So, I hear OUAT will do a time/space jump thingy. How interesting... I home it goes like this hahahaha

As per usual, nothing is mine but my mistakes.

Thanks for R&R i really appreciate your comments and inputs.

Chapter 11

After many failed attempts, Red was finally able to calm Regina down. Although, calm down would not be the best words to describe what the young woman was accomplished. In fact what she was able to do was diverge the queen's attention to another "problem", a simpler one, one she could solve now. Despite the fact that the queen was extremely preoccupied with her son being trapped in another time having only his inexperienced blonde mother to protect him, she was also very uneasy about her dinner with the man who was supposed to be her soul-mate.

"You see, Regina, I'm certain the kid would want you to try to find love again." The young woman reasoned. "Tomorrow, with your mind fresh, and a new look in your books, I'm sure you will find a way to bring them back." Well done, play the son card Red. She smiled satisfied.

Regina, on the other hand, just flipped her newly cut hair. After 28 years of short hair, one month with the long locks almost made her go insane. "I don't see how my son would possibly want me to stop looking for him to go on a date."

"We both know there's nothing you can do tonight to help them. And yes, I'm pretty sure little Henry would want you to go on that date if it meant you'll be happy when he comes back. Now, go wash yourself and get changed. Don't forget: cleavage, loads of it!" Red winked making Regina blush.

"Don't talk to me like that wolfie!"

"Well somebody has to, Emma is not here…" she laughed. The former mayor rolled her eyes but did as told.

##

"Are you sure they will be here at noon?" Robin asked brother Tuck whilst pointing at a red dot in the map opened on the table. The meeting had been on for over an hour and most of the plan for the first attempt of Operation Simba had already been discussed. They had decided that they should gather a small group and put the scheme in practice in a small town first, so if they failed it would look like a petty theft.

"My brother in cloth has been paying attention to the incoming schedule since last week. He said they arrive every other day at noon." Gave the priest.

As concerted, only the five lions, as they called themselves now, were in this meeting. They've decided that once they had all the attacks planned they should disperse. After a lot of deliberation, they figured that the most effective way of preventing anything from going inside the town would be set up camp in the woods alongside the main road connecting Nottingham to the Winter Town. Despite the Winter Town not being their biggest supplier, most of the trade routes passed through it before going to Sherwood, so even though their targeted town had two gates, all of the goods came from that direction.

Robin would stay the closest to Nottingham, once he was the most acquainted to the place; Tuck would remain on the next one and Remo would continue going around with the Romani camp to gather information and personal, leading them in the right direction. Esmeralda and Emma would stay near the Winter Town to send the exact time the caravans were leaving with the merchandize. They all knew this was not two-man job but were also aware that Emma could not live the outlaw life with a kid in tow, and moreover, in a complete unknown place.

"Are you sure our try out on give them an indication of what we intend to do?" Emma asked concerned. "Shouldn't we simply do it for real?"

"Emma, we've never done anything like this before. We need to try and see how many men we need, what's the best approach so we will be prepared for the big ones." Explained Remo.

"I already have fifteen men prepared to do as I say when I say it. They are some jolly fellas who used to drink and dance with me." He chuckled. "But fear not, they, as I, only needed a little perspective in life. I'd put my life in their hands." He finished gulping his rum.

"Jolly fellas? That will sound strange when they write songs about us." Commented the man in cloth. "What about the gay gang?" he suggested making Emma's rum come out of her nose from laughing so much. She, then, pretended to have a coughing attack to avert their curious looks.

"I don't think so. Ga-ga… Doesn't sound musical at all." Robin returned his attention to his friend.

"What about Merry Men?" suggested Emma. Am I giving them the name or they gave the name all those years ago and I'm just speeding up the process? She thought to herself.

"That's a good name. It suits you. Robin Hood and the Merry Man. What do you think Robin?"

"Legend worthy." Robin said with a huge grin raising his glass to toast.

"Sorry to interrupt this very important conversation-Esme laughed- but are we done here? I need to start lunch or else we'll all starve." She told with an overly dramatic and fake tone.

"Almost. I just have one more thing to add. I think we should keep our tattoos to ourselves and only reveal them when it's necessary. We don't want to put a target on our heads or have people coping it."

"Agreed." came the choir.

##

Esmeralda was cleaning up her cart so there would be space again for Henry's things. When the Romanies left in the next few days, she, Emma and Henry would stay on the outskirts of town with her cart, her tent and one horse. That's why she had to find some extra space for the boy who no longer would stay with Remo's boys.

"I really appreciate what you're doing for us Esme. You didn't have to stay, you could've gone with your family and friends." Whispered Emma when she entered the cart worried she could startle her friend.

"Emma, you and Henry are family too, haven't you realized that by now? Besides, I couldn't possibly leave you here alone knowing where you come from. You wouldn't last a day!" she joked.

"Not true!" the blonde feigned being hurt. "We did it for two whole days before we met you…" she laughed. "Well, thanks anyway. I know how hard it can be to stay away from the people you love."

"You mean your parents?" Despite telling her their story, the brunette knew very little about the woman's relationship with her parents. It sure must be a complicated one. One could never predict something like this: finding out your parents, who you've been looking for your entire life, were stuck on time so they were your age.

"Yes, and my friends. You see, for the first in forever I felt like I belonged. Storybrook felt more like home to me than anywhere I've ever lived." Emma opened up.

"We're going to take you back, I promise." Emma smiled.

"You are too, you know?"

"What?" asked Esme.

"Family."

Esme felt her heart warm up with the blonde's statement. In spite of now being old enough, Esme had a motherly feeling towards Emma. She would be sad to see the woman and her son go, but maybe they'd meet in the future. She must have been caught by the infamous curse too.

"Emma, have we met before? I mean, in Storybrook?"

"No. I don't think you were there. Robin wasn't there either. You must have been caught in Cora's bubble." She said trying to remember if she could have seen the woman and not given her attention.

"Are you decent?" asked a pre-teen voice coming from outside the cart.

"We are. Come in dear."

"Sup kiddo?"

"I was just wondering, since we're staying here, and we already need to come up with a potion or spell to wipe her memory off, can we go see mom?" the boy rambled.

"I'm not sure it's a good idea Henry. If we don't come up with those, it's more likely she wouldn't remember a couple of circus people she met once than people she spent more time with." Reasoned Emma.

Seeing the sad face on both their faces Esme realized how important the future Evil Queen was to the duo. It's obvious the boy should miss his mother, but why did Emma look like she was also sad for not being able to visit the queen, and not only for saying no to her child.

"You said you needed a potion to make her forget about the both of you, right?-they nodded.- you also said that your pixie friend told you I had the recipe for that. I have no memory of having it, which means it must've been be nana's. I know she used to have almost all the known recipes of this realm, but I had no interest in things that were not healing related so I've never seen it. I've kept them all with me though, we never know when we'll need them." she finished with a wink.

"can we look for it?" asked the hopeful boy.

"We would also need the spell Henry." Said Emma.

"One step at a time, ma. We'll look for Hermione later." He laughed alone. "No one? She used a false memory charm to make her parents believe they were other people and move to Australia? No?" he urged. "God, you really need to read Harry Potter ma. Specially now you have magic."

"Who is this Harry you speak of?"

"It's a character in the best book series about wizards!"

"I see. And you can learn to do magic with it?"

"No Esme. There's no magic in our realm. It was a joke." He said softly.

"Oh. Right. Let's try to find the potion then. Maybe one of her books can also tell us how to perform lady Hermine's charm." She tried to joke.

"Oh my god, you're adorable." Emma laughed making Esme blush and Henry smile.

"It's Hermione" the kid whispered to the older woman.

##

"Are you nervous?" the quiet question startled the brunette sitting in her nightstand.

"Why should I be Tink? He's the one having dinner with royalty." She finished up putting on her lipstick.

"But you're the one on a date with your soul-mate. At least the one who knows about it." She gave back.

Regina exhaled loudly. "It's just weird. Knowing the person who is supposed to be your soul mate before you even get to know them. I feel like I'm putting the cart in front of the horses. Like, once again, it's not my choice." She explained. "It's stupid, I know. Most people don't even get one chance like this in their life and here I am now complaining about the lack of romanticism." She chuckled.

"Maybe you watched too many rom-com, like "you've got mail". Red made me watch at least a dozen of those when I was in Storybrook." She rolled her eyes. "And we are supposed to be the fairytale people? Little they know…"

"You are right. How do I look?" she turned to her friend.

"You look beautiful, Regina." The blonde smiled.

##

"You also have a son, I've heard." The brunette asked curiously. The dinner so far had been more pleasant than she expected. Robin was indeed a very charming man. The peasant born lord had the good manners of a gentleman but the street's smarts of a thief, which included his sense of humor. Undoubtedly crass at times, his jokes made her laugh quite a few times, once, almost making her empty her mouth content.

"I do. He is almost 13 now. Despite my disagreement, Mikko decided to be a knight and is being trained to become one back home. I know it's very selfish of me, but I know the knight's life, and I don't want to lose him. He's the only family I have left."

"It's not selfish at all. I know exactly how you feel." She smiled. "I didn't like to see Henry play with wooden swords, I can only imagine what seeing him training to a real battle would do to me."

"Yes. He is good kid Henry. Very smart and a great drawer. You see this- he pushed his sleeves, letting Regina see the lion tattoo and another one, a windmill upper his arm-"he did this before I left for Nottingham. He said it was to remind them by."

"It's a windmill…" she smiled with teary eyes.

"Yes, cause he is Henry Mills. I had never understood why he had a different surname until now." He said looking into her dark brown eyes with his blue ones as if mesmerized. Regina was quite used with that kind of gaze, she was aware of how she looked and the impact her appearance had on people, but the hungry look this man had made her feel uneasy.

"It was my father's last name." she cleared her throat. "I named Henry after him."

"It's a good name." He filled their goblets with wine. "To Henry, may he and Emma have a safe trip home." He toasted and clinked their glasses.

"To Henry and Emma." She smiled sadly.

##

"What do we do now Emma?" asked the over excited boy. Robin and the Merry Man had just left for the "operation Simba" try out. She didn't want to drag the kid down telling him that people would probably die out there, but she had to say something after all they were around some of the families that might lose a member soon.

"Listen, Henry, I know how you've always read about this kind of stories, but is real life honey. People might get hurt in the process, some on our side, some of the fathers and brothers of our friends. So now, we wait and hope they succeed and that nobody gets hurt." She said softly kissing his forehead.

"You're right. I'm sorry Esme. I didn't think this through. I'm not a religious person, but I'll pray the spirits guide our friends and enemies so nobody gets hurt." The boy said and went to talk to Remo's boys.

"You're really good with him. It doesn't show how shortly you've been his parent. You're a natural, dear." She praised the young woman after sensing her insecurity. "Look, I think I've found what we were looking for." She changed the subject.

"The recipe?" questioned Emma taking the outworn paper. It looked over fifty years old and some of the words were a little difficult to read. "I hope we can figure out everything it says. God only knows what could happen if we misread some ingredient."

"This is my nana's handwriting, I'm sure I can read it, even if a little wiped out. Don't worry, honey, you and your son can go see his mother. I think I can arrange to meet my friend at the castle tomorrow, what do you say?"

"Ye…yes, sure." Emma stuttered.

"What's the matter, Emma? Are you still worried about her memories?"

"No, it's not that. Regina and I were not really friends. We worked together to reach our goal, to save Henry. By the time we left Neverland I thought we had a good thing going on, we fought less, we laughed more, but every now and then I'd say or do something and it was like we went to square one. My son, not yours-she tried to mimic the mayor-and then came Pan's curse. She gave up her happy ending to save us all, but she didn't have to make her son forget about her and only remember a happy life with me. A life in which I didn't abandon him. She tried to give me a happy ending as well. Why would she do that when she seemed to hate me?"

Esme only watched the feelings outflow with wide eyes. How could the blonde think that anyone who would do something like that. She opened her mouth to speak but was beaten by Henry's laughter. They both looked at the boy in entrance of the cart.

"Why are you laughing kid?" asked a puzzled Emma.

"It's so funny to hear you say mom hates you. She so doesn't! She is not very good at showing affection. Once she told me she didn't know how to love well. This whole thing is hilarious because you, ma, you don't know how to be loved very well. You have little experience. You still don't think you're worthy of it."

"We have a poet among us. Well said Henry. The boy is right. A person who oversees their happiness in favor of somebody else's not only doesn't hate that person, but, I dare say, loves them."

"Yeah Emma. She chastised you because she cares, If she didn't she'd just roll her eyes and go on with her life." The boy continued.

"But she is always complaining about my parenting skills, saying how stupid my parents are and how she wished she'd just kill them, or how my jacket is horrible, not even my car is good enough for her!" She all but screamed with her hands now pulling her hair. "She drives me crazy sometimes!"

Henry just smirked. "That's all she wants. Seriously Emma, you can be so blind sometimes. All she wants is our attention. Do you really believe that if she wanted grandpa and grandma dead they wouldn't be already? David was in a bed and Snow was a schoolteacher for 28 years. How easy would it be? And you, Sherlock, you're the only one who doesn't say yes ma'am to her. She found her match. You drive her crazy too." He finished with a gazillion watts smile more proud of his deduction abilities than the time he figured out his town mates were fairytale characters.

##

-For those who can't stand OQ i feel there's something I should say. I hate it too, as much as a SQ heart can and that's why I'm making it kinda happen. The same way I don't want Regina to simply choose Robin in the show cause he is meant to be her true love, I don't want her to simply accept Emma, I want her to choose Emma cause she wants to. I want her to go against what she thinks was certain for her to be with Emma.

At the same time I don't want to paint Robin as a bad guy, he is not, he is just not Emma. This is one of the things that made me like "Imagine me and You" so much. Hanks was a stand up guy, the only thing wrong with him was that he wan't Luce.

-For those who thought this was an OQ fanfic i can only apologize, but I'm not sorry at all.

Cheers

Gabi