Eyebrows lift as the Sheriff of Storybrooke enters the Rabbit Hold with her very stressed out looking Deputy walking just a few inches behind her. She motions over towards the booth in the far darkened corner and off his nod of agreement, they both cross over and slide into the opposite benches.
"JD?" she asks.
"Is that -"
"Whiskey."
"Ah, yes. I've taken a bit of liking to it," Robin acknowledges. He frowns for a long moment, like he's remembering something far different. Perhaps something less complicated than the utter disaster that his life has become.
"This whole mess is a fuck-up and a half, isn't it?" Emma notes after she orders their drinks from an entirely too curious waitress. When Robin laughs at the apt description, Emma adds in a wry tone, "Welcome to Storybrooke."
"I could do with a bit less drama," he admits.
"So could we all, but this is what we have and you have choices to make."
"You make it sound so easy."
"Nah. I've been in some messy spots before but I have to admit that this one is…well, it's definitely unique." She accepts the glass of whiskey and then clinks it against Robin's before continuing. "You have two strong women who both love you and you care about both. One of them is your first wife and -"
"First love," Robin admits as he sips the drink, savoring the burn. "I fell for her the moment I laid my eyes on her." He shakes his head as he remembers seeing Marian across a courtyard and noticing just how simple and elegant her beauty had been.
Even being the son of a noble, he'd known that she'd been above him.
But she'd seen something special inside him, been drawn towards him and adored him in spite of all of sins and he in return had loved her so deeply and so desperately and it almost hurts now that he no longer does.
"First love," Emma echoes. "And the other is?"
"My soulmate."
"Because of pixie dust?"
He smiles slightly, thoughtfully. "Because when I'm with Regina, I feel like I'm alive. I feel like every part of me is buzzing and breathing and…I didn't even know about the pixie dust or the whole soulmates business when I met her. All I knew was that there was this impressive woman with a lot of ugly stories written about her and for all the stories claimed of her, what I saw was simply a heartbroken mother. Don't mistake me, I know full well who Regina has been and I have something of an idea of what she's capable of from the stories, but I also know who she is now and who I spent almost a year battling beside."
"And who was that?"
"A pain in the ass who fought like hell to protect her once mortal enemy."
Emma chuckles at that and thinks of the craziness of their lives. "So Regina is the one that you want to be with now, right? The one you're in love with."
"Marian is my wife."
"You didn't answer the question."
"Because it doesn't matter," Robin weakly protests. "I made Marian a promise and I won't abandon her to this strange land just because…I won't do it."
"This is going to come off harsh and I know it's not really my business, but have you thought about what Marian might want here? She's still completely in love with you, but I doubt she wants you with her because of an old vow."
"It's not old to her."
Emma dips her head in acknowledgment of this. "And now the baby?"
Robin just shakes his head.
"Hello rock and a hard place," Emma notes.
"Indeed. So tell me, what is your grand advice for me?"
"Who said I had any advice? I brought you out here to drink and to catch your breathe. What I said before is true: this is a fuck-up of a situation and I don't think there's a simple quick way around it. Someone is going to get hurt."
"Did you know about her pregnancy the whole time?" he asks.
"Not the whole time, but I knew. And it wasn't my place to tell." When he starts to protest, she stops him and adds, "This is between you and her, Robin. I can offer to be your boss and your occasional drinking buddy, but I can't make any of this simpler for you. It's probably not supposed to be."
"No," he agrees. "I suppose not. I don't want to hurt either of them."
"Regina already is hurt. So are you. And if I had to guess, Marian may not understand all of what's happening, but she feels the distance from you and that hurts her. You have to figure this out; there are no easy answers here."
He inclines his head. "All right, then, is there at least a right answer to how to approach the baby? In my world, it wouldn't even be an issue; the men there had rights and she wouldn't be able to stop me from claiming the child, but I was never terribly fond of that kind of ownership principle there and I well imagine that it doesn't exist here as this world seems far more…"
"Evolved?" Emma offers. He nods. "Yeah, a bit more. As for what to do about the kid, you do what you did earlier. You let Regina know you want to be involved and then you let her take the lead on what comes next."
"So back off?"
"Give her space. This whole experience is pretty new for her as well."
"She has Henry."
"Different situation, different times. Also, not involved in one of the most bizarre love triangles that I've ever seen and this is coming from someone who was in the middle of one involving her son's father and the guy who wanted to be his father." She laughs at this but there's a sadness to her eyes as she thinks about Neal and the things she'd never gotten to say to him.
That's the past now and it really is all about trying to move forward.
Which makes this situation with Robin and Regina so much more painful because moving forward with Regina is exactly why Robin's in this mess.
Well, that and a questionable choice from her to bring someone back from the past; even Emma has to admit the considerable contribution of that.
"I want to be there for her."
"You want to be there for Marian, too."
"And people wonder why I prefer the simplicity of the forest," he jokes.
"Stars or the birds?"
"Stars. The birds can be a bit aggravating to wake up to every morning."
Emma chuckles at that and then finishes her drink in one swallow. "Are you going to tell Marian about this? About Regina being pregnant?"
"I think I have to, don't I?"
"It's the honorable thing to do."
He smiles grimly at that, like he's starting to feel the weight of that honor.
"I'll see you in the morning," she says as she stands up. Once up, she leans back down towards the table. "I'm no expert on love; I've screwed it up so many times now that I could write a book on how not to do it wrong, but I do understand that it's rare and precious and you only get so many chances."
"I know," Robin replies softly and then brings his glass to his lips again.
She comes to around three in the morning to find her son wide-awake, flipping through the latest issue of Iron Man. He keeps yawning but for whatever reason, he's refusing to succumb to his obvious exhaustion.
"Henry," she croaks out, wincing at the feeble sound of her own voice.
"Hey, Mom," he says, leaning forward and offering her a smile.
"Why aren't you sleeping?"
"Couldn't."
"Henry…I thought we talked about this. It's not your job to protect me."
"We talked about it," he agrees. "But I'm your son. You know, I saw Archie tonight and he told me that it's completely normal for the son of a single mother to be very protective over her. Well, this is us being normal, Mom."
"What else did he say?"
"What?"
"I know Archie. He butters you up before he drops the lesson on you."
"He told me that it wasn't my job to take care of you," he mutters.
"See?"
"Who else, then?"
"Well, your other mother and your grandmother seem to have appointed themselves as my…whatever they think that they are. Which means -"
"And Robin? What about him?"
"What are you asking?" she queries as she sits up in the bed, wincing.
"I'm not. I'm just…it's okay if you're angry at him and don't want him to be around. You and me, Mom, we can take care of this. Just us if we need to. This is our thing, right? Our Operation Runt. You don't need him. We don't."
She smiles and then reaches out to touch his face. "Are you angry at him?"
"Me? Why-"
"Henry."
He sighs. "He hurt you. He was supposed to be your second chance and your new start and you earned it. You were so happy and…this isn't fair, Mom."
"Oh, sweetheart. No, it's not fair. None of this fair, but…maybe this is…you know the story. You know what I did to Marian. At least what I did in the timeline before it was changed. Maybe this is…fate fixing my…evils."
"You've fixed your evils," he insists. "And you earned this."
"It's not that simple."
"How many times are you going to have to pay for the past?"
"I don't know," she admits. "Until I have. But what I do know is that Robin isn't to blame for this. He's trying to be honorable and be a good man and -"
"He loves you. How is being with someone he doesn't love honorable?"
"You know that gray that you've learned to accept in me? That's where this whole situation exists. Robin did nothing wrong here. If anyone did, it was me and as hurt and upset as I am, I am trying to be the person who can accept that and not…I am trying to be someone you can always be proud of."
"I am proud of you," he tells her.
"Good. Then close your eyes, my precious boy, and sleep. Please."
"Fine." He leans back on the cot, his eyes closing. "So do we want an old world name for her or a modern world one? Like Annabelle or Cindy Lou?"
Regina scowls. "I think we'd better buy a book," she suggests. And then because Henry is grinning, she finds herself doing the exact same thing.
That's when she feels it. More than just a vague sense of stirring within her unlike before; this is actual movement. It's slight, but she's sure of it.
So she settles her hand over her belly and lets her eyes close once again.
Even as a young boy, Robin had always favored the night over the day. It had driven his mother insane because there were when he'd crawl from his bed and slip out through the window simply so he could sit on the roof and stare at the sky above. One fairly cool winter night she'd come to sit with him and told him that he had big life ahead of him and needed to think about the expectations that others would put on him being his father's heir. He'd asked her if such a life would be forced upon him or if would be free to choose otherwise. She'd kissed him lightly on the head and said, "My sweet boy, we have our paths to travel and they're seldom ours to choose. The best that you can do, my Robin, is be the best man that you can when you're upon that path. Make me proud."
He'd given her an odd look, not seeming to understand the turbulent emotions swirling beneath her surface. She'd had tears in her eyes and he hadn't known why. When he'd asked, tried to grasp the pain he'd seen there, she'd urged him to be quiet and just enjoy the stillness of the night. Enjoy the peace of it.
She'd been dead three days later.
He thinks about that now, thinks about what his father had told him as a child - a thief broke in and killed her.
But his father's knuckles had been bruised and torn.
And the bag that his mother had always traveled with had been missing.
As a man, Robin had put the pieces together. Figured out that his mother had been fleeing his father. She'd likely been hoping that if she left Robin behind, his father wouldn't feel the need to pursue. And she'd been praying that Robin' position as the heir to the estate and the quickest to marry would protect him.
She likely would have been right (though after understanding all of these things, he'd fought back anger at her attempting to leave him and then fury at himself for not protecting her better). In any case, his father or one of his goons had likely caught her and well, Father had never been a man to accept losses.
He'll never forget her funeral.
And he'll never forget her words.
Now, standing on the porch of Regina's mansion, he thinks about his mother. Thinks about the honor that had tied him up so much.
He kneels slightly, places a folded up piece of paper and a simple flower down.
And hopes it delivers its message well.
Whale suggests that she stay for a few more days just so that tests can be run to ensure the safety of the baby, but Doc is quick to reassure her that it's fine for her to return to the mansion as long as she rests. He tells her that he's happy (well, he says "fine with") to be her primary doctor on this, but she's quick to let him off the hook by telling him that she has one of her own.
One she needs to make an appointment with just to verify things.
She'll just have to leave out the part about the baby reacting poorly to her magic. That is unless she wants to end up in the psych ward overnight.
All of that can be done tomorrow, though; right now, all she wants is to get home, take a nice long hot bath and get changed into something loose and comfortable. She's still adjusting and adapting to the new changes in her body and the need for more breathing room is definitely part of it.
Which makes the trick all about finding classy maternity clothes.
Regina laughs out loud in the hospital room (as she's pulling on her shoes - flats instead of heels) at the absurdity of this thought. Never in a million years had she ever believed that she would ever be buying such terrible clothes.
For herself, anyway.
And yet the baby is suddenly making herself known (Regina has started calling it a her even though there's the risk of being disappointed if it's not a girl, but then that, too, is laughable because truly, healthy is all she cares about after all the times she'd never had the chance to give birth) and she seems intent on letting her mother know that she's around at all times.
It's weird and unnerving and fantastic and even Henry (and Snow who really shouldn't be as fascinated with this considering her own recent birth) had been tickled at getting to feel his baby sister kicking away inside his mom.
"Regina?" she hears and there's Snow and David. Waiting for her. Henry is at school and Emma is at work and so apparently they're her escort team.
She sighs and tells them again, "I can make it home on my own."
"Doc said you needed rest," David reminds her.
"Fine, but I'm not sitting in the wheelchair and if Whale thinks I am -"
"We already told him that you wouldn't," Snow says. "He's sulking."
"Typical." She reaches down and grabs her bag. "Let's go home."
She's walking up the step towards her house with Snow and David when she sees the flower and the piece of white paper in front of the door.
The flower is pink around the edges and outside of it, an explosive and almost regal purple leading inwards and then yellow in the middle. It's a common wildflower found in the forest and though she thinks it almost childish to be touched by this simple gift, she finds herself smiling at it.
"From Robin?" Snow queries.
Regina bends to pick up the note and the flower, scowling at David when he looks like he might try to do it for her. She opens the note and reads it.
Her smile widening before she catches herself, she nods.
"Yes," Regina says, tucking the note into her pocket. She stands back up with a groan, unlocks the door, opens it and steps inside her house.
And then, as if recognizing that she's home, the baby inside of her kicks.
TBC...