Chapter 2

Regina felt her stomach drop. The man with the lion tattoo. The man who was suppose to be her soulmate. The one she had run away from.

"Regina?" Tink asked. She looked at her phone to make sure the call hadn't been disconnected

"I'm here," said Regina

"Well? Say something,"

"I don't know what to say" replied Regina. She sat down.

"Are you gonna talk to him?" pressed Tink.

"I don't know, and I don't want you to say anything to him either," replied Regina fiercely.

"Ok ok calm down," said Tink "I was just asking."

Regina sighed. "Sorry, this is just really...and I have to get back to Henry,"

"Ok I'll let you go. Let me know if you decide anything ok?"

"Will do," said the mayor.

Regina could not sleep that night. The memory of her fleeing from that tavern was still fresh, and she was loathe to call herself her coward. How different would things have been if she hadn't been so afraid of love? Unwittingly her mind shifted to Emma, but she forced herself to think Robin. Her Emma problem could wait. She wondered if Robin would stay in town. At least if he left and went back to the Forbidden Forest that would be then end of that. There was no way she was going to tell him of Tink's prophecy. To her, that was akin to trapping someone. Anyways she didn't even know if she would like him. He was just a filthy thief after all. She wrinkled her nose in disdain as she fell asleep. She awoke the next morning and stretched luxuriously. Sh was so glad it was Saturday. It had been a stressful week, and she took a moment to just breathe. She glanced at her alarm clock and noticed it was nearing on 9. She and Henry usually slept in...until they were both hungry and she would make them pancakes or they would go to Granny's. She was weighing the pros and cons of going to Grannys since the likelihood of running into Emma or Robin Hood was so great. She rolled her eyes at herself. Why the hell should she avoid Emma Swan? And Robin didn't even know who she was. They were going to Granny's.

Emma was on her second hot chocolate when the tinkling of the bell rang. She continued chatting to Ruby, until she felt a small hand tap her shoulder. She turned around smiling, "Hey kid"

"Hi" said Henry, smiling toothily. Emma automatically looked around for Regina, who was busy ordering breakfast and studiously avoiding Emma's gaze. "Come have breakfast with us," said Henry. "Ah" said Emma. Regina had finally walked over to them. "Yes Miss Swan, please delight us with your company this morning,". She had told herself that she would be nice to the blonde, but something about seeing Emma drinking hot chocolate and looking care free had annoyed her. Henry looked carefuly at his moms. It had been a long time since he had heard his mom call Emma Miss Swan. " Is everything ok?" he asked pointedly. "Yes, of course," said Emma with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "I'd love to join you for breakfast".

She joined them at their booth,with Henry doing most of the talking. When he excused himself to go to the bathroom, Emma glared at Regina.

"What?" asked Regina calmly

"What do you mean what? What's with the Miss Swan shit again? In front Henry?" she spat.

"I'm sorry," said Regina honestly. "I...it just came out. But I didn't mean to," She was genuinely sorry, but Emma was so surprised at getting an apology that she was momentarily silenced. Into that silence walked Robin Hood and his son, Roland.

"Good morning Mayor Mills, Sheriff Swan," he said stopping by their table.

Regina looked up startled. "Ah hello. How are you?" She was met by a blinding white smile, and actually blinked a few times.

"We're good," said Robin smiling. "Finally settling in."

"Really?" asked Regina "Does that mean you're staying?"

"For now," replied Robin. "We've decided that we like indoor plumbing,"

Emma almost snorted her hot chocolate with laughter as Regina shot her a dirty look.

"What?" asked Robin in confusion

"Nothing," said Regina "She's just being silly,"

Robin smiled. "Well, we're going to get some breakfast. I'll see you later Regina?"

"Uh yeah sure," answered Regina in confusion. Why was he being so nice to her?

She stared at his retreating back for a few seconds in puzzlement, before Emma cleared her throat. "What am I chopped liver?

"What?" Regina responded.

"Didn't he see me sitting right here?"

"Didn't he acknowledge your presence by saying good-morning?"

"Yeah but he practically asked you out with me sitting right here,"

"So what?"

"So it's sexist that's what,"

"Are you serious right now?" Regina was starting to wish she had stayed in bed.

"Damn straight I'm serious. What if we were a couple?"

"But we're not,"

"Yeah, well he doesn't know that,"

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you were jealous,"

Emma scoffed. "Jealous of what? He's probably gonna pay for his breakfast with pinecones. Fucking peasant."

"Wow, Emma. Mean girl much?" She didn't know why Emma was acting so possessive. She was the one the one who wanted their night together to be a one night thing.

Emma looked contrite. "You're right. I'm sorry. I don't know what got into me," Regina opened her mouth to respond at the same moment, Henry sidled into back into the booth. He engaged them in conversation until they finally left the diner with Emma heading to the Sheriff's station,and Henry and Regina heading home.

Emma didn't know what had come over her, acting all jealous and possessive over Regina. She didn't usually show her feelings that easily. And she knew she was being an ass. Why should she get in the way of Regina's life? So what if the peasant liked her? " Stop calling him a peasant" she muttered to herself. Calling people peasants was more Regina's style. Maybe she was rubbing off on her.

Later that day, Regina heard her doorbell go off. Thinking it must be Emma coming to apologise again(what a pushover) she opened the door ready with a witty remark but shut it when she saw who was standing there. The infamous Robin Hood.

"Hello Regina" said the thief, smiling easily

Regina gave him a practiced smile. "Robin! What a surprise!"

He shifted nervously. " Sorry for showing up so unexpectedly, but I really wanted to see you," he said, somewhat nervously.

"Oh," replied Regina. "Well how can I help you?"

"Iwaswonderingifyouwouldliketogooutwithmtonight?" It came out all in one breath and Regina looked at him in confusion. "You're asking me out on a date?" she said slowly.

"Yes," said Robin quickly. "That's what I'm doing,"

Regina looked at him steadily. Had Tink put him up to this?

"Alright," she said smiling. "I would love to go out with you"

Emma had let Hook convince her to go to the Mad Hatter with him. Usually she wouldn't have gone, but she found she needed a distraction from everything happening with Regina. So she found her tightest jeans and a black sweater, along with combat boots and decided to have some fun. They had already been drinking for an hour when Regina walked in with Robin Hood. Emma eyed them suspiciously from behind her glass as Regina made a beeline for the bar.

"Hi Tink!" said Regina loudly, drawing the attention of the fallen fairy, who did a double take when she saw who Regina was with. Her look of surprise proved to Regina that she did not have have anything to do with Robin asking her out. "Wow, hey you too. What are you guys drinking tonight?"

Regina smirked. Tink had recovered quite quickly. "I'll have a whiskey and the lady will have?" Robin paused and looked inquiringly at Regina. "A vodka cran" Tink supplied. Regina smiled and nodded. "Coming right up" she said and turned towards the bottles on the shelf. "I'll have to remember that," said Robin, carefully balancing on the stool next to Regina and she smiled.

Across the room, Emma watched, getting increasinly jealous by the minute as she saw the way Regina laughed at Robin's jokes. Hook, in a desperate attempt to get Emma's attention, waved his hook across her face.

"Wtf Hook?!" demanded Emma almost spilling her drink.

"What are you staring at?" demanded the pirate

"Ugh nothing, I just got lost in thought." she replied. "I have to use the bathroom".

Robin was getting increasingly handsy. Not that Regina minded, it was nice to have someone actually show an appreciation for all her….assets ...but she decided she needed to compose herself. "Hey, I need to refresh my makeup ok?" she said and got up and walked off before he could even respond. There was no way he would follow here into the bathroom. She bent to wash her hands and then reached into her bag for her lipstick when she heard a toilet flush. Ignoring it, she started lining her lips. She paused after a minute when she realized there was dead silence behind her when someone should have been exiting the stalls. She looked up to meet the Sheriff's gaze.

"What the hell Emma why are you spying on me?"

Emma rolled her eyes. "I'm not spying, I'm waiting for you to finish up,"

That was only partly true, Emma had also been admiring Regina's trim figure in that little blue dress. Her applying her lipstick had made it even better.

"Are you done?" said Regina

"Done with what?" replied Emma in confusion.

"You've been checking me out this whole time,"

Emma opened her mouth furiously to respond and instead said "Yeah, I'm done,"

"I don't appreciate your tone, Miss Swan," Emma rolled her eyes. "I need to wash my hands ok?"

Regina moved silently out of the way, slamming the door behind her. Emma sighed, and washed her hands.

Regina thoughts were now all over the place and that really irritated her. Robin was now in an animated conversation with Hook but smiled in open delight as Regina walked over. "Hey are you ready to go?" she said shortly, ignoring Captain guy-liner. "Hey have you seen Emma?" said the pirate, ignoring Regina's rudeness. "I believe she's just washing up?" Regina gave him a tight smile and turned to Robin. "Ready?"

"Yes" said the marksman and he escorted her out of the restaurant. In the meantime, Emma had finally finished washing her hands. "Hey," said Hook, "Did you see that Regina and Robin were here together?"

"Yeah, I did?" said Emma bitterly.

"What should be their ship name?"

"Their what?"

"You know, their relationship name"

"Who says they're in a relationship?"

"Well just in case.."

Emma rolled her eyes."Let's go. I'm tired".

It was pretty late when Regina got home and wished Robin goodnight. The whole bathroom episode had upset her. She kicked of her shoes while glancing down at her phone. She had a message from the Sheriff. She stared at Emma's name for what seemed like forever. Finally she opened up the text to see that Emma had sent a sad dog gif with the words "I'm sorry,". Regina smiled slightly and sent back one with a kitten wacking a dog on the nose with its tail. Emma replied with a smiley face. "I can totally see you as that cat," she said.

Regina smiled and sank down into her sofa.

"What are you sorry for?" she replied

Emma took awhile to respond. Finally, as Regina was about to give up and go to bed, her phone dinged. "Sorry for being an ass tonight. You looked really great, btw. I was totally checking you out" she said

"I know," Regina responded. "You looked great too."

"Why are you with him?" Emma said

Regina sighed. "It's complicated," she wrote back

Emma responded, "Seriously?"

"There's more to the story than you know," she replied.

"Well tell me", Emma persisted.

"Maybe another time," responded Regina "Goodnight Emma"

"Good night Regina".