A/N: Here is a chapter with a little bit of everything in it. It is setting up our next villain storyline, a bit of fluff, some romance, a bit of conflict, and some drama. Please let us know what you think, we love reading people's comments on the chapter. Hope you love it!

Chapter 28

Regina had just gotten home from work and was enjoying a little time to herself as she was home alone. Robin was leaving straight from work at the sheriff's station and picking Roland up from school to take him to the park. Regina was originally planning on meeting up with them, but after a full day at work she was exhausted and texted Robin to see if he would mind her just going home and resting.

Regina: So I am completely exhausted. Would you mind if I just headed home after work?

Robin: Of course not, go home and get some rest. I'll see you when Roland and I get home. Do you want me to pick up dinner on the way home?

Regina: No, I put something in the crock pot before I left this morning so dinner is taken care of. I wish I had the energy to go to the park with you guys. I miss you both already and I just saw you guys this morning.

Robin: Don't worry about it, relax around the house and we'll be home before you know it. Miss you too. I love you.

Regina: Okay, see you when you get home. Have fun with Roland! I love you too.

Henry was not home either, he was stopping by Emma's to spend some time with her. Now that Regina was 30 weeks pregnant, she is well into her third trimester and with it comes that constant feeling of being tired and her ankles were beginning to swell. She still tried to wear her usual heels and nice dresses or pant suits to work and out in public, but as soon as she was home for the night, she would kick off her shoes and change into yoga pants and one of Robin's t-shirts. Once she changed into what had become her typical at home attire, she headed to the kitchen to stir dinner and to start a kettle of water for tea. She planned to use the quiet time before the boys came home from the park to relax and read yet another book she had bought on what to expect during and immediately after labor.

She had gotten Henry when he was only a few weeks old so, she knew how to care for the baby once it was here, but she had never been through labor herself. The reality hit her when Dr. Whale had asked her at one of her recent appointments, if she had thought about her birth plan. Since then she had been doing all the research she could and even asked the opinion of Snow, which she immediately regretted. So far she and Robin had decided that they definitely wanted to have the baby in the hospital, now they just had to decide if Regina wanted to try to have the baby naturally or get an epidural. Robin had left that decision up to her since it was Regina who actually had to give birth and to be honest, he was not entirely sure what an epidural was. She was not completely sure what she wanted to do, but she was doing all the research she could to try to make up her mind. Regina had just finished making a cup of tea when she heard the doorbell ring. She slowly made her way toward the front door, in the last week or so her growing baby belly made it a bit more difficult for her to get around.

When she opened the door she found a young girl with auburn hair and green eyes who she had gotten to know much better in the last several weeks. "Melody, Henry's not here right now." Regina told her. "I know, he told me he was heading over to his other mom's for a bit after school. I actually wanted to talk to you without Henry knowing about it." Melody told her, a hint of panic in her voice. Regina could see the panic also written on the young girl's face and sensed that she needed help. "Come on in." Regina told her moving aside. "I was just making some tea, would you like some?" Regina asked. "No thank you, I don't want to take up too much of your time. I just need your help with something." Melody responded. Regina led Melody into the living room, directing her to have a seat next to her on the couch.

They sat in silence for a few moments before Melody decided to explain why she was here. "So, I know me coming here is kind of out of the blue. Before we came here to Storybrooke, Ursula's sister Morgana tracked me down and threatened me. She told me that my parents had done her wrong and what better way to get her revenge than to hurt their child. I never found out exactly what my parents did to her and rarely saw her after that. Actually, I never even told my parents about any of this. Anyway, a few days ago when Henry and I were walking home from school I got the feeling someone was following me. When we stopped at Granny's to get a snack and work on some homework together I felt like someone was watching me. I looked around a bit to see if there was anything out of the ordinary and that's when I caught a glimpse of her. Morgana somehow must have followed us to Storybrooke. That's the only time I've seen her, but I definitely know it was her. I wasn't sure what to do, but Henry has told me a couple of times about how you have powers and years of experience with magic. Morgana has magic herself which I would imagine is how she managed to follow me. Look I know I caused some trouble lately, but I was hoping you would know what to do and could help me." Melody finished her story and was very clearly shaken.

Regina's maternal instinct kicked in and she placed a reassuring hand on the girl's shoulder. She was using this time comforting her to try to sort out how to help her. "Have you told Henry about any of this?" Regina asked. "No, I didn't want him to worry. Plus, I was scared that him knowing would put him in danger. If nothing else we both know he would put himself in danger trying to protect me." Melody told Regina. "Is there anything more you can tell me about Morgana?" Regina questioned. "Not really, I never had that much interaction with her. After she threatened me, I would only catch a glimpse of her from a distance but we never actually spoke. Soon after we came to Storybrooke." Melody replied to the question. "Okay well, I have had some interactions with her sister Ursula so I know a bit about how vicious the family can be. I can do some research into Morgana herself and try to come up with a plan. I promise I will do everything I can to keep you safe. At some point though we are going to have to tell your parents. They deserve to know their child is in danger. I would be furious with Henry if someone was after him and he didn't tell me." Regina explained to the young girl, equal parts of her trying to reassure her that everything would be okay and encourage her to tell her parents what was going on. "Okay." Melody said lowering her head as she began to tear up. The relief of finally having someone else who knew and could help her was overwhelming. Regina pulled the young girl into a hug. "It's all going to be okay. We're going to figure this out. I will do everything in my power to make sure that Morgana doesn't lay a hand on you. I am going to have to tell a few other people though in the process." Regina told the young girl as she rubbed her back trying to calm her down. After Melody calmed down, Regina gave her instructions to not confront Morgana and to let her know if she sees her around anymore.

They switched their conversations to lighter topics and soon Henry was walking in the door. He was surprised to see Melody there, they had not planned on hanging out today. Melody and Henry had both recently been ungrounded by their respective parents and appeared to have learned their lessons. While Henry had walked in on what appeared to be a normal conversation he could tell that Melody appeared upset and if he was honest a bit scared. "Melody, what are you doing here?" he asked, making his presence known to the two of them. "Oh Henry, I forgot you told me that you were going to your other mom's and I stopped over to see if you could help me with some homework that I was stuck on. Your mom invited me in to wait for you and has been keeping me company." Melody replied. Regina was not sure she liked that Melody was so quick to lie to her son especially after the recent events that had occurred during the holidays, but she also understood that if her son knew he would put himself in harm's way to protect her. "Why don't you guys go into the kitchen and work on that homework while I finish up dinner. Melody, would you like to join us?" Regina asked. "That would be great, thank you. I'm just going to go call my mom to make sure it's okay." Melody replied before heading off into the foyer to call her mom.

"Mom is everything okay with Melody? She seems upset." Henry questioned his mother. "Everything is fine, we were just chatting while we waited for you." Regina explained, trying her best to not give her son any reason to suspect that anything else was going on. Melody needed to tell him when she was ready. Henry gave her a suspicious look. "I promise, there is nothing wrong. Now go get to work on that homework." Regina told him before nudging him towards the kitchen.

When Robin and Roland returned home, the whole group sat down for dinner. They shared pleasant conversation and enjoyed getting to know Melody even better. After dinner Melody offered to help clean up, but Regina and Robin insisted that she was a guest and they would take care of it. Melody soon realized it was getting late and her parents would be picking her up any minute. "Thank you for everything. Dinner was great." she told Regina and Robin, giving Regina a look to let her know how grateful she was for her help. She grabbed her backpack and Henry led her to the front door. "Are you sure everything is okay?" Henry questioned her again. "Yes it is. Stop worrying." Melody replied before giving him a hug and a kiss on the cheek, then heading out the front door. Her parents were pulling up the driveway just then to pick her up.

Once the boys were in bed, Robin met Regina in their bedroom. She was already curled up in bed reading a book. "What was going on with Henry tonight? He was watching you and Melody like a hawk." Robin questioned Regina. "He's worried about Melody. Look, you have to promise not to tell Henry." Regina replied. Robin nodded his head and sat down on the bed next to her. "Melody came over to talk to me. Someone is after her and she asked for my help. She doesn't want to tell Henry because she knows he will put himself in danger trying to protect her. I am actually very grateful to her that she is trying to protect Henry despite how scared she is. She is, also, keeping it from her parents, which I do have an issue with. I wouldn't want any of our kids keeping a secret like that from us. I think she's just scared though. Morgana, the woman who is after her, said it was because Melody's parents wronged her in some way. I think Melody is just worried that by telling her parents it will put them in danger. I encouraged her to tell them about it. If she doesn't, I don't know how long I can keep it a secret from them. As a parent I would want someone to tell me if my child was in trouble. For now though, I promised I would help her and do everything I can to keep her safe." Regina told him the abbreviated version of the story.

Robin could sense how worried she was about all of this and wrapped her in his arms. While Henry was not directly in danger, the fact that he and Melody were spending so much time together it was possible he could be hurt just by being with Melody at the wrong time. Not to mention that if something did happen to Melody, Henry would be crushed. Also, Regina would feel guilty for not helping the young girl. All of these thoughts were running through Robin's mind and he could only imagine what was running through Regina's head since she's known about this for a few hours. Robin rubbed circles on her back as she rested her head on his chest. Regina knew she was not going to solve this problem tonight and being able to just relax in Robin's arms gave her a feeling a safety and hope that everything would be okay. He did that to her. Just simply being held by him was sometimes all she needed to calm herself and keep moving forward, even in difficult situations. He turned her head up to face his, "We'll figure this out. We will keep Melody safe. You don't have to do this alone. You never have to do anything alone." Robin hoped by now she knew all this, but figured it did not hurt to remind her. She leaned back for a moment just to scoot herself up slightly in bed and be at the same eye level as Robin, before crashing her lips onto his. "Thank you." She said as she pulled back from the kiss and leaned her forehead against Robin's. "You're welcome." Robin replied before taking her lips into another kiss.

He knew how tired she was so, after a brief make out session he pulled away before things went too far. Regina appreciated this because as much as she wanted to make love to him, her whole body was screaming for sleep. She curled up next to him, allowing him to wrap her up in his arms again. Robin kissed her on the forehead before pulling her tighter to him. Well as tight as he could with her ever growing baby bump between them. "Goodnight, my love." Robin whispered into her hair. "Goodnight" Regina replied already half asleep.

The next morning Regina and Robin both woke up early. She decided to use this time to make up for what she was too tired to do last night. They resumed their make out session from last night and this time Regina planned for it to go where they both wanted it to go last night. "Are you sure you're not too tired?" Robin asked, half actual concern she was too tired and the other half giving her a hard time about last night. Regina playfully slapped his arm before kissing him with everything she had. She figured that answered his question.

After making love, they decided while they still had a bit of peace and quiet before the boys woke up, it was time to finally choose a baby name. "I'd say it's down to Adaline and Genevieve." Regina said. "Agreed, the question now is which one?" Robin replied. "How about Genevieve Hope?" Regina asked. "I love it!" Robin replied, pulling Regina closer to him to give her a gentle kiss on the lips. When he withdrew from his kiss with her, he made his way down to her stomach. "What do you think? Is that your name? Genevieve Hope Locksley." he peppered kisses all over her baby bump as he talked to his little girl, feeling a little foot kick at one of his hands which he had placed on either side of her bump. "I think she likes it." Regina told him as she ran her fingers through his hair and could not help the smile that came across her face. "It's settled then, Genevieve Hope." Robin said as he made his way back up to give Regina another kiss.

"Now, how about I go make breakfast so that you have enough time to get ready?" Robin proposed his plan to her. He moved to get out of bed, but was stopped by Regina wrapping her arms around him. "Can we just stay here in bed a little bit longer? I'm not quite ready to start the day yet." Regina told him, giving him the best puppy dog eyes she could muster to convince him. "Of course we can." Robin replied. He climbed back into bed and allowed her to curl up close to him, his arms encircling her in a comforting embrace. "I love you so much. You are beyond amazing you know that right?" Regina says in appreciation of the understanding he had shown her in the last 24 hours, actually the understanding he had shown her ever since they got together. "Not as amazing as the woman I have wrapped in my arms at the moment. And I love you more" Robin replied, placing his forehead to hers. "Not possible." Regina told him. She leaned into him for a kiss to prevent him from arguing back and apparently it worked. After a few heated kisses, Regina pulled away and brought her head to rest on his shoulder. Robin placed a kiss in her hair, taking in her scent as he did so. In this moment, they both felt completely at peace. They knew they had a long day ahead of them between work, and starting to sort out the Melody problems, along with Henry likely continuing to be suspicious of what is going on and constantly pestering Regina with question; but in this moment they were able to push the rest of the world away and just hold each other.

A few days had passed and it was now the day of Regina's baby shower. Everything around town had been peaceful with no sign of Morgana. Snow and Tink had been planning the shower for weeks and decided to make it co-ed. Since the town was so small and they wanted to throw Regina a huge baby shower, it seemed to be the only logical way to pull this off. They decided Granny's would be a bit too small for the shower they were planning. Instead they choose to use an event room that was in the town hall. They rarely used it, but figured now would be a good occasion. It turns out that it all worked out for the best to go along with Robin's surprise for Regina. Robin had met with Snow to fill her in on his plans and ask for her help with a certain part of the plan. She had immediately agreed to help him and also promised to keep the secret. Regina was stressing about what to wear, but eventually settled on a red maternity dress that really accentuated her baby bump.

When she and Robin arrived they were overwhelmed by all the people that turned out for the shower. While many people in town had congratulated them on the pregnancy, Regina had worried that her past wrongs would stop people from coming. Thankfully she was wrong. This was just another showing that almost all of the town had forgiven Regina for her previous wrongs. Snow met her and Robin at the door and led them to a table at the front of the room where they would sit with Snow, Charming, Tink, Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, Emma, and Hook. Everyone slowly made their way by to once again congratulate the couple and drop off gifts at the table Tink had set up.

Regina had decided with the help of Snow to use the cake at her baby shower as the way to reveal the gender of their child to everyone. To this point the only people who knew what they were having was the two of them as well as Roland and Henry. "Everyone, Regina and Robin decided to reveal the gender of their baby to you. The idea came up to do it with the color of the cake. So, when they cut into the cake it will be either pink or blue to reveal what they are having." Snow announced to everyone. Regina took hold of the cake knife and Robin placed his hand gently over hers. They cut a piece of the cake out and then turned the cake for everyone to see. "It's a girl!" Tink and Snow squealed in unison when the cake was revealed to be pink on the inside. The whole room erupted in clapping and cheers for who would be a future princess to their people.

Once everyone had eaten their cake, Regina began to open presents with the help of Robin. She was amazed and honored by everyone's generosity. When all the gifts were open, Regina stood from her chair to make an announcement. By the time all the gifts had been open, they had received almost everything they needed for the new baby. "Thank you everyone for all of the gifts. We are truly overwhelmed by your generosity. Especially since I am not entirely sure I deserve it." Regina said. Robin stood up beside her and took her hand. "Before everyone leaves, there is one more thing. It's actually a surprise for Regina. As most of you know, the two of us have been engaged for some time now. We have been trying to decide when to get married and as we have been discussing it for quite a while and have not been able to come to much of a conclusion other than we both want to spend the rest of our lives together. So, I figured there is no time like the present. I was hoping all of you would do us the honor of staying for a while longer to witness the two of us exchange vows and become man and wife." Robin announced to the crowd. At this point Regina had let go of his hand and appeared completely terrified. "Robin, I just… I don't think I can do this." Regina told him without looking him in the eye before moving as quickly as she could to leave the room.