Disclaimer: I don't own the right to OUAT or it's characters, I just play in their AU playground.
A/N: Not proofread but that will be changing very soon (yay!).
Robin finished making the cane near the campfire. Little John sat beside him.
"I went into town and bought some bandages. She's gonna need that leg wrapped up with proper bandages."
"Aww, you do care what happens to her!"
Little John only grunted in response. Robin laughed.
"Out of mere curiosity, Rob, but have you told her exactly what we do for a living? You know, stealing from her kind."
"Her kind? John, please. Besides I don't think she's like any rich person we've ever encountered. I haven't told her yet, but I will. It's inevitable. She's not stupid." Robin took a moment to look over at the sleeping lady still in his bed. "I think I'm going to need a new bed."
"Well you ain't taking mine. Besides I've been looking at our map and there's a lake nearby, a magical one. There's a rumor it can heal people."
Robin felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. "Oh."
Little John chuckled. "We wouldn't want her in any pain now, would we? What if it's actually broken? It's not like we can take a noble lady into town without questions. I don't believe for an instant people would buy her as anything but a noblewoman."
Robin sighed. "You're right."
"It's a two days journey so your love cane will still be useful until then."
"It's not a 'love cane'!" Robin snapped.
"I hate to burst your bubble here but I give her 24 hours before she leaves once she's healed. This life ain't no place for a noble lady and she will tire of it and go home. I just don't want you getting too attached... again."
"Now wait one minute this is a totally different situation!"
"We'll see."
Robin got up and stormed off.
"Where are you going?!" yelled Little John.
"To get the wagon ready for the trip!" Robin yelled back, though he mostly wanted away from Little John and the possibility of truth in his words and why it bothered him so much.
A while later he returned after cooling his head and making arrangements for their journey the following day, he found Little John eating stew in front of the fire... with their injured guest.
She was glaring at her stew in such a way that he was sure she was trying to will it to taste good. He smiled at her determination.
"You're back!" bellowed Little John, which startled Regina from her trance and she looked up and gave Robin a faint smile. "I've been telling her about Lake Nostril - "
"Lake Nostros." Regina corrected him.
"That's what I said."
Regina rolled her eyes as Robin laughed.
"Thank you for the cane, Robin. It's nice to finally move around a bit." Regina said.
"You're welcome, milady." Robin smiled and Regina found herself smiling back.
"So are you and your men soldiers? You don't look like the soldiers around where I live. From what I observed they seem very loyal and actually care about each other." she asked, a bit envious of the comradery.
Little John avoided looking at Robin, he could feel Robin's eyes on him nervous and a bit worried. Robin sighed, well here goes nothing.
He sat besides Regina. "We're family, not by blood but by bond. We are not soldiers though, well not in the law's eyes. If we are soldiers, we are soldiers to the poor."
Regina's heart sank. She forced the tears back and allowed her walls up to protect her.
"You are a thief." It wasn't so much a question as an acknowledgment.
"Yes." Robin confirmed. He couldn't look at her face, which went from warmth to ice in a matter of seconds, and he looked down and waited for the inevitable fallout.
Regina went numb. That damn fairy had sent her to an outlaw. Her second chance at love was with a thief?!
A/N#2: This chapter was short because I wanted it to end with Regina finding out his 'profession'. Plus Little John is very fun to write. Since we don't know much about his OUAT version, he is mostly based on the Disney animated movie.