After the Girls Night Out...

It hadn't taken much convincing for Regina to go out for the night. A couple well placed hints, a 2 for 1 drink coupon left casually on top of the days mail, only five minutes of massaging tight knots out of her shoulders from leaning too long over spell books and cauldrons and she was upstairs looking for something 'un-mayorly' to wear to the bar. It's not that he doesn't love spending time with her (cherishes every minute truth be told,) but she's been overworking herself lately trying to undo everything the queen did during their separation. She hasn't stopped, has barely slept. This makes her…tense; which makes him tense; which makes the kids tense; which starts the cycle all over again. Needless to say, everyone needed a night to unwind. So while Regina is out with the girls, Roland and Henry at separate sleep-overs, and Ella sleeping soundly upstairs, Robin lays back in the warn leather recliner with a glass of the good scotch and relishes in the one thing that he can never find: silence.

He'd read for a while, determined to get through all 7 Harry Potter books before Roland became inevitable infatuated with them, but fell asleep with The Half Blood Prince in his lap and an empty glass on the arm of the chair a little past eleven. He probably would have stayed there all night if he hadn't been jolted awake by a loud crash in the foyer, followed by a shouted Fuck!, and a bout of laughter he hadn't heard in too long. "Regina?" he called, letting the book fall from his lap and making his way quickly to the front room. Robin covered his mouth in an attempt to hide his laughter, but his body shook with it. Whatever had been on her head thunked to the tile and rolled to the side. She was on all fours in the foyer, coat rack knocked to the ground taking the contents of the side table with it. "Are you alright, Mi'lady?" Robin finally managed to ask, bending in front of her and pulling her to her feat. She swayed in his arms, but managed to stay upright. Robin was impressed.

"I was aiming for the front porch," she told him in a loud whisper. "I didn't want to wake you."

"Ahh. I would say your aim was a bit off. I'm not sure you're supposed to use non-conventional transportation while you're drunk, dear." He held her while she kicked off her heals, re-adjusting his old when she shrunk a good 4 inches.

"I am not drunk. And I wasn't about to use 'conventional' transportation," she jabbed her finger into his chest. "And I'm magical so technically this is 'conventional' for me so driving would have been non-conventional which I did (jab) not (jab) do (jab.)

"I would've picked you up," he tells her as he helps her out of her jacket, dropping the garment to the pile on the floor. The mess will be there in the morning.

"You were relaxing and enjoying your well-planned evening alone." Her head falls against his chest and she wraps her arms around her waist to hold herself steady. She's drunk. But she'll never admit it. Robin's eyes go wide as he tightens his grip on her. He'd thought he had been so subtle. "Put your eyebrows down, Robin" she slurs into his sweatshirt. "I knew what you were up to. If you wanted some time to yourself you could have just asked."

"I didn't want to upset you," he bends slightly to kiss the top of her head. "And I had the best of intentions. A night of drunken debauchery every now and then does a person good. Especially one who works as hard as you."

"I'm not drunk," she mumbles into his chest.

"Of course not. You meant to crash into the coat rack and you won't fall over if I let you go," he laughs against her and watches as the tops of her ears turn red. Busted.

"Whatever. Can you at least stop rocking?" she squeezes around his middle in an effort to hold him still.

"I'm not moving, Regina."

"Oh." She sighs in resignation and moves her arms from his middle to around his neck, toying with the hair at the back. "I'm going to hate you in the morning," she says matter-of-factly.

"And why is that?" Robin scoops her up, waits until her world stops spinning and she adjust to the new position wrapping her arms tightly around his neck before heading up the staircase.

"Because this was all your doing," her lips brush against his pulse point as she speaks and he can't help the shiver that runs through him.

"I see. Well, I guess I'll be apologizing to you in the morning then," Robin concedes with a smile as he toes open the door to their bedroom.

"With coffee," Regina instructs.

"With coffee."

"Robin," she says as he sets her on the edge of the bed, then kneels before her to remove her shoes, lets his hands coast back up her legs before pulling her stockings back down.

"Yes, love?" he asks when it's clear she isn't going to continue on her own.

"I'm drunk." She's staring down at him with shining, unfocused eyes and a grin that goes just a bit lopsided.

"I can see that."

"I love you."

"I can see that too," Robin kisses each of her knees before rocking back on his heels.

"Can you?" she asks, suddenly sounding entirely unsure.

"Of course I can, Regina." Robin wraps her arms around his neck so that she stands when he does. He holds her waist for a moment before seeking out the dress's zipper and helping her out of it.

"I want you to be happy," she whispers into his ear before she lets herself be pulled away.

"I am happy," he kisses her cheek as he pulls the bed covers down and lowers her back to the mattress. "Very happy," he adds, kissing the other cheek as she slowly lies down.

"I want you to tell me if I'm driving you crazy, or if you need to be alone. I never thought I'd have this and I still don't really know how to do this," she waves her hand between them and sighs heavily before bring both arms up to cover her face.

Robin walks around the bed, scoots in beside her and pulls her arms away. She's crying. Shit. This was the absolute last thing he had hoped a night out for her would accomplish. "Hey," he says, holding her wrists against her stomach when she tries to recover her face. "I never meant for you to question my love for you. Never. I just wanted you to have break, and yes, I wanted a break myself as well. But not from you, Regina. From everything. Killian just took off, David's been dealing with his own problems when he's awake, John is busier than ever with his new job, and the kids are always up to something. I just wanted a few hours of normal; I wanted it for the both of us. Okay?"

"Okay," she sniffs loudly and uses his shirt sleeve to wipe her face, before pulling it off of him and tossing off the bed. If nothing else had cued him in to the fact that she wasn't completely herself right now, that had done it; Regina Mills doesn't leave anything on the bedroom floor.

"Come here," he slides an arm under her back and rolls her until she's laying half across his chest. "Did you have a good time?"

"I did, actually," she says sleepily against him. Robin mutters something that sounds like he's glad, but he's running one hand through her hair, the other up and down her arm and she can't be expected to concentrate on anything but the sleep that is pulling her under.

"Regina?" he asks a bit more clearly and she forced her eyes to peek open as she moves her head to his shoulder to see most of his face. "Were you wearing a Viking hat when you poofed here?"

"Yes," she admits with a fondness that confuses him more.

"Where on earth did you get that?"

"I stole it from Snow," she winks before returning her head to its preferred spot above his heart.

"That's a story I'd like to hear in the morning."

"Over coffee," she mumbles, not quite getting it all out before she's finally asleep.

"Over very strong coffee," Robin smiles to himself as he continues to trace wandering patterns into her skin.

I've just realized that every chapter of this ends up with Robin and Regina in bed or falling asleep together. Apparently my subconscious was starved for OQ pillow talk.

As always, thank you for the reviews!

Oh, and the last 2 weeks have sucked. I mean really really sucked. So I could use some inspiration. Prompt me?