Zelena still struggled with the fact that Henry's birth mother was in town. Emma needed to leave so the curse wouldn't break and she wouldn't lose Henry.
She sat in her office at town hall and was sipping her coffee carefully while going over some paper work for her mother. The curse really changed her life for the better though sadly Regina was still a huge part of her life. She didn't understand why her mother didn't dispose of her when she had the chance. Regina was just a burden in her opinion.
She looked through the glass doors into her mother's office and sighed when she saw the many fake family pictures of them. Most of them contained Regina. She really didn't understand why her mother loved Regina so much even after everything. Her mother was always a softie when it came to Regina. It made Zelena sick to think about her little sister. How she always got her mother's attention when they were little because she was the baby of the family. Zelena was sick of it all. Even Henry loved his 'Aunt Gina' so much it truly wasn't fair.
She needed to put Regina back in her place.
Speaking of Regina, the young brunette was working at the hospital like usual and smiled slightly as she saw Rob again though of course she wasn't happy that he had to come to the hospital so often for his chemo. But at least she got to talk to him that way because otherwise her mother would always watch her.
She smiled even more as she noticed he wasn't alone this time. He had brought his kids with him today.
"Hello, Mr. Locksley. Ready for your treatment?" She asked playfully as she hooked him to the IV.
Rob smiled when he saw her and grinned with a dimples showing. "Hello, Regina. As ready as I'll ever be I guess. " he answered.
Raelyn gasped when she saw Regina and grinned at the brunette. "You are the pretty lady from Granny's!" She pointed out.
Regina chuckled. "Well Thank you, but you are much prettier than me, Princess. I love your hair. " she told the little girl and gestured to her long fishtail braid.
"Thanks. Daddy did my hair." She said proudly and smiled at her father.
Regina looked a little surprised at Rob. He didn't seem like the type to know how to braid. "You know how to braid hair?" She asked him and looked into his piercing blue eyes. Something about him seemed awfully familiar, like she had known him for years.
Rob smiled and blushed slightly when she looked at him. She was so beautiful even with her hair so short now. "Yeah. I know some basics. I don't want her to have short hair cause she loves her hair so much so I had to learn how to braid. " He explained and shrugged.
"Are you a nurse?" Roland piped up and looked at Regina. He had his father's dimples and bright blue eyes.
Regina smiled at the little boy and shoke her head. "No not really. I'm just helping the nurses. But I want to be a nurse. " she explained to the twins and smiled. She loved interacting with kids and it seemed like kids usually reacted well to her. Henry was the same when he was little.
"Cool. I wanna be a firefighter. " Roland answered and smiled and watched his father curiously. "What's that liquid?" He asked, pointing to the IV.
The brunette looked at the IV and sighed. She wasn't sure how much the twins knew about their father's sickness. "That's the special medicine to make your dad better. " she explained to them and tried to change the subject. "How old are you?" She asked them.
"Five" Raelyn answered proudly and looked at Regina with her big brown eyes and played slightly with with her long blonde hair.
"Wow. My nephew is 10." Regina answered and smiled.
She spent most of her time with Robin and the twins that day and completely forgot the time.
The head nurse Johanna walked over to them. "Regina, it's already 5 pm, dear. Don't you need to be home by now?" She reminded the young girl.
Regina gasped and nodded. "Oh yes. Right. I'll see you soon, Rob. Have a nice day. " she told Rob and waved at the twins before going to the changing room to grab her things.
"Johanna? Can I ask you something?" She asked the old woman.
"Sure, dear. What is it?" The red head replied and smiled genuinely at the young girl.
"Would it be possible for me to start learning to be a real nurse? I love the work here and I could really use the money. " she questioned and looked at her with her big brown eyes.
"Well you would need to fill out some paper work for that. But I'm sure it wouldn't be a problem. You know most of the work already so we wouldn't have to do much training with you. You should talk to Dr. Whale some time. " she explained and smiled.
"Alright, Thank you, Johanna." Regina answered and then made her way home. Her mother was probably already waiting for her.
A few weeks later...
Some time had passed and Regina and Rob met each other a few times outside of the hospital. They had become really close and Regina found herself slowly falling for him. She also finally started working at the hospital as a nurse in training and earned some money. It wasn't much but she saved up every dollar so she could rent her own apartment some day.
Today she had the day off as did her mother so she stayed at home all day.
"Regina!" Her mother called out and Regina sighed. She went downstairs to the living room where her mother was sitting.
"What is it?" She asked softly and looked at her mother with her big brown eyes.
Cora looked at Regina for a moment and sighed as she noticed how long her hair was again but didn't bother to mention it this time. It wouldn't do no good to cut it again she guessed since it would grow back anyways. "I was thinking we could go shopping today. Your clothes are really worn out. " she explained to her young daughter.
Regina frowned a bit. She hadn't been shopping in years. "Uhm, sure. Sounds good." She said softly. She wasn't sure why her mother was so nice all of a sudden.
"Great. Then get dressed so we can go. " the old woman said and stroked her hair out of her face carefully.
Regina nodded and quickly went to get dressed and pulled her hair into a little messy bun and then left with her mother.
They went to a boutique where her mother usually got her clothes and Regina began to look through the store and found some things she liked. She went to try them on and showed her mother the different items.
"This looks nice, Regina. Much more mature than your old clothes " Cora stated approvingly and paid for the items.
Regina was happy but she really wasn't used to her mother being so nice to her. Something just seemed off. Maybe her mother was afraid she would leave her now that she earned her own money. Regina just wanted to be free and independent like Zelena and Snow.
After they were done shopping they went to the diner for some lunch and Regina smiled as she saw Robin with the twins again. She was really close with Robin but she wondered where Raelyn and Roland's mother was. She would have to ask Robin some time. The young brunette sat down with her mother in a booth and ordered a chicken salad for herself since her mother disliked fast food.
"Zelena and Mary are joining us later " Cora told her and smiled.
"Alright. Sounds good. What's the occasion?" She asked curiously.
"I just wanted to have lunch with my family " Cora explained and shrugged her shoulders. She just wanted to keep her daughters close to her, especially Regina and Snow to keep them away from Robin and David so the curse wouldn't break. Since Emma was in town things were changing and she didn't like it at all. She needed them to stay miserable.
A few moments later, Zelena entered the diner and sat down next to Regina, across from their mother and smiled at Cora. "Hello, Mother. It's so nice to have lunch with you " she said, acting really nice though she hated being close to Regina and acting like a happy family. She just wanted to get rid of the girl.
"Hello, dear. It's certainly been a while since we had a family lunch. How is Henry doing?" Cora asked curiously though of course she knew Henry was still trying to get Emma to believe.
Zelena sighed. "He is still the same. He thinks I'm an evil witch and Emma is his saviour " she said and rolled her eyes. "But I'm planning to make an arrangement with Emma so she will finally leave town. " she added.
Cora nodded. She also wanted to get rid of Emma. It wasn't helping that Emma was staying with Snow. They needed to get her out of town. "That's a lovely idea, dear. " she answered and smiled at her eldest daughter. Zelena was really the only one she could trust. Her other daughters were total disappointments for her.