Repeat (A Once Upon A Time Fanfiction / Captain Swan's Daughter)

62

We arrived at a hotel close to Disney world. It was about five minutes drive from the park and Emma had hired a minibus to pick up from the airport. It wasn't yellow or named after a type of insect, but she could still drive it pretty well. We checked into our rooms after a little struggle, which may or may not have involved with Zelena almost swearing at the hotel staff.

In total we only had 3 rooms. The first room was huge and has two double beds and two single beds. There were also a couple of sofas, and I expected we'd all probably end up hanging out in this suite. One double bed was for the Charmings, the other was for the Mills. Roland and Neal had a single bed each, even though they probably wouldn't even take up a quarter of the space. Snow and Regina planned the rooms, and I would have never expected them both to agree to their sleeping arrangements, but they must have done. I would have loved to hear the bickering that went down between the four adults while they were trying to sleep through Zelena's running commentary on life.

The second room was a lot smaller and had a bunk bed and a desperate single bed for me, Robin, and Henry. Robin made Henry and me take the bunk bed, as she said, and I quote, "It'll be fun laughing at you both.". I personally don't see what's so funny about a bunk bed, but I went with it. Henry got first dibs on the top bunk, which was fine with me because I had better access to my phone charger.

The third room was a double room for Emma and Killian. The other adults, with the exception of David, made jokes about how this was 'the honeymoon they never had' and that they were 'the only couple sleeping alone'. I couldn't tell if the comments about Emma not having to share with little kids upset her because of the past year, but she seemed fine. It was hard to tell how Emma was feeling when she was part of a larger group. She always seemed to blurt everything out to me, so if we were alone I would know exactly how she was feeling. Nonetheless, she couldn't complain about her sleeping arrangement. My parents had the prettiest room by far and somehow managed to bag a mini fridge with a few drinks in.

We were staying at this hotel for four nights before driving to a beautiful beach house a couple of hours away for another six days. My grandmother had planned us a busy downy schedule for the next four days, generously giving me, Henry, and Robin one morning to sleep in until 10am. After that, we would mostly get to relax and do whatever we want at the beach. I was incredibly excited, as was everyone else. None of us had ever had a real vacation. The closest I'd had was a two-night camping trip with an old foster family and their slobbering dog. It rained for the whole trip and it was awful. Florida, however, was pure sunshine all day.

"I'm hungry." Regina announced while we were all slouched around the biggest hotel room. It was past 10pm and the little ones were already asleep. Somehow they hadn't woken up to the sound of Robin and Zelena cackling in a very witchy way.

"You? Hungry?" Zelena retorted. "When do you eat anything other than kale?"

"When she makes lasagne." Killian answered from the sofa, emma resting her head on his chest.

"Let's be honest, Hook, we polish it off before she can even get her fork in there." Zelena called back from her bed at the opposite side of the room.

"Excuse me, but I'm still here. And I am hungry. Does anyone want to go and find something to eat with me?" Regina asked. Most people shook their heads, already in their pyjamas and lazing around on various pieces of comfortable furniture.

"I'll come." I offered, effortlessly raising my hand. I stretched to reach my sandals, then borrowed Mary Margaret's cardigan that was hung on the back of a chair.

"Is it okay for me to take Phoebe out?" Regina asked Emma, who was half asleep slouched against her husband. She managed to lazily nod and smile, though. I put my thick hair into a messy and probably very unflattering messy ponytail while following Regina out of the hotel room. My mom was the only one who could pull off such a ponytail.

There were a few vending machines dotted around the hotel and there was probably some sort of room service that we didn't know how to use, but we decided to venture outside and find somewhere else to buy food.

We walked along the busy streets together, wincing at the tacky unofficial Disney merchandise advertised in windows. It was pretty late, but the sky wasn't completely black. It was a dark mix of purple and purple and a deep muted red. Street lights lit the darkening street, as well as lighting from almost every shop.

"Robin would have loved all this." Regina signed. We had been talking about our magic, then moved onto talking about the holiday as we walked with our arms linked. I never expected Regina to be the arm linking sort, but I wasn't arguing. I'd never really had people to link arms with in the past.

"This street or the holiday?" I asked as we sat down on a bench with the large fries we had got from a nearby McDonald's. Regina made me promise to not tell anyone she had eaten such fattening food, and I agreed willingly.

"The holiday." Regina smiled a smile of sadness, which just made me want to cry. She deserved to be happy after all she'd been through.

"What would he have liked most?" I asked. I didn't know if this would anger her or not, as Regina could sometimes become snappy when she was emotional, but I was willing to try with her.

"He loved being around people. He could always make everyone in the room feel welcome and at home. Unlike me, he always said the right thing. Family was so important to him and I knew he always wanted a family that I couldn't give him, which made me feel awful, but I can imagine how proud he would have been seeing how far I've come with everyone. Maybe not so much Zelena, but I think he would have warmed to to her. He was that sort of person. He fell in love with an evil queen, for god's sake." Regina told me, using a single finger to wipe tears from beneath her eyes in a neat fashion. She could even cry smartly.

"Did you want a big family?" I asked, curious.

"If you mean you lot, I'm glad I have you all, even if your father is a pain in the ass sometimes. I love you all so much. I'm so glad you managed to find your way back home. I honestly don't think anyone would have recovered from losing you and little Robin for good. You're both so important to this strange family we have going. Don't tell anyone, but you were probably missed the most. You were the one that tied everyone together." Regina told me. "If you mean a family with Robin, it has been on my mind. I never thought I deserved a family before I met Robin and I never even considered having any kids, other than Henry of course. Robin made me regret sterilising myself to spite my mother for the first time. I knew I'd never be able to give him a child, and that's when Zelena butted in."

"Everyone loves you too, Regina." I said as I watched a tear roll down the usually fierce woman's cheek.

"I know, but so did Robin. I miss him so much. He should be here getting to know his daughter and realising that little Robin and himself have the same polite mannerisms and that they both cut off their broccoli stalks and leave them at the side of their plates. He should get to hold little Roland's hand as he rides his first rollercoaster." More tears rolled down Regina's face and she had given to wiping them away. I sat closer to her on the bench and out my arm around her.

"Its okay to miss him." I reassured her.

"I know." Regina nodded. "You know, a week after he died I found a ring in his drawer. I'm no expert, bur it looked a lot like an engagement ring. All I could do was stare at it, knowing he had plans to spend the rest of his life with me. I've never told anyone this before."

"I won't tell anyone about any of this, I promise." I smiled.

"It's funny how my confidant is my 16-year-old niece." Regina laughed, trying to pull herself together. "You don't mind me calling you my niece, do you?"

"No, that's fine." I nodded. "More then fine, even."

"Okay, great." Regina stood up from the bench and held out a hand, offering to pull me up. "We better head back. Your grandmother's timetable says we're begging up early tomorrow, which isn't anything new for me, but I've heard you like so sleep in until midday."

"Sounds like a plan, and you're not wrong about that last part."