Blasted snow!

One moment of negligence and she had slipped, fallen to the ground and hello, there strained ankle! She would have cured her ankle with magic if it hadn't been for the fact that she had to hide from the Wicked Witch and any magical action would attract her attention.

And since the Wicked Bitch was occupying the Dark Castle and Regina and the rest of their "army" - consisting of the two idiots, the dwarves, the two wolf ladies and many others of their friends and of Storybrooke's old citizens - had set up a camp the Queen was stuck in her own tent.

Loneliness didn't bother her. Not anymore. After Daniel's death she had got used to living with no one but the ghosts of her past.

But apparently, besides Snow's check-ins in the mornings, there was someone else who didn't want to see her lonely.

And this someone was none other than Robin Hood, leader of the Merry Men and currently the third in command, ranking directly below Snow and Charming and followed by Mulan.

"Have I told you, that you are truly annoying, thief?" she growled, her arms crossed in front of her chest, looking down at him even though she had to look up at the outlaw.

The man just looked down at her, lifting her bandaged foot and placing it a little bit further to the side so he could fluff up the pillow her foot was sitting on, then placing her limb back on it.

He was acting so domestic in her tent.

"Every day, your majesty," he replied, his blue eyes sparkling in amusement.

Regina let herself sink back into the cushions of her bed, glaring at Hood.

"Then why are you still here?" she hissed.

"Because I find myself rather enjoying your lovely company," he replied and Regina rolled her eyes in fake annoyance, attempting to hide the blush that started to creep up her cheeks.

"I am just being myself," she growled as the outlaw sat down on her bed, his hand placed merely a few inches away from her thigh.

He leaned forward, his face close to hers. Regina suppressed the urge to press herself further into the pillow in order to get away from that man.

She was being snarky and sassy and everyone hated her but he didn't seem to mind and she found herself actually liking him - she hated it.

"And I like it," he said, his voice low.

Suddenly Regina felt like the young woman who had saved Snow all those years ago again. She didn't move her gaze from his but she shifted her weight, all of a sudden feeling very uncomfortable.

In the process of shifting her weight her ankle slipped from the pillow and onto the hard mattress. Regina's face twisted in pain and she let out a quite groan.

"Are you alright there?" Robin asked, retreating until he wasn't invading her private space anymore.

"Do I look like I am alright?" she snapped and the outlaw stood up and left her tent.

Regina stared after him, disappointment taking a hold of her heart. After everything she said to him he decided he was getting tired of her now? She hadn't even been that mean.

She puckered up her lips and frowned, her arms crossed in front of her chest, her ankle still throbbing painfully.

A few moments passed by, then the tarp of her tent was pulled up and Robin's familiar green figure made a reappearance in her current home, holding a wooden bowl filled with snow in his hand.

"Brought you some snow to cool your ank-"

He stopped himself midsentence as he saw Regina's wide brown eyes fixed on him.

"What's the matter?"

"I- I thought you left," she stammered, taken off guard.

"I swore to take care of you and I am sorry to disappoint you, my queen, but I am not that easy to get rid of," he smiled, pulling a piece of cloth from one of her bedposts and wrapping the snow in it before he tied it gently around her foot.

She watched him the entire time, suddenly having the image of him taking care of Roland on her mind. For a reason she didn't quite understand it made her heart flutter - probably because it had been a very long time since anybody cared about her that much who wasn't Snow who simply cared about everyone.

"Thank you," she murmured as he finished the snowy bandage around her ankle with a knot.

He looked up from her foot, his soft blue eyes meeting her brown ones, a small smile gracing his lips.

"I think those were the first kind words of yours directed to me," he smiled and she rolled her eyes again.

"Don't think this will become our common practice," she smirked and Robin smirked back.

"I would never dare to think so."

She wasn't quite sure if she just imagined his next words but she thought she heard him add quietly "I wouldn't want it either".

And she also didn't want to change a thing.

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(thanks for reading. tell me what you think?)