Big thanks to Chelsea, Sara, Ayla and Laura for betaing/test-reading this. This will be a multi-chaptered fic. Hope you enjoy it!
He's awoken by the rapid knocks on his door. They get louder by second as he pulls from sleep and end for a few seconds, before starting again. Loud, sharp, fast knocks at three in the morning to disturb him were not exactly what Robin had in mind. Still, he wandered into the hallway to check on his visitor. The sight that met him when he finally reached the door and opened it was terrifying.
Her hair was a mess, her eyes swollen, blood trickling from a bruise near her hairline. She didn't notice him at first, due to her frantically checking the space behind her for something. There was pure fear in her eyes when she finally turned back to him, jumping slightly at his sudden appearance.
'Regina?' , came his voice after a few moments. The woman in question took a step forward and fell into his arms, loud sobs wracking her body. Robin's arms immediately closed around her, one hand slipping into her hair and lightly caressing her scalp in an attempt to soothe her. A short look is thrown behind them to check for anyone and he closes the door, turning the key in the lock for good measure.
He returns his hand to her back, stroking it with slow movements, which seem to be doing the trick. The sobs get less and change to a quiet whimper. After moving them to the living room, Robin pulls her down onto the couch with him, continuing to calm her with his warm palms. Now and then he presses a light kiss to her forehead or reminds her she's safe with him, she's safe here.
Minutes pass as she becomes quieter until the crying has turned down, replaced by her deep breaths as Robin hugs her to him. Regina presses her nose into his neck and inhales deeply, it seems to calm her even more as the tension he felt in her back lessens. Neither says a word for some time, before Robin decides to break the silence.
'Will you tell me?'
Her only response is a small, 'Mhh?' as she stares of into the distance and he repeats himself.
'Will you tell me what happened, Regina?'
She swallows heavily before answering, 'I can't… At least not yet, Robin…I…I can't.' The words seem to get stuck in her throat and tears gather in her eyes again as she leans back to look at him, which leads Robin to wipe them away with the pad of his thumb and reassuring, 'It's okay. Take the time you need. Just know that I'll be there for you. I mean I'm your best friend.' He throws in a smile for good measure and Regina nods a silent thank you.
'Now,' Robin starts again, 'should we get you cleaned up and changed into new pajamas? You can have my bed for the night.' Regina nods again, uses the back of her hand to remove the wetness sticking to her cheeks and inhales deeply one time, before taking the hand offered to her and following him to the bathroom.
He sits her down on the bathtub and cleans her face with a warm wash cloth, inspecting the small split wound in the process, which gladly doesn't need any stitches. Robin knew exactly what had happened; he won't speak his thoughts out loud though until she's ready to talk about it so he keeps them to himself. No, he wouldn't say anything yet, but he could think about what he wanted to say.
God, he wants to slap this bastard, this disgusting man priding himself with having Regina as his wife. He doesn't deserve her, doesn't deserve this wonderful, kindhearted woman and it's not like it was her choice to marry a man twice as old as her. No, it's been her mother's decision, a decision in which Regina had very little to say. As soon as he knows Regina is well again he will deal with both of them, but now his focus is on the precious woman in front of him.
When he's done cleaning her face, Robin turns to retrieve a bathrobe from a hook nearby, placing it on the toilet lid and directing his speech at her again.
'I'll get you some things to wear. Do you want to take a bath or a shower?'
She shakes her head from side to side and Robin makes his way to his bedroom, where he collects a pair of grey sweatpants, which had shrunken during the last wash, and a plain white t-shirt. When he returns, Regina has already stripped her clothes and changed into the warm bathrobe. She's combing her hair with the brush he keeps in the top drawer just for her, seemingly absent to his presence so Robin makes himself known by clearing his throat.
A smile is thrown his way, it does not reach her eyes, but at least she tries and it soothes him nonetheless. After shortly lifting the clothes for her to notice them, he places them on the lid again, takes the ones she had shed and makes his way out of the room, when a small voice pauses his steps.
'Please stay.'
Robin turns to catch Regina's eyes and finds them to be almost pleading him so he nods, throws the clothes into the hamper beside him -he'll care about those another time- and moves to sit beside her. When she stands he hands her the pants and t-shirt, before she turns her back to him. She pulls on the pants, let's the robe fall to the floor and hastily puts on the shirt to protect her skin from either the cold air or his inspecting glances. The robe gets picked up and hung on its hook, before Regina faces Robin again.
'What do you want to do now?", he asks her and she shrugs her shoulders, simply tells him, 'sleep.'
His hand finds hers again, when he nods and walks her to his bedroom. The sheets on the bed are still a mess and Robin has to shake them out along with the pillows, before lifting a corner for her to slip under them, telling her he'll sleep on the couch.
His statement has her eyes shooting up in horror, before she again pleads, 'stay with me' and how could he ever say to no to her. The man throws her a sympathetic smile -'of course I can stay'- and slips in behind her. He's unsure what to do next though. Should he hug her, face her, turn his back to her?
It turns out he needn't have wonder since Regina finds her way to him after mere 5 minutes and rests her head on his chest, before falling into what Robin hopes will be a restful sleep.
But, his hopes are destroyed a few hours later, when loud knocks on his door wake them up again. They're different than the last time; more forceful and both of them know who's standing in front of his apartment.
'Open the door Regina! I know you're in there!'
This has been in my head for quite some time now and I just had to get this out now. I still have ideas for this fic, but if you feel inspired to send a prompt, just do so. Chapters will probably get longer :) Thank you for reading and I'd love some reviews!