When Robin exists his tent, he finds a group of his men still awake by the fire. He entrusts them with watching over Roland and Marian and then, though it is the dead of night, he walks into the forest.

For two days he loses himself there, and just as it had in the days and weeks following Marian's death, the vastness of the forest allows his tortured mind a place to be free.

He thinks of Marian and the innocence of his first real love. Things had been so simple when he had been a young man convinced of his own invulnerability. He and Marian had loved each other completely, and he had saved her from a life she didn't want to live. It was a tale that belonged in the story book he had seen the Charmings reading from, or indeed, in the cartoon that Henry had insisted that Robin watch in which he had been depicted as a fox.

But death and loss and forgiveness weren't what these stories were made of. There wasn't a mention in those tales of the days after Marian's death when Robin's anger at the world had overwhelmed all else. He hadn't stolen for justice in those days, but because the world had taken from him and certainly he had every right to take as he pleased. He had hated himself so much then that it mattered little what else he did.

It was only when he caught sight of his two year old son hitting and stealing from another child that Robin had realized that he needed to change. He had spent over a year falling lower and lower with no consideration of what that meant for others until he realized what he had taught his son. He vowed that day that he would be better for Roland's sake and he had been.

He had struggled to claw his way back, to be a good man again, and maybe his crimes had been different from Regina's, but she understood what it was like to try to remake oneself after becoming so horribly lost in pain and guilt and rage.

He had come back from that and become a good and honorable man, a man that Roland could be proud to call papa. But the happiness he had felt these last few weeks had been so much more than he had ever expected to feel again. He was so happy with Regina, and he wanted so much to make her happy. It hurt to see her hurt, and it had brought Robin such joy to be able to help erase the sadness from her face, to make her smile and laugh and look so very young and free.

When Robin returns to the camp Roland is out hunting with some of the men and Marian is nowhere in sight. He seeks her out and finds her by the harbor, staring out at the sea.

"Marian."

"Hello," she replies, turning to him with a smile, and Robin finds that he can't exactly read her expression.

"I see you're taking to this world's fashions," he says, struggling as he never had in the past, to find words to speak to Marian.

"Mulan was kind enough to help. She tells me that there are many things that are different here, but many are better too."

Robin is grateful to his friend for her assistance, but also so very guilty, because he should be the one helping Marian to adjust to this life. "I will help you in any way you possible," Robin vows. "I wish I could still be the husband you need, but even if I am not your husband anymore I promise to always take care of you."

Marian smiles with a little laugh. "One of the things that Mulan was most fond of in this world is that women can be on their own much more easily. In our world, there were only a few women who ever did that, and surely it wasn't easy. But here it seems quite normal for women to be without a man. There's never been a time in my life when I didn't belong to a man in one way or another: my father, the sheriff, and then you."

"Marian," Robin gasps appalled. "Surely you know that I never considered you a possession. I loved you with my whole heart."

"I know Robin, but I think that perhaps it's time for me to learn who I am on my own now. I want to learn to make my own way in this new world."

"You shouldn't have to."

"You aren't listening. I love you Robin, and I still wake up thinking you're my husband most mornings. But you've grown, you've figured out who you are. There's a wisdom within you that my husband never possessed. Perhaps it's my turn now, and maybe this strange turn of fate will allow me to find out who Marian really is. I'm trying to be grateful for what I have, even if it isn't what I wanted or expected. I still have a chance to be Roland's mother, and I have a chance to be on my own."

"You never cease to amaze me," Robin says fondly, and Marian forces herself to stare into his eyes and see that even though there is love for her, it is so very very different than it had been before. He cares for her of course, but his heart is no longer hers. It hurts so very much, and yet Marian does not turn away.

"Snow White offered me a job at the school," Marian finally says to break the silence. "I think that perhaps I'll take it. I also asked Snow what her thoughts were about allowing the Queen to be near Roland."

"Marian-"

"You misunderstand me. I may not know Roland well, but I am still his mother and I need to protect him."

"Regina adores Roland."

Marian nods. "So I've gathered. Snow had some surprising things to say about the Queen. Apparently she's the godmother to Snow's son. I don't pretend to understand what has passed in the decades I've been absent, but Snow assured me that you and Roland would be safe."

Robin stares at the woman who had been his wife; in her words he can hear her giving him her blessing, and he finds that he lacks the words to express his gratitude.

Regina has just sat down on her back porch with a glass of cider after work when Robin finds her. She looks exhausted, and he wonders whether she has had as much difficulty sleeping as he has these past nights.

Regina presses her lips together in an imitation of a smile to acknowledge Robin's presence.

"Do you think that we could speak?" he asks.

Regina takes a breath and gathers her resolve. "Come in." Robin follows her to the sitting room. "Cider?"

"I thought you didn't daytime drink," Robin can't help but tease.

"I make exceptions," Regina says pouring Robin a glass. "Besides it's almost evening. The sun is about to set."

Robin finds himself disappointed when Regina sits down on the couch catty-corner to where he's sitting.

"It was never my intention to hurt you," Robin blurts out immediately. "I acted wrongly, and now I can only beg your forgiveness and hope that you will grant me an opportunity to make amends."

Regina shakes her head. "You did nothing wrong."

"I should have gone to you after Marian returned. I should have talked to you sooner. I should never have let you believe that I didn't want you anymore."

"Your wife came back to you. I didn't need an explanation."

It hurts Robin so badly to hear that Regina never thought she could compare to Marian, that she was always just a substitute for the woman he truly wanted. He stands and walks to Regina's side, sitting down next to her, inches between them that still feel like far too much space. "I am so sorry. A week ago you and I were talking about being destined to be together. Did you think I had stopped feeling that way because Marian returned?"

"You love her."

"Of course I love her, just as I am certain that you will always love Daniel. But that doesn't mean that you and I are anything less that we were before her return. I know what's between us is still new, but I already was - am - falling in love with you."

Regina hadn't believed that she could hurt more, but hearing Robin tell her that he could have loved her is so much worse. Happiness had been so very close. She doesn't realize that she's crying until Robin's hand is on her cheek, and it's shocking to be touched like this again. His thumb is stroking her cheek and his fingers are in her hair. It's too much, and Regina almost doesn't hear Robin when he tell her "I don't want what we have to end. If you'll allow it, I want to see where this leads."

Regina can't find the words to answer Robin. This seems too good to be true. Certainly he will realize his mistake soon enough.

"You needn't answer now. I can give you all the time you require to decide what you want to do, but know that I'll be waiting for you."

"What happened with Marian?"

"It was plain to her that my heart no longer belonged to her."

Regina laughs harshly and pulls away from Robin. "So you're here because your wife kicked you out of your marital tent?"

"No I'm here because Marian helped me realize that I have a choice. I'm here because you are my choice, and if I'm yours then I want to see where this leads us."

"I need to start dinner," Regina tells Robin, standing and smoothing the invisible creases on her dress. "Henry will be home soon. You know the way out."

Robin sighs and thinks that if he learned anything during his year in the Enchanted Forest, it is how to wait for Regina Mills.

"Mom, are you listening to me?" Henry asks, his mother staring into her plate as if her pasta is suddenly the most fascinating thing she's ever seen.

"I'm sorry dear. What did you say?" Regina looks up at Henry with as much of a smile as she can muster.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing dear. Tell me more about Coney Island."

"I'm not a little kid anymore," Henry says, putting down his utensils, crossing his arms, and fixing Regina with a resolved gaze.

"Believe me, I've noticed how grown up you've become."

"Then why won't you tell me what's wrong?"

"Because no matter how old you get, I am still your mother and I take care of you, not the other way around."

"You can still talk to me though. I know something happened today."

"I was just thinking, that's all."

"About Robin?"

Regina sighs and nods. "I mean it though Henry. You don't need to worry about me."

"I saw on him at Granny's on my way home today. He looked really sad."

Regina looks up at Henry curiously. That must have been after Robin left her house. "Who was he there with?"

"He was alone. Wait a minute! He's not with Marian, is he?"

"I don't know…" Regina says. She knows what Robin had said, but she had half believed that the moment she turned Robin away he would return to his wife.

"Mom! Come on. What happened?"

"Robin came to talk to me earlier."

"What did he say? Why didn't you call me?" Henry asks, sitting up straighter and puffing out his chest.

Regina smiles at Henry and reaches over to cup his cheek in his palm. "My knight in shining armor. You've spent too much time with your grandfather."

"Nah, I get it from my mom," Henry says with a grin, and Regina almost wonders whether he means Emma. "You'd do anything to protect me. That's what family means. You taught me that, Mom."

"How did I ever get so lucky?"

"I don't know. I am pretty awesome, aren't I?" Henry says grinning. "Which is why you should tell me what's going on with Robin."

"You are relentless."

"Pretty sure that's your fault too."

"Probably," Regina acknowledges. "I love you Henry."

"I know you do. I love you too. And I want you to be happy."

"I am sweetie. I have you. I don't need anything else to be happy."

"But you were happy with Robin. I know you were. If he isn't with Marian anymore then you can still be together."

"It isn't that simple."

"Why not? You deserve a happy ending. He's your soulmate!"

"I should never have let you talk to Tink."

"It's the truth though."

"That only means so much sweetheart. Perhaps if things were different, a different time or place maybe, we could be together."

"But you can be together!" Henry insists, folding his arms again. "If you would just believe. You have a chance to have the happy ending you deserve."

Regina smiles sadly, touched by Henry's faith in her. "Can we please just finish our dinner Henry? I'd rather not think about Robin anymore tonight."

"Fine. I'll leave you alone for tonight. But I'm not making any promises about tomorrow Mom. You deserve your happy ending," he tells Regina again with a stubborn smile. He is so very much her child.

Robin sees Regina next when he is again walking deep in the forest. She's sitting on a rock next to a stream that Robin didn't believe that anyone outside of he and Roland even knew about.

"We have to stop meeting like this," Robin says with a cheeky smile, sitting down next to Regina. Their hips brush against each other, and Regina struggles to reign in the storm of conflicting thoughts and feelings about the man suddenly beside her.

She takes too many deep breaths for Robin to be fooled that she isn't struggling terribly right now, but finally she feels that she can at the very least talk without him hearing tears in her voice. As if sensing that she's ready, Robin finally speaks. "There's something I've been wondering about." Robin shakes his head when Regina looks about to protest. "I won't ask about us until you're ready, I promise. No, I'm curious as to why a Queen spends so much time in the deep of the woods."

Regina laughs mirthlessly. "A question my mother was fond of asking herself." Robin waits of course, doesn't push, despite all the cryptic comments Regina has offered about her mother he has never pushed. "As a child I was expected to act like royalty. Even if my father would never inherit the throne, my mother insisted that I behave like a princess and that meant looking down on the servants, treating them as barely human, even though she herself was the daughter of a miller. It also meant never playing outside or running around and ruining dresses or my perfect hair styles."

"Why do I suspect that you were never one for following orders," Robin teases.

"No I wasn't," Regina replies, but Robin sees none of the mischievous glint in her eyes that he was expecting. "And my mother made certain to punish me accordingly."

There's such darkness in her eyes now, and Robin can't fight the desire to reach for her hand, grateful when Regina lets him.

"Her punishments were - let's just say the parenting books I read before adopting Henry never suggested any of my mother's methods. After she was finished, I just needed a place to be alone. The forest gave me that. So much vastness that I could lose myself there. Sometimes it was enough to help me forget everything else."

"It seems we have even more in common than I knew. I still come to the depths of the woods for the balance that the vastness of nature provides, and it would seem that you do as well."

Regina offers Robin a small, sad smile before removing her hand from his.

"I don't know everything about your past Regina, but I know you well enough to know that it wasn't easy for you to open yourself up to a relationship with me. I know you've been hurt deeply."

Regina bristles, and Robin reminds himself to tread lightly, that Regina does not have her walls down now as she has in his presence these last weeks.

"Don't feel sorry for me," Regina demands angrily. "I've hurt so many people, including your wife."

"Don't do this," Robin nearly begs. "I know who you were Regina. I knew when I decided to start a relationship with you, so don't insult me by thinking I'm going to run from you now."

"You should."

"I shouldn't, and I'm not. I'm here."

"That's the problem."

"I told you the other day that I was falling in love with you and that I can't bear not to be with you. Explain to me what the problem is."

"I'm doing this for you," Regina insists, though the back of her mind whispers that it isn't only for Robin's sake. "You're throwing your marriage away to give it a try with a woman you hardly know. Oh wait, you know that I murdered Marian. Well that's something."

"I'm not with Marian because I don't feel the way I used to about her. I will always care for her and we will always be in each other's lives because of Roland, but it seems that people in this world make that sort of thing work all the time." Robin smiles, but it hardly reaches his eyes, and there is no way for Regina to pretend that Robin isn't hurting at the idea of not being with Marian.

"And if I were to refuse to give into your delusion that what's between us compares to your love for your wife? What then? Would you still run from your family if I denied you now?"

"I can't turn my back on what I feel for you, even if you no longer will have me. I will still have feelings for you, and denying that isn't fair to anyone."

"I could make you a potion to help you forget."

"Don't you dare!" Robin says, his eyes burning when Regina looks at him. He calms himself before asking, "Do you really think that I would ever want to forget you?"

Regina says nothing, because it still shocks her when Henry tells her how grateful he is to have his memories again. The idea of people being grateful to have her in their lives is still new and she finds that she has yet to fully trust their words.

"I wouldn't be the man I am now without you. It has been so long since I've opened myself up to anyone but Roland. How could I ever want to forget the woman who made me feel again after so long?"

Regina is still silent, and she turns away from Robin, staring out at the water and looking so painfully conflicted. But she's still here and she's still listening, so Robin keeps trying. "Nothing in life is a guarantee," he tells Regina, his eyes fixed on her, even if she refuses to face him.

"You think I don't know that?"

"On the contrary. I think you know that too well. But you took a chance on us once before." Robin knows that Regina is regretting ever taking that chance, ever letting herself be hurt like this again. "There are always going to be challenges in life and we both know that opening your heart can bring pain. But I think we also know that it can bring joy. And right now, there are challenges, but we can be together and we can face them together."

Regina wants so badly to pull Robin to her and kiss him and believe again that she can have her happy ending, but the man she loves is married, and how long will it be until he goes back to his wife? How could Robin possibly choose her when the mother of his son, the woman he loves so dearly, is alive?

And as if to prove how well he knows her, Robin moves closer, his lips inches from hers as he whispers: "I want to be with you. I'm choosing you. Please don't give up on us."

Regina doesn't know if it's strength or weakness, but she hears herself sob, and then her lips are pressed to Robin's and it feels the same, he feels the same, like finding something that's been missing for so long, a missing piece, her soulmate. And she can't believe that this is happening, but his arms are so tight around her, like he's terrified that she'll run. But she doesn't. She stays and she kisses him.

A/N: Thanks to everyone for reading and for commenting! I hope you're still enjoying the story. I'm planning to write more, because I find the relationship between Regina and Robin interesting and complicated, and the fact that they are deciding to give it a try feels much more like a beginning to me than an ending.