Happy New Year! So, if you follow my twitter, you'll know that I have decided to make this into a holiday story, because as always, I love it too much to leave it as a one shot. This is set a year after the first chapter.

Thank you all for your wonderful reviews, each one means everything to me, I love knowing that what I write is like and appreciated so please if you liked it let me know! ❤️

Anyway, here's to 2017!


Robin nuzzled her hair with his nose, there was something he loved about doing that first thing in the morning, burying his head in her hair and nudging her, willing her awake, he did it almost every morning, except from the ones they were working. He groaned and kissed her neck, running his lips down to her shoulder and tightening his grasp on her.

She hummed in appreciation and sank lower into his embrace, her hand coming to cover his that danced on her stomach. "Good morning beautiful," he whispered, skimming his lips across her ear.

"Sleep, needed," she groaned shaking her head.

"Okay sleepy head," he chuckled, brushing his fingers across her skin, "I'll just go…"

"No, you stay with me," she complained, sounding like a child who didn't want to be separated from its parents. "Stay here."

"But don't you want..."

"Robin," she moaned, tightening her grip on him, "can we just lie here all day?"

"Don't you want coffee? Or pancakes? I'll bring you breakfast in bed." He could tell she was thinking about it from the way her nose scrunched up in concentration, it was just one of the things he had come to love over their past year together.

"Yes." She nodded, "but I don't want you to leave."

"We, I can't do both," he chuckled.

"Clone yourself, we should really work on a way to do that," she whispered, "you could be the next Jekyll and Hyde, but separate."

"Wow," he shook his head kissing her, "when did you come up with that?"

"Just now," she smiled, turning so that she could drape her leg across him, "it's ingenious isn't it."

"It's something," he laughed, only to be elbowed in the ribs.

"Excuse me, but I think that it's a great idea, give me Hyde in bed and Dr Jekyll can go and make my breakfast." Regina cast him a smug smile.

He looked down at her and shook his head, "I thought you said you just came up with this plan, it seems pretty well thought out to me."

"Well, I'm a creative person, what do you expect?" she chuckled, pressing kisses to his chest, "now go make my breakfast."

"As you wish my queen," he slipped out of bed and turned to look at her, she had buried her head in his pillow, face first, her hair was surrounding her in a dark puddle. In the past year, she had grown it out quite a bit, it now reached her shoulder blades and he loved it, loved to run his fingers through it and brush it for her when she let him do so. The quilt slipped and rested on her lower back, showing off her silky skin as it was rare that she would wear anything in bed anymore.

"Robin I know you're still there, I can hear you breathing, stop staring would you?" She waved an arm as if she were dismissing him, she liked to play to her role and Robin loved it.

"I cannot help it milady, for thou ist the prettiest maiden my eyes have ever set upon."

He heard her stifle her laughter in the pillow, before she cleared her throat and shook her head, still not meeting his gaze, "thy eyes look too much, looking uponst mine self when they should be in the kitchen cooking the royal feast."

"Me thinks the lady doth protest too much to my looking upon her, for she is the fairest creature in all the lands." He wasn't going to be the one to give up this game, she had been the one who chose to indulge him and he was more than capable of winning this medieval discussion, "although I may be but a mere commoner in her presence, I hope that one day her majesty may turn her head to acknowledge my own presence."

"Your hopes dirty peasant, I am afraid, aren't significant to me, for my king shall be returning home at any moment; I have been assured that he will come directly up here and ravish me senseless."

"Oh is that so?"

"Hmm," she turned her head a little to the side and looked to at him.

"Well I think I heard a ruckus down yonder, I shall go and see if it's he."

"Ah, why thank you." She chuckled. "Let's hope it is, for one has been feeling rather starved of his affection."

Robin hurried out of the room and downstairs where he found one of the paper hats from their Christmas crackers, his mother sent them every year from back home in Britain, something about Christmas not being right without a Christmas cracker. He placed it on his head and was about to rush back upstairs when the landline began to ring. The phone could wait, he pressed a button, putting the call through to the answering machine, before running back to his Queen in bed.

He knocked on the door and waited for her to answer.

"Enter." She stated in her sexiest voice. He rubbed his hands together and pushed the door open, to find her sat up in bed leaning against the headrest; she had brushed her hair and her lips were painted a bright red colour. "Well hello there," he knew she was fighting back laughter, especially when she caught a glance of his hat. "Seriously?"

"Keep going, it's hot."

"Really?" She sniggered, "I hope you know that this Queen isn't one who is easily submissive."

"Ah, I don't know about that," he moved towards the bed and crawled up over her so that his nose was touching hers, "this King is going to show his Queen the time of her life."

"Well then, proceed," she giggled, grabbing the duvet and pulling it up to cover them completely.


Fully sated, Robin left Regina in bed to go downstairs and make her breakfast, even though it was way past lunch time. Looking at the clock he shook his head and moved to the bottom of the stairs, "Babe."

"Yeah?"

"What time are your folks coming?"

"What time is it now?" She asked, he knew she was still in bed, she probably hadn't even made any effort to get out. She deserved it though, she worked so hard all the time. This Christmas they hadn't worked because Robin's parents and hers had come around for Christmas dinner. Regina had moved into his place in July and they had been living together ever since. Of course, they'd had their odd fights, all couples do, it was completely natural, it just made them love each other more.

Now it was New Year's Eve and they were throwing their first official party as a couple, most holidays they tended to work, so they were glad for the opportunity to have all their friends over. However, before they could engage with that, they were spending the day with their parents. His mother and father loved Regina, not that he was surprised, but he felt as though her mother didn't exactly approve of their relationship, didn't approve of him, but that was Cora wasn't it. "Ten to two."

"What?! Shit, oh fuck, Robin!"

He heard a thud and really hoped she hadn't just fallen out of bed, "babe, you okay?"

"No, ouch," he listened and heard her footsteps, she had clearly recovered, "we didn't have time for that second round," she protested, hurrying down the stairs in just her robe, she rushed straight past him into the sitting room and nearly knocked over the Christmas tree.

"Whoa, Gina chill out," he placed his hands on her arms, forcing her to look up at him.

"How am I supposed to chill out, I need to tidy the house, it isn't tidy enough, look, the trees malting," she gestured to the pines she had just knocked off in her hurry, "and see, the rug, it isn't straight."

"Regina, it's just a rug."

"Ah, you see that's where you're wrong, it's a wonky rug."

"I thought you liked the rug wonky."

"Oh, I don't care if it's wonky, it can be crumpled with bumps in for all I care, but my mother will walk into the room and the first thing to come out of her mouth won't be, 'oh hello Regina, how have you been?' It will be, 'dear, the rugs crooked, do you not care about your living space?'"

"Well, okay, I can just straighten it," he walked over to it and pulled slightly, "see, all good."

"The couch it…"

"How about, you go upstairs and have a nice shower, I can take care of all this."

"We don't have time!" She argued.

"What time did you tell them?" he asked, trying to find something that would stop her from this complete freak out she was having.

"Three," she shook her head, "that isn't…"

"Call and delay them."

"Ha," she shook her head, "I don't think you understand that my mother doesn't do that, she has to have everything running smoothly."

"Okay, Regina, go upstairs and have a shower, go," he literally skirted her to the bottom of the stairs, "get ready and I promise I will sort everything down here."

"But…"

"Ah," he pressed a finger to her lips, "no buts, this is not an argument."

She scowled at him, before following orders and hurrying up the stairs, when she reached the top she turned around, "it better be perfect when I come back down and…" she scurried into the bedroom before throwing something down the stars at him, "move you god darn slippers, they just floored me."

"Technically you just moved them for me," he quipped, pulling them onto his feet and immediately becoming thankful for the extra heat, he hadn't noticed how cold it was in the house.

The snow was still falling outside, had been since nearly a week before Christmas, he'd had to shovel the long drive up to the house at least ten times, oh no, oh no, this was bad, this was so bad; he and Regina had been off work for the past two days, having worked the boxing day shift and another three after that, which meant that they hadn't left the house, they had stayed in their own little cocoon, snuggling up in front of the fire, drinking hot chocolate, binging on chocolates and watching festive films, this in turn meant that the drive would be covered in a thick blanket of snow.

He dashed about the living room, sweeping brush in hand as he swept the needles that had fallen off the tree, following this he moved onto the couch, Regina said something was wrong with it, what could possibly… "oh come on," there was a dip where they had literally just fallen into the sofa together and forgone any plumping of the cushions that might have been necessary. He quickly pulled them all off and properly plumped them, finding things that had fallen down the sides, such as money, sweet wrappers, so that might have been him, good job he decided to do this instead of let her do it, she would have probably have pulled his slipper off his foot and hit him with it.

Once the couch was taken care of, he skirted into the dining room and laid the table, what were they even going to eat? Oh they had really ballsed this up, really truly. Opening the fridge, he stared inside, just as he had thought, there were only left overs in the fridge, he and Regina had been coming up with creative ways to use the leftover turkey, but that was hardly an option for her parents, or her mother rather, her father was nice, quiet, but nice.

Shaking his head, he pulled on his coat and fished out his wellingtons, before heading upstairs to tell her what he was doing. He knocked lightly on the bathroom door, before walking in, she was in the shower, running her hands through her hair, whilst talking to herself, which she tended to do every now and then, usually when she was stressed out. "It'll be fine, your mother isn't that bad, it will be all good, everyone will have a good time and it's going to be great afternoon. Or maybe mom could be sick, that way she won't have to come and then I could go and check on her."

"Regina Mills, wishing your own mother be ill," he tutted, clearly startling her as she shot around to look at him.

"I don't really want her to be ill, but maybe she could have a small cold that she doesn't want to risk passing along to everyone else." Then the look on her face changed, "Robin, what are you wearing? You are not going out now, are you kidding me?"

"If we want our guests to get in, I'm going to have to go out and do the drive."

"Aww fuck," she ran her hands over her face, "let's just build a snow fort around the house, that way they won't be able to get in."

"I think you're forgetting that I actually want to see my parents."

"Oh right."

"And the party is tonight."

"That's fine, I have everything stored in the garage," she nodded, "so we are all calm about the party, especially when I get to kiss you at midnight."

"I hope you kiss me before then, I don't think I can go that long," he chuckled.

She turned the shower off and stepped out, his eyes ran up and down her gloriously naked body, how could one person be so perfect? He didn't know, but she really was and he had a really important question to ask her later, he just hoped that she said yes, it would make him the happiest man alive, not that he wasn't already, as long as she was with him, he always would be. He watched her as she stepped towards him, forgoing the towel, letting him watch the water droplets that ran down her boy, caressing her skin in a way he would love to do, if they had enough time, which they didn't, nowhere near enough.

Once she was close enough to him, she pressed her lips against his, seeking entrance to his mouth in which she tangled their tongues together, "how long will that tide you over for?"

"Oh I should say at least twenty minutes, but maybe ten."

He went in to kiss her again, but she put her hand in the way, blocking his advances, "I hope you're quick with a snow shovel, because these lips will be waiting for you when you've finished."

"I am on it," he laughed, noticing that she had dropped her hand, he stole another quick kiss before heading out the door.

"That's cheating!" She called after him, but he was already downstairs and outside.

So this was the worst job imaginable, he hated doing it, as much as he loved snow, he loathed the inconvenience of it, having to move it, just for more snow to fall in its place, covering the area he just cleared, but it had to be done. He trudged down the path and began to shovel the snow into the garden. It was freezing and he could see his breath in the air, he had to continue though. There was no way that Regina's mother would ever walk all the way up their drive through about a foot and a half of snow.

He had been shovelling for nearly twenty minutes and was finishing the last part, when he was struck hard by a lump of snow that had hurtled from the direction of the house. Turning around he spotted Regina all kitted out in her winter gear, her big puffer coat, gloves, hat and the red scarf that was one of the many presents he had given her on Christmas morning. "Well, excuse me," he scoffed shaking his head.

She just laughed and he noticed that she had something in her hands, it was another snowball, he thought she'd been the one who said they were late getting ready for their parents, now she was wanting a snowball fight? Well, he hadn't expected that.

"What are you doing?"

She bit her bottom lip and held her hand up, "having a little fun before the parents come."

"I thought you were stressing out about that."

"I was, but then I decided, I wasn't, if my mother doesn't approve of my life, then that's her choice, but why should we be anyone other than ourselves?"

"Okay then," he nodded, ducking down and compacting some snow into a ball, he was hit again by her, her aim was actually pretty good and she was scraping up the snow to make another, so he took his chance flinging it at her, but somehow, she saw it coming and dodged it. Her melodic laughed floated through the air as she stuck her tongue out at him playfully. She hit him for the third time and he shook his head, either she was really good at this, or he was really shit. "Come on, play fair."

"Robin, it's not my fault you can't throw," she shrugged, smacking him with one last one as he let out a yelp. "Oh you're such a baby," she giggled.

"Oh am I now? I'm going to get you for that." He rushed towards her, catching her off guard as he scooped her up in his arms.

"Robin, what are you doing?" she squealed, holding onto him, burying her face into his coat. He looked around and spotted a large snow drift that he had built up with the snow he had shovelled. A mischievous smirk came across his face as he began walking with her in his arms, heading towards the mass of snow. "Robin," she moved her head to look around and he knew she must have realised what he was planning on doing, because she began wriggling in his arms. "No, you dare, you dare Locksley and I will kick you in the balls so…" he paid no attention to her and deposited her in the drift.

"Oops."

"Robin!" She cried, peaking her head above the snow as the rest of her body was buried, "Robin Locksley you help me up right now, right now!" She yelled, flailing her arms about, "Robin!"

"Okay, okay," he reached out to take her hand before he could realise what she was about to do, she pulled him head first into the snow beside her. God, how had he fallen for that? He should have guessed that she was going to do that, it was so Regina. "Ooh," he secured his arms around her, before hovering above her and pressing his lips to hers, kissing her deeply.

She moaned, her arms coming to wrap around him as she ran her hands up and down his back; when she moaned like that, it did things to him, made him want to make love to her right there in the snow. She opened her mouth to him as he brushed his tongue against hers, her hands dropped lower and she squeezed his arse, causing him to groan into her mouth; he felt her smile against his lips and grinned, pulling back to look down at her. His hand moved to her waist and caressed her over her jumper, before grabbing a handful of snow and putting it down her jeans.

"Fuck! Robin!" she squealed, "I hate you!" She pushed against his chest, as she wriggled her lower half, "oh god, its melting, get it out!"

"Really?" He looked at her wide eyed, so he had only meant for it to go down her trouser leg, but clearly, it had gone somewhere entirely different.

"Robin, you get that snow out of my panties right now! Cold, cold, so cold. Robin Locksley!" Before she even gave him the chance to act, she grabbed a handful of snow and gave him a taste of his own medicine.

"Oh god!"

"Now you know how it feels," she shivered. He undid the button on her pants and moved his hand inside to retrieve the compacted snow he had shoved down there, but just as he found it, she was moaning, apparently, he brushed across her clit. Smirking, he stroked her briefly, he couldn't tell if the wetness was from her or the melting ice, either way she was soaked. "Hmm," she arched into his touch. He was briefly aware of the snow that was melting inside his boxers, the water trickling down his legs, drenching his pants, probably embarrassingly, but he was too caught up in the noises she was making to care.

He was rubbing her now and she had her eyes closed, whilst she concentrated on her breathing. "Regina, you feel so good," he breathed, dropping down and kissing her, toying with her clit at the same time, causing her to bite down on his bottom lip and he found it turned him on.

"We shouldn't be doing this here," she moaned, shaking her head, before going back to kissing him, her arms wrapped around his neck. "We shouldn't, someone could see…" she tried, but she clearly wasn't making any attempts to move, in fact she was only working to spur him on even more, especially when she whimpered like she was doing. He found that he could make Regina Mills sing for him all the time, not that she was actually good at singing properly, but in bed, or as they currently were, in the snow, she could make the most wonderful sounds.

"Do you want me to stop?" He whispered against her lips.

"Don't you dare," she ordered, pulling him down so that every part of their bodies were touching. The ice in her pants had melted, probably from the heat that was being emitted from her core, he ran a finger through her slit, twirling it along the flesh that was warm and throbbing,

"So you want me to make you come on our driveway?"

"God yes, please Robin."

"As you wish milady, just try not to alarm the neighbours with those amazing noises you make."

"Robin, give it to me," he chuckled and slipped two fingers inside her before proceeding to pump them in and out of her; just as he had presumed the noises were back, the whimpers, cries, moans and any other noise she felt like making.

She was close, he could feel it, her walls were beginning to contract around his fingers and she was trembling underneath him, he knew it wasn't from the cold, but from the orgasm that was building within her. She was so close, just one more thrust and she would… "Regina Maria Mills!" Robin's eyes went wide as he looked down at Regina, who was staring at him in panic, the moment was most definitely lost. Her breath quickened as she shook her head.

He quickly removed his hand from her and did up the button on her pants, then and only then, did he look up to see, none other than Cora Mills, glaring at them her eyes narrowed; he swallowed heavily, before turning to look at Regina, she had her eyes closed and whispered, "Robin, please tell me my mother is not standing there."

"Sorry babe," he muttered, moving to stand up, before extending his hand to help his girlfriend up from the ground.

"Mother."

"Regina, would you care to explain this disgusting behaviour?"

"You see, I think you misunderstood the situation," she tried, "as it happens, Robin was helping me remove ice that had gotten into my pants."

Robin looked at her and closed his eyes, shaking his head, how the hell was that going to make the situation any better? Nothing could, it was embarrassing and he felt even sorrier for Regina, she had been so close to climax, before her mother just showed up from out of nowhere and completely crushed the mood, preventing her from getting anything that might make a telling off worthwhile. Nobody wanted to be caught in that position by their parents, it just wasn't something that was good in any way whatsoever.

"I see," Cora scoffed, "so you thought it was appropriate to do that in the driveway."

"It is our driveway," Robin shrugged, feeling Regina's elbow dig sharply into his side.

"So that makes indecent exposure okay does it?"

"Well, we own the property, so pretty much," he nodded, "plus it wasn't indecent exposure, I was getting ice out of her pants."

"And she could get the ice out of her own pants? Why did she even have ice down her pants in the first place?"

Robin rolled his eyes, how old did she think she was, Regina was a grown woman and she could do what she wanted, if she wanted ice down her pants, she could, not that she'd asked for it, he had done it to wind her up and from there it had gotten a little heated. "Okay, why don't we all go inside and cool off a little."

"It seems that Regina has done her fair amount of cooling down," she scoffed, casting her daughter a look of disappointment.

Robin reached out and grabbed her hand, squeezing it reassuringly, "let's just go in shall we," he wasn't one to just stand around and let her get bullied by her mother, he was going to have to speak up, because it wasn't fair that such an amazing woman be badgered like she was by her own flesh and blood.

Cora got back in her car and drove the rest of the way up the drive; Regina let out a defeated sigh, "that did not just happen, my mother couldn't possibly have just caught you giving me…"

"At least we weren't having sex." He shrugged, as they began to walk back towards the house, "that really would have been embarrassing."

"Robin, I was about to come, you had your fingers inside me and my mother, stopped her car, got out…"

"That's quite creepy actually, your mother was watching us," he received a hard whack on the arm and turned to see her glaring at him, looking scarily like her mother.

"I don't need the reminder, I was so fucking close," she cried, shaking her head, before looking down and laughing. "Robin."

"Hmm?" he glanced at her and recognised where she was looking, he glanced down and noticed the awkward boner and wet patch on his jeans, which made him look as though he'd come in his pants. "You've got to be kidding me; how the hell are we explaining that one?"

"We aren't, we're both dead. That is water, right?"

"It's water," he sighed, he was still painfully hard, he groaned uncomfortably.

"You cannot stand in front of my parents like that," then she pulled his hand, tugging him away from the drive and into the woody area that surrounded the perimeter of their house.

"Regina, what are you doing?" He asked. This was really weird, her parents were probably waiting outside their house to get in, if Cora hadn't already let herself in that was and Regina had pulled him into the middle of the woods, it was strangely invigorating. "Gina?"

"This is going to have to be quick," her hands worked on the button on his jeans and she pulled them down to his ankles, along with his boxers allowing his erection to spring free. Before he could even register the cold, she was knelt down and her mouth was on him, her hand coming to the base of his shaft as she pumped. Her tongue was swirling in the way she knew drove him crazy, her other hand slipped to his balls as she massaged them. She was relentless, there was nothing slow about this, her main aim was to get him off and he knew that.

He was so turned on and it was strange, he thought being caught would have turned him off, but it had shamefully made him even more horny. He tangled his fingers in her hair and she moaned against him when he pulled it lightly, he had discovered quite quickly that hair pulling whilst she was giving head, tended to make her wild. To say that she was good at it was an understatement, she was amazing with her mouth, the things she did to him. "Oh god Gina," he groaned, he knew he was close.

Her head was bobbing steadily as she sucked him in off in the middle of a snowy woods. Then he came and she swallowed before standing up and licking her lips, "hmm, there you go," she patted his leg as she looked at him in triumph.

He stared at her in awe and shook his head, "well, that was a pleasant surprise."

"Come on, zip up dear, my parents are waiting." She wiped her mouth as he pulled up his pants and buttoned them.

He took her hand in his as they made their way back to the house, only to find that Robin's parents had also arrived and clearly they had let themselves in. "This is going to be awkward," he groaned, his arms going around her waist as he leant his chin on her shoulder.

"Come on," she chuckled, pushing the door open as they entered their house laughing with each other. She shushed him and pulled him upstairs, but he forgot about the one step that was creaking and stepped directly on top of it, letting out a loud squeak. He winced and looked at Regina who was shaking her head at him.

"Robin?" His mother called from the sitting room, she had crazily good hearing so he wasn't the least bit surprised that she had picked up on the creak.

"Come on," Regina pulled his arm and disappeared upstairs, but he didn't catch up with her in time and his mother came into the hallway with a glass of champagne in hand, where the hell had she even got that from?

"Robin darling!"

"Hi mum," he cast her a forced smile.

"Where have you been? Henry and Cora had to let us in."

"Can you give me five minutes, then I'll come and greet you properly?"

"Well, okay then," she replied and he could tell she was rather taken aback by it.

He found the need to tell her something, after all she was his mother, "we were clearing the driveway and got a little wet, so I need to change my clothes."

"Ah I see, go on then dear."

Robin hurried up the stairs and pushed into the bedroom to find Regina sat on the bed, wriggling out of her wet clothes, "I can't believe you just did that," he laughed unzipping his coat and pulling off his shirt. "You're a crazy woman."

"Oh, I know," she giggled, changing her panties and pulling a red dress over her head. "Could you have imagined my mother coming across that? I think it might have just killed her."

"That definitely was indecent exposure," he laughed, pulling on some dark jeans and pairing them with a deep blue shirt that went well with his eyes.

"Yes," she nodded, "Robin, would you zip me up please?"

"Sure," he moved behind her and fastened the back of her dress, before resting his head on her shoulder and meeting her eyes in the full length mirror, "stunning." He breathed, "how did I get so lucky?"

"I don't know," she chuckled, "I think I may have been suffering from amnesia at the time."

"You were not," he scrunched up his nose, "I cleared you of that, now come on, let's go."

"I just need to go to the bathroom."

"Me too."


Regina led the way into the living room with Robin close behind her, she looked straight past her mother and to his, he prayed that Cora hadn't told everyone else what she had witnessed. "Caroline."

"Regina dear," the older woman stood and hugged her, "have you been taking care of my son for me?" She asked.

Robin nearly choked on the beer that his dad had just passed to him, he hoped it was just an innocent remark, but after what he and Regina had been up to in the woods, it sounded less than innocent.

Regina rose her eyebrows at him, before turning back to his mother, "yes, I think I am doing a pretty good job of it," she smiled, "it has only been six days since we last saw you." Regina sat down on the vacant sofa opposite her own mother and Robin came to sit beside her, placing his arm around her on the back of it. "How was New York?" she asked.

Robin's parents were on a trip to the US for the holidays, coming over to see their son and meet the girlfriend they had heard so much about; they had decided to go down to NYC for a couple of days between Christmas and New Year, leaving Robin and Regina to enjoy some of the holiday season alone. Caroline grinned at them and nodded, "it was amazing wasn't it Robert," she looked at her husband, "it really is beautiful, not as much as your quaint little town, but the Rockefeller Christmas tree was really something."

"Oh yes, I hear its spectacular," Regina's hand came to Robin's knee as she brushed her hand across it, "maybe we should go and see it next year." She suggested.

Robin felt his heart beat a little faster, he knew that he was thinking of asking her to marry him, but to know she was in this relationship for keeps and thinking about plans a year in advance, it was amazing. He was roused from his thoughts by the scoffing coming from the woman sat opposite them and looked up to see Cora rolling her eyes. "That sounds like a wonderful idea," Robin kissed her shoulder lightly.

"Please," Cora huffed.

Robin glared at the woman, "what's that supposed to mean?"

"It means, that I think you may be putting the cart before the horse."

"Why?" Regina asked, linking her fingers with his.

"Regina, are you serious? This is a year in the future, I think you should be keeping all your options open."

"No," she snapped.

"What?"

"You don't get to make this decision, you don't get to dictate to me how I run my life. I'm in love with Robin, I want to be with him, when are you going to understand that?"

"You can do so much…"

"Don't even finish that sentence," Robin looked at his girlfriend as she glared at her mother, he could tell that she was going to erupt at any moment and squeezed her hand tighter, trying to get her to calm down a little. "Don't you dare!"

"Gina, it's okay," he whispered.

"No, no it isn't," she shook her head, "it isn't okay, because I can't do better, I can't! I love this man and if you can't accept that, then I think you should leave!"

The room went quiet and everyone turned to look at the older woman, to say Robin felt awkward was an understatement, he was glad that Regina was standing up for him especially against her mother, the woman she had spent her whole life sucking up to, trying to impress and here she was defending their relationship, blatantly going against her mother, he didn't think he'd ever been prouder of her.

"Regina, I cannot believe you would talk to me like that…"

"Oh can't you? I think this has been building for a while now and since I've started I might as well finish, mother, you are rude and you've been nothing but disrespectful to Robin since you met him and I am sick to the back teeth of it, I really am and the way you treat me is hardly any better, I am…" she suddenly stopped and looked towards Robin, her eyes wide as if what she was saying had just caught up with her.

Cora was glaring at her now and stood from her seat, "Regina, please may I talk to you alone for a moment?"

"Fine," she huffed, casting him one last glance, before standing and leaving the room with her mother.

As soon as the door was closed, it was as though the whole room were a balloon that had just been left to deflate, everyone let out breaths they hadn't even realised they were holding. "Well, that was, interesting," Caroline quipped, looking to her son, then her husband.

Henry sighed and shook his head, "I must apologise for my wife, she was completely out of line."

"It's fine," Robin shrugged, moving to sit next to the man, "I'm guessing you haven't spoken to her about what I asked you last month."

"Oh good heavens no, she's better off not knowing; she is just going to have to deal with the fact that Regina and yourself are in love and it is clear to me and everyone else in the room that that is the case."

Robin smiled at him, he had gone to him the previous month to ask him a very important question, one that would affect the rest of his life, he was just glad he had received the answer he had been seeking. Suddenly they heard a crash coming from the other room, Robin looked up at Henry and then heard Regina yelling. He rushed out of the room into the dining room to find her on the floor, picking up pieces of glass. "Whoa, Gina, careful." He grabbed her arm gently, helping her stand up.

"Get her out Robin! Get her away from me!"

"What happened?" he asked, looking at the frame that was on the ground smashed to smithereens.

"She smashed our photo!" She cried, moving the glass and picking up the photo that had been damaged by the impact of what looked like a high heel. The photo had been taken at a fourth of July firework party that they had attended and it was Regina's all-time favourite photograph of them together, that had been why he'd had it framed properly and given it to her the day she had moved in with him.

"Okay, I think we need to all calm down," he ran his hands over her shoulders and moved her away from the broken glass.

"Robin she…"

"Gina," he sighed, "we can get another photo, hmm?" He sat her down at one of the dining room chairs and rubbed her legs comfortingly, "we can replace it."

"That's not the same Robin, it was special to us and she," she glared at her mother, "she ruined it."

"Who's she? The cat's mother?" Cora scoffed.

"No, even cats have nicer mothers than I do." Regina spat back, "don't give yourself such a compliment."

"Okay, babe chill," Robin whispered, tracing her cheek with his fingers. He knew he needed to calm her down, or this was going to ruin her New Year's Eve and that wasn't fair, not that her mother showing up and acting like she knew best hadn't already, but her worrying about it would only serve to make it worse. He would be lying if he said he hadn't seen this coming, he had, he knew that Cora would try and ruin this day, just like she was trying to ruin their relationship, but if Robin had any say, she wasn't going to do either.

At that moment, the house phone began to ring and he shook his head, heading off into the sitting room to pick up the handset. "Hello."

"Robin, at last, finally you answer."

"David hey, what's going on?" he asked, thinking it was odd to have a phone call from his colleague at this time.

"Well, I hate to be the barer of bad news, but did you know that you are on the rota for tonight?"

Robin furrowed his eyebrows, "nah, I'm not I booked off forever ago, I think it was Halloween when I booked off New Year's Eve and Christmas Day at the same time." There was not a cat in hells chance they were getting him to work today, no way, he wouldn't do it, Regina would fry him. "I think you might have gotten it wrong mate."

"I don't think so Robin, says here that you have a shift at St James's at ten till five."

"I don't think you understand what I am telling you," he walked out of the room, making sure that nobody overheard his conversation, "I can't work tonight, I promised my girlfriend that we would ring in the New Year together and we are having a party so…"

"So you're not going to do your job?"

"Mate, like I said I booked off." He wasn't going to be guilt tripped into working, it wasn't fair.

"Okay, well, I'd ring Leo, he's the boss."

"It must just be a mistake, it has to be a mistake."

"Anyway, Happy New Year man."

"Hmm, Happy New Year."

He cut his phone off and shook his head, this was just some stupid joke that David had decided to pull, they were doing it all the time, however he wasn't sure, something in his voice sounded different, almost as though he were being serious. He rang Leo and went through the same sort of conversation again.

"Look, I don't think you understand, my girlfriend and I are hosting this part and I can't leave her."

"Robin, if you want your job, you don't have a choice."

"Are you serious?" he snapped, "are you really threatening to fire me? I'm a good doctor, I have booked two specific days off in the whole year and you are telling me that one of them just didn't happen to be recognised, that I have to go into work, leaving the woman I love, to entertain a houseful of people without me?"

"Yes, that's exactly what I am saying Locksley."

"This is bullshit," he growled into the phone before cutting him off. Then he realised what hospital it was, St James's was Regina's hospital, why were they needing temp staff, she had assured him that she'd gotten it all ready, that she had the correct amount of people working, so why was he having to go in? He couldn't believe how his day had changed, he had woken up with such high spirits, such high hopes for how he wanted the day to play out, unfortunately none of it had gone to plan.

He growled and banged his fist against the stone wall, that probably wasn't the best thing he could have done at that moment. "Robin?"

He turned around to look at Regina as she came into the room and hugged him tight, he cupped the back of her head with one hand, running his fingers through her hair as he kissed her temple.

"What's wrong?" She asked, pulling back to glance up at him.

He sighed and shook his head, "I just got a call from Leo, calling me into work."

"What?" she furrowed her eyebrows, "you booked off months ago, didn't you?"

"Yes, of course I did, I think Leo enjoys ruining people's holidays," he sighed tightening his grip on her waist.

"Don't go," she shrugged.

"I don't go, I get fired," he scoffed in annoyance, he didn't think he could take the look of disappointment that would show on her face when she realised they wouldn't be together at midnight. "Plus, it's St James's, so I have an obligation."

"Why do they need a temp? I organised this with my staff weeks ago," she reached for the phone he had just put down and keyed in a number, he heard it ring before she spoke, "hi, it's Dr Mills… Hi, yes, I was just wondering why we were in need of a temporary doctor and why no one has given me a call to inform me of this."

He watched her as she talked on the phone, but he didn't know what she was trying to achieve, it was clear he was going to have to go in, whether he liked it or not, New Year's Eve was going to be ruined. She put the phone down and he turned to look at her, "well?"

"Well, it seems I have a doctor's position open in the ER if you want it," she rolled her eyes, "it appears one of my doctors has handed in his resignation with immediate effect, not that I was informed about this. How would you feel about settling…"

"Yes."

"I hadn't finished what I was going to say," she furrowed her eyebrows.

"I do want to settle, I don't want to carry on going from hospital to hospital with all this unpredictability, it was what I wanted once, but it isn't any more. If you're serious about offering me the job, then I'll take it." He nodded, this was what he wanted, for them to be able to spend more time together, even if it had to be at work, because something is better than nothing and he'd rather work at one hospital than travel from one to another.

"Right then, type in Leo's number and pass me that phone."

"What are you doing?" he asked, pressing the buttons before handing it to her. He watched her intently as she pressed the call button and moved the phone to her ear.

She cleared her throat before talking, "hello, is this Leopold Blanchard?" What the hell was she doing? He tried to ask her again, but she simply carried on, "oh good, this is Dr Regina Mills from St James's, I was just wondering if you had any other temps?" There was a short pause and he watched her as she placed a finger to her lips, "yes, I do understand that it's New Year's Eve and that people are busy, but I'm afraid I can't work with Dr Locksley." He would kill to hear what Leo was saying on the other side of the phone, "excuse me Mr Blanchard, but I think you will find that my organisation hires you, not the other way around, so either, you get me a new temp, or I might just have to break ties."

Robin's eyes went wide as he looked at her, god she was good, he just hoped that she managed to get the message across. "I understand that, but I also understand that you are treating certain employees in a way that is unacceptable, Robin Locksley just being a name off the top of my head. So find me a replacement doctor for my ER… well, I'm glad we could have this talk, thank you, yes, Happy New Year to you too." She dropped the phone down and smirked at him. "I think I just got you out of working."

"Wow," he chuckled, "you are amazing," he kissed her soundly.

"You do realise that you are going to be working for me from now on, that technically I will be your boss."

"Ah, isn't that the case anyway?" he laughed jokingly, he knew they had an equal relationship, one where they reached decisions together, he ran a thumb across her cheek, "thank you."

"I love you," she whispered, closing her eyes as she rested her forehead against his and basked in the love he was showing her.

"I love you too," he nodded, "babe, what's going on downstairs?"

"My mother decided to leave, after you left to answer the phone, she began to shout at me for what she caught us doing and then walked out, she pretty much disowned me." She cast him a watery smile.

He frowned and kissed her nose gently, "I'm sorry," he sighed, he felt partially responsible for this, after all, the whole reason they had been arguing in the first place was because of him, because her mother didn't like him.

"It's fine, do you know what? I feel better than I have in a long time," she smiled, resting her head on his chest as he hugged her, "after all, I've got you, right?"

"You do have me," he nodded, "you always have me Regina and I have never been prouder than I was when I watched you stand up to your mother."

She chuckled and shook her head, "I think I might have embarrassed myself in front of your parents."

"Nah, they'll be fine, come on."


A few hours later Robin and Regina were sat in the living room, surrounded by all their friends and the party was in full swing. It was eleven o'clock and everyone was buzzing, waiting for the start of the New Year, Robin was probably the most excited as it would be the start of a year that he hoped would be theirs, a year they would remember, not that the previous year hadn't been, he just wanted this one to be extra special.

Ruby flopped down on the sofa beside them, "I love your place, it's great."

"We love it," Regina smiled.

"It's so homely, it really is adorable." Robin chuckled at their friend and hugged Regina tighter to him, "so are the two of you," Ruby shook her head, "do you know how happy everyone at the hospital was when you two decided to get together?"

"No, but I'm sure you're going to tell us," Regina quipped.

"God, we all knew the two of you belonged together, there was just, something."

"Hmm," Robin's fingers skirted along his girlfriend's waist, skimming just below the material of the sparkly gold top she had adorned. Regina turned to look at him, her whiskey eyes sparkling, "there's was definitely something, love, that's what it was Ruby."

"Wow, okay, I'll leave the two of you to enjoy that moment, I'm off to find Tink."

Regina didn't say anything, just waved her off, not breaking the eye contact she had begun with Robin. Her eyes told him everything he needed to know, the depth of her love shone right there, they didn't need words, this was enough, this was all the reassurance they needed.


It was five minutes to twelve and Robin watched as Regina scurry about, making sure that everyone had a drink, he chuckled and shook his head as he made his way towards her, "hey."

"Hi," she spun around and smiled at him, "are you ready for the New Year?" she asked.

He nodded, "oh most definitely, I am looking forward to it immensely," he placed his arms around her as they wandered back into the sitting room where everyone was gathered; Regina was talking to one of her friends, whilst Robin was content in just holding her in his arms as he leant his chin on her shoulder and held her tight, her hands were resting on his over her stomach and he couldn't help but smile, thinking how great it would be for her one day to be carrying their child; they'd had the odd conversation and he knew that one day she would love to have children and he was very much on the same page as she was.

She was leaning back into him as she began running her fingertips up and down his arms, her friend then left them to go and find her husband and Regina turned in his arms, moving her hands to his biceps.

"Are you happy?" he asked, raising his hand to move a strand of her hair behind her ear. He knew the answer to that question without having to ask, he knew that she was insanely happy.

"Totally blissful," she replied, "you're happy too, right?"

"Regina, I am the happiest man alive. I have you." He whispered, leaning in to brush his nose with hers; he knew he was sappy, but he couldn't help it, she just happened to bring out that side to him, she made him into this love-sick puppy who would do anything for her and he would, he knew he would.

She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth as she looked up at him, god he just wanted to ask her his question here and now, he just wanted to know what her answer would be? He just wanted her to promise that she would never leave his side, that she would be with him always, because he couldn't take losing her, that much he knew.

As she was staring up at him, people in the room began to shout, counting down the seconds until the new year, a year in which there was endless possibility and above all, a new hope that this year would be better than the last, that somehow this year would outdo any year come before, the hope was there, but the doubt was also sneaking in, doubt that there would be more suffering in the world, doubt that hatred would somehow conquer even the most hopeful heart.

It would take a lot of hatred to conquer Robin Locksley's heat for as long as Regina Mills was beside him, he had hope, that's what she was, she was the hope that there were good people in the world, she gave him faith that humanity would win out in the end and that there would be some sort of end to the acts of hatred, her caring nature was enough to make anyone believe.

Before he knew it, the counting had stopped and everyone was wishing each other a Happy New Year, she was laughing as she looked around at all the happy people surrounding them. She turned back to him and smiled, "Happy New Year."

"Happy New Year," he grinned, closing the gap between them and kissing her soundly, "may this one be our best yet."

"Oh, I think it will," she giggled, before kissing him again. They simply stood there wrapped up in one another's arms as the tune of Auld Lang Syne filled the room and people celebrated around them. Robin knew she was right, it would be.


I really would appreciate your feedback, it helps me to know what you guys like and what I should be writing more of, thank you and thanks for reading! ❤️