For day one of August Angst fest, prompts below. Beware, this is pure angsty sadness and I almost don't want to post it... Thank you Lindsay and Lisa, and sorry in advance. TWs at the end of the story, in case.
Prompts:
15. You knew and you did it anyway
20. Stabbing, shooting, kidnapping
17. You never made it out
43. I miss you
Ten fingers, ten toes, and a healthy tuft of dark hair. That's what Regina's baby has and the moment she sees him, she falls so deeply in love that she can't imagine ever falling so hard again.
Oh, God. His father. His father is gone, died doing what he did best - his job. She's gone through all the stages of bereavement now, but acceptance still feels a long way off.
She was pregnant when he left her, and she had been so upset, but more than that, ridiculously angry with him for putting himself in unnecessary danger… Which cost him his life. A gangland shootout in which he got caught in the crossfire; totally avoidable in her eyes, completely necessary in his.
That was six months ago as she struggled through the rest of her pregnancy, not wanting anybody's help, which was much the same for the birth. Robin should have been there to hold her hand through it all. He was the only one she wanted, so she opted for no birthing partner, struggling through it alone.
So she's alone now, hugging her tiny baby close to her chest. He was born a month early, not yet ready to face the world, so he's absolutely teeny and Regina can't get over just how perfect he is.
And how devastated she is that his dad is no longer with them.
She'd asked the nurse for some alone time, so when there's a knock on the door, she breathes in to turn the visitor away, but the door is open before she can and she is met with the familiar face of Mary Margaret, and she doesn't know how to react.
After a moment of silence between the two, almost staring one another down, she walks in and approaches Regina, peering down at the still sleeping child. She embraces her then, and the dam bursts as Regina cries into her shoulder, murmuring that she misses Robin.
He should be here, she says and repeats and repeats again as her baby starts fussing. Mary Margaret pulls back and Regina gazes down at her child, immediately focusing on his eyes.
Robin. His eyes are all Robin's - a truly brilliant blue - and she cries again. It's so painful but so beautiful to know what she imagined came true.
Mary Margaret clears her throat and asks her whether she has a name for the baby.
Regina replies that there's no other name for him but Robin.
Robin Locksley the second, in memoriam.
TW: death