Alice was still sitting in the living room. She glanced around it yet again. Robin was sitting across from her talking to her. Alice was listening, mostly. But she didn't like sitting like this. She rarely sat with all of her body open and exposed like this. Usually she was against some kind of wall or behind a piece of furniture. She felt exposed. The walls didn't really provide her any true safety from mother but they made her feel safer. And mother never bothered her when she was in her corner. And only bothered her if she needed to get passed her when she was on the windowsill. The only time she sat exposed like this was when mother was angry with her and ordered her to stay put wherever she already was. Or when mother went to bed before telling Alice she could. Alice kept glancing around the room, watching Zelena but trying not to let her see that she was watching her.

"Alice, I'm kind of tired. Are you ready for bed?" Robin asked her. They, just Robin really, had been talking for a few hours. Alice nodded. "Does my mom have to tell you can?" Robin asked.

Alice shook her head. Mother didn't much care where Alice slept as long as she didn't move unless she'd been told to.

"Okay, good night," Robin told her walking to her own room. They had shown Alice her room early that morning. Everyone went to bed but Zelena didn't think she needed to tell her where the room was again.

Alice stared at the couch. She could reach it if she stretched far enough. She stayed seated as she reached her arm over and grabbed ahold of a blanket that was thrown haphazardly on the edge of the couch. She was allowed to do this as long as she didn't have to stand up to do so. She yanked the blanket of the couch and wrapped it around her. Alice curled into herself. She could sleep like this but it wasn't as comfortable. She missed being able to run her hand along the stones in the tower. She missed being hidden. When mother couldn't see her she ignored her unless she was needed. She wanted to be hidden but she couldn't. So she slept as best as she could and woke up when she did. She sat up and adjusted herself into her prefered position with her legs curled into her chest. She folded the blanket neatly and set it beside her. She wouldn't be able to put it away without moving. She liked sitting this way. It made a mock wall for her to press up against. And hugging her legs provided her with a comfort she didn't understand she'd never been given by her mother.

Robin was the first to reenter the room.

"Good morning," she greeted. Alice nodded her response to the greeting.

"Did you sleep well?" Alice nodded. Mostly. Robin noticed the folded blanket next to Alice. "Did you sleep in here?"

Alice nodded. "Alice, did we show your your room?" Robin questioned. She was concerned they'd forgotten to show Alice the room they'd set up for her. It had a table for cards and a really soft rug on the floor since Alice seemed to spend most of her time on the floor. The bed was covered in pillows and there were plenty of blankets. Robin knew Alice seemed to like blankets. Or at least there were several crumpled together in a nestlike formation in the corner of the tower Alice spent a lot of her time in. Alice nodded again.

"Alice, you can sleep in your room, you know." Alice watched as Robin grabbed food from the kitchen. She came into the living room and set some in front of Alice. Robin knew her telling her wouldn't work but maybe she'd think about it.

Alice nodded her thanks and ate.

"Good morning Robin, good morning Alice," Zelena said as she entered the room a little while later. Alice flinched. Why was she being spoken to. What had she not done? Or done? Both things would anger mother. She sat there staring at the floor waiting for an answer to her question. With mother one would always come eventuallly.

"Hi mom," Robin told her. Alice accepted that this time she wasn't going to find out what she'd had done immediatly. If at all.

Robin stood up to go put her dish in the kitchen. Alice knew she'd need to do the same thing eventually.

Zelena remebered the disaster from the day before. "Alice, do you need to use the bathroom?"

Alice nodded. She hadn't thought about it yet but she hadn't been since the night before. She could hold it a long time when she had to but if she was being told to go she would. "Go ahead, then" Zelena smiled at her and Alice went to the bathroom. She sat down afterwards and found comfort in the small space. She hoped no one would bother her. She just wanted to sit alone with her thoughts and try to figure out if there were any new rules here.

Zelena came and found her a few minutes after she sat down. "You can come out, you know." Alice left the bathroom and darted her eyes around. Zelena hadn't said where she could go. She stood on the outside of the bathroom as Zelena walked away. Okay, here was fine. Alice sat down with her back against the wall in the hallway. She listened as everyone moved around and started to fall into her thoughts. She sat there for a while, distracting herself with thoughts of what it'd be like to go outside or to run or jump. She snuck the movment in every so often at one point but she wouldn't do that here. She didn't know how angry Zelena would be if she was caught.

"Hey, Alice," Henry greeted when he walked out of his room and nearly ran into her. She mostly ignored him. She listened, fearful of the fact he was standing above her but didn't bother with any response at all.

"Did you eat yet?" he asked her. She nodded. Henry didn't know how to respond to the silence. He'd spent most of his life with a large extended family. "I'm going to go eat."

Henry entered the kitchen and saw an empty plate sitting in the living room. Alice. She was the only one that wouldn't know where to put it away. He picked it up and set in the sink.

"Henry, have you seen Alice?" Zelena asked. It'd been a little while and no one had seen her after Zelena had coaxed her out of the bathroom.

"Yeah, she was sitting outside of the bathroom."

"Alice," Zelena told her when she entered the hall again. "You don't have to stay right there. You can join us."

Alice nodded and followed Zelena into the kitchen, she sat down.

"Have you eaten?" Zelena asked her. She nodded. Oh, she needed to put the plate away once she was told she could. She glanced into the living room. It wasn't there any more. Had someone had to clean up after her? It wasn't supposed to work that way!

"Sorry." Alice's voice was a whisper but this was a word mother tended to want to hear.

"For what?" Zelena asked. The girl had been silent and still for nearly the entire time she'd been there, there couldn't possibly have been anything she'd done.

Alice shook her head. She wasn't supposed to explain. Just apologize. "Sorry."

"You having nothing to be sorry for," Zelena told her. Alice didn't believe her but nodded. She wouldn't argue with her.

Everyone finished their breakfast then dispersed. Zelena adressed Alice. Zelena turned the sink on to wash the dishes. That was Alice's job. She watched her and waited for instructions that wouldn't come.

Zelena finished tidying up and saw that Alice was still sitting on the kitchen chair staring at the wooden table in front of her. Was she waiting to be told what to do?

"Alice, you can go wherever you want to go. You don't have to wait," Zelena hoped this would work. Alice nodded. She made her way to the corner hidden behind a part of the couch she'd noticed and sat down with her back against part of the wall. She curled her knees up to her chest and let herself get lost in her thoughts. She could imagine what the world normally looked like outside of her window. She didn't have words for most of the things. Mother hated when she'd ask questions. But she sat and pretended to be watching the world outside of her windowsill.

This was repeated until the end of the day. Zelena would have to coax her out of the corner. Alice didn't like this as much. Mother always let her have the corner to herself. She never bothered her when she was there unless she needed her and she'd just say that she did; she never approached the space. But this was still the closest thing to something familar she had in this big new place. And she was scared. She hadn't made themm too angry, yet. But she was sure she'd make them angry soon enough.

Zelena was at a loss for words, a difficult task to accomplish. The girl that was around the age of her own daughter seemed to believe she needed permission to do anything. And she'd latched onto Zelena as an authority figure in the abscene of the woman that had treated her in such a way. Zelena had tried to tell her she could just go wherver she wanted; but, Alice had taken that as permission for just that moment. They needed to find a way to get her to do things without being told she could.

"Alice, do you want to go to bed?" Alice nodded. "Okay. Go ahead." Alice nodded again. Zelena hated telling her what to do. It felt wrong. Alice knew where her room was but wasn't sure if that's where she was supposed to sleep. Zelena's back was turned as Alice crawled into the corner of the living room. She curled up and fell asleep.

The next morning Zelena opened the door to Alice's room and noticed she was nowhere to be seen. She looked underneath the bed and inside the closet noticing that Alice had a habit of trying to find the smallest spaces she could sit in and Zelena had told her to go to bed. Not that it had to be in her bed.

Zelena couldn't find her

"Alice?" she called into the room. No response, not that Zelena had really expected one.

When Robin woke up she saw Zelena walking around the house, looking worried.

"What's wrong, mom?"

"I can't find Alice. She wasn't in her room."

"I think I know where she is," Robin told her. Robin walked over to the corner.

Alice was still curled up asleep. Robin backed away, trying not to wake her. She tripped and made a noise. Alice woke up.

"Hey, Alice," Robin greeted. Alice heard her. She adjusted herself into a sitting position.

Zelena came over a little while later. "Hey, you can come out."

Alice crawled out of the corner. "I'm going to go get breakfast started," Alice nodded. Waiting for more instructions.

"Uhhh, mom?" Robin reminded her.

"Oh, right. Alice you can come into the kitchen, if you want to."

Alice nodded and did. She sat in her seat and watched as Robin talked to her.

"Did you sleep in that corner?" Zelena asked.

Alice nodded. That was okay, wasn't it?

"You don't have to that. You can sleep in your room if you want to." Alice nodded. She didn't want to. The room was bigger than the entire tower and it scared her. But she couldn't ignore her.

They ate and everyone went about their days. Occasionally, Zelena would have to think about if there was anything specific Alice might need and not be willing to ask for and then offer it to her.

By the time night fell Alice was exhausted. She hadn't done much of anything but Robin had spent most of the day talking to her. Something she wasn't used to.

"Are you ready for bed?" Zelena asked after Alice had used the bathroom. Zelena held in her curse at the fact Alice would wait until she was told she could leave the bathroom. Alice nodded. She sat there waiting for Zelena to say more. "Oh right, go ahead then." Alice nodded. She walked into her room. She didn't want to sleep in here. It was scary. It was so much bigger than what she was used to. There were blankets all over the bed but she didn't use the bed. That was for mother. She grabbed the blankets and dragged them into the corner of the room. She'd moved a bit more than she should have but it was the only way to do what she was supposed to. She crumpled the blankets up and tossed one over her. She went to sleep with silent tears in her eyes. Everything was new and everything was scary. Everything was so big.

The next morning, Robin was the first one to be awake. She peaked into Alice room and saw the pile of blankets. Alice was now sitting on top of them.

"Good morning, Alice," Robin greeted. Alice just nodded. She couldn't talk to her right now.

Robin noticed that the bed looked like it hadn't even been unmade. Zelena entered the room. "Good morning."

Alice darted her eyes around the room more. She wasn't sure what Zelena wanted her to do. She was scared. And this room was so big. She missed being able to curl up in the corner of her tower where mother wouldn't really bother her. And it'd been days since she'd been able to do anything besides sleep, eat, and use the bathroom. At least mother let her clean sometimes. Alice was getting restless. But she couldn't say anything.

"You can go to the bathroom," Zelena told her thinking the worry in her face was the start of her needing to use the restroom. Alice nodded and did. Zelena waited outside the door until she heard the sink turn off then told her it was okay to leave, and then okay to go into the kitchen. It had taken a few days but Zelena had learned what Alice would and wouldn't wait for permission for. So far, there was nothing in the latter category. Zelena considered Alice choosing what part of the bedroom to sleep in a very small victory.

During breakfast everyone tried to make conversation.

"Did you sleep well?" Zelena asked. Alice ignored her. No one was directly talking to her. She sat and ate her breakfast.

"Alice? Did you sleep well?" Alice nodded. She slept as best as she was going to in the space she'd been in.

"Okay."

Once Zelena told her she could go where she wanted to she went and hid in the corner of the living room. Robin soon joined her.

"Did you actually sleep well?" Robin asked. She'd noticed that Alice tended to be too scared of her mom to come even close to saying something was wrong in front of her.

Alice shook her head.

"What was wrong?"

Alice had spoken to Robin before, and if she whispered Zelena would never have to know. "big." Alice looked towards her knees that were curled up to her chest as she said this.

"Is it too big?" Robin asked. Alice nodded.

"Where would you prefer to sleep?" Robin asked. Alice was comfortable in this small corner. It was smaller and it felt close to familar when nothing else did.

She pointed to the floor. One word was all she could manage and that had been difficult enough.

"Right here?" Alice nodded. "Okay."

Robin stood up, "I'll be right back."

Alice nodded. Robin darted off down the hallway and into Alice's room. Robin gathered all of the blankets that Alice had put into the corner of the room and brought them back.

"Here you go," Robin told her. "You can sleep wherever you want to." Alice shook her head. Robin couldn't tell her that. "And I can get my mom to tell you that if it'll make you feel better." Alice nodded.

Zelena did tell Alice it was okay to sleep in the little corner. Robin helped Alice create a fort out of pillows and blankets just behind the couch with a blanket draped over the top of the couch, making it impossible for anyone to stand over her when she was in there.

And the fort became Alice's room.