❃
|Granny's|
❃

Emma, Regina, and Cleo entered Granny's to discuss possible ways to get Regina's memories back over a nice lunch (though Regina insisted she could have made much better food).

Ruby took their orders and once she was gone, Emma began talking. "We need some of whatever potion Killian gave me after the Missing Year, when he found me in New York.

Cleo shook her head. "No, no. The potion Regina took had water in it. Special water. Water that makes you forget."

"Can you be more specific?" Regina asked.

"Water from a river."

Ruby set three plates down and Cleo started picking at her food. "Is there anything else I can get you?"

Emma shook her head. "No, we're good."

Ruby nodded and walked away to take someone else's order. Emma picked up an onion ring and began to eat.

"Are there any Disney movies with a river of water that makes you forget?" Regina hesitantly took a bite of her food.

Emma shrugged. "None that I can remember."

"I think it's in a book," Cleo mused absentmindedly before biting the tip off of a french fry. "Your food is weird."

"Yeah, well, you get used to it," Emma said. "At least, that's what Killian has told me."

After discussing it for nearly an hour, they still didn't have any answers for what sort of water had been in the potion that Zelena had used to make Regina forget about Robin. Emma had finished all of her food, Cleo had odds and ends of hers still on her plate, and Regina had only taken a few bites of hers.

"Not feeling well?" Emma asked.

Regina shook her head. "No."

Emma called Ruby over to the table and she brought back a box for Regina's food. "Are you sick?" Ruby asked with a concerned tone in her voice.

Regina shook her head. "No, just not very hungry. I'll finish later."

"Okay."

"You're pregnant?" Cleo whispered when Ruby walked away.

Regina gave her a weird look. "How'd you know?"

"Dunno."

"You can't tell anyone," Emma whispered to Cleo. "If Zelena's running around town, we can't trust anyone. Not after the Marian thing."

Cleo nodded. "Okay."

After Regina had packed up her food, the three left Granny's to head back to Emma's, where Cleo was staying.

❃

Once the work day was over, Ruby locked up Granny's and headed outside. Once she was far enough away from the main part of Storybrooke, a green cloud of smoke engulfed her and Zelena was left where Ruby had been before. There wasn't much that was fun about being a werewolf, but impeccable hearing was one perk. And Regina and Emma's friend just so happened to have spilled the beans about Regina's secret.

Zelena opened the door and greeted Arthur with a kiss. "Hello, dear. How's the wolf?"

"She's doing just fine," Arthur assured Zelena. "How was your first day at Granny's?"

"Wonderful. It seems as though we may not have to wait for my half-sister to move on after all. Ruby's werewolf senses allowed me to pick up a little secret. So I'm wondering, do I return my dear sister's memories and watch her crash and burn or do I keep her wondering forever?"

"Why don't we discuss it over dinner?" Arthur offered.

"I think that sounds wonderful. We can give her tonight before her suffering gets any worse. But first, I'm going to go check on Ruby."

Zelena pressed another kiss to Arthur's lips before leaving for the cellar where Ruby was in Gold's old cell.

"Let me out!" Ruby demanded the moment she heard Zelena's footsteps and saw the witch descending into the cellar. "You can't impersonate me forever! Someone will find out eventually!"

"I don't need forever," Zelena replied. "I only need the next eight months. After that, Arthur and I will be safe in Oz with my sister's child and you can tell them all about it."

"No!" Ruby exclaimed. "You can't-- wait, Regina's pregnant?"

"According to the lovely Firebird, yes."

❃
|Regina's House|
❃

Regina shoved her uneaten lunch in the fridge that was far too full of food for just her and Henry. The more Regina thought about it, the less her life made sense. There were certain parts of her life that were simply gone and there were several that were just plain impossible. How had she and Snow gotten away from the flying monkey during the Missing Year? Who had given her the strength to find the light magic inside of her during the battle for Baby Neal against Zelena? And why had she been so worried in Tartus, not for her own life, but for someone else's? Regina could pretty much fill in what had happened by guessing. Something that had to do with Robin.

Another thing that didn't make sense was Regina's house. There was too much food in the fridge, there were too many bedrooms that had been slept in lately, and the house was way too messy. And, of course, there were the pictures. The pictures of Robin and Meg and Henry and Roland. Regina sighed and walked up the stairs to her bedroom. Both sides of the bed had clearly been slept on recently and there were two toothbrushes in the bathroom. Regina laid down on the bed and glanced at the bedside table on the side that wasn't hers. It was much cleaner than hers was on top. There was only a lamp, a phone Regina didn't know (or couldn't remember) the password for, and a folded up piece of paper. Regina reached out and picked up the piece of paper, wondering if she was invading Robin's privacy by reading it.

Regina slowly unfolded the piece of paper and read the words;

To:
My Queen, Regina,

If you're reading this, either I'm gone forever or you're sneaking a look at this while I'm out somewhere. Let's just hope it's the latter even though I've trusted you to not look at this.

It's not that you can't look at this, but I'm not really sure what I'm writing here, so there's really no secrets or anything. Just some embarrassing cliché romance stuff that you'll roll your eyes at while attempting to hold back a smile.

Anyways, I guess I'm just writing this to let you know how much I love you. If I really am dead or gone forever, I'm sorry. Chances are it was only so you and/or the kids wouldn't get hurt. I don't think I could bear it if something happened to you while I stood by and watched. But I really do love you, Regina, no matter what. It's like I said to you when I proposed; you're the light of my life, no matter how dark you may think you are.

If you're reading this before we got married, I'm sorry I left you so soon. But please, Regina, don't let this loss take over your life. Get up and fight like I know you can.

If you're reading this after we've gotten married and started a family, don't you dare let them down. I know you're mourning, but they need you, Regina. Henry, Roland, Megan, and whatever other children we may have still need you and they need you to be strong.

If you're reading this sometime in between, don't let what could have been hold you back. Henry, Roland, and Megan still need you.

And if you're reading this while I'm out somewhere, I love you. I have loved you ever since I first saw you during the Missing Year and I will love you until my dying breath. Through thick and thin, in sickness and in health, I will love you forever.

Love,
Your Outlaw, Robin

Regina felt tears running down her cheeks, but she couldn't remember why. She wiped them away, but they kept falling. She folded up the letter and placed it back where she had found it on the bedside table. Regina just wanted more than anything to remember Robin. She knew she loved him more than anyone excluding Henry, and she knew she had been devastated when she lost him, but she couldn't remember much else.

"I'm going to remember you," Regina promised to the letter. "I will find a way to remember you again, Robin, I swear it."