(A/N: So, to say I have been upset about the current storyline, for OutlawQueen, is an understatement. My main problem is I HATE that Adam, Eddy, and the writers don't care enough Robin Hood, as a character, to stay true to him. Since the end of 4x17, he has been written so atrociously out of character, all for this Zelena/pregnant storyline (which, is a bit of a waste of the character of Zelena and of Bex Mader as an actress), and it's just insulting. OOC story telling is saying to your audience, IMO, "We think you're too stupid to notice or care" and that they care more about plot and shock value, than characters and relationships. I especially think Sean Maguire, as the incredible actor of Robin, deserves better for material for his character.
I could literally rant about this until the cows come home, but I have adopted a Zen attitude towards it, now. I am just, pretty much, ignoring all of 4B. LOL. I am keeping my headcanon that Robin was under a spell and we just didn't see the scenes where True Love's Kiss broke it. Haha. No matter what, I am still a Oncer, still a Hoodie, and definitely still sailing the OutlawQueen ship. BUT I decided to do this little one-shot, my version if I could write for OUAT, of 4x20. It is based off of the bar scene where Robin says "You understood". Hope y'all dig it. Sorry if there are grammatical/spelling mistakes. I don't have a beta AND this was written during pure rage and sobs. LOL.)
"You understood."
She didn't understand. She didn't understand this at all.
Nothing made any sense, and her head was pounding, and her heart was breaking, and, God, did the whiskey burning her throat fit like a well-written metaphor for her life right now.
Regina suspects she was just used to this sort of demented, cruel tricks of the world by now. That had to be the reason why her wicked sister tricking the man she loves and being impregnated by him was not what her the most about this entire mess she found herself thrown into.
Robin had moved on.
In the past eight weeks, the ones she spent dealing with Gold and his villainous mistresses, trying to protect her son from the chaos, once again, plaguing Storybrooke, and, in the meantime, taping up that blasted Page 23 and dreaming of reuniting with Robin, every time she closed her eyes, he had been playing house with her sister.
She wants to vomit.
She knows it's not fair. He didn't intentionally consent to being with Zelena, knows that he's a victim in that respect. But he did consent when he thought it was Marian, his precious, innocent wife, and that pains Regina more than anything else.
And he thinks she understands, as if she sent him off, that day at the townline, inbetween when he gripped her head and kissed her thoroughly, and cried alongside her at their impending separation, with a dutiful, "Feel free to make love to her like you did to me a few days ago."
That thought has actual bile rising in Regina's throat and she mutters a rushed, "We have to go", before she quickly rises from the bar stool she was sitting on.
She races out of the restaurant, her heart pounding against their prison of her ribcage, as if begging to be ripped out, like it had so many times before. And, my God, was it ever a tempting thought.
Her boots hit the New York sidewalk and she walks aimlessly, fast, to no where in particular, just trying to put distance between herself and, well, everything.
She weaves between the busy foot traffic of the city, the loud noises of the bustling Metropolitan doing nothing to ease the dizziness she feels washing over her.
Regina has never been more grateful to find a dirty, but, more importantly, secluded, alley. She tucks herself in, back leaning against a brick wall as she tries to steady her breathing, trying to collect her thoughts.
While she had been mourning the love they shared, attempting to find a way to get it back, her soulmate had been kissing and loving Marian. Who was really her twisted, wicked, half-sister. Who was now pregnant.
And Regina had thought her mother ripping out her boyfriend's heart, in front of her, had been bad. Ha.
"Regina!" She hears a familiar voice call out in the distance. That damn, accented, gruff voice of her thief. No, not hers. Hers would imply that he wanted to be hers, when their time apart said something completely different.
She squeezes her eyes shut, her palm flat against her chest, as if acting as a physical barrier for the organ that wanted to claw from her body, and a few tears slide down her cheeks.
"Regina!" She hears Robin, again. Louder, closer.
"Regina," It's a broken breath now and she doesn't have to open her eyes to know he's a mere foot from her, she can feel it, if not hear it. The "unbreakable" bond of destined love, she laughs, bitterly, to herself.
"What the hell was that?" He demands, out of breath (from chasing her, probably), but easing the bite of his words.
That's when her eyes snap open. How dare he have the gall to be angry at her.
"We have to talk about this," He orders, taking a step to her, as she steps one pace to the side, "Now is not the time, Regina. We have to figure out this Zelena mess. How the hell could she masquerade as Marian?"
Regina feels it inside of her. The bubble of emotion, of indignance, of pure rage. Oh, she hasn't felt this in a very long time, but it's thrumming through her veins like she was back in the Enchanted Forest, a black knight on either side of her.
She never wanted Robin to see the Evil Queen in her, always wanted to protect him from the danger she posed physically and the more fearsome one she posed- emotionally - to their relationship, to his image of her. But, dammit, if she had the ability to conjure a fireball, her palm would be burning in this moment.
She sneers, lips curling into a cruel smirk, "I don't know. You were the one to bed her a week after you left Storybrooke. Did nothing feel differently, Robin? Did she not touch you the way Marian used to?"
"Don't talk about Marian," He growls, his hands transforming into fists at his sides.
"Oh, did I hurt a nerve?" She fights the urge to spat a 'thief' at the end of her sentence, but despite her anger, that was her name for him, in their relationship, and she can't remind herself of that. Not now. "Was it even a week, Robin? Or could you just not contain yourself long enough? The vault wasn't good enough to hold you over?"
The words slip out before she can even comprehend them and, now, she is flushed by memories. By his hands softly cherishing her body, his tongue marking every inch of her skin, his mouth against her ear, murmuring words of love and endearment.
Her breath catches in her throat. Gone (but not far!) is her anger, the sadness hammering into her again.
"She is- was," He corrects himself, must be remembering that the mousy, curly-haired woman he's been replacing Regina with, is actually the Wicked Witch of the West, "my wife. You knew this. You told me to forget about you and to move on, to love her."
She's teetering between fury and heartbreak, both contributing to the acidic tears blurring her vision, "Don't. Don't you dare use that against me. I told you that long ago, Robin. When Marian, or whoever the hell she is, was frozen, her life in the balance. You were the one who refused. You came to me, said that's where your heart led you, that we would find a way to wake Marian. And we did. And You. Chose. Me."
"You said going back to your wife would be living a lie, that following your heart was more important. You made it seem like I was the most obvious choice in the world," She thrusts her hand into her pocket because she truly is pathetic and in a desperate way to keep him close, she carried that missing page with her everywhere, "You gave me this and you smiled at me and you made me feel like wanted me, past, present, and future, that day, on that bench."
Robin shrugs. Shrugs. Then shakes his head, "And then we had to leave to save Marian's life, that you insisted upon, and I didn't know if we'd ever be back."
"Well you sure as hell didn't spend anytime looking for a way back to me, did you?" She bites, her own hand fisting, crumbling the taped-together paper, slightly, "I could've understood," She hates that word now, it burns her tongue like poison, "if it had been a year or if you had even called me, at least gave me the courtesy of knowing to stop thinking of you and dreaming of having you in my arms and loving you even more fiercely than I had before. But you didn't."
He is speechless, actually looks a bit confused. Good. He should feel confused because she sure as hell is. This wasn't the Robin she knew, the one she loved - loves, because as disgusted and hurt and angry she is, she still loves him.
Did he feel the same way?
"That day," She swallows thickly, trying and failing to dissolve the lump growing in her throat, "That day at the townline, when you kissed me, when you stood with me, with tears in your eyes, you wanted to say that you loved me. Do you love me, Robin? Did you ever?"
He pauses.
He pauses.
And the world drops out from beneath Regina Mills.
She stumbles, the weight of his silence hitting her violently, and she bumps the wall behind her. She raises a hand to her mouth because, surely, if there were ever a time to throw up, it'd be now.
But nothing rises, no, her body, in fact, shuts down. She feels an eery calm.
Calm before the storm, some would say.
She manages, on weak legs, to walk past Robin, escapes the arm he reaches out to catch her own, then whirls around, "Go."
It's soft, quiet, deadly.
"What? Regina, I'm sorry, but-"
"GO NOW!" She bellows, heat ripping through her vocal chords as she verbally strikes him. She sucks in a deep breath through her nose, "Go. Go and get Emma, and Roland, and," She can't bring herself to say his deceased wife's name again, or Zelena's, so she bites down on her bottom lip, then lifts her head to match his eyes, "We're going home."
Robin doesn't understand what is happening.
He is stomping up the stairs to his apartment, in order to do what Regina said, and fetch his son, and the savior, and his wife-
No, not his wife. It's not Marian.
But shouldn't this make sense? Didn't he recognize the signs? Didn't he feel something was amiss in those first days in New York?
He can't recall.
It was like when Regina was talking- shouting - at him, for why he can't comprehend, and talking about the day at the townline. Why was that memory blurry? Why couldn't he remember what he felt that day?
Why can't he feel?
He feels empty, confused. Not anger, not hurt, nothing. Shouldn't he feel something?
He felt anger when Regina was berating him, anger that she didn't understand, that she talked about Marian, but why? Didn't he love Regina? He had felt love when he saw her, embraced her on his doorstep. And if he loved Marian, why didn't he feel something akin to loss now?
What was happening?
It was as if something was blocking his emotions, his recollections, his mind.
Wait.
Witch. Zelena was a witch, that much he remembered. That much, prior to his time in this city, was clear. A witch, a powerful one.
And suddenly he can feel, at least a bit. A spark of frustration and wrath coarse through his veins and it's enough.
It's enough to have him charging towards apartment 407, ignoring Roland, whose sitting in the hallway with the brunette Emma had been with earlier, keeping the young boy away from her, and flinging the door open.
"Dear husband, you're back," Zelena smiles at him and, yet another new emotion, disgust, quickly washes over him.
He keeps his eyes locked on the red-head's, but speaks to Emma, who had been sitting in chair, guarding the witch, "Miss Swan, take Roland to the car."
"What? Where's Regina?" The blonde questions, eyes flitting between him and Zelena.
Regina. There's her name again and Robin's head starts to ache as he hears words, strings of phrases, assaulting his mind. "Aren't you technically known as the Evil Queen?" "I prefer Regina."
The day they met- well, one of the days they met.
He holds onto that, onto that glimpse of the past. "She's out at the car. Go."
Emma steps closer, her hand on his forearm- his tattooed arm ("I never saw his face, but I did see his tattoo")- and his headache increases, "Robin, you can't be alone with her. It's-"
"Just take my son to the car," He seethes, his voice forceful, and rips his arm out of the sheriff's grasp.
"Don't you mean our son, darling?" Zelena purrs, then slides her hands to her abdomen, "And soon he'll be a big brother, isn't that right. Oh! I think that was a kick, would anyone else like to feel?"
Emma shoots Zelena a glowering look, then turns to Robin, "I sure as hell hope you know what you're doing."
He doesn't. Has no clue what is happening within him and what could happen outside of his body in these next few minutes, but he's keeping hope. "Hope, that's not something that would ever happen to a villain, now is it?" "I owe someone a quarter."
Prince Charming and Snow White's daughter leaves, dropping her set of handcuffs onto the small table by the entrance before she exits, closing the door behind her.
"Wanted a little alone time, did you, hubby?" The witch teases, a maniacal smile gracing her lips.
She strolls in his direction and Robin is paralyzed in that moment. His head is pounding, now, and it is no longer a lack of emotions that berate him, but too many of them, too many thoughts racing through him.
Zelena reaches up to set her fingers on his chest and, running on instinct, Robin smacks her hand away.
She gasps, finds it amusing, apparently, as she giggles, "Quite touchy, I see." Her hands slide down to caress her stomach again, "But, then again, I already knew that, didn't I?"
This is wrong.
This is disgusting.
He would never sleep with Zelena, he already knew that much. But as he pictures himself with Marian, of kissing her and touching her, he feels sickened. He loved Marian, but he hadn't been in love with her for quite sometime and he wasn't the type of man who would bed a woman he didn't know, was he?
"What the hell did you do?" He manages to slowly croak, fury seeping out from behind clenched teeth.
Zelena smirks, flipping her auburn locks behind her shoulder, "Well, you know what they say, it takes two to tango..."
"No," Robin growls and takes a menacing step forward, one that Zelena does not shy away from, as he grasps her wrist, "You did something, something to me, I would never-"
God, his head is thumping. He is concerned for a brief second that it may combust, that he'll collapse in this apartment the same way the Dark One did weeks ago.
"You're being a tad rough with the woman crying your child," Zelena scolds, though her eyes are lit with mischief, but, suddenly, it's no longer Zelena. It's Marian. It's tan skin, not pale. It's dark curls, not red waves. It's frightened bewilderment, not demented enjoyment. "Robin, you wouldn't want to hurt me, would you?"
The thief releases his grip on her wrists as if the touch had burned and he jumps back, startled, "Wh-what, what is happening?"
"Dear, why do you look so scared?" Marian's soft, soothing voice speaks and she comes closer, "You're scaring me, Robin."
A vice is around his head, squeezing, squeezing, and Marian is there, her hands on either side of his face, looking at him innocently. But, no, Marian was dead.
"We can be so happy. You, me, Roland, our baby," Her lips brush his as she murmurs, "We're all you need in your heart."
Heart.
"Just wait until I have my heart back", "I've got your heart", "My mind was in the forest, but my heart took me here", "To follow my heart, to you."
His hands on Marian's shoulders and he's driving her back, away from him. Because, no, no, his heart isn't Marian's, it's Regina's. He sees it, pulsing and bright red, edged with shadowed darkness, can picture it in his hand.
"You can't steal something that's been given to you."
He sees her, his Queen, with her trusting eyes and her painted, soft lips smiling at him, her raven hair shining in the illumination of the Merry Men's camp fire.
But Marian is standing in front of him, and he can recall their life in the Enchanted Forest, her dressed in the typical outlaw garb, kissing him sweetly, holding his hand firm in her own, much smaller hand. And now she's standing in front of him. His Marian.
Wait, no, he had Marian. In Storybrooke. She lay, frozen and cold, his lips pressed against her lifeless ones, nothing felt between their bodies and not due to the Snow Queen's curse.
"Start thinking about her."
Regina's words, about Marian, echoing in his mind. Isn't that what he had done? Hadn't he moved on? Loved Marian?
"I've lived by a code, every day of my life.." "Then why are you here?" "Because today is not one of those days."
No, no, he didn't love Marian, not in Storybrooke and not in New York. He loved her in a way that you loved an old friend, like you held residual love for your first love, but he wasn't in love with her. That's why he couldn't save her, why he went to Regina.
"Robin," Marian's voice, gentle, yet wavering with emotion, her bottom lip quivering, interrupts his concentration, and he feels another sharp spike pierce through his temples, "Robin, sweetheart, I love you."
"I love you, too." NO! That's not right. Why are these words escaping his mouth? He didn't love Marian, no. He loved Regina. Where was Regina? Why was he here alone?
Suddenly the pain in his head is too much and he crumbles to the ground, his calloused hands clutching at it, nails digging into his scalp to alleviate the pressure.
Someone is crouching beside him, Zelena, he realizes from blurred vision, beginning to cry, and she whispers in his ear, "Oops."
Regina can't understand what the hell is taking so long as she sits in the passenger seat of Emma's yellow bug.
She sent Robin up to retrieve the others and then trekked to the car, parked on the curb outside of the apartment building, nearly ten minutes ago.
Perhaps her sister is resisting, Regina snorts. Mills women were anything but complacent.
Nausea slaps her again as she thinks of her blood relation to that woman. That vile, awful, manipulative women.
Though, Regina doesn't exactly have room to judge. She's pulled couples apart countless times before, she's killed as easily as Zelena killed Marian, she's even manipulated men into sexual scenarios, Graham's terrified expression as she clenched his beating heart springs to mind.
But the difference, as selfish as it sounds, she didn't love her victims, but she did love Zelena's.
Speaking of, she spots Emma, Lily, and Roland exiting the building and the little boy must spot her because she hears his voice, his squeal of her name. "Regina!"
She takes in a deep breath, blinking tears away from her eyes as she steps out of the vehicle, and rounds it, bending down at the exact moment Roland runs to her.
She catches him in her arms, with ease, lifting him as he squeezes her neck with his little arms, "I missed you, 'Gina."
Regina feels a tear slip down her skin as she hugs him to her, "I missed you, too, my little knight."
She breathes him in, his mop of brown, curly hair tickling her nose, and she feels peaceful, for the first time in months, because he smells like home. Like soap and pine. Like his father. Like Robin.
That thought, that pang of anguish, is enough for her to bend back down, releasing a protesting Roland, but, she, once again, is selfish, and she can't bare to have her soulmate's son in her arms, not right now.
He does catch her hand in his and she forces herself to be okay with that, because this little boy has been through more than any four-year-old should have to, and the least she can do is hold his hand and offer him that comfort.
"Regina, are we going back to Storybrooke? I don't like it here. It's loud," His nose scrunches up, adorably, in disgust.
"Yes, my dear, we are going back to Storybrooke."
"Can we get ice cream when we get back to Storybrooke? Mama won't let me have any, but you will, won't you, 'Gina?" He looks up at her with a wide smile, his dimples etched deep into his skin.
She smiles at him, sadly, thinks about the precocious child being stuck in this big city and her sister, masked as the boy's mother, denying him the one, basic comfort of a frozen desert.
And, no, Regina refuses to believe she's like Zelena. She refuses to compare herself to that green-eyed (literally!) monster, who has made Roland's dimples disappear behind a frown. She will continue to make amends for her past, as best she can, so she can no longer relate her sister.
In that spirit, she pushes her own pain aside, and lifts Roland again, hooking him on her hip, "I promise we will get all the ice cream you want, okay?"
"Can Henry come too?" He is excited, practically vibrating in her embrace and she finds herself nodding, not wanting to think how that outing will occur. It would have been her dream months ago, to go on a nice day, Henry and Roland playing and talking a few feet ahead of her, as Robin's arm was circled around her waist, her head resting on his chest, as they walked at a leisurely pace.
But now Roland's father no longer had feelings for her and he had moved on, but Marian was really Zelena and the little boy looking at her joyously, victoriously, had no idea of any of this. What a mess.
She glances around, searching absentmindedly for the outlaw and the witch, both of whom were missing. Regina's brow furrowed.
She takes Roland over to Lily's car, a blessing that unexpectantly happened, considering Emma's bug wouldn't be able to hold six people, and keeping Roland and Zelena separate, until a solution could be reached, was probably the best idea, and she straps him into the backseat.
She murmurs that she would be right back, that she promises she won't leave again after he pouts, and she presses a reassuring kiss to his forehead, then closes the door and goes over to Emma and Lily.
"Where the hell are Robin and-" Again, words are lost. Marian? Zelena? Either name brings Regina a significant amount of pain and she can't manage to squeak either moniker out.
"Crazy, magic bitch?" Lily offers and, for the first time that day, Regina chuckles in agreement.
"Robin just told us to bring Roland out here, he seemed.. out of it," Emma explains, appearing a tad confused as she seemingly replays Robin's actions.
"He's not, like, he doesn't actually like that transformer chick, right?" Lily ungracefully questions and Emma is quick to shake her head.
"No way, he seemed agitated, for good reason, obviously, but something else was going on. I don't know what."
"Your super power, again, Miss Swan?" Regina asks with a huff of annoyance and a roll of her eyes, because, honestly, now was not the time for Emma to play "Bondsperson"- they had bigger issues.
Emma narrows her own eyes in Regina's direction, folding her arms across her chest, "It works and, yes, right now, something is telling me something's wrong."
"Oh, really?" Regina laughs, without any humor behind it, "It took your beloved superpower to tell you that? Nothing else?"
"Yeah, hasn't the dude basically been assaulted? Thought he was banging someone and it turned out to be someone else? No wonder he's acting weird."
"So eloquent," Regina scowls at Lily, then turns back to the blonde, "No wonder you two were bosom buddies."
"Enough," Emma snaps, addressing Lily, "Yeah, Robin has been through something awful, but that wasn't, or, not that in particular, what he seemed bothered by," then to Regina, "And you can make fun of me all you want, but we both know that I have been right before and I'm right now."
"Fine," Regina sighs, relenting to her friend, "So Robin is acting strangely and is upstairs with Zelena, what do we do?"
"Not 'we', you."
"Excuse me?"
"Regina, we're here because, yeah Zelena is a crazy bitch, but because you love Robin. If anyone can find out what's going on, it's you."
"Emma," Regina begins, and she has to glance away, to try and distract herself so that her emotion won't show as she speaks, "I'm not someone Robin wants to see and, right now, the feeling is mutual."
"Remember what you told me? About my parents? To 'get over it'? Take your own advice," The Savior advises, with a shrug of her shoulders.
"You were whining like a child for days after that happened, it hasn't even been an hour for me, let's not compare."
"Fine, it's not the same," Emma admits, stepping forward and placing her hand on Regina's arm, "But it's what a hero would do."
She cocks her head, signaling Lily, and the two walk over to the car to keep watch over Roland.
Hero. Quite a low blow, Regina muses with resentment, but she hear Henry's words in her head and knows what her son would encourage her to do, and he'd agree with his biological mother.
"Soulmates, sisters, and heroes, oh my," She grumbles. Then enters the apartment complex.
Robin doesn't understand what his body is doing.
"Aw, you look like you're in pain. Would you like some Advil? I think I picked some up at the grocery store," Zelena mocks, smiling ear-to-ear, as Robin lays on the floor, contorted into an almost fetal positon, hands on his head.
She circles him, like a lion with it's prey, observing and taking pleasure in the distress, in the throbbing sensations overtaking his head, and starting to resonate throughout his entire body. "Dear, sweet husband, you should have just embraced me, when you could stand, that is, back in Storybrooke. May have saved us all this time and you, this misery."
"What.. have.. you.. done?" Robin gasps, another shock of pain splintering throughout him.
"Oh, this isn't me. No, no, this is all of your own doing," She answers, bending down, cocking her head as she watches him writhe, "You know, you are somewhat attractive, can't say I blame my sister for her obsession."
"You... are.. the... obsessed... one," Robin croaks, pinching his eyes closed.
Zelena laughs, barks and howls with merriment, "This coming from a man who couldn't stop staring at his blasted phone, at a picture, a figment of dreams."
His phone. Picture. Regina's picture. He deleted Regina's number and picture from his phone, why would he do that? He wouldn't do that. Marian wouldn't ask him to do that.
But it wasn't Marian, it was Zelena. The cackling witch in front of him.
His world was starting to go dark, his vision hazy, his hearing fading, what was happening to him?
"What the hell?!" He hears someone shout in the distance. Not someone, Regina. No, she shouldn't be here. He didn't love her, didn't want her here. No, no, he didn't want her here because he wanted to protect her, wanted her safe. More pain explodes within his brain.
"Sis, lovely of you to join us again," Zelena stands, looking cool and not at all affected by Robin groaning and shaking in front of her.
Regina is suddenly at his side, on her knees next to him, her hands searching out his face, murmuring words of comfort to him, "It's okay", "You'll be fine", "Robin, focus on me."
And he does, focus on her. He concentrates on her voice, her contradictory voice, deep, yet airy, and the pain subsides a bit. Her voice, not in the present, but in the past, guiding him, reminding him of who he is.
"No one who will be missed." He would miss her, had missed her, desperately.
"Have we met before?" They should have met sooner, before Storybrooke, before the Enchanted Forest, he wished he had every year he didn't spend with her back.
"You're so much more likable here in Storybrooke." Oh, he liked her anywhere, especially when she was teasing him like only she could.
"I just never thought I'd have this." She had it, had him. She always would, if he had anything to do about it.
"You are?" Yes, indeed, he was so very much in love with her.
"You have to forget about me." No! He could never!
"Look whose finally woken up." Yes, he wanted to wake up, every day, to her, with her.
"With love in your eyes." He bled love for her through every pore in his body.
"I know." Two broken words uttered as a goodbye, but no. He can't say goodbye to her! His soul is too intertwined with hers.
He faintly hears her speak again, but it's angry, demanding, directed at Zelena, "What did you do to him, Zelena. Tell me right now, because I swear to God, pregnant or not-"
"Oh, relax, sister. You'll give yourself a heart attack. That is, if you still have your heart. You don't have your trusty thief to protect it, now do you?"
"What. Did. You. Do?"
"Me? I didn't have to lift a finger."
Regina is standing. Robin can no longer see what is happening, but he can feel as she stands to her feet beside him.
Then, all of a sudden, Zelena shouts and hollers and objects and Regina's foot is stomping - hard! - onto the floor.
The pain is gone.
Physical, at least. However, as the past few weeks, hell, the past few hours, start rushing back into Robin's memory, he's allowing more tears to escape and wet his face. Shame and guilt and anger and loss colliding, tearing him apart inside. Oh god, the pain may have been better.
"Robin? Robin, it's Regina, look at me," She is speaking so softly, gently, as if he's a fragile animal and how in the hell could he have hurt her? How could he have betrayed her and disbelieved her and yelled at her?
"Robin," She's more forceful now, a regal tone to her voice, demanding attention, his attention.
He lets his eyes flutter open, adjusting to the world around him, his gaze then landing on her.
She's even more beautiful now. How is that possible.
"Regina?" He questions, can barely hear it himself, is amazed when her face breaks out into a relieved smile, telling him she managed to hear him, "I'm sorry."
He's crying now, or at least shaking if no tears are being produced, and he wraps his arms around her, yanking her down onto the floor, onto him, holding her as tightly as he can without suffocating her, breathing her in, ingesting every scent that clings to her.
She shushes him, coos into his ear, as they simply lay there in one another's arms, rocking slightly.
Finally, after somewhere between one second and one eternity, she is removing herself from him, sitting up and he instantly misses her, her warmth, her smell, her breathing, her voice, everything about Regina Mills.
She sits up and Robin follows suit as she offers him her hand, but after he stands, he can't bear to let go, just squeezes.
"What the hell happened?" Because he must have blacked out and he doesn't remember what exactly occurred, but he sees Zelena, seemingly unconscious on the couch and knows he certainly missed something.
"My sister happened," Regina groans, casting a glance towards the Wicked Witch and Robin knows she's feeling guilty for whatever she did that caused her sister to be lying there, lifeless, but she doesn't need to be. He puts his hand on her cheek, guiding her focus back to him.
"It was the necklace," Regina starts, looking down at what used to be Zelena's pendant, now a hunk of smashed materials."Or, the glamour spell, actually. They are very powerful, I didn't know exactly how much."
"She admitted that with prolonged exposure, especially if there is some connection between the glamour and the person, it can put someone in almost a trance. It makes them believe things they don't believe, feel things they don't feel, it's like an autopilot for humans."
"Because of your past with Marian, the glamour was able to affect you. To make you believe that you were the person you were when you were married to her, to feel those feelings you had for her again."
"But Roland-" Is all he can manage to say; it's a lot of information to process.
"Roland didn't know his mother, not really. That's why the glamour wasn't able to enamour him. Physically, sure, he saw his mother, but it didn't enact the spell it did over you."
"But, I, you.." He was stumbling over his words, couldn't get his thoughts to synchronize.
Regina sighs, "True love is the most powerful magic of all. By being around me, it would weaken the spell. That's why she concocted the plan to flee Storybrooke in the first place. And between your little time with me today and your exposure to her, it was your mind trying to fight the spell, but be under it at the same time."
"The pain," Robin notes to which she nods, affirming his suspicion.
"I was able to destroy the necklace, which breaks the trance all together. Are you okay?"
No, no, no he is very much not okay. He has been acting under some indescribable spell, being duped by this Wicked Witch. He isn't sure of anything right now, but he is positive that he is the furthest thing from okay.
"Come on, she'll be awake soon, we have to get back to Storybrooke."
Robin moves towards Zelena, but Regina stops him with her hand on his arm, his eyes darkens, "No, Emma can get her. You don't ever need to touch that woman again."
He nods, knows she's protecting him, and, instead, laces their fingers together as they walk out of the apartment.
Robin doesn't understand why Regina is avoiding him.
It's been three days since his return to Storybrooke, to his Merry Men and their camp, and even Will Scarlet and his drunken rambling is a welcome sight. He is greeted warmly by Prince Charming, Snow White, Belle, Hook, and several others, but the one person he wants in his presence has disappeared.
After they arrived in town, Regina tried his escape his hand holding onto her own, avoiding talking to him, instead, she went to work settling Zelena into a padded cell, a magical cuff on the witch's wrist to prevent her defense.
Robin gives her her space, because who wouldn't need some after what they have been through, but he misses her desperately and he is finally in the same vicinity, able to do something about his cravings for Regina Mills.
He treks down to her vault, discovers her sitting on her chest, her head in her hands, the sounds of her sobs echoing off the walls.
His heart breaks. He did this.
"Regina," He says, cautiously.
Her head snaps up, immediately wiping at her tears, "Robin. What are you doing here? How did you know I would be here?"
Robin smiles sadly, "My love, you're my heart. Wherever you are, that's where I'm led."
She seems to inhale sharply, as if his words stung her.
Regina doesn't understand why Robin is here, in her vault, with her.
She is fidgeting in her seat as he stands near the stairs, staring at her with a frown. She's upset him. She can tell that much.
Staying away from him, knowing he was just within reach, but holding herself back, had been a struggle. It reminded her of when Henry had lost his memories. He was there, but not there with her.
Though this separation was of her own doing, not of forgotten memories.
"Regina," Robin sighs, his voice tired, pained, "I'm sorry that-"
She gapes. He's apologizing, to her?
She rushes to her feet and walks towards him, placing her hands on his chest, "Robin, you have nothing to apologize for, please."
Regina looks at her hands on his chest and she goes to remove them, but he halts her movements, instead, covering her hands with his own.
"Obviously, I must apologize, for you have been avoiding me, you can even look me in the eye," He takes his hand from hers, hooking it under her chin and bringing her stare to match his, "I've hurt you, I know this. Zelena, the baby-"
"Robin, please, stop..."
"I will spend my entire life making up for-"
"Robin, stop!" Regina shouts, wrenching her hands from his grasp and turning her back to him.
How could he possibly think that he hurt her? That he would have to apologize to her? God, she has made this worse with her absence, not better. Of course, an Evil Queen would only bring more misery to those she loves. Why is she even surprised?
Robin suddenly has closed the distance, has his hands on her waist, pulling her back flush aginst his chest from behind. His mouth beside her ear, murmuring to her, "Regina, I love you. Please."
He's begging her. Wanting to do anything to gain her love, which unbeknownst to him, because of her careless actions, he already has. Has had for a long time and alway will.
She turns in their embrace, until their chests and stomachs are firmly pressed together, her face inches from him, enough so that his breath is hitting her face.
"I love you," He urges again and she watches his throat move, he's swallowing hard, nervous, aroused, she suspects.
"I love you too," Regina whispers, tears stinging her eyes, as she grasps his biceps for support, afraid if she lets go, she'll end up a heap on the floor, "I love you so much, Robin."
His head dips, intending to kiss her, but she reels back. She can't let him do that.
"So you can't forgive me?" Robin asks, chewing on his bottom lip, withholding emotion, no doubt.
Regina groans, "Robin, there is nothing to forgive! You shouldn't be apologizing! I should!"
Robin is genuinely befuddled, brow furrowing as he digests her words, "What in the world would you have to apologize for? Regina, I am here, Roland is here, we are safe because of you."
"The only reason you had to leave, the only reason you stuck in the godforsaken city, with her, under a glamour spell, is because of me!"
He wants to interject, can see it as his mouth opens, closes, opens, once more, but she stops him, continues.
"Robin, Zelena went after you because of me. She took you away from Storybrooke, from your family, because of me. Because of her twisted vendetta and jealousy. She masqueraded as your dead wife, God, Robin, she killed your wife just so she could do all of this!"
The tears are now falling freely and there's no way to stop crying or talking or pacing.
"She wanted to hurt me, so she hurt you. She assaulted you, mentally and sexually, even without the damn glamour spell and that just makes this whole mess even worse! And it is my fault."
"Regina, come here."
She doesn't move.
"Please, please come here. Come to me," Robin tries again, his voice pleading, his hand outstretched.
She relents, creeping towards him and she doesn't take his hand, but they do sit side-by-side on the steps leading into the vault.
"Regina, this isn't your fault." She snorts, disbelieving, because of course it is her fault, how can he not see that? "Zelena's motives are hers, and while they are directed at you, they aren't because of you. Hell, you gave her a chance, even after how she terrorized this town, you offered her a second chance, a chance to be family, and she rejected that."
"I won't lie to you and say that it's okay, say that I am fine, that it doesn't disgust me that I touched her and that she is pregnant with my child, but I can work on that with Dr. Hopper. What I can't work on, what I can't live without is you, milady."
She releases a broken sob, a smile finally gracing her lips at his term of endearmemt for her. Even when he is hurting, struggling, he can reassure her.
"So," He reaches over, takes her hand, and she lets him, bringing it to his lips, "Can we stop apologizing? This situation is messy and hard and awful, for both of us, but we can't do it by avoiding one another or by burying it. I love you so damn much and, if you feel the same still, I want to finally begin our lives. You, me, Henry, and Roland, and yes, even that baby, but only if that's what you want too. If you want me."
Regina shakes her head, in complete awe of the man who stands in front of her. How could she have ever believed that man in New York had been her Robin Hood, her thief. This is who he is. The man who puts others before himself, who has hope and strength, who she loves so deeply.
She grabs his collar and pulls, bringing him to her until their lips crash together, in a passionate kiss. After so long, it was like a thirsty man finding water, neither could get enough of the other's lips, mouths, tongues. It took all Regina's willpower to briefly break the liplock, breathing against him, "Of course I want you, want that. Forever."
This was how it was meant to be, crazy circumstances or not, if they were together, they could face anything.
She finally understood.