Authors Note: Apologies for those who read this on first posting. In my haste to update I let a few errors slip through the cracks (hides in shame :) Rookie mistake that won't happen again.
Thanks for the support, whether by follow, fav, review or putting a positive vibe out to the universe. I'm loving my FanFiction adventure so far, so thank you.
Usual disclaimers apply & hope you enjoy.
She knew deep down the moment he arrived that she wouldn't be able to keep the existence of their child from him – though she couldn't help but feel disappointed in herself that she had barely held out for one conversation – though in her defence it was a very intense conversation.
"What?" Robin asked, bewildered.
"You need to understand Robin, when I left Storybrooke the last thing you had said to me was that I was a monster – that if you ever saw me again it would be with your bow trained on my heart. I saw you tell Little John I was nothing to you, that I was the Evil Queen. Any hope I had of us being together – that you could possibly feel anything but hatred for me – it was gone."
"So you left without telling me?" Robin asked. Not angry, just looking for clarification.
"No!" Regina immediately replied. Taking a step towards him her hand returning to his arm as if to keep him there while she explained. "Don't think that – not even for a second. I didn't know until Gold came to Boston. He offered me a deal – his protection in return for our child."
"He wanted you to give him our child?" Robin asked, incredulous.
"Not exactly – more like binding her to him – making him her Godfather in a magical sense. I was terrified Robin. I was alone, pregnant and the Dark One wanted my child bound to him for eternity. All I knew was that I had to protect my child and to do that I needed to know why he wanted her and I needed time – so I ran."
"Here?" Robin said blankly, if he was honest he had never imagined her somewhere like this, and for the last two years he had imagined plenty. Cities mostly, sometimes somewhere warm, near the ocean, but she had chosen the perfect place to hide – Robin knew her better than most and he would never have thought to look on a ranch in the back end of nowhere. No matter how beautiful it was, but then again, while trying to find her he had forgotten her love of horses, and didn't know that she was somewhat 'on the run'.
"I didn't care where I went – I just left Boston as quickly as I could which meant jumping on the first bus going as far away from Storybrooke as possible. I got off before any major cities, met Mac in town and then moved to the ranch."
Robin had to admit it made sense, but there was just one piece of the puzzle he was missing. Robin sighed, "It was a good plan Regina. I don't think anyone would have thought to look for you somewhere like this. There's just one more thing I'd like to ask you."
Regina nodded, surprised at how relieved she felt to finally have things out in the open; to talk this through with someone other than her son.
"How were you able to conceive? I thought – " Robin broke off his sentence. He needed to phrase this right. This wasn't an accusation he just needed to know. "Please believe me, I'm surprised but so happy that we have a child together." He took both her hands then to emphasis the point. "I would have rather it happen in simpler times, of course. Its just that you told me you had poisoned yourself – that you were barren." Regina stared. She had forgotten just how much she had confided in him in the missing year, and then more still in Storybrooke she supposed.
"It was a curse Robin, curses can be broken."
"You broke the curse and didn't tell me?" She pulled her hands from him at that. God he frustrated her sometimes.
"No. You broke the curse, and didn't tell me," Regina retorted crossing her arms across her chest in an effort to put some distance between them. He really needed to stop touching her. "I can't be certain, but something along the lines of 'true love conquers all' or my personal favorite 'true love is magic and can break any curse'. We are soul mates Robin. Us being together – physically – broke my curse. It just wasn't even on my radar. I'd been barren for more than 30 years! Contraception, having a child was not something I thought about after Henry."
"Did you learn why Gold wanted our child?" Robin asked. Steering the conversation away from 'them' as he could see Regina was on her last nerve.
"I didn't, it was Henry – with Belle's help. Although Belle had no idea what she was helping with. They found an old prophecy, one that I had heard years ago when I first started to seriously practice magic. Everyone disregarded it back then as the babble of a somewhat 'unhinged' seer. A nonsense - in the truest meaning of the word. Well, everyone except Gold that is. But as soon as Henry read it he knew."
"What prophecy? And why did Gold lend credence to it when it was disregarded by everyone else?" At this point Robin was as caught up in the mystery as he was its impact on him. Desperate to understand what had driven Regina to stay away from her son, her life for two years. Going through a pregnancy and childbirth on her own, not to mention enduring the constant fear of being found by Gold.
Regina recited the prophecy she had since committed to memory:
"A child conceived in love but born in enmity
She comes from light magic and dark
She will be magic where there is no magic
From the castle and the wood
To rule this world and the next
No greater force has or will be seen."
Regina finished; opening eyes she didn't remember closing to find Robin looking at her perplexed.
"No one believed a practitioner of light magic could love someone dark – truly love them. It was even more impossible to imagine such a pair conceiving a child. Add to that a royal and a commoner? Magic where there is no magic? It was preposterous and dismissed as such."
"And you're sure its us? I mean I understand some of it, you are able to wield light and dark magic, she was conceived when we were together but born while we were apart. But I agree, when put together it sounds nonsensical."
"It fits, it all fits. She was conceived in our world and born here, making her of both. I was the Queen, so from the Castle and you of Sherwood. And Gold – " Regina sighed. "Gold was cocky – more so than usual – he had to have been certain."
"How did Gold know all of this? How could he be so sure?" Robin asked. With so much new information before him he was finding it difficult to take it all in. He was standing here with Regina, finally, talking, really talking. And they have a child! A girl was it? Regina said 'she' didn't she?
"Where there is no magic," Regina repeated the line from the prophecy, the one line that had captured Gold's attention. "For years Gold learned all he could about this world – the World Without Magic - trying to find his son."
"Baelfire," Robin added.
Regina gave a subtle nod before continuing: "I can only imagine that when he found a prophecy that foretold of a child born in that world that he spent some time trying to determine who this child would be. He had stolen the power of a seer – he may have had a vision that foretold something that convinced him she would be mine. Yet another reason for him to choose me to cast the curse all those years ago… I'm sure it's why he showed me the prophecy… then when I was banished he knew the time was right. All the elements had been met."
"Conceived in love and born in hostility," Robin murmured, Regina giving a slight shrug of her shoulders in reply. What could she say? It is what it is.
"What does it mean – what is it saying about our child? Why did Gold want her?"
"You know prophecies Robin. They are difficult to interpret and when we do we largely get it wrong but it's clear that she will be powerful – more so than any other, past, present and possibly even future. Which to Gold meant one thing: she would be a threat. I think he wanted to bind himself to her to give him an advantage."
"But the part where she will rule? Both here and in the Enchanted Forest?"
"That I'm less sure about. I think that could be interpreted a number of ways – I just don't know. But yes, a powerful sorceress will surely be a leader in some way. Look at Emma."
"Look at you." Robin said and Regina smiled ruefully. Yes she had ruled – with an iron fist. Something she didn't want her daughter to emulate. Robin sensed where her mind had taken her and tried to pull her away from the self-deprecating thoughts.
"How would this 'tether' to our child protect Gold exactly?" He asked.
Regina slightly shook her head, clearing her thoughts and glanced to the house where their daughter was hopefully still sleeping.
"As her Godfather she would be tied to him magically, unable to harm him with a… a…" she searched for the right word "need almost to shield him. It was a way to ensure he kept his powers I guess and more importantly that he had a powerful ally. But equally he could never harm her and would feel the same patronage."
"Wouldn't that have protected her from him?" Robin queried.
"No – God no! That's exactly what Gold wanted me to think. I know from personal experience Robin that Gold could bring about her ruin without physically harming a hair on her head. He is the master of loopholes; by becoming her Godfather he would still be able to manipulate her and use her in ways you and I could never dream of. I had to protect her from that. I will protect her from that, I just need to keep her away from that world!"
Regina's voice trailed off – obviously deep in thought.
"Gold is no longer a threat Regina – you can come home," Robin's voice was both hopeful and pleading.
"We have no way of knowing if this transference of the curse is permanent Robin. Until we look into it further we can't possibly be sure. If the only way of curing Emma is to put it into someone else I have no doubt Gold will be the first in line. He will be missing his power terribly. And it's not just Gold that worries me." She said and Robin could almost see her thoughts whirling.
"Who else are you worried about?" Robin asked, somewhat exasperated, but trying to keep it in. The last thing he needed to do was pressure her. But it frustrated him that she was putting up obstacles that didn't need to be there. Virtual roadblocks on the path back to Storybrooke.
"Who? Everyone Robin. We are talking about the most powerful of all magic users that ever existed. A child prophesized to rule not one but two worlds, in some capacity. You think the people of Storybrooke or the Enchanted Forest will want this child to be raised by the Evil Queen? There is no mention in that prophecy whether the child will have light or dark magic – but the more I have thought about it the more likely I think she will wield both – how she is raised could have an enormous impact on what kind of practitioner of magic she will be – whether she will ultimately use her dark magic or not. God Robin, some days I'm not convinced I should be the one raising her." All Regina's fears erupted as she screamed at Robin. "But since she was born the one thing I've know in my heart, is that I can't lose her Robin. I just can't. And if that means keeping her here, then I will."
Regina knew it wasn't that simple. She had Henry to think about as well and she knew she had to return to Storybrooke to save Emma. But right now she was sure that returning to Storybrooke would mean having to say goodbye to her daughter. How the hell can she choose between her two children? The son she raised and the daughter that was her lifeline when she had lost everything else.
"So it's not about protecting our child, it's about you." There was no accusation in Robin's voice – just a desire to truly understand.
"It's both, really. I haven't seen Maleficent in a long time but I can't imagine she will be thrilled that a new and 'all powerful' sorceress has been born. And if Gold doesn't get his powers back I wouldn't put it past him to manipulate Maleficent or Lily into taking our child for his own purposes."
"You can protect her from Maleficent – or Lily for that matter. And surely Maleficent will be the last person to take a child – a baby – from its mother. Not after everything she went through with Lily." Regina was quiet for a moment, thinking over what Robin had said. She had to admit he had a point. But then…
"And what about Blue, Robin? Mother Superior. Once she learns of our child's existence, of the prophecy, she will move heaven and earth to ensure our baby is as far away from me as is physically possible. Blue will not wager the fate of Storybrooke and the Enchanted Forest on my redemption."
"That will never happen Regina, I will not let that happen."
"Robin please," Regina scoffed. "Two minutes with your wife and you wanted my head on a spike. I give you 30 minutes, an hour max with Blue before you're questioning your decision to let the Evil Queen raise our child." She was sassing him – but he knew she was serious. And he knew he needed some reinforcements to convince her of his constancy – he needed Henry if he were to get her to agree to return with them to Storybrooke. Once there, Robin was sure he could prove his love to her that he would stand by her and put her before anyone. So he let her comment go, focusing instead on something else she had said.
"Our child," he repeated softly, reverently. Taking a step towards her with a desperate need to close the physical distance between them. "We have a child." At the sound of Robin's voice, full of wonder, Regina looked up. Really looking at him, seeing him for the first time since he had climbed out of Charming's truck. He looked tired. Which was to be expected – he would have to have driven through the night, and at a decent speed, to have made it to the Ranch from Storybrooke in a little over 50 hours, but damn if he didn't look good. He had a soft smile on his face as he brought his hand up to the back of his neck absent mindedly, putting his bicep on display in the dark green polo shirt he wore – polo shirt? Since when did Robin wear polo shirts? Though thinking of her own attire, Regina realized he was not the only one sporting a new look. Besides, it suited him, along with the fitted dark jeans he wore.
"Can I see her? You said 'she' before I think – our baby? It's a girl?"
Regina's heart leapt to her throat at the scene before her – the softness of his voice. Since the day Gold told her she was pregnant, try as she might she hadn't been able to stop the dreams she had of this moment – daydreams mostly, though for that first year she often dreamed of this at night too, in her sleep. Robin coming to find her; him there with their daughter – on rare occasions the dreams were sweet but mostly they ended with him taking her baby away, screaming at her or mocking her that he would never let his child be raised by a monster. Regina hadn't decided which version of the dream was worse, which cause her more pain.
Robin saw her smile falter, as she bit her bottom lip and her eyes filled with apprehension. On the back of the conversation they had just had it didn't take him long to ascertain the reason for her anxiety.
"I just want to meet her." He spoke softly, gently, taking her hand again. "Regina I know you don't – can't – trust me right now. But I will earn your trust again. And I promise you I have no intention of separating you from our baby." He searched for something more to say. "Besides," he began, hoping to lighten the moment. "You have Mac and his gun on your side. Henry forbade me to bring my bow so I am defenceless - and completely out numbered." He smiled cheekily and his comment succeeded in bringing a chuckle from Regina. The tension lifted.
"Yes," she said with a soft smile. "She is a girl." Regina took her hand from Robin's before turning towards the house, still facing him. "Come inside and meet your daughter".