Day 6 (Saturday) of #OQOnHolidaysWeek!

Inspired by prompt #54 "Robin and Regina are friends. Regina went through a tough break up after a long relationship with Daniel. Daniel was an ass, lied, cheated, whatever. Robin has been secretly in love with Regina, but has waited patiently for her to get over Daniel, and it seems she plan this vacation as friends (it can be with other friends) and in the trip they bump into Daniel. This makes Regina doubtful again, Robin is jealous, maybe Daniel tries to win Regina again, and due to the circumstances Robin has to tell Regina how he feels about her. "

A/N: Alright, I'm not sure if this is exactly what whoever suggested this prompt wanted, but as soon as I read it I felt in love with it and began writing and I hope you, whoever you are, enjoy it!

A/N (2): First part today! Second part will be posted tomorrow. Thank you for reading!


The airplane glides effortlessly across the cotton like clouds, beginning a slight descent as they approach the archipelago, and though Regina dislikes this part of a flight, the tightening in her stomach enough evidence, she still can't help it but feel grateful for this upcoming week.

And it's all thanks to Robin Locksley, one of her closest friends, annoying most of the time, but sweet when he wants to be, who ultimately convinced her into doing this trip with their friends. They had met through mutual friends while in college, had gone on one date due to Mary Margaret's insistence, both agreeing almost as soon as he picked her up that they didn't want anything other than a friendship out of this, they were after all, too busy to pursue a relationship. And close friends did they become, understanding each other with only a few short words or a look, and smirking when one made a dry comment.

So yes she's grateful for that friendship, because for the past seven months Robin had been the only one to not offer sweet words of comfort with her breakup. Instead he'd been the one to bring her a bottle of too expensive vodka, take her with him to target practices, enlisting her in boxing classes, taking her to extreme exhausting hikes as activities to focus all her thoughts on, all her anger and frustrations, building her up from the inside out with actions rather than simple "I'm sorry this happened to you" or "I didn't even like him in the first place" comments and girl nights with cheap wine, expensive ice cream and Drew Barrymore movies. But she doesn't blame her girlfriends, at least they tried to ease her pain with carbs and cheesy movies, but when it comes to that, when it comes to leaving behind someone you love after finding out you've been cheated on, well, let's just say Robin Locksley has more experience in that particular area than her girlfriends.

And Robin does know her better than her girlfriends for he uses that exact moment, when they're straightening their seats and adjusting their seatbelts, to hand her a glass of half drunk whiskey over the sleeping form of Emma Swan, another one of their mutual friends. Gratefully, Regina nods at him in thanks and takes a big chug of his whiskey, grimacing lightly at the taste before handing him back the glass.

"Thanks," she mutters, before turning to gaze out the window as they make their descend over Hawaii, making sure to close off her eyes just before the plane touches land. And when it stops moving altogether, Robin lightly touches Emma's shoulder to wake her up, and Regina lets out a breath of relief at the knowledge that for the next week she'll have nothing to worry about except perhaps remembering not to stuff her face with every meal.

.::.

Mary Margaret eats, and eats and bubbly explains how excited she is for the next few days, the last week they can all spend together before she marries off to David, Robin's childhood friend, who currently seats right next to his fiancé.

It had been a stupid cliché, a stupid idea at first, and Robin and Regina had both rolled their eyes at each other when Mary suggested the vacation six months prior. But suddenly it had made so much sense, she'd explained how Emma needed to take some time off of work, how David had wanted to go to Hawaii since forever, how Regina deserved a week to relax and how Robin would appreciate learning about the Hawaiian culture and on and on with Ruby, John, and Will. So that had been it, they had thought about it a grand total of one day, Regina taking extra convincing from Robin, before they decided it was a good idea. And began with rushed plans.

So Mary babbles on and on, over the beach, over the things they can do, as the rest of the group hmms and nod their heads, all of them too busy eating and drinking and fighting off exhaustion over a day of airports and never ending flights.

"I talked to the clerk when we got here," Robin says after a moment, Mary's voice drifting in the background. "There's a hiking trail a couple of miles up north that leads to an, allegedly, beautiful waterfall. I'm going early tomorrow. Want to join me?" Robin asks from her side, to which she nods, only to groan on the inside when he says he'll knock twice on her door at 6:30am sharp.

So much for sleeping in during vacations.

The next day, Robin is true to his word, knocks against her bedroom door twice at exactly 6:30am.

But Regina's more than ready, has been ready since fifteen minutes, so she opens the door, careful not to wake Ruby who sleeps on the other full bed, and walks out of her bedroom, following Robin along the hall. The desk clerk offers them a small smile and a map before they get to his rental car and drive for ten minutes up north, reaching their destination almost instantly.

It's relaxing to say the least, to walk at a steady pace with Robin in front of her, leading the way, making sure not to overwork her as they walk up some rock steps to get a better look of the falls.

And the view is absolutely beautiful, the sound of the water falling enough to make her relax instantly. It's always quiet with him, he knows she doesn't appreciate the babbles and unimportant conversations. But this time he moves closer to her and talks.

"I came here during my honeymoon," is what he says, staring straight ahead at the slight rainbow that can be seen now that the sun is up.

She'd known of Marian, had met the woman a few times two years prior, but for no reason whatsoever, she never got along with her, found herself rolling her eyes whenever she caught a glimpse of her. Regina had been right, though, something about that woman had felt… off. And time proved her right. Because not a year after their wedding, Marian had left him for another guy.

Reason why he knows her, knows exactly what she felt after her break up more than anybody.

"Well no shit," she replies. "It's just beautiful."

"It truly is," he confirms, not looking at her but at the waterfall. "Truly stunning."

And Regina just nods but bites her lower lip, because she's curious, by nature, so she needs to know, wants to know, wants to prepare herself in case it happens to her too. "Did you ever see her again?" She asks after a moment.

They understand each other perfectly, she doesn't have to say who she is before he starts scoffing at her.

"I did. I saw her a couple of months ago, a child on her hip and a ring on her finger."

Well, damn, there it is.

"But, it didn't hurt when I saw her," he says on a shrug. "That's what truly made me realize that I was over it."

Regina nods at him, smiling gently, before she's wrapping her hand around his, pulling him. "Come on, let's go, I'm dying of hunger and this place is starting to get crowded."

"There are only three people here, Regina," Robin says as he looks around them, amused at her exaggeration.

"Yes, but I'm still hungry. Let's go. We'll come back later this week."

Together they make their way down the hill and short trail and soon enough they reach the parking lot. She drives this time, claiming he drives like her Grandma, and she shortens the drive from ten minutes to seven.

When they reach their bedroom, it doesn't surprise them when they find their group of friends just waking up. Both rolling their eyes at their antics and heading off to the dining hall together.

They fill their plates with eggs and sausages, waffles for him and a pancake for her, hungry after the early wake up call and work out. Unashamedly, they stuff their faces, discussing whether they'd like to take surfing classes today or later this week. And soon enough their friends join them, all of them eating and talking until Robin stands up to pick some more sausages and fruits to share with Regina.

He's serving himself, generously grabbing sausages from the buffet before turning to pick fruits for Regina and that's when he feels it, eyes on him, being looked at by someone. He turns to where they're sitting, where she's sitting, only to frown when he finds them engaged in conversation, and then he turns to his right and sees him there.

Him.

The one that caused her so much pain.

The one that made her doubt herself.

The one person he truly loathes in the world.

Daniel Colter.

Who's staring at him with eyes wide open, a plate of breakfast in his hands, but then Daniel is looking over Robin's shoulder, to where Regina sits, and he's never been possessive, has never been one to act out on impulses, but he'd told her that he'd break his nose if he ever did see him. And now he's here, Daniel Colter is here, looking at Regina and well, Robin has a promise to keep.

So, without thinking twice, Robin walks two, three steps towards Daniel and he meets his gaze.

"Daniel," he lets out sharply milliseconds before his fist connects with his jaw, sending him down along with his plate of food.

Suddenly people are gasping around them, crowding, whispering until he hears the unmistakable voice of Regina.

"Robin?" She asks, from behind him, her hand closing around his forearm, turning him to look at her. But in doing so, she catches a glimpse of the other man on the floor and her hold falters, her mouth hangs open as she moves past Robin to help Daniel sit up.

"What were you thinking!" She suddenly calls out to him and Robin frowns at her, trying to find an explanation to give her, or showing remorse, but he cannot find anything so he stands his ground, crosses his arms in front of his chest and arches an eyebrow at her. "Jesus," is what she says in reply as she turns to face Daniel again, her hand on his face, checking to see the damage of Robin's punch.

"Hi," Daniel says to her, but Regina ignores him as she helps him stand up, giving Robin a murderous look.

And at that, Robin scoffs and turns to leave her, all the while shaking his head.

.::.

Robin waits for her in his hotel room, a Ziploc filled with ice pressed against his knuckles as he tries to even out his breathing, quell the pure hatred he feels at the moment.

He can't regret it, can't regret punching Daniel because in his mind, it had been well deserved. The only regret he has is that it didn't happen sooner. That he didn't bump into him at a marketplace so he could've really gotten a beating, because he deserves nothing other than that after what he did to Regina, after what he put her through. Robin knows better than anyone how it feels to be left over another person, knows the heartache, the constant wondering, the wanting to change everything about yourself, nitpicking every single one of your actions wanting to find out what made them leave, what made them realize that you weren't good enough, only to find nothing and just remain wondering over it. So he knows what Regina went through, knows the heartache, knows the hate. Which is why she cannot possibly be that mad at him, after all, he'd taught her target practice with a bow and arrow, asking her to picture Daniel's face as the bulls eye. So she cannot be livid at him. Perhaps disappointed for doing it in the dining hall of a five star hotel, but then again, this was the least place he'd imagined he'd bump into him.

Suddenly the door is opening, Regina sliding into the room and closing the door behind her while crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Care to explain what the fuck that was about?!" She asks loud enough for his ears.

Christ, she's mad, he can see it in the way that vein is almost throbbing in her forehead, the way she's tight lipped, her tense body. So Robin sighs and shakes his head.

"What did you want me to do? Say Hi like it was nothing?"

"I would've prefer you'd walked back to us, to the table. Would've preferred you behaved like the bigger person!"

"Jesus Christ Regina! Need I remind you that he fucked somebody on your bed behind your back, or did you forget that tiny detail?" He lets out, angry too at the way she's shitting on his actions, at the image of her concerned for Daniel.

Fucking Daniel

But she stays quiet at that, takes a step back from him and Robin instantly feels like an ass.

"I shouldn't have said that," he admits after a second and Regina nods, angrily wipes a tear away.

"You're right, you shouldn't have."

He sighs at that, at the way she stares out the window, eyes glassy but not another tear falling.

"Hey," he calls out, softer this time, hiding away his frustration and anger for a moment. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for throwing that out there like that, for hurting you. It wasn't fair."

Regina nods in reply before sighing. "No, no it wasn't. But I, I forgive you. I know it wasn't your intention. I just…" Regina sighs again and shakes her head, drops her arms to her sides as she walks towards the bed to sit next to him.

"Robin, it also wasn't fair you being mad at him-"

"Just like it wasn't fair what he did to you. I just got tired of waiting for karma to make her big appearance," he mutters sarcastically, dropping the bag of ice besides him on the bed.

She rolls her eyes at that and shakes her head. "Still, you cannot just go around punching people on my behalf. You're not my keeper," she finishes with a bump of her shoulders against his.

"Weren't you the one that wanted to skin Marian alive?"

"Well, that's, different."

"Not in anybody elses' dictionary."

She just rolls her eyes again and rests her head on his shoulder, staring straight ahead at the midday sun. They just stay like that for a few quiet moments, looking at the shimmering sea and swaying palms from the 5th floor.

And after a moment, he asks. "How do you feel, though?" Knowing that, even though he's angry at her, at Daniel, at finding him in Hawaii, that she's still his friend, that he still… cares, yes, cares for her.

But Regina only sighs and brings her hand to his on his thigh, interlacing their fingers together.

"I don't know." She stays silent for a moment, just thinking. "I thought… I thought I had gotten over it, over everything, over him. But after I saw him I just…"

He frowns at her, at the disappointment on his veins with her confession, but tries to shake it off, tries to not sound too pissed as he says, "It's only natural. Its been but months since it happened. The wound is still relatively new."

Regina nods, swallowing hard.

"He wants to talk to me," Regina says after a second, nibbling on her lower lip and Robin immediately tenses beside her, stands up, is about to walk away from the bed but she pulls him back by his hand until he's standing in front of her. "Hey," she whispers, trying to get him to look down at her. "Robin, look at me," she mutters, and he rolls his eyes as he lowers his head to meet her gaze. "I want to talk to him."

"Yeah? Well, I think it's a bad idea," he manages to say amidst his anger.

She nods at that and swallows hard, accepting his comment but not letting dictate her decisions. "I know you think so. But my mind is already made. So could you... refrain from punching him?"

"You cannot actually—"

"Robin," she interrupts him almost instantly. "I know what I'm doing."

"Do you? I mean, do you really?"

Regina swallows hard before biting on the inside of her cheek, biting back what she wants to say, truly say to this man. It won't do them good, it won't do her good to deliberately hurt him, bring back his pst, bring back Marian just like that. So she shakes her head and lets go of his hand.

"Trust me."

But Robin is not sure he does.

.::.

They don't talk about it at all during the next day as they go on a different hiking trail early in the morning. She knows he's mad at her, mostly because he doesn't want her to hurt in the end, not after she's come so far. But she feels it needs to happen, that fate brought him here for a reason. The odds were small and it still happened, so they need to have this conversation, later rather than sooner but still. She needs to have full closure.

Robin doesn't bring it up on the way to their hotel, nor during breakfast, instead focuses on those around him and on eating. And though Regina doesn't need his approval (or anything), it still pains her to be slightly ignored by him, it angers her because he makes it look like he doesn't care, really care about her decisions —she shouldn't care about him caring, but still, it makes her fell... weird. But she ignores it for the rest of the meal, instead feels thankful when Daniel doesn't show his face around, not wanting to face more pointed looks, pity looks, from her group of friends who already seem to be walking on eggshells around her this morning.

And then Emma is suggesting kayaking for the day, to which everyone agrees, the tension in the table disappearing almost instantly as they finish the last of their meal and walk to their rooms, getting ready for the day.

It's when she's walking to one of the hotel's restaurant that evening, a black spaghetti strapped dress showing off her tanned skin, that she sees him again. Always the charmer, wearing that lopsided grin that she used to adore so much. But that now manages to cause something different in her. Not disgust, but something not too far away from that.

"Regina," Daniel says, nodding at her.

Regina smiles at him, but it comes off more as a grimace, so she bites her lower lip and lets out a low Hello.

"Are you alone for the night?" He asks, always straight to the point and Regina could scoff at him right there because under another moon, when she was in actually head over heels in love with him, she would've said yes. But tonight she already has plans with Robin, both wanting to over indulge in their love for seafood, which is exactly why she's here.

"Actually I'm not, Robin is waiting for me."

Daniel has the decency to of course look embarrassed for a second, before he recuperates instantly and gives her another smile. "Oh, of course. I didn't know you guys were together?"

"I'm... not. We're... just friends. He's just helped me out a lot recently," Regina says, frowning with the words.

"Oh," he says, and he sounds relieved.

"Yeah, oh."

"Well, do you think you can save a space for me tomorrow?"

"Daniel," she says, shaking her head.

He lifts his hands up in innocence, a small smile on his face. "Just to talk."

"I'll... I'll see what I can do about it?"

"Great. Do you still have my number?"

Regina frowns at him and scoffs. "No."

"Oh. That's okay. I'm staying at room 305, you can give me a call if you manage to find time."

She nods simply at that. And they part ways without nothing more than a nod.

Turning around, Regina walks into the restaurant, mentions her room number and name as well as Robin's and then she's being escorted to the table, Robin sitting there drinking a glass of wine, a pensive look on his face.

"Sorry I'm late," she says as she sits.

"You ran into him?" He asks, not taking his sight away from the menu.

"How would you know that?" She asks on a scoff as she sits across from him.

"He just left the restaurant," he says simply, turning the page of the menu.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I did run into him," she confirms, giving him the same treatment and pulling the menu to focus on it entirely, taking a small sip of wine.

It takes him a minute to say something, but she sees it, sees the tightening of his fingers on the menu.

"Regina, you do realize what he's trying to do, don't you?"

"I don't—"

"He wants to get inside your head again," he blurts out, interrupting her. "He wants to plant doubts here and there, gaslighting you, making you believing it was somehow your fault in the end."

"Robin—"

"Listen to me, Regina," he begins as he puts down the menu, and leans forward on the table. "Marian did the same thing. A week later she wanted us to try again and I wanted to give her that chance, she convinced me that we were both at fault into her cheating. I wanted to believe that she had changed so much I didn't see the signs, but I found out she was pregnant and her only plan was to deceive me into thinking I was the child's father."

"Robin," she begins, frowning at him as she too leans forward on the table. "Just because something shitty happened to you, doesn't mean it'll happen to me. Besides, I don't want to give him a second chance. I just have a few questions that I want him to answer," she finishes, leaning back to sit up straight again.

"That's what you think now," he begins, scoffing at her antics as he too sits up straight again. "But what will happen when you find yourself alone with him, what will happen when he tells you a vanilla story making you believe it wasn't his intention of hurting you, what will you do when you—"

"Alright, I'm leaving," is what Regina says, already beginning to stand from her seat.

"Oh that's typical Regina–"

"Alright that's it," she lets out loudly, too loudly for there are people now staring at them, and Regina's sitting down again, leaning forward as she whispers,
"what the hell is your problem? Clearly it's not Daniel in its' entirety because it sounds like your issue is also with me. So? What is it, Locksley?"

He has no answer to give her, nothing except a shake of his head and a hard swallow.

"You're making a big mistake, Regina."

"You don't know that, Robin. You don't know everything in this world. Jesus, I already told you I was sure about this, about where I stood, if you don't trust Daniel that's fine, but trust me. Can't you do that for one fucking second?"

"I can't," he whispers after a moment.

And those words give her pause, make her stare at him wide eyed.

"Wow. You seriously think I'd be stupid enough to go running back to him," she says, saying that outloud hurting him beyond words.

"Regina," he shakes his head, frowning at the painful lump in his throat, a lump that's become more and more present as of recently. "You already are."

"Well," she says on a sigh before shaking her head. "I'm sorry I'm not like you when it comes to exes."

"That's not what—"

"Save it. I'm going to bed." And with that, she leaves the restaurant and heads to her room.

Robin just stares at her as she walks out of the restaurant, as he lets her walk out on him, and just groans, groans because everything about this woman, this woman that reminds him so much of himself, is frustrating. Then shakes his head in shame because he knows, deep down, that his big mouth had hurt her tonight again. But he cannot help it, cannot help the thought of her and Daniel alone, the thought of what he can say to her, the thought of him manipulating her. So he'd… snapped, yesterday actually, and still has the ever lasting effects of it.

Chugging the rest of the wine down, Robin leaves the restaurant and makes his way to the bar. He orders a whiskey first. Then a vodka soda, knowing full well he shouldn't mix drinks but fuck it, you only live once, right? So he chugs the rest of the drink in one gulp.

"Partner issues?" The young bartender asks from across him, already mixing up another drink for him.

"More like friend issues."

"Well, that's certainly a first," the curly blonde haired woman mentions with a frown.

But Robin shrugs.

"You want to talk about it?" She asks, looking at him curiously. "I've worked here for five years, I'm pretty sure I've heard it all. But this, this is a new one."

So without further ado, and because the only person who truly understands him is currently mad at him and is about to make the biggest mistake of his life, he feels the need to explain her, this friendly stranger, everything, from first dates to Marian and Daniel, to Regina, to the present, how frustrating she is behaving, how Daniel is a dickhead, everything, and by the time he finishes, Robin feels immensely relieved and Tink, based on her nametag, just offers him a sly smile.

"What?" Robin asks, rolling his eyes at the younger woman's look.

"Oh my God," she says as she shakes her head, still smiling. "For a man who acts like he's got everything in life figured out, you haven't figured out the most important thing of all."

Robin scoffs at her. "What?" He asks again, but instead of feeling smug, he feels slightly nervous, slightly defensive.

Tink isn't phased by him, instead she keeps smiling, looking like the cat that got the cream before she's nodding and reaching under the counter for a bottle, and filling up his glass again. "Love."

It's like everything stops around him at that word, all sounds, the music, the whispers, everything stops as he just stares at Tink.

"You're in love with her," she adds with a smile, eyes shinning in excitement.

"Oh I'm absolutely not in love with her. That's crazy," he says on a scoff, shaking his head as he lets out a dry chuckle.

It's insane it's was it is. There's no way. He swore off love after Marian, believed he wouldn't be naïve enough to fall for another person, and yet this stranger, this stranger with her curly hair and never ending grin, claims he feels something for Regina. For the woman who went through the same shit he went through. The woman he became closer friends with over the past seven months.

"No, I'm not," he repeats.

But this time, it's Tink the one that scoffs and shakes her head, except she's very much amused, eyes shining in excitement as she speaks again.

"You're in love, Robin. And based on what you've told me, you've been in love with her for quite a long time. You've just been too stupid to see it. Why do you think you felt the need to help her overcome her break up? Why do you think you wanted her to move on? Why did you treat her different than how her other friends treated her?"

"I… I don't know," he answers after a moment of going over every question, every possible logical answer, only to come back empty handed.

The woman grins at him, and with her thick Australian accent she continues. "Love. You were subconsciously waiting for her to heal from her break up before allowing yourself to see this."

It's insane.

Could it be possible? Could it be possible that what Tink's saying is true?

Has he been waiting for her in the dark all this time? Waiting for her to give the green light to when she's ready to meet someone again?

Is it true?

And then suddenly he's thinking back on all the hikes, all the target practices, all the boxing classes, the yoga, the weekend getaways with the excuse of helping her relax. The expensive vodka. The excitement he felt on the way here, excitement he thought had been directed at the actual getaway. Then the frustration when he saw Daniel. The sense of dread when she rushed to help said man to his feet. The sense of loss when she walked out on him today.

Holy shit.

Robin opens his eyes wide and takes deep breaths, sits up straight on the bar stool and just looks at Tink, relief and at the same time fear flowing through his veins the minute he confirms Tink's thoughts.

"I'm in love with her."