She grins the moment she's able - in truth it had barely been a kiss with the way they'd been smiling against one another, lips stretched - when she knows he's done kissing her "for now at least," he promises with a wink that has her heart fluttering and her stomach clenching in anticipation of spending a night wrapped up in one another. She's not going to have sex with him, not tonight at least, she wants to do this properly and he, in turn, has told her that he wants to truly savour every moment they have together. They've both known the devastation of lost first loves, both understand the regret for not taking stock in every bit of time they'd spent with Daniel and Marian respectively. They don't have to stay long. They'll order coffees - for them - and ice cream - for the boys, Snow had told her that Henry would be going home with her that night, something that had made her all the more giddy - and make small talk with the Charmings before they'll head home for the night, their new little family.

Robin's staying over with Roland, they'd agreed on that before they'd left the warmth of her office to pick his boy up from Little John and she's already warned him that she doubts she's going to let him leave her to return to the forest once she's spent the night in his arms. He hadn't seemed too put out by that idea, not one bit.

Henry is the first to reach her as they're finally able to pull away from one another and step into the warmth of the diner. Practically the entire town is stuffed within the building to celebrate yet another period of calm, hoping and praying that this will last longer than the last. Her hand is still clasped within Robin's, her eyebrows rising in question as she smiles affectionately at her boy, so very light with the taste of Robin's kiss still on her lips. She feels like a young girl again, skin tingling with the excitement of new love - she hasn't told him yet, it's not the time, but she most certainly loves him already, despite how completely crazy it sounds - as she patiently waits for Henry to speak.

It was the expression on his face, the worry etched into a furrowed brow that had her own smile dimming and Robin squeezing at her fingers gently, he's giving them a moment alone, telling her that he was going to get them a table before leaning in and pressing a kiss to her cheek that had her nodding and pretending there wasn't a blush burning at her cheeks. She watched him go, their fingers linked until the very last moment before slipping free of one another. Henry was looking over at them too, his expression so very troubled despite the way he'd been so taken with Robin earlier and the thought that perhaps he wasn't as okay with them as she'd thought had panic rising within her. "Is everything okay, sweetheart?"

He started at the sound of her voice, as though he'd almost forgotten she was there as he lost himself in his thoughts and it had a frown forming on her own face as she bent at the waist, far less than she'd ever had to with the way he was shooting up now, and pressed her gloved palm to his cheek when he turned back to her, her dark eyes flitting between both of his as he inhaled deeply and exhaled a long slow breath. "Emma brought somebody back with her," he told her as she rubbed a thumb across the apple of his cheek.

"She did?" she asked, glancing up though remaining at his height, as though believing herself able to look through the hordes of people milling about the place, an impossible feat. She looked back down to find Henry studying her face nervously. It had her stomach dropping slightly, unease settling within her as she asked, "who is it Henry?" and when he remained quiet, still looking at her, his cheeks flexing as he ground his teeth together, swallowing hard, "it's okay baby," she hadn't been able to use that term in so long, it felt wonderful rolling off of her tongue, so much so that she couldn't help but smile because, whatever it was, whoever it was, it meant nothing now that her boy knew who she was, now that she was 'Mom' again, "you can te-"

"R-Regina?"

She bolted upright, her heart knocking painfully against her chest and her mouth dropping open, wordless as she trembled where she stood because it can't be! She was still staring at her son though, absolutely unwilling to find the answer to her question because that voice, that voice had not haunted her for some time now, had mercifully left the darkest shadows of her dreams, replaced by another faceless body with a different voice, demeaning and belittling all the same but not him anymore.

Robin was at her side in seconds, a question in his eyes that anchored her only a little because she knew he wouldn't allow anything to happen to her - he'd proven it only hours ago - not where he could help it anyway and when his hand came up to hold the side of her face, his un-gloved palm warm against her cheek, she found herself able to slow her frantic breathing for perhaps it was just her cruel imagination playing tricks on her, chipping away at the happiness she'd been feeling. Her own hand came up to grab at his, holding it there, keeping herself within his touch though she knew he wouldn't let her go, not when she needed him. "Regina, what's wrong?"

He wiped at tears she hadn't realised had begun to fall, his free hand stroking at the hair that had fallen to cover part of her face, about to ask her something else when he felt his hand being ripped away.

"What do you think you are doing touching the Queen in such a way!?"

She felt as though her legs were going to buckle from beneath her, her whole body trembling because it was him, he was here and it was real, unlike the dreams in which he'd appeared and she'd managed to banish him from. This was real.

"I beg your par-"

"Kindly keep your hands off of my wife!" Leopold bellowed, standing over Robin now and edging closer to her as she attempted to regulate her breathing, to blink past the black spots that were beginning to cloud her vision making her aware of others looking now, more standing around them, of Snow's murmurings to her but from where, she couldn't tell, not when her head was spinning in such a way.

"Your wife?" Robin asked incredulously, and why would he know what the King had looked like? He'd spent his days hiding from the man and his guard, keeping out of sight and he turns to her for some kind of answer but she can't give him one, not when it feels as though her chest is caving in and her heart is about to beat out of it.

She thinks he steps closer to her but she can barely see now, feels blind in her panic and the dizziness is almost overwhelming, has her stomach lurching as she moves to step backwards with arms flailing about in front of her, to do anything at all but the ground is not where her feet expect it to be and she falls down, down into arms that are familiar to her, arms that she'd been wrapped up in only moments ago, so very happy…arms that she feared may never catch her again but they're there and he's just as real as the long dead King but she still can't breathe.

She sways when Robin lifts her gently back to her feet, his weight strong behind her, one arm wrapped tight around her waist, the other rubbing up and down her leather covered arm and she thinks he whispers his intentions into her ear before he puts them into motion and begins turning them, completely ignorant of the man still yelling for Regina somewhere behind them as he shouts for Roland to come join them at the door. He'd watched John stepping forward to stop the old man's advance as well as Gepetto, Ruby and, somewhat surprisingly, Granny. He'd make sure to thank them later but for now he simply wanted to get Regina outside and lucid once again, the identity of the stranger no longer important to him with the way the brunette was struggling for breath.

She stumbled her way down the steps, apparently in control of her motor functions again now that she was out in the fresh air before she was doubling over and spilling forth the remnants of the meal they'd shared only a couple of hours ago into the nearest plant pot. He practically jumped down the steps, asking Roland to "please ask somebody to fetch Regina a glass of water my boy," glad to see him agreeing with a resolute nod before he was turning back to Regina who was still bent over and placing a hand upon her back, rubbing gently and soothingly. "Are you okay, sweetheart?"

"I don't understand," she whimpered, shaking her head though he'd pulled her hair back and away from her face in attempts to keep it out of her way, "how can he be here?"

He moved closer to her as he noticed her shivering and asked for her to straighten up again and face him if she felt able to do so. She did only after a little more gentle coaxing from him and when he moved to place his arms around her, to pull her into him with a hand on the back of her head, indicating his want for her to press her face into his neck, she shook her head and groused about what she'd just been doing. "I don't care Regina," he told her sincerely, wiping away her tears only for them to be replaced by more as she practically fell into him, her resolve not to do so crumbling with the tender affection.

"Am I right in believing that the man in there is King Leopold?" he asked quietly, rubbing both hands up and down the length of her back in what he hoped were soothing passes. She was still trembling but he believed that to be something other than the cold. It was the only conclusion he'd been able to reach, knowing that Regina had been the Queen in their land and suspecting that, given how young she'd been when she'd married the King, she'd been married only once. There was also the issue of the man long known to be dead referring to Regina as his wife.

"I had him killed," she confessed into the material of his jacket, her forehead pressed to his shoulder and her hands gripping at the lapels as though afraid he would pull away from her now that she had told him. It only made him even more determined to protect her. "I had him killed decades ago…"

He remembers hearing tell of the King's death not too long into his leadership of his men and had also heard talk of the Queen's alleged involvement. He hadn't thought much on it then, not one for royal affairs but he also remembered hearing his mother speak of the King taking a bride when Robin had barely been a man, remembered his shock at hearing that the girl was around his age if not younger. "The child bride" his mother and her friends had called her and he hadn't really known it then but now, holding her in his arms, keeping her from collapsing under the panic of seeing one she thought herself rid of, the reason for her act of treason was so very obvious.

"He hurt you didn't he?"

There was only a moment's pause before she was nodding into him with a strangled sob as she told him "I couldn't do it anymore, Robin," and her grip grew stronger on him, her pleas more desperate because he was a good man and she was confessing to murdering her husband and it was almost astonishing to him that out of all of the people that had died under this woman's reign, she was practically asking him to forgive her for killing one of the only people who had truly deserved her vengeful wrath.

He held her closer to him, his own throat clogging with a well of emotion as he stroked a hand through her hair and told her "it's okay Regina," pressing kisses to her hairline before promising "I won't let him hurt you again. Not ever."