Robin Hood has a reputation for being one of the good guys. He's a White Hat who strays into petty theft for the better good of all mankind. That he's done some petty damning things in his past has been casually overlooked simply because those details are inconvenient to the heroic narrative.
Right now, though, Robin could give a crap about his reputation so when one of the townies - a drunken fisherman - appears above him and Regina and says in a snorting husk of a voice, "Is the bitch dead?", Robin snaps hard.
He reaches up,grabs the man by the lapels of his dirty water-stained coat, pulls him down so that their faces are just inches apart (unpleasant considering the alcoholic scent flowing off the fisherman in great waves) and growls out, "Find me assistance or so help me God, you'll be the one needing it."
The man quivers, but then nods and ambles away, but by that time, Robin is bowing his head back towards Regina, who remains in his arms. Her eyes are sealed shut and there's sweat pouring down her face. It's the blood on her slacks that catches his eyes, though. Her pants are darkly colored, but the wetness - and the sharp tang of iron in the air - is unmistakable. Especially to a man who recalls all to well that smell from a battlefield full of dead men.
"Regina," Robin calls out, breathing out a sigh in relief when he sees her move just a bit. "Just hold on. Hold on."
"It hurts," she whispers and gods, he thinks that he sees tears in her eyes.
He reaches for her coat, reaches to open it so that he can inspect her injuries - surely she'd somehow caught some shrapnel from the exploding creature but her hand quickly seal over his like she's trying to slap him away from doing it and before he can protest and tell her now isn't the time for her to be strong and prideful and not let anyone help her, he hears steps fast approaching and looks up to see David and Emma rushing towards him.
"What happened?" Emma breathes out.
"That thing there," Robin points, gesturing towards the creature debris. "It came at us and we fought it off. When it was over, she went down."
David nods as he and Emma bend down next to Regina who is just barely conscious now. "We were chasing its brother across town," David notes.
"Did it hit her?" Emma asks as she stands back up and starts gesturing for the paramedics that have just appeared. Times have changed and though not long ago, no one would have come to the Queen's aid, now quite a few of the people in this town have actively embraced her change and perhaps even see in themselves the ability to do so as well if the Evil Queen can. Which, Emma imagines, is probably why the medics are rushing forward now.
Then again, if they'd been slow about it, Emma thinks that she - or Robin considering the strain that has his body tight as tension cable - would have forced them to tend to the Queen. Thankfully, that's not necessary here.
"I don't know," Robin breathes and he's holding Regina close against his chest now, his eyes so turbulent and afraid as this devastatingly strong woman that he so deeply loves is now trembling and whimpering in his arms.
And she keeps saying, "Please no, please…"
"Robin," David urges. "You need to…let them, okay? Let them in."
"If they hurt her -"
"They won't," Emma assures him. She reaches out for him and places a hand lightly on his forearm, causing him to look over at her. "They will not."
"We won't, sir," one of the paramedics says gently. "I promise you that the Queen will come to no harm in our care but we need to get to her. Please?"
Robin reluctantly releases his arms, his heart clenching when her fingers grab onto his shirt for a moment. When their eyes meet, she whispers out a raspy apology to him and then she's collapsing backwards, unconscious now.
"Help her," Robin pleads, his hands clenching and unclenching uselessly.
"We will," the paramedic says and then he nods to his partner and they're lifting up the gurney and rushing it towards the ambulance; the hospital is only a couple of miles away, but with that much blood, the bus is needed.
"David, take Robin to the hospital," Emma directs.
"What are you going to do?" her father asks as he stands back up.
"I'm going to ensure that there are no more of these little bastards running around and then I'm going to go pick up Henry and bring him to her."
Regina's been sitting in the waiting room watching the doors leading to the ER for over an hour and he's starting to go stir-crazy. Both David and Snow are there with him now, and they keep casting worried looks his way. Finally, he has enough of their pointless worrying over him and stands up, striding purposefully towards where Regina is. Behind those doors. With the disturbingly serious men and the women in the white coats.
"Robin," David says, jumping up and stepping into his path.
"I have nothing, but respect for you, but get out of my way or I will remove you," Robin growls, his hands reaching out to push David away from him.
"I know that you want to be there for her right now, but this isn't helping anything. You're not helping her." David shakes his head, exhaustion etched into the lines around his eyes. "Right now, there's nothing that you can do for Regina, but stay out here with the rest of us and…any hope for the best."
"That's not good enough," Robin says desperately, his blue eyes on the still swinging white doors ahead. "She was bleeding. I keep thinking about it and I'm…I'm quite sure that I didn't see her actually get hit by any debris but there was so much going on…" he swallows hard and finds that he can't continue.
"I know," David says gently, settling a hand onto Robin's elbow. "But I've known Regina for a very long time; she's strong and she's tough. Whatever is going on with her in there, she'll pull through it like she always does. Because that's what Regina does. She'll be spitting fire again by tomorrow morning."
"Until the day that she isn't because everyone has always assumed that she always would be," Robin says quietly and then moves away from David.
To his credit, David doesn't push Robin any harder on this. He just steps back and joins Snow in the seats, reaching out to take Neal from her. She puts her head on her husband's shoulder and he slides his free arm around her.
And then they wait.
Just wait.
Henry arrives without Emma about twenty minutes later, out of breath and red-faced. He tells them that Emma and two of the Merry Men had gone to chase after yet another one of the creatures and then he asks about Regina.
"We don't know yet," Snow says and then steps towards him.
He looks for a moment like he's about to say something, but then he gazes over at Robin and he suddenly turns away from the man and goes to his grandmother instead. It's a strange move, an odd display of shut-down coldness even from a boy that's become deeply protective over his mother.
Robin lets it pass, though.
Because he has a good idea what's behind Henry's anger at him.
Even understands it.
But such conversations and thoughts are for a different time.
Because there are more important things to worry about right now.
Whale comes out and walks towards them not long after Henry's arrival. He's smug and smirking, but that doesn't actually mean anything with him.
"She's going to be fine," Whale says after a long enough dramatic pause.
"Was she hit by something?" Robin asks, approaching Whale with enough aggression and intensity to make the man visibly stiffen up in reaction.
"Not that I could see, no. It seems that this is more a matter of her magic interacting poorly with the baby inside of her. The child completely -"
"Child?" Snow interrupts. "What child?" She glances over at the others and sees shell-shock on Robin's face and an eyebrow raised from her husband.
But Henry, he's frowning deeply and glaring at Whale, like maybe he's known about this all along and isn't one bit happy about this news coming out.
"The Queen is pregnant. She's at just a hair over four months," Whale states, the smirk returning to his pale lips as he observes the shock making its way around the room. "I'm guessing since you didn't know about this, that means that you're not the father of Her Majesty's little one, hmm?"
"Whale," David growls, a clear warning that the other man just sighs at.
"Four months," Robin breathes out, mostly ignoring the taunting bait, his mind counting backwards for a brief moment. Then, his eyes widen. "There was so much blood. Is she…did she? You said Regina is all right, yes?"
"Yes, and the baby is fine as well. I'd be happy to explain everything in more depth if you'd like, but what matters is that her HCG levels are solid and the ultrasounds look stable. This kid is as tough as well…" he laughs. "Regina."
"Can I see my mom?" Henry asks. He already knows the answer to these questions, has no patience for any of this extra drama; all he cares about is getting into the room and seeing with his own eyes that his mother and his baby brother or sister is all right.
"Of course. Let's get her comfortable in a bed, and then certainly." His voice drops to something that's meant to be consoling but because Victor has the bedside manner of the kind of mad scientist that he is, it's condescending.
Thankfully, Henry either doesn't recognize the tone or ignores it.
"She's not fighting about staying overnight?" Snow asks. It's a ridiculous question for anyone else, but she knows Regina well enough to know that her former stepmother will always fight being kept anywhere against her will.
Even if it's for her own good.
"She's pretty drained," Whale says. "They may be doing all right, but there were a few minutes there when neither one of them was. She needs rest."
He steps away then, walking back through the doors.
"You knew?" Snow queries, looking over at Henry.
"She doesn't lie to me anymore," Henry says softly. "And I'm her son."
"There was so much blood," Robin observes and he's still frowning deeply to himself. Like he's trying to turn all of this new information around in his head.
Like he's trying to understand everything and what it means for him.
For them.
But there is no "them" and...
"I bled heavily during the first trimester of carrying Neal," Snow reassures him, her hand on his forearm, the touch and her voice drawing him back to the now. "Once I was back here, when I was doing some research, I read one out of five women experience some degree of bleeding during pregnancy."
Robin' gives her a disbelieving look, like he's wondering if that information is supposed to somehow reassure him about all of this. But then Snow is smiling gently at him and lightly squeezing the hand that she has on his forearm.
And he gets it that he's not alone in his confusion or his fear.
It's appreciated.
But it doesn't stop the questions in his head.
Like the one about whether or not he is - in fact - the father.
"Hi," Regina whispers tiredly, reaching for Henry's hand once he seats himself in the chair next to her bed. She's hooked up to what seems like a dozen machines and if that wasn't already bad enough, her pale complexion and clear fatigue sends shocks of worry up and down him.
He's never seen her like this.
Never wants to see it again.
"You scared me," he tells her as he weaves his fingers in with hers.
"I know. And I'm sorry. I didn't…I should have known. I felt something strange the last time I tried to use my magic, but I didn't really think much of it. It never occurred to me that the baby would reject what was inside of me." She shakes her head, tears in her eyes and only the fact that it's her son standing here instead of an adult stops her from letting so much more of her fear out.
Like the fear that she will be rejected by this child at every stage.
Like the fear that she already has been and all she's doing right now is delaying the inevitable heartbreaking loss of yet another second chance.
Maybe that's what the violent morning sickness had been about and -
"Dr. Whale said the baby is okay," Henry states. "She stayed with us. Which means that Operation Runt is still on. We just need to up our game a little."
"We don't know if it's a girl," Regina tells him, her voice weak and trembling. She shouldn't be letting Henry see this, but she's too worn down to prevent it.
"I'm deciding it's a girl. And she stayed with us." He says this again, firmly, his green eyes sparking in a way that reminds her off all that her son has been through. He's the birth son of the Savior and the adoptive son of the Evil Queen. He can claim bloodlines to Snow White, Prince Charming, Peter Pan and the Dark One. And he's been through more than a few trials all his own.
So when he looks back at her, he's daring her to dispute his words and she can't do it. "Fine," she sighs. "Then start thinking up names for a little girl."
"I can -" he stops short when he sees Emma appear at the doorway.
"Hey," Emma says as she steps in. Then to Regina, "How are you feeling?"
"Tired and sore. And irritated by Victor. I really didn't want him near me."
"Yeah, sorry about that. But it was him or Doc. And Doc was doing poker night with his brothers when they brought you in from whatmy parents told me. And you were bleeding which means that time was…of the essence."
"Of course. I understand," Regina murmurs and then flexes her hands. It's weird to still feel the magic flickering inside of her and yet to now know that it's not only potentially dangerous to her on a mental level (when out of control, she quickly adds), but also possibly lethal to her on a physical one.
It's unsettling and terrifying and she's just too tired for all of this.
Which Emma seems to notice. "Hey, Kid, visiting hours are almost over and your mom realy needs her rest. How about we get out of here and let her?"
"I'd like to stay."
"Henry," Regina starts.
"Please?" Softer, more pleading, green eyes wide and needy.
Regina looks up at Emma and it's like they're both trying to figure out what the right parenting move is here. But then Regina is sighing and Emma is nodding because that's their way of coming to consensus. "Fine, but you haven't eaten dinner yet. Let's get some into you and then you can stay."
"Okay," he agrees. And then he stiffens up. "You're trying to get me out of the room, aren't you?" He glances down the hallway. "Is Robin Hood out there?"
Emma looks over at Regina. "He'd like to speak to you. He has questions."
Regina chuckles dryly at that and then winces.
"But if you're not ready, I'll run interference again and tell him that you're too tired for it tonight. And you are so it's not really a lie, but even if it were, I promised you that I would…I promised you that I'd help you through this."
"You did and you've more than kept your promise. " She sighs. "But I do need to actually have this conversation with him. Better now than later, I suppose."
"Are you going to tell him?" Henry asks, his head cocked in curiosity.
Regina just smiles thinly - sadly - in response.
"I think I could go the rest of my life without ever seeing that again," Robin states as he steps into the room, entering as Emma and Henry leave.
"You've seen me bleeding before," Regina reminds him as she adjusts in the bed, wincing again but then quickly holding up a hand to stop his approach.
"True, and I hated it then as well. But this is…this is worse." He does still step closer to the bed, his eyes flickering down to her blanket covered belly. The blanket is thin enough that he can see the slightest swell now, just enough.
To let him know that the woman he's in love with is carrying a child.
He licks his lips. "We should talk, yeah?"
"Yes," Regina agrees, her voice rough with emotion. "We probably should."
TBC...