A/N: Ok. This is it. Final chapter!! It has been a lot of fun writing this, I'm not sure I'll know what to do with myself now! This chapter's kind of bitty because I'm just pulling all the loose ends together but I hope it's still ok. Thank you all for your amazing comments, they really did spur me on! I swear I'm going to try and finish The Enchanted Forest, but the muse is somewhat lacking in that department at the moment so bear with me on that. So yeah. I hope you enjoy this last one :)
Despite being in Robin's arms and feeling relatively safe she woke shaking a few hours later, the image of her father's head separated from his body burned into her mind's eye.
This happened every night for a good few weeks, and try as Robin might to soothe her fears away she still worried. As they travelled from obscure roadside inn to obscure roadside inn she found herself thinking about Henry a lot, wondering what had happened. As a result, she was always tired, always upset, over-reacting whenever something moved behind her. Robin told her one of the guards who'd taken him to the dungeon - and who'd carried that awful ring - was sick of working for the King but he wouldn't let him leave, so had agreed to pass as Robin at the trial and afterwards. It didn't make her feel better as Cora was sure to notice, not to mention point the finger at Henry for letting them escape.
She woke screaming one night whereas before she'd been woken by Robin before she could scare Roland. He immediately took her in his arms, murmuring comforting words into her ear as she sobbed.
"I saw my father again. He was being beheaded for helping me and so was the guard and then Cora realised it wasn't you and I..." She swallowed.
"I ruined all these people's lives, Robin. If I hadn't left Father wouldn't have risked his life to save mine and neither would that poor guard."
"Regina. Listen to me. It's not your fault. If it's anyone's it's Cora's. Don't blame yourself, I know it'll be easier said than done."
Regina scoffed half-heartedly.
"The landlord told me something earlier that I was going to tell you in the morning as you were so tired."
"I'm not weak, Robin."
"I know. I was tired too and I didn't want to mess up details that I might have heard wrong. 'Robin Hood' has been hanged for treason, the main charge being the murder of the good King's fiancée on the night before her wedding."
"The bastard."
Robin was silent - his shock at her choice of language was palpable in the air as she tried to justify herself.
"He dragged your name through the mud again."
"Think of it this way: no one will come searching for us. We can start completely afresh, in a new land, and no one will try to turn us in for a price because they think we're dead."
"Very true. What about Father?" she gulped.
"Alive. Apparently the King and Cora have some semblance of heart."
"They have no heart whatsoever. What little he has locked away is dedicated to his daughter. But they won't convict him for helping us?"
"No."
"I was so scared they'd kill him."
"I know. You're very lucky to have such a selfless father."
"I know. Sometimes I wish he'd stand up to Cora more though."
"Cora?"
"I don't consider her my mother any more. How could a mother do what she did?"
"I suppose she was just trying to do what she thought was best. She didn't go about it in the right way, and I by no means think she was right in anything, but we will never know her true motivation. Children come first when you're a parent."
There were a few seconds of silence before Regina rolled onto her back and slipped an instinctive arm round Roland.
"Hey. You're already doing a better job than she did. At putting the child first, I mean."
"Goodnight, Robin."
"Sleep well." He pressed a kiss to her temple.
"Night, mama." Damn. She'd thought he was asleep.
"Goodnight Roland."
After that the nightmares faded, but Robin still ensured she always fell asleep safe in his embrace. It was almost like he couldn't bring himself to let go of her, having almost lost her so many times. She felt the same pull to always be touching him in some way, whether it was holding his hand when the road got too slippery for them to ride, resting her head on his shoulder as they cantered along, giving him just one more kiss goodnight.
The muscle pain of endless riding soon kicked in, making her even more tired though she tried to put on the brave face Roland needed. She was sometimes able to forget about it, like when they passed a particularly beautiful field, which was fairly often as spring was now well established. She could also forget that she was still dressed in only a nightgown and cloak, Robin not wanting to risk stopping at any sort of establishment apart from those who would be used to eccentric travellers. Her magic hadn't made a reappearance, which she was very grateful for but she still feared that it might come at the worst time, like at the border, and be the reason she couldn't be free.
"It must be something that's triggered by someone you love being hurt," Robin reasoned when she wondered why it hadn't stopped Leopold kissing her. "I suppose if one is feeling a bit self-deprecating and hasn't full control over it it might not work on oneself." That last statement was said with a definite severe undertone to it.
"That woman brings out the worst in me," she'd sighed before snuggling closer to him in the bed and closing her eyes.
She woke one morning to yet another unfamiliar room, sun streaming through cracked shutters onto wonky floorboards. She craned her neck over her shoulder to see Robin looking at her with love in his eyes, and the wonderful feeling of being safe flooded through her again as she realised he'd let her sleep in this time.
"I was waiting for you to wake. Shall we get going?"
"Where exactly are we?" she asked as Roland was woken, their few clothes pulled on and some money retrieved to pay for their lodging from the purse Henry had given them.
"We are right..." he pulled out Belle's map and studied it for a bit, "here. We're almost there, Regina." She looked at where his finger was pointing, and the border to the little no-man's-land they'd been aiming for was only a couple days' ride away.
"It'll probably take another day or so to find the village, but just think. Two or three days." Her face spread into a wide smile, the first genuine one since they'd left Belle's, and she leaned up suddenly and kissed him, slower and more gently than she knew she'd been kissing him lately. His hands found her waist as she broke away and wrapped her arms round him, head over his heart.
"Freedom," she whispered, the word sweet on her lips but sounding almost too good to be true after everything they'd endured to get here. Pulling back she met his gaze, getting lost all over again in the clear blue of his eyes as his hand ran slowly through her hair.
Then the dark patch on his wrist that had been revealed when the sleeve had been pushed up by the bag caught her eye, and she laid a hand over the ink curiously.
"Robin, where did you get this? I saw it when you were ill and wondered but never got a chance to ask."
"Ah. That. I got it years ago when I was but a lad, fighting in some of the smaller skirmishes of the Ogre Wars so they didn't reach Sherwood. I must have been fifteen or so when they started, maybe younger. The tattoo I got at twenty-one, to celebrate my coming of age. The lion represents courage and honour. It was my commander's emblem. I admired him a lot, but I was a frivolous boy, no clue as to what being a good man meant. I thought getting it would make me like him without having to try. It didn't work; I turned to theft when my parents died, stealing from anyone for my own pleasure once I had enough to live on. Then I met Marian, fell in love. Formed my code. After she died it was so hard not to fall back into my old ways, I struggled, did some...things...that I am not proud of. Roland gave me some hope that things would get better but that void was never quite filled. Then you quite literally hurtled into our lives..." They both half-chuckled at the memory, "...and I felt complete for the first time in years."
The look in his eyes as he finished talking was completely open, trusting, loving, and the best part was, she didn't feel scared by it. She didn't feel the instinct to run away for fear of Cora finding him.
"Well, I'd say you turned out pretty well," she murmured, realising for the first time his own journey behind where he was now. There was still so much to find out about each other, and the prospect of learning it all excited her. He didn't speak, just slid his arms carefully round her waist. She could sense his nervousness but her haunts stayed away, and she put her own arms round his shoulders, holding him close as he relaxed and buried his face in her hair.
"You know, this used to scare me. This...security. Knowing nothing would happen. It scared me out of my wits."
"Really?"
"Yes. Until about five minutes ago. I've decided now, Robin. I want to stay with you and Roland, that is if I'm still welcome?" He pulled back, blue eyes searching brown, hope and doubt mingled in his piercing gaze. Regina nodded, and a wide smile broke out on his face as he ran his fingers through her hair.
"You'll always be welcome. There was never any doubt about that in my mind. And your father and I are on the same wavelength."
"How so?"
"We just want you to be happy."
Regina smiled helplessly. "That's all I've wanted for years."
"I was a little worried in those dungeons that I would never be able to get you out of here but then that guard happened to be sent to give me my last meal."
"Yes, how exactly did you escape the dungeon?"
"I wondered when you were going to ask that. When Graham came in he quickly whispered his plan, then we changed clothes. The sentry on duty just thought I was being difficult and didn't even turn around. I got past him easily, then ran into Henry, dear fellow, who'd come to get me out. He'd already somehow rescued Roland, I have no idea where from. There was no time to share stories. I have to say, that man is resourceful."
"He's a Lord, of course he is. He just never used them before because there was no need."
"He gave us the purse, got your bag from where they'd confiscated our belongings, had the horse waiting, grappling hook ready, and persuaded the guard to let him into your room to see his daughter for the last time before she got married. And the rest, as they say, is history."
"How ironic," Regina noted sadly.
"That it was the last time he'd see you or the last time before you married, but irony in that it's not the King?"
"Last time he'd...what?" She searched his eyes, jaw slack with surprise.
"Will you be my mama for real now?" Roland's hopeful voice piped up from the pallet bed in the corner, having obviously heard their exchange. Regina looked up at Robin, trying to tell him without words that she didn't expect anything like that just yet, but his hands left her back anyway to open a pocket on his belt. Holding her gaze he revealed a simple gold ring; Regina's breath hitched in her throat as he struggled to find words.
"I..."
"I know, Robin. I know." He didn't need to say anything: she could read it all in his eyes.
"Regina...will you do me the honour of marrying me?" he finally settled on, the simplicity of the ring and his words appealing to her much more than the heavy rock Leopold had given her.
"Yes, I will," she replied without hesitation, smiling so hard her cheeks hurt as he slipped the ring easily onto her finger and pulled her into a tight hug.
"You're my mama now," Roland giggled as he skipped across the room, gripping her hand with both of his to look at the ring, his eyes agleam with excitement. "It's so shiny!"
"Not quite yet, dear. But I will be."
She looked up at Robin, brushing her thumb along his cheekbone.
"When I said I wanted to stay with you I didn't mean that as a hint to propose," she murmured. "We could have waited till we got there."
"Would you rather I hadn't?"
"Would I have said yes if that was the case?" she smiled and leaned up to kiss him again, eliciting an indignant squeal from the boy.
"Ewww!" They broke apart laughing and gathered their meagre belongings, Robin slinging the panniers over his shoulder and Roland giving Regina the puppy-dog eyes to be carried downstairs. As they went, Regina couldn't help but wonder something.
"How long have you been planning that?"
"I don't know. I found the ring at the docks actually and just had to get it."
"But when did you know...?"
"I suppose you could say I knew right from the start. Just took us a little while to realise that we weren't just ships in the night."
"Us?"
"I too thought I'd help you to the docks then never see you again, though I couldn't help but hope. Especially when you and Roland had that instant bond."
"I love you."
"I love you too."
He hugged her as best he could with Roland clinging to her, and kissed her jaw subtly just before they left the rickety curtained staircase for the draughty front hall of the inn.
He paid the landlord, saddled up the horse which she had dubbed Ebony a few days before - despite Roland's dismissing it as 'girly' the name had stuck - and rode on, all now with a smile on their faces.
They had to sleep under bushes for the next couple of nights but Regina didn't care. She was with the man she loved, engaged to him no less, with a stepson-to-be who was just so happy to have a proper mother that he insisted on her riding at the front so he could be in her arms. Robin had clearly told his son not to expect her to stay when he'd rescued her from the castle but feeling his arms around her waist now she knew there was no danger of her going anywhere.
They walked the last mile or so before the border to give Ebony a rest before the miles of thick forest they knew they'd have to get through, Regina carrying Roland when he got tired and holding his hand the rest of the time. The border was a mere signposted fence with a gate wide enough for a narrow cart, no guards that might be looking for them. And best of all, no massive crowd of people heading towards it. Robin led Ebony through; Roland skipped after him, turning back when she stopped short.
"Come on, Mama!"
"What is it, darling?"
"I don't know. It just seems too good to be true."
"Regina, love. You deserve this." He held out his hand; she slipped hers into his calloused one, interlinking their fingers; Roland took her other one and she stepped over the border into this new, nameless land, a helpless, truly joyous smile breaking out on her face. She had no clue what they would find in the village, no clue as to what or who might stop them from building a house and a life there, but she did know one thing. The prospect of facing it with Robin and Roland by her side was the happiest future she'd faced in a long time.
She was free.