Ahh, the very last chapter of The Missing Year. I will miss doing this story, but I have a brand new AU fanfiction that'll be posted in the next day or two. I'm very excited to reveal that to you, but for now here's a sneak peek:

"It's the second Monday of August; hottest summer in history of Atlanta.

There's a bit of the sun out at seven o' clock this morning, trying to shine through the storm clouds that's expected to bring lots of rain tomorrow. The humidity was high, the sun was already making it hot, and the kids were all walking to their bus stops.

Another year of school.

It's one of the happiest days of school for many, though, besides the day before break. For Regina Mills, it means going back to school as a teacher of five years. She is a favorite teacher of many students in her classes, including classes whom have already graduated and moved on. She loves what she does, helping students in a lost world and in a generation of teachers who don't want to help their kids."

Like it? Make sure to follow me for updates of when I release it :)

Thank you to all who have enjoyed reading this story as I have enjoyed writing it. And to the ones who stuck by me when rude people were being...well, rude. I appreciate you very much, and hope you'll join me in my next adventure!

Love to everyone!

G.B̶u̶t̶ ̶r̶i̶g̶h̶t̶ ̶n̶o̶w̶,̶ ̶I̶ ̶d̶o̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶n̶k̶ ̶I̶'̶l̶l̶ ̶e̶v̶e̶r̶ ̶g̶e̶t̶ ̶b̶a̶c̶k̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶m̶.̶

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Robin didn't even hardly see Rosalyn before they already took her out of the room. The doctor was putting stitches in Regina, who had finally fallen asleep after she asked about her baby girl. She didn't know what was going on anyway, but she knew that her baby wasn't crying. Neither of them.

"Where are my babies? What's happening to them?" Robin asks frantically over Regina's body, talking to the nurse.

"I can't tell you right now, we aren't allowed."

"You aren't…" He scoffs, "You aren't allowed?! Come on!"

"Sir, we aren't allowing anyone in with them right now, they're in an incubator fighting for their lives." She answers.

The whole world just fell on top of Robin. His babies…the two little ones that he'd talk to and rub through Regina's belly…they were dying. Fighting for their lives. "Wh-what's…wrong with them?" He asks, staring into space.

"Their lungs weren't fully developed yet. They're both on breathing machines, but baby boy is doing better. He was bigger than baby girl, she…doesn't have a great chance.

Robin felt his stomach flip, wanting to fall on his knees but catching himself on Regina's bed. His eyes glazing with tears, rolling down his cheeks one by one. He leaned down and kissed Regina's forehead, needing comfort but not finding any anywhere. He felt alone right now while she was still asleep, completely and utterly alone.

He strokes her hair net like it's the most precious thing in the world, but in reality she is the most precious thing in the world. His world. "I…I wish you were awake…" He whispers, a tear of his falling onto her ivory colored cheek. He felt incredibly selfish for wanting her to be awake, just to find out that her babies are fighting for their lives in an infant ICU. But he needed her, he wanted her to tell him that it would be okay like he does for her. Even if it was a lie, he still wanted to hear those words more than anything. He wanted to hear her soothing voice, just saying his name.

That would comfort him at this point.

…

…

Two in the morning, about four hours after their twins were brought into this world. Still no good news.

"Robin?" She mutters out, her eyelids slowly ungluing from peacefully resting on top of each other. "Wh…where are my babies?" She asks in a small voice, still heavy with sleep.

He was sitting next to her where he had been since they wheeled her into this new room, holding her hand and pacing the floor at certain times. No sleep at all. "Regina, they're…not doing well…" He announces as gently as he can, feeling like his ribs are shattering from his heartbreak of having to tell her this.

"What do you mean?" She asks, sitting up slowly and wincing in pain from her stomach as she does.

He holds her hand a little tighter and looks down, sniffling, "River – he's the first one that was born." He says, Regina nodding as she remembered that piece of information. "He's so small…he wasn't breathing when he arrived. Then of course you had the surgery, Rosalyn was born…but she's doing worse. She…" He has to stop to keep from breaking into tears, trying to stay strong for the mother of these children he was crying about.

"She what?" She presses on, her voice shaky and her lips parted as she waits for him to finish.

He swallows thickly and has no way to go on but look into her eyes, "She's not breathing at all. They have her on oxygen completely, while River is only getting help." He explains, shaking his head and biting the inside of his mouth when he finishes his sentence.

She looks away from him, her face bunching up as tears prick at her eyes. The little girl she had always dreamed of having, the little boy that she had talked to for seven straight months. The ones she would sing to for them to calm down and stop hurting her insides, the ones she watched roll around in her stomach for the past months. "I want to see them." She says after a few minutes of silence.

He nods slowly, he hasn't been in there yet. He didn't want to go alone. "I don't know if you're allowed to go yet…" He says.

She lays back in her bed harshly, bursting into a sob. He had never seen her cry like this before, just as earlier he had never seen her use such vulgarity. "I just want to see them…" She cries out, her body convulsing as her head was turned away from him still, he being not able to see her eyes.

He rubs her arm, "I know you do. If it helps, I haven't seen them either…" He whispers, kissing her hand with that scratchy stubble that she felt the residue of tears in. "I want us to see them together."

When they're dead? She thought in her mind, not wanting to say it aloud because it would be horribly negative. All she wanted to do for seven months was see what these beautiful babies would look like, and they're so fragile that she couldn't even see them in their first day of life. She failed, yet again. She didn't carry them right, she didn't birth them right…she didn't do anything right. Again. Her whole life was surrounded by failure and sadness, why couldn't she be granted this? It was the least that she deserved…wasn't it? Maybe it wasn't. Maybe this was fate punishing her once more for all she's done; fresh, new lives for the ones she'd long ago taken.

Robin still rubbed her hand, letting her stay quiet. He could tell she was thinking, he only wished he knew what. They were both clearly worried. Who couldn't be? Even if they didn't love these children, which they did very much and with all of both of their hearts. They couldn't have imagined, nine months ago, that the Prince of Thieves and the Evil Queen would have a child together, let alone two. But the last seven months…they've made it happen. And now…

Now they still don't really have children together. They do, but there's a high chance they'll no longer, physically be here.

"What are you thinking about?" Robin whispers, the silence from her practically killing him. Everything this woman did practically killed him, though. Whether it be physically or emotionally, he would gladly be killed by Regina Mills any day.

She sighs and keeps her head turned away from him, shaking it slowly and trying not to sob again. It was unlike her to sob, and he knew that's how much she loved these twins. "Them." She lies. She wasn't thinking about them, mostly, she was thinking about why they had to be taken from her too.

He stops rubbing her arm, "Them?" He asks, "What about…them?"

She sniffles and wets her lips, looking over at him with the back of her bed head against the sheets. "Why me…again."

"Regina…we can't…I know it's easy to think of it like that – like this – but we can't. We had seven months with them…the closest they could be to their mother. You gave them love and care and-"

"Did I, robin?" She cuts him off, giving her a sharp, saddened expression. "It doesn't feel like I cared for them at all. I must've done something wrong…something to make them not right. I hurt them, just like I hurt everyone else. And no one can take the blame for that but me." She says sadly, taking a harsh breath as she looks down at her now flabby belly.

Robin sighs, not knowing how to answer. He knew he needed to, so she wouldn't just take it as him agreeing with her, but he didn't know what to say to her. He didn't know how to comfort her, because something bad did happen to them. Whether it was her fault or not, it doesn't matter. "I don't think it was your fault, love…" He whispers, rubbing her arm again.

She pulls it away from his touch, holding it close to her chest with her other hand wrapped around her wrist. She looks as though she's been hit, and so does he. He had wide eyes and a gaping mouth, staring at her side profile with hazy eyes, filled with sleep deprivation, hunger, and hurt. He shakes his head, tearing up again and gets up to walk to the other end of the room. He sits down in the chair farthest from her, looking down into his lap.

Fighting again. This wasn't how either of them imagined the day of their twins being born.

"I'm going to sleep." He announces from the corner, still looking down but his tone sounding as if he was in tears.

Regina manages to keep from looking at him, still holding her wrist. She turns away from him and turns her overhead light off, acting like she's going to sleep…but she wouldn't be going to sleep the whole rest of the night.

Instead, she clutches her blanket tightly like a scared child, starting to silently sob in to her pillow the best she could from being on her back. She couldn't believe it, again, that something horrible and devastating had to happen to her again. She hated her life in this moment, she couldn't fathom the thought of losing her twins because she figured she'd lose Robin too. And that's something she couldn't live without.

…

…..

Nine in the morning, her pillow stained with last night's mixture of tears and mascara, now dried on the white cloth.

She grumbles as her eyes are flooded with the daylight, shining through the window bright and cheerful like no baby twins were in another room, helplessly fighting for their lives. She almost thought of it as rude – the sunlight. How rude it could be that their little babies were dying, and it was such a beautiful, sunny day.

She looks over and sees Robin sitting right beside her, moving from the last position she saw him in – which was the corner of the room. He rubs her arm gently, tells her good morning with a lament tone, then tilts his head, "Are you feeling alright?"

She groans as she turns more to face him, his hand still lovingly and lazily rubbing her warm arm. She looks around the room, wishing it was all a dream. "Okay, for the circumstances." She replies, closing her eyes again and resting her head over her forehead, covered in a slight layer of sweat. She swallows thickly, realizing how dry her throat is. "Where's some water?" She asks dryly, never moving from her position.

He looks around for the styrofoam pitcher of ice water, grabbing a cup that matches the pitcher quite nicely and pouring her a drink. She takes it gladly, he helps her sit up, and she brings it to her lips as though that's the first water she's tasted in days. She groans a little as the icy liquid runs down her throat, cooling it and moistening her mouth graciously. So graciously.

The nurse comes in after a few silent minutes. Regina sets her (now empty) cup down on the tray, letting the nurse check her out. It was hard for Regina to let anyone do much of anything for her, since she's been independent practically her whole life. Especially when it came to having to have help to go to the bathroom. She insisted that she could make it herself, but the nurse eventually won out. Regina didn't even want to get up. She didn't want to feel lighter, remembering that her twins were out of her protective body and suffering, holding on by a string to their lives.

"When can I see them?" She asks on the way back, holding on to her IV cart almost helplessly, but she would never admit it.

The nurse takes a deep breath, then tilts her head as she thinks of her answer, "Maybe today. It...it depends on how they're doing. Rosalyn still isn't breathing on her own, but River is doing a little bit better. Their lungs just weren't fully-"

"Don't remind me." Regina say bitterly, cutting her off as they made it to the bed. She tucks herself in after groaning, making herself warm again underneath the covers.

Robin bites nervously at the inside of his cheek, hearing what the nurse said about his – their, babies. "So...how much progress do they both have to make. You know, in order for us to at least...see them?" He asks just as nervously as he looked.

"Rosalyn...quite a bit. River...he just needs to be out of critical condition. Which means he has to be only using the breathing machine under twenty-five percent. Otherwise, they're considered to be in critical condition still." She explains solemnly, even she felt bad about this. After all Regina did to villages of people, she didn't deserve to lose her happiness this many times. Neither did Robin.

Hours pass, lunch has come and gone, Robin hasn't quite made marks on the floor, yet, from where he's been pacing back and forth – making Regina grit her teeth from the annoyance of his squeaky shoes. Nurses have come to check on her and irritate her around seven times just since the first one this morning. More drugs were put into her IV, no more news on the twins.

Robin finally sat down and had been watching the television above for about fifteen minutes. Halfway watching, but mostly thinking. Regina sighs as she looks over, seeing his clearly distraught and distressed expression. She grips onto her water cup and looks down at her reflection in it. "Robin?" She calls out in a small, quiet voice. Never moving from looking down at herself. Robin replies, inquiring what she wanted. "If...if...they die." She starts out shakily, having to stop and swallow to keep from choking, "Will we..."

"Regina, no...don't think about that...we have to believe they can-"

"Robin." She warns sternly. "Rosalyn is using the oxygen one-hundred percent. She has been. She hasn't improved. You know we have to think about their death whether we want to or not. We can't just be unprepared." She says, her tone was serious but still sad. He looks down and mutes the television, sighing softly and rubbing his teeth together. He looks up to stop a tear from falling out of his grey, no longer blue, eye. "You know that we have to think about that..." She says again, choking up and feeling her face flush as she held back tears. "Are...are we burying...if that..." She trails off, not wanting to finish. She couldn't. She couldn't bear to spit the harsh words out of her newborn babies' funeral plans.

He turns to face her, shifting his weight uncomfortably in the leather, hard chair. "I know we have to think about it. But...I..." He stops and takes a deep breath, trying to stay calm. He reaches for her hand as he keeps his head down, then looks up at her right before he speaks, "I think if we must, if we absolutely must, we need to bury them. Side by side, too. They've been-" He stops to take a harsh breath, one like you take before you let out a sob. He held that back, though, for Regina's sake. "They've been together all of their lives, they can't survive without one another."

His words echoed through their heads, ringing like loud bells and loud snare drums. It hurt, it stung. Regina perked up, suddenly, when she replayed the last part through her mind, "They've been together. They can't survive. Robin!" She exclaims. Regina jumps out of bed the best she can, making Robin get up and walk to her side. He tried to reason with her, reminding her that she's not supposed to be doing any of the things that she's currently doing. She brushes his hand off of her shoulder and keeps walking, the IV cart in her hand and her other hand wrapped around the bottom of her stomach. He saw she was in pain, but he also knew she wouldn't let him do anything about it. So instead, he walks beside her like any man should.

"What are you even going after, Regina?" He asks, confused on why suddenly his words made so much sense to her. She stops abruptly and turns to him, explaining quickly what made the idea trigger in her head. He slowly nods, starting to understand this method to her madness.

They enter the room, arm in arm. Robin decided her needed to hold on to her, and she decided that after all, she may need help. They frantically looked for their babies before a nurse caught them, they didn't want that. Robin found Rosalyn, seeing her breathing machine on top of her incubator. She was wrapped in a pink blanket with a pink hat that practically swallowed her tiny, tiny head. He rolled her cart over to where Regina was standing – over River, cooing softly as she saw him being fussy, trying to grab at the tubes that were hooked up to his little body. "Are you sure this will work, m'lady?" Robin asks, parking his little girl's incubator next to her older brother's.

She nods, full of hope. "Yes...I hope it will." She replies, never taking her eyes off of her beautiful babies. Her eyes swelled with tears, partially proud and partially sad. "I love you, my little ones. Mommy has always loved you." She coos to them. Robin's heart swelled as he watched her be this motherly with their children. The woman that once wanted his head for thievery, the woman who has ripped hearts out, murdering so many. The woman who has dark magic and knows very well how to use it any many different ways. But here she was with these two, precious, little bundles of joy. Her heart ached, wanting to hold them so badly. Instead, she rolled River right up against Rosalyn, making their plastic incubators touch.

"There's your big brother, Rosalyn...there he is..." She coos, trying to sound cheery. Robin watches silently, so hoping her idea would work.

He steps a little closer, "River...your sister needs you..." He coos as well, trying to hold back his chokey tone of voice for the sake of the babies and for the sake of Regina, once again.

They waited hopefully for about ten minutes. Waited for something to happen. Nothing.

"It isn't working, Robin." Regina announces, her tone completely disappointed as she rested in the chair that she had fallen back into about nine minutes ago. "They aren't even...recognizing each other."

He sighs, swallowing thickly as he realizes she's right. Nothing was happening. It broke his heart yet again. An event that has happened so many times in the last twenty-two hours that he's lost count. "Hey, little ones...you're both almost a day old. That's a reason to celebrate with your twin, isn't it?" He asks them.

Regina's heart yearns, wishing she could take them out and let them be together. Finally, she decides to make Robin tell Dr. Whale to put them together. Put Rosalyn in Rivers, because she's already on a full breathing machine. He actually did as she requested, putting the little, tiny beings in together.

River squirmed slightly, Regina smiled realizing that's what they looked like whenever they would move around in her stomach; whenever she could see the skin wave on her belly. "That's it, your baby sister is with you now..." She coos softly, once again full of utter hope that this would work. Magic was the only way, and she hoped these twins had it.

After about fifteen minutes of watching River squirm, Whale reached in and put Rosalyn right up against River. A bright light flashed through the room, blinding all three of the adults for about five seconds. A loud boom went through, vibrating their bodies. They looked at the twins as soon as they could, and they seemed unphased. They weren't even upset.

Regina looked up at Robin in tears, "It worked...they have magic, Robin! They have magic..." She announces, tears steadily rolling down her cheeks.

He nods and kisses her head, wrapping his arm excitedly but carefully around her shoulder, "It did...you were right...you were so right." He says over and over, kissing her head continuously as tears fell from his cheeks and into her hair.

They could see both of their little chests moving, the movements were small through the big bundle of material they were both wrapped in, but it was enough to let them know they were breathing. Regina couldn't stop crying, she was hysterical. But it was happy tears, she was so overwhelmed with emotion that Robin that she'd never go back to normal.

Because they no longer had to be on breathing machines, Rosalyn slept in her incubator on one side of Regina and her bed, and River slept on the other side in his incubator. Robin kept switching sides, making sure he spent equal, smiling time with his new twins. He couldn't fathom it. Three hours ago they were having to talk about burial plans, and now they were here, breathing on their own, right beside their parents.

…

…...

Two more days passed, Regina was growing restless (even more restless than before) after having to stay in that wretchedly uncomfortable hospital bed for three days straight. The hospital food had just grown to disgustingly atrocious for her to even try to eat (which was good because Robin knew she was getting to be back to her old self. Demanding, bossy, and slightly bitchy. But oh, it was the Reigna he loved.), so he would go to Granny's Diner and order her something there for each meal.

After he came back with a sandwich for her at dinner time, there were two nurses in her room when he got there. One had Rosalyn in her arms, the other had River. Regina looks up and the corners of her lips – already in a smile – curled up even bigger into her cheeks. "We can hold them, Robin..." She whispers, still overwhelmed that she finally gets to hold her babies after three days and seven months of torturous waiting.

Robin threw the bag of food down on the floor, which later, Regina would find completely unsanitary and demand him to go get another. He briskly walked to her bedside just as the nurse was putting Rosalyn gently in her arms, laying River in the other. She smiled and let out a little sob, making Rosalyn fuss a little. "Oh sh, sh, sh...mommy is just happy..." She coos, soothing her immediately with her soft and gentle voice.

After her first moments with them, Robin got to hold both of them. Then after that, he kept hold on to River and she held on to Rosalyn, both loving and admiring the twins every detail. Regina pointed out that they both had double dimples, just like their father, and their eyes were blue like his too. He pointed out that they both had dark hair like Regina's; Rosalyn having her mother's lips and both of them having her nose.

The new parents were so proud, they almost forgot about their food. Once they finally remembered, they tore themselves away from the babies and ate for the first time as happy, happy, parents of newborn twins, a five year old, and a thirteen year old.

Happiness. Finally.

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...

...

Now if only this would happen on the show.

*sigh*

Thank you, again, to all who have kept up with this story! And like I said, make sure to follow to be updated when I post my new AU!

Much love,

G.