Chapter 1
The air buzzes with electricity, there's a crack of noise that breaks the silence of the night. Robin merges from the portal. Regina lets out the breath she didn't know she was holding in, she turns to him and can't stop how her arms wrap around him and hold him tight. "I thought you didn't make it, it's been minutes" the hug is a long one, she just can't let go, afraid that if she did something will come and snatch him up, like that damn fury. She lets him go and steps away, all to aware of the space between them. "I'm sorry" She feels a flush of embarrassment, she's only known this man for a couple of hours.
"It's alright." The way he looks at her, so understanding, it's like he knows her pain. For a split second Regina forgets that this man is not hers.
"So where are we?" Robin looks around, he's in a forest, but it's not the same as any he'd ever seen in the EF, he looks up to try to get his bearings by the stars but he can't see any, only a small few, everything is bright and loud, there is noise he just barely can hear… it's a humming, a static humming that runs up his spine and into his temples. This world doesn't smell the same, the air is thick, not like the fresh air he's used to and he has a slight feeling like he can't breathe but then she smiles at him, leads him to a clearing that overlooks a village of lights. He's doub-founded, so many torches- "Robin of Locksley, welcome to Storybrooke" Regina is beaming with pride, her smile lights up the forest and even though this world is strange and Robin feels out of place, he will try to adjust, even if it's just for her.
She tries to explain to him how the lights work, while he follows her through the forest- not magic but electricity, no flame but an invisible power that illuminates glass bulbs, Robin is not new to magic but magic on this grand scale leaves him a bit in awe.
As they turn onto Mifflin Street, Regina lets out a mini sigh of relief, walking all day in heeled boots has made her cranky and she would love nothing more than a hot soak in her tub and her feather bed. "You live here?" Robin asks in amazement, she doesn't need to reply as she unlatches the front gate and walks through, he follows her. "You must be pretty important." he muses.
"I'm the mayor of this town." She says with bit of a smile, she may not be proud of what she did in the Enchanted Forest, but this place is her baby and she's damn proud of it.
Her pride is short lived, "Did he live here too?" he asks curiously.
"We only had a small amount of time to live together before he died, but yes." When her Robin had come back from New York, when they did decide that they were in it together, they both had expected that they could just settle down and forget about what happened, there were moments when Regina let herself indulge in thinking about possibly living in this house, with him and their children for the rest of their lives, for always, such a pipe dream it was in hindsight.
"Lucky man" Robin says under his breath- how bad could this be?
Entering the house, Regina makes him take his shoes off on the mat and gestures that he follow, "I'll set up a room for you in the study, you can sleep there until you are settled."
Regina disappears up the stairs and reappears carrying an armful of sheets and a pillow. He takes them from her when she reaches the bottom, "here, I can help you with that." her eyes are beautiful and expressive he notices, well to be honest this isn't the first time he's noticed her eyes, the sadness in them, the pleading, this time he notices that for a split second they seem to be searching him desperately for something - it makes him feel slightly uneasy. But then she's leading him to a room at the far end of the main floor. "I hope, this is okay, you can make up a bed on that couch, the lights turn on and off using this switch-" she demonstrates by flicking the switch on and off "-and the washroom is down the hall beside the kitchen, if you get hungry there is some food in the fridge, and if you need anything else I'll be upstairs."
"Thank you Regina, I'm sure I'll be fine." Robin smiles, it gives her a knot in her belly.
"Okay, well have a good night." Regina hesitantly turns away as he closes the door between them.
After climbing into bed her cell buzzes quietly on her nightstand making the wood vibrate. She reaches for it, grunts a little because it's slightly out of reach and she thinks about leaving it and curling up in her bed, she's waited all day for these crisp clean sheets and blissful sleep… but then damn thing is persistent, whoever is on the other line is desperate to get a hold of her, thinking it may be Henry she gives in a reaches for it.
Mary Margaret lights up on her caller ID.
She doesn't even bother answering with a formal greeting, "News travels fast." She says under her breath before answering. At least it's not Henry, still it's late.
"Are you kidding, this is biggest thing to happen in a while… David left me a note telling me everything that happened … where is he?" Snow's been feeling a little left out bing on the 'the night shift' as her and David have resigned to calling their situation.
"He's set up in the study."
"Can I come over first thing tomorrow morning?" She's well rested and chirpy, but at least she's in good spirits considering that she is once again cursed, there is one thing Regina will admit she admires in Snow, regardless what happens to her she remains optimistic.
But still, even though this was a spontaneous turn of events, she's sure that this Robin wouldn't appreciate a an early morning gawker, even if she has good intentions. "He's not a circus attraction."
"I know but I thought you might want to talk about it. I'll be there early" Snow too bubbly and all Regina wants to do is sleep right now, she will say anything to make Snow shut up and let her sink back into bed…. Wait how early is early. "How early?"
"I have to wake David up for his shift at nine so eight?."
"Eight?!" Nope, nope, nope, she plans to still be sound asleep… sleep, oh god she just wants to sleep, Regina yawns, She has no energy to argue with Snow, who is well rested and in a better mindset for negotiation.
"I'm under a sleeping curse, this is only entertainment I have on the night shift." Whatever, as long as you stop talking right now and let me sleep, Regina thinks but she can only mumble, "Fine… but I'm not your personal soap opera." Snow says something in retort but by then Regina's head has hit the pillow and everything's gone black, there's a faint "Hello? Regina?." before beep beep beep, she's too far gone to care.
/
Tick
Tick
Tick
Tick
The sound reverberates in Robin's head, the sound is loud and unrelenting. It's too bright, he's not used to this much light, there are torches- no lights outside that are constantly burning. It makes it damn hard for him to sleep, the internal ticking coming from some contraption making it even harder for him to keep his sanity. So Robin doesn't sleep, not really.
This place is a far cry from what he's used to and in the dead of night, and the ticking becoming increasingly unbearable, he thinks that maybe this was a bad idea. But then he thinks of Regina's sad eyes, when she looks at him, she's so beautiful, if any version of him was that lucky enough to love someone like her, he could certainly tough out these inconveniences just for a shot at the same.
When the sun starts to lighten up the horizon and the thing that was ticking away all night comes to life and starts screaming he damn near loses all the patience he has not to storm out, thankfully Regina comes in a moment later and turns the wretched thing off but he's still on edge.
As much as this seemed like a good turn of events last night, he's feeling more cooped up and irritated by the second.
/
Snow shows up fifteen minutes early. It's a good thing Regina has always been a bit of a morning owl, well that and she's been getting up at the crack of dawn since Henry was a baby so it's become almost like an everyday habit to rise with the sun. She's dressed and makeup and hair done long before seven thirty. She has enough time to put on a pot of tea, check on Robin, who's also awake, woken up by an alarm clock, she makes her apologies and brings him some clean clothes, some things of Robin's that she's hoping will fit him. By then Snow has made herself a tea and set herself up in the dining room.
"I know you already know this, but he can't replace Robin." Snow before Regina even has a chance to sit down with her at the table.
"I know. I'm not replacing anyone. " Regina says a bit defensively.
Thankfully Snow doesn't choose to dwell on that topic, "Okay then, so I guess now that is out of the way….. Why did you bring him here?"
"He wanted a fresh start, he was kind of a bad guy in his world and he would have ended up ether dead or on the run because of me." Regina fiddles with the handle of her cup, it's too hot to drink so she fidgets, turns it slightly back and tries to decide if the feeling she currently feels is a bit of shame or regret or both.
"Oh so you decided to bring this 'bad guy' here.?" Snow's tone is a bit accusatory, but not in a very serious way. It's not like Robin is on par with any of the other threats they are currently dealing with, like her double, who she's be notified has been turned into a snake and it currently being kept in the Charmings Loft…. Why they would choose to keep her so close is beyond logic.
"He's not 'bad', he's made poor choices in his world but it's not any different than me, you trusted me too when you shouldn't have.." She really should have thought of the consequences of bringing Robin back to this world, of course Snow would question her choices by at the time they seemed like the most human thing to do, even Emma was encouraging, it's not like she made the decision for him, he chose to come here, "...maybe I want to have hope that there is a good man in him." There is absolutely nothing in his behavior she's seen that suggests that he's anything but maybe rough around the edges and a bit selfish. He decided to trust her after all, gave her his lucky feather, thinking about that makes her cheeks flush a bit.
Snow looks at her with a sly smile, Regina catches it when she looks up. It's pointed, Snow wanted her to notice it, like she's calling her out, "What?" "why are you looking at me like that?"
'Oh no reason….." Snow takes a smug sip of tea, takes a few seconds longer, to keep her friend in suspense. "A year ago a certain thief may have thought the same about a former Evil Queen." Regina scoffs, then her mood shifts to something a bit sad. "If only we hadn't spent so much time fighting, then maybe we could have had more time together."
"Don't beat yourself up over that, we were all going through hard times in the Missing Year, it's not your fault." Snow says sympathetically.
'I know," it was her fault, Regina knows she wasn't in the right mindset for love then, and he was very trusting of her, almost too trusting. She treated him poorly and he had no right to think of her as anything but ornery and unapproachable. She vows to herself not to do the same to Wish Robin. She would try to understand him, to accept him as he is.
"Regina, I trust your instincts, if you think he deserves a chance, then he does. I'm just worried." Snow reaches across the table and grabs Regina's hand, Regina briefly wonders how they got to this point, to where they could hold hands like best friends, Snow gives her hand a squeeze then retreats, drinks more of her tea… she's thinking, her forehead always scrunches when she thinks, "Have you told him he has a son?"
For a moment Regina is speechless,'Roland isn't his son." She's thought about Roland, in the dungeon when Robin was asking about his doubles life, she could not tell him about his son, it's not that she didn't think it was relevant, but because there was a flicker of something dark, not jealousy but possessiveness. "Also he's in another realm and… telling him would…. maybe he'd want to be there instead of here."
"You can't keep it from him in good conscious, it would be his choice if he wants to get to know a son he could have had with the woman he loved."Snow studies Regina for a moment, waiting for her response, there's something else there, maybe judgement, Regina can't decide.
"I know, I'll tell him, I just need to find the right moment."
Their conversation is halted when Robin opens the door to the study and steps out, seeing him nearly knocks the air out of Regina. Seeing him in Robin's clothes is almost too much. She mentally kicks herself for giving him Robin's clothes, she should have went out and got him some new ones, ones that don't tug at her heart and remind her of what she's lost.
Snow clears her throat to break the silence, She gives Regina that look again, just to hit home the conversation they just had. Then she gets up from the table, makes a polite exit "Well, I better be going. Time to get back to sleep." before leaving Robin and Regina alone in their awkwardness.
/
"Are you hungry?" Regina smiles and places a plate in front of him. The smell of bacon immediately dulling his earlier annoyance and bad night. It's not often he'd get bacon back in the Enchanted forest. Maybe occasionally in a tavern if they had a pig roasting on the fire. But this is different, everything here is different, he's become to accept different as his new reality.
He'd moved into the room off the entrance way where he could sit and let her say goodbye to a woman who bears an uncanny resemblance to Queen Snow White, another thing that catches Robin off guard about this place.
The food was a likely a peace offering after the rough start to the morning he had. He's willing to put it all behind him and get to know her. He tries to be as polite as he can as he devours the helping of bacon and eggs in front of him. He eats like this is the first meal he's had in ages, it's not far off.
He was going to ask if she's like to sit, but she beats him to the punch, "I was hoping we could talk." he watches her sit down beside him, he is distracted by her, watches how she carefully glides her hand behind her to smooth her dress before sitting, or how she then presses her hand to her abdomen, in a way that seems both practiced and like she's preparing for the worst, he's gobsmacked by her beauty "or not, I just thought that might have questions."
He doesn't really have questions for her, not ones that they haven't already covered, like about how this new world works. He supposes he is a bit curious about the man that she loved, or how she could love a man like him.
She reaches for a book he didn't notice before, sitting on the table in front of them,"I have this book, it might help you know the man that Robin was, it has all his stories." Regina turns the story book to the page depicting Robin and Marian's wedding and pushes it across the coffee table so it's in front of him.
Robin sees the picture of Marian, stares at it for a few moments, it's been a long time since he'd seen her face, and this image, of their apparent wedding stirs something in him, anger mostly, and regret. He has anger towards this man who is not him, for being so lucky, for having everything that he lost, for having everything he could ever want. He tries his best to hide it, to push it down into some deep dark place where it belongs. There is hope there too, they haven't really discussed Marian, just in passing, there is a sudden swell of hope in his chest that maybe in this land she's still alive. "You said you knew Marian, is she here too?"
/
The pang of possessiveness Regina has returns briefly, but she finds a way to stamp it down. Her heart may be free of darkness but she's not absolved from her natural dark impulses.
"No" In hindsight, if the real Marian had come back, it would have been better for them in the long run, what's one dead wife when you have true love? Regina muses. She dares to think that maybe if had it really been Marian who came back all those months ago maybe her Robin would still be here with her, Regina picks her words carefully, this Robin doesn't need to know all the horrible details. "She died long ago too, long before we all came here. Robin spoke of her a lot. She was quite an inspiration to him. She made him the hero he was." she watches him as he lowers his head, defeated.. It just then occurs to her that's maybe why he came here, for Marian and not for her, she feels embarrassed and stupid.
He looks up at her, his blue eyes filled with a bit of sadness, "You seem like you've turned your life around too?" The way he looks at her, makes it hard for her to keep eye contact. He's so genuine, curious. She wonders just how much he knows about the Evil Queen in his realm.
"Yes, he helped show me the best person I could be, he showed me that I was worthy of love." The air between them becomes too thick, the silence is deafening. Regina knows that this is a bit too personal, she really shouldn't be telling him this. He's curious, and patient and he makes her think that this vulnerability she she feels is okay.
There is a lightness about her now that the Evil Queen is gone, but it's laced with timidness, she misses her edge, her fire, she doesn't feel as deeply as she used to. Robin was the one who saw past the darkness but even he appreciated her 'boldness' that the queen brought. Regina wonders how her Robin would have reacted to her cutting out her darkness, would she have even needed to if he was still here? No, with him she didn't need to be anything but who she was. She admits that cutting out the dark part of herself is something she did because she was grieving the loss of him. She regrets having done anything so drastic.
"The story of you and him, it's not in the book." Robin tries to break the awkward silence, the dead weight hanging over them. It pulls he back to the present, he's looking at her imploringly. But still, she doesn't really know what to say.
"No, I suppose it's not." Regina says mournfully.
He seems to understand, he says a bit regretfully, "You will have to tell me about it sometime."
/
Robin flips through the book landing on a page highlighting Robin Hood's exploits, a page of script with a drawing of Robin Hood and the Merry Men sharing what seems like a fair amount of gold with poor villagers, that kind of gold could have set him up nicely and here is the image of himself giving it away like it were nothing, "Everything is so different here, I can't imagine myself doing any of these things."
This man is not him, he's sitting here with the Evil Queen who is not evil, not like he remembers her, he wonders if everyone in this land is the better versions of the people in his land. Flips the page, sees Nottingham, wonders if he's some pinnacle of heroism in this backwards land too. He flips through the book, gets to that part where something is the same, see's who he knows as the Evil Queen threatening a group of peasants in a village, "Is this you?"
"A long time ago yes, but I'm sure that the version of me that you know is quite different."
The Queen he knew in his world was cold and malicious, She had hunted Snow White but had been defeated and banished to another realm, after that no one cared to even think about what had happened to the Evil Queen, he supposes she must have died somewhere. "Queen Snow, she defeated you. It's hard not to feel puzzled after seeing the two of you talking this morning. In my land you were sworn enemies."
"We were in mine as well, but things have come along way."
"The tales about you in my world… well, you surprise me." He hadn't seen the Queen many times in his experience, or even that close. But in the height of her reign of terror he always felt a connection to her, he spent a great amount of time pissed off at the world and fate that had failed him, and seeing others get magical intervention, he can't say it didn't bother him, so when one day when this fiery queen showed up and threatened to destroy everyone's happy endings, he's a bit ashamed to admit that he was rooting for her.
"Me? why would I surprise you?" Regina's expression is one of shock and confusion.
Robin shrugs, "you took what you wanted"
"you didn't see me as a villain?"
Somehow she's not put off but the revelation that he admired the Evil Queen, and that makes him more trusting of her, she's not utterly repulsed by him, which he was expecting, Maybe this will work. If she was even half the Evil Queen he knew then maybe she wouldn't look down on him, maybe the could find some fire in common. He decides to test this possible connection, he dares to lean slightly closer to her, "Bold, maybe, and ruthless, but fierce." she's look at him again with her sad hurting eyes, but there is something else there too, a hint of fire. Her eyes fall to his lips, he thinks about kissing her, "I want to get to know you, all of you." He whispers between them.
She leans forward closing the distance between them...
Ding dong