So, I totally forgot to upload this. oops. Happy reading!

"Do you have any idea how angry I am with you two right now?" Regina swung around to face the two young men standing in the middle of the sitting room floor. Oliver looked as if he were going to puke. He stared at the ground between his feet, his pale face obscured slightly by the thick locks of hair that fell to his cheekbones.

Regina knew that Oliver was a good kid. He was an athlete with amazing grades and a huge heart. She knew that he would take the fall for his brother. He would say that he bought the alcohol and even the ship if it meant that Roland wouldn't get in trouble. She never was really sure why he stuck up for his older brother the way he did.

Roland, unlike his brother, was not cowering like a scolded dog. He stood up straight, his chest heaving under his shirt. He faced Regina head up and a tight jaw. She was half expecting a fight.

"I cannot believe that my sons would behave in such a manner."

Robin sat in a chair on the other side of the room. He didn't really have much to say about the situation. Emma on the other hand, was leaning against the doorway and she had plenty to say.

"Look guys, we know that you were just having some fun but right now, having that kind of fun is illegal. I don't blame you so much as I blame the guys you were with. They are all old enough to know better than to let you drink, let alone put you in that situation in the first place," Emma said, more directed at Robin.

"Is this really about us drinking?" Roland asked, squaring his shoulders. "I mean, we had no idea that Killian was going to get his hand destroyed, so you can't blame us for that."

"Mr. Jones is an imbecile," Regina said firmly. "And you will not be seeing him for quite some time."

"Mum, that is not fair," Oliver cried out. "It wasn't his fault that we got pulled into that storm."

"Oliver-"

"Seriously though," he began again. "There is no way that he could have known that was going to happen and there is no way that he could have stopped it. I mean, it just kind of sucked us up and spit us out five miles from port."

Regina eyeballed her youngest and then looked to Emma for some sort of help.

"Kid, that is not logical at all," Emma added.

Roland scoffed. "Of course you don't believe him. You don't ever believe us."

"Excuse me, young man but the last time I believed you, I ended up paying for a paternity test and court costs."

"But it wasn't mine," he shot back.

"You told me that you had never even met that girl, Roland."

He started to snap back at his mother when Robin's voice boomed in from behind him. "Roland, I swear if you do not hold your tongue, I will have it cut from your mouth."

The dark haired boy sucked his teeth but said nothing.

"Regardless of who is mad at whom, and who is to blame for what; you are both in trouble," Emma said calmly. "You are both to come straight home from classes and do your homework and chores. No friends, no dates, no car for you, Oliver."

Emma could see Roland's nostrils begin to flare out. She half expected the boy to lash out at her. Over the past few years, Roland grew closer to Killian and Jefferson and further from her and Regina. He was a strange boy but she knew that he just needed to find himself. His anger problem though, that was something she could do without.

Regina nodded and looked over at Oliver. "You may go to ball practice on the days that it is held and one of us will come to get you. As for you," she directed her attention to Roland. "No television or games until I decide that you deserve them," she said, firmly. "You will go to your classes and be home within the next three fourths of an hour. The University is a half hour drive, which gives you an extra fifteen minutes to dilly dally."

"Alright," Emma sighed as she swept her hair out of her face. "Any questions?"

"What's Papa's punishment then?" Roland hissed. "He is the one who let us drink."

Regina's eyes snapped to Robin's. Fire was dancing behind her eyes as she stared at him. "I will deal with your father."

"Go on up to your rooms," Emma mumbled, breaking the tension.

As the boys took their leave, Roland's heavy steps could be heard throughout the house. He marched up the stairs and slammed his bedroom door. The adult trio had been dead silent, listening for the click that informed them that Oliver too, had went to his room. After that faint click made its way down the stairwell, the boys' parents all looked at each other. Emma made no movement from the doorway.

"Ya know, they were both perfectly safe," Robin sighed.

"Safe for whom? They are underage and you let them drink," Regina glared hard at him, her brow furrowed and lips tight.

"Regina, Darling, Roland is twenty. He is at University for crying out loud."

"As long as Roland lives here, in my house, he will do as I say. If you want to pay for him to live on campus or in an apartment then that is on you."

"He-"

"Robin, dude, look, with Roland's track record, he shouldn't have even been on that ship or out at all," Emma said as she softly shook her head. "What Regina is trying to say is that you, as his father, should avoid putting him in situations where he will think that his actions are acceptable."

"He is a good kid though."

"I know he is, somewhere deep down, he is our little Roland," Regina sighed. "But it is very deep down. I need you to be a positive role model for him, Robin. He is closest to you."

"You really don't want to have to put him in AA meetings before her is out of college," Emma added.

Robin stood up, moving away from his seat. "Maybe he won't grow up to be a menace to society."

Regina gave her ex husband a sarcastic smirk. "He has your genetic code, dear. What were you doing at twenty?"

"Oh you know," he chuckled. "Breaking into houses and getting girls pregnant."

Emma shook her head at the two of them. "Yea," she smiled. "I would say that drinking is the least of our worries."

"At least he will grow out of it," he said as he made his way into the kitchen, through the side door of the sitting room.

"After he gets someone pregnant," Regina added softly.

"Let's not wish that upon ourselves, shall we," Robin called back. "I think we have enough to worry about there."

#

Killian laid his head on the counter top that ran the full length of Granny's dinner, with his handless arm propped up next to him.

Ruby slid a glass of water in front of him. "Does it hurt much?"

"What do you think?" He didn't lift his head to meet the woman's eyes.

"I think that you are very lucky that you only lost your hand," she said calmly. "I am glad that you are okay though."

"Too bad they couldn't find the damn thing and reattach it," he sighed.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean it fell into the bloody ocean when it went flying through the air."

"Oh, that is gross," Ruby said while trying to avoid gagging in front of him.

"Tell me about it."

Behind Killian, the door opened with a distinctive chiming of bells. He still neglected to raise his head from the bar. A few soft footsteps later, a smooth hand ran over his shoulders.

"I heard what happened to you and I am so sorry, Killian," a woman said.

"Better my hand than my head, right?"

"Still, I think it is a horrible thing to happen to you," she said with a shaky voice.

Killian raised his head up and met Belle's misty eyes. "Hey, I'm okay. Everyone is okay."

"Rumple told me that he plans on making you a cuff so that it is less noticeable. He thought maybe it would help you feel better about it."

"Gold said that?" Killian looked at Ruby out of the corner of his eye. She said nothing but she shrugged at him instead.

"He feels awful about the whole thing. He knows that you were trying to cut back on your drinking and had Neal not brought all of that-"

"This is not Neal's fault," Killian cut in.

"Killian,"

"No. I am a grow man and no one makes my choices for me," he said firmly.

"Alright, well," Belle started, looking back at the door. "In two weeks, you can stop by the shop and pick up your gift none the less."

"Thank you Belle, and tell your crocodile that I will be down to see him in a few days," he smiled. "Just to chat."

The older brunette nodded with a smile before patting him on the back and heading out the door.

"Well that was weird," Ruby snorted, once Belle disappeared.

"To say the least."

"I wonder why Gold is actually doing that for you... I bet it is a trick of some sort."

"Well, in a few days, I'm going to go sort this all out. Right now, I need a drink," he sighed.

"Well, water will have to do for now because alcohol is a blood thinner and-"

"Yes Ruby, I am quite aware, thank you," he mumbled as he threw back his glass of cold water. He made the most horrible face as he slammed him glass back to the table.

"What is it? Ruby asked as the man shoved his thumb into his mouth and pressed up on his pallet.

"Brain freeze," he mumbled, hand sticking out of his mouth. He shook his head and started laughing. "You know what the bitch of all this is?"

"Whats that?"

"I wasn't drunk."

#

The next morning, a loud thump pulled Emma from her slumber. At first she laid there listening to Regina's soft breathing beside her. She was just about to doze off again when there was another thump coming from outside their window. Quickly and quietly, the blonde rose from her warm place beside her lover. Looking out of her bedside window, she looked down onto the driveway where all of their collective vehicles sat parked. She watched as Roland walked away from his car and back into the front door.

Once the boy was inside, Emma pulled on a pair over over-sized sweat pants and made her way out of the room. From her bedroom, she could hear him climbing the stairs up to his room. She went out and stood by the corner of the railing, listening.

He didn't see her until he was already on top of her. He jumped at the sight of his guardian but he said nothing. In his arms was a box of books. Emma looked down at the box and back up at harsh features of his face. His jaw was tight, square, with a patch of hair just above his chin and his cheekbones protruded the same way his father's do; soft but still quite visible. He looked down at her. His eyes were dark, darker that she had ever seen them.

"Roland?" She asked, quietly. "What are you doing? It is 6 in the morning."

He slowly broke eye contact to look down at the box in his hands. "I am loading up some books to take up to the library," he said calmly.

Emma looked closely at her son. She noticed the twitching in his forehead, it was the same tick that his father had when he was caught in a lie. "At 6 in the morning? Your classes don't start until 10." She studied the way that the vein in his temple began to rise and fall more quickly.

"Better early than late, right?" He smiled an honest smile and walked toward the front door.

"I guess. It's your sleep cycle," Emma chuckled, opening the door for him.

She waited at the door and watched as the thin, rugged looking boy took the box and set it carefully inside the car door. She could see the other boxes lining the backseat. She knew he was lying but about what, she wasn't sure.

As he walked back up the path to the door, he shoved his hands into his pockets, a sure sign that he was nervous.

"Is something wrong?"

"No," he chuckled awkwardly. "I am just glad to have got all that loaded up. I'm going to go nap before I have to go," he said, passing the blonde on his way to the stairs.

"Okay well, are you going to take Oliver to school?"

"Yea, I can do that before I nap, I guess."

"You don't have to," she started.

"No, it's fine. It will be nice to spend some time with him," he said quietly.

"Going somewhere?" Emma looked at her boy sideways, she had just caught him and she knew it.

"Yea, to class," he laughed, patting her on the arm.

"Ya know," she started after a long, calculating pause. "Your mama didn't mean to be so crazy last night. She is just happy that you are okay."

"Hey, you don't have to defend her. You always were the more understanding one," he smiled. "Papa doesn't even really know how to talk to me anymore, he just kind of lets me be unless I am with Killian and then he acts like he wants to know me."

"Roland, your parents love you," she looked up into his hurting eyes. "They just don't understand you right now but you have to give them the chance."

"They will have their chance," he sighed as he started up the steps. "Distance makes the heart grow fonder right?"

"You don't have to do this, you know that."

"I do know that but right now, I am just a huge problem for everyone."

"No-"

"Emma, the air vent in the sitting room connects to the intake in my bedroom, I heard everything."

"I didn't…"

"It isn't you. I love you. I love them," he sighed. "I just need to do my own thing. I promise I will stay in school and out of trouble."

Emma shook her head and started to speak.

"No, no. I will be fine. Mum will be fine. Just take care of her okay?"

"Just promise me that you will be careful and that it won't be forever," Emma said, half choking on her words.

"I promise," he said, opening his bedroom door. "thanks for being so understanding."

"Don't be like me, Roland," she said as she walked away from the stairs, hot tears burning in her eyes.

#

"Why are there so many boxes in here?" Oliver asked as he slid his backpack into the floor board of his brother's jet black car.

When Roland didn't answer right away, Oliver knew. "Oh," he whispered.

"It will be okay," the oldest assured his brother.

"Yea."

"Seriously Ollie, everything will be fine."

"Except for I'll probably never see you again," the boy snapped, his hair falling in his face.

"That isn't true," Roland said as he drove off down the street.

"Does Mum know?"

"Emma does."

"I'll assume that is a no and that Dad doesn't either then."

"She caught me loading the car."

Oliver stared out the window at nothing in particular as they got closer to where he would be dropped off. A thin stream of air blew on his face through the cracked window. "And she just let you go?"

"I mean, she can't stop me." He sighed. "Emma really gets me, ya know? She knows what it's like to be the outcast."

"Roland, you were never an outcast, you just choose to do all the wrong things and then lie about having done them."

"Look, I know you're mad at me now-"

"I am not mad, I am hurt. Hurt that you would leave us because you can't figure yourself out."

"Hey…"

"No really. What makes someone an outcast?"

After a moment of silence, Roland obviously had no answer for the boy.

"You never realized that you make yourself into what you want other people to see. You are quiet and don't make a lot of friends so, people think you're weird or stuck up. You dress down to not be noticed and you have no one to tell your problems to because you don't think that anyone understands you."

"Oliver-"

"And you don't see that everyone is here for you," the boy's voice got louder as he shook his head. "We are all here for you. I am here for you," he cried out, his voice cracking. After a few deep breaths, Oliver whispered; "but all you see is you, poor, lonely, self made outcast."

Before Roland could mutter off a reply, his very hurt brother jumped from the car and slammed the door. After a few short steps, Oliver turned around. "When you are ready to talk about your life issues," he called back to the car. "You just let me know."

With that, the ginger strode away. Looking up the stairs to the high school, he could see that Grace had been standing at the door and she had seen everything.

Roland drove off. He had no real idea where he was going but he knew that he just had to go somewhere. If nothing else, he just needed a long drive. He could always turn back, if he wanted to.

#

Emma had laid in bed and fought the lump in her throat for what felt like days. She heard Oliver's gentle steps from his bedroom, out the door to his brother's car and she had heard what she could only assume would be the last time she would hear Roland come down the stairs and leave for class. For a while, at least. Regina was still sleeping softly at her right. What am I going to tell her, she thought as listened to her lover's peaceful breathing. Before the blonde could devise a plan, a explanation, she dosed off to sleep. A single stream of moister dried on her cheek.

Downstairs, in the kitchen, Robin half drug himself to the coffee pot. "I hate Mondays," he mumbled as he ran a hand through his too long, greasy, brown hair.

After he prepared the pot, Robin migrated into his personal bathroom and stripped out of his pajamas. He was not quite fond of days like today. Now that his sons were old enough to look after themselves, Robin had found a job doing independent work for the environmental protection agency. It wasn't a hard job; he monitored the old mine and tested the water at the dock and the well, but there was so much paper work.

Robin lived in yet another basement, in the house that he shared with Regina, Emma and the two boys. After the big move to Strorybrooke, Robin filed for divorce. It was his Christmas present to his ladies. It surprised him how excited Regina was about the whole thing but it was more shocking that Emma freaked out as badly as she did. Ten years ago, she wasn't even ready for the idea of marriage. The whole month of January, Emma stayed with David and Mary Margaret at their apartment in town so that she didn't have to talk to Regina about them getting married. It was a strange year for everyone, really. Jefferson and Ruby fought over his new job because it required him to travel, while Killian and Tee went their separate ways over drinking habits and possible cheating. Even Leroy and Nova called it quits. Mr. Gold and Belle seemed to be the only strong ones in town and it probably had something to do with all the money they were raking in, owning the whole town and all. Needless to say, Archie doubled his client list that year.

Robin stood with his back to the pounding water-stream. Mentally making a note of all the people he needed to make appointments with today, he let the hot water beat down on the top of his head. Had there not been a constant flow of water going into his ears, he may have heard Regina frantically calling for him or maybe he would have heard the door open.

A burst of cold air rushed onto his skin as Regina pulled the shower curtain open. His eyes shot open to see a very angry brunette staring at him. "Oh, jesus Regina," he half yelled, water still in his ears.

"Have you seen Roland?"

"What?"

"Roland."

"Not since last night," he said, more quietly, having stepped out of the stream. "Why?"

"I went upstairs to apologize for last night and his room is empty," she said quickly.

"He probably went straight to campus after he dropped Oliver off."

"His room is empty," she said a little louder.

Robin began lathering himself in soap. "What do you mean empty?"

"He left and took the majority of his stuff."

"Oh," he paused, rinsing the suds from his body. "Alright. Give me ten minutes," he said calmly.

Regina just stared at him. Her eyes were dark with anger, dark with fear but she knew that Robin couldn't do anything from the shower so she left him in there. She made her way back to the bedroom that Emma and herself shared. As soon as she walked through the door, she could tell that the blonde was in a deep sleep. Regina stood at the end of the bed and took a few shaky breaths. Once she was composed, she tiptoed over to Emma. As she reached her hand out, the blonde's eyes snapped open.

"Oh," Regina jumped.

"I could feel you watching me. That shit is weird," Emma mumbled as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

The brunette sat on the bed at Emma's feet. Her features were soft she was obviously upset. Emma remembered what happened right away. "Hey," whispered the blonde. "He will be back."

Instantly Regina's face hardened. "You knew?!"

"uh, yea," she said as she sat up. "I caught him loading his car this morning."

"And you didn't think that maybe you should have told me?" Regina was livid.

"You were asleep. Regina, he is a grown man…"

"He is a boy!"

"He is twenty." Emma stayed cool and let Regina get her rage out. She knew that it wouldn't last too long.

"I cannot believe that you would just let him walk out the door. How could you?!" she cried out as she stood from the bed to tower over the blonde.

"I couldn't stop him, he is over the age of eighteen which makes him legally an adult. Did you want me to lock him in his room until David got here to escort him out?"

"You are the sheriff!"

"Which means that I am aware of the laws," she sighed. "Not to mention ya know, my past."

"I cannot even-"

"Yea, I know. It will be okay. I talked to him before he left and he just needs to figure himself out, honey. I promise you, it isn't forever."

Regina threw her weight back down on the bed. As reality set in, tears flowed freely down her makeup-less face. "He is just a baby," she whispered.

"It will be okay," Emma said calmly. She wrapped her arms around Regina's shoulders and held her to her chest. The brunette broke into a sob fest. Her body shook against Emma's chest as she cried out in emotional pain.

Robin could clearly hear the woman's sobbing from the kitchen. He sighed as he poured himself a cup of coffee and took a long drink. He stood in the kitchen dressed only in a pair of blue jeans with his wet hair wrapped in a towel against his scalp. Shaking his head, he set down his mug and walked into their bedroom.

His heart just about shattered when he saw that Regina had crumbled into a heap held together only by Emma's strong arms. Slowly, Robin climbed into the bed and held the brunette from the outside. The three of them laid there for hours, holding each other like today was the last day of their lives.

This one may have seemed a little rough but it will get better, I promise. -DR