I know it's been like 10 years, but here's a new chapter!

Regina's eyes widened as she turned to look at the person in the doorway, a look of shock present on her face, she moved towards it, pulling him in before slamming the door closed, "you cannot tell anyone," she hissed, glaring at the man who was looking from her to Robin, "why are you even here?"

"Well dearie, I thought I would stop by and ask how you are, my wife sends her regards."

Regina narrowed her eyes at him for a second before it came to her, he was married, to Milah her friend from college, how had she forgotten that? She hadn't talked to her in years, but she'd heard of their marriage on social media. That also meant that… oh, he had been bad, done something much worse than she was, she'd forgotten about Milah when she found out about what Gold was getting up to, but now it was even more of a scandal, he had no power over her. "Well that's nice of her, do tell Milah that we should catch up again soon. If that's all, it's the end of the day and I would like to be heading home."

"Miss Mills you seem to have forgotten what I just witnessed."

"No, I don't think I have," she shook her head as she walked over to her desk and collected her bags, spotting the worried look on Robin's face as he watched her, it seemed to mirror the one on her mother's.

"Well then, maybe I should just go straight to Leo, I am sure that he would just love to hear about what his staff are getting up to with the students of this university."

"Oh, I am sure he would, in fact, maybe I'll go pay him a visit myself, I have a certain piece of information to divulge, I am sure he will be very interested in it, although I think Milah might be more bothered than Leopold, so maybe I'll go straight to her instead." She saw his face pale as he stared at her in shock, he had clearly been wanting to hold something over her, but realised that she had the upper hand in this situation, if he took her down, he was going down with her.

"I don't know what you think you know, but whatever it is it isn't the truth."

"Oh, I think it is, I heard it from the horse's mouth so to speak. So, let me tell you what is going to happen, you are going to walk out of this classroom and forget everything you witnessed and maybe I might just forget about your little dalliance. How does that sound?"

He glared at her before heading to the door and leaving the room, she closed her eyes and heaved a sigh of relief, she felt bad for Milah, but she couldn't risk being found out, not when they were so close to Robin graduating and being able to be together. She turned to look at her mother who was staring at her, "mother…"

"Explain when we get back to your apartment, you don't want anyone else overhearing this do you."

"No," she shook her head, "Robin are you coming?"

"I'm working tonight babe, but I'll stop by after okay?"

"Okay," Regina nodded and watched him walk out of the room, she and her mother left a few moments later, walking to her car in an awkward silence. Once they were seated she turned to look at the older woman who was sat in the passenger seat staring straight ahead, "mom…"

"Not now Regina, just drive."

"Right," she sighed, slipping the key into the ignition and pulling out of the parking lot. The drive was one of the most awkward moments in her life, she'd tried to turn the radio on only for her mother to swat her hand away, stating that she wanted to sit in silence. So, they had done, it was awkward and the air had been thick with tension, after twenty minutes Regina was so happy to be finally pulling onto her street.

As soon as she closed the door to the apartment her mother was yelling at her, "what in gods name do you think you are doing being involved with one of your students?! Did you really think that nobody would find out and that you could run around having your sordid little affair?!"

"It isn't like that and what we have certainly isn't sordid!" she shouted back, dropping her bag on the couch as her hand went to rest on her abdomen.

"Regina he's your student! How do you think that is okay? It's disgusting Regina! Are you that desperate that you have to prey on the people you teach?!"

"I hardly think you can say that I prayed on Robin," she rolled her eyes, that was the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard, "and if you would let me explain…"

"Explain what Regina? That there was a handsome boy in one of your classes and you thought that you would sleep with him and get pregnant with his child? Is that what you wanted to explain to me? Why couldn't you have just met someone in a normal way? Gone on a dating site or something."

"Mother, you banned me from such sites! You told me that I would be butchered by some online predator! So, don't you dare fling that at me! You don't even know anything about my relationship with Robin! You didn't even ask how we first met and if you had, you would have realised that we were together before I found out that he was my student!" She sat down, feeling a little unsteady on her feet, she knew that stress and anger weren't good for the baby and she felt it kick against her, winding her slightly in the process, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

"You were already together?"

"Yes, we were, Robin transferred, I met him in the summer and then when I turned up to teach my class he was there. I felt so sick and disgusted at myself," she whispered. "I ended things with Robin, told him that I couldn't be involved with a student that way and it killed me to do it, but I did, I kept my distance. That was until I found out I was pregnant, I tried to stay away from him, to push him away from me, but I just couldn't do it, I needed him with me and I wanted him to experience everything with me, how could I make him miss me being pregnant with his child? It wasn't fair on him."

Her mother's face softened slightly as she looked at the ground and shook her head, "this is a mess you've got yourself into isn't it young lady."

"You can say that again, I love him so much mom, you have no idea, it was killing me not being with him, going through this pregnancy on my own was one of the hardest things I have ever done and I couldn't carry on like that, I needed him."

"I see," Cora sighed, "I guess you better just hope that nothing more comes of that other teacher finding out about you."

"Trust me it won't," she shook her head, "he's having an affair with a student whilst he's already married, so I doubt that he would risk outing me, not when his own neck is on the line."

"I see," she nodded awkwardly before moving into the kitchen and grabbing a bottle of wine.

Regina watched her and sighed as she rubbed her belly, "why were you at the university? I forgot to ask."

"I just came to check in and make sure that you were alright, also there was no chance I was getting a bus and I didn't have the number for the cab company so I thought I might as well walk to you."

"Oh," Regina offered her a weak smile as she closed her eyes and felt the baby kick her again, she was tired, she hadn't slept properly the night before and now it had caught up with her.

"I think you should be going to bed, you look positively exhausted dear."

"I feel it," she breathed, standing up from the couch, "maybe a nap might help," she muttered as she shuffled towards her bedroom, "will you be alright if I sleep?"

"Yes, I have a couple of calls to make anyhow so go ahead."

Regina nodded and moved into her room, closing the door behind her and shrugging out of her clothes until she was in her underwear. She slipped under the covers, laying her head down on her pillow and closing her eyes, maybe she could just sleep for an hour or so.

Regina woke to the feeling of fingers running through her hair, her eyes fluttered open as she rubbed them tiredly, looking up to see a pair of familiar blues looking back at her. She woke straight away and sat up in bed, "oh my god!"

"Hey sleepy head, didn't think to tell me about this then?" she smirked, gesturing to Regina's bump.

"Mal!" she smiled, flinging her arms around the woman, not even caring that she was only in her underwear, it had been so long since she had seen her friend that she didn't give a shit. It wasn't as though Mal hadn't seen her body before, they had been best friends since high school, before becoming more than friends in college and then slipping apart. "I can't believe you're here!"

"Your mother called me and asked if I had seen you lately, she made me feel rather guilty."

"Well, we do have our weekly phone call."

"A weekly phone call in which you forgot to tell me you were up the duff and engaged! How did that happen, I thought you didn't have a boyfriend and the last guy I knew you were with was the one you were crazy about in the summer who seemed to just disappear."

"Well, he didn't really disappear," she shrugged, "we're still together," a smile found it's way onto her face as she looked at the woman in front of her.

"Ah, so he's your baby daddy."

"Yes," she smirked, biting down on her bottom lip, "you look amazing by the way."

"Thank you darling, the same might be able to be said about you if you didn't have your hair sticking to your face and your makeup smudged."

"I was tired," she groaned, "carrying a baby makes you tired," she chuckled before slipping out of bed and finding her fluffy robe, she didn't usually wear those kinds of things, but Robin had bought it for her when she complained about being cold and she had been wearing it ever since.

"So, when do I get to meet your fiancé?"

"He's working tonight," Regina sighed as she sat back down on her bed, "is my mother still out there?"

"Hmm," Mal nodded, "you have no idea how surprised I was when I got that call, not to mention worried, I had no clue why I would possibly be getting a phone call for your mother who I knew didn't think all that highly of me."

"I am just as shocked as you are, I would have never expected her to have called you," Regina shrugged. It wasn't rocket science to work out that Cora hadn't liked Mal and she'd harboured even more dislike for her when she had returned from work one day to find the pair making out on the couch. She had set off on an endless rant that they should be keeping themselves to themselves. Regina's mother had always felt that Mal was guilty of corrupting her daughter and turning her against her, which wasn't the truth, Regina just didn't want to comply with her mother's rules.

"Maybe she realised that you needed someone to be here for you. Do you have anyone?"

"I have Robin," she smiled awkwardly.

"I meant do you have any friends that you can talk to?"

"Well, I suppose I have Dr Hopper, but you know how obsessed I usually am with my work, I don't have the time to go out and make friends."

"Yet somehow you had the time to go out and meet Robin, make a baby and get engaged, but sure you don't go out and make friends," Mal commented, an air of sarcasm hanging in her voice.

"That's different. I just don't really socialise well," Regina sighed, what was Mal even getting at with this conversation? What was she trying to prove? "Anyway, whatever my mother's reason for bringing you here, I was glad she did, I'm just so happy to see you," she smiled brightly as she wrapped her arms around her friend once more, "when did she even call you? I thought you were in New York."

"She called me yesterday and said that she felt you needed a friend here, so I hopped on a plane and came straight to you. I'm staying for a week or so in a hotel down the street and I hope that we'll be able to spend some time together."

"I would love that," Regina smiled, "there have been a few changes with my body so there are a couple of things I can't do anymore that I might once have, like dance all night and drink," she laughed shaking her head, "but I can still shop."

"Trust you to want to go shopping," the blonde laughed as she shook her head, "have you got some baby things yet?"

"Not really, a couple of bits maybe, I don't want to get them just yet. I need to go shopping for some maternity clothes and a gift more than anything, I know that this will be one of the only times I will be able to get it."

"A gift for?"

"Robin, his birthday is still a few months away yet, but I know that if I want it custom made then I'll have to order it and it takes time to get it perfect."

"Speaking of lover boy, you haven't mentioned his age."

"It didn't come up," Regina shuffled uncomfortably, he wasn't too much younger than her, but she didn't know what Mal would think about the age gap.

"Well it has now, how old is he? Younger or older?"

"Younger," Regina confessed, running her fingers through her hair and finding that it was tangled more than she'd thought it was. Standing from the bed she retrieved her brush from the vanity and began running it through her curls, trying to eradicate any lugs that were messing up her hair.

"Ooh get you, Regina Mills the cougar," Mal smirked as she leaned back on her elbows, raising her eyebrows at her friend, "how much younger?"

"A few years," Regina cleared her throat, "I don't think it's enough years for me to be classed as a cougar, plus it's rude of you to suggest that I am old enough to be one," she scoffed, raising an eyebrow at her friend who was still just grinning at her.

"So, come on then, how old is prince charming?"

"More like Robin Hood," she laughed shaking her head, "do you really need to know? Is it that important?"

"Yes, tell me."

"He's twenty-four," she stated.

"Oh, that isn't too old, it's not as though you robbed the cradle or anything," the blonde smirked, "pregnancy suits you by the way."

"Right now, I don't think it does, I probably have dark circles around my eyes and I know for a fact that I am more bloated than I was yesterday."

"You're pregnant darling, isn't that just what comes with it?"

"I suppose so. I'm sorry I didn't tell you Mal, I was trying to keep it from everyone to be honest," she sighed, thinking about how she had been trying to keep the fact she was pregnant a secret at work only for Zelena to try and humiliate her, resulting in her bursting out with it in the middle of the staff room.

"So then, if lover boy isn't here right now, what are your plans for the evening?"

"Well, I think we are in need of a proper catch-up, I haven't seen you in months," Regina smiled as she rested her head against her friend's shoulder, "how about you? Have you found anyone yet?"

"Actually, I think I might have, it's still early days but we met at the women's march, you know the one I told you about."

"Really? Do tell," Regina grinned as she got comfortable on the bed and leant against the headboard, she was looking forward to catching up with her oldest friend and not having to think about everything that was going on in her life.

After a couple of hours, Mal had stated that she needed to be getting back to the hotel and that the jet lag had caught up with her. Regina had reluctantly let her go, making her promise that they would spend some time together the next day. Now though Regina was stuck alone with her mother who had said very little to her since Mal showed up.

She cleared her throat and Cora turned away from the television to look at her, "everything okay?" Regina asked nervously, maybe her mother had been thinking about her relationship with Robin, what if she was still judging her and what if she was thinking about telling the school board about what was going on?

"Just fine," Cora nodded, "I organised to stay with a friend for the second half of the week so I will be out of your hair," she stated as she flicked off the television and stood from the couch, moving to take out the pull-out bed.

"Let me help you with…"

"Regina you shouldn't be doing heavy lifting in your condition, I can manage perfectly well on my own," she scolded, casting her poignant look before continuing with her task and making the bed with the duvet and pillows. "I know that my presence here has caused nothing but problems for you Regina…"

"Mother that isn't…"

"Let me finish. I know I haven't always been the best parent to you, but what I want more than anything is your safety and happiness and that of your unborn child. That is why there are conditions that come with me leaving."

Regina furrowed her eyebrows what was her mother talking about, conditions to her leaving? Did that mean she would have to follow some kind of rules or else she was stuck with her? "Conditions?"

"Yes, Robin must be living here, I will not have you being here alone whilst you are in this condition. You need someone to be here with you, to support you, if something happens to your or the baby because you were living here alone I will never forgive myself."

"Mother, you cannot control where Robin stays, I already talked this over with him and it is important that he has a different address to me, mainly because the university demands to know his place of residence and it would look rather odd if he had the same address as I do." She couldn't actually believe what she was hearing, she had half expected it to be the opposite, for her mother to demand her to cut Robin out of her life on the basis that he was no good for her and their relationship was forbidden.

"All of those are valid points Regina, but he must be staying with you otherwise I will be."

Regina closed her eyes, it was crazy, she was perfectly capable of looking after herself just as she had been doing for the past thirteen years, ever since she moved out of her childhood home and went to college, "I'll have to talk about it with him again," she sighed, she doubted that Robin would go along with it, he had been the one against it in the first place.

"Good, see to it that you do, I will be retiring now."

Regina blinked and nodded, realising that she was being turfed out of her own lounge, "very well mother," she sighed, moving into the kitchen to make herself a drink of tea for before she went to bed. She quietly retreated to her bedroom and rubbed a hand over her face, her eyes focusing on the bath through the door to the bathroom, the prospect of a bath sounded amazing after the day she'd had.

She ran the water and slipped out of her clothes before taking her makeup off in front of the mirror and lowering herself into the warm water. She closed her eyes and hummed quietly, it really was heaven. She'd lowered the lights and lit some candles around the room, the bubbles in the water lapped against her skin gently as she ran her fingertips through them.

A crashing noise startled Regina, she shot up, realising that she had carelessly fallen asleep in the bath. Turning her head, she looked towards the door of the bathroom, the noise came from her bedroom which meant that there must be someone in there, maybe it was her mother wanting to use the restroom or something. When she had guests, it was highly inconvenient having the bathroom door being in her room, the architect obviously hadn't taken that into consideration.

The noise had sounded like a picture frame breaking, she was suddenly wide awake as she stared at the door, expecting someone to come through it, she could hear grumbling and furrowed her eyebrows, that didn't sound like her mother, but if it wasn't, how the hell did an intruder get past her without being detected? The water in the bath was still warm which meant that she couldn't have been asleep that long. "Hello?" She called out, "is someone there?"

"Babe?"

She released a breath she hadn't even realised she was holding and laid back again," Robin, in the bathroom."

The door opened and she looked up to see Robin come into the room and perch on the side of the bath, he looked pretty worn out but she wasn't surprised, it must be late and his first class had been early morning which meant he had been awake for hours. "Tired?" she asked, flashing him a sympathetic smile as she took her hand out of the water and rested it on top of his.

"It's just been a long day that's all, there was a fight in the bar and it got a little out of hand."

Regina sighed and shook her head, he'd found a job as a bartender to go alongside the one he already had working at the activities centre. She'd tried to tell him that he didn't need to but he'd disagreed saying that the more money they had the better. He was right, she knew how expensive babies was, but she also knew that he didn't really have to worry about money at all, she had a lot saved out and knew that she would probably be receiving her trust fund when their baby was born. "Are you okay?"

"Hmm, fine," he leant over pressing his lips gently to hers, "I'll be better when I can fall asleep holding you," Robin grinned as he touched her shoulder gently, running his fingers over the damp curls that were sticking to her skin. "How have you and baby been tonight?"

"We've been fine, tired, I seem to just keep dozing off. I did earlier and was probably asleep for around four hours or so."

"Well then, it seems I'm not the only one in need of some bedtime snuggling."

"I most certainly am. I need to get out of here, my back is aching," she groaned, only just feeling the dull pain in the base of her spine, it was probably because she had been laid in a funny position, either that or Robin scaring her half to death when he came in.

Robin reached for her and helped her to step out of the tub, wrapping her in one of the fluffy towels, "I think I might grab a quick shower and then join you in bed."

"Okay," she smiled moving towards the bedroom door, she was about to leave him to it when she remembered something, "Robin, what was it that you knocked over when you came in?"

"Oh, I thought you might be asleep because the lights were turned off, so I didn't want to turn them on and wake you. Seemingly I misjudged the amount of space around your vanity to get to the bathroom and because I couldn't see it I bumped straight into it and the picture frame knocked over."

"Are you okay?" she chuckled shaking her head at his clumsiness, it was also quite cute how considerate he was about not waking her and she would have appreciated it, but it turned out he had managed to wake her anyway.

"I'm fine, it was just a little bump, nothing major."

"I see. Well, I hope my picture frame is just as fine as you are after that little bump."

"I don't think it broke, so that must mean it is," he laughed, sending a cheeky wink her way.

"What about my mother then?"

"I don't know about that, but as far as I'm aware she isn't broken either."

Regina rolled her eyes playfully, "I meant was she asleep when you came in? She told me she was going straight to bed and pretty much banished me here."

"Urm, I'm not sure, I didn't really check on her, I was concentrating on getting into your wonderful bed."

"Makes sense," she smirked before clearing her throat, "you better hurry up with your shower and get in it as soon as you can then haven't you."

"Definitely," he hurriedly began to take his clothes off.

She laughed and shook her head as she closed the door on him and perched on the bed, reaching for the vanilla chai body butter she rubbed it over her skin before changing into her pyjamas. That was something she would have to add to the list of things she needed for when she went shopping with Mal because the ones she had were getting quite tight on her stomach, she could just wear Robin's shirts though, she doubted he would mind and it would be cheaper than having to buy more sets of pyjamas.

Deciding that she was better off not wearing them, she took them off and replaced them with a pair of panties and a simple lace bralette before moving under the covers and watching the door in anticipation for Robin to come join her.

About ten minutes later she heard it open and glanced towards it, seeing Robin walk in with a towel wrapped around his waist showing off his toned torso, "come here," she beckoned, reaching towards him.

He rose his eyebrows and headed towards her, stopping by the bed as her hand made contact with his skin, she ran her fingers across his abs humming in content as she closed her eyes.

"You're weird," Robin chuckled taking his towel off and drying his hair with it before moving away from her and laying it over the radiator.

"Probably true," she smiled opening her eyes as she watched him pull some boxers on and head towards her, "I need a hug."

"Well then, I think you came to the right person," he grinned, slipping into bed with her, pulling her into his arms, "hello."

"Hello," she hummed as she brushed her face over his chest, "need to sleep."

"Go on," he breathed pressing a kiss to the top of her head, "I'll be right here."

Regina drifted off in his arms, only for Robin to fall asleep a few minutes later.

It was the middle of the night when she woke again, her bladder was fit to burst and she wriggled out for Robin's arms before heading to the bathroom. She was just sat on the toilet when she noticed her phone by the side of the bath, the screen was flashing and she furrowed her eyebrows before reaching to pick it up.

There was a message written on the screen sent from an unknown number.

I know.