Robin's meeting was overrunning, he felt as though he'd been sat in this room for an eternity, in reality, it had been around three hours, but that was still way too long. The coffee in his mug had gone cold at around the one hour mark and he had forced himself to try hard to listen to what the man sat opposite him was saying, but it was becoming increasingly more difficult.
He found himself doodling in the margin of his notebook as one of his associates struck up another point of conversation, after a couple more minutes of that torture he shook his head, "how about we all take a quick break, get some fresh coffee and then reconvene in say ten minutes?"
"That sounds like a plan," Mr Gold nodded. Robin couldn't have been out of his seat faster, as soon as he was up he headed towards the door and then to his office, as soon as he was inside he dropped into his chair and leant back, his hands rubbing over his face. It was one of those days where he wished that he's just stayed in bed and not bothered getting up. Regina had been so warm and comforting wrapped around him and Lenny had been a great foot warmer as he laid there curled in a ball on top of his feet.
He looked to the picture frame on his desk, a picture of Regina holding her cat in her arms as she grinned at the camera and tried to reach for him. He remembered when that photo was taken, Regina was trying to give Lenny some medicine and he wasn't having any of it, Robin thought it was hilarious and tried to take a picture of the moment, only for Regina to try and snatch the camera from his hand whilst juggling her cat in her other arm.
He rolled his chair over to the coffee machine and flicked it on before returning to his desk and opening the top drawer to grab his phone. It wasn't there, that should have been the first sign that something wasn't right, but he simply assumed that he left it in his car. He'd wanted to call Regina and check in on her but he guessed he'd just have to wait until he saw her back at home. He couldn't wait to cuddle up in bed and just chill out with his favourite person.
When he moved back to his coffee machine his eyes caught the view from outside and he rose his eyebrows in surprise, since when had that happened? The ground was white, a fresh layer of snow was covering the floor and a storm was raging. He knew he had to get home to the suburbs and this weather wasn't increasing the chances of that happening. His need to get in touch with Regina increased and he grabbed the office phone before dialling the number of hers. It rang a few times before kicking into her answering machine.
Standing from his chair he moved to the door of his office and captured his assistances attention, "John, would you be able to call the front desk at Regina's building please?"
"Sure thing," he nodded, picking up the phone and putting in a few numbers. "Hello, this is Mr Locksley's assistant, Robin what is it you need?"
"Just ask them if Regina is still there?"
"He wants to know if Miss Mills is still in the office. Right, okay thank you." John nodded before putting the phone down and looking up at him, "she closed the office and headed home about an hour ago, apparently, she's been trying to get in touch with you but wasn't receiving any answer on your mobile."
"Damnit, I need to get home to her."
"Robin, it's probably not a good idea to try and get through the snow."
Robin sighed and looked down at his feet, he knew that his friend meant well, but he hated being away from his girlfriend, couldn't sleep as well without her anymore. It was probably safer for him to stay at his old apartment, he'd need to let her know what he was doing, he just hoped that she managed to get home safe. She'd told him that morning when they'd been watching the forecast that she hated driving in the snow. "I know that, I just… yeah, you're right. Might as well finish this bloody meeting." He moved back into his office to grab his fresh coffee before heading off to the conference room.
Once the meeting was finally over and Robin's mood had worsened along with the weather, he really needed to check on Regina and make sure that she got home safely, he was worried about her. "Well, I'm glad we finally came to agreement, my people will have the papers drawn up for you," Robin nodded as he shook the man's hand and headed out, he just wanted to go home but he knew that probably wasn't a possibility, he was most likely going to have to trek back to his old flat, alone.
He headed to his office and grabbed all the stuff he was going to need, he knew he was sulking but he now officially hated snow for keeping him away from Regina after the day he'd had. He pulled his jacket on, it certainly wasn't made for walking in this weather, but at least it was something and there was no chance of his car getting through the storm, he wasn't even going to risk it. The one thing he did need though was his phone, he needed to call Regina and find out what was going on with her, make sure that she was safe.
"You leaving now Robin?" John asked as he shut down his own computer.
"Yeah, I'm definitely getting the hell out of here, I'm sick to death at the sight of the place," Robin chuckled, "travel safe mate."
"You too Robin."
He nodded and grinned as he made his way to the parking garage, the only place his phone could be was in that car, he headed down and walked through the garage before arriving at his reserved parking space, only, his car wasn't there. It wasn't where he'd left it. "What the hell?" He just stared at the empty space in shock, what was going on? Where on earth was his car? He quickly hurried back out of the garage into the entrance hall of his building, "my car has been stolen," he stated, as he leant against the reception desk.
"Mr Locksley? What happened?"
"I parked my car this morning and now when I went to it, it isn't there." Great, just fucking great. He didn't think that his day could have gotten any worse, but apparently, he was wrong, it had just got a damn site worse than it had been before. "We need to call the police, can you pass me the phone please?"
The receptionist nodded and lifted the phone up onto the desk so Robin could access it, he was just punching in the numbers when the man behind the desk spoke up again.
"You might not need to call them, boss," he quipped, gesturing behind him. Robin turned to see a policeman and woman coming through the doors. What apt timing and yet his heart plummeted in his chest, why were they there? Had something happened? What if it was Regina and something had happened to her on her journey home.
"We're here to talk about an incident that happened earlier today concerning a Mr Robin Locksley."
"That would be me."
"Wait, you're Mr Locksley?" the woman asked as she stared at him, her expression changing to one of shock.
"Last time I checked. What is it you came here for?"
"Well, I don't know if you were aware that your vehicle has been caught up in a traffic accident. Your car was crashed into the security barrier on the bridge out of the city."
Robin's eyes widened and his mouth fell open at what he was hearing, he couldn't quite believe his ears. Someone had stolen his car and gone for a joy ride in his car, during a snowstorm and managed to crash it. He was so ready for the day to just be over and done with because he didn't think he could take anything else happening, however, as much as the idea of someone stealing his vehicle was annoying, he couldn't help but be relieved that it had nothing to do with Regina, that she was safe. "What's happening then?"
"Well, the car is of course completely written off, we had thought that it was you driving, however, the man driving hasn't been identified, the police on the scene assumed that he was you as he had your phone in his pocket. He was rushed to the hospital but we haven't been informed on his condition as of yet, however it was extremely serious and he required immediate surgery."
"Right," Robin nodded, trying to take it all in, it was quite a lot to process. The policewoman was watching him and prompted a horrible thought to rise to the forefront, "they thought that man was me?"
"Yes, I believe so."
"Does that mean… would the hospital have contacted my next of kin?" he asked, his heart rate picking up as the worry he'd felt when he first saw the police returned.
"Most likely sir."
"Shit, Gina. Would there be any way to get to the hospital? Obviously, I'm without a car, but if my girlfriend is there she's going to be going out of her mind."
"I think that we'll be able to arrange that yes, right this way sir."
"This is as far as we can get, the snow is too bad for us to push the car any further."
"Thank you, I can get there from here," Robin shot out as quickly as he possibly could, the police followed behind him but there was no way he was waiting for them, he needed to find her, needed to let her know that he was okay and that he wasn't the one who had been hurt.
Upon reaching the main entrance to the hospital, he realised that he didn't actually know where on earth she was and to just guess would be ludicrous. He was just going to have to ask the person where he could find himself, which was a strange concept.
"Excuse me, I'm looking for the RTA patient who just came out of surgery?"
"I'm afraid unless you're a family member we cannot release that information, sorry sir," the woman shook her head.
Luckily for Robin, the police weren't far behind him and were able to get the woman to tell them exactly where they needed to go, in fact, she actually organised a guide to take them to their destination which Robin was extremely grateful for, the quicker he got to her the better.
After trekking through the maze of corridors her tearful voice met his ears and he picked up the pace, running towards her, as soon as he rounded the corner her beautiful face came into sight. Immediately he could tell that she had been crying, just from looking at her he knew that she was emotionally drained and he couldn't allow her to go through that pain a moment longer, "Regina!"
"Oh my god!" she gasped, her eyes widening as she froze to the spot. He nearly knocked her over by the force of the hug he brought her into, but he couldn't bring himself to care, she was in his arms again and that was all that mattered. "How is this possible?" she cried, her arms immediately going up to hold onto him, squeezing him tightly as she buried her face against his chest, "Robin!" she sobbed, her tears soaking through his shirt, shock vibrating through her body as she hugged him as though it were the last time.
She pressed her ear against his chest, listening to his heart beating and he knew that she was doing it to bring comfort to herself, she often did it late at night or early in the morning, she'd tell him that she was just making sure that he was alive and it warmed his heart. "It's okay, I've got you, I'm okay." Robin kissed the top of her head as he held her, his hands making their way to her back as he rubbed it over the material of her jacket. He hated that she'd gone through so much pain, all because he'd been so stupid as to leave his phone in the car.
"What's going on?" she asked, pulling back to look at him, her eyes scanning over every inch of his body, her fingers following as she touched him all over, he knew that she was checking for any sign of an injury, but she wasn't going to find anything. "Are you okay? You aren't hurt?" she breathed looking into his eyes.
"No, I'm not hurt, I'm fine, everything is okay now. I'm so sorry you went through this Gina, I dread to imagine what you were thinking," he whispered, his hands coming to cup her cheeks as he gently wiped away the tears that were silently falling. He hated seeing her cry and this moment was definitely no exception.
She looked into his eyes before crashing her lips against his, kissing him with everything she had. "I don't understand," she mumbled, her mouth still pressed lightly to his as her hand clutched to the material of his shirt.
"I promise I will explain everything," he stated nudging her nose with his, he was just happy to have her in his arms, despite the slight trembling of her frame as she snuggled against him.
"I'm sorry, forgive me for intruding," a nurse cleared her throat, "if you're Robin Locksley, then who on earth is the patient in there?"
"We don't have the answers to that yet," the policeman state, glancing at his co-worker, "but we intend to find out. Mr Locksley, Miss Mills, if you come this way, we'd like to ask you a couple of questions and then you'll be free to go."
Robin nodded, not relinquishing his grip on Regina as they followed the police. Her parents were also there and now going along with them. They were walking fine until she suddenly stopped and looked up at him wide-eyed, "there's something we need to do first. Call your mother quickly and let her know that you're okay, I rang her earlier and she was worried out of her mind when I told her that you were in an accident, she insisted on coming to America."
"Shit, right, I'll call her. Hopefully, we'll be able to put this whole mess behind us and move on."
Once Robin had phoned his mother and reassured her that he was in fact completely fine, they had to take part in a brief interview with the police. They asked routine questions such as when he last saw his car and if there had been any cars stolen from the lot before. Everything one might expect them to ask.
Cora and Henry had returned home and let them know when they arrived safely whilst Regina and Robin had been driven by the police to the inner-city apartment. There was no way they were driving to the suburbs in the snow and when the sun had left the sky giving way to the darkness of night. It was torturous enough trying to reach their building which was only minutes away from the hospital so the idea of a forty-five-minute journey was completely out of the question. Not to mention Regina had left her car at the side of the road when she spotted his and the police drove her to the hospital, they'd assured her that it would be taken care of and Robin trusted that they knew what they were doing.
When they finally reached Robin's apartment, they were both exhausted, Robin had listened to Regina's story as she told the police all about what happened. He felt awful that's she'd been through that, he didn't even know what he would have done if he were in her position but she had evidently coped well with the situation, she was a strong woman, but he already knew that.
As soon as the door was unlocked she moved inside and flopped down on his couch, closing her eyes as she sunk into the cushions that adorned the furniture. Robin's stomach rumbled as he moved to join her, he realised that he'd skipped lunch and it was way past dinner time now, his hunger was increasing and he just knew that there wasn't a thing in the fridge.
"Are you hungry?" she asked, opening her eyes to glance at him, her fingers reaching out to play with his hair as he just watched her.
"Yeah, you?"
"I haven't really eaten today, so yes," Regina nodded, moving closer so that her lips touched his cheek, she kissed his face, her fingers moving from his hair and down his body before landing on his chest, "I think I remember putting a frozen pizza in your freezer and I'm sure we didn't eat it."
"Oh god I hope you did," Robin groaned, pressing a kiss to the top of her head as he forced himself to stand up and move over to the kitchen, but apparently she wasn't letting him out of her grasp that easily, she moved with him, not taking her hands off him, if he thought about it, she hadn't stopped touching him since she found out about the misunderstanding, there'd been a part of her touching him at virtually all times, as if she were afraid that he would disappear should she let go of him.
He opened the freezer and just as she predicted there was a pizza and it was BBQ chicken, their very favourite, not to mention what was hiding underneath, there was a bag of oven fries and a tub of unopened ice cream, seemingly they had inadvertently prepared for this situation.
"Thank you, past Regina, for your foresight," she giggled as she moved over to the oven, her fingers still hooked around the hem of his shirt as she turned it on, allowing for it to heat up so they could cook their unhealthy feast.
"Past Regina certainly was clever," Robin agreed as he found a backing tray to pour the fries into. She went quiet as she stood by the counter, he heard her sigh and turned to look at her, she was staring out of the window, watching the snow flurry around the city but her mind seemed to be a million miles away. "Gina?"
"Hmm?"
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," she nodded, clearing her throat as she averted her gaze from the window to her hands, twisting her fingers around in the way she always did when she was feeling tense and bottling things up inside.
He sighed and shoved the food in the oven before grabbing her hands and pulling her back over to the couch, making her perch on his lap, "you're not fine."
"No, I'm not," she whispered, her gaze returning to his face as her fingers found his cheek and she began to stroke his face slowly. "I thought I'd lost you today," she swallowed heavily and he knew she was trying to stop the tears from coming, "when I saw your car hanging over the side of the bridge, my whole world fell apart."
Robin took a steady breath and tightened his hold on her, his eyes not leaving hers as he watched the pain that saw running through them.
"I didn't know what to do. I never want to feel that way ever again. It was the worst moment of my life. I thought you were gone, that I would never get you back, not fully anyway and that was the scariest thing I have ever felt," she shuddered, curling into his side.
"I'm so sorry you had to go through that, I should have tried to find my phone earlier, if I had I would have been able to get to you before and prevent all of this from happening. I'm so sorry baby," he buried his face in her hair breathing her in as she clung to him.
"This isn't your fault," she breathed, pulling back and allowing her lips to brush over the corners of his, "whoever stole your car, whoever that man lying in the hospital bed is, he is the one to blame for this. Yet despite his crimes, I wouldn't wish that on anyone, what he is going through is awful and I feel sorry for him."
"You have the kindest heart," Robin hummed, his fingers moving to play with her hair, it had become completely unruly, the water from the melted snow had activated her natural curls, pushing away her once straightened locks. In many ways, she had never looked more beautiful than how she did with her hair like that. "I love you so much."
"I love you too."
"I promise I'll never allow something like this to happen again," he murmured, pressing his forehead against hers. Just holding her in his arms was enough to soothe all the ailments the day had brought, he just hoped that he would be able to bring her as much comfort as she brought him.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter and let me know what you thought and what your predictions are as to who stole Robin's car and why. It isn't necessarily all as it seems! Thanks for reading.
