Thank you to everyone who has read, followed, favorited, and reviewed this story. I am so glad you have enjoyed it as much as I have enjoyed writing it. Sorry I did not get this last chapter posted before the premiere as I'd hoped, but better late than never, right? This is the final chapter, but I might post a sexy addendum eventually, but as far as actual plot, this is where it ends :) Enjoy. Oh, and to anyone who was concerned with the 'darkness' ending of the last chapter, don't worry. It was just a throwback to the first chapter, bringing us full circle and all that.
Chapter 20
She is uncomfortable, her neck stiff and bent at a funny angle, her arm asleep and tingling beneath her body, and she is trying to remember where she is, trying to open her eyes and lift her head. When she finally gains control over her muscles, feels strong enough to move and shift on the hard, (ground, floor, she isn't sure which), she looks at her surroundings, her dark hair filtering over her vision.
It is the ground, the hard ground, she finds herself laying on, her arm squished beneath her until she slowly maneuvers her limbs into a more comfortable position, and she is able to use the arm she can still feel to lift herself onto her heels. Standing there, she can now see the run down building, hay at the walls, trenches dug into the ground in a pattern at the center of the structure. 'The barn', she thinks and she is trying to pull at her memories, the fuzzy faces and moments blurring in her mind, before hitting her in an instant of clarity.
The wind is knocked from her lungs when she remembers, she recalls it all, and Regina vaguely wonders why she can remember anything. Shouldn't she have forgotten? Shouldn't she have been placed back into the proper timeline with no recollection of her events in the past? She does remember though, and the arm that is numb has slowly regained feeling, her fingers still tingling, but holding something solid and cold, the wand. She thinks perhaps, somehow, the wand placed her in the correct time (she hopes), but because she was holding it, because she cast the spell, she still has her memories, memories that now, never happened.
Her breath catches in her throat, and her head spins with the memories. Pain fills her entire body, physical pain, at the loss she can still feel like it was real, because it was, she lost Robin. She killed him herself, and the thought of that recollection makes her stomach lurch. She takes a moment, steadies herself, breathes deeply, and forgets about trying to make sense of her memories, a history that doesn't fit, remembering two different lives, because in one world she was the evil queen, but never killed Robin, and in another world, she saw her younger self break his neck, can remember the sound like a phantom note playing over in her ears.
Regina looks around the barn, it is cold, just like it was earlier, but now the portal is not glowing, not ominous, and not tugging her toward it with an overpowering strength. Taking a few tentative steps, she tests out her legs, and finds that she can move, and the shoes she walks on are not broken, a memory of a younger Robin breaking the heels off her footwear brings a small smile to her face.
Robin, she needs to find Robin. She was supposed to be meeting him, and if everything is how she thinks, he would have left the party at the diner to bring his son to camp. Robin would have read Roland a bedtime story, and then been on his way to see her, to meet her, and tonight she wanted to share everything with him. A second smile forms on her lips as yet another memory of their time together in the past bleeds into her mind, but she pushes it aside, moves quickly through the doors of the old barn, the dirt beneath her feet being replaced with the pedals of her car.
She is panicking. Robin is not at her place, they agreed to meet there, and true, she is not sure of the time, not sure how long she had been unconscious in that barn, but something feels off. She could almost sense him at her house, yet the door was closed, the rooms dark and empty, an odd scent of forest lingering in the air.
Regina finds herself back in her car, and as she drives down mainstreet, Granny's comes into view, still bustling with activity from the party. Breath leaves her lungs and returns in a quick rhythm, almost the same speed as her feet hitting the ground to carry her from her mercedes through the diner door. Her eyes search the crowd; Leroy, some of the other short men, and at the back of the diner she spots Henry with Emma and the Charmings who look at her with confusion and worry marring their features.
"Regina," Snow moves to her first, baby neal snuggled close to the woman's chest, "what's wrong?"
Regina almost laughs, almost, because it is so preposterous, comical even, that this woman, the woman she has despised for the majority of both of their lives, is the woman who can read her better than any other. With one look at her face, Snow is able to see the concern and niggling worry Regina tries to cover with her usual mask.
"Have you seen Robin?" Regina questions calmly as Snow and the others walk toward her, settling into a booth.
Snow remains standing in front of her, scrutinizing her face before responding, "he left a little while ago," the woman states, sitting herself and the baby into the booth, "something about getting Roland to bed."
"Mom, can we talk for a minute?" Henry interrupts, and Regina pushes her concern aside, releases a quiet sigh, and sends a smile and nod to her son in reply.
However, it is not Henry who starts speaking. He looks to his left, his eyes finding Emma, silently asking for the blonde to begin.
"Henry has made it clear he does not want to go back to live in New York," Regina shifts on her feet at Emma's words, preparing herself, because she does not intend to give up Henry without one hell of a fight, "and I respect that." The blonde's eyes look from Henry to Regina, and she thinks she can see Emma relax, shoulders dropping slightly in relief at having this all finally said.
"As you should," Regina responds calmly, some of the tension in her own body easing, but still feeling the need to defend her position in Henry's life, "he is not only your son."
"Yes Regina, what I'm trying to say is," the blonde continues, her hands fidgeting at the corner of the table, "I don't have a place here yet, and I have some unfinished business in New York. Henry was hoping to go back temporarily so we can pack things up and take care of everything before we both return - permanently."
Regina looks hesitant. She can feel insecurity coursing through her veins, pulsing through her sending her toward panic, but her son's next words ease her mind.
"And I want you to come with Mom!" Henry's face lights up with a smile, and Regina quickly returns a grin of her own, but shock and wariness also color her expression, clearly readable to anyone.
"We would be there a week or two," Emma says before Henry continues.
"I could show you everything I loved about New York, and that apple tree that looks just like yours, and you could try the pizza, and the bagels, Mom it would be great. You could even bring Robin if you wanted."
At the mention of his name, Robin's hand meets the small of her back before gliding to her hip, resting there, and Regina lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding, looks at Robin and moves her hand to his chest, gripping the fabric of his scarf, feeling him, making sure he is real, unharmed. How he appears out of nowhere at the mere whisper of his name fascinates and frightens her.
"Bring me where?" Robin questions, sending her a smirk in greeting.
Regina smiles then, his voice a pleasant noise, reassuring her mind that he truly does stand next to her, the warmth she feels from his body is real and present, rooting her in the moment.
"New York," Henry replies quickly, "you would love it Robin, and Roland too. It would be so much fun. Grandma and Grandpa could come too, with Neal." Henry's excitement is thrumming in the very air around him, and Regina feels elated that her son wants to share his life with her.
"Oh Henry," Snow responds, holding baby Neal higher, "I don't think we'll be going anywhere for awhile."
"But I would love to come Henry," Regina interrupts Snow to address her son, "plus, I'm not too keen on letting you out of my sight again anytime soon." She leans forward, her hand moving from Robin's scarf to Henry's chin as she lifts his head slightly and places a gentle kiss on his forehead. Pulling away, her smile mirrors her son's, her eyes pool with unshed tears at her little boy, almost grown. The hand at her hip grips, Robin's thumb massaging lightly, comforting her, and a surge of gratitude for the man fills her soul.
"Well, it is getting late for us," David says rising from the booth, "I'll get the car pulled up."
"We should get back to our room and to bed early, make some plans for the trip back to New York." Emma says, a smile pulling at her lips.
"Ok, goodnight Mom. I'll see you tomorrow." Henry says to her as he rises from the booth with Emma.
"Goodnight, sweetheart," Regina gives him another kiss to the cheek before letting him pass her, and she is determined to do so as often as she can, afterall, he is growing up and soon won't be as keen on her affection.
"Why don't I get us a couple drinks before we leave." Robin states, his hand lifting to brush the hair past her cheek, over her shoulder. "Any requests?"
"How about that whiskey I still owe you?" Regina asks with a wink.
"As you wish, Milady." Robin nods to her, biting his lower lip briefly before sauntering over toward the bar while Regina sits across from Snow in the booth.
"Things seem to be going rather well with Robin." Snow states knowingly, and the tone of the woman's voice almost has Regina jumping across the table and strangling the brunette. If it weren't for the adorable baby in Snow's arms, Regina definitely would have snapped at the woman, but instead she just scoffs, and follows it with an amused smirk.
"Yes," she responds after a few seconds have passed, any tension between the two women evaporating, "he - he is my second chance." A smile forms on her lips as she watches Robin at the bar stool waiting on their drinks, the way he stands with confidence, laughs and jokes with his men beside him, everything about this man makes her smile.
"We've been through so much Regina," Snow says, a smile on her face as a look of contemplation colors her features, "to think…" and then the woman is silent, eyes focused elsewhere.
"To think what?" Regina questions, her brow furrowing with curiosity.
"It's nothing." Snow shakes her head, a sad smile on her face.
"Snow?" Regina means it as a question, but it comes out more demanding.
"Well," Snow begins tentatively, "back in the enchanted forest, I had a letter. I've always had it with me ever since I can remember, and that letter, it was the reason I had you banished. The reason I sent you away rather than allowing your execution."
"I've never heard you talk about a letter." Regina states plainly.
"Regina," Snow leans forward, placing the hand not holding Neal on top of Regina's, "it has been a long time since we have talked, really shared."
"True," Regina sends a small smile back to Snow. She is not sure if she'll ever be completely comfortable around the woman, but the affection she feels in her heart now is a far cry from the hatred and contempt she felt for years. "What did this letter say?"
"Oh, I have it here." Snow removes her hand to dig in the diaper bag beside her. "I always have it with me, hmmm, kind of odd that I never felt I could let it out of my possession. Here." Snow sets a small scrap of paper in front of Regina.
The moment her fingers come in contact with the slip of paper she can feel the magic, it oozes from the scribbled letters, from the parchment itself. Bringing a tentative hand to the aged note, Regina reads the words, first in her mind, then aloud, as if it might be different somehow, perhaps rolling off of her tongue the words might change or mean something more, or something less, she doesn't know.
"Give her another chance." Regina looks up at Snow, "I don't understand. Who gave you this? What does it mean?"
"I think we both know what it means Regina. There was a time I wasn't sure. I read and reread the words, and then was content to carry it close to me always, hoping the message would become clear, and I think it finally has." Snow's eyes meet Regina's across the table. "When I stopped your execution, I was thinking of this letter. I didn't know if it was about you. I didn't know if I could trust it, but something in my mind kept bringing me back to those words, and I couldn't let you die. I had to give you another chance. I truly believe it was meant for you Regina, meant about you."
"But how?" Regina questions, brow furrowing in confusion and distrust.
"I can answer that question, Deary." Gold's voice interrupts from beside her.
"Gold? What do you know of this," then it dawns on her. Before they left the camp, Rumple has pulled Snow into the tent, and Regina never had the opportunity to determine what had happened, what had gone on in that tent. A gasp escapes her mouth before she asks, "do you remember?"
"Vaguely dear. For me it is more like a dream. A hazy recollection. I remember enchanting that piece of parchment." He states with a gesture toward the paper. "I know I gave it to Snow White, but when, how, why, I can't quite pinpoint, cannot envision the situation. Clearly there is something more to remember. Care to fill me in?"
"It doesn't matter." Regina says, setting the parchment back down on the table. "Thank you," the words taste bittersweet, something Regina hopes won't last, hopes it will get easier, sweeter to be polite to these people she hated for so long.
"For what Regina?" Snow asks moving Neal to the carrier David has returned with, setting it beside his wife.
"For giving me another chance." Regina rises from the booth gracefully, leaving the couple with their newborn, gliding passed Mr. Gold as he steps toward a booth already holding Belle.
Robin is just turning to her as she steps up behind him, and there is a glimmer in his eye, a spark of electricity passing between them.
"Milady, your drink," he says, handing her a glass of dark amber colored liquid. She takes it from his hand, lets her fingers brush passed his skin, before raising the glass to her mouth, the liquid sloshing toward her lips. She takes two long sips of the whiskey while Robin's eyes linger on her crimson painted mouth. Then, setting the glass on the bar behind him, she lets her body collide gently with his until he is snug between her and the bar, and she leans forward, rising slightly on her toes to whisper in his ear.
"Care to take me home?"
He answers with a smirk, his teeth grazing his lower lip, and she thinks to herself how unfair it is, how those should be her teeth sinking into his flesh, and she is determined they will be soon. Robin's arm lifts to her hair, then moves past her neck to her shoulder while her own lifts to settle behind his back, and she allows him to guide her, to lead the way, to bring her home.
The End.
Yay! All done. I hope you enjoyed. I'll be taking a little breather from writing for a bit, and then get back to my other OQ fic, "Doctor".