Thank you for your reviews on the Camelot prompt, I'm glad you liked the cute, and since I was in that kind of mood here is the little present I posted for Lala Kate's birthday completed with the continuation Verkaiking asked for.
Regal Believer, Dimple Queen, Hood Mills family & Outlaw Queen feels, unbetaed, all mistakes are mine.
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
It was his new obsession, at four-and-a-half years old -and the 'and a half' was extremely important, thank you very much-, preschooler Henry Daniel Mills had become completely enamoured with Disney's most magical nanny, not that Regina could really blame him. It was so difficult to find a Disney movie she couldn't relate to in some way that she was very, very glad he had chosen this one.
She was already having a hard enough time keeping him away from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, and her little boy would never see it if she could prevent it, she had even considered banishing it from town entirely, the outrage she had felt the first and only time she had stumbled upon that atrocity still quite present and intense, but then the questions it would raise dissuaded her, she didn't think that 'traumatic childhood memories' trigger would quite cut it.
So, yes, Mary Poppins was a great choice in her book, except for one tiny little detail: the song, because of course out of the 16 songs in this movie, Henry had to choose the one with the toughest word she ever had to pronounce. She wasn't quite satisfied with her very first attempt at singing along but Henry's laugh and the way he had rolled on the floor, unable to stop his giggles, in a merciless mocking, made it worth it somehow.
After that she had watched and rewatched the scene in secret until she had gotten it right. She would never forget her little Prince's amazed expression when she was able to lower the sound and replace Julie Andrews, and she felt a bit ashamed at how much she had cursed the woman during her 'training sessions'.
"Again, Mommy, again," he had chanted, and for hours the song was on repeat until her voice was hoarse.
For weeks, he couldn't go to sleep unless she sung it to him, she even learned to say it backwards to his utter delight. He was proud as a peacock that she could do it as well as Mary Poppins herself.
When the phase passed and he found himself a new hero, one she couldn't quite compete with, not now that she didn't have her powers anymore, she couldn't help the sadness she felt, but she kept those memories close to her heart. Especially when a few years later, she found herself wishing for a Mary Poppins intervention as her relationship with her son took a turn for the worst.
These were the only ones she couldn't bring herself to share with Emma Swan when she sent her with Henry across the town line, they were theirs, hers and her son's, no one would ever claim them.
Almost two years later, when they were reunited and living in the mansion again, with Robin and Roland, Henry introduced the boy to the special brand of magic from the Victorian's age. Regina had just rocked the new addition to their family to sleep and was closing the door to the nursery, when she faintly heard the tune coming from the living-room and recognized it immediately.
She descended the stairs silently and listened as her son told Roland that 'Mom can sing it just as well as Mary Poppins' and the boy gasped and turned to her when she joined them.
"Is it true, Regina? Can you really?"
"Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious," was her reply, the word forming easily on her tongue even if she hadn't said it in years, and Roland gaped at her.
"Again, Regina, again," he said, and tears formed in her eyes when she caught Henry's gaze, his knowing smile letting her know that he was more than aware of the struggles of the past few weeks and it was his way to help.
Once more the house resounded with Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke's voices and Regina found that she couldn't wait until the tiny redhead naping upstairs could join the show. She could do it, she thought, for her children she could do anything, including letting that innocent baby into her heart, no more reservations, no more doubts.
"But better use it carefully
Or it could change your life.
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious."
Confused going on astonished was probably a good way to describe how Robin felt when he got home that evening and found his love and sons singing and dancing in tune with the movie playing on the TV. Or rather Regina and Henry were engaged in a duet with Roland clapping enthusiastically.
He took off his shoes and coat, put them away neatly in the closet before joining his family in the living-room, making his boy squeal as he seized him and raised him in the air to take his place on the couch. He sat Roland on his lap, smiling widely at the two performing artists. He couldn't remember the last time he had seen Regina like this, so visibly at ease and carefree and, dare he say it, happy. She returned his grin with one of her own, her whole face illuminated by it.
"Again, Regina, sing it again for Daddy," Roland begged, joining his hands together under his chin, widening his eyes and pouting his lips in a comical way.
"I would certainly love to have a chance to hear my Lady sing, if she would be so inclined," Robin said, resting his head on his son's, imitating his pout, and Regina rolled her eyes, laughing at their nonsense. She indicated to Henry to rewind to the beginning of the scene and they started again.
It's supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
Even though the sound of it is something quite atrocious
If you say it loud enough, you'll always sound precocious
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
Robin's eyebrows flew up as he tried to make sense of the very strange and very long word the whole song seemed to be about. He ignored it though to focus on Regina. He had never heard her sing anything but soft lullabies for Roland in the Enchanted Forest, and more recently, their baby girl and he was frankly surprised at how different her voice sounded. She seemed to be having the time of her life.
Father and son applauded loudly when the duet finished with an extravagant bow.
The rest of the evening was spent peacefully and rather joyfully. He and Henry took over the preparations for dinner as Regina fed the baby and Robin found himself quite distracted as the sight never failed to take his breath away. He knew how much she took it on herself to tolerate Zelena's pregnancy but he also knew she loved the little girl it had given them. The conflict he had felt since her sister's deception had been revealed, she was only too aware of, and it had united them in a way he would have never expected. He loved her even more for that.
He entered the nursery, closing the door behind him, and encircled her waist in his arms, his hand slipping between her elbow and the baby's head.
"Super cali fragiā¦" he sighed, giving up. "I don't even know how you did it and even less what it means," he whispered in her ear.
She smiled. "It's something to say when you have nothing to say."
"When have you ever found yourself with nothing to say?" He countered.
"It's been known to happen on a few very special occasions," she replied, brushing her lips against his.
"Hmmm, care to enlighten me?" He asked.
"Robin, there is a child in the room," she chided him playfully.
"Well, maybe it's time we go back to ours then. Tell me, does this magical nanny's powers only work on children or can their fathers enjoy them as well?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?"
