She moved quietly about the kitchen, years of practise making the whole process almost silent. She was the only one awake, her husband still snoring softly into his pillow, her father lost in slumber and, she realised with a sad sigh, she was quite sure her daughter had failed to return home last night. She wasn't quite sure what was happening with Emma but she knew there was guilt there, she held her own too.
Her conversation with Regina earlier that week had unsettled her. She'd known the brunette longer than anyone else in the world, including her father, and one thing she'd never known the woman to be was a liar. Snow also remembers the ways of their land, the differences between here and there but her father wasn't like that. He was gentle and he was kind, he had one of the biggest hearts she knew but why would his return distress Regina as much as it had if that were true?
She was conflicted and she felt heavy. She should be rejoicing for her father's return but instead she was merely fighting to keep smiling rather than break down in tears.
Snow let the slight burn of her tea keep her grounded, the warm ceramic her palms were curled around soothing her as she let the thin tendrils of steam heat her cheeks.
There was also the worry that her father was growing ill. They'd spent the past few days exploring the town with Leopold, showing him the ways of this world and letting him grow acquainted with its many wonders. He'd always loved the outdoors and had enjoyed his time in the park most with Neal. Yesterday though, when she'd moved to wake him and make a plan for the day, he'd asked her to leave him, to let him rest. "The travel here has finally caught up with me," he'd smiled weakly at her, lids heavy with exhaustion, "I have grown weary, Snow." He'd told her not to worry, that he'd be up and about in no time but he'd only woken later that morning - closer to the afternoon - when she'd made her way upstairs to call him down for food. Even then he'd been pale and weak and she'd had to feed him whilst he held himself up in bed.
It worried her. She'd check on him soon, when the hour wasn't so early, and there'd be colour in his cheeks and life in his eyes…
"Morning," Robin chuckled when Henry came padding into the kitchen, rubbing his tired eyes with a fist. His hair was dishevelled, a 'bed head' in every sense of the word much like his mother. "I'm making breakfast, would you like some?" he'd managed, with Regina's help when she'd been able, to get a good grasp on the grill and the stove, understanding that the burners lit the flames to heat the metallic surfaces and, in turn, cooked the food he placed within the pans.
He already had a handful of sausages keeping warm in the oven and bacon currently sizzling in one pan on the stove whilst the other boasted chopped mushrooms frying in garlic butter. It was a treat breakfast, one to keep the momentum of the previous day's success of helping Regina find her feet outside of the house once more going. Henry nodded, mumbled a sleepy "thanks" before plopping himself on a bar stool and laying his head down on his folded arms on the countertop.
It was barely 7:30am and though Robin knew that Regina had always been something of an early riser, he remembered her mentioning that her son could sleep the day away if he was given the chance. That fact prompted Robin to ask "couldn't sleep?" concern instantly flaring within him that perhaps the boy's mother had been having one of her nightmares. She thrashed in her sleep, whimpered whenever she found herself lost within one and usually Robin would wake and hold her, soothe her until it abated and she was able to slumber somewhat peacefully once more - perhaps last night had been one of those nights.
"No," Henry replied after a long moment, clarifying "I slept fine," and adding "we both did," rather pointedly to ensure Robin didn't go running up to Regina but instead explained "I was actually going to come make Mom some breakfast before she woke up."
"You were?" Robin turned from the stove with a smile to find that Henry was sitting upright once more, watching him with lazy perusal - in all honesty, it looked as though he were ready to fall back to sleep but the realisation that he was fighting it to cook for his mother had Robin's smile warming all the more - and nodding. "Well then," he began, "I've gotten things started but if you would like to take over?"
Again, Henry nodded, this time smiling back as he dropped down from the stool and rounded the counter to stand beside Robin, taking the wooden spoon from his hands and stirring the mushrooms in their pan before he was turning with a smirk and allowing "you can go snuggle with Mom for a bit if you want?"
"Ah," the archer chuckled fondly, his hand lifting to rest on Henry's shoulder for a moment as he confessed "as perceptive as your mother told me you were."
Henry's grin faded a little as he turned to look at Robin properly, lifting the pan from the burner for a moment as he asked "she...uh...you talked about me...before?"
Robin knew what the boy was referring to and so squeezed at his shoulder with a nod and told him "all of the time, even during the Missing Year." and when the young lad nodded slowly, sadness in those dark eyes so like Regina's despite no genetics shared, he added "she loves you more than anything in any world, Henry."
"I know," he replied with a soft smile curling at his lips, "I love her too."
Robin rubbed at his shoulder for a few moments more before giving it a gentle tap and making sure he'd be okay to handle breakfast whilst he went to wake up his mother. Henry nodded in the affirmative and told him to get moving before Regina woke alone.
He's never seen her looking so peaceful, not in all of the time that he's lain with her like this. He hopes, for her sake, that this means no nightmares seeped into her slumber, that perhaps she's finally getting the rest she needs since his return.
She holds so much beauty, this Princess turned Queen turned Mayor now stripped bare of any formal title despite the grace with which she carries herself, beauty that is both skin deep and woven into her very soul and he hates that she doesn't see it yet. He'll help her to though, had been since before Emma and Hook's trip into the past, he'll show her just how very precious she is.
He lowered himself gently to lay opposite her, his head sharing the same pillow and he smiled affectionately when he felt her soft puffs of breath tickle at his jaw. The sheets are gathered around her waist, her legs hidden beneath them and he wants so badly to slip beneath those covers and tangle their legs together but he doesn't want to wake her unintentionally. He wants her to wake slowly and filled with his love and so he quells the desire and instead lifts his hand to stroke gentle fingers through her hair, scratching lightly at her scalp and waiting for her to open those beautiful eyes.
Her lashes fluttered, eyes moving behind closed lids before they began opening on slow, heavy blinks. She stared at him for a long moment, still drowsy it seemed as he smiled and waited for her to become aware of him. It didn't take too long and he couldn't describe how delighted he was when a smile began to spread across her own face.
"Sleep well, beautiful?"
She moved only her head, nodding it in affirmation against the pillow with long, slow, sleepy blinks that had him giving into his earlier desire and slipping beneath the covers with her. He chuckled when she instantly wriggled closer and nuzzled into the warmth of his arms, a long breath of contentment let out against his collarbone as he laid his head atop hers and rubbed her back softly.
"Henry's making you breakfast," he informed her quietly, barely a whisper, "he's quite the remarkable boy, Regina. He has the manners of a saint."
She chuckled against him, pressing a kiss to the skin left exposed by the collar of his shirt before whispering "he's a good boy."
"That he is, my sweet."
He settled her in against him after that, both content to remain silent and listening to Henry pottering about the kitchen with the added murmuring from Roland who, it seemed, had woken for the day. In all honesty he'd thought her to have fallen back to sleep she was so quiet and still against him and so he was rather surprised to hear her soft voice once more when she asked "do you think I should talk with Snow?" and when he asked why she believed she should, she explained "we were doing so well before…" and when she trailed off, omitting his name from her sentence, Robin merely began rubbing her back again in encouragement for her to speak, to continue. "I just...I don't want to leave any loose ends, I was so happy before, everything was beginning to settle and I know it won't be like that again, can't be like that again, it'd be nice to get closer to it than I am now."
"Would you like to talk with Snow?"
She sighed once more through her nose though this time it was with less contentment and a little distress, it had him pulling her impossibly closer to him. "I don't know," she burrowed in closer to him, "but I know that I'm not the only one who's world has been turned upside down by all of this."
It was his turn to sigh then. What Snow had asked of her had been unreasonable and poorly timed but, for as long as he had known the Princess, the bandit and the woman, he can gather - in his reasonable mind - that she'd meant nothing more than to heal the pain that had been brought with her father's return. "I suppose you're right," he admitted cautiously before he turned his head to press a kiss to her temple, leaving his lips there as he closed his eyes and held her tighter "I just don't want you getting hurt again."
Her own arms snaked around his waist, holding him just as tight as she replied "I know," and pressed a kiss to his chest, "but I also know that you'll be here to catch me if I fall again."
He nodded, "always."
So, another Snow and Regina interaction next chapter as requested by the lovely Lucretia Cyphus, sorry you have to wait another chapter but I hope you enjoyed this one!
Drop a quick review when you get a chance people, I still don't know how people are feeling about this story and where it's going...