-ONE YEAR PRIOR TO TINKER-BELL AND REGINA MEETING-

Regina Mills was trotting her horse through the woods one crisp, fall morning when she heard the whirr of an arrow next to her. She turned in the direction it cake from alarmed and angry.
"Who the hell do you think you are?" She spat out. She immediately stopped pouting when she caught sight of the man in front of her. He was gorgeous! Regina immediately bit the inside of her cheek, ashamed. It had been a mere 4 months since she lost Daniel.
"Now why is a young, beautiful lady like you alone in the woods? You know, there are some creepy people out here," the man said, smirking. Regina liked that smirk. Again, she caught herself admiring the small things that made him attractive like his sharp jaw and the way his lips curled into a smile, even when he wasn't trying to.
"I'm just taking Dixie here for her ride. We do it every day. And are you implying that you're creepy? I have a whip!" Regina said jokingly, grabbing the whip and swinging it in the air.
"Easy there... You don't know who I am, do you?" The man asked. Regina raised an eyebrow. Was she supposed to? And then she remembered. That mam that King Leo always talks about. Who raids villages and steals women. This couldn't be him, could it?
"Are you... Robin? Robin of the Hood?" She stuttered, hoping he wasn't out to get her.
"The one and only," he said grinning. "You should come with me. My merry men don't often see pretty women like you and they'll do anything to get a piece." Regina looked down and shuddered.
"Mind if we have a drink? I need to get wasted. I'm Regina by the way."
"Only sad souls would say such a thing."
"How do you know I'm not a sad soul?" Regina asked gazing up at Robin.
"I can see it in your eyes. They sparkle like the sun," Robin said. Regina felt red creep up her neck and into her cheeks but did not break contact with Robins gaze. "There's a tavern a while away from here we can go to."

—-—

"So you have a group of men that work for you?" Regina asked Robin, spinning her empty shot glass on the bar. The bartender walked up and poured another bit of whiskey into her glass while trying to eavesdrop. She shot him a look and he turned away quickly.
"Yeah. they're the Merry Men. They give me the best of times,"Robin said, gaining Regina's attention again.
"What's it like? Running constantly?"
"It's nice to see the world. Sometimes I can still see that home I once had and I just wish it was here. Running isn't the best thing. I've lost many of my best Merry Men."
"I get you." Robin gave Regina a quizzical look. "His name was Daniel. He was our stable boy... She didn't want me to be with him, so she killed him."
"That's terrible. You know, we're quite alike, you and I."
"We are." Now that Regina thought about it, the sooner she moved on from Daniel, the better. Her gaze went immediately to Robins lips and she ached to put her mouth against his. She didn't have to. Robin inched closer to her and smashed his lips against hers. It was a powerful moment, like a spark ignited inside her that was absent for so long she couldn't even remember the last time she felt it there. Maybe with Daniel. Maybe never. She kissed him back. Robin soon realized they were sitting plainly against the bar in front of everyone and he took Regina by the hand.
"Do you often have meaningless sex?" Regina asked, hoping for the answer she could already see on his lips.
"Who said it's meaningless?" Regina grinned and walked with him out the door and into the woods again, but instead of continuing down the path they came from they turned around a corner of the building to a flight of stairs and went up it. At the top a man with an eyepatch stood with his arms crossed. Robin just gave him a thumbs up and the eyepatch man opened the heavy wooden door. Robin led Regina in and then closed the door hard. He started kissing her neck and giving her love bites while she took the pins out of her hair and set them on a small table. Regina looked around. There was a large bed with wooden posts in the middle of the room. Then there was a pot of flowers, two dressers, and a bedside table.
"Pretty empty huh?" Robin asked.
"Shut up and kiss me." Regina grabbed his shirt and pulled him closer. Their kiss was sloppy but not empty. Yet again that spark was there. And it wasn't as small as before. Robin picked her up and wrapped her legs around his waist. Regina felt the wall come in hard behind her, but she didn't stop running her hands through Robins hair or laughing on his lips when he smiled at her. Within five minutes she told him what she'd been trying to get the courage to tell him all night.
"Robin. I'm a virgin." There was a moment of silence and the he laughed.
"I do love me some fresh virgin ass!" Robin said laughing. Regina didn't smile. She was embarrassed. "I'm joking. We don't have to, Regina...We can just do what we're doing now."
"No I want to. I do. I'm ready," Regina said, aching for Robin's touch again.
"It'll hurt a little. I'll go as easy on you as I can." After a few minutes of kissing, they had nothing on. Regina always avoided sex with Daniel. She was afraid he would think she was bad or something. She could tell Robin didn't care. He liked her. She liked him. It did hurt like hell. When she felt him, it was she was being ripped in half. Soon it was over. And it felt good, so good she could barely stand it, and then it was over. Robin collapsed beside her, breathless. He turned his head and looked right into Regina's eyes. So far maybe he saw right into her soul. Then he smiled.
"Your eyes. They're still sparkling. I don't think they'll ever stop."