Hello everyone! Here is the second chapter, and I think it is the first time in my whole life I have respected the deadline I fixed!

Disclaimer: Everything (characters, setting) belongs to Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis, and ABC. I don't make any money out of this story.

I hope you enjoy your reading!

Chapter 2: Thank You

The queen was leading him, slowly but surely, towards the main road. Robin looked at her, and he saw her long, dark hair moving with every step she took.

He knew he should probably hate her after what she did to Marian, his beloved wife, but he couldn't help but being hypnotized by her. That was probably why he had offered to help them all in the first place.

"Why did you come back here?" he suddenly asked, when he couldn't take the silence anymore.

"I had to," she answered shortly. She apparently felt his eyes on her, because she sighed and continued, "There was a curse in our town. If we hadn't come here, we would have…"

She trailed off and lowered her eyes, and he knew why he had offered his help. She clearly wasn't the Evil Queen anymore. She seemed… almost sad when she talked about that curse, and actually willing to help others, so either she regretted casting that curse, either she didn't and she was just doing her best to make it all better.

"Were you the one to cast it?" He desperately wanted to know more, to know if she had really changed.

"No, of course not! I wouldn't have endangered my son with another curse!"

He literally stopped at how vehemently she had spoken, and he looked at her with admiration. So it was her son she was fighting for…

"He's not here with me," she clarified, and he knew that she had noticed he had stopped walking.

Robin looked into her eyes and saw a sadness so deep that he thought, for a brief moment, it would overcome him as well.

"Where is he then?" he asked her.

She took a deep breath and answered, "Safe," before walking away from him, her shoulders slumped. He frowned and wondered what was so terrible about it. Of course, he wasn't with her anymore, but what better life could she hope for him than a life where he was safe? He had no intention of asking her more about it, because he could feel her nerves were almost breaking by now. Maybe later… he thought. For now, he kept on following her without uttering another word.

They walked and walked and walked, until finally, they stepped out of the forest onto the mud of the main road. It was raining now, and they hadn't even felt it because the rain was blocked by the thick canopy above them.

The queen stopped and turned once again towards him. She asked him, "Do you want to continue on foot, or should I take us there right now?"

"As you want, m'lady," he just said calmly.

A few seconds later, he was further up the main road, facing someone he recognized easily.

"Baelfire!" he exclaimed, and a smile appeared on his lips, and he was well aware that everyone was staring at them now.

"You know him?" he heard the queen ask. He didn't really know if the question was for him or for his friend.

"Yes, Regina, I know him," Baelfire mumbled, and took a step towards him. "So you've traveled safely back to the forest, Robin?" he asked with a huge smile on his lips.

"Yes, Roland and I are perfectly safe."

He saw a frown on Regina's face and remembered he hadn't told her about his son. But then again, why would he?

Another woman with white and brown traveling clothes and dark hair intervened, asking if he was the Robin Hood. And he answered by telling her he was, a polite smile on his face. He didn't like how everyone gushed about him, because every single time someone heard his name, they either saw him as some kind of a dangerous outlaw, or as a good person. And he wasn't either of them.

"And you were with Regina…" the woman smiled.

"What?" he let out before he could stop himself. He heard Regina exclaim at the same moment, "Excuse me?"

"Oh…" The woman seemed to realize she was in the wrong and obviously had to hold back a laugh when she continued, "It's just… Regina isn't really the… social type."

For a few moments, Robin thought the queen would literally burn her down, but she took a deep breath and chose to avoid everyone's gaze (especially his, he noticed). He couldn't help it, he smiled a little before dropping the subject.

"Regina and I…" he began, stressing her name, which made her look at him with a frown. "We have an offer for you."

"No, you have an offer for them," she immediately rectified.

"Well, yes, but you agreed. Obviously."

She held her head high and crossed her arms, and he didn't lower his eyes, defying her. When they both became aware everyone was staring at them, they dropped their silent argument and turned towards them again.

"As I said, we have an offer." He heard the queen huff, but she didn't stop him this time. "I have a camp in the woods, and –"

"A beautiful camp in a beautiful clearing," Regina intervened. "I'm sure you'll like it, Snow," she said, fixing her gaze on the other dark-haired woman.

So the woman who had asked if he was the Robin Hood was in fact Snow White… and the Evil Queen (but she didn't seem so evil anymore) didn't look like she permanently wanted to kill her. In fact, she was now smiling at the younger woman, and Snow wasn't nervous at all in her presence. Obviously, things had changed between them, but why and how? He didn't know… yet.

"Yes, my people have already told me how beautiful they think it is," he agreed. "Anyways, there's still enough place for every single one of you, and I don't think it will be a problem if you –"

"Why not go to the castle?" a man asked.

He was standing just behind Snow White and had his hand on the small of her back, so he concluded that this man was her husband, Prince Charming.

At Charming's question, Regina looked at him anxiously and he sighed, understanding very well why she didn't want to explain it all by herself. And so he told them, "We cannot go to the castle, because it has already been invaded during your… absence."

Short, but clear. That was the best he could do, and the queen would have to do the rest by herself.

"Invaded?" Snow exclaimed. "By who?"

"We don't know," Regina answered. "I cast a spell on it to prevent anyone from entering it, and no one should have been able to break it. And yet, it happened."

Everyone but the both of them looked at each other, they seemed to agree on something, and then some of the most important people gathered around Snow and Charming. The queen was left alone, and so was he. They looked at them and tried to understand what they were saying, but they couldn't, and so when Snow walked towards them with a serious face, he slightly tensed. Until a smile appeared on her lips and she said, "Of course we'll accept your offer! But are you sure your… people will accept us?"

"Of course they'll accept you. I'm not so sure about you, though." And with that, he turned towards Regina, his eyes telling her he was sorry about that.

She nodded in understanding and answered, "I can understand why. I don't think I'll need to stay at your camp very long though. Soon I'll go and fight whoever it is that invaded the castle."

"You need a plan first," Snow countered.

The queen looked down at Snow, and sneered, "I already have a plan."

"You do?" Charming asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Of course I do. I have my magic, and –"

"Magic? Is that your solution to everything?" Robin couldn't help but ask.

She glared at him and didn't even answer. He huffed, and Snow looked at him apologetically. It wasn't her fault though if Regina was so irritable, so he offered her a little smile, and then glared at the queen while she wasn't looking.

He made sure everyone was really alright with the leaders' decision, and then gestured for them to follow him. He then saw a purple cloud of smoke from the corners of his eyes and raised his eyebrows, because Regina wasn't here anymore.

"Like I said, Regina is not much of the social type…" Snow apologized for her once they were walking in the woods. "She's probably already in the forest, she likes to be alone."

"Yes, I've noticed that," he grumbled.

"I hope she didn't go to your camp… She won't be welcomed warmly."

"I don't think she is that stupid," he reassured her.

Snow laughed a little and told him she liked him. He smiled in return, and then he heard another one of those terrible, terrible screams. Inhuman, screeching… He was growing paler by the second, because he knew what direction that scream came from. His camp… It wasn't necessarily his camp that was being attacked, but there was a strong chance.

"Roland!" he said anxiously.

"What was that?" Charming asked him at the same moment.

He didn't answer and started running in the right direction. He just heard everyone calling after him, and then their feet hitting the ground behind his. For a brief moment, he regretted he hadn't told them to be quiet, because this much noise could endanger them all.

When they arrived to the camp, no one had been hurt even though they had made more noise than a herd of elephants, and the first thing he saw was a person in a long, black dress. Regina… Then he noticed how everyone had gathered around her, but not necessarily in an aggressive way.

She turned towards him at the noise and he saw someone behind her. She had her hands on the little boy's shoulders.

"Roland!" he sighed with relief.

"Papa!" the little boy screamed, and he ran towards him.

Robin noticed his son's cheeks were stained with tears, and he kneeled on the ground to receive him in his open arms.

"What happened?" he asked his comrades.

"Well…" Little John stammered.

"What happened is that one of those stupid… flying monkeys attacked your precious little camp! I thought it was a… a haven, and it attacked it!" Regina thundered. "And your… son was there, in the middle of the clearing, and –"

"And so she saved him," his best friend interrupted, pointing to the queen with his chin.

"Yes Papa!" Roland told him. "She saved me!"

"Well… I guess I have to thank you then."

He nodded towards Regina, who took a deep breath and replied with a nod of her own.

"Did that beast hurt you, Roland?" he asked seriously to his little son.

"No Papa. Look!"

Roland took his hand and led him towards Regina, who smiled and held up a… Was that a teddy bear? He couldn't suppress his laugh, and sniggered, "You turned it into… that?"

"Well yes. I couldn't let it hurt your little boy."

She looked at Roland and smiled warmly, and that's when he remembered her own son. She probably wanted to make it up for leaving him behind… wherever "behind" was.

"Thank you again," he said to her.

She looked at him, and he thought she saw something in his eyes that made her soften, because she handed the stuffed toy to his son and then put a light hand on his elbow, telling him, "You'll take care of your son, right? You won't let anything bad happen to him?"

He nodded almost frantically, because she had to know he wouldn't let anything happen to him. She smiled once more and then she was heading off towards the others, who were still waiting on the borders of the meadow. They probably wanted to give them some privacy… and some time to accommodate to all those intruders.

I hope you enjoyed, that the characters were still In Character (even though I feel like they weren't) and that there weren't too many mistakes in this! :)

The next chapter will be out next Monday!

Answers to anonymous reviews:

- Guest: I'm really glad you liked it, and I hope you liked that chapter as well!