It started like any other day. Regina Mills walks into work with a black pencil skirt, a red long sleeve, and black pump heels. She works at Golds Enterprise, a firm for product marketing management. They manage products such as toys, general merchandise, and consumables, and ensure they are positioned in stores to be sold properly while have meetings for advertising. Zelena, a curly haired redhead with an English accent, always greets her with that annoying smile. Zelena has always called Regina "sis" to get under Regina's skin, but also because they've worked so closely together. Zelena tried to hand her a coffee but was stopped by Regina, "I already have my own on my desk, like every other day I come in," she says as she shrugs her trench coat off to place on the usual chair she sits in for the morning team meetings.
"Well I just thought you needed some more. We have a new member to the team."
"What?"
"Over there," Zelena points to the direction of the waiting room outside the meeting office. There is a dirty blond-haired man, with blue eyes, and light scruff on his face. She turns to Zelena letting her hair bounce and fall on her face. Regina reaches for the coffee Zelena offered, "Thank you. Maybe I do need it," she turns back around and leans against the table, puts her left arm around herself and takes a sip of the coffee as she stares at the new member. She starts to remember all the new comers that all tend to leave after working with her or Zelena, calling her "the Evil Queen" and Zelena the "wicked witch".
"So, do we wait for Gold to introduce us, or should we help ourselves sis?" Zelena asks while slowly walking next to Regina to lean against the table as well.
They might as well be sisters, they like their coffee the same way, and are posing the same way as they keep looking at the blond-haired man.
Wow, he is cute, Regina thinks to herself as she takes another sip. Cute? I mean Handsome. Cute is for puppies or babies. They stay there talking among themselves about new products and all the people who have left those doors hoping they would work out. They hear a big thud of a cane that caused them to jump. Mr. Gold, a long-haired man wearing a three piece, wanted to get their attention. It's been two minutes since the meeting started and they didn't notice he was there waiting for them.
"Good morning Mr. Go- "Zelena tries to say but was interrupted by their boss.
"Yes, must be a good morning since you two aren't paying attention to time, and time is precious," he says through his teeth looking slightly annoyed. "I see you heard we have a new member joining the team," he limps his way to the door to point and turns back around to look at them, "I will introduce you all and he will start right away. I want you both to help him. You both have different ways at looking at things. So, Dearies, make sure you don't mess this up."
Regina became nervous. She isn't used to training, and working with Zelena and her team, she wasn't too thrilled. Gold goes out and greets the blond. Zelena and Regina start to get settled in their seat before they come in. As the door opens the smell of forest fills the area. Zelena has that witty smile on her face and jumps up letting her red curls bounce. She sticks her hand out, "Hi, I'm Zelena Greene. I'm known as the big sister here." At this, Regina rolls her eyes and does a small side smile. She can't argue with her as Zelena is older than her even though it's just the two of them working under Gold. Regina gets up putting her hair behind her ear before turning to the blond to put her hand out and says, "I'm Regina Mills." Their eyes meet and it's like lightning. He has his mouth open and smiles while shaking her hand, "Robin Locksley." His accent struck her she wasn't expecting it, but she likes it a lot.
Stop it Regina. This is going to be a Daniel all over again! She wanted to snap herself out of it. Thank goodness for her perfected poker face.
She felt his eyes linger for a while. It started making her nervous, so she decided to sit, pushing herself in and moving her hair from her face, again. Her face was getting warm and she worried she was getting red.
"Okay, so, Robin is testing the waters here at the firm. He just graduated business school in England," that's where the accent is from, "and heard that we get things done."
"Our reputation precedes us," Regina says taking another sip of her coffee that is turning a little cold.
"Is that so Milady?" Robin shoots back with a smile that shows his dimples.
Is he flirting with me? God, I must be so red at this point. She didn't sign up for this today.
"These are your assignments. Get with your team to send the vendors out and make sure everything is set. Now do your magic Dearies. Remember, it comes with a price."
Regina grabs the papers that were given to her and heads to her office on the second floor.
"Hold on I'm coming with you," she hears from behind her. She turns around to see Robin trying to pick his stuff up quickly, she looks at Zelena that is walking passed her and whispers "Have fun sis," with a wink. Regina looks at Gold, he's standing there legs shoulder width apart the cane in between them both of his hands on it, nodding. She leans against the door, waiting for him. He rushes over to hold the door telling her to lead the way. She heads to the elevator, pushes the button to go up while pushing her hair behind her ear.
"So, what's it like working here?" Robin asks looking up at the buttons light up to which floor it's on.
"It's nice," she replies fast, glancing at him and quickly shifting her gaze back to the elevator door hoping it will come down faster. It dings, and the doors open. They get in almost at the same time and he presses the bottom for the second floor. They ride up in silence listening to the elevator music. Once it stops and the doors open it she takes the lead, "This is my floor. That is my assistant, her name is Mary Margret. She handles phone calls and scheduled meetings." She walks to the middle of the room pointing with her left hand and holding papers to her chest with her right arm, "The room to the left is the meeting office, it's where the team gets together to discuss product placement, new clients, or new products that come." She moves to the big window to show StoryBrooke then continues, "The room all the way to the right is my office if you ever need anything and that little room just has the copy machines." She turns to head to her office only to be stopped by Robin. She looks down at his hand that his holding her elbow lightly then meets his eyes.
"And what should I do milady?"
Right! His blue eyes are mesmerizing, and she can't seem to utter a word out. She snaps out of it, "you can hang in my office to look over the plans and the products we have. The team should be here soon enough." They enter her office and Robins mouth falls open to the amazing spacious room. Everything is black and white. There is a couch all the way by the window to view StoryBrooke. Two black chairs sit in front of her glass desk. She sits down motioning to Robin for him to sit.
"This is a really nice office Regina." Robin states as he sits down moving the chair closer to her desk.
"Thank you," She nods and sits with her legs crossed, "today we have a meeting with the advertisers for a new product Killian Toys & Co. are releasing." Regina passes Robin the paper with the information and the placing of the items in the store. "Our team should be here around 8. We must make sure that everything is set for the meeting."
They sat there looking over the papers hearing the clock tick by. Regina gets up to make copies for the meeting, she doesn't return alone. Robin watches a man wearing black gloves sit down as Regina is counting the papers she has in her hands while sitting down.
"So, you're the new guy? I'm August Booth, I'm part of Regina's team." August says taking off his gloves to shake Robins hand. Robin starts to stand up meeting his hand with August's.
"Robin, Robin Locksley." Robin smiles while sitting back down.
"So, Killian should be here around 9, so what would you like me to set up?" August asks like every other morning when they have meetings.
"There's not much to set up. Just make sure the meeting room is clean and ready to go." Regina says without looking up from her paper work. August leaves to set up the room.
"So, Milady, what made you decide to work here?" He asks while looking at her side profile. She slowly looks at him for it was hard to take her eyes off the paper Gold has given her. He is smiling at her with his blue eyes meeting her chocolate colored eyes. He noticed that they looked more like honey when the sun hits them.
"My mother, I guess." She took her gave off him, "How about you? You came from England."
"Yeah. I had a girlfriend since high school, her name is Marian. High school sweethearts some people would say. We started talking marriage, but we realized we wanted different things. So, I moved here to start fresh." He faced down at his fingers fiddling with each other. She didn't quite want to ask for it felt too soon. She reached across her desk and placed her hand at the edge, they sat there gazing into each other, smiling. When she went to speak her team came into the room.
"Good morni- Oh, were we interrupting something?" Ruby, a woman dressed in a skin tight, off the shoulder, short red dress came in heading to sit on the corner of Regina's desk to look at Robin. "Well, who is this? The new guy I've been hearing about? I'm Ruby!"
"Yes, and all of you will hear about him at the meeting. Lets all head there shall we?" Regina stands up nodding and motions to the door. Everyone heads out of the office murmuring and saying, "Good morning," to Mary Margret. When Regina's door closes she lets out a sigh. "Sorry about that, but the meeting is going to start in five minutes. So, we should head there." She heads to the door to motion to the meeting room. Closing the door behind her. The meeting room is all black expect the walls, very Regina Mills the team thinks. "Good morning everyone."
"Good morning." They all say eager to start the day.
"I am sure you heard about our new member. Not sure if he will stay with our team. He just started and is testing the waters. You may introduce yourself." She gestures to him to stand up if he wishes to.
Robin stands up waving his hand in a hello motion, "Robin Locksley." He sits back down.
"That's all you're going to say?" Ruby asks sarcastically, moving to lean forward on the table with her hand in a fist while her chin leans into it.
"I graduated university about six months ago majoring in business and environment ethics. I moved from England two months ago, hoping to start something new here. That is all I got." He finishes and looks at Regina to continue because he wishes to move on from himself.
"Well, welcome to Storybrooke Mr. Locksley." Regina nods to him and continues with the meeting. After talking among themselves about who is going to which store for picture taking and feature talking, Mary Margret knocks on the door.
"Killian is here, Regina."
"Thank you, you may send him in."
Killian and his advising team comes in, they sit on one side as Regina's crew sit on the other. William Smee, the advertising management member of Killian, gets up to set up the video. Killian talks about his new product he wants to release. It's a Boat you piece together called the "Jolly Roger." It is like the houses parents build outside for their kids, but instead it a boat they can climb on. After everything was done, they emailed the team the video to make it presentable and appealing for viewers. Aurora, Ariel, and August take over working on the video. Belle and ruby take their iPad's and head out to the stores to look at their products.
"That was pretty fast. You had me introduce myself, but no one else introduced themselves to me." Robin exclaims as they head back to Regina's office.
"Yeah it wasn't bad, also, I'm sorry about that, hopefully after lunch we can all meet back at the office to meet them." When they enter her office, she jumps as she see's someone leaning against her desk.
"Good morning Regina." A dark-haired man, with blue eyes, and a small beard says holding a bag that contains toast.
"Good morning Graham. Thank you for the toast but, I already had breakfast and coffee." Regina says walking to her desk.
"Well, who is this?" Graham asks looking at Robin.
"The new member to the team. His name is Robin. Why are you here Graham?" She shoots a look at him that made Robin nervous for the poor guy.
"Just wanted to make sure you were okay. I haven't heard from you in a while."
"I'm fine. Just busy. Now please if you will, I must get back to work." Graham leaves nodding while looking at Robin.
"It's only 10:17am. But now I have to go to Gideon Comfort building to check in with the store manager." Regina states as she gathers her papers when she looks at her chair for her coat and remembers she left it in the first-floor meeting room. "You may come with me, or you may head to Zelena's floor right above here and see what she has left." Robin grabs his coat and shrugs it on. I guess he is tagging along. They get into her black Mercedes Benz while Robin examines its beauty the whole time. "What?" Regina asks noticing him examining her car.
"Just really nice." He quickly shoots back putting his seatbelt on. Regina starts to drive and plays music lowly in her car. "So, was that your boyfriend?"
She looks at him quickly baffled he asked such a question. "What? No. We just have some history I guess you can say." She quickly ended the conversation at that. He focuses on her expression, but she doesn't show anything, but he knows there's more to that story than she is saying. But she will tell him when the time comes, he hopes. "What about you? If you don't mind me asking, what happened? With Marian."
"She wanted bigger and I wanted simple. She wanted everything, when I just wanted to be happy. I am not rich like her parents are. Very materialistic if you must say. Don't get me wrong, I was happy with her until I found myself slaving for her. Trying to buy her the things she wanted. Very overwhelming." He says in a low tone and she keeps her eyes on the road for she wasn't sure she wanted to see his broken heart across his face. "Marian is a physical Therapist and she actually lives close. More south, closer to New Hampshire I think. We haven't spoken in eight months since I broke up with her." They sat there for a while in silence. Regina focused on driving while Robin focused on the music that was playing. Fallingforyou by The 1975 was playing. He looks over to her, he sees her mouthing the words to herself while pulling into the parking lot. He couldn't stop this growing feeling for her. Though he was scared to be in another relationship after breaking it off with someone he loved for so long. They reached the store around 11:00am
"Okay. We are here. It shouldn't take more than an hour. Then its lunch time." She turns the car off and hops out waiting for him to get out to lock the car. She walks quickly wrapping her arms around herself because the wind was blowing very high. They finish the meeting and walked the store with the managers to see if their items were out and placed for they didn't seem to be making sales in that store. When Regina saw they moved a product out of action alley to a hidden section she told them to move it for it was vital for sales. "We will check in a month for the sales and come back. Thank you for your time." Robin was fascinated in her demeanor she was able to give to get them to do what she asked. She walks away her hips swinging left and right. Robin nods at the managers and walks right behind her. When they reach the car and close the door, she turns it on and waits to warm up. "So, where would you like to eat Robin Locksley?"
"Where do you usually eat? I don't know much around here milady."
"I like Granny's. I eat her hamburger and french-fries. Would you like to try it?"
"You are the pilot." She smiled at those simple words that left his lips. She is growing feelings for this man but doesn't want to show it. What happened between her and Daniel really messed her up. She isn't sure if she is ready, even if its been over a year.
They got into town around 12:00pm, and settle into Granny's though its packed. They finish their lunch and head to the office again. The day finishes smoothly. Zelena comes down to Regina's office, "It's four o'clock sis. I am heading out."
"See you tomorrow Zelena." Regina waves her hand for her to go away. Regina then looks up at her clock, taking her glasses off. She quickly moves to her door to open it, "Mary Margret you may go home. I will lock up. I will be leaving shortly." She turns around to see Robin standing there.
"Should I leave as well?"
"You may head out if you would like." She starts to walk back to her desk and puts her glasses back on.
"Well, I would like to know if you want to join me for dinner tomorrow night? It's Friday, and I know you guys aren't open on weekends." He asks while putting his jacket on. She did a low chuckle and leaned on the desk with her arms keeping her up shoulder width apart. She looks up to see him standing there waiting for her answer.
"You're serious? Okay. I will go. Do I wear something nice?"
He side smirks at her showing one of his dimples, "Yes, I know a lovely restaurant Tiana's Palace."
"It's that new spot that opened up. Till tomorrow." She looks at him with a small smile and finishes organizing her paper work. She hears her door close while she puts her coat on. The drive home was nice for it was her time to settle with her own thoughts. She gets home placing her keys on the table next to the door. She takes off her makeup, showers, puts lotion on her legs and arms, and puts her face cream. She throws herself on the bed with her silk pajamas on facing the ceiling. She starts to laugh at herself and smile. She is really going on a date with Robin.