Never Really Alone

Chapter 6 - Surprises

There was an unusual silence in Granny's the next morning. None of the Royal family had ventured in for breakfast yet when Marian sat down at the counter. She knew that a part of her should show some emotion for leaving Robin and Roland behind, but honestly she didn't belong with them. Not anymore anyway. Ding, ding, da, ding, ding. Marian looked up as the front door of the diner opened. Henry came rushing through the door, chased seconds later by Roland who was laughing and smiling as he chased the older boy.

"Henry! Slow down! Have a seat before you break something."

Henry grinned sheepishly as he and Roland slid into one side of his favorite booth. "Sorry Granny."

"Roland," Regina looked sternly at the younger boy as she and Robin joined their sons, "What should you do?"

"Sorry Granny."

"It's alright, just remember that you can't run around like flying monkeys in here." Granny smiled as she set down two glasses of chocolate milk and two cups of coffee. "An omelette for Regina, pancakes for Henry, what about you two?"

"I want donuts!"

"No!" Both Regina and Marian spoke at the same time.

"Mama!" Roland struggled to climb over the top of Henry in order to escape the booth.

Marian leaned down to give him a hug as Robin spoke up.

"He can have pancakes, and I'll have an omelette as well. Thank you Granny."

"It'll be right up." Granny turned back to the kitchen just as the bell on the door chimed again. The Charming's and Hook slid into the booth just behind Henry.

"Morning Kid." Emma reached across the back of the booth to ruffle Henry's hair. "What's up?"

"School..."

"Speaking of which," Regina pointed at the two plates of pancakes Granny had just set on the table, "Roland, get up here and eat before school."

"School?" Marian walked over with Roland from the counter. She looked at Robin, "You are putting him in school?"

"Marian, he's plenty old enough, and we talked about it, and with everything going on, knowing he's safe all day may be the best thing."

"We didn't discuss anything, you made this decision without me!"

"Maybe this isn't the place." Snow spoke up from the other booth. "Marian, school won't hurt anything and they didn't mean to make any decisions without you. Robin's right, school may be the best place for him right now."

"Okay," Marian conceded, obviously Snow was right. Robin and Regina were just trying to do what was best for him. "How do we enroll him?"

"I'll take care of that." Snow got up from the booth and handed Neal to David. "Come on boys, school." She glanced back at Regina on her way out the door, "I'll head to the office when I'm done. Meet you there?"

"That's perfect. Thank you, Snow." Her stepdaughter smiled as she left with the boys. Regina looked at Robin, "That was easy enough. Do you want to come to the office with me? We can try and figure out this whole Maleficent issue."

"That sounds fine. As long as we can have lunch privately somewhere today. I have something for you."

"Really? For me? For what?" Robin had rarely seen his perfectly poised queen quite so anxious. "I don't like surprises." She smiled gently as she leaned into his shoulder, "I find them threatening."