Prompt: Catching up on the latest outlaw soldier verse post, you are inspiring me to write my own I will let you know if I do. Request can we see when they meet each others parents first the first time.

Companion piece to Chapter 37.

Regina parked her car and glanced over at Robin. He held the bouquet of flowers she had picked up before coming here and smiled at her. "Thank you for inviting me to come with you," he said.

"I wouldn't want to come here with anyone else," she said, stepping out of the car. Arlington National Cemetery stretched before her and she took a deep breath as Robin handed her the bouquet.

After stopping to pick up a cone for the flowers, Regina easily guided Robin to the right section. They walked hand-in-hand down one of the rows until she came to a very familiar grave.

"Major General Henry Alonzo Mills," Robin read.

She nodded. "My father. My idol. The reason I wanted to go to West Point and wear the same uniform as him."

Regina adjusted her navy uniform jacket before smoothing out the nonexistent wrinkles in her dress skirt. She was an army officer and therefore everything about her uniform was pressed neatly. Her dark hair was pinned in a tight bun that rested against the nape of her neck so her hat could fit on her head. She had spent the drive over explaining what each medal and insignia on her jacket meant to Robin.

"An honor," Robin said, bowing slightly to her father's grave as if he were talking to her father. It made her eyes tear up.

"Regina." Her mother's familiar voice drifted over the peace and tranquility of the cemetery, freezing Regina's blood. She looked up to find Cora Mills striding toward her, dressed in an expensive black pant suit and her hair freshly done at the salon, still showing no grays.

Regina straightened her back. "Mother. I didn't think you would come."

"I know you think I didn't care about your father and our marriage wasn't the best, but I still like to pay my respects every so often," Cora replied. "And this is the only place where I know I'll see you."

She then turned her attention to Robin, smiling and acting all charming. "And who is your handsome companion?"

"Mother, this is my boyfriend, Robin Locksley," Regina said in monotone. "Robin, this is my mother, Cora Gold."

"Mills-Gold, dear. I didn't drop your father's name once I married Edgar," Cora replied.

Regina thought of her odd and somewhat creepy stepfather and tried not to shiver. Instead, she glared at her mother. "I don't know why. You didn't particularly care for it."

"I care for you."

"You have a funny way of showing it, Mother," Regina snapped. "Chasing off Daniel, trying to set me up on blind dates with every rich guy in Virginia and Maryland in an attempt to get me to leave the army…"

"Because I want a good life for you, Regina. Something better than your father and army gave me," Cora insisted.

Regina frowned, backing up. "The life Daddy and the army gave us was fine. You were just never happy. You wanted to be rich and never lift a finger. I'm not like you. I like to work. I like to serve my country and protect my fellow citizens. Just like Daddy."

"You're stubborn, just like him," Cora said, shaking her head. She then glanced at Robin. "I hope you know what you're signing up for. Long stretches without her, worrying that she's going to come back to you in a coffin, always been second to the army."

"We were never second to the army when it came to Daddy," Regina replied. "We were all second to your desires to you."

Robin took her hand, lacing his fingers with hers. "I signed up for long stretches spent with an intelligent, charismatic, enticing, bold, audacious army officer named Regina Mills. I accept everything that comes with that privilege."

Ducking her head, Regina smiled down at the ground. She heard her mother tell her to call more and then walk away.

"So, your mother is a piece of work, huh?" he asked her.

She nodded. "That sums up it."

"Well, let's not let her ruin this," he said,gently lifting her head. He smiled at her. "Spend your time with your father."

"Thank you," she whispered. She set her flowers down next to his grave and then laid her hand on the cool stone, spending time with the two most important men in her life.