Author's Note: So admittedly this chapter has been done for a while now and well I'll just let you read it and you'll understand the delay. I'm just going to say I am really going to enjoy finishing this fic.
Enjoy.
Regina can hear Robin getting Roland ready upstairs while she's in the kitchen preparing breakfast for everyone. Soon they will be making their way over to Gold's to see if he might have any insight into their situation.
In all the years she's known Rumple, she's never felt so disinclined to approach him as she does today. No, today she dreads it. The past week back home in Storybooke has flown by with no sign whatsoever of the person responsible for her condition, but she can't let this drop. Regina has a family, has a baby girl who needs her. There is no way she can let this happen again.
Today, Emma and Killian are also expected to return. Regina spoke to Emma earlier that morning. The blonde was still hesitant to speak over the phone, yet from what Regina could gather there wasn't much left for Emma to discover.
Another horrible thought occurs to her. What if they never find out who was behind this? They'd have to live their lives constantly looking over their shoulders, and quite frankly, that does not sit well with Regina. Thinking about that makes her chest hurt, burning in anger and resentment towards the person responsible.
She rouses herself when she hears Robin and Roland's footfall on the stairs. Straightening her shoulders and attempting to project a positive demeanor, she is determined to appear cheerful, especially in front of her sons.
"Morning, love," Robin greets as he enters the kitchen and then places a small kiss upon her lips, his habit of the last two weeks, which makes her smile at the familiarity which they have fallen back into so easily. He then goes straight over to Wren, who has been watching her mother for the last ten minutes in her bouncer on the kitchen island, chewing greedily on her small fist.
"Look who's awake," he croons as he bends over his baby girl, placing a kiss to her small brow. "Good morning, my little darling," he tells her with a soft smile he reserves only for his daughter, before he unbuckles her from her seat, lifting her up into his arms and settling her against his chest.
Regina's heart swells with love as she watches them, father and daughter together, and she replies, "Morning. Coffee?"
Robin's attention is locked in the baby he's shifted back in his arms. Her gaze is fixated on him as well, and she coos, drawing a wider smile from him.
"Oh yes, please," he answers.
She smiles at him. He's so in love with their daughter, and from the enthusiastic response he gains from Wren as he speaks to her, the feeling is mutual. Regina smiles and gives him a half-chastising look when carries her around the room to add cream to his coffee.
"You're going to spoil her, holding her so much, you know."
"Then spoiled she shall be," he says simply.
Regina chuckles, busies herself with breakfast and puts orange juice and oatmeal on the table for them.
After another five minutes she asks, "Can you ask the boys to come and eat?"
Robin nods, taking Wren with him into the living room where the boys are enjoying a morning round of Super Smash Brothers before breakfast. They should both be in school, and she feels guilty about it, but until they have more answers, they've agreed to keep them both at home.
Roland and Henry chat animatedly to Regina all through breakfast, and Robin looks on while Wren sleeps peacefully in his arms while they all finish. He picks up his now empty bowl and places it in the sink.
Regina steps up beside him, rinsing both of their bowls before putting them in the dishwasher. She sighs once she finishes, faces Robin and places a gentle hand on her daughter's back.
"Ready to go?" Robin asks her, pulling her to him with the hand not supporting their daughter and placing a kiss on her temple.
"Yes, all ready." She manages to force a smile. "More anxious to get this over with."
Together they get the boys ready, pack the last items for Wren into one of Regina's large purses that now doubles as a diaper bag, and then together they bundle into the SUV and set off for a visit with the Dark One.
Leaving Roland and Henry at Granny's with Mary Margaret and David, Robin opens the door to Gold's Pawn Shop, holding it wide while Regina steps in.
"Well, well, well," Gold eyes Regina as she and Robin make their way into the pawn shop. "Look who has her memories back. Motherhood becomes you, dearie."
Regina places a hand over her daughter who is wrapped securely around her mother in a Moby wrap. She wishes she'd had one with Henry. It keeps her daughter snug to her, and even though Regina knows it's ridiculous, she feels like Wren is more protected being so close.
"I have a picture I want you to see."
She hands him the picture and watches anxiously as he smooths it out before studying it intently, his brow furrowed. He then sighs and shakes his head slightly.
"I wish I could help," he begins, sliding the photo back across the counter toward Regina. "Unfortunately, I've never seen her before."
"Never?" Disbelief clouds Regina's features and she looks over at Robin before turning her attention back to Rumpelstiltskin.
"Never," he repeats. "Though, I don't know why it matters now."
Regina's eyebrows rise. "You can't be serious."
Rumple holds a hand out, gesturing towards her, almost with a scoff. "It obviously was not done with the intent to harm you. You're alive and well. Your daughter is safe and has not been taken from you. Whatever this Natalie's reasoning, it seems her motivations were not altogether malicious."
Regina scowled. "Malicious or not, this was done with the intent to take me away from my family, and I want to know why."
"So familiar." Something in Rumple's tone catches Regina's ear, and she tilts her head, her eyes searching Rumple's intently.
Robin glances uncertainly at Regina, and she feels her temper flare. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"This woman, whoever she is, is obviously very powerful. She was able to take you away from Storybrooke, with no recollection of the events, and then placed new memories, a new life in front of you. Can you think of no one that powerful? No one who would like nothing more than to destroy your happiness?"
Regina breaths in a sharp breath as his words hit a place inside of her. A place where she hears the words of her dead sister: "I'm going to take everything away from you." She levels a stare at her once teacher and ignores the cold shiver that runs down her spine as she replies, "No one alive."
Rumple nods. "Time will tell."
Regina's had enough. She knew he'd have no real answers for her. Only infuriating smugness and riddles.
But before she can let into him he warns, "If I were you, I'd keep a sharp eye on the people closest to you."
It must be Robin's last straw because she can hear him take a step closer to her from behind. "What do you know, Imp?"
"Robin…" Regina warns, stepping in front of him placing a hand on his chest. His face is tight, his jaw set, and he eyes Rumple with neither fear nor hesitation
She shakes her head, whispers, "Don't."
"He's hiding something." He breaks his gaze away from Rumple to meet her own.
"I know no more than you," the Dark One protests defensively. "It's the timing of events that I find a bit curious. Wouldn't you agree?"
Regina thinks over the last year, really considering his words, and after a moment her eyes widen and Rumple smiles.
"Ding dong, dearie."
"What was the Imp implying?"
Regina sighs, lowers her voice and warns, "Robin…"
"No, I saw it in your face, in your eyes Regina. What is going on?"
She hesitates, wants to tell him the horrifying thought running through her mind, but doesn't know if he will accept it. "I think we should go home and talk."
He implores, "Regina, just tell me who is it you suspect?"
Again, she hesitates, and though she tries her best, something must show on her face, because Robin suddenly tenses.
"Someone close to us, then?" Robin isn't magical but his connection to Regina is strong, and somehow he just knows. "It's Marian isn't it? That's what Gold meant by timing. He thinks it's she who's done this."
"Yes," Regina relents. She places a hand on his chest and her other against Wren who starts to whimper. "But we don't know anything for sure."
His eyes fall to the baby, and he runs a hand over her head as Regina attempts to soothe her with small pats to her back. Robin frowns.
"But how could she? Marian has never been magical. She wouldn't know the first thing about using magic. She's been here all along."
Regina holds his gaze, attempting to offer reassurance she knows is for naught. "Like I said, we don't know for certain that it's her. But I do want to talk to her."
"Of course." Giving her a small nod, he adds, "I'll go get her."
"No, absolutely not," she tells him resolutely. The way she's feeling about all of this, the mere suggestion of him facing whoever did this sends a chill down her spine."Not by yourself, not until we know for sure."
He almost laughs at that because the thought of the mother of his son having magical abilities is beyond him, and he tells her as much. "Marian has no magic, Regina."
She knows that. The Marian he knew had no power, but Regina knows something Robin doesn't. So she places a hand on his chest, and tells him, "That's just it. She might not be Marian."
His brow creases in confusion, and he shakes his head a bit at that in disbelief. "Who could she be then?"
Regina takes a breath. "That's what we need to find out."
He remembers speaking to Regina, when he comes around. Actually, imploring her, no less that he should be the one to bring Marian to them. He had wanted to make the conversation easier on her, on Marian. Wanted to believe that what the Imp had implied, what Regina was saying about his former love, wasn't true. That it had all been a big misunderstanding. He wanted to believe that the mother of his oldest child was not a monster.
Even through the pain in his head, he can still remember what he said.
"Regina, let me talk to her at least. I can ask her things, things only the real Marian might know. The last thing we need to do is to let the person responsible think we might be onto them." He looked her in the eyes then. Those lovely dark eyes, that shone with love and worry. "I'll be fine. I'll bring her here and you'll see."
That's how Robin found himself alone in the dark. Wherever he is, is cold and damp. His arms are bound behind his back by some force, by magic. His throat is dry from his own scarf which is tied around his mouth.
He sinks in and out of unconsciousness, and each time he thinks of the same thing.
Of freeing himself.
Of warning Regina.
Of saving his family.
As his world begins to fade to black once again, he remembers Marian's face, thinks about the smoke that filled the air around them, and then the horror he felt when her face appeared moments later where Marian's once was.
His eyes close and he tries desperately to fight the fatigue, but it's no use. He hasn't the strength. He curses her. With every fiber of his body he vows to rid this realm of her if she so much as touches his family, vows to rip her limb from limb if she goes near Henry or Roland or Regina, vows to rip the very heart from her chest himself if she even glances at his precious, innocent little Wren. It's her name that falls from his lips when the blackness overcomes him, the name he intends to destroy.
Zelena.