Her Dark Heart

Chapter 6

A/N: Enjoy! Sorry this one is so short, it's more or less a filler with an important conversation between our thief and queen that will come into play later. We'll see a new dynamic thrown into Robin and Regina's relationship soon.

For a rough estimate, this chapter is taking place around 1x12, and the last chapter was during 1x10. 1x11 took place between chapters 5 and 6. From here on out, season one will probably be complete within the next few chapters, as the latter half of the season mainly focuses on Emma solving a murder. We don't see much of Regina until the end, so most of the scandal involving Kathryn's "death" will happen relatively quickly.

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"You're late, Locksley," Emma Swan said as he crept into the precinct, juggling a cardboard tray of to-go coffee mugs in one hand and a box of fresh doughnuts in the other.

He frowned, hoping he'd be able to sneak in and have a moment or two to get settled at his desk before she noticed he was there. Well, he supposed this couldn't be a perfect morning, but waking up with his arms around Regina Mills once again had certainly started the day right.

"Sorry, I overslept and then decided I would make it up to you by grabbing doughnuts... again," he said and scratched the back of his neck once he'd set down what he was carrying. "You said you liked bearclaws last time."

Emma nodded enthusiastically and opened the box, grabbing her favorite doughnut. She also grabbed one of the to-go mugs. "You always bring doughnuts and coffee when you're late?" she asked around a mouthful.

"If it gets me out of trouble," Robin said. He'd done it before the last time Regina had had him over for their dinner date.

She narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. "That's the second time in two weeks," she observed.

Robin shrugged and sat down at his desk, biting into a maple, custard-filled doughnut. Emma was left eying him for a moment before returning to her work.

It had been two weeks since his first time together with Regina and she had invited him over for the weekend while Henry was away on a school field trip. Her son was apparently having problems with her again, something about her demolishing his "castle" by the beach after the storm had damaged it last week, even though she was building him a new one. She had wanted someone to talk to, but that eventually had changed into christening nearly every room in her mayoral mansion in as many positions as they could think of. During that time, though, he learned that her son thought she was destroying his special spot he shared with Emma and that she had gotten a restraining order against Miss Swan for trying to prove that Regina had embezzled town money to build herself a lavish home in the woods.

Of course, that latter part was in The Daily Mirror last Wednesday thanks to Sidney Glass who was apparently more upset with his loss in the election than Regina had been. Though he had been fired from his post with the newspaper, he'd still found someone to publish his groundbreaking story. Robin had been furious that Emma and Sidney would go against Regina, especially when they discussed it openly in his presence at the precinct. He'd told Regina that day when he had gone on patrol and found himself between her legs instead. She had promised to take care of them and she had. At the city council meeting, Emma and Sidney had tried to pin Regina to embezzlement only for her to share that she had opened up a secret project with the help of Mr. Gold to build a lovely playground for the children of Storybrooke.

The restraining order had followed. So had Emma's quest for revenge.

That afternoon, as Robin was returning from his lunch break to Granny's, he found Emma and Sidney quietly conversing by her desk. He narrowed his eyes and sat down, unable to determine what they were saying. After their pitiful attempt at a frame job, Emma had consulted the disgraced journalist yet again to win her son back. When the two of them saw that Robin had returned, they quickly wrapped up their conversation and Sidney took his leave, throwing Robin a pointed look.