She knew it had been a dumb idea, the moment it appeared in her mind's eye. An evening stroll in the forest alone held so much potential to clear the thoughts muddled around in her head. And she juvenilely thought she'd be safe. He was staying at the inn with his, gulp, family. She could handle any of his buddies if she ran into them, but him...

Yet, lo and behold, who was walking toward her on the way back from his men to his family?

Regina cursed. She turned her head with the naive hope that he wouldn't see or recognize her. Avoidance, she'd found, was key.

But he was unavoidable.

"Regina," he breathed. Still fifty yards away and she could still hear the bewitching accent of his voice. She instantly turned around, heading back home where it was safe and Henry, not this outlaw, would comfort her.

Robin jogged to her, yet she kept walking. "Please, your majesty."

"No," she said forcefully. She whirled around. Her hand came up to stop him, her eyes dutifully avoiding his gaze. "I don't want to talk to you. Ever. Or even see you. Stay away from me."

"Regina," he pleaded, finally catching up to her and placing a hand on her arm. "You can't stop me. When you're in love, you're in love."

"But I'm not," she lied. "Most certainly not with you."

"But I am," he daringly declared, "with you." Robin slid his hand down her arm, past her elbow, to intertwine his with hers. "Regina, I love you. I'm in love with you, and like that troll said, the heart cannot be swayed."

She wrenched her hand back, burned by his all too true words. "Your wife-"

"I loved her once," he answered. "Long ago, before you ever were a vision for me to behold." He gave a sad smile she hesitated to see.

Slowly, Regina raised her gaze to meet his blue eyes. "But no longer, darling. I love you, and every day I spend without you in my arms is, frankly, a day I don't find worth living."

"Don't say that," she said, unconsciously moving her body so she mirrored his sullen stance.

He shook his head. "It's only a partial lie." Regina recoiled, causing him to explain. "No, no, I only meant Roland. He keeps me with Marian, but even my boy wishes you came around more. He misses you." Robin watched himself shuffle his feet. "I miss you."

Tears bubbled up in the corners of her eyes and her flight-or-fight instinct kicked in. Regina just shook her head, her hand coming up over her mouth and her feet slowly carrying her away. The words "I'm sorry" or "Me too" hung at the tip of their tongue, a diver ready for the plunge but not enough courage to actually take it. It hurt too much, scared her too greatly, so she choked them back.

Love like theirs came in like a storm, one Regina had already weathered once with terrible results, and she was cower-in-the-corner scared of history repeating itself. What do you do if the man you love leaves you? How are you supposed to trust anyone? What do you do when a tempest changes course in the blink of an eye, no warning given, even though they promised it would never even rain?

What else can you do?

You run.

And she did.

a/n: this kinda sprung up from a quote from Sean Maguire i saw floating around on tumblr. ( post/98499826660/when-youre-in-love-youre-in-love) im sorry.