It's been two months since Regina and Emma found out about their new baby girls to-be. They are now visibly pregnant with Regina being 6 ½ months along and Emma 7 months along. Emma has reached the peak of her pregnancy and per Dr. Whale's request, she is to heavily rest for the remainder of her pregnancy but Emma's stubbornness says otherwise. Snow and David have taken over the sheriff's office while Emma starts her maternity leave early. For Regina, however, Dr. Whale has recommended the opposite. Regina is to remain active and eat healthier to have a smooth delivery. She continues her mayoral duties but from home. Now and then she will head to her office for a break from home and a change of scenery. When some days are stressful, Robin steps in and requires her to take a break.
The weekend has finally approached and Regina is taking advantage of it. She walks into the kitchen to wash a couple of dishes when she looks out the window and sees a moving truck across the street at the house that has been on the market for several weeks. She stops what she is doing and decides to study the new family that has moved into the house. As she is looking, she sees what appears to be a married couple with a young daughter about Roland's age. Curiosity grows as Regina studies the woman who looks relatively familiar. "Regina, what are you doing?" Robin asked as he walked into the kitchen. He opens the refrigerator to grab a bottled water. Without losing her focus on the family across the street, Regina answers, "that new family that is moving across the street. I'm trying to figure out why they look familiar, especially the woman." Robin goes up and stands next to her and looks out the window with her.
Robin moves away from the window and goes to the fridge; he pulls out a new bottle of wine. Regina turns around and sees what he is up to, "what are you doing?" She asked.
"It's one of the bottles we never used at the gender reveal party. I'm going to welcome our new neighbors." Robin said enthusiastically, "Why do you want to do that?" Regina countered. "Because you can only get so much from staring out the window," Robin added.
Regina just shakes her head and turns back to observe the new neighbors. Robin shouts out, "are you coming?" Regina makes a smirk, "looking like this?" Robin heads out the door while Regina keeps looking until she sees Robin. He crosses the street with the wine in hand. The man and woman notice Robin and wave in his direction. The couple looks young about the same age as Robin and Regina. The husband is quite tall with blonde hair nicely trimmed. The wife seems to be a foot shorter than the husband and has fiery red hair that is distinct from a distance. The little girl gets behind the woman as Robin approaches. Robin extends his hand to the man and he responds. Afterward, Robin extends his hand to the woman who also responds with a smile and then he hands them the wine bottle. Regina can tell by their body language and expression that they greatly appreciate it.
After the exchange, they stay and talk for a while. Regina grows bored and decides to go watch some TV. She glances out the window one last time and takes a double-take at what she is seeing, the woman has her hand on Robin's shoulder and they are both laughing. "What the hell!" Regina uttered out to herself. She notices the woman playfully pushing Robin away then reach for his arm. Regina grows livid, "hell no!" Regina throws the dish towel down in the sink, grabs her shoes, and makes her way outside. She gracefully waddles across the street in a sensible maternity tunic and leggings. Regina sees the woman point at her and Robin turns around, "hi love!" "Hi," Regina responded in a monotone voice. "Regina, this is Zelena and Aiden and their daughter Ashley!" Robin introduced them to her, and Regina extends her hand for a friendly greeting but can't help staring hard at the familiarity of Zelena. "Hi. I'm sorry, I don't mean to stare but have we met before?" Regina asked as Robin uttered, "Regina this is Zelena. She was on our flight to Orlando after your…um…encounter if you will." Robin chuckled nervously. "Oh…yeah," Regina said with slight resentment. Zelena's husband breaks the tension, "Hi, I'm Aiden, all my friends call me Hades. Nice to meet you, Regina." Regina smiles, "likewise!" Aiden looks down at Regina cradling her baby bump, "it looks like our little Ashley will be having a playmate soon?" Regina smiles, "yeah."
"First?" Zelena asked as Regina answered, "fourth." Zelena smiles and looks at Robin and says in a sultry voice, "family man, are you?" Robin nods and smiles. "Four kids! How old are they?" Hades asked. Regina answers, "well my son Henry is sixteen, he's the oldest, my stepson Roland is five and our daughter Riley is two, and now this one!" Regina said proudly, "she should be here in three months!"
"Aw, congratulations!" Zelena said genuinely.
"Thank you," Regina said with a forced smile.
Zelena playfully nudges Robin on the shoulder, "Robin, you didn't tell me you and the wife were expecting a baby!" Robin grows nervous, "well, you see I was going to mention…." Regina interrupts, "Uh…Robin, I need your help in the kitchen." "
Are you alright love?"
"Yes! I just need your help in the kitchen, that's why I remembered to come out here." Regina let out a forced giggle. "Pregnancy fog," she uttered.
"Oh, I hate that! I was always so forgetful when I was expecting Ashley. So irritating!" Zelena uttered. Regina is looking at Robin, "yeah, just a tad irritating. Robin, can you come, now?" She grabs Robin by the arm and pulls him away. "It was good to meet you lot, until next time!" Robin said as he waved. Regina forced a wave back as she walked faster ahead of Robin. "Regina, what is wrong?" She stopped abruptly, "I saw her put her hand on your shoulder, Robin." He lets out a loud sigh as he walked into the house and shut the door. "Regina, she was being nice. She didn't mean anything by it!" Regina countered, "I don't trust her." Robin shakes his head and doesn't proceed with the conversation further, but he can't help but to laugh and follow her into the kitchen to help with dinner.
It's the next day and Killian has left for work leaving Emma alone at the house. She took the day off today because she wasn't feeling good the night before. She decided to stay home and take a day to herself to see if she gets better. She is growing cabin fever after being home for a couple of hours and decides to give Regina a call.
"Hello?" Regina answered
"I'm bored," Emma uttered.
"And I'm a hotline for your entertainment? What do you want, Emma?"
"Tell me a joke."
"You're the best friend I ever had." Regina huffed.
"What are you doing?" Emma asked.
"Emma, what do you need? I'm busy trying to get this house in order and preparing Henry and Roland's lunch for the week."
"How are you taking it with Roland going to school and all?"
"You know it's not as bad as I thought it would be. He is enjoying it and he has already made a few friends." Just then, Riley starts crying interrupting Regina's phone call, "hey I'll call you back, Riley just woke up from her nap."
"I'll come by and help out." Emma offered.
"Ok, see you in a few."
Emma arrives at Regina's within twenty minutes. She gets out of the car and then hears a woman calling out for Regina. "Regina! Regina!" Emma turns toward the voice and Zelena begins to walk toward her. "Regina!" Emma meets Zelena on the sidewalk. Zelena has a perplexed look on her face, "you're not Regina." She studies Emma up and down. Emma smiles, "no. I'm Emma. Can I help you?"
"Oh, I was just going to ask Regina if she had a can opener I could borrow. We just moved in and I can't find mine for the life of me."
"Oh, you just moved in?"
"Yeah." She extends her hand and introduces herself, "Zelena."
"Nice to meet you," Emma said
Zelena smiles, "Emma, was it? What brings you to Regina's?"
"I'm here to help her out with her daughter, Riley. I got bored at home, my husband is working and I just came by to keep her and her daughter company. We've been friends for some time."
"Oh…that's nice! I see you're expecting as well? How far along are you?"
"Seven months!"
"Aww! Boy or girl?"
"A girl."
"Well, congratulations."
"Thank you! Would you like to join us for some tea or something?"
"Oh, I don't know. I left my daughter asleep and have some more unpacking to do."
"Well, come take a break. Bring your daughter over, I'm sure Regina wouldn't mind." Emma insisted.
"Well okay then! Let me go get my daughter and I'll come back in about ten minutes or so!"
"Perfect! See you then!" Emma walked up to the door to ring the bell after biding her goodbyes to Zelena. Regina answered, "Hey, come on in. I'm just feeding Riley her lunch." Emma follows Regina inside and makes herself at home.
Riley is sitting on her booster seat and is eating her chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese. "Hi, Riley!" Emma uttered as Riley responded, "Memma! Beebee!" Riley opens her arms and Emma gives her little sidekick a big hug and places a kiss on her forehead. Emma smiled and then made her way toward Regina, "hey do you have any tea?"
"I think so, you want me to make us some?" Regina asked as she put up the last of the dishes in the cupboard.
"Well, don't get mad," Emma uttered hesitantly.
"Emma? What did you do?" Regina puts the dish down and as she looks up; she sees out the window that Zelena is making her way toward her house with her daughter in hand. "Why is Zelena coming this way? And why does she have her daughter?"
"Regina, you said you wouldn't get mad."
"Emma Swan Jones! What did you do?"
"I invited her over."
Regina grows irritable, "Emma…why?"
"She seems nice! Plus, she's your new neighbor and I thought we could all get acquainted!"
"Emma! I can't stand her! She's the woman that pissed me off on the plane to Disneyworld!"
"I thought she looked familiar! She was so nice!"
The doorbell rings, they both look at the door and then at each other. "Mommy." Riley tugs at Regina's leg and she picks her up. "You know what Emma; you are going to answer the door. Riley and I are going upstairs." Regina said in a loud whisper. Emma responds, "Regina, I told her you would be joining us and that Riley would like to play with her daughter!" Regina hands Riley to Emma. "Have at it, Lorilei Gilmore! You and Rory knock yourselves out! I am going to take a nap!" The doorbell rings again, "Regina!" Emma whispered loudly. Regina ignores Emma a she made her way upstairs. The doorbell rings a third time and Riley utters, "Memma, door! Kee-an!"
"No, Riley, it's not Killian. Let's go see what trouble, Memma, got herself into." Emma sighed as she walked up to the door and opens it. Zelena has a curious look on her face and is wondering why Emma is answering the door with a child in her arms. "Hi," Zelena said. Emma brandishes a nervous smile, "hey Zelena, um…come on in." Zelena has a look of suspicion on her face as she surveys the house. "Where's Regina?"
"She's upstairs taking a nap. She wasn't feeling good. She sends her apologies."
"Aww…well, I understand."
"Yeah…well…you know. Anyway, this is Riley!" Emma puts her down but Riley stays close. "Hi, Riley! It's nice to meet you!" Zelena bent down to Riley's level but Riley just smiles and hides behind Emma. Zelena continues, "This is my daughter, Ashley. Ashley, you want to say hi to your new friend?"
"Hi, Riley! My name is Ashley!" Ashley looks up at her mother, "Mama, can I play with Riley?" Emma responds and bends down to Riley's level, "Riley, sweetie, do you want to take Ashley to your playroom and play with her?" Riley nods her head and leads Ashley to her playroom. Emma tries to get up but struggles, "Ugh…I forget I can't be bending down like that anymore, at least for a while." Zelena is quick to go up and help her up, "be careful dear, you don't want to strain yourself, here, let me help you." They make their way to the couch, "thank you, I forgot how it felt to be pregnant!" Emma said. Zelena grows more curious, "you have other children?" Emma smiles, "yeah. His name is Henry. He's sixteen." Emma sees the confusion on Zelena's face, "isn't that Regina's son's name?"
Emma nods, "Yeah, he's the same boy."
"Huh?" Zelena has confusion written all over her face. Emma notices and tries to explain, "it's complicated," Emma explained. Zelena seems unphased when she says "I have all day!" Emma smiles, "well then, I guess I'll get the tea going!"
Ashley and Riley are in the playroom where Ashley scans it over. "You have a lot of toys Riley!" Ashley stated. She puts her bag down and begins picking out some toys. "Bee-bee!" Riley hands Ashley a baby doll; she takes it and puts it in her bag. "Thank you, Riley!" Ashley sees another toy that catches her eyes. "I like this teddy bear. Can I have it too?" Riley shakes her head yes and Ashley places it in her bag. "Baw!" Riley hands the ball to Ashley and again, places it in her bag. Riley starts grabbing toys out of her toy bin to show Ashley; as she takes them from Riley she sneakily places them in her bag. "Book!" Riley hands the book to Ashley but gives it back. "No, I want these two books. Go put them in my bag, okay?" Ashely instructed.
Regina stood her ground when she said she was going to take a nap. She is awakened by the baby monitor that beeps when motion is detected in Riley's playroom. Regina opens her eyes and witnesses a little girl push Riley down on the floor and starts throwing things across the room on the monitor screen. Riley tries to get up only for Ashley to push her down again. Regina bolts up, "Oh hell no!" She races downstairs and yells for Emma. "Emma!" Regina called out. "Emma Swan Jones, I'm going to kick your ass!" she shouted out. "Regina! What's wrong?" Emma asked as she got up from the chair and scurries toward her. "You! You let that woman in my house and her little brat is picking on my baby!" Regina hurries to the playroom where she sees Riley sitting on the floor crying her eyes out. Ashley quickly backs away from Riley, just then Zelena quickly intervenes, "excuse me?" Regina glares at her and Emma steps in between them. "Regina, wait, calm down," Emma said in a calm tone hoping to ease the tension. "I saw her brat…" Regina is interrupted by Zelena, "her name is Ashley you crazy imp." Regina huffs, "get…out." Emma sighs, Zelena inches closer to Regina, "make…me." Emma steps up, "okay, you know what, just stop. You two are being ridiculous! You want to do this in front of your daughters?"
"Emma. Get her out. I'm going to choke her."
"Regina, stop. You're not going to choke anyone. Let's settle this like real adults. Please?" Emma scolds both women, then looks down at Ashley and tries to get information from her. "Ashley, honey, what happened, sweetie?" Ashley is intimidated but answers to Emma's genuine smile and words, "Riley pushed me and I told her to stop but she didn't."
"Liar!" Regina shouted making Ashley jump and run to her mother. Zelena is appalled, "how dare you yell at and call my daughter a liar! How do I know your beast of a child didn't start it you wicked, bit…."
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Emma shouted loud enough to startle Regina and Zelena. "You two are setting a very bad example for your daughters. Do you think we are going to be able to resolve this with you two acting like this? Now if you will let me talk to these children, which are acting far better than you two, maybe I can see what happened!" Zelena and Regina back away and allow Emma to talk to the girls. "Ashley, sweetie, can you tell me what happened?"
Ashley approaches Emma, "well, I did push Riley because she said I couldn't have a toy."
"See!" Regina uttered. Emma looks at her, "stop!" She scolded at Regina as she turned back to Ashley. "Did you ask her for it, sweetie?" Ashley shook her head no. "Ashley, sweetie, you can't push somebody because they said no. It wasn't your toy, to begin with."
"I know but she hit me first!" Ashley said. "a-ha!" Zelena uttered. "Hey!" Emma countered. "Riley would never!" Regina added. "Seriously?" Emma looked up at Regina as she gestured for Riley to come to her. "Riley, honey, did you hit Ashley." Riley shook her head yes. "Aly took my bee-bee." Ashley goes to her bag and gives it to Emma. "Here Ms. Emma. I was taking Riley's toys. I'm sorry." Emma gets up and has a look of shame on both Regina and Zelena. "Come on. Let's go sit down and settle this. You two as well!" Emma looked at Regina and Zelena who just roll their eyes at each other and follow Emma into the living room.
As they make their way to the couch Emma gestures for Ashley and Riley to sit on either side of her. "Ashley, you don't take things that are not yours, and you don't hit someone because they hit you back. That's when you tell your mommy or your daddy okay?"
"Yes, Ms. Emma," Ashley said.
"And you Miss Not-So-Innocent, you don't hit other people. Okay. It's not nice!"
Riley lays her head on Emma's lap, "Memma, I saw-ee," Emma smiles and runs her hand through Riley's hair, "don't say sorry to me, baby, you have to say sorry to Ashley." Riley goes up to hug Ashley, "I saw-ee Aly."
"It's okay, Riley! I still like you!" Ashley hugs Riley tighter. Emma gets up from the couch folds her arms and harshly gives judgmental looks at Zelena and Regina. "Riley, Ashley, why don't you two go and play," Emma instructed them as she continues to look on at Regina and Zelena who by now have grown shameful looks and avoid looking at each other.
"Do I need to say anything to you two?" Emma questioned. "I think you both can learn from your daughters, so if you will excuse me, I have to get ready to leave because Killian will be home in an hour. I trust that you two can handle yourselves?" Emma gives one last glance at Regina and Zelena and walks out of the living room leaving the two to themselves. Regina takes the first initiative to apologize, she sighs loudly as she puts her words together, "look, Zelena, I'm sorry. I overreacted and I should have never yelled at your daughter. I've just been very sensitive, emotionally, with this new baby and I guess I let it get the best of me." Regina laid a gentle hand on her baby bump and started rubbing it. "Regina, I'm sorry too. I understand. I've been there before. I'm sorry Ashley tried to swipe Riley's toys. I've been having trouble with her about that. She's been swiping things from her friends at preschool and Hades and I talked to her about it." Zelena confessed; Regina chuckled, "Well, if it's any consolation, Riley isn't so innocent herself. She's gotten into the habit of wrestling with her brothers and sometimes she gets a little too rough with them and she ends up making them cry because she either punched Roland in the stomach or kicked Henry in the face, so, go figure." Zelena chuckles at Regina's explanation.
"Well, at least you know she can handle her own," Zelena added.
"That is true," Regina said.
"Can we start over, Regina?"
"I'd like that. How about we take the girls to the park tomorrow and maybe an ice cream or something afterward."
"It's a play date, then!" Zelena confirmed. Ashley rounds the corner, "mommy, I'm hungry." Zelena gets up, "let's go home and get you something to eat. Oh, before I forget, Regina, do you have a can opener I can borrow?"
"Sure! Let me go get it." Regina heads to the kitchen and is startled by Emma who is smiling holding a can opener. "Jesus Christ, Emma! What the hell? What are you doing?"
"I see you've made a new friend!" Emma said sarcastically.
"Go…away." Regina takes the can opener from Emma and heads over to Zelena to give it to her. Ashley starts to grow impatient, "mommy, can we go?" Regina smiles and looks down at Ashley, "Hey Ashley, I'm sorry I yelled at you sweetie, can I make it up to you by taking you and Riley to the park and then taking you for some ice cream tomorrow?" Ashley's eyes light up, "I would love that! Thank you, Ms. Gina!" Ashley hugs her and Regina smiles as she walks Zelena and Ashley out the door and bids them their goodbyes.
Regina closes the door and as she turns around, she sees Emma standing with a snide smile across her face, Regina is startled, "Dammit, Emma! Stop doing that!" Regina walks away from her and Emma follows, "you forgot to tell her what time, also, can you make it a little after lunch I'd like to sleep a little late tomorrow." Regina turns around and faces Emma, "who said you're invited?" Regina smiles and crosses her arms, "Riley. If I tell her she can spend the night with me I'll have to bring her over and you know how much she loves to spend time with her Memma and Kee-an!"
"How dare you use my daughter as leverage and bargaining!"
"1:00, then?" Emma asked.
"Damn you, Emma Swan! Be here at 12:30!"
"Ok. Well, I got to go. Kee-an is waiting."
