… I went out unseen,
my house being now all stilled…
"No good deed ever goes unpunished."
Regina sighed. Dammit, dammit, dammit. She remembered the promise she'd made to Henry about not using magic, about trying to use her natural gifts, not magic, to get what she wants, and this is what it got her. Stuck in the woods with a bunch of pms-plagued, smelly men.
One of whom Tinkerbell was convinced was her "happy ending." She couldn't wait to throw that BS back in the moth's face.
If she made it back at all.
But it was Henry's face that stuck in her mind. Maybe give it one more day? See how it goes?
The dawn was coming fast.
Screw it!
What Henry won't know, won't hurt him.
Brushing herself off, she stood up straight and began to walk. An arrow whizzed by, she moved still, another, closer, as she heard commands to stop. The next arrow she caught and whirled back, taking some satisfaction in seeing the men duck.
Regina kept walking.
A few rustles alerted her that she was being followed. She didn't look.
He kept coming closer, she ignored him.
"Stop!" Yep, it was Robin Hood.
"Why?" she asked still looking forward and moving swiftly.
Robin kept coming. "You can't …."
"I can't?" Regina scoffed. "I most certainly can! You can't stop me."
"If this is what you wanted to do, why waste a whole day being under our escort?"
"I made a promise," Regina replied, "and you idiots have convinced me, once again, there is no damn point."
"There's always a point," Robin insisted.
"Do you understand this point?" Regina finally turned and gave him the one-fingered salute.
"No, I cannot say that I do," he replied steadily.
"Good." She turned back and moved a little faster.
"Your Majesty…."
Regina laughed, "Why do you keep calling me that? You don't think I'm a Queen, and I'm tired of seeing you pretending. One day of this is quite enough, thank you very much."
"Regina, then," Robin offered.
"Yes, that's my name," her chin lifted.
"I have one, too," he reminded her.
"Fine, Robin," she emphasized the name. "Why don't we all have a happy ending and you just pretend I'm not here?"
"I would," he replied, "if I didn't have greater cause for concern knowing that you are running loose again in our land."
"I told you I was leaving," Regina told him, "and, if you recall, one thing I never do is lie."
She kept walking, looking about, getting bearings. It wouldn't take much, could transport … do whatever.
But Robin kept following.
She whirled, "Are you a moron?"
"Far from it, Regina. I don't care that you're here or even headed toward my castle. But I do care that you are about to enter that clearing," Robin gestured in front of her.
"Why?" Regina snapped and took another step forward, into the clearing … and came upon Frodo Baggins. Or rather his half-sized little clone. A clone that ran past her and into the Robin Hood's arms.
"Daddy!"
Regina looked at the father and son, astonished.
"This is why I care," Robin told her.
Damn!