Alright so I apparently have way too much time in my hands and a very active imagination. Rated M to be safe with possible later chapters but for now let's just let my muses play. I do not own any of the characters, just the circumstances. Enjoy!
A Thousand Reasons
"Do you ever wish for a second time to meet someone again for the first time?"
With her brows furrowing in a mixture of wonder and confusion, the brunette woman known as Regina Mills straightened her pose as her eyes went to read again the note that has been sent to her messenger.
It has been delivered close to an hour ago, but because she has been busy after a long day of work she had just been able to finally sit down in the comforts of her living room to go through with her routine of checking her social media.
The message was the first thing to catch her attention and for the good part of the last few minutes she has been unable to do anything other than reading it over and over again, trying to analyze it and understand its meaning.
Tilting her head to the side and blinking slowly, she read it again; then after much deliberation she decided to do what her fingers had been itching to do as soon as she saw who the sender was. She replied.
"What's that?"
Her written words were simple, they were safe, but even though as soon as she sent them she had to put the phone away, face down as her hands automatically went to bury themselves into her hair.
'What are you doing?' She thought to herself as she felt her heart hammering hard into her chest.
It was a silly reaction and she knew it so trying to play it light she chuckled, after all there was no reason to react like that.
It wasn't the first time he wrote to her, and it was sure as hell not the first time she replied. But for the past five years or so their conversations had been limited and more often than not started with something acceptable like wishing each other a happy birthday or a happy new year and all that mumble that came with social media.
But this message, it was different and she didn't know how she should feel about it.
Robin… if it wasn't because she has turned into such a cynic when it came to love, she would go ahead and admit that the man has been her first love, probably the only real one.
True, that happened when she was nothing but a silly girl that knew nothing about life and him… well he has been just a boy too.
All that has been close to twenty years ago so there was no reason to act as if she was still a school girl dealing with a longtime crush.
She was no longer the naïve girl she has been, not anymore. She was a woman now, a very centered one and if there was something that characterized her was that her head was well settled. So getting antsy over a message was ridiculous.
Especially since it wasn't like the message came out of the blue. She and Robin had never completely lost contact. He had somehow managed to locate her over a decade ago and they were now what could be considered as facebook friends.
Through his posts she kind of knew how his life was going and even how he looked now; hell, they even talked every once in a while even though she asked him not to call her five years ago so yeah, there was no reason why feel like she was feeling
They've danced this dance before.
With that in mind, she picked her phone once again and when she unblocked the screen she noticed that he had replied to her almost immediately.
"Nothing, just thinking about some stuff." The text ended with a winking emoji and at that Regina scoffed.
"Oh okay."
Once again, she opted for a simple reply and she meant to leave it there. It should have ended there. She knew from experience that getting too deep into a conversation with him never lead anywhere good and the best way to avoid that was to cut him short.
"So. What are you up to?"
Rolling her eyes she sighed, looking up to the ceiling and wondering if she should answer or not. It wouldn't hurt to do it, but maybe it would…
"What do you want, Robin?"
She went straight to the point, she has never been good at beating around the bushes and she was sure he was trying to lead the conversation somewhere, she wanted to know where.
As soon as the reply was sent the phone started to ring. It was him and not only was he calling, but he was calling her on video chat.
"Oh you have to be kidding me." But still, she tried to fix her hair quickly and answered on the third ring.
When the call connected, his face appeared on her screen and the first thing she noticed was how his dimple smile was never changing. She has seen it through some of the pictures he would publish once in a while but it was an entirely difference thing seeing it like that.
It was ridiculous, but if her heart was beating hard earlier on, now it felt like it completely stopped for a full second before starting to beat with renewed force.
"Why, Regina, you are brutally harsh as always."
Lowering her eyes to the image of him and pursing her lips, she hummed. He was outdoors, that much she could see but she didn't put much attention to that, instead she focused on him.
His clear blue eyes still held that playful glint she remember from his youth, his smile was almost contagious and his accent was as smooth as always. Then it was the way his stubble accentuated the outline of his face and how his hair couldn't seem to stay still with the wind messing it around.
In a way he was still the boy that had made her fall head over heels long ago, only that at the same time he wasn't. He was a man now.
"That wasn't me being harsh, trust me." Her voice came too sultry for her own taste; it made him chuckle and bite on his lips and wanting to lower him down a notch she decided to go for harsh. "Is your wife there with you?"
His eyebrow arched, but the smile never even twitched. "Well that was harsh. But, no, to answer your question she is not here."
Scoffing and rolling her eyes, she lifted the phone a little so that she could see her face even better. "Of course not, you wouldn't be calling otherwise."
"Actually, my wife… well she's no longer my wife so her whereabouts are completely irrelevant in this conversation.
Unable to help it, Regina frowned in disbelieve. Ever since the first time he contacted her he has been married so that he got a divorce was a bit of a shock. "You're lying."
Sure, during the last conversation they had five years ago he confessed that he married the woman because it was what was expected of him but he actually didn't love her, and it was in that same conversation he told her that he was still in love with her and that was why he could never love Marian they way that was expected.
It has been their last conversation and even though it shook her, she has asked him not to call her again so that he could focus instead on his marriage.
She has been married at that time too so it has been for the best.
"Have I ever lied to you?" He asked with an easy smile on his lips.
Chewing on the inside of her cheek, she shrugged. "That I can remember? Yes."
Blowing out a breath he rolled his eyes. "That's not true, I may have screwed up with you in all imaginable ways, but never because I lied."
"Yeah, but only because you never cared enough to stay around and explain yourself."
Sucking in a breath, Robin cringed. "That was low."
"It's the truth. So what do you want? You never answered the question."
"I wanted to see you and to talk to you. I was thinking about you, I've been thinking about you for quite some time now, actually. Probably close to twenty years."
Lowering her head, Regina took in a deep breath. She knew he claimed to still have feelings for her because he has told her so, a long time ago but still.
He actually told her that she was going to forever be his one true love and she has dismissed it as nothing but foolishness from his part. They have been kids when they started dating, and even though it was been everything a first love was supposed to be, it has happened so long ago that it was hard to believe that his feelings were still intact.
Especially since he has been the one who ended things and not in the best way possible. Not once, but twice.
"I know it's not what you want to hear but it's the truth."
"Robin-" She started to say in a warning because she didn't want the conversation to go were he wanted to take it. Those were emotionally dangerous waters even though he claimed to be divorced.
"Alright, I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable so let's talk about something else. How's your boy?"
Smiling, she lifted her face. "He's getting bigger each day. He's with his father for the weekend. How about yours, I saw he had a birthday recently."
"He did, he just turned six. With this whole thing we're just trying to fall in a routine when it comes to him."
Wrinkling her nose, Regina blinked. She knew how hard it was when it came to custody arrangements so she understood what he meant.
"So you still do that thing with your nose." He said in amusement, wrinkling his nose to show her what he meant.
"Oh shut up."
Smiling, he said nothing and just stared at her through his phone's screen.
Feeling over conscious, she cleared her throat. "What?" She almost snapped.
"Just looking at you. You haven't changed that much, you know, you are as beautiful as you were when I first saw you."
Rolling her eyes, Regina shook her head. "Come on, you can't possible remember the first time you saw me." Now she said that just to say something, because she remembered very well the first time she saw him.
It has been at school, they were halfway through the semester when the new boy arrived. Now, she didn't believe in love at first sight but her still innocent soul has been blown away when she lay her eyes on him.
He came straight from England so that had some of the other girls competing for his attention, but being a little stuck up even when she was as innocent as they came, she saw him before he could even noticed her but she never even showed the slightest bit of interest.
That they ended up together has been all him.
"Of course I remember. I was walking down the hallway when I saw you, you were with Emma, you always were and you walked right by my side without even looking at me. Books stuck to your chest, chin up and doing that thing with your hair were you flipped it to the side as if to let the world know you were way above the rest of us peasants."
Laughing despite herself, Regina ran a hand through her hair. "I was such a stuck up. Maybe I still am."
"I want to see you." He blurted the words out and Regina just blinked slowly.
"Aren't you seeing me now?"
"Not like I want to see you."
Humming to hide the fact that the words took her aback, she squinted her eyes. "And how do you want to see me?"
"In person." He replied, simple as that. "Look at this." Moving his phone away from his face so that she could take a better look at his surroundings, he focused the screen on a street sign.
It was one she knew very well and swallowing on dry she felt her heart beating unmercifully hard against her ribcage.
W47th St
Robin let the phone linger over the sign briefly and then moved it around so that she could take a view of the street and yes, even if she wouldn't have recognized the sign she would have known where he was. There was nowhere like the scene he was showing, the busy streets, the yellow cabs, the buildings…
"You're in New York." More than a question it was a statement.
"I am. So, can I see you?"
Chewing on her lips absentmindedly, the brunette woman thought about the request. She knew she should say no, she knew it in her gut, but deep inside she wanted to say yes.
The last time she saw him face to face has been they day he broke up with her some eighteen years ago and even though he has left her in a funk that lasted quite a while, she wanted to see him.
It wasn't like she wanted to go back with him, mind you, but even though their story ended before its time and even though he broke her heart in ways that to that day still bothered her, the truth was that she moved on and yes, seeing him could be good.
So what if he has been an asshole at the end? They had been kids, she was barely sixteen when they broke up and a whole life had passed ever since. They were adults now, with kids and with a divorce on their backs so of course they could meet in a mature kind of way.
Besides it was Friday, Henry wasn't there and she suddenly didn't want to spend the night watching Netflix or worse, working.
"Do you remember the café on Hell's Kitchen? It's completely gone but I saw another one near by that's still open. Is that close enough to your place?"
Smiling as she remembered how they used to roam the streets of Manhattan and beyond when they were teens, she clicked her tongue to the roof of her mouth.
"Can you make it to 58th? That's closer to where I'm at."
Chuckling, Robin bit on his lips. "I will get there."
"Okay," Trying to figure out how much time she needed to make herself presentable, she tapped a finger to her lips. She just took a shower so it was a matter of just changing clothes, so without thinking it too much she decided. "Half an hour, I'll send you the location."
"I'll see you there."
"Okay." She said and without any further ado she hung up. "Oh my God." She whispered and covering her mouth with her hand, she got to her feet and hurried straight to her closet.
She had after all just thirty minutes to get ready and then head into the coffee and now that she thought about it, that wasn't enough time. Not to change and not to get mentally prepared.
"What have you done, Regina, what have you done?" And as she asked herself that, she couldn't help but to remember what Emma told her five years ago when Robin confessed he still had feelings for her.
'When the past calls, you should never, ever answer…'
TBC?