A/N : Hello everyone! I'm finally posting a birthday prompt, more than a month late (so, so, sorry). I only had a picture of Regina and Robin in an elevator wearing medical blouses (creation by FlaviaOttaviane, you'll find it on twitter with the link for this story) as a prompt. My imagination did the rest. I hope it will be to your liking ;-)
And to those who answered my poll about which fic I should update first, don't worry, I already sent a chapter to betareading. But this one isn't betaread, and it was basically almost done. All the mistakes are mines, I apologize in advance for them.
Kseni, I wish you again, this time really late, a happy birthday 3
She enters the elevator, presses the button to the 11th floor, and quietly stands near a wall as the doors are slowly closing.
"Wait! Hold it back!"
She startles, reacts quickly, one of her hands coming between the doors, the other searching the button to keep them open. When she looks up, she faces a breathless Robin Locksley, who enters the second she steps back.
"Dr Mills." He greets with a nod.
"Dr Locksley."
It doesn't take long.
The door have barely closed when they face each other, their lips locking in a passionate and hungry kiss, their hands gripping, touching and caressing the other, flush pressed together, Regina pinned against the wall, moaning as Robin presses himself between her legs, the bulge of his pant more than evident in the proximity they're sharing.
She tears her mouth apart to remind "Either we're very lucky and we won't get caught, or we're going to receive a blame from Gold for making out in a public place."
"He can go to hell." Robin murmurs against her throat, sucking at her pulse, making her shiver and moan roughly as he finds the perfect spot. "I can't get enough of you."
Regina struggles to keep her mind clear, to resist Robin's wonderful touches and kisses, exhaling softly as she arches in his arms, but a glance at the door reminding her that they're only two floors away from their destination quickly brings her back to Earth.
She pushes at his chest gently, sticking her forehead to his when he sighs deeply. "You'll have me to yourself the entire evening and night when we get home today. I asked Mal to take the boys with her. She doesn't know why yet, but she for sure will be more than enthusiastic when she'll hear the news."
"You did?" Robin lifts an eyebrow and smirks, obviously more than interested with the prospect of an entire romantic evening and night.
"Yes. I wanted to savor the news in private, without Henry or Roland to disturb us every five minutes. I love our boys, but they are champions at reminding us of their presence constantly."
"I see…" Robin winds his arms around her waist. "I definitely have the most perfect girlfriend."
Regina pulls back, throwing him a pointed look, before smiling deeply. "Fiancé is more appropriate now, don't you think?"
Before he has time to answer, the elevator stops, its doors opening to reveal a perfectly dressed up Mr Gold, and the murdering look he gives them is everything Regina thought they would receive if he caught them together.
They jump apart immediately, Robin's hand leaving Regina's waist when she takes a step aside, and they sheepishly walk their way out, but it's apparently not enough for their superior.
"I thought the rules were clear. No intimacy in public areas. You're here at work, not in your bedroom."
Robin is about to answer, but Regina knows him enough to be certain that the way he will make fun and talk lightly about the situation will piss Gold enough that he'll definitely send them both a blame.
So she gives her lover a discrete punch in the ribs, and answers neutrally.
"I'm sorry. It won't happen again."
"It better not."
As she watches him enter the elevator, Regina can't help but question "Aren't you coming, chief?"
After all, one of their colleagues is about to give them the results of a study he made in the ER over the last months, the least of things would be for the chief of the unit to be present.
"I forgot something in my office. I told him to start without me, I'll be here in a few minutes."
And the man disappears behind the doors, leaving the couple to themselves.
Regina chuckles, and Robin lifts an eyebrow. "Why did you stop me from answering him?"
She turns towards him, cups his cheek tenderly, still smiling. "Because I know you would've mocked him, and though I love to see these scenes happen, I think you should give Gold a break. You've grilled all your cards with him for now, don't give him a reason to go after you."
"What could he possibly do? He doesn't have the power to fire me."
"Maybe not. But the board does, and my mother is presiding it. Unfortunately for us, if she doesn't dislike you as much as she did Daniel, she very much prefers her husband. And if you remember correctly, her husband happens to be our chief, Gold."
"Oh…" Robin winds his arms around her waist again, Gold's order already forgotten as he gets closer, his grin mirroring Regina's. "Well, then I guess I'll behave for a while."
Regina chuckles, presses a quick kiss to his lips before pulling back, glancing around and reminding him that they're still in public.
"Starting now." She murmurs against his lips, then falls back to her heels, grabs his hand and leads him forward "Come on! Victor's presentation will start in a minute, I don't want to be late."
XXX
"We have an announcement to make."
Malika and Victor raise their heads from their plates to focus on their friends.
"You're pregnant?" Mal asks immediately, looking suspiciously at Regina.
"God no!" The brunette exclaims. "It's way too soon for that."
"Are you moving in together?" Victor interrupts.
"Not exact-" Robin begins, but is cut off by his friend again.
"Don't tell me you're moving back to England!"
"No!" Regina answers immediately. "We're not leaving this country."
"Please, tell me you're not quitting your job! I can't picture our team being separated." Malika pleads.
Regina reaches out for her best friend's hand, squeezes reassuringly. "No, we're not quitting." And then she glances between her two friends "But if you would let us speak instead of constantly interrupting us, maybe we can tell you what we have to say."
Malika grips Regina's fingers, nods silently.
Victor straightens in his seat, grabs one of his fries and bites in it. "Alright."
Regina and Robin exchange an amused glance, before turning towards their friends, Robin announcing solemnly but quietly enough that the whole cafeteria won't hear.
"We're getting married."
Victor chokes on his fries, Malika's eyes open wide, and for a second they just stare at the couple, until the blonde man declares "Is this a joke?"
Regina frowns "Not at all. We're serious. Robin proposed to me yesterday, and I said yes."
"About time!" He exclaims. "I thought it would never happen!"
"I'm so happy for you both!" Malika says, reaching across the table to squeeze their hands, grinning. "You deserve it. But I want to be your maid of honor!" She tells Regina.
"And me your best man!" Victor adds, looking at Robin. "We're going to take care of everything."
"It's our wedding." Regina points. She knows Victor and Malika mean well, but if they let them take the lead they will choose everything from the color of the bouquets to the location of the ceremony.
"But you'll let us help, right?" Malika pleads.
"Of course!" Her friend concedes, glancing at Robin, who seems just as amused by the situation as she is. "Just remember that Robin and I have the final word."
"No problem!" The blonde woman pauses, smiles thoughtfully "Daniel must be so happy and proud. I'm sure he was as impatient as we were to see this happen."
Regina's face shifts into a more broken one, so Robin takes her hand, squeezes slightly, and she squeezes back.
"I hope so."
"I'm sure, Regina!" Victor says. "He wanted you to move on. He asked Robin to take care of you and Henry." He reminds. "I'm sure that, wherever he is, he must be relieved to see that one of his friends is the reason his wife is happy again. He would have never wanted for you to stay alone."
"I know."
"And it's been almost 4 years since he passed. Henry is older now, he can understand."
"By the way," Malika interjects "Do the boys know?"
The change of subject lightens up the mood slightly, making the grief slowly vanish, the memory of the two boys' endless energy and sweetness invading the adults.
"Yes." Regina nods. "We told them during dinner."
"And?"
Regina sighs, and Robin answers for her "Roland was thrilled. He never really knew his mother, Regina's been in his life more than any other woman."
"And Henry?"
"He…" Robin glances at Regina. "He was happy, but he asked a lot of questions. Especially…" He brings a hand to Regina's neck, strokes softly.
"He asked if it meant I didn't love Daniel anymore." Regina finishes.
"Oh."
"What did you say?" Victor asks carefully, not wanting to hurt his friend's feelings. He knows Daniel's subject is still raw, even years later. Losing your husband and almost your child in the same night can leave deep scars. That's why Regina has become more than overprotective with her son since Daniel's death.
"The truth. That I will always love his father, but now, I love Robin too. I told him that us getting married means moving in a new place, a bigger one, where we will live as a family 24/7. Somehow, it won't change the way it's been lately. We're always together, either at my place or Robin's. But I'm still his mother and Daniel will always be his father. Of course, Robin will legally become his step father and Roland his step brother, but we told him he didn't have to change the way he acts with them. I think Henry felt reassured when he understood that me marrying Robin won't make much difference for him."
"So, everything is good?" Malika questions, looking at Regina from underneath her lashes, concern washing over her friend.
She knows how difficult overcoming Daniel's sudden death has been for the woman. The circumstances made it worse. Her husband was hit by a car while driving their four years-old son back home. Both ended up in the ER, and Daniel was soon transferred in surgery. Thankfully, Henry only had a broken arm, and was shocked, but his life wasn't in danger. Daniel's, on the other hand, was an entirely different problem.
The damages made to his body were so important, that despite the best work of their colleagues in surgery, after a few hours spent with his wife and son, knowing very well that they were his lasts, he rendered his last breath.
Regina was so devastated that she locked herself in her apartment with Henry for days, refused to get out except for Daniel's funerals, and only accepted the support of her friends once Henry was finally asleep, crying all her might in her friends' arms.
Robin too was in a bad state. He had known Daniel through his childhood and high school, until his parents decided to bring him back to England. But fate happen, and when Robin was hired in the same hospital where they are now all working, he soon discovered that one of his coworkers' husband was his long time lost friend. They reconnected immediately, as if the years apart never happened. So he took Daniel's loss as a punch in the stomach. But he never let Regina down.
Victor and Malika were touched too, after all Daniel was also one of their friends, but, for Regina, Henry, and Robin's sakes, they had to be the strong ones.
So all of them, their small team, they made it. They helped each other, supported each other, were always together, and soon Regina succeeded in smiling again.
Exception made of Henry, Robin was the first one able to coax one from her.
And on the day Regina realized, months later, after her life had seemingly turned back to, if not a happy one, at least a resemblance of a normal one, that she had feelings for him, Malika was there, an ear to listen, a shoulder to cry on. She remembers Regina telling her how conflicted she felt about the situation.
In his last moments, Daniel made his wife promise to keep living her life, to find someone else, to love again. It was hard for Regina, to promise to her husband, her one and unique love, who was still here and breathing, no matter how difficult, to try her hardest to fall in love with another man. But, despite everything, probably to appease him, she told him she would try.
And when she situation happened, when she understood that she indeed was in love with someone else, and that this someone happened to be her dead husband's oldest friend, she freaked out.
Robin's feelings for Regina were an evidence for everyone since day one, including for Daniel, but both men knew that Regina would never betray her husband, and Regina and Daniel knew that Robin respected them too much to ever try anything, so they were all quietly living with this knowledge without being bothered by it.
But on the day things changed for her, when Regina opened her eyes on the reality of her feelings, she first pushed him away. She put some distance between herself and Robin, and though he had been hurt, he understood, gave her the space she needed.
Until she was ready to give them a chance.
It took her several months, weeks of struggle and entire nights of internal debates with herself, with Mal, and sometimes, even with Victor, but one day, she went to Robin at work, between two patients, and asked him to take her out, 'just the two of them'.
The message was clear. It was a date.
The first kiss came later.
For a while, they just enjoyed each other's company, used their already solid friendship as a base to build something more, and exactly like the first time, it's Regina who initiated the first kiss.
One night after he drove her back home, in front of her door, before she opened it, she took things in hand and kissed Robin for the very first time.
She shortly after admitted to Mal that, unlike what she expected, she actually didn't feel the guilt she thought would come. On the contrary, she felt relieved.
After that, the situation became easier. She began to trust in her relationship with Robin, slowly introduced things to Henry, who was six by then, helped him accept the man he already knew but was now part of his and his mother's life in a different way. His already excellent relationship with Roland, Robin's barely five years-old, helped.
Even at work, the team that Regina and Robin were forming only became more efficient with their new connection. Of course, their superior, the cold and sneering Mr Gold, above all Regina's step father, didn't appreciate to see two of his subordinates date each other, but beside some remarks from time to time, as long as they were doing their job, he, unfortunately for him, was powerless to separate them. For once, Cora, Regina's mother, head of the hospital's board, considered her daughter's choice an acceptable one, and didn't try to stand in the middle.
And now, the knowledge that, finally, a year and a half after the beginning of their relationship, the couple is taking such a huge step forward, and that it came from Robin without scaring Regina, is warming Malika's heart.
Regina gives her a smile. "Yes, Mal. Everything is good."
The blonde woman says with a mischievous smile. "Then I have one final question." Robin and Regina wait, silent. "Where is the ring?"
The brunette's smile grows knowingly, and she plunges her hand in her cleavage, pulling out a small silver chain holding a thin silver ring incrusted with several small diamonds all along its length.
It's soft, not too flashy, not the usual solitary big rock that everyone notice, but it's beautiful, discreet, perfectly fitting the couple.
"Nice!" Victor exclaims. "Good job, Robin. I'm not an expert, but I like this one."
"Thanks, Victor."
"I agree," Mal compliments. "It's like the two of you. Simple but beautiful."
Regina squeezes her friend's hand, thanks her silently through a simple look, one that her best friend understands instantly.
And then, she shoves the ring back in her blouse, explains. "You're the only one to know, I didn't want everyone to start asking why there was suddenly a new ring to my finger."
It took Regina more than two years after Daniel's death, plus six months of a perfect relationship with Robin, to decide to remove her alliance. On the day she did, Robin supported her, assured he didn't mind her keeping it, but she insisted, told him it was a necessary thing, for her to move on and show him the depth of her engagement to him.
Malika laughs. "It would have made people talk, that's for sure!"
Regina nods. "Yes. Anyway, now I hope you still accept to have the kids staying at your place tonight. I know Lilly has a lot of work with high school, but but I'd really appreciate to be able to celebrate in private."
"Am I invited?" Victor asks immediately, grinning widely, earning a murderous look from Malika and a roll of Robin and Regina's eyes.
"No!"
The man falsely pouts, looking down at his plate. "Too bad! I didn't have any plans tonight, I hoped-"
"You can come at my place to watch the boys." Malika offers. "You'll enjoy the cartoons just as-"
She's interrupted by the strident sound of their pagers, and they all have the same reflex, check their belts immediately, getting up and gathering their trays.
"Duty call!" Regina exclaims. "Time to go back to work."
As she walks her way out of the cafeteria and towards the ER at a fast speed with her coworkers, adrenaline coursing through her, she finds herself unable to remove the smile that settled on her face. She might be getting married, but she finds reassurance in the realization that, no matter what happens in life, some things will never change.
Some thoughts?