Takes place when the girls are teens.
Robin knew when something was wrong with his daughter. It had taken time since he didn't raise her from the day he was born, but he figured it out in time. While Bryony got quiet when she was upset, Evie got loud. She had more of an attitude, she was disrespectful and overall just wasn't helping around the house. Regina was at her wits end with the girl and while Robin was trying to put his foot down so she didn't always have to be the bad guy, but things had been busier at Aesop's. Regina understood, it wasn't her first teenage angst period, but not only did they have 2 other kids at home at the time, she was busy with her own job. They were both in over their heads, as much as they didn't want to admit it.
He always respected his kids' privacy. He said that if he had to be looking through their phones or their laptops, then they obviously couldn't be trusted with them. They were good kids, outside their few periods of outbursts. Him running across Evie's texts had been a true mistake. They had the same case (a custom one that Henry had made with Aesop's label) and model, both didn't put passcodes on them. So, when he opened it up and saw a text alert from Matilda- Evie's best friend-he went to put it back down…until he saw what it said.
Matilda: Do your parents have any idea yet?
That made Robin pause. He knew he should just put it down and let Evie come to him in time, but what if something bad was going on? What if she was in trouble? So, he set aside his guilt and scrolled up until something else caught his eyes, another text from Matilda.
Matilda: I think I want to find my biological parents.
Matilda had been adopted at a young age and was being raised by a single mother. It was how Regina and Honey had met, actually, at a play group for single parents when the girls were babies. Evie's response was a bit harsher than Robin would expect from her.
Evie: Don't do it. You'll regret it.
Matilda: How do you know?
Evie: Let's just say I reached out to my biological mother recently.
Matilda: How bad?
Evie: She made it clear she wants nothing to do with me.
Robin let the phone drop onto the plush carpeting and sunk down on the couch. Evie had first asked about Zelena when she was 8 years old. Bryony knew that her biological father was a sperm donor and that Regina had gotten pregnant with her on her own. Explaining Zelena to Evie had been a bit tougher. She didn't understand why she didn't want anything to do with her, as if she had done something wrong. Regina and Robin had worked hard to make sure she knew it wasn't, telling her that she could come to them if she had any questions.
8 years later and clearly she wanted to get her answers from the source.
He could've predicted Zelena's answers from a mile away. She had signed off on the adoption so fast, she was out before the ink even dried. Suddenly, everything made sense.
Regina wasn't home yet and he wasn't sure if he could wait for her to talk with Evie about it, not without going crazy.
He headed up to the attic bedroom that she and Bryony shared, it had changed so much over the years and reflected both of their personalities. Mixes of light pastels and bright stripes, two beds on either side with bedspreads that matched their respective walls. Bryony was out at basketball practice, so Evie was alone on her bed, sketching in a book. He walked over to her, dropping down on the bed.
"You left this downstairs," he said when she looked up, handing it over. She just took it and was about to return to her book, but he kept his gaze on hers.
"Did you want something else?"
"We should probably get different cases for our phones."
She stiffened and lowered her pencils, pushing the pad to the side. "What did you see?"
"That you contacted Zelena." An uncomfortable silence filled the room. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I knew you'd be upset."
"I'm not upset. I'm just…confused. You didn't seem interested."
Evie shrugged, gnawing on her bottom lip. "We had to do a family tree project for school and of course I had you and Mom's sides…I guess it just got me thinking about her. Why she gave me up…maybe enough time had passed…so I found her Facebook information and…" She shook her head. "Look, it doesn't matter. She doesn't want anything to do with me. I'm sorry about my attitude lately, I'll be better. Can we just not talk about this anymore?"
Robin studied her face, seeing the heartbreak behind her eyes. It was the same he saw all those years ago when she found out about Zelena in the first place. It was enough to make him want to track her down and scream at her for all the pain she had caused the family.
"What did she say to you, Evie?"
"Dad…"
"What did she say?"
Evie sighed and picked her phone back up, scrolling through her photos until she came across the screen shot. She had been reading it and re-reading it for day. It wasn't very long, just basically saying that she had no interest in contact and that she was going to be blocking Evie so it didn't happen again, that she never wanted to be a mom. Robin read it all before looking back up at her, his heart low in his chest. It was selfishly an answer he was okay with, he didn't want her back in their lives. Zelena wasn't fit to be a mother, she never was. Yet, how could be so glad when his little girl's heart was clearly broken?
"She didn't want me, I thought maybe…maybe she gave me up because we didn't have a connection…"
"She never held Bryony, sweetheart," he whispered.
"I know that now. And that makes it worse, I was trying to put blame on my own sister of all people."
"Hey, you didn't mean anything malicious by it."
"It's just…" She let out a deep breath. "I've listened to Bryony for years, how she felt rejected by Cora, how she was swapped out like a toy a kid didn't want on Christmas. And I never got how that felt, not really. Until I got this message and now it hurts and I don't know how to shut that off."
Tears were pouring down her face and Robin couldn't hold it back anymore. He wrapped his daughter in his arms, rubbing her back. One other thing he had to learn was how to comfort her and he thought he had that down pretty good too.
"Neither of you are rejects."
"Why doesn't she want me, Daddy?"
That sentence alone broke his heart. "I don't know, Princess, I really don't. Some people just aren't cut out to be mothers."
"Yet, I have a mom, who loves me and I did this."
"That doesn't make it hurt any less." He carded his fingers through her hair. "And it doesn't mean that you deserve this."
Fumbling for the phone as she sobbed into his sweatshirt, he dialed for the pizza place, ordering her favorite. Regina and his other kids wouldn't be back from the away game until late, so it was just him and Evie. He'd do his best to fix this broken heart.
