Author's note: I've been working on this chapter ever since I started this story and finally posting it here is… absolutely nerve-wracking. There are so many versions of the post 3x22 Robin/Regina talk out there, and I've tried to make this my own but it is very likely that some elements from other stories might sneak in. If some bits in here sound familiar, I am so very sorry, it really isn't on purpose.

Chapter 7:

Regina woke up disoriented.

In her dream, she was sitting by a lake, and Roland had yelled her name and scampered into her lap, tiny arms tight around her. Henry appeared and Roland jumped into his arms next, and the ease at which both boys interacted with each other spoke of familiarity, and there was something tight in her chest as she watched both boys shoot off enthusiastically for the lake, a bag of bread crumbs in Roland's small hand.

The man beside her had chuckled at their boys' antics, and since they were now distracted at the lake, took the opportunity to kiss her deeply, lips moving slowly and sensually against each other. Later, breathless, they rested their foreheads together, and he had gazed enraptured into her eyes, lips quirked into a secret smile that was meant only for her. He whispered three words to her, and her heart was pounding so very hard, and it was hurting so very much that it felt like her heart was going to burst out of her chest.

It was jarring to go from that warm sunny afternoon to this cold overcast morning, and for a moment the entirety of the dream was still forefront in her head before it all but dissipated, leaving behind just a gaping sense of loss of a future that wasn't hers to anticipate anymore.

Life must go on though, even if she felt so very tired, and so Regina got out of bed and went about her morning routine. She dressed, choosing her clothes today with care: no longer the soft dresses she had favored since they came back to Storybrooke, but a grey silk shirt and a crisply pressed pair of trousers, paired with a no-nonsense business suit and deep red lipstick. Because even though she might be broken she would not show it to a world just waiting for her to fall, and this was her armor and shield and mask.

She peeked into Henry's room and he's still sleeping soundly in his bed, hands clutching a photo album, and it was such a beautiful image, Henry back at home with her, this mansion filled with life again, and she would not have this moment sullied by pain. So she damped the pain in the heart down, resolutely ignoring it even as every so often it would flare out.

She went down to the kitchen, broken glass shards all removed - for that was the wonders of magic - and started fixing breakfast for the both of them, deciding that today was a pancake day. She was just about done with the pancakes when Henry walked in still in his pajamas, hair completely mussed and eyes still bleary.

"Mom?"

She smiled at him. "Good morning Henry. Have you even combed your hair?"

"Of course I have, Mom. I've also brushed my teeth and washed my face and made my bed." And his response was just the right mixture of petulant and insulted, so very reminiscent of his childhood days, and for a moment she could almost pretend that nothing had changed and he was still seven years old and she was just his strict yet loving mother, and it was just the two of them, not a care in the world.

And perhaps not everything had changed, because Henry then grinned cheekily up at her, and she knew he responded this way specifically to make her smile, and despite the ever constant ache in her heart, how could she not? They sat down together at the kitchen table eating their pancakes, and she was delighted (yet horrified too) that her little boy hadn't lost his sweet tooth at all, drenching his pancakes in syrup. She was torn between just letting him be because she missed him so much or lecturing him on the importance of a healthy lifestyle, and the mischievous glint in her son's eyes told her he knew exactly what she was thinking.

Long after breakfast was done, they still sat at the table, talking about everything and anything, and it was a balm to her hurting soul as Henry confessed just how much he had missed her, even if he didn't remember. The doorbell rang though, interrupting their chat.

"That's probably Dr. Hopper. I'll get it, Mom," Henry said, before running to get the door as she tidied up in the kitchen, understanding that just as she needed to talk to Archie alone yesterday, Henry probably needed a listening ear now and who better to provide one than the steadfast therapist?

There wasn't the expected murmur of voices after Henry opened the door though, just a long drawn out silence, and so she called out to Henry as she walked toward the entrance. "Henry? Who is it? Is everything fine?"

At the sound of her approaching voice Henry slammed the door shut, a deer in headlights look on his face as he stuttered through an answer. "Er. Yeah of course everything is fine! It wasn't Archie. Just a... you know. a prank! Someone was playing a prank on our doorbell, yeah."

But she had smelt a familiar earthly scent in the cold gust of wind from the door slam, and she knew exactly who was on the other side of the door. For a moment she was tempted to accept Henry's answer, to pretend there was no tattooed man standing outside the house, and there was no conversation she had to have with him.

There was no point in dragging things out anymore though, and she knew it was time for her to close this short but beautiful chapter of her life. She exhaled, closing her eyes briefly and leaning on the wall for support.

Knowing the game is up, Henry tentatively suggested, "We can just ignore him. You don't have to talk to him."

She tried to smile at Henry. "It's alright, Henry. I'll be fine. I'm just going to talk with him for a while. Why don't you go upstairs and change, you shouldn't still be in your PJs."

Henry quite metaphorically dug in his heels, a mulish look on his face. "No I'm not leaving you! Not with him." Her boy almost spat out the word, and she had to smile at the protectiveness he was exhibiting on his youthful face.

"Henry. I have to do this, sweetheart."

He clenched his jaw and she almost thought he would still disagree and she and Robin would have to talk with a chaperone in the room, but then he nodded and left reluctantly, though she had no doubt he would be dialing Archie's number the moment he reached his room, and for once, she's actually grateful for that.

She had no idea how this would go.

Slowly, she approached the door where on the other side, the man prophesized to be her soulmate was. She remembered a similar situation from a long time ago, where they were also at opposite sides of the door. Then, it could have been the start of their destiny and happy ending, but she was too afraid and instead she had run away from him. It seemed fitting that she was to pay for that decision today, and this door represented all the chances she had squandered, and what she must put an end to today, once and for all.

She just needed a moment first, and her hands clutched at the door knob, taking deep fortifying breaths as she told herself that she can do this, and then in one swift moment she opened the door.

"Regina," Robin breathed out the moment he saw her, the very word a prayer. His eyes were bloodshot and he looked completely wrecked, hair an utter mess and clothes rumpled, a desperate expression on his face, but why was he even upset when his wife was back?

"What are you doing here?" And she sounded almost like her old self, voice shaking just a little bit.

He looked just as lost as she felt. "Because I have to talk to you..."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "And what's there to talk about?"

"Regina, please. Just let me come in. I need to talk to you, about everything that has happened.

Every fiber in her body was screaming at her not to let him into the house, to just tell him everything was over and then shut the door in his face, but she knew that he was right, and they had to talk, one last time, say everything that needed to be said before they parted forever, and he needed this just as much as she needed it.

Against all her better judgment, she stepped aside and let him in.

Despite his words, he seemed unsure as to what to say after she shut the door, lingering nervously in the hallway instead of going further into the house, fidgeting compulsively. His clear blue eyes were fixated on her with concern and sorrow, and if she wasn't careful they would be her undoing.

She would not show him any weakness though, never again. She had spent decades becoming proficient with hiding her emotions, presenting a cold mask to the world, and she drew on that experience now as she demanded at him. "Didn't you come here because you have something to say? Well say it thief, my time is precious and you're wasting it. Not all of us just sit around the entire day not a care in the world you know? I have an entire town to run here."

He shook his head slowly. "Don't do this."

"What?"

"I've known you for an entire year, seen you when your walls were sky-high and your heart closed off. Please don't shut everything out again. Not for me."

She raised her eyebrow and laughed derisively. "You seem to think pretty highly of yourself."

"No, not at all. But I like to think that I know you, at least a little, after everything we've been through."

A year of flirtation disguised by arguments and insults, and then a week of heated glances and tender caresses, and she knew he was thinking about it too, about them and the memories they'd created together. She took a step back, creating more space in the gap that had already opened between them.

"You don't get to say that. You have no right. Not anymore. You have your wife back!"

He raised his voice slightly, getting agitated. "And do you think so little of me that you believe I'd go straight back to her without a single thought of you? We were building something beautiful together. Do you really believe I can abandon that?" In his face was a conglomeration of emotion and hurt, and she wanted so much to reach out and smooth the pain from his face, but she couldn't. "You're important to me too, Regina."

She would not accept this hope, this kindness from him, because it would just set her up for more despair again eventually. "Let me make the decision easy for you then." She braced herself for her next statement, knowing it would change everything. "You heard what your wife said last night. Back in the original timeline, I was the one who killed her. Me. I murdered her." She spoke devoid of any emotion, enunciating each word clearly, making sure he could feel the full impact of them, even as they killed her inside.

His face contorted, and he was shaking his head even before she finished talking. "There must be a mistake. Not you. It wasn't you, it can't be you."

"Trust me, I never pardon any person that finds themselves unlucky enough to be in my dungeons."

"No, this can't be what happened. During one of our thefts, we were discovered and she didn't manage to escape. By bringing her I was the one who put her in danger. She was captured for my mistakes and sentenced to death by the Sheriff."

"I'm sure if you ask her, she'll have a different story. Which begs the question, why haven't you?"

He looked away for a moment, evasive. "The topic hasn't come up yet." She knew then, with an absolute certainty that startled her, that he hadn't asked his wife about what really happened, because he didn't want to know the truth, didn't want to confirm that it was really her that had caused his wife's death.

"Either way, the details doesn't matter. She was at my dungeons, by my order she was sentenced to death, and she would have been executed, had Ms. Swan not saved her. Your wife died at my hands, and there you were kissing her murderer. Some kind of husband you are." Her heart broke even as she said this, but it had to be done, she had to push him away. At least casual cruelty was a skill she had perfected long ago, and she wielded it now with ease even as every part of her screamed in agony.

He turned back to look at her, fire in his eyes and steel in his voice. "I know what you're doing. Every word that comes out of your lips now is designed specifically to hurt me, to push me away. Yes. Maybe you did kill Marian. And maybe I'm damned for pursuing a relationship with you if that's true. But that woman you were then is far different from the woman you are now. And maybe, maybe Marian never really did die. Maybe this whole time travel thing was always supposed to happen and she's always supposed to turn up here."

She rolled her eyes. "Now you're just grasping at straws. The truth is, I killed her."

In that moment he looked more tired than she had ever seen him. "I didn't come here to argue about this with you."

"Then what are you doing here? You should be with your wife."

He clutched at his hair in frustration, and anguish was written all over his face. "I don't know! I just… I needed to see you. She's back, Marian's back, and I should be so happy, but every time I close my eyes all I see is the look on your face before you left and it kills me. I have to know you're alright."

"I don't know what to do, Regina. She's my wife and I swore to protect and love her my whole life, but you.. you…" He looked so broken and lost, and she had never seen him this way before. He had always been so strong and decisive, every bit a leader, and it was jarring to see the tears glistening in his eyes now, indecision and agony clear in them. The last pieces of her armor melted away and she felt only sorrow, deep sorrow for him and this impossible situation they'd found themselves in.

She knew his innermost thoughts, all those words he couldn't bring himself to vocalize, the conflict in his heart. She knew he's completely torn between them, between his honor and loyalty and love for his returned wife, and... whatever it was they had between them. And perhaps once upon a time Regina would have savored that she still had power over him, would have taken it and manipulated him such that he still remained hers, but that woman was long gone now, and she knew what had to be done.

He wouldn't, couldn't, make any decision because whichever way he choose will tear him inside out with guilt, because he didn't want to hurt either of them, and so she had to make the choice for him.

"What we had between us was nothing more but an illusion, a dream. Your wife, she is the one that is real. You told me yourself, you would have walked through hell to get her back. Now you do have her back."

He gazed at her steadily, and she knew his next words would be her damnation. "I will walk through hell for you too," he quietly declared.

She would not let the tears fall, not in his presence. She had to make him understand the gift he'd been given, but she saw no other way to do so but to tear open a barely healed wound in her past, so she steeled herself and started talking.

"This wasn't the first time someone had come back from the dead, you know. Not counting Rumpelstiltskin." He kept quiet and listened, paying close attention to her words. "Dr. Whale - you met him, he delivered Snow's baby. He... he figured out a way to bring back the dead. A little while back, he experimented... on Daniel's body which I'd preserved with an enchantment spell. He succeeded. Daniel came back."

"But he wasn't whole. He wasn't himself. He was in so much pain and it filled his mind with so much rage and he just couldn't stop wanting to hurt others. And so he begged me to stop the pain, and let him go."

"And so I did.

"I had the love of my life back with me, and I killed him with my bare hands."

"Regina..." he breathed in horror, reaching out to her to offer some comfort but then remembering himself and the situation they were in, and his hands stilled in mid air.

"And now you have your wife back with you, complete and whole beside you. Do you have any idea what I would have done for such a gift? I'm not your second chance, Robin. This, your wife back from the dead, this is your real second chance. Don't waste it." She sighed. "This thing between us. It has to end."

He shook his head in denial. "No. I can't let us end like this. I can't let you go."

"Can you let your wife go then?"

He closed his eyes, tears finally leaking out of them. "It's not so simple."

"Then you've already made your choice."

"I can't just abandon her. She's all alone here, in the future, in this unknown realm with this confusing technology thing. Regina, please understand."

Giving in to the urge, she finally reached out to him, caressing his wet face as he leaned into her touch, and she hated to see him so devastated, and so she swiped her thumb gently under his eye, wiping his tears away. Yet more tears fell down his face though, and the sight of them almost broke her, but she couldn't, because she had to be the strong one here.

"I do understand. And that is why you have to let me go."

"This isn't fair to you." His hand went up to grip her hand that's still cradling his face, and he threaded their fingers together, and this was so wrong, because they no longer had the right to do this anymore, but just one last time, she begged of anyone who was listening.

"Nothing in life ever is fair."

"I never wanted to hurt you. From the first moment I saw you, truly saw you, all I ever wanted was for you to find happiness. Not to bring you more grief, not to be the cause of your sorrow." His voice was fervent, urgent, and he looked crushed with guilt and the weight of the world.

"I absolve you of any guilt you feel, Robin. If Daniel had been whole and complete, I would have chosen him. Because their leaving left a hole in our hearts, and perhaps it can be filled by others, but it'd never be a perfect fit. We make do with it because we have no other choice, we have to move on. But now you have a second chance that most other people can only dream of and you own it to yourself to try. As for me? I'll be fine. I've endured far worse than this."

"That doesn't mean you should endure more. I am so sorry Regina." He reached out to her, and she allowed him to tug her closer, allowed herself this one last luxury of feeling his touch, and then they were hugging, holding on to each other for dear life.

"I absolve you of any guilt too, Regina." He whispered into her ear as they clung to each other. "I forgive you for any role you might have played in Marian's death, because your actions then do not define you anymore, not the woman I have come to know and care for this past year, and you do not deserve this weight on your shoulders. Whatever happens in the future, whatever other secrets may come from the past, know that I'll always believe in the good in you, and I'll always stand by your side."

Drawing back from their embrace, he stared intently into her eyes, and then he leaned in and their lips met in one last kiss. It tasted of tears and heartbreak, and it was unfair, so unfair, that this goodbye kiss would forever overshadow the others that they had shared. And yet she was drowning in it, greedily savoring every bit of it because this was the last time she would ever kiss this man, and she was grateful for this final chance to commit the movement of his lips to memory.

At last they had to end the kiss, the need for air growing too strong, and with that their time together came to an end.

Slowly, reluctantly, they disengaged from each other. She showed him to the door and he followed, agony and sorrow etched on his face.

At the threshold of the door he turned to her one last time."I'm sorry."

"So am I. And Robin? If you care for me, even just a little, you will leave me alone. Don't talk to me, don't ever come look for me again. Don't make this more difficult than it has to be." She then shut the door on his tear-stained face, before finally losing the battle with her emotions, sliding down against the door and giving in to her tears.

End Chapter 7

Please don't hate Robin in this story! It's an impossible situation for him. The way I see it, he cares deeply for Regina, maybe even loves her, but though he'd mourned for Marian and let her go, she was still someone he once loved deeply, and he can't just up and leave her when she's all alone in this strange new realm in the future. I think it will make Robin very much less of a person if he would to just abandon Marian. But the struggle is very real for him, because he really does care for Regina, and I think it'll completely tear him apart to have to choose between the two of them. I don't even know how the show is going to resolve this…

Anyway, I'll love to hear everyone's thoughts on this chapter, so please review! And to those of you who love Jefferson, there's substantial Jefferson & Regina interaction in the next chapter. =)