Outlaw Queen Shorts

Milestones

Authors note:
I don't know if many of you have tumblr, but there's a "cherish the peanut" week happening for baby girl Locksley (I named her Abby since she hasn't got a name on the show yet) and a prompt is given for each day of the week. I've been taking part so this is the piece I wrote for day 1 on Sunday - Milestones. 
Let me know what you think and if you want me to post them all (it'll be one each day) thanks!

She first learnt to crawl when Robin was facing the other way, picking up the dummy Abby had unceremoniously thrown across the floor. He'd turned back around and there she was, fingers digging into the cream carpet, knees following every slap of her palms on the floor as she made her way to her father, a grin plastered on her cheeks even at such a young age. Another Locksley to inherit the dimples, he thought and called for Regina, marvelling at the speed his daughter seemed to adapt to the world around her.

Regina stopped dead in the doorway, her mouth dropping open as she looked from their child and back to him, her shock turning into delight with that sparkle in her eyes and the upturned corners of her lips.

They still have the photo in an old album. "Come on Abby, come over here," Henry had cooed and sure enough, the she had crawled over, her eyes shining as a tiny laugh broke from her, and he'd captured the moment on his phone - Robin and Regina sat on the sofa in the background, smiling at the tiny girl who brings so much light into their lives.

---

The next feat had been walking, which came in attempts in between the gargles of noise that bubbled out of her in babbles; her own language that when they were lucky resembled something of the word dada, or at the very least, daa. (Although Regina was adamant she'd gurgled out the word mama, it just so happened no one else was there to hear it.)

Marco had made them a walker - a round table with wheels that Abby could sit in, far enough from the floor that she had to use her legs to propel her forwards - a contraption that at first baffled Robin, because how on earth could that help? But it did, and soon enough she was merely using it for stability, something to push along as her steps slowly but surely became more steady.

She'd hold onto the edge of the sofa, bending her knees up and down, giggling when Roland would without fail join in with her so both of them were bouncing on the spot. He loved his little sister to the moon and back, and he'd hold onto Abby's chubby fingers when Robin read her a bedtime story - his voices and his actions more for Roland's benefit - until she fell asleep.

It was Regina who'd snapped this shot, stood in the doorway when they were midway through The Hungry Caterpillar. Roland's dimpled grin and Robin's face half contorted with the acting he put his heart and soul into during story time, both of them either side of the baby girl who's eyelids were drooping ever so slightly, the clock telling them it's way past her bedtime.

---

Abby loved the park. She loved the fresh air and the adventures. When she wasn't running around the grass with Roland, or building elaborate castles in the sand with Henry, she was on the swings, begging to go higher and higher until she could nearly touch the sky. And no one did a better job at pushing than Regina.

Robin considered himself honoured when his daughter allowed him to push, but no matter how great his efforts, he was no match for his wife - the superior swing pusher by far. "Mommy lets me touch the sky!" Abby would say, and Robin would laugh, relinquishing his position to Regina. Of course, Abby never touched the sky, but when his girls were in cahoots, there was no breaking their bond. She'd reach the peak of the swing, legs flailing and strawberry blonde hair flapping behind her in the wind, when Regina would blow her a kiss, much to the delight of the girl who was now old enough to catch it with a squeal of delight.

Looking back, neither of them think it was the first time (because they'd been doing it for years) but for the first time it registered - Abby had blown her own kiss back, in the direction of her mother, who caught it with a tear in her eye, pulling her closed fist to her chest and letting it seep through her clothes to her heart.

It was Robin who'd caught this one, the photo slightly blurred as the swing had come back down to earth from the sky. The moment still lies firmly in Regina's heart, locked safely away with every precious memory she holds dear. Her daughters hand outstretched and lips pursed with the kiss she's just blown, and Regina's own hand reaching out to catch it.

She digs it up now and again, the album - smiling at the way her family has grown, admiring the looks of happiness on their faces - careful not to get it out so often that the snapshots take over the memories themselves. Because some things are too precious, and too important, to be lost to a single frame. Life is full of moments, as someone once told her, and Regina wants to remember them as they should be remembered: with as much emotion as they held when they were created.