Chapter 11

'Stay away from us.'

'You ruined my family once, I will never let you do that again.'

Robin's words kept echoing in her head, over and over, like a broken record. Sat alone on the floor of the bathroom, Regina tried to put together all the pieces of the puzzle, failing. As Evil Queen, she's hurt a hundred, even a thousand of people, ruining their lives in such terrible and unforgivable ways. It was impossible to focus on a specific event, especially when she's more than sure that she'd never met Robin and his son before that night at The Bandit. All her efforts to remember how she ruined Robin's family were in vain. But she did ruin his life and she can't take that back.

When eventually the feeling of nausea stopped messing with her stomach, Regina found the strength to go upstairs and have shower. Deep down she hoped the hot water would relieved her pain, both emotional and physical. Her belly ached because of the cramps due to all the times she threw up, she could feel chills running underneath her bare skin. The water relaxed her contracted muscles by relieving all the tension from her body, except for her heart. Nothing could've stopped her broken heart from aching, inside her chest. Beat after beat, the crack kept growing, hurting her deeper.

After the shower, Regina's head is full of unanswered questions, she wants to fix this mess she created with Robin but, above them all, there is a specific one – the most important one – what is wrong with my body? She can't find a reasonable explanation to her sickness. It's not just a bug, it's something else, she can tell. Reaching out for a doctor would've been the dumbest idea she ever had. Now that the curse is broken, everybody in town is surely looking for her head. So, Regina decides to figure it out by herself and, even if she already jumped to the obvious conclusion, she needs to exclude that possibility once and for all. To do that, there's only one place in town she needs to go – her vault.

She dresses up fast and walks downstairs, looking for Henry. Sitting on the couch in the living room, the little boy is reading his fairytale book all over again. Regina stares at him for a couple of minutes, realizing that he's not just reading it, he's focusing on every single event on that book. Walking towards the couch, she clears her voice to catch his attention. 'Henry?'

'Mum! Are you okay?'

'I'll be fine.' She sits next to him. 'I assume you have some questions, things you want to know.'

'I read this book a hundred times. I know all these stories, what you did and why you did it..' Henry says, closing the book on his lap and, turning to her, he asks. 'But why did you lie to me? Nobody remembers about the Enchanted Forest or their real lives.'

'I..' Regina hesitates, trying to find the right words to say. A feel of disappointment is filling up her son's beautiful green eyes. 'I've loved and lost the closest people in my life. You know what I've sacrificed in order to get my revenge on Snow White..'

'They would've never believed me, but still you made me think I was insane!'

'I'm sorry, Henry. I really am.' Regina stops herself from stretching her arm to hold his hand, scared of what his reaction might be. 'But the idea of you hating me was easier to accept than Snow and Charming winning once again.'

'But I.. I don't ha-' Henry stops before to finish the sentence.

'It's okay. I understand.' Regina knows that she hasn't been a perfect mother but, despite all her flaws, she did her best to raise him well. 'It might take some time but, I hope you'll find the strength in your heart to forgive me.'

Henry stretches his arm and holds her hand tight. A tear drops uncontrollably down Regina's cheek as she moves her glance from their hands to her son. They silently look at each other for a long moment, no words are needed. One day he'll be able to forgive her and she's willing to wait, no matter how long it will take.

'So..' Henry breaks the silent, 'What's gonna happen now?'

Regina clears her voice, trying to compose herself. 'The entire town is out there, looking for me. They're confused and angry. And they want me to pay for what I did. You.. you shouldn't get involved in all this.'

'Do you think they will hurt me to get to you? They're the good ones!'

'And I'm the villain, I know. But not all of them are good and I don't want anything bad happen to you.' The words fly out of her mouth uncontrollably. 'There's something I have to do, and I need to stay here while I'm out.'

'Is this about Robin?'

Regina looks away, unable to meet her son's glance. A sense of shame and sadness is overcoming her emotions. 'Maybe.. I don't know.' Henry holds her hand tighter, giving that strength she needs to face the reality, no matter how hard it's gonna be. She takes a deep breath, fighting back the tears before to turn to Henry. 'I will cast a protection spell on the house, so nobody will be able to get in here. You'll be safe.'

'Is your magic back?'

Was it? The fact that the curse is broken doesn't preclude that she has her magic back. Regina raises her arm, right in front of her son and, lowering its way down, a fireball magically appears on the palm of her hand.

'I suppose it is.' She spontaneously smiles. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Henry slowly pulling away from her. Regina closes her hand, making the fireball disappear, as she turns to him. 'I will never hurt you, Henry. I promise.'

'I believe you.' The young boy nods his head, doing his best to hide the fear in his green eyes.

Regina gently squeezes Henry's hand before to stand up. 'I will be right back.' She walks away, leaving her son in the living room without saying anything else. She was terrified of how he could've reacted but the situation turned out better than she ever imagined. For now.

Regina appears in her vault in a cloud of violet smoke. 'I missed this.' She says, feeling herself again. It's been such a long time since she used her powers. Somehow she managed to live without them for the past twenty-eight years, it wasn't easy at first but she already got her personal vendetta on Snow White. They could've been helpful but, for as long as Mary Margaret and David were separated, she didn't need them. But now that they are back, she can't help but feeling extremely powerful. Regina may has her powers back, but they would never help her finding out what's wrong with her body, nor get Robin's trust back. There's only one thing that can help her, she just needed to find it.

'Where is it?' She asks out loud, searching every angle of vault for that small roll of parchment. To either confirm or deny her theory, she needs to make sure that potion worked. Regina never experienced that feel of nausea in her life, she's not stupid and sometimes the most obvious answer is the right one – but not for her. In a fit of anger, Regina did something unfixable when her mother tried to make her fall in love with a man with a fake lion tattoo. She found a way to stop her mother from controlling her, so she took a potion that prevented her from having children. She wasn't thinking of the consequences of her actions but something inside her body changed that night, she felt it right in her belly. She prevented herself from one of the biggest joys in life and she hated herself for that. Thanks to Dr. Hopper, Regina realized that a child could fill up that hole in her heart that nobody could have. Henry brought so much light into her dark and lonely life. But if that potion worked, how come she believes she's pregnant?

'There it is.' She eventually finds the roll amongst some small bottles she used to contain the ingredients for her potions. Sits on a trunk, she unrolls the piece of paper with a bitter feeling in her heart. Scared of the outcome, she knows there's no other way to find out the truth. Ingredient after ingredient, Regina realizes that nothing went wrong that night. The potion was made correctly, no ingredient missed and the pain she felt right in her belly was the proof that it worked. She was supposed to never become a mother and yet, the question is still echoing in Regina's head.

Am I pregnant?

The sense of nausea is just the main reason why she keeps wondering that but, thinking back to the past few weeks, she felt really tired. Her body doesn't feel the same in a while. No reasonable explanation makes sense in her mind. The potion changed in her body that terrible night she cried herself to sleep, alone in her cold and empty bedchamber. A moment of weakness that lasted an entire night, realizing what that potion actually did to her and her future. Something must have changed because the idea of carrying a child is slowly becoming a reality, but what? Thinking back at her whole life, nothing happened that could've caused such an impact on her, expect one thing – Robin.

True love is the most powerful magic of all.

Henry's words suddenly sound louder and louder in her head that, for a brief moment, all her doubts simply vanished. Regina stands up, trying to process all the emotions inside her. The small roll of parchment falls at the ground as she instinctively puts both her hands on her belly. Her heart starts beating faster. The palms of her hands sweat against the dark turtleneck. Closing her eyes, she breathes deeply hoping that would give her the ultimate answer to her question.

They broke the curse with the true love's kiss, how can this be any different? He is her soulmate, her second chance to be happy. They were destined to be together since the night Tinker lead her to that tavern. If their love broke the most powerful curse ever created, was it strong enough to overcome that potion?

'Oh my God.' Regina barely whispers, caressing her thumbs on her belly. She doesn't need an answer, deep down in her heart she knows the truth. A smile spontaneously appears on her face as she breaths out loudly. Looking down, she can already picture her belly slowly swells for the next nine months as her baby grows inside her, day after day. A feeling of pure happiness is filling up her heart in a way she never imagined it was possible but something brings her back to the sad reality. A reality where she remembers that Robin despises her and never wants to see her again. How is she supposed to tell him that? Would he believe her? Would he hate her even more?

There is only one way to find it out.

On her way to Robin, Regina thinks how to tell him the truth, over and over again. She considers many different ways, but in her head Robin ends up not believing her or even hating her more than he already does. The closer she gets to his tavern, the more scared she feels. Step after step, she even considers the idea to go back to her house, give herself more time to think and process the entire situation, but deep down she knows it would be wrong. Robin deserves to know the truth and she has to face the possibility that he might not want to be part of her life anymore. It is time for her to face the real consequences of her actions. Everyone will always look at her as the Evil Queen, no matter what.

Distracted by her own thoughts, Regina barely realizes that she's standing right in front of The Bandit, Robin's tavern. Holding the door handle, she hesitates from opening it. Suddenly everything she's done in the past was nothing compare to walk through that door. Facing her mom in her young age, see Daniel dying in front of her, marrying a man older than her to become Queen and all her attempts to kill Snow White look much easier than that. A déjà vu crosses her mind as she opens the door. A young self was standing in front of a tavern in the Enchanted Forest, not so ready to meet her soulmate. 'This is your chance of love and happiness. Go get him.' Tinker's words echo in her head, remembering how coward she's been that night. She was too scared to approach him, to finally be happy that she ran away and never looked back. But this time she couldn't just run away. Not only her fate is at stake, her child's as well. Their child.

Regina takes a deep breath and takes few steps inside, closing the door behind her. As she hoped, the tavern is empty except for one person.

'I thought I made myself clear. I don't want you anywhere near me or my son.' Robin says rudely from behind the counter.

Hear him saying my son makes her heart aches in a way she never felt before. She stops where she is, trying not rush anything. 'Robin, please.' Regina says, ignoring his words. 'We need to talk.'

'There's nothing we need to talk about. Whatever you're going to say is just wasted breath.' He takes a long sip of whiskey and puts down the empty glass on the counter. 'Go away, Regina.'

'Robin..'

'I said go away!' Robin walks towards the stairs, without even looking at her. Regina raises her hand fast and moves a table right in front Robin, preventing him from taking another step. 'Using your magic won't help you.'

'Let me explain first. And if you still want me to leave, then I will walk out of that door and you'll never see me again.' Regina begs him. She doesn't want to tell him about the baby straight away, she owes him an explanation for her past and she intends to give it to him. Robin turns around, looking right into her eyes. 'I'm sorry for the pain I caused you and your family but I was blind. The anger I felt for Snow White couldn't let me see clear.'

'You should've thought about it. You can't change the past anymore.'

'I know. I'm not trying to find an excuse for what I did but..' Regina stops. It's time to say that something happened the night he came at her house, after Graham dropped the charges on him. Something that is going to change their lives forever, for better or for worse, whatever he wants it or not, but no words come out of her mouth.

'But what?'

'I'm not that person anymore.' She barely says, biting her own tongue. She owes him the truth but her cowardness shows up again. 'I never thought I could love again, but I was proved wrong. My life changed the day I took Henry into my arms for the first time and now there's nothing I wouldn't do to protect him.' Regina pauses for a brief moment, remembering that a baby is now growing inside her. She does her best to not let her emotions take control of her. 'Then.. I found you and Roland and I believed that fate gave a second chance..'

'The Evil Queen worth it of a second chance?' Robin asks with a sarcastic smile on his face. 'You've murdered entire villages, leaving a blood trail behind you like nobody before. People were scared to pronounce your name, or Snow's because they were terrified you'd haunt them down to find her.'

'I told you. I'm not that person anymore!' Regina raises her voice, regretting it the second after.

'That doesn't change the fact that you brought us here with no memory of our lives in the Enchanted Forest, like nothing happened.' Robin raises his arm, pointing his finger at her. 'You lied to me! You played this nice person so I could fall for you.'

'Yes, I lied to you about who I really was. About the past, but there's one thing I never lied about.. my feelings for you.' Regina instinctively takes a step towards him, fighting back the tears. 'I love you, Robin. You have to believe me.'

'Believe you? I don't think I –'

'Then listen to your heart.' She says, interrupting him. 'Only the Savior was supposed to break the curse, but there's something more powerful - true love. Our kiss broke the curse, it must mean something.'

'Do you really think that, don't you?'

'Those days, with Henry and Roland, were the happiest of my life. For the first time I've felt like being part of a family.'

'We're not a family, not anymore.' Robin said in cold blood. 'Now, please, go away.' He turns around and walks away.

Regina's eyes are full of tears, she can't control them anymore. 'There's one more thing.' She says, wrapping her arms around her belly.

Robin stops and, still turned away from her, he asks 'What?'

'I'm pregnant.' Few tears drop down her face, uncontrollably. 'I know this won't change the hate you feel for me, but you deserved to know it. I'm pregnant with your child, Robin.'

Robin slowly turns around, wondering if he heard right. When she meets his glance, she can see the shock in his eyes. Robin's blue eyes are holding so many emotions: anger, surprise, happiness. With her arms still wrapped around her belly, Regina hardly fights back the tears from streaming down her cheeks. Deep down in her heart, she knows he had feeling for her, otherwise that kiss would've never worked but whatever he felt for her is gone the moment he remembered. Nothing would change his mind, he despises her with all his soul. She gives him all the time he needs to process that news, waiting for him to say something. But nothing comes out his mouth, he simply stares at her, silently.

'Goodbye, Robin.' She says between the sobs. As promised, if he wanted her to leave that's what she would've done. With her heart broken in thousands of pieces, Regina raises her hands and, looking into Robin's eyes till the very last second, she disappears in a cloud of violet smoke.

'Regina!'

The sound of Robin's voice echoes in her head as she appears back in her vault. Tear after tear, they drop down her face. There's no point in fighting them back anymore. Her chance to be happy with Robin is gone, forever.

Sorry for taking so long to write it, I've been pretty busy lately.

I really hope you liked this chapter. Let me know your thoughts by reviewing it.

See you soon with the last chapter of this ff.

Love,

Daisy