Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Regina watched as her little girl dropped down on the bed, trying it out to see how comfortable it was, she rolled each way, bouncing as she did. Regina looked on in amusement as she placed her suitcase on her own bed and opened it up. “Comfy enough for you Pippa?”

“I think so,” the girl nodded, “but I think I need to bounce a little more just to make sure,” she protested, a cheeky smile playing on her face as she stood up and bounced some more, her dark hair flying everywhere as she did so.

“Our neighbours are truly going to hate us,” she quipped, taking some of her clothes out and transferring them to the wardrobe in the corner of the room.

“That’ll be nothing new,” the seven-year-old replied as she stopped bouncing and dropped to the bed, crossing her legs and resting her elbows on her knees as she looked at her mother, watching her quietly as she moved both their clothes and put them away. Once she was done Regina turned to look at her daughter and grinned at her before rushing over and flopping on the bed, making her bounce up, “hey mommy!” she squealed with laughter, wrapping her arms around her.

“Hello.”

“I thought you said that our neighbours would hate us for bouncing on the beds.”

“Hmm, they won’t be our neighbours for very long anyway will they,” Regina chuckled, screwing her nose up and making her daughter giggle before she stood up and started spinning around in her yellow summer dress. “You’ll get dizzy,” Regina warned as she sat up on the bed, watching her daughter act like the crazy little madam she was.

“How long do you think I can spin for without falling over?” Pippa asked carrying on going, prompting Regina to stand up and scoop her up before depositing her back onto the bed.

“I don’t think we want to find out,” she laughed as she straightened the yellow top that Pippa had insisted she put on so that they matched. She’d decided to wear it with a pair of denim shorts that she wasn’t too sure if she was too old to be wearing but decided to go with it anyway. She was body confident enough to not feel too conscious in a pair of shorts and a summery top. Pippa had told her she looked great and that was the only opinion that mattered to her. “Right then Pips, how about we go exploring?”

“Yeah! Let’s go, maybe we’ll see some princess!”

“Mia, come on,” Robin coaxed as the little blonde sighed and buried her head in her hands. He’d had this holiday booked for months, but something he hadn’t been expecting was his daughter’s pet rabbit to die the day before they were supposed to be going. That was the reason for her looking so down in the dumps as she solemnly sat on her bed. “Are you just going to sit in here for the whole week?” he asked, running his fingers through her hair as she let out a huff and turned to lay face down on her bed.

“You will need oxygen at some point you know, you can’t keep your head buried in that cushion forever,” he quipped, standing from the bed and picking up the itinerary which was left on the console table by the door. He read through it and tried to find something he thought his daughter might enjoy. Quite frankly he knew she was going to enjoy just about everything if she could get herself out of the sadness she was feeling caused by the loss of Mr Snuggles. Which he knew was a stupid name for a rabbit, but it had been her choice not his and he’d gone with it.

He'd had to hold a minute funeral for the animal before burying it in the backyard.  Mia had decorated a shoebox for them to put him inside and they had said goodbye to him. She’d even gone out and found some flowers to lay on top which Robin found to be entirely too adorable. Now though it was time for her to have fun and put her sadness to the back of her mind.

“Mia come on, Mr Snuggles wouldn’t want you to be miserable on your holiday, he’d want you to have the best time,” Robin chuckled, “he’d want you to go see Mickey Mouse and all the princesses. You know what else?”

The girl turned her head to glance at him, her blue eyes watching him as she waited for what he was going to say next, “what?”

“He would want you to go in the pool and on the slides! See the shows, eat all the ice cream you could possibly fit inside, or donuts, whatever you want to eat, we’ll go get. You probably get served by Eeyore.”

“Eeyore,” she giggled, “what about Winnie The Pooh?”

“Oh, Winnie The Pooh is on lifeguard duty this week, but I’m sure they take turns.”

“What? He goes swimming?!” she laughed, her dimples on full show.

“Of course, he goes swimming, Piglet probably goes with him,” he laughed, watching his daughter’s eyes light up as he carried on joking around with her.

“What about the princesses?”

“Oh they don’t go swimming,” Robin shook his head as he lifted her up off the bed and slipped one of he room keys into the pocket of his shorts, moving his daughter onto his shoulder, so that she could hold onto him whilst he held her legs to make sure she didn’t fall off.

“Why don’t they go swimming daddy?”

“Because they are scared to get their hair wet of course,” he grinned thinking that he’d made a good joke, but he just heard his daughter scoff.

“That’s silly, Moana gets her hair wet all the time and she isn’t scared. So does Pocahontas. And don’t forget about Ariel! She’s a mermaid her hair is always wet!”

She’d got him on that one, clever little monkey, “you are very right Princess Mia, I completely forgot about that. Maybe you might see some princesses by the pool then after all.”

Pippa tugged her mother’s hand as they headed up towards the pool area, Regina chuckled at her enthusiasm, she was glad to see her daughter so happy. “Woah! Mom look at all the slides we have to go on them all.”

“I’m sure we’ll have time to go on them sweetie, we are here all week,” she chuckled as they looked at the pool. Pippa was a water baby, she always had been, she was an excellent swimmer for her age and always wanted to go to the pool.

“Yeah, but can we go this afternoon?”

“Maybe we can,” Regina grinned, playing with the ends of her daughter’s dark hair as she excitedly pointed towards something else, Regina followed her direction and her eyes widened when she spotted someone familiar stood by the ornamental waterfall with a cute little girl dressed in denim dungarees riding on his shoulders. She grabbed her daughter’s hand as she tried to control her breathing, she hadn’t seen him in years and now he was right there in front of her eyes. Robin Locksley, her childhood sweetheart, the first boy to ever break her heart, the first guy she had ever been with. After him, she’d sworn off men for years until she met Pippa’s father whilst at a work conference and he’d charmed her completely. A year later they’d had Pippa and a year after that he’d died in a car accident and left her alone with a one-year-old baby. She’d really struggled to manage the grief and Pippa, she’d moved back in with her parents for a little while just so she could get back on her feet.

Once upon a time she thought the man standing over there was her future and now that couldn’t have been further from reality. Clearing her throat her grasp on Pippa’s hand tightened, “okay baby girl, why don’t we go and see what the entertainment area looks like?”

“Okay, let’s go. Do you think there could be any characters there?”

“I definitely do, in fact, I bet that’s where they all hideout,” she grinned as they swung their hands playfully. Regina kept looking back, watching as the man interacted with the girl who was quite clearly his daughter, she was the spitting image of him. Luckily, he wasn’t looking at her, they were instead transfixed on the water.

Once they were back down below deck Regina calmed down a little, everything would be just fine if she kept her cool, it was a large ship and they weren’t necessarily going to bump into one another. She hoped to god that they didn’t because she didn’t know what she would say to him if she did. Thirteen years’ worth of pent up anger had hit her full force and she was as angry as ever about what had happened between them.

Regina forced herself to calm down for Pippa’s sake, she didn’t want to ruin the girls holiday by worrying about Robin Locksley, if they bumped into one another she would just have to try her best to be civil. He probably wouldn’t even recognise her. She looked different from how she did in High School, when the broke up she’d cut her hair and changed her style completely, she wasn’t as chilled out as she used to be and she still hadn’t got back to being that person even now. She’d lost her trust in people.

“Mommy look,” Pippa gasped as she stared up at a massive screen which was playing Moana whilst a girl dressed up as the princess danced by the side, “its Moana!” she squealed, “can we go see her?”

“Of course, we can,” Regina chuckled, she was going to put Robin out of her mind and concentrate on having a good time with her daughter, he wouldn’t be spoiling her holiday that was for sure.

“Well then my little superstar, how would you rate the first day of your holiday? From one to ten?”

“A billion!” Mia grinned cheekily, holding onto her father’s hand as they made their way back to the room from attending a screening of Tangled. “I like Pascal he’s funny.”

Robin looked down at his daughter and noticed that her eyes were threatening to close whilst they walked, she was obviously tired from everything they had been doing that day. Without giving her any warning, he scooped her up, earning a high-pitched squeal in response before she giggled and cuddled up against him, “I’m tired now daddy.”

“I know, I can tell,” he chuckled, pressing a kiss to the top of her head as he carried on down the corridor towards their room, his daughter now practically asleep in his arms, her blonde hair messy as it stuck out of his attempt to give her some plaits. He reached the room and swiped the key on the door, just as he was doing so he noticed people down the hall and turned to say hello, but stopped in his tracks as his eyes widened.

There was a woman holding the hand of a little girl as she talked to her about something or the other. He stared at her in shock, not believing his eyes. He hadn’t seen her in years, his friends had told him that she’d cut herself off from them and they hadn’t heard from her since high school. Yet there she was, on the same cruise as him with who he could only assume was her daughter, just like he was. She was still as beautiful as ever, her hair was shorter now than before and it made her look so much more mature, however, the thirteen years since he’d seen her would probably help with that as well.

The woman was his childhood sweetheart, he’d been so in love with her, had thought that they would be together forever, but that didn’t happen. They broke up the day they graduated and he never saw her again, didn’t even hear from her, she just disappeared off the face of the earth. She refused to pick up her phone or even give him an explanation as to why she didn’t want to see him, she just left him with a broken heart and a fractured future.

Regina Mills. The heartbreaker.

He quickly disappeared into his room before she could see him and laid his daughter carefully down on her bed before heading into the bathroom. He looked in the mirror and splashed some water over his face, he couldn’t actually believe this was happening. Out of all the cruises the woman could have picked, this was the one, she just happened to pick the same one as him. She didn’t have to know he was there if he could manage to successfully avoid her for the rest of the week he wouldn’t be complaining.

Yet another part of him wanted an explanation for what she did, he wanted to know why she left him all those years ago, why she’d just given up on their relationship and not even given him a chance to explain. He’d been confused about their breakup for so long and maybe if he confronted her she would finally give him the answer he was looking for.

After taking a few breaths he headed back out into the bedroom to get his daughter ready for bed. Maybe tomorrow he would see if he could talk to Regina, he wasn’t going to actively look for her, but if the opportunity arose and they crossed paths, there was no way that he would pass up the opportunity to find out what the hell happened to them.

The next morning Regina wasn’t feeling as worried about the whole Robin situation, she’d thought about it all night and concluded that if they bumped into each other, there was nothing she could do about it. Sher would have to just politely move away, she wasn’t going to get angry with him or confront him, she was going to be civil about it. They were adults now, not kids in love. They’d both grown up.

Pippa wanted to go swimming today, so that was what they would be doing, but first they were going to breakfast. Her daughter was wearing a white top and a dark blue floaty skirt whilst she wore a red kimono over her white bathing suit. Although Pippa was still excited about the trip she’d calmed down a little since the day before which meant that she wasn’t as hyper and Regina’s ears earned the rest they had been craving.

Once they reached the dining room they found a table so they could watch as different characters walked around the area. “Mike Wazowski!” she gasped, “and Sully, look how fluffy he is,” she grinned, almost vibrating in her chair as excitement coursed through her.

“Pippa, do you want to go see them?” Regina asked, personally she thought that it was a little scary not being able to see who the hell was under the costume, but the kids enjoyed it and she was with her daughter so she was sure it would be fine.

“Yes please,” she nodded as Regina stood from the table and they quickly headed over to the characters to have their photo taken with them.

After that, they headed to the area where they could pick what they wanted for breakfast with Pippa choosing pancakes and bacon whilst Regina went for some fruit and a croissant, she was just about to pick up a strawberry yoghurt when her hand collided with someone else’s. “Oh, I’m sorry,” she apologised, pulling her hand back and letting whoever it was take the yoghurt.    

“Thank you miss,” the little girl smiled up at her, her blue eyes shining in a way that was so familiar it almost took her breath away, it was safe to say that she immediately knew whose child this was. The eyes alone were a dead giveaway, then there were the dimples and the dark blonde hair, everything about her screamed: “I’m Robin Locksley’s kid!”

“You’re welcome young lady,” Regina smiled back once she’d composed herself. She quickly took a different yoghurt, not even really caring to look at the flavour because she knew that if the little girl was there that meant that her father was as well and if she was going to have to talk to him she at least wanted to be more prepared than she currently was. She certainly didn’t want to be preoccupied with having to make sure her daughter was being careful whilst helping herself to the free buffet. “Pippa, do you have everything you want?” Regina asked, eager to get back to the table so she could hide behind a drinks menu or something.

“Yes mommy,” Pippa nodded as she went to walk back to the table the way they came, but Regina spotted Robin getting some hot food and hurriedly steered her daughter in the opposite direction, meaning they had to walk the extra distance around the food court to get back to their table. “We could have gone the other way you know, it would have been quicker.”

“I know, but I figured we’d have a change of scenery on our walk back to the table,” Pippa narrowed her eyes at her a little but didn’t ask any more questions as she tucked into her breakfast. Regina chanced a glance over towards where she had just been and spotted Robin helping out his daughter, who was way too sweet, she was literally one of the cutest children Regina had ever seen, maybe apart from her own.

“Mommy, who is that man?”

“What man?” Regina chuckled, shaking her head and playing it off like she hadn’t just been caught staring directly at Robin by her daughter who was now looking at her with curiosity written all over her face.

“That man over there, the one you are staring at. Do you think he’s good looking or something?”

“Excuse me, young lady,” Regina scoffed, acting as though she were annoyed at the young girl, “why would you think that I thought he was good looking.”

“I don’t know, isn’t that why girls look at boys?”

“You better not have been looking at any boys, missus,” Regina warned, her little girl was way too young for a boyfriend, even if at that age they were just friends who were boys.

“Eww no, but I know that old ladies like boys. Like you liked daddy.”

“Well, I certainly don’t like that man like I liked your daddy,” she whispered, quietly thinking about Daniel for a moment. He and Robin had been polar opposites and yet she’d fallen for both of them. Daniel had been more serious whereas Robin didn’t know when to stop messing around and telling jokes. “And less of the old lady, I’m not that old.”

“Do you miss daddy?” she asked with a sigh, a sad expression on her face as she sipped some of her juice.

“Yes, I do miss him,” Regina nodded, trying not to cry at the way her daughter was looking at her. It was at times like these when she wondered where they would be if Daniel hadn’t died, if he were still with them, if he’d been able to see his daughter grow up. She wondered if they would still be together or if something would have happened and they’d have separated. However, it would have turned out, Pippa’s life would have been so different, her life would have been so different. She wouldn’t have had to raise their child alone.

“I know its silly because I can’t even remember daddy, but I miss him too. I wish he was still here,” Pippa stated, a lone tear rolling down her cheek.

“Hey, enough of that,” Regina tutted, reaching over and wiping away her tears, “I can tell you something, your daddy wouldn’t want you to be sad whilst on holiday, he’d want you to be having a good time.”

“The both of us?”

“Of course,” she smiled, “he’d want us to have as much fun as we possibly could and be as happy as can be.”

“I think he would too,” Pippa whispered before smiling up at her mother again, “we’re going swimming after breakfast.”

“Yeah, so you better eat up hadn’t you,” Regina laughed, glad to see that the sadness hadn’t lasted long. The thing she hated most in the world was seeing her daughter cry, whenever she saw that it just made her want to cry herself, she couldn’t bear seeing her daughter upset.

She glanced back over to where she’d last seen Robin but he wasn’t there anymore. She wondered if he had actually seen her yet or not, she didn’t know whether she was hoping for him to be prepared or if she wanted to shock him with her presence. Maybe if he didn’t already know he would have a harder time making up an excuse for his actions which led to their breakup.

After breakfast Robin had promised Mia that they would go swimming, she’d been so excited to go on the slides and her excitement made him happy. They walked towards the pool area on the top deck and Mia held onto his hand whilst humming How Far I’ll Go from Moana. Of course, he knew all the Disney song’s by now, his daughter was obsessed with it which was one of the main reasons for this cruise.

Suddenly though she stopped humming and looked up at him, “look, daddy, there’s the pretty lady that gave me my yoghurt,” she stated, pointing a woman who was swimming in the pool with her mini-me swimming beside her.

Robin halted in his tracks and shook his head, he couldn’t help looking at Regina, she was still as stunning as she had been at eighteen and now he had to see her in a white bikini and he didn’t know if he was strong enough to deal with it. How had she given Mia a yoghurt though? He hadn’t even seen her at breakfast that morning. If it were just him he would be leaving the pool and finding something else to do, but this had been what his daughter wanted and that meant that they probably had to get in the pool. “Mia, are you sure you don’t want to do something else today? Like maybe go to the princess tea party?”

“Nope, I want to swim,” she stated, stopping at a sun lounger before taking off her shorts and top, leaving her in her stripy blue and white swimming costume. “Come on daddy hurry up, I want to go in the water.”

“Armbands on,” he instructed.

“But I don’t need armbands,” she protested as he pushed them onto her arms, as far as he was concerned she was wearing her armbands whether she liked it or not, he was not risking her going under the water. “Daddy I can swim without them! They look silly,” she moaned.

“Mia, do you want to go in the water?”

“Yes.”

“Then we keep them on, just until you’ve got the hang of it, we haven’t been swimming in a while.”

She huffed at him before nodding and walking to the edge of the pool, “daddy, can you get in so I can jump?”

“Sure,” he chuckled, climbing down the ladder and standing in the water as he waited for her to join him. She looked around before jumping in right next to him and swimming over to hold onto his shoulder as she laughed and wiped her blonde hair from out of her face, “that was fun.”

“Good,” he laughed just as someone bumped into his back, he turned around to see a brunette girl who was around six years old.

“Hi,” she smiled, waving at Mia, “I’m Pippa, do you want to come play with me in the shallow end? They have cool floats,” she grinned. He took in the lack of armbands as the girl confidently treaded water.

“Daddy, can I go play?” 

“Pippa,” a familiar voice called, making Robin close his eyes and shake his head, it was only a matter of time before this happened, but he hadn’t been ready to hear her voice again after so long. Her voice sounded deeper than it used to, huskier and it affected him more than he might like to admit. “Sweetheart you can’t just swim off like…”

Regina froze as she stared at him, he was staring right back at her and from the lack of shock on his face, he’d already known she was here. She had no idea what was going to happen now but her heart was beating ten to the dozen.

“Regina Mills, long time no see.”

Chapter Text

"Not long enough if you ask me," she huffed, the smile she had been directing at her daughter slipping from her face as she gave him the evils. Hearing him speak made her stomach flip, she felt strongly affected by his presence. Even now he was charming, probably even more than he had been at eighteen, but she wouldn't make the same mistake, wouldn't allow herself to be pulled in by him again. There was no way he was going to get the opportunity to break her heart for a second time.

"Mommy, we're going to go play in the shallow end, is that okay?" Pippa asked, interrupting the glaring competition the two adults were taking part in. "Mommy."

"Yes, of course," she shook her head, snapping out of it as she smiled at her little girl. The children didn't need to be told twice before they were both heading away from their respective parents, leaving Regina and Robin stood together, childless. Keeping her eyes trained on Pippa she took a deep breath, she wanted to follow her daughter but knew she shouldn't interrupt when she was playing with her new friend.

"Wow, okay then. Just as opaque as ever aren't you."

"And what pray tell does that mean?" Regina scoffed, not looking at him as much as she wanted to. That was rich coming from him, how dare he act as though he were the injured party. He wasn't. She was the one who had been made a fool of following their breakup, she'd been embarrassed and humiliated because of him.

"I just mean that you don't like talking about your problems, you'd rather ignore them, right? Just like you did thirteen years ago." Here she went again, same old Regina. At least now she was talking a little bit, back then she had just completely shut him out and refused to hear a word he said, not even offering him an explanation as to why they broke up.

"I don't really know what you want me to say about that. All I know is that we are both mature adults, and we have the ability to avoid one another. So, you stay away from me and I'll stay away from you."

"I just want my kid to have a good time."

"Agreed," Regina nodded, looking at him for a moment, "this is going to be a long week."

"Sure, as hell is."

With a roll of her eyes she pulled herself up out of the pool, walking along the side towards the shallow end, "sweetie, I'll be watching from the lounger okay," she smiled, squeezing her daughter's shoulder as she passed the two girls who were playing happily together.

"Okay, mommy."

She cleared her throat as she lowered herself to the lounger, drying off before applying a fresh coat of sunscreen and making a note to call Pippa over in around half an hour so she could have some more on as well. Disney music was playing across the deck and as much as Regina might have been a fan of Disney, it was a little much. She was aware that Robin was watching her every now and then. If he wasn't watching his little girl, he was watching her.

Part of her was annoyed that she hadn't summoned the effort to confront him, but she couldn't do it. Not when her little girl was close by, she didn't think it would happen at all on this trip, they both had their children to think about and the last thing they needed was to be ruining their children's trip by arguing.

Taking a deep breath, she picked up her drink and leant back on the lounger. She had a bad feeling about how friendly the little girls were already becoming and had an inkling that they were going to be forced into spending more time together than they would ever be comfortable with. In fact, any time spent with him was too much. God her daughter didn't half know how to pick them. Out of all the children on the damn boat, she befriended his daughter.

After around an hour of the girls playing nicely together, Pippa, emerged from the pool, walking sensibly over to her mother, cautious of the slippy surface as she did so. "Well hello there. Your new friend seems nice."

"Mia is so cool! You'll never guess what."

"What?" Regina asked, running the Ariel towel over her daughter as she dried her off before reaching for the factor 50. She began to apply the sun cream as the little girl gave her an excited smile.

"She lives in Storybrooke! Can you believe it! Grandma and Grandpa live in Storybrooke too!"

Regina rose an eyebrow as she took in the information, as far as she had been aware Robin had moved away from the town, so how come he was back all of a sudden? The timing couldn't have been worse either, she hadn't yet told Pippa about their plans, she had wanted to whilst they were on this cruise, had been hoping that being surrounded by Disney would have been a nice distraction. She felt as though she probably had to tell her sooner rather than later now. "Pips, I need to tell you something," Regina sighed, getting her daughter to sit beside her on the lounger.

"What is it?"

"Okay, well, I know we both really love Boston and all your friends at school are there, but I actually applied for a job in Storybrooke and they asked me to take on the position," she confessed. When her mother had informed her that the town was looking for a new mayor Regina had applied for it, not thinking that she would actually get the position. The chance to move closer to her parents was too tempting to pass up, but it meant uprooting their entire lives.

"What does that mean?" Pippa asked, narrowing her eyes a little as she looked at her mother.

"It means that we going to be moving closer to your grandparents, it also means a new school, which is why I was reluctant to take the position but…"

"We're moving to Storybrooke?"

"Yes," Regina nodded, holding her breath as she looked at her daughter, waiting for her reaction, she just hoped that she didn't take the news too poorly. Regina knew that she had plenty of friends in Boston, friends she might not be too happy to have to leave.

"That's so cool! I need to go tell Mia!" she squealed, attempting to make a break for it only to be held onto by her mother.

"Hey, wait a minute. You're okay with this?"

"Of course! We'll get to see grandma and grandpa every day and Storybrooke has a beach!"

"Boston has a beach," Regina shrugged.

"Yeah, but the beach at Storybrooke isn't anywhere near as busy, we can go to Granny's every morning for breakfast."

"Slow down a minute," she laughed. It was a little bit of a shock that her daughter was taking the news so well. She had been expecting there to be tantrums and tears when her daughter found out that they were moving. Though she should have known that it would be fine, Pippa had always been so easy going, it was easy for her to make new friends and Regina had no clue who she got that from because personally she was the worst at doing that. She wasn't sociable in the slightest. "You're happy to be moving?"

"Yes."

"Why? What about your school friends? You do know that you won't really be able to see them."

At that comment, her little girl looked down at her feet, a sad expression on her face, "those girls aren't my friends."

"What are you talking about?" Regina asked, her fingers hooking under her daughter's chin, lifting it so that she could look at her properly.

"The girls at school are mean to me, they don't let me play. They say mean things, things about daddy, making fun of me because I only have you, because I don't have a daddy like they do."

Regina felt anger and sadness well up inside her, this was the first she was hearing about any of this. She had thought that her daughter had been happy at school, she always seemed to be, but seeing her stood there in front of her, upset just talking about the girls she thought had been her friends. "Why didn't you tell me? I could have sorted it out."

"I didn't want to upset you," Pippa murmured, "I didn't listen to what they said to me, I just played on my own at school, or sometimes the boys ask me to play soccer," she smiled with a little shrug.

"Oh sweetheart," Regina breathed, pulling her into her arms and holding her tight, "I'm so sorry. I wish you had let me know." Now she felt like a shitty parent, how hadn't she noticed that her smiley happy daughter had been having a hard time at school? God Pippa really was like her wasn't she, hiding her true feelings away from everyone, the sad thing was that she hadn't felt that she could come to her. Her own daughter hadn't told her what was going on. "Well, I suppose this new start is perfect for the both of us then," she smiled. Well, mostly perfect, apart from the news that a certain someone also lived in the town.

"Yes! And I already have a friend!" she squealed happily as her mother tickled her.

"You do," Regina nodded, trying to sound happy for the girl. She was happy for her; it was just a shame about the parentage of the girl she had decided to befriend. Regina would just have to learn to deal with it, her daughter's happiness came first, before anything. "Before you go back to playing, I need to finish putting this sunscreen on. You can have another hour and then we'll go get some lunch. Okay?"

"Okay," she beamed, standing still and allowing her mother to apply the lotion.

"Daddy!" Mia called excitedly as she hurried over to him after getting out of the pool, making his eyes widen at the prospect of her falling on the slippery tiles.

"Walk," he shouted over to her, forcing her to walk instead of run as she had been doing previously. She cast him a cheeky smile as she stopped in front of him. "That was dangerous."

"Sorry, I wanted to tell you something about my new friend Pippa!" she grinned, pushing her soaked blonde hair behind her ears as her father pulled her arm floaties off so he could apply more sun lotion. "Her grandparents live in Storybrooke!"

"I know," Robin nodded. It was the truth, he often saw Henry and Cora out and about in town, Mia even knew who they were and talked to them whenever they were in Granny's. They didn't talk to him, just like their daughter they tried to ignore him as much as they possibly could. "Cora and Henry are her grandparents."

"Really?! How do you know?" she asked, excitedly, her little eyes widening even further.

"Well, I knew Pippa's mommy when I was younger."

"Oh, my goodness! Was she your friend?" The grin on her face was heartbreaking, he didn't have it in him to tell her that they disliked each other and weren't even on speaking terms.

"She used to be, but do you remember when I told you that sometimes adults fall out?"

"Oh, like you and mommy?"

"Yes, sort of."

"You fall out with a lot of people daddy, maybe you should try being nicer to ladies."

"Hey! I am nice to ladies, maybe ladies just aren't nice to me," he argued. He had always been a gentleman when it came to women, he prided himself on that. That was probably why he was always unlucky in love, it had happened with Regina and then Marian, he always seemed to be the one getting dumped.

"Are you saying that Pippa's mommy wasn't nice to you?"

"Not exactly," that was exactly what he was saying, but he could hardly confess that to his daughter, not when she was wanting to be friends with the other little girl. He couldn't stand in the way of a potential friendship between the two girls. "We just had a disagreement that's all. It has been a long time since we've seen each other."

"Maybe you should make friends again."

"Yeah, maybe. Anyway, let's get the rest of this cream on you and then you can go back and play," he smiled, putting some in her hands and allowing her to rub it over her legs whilst he put some on her back, making sure that everywhere was covered. The last thing he wanted was a sunburnt seven-year-old.

Somehow the rest of the day was spent without bumping into Robin again, despite Pippa constantly talking about her new friend. Regina had taken her to the princess's tea party and they'd eaten so much cake that Regina worried they might actually get sick. Pippa had been dressed as Princess Jasmine, she'd styled her hair in a similar way and had already bought the costume before they boarded, well, she'd had one of her close friends make it for her. Jefferson was a fashion designer and he enjoyed a challenge.

Right now, though they were back in their room, lying on their beds staring up at the ceiling fans. "I'm so stuffed," Pippa groaned, turning her head to look at her mother. "I never want to see another cake again."

"Really? Well, that can be arranged."

"Nooo, I didn't mean never again," she giggled, "just today."

"Oh, okay," Regina smiled, looking over at her daughter and grinning at her. "So, we have the rest of the day at our disposal. What do you think we should do?"

"I dunno," she shrugged, smirking back at her before sitting up on the bed and scurrying over to climb up on her mother's. "What do you want to do?"

"Me?"

"Yep, you have to do something you want too."

"This holiday is about you have fun Pips, anything you want to do is fine with me," she reassured, her fingers straightening up her daughter's curls, "I want you to have the best time."

"We should both have the best time."

"I suppose you're right, do you know what makes me have the best time though?"

"What?"

"Seeing you having the best time," Regina quipped, bopping her daughter's nose as she sat up in bed. "Something else I know is that we shouldn't be wasting our holiday lying on our beds because we ate too much cake," she laughed, "we need to get out there and do something."

"That's a good idea," Pippa agreed, crossing her legs as she sat up and watched her mother. Regina moved over to the mirror to touch up her makeup a little, her once red lips had been made bare whilst she had eaten and of course, that needed fixing as soon as possible. "I don't think you need makeup to look pretty mommy, you look pretty without it."

"Really?"

"Yep."

"Well thanks, but I think a little makeup won't hurt." Her daughter simply nodded. She had a mischievous expression on her face which made Regina think that maybe she was up to something, it was the face she always pulled when she was plotting. Her child was certainly one for things like that, although most of the time she was a little angel, there could be times when she was a cunning little madam, just like her mother. "What?"

"Nothing," she shrugged, "maybe we could go and see which film they are showing."

"Sounds like a plan. Let's go then," she hummed, offering her hand to Pippa as she grabbed her purse.

They walked through the ship hand in hand, making their way towards the theatre, Pippa dragged her into the gift shop on the way as they looked through all of the items on sale. A lot of them were exclusive to the cruise and of course, she was a sucker when her daughter wanted anything, letting her pick out a few things. She had a stuffed Dumbo in clutched in her hands as she held it close.

"Look how cute he is!" she hummed, holding him up for Regina to get a closer look. She had to admit that the elephant was cute, she patted his head and nodded.

"Well, I suppose we have to buy him, don't we. He can be your little holiday friend," she smiled, it was then that Pippa grabbed something else and thrust it towards her.

"I think you need this one!" she said with a giggle. Regina looked at the toy she had been handed, seeing Mushu, the dragon from Mulan. She had to admit that it was cute, it had also been one of her favourites as a teenager.

With a little chuckle she shrugged her shoulders, "well, I suppose if I need him, then I'll have to get him, he'll have to be my little holiday friend," she laughed. She and her daughter continued their way through the store, picking out different things they wanted, both of them ended up with a soft toy, a mug and ears. Regina knew that probably wasn't going to be the last of their purchases, she was just glad that she had built a good career for herself to be able to afford such things.

She was so grateful for her life, despite losing Daniel so early on, she tried to make sure that her daughter still had everything she needed and wanted. That was what she lived for, if it hadn't been for Pippa, she wasn't sure how she would have coped after Daniel's death, she didn't know if she would have been able to pick herself back up again. She had to carry on going for her daughter, the thing that would probably break her heart the most was if she let her down.

"Thank you," Pippa smiled brightly as the cashier handed them their things, she also turned and thanked Regina, something which made her heart warm. God, why was her daughter just the cutest? "You have to put your ears on," she ordered, holding out a sparkly black and red pair to Regina before putting on her own child-sized matching pair. "There we go."

"How do I look?"

"Beautiful mommy."

"Not as beautiful as you, I don't think," she shook her head, as they held hands once again before heading towards where they had been meant to go in the first place. To the theatre.

The rest of the full first day onboard was pretty uneventful. They didn't see Robin and Mia again, something Regina was grateful for, though Pippa had mentioned her a few times and she knew that she most likely wouldn't be so lucky for the rest of the trip. She just had to take her time without Robin and run with it whilst she could. Tomorrow would be their first day onshore and they would be able to enjoy the wonderful sandy beaches of Bermuda, she might even be able to top up her tan whilst she was at it.

"I think that by the end of this holiday you'll have ice cream coming out of your nose," robin grinned as he watched his daughter devour what must have been her second if not third ice cream of the day. She was clearly making the most of the free soft serve, though to be honest, it wasn't as though he hadn't as well.

"I actually had that happen once," she giggled, taking a lick of her ice cream cone as she rested against him. They were sat on the deck watching the movie that was screening outside. They'd just had dinner and were waiting for the Mickey and Friends performance to begin.

"You did? Why didn't you tell me about it?" He laughed, wiping some of the milky treat from her face with one of the napkins he was grateful to have grabbed in advance.

"It was ages ago, it was at Paige's birthday party and I was laughing at something and it came out of my nose."

"That's disgusting."

"I know," she grinned almost proudly as though it were something to brag about. She was holding on tight to the Stitch teddy that she'd bought earlier. When he'd asked her which plush she wanted, that had been the one she opted for, telling him that she wished she could have a little blue alien friend but he had to be as cute as Stitch.

Consequently, Robin was forced to buy the character who Mia said was Stitch's girlfriend. Apparently, she was called Angel and she was just a pink version of Stitch. So here he was, sat with his daughter holding onto a pink alien as she cradled the blue one in her arms. He knew that although Mia had assured him that Stitch was hers and Angel was his, as soon as they got home to Storybrooke, or even before then, she would have both of them as her own. She was clever like that, not that he minded, even if she'd told him she wanted both in the shop he'd have most likely bought them for her anyway. It wasn't often he got to spoil her like this, he just wanted his daughter to have a magical time.

"So, we reach our first port tomorrow, fancy some sightseeing?" Robin asked, gathering Mia's messy hair into his hands and trying to comb through it with his fingers so it looked a little more presentable. After their crazy day, they hadn't really had the chance to go back to their room which meant that Mia looked as though she'd been dragged through a hedge backwards.

"I think so," she nodded. He was glad that she was agreeing to that, although they had come on this trip for her, he didn't think he'd be able to cope with six days of none stop Disney with no breaks. At least if they got off at an island and looked around he might retain some of his sanity. "Where is it that we're going?"

"First stop is Bermuda, we can go and play on the beach, make some sandcastle, play in the sea."

"Yes!"

"Great, well, it's a plan then. Tomorrow we got to the beach."