Notes:
The chapter we've been waiting for the most is here! Regina and Robin are coming face to face. We will also take a look at their past.
I hope you'll like it. See you at the end of the chapter notes, for now I'll leave you with OQ!
In the previous chapter
"Mr. Locksley, I know you want program in bulk, but you have a very important appointment tomorrow, I wanted to let you know."
Robin turned his eyes from the computer screen to his assistant. "Who?"
"Regina Mills. I just spoke to our queen!" As the woman spoke with great excitement, in a way that would have screamed and danced if she is not embarrassed, Robin's face was filled with astonishment, and he fell into silence.
"I get it Ella. What time?"
While Ella was surprised at the calmness of her boss, her joy faded and gave way to professionalism again. "At 10 a.m."
"Thank you." He turned back to the computer screen and began pressing keys on his keyboard.
The moment the little woman left the room and closed the door, he erased the complex letters in the last two lines of the document and lowered the cover of the computer. He propped his elbows on the table and covered his face with his hands.
The last time Regina wanted to meet, she had thrown his life away. It took years for Robin to get over that day, and no matter what he told himself, he couldn't even get over it. He was just trying to put aside the pain in his heart and move on with his life. In fact, this was not possible when seeing the face of the woman in every news he opened every morning, every evening.
Sixteen years ago
The man who sitting on the bench on the hill with the most beautiful view of the city checked his watch again. She was late. The most punctual person he knew should have been there exactly fifteen minutes ago. He started to panic, it came his mind that she might have had an accident. When images of pain filled his mind of the woman he loved, he shook his head and dismissed his thoughts. She was just acting paranoid, it was all because of the feeling that had been overwhelming him since morning. He had taken his phone from his jacket pocket when the sound of an approaching car's engine was heard. He stood up and looked behind the trees to see what was coming. The smile on his face as the familiar red car entered his field of vision grew even wider when the driver's door opened and the woman with long brown hair blowing in the wind was visible.
"Excuse me milady, could you have seen the most beautiful woman in the world while you were coming? She's always on time for the meeting, but she's almost twenty minutes late now."
Normally she should have jumped into his arms with a smile, but the woman in front of him just smiled and stood in front of him, leaving a space between them.
"I got stuck in traffic, sorry."
"Regina? What's wrong, my love?" The blond man closed the gap between them and took his lover's hands in his.
"We need to talk, Robin." She got her hands off and sat on the bank.
Robin followed and sat next to Regina's seat.
"You look nervous."
"I am. I have no much time, I have to go back."
"But we haven't seen each other for days, I missed you."
The young woman didn't even raise her head. She had never looked into the eyes she had fallen in love with since she had arrived, she knew that if she looked, she would cry.
"Regina, I'm worried. Can you tell me what is happening? Did you discuss with your mother?"
"I-I mean, we..."
"Why don't you look at me?" He bent slightly, trying to see her eyes.
"Robin, I'm getting married." She said in one breath.
The blonde man laughed. "Okay. How many days before my own wedding did you decide to inform it? Do I have time to put on my suit at least?"
A tear from Regina's eye fell onto her hand directly. How could she still have tears after crying for days? Was there no end to these damn things?
The man she loved deserved a proper explanation at least. For teaching her love... For giving her the best time of her life... For making her a mother...
She turned her head until her eyes met with the blue ones. "Do you remember the Royal Ball I attended with my mother last month?"
Robin nodded.
"I've met the King in there."
"Oh, Regina, it's amazing. Why didn't you tell me?"
"King Leopold told my mother that he wanted to marry me. I accepted."
As if suddenly the birds stopped singing, the wind stopped blowing. The trees stood still, the sun stopped shining. The day and the moment stopped on that hill and did not advance for a second for whole sixteen years.
Nowadays - The Next Day
At exactly 9:58 a.m. the Queen's car stopped in front of the building where the Locksley Law Office was located. Wasting no time, she got out of her car. The man in the window watched while she was smoothing out her gathered dress gracefully.
His heart had to stop beating like the first time he saw her, why couldn't he just kill these feelings? Love was a terrible feeling, a terrible feeling that should go away, that only causes pain. He repeated to himself the vow that he would never fall for that feeling again. Now he would only meet with the Queen of Storybrooke.
He returned to his work table and checked his watch.
09:59:30
Your Majesty would be at the door in exactly 30 seconds. That day was the only day she was late, it would never happen again. Of course, she would act in accordance with her "perfect" life like herself, which she has preferred to a "simple life".
The phone was ringing. He took a deep breath and straightened his tie. He didn't know how many times he had checked the layout of the work table in that day, but he checked again. He picked up the phone and waited.
"Regina Mills is here. He heard the excited voice of Ruby. Like everyone else, she was fascinated by the queen obviously. Robin had that spell once, she knew that feeling all too well.
"Let in, Ruby."
He hanged up the phone and took a look at his watch.
09:59:57
...3
Knock! Knock!
...2
The doorknob moves down slowly.
...1
10:00:00
Robin stood up.
Regina Mills appeared from the door of room.
She wears a white dress with a deep V-neck extending from her neck and a slit over her left leg. The Queen knows how to play with colors. The color of her outfit is chosen according to every statement she makes and every situation. As a lawyer, Robin Locksley also knows the meaning of colors. White evokes innocence and victimization. It's in contrast with her dark skin, she also drives the man crazy. White suits her very well.
"Your Majesty…" He took a few steps towards her. Years later, The voice that entered her ears and reached her mind drifted Regina into her memories. She understood better now how much she missed that voice. "Welcome."
Her red lips curled into a smile. "Thank you."
Robin closed the door Regina had opened and held out his hand to the queen. Although he told himself that he did the same thing to every customer, his heart fluttered with the desire for their hands to touch each other.
Regina resisted the trembling of her body as her hand touched the outstretched hand.
"I can take your coat."
Regina turned her back and let the black fabric fall off her shoulders. The electrical waves in the room could be felt by anyone. Robin inhaled the familiar vanilla scent. She hadn't changed it.
The queen sat in the large chair in front of the table, waiting for Robin to come and sit across from her, but the man returned to his chair behind the table.
Not a word had yet been spoken when the door knocked again and Ruby came in.
"What would you drink, Your Majesty?"
"Coffee, please."
"Two coffees, no sugar," the man said automatically as Belle turns her eyes to Robin. She was questioning how her boss knew how the queen drank her coffee.
Regina smiled at the fact that he still remembered, though she didn't comment.
"How can I help you?"
Brown orbs stared at Robin intently, who was still professional. It was as if she wanted to engrave on her mind every line that the years had brought to his face.
"Robin, I didn't come here for a professional reason." Her velvet voice decided to get to the point gently.
"I don't understand that why are you in a law firm for personal reasons."
She closed his eyes for a moment and swallowed. Was that how Emma felt when she told Henry the truth? Despite rehearsing so many times, was she stuck not knowing what to say?
"I can understand what you think. Meeting you years later was not easy for me either."
"Forgive me, but I can't remember where did we meet years ago, your Majesty."
She knew the word game he was playing. How she liked it once ... She reminded herself that there was no moment to be swept away by a wave of nostalgia.
"You're right. We didn't." She decided to join his game as she had done before. "I'm here for someone we both know from the past." She inflated her chest with a deep breath. "For Regina."
"I'm listening."
"Mr. Locksley, If we agreed that the matter is personal, why don't you sit across from me? Please..."
"Are you giving orders as Queen, asking for Regina?"
"I'm asking for Regina."
Robin got up from his chair, straightened his jacket, and sat down in the chair across from Regina. Meanwhile, Ruby brought their coffees.
"Bon Appetit!"
"Thank you."
Robin asked after the girl left the room as fast as she had come. "What's the problem?"
"Someone I know would always say, 'Truth has a habit of coming out,'."
"It seems like we know someone in common other than Regina."
"Robin, maybe you won't want to see me again after today. I promise, I'll respect you, but... But can you let me to tell you everything today? I beg you."
"You don't have to beg me, Regina." Hearing her name from his lips, she thanked God in her heart. What she wouldn't give to hear her name one more time in his voice over the years. "You are not worthy of simplicity. If you want to tell, you tell, everyone you want will have to listen."
"I don't want you to have to listen, I want you to want to listen even though I know I don't deserve it."
"I remember that you said that you deserved the best of everything. I'm wondering what happened to changed your mind."
"My mind hasn't changed at all, because I never thought that I deserved the best of everything, I did not want perfection. I wanted a simple but peaceful life, as I told you."
"I just remember what you said to me on that hill."
16 years ago
"King Leopold told my mother that he wanted to marry me. I accepted."
"Are you kidding, right?" Robin asked, even though he could see it wasn't a joke from her face.
"When I went to the palace, I realized what kind of life I wanted."
"You said that our life was perfect. What's wrong, Regina? Your mother? I know I'm not good enough for her, but you said I'm good enough for you."
"Do not you understand? You're not! We were just having fun, Robin. Now I have to get back to real life. What were you thinking? How luxurious a life can we have as a lawyer, an engineer? Can we have a palace? Can you get me ruby necklaces? Can you bring dresses from Paris? But he can."
"I-I... I didn't think you cared about these kinds of material values."
"I want a golden crown, Robin. I want to get everything I want. I want to be a queen. I don't want a simple life. I deserve a flawless life, best of everything."
"It's not your thoughts, I know your mother's. What did she say? Please, Regina, don't do this. Whatever the problem is, we can handle it together. We can overco..."
Regina knew she wouldn't be able to get the sentence she had rehearsed so many times from her lips if she didn't say it in one go suddenly, so she closed her eyes for a second and pictured her mother and the king before her eyes. Before the images faded, she turned her head to Robin and burned the blue ones with anger-filled eyes. "I do not love you!"
Now
"You said those were my mother's thoughts that day. You were right. They were not my words. It never be."
"Isn't it too late to talk about this?"
Instead of answering that, Regina decided to just tell the truth.
"My mother made a deal with the king. She forced me to marry him. I had to break up with you by breaking your heart because I had to make sure you didn't follow me. I didn't say any of the things I said to you willingly. If I didn't, my mother threatened me to kill you and our..."
"Regina, stop. Take a breath, for God's sake."
"I'll never be able to tell if I don't say it now. If I didn't my mother would kill you both. You and... Our baby. Robin, I was pregnant when I broke up with you."
She opened her eyes, which had been closed in her last two sentences, and looked at the man with fear. Robin was sitting across from her, aghast. Perhaps she had been very rude, speaking outright without practice, but she didn't think she could do otherwise. As it stood still, the words had begun to grow into a mountain.
"You. Are, what the... Are you telling the truth?"
"Yes." She said it in such a low voice that it was barely audible. "I'm sorry."
"Are you sorry?!" His voice rose first time. He was sure that it was heard from outside, but he didn't care. "How can you hide such a thing from me, Regina? Are you aware what you have done?"
"I wanted to protect you."
"It's not an excuse. It can never be!"
"I had no choice. I knew you would react like this. You would try to fight my mother as you would against me."
"Of course I would do. I would have taken the world against me for you, for our child." He stood up and put his hand on his head as he walked to the window.
"And then what?! Would I one day receive the news of your death? One day I would wake up bleeding and find out that I lost our baby? Would I mourn a man whose body was never found, a child I could not hold once? Don't you think what would happen Robin?"
"Why are you here, Regina?" He turned to the woman suddenly. "Why do you come back to me and make me suffer the loss of the love of my life again when I put what you said to me that day behind me and put my life in order? Why are you agonizing me for a child I lost without even knowing it existed?"
The woman sitting on the sofa saw his blue eyes redden and shine with tears. She got up and walked over to the man.
"I know you can't forgive me. I realize that what I did is irreparable. I just…" Her eyes, which she hadn't blinked so as not to shed tears, could not resist the pain and closed, and pearls slid down her cheek one after another. "I just wanted to protect you. There hasn't been a single day that I didn't love and miss you and our son."
"We had a son. Oh God, we had a child together! What did you do, Regina? How did you hurt it? Did you say that my mother would not, I would kill it?!"
"For God's sake, Robin, no! It never crossed my mind to hurt him."
"What else?" He asked with his trembling voice.
"Emma adopted Henry after the birth."
"Henry..."
"I named him after two men I loved the most. Henry Robin."
"You tore us apart, Regina."
The woman remained silent.
"I need time. We can talk more calmly later, please, I want to be alone."
Regina nodded and wiped her eyes. She grabbed her coat from the hanger and her bag from the chair and left. Graham and Belle's conversation was interrupted when the queen appeared before them, some loud noises were heard from inside, but Regina had asked them to never come in no matter what. Their nervous and uneasy moods peaked when they saw their queen's flawless face stained with tears.
The woman who left her purse and coat on Graham's lap asked Belle where the washroom was, she couldn't go out like this, she knew she was a mess even though she couldn't see herself. Robin was right, she had made them this way, and now she was paying the price.
When he woke up to the smell of pancakes filling his lungs, the blond man saw that he was alone in the bed. He turned to his side, put his nose to his wife's pillow, mixing breakfast with the scent of vanilla. A morning can be this beautiful at the most... No! Of course not. It would be better if he woke up with the woman he loved next to him, but they had a whole life ahead of them. Now he would enjoy a delicious breakfast and his family.
He got out of bed quickly and slipped on his dressing gown. It was ready for the traditional Sunday.
He went down the stairs and into the kitchen, where the brunette woman was by the cooker. He approached quietly from behind and wrapped her arms around her waist, which was covered by her short black silk dressing gown.
"Good morning, love."
The woman who felt the arms around her waist was startled suddenly, but calmed down and smiled immediately. "Good morning."
"The day you don't wake me up with your own scent, you wake me up with the scent of the created by your beautiful hands." He took the spatula from her hand and placed it on the counter, placing little kisses on her knuckles. "Do I deserve to be pampered like this?"
The woman who wanting to see the eyes she fell in love with turned in his arms and leaned against the counter. "You deserve everything, darling."
"I already have everything. You two are my everything."
Their lips met in a sweet kiss until a faint smell of burning came from the pancakes on the cooker.
"If you want a good breakfast, stop distracting me, thief. Go wake up our son."
Her husband bowed in front of her as she took the burnt pancake from the pan and threw it in the trash. "As you command, milady."
She made the morning even better with her chuckle, then returned to the cooker.
"And Regina, it was my turn to prepare Sunday breakfast this week. I think we have two thieves in our house now." He winked. "I was proud."
She looked over her shoulder at the man at the door. "They say those who sleep with dogs will rise with fleas.
The blue-eyed man couldn't help smiling when he entered the still sleeping boy's room. He sat on the bed of his son, who had his mother's dark brown hair. He dipped his fingers into the waves and stirred them.
"Time to wake up, young man."
He got a muffled murmur from his son. "I'm sleepy."
"Hmm if you want to miss your mom's pancakes, go back to sleep, I can eat them all, it's fine with me."
"My mom won't allow it." He continued to speak without opening his eyes.
"Your mom loves me too much to say no, you know." He laughed.
He saw his father's playful smile as his lashes finally parted and his hazel eyes appeared. "She loves me more, you know."
"It seems you have a strong opponent, Robin." The woman who watching her two favorite men bicker finally couldn't resist and got involved. "My heart is enough for both of you, like my pancakes, but I doubt a little you'll get the pancakes if you don't come down."
The boy in the bed threw off the covers, got up quickly, ran past his parents and left the room. Knowing that he was running to the kitchen, his parents reacted immediately.
"Henry! Wash your face first!"
"Hey! Show some respect for your dad, son, I can't run as fast as you! I am old!"
Regina laughed after the two of them. She followed them immediately, knowing that there would be a struggle downstairs to plate too many pancakes.
"You got five, dad! I have four left!"
"Because my stomach is bigger than yours!"
"But I am your son!"
Robin scowled and placed one of his pancakes on his son's plate. "You are not playing fair."
As the smile of victory spread over his son's face, he turned to his wife, who was sitting in her chair. "Wouldn't you mind not passing this habit on to our son?"
Regina winked at Henry with an evil smile. "That's my boy."
"As my grandma used to say, 'Love is weakness,' dad."
This had become a laughing stock among the family, who had proven Cora's repeated word a thousand times to be untrue. All three laughed.
"You can have all my pancakes, son. With their absence, I am only weak physically, with your presence I am the strongest dad in the world." He smiled at his family and took both of their hands. "I love you."
"Henry…" He opened his eyes with a deep sigh, the ceiling in his field of vision enabled his to distinguish between reality and imagination.
He had obviously fallen asleep in the living room of his empty house while thinking about it. There was no pancake smell, no vanilla. The woman he fell in love with wasn't his wife, they hadn't raised their son together. There were no traditional Sunday breakfasts. There were only his lonely and a house with sharp silence, devoid of cheerful voices.
He restrained himself until tears prevented him from seeing his surroundings properly, but he could no longer control his emotions. Not after that dream, not after seeing the possible life they could have. Not in his deep unhappiness.
Notes:
I admit it was a painful. The way to good things is always a little painful, right? What do you think? Please, let me know!