Marian knows her time is near when she wakes up in the middle of the night gasping for breath. Robin goes to her and holds her, calls Regina immediately to look after a terrified Roland, and Dr. Whale in hopes there is something, anything that he can do.
Regina arrives first by virtue of her magic and finds a terrified Marian, sitting up in bed and gasping desperately. Robin is beside her looking distraught and calling to Roland who is huddled in the corner of the room. Regina picks Roland up and he immediately buried his face in her neck and clings to her. "Do you want me to take him outside?" she asks. Marian nods frantically and Robin manages a pained nod as well.
Regina sits on the front porch of Marian's house with Roland in her arms. She rocks the boy gently, staring out into the dark night sky, and singing lullabies she remembers from when Henry was just a baby.
Henry smiles warmly at the familiar song as he walks up the path to Marian's home. "Henry!" Regina yells, "What are you doing walking here alone? It's 2 in the morning!"
"Come on Mom. We're in Storybrooke."
"Precisely. Just in the last two year this town has played host to flying monkeys and Peter Pan."
"Yeah," Henry says, "but now everyone knows that my Mom is a total badass. No one's going to mess with me again."
Regina shakes her head, finding it harder and harder by the minute to stay mad. "Did you really think that was going to get you off the hook?"
"Looks like it already has," Henry tells Regina with a grin.
"We'll talk about this later. Come here," Regina tells him, giving up any pretense of anger. Henry sits next to Regina, and she wraps one arm around him, the other continuing to hold Roland tightly against her.
"Hey Roland," Henry says, but the little boy doesn't respond, just nuzzles closer to Regina, who keeps rubbing circles on his back.
Regina smiles at Henry and presses a kiss to his forehead and together they wait for Dr. Whale and a miracle that everyone knows will never come.
Dr. Whale gives Regina a solemn look as he exits the house a half hour later. "She doesn't have much time. The boy should see her now."
Roland must understand more than he expresses because at Dr. Whale's words, he's clinging harder to Regina and she can feel his little eyes squeeze firmly shut against her neck. "Come on sweetie," she says, standing up with Roland in her arms. She kisses his hair and rubs his back and wishes she could make what comes next easier for him.
The door to Marian's bedroom is open, and she looks much more comfortable than when Regina last saw her. Marian motions for Regina to enter the room. "The drugs in this world are magical," Marian tries to joke, but her voice sounds weak and she gasps for breath between words. Beside her Robin has tears streaming down his cheeks.
Regina sits down on the edge of the bed, Roland still clinging to her terrified. "Sweetie, your Mama wants to give you a hug," she says, rubbing his back.
"Roland," Marian says, reaching out to touch her son. He peeks up from Regina's arms and Marian smiles at him. "It's all right baby." The little boy studies his mother cautiously, frightened of how she had appeared earlier that night, but she smiles at him and reaches for him, and Regina presses Roland into Marian's arms, and he lays on her chest, hugging her tightly.
"I'll be right outside," Regina says, smiling sadly.
Marian reaches out and grabs Regina's hand, squeezing tightly and pulling Regina towards her. Marian smiles at Regina, a few tears falling down her cheeks, and Regina smiles back, becoming tearful herself at the trust and forgiveness she sees in Marian's eyes. Regina nods lightly, a silent promise to Marian to protect those that they both love dearly. They sniffle and smile at each other, understanding passing between them, as Regina lets go of Marian's hand to allow her time alone with her family.
Robin looks up at Regina, eyes full of pain. "Thank you Regina," he whispers in a voice scratchy and thick from tears.
Regina looks at Robin, hopes he can see the love in her eyes, and says again, "I'll be outside." She hopes he understands that she means that she will be waiting for him, for whatever he needs, whenever he needs her.
Henry runs up the Regina the moment she walks onto the porch and throws his arms around her. "I love you Mom," he tells her a little desperately. She could have died so many times this last year and he never would have known what he lost. She could have died without knowing that he loves her more than anything. Henry promises himself that he will never let that happen.
"I love you too honey," Regina tells him, hugging him to her tightly. "I love you so much."
Robin and Roland scatter Marian's ashes in the woods two days after her passing. They spend a few moments in the silence of nature, but Roland is not a babe as he was the last time Robin did this, and the child is bored with the stillness quickly.
They return to their camp and Robin lets Roland go off and play with Friar Tuck. Though it's the middle of the day and the sun is shining brightly, Robin crawls into his tent, wishing to sleep until the sadness dulls. Inside the tent he finds a plate of peanut butter chocolate chip cookies and smiles. They're his favorite and he doesn't need to read the note to know that Regina has left them for him. Robin's crying, staring at a plate of cookies and sobbing, and it's the simple kindness of the gesture, the reminder that Regina is thinking of him, that sets him over the edge.
Robin had asked Regina for time alone after Marian's death, and she had given him that without question. He looks at her note, Thinking of you and Roland today. If I can do anything simply let me know.
The pain inside Robin feels destructive, and he doesn't want Regina near that, doesn't want her to see him in such a dark place. But he thinks that she of all people might be able to understand the dark places that grief can take people, that she might be able to keep him from the awful selfish path that he fell down the last time he lost Marian.
He almost picks up his phone and calls her, almost, but it's a comfort he doesn't deserve, and so he shoves his phone back into his pocket. Roland is safe with Tuck, and Robin thinks that's for the best because he's in no state for Roland to see. It's best to be alone now, he thinks. It's what he deserves.
Robin shows up on Regina's doorstep hours later, drunk and stumbling, his hands bloodied. Regina wraps a steadying arm around Robin and leads him inside without a word. She sits them on the couch, and takes his bruised and bloody hands in her own. Robin can't meet Regina's eyes, so he looks down at their hands and for the first time notices that his are swollen and crooked and wonders whether he managed to break anything.
"Can I heal them?" Regina asks, her fingers sweeping gently across Robin's. He looks up at her, afraid to see pity or disapproval, but he finds neither. He nods, feeling embarrassed by what he's done. He feels the pain dissipate as his bones and skin mend, and he feels warmth flowing through him, feels Regina so keenly, as if she is wrapped around him, holding him in her embrace, protecting him, soothing him, loving him so fiercely.
Robin hears Regina gasp and pull back suddenly. "I'm sorry," she whispers.
"What for?"
"I didn't mean to force a connection like that."
"Was that what happened?"
"I'm sorry," she repeats, and Robin is unsure of why she is so apologetic. "I lost control of my magic. I would have asked before touching your heart that way."
"Ah," Robin says, his inebriated mind still trying to make sense of what Regina is telling him. "So what I felt…"
"Yes."
"And you felt me?"
Regina nods, looking suddenly sad and deeply troubled.
Robin takes that in; he had never meant for Regina to see him like this, no less feel so deeply what he was feeling.
"Where's Roland," Regina asks a moment later, when it seems that Robin wishes to speak no more of what has happened.
"With Friar Tuck."
"Are you staying the night?"
"If I'm welcome."
"You're always welcome here Robin. You and Roland both. Come on. We can talk in the morning. You should get some sleep."
Regina helps Robin walk up to her bedroom, pulls back her bedcovers, and tucks him in just as she would Henry.
"You aren't staying?" Robin asks, knowing how pathetic he sounds. He simply wants Regina next to him so badly. For two days he had avoided her, but he's here now and she's so close, and he wants the comfort of her touch back.
"I'm going to check on Henry and bring you some water and aspirin, then I'll be back."
By the time Regina returns, Robin is already asleep.
Robin wakes up with little surprise to find his head pounding. The sun shining in through the window is too bright, and nearly every part of him aches. But Regina is beside him, and after the mess he knows he was last night, he finds himself more than a bit relieved for that. She's sitting up in bed with a book in her hands, still apparently unaware that Robin's awake.
"Good morning," Robin says, rolling towards Regina.
"You're awake."
"Mmm, what time is it?"
"Nearly nine. How are you feeling?"
"I've been better," Robin says, painfully pulling himself up to sit next to Regina. "I'm sorry about last night."
"Don't be," she tells him, putting her book down on the bedside table.
"I should never have come here. I wasn't going to, but 8 drinks later…"
"Do you wish that you had been elsewhere?" Regina asks
"No, but I didn't want you to see that man."
Regina smiles at Robin, and he finds that it warms him much the same way her magic had last night. "I'm the Evil Queen remember? I can handle you not at your best. After all, you put up with a whole year of my abuse in the Enchanted Forest."
"Abuse was it? Here I was thinking that was you flirting with me."
Regina chuckles before becoming serious once more. "The sentiment remains, I understand anger and pain, and I won't be frightened away by it."
Robin shakes his head and hates himself for even considering this offer. He maybe a thief, but he is a gentleman and this is not what he should show to any woman, especially not the woman he loves. The first time Marian died, he had pulled away from everyone, but of course his men had seen, they had cared for Roland when Robin had been too drunk or too self-destructive.
"I left Roland last night," Robin says, and Regina can see the self-loathing in his eyes.
"You knew you weren't what was best for him at that moment, and you left him somewhere safe. You did the best you could to survive the night." Regina reaches out to run her fingers through Robin's hair. "Once you take a shower and drink some coffee, you'll go to Roland."
"I hate myself so much right now Regina. And I don't want that anywhere near you or Roland, but I don't know how to stop feeling this way."
"Roland needs you. You are an incredible father, and I know that even when you're hurting you put Roland first. As for me, I can love you enough for the both of us until you remember what a good man you are."
Regina leans in and kisses Robin gently. He's spent so much time quelling her fears, helping her to accept love, and she feels like it's a privilege to be able to help him when he requires it.
Robin stares at Regina, searching her eyes, and she isn't certain what he's looking for, but he's tearful and smiling a tiny sad smile at her. His hands wind their way through her hair and around her waist and he seems to accept what she's offering him.
"I'm not going anywhere Robin." She takes a moment to hold him in her arms before asking, "Are you ready to get out of bed?" Robin nods, looks sad to leave the comfort of Regina's arms, and she still finds it nearly impossible to believe that he feels that way about her. "Henry and I were planning to go to the beach today. You and Roland could join us."
"We wouldn't be intruding?"
"Not at all," Regina tells Robin, her arms still wrapped around him. "Come on, let's get you showered so that you don't smell like a brewery when you fetch Roland."
"Better or worse than forest?" Robin asks, a small smile lighting up his face.
Regina chuckles. "Much worse."
"That's because you've always secretly loved the scent of the forest."
Regina smiles at Robin, can hardly believe how happy this man makes her. "I can learn to live with it."
"Glad to hear it."
"Woah there Mister," Regina says, stopping Roland at the back door. "Sandy shoes stay outside of the house."
"Sorry Gina," Roland says, sitting down on the deck to take off his sandals.
"That's ok. You didn't know. Henry's known the rules his whole life and he still forgets half the time."
"If I remind Henry when I remember and he reminds me when he remembers, then we won't forget anymore."
Regina smiles at Roland. "That sounds like a plan," she tells him with a little bop on his nose. 'Why don't you go with your Papa and take a bath."
"Come along my boy," Robin says, lifting his sandy son onto his hip.
"Gina, will you come help me take a bath too?"
Regina turns to Robin, who smiles at her with a nod. She turns to Roland and tells him, "Of course I will. I bet we can find some of Henry's old bath toys for you to play with too."
"Thank you Regina," Robin whispers so as not to wake Roland. He's just fallen asleep after Regina read him three books.
It's nap time, and they're all curled together on the bed in Regina's guest bedroom. Roland had cuddled against Regina's side as soon as she slid into bed with him, and Robin feels as if his heart might burst with love for the both of them.
"You don't have to thank me. I adore Roland."
"And he obviously adores you," Robin tells Regina. "I think…I think he's afraid of losing you too, after Marian."
"Roland will be all right, Robin. He's a strong boy, and you are an incredible father."
"Not so incredible last night when I was passing out drunk in your bed."
"You are still a wonderful father, just one that is grieving for your wife."
"It's not as simple as that," Robin argues.
"I know," Regina replies, leaning in towards Robin and resting her forehead against his.
His nose brushes against hers, and his eyes flutter closed, and it feels good to be so close. "Thank you," Robin whispers, letting himself be soothed by the feeling of Regina's skin and the sound of Roland's soft snores.
There's a lingering unease when Regina walks into her house that her son will be gone, the mansion empty and cold. So when she closes the door behind her after saying goodnight to Robin and Roland and finds Henry grinning at her and holding a pint of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream and two spoons in his hand, she can't stop herself from laughing and smiling with absolute joy.
"Dessert on the couch while we watch X-Men?" Henry suggests, wiggling the ice cream at Regina.
"Where are the bowls?"
"Why do we need those? You know there won't be any ice cream left over."
"We need bowls," Regina says, snatching the pint from Henry's hand and heading for the kitchen, "so that we can add chocolate sauce, sprinkles, and whipped cream."
"I guess you have a point," Henry agrees, following his mom into the kitchen and setting himself to retrieving ice cream toppings.
"I knew you would see it my way," Regina tells Henry, bopping her shoulder against Henry's playfully.
They divide the ice cream between the two of them, drowning it in fudge and sprinkles. Henry liberally tops both bowls with whipped cream before squirting some in his mouth, glancing over at Regina to see if she'll yell at him for the lack of manners. But she's just grinning at him. "Want a squirt?"
"Don't push your luck," Regina tells him, putting away ingredients and tidying up the counter.
She comes back to stand next to her son, tells him sincerely, "Thank you for being so good with Roland. I appreciate it, and I know Robin does too."
Henry shrugs. "I always kind of wanted a little brother."
"Henry!"
"What? We're totally going to be a family."
"Henry, that's not…Robin and I are still figuring things out between us."
"Come on Mom. He's your soulmate."
"It's not always that simple."
Henry smiles at Regina doesn't believe her at all. "Fine. I'll drop it. All I'm saying is that if you wanted us all to be a family that would be awesome."
"Thank you honey. You know I would never bring someone into our family if you weren't all right with that, don't you?"
"Yeah, I know."
"You always come first. No matter what."
"I know that too," Henry says, smiling and looking so happy and carefree. "We're a great family just the two of us. But I really like Roland and Robin, and I think the four together could be pretty awesome."
Regina shakes her head, overwhelmed by her son, by how far they've come. She grabs Henry and pulls him to her so that she can press a big kiss to his forehead with an exaggerated "Mwah!"
Henry laughs and leans into Regina's side. She's still getting used to the affection he's so craved since getting his memories back, and it fills her with so much joy to hug and kiss her son and tell him over and over how much she loves him. They've missed too much time already, and she can't miss a second more showing Henry how much she loves him.
"Come on Mom," Henry says handing his mom her bowl. "Our ice cream is going to melt, and we have a movie that needs to be watched."
It's Henry who insists that they need to visit Robin and Roland for July 4th. Regina discourages it at first. It's not exactly a holiday they celebrate, and it's still so soon after Marian's death that she isn't certain whether Robin will feel like a celebration of any sort. But Henry insists and promises that if Robin and Roland want to be alone then Henry and Regina can just go home and eat all the marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers themselves.
It doesn't come to that.
Roland is enamored with Henry and follows the older boy like a shadow while he explains how to make the perfect s'more. Roland hangs on every word of Henry's instructions, all the while shoving extra uncooked marshmallows into his mouth.
Regina and Robin sit together on a log by the fire, watching their boys. Robin is so very quiet, and Regina tries not to feel that he's rejecting her, that he's regretting his decision to choose her, that he wishes that she were the one he'd lost and that Marian were sitting beside him.
Through his grief Robin still feels himself keenly aware of Regina. He sees her unease as she sits beside him. She doesn't reach for him in comfort as she normally would, doesn't lean into him, hardly touches him at all.
"Is something wrong Regina?"
She shakes herself from her thoughts. "No, I'm just thinking."
"Regina," he repeats, hoping desperately for her not to close herself off from him.
"I wasn't certain whether you wanted company. I don't want to push myself on you if you need time away from me right now."
Robin sighs and buries his face in his hands for a long moment. He can practically feel Regina's tension, knows she's terrified, about to run. He looks up at her then, as he scrubs his hands across his tired eyes.
"I love you more each moment I spend with you," Robin tells her, trying to keep the frustration out of his voice that he has to work so hard to convince her of this. She's staring at him with the familiar fear, and Robin wonders whether he will ever erase that expression from her face completely. "I'm happy when I'm with you, and it feels wrong to be this happy so soon after Marian's death."
"I'm sorry."
"It isn't your fault Regina," Robin tells her, and now she feels awful because he's comforting her, and it's all so wrong, because he just lost his wife and this should be the least of his concerns. Regina swallows back her fears. This isn't about her, she reminds herself. He isn't rejecting her.
Robin wraps his arms around Regina and pulls her into his chest, and she curls against him, her hand pressed over his heart. She asks for no further explanation, just leans on Robin, and he feels so close to her. He runs his fingers through her hair and whispers to her over the shrieks of their sons' laughter, "Falling in love with you healed a part of me that I didn't know needed healing."
Robin hears Regina's breath hitch. She doesn't say anything, and he wonders, he hopes that maybe Regina shares the sentiment. He hopes that he is able to heal some of the pain that he knows Regina has carried her whole life.
Robin runs his hands through Regina's hair, over her back, down her arms. She's here with him, and he loves her, and he needs to tell her so badly what he's feeling. He's become accustomed to not being along, to having someone to confide in since Regina came into his life. "Marian told me everyday for the last week of her life that she wanted me to be happy, and that I shouldn't waste anymore time mourning her, but I feel so guilty Regina. I feel like she died thinking that I didn't love her."
"She knew you loved her," Regina says, looking up at Robin.
"You spoke of it with her?"
Regina nods. "Your wife was a very good woman who loved you and Roland more than anything." Regina still feels hardly able to believe that Robin would want someone like her after loving someone as kind and noble as Marian. Regina knows that it hurt Marian to see her husband with another woman, but that at the same time she had also been grateful that Robin had moved on with his life. "I know that Marian wanted nothing more than happiness for you and Roland."
A broken sob escapes Robin and he presses his fist to his mouth to stop the tears. But Roland has already seen his father's tears. "Papa?"
Roland cautiously walks to Robin. "It's ok my boy," Robin says, reaching for Roland and pulling him into his lap. "Everything's going to be all right."
Regina's arm is wrapped around Robin still and Roland snuggles closer to her from his father's lap, and Regina thinks of the promise that she made to Marian. Henry joins them, sitting on the log next to Regina, her other arm coming to wrap around him and pull him close. She feels it then, knows that Henry had been right. She wants nothing more than for this to be her family.
