Outlaw Queen Shorts

Background Noise

Missing Year.
Regina finally started warming up to Robin when she overhears him talking about her and she doesn't want to care, but she really really does.

Days in the Enchanted Forest are the same as they always were the last time Regina was in this damn palace. She wakes up, gets dressed into something which has a corset that can't be good for her spleen, discusses battle plans with the Charmings, eats, and returns to her chambers for a night of restless sleep. Or at least that was her life, until the thief made himself more prominent in their ranks. At first he simply annoyed her, like a fly that refused to leave; constantly mithering and constantly there, his opinions differing so often from hers she started to think he disagreed on purpose. But after a few weeks of his accent that sends shivers up her spine, his ability to keep her engaged in conversation and actually challenge her (a feat which few were brave enough to attempt), and the strong arm that without fail reaches out to protect her - not that she needs protecting - whenever danger is near, she discovered that he is, in fact, the best company she has out here.

She was going to ride out on her horse for the afternoon, around the edges of the palace grounds, and made her way to Robin's camp to ask him if he wanted to join her. If anyone asks, she'd tell them it was purely political, to keep one of her best men in the loop of their current plans. However the truth is that Robin made her smile when she thought she never would again, and she likes him. He knows exactly who she is and still enjoys - well, she hopes he does - her company.

Robin's men, who Regina is less fond of (apart from his son Roland who seems to follow her every move and she can't say she minds) spend their nights in the courtyard of the palace. Their tents are in walking distance if something were to happen and believe it or not, having the best band of thieves in all the realms on your side has many advantages. She's walking there now, dressed in her riding gear rather than her haughty, typically-evil-queen attire, a trace of a smile on her face. Robin's tent is the largest one, she knows that because she's seen him and Roland turning in there for the night from her balcony many times.

The fire's burning but no-one's around it, and as she approaches Robin's tent she hears them, congregated inside, talking and laughing at something of their own amusement. She contemplates barging in, telling them she needs to speak to Robin and whisking him off to the stables before he can say no. But she doesn't. She inches closer to the beige fabric door and listens, trying to make out their words over the shouting and jeering coming from inside.

"She's so miserable!" Someone shouts and Regina gets the distinct feeling she knows exactly who they're talking about before she hears anymore.

"You can't say a word without getting your head bitten off." Another of them pipes up and she furrows her brow, moving half a step closer to try and work out exactly who is saying what about her.

"She is fiery," That voice she knows, would recognize anywhere from his accent, and she feels betrayed by him. This man who jokes with her and talks to her with such willingness, who not only hears her stories, but listens to them, to her. She should have known he was just like the rest of them, just as ready to turn his back on her as every other person she's ever met. She's stopped listening to the conversations in the tent now, too wrapped up in her own thoughts to hear anything defined.

After a second her face falls, realizing she's not even angry, she's upset. Her eyes prick at the bases where moisture is quickly collecting and she just stands there, upset that he's so quick to stab her in the back and then angry with herself for being so weak and caring what a stupid thief thinks of her. But he is anything but a stupid thief and that makes it hurt all the more.

She wipes at her eyes, determined not to let this affect her any longer, when the tent door opens and he's stood in front of her. Robin Hood, the honorable man, going white as a sheet before her eyes. He starts to say her name and reach for her arm but she turns away, lifting her arms in front of her to engulf herself in the familiar purple smoke which will take her to the safety of her room.

How could she have been so blind? After all she's been through in life, why did she think this would be any different to any other relationship she's had? There must be some force in the universe working against her, there must be, because one person does not get this much of a shitty life by chance. At some point tears had started to fall from her eyes in hot streams, staining thick tracks down her cheeks. She flops down on her bed, brings her hands up to her face and just lies there, alone with her own self-pity.

"Milady? Are you alright?" There's a knock at the door to accompany his dulcet tones and she wishes his voice didn't send butterflies floating haphazardly in her stomach. She wants to tell him to go and stop pretending he cares when she knows his concern has all been a show - what he's gained from it she doesn't know - but she doesn't trust her voice to be steady (yet another thing to betray me, she thinks) so she says nothing.

The door creaks open and she can hear him making his way over but she can't find the energy to move. Her hands still cover her face as he sits down on the very edge of her bed, a bold move considering her temperament is questionable now to say the least.

"Regina," he says, running his fingertips across the sleeve her blue cotton shirt and she can feel the heat radiating from him. She doesn't move, doesn't speak, not even to tell him to get the hell out of her room, and he realizes she's exhausted. "I think you may have misheard the situation before." His voice is soft and she removes her hands from her face, sits up to look at him with red-rimmed eyes.

"How did I mishear?" She asks, but her words lack the usual bite they have when she's angry with him. "They were talking about me and you joined in. They may have been right, but I thought you had my back, Robin." She's barely whispering as fresh tears roll down the surface of her cheeks.

"Regina, I was defending you!" He sounds shocked at her accusation and she's confused because she heard him join in, didn't she? "I told them you were fiery but that just made you all the more brilliant." He's smiling at her, bringing his hand to cup her cheek and she doesn't resist. "I came out because I couldn't listen to them anymore and that's when I saw you standing there. They don't know the real you." She'd been so wrapped up in the thought that Robin would betray her, she hadn't even heard it when he stood up for her.

"You defended me?" She asks, relieved that her thief wouldn't turn on her as easily as she'd expected - years of having no one to trust in will do that to you.

"Of course," Robin ghosts his thumb over her jaw as he speaks and she reflexively leans into his touch. "You're not as evil as they think you are." Regina looks into his eyes, so bright and so blue, before blinking back a fresh set of tears threatening to spill over. She was right about him all along, Robin is someone who believes in her when she doesn't always believe in herself. "You're not evil at all."

Authors note:
This is one I wrote a while ago for tumblr but I'm on holiday and haven't had time to write so I thought I'd post it here.
Please vote and comment - thank you!