This oneshot was inspired by robinlocksleys' video from love from OQ, which can be found here.

"You don't even know? That's so sad, Regina, love. You need love." Tinkerbell said, leaning forward in her chair in her earnestness to get Regina to understand what she supposedly needed to be happy.

"You're going to help me find another soulmate," Regina stated indignantly, disbelievingly. Her heart was currently still residing in a tomb with Daniel's body, preserved with the magic Rumple had taught her. It couldn't possibly be resurrected and taught to love again; the one person it had ever loved in that way was gone, lost to her forever because of her mother's cruelty and a brat of a princess's inability to keep a secret.

"Of course!" she exclaimed. "All we need is a little bit of pixie dust. It'll help you find him."

Regina didn't believe the fairy, not even a few days later when she came to her chambers, pixie dust in hand. In the blink of an eye, they were flying over the Enchanted Forest, trees appearing and vanishing from view.

Finally, they came to land just outside of a small tavern in the middle of Sherwood Forest. Tinkerbell led Regina over to a cluster of trees close to the tavern's window, and pointed inside.

"That's him. The man with the lion tattoo."

After more of her insufferable pep talk that Regina's heart longed to believe but her brain told her was the musings of a romantic fool, the fairy left Regina alone at the tavern door, despite her protests. She inched closer. Should she do it? Her heart was still crushed after the loss of Daniel, and Rumple's teachings, full of the desire for vengeance and nothing but the cruelest methods for achieving one's aims, had only served to further turn her into the monster her mother had been before she banished her to Wonderland. Was this the answer to turning her life around again?

Resolved, she opened the tavern door. His back was to her, but then he turned so that she could see his profile, including the lion tattoo, a silhouette of the fierce feline against a black shield, that rested on his right forearm.

But then memories of Daniel came rushing back, and the crippling grief consumed her as she turned, letting the tavern door swing shut behind her. How could she be happy with anyone besides Daniel? He was her perfect match, the one who had always wiped her tears away after another one of her mother's cruel scoldings or when she had used her magic against her. Having your own mother use cords to magically bind you, constricting your air and lungs and therefore making it difficult to breathe, was a truly terrifying experience, and only Daniel had truly wanted to help her. Her father, who had had the authority that Daniel lacked, never had the guts to stand up to her mother, but Daniel would have had the strength to do it, she knew he would have, had he ever truly been given the chance.

But Cora had ripped his heart out right in front of her, leaving Daniel, and Regina by extension, powerless to do anything but watch as she crushed his heart in the palm of her hand, and the next thing she knew, Regina was married to a man thrice her age, and a stepmother to someone who should have been her stepsister. A lump formed in her throat, and she slammed the door shut.

She wasn't ready for this. How could she be? Her heart still belonged to Daniel, whether Tinkerbell believed it or not, and while pixie dust supposedly said that maybe, just maybe, she could love again with the help of the man with the lion tattoo, she didn't want to. Not now, and maybe not ever! And even if she did, what of the king? He would surely come after them, wanting to reclaim his queen, leaving them in danger, her and this man that she was supposedly destined to be with. While her mother, with the help of that brat Snow White, had sealed her fate long ago, it didn't mean that she had to drag this man into her tempestuous life. While people claimed that she looked like Cora, she didn't have her cruelty, and never would.

She turned and fled, letting the door to the tavern slam shut behind her, hoping that she never saw the man with the lion tattoo again.

The second beginning happened decades later, just after she had had to sacrifice the boy she loved most in the world in order to save them all. The arrogant man, his blue eyes full of concern, offered to help her stand after an attack from flying monkeys.

The heroes insisted that he and his band of "Merry Men"- filthy, unwashed miscreants, the lot of them- come stay in her castle. For Henry's sake, she agreed to it, but took every opportunity to show the thief that he wasn't someone she trusted, not even when he attempted to stop her from putting a well-deserved sleeping curse on herself just before she met her half-sister.

She would give him some credit though: unlike the rest of those insufferable heroes, he could match her wit better than anyone she had ever met. He always had a retort for every one of their verbal sparring matches, and while she would never admit it to anyone, least of all him, she needed those. They distracted her momentarily from the crushing grief of losing her son that consumed her thoughts daily.

And then there was his son, who reminded her so much of Henry at his age. Those curls and dimples that, unlike his father's, were impossible to resist drew her to him like a moth to a flame. He carried the monkey she had given him everywhere, making her feel even more affection for this little boy. The only problem was, wanting time with the son meant having to deal with the father...

But eventually, they came to an arrangement. For despite the fact that they argued consistently, the sexual tension between them grew to the point that they could no longer deny it, loathe as she was to admit that there was anything between them.

That's how she found herself with her lips on his one day, one of his hands in her hair and the other at her waist. They had many such encounters over their year in the Enchanted Forest, but that all changed when the heroes declared they needed to return to Storybrooke to find Emma. While that also meant returning to her Henry, she was devastated because he wouldn't know her, and she would lose the new family she had found in Robin and Roland.

On the night before the curse was cast, Robin assured her that they wouldn't lose each other, and if they did, they would find one another again. And as he sealed that promise with a kiss, she finally saw it: the lion tattoo. The mark that had escaped her attention for the months she and Robin had known each other had come back to haunt her at this most inopportune moment: the final hour. Was it the beginnings of love that held them together, or was it fate, some magical force beyond their control?

She broke the kiss and ran, hearing him call after her as she once again decided not to tempt fate. Life had shown her that she wasn't meant to have a happy ending, despite the brief moments of happiness she had had with this thief and his son.

The second time they met, he somehow wasn't as insufferable.

Though maybe that was because by that time, she had her son back. But that was torture in its own right; although the pirate had seen to it that Emma regained her memories, her son had not. Seeing Henry, but not being able to pull him into her arms, was a torture she doubted she had prepared herself for during the missing year. It was excruciating, being so close to him, but him not demonstrating the love that only he had shown her since Daniel's death.

The thief, however, somehow took her mind off of all of that. Their banter immediately gave her mind something to focus on that wasn't the pain of having her son so close, but so far away from her in other ways.

But then, as he handed her a glass of whiskey, she saw it: the lion tattoo. She pulled her hand away and ran, refusing to believe for a second that fate would be cruel enough to have her second chance at love find her here, where her happiness was within reach but still so far away.

Because in the many years since she had last seen that tattoo, she had known love again: the love of a little boy. Splashing and bubbles at bathtime, reading oftentimes several stories (never her own) as Henry fell asleep, Henry's love had helped her become a less naive version of the girl she had been when she first saw that tattoo, and she doubted any love could be as reliable as Henry's. After all, she was still the villain, and didn't villains never get their happy endings?

It was words from the woman who was once her stepdaughter, then her enemy, and finally her friend, that finally convinced Regina to seize what life had given her and do as Daniel had asked her to; love again. The woman who had once told her greatest secret was right: she felt things so deeply that she often wondered how her emotions could be that strong. Somehow, this thief had found his way into her heart, which she had believed to be an impenetrable fortress for all save Henry,

She found him in the forest that night, and as he started to apologize for allowing Rumple to steal her heart when he was supposed to be guarding it, she cut his apology short by grabbing him by both sides of his jacket's collar and pulling him in for a kiss.

The moment their lips met, the undeniable connection that she had started to feel in the air between them solidified. With a start she broke the kiss, amazed at the intensity of the love she already felt for this thief. He didn't let her pull away, though, closing the distance between them once more to fuse his lips to hers.

The next time they met, it was the day of his wedding to the love of his life and she, a fellow bandit whose wanted poster was side-by-side with his, was dealing with an annoying kid who was convinced that she was his mother.

But despite all of these distractions, he couldn't help noticing her. She was instantly ingrained in his head and on his heart, so much so that he almost considered not marrying Zelena, but as the wedding bells rang and he and his new wife exited the church, he saw her, and later, saw her die right before his eyes, creating a hole in his heart that he doubted would ever heal.

The final time they met, they were darker versions of their hero counterparts, and had such similar goals that they decided to work together before Regina finally took pity on him and sent him back to his realm.

Then, one day, Regina decided to give the Evil Queen some of her goodness, and sent her to the Wish Realm to find her happy ending…

That's how she found herself standing outside of the tavern where she had seen him for the first time, too heartbroken from the loss of Daniel to risk a second chance with Robin.

Now, however, she was whole again, no longer consumed by thoughts of revenge. So, unlike so many years before, when she opened the door to the tavern, she walked inside.

She found him immediately, sitting at the bar with John, Will, and Friar Tuck. The moment he saw her, though, he set down his drink, stood and walked over to her...

Months later, she was standing by one of the many windows set into the castle walls when she heard a bird flying toward the castle. It held a feather wrapped in a note. Unfolding the note, she read Robin's words and smiled.

Yes, she was ready for a new adventure- the beginning of a life with him.