YAY! After 95 years, I have finally managed an update. This is sadly, the last chapter. I'm sad, but all things come to an end. It's gonna be a roller coaster ride so hold on you guys! Anyway, no more chitchat, here we go! Thank you all so much for reading this! Until next time!

Unbeta-ed, so apologies for the mistakes.

Chapter Four

Robin admittedly has some great expectations for the next class with Regina, well, er Professor Mills—though it's hard to think of her anymore as anyone more than just Regina after the intimacy they've shared. He tries, though, because she's still a professional, and he's loathe to cause her any undue trouble just because he's being stupid and makes a slip.

He walks to her lecture class with high spirits, happy to be able to see her after two days of not seeing each other. He'd been busy and hadn't been able to do more than to send her a brief message that he'll be spending the weekend studying and tutoring his son that he might not be in touch but that he misses her and he loves her. She'd only replied with a brief 'Alright, have a great weekend', and he tries not to take it heart, knowing she's just as busy as he.

But when he walks into her class Monday extra early and extra prepared (his hair needed that tiny bit of gel he's put on it, really), it is needless to say that he's also been extra disappointed to find out that she won't be attending the class, and has instead sent Miss Belle French—a young woman who is also a part time lecturer in the department.

He'd been so disheartened the whole day that he'd been unable to focus very well. His mind is constantly running, wondering if he's done anything to have tipped her off or offend her or hurt her. Though it is a very real possibility that something might have just come up and she'd needed the time off, then those very thoughts would lead to the disappointment that she won't even tell him. But then he'd think that she definitely doesn't owe him anything, not an explanation or justification about her actions, and if she needs a day off she's entitled to it without him having to know about it.

It's just knowing would have been nice. In fact, hearing from her at all would have been nice, really.

But she's Regina, she's her own person and she does what she wants when she wants, and he's not terribly disappointed, he shouldn't be, at least.

He shouldn't be, he tells himself, yet there's still a pang in his chest when he thinks about it.

A slight, slight pang that he tells himself he can ignore, if he just tries hard enough.

...

Regina Mills is no coward.

Nope.

But when it comes to facing Robin, you can bet that she's the biggest coward the world has ever seen.

It's not that she doesn't want to see him, because she does (his beautiful eyes and his bright smile, those dimples that peek whenever he grins or smirks or laughs, amongst other things). It's just that she doesn't know what to say if she does see him. What had happened between them that one night had been wonderful and pleasurable, and she's pretty sure it's the stuff made out of dreams, but at the end of the day, she's still his teacher and he's still her student and though a relationship between them won't necessarily put her in jail because he's of age, it might still jeopardize her job and that isn't something she can deal with.

Besides, she's far too deep in this to be able to face him and not screw this up. She knows she already is, and she knows that it is what she is good at, but she can't help it. She's been burned by love and the idea of having something so great, so beautiful—she can't believe that. She's spent the past few years believing that all she needs is her son, and he's all she'll ever have, that this-this is completely alien and unreal. If it had been a little less complicated, she'd be inclined that it is unreal, but that might be asking for too much.

So now she's here, in this place between wanting to be brave and taking what her heart truly desires, and what she wants and could make her happy. She wonders, not for the first time, why the easy thing can be the thing that makes someone happy.

And though she's told herself so many times that she can't be like this just for a man, that she shouldn't be, that all the hard work that women from the past had put in to gain the liberties she enjoys now, she falls victim into the same curse every woman of the patriarchal society that allows no room for a woman to flourish. She calls in sick for work and leaves it to them to find her a substitute for the day as she wallows in pity and regret, and maybe a bit of shame.

She falls into the curse of love.

...

He's fallen into the curse of love—he's fallen in love with a woman, and though it's obvious that she feels something for him, too, she's too afraid to deal with it. And if she's not willing to take that step with him, then there isn't much for him to do. He cannot possibly force her to anything, he loved and respected her enough.

Besides, the woman he loves is a woman of her own, trying to tell her what to do won't really go down well with her. But damn, he wishes he could just tell her to stop being afraid and she'd listen. Then maybe love can stop being a curse but something beautiful, something that they can both share and bask in.

But well, no, this is not how this works. Not with her anyway.

It's difficult to keep loving her and having that love thrown back into his face, and he wonders if he should just give up, should just let it go and stop fighting when she obviously doesn't want him to keep doing so.

Every week, he sees her, every week he sits in her class and watches her as she talks about literature and everything that Robin can't seem to find it in himself to care about anymore. It's not the right outlook to any of this, and he doesn't necessarily agree with his heart in this regard, but what should he do? His heart is stronger than his mind. And though he tells himself to stay away, it's hard to.

And he tells himself that he's better than nights of drunken stupor over some woman (not just any woman though, the woman of his dreams, Regina Mills), and that he has a child to think about and he can't just go about getting drunk when he has him to take care of, but it's hard to remember all of that when once more, she ignores him, doesn't let him have a word when he tries to get her to talk to him after their classes, doesn't respond to any of his attempts at talking this out, and it's been weeks, it has been bloody weeks and he's going insane!

"Robin, maybe you're giving it much more meaning than there is to it?" Will asks him one night when he'd asked him to accompany him to the Rabbit Hole for another night of drinking himself to oblivion, and hopefully numbness. It sometimes strikes him as odd where he finds the strength to attend classes when he gets so drunk like this, but years of practice have gotten him well versed in the art of hangovers.

Robin pauses, his hand falling flat onto the table from where it had been gripping the pint of beer, and he looks at his friend, struck by his words. The pain sits heavily on his chest and for a moment he doesn't know what to do or how to breathe, because he's never thought of it that way, has always thought that she felt the same way as he had that night. He hadn't once paused to consider that it might not mean as much to her.

"I mean, maybe she did find you attractive, maybe she did like you, but maybe she didn't feel as strongly, maybe she just wanted to know how it felt, and now that she had then she's done," Will continues, and for a moment Robin gets the urge to sock him in the jaw, because no, Regina isn't like that, he knows it. She'd not been with her just for the thrill of it, he knows, knows her that much.

But then, does he really?

"I don't know," Robin murmurs. He grips his glass and brings it up to his lips for another long gulp as he tries not to cry like a baby at this current predicament he's found himself in. He's supposed to be better than this, but then, how could he, when he feels worse than he's ever had.

"Maybe it's time to let go, man," Will says, and he's right, maybe it is, but it doesn't help his heart, not by an inch.

Robin doesn't say anything, only stares ahead and sighs, his head falling helplessly as his heart breaks and breaks inside his chest, and he thinks that the sound of his heart shattering is way too loud and that everyone around him would hear it—that it would stop their world just as it did his, but he finds that no it isn't loud, no one hears him, and no one's world stops at his heartbreak—no one, but his.

..

But maybe, he thinks, just maybe Will is right. He doesn't really know why he thinks so, when the last advise the man had given him had blown up in his face big time, but maybe he's right. Maybe it is time to let go.

Maybe it is time to let her go.

It had been wonderful, that night he'd been allowed to love her in the way he wants to, he'd been allowed to show her exactly how much he does love her, but that's over now, and she wants nothing more to do with him.

It's obvious.

And he's not stupid, he can take a hint.

So on a Friday evening, when he knows her last class ends at eight pm, he stalks to her classroom. He is assaulted by memories of the last time they had been left alone in the evening, but he stamps that down, because he's already going to rip his heart out, no need to torture himself some more.

He opens the door just in time, finding her still inside, collecting some papers. She looks so goddamn beautiful that his chest aches. And then she looks up, and her eyes widen, then they harden and he knows that he should be very, very afraid, but he can't find it in himself to feel anything but pain.

"We need to talk," Robin tells her before she can get a word out, and he locks the door behind him, and maybe he wants more than just talk, but he also knows that it's not in the cards.

"Why am I getting a sense of déjà vu?" she asks, her tone low and sarcastic, and she doesn't even try to look at him.

It breaks his heart, but at least he knows that he's doing the right thing.

He walks over towards her, ignoring her words. He feels anger swirling inside him, running through his veins, but he tries to calm down. After all, this is the woman he loves, and there is nothing more in this world that he wants than to see her happy.

Obviously, he can't give her that.

"I'm not here to..." he begins but trails off as images of their night together assault him, and he almost wishes he's dead than doing this. "I just want to talk. I know you've been ignoring me. I know you don't want to talk about it. It's been weeks Regina, and if I hadn't been able to take a hint the first few days, then I certainly have now."

"So what else are you doing here?" she asks him coldly, though she still refuses to meet his eyes.

"I'm just here to..." he breathes and tries not to show her the tears he knows will fall soon. He's a weak, weak man, and he loves her too much that this feels like someone is ripping his soul in half. "I'm just here to ask you to sign this." He hands her a piece of paper, and watches as she scans it quickly.

Her head snaps up and then she's staring at him with wide, wild eyes. She looks about ready to murder him, but he's not entirely sure he has anything left for her to murder.

"No, Robin, you can't do this," she says, her voice high and almost pleading. And he doesn't understand why. Isn't this what she wanted?

And wouldn't it be so much easier?

"I need to," he tells her. And he believes that he really does.

"But this is your dream, Robin, you can't," she says and it's almost like she's pleading with him. "I'm not going to get together with you even if you move schools." There is a cold glint in her eyes.

"I know that," he concedes, because he knows that. He knows that she won't be with him whatever he does, that she doesn't love him, and it won't matter what he does. "I'm not doing this in hopes that you'd agree to seeing me and being with me. I might have deluded myself with that idea before, but I know better now. I'm not doing this for that."

"Then why are you doing this?" she asks, her voice raises and her eyes wide.

"Because! Because it's not as fucking easy for me to stand there and look at you knowing that you don't love me the way I love you. Because I can't keep seeing you and pining for you, knowing you don't even care, Regina. I can't keep telling myself to stop loving you when you're there—so beautiful and wonderful and stunning and bold and audacious, and I can't keep hurting myself like this. You obviously want me to let you go, so that's what I'm doing."

She's silent, only looks down, away from him, and he moves towards her, using his fingers to tilt her chin up so she is looking at him.

"I love you, Regina, and loving you means accepting the fact that you don't...I choose you, over everything, over dreams and wonderful futures because I don't want a future without you in it, but I can't force you to choose me too, so I'm going to make this easy for the both of us, and I'm letting you go."

He lets her go then and moves away, before he watches her sign the paper he'd presented her with. Her hands are shaking while his heart is pounding. This is it, after this it's final, and though he doesn't want it to be, it's for the best.

She shoves the paper to his chest and then walks away towards the door. Before he could stop himself however, he's grabbing her back and kissing her senseless. His hands cup the sides of her head and for a moment he revels in the kiss, revels in the feeling of him and her breathing as one. He feels like soaring, like his soul found a home in hers, but then the kiss is ending, she's pushing him away and she's leaving.

She's not there to see his tears, but still they fall.

...

Her tears fall nonstop. She doesn't want them to, but still they fall. And she's exhausted.

It's getting exhausting.

It's getting exhausting to shut out the sound of her heart telling her that this is wrong, that she's wrong, that she's making a big mistake by pushing Robin away. But she doesn't know any other way. She can't risk her job, his education and their sons for something as weak as love.

But love isn't weakness. It can't be when she's never felt stronger and better than she's ever had when she'd been in Robin's arms and he'd been loving her in the ways that she's never believed possible.

And it doesn't seem like such a thing for the weak to give up someone because you loved them too much to ruin their life.

Yet...

She just wants a happy ending.

Why can't it be simple?

Regina sighs as she hears the door of her house open. It's a Saturday and her son had asked for a sleep over at his buddy's, and she couldn't possibly say no to him, considering how bad of a company she'd been lately. She hadn't wanted to be a grouch, to let her son know about the pain she's feeling, but he's perceptive and she'd thought that maybe putting some distance between his perception and her raw feelings would be a good idea.

So, she knows it won't be her son (he'd call her first, of course and ask to be picked up if he needed to), so she knows exactly who it would be.

"Mary Margaret," she mutters in disdain as the woman appears at the entrance of her kitchen, looking like a sad puppy even when it's Regina who's heart is broken. She shakes her head at her step sister's disapproving look, and just brings her glass wine to her lips to take a sip.

"Regina," Mary Margaret says, already crossing the distance between them. Regina doesn't recall inviting her, but that never stops her step sister anyway. "How are you feeling?"

"How do you think?" she spats, instantly regretting it at the look that flashes across Mary Margaret's face. She doesn't want to lash out, but the words are out before she can think of them.

"I know you're not okay, but if you really feel this bad, why don't you go ahead and be with him. It's not like you're doing anything wrong," she says and Regina scoffs at the thought, because of course, Mary Margaret would have a never ending supply of optimism.

"I don't recall inviting you to give me a hope speech," Regina snaps. "Save it for someone who cares."

"Oh come on, Regina," Mary Margaret sighs. "I just want to be here for you."

"Yes, I know that and I appreciate it," Regina says, her tone softening as she looks at her step sister's wide, doe eyes. "But I just...I want to wallow in self pity and find a way to get over it...him."

Mary Margaret is quiet for a while, and they sit there both in silence as time ticks away.

"I know it's complicated Regina," she says, and Regina rolls her eyes. She can't even begin to fathom exactly how complicated it is. "But...you can't lose hope that things will get better! You can have a happy ending, Regina. I believe that you can."

"What happy ending?" Regina asks condescendingly. "It's not true. There are no happy endings." She pauses and breathes, tries not to cry, but knows that she would, soon, feels the tears prickling. "Do you know that he's left the University? Transferred to another one because being around me hurts him too much! I'd been trying to protect his dreams, my job, and our sons, but it seems I'm just ruining everything."

"But wouldn't this be easier?" Mary Margaret asks, looking at her deeply. "He's moved to another school, now you won't have to worry about your job or him being getting kicked out of school for fraternizing with his teacher." She smiles. "It seems that you're even closer to your happy ending than you think. You just need to open your heart and grab it."

"It was his dream, Mary Margaret!" Regina exclaims, feeling upset that no one is seeing this her way. "I can't be so selfish to take this away from him. I can't let him give it up just for me!"

"But he already has," her step sister says, grabbing her hand and sighing. "Your happy ending may not be what you expect. That is what will make it so special."

Regina looks back at her sister and sighs, thinking that maybe, maybe she's right.

..

She knows it's crazy.

This might not go the way she's planned, but it's basically now or never. She needs to do this now or she'll miss out on the chance for a happy ending if she let her fear get to her again.

And she can't let that happen.

So on a Monday, just after class, she makes a dash for the edge of the forest in the campus, not caring if she's wearing four inch pumps on this particular day (she'll regret it later, but not now). She knows he'll be there, she just knows it, and she doesn't know why, but she's sure.

So she runs towards the forest, silently praying that she's right. She sighs in relief when she finds him sitting on a log, looking lost. That breaks her heart, but she consoles herself with the fact that she's here to remedy that, if he'd let her.

"You're an underhanded thief, Robin Locksley," she exclaims, and it's clear that she startles him. It makes her chuckle inside, though she tries to hide that with a stone cold exterior. He looks up at her in a mixture of shock and confusion, but she only continues to walk over to him. "You shocked me into signing those damned papers."

"What?" he asks, confused and she smirks, confusing him further.

"I love you too, you know," she tells him once she's standing there before him. She knows she's floored him with that confession, and he absolutely looks it, but for once she revels on the feeling of finally being able to say it to him.

"Regina—," he begins but she doesn't let him when she kneels before him and takes his lips in a heated kiss that has him grabbing her waist and pulling her closer. She slips her tongue inside, eliciting a moan from him that goes straight to his core.

When she pulls away, they're both panting.

"I'm sorry," she says, whispering the words as though it's a beautiful secret meant only for them. "I'm sorry I made you feel like I didn't love you. I did, I do. More than my own life, and I was so scared, so scared that loving you meant ruining your life. I never thought I'd have this, you know? I didn't believe that I could. The last man I loved, he died, and I felt like...everything I touched, everyone I loved, I ruin, and I can't do that to you. I loved you too much."

Robin is speechless, is only looking at her in awe, like he can't quite believe what's happening.

"I choose you, too," she murmurs as she loops her arms around his neck and clings to him, burying her nose on his skin. "I love you, I want to be with you, and I choose you."

He pulls back just enough to look her in the eyes. "Regina?" he asks.

"I love you," she says again because now that she's said it, she can't stop. "I love you and I want to be with you. It isn't going to be easy, but we'll make it." She leans in to kiss him again. "I'm with you."

"Always," he murmurs, lifting her in his arms until she's sitting across his lap, and he seals in this promise with a kiss.

A/N2: I know you guys were probably wanting smut, but I honestly couldn't fit it in, sorry. Hope you liked it regardless. Anyway, Milenys told me that I should tell you that I'm opening this universe for prompts. So if you guys want anything in this universe, let me know! (I doubt anyone would request anything, but I should still let you know). Let me know what you guys thought!