We Can Love Again

Open Your Eyes

Two months later...

She thought that perhaps it was a bad dream she was having, one where something was jabbing her insides and shooting pain throughout her body. When she opened her eyes, Regina realized that it wasn't a dream, it was really happening- and it was painful.

A wave of panic shot through her as she lay stone silent in the darkness, thousands of questions scurrying across her mind all at once. She had never felt pain like this before- it came in waves and left for a long series of seconds, then came back again, making her scared to even draw breath. Regina didn't know how long she lay there for, but she knew she had to do something about it. Sitting up only seemed to make her pain worse; more fear clouded her senses.

"Robin, Robin wake up, there's something wrong."

He immediately sensed stress in her voice; he was wide awake in a flash. "It hurts... A lot," she said, wincing slightly as she placed her hand over her stomach. "Robin what's hap-"

"Is your water broken?" He asked, seriousness in his voice. She still had two and a half weeks to go; he hoped and prayed she wasn't here yet.

Regina shook her head quickly.

Then he knew what was doing on. Doctor Whale had said it could happen in her last month of pregnancy. Robin brought his hands up to the sides of her face, giving her a comforting look.

"It's okay, it's just false labor- your body is just getting ready for the baby to come in a few weeks."

Her eyes squeezed shut as she fought another douse of pain. She wanted to believe in his reassurance, but it seemed impossible. It was as if someone was holding her underwater; no matter how hard she fought she wasn't going to breathe. The words that circled around her head were getting closer; they were so loud she couldn't possibly pay attention to anything else. Robin didn't seem to be there anymore. It was just her and the darkness.

What if Rumple found a way to destroy her child, what if he took her, killed her; or worse, what if she became just like her mother was to her and ruined her life, turned her into something she wasn't? She remembered how Henry had told her how he hated her, how Emma was so much better than her just because she gave him life. What if her daughter hated her like he once did; she would undoubtedly if she found out what she had done. Maybe Robin would decide to take their baby away from her one day, along with Roland and Henry, and leave her alone, alone, like she had been for far too long, with nothing bitterness to keep her company-

"Regina!" His voice cut through her thoughts, causing her to gasp. "Breathe- you have to breathe."

Her vision cleared, and soon she saw Robin in front of her, eyes gleaming with concern. She couldn't concentrate on anything else until she got blood pumping through her veins again.

"How long have you been having these?" He asked, slight irritation in his voice.
Regina felt rather helpless as she stared back at his troubled eyes. There was no way she could lie her way through them now.

"Just a month or so," she said quickly, as to get it out of the way, "they really aren't a big deal though-"

"Yes they are!" Robin corrected for her, trying to keep his voice down as he said so, "you had a panic attack just a minute ago- you're not fine."

The combination of stress and emotion caused her to be on the verge of erupting in tears right before him. But she couldn't, not just yet.

"Okay, they do hurt a lot. But I didn't want to stress you out about it."

Robin had to carefully articulate his words for a second, for everything in his mind seemed to be jumbled up like alphabet soup.

"Regina, darling, we're having this baby together. Together means two people- you and I. You can't be keeping things from me, it's not safe for you or the baby. What if something was really wrong with the baby... I don't know what I would do if something was wrong."

She shook her head slightly, not knowing what to say. "I'm- I'm sorry, I really am. I'm just scared..."

Wrapping his arms around her seemingly small frame, he tried to give her all the comfort he could offer. "I know you are. But you're so strong Regina, you just need to allow yourself to believe that this child will give us a happy ending- out of all the people in the world, you deserve one most of all."

Suddenly the dark didn't seem very dark anymore.

"What if... What if I mess up? Then what?"

"Then we mess up together," Robin told her, rubbing circles up and down her back. "Trust me, I have my own set of fears about this baby. But once she's here, they'll all go away, I promise. We all get a second chance, Regina. You just have to open your eyes to see it."

She pondered on his statement for a moment, as if weighing the negative with the positive. It was natural for her mind to think like that; she spent years going through the good and bad in her life, and truthfully, most of those years didn't have one good thing to contrast al the bad that was thrown at her. Now, with Robin's outlook on life influencing her, she was slowly getting better at throwing the worries to the wind and enjoying life for what it was worth, not what she could only dream it would be.

"Our baby is so lucky to have you as her father, you're gentle and valiant at the same time, and those are two traits of the most perfect man I can think of. I- I spent years dreaming about who you could be, the man with the lion tattoo. From the moment I opened that door and saw you, I knew you'd protect me; quite honestly, it scared me to death at the time, because then I still had a little bit of hope that Daniel could be with me again... I guess, what I'm trying to say is, you're a good man, Robin. You make me a better person every day that I'm with you."

He pulled back so he was facing her. "So are you. Never forget that. Just... No more lies, okay?"

Regina nodded. "I promise."

So maybe Snow and Charming's sappy love story had a moral after all, maybe everything could be solved with love on her side.