Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon a Time or any of the characters. I'm new to this particular fandom – CuriousArcher, MadArcher, whatever you want to call it. I mean, how hard was it to not love Robin and Alice? They're totally adorable! Thanks, OUaT! Any and all mistakes are mine.

Chapter 1

Robin's head was pounding like a drum, but she didn't care. Her arms were locked around the woman she loved; hands fisted in Alice's clothing. I'm never letting go. Her eyes were closed hard and her face buried in the crook of the blonde woman's neck. She inhaled deeply a few times, taking in the familiar and not so familiar scents of her lover. It had been far too long since she could do this. For her part, Alice was holding on to Robin just as tightly. Tears of joy flowed freely and soaked into the archer's shirt, but neither woman cared.

However, when Alice reached her hand up to cradle the back of Robin's head, her love gasped in pain and flinched away from the touch.

"Sorry!" Alice murmured. She'd forgotten about Robin's head wound.

Not all that long ago, the archer had come to her rescue when she'd been set upon by a band of would-be thieves. Lucky for her, but not so lucky for them, Robin was the very best with a bow that Alice had ever seen. Still, one of the group had gotten the drop on her and hit her over the back of the head, knocking her out and giving her a rather large lump on her skull.

Before her brain had even caught up to what she was doing, Alice felt her magic flow out of her and envelope the bump in cold that was not quite icy. Robin let out a groan and then sighed and relaxed against Alice.

"Thanks," she managed.

"Better?"

"Mmm-hmm. What'd you do?" The pain was gone and the headache lessened. Robin reached up to feel her head, but Alice's gentle touch stopped her.

"I'm not sure," Alice confessed, a little sheepishly. "I just wanted to take away the pain. My magic did the rest."

Slowly, Robin pulled back and looked intently at her lover. "It's really you?" The Alice of this realm hadn't believed that she had magic and had therefore never used it. Her Alice was only starting to learn how to use her magic - after she'd turned an evil witch into a tree to save everyone she knew and loved.

Alice nodded emphatically. "It's me."

Robin pulled her down, locking their lips together in the kind of kiss she'd been thinking about for weeks. Alice responded in kind, letting out a little whimpering moan and tightening her hold around the archer. The kiss intensified after only a short time, both women feeling a desperate need to reconnect.

They parted only when breathing became absolutely necessary, resting their foreheads together and staring into each other's eyes. "I… God, I missed you." Robin said, when she could. "I was afraid… I didn't think I'd ever get you back."

Alice made a sound in the back of her throat and nuzzled her nose against the archer's. "I'm sorry you thought that, love. She was starting to believe in you, though. She wanted to believe. She'd never been in love before, so she wasn't sure what it felt like."

"She wasn't you." Robin replied. "She… just wasn't."

"I know." The blonde used her fingertips to gently massage the back of Robin's neck, away from the horrible lump. "But it doesn't matter. She's not here. I am." Oh, she still had the other Alice's memories - the same way she had Tilly's. She'd checked and, sure enough, she could still recall what it was like to be Tilly.

"Yes, you are."

This time, Alice helped Robin to lie down on the ground, while their mouths danced and hands started to move. When Robin's head touched the ground though, she winced hard. The adventurer stopped her assault, making the archer groan in disappointment as she sat back and pulled Robin into a sitting position with her.

"I'm afraid we may have to hold off," Alice said, her voice stern, but disappointed. "I'm worried about your 'ead."

"I'm fine. It just hurts a little."

"A little?"

"Okay, it hurts a lot. What happened, anyway?"

Alice grimaced as she recalled the cause of her love's injury. "You were very brave." She assured Robin. "But one of the thieves got the drop on you. Hit you in the 'ead and knocked you out cold."

Robin tilted her head to one side. "You kissed me while I was unconscious?"

Alice blushed furiously. "I couldn't think of any other way to wake you up. I was afraid that you were seriously hurt. She read books, ya know. True Love's Kiss - as long as the people involved really believe - can even bring back the dead. So, she figured that it could help wake you up, too. She just had to really believe in the curse."

"And you did. Even if it was only for a second or two, you accepted it." Robin grinned. "Well, she did. You always believed in us. Reminds me of a little of Snow White and Prince Charming, don't you think?"

Alice smiled back. "We'll always know each other - even when we don't." She quoted herself. "I was just a little slower on the uptake this time."

Robin chuckled at that, then winced and held her head in her hand, closing her eyes. Alice put a hand on the bump on Robin's head again. To her, it felt smaller, but that might have been wishful thinking. Once again, her magic acted on its own and the icy coolness spread from her hand to the sore spot. When she saw the pain ease away from her love's features, she removed her hand.

"Thanks."

Alice leaned down and pressed her lips to Robin's forehead.

Knowing a little about head wound care, the archer let Alice use her own rolled sleeping mat and blanket to prop her up, but still leave her in a reclining position while she made them something to eat.

Robin, suddenly feeling parched, took the flask out of her belt and said in a mutter, "Ice water." The metal grew colder in her hand and she twisted the top off, tipping the freezing water down her dry throat. Alice made a sound of surprise that caused the archer to stop drinking and look at her.

"Is something wrong?" Robin asked, worry in her voice.

"Th-That's Papa's flask. He's had it for as long as I can remember. How did…" She turned and her lower lip started to tremble. "Is -" She couldn't finish.

In her current state, it took Robin a horrified second or two to understand why her girlfriend suddenly looked like she was about to crumple.

"He's alive!" She blurted, not knowing how better to assure Alice.

Alice swallowed hard at the lump that had formed in her throat. "A-Alive? He's ok-kay?"

Robin sat slowly up and held out her arms. Alice was there almost instantly, arms so tight around the archer's ribs that it hurt, but she ignored that. Instead, she stroked Alice's hair and told her what had happened and how her father had been saved.

The adventurer listened intently, silent tears of both happiness and sorrow leaked from her closed eyes. She breathed in and out slowly and methodically while she took it all in. When Robin was finished talking, she just sat and rubbed soothingly at Alice's back.

"Papa is alive, but Rumple's gone?" She finally asked, her voice thick with emotion.

"Yeah. I'm sorry, sweetheart. I wish it were some other way. I know he was your friend." What Robin didn't know was why Alice had been friends with the crazy old man in the first place. Or maybe she did? It was sort of fuzzy when she tried to think about it.

"He… He was more than a friend. Do you know his story?" Alice finally looked up into Robin's face. "Do you know about Belle?"

Robin nodded solemnly. She'd read Henry's book, too. "He gave up being the Dark One because he loved her. I met Gideon, his son, a few times when they still lived in Storybrooke. He's close to my age, I think. Anyway, yes. I know that all Rumplestiltskin wanted was to be with Belle."

Alice moved her head up and down once. "He had the chance, once. He was going to give up his dagger - he wanted to give it to someone who wouldn't be corrupted by it."

"Oh, yeah! The Guardian! That was you! Wait, how could I have forgotten that? Oh god, am I getting amnesia?" Robin suddenly felt a little bit scared. When she did, her head started to pound again. "Ow." She whimpered.

Alice couldn't help her chuckle. "Easy there, my love. The reason you are forgetting 'The Guardian' is because the Dark One - the really bad one - wiped it out of existence. You aren't going mad." She soothed.

"And why do you know that? Why do you remember?"

Alice shrugged. "I don't know. But I sort of have a theory."

"Gonna tell me?" Robin teased. "Or do I have to guess?"

Unsure how to put it into words, Alice began, "Do you remember when Tilly told Margot that she had bad days?"

"Yes."

"What Tilly didn't tell her was that she was on medication. It's what kept me being Tilly instead of Alice. I went off them once and shot Weaver - because Rumple told me I would have to if the tea cup didn't work. I was almost clear headed that night - I knew all about the curse and who I really was. I knew about Victoria Belfrey and Drizella. But seein' all that blood, it made me really scared and I never stopped taking the pills after that until after the curse was lifted and I didn't need them anymore." Alice explained. "I think I was immune to the magic because it was my - er, Gothel's magic - and we're related by blood."

Robin listened intently to her girlfriend's explanation. It made sense in the way that most things about magic made sense. A lot or not at all. Either way, "So what does that have to do with The Guardian?"

"I felt the power leave me. When we were at Roni's, remember?"

Robin rolled her eyes. "How could I forget? That's what started all of - this." She gestured around them.

"Yeah. Anyway, I remember about the Guardian because it was me. The magic was part of me, like Tilly was part of me." The adventurer finished with another shrug.

Robin smiled at her. "That makes as much sense as anything I could come up with. Are you okay?"

The blonde nodded. "It's not really a fair trade, but he did it because he cared about me."

"He did it because it was the right thing to do. He had no idea what was going to happen, but he did it anyway. He knew that you needed your father and that Hook wouldn't give up until he found you." Robin told her. "He died a hero - at least to us."

"He'll always be a hero to me. I hope he's with Belle, now. He earned it."

"Me, too. Aunt Regina said that she believes he is. She says he was braver than all them, in the end." The archer told her.

The two women sat in thoughtful, companionable silence for a little while before Alice finally broke out of Robin's hold and went back to making dinner. Robin tried to relax and ease the pounding in her skull. She drank more water, which seemed to help a bit. She ate the food that Alice gave her in silence - except to tell her just how good it tasted.

After dinner, Alice cleaned up - going to a nearby stream to wash their dishes as quickly as possible. When she got back, she built the fire up, then she insisted on putting her spell on Robin's head once more. The archer's sigh of relief worried Alice, but she said nothing. Instead, she crawled under Robin's blanket with her, on top of her love's bedroll.

"Bloody hell!" She exclaimed. "You've been sleeping on this the entire time?"

"Mmm-hmm." Robin said. "Volume, please?"

"Right," Alice murmured quietly. "Sorry. But, honestly?" The archer giggled slightly at how offended her lover sounded. Grumbling, Alice settled again, spooning the other woman's back and wrapping an arm around her middle.

"Don't let go." Robin said, sleepily.

"Never again." Alice promised her. "Never, ever again."

Author's Note: Back together again. At last! Hope everyone liked it. Now things have really started to move forward. Cheers!