Of Kings and Queens

Part II/10/Introduction/

"You put your arms around me and I'm home."

•June, 19th•

"Bill!" Robin shouted. She ran as fast as she could in her state of exhaustion. He caught her easily and hugged her close to him, enveloping her in him. They mounded into one.

Perry stood by them awkwardly, after finally catching up.

Bill turned around without asking any questions; ever the patient man, and said, "Let's go home."

•••

Robin let out a gasp as she exited a massive foyer, her eyes adjusting to look around a giant drawing room that rivalled what she imagined Malfor Manor looked like, from Harry Potter; a series she had just finished reading.

She'd heard and said the word 'Manor' but couldn't wrap her head around it until now. It made sense of course, Bill's ancestors were royalty in America, or so she'd heard- Until his father married an Italian girl and moved to Ireland as a compromise.

Unlike the large coldness that was the pristine school that she and her brother attended, the 'Braxton Manor' looked like an old German castle.

The large array of windows surrounding the circular drawing room were draped in deep crimson and gold crushed velvet curtains. The furniture was made of polished dark oak, and the soft looking armchairs and sofas were covered in pillows in a variety of soothing colors.

"Wow," she couldn't help but whisper as her eyes scanned the room with a smile. How did this already feel like... like... home?

"Is it to your liking then?" A sweet feminine voice spoke up and both Perry's and Robin's eyes turned to the three other people in the room, all standing and watching her with amused expressions on their faces.

Bill stood beside an middle-aged couple, who were vaguely familiar in their facial features. Both appeared to be in their early fifties, though there was a youthful twinkle in the startling green eyes of the man. He had familiar salt and pepper hair that seemed to almost stand on end, despite it fading along his hairline.

The woman who'd spoke smiled kindly, which was shocking at first as she bore a strange resemblance to Bill. The woman in front of her had aristocratic features and was well put together, but she had a softness about her that reminded Robin of their mother, something that put her immediately at ease. It helped that the woman had dark auburn hair, though she could see streaks of grey in it, the same color as her eyes.

"It's beautiful," Hermione smiled sweetly. "Thank you, for... for allowing us into your home, even if temporarily."

"No problem," She smiled brightly. "I've been in need of another woman around the house," she beamed brightly. "I'm desperate to escape the foolishness of youthful boys and old men who refuse to grow up," she chuckled and her husband seemed to wink at her.

"She exaggerates," Her husband laughed. "She loves it. Keeps her on her toes."

"Christina Braxton," The woman held a hand out to the Perry. He shook it. "Perry Dar Calzone," He said amiably. At first she seemed mildly shocked but accepted the hand shake nonetheless. Hints of foreign heritage were apparent to Perry in her facial features.

"Martin," The man grinned down at her. He stood a few centimetres shorter than his wife but seemed to make up for it in personality.

"Robin," She introduced herself.

•••

That night Robin and Bill sat on his bed; her leaning her back a against the headboard, him sitting cross legged on the end. After a couple of minutes of silence he spoke, "Robin... what happened?"

He hugged his pillow closer to her body.

And so she told him the long story of her falling for a girl in their old town, her father being extremely homophobic, him finding out, and after that it was all a bit blurry. All she remembered was her falling and hitting her head, and then Perry rescuing her.

His face had slowly gotten darker until the end of the story when he said, "You're not going back to live with that monster." He looked at her, and he didn't just glance at her, like usual. He looked at her and memorised every inch of her face.

She started to cry. Bill's face softened, and he pulled her into a hug. Robin started to mumble incoherently into his shoulder as she sobbed grossly. It broke his heart as he held her, and her heart broke because the only man who was supposed to love her unconditionally was the reason half her face was an ugly shade of purple.