A month had passed since Robin and Regina last saw each other. Things had been going great between Robin and Marian, giving the fact that he'd cheated on her. But she forgave him and they moved on like nothing happened.
Regina and Graham had been hooking up for about a month now. Nothing serious, just fun, at least that's what Regina thought, not sure what Graham's intention were. He would sometimes stay the night.
Like today, when she woke up he was already in the kitchen making her breakfast. He was pouring her some coffee when she walked down the stairs. The smell of coffee making her a little nauseous.
"I made toast, but I couldn't find any eggs." He said handing her the mug.
"I didn't have time to go grocery shopping this week. I'm out of eggs, out of pretty much everything." She said sitting down at the kitchen table.
"So what about breakfast?" He sighed walking over to where she was sitting. His one hand resting flat on the table and his other hand on the back of Regina's chair.
"Don't worry about it. I'll grab some Granny's again before I head to the office. You should get going if you want to make it on time." She said taking a sip of her coffee. Putting the mug down immediately. No more coffee. She felt like throwing up.
There was a flue going around at the office, she might have cached it without realizing it.
"Okay." Graham said leaning down to give her a kiss.
"This is me leaving. I'll see you tonight?"
"Town meeting remember. I'll be home late. I'll call you tomorrow." She said.
"Okay babe. See you." Graham called back as he was heading towards the door, letting himself out and closing the door behind him.
Regina let out a sigh before placing her arms on the table and putting her head down in them. She was feeling miserable, almost like throwing up. She tried getting up, hoping that maybe a cold shower would help, because she was getting really hot. She walked upstairs, took off her nightgown and got in the shower.
Deciding she was feeling better after her shower Regina got dressed and got in the car heading to Granny's to order some breakfast. She was running a little late so she has to eat it at the office. She arrived in under 10 minutes and quickly got out of the car walking to the entrance.
After opening the door she walked to the counter and took a seat, not really paying attention to her surroundings.
"Gina!" She heard a familiar voice yell.
She turned her head to see little Roland running towards her.
"Roland, slow down!" Robin's voice came short after.
She stood up from her seat and got down to his level. Roland practically jumped on her, his arms tightly wrapping around her neck, which almost made her fall. She put one hand behind her for support and with her other arm she hugged Roland back.
"Hi Roland, how are you sweetie?" She asked after they were done hugging.
"Good! I go to school and papa brings me and mama picks me up.
"Preschool." Robin mouthed when Regina looked up at him with a confused look.
"Papa said I can come play with Henry after school."
"Oh, did he?" She asked, raising a brow and looking up at Robin again.
"I forgot to ask you." He shyly admitted.
"Roland you can ask Regina yourself, she's our friend." Robin said, looking at Regina with a smirk.
"Hey Regina. The usual?" Ruby asked interrupting their conversation.
"Yes please. But without the coffee." She said, remembering how sick coffee made her this morning.
"To go?" Ruby asked writing the order down.
"Ye-" but before she could finish her sentence Roland was pulling on her skirt.
"Stay with us Gina. We have enough place to sit over there." He said pointing to their booth.
"I would love to stay with you and your daddy sweetie, but I'm late for work." She said giving him a sad face.
"Please Gina. I never see you anymore. Daddy and I miss you." Roland said, pouting.
How could she resist that face, or those dimples. But she was an hour late already, she had to go in for the morning meeting.
"You know what," she started, getting down to his level again. "How about you go finish eating your pancakes and after school you can come over to play with Henry and we'll make some of those cookies you always like." She said with a smile.
"Really Gina?" Roland asked excitedly, looking up to his father in disbelief.
"Yes really!" Regina said, running her hand through his hair.
"Go finish your pancakes before they get too cold Roland. I'll be right there." Robin said taking a few steps to stand in front of Regina now.
"He really misses you, you know. He doesn't understand our separation." Robin said.
"I know. I miss him too." Regina admitted.
"Here you go Regina. Enjoy your day." Ruby said before she handed Regina her breakfast and turned her attention to other customers.
"Thank you for letting him come over today. He had asked me a few weeks back but I haven't seen you since... uhm-"
"Yes I remember." She quickly cut him off before he could finish his sentence. Because she knew exactly what Robin was referring to. The night they had slept together and agreed to stay friends. Feeling her cheeks heating up at the thought she turned around to grab her breakfast.
"I have to go. I'll see you and Roland this afternoon. Emma is picking Henry up today but she'll bring him home around 5pm. I'll be home by then."
"Okay. Maybe I can leave work an hour earlier to bring him over." Robin said.
"That's fine, just let me know. Bye Roland. I'll see you later honey!" Regina said and left Granny's.
• • •
He felt like he was using his own son to see her, but he couldn't find it in himself to feel guilty about it. After all, it was a win-win situation. Roland really missed Regina and Henry and Robin couldn't deny that he missed them just as much too.
"Papa can we go see Gina and Henry now please," Roland said giving his best puppy dog eyes.
Robin looked at the time on his watch that read 5:03pm.
"Regina probably just got home, son. We should give her a chance to get settled in."
"Okay,"Roland sighed, defeated. "I'll just go play with mommy by the lake 'til we go."
Robin thought for a second. When Roland gets down there he'll probably want to tell her all the fun he'll have at Regina's later today. Trying to make sure Marian didn't get the wrong idea, Robin decided it would be best if she heard this from him.
"Actually, my boy, I need to talk to mommy real quick. Can you stay in the tent until I get back?"
"But I want to play," Roland whined.
"I know, just give me 5 minutes. Okay?"
"Okay," Roland said, quite defeated again.
Robin walked down to the river where he found Marian washing clothes.
"Hello dear," Robin greeted her, while planting a kiss to her cheek.
"Hey, how was your day," Marian replied, smiling at her husband.
"It was good, but there is something I wanted to talk to you about."
"Is everything alright? Is it Roland?!" she asked starting to panic.
"No, no he's fine. Everything is fine. It's just...," Robin trailed off, not really sure how to expect her to react to his request.
"What is it, Robin?"
"Well... Roland has been asking to see Henry a lot... and he really misses him," Robin started, trying to keep the focus on Henry, not Regina.
"I really hope you don't mind, but I kind of set up a play date for them."
"Oh," Marian tried to play it off cool but Robin saw her jaw clench slightly. He knew her mind immediately went straight to Regina. "Well that's fine. What time do you want me to bring him to see Henry?"
Well that was definitely not what he expected.
"Oh.. um.. I was going to bri-."
He cut his sentence short when he saw the glare she was giving him.
"Bu-but, I mean it's fine if you do."
"Great. What time?"
"Well I was thinking at 5:30 and it's 5."
"Very Well. I better get Roland ready to go now."
"Oh, okay." Robin replied watching as she already started walking up the hill to their tent.
This would be interesting.
• • •
The first thing Regina did when she got home was sleep. It couldn't have been longer than a 20 minute nap, but it was much needed.
She felt exhausted for no good reason. Sure, work was a little stressful but not to the point of her barely being able to stay awake at her desk.
When she got up from her nap, she went to the bathroom. She looked in the mirror and she could barely recognize herself.
"What the hell," she whispered to herself.
She had some serious bags under her eyes, her nose was red, and her skin was an unhealthy pale color.
"Ugh, I have the damn flu."
She remembers, just then, of the promise she gave to Roland. They were supposed to bake cookies together and she was supposed to watch over him & Henry. Was she in any shape to do all that?
The knock at the door made that decision for her.
She walked down the stairs feeling slightly lightheaded. She looked in the mirror by the door one last time to fix her hair.
"Hey Rob-Marian?"
"Hello Regina. I hope you don't mind me bringing Roland instead of Robin. Something... came up," Marian said.
"Oh," Regina said raising a brow. "That's not a problem at all. Come in."
Marian stepped through the threshold with Roland closely behind.
"Hi Gina!" Roland exclaims while giving her his best bear hug.
"Hi Roland," Regina said, smiling into his hug.
"Where's Henry?"
"He's upstairs in his room. You can go up there and play."
"Okay! Bye mommy," Roland said while running up the staircase.
"Bye baby, have fun," Marian said, practically yelling since Roland was already upstairs.
There was an awkward silence for a few moments when the two women were finally alone.
"Um... what time should I pick him up?"
"Whenever is fine. I promised him cookies so I'll make sure to get him dinner first," Regina said, trying to put on a polite smile.
"Can you make sure he only has three cookies at the most. I don't want him to be too hyper before bed."
"Of course," Regina said as Marian started to walk toward the door.
Before she stepped out of Regina's house, she turned around and looked at Regina for a second.
"Regina, thank you," Marian said.
Her gratitude seemed to be coming from more than just child care. Regina liked to think Marian meant something along the lines of "thank you for stepping out of the way for me and my husband to try to be together again." Not that Regina really did that, considering her and Robin just had sex a few weeks ago, but Marian didn't need to know that.
"You're welcome, Marian."