Stream of consciousness, again.

This was SO HARD to write. Regina's POV was so easy, since it was an easy connection, but this wasn't. Robin is kind of an enigma to me. There are so many different ways Robin could have reacted...I wanted to choose one that seemed the most realistic to me. I don't intend for Robin to come off douche-y here in any way.

I own nothing.

"I didn't know."

"Of course you didn't. Well, you just better hope to hell you didn't bring anything else back."

He was so wrapped up in relishing in the contact with his newly reunited family, the words came to him as though muffled by water.

Once the words sunk in, however, once he registered whose voice he heard, and once he discerned the hurt that was not so subtly concealed behind the biting words, the feeling of absolute elation that had come with coming face to face with Marian again - his Marian - dissipated and was replaced with one of bewilderment.

Before he could even attempt to figure out what that sudden feeling meant, he looked up from the embrace of his wife and son and saw that she had vanished in a puff of purple smoke.

His mind reeled.

He could only imagine the state she must be in, he just hadn't had time to think or process very well what the sudden reappearance of Marian meant to him...and what it would mean for them.

He slowly disentangled himself from the familial embrace, and gazed at the spot where Regina had been standing, mouth slightly agape, shocked at the turn of events.

From the corner of his eye, in a way that seemed much more distant than the few inches that it really was, he saw and heard Marian whispering into their son's ear how much he had grown since she had last seen him, how she had missed him, how she would do everything in her power to make sure they would never be parted again.

For so long, he had suffered over the loss of Marian. He had believed her to be dead, he had felt guilty thinking that it had all been his fault. But here she was. Safe, alive, holding their child to her and stroking Roland's hair.

He turned from the spot where Regina had been standing and guided Marian and his son into the booth where he had been sitting before.

Before he caught sight of his wife.

Before, he realized, he had inflicted a wound on Regina's heart. A heart already so battered and bruised. He ached to comfort her...

But, his wife was here!

He knew the next few days would be rough. He would have to make a choice, and someone's heart would have to be shattered.

Robin was torn.

Would he pick his family, or the woman with whom he had spent the last few days and who had made him glow with the prospect of new love and a second chance? The woman who had borne his child, or the woman whose heart he had rescued, and until now, whose heart he had endeavoured to get to know completely and to always protect?

As he watched Roland animatedly telling Marian about his growing archery skills, he realized that with Roland's existence, any decision he had to make would be even more difficult.

His beautiful boy deserved his mother. He deserved a happy family. After all, that's what they had been up until Marian's disappearance.

When had everything gotten so complicated?

The past few days he had spent with Regina in Storybrooke had been the happiest days of his life since the days he had had with Marian back in the Enchanted Forest.

Even before Storybrooke, when they had met in the Enchanted Forest, Regina had perplexed and attracted him. Even then, they had shared a connection. He had been sure she had felt it too. Why else would she had tried so hard to keep him at arm's length with her snide remarks? The different manifestations of their relationship in the Enchanted Forest and in Storybrooke replayed in his mind, even as he tried to focus on his family in front of him. He hadn't dared to hope that Regina would ever let her guard down as she had on that night when they broke into her castle together, and yet in Storybrooke, she had entrusted her heart to him and she had opened up to him about her fears that she wasn't powerful enough to defeat her sister.

But she had wielded light magic, and he had returned her heart. Just that afternoon they had been celebrating that fact, having a little picnic on the floor of her living room. It had seemed then like they had their whole life ahead of them, to spend together. She had confessed to him that she was finally ready to open up her heart and let love in, and she was ready to do that with him. The way she had teared up when she told him what they had was more than she had ever allowed herself to hope for, the way she had smiled into their kisses in a way that he could feel her happiness, the way that she had played with Roland and bought him ice cream before they had walked into the diner, it all replayed through his mind.

And then this?

It didn't seem fair.

Not to him, and definitely not for her. He could see that.

He cared for her, that was for certain. Up until a few minutes ago, he had felt complete excitement at the prospect of care turning to love - by this point, it had come so close to that - as they spent their days together, he had hoped the rest of their lives would be full of such euphoria. Her confession about his tattoo and what Tinkerbell had said kept rushing back into his mind. When she had revealed that detail, looking up at him from under her lashes and running her fingers over his tattoo, the temporary dread that he wasn't the one Tinkerbell had led her to had been replaced with giddiness.

But what could it possibly mean now? They were supposed to be each other's second chance, but what was supposed to happen when the first chance suddenly came back and was still possible?

Again, looking at Roland, the little boy he loved with his entire being, he knew what the honourable thing to do would be.

Love meant sacrifice.

He had made a promise to Marian all those years ago, and he always made sure to keep his promises.

Yes, the thief had honour.

He still loved her. He would always love her. But that did not mean that he could ignore the sense of loss that had started to take root the second he saw the purple smoke taking Regina away.

He would figure it all out, eventually. He would go find Regina; he couldn't let her think she had been completely forgotten, or that his feelings for her had just disappeared. But he would have to make her understand, somehow. It wouldn't be easy, especially since he had come to feel deeply for her, and knew that she felt the same for him.

For now, however, he would relish in taking the opportunity he had never thought he would have again. He would have dinner with Roland and his mother, like a proper family.

Yes, he would have dinner with his family, but even the happiness he felt at seeing Marian again could not abate the intense, ever present gnawing in his stomach of what he would have to do come morning.

Author's Note: (I may have teared up while writing this.)

This story was just supposed to be a one shot of Regina, but your awesome and wonderful reviews encouraged me to write more! Thank you so much for all of your kind words! I never thought it would get such a great response.

I'm sorry for making you sad! It's just such a messy situation, and there's no easy way out. I can't see Marian just dying, because then Regina is the second choice, and I can't see Robin picking Regina over Marian immediately, because he would be too honourable for that or whatever.

THE SITUATION SUCKS.

Don't worry, if I continue this, it will end with happy!Outlaw Queen.

Next chapter will probably be a short conversation between Marian and Robin. The chapter after that will be the first meeting, I promise.

Again, thank you so much for your reviews, favourites, and follows!:)