Hi, so here is another chapter, there are now six left of this story and i hope to get another published before Christmas. The next one will i think be the last full on in the Enchanted Forest before we head into Storybrooke for a couple and then divide the chapter between the two for the final ones.
Dislciamer-Nothing is mine just this little plot bunny.
Please Read and Review.
Old Scars, Future Hearts.
Chapter 9-In The Company Of Women.
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. This entire chapter is in Robin's point of view and takes place during the time spent in the Enchanted Forest.
Roland clung to him like he was still a baby and though the weight of his boy had become more than when he could still fit into Robin's arms, he found he still could not let him go.
He would take hundreds of arm aches, aches in his back and a dead leg to boot if he got to keep Roland in his arms, his head on his chest, just tucked under his chin so that the mass of black curls that had grown somewhat (he really should give the boy a haircut when they had the chance to stop) if he got to keep Roland in his arms.
Two days ago he had woken with a sense of such loss he had groaned in his tent like a dying animal. Now he had the one precious thing he had ever had in his arms again and he was not going to let him go for anything in the world.
Roland had curled up around him like a cat curling around the legs of his owner and Robin had handed John his bow and had let the boy cling to him as much as he had wanted to cling back. Roland was chatting and the sound of his little boys voice was enough to make Robin smile so much his jaw ached. Roland could have been telling him he was part of an illegal drug ring for all he knew or cared right now. Smiling just an hour or so ago had seemed so foreign and now he found he could not stop.
Eventually though some of the words that Roland had been speaking filter through the unicorn and rainbow haze of happiness that had invaded his brain. And what he heard surprised him.
Roland began by telling him what had happened to him the second the shadow had taken him including what sounded like a perilous drop from a good distance onto an island that Baelfire (and he was still not done punching the bastard) had told him was one of the worst things that had ever existed in the world of magic.
He was then apparently chased by a bunch of boys with poisonous sticks intent on capturing him—Robin mentally made a note to personally ensure that the boy Henry was Baelfire's only chance of fatherhood—and then he was apparently rescued by Regina who after taking care of him on the island took him back to a land without magic, made him take a long bath (with bubbles and something that made the water change colour), scrubbed him all over with a good delousing attached (here Roland sounded adorably ignorant) and then put him to bed in a bed that was so huge he had felt apparently like he was drowning in it. Then before they had come back here he'd had something called chocolate milk and a huge slab of cake so much he thought he might be sick. And something called ice cream which to Robin sounded like a sugar rush waiting to happen.
It was only after he had finished telling him his thrilling tale that Robin's brain managed to catch up with him.
"Who is this Regina person?"
Considering all that she had done for his son, the dangers she had protected him from, the home she had promised to give him and the promise that she would do her best in the meantime to reunite him with his son, Robin was at this moment prepared to sink to his knees and dedicate the rest of his life to worshiping her. Or stealing whatever it was that she wanted. Or hell he might even build an alter and invent an entire new religion dedicated to her because she had done something that he would be forever grateful for.
"She's the Evil Queen" Roland said conversationally. "But I don't think she's really evil, she's quite nice actually. She has something called an oven and she promised to help me make cookies. You know the ones they sell at the fair with the huge chunks of chocolate in them—"
But Robin was no longer listening.
He had nearly dropped Roland in shock.
The Evil Queen, had taken care of his son?
Had he heard it from someone else he wouldn't have believed it.
Of course he had heard of her. Everyone had. The Evil Queen had culminated a reputation even in Sherwood. The Sherriff even in his worse moments had nothing on her. He had spent a good part of his career as a thief escaping from her black knights who had such a reputation it was hard to try and take something that they were guarding. Her feud with Snow White was legendary. The fact that she had disappeared had given many of the residents of Sherwood a chance to relax and breathe. It was hard for his brain to equate the image of such a villain with the woman who had apparently laughed and played and protected his son to the extent where they were on first term bases.
"And…er…where is she?" he asked because he was still a gentleman and she had if Roland's words were to be taken as truth (and the boy was hardly going to lie about this was he?) he still had to thank her, because she had saved his boy. She had looked after him and taken care of him and he might have to rapidly revise his opinion of her after this.
"She was with me before" Roland said as if that was perfectly obvious. "She protected me when she didn't know who you were, look there she is"
And he pointed her out.
Robin looked and felt despite himself his eyebrows climb to the top of his forehead in surprise.
Granted he had never seen the woman so he had not known what to expect but even so he would not have expected this.
From what he could see of her face (she was half hidden in some ornate trouser dress thing that was beyond anything Robin had ever seen—not that he had a clue about ladies fashion anyhow). Her hair was dark and long and piled up on her head and her lips were painted as red as her face was white. Her eyes (what he could see of them anyway) were framed by thick lashes and she had the expression on her face of one who really, really did not want to be with other people right now but that she had no choice.
Robin could understand the feeling.
It was easy to see who was in charge here. The Evil Queen did not throw her authority around, instead she took a serene pace behind Snow White (in the family way as the old women of Sherwood would put it) and her husband who was known as Prince Charming (though Robin was sure that was not—that could not be his real name surely?). Both were decked in the garb of royals. Also there was Belle who he knew from the old days before Roland had been born, an older woman and several dwarves alongside a woman in a red cloak who and other people who all seemed to know each other. He noted that Will Scarlett was not there, nor was the woman he had risked all for. Which was good because with Baelfire in his line of vision it was not good to provoke his temper past the knife's edge that it was right now. He gritted his teeth and hugged Roland closer as he stared at the man that he hated, at the man that he was sure he would hate for the rest of his life. Baelfire didn't look at him which Robin thought was a very smart idea. Had he looked at him he was not sure he would be able to be held responsible for his actions.
As if he could read his mind the man that he knew as the Prince doubled back to meet them. Robin saw him cut across his vision as he looked at the Evil Queen. For reasons he was not so sure of it irked him that she did not look at him. For heavens sake she had saved his son! Surely she would want to meet the father of said child?
"Hello" the Prince said cutting across his vision and also his thoughts. Robin looked at him. A part of him was utterly loath to let Roland go and yet another part of him knew that there was no point having this conversation if his son was to overhear.
"Hello" he said because Robin Hood was nothing but polite. After all he'd had a mother (God rest her soul) who'd box his ears for nothing less. He dropped Roland to the ground and the boy with a grin and a small wave easily returned went off to go and chat with Little John and Friar Tuck both of whom were only too delighted to keep an eye on his boy and listen to the adventures that he'd had while he was gone.
"Neal told me" was all Charming said. At Robin's nonplussed look he elaborated.
"Baelfire. He told me. And you can call me David if you want. And look I know you want to kill him. Believe me if it was my child I'd have killed him on the spot. But right now we need all the help we can get. So if you want to kill him, can you wait?"
Robin considered it for half a second. He was a practical man if nothing else. He understood what David was telling him and he thought he understood that for the man in front of him not all was well in terms of Neal or Baelfire or whatever he was.
"He's my son" he said finally trying and failing to put into words what it was that Baelfire had put him through the last few months. David or Charming or whatever it was that he was called nodded as if he understood and again Robin felt that flicker of instinct that told him that the man in front of him did understand against all odds. It was almost comforting to know that someone saw through Neal/Baelfire or whatever his name was just as much as he did.
"I do understand" David, the Prince said finally. "Believe me Robin I do. But we might need a thief and when we do we need the best. And from what I've gathered if you've broken twice into the Dark One's palace and lived then you are the best. And so I will ask you for your help"
There was a very strained pause.
"Very well" Robin said. He was not sure what else he could say. And then he knew what he wanted to know.
"Can I ask you something…David?"
David nodded his head his hand still drifting towards his sword as if he expected Robin to make a suicide run at Baelfire.
"Did the Evil—did Regina save my son as he says she did? Did she love him as much as he says she did?"
There was a pause as if David seemed to be considering what he said and how he said it. Robin held his breathe either way.
"She did. Save him I mean. And she did love him I think. Regina—she is capable of it. I know, I've seen…well…I've seen her care. She protected him, she loved him. And I do believe she would have found a way to reunite you. Believe that if nothing else. Merlin knows it's all I believe in."
Robin took that at face value. He was not sure what else to do.
It was almost three minutes later that the screams went up. Something was flying at them and from the first "Incoming!" to the scream that he knew would haunt him of "Papa" and then before he could move to Roland's side someone was there grabbing his son and thrusting him out of the way and then Roland was in his arms as the monkey—and it was a monkey despite the fact that he got one look at the thing before it had pounced was gone and his son was in his arms, the Queen (because he could not call her Evil not after what she had done for his child) handing Roland a stuffed monkey with a small smile.
"Thank you" he said. He meant to say it for a lot of reasons, for his son, that she had saved and that she had rescued, had prepared to help and prepared if all things had failed to love and raise as her own. For the demon she had help vanquish both here in the Enchanted Forest and in Neverland and for all the help she had given him so far, and the help he wanted. It was a hard feeling to explain, a hard experience to emotion and yet as he came close to losing his son for the second time he thought that he understood the Queen. He wanted to understand her. He wanted to know her.
He wanted her to look at him.
And yet, and yet, she still wouldn't look at him.
And he wanted her too. God how he wanted her to. He could not explain it. He wanted her too.
Look at me he thought Roland safe in his arms as she stalked off her jaw tight towards the castle.
Please your Majesty. Look at me.
And there you go, i hope you enjoyed this chapter and the next one should follow right after this.
Next Chapter-Regina breaks into her own castle and meets her sister and a finds a purpose. Robin Hood and Regina have a conversation in which he realises that there is more to the Queen than meets the eye.