When Zelena woke up to the sound of her phone vibrating, Chad's bedroom was still dark, so she had to fumble around the bedside table with her hand until she found the phone and answered it.
"Hello?" she muttered, her voice tired. Beside her, Chad slept peacefully.
"Uhh, hey Zelena," came the sound of Robin's voice.
"Oh, it's you. What do you want?"
"It's Regina," Robin said. "We're at the hospital now. She's had the baby."
"What?" Zelena exclaimed, sitting up straight all of a sudden. "Really?"
"Yeah, really. Regina wanted me to let you know."
"I'll be there as soon as possible," replied Zelena, throwing off her side of the blanket and getting out of bed. "Is it a boy or a girl?"
Regina and Robin had decided that they wanted to keep it a surprise. "It's a baby girl."
"Oh my god!" said Zelena excitedly. "Okay, I'll be there soon."
Without saying goodbye, she hung up and started picking up her clothes that were strewn all over the bedroom floor. In the darkness of night, it was difficult to determine what was hers and what was Chad's. She heard him stir from his sleep, and roll onto his back to see what she was doing.
"Who was that?" he asked sleepily.
"Regina's boyfriend Robin," Zelena said as she got dressed. "They're at the hospital now. She's just given birth to their daughter!"
"Oh," was Chad's response. "Well, tell them I said congratulations."
When Zelena finished getting dressed, she walked over to the bed and gave Chad a kiss before leaving.
Upon arriving at Storybrooke General Hospital, Zelena entered and approached the desk where one of the receptionists was working.
"I'm here to see Regina Mills," she said. "Her boyfriend just told me she's had the baby."
The receptionist typed a few letters on her keyboard. "I see. And are you a relative or friend?"
"Uhh, sister," replied Zelena. "I'm her sister."
That response seemed to give the receptionist a quizzical look. "You're listed on her contacts as a friend, not a sister."
"Well, it's... umm, half-sister if you want to get technical"
"Zelena!"
She turned to face Robin, who was walking down the corridor towards her. "It's alright, she's our friend."
"Very well," said the receptionist. "You can go and see her."
Zelena walked alongside Robin to the maternity ward, where Regina lay in bed with what appeared to be a small bundle of blankets in her arms. As she got closer to Regina, however, Zelena saw a small, sleeping face framed by the pink blankets. When Regina saw Zelena, she smiled and waved with her free hand.
"She's beautiful," Zelena said, keeping her voice low so as to not wake the baby. "What's her name?"
A flicker of doubt crossed both Regina and Robin's faces.
"We're... not really sure yet," said Regina. "Since we didn't know if we were having a boy or girl, we never really got around to coming up with a list of names. I was thinking we could name her Cora..."
"But I convinced her that it was a bad idea," Robin cut in. "I mean, doesn't the name 'Cora' just sound like something breaking?"
Regina scoffed. "Perhaps, but it's also my mother's name. Still, I don't really like the idea of calling her Cora. To be honest, we were kind of hoping it would be a boy. We came up with a few boy names, like Henry or Roland..."
"You could name her Zelena," suggested Zelena.
Regina exchanged a look with Robin. "Yeah, maybe. There's no rush."
"Aren't you supposed to name the baby before you leave the hospital?" Zelena asked, frowning slightly.
"Not necessarily," said Robin. "They just gave us a supplemental report to take with us, so we have a week to come up with a name for her. Although, I don't think it'll take a whole week to pick out a name."
"Oh," said Zelena. "By the way, Chad told me to tell you congratulations."
Regina smiled. "Things getting pretty serious between you two, are they?"
"Maybe," Zelena replied with a shrug. "But I'm here for you. If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask."
"Don't worry about me," Regina said. "You have the end-of-year exams to worry about."
Zelena considered this, and nodded. "Are you sure you won't be coming back to school?"
"I can't, Zelena. When I found out I was pregnant, I had to choose between following through with my education and graduating, or becoming a mother. As you can see, I chose this."
"Yeah..." In truth, she liked the fact that Regina was no longer a student at Storybrooke High. With Regina out of the way, Zelena could only see her as a friend rather than as a possible threat or rival. But she's not just my friend. She's my sister, if Cora is to be believed.
"Zelena?" Regina's voice intruded her thoughts. "What's wrong? You have a weird look on your face."
"Hmm? Oh, nothing," Zelena murmured. "Could I... would it be alright if I held her?"
"Sure." Regina carefully handed the baby and the blankets over to Zelena, which she cradled in her arms gently.
"You're going to be a fantastic mother," said Zelena, looking over at Regina, who was smiling. "I just know it."
It was a cold night in Storybrooke, and a boy named William zipped up his jacket as he walked beside his friend. He had known K since they were children, before his friend even referred to himself as K. His real name was Red, and he was Arthur King's older brother. Although he was a little older than William, they were still good friends, and William often thought that he would do anything for K. So, when K told him to come along to a meeting with someone who was potentially dodgy, William obeyed. When they stopped walking, they stood outside a dark alleyway, from which a man emerged.
"Red, I presume?" the man said. "And who the hell is this?"
"Don't worry about him," replied K. "He's my friend. Now, what is it that was so important that you had to talk face-to-face with me?"
The man smirked, looked at William for a moment, before shifting his gaze back to K.
"I've heard things about you. Is it true that you work for the bounty hunter who goes by the name Bo Peep?"
K seemed to cough in surprise, and adjusted the red beanie on his head that he always wore. "Where did you hear that?"
"So it's true," replied the man, still smirking. "Good. Cora Mills hired Bo to find her daughter, now I want her to find mine."
"Who are you?" K demanded to know. The man chuckled.
"Oh, I haven't introduced myself, have I? The name's Jefferson."
"Well, Jefferson, if you want to find your daughter, I suggest you go to the police."
"They all think she's dead!" snapped Jefferson. "But I don't. Cora was a lying bitch. I'd know if my Grace was dead... so, you tell Bo Peep that I'll pay double the usual fee for her to reunite me with Grace. You understand me? You tell her that."
K seemed to consider this for a few moments, before nodding. "I'll let her now."
"Good. Here's my phone number," Jefferson said, handing K a small square of paper before walking away from them.
"Well, that was... weird..." William remarked as he watched Jefferson disappear around a corner.
K sighed. "You get all sorts of mad people in this business."
Zelena hadn't looked forward to the student council meeting that was scheduled for the next day, but as she sat at the table in the conference room with the other student counselors – Seraphina, Isaac, and Tiana (Anastasia left months ago) – the time seemed to fly, and before Zelena knew it, the meeting was over. Upon exiting from the conference room into the corridor, she found that it was empty. Class had already started. Zelena hurried towards the staircase, only stopping when she heard a loud voice behind her.
"You!"
When she turned around, Zelena saw Mr. Nolan walking towards her, looking furious.
"Mr. Nolan, what do you–"
"Who the hell do you think you are?!" he growled. "Making shit up about my wife to blackmail her, then getting her fired?!"
"I didn't make anything up!" snarled Zelena, admittedly impressed at her own courage. "Your wife was screwing Mr. Whale!"
Mr. Nolan grabbed Zelena's arm and yanked her towards him. "Now you listen to me, you little bitch–"
"Let go of me!" Zelena yelled, pulling her arm back, only to pull Mr. Nolan with her. The gym teacher lost his balance and Zelena watched as he tumbled down the flight of stairs. When Mr. Nolan finally reached the bottom of the stairs, he didn't get back up. When Zelena saw the blood pooling beneath his head, she pulled out her phone and frantically began dialing 9-1-1.