Thanks again for the reviews! I have a general idea of where this is going… Sorry if Robin and Regina act out of character – I am trying to guess what someone would act like if they met their true love, without wanting a true love and without realizing the person is their true love. It gets complicated. Can't wait to see them interact again!

Disclaimer: Don't own them.

Chapter 4

Although she would never admit it, Regina was quite impressed by the shelter Robin and his men had built. It was cleaner than she had suspected and almost appealing.

"Not that bad, is it?"

Robin's voice in her ear changed her mind at once and a scowl appeared on her face.

"It's not exactly my palace."

His eyes burned into hers, and Regina looked away quickly. Something about him truly flustered her… Robin shook his head exasperatedly.

"Is there a reason you don't like me?"

"Do I need one?"

Robin huffed angrily and shot her a glare.

"I need to take my son, if you don't mind."

Regina's heart dropped. Perhaps she had been too mean; perhaps her cold mask was going to cost her another child that she cared about, perhaps…

Robin saw the conflict in her eyes and groaned inwardly. Why was it that this woman could melt his heart with a single look and flare his temper with another one? She was going to drive him insane. He sighed, relenting sympathetically.

"I'm not taking him from you, Regina. I'm simply going to put him down in his bed, he is exhausted."

"Could… Could I?"

She was pushing it and she knew it, but it seemed as though her connection with Roland had given Robin a new perspective of her and he nodded.

"Come on. I'll show you where it is."

The young boy was getting heavy against her shoulder, but she refused to show it – following Robin in silence. He watched like a hawk as she lay Roland down on a small makeshift bed and she looked at him kindly as she stood.

"He's beautiful. You're lucky to have him."

Robin nodded with a serene smile.

"He's my everything. After his mother… my wife… after she died, I had nothing left but Roland and the Merry Men. With the new order here… I lost a lot of men. Roland is my one constant."

Regina turned suddenly, her hand moving to her chest where her heart was beating painfully. It was all so familiar – Henry was her everything, he was all she had and now…

It would be so easy – so easy to rip her heart out and bury it somewhere, forget about it. Well… doing it would be easy, getting past Snow not as much.

"Snow told me what you did."

Robin's voice shocked her and she looked up at him with wide eyes.

"What are you talking about?"

"How you nearly sacrificed yourself to save Storybrooke… and how you had to give up Henry a few months later, to save everyone."

She breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that Snow had kept her attempt of getting rid of her heart to herself. Apparently, the girl wasn't completely unable to keep a secret.

"Why would she tell you that?"

Robin shrugged and led her out of Roland's tent. He looked at her carefully once they made it outside.

"I guess she wanted me to know that you're not just the Evil Queen. You're more than that. You're good."

No one had ever called her good before – except for Henry. It caused another painful pang in her heart, so Regina did what she always did. She lashed out, eyes blazing and cheeks flushing.

"Don't act like you know me, Robin Hood! You have no idea who I am!"

She turned, attempting to storm off but Robin would not let her – not this time. He grabbed her arm and pulled her back to him.

"Why do you do this?"

His voice was loud, threatening, angry… and Regina looked up at him with wide eyes – suddenly reminding her of a doe about to be struck by an arrow. Robin groaned, frustrated. He grabbed her shoulders gently, surpassing the urge to shake her until she dropped her masks.

"Just stop. Stop trying to build this wall between yourself and the rest of the world. Just be you."

For some reason, his words did not placate her – it did the exact opposite and he jumped when her hand disappeared into her chest.

"What the…"

He stared in shock at the beating object in her hand – a beating heart, a mixture of red and black pulsing with every beat. Her voice was clipped and she closed her eyes, willing back tears.

"You want to know who I am? This is it, Robin. This is who I am!"

"Put it back, Regina."

She stared at him stubbornly and he folded his hands over hers, feeling the gentle beating of her heart in her hands. He sighed deeply, wondering what in the world had happened to turn her into this broken creature who failed to see the good herself.

"It's not who you are. I don't believe that for a second."

The heart disappeared back into her chest and before Robin could move, her hand was in his chest and a pain shot through him as she pulled his own heart out. He stared at her angrily, unable to believe that she had done it.

"Did you just rip my heart from my chest?"
She shrugged, holding the red, glowing heart up.

"Clearly."

"What the hell, Regina? You can't just go around ripping people's hearts out!"

Regina smirked and shook her head, a grimace decorating her beautiful face.

"Obviously you don't know me. But I'm not going to crush it. I just wanted you to see it."

"Why?"

A strange sensation went through his body as her fingertips moved over his heart and she looked up at them with tortured eyes.

"Look at it, Robin. Your heart… it's healthy, red, glowing. Even though you are a thief… there is not a trace of black in your heart. This is what good looks like. I'm not it."

Her hand moved to his chest to put his heart back and he shuddered at the sensation, keeping her hand on his chest even after his heart was returned.

"So you have a little darkness in you. That doesn't make you evil."

Regina laughed out loud, a bitter sound.

"It does."

"I don't believe you."

Irritated, she balled her free hand into a fist and hit him against the chest repeatedly, unable to stomach his do-gooder behaviour. He was worse than Snow, what with his desire to see the good in everyone. Why couldn't they just accept that she was a villain and that was all she'd ever be?

"Why? Why do you care? I'm not good, why does it matter? What makes you think there is something good in me?"

Instead of a vocal reply, Robin suddenly leaned forward, cupped her face with his hands and brushed his lips against hers. Regina stood frozen as he caressed her lips with his own, hands in the air and eyes wide open. He carried the trademark smirk when he pulled back and she frowned at him.

"What… why?"

Robin shrugged and touched her cheek with his index finger, grinning calmly.

"You looked like you needed a kiss."

He walked off without another word and Regina turned to stare at him, speechless for the first time in her life. She groaned when she saw Snow approaching her with a wide grin and folded her arms, glaring at the girl. Snow was not put off, and kept the grin on her face as she looked at Regina.

"I thought you said he smelled like forest."

Regina barely looked at Snow, still staring at the empty space where Robin had been seconds earlier.

"He does."

Snow lifted a brow, eyes sparkling.

"Is he a good kisser?"

Regina huffed and turned from Snow, only to be followed by the incessant girl. She shot Snow an irritated glance, moving faster.

"I'm not having this conversation with you."

Snow moved faster to keep up with Regina, still carrying that irritating smile. Regina could for the life of her, not understand why the girl had the need to always be so infuriatingly happy and optimistic.

"Regina, I can see that you like him. Don't run away from it."

Regina turned to face Snow, her face unreadable.

"I'm not running away from him. I'm trying to get away from you," she deadpanned, her brow lifted – hoping against all logic that the grin would disappear from Snow's face. Snow threw her hands up in the air exasperatedly.

"Fine. I can take a hint."

"It was more than a hint dear."

She walked off, relieved when Snow did not follow her. The relief apparently came too soon, because Snow's voice drifted to her from a distance.

"It's okay to like him, you know."

Regina kept her head down, pretending not to have heard her. Her reply was soft, but Snow being as perceptive as she was, heard it.

"No. It's not."