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daggzandarrowsnew · 1 year

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Forgiveness

Prompt: Peanut finds out about Zelena and is upset that her parents forgave her, "it takes a lot of courage to try & change your life."

"A foot will come crashing through that ceiling one day soon," Regina sighed as she whisked the pancake batter, shaking her head at the unrelenting thuds from above as their children raced to get ready despite Robin having woken them all a good half hour ago, "I can guarantee it."

"You love the chaos," he grinned, catching her by the waist and stepping in close as he dropped a kiss upon her shoulder before resting his chin there, that handsome grin still visible in her peripheral causing her own lips to curve at the ends despite herself.

He was right, of course he was right. All she had ever wanted was a house filled with the laughter and infectious energy of children. Ever since she was just a young girl herself, and though there had been a time in her life when such things had felt so out of her reach, here she was, a mother of 3 with another well on the way for them. She couldn't deny her adoration for their household and not to Robin especially. Still, she shrugged, feigning denial without voicing it and revelling in his low and delicious chuckle as he smoothed his palms over her round stomach.

"I can't believe we're doing this all over again."

"I know," she breathed, unable to hold her faux annoyance and shaking her head in wonder this time as she placed the mixture on the countertop and began turning slowly to face him when his arms loosened enough for her to do so. She laughed with him when her belly pressed into his, dislodging his sweater a little from his jeans before she lifted her arms to drape them over his shoulders and swirled her fingers in the hair at the nape of his neck. "Are you ready for it all again?"

His eyes moved lovingly over her face, studying Regina in the same way he always had, as though drinking her in before she disappeared. He grinned down at her, "With you? Always, my love."

Her smile matched his own before she was lifting herself onto her toes - heels had finally been relinquished when her feet had swollen and wearing them had verged on excruciating - and capturing his lips in a soft kiss, humming happily against his mouth when his hands rubbed gently over the small of her aching back.

"Eurgh, seriously!?" Roland cringed as he came bounding into the kitchen, moving instantly over to the cupboard to grab himself a bowl and some cereal, popping a frosted flake into his mouth and crunching on it as he set himself up at the kitchen counter and began pouring the contents into his bowl, "will you ever stop doing that?"

Robin had yet to let go of Regina as he pressed a kiss to her cheek before turning to their son and answering with a simple, "Nope," that had her laughing softly as Roland's eyes rolled - ever the teenager.

"I'm gonna move in with Henry, I swear."

"Good luck trying to convince him," Robin replied, his hands not leaving her until she was too far for him to reach as she moved to begin cooking the pancakes, "I'd say he's all set to ask his girl to move in with him."

"What?!"

Robin’s focus moved from his son to his wife, her look of horror apparently amusing to him with the way his lips curled before he nodded and told her, "He hasn’t told me outright, but he was moving some things around when I paid him a visit the other day. Clearing some space, that kind of thing."

"But they're too young!"

"Mom," Roland spoke next, a look of amused incredulity on his face as he pointed out, "they've been together forever!"

"And they are adults now," Robin added.

"Young adults," she amended for him, ignoring their laughter as she shook her head, so not ready for her first baby to take this big of a step. "He's twenty-three not-"

"What? Like fifty?" Roland sassed, pulling a snort of laughter from his father and a glare from his mother. "You'd still have him living here, tucking him in at night and reading him stories if you could."

Her mouth dropped open, spatula held frozen in mid-air as she looked from son to husband and back again, unable to come up with an appropriate response because, yes, actually, she would. Instead, she merely snapped her mouth shut and turned back to the pancakes, busying herself with their breakfast as Robin laughed sympathetically and moved towards her.

"Let's not upset your mother this early, Ro, hmm?"

"Aw," he groaned, his seat scraping against the floor as he pushed up and off of it, "you're gonna get all gross again aren't you."

"You better believe it, my boy."

"I am so out."

Robin chuckled, hands finding Regina's hips as he watched him leave before his chin found its place on her shoulder again. He squeezed gently when she remained silent and asked, "You okay, sweetheart?" and then, when she didn't reply, he assured, "we were only teasing, we didn't mean anything by it."

"I know," she replied after a long moment, because she did, of course she did, "it's just…"

"What?"

She frowned as she transferred the first set of pancakes from the pan to a plate before turning to glance at her husband. Her eyes fell from his own, to his lips and back again as she swallowed and confessed, "I'm not ready for Henry to not need me anymore."

His concern faded from his face as an incredulous smile curled his mouth and he breathed a laugh through his nose.

"What?"

Robin shook his head, dropping his lips to her shoulder to place a soft kiss there before lifting his head and finding her eyes once more. "If you truly believe that your boy, or any of our children for that matter, will ever stop needing you," he pecked her cheek, "then you are sorely mistaken, my love."

She didn't reply with words, but he could still see the doubt in her lovely eyes, the want to believe him but the inability to despite the closeness she shared with all of their children. It had been so very many years since she’d struggled with accepting her place in their lives, with accepting that she had people who cared for and worried for her and most days it was never a doubt in her mind now but every now and then, those old insecurities managed to whisper in her ear once more.

“Besides,” he continued, swaying them gently from side to side, “he’s dropping a load of laundry by later this afternoon.”

Her fear broke with a breath of laughter as she rolled her eyes and replied, “Of course he is.”

_____________________

“Where the hell did you manage to find this many!?" she feigned frustration even as a smile curled her lips because, sure enough, the moment she came to a stop beneath the mistletoe, Robin's hands found her waist and spun her around to face him, his grin smug and far too attractive in her opinion.

"I have my sources."

"Mmm," she hummed, hands sliding up and over his chest to wrap her arms loosely around his neck, "I'm sure you do, thief."

It began with nothing but a press of his lips to her own at first, a beautifully tender kiss that had her humming low in her throat as his hands moved to rub at the base of her back in a way he knew she adored with the strain of her pregnancy. He sucked gently at her top lip before slipping his tongue into her mouth when she opened for him and sliding it against her own.

They kept it slow, deliciously so, as they simply enjoyed one another on this blessed holiday because, despite their many years of being together, they were even more in love now than they ever had been.

"Every single time," Henry whined from the doorway, levelling the pair with an overly dramatic grimace when they parted with a wet smack and turned their heads to look at him. "I swear," he shook his head, "it's like you wait until I'm coming over!"

"You think I don't snog your Mom every chance I get?" Robin teased, pressing one last kiss to Regina's cheek before moving towards Henry and pulling him in for a tight hug with a chuckle at his son's expression, "because you'd be severely mistaken if that were the case."

"Yeah, well…" Henry cleared his throat with an awkward cough before looking to Regina with a sheepish smile curling his lips, "I brought you an early Christmas present!"

"I'm honoured," she replied with a deadpan expression before making her own way towards him and taking his laundry bag with a roll of her eyes as she pressed a kiss to his cheek. "You can come help me load the washing machine though," she instructed, glad to hear his footsteps echoing her own, "and tell me all about this little rumour I've been hearing."

"And what rumour is that?"

_____________________

"I can't believe you told her!"

"She's my wife!" Robin defended as he watched mother and son enter the kitchen, the former with a rather evil little smirk curling her lips as she moved to stand beside him. His arm came up to wrap around her shoulders and pull her close – she wrapped one arm around his waist whilst the other came across her body to rest her hand on his chest – as he shrugged at Henry, "besides, she was going to find out soon enough anyway."

"I haven't even asked Grace yet though," Henry replied with a heavy sigh, "the moment hasn't yet presented itself."

"And it never will," Robin replied honestly, continuing at the twin frowns from both Regina and Henry. "You'll want everything to be perfect – the weather, the time of day, the setting – but the truth is," he lifted his free hand to rest it over Regina's on his chest as his thumb rubbed gently over her engagement and wedding ring, "any moment together will be good enough for the simple fact that you are together."

It was a long moment before anyone spoke as both took in his words but, as expected, Regina's head lowered to rest on his shoulder as she squeezed him around the middle affectionately and Henry replied, "You know, sometimes you're sappier than Grandpa C."

Robin's laughter rumbled freely in his chest as Regina's shoulders bounced with her own.

"But I guess you're right," Henry continued with a sigh, "I'm just putting it off for fear that she'll say no."

"Then you're not as intelligent as I raised you to be," Regina replied with a laugh as she straightened up once more but remained close to Robin, the hand on his chest dropping to rest on her stomach, "that girl is besotted with you."

"And she practically lives at your place already!" Robin added with an eyeroll because of the simple truth of it. "It's a rarity for us to come over and find you alone as it is. Just ask your girl to move in with you and be done with it. It'll be the best decision you'll ever make."

"Save for giving us Grandbabies," Regina pointed out with a smirk.

"One day, Mom," Henry laughed before they all startled a little at the sound of the front door opening having lost track of time.

There was the sound of the door slamming shut before they heard a pair of footsteps much faster and louder than the other as Roland called out, "Scar, just wait!"

"Roland?" Robin called, his frown just as deep as Regina's at the sound of their son's voice as both began making their way to the door with Henry following close behind.

Their youngest and only daughter was storming across the foyer, a murderous expression on her face that Regina knew to be inherited as she asked, "Sweetheart, what's wrong?"

But when Scarlett only ignored her, Robin instructed, "Answer your mother, Scarlett."

She let out a sarcastic laugh – a horrible sound coming from her angelic little body – before she turned with eyes full of rage and spat, "She's not my mother," levelling Regina with an awful snarl for a long moment before she took off at speed and ran up the stairs and out of sight.

Regina's heart was pounding in her chest, her throat tight with emotion as she looked from the space Scarlett had just been filling to Roland.

"What was that about?" Robin was the one to ask, his arm tightening around Regina for he could feel her trembling in his arms as Henry's hand came to rest on her shoulder, support from the only other person who'd ever uttered those words to her and knew how they broke her.

Roland looked from the stairs to his parents, apologetic eyes instantly finding Regina's as he explained, "She knows about Zelena."

"No…" Regina breathed as the tears in her eyes finally fell, "How could she-"

"She was waiting outside of school when we finished."

"She's back?!"

"She knows not to speak to her!" Robin and Regina spoke at the same time as Roland shook his head and moved closer to them.

"She didn't or, well, she wasn't going to. I think she just wanted to see her, but that idiot Eli saw her and shouted for Scarlett to speak to her 'witchy mommy'. I told her to just ignore him but then some of the others joined in and she begged me to tell her the truth on the way back," he shook his head dejectedly as he added, "I'm sorry guys."

"It isn't your fault, Roland," Regina replied with a voice heartbreakingly thick as tears glistened in her eyes. She patted Robin's hand – a quiet plea for him to let her go – before she made her way out into the foyer and slowly began to climb the stairs. Despite her heartbreak at hearing those words from Scarlett's mouth, she wasn't one to allow wounds to fester.

_____________________

Regina sank to the floor with her back against the wood of Scarlett's door at her daughter's continued silence. They'd had many a conversation – or lack thereof – in this position for Scarlett had most certainly inherited the Mills' stubbornness, but Regina knew that this was most definitely one of if not the most important conversations they were going to have, active participants or not. So, with a hand taking comfort from the generous swell of her stomach, she began.

"Things were so very different before you were born, sweetheart. Your father and I almost lost one another too many times to count in the space of just a year. We had absolutely no idea what was going to happen from one day to the next except for one thing. The moment we knew that you were going to be coming into our lives, we understood that there was a bigger purpose for us and our family. We were supposed to be together, all of us.

"It was one of the hardest things we've ever had to do, coming to terms with what my sister had done to your father simply to punish me but there was never a doubt in anyone's mind that we wanted you." She swallowed thickly as her head thudded softly against the door, hearing no sound from within as she closed her eyes and pushed on.

"Zelena was allowed very little time with you once you were born and certainly none of which was alone time. We were always there, present and watching. Things were difficult but we made it work and then one day your father told Zelena that, though he would never like her, he forgave her." Regina allowed a wistful smile to curl her lips as she confessed, "Impossibly, I fell even deeper in love with him that day. It takes a lot of courage to try and change your life and that was what he was doing that day. He was putting aside every ill feeling – deservedly felt – and giving my sister the chance to change.

"She did change," she shook her head despite knowing Scarlett wouldn't be able to see it, "but not in the way he'd hoped. Without that hatred, without that burning anger in your father, Zelena had nothing to cling to but acceptance and so, with no idea what to do with it, she fled. I managed to track her down in Oz not too long after your first birthday and I told her that she was never to contact us again. We'd given her far more than she deserved already and still she couldn't see the right path. She didn't deserve you and you didn't deserve the hurt of her return for her to leave once again. It was unforgivable what she did.

"You are one of the most precious things in my life, Scarlett Marian Locksley, and the thought of giving you up as she had is absolutely unimaginable to me…but I know that I have let you down in not telling you this sooner. You deserve to know where you come from, to discover who you are for yourself with all of the facts. We only kept it from you to protect you, but I see now that it has only hurt you anyway and my heart breaks to think that I was the cause of that," she sniffed as tears fell from her eyes and trailed down her cheeks, "I truly am sorry, my darling."

Regina took a moment to compose herself, taking a steadying breath to keep from crying any further – she felt as though she could quite easily drown in her tears – before shifting forward onto her knees and opening her eyes only to find a swirling cloud of pale pink smoke forming. Scarlett's arms were around her neck before she was even able to see her face properly.

"I'm sorry for what I said, Mama." It'd been a long time since her thirteen-year-old had called her such a name and it had Regina's tears falling once more as she clung on to her girl as best she could with her bump between them, "I was angry and embarrassed, but I shouldn't have been mean to you. You are the best Mom I could ever ask for. I don't need anyone else."

Later, when Regina is able to let go of her daughter – though it's still too soon for Regina – they'll talk it out as a family and both Henry and Roland will explain to Scarlett that, though she didn't grow in Regina's tummy, much like they didn't, she grew in Regina's heart. It'll still take some time – and Zelena's disappearance once more – but she knows they will get there eventually for they have one another and that is where they were always meant to be. Every single one of them.

I am back in an OQ rewatch and writing my feelings so feel free to submit any prompts you may have :) I am open to writing Regina x Friendships too!

#outlaw queen #baby peanut #ouat #oq ff #outlaw queen ff #oq prompt

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