Hi so, this is a sequel for In Perfect Harmony (OS #8), and I thought I'd post. Better read OS # 8 before reading this for reference :) Enjoy darlings.
This is is Teen OQ
Unbeta-ed.
It isn't supposed to happen this way. No, nothing is ever supposed to happen this way.
Regina Mills' life is supposed to follow a plan, right down to the letter. A plan laid out for her by her mother, and there is nothing, nothing, that should ever come in the way of that. If her mother finds out that there is something that could impede the future she's written out and planned so carefully for Regina, she will not only have a conniption fit (that is the last of the reactions that Regina anticipates), Cora Mills will make sure to delete, destroy, decimate that little hiccup on her way.
And that is exactly what Regina is scared of.
Of course, she realizes how this is all her fault, she'd been careless, they both had been, and where they could have prevented this, they had failed to do so. And now, they reap the consequences of their own actions.
Speaking of which...
She still has to tell him.
And she isn't entirely sure how she's going to do that, considering. She isn't really sure how to break this particular news when she isn't really sure what they are to each other, isn't entirely sure where she stands with him. They aren't in love-at least she's certain he isn't in love with her, aren't yet or will ever be anything more than what they are now, and now she's not even sure what to do.
She does know she has to tell him before she tells her own mother, knows he needs to know and be in on the decision before it is going to be made, before they are going to be steamrolled into one by her mother, but he deserves to know, still.
She just doesn't know how to tell him. The person she tells everything to, the person she is pretty sure she's in love with, and she can't tell him this, hell she cannot even tell him what she feels...god, she's screwed.
She was, is, anyhow, which is exactly why she is in this predicament.
...
Robin is in a predicament.
Well, not so much as he's confused about a situation and he isn't entirely sure how to handle it, isn't entirely sure about said situation.
He's noticed something different. He doesn't know exactly what it is but he knows something is wrong. He's asked her, but she won't say, and it frustrates him to no end because it makes him feel inadequate, makes him feel useless and unable to be anything helpful to her.
Of course, he realizes that it is Regina and she never, ever, asks for help from anyone. She is as independent and as stubborn as they come, but they had, have, something, something intimate, and he thinks that it at least merits knowing if something is wrong with her. He also realizes that he's been coward and if he'd only just secured his place in her life, had told her exactly what he feels about her, had put a label to what is going on with them, he'd have the right to ask and to know what is going on wit her. Rather than this, where he just stands in the sideline and wonders.
But that is neither here nor there with regards to the situation at hand-which is that she's been poorly for a few weeks now, has been looking like death woke her up that morning and warmed her over. There is pallor where she used to glow and there are bags under her eyes though she tries to hide it.
And though, this he can totally live with, it is still a wonder to him that she's been pulling away from him so much lately, hadn't so much as let him see her after school hours. He knows that she's busy, it is senior year after all (he's busy and he doesn't study half as hard as her or have a mother half as hard ass as hers). But she used to make time, used to meet him after school even if it's just for a few minutes, just to eat ice cream before he walks her home, even if it isn't to do some more time consuming activities, that has them locking the door to his bedroom, has them naked and sweaty and satisfied by the end of said activities.
His mind wanders a little bit, sends him right off to the activities he has been missing the past few weeks (doesn't matter if he's sitting in the cafeteria with their friends, supposedly having lunch-to which Regina is surreptitiously absent once more). They aren't dating, not really, even though he isn't seeing anyone, and neither does she, but they had been making love frequently (he refuses to think of it as anything less, it isn't just sex, something so beautiful cannot be described in one word as paltry as that), treating each other as more than friends behind his bedroom doors.
He remembers with vivid clarity every single delicious, beautiful part of her, right down to the beauty mark just below her left breast that she hates so much, though he thinks it's sexy. He remembers the way she would look at him in askance as she slides him inside her mouth, sucking him better than anyone who has done it before (not that there is a long list, mind you, but it is still more than hers). He remembers how she writhes under him when he thrusts inside her slowly, letting her feel exactly how he can fill her up, completely, perfectly like two pieces of a very, very erotic puzzle. He remembers the way her eyes would fall shut, brows furrowing, as he thrusts erratically, and she tumbles over, his name falling from her lips.
He remembers, and it seems that it is all he will be doing because she seems very intent to avoid him at all costs, going as far as forgoing lunch just so they won't have to see each other. He doesn't understand it, wonders why she's being like this and he entertains the idea that she might be dating someone else now, had found someone else, she certainly has not been lacking in suitors, that Graham person had certainly been around, but he nixes it quickly, the pain of it being true just too much. He thinks that she might just be tired of their arrangement, but that cannot be, because this had been her own doing, she had been the one to ask him that they keep it the way they have always been except that there might be a favourable workout waiting for him when she so desires (or when he does, sometimes, when he's bold enough to let her know how much she turns him on). He hadn't agreed, had wanted to tell her right then and there that she was, is, the love of his life, but he had been forced to agree by the look of pleading in her eyes, and by his own cowardice, his own fear of losing her if they become more and he hurts her, or she doesn't feel the same way.
But enough is enough, and today, he decides, today he is going to find out why she's being like this.
...
Getting lunch these days is futile. She can't keep it down, anyway, and it's just a waste of time and money (though that shouldn't be her problem, or a problem at all). So she doesn't bother, snacks on crackers and tea instead and keeps to herself by staying in an abandoned room and reading. She really is grateful that there is no more than two weeks left to the school year, that it's graduation soon enough, because it gives her the excuse of being busy, preparing for college and all that bullshit. And bullshit it is, since she might not even go.
God. Everything is just a mess.
But it does something good, after all, she thinks, because it gives her a chance not to have to face Robin. She's fresh out of excuses why she can't spend time with him, and he's begged her a multiple times, had promised her that he wants nothing more than her company, not even to, well, have sex, and she had almost said yes every time, but the guilt that gnaws inside of her stops her just in time. She'd seen the disappointment flash across his handsome features and she wants to believe, so badly, that this is more, that this is something more than just them being fuck buddies, that he feels the same way she does, but then she tells herself that if he did feel the same way, he won't have agreed to this arrangement, and instead he would have told her what he feels, that he does, in fact, feels something. But no he hadn't, he'd agreed with her half hearted suggestion that they remain friends, just as they are, but they could do things that are for people more than friends when it's just the two of them.
It had broken her heart to be the one to suggest it, but she'd thought that it had been for the best, she can love him in the ways she wants to, without having to expect him to love her back, without having to give him her whole heart because they aren't about that, they aren't about falling in love and fairy tales and happily ever afters. No, she'd thought that they are about sweaty, naked bodies, and lust...well, that is about to change isn't it?
She sighs and lets her head fall to the crook of her arm where it sits on the desk. She's made such mess of things and she isn't entirely sure how to deal with it. Well, she knows how she wants to, but she is not the only one involved, and that is where it gets complicated.
Though, no matter how complicated it gets, or how complicated it is, she can't help but miss him, miss his arms around her, miss the way he holds her when he makes love to her (even she cannot deny that he makes love to her when they have sex), miss the way he moans when she does something pleasurable to him, miss the way he feels inside her, but most of all she cannot help but miss all of him, every part of him, just him and everything that he is.
She misses her lover, yes, but she misses her best friend most of all.
The door swings open and she startles, jumps up on her chair and curses when she hits her leg on the wood. She looks up and finds a smirking Robin, looking back at her. Her breath hitches and she wishes the ground would swallow her up whole, or that she could be anywhere but here.
He doesn't speak and for a moment she's dumbfounded enough not to say anything either, only manages to fall back onto her seat. She watches as he crosses what little distance there is between them and stands before her, towering over her completely, hands braced on the table and eyes blazing, gazing down at her.
"Wha-Why," she stammers, chides herself for being such a fool before she clears her throat and straightens, gathers what little courage she has left. "What are you doing here?"
He raises an eyebrow and looks at the meagre lunch she has stowed at the end of the desk in favor of the book she's been, or rather not reading, actually if she's being honest.
"What are you doing here?" He asks back, and it is clear in his tone that he doesn't approve of it- from her sudden isolation down to her lunch.
"I'm busy," she tells him, just like she had so many times before, and she hopes it works, though by the look on his face, it's clear that it doesn't.
But it is the truth, she justifies to herself, she is busy-busy stressing over her current predicament.
"Nice try, Regina Mills," Robin says and it has her eyes widening-it's a far cry from milady, or just Regina, or even baby, which he has taken to calling her when they are alone and doing things they aren't supposed to. He looks at her seriously, booking no room for anymore arguments. "We need to talk."
Oh yes, yes, they do.
She sighs and then closes the book in front of her. She's ready to just blurt it out to him and here now, though that hardly seems appropriate, when the bell rings. She looks up at him, sees his jaw clench and his nostrils flare, while she breathes out in relief.
"This isn't finished," he tells her, pointing between himself and her, and she nods.
She knows that. It is far from finished, hell, it has barely even started.
"Okay, I'll meet you after school," she tells him and for a moment he stands there bamboozled, seemingly so sure that she is going to make another lame excuse or escape or avoid this which is exactly what she wants to do, but won't do because it isn't fair to him. "Then we'll talk."
He nods, and then takes her hand. She realizes that they have the next class together, and though her heart pounds inside her chest and she frowns, there is a pleasant feeling that settles in her when he squeezes her hand and doesn't let go-not until they are seated next to each other in the class room, waiting for the arrival of Mr. Richards, their history teacher.
...
To say that he is surprised that Regina actually agreed to meet him is an understatement. He is beyond surprised, beyond ecstatic, actually, to be able to get her alone again. It is something that puts an idiotic smile on his face for the rest of the day, something that Will doesn't pass the opportunity to tease him about-but he doesn't care, Regina's finally agreed to talk and that's a hell lot more than what she's been giving him the past few weeks.
"Don't tell me, Regina has finally agreed to go out with you?" August Booth, one of his friends and the chief editor of the school paper, teases him as they make their way out of the school.
Robin is supposed to go home first and wait for Regina to ring his bell, he'd texted her two periods before dismissal telling her that his parents are out for he day, will only be coming home later that night, and she'd responded with 'good, I'll meet you in your house'.
He'd like to say that he trusts her about this, that she'd actually show up in his house, but half of him (alright, most of him) doesn't really, so he'd planned to wait for her at the corner of his street and wait for her there.
"Oh, for Christ sakes, for that to happen, Robin will have to actually ask Regina out," Will teases him, nudging Robin with his elbow. "And by the looks of it, he's been out daydreaming about her, which, if you ask me is all he'll ever be doing when it comes to her."
He hadn't realized that he's been that transparent.
"Come on, man," John Little, who is by no means little, urges him, whopping him on the back as lightly as he can (which is not light at all-it has Robin stumbling over his feet a little), "Do something. The year is almost over and then she'll be off to college, taking up law and finding someone who is so much better than your ugly, loser ass and you'll be left regretting."
That gives Robin a pause, has him thinking, because it's true. He knows that Regina will be attending an Ivy League university, Columbia, in fact because her mother says so, because she's basically legacy there since both her parents attended it, too. They had talked about it, on one of the rare times that Regina had lingered post-coitus, and had been pleased that he's attending NYU, and that they would be close to each other, not only for obvious reasons, but also because it means that they won't have too look hard and far to find a friend in a big city. What he hadn't thought about right then was that she might find someone else, fall in love, and then what of him? Of them?
He feels someone push against his shoulder and he snaps out of it to find Will pointing subtly, though not so subtly at all, at Regina who is just emerging from the school. He looks up at her and briefly, they lock eyes before she looks away. It's unnatural. Usually, she'd smile at him or walk over to them, since they are friendly with her, too, and say hi. For the past few weeks, she's been avoiding everyone, and now, today he'll find out why.
So what the hell is he still doing standing here with these losers?
He shakes his head and waits until Regina is far out of sight before he bids his friends goodbye, ignoring their ribbing that he's just saying goodbye so he can stalk Regina.
Regina, who is waiting for him at the corner of his street, exactly where he had planned to wait for her himself. He looks at her and smiles pleasantly, pleased as a punch to find her there, waiting for him, willing to talk.
"I thought you'd be here waiting for me by now," she says, smirking at him knowingly. And god, he's missed that smile, that smirk, so much, missed her so much it actually hurts.
"The guys wanted to hang back to ask things for a while before we all went home," he explains, failing to tell her that it isn't so much of a talk as much as it had been them urging him to finally ask Regina out.
"So you didn't wait outside the school to spy on me," Regina teases before she starts to walk towards his house.
He is left without anything to do but follow her, chuckling as he shakes his head. "Of course not," he tells her, grinning. "If I would be spying, you won't know. I think I am rather sneaky."
She rolls her eyes at him as they stop just outside the house, and then she's all seriousness and tangled nerves, unable to look at him as he leads her to upstairs to his bedroom.
He opens the door and leads her in, closes it behind him with a thud while he watches her looking so unsure. He doesn't understand why, she's familiar with his room, even before they had been having sex, but she looks so unsure now and his heart skips, falls and breaks.
"Are you okay?" He asks her as he takes her bag from her and places it next to his down on the floor. He takes her hand and helps her down until she's sitting on the bed. She fiddles with her fingers but doesn't say anything. "Can I get you anything? Water? Tea? Juice? Coffee?"
She shakes her head and looks up at him for a brief second before she looks away. He almost doesn't recognise this girl in front of him.
"No, thank you," she says softly. "I'm fine. I just need a moment. There is something need to tell you." She adds the last part as an after thought before she's lost in her own world again. Eyebrows furrowed, lips pursing, and breathing in and out as though she's being suffocated-god, he wants to know what is going on.
But he gives her a moment, like she's asked, gives her time to breathe, and seconds tick into minutes, long, long minutes, until he cannot stand it anymore, and he's sliding on the floor, right in front of her, holding her hands in his.
"Whatever it is, you can tell me," he assures her, and then he's sighing, letting her hands go so he could run his fingers through his hair. He really doesn't want to ask this, mostly because he isn't sure he's going to want the answer, but ask her, he does. "Are you seeing someone? And do you need our relationship to end? Is that what you can't tell me?"
She looks at him in surprise, pulled back from her little world abruptly by his words. She looks as though he'd grown another head, like he's talking shit, and he hopes he is.
"Robin, wha-no, no, that's not it, no I'm not seeing anyone, unless you count yourself, then no," she assures him and he breathes out, shoulders sagging.
But still, "Do you want this to end though? Is that what this is about? Because you've been pulling away and I'm-" he feels Regina place her index finger on his lips and he pauses.
She leans down and kisses him, kisses him so softly but so passionately he wants to melt, wants to drown in her and never come up.
"No, Robin this isn't what this about," she tells him, and then she bites down on her lip. "Actually it's quite the opposite."
His heart pounds in his chest at every second that passes-and, lord, there can't have been that many seconds since, but he feels his heart beating and beating in his chest, so loud he wonders if it would jump right out of his shirt.
"Robin...I...I lied to you," she says, and he frowns, but waits her out, "I told you that I thought it was for the best that we remained friends even when we were...well...you know, intimate."
He raises an eyebrow.
"I don't think it's good, much less for the best. I don't want to be friends..." His heart stops and he is sure that he looks mortified because she rushes on, "I mean I don't want to be just friends. I...I love you, Robin, have been for such a long time I don't even remember now when I started. But...I know that you don't really feel the same way and I understand that, I respect it...it's just that we have a problem."
Problem? Good lord she's just given him the answer to every prayer he's ever uttered. She feels the same way about him! She loves him! This is the right time to tell her that he feels the same way, erase that doubt inside her that made her think that he doesn't feel the same way. He opens his mouth to speak but he doesn't get to utter one word when the next words fall from her mouth:
"Robin, I'm pregnant."
His heart falls to his stomach, blood draining from his face, and for a second he isn't sure what he's going to do or say or what he feels (he's happy and scared and ecstatic and nervous...).
"And I just needed to let you know that. You don't have to do anything, you don't have to be responsible, you don't have to...I can tell my mother that I was stupid and careless and had a one night stand. I can't stand the thought of you having to be responsible for something like this when I know you...you are probably going to be miserable because you aren't even in love with me."
It all comes out as a jumbled rush, her words coming out in a single breath. And he would smile if he is only sure she won't take it the wrong way, so instead of speaking, he shushes her with his lips on hers.
He pulls away long enough to ask, "Are you sure?"
She looks offended and he sighs because he knows what she took that question as, but it isn't what he means. "Yes, I took a test and it's yours too..." She trails off, though her words are laced with anger, and looks away.
He tips her chin towards him, "I know it's mine, I was only asking if you're sure that we are going to have a baby, if you took the test and all that."
She sighs and nods, is about to open her mouth to speak, or protest most probably, but he doesn't give her the chance.
"I love you," he tells her, then, unable to wait any longer. "I know you don't think so, I know that you might even think that I'm just saying this because I found out about our baby, but I'm not. I love you, I'm in love with you and had been since the moment I first laid my eyes on you. I was just so scared that I would ruin this, what we have, and lose you so I never took the chance, but god, Regina, I love you so much baby."
She looks at him with watery eyes, watches his face for any sign that he's tripping her and probably finds none, because there is none, he is not tripping her, he does love her, more than his own life. And then her tears slip from her eyes. He reaches up to wipe them away. He stands up and cups her face in his hands, kisses her with everything he has.
"We'll make it," he tells her. "We'll get married and have the baby and be our own little family."
"But Robin, my mother, and University and everything," she says, stressed, sobbing all over again as the weight of it all falls on her.
"We will face your mother together, tell her we will marry and sure, you'll be pregnant while on your freshman year, but who cares? You aren't going to be the first or last woman to do that. I'll go to work and study, I can support you. I will do anything for you, Regina."
She smiles at him, and though it is tight, looks like she is anything but convinced, it still is something.
"Do you really love me?" She asks him again, as though she cannot believe it. She probably can't, he knows he's still reeling and mentally pinching himself to prove that it's not a dream.
He nods and kisses her again. "I love you Regina Locksley," he tells, teasing her though he wishes it is true. "And I'm going to love our baby so much. I already do."
He does in fact love the baby that until a few hours ago, had been unknown to him. Now that he knows though, he is pretty excited to be a dad. He's scared, sure, terrified that he might screw this up or that he'll fail Regina and their child, aware that they are too young and they need to consider so many things, but he's happy. How could he not when he's going to have a baby with the love of his life?
She smiles, happy and content. "I love you too," she says.
He moves a bit until she's lying on bed and he's on top of her, straddling her, though careful not to put any weight on their baby (she has no bump yet, that much he can tell when he moves her shirt up to check).
"I missed you," she tells him as she loops her arms round his neck and pulls him down for a long, tongue-filled kiss.
He moves along with her, presses his mouth against hers again and again, kisses her until they are both breathless and panting. When he pulls away, it is only to have one last say before he proves to her exactly how much he loves her:
"Whatever we do from here on, we do it together."
And that is a promise he knows he will always keep.
How'd that go? Let me know what you thought!
