Run Down

The Gathering

She looked at two possible outfits: a tight red dress that fell just above her knee or a black cocktail dress that flowed out at the end with a golden zip down the back. She finally decided on the black; timeless and elegant with not much for mother to criticise.

She then climbed into a shower to make sure she felt clean and prepared, blow dried her hair and did her makeup. She went for a subtle look but with slightly more dramatic eyes, smudged and smokey at the edges. She painted her lips a deep red colour and looked in the mirror, smoothing her palms over the chiffon fabric of her dress. She hoped this would impress Robin if nothing else.

---

Robin knocked on her door seven minutes before she'd asked him to be there, but she was grateful because that meant they could be early and mother would appreciate such things. She opened the door, and Robin was stood with a single red rose held in his hand. His suit was navy blue, tailored to his form perfectly, clinging and falling in all the right places. The lapels had a black accent that matched his tie and his crisp white shirt underneath brought out the bright blue of his eyes.

"You look stunning." He said, passing over the flower into her grip and their fingers brushed over the stem. Robin was smiling at her, one side of his mouth tilted up and dimpling his cheek.

"You don't brush up too badly yourself." She replied, smirking as she twirled the rose in her fingers. Regina walked back into the living room and Robin followed, she dropped the rose into a vase on her coffee table and grabbed her purse from the sofa. When she turned round, Robin was raking his eyes over her body, from her hair and her eyes, over her lips, down across her waist and her hips to her black patent heels and back up to her face. Regina felt a blush creeping up her cheeks under his burning gaze but she cleared her throat, tried to compose herself to keep her voice steady as she said. "We'd better get going, I'll drive."

Robin ducked his head sheepishly and Regina chuckled, running her hand down his bicep and across his forearm until their fingers met. He linked them together and she huffed out a laugh.

---

On the journey there, Regina told Robin her mother was an acquired taste, and also that not many people had seemed to acquire it. They pulled up on the street outside her childhood home and Regina inhaled deeply, bracing her hands against the steering wheel. Robin reached over, giving her fingers a squeeze and asking, "alright?"

She nodded and they stepped out of the car, Regina linking her arm with Robin's for some support - mentally and physically - as they made their way to the door.

Regina rang the bell and looked down at her dress, then over at Robin who was looking straight ahead. The door swung open and Cora greeted them, clad in a floor length grey dress and a shawl draped over her shoulders, a polite "Regina, dear," leaving her lips as she motioned for them to step inside.

"Would you like to introduce your friend?" She prompted and Regina fumbled on the spot, licking her suddenly dry lips before smiling nervously.

"Mother, this is Robin." She motioned a line with her hand between them and then looked at Robin, "Robin, this is my mother, Cora." 

"Pleasure to meet you," Robin held out his hand, a charming smile on his face and she shook it, eyeing him up subtly but Regina noticed. It wouldn't take long for something to go wrong, Regina could feel it in the tense air around them, very much like the calm before a storm. They went off, her and Robin, talking to various people who Regina vaguely remembered from previous events like this. She enjoyed none of them. Finally, Regina found her father, slumped in his armchair in the study with a broadsheet newspaper covering the top half of his body.

"Daddy," Regina spoke and he pulled the newspaper down so he could see, his smile loving as his eyes fell upon his daughter. "I'd like you to meet Robin."

Regina's father stood from his chair and held his hand out to shake Robin's. He was a short man, with tufts of hair on either side of his head and a round waist. "Robin. Like the archer." He said and Robin chuckled, telling him it's not the first time he'd been told that. "You've got the accent for it as well!" Regina smiled, why couldn't things be this easy with mother? As if her thoughts summoned her, Cora popped her head around the door.

"Why are you all hiding away up here? Henry, you should know better." She scalded and Robin glanced sideways at Regina who was biting her lip. Cora scanned her eyes over Regina's dress and tilted her head. "That dress does nothing for you dear," she said and Regina's lip quivered, every so slightly, just enough that Robin saw. Her eyes glossed over and she left the room, leaving Robin behind.

"Why would you say that?" Robin turned his gaze to Cora, his brow furrowing, and the question obviously took Cora by surprise because she could only stand, her mouth opening and closing like a goldfish in a bowl. "Regina looked beautiful tonight." He added, almost to himself, before heading out of the door after her.

---

She felt like a fool. She expected these comments from mother but in front of Robin it hurt more, like a punch to the gut, and she had to leave, had to get out of that room before she cried in front of all of them. She ran down the hall, tears finally leaking over her cheeks in hot streams and she tried to hold her breath so a sob wouldn't escape. Robin must think she was pathetic, crying over something so petty. She stopped behind the bookcase at the far wall and fell against it, her knees buckling under her as she sat on the floor.

"Hey," it was Robin, standing over her for a minute before he knelt down in front of her then leant back against the wall. She wiped furiously at her tear stained cheeks and turned her head away from him. "Are you okay?"

She could lie, but was there any point when she so clearly wasn't. She shook her head, a broken "no," leaving her lips as yet more tears fell down from her eyes. He leant over and wiped away the rolling salty water with his thumb, coasting across the apple of her cheek and cupping the side of her face. He moved closer, shuffling on his knees, then pressed his lips over hers, languidly moving his mouth with hers and caressing her cheek with his fingers. She kissed him back, the searing touch of his skin like a weight lifted from her chest.

"Let's get out of here," he said and pulled her up, gripping her hand in his and wiping away the remaining tears on her face. Regina nodded and they snook out, avoiding the wrath of Cora and her barbed words.