Author's Note: I came up with this idea a while ago and I had to write a one shot about it. Unfortunately, Robin is not alive in this which means heartbreak for everyone, but that's okay 🙂

Also, parts of this were inspired by Hazel Levesque from the Heroes of Olympus series, but you don't need to have read the series to understand this, I promise.

~

Regina silently cursed the layout of Untold Story-Ville. The houses all looked similar, and the roads curved off in strange paths that Regina couldn't remember. She needed to get back to Hyde's mansion, where Zelena was being held captive, but she had no idea where she was or where Snow and David were.

"You look a little lost," a woman's voice came from behind Regina. The former Queen immediately spun around, hoping she wouldn't have to fight anyone. Ever since she had split her light side from her darkness, her magic had been harder to control, and even use.

"My name is Goldie," the woman introduced herself. Her hair was light grey – almost silver – and it was pulled back in a low ponytail. A pair of eyeglasses rested on the bridge of her nose. "Can I help you find something?"

"Uh...." Regina hesitated, caught off guard by the woman's accent. "I, um.... I'm looking for Mr. Hyde's mansion. If you could just point me in the right direction...?"

"You're far too tired to be messing with Hyde right now, dear," Goldie seemed to have motherly instincts fused into her blood, and it was easily recognizable to Regina as she had the same sort of instincts after raising Henry. But still, Regina tried to fight her.

"No, you don't understand. My sister is in danger."

"At least let me make you some tea."

Regina's blood turned to ice. She told herself it was stupid, that tea was just a drink that soothed nerves, but the memory didn't seem to care about logic as it resurfaced in Regina's mind.

The efforts Regina and Belle had been making in the search for some way to free Merlin from the tree seemed to be useless. They had gone through countless books, and they still had nothing.

When Robin entered the library neither one of them even bothered to look up. He set a cup of steaming hot tea down next to Belle and she murmured a quiet, "Thank you," as Robin moved towards Regina. He set the second teacup down next to her before wrapping his arms around her and placing kisses on her neck.

"Robin, stop, I'm trying to read." Regina shrugged him away and flipped a page in her book. Robin sighed and looked down at the book Regina was skimming through.

"You need to take a break eventually."

"I'll take a break when we have a wizard instead of a tree."

"Regina please." Robin spun Regina around so she was facing him instead of the book. She looked up into his eyes, and for a moment, the problems of Emma being the Dark One and Merlin being a tree seemed to vanish. "You need to take a break. Both of you do." Robin glanced over at Belle, who had begun watching Regina and Robin as she sipped on her tea, ignoring the heat burning her tongue. Robin looked back to Regina and continued speaking, "I'm sure Emma and Merlin will be okay for one more hour. If you wear yourself down, you'll never be able to figure out what to do. All I'm asking for is an hour break for both of you, and then you can go back to your books."

Regina wanted to argue, but she knew Robin was right. "Fine," she gave in reluctantly. "One hour, no more."

The memory dissolved, jerking Regina back into reality. She needed to stop her flashback blackouts, but she had no idea how, or when they would hit, and she hadn't told anyone about them. All she had figured out thus far was that there was a trigger word that would send her back into the past, back to when Robin was alive. And once that trigger word sent her back once, it would never send her back again.

But the worst part was, Regina wasn't sure she wanted to stop the blackouts. She got to relive her moments with Robin, and she didn't really want to give that up. She could hear his voice and be wrapped in his arms once again, even if it wasn't real.

"Are you okay?" Goldie asked, concerned.

"Y-yeah," Regina lied. She felt lightheaded, but she knew if she let Goldie see that, the older woman would never let her go without resting.

"No you're not. Please, just come in and sit down." Regina didn't have enough energy to fight against Goldie as she lead Regina into her house. Regina sat down on the couch inside and Goldie went to work on making tea.

Once the light-headed feeling went away, Regina was able to look around the room she was in. There were several framed photographs on top of the fireplace. They depicted Goldie, a man who Regina assumed was Goldie's husband, and a young boy who looked too familiar for Regina's liking. Before Regina could figure out why she seemed to recognize the boy, Goldie returned with a cup of tea. Regina accepted the cup and took a cautious sip.

As soon as the liquid hit her tongue, Regina almost dropped the cup. She forced herself to swallow the little bit she had in her mouth and then set the cup down on the side table, staring at it warily. She didn't even want to go back to studying the pictures anymore.

"You look pale," Goldie noted. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Yes," Regina managed, even though she was far from okay. She hadn't taken her eyes off of the teacup. She was trying to stop from blacking out again, but it was a fight she was losing horribly.

Regina forced herself to take deep breaths. Inhale, Exhale. Inhale, Exhale.

"Was there something wrong with the tea?"

"N-no. It just...reminded me of how someone I knew made tea." Regina was telling the truth, just not all of it. The truth was that the tea tasted exactly like how Robin made tea. He always added some special ingredient that Regina wasn't allowed to know about, but it was the best tea she had ever tasted.

"Strange," Goldie frowned. "I've only ever taught one person to make it the way I do."

Regina slowly lifted her gaze to the framed pictures on the fireplace. They were all clearly from years ago. In the most recent one, the boy was only four or five, but based on Goldie's age, it was from decades ago. Regina slowly stood up and walked over to the pictures, not entirely conscious of what she was doing. She picked up a picture of the boy and looked into his eyes. She studied the features of his face, her hand ghosting of the curve of his chin.

"Regina?" Goldie had gotten Regina's name out of her on the walk to Goldie's house, but not much else.

The younger woman looked up at Goldie, staring into her eyes. "What's your name?"

"I already told you, it's Goldie--"

"No. Your full name."

"People call me Goldilocks. Hardly anyone knows me by my last name."

"I need to know it."

"Locksley. Goldie Locksley."

Before Regina could even comprehend what Goldie had said, she had blacked out again.

"What made you choose the name Hood?" Regina asked, tracing her hand over his lion tattoo. She was leaning on Robin's shoulder, sitting on the couch in the Underworld version of the Charmings' apartment. Everyone else was asleep either upstairs or in the bedroom.

"I don't know."

"Why not stick to Locksley?" Regina lifted her head so she could look into Robin's eyes. "I like the name 'Locksley'. It's fun to say."

"Hmmm... Well then maybe you could share it with me someday."

At first, Regina wasn't sure she had heard Robin right. After all the dark and terrible things she had done, Robin still wanted to be with her, forever?

"That is, if you would like it."

Regina's shocked expression broke into a smile. "I would love to share it with you." Regina leaned in and kissed Robin, her lips moving against his slowly.

Regina's eyes shot open and she bolted upright, breathing heavily. She was covered in a blanket on Goldie's couch.

"What's wrong, Regina?" Goldie's question was clearly a demand to know what was wrong, not a request. Regina shakily gestured to the picture of Goldie's son, which Goldie handed to her, still confused.

"Y-your son. You had a son. Judging on these pictures, something happened and both your son and your husband left when he was about five. But before he left, you taught your son to make tea the way you do, with some secret ingredient." Regina turned the frame over, and on the back, in neat handwriting, was the words, Robin, my dear son. "Your son was Robin. Robin Locksley," Regina could hardly get his name out without breaking down. "When he was five, his father took him to the Enchanted Forest. To Misthaven."

Goldie just looked at Regina, wondering how Regina could know everything she did.

Regina kept speaking, "In Misthaven, Robin eventually became a thief. While a thief, he met a woman named Marian. Sometime between moving to Misthaven and meeting Marian, he got a tattoo of a lion on his forearm. After meeting Marian, he changed his code and began only stealing from the rich so he could give to the poor. After giving birth to a boy, Marian died. Over twenty-eight years later, after a curse had frozen Robin and his son in time, I met him after he saved me and a friend from a flying monkey."

"Is this all true?" Goldie asked. "You know my son?"

Regina nodded and pulled her phone from her pocket. She pulled up a picture of her and Robin before handing the phone to Goldie. "That's him. That's Robin."

Regina assumed Goldie wouldn't know how her phone worked, but Goldie's thumb flicked across the screen, going through the pictures of Regina and Robin. She stopped on one where the two were looking at each other, smiling. Regina felt the ghost of a smile appear on her face as she studied Robin and how in love he looked. In the next picture, Robin was placing a kiss on Regina's cheek and Regina was frozen in the middle of a laugh. "You and him are together." Goldie looked up at Regina and saw the tears pouring from Regina's eyes. "Were together," she corrected herself. "What happened?"

"He--" Regina choked a sob back. "He's gone. I'm so sorry, I couldn't stop it." Regina was having trouble getting any words out now because of the tears streaming down her cheeks. "He sacrificed himself f-for m-me and..."

Goldie pulled Regina into a hug, holding her tightly. The older woman had begun to cry as well.

"I'm sorry," Regina muttered. "I'm so sorry."

"Shhh," Goldie ran her fingers through Regina's hair like Robin used to. The gesture pulled Regina back into her dark pool of Robin memories and she felt as if she were drowning rather than longing for the memories. Because she knew that as soon as the memory ended, she would be back in reality, and Robin would still be gone.

~

A/N: The flashbacks/black outs were inspired by Hazel, as I stated in the author's note at the beginning.

And yes, I do think Goldilocks should be Robin's mother. Why? Think about it.

Goldilocks
Goldie Locksley.

If she had bright yellow (gold) hair, people would have called her Goldilocks instead of Goldie Locksley and it probably would have stuck.

Also, for some reason, I really just want to write one shots at the moment, but I am working on new chapters for Once on Instagram and TYHTBA, I promise.