A/N: I haven't written these particular characters in four months (and those were headcanons so if we're talking actual fics, then six) so I would really appreciate it if you let me know how I did.
Alice grabbed the two cups and, after smiling at Granny who returned it, headed outside where her papa was waiting for her. She liked to be out in the open, in nature, where she could hear the voices of all life forms around and feel their company, and none of her close people blamed her or protested when she dragged them outside. Well, maybe just a little when it was really cold or it rained since Robin had grown up with the crackling sound of fire sealed into her mind and the warmth of it all around her. So on those days Alice relented–especially since her papa and Ella and Henry indulged her a lot as they were always ready for adventures–and opted for cuddling with her fiance while they listened to the rain hitting their windows or the wind howling outside.
Alice beamed at the thought of Robin and even the fact that they weren't together currently couldn't overshadow the happiness of having Robin in her life. They had all the time to make each other happy so she'd backed away and left Robin and Zelena have their alone time and do some mother/daughter bonding for Mother's Day. The last part had the smile slipping for a moment but the sight of her papa caught it and brought it back where it belonged.
"Here you go, a steaming cup of hot cocoa," Alice grinned even wider as she left it on the table in front of him.
"In cocoa mood today, are we?" he asked as he took the cup and looked at it as if he could see through the plastic and look at what was inside.
"Mhm," Alice nodded enthusiastically. "Sweet like our time together." It was always a good day when she could be with her papa and while she loved tea, she preferred to drink it in tea cups. She especially insisted after she'd given the chipped tea cup to Gideon and he'd left it at the joined grave of his parents. She did love the mobility of the plastic cups but some things were best enjoyed a certain way and she could do with some hot cocoa, too. It was Robin's favorite and she and Henry had managed to make her a big fan, too, though she drank it clear instead of with marshmallows or cinnamon like they did respectively,
"Are you sure you shouldn't be elsewhere?" her papa asked, his gaze moving on her and he raised his eyebrows slightly, his eyes as if full of hope that she'd change her mind and leave.
"I'm at the right place," Alice said firmly as she sat down next to him and placed a hand on his arm.
Robin and Zelena had both invited her to join them and while she could agree it would be appropriate as Zelena was her mother too now, not officially yet, but they'd get there, she'd still refused. She wanted to give them the chance to be alone with each other just like she wanted to give it to herself and her papa. He was the one parent she had and he'd always meant everything to her, so she didn't mind celebrating both Mother's Day and Father's Day in his honor since he'd filled both roles.
"We agreed to have dinner together," she said to further prove she wasn't missing the opportunity to spend some more time with her new family. There was a time and place for everything and right now she was exactly where she needed to be.
"Al," her papa started, but there was no way for him to continue the sentence without bringing up things that they both wished to forget so he had nothing to say.
"I think about her," Alice said because it was true and she wanted to get it out and share her thoughts, and it was best to do that with her papa since they'd been together in that nightmare. He would understand since he'd been the one to find beauty and meaning in what Gothel had done to him and focus on what he'd gotten instead of on what she'd taken from him.
"Al," he started again, his tone somewhat warning and pleading at the same time, reassuring, yet scared, and she would've dropped the topic but that was just a proof that they couldn't do that. Gothel had done so much to them, caused them so much pain, that they couldn't just pretend it hadn't happened. And if they did, it would mean erasing their relationship and each other from their lives, too. She was a part of their lives whether they liked it or not and it had been her papa who had shown her how to move on after everything Gothel had done to her. She had the chance to return the favor now and she wanted to.
"I think about what she told me," Alice said, returning back to the events in Hyperion Heights. Gothel had introduced her papa back into her life. She'd introduced the possibility of her having a mother, too, and while she knew it had been selfish and not really genuine even if the woman had thought so, had thought she'd been offering her the chance to have a mother that she'd always wanted, it had made her think. "She couldn't be a mother. Not to me, and not to nature. Not with all that hatred she'd let touch her," Alice said, remembering how nature had taken her side, helping her defeat Gothel and save the world from her. "But she wanted to." The way she'd talked about the grove... it had meant a lot to her. Too bad she'd let herself get destroyed along with it. Alice would've loved to have seen the grove, and the other nymphs. But instead she hadn't even had a mother. "I promised I'd do better." She wanted to. She could see Gothel's point of view but destroying humanity hadn't been the way to go about it.
"You already are doing better, starfish," her papa said quickly, the look in his eyes so focused on her as if he didn't even want to compare her to Gothel for a moment.
She understood the unwillingness. But she couldn't agree with it. Comparing gave her a way to do better. Gothel had left her a legacy of what not to do. She couldn't have given her more with how consumed in hatred she'd been even if she'd wanted to. And Alice knew she'd wanted to but for the wrong reasons. Yet, now that she was gone, she could do it right, for the right reasons.
"I know, papa," she said, letting go of her cup of cocoa to catch his hand and reassure him he didn't have to worry about her. She hadn't forgotten who she was. But she'd learned knew information about herself that she didn't want to ignore. "But I want to do more. That's why I want to talk to Robin as I'm hoping she'll agree to come back to Seattle with me. I want to take a better look at the grove, unlock it, see if I can save it and restore it as it once had been." She had powerful magic. She was Mother Nature now, and the title still struck her with the responsibility it was. But she knew she could do it, with help from her family and the love they shared. It was what Gothel hadn't had and she hadn't managed to take it away from them either so, naturally, she'd failed. "Maybe the love we'll give it will help make up for the hate she spread in the world and finally give her the peace she never had." They all knew she didn't deserve it. But she also hadn't deserved to have her life destroyed and her kind hunted down, and yet, it had happened. And she'd let it turn her into a monster but it had been love that had stopped her. So Alice thought it wasn't a bad idea to treat with kindness what she'd been fighting for now that she wasn't a threat anymore. "And I want your support because you're the one who taught me how to love and you've always loved me. It was what saved me from becoming like her," Alice said, feeling tears coming to her eyes at the mere thought.
Her papa seemed like he wanted to argue but instead gave her a smile, a little tight-lipped and not completely free of resistance form him, but he nodded. "Of course you have my support, starfish. You always have and you always will," he said, anything else falling away to leave him with the seriousness that had never been there when they'd just been messing around and instead came out when he was dead set on doing something. And she knew that determination well, for she'd inherited it.
"Thank you, papa," Alice said as she smiled at him, the tears only getting thicker in her eyes. Because it meant a lot to her to know she had his support even when the topic wasn't easy for either one of them and he wished they could avoid it. He'd always put her first. He was the parent she'd deserved and he'd done a spectacular job at raising her so she wanted to take all the opportunities to celebrate the bond they had. It meant far more than the negativity that had been pushed on them.
I'm not excusing what Gothel did (I think that came through in the text but I'll mention it again). I just feel like that kind of empathy makes sense for Alice while she also doesn't accept being walked all over and does not excuse what has been done to her.