Chapter 25.

"How long do you think you have?"

Robin is clearly failing at controlling the nerves at this point, and it's pretty clear, by the look on Marian's face, that she knows something is wrong. She knows Robin is keeping something from her - maybe he can make up something for the sake of his secret with Regina, maybe telling her that this is kid stuff, that Roland just likes to think about Henry as his big brother.

But, Christ... would that really help? She will have to know the truth sooner or later.

Maybe sooner is good. Maybe this has to happen for a reason.

"Henry is my son," Robin finally admits, his eyes moving to focus on the floor, on anything rather than Marian's face. He doesn't want to look at her until he finally tells her everything, afraid her expression will just make him hesitate, "I just found this a few months ago, when I started talking to Regina due to Roland's custody."

Marian scoffs from her seat beside him, but he tells himself to just ignore.

"She didn't want me to know, she thought she could get away without telling me I have a son," he tries very hard to keep the anger away from his voice, but he can't help but still feel hurt every time he talks about this. He had forgiven Regina, he really did, but he wished things had been different, wishes she had just trust him as he is now proving that he trusts her, "It's needless to say that I found out about Henry a few days later, and I got really upset. Things were a bit difficult for me and Regina by the time she got pregnant with him, but not that difficult that she couldn't come to me to tell me I was having a kid."

Marian keeps listening attentively, and Robin feels a bit lighter after finally telling her the secret he and Regina fought so hard to keep. He just hopes this won't turn against him in court, that won't ruin his life and Regina's.

Marian's voice pulls him away from his worries, as she asks what, for so long, he asked himself too, "Why didn't she tell you? A baby can be a handful, didn't she need help?"

"Regina is really independent," Robin chuckles, thinking about her stubborn side, "She's a strong woman, I have no doubt she could deal with a baby by herself. But you're right. We were young, college students, you'd think she would be happy to have any help."

He thinks about a young Regina with a baby in her care, about the money she spent to buy diapers, food, and he can't help but believe he could've helped to give her and their son a better life. Not that he thinks Regina didn't take care of the issue herself, it's obvious she did very well for them both, but two incomes are always better than one, and he had the right, and the duty, to be a father for Henry.

"She left college to take care of the baby, she basically left her life on standby for him, and I never saw her again after that. I didn't look for her either, we'd had a huge fight, a really stupid one, and we just... drifted apart. Until now. Now we had the chance to talk about it, and I chose to put everything behind to be a part of Henry's life," a small smile appears on Robin's lips as he talks about his son, his dimples showing on his cheeks, "I like Regina, I already told you that, and I don't know what will happen from now on, but my main concern is my sons, whether you would, or not, use this to win Roland's custody if you ever found out."

"And you chose to tell me," Marian points out, sounding a bit surprised by that, "Why would you do that?"

"Did I really have another choice?" Robin smirks, finally shifting his gaze to look at the brunette.

Marian actually chuckles, and it really takes a load off his mind.

"Well, you could've just lied," she tells him, and yes, he could've done that, but he also knows it would have made everything harder. Marian would find out, eventually, and it's just better that she hears this from him, "But I'm glad you didn't do it. Thank you for being sincere."

Well, he just has to wait and see if the truth will not come back to kick him in the ass.

"I was really mad when I found out, but, the truth is, I don't know what I would've done if I was in her position."

He doesn't really understand why, but Marian laughs at his words. Robin can't avoid the confused look that appears on his face, his brows furrowed as he silently wonders what is so funny in what he had just said.

But Marian tells him, "You mean... if you were pregnant with a child?" and well, yes, that's an image he would pretty much like to keep out of his mind.

Robin smirks.

"You know what I mean," he tells her, obviously needlessly, "If I found myself alone with a child after I've had a fight with the baby's mother-"

"You would consider raising the baby by yourself," Marian finishes, her head nodding absently, "That does sound like someone I know."

He realizes, almost immediately, that she's talking about herself, about her persistence in having their son's full custody. It's not really the same, but it does seem everyone has that selfish side that keeps them from making reasonable choices. He can say he had been tempted to ask for Roland's full custody himself, but he would never be able to push his boy away from his mother, not without a good enough reason to do it.

But Robin takes advantage of the situation, tells her, "Will you really keep insisting on Roland's full custody? We are just wasting a bunch of money to keep fighting in court, when you know we could easily solve this if you agreed on shared custody," he remembers her accusing him of wanting to stop this because of Regina, and he will not let her do it one more time, "And yes, maybe my situation with Regina will be easier when this is all over, but you know it's not about that," Robin gives her a moment to respond, but when she remains silent, he continues, "I want the best for Roland, I don't want him to remember our fights over his custody when he gets older-"

"We talked about this, Robin," Marian sighs, and shit, here they go again.

"Yes, we talked about this and we are not going anywhere," Robin insists, "This is Roland we are talking about-"

"Papa, you're still here," he hears the little voice coming from beside them, Roland's dark eyes staring at them, a curious look on his innocent face.

Robin smiles sweetly at their son, stretching his arms to pull him into his lap as Roland naively asks, "Are you staying with us?"

Oh... God, he wasn't really expecting that.

"No... No, little man, I was just talking to your mother," Robin answers, his heart breaking into million pieces when he notices the little pout on Roland's lips. He hates this. Hates to tell his own son that he needs to leave, that he will see him in a few days. He hates that he can only see his son two days a week. He needs more time with Roland, and he's sure Roland would love to have that too, "But you know what? We will spend the weekend together, and we can do whatever you want."

"Can we go to the park with Henry?" Roland asks, his eyes widening pleadingly, "Please, papa!"

Of course. Of course he would want to be with Henry.

His eyes shift towards Marian, but the brunette's face is perfectly still, just a hint of a smile on her lips.

"I will need to ask Regina first."

"Okay," Roland nods his head, his tousled curls bouncing with the movement. And then he's jumping off Robin's lap, his attention quickly drawn to the toys he had left scattered all over the living room.

Robin can't help but laugh at his son's behavior, but he catches from the corner of his eye as Marian stands from the couch, her hand stretching towards Roland as she announces that it's time for his bath.

Roland groans, whines, telling his mother that he doesn't want to take a bath, he wants to show his papa all his toys.

"Your papa has to go," Marian tells him, giving Robin a look that it sure means to make him leave, "And you have to take a bath before dinner."

"Mama's right, my boy," Robin stands from the couch as well. He crouches in front of their son, his hand running over his dark curls, "We'll play in the weekend, alright? Be a good boy."

"Alright, papa," Roland sighs, clearly not too pleased with the turn of events.

Robin prepares to leave, trying to wipe from his memory the puppy look on his son's face, but he's pleasantly surprised when Marian stops him on his way towards the front door, her voice only a whisper as she tells him, "I'll think about it... about the custody."

It's like a weight has been lifted off his shoulders, and Robin sighs in relief at her words, a smile pulling up on his lips. He mutters a genuine "Thank you," and lingers at the entrance for another minute, enough to gather the courage to ask, "And about Henry... please-"

"I won't say anything," she promises, "Out of respect for him."

"Thank you," he tells her one more time, before closing the front door behind him.

###

This is getting to be a habit.

A habit with which Regina doesn't want to deal with, a habit that brings her mother to her office more times than she would be willing to accept.

She picks up the phone to hear her secretary asking for permission to send Cora Mills inside, and no, she doesn't want to talk to her mother, things had been rough the last time she had set foot in here. But of course, she can't dismiss her mother like this, without a good enough reason to avoid talking to her. So she tells she's free to receive Cora Mills in her office, as she takes a deep breath and prepares for what is coming next.

She really doesn't have time for this, and she can't even come up with a reason why her mother would want to talk to her. Whatever it is, it can't be good, and she can't help but feel anxious about this visit, knowing her mother well enough to know this can't be just a social call.

"Mother... I didn't expect to see you here," Regina confesses, frankly, because she would think her mother wouldn't want to see her for a while, not after she had thrown her out of her office the last time she went to talk to her.

"Can't I just visit my daughter at work?" Cora shoots back, accusingly, "I wanted to check on you."

Bullshit. She knows it.

Regina knows she never just 'checks on her', there has to be an ulterior motive, but it's not like that would make much of a difference right now. Cora is here, and she will get what she wants (as always).

Regina leans back in her chair, studying her mother with a suspicious look on her face.

"I'm fine, as you can see," Regina tells her dryly, because they are really just wasting each other's time, and she has Robin's hearing next week, she has more important things to think about right now, "I'm in the middle of something important, mother, if you could just-"

"You can spend a minute to talk to your mother," Cora protests, and of course. Of course everyone has to be at her disposal.

"I have a hearing next week," she tells her, opting for the truth, "A difficult one, I'm sure you can wait for a more proper time."

It would be asking too much that her mother accepted her request, and of course she knows it wouldn't be easy. So it's with no surprise when her mother takes the seat in the chair in front of her, looking even more annoyed than when she first came into the brunette's office.

Regina can't help but roll her eyes at her mother's behavior, and she chooses to focus her attention on her computer instead, at least until her mother breaks the silence to ask her, "Did you have a good weekend?"

Regina freezes as she hears her mother's words, knowing that this is not an innocent question. She knows. She doesn't know how, or how is that even possible, but her mother knows about her weekend with Robin, and this is the reason why she is here right now, on her office, on a Thursday afternoon.

"I know you spent the weekend at the lake house," Cora confirms what Regina already knew, her expression neutral, unreadable, "You always liked it there."

Shit.

She doesn't want to have to deal with this right now. She doesn't want to explain to mother why she took Robin for a weekend at the lake house, doesn't want to tell her why he seems to spend so much time with her and her kids in recent times. She thought they were safe. There was no one around, so how is she here?

"Yes, I did," Regina confirms, the annoyance clearly present in her voice, "The boys love it, and I thought we would take advantage of the last days of summer."

It doesn't take long before Cora gets to what it brought her there, purposely testing the waters when she tells her, "A friend told me you were with that friend of yours-"

"What, mother?" Regina interrupts, effectively cutting Cora's words. She really is insufferable, always trying to mess with Regina's life when she has no right to do it, "What do you want to tell me now? Who I can take, or not, to the lake house? Who I should spend time with? Who is good enough to spend time with my sons? You know what? You have no right to do it, and I don't care about what you think of the people I choose to spend time with."

For a moment, Regina feels bad after seeing what appears to be hurt in her mother's eyes, but she tells herself this was already a long time coming - maybe if she had stood up to her mother sooner, they wouldn't have these fights every time they try to talk to each other. It's exhaustive, not to mention that it only works to damage, even more, her relationship with her mother. She doesn't believe they will ever be able to fix it anymore, if anything, they will just keep arguing until one of them gets tired and chooses to end with this once and for all.

"I wouldn't say anything," Cora lies, because, yes, Regina can tell that it is a lie, "I would just ask if you had a good time... with Robin, isn't it?"

Oh, God, could this be more awkward?

Regina shifts her eyes towards the papers scattered all over her desk, and decides to put it back inside their folder, in case her mother would catch a glimpse at Robin's name. She doesn't really need more problems right now, especially if said problems would have anything to do with Cora Mills and Robin Locksley. God knows what her mother would do if she ever found out Robin is Regina's current client. She can never know. The final hearing is next week, and hopefully, everything will be settled by then. And then she will be able to deal with her mother, maybe figure it out a way to tell her Robin is Henry's father. She knows better than believe she can hide this from Cora, she's just not ready to deal with it right now.

"Why are you really here, mother?" Regina asks, sighing, because she's tired of this small talk between them, "I know you don't want to know if I had a good time-" Cora opens her mouth to protest, but Regina beats her to it, does Cora a favor and corrects, "Or, at least, that is not the reason why you came all this way. Do you want to know if I have a relationship with Robin? I don't. Do you want to know why he spends so much time with us? Because he is a good friend and the boys love him. Henry deserves to have a male figure in his life, and Robin is good with him," it's not the complete truth, but it's what she can give to her mother right now, "And I would appreciate if you stopped trying to get in the middle of it."

"I'm not trying to come between you, Regina," Cora argues, but Regina sighs, annoyed.

"You are," the brunette insists, though it doesn't really matter when she is talking to her mother. She's stubborn, she will never admit it, "I just need you to step back and let me do things my way. I'm an adult, I don't need you to shield me from anyone."

Cora seems a bit baffled by that, her mouth opening an inch as she hears her daughter's words, "I'm your mother, Regina, it's my job to protect you-"

"You're not protective, you're controlling."

God, she hates this. She hates her talks with her mother.

"I know it's my fault I got pregnant when I was nineteen. And I know it's my fault Henry didn't get to have a father, but I learn from my mistakes, and I'm not a teenager anymore. I'm not the girl who you wanted to marry a man almost forty years older than her. You were just trying to control my life, you didn't help, so I had to learn to do things on my own," and yes, maybe she didn't handle things the best way, but it made her the woman she is today, and she's quite proud of herself for everything she accomplished on her own, "You were never the mother I needed, so I don't want you to have a say in this now. You will have to wait for me to come to you, not the other way around."

Cora is just sitting there, speechless, her eyes widened, her lips seeking for the right words to say. She settles with, "I was trying to help. Leopold has a good life, he would've taken care of you and Henry-"

"I didn't want anyone to take care of me. I wanted a friend, someone who enjoyed spending time with me and my son, not someone who would promise me money and jewels and believe that would be enough to make up for his absence," Regina explains, thanking God she hadn't pursued things with Leopold, "Daniel was that friend, and one more person for you to complain about."

She didn't mean to get this far, to talk about every moment her mother hurt her in the past, but she might as well get this over with once and for all. Her mother needs to know what she did, what she's still doing, and maybe - even if extremely unlikely - she will think about her acts and reconsider her way of doing things.

"You didn't support me when he died, you just kept telling me 'I told you so' and 'Why did you let yourself get pregnant again, Regina, you should know better'," the brunette points out, tears prickling the back of her eyes, "I needed you. And you weren't there, so you can't blame me for not wanting to have your opinion about Robin, or about whoever I choose to spend time with my sons."

She wishes her mother would just give in, wishes she would understand Regina's position. But of course she would never let Regina have this one, of course she would have to scoff, and shake her head, like what she is telling her is the craziest thing in the entire world, "This is a free country, Regina, you can't forbid me of having an opinion."

"No, I don't," the brunette agrees, to her mother's complete surprise, "But that doesn't mean I'll give a damn about it."

Cora's jaw drops open at her daughter's words, her eyes widening when she says, "Where did you get those manners? From your friend, I'm sure-"

"Stop talking about him!" Regina interrupts, fed up with everything, "You have no right to say a word about him, you don't know him," Cora prepares to speak, and Regina knows what she will say, knows she will blame her for not allowing her to get to know Robin better, "And no, mother, I don't want you to know him. I don't want him to have to deal with you, I don't want you to have that power in my life."

Cora stares speechless, her lips pressed together in both annoyance and pain. Regina tells herself she doesn't need to feel guilty, that this is the consequence of years of behaving like a dictator instead of a mother.

To Regina's surprise, Cora doesn't seem to want to argue anymore. She just clears her throat and sits straighter in her seat, her voice perfectly composed when she tells her, "So you want me to wait for you to come to me?"

Well, that would be good. That would mean she would have the space to deal with Robin and the custody first, and then deal with her mother when she thinks it's right.

"Yes, mother," Regina nods her head, now a lot calmer, "I want you to trust me and to let me make my own decisions-"

"Regina, I just worry about you," Cora tells her, because, God forbid her mother not having a say in Regina's life decisions. She can't even hear that word without perking up, "You'll understand what I'm saying when your sons are older."

"And I understand," Regina offers with a sigh, "But I won't try to make the decisions for them, and I'm just asking you to do the same."

Regina is pleasantly shocked when Cora only nods her head, standing up from her seat and closing the distance between them without another word. It's good to know her mother will give her space, for a change, and even better that she will not have to worry about her finding out about Robin and Henry's relationship.

Everything is coming into place.

Only one more week and maybe her life will finally change for the better.

###

Regina sees it as soon as she gets home - the black SUV parked in front of her driveway, and her son's father sitting inside, his attention focused on the cell phone he's holding in his hand. He's wearing that green leather jacket that makes her weak in the knees, and has a pair of sunglasses covering his blue eyes, even if the sun is already setting on the horizon, and the day is losing light minute by minute.

She doesn't think he had noticed them yet, at least not until Henry gets out of the car to run in his father's direction, startling Robin when his fist knocks lightly against the driver's side window. Robin smiles, that dimpled smile of his, and Regina finishes getting Dylan out of his car seat, before joining father and son in their conversation.

"Hi, what are you doing here?" she asks with a smile on her lips, giving him the space to get out of the car, as Robin locks the black SUV behind him.

"I thought I would pay you a visit," he shrugs, winking at his son. She doesn't quite believe a word he's saying, although she's happy to see him here. Soon enough, Robin runs a hand over Dylan's dark curls, his smile fainting a little as he admits, "And I hoped I could talk to you."

Right. She can't say she didn't see it coming. It appears everyone has something to talk to her today.

Regina tells him, "Of course," nodding her head, and leads the four of them towards the front door, turning to face him again as soon as Henry announces he will be upstairs in his bedroom, "Something bad?"

"No, not really," she feels a weight being lifted off her shoulders at his words, but she doesn't interrupt him as he tells her, "I hope this becomes something good, actually."

Well, that's... unexpected, but she could use some good news after the talk she had with her mother this afternoon, "At least you had a better day than I had."

Robin frowns as soon as the words are out of her mouth, and Regina regrets immediately having ruined his good spirits. Now he will want her to talk about what happened, and she really, really, didn't want to touch this subject once again.

She places Dylan back on the ground, helping him off his jacket, and as she was expecting, she hears Robin's voice coming from behind her, saying what she already knew he would.

"What happened?" he asks - of course, he asks - but Regina shakes her head, dismissing.

"It's nothing, really, it's already taken care of."

But Robin won't have any of it. He runs his hand over her bicep, his eyes pleading as he tells her, "C'mon, love, I'm already here, you can talk to me."

Regina sighs in defeat, her hand wrapping around Dylan's as she gestures with her head towards the living room. Robin seems to understand the message, following mother and son down the hallway and taking a seat beside her on the couch, "It was just my mother. She dropped by my office again today, telling me she knew we had spent the weekend at the lake house together. I'm so tired of this, Robin, of her trying to control my life. So I asked her to just let me make my own decisions."

Robin seems impressed, even if a bit apprehensive (he had the opportunity to meet her mother, he knows how Cora can be ruthless).

"How did it go?" he asks, carefully.

But she manages to put a smile on her face, her words genuine when she tells him, "My mother accepted it, I think," because one can never be sure when it comes to Cora Mills, "So, it was not that bad, really, it's just really exhausting every time I have to talk to my mother. But I'm okay, I really am."

"I'm glad," he smiles, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze. She loves how he takes every opportunity to touch her, to make her feel better, and if their situation was not so fucked up, she would be kissing him right now, something she will definitely not do while her older son is playing upstairs (or at least, she will not do it again).

Regina smiles, and takes a deep breath, shakes her head as she tells him, "But you're here to talk about you, and I really want to hear those good news."

Robin laughs, nods his head, and she loses herself a little in the way his teeth trap his bottom lip, her eyes catching every movement of his mouth when he tells her, "I told Marian about Henry today."

Wait, what?

Regina pulls back at that piece of information, almost as if protecting herself. She knows Robin would never do anything to jeopardize her job, knows he wouldn't be so stupid to put Roland's custody at risk, but she can't come up with a reason for him to tell Marian that, to endanger everything they worked so hard to accomplish.

"You did?" she asks, nervously.

And as she was expecting, Robin nods his head, says, "Roland kind of made it happen," and well, that doesn't sound much better, does it? "He told her Henry is his brother, I couldn't really lie to her anymore."

"God," Regina sighs, because this is bad, this is really bad.

"At first, she thought it was because we had some kind of relationship," her brows rise in surprise, "And so it would make sense that Roland thought of Henry as a brother," his hand moves to her knee, then, rubbing it lightly as he admits, "She knows how I feel about you."

Oh, shit. Shit, shit, shit.

"Robin, we're so stupid," she sighs. They promised they would keep the distance, promised they would wait, but the only thing they did was behave like two teenagers in love, without caring about what could come from it. She had known this could happen, had known that someone could, eventually, figure out that there's something between them. And now she can lose her job. Now she can lose everything.

She should've never invited Robin to spend the weekend with them, should have stuck to the plan they initially established. If she hadn't been so reckless, they wouldn't be having this conversation right now, and within a week, maybe everything was sorted out on its own... God, this is terrible.

"No, Regina, listen to me," Robin starts, his free hand moving to cup her cheek in an attempt to make her look at him, "I think we can trust her."

Regina doubts it. Not to mention she doesn't like the idea of the future of her career lying in the hands of Robin's ex-wife.

"I had to tell her the truth. I told her what happened, and that we were young when you got pregnant... and that I didn't know about him until a few months ago."

"I'm sorry-"

"I know," he interrupts her, there's really no point in bringing back that issue, is it? "And somehow, she... related to your decision. She is fully aware of what she's doing with Roland. She knows she's trying to take him away from me as you did with Henry."

"What does that mean?" Regina asks, because she's not really sure her decision of raising Henry by herself will really help in their case, unless Marian suddenly feels bad for Robin, "She regrets it?"

"She promised me she would think about shared custody," Robin tells her with a hopeful smile on his face, "And about Henry..." Robin reaches for her hand one more time, intertwining their fingers together as he assures, "I don't think she will use it to win in court."

God. Thank God, it's like she can breathe all over again, "Are you sure?"

"I'm almost sure, but..." he gives her hand a squeeze, moving closer - their thighs are touching now, the warmth of his body providing a comforting sensation thought Regina's whole figure, "I know Marian, and she has been... difficult, but she's not a bad person. And she told me something that really surprised me," she raises her gaze to meet his, clearly waiting for him to tell her what, what did Marian tell him that made him, all of a sudden, have such confidence in his ex-wife, "She told me she would do nothing in case we want to be together. She will not mention it in court, she won't tell anyone-"

"Robin..." Regina interrupts, feeling guilty for having to crush his expectations. Her thumb rubs lightly over the skin of his hand, her eyes focusing on the movement as she tells him, "The hearing is in a week. I think we still should wait until then... until the issue about Roland's custody is really settled. It's not like I don't trust Marian, but this is my job, and I'm a single mother with two kids, I can't risk-"

"Yes, of course," he assures, immediately, cupping her chin in his free hand to make her look at him, "I just wanted to tell you this. You said you wanted good news, yeah?"

She is glad to see he's still able to make her laugh after she had practically told him she doesn't want to jump into a relationship right now. She really likes Robin, and if it is up to her, she won't let him go a second time. But she wants to make things right, and she wants him to have an opportunity to win Roland's custody, she doesn't want to ruin everything just because they couldn't wait one more week.

"Yeah, until a minute ago, I thought you had gone crazy, thinking this was good news," she can't help but tease, feeling much better to see him laughing too, "I'm glad Marian is coming around about Roland's custody."

"Me too," he tells her with that goofy, hopeful, smile on his lips. The look on his face tells her everything. He's really so expectant that things will work out this time, and she really hopes it will, "I just want to get this over with. I just want to move on," he sighs, the look on his face becoming more serious all of a sudden. The smile on his lips disappear, and his brows furrow as different thoughts, clearly, take hold of his mind, "I know I took a big risk, telling her everything, but... I really believe we can trust her. She's having a hard time, you know... Marian. She found out Keith was really cheating on her and she called off the wedding."

"Shit, that's..."

"Yeah," he presses his lips together, clearly bothered by the whole situation with his ex-wife, "I know I shouldn't feel sorry for her after everything she put me through, but... she was my wife once. I can't help but feel a bit mad."

It's understandable, really. He still cares about Marian, just not the way he used to. Besides, Robin is a man of honor, of course, he doesn't like to see men like Keith treating a woman like that, "No one should have to go through this. And I'm mad about Roland too. Because he built a connection with my son, when he clearly didn't mean to take things seriously with his mother. You know Roland, he gets attached pretty easily..." Robin starts to ramble, his jaw tightening as he grows more upset with the situation. Regina knows how it's like to feel their kids' pain, knew it when Henry lost Daniel, and even if it's not really the same thing, she can understand Robin's outrage towards the other man, "Anyway, that's part of the reason why Marian doesn't want to get in the middle of us."

Regina locks her gaze with him, then, nodding her head. That makes a little more sense now.

"She knows Roland loves you, so she doesn't want to take that away from him," Regina smiles, sympathetic, her hand tightening her grip around his, "He's pretty smitten with you."

"Well, I'm pretty smitten with him too. He's an amazing little boy."

Her words put a silly smile on Robin's face - as if he didn't know this already. She hasn't had the opportunity to spend much time with Roland yet, but it was enough to have her wrapped around his little finger. He's adorable, so sweet, who wouldn't fall in love with a kid like him?

The same can be said about his father. She can't even think straight every time Robin stares at her with that look on his face, as if there's no one else around in the room besides the two of them. She can't help but melt when Robin lifts her hand and brings it to his lips, pressing a kiss on its back before lowering it back to his lap. It's comforting, sweet, she really can't wait for this madness to be over.

"I should let you get back to your own boys. I'm sure you have a fun evening of baths and dinner ahead."

Regina groans, would much rather stay here with him, just relaxing on the couch. But Robin is right, of course, and having two kids mean twice the time to get them ready for the night.

Except that Robin has that little smirk on his lips, his voice barely over a whisper when he tells her, "Or... you could just send Henry to take a shower, that would give us more time."

Regina chuckles, knowing what he is doing. That really sounds tempting, but she doesn't need more time alone with Robin.

"I don't think that would help our situation," the brunette reasons, using their hands to help him stand from the couch, "One more week," she tells him, "And then we will see where we go from there."

This is going to be the longest week of their lives, but hell, they waited until now, they will be able to endure seven more days.

She takes a deep breath when Robin steps closer to her, his blue eyes shifting to her lips. He's preparing to kiss her, she knows he is, and she wants to kiss him too, very much.

But no. No, they will wait. It's a challenge she is decided to win. And they will feel so much better knowing they were able to make things right.

So Regina clears her throat, repeats, "One week," and Robin steps back with a defeated sigh, leaning to drop a kiss to her cheek instead.

"One week, love," he smiles, following her towards the foyer as she calls for Henry.

The boy comes running down the stairs with a smile on his face, wrapping his arms around Robin as he hugs him goodbye.

One more week. One more week and they will finally be free.

Thank you so much for reading and reviewing! :)