Repeat (A Once Upon A Time Fanfiction / Captain Swan's Daughter)

43

"I present to you, mine and Henry's homemade cookies." Killian introduced a later Tupperware that was bursting with slightly overdone cookies. Ellie, Phoebe, and I weren't put off by a bit of burnt food, though. We were starving and polished off the entire container in minutes, then licking a finger to wipe up all of the crumbs left.

"So, Ellie." I began, "you can either sleep on the sofa, sleep in a makeshift bed in the spare room, sleep on a makeshift bed on Phoebe's floor, or share Phoebe's double bed."

"I've shared with Pheebs tonnes of times." Ellie answered without having to think about her answer.

"Well, that's easy for me." I smiled, "all in favour of curling up and sleeping for a month?"

"Sounds good to me." Phoebe agreed and Ellie nodded. I said good night to Killian and Henry on my way upstairs. Henry was watching the Simpsons alongside Killian, who was looking at the yellow-skinned people with a somewhat puzzled look on his face. Killian seemed to be take it personally and take great offence when the crazy sailor was in an episode.

After giving my son and husband a hug and a kiss on the cheek each, I dragged myself up the stairs, brushed my teeth, pulled on one of Killian's giant t-shirts that he refuses to wear, and fell into bed.

• • •

I woke up bright and early the next morning. I hadn't bothered checking what the time was when I went to bed the night before, but I knew the sky over the docks was not completely dark.

I checked my phone before going through the trauma of pulling away my warm blankets. The time was 6:17 and with the exception of the birds outside my window, everything was quiet. Killian was still asleep beside me, there was no chance Henry would wake up even a minute before he had to, and the girls were even more exhausted than I had been the night before. Being the only one awake, I changed into a pair of jeans and a vest top. The white material was transparent if you were up close, and if I had my hair curled my look would be very similar to how I used to dress. After making a cup of coffee and grabbing a tan leather jacket to shield me from the costal breeze, I left the house to go and see Zelena.

Recently, it seemed like Zelena never slept. Whenever I needed to talk to her she was there, whether it was midnight or 6am. Obviously, she must have been sleeping at some point, but I didn't know how. Zelena was a woman who could function with little sleep. I knew that even though it was only 6:42 in the morning, she would he awake.

Once I'd driven to the Mills' house. I texted Zelena telling her I was outside. I didn't want to disturb Roland and Regina, who were most likely still tucked up in bed. As I expected, a pale face, makeup free face and a head full of curly red hair opened the door.

"Hello." Zelena smiled her usual melancholy smile. A handful of people had forgotten what Zelena's usual smile looked like. Since learning that Robin would be taken from her, the light in her eyes had died out.

"I have to talk to you." I insists.

"Well, I thought that would be the reason you were here before 7am on a Sunday." Zelena replied, holding the door open for me.

We sat at a couple of stools in the kitchen.

"It's about Robin." I announced onced, getting to the point. Unlike my mother, I wasn't the sort to sweet talk or ease people into things. The majority of people didn't complain about how blunt I was.

Zelena's eyes widened, shooting out hundreds of questions all at once. She was speechless, not knowing where to start.

"It turns out Robin and Phoebe were best friends for years," Zelena smiled at my words. Her and my daughter has got on really well, to the extent of sharing clothes and having movie nights. "Robin calls herself Ellie, so that's why Phoebe didn't recognise the name.

"How is she?" Zelena asked. It was a very general question, but it gave me the opportunity to bring up Ellie's health.

"The truth? She seems happy. The two girls hardly stopped for breathe when they were chatting for the entire journey from Boston. I just noticed she was very thin. Unhealthily thin, almost. I don't know if it's just me excessively worrying, but-" I talked before I was politely interrupted.

"I get it. We may not be used to parenting teenage girls, but you can call it mothers instinct." Zelena nodded. Despite knowing next to nothing about her daughter, she worried about her. Everything she had said had been so right.

"We haven't told her about the whole magic and fairytale thing yet," Zelena nodded, taking in everything I was saying, "I don't know how you want to handle all that."

"How did you tell Phoebe?" Zelena asked.

"Henry showed her his storybook, then we eased her into it a little. It's all a blur, but I remember her taking it well. It was actually scary how easy she was with accepting it." I told Zelena. "Then you have her the dream catcher thing and she could see more."

"I really don't want Robin to see a dream catcher." Zelena snapped, tears forming in her eyes. It was understandable. Zelena had a horrible past that she had had luckily been able to steer away from. Without Regina, I don't think she would had been able to do it. Zelena and Robin would have been living a wicked life in Oz, and Robin wouldn't had even been called Robin. The sad part is that if that had happened, there would be a reason for her to be called Robin. I didn't like to think about things that could have happened. It stressed me out too much.

"So, she's in Storybrooke?" Zelena asked, her eyes still glassy. I chose to ignore this. Neither of us were the comforting sorts.

"She's at my house having a sleepover in Phoebe's room." I answered.

"Can I meet her?" Zelena asked, as if I had the power to stop a powerful witch from seeing her only daughter.

"Of course." I smiled.

"Do you think it would be a good idea to have you and Phoebe with us while I talk to her? I would hate to end up scaring her or turning into an emotional wreck." Zelena asked.

"I'll check with her, but that sounds like a good plan." I agreed, "I'll get back and keep you updated. Make sure you press the green button if I try to call you."

"I may not be from your world, but that doesn't make me a compete idiot, Emma." Zelena smiled and rolled her blue eyes. Laughing lightly, I gave Zelena a hug before making my way back to my car. There was so much that could go wrong in the day ahead, so I crossed my fingers that everything would run smoothly. Unlike my ancient bug.