We Can Love Again

In The Dead of Night

It was the dead of night. Everything was quiet, as it should've been. Three out of the four were asleep; Regina on the other hand, was far from it. Her eyes were set on the ceiling, impatiently counting the seconds in her head minute after minute. In her head, she debated waking up Robin, but feared her dignity would be on the line. But she reminded herself that he would love her no matter what, so she decided to give it a try.

"Robin," she whispered, sitting up and shaking him lightly. When he eventually awoke, he had nothing but confusion written on his face.

"What? Is there something wrong?" He mumbled, rubbing his eyes as they adjusted to the darkness.

Regina shook her head. "No, uh... It's just... I'm starving."

Robin only stared blankly towards her. "Then wait until tomorrow. It's time to sleep now, dear."

"But I really am starving! I can't sleep Robin, not until I get a hamburger... Can you go get one for me?"

Instead of answering verbally, Robin gracefully fetched his phone from his nightstand and showed her the time- 3:25.

"Regina, Granny's isn't open in the middle of the night. We can go get one in the morning."

But that was the thing- she couldn't sleep. Her mind was set on hamburgers; the taste, everything. She didn't want one, she needed one.

"Please?"

This astonished him, because Regina Mills was definitely not one to whine or gripe about things. And here she was, becoming completely dependent to him, practically begging on her knees for something as pathetic as a hamburger.

"The answer is still no," he told her firmly, "why don't you call up Emma and have her materialize one for you?"

Regina found herself glaring at him now. "No! You can't just poof up a hamburger, it has to be one of Granny's."

He was really at a loss of words then. Lying back down, he tried shutting his eyes again to block out her pleading, though it didn't work.

"Robin, if you don't go get me one, I'll never talk to you again."

"Never talk to me again?" He repeated, admiring her seriousness, "that'll be hard, since we sleep in the same bed."

"Then I'll make you sleep on the couch- for the rest of your life."

Robin couldn't believe she was getting so worked up over food- in the middle of the night. "This is ridiculous!"

"Is there a baby growing inside of you right now?" She demanded coldly. Robin swore he caught a glimpse of the old Regina- the evil queen- shining in her eyes. Truthfully, it terrified him.

"You can't use that excuse for everything, you know." He shot back, hoping for some force to his voice.

"I can too!"

Robin was just about to rip his hair out; arguments with Regina tended to always end that way.

"Fine! I'll get you one." He surrendered bitterly, keeping his voice down so their kids wouldn't hear them. "But you owe me... Big time."

Beyond the warm sheets was a world of cold. He took no time in getting thicker clothes on over his pajamas. Since it was the dead of night, Robin was free to drive himself if he wanted- which he did. Regina refused to teach him further, so he enlisted Killian to help him learn how to drive the Mercedes. He figured that if a one handed man could drive, so could a thief.

Of course, it was snowing outside. It was only a few days after Christmas; the weather wouldn't let up for another couple months. Robin was more irritated than anything else. He was angry at himself for caving into such a pathetic argument... Over a hamburger. Sure, he figured she would have cravings some time during the course of her pregnancy, but never did he expect them to happen in the middle of the night. He didn't even know where he was going, or what he plan was. Before he could think of any of that, he concentrated completely on backing out of the driveway without hitting anything- Regina would definitely banish him to the couch for that. The snow was flurrying around in the air; coldness seeped into the car, despite the seat warmers.