Prompt: The moment Regina realizes she's in love with Robin


Regina's not used to someone taking care of her.

It's always been the other way around. She'd been the one to help her father through his issues with mother, and Daniel through his cancer, and Roland through his teething. Hell, her entire career revolves about taking care of others, an entire state of them, to be exact.

So when the fever hits, when she collapses in the middle of a meeting and wakes up in Robin's arms as he lays her gently in bed, she feels... odd. Can't understand why he'd be willing to put up with her when she's all sniffly and bloated, when she can't do anything but lie there and sleep.

He tells her he doesn't need her to do anything, that all he wants is to be there for her and help her get better, that her smile is more than worth dealing with her snot and her tears and the smelly breath that comes with her strep. He reschedules his briefings, has Ashley take care of Roland for a couple extra hours in the evenings while he stays at the mansion to tend to her, even dismisses the staff early so he can stay and properly tuck her in without worrying about prying eyes, simply because he wants to do it. In everything he does, he puts her first.

Regina's not used to someone putting her first.

He makes her tea and brings her soup, makes sure she takes her antibiotics at exactly the right time, and has Roland visit often to keep her spirits up (he'd even had the boy bring Regina flowers yesterday, a beautiful bouquet of gerbera daisies that had quite obviously come from Robin himself and not the child that delivered them), and it makes her giddy that he's going to such lengths to brighten up her sick days.

He's constantly making sure she's comfortable, wraps her up in her favorite blankets, keeps her up to date on state business and informs her that Ursula is doing a splendid job of keeping things going... he even sits by her on the bed and presses a wet cloth to her forehead, to help bring the fever down. It's not something she needs, not when the meds seem to finally be working, but Robin does it anyway, and she has to admit it really is nice, to feel the moist touch of the cloth cooling her clammy, too-warm skin.

Five days into her bout of horrible health, it happens.

She wakes up in her bed, surrounded by the fresh pine scent of him, his hand running up and down her back in soothing motions, soft lips pressing a kiss to her cheek.

"Good morning," he greets,, his voice low and raspy and perfect, and "I decided to sneak in early so I could check on you," he adds, his eyes shining with nothing but devotion and tenderness as he pushes her hair away from her face and then rests his hand against her cheek.

And just like that, it hits her.

She loves him. Loves his dimples and his smile and his heart of gold, the way it beats for Roland, for her. She loves that he likes to smell her hair, loves that he gives her Eskimo kisses when she's sleepy, loves that he can make her writhe and gasp and come, loves the way he kisses her, loves that he's pushed through the obstacle of grief and moved across an entire ocean just so he could give his son the best possible life. She loves his stubbornness, how he fights her on things he doesn't agree with, how he's not afraid to stand up for what is right, loves that he protects her but doesn't coddle her, that he can look at her when she's sick and miserable and in dire need of a shower, and still think her beautiful.

They've only been together for four months, haven't gotten to the I love you part yet, and she's afraid even if he were to finally say the words, she wouldn't be able to return them, too scared by the future to voice her feelings. But as he returns the tired smile she gives him, a particular thought hits, and hope blooms in her chest at the realization...

He's the one.