Hi, so here is another chapter, i hope you guys all enjoy this one and the long awaited reunion. I predict maybe two more chapters and then we go back to Storybrooke. Also this will be the first part of a double update so i hope you all enjoy these chapters over the holiday.

Please Read and Review and let me know what you think.

Disclaimer-Nothing is mine.

Old Scars, Future Hearts.

Chapter 8-Humble Heroes And New Adventures

As Regina and Roland set on a path towards the rest of the group they run across flying monkeys and a man with a bow and arrow who gets the shock of his life. Some Episode Cannon divergence.

Regina closed her eyes and then opened them again resisting the urge to swear like a dwarf. She was not some kind of individual that did such things but the fact of the matter was that she was also not the kind of individual that did things, in the woods.

Unless it was on horseback. She was good with horses. Actually she was good with stable boys, that was what had gotten her in this whole mess in the first place. But she was not good with mud. And being a Queen had given her a healthy appreciation for statement footwear. And so she was most defiantly not a fan of mud.

There was a squelching sound and Regina closed her eyes again as her heel descended into what she really did hope was mud. Because if it was something else her temper might implode. God she really wanted to kill something right now. Where was one of the nun-fairies when you needed them. Rumple was right, condescending, hypocritical little parasites. Thin the heard.

Roland next to her was doing fine. He was in a pair of trousers, a grey shirt with black boots and what she hoped were decent socks and a cape around his shoulders. He was smiling, Regina could understand, he was back in the home that he knew or something that was close to it and the things that had over time become normal to her had always seemed strange to him. Cars, running water, chocolate milk, coffee machines, clothes that didn't squeeze your organs into new positions. The little things that you took for granted. It had only been a few hours or so since…well since…and amongst other things she was already craving a burger with cheese, bacon and an unhealthy amount of bread.

They found the main path that would lead to the main road eventually and she heard before she saw the padding footsteps of her stepdaughter and the woman who claimed she was queen of the Kingdom that Regina had taken. She supposed that was the way now. When they got to the castle it would be Snow and Charming taking the seat she had taken, the King and Queen's chairs replaced by one that she though she might have taken it through blood, had earnt. Granted she had terrorised her subjects when it came to hunting down Snow White but she had also ensured a strong economic growth, a decent relationship with warring neighbours (he was not called Mad King George for nothing you know) and a good taxation route. Of course that would all be forgotten but a part of her did wonder weather Snow knew the work that went behind running a kingdom. It was not all dancing and talking to birds and fighting evil after all. It was a long hard slog.

Snow came to a stop in front of her. Regina managed a small smile more out of exhaustion than politeness. Experience had taught her that with her step daughter it was easier to avoid prying questions if you went with the motions. She supposed it was what you did when you cared about someone but as the one thing Regina had cared about more than anything in this world was lost to her she was really, not in the mood.

"Are you alright?"

"Perfectly" Regina said in a tone that was dripping with poisonous sarcasm not that Snow seemed to notice, she never seemed to notice. She eyed Snow's pregnant belly and tried to keep the annoyance off her face. It was just typical of Snow to get the second chance she so desperately wanted when Regina's son was off God knows where with nobody but Emma Swan as his guide (she would deal with that later. After all before the curse had come to mind she had thought that the trees in the forest needed thinning, a few good fireballs would see to that). Snow was pregnant and she had no idea why (Regina was willing to bet during those long walks in Neverland) or how (she wasn't even going to touch that one) but her enthusiasm was as such it was easy to pretend that she was listening.

They carried on that way until they got to the main road where the rest of Storybrooke's residents seemed to be waiting. Regina let her walk become a little more regal as Roland walked behind her. She after all had a reputation to uphold.

"Can I walk ahead?" Roland asked tugging on her jewelled cape. Regina saw he was eyeing a small horse that looked like the perfect animal for a child to pet and knew at once what he was after.

"Certainly you can" she said allowing her fingers to just brush the top of his head where the curls were perhaps the thickest. Henry's hair had never been like that, he had always had a thick head of brown mess but it had never been curly like Roland's had been. Roland went off to pet the pony and Regina leaving the Charming's to their planning (she was not going to spend time with Neal either her grip on her emotions was fragile as it was) and therefore she went to follow Roland who after petting the horse was content to carry on walking even after everyone else had gone at a pace that was faster than what the average five year old could stand.

Regina did not mind keeping him company. Sometimes he would smile at her and she found the gnawing ache in her chest had been contained somewhat. Sometimes he would volunteer stories that he had never done so in either Storybrooke or in Neverland. He talked constantly about his father and she realised that while he had been scared out of his wits on the island and she had mistaken that for neglect, whomever Roland's father was, was actually rather a decent parent. Of course he had let that cretin Neal use his son for his own advantage but as Roland explained that Neal had once helped save his father's life or Belle had or something of that sought, she was beginning to realise that the Dark One's offspring was just as manipulative and twisted as the rest of his family.

That was oddly comforting and insanely irritating all at the same time.

Roland was explaining his little face lit up in a gleeful kind of smile all about the bow that shot straight (cheap magic Regina thought because surely nobody was that good) when it happened.

There was the sound of what must have been horses hooves that grew louder and louder behind them. Regina turned around and could have both cursed and smiled at her luck which was always contradictory. The heroes had gone on ahead and she was alone with Roland. On the plus side the heroes were gone and the gnawing, dreadful, agonising ache in her chest that happened when she thought of her son was getting bigger and bigger with each passing second.

And when she was hurt, she got angry. And right now Regina was feeling nothing but rage.

If there was someone coming to hurt this little boy who was now standing behind her then she would turn them into ashes and happily grind them into the fireplace of her new palace in her chambers (because she would be damned if Snow and Charming got her bed on top of everything else to boot). She felt the fireball flicker to life as the horses came back around the corner and she smiled feeling the certainty of death and pain and suffering come closer. It was nice to inflict such things on people other than herself.

But before she could throw.

"Regina?!"

The only saving grace was that it was not Snow White though doubtless she would not be far behind Neal Cassidy who was out of breath and unsheathing a sword he'd probably not used since he was twelve (that thing on Neverland did not count considering it was her, Emma, Hook and Rumple who had done most of the actual lifting) out of his belt and waving it in a way that did not look remotely threatening. She took a step back nonetheless and pressed her hand on the back of Roland's head keeping him hidden behind her skirts.

There were several men on horses coming up behind the road and she watched as they came closer. One clearly seemed to be the leader and Regina the consummate horsewoman when she hadn't had the ability to transport herself anywhere she wished with the raise of her eyebrow acknowledged to herself that he sat in the horse and rode as if it was natural to him. He wore a hood over his head and had a bow slung over his back but he was very tall and something about him seemed to shimmer in the air. It wasn't magic it was something else, an emotion so potent it was like magic, and she could almost taste the rage in the air. Actually it was rather impressive.

The man leapt of the horse landing lightly on the balls of his feet and then jumped up again throwing back his hood. Regina noticed that his eyes were a piercing blue and his hair was a light brown and he had a hard body due to no doubt to hard living and even harder riding. And Regina who had given up her love when his heart had been ripped out of his chest had to admit that he was stunningly handsome.

For a peasant of course.

"Oh shit" Neal said and Regina was about to ask just what on earth he was going on about when she saw the expression on the man's face as he stalked closer.

"Hello Robin" Neal said with something of a grimace but whomever this Robin was (and the name sounded vaguely familiar) he did not wait for Neal to finish his sentence because he had pulled back his fist and punched Neal firmly in the face and then despite the fact that the man was on the ground continued to punch him until his fist (and most of Neal's face) was covered in blood.

Under normal circumstances Regina might have pulled up a log, conjured herself up a glass of wine and watched the show. However she had promised Henry she would try to be better and there was only so much violence she could permit when Roland was still peering around her skirts. Most of the man was in side profile so his face was only half in show but she could see the rage as he was pulled back by one of his men leaving Neal a crumpled mess on the ground. Regina had a moment where she imagined what her mentor would think of this and then took a step forward Roland clutching again at the skirts and mercifully keeping his mouth shut and his face hidden.

"Well that was impressive of you wasn't it?" she said with all the sweetness of the Evil Queen.

The man's face snapped to hers and she was impressed almost by the raw pain that seemed to be etched upon it. It was so similar to what she had been feeling herself that she had to fight the urge to look away from him. She knew what that feeling was like and she was clutching onto her dignity and her pride (a lifetime of living with Cora) to keep herself from falling apart. She was also very aware that his eyes were very, very blue.

Regina snapped herself out of that moment of staring. She was a Queen, not some milk maid who did not know how to control herself. She was certainly not going to fall in love. That part of her life was dead and buried. The only person after Daniel she had ever loved was her father and her son and both of those were lost to her.

"Apologies M'Lady" he said with an accent that was oddly familiar. "But this piece of utter shit is the reason why I have lost my son"

Regina put two and two together at the exact moment Roland did.

He peered around her skirts and Regina knew from the way his face lit up that her time with this endearing little boy was over and that once again fate had conspired to leave her alone.

"Papa?"

The whole air seemed to still. The birds stopped chirping ironically, everyone seemed to stop moving even Neal on the group groaning occasionally as he felt along his nose and his ribs. Regina very carefully did nothing. There was a sense that if she did things could change dramatically and for the worse. The last thing she supposed anyone needed now was a fight.

The man's eyes seemed to snap from her face to Roland's within a heartbeat of a second. For another moment that seemed to last for an eternity but was in fact Regina was sure, only a minute he seemed to stare with shock that turned to disbelief, that turned to anguish that turned to relief. Bone crushing, aching relief. Regina knew the feeling and she gripped her fingers together tightly to avoid thinking about that nightmare moment in the hospital when her decisions had costed her everything.

"Roland" it was half a whisper on the wind but it was wrapped in so much love and tenderness that Regina had to tear her eyes away from him. Roland gave it one second, he did not so much as even look at her.

"Papa!" he cried and then he was off running the short distance as fast as his little legs would carry him to his father who with a noise that was half gasp, half sob caught him around the middle, sunk to his knees and buried his face in his little son's neck sobbing with utter relief.

Regina watched as father and son clung to each other and swallowed.

"What's going on?" came a voice and she turned regaining her composure in a way she had not done since the days were every waking moment was a struggle not to kill her, to see Snow White and her husband coming running down the path (well not in Snow's case Regina though snidely. Waddling might be the more appropriate term). The bookworm was with them too and she helped Neal to his feet.

"As you can see" Regina said in a tone that would have made water freeze. "Roland has been reunited with his father. All is well"

And with that she turned her back on the scene as straight as a pin, her head held high and her face a mask of control and walked away from the little boy who had in such a short time come to mean so much to her. Away from his father and away from the people who would have loved to see her break. Regina Mills, the Evil Queen did not break.

Certainly she was not going to show that her heart was breaking.

Certainly she was not going to show that.

And there you are, I hope you all enjoyed that chapter. Next one is straight after this.

Next Chapter-Robin and Roland reunite and Robin finds out who Regina is and what she has done for his son. Meanwhile someone is in the castle feeling more than a little green and a flying monkey makes an appearance.