Regina had to admit, it was a lot harder to hate Robin now that they were living under one roof. Before Neal and Emma died, they were equal opportunity jerks to one another. They'd give jabs as good as they got, sometimes it'd raise to bickering but never more. Regina never felt guilty about it because they could still be in the same room when the time called for it and it wasn't like he didn't give what he put out.
Since they moved in together, though, he was tame. He did his fair share with Henry and the housework. He stuck to the schedule they had created to give them both a little free time. Once, Regina had even needed him to take Henry last minute when she had an emergency with one of her patients and he had been more than happy to oblige. She had been expecting at least a little fight, but there wasn't so much as an exaggerated eye roll.
Regina definitely came off looking like the asshole and she didn't like it. She realized that she had spent so long hating him, for one bad date. Since then, he hadn't done anything to make her life more challenging. He was adjusting to their situation and trying to be civil. Regina was the one that couldn't cope.
So, she did her best to play nice. She was naturally sarcastic, she got that from her mother's side, but their jabs were more playful than anything. Regina even found herself smiling around him some days. One night, they even gave Henry a bath together.
After he was tucked into bed, Regina decided to broach a subject she hadn't wanted to discuss with him when she wasn't sure where they were as co-parents. Now, it just felt wrong to leave him out of it.
"Henry's birthday is in a month," she said.
Robin blinked a couple of times, obviously caught a bit off guard. She couldn't blame him. That meant that it had been a whole month since Emma and Neal died. One month since they had begun their co-parenting. Between taking turns with a fussy baby-Henry had reverted from sleeping through the night since the accident-and work, time had really flown by.
"It's not that I forgot, just…"
"With everything going on, I haven't had time to think about it myself." Regina bit her lip. "Emma had been planning this backyard thing. Neal was hiring a bouncy castle, they were going to have Granny's Diner cater. Emma had told me about it, but I forgot until the landline got a call today about the castle." She paused for a moment. "I told them to go ahead with it. I hope that's okay."
"Henry should have a good first birthday, even if we're still adjusting to this whole parenting thing."
"Great. I'll drop off the invitations tomorrow."
"Let me guess, Emma had those all worked out too?"
"She wasn't very organized except for when it came to him."
"Neal was the same way."
An awkward silence filled them. They didn't talk about much outside Henry, especially not about the friends they lost. As a psychologist, Regina knew that was bad. Out of everyone, they were the only ones that knew how the other felt. They had lost two people in their lives that had been their family. Neither had much in the way biological wise. Robin's parents were dead and Regina wasn't close to her mother and sister. Cora hadn't even called Regina since the funeral. They had lost two members of their chosen family and it hurt, more than they could ever describe.
Regina chose not to say anything about that, instead she brought up the question that she had in her mind for the past 6 years. "Why were you so weird on our date?"
Robin laughed, shaking his head. "Seriously?"
"I've been thinking about it a lot recently. You've been so great and I've been well, a jerk to put it kindly." She folded her arms over her chest. "For the best interest of Henry, we have to move forward and try to get along better."
"Is that your psych speech?"
"If it was my psych speech, you'd pay me by the hour."
"Touché."
Regina gave him a look as if to say go on and Robin sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. He gestured for her to sit on the couch and followed suit once she did.
"You know I was married before, right? To Marian?"
She nodded. "Yes."
"Well, during our marriage, we found out we were having a baby. A little girl. We were so excited."
"You have a child?"
"We had a child," Robin corrected. "When Marian was about 20 weeks, we went in for a scan and found out that the baby didn't have a brain.'
Regina felt her stomach drop and suddenly she felt guilty for bringing this up. "Robin…"
"Please, let me continue. They gave us a choice. Carry to term or deliver, either way it wouldn't matter because she wouldn't live longer than a few hours."
Regina's hand flew over her mouth and Robin looked as though he wanted to break, but he pressed on.
"Anyway," he waved off the emotion on his face. "After that, things were hard. Marian and I didn't have the best of marriages to begin with. We loved each other sure, but there was always something missing. I had to go on the road for work after that and the more I called Marian, the more times she'd answer drunk. She swore she never had a problem. Eventually, things just got too had and we agreed it'd be best to divorce. Still, we remained friends. We were the only ones that knew what it was like to go through what we did."
"Of course," Regina whispered.
"So, Marian would still call me every so often, drunk off her ass. I tried to get her help, as did our other friends and her family. We couldn't convince her. The night we went out…it was our daughter's birthday."
"Oh my God."
"I was fine, I don't like being alone on it, so I figured our date would be a good way to take my mind off of it. Marian chose to get drunk and she was the one that was blowing up my phone that night."
Regina frowned. "Why didn't you just tell me that?"
"Because it's a long, personal story and not exactly first date material. I thought if you knew my ex was still so close to me, it'd be a turn off. Would it have been?"
Regina squirmed a bit in her seat. "Well…I don't know."
That was honest. Leopold had been obsessed with his dead wife, but that was a bit different. She had never been int hat situation before. A part of her wanted to think she'd be okay with it, but the other knew she'd probably want to wait to be in a relationship with Robin until Marian wasn't so dependent on him.
Robin nodded, as if to say he had made his point. "Besides, after that you and I blew up about something else all-together. Neal tried to tell me to tell you after, but I just didn't see the point. Even if I did, we both said some pretty dumb things that night."
Regina winced at the memory. "Yeah, we did." There was another moment of silence between the two of them. "Is Marian better now?"
"Yes. After that night, I got firm with her. It took some time, but she finally got some help. She's been sober 5 years now. Remarried, with a kid of her own."
"That's great."
"It is."
"Given what you've gone through…I'm really surprised you agreed to take on Henry with me,"
"It wasn't easy, but I realized that he needed me and maybe I needed him too."
"He adores you, Robin. His eyes light up whenever you walk into a room."
"They do not."
"They do."
Robin softly smiled. "He's pretty amazing."
Regina's eyes flickered to the family portrait of Emma, Neal and Henry on the wall. It had been taken when he was just a few weeks old. They were both smiling down at their son as if he hung the moon. God, they had loved him so much.
"What are we going to tell him one day? About them?"
"That they loved him and yet were crazy enough to leave him to us."
Regina rolled her eyes. Their sappy moment was truly over. "I'm serious."
"I don't know. You're the child psychologist. What would you tell yourself if you were a patient?"
"To be honest. To talk about them, but not be obsessive so he wouldn't think that we didn't want him."
"Then that's what we'll do."
Regina looked back at the photo. She realized in that moment, that she and Robin shared something else. Given his own past and the loss of his daughter, he had admitted it had been hard to take on Henry. It had been for Regina too. Not the day to day aspect, but the fact that she was going to be his mother. She couldn't just be "Aunt Regina", no, she was now his mom. She was taking Emma's place. He'd never remember his biological parents, just Regina and Robin.
How was that at all fair?
