"Here you go." Robin said, sitting down beside Alice and holding out a cup of hot chocolate. She hesitated; "Have you ever had hot chocolate before?"
Alice laughed, nodding her head. "Yeah, papa used to bring me it all the time in the winter." Her smiled dimmed slightly at the memory.
Damn it, Robin mentally cursed. She was supposed to be distracting Alice from thinking about her father, not giving her specific memories to mourn over.
It wasn't unusual for Alice to show up at Robin's farm unannounced. In fact they often surprised each other with visits whenever they were feeling particularly bored or lonely or just because they found that they missed one another. But those visits normally consisted of Alice practically bubbling on the doorstep, leaping into Robin's arms or just grinning constantly while standing with a little bit of cheekiness in her eyes like she was up to something, even when she wasn't. Today, Alice had been almost sombre when she knocked on the door, and had been quiet and made herself seem almost small throughout their original greeting.
In the end, Robin was able to gentle probe her love into telling her what had her so downright depressed. It turned out that, before Alice came here, she had gone to visit her father. They weren't able to touch for fear of activating their curse, so they kept their visits to a minimum, but every now and then they risked it, just to see one another. However, on this particular visit, Alice felt that she seemed to have shown up at the wrong time. She got there to find her father was babysitting for little baby Lucy. He was holding her in the air, tickling her and making her laugh, grinning at her in a way that made Alice pause just seconds before she had been about to call a greeting to him.
"It's so dumb," Alice mumbled, staring down at the dark liquid in the white cup. "I'm jealous over a toddler who isn't even his."
"It's not dumb," Robin said gently, setting her drink aside and putting her arm around Alice's shoulders.
"It is." Alice insisted. "But seeing him looking at her like that. Hold her like that." Alice throat began to grow heavy and she swallowed a thickness building in it. "I wanted that to be me."
"I know," Robin wrapped her other arm around her, resting their heads together and hugging her close. "I'm sorry. We'll find a way to break the curse, I promise."
Alice sniffed, curling up against Robin with the hot chocolate cradled in between her hands. For a moment they fell into a moment of silence with Robin holding Alice while she slowly nursed her hot chocolate. The house had no other sounds apart from that of the two girls breathing and the occasional slurps of their hot drinks – Zelena had gone out for the day – and it remained quiet for a few more minutes as Alice sulked against her love's warm embrace.
Then, Alice broke the silence. "It's summer. Why'd you make hot chocolate?"
"Well, chocolate always makes me feel better and this was the closest I had to it." Robin said with a small smile. "You can let it go cold if you want."
"Ew," Alice said with a little giggle, taking a sip of the hot drink.
"Feeling better?" Robin asked softly.
"A bit." Alice mumbled. "But not really. I keep thinking about how happy he was…"
"He would have been happier if he'd seen you." Robin insisted.
"I just… What if…" Alice trailed off, ducking her head and tucking it under Robin's chin so she couldn't see her red face.
"What?" Robin pressed, gently stroking some of her hair out of the way and tucking it behind her ear.
"What if he… He moves on…" Alice said, so quietly that Robin had to strain to hear her. "What if papa meets someone and has other children…"
Robin tightened her arms around her. "Then you'll have a step mother and brothers and sisters to spend time with. And they'll all work to break the curse and bring you back into the family." Robin kissed the top of her head. "Alice, I may not know very much about your father, but even I can safely say he will never stop searching for a way to be with you. He loves you."
"I know." Alice croaked, twisting slightly. "But…" She sighed. "I'm so dumb."
"You're not dumb." Robin said, reaching down to lift Alice's face. "You're just sweet. And very imaginative."
She leaned down and placed a soft kiss on Alice's lips, feeling Alice reach over to set her drink aside on the table – nearly dropping it to the floor as she did – before she was wrapping her arms around Robin's chest tightly. Even when they parted, they clung onto each other for a moment longer, again falling into a temporary quiet.
"Can we play some of your music?" Alice asked quietly. "I need a distraction to cheer me up."
"Sure, I'll go get it." Robin smiled, rubbing her back before standing. "You just finish your hot chocolate and I'll be right back."
"Hurry," Alice said playfully, picking up her drink and taking another small sip as she watched her go.
Robin turned away and jogged from the room, running up the stairs and into her bedroom so she could return quickly to Alice's side. She crossed the room to her walk in closet and opened the doors wide. Robin actually had two closets in her bedroom. One had her main clothes and some of her archery supplies and so on stored inside, while the other held a number of memorabilia from her life back in Storybrooke. Most of it had to be enchanted by her mother in order to work, since it all needed a form of electricity or batteries or such, but there were a few other things like books and games from her younger childhood that seemed almost ancient to even her now.
As Robin reached into the closet for her stereo sitting at her feet, she paused when she saw something that was wedged behind it, between an old make up box and a hairdryer box that was full of birthday cards and Christmas letters from friends and family back in Storybrooke. Robin set the stereo aside and reached in, pulling out the box and gentle rolling it in her hands until the top was facing upwards and she could read the dusty title that stretched from one far corner to the other.
"Wow," Robin mumbled. "Haven't seen this in a while."
Suddenly she had an idea. Grinning, Robin left the stereo behind, forgotten on the floor by the open closet door and carried the slim box back down stairs instead. She jumped the last few steps and skipped back into the main room, sliding the box behind her back and smirking when Alice glanced up at her. The other girl was smiling again but unable to hide the sadness still lingering in her expression, particularly her eyes. But then, they had always been the most expressive part of Alice's features.
"Did you get it?" Alice asked.
"Actually, I got something else. I thought it might cheer you up." Robin said, stepping into the room.
Alice sat up, putting her drink down and frowning slightly. "Okay, you have my interest. What is it?"
"It's an old game." Robin said, turning and holding it out to her. "It's called Twister."
"Twister?" Alice frowned, taking the game from Robin and holding it in her lap. "How do you play?"
"It's pretty simple. Come on, it's a nice day outside so we can do it in the garden where there's more space. I'll explain as we set up." Robin said, taking Alice's hand and dragging her back onto her feet.
"Okay…" Alice said slowly, she seemed caught between her own sadness and curiosity. In the end settling for a mixture of the two as she followed Robin with a slight sluggishness to her joints and a suspicious frown on her face.
Outside, Robin led Alice to a stretch of freshly cut grass and set up the game. She opened the box to reveal a long white sheet with red, blue, yellow and green polka dots lined up along its surface and spread the sheet down on the ground between them. Alice watched her in silence as Robin picked out a small square board with the colours squeezed onto each corner as well as two hands and two feet and a single black arrow positioned in the middle. She set the square down on the ground, by the side of the sheet before sitting down and beginning to untie her boots.
"Shoes off," Robin instructed.
"I am so confused." Alice mumbled, but leaned down and did as she was told, removing her boots and setting them to the side.
"You'll get it soon enough!" Robin promised, jumping back up.
When they were both standing in just their socks – Alice had to resist the urge to snicker at the bow and arrow pattern socks Robin had on – Robin led Alice so they were standing opposite each other on either side of the sheet. Then she reached down and flicked the black arrow so that it spun around the square before falling still, pointing to one of the corner colours.
"Left foot yellow," Robin noted, then placed her foot on one of the many yellow circles closest to her. "Okay, now you're turn." She reached down and flicked the arrow. "Put your right hand on blue."
"I think I see where this is going." Alice said slowly, reaching down and placing her hand on the blue circle closest to her, glancing over at the boxes cover as she did, showing a group of cartoon kids twisted comically around each other on top of their own rainbow spotted sheet.
"Then let's play." Robin grinned.
A few moves later, the two girls were in the middle of the sheet, both bent over at awkward angles, Robin stretching a leg between Alice's feet and Alice ducking down close to Robin's outstretched right arm. It wasn't exactly what Alice imagined it would be. It wasn't boring, but definitely not something she would have considered to be fun, although at the very least it did keep her distracted. It was hard to focus on her self-pity when she was struggling to keep balanced; especially the way Robin played which seemed to deliberate move as close to her in order to make it harder for her to reach her chosen colours without twisting around in a way the games box suggested they would.
"How long does the game last for?" Alice asked, sliding her foot over to the yellow circle.
"Until one of us falls over," Robin explained. "So, sorry about that, love."
"Sorry? For what?" Alice frowned.
"That you're going to lose." Robin smirked. "I'm trained to be a perfect hunter like my father. Which means my balance is on par with my archery."
"And?" Alice demanded. "You think I got through life, jumping from realm to realm, by being a klutz?"
"Let's just say. I'm better." Robin bragged.
"You wanna bet?" Alice challenged.
"What do you have in mind," Robin said, pausing before she flicked the arrow, her head ducked slightly so her long blonde hair – which she had forgotten to tie up before hand – hung down in a dramatic curtain, almost touching her hand and the sheet.
"If I win, you come back with me for a day trip to Wonderland." Alice said immediately.
"Oh God no," Robin groaned. She'd been to Wonderland with Alice just once before and swore she'd never go again.
"Yes!" Alice said firmly. "Unless you don't think you can win."
Robin snorted. "Course I can. And when I win, you have to eat an entire meal that I have personally hunted and prepared for you, by myself."
"Uh, darling, I love you, but I want to live long enough to grow old with you. Not die from poisoning." Alice said lightly.
"My cooking skills are getting better!" Robin said quickly. "And I'm going to prove it to you when I win."
"We'll see about that." Alice smirked.
Suddenly the game became a whole lot more fun… And intense!
After that, Robin and Alice began to do their best to twist around each other as much as possible in order to throw each other off balance. Robin purposely put herself in Alice's way for each of her moves while Alice purposely forced herself under Robin just so she could subtly brush her sides and press their thighs together, causing the other girl to grow pink and flustered as she struggled to concentrate. But despite their not quite cheating tactics, neither girl was willing to give up or allow themselves to lose, so the game went on and on for much longer than Robin had originally intended it to.
"My legs are aching," Alice finally moaned.
"That's okay. You can give up if you want." Robin said casually.
Alice turned a far as she could, looking under her arm because it was easier than craning her neck over it, and glaring at her. "Not until you do."
Robin snorted. "Yeah right. This is easy. I could do this all day." If there was one thing Robin was good at, it was lying even as her limbs were screaming in protest. She was desperately hoping Alice was going to give up or collapse first because she knew she wouldn't be far behind.
"So could I," Alice lied. "But I could really do with a breeze right now. I'm sweating so much the mats getting slippery." She grumbled.
There was a rumble overhead and both girls paused, Robin's hand hovering halfway from one colour to the next and the glanced at each other as best as they could.
"Woops?" Alice said quietly with a shy shrug.
"Looks like you got your wish," Robin said as the rain started to fall. "Things are about to get pretty cold out here."
"Guess we better head back inside," Alice nodded.
"Yeah," Robin agreed.
Neither girl moved.
"Really?" Robin demanded.
"You have no right to judge!" Alice snapped, but she couldn't help but grin at the other girls matching stubbornness.
"Fair enough. Come on, let's finish this game quickly before its gets too bad." Robin said, quickly finishing her move.
O*U*A*T
When Zelena returned home, the light drizzle had gradually turned into a harsh downpour. She'd used her magic to protect herself but that didn't stop the ground from getting soggy under her heels and making it very awkward for her to take her usual short cut back home. In the end she gave up and took the long way, because at least that had a stone pathway rather than the natural dirt one that turned to slop in the rain fall. Of course, she could have used her magic to transport herself back home, but after so long of not having any magical abilities, she found the obvious no longer came to her mind as it once did. In fact, she was outside her door before she remembered that she could have saved herself the whole trip.
Sighing and quietly chastising herself for being so stupid, Zelena made a silent promise not to tell her daughter or sister what she had done – or rather, what she had forgotten she could have done. They would never let her hear the end of it. Instead she waved a hand to clean her boots of the mud from her trek, and then let herself into the building, walking over and setting the bags down on the side before she waved her hand to knock the door shut behind her. Only then did she notice that Alice's red cloak was hung up on the side along with the others.
"Girls?" Zelena called, glancing down the hall. "Robin? Alice? You still here?"
There was no answer. It didn't look like they had gone out, though. Robin's bow and arrow were still leaning against the wall and she never left without them nowadays, even for dates with Alice.
"Girls?" Zelena called again. She couldn't hear any music, so there was no reason for them not to hear her calling.
She got her answer a moment later when she wandered down the hallway and saw the backdoor was wide open. She didn't spot them right away, not through the heavy rainfall still acting like a barrier between them. It was only when she walked over to push it shut that she finally caught sight of the two girls.
They were in the middle of the field on top of a plastic white sheet with an empty white soaking box sitting close by to their heads. The girls were twisted around one another on the sheet, Alice on top of Robin with her hand close to Robin's face and Robin's leg twisted between Alice's, both drenched through to their skin, their hair sticking to their faces and no doubt blinding them as much as the down pour and on top of that they were laughing hysterically, so much that Zelena was surprised they were still able to hold their positions with how much they were shaking.
"What on earth are you two doing?!" Zelena demanded once she had recovered from her surprise.
Robin looked up, both her and Alice's hair getting in her eyes which caused her to start laughing even more, almost slipping on a puddle on the sheet she was leaning against. "Playing Twister!" She called, her voice barely audible over the shower.
"Well enough playing! You'll catch your death of cold out there!" Zelena said, shaking her head. She felt like she was talking to a pair of toddlers rather than a couple of twenty year old women.
"We'll be in soon!" Robin said, reaching over and flicking the black arrow for her next move.
"Now!" Zelena snapped.
"We can't!" Alice finally shouted, gasping and leaning heavily on Robin for support.
"Hey! No cheating!" Robin said.
"Oh for heaven's sake, girls." Zelena said, shaking her head. She had no idea what they were doing or why they were doing it out in the rain, but they could bloody well bring it inside.
With another wave of her hand, the girls were surrounded by a green smoke that made them vanish from the outside before appearing in the middle of the living room, cramped but safe from the rain even if they were still on that silly white sheet. Now that they were inside, Zelena could see it was Robin's old Twister game, the one she hadn't played since she was a young teenager but – for whatever reason – had decided to bring it out for her and Alice to play out in the rain.
"What has gotten into you two?" Zelena demanded.
Finally Alice's hands slipped on the soaking plastic and she fell on top of Robin hard. The two girls collapsed and hit the floor in a heap, bursting into loud laughter even as water dropped off of them and spread out along the carpet, soaking into the material. Robin twisted around onto her back, Alice just barely shuffling so she was only half lying on her before they continued laughing loudly and uncontrollably, completely ignoring Zelena who stood over them, baffled and wondering if she should even bother trying to ask them what they were doing any more.
"You are aware that you're adults, right?" Zelena said, but the girls either didn't hear her, or just couldn't answer through their fits of laughter.
In the end, Zelena shook her head, turned and left the girls at it. She had no idea what had gotten into their minds, but whatever it was, it had left them utterly loopy.
Not long after Zelena had left them, the girls finally ran out of breath, unable to laugh any more or do much more than lie in the growing puddle on the plastic sheet. The box and the cardboard spinner had both been brought in with them, but they were also as drenched as everything else, leaving them drooping and soggy to the touch. They would be useless after they had no doubt dried into a lumpy unrecognisable shape of what they once were, but neither of the girls cared. They weren't exactly heartbroken of losing the game, though they'd be lying if they said they didn't enjoy themselves immensely by the end of it.
"You lose." Robin finally gasped, reaching and brushing some of her soaking hair from her face.
"No way," Alice breathed, lying on her side and not even bothering to push her hair from where it half stuck to her face. "It was a tie."
"Uh-uh." Robin said, shaking her head. "You fell on top of me. You knocked me down. You lose. I win."
"Nooooooo," Alice moaned.
"Oh come on, it won't be that bad." Robin laughed, rolling on her side so their noses lightly brushed. "And if you do get sick then that just means I'll get to look after you."
"That isn't as encouraging as you think it is." Alice said, frowning.
"Okay you two." Zelena said, returning to stand in the doorway again. "Enough. You're both ridiculously soaked and you're spreading it all over my floor. Go take a warm bath and get changed into something dry before you get head colds."
"Yes, mum." Robin laughed, climbing to her feet and nearly slipping on the plastic sheet as she reached to help Alice up as well.
When the girls filed passed her and headed for the bedroom to get a change of clothes, Zelena called after them; "And I expect a proper answer when you get out!"
O*U*A*T
"This is so much better," Alice breathed, leaning back in the water.
"Mmm, yeah," Robin moaned, the last of the chills vanishing.
The bath wasn't exactly big enough for two, but the girls managed to make it work. Alice got in first and lay back with Robin stretched out on top of her. Her loves head was tucked against her shoulder by her jaw and Alice's arms wrapped around her chest tightly as they let the warm water soak through and ease their tense muscles and aching limbs. They hadn't realised how much of their bodies truly hurt and how badly they were shaking from the cold until they felt they sunk down into the hot bath water to relax.
"You gonna tell your mum why we were playing twister in the rain?" Alice asked, pressing her lips softly against Robin's temple and mumbling slightly against the skin.
"I'm not even sure why we were out there anymore." Robin laughed turning and nuzzling into her jaw slightly. "I'll just tell her in was a new type of kink all the kids are into these days."
Alice snorted and jogged the water, splashing slightly before shaking her head. "I love you." She said lightly.
Robin looked up at her, grinning. "Love you too." She kissed her jaw. "And you're going to love the meal I'm going to prepare tomorrow night."
"I thought you didn't remember," Alice accused.
"Said I didn't remember why we were out there. Not that I don't remember why we refused to stop." Robin said, smiling slyly.
Alice paled and pressed her lips tightly together for a moment before slowly nodding. "Okay. A bets a bet. Just… Please pick something simple? Something easy? I love when you take care of me but I love not having food poisoning more."
"Oh come on! I am not that bad!"