A/N: Hello Once Upon A Time fandom, I feel like it's been a long time since I've posted anything for you all to read. I do apologize for the delay. I've been working on this little drabble since the beginning of June. It was my first time writing solely Outlaw Queen, so please be kind.

This story was self-betaed. I apologize for any mistakes you may find. They are all my own.

Title: Making Up for Lost Time
Rating: K
Pairing: Outlaw Queen
Summary: Time seems to be one of those things that never works out right and it can have the biggest effect on a person.

Come hang out with me on social media if you're interested!

Hope you enjoy! Be sure to let me know what you think!

Love always,
~starr

"It's a long story," Robin mumbled, scrubbing his hand over the top of his head with a half smile playing at his lips. He couldn't blame her for being upset with him after everything they had been through. If he was being honest with himself, he really did owe her an explanation. He was just hoping that it could wait until morning.

"You conned me into thinking you were dead for eleven months. I have time," she replied, crossing her arms over her chest as she took a deep breath. She was still struggling to wrap her mind around the fact that he was able to waltz right in her front door after everything they had been through.

She had grieved for him and buried him. As the thought crossed her mind, she furrowed her brow and looked at him. Who the hell did they bury if he was alive and well all this time? The longer she thought about it, the more she realized that her mind was flooded with questions that she needed answers to immediately.

"You have an astronomical amount of explaining to do," Regina said, turning on her heels and making her way into the kitchen. It was late, and for all she knew, the two of them were going to be up talking for quite a while. "Coffee or tea?"

"Coffee sounds wonderful," Robin replied, following close behind her and taking a seat at the island in the middle of the kitchen. "Where would you like me to begin my explanation?"

"I mean the beginning would be wonderful, but it's really up to you I guess," she said, shrugging her shoulders as she focused her attention on making the coffee.

"It might be easier to show you what happened," Robin said, his voice trailing off as the words left his mouth. When she turned to look at him, he smiled awkwardly and scrubbed a hand over his head. He took a deep breath as he waited for her to say something.

"What do you mean show me?" As the words left her mouth, she still couldn't believe she was even saying them. There was no possible way for him to show her, or at least that's what she thought. However, this was Storybrooke after all and apparently anything is possible here.

"I may have found a way to mess with the timeline," he admitted, laughing quietly to himself as he watched the expressions change on her face from confused to disbelief to intrigued before she reached over and turned off the coffee pot.

"Now this I've got to see," she said, a smile pulling at the corner of her lips. Her curiosity was probably going to get the better of her, but she needed to know the truth and it didn't matter how exactly they got this figured out. "Lead the way."

"Alright, let's go to your vault."

"My vault?"

Robin nodded his head and grabbed her hand, leading her out the door and into the woods. This new adventure was just the start of their next chapter. Once she knew the truth as to why he had to stay away, things would be able to return to normal. Or at least the normal that they had come to know in Storybrooke.

Their trip to the vault was made in silence. Each one lost in their own thoughts regarding this entire situation. Neither one was sure what exactly to say or if there was a "good" way to say what they were thinking. Both of them blaming themselves for everything that had happened, especially when it could have been avoided potentially.

Arriving at the vault, Robin pushed the door open and ushered her inside. He followed closely behind her and led her over to the coffin in the middle of the vault. "So this is where it all started. When my soul disappeared, I appeared here. I'm not sure why or how, but I came here."

"Okay," Regina said, walking over to the coffin and brushing her hands over the dust covered lid disturbing the calmness that had settled there. She lifted her hand and looked disgusted at the dust that had attached itself to her and brushed it off on her pant leg.

"But at the same time, I wasn't here," Robin said, motioning at the open room around them. "I knew that something was weird. It was like I was reliving the past and couldn't move forward."

Furrowing her brow, Regina crossed her arms over her chest as she looked around the vault. "If you were reliving the past, why did it bring you here?"

"To show me some of the best nights of my life," he replied, closing the space between them and placing a hand gently on her waist.

"And it took you eleven months to find them all?" she asked, leaning forward to rest her head on his shoulder. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, inhaling his scent and allowing her mind to be filled with memories of time the two of them had spent here. The memories made her smile.

Robin turned and pressed his lips to the side of her head, kissing her softly. He took a deep breath when he pulled his head away. "I didn't want to wait eleven months. I wanted to run back to you the second I realized what had happened, but something wouldn't let me leave. It wasn't until this morning that I could leave the vault."

Regina lifted her head and turned to look at him. As far as she was aware, there shouldn't have been any spells that would stop him from leaving the vault. If anything, they would have been allowing only the two of them to enter the vault. "Who would have tampered with the spells on my vault?"

As the question left her lips, she realized exactly who would have had something to do with the spells on her vault being altered. "That lying little bit-"

Her sentence was cut off by Robin's lips crashing into hers. She found herself at a loss for words as she melted into the kiss and wrapped her arms around his waist. This was exactly where she had longed to be for eleven months, so she was in no rush to move.

Slowly, Robin pulled away from her with a smile still on his face. He watched as her eyes fluttered open and a smile pulled at her own lips. "Regardless of who altered your spells, it eventually brought me back to you and there's not place else I'd rather be."

"As happy as that makes me, that doesn't make up for the last eleven months without you," she replied, pouting her lips momentarily. "And I'm going to be having a word with my sister about her recent spell casting…"

"I know that there's no possible way that I can make up for the lost time, but I'd like to be able to move forward and continue our lives together from this point out," he reassured her, leaning down to kiss her softly before pulling away once more.