HAPPY BIRTHDAY NANI!

Sorry for the long wait for this chapter, I hope it will be at least a bit worth it.

A huge THANK YOU goes to Morgan for her help.

I own nothing but Alyson and another couple of names.

Normalcy?

Their life was strange. It was somewhat like before when they were all together, but at the same time, it was completely different because tons of shit had happened between then and now. They were also different people than they were before the day Regina was taken away from her family.

It had been almost two weeks since Robin and Regina had officially gotten back together, and everyone knew about it.

They would be lying if they said it had been easy. It was hard getting used to each other again. True, they had already "lived together" after her injury, but this was different. Back then, they were trying to ignore each other and their feelings and everything that was happening around them.

More than once during those weeks, they had woken up with one, two or all of the children between them despite the fact that they had fallen asleep in each other's arms, the children were asleep in their beds and said children weren't so little anymore.

Said children were extremely happy about their parents being back together, but it was strange and difficult for them too. They had to learn how far they could go and how much they could push, but they soon discovered that just because their mother was back with them, it didn't mean they could do whatever they wanted. More than once they would ask their father something, and if he said no, they would ask their mother, believing she would say yes, which did not happen.

They were able to get away with that one time but their parents made sure they got grounded for it when they found out. This didn't stop them from trying, but it didn't age well.

It was a Saturday morning when Robin and Regina were woken up by the ringing of his phone. They had tried to ignore it but it had been useless.

"Who the bloody hell is calling so early?" Robin cursed after checking the time by opening only one eye.

"I don't care. They are calling too early to deserve an answer." Regina grumbled into his pillow. She was on his pillow because they were so close to one another that one pillow was enough for both of them.

But when whoever was calling didn't receive an answer, they began to send messages. Only at that point did Robin take his phone, look at it and jump up out of bed.

Alarmed by his actions, Regina also sat up in bed and passed a hand on her face, trying to wake herself up a bit. "What is going on?"

His eyes widened as he spoke. "My parents are here."

"What?" Her voice was clearly that of a person still half asleep.

"They are outside." He explained, getting up to get dressed. He chose an old pair of dark green sweatpants and a white shirt that hugged his body in a way that Regina was very happy to be able to see again, but now wasn't the right moment to ogle.

"What do you mean, they are outside?" Her brain was trying to catch up with everything, but she was still half asleep.

"I don't know. Here, read." He gave her his phone.

She took the phone and read the text from his father that had only three sentences in it: 'We are outside.', 'Get your ass out of that bed.' and 'Open the damn door.'

It took a bit for her brain to catch up with everything, and in the meantime, Robin had already gone downstairs to welcome his parents.

Regina got up fast and put one of Robin's hoodies, the one that matched the sweatpants he was wearing, over the shirt and leggings she had worn to sleep in, and after checking on the kids (who were still blissfully asleep and in their own beds), she joined Robin.

When she reached the last step of the stairs, the room fell into silence. Michael and Nora stared at Regina and she felt like the first time she had met them and they were judging her. Not that they were doing it, she just felt that way. Or maybe they were actually judging her. She didn't know, and she didn't know what to think.

The two women stared at each other. They didn't need to talk, a long look was enough to get the message across: Don't you dare to hurt him again. Regina just nodded and the older woman opened her arms as an invitation for her.

The younger woman hesitated only a moment before taking those couple of steps that separated her from the older woman. Regina melted in her arms and Nora hugged her tight, kissing the side of her head. The feeling that things might start to go back to normal washed over them.

Regina was released from Nora's arms only to end up in Robin's father's arms. He hugged her tight too, reassuring her that everything was fine without actually talking. Words weren't needed in that moment, actions were enough.

It was completely different from the hug they had given her the moment they saw her for the first time when she came back.

They sat on the couch waiting for the kids to wake up to go out for breakfast, Nora and Michael hand in hand and Regina snuggled up to Robin's side, his hand caressing her arm in a comforting way.

After ten minutes, during which Robin and Michael talked, Regina stared at the floor and Nora stared at the younger couple, the older woman declared she was going to make breakfast, changing their plan of going out. She asked Regina to help her and did not make a negative answer an option.

Putting on a tense smile, Regina followed her ex-mother-in-law - or just mother-in-law? She didn't really know - to the kitchen.

Nora broke the tense silence that was in the room. "You can relax."

"What?" Regina slightly jumped, startled by her voice.

"You're tense as a violin chord. I'm not going to jump down your throat." The older woman explained.

"You wouldn't be wrong doing it. I have hurt him, the kids and all of you. I deserve every kind of hate from you, and you have every reason to be worried now." Regina looked at the floor as she spoke, trying to hide the tears that were slowly forming in her eyes and were threatening to fall.

"Regina, dear, just promise me you'll do your best to not hurt any of them again and let's forget about everything else. I saw the way you two look at each other. That is enough for me."

The younger woman stared into the same blue eyes as Robin's. "I promise." She whispered, releasing a breath she didn't know she was holding.

"Good." She said, passing a gentle hand over the younger woman's face to wipe away the tears. Then she continued. "Now, enough with the tears and let's make breakfast. I bet those three still asleep up there will wake up as soon as the good smell hits their noses."

Regina couldn't help but laugh at that. The smell of food was one of the few things that could wake her little monsters up in no time.

She went back to take care of the pancakes as Nora prepared the bacon and the eggs. Not even ten minutes later, when the smell of food was in the air, the sound of feet could be heard on the stairs.

Breakfast was surprisingly easy. The kids were stuffing their faces with food and leading the conversation and their grandparents ate up everything they were saying, Regina couldn't help but smile like an idiot when she thought about how normal all of that looked and felt. Robin was just as bad as his kids and was eating like he hadn't seen food in weeks, but she didn't have the will to say something to him because of that.

Michael and Nora's visit was short, and at the end of the day they were already going back home, but even though it was a one day trip, it was time well-used. They had spent the day together. Despite the cold since it was almost November, Robin decided to use the grill and with his father and Henry he went outside to grill their lunch. Nora and Aly took care of the side dishes while Regina was unable to help because she was stuck on the couch with a strangely clingy Roland on her lap.

After breakfast the little boy had decided that his mother's lap was where he wanted to spend his time and it was almost impossible to get him to move from there.

The cold afternoon was spent with board games and hot chocolate with marshmallows until the older couple had to leave. They had postponed that moment as much as they could, but now it was inevitable. With promises of seeing them soon, they left to go home.

Thanksgiving was a grand event that year. Everyone had a lot to be thankful for.

Robin's parents, true to their word, had flown in a couple of days before and together with Regina's parents had prepared a huge meal for the whole family.

While saying what they were thankful for, the majority of people cried and while in another moment there would have been teasing, especially from Neal and Will, that time no one dared to say anything.

It was a December night. The kids were in bed, Robin was doing some work at his computer on the couch in front of the fireplace and Regina was thinking too loud.

"I can hear you thinking. What's going on?" Robin decided to ask, because after ten minutes of Regina deep in thought and with her gaze lost in the fire, he was getting worried.

"About going back." She answered without taking her eyes away from the fire, still half lost in her world.

Robin put his computer aside and focused completely on the woman next to him. "Going back where?"

"Portland." She answered, without any expression on her face.

Robin's world stopped. What did she mean by that? He didn't know how to react to that. Why did she want to go back to a place that obviously caused her pain? A reminder of what she had almost lost forever? The darkest moment of their life?

"Why?" He asked cautiously.

Regina was sitting with her chin on her knees and her arms around her bent legs. She turned her head to look into his eyes. "Because I want to show you and the kids where I was during those years and what I did. If that is okay with you."

That made sense - not completely - but it made a little sense, Robin thought.

He moved to sit next to her and he put his arm around her, pulling her close to him. He nodded and kissed the side of her head. "Okay. When were you thinking of going?"

She turned to look at him again. "Winter break?" She proposed. "We could go on the 26th and come back by the 30th."

If she already had some dates in mind, she must have thought about it a lot, or at least, that was Robin's thought.

"I have to check with work, but it should be okay. What about you? When are you going back?" He asked, referring to the fact that she hadn't been back to work yet since the shooting.

"My boss doesn't want me back until after the new year. We should be okay."

And it was true. Her boss was giving her a lot of time to recover, maybe a bit too much, but she wanted to make sure Regina was perfectly fine before starting to chase criminals again, because knowing Regina, she wouldn't start slowly but would come back in full force.

Robin didn't speak, he just nodded and kissed her head again. There was something else that troubled Regina, but he didn't push her. It would have been useless.

They waited until the weekend to talk with the children. After a breakfast consisting of pancakes, juice and coffee, they sat the children down to talk.

Roland lasted a total of one minute on the couch before deciding that his mother's lap was a better place to be. He couldn't help it if he was a momma's boy.

Henry and Aly studied their parents and the boy was the first to speak. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong." His father reassured him. "We just wanted to talk to you about something."

"Something bad? Are you going to live somewhere again? Are you leaving?" He inquired again.

"No, nothing bad. And your mother isn't going anywhere. She wants to go back to visit where she was when she wasn't with us. She wants to go to Portland." He said without procrastinating any longer. He knew direct communication with them was better than stalling.

"To stay there?" Aly asked quietly, scared that the answer was going to be yes despite the fact that her father had already said her mother was going to stay with them.

Regina didn't waste a second in pulling Aly to her next to her brother, kissing her head and answering her daughter to reassure her. "Absolutely not. No, butterfly, we are all going to stay here, here and together."

"Then why do you want to go there?" Roland asked from her lap.

Regina looked at Robin and he nodded, encouraging her to explain.

"I want to show you where I was. And I have to talk to a person because when I left, I hadn't even said goodbye to her and she didn't deserve that."

The three children thought about it. Arrow thought it was a good idea, jumping on the couch between the twins to be petted, and that definitely helped break a bit of the tension.

"And you promise we're coming back here. All of us?"

"Yes, Henry. I promise, my little prince. There's no way I'm going to leave any of you again."

Henry, Alyson and Roland looked at each other, communication passing between them without actually talking.

This time the spokesman was Alyson. "Work for us. When are we going?"

Both parents smiled at that. "If everything works out with my work, we're going from the 26th til the 30th. That way we can have Christmas and New Year's together here with the rest of the family."

After Robin confirmed he could take time off, Regina, who was bored out of her mind with nothing to do, started planning their trip.

She found a flight and a place to stay that didn't cost a fortune and it wasn't too far from where they had to go. She wrote down everything she needed to do and everyone she needed to see and she wanted to show it to her family. And she asked her mother if she could keep Arrow. As much as she loved that dog, there was no way she was going to travel with the little beast too. The monsters were enough to keep an eye on. And this time, the monster group included Robin too.

Christmas, like Thanksgiving, had once again been a great affair. Robin had told his parents that it wasn't fair that they were the ones always flying there but they had objected that it was easier if it was just the two of them (or four, if Robin's sister and her wife came too) coming there rather than moving the whole family.

The children had definitely been spoiled but their parents weren't even a bit sorry about that. It had been a difficult time for all of them, they deserved to be spoiled. And it wasn't like it was a habit. At least, that was what they told each other every Christmas.

Despite what they had promised each other, Robin got a present for Regina. She threw him a dirty look but took the little present anyway.

"What's this?" Her curiosity was winning.

He smirked. "Open it."

Regina carefully pulled away the paper. She hissed when she realized it was a jewelry box or, more precisely, a ring box.

"Robin..." She whispered, almost angry.

"Just open it, darling." He encouraged her.

Opening the box, Regina found herself looking at a beautiful ring. It had three little hearts in the center, made with three different stones: amethyst, aquamarine and peridot. Next to each little heart was the name of each of the children. On the inside Robin had engraved a date, the date they had decided to become a family again.

"What... What is this?" She asked.

"A ring." He answered promptly. If a look could kill, Robin would be a dead man. "It's not an engagement ring, if that is what you are thinking. We are not quite ready for that." He replied, now serious.

She nodded, still not really understanding the meaning behind the ring. But Robin answered that."It's more like a promise ring. A promise that we will always be there for each other, despite everything and everyone. You can wear it on whichever finger you want or on a chain or not wear it at all."

He captured a tear on her cheek when he realized she was crying and she leaned into his touch and closed her eyes.

She reopened her eyes and she observed the ring another time before sliding it on the ring finger of her right hand.

"It's beautiful. Thank you." She whispered right before she kissed him.

They left early on the morning of the 26th. The tension could be cut with a knife. Regina's hands were always occupied by the kids or Robin, never leaving her with a minute alone. They all knew she needed all the support she could get. She was feeling way too many emotions at the same time and she didn't know how to manage them.

The flight lasted a couple of hours and by midday they were already in their hotel room.

They took that first day to ease into things. They stayed in their room watching a couple of movies or playing some games. Dinner was in a little but amazing sushi restaurant. And up until then everything was good. It was when the kids were asleep that the dam began to break a bit and to compensate Regina gave in and ate all the comfort food Robin had brought her, knowing she would need them: chips and salty popcorn with her favorite alcohol free drink, strawberry lemonade. She would have gone with something stronger, but one, the kids were there and two, she didn't want to have a hangover the next day.

The next morning after breakfast the first stop was the place Regina had called home for three years. It was nothing special. They couldn't go inside, but Regina had described it to her family: a very little open space with a small kitchen, a table with just two chairs and a bed and the even smaller bathroom. Definitely a sad place.

"That was your house, mommy?" An extremely quiet Aly asked.

Regina pulled her daughter to her. "Yes, it was. But I really didn't like it. It was just a place where I had to stay."

"Where did you work?" Henry asked, standing next to his father since his siblings had already taken their mother's hands.

"In a little place not too far from here. Want to see it today or want to leave it for another day?"

"Today. Plus I'm hungry, we could eat something." He said with a little smirk that was the replica of his father's on his face.

"You are always hungry Henry."

In response, Henry showed his sister his tongue and the girl just laughed.

The little bell on the door announced their entry into the diner. Regina stood at the door for a moment, took a deep breath and closed the door behind her.

"Give me a second and I'll be right there!" A voice called out from somewhere.

Robin and the kids used that time to look around. They had no problem imagining Regina going to a place like this, but they couldn't picture her working here.

Robin's eyes fell on a picture on the wall. It was the only one with Regina. Like she had said, her hair was shorter and her clothes were completely black. A mix of pain, sadness, misery and hate was on her face and it made Robin's heart ache seeing that.

"Okay, sorry for the wait-" The voice of the redhead who had just appeared died when she saw who was there.

"Roni." Her tone didn't reveal whatever she might have felt in that moment. Betrayal was one of those many emotions, together with anger and disbelief, Regina wasn't sure.

"It's Regina, actually." She said quietly.

The redhead looked at her with a confused expression. "It's a really long story, but the short version is that my name is Regina Mills-Locksley and this is my family. Roni was just someone who I had to pretend to be."

Now the redhead looked angry. "That is not what you told me almost five years ago. You told me you had no family, you were alone and then you disappeared."

Regina was fighting tears. "I am so sorry for that, Ariel. I really am."

The staring between the two women was broken by Henry, who asked if he could have a hamburger, and he was immediately reprimanded by his father for interrupting two people who were talking.

Once her family had been seated and food had been brought out, Ariel pulled Regina into the little room that had a window where you could see the whole diner that was her office to talk.

Regina told the other woman her story. Halfway through it Eric, Ariel's husband, joined them. Telling and listening to that story was hard on all three of them and for the couple in the room, it was a bit difficult to accept. They had known a person with a certain story and now they were told it was all a lie. They didn't know what to believe.

They knew a different person from the one in front of them. Roni, the waitress and the lonely woman alone in the world and with no family. Regina, the detective, mother and partner to someone with a big family.

Roland had stayed with his father and siblings at the table but when he saw his mother crying through the window, he got up and ran to her, not caring that he was going to interrupt the adults talking. As Regina put his arms around him, Henry and Aly went up to their mother too, almost creating a shield around her. Despite their mother's reassuring words, the three children didn't let their guard down.

Seeing the scene, Ariel took matters into her own hands. "Go, be with your family. We can talk more later." She did that more for the children than for Regina.

Regina smiled at her and walked back to the table. Not even a minute later and without her ordering it, a plate of onion rings - that she had eaten in huge quantities during those years - and a hamburger was placed in front of her. She smiled gratefully at Eric and she began to eat.

They didn't really have a chance to talk more and just before leaving, Ariel stopped Regina. "Don't be a stranger. I won't deny that I'm angry and confused right now, but I would really like to know Regina and her family, if that is okay with you. Roni was great, but I have a feeling that Regina is even better."

The brunette woman was expecting anything but that. "I would love that."

And with a last hug and smiles, the Locksley-Mills family left the diner.

That night, after her children were fast asleep, Regina cried. She cried for what she had lost, for those three years of pure hell, for that time after she was back when she only partially had her family back. For everything. Robin didn't comment about that. He held her as she cried, as she finally let out those emotions she kept bottling inside her, whispering sweet nothings to her.

Aly, Henry and Roland didn't ask a lot of things about their mother's time in Portland. They preferred listening to whatever she would say. It was a bit strange, since Henry was always full of questions.

If the previous nights had been a bit restless for Regina, the last night in Portland was the worst one. The nightmares kept coming back to torment the black-haired woman. The last one she had during the night was so bad that the children woke up. What they saw when they went to their parents' room was their father holding their mother as she cried.

They didn't say or ask anything, they just went to their mother and hugged her. Robin put his arms around them and they fell asleep in each other's arms.

Needless to say, when Robin woke up in the morning, he found the kids using their mother as a pillow rather than the real thing and he couldn't help but snort at that.

On New Year's Eve, Robin always enjoyed the tradition of kissing the loved one at midnight, and who wouldn't? He always had someone to kiss at midnight and that someone had always been Regina, both when they were just friends and later when they were more. But that year, despite having her there with him, he couldn't keep the first time he didn't have someone to kiss out of his mind. Yes, he kissed his children, but obviously it wasn't the same.

All night, when he couldn't keep his hand on hers to make sure she was actually there, he would look for her, only relaxing when his blue eyes would lock with her chocolate brown ones. Regina would smile at him and everything would be fine until he lost sight of her and the search would start again.

When it was less than a minute to midnight, Robin pulled Regina into his arms and she put her arms around him. When the ball dropped he kissed her until his lungs began to burn for need of air. Not even the 'eww' from their children stopped them from that kiss.

But by three minutes after midnight, both parents had stopped kissing each other in favor of kissing their children's cheeks until they were red from laughing.

January second was a day Regina couldn't wait for, but at the same time, it was a day that she feared. She loved her job, but two close calls were a lot on her shoulders. She had already been reevaluated and cleared for returning to work before their trip to Portland, but she couldn't deny the anxiety she was feeling.

If her first return had been full of hesitation, this time she walked into the squad room with her head up, like she was the freaking queen of the place and she was welcomed by a round of applause. There was a reason they called her 'Evil Queen,' after all.

She hadn't thought it was going to be easy going back to work, but she hadn't expected it to be that hard. She kept having flashbacks and nightmares of the shooting in the warehouse and when they weren't about that, they were about The Hatter.

More than once, Robin had to wake her up from a nightmare and Mulan and Graham had to bring her back to the present because she was lost in a talks with Dr. Hopper helped, but she had a long road in front of her.

"Siblings night." It was all Zelena said when she appeared in front of Regina's desk at work one afternoon.

She blinked at her sister. "What?"

"Siblings night. I know you have nothing planned for tonight, I've already spoken with Robin. So you, Neal and I are going to spend a night together like we used to. Junk food, drinks - not too many since we all have to work the next day- a movie all the three of us detest because we can never choose- and nothing else to worry our minds."

"Do I get a say in this?" Regina inquired.

"Nope."

"You remember I own a gun, right?"

"Yep, but you would have too many papers to do if you were to use it, and you would hate it."

Acknowledging her defeat in this battle but not in the war, she gave up, at least for now. "Text me which house and the time. Now get out of here, Greeny, I have work to do." Regina dismissed the redhead.

"Love you too sis." She said as she left the room as fast as she had entered it.

"Your sister is completely crazy." Graham commented, laughing.

Regina exhaled and smiled. "I know, believe me, I know. But I wouldn't want her any other way."

Siblings night ended up being at Neal's house since his girlfriend wasn't at home, and they did exactly what Zelena had said they would do. Miraculously, they were able to find a movie all three of them agreed on: Someone Great.

It was a good night after all, and something the three of them needed. After that night they decided they would have a 'siblings night' once a month, sort of like a new tradition.

Like Zelena, Neal and Regina resumed spending time together as siblings, as did Robin and Ella. However, the Locksley siblings' bonding time was more Ella questioning Robin about Regina because the whole story still didn't sit right with her despite the many reassurances from Robin.

Time passed and before they realized it, it was Regina's birthday and then Valentine's Day.

For her birthday, Regina got to sleep in, (it was a Saturday, after all), breakfast in bed, flowers and small things that had big meaning from her kids, who had bought them with their own money.

Robin took Regina out for Valentine's Day. He took her to a nice Italian restaurant and they had a wonderful night.

"Do you ever think about getting married again?" Robin asked out of the blue while they were eating dessert.

Regina's eyes widened. "What?!"

"Relax, this isn't my idea of a proposal." He said, taking her hand. "I was just wondering if it was something you would like."

She smiled at him softly and kissed his hand. "Yes, it's something I would like."

They didn't talk more about it. There was a silent understanding on Robin's part that Regina would like to get married again and it was okay for him to plan something for a bit further in the future. There was also a silent understanding on Regina's part that someday Robin might propose to her again, and she was perfectly fine with that.

April came fast and with it, Robin and the twins' birthdays.

They had a simple family dinner for Robin's birthday and a big party in a place with trampolines for Henry and Aly. The kids had fun, but Regina's anxiety that they could get hurt was extremely high.

In the end they didn't know who had more fun, the children or the adults. It had definitely been a memorable day.

Despite the passing of the months, Regina's nightmares only partially got better. She still woke up in the middle of the night or she would space out for a bit, but finally the meetings with Dr. Hopper gave them some results.

Their summer was happy and funny. They went to California for a week. Hollywood, the Walk of Fame, Malibu, Universal Studios, and the Grand Canyon were just some of the things they saw (any other suggestions about what you could see in Cali?).

Roland's birthday was in August. His request was to go see his grandparents, the ones he saw less. So Robin and Regina made all the arrangements to spend a couple of days in Maine with Robin's parents. It wasn't something big, but it was perfect in the eyes of the little curly-haired boy.

The school year began without a problem. The morning of the first day, Roland and Henry groaned like there was no tomorrow when their mother called them to get up. Aly, on the other end, was up even before her alarm clock went off. Her brothers teased her about it, but she couldn't help it if she liked school.

But then the fateful day arrived: September 10th. The anniversary of "Regina's death", the beginning of their nightmare.

Regina woke up in the middle of the night from a nightmare and despite Robin's best efforts, she was unable to fall back asleep.

That was why the next morning Aly, Henry and Roland found their parents on the couch instead of their bed and they didn't waste time joying them.

Like the previous year, the whole family played hooky from school and work and they spent the day cuddling together on the couch and being spoiled by Cora.

They had just begun to forget that fateful day when another horrible date came up. The beginning of October marked one year since Regina had been shot, again. It wasn't as bad as September, but it wasn't a good day either.

Despite their protests, the Locksley-Mills parents didn't let their children play hooky, but they both stayed at home from work, needing a moment to themselves.

They were sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace. Robin's back was against the couch and Regina was sitting against him between his legs. His arms circled her body and her hands were on his forearms. Regina's head was tucked under Robin's chin and both of them had their eyes closed.

They were both savoring the fact that they were still there and they had each other again.

Robin began to kiss Regina's head in a way she had come to know as 'I have to tell you something but I don't know how'.

After a couple of minutes, she couldn't take it anymore. She was enjoying the feeling of Robin kissing her, but the whole situation was making her nervous.

"What is going on?" She asked without moving. She was way too comfortable to do that.

"What?" Caught off guard, it was the only thing he was able to say.

"You're nervous and you're acting like you want to say something." She explained.

'Damn the fact that she could read him so well', he thought.

Regina turned so she could look Robin in his eyes and put her hands on either side of his face.

"What is going on? Is it something bad?"

"No! At least, I don't think so."

Regina looked at him, confused. "Why don't you try to tell me?"

"That's the problem, telling you."

Regina sat up straight, dropping her hands from his face. "Robin, you are scaring me."

Robin took her hands and kissed them. "Nothing to be scared about. I was just thinking about everything we went through, our lives together and apart, our conversation about this particular subject in the past…"

"What subject?" Her voice was an almost imperceptible whisper.

"This subject." And he proceeded to show her what he had in his hand.

Regina stopped breathing for a moment. "What… What… What are you doing with my engagement ring?"

"On this day last year, I almost lost you for the second time and on that day we were nothing to each other if not our amazing children's parents. Later, we finally got over our stubbornness and we became something more." Robin stopped talking to capture the tears that were falling from Regina's eyes. She leaned into his touch and kissed his hand.

"I don't want you to just be something more." His voice was full of emotion at that point.

"What do you want?" She whispered, leaning her forehead against his.

"For you to become my wife again, forever this time please."

Robin pulled back from the woman in front of him. "Regina, will you marry me?"

A half breath. A blink. Then another one. She looked straight into his eyes.

"Yes."

Robin put the ring on her finger and kissed her until the need of air forced him to stop. Their foreheads rested against each other.

"I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

"If that is what milady wants, milady shall have it. I love you, darling."

Now their life could really begin again.

A.N.

Thank you so much for reading.

Reviews and constructive criticism are always well welcomed. And if I have written something in the wrong way or it's not accurate please tell me so I can fix it!

The colors of the stones on Regina's ring:

Amethyst: purple with a bit of with stone

Aquamarine: greenish blue stone

Peridot: yellowish-green stone