"You know, brother, I don't think we do." Roman crossed his arms.
"You need to stay away from Regina." Robin said, shaking with rage that someone else would touch his soul mate.
"I'm making her happy. Shouldn't that be what you want? Or are you upset because you couldn't make her happy? Is that it?"
"She's my soulmate." Robin hissed.
"Who left her crying in the cold!" Roman suddenly roared.
"I was happy to see Marian! I thought she was dead for gods sake. If she'd just waited, I would've explained it. It doesn't matter, I chose her, I told her. I chose Regina."
"But she didn't choose you, now did she?" Roman grinned. The punch was sudden and hard enough to knock him backwards.
Robin stepped into the house, prepared to hit him again.
"Brother." Roman said, standing straight up again, blood trickling out of the corner of his mouth. "You do realize that no matter who wins this fight, Regina is still mine."
"She's my soul mate. She told me herself that we were meant to be together."
"Looks like she lied." Roman smirked again and managed to dodge the next punch but was unprepared when Robin suddenly picked him up and slammed him onto the ground, cracking the floorboards. He caught Robin's next fist and threw a brutal one of his own, causing his brother to stagger backwards. Roman speared him to the ground and began punching him as hard as he could in the stomach. He let out a satisfied smirk when he felt a few ribs break.
Regina sighed, missing Roman's warmth beside her. There was no way she could go back to sleep until he was back in bed. She wondered who was at the door this time a night. Then she heard a heavy thud. She frowned and rolled over, listening. She heard it again.
Regina got out of bed, put on her robe to cover her silk nightdress and walked downstairs. "What the hell?" Roman and Robin were practically beating each other senseless. Robin had both hands on Roman's throat and was choking the life out of him. A tendril of red magic coiled around Robin's neck and pulled him backwards, releasing Roman. "What the hell is going in here?"
"A little brotherly discussion." Roman said as he stood up on shaky legs. He had a busted lip and an open wound on his forehead that was currently pouring blood but he was nowhere as bad as Robin.
"You broke your nose again."
"Are you serious?" He touched it and let out a string of curse words. She moved to heal him.
Robin was astonished by the tenderness in Regina when she touched his wounds, when she spoke to him, when she looked at him. Had it been anyone else, they probably would've been thrown out or turned into a roach to be stepped on, not cared for. "Regina?"
She turned to look at him, but Roman suddenly collapsed to one knee and she quickly knelt next to him. "I think you have some internal bleeding."
Robin watched her heal him, becoming angrier and more envious by the second. The desire to be with Regina was powerful. He did love her, truly loved her. But Roman's words rang true. She hadn't chosen him.
"Robin, what the hell are you doing here anyway?" Regina asked, turning to face him.
"I just...wanted to talk to Roman, but as you can see, it escalated rather quickly. I'm sorry to have disturbed you." He turned to leave, but felt her cooling magic as she healed him. "Thank you."
"Robin." He turned. "Next time, choose a better time when you want to kick Roman's ass." He smiled.
"Excuse me, love, but I think you must be mistaken. He did not kick my ass, not even close." Roman said. Regina pushed his head back until he went quiet. He glared at her and she grinned.
"Good night Robin. Roman get your ass into bed."
Robin walked back home, angry about losing his soulmate and that he didn't hurt his idiot brother even worse. Everything had been perfect before Emma fell through the time portal. He wasn't angry about Marian being back, but he wanted to be with Regina, but now that his brother had his claws in her, there was no way the "King" was going to let her go.
Xxxxxxxxx
Henry sat quietly watching the people of Storybrooke go about their business from his place on a park bench. Pongo and Archie walked past.
"What's wrong, Henry? You look upset." said the cricket.
"Um, it's...nothing."
Archie sat down. "Come on, you can talk to me, Henry. What's wrong?"
"Well...it's my mom." Henry said.
"Regina?"
"Yes. I don't think she cares about me anymore. I mean, I'm happy with Emma but, I never thought she would just ignore me."
"Maybe you need to try to talk to her. Are you regretting your decision?"
"I don't know. I don't know anything about her anymore. She's completely different and I don't understand anything."
"Your mother is changing. People change." Archie said.
"But not become completely different."
"Do you miss her?"
"Yes. I think I do."
"Then the best thing for you to do is to talk to her." Archie smiled and stood up. "Regina loves you, always has, always will. I think you should meet her halfway if you want to repair your relationship. Remember, Regina is your mother, no matter what anyone else may say." He tipped his hat to Henry and continued on his walk with Pongo.
Emma arrived a few minutes later. "I want to go see Mom." Henry said.
"What?"
"I want to go see Mom."
"Are you sure, Henry?"
"Yes."
xxxxxxxxx
Regina walked around her tree, studying the branches and trunk, checking for any signs of damages to her precious plant. Roman plucked an apple out of the tree and bit into it with a loud crunch. She rolled her eyes and began picking the apples and placing them in a small basket.
"I think you should you come with me, Love."
"Come with you where?" Regina asked.
"On a heist."
"I think Boston is mad enough at the guild." She laughed.
He bit into the apple again. "Come on, you would make an excellent thief."
"I don't think so. I was a queen for the majority of my life and I have magic." She opened her palm and large wad of cash appeared in it. "Why do I need to steal anything?"
"We don't need to steal either, but it's fun and it's what we're good at. Come on."
She paused before turning to look at him over her shoulder. "Alright."
"Really?"
"No."
"That was cruel, Regina." She laughed at the furrow in his brow as he bit into the apple again with a grumpy face.
"Okay, I'll go. Seriously. I'll go."
"Great!" He beamed. "I'll go prepare a heist suitable to your talents. I need to teach you to pick locks as well." He trailed off as he continued to eat the apple, mumbling to himself at what he needed to teach her.
"Can't I just use magic?" She asked.
"What's the fun in that, love?"
A car horn alerted them to the arrival of a bright yellow bug. Emma and Henry got out of it, Henry clutching his storybook to his chest.
"What do we have here?" Regina said, with a smirk at Roman. He shrugged and sat down on one of her lawn chairs.
"Regina, hey." Emma said.
"Miss Swan, hey." Regina mocked as she continued to pick apples.
"Henry wanted to see you."
"Oh?" Regina raised an eyebrow.
Henry stepped forward, almost hesitantly. Regina didn't address him, simply continued to fill the basket with apples. Once it was full, Roman stepped forward to take the basket in the house. Emma went with him, leaving mother and son alone. Regina still didn't say anything, still picking apples. Henry put down his storybook and started to help. They worked in silence for a little while.
"The apples look good this season." Henry said, watching his mother closely.
Regina smiled up at her tree. "Indeed. I may be able to get three batches of cider out of all of them."
"You moved the tree." He said.
"I did. It's mine. Snow may be the mayor but that doesn't make her entitled to my tree."
He smiled at her authoritative tone and watched as she held out her hand and one of the high branches lowered itself, placing the apple on the tip of the branch in the palm of her hand. She broke the stem and the branch went back to its place.
"Um, Mom?"
"Hmm?" Regina asked, examining the apple.
"Who's the guy that just went inside?" That wasn't what he wanted to say, at all, but he wasn't sure how to speak to his mother anymore. He wasn't sure what her reaction would be.
"His name is Roman. He's the King of Thieves."
"Oh."
"And he's Robin Hood's brother." Regina tossed him the apple and he caught it. "Henry, what did you want to talk about? It's not like you to hold your tongue." She raised her eyebrow at him.
"I wanted to ask you...I just wanted to see you I guess." He shrugged, looking down at the apple.
"You wanted to know why I changed." Regina said. He looked up at her in surprise. "I know you Henry. And I changed, because I wanted to be me for the first time in my life since Daniel's death. That change did not include you because you wanted to be with Emma, and I let you. I'm sorry for you if this isn't what you wanted. I do love you and I always will, but I have no intention of once again changing who I am to appease you or this town."
"I never said that I didn't want to be with you too." He said.
"Oh but you did, many times. You snuck out to be with Emma many times, you no longer trusted me or wanted anything to do with me. You wanted me to give up magic, something we both knew I was not strong enough to do. You hurt me Henry, over and over again. So I decided to stop letting you hurt me. If that meant completely cutting you out of my life, then although that was painful as well, it was what I was willing to do to let you live your life and for me to live mine. I stopped trying to chase you, to take you back, because I know now that we can never go back to the way we were before Emma, and I know it was wrong to try and force you to stay with me. If I ever hurt you, I'm sorry, but this is the way it's going to be. I don't want to be hurt again and I don't want to you to do anything you don't want to do."
Henry was silent through her little speech, surprised by his brunette mother's change in attitude. This had come as a complete shock to the boy. "I'm sorry for hurting you."
"No need for apologies." Regina smiled softly. "You're a child. And I don't blame you for wanting to leave."
This wasn't what he wanted. Sure, he hadn't expected to be welcomed with open arms, but he hadn't expected this. He wasn't sure what to do next. "Are you still my mom?"
"Of course I am, you'll always be my son and have a piece of my heart. But again, you chose Emma, and she'll take care of you just as good as I ever could."
"But she's not you." He said.
"No she is not." Regina grinned. "Now, is there anything you else you wanted to talk about?"
"No." Henry looked at the apple in his hands. "No, that was it."
"Then I'm glad we had this discussion." She picked up the basket of apples and went inside, Henry following.
Emma looked annoyed out of her skull while Roman was smirking and twirling some piece of metal in his hands.
"How do you deal with this?" Emma asked, glaring at Roman.
"I don't. You learn to completely ignore everything he says."
"Simply because she is so transfixed by my incredibly chiseled features." Roman grinned.
Regina rolled her eyes. "Is there anything else I can do for you, Miss Swan?"
"Um, no. That'll be all, thanks Regina." She looked at Henry. "Come on, kid."
Henry nodded before remembering his storybook outside. "Mom!"
Emma and Regina walked outside, confusion etched into both of their faces.
"Look at the storybook." He brought it to Regina and her eyes widened at what she saw. "The attacks, they're in the storybook." She turned the pages, stopping on the one that showed her slaying the dragon. She turned to the last page that showed an intricately drawn chest. There was a close up picture of the lock next to it. The lock was strangely shaped in the form of a circle rather than the typical fashion.
"What is that, a box?" Emma said. "What's so special about that?"
"The lock is circular. It must be for the pearl. Whoever is behind this must need the pearl to unlock this chest, wherever it important thing is what's inside it and why does someone want to get inside it so badly." Regina said.
Read and review! A/N: I have no idea if I conveyed Henry's emotions correctly but basically he's unsure of how to act with Regina while Regina still loves him but won't interfere with his life, so she's not completely ignoring him. After all, it's hard to throw away 10 years of loving and we all know that Regina loves much more deeply than normal people. I honestly don't like Henry because of the way he treats Regina so it's unlikely that his relationship with Regina will ever be truly restored. At least, not in this story.