"Flashback"

An eleven year old Regina sat on a bench outside of the Mills Castle in deep thought over the fact that she had just got badly scolded by her mother Cora; however, she wasn't all that surprise, it was a daily thing now. But Regina thought that Cora would have at least been appreciative of her daughter giving her flowers for mother's day, but Regina had made the mistake of getting dirt on her white dress which resulted in immediate insubordination on her part, and harsh reprimanding from her mother. Her father Henry told her that her mother really appreciated the roses, but was just upset that she had gotten her dress dirty.

Now her mother and father were in the Mills Family Castle greeting her father's elder brother King Richard who had just taken the throne. Cora wouldn't allow Regina inside the castle as she said "no daughter of mine will be caught with me dressed in dirt!" So she made Regina go into town with her new twenty something year old nanny Tremaine. However, Tremaine seemed more interested in meeting wealthy men than looking after her.

"Duck!" she heard a voice say, and she looked up in time to see a playing ball flying straight for her head, and she luckily ducked in time as it zoomed past her hitting the tree behind her.

"Woo! I'm so sorry about that!" she heard the thickly accented voice say, and she looked up to see a cute young boy her age run up to her. He had dark sandy brown hair, with misty blue eyes. He wore plain clothes which consisted of brown pants and white shirt with dirt on it, clothing her mother would no doubt call peasant. A charming smile appeared on his face as he extended his hand down to her. "Are you alright?" he asked.

It was then that Regina felt her temper come up. "I nearly just had my head took off, so no I'm not alright," she said as she swayed his hand away. "And I don't need your chivalry either!"

The boy watched as the rather pretty girl stood up, and dusted herself off. He took notice of her rather upper ranked outing clothing of a white dress that had smudges of dirt at the bottom. Her long raven hair put into a pony tail thrown over her shoulder, and her poised posture and slightly uppity attitude. He could now see that she was of some noble birth, causing him to frown slightly.

"Well excuse me princess," the boy sarcastically replied.

Regina looked up shocked at the boy's attitude, before she frowned angrily. "How dare you!" she stated.

"No how dare you? I was just trying to see if you were okay! You were the one who snapped on me!" he replied.

"Yeah, after you nearly took my head off!"

"If your head hadn't been in the way, it would not have been in my ball's path!"

"And if you'd watch where you're throwing that thing, this wouldn't have happened!"

"It wasn't even me who threw it that time! It was a friend of mine!"

"Well tell your friend to watch it next time!" Regina said before she started to walk away, but the boy suddenly found himself intrigued with her, and he didn't know why, but a smile came across his face at her annoyance of him, and he followed after her blocking her path.

"And so what would you like me to do about this situation then?" he asked.

"Stop throwing balls, and leave me alone," she replied hastily as she attempted to step aside him, but again the boy blocked her path, and she watched as a grin came across his face, as he rubbed his chin as if in thought.

"Oh I see…you're one of those girls who don't like to have fun."

"I beg your pardon."

"You don't have fun, so no one else can have fun."

"You have a high perception of someone you've just met," Regina stated crossing her arms.

"Like that…what kid uses words like perception?" The boy asked.

"It's called intelligence, now can you please move out of my way?"

"That's the nicest thing you've said to me since we met," the boy cracked.

"Out of my way…how about that?"

"You know I find your obvious dislike of me amusing,"

"Obvious…and I was trying so hard to hide it," Regina said with a roll of her eyes as she stepped aside him, and was caught off guard by the pull of her arm turning to see that the boy had grabbed her arm, and for some reason a shiver went down Regina's spine at his touch. "What do you want?" Regina yelled.

How about we start over?" he asked.

"Wouldn't it be easier if we just act like this never happened?" she asked.

"Perhaps, but the easy way out has never been my way," the boy replied letting go of her arm, and holding out a hand to her. "I'm Robin…Robin Hood," he said.

Regina sighed as she realized that there may be no getting rid of this guy, so she relented, and shook his hand feeling another spark. Robin looked down at their hand as he too felt a spark, and looked back at Regina who gave a slightly forced smile. "Regina Mills," she replied.

"See we already have something in common, both of our names start with "Rs"," he said grinning cheekily.

"I suppose."

"And again...I'm sorry for my friend nearly taking your head off," Robin stated.

"I accept the apology, now can I leave?" Regina asked.

"Not quite…how about you come play with my friends and I?"

"I don't think that would be a good idea."

"Why not? The boys and I could use a girlfriend…well not like girlfriend, but a girl who so happens to be a friend," Robin nearly stuttered out causing Regina to laugh at his response. Another strange thing about this girl was that Robin smiled when he heard her laugh, especially since he was the one that made her laugh.

"Thanks, but no thanks. Trust me, I'm not exactly the ball throwing type of girl, besides my mother would be angry," Regina said.

"I'm sure your mom and dad wouldn't mind if you had a little fun," he teased.

"My father would be happy, but my mother would-it's just not a good thing," Regina said, and Robin could see a flicker of fear appear in her eyes. Whoever her mother was, it was clear to Robin that Regina was beyond terrified of her.

"I see, well just come watch us play. Come on, you'll have fun watching the Merry Boys toss this thing around," Robin said.

"The Merry Boys?" Regina asked.

"My gang I created…we march to our own drum, and do what we want when we want!" Robin declared proudly!

Before Regina could say anything, a plump young boy came running down the road wearing similar clothes to Robin, only he had black hair, and green eyes. He also seemed to be a year or two younger than Regina and Robin. "Rob, come on! The boys are waiting!" he yelled.

"Tell them we're on the way, Little John!" Robin yelled back.

"We? You're bringing a girl along?" Little John asked.

"Sure, right Regina?" Robin asked looking at Regina with pleading eyes that Regina just couldn't find herself to say no to, so she simply nodded. "Great then let's get going!" Robin said and before Regina could say anything else, Robin had grabbed her hand, and raced along with her toward the fields. Regina looked back, and could only hope she'd be back before her mother found out.

"Hey!" Robin said gaining her attention as they neared the fields causing Regina to look up at his grinning face. "No worries, Princess. I promise I got you," he assured her bringing a smile across Regina, who now could care less about whatever consequences she faced if she were to be late. But for some reason, she trusted Robin, and his promise.

Flashback Ends

"So let me get this straight! You were actually best friends with your soul mate the whole time?" Tinkerbelle asked in shock of the story she'd just heard.

"If that's the way you want to put it, then yes. He was my first friend, we've taught one another, helped one another for years! We actually changed one another for the better," Regina replied as she tucked her hair behind her ear.

"Then why didn't you ever fall in love?"

"It never crossed us I think; if it crossed him I wouldn't know. Little John would always joke and call me Robin's girlfriend because how close we were, anyone would have assumed that we were an item."

"I never would have guessed that you and Robin Hood, King of Thieves, would have a history like that! So you were a Merry Girl?" Tinkerbelle said clearly intrigued.

"The first and the last!" Regina said with pride in her voice. "That is until Snow White ruined my life," she added as diminished anger became evident in her voice.

"So where did Daniel fit into all of this?" Tinkerbelle asked.

"Well, when my mother hired Daniel, it just seemed that sparks were there from day one, and he courted me. A remarkable man he was," Regina said as remorse came over her face.

"And what did Robin say about all of that attention?" Tinkerbelle asked wondering if her suspicions were true.

"For some reason, Robin always gave Daniel a hard time. He could be quite jealous when he wanted to be," Regina stated.

"And why do you think he was jealous?" Tinkerbelle teased.

"Because he was protective of me? I was his best friend, and he didn't want to see me hurt," Regina replied.

"Is that really why you think he was jealous, or did seeing him in that Tavern that night made you realize the truth about everything?" Tinkerbelle asked daring Regina to lie to her. Lucky for Regina, she didn't have to answer as they saw Pan's Shadow fly overhead carrying a young boy whom had apparently bit the Shadow, causing the Shadow to drop it. Regina waved her hand causing the boy to disappear and reappear in front of them. A cute child no one could deny, with scruffy brown hair, rosy cheeked, blue eyes, wearing simple clothing that looked to be from the Enchanted Forest. He looked fearfully up at Tinkerbelle and Regina who exchanged glances, before looking back at the boy.

"Who are you?" the boy asked fearfully.

Regina and Tinkerbelle held up their hands, as they stepped forward. "It's okay; we're not going to hurt you. But we do want to know something…who are you and why did Pan bring you to Neverland?" Regina asked as she knelt carefully down in front of the child who scooted back a little from her.

"My name…Roland, and the mean shadow brought me here! It took me from my daddy," Roland said as he began to get teary eyed. Tinkerbelle instantly felt remorse for the boy, as she had for every other boy who had been brought to this hell of an island. Yet, she watched as Regina slowly got down on the ground, and took Roland's hands in her own, and begins to whisper to him. In amazement, the frown on Roland's face slowly turned into a little smile as he jumped into Regina's arms who hugged him tightly. Regina then lifted the boy into her arms, and supported him on her waist as she rocked him.

"What the hell did you just tell that boy to calm him down so fast?" Tinkerbelle asked.

"Something I hope can be the truth. I promised that we would find his dad for him, and that we were looking for my son too. So he knows we're not the bad guys…right Roland?" Regina asked the boy who nodded his head.

"Hi there little fella, my name is Tinkerbelle," Tinkerbelle said as she smiled at the boy who shied away burying his face in the crook of Regina's neck, and wrapping his arms around her. Regina felt warmth go through her, as she hadn't had a child close to her like this since before Henry found that stupid storybook. She smiled as she hugged Roland closer to her.

"He's shy," Regina said.

"Well gee, he warmed up to you pretty fast!" Tinkerbelle replied placing her hands on her hip.

"The boy's probably tired, Tink. We can set up camp here tonight, and find the gang tomorrow, because I'm sure it's past your bed time mister," Regina teased Roland who giggled a little that brought a bigger smile to Regina's face.

"Daddy says the same thing when I'm not sleep," Roland said as he gave a yawn.

"Well your daddy's a very smart man, and smart parents think alike," Regina said as she sat against a tree with Roland lying across her lap, and Tinkerbelle slid down next to her. Regina then formed a magical barrier around them to hide them from anyone who might walk by, and stroked Roland's hair who had went fast asleep. She didn't know if she would really ever find this boy's father or not, but something told her that she'd get more than what she bargained for if she did manage to find him.