Wow, what a big chapter! I hope this reward you for my delay. Enjoy!

Regina fell to the ground but she didn't felt her body collide with the ground. There's something definitely magical about this place, she thought as she slowly opened her eyes. Her eyes widened as she sat and looked around. She was in the middle of a street of Storybrooke. In front of the library. But she recognized that there were fewer cars in the streets than normal, and everything was oddly silent. She couldn't hear any sound or see any living person in the streets. She felt fear creeping in her bones. She turned her neck to observe the other side of the street and she saw Henry standing up with his back to her. She got up and walked to him.

"Hi" she smiled, putting a hand in his shoulder.

"Hi" he turned in her direction smiling sadly at her. "Mom, you shouldn't be in here."

"I couldn't let you face this alone." she said caressing his arms.

"But I don't know if we'll be able to get out of here! I mean, I don't even know what this place is!"

Henry said nervously and Regina saw how scared he truly was. Despite the fact that she was nervous herself, her mother instinct automatically kicked in and she buried her feelings and tried to comfort her son.

"Don't worry, we'll find a way out." she tried to sound confident. "I think this is the place where the author lives. I think this is an alternative Storybrooke."

"Do you think this is a trap?"

"No. The spell I threw under the author's jacket was going to led us to him. So I think he's out here somewhere."

"But how we'll find him? Storybrooke isn't as small as it seems"

"I think we should start looking for him in the most obvious place. His mansion."

Henry's eyes widened and he nodded with a smile in his face.

"God, mom. I'd be so lost without you here."

Regina smiled and put an arm around him and they started to walk to the mansion. She didn't dare to take off her arms around him nor take him out of her sight, not even for a second. If she lost him, she would be lost too. Seeing how everything was really empty, that there was no one in the streets, in the houses, was making Regina feel anxious and insecure. She wasn't worried for herself, she thought as she looked to her belly. She was worried for the people who were there with her. Henry and the child that was inside her. She didn't know if they were going to find the author, or even what was going to happen if they were able to find the author. As they went, she realized now that a part of Henry's fear was gone; he was extremely excited with what was going on. He was excited for being in a magical adventure with his mom. They found the door of the mansion opened and they heard noises coming from one of the offices the mansion had.

"Stay behind me." Regina whispered, putting herself in front of him.

Henry nodded and Regina went in front of him as they walked closer to the office as silently as they could.

She found a man with a short black hair and with a skinny face sitting behind a desk with a pencil in his hand. There was a door behind him.

"You.. you're the author?" she asked quietly, walking closer to him.

He looked up in her direction and smiled. She noticed he didn't seem surprised with her and Henry's presence.

"Yes, I'm."

"But you weren't the one I saw in the hospital." she said suspicious.

She didn't take a good look at the man on the hospital, but from the little she saw, she was sure it wasn't that man that was standing in front of her in the moment.

"No, I wasn't. He was." he said and looked back at the same time the door opened.

The man she saw in the hospital appeared with a smile in his face.

"Hi. I'm Yen Sid, I help and I oversee the author but I'm also a doctor. A good one, by the way. I saw you that day in the hospital and I saw that you acknowledged what I was holding and I knew you would go after me. I freaked out and I resigned but the author said that I didn't need to worry because he wanted you to find him."

So if he knew I was looking for him, and he wanted me to find him why that bastard didn't make it easier? She snapped, but only in her thoughts. She spent so much time and energy looking for him that it was frustrating to know that he wanted her to find him. Maybe it's all about timing; she heard Robin's voice in her head. And she couldn't help the smile that appeared in her face. Even away, Robin managed to calm her down. She looked at the author and then back to Yen Sid and muttered a low "Hi."

She crossed her arms above her chest. She didn't see the need to introduce herself since both of them already knew her. She wanted so extremely much to find the author not just to ask him to write her a happy ending, but also to ask him some questions. Why in her life had to happen so much tragedy? Was she destined to suffer? Was she meant to be evil? She knew Robin would roll his eyes in the last question, but she couldn't stop the thought. She understood that you take what you give. You reap what you sow. She knew she changed, she knew she was only doing good things now, and she was not only doing them to have a good future, but because she wanted to be a better person. She wanted to help those in need, she wanted to be worthy of Henry and Robin's love. However, bad things kept happening in her life, even if her actions changed. That made her question herself. It made her wonder for how long she would hold out until she succumbs to her old ways. That's why she wanted to ask that last question and other similar questions to the in that moment, that she finally came face to face with him, she didn't know where to start. She didn't know what to ask first. He saw the internal battle she was in, and decided to break the silence first.

"My name is Isaac but you can call me just the author." he smiled to her and to Henry, and then he put down the pencil he was holding. "Sid, can you please give us a moment? I'll find you in the kitchen later."

"Sure." he went willing to the office's door and got out of their sight.

Henry saw something under the author's table that caught his attention and his features lit up as he took one step forward. But before he could get any closer, the author swung his hands and Henry fell to the ground, unconscious. Regina ran to him and held his head before it could hit the ground and she gently laid him in the ground. She got up and glared furiously at the author.

"What did you do to my son?" she asked with an angry tone.

"Don't worry, he'll be fine. I just wanted to talk to you in private." he bent down and he lifted up a crystal ball and put it on his desk. "Regina, I own you apologies." he got up from the chair he was sitting on and walk to where Regina was standing.

She didn't said anything, just raised one eyebrow and wait for him to continue.

"I was just a recorded of stories. I wasn't supposed to change anything or write anything that didn't happen, I should just write things as they were happening. But I saw that everyone was going to have their happy ending, and I thought that was quite boring. So I decided I should change things and make things more interesting. Besides, I suffered some disappointments that made me bitter, which helped me to want to change the story. And your story was the first one I changed."

Regina looked at him surprised. So maybe, there was a chance she wasn't meant to be evil. There was a chance her future wouldn't be all black and dark. Maybe there would be happiness.

"What... what did you change?" Regina asked hesitantly.

"Remember the Tavern? Your faith was to go inside and fall in love with Robin Hood, your soul mate. But all I could think of was "Oh, what I lovely story! Now she'll fall in love with him and because of love, she will forget her desire of revenge towards Snow White." And I got angry with it. I wanted more blood, more action. So I did what I wanted, I changed it and you saw how things went from there. Without love your life got empty and full of darkness. And then I did worst things until I got banished to here."

She just kept looked at him, too shocked to say something. She felt the angry for him starts to grow inside her. Her life was suppossed to be different. Happier. She was going to meet Robin before and they would face the troubles together and she wouldn't have done the awful things she did. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath through her teeths and tried to focus in the fact that Robin was waiting for her back in Storybrooke. The author changed things, but life found a way to put things back on track, to make things happen as they should. She opened her eyes when she heard the author talking again.

"You would have an amazing life with Robin. He would propose to you, you two would have two amazing children together and you'd both make each other very happy. Of course in the begging you would face some troubles because you were already married with the King, but Leopold was a good man and as soon as he realized you weren't happy with him and that you were in love with someone else, he would let you go. He would want you to be happy. - he stopped to talk and looked at the crystal ball over his table. - Do you want to see how things would have been?

"Yes, I would like that." she bit her bottom lip in anticipation.

The author put his hands over the crystal ball and she saw dust coming out of his hands and going straight to the magical item. An image of her young self appeared there and she got closer to pay full attention to it. She saw herself in front of the tavern, and Tinker didn't leave till she got inside. Her young self saw the man with the lion tattoo sitting in a chair with a beer in his hands. The young brunette decided to go the bar in order to gain some courage and confidence. She still wasn't ready to meet and talk to him. She sat in front of the bar and asked for a bottle of water. The barman nodded, smiled and went to take what she asked. She felt someone approaching her from behind and she felt tensed right away, feeling her stomach churn in a good way. She immediately knew who it was, without having to look back. The man with the lion tattoo, her soul mate. He sat beside her at the same time the bartender returned with her water.

"This one is for the house." the man at her side said and she felt her heart skip a beat because of his accent.

The barman nodded and left, leaving them alone. He turned to look at her, and he looked captivated by her beauty. By her red cheeks, her rose lips and her long black locks. And the white dress, that made she looks like an angel. She was captivated by his beauty too. His kind blue eyes that seemed to hold so many secrets, his blond smooth hair that made her wanting to put her hand over it.

"Are you sure? The owner of this place won't get angry with you?" she asked concerned that she might be putting him in trouble.

"Well, then, milady, I think it's a good thing I'm the owner of this tavern." he said not taking his eyes off her face.

"Oh." she blushed and looked ashamed by her mistake and he smiled with her discomfort. "I just.. is that you look so young to be the owner of a place like this."

"Don't worry, a lot of people think the very same thing when they meet me for the first time." she looked up to see his face and saw his smile, feeling butterflies in her stomach at the sight of it. "This place was my father's place, but he died and I'm trying to keep this place together."

"I'm sorry about your father." she said looking into his eyes and then she looked around the place. "I would say you're doing a pretty good job."

"Thank you." his smile spread across his face. "Let me introduce myself to you." he said raising one of his hands with the palm facing upwards. "Robin of Locksley, at your service."

She couldn't help but smile back with the same intensity as she felt herself blushing again.

"I'm Regina Mills." she chose to tell her maiden name as she put one of her hands upon his lifted hand.

He squeezed her hand and led it to his mouth so he could plant a kiss on it.

"I couldn't take my eyes off you since you got here in the tavern." he said gazing right into her eyes. "You're beautiful and I bet your heart is as beautiful as you look. I doubt I'd ever forget meeting someone like you, so I believe this is your first time around these lands?"

She looked down smiling, feeling her cheeks burning because of the compliment. They had just met but he already made her blush three times, though her husband didn't manage to make her blush, not even once. Put yourself together and stop blushing, you idiot. He's going to notice you're already falling hard for him, she said to herself. He kept looking at her, enchanted by the sight of her cheeks blushing. Damn, if I could I would keep making her blush for the rest of my life, he thought.

"Yes" she replied shyly.

"What brought you here?"

She wanted to tell him about the pixie dust. That he was her soul mate. But as she looked into his lion tattoo, she decided not to tell about it yet. She was afraid that the truth would scare him away. So she lied.

"I'm visiting a friend."

Robin seemed to buy it and nodded.

"What do you think about walk with me to get to know more about the places that surround this tavern?"

She looked into his eyes and she only saw kindness there. She could see that he wanted to know more about her, and if she was honest with herself, she wanted to know more about him too. She accepted his invitation and when she finished to drink her water, they walked through the neighborhood. He made jokes, made her laugh and he talked about all he knew about the old buildings they passed by. The last time she felt this good and this comfortable with someone was with Daniel. And when she remembered about him, she started to feel guilty. He was dead and instead of avenge his death, she was trying to move on. Without him. But that's what we'd want you to do, Regina. She heard in her head. And she knew it was true. He wouldn't want her to be sad and alone. He would want her to find love again and be happy. It's possible to find love again. She heard TinkerBell say in her head as she looked at Robin.

She had just met him, but it was possible for her to see how smart and genuine he was. He simple loved life the way that it's. He loved nature; he loved to discover new things, just like her. All she wanted her whole life was to live a simple and good life, but Cora manage to ruin it all. Almost ruined it all, she told herself. He was there with her in that moment, and he was everything she ever wanted. He had all the qualities she liked in a man. She could feel her walls, one by one, being broken each minute they spend together. She saw that desire he had to help the poor people, without wanting anything in return. He saw people for what they were, and not by what they possessed.

The scene in front of the old Regina's eyes dissipated and a new one began. She saw herself sitting between Robin's legs, with her back pressed against his chest on the grass of a garden of a castle. He had both of his hands around her waist, and he lifted one his hands to play with the ring positioned on her ring finger.

"I can't wait to renew our vows next weekend." he whispered in her ear and then he bit her lower lobe.

She bit her lips to stifle a moan.

"You know I feel the same way, but you can do these things with me and wake my body when our children are close" she whispered to him, looking at the two kids in front of them.

A six year old girl, brunette, blue eyes and a smile full of dimples was playing with a four-year-old boy. The boy was blond with deep brown eyes. He did something that angered the girl and she ran after him. She clearly had Regina's temperament. They ran after one another but they stayed in the field of view of their parents.

"They're too busy to pay attention in us." and to prove his statement, he said raising his voice "Victorie! Michael!" but none of them looked back.

"See?" he smiled and gave a wet kiss on her neck.

She gasped and turned in his direction, kissing his mouth. She would never be tired of kissing him. She would never be tired of feeling his taste. During the time they had already been together, they've kissed an enormous amount of times, but no matter how much time passed, for both of them it always felt like the first time. It always made them feel butterflies in their stomach; it always made their toes curl. It always brought that good sensation inside them. They parted to catch air and she touched her forehead against his, breathless.

"You know, sometimes I wonder how my life would have been if I haven't enter in the tavern that day." she murmured with her eyes closed. "I was feeling so much anger against Snow, and I was about to embark on a path of no return. But you helped me to put my anger away and you filled my life with love."

She opened her eyes and his eyes were closed, a smile in his face.

"I believe that even if hatred and desire for revenge against Snow took over your life, you would be able to find redemption."

She smiled lovingly to him with tears in her eyes and leaned in to kiss him.

The crystal ball got blank and Regina felt the reality returning to her. Her heart was beating really loud because of the emotions she was feeling. It was so amazing, it was like she was there, it was like she really lived that life. She felt what she should have felt. She looked up and saw that the author was looking at her, giving her a time to put herself together.

"Nothing of that was real? Nothing of that really happened?" she asked.

"You did meet him in the tavern, and you had a few dates with him. But right after you and him kissed for the first time I changed everything. I'm sorry for the happiness I stole from you. But your essence is good, Regina. I may have changed your story, but I didn't change your essence. You genuinely care about the people around you. When you love someone, you love with all your heart. That's why you're able to found your way back to the good path. And that's why you deserve and you'll have your happy ending."

She smiled at his words. Her mother always made her feel like she was meant to be evil and she knew she was good, she knew she had white magic inside herself, but it was wonderful to hear this from the person who saw it all, who watched her every move.

"I'll have the chance to have a future just like the one I saw?"

"I believe so, Regina. Good actions, good hearts, always lead to good things. It can take a while, but it never fails."

She nodded and looked to her belly smiling, hoping the author was right.

"What can I tell the others about what happened here? Gold has been desperate do find you."

"You can tell everything. The truth. And if he wants to come here, let him come. I know now how to deal with him."

She liked the confidence he was giving her.

"Can I go home now?"

"Sure."

He smiled and walked to the door placed behind his chair. He lifted his hands and she saw some dust going in the door's direction. He turned to her and lifted his hands again and Regina saw Henry's eyes opening slowly.

"Mom?" she heard him say in a hoarse voice and she walked fast to him.

"Hi Henry" she said stroking his cheeks and helping him to sit.

"What happened? he said rubbing his eyes and then looked at her.

"The author wanted to talk to me in private. He told me that he changed my history, that I was supposed to have met Robin before. But I made my piece with that. He may have changed things, but Robin came back into my life. The author showed me and you always tried to show me, that my… essence is good. And that's why good things will happen to me."

She kept stroking Henry's cheek because she knew how badly the truth was going to upset him. He wanted her to be happy and there she was saying that she basically could have been happy but she wasn't because of the author. She realized that her comfort wasn't working as she saw Henry's face harden.

"You changed her story?" Henry said between his teeth, looking to the author.

If the situation wasn't so awful, Regina would admire how much he looked like her when he was angry or annoyed.

"I did." the author said looking down. "I'm really sorry for that, Henry. I honestly am. I didn't know that changing one thing would drastically change your mother's life."

"The hell that you didn't!"

Henry got on his feet quickly and started to walk to the author with his arms up, but before he could get any closer Regina got up and put an arm around him, stopping him.

"Henry, calm down." Regina said getting closer to him. "Fighting now won't fix anything. And I can't help but feeling grateful that the author changed my story, otherwise I wouldn't have you."

"I'm not worthy of the pain you had to feel, mom." he replied looking at her.

"To me, you're."

She hugged him thigh, with one of her hands on his head and she heard him huff and sigh. She didn't release her grip of him until she felt his stiff shoulder relax.

"Didn't you think my mom deserved to be happy?" Henry asked sadly, but she saw that part of the anger was gone, he was just sad.

"It wasn't that, Henry. Trust me. I was just... mad at everyone and anything. I suffered a deception and instead of dealing with it on my own, I started to destroy everyone's chance at happiness."

"Can you write a happy ending to my mom?"

"I should just write thing as they're happening. But your mom doesn't need my help. She's doing everything right. She's going to get it on her own. If she stays the way she is now, I have no doubt her future will be bright and full of light."

Henry looked to his mother and smiled, and she smiled back to him.

"Now let's go home, shall we?"

Regina asked and Henry's smile spread wider. She tangled his hands with hers and they walked together to the door. They crossed the door and they appeared on the same room they were in before, this time the author wasn't there, but Robin, David, Snow, Emma and Hook. Emma ran to hug Henry and Robin ran to hug Regina. She hugged him and closed her eyes, feeling his arms around her waist. He buried his head in her hair and she noticed he was shaking and trembling.

"Shh I'm here" she whispered, pressing him more against her.

"I was so afraid I was going to lose you agian." he whispered against her hair.

"You won't lose me again."

She opened her eyes and for the first time she realized that Gold and the Queens of Darkness were there too. She started to gave anxious thinking that maybe Gold would get mad for doing something about the author in his absense. but then Gold smiled to her, a generous smiled. It calmed her nerves a little. She smiled back and walked in his direction.

"Henry found a key in this office that he thought it could be the key to that door in the page. We thought the author was inside it. He opened the door, but instead of the author coming out, he got sucked inside it and I went with him. And we found the author."

She explained that the author was just a recorded of stories, that they still had the free will, but the author got mad and started to change it, making it harder for everyone to achieve their happy endings. And that's why he was banished to inside that page. She let aside the part that the author changed her own story. It was personal and not everyone in that room deserved to know that. When she finished Gold nodded and got closer to her.

"Can I pay a visit to him?" Gold asked looking to the page Emma was holding.

She knew he was going to ask that, so it didn't surprise her.

"Yes."

She took the page from Emma's hand and took the key she saw on the table and gave to him.

"It will lead you to an alternative Storybrooke. Only the author lives there and he's on his mansion."

Gold nodded and started to place the key on the doorknob, but before he could fit the key there, all the Queens of Darkness stopped him, putting their hands on his hands.

"We won't let you go there without us." Cruella said fiercily.

"And you know very well the powers we have and what we can do." Maleficent added.

Gold sighed and nodded. Robin lifted his arms to held in something strong made of wood, pressed Regina body's against his and everyone else held in something equally strong in order to not be sucked inside it as Gold turned the knob and the familiar explosion occurred. Gold and the women got sucked inside and the portal quickly closed.

She sighed in relief and looked to Robin. She took his hands in hers and announced that what she said was true and she wanted to talk to Robin somewhere else. Everyone smiled at her and nodded.

"So tell me kid, how it was like back there?" she heard Emma asking as she left the office with Robin.

They found another office and they went inside it. Regina closed the door and she realized that Robin couldn't stop touching her. It was like he was thinking that she could vanish from his eyes and dissapear, that he could lose her if he stopped touching her. Not that she minded. Not a bit. She knew he was just afraid and that fear would eventually decrease.

He pushed one of the chairs, sat on it and she sat on his lap with her arms around his neck as she noted some late afternoon rays of sunshine surpassing the window and illuminating their skin. He realized she had more things to tell him, but she didn't know where to start. So he decided to break the silence first.

"Everything went okay in there?"

"I found out more things than I said. The author changed my story. Out story. Do you remember the tavern?"

She asked rubbing his neck as he rubbed her back and she saw his eyes widened but quickly returned to normal.

"Yes, I do."

"I was supposed to go inside it and meet you. And you would took away the anger I was feeling towards Snow and you would fill my life with love." she remembered of the words she saw herself saying to Robin. "But the author got mad and changed it. I didn't enter the tavern and anger took over my life."

"That's so not fair." he said starting to get angry.

"But that's ok, there's nothing we can do about it now." she kept rubbing his neck, wanting to sooth him. "I learned how strong and powerful love can be. I learned what feeling unwanted can do to people. Basically, I only did the awful things I did because I was feeling unwanted and wronged, and if I had someone who loved me, I wouldn't have done anything evil. Sure I had my father's love, but sadly that wasn't enough. I wanted to feel loved and desired."

"You wearing the clothes your wore.. I find it hard to believe people didn't desire you." he said as some of the anger he was feeling started to go away.

"Well, maybe they did but they were too shy or scared to approached me. And I didn't need any man, I needed my soul mate. I needed you."

He smiled lovingly are her, putting a piece of hair behind her ear.

"I still don't know how we manage to spend a year with each other, you wearing that hot clothes and nothing happened between yes."

"Because you're wrong, things happened."

She looked at him archly and they laughed.

"Right."

"The author showed me how our life would have been, and now I'm more certain than never that we are meant to be. That man screwed things up for us, but we still found our way to each other. And there's nothing else I'm more certain of that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. So.. do you wanna marry me?" she asked looking into his eyes.

His smile spread into one of the biggest smiles she's ever seen and he's eyes were shining. She couldn't tell if was because of the light coming from the window or if it was because he was crying. Probably both.

"Of course I do." he said holding her face with both of his hands. "Yes yes yes."

He leaned in to kiss her and she felt a salty taste in the middle of the kiss. They were both crying. Tears of joy. They parted just a little to catch air, breathing in each other's air.

"Wasn't I supposed to propossed, and not you propossed me?" he said in a low voice, panting, with a smile on his face.

"Well, and since when we are a tradicional couple? I'm the Evil Queen, Snow White's stepmother, and you are Robin Hood." she said smirking.

"True." he agreed smiling and leaned in to kiss her once more.

It was a good chapter? I want to know all about your opnions! Please leave a review. The next chapter, unless I have more ideas, it will be the last one. God, I'm so nervous about tonight's episode. I hope it won't be too awful for our beloved couple. This is new storyline they put for them on the show its horrible. Last but not least, happy birthday to my twinsie Hevelin. Thank you for being such a great friend and always encourage me to write. Love you! ❤️