Homeless 6

Ice cream came before dinner.

Roland's puppy eyes and pouty lip had gotten the better of Robin as they made their way down the sidewalk and away from the cemetery, the little boy skipping between both his father and Regina, clasping their hands tightly. She'd almost let out a laugh at the look Roland pummeled his father with at the mere idea that they should probably just get home for supper, it nearly bubbled out of her, but exhaustion sits heavier than happiness right now.

Every step became harder, lead filled legs that felt as though they barely moved. She was oddly grateful for having Roland's little toddler legs slowing them down, at least this way it was easier to hide how terribly she simply wished to sit down and rest her tired, incredibly puffy eyes for a moment's time. What she would give to own a pair of sunglasses right now, at least then she should hide her exhaustion from Robin's gaze that flickers over Roland's head her way. She must look terrible, feels a little embarrassed now that her tears have dried.

They don't know each other, and she basically used him as a hankerchief. The collar of his shirt is wrinkled thanks to her previously tight grasp. He's doesn't seem to be the type to look wrinkled, and she wrecked the polished appearance.

Thankfully, he hasn't mentioned anything to her since they left Daniel and Henry's graves. It's easier for him perhaps, seeing Marian, talking to her, letting his emotions run free and unhindered for a precious hour. Maybe someday it will be easier for her too. Being able to smile afterwards.

It's Roland in all honesty. He's the breath of carefree happiness that bursts through shrouds of anguish.

She can see how much Robin adores his son, the pride that runs through him as the boy babbles on about things in kindergarten. They are going on a field trip to the zoo next week. Something Roland is clearly over the moon with excitement about. Between slurping up drips of chocolate chip ice cream running down his waffle cone, he buzzes and questions Robin about all the animals there, if there will be tigers, giraffes and monkeys.

"Regina, what's your favorite?" he asks from between them, "Mine is turtles. Papa's is hippos."

Her brow cocks curiously over to Robin who simply grins and delves into his own cone with a shrugged They are cute, a reasoning Regina never would have associated with the giant water mammal.

"I like elephants," she muses and chuckles at Roland's quizzical look. "They are incredibly smart animals."

"And so big!" Roland giggles. "Their ears are huge!"

"Yeah, they are. They are very caring, kind, and if a baby elephant is sad, the entire herd will console it. They have such a strong family bond. I admire that."

"What's admire?"

"It's a feeling when you see someone doing something and you like it and want to be that way too," she answers with a smile, licking at her chocolate scoop.

Roland nods, little brow creases for a moment in thought before he beams up at Robin, "Like how brave Papa is! I want to be like him."

Robin laughs, runs his free hand through Roland's curls appreciatively as Regina hums her agreement, though her cheeks are quick to flush red as Robin grins down at his son, "Regina is brave too. I admire her very much." He smiles at her, a soft thing that has her stomach fluttering uncontrollably as she bashfully bites back her own grin.

"I admire you too, Regina!"

"That's very sweet, Roland. You are quite the charmer like your father."

"What's charmer?"

Robin and Regina both let out a light laugh, equally blushing at the innocence of the boy between them. They continue to walk, Robin finishing his cone first as they make their way down the streets and towards his house. It's easy, being with them. The heaviness in her heart recedes with every giggle out of Roland, skips a beat with the quiet compliments Robin continues to bestow on her. It's nice. She's missed this feeling. Has lived with nothing but loneliness and heartache for so long she'd nearly forgotten how good it felt to simply laugh.

Her feet slow as they hit the gate of Robin's home, fingers slipping from Roland's grasp as he skips his way up to the front door, tiptoeing up to reach the handle and swing it open. Robin waits beside her, thumbing at the gate silently.

"I should go." She sighs quietly beside him, her eyes lingering on the front door.

Robin inhales sharply, a rather quick, "You don't have to," escaping him. It would be endearing if they knew each other. the way he so clearly doesn't wish her to leave. But if anything, it simply solidifies that they are in fact that - strangers - and he owes her nothing more, has already done too much. A point that she is so clearly aware of as she fumbles with the hem of her oversized coat, a reminder of where she is, where she stands on the ever expanding social ladder, far, so very far, below him. She smiles softly, reaching for his hand, "Today was not at all how I thought it would go."

His brow raises at her omission, and he laces their fingers together, willingly her to stay put beside him as his eyes stare down at their joined hands. It takes her a second, a long, drawn out sixty count of silence as she simply traces over his face, tilted down from her gaze as though he is trying to hide from her leaving.

"Thank you Robin, truly."

"I didn't really do anything." He shrugs, gripping her hand fractionally tighter.

It's oddly sweet, and he's so wrong, she thinks. There were a thousand different scenarios that ran through her mind when she decided to knock on his front door this morning. He could have slammed the door, scoffed and waved her away, below his status as she is. In all honesty, she didn't think he'd be crude, but being invited in for breakfast was certainly not one of them, and seeing Henry and Daniel was definitely not what she thought was going to happen today either.

And it's because of him.

"You did, and I am very grateful for it." The heat of tears begins to burn once more, and she is quick to sniff them away lest she drench his shirt any further, knowing that he'd more than likely pull her into a hug. Which doesn't seem like the worst idea to her, but she's already overstayed her welcome and more than anything she needs to get back to the real reality of her life and not playing house with this man and his son.

Robin chews his lower lip and runs his thumb over the palm of her hand. "Today was a good day for me too, Regina. I hope you know that." He flicks his eyes up to reach hers, and she is struck by the humbleness in his gaze. Her throat clears as she chuckles, "Having a stranger show up at your doorstep-."

"You're not a stranger," he quickly interrupts her, squaring their shoulders together, "Not to me." It feels different, the way he says it with such severe honesty, it's only been a mere day with this man and something has shifted inside her. It almost ludicrously suggests that perhaps people, that he, sees her as a real person and not some scum beside the subway train tracks. It's alarming at best as she swallows back thickly, squeezing his palm once before retracting.

His hand follows hers, lingers momentarily before dropping to his side listlessly with a heavy blown out breath. "Regina, I know our beginning isn't conventional by most standards."

"By any standard," she playfully quips back, hoping to see him smile once more before she leaves. He chuckles lightly at that, and she floats at the sound. "I was homeless, and you are -"

"Absolutely desperate that you not go," he confesses quietly with a shy, begging smile. And it shouldn't be sweet, or adorable, but the way his eyes crease hopefully, the dimples that deepen as he grins, it all has her in a cloudy state of mind. She steps into him, moving boldly to rest a hand on his chest. "We are in such different worlds, Robin, and I can't tell you how much I appreciate everything you've done for me, and not just today but these past three years. It's changed my entire life." It's a rare confession that bubbles out of her, after months of being focused on self survival, giving in to someone's extended help is new, foreign and entirely amazing because she strangely feels safe saying it to him.

He's seen her dirtier than filth, starving and at the lowest of the lows. There isn't much more she can hide from him in all reality. No point in starting now. He scowls pitifully at her, wraps his hand around hers on his chest and tugs her closer as he shakes his head, "Regina, our past doesn't define who we are."

"It certainly has its influence," she slides out, still unable to completely relinquish her previous life though his words are sweet. He manages a smile at her, thumbing a curl behind her ear, "Doesn't mean it dictates your's or anyone's future. I've been through my share of pain - the kind that swallows you whole - I understand it, I understand you." He swipes along her cheekbone, chasing away the tear that falls slowly, "And I hope you know that I don't judge how we met, it's not a bad thing Regina, if anything like I said to my son, I admire you for it. I truly mean that."

Her breath catches tight, hitches as she inhales wetly, leaning into his palm against her cheek. He's too good for her. Too pure and honorable. And while Daniel and Henry's deaths were out of her control, what happened afterwards, the guilt bubbles hot in her stomach. Maybe there was some other way she could have avoided where she ended up - done something differently, made other choices, given into her mother's demands and taken a back seat to Cora's wishes. It wouldn't have brought her family back, Henry's cancer was too far gone anyway, but perhaps if she'd swallowed her pride, sleeping underneath a leaking concrete wall amongst the city rats wouldn't have been her life for the past three years.

It's too late to go back now.

"Maybe someday I will be worthy of your praise." Regina sniffs, unwilling to truly pull away from his touch.

He shakes his head and smiles softly at her, "You already are. And I will not push you, I understand you have things to do, your interview to prepare for, but I would be loathe to not ask you once more to stay, just for dinner. Roland would be so thrilled."

The flirt is there, hidden beneath his son's name as she quips back, "Just Roland?" To which Robin's grin brightens with a heavy blush in his cheeks, a half hearted shrug as he reaches for her hand once more. "I would be grateful if you stayed too."

"Why?"

He shakes his head, his tongue peeking out to lick his bottom lip, before he levels her with a brutally honest gaze, "I want to know you. And just the thought of you walking away right now, not knowing if I'd ever see you again… I'm utterly against the idea."

She should go. She really, really should. But he is so sweet, and it's dissolving her by the second.

"I really do need to prep for that interview." She smiles at his heavy resigned exhale. He's true to his word, he won't force her to stay, but a very large piece of her doesn't want to leave either. "But I did promise Roland fajitas, and his puppy dog eyes are quite the weapon."

Robin chuckles, happier than he probably should be as he gently guides her towards his doorway. She goes without hesitation, forcing the fear of her interview out of her mind, she's dealt with worse than a couple headhunter bosses. If it doesn't pan out, which in all honesty it probably won't, there will hopefully be another opportunity down the road.

Somehow spending more time with Robin and his son is a far more enticing offer than pouring over paperwork of a company's background. Though the sixty dollars stuffed away in the freezer of the fridge in her motel room may not think quite the same. Her funds are running incredibly low. Rent for the room is over what she can pay, and if this job doesn't come to fruition, she'll be back out on the street once more.

A daunting thought she swallows down and shoves to the back of her mind, at least for now.

xx

x

Dinner is lovely.

Robin rather firmly suggested that she do nothing but sit for most of the prep as he and Roland stirred marinated chicken, heated veggies and uncorked a bottle of wine. Roland had been adamant that they both wear their chef's aprons, Regina too, even if she wasn't exactly allowed to help.

It ricocheted through her mind the entire time how much she missed moments like this. Being in a kitchen cooking, childish laughter rumbling through the room. Henry loved to cook. Daniel was the best patron of their own creations. It aches deep inside as she watches the way Robin maneuvers Roland about, helping him hold the wooden spoon to stir their feast, wiping away the streaks of sauce on chubby cheeks.

He's a good dad.

It's hard to be a single parent. Having to play both good and bad cop, not that she was really any good at either according to her mother. One day it would be Cora commenting that Regina was too soft with Henry, lacking the ability to discipline him properly, making herself look like a complete fool run by a child. Other days it was the complete opposite. The smallest of stern looks sent Henry's way for talking back had Cora up in arms, huffing about that a mother should never be so cruel to their own kin. Which between doing Regina's head in, almost made her laugh thinking back on how nurturing and affectionate Cora was not as a mother.

Raising a child alone was never a thought that crossed Regina's mind, Daniel was always going to be there so what was the point in thinking about any other situation. It was supposed to be Henry, and then they'd start trying around his second or third birthday, and if Daniel got his way, perhaps another two after that even.

That had been the hardest, the worst of it. Thinking about what they were supposed to have together as she sat alone, rocking her baby back and forth as he wailed for his father, not understanding that his hero wasn't coming home, that it was just the two of them now. That was her new reality in the blink of an eye, being a single mom, having nothing but her cuddles to try and soothe Henry's tiny whimpers for a man that was lost to the both of them.

Her own pain had taken a backseat to Henry's, stifled through quiet sobs into Daniel's pillow most nights.

Watching Robin seemingly effortless with Roland hits her hard in the gut and has her wondering if he and Marian had wished for more children as well. If he too had spent evenings in silence wondering how in the hell he was going to raise a child all alone. Something he has done phenomenally at clearly. Roland is precious - kind, smart, curious and polite. He does remind her a lot of Henry, and as she sips her wine, it crosses her mind that they would have been really good friends.

If only they had the chance to meet.

A plate slides in front of her, along with a rather soft smile from Robin. He hasn't really said that much to her, hasn't thrown a thousand questions her way, dug and nosed into her life as much as other people probably would. He just smiles, catches her eyes every now and again, and focuses back down on his son and their dinner.

It's oddly calming, not being pressed about things she isn't quite ready to talk about, it brings out an alarming urge to reach out and touch him every time he passes by. A silent thank you she thinks about at least a dozen times, though her hands stay firm in her lap.

They shouldn't touch. Not like that anyway. Harmless contact while consoling is acceptable, but to just run her fingers through his hair, down his chest and over his arms seems a little bold. She wants too…won't, but quietly muses about how warm he'd feel beneath her palms anyway. The idea of it has her cheeks heating ridiculously. He wouldn't want her like that anyway. How could he?

She hears Robin ask Roland to go wash up, that he'll finish up here. Her heart skips a beat as Roland bounces happily out of the kitchen, curls flopping about and little socked feet skittering towards the stairs. Robin yells for him to be careful whilst shaking his head with a chuckled, "He's already had to get stitches once, I'd rather not explain another battle wound to my parents."

"Do they live nearby?"

Robin nods, settles back against the counter with a kitchen cloth tossed over a shoulder. His far too blue eyes popping out thanks to the dark forest green henley. "They are just in Tigard. Twenty minutes or so away, which is a bloody god send when I need some help with Roland." Regina hums in acknowledgement, thinking about her own father she ran into this morning. They have a lot to talk about, and she promised to have dinner with him tomorrow. It's an exciting thought surrounded by complete fear.

Unlike her mother, Henry Sr. is soft and warm. They had a solid relationship, even if she hated how much he caved to Cora. It wasn't always easy, but he tried to be there for Regina, at least until he left for Africa with Doctors without Borders. She wishes he was there when Henry passed. He would have known what to do.

Robin's moves to sit beside her, pulling her out of the memories with a gentle hand laying on top of her own. Her tears flush hot as she sniffs them back, shaking her head and running her fingers through her hair quickly with a small sorry, whispered out.

"There's no need for that."

"I think I've cried enough in front of you to last a lifetime, and it's only been a day."

Robin sighs, thumbing over her fingers gently with a soft smile, "Have you seen them?"

"I actually saw my father this morning for the first time." Her tears slip, and Robin shifts to wipe them away, swiping along the apple of her cheek for a moment as she gathers herself. "He was out of the country when Henry died, and apparently my mother didn't tell him anything after she walked out on us at the hospital."

"She left you and Henry?" His brow cinches tight.

Regina nods, scowling down painfully into the half filled glass of wine. "When Henry first got diagnosed, she was around, but things got tense between us when I didn't listen to her advice." She doesn't elaborate more than that, not really quite ready to dive into the storm that is her relationship with Cora. The anger is there still. Beneath the bitter loneliness and pain.

"Doesn't seem to be a reason to walk out on your daughter and grandchild." Robin exhales long and slowly, "That wasn't fair of her."

"That's my mother."

"I'm sorry Regina. Truly."

They fall into a quiet silence, sipping their wine as dinner simmers away on the counter. Regina's eyes ghosting around the kitchen, the photos that adorn the fridge, mostly of Roland sandwiched between his parents, one of Robin and Marian on a park bench together, a third of a rather pregnant Marian in a bikini smiling softly with a hand on her belly.

Regina has no photos of Daniel or Henry anymore.

They are packed away in a box somewhere in her father's house, in her old home. Daniel always had a camera with him. It had become quite the hobby of his. Taking hundreds of photos of her and Henry everywhere they went. It was a christmas gift one year, a leather bound album housing their entire life together. From their first date when he'd snapped a photo kissing her cheek, a few vacation ones, another where he'd asked her father to take one when Daniel got down on one knee during Christmas. A favorite was one of him she'd taken herself, pregnant in bed, nightshirt rucked up and Daniel's hands on her bump. They'd been both the best and the worst thing for her to look at after he died. Sometimes she found solace in his frozen captured smile, other times it just pronounced the ache in her chest.

All she actually has left still on her is Daniel's watch. A simple Swiss gold watch his grandfather has passed onto him as a graduating college gift. It never left Daniel's wrist, not until the police gave it back to her, having found it in the wreckage of the plane crash nearly two months later. She wears it everyday.

"All clean Papa!" Roland come tearing into the kitchen, hands held high as he skids into Robin's thigh. He wiggles his fingers as Robin takes a long look, eyeing up his boy with a goofy stern cocked brow. "Soap?"

Roland nods.

"Did you sing the entire ABC song."

Roland nods…but his smile dips for a moment. Caught. She can see it all over his adorable little face as Robin leans in, bringing a hand up to his nose for a long, suspicious, playful sniff. "Smells like you only got to the letter T. Am I wrong?"

Roland bounces on his toes, his nose scrunched up in defeat as he falls dramatically into Robin's outstretched arms. "I couldn't make it the whole song, Papa!"

"And why's that?"

Regina watches as Roland wriggles into his father's lap with a pout, "I didn't want to miss Regina." It stuns her and completely sets her heart on fire as his little brown eyes turn oh so brightly up at her, bashfulness written across his face as Robin dips him down into a low swing off the chair, hoisting his boy up "And here I thought it would be me you'd miss!" Roland giggles, smacking his hands onto Robin's cheeks for a nose nuzzled kiss, "Regina is pretty though."

Roland is going to be a ladies man. That is as clear as day written all over his four year old face. Much like his father who winks playfully towards Regina, an agreeing, "Too right you are, my boy," smiled out before he turns to let Roland down, ruffling his hair as Regina blushes furiously behind her wine glass. These two are going to melt her into a puddle if she isn't careful.

"Now how about you take the pretty lady over there her dinner." Robin hands Roland a full plate, more than Regina can probably eat, and for a second she wonders if he is loading her up because he knows how many days she starved over the past three years.

Roland waddles over, tongue sticking out, brow drawn together in pure concentration till her plate is safely in her hands. He bows with a valiant, "M'lady!" and Regina can't help the beam that etches her face as she swallows him whole, tugging him onto her lap and landing a wet kiss to his cheek.

Robin slides in next to them, a matching grin plastered at the sight of Regina and Roland tucked together. It's been quite sometime since he's seen his boy attach so rapidly to another person. He and Roland have been solo mates for such a long time it almost feels foreign, the way his heart trickles and skips. It takes nothing but Regina's shy smile over the top of Roland's curls to have Robin thinking things that once were impossible.

Perhaps it's fate.

And she does it again, shifts Roland to his own seat and looks Robin dead in the eyes, and smiles that bloody gorgeous smile, "Dinner smells amazing."

It's on the tip of his tongue to tell her that she looks amazing.

"Dig in before it gets cold."

xx

x

They'd moved to the living room after dinner, Roland taking up residence in her lap without hesitation and promptly falling dead asleep against her chest. She'd stroked through his curls quietly as Robin stoked a fire in the hearth in the corner. Roland's heaviness a beautiful weight on her body. He's a sound sleeper.

Something she can tell Robin is incredibly grateful for.

"I can take him to bed."

Regina grins, leans down into Roland's curls and inhales heavily with a nod. It's getting late and she really really needs to be going. This interview isn't going to wait forever, best now to burst this beautiful bubble of peace before she gets to comfortable in it. She lets Robin scoop his son up gently, standing with him as they walk to the stairs. "I should probably get back."

He spins around, "Will you wait, just till I put him down. I'll not be longer than five minutes, he's out cold anyway."

"Robin…"

"Please. Just let me say a proper good night to you."

She can see where Roland gets his puppy dog eyes. Robin's are bright, doey and so hopeful that she won't say no. How can she? He did cook her dinner, and breakfast...and let her sob her heart out on his collar earlier today. She nods, rolls her eyes playfully at his relieved sighed smiling, "I'll be right back."

Turning back around, her arms wrap about her waist, and she steps slowly towards the couch once more, settling back against it's soft leather. He's got nice taste. Nothing to hard edged. It's homey and warm. It reminds her of the house she and Daniel made together. Her eyes wander the living room, a guitar resting gently in one corner. Of course Robin would play, what else doesn't he do? It suits him. Being that guy to strum a song gently.

Daniel was a piano player. She loved sitting quietly and listening to his fingers dance along the ivories for hours. He wanted to teach Henry at some point, and Regina was grateful it wasn't the drums. Music is important. She's always believed that.

"That was my brother's." Robin pads in, noticing how Regina's eyes are trained to his guitar. "He gave it to me before he moved out to England."

"Do you play often?"

He sits down beside her, close enough his thigh presses against hers. "I haven't in three years. Marian loved it, and I just haven't really found the inspiration to play since she passed away."

"I'm sorry." She twines her fingers into his for a quick gentle squeeze, and then doesn't exactly let go, though neither does Robin.

They just sit, loosely locked together.

"So, tell me about this interview of yours tomorrow?" he asks, reaching for her glass, passing it between them before stemming his own and sitting back into the cushions. Regina sighs, swallows back a gulp of merlot, "It's with a law firm."

"Which one?"

"Lucas and Gold. It's downtown."

Robin hums, turning slightly to square his chest to her, "Were you a lawyer before hand?"

"I taught law at a college in the city, but I quit after I got pregnant with Henry."

"Did you enjoy it?"

"Being a lawyer?"

He nods, eyes scanning across her face curiously. It's almost like he's reading her inner thoughts. Already knows that going back into law might not be her true desire. But what else can she do? It's her career that hopefully she'll be able to fall back on once more. As to whether she likes being a lawyer...defending people, living in the world of criminals and drugs, well, it wasn't her choice to go to Law school anyway, that was all Cora.

She shrugs, sips her wine again and smiles small. "It's the only thing I know how to do."

"I don't know if that's true."

Her brow cocks high, "What makes you think you know me so well?"

Robin's smile grows at her playfulness, there is no heat to her tone, or at least no angry heat, a different simmer perhaps. "Call it intuition?"

"Or a lucky guess perhaps. Regardless, I am hoping that my previous history won't dissuade them."

"I don't see how it could, circumstances given."

She sighs, resting her now empty wine glass back on the table, "Not everyone is like you Robin." She turns, tilting her head to the side as she looks long and hard at him as he frowns, confused. "You are a good person. What you did for me, have done for me, well, not many people would allow a complete stranger into their home."

"We aren't strangers, Regina." He moves to swipe her fallen hair back behind her ear. "A part of me thinks we never have been."

It's a nice thought. A silly romantic thing that she tries to not let her heart beat to quickly over, though apparently the blush in her cheeks gives her away. She knows it the second Robin bites down on his smile, tongue peeking out for a half moment as his dimples deepen shyly.

"Will you let me know how it goes?"

"Is this your way of asking for my phone number?" she cops back, fighting away the influx of butterflies when he chuckles and levels her with a bashful peek of bright blue eyes. "And, that's assuming I even own a phone."

He blinks twice, and she sees him register the meaning behind the simple statement. "I, uhh, sorry, I just…"

"I do." She flushes, "Have a phone."

Robin ah's, blows out a rather hot breath, and looks back up at her. "So is that a yes?"

Some people shouldn't be allowed to be this adorable, she decides, especially not a grown man. The hope in his eyes shouldn't melt her like they do, and if she thought with her brain she wouldn't do it, reach for his cell on the table and promptly dial in her number into his contacts, grinning like a fool the entire time.

But it's exactly what she does.

She feels weirdly giddy when he takes it back, stares down at it for a moment before hitting the save button and smiling brighter at her than she should be allowed to receive from anyone.

"I need to go. Prep for the interview and all."

This time Robin nods, stilling grinning as he gestures for her to stand, following her towards the door and helping her with her jacket. HIs hands are soft on her shoulders as she turns, fingers deftly adjusting the collar of it for a long few unnecessary seconds.

"Call me after, and we will celebrate."

"And if I don't get the job?"

"Call me anyway." He smiles and grips her hands. "We can get stinking drunk and curse the idiots who let you walk away."

Regina laughs, pats his chest and turns to open his door, "Goodnight Robin."

"Goodnight Regina."

She walks out, down the two steps, across the pathway and through his gate, peering around to find Robin slouched against the door, smiling the entire time as he waves.

It's not far to the train station. The 20 minute ride seems to pass by in a blur. Even the fifteen minute walk to the motel goes by in the blink of an eye. Her mind still buzzing about what happened today. Everything. All of it. From meeting Robin and Roland, to seeing her father, getting to finally talk to Daniel and Henry...today is not exactly what she imagined when she woke up this morning.

It felt freeing to live like a normal person once more.

Though that feeling is quickly swamped by reality as she clicks open her motel door, the smell of staleness clouding around her. She scowls, tossing her coat on the horrendously floral patterned bed spread. It's hideous. This entire place is utterly horrid. The bathroom lights blink and flash harsh yellow before finally igniting. There is a stain in the bathtub she'd rather not think too hard about. It feels tainted. Grimy and gross, but it's all she can afford.

Washing her face and a quick brush of her teeth, she slips a pair of tights on, not yet owning pijamas. Peering the fridge open, she briskly thumbs a small roll of twenties hidden in the ice box and sighs. This is all she has - sixty dollars and Daniel's gold watch. She'd never pawn it. It's her only tie to him right now.

She grabs the black pencil skirt she'd gotten at the women's shelter, a slightly wrinkled burgundy blouse to go with, and lays them both on the desk. Hopefully it will be enough to convince this law firm that she is worth the position. Maybe if her aesthetics are good enough, her nerves won't overtake and ruin everything.

She needs this job. Desperately.

Sliding back into the bed, she clicks off the bedside lamp, surrendering to the darkness as her eyes slowly close. Minutes tick by as she simply counts her breath, in and out, silently and measured. As she hits eighteen, her phone buzzes. Rolling over she flips it open, and a smile cracks against the nerves in her heart.

Robin Locksley: Hope you made it safe. Sleep well. I'll talk to you tomorrow?.

It's silly, the way heat floods through her at a simple text. It's been three years since anyone has cared to know if she was safe. It's even sillier that she starts tearing up at it. A few slipping out and dripping down onto the screen. Swiping them away from blurring his name, she types back a quick responding: Wish me luck.

She settles the phone back onto the desk, grinning as it vibrates within a few moments.

Robin Locksley: You don't need it, I have faith in you.

She could say something back, but instead simply holds her father's gifted phone to her chest, and smiles out a long breath, a freeing sense washing over her that perhaps she wasn't entirely alone anymore. Daniel wouldn't have wanted her to give up. He knew her better than to simply lay down and roll over to life's tribulations. And she decides in this moment that she will make her family proud. She will survive, revive and live a life worth living.

She just has to get this job tomorrow.

TBC.