A/N: Alrighty friends, this is the last chapter of this fanfic! The purpose of this story really was just to act as a fix it for the horrific mess Adam and Eddy subjected us to, and in my mind, this last chapter I'm about to write will always be how it ended for my beloved Outlaw Queen. I was just going to leave it at that last chapter, but then decided I couldn't just leave you guys hanging without the 'conversation' Robin alluded to at the end of last chapter (that's why this update has taken so long). I have every intention of writing many more OQ fanfics, but they will probably be one shots and AUs. So, lovelies, please give me a follow, and hit me up with those follows and reviews when they come out;)

In this chapter, I would like to point out that that whole bullshit that happened when they sent Roland back to the Enchanted Forest rather than letting him stay with Regina (literally what the hell was that), did not happen in this fanfic, and Roland is back in Storybook waiting for Robin to come home.

Sorry for the terribly long note here, ENJOY!

Chapter 6

"Come on, Roland, time to go to sleep!" Robin said gently to his son, who was rightfully sitting on his lap, arms tightly wrapped around his father's neck. Roland had been virtually plastered to Robin's side since his return to Storybrook two days ago, as though he feared if he let him go for even a moment, his father would be taken from him again. Regina certainly couldn't say she didn't understand this fear, and if her surroundings had permitted it, she probably would have been engaging in the same strategy as Roland. Alas, her surroundings had not allowed this for her, seeing as she and Robin had scarcely been able to find a moment alone since their return. It had become apparent that Robin was more beloved in Storybrook than either she or Robin realized, and his return had been heavily celebrated.

But tonight, finally, Regina and Robin had managed to sever themselves from the rest of the town, and had successfully arrived back to Regina's spacious mayor's mansion (the Charming clan had taken up residence in their own home again, upon Robin's return). Henry was staying the night with Emma, while Roland was remaining with Regina and Robin. Regina had no objection to this, of course, as she both adored the little boy herself and had missed spending time with him, and would sooner chop off her own arm than separate Robin from his son.

"But Daddy, I'm not sleepy yet!" Roland objected firmly. However, the yawn he let out mid-sentence somewhat detracted from his claim of wakefulness.

Robin and Regina both chuckled, and exchanged a knowing glance.

"You sure about that, little mate?" Robin chided lightly, smiling widely at his son. Regina's heart swelled a little, at the way Robin so perfectly fathered Roland. How could she not adore both of them? It seemed highly unreasonable and implausible that Regina could possibly keep herself from wholeheartedly loving them both so much.

"I want to sit with you and Gina!" Roland protested further, involuntarily letting out another yawn. Regina stood from the chair she had previously been seated in, and crossed the room to sit next to Robin and Roland on the couch.

"We'll be here in the morning, I promise," Regina said to Roland softly, affectionately running her fingers through his thick mop of dark curls. Roland considered this for a moment, as though debating whether or not this was a trustworthy promise.

"I am kinda sleepy," he admitted quietly. Regina and Robin both laughed again, and Robin stood, easily scooping Roland up with him. He switched Roland over to his hip.

"To bed then," he said, smiling. Regina watched contentedly as Robin easily carried Roland upstairs and off to bed, the little boy already seemingly drifting off in his father's arms. Regina could certainly get used to this…

As she waited for Robin to return, Regina mindlessly cleared away her and Robin's empty wine glasses, as well as Roland's empty cup, previously holding chocolate milk. She washed out all three glasses in the sink, and placed them in the dishwasher.

She emerged from the kitchen a few seconds later, just as Robin was also reentering the living room.

"Bit of a blessing, that. My legs are completely asleep," Robin said, laughing as he reclaimed his seat on the couch. Regina also laughed at that, as she walked over to join him. The fate of Robin's legs was rather logical, as Roland hadn't left his lap in probably about three hours.

"That's a shame, I was actually hoping to perhaps take over his seat," Regina said softly, arching one perfect dark eyebrow. Her heart couldn't help but falter at the grin from Robin that her flirtation had earned.

"Amazing, they seem to have just woken up," he replied almost immediately, doing very little to mask his interest in her implication. Regina smirked, as she did indeed climb onto Robin's lap. She placed herself squarely in the middle of his legs, draping hers, in turn, across his, and curling them around his knees. She angled herself so that her chest was practically pressed against his, and easily wrapped her arms around his neck. One of Robin's hands wrapped around her back and rested on the curve of her waist, while the other mindlessly wandered up and down her somewhat exposed thigh. Each movement sent shivers of pleasure down Regina's spine. Regina briefly considered changing into something more comfortable than her traditional black pencil skirt and white button up blouse, but decided against it, as changing would require her to leave this position in Robin's lap, and she simply was not prepared for that. Furthermore, she was completely taken with how amazingly handsome Robin looked in a light blue button down shirt and black dress pants, and didn't want him to change yet either. Obviously, this outfit was a bit foreign to Robin's normal jeans, forest green color pallet, and rustic style, but as he hadn't had a change of clothes since Hades had attempted to kill him and banished him to a different realm, he'd been pretty anxious to change and had just borrowed clothes of David's that remained at Regina's house from the Charmings' temporarily stint in her home. So alas, she remained exactly where she was.

"I won't lie, towards the end of today, I was worried we might never have a moment alone," Robin said softly, lightly chuckling. Regina grinned and bit her lip, slightly averting her gaze from Robin's.

"Relieved to know that I wasn't the only one thinking that," she replied easily, unable to stop smiling. It was interesting… Before their incident with Hades, Regina would have said that she had somewhat emotionally settled into her relationship with Robin. Meaning, that she had generally gotten her butterflies and infinite desire and attraction under control. She hadn't constantly had to fight the urge to rip all of his clothes off and show him why people used to refer to her as the most powerful woman in the world every time she saw him anymore. In her defense, she'd never really gotten much of a chance to experience a simple and happy honeymoon phase with Robin before Marian had showed up and sort of rained on that parade, but, nevertheless, since he'd been back… It was like they'd returned to that brief period of time when they'd gotten to fall in love, completely unimpeded. And, much to her surprise, this emotional intensity wasn't making her feel vulnerable and frightened… She was enjoying every moment of it.

"So… that conversation I mentioned before we got back…" Robin trailed off gently. Regina knew he was referring to the moment in the forest when he'd asked if they could just talk, as he had a lot he wished to say to her. Despite being initially disappointed that he'd broken up their… physical reunion, she had been secretly very much looking forward to that conversation. However, before they'd gotten a chance to have it, they both remembered that not only were the Charmings probably frantically searching for them, but a very sad and frightened Roland was desperately missing his father back in Storybrook. Alas, they had mutually agreed to postpone the conversation until they successfully returned home. Little had they known that it would be almost two days before they were completely alone again.

"I wouldn't mind having it right now," Regina encouraged him tenderly, knowing it probably was a bit nerve-racking for him to broach this subject.

"Well, now I feel foolish. I'm the one who brought this up, yet I hardly even know where to begin," Robin said, sighing. Regina strongly empathized with this statement.

"How about we start with the easy stuff? I think an apology is in order…" Regina began, referring to the way that she had allowed her own trust in Zelena to interfere with Robin's daughter's safety. Regina had tried to avoid thinking about the fact that, had she not so blindly placed her faith in her sister, Robin probably never would have been hurt. Of course, it wasn't truly Zelena's fault either, as the only mistake she'd made in this case was falling in love with the wrong man. But still, Regina knew Robin had never wanted to involve Zelena in the parenting of his daughter, and she'd really had no right to intervene.

"Regina, of course. You're right, I owe you the biggest of apologies," Robin said, interrupting Regina. Regina cocked her head to the side in confusion, but Robin continued anyways, "I never even came close to giving you a proper apology about what happened with Zelena. All I could talk about was my own issues, all I had to say to you was that I thought it was my wife."

"Robin-" Regina started attempting to stop him, shaking her head vigorously at his misunderstanding.

"I didn't even think about the kind of pain that must have caused you! I… was with another woman. I left you alone, and I was with another woman. Of course, I didn't know who it was at the time, but it doesn't matter, I was with someone else," Robin continued over her.

"No, Robin, wait-" she tried to cut him off, almost physically unable to hear him apologize to her for anything that had happened.

"Regina, when I was alone in that forest, I, again, found myself in a position where I didn't think I'd ever see you again… I assumed there was no possible way that you would ever realize that I was still alive, after what Hades said about the crystal. You'd think I'd know better by now than to assume you can't do something… Anyways, I kept thinking about the fact that I'd never see you again, and I realized that, at some point, you would probably move on. With someone else. And the thought-"

"Robin, I would never have-"

"The thought of another man touching you, the thought of another man putting his hands on you… made me sick. Which is horrifically selfish, I know, but I just couldn't help it. And then, then I thought about how you must have felt when you found out about Zelena… I was miserable just at the idea that one day, eventually, at some point in the future someone else might get to touch you… I actually was with someone else, I was with your sister! And you had to deal with it, and the most I could offer you was 'sorry, thought it was my wife'? I just couldn't live with the fact that I never told you how sorry I was. Regina, I will never be able to properly express how sorry I am for what happened, and I hope that one day you can find it in your heart to forgive me," Robin finally finished, taking Regina's face into both of his hands and pressing his nose gently against hers. At Robin's bordering on romance-novel worthy apology, Regina realized for the first time how much she had craved to hear what he'd just said. She hadn't even noticed it, really, that she'd wanted him to say he was sorry for being with another woman. She'd never allowed herself to indulge in feeling that way, because she knew he hadn't really done anything wrong. He thought he would never see her again, she'd practically forced him to move on with his wife… but still, how it had hurt her. No matter how hard she'd tried, she hadn't been able to force out of her mind the image of Robin's hands on someone else's body, of his voice murmuring someone else's name… And finally hearing him acknowledge all of this seemed to have assuaged an open and bleeding wound she hadn't even realized she'd had.

"Robin… Thank you, for saying that, but you have to know that I don't hold you responsible for that. You couldn't have known, and under the circumstances, I wouldn't have expected or wanted you to act any differently. Of course, it hurt me to know you'd been with someone else, but what else were you supposed to do? You don't have to ask for my forgiveness, you already have it. And you should also know, in case you were ever… wondering… I have forgiven Zelena for many things, and I may have accepted her into my family, but that… what she did to us, will always be there, and I don't know that I'll ever really forgive her for that," Regina responded softly to him, genuinely meaning every word.

Robin smiled quickly and sighed. He lightly pressed his lips against her forehead for a moment, before kissing each of her cheeks and then her nose.

"You are perfect, you know," he said softly, grinning at her. Regina's heart faltered at this, and she could feel herself flushing. Not for the first time since she'd met Robin, she silently cursed her fair skin, as it made her constant blushing brutally apparent.

"Far from it," she murmured, kissing his lips easily and smiling. Robin surprised her by slightly deepening the kiss she'd started, his hands loosely tangling into her hair.

"I disagree," he protested quietly against her lips. He lingered there for a moment, before pulling back again.

"However, all this talk of your perfection seems to have led me straight to my next talking point…" Robin said pointedly, moving a dark piece of hair from Regina's face and lightly tucking it behind her ear. Regina raised her eyebrows, in a silent encouragement that he should continue.

"By all means."

"This one should be a bit more pleasant for you. At least I hope," Robin said, grinning. Regina arched her eyebrow again.

"I'm all ears."

"Regina… before we went into your office to get my daughter, and you said to me that you would understand if I wanted something other than you after everything was over… Did you truly mean that?" Robin asked slowly, as though heavily considering each selection of word he made. Regina, however, wasn't quite sure she understood the question, despite his careful choice of diction.

"Did I mean that I would understand if you didn't want to be with me anymore after all that had happened? Of course I meant that, Robin," she answered him simply, not breaking eye contact with him. Her response clearly pained him, however, which led her to believe she'd indeed misunderstood the question.

"Let me ask it another way… Did you really believe that there was something you could do that would make me stop wanting a future with you?" Robin asked again, his tone very confusing. It was almost like he was afraid of her answer.

"Well… yes?" Regina replied uncertainly, still completely bewildered by his very apparent anxiety. She didn't understand what his issue was with her saying yes to his question, it wasn't as though it would have been unreasonable for him to have terminated their relationship after the way she'd endangered his daughter and practically forced him to trust Zelena. How could she not ask if he'd been entertaining thoughts of that nature?

"I know things were a little tense and complicated between us because of everything happening with Zelena and my daughter, but Regina, how could you think that I would let some slight unpleasantry end our relationship? How could you think that I would ever want any future that didn't include you? I mean really, after all that has happened between us… do you really not know how I feel about you?" Robin asked her earnestly. Regina really did not know where all of this passion was coming from, in the past, Robin had never been much of an open book about his feelings.

"I don't exactly have the best track record, you know," Regina couldn't help pointing out, raising an eyebrow. Robin rolled his eyes at that, but clearly conceded defeat on that point.

"Regina, do you know why I waited so long to tell you I loved you?" Robin asked. This question really caught Regina off guard. She actually had been secretly wondering that.

"No, actually I don't believe I do."

"Because I thought you knew! This whole time, I would have bet my life on the fact that you were already so blatantly and even tragically aware of how in love with you I am, that I never needed to tell you. I always thought that I would let you say it first, when you were ready… Had I known that all along you were unsure, believe me, I would have informed you long ago," Robin told her, laughing as though the whole thing was ridiculous. Regina could have sworn that Robin's response made her heart beat so fast that he could hear it… Nevertheless, she was completely incapable at hiding her very flattered grin any longer. She couldn't say the she minded having Robin so openly profess his love, it's not as though she'd vividly imagined what he would say and how it would feel to hear it about a million times before.

"I tend to be a bit stubborn when it comes to these kind of things."

It was the best response that Regina was able to muster, as feeble as it was. Luckily, Robin clearly found it charming and let out a laugh at her comment.

"Ah yes, God forbid someone should fall in love with the evil, evil queen," Robin chided lightly. You would think that Regina would really hate it when anyone alluded to her past misdeeds, and perhaps if anyone else did it the way that Robin did, she would. But for whatever reason, Robin's openness about her past and ability to playfully mock her about it, actually made her love him even more. The fact that she didn't have to hide from him, that he was comfortable with the things she'd done, and his complete lack of fear, had been one of the things she'd been most attracted to in him.

"You were right… This is much more fun," Regina grinned, kissing his lips again.

"Believe it or not, after all this nauseating emotion I've poured on you… I'm not even done yet," Robin admitted, smiling Regina's second favorite smile of his. It was something like a half smirk; a little lopsided, knowing smile (second only to his irresistible, goofy grin, reserved for only the most special occasions).

"Oh, yes, I'm really suffering right now, hearing all of this," Regina responded, grinning widely so that he would know in no uncertain terms that she was utterly kidding. She probably couldn't be enjoying herself more. Who wouldn't enjoy hearing everything they had desperately craved to hear in the past year?

"I profusely apologize, darling. But…" Robin trailed off slowly, his tone veering away from their cheerful banter and flirtation and taking a turn for something more serious again.

Robin placed both of his hands on Regina's waist and easily lifted her off of his lap. This was yet another thing Regina adored about Robin. The way he always managed to make her feel so… small and delicate in comparison to him. Something no one had been able to make her feel in a very, very long time. The way she was so considerably shorter than him, the complete lack of effort it required for him to pick her up, and the way he was always so… gentle in the way he touched her.

He sat her down next to him on the couch, before he rose from it. She stared up at him, trying to decipher what this last thing was that he felt he needed to say.

Much to her continued confusion, Robin offered her both of his hands, which she took, and he then pulled her up to stand with him.

"I just have one more thing to ask," he said slowly, his voice achingly soft and gentle. The smallest surge of understanding began to creep into Regina's mind…

The next few minutes were something like an out of body experience for Regina, as Robin very slowly knelt down on one knee in front of her. Regina could have sworn that her heart stopped beating, she could have sworn that everything in the world around her completely froze.

"Regina, you asked me once what I saw in you. And at that point, I had only had about twenty four hours to work through the complexity of my feelings, and the best answer I had to offer was that you were giving me a second chance," Robin began simply.

"You also mentioned that I was 'quite a good kisser'."

"Ah, yes, not really one of my most eloquent moments, that," Robin responded, flushing slightly. In any other context, Regina would have laughed, but she found herself so completely enraptured in what was happening before her eyes, that all she could muster was a feeble chuckle, before Robin went on.

"Anyways… I know now, after having had the privilege of having you in my life for almost a year now, that that answer I gave you was… completely true and completely inaccurate at the same time. Yes, you are giving me my second chance at forever with someone, but now I see that what I have with you is so much more than that. I think that, since the first moment I met you, both times, in the Enchanted Forest and in Storybrook, that I've always known, somewhere inside of me, that we would end up here. You are… beautiful, I don't know that I've told you that before directly, which is really horrendous on my part… You are smart, driven, passionate, witty… you challenge me. You're my equal, and my superior in more ways than I would care to admit… you are my partner. You are everything I ever wanted in a woman, and all the things that I forgot to ask for all at the same time."

Robin slowly reached into his back pocket and withdrew a small wooden box. Regina, meanwhile, attempted to stop feeling so lightheaded and get herself under control.

"I've had this… for awhile now. This belonged to my mother, but it was stolen from me in Sherwood Forest, long before I met Marian. And, a few months ago, when I first decided that at some point I was going to summon the courage to do this, I went to Rumplestiltskin's shop to look for a decent ring for you, and stumbled upon it. It came over with the first curse, he said. That's probably not true, I'm sure that filthy imp acquired it in some horrifying manner, but, nevertheless, it was returned to me, and I would really like it if… you would let it be yours now," Robin continued, not once taking his eyes away from Regina's. She really hoped that she didn't look as vulnerable and excited as she felt.

Robin easily popped open the box, to reveal a flawlessly simple, thin silver band, embroidered with the most humble yet beautiful light green diamond. How perfectly… Robin.

"I also said to you once, that I made a vow to be honest, truthful and good, everyday of my life. And it has recently become apparent to me, through a painfully close brush with death, that the only way I can truly uphold that code, is with you by my side. Regina, you are not my consolation prize. You are my future, and now I just want to ask… if you, Regina Mills, would do me the honor of becoming my wife. Until death actually does manage to separate us."

To be honest, Regina remembers every single word that was uttered the night that Robin proposed, except what her answer had been. All she could remember was being unable to stop nodding, as Robin slid the ring onto her finger. She remembered as he stood on his feet in front of her again, and kissed her, with her face securely nestled between his strong hands, just where it belonged.

She'd never thought she'd have this… And for the first time in her entire life, Regina considered her own amazing fortune, and in turn, her painfully long awaited good future.