Run Down

Marian

Authors note:
Long time no see readers! Sorry it's taken so long for an update - life got in the way. Hopefully normal services will resume from now on. Thank you for sticking around and voting/commenting, enjoy!

The cakes had been made (and mostly eaten) and Roland had been carried upstairs to the spare bedroom, his head lolling on Robin's shoulder and eye lids dropping despite his protests that he wasn't even tired. "It's already way past your bed time," Robin had cooed into his sons ear as he brushed brown curls from his eyes.

They were sat together now, her and Robin, her head pillowed on his chest and feet tucked up on the sofa behind her. Robin was lacing his fingers into her hair, massaging her head every now and then with a delicate scrape of fingertips across her scalp. The sensation was almost sending her to sleep. Their breaths had evened out, chests rising and falling at the same time - it felt like they'd somehow become one from being moulded together in that position for so long.

His other hand lifted from his lap to coast up her arm, strong fingers weaving around her warm skin, down to her hand to play with her fingers, bending and straightening each one in turn. She shifted, pressing further into his side and Robin accommodated by releasing his grip on her hair and bringing his arm to rest around her shoulders. He dipped his neck, pressing his lips to hers, their softness familiar and welcomed, comforting. Home.

The night had been perfect.
If only it could have stayed like that.

As soon as Robin's phone rang in the morning, the caller ID twisting his lips into a frown, his brows narrowing, Regina knew something was wrong. He'd swiped across on the screen and lifted it to his ear, took a very clearly controlled breath in then out before he spoke.

"Marian."

His tone was low, clipped; the tense set of his shoulders had Regina placing her coffee mug down on the countertop with a thud and watching him with concerned eyes. She could hear the faint voice of a woman on the other end of the line, too quiet and high pitched to make out the words, but by the way Robin's lips slowly became more of a thin white line, she guessed it wasn't good.

"You can't just turn up after three years of nothing," he was trying to keep from shouting, she could tell. He took another deep breath.

"I don't care!" That was a shout. Well, a raised voice at least.

Every passing moment had Regina becoming more and more concerned. She crossed to his side of the kitchen and placed a hand on his arm but he twisted under her grip, turning away from her and into the hallway. Her eyes stung. He walked away and out of view - not out of earshot - leaving Regina alone with her rejection. She stood for a few moments, composing herself, telling herself it wasn't her, he was just annoyed with the second participant of his phone call.

Roland was in the living room lying on his front, stretched out before the tv with his legs swinging in the air above his back. Regina walked over and sat cross-legged next to him, her back resting on the leather sofa behind her. She didn't speak, and neither did he, but it was nice to have him there.

Spongebob was doing his best to block out Robin's tense conversation.

"Where's daddy?" Roland turned his head, his chin resting on his chubby palm. His eyes were bright. She always thought of him as a clever child, he could hear Robin, and he knew something was off.

"Daddy's just on the phone," she said, "he'll be back in a minute." He nodded and turned his attention back to the tv, concentrating on the cartoons in front of him.

When Robin finally came back into the room, his shoulders were high, tense, and his jaw was clenching. He'd picked his mug back up from the kitchen and settled into the sofa - on the far end away from Regina. She picked at the rim of the mug in her hands, it's contents now cool and Regina couldn't quite bring herself to swig the last mouthful. Should she just let him stew and wait for his bad mood to pass? She turned her head towards him but he didn't meet her gaze, he carried on staring at the wall ahead, fingers curling tighter around the handle of his mug.

The pair of them sat in a stifling silence for a long few moments, Roland's giggles breaking through the thick air every now and then until Regina couldn't take it any more.

"Who was on the phone?" She asked, her tone casual. Like they both didn't feel the tension settling thicker than dust on top of them.

"No one." Clipped. Tense.

"Robin," she turned her head to him again and he looked down at her this time, motioning with his head for her to follow him as he stood and started back towards the kitchen.

Regina leant against the counter, waiting for Robin to speak, not wanting to push him but wanting to know who Marian was and why she'd got him so riled up. His eyes dropped shut and he dumped his half drunk coffee into the sink before reaching for Regina's shoulders and pulling her into a hug.