|Chapter 1|

|True Love Does Make You Do Crazy Things|

"With all due respect Professor Fischer, I believe that what you're trying to teach us right now is a doctrine that was adopted by mankind several centuries ago and that what we're dealing with today is not this man's world that you're so intent on showing us. You see, women in the present can choose a professional career of their likes and they will in fact get hired without any sort of discrimination. I believe that this "Man's world" is merely a made up theory by a bunch of feminist who cannot accept the fact that they're inferior to us," Robin finished, staring directly into Miss Fischer's eyes as he bit the inside of his cheek, an act he did in order to try and contain the laughter that was dying to move past his lips at the look of pure terror that crossed the older woman's features.

He wasn't a meninist, oh far from it but he was a very clever man and as a clever and smart man he enjoyed inciting this sort of behavior in every class. To be fair this was merely a game for him; he'll go against whatever the professor or fellow students said, comment some drastic things that centuries ago would've cost him his head and then he'd just wait for that person, either student or professor, to go against him with facts that he'd already know and believed. He'd often use this scheme as a magnet for dates because it was always the smartest woman the one that answered back, the one that put him to his place, and as any smart guy he has such a weak spot for ladies who actually do their homework. So yes, it always worked. Always and today was no different.

He went in to his last class of the day and was immediately surprised when instead of finding the typical near empty lecture hall that came with a 6:00pm class, he found it full, a mere three seats empty near the back of the room and he sighed, walked up the three wide steps and sat there waiting for their professor to arrive. A woman walked by him, bumped lazily against his leg muttered an "I'm sorry" and sat immediately two seats from him. Naturally he paid her no mind, instead he focused on the elderly lady (whose legs could barely hold her up) walk into the room and present herself as Professor Fischer, shaky voice, shaky hands and unreadable writing and for a moment Robin just wondered why she hasn't retired already. But then Sociology had take a turn towards a sour theme "Perspective of Gender" and immediately he found the green light when the magic sentence "Men rule the world" came out of the woman's mouth. So of course he put his plan to work, threw his bait waiting for the first victim and it came from two seats away from him, the woman who had bumped against his leg. Said woman smiled almost devilish at him and he swallowed hard because shit, only ten seconds in and he already knew he was getting scorched by her right now. Exciting.

"It kinda sounds to me that you've been living under a rock," she muttered quietly, chuckling all the way and Robin just leaned back, more comfortable into his seat as he tried to conceal his smile. God, she didn't possessed the accent he was used to. A transfer student there. An American girl with wonderful long toned legs-

No. Don't go there Robin. Instead he focused on counting inside his head.

One

"I'm gonna take you back to primitive times and contrast it a bit with what we're living today," she leaned forward in her seat before continuing. "Back in paleolithic times and even before that, women have been viewed as the domestic sense of society, the one that was always there to nurture and give love to kids and on some occasions, say agrarian societies, we even had to take care of earth and harvesting because of the belief that possessing such an atrocious thing as a vagina, actually managed to make the earth a bit more fruitful. Now as what's expected, societies always evolved into a more industrialized one, and along with that came the need for countless of men to do the brute work, and since basically that's what our societies consisted of, the need of a woman to become basically a baby maker became indispensable. Whilst men on the other side, always took care of, well, lets say things that required bigger strength as I afore mentioned, because men have always lived under the impression that possessing a, well, penis, gives them a superiority to women in all sense of the word. Take for example Darwin, pretty intelligent man coming up with the theory of the origin of species, but a man that receives scrunched up faces today because he dared mention that women were mentally inferior to men, when we know for a fact today that it's the farthest thing from the truth. Add Nietzsche to that list, comparing women with cows followed by countless of men who approved of his saying. And now unfortunately for us, we have a Nietzsche of our own in this lecture," she clicks her tongue for good measure and shakes her head.

Two

"As a woman and our lack of a penis, because when these idiots compare themselves to us it is by contrasting what they have with what we lack, and so the presence of a vagina and our synthesis of estrogen automatically stamps us with supposedly inferiority to men and now we have to put up with a lot of people like yourself in the professional field. Always being swarmed by personal questions whilst attending an interview along the lines of how we'll deal with our period while working, what will the company do if we get pregnant, and the most hilarious of all, how hormonal we are and how that can affect the company's images. So yes Mister..." she motioned for him to say his name.

"Robin. Robin Locksley," he quickly answered. To say he was entranced by such beauty and sass was an understatement. He was in awe, completely enamored by the way she offered a smile his way, trying to soothe the burn from her words, a burn that wasn't present because he thought the same way as her. So he holds back his chuckle and waits for her to continue.

Three

"Mister Locksley, as a woman myself, we have to deal with this day in and day out, something you don't have deal with because of your lack of a vagina. And just for good measure, it has been scientifically proven than both men and women can achieve the same capacities in strength and everything," she crossed her arms in front of her and leaned back towards her seat, gaze never breaking as she arched one eyebrow almost as if she was begging him to continue, and just for the sake of it he did, because he enjoyed this and when he opened his mouth to speak and caught glimpse of the smirk that adorned her features he knew, he knew that this was just what she wanted. So he gladly fell into her trap.

"Can you prove it? Give me actual proof that women can in fact be stronger than men?" Robin smirked and Regina just threw her head back and let out a sarcastic laugh. All eyes were on them, have been since the beginning of the ordeal and Professor Fischer was sitting behind her desk waiting impatiently to hear Regina's response.

"Well Robin of Locksley, I am extremely curious to see what'll happen if I just bring one of the Williams' sisters here to fight you," and Robin just stayed quiet and looked at her directly, a smirk playing upon his lips before she rolled her eyes and continued. "Right now you are in a position where you cannot show definite proof nor confirm the truth of what you're saying, because, if you didn't know this already, yo do have a penis so I'd suggest you give up this macho personality that you're trying to portray when we both know for a fact that every word I say is making you cringe inside," she smiled at him.

K.O.

Sold...to the raven haired beauty.

And he just shakes his head, laughs along his fellow classmates and just turns back to her, offers her a wink.

"Well Miss..." he motions for her to say her name.

"Regina Mills," she says, the deep timbre of her voice doing things to him, much like the way she was biting that pencil.

"Well Miss Mills, I'd be more than happy to show you my true personality over some coffee," he finishes with a wink and a grin.

And she rolls her eyes at him, focuses instead on Professor Fischer who was now nodding at her and giving her a thumbs up.

Afterwards, when the lecture ends at a quarter past 7 and he worked his charming ways with the Professor and classmates, he waits for Miss Mills at the hall and when he catches sight of the brown eyed beauty he offers to take her out for some coffee, and Regina allows him to.

Which allowed him to explain to her the whole thing.

"You're an idiot," she murmured while trying to conceal her laughter.

Robin didn't know just what was it about this woman that made him spill everything out, every detail, every thought that crossed his mind with every word that came from her lips.

"It has worked with everyone so far, has given me the opportunity to talk over coffee with several ladies, however, no one as gorgeous as you, Miss Mills from the states," he winked at her and Regina just shook her head and continued trying to contain her fit of laughter.

"I thought Miss Fischer was going to kill you, heck, I wanted to kill you!" and she bit her lower lip, that succulent lip covered with just a tad of lipgloss and God he wanted to kiss her, wanted to bite that lip and make her squirm. Well maybe he could, it was after all time for part two of his scheme, so he went to work, pulled the cappuccino towards his mouth and slurped at the whipped cream right there, giving her a wink before he placed the cup on the table again and just licked the whipped cream off his upper lip.

Regina just looked at him dumbfounded and suddenly she scrunched up her nose.

"This is part two of that scheme isn't it? Ugh, Robin, as a friend, you might think that women find that attracting but we don't, I actually think it's kinda repulsive."

Robin, who had reached for his cup again, coughed up a bit of the whipped cream as laughter bubbled up. Fifteen minutes in and he already liked this Regina Mills from USA. In the mere minutes he'd known her, she had managed to make him laugh more than he had in the entire week.

And it became like a mantra, a nice plan they agreed on, to walk together to this café 2 days a week after their Sociology class was over.

Then two days a week became the weekends too and the café became the library and ocasional dinners.

And soon it became quite clear that this soon morphed into a friendship until they became, well, quite inseparable.


Present

Daniel Pace had completely outdone himself.

He'd been planning this for weeks and with the help of his mother, Anita, Regina's parents and his lovely sister Rachel, he'd managed to put up the perfect proposal for his girlfriend.

It was nearing 5:00am when he woke up his princess, and she'd groggily nodded at his mocking "Rise and shine", dressed in the outfit he'd specifically picked out for her, a casual white dress, thin mustard cardigan to protect her from the sea breeze and burgundy stilettos.

"Mmmh, I don't wanna go," she mumbled against his dressed chest as she leaned into it, trying to catch a few minutes of sleep there not caring about smearing her barely there makeup.

"I know baby, but you're gonna love this," Daniel whispered against the top of her head and leaned down to press his lips chastely against hers.

"Now lets go, I don't want us to be late!" He grabbed her hand excitedly and pulled her across the penthouse, down the flight of stairs, across the living room and into the elevator until finally arriving at the front door where his driver, Joe, was waiting for them, the door already open and inviting.

"Good morning Joe, to the harbor please," and Regina just smiled at him and he cuddled closer.

"So much luxury for an early breakfast with your parents?" she whispered and leaned in closer, unbuttoning two of the top of his white shirt and smoothed the collar.

"You know how it is. Either with a bang or nothing at all," and he leaned in closer and dropped a kiss to her lips, muttered an "I love you" against her lips and nibbled on that exquisite lower lip.

Sooner than they anticipated, Joe pulled over a spot and opened the door for them, and there in the far end of the port stood the Pace family's yacht, big and luxurious in comparison to those around it.

Regina turned to him and arched her eyebrow.

"Either out with a bang," he said.

"Or nothing at all," she rolled her eyes and took hold of his hand and walked towards the yacht where Daniel's family was already waiting for them.

"Regina darling it's so good to see you again," Anita kissed both her cheeks and gave her a big hug, attached her arm with hers and walked into the main deck. There in the main deck were both her mother and father and she walked more hurriedly to them, asked them what they were doing there before dropping a kiss on each of their cheeks. Her mother was about to say something to her, perhaps comment on how unflattering that mustard cardigan was before Daniel stepped in and placed both hands on top of her shoulders.

"I thought you'd enjoy having both of our families together for a breakfast," he dropped a kiss to the top of her head.

"Yes, thank you Daniel" she turned to him and kissed him softly, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Now come, I want to show you something," and he pulled her up the stairs towards the upper deck and when they arrived Regina was met with the most beautiful sight ever.

There was a mixture of blues, grays and oranges scattered across the morning sky, sunrise just starting to begin and that combined by the serene way the wind blew against her skin as the yacht left the port was pure perfection.

"This is gorgeous," she whispered, couldn't bring herself to glance at her boyfriend as she absorbed the beauty surrounding her.

"Not as gorgeous as you," he whispered and pulled at her left hand catching her attention and smirking at the gasp she let out when he lowered himself on one knee and softly dropped a kiss to her inner wrist before reaching into his back pocket and pulling out royal blue ring box, opening it to reveal the most beautiful princess cut halo ring with a diamond studded band and Regina could faint just by looking at it, so instead she focused on the man in front of her, tears gathering around her eyes.

"Regina Mills, in the 8 months I've known you you've managed to turn my life upside down for the better. You've taught me what being in love feels like, you've brought out the good side of me and I couldn't be more grateful for that. My family loves you, I love yours and I think, I think that it is the perfect time for us to take that next step in our relationship, so Regina Mills, my beautiful princess, would you like to be my wife?"

Lord knows she'd dreamed of this her entire life. Of having a boyfriend who would love her enough to go behind her back and plan a perfect proposal just for her. In her dreams she would've thrown herself at the man in front of her and would've kissed him senseless.

But it didn't went by like that.

Instead Regina was frozen in place, jaw slack and hands covering her mouth as she contemplated just what to answer this man. She loved him, oh yes she did. But still, there was that nagging feeling in the back of her head that was screaming at her to think about it, to call Robin and know what he thought of this.

Was it too soon? Will it last? Were they made for each other? And she rolled her eyes inwardly at herself because of course it was too soon, of course it will last, and of course they were made for each other.

But still, a part of her wanted to go downstairs, ring up her best friend and get reassured that what she was doing was okay. But damn it, Robin wasn't here right now, had known of the man's existence but nothing past that, hasn't even met the guy and the realization that she was in this alone shook her to the core.

But all it took was one reassuring smile from her boyfriend, one small smile from her dad before Robin and her insecurities went to the back of her head. So she did what she planned in her dreams; she threw herself at him and kissed him senseless.


Robin appreciated sleep now more than ever when owning a bar required to stay up into the wee hours of the morning, and sleep it off the whole day after only to continue the cycle. So yes, tonight, no well more like today, he was more than pissed when at 11:23am a ring could be heard all throughout his loft. And he groaned, cursed under his breath and then turned to his side, burying his face in one of his many pillows. The ringing continued and he brought his hands to cover his ears, trying to keep the blasted sound from registering into his brain and gosh, just let the fucker who's calling you up so early leave a voicemail.

And they did.

It only took two more rings before her voice graced the emptiness of his loft, it travelled up the stairs and into his room and when his brain caught the timbre of that voice he got up immediately, all crave for sleep forgotten amongst the sheets of his bed as he sprinted downstairs in a rush, wincing when his sock covered feet slipped on the hardwood floor and smacked his toe against the corner of the couch. Shit he muttered before he reached down to rub his feet at the same time he reached for the phone, the sudden adrenaline pumping through his veins taking charge of the pain that was now non-existent.

"Hello! Regina! Hey!" he practically yelled into the phone, but she had already hung up and in desperation and anger at himself, he smacked the phone against his forehead and muttered an idiot all the while pressing the green button there and redialing her phone.

To say he was nervous and anxious was an understatement. Their last text had been over three weeks ago and their last phone call had been well over... well he just couldn't remember the last time he spoke with her on the phone so it must be something important for her to calling at, what time was it there?, oh yes, 7:23am. Suddenly all nerves turned into worry as he remembered how falling asleep had been almost impossible this morning, his thoughts wandering to Regina ever so often that now he was worried that perhaps a part of him was warning him of something drastic. That perhaps his best friend had gotten involved in a horrible car accident and was now in a coma or worse that perhaps she was dead.

Dread filled him and his lower lip trembled with all the images that swarmed his mind. Why is it that humans always imagine the worst? Because then we can be relieved when it turns out another way, it's just a self preservation he could practically hear Regina saying and he chuckled, shook his head and waited for her to pick up. Perhaps, if all was well, they could have a nice conversation and hopefully arrange a meeting soon because God knows how much he has missed her.

But Robin didn't quite understand how life worked and that fate had other plans. A meeting was in fact happening soon, sooner that he'd planned but oh under such different circumstances.

"Robin!" she yelled into the phone after a few rings and Robin's face broke into a full grin and he could feel his cheeks flushing at the sound of her, thousand miles away but oh, still so close?

"Regina! I've missed you so much!" he whispered and he could swear he could hear her sniffling on the other end and so was he. But he didn't cared, all he cared about right now was the woman on the other line and the flutter in his heart that occurred with every chuckle she elicited.

"Listen Robin, I don't have much time."

Robin frowned.

"Sure," he said, almost disappointed.

"I just. I wanted you to know first because even though we haven't seen each other in centuries, you're still my best friend."

Okay there was something definitely going on and he swallowed down his nervousness. At least it wasn't an accident judging by her way too chirpy voice.

"What is it?" he asked after a moment and she giggled causing him to frown. Stop that Daniel, I'll be there in a second she whispered to someone in particular and Robin just swallowed, found himself wishing he'd ignored that call, wishing he'd fallen asleep at the sound of her voice instead of rushing out his bedroom.

"Robin," she sighed against the phone. " I called to let you know that, well, I'm getting married."

Robin's eyes grew the size of saucers and he took a sharp intake of breath. Rookie mistake because soon he was coughing all over the place, trying to get that small drop of saliva out of his lungs and he coughed, coughed, coughed and oh God.

Regina on the other line was worried, asking him if he was okay and he just wanted to laugh at life because of course, of course he'd have that sort of reaction when his best friend/ crush tells him she was getting married. For a moment he wishes he could just disappear off the face of earth, but soon his breathing slowed down after she commanded him to just breathe in and breathe out.

"You're getting married," he whispered after a moment, tried to sound excited when in fact he felt like his heart had been run over by several trains on rush hour. But it sounded convincing enough because Regina on the other line got a bit excited again and just let out an enthusiastic yes!

"And that's not the only thing Robin."

And he smiled sarcastically at the phone, muttered a What else could possibly go wrong towards his ceiling and let her finish.

"I want you, no, more like I need you to be my maid of honor."

Heart failure.

Sweat glands overactive and the phone slipped from his grasp and hit the floor with a loud bang at the exact same moment his jaw went slack.

For a minute he spaced out, could hear the faint thump thump thump inside his chest but he was grateful for it, because he swore his heart had stopped functioning as soon as the words left Regina's mouth. He could hear Regina on the other side of the phone calling out to him, but frankly he didn't cared at all. The only thing he cared about at that moment was making up excuses as to why he couldn't be her maid of honor. Because you tell me, how can one work hand in hand to marry off to another man the woman of his life?

"Robin are you there?" she whispered almost brokenly and he swallowed hard and closed his eyes. He takes a deep breath to calm himself, picks up the phone and pulls it up to his ear.

"Yeah! I'm here! That damn Pond just played a trick on me and made me lose grip of the phone," and he wanted to berate himself because Pond, the beautiful cat he adopted just the day after Regina left London, had in fact ran away from the loft a few weeks ago and he hasn't seen him since then. At that moment Robin wished he had the cat's ability to just disappear from this planet.

"Okay. So what do you say?" she asked, voice hopeful and on the verge of a nervous breakdown and he swallowed down the lump on his throat.

"For you, I'll dress as a bridesmaid if it'll make you happy," he whispered after a second and nothing could be truer than that.

"Great," she whispered and he thought the conversation might end there but the sniffles on the other side of the phone told him otherwise and he grew concerned.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

"It's just... This isn't crazy right?"

And Robin heard the alarms inside his head, if she was questioning this wedding already maybe, just maybe it was because she didn't wanted to marry this Daniel. But he shushed the alarms, squashed down the bloom of hope that arose in his heart because right now the last thing Regina needed was someone telling her that this was crazy, that she should just ignore them and come back to London because shit, that's what he wanted her to do. But no, now what Regina needed was a friend, a friend who'd be willing to put their desires behind them and just make this experience perfect for her because if there was someone in Robin's head that deserved the world and more, it was Regina Mills. So he swallowed down the lump, blinked back the few tears that had gathered around his eyes and planted a smile on his face, hoping to sound convincing because maybe that way he'll manage to convince himself too... eventually.

"Well you know that saying, true love?" he muttered to the woman on the receiving end, voice cracked a bit but he smiled when he heard her chuckle and sniffle her nose.

"Makes you do crazy things," she finished, the megawatt smile Robin knew she possessed, present in every word she whispered.

At that moment Robin concluded that yes, true love does make you do crazy things because otherwise he wouldn't be calculating just how many weeks off of work he needed to get in order to attend and be of any help to his true love's wedding.

And when Regina said she had to hang up because Daniel and her mother were calling for her, Robin made vowed to himself to make his true love's wedding as perfect as that of a fairytale.


I am blown away by the response this has gotten!

I just wasn't expecting to get such reviews, follows, favorites and messages! So, well I forced myself into finishing the whole outline and I really hope you guys stay for the long (bumpy) ride full of ( yes Temamaru!) passion, flashbacks, angst and just pure bridal things! As always please do leave some constructive criticism, thoughts on this chapter and just whatever you want to suggest! All horrible mistakes are mine.