(no subject)

[thiefwithhonor]

The library was a place he'd come to enjoy taking Roland to. The boy had taken to books a great deal, and it was rare they didn't leave the place without at least a handful for him to go through with Robin. It was a particularly cool day that day, and Robin decided it would be a good place to go, if only so they weren't cooped up inside. They were done with the last books they took out, anyway, so returning them seemed the best thing to do.

He never would have expected something...strange to happen.

He was perusing the child's section of books himself - Roland was looking at a stack of books nearby - when he noticed a book that appeared to have a sheet of something sticking out of it. He pulled the book out and opened it to take a look at what it was, assuming some child had accidentally left something when they brought it back.

What he found instead was a...picture of some sort. Or perhaps more to the point, a page with a picture on it, of Regina and he kissing. Except it was certainly no moment he remembered, and it was clear from what they were wearing that this was not when they were in Storybrooke. While it was numbered on the bottom - clearly the page was from some book - it became obvious very quickly the book it was stuck in was not the book it was from when he looked at the rest of it.

And yet here it was, and he wasn't sure what to think about it.

Roland broke him from his thoughts to tell him he had found some books, so he put the page out of his mind for the moment, carefully folding it and placing it in his pocket to talk about with Regina later. They returned to the apartment a few hours later, and he gave the books to Roland and nudged him off to play in his room. He certainly had no qualms with that.

Pulling the still-folded page out of his pocket once his boy had left with his books in tow, he called out, "Regina, are you here?"

He knew she had mentioned having a few things to do that day, but he wasn't sure if she'd returned yet.

Comments

[gloriouscurse]

When Regina didn't have Henry - and Neal had him now - she spent her time at Robin's, and she was currently in the kitchen, just putting a pot roast on to cook slowly through the afternoon and early evening. Errands for the day - the grocery store, the bank to allocate Henry's allowance to his debit card, and a few other miscellaneous things - were all done, and she wiped her hands on a dishtowel.

Leaving the kitchen, she smiled softly. "I'm here. Have a good time at the library?"

[thiefwithhonor]

Robin smiled as she popped her head out to come greet him. He had hoped she was around, and it seemed she'd not only been back, but been back long enough to begin to cook.

"Indeed. I believe the stack of book gets bigger each time we go," he said, sounding a bit amused. He certainly did not complain - if his son enjoyed it, he would be sure to make sure he always had fresh things to read. Still, he couldn't quite help but want to bring up what he'd found - his curiosity had only grown as he had waited for his son to be done picking things out. "Something a bit strange happened though, and I was wondering if you might know about it."

He approached her with the now only half-folded page, holding it out to her.

"Does this look familiar to you?" he asked.

[gloriouscurse]

"It's good that he loves reading as much as he does. He has a good imagination." There's a smile on her lips until Robin begins speaking again, and when she pulls out a piece of paper she reaches out to take it, forehead knit a little in recognition.

"That looks like a page out of Henry's book. But it's not here as far as I know." Before she unfolds the paper, Regina meets his gaze. "There's a book, back in Storybrooke that's filled with stories about all of us. That's how he knew..." she makes a little face, eyes dropping down again. "It's how he knew what I really was and that there was a curse to be broken."

[thiefwithhonor]

Realization seemed to spread across her features, and he knew she clearly had been the right person to go to. He had never heard of the book, nor had he ever seen it, but it was strange to know he was apparently in it.

"I see. So you recognize this page?" he asked, curious, wondering why she would keep such a thing from him if she had. Was it perhaps like the time she had kept the fact she recognized his tattoo? There was little reason not to talk to him about it now, though, with how they were.

[gloriouscurse]

Looking down again, Regina unfolds the parchment the rest of the way to properly look at it. Her expression shifts then, from recognition to shock, and she looks up at Robin, then back down at the page.

"...This...is this us?"

It's obviously them, and she recognizes what she's wearing, knows what this moment is supposed to be. "I...was wearing this when I left the tavern instead of going inside." Looking back up at him, her mouth is a little dry as she swallows. "Where did you get this?"

[thiefwithhonor]

So...that answered that, certainly. The surprise had mirrored his own when he first found it. It made little sense, though that admittedly was no real surprise in a strange place like this.

"I was simply going through the shelves, and it was sticking out of a completely unrelated book," Robin explained, knowing that wasn't very helpful. "When I realized it was - well, it was us, I took it to bring back here. This...is something you've never seen before, then?"

[gloriouscurse]

Regina's staring at it again, mouth slightly agape. "Never," she promised, the word leaving her mouth as a whisper. "I left you that night. I was afraid, and I ran."

Moving to the couch, she sits down heavily. "I don't understand what it means."

Though in the back of her mind, she knows. She's always worried that she doesn't deserve this happiness after taking so much from others, and the heart had been a reminder of that a few weeks ago. This picture was what could have been, and perhaps what could still be.

[thiefwithhonor]

It was the night she had spoke of. He had had a feeling, but he couldn't know under she was sure. If that was the case, his memory was the same as hers - he never even knew she was there, and he spent the night at the tavern alone.

So why this? Her reaction was one of such surprise that he knew it must not be normal. He joined her on the couch a few moments after she sat, looking down at the piece of paper.

"This book never has things that didn't happen in it?" he asked, trying to understand it himself, now. Surely there was some explanation. "Never?"

[gloriouscurse]

Regina shakes her head slowly, looking up at Robin. "Every story is something that's happened, and usually it's something terrible I did. It's very clear on who's a hero and who isn't," she mutters. "But it ends with the curse being cast that brought everyone to Storybrooke the first time. If we had Henry's book here, I could show you, but...it's back in Storybrooke."

She truly doesn't understand either, forehead knitting together. "Why show us what could have been? I already wish I'd listened to the fairy and gone inside. It's not like we can change it."

[thiefwithhonor]

Robin could not answer for a book he had never seen. He did know her, however, and that things were not so black and white any longer. He could only hazard guesses, now.

"Perhaps there's not only one version of the tale now," he suggested, even though it was clear he couldn't really know for sure, either. "There's the person who did the things that led to what happened, and then there's the girl in this picture."

He pointed to her on the page as he said it. They may not have met that night, but they still came to be together. That said something, didn't it?

"You claim it defines the heroes, but you certainly have changed what people would regard you as," he added.

[gloriouscurse]

Reaching out, Regina's fingers ghost across the page, over her own form. "This girl's been gone for a long time. I hardly remember her. But..." She trails off, looking up at him and reaching out to let her fingers rest along his cheek as she smiles softly. "You've given me something I thought I lost a long time ago. Excitement for the future. What can happen, what things might be. Hope." Even if she's been hesitant to call it that, he gives her hope.

"What you think and what Henry thinks is all that matters." She looks back at the page again. "Perhaps in another life, we met and really did have a happy ending together."

[thiefwithhonor]

Hope was all that was really needed, in the end. He was sure of that, and perhaps it was the sort of thing that could change even the book she spoke of. He leaned into her touch, a smile lifting on his face as he watched her study the page.

"I think we've got something quite happy going for us here and now, don't you agree?" he pointed out, his tone light.

[gloriouscurse]

Her hand comes to rest on his leg as she meets his eyes, then leans in to let her forehead rest against his. "Yes," she replies softly, closing her eyes for a moment. Unless they left here and something happened, because life in Storybrooke is not as simple as this, it never is. But she doesn't voice that out loud. It's old habits, a negative outlook she knows he won't have and she does truly want to enjoy this, however long it lasts in the city.

"You're happy?" she asks instead, just to clarify, to be sure.