sorry I kept you waiting. I promise I'll update more often! Hope you like this chapter and... don't kill me! Love ya all!

Fear.

Fear mixed with the satisfaction of yelling at him the only thing able to hurt him, to destroy him. The mixture of feelings Regina had inside of her at that very moment was so confused and strong that actually frightened her.

So many secrets, too many. She was hiding from the person she loved the most in the world, two of the most important events ever happened in her life. How did she find the strength to do it? How did she manage to keep her mouth shut for more than two weeks?

While she parked in front of their house, she accidentally touched her stomach and immediately smiled.

"Hello, little miracle." she whispered as tears already started forming into her brown pools. She had never talked to someone who was still not there. Or maybe she had, when she was a little girl, when she used to feel alone and pretended to speak to her imaginary friends. But it was different, back then, that was just the product of her imagination; the little miracle that was growing inside of her was real, even though she still found it hard to believe. That Friday morning had been the beginning of everything, when she realized her period was late. It never happened before, her period was just like her: punctual as a star. She remembered feeling like something was different inside of her, as if she was changing, since the moment she stared at herself in the mirror and then, for the first time in such a long time, she smiled at her reflection.

There was something different in her, it was clear. Her eyes were sparkling like never before and for no reason, she was glowing, in spite of everything -the horrible situation with Victor and the secrets she was carrying everyday. So she made what she thought it was the most natural thing in the world: she went to Robin, the love of her life, kissed him hard and walked him to the shower where they made love. Again.

Only the day after she did find the courage to buy a pregnancy test.

Waiting those seconds to finally see the result had been one of the most stressing moment of her whole existence. She just could't help asking herself all types of questions: what if it was all a huge mistake? What if she was giving herself false hope for something that was never gonna happen? She then took a deep breathe, pushed back every negative feeling and looked down to the test: positive. She was pregnant. For real.

She remembered she had cried, as she had never cried before, she was overwhelmed with a joy she didn't even know she could feel. She just wanted to scream, to thank whoever was up there for giving her this beautiful miracle that she had wanted for so long.

Maybe it's all about timing, Angela used to say. God, she was right, so fucking right.

"Let's go to daddy, now, shall we?" she smiled "We have so much to talk about." her face darkened for a moment: Robin was going to be angry at her. A lot. They were so going to fight again, she was sure about that. Hiding the whole divorce thing from him had been a mistake and the thought of fighting with him when she was carrying the product of their love was definitely something she didn't look forward to do.

She knew she had made the right choice: Victor had never seen Robin, nor did he know his surname. He was never going to find him, once he was out of jail.

It was the right choice, the only thing she could do to protect her family.

"Good evening, my love." she exclaimed with a beautiful smile, walking in with two huge shopping bags.

"Hey" she saw him smiling back at her and her heart stopped beating for a moment: how was it possible? How could he still have that effect on her, after all that time? "Why so late?" he approached her to help her with the bags and leave a small, chaste kiss on her lips.

Shit. We're already there.

"Let's seat, shall we? We need to talk." she tried to keep it cool, but she was scared as hell. She had no idea of how he could react to such news.

"Regina, what's wrong?" he immediately asked, sitting on the chair next to hers. His eyes were already dark with worrying and Regina quickly shook her head and tried to calm him down by putting her hand over his warm, welcoming one.

"Nothing to worry about, Robin, really." she played with his fingers and gave him the best smile she could make in that very moment. "I took a day off today, as you may know." she had barely started talking when she noticed the way her voice was already trembling. Robin could only nod as he wrapped his fingers around hers, firmly. "I went to see Victor." she inhaled, and exhaled, slowly. "In court."

"What?" she saw his beautiful blue eyes widening and her heart almost dropped.

"I went to prison, last week." she hurried to say. "Seeing him after all this time was… I don't even have words to explain, but I was ready for it, Robin. Thanks to you I found the strength I needed to see him again and to ask him to finally divorce. He refused, of course, at first, but he had no choice. I called Linda, one of my few only friends, she's a lawyer and we both decided that this thing had to end in a court. Victor begged me to think about it, he said he still loved me, that he had changed…" Regina saw the way his blue eyes were turning darker, as if he was about to explode in something she wasn't sure how to name. She smiled and tightened the grip around his hand. "Of course, I didn't believe him. Not even for a moment, Robin. So we met again, today, in court, with our lawyers. He made a deal that they kind of… forced me to sign. He agreed on the divorce but I had to give something, too, cause that's how that crap works." God, she was about to cry again. How could she be so weak? "His sentence got reduced to three years."

"What?" he shouted, slamming the hand she was holding a few moments before against the cool wood of the table, making her jump on her chair.

"I-I know, I had the very same reaction but I had to sign that deal, Robin!" one tear managed to escape to her control and ran straight to the scar on her lip. "Linda said if I didn't sign I had to go through a trial, in front of a judge and a jury. His… horrible lawyer said I was going to revive any single detail of the horrible live we've spent together, every terrible moment I've been through, the violence, the abusing, the… rape." she was crying uncontrollably and, for Christ's sake, she just needed Robin to understand. She was scared. Fear was all she knew. "Linda said they could raise doubts about the whole thing. They could question my word, Robin, because you and I already knew each other during the last month of our marriage." she looked down and unconsciously laid a hand on her belly. It was then that she finally found the strength to smile again, through the tears. "Robin, at least this is over. We don't have to deal with Victor anymore. We can have our lives back and start all over!"

She saw him shaking his head and turning his back to her. Her stomach dropped and the breath caught in her throat.

She heard him taking a deep breath, then, after a long pause, he finally exploded: "You should have told me, Regina!"

"Robin, please, just try to understand, I just wanted to protect you!" she tried to reach for him but he wouldn't stop walking nervously around the room and she could say he was doing anything in order not to scream. She knew him far too well. "I didn't want him to see you, he knows nothing about you, not even your last name! It's the only way I had to protect you. This way he won't come after you when he's out of jail, as he promised to do!" she bit her tongue: the words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. Shit. Shit. Shit.

"What?"

"Nothing." she looked down, unable to stand his eyes.

"Regina…"

"Robin, it's nothing, really." she nervously passed her fingers through her dark hair.

"What did he say, Regina?" She didn't reply. She just wasn't strong enough to say more, to see his reaction. But she knew she was only going to make it worse by not saying anything at all so she exhaled sharply before continuing:
"He just said he was going to make me paid for what I did to him. For sending him to jail." minimizing as much as she could appeared like a good plan to her. Robin didn't need to hear it all, it was stupid, really not necessary.

She saw him blinking a few times, metabolizing what he had just heard. He squeezed his eyes, took a deep breath and finally spoke: "You should have at least talked to me about it, Regina. That's what being in a relationship means. Hiding something from the significant other is lying to them." he took his glass of wine and drank until the last sip, then he gave her his back, again, and walked into their bedroom, slamming the door behind his back, without saying another word.

Regina felt her heartbeat slowing down, as if her heart was about to stop beating. Then, after she had cried her soul out against the kitchen counter, she blinked back the last few tears she had left and cleaned the room, as best as she could, throwing the dinner he was preparing for them in the thrash. Just like your relationship, Regina, good job. You just ruined the best thing ever happened to you.

And then she went to sleep.

In the guests room. Again.

She only managed to fall asleep at 3 AM. When she had cried until the very last tear and she was too tired to keep her beautiful chocolate brown eyes opened any longer. She had her own arms wrapped around herself, as if she wanted to evocate the memory of Robin's ones, firmly holding her through the night. She found it hard to sleep without them, without his warmth and his scent all over her, filling her nostrils, her brain, her heart. She missed him so much and more than anything she was scared she was never going to feel his arms around her anymore.

She had cried again, blamed herself until she wished she could die right there for ruining the best thing ever happened to her, her reason to smile, her happy ending. Everything, for a stupid mistake she knew she was making since the very first moment she had walked out of their house to see her former husband.

While Regina was finally falling asleep, Robin was still staring at the ceiling, in the dark, refusing to let out a single tear. What an idiot he had been. How could he have left her like that? After all she had been through? He knew her well enough to know she had probably cried herself to sleep one more time, on the couch, because of him. He loved her enough to know he was going to forgive her anything, any mistake, as huge as it might be, because she loved her, unconditionally. He knew they were going to fix that, as soon as possible, but, for some reason, he couldn't stand the idea of spending another minute without her.

So he did it: he walked out of their bed, and put his pride aside to make room to something far more important for him: the love he had for that angel.

When he realized she wasn't sleeping on the couch, he immediately thought of the guests room and it was there that he found her: the pillow soaked with those damn tears, her beautiful hair in a cute ponytail and her lips contracted in sadness mixed with simple pain that made his heart clench in his chest. He immediately walked to the bed and tried not to wake her up as he slowly made his way under the blankets and wrapped his arms around her waist. Finally, where they belonged. He then left a small kiss on her ear before whispering something he knew she couldn't hear: "I'm an idiot, my love, forgive me."

He couldn't knew she had adverted the warmth of the body she had missed so much and was listening to every single word he said and was trying not to smile and cry again, this time with joy. She was complete again. "I can't live without you, Regina." he kissed her lobe again, and for some reason he felt like she was listening to his words: "I love you more than anything." and finally, he fell asleep.

When he woke up the morning after, he didn't find her next to him, in his arms, as he had left her. Her scent was replacing the emptiness she had left in that bed, and it was about to vanish. She must have left hours before. Maybe she was still angry.

You're an idiot, Locksley. An idiot.

He checked if she was in the bathroom or in their bedroom, in the kitchen, but there was no trace of her. Then, he finally walked in the living room: on the table there was a note that smelled of her and a rose, a pink one, with a yellow envelop.

When he read the note a smile made his way through his face and all of his doubts and fears faded away:

I can't live without you, too. I love you with everything that I am, Robin. Open the envelop and come to me. Don't make questions, just follow your heart, let it lead you to me. I'll be waiting for you.

He did as she asked and opened the envelop, without hesitating any longer. She wasn't angry, not anymore, and she had been listening to every word he had said to her the night before when he though she was already asleep. Everything was going to be okay, nothing was gonna change between them… or maybe…? When he found out what was inside of the envelop a shiver ran through his back: a ticket. Destination… Atlanta? Was she insane? Why Atlanta? And… was she already there? She had taken the first plane without saying a word, without planning anything and… God, she must be crazy. And he couldn't help but smile because, good God, he loved that side of her.
He suddenly felt an incontrollable desire of laughing out loud. That woman…

With the ticket, there was also an address, written on a note. The street was far too familiar: it was the same as his mother, Angela. But the number was different, 23, while his mom had the 58.

He was confused, he didn't understand, he had to give himself a few pinches to make sure she wasn't living one of his crazy dreams.

When he came back in their bedroom he realized something he hadn't noticed before: his bags were on the bed, half full. He smiled again: so, Regina was serious. Maybe she just wanted to take a few days off that crazy rollercoaster they still called life, maybe she just wanted to escape from all they'd been through. Maybe he just needed to stop making all those questions that were destined to remain without an answer and just follow his heart, as she had told him.

"God, Regina." he laughed, out of nowhere, then he looked back to the address and the desire of running to her, holding her tight in his arms and tell her how much he'd missed her won over everything and his heart couldn't stop beating wildly.

So he chose to follow it.