Prompt: Post-Robin. Regina wasn't sure when or how it happened, but at some point everyone - including Roland, the Merry Men, and herself - began treating her as Roland's mother.

It happened slowly, without any recognition, as if it was the most natural thing in the world, and Regina couldn't pinpoint a time in her memory when she had noticed that things became different.

They'd be sitting together in Granny's, the Mills and Charming family, and Roland would ask Henry if he could go get a candy out of the small machines in the back. Henry would say that he had to ask Regina first, who would insist that he finished his dinner before any sweets.

Then, whenever Henry wanted to take Roland out for an adventure around the docks with Killian, Emma would insist that they make sure Regina was okay with it. She hadn't thought much of it, had insisted that Henry keep an eye on Roland so he didn't fall in the ocean, and off they would go.

No matter where the boys went they'd always call to tell her everything was okay, and they would share stories of their Storybrooke adventures around the dinner table every night. Some were more interested than others, but after all, a day on a ship with a pirate was far more exciting than a day of grade 1.

When they'd go out to get groceries Roland would stick close to Regina's side, holding her one hand while her other pushed the cart. She'd read from her list while Roland would reach to grab the items from the shelves, and he'd always ask for help when he couldn't lift something heavy into the cart himself.

They'd cook together occasionally, Regina and her boys, when they'd had a long week and needed a quiet night in as a family. Roland would stand on a stool in front of Regina, and he'd watch her as she wrapped her arms around him to dice veggies or stir sauce while instructing Henry as he took on the tasks that Roland couldn't, like peeling and chopping.

They had become a family, a broken one, but a family nonetheless, though that wasn't exactly news to Regina. She felt the connection that the three of them shared every day as she woke them up for school or kissed them goodnight. She felt it as she cuddled with Roland when he had a nightmare, or when she pecked Henry on the cheek as he left for the day to work with David. These were her sons, and she knew that with all of her heart.

They had always been her sons, she had loved them as much when she'd first set eyes on each of them, Henry 15 years ago when he'd been passed to her shaking hands, and Roland 3 years ago when she'd snatched him from a flying monkey. She'd known in her heart that they were her sons for far longer than she realized.

Though somewhere along the way things shifted in everyone else, and Regina didn't notice it until one day with the Merry Men and the Charmings. They had been having a town-wide get together in her house, no reason behind it other than to celebrate another month without a catastrophe, and Regina had over heard the Merry Men talking amongst themselves quietly while she was busying herself in the kitchen.

"We have to go back to the Enchanted Forest John, I can't take it here anymore. Not without Robin."

His name had caught her attention, and Regina's heart had clenched. She wondered for a moment whether that reaction would ever go away.

"What do you want me to do, Tuck? Just waltz up to Regina and say 'Hey we're thinking about going home, say goodbye to Roland!' That's a good way to get roasted alive."

Regina's stomach dropped, and she stopped what she was doing, listening intently (and quite obviously).

"Well he have to leave, and I'd just always assumed that we'd take Roland-"

"We can't take him away from his mother, Tuck. You know that."

That was it. Her heart had gone from frozen by fear to racing rapidly in her chest, so much so she could swear the Merry Men could hear it in the adjacent room.

Roland's mother.

She supposed this shouldn't surprise her, she had felt as such for a long time, so long she had forgotten what it was like without the prince of dimples sleeping in the room next to Henry's, or sitting at her kitchen table every morning and evening, or perched on her lap when she read him a story before tucking him in at night.

Still, she couldn't help the tears that stung her eyes or the smile that spread on her lips as she realized that everyone in town knew, without her having to tell them, that she was Roland's, and he was hers.