Her curiosity was getting the better of her. Staring at it as it sat there on the kitchen table unopened and untouched. All morning she had contemplated it. Maybe she could just skim it, look at the pictures just to get an idea of the story. She wouldn't read it. Perhaps she could start off by reading her own story. Granted she had lived it, so what would have been the point in that?

She hated to think that the kid was right; she hated to think what awaited her within the pages of that strange book. But, at the same time, she hoped; she hoped that her curiosity would become stronger that her hate or her fear and allow her to open that book at some point.

Caressing her fingers over the rough leather binding, she wondered. She traced the smooth gold lettering slowly, before finally sliding her hand towards the right top corner of the book. But she hesitated, still unsure. Shaking her head as she withdrew her hand, Zelena suddenly heard a noise. It sounded like the front door opening. Quickly, she went to the front foyer where she found a very overwhelmed, sweaty, and frustrated Robin.

"Well," was the first thing he said with a deep sigh. "Look who decided to grace us with her presence."

Zelena quickly raised her brow, insulted by the man's snobbish tone. Folding her arms over her chest, she replied, "What the hell did I ever do to you?" When receiving a rather obvious glare, she looked to the floor and mumbled under her breath, "Besides try to kill your wife and steal away your child. Hmm. Forgot about that." Glancing back up and noticing that he had already swiftly moved past her, she turned and persistently followed him into Regina's home office. "Wait, what is the matter with you?"

Robin paced the floor, trying to process everything he had just been through while Zelena continued to nag in his ear. He looked up at her with shear hatred and replied, "You. You are what is the matter with me. You are my problem." He watched the genuine look of confusion appear on the woman's face, her green eyes clearly showing how she did not understand. "Because of you and your bloody time portal, my family is in danger yet again!" His voice grew louder.

Shaking her head, Zelena refuted, "Now you wait a minute. I am not responsible for whoever came through that portal. My plan failed, as you well know. I was not the one who smashed my pendant, took my magic, and opened the damned thing. So place your blame onto somebody else."

His head was spinning, two different images confusing him as to what was real and what was not. They were both real; it did happen. At least for him, it had. He placed his palms onto the desk, trying to breathe, trying to make sense of it. "It was your fault," he spoke quietly with a deep, raspy voice. "She died because of you."

"What?" Zelena asked, so confused as to what he was saying. Believe it or not, she was beginning to become frightened.

Finally, Robin stared up at the redhead. She was clueless. Of course she was. It technically never happened; he had changed it. Those memories and that image were only in his head. He tried to shake it out, but he just couldn't. Looking back at the confused and frustrated woman, he knew that he couldn't say anymore. He just needed to be alone, that was it; he had to be alone and try to get that image of Regina out of his mind. It would drive him crazy if he didn't.

0-0-0

Zelena had still been somewhat shaken up when Regina returned home from dropping the boys off at school. Regina had found her sitting in the kitchen, staring at Henry's book. Though she wasn't entirely sure what was the matter.

"It's good to finally see you out of that room," Regina commented, setting Sara's carrier on the table. Her words seemed to startle the other woman, forcing her out of her thoughts. Regina continued to use a light and sweet tone as she spoke. "That blouse looks good on you." She chuckled. "I actually think you wear it better than I do."

The redhead glanced up, though her expression remained blank. She only nodded in response.

With some concern, Regina asked, "Is everything alright?"

Finally realizing that she had zoned out quite a bit, Zelena cleared her throat. Again, she put up her walls with her sister. With a snarky tone, she replied, "Just not in the mood to 'chit chat' with you, sis."

"Fair enough," Regina replied with a light smile, understanding perfectly well that it would take a while for Zelena to open up about anything. After a bit of silence, she peeked over at her son's book and asked, "Did Henry give you that?"

The other woman nodded. "The boy thought that if I, uh, read your story, I might want to get to know you."

"Oh," was all Regina said in response.

"Mmm," Zelena hummed. "Smart kid. He tried convincing me by telling me that you had read mine. Almost worked too."

"I did read it," Regina replied as she began to wash the dishes from breakfast.

She couldn't see her sister's reaction with her head turned away. All she heard was Zelena's voice, slightly meeker than the few moments earlier. "Why?"

Shrugging her shoulders, Regina replied, "Because Henry asked me to." With a pause, she continued, "Henry tends to see and know things that other people can't. I trust that whatever he thinks we will get out of reading each other's stories will somehow lead to something good."

Staring over at the leather binding of the book, Zelena raised her brow. "I find it hard to believe that you can have so much faith in the words of a child."

Regina chuckled, "If you ever have children of your own, you'll understand why." Glancing back to check on the rather content infant as she laid in her carrier, Regina asked Zelena, "Did Robin come back at all while you were down here?"

The question seemed to make the other woman twitch. She didn't like the thought of recalling that uncomfortable and odd encounter with him. "Yes," she replied, "but not for long. He didn't seem well." She chose to leave the details of the conversation out.

Drying her hands with a nearby dishrag, Regina shook her head. She couldn't understand what had been going on with him since Sara was born. It was as if he wasn't himself anymore. And it seemed as if every time she tried getting him to talk to her, he grew agitated with her.

It was even clear to Zelena that her sister was unsettled about her husband's recent behavior. Her eyes said everything. And it was unfortunate for the witch because she hated to think that she was actually sympathizing with her sister.

"Did he say anything to you?" Regina asked, hoping that Zelena might have an answer for her.

The other woman smirked and stared at the brunette across the counter. "Do you really believe that he would confide in me of all people?"

Regina shook her head, honestly unsure of that answer. "Lately it seems like he would confide in anyone so long as it wasn't me."

That annoying pang of sympathy reared it's ugly head as Zelena watched a very confused Regina trying to make sense of it all. "My guess is that he is just trying to protect you,"Zelena finally replied. It was really all she could say.

"From what?" Regina asked.

Shrugging her shoulders, Zelena replied simply, "From getting hurt."

0-0-0

When she emerged from the back room, she had spotted him sitting there, his face buried in the palms of his hands. He seemed very distressed by the looks of his posture.

Carefully, Belle approached him. "Hey," she said in a calm, quiet voice, "are you alright?" She crouched down to the floor, placing a hand on the table for balance and the other hand to his shoulder. As he revealed his face to her, she noticed how pale and sweaty he was. The look in his eyes almost frightened her.

"I just," he sighed, his voice very hoarse and tired. "I just needed somewhere quiet to think."

Rubbing his back soothingly, the sweet brunette just nodded her head understandingly. The library was in fact a good place for that; she normally enjoyed the silence. However, staring at him, she guessed that Robin needed to do much more than just think. "Would you like someone to talk to?" she asked him.

Shaking his head, about to bury it in his hands once more, he replied, "I don't think you'd understand."

Raising her brow, Belle smiled at him gently. "I don't need to understand. I can just listen." She could see the fear in his eyes, the confusion. Taking a clean handkerchief from her pocket, she began to dab the little droplets of sweat on his forehead and the sides of his face. "I'm your friend, Robin. You can talk to me if you truly need to." However, he only nodded his head, still unable to say anything. Perhaps he needed a bit of time to calm himself. Belle handed him the cloth and said, "I'll be here if you decide that you want to talk."

Before she could even fully stand up, Belle felt Robin grab her hand as if beckoning her to stay with him. "I do," he choked out. "I do wish to talk."

0-0-0

When she had picked them up from school, Roland was even more excited than he had been that very morning. The moment that the school bell rang, dismissing them from the building, he charged toward his mother with the brightest of smiles on his face. He wrapped his arms tightly around her waist and wasted no time in telling her about his day and about how much he loved school.

Henry had not been as enthusiastic when Regina asked him how his first day went. With a shrug of his shoulders, he commented that it was middle school. There wasn't really much else for him to say.

As Roland continued to skip excitedly down the sidewalk, he began to explain in detail the happenings of recess. He switched from walking forward to walking backward, facing his mother and brother as he spoke. However, as he went to turn forward once more, the boy found himself suddenly come to halt when hitting a rather large force in front of him.

Startled into silence, the boy quickly backed up and grabbed his mother's hand. Standing before them was a man of average height with dark hair, dark eyes, and chin covered with stubble. Roland found the man frighteningly familiar, though he said nothing as he gripped his mother's hand tightly as she reprimanded him slightly.

"You need to be more careful," she said before apologetically looking up at the man. "I'm sorry. He was just excited. First day of school and all." She chuckled.

With a deep laugh, the man replied, "Quite alright." Glancing down at the boy, he smiled. Though, the child only retreated father behind the woman's leg when hearing his voice. He leaned forward, staring at the frightened boy. "Will you forgive me?" The child only nodded frightfully, unable to look the man in the eyes. Returning his gaze to the woman before him, the man smiled once more. "You have a lovely family," he commented.

"Thank you," Regina smiled, trying to get Roland to come out from behind her. She couldn't really understand the child's sudden fear.

He watched the family as they continued on their way, the young boy staring back nervously. Waving teasingly to the child, watching as he quickly turned back, the man chuckled. Staring at the enchanting brunette from behind, he repeated to himself, "A lovely family."


I know this chapter was more of a developmental chapter rather than an action-filled one, but I promise things will heat up very soon. And for all of you wondering, no, Robin will not keep hiding all of this from Regina. He will eventually tell her. The question is, how will she react considering how long he chose to keep it from her?