Day 5: Adoption Day

It's midnight. The moon is high in the sky and it's full this night, so it's no surprise Regina's not sleeping, during the full moon it's always difficult for her to fall asleep.

But today there is another reason why she can't fall asleep. It's her thoughts which torture her, thoughts about the little girl who has become a member of their little family very unexpectedly.

That day Regina came home from work tired, very tired, it was a hard week and it finally was Friday, it was the day when Henry's week with her started, and all she wanted to do was go home and spend some time with her boys, all of them, but once she entered the house, she was very surprised because in her living room, on the couch a small girl was sitting. Her boys were with her and they immediately explained who the girl was and how she ended up in her house.

It turned out that the girl was thrown here through the portal from the Enchanted Forest and that she was an orphan. Of course, at first Regina wasn't very happy about all this situation, she was sure that the girl was another evil, that she will destroy their lives but Henry and Roland managed to convince her to let the girl stay. One day, they said.

And it's one of the best decisions she has ever made.

But one day turned into days and Regina didn't even feel how she got attached to Rapunzel, that's the mysterious girl's name. The little girl was sweet and innocence and oh so very cute, there were no possibility someone could dislike her.

So days turned into weeks, weeks into months and now it's already one year since Rapunzel started living with them. One year since their life has changed completely.

It's no surprise Robin is attached to Rapunzel just as much as she is. He's more than happy to have a girl in their house with boys, he likes to spend time with her, he likes to teach her things and he's more than happy to see how Roland and Henry adore her (sometimes the boys even call her a little sister).

Rapunzel is a member of their family now.

And tonight, Regina can't drop the idea of adoption out of her mind. Of course, it wouldn't change a thing because now Rapunzel is her daughter, their daughter, and no one can change that but what, if someone decides to take her away from them? Because of course they could, she's not their officially.

She can't lose her.

Sighing Regina sits up in the bed and grabs the robe from the end of the bed, puts in on and quietly, on her tiptoes, walks out of the room (Robin is a light sleeper, she needs to be very quiet if she wants to escape unnoticed).

She closes the door behind herself and sighs before walking to the other end of the house where their kids are sleeping or at least should be. The door of Henry's room is slightly opened and TV can be heard from it, he probably forgot to turn it off as always, so Regina pushes the door a little and steps into the room.

She gasps in surprise when she finds all three of her children laying in small Henry's bed, snuggled to each other, sleeping peacefully. She smiles and walks further into the room to put a blanket on them, because they're still in their clothes and it's obvious they haven't planned to sleep together but it's not the first time they all sleep like that, in a bed too small for the three of them, but she can't blame them because Roland and Rapunzel miss Henry while he's at Emma's.

She kisses their foreheads then and turns off the TV before walking out of the room and closing the door quietly behind herself.

Regina comes back into the bedroom and finds Robin still sleeping peacefully. She smiles a little – she didn't wake him up - and then lies on the bed, pulls the blanket over herself again, rolls over on the side but her arm accidentally hits Robin.

It doesn't even take a second until Robin's eyes are opened and he's leaning on his elbow, looking around, trying to find out what's happening. Is someone trying to kill them again?

But then he finds Regina's eyes illuminated by the moonlight and sighs in relief before he collapses back on the bed with a palm on his forehead. No one is trying to kill them, that's good.

It takes a moment until he leans on the elbow again and looks into her eyes, studying her face for a second, sleep forgotten, trying to understand what's on her mind, but then he asks, "Why are you not sleeping?"

She wants to say that she just woke up and that she was thirsty, but she doesn't want to lie to him, she has promised it a while ago, to tell him the truth no matter how hard it may be. And also, he knows her too well, he would definitely know she's lying, so she just shrugs and lays on her back, pulling the blanket to her neck.

"What's on your mind?" He asks again, stretching his hand to touch her cheek.

She has to sigh, she's not sure if she should tell him about her thoughts, about adoption. Perhaps it's silly. What, if he doesn't want to do that? What, if he's not as enthusiastic about this thing as she is?

But it's her Robin. His heart is pure and good, and he loves Rapunzel as much as she, he would never oppose to something like that. After all, it wouldn't be a first time they're talking about adoption – they have planned to adopt a child before Rapunzel showed up because the boys are growing up too quickly, and also, they wanted another child, a child they would adopt together.

So she looks into his eyes, inhales, exhales, inhales again and speaks, "I thought that maybe… just maybe we could adopt Rapunzel? You know, she's already living with us, she's our family, and someone can take her away because she's not legally ours and we wanted to adopt before and-"

Robin cuts her off with a sweet kiss because she's obviously overthinking it, and he doesn't like when she does it, and also there's no need to overthink such a thing because he would always agree as long as it makes her happy. And it obviously does.

She pulls away from the kiss and opens her mouth to continue, but Robin puts his finger on her lips before she can speak.

"Of course, Regina, of course we can adopt her. I'd love that," He says and she blinks for a few times, processes what he's said and then realization hits her. He agreed. He wants it as much as she does and it's such a relief to her.

She smiles widely then and moves closer to him, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck, trying so hard to stop the tears because she's Regina Mills and Regina Mills is not a weepier, but the tears are running down her cheeks and she doesn't bother anymore, she can be weak one time.

It takes a moment or two until she manages to stop the tears but even then she doesn't pull away. She holds Robin close because God knows she wouldn't be this happy without him. She wouldn't be happy at all, if not him.

Robin knows she's overthinking again, so he leaves a small kiss on her shoulder and it gets her attention, she pulls away a little and looks at him with that heart-warming smile.

"We can sign the papers in the morning," She suddenly says, pulling away from him completely and sitting up. "And we'll give her Mills-Lockley name and we will buy her something because it's such a special day for her and us and oh my God, then she's going to stay with us forever, it will be real,"

Robin laughs quietly and it receives him a glare but then she chuckles too, it's ridiculous. She's acting like a child in a candy store but in these moments, when she's all excited and kinda crazy, Robin realizes just how much he loves her for that, for that childish side under the evil mask.

"We will do everything tomorrow," He says pulling her closer again, "But now we need to sleep," He adds and she nods because yes, he's right, she has work tomorrow and adoption to do, she needs rest and he needs it as well, so she cuddles into his side, resting her head on his shoulder.

"I love you, Robin Hood," She whispers and her eyes closes, finally sleep is coming to her.

"I love you too, but we really need to sleep," He says back and his eyes close as well.

It doesn't even take a minute until Robin's sleeping but Regina was wrong when she thought, sleep was coming. Now there is another thought in her mind – they need to buy a new house, this one is too small for them, she thinks. Of course, there are plenty rooms in the house but they should buy a new house anyway and make a playground for the kids in the yard.

"Robin," She calls quietly but gets no response and it's unexpected, so she calls again, this time a little louder, "Robin?"

"Mm?"

"We need to buy a new house," She whispers and he groans, his hand smashes on his face as he takes a deep breath – she drives him crazy sometimes, she really does - but before he can say anything, Regina's cuddling into his side again and her head is back on his shoulder.

And this time, she's the first who falls asleep with a huge grin on her face.

Feedback is always appreciated! :)