A/N: Hi, everyone! I hope you are enjoying the story. In Operation Mongoose we saw Regina and Robin essentially fall in love at first sight, and I'm trying to build more of a foundation for their relationship within this story. Please review, I'd love the feedback!

. . .

They don't return until nearly lunchtime, with only a few small rabbits to show for it. The rest of the day mostly consists of drinking, eating, going for a swim in the nearby river, followed by more eating and drinking. At dinner that night, Robin sits next to Regina and they linger long after many of the men have retired for the night. It's completely innocent conversation-mostly just comparing anecdotes from lives on the run-and if Robin lets his gaze linger too long on her mouth or her eyes, any part of her, really, then it's his transgression to bear.

"I want you to know that I meant what I said earlier," he says, stoking the embers to stave off the nighttime chill. "I'll do my best to help you in any way I can. I want you to know that you can trust me, just as I trusted you."

(He can barely believe it, but the thought of anything happening to her makes his body tense, like someone has taken ahold of his heart and squeezed.)

Regina looks up from the fire and smirk at him. "How did you manage to trust me so easily, anyway? These men are like family to you-you barely even knew who I was when you offered me the job."

He pauses. He doesn't know what to say, so he answers honestly. "I don't know."

Regina's smile grows (he has been thinking about her smile when he closes his eyes, before he dreams). "Perhaps I stole it from you."

"Hardly. You can't steal something that's been given to you."

He's sleeping in Little John's tent that night, and it surprised to find the man still awake when he comes in.

"What are you doing, Robin?"

"What do you-"

Little John's voice is low, serious in a way it never is. "I see the way you look at Regina. You just got married. You have a whole new life with Zelena. Is she really worth it, Robin?"

Robin has no idea, but he doesn't know how could go on with his life if he doesn't find out. Maybe his friend is right, maybe he is being reckless and stupid and selfish.

"Do you love her?"

The question shocks him, but Robin's answer is immediate. "Yes."

. . .

Regina cannot do this.

She cannot handle Robin's eyes and the way they look into hers, the fleeting touches that don't feel at all innocent, the way he treats her and the kind way he talks to her-it's all too much. She's on edge every moment she's around him, terrified of how much she cares for him, but she knows in a few days he will be back to his wife. She treasures every moment she spends with him.

She saw him shirtless after all the men went to the river. She had known before that he was strong-the way he carried himself, how he used his hands and how he lifted her onto his horse after he saved her from Snow, but it was different seeing it. His toned arms and back, the slope of his jaw, the definition of his chest and Gods, that ass, all of his sun-kissed skin still dripping from the water; Regina gaped like a fish as she walked past, and she could barely look him in the eye the rest of the day. She craves him like she's never craved another. Regina wants him-she wants him next to her, above her, around her, inside her. She wants everything.

It cracks her heart in two when he looks at her like he wants everything, too.

She should stay away from him. She really should. Regina has thought about all the ways she could push him away, piss him off or annoying him enough that he just ignores her. She thinks about it, but never actually follows through with any of it. She just can't. It also doesn't help that he seems to want to spend time with her, that he seems genuinely interested in her well-being. She knows that perhaps caring for people is just his nature, but this feels different. This feels like something more.

The day before he leaves, she wakes again at dawn to go hunting and finds him already waiting for her.

"Good morning, milady. I hope you wouldn't mind the company again?" He smiles at her, showing off those sexy dimples and biting his lip shyly. She finds herself saying yes.

Shit.

They're checking the handful of traps she's set since she's been here when he turns to her and asks, "Why did you accept?"

"What?"

"When I offered you the job-why did you say yes?" He asks again. "You owed me nothing, and you had quite enough to worry about with the Queen running you out of the Willow Forest. You easily could have said no. Why didn't you?"

"Actually, that's not quite true," Regina said, resetting a trap-whatever animal that had been caught in it must have escaped. "You had just saved my life. I owed you quite a bit. I still do."

"You don't owe me a thing, Regina. I could save you again a hundred times over and you still wouldn't."

His tone is sincere and she knows if she looks up at him, he'll have that look in his eyes like she means something to him, and she'll fall even harder for him.

Regina keeps her eyes fixed on the trap.

"I said yes because the Queen was-is-still after me. For months I had been making plans to leave. Seeing what kind of deals I could make to get passage out of the kingdom, planning robberies so I could pay for it. Robberies that you foiled, I might add."

"Just barely," he murmurs, and she chuckles. She stands and they continue walking.

"Anyway, there's a good chance the Queen heard about my plans. So I figured I would do something she wouldn't expect. And for all the fear they instill, her Black Knights are not very skilled trackers, especially this deep in Sherwood Forest. It's not likely they'd find me here. It was my safest bet."

"It must be odd for you."

Regina laughs. "Which part?"

"Well it seems to me that you lived alone for quite a while before you came to live with the Merry Men. It must be strange having people around all the time."

Robin is right. She has lived alone for most of her life, and more importantly, she has felt alone for most of her life. The loneliness has been especially cloying these last few years as Snow's manhunt has grown more impassioned. Regina likes knowing she can take care of herself, but it was a harsh reality when she realized she had no one to turn to. No one who cared about her safety. No one to care if she was hurt, or even killed.

Regina had never told anyone about these fears before. No one had ever been there to listen, but Robin is here now and she trusts him.

(She shouldn't. It feels like he won't ever hurt her, but Regina knows he will. He has to-he's got a wife at home.)

"It is strange," she says. "Sometimes I miss the solitude, but you were right. These men have accepted me like family. I never thought I would have anyone to care about me, and now I have a whole band of men who stand at my side. It's comforting. It's chased away some of the loneliness."

"I understand loneliness more than I'd like to admit," he says softly. She wonders how he knows, but she decides not to ask. "But you've you've got many people who care about your well-being now, Regina."

She smiles softly at him, her heart fluttering in her chest. They're not talking about the Merry Men anymore. "I know."

. . .

Once they return, she spends the rest of the afternoon with Robin and Little John going over tactical maneuvers, collaborating ideas about potential jobs and planning the ones that have already been decided on. At dusk, Little John exclaims that that's enough work for one day and whisks Robin away for some activity or another, and Regina goes back to her tent. She's been mending a pair of trousers that she caught on a thorn bush when she hears someone clear their throat outside her tent.

"Come in," she calls.

Friar Tuck walks in and smiles at her kindly. "Good evening. May I sit?"

She nods and motions to the wooden chair opposite her cot. "I figured that you would be off everyone else doing...what are they doing?"

"Playing something they like to call 'Bastard Ball'. A little game Robin and Little John made up a few years ago. I wouldn't ask."

"Ah," Regina says as the older man sits down. "What can I do for you, Friar?"

"Robin has feelings for you, Regina."

Regina's heart plummets into her stomach. So, no beating around the bush, then.

"I'm not sure-"

"It's none of my business how you feel about him, or how he feels about you. I swore to be loyal to you, and you've been a fair leader, Regina. Every man in camp thinks so. But I've known Robin a long while." He pauses. His tone is kind, devoid of judgement and Regina feels tears spring to her eyes when he continues. "All that can come of this is a broken heart. For the both of you."

. . .

Robin is leaving in the morning.

It's all Regina can think about as she stares at him across the fire.

(It's all Robin can think about, too.)

But she also can't stop thinking about what Friar Tuck said, that the only ending she and Robin were destined for was an unhappy one. Worse yet, one that didn't even exist. She had been second guessing everything any of the men said to her all evening, every glance sent her way. Were they all thinking the same thing? Have they started to see her as the foolish girl who falls in love with their married friend?

She shakes her head, forcing the thoughts from her mind.

Then Robin looks up at her with those too blue eyes, and they all come rushing back.

Regina stands up and wishes everyone goodnight, purposefully avoiding Robin's gaze, and quickly goes back to her tent.

There's a small bouquet of wildflowers resting on her pillow when she walks in. She can't help but smile, if only for a moment. Regina moves them to her bedside table and stares at them through the darkness until she falls asleep.

. . .

"I thought you had disappeared on me."

Regina is startled by his voice. She's been sitting by the river since before dawn, hoping to avoid Robin's departure. She doesn't want him to go, but she knows that the farther away he is from her and her foolish heart, the better. That's what she hopes, anyway.

Robin sits down next to her. "Regina, I hope you aren't avoiding me."

"Why would you think I'm avoiding you?"

"Well," he starts, "you went to bed rather early last night without sparing me so much as a glance and you've been nowhere to be found all morning."

She stares at him for a moment, then glances back towards the rushing water and decides to lie. "I wasn't feeling well last night, and I just needed some air this morning. I must have lost track of time." She knows he can see right through her words, but really, what would be the point in telling the truth? Then, softly, she adds, "I thought you'd be gone by now."

He nods. "I was supposed to leave an hour ago."

"Why didn't you?" She asks.

"I couldn't leave without saying goodbye, Regina," and Gods, the way he says it like it's the most obvious thing in the world, she can't help but smile.

"Oh," she says, her traitorous heart fluttering in her chest, "well, you'd better make it quick. You wouldn't want Zelena to worry."

The light in his eyes dim at the mention of his wife's name, and Regina instantly wishes she hadn't mentioned her. But, she thinks, maybe it's for the best.

Neither of them talk for a minute; they just strain to hear the words neither of them can say over the sound of the water. Then Robin reaches over and takes her hand in his.

"I was talking to the men last night, and we have what I think is a marvelous idea. I'd have to talk to Zelena about it first, of course, but we thought it would be useful to have me visit camp once in a while. Just weekends like this one, about once a month, to make sure that everything is running smoothly, lend a hand when necessary. And to visit my friends...new and old."

Regina's first instinct is to tell him that she's doing just fine on her own, she's taken quite well to leadership, thank you very much, but she can see what he's doing. He's coming up with an excuse to come back, one that his wife will believe. It may be a little stretch from the truth, and it may be wrong, but right now, with the way he's looking at her, all it means to Regina is that he can't stand the thought of being away from her, either.

"So...you'll be back?"

He grins at her, and she sees all the hope in her eyes reflecting back at her in his. He squeezes her hand. "In the blink of an eye."

It's going to feel like so much longer that that, she knows. He's trying to ease the ache of longing they'll both be feeling, and so she tries to focus on the blue of his eyes and the warmth of his hand in her's.

Robin stands, taking her hand with him. " Now, it would be my pleasure to walk you back to camp. I'm afraid if we wait any longer, John will abandon me to wander back home alone. But..." he pauses, and for a moment he seems conflicted and unsure. Softly, he continues, "I want you to know that I wouldn't trade a moment we spent together for anything."

She opens her mouth to tell him she feels the same, but he's taken her breath away, and damn him for making her speechless. He takes her hand and brings it to his lips, pressing a soft kiss to her knuckles and every thought that isn't him and the way his mouth lingers on her skin evaporates.

"Until next time, milady?" He says.

Regina stands. "Until next time."