Day three of OQ Prompt Party week, based on prompt 107. Set during the weeks Robin was in New York, and in an AU where Marian is actually Marian, not Zelena.

Sorry for any errors, I'm very tired

~

"Papa?" Roland looked up at his father, his eyes big and sad. "I miss Gina."

It's been a hard adjustment for them, moving from Storybrooke to New York City. But it wasn't like they had any other option. If they had stayed in Storybrooke, Marian would have frozen to death, and Robin knew at least a little bit about the technology of the Land Without Magic. And though his knowledge was limited, it was better than sending Marian across the town line to fend for herself.

Even so, Robin and Roland were both suffering from Regina withdrawal. Robin could tell Marian wasn't too fond of it, but she also seemed to be trying her best to not let it show.

"Me too." Robin sighed. "Me too." He patted the mop of curls on his son's head - what else could he do? - and went on his way to the kitchen. He needed to get more groceries and Marian was still hesitant to step foot in a grocery store. A market inside? She had said, I don't know, Robin... And I don't like the idea of their purchasing systems. They scare me.

So Robin was the one who did the shopping while Marian stayed home with Roland.

---

Robin's phone number seemed like it was only there to taunt Regina these days. She knew she wouldn't call him - why would she want to hear about his new life with Marian? - but she couldn't bring herself to delete it. So she stared at it until she talked herself out of calling. It seemed she came up with a new excuse every day.

Snow and Emma had both suggested calling Robin a few days after he'd left, but Regina shut them both down quickly. She didn't want to be the reason Robin was unable to move on and start a new life. There had been no more suggestions of phone calls after the first week.

Regina wanted to say she was moving on and doing better, but truthfully, she wasn't. It had only been three and a half weeks since Robin stepped over the town line, and she still missed him just as much as when he had let go of her hand. The hurt had changed, since then, but it was just as painful. It started out as a sharp pain in her chest that made it hard to breathe. Then, it had moved to here brain, making it hard to think without crying. Finally, it settled in her stomach as a dull ache, always there, haunting her day and night. The thought of Robin would never leave. The pain of losing him was always there.

---

It was late sometime during the fourth week when Robin finally gave in. He figured Regina would be asleep, but he would be okay with even hearing her voicemail at the moment. He was desperate for anything to do with Regina. He knew he should try to move on, but he just couldn't. He couldn't fall back in love with Marian after falling in love with Regina.

His thumb hit the call button and he pressed the phone to his ear. It rang once, twice, three times. By the fourth, Robin was certain Regina was asleep, but halfway through the fifth ring, she picked up.

"Hello?"

"You're awake." Robin hadn't meant to say that, it was just the first thing that came to mind and after hearing Regina's voice, he couldn't stop it from slipping out.

"Robin..." Regina's voice sounded almost like a whimper.

"I'm here."

"But you're not. You're eight hours away in New York City and you can never come back." Regina sighed, "Why did you call?"

"I needed to hear your voice, Regina. ...I miss you."

Regina was silent for several seconds, and Robin couldn't tell if she didn;t know what to say or didn't want to say the words in her mind.

"I miss you too," Regina finally said, "but you need to move on, Robin. You can't hold onto me forever."

"Why not?"

"Because you deserve to be able to live your life without the memory of me holding you back!"

"The memory of you is the only thing that reminds me why I stay here in New York!" Robin snapped. They were both silent, taking in what Robin had just said.

"What I mean is..." Robin tried to figure out how he could explain himself, "...this is what you would do, Regina. Help someone who doesn't know how this world works, like you did with me. You could have let me figure it out on my own, but you didn't. And I know you want everyone to believe you're cold and distant, but I know if you saw someone struggling in this world because they didn't have memories left over from the first curse, you would do what you could to help them. You don't abandon people, especially not the people who care about you, and I want to be more like that."

"You want to be more... like me?" Robin, I did horrible things. I ki--"

"I know, but that is your past. I want to be more like you now. You're a good person, Regina. I just wish I could say that to your face instead of over the phone."

"I need you to hang up."

"What? Why?"

"Do it, or I will, and you won't even get to say goodbye."

Robin pursed his lips. In this mood, Regina was planning on doing exactly what she said, he knew that tone in her voice. "Goodbye, Milady."

"Goodbye."

---

As soon as Regina heard the line go dead, the tears began to fall. Slowly, at first, but the more she thought about the conversation, the sharper the ache in her stomach got, and the more tears fell.

Henry was with Emma, so Regina had no reason to worry about being heard. No one would come to her rescue to try and save her from her misery. Not that anyone could. Right now, Regina just wanted to be sad. Tomorrow morning, she would get up and act like she was perfectly fine, maybe even fake herself into believing she was for a few moments here and there.

But for now, she was sad and she missed Robin and that was okay.

---

Robin awoke to his phone buzzing. He looked over at the screen to see it was a text message from Regina. Since when did she text?

Robin sat up and picked up his phone, carefully reading what Regina had sent. It was instructions to set up some sort of account. She didn't say what it would do, but Robin followed them anyways. He spent the day following the instructions word for word while Roland asked what he was doing and Robin could only shrug.

It was a few hours after lunch when Robin had successfully set the account up and figured out what it could do.

It could - if he was understanding correctly - show him a video of Regina. Like a phone call, but he would be able to see her.

"What does it do, Papa?" Roland asked for the seventh time that day.

"I think it will let us see Regina."

Roland's face lit up and he grinned. "Really?! Can we try?!"

"We certainly can, but I can't promise it will work right."

"Okay." Roland sat down next to Robin and stared at the screen intently as Robin clicked on what was (hopefully) Regina's account.

---

Regina's computer made a beeping noise that drew her eyes away from what she was cooking. She set down her knife, quickly rinsed off her hands, and sat down in the chair that was facing her computer. She accepted the incoming call and an image of Robin and Roland appeared on her screen. Regina couldn't help but smile when she saw their faces.

"Gina!" Roland exclaimed, his smile wide. "Gina, it worked!"

"I knew it would," Regina smiled at the little boy. "So tell me Roland, how have you been?"

"Good! I miss you, though." The little boy leaned close to the screen and whispered, "I think Papa misses you too, but he won't say it."

"Does he now?"

Roland nodded. "Papa takes me shopping sometimes, but it's not as fun as when you took me." Roland frowned, "He won't let me get any cookies."

"It's because they're not good for you," Robin poked his son's side, causing Roland to giggle. "You know that and Regina knows that, but she got you cookies anyways."

Regina shrugged. "He'd never had cookies from this world before and you haven't lived until you've had Lofthouse cookies, just saying."

Robin rolled his eyes, but he was smiling. The three of them like this; just talking happily about stupid domestic stuff... it was something Robin thought he would never get to experience again. He missed it almost as much as he missed Regina herself.

"So what have you been up to, Mr. Locksley?" Regina finally made eye contact with Robin and Robin had to remind himself to breathe.

"Doing my best to remember everything you taught me about the technology of this world, mostly. I still can't get the toaster to work right, though. And I haven't even attempted the oven."

"The toaster? Really?" Regina raised an eyebrow. "You can master the coffeepot, the microwave, and almost master the stove, but it's the toaster that gets you?" She chuckled. "You're ridiculous."

"Papa says the toast either turns out like regular bread or it's burnt," Roland informed Regina.

Robin shrugged, "It's true." Robin turned to Roland, "Why don't you go make sure Mar-- your mother is okay."

"Okay!" Roland ran away, disappearing off the screen.

So, what have you been up to lately, Milady?"

"Oh, you know, being mayor of Storybrooke and putting up with Snow and Emma."

"Well if you're still putting up with them, that means you haven't killed them or shut them out yet, so I think that's pretty good. I'm proud of you."

I'm proud of you. Those words made Regina smile. I'm proud of you. No one had ever told her that in so long. Cora certainly had never been 'proud' of Regina. Regina's father had been, and he had told her a few times before she became the Evil Queen. No one was proud of her when she was the Evil Queen, not even Cora.

"I miss you." The words tumbled out of Regina's mouth like water that had been held back for too long. "I miss you so much."

"I miss you too," Robin replied quietly. "Gods, Regina..." Robin ran a hand through his hair, "I don't know how you do it. I couldn't act as mayor while missing you like this. I can hardly act like my normal self."

"I guess it's just normal to me now," Regina whispered, barely audibly.

Robin wished more than anything that he could be there, standing across from Regina, so he could hug her and kiss her and whisper in her ear that everything was going to be better now and she didn't have to think about the past anymore. But all he could do now was... video call her.

"I will see you again someday, Regina."

Regina shook her head and started to say something, but Robin cut her off.

"I will see you again. Somehow, there's got to be a way to go across the town line and still be able to return. Or a way to return to Storybrooke. I know I can't stay forever like I want to, but I don't think I can go the rest of my life surviving on video calls."

"And what if there is no way?"

"There is," Robin said, his voice full of determination. "One of us just has to find it."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because I can't believe this is how our story was meant to end." Robin held his arm up so Regina could see his tattoo. "You told me Tinker Bell lead you to your soulmate and it was me. I can't believe soulmates are doomed to be forever separated, Regina. I just can't. And you shouldn't either."

"I guess I just figured my soulmate was doomed to live apart from me forever."

Robin shook his head, "No. We will see each other again someday, okay?"

Robin nodded and smiled, surprised that the smiled wasn't forced. "Okay. I'll see you again. For real. Someday."

"Someday," Robin echoed.