"Please?" Regina didn't know how to handle this. She'd been gone a while for the rebellion and finally gotten back to Zelena's house. Her son, Henry, spent a lot of time here and Regina came to visit as well but she'd been really busy helping Tiana with the rebellion. But now she had a bit more time on her hands and had come to visit her family. And now their faily included a girl who seemed to be about the same age as Robin but they couldn't be sure on that. They'd found her, or rather Robin had found her, locked away in a tower living with her mother who had treated her worse than they could even begin to imagine. She was fearful of most things. She pretty much only did as she was told. There was one exception, she Unfortunatley, she also only thought Zelena was much of an authroity figure. Which is exactly what had brought them to their current situation. Regina crouching uncomfortably in front of a wide eyed teenager clutching a toy rabbit while shaking over her presence.

Alice shook her head. She couldn't listen to her. It didn't matter if she was hungry or not. She would stay right here where Zelena had left her until told otherwise. "Alice, you have to eat. Zelena won't be back for a while." Regina was growing frustrated but not showing it. How did Zelena handle this every day? Regina knew Alice listened to her but this couldn't be easy, constantly having to make sure someone that wouldn't voice their needs was getting everything they needed. It had been hard with a young child but someone you could easily forget needed to be told what to do? Regina took back anything she ever said about Zelena's nature. She may have made her mistakes but this took the patience of a saint. And Zelena was doing it every day. She'd applaud her right now if she wasn't sure the sudden movement would have Alice pulling even further away from her.

"Ok, fine," Regina resigned. She'd tried pleading for at least half an hour already. No, she had to eat. It wasn't right to make her wait for Zelena who had left her in charge while she was gone. Why had she left her in charge? She longed for the days her own son was small, it was stressful at time but it was better than this. This was infuriating. Sure, Henry had had his fair share of tantrums but he'd never glued himself to a corner like this! "Alice, you have to eat." Regina was growing more frustrated and Alice was growing more scared and confused.

Alice stared at her, she shook a little and pulled her knees to her chest a bit tighter. She agreed with what she was saying but she couldn't tell her what to do any more than Robin could. And what if she was wrong? Wouldn't Zelena be angry if she did what someone else told her? She wasn't really sure how this would've worked with mother. She'd never met another person until Robin. But mother had always said that she could only move when mother told her to. And Zelena was Robin's mother, sure she was a lot nicer but she was in charge of Alice. At least that's what made sense to Alice and nothing else in this strange place did so she was holding onto what she did understand. And Regina didn't live here so she couldn't tell her. Alice squeezed the toy rabbit tighter as her breathing started to speed up. She knew how to calm herself down. She'd had to do it a lot. In. Out. In. Out. And then she was as calm as it was possible for her to be. But she was scared. She was always scared. And she didn't know how to respond to Regina telling her what to do.

"Alice, what do I have to do to get you to eat?" Regina had admitted defeat. She'd do it however Alice wanted at this point. If she'd even tell her. Alice shook her head. She was sitting right here until Zelena got home. She hoped it be soon. She really did want to go play a game with Robin or maybe go to the bathroom. She'd managed to ask Robin for one of those things but that was outside and that was different and it was just Robin. Robin wasn't scary. Not really that scary, anyway.

Robin walked into the living room and saw the exasperated look on Regina's face.

"Hey, Alice," Robin greeted. "Can I join you in there?" Alice nodded. Regina took this as a cue to leave.

Robin could tell Alice was scared by something. "Alright, what's wrong?"

Alice stared at her. Regina had just spent a while trying to force Alice into breaking the most important rule of all.

"Eat." Alice choked out the one word. She was too scared right now to do much more than that. Luckily, Robin had learned how to put the pieces together and guess what Alice needed.

"Are you hungry?" Well, yes but that's not what she was trying to tell Robin. This was frustrating. She knew how to talk. But she hated it. She was scared of her own voice and it sounded wrong. The words hurt as they came out of her underused throat that was constantly rubbed raw from crying. And she never knew how mother would react to her talking. Sometimes she'd be angry she was talking at all sometimes she'd be angry about the way she spoke. She said she was too timid or her voice was too quiet. But what had she expected? She'd made Alice scared to speak by telling her not to speak unless mother was asking her a question. Sometimes that rule wasn't as enforced but it still lingered in the back of Alice's mind. Even when she was talking to Robin who she trusted more than anyone. Robin wouldn't hurt her. Alice was mostly sure of that fact but she still flinched away from her as she shook her head.

"Okay, are you sure you aren't hungry? You didn't eat lunch either. Are you hungry?" Alice wasn't sure how to respond to the questions. Was she sure? Or was she hungry? Which question did she answer? Alice stared at Robin with confusion. She had no idea what she wanted her to say or anything.

"Are you hungry, Alice?" Alice nodded. She was. But she wouldn't go into the kitchen.

"Okay, do you want to go into the kitchen and eat?" Alice shook her head violentally. Robin knew this reaction meant she was terrafied of breaking whatever rule she thought existed. "Ok, ok. I understand. I'll bring your food here. And if you want, you can tell me what's wrong. Is that okay with you?"

Alice nodded. Maybe she could explain to Robin why she was scared but she didn't think she could.

Robin walked into the kitchen a threw a sandwhich together. "I'm going to take this to Alice," she told her.

Regina stared at her with shock. It can't have been that simple. "How'd you convince her to eat?"

"Did she tell you she didn't want to eat?" Robin asked.

"She didn't say much of anything. Just shook her head a lot."

Robin mimicked the way Alice usually shook her head in response to questions that didn't scare her. "Was it like that? Or more like this?" Robin then mimiced the violent head shake Alice reserved for when anyone besides Zelena told her it was okay to move.

"That one."

"What'd you ask her?"

"Just if she wanted to come eat in here."

"Oh, yeah. She only comes in here when my mom tells her she can. She's scared still, I think." Regina had known this but hadn't thought about the best approach to the situation. Any ill will she could have possibly still posessed for her sister melted away. She might have been disorganized and a horrible driver but she was handling this situation better than Regina thought she ever could have. "I'm going to go give Alice her sandwhich."

Robin walked off and set outside of the fort. She wouldn't go in there without asking Alice first. That was Alice's space to feel safe and Robin knew this.

"Here you go, one ham and cheese sandwhich." Robin did a mock bow which in her head was a funny stunt. In reality? It caused Alice to flich from the sudden movement and drop the toy rabbit she'd been holding.

"It's okay." Robin knew Alice didn't like dropping things. Especially if they made sounds. She reached over and handed the rabbit back to her.

"Thank-you," Alice whispered. She would talk some. "Aunt Regina didn't mean to scare you, she just didn't know what to do."

Alice nodded. She knew what that was like. She never felt like she knew what to do here. Alice ate her sanwhich and listened to Robin talk.

Zelena finally returned another hour later and made sure Alice had everything she needed. She wished Alice would just do things by herself. She longed for the typical teenage rebellion phase to sneak it's way out. At this point, it'd be a bloody good thing if Alice stole a care like Robin had.

A/N: Stacey Dawe pointed out that Regina is rarely mentioned so this chapter kinda explains her and Alice's interactions with eah other a bit better. And I can go back to just forgetting her because I litterally don't have a damn clue how to write her character in this with what I've done with the other characters. She's around. Doing something. Proably.