A/N I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and I hope you enjoy this!
November 27th 2017
Her eyes slowly flickered open and she squinted as the light burned her eyes, taking a deep breath, she tried to move, everything hurt, she felt sore all over. She swallowed heavily and realised that her throat was dry like sand paper, she couldn't move, could barely breathe. Something was sticking out of her, tubes, there were tubes all over her, stuck up her nose, on her hands, she didn't know what was going on, or where she was, all she could think was that she wished the godforsaken beeping that was in her ear would stop.
She tried to open her eyes again and this time managed to adjust them to the light in the room, it wasn't exactly bright, but for her she felt as though someone was prying her eye lids open and shining a torch directly into her retinas. Once she managed to get them open, she looked around the room and only then she realised where she was, it was a hospital, she was… why was she in a hospital? She needed a drink before she could even begin to work out what was going on, her throat was thick and she couldn't bear it.
She moved to sit up and failed, with a groan she reached out to the little table that was beside her bed, reaching for the water that was resting there, but seemingly her grasp wasn't as it should be and the decanter slipped from her hands, crashing to the floor and spilling. She rolled her eyes and lay back in the bed, glancing to the side she noticed a picture and squinted at it before frowning, what the hell was that? More to the point, who the hell was that, the man with his arm around her. Shaking her head, she reached out and tipped the frame over so that she didn't have to look at it, it was strange, she guessed it was probably whatever medication the people in this place were giving her making her hallucinate.
She just about managed to raise her hand to her head and rubbed it as she let out a groan, all she wanted was a drink and to know what the hell was going on so she could get home. She looked down and saw a button, but her eyes were feeling increasingly sleepy, she couldn't keep them open, reaching out she managed to press the button before she slipped from consciousness.
November 28th 2017
Her head was hurting and she felt like she had been hit by a truck, she tried to scrunch up her face in protest to try and get rid of the migraine that had set in, but that hurt even more than it did when she kept still, she was vaguely aware of voices, but she just wished they would stop, that they would shut up and let her sleep, she needed to sleep. "Shush," she slurred.
"Regina!"
She pried her eyes open, squinting in the light as a face came into focus above her, a little too close for comfort. She furrowed her eyebrows and looked at him, pressing her head deeper into the pillow, "do you mind," she coughed.
"Give her a little space," a man to her right instructed, she noticed that he was a doctor and sighed in relief.
"Water?" she asked as she trained her gaze on the doctor, trying to ignore the strange man who was currently holding onto her arm as though his life depended on it. The doctor nodded and poured her a cup before making the bed move so that she was sitting up and could drink. "Thank you," she wheezed, taking it from him and shakily bringing the cup to her lips, sipping the cool water and closing her eyes, leaning back against the bed as she drank the whole thing in desperate gulps.
She had to admit that drink had made her feel so much better than she had before, at least now she could breathe without feeling as though her throat was being attacked by a million-minuscule people with needles. Taking a deep breath, she looked up to the person who was still holding onto her arm, "can I maybe have my hand back?" she husked, seemingly her vocal cords weren't agreeing with her as she struggled to get her words out properly.
"Try not to strain yourself," the doctor instructed as he continued to look at the annoying beeping machine.
Regina managed to snatch her arm back from the weird man and tuck it underneath the quilt where he couldn't touch her, who the hell actually was this guy? If it was a pathetic attempt by her family at making up for not being there for her, she would be more than annoyed, she didn't know exactly how long she had been here, but she would have liked to think that they would have been there for her when she woke up.
"Regina, you have no idea how relieved I am baby," the man cried as he dragged the chair closer to the bed and rested his head next to her on the mattress. Tears seemed to be falling from his cheeks as he looked at her and she deemed that he must be a bloody good actor to pretend to care for her like he was doing. She awkwardly moved slightly on the mattress, uncomfortable with what he was doing, she just wanted him to leave.
"Doctor," she croaked, "I don't know who this is," she stated as she shook her head. The man looked up at her, his eyes widening in shock as he tried to find her hand again and she pulled away, "I don't know you."
"Of course, you do baby, it's me," he moved his hand and cupped her cheek gently, her eyes widened as she tried to move away from him.
"I don't know you," she shook her head.
"Regina, please! This isn't funny."
"I know," she whimpered, she was freaking out, who the hell was this insane person? She didn't know him, she was tired and scared and right now she just wanted him to leave her alone, "I want Robin," she cried, seeing the man's face fall even further than it had when she told him she didn't know who he was. "Please," she turned to the doctor, "I need Robin!" Where was he? She was going to kill him for not being here when she woke up, for leaving her alone with this crazy man, but first she would make him hold her and tell her what the hell was going on.
"Baby, I don't know what's going on, but Robin isn't going to be here."
"I want him!" she sobbed, seeing the doctor moving around to the other side of the bed and grasping the man's arm, moving him away from her. She looked around and what she saw made her even more nervous, there wasn't one picture of him, not one, there was one of her and the stranger, ones of her and her family with the stranger but none of him, none of Robin. She felt her chest tighten as she tried to draw in a breath, she felt as though she were suffocating.
The doctor turned to look at her, "Miss Mills, just stay calm," he stated moving to her side, "breath, okay, you're in a safe space, just breathe."
She did as he instructed, drawing in air steadily and shakily exhaling as she closed her eyes, "I don't understand, I… what's happening?" She asked, "where is Robin?" she cried letting tears roll down her cheeks, "where is he?!"
"Mill Mills, please."
"Regina, listen to the doctor," the man stated.
"Go away!" she whimpered closing her eyes as she shook her head, "leave me alone."
"I think you should go," the doctor instructed and she hoped that he listened, she really did because she couldn't think with him there, she wanted him gone, out of the room so she could find out what was going on.
"Okay, fine, Regina I love you okay, I'll wait outside."
She didn't reply, didn't move as she waited for the door to close, once she heard it she looked to the doctor, "what's happening to me?"
"Why don't we wait for your mother to arrive."
Regina rolled her eyes, why would she want her mother? She wanted Robin, what was it about that people couldn't understand? Was it really all that difficult for them to get into their brains that she wanted him, not her mother, not that stranger, Robin. But maybe if her mother came she would be able to get through to them, maybe she would be able to get Robin, "okay," she whispered in agreement.
He was awoken by a loud ringing noise coming from beside his bed and groaned, he smacked at his alarm clock only to find that it wasn't actually that which was ringing, with a groan he found his phone and cut it off, whoever was ringing him at that time could bloody ring back later, right now was sleep time, not phone time and he wasn't in the mood to talk to people in the middle of the night, he at least needed his morning coffee before he took that step.
He rubbed his eyes tiredly and glanced at the clock seeing that the time read three am, who the hell tried to ring someone at three in the morning? He saw that the number was unknown and turned back to go to sleep only for it to ring again, gritting his teeth he sat up and swiped onto his phone, "hello," he grumbled sleepily.
"Robin Locksley?"
"Yes, do you know what time it is?" he scoffed.
"Oh, well I'm afraid that my daughter's health won't wait for you to get out of bed Mr Locksley."
He furrowed his eyebrows, who actually was this? "Sorry I don't know who you are or what you're talking about."
"Okay, let me simplify this for you, I booked you a plane ticket to New York, it leaves in a couple of hours from Heathrow, you need you get your ass here by the time my daughter wakes up again."
"Daughter?"
"Regina Mills."
Robin felt his heart almost stop beating in his chest as he nearly dropped the phone, what the actual fuck was going on?! He hadn't heard from Regina in almost four years and then here out of the blue he receives a phone call from her mother telling him that he needs to go across the world to be there for her? What was that about? "Okay and why would I do that? Please tell me why I would uproot my life to come back to New York for her?"
"She's in a coma."
This time he did drop the phone, he simply stared at it in shock, a coma? How was that possible? What had happened to her? He didn't know if he could, didn't know if he could go through any more heart ache when it came to her, he'd had his heart broken once before and he didn't think that he'd be able to bear having to watch her die, he didn't think he was strong enough. He heard Cora Mills calling his name on his abandoned phone and shook his head before picking it up, "hi."
"The plane leaves at 5am," she stated.
"What if I don't come?" he asked.
"Then you might be too late."
That felt like a kick to the gut and he had to think what was worse, not seeing her and her dying without him even being able to say goodbye, or him getting hurt again. He furrowed his eyebrows, he couldn't be selfish right now, what was he thinking, of course he needed to be there, he needed to go and see her. He had to, as much as it might hurt, he had to, "what happened to her?"
"I'll tell you when you get here," the woman informed him.
"Right, okay, I'll come."
"Good, but Mr Locksley if you hurt my daughter, you'll have me to deal with."
"Sounds like she's already hurt doesn't it Mrs Mills," he huffed, "I'll see you in New York."
"Good I'll send my driver to the airport to meet you."
"Fine," he ended the call and looked down, he'd never really seen eye to eye with Regina's mother, then again who did see eye to eye with Cora Mills, not many people that was for sure. Regina had been the only woman he had ever loved, his college sweetheart, but like most young relationships they hadn't worked out. He loved her none the less and a part of him still did, she was the one that got away, no one had ever compared to her, to his first love, she had left quite the legacy for future girlfriends to live up to.
It wasn't good, but everyone he had been with since he'd found himself comparing to her, to Regina, their hair wouldn't be as soft, their smile as captivating, their personality as… interesting. They just hadn't lived up to the expectations he had, there was always something missing, maybe it was because they simply weren't her. But he was supposed to be over her, he was supposed to have moved on and he thought he was doing well, thought that he was finally getting somewhere, but now this happened.
She was apparently back in his life again after all that time and she was in a coma. He didn't know the best way to deal with that, should he tell people he was going before he just upped and left for America? Surely it was a little short notice, but Cora wouldn't have done it like that unless it were serious, would she? She wouldn't have just called him in the dead of night to tell him he needed to be on a flight unless it was serious…
Oh god, what if she wasn't going to wake up? What if it was the last time he was going to see her? The woman who had been his whole world for years. He moved from his bed and hurried to his wardrobe flinging it open before pulling the suitcase out from underneath the bed and flicking it open. He flung a load of clothes into the bag, everything that he thought he might need, once the clothes were in there he went to the bathroom and prepared a bag of toiletries as he put some toothpaste on a brush and began cleaning his teeth.
Stumbling back into the bedroom, he pulled some appropriate clothes for flying on and zipped up his bag. It was then that he remembered the photo, the one he kept in the back of a frame on the mantle, snatching his phone and charger he moved into the sitting room and looked at the photo of him and Will, picking it up he dislodged the back and out fell the strip of photos.
He and Regina had taken them in a booth at the fair, it had been a totally cliché thing to do, but she had seen it and dragged him in with her claiming that it would be fun and he should live a little. Some of them were of them pulling silly faces until the last few when she had turned to look at him, staring into his eyes before they ended up kissing. He tucked the photos into his wallet and checked over everything once again before leaving his apartment and heading out to the airport.
November 29th 2017
His plane landed at JFK at eight am New York time, it would be one pm back home in London and the flight had definitely not been the best. He tiredly collected his bag from baggage claim before going through security and into the area where Cora's driver would be waiting for him. He saw a man with a sign that had his name on and headed over to him, "Mr Locksley?" the man asked.
"Yeah, that's me," Robin nodded as the man took his bag from him and turned to the door.
"Mrs Mills demanded that I take you straight to the hospital."
"Could I not go to the hotel and freshen up first, it's been a long flight and…"
"I don't think that wise sir, Mrs Mills said that it was imminent that you be in at the hospital."
Robin felt that dread that had been in the bottom of his stomach ever since that phone call and he closed his eyes, "okay," he couldn't miss her, wouldn't let something as trivial as a shower stop him from seeing her. He got into the car and took a deep breath, he really needed to calm his nerves before he got to the hospital, he was preparing himself for the worst, but it wasn't really working, how could you be prepared for that? You couldn't.
It was a long drive to the hospital, taking much longer than he had thought it would, almost an hour later the car pulled up into a very exclusive looking facility, but then again, he wasn't surprised that Cora Mills had her daughter in the best place she could possibly be. He moved out of the car and headed towards the doors, pushing through them he went straight for the reception desk, "I'm here to see Regina Mills?" he stated
"Miss Mills isn't accepting visitors at this time."
"Aurora darling, it's fine." Robin turned his head and saw Cora Mills coming down the corridor towards him with a frown on her face, "Locksley, I see you arrived in time."
"Yes," he nodded solemnly, following behind Cora as she walked back the way she came, heading towards a lift that must lead to the upper floors, he was guessing that was where Regina was, "what happened to her?"
"She was involved in a serious accident," the woman breathed as the elevator came to a stop on the seventh floor and she stepped off, "this way." They carried on up until room twenty-three where she stopped and turned to look at him, "she's in there."
He swallowed heavily and placed a hand on the door, "with all due respect, why did you get me to come here?" he asked, looking around at her, he didn't know if he was strong enough to go in there, in all honest he was more scared than he'd been in a long time.
"Because Regina needs you and I didn't know what else to do, just please, go in and sit with her."
"Okay, okay I can do that," he took a deep breath and closed his eyes before pushing the door open and walking into the room, not daring to open them again until he heard the door close behind him. When he opened them he gasped, taking in her form, she was beautiful, she looked like she was only sleeping, she seemed peaceful and he stepped closer. She hadn't changed, not really, her hair might be a litter shorter than it had been, but apart from that she was the same Regina Mills he had known and loved.
He smiled and sat on the chair beside the bed looking at her closer, she was stunning, gently he took her hand in his, running his fingers over hers gently. He didn't know if he should be in here, it seemed strange, as much as he wanted to be here with her, it wasn't as though they were together anymore, they hadn't been for years, surely, she must have moved on, it would be crazy if she hadn't.
He let go of her hand and stood up again, moving so he could tuck her hair gently behind her ear and look closer at her, he noticed a scar that decorated her top lip, the only thing that was different about her face, every beauty mark, every freckle was the same, just as he had memorised. He knew every inch of her body, could still remember it, though she looked skinnier now, almost too skinny, that was probably a sign that she was in a coma though. He sat on the chair by the window and looked over at her, she couldn't die, it wasn't fair.
He began crying silently, unable to hold it in any longer, she didn't deserve it, she was so young, so perfect and it wasn't fair, Life wasn't fair though he reminded himself, it never was.
Regina stretched a little as she began to wake up, her eyes suddenly shooting open as she remembered the strange man who had been so convinced that they were in love. Maybe it had all been a crazy dream, maybe she was just at home in bed and she had been dreaming. She glanced at the bedside and noticed the frames that were still tipped downwards, frowning she lifted it a little, hoping that she wouldn't see what she suspected was there, but she did, there he was, the crazy guy from the day before.
She felt that familiar panic rise up within her chest at the prospect of him coming back, of him saying all those things that just weren't true, telling her lies. "Robin," she whispered. Where was he? She needed him and he wasn't there for her, how could he just abandon her when she needed him so much. He was supposed to be her boyfriend, was supposed to love her, but it was as though his existence had been wiped from the photographs that were laid on her bedside.
She cleared her throat and decided that no harm could come from yelling until she got what she wanted, she knew she was no longer a child, but she didn't see any other option, "Robin!" She cried, "I need Robin!"
Regina saw the door fly open and a rather shocked and stunned Robin appeared, looking somewhat like he had just seen a ghost, "Gina?"
Robin looked at her, she was there, she was alive and awake and calling for him! What did that mean? Did that mean she would be okay? That she wouldn't die? He was so surprised when he heard her voice screaming his name that he hadn't prepared for what he was going to do when he came face to face with her.
"Robin! Where have you been?!" she sobbed, the tears rolling down her cheeks as she reached out for him, desperate for him to come hold her, she was just so happy that he was there, "I needed you," she breathed, her fingers grabbing for him.
Her reaction hadn't been what he was suspecting, it was odd, but right now he wasn't going to deny her, he hurried across to her bed, placing the coffee he had just picked up down on the table by her bed as he took her hand gently, "I'm here now," he smiled.
"Hold me, please hold me," she whispered.
He felt her tremble and lost all of his self-control, he moved up onto the bed, even though he knew he probably shouldn't do, and took her into his arms, allowing her to bury her face into his chest. Her hands were fisting his shirt as she clung to him, anchoring her body to his.
"I thought I was going crazy," she murmured, inhaling the pine scent of him and humming happily, she was just so glad to be back in his arms, be back where she felt safe, "what's happening? Why am I here?" she asked looking up at him.
Robin looked down in to those oh so familiar eyes and sighed, cupping her cheek gently he caressed her skin, "you were in a coma, you'd been in some sort of accident Gina. Do you remember?"
She furrowed her eyebrows and shook her head, "I… no, I don't… I don't remember," she sighed, "how long have I been in here?"
"I don't know," he stated, it was the truth, he didn't know how long she had been in the hospital, but that answer seemed to have shocked her a little because she was looking at him in that adorable way where her nose scrunched up.
He didn't know? Why didn't he know? Surely, he should know everything, have been told everything, how could he not have known how long she had been in there, they saw each other every day, hell they were practically living together, so why didn't he know? "I don't understand," she whispered.
"Gina, your mum called me and she told me that you'd been in an accident, so I got on a plane and came here to be with you."
"On a plane, why did you need to get on a plane, where have you been?"
"England, you know…"
"Regina you're awake," Cora cleared her throat as she walked into the room, closing the door behind her. Robin took in the fact that she had changed her clothes since he had last seen her, which probably meant that she had been home to freshen up, maybe catch a few hours of sleep. He had done so himself, caught sleep that was, but only for a couple of hours and even then, it had been sitting in the uncomfortable hospital chair.
"Yes," she nodded, her fingers threading with Robin's, her mother had to call him and tell him that she was in hospital, it didn't make sense, none of it made sense. "What happened to me?" she asked, feeling how dry her throat was and reaching for the first thing she could find, taking a sip of Robin's coffee before holding it in her hands, basking in the warmth it was giving off.
"You were involved in a car accident," her mother stated, "a wagon slid on the ice and smashed into you."
Regina shook her head and looked to Robin, "I can't remember, I… what happened to the driver of the wagon?"
"I'm afraid he died upon impact. You have no idea how lucky you are my darling," Cora smiled.
Robin looked down, he felt awkward sitting here with her, but she had been more than adamant that she wanted him close by and from the way she was holding his arm she didn't want him to leave her any time soon. He thought back to the time when they were together, and chuckled dryly, "I always was telling you not to drive when it was icy out."
"Should have listened to you shouldn't I," she rolled her eyes before resting her head against him. "Mother, that strange man, he isn't coming, back is he?"
"Strange man?" Cora furrowed her eyebrows and for a brief moment Regina wondered if she had been imagining him after all, maybe she had made him up, maybe she was hallucinating because of the coma.
"The one who was here, he was here and he… I'm not sure," she shook her head, "it's all so fuzzy."
Robin looked up at the older Mills with a frown, he had a feeling there was more to this than he thought, Regina seemed to be so clingy with him, and when he told her that he hadn't known she was shocked, as though he should have. Right now, she was lying in his arms as though it was the most normal thing in the world, once upon a time it had been, but not now, this wasn't their life anymore. He'd seen the look on Cora's face when Regina had mentioned a man, for some reason she couldn't remember, the question was, how much had she forgotten?
"Okay darling, you've been through something traumatic, it's no surprise that your brain is playing tricks on you," Cora quipped, "why don't you get some sleep."
He felt her nod against him and took the coffee cup from her hands before placing it back down, "that's a good idea," he agreed. Robin went to move and her eyes shot open as she stared at him.
"No! Stay with me, please you can't leave," she wasn't going to let him go, she needed to hold onto him, needed to hold onto something, she needed to keep her sanity and having Robin with her was the only way to do that.
He sighed and nodded, "okay," he agreed, if staying with her brought her comfort, he wasn't going to deny her that, "I just need the bathroom okay."
"I'll come with you," she moved to sit up and groaned in pain.
"I'll be back, I promise, I don't think you should move just yet," he stated, holding her steady as he slipped out of the bed and straightened his shirt, observing how she watched him like a hawk, clearly not willing to take her eyes off him even for a moment. "I won't be long."
"Please don't be," Regina whispered as she snuggled back under the duvet, leaning against the pillows as she watched him walk out of the room. She felt as though if she let him out of her sight for even a minute she would lose him again and she really didn't want that to happen.
As Robin made his way out onto the corridor he turned to Cora and sighed, "what the hell Cora," he ran a hand over his face as he leant against the wall, his eyes moving to meet hers, "you made out as though she was going to die!"
"She could very well have died," Cora snapped, "but I hardly think you can accuse me of being untruthful, I told you she was going to wake up."
"When? When did you tell me she was going to wake up? Because I was under the impression she was on her death bed."
"I told you she was going to wake up when I said that you needed you get your ass here by the time my daughter wakes up again."
He furrowed his eyebrows and thought back to that initial conversation that he'd had with Cora on the phone when she had first told him about Regina's condition, was that what she said? He had been too tired and freaked out to take it all in properly, maybe she had been more specific. "Okay," he nodded, "so what about her condition now? And no bullshit, I want the truth, because something is clearly very wrong with her."
"She has Retrograde Amnesia," Cora sighed, "she cannot remember anything that has happened in the past four years, maybe even more. All I know, is that she was hysterical and shouting for you, which is what prompted my call to you Mr Locksley."
"So, she'd already been awake before you called me?"
"Yes, she's been filtering in and out of consciousness for the past couple of days, so far though this seems to be the longest time she has managed to stay awake and the only time she hasn't been completely inconsolable," the older woman shook her head and slid down the wall to sit on one of the seats that were stationed outside Regina's room, "I didn't know what else to do Mr Locksley."
"It's Robin, and I understand, I do, but why am I the only one she remembers?"
"You're not the only one, you're just the one she wants, clearly she is thinking of a time when the two of you were happy together, where she sees you as being stability and you will be that for her," the frustration from moments ago disappeared and he watched as she almost glared at him, "you will pretend that everything is okay, my daughter isn't to know that anything is wrong with her."
Robin's eyes widened as he stared at the woman, "are you insane?! I can't do that! You want me to lie to her, pretend that the last four years didn't happen? I don't think so, I can't do that," it was a crazy notion and it wasn't fair to Regina, how could her mother even suggest lying to her? What about everything she had done, everything she had achieved in those four years, although it had been erased from her brain, it still happened and he wouldn't rob her of that, he wouldn't lie to her.
"She is confused and scared right now and she needs something to hold onto."
"Yes, I know, but I can't lie to her in the process, I can be there for her, I can support her, but I won't lie to her, it just isn't right," he scoffed shaking his head as he headed off towards the restroom with his bag, he needed to change his clothes, maybe wash up a little in the sink. Cora must have been crazy if she thought he would do something like that, if he was truthful with himself it would be nice, but he knew it just wasn't an option, he couldn't morally do it. As much as he wanted her love back, he wouldn't force it or manipulate her into something she couldn't entirely consent to when she didn't know the full circumstances.
He splashed water on his face, observing the beginnings of dark circles underneath his eyes, that tended to happen if he didn't get the sleep he needed and he most certainly hadn't been getting that sleep. With a tired yawn he cleaned up the rest of his body before changing from his jeans into some slacks that were more comfortable and a hoodie, maybe then he'd be able to actually relax for real and it might help Regina relax as well.
He grabbed his bag and his other stuff before heading out and back down the corridor towards her room, when he reached it he took a deep breath and pushed the door open, he found her still sat there with her eyes trained on the door, looking like she was desperately trying to keep awake, "hey," he smiled.
Regina felt the relief flood her when she saw him and reached her hand out again, "come, lay with me, you look tired," she whispered.
"I feel it," he chuckled, seeing her lift the quilt for him to get underneath with her, he did as she requested and enveloped her in his arms, holding her as securely as he could. She curled into his chest, her little hands scrunching in his shirt as she closed her eyes, "sleep," he whispered, like her he was struggling to keep his eyes open. Weirdly ever since their first time sleeping in the same bed, which had in no way been when they were a couple, they had both found it incredibly easy to fall asleep, as though just that little bit of comfort was what they needed to put them at ease, seemingly it was still that way, things were never awkward with Gina like they had been with pretty much all the women after her, everything just seemed so right, like with her was where he was supposed to be.
"I feel like I've done nothing but sleep," she sighed, her lips pressing against his chest lightly as she pillowed her head there, listening to his heartbeat and smiling.
"I think a very wise woman once said to me, one cold morning, that you can never have too much sleep."
She chuckled and nodded, "she was a very, very wise woman, and in that specific case she was tired and hungover if I remember correctly."
"You do," he laughed, kissing the top of her head, "I had tried to warn you off that last apple martini."
"It was my birthday Robin," she giggled.
Robin took a deep breath, it was strange how Regina had chosen that specific time to cut her memories off from, well obviously she hadn't chosen it, but a part of her brain must have, something must have said to her that she wanted to remember that particular time in her life. "So, are we going to listen to that wise women then?"
"Hmm," she nodded.
"Give your beautiful wise brain a little rest."
"Yes," she almost giggled in response, god how he had missed that sound, sometimes he still heard it or thought he heard it, but he knew it had only been in his imagination, right now though she was here, living and breathing.
"Good."
"You won't leave, will you?!" she asked, suddenly seeming wide awake again, as though she hadn't been half asleep only seconds before.
"No, I'll be right here, I promise I won't leave you," he ran his hands gently up and down her back trying to soothe her, he hoped it worked. He listened as her breathing evened out and her body melded into his, her grip on his shirt somewhat lessening, smiling he closed his own eyes as he moved down in the bed a little and rested his head on the pillow, holding her gently.
He buried his face in her hair, the bed was uncomfortable, but being able to hold her more than made up for that, he would lay anywhere if it meant that he got to hold her. She didn't smell the same as she always had, there was the slightest smell of apples, but it wasn't as strong, he guessed that it was because she had been in hospital, she smelt somewhat like chemicals and he wondered if this was actually the best place for her now she was awake from her coma.
With a yawn he gave her one last little squeeze before his eyes closed and he drifted off.
"What the hell is going on!" Robin groaned at the yelling he heard and nuzzled closer to the warm body beside him, he felt her grip on him increase, "hey!"
He opened one eye and saw a less that happy man stood at the foot of the bed, Robin ran a hand over his face as he opened his eyes properly and looked at the guy, "do you want to keep your voice down please, she's sleeping," Robin stated, feeling kinda annoyed that she had finally been relaxed and this guy was coming in and yelling about shit.
"Do you want to get the fuck out of that bed!" he responded and if Robin didn't know any better he would have thought the guy was going to drag him out of bed himself. He felt Regina stir beside him as her eyes opened and she looked up at him with a smile.
"Hello," she breathed, she was glad he'd stayed, he had promised her that he would, but she had been sceptical, he seemed eager to leave before, she was just glad that he had kept his word. Her fingers came up to his cheek as she caressed it lightly, Robin chuckled and covered the hand with his own before turning to the man who had all of a sudden gone red in the face and looked as though he was about to pounce.
"What the hell is going on?! Get away from her!"
Regina turned her head and her eyes met with those of the strange man from a couple of days ago, she gasped and shook her head, "Robin tell him to leave," she whimpered, holding onto him tightly, "I don't want him here, I don't know him, tell him to leave, please!"
"Mate, I think you heard her," Robin shrugged as he narrowed his eyes at the other man, he didn't like how uncomfortable Regina was feeling, it worried him.
"You can fuck right off; and don't you dare call me mate!" he seethed.
"I don't know who he is Robin, I don't," Regina muttered, she was sick of this guy turning up, how many times did she have to tell him for him to get the message that she didn't want him there?
"Of course you bloody know who I am Regina! And if this is a game, it isn't funny."
"I don't know who you are!" she screamed in response, cowering closer to Robin, looking to him for the strength and comfort she needed.
"You're upsetting her," Robin stated, glaring at the man as he ran his hand over her arm gently.
"I'm upsetting her?! I'm her fucking fiancé! Who the hell are you?"
Robin looked at him in shock and then back to Regina, she was engaged? That changed everything, absolutely everything, how could she marry this guy but not him? Robin scoffed and moved from the bed, he needed to clear his head and that meant getting away from her for a while.
"Robin, where are you going?" she whimpered. There was no way he was leaving her with this crazy guy, she wouldn't let him, "you can't leave! You promised Robin."
He gritted his teeth and shook his head, "you're engaged Regina, you might not remember it, but clearly he does."
"I already told you," she cried, "I don't know him," she sat up before dropping her face into the quilt allowing it to absorb her tears. She was so confused, what was happening with her, how could she be engaged to someone she'd never met? Looking up she saw that both men were looking at her, "please Robin."
Why was she so bloody hard to say no to? It drove him insane that he couldn't resist her, all she had to do was look at him with those big brown eyes and she had him under her thumb. He didn't know what to do about her fiancé though, clearly the guy was panicking. He nodded to her before turning to the man stood by him, "the names Robin Locksley," he stated extending his hand.
The stranger looked at his hand before shaking it, "Daniel Colter," he sighed, "she doesn't remember."
"Sorry, seems that way," Robin breathed. He felt kinda bad for the guy, he didn't know what he would do if he were in his place and Regina didn't remember him but she remembered her ex-boyfriend and called for him, cried for him, if that were him, he would be heartbroken and he could see traces of that on Daniel's face.
"The doctor said she had Retrograde Amnesia and that her memories could still come back, but there is also chance that they won't," he stated his eyes steely as he looked to the ground, "I think I've lost her."
Robin glanced at Regina who had buried her head into the mattress once again, "like you said, she could still remember."
"I think she remembered what she wanted to remember, she remembered you, she called for you," Daniel sighed, "I think it's best that I leave, I realise that I've upset her and I don't want to do that, I just want her to remember, is that such a crime?"
"No," Robin shook his head, he felt increasingly bad for the guy, "I don't think it is at all."
"Regina, if you remember me, give me a call," he kissed her temple lightly before heading to the door and walking out, leaving Robin and Regina in the hospital room.
"Is he gone?" she whispered, wiping her face where he just kissed her and scrunching up her nose.
"Yeah he is and I think that I should go too," Robin sighed, he needed to clear his head and he couldn't do that around her. She broke his heart and he had a feeling that it was going to happen all over again, that he was just going to get hurt out of it, he was never going to win and she wasn't going to choose him, as soon as she remembered Daniel she would run straight back to him. "I'll see you later Regina.
"No," she breathed as she watched him start to walk away from her, was he actually just going to leave, walk away, "Robin, where are you going?"
"To my hotel," he shrugged, "I need to get a proper sleep and meal."
"But… you can't just leave me here alone, what if he comes back?"
"Regina, he is your fiancé, you can't possibly be scared of him. He's not going to do anything to hurt you," Robin rolled his eyes.
"You can't go Robin."
"Sorry Regina, I have to go," Robin shook his head as he pushed the door open.
"No!" she cried, she wasn't going to let him, she pulled the tubes out of both her arms, flinging them away from her and feeling blood trickle down as she slipped her feet out of the bed and took a deep breath before making to stand up. She immediately regretted that decision as her body collided with the floor and she gasped in pain.
"Regina!" Robin hurried towards her, lifting her from the ground and putting her back on the bed, "what the hell are you doing?!" he snapped, grabbing some tissues off the table and pressing them to the holes in her arms that were now pouring with blood. "What do you think you're playing at?!"
"I wanted to come with you," she whimpered her hand wrapping tightly around his wrist in a clear message that she wasn't letting go any time soon.
Robin reached out and pressed the assistance button, knowing that he was going to need a doctor or nurse to deal with it, to sort her out and make sure she got back into bed properly with all the right machines connected to her. It was so dangerous just pulling them out like that, especially when she didn't know what they were doing.
The medical professionals came flooding into the room, making sure that she was in bed again with all the correct tubes back in place, "I don't want to be in here," she complained, "I just want to go, please. When can I go?"
"Regina, you're not fit to go yet and you know it," Robin chastised, he took a deep breath, it was torture seeing her like this, he was so used to seeing her as a strong independent woman who didn't need anyone, yet here she was, begging him to stay with her. He turned to the doctor and sighed, "when will she be able to leave?"
"We're clearing up a few things, we need to do a couple of scans to check your brain activity, but once we've done that, if everything is fine, she should be able to leave within a couple of days, though she will need to be kept under constant care and observation."
"Okay, did you hear that Gina?"
"I'm not deaf," she mumbled, she was annoyed, if he wanted to leave so much, maybe she should just let him, he clearly didn't want to be there with her, "you have places to be remember Robin, why don't you go."
"Regina."
"Just leave," she whispered, feeling rather defeated. She didn't know what was going on with her, but Robin didn't seem the same, he had changed and she didn't know what to think about that. "I'll be fine, I'm sure my mother will be stopping by anyway."
"Are you sure? I promise I'll come back."
"Go," she murmured, turning her back on him and staring at the opposite wall.
"Reg…"
"Robin," she huffed, how come when she wanted him to stay he wanted to go and now she wanted him to go he wanted to stay? "Leave me alone."
"Okay, I'll come back tomorrow," he sighed kissing the top of her head before heading out the door and leaving her in the room, he felt awful, but what else was he really supposed to do, he had to get his head around all of this and that meant being alone to think.
There were decorations all over the hotel he was staying at, the tree was up in the lobby and there was tinsel decorating the banisters. He was surprised that Cora had managed to find him somewhere to stay at such short notice, especially at this time of year, not that he wasn't complaining, Christmas in New York was spectacular, it had always been his favourite time of year when living there, there was so much love and joy, New York seemed to change as soon as it hit November 1st and the count down, not his personal one but the one of the shoppers, to Christmas began.
He got his key and headed to his room, he wanted a warm shower and a change of clothes followed by a good meal and a sleep, he just needed to regroup his thought and get his head back in the game. The thing was though he couldn't help his thoughts going to Regina, he wondered what she was doing, had she fallen asleep again or was she cursing him for leaving, for abandoning her when she had quite clearly needed him.
He couldn't do it anymore though, couldn't stay knowing that she was engaged to someone else, that she had said yes to someone else when it was supposed to be him she was with. What was so good about Daniel that he got a yes and Robin didn't? Sure, he was good looking in his own way, but Robin truly thought that Regina had loved him and right now she was proving that, but it was too late now wasn't it, she had clearly moved on, well, the version of her before the car crash had moved on.
Robin fell into his room and flicked on the shower, the room itself was huge, it was a suite more like an apartment than a hotel room, it had a kitchen, sitting room, bathroom and bedroom. The colour scheme was a lilac colour with cream, it was very elegant and he knew that Cora had definitely chosen the room. He wondered how long he would be staying here, he was supposed to be spending Christmas day at his friend's house but he could always cancel couldn't he, there was nothing binding him into going, if Regina needed him here, he couldn't really leave her, could he?
Even if it meant getting his heart broken all over again.
November 30th 2017
The next morning after Robin had rejuvenated, the taxi pulled up outside the hospital, he paid the man and walked inside. He'd brought Regina some chocolates as a way to say that he was sorry for being a jackass the day before. It wasn't her fault, she didn't mean to hurt anyone, she didn't remember and he couldn't blame her for that. Taking a deep breath, he stepped out of the elevator and located her room, he knocked on the door before opening it.
Instead of Regina sat on the bed he was met with another very familiar face, "Jefferson Hatter?"
"Robin Locksley," Jefferson rose his eyebrows as he slid off the bed and looked him up and down, "even more handsome than when I last saw you," the man winked. He was Regina's ultimate best friend and was as camp as they came, he and Robin got on well, they were all in the same circle at college, all went around together. In fact, one of Robin's friends was dating Jefferson, and set Robin up with Regina, unbeknownst to them they had already been stealing glances at one another in the library for months prior to that.
"You're looking well J," he nodded, "where is she then?"
"She died Robin," she stated seriously and Robin's eyes widened before the guy burst into laughter, "your face was priceless, she'd have loved to have seen that, but unfortunately she's having a CAT scan."
"Does she remember you?" Robin asked, he didn't know what her brain was playing at, he had no idea what she did and didn't remember.
"Yeah, thank god, poor Daniel though, he wasn't as lucky," Jefferson half chuckled and Robin saw an opportunity to dig a little.
"So, Daniel, how long has she been with him?"
"About two years I think," the other man stated as he took a seat and picked up a discarded nail file, "if you want gossip on them you came to the right place," he winked.
"Gossip? I wouldn't call it that, I just want to know if he looks after her that's all."
"I'd say that he did, he does work away quite a lot though, so she's left to her own devices, she doesn't seem to mind all that much."
Robin frowned, really? That didn't sound like his Regina, she used to moan that he was going out even for a couple of hours without her and then she would ignore him for a while once he got back before cuddling to his side like a koala and not letting go again, she was clingy and he very much doubted she was happy with someone she loved not being there. "Okay then, how long have they been engaged then?"
"Not long, like two months or something like that," he stole some of the grapes that had clearly been brought for Regina and Robin chuckled best he could, it was hard thinking that she was engaged to someone else or even with someone else.
"Is she happy with him, or was she, before she forgot?"
"I like to think so," Jefferson nodded, "I guess they had their moments, but what couple doesn't… oh yeah," he laughed, "you and Regina before things ended."
"I still don't know what that was about."
"She didn't tell you? Ever?"
"No, one minute she loved me and the next she didn't and she never wanted to see me again, I have no idea what happened Jefferson," Robin sighed taking the seat by the window and looking out of it, he wanted to ask Jefferson, but he had a feeling that he would only say that it wasn't his place and quite frankly that would be true.
They watched as the doors to the room were opened and a doctor wheeled Regina into the room, she glanced at Robin before narrowing her eyes and looking away, apparently, he was in the bad books and he could see why. In her eyes he had left her alone, he felt guilty now he'd had the chance to think about it. He was a bit of a dick and clearly, he hadn't been the only one who'd had time to brood, she seemed extremely pissed.
"Hey Gina," he smiled as she moved from the chair to the bed and leant back against it. He'd only just noticed, but somehow, she must be the only person to make a hospital gown look even remotely sexy. Her hair was shorter than it had been when she was with him, but not too drastically so, skimming just below her shoulders, it made her look older, but the pout she currently had on her face certainly didn't.
"I think she might be a little annoyed with you mate," Jefferson joked earning his own glare from the brunette, causing the man to hold his hands up in surrender.
Regina was more than a little annoyed at Robin, he'd left her alone, luckily the man from before hadn't returned even though he'd said that he'd be back, that was something she had been grateful for. She didn't understand how he could have been her fiancé, he didn't look her type in the slightest, but what made it worse was she had no idea who he was and in her mind, she had only ever been with Robin, Robin was her first, she'd been a late bloomer so to speak and they had been college sweethearts.
May 21st 2010
Regina nervously unlocked the door to her apartment and let him inside. She tucked her hair behind her ear and watched him slide his shoes off, leaving them by the door, before shrugging his jacket off too. "You alright Gina?"
She bit down on her bottom lip and nodded, it hadn't been the first time he had been to her apartment, hell it hadn't even been the first time he'd slept over, but they'd never gone that far, he knew she was a virgin and that she'd never had anyone before him. He was totally understanding and it made her so happy to know that he was willing to respect her and wait. There was nothing she loved more than snuggling with him in bed and the knowledge that he wasn't going to try anything made her even more comfortable. He'd told her more than once that he wouldn't instigate any contact between them, that he'd leave that to her, he said she would know when she was ready.
He was right, she did know because that time was now, she was ready and she wanted him, but she was still nervous, shy even and she didn't know how she was supposed to let him know that she wanted to do it. "Yes," she whispered, "would you like a drink?" She asked awkwardly.
"Sure," he grinned, "I'll get them, what do you want?"
"I don't," she muttered, she didn't think she could stomach it, all she could think about was getting this over and done with so that she could no longer say she was a virgin and have experienced what it was like to make love.
She knew she'd waited for the right guy, Robin was perfect, he was kind, caring and very nice to look at. His voice also drew her in and she could easily become entranced by it.
She followed Robin into the kitchen and watched as he poured a glass of the soda that he kept at her place, "you sure you don't want some?"
"Hmm," she nodded, watching as he furrowed his eyebrows at her.
"Regina, what's up?"
"Nothing," she shook her head leaning against the counter as she watched him drink.
"You look a little tense babe," he stated, putting the glass down and moving over to her, his hands going to her shoulders as he massaged them carefully before rubbing her upper arms, "wanna talk about it?"
"I don't think talking plays that much of a part in what it is I want to do," she smirked playfully, sure she was scared of what was going to happen, but she knew she just had to go for it. "I'm pretty sure we can find something more useful to do with our mouths."
"Okay, well what do you want to do?"
"I'm ready," she whispered, "I've been ready a while actually, but I've been second guessing myself. Now I know I'm really ready," she smiled pressing her lips to his, "still nervous though,'' She giggled.
He looked at her carefully as if trying to judge if he could trust what she was saying and it made her chuckle. "Are you sure?"
"Yes," she grinned, "I'm ready Robin, I want to give myself to you."
"We'll go slow, I promise I'll look after you."
"I know you will," she breathed rubbing her nose against his gently, "I love you and I want you to make love to me." ….
She shook her head and turned back to him, "you left," she huffed, turning her nose up at him, Regina knew what she was doing and she did hope he was feeling guilty, her eyes caught sight of a golden wrapped box on the chair beside Robin and lit up, "wait, what's in the box?" She asked eagerly, all of a sudden forgetting that she was annoyed at him at the prospect of some kind of surprise.
Robin grinned as he looked down at the chocolates beside him and met her eyes, "well, I thought as a way of saying sorry to you, I'd bring you a little something and since you have already been bombarded with flowers, I figured this was the next best thing, after grapes of course," Robin smirked, he knew that the chocolates he had bought were her favourites, they always had been, she was rather obsessed with them, hence the look on her face in that moment.
"They better be what I think they are now," she bit down on her bottom lip as he handed her the box and she removed the bow, followed by the packaging to see her favourite chocolates inside, "ooh, I think you may be on the road to redemption," she rose her eyebrows and was about to take one of the delicious looking and smelling chocolates from the box when a nurse came though the doors.
"Miss Mills, you are nil by mouth," the nurse gave her a patronising look before snatching up the box and putting the lid back on, "you still have more tests to have."
Regina scoffed and rolled her eyes, "take away my only pleasure then," she mumbled, crossing her arms over her chest, she hadn't eaten anything in forever and she felt so hungry, she just hoped that they hurried up with the tests so she could eat real food. "Thanks a lot for that Robbie, bring me chocolates that I can't eat, at least if you had brought me flowers I could look at them and appreciate them, instead I have to look at those and know that I can't even eat them." She huffed before glancing at the nurse and smirking, "actually, can I smell them?" she asked hopefully.
Robin watched as her facial expression changed from one of complete disgust to one of delight as the nurse rose her eyebrows and passed her the box before continuing to take her obs. Regina laughed and held the box under her nose, inhaling the scent, the nurse turned to look at Robin, "you need to watch her and make sure she doesn't eat any of those, if she does she won't be able to have the tests and it'll be even longer before she can get out of here."
"I have amnesia, I'm not completely stupid, do you really think I would eat one of those delicious, caramelly chocolates, taste the sweet and milky treat… on second thought, yeah I think I could, but I won't because I most certainly don't want to be in here any longer than I have to be." Regina took one last sniff of the box and put them down on the side before looking to Robin who was sat next to her best friend and smiling, "how long till I can actually get out of this place? Do you think you could hurry up the tests?"
The nurse shook her head, "the doctor will get to you when he gets to you," she snapped, before putting the clipboard back on the edge of the bed and heading out of the room. As soon as she was gone, Regina released a sigh of relief.
"Thank god that bitch is gone."
"Hey babe, glad you're back," Jefferson laughed as he stood up and rounded the bed, heading for the chocolates.
"You eat one of those and you suffer."
"Just one…"
"J!" she squealed, "Robin, stop him."
Robin rose his eyebrows and stood from his own chair and made his way over to Jefferson, contemplating whether to do what she had asked him to, or to play a game with her, he knew it would annoy her, but he couldn't resist and he could always just buy her a whole new box of chocolates. He took one and ate it, watching as her mouth fell open in shock and he moaned in pleasure, louder than necessary as he savoured the chocolaty taste on his tongue.
"I actually hate you," she glared at him, trying to kick him, her little foot sticking out from under the duvet, "you're such a tease!"
"I know," he smirked, closing the box, although the chocolate was nice, he didn't want to risk really annoying her, he felt he had already done that a little too much already, "it was a delicious chocolate though."
"Oh, I bet it was, did you enjoy that? Do you know how much you just made me suffer?" she huffed, she should have known better than to expect him to stop Jefferson and not join in with his miscreant deeds.
"Sorry," he chuckled moving and sitting back down again as Jefferson pushed his way into bed with Regina, nudging her over.
"You love us really Regina, you can't deny it," he rose his eyebrows, wrapping his arm around her.
"I suppose I can't," she shook her head, turning to Robin and smiling at him, "do you think if I kissed you and tasted the chocolate that way it would be breaking the nil by mouth rule?" she asked with a mischievous smirk playing on her lips.
Robin looked at her and his eyes widened, she wanted to kiss him and he didn't know how he should react, he knew that he shouldn't be kissing her, that it was most likely out of the question, but he couldn't help himself from wanting to do so. Taking a deep breath he nodded his head, "I think it probably would," he stated, hoping that would be enough to put her off her task, even though seemingly she was quite determined to get a taste of that chocolate somehow or another.
"Shame," she sighed, leaning back as Jefferson gave her a little squeeze.
"You know what, I liked you a lot better four years ago, so if you can stay like this it would be perfect."
"Oi!" she laughed smacking him playfully, "I'm sure I'm the same person now as I was then."
"Hmm."
Robin looked to the ground, he couldn't help but agree with Jefferson, part of him wished she would never regain her memories, he just wished they could go back to the way they were, the way they were slowly becoming once again.
December 3rd 2017
A few of days later Regina was given the all clear, apart from her amnesia of course, she still didn't remember anything and although she didn't really seem all that concerned about it, unlike most of the people around her. She was just happy to be getting out of the hospital, to finally sleep in a proper bed and eat proper food, she couldn't wait, not that she knew exactly where she was going to be staying, it hadn't been something that had been talked about all that much.
She looked over at all the things that were piled on the table next to her bed, they needed tidying up, but she was struggling to stand up for anything longer than a couple of minutes. The doctors had said that she would regain that strength and she hoped it was true, because according to Jefferson it was early December already which meant that it was going to be Christmas soon and she wanted to do things in which she would need the capacity to walk.
Glancing up at the clock she tapped her fingers against the little table and looked down at them before running her fingers over the perfectly shapes nails, she was waiting for Robin to show his face, she knew it was a little early yet, to be honest she was only awake because of the hustle and bustle in the hospital, she had no idea how she had remained asleep for all those weeks with that racket going on around her.
Lying back on the bed she stared ahead of her in resignation to the fact that she was going to have to simply wait. The door to her room then opened and she whipped her head round to see her "fiancé" stood there. "You're awake," he stated, taking a reluctant step into the room.
"Yes," she whispered, "couldn't sleep," she shrugged, "what are you doing here?"
"I… sorry, I know I shouldn't be here, but I like to just check up on you and since you don't want me in here when you're awake I figured I'd just come whilst you slept and leave before you woke," Daniel stated awkwardly.
Regina nodded and took a deep breath, "I see, so you've been watching me whilst I sleep?"
"When you put it that way it sounds totally creepy," he laughed nervously as he ran a hand through his hair.
"Just a little," she smirked, raising an eyebrow, "seemingly I gravitate towards awkward men," she chuckled, thinking about Robin and how cringeworthy he could be sometimes and although she didn't know this man, he was beginning to remind her somewhat of Robin. What he had been doing kinda sounded like something Robin would do, in fact, he had done it before and she caught him doing it, he would be awake whilst she was still asleep and run his fingers gently through her hair as he just watched her lovingly.
"You want me to go tell those nurses to quieten up a bit, cos I can totally do that," Daniel grinned as he invited himself to sit in the chair beside the bed.
"No, I think we best leave them to do their job, it is an important one after all," she stated, she didn't know how to feel about this. He didn't seem threatening, but she, as she was in this moment, didn't know him and she didn't know if she could trust him, not without her memories. The thing was though right now she was bored and he was there, she might as well talk to someone.
Robin turned over in bed and reached a hand out for his phone, smacking around on the bedside table for it, trying to find it amongst the wrappers from the chocolate that he may have over indulged in, but it was now December, so who was going to judge him? Once he located the device, he pressed the home button and squinted at the screen, seeing the number six and letting out a groan, why was his body waking him up so early? It just wasn't on.
There was a text on there too and he rubbed his eyes before sitting up and unlocking his phone so he could read the message. Glancing at the contact he saw that it was from Regina and weirdly her photo was still there as an icon, it must have been saved to his sim when he transferred it to his new phone. He thought he'd deleted her contact, but clearly not, because there she was, that beautiful smile gracing her lips as her eyes sparkled.
Shaking his head, he read the message.
Hi, the doctor said that I'm all good to go, want to pick me up before I get lumbered with my mother? ;)
Robin chuckled and slipped out of bed to grab some clean clothes and head to the bathroom, he took his phone with him and replied to her.
On my way, let's hope I beat the mother, I would hate for you to get stuck with her, that would be such a horrible tragedy, I 'd feel so bad for you. God forbid you be stuck with Cora Mills alone, I have no idea how you would cope. ;)
Robin placed his phone down and got ready, he might as well go get her now, then at least she could be in a comfortable place for the rest of the day. She was clearly already awake, so there was no harm in going to pick her up, he had a feeling she would want to get out of there as soon as possible if what she had said the day before was anything to go by.
Regina heard her phone ping and snatched it up from the mattress where it was laid beside her, she read over Robin's message and let out a wicked laugh, "what a jerk."
"What?" Daniel asked.
She looked up and met his grey eyes, she had almost forgotten that he was there in that moment, she tucked her hair behind her ear and shrugged her shoulders, "I got a message from Robin is all, I better reply to him."
You have no idea, in fact, why don't I schedule for you to spend a day with her, my treat, I'm sure you would love that and my mother would be honoured to have your company. She could probably subtly insult you more times than you would like to count during the space of even an hour in her presence. So yeah, Locksley, I know you're awake, that better mean you are on your way, I'm stuck in here. *rolling eye emoji
Regina held the phone in her hands as she turned back to the man in front of her, waiting for Robin to reply, "so Daniel, we are together then?"
"Urm, yeah, well, we were you know…"
"Yes, you said we were engaged."
"Hmm, I asked you and you said yes, so yeah, we are… were… I don't know…" he floundered, "I mean at least you're talking to me now, that's a start I guess."
"I'm sorry," she whispered, she felt guilty, she could see how much he was hurting, he looked as though he was in agony, but she couldn't do anything about it, she couldn't just flick a switch and remember him again, as much as she might want to for his sake.
"You don't have to say that, you're ill, I'm just so, so glad you're alive because I thought… I really thought I wasn't going to be able to talk to you again, so at least this is something right, we could be in a much worse position," Daniel shrugged.
"Yes, I suppose we could," she agreed. Her phone pinged again and she looked down at it to read the message, yet again from Robin.
No, please, don't subject me to such cruelty, I promise I'll be good. Also, your mother's insults most certainly aren't subtle, I don't think she knows how to be. I am on my way now so don't get your panties in a twist your majesty. x
Regina rose one eyebrows as she looked at her phone and articulated a response, thinking about it as she typed, wanting to reply with something witty and hopefully shock him at the same time.
I'm not wearing panties. ;)
She sent with a half giggle, waiting a beat before she followed it up with the rest of the message.
Mainly because I am dressed in a hospital gown, do you know how itchy these things are? I can't wait to get out of it, and before you get excited, I mean and into some proper clothes that actually fit and don't look like some white patterned bin bag you just threw on to cover your modesty. See you soon then outlaw. ;)
She leant back against the bed and glanced to Daniel, "he's going to be picking me up soon, I got the all clear, so, you know I get to go home."
"Oh, right… well that's great news, do you need your clothes and stuff, I mean I'm guessing you won't be coming back to the apartment."
She looked at him feeling rather baffled what was he talking about now, "urm, I… what?"
"Our apartment, the one we live in together," he stated awkwardly, "never mind, I don't want to put any pressure on you now, I'll just drop your stuff wherever you're staying."
"Thank you," Regina murmured, it was too much to take in, not only was she engaged to Daniel, she was living with him. She didn't even want to think about that. "I really hope we don't have any kids that I have accidently forgotten," she chuckled, trying to make some light of the situation.
"No, thank god," he laughed, "that would be quite the nightmare."
"Indeed, it would."
Robin pushed open the door to Regina's hospital room and caught sight of her talking to someone, he couldn't tell who because there back was to the door. Robin furrowed his eyebrows, why would someone be visiting her so early in the morning.
"Gina," he called, drawing her attention away from the other man.
"About time Robbie, I was beginning to think that you'd never show up," Regina smiled at him before glancing back at Daniel, "thank you for visiting me."
"Yeah, well I better go, I can bring some of your clothes for you if you want, just tell me where to drop them."
"I think I'll be staying with Robin for a while," she muttered.
"Yeah?" Robin nodded, he hadn't known that, but to be honest it had been a given that Regina would want to stay with him from the way she had text him earlier, she had made it quite apparent that she didn't want to stay with her mother. Robin fished around in his pocket for a card which had the hotel information on and handed it to Daniel. "I appreciate your help," Robin smiled sincerely, feeling the guilt yet again at the situation. He didn't cope well with these kinds of things, he wasn't good at competing with someone for a woman.
"Anything for Regina," he muttered waving at her before turning to the door and leaving them be.
"He's stronger than I would be," Robin stated as he walked over to Regina, "I don't think I'd be able to just walk away if I were in his position."
"I wouldn't want you to."
"Regina, you wouldn't know who I was," he chuckled.
"I doubt I could ever forget you Robin," she whispered, "I think that if I had amnesia and forgot who you were, I'd remember you the minute I saw your face and heard your voice."
"I don't know if that's how amnesia works, but I like the idea," he grinned as he looked at her, taking on how she was staring at him with those big chocolate eyes. "So, I brought you a few things," he commented, holding up a bag he was holding. "I didn't know what clothes you would have to leave the hospital in, so I figured I'd bring something for you just in case."
"Thank you," she blushed, "I have got some clothes, just there," she pointed to a bag in the corner of the room, "my mother picked them up for me, or got her chauffeur to do it. What did you bring me?" She asked eagerly.
"Urm, I thought you might want this, I haven't worn it since we were together, but I kept it and I guess I just threw it in my case when I was packing." He pulled out a blue hoodie that she had always stolen, she would walk around in it wearing that and little else.
"Oooh!" She grabbed it from him and held it to her, "I love this jumper," she hummed, running her fingers over the material.
"I know you do," he chuckled placing his bag down and moving to get hers from the other side of the room. He passed it to her and she began routing through it trying to find something acceptable to wear.
Furrowing her eyebrows, she shook her head, "seemingly in my old age I lost all fashion sense, or gained some depending on public opinion," she smirked, holding up a pair of dressy trousers, blouse and a blazer.
"Wow you wear stuff like that now? Someone got posh."
"I know," she laughed routing in the bag for something a little more casual and failing, either she had completely changed or her mother was telling her something about what her fashion sense should be. "Can you help me take this robe off please?" She asked fighting with the little ties on the back.
Robin looked at her, he had been trying to give her some privacy whilst she changed, but clearly, she didn't really care about that because here she was, practically asking him to undress her. Rather shyly, he made his way over to her and began to undo the ties that ran all the way down her back, holding the robe that covered her beautiful olive skin in place.
Once he reached the base of her spine, he stopped, his fingers just brushing against her in a way that made her shudder as she turned to look at him; allowing the robe to drop, she reached out for the hoodie and pulled it over her before he could really see all that much of her body. After a little bit of wriggling, she was on her knees on the bed, looking at him, "can you help me?" she whispered, reaching for him.
She didn't want to show him her weaknesses, but she was scared to do it by herself, she didn't want to fall over, that had almost happened once already and she really didn't want it to happen in front of him. She took his hand and managed to slip off the bed, her small feet coming into contact with the cold tiled floor, her bare legs being engulfed by the cold air that was circulating the room.
Regina grabbed a pair of the trousers and looked at them reluctantly, they didn't look all that comfortable to wear really, "what else do you have in that magical bag of yours?" she smirked, finding the bag that he had brought, she would much rather wear a baggy pair of his sweatpants than some tight dress pants that seemed to flare out into a straight legged style.
Just as she had assumed, there were some sweatpants and she immediately picked them up and pulled them on before adjusting the belt so they didn't fall down, even though she was drowning in them, they were really comfy with the insides having some sort of wool coating.
"Wow, you look like you shrunk in the wash and the clothes stayed the same size," Robin chuckled as he took in her appearance, she was really cute when wearing his clothes, that was something that he would have to admit, "okay, are we packing everything up then?"
"Yes! I don't want to have to come back here again," she pouted as she rested on the edge of the bed and Robin moved to take down all the cards and make sure that everything else was in a bag. The flowers he knew they were going to either have to carry themselves of leave them there. He grabbed a vase and flung the bags over his shoulder.
"Right you, am I taking you out in the wheelchair?"
She scowled at him, he knew she hated that thing, it made her look weak and although she might be slightly less strong in that moment, she certainly wasn't weak and she didn't want anyone thinking that. Then again, she knew it would probably be quicker than having to hobble whilst holding onto Robin and the way she saw it, the quicker they got out of there, the less likely they were to have a run in with her mother, "if I have to," she complained, dropping into the chair and looking over to him.
Robin grinned at her before coming closer and dumping one vase in her lap so she could hold onto it, before grabbing the other one in his other hand and beginning to push her out of the room, "say goodbye to your room Gina, I know how much you will miss it."
"Like hell I will," she laughed smelling the flowers that were in the vase in her lap and smiling, "I just can't wait for the fresh air, I really need it right now," she glanced over her shoulder at Robin and smiled, "has it snowed yet?"
"No, but it's been icy, as you already know, but don't worry you haven't missed your precious snow."
"Good," she chuckled, burying her nose in the flowers once again.
"Regina," Doctor Whale smiled at her as he came out of one of the rooms on the corridor, "going home I see."
"Yes," she nodded, "thank you for looking after me."
"You're very welcome, I'm just glad you are feeling much better, don't forget that you need to come back for rehabilitation once a week so we can work on your brain function."
"Hmm," she rolled her eyes, she wasn't so sure she wanted them messing around with her brain function, but they were the doctors and she guessed that they knew what they were doing. "Bye," she waved as they moved into the elevator, "so, where are we going?"
"Well I thought that we could go back to my hotel suite and order room service whilst binge watching Christmas films, how does that sound?"
"Like heaven," she hummed, "as long as you have chocolate and popcorn."
"I think I can organise that."
After stopping off at a shop where they collected some chocolates and candy, they carried on to the hotel. Robin helped her out of the car, his arm tightly wrapped around her as he helped her stand up, "I really need a shower," she murmured.
"I wasn't going to say anything, but someone is starting to skink a little."
"Hey!" she whined, pushing him playfully as they moved into the hotel lobby, receiving a couple of odd looks, probably because of what Regina was wearing. Carefully he moved her into the lift, feeling her lean against him, they weren't able to bring the wheel chair with them which meant that she had to use him as support so that she didn't fall down again, the last thing they wanted was to end up back in the hospital. "Posh hotel," she commented.
"Yeah, well your mother is paying because she called me and I had to come over rather last minute, so…"
"I see," she smiled, trying not to yawn, "you have no idea how loud hospitals are in the mornings," she commented.
"Oh, I have a vague idea, do you remember that time when I had to stay in the hospital over night?"
Regina furrowed her eyebrows, "when was that?"
Seemingly they had found the cut-off point of her memories, or a rough one, it had been a couple of months before they broke up and he had to have surgery on his wrist due to a fracture. "Never mind," he shook his head as he led her into the room.
"Ooh, it's beautiful," she breathed, placing the flowers down on the kitchen island as she moved into the living area, managing to walk without having to hold onto him, but still proving to be a little wobbly on her feet. She turned and grinned at Robin, "so, we're staying in here then?"
"Yep, I don't know how long for though, I might have to go home to England, I kind of just skipped out on work to come here."
Regina furrowed her eyebrows, "England? But that's not right, you… you can't live in England."
"I moved back," he shrugged. He'd had no other choice, he couldn't bear to stay in the US, not when she had broken his heart like she had, he couldn't bear the idea that he could bump into her again and just feel all that sadness for something that they had lost. "Sorry Gina, but I can't stay here permanently," although that wasn't exactly the truth and he still had his US visa, his whole life was now back in the UK and he couldn't just up and leave everything behind.
"Well then, we better make the most of the time we do have," she stated sadly, she didn't know what she was going to do if he left her, she didn't even want to think about it, she was going to have to work on finding a way to make him stay with her, find some sort of solution that stopped him from leaving. "I think I'll go take that shower now."
"Will you be okay in the shower?" He asked wearily.
"Yes, I'm sure I'll manage," she nodded, heading off towards the door that she thought must lead to the bathroom and closing it behind her. Once she was inside she took a deep breath and tried to regain her nerves, she had to come up with some sort of plan. Biting down on her bottom lip, she flicked on the shower and sat down on the lid of the toilet before taking her phone out of her pocket, hopefully the noise of the running water would mask her voice.
It rang three tones before the person on the other end picked up the phone, "Jefferson?"
"Hello there bestie," the man chuckled through the phone, "what can I do for you?"
"I need your help, Robin says that he will have to go home to England at some point, but I don't want him to, I need him to stay with me, so you're going to have to help me come up with a plan."
"Okay then, this sounds fun, what sort of plan are you thinking?"
"Just something that will get him to stay," she whispered, looking up at the door cautiously as though he was going to come through it at any minute and catch her scheming in the bathroom.
"You're going to have to seduce him."
"Really, but I'm engaged J."
"Engaged, you don't even remember who Daniel is, so as far as I am concerned, we don't need to think about him, I always thought that he was wrong for you anyway and that you made a huge mistake breaking up with Robin."
"Wait, I broke up with Robin?" she asked, furrowing her eyebrows, why the hell would she do that and what did that mean concerning the reasons Robin was here and he seemed to be rather reserved around her?
"Yeah you did, you broke his heart Gina, but right now that doesn't matter, he is here and so are you and you need to get your man back."
"Right," she nodded, she knew she loved Robin which must mean something, right now she didn't care what the Regina with all the memories would think, all she knew was that she wanted Robin, so that was who she was going to get. "Okay, so how do you plan on me seducing Robin?"
"Regina, this is your plan, come up with some way to win him over again, make him see that he still loves you and that there is no way that he can possibly ever resist you. Although try not to be too full on, like don't just walk into the room naked and say come get it, that'll probably just scare him off. Either that or he'll jump your bones."
"And that's a bad thing?" she half smiled, even though she knew that she wouldn't be up to contact like that any time soon, she was still pretty sore from the trauma. "Okay, so what you're saying is be subtle."
"Yes, exactly, not too subtle though, he needs to notice it, flirt a little, make him fall in love with you all over again."
"Right, shouldn't be too hard," she muttered pessimistically, she didn't know how confident she was with this, but she would give it a go, she knew she needed to try something and she was willing to do just about anything. Although Daniel seemed nice, he wasn't who she wanted and she couldn't see how she had ever let Robin get away, or why she had let him get away, maybe she should check with Jefferson, what if he had done something that she couldn't forgive? Although surely Jefferson wouldn't have been edging her on to win him back if that were the case, "J, why did I break up with Robin?"
She heard a heavy intake of breath on the other end of the phone, "you had some stuff going on, it was about you, don't worry, Robin didn't do anything wrong, you were just an idiot who thought you could handle stuff on your own."
"What stuff?"
"I don't know if I can tell you Gina, you'll find out."
"Did Robin know?"
"No, you didn't tell him, said that he would have never left if you had."
"I see," she murmured tucking her hair behind her ear, so she had been a bitch then by the sounds of things, "I'll catch up with you later J."
"Okay babes, love you."
"Love you too," she replied before cutting the phone off and putting it down on the side, deciding that she had probably been on it too long and needed to get in the shower before Robin wondered what the hell was going on with her. She pulled the hoodie off carefully before removing the sweatpants and hopping under the spray of water. She was happy for the silver bar on the wall, because it meant she could hold onto it and maintain her balance.
She luxuriated in the warm water that cascaded over her skin and she closed her eyes before reaching out for some shampoo, noticing that Robin still used the same one, the one that smelt like freshly cut trees, with a little laugh she squeezed the bottle and ran the product through her hair, making sure to really clean from the roots to the ends, her hair felt so greasy and horrid, she was just glad to get something in it, not to mention that she looked rather like a poodle because it hadn't been treated in so long and her natural curls had managed to break out and run wild.
Once she was satisfied with her hair, she moved onto the shower gel, she wanted to wash away any remnants of the hospital, including the smell of chemicals and medicine.
Robin stood around in the main part of the hotel suit, he didn't really know what do with himself, he had put some breakfast on, grilling some bacon and sausages for Regina for when she got out of the shower and now he just seemed to be waiting for her to come out. She had been in there a long time, but that wasn't anything new, this was Regina, she could spend hours in the shower until they ran out of hot water. The fact that he could hear her singing made him feel much better, it let him know that she hadn't fallen.
It was so good to hear her singing again, she never really used to sing all that much, usually only when she was really happy or thought no one could hear her, but it was a sound he found he missed. He flicked on the TV and noticed that there was nothing on but Christmas films, every channel was filled with them, it was either a Christmas film or some cooking or DYI program that had something to do with Christmas, there truly was no escaping it.
Settling on a channel, he moved back the kitchen to check on the food and see how it was cooking, "Gina, breakfast is nearly ready," he shouted as he turned the bacon and sausages again.
"Okay, I'll be out in a couple of minutes," she called back.
Robin smiled to himself as he got the plates out and put a cup under the coffee machine, allowing the warm liquid to pour out into the mug, producing the perfect latte. He was just about to put the other mug under the stream when there was a knock on the door, furrowing his eyebrows he moved over to the entrance and opened the door, coming face to face with Daniel, "hey," he nodded.
"Hi, Cora told me what room you were in, I just brought some of Regina's things."
"Oh, thanks," Robin grinned awkwardly taking the bag from him, "I'm sure she'll appreciate having something to wear, all her mother brought her was pant suits," he chuckled.
Daniel seemed to furrow his eyebrows slightly, "probably because that's Regina's go to outfit."
"Sure we're talking about the same Regina Mills here?" Robin laughed as he placed the bag down.
"Obviously not, the Regina Mills I knew was in love with me, at least she said she was," Daniel sighed.
Not again, Robin was sick of trying to make this guy feel better, he knew how it felt to have his heart broken by Regina, but he was pretty sure that he didn't mope like this and it was worse for him, at least Daniel didn't have her literally tearing his heart out and telling him that she didn't love him anymore and didn't want to be with him. "Yeah well…" there was a loud bang and Robin's eyes went wide as he hurried towards the bathroom, not thinking twice about opening the door.
Regina was on the floor naked with her head in her hands, "Regina!"
"I just slipped," she whimpered, "I'm fine." Fucking hell, that hurt and so much for being subtle and not literally getting naked in front of him, she had pretty much just done everything that Jefferson had told her not to do and she definitely hadn't done it in a way that was sexy.
Robin grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her before lifting her from the ground carefully, he turned and saw that Daniel was stood in the doorway. "Is she okay?" he asked.
"She says she's fine so," Robin held he gently as he carried her out of the room and past the other man.
"What is he doing here?" Regina muttered as he walked her into the bedroom, how come this guy had a thing for just turning up all the time, it was starting to get annoying, she didn't want him interfering with any of her plans.
"He was just dropping off some stuff for you," Robin stated.
"Fine."
He carefully placed her on the bed, making sure that her towel was wrapped around her because he had already seen quite a lot of her body in that moment and he wanted to respect her. "Breakfast is ready, I'll just see him out and then we can eat in the sitting room."
"Okay," she smiled at him, he closed the door and she shook her head, she was such a clumsy idiot, she really was. She needed to step up her game if she was ever going to get him back.
After Daniel had left, the two of them pigged out on the sofa, she had opted to wear Robin's jumper again and luckily there had been at least one pair of her own sweatpants in the bag that Daniel had brought over, as well as her after shower hair treatment which she had been more than eager to put in her hair. They had been sat on the couch all day and the light had slowly come and gone, Regina had a phone call from her mother, but she just told her that she was safe with Robin and she was happy to stay with him, something she had surprisingly gone along with.
In that moment she was cuddled up against Robin's side as the neared the end of their fifth Christmas film of the day, Robin's favourite, Elf, she hummed as she felt her eyes closing, apparently doing nothing was tiring and she was really feeling the need to just go to sleep, Robin had already dozed off once earlier that day and she had just stared at his face, playing with his stubble. Seemingly now though, it was her turn to be the one who was drifting off.
"Someone's tired," Robin stated as he watched her eyes struggling to keep open, "just go to sleep," he chuckled, kissing her temple gently.
"I want to see the end."
"Pretty sure you've already seen the end a million times."
"I can't remember it though," she protested, the side of her face was pressed against his chest and he watched her as she battled with herself to stay awake, he didn't know if she was doing it because she wanted to see the end of the film or for another reason, he just wished she would give up and sleep, he knew how tired she was, because he was just as tired.
"Sure, you can't, how about I turn it off and we watch the end tomorrow? How does that sound?"
"Okay," she nodded, "come and sleep," she hummed, standing from the sofa and reaching her hand out to help him up.
"You can take the bed, I'm fine on the couch."
"No," she complained.
"Yes, I'm not going to sleep in the bed with you Regina."
"Why not, why can't we share?"
"Because we can't, now come on you, to bed."
"Fine," she rolled her eyes, apparently it was going to take more work than she had first thought to get him to fall for her again.
December 4th 2017
Robin woke up to the sunlight beaming through the curtains and into the sitting room of the suite, he stretched out his back as he lay on the couch, it had been a long night, especially when he knew that she was asleep in the other room. It seemed like she had slept through all night, but he had known how sleepy she had been before they went to sleep the night before.
He reluctantly pulled himself up, draping the blanket that had been covering him over the back of the couch neatly as he rubbed his eyes and glanced at the clock on the wall, his eyes widening when he saw that it was way after noon. Clearing his throat, he moved through the room and opened the door to the bedroom, wanting to check up on Regina before he hopped in the shower. He glanced over at the bed and realised that although it wasn't made, there definitely wasn't anyone in there, "Regina?" he called out, moving back into the main area, thinking that maybe she might be in the bathroom, "Gina?"
"Hi," the main door opened and she came in from the corridor with a bag in her hand.
"Where did you go?!" he asked worriedly, hurrying over to her and taking the bag from her, yesterday she could barely walk and today she was going outside on her own, god knows what could have happened to her.
"I just needed to get a few things," she shrugged, truthfully, she had wanted some alone time to think and when she had woken up a couple of hours ago, Robin had still been fast asleep, so she decided to go for a little walk to the shop, getting some fresh air at the same time. The shop was only about two minutes from the hotel, but she'd sat on a park bench after that and had a good think about her situation and what she was going to do. "I got some supplies for today."
"You scared me half to death Gina, I know you're not all that steady on your feet at the minute, god knows what could have happened to you, you should have waited for me, or woken me, I would have gone out with you."
"Aww, were you worried about me?" she cooed playfully as she watched him place the bag down on the counter and went over to it, beginning to take some of the supplies out.
"Yes, actually I was," Robin sighed as he looked at everything she had bought, most of it was some sort of candy, "really?" he chuckled, holding up the marshmallows.
"Of course, s'mores," she rose her eyebrows, "I know how much you love them."
"You got me there," he chuckled, rubbing his hands across his face, it was hard to stay mad at her when she looked at him like that and went out to buy his favourite dessert. "I'm just glad you're okay, but if you need to go out again, just tell me okay."
"Yes," she whispered, "sorry for worrying you."
"Doesn't matter," he shrugged, "come on then, let's have some lunch and then we can have some of these."
"I bet you didn't sleep all that well on the couch," she quipped.
"It was fine."
"Liar, I really wouldn't have minded sharing the bed you know, it isn't as though we've never slept in the same bed before Robin. Unless you were afraid that you couldn't control yourself around me," she bit down on her bottom lip as she turned to look at him in challenge, "was that it Robin?"
"No, that wasn't it."
"Hmm, okay then, I think you're lying though but never mind," she sniggered as she moved to drop down onto the sofa, watching him from there as he worked in the kitchen.
"Regina, I am pretty sure I can control myself around you," he argued, even though it wasn't necessarily the truth, he knew that should she try something, he would probably be too weak to refuse her. He didn't want to allow himself to get carried away when he was around her, he wasn't going to risk it.
"We'll see," she murmured under her breath as she turned to look at the television, "do you think it will snow soon?" She asked.
"Could do yeah, if it gets cold enough."
"It felt cold when I was out there," she stated, "at one point I couldn't feel my face."
"Don't know how safe that is Gina, you'll probably get flu now."
"At least I'll have you to look after me won't I," she grinned remembering the last time she got sick and Robin had taken off work to look after her, only for him to catch it too and them to both be ill together.
"Yep, I suppose you will," he nodded.
There was a silence that lasted a couple of minutes as Regina looked through the different channels on the TV, making sure that it was on mute as she did so. She scanned her eyes over the listings, looking for something that they could watch and then squealing when she found it, "come on! I want to watch The Grinch!"
"How old are you?" Robin chuckled as he brought over their lunch and sat beside her on the couch, handing her a plate.
"I can't remember I have amnesia," she smirked proudly.
December 11th 2017
Regina was wrapped up in her tan coat, a red beret on her head and matching scarf hanging from her neck as she clung to his hand and pulled him through the crowd, she had been out of hospital for a week and Christmas day was growing ever closer. She had been determined to get outside and finally after they had been cooped up for a whole week, pretty much watching every Christmas film known to man, only leaving to purchase snacks and take out, they had gotten out of their hotel room.
She wanted to go to the Christmas markets so that was where they were, weaving in and out of the stalls. Robin's heart had swelled when she had insisted on holding his hand, with the excuse that she needed to make sure that she didn't lose him in the crowd, not that he believed it, he still wasn't going to deny her.
Her tiny fingers were threaded with his and he felt as though they were where they belonged, he held onto her that bit tighter, pulling her to his side and seeing the smile that lit up her beautiful face as he did so.
"So what do you think?" She asked, as she held up a little snow globe which had a tiny little city scene inside.
"It's cute," Robin chuckled, "but what are you gonna do with that when you already live in New York?"
"Maybe you can take it with you to England and think of me when you look at it," she whispered sadly, the smile falling off her face as she ran her fingers over the glass dome, "you know, since you're going to leave at some point."
Robin glanced at her, seeing the sadness on her face, he hated it when she was sad, but what else could he do, he couldn't make her any promises about anything, he had to be realistic, because he knew that when she remembered he would most likely be the one cast aside. "Regina..."
"I understand," she muttered, "I just don't get why I was so stupid as to break up with you in the first place."
Robin swallowed heavily, how did she know that? "Wish I knew."
"I'm so sorry Robin," she sniffled wiping a hand over her nose as she held onto his arm and rested her head on his shoulder, "I'm so sorry that I hurt you and I wish I could explain to you why. Jefferson won't tell me why we broke up or why I broke up with you, he said I had a reason that wasn't anything to do with you," she stated, "he told me that I was still in love with you and heartbroken that I had to end things," Regina whispered, looking up at his face and trying to work out what he was thinking.
Robin rose his eyebrows, she had been talking to Jefferson about things, he wondered what that meant though, if she had been just as hurt as he had, why had she done what she did. He guessed he would never know now, not unless she regained her memories or they could somehow get Jefferson to tell them.
"Don't worry," he smiled sadly, hugging her as he kissed her temple, "you don't have to apologise, it was a long time ago," he excused pulling back and gently wiping the tears that had begun to trickle down her cheeks, "are you going to buy the snow globe?"
"I think so yes," she nodded handing it to the stall owner so that he could wrap it up for her. She took her money out of her purse and paid the man before taking the bag from him and wishing him a merry Christmas. "Now you've seen one of your gifts," she laughed as she took his hand again.
"And a very nice gift it is too, thank you milady," he chuckled, they needed to work their way past it, he wanted to enjoy his time with her, not waste it being sad that things hadn't worked out back then. "Look, churros," he pointed towards the stand with the hot chocolate and sweet treats, watching her eyes light up as she tugged on his arm.
"This is my favourite part of Christmas," she giggled as she ordered some of delicious desserts.
"I remember," Robin smiled as he took the bag with the snow globe from her so that she could hold the pot of churros.
She held one up to his lips so that he could take a bite and he did, savouring the taste on his tongue as he watched her take a bite herself.
"Mmm," she moaned closing her eyes, "gods it should be a crime to have food that tastes like this."
"Well as I live and breathe, if it isn't Regina Mills eating churros! Darling really, what's happened to you?"
Regina glanced around seeing a blonde-haired woman stood there with something akin to a smirk on her face. "Hello," she furrowed her eyebrows.
"Darling, you know I'm joking with you, it's just I was pretty sure I would never see the day when anything pastry based passed your lips."
"Okay then," so she must know this woman but right now she had no idea who she was.
The blonde furrowed her eyebrows, "sweetie? Are you okay?" She asked glancing to Robin, "who's this?"
"This is Robin," she murmured.
Robin watched them and realised what was going on, Regina didn't remember the woman.
"Hi, you know Regina?"
"Yes, we work together don't we?"
"Do we?" Regina nodded.
"Of course, we do," the woman laughed.
"Urm, did you not hear?" Robin cringed, "Regina had an accident and..."
"An accident? What kind of accident? Last thing I knew, you were off work because you were working on a case at home, why didn't I know you had an accident?!"
"I..." Regina looked at Robin, hoping that he would help her out again, God only knew she needed it.
"It was serious, she's been in a coma and now has amnesia," Robin stated, "she can't remember anything from the last four years,"
"So you're saying she doesn't remember me?" She gasped.
"I don't even remember my own fiancé," Regina sighed.
"You forgot Daniel," she breathed, "oh my god, is there anything they can do to bring you back?"
"I've not really gone anywhere," Regina shook her head, "I'm still here, just with less memories than I had before."
"I can't believe it, how dare you forget me," the woman laughed, "well I'm Mallory, your work best friend because obviously I couldn't take over Jefferson as the bestie. Unless, do you remember him?" She asked with a mischievous smirk.
"Yes," Regina nodded, clearly the woman didn't like Jefferson, "and Robin," she smiled wrapping her hand around his.
"Okay then, well darling you have my number and I'll phone you and catch up with you later okay, I'm on the way back to the office now, does Gold know?"
"I don't... who is Gold?"
"Right yes amnesia, sorry, sweetie Gold is our boss, I'll tell him for you and I'll see you soon hopefully."
"Yes," she nodded, "bye."
"Bye bye darling," the blonde hugged Regina briefly before hurrying off in the opposite direction.
"Does she seem like someone I would be friends with?" Regina asked after she was gone, looking to Robin for confirmation that she wasn't the only one confused at the friendship.
"I dunno, not when you were with me, but I think we already established that you changed somewhat between now and then."
"I suppose," she nodded, she didn't get why if that woman had been one of her best friends, she didn't know about her accident and surely her boss should have been informed, maybe her mother did tell her boss but not her friend, that could be the explanation. Shaking her head, she took another of her churros out of the pot and bit into it, the chocolate had hardened somewhat now though and she frowned, "it's going hard."
"Oh dear," Robin chuckled, wrapping an arm around her as she ate them anyway, "so, what else do you want to look at?"
"I think we need to find more presents, I don't know who I have things for and who I don't or who I have forgotten about entirely and who I haven't."
"Isn't that a get out of jail free card when it comes to Christmas presents then, they can hardly blame you if you don't get them something and if they do, you just pretend that you forgot them or that you forgot where you put their gift, simple as that."
"Naughty," Regina laughed, it was a good plan, well, it would be if she didn't enjoy shopping for presents anyway, "look!" she pointed to the Santa's grotto. "Do you remember the last time we were here?"
"How could I forget?" …
December 18th 2012
Regina cuddled up against Robin as they made their way through the snowy weather, heading back towards their apartment after having been to Robin's office Christmas party, she was a little tipsy but in no way drunk, "why does Christmas make everything look better?" she hummed, burying her face in his arm before looking over at the tree that was lit by sparkling lights that showed the snow which was swirling around in the night air.
"I don't know but it does," he agreed glancing down at the beautiful woman walking beside him and smiled as he watched her trying not to slip on the ground that was slowly becoming covered in the frozen rain that fell from the air.
"I think it's going to stick," she stated excitedly, kicking out her heel clad foot and watching the white flakes stick to the black suede. She reached out with her hand collecting them on her fingers and looking at them, "they are amazing."
"It's snow Gina," Robin chuckled as she twirled under his arm playfully to the sound of a nearby busker who was playing under a little shelter.
"And I love it," she cooed, dropping some money in the man's cap before carrying on with the little dance she had going. The sound drifted through the street following them as they carried on going, getting closer and closer to their destination. Suddenly though she stopped and stared straight ahead, tilting her head before moving closer and standing straight in front of the now abandoned grotto where Santa had been earlier that day along with his elves, they were long gone now, packed up and at home or out enjoying the festivities away from work.
"Something interesting?"
"I can't wait to bring our children here," she breathed, pulling his arms so they wrapped around her before looking over her shoulder at him and beaming, "do you think they will love Christmas as much as we do?"
"Oh, I'm sure they will," he nodded his breath catching a little as he kissed her cheek gently and carried on looking at the grotto, "and I know that they will love coming to see Santa."
"They will, we need to make it a tradition that we bring them here together each year, no matter how busy we might be," she smiled, slowly she turned and wrapped her arms around his neck, "I can't wait to have your babies Robin Locksley."
"I can't wait for you to have our babies Regina Mills," he grinned, leaning in a pressing his lips to hers tenderly, "I am sure they will be perfect and beautiful just like you, let's just hope they get their mommy's genes."
"Hey, their daddy's genes are just as amazing, they need your eyes and dimples," Regina giggled as she leant her forehead against his, "I love you."
"Love you too, so much." …
"What happened to that?" Regina sighed, looking down to the ground, "apparently I ruined both our dreams," she huffed in annoyance, they had been so sure of what they wanted, that they wanted to be a family, how could things have gone so wrong for them to the point where they lived on different continents?
"No, no, don't cry again," he hurried, he knew how awful she was feeling, but he didn't want her crying again, they were meant to be having fun, not lamenting over missed chances, "come on, how about you go and sit on Santa's lap and tell him what you want for Christmas?" Robin chuckled.
"Ha, very funny, I think that I might leave that for the children, I'm slightly too old to go and sit on Santa's lap."
"You're only twenty-nine."
"Urgh, I am old as well," she scrunched her nose up.
"Excuse me, that means you're calling me old too madam," he scoffed in mock annoyance as he squeezed her playfully, "come on, let's go do some more shopping," he smiled nudging her and making her stumble to the side before he picked up the pace and hurried away from her.
"Hey!" she squealed before running after him and jumping on him, "you better be watching you back from now on, don't just assume you are safe, when you least expect it I might just knock you off balance," she smirked proudly as she wrapped her arm around his.
"Who's saying that I'm not always ready?" he grinned as he looked down at her.
"We'll see."
Regina jumped up on the sofa, curling into Robin in her new penguin onesie, her hood up and the little beak sticking out. She looked up at him, her large brown eyes boring into his. "You look adorable," he chuckled, messing with her hood and adjusting it so the beak was in the middle.
"I can't believe you refused to get the polar bear and be onesie twins with me," she sulked before grinning up at him, "you would have looked so cute."
"Do I not already look cute?" he asked, flicking the TV on and glancing back to her.
"Of course, you do," she nodded, "but you'd have been cuter as a polar bear and warmer too," she rose her eyebrows as she picked up the glass of red wine and brought it to her lips, taking a sip of the alcohol, allowing it to slide own her throat as she closed her eyes and savoured the taste.
Robin watched her as she drank and he couldn't help but stare at her lips which had been free of any product but were now coated in a light layer of red from where her drink had temporarily stained them. "Nice?"
"Hmm," she placed the glass back down and ran her tongue over her lips, noticing that he was watching her, "what?" she giggled.
"Nothing," he shook her head, looking away from her and finding his own drink before changing the channel again, looking for a Christmas film that they hadn't already watched, "Scrooged?"
"Sure," she nodded, stealing the blanket Robin used from the back of the couch and draping it over them as she leant against him and got comfortable to watch the film. Just as she settled and Robin pressed play there was a knock on the door, Regina slumped and rolled her eyes, "really?"
"I'll get it," Robin stated, standing from the couch and moving to the door, hoping that he could get rid of the person so that they could enjoy their movie. He opened the door and came face to face with Cora Mills, "Cora."
Regina's head whipped around and she looked to see her mother stood there, "hello," she smiled awkwardly, knowing that her mother would most likely disapprove of what she was wearing, she had a feeling that Cora Mills was way too conservative to like onesies.
"Regina, how are you doing?"
"Very well thank you," she nodded, remembering to lower the hood on her pyjamas as her mother wandered inside and took a seat in the chair that accompanied the couch, "I don't remember anything, but apart from that I am okay and my short-term memory seems to be fine," she stated, knowing that it would probably be a question that her mother would have asked anyway.
"I see," the older woman sighed, seemingly not all that happy with her answer, but what did she really expect? Her to have just miraculously remembered everything and gone back to living her life? It wasn't as simple as that and she was beginning to think that she would never remember, but part of her thought that it might not be so bad. "Well, I think you need to go to Dr Whale for your sessions Regina, he told me that you missed one."
Robin frowned as he looked at Regina, he hadn't heard anything about a scheduled session with the doctor, Regina hadn't mentioned it to him otherwise he would have taken her himself and made sure that she got the help she needed. "Gina?"
"I didn't want to go okay," she snapped, "I don't see what the big deal is, he can't help me anyway can he!" She crossed her arms in a huff and saw her mother roll her eyes in response.
"Regina, stop behaving like a child, do you think that your doctor would make you attend things that are pointless?"
"Maybe, I don't know, but he isn't going to be able to just magically make me better is he, there isn't any cure for what I have mother, no cure but time. For all we know he's just after your money."
"It's not as though it's in short supply Regina," her mother muttered under her breath, "I have the money to pay the best doctors and that is all I want for you, I just want you to get better Regina, can you really blame me for that after I have seen every bloody thing that you have been through, it just isn't fair what's been pushed upon you."
Regina leaned back in her seat as she observed her mother, the woman looked as though she had tears in her eyes and was about to cry at any given moment, "mom?" she whispered.
"This isn't the only time I've nearly lost you and I don't think I can go through another scare like this Regina," she wiped her eyes on her palms.
Regina glanced to Robin before standing from the couch and moving over to squeeze onto the chair with her mother, cuddling up to her side, "I'm okay," she whispered, feeling her mother's arms wrap around her, "I'm fine, and I promise from now on I won't skip out on Dr Whale's sessions, no matter how pointless I think they might be."
"I don't understand why these bad things just keep happening to you," the older woman breathed.
Robin watched them and sat down awkwardly on the couch opposite, her mother was making out as though Regina had been through something else serious before her coma and clearly it hadn't been whilst she was with him, so it must have been after, he had no clue what it was and he knew that Regina didn't, but maybe Cora could shed some light on it, maybe Jefferson wasn't the only one who knew things that they didn't.
"Considering that you say bad things keep happening to me, I feel pretty good," she smiled, tucking her hair behind her ear.
"Look at you," Cora laughed as she played with one of Regina's loose curls, "I haven't seen you purposely with your natural hair in over four years."
"Robin likes it," she chuckled.
"I'm gonna go order some food, do you want something Mrs Mills?" Robin cleared his throat as he stood up to find his phone.
"No thank you, I won't intrude any longer, I have dinner plans. I just wanted to tell you not to skip any more of your doctor's appointment and I trust that you won't from now on."
"I promise," Regina smiled, resting her head against her mother's shoulder, this woman had changed during the four years she had forgotten, clearly something had happened and it had softened her mother's demeaner, something she was glad for, she had been way too hard faced, clearly, she had mellowed out quite a bit. "Enjoy your dinner."
"I'm sure I will sweetheart," she nodded standing from the chair and kissing her daughter on the forehead, her eyes dropping down as she noticed her attire, "very cute," Cora chuckled, picking up her bag, "have a good night my darling."
"Good night," Regina hummed as she stood to see her mother out of the hotel suite, closing the door carefully behind her as she turned to look at Robin who had just got off the phone with the room restaurant downstairs and finished ordering their food. "What happened to her?"
"She became nice," Robin grinned, sitting back down, "going to join me?"
"Yes," she waddled over to him, before flopping down on the sofa and sighing, why did everything have to be so complicated?
She glanced over at Robin and watched him trying to stretch out, she could tell that he was uncomfortable and she wasn't happy that she had been stealing his bed for the duration of her stay with him, she had probably been the one contributing to giving him that bad back by subjecting him to having to sleep on the couch instead of on a plush mattress. "Aching?" she asked, moving her legs from his lap in favour of kneeling next to him.
"It's fine," Robin shrugged, truthfully, he had pretty bad back ache, but it would be okay when he got some rest.
"I don't think it is, you look like you're in pain."
"I'm okay," he stated, watching as she shook her head.
"No, Robin you're not, get up."
"Why?"
"Stop being stubborn and do as you're told," she rolled her eyes watching as he stood from the couch and looked at her.
"Okay, now what will you have me do your royal highness."
"Go lie on the bed with your shirt off…"
"If this is a way for you to seduce me…"
"Really? I'm not trying to seduce you, I just want to help so do what I say and I can help you, otherwise you are going to be the one still in pain, it could be even worse by tomorrow if you don't do something, so go lay down please." Her initial plan hadn't been to seduce him, but now he mentioned it, that could actually work.
"Fine," Robin murmured, there was no point arguing with her because he knew that he wouldn't win, she would probably drag him in there herself. He pushed the door open and pulled his shirt over his head so he was left in only his slacks before climbing onto the made bed and sitting in the middle.
"Lay on your belly," she instructed, allowing her eyes to wash over his figure, he clearly worked out, in fact he was in better shape than he had been when they were together which was a nice surprise.
"Stop checking me out," he smirked as she broke her gaze away from his torso and she met his eyes. He could see that she was attracted to him and god knows he was attracted to her, even when she was dressed in a bloody penguin onesie. He cleared his throat and moved onto his stomach, his face hovering just above the pillow which had a strong apple scent emanating from it, clearly it was the pillow that Regina used.
"For the record, I wasn't checking you out," she muttered before unzipping her onesie so that she was in her pyjama shorts and a vest top, she knew how strenuous what she was about to do was and the last thing that she wanted was to overheat. She took a deep breath before climbing onto the bed and straddling his ass.
"Whoa, easy there tiger."
"Robin, shut up, you know what I'm doing," she sniggered as she poured some of her vanilla spice massage oil onto his back, she had bought it at the Christmas market earlier that day on the off chance that she might need it at some point and clearly, she had been right in that assumption.
"Smells nice," Robin murmured as he got used to the feeling of her sat on top of him, he couldn't believe what she was doing at first, but he would have been lying if he said that he didn't like the sensation.
"It does doesn't it," she agreed, preparing herself and making sure that her hands weren't too cold before she put them on his body and began to rub in the massage oil, working her hands up and down his body, she started off with his lower back and rubbed the muscles that were underneath her finger tips, making sure that they were loosened up. She heard him let out a groan and grinned to herself, "feel good?"
"Oh, so good," he nodded, folding his arms and resting his cheek against them, why was she so good with her hands and why when he thought about that did he only imagine other things she was good at? He knew this was dangerous territory, but he couldn't bring himself to tell her to stop, he liked it too much, it felt way too good.
At his response she moved up a little, carrying on doing the same as she had been, simply running her fingers over the tight muscles and feeling how tense he was, "god that couch has really done a number on you," she stated, "I don't think I will be letting you sleep on there anymore, your poor back is paying the price for it."
"Where do you suppose I sleep then?" he asked, raising his eyebrows as he tried to look over his shoulder at her only for her to push his head back so it was facing forward. "What happened to the onesie?" he asked, he had noticed that she definitely wasn't dressed as a cute penguin anymore, in fact she was the complete opposite and he had to swallow heavily in order to stop thinking about her sat on him dressed like that.
"I thought it might get in the way," she quipped, moving further up his back and coming to his shoulders, making sure to press her breasts against him every now and then.
Robin could feel how close her body was to his as she leant forward so that she could reach the area she was working. She massaged the knots in his shoulders and he couldn't help the groan that slipped past his lips when she pressed her breasts against him. He felt his body reacting without his consent, it had been quite a while since he had been touched by a woman and this particular one had a certain knack for making him react to her. He hoped to god that she wouldn't notice, the last thing he wanted to do was scare her off, not that he thought that he would, but he didn't want to risk it.
Regina was getting herself aroused from doing this, it hadn't been her plan, but hearing the noises that were coming from Robin was a massive turn on and she could feel the heat pooling at her core. She knew she had probably taken it too far, it had only supposed to be a massage but she was feeling the need to rub against him and that couldn't happen. With a sigh she dropped her hands and moved off him, "feel better?" She asked, trying to regain her composure.
"Much, thank you, you know what, I think you're better at that now than you were when you were with me," Robin chuckled.
"Well, maybe I've been taking lessons," she stated watching as he laid pretty still, "aren't you going to move?"
"I'm good here for a minute, don't want to move too soon," he grinned, trying to keep calm and make sure that he didn't turn over and let her see what he was hiding from her.
"I see," she nodded spotting her phone on the dresser and grabbing it, "I'll be out here then," she shrugged, escaping the bedroom and hurrying in the bathroom, dropping the toilet lid and sitting on it before looking down at her phone, seeing her lock screen, it was a picture of her and Daniel and she sighed before unlocking it, for the first time she paid attention to the home screen and her eyes widened, "Lola!" she gasped looking at the brown dog before scrolling through her contacts and finding Daniel's number.
She pressed on it allowing it to ring and waited for him to pick up, "hello?" a sleepy voice answered, "Regina?"
"Hi, Daniel, how is Lola?" she asked.
"Wait, you remember Lola?" he questioned, she could hear the sleepiness in his voice and realised that she had no idea what time it was, she had probably just woken him in the middle of the night. "Regina, you… do you remember us?"
"I just… I remember Lola," she stated because no, she didn't remember Daniel and she felt even guiltier for that, how had seeing a photo of a dog been able to trigger her memory like that, but actually interacting with Daniel have not done the same.
"Oh," Daniel sighed, "well, Lola is fine, she's staying with a friend at the minute."
"I see, Daniel I am sorry you know, I really am, I feel so bad for not remembering you," she whispered, "but I would really like to see Lola if I could."
"Yeah, sure you can, urm… I'll call Kathryn and see if she can bring her around," Daniel cleared his throat and Regina could tell that he was getting all choked up, "this is killing me," he murmured.
"I don't know what I can say, I hate that I'm hurting you."
"It isn't your fault Regina, it's that idiots fault for taking you from me."
"Daniel," she sniffled, bringing her legs up underneath her, "I…"
"Sorry, I shouldn't be… I'll call Kathryn tomorrow and organise for her to bring Lola to see you."
"Thank you, I really am sorry Dan…"
"It's fine, I'll see you later," he stated before ending the call and cutting her off.
Regina released a breath she didn't even know she had been holding before putting the phone down and splashing some water on her face, she needed to freshen up because she was feeling awful, there was a knock at the door of the bathroom, "Gina?"
"Coming," she called out, checking her appearance before opening the door and meeting Robin's eyes, "hi."
"What is it? Has something happened?"
"Yes," she breathed, "I… I remembered something.
Robin looked at her feeling his heart almost stop beating, she had remembered, what had she remembered? What if she didn't want him anymore, what if she had remembered her old life and wanted to go back to that? He had just been getting used to having her around again, he was used to her company and he knew he was stupid for letting himself fall for her again, but it wasn't something he had any control over, Regina Mills was one of those women who drew you in and made it impossible not to love her. "You did?"
"Hmm," she nodded, moving past him into the living area before turning to look at him once again and seeing that he had her penguin onesie in his arms. He handed it to her and she pulled it back on before shaking her head again, "I'm an awful person," she stated, sitting down and staring at the wall as she felt Robin come and sit beside her.
"Hey, no you're not, stop it," he cupped her cheek gently, "what is it? What did you remember? Is it Daniel?"
"No," she sighed, "I tried to remember him but it… I can't as hard as I try to I can't, but I remembered someone else."
"Who?" Robin asked, looking at her in intrigue, if she hadn't remembered Daniel. Then who the hell has she remembered?
"I have a dog," she smiled, "her name is Lola, I opened my phone and there she was, my little baby," she chuckled as she unlocked her phone and showed Robin the photo of Lola, "I remembered her and I rang Daniel to ask him how she was and he got his hopes up that maybe I might have known who he was. But I don't, I don't know how I am ever going to remember him Robin, I think that he might be lost to me forever and I feel so bad, because he just sounded so… he was crushed, I could tell that he wanted more than anything for me to remember him."
"Yeah, but Regina these things take time, there is still a chance that it might come back to you, things trigger memories and sometimes it takes more than just that person to remember something," he smiled, running his fingers gently through her hair as he tried to comfort her, he could tell that the phone call had clearly shaken her up a little.
"I don't even know if I want to remember him though Robin, I mean I know that should be what I want and I know how much he is hurting because of this, but what if the reason I don't know who he is because we aren't meant to be? What if I am supposed to be with someone else and this is something that is giving me that message, telling me that I am with the wrong person?"
"I don't know what to say to you Gina, I don't know what will make this better, but I do know that it is something that you need to decide, no one else can make that decision for you, it rests with you and whatever you decide, that will be okay." He took a deep breath, deep down he was hoping that he still had a chance with her, that somehow, they would be together again as a proper couple.
"I know," she nodded, she was just so confused about it all, she needed to sort out her head space, "I think I might go to sleep now," she whispered, "I'll take the couch, you sleep in the bed," she smiled lying down on the piece of furniture and watching as he looked at her.
"You shouldn't have to sleep on here Regina," Robin sighed, "come on I'll sleep here, I'm feeling much better after that amazing massage."
"No," she shook her head, "I'm not letting you sleep on here again," she reprimanded.
"Well I'm not letting you sleep on here either so it seems that we have come to an impasse," Robin rose his eyebrows as he looked at her, she did look quite comfortable, but he knew that after a few hours it became rather un-comfy on that couch.
"Right, then I suppose we should both just sleep in the bed then shouldn't we," she shrugged, standing from where she had been and heading into the bedroom, "it's not as though we are going to do anything, all we are doing is sleeping, we should have done this sooner because there is nothing wrong with it," she cleared her throat and dropped down into the bed, waiting for him to get in on the other side. "Are you going to get in?"
"I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable."
"Do I look like I would feel uncomfortable?" she asked.
"No but…"
"Just get in bed Robin," she laughed watching as he gave in and climbed into the opposite side. She turned to face him and smiled, "hi."
"Hi," he chuckled shaking his head.
She bit down on her bottom lip and reached out for his hand, taking it and bringing their hands to rest in between them. Her thumb rubbed along the side of his, "I'm sorry for dragging you away from your home."
"Don't be, I was quite glad for the adventure, even if your mother did blackmail me into coming by making out as though you were going to die."
"No, she didn't," Regina groaned leaning closer to his hand and grazing it with her lips before meeting his eyes, "well I'm sorry she did that, for what it's worth I'm really glad you're here, I don't know where I would be without you."
"Probably staying with your mother," Robin smirked playfully, remembering her mother's phone call when she had found out that Regina had left the hospital without her knowing and was staying with Robin.
"Probably," she nodded in agreement, "but I… I'm just happy you're here that's all," she nuzzled against him again and closed her eyes.
"Glad to be here," he quipped and she looked up at him, meeting his eyes as she shuffled closer in the bed, "not going to lie I don't think I've been the same since we broke up, you set rather a high bar for all other women."
"I apologise for my fabulousness," she giggled pressing a chaste kiss to his shoulder without thinking, when she moved away their lips were only milometers apart and she found her breath catching in her throat as she tried to control herself, when she saw his eyes flicker shut she couldn't stop herself from closing her own eyes and closing the gap, she wanted to kiss him properly to feel his lips against hers.
She was so close and he could feel her breath against his lips, he just needed to taste her, he slid his hand to her upper arm and began closing the distance between them, but as soon as their lips brushed even briefly, he came back to his senses and pulled away from her, "sorry."
"Don't be." Regina shook her head, they had been so close to just going for it and losing themselves, she didn't know whether to be relieved or really disappointed that Robin had managed to stop them from kissing. She tucked her hair behind her ear shyly, "I guess we should get some sleep," she muttered.
"Yeah, we probably should," Robin agreed reluctantly, watching as she turned her back on him and stared at the wardrobe. He couldn't believe that had just happened, couldn't believe he almost let it happen, she was in a vulnerable position and he nearly took advantage of that, he was such an idiot.
Regina looked at the wall and simply listened to him breathing, knowing that he was still awake behind her, she wanted him to know that he didn't do anything wrong, because she had a feeling that he thought he had, she knew what he was like. Reaching out she found his hand again and pulled it so it wrapped around her, "can you just hold me?" she whispered.
"I think I can do that," he breathed against her ear as he held her against him, his strong arm wrapping around her and keeping her safely in his grasp, she cuddled into his hold and he couldn't stop himself from burying his face in her hair, inhaling that amazing scent as he closed his eyes, "good night Regina."
"Good night Robin," she smiled, she knew what she wanted, but that meant facing up to the fall out, she knew that she would have to, because this was worth it, what she had with Robin was worth it.
December 12th 2017
"Lola!" She cooed as the brown collie-cross bounded over to her in the park, nearly knocking her over as it jumped at her, licking her face affectionally as she sat down on a bench and petted the dog, "hello my baby," she smiled, burying her face in her dog's fur as she ran her hands all over the animal, "I love you," she hummed.
"She's cute," Robin commented as he looked at the dog that was clearly very in love with Regina, "no wonder you remember her."
"Hmm, and I forget Daniel?" she rose one eyebrow as she looked towards a woman that was shouting for the dog and stopped in her tracks upon seeing her, "hello," Regina stated, standing from the bench.
"Regina," she smiled coming closer to them, "so you forget about me and Daniel but remember this fluff ball hey? My brother is totally heart broken by the way."
Oh, that must be who she was, Daniel's sister, "I'm sorry."
"Stop apologising," Robin chuckled as he whispered in her ear, she was saying that word way too much when it wasn't even her fault, it wasn't as though she chose to forget about them, she had no choice in the matter, her memories had just been taken from her.
"I can't help it, I feel bad," she replied.
"Hmm, my brother also told me that you had moved on pretty quickly," the blonde's eyes narrowed at Robin as she let out a little scoff.
"Actually, I'm her ex, so technically she hadn't moved on but backwards," Robin smirked, he didn't like the way the woman was looking at Regina, although Daniel didn't blame her for forgetting him, it seemed that his sister had a different onion.
"Hmm, all seems a little convenient for my liking."
"How so?" Regina furrowed her eyebrows as she looked at the woman, deciding that maybe she didn't like this person.
"You have an accident and all you remember from the past four years is your beloved puppy, but not your fiancé and then your Ex comes back and the two of you look very cosy together."
"What are you suggesting?" Regina seethed, not liking where this was going.
"Nothing," the woman rolled her eyes, practically throwing Lola's leash into her hand, "just in case you forgot Lola has a cup of food in the morning and a cup at night, here's her bed and toys," she pushed them into Robin's arms. "Don't forget to feed her like you forgot about your fiancé will you," she tutted before turning on her heels and leaving that.
"What a complete and utter bitch," Regina huffed glaring at the woman's back as she walked away, "did she just accuse me pretending not to know who Daniel is?"
"I think she did."
"Urgh, why would I..." a loud barking distracted her from her sentence and she turned around to see Lola sat on the ground with her tail wagging playfully. Regina smiled and leant down pressing a kiss to her dog's head, "you don't think that's what Daniel thinks do you?"
"I don't think so," Robin shook his head, he knew that had the man thought that he would have kicked off a hell of a lot more than he had done, he wouldn't just let Regina do that to him, not when he clearly loved her so much.
"I wouldn't ever be that cruel," she sighed, picking up the slobber coated tennis ball and throwing it across the park, sending the brown fluff ball hurtling after it, her legs flailing as she skidded before grabbing it in her mouth and running back to them her tail wagging as she dropped it at their feet, looking at them expectantly. "Good girl," Regina cooed, "well done Lola," she rubbed behind the dog's ears before looking up to Robin, "your turn."
"I am not touching that slobbery mess," he protested holding his hands up.
"Aww, but she wants the ball throwing don't you baby?" She cooed making a baby voice that had Robin raising his eyebrows and the dog snuggling into Regina, peering at him with wide eyes that seemed to just beg him to play with her and throw her toy. "How can you refuse that face?" Regina asked as she held Lola's face in her hand, the dog trying to lick her as she did so.
"Apparently, I can't," he sighed pulling his foot back and seeing Lola wriggled from Regina's arms so that she was stood behind the ball just waiting for him to do something with it. He then kicked the tennis ball and it flew through the air, Lola raced in its direction and hurled herself in the air to catch it, managing to as she trotted back to them, dropping it again and repeating the same thing she had done before hand.
After about twenty more minutes in the park, when they couldn't feel their fingers they made their way back to the hotel, Regina walking Lola on a leash beside her, "oh no," she breathed just realising something.
"What?" Robin asked looking at her and trying to decipher the expression on her face.
"We have a problem," she groaned, "what if the hotel doesn't allow pets?" She cringed, glancing down at the dog who was happily plodding along beside them, the soiled ball still in her mouth. She was quite determined that she was going to carry it herself, even if that meant that she had to breathe through her nose for a while.
"Ooh didn't think about that," he signed, glancing at the dog, she wasn't exactly discrete but if it came to it they could always, "smuggle her in."
"What?" Regina laughed.
"We just smuggle her in," Robin quipped as he became more confident in the plan the closer he got to the end of the sentence.
"Smuggle her in? She isn't a chihuahua Robin, it's not as though I can just slip her into my handbag," she giggled looking at the dog who was at least five times the size of her bag.
"Well I could distract the reception desk whilst you get on Lola into the lift," he suggested with a cheeky grin.
"Do you really think that'll work?"
"No harm in trying," He shrugged.
"Okay then," she laughed with a shake of the head as they approached the hotel.
"Ready?"
"Doorman," she nodded towards the guy that was stood outside the hotel and opened the door for people.
"Okay, just go with it," he nodded, "pretend to be walking past."
She was very reluctant that this was going to work, but went with it anyway, what other option did they have, clearly Kathryn wasn't interested in looking after Lola any longer and Regina wouldn't want her to anyway, Lola was her dog, she'd be better off with her where she belonged, with her mommy. She glanced behind herself as she watched Robin approach one of the doors and then suddenly stumble, spilling the contents of the bag he was carrying all over the sidewalk. She was about to go help him when she realised that it was his plan to distract the door man. Seemingly it worked because the suited man was straight over to him, helping him up before collecting some of the items strung around the path.
Quickly she slipped through the door with Lola, hiding in the shadows as she waited for Robin to come in so that he could distract the receptionists. She watched as he thanked the doorman before coming inside, "one down, one to go," he chuckled as he headed into the lobby and moved towards the reception desk.
Regina peered through the glass as she watched him, he was leant against the counter and she saw the women smile at him, one minute he was just talking to them and then all off a sudden he must have knocked something down off the counter so that it fell to the floor on their side. Both the women ducked down and Robin turned to her waving for her to go which she did, hurrying inside, Lola trotting behind her, she raced towards the lift and then watched in shock as Lola managed to get her lead caught around one of the Christmas trees. Regina's eyes widened as the tree began to fall almost in slow motion. She hurriedly bent down and un-clipped the leash, "Lola come," she ordered rushing to the elevator and jumping in, the dog following her as the doors closed behind him and she pressed he button to the floor that their room was on.
She leant against the wall off the lift and looked down at the dog who was staring up at her, "you madam are a cheeky monkey," she smirked, rubbing her hand over the dog's head. Once they arrived on the correct floor she unlocked the door and rushed her puppy inside dropping down onto the couch as Lola hopped up beside her, curling into her side. "Now we just wait for Robin," she hummed hugging her dog as she heard the door open and turned to see Robin coming into the room.
"I said you had to quickly and discreetly make your way to the elevators," he laughed sitting on the opposite side of Regina to Lola and pushing his shoes off before resting his feet on the foot rest. He looked at Regina and saw that she was trying to stop herself from laughing.
"Oh god, she pulled down the Christmas tree," Regina squealed as she buried her head against his shoulder her body shaking as she giggled.
"I really didn't know what to do when that happened," Robin chuckled as he shook his head, nothing like a dog wrecking the hotel lobby to bring Christmas cheer, "I have no idea how she didn't get seen though," he stated, pretty impressed that they could cause such a commotion and not be spotted.
"I have no clue," Regina snickered, regaining her composure as she pulled back from him, her fingers running through the dog's coat, "you do realise that now she's in we are going to have to get her back out again."
"Maybe we can lower her out of the window on a harness or something," he joked, raising his eyebrows at her.
"I don't think so, she might be scared of heights."
"That is a good point."
"Hmm, I'm just waiting for security to come knocking because there's no way we didn't get caught, I mean there are cameras in the elevator."
"Just pretend she is one of those electronic dogs that you can get, you know those toys that some adults get for their children when they are being tight and won't buy them a real one."
"Oh yeah, we should have just done that in the first place, I think it would have saved quite a bit of trouble, don't you?"
"Probably yes," he laughed, "okay, so what do you want to do now?"
"Have we watched all the films?" she asked, it felt as though they had, they seemed to have been watching Christmas films none stop the entire time she had been out of hospital.
"Most likely, how about we play a game?"
"What sort of game?" she asked, raising one eyebrow at him.
"How about monopoly?"
"Do you have monopoly?"
"Yes, I do actually."
"Well then, let's play."
December 18th 2017
The last few days had passed with little happening, they had found out that dogs actually were allowed in the hotel after all that trouble trying to smuggle Lola inside. As for the chemistry between the two of them, it had only continued to grow, with them becoming closer and closer. There hadn't been any more almost kisses and as it happened the both of them were rather disappointed at that, not that they would tell the other about it.
Regina was in the bathroom changing into some suitable clothes for their evening plans, Lola was with Daniel, he had awkwardly taken her back for a couple of days, saying that he was off work anyway and might as well take her. Regina had reluctantly handed her over, she felt like she was giving over her child and she and Daniel had some awkward custody agreement upon who took her when.
Tonight, though it would be just Robin and herself, no little furry fluff ball to interrupt them or sleep between them for that matter. It seemed that it had been virtually impossible to make Lola sleep anywhere else in the whole of the hotel suite apart from in between them both, but Lola wasn't going to be there tonight and Regina didn't know what to think about that. Lola had acted as somewhat of a barrier, stopping her from doing something she could potentially regret, but now without her there, there wasn't anything stopping them from touching each other or accidently crossing the boundaries.
Applying the last finishing touches to her makeup, she took a deep breath before walking out of the room and heading towards the bedroom where she had left Robin, she knocked on the door and opened it, peeking around the corner to see what he was doing. Seemingly he was on the phone and it looked like a private phone call, so she apologised before walking out again and sitting at one of the bar stools to awkwardly wait for him.
Robin had just been ready to go when his phone started ringing and he looked at the caller ID, when he saw it was his mother, he rolled his eyes before reluctantly answering, "mum, hi."
"Robin, where are you?" she asked, her voice sounding worried.
"Why? Is everything okay?"
"Yes, everything is fine, but your father and I showed up at your apartment to surprise you and you're not here."
"Oh," he cringed, well that was unexpected, his parents had told him that they wouldn't be able to make it for Christmas this year as they would be spending it at the golf club, he'd told them that it didn't matter and that he had other plans anyway. What he hadn't counted on was for them to turn up unannounced at his apartment.
"I told you we should have checked with him first Caroline," he heard his dad mumble on the other end.
"He never goes anywhere Robert, how was I supposed to know he wasn't in?"
"You should have bloody called him, that's why you have a phone."
"Well you didn't ring him, did you?"
"No, because you said you wanted to make it a surprise and wouldn't let me."
"Oh, for goodness sake shut up Robert. Sorry Robin," she sighed, clearly only just remembering that she was still on the phone with him.
"Don't worry about it mum," he chuckled, he felt really bad now that they had travelled all that way, he should have thought to tell them.
"Never mind sweetheart, when will you be back? We can find a nice café and wait."
"You might have a long wait mum," he breathed, the door creaked open and Regina peeked around the corner, he held his hand up gesturing that he would be five minutes and she bowed out again.
"Oh, you didn't actually tell me where you were."
"I'm in America actually," he winced, cringing as he said those words, not knowing how they were going to react to the news.
"America?! Why didn't you tell us that you planned a trip Robbie?" his mother gasped, clearly shocked at what he was telling her.
"It was kinda last minute, I didn't really plan it."
"Oh? What happened that you had to go out there?"
He could just picture her face, she was nosy, but also very protective of him, he imagined that she would be stood there with one arm folded across her chest and her eyes narrowed towards his father as she listened to what he was saying over the phone, trying to make sense of it. "Someone I know was in a critical condition in hospital and I had to see her, you know in case she… in case she didn't make it," he breathed, closing his eyes at the thought, he couldn't believe that he had thought that to begin with, he hadn't known what was going on with her.
"She? Oh no, Robin please tell me it isn't Regina."
"Mum…"
"No Robin! She's no good! She broke you!"
"Mum you have to…"
"No, I know you still love her but this is ridiculous, having you come crawling back to her. She doesn't deserve you Robin."
"Maybe I don't deserve her, or maybe this was our second chance to be happy together, to really work things out. Mum I have to see where this is going to go, I can't just give up on her, I never have been very good at that."
"She just has you wrapped around her little finger does that woman," Caroline scoffed, "and you don't know how to escape her."
"I don't want to escape her, mum I've fallen for her again, and I really didn't want it to happen, I tried to stop it, I know it's wrong and a really bad idea but I just… I love her and I can't help it."
"What if she breaks your heart again? She's done it once Robin…"
"I know, but I think it is a risk that I just have to take," he knew that there was every possibility of her doing just that, of her breaking his heart for the second time, of her remembering Daniel and then choosing him, leaving again. The thing was though, that now he knew that he just had to try, just see what would happen, because he knew there was something between them. That she still felt something for him. "I'll talk to you later," he sighed, "there is a spare key buried inside the little plant pot. You can stay at my place, excuse the mess, I left in a bit of a hurry."
"Alright, Robin, just be careful."
"I will be."
"This is still the best pizza in town," Robin groaned as he savoured the taste of the melted cheese on his tongue and they walked through the streets of New York, pizza in their hands as they headed towards the location of their evening activity.
"Agreed," she moaned as she took another bite from hers, trying not to drop any of the toppings onto the sidewalk, "I don't think you can beat this pizza."
"Nope," he nodded, as they crossed the road, making their way towards Bryant Park, "you do know that I am going to fall on my ass right?" he chuckled.
"I think I probably will too," she laughed, "just warn me when you plan on going down so I can get it on video."
"Well, I'm glad you care about my safety," he smirked, shaking his head, "I haven't been ice skating in years," Robin sighed as they came to the place where you could hire the skates from, luckily Robin had the good sense to book when Regina had said she wanted to go at the beginning of the week, because it was really busy. "I think the last time was with you actually, that last Christmas we had together."
"Hmm, as far as I'm aware that was the last time I've been too, or that I know of," she rolled her eyes playfully, sitting down and taking her pixie boots off, swapping them for the skates, making sure that they were tied properly. "I really don't want to fall," she stated feeling slightly worried now, she had wanted to do it, but she felt as though she needed to be extra cautious after her accident. "I don't really want to lose any more memories."
He smiled at her and reached for her hand, giving it a light squeeze because although he knew she was joking, there was also part of her that was being deadly serious, he knew how worried she was about having another accident or hurting herself more. "If you feel like you're going to fall, just hold onto me, I'll catch you."
"Who's going to catch you?" she asked, casting him a somewhat seductive smile as she rose a single eyebrow.
"The floor probably," he chuckled and without thinking kissed the side of her head as he finished off tying his own skates in place. "Come on then you, show me what you got," he reached a hand out to her as he stood up ready to make his way onto the ice.
"I hope that you haven't got your hopes up that I am some kind of figure skater, because trust me I'm not."
"Oh I know you aren't, you were shocking the last time we went, I think you were down more than you were up," Robin nudged her playfully, he enjoyed talking about the good times and was glad that they had been able to talk about other things, even if she couldn't remember the one thing that he wanted to know and had been hoping to find out.
"Don't say that, you've worried me now," she shook her head, rubbing her hands across her face as she peaked at him through the gaps between her fingers, simply watching him as he watched her.
"You aren't going to fall Regina, I won't let you and if you do you'll be landing on top of me, I'm sure I'll be able to cushion your fall for you."
"Okay," she smiled as she stood from the bench. They wobbled towards the gate that led onto the ice, "you first," she smiled as she watched him tentatively take a step on to the slippery surface.
"Right, now come on," he tugged her arm gently, coaxing her to come with him.
Slowly she moved onto the ice, holding onto the barrier as she did so, she just needed to get her bearings before she attempted to let go of the ever-supportive structure. "One lap and then I'll let go," she muttered, looking at the ground before meeting Robin's eyes and taking his gloved hand in her own. They steadily began to make their way around the rink and Regina had a feeling that she hadn't given herself enough credit for this, because seemingly she was finding it easier than she had first thought.
They slid across the ice and she felt Robin wobble a little, "so this is pretty terrifying," he stated causing her to giggle and shake her head, "what's so funny?"
"Nothing, you just make me laugh that's all," she smiled, "would you like to hold onto the barrier?" she asked, letting go so that he could take her place.
"Whoa, what? I thought you needed the barrier."
"Turns out I don't need it as much as you," she quipped, trying to wink at him and failing.
Robin grinned at her, he'd almost forgotten that she couldn't wink and that she looked completely adorable when trying to. "Maybe you're right, but I did tell you that I hadn't done this in four years and I am older than you think you know."
"Twenty-nine isn't even old," she shook her head.
"That isn't what you were saying a few weeks ago," he chuckled.
"Robin, you aren't old, but you most certainly aren't an ice skater either," she laughed as she pulled him with her, managing to skate backwards as she held onto the barrier in front of him.
About an hour later the rink was nearly empty as closing time loomed over them, they were both pretty cold but didn't want to leave just yet, they wanted more time together, just enjoying themselves. "I can't feel my face," Regina stated as she moved closer to him, her arm wrapping around his as they skated together, managing to just about move away from the border.
"I can't feel other parts," he smirked, gaining a loud laugh from her, it wasn't exactly true, but the cold was beginning to get to him.
"Oh dear," Regina giggled, resting her head on his shoulder as she hummed happily.
"Your nose is red," he observed, looking at her cute button nose which had changed colour because of the cold.
"Is it?" she blushed, pressing a hand to it.
"Hmm. I'm surprised that neither of us has fallen."
"Oh great, well you just cursed us now Robin," she laughed as she felt something wet fall onto her face, looking up her eyes widened, "look! It's snowing," she breathed, reaching out and watching the flakes flutter through the air. She let go of Robin and moved into the flurry of snow, as she looked around her, "it's so beautiful," she gushed, all of a sudden losing her balance and beginning to wobble.
Robin saw her nearly fall and rushed over to her, grasping her hands and making sure that she remained upright, but this meant that they were close to one another, sharing the same air. He looked into her eyes, watching how they sparkled, god she was so beautiful, he didn't know that it was possible for someone to look that gorgeous. Gently he pushed a stray strand of her hair behind her ear, caressing her cheek as he did so, "you're so beautiful," he whispered, seeing the blush that formed on her cheeks.
"You're not so bad yourself," she quipped, her hands going to the lapels of his coat as simply resting there. The look in his eyes drove her crazy, she knew that she couldn't stop herself anymore. Forgetting about the ice below them, she pulled him towards her and touched her lips to his, gently at first, just caressing them together. They were cold and she couldn't help but open her mouth to him, searching for the warmth she hoped he would provide.
As she hoped, he opened his mouth to her and they deepened the kiss, she moaned against him, her arms wrapping around his neck as his hands seemed to find their way into her hair.
All of a sudden though, Robin lost his footing on the ice and slipped backwards, taking Regina with him. He landed on his ass with her between his legs and burst into laughter as she sunk her face into her shoulder. "I'm sorry," she chuckled kissing his shoulder lightly, before pulling back and looking down at him. "Are you okay?" she asked as he continued to laugh.
"Yeah, you kinda surprised me that's all," he brushed her hair behind her ear, just staring into her eyes, he couldn't believe they had done that, but there was no way that he could bring himself to regret it.
"We should probably get up," she stated, running her fingers over his stubble and not really making any move to go anywhere.
"Yeah, that's a good idea, I think water is seeping through my pants."
She laughed loudly, shaking her head as she kissed him one las time before getting up, her legs feeling a little jelly like as she reached out for Robin's hand, "I think we ought to get back to the hotel and warm up, don't you?"
"I think that sounds like a wonderful idea."
When they got back, Regina had insisted that Robin go in the shower first, after all he had gotten considerably wet after the slight tumble they had taken together and she knew that he really needed to get out of his damp clothes otherwise he could get ill. Regina was in the bedroom undressing, once she was in just her underwear she took a deep breath and headed towards the bathroom, what she was about to do might be a terrible idea, but she wanted to do it anyway, she didn't think that she could help herself anymore.
She knocked on the door before pushing it open, seeing that the shower was all steamy, she bit down on her bottom lip and moved towards the shower, removing her underwear before opening the door and slipping inside. She wrapped her arms around him from behind, pressing her front to his back, "it was cold out there without you," she whispered, laying her cheek against his shoulder and hearing the intake of breath that he took.
"Gina, what are you doing?" he asked under his breath, his hands finding her arms as he held them in place. He couldn't believe this was happening and he really should stop it, she didn't have her memories and wouldn't he be taking advantage of her if he let it go any further? He didn't want to hurt her or do anything she might regret later. As much as he loved her, he couldn't risk it, not now they had come so far.
"I thought you might want some company," she quipped, pressing her lips to his skin, "and like I said, I was cold."
"I don't know if this is a good idea," he sighed reluctantly.
"Robin, I want this okay," she reassured, nuzzling against him, "I want you."
"But what happens when you get your memories back and you regret it…"
"I wont regret it, I promise and I might not even get my memories back and if that is the case then we have missed out on something that could be really magical," she breathed, her fingers brushing over his toned stomach.
He was a weak man and he didn't know how much more of this begging he could take before he turned around and just pinned her against the wall giving them both what they wanted. "Regina…"
"Come on Robin, I want you, when will you just stop being stubborn and love me?" she whispered, letting go of him and moving so that she could look at his face and wrap her arms around his neck, "Robin."
"I do love you," he sighed, "and that's the problem, I won't be able to deal with losing you again."
"You won't lose me again," she shook her head, pressing her forehead to his.
"You can't say that though Regina, you can't make any promises," he ran his hands up and down her back, watching as the water showered over her, making her hair stick to her face.
"I… there has to be some reason why I didn't forget you Robin and… I know how I feel, because I do love you and I can't imagine my life without you. I don't know how I let you go the first time, but I won't do it again," she brought her hand to his cheek and caressed it gently.
"I don't think I can do this Gina, I…"
"Robin, I do love you and I don't know what the reason I let you go the first time was, but I won't do it again, just give me a chance, please," her thumb brushing across his lips tenderly as she looked at him with those eyes of hers that had the ability to just steal his heart.
He closed his eyes before moving his arm to wrap around her waist pulling her so that she was flush against him, "okay," he nodded, one hand going to tuck her hair behind her ear gently, "god, do you have any idea how gorgeous you look?"
She shrugged, "I suppose so," she closed the gap and pressed her lips against his, "however I think that the water in my eyes might be detracting from the sexiness of this somewhat. Maybe we should move out of here to somewhere more comfortable," she bit down on her bottom lip as she turned off the water and pushed her body against his before moving out of the shower and grabbing a towel. "Coming?"
"Hmm," he nodded, following behind her as he took the second towel and they headed towards the bedroom. He watched her move over to the window and open the curtain slightly so she could look outside.
"It's still snowing," she chuckled, dropping the curtain again.
"You remind me of a kid who wants it to snow so that school is closed," Robin laughed, drying off before waiting for her to make the first move.
"Yes, but only I don't want to go to my appointment with Dr Whale tomorrow," she shrugged, draping her towel over the chair that was pushed underneath the dresser before moving towards the bed and slipping under the covers, "aren't you cold?" she asked, she would have stayed out longer, but without clothes it wasn't all that warm in the room.
"A little maybe," he shrugged, he really wasn't all that cold, in fact it was quite the opposite, he had no idea what she wanted and that was making him feel rather on edge.
"Robin," she sighed, sitting up before kneeling and reaching out for him, her hand finding his as the quilt that was covering her dropped. He glanced down for a brief moment before looking at her, "come on," he went with her, sliding under the covers as she moved into his arms. She closed her eyes and smiled as she nuzzled into his hold, "I feel like I'm home when I'm with you," she stated, "there is nowhere else I would rather be."
He ginned and gave her a little squeeze, "so, what now?" he asked.
"We see what happens," she opened her eyes looking at him before kissing him, turning so that she could lay on top of him, her legs straddling his body, "would you protest if I was to do this?" she smirked, leaning down to claim his lips as she ran her hands across his chest, moving her lower half against him.
"Definitely not," he shook his head, feeling a little calmer, he wanted to enjoy what they were doing without feeling guilty about it, Regina clearly didn't, so why should he?
"Good," she hummed making her way down his chest with her mouth, trailing sucking kisses as she went, "do you remember our first time? When you taught me about sex?"
"You were a good student," he cleared his throat as his hands rubbed over her sides, "you learnt very quickly."
"I had a very good teacher," she bit down on her bottom lip as she met his eyes before running her tongue across his nipple, "am I the best you ever had Robin?" she asked, hoping that his answer would be yes, it better be otherwise that would be highly embarrassing wouldn't it.
"No one could ever live up to you, in any way," he pushed her wet hair behind her ear as she sat up and smiled at him.
"Good to know," she nodded, closing her eyes when she felt him stroke his fingers over the side of her breast before finding her nipple and playing with it lightly.
"I missed you so much," he groaned, he wanted for them to take it slowly, for them to enjoy being back together, but he also couldn't wait to be inside her, he could remember what it felt like and he just needed to feel it again, needed to be surrounded by her heat.
"I need you," Regina breathed as her hand snuck between them and wrapped around his cock, "please tell me you have protection," she rasped, breaking out of the moment because safety came first right?
"Shit," he mumbled, "I don't have anything, I didn't exactly anticipate this happening."
"Oh," she sighed looking down at his chest and running her hands over him lightly, she thought about it for a moment and met his eyes, "what do you want to do?"
"Well we can't just do it without protection Gina."
"Why not? I mean it's not as though either of us have anything," she shrugged, "maybe I have something in my purse that I didn't know about," she stated, moving from on top of him and finding her bag, she was going to have him inside her tonight if it was the last thing she did. She routed around trying to find something that would help them out, unzipping her purse she looked inside hesitantly, she hardly thought that there was going to be a stray condom in there. Not finding anything she turned to look at Robin and shook her head, "you're a guy, why don't you have a condom in your wallet?"
"Because I don't have sex all that often and if I do I usually am in my own apartment where I keep the condoms," he sighed.
Regina sighed and then caught sight of his luggage bag that was under the bed, her eyes lighting up as she pulled it out.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"I know where there are condoms, as long as you haven't found them," she opened the case and moved some of the clothes, finding the zipper in the bottom of the bag. She undid it with her fingers crossed and looked inside, "oh yes," she giggled, pulling out a whole strip of them and holding them up, "thank you past me for your ingenious ideas."
"What the hell?" Robin looked at her wide eyed, how on earth had they been in his bag all that time without him realising?
"Well, you still have the same case you had when we were together and on our last holiday I remember putting some condoms in there," she shrugged.
"Well those things are probably well out of date," he shook his head, now it was even worse, they actually had protection and still couldn't do anything.
Regina stared at the packet, reading the information that was printed onto it, "actually, I think we're good, here it says they keep for five years and the use by date is Feb 2018," she rose her eyebrows and flung the packet at him.
"Thank you, past Regina," he chuckled, undoing the packet and rolling the condom over his member.
She pushed the suitcase back under the bed before standing up and moving back over to him, she allowed her eyes to wash over his form taking him in appreciatively. "Have you been working out?" She asked, tilting her head as she took a closer look at. His body was more sculpted than it had been before, his muscles more defined.
"I've been jogging I suppose," he had found that when they first broke up just running till the point where he could barely breath took away the pain a little.
"Well you look amazing," she smiled slipping onto the bed with him.
"Says you," he shook his head, "you're practically a goddess."
"Hardly," she whispered a blush forming on her face as she moved back into the position she had been in before she went off in search of a condom.
She leant down and kissed him her hand resting on his cheek, she rubbed her thumb over it gently, "will you make love to me Robin?" She whispered.
"God yes," he rasped, managing to flip their positions so that she was underneath him. His hands brushed down over her body resting at her inner thigh, he stroked her there before moving further up and ghosting over her sex.
She closed her eyes and bit down on her bottom lip in anticipation, she knew what he was about to do and it was taking all the restraint she had not to arch against him, to make him touch her properly.
"Beautiful," he murmured his lips finding her neck as he finally allowed his fingers to slip across her clit, massaging the sensitive bud that had been dampened by her arousal.
He wanted to taste her, but knew that they had all night to fool around, right now they needed to re-establish what it felt like to be together.
Once he had her moaning and thought she was wet enough he dropped his hand, earning a frustrated grumble from Regina as she opened her eyes and glared at him, "why did you stop?" She whined, she already knew why but she'd been close.
"Wouldn't you rather have something else?" he asked raising his eyebrows at her.
"Of course," she smiled watching as he rubbed the tip of his cock through her folds, bumping against her clit before moving down to her entrance and teasing her, "please Robin," she breathed.
Although he was enjoying torturing her like this, he couldn't wait any longer, he needed it as much as she did, he just needed to feel her again. Taking a steady breath, he introduced the tip of himself inside her, watching the way her chest rose as she prepared for him to fill her properly. Not being able to wait anymore, he pushed inside her for the first time in years.
He gave her a few moments to adjust as they simply stared at one another, it was intense and part of her wanted to look away, but the main part of her was telling her to just keep looking at him. "What are you waiting for?" she whispered, her arms wrapping around his neck as she brought her knees up meaning that he could sink deeper into her.
His lips were hot and wet against her neck as he sucked there, the room was filled with the noise of slapping skin and Regina's noises of appreciation for Robin's sexual talents. His hand moved to her clit again and he began rubbing hard and fast in a circular motion, resulting in yet more moans of pleasure. She scraped her nails across his back and he groaned, causing her to buck against him, meeting his sharp thrusts. Regina whimpered in pleasure as he began to hit the spot inside of her that caused stars to form behind her eyes, "yes Robin, oh god yes, don't stop."
"Gods, Gina you feel so good," he groaned, burying his face against her neck for a moment whilst he composed himself before pulling back so that he could stare into her eyes.
"So good," she breathed, stroking her fingers through his hair and massaging his scalp, drawing a hum of appreciation from him. "So, so good," she moaned as he carried on thrusting into her, she placed one of her hands over her mouth to stop herself from yelling, she didn't trust herself to stay quiet, not when he was fucking her so damn good, "yes," she whimpered against her hand as his pace picked up, making sure that he was at just the right angle to hit the spot that made her go wild.
She squeezed her eyes shut and he chuckled, before pressing his lips all over her face, continuing to make love to her, he felt close, but he really didn't want to come yet, he didn't, he wanted to carry on forever, he couldn't get enough of her, she just felt so good, too good. "Regina," he groaned, "are you close? Please tell me you are."
"Yes, yes, I am, Robin, please I need you, I need to come so badly, I really do," her hand moved to her clit to replace his as she rubbed it in tight little circles and the hand he wasn't resting on came up to stimulate her breast. She felt amazing and she was close, she was going to come any minute, she was… "oh god!" she cried loudly, arching into him on one particularly hard thrust which had her toppling over the edge, "Robin," she breathed, dropping down like dead weight as her hand left her clit and she took hold of his arm as he carried on for a couple more thrusts.
His cock throbbed and he felt his balls tighten as he released in his climax, earning a moan from her as she closed her eyes and licked her lips. She moved her hand to brush through his damp hair as he dropped down partially on top of her, he was heavy but she was happy for the weight, it felt good, she wrapped her arms around him and ran her fingers up and down his back, it was sticky with perspiration and she smiled contentedly as he nuzzled against her neck.
He pulled out from inside her before moving off the bed and heading to the bathroom, he disposed of the used condom before returning to her and slipping into bed beside her, pulling her into his arms, "so?"
"Amazing," she hummed, closing her eyes as she buried her head against his chest, she felt exhausted now, it had really tired her out completely, "you're so good at that, I came so hard."
"Me too," he chuckled, pressing a kiss to the top of her head, "and you don't regret it?"
"Not for a single second," she shook her head, a smile playing on her features, "I need sleep."
Robin nodded in agreement, he was on the same page as her with that one, he had forgotten how tiring sex was and he was surprised that he had been able to last that long considering that he hadn't had sex in quite a while. "I think we should both sleep, we had a long and rather active day."
"Hmm," she draped her hair over him before looking up and meeting his eyes, "I love you."
"Love you too Gina."
December 19th 2017
Regina groaned as she opened her eyes, she felt sore between her thighs and couldn't quite remember how many times they had managed to have sex the night before, not that she was complaining because it had been amazing, but the ache had now set in and she was beginning to think that maybe she shouldn't have insisted on that last round. After the first one they had woken up at some point and gone again.
She turned to face Robin and pressed a light kiss on his shoulder before slipping out of bed and going to find some underwear to change into. She found a dark blue set and settled on that one, she covered her arms with her silk dressing gown, not bothering to tie it as she headed out into the kitchen. She wanted to make him something and surprise him for when he woke up. He had been taking care of her for over two weeks and she felt as though it were time to return the favour.
Just as she flicked the coffee pot on though, she felt strong arms wrap around her from behind and his stubble covered chin rest on her shoulder, "you're up?"
"I am," she laughed, one of her hands coming to cover his that laid on her stomach, "I thought I might get us some breakfast."
"I'm sorry I didn't wake up sooner, but that was the best, sleep, I've had in a very long time. Also, I think it might be more lunch time now," Robin chuckled, gesturing towards the clock that was hung on the wall.
"Oh, well I suppose breakfast in bed is out of the question then," she sighed turning in his arms as she bit down on her bottom lip.
"I don't know, I think I could arrange something," he smirked bending down and picking her up before placing her on the counter. Her robe was gaping open revelling her body which was clad in underwear alone. He ran his hands across her body before pressing his lips to her neck and making his way downwards, actually being able to see her properly due to the daylight streaming through the large windows. He just reached her lower abdomen when he stopped and pulled back, "hey, what's this?" he asked, running his fingers across a faint scar and looking up at her in confusion.
Regina furrowed her eyebrows and looked down at where he was touching, she tucked her hair behind her ear and slid off the counter before moving into the bathroom and flicking the light on. She looked in the mirror and frowned, what the hell was that? "I don't know," she shook her head, "maybe it happened in the accident or something. Or it could have been something to do with what my mother was talking about when she paid us a visit."
"Maybe," that scar hadn't been there before they broke up, so it was obviously just another thing she had forgotten. "So, plans for today?"
"Snuggle in bed?" she suggested.
"Sounds like a plan."
December 23rd 2017
"Robin, we don't need to go to a fancy restaurant," she shook her head as she straightened her dress in the mirror, "I am perfectly fine with take out."
"Regina, come on, you look beautiful and I booked the restaurant so we have to go now," Robin chuckled, "you'll have a good time."
"I know that, but it's expensive."
"I have money Gina, I'm not a broke college student anymore, I can afford to treat you and I want to."
A small smile made its way onto her face as she nodded in agreement, if he wanted to do it, she wasn't going to try talking him out of it. He did have a good point, she had taken half the afternoon getting ready. She'd curled her hair a little, attempting to tame her natural locks in the process and painted her lips a deep red colour so that they matched her dress.
She and Robin had spent five whole days just doing pretty much nothing, he had been telling her about his life since they broke up and how he had been pretty miserable. It made her wish even more that she knew the reason she had done that to him, the reason she caused him so much pain. She couldn't imagine it would have been an easy decision because he was the best man she had ever met.
"I'm ready," she stated, moving to wrap her arms around him, "are you sure I can't tempt you to spend the evening with me in the comfort of our hotel room, where we can do a rage of different sinful things," she rose her eyebrows at him playfully.
"Do you really not want to go out?"
"I do," she nodded, "come on," she pulled away and took his hand in hers as she led him out of their hotel room and into the lift, "this restaurant better be good considering it forced me to get out of my onesie," she giggled.
"I think that thing needs to go in the wash," he chuckled as he shook his head. He'd been thinking about what they were going to do, they could hardly just live in a hotel room for the rest of their lives, they needed to work something out. He had his apartment back in London, but he doubted Regina would want to move there when her whole life was here in NYC. Tonight, though he wasn't going to worry about that, he just wanted to enjoy the holiday, maybe after Christmas would be the time for them to talk about the future.
"I love my onesie," she scrunched her nose up as they climbed in the cab and she moved under his arm.
"Yeah, you're cute in that onesie, doesn't mean it isn't dirty."
"I'll wash it," she shrugged, "after Christmas."
"Dirty bitch," he chuckled.
"Hey!" she slapped him playfully, "it isn't that dirty."
"Regina, you spilt lasagne down it last night, how is it not that dirty?"
"You can't even see that bit," Regina mumbled.
"Sure you can't."
About ten minutes of fighting about onesies later, the car stopped and they realised that they were at their destination, "thank you," she nodded to the driver as Robin paid him and they stepped out. "I've never been here before," she stated as they walked down the road towards where the restaurant was.
All of a sudden something caught her attention in the corner of her eye and she felt a sinking feeling in her stomach, one so strong that she felt as though she were going to throw up. She stopped still and grabbed Robin's arm, her head turning to see a hospital, it wasn't the one she had been in after her car accident, it was different.
"Regina? What is it?" he asked, looking to where she was staring, "are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine," she shook her head, turning to look away from the building, she didn't like how it was making her feel, "I don't know what it was, maybe just a little blip that's all." She smiled at him and threaded her fingers with his, "trust me, I'm fine."
"Sure?"
"Yes."
When they reached the restaurant, she furrowed her eyebrows and looked at Robin, "I have been here."
"You said you hadn't."
"I know I said I hadn't but I have, I remember coming here, I don't know when or why, but I remember coming here."
As they walked through the double doors, it hit her and her eyes widened, she swallowed heavily, she felt as though she was going to have a panic attack as she looked to Robin. He just cast her a reassuring smile and squeezed her hand, she tightened her grip on him and took a deep breath, she could do this, she could go after her happiness.
Regina had been distracted throughout the meal, but she had tried not to let it show, working her hardest to appear calm and carefree even when she had been quite the opposite of that. Now they were in bed and Robin was asleep beside her, his arms wrapped around her, completely oblivious to what was going through her head. She had promised him that she wouldn't hurt him again and she wouldn't, she physically couldn't face breaking his heart again, not when he was what she wanted anyway.
Glancing at the clock she read that it was two am and closed her eyes, she should be asleep, but she physically couldn't drift off, not with all that was going through her mind, she had to do something about it. She turned to look at Robin and pressed a light kiss to his nose one that wouldn't wake him, carefully she caressed his cheek and manoeuvred her way out of his arms. She threw all her stuff into a bag and quietly pulled some slacks on with Robin's baggy jumper before heading to the door, she stopped there and glanced over at Robin, she closed her eyes and shut the door behind her before grabbing some snow boots, her purse and her winter coat, she put them on and left the hotel.
"244 North 5th Street, Brooklyn please," she instructed the taxi driver as he pulled up and she moved to sit in the back seat, she knew this might be a bad idea, but she had to do it, she couldn't have this burden on her any more, it wasn't fair to the people involved.
After a lot of thumb twiddling and too long of a drive, the cab pulled up outside the apartment block, she ran her hands over her face and paid the fare before stepping out and walking towards the apartment block. She found the key in her bag and unlocked the front door before heading to the floor where the apartment was located. Once she was at the door she didn't know if she could do it, maybe she could just pretend not to know, wouldn't that be kinder than what she was going to have to do? No, it wasn't and she damn well knew it, she had to do this.
Raising her hand, she knocked on the door waiting for the person inside to answer, it wasn't long before the door was swinging open and she faced up to the reality of the situation, she was here and she had to do this. "Hi," she cringed.
"Regina," he smiled, "wait, what are you doing here? How… oh my god…"
"I remember you," she nodded, confirming his suspicion, before she knew it he was pulling her into his arms and kissing her, she was rather taken aback but she could understand and maybe this hadn't been the best idea she'd ever had, she didn't return the kiss, didn't even close her eyes.
When Daniel pulled back he looked at her face and the joy from his was almost immediately erased as he closed his eyes, "oh. So you finally remember and it's too late," he sighed, moving into the apartment and gesturing for her to come inside.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to happen," she shook her head, "well, if I'd had my memories it wouldn't have happened as it did, but I… I never stopped loving him, I'm so sorry Daniel I really, really am. I hate that I hurt you."
"I get it, he's your first love," the man shook his head as he flopped down on the couch and rubbed his hands over his eyes, "I think I need to move out of this apartment."
"Daniel… it's your apartment," she sighed, she remembered when they had been deciding where they were going to go and they decided on his, "I'll just grab my things, I really am so sorry," she cried moving to sit beside him, "I do love you it's just…"
"You love him more, you don't have to explain," he scoffed and she could see that he was trying not to get annoyed with her, but maybe that was what he needed to do, maybe he needed to shout at her a little and get it all out.
"I do, I owe you that much," she whispered taking his hands in hers, "please, I want to tell you."
"Regina, I don't want to know what you've been doing…"
"No! I didn't mean that, I meant let me just try and make you understand."
"Okay, I'm listening."
Robin ran a hand over his face as he turned and reached out for Regina, but all he was met with was cold sheets. He yawned and sat up, it felt as though she hadn't been there for a while which was odd. She had been acting strangely all-night, ever since they stepped out of that cab she had been a different person, she said she was fine, but he had a feeling she wasn't being fully truthful with him, there was more going on than she was making out.
Groaning he moved out of bed, noting the cold temperature of the room as he headed into he other part of the hotel suite, maybe she just couldn't sleep, "Regina," he called out, walking into the sitting room, expecting to see her sat on the couch, he was surprised when she wasn't there, but turned to the bathroom instead. He was just about to open the door when he noticed that her coat was missing from the rack. "Regina?"
What the hell was going on, had she actually gone out in the middle of the night? She could be god knows where. Hurrying back into the bedroom he changed his clothes and grabbed his phone before rushing out of the hotel, she had to be somewhere right. He tried to call her whilst the lift descended, seeming to go about ten times slower than it usually did, "come on Regina, pick up, pick up."
He didn't know what was going on, but the one thing that was going around and around in his head was that he had lost her again, it was happening the same way and he was going to lose her. He was a stupid idiot, people had warned him, told him not to go there, that she was bad for him, but he didn't listen, she was like a drug that he was addicted to and instead of staying sober, he decided to drown himself in her.
She didn't pick up the phone so he tried her again, hoping this time for her to answer, how could she just walk out like that without a word? She just disappeared into thin air, she could be anywhere and he had no clue where to even start looking for her, but he knew that he had to.
Regina wiped her eyes as she waited to leave Daniel's apartment, she had all her stuff with her, everything packed into one case, everything small that was, the other stuff he said that he would drop off for her when she managed to move back into her apartment. She hadn't sold it, deep down she knew the reason for that, the reason she decided to keep her old place, it was because of Robin, that was their place and she had been totally against letting it go. She hadn't even let Daniel stay over, not in the master bedroom anyway. That had been her bed, the one she shared with Robin and she didn't want to lose that.
Daniel had understood when she finally got around to explaining everything, it had taken them a couple of hours of talking to sort it all out, but she had given him the engagement ring back saying that he should give it to someone who could fully give him their heart because he deserved it and she wasn't that woman. She still felt terrible, she should have known something like this would happen and that she would end up breaking him, she didn't know why she bloody said yes when he asked her to marry him, but she had been totally and utterly selfish in doing that.
Regina was taking Lola, she was her dog after all and Daniel had said that he would be working away too much to have time to look after her. In that moment Regina was sat quietly on the couch with a sleepy Lola, the dog's head resting on her lap. Daniel had called her a taxi and they were waiting for it to turn up. She glanced over at him and smiled sadly, "we were good together for a while weren't we."
"Yeah," he nodded, "I know that it's him you want to be with and there is no chance I'm getting in the way of that. I want you to be happy."
She took a deep breath before moving over to him and pressing her lips to his cheek, "thank you, I hope you know how special you are to me."
"If you ever need help with anything, you have my number," he nodded, she could tell he was trying to be strong but his eyes were red from where his tears had stung.
"I do and you have mine," she whispered hearing the buzzer which told them that the taxi was waiting outside. "I suppose this is goodbye for now then," she sighed giving him one last hug, holding him close before pulling back awkwardly and taking her things.
"Let me carry it down for you," he stated, picking up her case, "it's late are you sure you don't want to stay at the apartment I can..."
"Daniel, I can't I'm sorry, thank you for everything but I need to get back. Lola," she called giving the dogs head a brief stroke before heading out of the apartment and down the stairs to the awaiting cab.
She climbed into the back, Lola hopping in with her as Daniel put her case in the trunk. She rolled down the window and tucked her hair behind her ear, "thank you again, I'm just so glad you understand."
"I love you and I just want you to be happy."
She reached for his hand and gave it a little squeeze as the driver drove away. Letting go she sat back in her seat and closed her eyes, she was one step closer to her happiness and to finally getting what she wanted, it was just painful that someone who had been dear to her ended up getting hurt in the process.
Robin traipsed back to the hotel, she wasn't answering her phone and he had no idea what was going on.
He'd called her mother but she hadn't answered either which he hadn't been surprising because it was the middle of the night. He kicked some of the snow under his boot, it was freezing cold outside, he just hoped that she was somewhere warm.
He had a horrible feeling that she was leaving him, that she'd remembered and his worst fears were being confirmed, he was going to lose her for a second time. This time it would be even worse, especially knowing the reason she didn't want him was because she loved someone else. She was probably in love with Daniel, what if she was with him whilst he was here panicking about her? It would break his heart if that was the case, he didn't know how he would cope with it.
Robin wiped a hand across his nose, trying to stop it from running due to the cold and he was just about to enter the hotel when someone came running out and bumped straight into him. He looked up and saw her stood there, her dark eyes staring into his, "you came back."
"I promised you I would," she breathed, resting her head against his, "I love you so much," she cried, her arms wrapping around him.
"You remembered?" he whispered against her ear as she nodded.
"Yes, I… I remembered whilst we were out but I was too scared to say anything I didn't know what to do but… I saw Daniel," she stated pulling back to look at him, "shall we go inside where it's warm?"
"Yes," he nodded, he didn't know what to think, what would happen now? She had been so adamant that that she wouldn't regain her memories and he'd almost started to believe it also, but now clearly that wasn't the truth.
January 27th 2014
A knock sounded on the door of his apartment as he was cooking up something for himself, Regina said she had other plans and was off out with friends so she wouldn't be coming around. He was disappointed because he always felt odd when she wasn't with him, she was like an extra limb, so it was strange when she wasn't there.
Putting down the whisk he had in his hand he wiped his hands on his apron before heading to the door, he looked through the little hole and smiled. "Hello," he chuckled as he opened the door and his eyes met hers, "I wasn't expecting you tonight, I thought you were going out with the girls tonight."
"They cancelled," she whispered coming inside, he heard her take a deep breath before turning to look at him.
"Aww, well that's a shame, I know how much you were looking forward to seeing them," he sighed, kissing the side of her head as he moved back over to the stove and she came to watch him cook. "I made enough for two if you're interested."
"I'm not hungry thank you," she shook her head, leaning against the kitchen island making a lot of huffing noise which Robin knew was a bad sign. She was probably just annoyed that the girls had cancelled on her at such short notice, he couldn't blame her really, but he was kinda glad they had because that meant that she was all his for the evening and he could keep her to himself.
"Maybe you'll just have to reschedule with the girls until next week," he shrugged as he turned off the heat and moved the pan onto the heat mat to cool a little.
"Maybe."
He furrowed his eyebrows and glanced up at her, she didn't seem her normal self, something was definitely amiss with her. With a sigh he moved over to her and placed his hands on her upper arms, feeling her flinch at his touch, "okay, what's up?"
"Nothing," she muttered.
"Really? Because I think that there is something wrong, something that you're not telling me and I want to know. You can talk to me Gina, you know that."
"I don't want to talk to you Robin," she spat, her demeanour taking a turn for the worse as she glared at him, "do you know what? I can't do this anymore," she pulled away from him and grabbed her coat.
"Whoa, Regina I don't know what I did that's upset you, but you can't just walk out like that."
"You don't own me Robin!"
"I know, I never thought I did, I just want you to talk to me instead of yelling at me. Whatever is going on you can talk to me and we can fix it…"
"We can't fix this Robin, it's too late," she cried, "I just, I can't be with you anymore."
"What are you saying?" he asked, his heart thumping in his chest as he prepared for the worst.
"I'm saying that I think we need to be apart," she stated, he could see her gritting her teeth as she spoke and trying to stop herself from crying.
"No, babe, come on, you don't mean that, we're in love, aren't we? I mean, you said you loved me and I though you meant it just as much as I did. You can't just leave me."
"I have to," she whispered moving for the door, clearly trying to run away from the situation.
"Regina, you have to give me a better reason than that! Just tell me what I've done, tell me what I can do to fix this, please!"
"There isn't anything you can do Robin, we're over."
"Regina…"
"It has to be this way, I can't do this, we can't be together anymore."
His heart was physically tearing into two halves, it was as though she had reached right inside her chest and pulled it out before taking it in her hand and crushing it to dust right in front of him. "We were going to be a family Regina, we had plans how can you just walk away from that?!"
"Please, don't make it any harder than it already is. Goodbye Robin, please don't try and contact me again," she whispered before moving out of the apartment and closing the door behind her, leaving him there, his life completely shattered with no hope for the future. His love was gone and she had taken his heart along with her.
December 24th 2017
They sat on the couch next to one another with Lola curled up asleep on the arm chair. Regina closed her eyes and chanced a look at Robin, this was going to be the hardest thing she had done that night and she thought that breaking it off with Daniel was hard, that would be nothing compared to what she was having to do right now. "I remembered everything, the reason I... the reason I broke your heart like I know I did."
He saw the tears already trickling down her cheeks and reached out to wipe them away gently, "hey," he whispered, his other hand reaching out to take hers. He didn't know what her reason was, but maybe he was finally going to find out, finally know whether what she did was justified in any way at all.
"I wanted to let you have the best chance and I knew that letting you go would be the best way to do that," she admitted.
"Wanna tell me the thinking behind that?" He frowned still stroking across her skin gently, that most certainly wasn't the end of her explanation.
She cleaned her throat, "I didn't want you to have to see me like that."
"Like what?"
She swiped her eyes as she looked at the worried expression on his face, "I was ill Robin," she admitted, "and I didn't know if I was going to make it."
"What are you talking about? You weren't ill, you were perfectly healthy, weren't you?" He swallowed heavily as he stared at her, he felt as though his heart was in his mouth, he didn't like the way this conversation was going.
"I had cancer," she whispered looking down at the floor.
"You..." his voice broke as he looked at her, feeling his eyes begin to water, "you had... you had cancer?"
"Yes," she nodded, "I knew that I was going to need chemo and I didn't want you to see me go through something like that."
"I could have been there for you," he cried shaking his head as he pulled her closer to him, "I would have wanted to be there with you, you went through that alone! Regina that's... why would you do that?"
"I knew it was bad, I knew it wouldn't go away, they told me that the best option would be to have a... have a hysterectomy."
"You had a... the scar," he pressed his hand to her abdomen gently, "I'm so sorry Regina." He couldn't believe it, all this time he had been resenting her for just throwing him away and she had been going through all that, dealing with it without him. He never should have just accepted the break up, he should have forced her to tell him the truth, then he could have been there for her and helped her with it.
"I felt broken and I didn't want you to be lumbered with me, I didn't want you stuck with a woman who was sick and couldn't offer you anything but her heart. I still feel broken, I can never give you those children we wanted so badly."
"They don't matter Regina, none of that matters," he shook his head pulling her so that she was curled up on his lap, her head buried against his shirt, "all that mattered to me then was you, you were and still are the most important person in my life."
"I didn't want to make you go through all that with me, not when you could have found a new beautiful girlfriend, one who wasn't sick and one who could give you children," she whispered. She knew that had been important to him, hell it had been important to the both of them, they had both dreamed about becoming parents, having a house and a family with children running around, she had known back then that if he stayed with her he would never get that and he had deserved it, she wanted it for him.
"I didn't and still don't want to have children with anyone but you, when I picture the person I start a life with it's you I see, not anyone else. So what if you cant have those children naturally, yes I know you wanted to be pregnant and experience what that was like, but it doesn't mean we can't have children, there are lots of other ways that we can have kids Regina."
She stared at him and swallowed heavily, she knew he was right, but it didn't hurt any less and she could see that he was hurting too, probably just as much as she was. "I just wish that we'd had our babies earlier, before it was too late. We should have begun working on our family straight away…"
"You can't talk like that Regina, I know it must have hurt like hell to do what you did, I was in pain and I wasn't the one who decided to give up the one I loved…"
"I just wanted you to be happy Robin, I wanted you to find a new love."
"And did it happen? No, because I couldn't move on, I don't think I can ever move on, nor would I want to."
"You still want me? Even if I'm broken?"
"Of course, I still want you, how could you even think that something like that would change the way I feel about you? Nothing will ever be able to change the way I feel about you, to me you are the most perfect thing on this earth and you have no idea how lucky I know I am to have you again. You aren't broken Regina and I don't want you thinking like that okay," he cupped her cheek gently, "I love you and I wish you would have let me be with you whilst you were going through all that."
"I didn't want you to hurt like I was hurting, but I know I was stupid and made the wrong decision, I'm sorry," she whispered, nuzzling against him, "will we be okay?"
"Of course we will," he kissed the top of her head, "just don't leave me again."
"I won't," she shook her head as she cuddled him, "I promise I won't, I love you Robin."
They sat there in silence, a million thoughts still rushing through their minds, Regina looked up at him and sighed, "I broke it off with Daniel, told him that I couldn't be with him anymore," she whispered.
"Oh, how did he take that?"
"Better than I thought he would have done, but I moved out and I have all my things."
"I see," he nodded, part of him was relieved, whilst the other part off him felt sorry for the other man, he had clearly been in love with her. The main part of him though was overjoyed that he had her back and that he wouldn't be letting her go ever again. "So what do we do now? I have my apartment in London."
"Hmm, and I have my apartment," she confessed.
"The apartment you had when we were together?" he asked watching her expression and wondering why she kept it.
"Yes, that one, I didn't let anyone sleep in our bed," she murmured, glancing at his face.
"Our bed?"
"Yes, that was our bed Robin and I couldn't bring myself to let anyone else in there," Regina pressed a kiss to his cheek and closed her eyes, feeling the effects of staying up pretty much all night, it was already 6am and she hadn't slept a wink.
"I think we should get some sleep, don't you," he ran his fingers over her face gently as he looked over at Lola who was pretty much comatose in the arm chair.
"I think you read my mind."
"Come on then, lets go to bed."
December 25th 2017
"Robin," Regina whispered looking at his face as she prodded him, "hello," she almost giggled noticing that he still hadn't woken up. It had been a long day yesterday, they had decided to leave the hotel and go to Regina's apartment because they wanted to spend Christmas there, so they had to move all their things and then spruce up the place a little when they arrived. Not to mention dash to the shops in order to buy some food for Christmas dinner.
Regina pressed her lips against his cheek, "wake up lazy bum," she murmured poking his face gently, watching as he scrunched up his nose, "Robin, it's Christmas!" she shouted causing him to pull his pillow out from under his head and fling it at her. "Hey, she laughed moving to straddle his hips, "that wasn't very nice."
"Gina I'm sleeping," he groaned, trying to turn over with her on top of him and managing meaning she was sat on his ass.
"But it's Christmas Robin," she sighed laying down on top of him, "come on," she kissed his neck, "I want my present."
"You're a child," he chuckled rising his hips and managing to shrug her off, "come on then."
"Yay!" she jumped out of bed and grabbed his arm pulling him with her. He got out of bed and rubbed his eyes as they made their way into the sitting room. She flopped onto the couch, pulling her legs underneath her and looking at him expectantly.
Robin shook his head at her and picked up one of the presents he had for her from under the tree before passing it to her, "here you go."
"Oooh!" she squealed feeling the present before tearing the wrapping off and grinning at him as she pulled it out, "a panda one!"
Robin laughed as he watched her stand up and change into the onesie before moving down to the tree and taking out one of his presents. "I thought I would get you another since your penguin is dirty."
"True," she nodded, passing him his gift, she bit down on her bottom lip as she watched him, eager to see what he would think of the present she had gotten for him.
He glanced at her as he opened the present, seeing something cream and fluffy underneath the paper before spotting a black nose and some eyes, "you didn't," he chuckled.
"Of course, I did, I told you that your penguin needed her polar bear and since you refused to buy it yourself I thought I would buy it for you instead."
Robin laughed as he took the onesie out of the packaging and looked at it, "you don't actually expect me to wear this do you?"
"Please! For me Robin!"
"Urgh, really?" he rolled his eyes playfully before stepping into it, once it was on Regina found the zip and pulled it up.
"You're a cute polar bear," she hummed, wrapping her arms around him, "you're my polar bear."
He grinned and pressed his lips against hers, "I love you."
"Love you too, do you like your Christmas present?"
"I think I got the best Christmas present ever this year. I got you."