"Nik?" Zelena tentatively asked, inching forward cautiously.

After the longest drawn out pause in the history of the universe, everything exploded into a fit of manic shouts, grasping hands that clasped tightly around a pale column of skin, followed by more hysterical shouts to stop.

Regina didn't know how it happened.

One minute she stood marveling at the power of their magic and the next the man with the needles still protruding from his eyes was attacking her sister… again.

It had been pure instinct to pick up the heavy cast iron pan from its place on top of the stove.

And she certainly hadn't meant to hit him so many times. It was an accident. She was terrified and only had thoughts of getting the deranged man off of her sister.

But regardless of fear and best intentions, there she stood in the cold pelting rain with the twice dead body of Nik Thanos at her feet. His lifeless corpse nestled in the muddy hole she and her sister hastily dug in the back garden.

What do we do now, her mind reeled, straining to find a way out of this mess that continued to grow around them.

"I… I'm- I'm sorry Regina. I didn't… I'm sorry about all of this. So sorry." Zelena panted, her face streaked with mud, make up, and tears that could be excused as rain. "I didn't think it would turn out like this. It wasn't suppose to turn out like this!"

"It's not your fault. You didn't know that would happen. Let's… Let's just get inside." She said and wrapped an arm around her big sister's waist, guiding her toward the house numbly. "I'll make us some tea. Come on."


The clean up process had been a silent affair as the two worked to rid the home of any sign of their transgressions. Three cups of tea and a couple of tylenol pms later and both sisters had finally settled down to sleep away the fear and guilt that gripped at them.

Regina stirred first. Stretching her legs out only to bump into another set of legs, she froze, for a moment forgetting the events that lead to Zelena curling in bed with her the night before.

Her eye cracked open slowly, the sight of fiery red hair filled her heart with a sense of hope only to have it washed away as flashes of Nik, the ritual, and the shoddy lawn job that followed came rushing back to the forefront of her mind.

Shit. What are we going to do? Her mind panicked while it unhelpfully pulled up images of herself in a bright orange jumpsuit and chains at her wrists and ankles.

They'd killed a man. Twice.

They were murderers.

Or rather she was a murderer. Zelena hadn't actually been the one to poison him nor slam the heavy skillet against the back of his cranium. That was all her. God. She'd killed someone.

Any more panicked musings on the issue were drowned out by the sound of the front door slamming followed by loud shouts of 'Moooooom! We're hooooome!'

For the first time in her life she didn't want to be a mom, not now, not after what she'd done. She didn't want this to be any part of her reality.

How had her life come to this? A widow by thirty, a two time murderer of the same man, and now she was being thrown back into the deep end of being a full time single parent while juggling the biggest secret of her existence. It sounded like a daytime soap opera. A really terrible daytime soap opera.

"Mommy! I bringed you a flower crown!"

Regina heard her daughter call from the stairway as she slipped out of bed, heading to the door to try and hold back her hoard of elephants from thundering into the bedroom.

"Robyn! What if she's sleeping?! You're gonna wake her up! Stop shouting!" Henry's sharp voice sounded behind his sister's, his foot falls landing just as loudly as the little girl's on the creaky floor boards.

Stepping into the doorway, Regina smiled at the happy faces she was greeted with. The sight of them looking so cheerful gave her heart a tug of gratitude towards her Aunt. They'd had fun. They'd needed that. They needed to have a moment to just be kids who actually fit in for a change.

"MOMMY!" Robyn screeched, throwing herself into her Mother's waiting arms with a delighted giggle. "I missed-ed you!"

"Hello my love," Regina breathed and squatted down to be more level with her daughter, her hands instantly moving to brush her strawberry curls from her cherubic face. "Did you have a wonderful time? Did you Henry?" Her warm eyes moved up to catch her son's, reaching out to pull him into the hug too.

"I danced nekkid by a fire Mommy! It wasn't even cold!" The pint sized bundle of excitement enthused, placing a flower crown that had seen better days atop her Mother's head now that she could reach.

Henry rolled his eyes but a hint of a grin tugged at his lips as he slipped into the hug. His nose nuzzled into the soft dark locks along his Mother's neck, breathing her in deeply before he pulled back to grin at her, his dark eyes sparkling.

"I didn't dance naked but it was a lot of fun Mom! I wish you came too. There was singing and everyone had a really big dinner together and we gotta sleep in tents! Auntie said that we can go again in winter but that we won't sleep outside for that one. It's up in cabins in the woods and there'll be snow! Will you come to that one with us Mom?!"

Schooling her features into a kind smile, Regina fought the knee jerk reaction to get upset that at least one of her offspring went frolicking through a field in the buff in the middle of upstate Maine with a group of strangers.

They had fun, she reminded herself, that's all that matters. They enjoyed it. Let it go.

"Mmm, we'll have to see. Winter is a long ways away Henry." She softly rasped, pressing a kiss to his temple before turning her warm gaze back to Robyn. "I have a surprise for you both but you must try and be quiet. She's very tired."

Slowly rising to her feet she carefully guided the two curious children into her bedroom, nodding towards the rumpled bed that still held the sleeping form of her sister, she whispered, "that's your Aunt Zelena. She'd going to be staying with us for a while. I want you to be gentle with her. She has an ouch around her eye that needs to heal."

Two dramatic gasps broke the silence of the room and effectively startle the sleeping redhead from her slumber.

"Regi- wha-"

"AUNTIE ZELENA!"

"AUNT ZEE!"

A chorus of shouts erupt from the two person herd of elephants that sprung into motion, throwing themselves at the groggy woman in bed with more enthusiasm than a shoe lover at a DSW Labor Day sale.

It didn't take long for Zelena to realize what was happening and soon the room was filled with laughter and excited conversation between herself and the niece and nephew she'd never met before while Regina leaned against the door frame and watched the moment unfold with a lightness in her heart.

"Well, well. That's not a sight I thought I would ever see in my life time," Mal drawled from behind her niece, slipping an arm around her waist to give her a small squeeze of greeting. "Is everything handled?"

Guilt and fear surge up in Regina for a fleeting second before she forced herself to come back to the moment at hand. Nik was gone. No one would know. She was with her family. They were happy. That was all that mattered.

"We had some problems along the way but we took care of them."

"Good, good," The older woman said and removed herself from the small show of affection, holding out a hand to the brunette. "Care to help me in the kitchen? I feel this calls for cupcakes."

The sheer innocence of the statement had Regina laughing heartily. "I'd love to Auntie. Can we make spice cakes? I feel like cinnamon today."

"Of course darling," Mal grinned, pleased to see her niece looking so at ease. "I think a special day requires special cupcakes and spice cakes fit that bill perfectly my girl."


The following days passed uneventfully apart for a joy ride up to Boston to retrieve the car that still sat in the airport parking lot.

It took some time for the chaos of Zelena coming to stay with them to die down but once the every day routine of school and work got underway everyone settled back into their usual roles with the addition of a redhead tailing close behind.

Well, everyone except for Regina.

By the time Friday rolled around Zelena was absolutely sure that her sister's steadily growing moodiness was because of her.

"Hey, Ruby…" She started hesitantly and took a sip of her coffee while covertly keeping an eye on her scowling little sister behind the counter.

The leggy brunette paused in wiping down the the table she was bussing on that quiet Friday afternoon to look up, a finely plucked eyebrow curiously raised. "Yeah?"

Zelena's head nodded in Regina's direction discreetly- nothing that would give her away should the tense younger woman look up. "Did I do something to piss her off? She hasn't said a word since telling me to get the hell out of her kitchen when I got here."

Ruby snorted under her breath. She cast a quick glance at her friend turned boss then back to Zelena, shaking her head. "Nah, it's the last Friday of the month. For once this has nothing to do with you Zee."

"Am I suppose to know what that means?"

Rolling her eyes, Ruby snickered and took the seat directly across from her second favorite ginger (Robyn being her first).

"On the last Friday of the month they have a PTA meeting at the elementary school and every end of the month your sister gets crabbier and crabbier until it's over."

Zelena's eyebrow shot up questioningly, a silent 'duh' rippling through the undercurrent of her tone. "If she hates it so much why does she go?"

"It's not that she hates being in the PTA," Ruby said shaking her head again. "It's more the other Moms who make it a nightmare for her. None of them trust her because of the whole witch thing. It was okay-ish when Daniel was, well, ya know- here, but now? You know how small minded this town is. They reject anything that's different. And no offense but your family is pretty damn different, at least in the whole being bad ass witches area."

Anger coiled in the pit of Zelena's stomach at the thought of a group of sweater clad Moms treating her hard working sister like trash just because of something as stupid as a little bit of magic. Magic that the younger Mills woman refused to use. Who the hell did they think they were?! They weren't children anymore, they were all adults here!

"Ruby, I'm going to be gone for the rest of the day, could you please lock up when you're done with your shift?" The brunette they'd been talking about asked as she pulled her purse over her shoulder.

Ruby's smile came easily, like the two women hadn't been talking about her at all. "Sure thing Regina. Have a good night. Oh! And tell Henry that Forest wants to have a sleep over soon. A boys camp out in the backyard with Graham once it's a little warmer."

A ghost of a smile tugged at one side of Regina's lips. "I'll let him know. Thank you Ruby."

Regina was halfway out the door when Zelena called out to her.

"Hey! Wait for me!"

Rolling her eyes, she didn't pause to wait for her sister to join her on the sidewalk though she did slow her pace so that the older woman could catch up with her easily enough.

"What are you doing Zelena?" She asked despondently, pulling her arms across chest defensively in preparation for the battle that faced her.

God she hated these meetings. It was like high school all over again. Only now it wasn't someone leaving the bio lab frogs in her locker, it was being excluded from things like the fall carnival and upcoming field trips.

"Spending time with my sister?" The older woman grinned with a skip to her step.

All Regina could do was shoot the redhead a skeptical look as they crossed the street towards the only elementary school in the small town.

"What?! Honestly! I just want to spend some time with you Regina. What better time then at a function we can snicker and poke fun at all the frumpy old moms in matching cardies?"

Rolling her eyes, the brunette couldn't help but snort at the image of the last PTA meeting where a few of the moms did indeed have similar looking sweater sets.

"Fine but promise me you'll stay out of the business end. You may find this to be nothing but a big joke but these women have children who go to school with mine. I need them to continue to tolerate us. Please."

Zelena heaved a long suffering sigh, her heel covered feet clacking against the stone steps that led up to the school's main entrance. "Fiiiiine, if you insist. You act as though I'm here to make your life a living hell ya know, I'm honestly not. I know how to behave myself thank you."

"Do you?" Regina challenged with an arched brow and a smirk.

It was no secret that Zelena was the brazen one in their family. A title the woman held with great pride most days.

But before the two could get into Zelena's inability to not cause mass destruction wherever she went further they reached the small classroom with the brightly colored rugs depicting streets, states, and one in the front of the room clearly intended for circle time.

The commotion of the door opening paired with Zelena's scoff drew every set of eyes to them like moths to a flame. Regina's cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

"Oh, Regina. I didn't know you'd be coming so we got an early start to the meeting," the pixie haired Mary Margaret Blanchard-Nolan remarked from her position at the head of the small assembly of women who looked on scornfully from their seats at the tiny round tables they sat at. "You've missed the handing out of the new PTA directory and sign ups for the spring bake sale. I'm afraid all of those positions have been assigned and we won't be needing you for that."

Mary Margaret didn't look sorry at all though, a fact that neither Mills missed.

"We were just about to begin discussing movie night."

With a final withering glare at her sister, Regina slunk to the back of the classroom and took a seat after taking the hand out of the new directory from a less than enthused Marian Locksley.

A loud snap at the front of the room drew her dark eyes up and she watched Mary Margaret bring her thumb to her mouth, pain etched deep on her features. It didn't take a lot of thought to understand that the woman's binder rings had snapped closed on her finger.

"Oops," Zelena whispered under her breath with a smirk and took a seat beside her little sis. "It slipped."

Regina couldn't hold back her snort if she tried. Covering her quickly forming smirk with her hand, she dutifully ignored the glances cast their way and got down to taking notes of her own about the upcoming events around the school.

Okay, maybe having Zelena come along wasn't such a bad idea after all, she mused.


After the meeting was finished Regina sent Zelena home while she waited for the kids to get out of school.

She had an hour until Henry and Robyn were done for the day and she could use the time alone. A quick trip to the grocery store and some time to just mull over the past few days was what she desperately needed.

Had it really only been a week since she went rushing to her sisters aid? Since they had...

No.

She couldn't even think about it.

She couldn't think about the car that was still parked at their home with the Florida license plates. She couldn't think about the patch of ground near the flower garden that looked a little off compared to the rest of the lawn despite their best efforts.

She couldn't think about any of it.

She was so lost in thought about not thinking about things that the sound of the back door of the car opening made her jump.

"Hi Mommy!" Robyn's perky voice filled the back of the car with its sing songy inflection that came with her age.

A genuine smile pulled at her lips and warmed her dark eyes as she turned in her seat to look back at the little girl who was already buckling herself into her booster seat. "And hello to you too baby! How was your day?"

"Booooooring! I think I'm done goin' ta school Mommy. Auntie Mal's right, my teacher doesn't know nothin!"

The brunette hadn't expected that kind of answer, the generic 'it was okay' more along the lines of what she figured she'd be getting, and because of that frankness from her not so tiny tot a hard burst of laughter slipped from lips before she could stop herself. She quickly covered her mouth with her hand to keep back any more chuckles that wanted to escape. It wasn't like she was particularly wrong in that assessment. Her teacher, Ms. Astrid, was fairly bland she had to admit.

"What's so funny?" Henry asked as he too climbed into the car, kicking his backpack down below his feet.

"Oh nothing sweetheart. Just your sister being her usual uncouth self. How was your day? Hopefully it was better than Robyn's," she chuckled with a glance in the rear view to wink at her little curly haired spitfire.

Henry shrugged his shoulders and looked out the window at the scenery passing by on their way home. "It was fine. I think I passed my spelling test?"

"That's wonderful Henry! I think that calls for a celebration tonight don't you? I picked up things to make pizzas for dinner. What should we have for dessert?"

"APPLE TURNOVERS!" Both children shouted in unison before dissolving into excited chatter about who got to help with what and most importantly who got to lick the bowl of apple cinnamon-y goodness when they were done.

Listening to her children's playful bickering, Regina pulled onto the single lane road that lead to their home with a soft smile that faded the second she noticed the unfamiliar car parked beside Nik's and the blonde woman who was peering at the front bumper.

She slowed the car to a stop a few feet back from the parked cars and cautiously got out, her eyes wary.

"Moooom! Robyn hit me because she lost at paper rock scissors for bowl licking rights!"

"I did not! He's lying! My arms can't reach your side of the car when I'm buckled Hen-rrryyyyy!"

The blonde woman watched with an amused smirk curling up her lips as the two children exited the vehicle and converged on their poor mother who bounced between looking at her and the two angry midgets at her legs.

"Enough you two. Robyn- don't hit your brother. Henry- could you please get the bag of groceries from the back and take it inside? Thank you darling."

"Yeah, fine. Whatever," the boy mutter and did what he was told but not before sticking his tongue out at his little sister who smirked back at him from under their mother's arm and kicked a bit of dirt at his shoes.

Regina gently pushed Robyn towards the house and followed the girl up with a hesitant smile. "May I help you?"

"Hello ma'am," the blonde said with a nod of her head, directing a smile at Robyn as she fished her wallet out of her painted on jeans and flashed her special investigator badge. "I'm special detective Emma Swan from the state prosecutors office in Tallahassee."

It was a miracle that Regina was able to keep her face from reflecting the full extent of the shock she felt at those simple words.

TALLAHASSEE?! Her mind screamed while her lips curled into a polite smile that belied the panic that was over taking her from within.

"Henry? Robyn. Why don't you two go inside and put away the cheese for me. And while you're at it pick out a few of the best apples from the basket for the turnovers," Regina asked, extending her arm to the porch where the four of them paused to eye one another and silently prayed her nerves didn't show through.

Robyn's wide hazel eyes took in every inch of the detective like she was a shining beacon of new possibilities. She'd never met a cop before that wasn't someone she called Uncle for her whole life and when Emma caught her staring at the pocket she'd stuffed her wallet in she slyly pulled it back out and flashed the shiny badge at her just to make the child giggle.

"Com'on Robyn, Mom's kicking us out of the room again," Henry sighed, nudging his sister towards the screen door, grateful when she not only opened it but held it for him as well. "Five second head start to the kitchen? One- two- three-" he continued with a grin over his shoulder at his Mother before darting after his baby sister.

Once the children were out of earshot, Emma nodded after them. "They're cute."

"Yes, uh- thank you… Detective Swan," Regina smiled and folded her arms across her chest. "Now, what can I, uh, do… For you? You're quite a ways away from Tallahassee… Florida."

Well if she doesn't think you're guilty of murder by now she at the very least finds you to be the most moronic person to ever walk this Earth- Congratulations Regina, she scolded herself for her jittery nerves that left her a bumbling mess under Emma's curious gaze.

"Emma, please. And really I was hoping I could maybe talk with your sister, Zelena Mills? I tried knocking but no one answered the door. Is she home? I think she may have some helpful information on a case I'm working on back in Florida."

"Um, uh- well. Yes she, she should be home. I sent her home so this is where… She should... Be." Clearing her throat, Regina squirmed in her place feeling more mortified than she could ever remember and that included sophomore year when the girls took her clothes from the locker room while she showered after pe.

What is wrong with you?! Speak coherently you idiot! Just calm down, she doesn't know anything, her mind yelled at her mouth, willing it to get its act together and fast before she spilled that the case she's probably working on was buried out by the lavender bush around the corner.

"Cou-Would…" She huffed out a breath before trying again, turning her head to offer Emma a forced smile when she was ready. "Why don't you come in and wait and I'll go and get her for me, er- you," Regina said and pulled the screen door open with a quick yank without looking away from the mesmerizing green eyes she held.

The sharp thud of the edge of the screen door coming into contact with the side of her temple could not have been missed by the blonde who winced in unison with the thoroughly embarrassed brunette who now sported an angry pink mark against her lightly tanned temple.

"You okay?" Emma asked, dipping her chin down to try and better suppress her grin the more flustered the brunette became. "That sounded like it hurt."

Her dignity in tatters, Regina held open the door with her head held high nonetheless, she motioned for the detective to walk in before her. "If I said yes would you believe me?"

"No, not in the slightest," Emma grinned, barely holding back a chuckle. "Is this your first time speaking with an officer?"

"Am I that transparent?"

"Yeah, but it's kind of endearing," she drawled and stuck her hands in the pockets of her red leather jacket, her eyes roaming the old victorian home. "I promise not to put that in my report," she added with a wink.

Regina's eyes went wide at the thought of any of what she's said or done being put into a report. The spot where the screen door hit throbbed painfully.

Taking pity on the woman, Emma smiled gently, doing her best to put on the charm she was taught at the academy. "I'm teasing. There isn't a report yet. I'm just here to ask your sister a few things right now."

"Oh. Well let me just go and get…" Regina trailed off with a nod to the stairs. Once she was out of sight she took the steps two at a time.

They were in deep, deep shit.