Regina came down the stairs and paused outside the kitchen as she heard voices.
"So there I was trying to drag myself in through the window and your mom is trying to pull me in while making no noise. The next thing I know she gives one big tug and I'm practically flying through it at this point and land right on top of her. I was so dazed that it took me a moment to realize that she was attempting to push me off of her," she heard the woman's voice say. "When I finally do get off of her she looks at me and whispers, 'Zelena, I swear if you peed on me.' And I squint in the darkness and see her nightgown is wet and that is when I remembered I had snuck one of the bottles of ale out with me. She thought it was urine though and I let her believe it for days."
She heard Henry laugh and decided it was time to enter the room.
"Telling stories again?" Regina said raising an eyebrow at her sister.
"Yes," Zelena said, as she turned and poured a cup of coffee for Regina and handed it to her. "It's good for the boy to hear about what his mother was like growing up."
"Except that's not how I grew up," Regina responded. "And I would appreciate it if you waited until I was up to come knocking on my door as opposed to talking Henry into letting you in here."
"Sorry," Zelena said. "It won't happen again."
"Sorry," Henry said to her.
"It's ok," Regina said rubbing the top of Henry's head. "We're all still learning how to be a family."
To say the last several months of her life were even more unusual than usual would be an understatement. It started with her and the rest of the town being sent back to the Enchanted Forest – every one except for Henry and Emma. Then they return to Storybrooke but have no memories of the past year. Emma and Henry show back up in town with their memories in tact and with this woman Zelena, who had apparently convinced Emma to not only drink a potion to restore her memories but also convinced her to let Henry drink one.
While she was overjoyed at seeing her son, she was unprepared for Zelena who explained that she was really the Wicked Witch of the West (or East, Regina could never quite remember) and that she knew what had happened during their missing year back home. The details of which no one could remember yet, although Zelena had been brutally upfront about how she had terrorized them and it was her fault they were back and without memories. Frankly if it weren't for Emma taking her side the town may very well have seen fit to put her to death in the manner they might have back home.
But Emma had calmed everyone and told them she believed Zelena when she said that all she wanted was redemption and a chance to know her sister.
When Snow had asked who her sister was Regina laughed when she replied that it was Regina. She didn't have a sister she told the others, believing this woman was up to something. Then Zelena explained that Cora had given her up when she was a baby and that when she learned of Regina she was at first angry and jealous and she let that consume her to the point she wanted Regina erased from history. Zelena stood there telling all of them that she had wanted Regina destroyed and how she planned on doing it (or rather did it sort of).
As if this wasn't confusing enough Zelena tells how she changed her mind and when she did go back to change things, she did it so Regina and her were raised together and grew up together and how in this other reality Regina never cast the curse and was a beloved queen.
At this point Regina was ready to declare this woman totally insane.
Yet there was Emma saying she believed her.
Even as Zelena told them that she had gone back in time again because she and Regina had decided what she had done wasn't fair and they needed to return things to how they were before and that is how they got to where they were now.
Standing there in Granny's Zelena explained she went to get Emma and Henry first because she knew they all deserved to be reunited. As did Belle and Gold. That got everyone's attention as they thought Gold was dead.
While her explanation was complicated it was now understood that Gold and Neal were occupying the same body and that they needed to get Gold out of there before it killed Neal. If it weren't for that Regina wasn't sure she would have agreed to work with Zelena, but she did and a couple of weeks later they found a way to safely separate the two men without killing them.
Regina could still remember seeing the look of gratitude on Henry's and Emma's face when they pulled it off.
It still wasn't enough for her to trust Zelena, but she was trying, mostly at the urging of Emma.
She had asked Emma why she believed Zelena and Emma said, "Because like I always know when you are lying, I know when she is lying. She isn't. Family is important. I've only just learned that myself in the last couple of years. Outside of Henry, she's your only family left. Be on guard yes, but that doesn't mean you don't give her a chance."
If it weren't for that she was sure she would not even be attempting this. Something about Zelena didn't sit right with her. For one, these stories of them growing up together bothered her. She had told Emma this, of all people to tell something to, because she needed to speak to someone and she was trying to limit Henry's contact with her sister until she determined what she was up to. These stories of them growing up made Regina feel somewhat sad because they sounded like a much better way to grow up than how she was raised as an only child.
In addition to the stories, she felt like Zelena was holding back knowledge. Of what exactly Regina didn't know, but she was determined to find out if she meant any more harm.
The people of Storybrooke had thus far been lukewarm about her presence. They didn't trust Zelena, in part because she was Regina's sister but also because her admitting what she had done in their missing year.
This was one of the few instances where Regina was taking the same side as Snow, who also had her reservations about their newest resident. The only three people who seemed to take to Zelena almost immediately were Emma, Henry and Neal.
Gold was also wary of her and Regina was unsure why. She had asked him of course, but about all he would say was that he had met Zelena before. For her part Zelena wasn't saying much about the encounter either. Although he did confirm that Zelena was indeed her half-sister and that Gold knew of her all along.
"You ready for school?" Regina asked Henry.
"Yep."
"Go get your stuff, I'll drive you."
Henry quickly left the room.
"Sorry," Zelena said again.
"It's ok," Regina said taking a sip of her coffee. "What brings you by so early?"
"I was wondering if you might like to have dinner together this weekend."
Regina took another a drink in order to stall while she thought it through.
"Please," Zelena said as she hesitated.
Regina nodded, "That would be nice."
Zelena smiled wide at her. "Thank you."
They had spent some time together, but not a lot. If she was going to discover what Zelena was up to though she knew she would need to spend some time with her, get Zelena to trust her. Of course, she felt like Zelena trusted her already and yet there was no reason for it.
"I'm sure you have already discovered that there aren't many places in town to eat, but where did you have in mind?"
"I was actually thinking maybe we could eat here. I would be more than happy to cook something," Zelena said.
Regina paused once more. "Here is fine, but I will do the cooking," she said. "I'm a little particular about my kitchen."
"Fair enough."
Henry came back down the stairs and they all walked out together.
"You still haven't gotten a car?" Regina asked Zelena.
"I prefer walking."
"Well, at least let me give you a ride to work," she said.
They all got into Regina's car, and she let Henry off at school first. He said goodbye to both his mother and his aunt. Regina then drove Zelena to her place of employment – another surprising development – where she was now secretary at the sheriff's office. Emma had offered her the job saying with all the new people in town she had more paperwork that needed processed.
Regina parked the car, neither woman saying anything on the drive over.
"It's ok you know, that you don't trust me I mean," Zelena said.
"Thanks for your permission," Regina said.
There was a moment of awkward silence and Zelena eventually reached for the door handle.
"I understand if we can't be sisters, but I'm hoping we can try to be friends," she said before getting out.
Regina felt somewhat bad for her comment. Not enough to do anything about though as she put the car in gear and drove to her own office. She knew she should probably give Zelena a break. After all the woman had been nothing but nice to her since arriving there. Still there was something about this whole situation that wasn't adding up to Regina.
She pushed it from her mind as she entered her office. She had other things to contend with that didn't involve her sister.
…
Emma entered the sheriff's station and immediately could tell something was off about Zelena since the woman hadn't greeted her as she normally did each morning. Instead of going to her office, she went over to Zelena's desk.
"Something wrong?"
"No," Zelena said, not looking at her and filing away some papers.
"I can tell when you are lying," Emma said. "Even I didn't need my gift to determine that this time. Why don't you fess up and tell me what's bothering you? That way we can deal with it and move on with our day."
"It's nothing you can help with," Zelena said.
"Regina?"
Zelena looked up at her. "She hates me."
Emma took a seat on the edge of the desk. "She doesn't hate you," she said. "Trust me, I have been on the receiving end of Regina's hate and this isn't it."
"Then what am I doing wrong?"
Emma sighed, "Look Regina has reason to be hesitant when it comes to you, and I am not just talking about all the stuff you felt the need to confess when you got here."
"If I had lied and they found out later then it would have been worse," Zelena said.
"I am not arguing that," Emma said. "My point is that it's not just about that. Regina's not big on giving out trust easily as it is, but you add in the fact that you are family, it probably makes it harder for her. She doesn't exactly have a pleasant history with family."
"I'm not our mother," Zelena said firmly.
"I didn't say you were. You have to look at it from Regina's point of view and her point of view is that she had no reason to trust you."
"I'm doing everything I can to get her to though. I haven't said one cross thing to her since I've been here even though there have been a few times I would have liked to put her in her place."
"Maybe you should," Emma suggested. "That way she sees you as someone who doesn't just want to be agreeable with her all the time."
"Is that how you won her over?" Zelena said. "I mean as friend."
"I don't know that she and I are friends."
"I think you two would be very good friends," Zelena commented. She felt bad for Emma and Regina – being each other's true loves and not knowing it. She had tried to figure out a way to get their memories back but hadn't come up with anything as of yet.
"Maybe in another lifetime," Emma said. "You going to be alright?"
"Yes. Regina and I are supposed to have dinner this weekend. I stopped by her house this morning and asked her. She agreed, reluctantly, but agreed nonetheless. I figured with you having Henry this weekend she might be agreeable to spending some time with me."
"See, she doesn't hate you. If she didn't she wouldn't bother with dinner. Although if she offers you an apple turnover as dessert – turn it down."
…
Zelena was beginning to think this was a disaster. She sat there eating the meal that Regina prepared for them, but so far the conversation had been lacking. The only thing of interest that had been said was when Regina apologized that the food wasn't ready when Zelena had hit the door. Of course Zelena made note of who was leaving Regina's as she arrived – Robin Hood.
She had wanted to ask about it, but didn't.
She wished Regina would talk to her like they once had. While she knew she had done the right thing in going back in time and resetting things to how they should be, she still felt bad at the loss of the relationship she had with her sister. She had been hopeful they might be able to rebuild it, but that hope was quickly fading.
She put down her fork.
"Why don't you trust me exactly?" she asked.
Regina looked at up her, surprise written on her face.
"You can't be serious," Regina said. "You already admitted that you wanted to destroy me."
"Yes, and I also explained why I didn't."
"Not to my satisfaction you didn't. I'm just supposed to believe you had a change of heart."
"I had a change of heart because of you, because of my sister."
"Yes in this magical other reality where I wasn't the Evil Queen and my life as perfect and yet somehow I decide that you need to reset it back to this – back to where I once again have to try and convince people that I am not that person or in this case not plotting in secret with my sister the Wicked Witch. There are people in this town who are sure I am the one who brought them back here and without their memories. They think I am working with you on some plot to destroy them all. And here you are trying to convince me that I would prefer this world over that other one."
"In this world you have your son," Zelena said.
That caused Regina to pause. There was no counter argument to that. Silence overtook them again.
"Look your life wasn't perfect in that other world," Zelena said. "I didn't go into details about it because I didn't see any reason to cause you any pain."
"You clearly don't know me that well if you think anything you could say to me would cause me pain," Regina said.
"Daniel. In that other world, you lost Daniel again – once again because of our mother, but this time it was even worse. This time she forced me to be the one to crush his heart. She left me no choice when she made me choose between his life and your life."
Regina turned away from her a moment and then turned back and stood up. "You chose wrong," she said, and she promptly left the room.
….
When Emma dropped Henry off at Regina's on Sunday evening, she got the sense that Regina wasn't in the mood for chit-chat. Not that she ever was for the most part with Emma, but since she knew that Zelena and her had dinner the night before she assumed it hadn't gone well. That is show she ended up knocking on Zelena's door that evening.
"Is something wrong?" Zelena asked when she opened the door to see Emma standing there.
"No," Emma said. "I just dropped off Henry and well I got the sense that maybe dinner didn't go well."
"That would be an understatement. We didn't actually finish dinner before she walked out."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"Not really," she said. "I think it's time I give up on the dream that I can be a sister to her. That isn't going to work in the here and now. Nothing is what I thought it would be like. Even changing things back to how they were, I thought that things might work out similar to how they were before. And maybe they are, I don't know. Maybe Robin Hood is her soul mate in this reality."
"What!" Emma said pushing her way inside. "What do you mean Robin Hood is her soul mate?"
"He was leaving her place when I got there on Saturday. I just assumed."
"Fuck," Emma swore and she ran her fingers through her hair. "What are we going to do about this?"
"Do about what?" Zelena asked, confused at Emma's behavior. This is how she might expect Emma to react if she knew that Regina was … "Wait, you remember?"
Emma reached into her shirt and pulled out the pendant that hung from her neck. "I put it on as soon as you disappeared. Somehow I thought maybe she would remember; that our love was stronger than what you were doing. She can't be dating Robin. She's my true love."
"Fuck," Zelena swore.
