Notes: Thanks so much for the great reviews, you are the best. As for the chapter, I wrote the last part of it half asleep so I hope it doesn't completely suck. Let me know what you think.

THE PRETENDER

As soon as she heard him walk into the bedroom and then the door squeak loudly as it closed on its hinges, Regina fluttered her eyes tight shut and tried to give the impression that she was sleeping.

She did that in vain, because instead of making it into the bed as she has been dreadfully anticipating him to do, what Robin did was go directly into the bathroom.

She was glad he did that, because that gave her time to sprawl even more across the bed so when the time came for him to finally go to sleep, he would have no choice than to use the floor once again.

Yes, the floor; because he was very mistaken if he really believed she was going to share a bed so small like the one in his old bedroom after he did only God knew what with that Marian. It would be disgusting for her to allow him to do that so no, no matter that he was in that moment taking a shower, she was not going to yield in that aspect.

He could talk in circles all night long about how that was technically his bed and she wasn't going to care even the slightest bit, because he plain and simply wasn't going to sleep in the same space as her.

Not after he has been up and about with his ex.

Not that she cared, but… no, just no, no sharing.

With her mind set into the fact that they were probably going to end up arguing about their sleeping accommodations, the brunette covered her head with a pillow and tried hard to fall asleep, thinking that if she managed to succumb into Morpheus arms then a confrontation could be evaded; but the only thing she achieved was to get caught in the sepulchral silence reigning all over the room.

Yes, she could hear the shower running and after a while shutting off, but after that there was nothing… just silence, the beating of her own heart and nothing more.

At least until a peculiar sound came to echo all around at the same time that he cussed.

"Fucking shit."

Opening her eyes and sitting over the bed as soon as she heard the small commotion, Regina tilted her head and looked at the bathroom door.

It was open with Robin obviously inside but the lights were turned off. In fact, they have been turned off ever since he got there.

'Whatever he is doing there is not your problem.' She thought to herself as she laid down once again, but as soon as her head touched the pillow she remembered how she has left her make-up bag over the sink and how the small disturbance sounded as if a bunch of small objects just fell all across the floor.

Small objects, a lot of them… probably as many as there were on her bag.

Climbing out of bed and heading straight into the bathroom, Regina turned on the light just in time to catch Robin red handed, crouching down and apparently trying to fix the damage done.

"What the hell are you doing?"

She asked as he tried to shield his eyes from the light. The brightness bothered her as well, but she was more occupied watching in horror as the the small glass bottle of her foundation shattered and spilled the liquid all over. There were other things on the floor as well, but those seemed to be in good condition.

"What did you do?" She hissed.

"It fell… I didn't do anything."

Annoyed but unable to stop her eyes from drinking on the sight of him, shirtless, his grey sweatpants riding low on his hips and his hair still wet from the shower, Regina groaned.

"Seriously, Robin. Do you have any idea how much that costs?"

Blinking a couple of times and smiling sheepishly, the blue eyed man shrugged. "Well it wasn't that big to begin with so I would venture to say that not much?"

"Ugh, just… move." She ordered while crouching down as well so that she could grab all her things and put them where they belonged.

He tried to help too, but every time he grabbed something she snatched it from his hands to put them in her make-up bag herself.

When she was done, she got to her feet, watching out of the corner of her eye that he was also standing up so in an attempt to break the awkward silence she said the first thing that came into her mind.

"Going into the bathroom with the lights turned off, what were you thinking?"

Placing a hand to his hip and then doing a weird gesture with the other one, Robin cleared his throat. "I was trying not to wake you up."

Regina bit hard into the inside of her cheek, trying to keep her eyes on his face and not in the obscene way his chest and toned stomach were on full display. It was hard to as she was curious, because as it seemed Robin was keeping hidden quite a nice physique.

"Well you ended up waking me up and making a mess in here so yeah, good job there, genius."

Parting his lips in a way that his front teeth were showing and acting as if he was going to refute her words, Robin snorted, eyeing her from her to toe. "Why are you tiny?"

For more than a couple of seconds, Regina just stared at him, watching as he smiled down on her in satisfaction, his dimples on full display and his eyes shining in amusement.

"Are you drunk?" She asked severely because that was the last thing she needed.

"No. I'm not... I'm bloody British and we don't get drunk."

"Oh my God I can't believe this." With that said, Regina swirled on her bare feet and walked to bed.

Then, in the same fashion she has been doing when he walked in, she laid down across the full mattress, giving him no space to climb into.

Drunk Robin… she couldn't believe it… as she couldn't believe when she felt him slide into the bed, moving her aside as if she weighed nothing.

"Hey, you can't do that." She complained while rolling to her side to face him.

He was on his back, an arm thrown over his eyes and yes, very much shirtless.

"Get off."

"I'm not sleeping on the floor, Regina. Last time you almost killed me. Broke my lip and all that."

Scoffing and in a way thankful that he didn't mention the other part of the incident, Regina tried to push him off the bed. It was in vain though, as she was unable to move him, not even an inch.

"You know that's not nice, I though we agreed to get along." He said, but he did it without even opening his eyes.

"Getting along doesn't equal we have to share a bed. Especially with you drunk and with… God knows what nasty germs all over you. Eww."

"Germs, what the fuck, Regina? God you're impossible." He mumbled another thing she couldn't quite comprehend and then rolled to his side, showing his back to her as he apparently prepared to sleep.

"Robin, I'm serious. You can't come and expect to share a bed with anyone if you were just with a woman. It's disgusting and plain disrespectful."

"Wait… what?" He rolled back, this time to his other side so that they ended up facing each other. "What woman is this you're talking about?"

Because he has left the bathroom light on, Regina could see him in the chiaroscuro of the bedroom; see his eyes set on hers and see the way his light stubble covered the strong outline of his jaw.

"What woman?" She mimicked him with a roll of her eyes. "You know I'm talking about Marian."

"Tsk. You think I was with Marian? Is that why you sent that cryptic little text?"

Not wanting to make it look as if she was making a big deal out of something small, the brown eyed drew in a deep breath.

"Listen, I don't mind or even care about what you do with your… personal affairs; I just ask, as it is in the contract, for you to be discreet about it. I don't want people talking and speculating so as long as this last I need us to play pretend we are happy and in love."

Running his tongue over his lips, Robin blinked slowly. "Okay."

"And please, if you do get with someone don't even get in the same bed as me afterwards."

Robin chuckled, the sound so mellow she could drown in it. "I was not with Marian, or with any other woman so relax, these germs that I have are all mine."

Furrowing her brow, she grimaced. "That last part didn't sound good, like at all."

His eyes lowered and she followed the movement of his eyelashes, watching as they created a soft shadow on his cheeks.

"What happened to your stable boy?"

The question took her unaware so she blinked the surprise away. It took her almost a minute to be able to respond.

"I don't know, he left as soon as Mary Margaret told on us."

Looking at her in the eye, Robin nodded while twisting his lips. "He left you on your own."

More than a question, what Robin said was a statement.

"That was hardly the worse thing that ever happened to me so it's not like it matters."

"But you were in love with him."

"I was, or at least I thought I was. I don't know anymore."

Not really knowing why she was confiding those things to him, Regina bit on her lips and looked away from his inquiring eyes.

"You know, it's hard to picture you like that, young and in love."

Knowing what he meant because she has banished those memories from her mind so that she couldn't remember herself, she shrugged. "Why, I'm human like everyone else. I feel and suffer and all that… trivial stuff, whether you believe it or not."

"I know, still a hard picture to imagine. I mean with you acting so stern all the time and keeping people at a distance."

"I do that on purpose, I don't like dealing with most people."

"Don't you get tired of it, or lonely?"

"Well aren't you quite chatty tonight, what's with all the questions?"

Moving a hand to her face and brushing her hair behind her ear, Robin smiled. "I'm curious. I mean I've been working in that company for more than three years, two of them side to side with you and never before this past week have I ever get to see right past those thick walls of yours."

Unable to help it, Regina smiled as well. She didn't know why she did it because the conversation was anything but cute and cheerful. "So you're a curious drunk?"

His eyes danced over her face. "I'm not drunk."

"Hmm."

"You're gorgeous, you know that." He began to say as her eyes widened a little and her heart did a summersault inside her chest. It was silly, but that was the last thing she expected him to say. "I've seen every man you work with or do business with try to get your attention, some women too. They've even asked me directly about you, from the most powerful to the simple employee and all of them you look over your shoulder. At first I was sure it was because there was someone so the rest didn't interest you, but… that wasn't the case. You just… isolated yourself."

"Keeping myself in a distance works for me just fine."

"Don't you miss it? Having someone…"

"You mean sex?" She blurted out in a chuckle. "I'm not a nun, Robin, so it's not like I've kept myself completely isolated all these years."

"So there is someone." He stated.

Scoffing, Regina shook her head no. "There has been, just nothing serious… and not in a while." A long while if you asked her. "I don't do relationships."

"Just so you know, I wasn't talking about sex. I meant just this, having someone to talk to…"

"That sounds like a relationship and I told you I don't do that so in a way, no I don't miss it, because you can't miss something you never had. With Daniel it was always hiding and sneaking so there wasn't even time to cuddle and talk afterwards, and the rest were just… fleeting things." She stopped there, letting her eyes roam along his face. Then, in an attempt to change the subject she snorted. "I don't know why I'm telling you this."

"Come here." He said, circling her waist with one of his arms, that way he pulled her closer, so close she ended up half resting over him.

"What are you doing?" She breathed out as the palm of her hand came to rest over his bare chest.

"Just shut up and cuddle, that way you'll know what your missing. Now go to sleep."

As soon as he said that, Robin closed his eyes and just like that he went to sleep. It left Regina unsure of what to do.

It was only when she felt his breathing become more relaxed that she allowed her face to rest over his chest and she just laid there, her heartbeat synching with his and their breathing synchronizing.

She couldn't sleep though and after some consideration she opened her mouth.

"People can't really sleep like this, I mean seriously? It's uncomfortable as hell."

After saying that, she meant to pull away from him, only that instead of letting her move too far he put his hand to the back of her head and forced her face to descend into his.

He did it as if it was the most natural thing in the world, his mouth getting a hold of hers while she just… let him.

Closing her eyes, Regina felt how his lips gave hers a light nudge to make them part, and when she dumbly did a small shiver ran down her spine; it was basically nothing, but by providing that opening space she basically gave access so that his tongue could brush hers…

It was a quick movement that was over before it could really begin, because as if he was remembering himself, he pulled apart immediately.

'I'm sorry I, I think… no, I wasn't thinking, just go to sleep." With that said, he disentangled himself from her and turning around so that his back was to her once again, he fell asleep.

Regina just remained there, confused and a little lost. Needless to say, she didn't get so much sleep that night and when she was finally able to drift off, the sun was already waking up.

Little did she know that even if it was just a brief kiss, the moment they just shared was going to change the dynamic of their whole relationship.

TBC