Hey guys! Thanks for much for the favorites and follows. It's definitely encouraged me to keep going with this story lol
Thanks to my lovely betas, Brooke and Shay, for all their help with this chapter… it would have been really awful without you ladies haha
As always, please leave a review on here and let me know what you think so far. Thank you!
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Chapter Four
Regina hated telling Robin that she just wanted to be friends because, if she's honest with herself, she definitely did not want to be just friends with him. But she also knows that coming out of a twelve year relationship means she needs time to figure out who she is on her own.
It's been a little over a month since Regina dropped the friendship bombshell on Robin, but despite the label, Regina and Robin find themselves spending more and more time together. Regina frequently stops by Robin's office to either drop off furniture, wall décor, or to ask about design aspects (granted, she could call him to ask those questions, but seeing him in person is so much better), and the pair also take their boys out on playdates on the weekends when Henry is not with his father.
They've been to the movies, the park, museums, and even visited the aquarium last weekend.
There's been several times that Robin has watched Henry on a few of Regina's, rarely occurring, late work nights, and Regina has watched Roland a few times when Tink was unavailable. They're friends after all, and friends watch each other's kids all the time.
That's why Regina is babysitting Roland Sunday evening while Henry is at his father's house.
Robin had to rush into the office a few hours ago to deal with the latest crisis of his Sleep Tight campaign. An important pitch meeting has been moved up to tomorrow, and it was imperative that Robin go in and oversee the work his employees were doing for the project.
Regina understood and didn't mind watching Roland – something she has been reminding Robin of repeatedly over the last few hours. He's texted her at least four times to apologize and promises he'll be there soon to pick up his son.
Regina has come to quite enjoy the company of Roland over the last few weeks, she misses the innocence of a boy that young. Henry is still young, and innocent, but he's definitely starting to understand more and more about the real world. Becoming more like a pre-teen every day.
Regina is currently sitting in the middle of her living room floor, which is covered in a plush gray and beige patterned area rug, putting a Dr. Seuss puzzle together, while Roland continues asking when Henry is coming home.
She chuckles, "Soon, baby. I promise." Regina pushes the boy's brown curls out of his face and smiles down at him, lowering her body to lay on her stomach next to him and insert the next puzzle piece.
Suddenly, there's a knock on the door. Regina puts one last piece of the puzzle into its spot and stands to open the door. When she does, she's greeted by the sight of Robin standing there in dark jeans and a light blue polo. It's more casual than he normally looks at work, but she had assumed when he dropped Roland off earlier that since it's a Sunday night, he didn't feel the need to dress up. He looks good tonight, though – a little more stressed than he did a few hours ago – but good.
"Hey," he greets, his British accent pulling her from her examination of him.
"Hey." She skims her eyes back up to his face and pulls her hair to one side. "Come on in. We're just finishing up a puzzle."
Robin moves into her apartment to greet his son. As he's making his way over to Roland, another knock sounds at the door.
"That'll be Henry," Regina announces to the boys, as Roland hops up with a whoop! and runs toward Regina at the front door, excited to see his friend again.
She turns around to open the door once more, while Robin swiftly scoops up Roland and deposits him onto his hip before he can run straight through the door trying to get to Henry.
"Hey, Mom," Henry casually says as Regina leans down to kiss his forehead.
"Robin!" Henry exclaims, going to hug his mom's new best friend (that's what he's been calling him anyway). "I didn't know you'd be here!"
Regina smiles, secretly loving the fact that her son seems to be taken with her new friend just as much as she is.
"He just got here." Regina moves to the side so Henry can come in and hang his backpack on his hook by the front door. Her apartment isn't small, but it's also not humongous, so she needs all the organization she can get. A little gray, wooden bench with three hooks above it does the trick in keeping bookbags, briefcases and shoes tidy in the entryway. "He was coming to pick up Roland." Regina turns to face Daniel again, who has yet to say anything.
Robin sets Roland down, and the boys run off to the living room as Robin says, "I'm Robin." He sticks out his hand toward Daniel for a handshake, while moving to stand next to Regina in the doorway. "I believe we met a few weeks ago at the school play."
"Yes. Hello." Daniel hesitantly shakes Robin's hand and turns to look at Regina again.
Regina can tell Daniel is more than a little shocked to see a man in her apartment. They've been broken up for almost eight months now, and she has no intention of getting back together with him, even though he desperately wants to. It's none of his business if she has a man over or not, even if that man is just a friend.
"Well," Daniel flicks his eyes over to Robin, then back to Regina, no sign of any emotion on his face, "his homework is done. It's in his book bag."
"Ok, great." She nods her head. "Thanks, Daniel," Regina says, an awkward smile on her face.
The air between the three adults is thick. Regina can tell Daniel is jealous, but right now she just needs him to leave. He has no claim to her and can't dictate who she spends her time with anymore.
"We'll see you in two weeks," Regina says, shifting slightly from one foot to the other. Turning her head in the direction of the living room, she calls out, "Henry, come tell your father goodnight."
After Henry bids his father goodnight, Daniel takes one more quick glance in Robin's direction and then leans in to kiss Regina's cheek, lingering longer than normal. Regina pulls away, quicker than she probably should have, but Daniel hasn't tried to kiss her in any way since they broke up, and she's not comfortable with him doing it now. She figures if she limits their physical contact, innocent as it may be, he'll finally understand that she isn't going to go running back to him.
"Bye, Daniel." Regina shoots him a glare and closes the door.
Huffing out a small breath, Regina turns to face Robin. Smiling slightly, she asks if he wants to stay for dinner. The boys already have the Xbox turned on and she doesn't think they'll want to turn their game off any time soon. "Besides," she reasons, shrugging her shoulder, "Roland's been asking to see Henry since he got here earlier, so it'll give the boys time to play together."
"Sure," he smiles brightly, "dinner sounds wonderful."
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Robin agrees that dinner would be nice considering he hasn't eaten since breakfast. After Regina asks if he wants wine, Robin agrees and makes his way into her kitchen to pull out two wine glasses. He's been to her apartment enough times now that he knows exactly where they are (second gray shaker cabinet to the left of the dishwasher – she'd been sure to point out her transitional style living spaces the first time he had come over, causing him to chuckle fondly at her enthusiasm for decorating). Regina follows suit and pulls out a bottle of Merlot from her small wine rack for them to enjoy, handing the bottle to Robin for him to pour their drinks. She told him that she'd stuck a lasagna in the oven earlier after Roland helped her put all the ingredients together (informs him that she was also helping him read the recipe, a reading tip Henry's teacher had given her when he was Roland's age to help develop a love for reading, which had clearly worked for her son), so she sits down at the kitchen table after checking the timer on the stove.
"Sorry about Daniel," She starts hesitantly, looking over at Robin, "He can be…"
"Jealous?" Robin finishes for her, taking a seat at the kitchen table across from her and handing her a glass of wine.
"Yes," Regina giggles. She pulls her legs up to her chest and takes a sip of her drink, thanking Robin for pouring the libations.
"You've never really told me about him before." Robin takes a sip of his wine before saying, "you've always been a little vague. How did the two of you meet?" Daniel seemed nice enough the first time he met him at the school play, but tonight he just seemed like an asshole. He's not sure what Regina ever saw in him.
Regina goes on to tell him how her mother was the one to set them up.
"Daniel was an aspiring equestrian rider. Mother and all her friends love spending time at the horse races, wearing their big fancy hats and what not," she dramatically narrows her eyes and shakes her head, "treating their Saturdays at the races like it's the Kentucky Derby," Regina laughs, waving her hand in the air and rolling her eyes at the memory, telling him how ridiculous her mother and friends always looked.
She goes on to say how Cora loved Daniel, thought he was perfect for her. He would certainly be able to give Regina the lifestyle her mother always wanted her to have once he became more well known in the equestrian world, which he hadn't. She says Daniel gave up that dream and became an accountant at one of the top-rated accounting firms in the city, which mother still highly approved of.
"…and he was perfect for me… when I was twenty." Regina continues, "We wanted to get married after dating for almost two years, but then I got pregnant." Another sip of wine before she goes on, "Mother wouldn't stand for me to walk down the aisle with a baby bump, so we agreed to wait until after Henry was born."
With a distant look in her eye, she tells Robin that once Henry was born and she had her wedding body back, she realized she didn't want to marry Daniel. "Maybe it was some type of rebellion against my mother," Regina sighs, turning her head to look over her shoulder at the boys in the living room, seemingly making sure they weren't concerned with their parent's conversation. He assumes she doesn't want Henry to hear too many of the details of his parent's rocky relationship, which he understands. "She always tried to control so much of my life, but once I had a child of my own, I finally took a stand for myself."
"And that's when you broke up with Daniel for the first time?"
"No," Regina groans, taking another sip of her wine and getting up to check on the lasagna. When she gets back to the table, she continues. She tells Robin how she broke up with Daniel the first time when Henry was two, but got back together a few months later because she missed the companionship and thought Henry needed to be around his dad more.
"I broke up with him again when Henry was five, but got back together with him after my mother insisted it was the right thing to do for Henry. She said he needed to grow up in a stable household where both his parents lived together," Regina tuts, rolling her eyes. Robin gets the impression that her mother is a controlling witch, wanting to have a say in every aspect of Regina's life. He can tell from the small amount of information he's been given by Regina that he would not be very fond of her mother at all.
"I got back together with him again when Henry was seven, but after a while," Regina shrugs her shoulders and purses her lips, "I just kind of realized I didn't love him in that way anymore and hadn't for quite some time. We were two totally different people than when we first got together. A lot changes between twenty and thirty-two, you know?"
He certainly does. Marian had come into his life when he was in his late twenties, much more ready for a serious relationship. He's thirty-four now and can only laugh at how immature he had been at twenty years old. Can't even imagine being married to one of the girls he dated back then.
She tells him how she finally left him for good this last time eight months ago and has no intention of getting back together with him. Ever. Robin can't help but to feel a little sad for Regina. She's spent over a decade with a man that she knew she didn't love all because the people who should've cared for her the most pushed and pressured her into staying with this man.
"Emma, my friend that was at the play the other week," she points her hand in his direction, "helped a lot after all of the breakups, but especially this last one." Regina talks about how Emma helped her pack up all her belongings (again), and most of Henry's, to move in with her for a few weeks until she found her current apartment. During their previous breakups, she and Henry always ended up staying with her parents. She came to realize that was part of the problem, though. Just another reason that she had been so easily convinced to go back to Daniel each time, so Emma insisted that she and Henry stay with her. In her weaker moments that first month or so, when Cora made her feel like she was in the wrong and needed to go back to him, Emma always encouraged her to be strong and not give in to her mother's insistence. Emma always reminds her that she's an adult and doesn't have to do what mommy says. Regina grins at the memory of Emma's words.
When she looks up, Robin staring into her eyes, matching her grin with one of his own.
"Emma sounds like a smart woman," Robin says, dimples showing on his face. He's glad she's had a friend like Emma to help her get away from such a toxic relationship.
Joking, Regina tilts her head to one side, cocking an eyebrow upward and says, "She likes to think so." Getting up to check on the food one more time, she declares it needs just a few more minutes the brown on the top.
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"So," sitting back down, she speaks uncertainly, "tell me about Marian. What happened to her?" All she knows is that he and Roland lost her a few years ago, but she's never pushed for more information. The time never seemed right, but she's opening up to him about Daniel so the conversation seems to be lending itself to this line of questioning.
"Car accident." Robin sighs, taking a sip of his wine and looking past her left shoulder. The boys are in the next room playing Mario Kart, but he keeps his voice low anyway. He's mentioned before that he doesn't like to talk about Marian's death around Roland.
"She was a nurse – worked a late shift one night, and on her way home a drunk driver drifted into her lane. It was a head on collision. She… died on impact," He finishes, looking down at his hands.
Regina reaches over, placing her hand on top of Robin's that rests at the bottom of his wine glass. She can't imagine the pain of losing someone you love so suddenly, especially with a child involved. The thought breaks her heart.
"Luckily," he tells her, looking back up to her, "A friend of ours was staying with us at the time while he was in the process of buying a new house." He softly smiles at the memory of his friend, saying he was able to leave Roland under Neal's watchful eye when he got the call from the hospital.
He tells her it was late, and Roland was already asleep, so not having to worry about waking his son up and drag him to the hospital while he identified Marian's body was a relief lifted from his shoulders. She shudders, thinking about how awful the whole situation must have been. Pinching her brows together in sympathy, she gently rubs the back of Robin's hand. "How old was Roland?"
He breathes out a deep sigh and tells her, "Just under a year."
"That's awful." Regina gives his hand a small squeeze. "I'm so sorry."
"Thank you," Robin says, looking down at their hands and turning his over to rest in hers before glancing back up to her eyes, "it was rough, but my best mate, Neal, kept reminding me that I had a beautiful baby boy to look after." He pauses a moment to take a sip of his wine, while Regina mirrors him and sips on her own.
"You know," he breaths, "sometimes when I look at him, all I see is my Marian." He lightly scoffs out a dry chuckle and says it used to break his heart, looking at his son and only seeing what he had lost, but now he's this cute little smiling reminder of the good times he and Marian shared.
He goes on to say that Neal's reminders and Roland's smiles are what got him through some of his tougher days.
"Your Neal sounds a lot like my Emma," Regina says, causing both of them to chuckle. She's glad Robin had a friend like that in his time of need. As much as Emma has helped her over the years, she can only imagine the support she would have needed from her if Daniel had ever passed away.
"Maybe we should set them up," Robin grins, giving her hand, that he's now holding, a gentle pulse.
Regina giggles saying Emma would probably eat him alive.
"I think he can handle it." Robin jokes, those damn dimples showing again.
She smiles at him. Regina feels content sitting at her table, sipping wine while dinner cooks in the oven, talking about personal topics with Robin, but also joking around. She's comfortable around him. Everything about tonight makes her almost forget she's not supposed to be attracted to him. Probably not supposed to be holding his hand like she is, either. But yet, this just feels so… right.
Without warning, Robin leans in and brushes a strand of hair behind Regina's ear. Regina's breath catches in her throat, realizing that he's about the kiss her, and she nervously nibbles on her bottom lip.
Regina's eyes slide shut, and just as she starts to feel Robin's breath ghosting over her lips, Henry comes running into the kitchen. Startling both adults, they quickly separate and look toward the older boy who is dressed like a pirate. Clearly at some point during their deep conversation, the boys had snuck away to Henry's room and pulled out his old trunk of costumes. Henry had always loved playing dress up as a smaller child and has kept all his former halloween costumes (even though only a handful of them still fit). It was always a fun way to keep his imagination active. Regina can recall many a weekend that she found herself, over the years, dressed in different costumes, ranging from a firefighter to a chef with a big, poofy hat, chasing her son around the apartment. The memory of those lazy Saturday's playing dress up with her baby boy brings a smile to her face as she looks over at him and amusedly shakes her head.
"We're having a swashbuckling good time!" Henry exclaims in his best pirate voice, swirling his plastic hook of a hand around as Roland joins him shouting Arghhh and swinging his foam sword in the air, "But we're hungry, Mom. Is dinner ready yet?"
"Almost, Captain Hook," Regina giggles, standing to grab her oven mitt to check on the lasagna. "Go wash up and it should be ready by time you boys get clean."
Robin clears his throat, sitting back further in his chair. The air is thick with tension, sexual or just awkward, she isn't so sure anymore.
After a brief moment of weighted silence, Robin finally breaks the ice. "Henry and Roland seem to get on nicely. It's amazing to me since Henry is so much older than Ro."
Regina smiles fondly, while busying herself in the kitchen. "Yeah. I love that Henry is like that. He's always had friends of all ages. You should've seen his last birthday party – it was a smorgasbord of kids." Regina laughs, telling Robin how Henry had invited four fourth graders, two third graders, a fifth grader, and some second graders, one of which had been retained and should be in third.
Robin chuckles softly, "Sounds like a full house."
"Oh," Regina lifts her eyebrows and pulling their dinner out of the oven, still not meeting his eyes, "It was! I'm just glad he didn't want a slumber party." She finishes, placing the steaming baking dish on top of the stove.
As she's taking the food out, the boys come running into the kitchen.
"Are you all clean, my boy?" Robin asks Roland, scooping him up into his lap. She's thankful he hadn't decided to follow her over to the oven to continue his descent onto her lips because she might have been tempted to turn in his arms and let him, despite what her brain is trying to tell her not to feel.
"Sure am, Papa!" Roland exclaims, shoving his freshly washed hands into Robin's face. Regina chuckles to herself at Roland's adorable personality. He's so cute in everything he does, can tell he's been raised right, and she's so glad he's in her life now (and his father, too, but she's not thinking about that right now.)
Regina smiles in Roland's direction and dishes out four helpings of cheesy Italian goodness while Robin pours the boys two glasses of water. After the boys came in from cleaning up, he'd made his way into the kitchen to help, claiming he couldn't just sit there and let her do all the work since she cooked.
Trying to avoid his eyes since he tried to kiss her is much easier now that the boys are in the same room. They're hyped up from playing pirates, and even though they are still dressed like them, she reminds both boys that it's time to calm down and eat their dinner. They're out of breath, but agree that she's right. They take their seats and sip from their glasses of water, calming their heart rates. She muses over how easily they can rile themselves up, noting Roland's pink cheeks. Clearly the pirates really were having a swashbuckling good time back there. Hopefully all this excitement will tucker them both out and they'll sleep like babies tonight and be well rested for school in the morning.
They eat dinner, all chatting about school, the girl that Roland thinks is beautiful (which causes both adults to smirk as they catch each other's eyes from across the table), and what Henry's been learning lately. Roland tells Henry and Robin all about the fun things he and Regina did earlier in the day, and Henry tells them about his weekend with his dad.
"It was fun," Henry shrugs, taking a bite of his food, "we worked on my homework for a little bit Friday after school."
Reminding him not to talk with food in his mouth, Regina asks, "What else did you do, sweetheart?"
She's hoping that Daniel kept their son entertained over the weekend and didn't just let him watch t.v. the whole time. Daniel's company is gearing up for the rush of tax filers who didn't file early, so she knows he's been having to bring a lot of work home lately. Surely, though, he would take his son's weekend to only do paperwork once Henry was in bed.
Henry chukles. "Well, yeah, mom," he says, rolling his eyes in his pre-teen way, "we went to the movies yesterday and then he took me out to eat. Oh, and we went to the science museum today after lunch." Well, at least they did something other than the movies. Henry has always been a bit of an explorer, always wanting to gain new knowledge about all sorts of topics, and he loves science. She was planning on taking him over the summer but supposes not much has changed at the museum since the last time she took him, and it saved her some money. The smile on his face as he recalls all the things they saw, though, especially the room dedicated to outer space, which is his favorite, tells her it was a good decision on Daniel's part to take him there. She's glad he had a great time.
Chiming in, Robin says, "sounds like a great time!"
Henry agrees, saying he had fun, but he'll be glad to sleep in his own bed for the next two weeks. His bed at his dad's house is super comfortable but he forgot his pillow this weekend so he didn't sleep as well.
Regina clicks her tongue against her teeth and makes a mental note to make sure he has his favorite pillow from now on before dropping him off at Daniel's on his weekends. Henry has a handful of pillows on his bed here and at Daniel's, but there's something about his blue and green plaid pillow that he's always loved. He's had it since he was two, so she assumes it's a comfort thing at this point. It's thin, the stuffing just about worn out of it, but he loves it. She is actually surprised they both forgot it this weekend, it's usually his top priority when getting ready to go. He doesn't have to take that much to his dad's anymore. Daniel has a dresser full of clothes for him to wear when he's there, and a bathroom stocked with his favorite toothpaste and shampoo, so he doesn't really need to pack underwear, clothes, or his toiletries. He normally just packs his favorite fairy tale book, a few toys, his pillow, and his retainer. She'll add "H's pillow" to her reminders list in her phone before she goes to bed tonight just to be safe.
"Me and Gina did a Cat in the Hat puzzle!" Roland exclaims, clearly wanting to be a part of this conversation.
Smiling at his son, Robin says, "Did you now?"
At Roland's mmhmm, sure did, Papa! He goes on to tell the other three members of the table that him and his Gina watched a movie and put the lasagna together before he took a nap, then ate a snack and worked on their puzzle until everyone showed up.
Running her hand across Roland's forehead and softly smiling at the youngest member of their group, Regina confirms the fun afternoon activities and tells them that Roland even got to nap in Henry's "big boy bed." Regina's apartment is only two bedrooms, so the few times Roland has needed to take a nap there, he's had to sleep in her son's bed (she'd offered her own bed after their trip to the aquarium the other week, but he insisted Henry's bed was cooler). Henry's bed is just a double, but compared to Roland's twin sized mattress, he thinks it's gigantic. He claims he's just like Henry when he gets to lay on his mattress. Roland clearly looks up to Henry, and Regina finds it adorable.
As the three of them giggle at the boy's enthusiasm of taking a nap, Robin comments that he might need to get Roland a bed the size of Henry's so that his son will take naps on the weekends. They don't take naps at school anymore, but he's mentioned before that Roland still gets pretty knackered some weekend afternoons and it becomes inevitable. She tells him that, sadly, will probably end soon. He's gotten lucky; Henry stopped napping on the weekends his third week of kindergarten. "There were several weekends back then that I cursed the school for taking nap time away and getting him in the habit of not sleeping for even just half an hour each afternoon." She laughs, pointing in Henry's direction, thinking over how much her son has grown up these past few years. She and Roland hadn't had a terribly exciting afternoon, but she supposes getting to spend the day with her alone and the excitement of sleeping in Henry's bed had worn him out enough to take a short nap.
Turning the conversation back to Henry, Robin asks, "Did you get all of your homework done, or did you need some help with it?" He's helped Henry a few times before on a particularly hard homework assignment, but hearing him offer to help makes her heart melt once again.
Finishing his last bite of noodle and sauce, Henry tells him, "No, we finished it all on Friday. Dad said we couldn't go to the movies or anything until I was done with it," causing Regina to smile, which she tries to hide from her son with a bite of her food. She's glad that Daniel also puts an importance on his school work, not that she ever doubted he would. "Thanks, though."
"That's good." Robin claps his hand on Henry's shoulder as he stands to place his plate in the dishwasher. "Your father was right. Homework should always come before playing."
Sighing, Henry groans an I know while rolling his eyes in good fun. He knows homework is important, but she also understands him wanting to have fun. She reminds him that summer break will be here soon, and he will have all the time in the world to have fun with them and his dad (as long as he gets his summer reading project done, too), along with attending his summer camp. Henry agrees, saying he can't wait for his camp to start, before taking his plate over to Robin at the sink.
After she and Roland finish eating and putting their plates into the dishwasher along with Robin and Henry's, Regina notices how late it's gotten. It's definitely past Roland's bedtime and almost time for Henry to get in bed as well.
Regina sends the pirates back to Henry's room to change into their regular clothes, while she and Robin make their way toward the front door. Robin grabs his jacket off the coat rack and turns to look into Regina's eyes. He'd gotten her to look at him a few times during dinner, smiling at her when he did, but it is still a little awkward. She warmed up to him again during dinner and had returned his smiles from behind her long lashes, before looking away again. Once his coat is situated onto his shoulders, Robin leans in slightly, dipping his head down to catch her eyes. She's currently not making eye contact, instead is staring at her hands.
When she looks up at him, her breath grows heavy. He's looking at her like she hangs the moon, and she knows he wants to kiss her. She desperately wants that, too, but she knows she can't. Oh, just do it, her mind tells her. She blames it on the glass of wine she'd had with dinner, because when he leans in an inch more, she raises her head to look at him and lets his lips catch hers. He lingers for a brief moment, sending a jolt of electricity through both of them. She lets out a gasp at the short, sudden, but not terribly unwelcomed, new sensation. It had been nothing more than a slightly lingering peck, but it was enough to make her feel things. Things she keeps telling herself not to feel.
"Sorry, I..." Robin whispers into the space between them, their foreheads still touching.
"I know." Regina opens her eyes and looks up at Robin, giving him a soft smile as the boys come running into the entryway. She knows he was about to tell her that he couldn't help himself, because she knows the feeling all too well. She couldn't help herself, either, despite her mind telling her not to. Regina quickly pulls away from Robin and turns to face the boys as Robin removes Roland's jacket from the rack. It's not too terribly cold outside, it is only April, but at night it gets a little bit chillier so jackets become a necessity.
She can't help but be distracted by the short lived feeling of his lips on hers. She subtly rubs her fingers over her lips. She didn't get a good enough taste, but kissing Robin is now something she knows she wants to do more often.
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He had actually opened up to her about Marian's death, something he rarely talks to anyone about. Sure, Neal knew all about it, had been there for him through all of it, and he'd even gone through some grief counseling in the beginning when he was dealing with being a single dad to such a young son. Other than that, he hasn't really talked too much about it. It's hard, losing the one you always thought you'd spend your life with, especially so young, but he's learned to live his life in a way that still honors her memory, at least he hopes so, anyway. He knows Marian wouldn't want him to spend the rest of his life single and miserable, which is why he had finally started dating again a few years ago. Something about Regina, though, just feels different. Feels more genuine. They may just be friends now, but he hopes one day she's just as ready as he is to move their friendship to a deeper level.
He went to apologize for that kiss and tell her how he just couldn't help himself, but she cut him off right before the boys came into the room. Roland runs to Regina and wraps his arms around her legs, squeezing for good measure and causing her to look up to Robin and smile. His son tells her he had fun today and that they need to work on their puzzle again soon.
"I agree," she chuckles, leaning down to place a kiss to the top of Roland's head, "We'll work on it the next time your daddy needs to work and you come over here."
At Roland's yeah!, he hands his son his lightweight jacket, with a hood that has lime green dinosaur spikes on it. Regina bends down to help him put it on as Roland turns to face Henry. He tells Henry goodbye and the older boy assures Roland that they'll pull out his costumes again another time.
Standing from her crouched position, Regina smiles at Robin before quickly running her fingers over her lips and wrapping her arm around Henry's shoulder.
She didn't slap me or yell at me. That's got to be a good sign, Robin thinks as he takes Roland's hand and turns to face her one last time.
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"Thanks again for watching him today." Robin says as Regina turns her head to look at him, moving to open the front door.
"It was no problem." She shrugs a shoulder up and smiles brightly down at Roland, "We had a good time."
"Tell Regina goodnight, Roland."
"Bye, Miss Gina!" Roland exclaims, letting go of his father's hand and wrapping his arms around her legs again, "Bye, Henry!"
"Bye, Roland. See you at school tomorrow," Henry says, giving the young boy a high-five before father and son make their way out of the apartment.
With Robin and Roland gone, Regina locks the front door, leaning up against it for support and breathes a deep sigh. Turning to head toward the kitchen, she decides she still needs to clean up a little bit before climbing into bed and over-analyzing everything that's happened tonight.
"I like them," Henry says, coming into the kitchen from the living room. He'd been straightening up the pillows the swashbuckling pirates messed up earlier and handed her a cup that was left on the coffee table. "I'm glad we're friends with them now." Henry's eyes slide over in her direction as he sends a smirk his mother's way.
"Me too." Regina breathes, licking her lips to taste Robin one last time. She wonders just how much Henry saw tonight. "I'm glad we're friends with them, too, sweetheart."
Friends. That's what they are.