A/N: Thank you all so much for the sweet reviews it means the world to me! I am sorry about the bit of a wait but work comes first unfortunately. I am writing whenever I can though! I hope you enjoy this next chapter!
It was another half an hour before they found an acceptable spot to make rest for the night.
Roland had fallen asleep curled comfortably against Regina's shoulder not minutes after they started walking again. The strain of all the stress his small body had been put under just in the last few hours alone was too much for him to bare and he found comfort and warmth in Regina.
Regina walked toward the back of the group, letting Emma lead them through the forests so she could focus on the sleeping child. She watched him with a soft smile not even bothering to care what the rest of the group might have thought. She had not seen this much affection since Henry was this age and she missed it greatly.
She wondered why he had only called out for a father and not a mother. She wondered if he ever had a mother or if his mother had left them or passed on.
It honestly had surprised her, and pleased her, that he had not taken to Snow. Regina had found over the years that any little living thing had annoyingly flocked to the princess' side adoring the ground she walked on and that included children.
Roland, however, wanted nothing to do with her instead clinging to Regina. If she was not so occupied with the little boy she might have gloated a bit more.
Gloating could come later but for right now she was content with the heart warming feeling it gave her.
They soon reached a small spot where the ground was clear and started to settle down. Regina took a spot against one of the larger rocks near by being careful not to wake Roland. As she slid to the ground Roland shifted in her arms and mumbled something incomprehensible but soon settled back against her shoulder still fast asleep, his small body now resting across her lap.
Snow and Charming took their spot near another rock and to Snow's alarm, her husband was already half asleep as soon as they sat down.
Emma and Hook ventured into the woods to gather some firewood as Tinkerbell perched herself on a rock on the opposite side of Regina.
Regina truly never noticed how low the temperature dropped in the evenings – she was able to keep herself warm with a little simple magic but it was when Roland started to shiver in her arms that she noticed it herself.
She was grateful for the fire once it was going and that Emma had placed it a little closer to her than any of the rest of the group. The warmth of the fire helped but the small child still shivered.
She briefly heard Emma muttering something to her mother across the way and Regina glanced up to see Snow smile and nod, reaching into the backpack she'd been carrying around and pulled out a small blanket, handing it to her daughter.
Emma then walked over to Regina and offered the blanket to her with a small smile. Regina's lips twitched upwards in half a smile in return and she graciously accepted the blanket, carefully wrapping it around the sleeping boy. "Thank you."
To her surprise, Emma nodded and then took a seat directly beside her. Regina glanced at her curiously, raising her brow but the savior remained quiet just silently staring ahead at the fire already getting lost in her thoughts.
Regina also turned to look at the mesmerizing flames quickly growing brighter in the dimming light. She curled Roland tighter against her chest and smiled as he soon stopped shivering, sighing contently in his sleep.
She began to wonder what had brought him to Neverland in the first place. There was no telling how long he had been lost but she guessed it couldn't have been that long. Something had taken this boy from his father and the reason was beyond her. There was no reason for Pan to want this boy if he had Henry – for whatever reason Henry was Pan's main target and he was acquired so why was Pan still going after children? For fun?
A frown pulled at her lips as she glanced down at Roland thinking of the torture that teenage psycho would place upon such a young and innocent soul and pulled him tighter against her.
Pan had already gotten her son and she'd do anything to get him back and she'd do anything to make sure he never got Roland either.
She wasn't sure why she had taken to the little boy so quickly. She always had a little bit of a soft spot for children, especially those who were not afraid of her and she imagined that it also had to do with the fact that he reminded her of Henry. However there was something more - something she couldn't quite name but she knew that she had to protect this child.
"...Henry?"
She was pulled out of her thoughts by her son's name and turned to look at Emma who was now looking at her curiously.
"Pardon?" She asked the blonde and Emma repeated herself.
"Is this what you were like with him?" Emma nodded to the protective hold Regina was keeping on Roland and how easily he slept against her.
"Yes." Regina nodded, a slightly defensive tone rising in her voice and Emma's face softened. "When I don't feel threatened I can be quite loving."
Emma pressed her lips together, nodding softly. "It's just the way Henry talked sometimes - "
Regina sighed, her heart aching at the memory of how her son started to pull away from her in the last few years. "I am aware of that and I know the way I acted wasn't exactly convincing either but..." She shook her head, looking down at Roland. "When he was this age...he had no idea about the curse...it was just me and him and he loved me. It was when he found that stupid book that he started to realize who I was and what Storybrooke was and he started to pull away...just like that." She slowly lifted her eyes back to Emma trying to keep her expression clean of any resentment she had toward her son's birth mother. "I thought he'd eventually out grow it but then he brought you in and I thought I was going to lose him and that is what you saw - a desperate mother trying to keep her son. I love him, Emma, more than you could ever imagine. He made me - and is still making me - happier than I've been in a very, very long time and I did not want that happiness taken from me." She frowned, a certain sadness creeping into her eyes. "He may not have been happy when he found you but I promise you he was happy growing up."
Emma searched Regina's eyes for a few seconds and then a small, soft smile crossed her lips as she nodded. "He still loves you you know."
Regina's face lit up a little brighter. Henry had told her that himself just hours before he was kidnapped and the love she felt as he clutched onto her as she tried holding back the power of the diamond was too powerful to deny but it was always nice to have reassurance.
"It's...easy to believe that he could love this side of you." Emma admitted. "You care."
"I care a whole lot more than anyone ever realizes. I'm not heartless." She insisted and then continued more softly, once again focusing her attention on Roland, moving her hand to gently caress her finger against his cheek. "Quite the opposite in fact."
Emma watched her, how gentle and loving she was to a boy they had met only an hour before and imagined Henry in Roland's position. For ten years Emma imagined her son to be in the hands of someone who loved him and she stayed in Storybrooke because at first glance at Regina and the whole situation she didn't see that. She saw him rejecting Regina, she saw the flash of a threat in Regina's eyes and that was enough to prompt her to stay and see if her suspicions were right. The more she stayed the more she became convinced that Regina was only hurting Henry, "Evil Queen" or not. There was a whole nother side to Regina that she never saw, that she never gave her the chance to see and now she finally began to see. If Regina could be this loving with a boy she had just met there was no doubt she could be just as loving with a son she had lived with for ten years.
"I'm sorry." Emma voiced hesitantly after another few moments of silence and Regina looked up in surprise.
"What?"
Emma's lips pulled into a small, sheepish smile. "I don't think I've ever said that to you. I'm sorry. I don't trust people easily and at the time all I saw was that you were hurting my son and lets face it you have done some pretty bad things to him in the last year but...you do love him and I have been way too quick to judge. You nearly died sacrificing yourself for all of us and that deserves some recognition. You told me in the mines that you wanted to die as just Regina - now you have the chance to live as just Regina." She nodded to the boy in her arms. "I think you're already proving that you can.."
Regina blinked in shock at the woman beside her. Given their constant rivalry she never expected any sort of apology from her - then again she was Snow White's daughter. Regina had always found Snow's constant forgiveness of her a little irritating at times given that she was unforgivably and unregretfully trying to murder her. And just like Snow, Regina had just wanted Emma gone so she could have Henry to herself.
Regina was still angry at Snow - now more than ever for what she did to her mother but Emma...she was learning to tolerate Emma. Henry adored her and she accepted that Emma would not leaving him. Having Emma willing to forgive and even trust and respect her should not mean anything to her but it did. If Henry's birth mother could forgive her, even after all she'd done, then perhaps not all hope was lost for everyone else.
"Thank you." She whispered and Emma smiled softly in return. A small smile twitched at Regina's lips which she quickly turned away from Emma and down to Roland.
Emma brought her legs up to her chest as night descended over Neverland bringing along with it a chill and she held her hands out towards the fire.
A comfortable silence fell upon the group as they sat around the fire. David had long since fallen asleep against his wife's shoulder and Snow took turns looking between him and her daughter who was curiously still sitting next to Regina.
Hook took to drawing lines in the dirt with his hook, every once in a while stealing glances over to Emma.
Tinkerbell had moved to ground level, leaning on the rock she was previously sitting on and was now focused fully on the fire.
Minutes passed without a word and no one seemed to mind until Emma broke the silence.
"So what about that plan?"
Regina once again was torn from Roland and glanced over at Emma and all the others turned their heads.
"Shouldn't we think of something now so we can continue in the morning?"
"Yes." Snow agreed quietly as she ran her fingers through David's hair careful not to wake him. "But what?"
"Well Snow is right." Regina admitted. "There is no way we can take him with us."
"And leaving him behind is obviously not an option." Emma said and then sighed with a small shrug.
"The only thing I can think of is we find someplace safe and someone stays with him while the rest of us continue on."
"That's actually a good idea." Regina said. "Now the question is who's going to watch him?" She glanced down at Roland, gently cradling his head in her palm and he snuggled into the warmth of her hand.
"It seems the only one he trusts is you." Emma offered quietly and Regina frowned as she lifted her head.
"Are you asking me to stay behind?"
"I'm not asking anything." Emma replied. "Just stating the facts. Maybe he'll be better in the morning but...look, I'm definitely not staying behind, we need Tinkerbell to lead us in there and I really wouldn't trust Hook with a child."
"I feel like I should be offended." The pirate spoke from his place around the fire and Emma shot a look over her shoulder at him.
"That leaves you and Mary Margaret and David." Emma finished turning back to her.
Regina glanced over the flames to Snow and her husband and remembered how Roland had reacted to her and frowned. He was frightened and just need to calm down and Emma was right he could be better in the morning around other people but she hated the thought of leaving him with anyone he wasn't comfortable with.
She also hated the thought of not being there to rescue Henry. She needed to protect Roland, she promised herself she would but Henry would always be her first priority and she would go insane sitting behind while Emma and the two idiots rescued her son. If she could help it she wanted to be the first person Henry saw.
"We could do it." Snow said with a nod. "I'd be happy to if it will protect an innocent child from Pan."
Regina held Roland that much closer to her chest but after a moment, nodded in agreement. "Very well. We shall see how he reacts to you in the morning."
"And if he doesn't react well?"
"We'll cross that bridge if we come to it." Regina answered shortly.
"You said you wanted to make a plan-"
Regina narrowed her eyes slightly. "We've made a plan. You will stay behind with Roland."
"Yes but there is a chance he may not be comfortable around me."
"Well he doesn't really have to be." Emma butted in with a shrug. "As long as you have an eye on him he'll be safe, he doesn't have to be curled up in your arms."
Snow pressed her lips together. "Regina doesn't seem too happy to be willing to do that."
"She'll have to be if she doesn't want to do it herself." Emma glanced over at Regina raising her brow pointedly and Regina frowned, shooting a look at mother and daughter.
Emma sighed heavily. "You know you can't have everything. We can't take him with us, you don't want to stay behind with him, and you don't want to leave him with anyone else. I don't see any other options here."
Regina closed her eyes for a moment, letting out a sigh. "No, you're right..."
"It's not only your duty to protect him, Regina." Emma continued more softly. "He's not your son but your son is out there and he needs help."
Regina bit down on her lip softly, opening her eyes to look upon the sweet, peaceful sleeping face of Roland. "Fine." She relented. "He will stay with Snow."
Emma nodded and glanced over to her mother for one last confirmation and she nodded.
"Okay, great, we have a plan. We'll start at dawn." She met Regina's eyes one last time and then pushed herself up, retreating to the other side of the fire to sit with her parents.
Regina looked over to the family with slightly narrowed eyes a small twinge of jealousy tugging at her heart. It seemed whatever she did Snow White and her family were always taking something from her. She tried to push back that feeling for once knowing that Emma was right - she couldn't have it both ways.
Leaving Roland with Snow was the best option for his safety and she cared about that most of all.
And no matter what she'd always have the image of Roland shying away from Snow and coming to her in her head.
Smirking to herself she wrapped the blanket tighter around Roland and shifted his weight carefully as to not wake him.
She closed her eyes, gently lowering her head to rest on top of his and listened to the sound of the fire crackling and Roland's soft, even breathing until she fell asleep.
