Authors note:
Sorry I'm like super late, but I was (and still am) really busy with school. Alright, so this is where I officially take a big step away from Canon. I'm still not sure but I believe I'm not going to kill Zelena off, there is just too much story behind her character and it would be a waste to just stab her and be done with it, like they did on the show.
Oh, and if you haven't seen Maleficent yet, read this chapter first and then get your butt over to a movie theater. It's amazing!
Hope you enjoy! ;)
...
Her nails scratched the black surface of her yoga leggings as Regina tried to hoist the tight material up her legs with tired movements. She and Claire had been declared free to go just this morning and now Regina couldn't wait to take a proper shower and sleep for a whole week after having been stuck in this hospital for three days. Not that that would be a possibility because Claire had already proven to be a handful. And they weren't even out off the hospital yet.
The constant crying and need to feed had Regina up most of the time.
A soft gurgle came from the little girl that was happily sucking her thumb. Claire was already straped into the Maxi-Cosi and was ready to head home. Regina still wasn't though. She wasn't even dressed yet.
"Honey? Are you ready?" Robin's voice echoed from behind the door and a soft knock resounded on the wood.
"Almost." The brunette sighed and smiled once the archer stepped into the room.
"Need some help?" Robin asked with a grin as his eyes rested on the leggings that were only halfway up smooth tanned thighs.
"If you could." Regina sighed and tried to step over the shame of needing help with doing something as simple and basic as putting on her clothes. It was only Robin, and she should never feel embarrassed about getting help from the man she loved with all her heart.
She put both her hands on his shoulders for balance as he slowly pulled the tight material up, jerking her up and down slightly even though he was trying to be careful so as not to hurt her still recovering body.
"Thank you." Regina said with a tired smile and kissed him softly on the lips.
"Any time, darling."
Robin smiled at her and grabbed the already packed duffle bag that contained all her and Claire'a clothes, off the bed. "Now, I know you probably don't want to, but you're not going to walk all the way to the car so I've borrowed a wheelchair so you-"
"I'm not going in a wheelchair!" Regina snapped tiredly as she leaned back against the bed. She was much too pale for her liking, but still, a wheelchair was not an option.
"Honey," Robin sighed as he swung the bag over his broad shoulder. "You can't even stand upright for five minutes." He reasoned.
"But-"
"No, buts. I can just as easily leave you here, you know." He threatened, though both adults knew he would never do that.
Regina grumbled something that sounded a whole lot like 'asshole' and then put on a fake smile as she grabbed her coat. "Fine."
...
"Ready to see your new room, princess?" Robin asked softly as he cooed over the baby that was blinking up at him from Regina's arms. He put his arm around the brunette's waist and slowly let mother and daughter up the stairs and to the nursery.
The room Robin had built (though he did have some help from Charming) was mostly purple and white, no pink, because Regina had specifically said - or threatened him, really - to stay far, far away from that color. There was a white crib in the middle and above it hung a glass mobile with small crowns- yes, Robin thought it was quite cute actually.
The moment Regina had moved close enough for Claire to grab one of the glass figures, her little hand reached out and she tried to put the small crown in her mouth.
Regina let out a low chuckle as she carefully pulled the glass away from the newborn. "She really likes it, Robin."
"Well, why wouldn't she? Her daddy made it after all." Robin grinned and slowly lifted the child from her mother's arms and kissed her head. "Don't you Claire? You love it because daddy made it, right sweetie?"
The brunette scoffed as she wiped the saliva off the glass with the sleeve of her shirt (god this was so uncharacteristic for her, what did motherhood do to her?) and let it fall back to its original place, softly swinging in the air, clinking softly as it hit the other figures.
...
"Can I go and see my sister again tomorrow, ma?" Henry asked with a toothy grin as he twisted a handful of fries in the red blotch of ketchup that was on his plate. To be quite honest he wanted nothing more than to be with his mom and dad now, and his little sister of course.
Roland nodded too as he looked up at Emma with an expression full of expectation. "Yeah, can we Emma?" The small boy asked as his big brown eyes went wide and dimples appeared on both his cheeks as he thought about his sister.
Emma chuckled softly. The little boy was like really, really cute. "Sure we can boys, I'm only babysitting because your mother asked me to. They just need a little time to make sure Claire is used to the house."
"Why?" Henry asked with a small smile and stuffed the fries in his mouth, smearing ketchup all over his cheeks.
"Well.." Emma started but to be honest she really didn't know why. She just repeated Regina's words when she was asked to keep Henry and Roland for the night. "I don't know, maybe because it's Claire's first night in her nursery and not in the hospital, or maybe it's Regina and Robin's first night alone with her." The blonde shrugged and reached for one of her own fries.
"Just remember, don't tell your mom that I fed you fries alright? She will have my head, or my heart, depends on her mood." Emma joked and put the fry drenched in mayonnaise in her mouth.
"Sure, ma." Henry chuckled and nudged his brother's shoulder. "We're so going to tell mom." He whispered in the boy's ear, causing Roland to let out a giggle and Emma to shoot them a suspicious glare.
...
It was one AM when the first small whimpers started to flow out of the small white baby monitor that sat on Regina's bedside table. Though the noises were small and not very loud, Regina immediately opened her eyes. She shifted out of Robin's arms and grabbed the monitor to put it closer to her ear.
And yes, there it was.
A small wail bounced against Regina's eardrum and she quickly got out of bed, taking one last glance at Robin to see if he was still sleeping soundly. And of course he was, Regina thought with a roll of her eyes. Of course he would be the one who slept through his daughter's cries.
Next time she'd wake him, no way she was doing midnight feeding all by herself.
Her bare feet padded against the soft carpet that Robin had put in the nursery. Regina smiled as she saw small feet kicking from out off the white crib.
"Hi there, little one." The brunette smiled as she leaned over the crib and looked into her daughter's brown eyes, eyes so very much like her own. The newborn continued to fuss until she felt her mother's hands picking her up.
"See, everything's okay." Regina cooed and placed the child close to her chest. "You can just go back to sleep, little Claire."
The baby's eyelids started to slowly close again when she heard her mother's soft voice, humming a song.
Regina stayed there standing for a while even when Claire was asleep again, just humming and swaying slightly.
"She woke up?"
Regina turned around when she heard Robin's voice coming from the doorway. "Yes." She whispered and softly placed the girl back in her crib. "But she's sleeping again."
The brunette walked towards him and kissed him softly on the lips. "And so should we."
But when Robin wanted to close the door again, a small whimper came from the nursery. Again.
"Seriously?" Regina asked softly and walked towards the crib. And yes, Claire was wide awake again.
"Alright, Regina go to bed, you're exhausted, just let me put her back to bed." Robin said with a small smile and placed a kiss on her forehead. "It's time for some father-daughter bonding time."
Regina chuckled softly as she stepped away from the crib. "Whatever you say, dear."
...
It has been twenty minutes since Regina had gone back to bed when Robin stepped foot inside the bedroom again. Only he wasn't alone.
"What's wrong?" Regina asked with worry in her voice as she sat up against the headboard to take the baby from Robin.
"I've literally tried ten times, but every time I closed that door behind me, she started crying again." Robin said with a sigh as he sat down on the bed next to Regina. "Maybe she just misses us?"
Regina shook her head. "I don't think so, dear." She said with a small smile and watched how her daughter's mouth started sucking at her forefinger, which was twice the seize of Claire's little hand. "She's just hungry."
Robin smiled as he scooted closer to the couple. "Ah, so she doesn't want us, just the food. She truly is my daughter."
The snort that left Regina's had him softly laughing to himself.
"Don't listen to your daddy, sweetheart." Regina softly whispered in a low voice, the timbre had Claire looking up immediately and it was so strange for Regina to have her daughter react to her voice like that, so... alert. "Let's just get you fed, alright?"
Her slim fingers slowly opened the buttons of her silk pajama top and she exposed one of her breasts. She slowly guided her daughter's mouth to the nipple and Claire immediately began sucking.
"See?" Regina exhaled as her eyes remained trained on their daughter, she loved feeding time, there was something almost... magical about being able to feed her daughter this way. "Just hungry, that's all."
"I love you so much." Robin said softly and pecked her on the lips, than continued to look at the wonder that was their daughter.
...
"Boys, quiet. Your sister might be sleeping!" Emma whispered as she closed the front door behind her.
The soft reprimand had both Henry and Roland softly moving up the stairs.
"Should we go in there?" Henry asked as the two brothers stopped in front of the the white door that led to their parent's bedroom. He was almost thirteen now and he knew what possibly could be going on behind that door and he did not need to see it. No way he would ever get the image of his mother breastfeeding Claire, or their parent's doing... it, off his retina.
"Yeah, why not?" The young five year old boy asked innocently, confused by his brother's words, and reached for the doorhandle before Henry could even think about stopping him.
The sight they found had Henry smiling brightly and inwardly letting out a relieved breath. His parents and his sister were all sleeping soundly, Robin's arms were curled around his mother as little Claire was snugly sleeping between them, laid protectively in his mother's arms.
But the moment Regina heard the sound of a door opening, her eyes snapped open. Apparently she had developed some weird kind of instinct. And now that she thought about it, maybe it was the same she used to have when Henry was younger.
"Henry, Roland?" Her voice sounded groggy and she slowly moved the baby in her arms before she stood up.
"Mom-" Regina carefully cut Roland off by placing her index finger to her lips before slipping past the boys to quickly put Claire back in her crib now that she was still sleeping.
"Hello, my boys." Robin smiled, awake now too.
"You do realise it's already past noon, right?" Henry asked with a grin when his mother stepped inside the room again.
"Well, Claire kept us up all night, so we have a pretty good excuse." Robin chuckled and got off the bed to ruffle Henry's hair and pull Roland in a hug.
"Emma's still downstairs?" Regina asked as she grabbed her robe to cover the fact that she was only wearing a pajama shirt and no pants.
"Yeah." Henry nodded and moved to hug his mother.
"Then I guess we can have a late," she checked the clock and sighed. "Very, very late brunch now."
...
Regina had absolutely no idea why she was doing this. But then like really, really no idea. She stroked the dark purple fabric of her blouse flat over her stomach, uncharacteristically self conscious of the fact that it as still not as flat as it used to be, but to be honest, what had she expected? Not even a week ago she had given birth to a pretty big baby.
Her heels (yes, she had already started walking in those again) were clicking obnoxiously loud against the linoleum floor of the almost empty sheriff's station.
She rounded the corner and came face to face with the one person she had been hunting for for the better part of two years.
Zelena looked up from her place in the jailcell when she heard heels clicking. It could only be one person, the Savior didn't wear any heels.
Regina didn't say a word as she slowly grabbed the chair by Emma's desk and moved it in front of the cell. The Wicked Witch. She looked so powerless right now, and Regina wondered if she'd looked like that too back when the curse first broke and she had been the villain in the cage.
"I know why you did what you did." She started in a soft voice and crossed her legs. "And I understand. We're very much alike, our mother ruined you too." The words were left hanging in the tense air around the two sisters.
But Zelena didn't say anything, she just pulled the blanket tighter around herself and glared at Regina.
"I know what it's like to not have the life you wanted." She continued and locked eyes with the redhead. "To not have the life you feel you deserve."
Those words apparently turned a switch. "Oh boohoo." The witch snapped. "You had to be Queen. You know nothing, I saw it all. You had everything"
Regina swallowed thickly as the words hit her. Had she really not listened back then in the clock tower? "Did I? So you missed the part where she abused me? Killed the love of my life and shipped me off to be the King's personal whore?" She spat the words, tears burning in her eyes.
Zelena shook her head as if trying to wave the words away from ever reaching her eardrums. "No, mother did all of that to make sure you'd achieve greatness."
Regina sighed and placed her head in her hands for a second. "Do you really believe that Zelena?"
But she never got an answer.
"You know," Regina smoothed imaginary crinkles out off her dresspants and looked up with sad eyes. "Not very long ago I was a lot like you. I wanted to kill the person who'd wronged me. I wanted to kill Snow White for telling mother about Daniel, I was so hung up on blaming Snow that I'd never realized that it was mother's fault." And partly mine, but those words remained buried deep in Regina's mind. "But I failed to kill the person I thought responsible."
Zelena shifted uncomfortably, as if it hurt to hear the words Regina was saying, but the brunette also knew her sister needed to hear them. "Had I succeeded in killing Snow I would've never been here in this world. I wouldn't be with these people. And I wouldn't have Robin, or my sons Henry and Roland, or my daughter Claire." She blinked the tears away that were pricking her eyes and shifted in her chair. "So know Zelena, I won't kill you. Instead I'm going to give you exactly what I got. A second chance."
Zelena's voice sounded groggy from emotion as she replied. "What if I don't want it, your second chance?"
"Well, then that would be a mistake, dear. So take it and use it." Regina put on a sad smile as Zelena finally looked up again. "Evil isn't born, it's made. And so is good." She slowly stood up and pulled the coat tighter around herself. "If I were you, I'd consider making a new destiny." She took a couple of steps closer to the cell and leaned against the bars. "Because if you don't, I'll be right there to take your heart and crush it." Regina pulled the pendant she had gotten from Charming, out off her pocket. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to put this somewhere safe."
She let the words hang in the air and turned around. Her steps were measured and loud against the eerie silence. But right before she turned the corner and dissapeared out of view she turned around and looked at her older sister. "But even though, it's still nice to have family in town."
And when the sound of heels had vanished, Zelena allowed herself a smile.
...
Ahh, how cute was that? Some sisterly bonding. Please leave a review! ;)