There was something unexplainable in the way he touched her. The way he took her. The way she let him and he did so as if she were not a powerful sorceress. He was gentle in all the right places, and rough in all the others. He didn't treat her like something to be feared — nor did he waste time being overly cautious. She was no flower. She did not need to be plucked — or fucked — carefully. She needed love. And somehow he knew every way she needed him to give it.

The second time had proven it, even where the first had already been all she was missing. Rough hands that glided across her skin, making certain that no patch was left out of his exploring. All the while his lips never strayed far from hers, leaving her in a dizzying state for all the stimulation he could provide at one time. And though every kiss against her neck had left her sighing, he always returned to where she wanted him most; kissing her deeply, thoroughly, properly — how true love should be. It echoed around her mind, stomping out all other shouting voices that told her it was wrong of them; quieting the beast if only for a short time. She would take it. She needed those moments of irreverent silence, filled only with their tandem breathing, to escape from all she'd done wrong just to be in his arms, and he made it everything she hoped it would be.

The second time had been no less passionate, but all the more electric. Greedy lips to equal her own greed; kissing her even when she'd said not to, even when it was the last thing she wished to say. He saw through her game, and yet didn't treat it like one at all. He wasn't playing a game — and neither was she — but her affront was easily crumbled, giving way to the smile that had been aching to grow just beneath the surface. Lips that ached to be kissed and somehow he knew. Maybe that's what true love was. Maybe it gave him knowledge he couldn't otherwise possess. Or maybe, just maybe, it was just him.

She smiled into the kiss until she couldn't any longer, until it became too passionate to smile about, though she'd never been aware such a thing could exist. The smile returned when she was lifted from the ground easily, and she stayed smiling, clutching at him though she had no fear of being dropped, she clutched because it was the most natural thing she'd felt in too long.

Her back met the magic-made bed with a soft bounce, his lips following suit against hers. A short graze of a kiss that had her clutching at him all over again, an insistence he not stop there. He was just as good at following rules as he was at breaking them; when he chose to be. Her lips were met with a kiss that set all sorts of places to fluttering, places that had no right to be fluttering and yet flutter they did. Her heart being one of them. A hard, dark rock that took up space, and yet under his weight it thundered, performing some ridiculous sort of dance behind the wall of her chest, as though it wanted it burst free just to be closer to his.

Her lips parted to him, wanting to be truly taken, for him to show her what love felt like all over again. She was kissed until her every limb was tingling, released only long enough to draw in a breath and kissed again. She welcomed the lightheaded feeling, that she could easily fall over when she was already laying down. Her skirt didn't allow for much movement but she raised her knee against his side anyway, reaching down on her own to hike the material just enough to allow it, to make certain he knew how much she wanted him to continue. And he seemed to get the message, a large hand meeting her thigh, then tracing up to her hip before he was tugging her blouse free from her skirt.

Though she liked the idea of being undressed by him — more than liked, more than she should — their position didn't allow him much room to work. With the assistance of a little magic to ensure she was successful, Regina turned the tables on him, flipping them over so he was on his back with her in his lap; her shirt left half-pulled from the confines of her skirt.

She smiled down at him, genuine and full of life, and he smiled up at her like she was...anything to be smiled at. Her heart fluttered again, making a ruckus in her chest, and despite her grin she was already beginning to feel anxious for not kissing him. Her hands ran up and down his chest just long enough to feel his heart's beating. It raced in time with hers and left her all the more anxious to not be so far from it. But she'd moved them for a reason — a reason she'd nearly forgotten in all the collective racing of hearts, but looking down at herself reminded her, and the hands at his chest slid down to take his, guiding them back to her waist to continue what he'd started.

He grinned at her the way that made her legs shake, sat up and brought his grin even closer. A light gasp left her, eyes wide and searching his, then drifting down to his lips. She felt warm, rough fingers inch their way in to the space left open between her top and skirt, sending a shiver through her that made her wane forward just a touch, eyes almost closing but stopping just before they would. How could so simple a touch have such a thorough effect? She didn't care to know why, she only cared to feel it again, over and over until she lost touch with time. Until she could hardly keep her eyes open, or even lift her head. He'd seen to that last night, and she was eager for it to repeat.

Swallowing to calm herself, she shifted against his lap, shifted under the heft of his loving gaze, that became all the more lustful when finally he resumed his disrobing her. His fingertips brushed her waist as he dragged the sheer fabric up, up until she had to relinquish her hold on him to raise her arms, and the blouse was pulled over her head. The vault had the slightest morning chill still hanging in the air, making the warm touch of his hands all the more inviting. His lips even moreso.

She sighed into the kiss, finally allowing her eyes to shut and take in only the sensations he gave. Stubble scratching lightly at her chin, hands engulfing her waist, her own reaching up to find his cheek while the other trailed down his back to grab a fistful of his own shirt and drag it up so he too could seek the solace her warmth would offer him. Breaking their kiss just long enough to tug the top forward over his head, and getting a little tangled in the process, she laughed; a light, foreign sound to her ears, that in his presence stopped seeming so foreign.

"We'll get better at this," she said within another laugh, kissing him despite still trying to get his arms out of his tank top.

"I'm not sure that's possible," he spoke with a certainty that made her flush, smiling all over again and attempting to hide it with another kiss. He did something to her. Just being near him, within his reach, it made her dizzy in the most enjoyable way. Made her sway toward him without even thinking, made her do so now and into a deeper kiss.

With his shirt finally off she pressed forward, arms winding around his neck and a hand threading into his hair. She kissed him fiercely, wanting this more than she had any right to, her kiss only faltering when his hands found her skin. One pressed near her lower back, the other between her shoulder blades, an overwhelming source of heat, of love radiating from him. She broke their kiss but didn't open her eyes, her brows knitting for one painful moment, thinking this would already be the last time she experienced him. That notion, though something she was dreading already, told her to enjoy every second of it, for if it were never repeated at least she'd had it; one, soon two incredible times.

Her kiss was softer then, slow, aching; full of all the passion and love she felt for this man. This man who could never be hers. But for now — for now he was. And she too was his, entirely. Wasting it on the heartache that was building in her mind would be just as bad as never having it at all. Though she could and would pretend it didn't matter — to others — to him she couldn't put on such a show. She wanted to relish every minute, and so with a deep breath drawn in, pulling strength and resolve from nothing, she pushed forward once again, placing a kiss against his lips; another, and another, until she felt herself growing dizzy again, thankful for how easily he could foster it.

His response was instant, making it easier for her to fall back into better patterns. Lips against lips and everything else would cease to be. She felt his hands begin to move once again, both trekking down until one held her hip and the other started to tug at her skirt zipper. She found herself smiling again for his eagerness, pushed up on her knees to allow him room to begin pushing the skirt down but in all her hazy focus he took advantage; turning them over so she was on her back again. His lips stayed close though smiling too much to properly kiss, her eyes opening to find him looking devilishly self-accomplished as he slid her skirt down over her hips. Though her eyes tried to flutter closed she wouldn't let them, kept them locked on his in lust and challenge, refusing to falter so easily. But refusal or not, another kiss and they were already threatening to fall. She sucked in a breath when his lips left her, and let out a sound of protest that soon became a pleasant hum as he didn't take them far, letting them trail down her chest and torso as he worked to have her legs free.

Being with this man, loving him and him loving back, it was hard to believe it could happen to her. To someone like her. Who'd done unspeakable things and carried little guilt. Even the guilt she felt now, being with a married man, wanting him beyond reason or consideration for anyone else, even that was waning. It came in waves, passing over her and when the tide rolled back out as it did now, it was only a memory. A tsunami that was forgotten once it left the shore. She couldn't feel guilty when he touched her this way, couldn't let her mind think of any other but the man above her, when wanting him so much closer was the only thought that could come to be.

"Robin," she said his name with urgency, her hands gripping at his shoulders, insisting he come closer, not leave her to writhe under his kisses with no means of touching him back. Two impossibly loving eyes found hers just as he'd worked the buckle off her second heel, letting it drop to the floor to join the other as he joined her, crawling over her and to her waiting lips.

Kissing him had fast become the only way to soothe this ache. The one that radiated out from her chest, the glowing space where her heart resided. Glowing in the presence of so few. Until him it had only been Henry, her beacon of joy who saw her as more than she thought she could be, and now Robin who brought her happiness she'd never deserved. Love that was somehow flourishing now even though it was wrong, even though he'd gone against his beliefs just to be with her. But if that didn't prove how strong — how real and extraordinary it was then what did?

Dragging in a slow, labored breath, Regina's eyes fluttered open, gazing into his in a quiet sort of disbelief. Her hand raised to hold his cheek, thumb stroking it gently as a small smile curled up her lips, taking him in for the first of so many last times.

"I love you," it left her so naturally, so easily she couldn't have caught it in time if she'd tried. The fact that they could exist no further than her vault's door did little to squelch where the words came from. She loved him, truly, and if this was already both their second and last time together, he would know it.

She could nearly hear his breathing change, see it in his face as her words crashed over him, feel him grow heavier above her as they did. "Are you alright?" A nervous laugh escaped her when she spoke, a nervous heartbeat joining it in the space where he didn't speak. Perhaps she'd misunderstood him — took his words more to heart than she'd been meant to, maybe he-

"I'm making a memory," he replied simply, and her brow furrowed just slightly, trying to understand. "When we leave this place, and I keep my distance as you've asked of me — I'll go back to this moment, and imagine that when I see you and can't touch you as I'd wish, that we're back here, that you're saying you love me and I am saying, that I love you in return."

Her heart's pounding proved a worthy opponent to her hearing him properly, but she strained through the thundering beat to hold to his every word, feeling herself just tangibly shaking as he spoke. Her lips parted but no words would come out, as she stared at him in reverence and disbelief for how he could love her, how he could say these things. Her heart began to race too quickly, setting a light tremble into all her limbs and he seemed to sense it. His lips met hers suddenly, reassuringly, kissing her until her nervous system sorted itself out. Even then he didn't stop, gathered her up to bring them higher up on the bed until she was laid against a soft pillow. She laughed and smiled at his chivalry, but when he tried to pull away again — to do what, she didn't know or care or see any reason to allow it — a hand sound behind his neck as she shook her head, the other sending a wrist flick of magic out that saw to their remaining clothes. She could be patient no longer — not with the man she loved and who loved her in return.

Time was already running out, making every kiss and every touch of his rough and heady hands that much more meaningful. She sighed against his lips when his hand found her breast, both of hers clutching at his back, nails pressing in just enough to tell him she wanted something more. She heard her phone buzz again from somewhere above them, reminding her that time did still tick on outside those doors, reality was still going and they could only pretend not for so long.

"Kiss me," she said softly, no bite or command but a need in her words, and in her heart. His lips just barely brushed hers as he aligned himself with her, drew a light whimper from them for being given nothing more than a brush. Her eyes bored into his until he settled into her, only then did they fall and only then did his lips meet hers more fully, stealing a gasp of a breath straight from them and locking it up tight. His hips began moving, a slow and dizzying rhythm against her own, their kiss matching it mark for mark. Her breath came out in tight, short exhales against his cheek when they parted, which were stolen again by his lips.

For all the ice that surrounded the town, left it frozen once again in time and space, the heat that built up in her underground vault felt enough to melt the entire city. Why then did she wish that ice might surround them here, freeze them in place so they never had to stop?

She clutched at him, nails pressing in deeper, wanting and wordlessly asking for more from him, to help eradicate her mind of foolish hope. She kissed him desperately, hid her cries behind his lips, gave them freely but left them muffled until she couldn't any longer. A startled gasp came out against his cheek as her body began bowing, seeking more and being utterly overwhelmed by it. Her mind was hazing, but it needed to be, she wanted only the thought and sensation of him inside her, their union of love and flesh the only thing she could possibly be coherent of.

It lasted only a few more minutes — the overwhelming bliss she found beneath him. That left her panting and sated and smiling again. A breathless laugh leaving her before she tried kissing him again, and needed air far too quickly. His smile kept her from drifting, from her mind drifting back to that dark place where he wasn't hers. As long as they laid here he still was, and when he turned to lay on his back, tugging her instinctively to his side, she was certain he felt it too. Her cellphone buzzed a third time, but she had no intention of even lifting her head. It rested against his chest, memorizing the sound of his heartbeat a second time. She was his, and he was hers. For now.

Guilt be damned.


A/N: As you can see this was from Regina's pov, I'm considering doing Robin's as well if there's interest so please let me know what you thought and if I should do that or just a different oneshot or something :) I love hearing what you guys think so please let me know ^_^ And on a random sidenote I finished writing this Saturday morning so I was pretty tickled at the similarities we saw in from tonight's ep xD