Day 4 (Thursday) of #OQOnHolidaysWeek

75. Robin and Regina's families would spend every summer at their vacation homes so they have been friends since they were kids and casually dated as they were teens. Now, they are both graduated and returning to the same vacation homes, hoping the other shows up.


It's not that she's expecting him to show up, it's that it's almost 9pm and the Locksley clan usually arrive before them.

But she got here at 7pm that Friday, to an almost fully packed lake house with her family members, and remembers driving past his family cabin, all dark and not a single car in sight. It seems weird, because for the past eighteen years both families have come to the lake for the last two weeks of July. And even though she hasn't taken part of it in the past eight years, what with work, university and later law school, she knows her family and the Locksley's (including him) had come religiously.

So it's weird, more than weird, that the Locksley family isn't in town.

But it's fine.

It's okay.

It's not like they've missed her entirely for the last eight years (they have, the constant messages on her social media are proof enough). So maybe they had a situation. Maybe they'll come next week. Or maybe they won't come at all. He won't come. And the thought alone is almost enough to make her frown, disappointment making itself present in the slight nibble of her lower lip.

Because it had been that promise, the promise of warmth and family and love and nightly s'mores while looking at the lake what prompted Regina to finally, finally take the two weeks off and agree to drive down to the lake.

Or at least that's what she tells herself. Because it's now 9:07pm and she sighs as she sees nothing but darkness along the main road and takes a swig of her beer.

He's not coming.

They're not coming.

"Regina!" Her sister calls from behind her, head peeking from the sliding door. "Missy just went down for the night. We're heading down to the deck for a little bit. You in?"

Nodding, Regina downs the rest of her beer and walks into the house again.

It's quite the feast, with her mother, father, two of her cousins, their husbands and Zelena's family, including that of her 3 year old niece who just got put down for the night. The sight warms her heart because ever since she moved away, they rarely get to spend time together as a whole family and suddenly Regina is grateful for the amount of rooms in the house, rooms that before would've seem useless to her, rooms that before made the house feel big and empty and lonely.

But it'd be for the future, her father had said.

It'd be for her and Zelena and their kids if they ever decide to have kids.

It's handy now, a brilliant inversion. Because, even though they used to come here only over the summer, her parents have used quite of it during the winter, and she supposes that during the fall it looks good too, with orange leaves and crisp cool weather and the relaxation being the only goal. Sees herself just drinking a hot cup of coffee by the porch, overlooking the yellows and reds and oranges reflecting over the expanse lake.

"Beer?" Her dad calls out from the kitchen, and she could laugh at him, at his young strike, heads to the kitchen to help him out as her cousins and sister say yes.

"I'm glad you could make it, Regina." Is what he says, after a moment of putting the long neck bottles inside a small cooler for them to take.

"I'm glad I could make it too, Daddy," she replies with a smile as she drops a kiss to his cheek. Because yes, she is happy that she's here with her family, but still, the Locksleys are missed.

.::.

Mary Margaret, her cousin, and David talk and talk as always. Chad, Zelena's husband, laughs and laughs as always, cuddling into Zelena's side, dropping a kiss to her shoulder every few minutes. And after an hour or so of laughter and quietly looking back over their life, Zelena and Chad call it a night, Chad wiggling his eyebrows followed by a You guys better let us all sleep! from Emma.

And it seems that after that everyone leaves, one by one, until she's the only one in the deck, sleep evading her like the plague. It sucks, because she's exhausted, exhausted over a 5 hour long shift and a supposedly 5 hour long drive to this place which turned into a six hour drive thanks to traffic. She needs sleep, needs to crash into her comfy bed so that she can wake up early tomorrow for a run (she really does enjoy running around the forest).

Determined to get at least five hours of sleep, Regina downs the rest of her beer in a gulp and walks into the dark silent house. She makes sure to lock all the doors, turn off all the lights except for the ones in the porch before she goes upstairs to her room, for the first time that night not checking out the window to see if The Locksleys made it.

After all, Robin could have settled down already, could have a family of his own, a beautiful wife and though it pulls at her heartstrings, (and though a little voice inside her head tells her he hasn't posted anything on his Facebook –wow she really should stop using Facebook), Regina is mature enough to understand that it's been eight years, and the world doesn't cavort to her every wishes.

And that sometimes life just happens.

.::.

Regina is going to be there

That was it. That was all it took for his excitement over their summer holidays to return.

Truth is, he had gone every year since she left for college with his family to their cabin, a small part of him always hoping she'd turn up. But she never did, and even though he understands the demands of university and moving states away from her home to pursue her dreams, he couldn't help but feel disappointed every time the Mills clan turned up missing one. But still, he managed to have fun every day, with Chad, Zelena's friend at the time, with his sister Belle, with Cora and Henry and his parents. So those times had been special, more than special, he holds them tightly to his heart.

But this year, Gods, he said that this year he wouldn't attend, didn't want to feel the disappointment of not seeing her there again.

But Belle's words rang in his head as she spoke knowingly through the phone.

So now he's here, trailing behind Belle's SUV, his dad on the passenger side, mother on the backseat along with Tripp, their twelve year old bulldog, all of them quietly sitting as he presses again on the brakes.

He really hates it when there's traffic.

"This is why I wanted us to be on our way two hours ago," he mutters in frustration, fingers strumming against the steering wheel as he sighs yet again.

"We didn't know there would be one lane closed nor a car crash, son," his father mutters after a second, hiding a smile as he turns to stare out the window.

"Relax, it's only eight. I'm sure she's only just arriving," Greta, his mother, says amusedly. To which his father lets out a small chuckle.

But Robin just rolls his eyes, though he finds himself also amused and ten times as nervous, because it's been eight years. Eight years and the last time he saw her, she had been wearing glasses and almost crying because she was oh so anxious and oh so nervous for moving away from home to study. But she had been excited too, and based on how she hasn't moved back home and has no plans to do so anytime soon (according to Cora), he suspects she did more than good for herself.

Oh God, what if she's with someone? What if she brought a friend this time and next time she presents him as her boyfriend? What if he's just setting himself up for disappointment.

"Hey," Greta says, pulling him back from his thoughts with a hand on his shoulder, caressing it softly. "Even if we get there today or tomorrow, she'll still be excited to see you."

"I hope so," he confesses after a moment, nibbling on his lower lip, to which his parents grin, happy to receive confirmation over something they've suspected for many years.

Thankfully, at that moment, the cars move again, quicker, and quicker until they're once again hitting the speed limit, minutes & hours passing by until he takes the exit to the lake.

And thirty minutes later, when the clock is shy of 2:00am, he parks his car next to Belle's SUV on the side of their family's lake house, his gaze instantly moving down the road as he helps his nephew climb out of the SUV, the little guy rushing almost instantly after his father and grandparents. But Robin stays behind, trying to hide his smile and excitement at the sight of the Mills' lake house, porch lights on, four cars outside instead of the three that have been there for the past 8 years.

Which means that Regina Mills, the girl he'd love to see every summer, is several yards away from him rather than states apart, probably in her room sleeping peacefully.

"Come one, lover boy," his sister mutters from his side with a grin. "She'll still be there tomorrow. Let's go to sleep, you know Dimitri will give us an early wake up call."

And there's that, he follows Belle into the cabin, drops his bag by the door, and locks up all the doors before he's crashing on the sofa instead of his bed.

.::.

She dreams of sun kissed skin and recently kissed lips. Dreams of his eyes, blue and open and loving as he hands her a perfectly toasted marshmallow, both ignoring the knowing look that happens between their parents. Dreams of being pushed in the tire swing before being kissed, slowly, tentatively.

Regina wakes abruptly, cursing the tingling left behind in her lips by a very vivid dream, well, memory. Groaning, she sits up in bed, rubs her eyes and looks at her watch, sighing in relief with the knowledge that she has enough time to walk along the woods for a good hour and still make it to the house to share breakfast with her family.

Quickly, Regina changes and walks out the back door into the forest, immediately smiling when she finds the trail she'd run on many years ago and builds up a slow pace, relaxing for a few moments until she reaches the end of the trail and stops. For a second she just stands there, breathing in the early morning air, lips curving upwards at the never-ending scent of forest. And even though living in Hartford, Connecticut has its perks, it pales in comparison to this, to the scent of freedom, of simply being, trees surrounding her and birds chirping. A place with no expectations, no stress. A place filled with memories.

She'd first kissed Robin here, on that log a few feet in front of her, and she smiles at the memory, only to find herself frowning a second later as she walks to the log, sits there and shakes her head.

She doesn't know how much time passes of her just staring straight ahead, thinking back on the many nights she spent here. But she knows she must head soon, her family could be awake already and waiting on her for breakfast.

So, taking a deep breath, Regina stands up from the log, ready to head back to her home.

.::.

I think you know where she is.

Henry had said after hugging the young man tightly, and Robin had instantly understood, smirked as Cora and Henry began preparing more pancake mix and bacon, excited that The Locksley clan were able to make it after all. He'd washed his hands, ready to help them with breakfast, but Cora had slapped his hand away, asking him to find Regina and tell her that breakfast is ready.

So he'd gone off, excitedly, in search of her, stomach fluttering, grin ever present.

And now he stands here, rooted in place as he sees her, breathing and real sitting on the log, her back to him. But it isn't until a moment later, when she stands up to leave that he's walking closer to her, clearing his throat.

"Good morning," he says slowly, to which she tenses and he finds himself swallowing hard, pushes his hands into his pockets to prevent himself from rushing to her and pulling her into a hug.

She turns around quickly, eyes wide before her features soften and she gives him a watery smile.

"Robin," she whispers, that voice enough to weaken his knees but he stands straight, eyes skimming over her face.

She hasn't changed at all, except her hair now touches her shoulders instead of her lower back, but she still looks beautiful, she still has that beautiful genuine smile that make him smile even brighter, even bigger. And though he planned what he was going to say to her on the way here, now, now that she is in front of him, he finds himself speechless in her actual presence and instead of an I've missed you, Robin lets out a There was traffic on the way here and because she doesn't respond, he continues going on and on, rambling about the drive here and Tripp and the stupidly slow drivers, anything except commenting on her beauty, on the flutters of his stomach, on the slight burn to his cheeks.

"Robin," she mutters after a moment, amused at his rambles.

He shuts up at that, just stares at her with wide eyes and a slight burning in his eyes because he's missed her so much and shakes his head with a dry chuckle.

"I've missed you," he says after a minute.

Regina nods at that, sniffling as she gives him a bright smile and closes the distance between them, giving him a tight hug. He hugs her back as strong as she does, dropping a soft kiss to the side of her head and letting out a deep sigh because this is real, she is real.

A moment after, Regina breaks the hug and playfully punches his forearm. "You still owe me a coffee," she says, remembering when he'd promised to visit her one day in University and pay for one coffee because that's all his budget allowed him to do at that time.

But sometimes life just happens. And today, it most definitely is happening.

"How about I cook you breakfast tomorrow and we can catch up," he offers, excited over the prospect of spending a few hours with her alone, because he knows, he knows that today and tonight will be all for their families to reconnect.

But tomorrow, tomorrow could be theirs.

To reconnect.

To talk, really talk.

And it is.


The crisp autumn air makes Regina close her cardigan tightly around herself with one hand as she holds a steaming cup of tea with the other, an action that seems almost impossible with the slight curve to her stomach. But still, she powers through the slight coldness in the air, not only because the oranges, yellows and reds on the trees and reflecting along the lake, are a sight to behold, but because of the sight a few yards in front of her. A sight that has her smiling into the steaming mug as she tries to take a sip.

Because a couple of yards in front of her is her husband on his knees next to their almost three year old daughter Amelia, who giggles and jumps up and down with every different fallen leaf Robin shows her.

But suddenly Amelia is turning around and Regina waves at her, offering a big smile. Grinning at her mother, Amelia quickly rushes to her as fast as her little legs allow brown hair moving all around her face, her own little cardigan opening as she rushes up the three steps of the porch and pushes her arms up. Regina smiles brightly as she brings her daughter up to rest on her hip, heart melting when her tiny head rests against the crook of her neck, and her hand lands softly on top of her stomach.

From afar she catches sight of Robin, smiling lovingly at them as he walks up to the porch, walking closer to them and dropping a kiss on each of their heads.

And right here, with Amelia softly running a hand over her ever growing belly, and her husband next to her, hand on her hip, Regina concludes that, yes, sometimes life does happen aligned with her wishes.