"Come on, beautiful. It's time you were getting ready." Hades offers his wife and encouraging smile.
"Ready for what?" Zelena's stretches lazily on her chaise and rubs the small swollen bump that is her abdomen.
"You're meeting Regina. You two are going for a short walk today."
Zelena's stares out at the sunshine while white curtains as sheer as gossamer flutter in the light breeze coming through the open balcony doors. "I'd rather just stay here in our glorious new villa and veg out, darling."
"Yes, I know you would. I know our little guy is starting to give you some trouble, but a little light exercise will be good for both of you. If you give him something to do for a little while it might tire him out a little bit. If he naps in there…" Hades perches on the edge of the pale green chaise upholstered in the finest of silks and places a warm affectionate hand on her belly, "he might give you a bit of a break."
"Can't you come with me?"
"I'd love to, gorgeous. But I need to drop in, while she's not expecting me, and check on Fiona; make sure she's behaving herself. I don't want you out there by yourself. You need to go now, while it's warm enough. Later this evening, it will be too cold out. I don't want you getting sick. Our little prince needs you well, and so do Eliana and I. I've fixed up one of Regina's mirrors so that she can stay with you, but get in touch with me if you need me. She's meeting you at Robin's place. He's going to watch our girls. I'll get them ready to go for you."
"Where are they anyway? We usually hear them laughing, fighting or both."
"They're upstairs playing hide-and-seek in the new empty attic."
Zelena's squints in confusion. "They're playing hide-and-seek in a big empty room? There Is no furniture up there yet, nothing in storage, nothing for them to hide under, behind, or inside of."
"I'm pretty sure they are using magic. It's good practice for them, and they're having fun. Come on." He prods gently and offers her a warm kiss. "Get up. Tell me what you want to wear, I'll get it out of your closet for you before I go fetch the little imps."
In the late summer breeze, Regina leans casually against the frame of the open back door of the Lucky Feather Tavern. She stands there simply enjoying the sight of him as Robin uncrates supplies and restocks the shelves of the back room before he opens for the day. As he works, with a white bar towel slung over his left shoulder, he mutters quietly in and out of tune; singing along with a song on the jukebox for no one's entertainment but his own.
I can't count the times
I almost said what's on my mind
But I didn't
Just the other day
I wrote down all the things I'd say
But I couldn't
I just couldn't
Lady, I know that you've been wondering.
So here goes nothin'…
He stops short and turns away from his work, having sensed someone's presence and realizes that he is, indeed, being watched.
He offers her a somewhat sheepish version of his sexy lopsided smile.
"Well, don't stop now. You have a captive audience."
Robin abandons the napkin holder he was filling in favor of crossing the room to gently pull her into his warm embrace."
"Hello there, Madame Mayor." He drops a light kiss on her lips and, no sooner than he has her close, he steps back just far enough to silently assess her ensemble of black knee-length yoga tights, running shoes, and a black sports bra underneath a bright red oversized tunic then hangs loosely; leaving one slender shoulder exposed for is kiss and drapes to her mid-thigh."
She tilts her head to one side and studies his expression briefly before asking. "What?"
He shakes his head and shrugs. "I don't think I have ever seen you dressed this way outside the house."
"You already know I told Hades I would accompany Zelena on a short walk today, right?" When he nods, she continues. "It's too pretty to stay inside and jog in place going nowhere on a treadmill. Besides, she's seen me do that a few times. She says it would make her feel like a hamster spinning in one of those cursed little wheels. So, I thought we could take a couple laps around the block. After that she can magically pop herself over to Granny's for some of that pea salad she's been craving lately."
Robin wrinkles his nose in obvious disdain. "Pea salad."
Regina nods. I'm not usually a fan either, but Granny's version is absolutely decadent; peas, mayonnaise, sour cream, cheese, and bacon, boiled egg, and a spoonful of diced bread and butter pickles. It's loaded with fat and cholesterol. There's absolutely nothing healthy about it, which is usually why we both avoid it. But, she's pregnant and the first half of this pregnancy has been fairly tame. She's starting to have some significant issues with it. Hades thought a bit of light exercise might do both mother and child some good. Either that, or she's secretly driving him crazy and he wants her out of the house for just a little while. But, if that's the case, he would never say so."
"He does dote on her, doesn't he?"
She nods again. "He's worse than you were when I was pregnant with Norah. But then, maybe he has reason to be. I don't recall being overly worried that having Norah might kill me."
"Ahh… one of the perks of not being married to a god?" He quips in jest
She chuckles quietly and steals a quick but affectionate kiss. "Please, you have absolutely nothing to worry about. I'd take you any day over her slight-statured, overly polished god. He's every bit as buttoned up and squared away as Rumple. Hey… Why have I never made that connection before? It's rather obvious."
Robin scowls as if he can't rid himself of something that tastes putrid "Your sister has a thing for Rumple."
Regina nods. "Well, she did. These days, I don't think she's capable of seeing anyone except for Hades. I think every other man in Storybrooke has become invisible to her."
"That's probably a good thi…" He stops short when their daughter runs in through the open doorway ten steps ahead of her aunt and cousin, calling out happily. "Daddy!"
Smiling brightly, Robin scoops her up and hugs her tightly. "Hey there, my little firefly!"
"Daddy, I starving. Can you pretty, pretty, please make me grilled cheese. Auntie Zena doesn't do it right."
Zelena laughs wryly. "I tried. I mean…" She wrinkles her nose as she lifts one shoulder in a shrug. "What's so special about a grilled cheese sandwich. It's just bread and cheese. But no, she says I do it wrong."
Regina drapes an arm around her sister's shoulders. "Don't feel bad. It's not just you. She won't eat my grilled cheese either. She won't even eat the one that's made at Granny's, and Roland loves those. It has to be Robin's. That's the only one she will touch. And he won't share the recipe."
Robin smiles, his blue eyes twinkling merrily as he carries his daughter over and turns on the grill to preheat. "Why does it matter? No one else needs to make Norah's grilled cheese. That's my job; right Norah?"
The fair-skinned blue-eyed three-year-old nods exuberantly; causing her short dark curls to bounce. "Right, Daddy's job."
Robin kisses the top of her head before asking. "Eliana, do you want…" He falls silent, watching in utter confusion as the metal surface of the grill suddenly begins to glisten and slowly frosts over as a dark shadow suddenly invades the stone walls that surround them.
"Mummy, I'm cold." The four-year-old announces in a voice suddenly laden with uncertainty.
"What the hell?" Robin watches in total astonishment as goose flesh springs up on his little girl's bare arms.
"I think that about covers it." His wife answers in an eerily calm voice. When he looks her way, she points out through the open door at the dark specter of life gliding their way.
Without conscious thought he passes Norah to Regina and, moving quickly, he attempts to slam the back door and, for the effort, he's the first to be assaulted by a hideous flying phantom that appears to be nothing more than a grotesque skeleton with a black gaping hole for a mouth shrouded in a gauzy black hooded cloak. Robin thinks of the grim reaper and hits his knees, shivering violently as in the last trace of warmth is slowly stolen from his body. In his mind, the sound of his own agonizing sorrow, the sound of his own uncontrollable sobbing is replayed for him as he once again experiences that first true realization that he will never see his Marian again in this life. Not the first mind-numbing moment that he heard of her death, but days later when it finally hit him that he would never see her or hear her sweet voice again because she'd gone away; gone away to a place she couldn't come back from. And the next moment he's standing on the Storybrooke town line saying goodbye to Regina and wishing he had another choice – any other choice.
He can hear Regina calling his name. She sounds so far away, but he can sense her fear and grieves over the realization that, in his paralytic state, he has no power to stop it; no power to comfort her. The girls wail in the distance. Someone curses, but he's not sure who and then he hears the sweetest of all sounds, loud and clear, his terrified child screaming, "You go away! You leave my daddy alone!" and in his mind, he's holding her tiny newborn body in his arms and kissing her exhausted mother as tears of pure unadulterated joy course down his cheeks.
The unbearable pressure of the icy grip around his heart eases slightly and the deafening roar of his own heartbeat quiets marginally and he can hear Zelena screaming. "Regina, it's not working."
Suddenly, the hideous thing hovering over him is gone. For one sweet moment there is relief - and then a fresh new terror invades as he realizes he doesn't hear the girls crying anymore. He struggles to sit up, aware for the first time that he's no longer on his knees, but flat on his back. When did that happen?
The thing has moved on to a new victim. It hovers an inch away from Zelena's face; almost close enough to kiss and the thought turns his stomach as it appears to somehow drain her power right out of her face.
Before he has time to respond, before he even knows what's happening, he feels his wife roughly yank him into a semi-upright position. With her arms under his, and her hands locked together against the solid wall of his chest, she drags him backward moving surprisingly fast for someone half his size and dumps him, unceremoniously, in a corner of the room. Instantly, Norah's small trembling body is pressed against his chest. Her wet blue eyes staring into his. Then Regina is back, and he feels more weight and it takes him ½ a second wrap an arm around Eliana and pray he has the strength to hold on as the frightened girl screams and fights to be free; calling for her mother.
His blurry vision begins to clear and, the ringing in his ears becomes less shrill. Still shivering violently, he struggles into to a sitting position and clings to the girls as he watches his wife confront the monstrosity head on.
"Get away from my sister! She's mine; you rotting excuse for a demon!"
Zelena shivers and her teeth chatter as she sobs uncontrollably, in the same state that Robin had been in only a moment before, pleading with someone that can only be seen in her own mind.
When Regina hits the hovering thing with a fierce blast of dark magic, it releases Zelena and turns its sinister attention her way. She instantly screams in response to her own private terror.
Robin wants to go to her. He tries. He tries to leave the girls, but he can't. He can't leave his terrified daughter alone in the corner of this room. Not with that thing in here.
Zelena seems to recover faster, and Robin assumes she was assaulted for a lesser amount of time until he sees flames suddenly erupt from her head and he doesn't understand the bizarre occurrence at all until a mind-boggling, but phenomenal, dazzling white light begins to pulsate and spread outward, radiating from her inhabited belly. The baby is protecting itself; literally wrapping itself in a magical protective bubble that also encircles its mother.
Robin finds his voice, but he knows it's no use. He knows that he could scream until his throat is raw and he's rendered mute. Regina is too far away. Even in the confines of this small room, she can't hear him as she cries out in agony, "Daddy, Henry! No!"
He doesn't realize that Zelena has moved, that she has dragged herself to his side until she touches his arm; reaching for the girls. Elianna slides away immediately, straight into her mother's arms and the white glowing protective bubble that her unborn sibling emits instantly wraps around her.
Zelena reaches for Norah as well and Robin has to physically force his hysterical daughter into her care. "Let go, baby. I'll be right back. Stay here. You're safe. I need to help Mama."
She wails pitifully, but Zelena clings to her. "Go, I've got her."
Robin sneaks; he crawls on his belly until he's close enough to touch her. The horrid thing that has her in its unrelenting grip is so focused on tormenting its prey with the Evil Queen's darkest memories that it doesn't even notice when Robin clasps her outstretched hand in his own. He knows, by his own experience, that she can't move and that if she can hear him at all, it's only just barely, but he does see the slightest of movement in her eyes. She's aware of his nearness, on some minute level, and he greedily uses that to his advantage. He points toward Zelena and the inexplicably dazzling white bubble of light wrapped around her body and prays that his wife still grasps enough of her mental acuity to understand the message he's silently trying to convey.
It takes her three agonizingly long seconds, but the message does slide home and the waning stream of dark magic that barely trickles from her free hand suddenly hiccups and bubbles before she locks eyes with him and a blinding, reverberating, flash of pure white power explodes from the spot directly above her heart and drives the hideous beast back, up, and away. The thing hovers and screeches in ear-splitting agony; howling as if it's been set on fire, and Robin tries to pull Regina to safety.
It takes her several long seconds to resist his efforts, but once she can, she does. Slowly, staggering drunkenly she rises on unsteady but determined legs and banishes the screeching, tormented, dark, thing from the room, driving it out, chasing after it in slow motion as it goes.
"And, don't come back, you evil bastard! She yells hoarsely as she staggers over the threshold and her legs crumple and collapse beneath the weight of her exhausted body.
Regina passes out with Robin there to break her fall.