July 18, 2008
"I need to ask a huge favor from you." Rogers announced as he sat at the bar at the end of breakfast rush hour at the Emerald City Bar and Cafe.
Zelena lightly glared at the officer. "I'd be happy to hear what your favor is if you go back out the door and give a proper greeting to the one most likely going to be serving your breakfast and coffee, Officer."
Rogers blushed at his unintentional poor manners. He mumbled an apology and walked out the bar and cafe to return a few minutes later. "Kelly, good morning! Wonderful day so far isn't it?"
"A good morning to you too, Rogers. Now your usual breakfast with your cup of coffee?" Zelena greeted with an over exaggerated sweetness.
"Any chance you could make the coffee an Irish one?"
Zelena clicked her tongue. "Sorry, too early at this establishment."
"Damn."
The officer and bartender first met a few years ago after Rogers and his daughter, Alice, moved from England to Seattle at a PTA Meeting when their daughters were still in elementary school. It surprised both of them how quickly they developed a friendship with one another, probably because their shared understanding about being single parents. Whatever the reasons were to them it was nice to have a friend who wasn't someone they worked with every day.
"So, what's this huge favor you need from me?" Zelena asked as she poured the officer his coffee.
Rogers looked anywhere but at Zelena as he mustered the courage to just ask her. "Could you please give The Talk to Alice?" Out of all the things her friend could have asked of her The Talk was not what she expected. The officer cleared his throat. "She started her first cycle last night and even though they had that elementary level of Sex ED when she was in fifth grade it's been a couple of years and she has yet to do seventh grade Sex ED. And we both know the school doesn't talk or explain things beyond the basics. I tried talking with her, but she said she didn't feel comfortable with me since I'm her father and also can't explain from personal experience about female issues. Kelly, you're the only female friend I trust enough to help with this. Please help me!"
The pause the fell between the two made the situation more awkward for Rogers. Zelena walked away to turn in his breakfast order before refilling his cup and filling a cup of coffee for herself. "So she wants a female to give her The Talk? Why I do I feel like this is going to be more than just The Talk?"
"Probably because I might need your help when she needs to go bra shopping as well? I'd be willing to go with her because I am her father, but she doesn't feel comfortable with me." He looked down at the bar top dishearteningly.
Zelena took a sip from her mug. "Rogers, you can be her best friend in the whole world as well as her father, but she is a girl and going through the stages where things won't be the same between you two anymore. I remember when my two Robins went through this stage. Robin had to adjust that his little girl was growing up and kind of reminded him he has a daughter as well as a son." The bartender let out a deep sigh. "She probably doesn't want Robin to know I'm assuming."
"No, I don't think she would. It's not like our daughters are friends, Kelly. Classmates, yes. Otherwise I haven't heard Alice mention anything about your daughter unless they're grouped together for a class project."
The bartender nodded in agreement. "Same. We might be friends, but our daughters are in different circles at school. Robin also has more male friends than female friends because she is a jock and grew up with her brother and a cousin/step-brother. Thankfully it's summer vacation for them which gives us plenty of opportunities to help Alice without Robin knowing. How about this coming Monday? My family will be at a Mariners game and I was going to have a day to myself."
"Kelly, don't let this ruin your off day."
"It's alright, Rogers. I'd rather help your daughter out than twiddle my thumbs not sure what to do with my first day off in a long while. I'll give you the receipt for you to pay me back and don't worry I won't try to break the bank with you. Be prepared for at least two hundred dollars if they're not on sale."
July 21, 2008
Alice and Zelena sat in silence in the living room of the West apartment. Rogers had dropped Alice off a half hour ago after ten minutes of making sure Alice was comfortable being left alone with Zelena for most of the day, causing Alice to puff her cheeks out in annoyance to her father assuring him she was fine. In front of Alice was a mug of tea with milk and honey to help calm her down from her embarrassment over the situation.
"Since I'm not sure what they taught you in fifth grade about Sex ED, how about you just ask whatever questions you might have and I'll answer them as best I can for you?" The blonde looked at the redhead and blushed harder before grabbing her cup of tea and drink from it. "Or not…"
"Did you have these talks with Robin?"
The redhead barely heard the girl and had to ask Alice to repeat her question. "I'm sorry, what was that, darling?"
"Did you have these talks with Robin?" Alice asked a little louder.
Zelena shook her head. "No, Robin is the type of person who would rather learn in school or research things herself. Though I wouldn't be surprised if she went to my sister for help to avoid the awkwardness between her and I over the matter."
"Is this supposed to be awkward and embarrassing?" Alice asked just as quietly as her previous question.
"Yes and no. It's awkward because things are changing for you as you're growing from being a girl and into a woman. Like what happened when your father dropped you off. I'm positive he's still acting like the concerned and caring father he's always been for you, but now you find it slightly annoying because you're going through a change that is confusing for you and you're going to want your space. The main thing I want you to take from this is that everyone woman goes through puberty. What happens various from person to person because of genetics, but generally it's developing breasts, starting your menstrual cycle, and growth spurts. And possibly seeing boys differently."
Alice scrunched her nose. "Why would I look at boys any differently?"
"Well, you'll start developing crushes on boys, begin dating them, eventually find a decent bloke you'll fall in love with to marry and possibly start a family with him."
"But…" Alice hesitated before asking her question. "But what if I don't want to marry a boy?"
Zelena slowly answered Alice not fully sure how to approach that question. "Then I guess you'll find a decent gal to marry one day."
"Is it wrong that I might not like boys?"
"Darling, let me ask you this? How are you sure you don't like boys? I'm just wondering because for me I never questioned that I like boys."
Alice shrugged. "I'm not sure myself. But I hear other girls at school talking about which boy they think is cute and I don't see it. People already call me 'weird' and I don't want to be weirder if I don't like boys like the other girls. What would Papa think if it turns out I do like girls?"
"Well, I think since you're still growing keep an open mind. You might like girls or boys or both. Either way it's perfectly fine as long as you and your partner love each other. And as for your Papa, I'm sure he'll love you no matter who you love, boy or girl. He'd want you to be happy and have someone who loves as much as he does if not more."
The two exchanged a smile as they sipped their tea. "Now, darling, is there any other questions you have that I will try my best to answer?"
"Um… a few. There is something I'm wondering about from the health book Papa brought home from the library."
"Okay, hit me with your best shot." Zelena said feeling more confident of helping ease Alice's worries.
"What's masturbation?" Alice's entire face turned red when Zelena coughed into her tea mug. Zelena immediately regretted thinking she had this Talk with Alice in the bag.
After a couple of more hours of Zelena answering Alice's questions, no matter how awkward and embarrassing they were, Zelena had driven them to Northgate Mall to buy Alice her bras. They've already been to Macy's and Nordstrom where they didn't have sports bras that would fit Alice comfortably and still allow her to grow into. Zelena was now standing outside the changing room Alice was using at JCPenney waiting for the girl's verdict of the bras she was trying on.
"Miss West, why are we looking at only the sports bras and not the other bras with the clasps?" Alice asked through the door.
"Alice, as I said in the car ride over, you can call me 'Kelly'. I'm having you get a sports bra because you're beginning to develop so you're going to either grow out of the bras quickly or it won't fit you properly. Most women aren't even wearing a proper bra size. You'll probably hear from your classmates later how their backs are hurting because of their bras. They're more than likely wearing the wrong size with the strap being too tight and the metal wiring in the cups are digging into the underside of their breasts." Zelena explained. When she didn't hear anything from Alice, Zelena grew a little concern. "Alice? Is everything alright in there, darling?"
"I don't think this fits me properly. My sides and back are hurting. It's as if it's pinching me."
"Open the door, darling, so I may take a look. I believe you that it's pinching you, but I want to see if it's because of the bra design or size."
Alice opened the door to allow the older woman into the changing stall and immediately Zelena could tell the bra was too tight on the girl. Zelena let out a frustrated sigh. "Well, this certainly isn't good. This is the medium, right?" Alice nodded. "Alice, do I have your permission to place my hands on you to make adjustments? If you feel uncomfortable at anytime you can tell me to stop."
"You have permission." Alice consented quietly feeling embarrassed that this trip was taking longer than she had hoped.
Zelena walked behind Alice. "I'm going to lift the bottom of the bra for you to see how much this is hurting you." She barely lifted the bottom of the bra around Alice's rib cage and both could see how red the girl's skin had gotten as well as the indentation lines from the fabric stitching along her side. "Way too tight. Come on, darling. I'll leave you to remove this one and we'll try another store."
"Why don't we just go to one of the sporting stores?" Alice asked after Zelena left the changing stall.
"They're the last resorts since they usually are out of size we're looking for you or over priced. We'll try Old Navy next. I don't know why I didn't have us try there first since they were the ones who had bras for Robin that fit her comfortably." Zelena felt a tap on her arm. She looked down and saw Alice holding the ill-fitted bras. "Do you want to go to Old Navy first or get something to eat?"
"Um…" Alice thought as she placed the bras in the clothes pile near the entrance of the changing rooms. "Let's go to Old Navy first. I really want to be done with looking for bras. We've been at this for hours, Kelly. Is it supposed to be this boring and hard to find bras?"
Zelena chuckled in sympathy for the girl remembering Robin acting exactly like this a few years ago. "The first ones are usually the hardest because we need to get the size that fits you comfortably and allows you to grow into. Replacing them wouldn't be as much of a hassle." She held out her hand for Alice to take hold and smiled when the girl grasped her hand as they walked to their next destination.
Alice sat down in her seat with a huge sigh of relief to be done with the bra shopping. After they finished up at Old Navy, Zelena had Alice picked where they were to eat lunch. Feeling a little homesick, Alice picked Ivar's Seafood Bar because they had fish and chips on the menu.
"How are you holding up, darling? Tired?" Zelena asked as she placed the tray with their food on the table.
The blonde nodded. "I thought spending nearly all day at the mall shopping was supposed to be fun. That's what is shown on the telly and in movies."
"You'll come to learn that television and movies can be misleading to show you what they want you to see." Zelena passed the basket of fish and chips to the girl. "And shopping can be fun, including window shopping. The last several hours hasn't been fun for you because you're learning something new and were stressing out finding the right fit for you."
"We probably should have gone to Old Navy first." Alice joked before eating some of her fries.
Zelena dramatically groaned causing Alice to laugh. "Yes, we should have. At least we accomplished what we came here to do and I was able to find a few cargo trousers for Robin."
"Those trousers seemed a little big for her though."
"Darling, the entire theme of today's shopping is buy clothes a size or two too big for both of you girls to grow into. We're just lucky Old Navy had a 'Buy 2, Get 1 Half-Off' deal on bras which will save your Papa some money."
Alice nodded in understanding. "I did the math, if they weren't on sale you would have paid nearly two hundred dollars for eight bras. Why are bras so expensive?"
The redhead tilted her head from side to side as she try to come up with a reasonable explanation for the blonde. "Materials to make them. The better the quality the more expensive they'll be and sometimes for name brands. A good rule of thumb for you later in life: Never sacrifice comfort for fashion or name brands."
Alice nodded again in understanding. The two continued eating the rest of their meal in silence.
"Um, Kelly." Zelena looked up from her bowl of clam chowder to see Alice blushing a little. "Thank you. For answering my questions and taking me bra shopping. I don't think Papa would have been able to help as much."
"I'll give him benefit of the doubt that he would have helped you get the proper size, but it would have taken longer than it did for us." She looked at her watch and smiled at the girl. "We still have some time before I need to return you to your father, do you want to go wander the mall for a bit? Or are you too tuckered out from our shopping earlier?"
Alice shook her head. "I wouldn't mind looking around other stores, just as long as we don't have to go anywhere near bras."
They both chuckled as they cleaned up their table and headed out. Alice reach out and clasped her hand into Zelena's, enjoying the comfort it brought from holding the older woman's hand. She imagined this is what it would have been like if she had a mother taking her shopping, even if it meant borrowing her classmate's mother for a day.
"Hey, Kelly. What's Spencer's?" Alice asked as she started walking towards the store only to be lightly grabbed by her shoulders and turned around by Zelena to walk the opposite direction.
"Not a place for us to go to today or anytime until you're older. By older I mean when you're eighteen and able to make decisions on your own because you'll be an adult." Zelena was not about to have Rogers no longer trust her to look after his daughter if Alice stepped foot into the not-so-kid friendly store. "How about Hot Topic instead? That's more appropriate than Spencer's."
Upon entering the store, Alice beelined to the back where most of the clothing line was located while Zelena stood awkwardly at the front. She didn't normally enter Hot Topic whenever her daughter or nephews wanted to check it out during their shopping trips because of the music volume. Slowly she wandered closer to the Harry Potter merchandise and browsed as she tried blocking out the music.
"May I help you find anything, ma'am?" The sales clerked as as she approached the redhead.
"Oh, I'm with…" Zelena pointed at Alice who had wandered towards the pop culture t-shirt wall.
"Ah, got it. You're with your daughter. Does she need help looking for anything specific?"
Zelena didn't bother correcting the sales clerk of the mistake of Alice being her daughter. "I think she's just wandering around for now, but thank you."
The sales clerk nodded. "Feel free to get me if either of you need help finding anything."
While waiting for Alice, Zelena looked at all the Gryffindor and Slytherin products trying to see if she could find something Robin would like to wear. She was holding up a Gryffindor athletic shirt when she felt Alice tap her arm.
"Be honest, what do you think, Kelly?" Alice held her arms out and slowly turned around showing the black and red checkered flannel that was a couple of sizes too big on her.
"Well, my opinion doesn't really matter in the end. Do you like the shirt? Because you'd be the one wearing it."
Alice beamed and nodded her head. "It's really soft." She looked at the Harry Potter wall and frowned. "They hardly have any Hufflepuff things or Ravenclaw."
"Is Hufflepuff your house?"
The blonde nodded. "Ravenclaw being my second. I like Hufflepuff because of their loyalty and always wanting to do the right thing. What about you? Do you have a preferred house?"
"I prefer Slytherin mainly because my favorite color is green, but I think I fit with them more."
Alice hummed as she kept looking at the wall. "Well, there's nothing wrong with being a Slytherin since not all Slytherins were truly evil in the end." Her face lit up when she found a small section of Hufflepuff apparel. She immediately picked out the black and yellow Hufflepuff cardigan.
"While we're here. Do you mind helping find something for Robin? I'm having trouble deciding which she would probably wear versus what I think she'd wear." Zelena held up the athletic shirt and black varsity hoodie with red sleeves.
"Um…" She scrunched her nose and looked back at the Gryffindor products. "I think that faded red Gryffindor shirt is more Robin than what you've picked out." Alice pointed at a t-shirt with the lion being the focus along with the Gryffindor traits 'Courage, Bravery, Determination' in bold letters surrounding the lion in a circle.
Zelena put what she was holding back on the rack and grabbed the shirt Alice point out. "You're right this is definitely Robin." She watch as Alice was debating between the Hufflepuff cardigan and the red and black checkered flannel shirt she was wearing. "So, any plans for this weekend?"
"Papa has the day off Saturday. I don't know what we're going to do during the day, but we're going to the Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner with Detective Weaver." Alice smiled. "It's going to be nice to spend a day with Papa." She placed the cardigan back and picked up a Hufflepuff scarf hair bow instead.
They walked to the cashier where Zelena placed the shirt for Robin down and helped Alice take the flannel shirt off before placing it on top of Robin's shirt. "Darling, would you please go grab that Hufflepuff cardigan?"
Alice looked at Zelena confused before going to grab it at Zelena's request. When she returned with the cardigan, Zelena had placed it with the other merchandise for the sales clerk was ringing up. Before Alice could object, Zelena had already swiped her credit card and signed for everything.
"Um… Kelly. Why did you pay for everything?" Alice asked as they walked out of the store. She once again held onto Zelena's hand.
"An early birthday gift from me to you. I've already talked with your father about it when he asked me to take you shopping." Zelena smiled and winked at the girl.
Alice blushed. "Oh, thank you." It warmed her knowing there was someone else who knew it was her birthday on Saturday besides her Papa and Weaver. Since her birthday was during summer vacation, she didn't receive birthday wishes during school like most of her classmates whose birthdays were during the school year.
"Alright, Little Rabbit, home sweet home." Zelena announced as she parked in front of the apartment complex where Alice and her father lived.
"Little Rabbit?" Alice giggled at the nickname.
"Yeah, Little Rabbit. In reference to the white rabbit Alice follows. Robin and my nephews also have animal like nicknames from me too." Zelena got out of the car to walk Alice up to her apartment.
Alice grabbed the Old Navy bag that had her bras as well as her shirts and hair bow from Hot Topic. "What's Robin's?"
"Oh, I can't tell you. I'm already dealing with a short fused pre-teen at home and I wouldn't dare, betray her like that." Zelena dramatically feign hurt at the thought of betraying her daughter's nickname.
"It's Little Bird, isn't it? Because she's named after the bird?" Alice guessed.
"Good guess, darling, but no."
Alice thought carefully about her classmate's name before bursting out another guess. "Kit!" Zelena raised her eyebrow at the name. "Kit. It's what baby foxes are called, but they're also called 'cub' or 'pup'. Kit just seemed like the most logical choice!"
Zelena chuckled. "How did we go from a bird to a fox?"
"Well… Robin's name is Robin Hood isn't it? I just thought of the animated Robin Hood who was a fox. So, it only follows that Robin would be 'Kit' unless you call her 'Little Fox'." Alice explained as if it were a no brainer.
"Clever, but also no." The two stopped in front of Alice's apartment door.
"Kelly, thank you so much for today."
"Of course, darling."
"No… I mean really thank you. It was nice- nice knowing what it was like having a mum even if just for a day."
Zelena's heart melted. "Oh, Little Rabbit, come here." She pulled the girl into her arms. "Listen if you ever need help from me again don't ever be afraid to ask."
Alice nodded and tightened her hug around Zelena's waist before pulling away. "Do you want to come into say 'hello' to Papa?"
"Might as well, that way he'll know with absolute certainty that I brought you back all in one piece."
The blonde giggled and unlocked the front door, escorting the older woman in. "Papa, I'm back. Kelly is also here."
Rogers stood up from where he was sitting on the couch and walked over to his guest. He gave Alice a quick hug before she retreated to her bedroom. "Kelly, thank you for your help."
Zelena waved him off. "Like I told you, Rogers, I was happy to help. Sorry it took so long though. You might want to go to Old Navy if she needs more for the time being." She handed him the receipt for the bras. "We even managed to save you some money."
"That's always a nice bonus as well."
"How'd they do?" Zelena asked nodding towards the TV seeing the baseball game had just concluded.
Rogers shook his head in disappointment. "They got slaughtered. Four to nil."
Zelena let out a deep sigh. "I probably should be expecting a phone call from my sister shortly about going out for a defeated dinner." As if on cue her cell phone started ringing. "See? If there's one thing I really know about my family is that they hate losing to any team from Boston."
The officer chuckled. "Well, I guess I better let you go. Thank you again, Kelly. Alice! Kelly's leaving, love."
Alice cracked her door open and shouted down the hallway. "Bye Kelly! Thank you again for everything!" Zelena waved at Alice as she walked out the door.
Once Rogers shut the door, Zelena answered her phone. "Hello, Regina. I heard we got slaughtered."
"Mom! You have no idea how horrible it was!" Robin practically shouted through the phone. Zelena had to pull her phone away from her ear as her daughter continued ranting about the baseball game. She silently chuckled at how drastically different Alice and Robin were, Alice more feminine and quieter behavior compared to Robin's rowdy and tomboyish behavior. Regardless of their differences, Zelena wouldn't trade her daughter or her personality for anything in the world.
