set right in the middle of that wonderful last episode of season six. enchanted forest, a ring, and a new life.
p.s.: i stole a quote (in italics) from a book i love, called The Baron in the Trees. thanks, I.C., credits to you.
xX
I Have Loved the Stars Too Fondly
... to be fearful of the night.
.
.
He follows her.
To the moon and back, there was this old saying in her world, and it seems he's doing just that – to go with her, no matter what. Her son threatens to kill her every time their paths cross in some way, and it's… too much. She can't stay here – in this realm of wishes where the fake Henry is the only family she has left, and he hates her.
So they purchase a bean – in some obscure way, he takes care of it – and they land in her castle, and she's still holding his hand as they fall to the ground in the courtyard.
He's… different. Different from the old Robin, that is for sure. Less soft, rougher, he lacks that shades of fatherhood and that quiet wisdom he had. This Robin is more impulsive, darker, and… they fit.
Surprisingly, they fit.
She's not Regina, not entirely, and he's not exactly her Robin, but different versions, still intertwined. They are thieves, and he's not opposed to magic now, but he sees it as a fascinating mean to get what he desires.
The Enchanted Forest is always the same. Less populated, of course, but it's just right. There is still people to help and it took a bit of convincing, but he has resorted to stealing for a purpose, now. She goes with him, often. She has the dress of a bandit in her closet. She has the memories of the bandit Regina and the skills of archery and stealthy steps.
It works, between them. It's a new life, and it took some adjustments – some fights, too, they're stubborn, both of them. But he doesn't mind the soft cotton of her sheets, and doesn't ask what they are, they just – are. Partners. She likes that word. It's a word that sounds safe, partners in crime, but holds open meanings. Partners in life, soon to be friends, lovers.
Until the day when she hears a voice, and her blood freezes in her veins.
They're somehow hunting – or rather, engaged in an exhausting competition about who will be able to take down the highest number of ducks. No magic, he has told her with a knowing grin.
So they've separated, during their competition, and she's drinking, down near the river, when she hears a voice she hasn't heard in a long time.
"Gina?"
;
She turns slowly. And – it's him, it's Roland, with a delighted grin on his toothy face and – heavens, he's so grown up, oh, gods…
"Roland?" she exhales, an heartbeat before he runs towards her and she has just the time to crouch down and catch him. His arms curl around her neck, and he squeezes her tight, whispering "I missed you, R'gina!"
It's too much, her heart swells with gratitude, for she gets to hold this marvelous child again, "Oh, I missed you too, dear," and it's no use to explain him about her other half in Storybrooke, about the messy and complicated period she has spent trying to destroy everyone.
She eyes the Merry Men, behind the mop of his curls, and sighs. There's a lot of explaining to do, but it will have to wait. For she has to find Robin before Roland does, because the child believes his dad is buried in the land without magic – and he is, he is, what a mess, Roland seems to get his parents coming back from the dead on a regular basis…
She has to act quickly.
"Do you trust me, honey?" she looks at him, intently, ignoring the glares of Robin's men. His Yes! is enthusiastic, and she feels tears growing their way in her eyes. "Okay, here's what we are going to do. I'm on a secret mission now, you know," she whispers.
"Really?"
"Really," she confirms. "and I have to get it done fast, so what do you say if you and your uncles start going towards my castle and we'll meet there when I'm done?"
He tilts his head, pensive, and asks, "Is it dangerous?"
She smiles, kisses his forehead, "No, sweetie, it's not dangerous," she says. "Don't worry, just… I'll see you there, okay? Pinky promise?"
"Okay," he says, biting his lower lip. "But… don't go away again, please?"
"No," she squeezes his hands, feeling his warmth. "No, I won't."
She has a quick word with John, hushed tones of I'm sorry, I'll explain everything, and He's… him, but he's different, and Just keep Roland occupied while I deal with this, please, okay? and it works, the man she's come to appreciate during their time in the Missing Year knows she'd do anything to keep Roland safe and happy, he knows Robin trusted her with his son's life, so the Merry Men start moving towards the castle, and she goes to find her thief.
;
When Roland meets the man who looks like his Papa but it's not, her heart threatens to explode from the memories. Robin embraces him with ease, and she thinks he's a natural, even though this isn't, technically, his child. She has told a tale – that this Robin is like a twin, but will love Roland all the same, because his Papa's soul lives on in him.
"So he doesn't remember me?" Roland has asked, quietly, sculpting another crack in her heart.
"No, my little knight," she says. "But you remember him, and this is the way for him to love you back. You have to be patient with him, okay? As you were with me, when we lived here for a year, do you remember?"
And he's so grown up, Roland, he nods, with a gravity she has never seen in the eyes of a child. He nods, and takes her hand, and goes to meet this new Papa who welcomes him into his arms, and it looks like he has never left them.
;
They're living in the castle since quite a while now – Regina, Snow, Zelena and the others have returned to their land, to Henry, to little Robyn. Life is quiet, with her new family – Robin's men who have greeted her thief like an old friend, and she often finds herself grateful, because they're treating him as an equal, finding easily that rhythm of banters which they had from the start.
Roland asks her where is Henry, one night.
They are reading together – Robin relies on her for the newfound parenthood, but they're growing closer, thick as thieves, thanks to Roland's capacity to adapt and to his big heart, and Robin… it came so easy, for him, to adopt this child, he has taken a more serious behavior. Of course she had to take the reins, sometimes, to show him how to be authoritative without being hurtful, how to quell fears and tantrums, but he's learning.
"Where is Henry, Regina?" he says that night. Then, he whispers, with a sad voice, "Have you lost him again?"
"No, he's not… lost, honey," she answers. "He's just… far away. But he's with his mom, he's okay, you know?"
"With Emma?"
"Yes, sort of," she smiles, tapping his nose. "I'll explain everything when you grow up."
"But I wanna know now, Regina!" he says, pouting, flashing these dimples.
"One day, darling," she promises, and she knows, deep down, that it's true. "One day we'll go there and meet your baby sister and Henry, I know we will."
"Oh… okay," he gives her the hint of a smile, then his mouth opens wide to yawn. She strokes his hair, and watches him close his eyes slowly. "Oh, R'gina?" he slurs, and she smiles.
"Yes, dear?"
"I can't wait to see them again," he murmurs, eyes closed, and slumber takes him, as Regina answers.
"Me too, baby. Me too."
;
She likes it when they go stealing.
Unbelievable, but true.
The refined queen she is, it turns out, likes the evenings when they dress up in cloaks and daggers and bows, when they mask themselves with hoods and leave Roland with Friar Tuck, because those evenings always end with Robin having his way with her above a bed of hay.
"Didn't you say it was like sleeping on dirt, your Majesty?" he mocks her one night. She bites his neck, causing him to hiss in pain, and she smiles against his skin.
"You've got to stay on dirt to do dirty things," she tells him, her hand going down to find him hard. "Now let me see how the thieves do them…"
;
It's… easy, to fall in love again.
After all, they fell in love three times already, she can't see why they shouldn't do it again a fourth one.
He gets to know her. Slowly but surely, they bond with Roland's help as they did the first time in the very same castle. But this time, sex is free and flows like a delicious current neither of them wants to resist. She knows she can love, now, it took years and apples and her children to know it.
She shows him he can love too.
Those that were angry bites and quick fucks become gentle, intimate, as she bares down her soul. Slowly, oh so slowly. She gets to know him. This new Robin, and yet all the same, a bit younger perhaps, more impulsive, but going down that path of selfless love she has always seen in his soul.
;
She says I love you first.
It's not a life-or-death situation. It's not in the middle of sex, it's not a special occasion, it's not because she was dared to do it.
It's quiet, during that night, they've gone up the hills to watch the sunset.
He has his back against an oak tree, her head on his chest, and he's trailing a green blade of grass on her skin, making her shiver.
"What's on your mind?" he asks, with the soft humming of his heartbeat.
Regina lifts her eyes, meets his gaze, and tells him.
Dusk is sweet, and tastes of honey and sun.
;
They knew each other. He knew her and so himself, for in truth he had never known himself. And she knew him and so herself, for although she had always known herself, she had never been able to recognize it until now.
;
Soon, her dresses won't fit her anymore, she thinks, standing in front of the mirror.
She has told him, months ago – it has been painful, relieving an old wound. She has told him of an amber potion, and she has told him of her poisoned, useless womb. So he has come back, weeks after that tearful conversation, with a small crystalline vial.
"If you want, Regina," he has told her. "I'm just… giving you back your right to choose."
She has cried, that night. They have made love under the stars' eyes. She has come hard, crying out her happiness and crying out her pain, because it was him, always him, and she has a new life.
A second chance.
;
Roland is looking so adorable, his little bow in one hand and the arrow in the other hand. She hugs her knees, watching him, sitting outside under the sun. There is Alan, with him, and he tries to teach how to hold the bow upright, but Roland keeps sending the arrows right in the ground, doesn't even go close to the target.
And there's Robin, coming out the trees, with Much and Tuck, and they bring wood to carve a crib.
(She'll have to magic it done, soon, she knows it, but let them have fun.)
;
certain as the sun,
rising in the east…
;
She's brushing her hair, one evening, she waits for her men to come home.
It's been a long, slow day – she has watched Henry through the mirror, for a while, talked to him. They look happy, her other family in the land without magic. It's a different kind of happiness.
Her midnight blue dress is has some wrinkles, now, around her stomach. She couldn't resist it, one last time, because she knows Robin won't be able to resist it. It's the dress she was wearing when she became free from the king.
A dress for new beginnings.
The arrow pierces her vanity with a sharp sound. She's startled, just a little, but smiles inwardly, resisting the temptation of turning around.
And she sees the ring.
Her hand goes up to slide down the parchment, unrolls it, his familiar handwriting, Ready for a new adventure?
She smiles, Regina, wills the tears to stop as she clutches the paper and the ring in one hand. They are there, when she turns, Robin lowering his bow, Roland sitting on her bed with a grin. She shakes her head, the smile cracking open, as she looks at them.
"Well, milady?" he asks, and he seems… nervous.
She wants to laugh, bubbling joy in her belly, but instead, she softens her smile.
"That arrow almost took off my head."
He smiles, as she takes two steps, cradles his face, closes her eyes and places a kiss on his lips. Then she opens her eyes again, meets his own, and tells him.
"More than ready."
