The next morning, she dressed in a pair of suit pants and a burgundy blouse, only to be met with disdain from Robin, who was also rubbing his back and mumbling about the hard floor. "I don't get what's wrong with this outfit."

"Nothing is wrong with it in general, but considering what we'll be doing today, I don't think its really going to work. At all."

"Why?" she narrowed her eyes at him, she didn't know what his comment meant, but it sounded like something she should be marginally worried about.

"Because, we have plans and that outfit isn't really appropriate, unless you want it to get damaged, then by all means."

"Damaged? What the hell are we going to be doing today for it to get damaged?"

"Just you wait and see."

"Why don't I like the sound of that?"

"Do you have any jeans?"

"Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously."

"No, I don't, not with me anyway."

"Well I'll just have to find you something then," he shrugged before leaving her standing in the bedroom with not a clue about what was going on. She wasn't going to wait for him to come back so decided to head down to the kitchen and see what everyone else in the family was doing, she also wanted to apologise again for accidentally waking them all in the middle of the night, she was still a little bit mortified about that.

When she reached the kitchen, she stopped in the doorway and took in their attire, they were all in scruffy overalls, Robin's mother had her greying hair thrown up in a high ponytail as she leant against the counter in green waterproofs, sipping from a mug of tea. "Regina dear, good morning. I do hope you slept well after the little scare you had with Meg."

"Oh yes, thank you, I'd like to apologise for waking you all, I feel terrible about it."

"Oh, don't worry sweetie," she waved it off, holding out a mug of, from what Regina could tell, was coffee. She took it gratefully and brought it to her lips, she was right in her guesses and it was delicious.

"Robin said I was overdressed but he didn't tell me what we'd be doing so…"

"You really don't have to take part if you don't want to, you can stay here and keep Roland and Anna company. George and the boys will all be coming out with myself, if you want to join, I can lend you some clothes."

"Join you doing what?"

"I got you some clothes to wear honey bun, of course, she's coming with us mum, she said she was really excited when I told her about it, she must have just forgotten."

Regina glared at Robin as he came into the kitchen, why was he making out as though she was stupid? She had a feeling that this was going to be an activity that she wasn't going to enjoy, especially if overalls were a requirement. She'd never worn a pair of overalls in her life. "It must have slipped my mind," she replied sweetly, eyeing the clothes in his arms, the worry was bubbling up inside now, she shouldn't have been so mean to him the night before.

"Here you go, why don't you go change into them, we'll have some breakfast and then we can head out."

"Wonderful," she quipped, forcing a smile onto her face as she took the clothes from him and turned to head to the bathroom.


When she returned to the kitchen, she was wearing a plain white t-shirt with denim dungarees which were a little too big for her, the look was completed with a tartan woollen fleece, something she would never have been seen dead in.

"Aww! Look at you, cutie pie! You look absolutely adorable sweetums."

"Isn't that the fury guy from the muppets," Robin's father piped up as he glanced at them from behind the newspaper, he was reading at the breakfast island.

"I believe so," Caroline chuckled, "don't tease them, George."

Regina groaned as she found a seat beside Robin, "I can't believe you're doing this to me."

"Yeah I know that you can't wait to see what we're gonna do," he grinned mischievously as he rested his chin on her shoulder, his arms wrapping around her middle making her freeze up a little. It was the closest she had ever been to him and she didn't really know what to make of it. He was warm around her, engulfing her in his large arms, she caught a want of the scent she knew belonged to him, a fresh pine aroma.

A large smile blossomed on his mother's face as she watched them and there was that nagging guilt once again, pushing itself to the forefront.

"Well then, who's ready to wrangle some cattle?" David asked as he came into the kitchen and clapped his hands.

"What?" Regina asked, her eyes widened as she stared at Robin, he hadn't said anything about cows. "What are we doing?"

"The cattle are due for their medical, we need to go and herd them up from the fields and bring them to the barn."

"Seriously?" Oh god no.

"Yep, come on sweet cheeks," Robin pushed himself off the stool.

"What about..."

The toaster pooped and Robin caught the toast, he spread some butter on it before handing it to her. "We'll eat on the go," he quipped, taking a bite from his toast as she simply stared at him dumbfounded.

"Come on baby."

"You want me to wrangle cattle in heels?"

"What size are your feet?"

"I'm a six."

"Mum, what size are you?"

"I'm a seven but witch some thick socks I'm sure they'll fit just fine. I'll go find you some," she smiled kindly before disappearing out of the kitchen into the little room the dog had jumped out from the day before. Regina was half expecting it to come bounding out, but apparently, that wasn't going to happen.

"Robin, I don't think I can do this," she murmured.

"Course you can, you'll be great at it. You even told me yourself."

"Told you what?"

"That you were an animal person not a people person, this should be right up your street."

"Well, apparently I lied, excuse me if I don't wish to be trampled on by a herd of cows."

"Aww come on baby, they're not gonna trample you, as long as you don't intimidate them."

"How will I know if I'm intimidating them?"

"Who gave Regina a red jacket when we're going in with them?" David asked around a mouthful of toast.

"Wait, why? Robin?"

"Don't you know bulls charge at the colour red?" David huffed.

"Are you serious? Robin!" She squealed louder than she had intended, "why would you give me this jacket if you knew they'd chase me."

"God, babe they're not gonna chase you. David stop being a dick, your teasing isn't charming," Robin huffed.

Caroline emerged from the side room with a pair of wellington boots and some thick socks in her hands, "here you are, these should fit you just fine."

"Great, let's go." Robin clapped as they all moved to put their boots on, Regina just stared at them. She didn't want to do it, but she also felt as though she had no option, she could hardly back out now, not when she was already changed and holding a pair of borrowed wellingtons.

Reluctantly she pulled the socks onto her feet and followed them into the hallway where they were all stood waiting for her. She sat down on the bench that was placed perfectly so you could put your shoes on, she couldn't remember the last time she'd worn a pair of wellies, it had been a long time.

"Well, don't you just look like a little farmer."

"Robin," she warned glancing up at him as his parents and David went outside without them, leaving them alone in the hallway. "I know that you're doing this on purpose and you probably think that its really funny, but I don't think that it's funny."

"Get down off your high horse, do you really think that this is all an act and that we wouldn't be doing this if you weren't here? This is what we do, my parents have a farm, we take care of animals, this is my childhood and I thought maybe you would want to take the chance to get to know a little more about what I grew up doing since we're getting married, but apparently I was mistaken. Guess I'd forgotten just how self-centred you are."

"Robin! I am trying! I really am, do you really think I would be putting these boots on if I wasn't willing to try. I do want to get to know more about you and I want your parents to like me. Despite what you might think, I do want to get to know you better. So, quit it with the moral high ground and give me a god damn break already." She stood from the chair and straightened her outfit. "So, is this really what people wear on the farm?"

"In Yorkshire, it is," he nodded with a little chuckle. He was wearing a pair of dungarees himself, but unlike her denim ones, his were blue and quite clearly waterproof, she had a feeling that they were going to get quite muddy. As long as she didn't get trampled by cows she could deal with a little mud.

As soon as she was out of the front door, she was nearly knocked off her feet by a blur of black and white, Meg ran into the courtyard and straight over to her, her face rubbing against Regina's hands as she barked happily, clearly wanting to be stroked. "Hello again," Regina murmured, she was still quite wary about the animal even though it seemed she had nothing to be worried about.

"She really does love you," Graham grinned as he wandered over to them, he was already covered in mud, he'd clearly been out beforehand, she had worried where he'd been when they were all in the kitchen.

"Did you take her on a walk?"

"Yeah but just a quick one, she's going to be doing her fair share of work today, didn't want to tire her out."

Regina smiled as she ran her finger's through the dog's fur, it seemed content just sitting by her feet. "Does she help with the cows?"

"Yeah, and the others," the youngest brother nodded before whistling loudly. Regina watched on as three more dogs similar to Meg appeared from around the corner. "These are mine. You've got Jack, Luna and Bella." The three dogs sat at his feet obediently. One of them, the boy, was a merle. The girl, Luna, was mostly white with one black ear and a black splodge on her back. Then the last one, Bella, was brown and white with the typical white strip. "Meg is mum and dad's and sometimes I think she's deaf because she has a hard time doing what I tell her to do."

"Hey, leave our Meg alone," Caroline tutted.

"Not my fault that you haven't trained your dog properly."

"I think she's great," Regina quipped as she looked down at the dog who was rubbing her nose against the palm of her hand.

"Thank you, Regina. Anyway, shall we head out, hopefully, we'll have this finished by the afternoon and we'll be able to find something else to keep us occupied. Emma said she would be coming over later."

Regina nodded, she'd still to meet Robin's sister, but from what he'd said she was the most laid back of the lot, so she wasn't going to worry about it. Robin moved closer to her, his arm wrapping around her waist before pulling her into his side. "You ready for this?"

"As I'll ever be," she nodded, Meg was trotting happily along by her side whilst the rest of the family walked ahead. "What exactly is it that we do? Aren't the dogs the ones doing the rounding up?"

"Yeah, pretty much, we've just got to make sure that they don't go off course, if they get spooked or anything they can accidentally injure themselves and we don't want that to happen. Basically, we just make sure the dogs do their job and get the cows back safely to the barns."

"Do you only have cattle or are there some sheep also?"

"Yeah, there are some sheep, but they are usually left to roam the moors, they're really hardy, much more so than the cows, so they take care of themselves. We check up on them now and again but they seem to be self-sufficient. Obviously, because the cows are more valuable and more things can go wrong with them, we keep them close by."

Regina offered him a small smile, it was nice to know more about his roots, find out what he had come from, what he was used to. Hopefully, the next few days would allow for much more of that.

Once she was out in the fields she realised that she had every right to be a little concerned about managing to help herd the cows, they were massive and she could only imagine how heavy they were.

"Robin I'm not sure about this," she murmured.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine," he reassured.

"Yes, but will I get trampled on?"

"If you were going to get trampled on then you wouldn't be fine would you?"

"Alright smart arse, but I'm being serious. Will I get trampled on?"

"No, not if you do what I say, then you'll be just fine. Okay then, let's get started shall we," he clapped his hands and turned to his parents who nodded in agreement. "Right sweetie, can you go and stand with Meg and wait there?"

Regina looked around and saw Meg sat at the far end of the field, seemingly away from where any of the cows were and anywhere there weren't cows was somewhere she wanted to be. When the dog noticed she was coming her way her tail began wagging and Regina couldn't help the small chuckle that left her mouth. "Hey girl," she hummed, gently touching her head and stroking behind her ears. Although nearly as soon as she was there someone whistles and Meg shot off, running towards the cows with zero hesitation, the other three doing the same. She watched them as she worried her lip between her teeth, she didn't know what they were going to do next but clearly, the Locksleys' did, they were wrangling the cattle, making them move and using the dogs to help them.

A series of whistles and shouted commands later and the cows were coming directly towards her, being led by the dogs with the humans as backup. Her eyes widened as she looked at Robin, "what do I do?" She asked as they made their way closer. "Robin!"

"Go open the gate baby!"

She looked behind her and noticed the large metal gate that led into another field, she nodded and hurried towards it, anything to get her further away from the cows. Once she reached it, she fiddled with the latch, trying to pull it across but it was stiff and the bolt wouldn't move, the cattle were getting nearer and she was beginning to panic. She was way out of her depth. "Robin!"

"Just pull it."

"It's stuck."

"God, Regina just pull the bloody thing."

She fixed him a glare that she wasn't even sure he could see from his position before trying again to open the gate, using both hands to pull on the bolt that was held tightly in place by a rusted spring.

Meg ran towards her and she realised that the dog had been leading the front of the herd, the gate still wasn't open and they were right there. Without even thinking she scrambled over it and landed on the other side, but because she hadn't been looking her feet slipped out from under her and she landed in a muddy bog, her ass sinking into the dirt as she squealed, staring up at a cow that was peering over the gate at her, it's big eyes blinking as it probably wondered what the hell she was doing.

"Shit, are you okay?" Graham asked, patting the cow to get it to move before climbing over the gate himself and landing much more gracefully than she had. He offered her a hand which she gladly took and the sound of laughter met her ears as she glanced towards the gate and saw Robin looking at her.

"What in the world were you doing?"

"They were coming! I freaked out, they're huge."

"They wouldn't have done anything."

"What if I'd been crushed?" She scoffed, fixing him with a glare that she knew he would see this time. "The gate is stuck l..."

Robin pulled on the bolt opening the gate easily and she shook her head in defeat.

"Yeah, this gate really seems to be stuck," he quipped, sarcasm dripping from his tone.

"How did you even do that?"

"With ease," he chuckled looking her up and down, "wow, just wow. Can I take a photo to remember this moment by?"

"What do you think?" she hissed, the wet mud really was caked on, soaking through her borrowed dungarees and into her panties. "This is disgusting."

"You look like you fit right in," Graham grinned patting her on the back before heading back to the cows.

"If you don't want to see the cows you better run and open that other gate, I'll give you a head start," Robin quipped.

"I hate you."

"You love me really and you know it," he chuckled, nudging her playfully. Regina caught the smile on his parents faces as they shared a look. "Run along then, the cows won't wait forever."


As soon as the cows had been led to the barn Regina left the Locksleys' to deal with it and headed inside the house to clean up, after falling in the thick mud she was in desperate need of a shower. She was quite sure that she stunk and that the puddle she had fallen into hadn't just been mud. As soon as she was under the flow of water, she allowed her body to relax, the warmness engulfed her body as the dirt swirled down the plug hole.

She foamed up her body wash and passed the flannel over her body, cleaning off the thick muck before making sure that her hair was properly rinsed off. Once she was clean, she simply stayed under in the shower, trying to get herself to relax, she must have been in there a good twenty minutes before there was a knock on the door of the bathroom.

Regina snapped out of her trance and turned off the water, she quickly slipped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around her before heading to the door of the bathroom. She knew exactly who would be at the other end of that door and she was ready to give him a piece of her mind about laughing at her misfortune.

She ripped the door open violently and went into a ramble of things that she wanted to say, "you utter arsehole! I can't believe you… Graham?"

"Hey, sorry, I just wanted to use the bathroom."

"Sorry, I thought you were Robin."

"I thought as much," the man chuckled, running a hand through his hair, "he's still downstairs. You're right though, he was a dick for laughing at you."

"I know," she nodded, leaning against the door frame and holding the towel tighter against her, "have you finished with the cows?"

"Yeah, we have. Are you all nice and clean now?" he asked, his eyes running over her frame before meeting hers once again.

"I think you know the answer to that one," she quipped, tucking a strand of her damp hair behind her ear and looking up at him with a small smile playing on her lips. She had to admit that he was quite easy on the eye, "are you taking a shower?"

"Yeah, you can join me if…"

"Seriously Graham?" Robin scoffed as he came along the landing, "that isn't even funny."

"I'm joking bro, don't worry," he grinned, winking at Regina before disappearing inside the bathroom.

Regina rose an eyebrow at Robin but he simply glared at her, shaking his head and moving into the bedroom. She rolled her eyes and followed him. "What the hell was that?"

"What?" Regina asked as she searched through her case for something to wear, she could feel his eyes on her and it was annoying. "Why are you staring at me?"

"Because I want to know what the fuck you were playing at out there. Flirting with my brother? For god's sake Regina!"

"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't know that I wasn't even allowed to talk to him."

"You are allowed to talk to him, but don't look at him as though you want to rip his bloody clothes off."

"Seriously? Get over yourself, Robin."

"How can you even deny it? I just saw you!"

"Robin! All I was doing was talking to him, stop it."

"You're actually so annoying!" He yelled, stalking closer to her, "if you hate me so much, do you want to back out of this agreement? Why don't you just go ask Graham to help you out?"

She narrowed her eyes at him and shook her head, "god, you really are an arsehole."

"Think whatever you want to think," he spat, grabbing some clothes before retreating out of the bedroom and slamming the door behind him.

She stood staring at the door wondering how on earth that had just happened.