Hi, so here is another chapter and we are now officially over halfway! Hope you enjoy this one and I will being you the next one sooner rather than later.

Disclaimer-Nothing here is mine.

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See Previous chapters for all character notes.

In case your wondering...I don't like Neal. Hopefully it doesn't show but if it does...eh...well...

Storybook Love (Every Version Of You)

Chapter 11-All That You Can't Leave Behind

Regina does not know what to think when she learns that Neal is back, and that's before you get to Gold being alive and a prisoner, but then he's dead, there's Robin Hood at her side during an emotional moment and Emma...who she knows is planning something that is going to cause her pain.

So Neal was back alive.

Well…that was unexpected.

It wasn't totally. If what Hook said was true Neal had been struck by a latent case of the guilts and had gone to try and find a way to resurrect his father. if he had managed to do that then good on because right now Regina needed her mentor more than she needed air. She needed him to tell her what to do. Rumple and her had a relationship that worked and it worked well simply because they needed each other when they needed each other. He had needed her to cast the curse, she needed him to help her lift this one.

All in all it was a recipe for disaster.

And there was something else too. She couldn't put her finger on it but she knew Emma was planning something that was designed to cause maximum pain. The problem was she wasn't even sure Emma was aware that she was doing it. Regina was no stranger to parental issues, she had love/hate/loathe relationship with her mother and her father but she did not for the life of her understand what made the Charming's tick. One minute Emma wanted her parents more than anything else in the world, wanted her son, wanted Storybrooke…hell even wanted Guyliner and other times she acted as though all she wanted to do was to get rid of them. It would all be a delightful caustic tale on family if she wasn't Emma Swan and she didn't have in her possession Regina's son.

But she didn't have time, barely had anytime to process what it meant that her son's deadbeat father was back in his life because not less than one day after he had arrived he was dead.

Just like that. Dead.

The only good things to come out of it was that they knew Gold was alive, knew that he was the captive of the Wicked Witch who had his dagger (and how the hell she had gotten a hold on that Regina would just love to know considering Gold's affinity for the thing) and that she was Zelena.

The name rang some kind of bell she thought as she sat watching everyone grieve Neal.

She didn't know how to feel about it.

She was not what you would call sentimental. She knew that this would hurt Henry though when he remembered. If Emma would let him remember. It was coming more and more obvious that in Emma's perfect hell she would keep Regina's boy in ignorance. It would be whitewashed in a way to keep him safe but Regina didn't believe for a second that Emma had thought this through. She could spout shit to her parents if she wanted…Regina was not letting her take Henry over the border without a fight and if that meant taking her son back then she would. She thought about it as she watched Emma plan a funeral for a man who had abandoned her in prison with all the tenderness of a twenty year marriage ending and she thought about how she was going to do it.

To get her son back she would align herself with the Wicked Witch.

The baby inside of her kicked as it say, Go get em Momma.

She wished she could feel more for Neal. In truth he was a very pleasant man. Nothing like his father which was a bit of a let down but present in his own way. He was clearly in love with Emma when he died but that was by the by, to be very unkind in this moment half of the town was in love with Emma and Emma never seemed to notice. Hell Hook had all but slung his underwear at her face and she had never seemed to notice other than a kiss that she was adamant was a mistake.

She watched the funeral with apathy. Regina was not sad about Neal's death in terms of losing the man. She was more sad for her mentor if she was being truthful. Her son had lost his father true and she would deal with that later but right now it was her mentor she was thinking about. As she took the spade and threw dirt on the coffin as awkwardly as she could it was Rumple who she was thinking off. Rumple who had done twenty years imprisonment waiting for her to cast the curse, then done another twenty eight years after that trapped in this town fully aware of everything that was happening and then had gone on search after search for his son only to lose him, gain him, see him declare that he hated him and then lose him again.

The whole thing was a tragedy and it made her hate the people responsible for it. Zelena for a start.

She wondered if Gold had a plan. She didn't think the man was ideal after all. She reckoned that he had to have a plan if he had any sanity left. Hell if he had lost his sanity he'd reckon that he had a plan. Losing his sanity and coming up with an ingeniously evil plan was what Rumple was good at.

And she did not envy Zelena when he caught up with her. Even she had known that certain things were taboo for the man—see what had happened when it turned out that she'd had Belle trapped for years—and none were more taboo than the baby he had lost. Now that he was dead and there was no coming back she expected the wrath of the older man to be swift, silently, deadly and if she knew him well…utterly agonizing.

After the funeral they went back to Granny's and she winced. The baby was playing absolute havoc on her today and she knew it. She did not know how close to her due date she was but she knew that she was close and that frightened her too. So consumed with the Wicked Witch…Zelena…she had dedicated herself to finding out what the endgame was, she had not considered what would happen if she gave birth. She had not considered the pain of it…

Oh God she was not looking forward to the pain…she'd seen enough videos to know what she was in for.

She winced again as a stabbing pain hit her in the back and then.

"You alright?"

It was him again. Robin.

She had seen him at the funeral. Kind of.

"Not really" she confessed. It was not easy to lie to Robin, there was something about him, his strong presence that made her want to pitch forwards head first into his chest and stay there. She didn't want to move and yet…she was not a woman to be overcome by a sentimental moment and for some reason she could feel tears come to her eyes.

"Come on" he said gently taking her hand in his. "Your nearly there now. You've only got a few more weeks to go surely?"

"It's not that, it's…everything" she confessed. "I don't know how the hell to defeat this woman"

"Why are you doing the fighting?" he asked fired up at once. "Surely that's their role now?" he said jerking his head to the Charming's who were attempting to deal with their daughter. Regina didn't even know where Henry had gone but she supposed the lack of Hook told her that Emma had palmed him off so she didn't have to deal him.

It made her teeth ache even though she knew she had been guilty of it once.

"Not so when I'm the one getting the calls about the magic" she said with a wry smile. "I don't know why she's…I mean to keep him captive. Gold, Rumple…" she shook her head. "It's not as simple as waving a dagger around, you have to actually mean it, I mean I touched that thing once I nearly dropped it" she shook her head and then she stopped aware that she was mumbling to herself. She was tired. She needed to sleep. Problem was she didn't know what was safe anymore.

"I'm sorry" she said waving her hand. "You don't want to be listening to me prattle on I—"

"What do you need from me?" he asked and his voice was so low, his brow furrowed with such concern that it made her emotional, his hand hovered somewhat over her belly as if he wanted to touch but knew that he couldn't and she wanted nothing more than to have him reach out and touch her.

This was ridiculous! Lion tattoo or no lion tattoo it was ridiculous that he was making her feel this way! She barely met the man for crying out loud! What did she want to do sleep on the ground in his arms because she knew that would be the one place where she would get some sleep?

The answer to that was a resounding yes by the way.

"I need to sleep" she confessed trying to speak. "I haven't been sleeping I…It's odd but I feel…like something's missing, like…"

"Someone's missing?"

She looked at him feeling drunk almost on his presence. She wanted to eat him, drink him, baby or no baby she wanted to step into his arms and let him protect her, she wanted him to take her right here and now on the floor of this greasy dinner. She wanted him to take her hand and take her baby and help her fight for her other child. She wanted to meet his adorable boy over in the corner with his little colouring book.

It was no small thing for her to want such things.

Problem was it never really ended well for her, wanting things like that.

"Do you want to come back…I mean…to the camp and…I mean it's not a four poster bed but…" but whatever he was going to say was interrupted by the door slamming open and Regina groaned. She should have known.

In reality it was right out of her playbook. Zelena interrupted funerals. She interrupted weddings, and her mother…well…her mother had just burnt it all to the fucking ground.

Looking back it was obvious.

"Hello!" Zelena said cheerily. She was waving that dagger around like it was a toy.

"Careful" she sing songed to Emma. "Anyone who messes with me will have to answer to the Dark One"

Great.

She didn't know what to say, truth be told Regina didn't know where to look because the second the door had slammed open Robin Hood had stepped fully in front of her his jaw set like ground glass protecting her with his body in a way that was slightly unnecessary and exceptionally sexy.

"Why are you here?" she asked stepping out as best she could. From the tick in Robin's jaw he didn't like that very much.

"Isn't it obvious?"

"No not really" she muttered but Zelena didn't give her the chance to say it out loud before she hit her with her next bombshell.

"I'm here to see my little sister"

And then she was looking straight at Regina.

The situation was so funny that she almost had the urge to look behind her because…no.

There was no way.

"I'm an only child" she drawled. She was aware now that everyone was staring at her but her mind was racing and her head was throbbing. She had to have been an only child there was no way that—

"Cora lied to you Regina"

Cora. Again.

The bitch.

"But we shall talk dearest sister about our mother another time. When your not burdened by the blessing that you carry—"

"Aha" Regina said and her eyes narrowed. She had been the Queen her entire life she was not going to be outdone by a witch.

"So that's why you're here? My baby, and his courage and Gold's magic and…oh ho! Your casting a spell"

It was clear that Zelena had not been expecting her to come to that conclusion that fast because the smugness dropped off her face and she looked more than a little stunned.

"Don't worry darling" Regina drawled. "Not all of us are professionals at this. For some…amateurs" here she looked Zelena up and down as if she was a maid to be dismissed. "You have to play catch up"

Zelena snarled her mouth twisting and then she took one step forwards and then laughed high pitched and girly like nails on a chalkboard.

"We shall meet again Regina. And one of us will stand the victor"

"Okay darlin" Regina drawled looking down at her nails. "You set the time and the place. Pregnant or not I can handle you. You're not the first Cora wannabee knock off I've had to deal with. Just remember, Gold's fucked her and he very nearly had me too so…" she trailed off and Zelena snarled. Regina supposed she was going to have to send a gift basket to Belle when all this was over but still…it was so worth it.

And just for the record she had not slept with Gold.

Standards.

Zelena turned on her heel and disappeared in a puff of smoke and the diner descended into chaos.

"What the hell was that?" Emma snarled. "You and her have history?"

Regina shook her head her temples throbbing hands coming up to try and stem the flow of pain. It was suddenly too bright in the room and too loud.

"Regina answer me!"

"Back off" came another voice. "She's tired look at her"

"She doesn't get to be tired right now—"

"She's pregnant you stupid little girl—"

Robin Hood. Her hero.

It made her smile but she grabbed his hand and he stopped talking looking down at her, she gripped his arm with both hands as the room became too loud and too bright and all she saw was panic in his face and then she pitched forwards like she had always wanted to do into his strong warm body and she remembered no more.

And there you go, hope you enjoy.

Next Chapter-Regina wakes up to Robin by her side and a shocking truth from her mother's past. And Emma...Emma attempts to fight Zelena. Emphasis on attempt.