Emma grins while the smoke surrounds her. She lets them appear in a completely different realm. Something she read about in a book.
It's a big city at the sea. Drowning is a fun killing and besides that reading at the edge of the water is quite nice.
Emma places herself in a huge castle, but not just a castle, It's filled with all the books in the world and reaches so high that it touches the sky. She lives there alone with her guards, and maybe in the future some boys to play with. And although she is young, she read her mother's story often enough to know how to get those and how to deal with them. It's more like a challenge than a desire. Her mother gave her a lot of inspiration.
She places her mother in a small old building, under some palm trees. She is the head of an orphanage now. Let's see if she still likes kids when she has 50 of them. She made sure she killed a lot of parents, so Regina will be busy. No husband for her, no love of her life, a well-deserved curse.
Robin is married to a beautiful woman (the fairest of the land?) and doesn't remember Regina at all. Not that Regina remembers him, no one remembers a thing of their past. He is unhappy, but his wife is loved by everyone so he pretends to have a perfect life. He is a postman and often comes to the orphanage with bills, the most terrible job, because he knows the orphanage has very little money, not enough to pay the bills he gives them. The children there always come to him to ask if he has any letters of their parents, but he always has to answer no to that question...
Snow and James are together (she likes some love she can ruin). They are very good friends with Robin and Samanta (his new wife).
Henry lives with a group of lost boys in the jungle now. She had never liked him very much and he doesn't deserve a comfortable life. Besides that. The jungle is far away from the city so there is a very small chance he will ever come across Snow or Regina.
Emma keeps Juli in the castle. Just... no she doesn't need her. She doesn't need anyone, but still.
This morning is like any other morning Regina can remember. She goes to bed tired and she wakes up, still tired. Hours before the sun rises she's already busy making breakfast for the, currently, 45 children in her orphanage. She loves them all, each and everyone, but it's hard. Life hasn't been easy for her up until now and it doesn't seem it will be better soon. She has one light in her morning schedule. When the postman delivers the bills. Bills she can't pay but he somehow never comes to collect the money. He's a gorgeous man... Too bad he's wearing a wedding ring.
This morning, like every other morning, Regina looks out of the window to see when this postman arrives. When she sees him in the distance, she quickly refreshes her face. She looks down at her dress. Brown and filthy but it's the only one she has. She shrugs. It's not like he's interested in someone like her. When the postman, she doesn't even know his name, arrives, Regina opens the door with a bright smile on her face.
This is the only moment on the whole day, Robin feels insecure about his appearance: the moment he knocks on the door of the orphanage and sees this beautiful woman. At home everyone always says how good he looks and if he doesn't there is always someone to fix it, but here... He just isn't sure anymore.
He smiles when she opens the door. "Same as always," he says. He hands over the letters. Should he tell her how good she looks? No, of course not that's ridiculous... Her just keeps quiet and stands there.
"Thank you, sir." Regina nodds her appreciation. He looks so handsome, again. A shy blush appears on her face. "Thank you." she repeats. She looks away. "I already said that." she whispers.
Robin grins. "You're welcome, madam," he says. "Well... I should go, have a nice day."
He walks away but his eyes keep focused on her... Too long...
Regina keeps staring at the postman until he is out of sight. She sighs. There goes the best part of her day. She turns around and walks back into the building. It's an old and big one. Legend tells it's haunted by the spirit of one of the most evil man who has ever lived. Regina herself has never felt comfortable in this house but it's the one she inherited, along with the orphanage that's inside of it. She sighs again when she rings the bell for breakfast.
All the children run into the kitchen at once. Pushing each other, fighting at the best place at the table.
"Madam Mills," a girl says, "Charlie hit me."
"Charlie, how many times do I have to punish you before you realize it's never okay to hurt someone?" Regina asks, with a soft but stern voice.
"She started," Charlie exclaims, "she called me names."
Regina sighs. "Can't you all just get along for one day? Please?"
The girl sighs angrily and sits down at the table. "No give me the bread!" Someone shouts, "he has more food than I have!" "Madam he is on my place." "I was sitting here!" All the voices fill the room, one big chaos. One girl starts to cry.
Regina hits her fists on the table. "Please!" she starts. "The Princess is coming to visit us today. That's the first time in... Well... Forever. Can you please all be at your best behavior, starting right now?"
Everyone falls silent when Regina hits the table. Some children startle. "Is the princess coming?" A boy asks. "Why," another boy asks. Everyone starts to whisper.
"If you would all stay silent, I can explain." Regina waits for the noise to stop. "Yes, the Princess is coming to visit all of you. To see what kind of work I do here. Maybe she'll even show you one of her magic tricks. But you'll all need to be very good then, alright?" Regina doesn't mention a thing about the payments she's behind and will never be able to pay. Children don't need to worry about that. She does. She just hopes that isn't the main purpose why Princess Emma is coming to visit the orphanage. She smiles now. "So please, for just one day, try to be friends with one another. Can I count on you all?"
Most of the children nod. "But then Andrew has to stop stealing my candies!" a boy shouts and it doesn't take long before the whole table is chaos again. Chaos until they hear a knock on the door.
Regina startles. "Be good now, alright? Please? If you are, if you all are, I'll have a little surprise for you tonight." She quickly gets up and hurries to the door. She opens it.
The kids immediately stop talking. They love surprises and are too curious to ruin this opportunity of a surprise. They all keep sitting on the table, while the eldest kids clean up the breakfast table.
"Madam Mills, greetings," says a guard. Princess Emma steps out of the coach in a beautiful long black dress.
Regina nodds to the guard but her eyes are focused on the girl stepping out of the coach. She's a stunning girl, barely older than 13. "Princess Emma." she nodds towards the girl. "Thank you for visiting us today."
"It's not just a visit, I'm here to claim the money you owe me," Emma says. She walks inside without asking and comes into the room where all the kids sit silently around the table. "I assume you have the money," she says, gracefully picking up one of the bills she created.
Regina follows Princess Emma inside. "Please, can we discuss this in private?" she softly asks.
"Private?" Emma says, "I don't see the point in that. I came to this dusty house, which isn't even cleaned and is full of dust. So if you don't make your house suitable for a princess, unfortunately, I won't listen to what you have to say."
Regina looks down, ashamed. "I'm sorry, Emma." she starts. "I'm up since 4 AM to prepare breakfast for 45 children. I don't really have time to...". But she can't finish her sentence.
"You don't have time for what!" Emma snaps, now moving closer towards the children. "How dare you to call me Emma, it's Princes Emma and nothing else. Bow for me!"
"I... I'm sorry, Princess Emma." Regina makes a very small bow. She notices the children are getting afraid. "It's alright, sweethearts. It's alright." she whispers.
"It not alright," Emma snaps, "this woman right here doesn't pay her bills. Isn't that unfair? Everyone should pay their bills don't they?" When she doesn't react she says it harder, more threatening, "Don't they?"
"Please." Regina whispers. "They're just kids. They don't need to worry about my bills. Please."
"They do need to worry about them, because if you don't pay them, there will be consequences," Emma snaps. She walks away from the room of kids into a small office, the private place Regina wanted. The children look at Regina, frightened.
"I will take care of this. You just finish up cleaning the table and play nicely, alright? Don't forget the surprise!" Regina smiles, more confidently than she's feeling inside, and follows Princess Emma inside her small office. "This job doesn't bring much money to the table." she whispers. "I can barely give them enough to eat on a daily basis. There are days I can't eat myself so all of them can eat at least something. I... I'm doing the best I can, Princess Emma."
"Then you need to get your money somewhere else," Emma says. "You're lucky someone is paying a part of the money for you, otherwise you wouldn't even have a house anymore."
Regina's eyes flash up to those of Emma. "What... What are you saying? Who... Who is paying part of the money? I don't know anything about this."
"You don't?" Emma grins, "well it seems someone feels pity for you or something. He calls himself Robin. His wife is one of my dearest friends."
Regina slowly nodds. She doesn't know of any Robin. "Thank you. Thank you for telling me this, Princess Emma." she whispers. "I... I'll make sure I'll get the rest of the money as soon as possible."
"One week," Emma says, "I'll give you one week to pay and otherwise you'll be living on the streets with all of your little beasts."
Regina startles from the harsh tone in the voice of this, still little, girl. "I... I can't promise anything." Regina whispers. "But I'll try my best."
"I don't need a promise," Emma says, "One week and this house will be gone."
"Please, Princess Emma. You can't just put 45 children on the street. Please." Regina begs.
"Of course I can if you don't pay," Emma says, "I'll be back in seven days and I'll see if you have what I want." She poofs away and soon her coach and guards leave too.
Regina stays behind, stunned. She feels the sense of magic around her. It feels somewhat... familiar? That can't be. Regina has never been able to perform magic through her entire life. But still... She can't shake the feeling of familiarity completely. "Don't be so crazy." she whispers to herself. She heads back to the children. "After your surprise tonight, you all have to go to sleep and be very good, alright? I need to be somewhere, just for a couple of hours. Can you do that for me?"
"You're leaving us?" a little girl asks. She clings to her teddy bear. All the children look at Regina, not knowing if they have to be frightened or happy.
Regina starts to giggle. "Come on, now. Would I ever leave you? You don't need to worry, sweethearts. I just need to be somewhere that will give me the money I need. I promise it will all work out. You don't have to worry about a thing." She smiles brightly. "Now, if you'll all go outside and play nicely, then I'll prepare the surprise." The kids don't know how to get out of the house fast enough. Regina smiles again. She then starts to work on her very own recipe; lasagna.
The children play outside. They're all talking about what happened. Some stay close to the house, so they can flee inside if the princess will come back. Charlie falls while they're playing football and starts to cry.
Regina checks everything in the kitchen to see if it's safe to go outside and see what all the crying is about. "Oh, Charlie. You're my little clown, aren't you?" Regina smiles. She takes care of the little wound on his knee. "There you go. All better." she smiles. "I'm almost done. Just a couple of minutes now." Regina goes inside to finish the lasagna. She then rings the bell for dinner. She has worked in the kitchen all day now.
All the children are exhausted and hungry. When they go inside they all get blown away by the amazing smell. They all sit down and they are all silent (which is a miracle). They look into Regina's eyes full of happiness. This is the best thing they got in days.
"I do hope you like the surprise." Regina smiles, while getting the massive lasagna out of the oven. She's made 2 of them, so everyone will have plenty. "And I do hope it's good." She smiles brightly.
The children all eat their lasagna and for the first time in weeks their stomachs are full. "Thank you," the boy next to Regina whispers. "It's delicious," an girl says. When all the lasagna is gone, the youngest kids fight over who will get to lick the last pieces out of the bowl.
Regina giggles. "Alright, alright, alright." she smiles. "Time to go to bed now. I'll ask Lady Tremaine to watch over you until I get back. Please, don't give her a hard time. She's an old lady. I know you can do that." Regina gives every single one of the kids a kiss goodnight. She then walks over to the little house not far from the orphanage. She knocks on the door.
"Yes?" a voice comes out of the house.
"Lady Tremaine? It's me, Regina. I need your help tonight. Is that alright?" Regina asks politely through the door.
Lady Tremaine opens the door. "Oh Regina it's you," she says. She smiles and gives Regina a hug (as good as she can) "what do you need help with, sweetheart?"
"I need someone to watch over the kids for a little while. Just until I'm back. I... I need to be somewhere. But they are all fast asleep and I asked them to be good. Most of the time, they do that." Regina smiles softly.
"Yes of course I can watch over the kids," lady Tremaine says, "it has been a long time since I've seen them. What do you need to do?"
"I need to find some money." Regina mumbles. "But I know where I need to be. Thank you for your help, Lady Tremaine." Regina helps the old lady to walk to the orphanage. "Thank you again. I'll be back as soon as possible. It should take me just a couple of hours." Regina nodds to the old lady and disappears into the night. She walks for a very long time, until she has reached one of the larger villages in the city. She looks around and heads for the tavern. The famous tavern. She heard some rumors about women getting paid very good money for their... services. She knows she needs the money and she can't bare the idea of 'her' kids getting put on the street because she couldn't find the money for them. So Regina enters the tavern.
A few men look at her when she comes in. They're all a bit drunk and let her eyes go over her body and her filthy dress. "A new one," one of them grins. He and the other man laugh.
A shy blush appears on Regina's cheeks. She doesn't go to the men herself. She knows this, she has heard of this. Men choose their girl, not the other way around.
One man stands up, clearly the leader of the gang. "This one is mine," he says with a wink. He walks towards the new woman, who still looks delicate and pure and lays his arm around her back. He leads her to a darker room.
"I... I need money." Regina whispers softly. "A decent amount of it."
The man takes an amount of money out of his pocket and pushes it in Regina's hand, "good service and I'll give you more," he says, his lips very close to Regina's.
Regina slowly nodds. "I... I've never done this before." she whispers.
"I like new ones," the man whispers, "just let me lead at first and then you take over. It's not that hard." His lips touch Regina's and his tongue slips inside of her mouth.
Very slowly Regina follows his moves. The rest of her body stays almost frozen. But she needs to do this, needs the money.
"Relax," the man whispers with a grin and he pulls out Regina's dress.
"I... I'm sorry. I'm sorry it's an ugly and filthy dress." Regina whispers. She protects her body for as long as she's able to. "I need the money." she whispers again.
"I don't care about the dress," the man says, "clothes can be taken off." He lets his hands go over her body, forcing her to show her body to him.
"Please." Regina whispers. "Don't hurt me." Her voice sounds small and fragile.
As an answer the man kisses her neck and lets his hands go down to her hips.
"I need the money. I need the money so bad." Regina whispers again. Her body reacts to the touch of this man. She leans towards him.
The man kisses her now, so Regina will stop talking and start doing. He moves his hands down and touches her at exactly the right place.
Regina can't help but to open her legs for him. It's like her body functions on its own now. She kisses him back and starts to pull out his clothes as well.
"You're a quick learner," the man whispers in Regina's ear. He moves his hands to her back and lets Regina undress him. He slips inside her, but lets her lead.
Regina's body freezes again after this act of him. "I... I don't know... what to... do..." she whispers softly.
"Just do it," the man whispers, "it's not that hard". He now leads and waits for Regina to take it over.
Regina just keeps following his lead. She doesn't take over.
The man starts to move more heavily. "Take over," he says and he squeezes her flesh with his nails.
"I... I can't... You're hurting me. Please." Regina whispers.
"You want money or what?' the man says, kissing her full on her lips and not letting her escape from his arms.
Regina nodds heavily. She tries to take over but fails miserably.
"Come on, don't be afraid," the man says, helping her a little. He helps her a little, but he already grows impatient.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. This is my first time. I don't know... I'm sorry." Regina whispers.
"Just do it," the man says, "don't hesitate." He takes over the lead again. "You've one more chance."
Regina really tries her best.
It's getting better and the man now kisses her heavily. His arms tightly around her, he is not planning of letting her go soon.
"You're hurting me." Regina whispers again, very softly.
"Stop talking," the man says, "I thought you needed money? This is the price."
Regina leads the both of them to the bed that's standing in the dark room. He lays on top of her. She moves in his rhythm and lets him reach his climax.
The man reaches his climax and now he helps her to reach hers. But after that he doesn't let her go, he is hers now.
Unwillingly, Regina rides out her orgasm. She didn't want this, but if it gets her the money she needs... She looks up at him. "Can I get the money now? Please?"
"Don't worry about your money," the man says, "you're talking to much." He strokes body and lets his lips go over her skin.
Regina's head falls into her neck. Her body likes this kind of touches. " . What... What are you doing?" she whispers.
He doesn't answer. He just goes on to show her he doesn't like talking.
Regina's body moves closer to his lips. "Hmmm." she whispers.
He kisses her over her whole body, his hands on her waist.
Regina quickly rides out her second orgasm. "I liked that." she whispers. "Thank you. Are... Are we done now?" She looks him deep into his eyes.
"Come back tomorrow," the man whispers, putting some extra money into Regina's hand. "The fun just started."
"Tomorrow? I... I don't know if I'm available tomorrow." Regina mumbles, quickly putting her dress back on. She notices him standing closely behind her when she's done. "I... I'm sorry, I don't think I can manage to come tomorrow." she whispers, leaning into his touch because her body still seems to function on its own. Her body already misses the touches of this man.
"I thought you needed the money," he whispers in her ear. He moves his hand under her dress and softly strokes her skin, "and I know you like this." He stands so close to her that his lips touch her cheek.
"I do need the money." Regina whispers, leaning closer into his touch now.
"Then come back, I have the money you want," the man whispers with a grin. "We both know you like this," he adds and he moves his hands from her waist to her legs.
Regina softly moans. "Please. The children. I can't leave them alone." she whispers.
The man says nothing, but just goes on.
"Please." Regina mumbles. But she almost reaches her third climax.
The man stops just before she really reaches her climax and now just holds her close to his body.
"Please. Just a little bit more." Regina whispers now.
Then he lets her reach her climax. He grins and stays close to her while they leave the dark room.
Regina gasps for air while having her third climax. She leans on the man when they enter the tavern again. "I need the money." she whispers again.
"Tomorrow," he whispers and then let go of her. He joins his friends again, who're still drinking and laughing. The man winks at Regina before she leaves the tavern.
Regina leaves the tavern with the money in her hands. It's nearly enough, but maybe tomorrow... She hurries back to the orphanage. Before she enters she washes herself at the little river nearby; she feels dirty. She then walks into her home, the orphanage. "I'm back." she says softly to Lady Tremaine.
"Come here," lady Tremaine says. She is sitting on the couch with a cup of tea. All the kids are in bed and the only light in the room comes from candles.
Regina slowly approaches her. It's hard to walk because of what activity she just did. She sits down next to the old woman. "I do hope they were good?" she inquires softly.
"They were don't worry," lady Tremaine says. Even though Regina washed herself, she can still smell the perfume of a man. She knows exactly what Regina has done. "but I know someone who didn't do a very good thing," she adds. She looks at Regina. "Promise me you won't do it again."
Regina looks down, her cheeks red from shame. "I can't let them live on the streets because I can't pay the bills." she mumbles.
"But you can't do this to yourself either," lady Tremaine says. "how much did you get?"
"Not even close. Tomorrow... Tomorrow I can get more." she whispers.
"You can't go back there. Once you get in there it's so hard to get out of the community again. They will always want more," lady Tremaine says. She looks at the money Regina got, it's almost nothing.
"I can't let those kids down." Regina whispers now.
"What they need is you, Regina," lady Tremaine says. "what if you lose yourself in this, what do they have then?"
"I won't lose myself. I promise. Can you watch the kids tomorrow again? Please?"
Lady Tremaine takes a deep breath. "Alright," she then says, "but you need to know how to do this." She points at the money. "That man must have known you were desperate, because this is almost nothing. Tomorrow you decide the price, I know arrogance is not in your nature, but you need it now. Do you understand?"
Regina slowly nodds. "I... I'll try."
"Good," lady Tremaine says, "show them they can't intimidate you." Regina needs to be confident, because otherwise they will pay her nothing and she wants Regina to get enough money as soon as possible...
Regina nodds slowly. "I promise. Thank you for taking care of the children tomorrow night." Regina hugs the old lady. "What would I do without you? You're the closest thing to a mother I have ever known. Thank you for everything you do for me."
"Always, sweetheart," lady Tremaine says, "I know how difficult things are for you right now, so I try to be there when I can." She smiles and squeezes Regina's hand.
Regina smiles back. "Thank you. Shall I walk you home or do you want to spend the night in the guestroom?"
"I'll go home, thank you," lady Tremaine says, "I'll manage it by myself, you can go to sleep. I can see you need it." She winks.
"Are you sure?" Regina asks softly.
"Of course," she says and she walks to the door, slowly, but she reaches it.
Regina watches Lady Tremaine leave. She then falls asleep on the couch. She's exhausted. The next morning she startles when one of the kids wakes her up.
It's still dark outside because it's very early. "I can't sleep," a little girl whispers. She holds her bear in her arms and looks at Regina with big sleepy eyes.
"Come on. You can come sleep with me." Regina scoots over so the little girl can lay in her arms. "Here you go." she whispers. She softly strokes the girl's hair. "Did you have a nightmare?" she asks with a soft voice.
The little girl seeks the warmth of Regina's body. She nods. "I dreamt the princess came to throw us out of the house." She heard the conversation Regina had with Emma, because she listened to them in secret. "You won't let her take our house, will you?" she whispers.
"Of course not. I promise I'm doing the best I can, sweetheart. You don't have to worry about a thing. I'm right here. You can go to sleep now. I'll watch over you." While Regina tells the little girl this, she gets the scary feeling someone is watching at her right at this moment. She looks into the mirror but shakes the idea off of her...
Emma is afraid her mother saw her through the mirror, but that feeling soon disappears. She now realizes her face is wet because of her own tears. She wishes to be that girl, curled up in her mother's arms. But she can't be weak... she just can't. The girl soon falls asleep in Regina's arms.
Regina softly smiles and keeps stroking the little girl's hair until she herself falls asleep as well.
The morning comes and the kids wake up...
Regina is already up before the crack of dawn to take care of the breakfast. The little girl is still sleeping on the couch, but is also waking up slowly by now. The breakfast today is nothing fancy. Just a couple slices of bread for everyone with a bit of syrup. Regina herself doesn't eat.
The kids are all chatting and fighting again, like every morning. Someone steals a piece of bread from another kid...
Regina doesn't have the courage to say something about it today. She's lost in her own thoughts, thoughts about tonight.
"Madam Mills, he stole my bread," the girl cries. Another girl is angry because a boy dropped water onto her dress.
Regina just remains silent between all of this chaos and stares in front of her.
The girl starts to cry harder. The older kids try to comfort her, but the chaos that's starting is uncontrollable. Two boys are even fighting now.
"Please, stop." Regina whispers softly. A tear runs down her face now.
"Madam, what's going on?" one of the oldest boys asks. No one else hear Regina, because the kids are making a lot of noice.
"I'm asking you all to please, stop it." Regina whispers again. "I'm trying so hard to pay the bills, to make sure we can all stay here, stay together, but you're not making it easy for me." Regina's voice never rises higher than a soft one.
"They don't hear you, madam," the boy says. He is wondering what's going on.
"If they would listen, they would hear me." Regina continues with the same soft voice.
"Yes, but they can't listen, because they're making to much noise."
"Then they need to stop." Regina looks up now, her voice rising a bit higher.
The boy doesn't know what to say.
Regina gets up from the table and walks away. "You can clean the tables. I'm done for today." She makes her way upstairs, to her room, and locks herself inside.
The kids are confused. Some don't even notice Regina is gone, but after a while they are all looking at Regina's empty chair...
Regina undresses herself and washes her dress in the sink. She doesn't make it completely wet, because it's the only dress she owns, but she manages to get the most dirt off of it. When she hears the postman arrive, she quickly puts it back on and heads downstairs. She opens the front door at exactly the same moment when the postman, whose name she still doesn't know, stands before it. Regina smiles, a shy smile. She doesn't look him into his eyes.
The postman looks into Regina's eyes. She looks so tired, but still her eyes seem to sparkle. He moves his hand into his bag to pick up the bills like always... He can't do it. He pulls back his hand with nothing in it. "I just wanted to tell you there are no bills today," he lies. He smiles and curses himself for his stupidity.
Regina looks up at him. "There aren't?" she asks softly. Relief shines through her voice and in her eyes. "That's nice. That's really, really... nice." she then whispers. She puts her arms around her waist, as a way to protect herself from the cold outside. It's a cold day.
"You should go inside, you look cold," the man says. How much he wants to take this woman into his arms and give her all the warmth he possesses.
Regina looks down again. "Inside isn't really better than outside. I haven't been able to pay for electricity for a long time now." She looks down again. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't burden you with my problems."
"I'm sorry to hear that," the postman says, "I wish I could give you some of my warmth." Seriously... did he just say that? He wants to hit himself in his face. "I mean... Shall I help you making a fire?"
"You... You know how to make a fire?" Regina looks up at him again. "We... I don't really have wood in the house. I don't know which wood I can use or how to make a fire."
"I'll be right back, I'll get you some wood," he says. "see you." He smiles and goes to his house to collect some wood, nobody will notice some missing pieces from a pile of hundreds of wooden branches.
Regina walks back inside and cleans up most of the mess in the living room. She orders the kids to play somewhere else in the orphanage; it's big enough for all of them.
"I'm hungry," Charlie complains, not wanting to leave the room.
"I know, honey, I know." Regina takes Charlie into her arms. "I'll look for something after that nice postman helps me with making a fire so everyone can sit around and get warm."
"A fire?" Charlie says, immediately forgetting his hunger.
"Yes, sweetie, a real fire. Do you want to help making it? I'm sure this nice man would love that."
"Yes, I would love that, can I really do that? make a real fire?' he can't believe his ears.
Regina nodds. "But you have to listen when this man explains it to you. Can you promise me that, sweetie?"
Charlie nods silently. Some other boys who heard what Regina said, come too, "can we learn it too?" they ask.
Regina smiles softly. "Let's ask him when he gets back, alright?"
Now all the children come inside and sit down around the fireplace. They have never seen a fire burning in there and it's awfully clean for a fireplace. They all wait in silence for the man who will give them warmth.
Regina quickly opens the front door again when she hears someone knocking on it. "You're back." she smiles to the postman. "Thank you so much for doing this for us. I... I can't give you money though." she whispers.
"That's okay, I don't need money," he says. He comes inside with a bag of wood and is stunned by the huge amount of children around the fire who all seem to expect him.
"They... They would love to watch and learn. Is that alright?" Regina whispers.
Robin smiles, "yes of course," he says. "I'll show it to you first okay? and if you want to practice with me, to help this beautiful madam of yours to make her and your house warm, we can go outside afterwards." He says it softly and winks to the kids, who get all exited, but stay silent like Regina told them.
Regina's cheeks turn a bit red. "You don't have to say that." she whispers. "But thank you." She looks away. If only he knew what she does in the middle of the night... He would despise her.
The children have a wonderful day 'playing' with fire. Especially boys, but some girls too go outside to try for themselves. The younger ones warm up some food, so they can have a true warm dinner. The old bread becomes crispy and nice and they can even make warm soup.
Regina looks at the kids with tears in her eyes. She loves seeing them like this.
"You're okay?" the postman says, not because she is crying, but because it looks like she can barely keep standing on her feet.
Regina nodds slowly. "Yes. Yes, I am. Thank you, sir." She softly smiles at him.
He smiles back, not saying anything more. He just stands next to her.
Regina keeps herself upright against the wall. She hopes he doesn't notice anything.
The man doesn't say a thing. He doesn't want to seem rude, it's not his business...
"I'm really grateful for what you did today. If there is anything I can do to repay you..." she whispers.
The man looks at her, "It was my pleasure, madam," he says, "I don't want anything in return. It was the best day I had in weeks, maybe even months."
"Really?" Regina smiles softly. She takes his hand and squeezes a bit. "Thank you, really." When her hand touches his, a warm feeling flows through her. Suddenly her head hurts. Like something wants to claw its way out of her, but isn't able to.
The postman freezes a little when Regina touches him. Her hands are cold and it feels like he can crush her fragile hand with just one squeeze, but her own squeeze is strong. It makes him feel... nervous? stupid? wonderful?
Regina takes a step back. Everything is twirling around her suddenly. She has to grab the postman's arm or otherwise she would have fallen to the ground. "I'm sorry." she whispers.
The postman holds her upright. "No problem," he says, "are you okay?' he dares to ask again.
"Just a major headache all of a sudden. I'm sorry."
"Maybe you have to lie down doe a little while," he says, "I'll look after the children if you want." Did he just says that? Yes. Did he regret it? Absolutely not.
"I can't ask you that." Regina whispers.
"You don't have to ask me," Robin says with a smile, "I ask you."
"You really don't mind? Isn't anyone expecting you at home?"