Regina fastened her daughter's apron, which was adorned with little apples and perfectly matched her own. Heidi's hair was tied up in the same messy bun style, something the girl has insisted upon when she had woken up that morning. Regina had promised her that they could do some baking that day and Heidi had said that she wanted to drop some buns off for her grandparents even though they couldn't give them hugs just yet.

"What flavour do you want to make?" Regina asked as she lifted the girl onto a little safety stool so that she could reach the counter. It was safe for her to use as it boxed her in so that she couldn't fall, Heidi loved baking and Caroline had bought the piece of furniture for them so that she could help out in the kitchen.

"Chocolate!"

"Of course."

"Mommy's favourite."

"Definitely mommy's favourite and Heidi's."

"Yep," she grinned, licking her lips. She had already washed her hands at the sink and was holding them out in front of her, knowing not to put them near her mouth or touch anything but the bakery equipment. "Grandma like vanilla."

"Maybe we'll have to make a couple of vanilla ones as well then," Regina quipped. She knew that Heidi was talking about her mother, Cora preferred vanilla to chocolate as did Zelena, Regina was more like her father in that respect opting for chocolate and it seemed her daughter had taken after her too.

"One for auntie Zeze," Heidi hummed, "and one to Daddy."

"I think Daddy will probably pinch more than one," Regina chuckled, moving over to wash her own hands before returning to her daughter's side, "okay then Heidi, do you remember what we need to do first?"

"Yep," she nodded, "sugar."

Regina grinned, they'd made cupcakes quite a few times and it always made her smile when her daughter remembered exactly what they needed to do, at three she was extremely clever. It had taken Regina much longer to remember how to make buns and she was twenty-two. "That's right, we weigh out the sugar, two hundred grams." She placed the scales on the counter and took hold of the sugar, allowing her daughter to hold onto it too as they carefully poured it together, watching as the number on the scales went. "And stop. Now what?"

"Now, butter."

"Very good." They carried on this way, measuring out all the ingredients and mixing them, once they were all in, Regina allowed Heidi to mix it a little. She knew that her daughter was very cautious when it came to baking, she knew about germs and now especially it was important that she didn't put her hands in her mouth until after they had finished. "Give it a good mix Heidi."

"Stirring it up good mommy," she beamed, whisking it all as quickly as her little arm could, beating the mixture around the bowl. Whilst she was busy doing that, Regina grabbed the mixture she had put aside to make her mother's and Zelena's cupcakes as they didn't have the coca powdered and chocolate added in. Carefully she moved it into the bun cases then checked how Heidi was getting on with the chocolate ones.

"Oh wow, look at that! That looks so good baby," she hummed, pressing a light kiss to the girl's temple, "so now we need to…"

"Put in the cases," Heidi grinned, grabbing some of the cases that were covered in little hearts, "put here first," she instructed, dropping the cases into the muffin tray which would support them as they rose. They spooned in the mixture together, filling the cases one by one. "Perfect."

"Yes, they are perfect. How about I put them in the oven and you can lick the spoon?"

Blue eyes doubled in size as she nodded vigorously as she took hold of the spoon and ran her tongue over it, a little hum escaping her lips as she worked on cleaning it off. Regina put the cakes into the oven and worked on clearing everything else up, looking back at her daughter now and then to see her still working on liking off as much cake batter as she could get her mouth around.

"What?! How come little madam here got to lick the spoon?"

A grin formed on her face as she turned to see Robin stood playfully teasing their daughter, he had smudges of paint across his face and hands and was currently threatening to wipe a blob of yellow on their little girl's nose.

"That's usually my job."

"Mommy let me," she giggled hysterically, holding the spoon in one hand and fending off her daddy's paint-covered hand with the other. "Don't get messy daddy! We baking, you dirty!"

"Aww, but I wanted a cuddle from my baby girl."

"Not now," Heidi shook her head, her messy bun wobbling on top, "after, no germs."

"What about my other favourite girl, surely, she has a cuddle for me?" he asked, looking over at Regina with a wink.

"I don't think so as Heidi said, we need to keep clean, which means you need to get out, shoo. Don't come in here trying to steal Heidi's spoon."

"Yes! This my spoon," she grinned, licking it again a wicked little smile forming on her lips making Regina giggle, she could tell that she was taunting Robin that she had it and he didn't.

Robin scoffed and shook his head, "I can't believe my own daughter won't even share with her daddy." Regina watched as his bottom lip began to wobble and he pretended to cry.

Heidi stopped mid lick and looked at him, thinking for a minute before releasing a little sigh, "daddy have icing spoon?" she asked, looking up at Regina in question. She knew that they did the icing next which of course meant more spoons to lick, that one was always her daughter's favourite one. "Daddy have icing spoon?" she turned her gaze to Robin then, checking to see if that had made him happy.

"Thank you, sweetheart, we can share."

"Yes, share," she nodded, looking happy with his answer before she licked the very last bit of cake mix from the spoon and handed it to her mother, "all gone." Her face was covered in it, the chocolate mixture had coated her mouth, chin and cheeks.

"Well, we better wash up again before we work on the icing."

"Yes! Get rid of germs."

"Hmm," she nodded, lifting her out of the steps and moving over to the sink to wash her hands and face, making sure she was as clean as possible before moving her back to her original place.

"Well, I suppose I'll leave you, girls, to it, it looks as though you have everything under control," Robin smiled, "it smells amazing in here."

"How's it going?" Regina asked as she got the butter from the fridge to make the frosting. He was working on a collection for one of Sydney Glass's galleries in New York, the man wanted him to have a show there, post lockdown of course, luckily that had given Robin much more time to complete his work, instead of the exhibition being held in August, it was to be scheduled for December. They just prayed that everything would be back to at least some form of normal by then, it meant a lot of money coming in if the show went ahead.

"It's going, slowly but surely," he sighed, "I'd rather have my beautiful model sit for me than have to work from a photo."

"Ah well, your beautiful model is busy making cupcakes and watching over your daughter."

"I was talking about Heidi but… oww!" Regina whacked him with the tea towel and he chuckled, "I'm joking," he held his hands up in surrender, "I'm actually working on one of you riding a dragon."

"Oh, did the dragon sit for you too? Oh wait, he must be social distancing and in lockdown," she smiled.

"Dragon locked down too?" Heidi asked, looking over at them from where Regina had placed her on her stool, "he not fly, see his friends? He is sad too."

"Aww Heidi, don't be sad," Robin sighed moving closer to brush his nose against hers, "you've got mommy and me here to give you so many cuddles."

"I think she just misses her grandparents," Regina murmured. It was hard explaining to a three-year-old why she couldn't go and see her grandparents when they were used to visiting them almost every day. Not seeing them was hard on all of them, she missed her parent's just as much as Heidi did. "But, that's why we are going to take them some cupcakes isn't it Heidi? To make sure that they are happy."

"Yes, vanilla for grandma," a small smile reappeared on her face as she said that, her eyes falling to Robin, "dragon really locked down?"

"No sweetheart, don't worry about him, he has magic powers and will be just fine," he grinned, pulling away from them and reaching for a glass to fill with water. "But I better be getting back into the studio and hopefully have another section done by tonight."

"Well, good luck, we might pop out this afternoon to take the cakes to our parents," Regina informed him, looking in the oven to check up on the cakes which had risen and were ready to be taken out before being left to cool.

"Okay, pop your head around the door and let me know when you're going out."

"Will do," she nodded. He pressed his lips to hers gently before kissing the top of Heidi's head and leaving them to it.

"Hard bit," Heidi murmured as she held the piping bag, her pink tongue posting out as she carefully tried to ice the bun, forming a lopsided swirl on top.

Heidi did a couple whilst Regina managed the rest, she remembered a time when she hadn't been able to do anything close to what she could now. Caroline had taught her everything she knew, so with her working at the bakery during the day, she could now make just about any sweet dessert there was to perfection. Which meant that she iced the nine cakes she had before Heidi had even finished one. Whilst The little girl did that Regina moved over to grab the rainbow sprinkles and edible paper flowers.

"How are you getting on darling?" Regina asked, watched as the girl finished off her second one. They looked a little wonky but she was proud of them nonetheless, "wow! Amazing job baby girl!"

"They look good!" She beamed with satisfaction as she ever so gently picked up her final cupcake. Regina watched as she slowly applied the icing, following the line around in swirls to the centre just as her mother taught her, she knew she had a future baker on her hands. "Now sprinkles!"

"Oh, you wanted sprinkles?"

"Yes!" She nodded excitedly, looking over to where Regina had put them, "come on mommy."

"The rainbow ones?"

"Yesss!"

"You sure you don't want plain ones?" Regina giggled, teasing her daughter, knowing full well that the girl wanted the colourful ones," or chocolate."

"Rainbow please," she hummed, rocking happily on the steps, her hand outstretched waiting for her mother to hand her what she wanted. "Pretty ones."

"They are aren't they," Regina handed the tube to the little girl, allowing her to put them on top of all the cupcakes. She carefully dropped a few into her hand and slowly allowed them to fall onto the icing, sticking in place. Once each cake had an even covering of the coloured strands, she picked up the paper flowers and gently topped each bun with one of them before looking up at her mother in pride.

"Look! Like yours mommy! At the bakeshop."

She grinned as she slipped her hand into her pocket to retrieve her phone, she wanted to capture the moment. "Hey Heidi, give me a smile then."

Her daughter did exactly that, showing off her little white milk teeth as she grinned for the camera, one cupcake in her hands, clearly, the one she had chosen for herself, though Regina was proven wrong when the girl spoke up.

"Can I give to daddy?" She asked innocently and the older woman lifted her from the steps and placed her on the ground, "give him spoon too."

"Oh yes, can't forget that can we," Regina chuckled, taking the icing coated spoon from the bowl and handing it to her daughter. "You go find daddy whilst I clean up in here okay?"

"Okay," she nodded, trotting off to go see her father in his studio, leaving Regina to pack up the cakes in separate containers depending on who they would be delivered to before cleaning up the last of the mess.

Robin was working on Regina's nose, using shading to make it realistic, sculpting it to look just right, as he went to clean off his brush there was a little knock at the door of his studio. He dropped the brush into the water and stood from his chair, wiping his hands on his painting shirt before moving over to answer. He peeked out, finding no one there and he knew full well that someone was playing a trick on him. This was confirmed when he heard soft giggling coming from behind one of the tall house plants they hand down the landing.

Regina wasn't short enough to hide behind it so he knew exactly who it was, "oh is there no one at the door? I thought I might have had a little visitor. What a shame." She remained quiet except from the little snorts she made from trying to keep her laughter in. "Maybe I'll just have to go back into the studio and keep my door closed. Especially since my little girl doesn't want to come and visit me."

Slowly he walked towards the plant, seeing that she was sat on the ground with a cupcake in one hand and a spoon coated in frosting in the other, her eyes closed and a grin on her face.

"Yes definitely will have to do that," he sighed before leaning down and grabbing her around the waist and hoisting her into the air making her squeal with laughter.

"Daddy! How you find me?!" She asked as he held her close, very aware of the messy items in her hands and how fuming Regina would be should some chocolate icing get on her cream carpet.

"Quite easily," he chuckled pressing a kiss to her cheek as he addressed the items in her hands, "wow! Did you make that cake baby?"

"Yep! This one for daddy," she beamed, "lello flower for you."

"A yellow flower?" She was just so adorable, the way she said yellow always made him and Regina smile, she was too cute for words.

"Uh-huh," Heidi nodded, "can see painting?"

"Of course, you can," he grinned, bouncing her on his shoulder as he carried her into his studio so that she could get a sneak peek at the painting he was creating of her mother.

"Wow! Mommy looks pretty!"

"Mommy is pretty isn't she."

"Bootifulliest."

"Yeah she's the most beautiful woman in the world," he agreed, "apart from you of course miss Heidi."

"Spoon for you," she smiled, holding up the spoon she had promised him earlier.

"Oh, thank you." He gently placed her back on the ground before taking the spoon from her and licking off some of the frosting, just as he finished doing that Regina appeared in the doorway.

"Well hello, there you two are. Heidi, shall we go get cleaned up then we can go drop off our cakes?"

"Yes!"

"Let's go then!" Regina chuckled moving closer to get a little peek at the painting Robin was working on, "stunning," she smiled, her fingers curling around the collar of his shirt so she could pull him towards her and press her lips to his. "We'll see you when we get home."

"Have fun, I'll miss you both."

Half an hour later they arrived outside Robin's parent's house, his childhood home. It had bee around eight weeks since they had properly seen them, they had been video calling and talking on the phone. Heidi hadn't been able to cuddle her grandparents in such a long time and there didn't seem to be an end in sight, there was no indication as to when they would be able to give everyone a tight hug.

"Remember sweetie, we can't hug nanna, as much as we might want to, we have to wait until its safe."

"Uh-huh, cos of germs," Heidi nodded, her hand wrapped up in her mother's as Regina placed the tupperware with the cakes for Caroline and James on the doorstep, she rang the bell before they backed away from the door, standing a safe distance away. It wasn't long before the door opened and Robin's father answered.

"If it isn't my favourite granddaughter!"

"Grandpa! You've been locked up!"

"I know, I have haven't I sweetie," he chuckled, Regina smiled seeing how excited her daughter was just to see them, even though she couldn't touch them or be any closer than the two meters which were required from them. "We missed you so much, all of you. Is Robin not with you?"

"He's working on his painting and was in the flow, he said that he would give you guys a call later," Regina quipped.

The older man nodded before turning back to the house and shouting out for his wife, "Caroline, there's someone at the door."

"Well you're answering it, why do I need to… my babies!" the blonde emerged, having to stop herself from moving too close. Regina knew that Robin's mother saw her as a daughter and treated her as such, sure she wasn't a baby, but she didn't mind, she loved that Caroline cared about them so much, she just knew how much the woman loved them and she loved her too, she loved both of Robin's parents, even before Heidi they had been like a second set of parents to her.

"Nana!" Heidi squealed, waving frantically at the woman she was used to seeing every day before the lockdown had started, "we can't hug, cos of germs," she said solemnly before remembering something, "but made cake! For you," the girl hummed, pointing to the tupperware.

"You made us some cakes?"

"Uh-huh! We clean, no germs."

"Yes, you were very clean weren't you Heidi," Regina chuckled, looking down at her daughter who was rocking on her heels, clearly happy to see her grandmother even though she couldn't go any nearer than the bottom step. "We were all missing you and Heidi thought that this might be a good idea."

"Well it was a wonderful idea, thank you, sweetheart. I have missed seeing your pretty faces in person," she sighed, perching on the bench that sat upon the small porch beside the door. "I was actually going to ring you later darling; I've had a couple of phone calls about birthday cakes, people are wanting them but obviously the bakery is closed. I've looked into it and it seems that we can open for delivery, of course, it wouldn't much be worth it for normal pastries, but I thought maybe we could do a few cake orders, bring in at least a little bit of money whilst we're closed."

Regina nodded, they often had to make birthday cakes and she had been practising on her sculpting work, though she was best at the simpler designs, leaving Caroline to make the complicated requests. "That sounds like a good idea."

"Of course, we'll have to take all of the necessary hygiene precautions. We'll only be taking a certain amount of orders a week and allowing them to pay online. I just wanted to check with you if you'd be okay completing a couple of the orders, we already have around five or so to complete for next week."

"Yes, I can manage that, Robin can watch Heidi, she can paint with him in the studio. How's that sound baby? You can go paint with daddy?"

"Okay," she smiled, sitting down on the grass as she ran her fingers over one of the pink flowers Caroline had planted, making sure to be gentle as she did, not wanting to damage it.

"Thank you, Regina, it would be a massive help."

"You're more than welcome."

"You can drop by the bakery and grab some supplies or you could even just use to ovens there, that might be best. There are disinfectants and sanitizers there already, also we have all the equipment, I think I shall be using my own kitchen so that will be free. You'll also get a little time to yourself, to be honest, I'm a little jealous James has been driving me crazy," she chuckled, gaining a disgruntled murmur from her husband.

"Robin is in the studio most of the time anyway, so its normally just me a Heidi," Regina grinned, sitting down beside her daughter.

They stayed there for a short while, just talking before Regina and Heidi stood up again and continued on their walk, heading towards the Mills residence this time, probably for a similar interaction with her own parents. The moment they walked through the gate Heidi hurried off towards the little wooden playhouse that Regina's father built for her in the garden, it had little tea sets, fake food and other things inside and Heidi loved it.

Regina made sure that the gate was closed and moved up the path towards the front door. She knocked gently and placed the box with the cakes in down on the doorstep before moving away and waiting for someone to answer. It was a moment before a head of red hair was visible through the glass panels and the door opened to reveal her sister looking somewhat dishevelled with red-rimmed eyes.

Regina's smile immediately dropped as she looked at her, "Zelena?" It was clear that the older woman had been crying, quite a bit if her eyes were any indication and it was concerning. "What's happened?"

"It's nothing," she sniffed, wiping her eyes on the sleeve of her shirt.

"It's clearly something."

She could see that her sister was reluctant to tell her, and just asking the question had made her even more upset, even if she was trying to hide it. Zelena took a deep breath and moved to sit on the swing seat that sat on the porch whilst Regina stayed at on the steps. The redhead looked up and met her eyes and Regina knew there was something seriously wrong.

"Alex just phoned me from the hospital, she got a call saying that her mom might have the virus," she whispered, "she's been taken to the ER with breathing problems. They've tested her but don't have the results yet, she's on oxygen at the minute and they're monitoring her. They said that she was too weak to even really talk."

"Is this just all of a sudden, was she having symptoms?"

"When Alex phoned her a couple of days ago, she said she had a cold and that's all. Al had been worried about her, she texted her last night and there wasn't a response. Then she got the phone call."

Regina sighed and shook her head, Frankie was still living in California and they had many more cases there than they had in Maine, mostly because it was more heavily populated. Frankie was in her late sixties, she had been older when she'd adopted Alex, but Regina knew she was normally healthy. "Is Alex coming home then?"

"No, she's still on shift for a few more hours. She broke down on the phone, someone from the hospital on the west coast called her to inform her about Frankie."

"Oh no." The older woman had many friends who lived nearby, but of course, Alex lived at the opposite end of the country and at the current moment wouldn't be able to go to her side. Regina daren't imagine how that must feel if it was her mother who was sick and she was unable to be with her. She wanted to hug her sister, but she couldn't, she couldn't even touch her to comfort her. "I'm so sorry Zelena, let's just hope that she pulls through this."

"She has to Gina, she… Alex, she's the only family Alex had growing up, I know that she's found Emma now, and she has us, but it isn't the same."

"I know, it's awful. You just feel powerless, like there isn't anything you can do to help."

"Auntie Zeze! We bring cake! Vanilla for you!" Heidi cheered as she appeared from the playhouse, completely oblivious to the conversation between the two women, that was until she looked at her aunty, her smile fell as she cocked her head, "why sad?"

"I'm okay sweetie, just a little tired," Zelena lied, how could a three-year-old understand the truth anyway? Heidi would have no idea what to make of it, it was best to not let her know, after all, she had only met Frankie a handful of times.

"Oh, should nap. Like I do," she shrugged, making Zelena laugh softly. Regina could tell that she was desperate to give Heidi a hug and it was hurting her not to reach out and pull her into her arms.

"Maybe I will have a nap a little later."

"Heidi, Regina," Cora greeted as she emerged in the doorway. Regina didn't think she had ever seen her look so casual; her school was closed which meant that she wasn't in work, she was doing all of her paperwork from home. Her dark hair was in the same style as both Heidi's and Regina's, secured on the top of her head, as for her clothes, she was wearing a slouchy pair of jeans with a white button-up shirt.

"Grandma! We brought you vanilla," the little girl smiled.

"Heidi brought us some cupcakes," Zelena quipped, gesturing to the box which she had picked up from the floor. "She made vanilla ones especially for us."

"Did you, well that was very thoughtful of you Heidi. I will certainly enjoy that after dinner later. Thank you."

"Welcome."

With that Heidi skipped off, heading to the playhouse and leaving the adults to talk. "Where's Daddy?" Regina asked as she looked between her sister and mother.

"Oh, he's working on a project in the back yard, forming gardening boxes with vegetable and such."

"Busy then I bet."

"He's been out there the past five days or so," Zelena chuckled, though it was a solemn laugh, Regina could tell that she was still thinking about Frankie and wanting to be there for Alex instead of at home worrying about her. She wished her mother would go and give her a hug, since they were living in the same household she was allowed to, but Cora, despite having gotten better at it over the years, could often not realise when someone needed emotional support.

"He'll be getting green fingers."

"Why grandad get green fingers?" Heidi asked, popping back up once again, cocking her head as she looked at her mother in confusion.

"It's just a saying sweetheart when people like to garden," Regina laughed, the other two women smiling also.

"I want to see! If he got green fingers," she giggled, hurrying towards one of the bushes which separated the back yard from the front, moving over to the gate and laying on the floor so she could peer underneath. "Hellooo!" she called out, reaching underneath, "grandad!"

"Well, has a little garden fairy come to pay me a visit?" his voice sounded from the other side of the bushes, interacting with his little granddaughter from a distance.

After a while, Regina could tell that Heidi was getting a little tired and they still had to walk home, so they bid farewell to her family. She asked Zelena to give Alex and Frankie her love before they headed back towards their own house. Heidi's hand was tightly wrapped in hers as they walked through the town. All of the shops and restaurants were closed, the windows of Granny's diner were blacked out and it was strange, almost like a ghost town.

Regina sighed as she looked down at her little girl, times were scary and unpredictable, they still had no idea to what scale this virus could spread. Until then though, she knew that they had to just keep on following the rules and stay safe.

By the time they got home, the sun was just beginning to drop down in the sky, yet it seemed that the lights were off. Regina furrowed her eyebrows as she dropped her keys onto the side table, it was strange that Robin was still working in the studio at this time, she would have thought that he'd have cleaned up already and maybe it was wishful thinking to hope he had started on dinner.

With a sigh she lifted Heidi onto her hip and carried her upstairs, "shall we go get ready for bed and then come down for some supper?"

"Uh-huh," she nodded tiredly, "where daddy?"

"He must still be painting baby," she sighed, moving into the bathroom and running the water in the tub. After giving Heidi a quick bath and getting her into her pyjamas, they both headed back downstairs again. The bath seemed to have woken her up a little and made her less sleepy which meant that at least she wouldn't be falling asleep in her food as had happened a couple of times before.

"Maybe daddy asleep."

"I don't think he knows what time it is honey," Regina quipped as they walked towards his studio, however, they stopped in their tracks when they looked out the patio doors and into the garden. Regina's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open in shock, "oh."

"Wow!" Heidi gasped as she rushed outside without even putting anything on her feet.

Regina simply stood there staring, not quite believing what she was seeing. There was a tent in the garden with fairy lights strung all around, as well as a white sheet strung up on the fence with a projector shining onto it. A smile formed on her face as she slipped some shoes on and followed her daughter, finding Robin inside the tent with a little picnic dinner set up at the opening and inside there were sleeping bags and blankets. It was a perfect little fort and somehow he had managed to keep it a secret from the both of them.

"Robin!"

"Surprise," he grinned, offering her his hand and helping her sit down with them. Heidi was already munching on a carrot stick, murmuring about how cool it was.

"Why are you just the best father ever?" she hummed, leaning her forehead against his as they both watched their daughter. "I love you so much."

"Love you too. So much in fact, that I am willing to put myself through as many Disney movies as you want."

She pressed her lips to his softly before pulling back and picking up the princess plate that was in front of her, filling it with an array of foods from his little selection. He was always doing cute things like this for them, surprising them, it made him happy to do so and in turn, made them happy. He was wonderful and Regina knew that she couldn't have wished for a better partner, he was always so thoughtful and considerate and she loved him more than life itself.

"So Heidi, what film do you want to watch?" Robin asked as he went on his laptop which was connected to the projector.

"You choose daddy," she smiled, carefully picking up some apple segments and placing them on her plate, before reaching for some less healthy snacks.

"Me?"

"Uh-huh, your turn," she nodded.

"Well, okay then, how about Lilo and Stitch."

"Yes! Good!" Heidi giggled.

Regina grinned as she snuggled up to Robin and the movie began. It seemed that amongst all the unrest in the world they had found their little bubble of peace and hope.