He was sitting on his bed, staring down at his storybook and completely lost in thought when he heard the soft knock at his door. He looked up to find his mother behind it, only her head and the hand she'd knocked with - palm now laying flat against the wood - looking at him with a soft smile he'd known too well over the years. He returned it easily, guilt stirring within him at the memory of the times that he hadn't - too many times - before looking back to his book when she entered and padded over to sit on the edge of his bed with one leg bent up beneath her and the other left to dangle with her toes skimming his carpeted floor.

Her face was free of that day's makeup, her hair let free of the tie that had kept it back and away from her face in a ponytail and she was wearing her favourite blue silk pajamas - she looked soft and she looked happy even after today's events.

"You okay, sweetheart?"

He looked up from his book, where his eyes had fallen again - an illustrated portrait of his mother in all of her Queenly regalia open on his bed - before nodding gently with his brow furrowed at the way she watched him, her eyebrows raised, ready for the moment he started shaking his head instead and a dry sob shook his form.

Instantly she was moving up and closer to him, pulling him into her arms in a way that wasn't exactly comfortable with the way his legs were still crossed though he was almost up on his knees but it was soothing all the same. She held him so tight to her and it was then that he realised how much he had missed her hugs and her love. He'd already apologised to her for not being there, for judging her like all others - except Robin of course - had and not listening to her side of the story because she didn't fit his ideals as a hero and he wouldn't bring it up again, she knew the guilt he felt and he was working hard at making up for that but it didn't mean he still didn't feel it, that it didn't upset him when he allowed his mind to wander too far.

He clutched at slippery silk and buried his face into her neck whilst he cried and she rubbed a gentle hand up and down his back as she whispered soothing words in his ear. It only made him cry harder. "What's all this for, hmm?" he didn't answer and she didn't push him to, merely used her free arm to help him untangle his legs so that he could kneel and get closer to her to a point that he was practically on her lap as she rocked them both back and forth on the bed.

It wasn't something he'd really thought about, what with everything that had happened since they'd defeated the Wicked Witch but it was almost an automatic thing when he confessed "I miss Emma."

When the rocking ceased he instantly believed that he'd upset his mother, offended her but instead of growing distant like she used to, instead she pulled him closer to her and replied "then let's rectify that."

"You're not mad?"

Regina pulled back with her brow furrowed, a hand lifting from Henry's shoulder to stroke through his hair as she asked "did you think I would be?"

His head dipped, caught by her fingertips, before he sniffled and nodded, explaining "she brought him back…"

"Oh, honey" she cooed, pulling him back into her, "she thought she was doing the right thing, she didn't know the extent of what he'd done. I don't blame her for this."

He pulled back this time, confused shock on his face when he asked "you don't?"

She took his chin in between her thumb and forefinger as she shook her head, her eyes moving between his. "I had to face my past sometime, Henry and after tomorrow night, I'll be able to put it behind me and truly move on."

He watched her for a long moment more, nodding before slipping his face from her grasp and moving back up on his knees to hug her around the neck and whisper into her ear "I'm so proud of you, Mom."

After a quick phone conversation with Emma about what she and Henry had discussed - the blonde had sounded close to tears, her throat tight, when she'd accepted the invitation to breakfast the next morning - Regina helped get her son all tucked up and settled in bed, glad that he still allowed her to do such a thing given that he was closer to thirteen than he was twelve, wiped away his tears, kissed his beautiful face and left him with an "I love you" that he returned easily.

She could hear the low rumbling of Robin's voice as she left Henry's room and quietly shut the door behind her. He'd told her that he was going to be putting Roland to bed and that he'd meet her in their room but instead she found herself wanting to see the littlest of the merry men herself so she moved down the hall and towards his 'unofficial' room. They'd have to set something more permanent up now that they were getting things back to normal, or at least as normal could be in their town and home.

Her smile was instant the moment she rounded the doorframe and found Robin kneeling at his son's bedside, his honeyed tones curving over the melody of a song she hadn't heard since she herself was a young girl. When Henry was a child, she'd made sure to keep to lullabies of this world and so she'd forgotten how beautiful a song it was.

She lingered by the doorway for a little longer until Roland's eyelids began to droop, padding quietly over to the edge of the bed and placing a gentle palm upon Robin's back to alert him to her presence before leaning down to press a goodnight kiss to Roland's curls.

"Sleep tight, sweetheart" she whispered against his forehead, smiling when he mumbled a sleepy "love you" with eyes shut and giving a heartfelt "I love you too," back in return.

When she leaned back, she found Robin looking at her with nothing short of adoration in his eyes before he flashed her a warm smile, leant down himself to kiss his son and stood up, offering his hand over the bed to Regina before leading them both towards the door and pulling her into his side when they were clear of the mattress.

"Have you always wanted children?"

"Always," she replied easily and with a smile that had his own curling higher, "always." Because she had, "even when I was at my worst, when the darkness had a real hold on my heart, the desire for a child of my own, for someone to love in the way that I'd always wanted to - unconditionally - was always strong." She smiled down at the fingers she had twisting together in the gap between her crossed legs, "I'd looked for that love for so long, thinking I'd never ever be able to find it…"

"And then you got your Henry," he finished softly and with an unbearably tender smile. He'd always thought she was at her most beautiful when she spoke of her son, had thought so even on the evenings he'd spent in the courtyard speaking to the broken Queen who'd pushed and pushed and pushed at him until she'd been able to do nothing more than crumble in his arms.

"And then I got my Henry," she repeated with a watery smile that had his head tilting when she looked up at him once more.

"Do you want more?"

It dimmed then, that beautiful smile, growing sad at the edges whilst her brow furrowed in a tender distress that he hated himself for bringing out of her.

"I'm sorry, Regina" he began, moving forward onto his knees to catch her hands with his own and rub his thumbs over the backs of hers, unsure of what pain he'd brought out of her, "I shouldn't have-"

"It's okay," she whispered, "it's okay." and then, after a long pause, she began "it was a long time ago, when my mother still had something of a hold over me." She'd told him bits and pieces about her mother, about her banishment to Wonderland and her numerous returns but not of this one, not yet, "I thought she was orchestrating yet another of her manipulations. She'd told me that she was going to help find my soul mate…" she looked up at him pointedly, "to find you and I thought she had. He had your tattoo and instantly, like the naive little fool I was, I trusted that she was telling me the truth, that she was finally aiding my happiness as opposed to distorting it into what she believed was right."

He curled his fingers around to her palm to squeeze her hand in gentle comfort as he asked "who was he?"

"Some lowlife Sheriff in search of a crown." When Robin's fingers tightened around her hand, she furrowed her brow and asked "you know him?"

He let out a heavy breath and confessed "if it's the same idiot I'm thinking of then yes," and then muttered "I could kill the bastard."

This time it was Regina who squeezed his hand before continuing with her story with his encouragement. "I thought she'd meant for me to bear his children, to birth an heir to my throne whom she could raise to be as cold and as heartless as she after killing me for my crown and so I concocted a potion, to rid her of that opportunity...and to rid myself of the chance of carrying a child." She looked down to their joined hands with tears stinging at her eyes as she confessed "out of everything I've ever done in my life, that is my biggest regret."

"You did what you thought was best at the time," he soothed softly, rubbing his thumb over the back of her hand and continuing "who's to say that wasn't her plan?"

Regina shook her head, a tear wetting the back of her hand - he wiped it away the moment it hit - as she confessed "I don't think it was…" and then, "for once, I truly believed that she'd been doing it for me. She knew my fondness for children, perhaps she really was looking for my happiness."

He watched her for a long moment more, his head tilted as he studied her beautifully sad features before he tugged on her arm gently, telling her "come here" when she looked up at him curiously.

She smiled gently, touched by his concern before lifting herself onto her knees and allowing him to pull her closer, shifting over the quilt and slipping her feet beneath before waiting for him to settle on his back so that she could lay her head upon his chest. He was so warm and she felt so safe in his embrace. She turned her head to press a kiss to his chest before laying it back down again and letting out a content sigh, releasing the tension of the day with the exhalation.

Robin trailed his fingers up and down the length of her arm, his other hand resting on her waist and holding her close. It was a long moment before he mused aloud "there are other ways of having children," smiling down at her when she lifted her head to look at him with those beautifully vulnerable brown eyes, "you know that better than anyone, my love."

"You'd be willing to adopt?" she asked almost breathlessly, her heart palpitating in her chest as she looked between his kind blue eyes.

He chuckled at her question before replying "would I be willing to take on the challenge of raising children with the love of my life?" her breath hitched audibly at that. He'd already told her that he loved her but claiming a thing such as that clearly had her speechless as her lips parted but no words came out.

Instead she was quickly shifting up and onto her knees before taking his face in her hands and taking his lips in a kiss that had his own hands grasping at her waist as he moaned against her mouth. Her tongue slid against his own the moment his mouth opened in invitation and she shifted impossibly closer to him, whimpering against his lips. "I love you," she confessed during a quick breath for air before kissing him again and giving him no chance to respond or properly absorb the words, "so damn much."

It was the first time in a very long time that those words hadn't had the world crashing down around her the instant they'd been uttered but for once, as he cradled her head in his hand and used the other to aid in settling her on her back in order for him to lay atop her with lips insistent on her own, she felt as though, perhaps, she was finally going to be able to revel in rather than fear love.