Regina walked around town for a little bit after she dropped Henry off at school, it was a beautiful day, and she needed the fresh air to think a little. She tried to ignore the looks of sympathy people were throwing her way, and instead tried to focus on the good memories she shared with Henry around Storybrooke. She remembered the joy in his eyes at the sight of her at the end of each school day, how he practically skip-walked next to her when she took him along to run errands, the unconditional love and joy when she would let him help her with something, and the genuine smile he gave her when she called him 'my little prince'. Those memories had once brought her sadness, had her heart clenching in pain. But now…..now they brought a smile to her face as she recalled waking up to his singing voice once more as it bounced off the walls, they brought a smile to her face when she remembered how protective he seemed of her, the joy in his eyes when she told him about the baby, and the care and love he was finally showing her again.

When her mind came to from its walk down memory lane, she found herself standing across the street from the pawn shop. The one place she actually needed to go, but was sort of procrastinating that conversation, not entirely sure how Rumple was going to react. She knew that Henry said he wanted to talk to her, and both Granny and Ruby mentioned that he seemed to have turned over a new leaf, but they had a complicated history, and even more complicated relationship. She needed his help, and she wasn't entirely sure what he'll ask for a price, and if she'll be willing to pay up. She stood across the street, watching him interact with Belle through the glass front, her mind going a thousand miles an hour trying to weigh her options. He did seem different, he seemed genuinely happy, the love and adoration she saw in his eyes for Belle was unmistakable. She had seen it before, decades ago when she told him that Belle was dead. She had known right then and there that Belle was his weakness, and it seemed that Rumple had figured it out as well at some point, because she suddenly stopped being his priority, and power did. But now, looking at them, she could see that look in his eyes once more, the one that had vanished decades ago.

She sighed, letting out all the air in her lungs, as she finally let her feet leave their place on the sidewalk, and make that dreaded stroll across the street to the door that many had feared for so long.

She held her breath when the bell over the door chimed, signaling her arrival, and both sets of eyes turned towards her. Rumple's eyes softened – much to her surprise – at the sight of her, and a soft smile pulled at his lips, a genuine one too, when he saw the apprehension in hers.

"Hello, Regina," he greeted warmly, the hand that was tangled in Belle's hair traveling down her back, and rested on the small of her back.

"Rumple, Belle," she said, clearing her throat. "Welcome back."

"Thank you," Belle said kindly. "I'll leave you two alone," she added, as she made a move to head to the back. Regina raised her hand. "No, Belle, wait. You two are married now, it would be unfair of me to ask him to deceive you, or lie to you. And besides, I owe you both an apology," Regina rambled, only for Belle to smile.

"Regina, there's no need. We've already been through this, everyone in this town has a past of some sorts. And I do admit that I was only using the same perspective as everyone else's to look at yours. But after Rumple told me everything, I can't say I would have reacted any differently," Belle soothed her.

Regina's eyes cut over to Rumple to find more understanding in there than she has ever seen from him. "You told her everything?" Regina stammered, and Rumple nodded. "I couldn't marry her without coming clean about my past, all of my mistakes. I have wronged many people Regina, centuries worth of people. But you were the one I wronged the most, the one I used, manipulated. Your heart held such a rare quality, one that mine didn't, that I completely lost sight of anything else but my need to use it. My need to manipulate that quality for my own benefit. It didn't matter to me that I was ruining your soul in the process, that I was constantly taking away your chances at redemption, that I turned your loved ones against you. None of it mattered, all I saw were my own selfish desires. I thought I was immune to the price that magic has, the price that all of my deeds has….but I ended up paying the ultimate price of all…..I buried my own son. You of all people know that no pain compares to the loss of a child."

Regina was stunned by the sincerity of his monologue. Never in her life had she even fantasized about hearing an apology out of the infamous Rumpelstiltskin himself.

"I kept kicking you when you were down, took advantage of all your weaknesses, and I know that no amount of apologies will ever suffice. But I hope that you believe me when I tell you that I will try to make it up to you the best that I can, and that you no longer have to worry about any ill-intentions from me," he added after a moment's pause.

Regina was speechless for a bit, doing her best to hold back the tears that were pricking her eyes. Damn those hormones! She took a few more steps into the shop, until she came to stand in front of them.

"Thank you, Rumple. This means a lot to me, coming from you," she whispered past the lump in her throat, as she raised her hand to shake his. "And I am sorry for exploiting your weaknesses as well, and making you believe that Belle was dead when she really wasn't. And I'm sorry for what I put her through," she apologized sincerely, and he nodded, taking her hand into his, and giving it a gentle squeeze.

"Thank you for giving me the chance to apologize," he spoke truthfully.

"No problem. I needed to ask you a favor as well," she alluded to her hidden intention.

"Anything for my favorite understudy," he teased, and she laughed softly.

"Whatever I'm about to tell you both, only four more people know about. And I would like to keep it that way," she informed them, and they both nodded.

"I'm to assume that one of those four people is Henry," Rumple stated, and she nodded. "The other three, are Dr. Whale, Ruby and Granny," she added.

Belle furrowed her eyebrows. "That's an odd combination," she pointed out, her eyes flickering over to Rumple, and was even more surprised by the satisfied smile on Rumple's face.

"So I take it our good doctor made sure that everything is in ship-shape?" he asked calmly, and Belle didn't know if she should be more baffled by Rumple's question, or the mixture of shock and horror on Regina's face.

"Y….yo….you felt it?" she stammered, and he nodded.

"Felt what?" Belle asked, just as Regina's hand went to her stomach, and covered it. "Oh," was all she said, before she turned her attention back to Rumple. "Does that mean the baby has magic too?" she asked, and Rumple nodded.

"I would assume the father to be our dear outlaw, so this means the baby is the product of true love, of two soulmates. Of course it has magic," he explained.

"Is there any way we can cover it up?" Regina wondered, still shaky from the thought of her yet-to-be-born child's magical abilities.

"I can assure you that none of us will breathe a word of this," Rumple assured her.

"No, I mean physically. Is there a way for you to hide the physical signs of a pregnancy? I don't want the whole town finding out," she explained hastily, and he nodded in understanding.

"You mean you don't want Mr. Locksley to know?" he corrected her.

"Not yet, no. And I surely don't want him knowing through a bulging stomach, or some nosey resident telling him," she explained.

"I will swing by your house tomorrow with the desired potion," he stated calmly, and she nodded. "Thank you," she said gratefully.

"Congratulations, that's one lucky kid," Belle congratulated, and Regina flashed them the first genuine smile either have seen out of her in a long time. "Thank you."

The day went by smoothly from that point on, Henry had gone to Emma's after school, and Regina was finally able to catch up on some much needed paperwork for the small town she created. She was sitting on the couch with a book about pregnancy that she had found online, and had conjured up. There was really no point in buying it, or even borrowing it from the library, it would only need a resident to find out, and news like that would spread like wildfire.

She hadn't felt like dinner, so she munched up on some fruits, and had retired to her study with the book since she got home. The only thing that interrupted her was a phone call to Henry before he called it a night. And so, she was about halfway through the book, eating up all the information it had to offer. She had raised one baby before, but she had never really been through a pregnancy. So unlike most new moms, she knew plenty about what to do with a baby, but not entirely sure about how to handle one that's still inside her own body.

It was well after ten, and she was about to call it a night, when a knock at the door stopped her. She furrowed her eyebrows, checking her watch again to make sure of the time, just as another knock came at the door, followed by someone calling her name.

"Gina," it came as a sob, and she instantly recognized the voice immediately.

"Roland," she breathed, as she rushed towards the door, and yanked it open. The door was barely open wide enough for her to see, before Roland had lunged at her. She caught him with ease, her confused brown eyes, meeting Robin's guilty blue ones.

"He woke up in the middle of the night, screaming from a nightmare. He kept calling for you, and won't calm down. I didn't know what else to do," he hastily explained, his voice shaky with uncertainty, as well as helplessness as he looked at his five year old huddled up in the arms of the woman he loved. Before, that would've been a sight for the sore eyes, but now….it simply reminded him of what he can't have. It simply broke his heart.

"I wanna stay here with you," Roland hiccupped into Regina's neck, where he had his face buried, and she merely looked at Robin for approval. Robin was helpless, and simply wanted his son to calm down, so he nodded his approval. "I'll swing by to pick him in the morning," Robin stated softly, as he turned to leave.

"NO!" came the hysterical protest from Roland, before his bloodshot eyes met his father's. "I don't wanna come back to camp, I wanna stay here," he sobbed, as he now looked back at Regina. "Please," he whimpered, and she could feel her heart breaking. She looked back towards Robin, who looked just as lost as she was. She nodded affirmingly at him, and Robin gave her a grateful smile, before she slowly closed the door.

She made her way up the stairs with Roland still in her arms, his sobs have turned into sniffles, but his hold on her hadn't loosened at all. She swiftly made her way over to her room, pulled the covers back, and slid them both under it, after adjusting the pillows against the headboard. She loosened her arms a little when Roland wiggled to get more comfortable, before she wrapped them around him once more, with one hand softly running through his messy brown locks.

"You wanna tell me what the bad dream was about?" she asked softly, as she planted a kiss to the top of his head. He tightened his arms around her in response, and rubbed his head against her chest, as he tried to cocoon himself within her body. "Baby, I'm not going anywhere," she soothed.

He sighed. "Mommy's been really mean to you since she came back. She keeps saying mean things," he started, and even though she wanted to protest, she had a feeling he wasn't done. "I keep asking her to stop, but she only gets worse. I don't like it when she says mean things about you," he added.

"Sweetheart, she's just really confused. I know that your father told you that I had done some very bad and mean things before, and she was alive during that time. This world is new to her, and so am I," she tried, but he shook his head against her, and finally pulled back from their embrace. Her heart broke even further at confusion, and fear she saw in his eyes.

"Daddy always said that everybody can make mistakes, that even he made mistakes before too, and I make them. He doesn't keep saying mean things about me, and people don't say mean things about him. He says that if a person is sorry, and shows the people that, that we should give him a second chance," he paused to catch his breath. "And Daddy told me that you people called you the Evil Queen before, but you're not her anymore," he continued, and Regina was baffled by the innocent view.

"Well, sweetie, I'm sure she's just a little confused," she soothed.

"She keeps saying that you killed her," Roland confessed and Regina's breath hitched in her throat. She hated the entire situation. It was moments like these that made her question her decision back then to enter in a relationship with Robin. She knew her past would come back to haunt them one day, and she didn't know how to explain any of it to Roland. She hated seeing the unconditional love disappear from his eyes. And the faith he had in her as he looked at her right now was torture.

"Well, sweetie, that may very well be true," she said, her voice catching slightly at the end, as she used her last bit of strength to keep her tears at bay.

"No, it's not," Roland objected defiantly. "Even Daddy said that she keeps changing her story," he argued, and Regina furrowed her eyebrows. It was true that she didn't remember every person that she ever hurt, but she had wracked her brain for clues as to the time Marian claimed to have been captured by her, and came up empty.

"Is that what your dream was about? That I was hurting her?" Regina wondered, and he shook his head. "No, she was hurting you," he amended, and Regina was stunned. "She was trying to hurt you, and take me away. I don't wanna go back to her, I don't like her very much."

"Oh no, sweetie, don't say that," Regina reprimanded gently.

"I don't, and she doesn't like me either," he hiccupped, as he buried his face back into her chest.

"No, baby. I'm sure she loves you very much, this is all new to her, that's all," Regina soothed gently.

"No, she doesn't. She….." he halted before he could finish, and cowered away into her arms once more. Regina was an expert on body language, especially that of a child's. And she saw the guilt and shame in Roland's behavior.

"Sweetheart, you know you can tell me anything, right?" she encouraged, and he fisted his fingers around her top even further, as the last thing she expected to hear from him, left his lips.

"She doesn't feel like Mommy."

A cliffhanger...I know. I am terribly sorry for the long wait...writer's block when it came to this story was a bitch to overcome. I left it at a cliffhanger hoping it would force my brain to finish the chapter sooner rather than later so I wouldn't keep you guys waiting for too long.

Let me know what you all think of this.

Thank you for being patient with me, and for all the new follows and favorites.

Hope you all enjoy this.