A/N: Finally done! I've had so much schoolwork, but I really needed some time off, so I took a much-needed-but-probably-terrible-use-of-my-time break tonight and finished this instead. And now I might go rewatch Sunday's premiere.
Seriously, I am so proud of Regina in that episode. First real challenge to her redemption, and yeah, she stumbled a bit, but she eventually did the right thing.
I'm also super mad at Robin. Like, I get it, he's in a really tough position here, and it actually went better than I expected it to (I expected a lot more drama about how she was the one who killed Marian), but I'm still so so mad at him for hurting her like that.
Winter arrives early, about a month after Robin first learned about Regina's magic lessons, the weather turns bitterly cold.
Regina becomes quite sick, the cold weather bringing with it many forms of illness. Robin learns of her illness one day when he brings her her meal and walks in on her while she is throwing up. He rushes to her side, and gathers her loose hair in his hands, holding it out of her face. She's a mess, still in her nightclothes, and looks utterly wretched.
"Regina, are you okay?" he asks her when the sickness subsides.
"I… I'll be fine." she whispers between deep breaths, and she seems determined to be just that, but then another bout of sickness seizes her body, and she's convulsing, but there's nothing left in her stomach. She moans in pain, but it seems the sickness is finished with her for now, so he picks her up and begins carrying her back to her bedchamber. She weighs nothing in his arms, and she has never seemed small to him before, but now, eyes closed, curled in on herself, she suddenly seems not only small, but so fragile, and younger even than her almost twenty years.
"Shhh, shhh," he whispers, as she lets out a pained sound. "I'm going to put you back in bed, my lady, and get you a glass of water."
He has never entered the queen's bedchamber before, but it is easy enough to navigate, and he gently deposits her on the bed. "Do you want me to cover you, my lady?" he asks, and she replies with a nod and a weak "Yes." He draws the blankets over her body, and brushes the hair out of her face. He leaves for a moment and returns with a glass of water that he sets down on the nightstand.
"Regina, are you going to be sick again?" he asks gently. "I'd like to go clean up outside and fetch a healer…"
"I'm okay," she says weakly, and he takes that as permission to leave, disappearing before she can protest his bringing a healer.
He leaves her bedchamber, retuning to the sitting room to clean up. He returns the food to the kitchen, clearly she won't be eating it today, and finds the healer. Then, he goes to get a bucket for Regina, in case she gets sick again. By the time he returns to her chambers, the healer is already checking on her.
"I can make you a sleeping draft, if you need it. But other than that you'll just have to let it run it's course. Your fever's not very high, so there's no risk there, but it does seem to be sapping your strength. You won't feel like doing much of anything for a few days. I recommend you stay in bed. I can assign a girl—"
"No." The queen interrupted, pulling herself up slightly, adopting the most regal manner she could in her weakened state. She pointed at Robin. "Him."
"Your majesty, surely a woman would be more appropriate. Someone who—"
"Won't care one way or another about me. No. Robin is the only member of the staff who has shown any level of care for my well-being in the past year. You can assign a girl to help him," she continued, anticipating the woman's next objection, "and if I require assistance in dressing myself, she can help. But I want him." Regina sinks against the pillows, spent from her argument. And it's not appropriate at all, she knows, but he has become her best friend, he is the only person in the castle who looks at her and truly sees her, Regina, and not a figurehead, not just the queen. The only person in her life now who cares about her, and the only person she wants near her while she feels so ill.
"Very well, your majesty." the woman says, recognizing that no argument will sway the queen, and turns to leave. She gestures for Robin to follow her, and stopped in Regina's sitting room to speak to him.
"Will she be okay?" he asks, before she can say a word.
"She'll recover. Most likely within a week," the woman says clinically, "but she will have difficulty keeping her food down for a day or so at least. If she's up to it, I suggest ginger tea to soothe the stomach, and some crackers until she feels stronger. And a word of warning: I take it the queen can be… stubborn?"
"That she can. You saw it yourself, just now."
"Well, keep her in bed, if you can. She'll be exhausted, and I'm afraid this illness could leave her vulnerable to further infection, especially if she tries to be up and about before she's recovered. I'll assign a girl if she needs help with her clothing. Ask for Lila. "The woman sighed worriedly, muttering as she left the room, "I would send for the king, but he is already on his way home."
This was true, Robin thought, but it didn't matter. The king was expected back three weeks from now, and the queen should be recovered long before that. An unexpected pulse of anger went through Robin at the thought. How could the king be gone all the time, leaving his wife to take ill and be cared for by servants? He knew the man didn't love her, but it almost seems as if he didn't care for her at all.
The queen slept fitfully most of that day and the next. Robin stayed with her almost constantly, trying to feed her some bread or get her to drink some ginger tea when she woke, and dozing in a chair beside her bed while she slept. He knew that she wouldn't ask him to stay, but he felt compelled to nonetheless. She had asked for him to be the one to care for her while she was ill. She trusted him. And he refused to let her down by leaving her side for even a moment when she might need him.
She does indeed have trouble keeping her food down over the next few days, and when she's not asleep, and he finds himself holding her hair back more than once, soothing her through another bout of sickness. It comes as an immense relief when she opens her eyes, appearing at least somewhat rested, and announces she's hungry.
He leaves to fetch her something to eat, and when he returns he is confronted by the sight of her sitting on the edge of her bed, staring intently at the floor in front of her.
"Regina," he says carefully, setting down the bowl of soup he had brought, "what are you doing?"
"Getting out of this damn bed," she replies, breathless.
"Regina," he says, moving to stand beside her. He is struck by the sight of her, ill, breathless, tangled in her sweaty nightgown— a mess, by anyone's standards— but somehow still utterly beautiful. "Regina," he repeats when she ignores him. "You are still very weak. You need to rest."
"I've been lying in that bed for two days." she grits out, determined. "I'm not going to—" She attempts to stand, but her legs collapse under her weight. Robin's quick reflexes catch her before she hits the floor, and she lands in his arms in an undignified heap.
"You need to stay in bed, my lady." he insists, depositing her there with a gentle smile. "I've brought you some soup." He brings the soup to her bedside. "You did say you were hungry. Eat the soup, and then I'll draw you a bath. I'm sure you'd like to bathe?"
She nods, reaching for the soup. He reaches it before she does, and takes the spoon from the tray. She scowls at him. "I'm not an invalid, Robin. I am perfectly capable of feeding myself."
"You're exhausted, Regina. Your hands are shaking." He starts to insist, but realizes that that might not be the most effective way to convince her. He hands her the spoon. "Feel free to try, but if you spill the soup all over yourself…"
Stubborn as ever, she takes the spoon from his hand and dips it into the soup. But sure enough, the soup didn't make it halfway to her mouth before spilling back onto the tray. Scowling, she tries again, with the same result. Gently, Robin reaches out and takes the spoon from her hand, filling it with soup and bringing it to her mouth.
It is a strangely intimate position for them to be in, and the thought strikes him again, shouldn't this be her husband's job? Shouldn't the king be here helping her through this? But, even if he were here, Robin suspects, it would still fall to Robin to care for her.
"I hate you." she says, giving him a look, but there is no heat behind it, and she allows him to feed her the soup.
"Now, that's not fair, my lady. It's hardly my fault you're ill. You can't be blaming me for things that are out of my control."
"I am the queen." she says with as much haughtiness as she can manage. "I'm pretty sure it's within my rights to blame whomever I want." He chuckles at that. "But, seriously," she adds, "thank you Robin. For taking care of me. For… being my friend. I didn't expect to find a friend here."
"It's my pleasure, my lady," he says earnestly, and he means it. He has come to care a great deal for the queen, and he is truly grateful that he is the one she trusts to take care of her through this.
She finishes the soup, and he goes to draw her a bath. He goes to the kitchen, and gets the young maid, Lila. When they return to the queen's chambers, Regina is determinedly making her way across the room to the bathroom. Lila rushes across the room to help the queen, but Regina refuses and makes her way to the bathroom without assistance.
While she bathes, Robin changes the sheets on her bed, hoping it will tame the woman's resistance to returning to it when she desperately needs the rest.
To his surprise, she doesn't protest getting back in bed when she has finished bathing. She does refuse to sleep, however, despite her obvious exhaustion. "I couldn't sleep now, it's the middle of the afternoon," she protests. "Besides, I've been sleeping for ages."
He nods in understanding. "Perhaps you'd like to read? I can get you a book from the library."
She thinks for a moment and then shakes her head. "No," she says, sighing in frustration. "I'm not tired enough to fall asleep, but I'm too tired to focus on reading a book." Her statement is punctuated by a huge yawn. "Could we just… talk?"
"Certainly," he replies, bringing a chair beside her bed and sitting down. "How are you feeling, my lady? You seem to be doing better today."
"I'm actually feeling much better," she replies. "Tired, but much better." She yawns. "Tell me about you. You said… your parents died?"
"Yes," he begins, "my mother died when I was small, so it was just me and my dad for a long time." He proceeds to tell her about his parents and his childhood, talking for a few hours until she falls asleep, though it's still relatively early. Once she does, he continues to sit beside her in silence, intensely grateful that she has recovered enough to eat a proper meal. He is quite tired himself, from caring for her and worrying about her, and it doesn't take long for him to drift off.
Several hours later she wakes to find him asleep in the chair beside her bed.
"Robin," she hisses, waking him from his light sleep.
"My lady," he says, immediately awake. "Is there a problem?"
"It's the middle of the night," she says. "What are you still doing here? Go back to your room, Robin."
"What if you need something?" he objects.
"I can manage to sleep by myself for a few hours, Robin. And— have you been sleeping here this whole time?" she asks. She knew had made the right decision trusting him, but this was more than she had expected. She had earned not just his loyalty, but his friendship, and he cared for her enough to stay with her while she slept. The thought filled her with warmth. She hadn't thought to find anyone to care about her here, much less care for her this much. But still… "You need your sleep, too. Really," she adds as he moves to object again, "I don't want you to get sick, too. Not for my sake."
"Well…" he starts, reluctant to leave, "if you're sure…?"
"I'm sure. Go to bed, Robin. I'll see you in the morning," she adds with a reassuring smile.
Over the next few days, her health improves, though she's still exhausted and spends much of the time sleeping. When she wasn't sleeping, she often asked him to speak to her, seeking something to occupy her mind that didn't require too much energy on her part. She continued to insist that he leave when night fell, reminding him not to care for her at the expense of his own health.
But then, five days after she first became ill, he entered her room in the morning to find her still asleep, which was unexpected, as she was awake before he arrived every morning, and had been recovering steadily. As he approached her, he noticed that she appeared to be shivering, and most of her bedclothes had been thrown off her body, bunched at the foot of the bed.
"Regina," he said worriedly. He wanted to wake her, but stopped short of reaching out to touch her, unwilling to violate her trust by doing so when she was unable to object."Regina," he repeated instead, a bit louder in the hope that she would wake.
A moment later, her eyes opened and she looked at him blankly for a second. She blinked, once, twice, and her expression cleared. "Robin," she whispered.
"Good morning, my lady. How are you feeling?"
"Cold," she said, reaching down blindly for the quilt.
He helped her wrap herself up tightly in the quilt, and then placed his palm gently on her forehead."I'm afraid you might have developed a fever, my lady. I'm going to go get the healer," he said softly, "alright?"
"Mhm," she managed, drifting back to sleep as he left.
Robin returned quickly with the healer, who fussed over the queen worriedly before declaring that she did, in fact, have quite a high fever. "I must insist you rest, your majesty. Stay in bed. I can give you a few herbs that might bring down the fever, but rest and plenty of water are what is most likely to help you recover."
Regina nodded in understanding, too exhausted to argue. "Good," the healer said. "would you like me to summon the king?" Regina shook her head vigorously. "No," she whispered. "Very well," the healer said, moving from the queen's side.
"Make sure she drinks plenty of water," the woman said to Robin, as he escorted her from the queen's bedroom. "and keep a cool cloth on her forehead. I'll have Lila bring you the herbs as soon as possible. I hope…" she trailed off, rubbing her temples worriedly.
"What?" Robin asked anxiously. "What's wrong? She'll recover, right? She'll be okay?"
"I hope so," the woman said, lowering her voice to ensure the queen could not hear. "This might just be part of her recovery, and if so, she'll grow stronger and be fine in a few days, but… if she's not… it could be very serious."
"You mean… She could…" Robin's voice caught in his throat, unable to finish the thought.
"I've seen cases like this get very bad, very quickly," the healer admitted, "but… I'm probably worried for nothing. You just focus on taking care of her. She clearly trusts you very much."
"I know," he replies, determined to do anything he could to help her recover, to be deserving of that trust.
A/N: Can you tell he's in love with her yet? :)
It's getting close, I promise, there'll be a lot more romantic stuff in a chapter or two. But, I have three exams next week and a boatload of homework on top of that, so it'll be a miracle if I get time to write anything for a while. The week after next, though, is my fall break, so hopefully I'll manage to get a couple chapters done in between super fun stuff like "writing a resume" and "applying for internships" and "responsibly planning for the rest of my life."
Anyhow, brighten up my incredibly stressful week with a review, maybe?