And now I'm laughing at myself for saying this would be 'a short conversation', because I'm not even finished and it's over 3500 words. I decided to divide it, so here's the first part, I'll upload the second part (the much more emotional part so far yikes) tomorrow morning/early afternoon.

Before I got to the first meeting, I felt like I had to show how Robin deals with Marian's return, and how they catch up. Hence, this and the next chapter.

I own nothing

"Robin," she said with a smile as she reached across the table to hold his hand, "when did you become so quiet?"

Apparently, the excitement of seeing his mother again and trying to fill her in on all that she had missed in his life had the little boy with the dark curls all tuckered out, as he was snuggling into his mother's side with his eyes closing and reopening. His wife's question pulled him from his thoughts, and he forced a smile with his reply, "Well, my dear, with a son whose mouth goes a mile a minute at all hours of the day..."

Marian chuckled and brushed her fingers through Roland's hair with her free hand.

He watched her slight smile slowly turn into a frown as she gazed down at Roland.

"How long has it been since you last saw me, Robin?" she whispered, forehead wrinkling. She had only been on the run for four months when the Princess had rescued her from the Evil Queen's dungeon, but Roland seemed to have grown much more than he possibly could have in such a short span of time, and glancing around the diner at the strange new world she had suddenly found herself in, she couldn't exactly see how her boys could have found themselves there so soon after that. Marian was a clever woman, and she was also perceptive. It wasn't just Roland's growth that had made her wary enough to ask such a question. Once the initial feeling of absolute elation of seeing each other again for the first time had ebbed a little, she had sensed the slightest distance begin to grow between herself and Robin. She couldn't quite put her finger on the cause of that feeling, but she noticed that her husband's mind had wandered from their table in the strange tavern throughout their dinner together. His blue eyes appeared to stare right through her, and his smile almost seemed forced at times. He hadn't seemed aware that he had been tapping his fingers on the table in an almost impatient manner or how he had sharply glanced to his right whenever he saw a figure move past their table.

Her question slightly startled him, but then again, his Marian had always been incredibly perceptive. It had been one of her characteristics he had found most charming when he first began courting her behind the Sheriff's back.

"Technically...Marian, it's been over thirty years."

Her sharp intake of breath and widened eyes had him glancing down at the table at the coffee mug in his hand, not wanting to see the obvious pain such a revelation had caused.

"But...that's not possible! Roland's still a boy, you're still young!'

He sighed, aware of the fact that he would have to tell her everything, not sure if he was ready to do that.

He decided to plunge in, and began his tale.

"The Queen...cast a curse about two years after you die - disappeared," he corrected himself.

"The curse created this land. It brought all the people of the Enchanted Forest here, wiped their memories."

"The Evil Queen created this world?" Marian interjected, a mix of awe and disgust in her tone.

He had been recounting the events with a slight resignation, and at this point, he shut his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Yes, it was the Queen."

Robin took a breath and continued.

"For 28 years, they lived in this town, until the curse was broken by the Saviour. Emma Swan? I believe she was the one who brought you here?"

Marian nodded, a troubled look gracing her lovely face as her eyebrows knitted together. "Princess Leia," she breathed. She saw his questioning look and said, "I'll tell you everything, but tell your story first."

He went on, "Emma broke the curse with True Love's Kiss, but she only broke the memory curse. She didn't take everyone back to the Enchanted Forest, she just restored their memories."

"The Queen's curse didn't bring the entire Enchanted Forest here. For a reason unbeknownst to us, a small portion of it was protected. I was in that small portion of the Forest, with my Merry Men and Roland, and a few hundred others. For 28 years, we remained frozen. In time and space. When the curse broke, we were restored, but we were still alone in the Enchanted Forest."

He paused for a brief moment. He hadn't known the full story until...until Regina had confided it to him in one of the rare moments when she hadn't been snappish and cold to him, back in the missing year that they had spent in the Enchanted Forest. She had gone out riding by herself, and he had followed at a distance, trying to keep hidden, until she had stopped her horse and called out, "I know you're there. There's no use hiding. Some thief you are..." They had walked their horses slowly through the forest, barely saying a word, until he had worked up the nerve to ask her about the curse she had cast, and how she had gotten everyone back to the Forest. She hadn't answered right away. He had expected a rebuff, and had desperately tried to think of something witty to say to slightly diffuse the situation, when he heard a soft sigh coming from the woman on the horse beside him. In almost a whisper, she recounted how casting the curse had required the heart of the thing she loved most. How she had been so blinded by her need for revenge that she had killed her own father. How unhappy she had actually been in Storybrooke, until she had adopted her son. The son who she had been forced to give up in order to take them all back to the Enchanted Forest to save everyone from the enactment of another curse, cast by Rumpelstiltskin's father. He remained quiet throughout her entire tale, staring at the trail ahead of them, only glancing at her when she paused to take a shuddering breath. It had been the first time she had given even an inch to him since the night they had broken into her castle together, and her story and the emotions she had tried to hide while telling it were still fresh in his head. He had wanted to hold her and comfort her even then, though he knew she would not have allowed it. They had found themselves back at her castle, eventually, and she had walked away from him without another word. He had stood there in the stable, watching her walk away, thinking what an enigma the Queen was. He remembered that he had been thinking to himself that she could not possibly be evil in any way. He couldn't comprehend the inexplicable pull that he felt towards the Queen, now a small dot in the distance entering the castle. He had stood there in a daze, lost in his thoughts.

The memory filled him with pain.

Looking at his wife seated in front of him, the woman he had said he would walk to the ends of the earth for, the woman to whom he had vowed to always love and cherish, he took a deep breath and continued.

"Alone, that is, until the Queen undid the curse, destroyed this town, and took everyone back to the forest. The Queen had to make a great sacrifice to undo the curse...she had to leave her son behind in this land, with Emma Swan.

"My Merry Men and I came across the Queen and Snow White in the Forest soon after they arrived. A Wicked Witch...the Queen's half-sister had taken over their castle. We joined forces to try to vanquish the Witch, and we tried for a year, but it became apparent that but the only way we could was if the Queen helped Snow White cast another curse. They believed the only way to vanquish her would be by returning to Storybrooke and searching for Emma Swan. Ms Swan is capable of wielding magic, you see...light magic, which would defeat the witch."

"It's 'Your Majesty'"

He let out an uneven breath.

Marian wore a look of confusion. Clearly, she was having a hard time processing the Queen's actions. She couldn't quite understand how or why the Evil Queen had changed so much that people would trust her. That her husband would work with her, even help her. Thinking the reason might reveal itself, she allowed her husband to continue.

"This time, the curse brought Roland and I here as well. There was a slight problem, however...we had no idea how we had arrived here. We had lost all of our memories from the past year. It was a strange few days...we couldn't remember the year, we didn't even know it had been a year until we ran across a very pregnant Snow White who explained to us the whole ordeal. Again, we joined forces to try and discover what had come to pass. People started to blame the Queen..."

"They had every right to, if they couldn't remember the past year!" Marian exclaimed.

Robin looked up at her. "Though many were quick to blame her, it soon became apparent that even if she had done it, it had not been done with malicious intent. She had no memories of the missing year, either. Her son, whose memories of her had disappeared when the first curse had been undone, didn't remember her. It tortured her...but eventually, she broke the curse. The memory curse, at least. With a true love's kiss on Henry's forehead.

"Despite our best efforts, the menace of the Wicked Witch grew. She planned on casting a curse that would send her to the past, where she was planning on making sure Regina was never born. She wanted her life, you see. She was jealous of her little sister. Their mother had given Zelena up, but had kept Regina.

"The Wicked Witch came so close to success. She actually managed to cast the curse. But, before she could pass through the time portal, Re- the Queen defeated her. With light magic.

"The Queen refused to kill her sister. She insisted that she be locked up instead, insisted that she get the second chance that she herself had been given by the town and Snow White. But Zelena killed herself, unleashing her magic and inadvertently opening the time portal anyway. Emma and Hook ventured too close...and well, here you are."

He smiled at her. He couldn't decide which emotion was stronger in him. The happiness that his Marian was there with him, or the angoisse that came with remembering all that Regina had been through in the past year, remembering how they had been flung together, how they had emerged from the trials together. How it seemed that as soon as their eyes had locked once he had gotten hold of her heart in that barn, she had gained the last bit of strength she needed to blast her sister with light magic.

He noted that Marian's mouth was agape, and he paused for a moment to give her a chance to process the information. She clearly had come from a time when everyone still saw Regina as the Evil Queen, hearing that such a person was capable of the light magic of True Love's Kiss must have come as a bit of a shock. He hadn't even gone into the full details; he had merely skimmed the surface of what had happened. Dredging up the details would only bring up more emotions, emotions he wasn't sure how to deal with at the moment, emotions he wasn't sure how to face. He felt so incredibly confused.

Who would have thought an Evil Queen had a soft spot for children?

Marian was indeed taken aback. The Evil Queen that Robin was describing could not possibly be the same woman who had paraded her in front of those frightened peasants, who had sentenced hundreds of innocents, including herself, to death, simply because of the fact that they had helped her stepdaughter escape her Black Knights.

She also didn't miss the fact that not once had her husband used the 'Evil' moniker in reference to the Queen. Of course, if she had done all he said she had, then it seemed that she had somehow cast aside her evil ways, and in that case she wouldn't be deserving of that title any more...but there was something else behind Robin's description as well.

Thank you for reading! I'll upload the second part as soon as possible.

Again, this is my first story, so any and all reviews are very much appreciated!:)