CHAPTER 5 – WORD ON THE STREET

[A/N So Episode 4 (Beauty) just aired a few days back, but unfortunately I haven't been able to see it since I originally watched OUAT on Netflix and they only show the episodes from season 7 about 4 days after they've aired. For the past few episodes I've actually gone and done a little digging around the rest of the internet for the episodes to watch in low quality and then rewatched them when they came on Netflix, but nobody seems to have uploaded 7.04 yet :/ . In that case, sorry if there's anything I missed out! (although i doubt there would be cause that episode is basically just for rumbelle shippers) Only thing I'm worried about is the fact that they haven't introduced Regina's false memories of her family yet, which I'm going to change in this chapter in that case .-.]

|PRESENT DAY, HYPERION HEIGHTS|

It didn't take long for Rogers to walk into Roni's after Robin had received her drink.

"Welcome back.", Roni responded. Robin then turned around to see who she recognised at the pirate, Hook, from the book that Henry had written.

"Wow, I didn't expect to see you here", she said unintentionally in surprise.

"You know me?"

"I guess you could say I've heard of you.". Rogers pulled an odd face before sitting down on one of the bar stools near her.

She suddenly remembered the reason why she came there in the first place, and began making her attempts to jog Regina's memory.. if that was going to work..

"Hey uh, Roni I've been meaning to ask you something.", she said.

"You have?", she responded in surprise.

"Well, yeah it's a bit of a weird one though."

"Go on."

Robin paused, but quickly let the words slide of her mouth. "Have you ever dated someone?"

"Oh god, not you too?", she responded. "Rogers is this some kind of joke you're setting up?"

"No, honestly I had no idea she was going to ask that question."

Robin interjected. "Sorry, did I say something wrong?". Roni sighed in response.

"No, it's fine. It's just that this sad excuse for a pirate asked me a similar question the other day?"

"Pirate?", Rogers just asked. It suddenly clicked in Robin's head that Roni, or Regina, had just called him a pirate, who Lucy claimed he was in another realm. Did this mean she was succeeding?

"Sorry, I don't know why that slipped out. I mean, detective."

She looked slightly worried after saying that, almost as if something similar had happened to her previously, but Robin was amazed. Was this plan really working? Despite still not knowing what had happened between her father and her aunt, she knew they must've had something.

"Well, anyway my answer to your question is 'yes' but why would you need to know?", Roni responded. It was almost as if she became more anxious with every word she said, as if there was something she was hiding. But, she wasn't hiding anything at all – the only memories she had of dating were of some people back in high school.

So why did she feel this way all of a sudden?

"I was just a little curious, that's all. No specific reason", Robin responded, just realising how out of place and awkward this conversation had become.

It was that moment when the door swung open, and Henry walked in.

"Come to join them in asking me numerous personal questions?", Roni said as he walked further towards them.

"Uh, no.. I've come to let you know about this party we're planning."

"A party?", Rogers responded. It wasn't ordinary for Henry to come up with such ideas in his mind.

"Well, yeah it's kind of Lucy's birthday this weekend so I thought it would be a tad bit necessary."

It took a while for Robin to realise who he was, but when she did she had this massive internal grin that she couldn't bear to bring out. This guy was the little boy who helped Emma save Storybrooke all of those years ago?

"So you must be Henry then, nice to meet you.", she smiled.

"Oh yes Henry, meet our new friend Miss Interrogative Ginger who just so happens to know your name despite us not telling her so", Roni said in a humorous tone.

Upon realising the second mistake she had made, Robin quickly attempted to cover this up. "No, I've just read your book. It's.. really quite amazing actually."

Henry looked back at her in confusion. His book wasn't exactly the most popular, so finding someone who knew both about his book and what he looked like was a little bit strange. Either way, he shrugged it off and continued his conversation from before.
"Well, it's nice to meet you. Anyway, as I was saying, Jacinda wants to throw Lucy a larger birthday party this year considering the fact that she's turning 11 and she hasn't really had a proper party before. I was wondering if you guys could possibly help make some sort of donation."

"I'm sure we'd both be happy to make one, as long as Belfrey's not involved.", Rogers responded. Robin also intervened.

"I know we've only just met but I actually know Lucy too, so I'd be happy to help out. I mean, I don't have that much cash on me but I can always help with decorations or anything." Everyone paused for a second. They'd only just met this girl and yet she seemed to know everything about them, but neverless they decided to agree.

"You know, you remind me of someone.", Roni stated.

"Good, we're actually getting somewhere in that case.", Robin responded. She then suddenly remembered that she'd agreed to meet Lucy after all of this. "Look, I've got to go, but I'll catch up with you later on that party thing."

"Wait, don't you like need my number?", Henry promptly asked.
"Nope, I'll find you don't worry.", she responded

"Wait!", Roni shouted right before she was about to walk through the door. "What's your name?"

Robin was about to reply by saying her name, until she remembered something important. If Tremaine was around, and if she had the slightest chance of being suspicious for someone like her coming here, she couldn't just spread around her name like this. So, instead she announced herself as something different.

"Amelie, my name's Amelie.", she said, before closing the door behind her