Somewhere along the way, Roland had found a stick. The stick's resemblance to a sword was so uncanny he had been using it to fight invisible foes since they entered the forest. Roland ran ahead of Emma and Robin, shouting brave words at unseen trolls and dragons while the adults talked behind him.

Emma had been mostly silent since she hung up the phone with Henry. She seemed to have things on her mind that she did not wish to share with Robin, so he waited for her to break the silence.

Eventually, she did. "I understand if you don't want to talk about what happened between you and Marian, but if you do, I'm willing to listen."

Robin said, "there's not much to tell. She thinks I don't love her, and that I was only with her out of obligation."

Emma took a moment to respond. "Was she wrong?" Robin turned his head sharply to glare at her. "Sorry, I don't mean to be rude." She may not have meant it, but it was rude. "It's just that you were pretty torn when Marian came back. You wanted to stand by your marriage vows, but your heart seemed to be pulling you elsewhere. That's not to say you didn't love Marian, just that… well, it did kind of look like you chose her because you wanted to do the right thing."

Robin said nothing for a long time. So Marian had her reasons for making those accusations. If she and Emma both thought he was only with her because of his obligations, could they be right? Everyone, even John, said he was in love with another. He tried to remember those feelings, but the memories eluded him. He tried to remember loving Marian, but those feelings eluded him as well. Robin sighed. He supposed if Emma was to be believed, then his marriage really was over.

"It's alright. I believe you meant no harm. You've already saved Marian twice from evil witches. I can't imagine you'd try to separate us now." Robin looked at Emma to give her a small smile and found her frowning in confusion.

"Twice? When did I…"

Robin said, "first when you brought her here from the past," Emma nodded, "and then when you returned her heart."

Emma's eyes widened and she nodded again. "Right, of course." She looked away and walked a little faster.

Emma was acting suspiciously. She was hiding something, and not well. Robin decided he had to find out what.

Robin increased his speed to match hers and asked, "did you forget about returning my wife's heart? Is that something you do so often it's not memorable to you?"

Emma continued walking quickly and looking ahead. "No, of course not. Marian's heart is the only one I've ever removed, and returned." Robin stopped walking. "I just didn't consider that saving her. Because you saved her. I was just a supporting player." Emma finally noticed that Robin wasn't behind her. She turned and her eyes fell on where he had stopped.

"What did you say?" Robin asked in a quiet voice.

Emma froze. "Uh… that you saved Marian?"

"Before that."

Emma thought for a moment. "That Marian's heart was the only one I ever removed?"

Robin stared at her with cold eyes. "You told me you did not know how to remove hearts."

Emma said, "I did? Are you sure? I don't think that's what I said."

Robin began taking slow steps toward her. "That's exactly what you said. I asked if you knew how to remove hearts, and you said you only knew how to return them. Such knowledge is not of the sort that one typically forgets." By now, Robin was only a foot away from Emma. She looked worried, and a bit frightened. "You are a terrible liar, Miss Swan. Why are you lying? What aren't you telling me?"

Emma's shoulders sagged. Robin waited for her explanation. "I promised Regina I wouldn't say anything."

By now, Robin had stopped reacting to everyone referring to the queen by her first name, but her involvement in this event was a mystery. He continued staring at Emma until she finally gave in. "I wasn't the one who returned Marian's heart. It was Regina. She magically disguised herself to look like me."

Robin shook his head. "Why would she do that?"

Emma turned and continued walking, with Robin keeping pace by her side. "She didn't think you or Marian would be very receptive to her just then, but she wanted to make sure Marian's heart got returned. So she found a way to do it without anyone knowing about it."

Robin thought that over. "She knew she wouldn't be welcome so she deceived everyone? What was she up to?"

Emma sighed. "Why do you keep assuming the worst of her?"

"Well," Robin said, "she is the evil queen."

"No," Emma said. "She used to be. She's not anymore."

Robin did not want to have this argument again. "Well then why would she care so much about Marian's heart?"

Emma scoffed and looked sideways at him. "You're kidding, right?" Robin looked seriously at her. "Wow, you're not kidding." Emma grabbed Robin's arm and turned him to face her. "She did it for you. The potion, Marian's heart, all of it. You… you know you two were together right? She really cared about you." Robin was overwhelmed at how earnest she looked. He turned away and kept walking. "Robin!" Emma called, and hurried after him.

Robin's head was spinning. Thoughts of the queen being so in love with him… He couldn't process it. "I know the queen and I were involved. I've been told. It's just rather disturbing." Robin waited for Emma to catch up to him before he continued. He took a moment to call out to Roland not to wander too far before turning his attention back to Emma. "You're not the first person to tell me about things I don't recall. It's very unsettling to have a portion I my life that I can't remember. At least when we first got to this world, everybody had forgotten the missing year, not just me. Now I'm learning about my own life from others. I hear stories of a woman who apparently loved me, whom I can't remember. And now the woman who does love me doesn't think I love her anymore!"

"Well… do you?" Emma asked. There was that rudeness again.

"She is my wife."

"That's not exactly a yes." What was wrong with this woman's manners? Was she raised by wolves?

"I would not have married Marian if I didn't love her," he said.

"But that was a long time ago." Emma persisted. "Do you still love her now?"

Robin sighed. She was rude and stubborn, but she was not wrong. "I don't know," he admitted.

Emma was silent for a moment - a short moment. "That really seems like something you should know."

Robin let out a laugh. "I know." For a few minutes they walked in silence, until Robin said, "but I must love her. I broke the freezing curse. The curse could only be broken by True Love's Kiss."

"An Act of True Love," Emma said.

"Pardon?"

Emma looked over at Robin. "Elsa never said True Love's Kiss, she said an Act of True Love would break the curse. She told me the story of how her sister broke the curse by sacrificing herself to save Elsa."

Robin frowned. "So you don't think my kiss broke the spell?"

Emma smiled. "I don't know. I wasn't there, remember?"

"Right. It was the Evil Queen."

Emma's smiled disappeared. "You have to stop calling her that."

Robin ignored her. "You all talk about her as though she's a hero."

"She is a hero," Emma insisted.

"Why? Because she's chosen the side you all want her to be on? Do you know how many people she's killed?"

Emma said, "Do you know how many people she's saved? This entire town, your wife, your son…"

Robin interrupted, "wait, when did she save Roland?"

"In the Enchanted Forest, during the missing year," Emma said. "One of the Wicked Witch's flying monkeys was coming after Roland. Regina got between them and saved him."

Robin frowned again. Emma hadn't been in the Enchanted Forest, so she must have heard the story elsewhere. He made a mental note to ask around. If the queen really had saved Roland, he wanted to know about it.

Robin called out to Roland, who had stopped walking only a few feet ahead. Roland looked back and shouted, "Papa, look!"

Roland was pointing to the lake, and promptly took off in its direction. Emma was right, it was quite a lovely setting. Roland ran excitedly toward the ducks on the lake, although they took off long before he could get too close to them. Robin followed Roland and set the picnic basket down under a tree. Emma was still standing nearby with her hands in her pockets.

Robin smiled awkwardly at her. She knew he wanted alone time with Roland. She seriously needed to learn some manners. "Well, thank you for accompanying us here."

Emma seemed to remember herself. "Right! I'm actually supposed to meet Henry here, so…" she trailed off and Robin raised his eyebrows at her. "I guess I'll go wait at that bench." Emma took her hands out of her pockets to point to a bench around the side of the lake, a fair distance away. Robin nodded to her, and she walked away.

Robin spread the blanket on the ground and called Roland over. The boy came running, chattering away about the ducks he saw. Robin didn't want to talk to Roland about food or ducks while such a heavy subject was looming in his thoughts, so he decided to get right to it.

"Roland, come sit with me." Roland obediently came to sit in Robin's lap and began playing with his papa's hands. "Roland, you know that your mama and I are married, right?" Roland nodded. "Well, grown-ups get married because they love each other. And sometimes those grown-ups have children. Like your mama and I had you." Roland was listening, but he just kept playing with Robin's hands. Robin continued. "Well, sometimes, married people stay married for a long time. But sometimes the stop being married."

"Like you and mama," Roland said.

Robin was startled. How could he know? But Robin's panic quickly subsided as he realized Roland was talking about the time they spent thinking Marian was dead. "That's right, Roland. And now mama is back, but we decided not to be married anymore."

"Why?" Roland asked, still not looking up.

Robin couldn't be sure if the question was an indication of distress. Roland had recently entered a phase of asking 'why?' about everything. But Robin would answer his question as honestly as possible. "Because, Roland, marriage is for people who love each other. Your mama and I don't love each other anymore. But you still love her, right Roland?" He refused to let his marital issues separate Roland from either of his parents. Roland nodded, turning one of Robin's hands over. "She still loves you, too. And do you know who I still love, more than anyone?"

"Who?" Roland asked innocently. Robin waited. Roland grew impatient, finally looked up from his lap, and yelled, "Regina!"

What? Robin's eyes grew wide. Where did that come from? But Roland was out of his lap and running around the lake toward where Emma was… standing with Henry and the queen. Oh.

Robin slowly got up and walked over to the group. He saw Roland run up to them, his arms waving. As he approached, the queen bent forward and swept him up. Roland gave her a big hug, which she returned with a huge smile on her face. He then pulled back and started chattering away, though Robin was too far to hear what was being said. Robin noticed her listening eagerly.

It was quite the sight. They were completely at ease with each other. Robin supposed he should be apprehensive at seeing the (formerly) evil queen with his son, but it seemed completely natural to him. As he got closer, though, she looked at him and her smile dropped. She lowered Roland to the ground, but he grabbed hold of her hand.

Robin smiled at them. "Good afternoon, Henry. Your majesty." He was still wary of the queen, but unlike Emma, he knew how to be courteous.

"Hello, Robin," she said. "I didn't realize you would be here." She wasn't looking at him. Her eyes darted between Emma and Henry. "I just came to drop off Henry with Emma."

Emma spoke up. "Henry was with Regina last night, but tonight he's with me."

Henry nodded. It seemed like this shared parenting thing actually could work.

Roland apparently had enough of a conversation that did not revolve around him. "Regina, my monkey is gone!"

What? Robin thought.

She looked down at him. "Your stuffed monkey?"

"Yes, the one you gave me. It's gone away and I miss it and I'm sad." Robin stared. He knew that toy. Roland loved that toy, refused to go to bed without it. The toy he loved so much was from the queen?

She crouched down to face him. "Roland that monkey used to be a bad monkey, because it was under the witch's spell."

Roland nodded. "It tried to hurt me, and I was scared. But you saved me."

Now Robin was listening carefully. This was what Emma had just told him about. A monkey had tried to hurt Roland, and the queen saved him. Not only that, but she turned the monkey into a toy for Roland. She saved him, and then comforted him afterward.

She continued, "I think when the witch went away, the monkey was free of the spell, so he got to go home. But I will get you a new toy, one that doesn't have a spell on it, so you can keep it for as long as you like. How does that sound?" She smiled at him.

Roland smiled back and lifted his arms toward her, indicating he wanted to be lifted up. Her smile faltered, and she looked at Robin, questioningly. She was looking for permission from him. Of course, he had exhibited nothing but hostility toward her. But he could not deny she was good not only with her son, but with his as well. He nodded.

Regina wrapped her arms around Roland and stood up, holding him.

Emma said, "well, kid, how about we go get some lunch?" She put one hand on Henry's shoulder.

Henry, who had been quiet this whole time, was staring at Robin. But when Emma spoke, he turned to her and nodded. "Yeah, let's get out of here." He turned and walked back the way he had come, with Emma beside him.

Now, Robin was left with Regina and his son. He wasn't sure what to say next. He just kept staring at the woman before him. Roland's head lay on her shoulder and he was playing with her hair with one hand. He seemed more comfortable with this woman than he had been with Marian. Robin supposed they must spent some time together while she was seeing him. For the first time, Robin could see it. He could see himself having feelings for this woman, who stood before him holding his son. Who had saved his son and assuaged his fears. Who had rescued Marian, twice. He still didn't know her. But of course, that made all the difference. Whoever this woman in front of him was, she was not the Evil Queen.

After a few minutes of standing in silence, Regina ran her hands through Roland's hair and said, "well, I should probably go." She bent over and put Roland down.

Robin hesitated, then nodded. He looked down and said, "Roland, why don't you go get the food out of the basket and I'll come join you."

"Okay, bye Regina!" Roland yelled as he ran back to the blanket.

Regina smiled after him. Looking back at Robin, her smile grew tight. "Goodbye Robin." She turned and started to walk away.

Robin said, "goodbye, Regina."

…

A/N: Wow, I am on a role! I seriously didn't think I would finish this, but I pushed myself. Sorry the Regina/Robin part was so short, but the chapter was getting looooong!

To the two reviewers who didn't like Henry calling Emma mom: I get what you're saying, but he calls her that in the show. I think it's legit only since the missing year, when she actually was his mom. But yeah, him calling Regina 'Regina' did feel weird, but it was getting unclear in the way I wrote it so I gave up on trying to restructure the conversation to avoid it. But I absolutely agree that Regina is and always will be Henry's mom.

To my reviewers: I apparently cannot refuse a request from a reviewer. That's why I am posting 3 chapters in 3 days, and why I will be writing Regina's POV to this as well.