This oneshot, a Just Like Heaven AU, was written for RegalPixieDust's birthday! Happy birthday Shay, I hope this is your best year yet!
Regina walked briskly down the well-worn halls of the middle school where she taught, fading yellow paint surrounding her as she into the phone pressed to her ear. "Emma, I told you, while it may be Friday night, I have absolutely no time to go on a date tonight, especially a blind date. Not even offering to make it a double date with you and August would change my mind."
"Oh come on, Regina, just forget about all the things you think you need to get done tonight and go on one date!" Emma whined, her frustration evident.
"Emma, it's the beginning of the year, I can't." Regina reiterated. "I have prior knowledge to assess, lessons to plan, a project to create, forms to organize…"
"All of which can be done just as easily tomorrow, when you've had a good night's sleep," Emma replied confidently. "Aren't you tired from working with the kids all day?"
Regina sighed as she got into her black Ford Fusion and started driving, putting the call on speakerphone so that she could safely drive but still talk to Emma. Her sister knew her too well - she did get her best work done first thing in the morning, and she was tired from a long day at work. One of her most difficult students, Neal, had decided to pick a fight with a fellow student in the middle of her classroom that day, so she had needed to put an end to the argument before it escalated, and had lost the remainder of the class period in the process. And as she was filling out the necesary report for the incident during her lunch, Grace had come in to ask for her advice about a crush she had on a fellow student, one who wasn't in any of Regina's classes. Add to that the administrative responsibilities that came with the beginning of the school year and Regina knew that the last thing she needed was a distraction, particularly of the romantic variety. But she couldn't deny that she needed just one hour of not thinking about the stressors in her life before she faced them again. "Fine. But only one hour, and you and August have to be there. Being with a complete stranger is going to be difficult enough without having to attempt to converse with him."
"That's the whole point, Regina, to ask him questions so that you get to know him," Emma informed her, and from her tone, Regina could practically see her eyes rolling. "But fine. If you would prefer that August and I are there, we'll be there. See you at-"
But Regina never heard what time she was supposed to meet Emma, August, and her blind date. A sudden crash on the hood of her car startled her as her airbag deployed. Something hard hit her forcefully on the head, and Regina knew no more.
Robin struggled to shrug on his coat as he answered his phone before he walked out the door. "Yes sir?"
"Locksley, we need you. The law firm on Main Street just caught fire, and a burning beam fell into the road, which of course was full of rush hour traffic." Keith Nott, his boss, barked in his ear.
Robin looked heavenward, then knelt to hug his son Roland goodbye (a task made more difficult by the action figures he was clutching in his tiny hands) before gently ushering him toward his babysitter, Ashley. He had warned August that he wouldn't be able to go on the blind date that he had set him up on, that being on call for work meant that it was likely that he would need to leave early. Now it seemed that he wouldn't be able to attend the date at all. "Any casualties or injuries?" Robin asked. It was always the first thing he wanted to know when going to the scene of a fire.
"You'll find out when you get here! Move it! Now!" Nott barked.
"Yes boss, on my way," Robin told him. Nott had a way of treating the paramedics that worked at the fire station as if they were inferior to him for the sole reason that he was the chief. Although in reality this wasn't the case, as Robin had worked at the station for the same length of time. He just lacked the ambition to climb the corporate ladder that Nott seemed to possess in spades.
He climbed into his car and sent August a quick text: Got called in, sorry to cancel, but you know how Nott is. Apologize to Emma and my date for me. He had told his friend about work enough that he knew that August wouldn't question his need to report to work. As a writer, Robin had always known that August was very open-minded, and although he had never met his wife, Emma, from what his friend had told him, she was the exact opposite. She was the type of woman who saw the world in black and white, and Robin hoped that his inability to show up for the date that the pair had arranged wouldn't put him on her bad side.
He didn't know why his friend was so insistent that he date in the first place. He was a single father and a paramedic, he didn't have the time needed to devote to the type of relationship that any woman deserved.
When he pulled up to the scene, he glanced down at his phone, where August had just texted him back: Don't worry about it, go. Be a hero.
Robin chuckled. Roland always saw him as a hero too, often comparing him to his favorite Marvel and DC characters. While the sentiment warmed his heart, he just did what he needed to do. While some may see his actions as heroic, it was all in a day's work for Robin. He loved helping others in any way he could, a trait he had always possessed.
Once he had gotten out of his car and jogged up to where other paramedics were grouped, he asked John, his coworker and closest friend, "What do we need?"
"I think we have the building covered. But that beam needs to be removed and any passengers and the driver extracted and their needs tended to," John told him, pointing to where a black Ford Fusion lay under a beam that was the length of the building.
Robin rushed over, thankful for the protective layers of his suit as he lifted the burning beam as quickly as he could. The front of the car had been completely destroyed, making it easy for Robin to see through the rubble.
When he saw the driver of the vehicle, his breath caught in his throat. She was easily the most beautiful woman he had seen since his wife, Marian, passed away two years previously. Her dark curly hair framed her face, which was bruised from the collision, and fell to just above her shoulders, and Robin was thankful for her petite frame as he carefully lifted her from the rubble.
He carried her over to his team, where it was rapidly determined that the force of the collision had put the woman, who they had identified as Regina Mills after finding her wallet in the wreckage, in a coma.
Robin helped his team transport Regina to the hospital, where she was put under the care of Doctor Whale. As he drove home hours later, Robin couldn't get the haunting image of Regina's beautiful face out of his mind's eye. He knew that her family had been contacted and hadn't been reached, but due to the lateness of the hour, they likely had their phones silenced as they slept and would be frantically checking in on her in the morning.
While so many things were uncertain about Regina's case, Robin knew one thing for sure: this wasn't the last time he'd be seeing her. As often as he could- when he was at the hospital for work and when he was off-duty- he would be visiting her for as long as she was at the hospital.
It had been three months since Robin had helped transport a comatose Regina to the hospital. True to the promise he had made himself that night, he had visited her as often as he could, and by looking at her charts had deduced that she was faring no better than when she first came to be under Doctor Whale's care.
He had often visited her due to his proximity to the hospital, but now it was likely that he would get to check on her condition less because they were moving to a larger apartment that was further from the hospital. They were lucky they had found it, as the director of the complex told them that the previous owner had been in an accident a few months before, and while her family had kept up the lease for as long as they could, they simply couldn't afford to keep the apartment on top of the medical expenses the previous tenant needed.
When he entered the apartment, Robin had instructed Roland to play with his toys while he moved their belongings inside.
When he came in, arms laden with the next load, Robin heard his son talking to someone.
"Who are you talking to?" he asked, poking his head into the room.
"Papa! This is my new friend! You didn't say this was her apartment too!" Roland said excitedly, pointing to the empty air beside him.
"Roland," Robin said slowly. "I'm afraid you're mistaken, my boy. There's no one next to you."
Roland whipped his head to the side. "But she was just here! Papa, you scared her away!"
Robin had to bite his tongue to avoid saying something he would regret. His son was only four, and Robin wanted him to believe in magic and happy endings for as long as possible. He believed that kids grew up far too quickly in this day and age, and he did not want his son to follow in their footsteps. Maybe this was Roland's imaginary friend. While he had never had one before, there was a first time for everything. "I'm sorry, Roland," he apologized. "I didn't mean to interrupt you and your friend… what's her name again?"
Roland frowned. "I asked, just like you always tell me to, but she doesn't know, Papa. How can someone not know their name?"
If they're imaginary, Robin thought. Aloud he told his son, "Sometimes people forget things, even things as important as their name. It's a sickness called amnesia. Maybe your friend has that."
His logic seemed to make sense to his son, who nodded. "Yeah! Ameesha, maybe that's it!"
Robin chuckled. "Amnesia, son. Why don't you come down for dinner? If she shows up again, your friend can join us."
Roland nodded, and everything seemed normal. The little boy's friend didn't make an appearance- or at least, none that he mentioned as he chatted animatedly about everything he liked about their new apartment and all of the adventures he planned to have there.
As Robin was washing the dishes, he heard a female voice behind him scold incredulously, "That's not where pots go. And what did you do with all of my things?"
Robin turned and was taken aback to find the vision of a woman he hadn't expected to see.
It was Regina MIlls. The woman he had rescued from her car months before and had visited as often as he could since. After months of admiring each of her features, he finally discovered that her eyes were a brown that glowed like honey, which he immediately found himself gazing into, unable to look away.
"Wh-what are you doing in my kitchen, Regina?" he stuttered.
"Regina? Who's Regina?" she snapped. "And I believe you are mistaken. This is my kitchen. And I don't let anyone cook in my kitchen under any circumstances, so get out!"
"How do you know that this is your kitchen, and yet you don't remember your name?" Robin wondered aloud.
"That isn't important," she retorted. "What's important is that you're breaking and entering in my kitchen-"
"Papa? Who are you talking to?" Roland's voice interrupted her before Robin could.
Both adults turned, and Robin saw a gentle smile on Regina's face that he hadn't expected as his son entered the room.
"You're back!" Roland said, rushing over to the woman and giving her a hug. Robin saw her return the hug warmly, a soft smile on her face that he hadn't expected. Surely, someone who was so particular about where everything was placed in her kitchen wouldn't want the affection of a child who was often messy. Whether it was his bedroom floor or his fingers after a baking or painting adventure, Roland was often asked to clean up a mess he had made.
But apparently, Regina loved children. the mesmerizing vision before him proved him otherwise as Roland excitedly tugged Regina's hand with fingers that were still sticky from dinner, leading her to the next room so she could "watch movies with us! We've never had any girls watch movies with us, Papa!"
Robin's heart lurched at his son's words as he followed his son and their guest. He knew that there was not even the slightest possibility that his son would remember watching movies with his mother, but those nights had still happened, followed by Marian reading her son a bedtime story before tucking him in and kissing him on the forehead. They were some of Robin's most treasured memories.
Regina seemed to read the expression on his face. Kneeling before his son, she asked him softly, "Didn't your mama ever watch movies with you, Roland?"
Roland cocked his head to the side, then nodded slowly. "I guess she did. I know she did, because Papa tells me about what she used to do all the time. But she went to be with Jesus and the angels when I was a baby, so I don't remember that."
"Then I'm not the only girl who's ever watched movies with you and your papa- but I might be the first girl who's done this!" she exclaimed as she reached out to tickle the little boy.
Roland squealed and ran before Regina could touch him. She chased after him, yelling, "I'll get you!"
Laughing, Robin set out a couple movies for them to choose from before returning to the kitchen to fix a bowl of popcorn.
When he reentered the room, he found Roland curled up next to Regina. She tried to wrap her arm around him, but as he watched, he saw her arm go right through his son.
"Gina! That tickles!" Roland squealed. "I already won the tickle fight, you can't tickle me, we can't start another one, we have to watch the movie!"
As they settled in to watch Robin Hood, Robin pondered the incident. Was it really possible that the ghost (spirit, soul, whatever she was) of the woman he had saved months before was sitting in his living room watching movies with him and his son?
There was only one way to find out, he just needed the time necessary to solve this mystery.
For two weeks, their interactions continued in much the same way. While there were moments when Regina irritated Robin incessantly (especially in regards to parenting Roland- he was his father, thank you very much, he didn't need input from a woman who had known his son for a matter of days), at the same time, Regina fascinated Robin. The way she could be a spitfire, challenging him about the way he did everything, but then be the loving mother figure that Roland had been lacking for the last two years of his life in the next second left Robin captivated by her.
He never stopped calling her by her real name, a fact that seemed to annoy her constantly. Finally, one day she burst out, "If you're so certain I'm this Regina person you keep talking about, why haven't you told me or shown me how you know I'm her?"
That outburst stopped Robin in his tracks, bowls in hand ready to be washed after a scrumptious meal of broccoli cheddar soup. While he had been busy beyond belief between caring for Roland and his job, she did have a point. "It's not that I haven't wanted to, it's that it's much easier to show you so you'll believe me. How about this- I'll show you tomorrow?" he offered. He had a day off, so he could take her to the hospital while Roland was at school.
She huffed. "Why can't it be today?"
"Well, because we can't go where we need to go right now because they're closed to visitors," he informed her.
She sighed, resignation in her tone when she answered, "Fine."
Thankfully, Robin had the next day off, so Roni (she had given herself the name when she hadn't been sure that the name Robin told her was the right one) insisted that he prove her identity to her. The day started with feeding Roland breakfast and taking him to school, which was a lengthy process due to Roni's need to ensure that everything from how Robin cooked Roland's scrambled eggs to how he dressed him for the cold weather outside was done correctly. She appeared suddenly throughout the morning with comments like, "Doesn't he have a hat and a warmer coat?! He'll freeze in this weather without them!"
She could see the conflict in his eyes. On the one hand, he likely hated that she was trying to come and parent his son for him. He had been successfully doing the job for four years, after all, two of which had been entirely on his own, a fact she admired. His adorable, sweet son was proof of his success as a parent.
On the other hand, despite how frustrating it may be to him, did she dare to think that he perceived her care for his son as endearing as well? She had only known him for a handful of days, and already Roland had inextricably wormed his way into her heart. She doubted she would ever be able to forget him.
That was the goal for the day: to help Roni regain her memory, and to figure out what had happened to her for her spirit to be in her apartment instead of her body. She also wanted to find out if they could fix it- after all, she didn't want to be a spirit forever.
Later, when Robin got home from taking Roland to school, he explained his plan to Roni. "You say you know who I am, but how do you know? Have we met before?" she asked, skeptical about his plan.
A wide grin spread across his face. "I doubt I'd ever forget meeting you,' he assured her.
She let out a snort of derision, but followed him wordlessly to his car.
When they arrived at the door of the room where her body had been residing for the past few months, she came to a sudden realization that caused her to whirl around to face him. "Are you some kind of stalker or something? Just how often have you been visiting me here, and why on earth would you do such a thing?!" She couldn't believe that all this time, he had known exactly who she was because of some creepy habit he must have of visiting unconscious people in hospitals.
He reached out, and to her surprise, unlike Roland, he was able to touch her. She decided to ponder this ability later as he seized the opportunity to clasp her hands in his. He started rubbing circles over the back of her hands before she could pull away. Although she was furious with him, she had to admit that the motion was soothing her. How was she supposed to hold on to her anger toward him if he continued doing things like this? The motion relaxed her, more than she cared to admit. It was enough for her to stop fighting him as he began to explain. "I'm a paramedic with the fire department, and I was called to the scene of your accident. There had been a fire at the law firm on Main Street, and one of the burning beams from the building fell on your car, and the collision put you in this coma. I've been periodically checking on you ever since."
Well. While she still didn't like that he had possibly brought his son to this place (the sad atmosphere that surrounded hospitals was no environment for a child who didn't have to be there), she had to admit that that was kind of sweet. She had never met anyone who would not only help save her life, but check on her almost lifeless body for months afterward. "You-" she began, not certain what she was going to say next.
Luckily, she didn't have to decide, for at that moment, voices filled the hallway right outside of where they were discussing a past that Regina still had no memories of.
"Mommy! Is Aunt Gina going to be able to hear me talking to her?"
A long pause. Then a female voice answered softly, "I know she will, kid. Your aunt loves you very much," her voice clearly suppressing sobs that it was difficult to keep back.
Out of the corner of her eye, Regina saw her companion glance around frantically for a place to hide, but there was nowhere. He would have to just come up with an explanation for his presence on the spot.
They entered the hospital room then, a tall woman with blonde curls- if this was someone related to her, Regina thought, those curls were the only feature that marked them as being related. But then her gaze fell on the young boy tucked under his mother's arm who had inherited her green eyes and had short chestnut hair, and her breath caught in her throat.
Henry.
In that moment, her memories came flooding back, overwhelming her with their intensity. If she had had any doubts as to her identity after looking at her own comatose body laying on a stiff hospital bed, they were gone now. She remembered everything: her work, growing up with Emma, holding Henry for the first time, and the argument about the blind date that had never happened.
Looking at her nephew, her heart ached to see his little face so sad. He was only seven years old, he shouldn't have to visit his aunt in the hospital. No child his age should.
"Henry?" she whispered, her hand reaching out to the child before her.
The sound of his name diverted the young boy's attention from where it had been focused on the body lying on the bed. "Aunt Gina!" he exclaimed, running over to her
Henry reached out to her as she reached out to him, but unlike what had occurred with Robin moments before, she was unable to touch him. It devastated Regina that she was unable to comfort the boy that she had always called her little prince, and glancing over at Robin, she could tell that he wanted to hold her to console her. Instead, he held out his hand, giving her the option of holding it, which she was grateful for. She liked to think of herself as an independent woman, but it was still nice to know that when almost no one could see her, someone was still by her side. Whether she would take the offer or not still remained to be seen.
Henry's outburst had alerted Emma to Robin's presence when she looked up and followed the focal point of her son's attention. "Who are you, and what are you doing here?" she asked sharply. Regina contemplated how it was unusual that unlike her son, her sister was unable to see her. From the lopsided smile Robin gave her, she could tell that he knew at least some of her thoughts, and understood the feelings behind them.
"Emma," she whispered, her voice held back by the lump in her throat. How was it that the stranger who had apparently helped save her and his son could see her, but her sister, her own flesh and blood, couldn't?
She could tell Robin's thoughts were racing, coming up with an explanation for his presence before Emma could throw him out of the hospital room. "I know Regina through work." His eyes found her for a brief second, and with a shrug she indicated that was as good an excuse as any. It was the truth, after all, even if it wasn't in the way her sister would expect.
"Oh, so you teach at her school!" Emma replied, nodding. "I've always wondered: is it really as much work as she's always claiming it is? My sister tends to exaggerate things when she wants to avoid doing something."
Regina was taken aback. Like Robin, Emma had a son. Between that and her own accounts of her day-to-day life, surely Emma knew how much work teachers put in to effectively teach their charges?
"Of course it is," Robin replied adamantly. "Teaching is one of the most important occupations a person can have, no matter how challenging it may be. Children are our future- surely as a mother you can understand that."
"I do," Emma replied hurriedly. "I just want her to learn how to take a minute to breathe, that's all."
Robin nodded slowly. "I can understand that."
It was too much. For one thing, what right did Robin have to an opinion on the subject? He was a paramedic, not a teacher, he had no idea what she went through on a daily basis. And her sister… Regina just wanted to scream, but almost no one would hear her. And of the two people who would, she didn't want to alarm Henry, so she settled with an indignant, "Will you two stop talking about me as if I'm not here?" Turning to Robin, she continued, "Emma may not be able to see me, but you can, and I'd hope that knowing that, you'd be a little more kind."
He smiled apologetically in lieu of replying verbally, likely to avoid raising suspicion. After all, for some unknown reason, Emma couldn't see her. She turned away from them, focusing her attention on Henry while Emma and Robin talked. She listened to her conversation though, in case she needed to intervene again.
"It's just, I want her to enjoy life, you know? No kids, no husband or boyfriend, not even a dog. It has to be lonely, even after working with kids all day."
"I understand. You're looking out for her, and just want her to be happy, which is admirable. But did you ever ask what she wanted? Maybe she's happy with her life the way it is. And I can say from experience that some jobs are more taxing than they look, but the rewards are well worth the extra effort."
There it was! That was what she had trying to convey to her sister for years. In that moment, she was so grateful that she had found someone who, although he had a completely different line of work, understood the value of that work that when he next glanced her way, Regina sent him a grateful smile over Emma's shoulder as she snorted. "I'd maybe believe that if she ever did anything that didn't involve your school. Although I'll never forgive myself…" she trailed off, looking down at her sister's stationary body. "The night she got in the accident, she had just been on the phone with me arguing about going on a blind date that my husband and I had set up for her. I can't help thinking that maybe if she hadn't been thinking about how much she didn't want to go on the date, she wouldn't've gotten in the accident. She would've swerved in time, or put on the brakes, or… something. Anything but what happened."
Regina silently cursed whatever being had decided that her sister wasn't allowed to see or feel her. While she still thought her points were valid, in that moment she wanted nothing more than to forget their argument about her apparent lack of a social life and wrap her sister in her arms, telling her everything was going to be okay.
It was as if Robin read her mind when he replied, "Well, speaking from experience, I can tell you that being set up is fun for neither person involved. But as for your sister's accident being your fault, it wasn't. Don't ever think that it was. That beam would've come down regardless of whether Regina was preoccupied or not. It was just bad timing."
Emma sniffed and hastily brushed away the tear that was leaving a trail that led down her cheek. "Thank you. That means a lot."
"All right, enough of that, we can't have you blaming yourself for this any longer," Regina interrupted them, coming over with Henry before Robin could utter a word in reply. "Don't you have somewhere to be, Emma?"
As if she could hear her sister's words, Emma looked down at Henry and seemed to free herself from any melancholy thoughts she was harboring. "All right, Henry, it's time to go. Say goodbye to your aunt."
Henry went over to gently pat her arm that was lying above the covers on the bed, then ran over to hug her, his attempts thwarted by whatever cruel laws of nature decided that he couldn't touch her. "Bye Aunt Gina, I'll see you soon!" he exclaimed, his joy at seeing her again written all over his face.
"Ma'am, if you could wait just one moment," a male voice interrupted them.
Regina turned to face the doctor who had likely been caring for her during her stay in the hospital and groaned. Of course, it just had to be Doctor Whale. She had tried to obtain his assistance when she was teaching her students nutrition vocabulary in her Spanish I classes, and he had fallen through, leaving her to fend for herself with a lesson that she could barely understand in English, let alone teach her students in Spanish. The memory made her blood boil. No wonder she had been in a coma for three months instead of on the road to recovery- with a doctor who was known for not following through, she didn't have the best chance of survival.
The last of her thoughts was confirmed when Whale told her sister, "I'm sorry to be the bearer of this difficult news, Mrs. Booth, but I'm afraid that we have to discontinue giving your sister life support. I regret to inform you that it's hospital policy that we let patients go after three months, and unfortunately, we have hit that three month mark. We just need your signature allowing us to proceed with the process."
She saw Robin's eyes widen at the sound of Emma's married name, but was kept from asking him what significance the name held for him when she saw that Emma's eyes filled with tears, and she held Henry close. "Can- can I think about it for a few days?" she begged. "This is a lot to drop on a person so suddenly, I need time before I can do that."
Whale nodded. "Of course. Seeing as it's Friday, you can have the weekend to think about it, then inform us of your decision on Monday."
Emma nodded. "Thank you."
As the blonde exited the room with Henry in tow, Regina ran after them, trying desperately to grab her sister's clothing to stop her. "Emma, I'm right here, don't let them do this. I'll do anything you want, let you have that black dress you've always wanted, cook your meals for a year, anything. Just don't let them do this."
"Mommy, they can't take Aunt Gina away!" Henry informed his mother, echoing her words. "She's right here!"
Emma stopped and knelt beside her son, unshed tears making her voice unsteady. "Henry, sometimes grown-ups have to make really hard decisions. And I'd love to believe that Aunt Regina is here, but I don't have the heart of the truest believer like you do. So it's a little harder for me, okay?"
Regina's heart ached at the sound of one of their many nicknames for Henry over the years. He believed in fairy tales, in the power of good overcoming evil, so fervently that they had started telling him that he had the heart of the truest believer. Even when he was older, she was sure that there would be a part of Henry that would always believe that there is goodness in the world, despite evidence to the contrary that appeared in the news on a daily basis.
Henry nodded. With one last backward glance at Regina, he followed his mother out of the hospital just as Robin caught up to her.
"What can I do? How do we stop this?" he asked breathlessly.
"First thing's first: we figure out why I"m still here," she declared. "Then, we figure out how to reunite me with my body."
Robin nodded. "Sounds like a plan. Where do we start?"
Regina's only real plan was to go to people who claimed they could see and talk to the dead, and see if they had any solutions. But the people they met during the rest of that night and into the next day were a disgrace to their chosen profession. (Not that Regina saw it as a profession.) She never thought she'd see the day when she would be going to psychics for help, of all people.
Despite their claims that they were able to see spirits, not a single one of the people they met that afternoon and the next day could see her. One, who had been a priest, even uselessly wasted water trying to exorcise her! Although she supposed that in a way, his belief in her existence was a small step in the right direction. Apart from Robin, Henry, and Roland, no one was able to see her, and while she supposed that their belief in all things magical was the underlying reason behind the boys seeing her, she was at a loss as to why Robin was able to not only see her but touch her, which no one else seemed able to do.
Finally, they went to the last woman on their list. She called herself Tinkerbell, and Regina scoffed at the name, but Robin's belief almost matched Henry's when he insisted that they go, that it was their last chance to find a solution to their dilemma.
When she first saw the woman that had named herself after the Disney fairy, Regina immediately understood why. She had blonde hair in a bun, and wore green. Between those factors and her petite figure, she closely resembled the pixie who had given Peter Pan and the Darlings the ability to fly.
Her eyes grew to the size of saucers when they walked into her shop. By that gesture alone, Regina hoped that if she couldn't see her, she could at least sense her. Maybe Robin had been right when he had insisted they visit her after all.
She greeted them with a smile. "How can I help you?"
"Well, I-" Robin began. Regina groaned in frustration. She thought that for as many times as he had explained their predicament to the countless people they had seen, he would be able to do it with more ease each time, but clearly that wasn't the case.
"Let me guess," the woman who called herself Tinkerbell mused, propping her chin up on one elbow, "You've fallen in love with a ghost, and now you want to know how you can be with her. I can sense her presence, and the chemistry between you two is undeniable."
"No!" Robin denied immediately, a blush creeping over his face from his forehead to the stubble on his cheeks that likely was mirrored on Regina's features, if the heat suddenly overwhelming her was any indication. "What makes you think that? I just want to help her get back into her body, back to her life. That's all."
He told her their story, including the details regarding who could see and touch her and who couldn't, with Tink nodding throughout. When he was done, she shrugged. "It's obvious, isn't it?"
"What is?" Robin inquired, clearly as desperate to know the solution to their problem as she was. That fact alone made Regina's heart flutter traitorously. How had she stumbled upon a man who was so kind that he seemed to want to reunite her with her family as much as she did?
"You're soulmates," Tink informed them.
Their cries of derision that were uttered in unison did nothing to dissuade her. "You are! Robin, that's the only explanation for it! It's why you're the only adult who can see her. She stayed in the coma, separating from her body so that you two could meet."
"Fine. Assuming you're right, what do we do now? What does the slight possibility of her being my soulmate have to do with putting her back in her body where she belongs?" Robin asked, clearly determined to get to the answer to their question as soon as possible.
"Isn't it obvious? The solution is a variation of true love's kiss. Robin, your soul is what's keeping hers alive. When you kiss her, the connection between you will be a tangible thing, solidifying your connection so that she can return to her body."
"So that's it? All I have to do is kiss her?" Robin asked, sounding astonished. For a fleeting second, Regina wondered if he would have kissed her sooner, had he known that.
She shook her head. That was ridiculous. There was no possible chance that Robin would have kissed her because even though he could touch her, she was a ghost. No one could kiss her, and even if they could, no one would want to. It had been years since her high school sweetheart, Daniel, had kissed her until they were both breathless outside of the stables her family had owned before her mother insisted they move to the city once she was in college.
Judging by his last question, Robin seemed just as bewildered as she. There was something in his eyes, though, that suggested that maybe Tink's proposition wasn't such a ludicrous one after all.
"Yeah- just kiss her, and she should return to life as it was before her accident," Tink told them. "And when it works and you two get married, I expect to be invited to the wedding."
"I- I- we'll see about that," Robin stuttered, seeming as flabbergasted as she was by Tink's boldness.
They thanked her and left, the bell on the door ringing as it shut behind them.
They left Tink's shop, each lost in thought. Finally, Regina broke the silence. "While she was definitely the most legitimate out of all of them, she was still a bit out there, wasn't she?"
"Yeah," Robin mused, not meeting her gaze. He had gotten so caught up in the day-to-day aspects of his life- caring for Roland, work, and the like- that he hadn't noticed that he had been slowly starting to fall for Regina in the weeks he had known her. He wouldn't call his feelings towards her love, not yet. After all, they had only known each other for less than a month. But there was something about her (several things, now that he thought about it) that captivated him. The sparkle in her eyes when she had interacted with Henry the day before. The ferocity with which she stood up for what she thought was the right thing, whether that was a specific parenting technique or her body living another day.
Did he want to kiss her? Yes. But that didn't mean that his kiss would be well-received, or that it would return her to her body.
"So what do you want to do tomorrow?" he asked. "We can do anything you want, Anything at all."
She pulled her coat more tightly around her. "I think I have an idea."
The first part of Regina's idea was for them to have a picnic on the roof, which they could access through the main stairwell.
"I always wanted to plant an apple orchard up here," she confessed to Robin as they watched Roland play. "Or even just one apple tree. But it never happened, lesson planning kept me on my toes, and before I knew it, each spring would pass by without me planting a single seed."
"I understand that, though," Robin confided. "If it wasn't for Roland, it would be so easy for me to just go through the motions and let life pass me by. Before I realize what's happening, I'll be old, fat, and ugly, and Roland will have a full-time job, so I won't know what to do with myself."
She laughed, then fell silent. "You could never be ugly," she admitted quietly, avoiding his gaze when he looked over at her.
The twinkle in his eyes only served to prove her point as he asked, "Oh? Do you think we should try Tink's theory then?"
"No, of course not!" she protested, cheeks flaming. "In fact, I know it could never work."
"Why's that?" he asked, and she suddenly noticed just how close he had gotten. She could feel his exhaled breath as it mixed with her own, their knees were touching, and all she had to do to close the gap between them would be to lean forward a scant few inches.
And his little boy was very, very far away.
"Because I don't believe it will," she whispered, and she felt his knuckles graze her cheek. "Happy endings… tend to not work out for me."
"Well, maybe it's all about timing," he suggested.
She shook her head, standing up. "No, I really don't think so. And you can't convince me otherwise."
With that comment, she stood and asked Roland if he wanted to bake cookies. With an excited "YES!", they went back into the apartment and started to bake.
Two hours and several cups of flour and chocolate chips later (much of which landed on their clothes and in their mouths, respectively), they collapsed in front of the TV to watch one of Roland's Disney movies. After the credits started to roll, Regina asked if she could be the one to tuck him in. Never one to deny her anything, especially the night before the day when the question of her existence would hang in the balance, Robin agreed.
When she rejoined him on the couch, he slung an arm across the back of the sofa where she was sitting. "So. Not to be morbid, but what's one thing you want to do before you die? Not that I think you will tomorrow, I just want a record of it so that I make sure it happens."
"I'm already practically dead, aren't I?" she asked.
"The fact that I can do this," Robin murmurred, his fingers tangled in her hair as he stroked it, "when no one else can suggests otherwise."
"Freak accident," Regina claimed.
"Or perhaps the power of soulmates, if we're to believe Tink," Robin reminded her.
She shook her head. "You have too much hope for your own good."
"So use mine for the both of us," he suggested. "Seriously though, what would you do if tonight was your last night?"
She gazed into his eyes, chocolate drowning in the ocean, before she let out in a voice scarcely louder than a breath, "Do you really want to know?"
"Of course," he whispered back.
"I- there was a boy I loved, back in high school, my only boyfriend. We only slept together once, but I miss that. The intimacy of course, but more than that- I miss the feeling from that night and the following morning. The feeling of falling asleep in someone's arms and knowing that for that length of time, I was safe."
She couldn't read his expression. Then suddenly, he stood and held out his hand. "Come on."
"Where are we going? Robin, what are you doing?" she asked him, her brows furrowing in suspicion.
"Giving you that feeling of protection. I don't think it'll be for the last time- you have a long life ahead of you. But it's better to be safe than sorry, right? And don't worry, I won't take advantage of you. You have my word."
She nodded slowly, and followed him to his room, which he had insisted for the last two weeks was hers.
Ten minutes later, she was in his bed with her back to him. His arm draped across her, and she sighed with contentment. She had been right. This feeling of security, even if it was from someone she had met not all that long ago, had been worth the embarrassment of asking for it.
She listened to the sound of his breathing, matching hers to his, and fell asleep.
The next morning, Robin had work at seven in the morning. He was loath to wake Regina, but the blaring sound of his alarm spared no one.
She turned toward him as she stirred, and he reached out a hand to tuck a wayward strand of her hair behind her ear. "How'd you sleep?"
"Wonderfully," she sighed, voice still groggy from sleep.
He stroked her cheek. It was an impulse, one he hadn't realized he possessed. But from the moment he first touched her, it was like he couldn't stop. He was drawn to her in a way he couldn't possibly explain. Well, there was Tink's explanation, one that he was slowly starting to believe. But Regina didn't, and he had a feeling that the power of a soulmate's kiss wouldn't work without the belief of both of them.
Once he had gotten to work after dropping Roland at his friend Will's to get on the bus for school, he couldn't stop thinking about Regina. When they received a call that, after the fire had been extinguished, led them to the hospital, he decided to find her as soon as he could, knowing that his uniform would get him into places that were inaccessible to the public.
Finally, after more papers were signed than he liked to think about, he seized his chance. He made his way down to her room, spotting Emma once he got there.
"What are you doing here?" she asked. "And why are you in a firefighter's uniform?" A pause. Then: "Wait. Are you August's friend Robin that I was going to set Regina up with?"
"What?" he asked, stunned. "August is your husband?" He had suspected as much upon hearing her last name, but didn't want to ask in case he was wrong. While he and August were good friends, they had been closest in college, which was long before August met Emma.
"Of course," she dismissed with a wave of her hand. "He has been for years now."
"Never mind that," he insisted with an urgency that he felt in every cell of his being. "Where's Regina?"
"They've taken her back for the procedure on the other side of this floor. She's probably long gone by now."
"No," Robin breathed. He spun on his heel, Emma calling after him.
When he got to the room where Regina lay, he found body and soul in disarray. Regina was crying as the doctors removed tubes that were vital to her body's survival, and he rushed to console her.
"But Robin, look what's happening," she sobbed. And she was right. Her spectral form was flickering in and out of existence, growing fainter the more the doctors worked on her body.
"Out of my way!" Robin yelled, pushing through the doctors surrounding the table. Amidst their shouts, he gazed down at Regina's body, which he knew from the monitors above her was losing more oxygen by the minute.
"Robin, as much as I want to believe you can help, there's nothing you can do," Regina whispered, her voice the only remaining sign that her soul was connected to his as he gazed down at her, his hand on her cheek.
Instead of taking the time to answer her, he let his actions answer for him. He leaned forward, her lips now only an inch from his, and kissed her.
For a long moment, there was silence. The only thing Robin knew was Regina's lips on his, which were unresponsive and cold.
Then he heard the machine that communicated that her heart rate had started to beep again, and he released her, hoping that she would draw breath.
To his relief, she did. But whether Regina's body and soul had reconnected remained to be seen. It was possible that her body had regenerated from the kiss, but her soul didn't remember the events of the last two weeks.
Then she breathed his name, and all was right in Robin's world. He swept her up in his arms, trying to be mindful of the fact that her body was frail from malnourishment, and kissed her again, rejoicing when she kissed him back with equal passion.
"Sir?" Whale asked. Robin hadn't even noticed his presence before that moment. "While I'm grateful that you saved Miss Mills' life, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to step aside so that we can perform some tests on her to ensure that she is indeed all right again."
Regina gripped his uniform with a strength that belied her size. "No. He stays."
And Robin would stay. For as long as she wanted him, he would willingly be her anchor, and looked forward to where the future would lead them.
