Beautiful story! Thank you!

I really love how you tie each chapter to the previous and the next. Everything is going on about the same time. So many different things going on, and you see the links as you read on. Love it! I like the look at Marian too. She's geting her chance with Roland, which Regina would understand and never begrudge her, but she's also getting her chance to shine on her own, not as Robin's wife. And I love how she can actually get along, somewhat, with Regina. I really love how you've portaryed all the characters here. Any chance you can write for the show?
Love this chapter, to end all chapters. Regina's POV. Love her accepting she's part of the family! and love her pondering the what ifs about Zelena. I think it really shows how much she has grown and changed from the EQ. I also think its another vulnerability she's showing. Her need for family, for love and acceptance of whom she really is. Again, I absolutely love how you ended the chapter, and this time the story too. Regina is at peace, she has her family and her love. She has Henry, and to some extent Roland still. And her godson (whose name I really REALLY dislike!)

I really love the way you depict all of them. Its so real. Not just characters in a show, but they're so human, and their struggles realistic. Not that I know ANYBODY who has had their dead wife brought back or was an evil queen etc. Just that some would have gone for the 'honourable' or 'obligation' route with Robin. His internal struggle was clear to see, and his desperation to be with Regina without hurting Marian as well. Again the subject of her killing Marian, but I'm going to leave that alone! Regina's pain, and her disbelief that he still wants her and has wanted her all along is painful to see. That she thinks so little of herself, that she thinks her happiness is so underserving is just painful to see. But it was great to see them slowly mending their hearts. And you're right. Regina doesn't do things by halves. She loves fiercely and with all her heart. Again, I love how you ended the chapter: with so much hope!

You really have them down so well! I can really see this happening on the show, if someone would just be smart enough to write it! I'm glad to see Emma and Regina are finally talking to each other. It really did look like they could have been friends before. I really like the way you phrased Regina's view of what Emma did -
"Here are the facts, Miss Swan: you saved a life. You brought someone back from over thirty years into the past, in world that makes no sense for her. You saved her from my chopping block. You've given a mother back to her child. Now let's think about what else you have done: you've played god. You've altered the past. You're making that mother realize that she missed four years of her child's life. You. Didn't. Think." -
And of course, she leaves out the part that she's the one hurt the most by it. But I'm glad to see that they're getting over this. Will Emma do something like this again? Will she change the past again? Cause i have to wonder, if Marian had died that day, wouldn't Robin know she died at Regina's hand? Would he still have any sort of relationship with her if that was the case? Is it at all possible that Marian did not die at that point in time? Cause that has been really bugging me. That he was falling for the woman who killed his wife. I know she's changed and all, but if she killed Marian, wouldn't he know? They never really said how she died on the show, or I missed something.
Anyway, back to the chapter :) Glad to see they're back on talking terms at least. And that Regina is letting Emma in, at least when it comes to Henry.

Great chapter! I like how we see Henry's thought process here. How he remembers the good and bad growing up with Regina. And knowing everything, even seeing the anger on her face at the end, he's still so supportive of her! And him not wanting her to stay for his own selfish reasons shows a level of care and need for her that in its own way would have trmendously warmed her heart. And then letting her go, if she wants to leave? He has really matured in this fic. His knowledge and understanding of both his mothers is really amazing and heartwarming to see. He's absolutely correct that Emma would never be afraid of Regina for herself, but she's afraid to see what she has done to Regina this time. Marvelous observation there.
I think leaving, even if only for a little while, would be good for Regina. Even if it looks like running away. I think she needs to take stock of her life and herself. Of what she wants and how she wants to get there. Of how she wants to move on from this heartbreak. She has never really had too much free will, she's always made the choice, but has been manipulated for so long. I think she can finally TRY to decide her own future by herself now. I say try cause we all know life has a funny way of treating your decisions sometimes. Again, great chapter!

Hmmm...David and Regina as just friends? I think I like that idea. I always wondered if Kathryn would fill that role but she seems to have dropped out of sight. I've always thought that regina needs to have a friend, someone she can turn to when she's feeling lost or her heart is heavy. David can shoulder some of that. I'm really liking how you portray the different looks at Regina and her changing relationship with the Charming clan and those around her. I think you've voiced her thoughts and feelings very well and stayed true to what we expect from her. Love the build-up in these chapters, and I really believe that Regina is slowly healing, very slowly, but definitely healing with the little help from Snow and David. And maybe baby Neal as well. (Ughh...I really wish they had named sim something else. ANYTHING else!) And her request for fries had me laughing! Regina and fries! Again, great way to end the chapter!

As much as I hate to see Regina hurting and giving up, she's right about one thing. Robin just got his wife back and has his own issues to resolve now. It hurts to think she has no hope that he would ever choose her over Marian. But she's also right that Marian and Roland also deserves the chance to be together again. Its not anybody's fault. Life just really sucks sometimes. I'm so glad to see MM trying to be there for Regina though. She may be awkward with Regina, but i think there's so much potential to be explored between these two (not romantically) this is just a taste of what could be betwen them. And I think she is helping Regina. She's showing Regina that there are others around her who cares for her, and that she does have family that cares for her. Something Regina has always wanted. And I really love how you portary Regina here. Hurting so much, but still with some snark! Her texts had me laughing, and thats a great way to end the chapter!

Wonderfully written! I love protective Henry. He's so supportive for her for a change. It was wonderful to read how much he cares for her. And I love seeing him stand up for Regina and telling Emma to go away. I know its not completely her fault, but it is her fault. She was not supposed to change anything. What if Marian did not die and was to do something important before she did? By saving her at that point in time she changed the past. And that is on her. I know she wasn't trying to hurt Regina, but she did not consider the consequences. And she did hurt Regina, and that's not acceptable to me. Really love this chapter!

This was so wonderful! I wish it goes like this in the show but I doubt it.

Love that you brought in the loss of Zelena as adding to Regina's emotional turmoil. As you so rightly pointed out, there's always a part of her that can't help but hope.
"Afterwards, though, there's just more emptiness, as well as the mess that she now has to explain to her son." Lovely, effective metaphor, and nice tie in to Henry's perspective on the aftermath of her magical outburst.
I liked too her point of view of the transition from numbness and forcing herself not to cry, convincing herself she had no right to (as Henry saw it, wasn't able to), to actually feeling the pain.
I find her desire to be alone at a time like this difficult to understand, especially on the point of leaving Henry, but it does say something about the weird painful emotional state she's in.
"There are some things I would take back," she says at last. "That is one of them. But there are others I will not." This was a great summing up of what I believe Regina's feelings are on her past, delivered in a typically unapologetic, straight-talking Regina fashion. Her lack of regret for anything that led her to Henry is canon (wonderfully so), but I do think there ARE things she would do differently if she could.
I did find Marian seeking Regina out specifically to tell her that she could see a change in her slightly odd, but I guess she had her reasons!
Her spending time with Zelena's empty grave, thinking about what could have been, was so melancholy and lonely. The note about the small amount of peace she felt and her fear of it ending the moment she encountered any person at all, gave a little more understanding to her desire to leave.
Mary Margaret asking Regina to be her baby's godmother, Regina's reaction to it, was lovely and well done. Her fear and immediate attempt to push Snow away really resonated. The self-loathing that lashes out of her was achingly telling.
"Regina had been convinced that he despised her." Oh Regina bby. How wrong you are.
"the nightmare she sometimes has of everyone she cares about turning on her" Ouch, my heart :(
Regina's observation of the way Marian looks at Roland was sweet, as was the respect it grew.
Love Robin's understanding about her feelings surrounding Zelena's death. As much as I like the concept of her mourning what they could have had, I do feel it's more in character for Regina to be continually bothered by her 'suicide' because of the reflection it showed her of herself.
For some reason, Regina making Henry promise not to tell Mary Margaret something because she'd never let her hear the end of it gives me warm fuzzies :)
Thanks for writing this story. It was a great bandaid for the pain of the finale, I really loved reading it. I only hope Regina gets this much support around her (especially from Henry) in the show!

You make Robin's struggle very truthful here. I like that you use specifics and not just throw out the fandom favourite of his sense of 'honour' and 'obligation'. I like that he's afraid of hurting Marian by telling her about his relationship with Regina - it is cowardly and it's not honourable but it is understandable. And perhaps he didn't want to tell her because he knew there was more to it than just saying 'we had a thing, now we don't, because you're here'. He knew that telling her was the equivalent of making a decision he wasn't ready to make, because she would want to know if his feelings for the Queen were still there. I like too that he doubts himself in regards to trying hard enough to fall back in love with Marian. The fact that he would need to try at all sort of seems to speak for itself, but of course it wouldn't be that simple for him. It's all just very human and real.
Nice touch that Marian started that scene referring to Regina as The Queen, mused on others calling her by her name, and then ended it referring to her as the mayor.
I enjoy Robin's deference to Henry. It's both touching and kind of amusing.
"he sees her expression crumple and his heart breaks" Aaw, poor Regina :(
Loved all the description of him seeing her properly again. The way his senses seem attuned to her, hearing her heels and anticipating her appearance and then 'drinking her in' when she does appear. Her bluntness with him, his longing, his quiet desperation. The description of the fire in her eyes which is abruptly snuffed out. Her pain and disbelief. Just lovely.
I like Marian's passion for reading and books. Her seeming frustration that Little John didn't get what she was trying to convey was cute :) Funny that she teases him about being depicted as a fox when she was a fox too!
I sort of hope they do bring up Daniel's resurrection in the new season. I liked Robin's pain for her and guilt and the greater understanding he got from hearing her story.
Look at Regina, being all honest with herself and him about her feelings! Aaw! :)

Still love Henry!

And Roland is adorable.

Thank you for this story!

Regina really doesn't do things by halves. That was really great self-awareness on her part.

It was great to see Marian written as a class act and Regina as one as well.

And Robin choosing Regina makes my Evil Regal heart happy!

I just didn't like Emma this season (which was a bummer, because I used to really like her), but you did a nice job with this. I'd wax poetic, but, yeah, don't care for the character. Maybe if you wrote her, though, I would!

Awwww! I can't believe she doesn't want to take Henry! Awww!

Another great chapter!