Hi, so here is another chapter, I apologise for the lateness but here it is and i hope you enjoy it. Some of the dialogue has been changed or shortened and some of the events in episodes have been turned around.
Next chapter will be the penultimate chapter and it will deal with the fight with Zelena. This story will end with Season 3 and DOES NOT include Marian.
Disclaimer-Nothing is mine.
Please Read and Review.
Old Scars, Future Hearts.
Chapter 13-Help Me Through The Night.
Regina learns the truth not only about her sister but begins to put pecies together about her mother in the process. Robin is gifted a precious treasure, Roland is nearly killed (again) and caution is thrown to the winds in response. Some dialogue has been changed and shortened.
For a moment the Queen seemed to stop breathing, her whole body stilled. Robin was sure that a gust of violent wind could come rushing through the open door and she'd still be stood there not a hair out of place.
Zelena…that was her name…kept talking and Robin had to keep up and more to the point keep his eyes off the Queen's face. It was hard…she had a stunning face but he knew that there was something here. He had lost one man to this woman's curse, he had his son safe but there was no guarantee that he was safe in the forest. Perhaps it was time he moved closer to town, but then, was town safe?
Zelena swept out of the café as dramatically as she had come in and Regina in complete and utter silence sat down at the counter where a glass of whiskey was waiting in front of her. Robin stood at the counter trying not to listen as Emma Swan and her parents crowded the Queen with questions.
"I think" she said as she downed another fifth of whiskey "That I would remember if my mother told me she had a love child with a scarecrow"
Robin thought that was actually quite funny but before he could but into the conversation Friar Tuck was leaning over and muttering to him and him alone about moving the camp more towards town so that they were near a population should the monkey's attack. By the time Robin had conceded that, that was the best probable action (with a promise from Allan that if there was a heavy downpour they'd actually find a place with both decent roofing and decent heating) the Queen was putting her coat on and stalking from the room and Robin had not gotten chance to ask the basic of questions which these Charming's had not thought—or perhaps not bothered—to ask her—if she was alright.
Before he could do that he was tasked with helping the lockdown of the main street. It was not an easy feet and it was made harder by the fact that half the town wanted to come out and see who would win, Regina or Zelena, the old enemy and the new. Robin would have backed what little money he had against Regina but he had seen Zelena in action and he found that his heart was beating a little bit in his mouth when he thought about the carnage that was going to be unleashed on this town at the end of the day.
The only thing that broke up the day (after he had made sure Roland was safe—Allan was instructed to stay with him once he'd gone to bed and Robin had put enough fear in his men when it came to his son to know that his instructions would be listened to). He found that he was taking a long gulp of whiskey (and wondering if he had enough to last the entire night) when Emma Swan followed by the young and very pregnant woman that she called mother came in to announce that it was true, that Regina and Zelena were in fact sisters and that Regina after finding something of her mothers to confirm it had stalked off into the woods and Emma had no idea if she was coming back or if she was actually going to fight tonight.
Robin finished his drink and then decided to go and out searching, he was itching to shoot something. He was down a man, he still did not know how to connect with his son over the three months or so he had disappeared (and that was before you got to the missing year) and he found that he wanted to go and find Regina. He found that he wanted to go and see her and see if she was alright. Robin rationalised this by reminding himself that she had saved his son and Roland was very fond of her. He did not want to think about how he was feeling about her.
He had been off the opinion that he had lost those feelings when he had lost Marian. Certainly Robin had not felt them for a woman since her passing and that had been years ago. To feel the stirring of something he had felt long gone and for the Evil Queen to boot was something that he really did not know what to do with.
Robin found her sat on a tree trunk. Even if he wasn't looking for her in that coat with that fur (in a colour he was not sure how best to describe) and she was looking out over the woods as if it held the answers to her questions.
"Hello" he said sitting down next to her. It was a mark of how quiet she was that she didn't immediately tell him to move. Instead she looked like she was close to tears and that did not sit right with Robin. Actually it made him want to destroy the entire forest and do anything to cheer her up which was—well that was something he had to think about when he was alone with a bottle of good scotch—then he saw the letter sticking out of her pocket.
"What's this?" he asked holding up the letter. She shot him a look that would have felled another, lesser man but Robin had never been one to look away from adversity.
"I'm a pick-pocket by trade" he said with a grin and was rather relived (you know because he liked his life) to see that he got a small smile.
"It's a letter" she said shortly. "From Rumple—the Dark One. The man who made me who I am today, well, the man who certainly helped to my mother who…well…wanted to know about my progress I assume. I didn't realise that she had known that I was taking lessons of him, suppose she had her means, wouldn't put anything past Snow in a mood" she trailed off her tone bitter and Robin wasn't sure what to say to that. Instead he flipped the letter over and began to read.
Robin scanned the letter. His first thought was that it was the coldest letter that he had read. Even without knowing Regina's mother he could feel the coldness coming off the paper and it wasn't even written by her. It seemed that Regina was little more than a pawn in a magical pissing match between her mother and the Dark One.
"Stunning in every way" he read out loud. Well he knew that to be true he thought staring at her. She was stunning both inside and out. He had only known her for several days and even he could see that she was something above the rest.
God he needed that bottle of whiskey now.
"What's wrong? Sounds rather complimentary if you want my opinion"
Regina gave another small flicker of a smile.
"Whenever I read that letter no matter what was going on or how bad it was, it gave me a sense of comfort. Gold…Rumple…his praise…you have no idea how much there were times I craved it, even when we were enemies. There was always a sense we were on the same side. We've both tried redemption but…today I realised—" she cut herself off and then as if she knew that she had said more than she should have done she carried on.
"It's not about me" she said finally.
"It's about Zelena. I never put the pieces together until today. The dates don't match up. I was the one who pushed my mother through the glass mirror to Wonderland. She shouldn't have been able to communicate with him but that…"
"So what if it's about her?" Robin asked. "It was still you who cast that curse"
There was pause and then for the first time she looked him in the eye and she said what was on her mind.
"Because if the man who taught me all that I know and all that I am doesn't think I am strong enough to defeat her then I know I cannot"
There was a pause as Robin sat there. In truth he did not know what to say to her.
"If there is anything I can do for you" he said finally. "Then I will do it"
Regina said nothing but Robin thought she understood his offer all the same.
"Actually" she said when he was about to stand up. She looked at him appraisingly and he thought that he would do anything to keep those eyes on her. "There is something you can do for me"
Regina had climbed down the stairs from the clock tower with her head held high and her legs shaking more so than they had been on her wedding night. She remembered that memory only too well. Months of fantasying about Daniel and his smooth chest and hard thighs and strong weight enveloping her and all she had gotten was Leopold who had thrust weakly in her before collapsing to the side panting his dead wife's name before he went to sleep. There and then she had promised herself not to show a moments weakness in front of the court and she took that promise seriously then as she did now.
The fight had been…brutal.
She'd gotten a few good punches in but the fact of the matter was that she had gotten her arse kicked in public. Granted this was not as humiliating as Emma Swan and the whole cricket debacle but it wasn't brilliant.
"Regina" Speaking of Swan she was still here, still following Regina. Knowing when someone wanted to be alone was not something that Emma specialised in (she got that from her mother).
"I need to go and look up the spell that she plans to use" she said finally. "Go home and take care of my son"
Actually that was not what she wanted to do but Emma mercifully agreed and Regina stalked down Main Street alone her hands in their gloves in her pockets shaking violently.
It was not hard to find him.
It was never hard to find him.
It had been a whim giving her heart to the common thief that was Roland's father but she felt something within her that she had not felt…well that she had not felt in a long time.
He was there waiting for her.
"Are you alright?" he asked looking very concerned. Regina deflected as best she could feeling very out of sorts.
"Yes" she said wincing as a tremor went up her back. "Nothing a hot bath and a good glass of wine wont solve anyway"
Robin Hood looked at her and Regina thought that his expression was very warm. She did not know what to make of this strange feeling that seemed to bubble up in her stomach whenever they were together.
She had not felt like this since…
Well…
"You sure you want to give something this precious to a common thief like me?" he asked as they continued this rather…delicious…banter after a time. Regina knew that he was cocky, it bled off him in the same way it did off her but she could see the genuine question underneath all that. He was genuinely curious to know why she was entrusting him with her heart and she found that she wanted to tell him, she wanted to know if this strange feeling she had not felt in a long time was the same thing that he was feeling. She wanted…
She wanted a lot.
"You can't take what's been given to you" she said smiling. Robin gave her a long look and she noticed that his eyes were very blue. She thought that if he kissed her right there and then she wouldn't mind. Which was a strange feeling for her. Regina could not remember feeling this giddy since she was…
"Do you want to come to Granny's tomorrow and have breakfast?" Robin blurted out. Regina raised an eyebrow and he shrugged looking abashed and almost like a little boy who had gotten his hand caught in the cookie jar. He looked in that moment so much like his son who had tried that reaction on Regina when he had heard that this world provided milk with chocolate in it.
"Roland will be there" he said cutting through her thoughts. "And he wants to see you. Actually won't shut up about it, every day it's when he can see you"
Regina had to work hard to get her emotions under control but eventually she nodded.
"Thanks" she said. She pointed towards the dark forest. "I should go before they send out a search party. Please…let me know if anything happens"
Robin nodded. "You are sure that you can walk back alone?" he added. Regina couldn't stop herself from raising an eyebrow and Robin grinned again.
"Oh I can look after myself" she said with a smile. "After all, she's the one who invaded my space"
And then she was gone before she could do anything completely stupid like ask him to walk her back and then walk her all the way up her stairs and into bed.
She had a lot to think about anyway.
Regina had simply poofed her way into her house poured herself a good glass of wine as the bath ran and then took the bottle in with her because what was the point? She got in after crumbling a bath bomb under the water and then leaned her head against the water. She had missed this when she had been living in the Enchanted Forest. When she had been Queen (both married and widowed) she had, had an army of ladies getting her dressed and undressed, running her bath, helping her wash. One of the nicest things she had learnt when she had been a young mother was the simple act of putting Henry to bed and then running a bath with a good glass of wine and a good book.
But she did not want to think about Henry right now. She wanted to think about Robin. Thinking about her son hurt too much and she did not want to think about him.
Thinking about Robin was easy. Well that was a lie it was not easy…but it was far easier than thinking about her son.
She had not been a complete nun after Daniel. Graham she had to admit had been one of many guards, many men, many who had graced her bed only to be kicked out or if truth be told killed when she got board of them. Graham had been the only one that she had kept around with and then she had killed him the second she had seen him leaning more towards Emma than herself.
Having someone interested in her and have him interested in her back was something completely new. She had thought that true love was over for her when her mother had been victorious and crushed Daniel's heart so that she could wear a hollow crown. She had thought that her life was over when Henry had rejected her and even when she had listened to Tinkerbelle and her story she had never really believed that she was destined to find a soulmate anyway.
Now she was confronted not only with that soulmate but the idea that they could actually be together which was a very different scenario. Couple in the fact that he had an adorable son that she loved like her own and it got very, very complicated.
But she did like him.
She had loved Daniel. She had adored him whole heartedly, she had waged a war, a curse, a vendetta for Daniel and had sacrificed him for her son who bore his name as his middle name (and had it not been for the deep guilt she still felt for her father he might have been Daniel Mills instead of Henry). Never had she contemplated loving another person, certainly not a common thief that smelt like forest and had the smile of the devil.
She thought about it for a second and then she leaned her head against the rim of the bath and then closed her eyes resisting the urge to bang her head on the edge of the bath as the thought that she had been battling with came to the surface forcing herself to think about what had been troubling her. It was a thought that stayed. Regina knew that it would be troubling her for a long time, even if she went and joined Robin and Roland for breakfast in the morning.
Was it possible that she could move on from Daniel?
Could she?
Could such a thing be?
And there you are. I hope you enjoy this chapter and i will bring you the next chapter and the second to last one as soon as i can.
Next Chapter-Regina realises the depth of her mother's hatred for Snow White as she makes a decision to take her chance on her future. Henry is free from the Curse, Snow White gives birth, Emma takes on Zelena and there is a tentative peace.