess of honesty in his words though, he looks straight up and away from where she sits to let her take it as she wishes.
Regina doesn't answer and he doesn't mind the silence, had not expected her to say anything in the first place "I think we better actually get going now" he says after a few more moments of laying there in the quiet "And if you don't mind could you take care of the leg now, the man is in extraordinary pain" he adds, not sure if this is too much to ask of her "Sure" she mutters and he realizes she's withdrawn again and feels a pang of regret for not being able to hold his tongue.
"Okay" he whispers and starts to push off the ground more successfully this time and stands stretching out a hand to help her once he's on his feet. Regina doesn't take it as usual (he will keep trying though) and prefers to stand on her own. "I think we better get clean" she says and this time he doesn't stop her when she waves a hand and they both disappear in purple smoke and emerge mud-free.
"Let's get going" she says leading the way inside and Robin follows but she stops as they're about the enter the shades of the trees by the entrance "Wait" she turns to face him and stares for a few seconds reconsidering her decision before shrugging off her doubts and reaching to touch his cheek with her index finger.
Robin feels his skin ripple and warm at her touch, literally, and soon the uncomfortable tingling of his wounds is gone and she lets go "We rolled on mud, it could've festered" she explains before turning her back on him again and continuing to walk. He smiles before doing the same.