(Special thanks to a friend for the art work for the 31 prompts and to Bekki for beta reading these. And thank you to all who read, review, follow and fav this.)

Day 4-Apple Bobbing

(Set in the missing year)

It was now fall in the Enchanted Forest, during the missing year. And to spread some positivity and lighten the mood around the castle, Mary Margaret decided to have a fall party. It was met with resistance as she knew it would.

"A party? You want to throw a party?" Regina asked. "We're under attack almost daily and you want to have a party?"

"Regina, I think it would help make everyone fell better and forget for only a day," Mary Margaret offered.

"Forget? You want me to forget Henry?" Regina asked

"Of course not, I don't want you to forget Henry," Mary Margaret said, "but if I know Henry, he wouldn't want either of us just mourning after him."

"Fine, do whatever you want, it's your castle," Regina said.

"Technically, it's yours," Mary Margaret said.

"Just have your damned party, I'll be in the library," Regina said.

"You're not going to come to it?" Mary Margaret.

"If I want to be bored with needless chatter over nothing, I'll come find you," Regina said as she went up to the second floor to the library. She opened a potion book, but on her mind was Henry. How was her son doing? She knew he didn't remember her, but maybe somewhere in the back of his memories, he had something locked there, their memories. She was in the library for the rest of the afternoon, flipping through book after book.

"Majesty?" a small voice called out from the doorway.

Regina turned to see the thief's son looking at her, Roland. "Come in, Roland." She was very fond of him, he reminded her of Henry in some ways, when Henry was this young.

"Whatcha doing Majesty?" Roland asked as he walked over to her.

"I'm doing some reading, and the name is Regina, Roland," Regina said to him with a smile.

"Are you going to the party tonight?" Roland asked.

"No, I'm going to be in my room tonight," Regina answered, and seeing his face take a downward turn, asked, "Are you going to the party?"

"Yes, Papa, said if I was good for the afternoon I could go," Roland answered. "Are you sure you won't go to the party, Regina?"

"Why would you want me at the party, Roland?" Regina asked.

"Because, I want to be your...your...scort," Roland tried to pronounce the word he had heard before.

"Escort?" Regina offered, "You want to be my escort to the party?"

"Yes, please go to the party with me, please?" Roland tried one last time to convince her to go with him.

"I'll tell you what, I'll go with you to the party, but I'm not sure how long I'll stay," Regina said.

"So does this mean you'll be my date then?" Roland asked.

"Whoa, my boy, aren't you a little young to be going out on a date?" another voice carried, as the owner entered the library.

"But, it's Maj-I mean, it's Regina," Roland said as Robin walked behind his son.

"So that excuses you from stealing all the pretty ladies?" Robin asked.

"But Regina, is the prettiest," Roland said as Regina's heart warmed over his words, "you even said so."

Regina looked up at Robin and raised an eyebrow, Robin leaned down and whispered in his son's ear, "Roland, I told you that in confidence."

"What's confidence?" Roland asked.

"It means, when someone tells you a secret, you keep that," Robin said, having no idea how his words were affecting Regina.

Daniel

Would that pain ever truly go away?

"Milady, are you alright?" Robin asked as he saw a strange look pass over her face.

"I'm fine, and yes Roland I'll be your date tonight," Regina said as she stood.

"Did you hear, Papa? I'm going to be Regina's date," Roland chatted away.

"I did, now why don't you go find Little John and get a bath before," Robin said as his son ran off, hollering for his Uncle John.

"Who knew the queen had such a soft spot for my son," Robin commented as he looked at her.

"He's a very special, well mannered little boy, something he didn't get from you obviously," Regina said.

Robin chuckled,"While that may be true, I do want to thank you for being kind to my boy."

Regina could only nod before Robin continued,"And I must say, that my boy beat me to it,"

"To what?" Regina asked.

"I was coming to find you, to see if you would accompany me to the party tonight," Robin admitted.

"Well, as you see, I already have a date," Regina said.

"Well, maybe I can act as a chaperone then," Robin said, "I hear those Hood men can be scoundrels at times."

Regina met Robin's blue eyes, staring at them for a moment longer than she intended to. She then gathered herself and left Robin in the library.

She went to her chambers and went to her closet, there was black dress after black dress, Regina's brows angled in concentration,"For Roland, I'm going to wear red, I don't want him to be afraid of me." and with that, she had on a long red dress, that hugged her figure nicely. She went to the mirror and toned down her make up, and after careful consideration, took down her hair and had it flowing in loose curls. "For Roland." she reminded herself, not for his father, the thief.

A little while later there was a knock on her door, Regina went to go answer it, knowing it would be her escort for the evening.

"Regina!" Roland yelled as he ran into her legs to hug her, she leaned down and hugged him back.

"Well, someone is a little eager for the party," Regina said.

"And eager to have fun with you tonight," Roland said.

"He's been talking about you non-stop," a voice said, as Regina looked up to see Robin standing there. "Not that I blame him."

Regina rolled her eyes at the thief's attempt at flirting, "Save it, I have a party to crash-attend."

Roland put his hand out and Regina put hers around his, and they proceeded to walk past Robin, who followed behind them. They walked down the hallway towards the ballroom, which was decorated with flowers and candles all around. There were different sections set up for games and refreshments, along with a buffet table.

"Well, Little John should feel at home," Regina said lightly, but Robin heard her and let out a small laugh.

"Regina, come over here," Roland said, pulling at her hand over to a huge barrel of red apples in water.

"Apple Bobbing," Regina said.

"What do you do?" Roland asked.

"You start by putting your arms behind your back," Regina instructed Roland, who did as she spoke. "Then you try to catch one with your teeth as you bend over."

Roland grinned as he leaned over and on his very first try scored him a beautiful red apple. "I did it, Regina! Did you see?"

"I did, that was very impressive," Regina complimented him. She refused to look at Robin, who she knew would be smiling.

"Well, you certainly take after your father," Mary Margaret said as she walked up to the trio.

"Why, thank you, Princess," Robin said with a small bow.

"Regina, we're going to try something else with the apple bobbing, two teams are going to be competing against one another," Mary Margaret said.

"Go on," Regina said.

"It starts with the leader bobbing for an apple and once they get an apple, they have to pass the apple to the person behind them by their mouth and so on till it reaches the last person," Mary Margaret.

"Aren't you a little old for this?" Regina asked.

"Come on, Regina, it will be fun," Mary Margaret said.

"If you think I'm going to play such a childish game," Regina started.

"Sounds like someone is afraid they're going to loose," Robin piped in.

Regina turned her gaze on him and icy is the only way to describe the look she gave him. "Fine, let's get this over with."

The teams were chosen of four, on Mary Margaret's team was, David, Grumpy, Granny and herself. On Regina's team was, Neal, Belle, Robin and her. She rolled her eyes as Robin was put on her team. The rest she could deal with, but he was so aggravating. There was one person who was extremely excited that Robin was on her team.

Roland.

"My papa is going to help you win, Regina," Roland said as Regina leaned down and caressed his cheek.

"I won't need his help to win," Regina said as Roland gave her a kiss on her cheek for luck.

They were lined up in two lines, the order in Regina's team was Belle, Neal, Regina then Robin. The lineup on the other was David, Mary Margaret, Grumpy, then Granny. Doc looked at both leaders and said,"Go!"

Belle dunked and managed to grab an apple immediately, while David struggled. She quickly turned and passed it to Neal, who grabbed it with his teeth and turned and offered it to Regina, who latched onto it immediately. Finally, she turned and Robin lowered his head, as he did so he winked at her, causing her to loose her focus for only a moment, but it was enough to cause something to happen.

She dropped the apple...but Robin did not stop lowering his head, causing their lips to meet. Regina was shocked at the impact of his lips meeting hers. Not caring that they were not alone, or in a race, she leaned into him. A hand on his shoulder flexed into a caress. Her lips parted and he savored her mouth fully. She was delicious.

If he had an ounce of restraint, he'd release her right now. But her flavor was as addictive as gin to a drunk. Wanting just one more taste of her, he stroked her tongue with his. She brushed hers against his, the surge of arousal he felt almost sent him to his knees. He heard a few whispers, and reluctantly released her, though her hands were still on his arms, clenching his shirt for strength.

"I guess we lost," Robin said as he looked around, seeing the other team had finished the race, the room was now quiet as they stared at Regina and him.

"You did that on purpose!" Regina declared. She was embarrassed, angry, angry at herself more that she had responded to him.

"It was an accident," Robin said as Little John walked up to them.

"What do you want? The buffet is over there," Regina said.

"Well, maybe next time you'll show some restraint in kissing the Prince of Thieves," Little John said as she looked at all the men, who were smiling at their leader and her. Even Roland had a huge smile on his face.

Regina let go of Robin's arms and gathered her skirts and with all the dignity she had, she marched off from the ballroom.

"Sorry about that, Robin," Little John said.

"Don't be," Robin said with a smirk,"it was worth loosing this race. Though, I have gathered a new respect for apple bobbing."