hey guys! happy valentine's day! :)

first of all I want to thank you all for the wonderful reviews that you leave me every time: thank you, thank you, thank you! they really warm my heart. I also truly appreciate all the follows and favs and, most of all, your patience in reading my story because I understand that my english isn't perfect, as it's not my first language, so yep. I'm still glad you guys enjoy it, so thank you.

sorry if this chapter is a bit shorter than the others, but I'm really trying not to give everything away too soon.
enjoy!

"please, can you go in and grab my things? I… I can't." she murmured embarrassed, finding herself staring at the floor one more time. They were still there, in front of that house that had always terrorized her, the door was opened and none of them had the courage to get in.

"Regina, I've never been in your house, I wouldn't even know where to look for your stuff, so… why don't you take a leap of courage and try to come in? You've been through a lot, you can do this too." he whispered sweetly, caressing her arm up and down, slowly.

"I-I…" she shook her head slightly.

"I'll come with you. I'll be right by your side, I promise, I won't let anything bad happen to you." he took her chin between two of his fingers and lifted her head up, so that he could bury his ocean blue eyes in her coffee dark ones. He could read fear in them, pure and simple; strong enough to make him shudder, but he was careful not to show any emotion.

Regina nodded, even if he knew perfectly how still uncertain she actually was. She closed her hands around his arm tightly and, together, they moved their first steps into her house.

The couch, where Victor used to sleep and eat all day in front of the tv, was a complete disaster: drinks all over the floor, crumbs everywhere; the kitchen was exactly the way she had left it the morning before -a complete chaos- on the right, the door of the bathroom, where she had cried most of her tears, where she had had most of her downfalls, was opened. And over there, there it was the bedroom. Where it all had happened.

Without realizing, she tightened the grip around his arm, while numerous shivers ran down her whole body. She couldn't do that, she couldn't revive it. Not even after twenty-four hours, she wasn't strong enough.

"hey… I'm here." he whispered as if he had read in her mind. He pressed his forehead against hers for a moment, as if he wanted to give her more assurance, as if he wanted to make her understand once more that he was there to protect her.

They walked into the bedroom and Regina couldn't help but stop at staring at the bed: it was in the same exact conditions in which, the night before, Victor had left it. The pillow in which she had suffocated her sighs, the dirty sheets… they were still there, and so was he. In her head, he was still there. She felt as if he was going to appear behind her back to take her and throw her on that bed once again, to abuse her body while he insulted and beat her up for talking to Robin, for going to the police and sending him to jail, for ruining his whole life in a couple of hours.

Stupid bitch, I'll kill you.

"Robin" she called him as she felt his arms leaving her.

"yes?"

"please, hold me." she was about to burst into tears again and, in that moment, she reminded him of that hurt and frightened angel that he had seen the night before, when she had begged him to take her away from that nightmare. Without hesitating, he closed his arms around her again in a warm embrace from which Regina would never part.

"I know it's hard, but you have to think that soon all of this will be over. For good. Tomorrow I'll call a realtor to take care of this house and sell it as quickly as they could. I won't let you revive all the horrible things that maniac has made you feel anymore." Robin was using a calm tone, but the anger in his voice was palpable. He would have done everything just to punch that son of a bitch until he bled; even though he perfectly knew that it wasn't going to be enough. Not even killing him would have been enough. Nothing could ever erase the horrible things he had made to Regina. To his Regina.

She nodded, shaking those light dark curls he was so damn in love with, the curls he was going to find, since that day, every time he woke up, every morning, every night.

"where can I find a suitcase to put your stuff in?" he asked, giving her one of his sweetest smiles. Regina indicated some point under the bed and he nodded. She also told him where he could find all of her money, so he took them, as she asked. He wanted to take Victor's too but Regina refused at first, she didn't want anything from him, let alone his money; but then Robin explained that she didn't have to use it for her, but to get rid of that house once and for all, of the memory of him forever. And there she agreed.

She guided him in every movement, told him which drawers to open to find her clothes -she absolutely refused to touch anything, she was terrified- and which ones he had to take, her shoes, her… underwear.

"m-maybe you should…"

"Robin, we're friends. And I'm sure you know what a woman normally wears under her clothes." she couldn't help but smile at her own joke, despite the tragedy of the whole situation.

He nodded, although Regina could say he was quite embarrassed as he opened the drawer and found himself in front of dozens of bras and panties. Regina thought, in all honesty, that it was going to be less awkward, but she was wrong: he suggested him to take everything, to make it easier for both.

"here it is, the essential. I'll send someone tomorrow morning to take the rest of your stuff."

"thank you so much, Robin." she smiled "oh wait! my folder!" Robin looked under the table she was pointing to and saw the folder she was used to bring with her everyday at work. "there are some tests I still have to check. I had to do it for today, but…" she smiled shyly, shrugging, realizing that it was the very first time she talked about her job to someone actually interested in listening to her.

"you didn't, Miss Mills?" he giggled, joking.

"is it my boss asking or my friend Robin?" they laughed together, then he took the folder as she asked and handed it to her. Now they really had everything. They were ready to start a new chapter: together.

"I emptied some drawers for your clothes." he told her as he walked out of the bedroom. Regina was waiting for him in his living room: being alone in a bedroom with him once in a day was enough.
"thank you, Robin. Thank you so much."

"hey, I don't want you to thank me anymore, okay?" he took her face in his big, warm hands, making her smile and blush like an idiot.

"okay." she nodded imperceptibly. They smiled to each other one last time, then he left her to get into the kitchen:
"so, what do you want for dinner?" he asked but she wasn't listening. She had walked into the bedroom to arrange her stuff in the drawers Robin had given her but she stood still in front of the room, too concentrated in something she shouldn't even have looked at: the bed. She touched the blankets slightly, with the tip of her fingers, while her mind got lost in a thousand thoughts.

She closed her eyes and breathed his scent in. It was everywhere, so good, so sweet, so different from Victor's; it filled her soul, it penetrated her senses. She wanted more, God, she wanted to roll herself in that bed with him, get lost with him in that magic. Body against body, skin against skin, lips against lips.

It was there that Regina Mills realized that she wanted Robin Locksley. She wanted him for real, she truly meant every word; but she didn't want just physical pleasure, she wanted to make love to him. Make love again after so long -if she had ever actually made love to someone.

She wanted to feel him close to her, against her, inside of her.

"are you alright?" his voice arrived to her like a slight whisper, but it had still been able to surprise her.

She turned to face him and smiled:
"yes, I was just… making myself at home." she couldn't help but blush, as if Robin had literally seen the scenario that she had created in her mind not even a second before.

"you know, I was thinking" he whispered, walking closer and closer to her, with a beautiful smile on his lips. Regina swallowed hard and felt her stomach turning upside down, but it wasn't unpleasant. In fact, she felt the butterflies. Shit. They were together, in a bedroom, alone. Once again. And he was so close, so goddamn close…

"w-what?"

"I don't want to cook so…" he took a lock of her hair and rolled it around two of his fingers. Regina's heart started to pound in her chest; oh my… "maybe we could go out." the distance between their lips was definitely too short, both of their eyes were stuck on each other's mouth and they couldn't stop dreaming. They couldn't stop hoping.

"yes, we could."

They closed their eyes, both so sure they were about to taste the most desired kiss of their lives, the most wanted, the most passionate. But they were, once again, wrong: Robin's phone started to ring and they parted almost immediately, as if someone had woken them up from a wonderful dream.

Damn it. For a moment, Robin thought he had said it out loud, then he understood -thanks god- he hadn't.

He ran into the living room, leaving her there, speechless, without an explanation. She was tired of that situation; it was just like being one step away from the sky, almost about to touch it, then falling from the high, right on the ground.

"sorry, it was Amanda." his assistant, of course. "she just wanted to know if I'm going to work tomorrow." the smile he had on his lips was shy, almost embarrassed. It wasn't the bright and bold smirk he usually had, maybe it was for the millionth failed kiss.

"and you are?" she asked, bringing her eyes back into his.

"absolutely. And you're coming with me."

That reaction took her in surprise; an ordinary man would have proposed her to take some time to rest, especially after all she had been through, but not him. He, despite the extreme sense of protection he felt for that woman, didn't. She asked herself why but he anticipated her thoughts:

"Regina, today you told me that you don't want to be treated as a victim anymore. You're right, and that's exactly what I'm going to do; you have to get out, to go to work, to live your life as you think it's best for you. Because, starting from today, you'll start living again, Regina Mills, I promise." again that proud and bright smile that, this time, Regina promptly returned.

Oh, that man was anything but ordinary.

They had gone out for dinner, but it had been nothing like the classy and romantic dinners that you see in the movies; absolutely. Regina had worn a pair of ripped skinny jeans and one of Robin's sweatshirt -she had practically stolen it from his closet and, when Robin noticed, he laughed his soul out- that was literally twice her size. She looked much younger than her age, if he didn't know any better he'd have said that she was no more than twenty-five. She was glowing. The thought of going out for dinner with him amused her. It didn't excite her, it didn't make her heart beat like a teenager's going out on her first date; it amused her.

And so it happened: they found themselves eating Buffalo chicken wings in a remote mexican restaurant. They were laughing like idiots, drinking the cheapest beer in the whole country; they had their hands dipped in sauces and they played like children, stealing each other's food from their plates. Everyone else in the restaurant was glaring at them but they didn't care; they only saw each other.

"my god, it was the coolest night of my life! I can't believe I'm actually 37, really!" she exclaimed as they arrived back home. She was so drunk she didn't even realize how actually happy she was to come back home with someone she trusted. With someone she loved.

"yeah, but now we have to sleep, it's late… we have to work tomorrow." when he said so, with his already half closed eyes and a sleepy voice, he didn't notice the way Regina had wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close.
"mmh, really? do we… have to work, chief?"

"absolutely." his hands unconsciously started to wander all over her back, but as the real gentleman that he truly was, he didn't go too far. He perfectly knew his limits, even when he was half drunk. God, he was really too much…

"I'm not sleepy, daddy." she whispered in his ear before kissing his neck and letting herself go, resting her head on his shoulder. His skin burned at the contact with her lips, as it was the very first time; cause yes, he was used to kiss her temple, her cheek, her nose, but she had never, ever kissed him. A shiver ran through his whole body, from the top of his head to his feet, making him feel so alive, so good. Despite the fact that he was trying really hard not to respond, his body couldn't help but react to the contacts and, within seconds, Regina realized that she was feeling him against her.

"Regina…"

"take me to bed." she whispered kissing his earlobe, then she trapped it between her teeth and bit it, then sucked, then bit it again, until what she was feeling against her became completely hard. Shit, shit, shit. He heard her giggling and he thought he was about to get crazy; he kept on telling himself that Regina didn't really want that, that she was drunk and she was loosing control and he shouldn't have.

"please" she moaned "take me to bed."

And take her to bed he did; he lifted her up in his arms as if she was his bride, making her laugh, even if that wasn't exactly what she was hoping for. He walked her into his bedroom and, when he put her down on the mattress and started to tuck her in, she stopped him:

"Robin, I can't sleep in these clothes! I smell like fried chicken." she smiled, but it wasn't a playful smile. She arched one of her perfect eyebrows as she saw him blushing:

"I-I…"

"undress me." she whispered, making his stomach vibrate "please."

"Regina, I can't."

"you can. You want to. Please, do it."

He couldn't leave her like that, he couldn't and perhaps a huge part of him didn't want to. He took the ends of the sweatshirt and slowly started to take it off, savoring every moment, every inch he discovered. Underneath she had -fortunately or unfortunately, he couldn't decide- a white tank top, not too transparent, that hinted the color of her bra.

From one side, he was happy that he wasn't going to see her half naked that night: he wanted to keep that sensation for when it was all true, wanted by both, for real.

He removed her shoes and socks, then he took a deep breath and stared at her jeans. God, he really didn't want to do that. He started to unzip them slowly, feeling his cheeks burning more and more each second as he pulled them down until the only thing that covered her were her panties. He was hoping with every inch of his being that they weren't transparent and, luckily for both, they weren't; they were dark, just like the dark of that room, just like Regina's eyes.

"are you alright?" he whispered, as if he had remembered only then who was laying right under his body. She smiled and nodded, even though she couldn't stop hoping for him to continue the way she wanted.
He didn't, but she was expecting it.

"come on, get under the blankets Miss Mills." he said happily. She obeyed but, as she felt the warmth of his body slowly leaving her, she closed her fingers around his arm:
"please, stay. I want to sleep in your arms one more time." she would have never, ever, said that if she was sober, she wouldn't have had the courage and he knew that well enough. But the fact that she was drunk didn't make it less true, so he smiled. He didn't say anything, he simply got under the blankets next to her and pulled his body against him, wrapping his arms around her chest in a soft, warm, protective hug.
And there they fell asleep, with the sincerest smile printed on their lips.

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xx ella