Missing year fic based on the prompt below. Didn't really turn out very silly, but my muse headed in a different direction. Enjoy

Prompt: Silly one: Robin walks in on Regina in the bathroom (lol)

(ps. I might be continuing that Toy Store one-shot for those who are interested. Not much, probably just one more chapter to make it a two-shot)

Rated T-ish

She needed this, has needed it for days. Her muscles are stiff and tense, her body constantly coated with a thin layer of sweat. It has been hot, sweltering, and she hates this place, this forest, the heat of summer in their enchanted world.

That is what has brought her here, to her garderobe, to a conjured tub filled to the brim with lukewarm water. Moisture clings to every inch of her skin, sweat mingling with the water in which she floats, limbs sinking then lifting.

It feels good. The almost cold water a welcome reprieve from the heat of the sun, the heat of anger she feels steadily thrumming in her mind and body. That thief. He drives her insane. Every rude word that leaves his arrogantly smirking lips riles her, has her blood pumping, the vein in her forehead pulsing.

She was supposed to meet with him today. Well, technically she was supposed to meet with the Charmings to discuss her sister and the green witch's constant threats, but he is always there too, always aggravating. Instead, she sequestered herself in her chambers, locked herself in the safe nest of these rooms. Locked everyone else out, like she's always done.

She knows she'll only have a while longer, a precious few moments of this cooling serenity before her stepdaughter calls on her, worriedly knocks at her door. She only has a short while before she'll be forced to leave the comfort of this bath, the soothing water, forced to face them all, forced to don the armor of a queen she never wanted to be.

She sighs, pinches her eyes closed tightly and takes a deep breath before sinking, sinking into the coolness flowing around her. She stays there, isn't sure how long, and she lets the water cleanse, lets it rinse her skin of sweat, clear her mind of anger, disappointment, bitterness, and for an instant she can imagine that she isn't herself, that she isn't miserable.

When she finally resurfaces, filling her lungs with the humid air surrounding her, she feels ready, feels like she could actually face the world outside of this room and not collapse under the weight of her dejected soul. At least, she feels that way at first. She feels that way until that irritating voice sounds in her ears, her calmness retracting, vanishing, instantly replaced with anger and annoyance.

"This is what has you too busy to meet with the council then?" He questions, and she can see him now, a hideous brown and green filling her peripheral as he leans smugly in the doorway.

She turns to him, glaring, mentally skinning the flesh from his bones as she scowls in his direction. "How dare you."

He responds to her anger how he always does, with infuriating calmness. He smirks, blue eyes moving to his boots before working his lower lip between teeth. She has a brief flash, wonders what those teeth would feel like nibbling on her lip, nibbling her skin, nibbling…no. She mentally shakes the image of his lips on her skin, and represses her own smug smirk as she comes up with a different approach to this thief and his antics.

He begins talking, saying that the Prince and Princess were worried due to her absence, but she doesn't let him say more, halts his explanation with a shift of her body. She sits straight in the tub, hands finding purchase on either edge until she is grasping tightly, biceps flexing as they support her weight, lifting until she stands, water dripping along her heated flesh.

Finally he has a different reaction, a dumbfounded reaction, and his widened eyes and slack jaw have Regina's lips curling at the corners, her eyes gleaming with satisfaction. For once it seems the thief is speechless. She doesn't waste the moment, fills it with words of her own, teasing sarcasm.

"I simply lost track of time thief." His darkened gaze stops searching her body, lifting to settle on her face as she speaks. "I'll be ready shortly." She bends at the waist slightly, just enough to reach a towel resting beside the tub, and as she rises, she lets their gazes meet, stares heatedly before asking, "Will there be anything else thief?"

He smirks again, and it has her smile faltering, her confidence waning. "No your Majesty. Nothing else." He turns in the doorway, diverting his hungry gaze, but then he stops, turns his head her direction enough for his profile to come into view. "You looked content."

"What?" She doesn't understand, and she wonders if it is her or if this man purposely speaks in riddles, just another way of shifting her equilibrium, of keeping her vexed.

"Before you saw me," he pauses, takes a breath, "before I interrupted. You looked content, almost happy. It was truly a beautiful thing to behold Milady." The words have her brow furrowing, another painful moment of self-reflection taking hold of her mind. Then his head is turning again, he begins to walk away, to leave her in peace, and she can hear the smirk in his voice as he says, "Perhaps you should bathe more often."

And with that final phrase Regina finds herself fuming, blood boiling, and she casts the towel aside as she lowers herself back under the surface of cool water.

Let me know what you thought :)