The night air was cool on the castle balcony. Robin made his way out to the edge to sit and winced in pain. The last round with the wicked witch and her monkeys left several of his ribs cracked and he found any attempt to sleep tonight unbearable. He sighed and looked up at the star filled sky.

"Did you forget where your room is Thief?" The Queen's voice cut through the night air.

Robin jumped up and pain seared through his chest. "Your… Majesty," He took a difficult breath. "I thought I was alone."

"This is my castle." The Queen said. "Where should I be?"

Robin bit his tongue before making a quip about Snow White. It didn't seem advisable at this moment. "Nowhere else but here of course Your Majesty." He'd been unable to read her at all. She was kind to him one moment giving him arrows of gold and then she couldn't wait to banish him back to the forest the next. It's completely disarming in a good and bad way and he's not used to it. She is beyond fascinating he thinks as he looks at her.

She makes no effort to invite him to stay so he winces again and turns to leave. "Good night then."

"Are you hurt?" She asks her voice softening slightly.

"It's nothing," he says though he can barely say the words.

Suddenly she's in front of him. "Let me see." Her dark eyes look at him intently as the idea of wounded prey at her mercy flashes through his mind. She takes his hand and leads him to the stone bench. He has no choice but to follow her and any alternative hurriedly exits his mind. She sits much too close to him invading his personal space as no other has done except his son in years.

"I think I just…" Robin's words are cut off and a soft gasp catches in his throat as he feels her hands on him. He shouldn't be surprised that they are remarkably strong. The warmth of her fingers touching him through his shirt gives him a strange fluttering in his stomach mixed with the random strike of pain as she softly strokes his damaged ribcage. As she feels him more intimately than they have before her eyes stay trained on his face as if she's reading his very private thoughts. His body is suddenly caught between the Queen's administered pleasure and the radiating pain of his injuries.

The Queen is thoroughly intoxicating, he thinks.

"Thief, you have broken ribs." She says as she probes his chest further and then pushes roughly against one bone that she senses has the worst damage. A wicked smile flickers across her face.

The Queen is also infuriating.

"Ow! Hey!" He exclaims looking at her. She seems to find mild amusement in this bit of arbitrary torture. "I know Your Majesty!" He utters through gritted lips.

"Sorry about that." The Queen's eyes light up and the edge of her lips curl. She is toying with him and enjoying it. She brushes her thumbs over his pectorals even though she knows there is no damage. He can't hide his immediate reaction to her stroking fingers and she hums her approval. He is in fine shape as his muscles ripple under her wandering hands. He dares to think she may be flirting with him in her own obtuse way.

He lowers his voice and says, "My ribs are a bit lower, Your Majesty." He realizes how close she is and how easily he could kiss her. He doesn't know when that urge came about, but in truth the thought of her has been driving him mad for weeks. It has been much longer than that since he's wanted any woman to touch him like she is now.

"I know," she says raising an eyebrow at him as her hands cup either side of his torso tightly. She splays her fingers across his ribs. He's unable to hold back the soft contented moan that escapes his lips, but quickly bites his bottom lip to stop the second one from alerting her to his strange delight of her treatment. He feels nothing but heat wash over him and his pain subsides. "Better Thief?" She asks.

"Very much, thank you Your Majesty." He smiles at her and for a moment they sit staring at each other as if it was the most normal thing in the realm. He realizes how comfortable he is just sitting and looking at her and could happily continue for weeks if she'd allow him.

He sees the light blush warm her cheeks just before she turns away from him. She gets up and walks to the edge of the balcony telling him over her shoulder. "I'm sure you can get some sleep now." Her voice has that flat tone again and he knows she has put her wall back up firmly in place. Maybe one day if he's lucky she'll lower it and let him inside.

Robin wants to say something more, but he respects her choice if she wishes to be alone. He lets out a long breath and finally says, "Good night, Your Majesty."

Her head turns slightly to acknowledge his words and she goes back to staring out into the night. His heart strangely aches watching her solitary form against the night sky and he can't shake the want and need to take her in his arms and comfort her. He knows she is still missing her son and he makes a note to ask her to show Roland the horses. He'll love it and maybe The Queen would enjoy it too. "Thank you again", he says as he leaves her.

Robin returns to his room and lies down on the bed. He breathes deeply and stares up at the high chiseled ceiling. The Queen's hands have left an imprint on him that is still resonating through his body. It could be a spell, but he honestly doesn't care if it is.

His heart is in strange distress. She has somehow skillfully slipped inside it filling it to the brim 'til it feels as if it's overflowing. He knows the feeling; it's filled his heart once before, but somehow this time it is incredibly strong and overwhelming. He's never been a man to act on the whim of romantic emotion, but this woman; she is different. She seems to be anything and everything but nothing resembling evil

"Regina." He whispers her name softly into the darkness.

He sighs softly and turns onto his side watching the door. He wonders if she harbours any thought of him as the night continues on. He shakes his thoughts away. She's The Queen and has thousands of men at her beck and call. She wouldn't be smitten by an unruly thief in the night that smells of forest.

He must be mad for he thinks for a moment to go back and see her, maybe tell her how he's feeling. He closes his eyes and remembers her hands on him and her warm breath on his lips as she spoke softly with concern. Her dark eyes were full of every mystery to be solved and some no man ever could or would even dare to try to understand. However in this state he'd be willing to give every one of hers a try not caring the outcome.

The Queen was wrong about one thing, sleep will not come; not tonight or any night forward he fears. She has touched him outside and in and not even an arrow tipped in gold could strike her from his heart and secretly he desires her to stay within it forever until it ceases to beat.