Zelena was growing more confident in Alice's ability to function. She was still easily scared, the slightest rise in volume or the smallest of sudden movements and she would curl in herself and desperatly clutch onto either her rabbit or a blanket, whichever was closer. Which more often than not the rabbit was. She'd slowly increased how often she'd ask for things. At first she'd only ask to go to the bathroom or to eat or clean. But she'd gotten far more confident with this new pattern. Zelena had been shocked the first time Alice asked if she could draw. She'd come near to fainting when Alice had asked her if she could go outside. Zelena had immediatly said yes to both request and then once Alice wasn't watching her she'd quietly let out a cheer. It wasn't perfect but she was growing less reliant on Zelena, which was bloody brilliant.

Alice was sitting at the table drawing when Zelena walked back into the kitchen she'd left for a little while.

"I'm going out today." Alice nodded.

"Ok." Alice wanted to go with but didn't know if she was allowed to. Mother had always told her no when she'd asked. But mother had also always had her behind a magical barrier. Would it be okay? Alice wasn't sure. And she was scared. Alice shook her head and continued drawing.

Zelena saw Alice shaking her head. "What's wrong?"

Alice shook her head. Nothing was wrong. She just wasn't sure if she was allowed to go or not. And she wanted to. But she didn't know if was okay to ask or not.

"You can do whatever you want to," Zelena told her. Alice nodded. She knew this but she didn't think it applied to going with Zelena. She wanted to ask. She hadn't gotten in trouble for asking to go outside, had she? No. Alice debated with her self for a little while.

"CanIgowithyou?" Alice rushed her words but Zelena understood her well enough now, usually. Zelena wasn't sure if it was a good idea or not. Alice was still so scared of the things around her here. But telling her no could easily send her spiralling back into not doing anything without Zelena telling her she could first. They'd finally gotten to a point Zelena was fairly cofident in Alice's ability to express what she needed, even if she wouldn't do it without asking. As long as someone was with her it would be fine, wouldn't it? Fine. Alice could come. Zelena wasn't sure if she was making the right decision.

"You can. Yeah."

Alice was a little excited. She'd never strayed further than a few steps away from the house and even when she did that she could either see Zelena or had Robin with her. This was going to be different than anything she'd ever done.

"Okay, let me go find Robin and then we'll go."

Alice nodded. Zelena went and found Robin. They got to where they needed to be after stopping several times to let Alice have much needed rest. She was gaining endurance but she still had spent most of her life rarely moving around and needed to take breaks.

Alice was exhausted by the time they got to the market which really wasn't that far away from their home but it was futher than Alice was used to walking at once.

Alice darted her eyes around. It was loud and there were so many people.

Zelena noticed Alice starting to get overwhelmed. Maybe this had been a bad idea? But it was what Alice had said she'd wanted and Zelena was pretty sure it wasn't dangerous.

"Are you okay?"

Alice nodded. It was just a lot going on. She was fine. "Alright." Zelena thought it better safe than sorry. "Try to stay with me or Robin, okay? If you get lost just stay wherever you are and we;ll come find you, okay?"

Alice nodded. "Alright." Zelena started walking and Alice trailed a little ways behind her with Robin standing next to her providing her with an explanation of everything around her.

Alice didn't like getting close to Zelena but she didn't mind standing next to Robin.

They walked around the market for a little while. Alice asked Robin a few questions about what things were and Robin answered her. This was good. Alice was doing really well. And then she bumped into someone. Alice quickly apologized and went to clutch the toy rabbit that had been forgotten on the kitchen table. In her blind panic that she couldn't comfort herself she lost sight of both Robin and Zelena. She knew Zelena had said stay where she was so she sat down in the road, not knowing any better. She'd just wait. She pulled her knees up to her chest.

She sat there for a few minutes and then heard a sound she'd never heard before. She didn't know it was the sound of horses pulling a carriage. Luckily, the driver managed to stopped the horses before colliding with her.

"What are you doing? Move!"

Alice shook her head after flinching because of how loud this stranger was being. Zelena had told her to stay put so she'd stay put.

The driver didn't see her shaking her head.

"Get out of the road!"

Alice stayed where she was. The driver dropped the reins and walked over to see if she could hear him.

"What are you doing?"

Alice stared at him with a blank stare for a moment.

"Waiting."

"Okay, whatever you're waiting for go wait for it somewhere else. You can't sit in the middle of the road."

Alice shook her head violentally. She didn't want to move. And she wasn't supposed to. And where was Zelena? Or Robin. Alice hugged her r legs tighter to her body and didn't know what to do. She started to shake a little.

"Okay then..." the driver had no idea how to handle whatever was happening.

Robin glanced over and noticed Alice wasn't standing next to her anymore. She had been talking to air for only the gods knew how long. But that's always what talking to Alice felt like. She didn't respond out loud much and Alice had run out of questions or gotten tired of asking them.

"Mom!"

Zelena glanced back. Shit! Where was Alice? She'd just been there with Robin not that long before.

"Where's Alice?"

"Don't know."

There weren't any smaller corners Alice could hide in so Zelena and Robin walked around asking everyone if they'd seen Alice. No one seemed to have an answer.

"Oh come on! Move! Get out of the road! What is wrong with you? Patheic little girl" Zelena heard someone yeling.

"Mom, I think someone found Alice." Robin was worried. Someone was yelling at Alice. They'd been so careful not to yell around her. They'd made sure every word they used was a kind one and in one trip someone had potentially destroyed all of that.

Zelena nodded with an equal amount of dread.

They went over and saw Alice sitting in the road. Zelena hid her sigh as a small yawn.

"Alice, can you come here, please?"

Alice nodded and did as she was told. Zelena didn't want to make a scene. Robin, however was not having it this time.

"You really shouldn't insult teenage girls." They walked away before hearing what the man muttered.

"Hey, Alice." Alice looked at Zelena. Had she done something wrong? The fear showed in her eyes. "No you're not in trouble. I told you to do that. That's my fault not yours. But you can't sit in the road, okay? It's not safe? The carriage could have hit you."

They finished up their trip and headed back to the house. Alice was exhausted when they got home. She was a little shaken from the day but Zelena and Robin had both spent half the trek home reassuring her that it was okay and so she wasn't too terribly upset. But she was exhausted.

"CanIgotobed?" Alice asked quickly.

Zelena told her she could and Alice walked into her room and fell asleep for a nap, too tired to bother with anything else.

"I should have been watching her," Zelena was upset with herself. It was so easy to forget that Alice needed her to help with everything. Zelena dreaded to think of what would have happened if the carriage hadn't been able to stop. Zelena sighed. This was harder than she'd ever thought it was going to be but it'd be okay. Eventually.