Disclaimer: I don't own the characters.

AN: I'm really sorry that it took me about 84 years now to update this... and there's no excuse for that. As a reader I know that sucks, big time. I really hope someone is still enjoying reading it though. If you do, please leave a review.
The reason I haven't updated in a while though is that I moved twice (once to another country and then again), started a new job and met Sean and Lana twice in between. So a lot going on in real life and somehow I couldn't really concentrate on writing a lot. Also there's been what happend to Robin on tv and somehow that dragged me down some as well.
I hope I'll be able to update this more frequently again from now on though.

With this chap I'm trying to give you a little more backstory than usual and I hope you're enjoying it.

Thank you to everyone still being here with me.

Chapter Five: Once Upon A Time... there was a little Prince and a little Knight...

A few days after his walk with Regina and their talk about adopting children Robin had run into his old flatmate, Will, at the supermarket.

Because of recent events he hadn't seen him in quite a while so they had decided to grab a coffee at the nearest Starbucks and update each other on their lives.

Robin had told Will that so far everything with Regina had worked out as they plannend. That indeed they had found a little pub that they now called their own, had rented a flat not too far away from it and had quite secretly gotten married not even two weeks ago.

Will had been absolutely happy for his best friend and told him so. He had also told him that in the meantime he himself had been seeing someone. Her name was Anastacia and they were head over heels in love with each other.

Robin had chuckled as Will mentioned her occupation, „you and an attorney?"

„yes me and an attorney", Will had said. He knew himself that it had sounded off. Him dating someone who was actually working for the law.

„She wants to become a judge one day", Will had said.

„That sounds wonderful", Robin had said, „my wife wants to become a mother."

Will had chuckled, „well that shouldn't be too hard."

Robin had gotten more serious then, „actually it's not quite that easy. I mean we decided on adopting a kid but apparently it's not that simple so we'll see how it goes."

„Oh, Robin, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to", Will had started to say but Robin had cut him off, „don't. It will just be a bit harder than it might be for most people to have a child."

Will had known how much Robin had always wanted to have kids. They'd talked about it a few times during the time they had shared an appartment.

After pausing for a moment Robin had added, „I don't care about DNA or if my kid has the same blood type as me or not. Also there's so many children out there who are waiting to get adopted."

„So you're sure about this?", Will had asked him then.

„Of course we're sure about this", Robin had said.

„I might know someone who could help you with this", Will had said, „he works with Ana. One of her best friends. His name is Graham, Hum-something, I think. He's a social worker. I'll ask Ana later and give you his details. I'm sure he might at least be able to tell you where to start with it."

„Thank you Will, this really means a lot to me, us", Robin had said.

Will had smiled at him, „sure no problem, mate. Anything for you."

As promised Will had texted him the contact details of Graham Humbert later that evening. Robin had called Graham the next day and they had agreed to meet in the afternoon.
The meeting had gone well and Robin had told Graham everything about their situation. Mr Humbert seemed to be a nice man and at the end of the day he had ensured Robin that he was sure he could help him and Regina.

Two weeks had passed since Robin's meeting with Graham and he still hadn't told Regina about it. He didn't want her to be disappointed in case this wouldn't work out as he had been hoping.

Robin had however told Regina about his encounter with Will and that Will had a girlfriend named Ana now. Regina had then suggested that the two should have dinner with them one day. They all had agreed to that. Regina had known how much Will and Robin liked each other and she never wanted to take Robin away from his friends.
She had been aware how important Will was to him and she had wanted him to be able to still spend time with him.
Due to everyone's lack of time at the moment, Regina and Robin had been rather busy with their pub and Anastacia had had a busy month as well at work and Will had to spend a lot of time on learning for his degree.
So therefore they hadn't have time yet to actually meet up.

Regina and Robin had just about walked into their apoartment. Robin had immediately decided to go and take a shower so Regina was alone in the living when the phone rang.

„Locksley", she had said picking up.

„It's Graham", she had then heard a man saying at the other end of the line, „can I speak with Robin, please?"

„He's currently unavailable. Shall I tell him to call you back? Or leave him a message? Or do you maybe want to call back in about 20 minutes?", Regina had asked having no clue who this 'Graham' was.

„I'll call back, thank you, Mrs Locksley", Graham had said hanging up before Regina could say anything else.

About ten minutes had passed as Robin emerged from the bathroom now dressed in his pyjamas with his hair still wet.
He had gone over to where Regina was sitting and had sat down next to her on the couch. Putting his head on her shoulder in the process soaking Regina's shirt with his hair.

„Ew Robin, you're making me wet", Regina had said.

Robin had chuckled, „you've never complained about that before."

Regina had tried hard not to laugh herself, „someone named Graham called whilst you were under the shower. He said he was going to call back soon though."

„Thanks", Robin had just said hoping that it was something good that Graham wanted to tell him.

„Never heard you mention him. Is he one of your friends from England?", Regina had asked.

„No", Robin had said, „he works with Ana. He wanted to contact me about something."

Just then the phone rang.

„Yeah?", Robin had asked knowing that it couldn't be anyone else besides Graham.

„Really?", Robin had said after a while listening to what Graham had had to say to him, „sure of course. We'll be there. Noon, tomorrow."

Regina could only see how happy her husband suddenly seemed to be but couldn't make out why.

„Yeah, thank you Graham, see you tomorrow", Robin had said before hanging up.

„What's with the smiling?", Regina had asked him then.

„Ok, as I was saying Graham is a friend of Ana's. I didn't want to tell you sooner because I didn't know if it would work out or not so I didn't want to give you false hope in case it didn't", Robin had been rambling by now.

„Slow down", Regina had said being curious why Robin was so happy all of a sudden.

„Well Graham is a social worker and I talked with him about us wanting to adopt a kid. And he said that one of his friends was working for an adoption agency and that maybe she could help us. Well he talked with her about us and tomorrow we're going to meet up with both of them.
Graham had already said that Belle, that's her name, had told him that she might have a child that we could be the right possible parents for. But we'd have to meet up with her to go through some specifics and see how it goes."

Regina had tears running down her face now and was smiling at Robin, „this is. I don't know what to say. I mean. This is amazing. Thank you so much for doing this. For trying."

She had been kissing him then. Just quickly, then hugging him instead, „this is so wonderful Robin."

„It is", Robin had said being relieved that Regina liked his suprise. Now he was just hoping it would work out.

They had just come from their meeting with Graham and Belle.

„I can't believe it", Regina had said.

Robin had still been holding her hand in his, „you better believe it", he had said, „we're going to be parents soon."

„Yeah, by next week", Regina had said, „I'm glad we decided to take the bigger apartment with the guest room. Won't be too difficult to make that into a room for a child."

„We can go shopping for the few furniture pieces we need tomorrow and get some things to turn it into a kids room", Robin had said.

And that's what they had done. They had spend every free minute of their free time that week getting everything ready for their new family member.
They had turned it into a wonderful room by the end of the week. Regina had proven to be quite creative. She had painted some trees, birds, flowers and other animals on the walls in the room.
Next to the furniture they had bought all kinds of clothes, everything else they needed and of course a few toys.

They also had decided on a name for their little Prince in the meantime. It was quite easily settled. Regina wanted to name him after her father and Robin liked the idea very much as well.

It was about half an hour after the kids had left with Jefferson. Regina was in a conversation with Mal and Ella, taking her short break at her friends' table.
Robin took that opportunity to call Sharon back quickly.

Between putting glasses away and serving costumers Will didn't get that much of Robin's phone conversation but he clearly heard him ending it with, „yeah no, how about the day after tomorrow? She won't be around then so we'd have plenty of time. - Great, til then Sharon."

Will knew it wasn't his business what Robin was doing but he made a mental note to keep an eye on him. Especially the day after tomorrow.
What ever Robin was doing behind his wife's back, Will was hoping it wasn't anything stupid.

He was brought back to reality when he heard Regina asking, „what's with that face? Everything alright?", as she leaned across the bar in front of him.

Will looked up at her nodding, „yeah sure, 's fine."

Regina bit her lip for a second, „if you say so", she knew there was something going on with Will, he had never been good at lying to her, „but you know you can talk to me, no matter what."

„I know", he said, smiling now. He was really hoping Robin wasn't screwing her over. He would so blast his bloody arse to the moon if he even thought about it.

About half an hour later Regina decided to go home. It was one of those rare evenings when nearly everyone on their team was working and it wasn't such a busy night.
The kids weren't home that night either so she could prepare the laundry for the washing machine the next morning and get some of the housework done.

So she quickly changed her shoes and grabbed her handbag and coat from Robin's office before walking over to him behind the bar.

„I'm heading home", she said standing next to him.

Robin turned towards her, „sure."

„Do you want anything to eat later?", she asked. They usually ate after working long hours. It wasn't the healtiest eating pattern they had. But it had to do.

Robin pulled her closer to him and then whispered in her ear, „hmmm yeah, you."

Regina chuckled and moved a bit back, „how about that for dessert and something else first?"

Robin smiled, „sure, fine by me. Don't mind what though."

She gave him a quick peck on his lips, and a „see you later", before disappearing through the back door.

A few minutes later Regina arrived at their appartment. She sorted the laundry so she could do them first thing the next morning.

Then she went into the boys room to tidy it up. Robin and her told them to put away their things after using them which both boys usually did but being 6 year olds so of course every now and then she or Robin had to put things away.

They also both recently decided that they wanted to decide themselves what to wear so every other day their wardrobes were a mess.

She was happy though. Their little family was all she ever wanted and she couldn't be any happier than she was. Of course nothing ever came easy and it took them some time to get to where they were these days but it was worth the effort and she'd do it all over again.

Their Pub was doing really well so Robin and her decided that in a year or two they would look for a house or a bigger flat in the city to buy.
As of now Roland and Henry had always been sharing a room and so far that went well. But Regina and Robin were both sure that one day they would want to have their own rooms.

Regina thought about their two kids. It had been a miracle that they had them. She had always wanted to have a family of her own but pretty much any doctor she went to had told her that it would be hard or near impossible for her to ever become pregnant and therefore all those years ago she had put that thought away and lived with the fact that she'd likely never be a mom. That was until she had met Robin who had just turned her world upside down.

About 6 years ago.

It had been four weeks now since Robin and Regina had brought Henry home with them. He was a baby. Just a few weeks old when they had adopted him. They had been very lucky with the help of Belle because usually they'd have to spend months or years on a waiting list. But apparently as far as they knew someone else dropped out last minute and that had been their chance.
Regina liked to call it fate.

She was so happy she couldn't be any happier right now. The pub was doing well so far. Robin and her were now a little family with baby Henry. Everything seemed to be perfect.

That was until the telephone rang, „hello?", Regina said.

„I'm looking for Robin Locksley", the woman on the other end of the line said.

„I'm his wife", Regina said, „he's currently at work. Shall he call you back later or can I give him a message?"

„Just tell him that Sharon Forester called, I'll call back later."

„Ok, I will," Regina said before saying her goodbyes and hanging up. Then she gave her full attention back to little Henry who was sitting in front of her on the floor playing with a little football that he had gotten from Ana and Will recently.

A few hours later Henry was taking a nap when Robin came home from the pub. He would likely as usual go back there in a few hours though. There was always a lot to do. But Robin and Regina loved their jobs and their family life and weren't complaing even though that as of now it was quite a lot to do.

„Hey", Robin greeted his wife who was laying on the sofa in the living room resting with her eyes closed.

„Hey", Regina greeted him as well and waited for him to come over and give her a kiss on her forehead. He usually did that when he walked in at about that time of day.

„How has your day been so far?", Robin asked.

„Wonderful", Regina smiled, her eyes still closed though, „Henry is trying to pull himself up on things now though. Oh and a Sharon Forester called earlier. She wanted to call back though."

Robin didn't say anything and somehow that bothered Regina a bit so she opened her eyes to see that Robin was still in the room with her, „Robin, did you hear what I said?"

„Yeah, yeah I did", he said but she had noticed that something seemed a bit off.

„Who's this Ms Forester?", Regina asked then, „you never mentioned her but she seems to know you."

„She's Marian's mother", Robin stated simply.

„Oh", Regina said not really knowing what to think of that.

„I haven't talked to her since well, back then", Robin said seeing all of Regina's questions in her eyes. 'What could Marian's mother possibly want from him after all this time?'

He should find that out soon enough as a few moments later the telephone rang, „Locksley", he said picking it up.

„Robin", he heard an all too familiar voice saying.

„Hello Sharon", he said, „may I ask why you're calling me?"

„It's about Marian", she said, „she has been in a car accident and she... well, she didn't make it."

„I'm sorry to hear that", Robin said sincerely.

„There's something else", Sharon said.

„Yeah?", Robin asked curious.

„After you broke up she, she, she found out that she was pregnant", Sharon said, „you have a son, Robin."

After a few moments Sharon asked, „Robin? Are you still there?"

„Yeah, I am", he managed to say.

„James and me told her to tell you about him but she refused to do it. She didn't want to. I know that must be a lot to take in right now. But would you mind coming here to meet your son? Maybe even raise him, if you'd want to do that that is. After all you're the father."

Robin swallowed, „I, I have to talk to my wife about it. Can I call you back?"

„Sure", Sharon said, giving him their number before ending the call.

„What's wrong?", Regina asked Robin who had lost some colour in his face recently.

„Apparently Marian died and never informed me that I have a child", he said.

Regina hugged him, „oh Robin."

„Aren't you mad at me or anything?", Robin asked after a while.

„Why would I be mad?", Regina asked not quite following him.

„Did you hear what I just said?", Robin asked her, „your husband has a child with another woman."

Regina was still hugging him, „it happened before you even met me. Also you didn't know and well now she is gone. So what happens now?"

„Sharon asked if we could come up and meet him", he said letting go of Regina's embrace to be able to look into her eyes.

„Then let's do that", Regina said, „we're in this together, Robin. No matter what happens."

„Thank you", Robin said before letting himself fall on the side from his sitting position with Regina still in his arms so that now he was laying on the sofa and she was half on top of him.

„Always", she murmed into his shirt having her eyes closed again.

Regina must have fallen asleep for when she woke up she wasn't laying on top of Robin anymore but instead had a pillow beneath her head. She opened her eyes and saw Robin and Henry sitting on the ground right next to her.

„Look who's finally woken up", Robin said to Henry smiling at Regina.