Zelena was proud. Alice was doing so much better. She still thought she needed permission to do anything, but she'd started to ask for what she wanted or needed. She would rush the words together and would look away from Zelena, focusing her attention anywhere else while asking;but she had gotten to a point where she woulldn't always just wait for Zelena to tell her what to do. Zelena didn't always know what Alice was saying. She was quiet and her words didn't have space in between them.

Alice was still scared but she had been getting more comfortable. Zelena had let her do everything she'd asked for so far. Which hadn't been much. But it was more than she'd ever dared ask mother. And Zelena hadn't yelled or hurt her for anything. The thought that this could eaaisly change slowly crept into Alice's mind. She wouldn't leave her room without asking first. And in order to ask she'd have to wait for Zelena to come to her room.

"Hey, where's Alice?" Zelena asked when Robin walked into the kitchen as she was cooking. She wasn't sure if Alice had gotten any more confident or if she was waiting for her.

"She's in her room."

Zelena asked Robin to watch the stove and then walked over to Alice's room.

"Do you want anything?" Zelena asked. Alice was doing better but it wasn't perfect. She was still frightened and still had a litany of habits to unlearn. It was hard for Zelena but she knew as hard as it was it must be even harder for Alice who had likely never heard a kind word in her life before meeting Robin.

Alice glanced up at Zelena. She didn't know what she wanted. It was taking time for Alice to understand her own needs. She'd never had to really think about it before. Mother had always made her do things one way. Now that she could make her own decisions she didn't always know what she wanted or needed.

Alice shook her head. She didn't know. She had just woken up not too long before. Was she hungry? No. Did she want something to drink? No. Alice felt one of muscles clench. She needed the bathroom!

Alice was getting better at saying what she wanted. But she wouldn't always do it. Sometimes she still needed structure. Zelena would wait for Alice to tell her. She'd give her a chance to say something before offering her choices.

"CanIgotothebathroom?" Alice rushed the words together but Zelena understood enough of the sentance to know what Alice had asked her for.

"Yeah, go ahead." Alice folded the blanket and pushed it into the back of the corner. She clutched her toy rabbit tighter then got out of the corner and went to the bathroom. Alice used the restroom than sat down next to the door which she immeidatly staarted playing with as she always did when she had the chance to. She loved doing that. She waited for Zelena to come back. She still wasn't willing to move around compelty on her own. She still needed to at least make sure it was okay.

Zelena went to the bathroom and saw Alice playing.

"Are you having fun?" It pained Zelena that this was something that Alice enjoyed. She shouldn't have been so scared to do most things that she would hide in the bathroom playing until Zelena came to ask her if she wanted to go somewhere else. She should have had a real childhood. Zelena was angry for her. But she couldn't show that anger. It would only send Alice deeper into whicever corner she was closest to with her head burried into her knees in a panic.

Alice nodded. She was. Was that okay? Alice still didn't like talking enough to ask Zelena if it was okay but she did want to know.

Zelena waited, she was hoping Alice would tell her what she wanted to do. When Alice didn't say anything, Zelena decided to give her the smallest amount of structure.

"Alice, what do you want to do?"

Alice ran through the things in her mind. She didn't do much. She never had. Wasn't it time to eat? Isn't that what Zelena wanted her to do?

"CanIgoeat?" Alice whispered the words and they blurred together. Zelena would take it. It was closer.

"Yeah. It's not ready yet," Alice flinched thinking she'd made the wrong decision but then Zelena continued her sentance. "But we can go into the kitchen until it's ready."

Alice nodded and got up. She carried her toy rabbit with her into the kitchen then sat down in the kitchen corner.

Zelena took over for Robin.

"Hey," Robin greeted Alice who simply nodded her greeting. Alice wanted to play. She knew Zelena was okay with her playing and had newly discovered that asking tended to get her what she wanted. Which was something she hadn't quite adjusted to. It was getting easier every time she did it but it was still new to her. Mother had always hated when she'd ask for things. She'd still done it sometimes when she needed something but this was different. Zelena was okay with her wanting things. And she hadn't hurt her.

"Canweplayagame?" Alice whispered. Zelena didn't hear her, but Robin did.

"Yeah, sure." Alice shook her head violently. NO! She needed Zelena to tell her it was okay! Alice hugged her legs tighter to her chest.

"Okay, hey mom? Can Alice and I play cards?"

Zelena nodded. "Yeah, that's fine. If Alice wants to."

"There. All better?" Alice nodded.

Robin started to think about how this new system would work if Zelena wasn't around. Would Alice listen to anyone else? Robin worried. If there was an emergency would Alice sit frozen in fear because Zelena wasn't around to tell her it was okay? Robin silently cursed the girl's so-called mother and then went an retreived the decks of cards.

They played the game until the food was ready. Zelena set the plates of food on the table. Alice stayed sat in her corner.

"Alice, where do you want to eat?"

Zelena knew it was going to take more than just a few kind words to convince Alice she was safe. She just wished she'd do a little more. If Alice didn't respond for a few minutes Zelena was going to give her choices. "It's going to get cold. Where do you want to eat?"

Alice shook her head. She didn't care. Where did Zelena want her to be? Zelena held in a sigh and reminded herself that i was one step at a time. They couldn't push Alice further than she was ready for or they'd just scare her and Zelena felt like Alice had had enough fear for a lifetime. Far more, actually.

"Ok, that's fine. Do you want to eat at the table or right there?"

"Table?" Alice's voice hit a bit of a questioning tone. Sometimes she'd just guess what Zelena wanted her to do because she didn't understand how to make her own decisions. It'd been so long since she'd even tried to make most decisions. And when she had? Alie shuddered at the memories and the faint remains of long healed bruises and scars reminding her why she needed to be careful about what she did. She didn't know that she didn't actually need to be cautious.

"Ok."

Alice stayed in her corner. Zelena wished Alice would just walk to the table not even ten feet awaay rom her but she was waiting for the magical words of "you can." or "go ahead." Words Zelena was starting to wish Alice didn't know. Or at least didn't rely on so heavily.

"Ok, you can come eat." Alice nodded and did as she was told.

Henry walked in as they were eating.

"Hey, I'm here!" His loudness caused Alice to flinch.

"You're okay," Robin quickly comforted. "It's just Henry. He won't hurt you. He's just loud. He's not yelling at you."

Alice nodded and went back to her food and resumed her well practiced habit of darting her eyes around everywhere.

She finished her food and wanted to put her plate away. She also wanted to clean the mess in the kitchen. It wasn't her mess but she knew how to do that. And she was frustrated with how little she did here. She hadn't been left in the kitchen often enough, she though.

"CanIclean?" Alice asked. Zelena assumed she was talking about the plate in front of her and told her it was okay. Henry stared in shock as Alice asked for something and then moved. The last time he'd been around she'd needed perfectly clear choices and only said one or two worded sentences. She was still quieter than a mouse but she was asking questions and expressing what she wanted.

"Good job, Alice." Henry told her.

Alice ignored him and went and set the dish in the sink. She immediatly started cleaning the kitchen, with her eyes occasioanally glancing over to Zelena to see if it was okay. Zelena quickly realized that she'd misunderstood Alice's question. It wasn't her job to clean up the disaster that was the after effects of Zelena's cooking.

"Alice, that's okay. It's not your job to clean up after me." Zelena hoped this wouldn't hurt Alice's confidence. It felt like everything could.

Yes. It was. Alice was confused. Mother made her clean up after her all the time. That's how it worked. But she also wasn't supposed to argue. Alice darted her eyes back a forth between the still disaturous kitchen and Zelena. It was her job to clean. But she was supposed to do what she was told. But Zelena had said it was okay. Alice shook her head. Why was everything so confusing? Alice felt like no matter what she did she was going to get in trouble. So she turned back around and kept cleaning.

She set a plate onto the drainer and muttered, "Sorry."

She did this after every few dishes until she finished.

Zelena didn't know what to do. Alice clearly wanted to clean the kitchen but spent the entire time apologizing. Zelena wished that Alice would understand she was allowed to do whatever she wanted but she just couldn't get that through to her.

"It's okay, you didn't do anything wrong." Zelena said that and many different variants after every unwarranted apology. Was Alice ever going to be independant? Or was she going to spent the rest of her life waiting around for Zelena to tell her what to do? What would happen if Zelena had to leave for more than a few hours? When Alice finished Zelena didn't know whether to praise her or ignore what she'd done. But she'd apologized so much Zelena felt like she needed to tell her she was good. Zelena held in a groan. This was hard.

"Hey, Alice. Could you come here for just a minute?" Alice nodded and approached Zelena. She stayed a little bit away from her both from fear of pain and the rules her mother had about her personal space.

"Thank-you. You can help if you want to but you don't have to. And you certainly don't have to do it by yourself." Zelena prayed to the gods this would get through to Alice. Zelena knew she understood her words litterally but the emotions and deeper meanings were nearly always lost to Alice.

Alice held in a sigh. Was she allowed to clean or not? She decided she'd think about it later. She realized Zelena might be angry but she didn't want to stand in the middle of the kitchen all day. Alice sat down.

Zelena quikly told her she could go wherever she wanted. The hint of desperation in her voice revealing her wish that Alice would take it as a permenant request.

Henry was sitting at the table drawing. Alice sat down across from him and watched.

She picked up her rabbit she'd left of the table and held it.

"Hi, Alice."

Alice just nodded. Henry tried to make conversation with her even though he didn't expect any answers.

"Ever decide on a favorite food?"

Henry didn't get an answer and then remebered Alice would often not know that someone expected an answer from her.

"Alice, did you ever decide on a favorite food?"

Alice nodded. She had.

"What is it?"

"Spaghetti."

"That's a good food."

Henry continued drawing and sprinkled in a mostly one sided conversation.

Alice watched as Henry put color onto a sheet of paper. Mother had made her learn how to read and write but this didn't look like any writing she'd ever seen. And she couldn't read it.

"Do you want to try?" Henry asked after noticing Alice had been watching him for a while. He wasn't sure if she even knew how to hold a pencil but pushed an empty sheet of paper and handed her a few pencils to use. Alice nodded. Henry clearly really wanted her to try this. How had he done that though? She could write.

"Do you know how?" Henry asked her. Alice shook her head. She knew how to write. She'd try that. Alice really only knew how to spell things she'd had to do. She could sound it out, though. Al-ice. Alice wrote her name on the paper. "Okay, so you know how to write?" Alice nodded.

"Watch." Henry drew a simple shape and told Alice to mimic him. It took a few minutes but she got it. She drew small basic pictures all across the paper. Around lunch time Zelena came in and saw Alice's drawings.

"Those are nice," She told her. "I didn't know you liked to draw."

Alice shook her head, this time fairly calmly. She was getting more confident but was still scared. She hoped Henry would tell Zelena it was something she'd learned.

"I just taught her how. It was fun, Alice." Henry needed to head back to meet up with Ella. "I'm gonna go."

Alice tried to hand Henry back his art supplies. "You keep it. Maybe you'll show me whatever you draw next?"

Alice silently agreed.

Zelena walked Henry to the door.

"Thanks. She's still just so scared. I wish I could do more. But I can't."

"The fact you're worried means You're doing just fine Aunt Z. She'll get better. And by the way, her favorite food is spaghetti, apparently."

"I bloody knew it