WitW: The flashbacks in OUAT 3x19 bothered me quite a bit until I rewatched it and focused on Robin's smug expressions. Naturally my realisation meant I had to fix it for everyone else who was like me.

He'd heard many stories about the great and terrible "Evil Queen". After meeting her he concluded many of them…were not so far off the mark.

She was audacious, and rude – definitely rude. A woman accustomed to working to her own agenda, with no patience for fools who would slow her quest to her ultimate goal and unconcerned about threats to her own life. He could…respect that.

But she was also a woman broken. Grieving and bowed by loss so great she'd choose such a…

Obviously he hadn't endeared himself to her during their time in the castle; he claimed full responsibility for the hot-headed drawing of his bow prematurely and for the resignation that flickered briefly in her eyes after the outrage. Care for her life and admittance of his debt to her – and of his intention to pay it – had surprised her before, just as her insistence of a lack of personal vendetta with the Witch had surprised the Prince. Clearly she was used to low expectations of others. If anything his actions had only strengthened her resolve; none of his pleas afterwards breached the wall of hurt and loneliness surrounding her.

"No one anyone will miss."

He'd never thought he'd be thankful for the Wicked Witch.

The absolute glee in the Queen's eyes was a bit worrying though.

What he'd told the Prince was that the castle was the safest place for his boy and that was true, but it also afforded him the opportunity to study the Queen. Her determination was something worthy of the legends. And the way she stalwartly refused to rely on him, denounce him even, while keeping a wary eye on him for her secrets was…endearing. And annoying. Luckily he was never one to lie back under such abuse and he matched her wit for wit. The rush he felt whenever she was forced to concede always left him quite smug.

The distance she forced between them after their rather revealing talks and the irritation she threw his way when he refused to disappear might have been matched but it couldn't quite make up for the challenge those walls posed. Robin was an expert at high-risk clandestine adventure and no one had given him such tempting obstacles before, even now that he was a father he was still playing with fire.

Just less hazardous or more was the question.

Besides, the energy given to avoiding him and the petulance she showed when he was victorious in his overtures proved he was affecting her. She; who gave no quarter to anyone and rode in on a wave of empowerment. Insults and interactions with her former enemies barely stirred her wake yet an offer to help from him had more effort put in to scorn it than all other interactions combined.

So he had to match her.