I own nothing to do with OUAT.

Written for OQ prompt party 2021, day 6. Using the following prompts:

Prompt 115: Panic attack

Prompt 124: Roland runs away

Prompt 138: Reunion

Prompt 293: Angst with a happy ending

Hope you enjoy!

-OQOQOQ-

It was the middle of the night and Robin could not fall asleep. The arm slung around his middle in sleep suddenly felt like it weighed so much more than it possibly could.

He couldn't breathe. Why couldn't he breathe? It felt as if all the air he was trying to take in just wasn't making it all the way into his lungs; stopping somewhere halfway down his throat and coming back out in quick huffs.

He sat up in bed quickly, his hand flying to his chest. He wasn't in any pain, he did a quick survey of limbs and head and found everything in place. What was happening to him? Why couldn't he breathe?

His sudden movement woke up the woman next to him. "Robin..?" She asked, still half asleep.

"Everything's ok, sorry I woke you, go back to sleep." He quickly got out of bed, still out of sorts, but not wanting to explain himself to the brunette in his bed. "I'll be right back."

He made his way into the small kitchen and poured himself a glass of water. His breathing was better now, air finally making its way down into his grateful lungs.

Leaning back against the sink he looked around him and tried to put his thoughts in the right order.

It has been about a month since they'd settled into this apartment and he still wasn't used to it... didn't think he ever would be. He really didn't want to. Roland was trying his best to be good, but it was obviously very hard for him too. They both missed the forest fiercely, they both missed the Merry Men, and Robin was fairly certain that it also applied to both of them that they missed one other person that was very important to them both.

This was now the second time that the choice he made as an honorable man was making him question his way in life. Both times were about his commitment to the woman he married.

It seemed to him that Marian was also trying. She told him that they should try and make the best of the situation; try to build their family again. His head was telling him she had a point. His body, apparently was in violent disagreement.

Now that his breathing had returned to normal and his mind thinking clearly again, he realized that what he had experience must have been some sort of panic attack.

He'd seen it happen before to people he found in distress. He never would have believed it could happen to him. But here he was. And he could no longer deny the reason.

He walked through the small dark apartment quietly. Roland was sleeping soundly on his mattress on the floor, arms and legs sprawled every which way. Robin smiled, his heart swelling with love for his little boy. His brave, sweet, exuberant little boy. He sat next to him on the bed, placed a calloused finger in a small smooth palm, and tried not to lose his control.

His gaze shifted to his own bed, where Marian slept. He didn't know what it was but he just couldn't connect himself back to her – back to the woman he loved and married.

He knew very well what it was though.

He now only loved the memory of her. He now was completely in love with someone else and was quite physically in pain being this far away from her.

Looking back down at Roland he prayed that he managed to keep things together for his son. He knew now that he couldn't go on pretending with Marian. He would have to talk with her and they'd have to find some way to make this situation work, but he and Roland were leaving this maze of bricks and stifling smoke, back to the trees and the clean air.

He leaned down and placed a kiss on his son's head. Just the thought of taking them out of this place brought some calmness to his heart. He was going back down the path that brought them here. Back to Maine. Back to his love.

We're coming back to you, Regina. The thought brought a wide smile to his lips.

He lay down on the floor, next to his son, and finally fell asleep.

-OQOQOQ-

His talk with Marian was not what he had expected. She tried to cover it for a bit but she was furious and it showed. He expected her to be disappointed but not this angry.

"This is about Regina, isn't it?" She all but accused him

"Partly, yes, I told you when we were in Storybrooke about my feelings for her." When she huffed and muttered something under her breath, he paused for a minute but then forged on. "But it's beyond that. I don't belong in a city, Marian, you know that. Neither does Roland. We can't breathe here."

He looked up to find her standing with her back to him. Roland was engrossed in some cartoon on the TV and paid them no attention.

"I'm sorry. I tried. I can't do this."

She whirled back to him, fire in her eyes that he didn't recognise, that made him pause. "Maybe you just didn't try hard enough." She seemed to compose herself then as she sat down next to him. "You should fight for this. For us!" Now there were tears in her eyes and his heart sank. This was going to be harder than he thought. "You would take Roland away from me to go be with her?"

If at all possible, his heart sank even lower. How was he going to do this if Marian fought against him? He thought she'd be more understanding, like she'd been in Storybrooke when he confessed he no longer loved her and was in love with the woman who once upon a time planned to kill her. Obviously things were a bit different now that Marian couldn't physically be in the same town as the woman he loved and there was no way to just drive in and out of that town.

He hugged Marian to him and kissed her hair. "I won't take Roland away from you. I'll figure something out…" He had no idea what. He just knew he had to.

He took a deep breath as Marian sobbed into his shoulder. He had to find a way.

-OQOQOQ-

Climbing up the stairs back up to their New York apartment, Robin tried to school his facial expression into something calmer than how he felt. He had to get out of that apartment for a short while after Marian calmed down, excusing himself to the nearest store to buy some milk and fruits.

Three times he almost called Regina on the phone she'd given him. He just wanted to hear her voice... to tell her how he missed her and was trying to figure out a way to get back to her. Maybe she could help, or maybe things have changed in Storybrooke since they left and could now return somehow? But he had to square things away with Marian before he called Regina, had to have some sort of plan.

He opened the door and found Marian sitting pretty much where he'd left her, staring out the window.

"I'm back." He said unnecessarily. She didn't move and he sighed and moved to put the milk in the refrigerator. "Roland! How about some apples, my boy?" He called out.

Robin was expecting the response to be his son's full weight colliding with his feet as he cheered for apples, but nothing happened. In fact, there was no response whatsoever. Robin suddenly realized the apartment was far too quiet. "Roland!" He called out again, now moving quickly through the place, his heartbeat accelerating as again there was no response.

"Roland, I'm not playing hide and seek, my boy. Come here." Roland was no where to be seen and Robin was feeling the panic clawing up his throat.

"Marian, where's Roland?" He practically yelled while looking under the bed and every possible place his little boy could hide.

As if hearing him now for the first time, Marian turned from the window, something detached in the look on her face. "What..?"

"Roland! Where is he?" Robin's eyes were wide and distraught. Marian just shrugged her shoulders, not looking distressed at all.

"He was here a minute ago."

"Did he go out of the apartment? Did he say anything to you?" Robin was getting mad. Why wasn't she upset that their little boy was missing? What happened?

When she just shook her head, he decided he wasn't going to deal with this just now. Roland was more important. "Stay here in case he comes back. I'm going to go look for him!" And he was running out of the apartment before Marian could respond.

Taking the stairs down two at a time he looked into every corridor, every crevice he thought his son could be hiding in. Yelling out his name repeatedly. What could have made him go out of the apartment in the first place? He'd never done anything of the sort.

Out on the street, Robin looked around bewildered. Roland could be anywhere in this endless maze of streets and stores, could have gone in any direction in the 15 minutes Robin was gone from the apartment. He had no idea where the child would go.

"Roland!" He called out again, desperately.

"Sir, what's wrong?" He felt a had on his shoulder and turned to find the owner of the small store he'd just been to. He was an older man with kind eyes and a permanent smile on his face each time Robin saw him.

"My son. Roland. He-he went out of the apartment while I was out and I have no idea where he'd go. He's never done this before." Robin answered, his eyes never stopping in the search for a short head of curls up and down the street.

"Does he know anyone or any place in this neighborhood?" the older man tried to help him think.

The playground. It's the only place that Roland has been to multiple times since they got here. Robin started running, throwing a 'thank you!' over his shoulder.

His heart slammed painfully in his chest as a minute later he found Roland sitting on a low swing in the playground. "Roland!" he cried.

The little boy's head shot up; his eyes bright with tears. "Papa!"

They met halfway and Roland jumped into his father's arms, sobbing in earnest. Robin hugged his boy to him tightly, kissing his head and swinging him slightly from side to side. The boy was mumbling something he couldn't quite make out between the sobs.

"What is it, my boy? Why did you run away? You gave me such a fright!"

Roland pulled back, sniffing and wiping tears from his eyes, his breaths coming out in short puffs of air as he tried to calm down. "She said you went away and not coming back!"

"What?" He couldn't make sense of it. Marian told Roland what? "Roland." The boy was back to burying his face in Robin's neck. "My boy." Robin tried to get his attention. Wanted the boy to hear clearly what he said. When he managed to get the boy's attention he looked him in the eye, steeled his voice and said; "I would never leave you, Roland. Never. As long as I live and breathe you are the most important thing in the world to me. I love you so much." He kissed his forehead, his cheeks and finally his nose, getting the expected giggle and dimples.

"I love you, papa."

"Don't ever do that to me again, Roland. I was so scared when I couldn't find you." He hugged him tightly again. "I found you." He breathed into the boy's curls.

"She said you were going back to R'gina and leaving me here with her." Roland whispered into his ear.

Finally calmer now with his boy in his arms, Robin was really getting pissed at Marian. Even if she was upset, how could she possibly tell Roland things like that? Why would she hurt him so? Her own son!

"I don't like her…" another whisper in his ear, this time making him pull back to look at Roland.

"Who, Regina?" That's understandable if he thought his father was leaving him for her. "Roland, I love Regina, but I would never chose anyone over you, you're the most important-" but Roland cut him off mid-monologue.

"No, papa! Not R'gina! I love her!" Robin's brows furrowed as the child sniffed a few more times. "I mean.. I mean.."

"What is it, my boy?"

Roland seemed ashamed and for the life of him Robin could not understand why. "Her." He pointed in the direction of their apartment.

"Your mama?" Robin asked.

"She doesn't feel like mama..." the boy whispered so softly, Robin barely heard, but he did hear and it made him want to cry. He shared the boy's feelings.

"Oh, Roland..." What could he possibly say to that?

"And I miss R'gina..."

That Robin could answer. "Me too, son."

"Can we see her? Please, papa? Just for a little bit? Can we go get ice cream?" The boy was now going a mile a minute, the prospect of seeing Regina already forming as a possibility in his mind, and Robin chuckled wetly. How he wished they could. Then he had a thought.

"Regina is back in Storybrooke, remember? That's a bit far away... but we can try and talk to her, would you like that?" His question was answered immediately with an enthusiastic "Yeah!" and Robin laughed and dug out the phone from his back pocket.

He brought up Regina's number and pressed the call button as she'd taught him. Her picture came up on the screen and Roland was already talking to her as if she was there. "R'gina! I miss you! Papa does too! And we love you and we want to see you and get ice cream!"

"Calm down, my boy, she hasn't answered yet, it's just her picture." Robin tried to stop his son from jumping up and down in his arms, and then he heard her voice.

"Robin?"

Father and son answered excitedly "Regina!"

"Robin, where are you?" She sounded distressed. But she knew where he was, she was the one who told him how to get here.

"We're in New York..."

"Where in New York?" She stressed. "I was at the apartment but there was no one there. Where are you?"

Wait. She was here? Regina was at the apartment he'd just run out of? In New York? "You're here?"

"Yes, Robin, tell me where you are, I'll come to you."

But he was already running. Roland in his arms, hanging tightly to his neck, singing in his ear happily, the phone pressed to this other ear. He was just rounding the corner to their street when he saw her.

She was standing on the sidewalk, phone to her ear, looking frantically around.

"Regina!" He called out, resuming his run towards her. Yelling out in the street again, but this time relief and joy clear in his voice, replacing the despair from a short time ago.

She whirled around to face him, a smile blooming on her face, and it was the most beautiful sight he'd ever seen.

He practically ran into her, with Roland in his arms, and she threw her arms around them both, the three of them in a tight embrace.

"I've missed you."

"And I you."

"Me too, R'gina!"

Regina laughed and pulled back a bit placing one hand on Robin's cheek and the other on Roland's, making sure they were real and really with her.

"I found you..." She breathed. Her eyes were brimming with unshed tears, and in that moment Robin saw nothing but her face. He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers, meaning to reassure her further that they were here with her. He didn't take into account the electricity that coursed through him or the way she held his jaw tightly when their lips touched. He deepened the kiss, pouring all he felt for her into it; how sorry he was for leaving her at the town line, how determined he was to never leave her side again, how much he loved her.

Someone near them cleared their throat and for the first time he pulled back and regained awareness of his surroundings.

Emma Swan was standing a short distance away with another young woman, a knowing smirk on her face. He saw Regina glare at them before turning her attention back to him and his son.

"We need to go, Robin, back to Storybrooke." She looked as if she was uncertain he'd follow. Robin wouldn't have that.

"We're coming with you." At her relieved smile he added "I'm never leaving you again, Regina."

This time Regina leaned up and kissed him thoroughly but quickly, then she took his hand in hers and they started down the street, after Emma and the other woman.

"So, how did you figure it out?" Regina asked after a few steps. Roland had begged off his father's arms and was now walking between Robin and Regina, holding both their hands.

"Figure what out?" Robin was confused.

"About Marian." Regina stated as if their topic of conversation was an obvious one.

Marian. Robin stopped in his tracks. He'd forgotten about her. He felt his anger rise at how she'd said those hurtful lies to Roland, how she let him get out of the apartment and run off and away. Then he remembered his promise to not take Roland away from her and his heart sank and broke. What was he going to do?

"You figured out that it wasn't really Marian, didn't you?" Regina searched his eyes but Robin was still trying to catch up with the conversation.

"She wasn't?"

"No. Robin. It was my sister, Zelena, all along. She went back in time to the Enchanted Forest, killed Marian and took her place before Emma brought her back."

His head was spinning, he didn't know what to think first. He shook his head.

"I didn't know."

Now it was Regina's turn to look confused. "But then why... how...?" She looked from him to a smiling Roland, back to where their New York apartment was.

"Regina, we need to go!" Emma was yelling at them from up ahead.

Robin had so many different thoughts and emotions fighting for dominance inside his head but he pushed them all aside and focused on the one important thing he just learned – there was no longer anything keeping him or his son in this godforsaken city and away from the woman he loved. Everything else, he'll just have to deal with later. Right now, he sensed he had to get his family to safety, and that always came first.

He picked Roland back up in his arms, took Regina's hand and started moving them quickly forward with that target in mind. Regina faltered for a step but when he kissed the back of her hand and smiled at her, she smiled back and matched his pace in moving forward. They'd figure it all out later. Together.

-OQOQOQ-

It was many hours later, when they were at her house in Storybrooke and after Roland finally acquiesced to go to bed, that they finally had a chance to talk.

Regina led him to her living room and they sat down on her sofa. Not wanting any space between them, Robin sat in the corner and practically pulled Regina down on top of him. She huffed at him but couldn't really hide the smile, which he felt more than saw, as he pulled her down and into his kiss.

He took his time and kissed her slowly. Reminding himself of her taste, of the way her lips moved against his, the feeling of her tongue entering his mouth. He indulged in deep, long kisses that drew out moans from both of them and made his bones ache from his need for her.

When he pulled back a little it was only to rest his forehead against hers and take a few much-needed breaths. "Gods, how I've missed you." He breathed.

Regina pulled back slightly, her hands moving from his chest to hold his face.

"Tell me." Was all she said.

Robin took a deep breath.

"I was coming back to you, Regina. I couldn't pretend and build a life with Marian, that hasn't changed. I just needed to come up with a plan that wouldn't take Roland away from his mother. How stupid." He paused. "I think both Roland and I felt something was off... but could never imagine..." He didn't even know how to continue, his anger rising again.

Regina pulled him back from the brink with her soft words; "I thought I'd lost you." All his focus went back to her, back to the need to reassure her and ease her pain. He could never bear to see her in pain.

"You will never lose me, Regina. I'm yours."

There would be more talking and planning and fighting for their future, but not now. Robin pulled Regina as close as humanly possible, one hand warm at her back, the other finding its way into her hair and resumed kissing her like nothing else mattered.

-OQOQOQ-

The (happy) end.

My first entry for an OQ prompt party ever! Would love to hear what you thought of it.