Love Will Find a Way ~ The Final Part of Modern Fairytale

Surprises at Every Turn

The following week brought with it final exams, leaving Robin plenty of work submitting grades before the commencement. Henry was studying hard for his own finals that he was anticipating in the upcoming weeks while Regina busied herself with keeping their home in order and drawing up a contract for one of her new clients. Dinners were spent together, at her request, but were often cut short by Robin and Henry who needed to focus on their work. Roland was accustomed to keeping his own bedtime routine: cleaning up his plate, doing his homework, taking a shower, brushing his teeth, and reading until he fell asleep. With his newfound independence, Regina was able to concentrate on the dishes and laundry. By the time she completed her tasks, Henry was already in his room while Robin worked effortlessly at the kitchen table grading exams. Literature courses were not the standard multiple choice that he could send through a machine at the school and trust that the grades were accurate. He spent hours reading short answer and essay responses to his prompts, carefully taking each sentence into consideration.

She changed into her satin pajamas, brushed her teeth, and removed her contacts before joining him in the kitchen. She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and stood behind him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and reading from a paragraph on one of his exams, "'Therefore, it is in fact Lady Macbeth who furthers the tragic outcome for her husband on her selfish, villainous quest for power.' Villainous is a strong word to describe her, wouldn't you agree?"

Robin chuckled and leaned down to kiss her hands where they lay upon his chest, "Perhaps, but it answers the prompt with dedicated, opinionated language, as instructed. So who am I to disagree?"

"I'd agree with selfish, but not villainous. I always liked Lady Macbeth. She's complicated and driven," she noted.

"Much like yourself," he offered.

Regina nodded and said, "And that doesn't make me a villain, now does it?"

He laughed and marked the paper before placing it neatly into his briefcase with the others, "Certainly not."

He stood from the table and gestured for her to lead the way to their room, remembering to shut the lights to the hall on their way. He closed the door and removed his clothes before entering the bathroom to ready himself for bed. Regina sat at her vanity, watching him through the mirror as she said, "We should probably get started on wedding plans soon."

He spit toothpaste into the sink before asking, "Don't we have to set a date in order to do that?"

"February 10th," she said. He rinsed his mouth and pondered the date before she added, "2018."

He was surprised, to say the least. That was less than a year away and they had yet to discuss any of the wedding details. The summer would free up a lot of his time to assist with the preparations, but he didn't have the slightest idea how to plan a wedding and with her busy schedule at work, it seemed like an impossibly short amount of time. He put his toothbrush in the holder and turned to face her, leaning against the sink as he asked, "Isn't that a bit too soon? Of course I'd marry you this instant so I don't mean it like that. I'm only considering it's a short timeline to make preparations."

Regina shrugged her shoulders and said, "My mother has nothing better to do than plan a wedding so I'm sure she'll help. And there's Mallory and I'm sure John wouldn't mind being involved. I think we'll be okay."

He nodded, "If you say so. I don't want you to be stressed over this, Regina." She rolled her eyes and he stepped toward her, "I mean it. You say there are plenty of people willing to help us so make sure you take advantage of that. You don't have to do everything yourself."