Written for a prompt: Regina tells Roland she is his mother

Roland has loved stories and fairytales from a very young age. He was barely two years old when Robin told him the first story about Snow White and her adventures and the Evil step-mother who hunted her. Since that day there hasn't been a night that went without a bedtime story.

So when Roland learned to read, he didn't want to let go of a book. Regina had found him reading in the garden one morning, then in his room, the living room, kitchen, one day she even found him sitting on the bathroom floor – he was supposed to be showering – with Harry Potter in his hands.

Regina found it amusing at first.

But one evening Roland's asked to read Henry's storybook, the one and only with stories of their lives and Regina's tensed immediately. That book is full of stories that Roland would adore, that's obvious, but there's also a story of Regina, and a story of Roland (the pages about them weren't there before, but the day Regina figured out the truth, it had somehow appeared there) which the boy doesn't need to know yet.

Regina's shaken her head then, words stuck in her mouth, but thankfully Robin was there and sensed her uneasiness. He told Roland that he needs to be older to read a book like that, and that he knows most of those stories anyway and there are still many other books in Henry's room that he hasn't read yet.

The boy didn't look too happy, he'd pouted for the rest on the night but soon everything was forgotten and he was reading another book of Harry Potter, fascinated by the world the wizard lives in.

Regina thought her secret was safe. And she was wrong.

Roland is a curious child, and he's a thief's son, he knows many thing about thieving, too many for his young age, so it wasn't that hard to sneak into Henry's room at night, take the book and return it in the morning without anyone noticing.

And no one noticed that Roland was reading that book.

But one night Regina's awaken by a loud crashing sound that makes her jump out of the bed immediately, looking around frantically, a spell already formed on her tongue. But the bedroom is empty, so she rushes towards Roland's room since there's no one else in the house.

She finds the boy standing in the middle of the room, his beautiful face covered in tears, the storybook thrown in front of him on the ground, a photo frame of her and Roland crashed into pieces beside him.

Regina's shocked for a moment, but recovers rather quickly, blinks her eyes repeatedly and rushes towards him. "Roland, sweetheart, are you okay?" she asks, grabbing his hand to look for any injures but the boy only pushes her away as more tears run down his cheeks. "What happened?" she asks, confused.

"You're not my mother," he spats and pushes her away from him, runs to the bathroom and shuts the door behind him.

Only then Regina looks down at the damned storybook laying on the floor and smiles sadly, tears filling her own eyes as she sees a picture of a man with a baby in his hands, a blue blanket and the castle behind them and realization hits her.

He's read their story.

Her heart breaks into million pieces, because he wasn't supposed to find out about it so soon, she was not ready to tell him yet, and she wasn't sure she would ever be, she and Robin even decided that it's better to never tell the truth in order to keep Roland from all this pain.

But you can't always get what you want, can you?

"Roland, let me explain," she starts, finding her voice, and stands up from the floor, walks towards the bathroom on shaky legs as tears run down her cheeks. Damn it, she should've listened to Robin and made that book disappear from their house.

There's no response from the other side of the door, so Regina gently bends the handle but the door doesn't open. It's locked, she realizes, and all of a sudden her heart is squeezed by indescribable pain. She's been there before with Henry, he was acting the same way when he found out she wasn't his mother and even though the situation is different now, but the pain is all the same.

"I want to see papa," A whisper snaps her out of her thoughts and Regina nods her head though Roland cannot see it, forces herself to stand up and get Robin.

When Robin rushes to his son, she falls down on the bed and sobs and sobs and sobs until she's too exhausted to even breathe.

(…)

"I'm sorry," Robin whispers, wrapping his arms around Regina's waist, "that I can't spend this Christmas with you," there's a small kiss placed on her neck, to soothe her, she thinks.

"It's okay, don't worry about me," she dismisses but her hands are around his neck now and she's pulling him into a kiss. "Wish a Merry Christmas to Roland from me," she asks when she pulls away and her voice breaks, tears filling her eyes, and she swallows hard before looking away.

Her heart clenches as memories of Roland leaving the house repeat in her head. He'd taken all his things and left with Robin because the boy insisted that he didn't want to be here anymore, he didn't want to see Regina ever again.

And it broke her heart, because her child hated her again, because their first Christmas was ruined, because she was left heartbroken again. But she's been strong then, waited until the house was empty and only then she let herself cry.

It's been already two long and lonely weeks of sleepless nights and cold bed (Robin had to be with Roland, there was no other way) and the pain is still the same, it still tears her apart every time she thinks about Roland.

"Regina," Robin says, bumping his nose against hers, making Regina look back at him. "It will be fine. Roland is a clever boy, he'll understand everything and forgive you eventually," he tells her and she only hums in response, rests her head against his chest, hoping that his words are going to be true.

(…)

"Mom, wake up!"

Regina groans when Henry shakes her and pulls the blanket over her head, trying to hide from him. He's always been excited for Christmas, enjoyed opening presents before the Sun was up and usually Regina didn't mind getting up so early.

But she spent the whole night crying, clutching a pillow to her chest as she thought about what she's done to Roland and how he's never going to forgive her. It was almost dawn when Regina finally calmed down and managed to fall into a restless sleep.

All she wants to do now is sleep, stay in this bed for the rest of the day, eat comfort food and watch silly Christmas movies with Henry.

But her son has other plans, it seems, because he's shaking her again.

"Come here," she tugs on his hand. "Let's just sleep in," she murmurs, burrowing her face into the pillow and sighing.

"There's a special present waiting for you in the living room," Henry says and Regina uncovers her head, cracks one eye open and finds him with a huge smile on his face.

"Henry," she forces herself to wake up, blinks her eyes repeatedly and sits up, crosses her arms over her chest and frowns. "I told you I don't need presents. I hate them."

"You'll love this one," he assures her and then he's dragging her out of the bed and what can Regina do?

She gets out of the bed but Henry doesn't give her time to make a quick trip to the bathroom to wash her face, she only has time to put her robe on and then she's dragged out of the room with a very happy Henry in front of her.

Regina doesn't understand what's gotten into him, she doesn't remember the last time he was acting like that but she doesn't have time to wonder because when they reach the stairs, she sees a coat on the chair and it's Robin's!

A frown forms on her face – he's supposed to be with Roland - and then they're down the stairs and now she can hear Robin's voice and a quieter one, a voice she knows too well. Her eyes go wide immediately and Henry must've sensed her reaction because he turns to her, smiles kindly and encourages her to go there.

Regina is hesitant, doesn't think it's a good idea, doesn't think Roland wants to see her, but then she inhales deeply, decides that she has nothing to lose and enters the living room.

Her heart starts beating like crazy as she looks at Roland, tears filling her eyes. Her mouth opens, and she wants to greet them but the words are stuck in her throat and it feels as if she's paralyzed by fear of rejection.

"Merry Christmas, love," Robin says warmly, and stands up rather slowly, walks up to her. She's still in shock, not knowing what to do, she doesn't even return the small kiss that Robin lands on her lips as he pulls her into a tight hug.

Robin smiles at her and then his hands are gone and he's walking out of the room, talking to Henry about something Regina cannot hear. All she can do is stare at Roland who sits there on her couch quietly, looking down at his hands.

She decides it's time to approach him, and so she does just that, walks to him and sits on the couch beside him but keeps her distance in case he doesn't want her close.

"Merry Christmas," she says sheepishly, and the boy finally looks up at her, their eyes locking for a moment but when he's looking at his hands again.

"Why did you give me away?" he asks a question that's been torturing him for days, his lower lip trembling and Regina cannot help but feel a little bit of relief – at least he's talking with her.

He's too young to know the real story, she thinks, but she doesn't dare to lie to him again, not after what'd happened, so she tells him the truth, or what could be considered the truth.

"I was a very awful person back then, Roland," she starts with a deep inhale. "I could've hurt you and I would've been an awful mother to you. You deserved something better. I gave you your best chance." When Roland doesn't say anything, she adds, "and you did get that chance because now you have your papa."

"Papa said that Snow White is my sister."

"It's a difficult story but yes, she is."

"Oh."

Silence surrounds them then and Regina tries to think of something to say, anything, just to speak, to make him open up and let it all out, to make things work between them because yes, many years ago she didn't want to keep him but now, oh, how much she regrets it.

"I won't call you 'mom'," Roland's quiet announcement snaps Regina out of her thoughts and she's nodding before she can even understand what he's just said. Gods, she would agree to anything if it meant that Roland would give her another chance. "And I will love Papa forever."

"Of course you will. I wouldn't want it any other way."

"Then I forgive you."

Regina feels relief she hasn't felt for years and all of sudden she's pulling him into a hug, holding him as close as possible and tears roll down both of their cheeks.

"I love you, Roland," she whispers and he doesn't return the sentiment, only hugs her tighter and it's enough. Right now she wouldn't wish anything more.

As Regina holds the boy in her arms, she thinks that Henry was right. It's definitely her favorite present, this second chance.

(...)

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