WHO ARE WE FOOLING?

CHAPTER ONE

DISCLAIMER: All characters are copyright of Once Upon A Time. I own nothing.

Your family is waiting...Go...
Regina, I...
...I know.

Shutting her eyes tightly, Regina tried her best to shelve the fresh wave of pain that fought to tear her insides apart.

Robin was gone and he wasn't coming back.

That thought alone was enough to leave her breathless and send her head spinning.

How could I be so stupid to think I could ever be happy? Stupid fool.

Tugging irritably at her sleeve as she slid onto a stool at the main counter of Granny's, Regina failed to notice the presence of someone taking a seat beside her. She felt her body go rigid at the realisation she wasn't alone.

"You can save your breath," Regina scowled, keeping her eyes locked on the menu board up above. "I already told Snow I was in no mood or need of the hope brigade today, Emma."

"It's a good thing I'm not the hope brigade or Emma then," David chuckled, motioning to Ruby to bring them two glasses. "Two please."

Off put by the sound of David's voice, Regina's head jerked in his direction. She had expected to see Emma, not David. Regina schooled her features, hoping that he hadn't caught the surprise on her face.

"You're married to the hope brigade," Regina scoffed. "which means that you're practically the pinnacle of hope by default."

He smiled and offered her a glass. "Drink?"

"Snow sent you, didn't she?"

"Actually, no."

"Henry?"

"You're not gonna make me drink these alone, are you?" 

Regina looked at him sceptically. 

"Sometimes a drink is just a drink, Regina," He shrugged, urging her to take the glass. "And right now I think you need this."

Regina took the glass and they sat comfortably in silence for a few moments as they drank.

"What you did today," David spoke watchfully, noting the way Regina shifted uneasily on her stool. "It was the right thing to do, the noble thing to do."

"I knew it was too good to be true!"

"What?"

"You not being hope's-greatest-advocate!" Regina exclaimed before drinking the last of the alcohol in her glass. She gestured to Ruby for a refill. "I thought we were drinking?"

"We are,"

"Well, if that's the case, more drinking and less talking about-" she struggled to form a logical string of words. "...me!"

David nodded, taking a sip from his glass as his eyes settled on her.

"I wish everyone would stop looking at me like that!" Regina shook her head, successfully dodging his eye contact.

"Like what?"

"Like that," she waved her hand in his direction. "Like I'm broken, or wounded, or that I need validation for letting whatever chance at happiness I had go."

"My eyes...they told you that just now?" David smirked, hoping to shift the heaviness that hung in the air.

Regina glared at him, choosing to ignore what he said. "I don't need people to tell me I made the right decision today. I know I did the right thing because I'm...alone...again."