A/N: I'm so sorry for such a long wait! I've been struggling with what to write for this but thankfully I have the amazing Lunaandtwilight07 to help me with this, I wouldn't have got this chapter done if it wasn't for her!

Regina awoke to the sound of her alarm clock. She groaned and rolled over to switch it off, then burrowed back under her covers to try and catch an extra five minutes of sleep, it was too early to be awake and she was in the middle of a lovely dream that she was annoyingly disturbed from.

There was a brief knock at her bedroom door, and she heard someone entered her room. She knew exactly who it was and picked up her pillow to place it over her head.

"Gina!" Henry shouted, as he ran forwards and leapt on her bed, jumping on her.

"Oh! Henry!" she laughed as she sat up and hit him lightly with the pillow, before she began to tickle him.

Henry squealed and thrashed his arms and legs around, "Gina! Stop tickling!" he laughed.

Regina stopped tickling him and pulled him backwards for a hug, both of them still laughing.

Their laughter was soon interrupted by their mother coming to Regina's bedroom door. "Will you two stop messing around and do what you're supposed to be doing?" She scolded, the permanent scowl plastered across her face, which was nothing new. She shook her head before flinging open the curtains, then she turned back to her daughter and shook her head, "and Regina how many times have I told you not to sleep with your hair like that? It always makes you look so untidy in the mornings."

Regina unconsciously played with the plait she'd put her hair into before bed and sighed as Henry moved away and jumped down off her bed, looking at the floor.

"Yes mother," she replied, with a somewhat forced smile.

Cora nodded sternly and turned to leave the room.

Regina ran a hand through her now unplaited hair and sighed. She swung her legs off her bed and noticed that Henry was nervously playing with the bottom of his pyjama shirt.

She smiled and moved to pick him up to sit on her lap. "Come on now little man, give me a smile," she said, playfully tapping him on the nose, which caused Henry to giggle. She hated that her mother scared him so, it was unfair, he was so young and he didn't deserve to be treated how he was. Technically her mother hadn't told him off, but any amount of shouting from anyone immediately made him nervous; she was glad that she could be the one to make him smile, make up for her mother's short comings. "How about we go and get you dressed, then we can go to playgroup?"

Henry nodded with a smile, then jumped down from his sister's lap and held out his hand to her. Regina smiled as she stood up off her bed and took hold of his outstretched hand.

It hadn't always been like this, her mother hadn't been so vile for their whole lives, it just seemed to happen. Regina knew why it happened, it was when her father had died, her mother had lost any love she had in her heart and now seemingly cared for no one, she took his death out on them. Henry senior had died when Henry junior was just a baby, he was barley three weeks old when they lost their father; this had resulted in her mother's post-natal depression and Regina having to show Henry the love that Cora should have been showing him.

Whilst Regina understood why her mother treat them that way, Henry just didn't and he often asked her why his mommy didn't love him and Regina, well, she didn't have an answer to give him, she didn't know how she was supposed to explain the situation to a four-year-old, so she had become like a mother to him. This caused her to think about Robin and how his son didn't have a mother, sure Roland had a father, but not a mother; life could be cruel she knew that, it just tore people away from each other, tore families apart.

She sighed and helped Henry get changed before making his breakfast, leaving him to eat and going upstairs to get ready. She changed into a pair of black skinny jeans paired with a royal blue blouse; she was just applying her makeup when she heard a loud crash and her head shot around to the door.

"You stupid clumsy child!"

Her eyes went wide as she stood up and rushed out of the room, running down the stairs to see Henry sat on the floor, his head buried in his lap.

"Look what you've done!"

"Mom, stop!" Regina hurried over and picked up her little brother, "he's only a kid, he didn't mean to!"

"He smashed one of the best plates!"

"Henry, go upstairs please," Regina stroked his cheek and pushed him gently towards the stairs. "Why would you be like that with him?"

"That was a wedding present!"

"I know, mom I know, but he didn't smash it on purpose, he was just trying to clean up for you. All he wants to do is impress you! But you don't show him you love him, you never show any of us that you love us! I've been more of a mother to him than you ever have!"

"Who do you think you are?!" Cora stepped closer to her. "I'm his mother, not you!"

"Act like it then, show him you love him instead of constantly treating him like shit!"

A loud slap vibrated through the kitchen and Regina just stared at her mother in complete shock. "Regina, I'm sorry." Cora shook her head, "please Regina I didn't mean…"

"No, you don't get to do that; mom you need therapy! You need to deal with this!" Regina hurried upstairs, that was the first time her mother had ever done anything like that, she had never struck out before, never physically harmed her; now this was the last straw, she needed to get her mother help, she had dealt with her mood swings for too long and now she needed to sort it out, it had gone too far.

She looked in the mirror at the angry red mark and sighed, she wouldn't cry, she was stronger than that. She didn't have time to cover it, so she grabbed her bag, before calling to Henry, "Henry, come on, were gonna be late."

"I'm coming Gina." He rushing into her room and took her hand, "are you okay?" He asked looking up at her.

"Yes, I'm fine, let's go." They hurried down the stairs, bypassing their mother.

"Regina I'm…"

"No," she rejected, "Henry's going to be late to kindergarten." She exited the house and slammed the door behind her. Regina shook her head and took a deep breath, everything would be fine, she knew it would.

She hurried back into school, having taken Henry to playgroup, she was late and in a rush. She saw Robin walking down the corridor and looked up at him, he furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at her. "Regina?"

"I'm late Mr Locksley, sorry." She went to walk away, but he grasped her arm gently.

"No, stop." He stared at her intently, there was an angry red mark on her cheek and he swallowed heavily, had someone done that to her? Had someone hurt her? "Who did that to your face?" He asked.

"Did what?" She questioned, her hand coming up to cover her cheek, "I don't know what you're talking about." She couldn't tell anyone what had happened, couldn't risk it, even if she and Robin were closer than a student and teacher should be. Even if she trusted him completely she couldn't tell him, she didn't know if he'd keep it a secret.

She was covering for them, he knew she was, there were clear finger shaped marks on her, "come with me."

"No, I'm late for my first lesson."

"Regina, come with me, I'll let your teacher know why."

"Sir, it's really nothing."

"I will not take no for an answer." She rolled her eyes and followed him towards the first aid room, why was he so persistent? She knew he wasn't stupid though, he was a clever man and could probably see the mark, knew that she hadn't accidently hurt her face. "Sit down."

"Robin it's…"

"Sit down," he shook his head, as he took a cold compress out of the fringe and came to hold it on her cheek, causing her to wince. "Sorry."

"It's nothing." She sighed, her hand coming to rest on top of his, pressing it down, before looking up at him.

"So you said, but it looks like someone hit you." He tilted his head and bent down in front of her, "if someone's hurting you, you need to tell me, or someone else."

"She didn't mean it." Regina whispered, a lone tear rolling down her cheek.

Robin looked up at her with a worried expression on his face and furrowed his eyebrows, "who didn't mean it?"

Regina shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut in an attempt to stop yet more tears from falling. Robin stroked a hand through her hair, "Regina? Regina, please look at me. Please tell me who did this to you."

Regina sighed and allowed the tears to fall down her cheeks as she looked him in the eye; when he looked at her like he was doing, she couldn't resist him, it was almost as though he cast some sort of spell on her, something that made her want to tell him everything. "My mother," she whispered.

Robin looked at her in shock. How could someone do that to their own child?! He would never lay a hand on Roland, regardless of how misbehaved he was! And Regina, he thought, would've been the perfect daughter to her mother. She was a straight A student, earned her own money and was a wonderful sister to Henry. He wondered what could have possibly happened to provoke her mother into hitting her like that?! Not that there was any excuse, there was nothing that could excuse hitting your own flesh and blood.

Regina was still looking at Robin with tears still shining in her eyes, he hadn't said anything for the last few minutes, he'd just stared at her. She took a shuddery breath as she watched him, what was he thinking about? She could tell from his eyes that his mind was working at a hundred miles a minute. The compassion in his eyes took her breath away and without thinking, she leant forwards and closed her eyes as she moved to place a kiss on his lips.

For a moment, Robin forgot where he was and who she was to him and moved forwards to meet her lips. His brain caught up with the situation and fear suddenly flashed through him as his lips were millimetres away from hers, to the point where he could feel her soft breath against him, it was torture, but he pulled away, shaking his head.

"No," he whispered, rubbing his thumbs across her arms gently.

Regina's eyes flew open as she gasped and pulled away, looking anywhere but his stunning blue eyes. She was so embarrassed, what the hell was she playing at?

"Regina, I'm sorry but this can't happen," he explained sadly, trying to hold back his primal instinct to pull her close and kiss her senseless, he just wanted to protect her. The situation was made worse by the fact that she was upset, had he kissed her, he would have been taking advantage of her in a vulnerable moment and he couldn't do that, she wasn't thinking straight even if he felt the intense chemistry between them.

Regina desperately tried to hold back yet more tears, without much success, how could she have read the situation so wrong?! She was so stupid! Of course he'd never want her in that way, he was her teacher and what she did was wrong, what she did could have lost him his job.

She choked out a sob, grabbed her bag and stood to run out of the room as fast as she possibly could.

"Regina, wait!" Robin called after her, trying to stop her from leaving, but it was too late, she'd already gone.

He ran a hand through his hair in frustration. God, he was such an idiot!

Regina ran down the hall, her hand covering her mouth to try and hide her sobs, and ran in to the toilets. She entered an empty cubicle, locked the door and sat on the closed toilet seat, her head in her hands, sobbing until she couldn't physically carry on.

What on earth was she thinking?! Robin was her teacher and nothing could ever happen even if they both wanted it to, which Robin, she reminded herself, didn't.

She would never forget how she felt at that moment, upset, embarrassed and humiliated, to name but a few. She didn't think she'd ever be able to look him in the eye again!

She took a deep breath and wiped her eyes, she was already late for class but she thought she might as well put in some sort of appearance, maybe it would take her mind off Robin for a little while. Thank God she didn't have an English today!

The rest of the day had gone by painfully slow for Robin. He couldn't wait for the day to be over so that he could find Regina and apologise.

She probably thought that he wanted nothing to do with her and that definitely wasn't the case! Maybe he could tell her that he'll wait for her to graduate then maybe something could possibly happen between them? He really hoped it could.

Finally, the school bell rang, signalling the end of the day. Robin breathed a sigh of relief and dismissed his class before hurrying out into the school corridor, hoping to catch sight of Regina before she left.

He turned the corner and spotter her standing by her locker, he smiled and was about to go over to her, when he saw something which made him stop in his tracks and change his mind.

Another student had approached Regina at her locker, she turned and smiled at him as he bent down to kiss her cheek. She let out a small laugh as she closed her locker and walked side by side with him as they left the school.

Robin was standing there completely dumbfounded. He'd missed his chance! She seemed to look happy with this boy, Robin didn't recognise him so hoped he was nice enough to treat Regina the way she deserved.

His shoulders sagged and he fought the urge to turn back and go after her, he didn't, he went back to his classroom to retrieve his coat and his carrier bag of books and papers. Maybe he should go briefcase shopping? Anything to try and keep his mind off his heartbreak.

He collected his things and something came to mind, causing anger to surge through him, she was being hurt at home, what if she went home and her mother hurt her again, what if he knew she was being hurt and didn't stop it from happening, what if it was worse the second time? He did something he knew he wasn't allowed to do, but if he wasn't allowed to be with Regina, he sure as hell was going to make sure that she wasn't hurt again, ever.

He sat down at his computer, looking around as though someone was going to come in and catch him in the act; he typed her name into the system and waited for her profile to come up. As soon as it did he was sat there staring at her picture, her mouth was in a mischievous smirk and her hair was tucked behind one of her ears as it cascaded down over her shoulders. Sighing he shook his head, how could he have fallen for her so hard so fast? It was crazy, insane, but it was true, his feelings were real and he was reminded of that every time he saw her.

Working past her distracting photo, he scrolled down until he came to her address; he scribbled it down on a scrap of paper and rushed out of the door, leaving her profile open on his computer.

While driving a million thoughts were going through his mind, this was a stupid idea, he should have told the proper governing board what he knew, he should have told someone else, but he hadn't, because he knew that Regina would not want that, she would probably resent him forever should he do that to her and he wouldn't be able to bare that, he wouldn't be able to deal with knowing that she hated him and that he caused some massive rift within her family.

Pulling up at her house he simply sat in the car and stared at it for a couple of minutes, before taking a deep breath and getting out. Was he really doing this? Yes, someone needed to, Regina clearly wasn't going to tell anyone else, so he needed to be the person who dealt with it, he needed to do this for Regina, to protect her. Coming to the front door, he knocked heavily and waited for someone to answer as he stood his fists clenching. What the hell was he going to say? He probably should have thought that through before coming here all guns blazing.

The door opened and he was stood facing an older woman with dark hair and dark eyes, very similar to Regina's, but without the spark, without the fire that he loved. "Who are you?" She spat.

"Mrs Mills? I'm Robin Locksley, Regina's English teacher."

"And?"

"Can I come in?" he asked, looking past her.

"Regina isn't here."

"I came to speak to you actually," he sighed, this was going to be difficult, he knew it was.

"Alright, do come in Mr Lockley."

"Thank you," he nodded, following her into the house and taking a seat where she had gestured to the kitchen table. Looking around he came to find that it was quite a grand house, clearly they had money, but maybe they didn't have the vital thing, love.

"Would you like a hot beverage, coffee, tea perhaps?"

"I'm fine thank you, I'm afraid this is a delicate subject."

"I see," Cora sat down opposite him, "so, is my daughter failing?"

"No, no she couldn't be further from failing, but this conversation isn't about her school life." He saw the look on her face change, as though she realised what it was going to be about. "This morning, I found your daughter hurrying through the corridor and stopped her to find a red mark on her cheek."

The woman in front of him buried her head in her hands, "oh god," she cried.

"She told me this in confidence, told me that you hit her, is that true?" Although he trusted Regina, he wanted to give her mother a chance to explain, she was evidently more remorseful than he had expected her to be. Cora nodded and he took a deep breath, "I should report this, but Regina doesn't want me to and I respect her wishes, but if I find out that you've laid a figure on her or Henry again, I will go straight to any authority I have to in order to protect her, do you understand? I won't allow you to hurt her, or your son."

With that, he stood up and left the house, he felt like he had succeeded in getting his message across, he hoped he had, hoped she understood, because he never wanted to see Regina like she was that morning ever again.

A/N: Sorry for the almost kiss! Haha! I'll be writing the next chapter from Regina's POV so you'll find out how she came to leave school with that boy, have you worked out who he is?