You guys!
You are so good to me! THANK YOU for all the love and support you've shown me! I love to hear from you and talk to you!
And I want to talk more, discuss this fic and others with you! So give me a follow on Tumblr (edourado) and say hello, please! I found myself wanting to ask you guys advice and opinions! I'd love to talk to you! Let's talk about how our babies are so cute and hot!
Anyway, here's chapter three. I wasn't gonna post it until tomorrow, but I got off from work early, so, there you go ;-) And this is new for me: Bandit!Regina and all her sass. Hope you enjoy.
LET ME KNOW, PLEASE!
Love, love, love.
P.S.: How many of you can find the "You've Got Mail" reference I sneaked in?
P.P.S.: I apologize in advance for any mistakes that sneaked past my not so careful scrutinity.
They had shared one kiss. Just one kiss, but it had stayed with him.
They both had had too much to drink, celebrating their first and only heists together and it's success.
When it was time for them to go their separate ways, pockets full of riches they would give to those in need or add to their fund for leaving the realm, they hesitated at the door of the pub.
"Well, milady, that was interesting", he bowed to her, farewells ready to be said, but hesitation getting the best of him.
She turned to him, her braid almost undone from all the running and sneaking and laughing and drinking.
"It certainly was something", and that unassuming curve of her lips that never failed to hypnotize him.
Eleven pints of ale. That's how much he had drank tonight, in celebration and in an attempt to keep her sitting in front of him, the promise of "just one more" every time she made to get up and leave. So his reasoning was a bit off.
Robin reminded himself that he loved red hair and bright blue eyes. Fair skin and bouncy curls, freckles scattered around his Zelena's face. He did, he loved her.
But, another part of his brain reminded him he had recently discovered jet black eyes. Like two wells that beckoned him closer, kept him looking for something. Also black hair that was usually twisted in a braid, but let locks escape here and there, shiny streaks that called for his fingers. Strong, fast legs that made her move deftly, hands that could tie dangerous knots and aim true arrows. Full lips that moved around words softly, even when she was scolding him for something or other.
And a behind so incredibly alluring that he honestly saw himself worshiping it for the rest of his life.
"Goodnight, then. I'll see you around", Regina waved her hand to him, turning her body towards the way that would take her back to her corner of the forest.
"Goodnight", he answered, even while he walked the two steps to her and landed his lips on top of hers.
At first, she froze against him, and he could almost see her lashes fluttering as she blinked repeatedly and fast, caught by surprise, but then she took a deep breath and opened her mouth to his, and Robin found himself kissing Regina Mills, taking another half step further and flushing his body to hers, that strange impulse that kept trying to propel him towards her finally satisfied.
His hand was cradling her head close to his and hers was on his cheek, a minute had passed before he raised his face from hers, breathing hard.
He looked in her eyes, big on her face, and the way she blinked told him she understood.
You have your bride.
Yes, I have Zelena.
This can't happen.
This should definitely not happen.
How come we want this to happen?
Shaking her head and blinking away the moment, she took a step away from him.
"Goodnight, Robin Hood", she smiled awkwardly at him.
"Goodnight, milady", he answered, a changed man.
He had not seen her since that night, and he tried to ignore the effects of missing her.
Some two or three weeks later, he was walking with Will Scarlet, four wild turkeys in their hands, dinner guaranteed.
"Don't forget sweet Zelena asked you brought her mint leaves. For her tea", Will reminded him, voice dripping with contempt. Never were the best of friends, him and Zelena. Well. All the Merry Men and Zelena.
Mulan, especially, absolutely hated her. And it was mutual.
"Right. You go ahead, I'll just find some and follow you. Take these," he passed the two turkeys to him. "I'll be right there. And, please, try not to get on her nerves."
Will walked away, mumbling something.
Fetching things for Zelena has never been a task for him before. It was just something he was glad to do, to see her smiling happily at him. Lately, however, he had begun rolling his eyes in secret when she asked for wild turkey instead of chicken because she did not like the taste of chicken, or that he would fetch some exciting flowers for her, because those around their village really aren't all that interesting.
Nevertheless, it was still Zelena. They were still engaged to be married, and he was still sure they would be very happy.
(Wasn't he? Yes, surely. Very happy. Of course they were not rushing anything, he had to shake that thought.)
Taking a deep breath as if to settle the argument within himself, he took a few strides toward the place he knew her favorite tea leaves could be found.
A little to his left, he heard the sounds of steps, and then his breath caught in his throat.
There, walking between trees, an apple and a small dagger in her hands, was Regina, with her braid of black hair, pink cheeks and kissable lips.
Robin stopped walking, looking straight at her, that confusing, irresistible feeling inside him flaring up as it did every time he found himself close to her. That feeling that told him to get closer, to call her attention, to keep her there right next to him for as longs as they both shall live. That crazy feeling that told him he needed a stranger in order to properly breathe.
It made no sense at all.
Not knowing what to do, Robin stopped and watched her peel off the apple and take small bites once and a while.
It was clear she was not in a hurry, nor was she walking somewhere specific – a very different scenario from all the other times he met her, when she was always in the middle of a job, or eager to get home, wherever home was, for her.
Taking a step further in order to keep her in his field of vision, he pondered making his presence known, engage in some playful banter, tease her a little, watch her pout those lovely lips of hers.
Robin had just decided in favor or talking to her (when had he ever denied himself her presence?) when a knife was tossed and stuck on the bark of a tree by her side, an apple struck in it's blade.
Startled, Robin grabbed his bow and an arrow instinctively, ready to fire at whoever was attacking her.
Regina had a different idea. Her mouth curving into a relaxed smile, she turned her face towards the direction the knife had come from.
"Haha. Very funny," she greeted the man Robin could now see stepping towards her, a cloak draped around his shoulders, boots heavy on the ground, a white wolf by the his side. "Any luck?"
He saw the stranger shake his head and sit on a log she had walked over a few steps behind. Regina took the knife from the tree, freeing the apple from the blade, and sat beside him.
Robin frowned. Who was that? He had never seen the man, and it was his business to know everyone around. Regina sure had never mentioned him (not that she volunteered a whole lot of information, anyway).
He watched as they talked for a while, and his brows raised when he saw her feed the man bits of apple every now and then. He couldn't really hear what they're saying, what with them sitting so close to each other and basically whispering their conversation.
He watched Regina around the stranger. She kept carving the apple in her hand, eating a piece here and there, and she would look up at her companion and smile, sometimes mocking, sometimes with genuine humor, sometimes coyly.
He frowned when he saw her bite her lower lip, suddenly angry.
His fingers tightened around his bow when the man raised his hand and traced a stray lock of hair with his fingers. He bit his cheek when, leaning in, the stranger said something in her ear, making her blush.
After a few more minutes, they got up, faced each other, and Robin was glad to see that they were getting ready to say goodbye.
Regina, standing straight, offered the man's knife back to him, smiling softly.
Reaching for her hand, the man took the knife and, looking straight into her eyes, took a step closer to her, securing the blade on her belt, apparently giving it to her.
Robin wanted to scream in anger when, out of absolutely nowhere, they were kissing.
A soft, chaste touch of lips, space between their bodies. But Regina's hand rose to his face and touched his cheek, and the thought on Robin's mind was an insane one.
Mine.
Because he knew how that touch felt against his own cheek, he knew the feel of her lips against his and the taste of them, even if she had tasted of ale the one and only time he kissed her.
And his brain knew it wasn't true, that it was absurd, but instinct kept repeating mine. Mine. Mine. Mine, and he was angry, he wanted to yank her from that man, hold her to him and take her away.
Go away with her.
Yes. That would be lovely.
Absurd. Impossible, really. But lovely.
Robin watched the man open his mouth slightly, and Regina's lips curve around his. Soon after, they were breaking apart, the man was whispering something to her, winking and walking away, the wolf following him.
Turning his eyes back to Regina, he saw her sigh and do her best to contain a smile, turn around and walk towards the place Robin was standing, concealed by the thick trees.
He considered fleeing, not sure he wanted to get caught snooping. Then again, it's been too long since he had seen her, heard her voice or made some cheeky comment that made her roll those eyes.
"Never pegged you for the type to have secret romantic endeavors in the woods", he said, smiling when she stopped, startled, and moved her hand swiftly to the knife hidden in her pocket, the one he knew was there, not the brand new she was presented with.
"God! Robin, what the hell!"
"Scared you, love? I'm sorry."
"What are you doing here?" she asked, adjusting her braid over her shoulder.
"These are my woods, you know."
Regina rolled her eyes. "Yeah, Sherwood Forest is a few miles back. These are definitely not your woods. And! Sherwood is not 'yours', by the way."
"Yes, it is", he smirked at her, suddenly incredibly happy to be here, talking to her, his inside twisting around like they would every time she was near.
"No it's n- you know… I have better things to do, so", she waved her hand on the general direction she would resume her walking.
"Better things. Like making out with your boyfriend?" He crossed his arms and leaned back on a tree, reaching behind him and yanking a "wanted" poster with his face on it.
She turned her head back towards him and squinted.
"Were you spying on me?"
"You were rolling around in the dirt smooching some man in my forest, you thought I wouldn't know?"
She blinked slowly and jutted her chin. "I was not rolling in the dirt. Seriously, were you spying?"
"No, I was not spying, milady. I merely stumbled upon you and your little love scene, who is that man?"
She shook her head at him.
"That's Graham. He's a hunter."
"Never heard of him."
"He's not from your neck of the woods."
"Hmm. He's leaving any time soon?"
She shrugged. "He might be. Why do you care?"
"I don't. Just worried about you and how sad you're gonna be when Hunter Dreamy over there finds his way out of here."
Her expression was suddenly enigmatic. "What makes you so sure I won't leave with him?"
His smirk faltered.
"You will?"
She shrugged again.
"Maybe, I don't know."
"And, what? You're gonna leave everything behind?"
"Everything? What everything?"
"Your life here! Your friends, the people you care about."
"No one to leave behind."
He looked at her, first in her eyes, then at her lips.
"So you and lover boy are just gonna go and... Sail off into the sunset?"
Regina was about to say something more. Even opened her mouth to do so, but seemed to change her mind at the last second.
"Are you..." smiling like she had just discovered an embarrassing secret, she shifted on her feet. "Are you jealous?"
He paused, looking at her like he didn't know what she was talking about, and he wanted to deny and tell her she was crazy, because come on. Robin Hood does not get jealous of women.
Except he couldn't even lie to himself, so jealous he was of Graham and his lips on Regina's.
"Of what?"
"Of me. Kissing Graham."
He raised his brows and tried to make a face as if he found what she had said funny.
"No, milady. Sorry to disappoint."
"Then why are you calling him 'lover boy'? Or trying to convince me to stay? Or spying on me?"
"Because! You're always rolling your eyes at the mere mention of the word 'romance', and here I find you, snogging some random hunter."
She laughed.
"Oh my God, you are so jealous!" Sobering up, she mock-fixed her hair. "I'm flattered, really. Not interested, but flattered."
And then something flipped in his head.
"Not interested? Really?"
"Yes, really", she replied in that familiar tone that told him he was starting to annoy her.
"Hmm. Funny, you didn't seem all that uninterested last time we saw each other."
She made a surprised face, like she didn't believe what she was hearing.
"You mean the night that you got me drunk and you kissed me against my will?"
He took a step towards her, testing the waters, happy to see that she stood her ground.
"Against your will, was it? So you didn't spend the entire night batting your eyelashes at me?"
"No!"
He took another step. "Didn't you complain about that cut in your hand just so I would have a look and redo your bandages for you?"
"Wha- No!"
"Oh, so you didn't kiss me back?"
He was very close now, in her personal space. She smelled intoxicating.
"I'm sorry, aren't you engaged?"
She was mad at him now, but she was also flushed. Her cheeks tinged rose, her eyes even darker, somehow.
"Don't change the subject", he said in a low voice, because he was close enough to whisper.
She looked in his eyes, her breathing coming a little harder.
"Didn't you kiss me back, Regina?"
Again, she opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out.
"Didn't you think about coming back and kissing me again? Or was that just me?"
Yet one more time, her expression shifted. Looking into his eyes now, she searched for something.
"What are you doing?"
He didn't answer, because he had no answer.
What was he doing? Zelena was waiting for him, oblivious to what was going on in his mind, in his heart.
"Are you really this jealous of Graham?"
"Yes."
Regina blinked, surprised by his answer as much as he was.
"Just-", she said, shaking her head and not flinching away when he touched her arm, hand traveling up, up, fingers touching the end of her braid.
"Are you going away with him?"
"I don't- I..." she looked in his eyes and sighed. "You- You don't want me to?"
"I really, really don't."
She bit her bottom lip, and his hands found her face, turning it just the right angle for his.
"Please, don't leave", he whispered, inching closer and closer.
"Why- You- You're engaged to... To your fiancee, what are you doing?"
Her hands pried his from her face and she took a step back. She didn't look angry, she looked careful, almost hurt.
"I'm sorry", he said, stepping back.
He couldn't do this. Lead her on, try to kiss her and get close to her when he had to go back to another woman.
The wrong woman, said some voice in his mind and he had to shake his head to get rid of the thought. Of the feeling.
"I... Wouldn't be happy if... If I never saw you again."
She blinked fast and breathed deep, like she didn't know what to do with that information.
Robin made himself turn around and walk away. He took a few steps, listening for the sound of her feet doing the same, turning around and walking away from him.
When he didn't hear them, he paused, turned back around and marched towards her, still standing there looking distressed.
"Wait, I-"
His hands found her face again, and he breathed her in, and a tiny part of his brain flashed Zelena's face before his eyes.
Another part, a bigger, more powerful, insisting part of him pushed him forward, telling him that yes, yes, this, this is right, this is it, do it, do it, do it.
"I don't... I don't understand what it is, what you do to me, but I need to... Hmm."
"Robin, wait, wait, wait-"
"If you tell me," and here he caved and pecked her lips once, just once, to get him through the rest of his life in case he never got to do this again, and he felt his whole body buzz. "That you don't feel this... Oh, Lord, this... Fantastic brand of magic- thing between us, between you and me, if you don't feel it, I'll leave you alone, and you can go and kiss your stupid hunter, but just tell me you don't feel the same, because if you do-"
"Oh, God, shut up, shut up for a second, shut up, shut up."
He obeyed, shuddering out another breath, running his fingers on her face, waiting for her answer.
"I don't- I don't know, you are..."
"What, love, what? Tell me."
He stole another tiny kiss, her lips soft and pliant under his, and chills ran up and down his spine.
"You are engaged, and I don't-"
"No, no, forget about that. Forget it. I know it's crazy, and I know how it sounds, but just tell me how you feel, tell me what you want, I'll do it, I'll do anything..."
She shook her head, raising her hands and closing them around his wrists.
"Regina."
"What."
"Tell me what you want."
She shook her head again, and he understood. He was not hers. He was taken, someone else's, and he could so easily walk away from this, in her mind. She didn't know that he was, right here, completely susceptible to her every wish.
Whatever she wanted.
"Tell me, Regina, please."
"I don't know."
"Yes, you do, please, please, tell me."
Robin touched his forehead to hers, closing his eyes.
"Whatever you want, I'll do it. Whatever it is. You say it, it's done."
She whimpered, and he wanted her to do that again, in a completely different place and situation. But she was tucking her lips between her teeth, and he could only take so much.
"Do you want me, Regina?"
There was a sharp intake of breath and she rose to the tip of her toes, and he smiled, because what a wonderful sign.
"Do you want me as much as I want you?"
Her hands left his wrists and he felt her fingers on his chest, over the layers of his shirt and his cloak.
And then she nodded.
So he dove in, taking her lips in a kiss so fierce, so full of everything a million times more ferocious than anything he had ever felt before, consuming him, consuming her, consuming them.
"What are you doing to me?" He asked, not giving her a chance to answer, taking her lips in his again, holding her to him by her waist, bending his knees to better kiss her, moaning when her nails ran up his hair.
Yes, went that formless entity inside him. That's it, this is it, it's her, it's always been her, it will always be her.
"You have absolutely", she said, suddenly, among delirious kisses. "No right to be jealous of me."
"And yet here I am."
She chuckled and he mirrored the sound.
"All I see is you", Robin all but whimpered, his tongue seeking hers. "Why is that?"
She sneaked her arms around his neck, right hand sliding to his face, cradling his cheek and her teeth nibbling on his lower lip.
"Because you're mine", she answered.
He was too busy kissing her to swear it out loud that he was. Since that first time he had spotted her, about to be killed by the queen, he was hers.
"I am, if you promise me you're not leaving with any hunters."
"Only if you promise you're not marrying any redheads."
He raised his face from hers far enough to look in her eyes, shining with mirth, her lovely lips swollen from his, and he bit them playfully, smiling at her.
If he did this, he would turn his life upside down. Make a whole mess, raise all kinds of hell. And he will, in a second. For her.
"I wouldn't dream of it."
Do I smell a jealous bandit next?
next?