Cursed Hearts

The Bad and the Beautiful

"What do you mean we can't see Mom? Where is she?"

"I'm not answering any questions until someone tells me why you're all here," Robin responded sternly, out of energy and unprepared to handle the situation he was in.

"It's my fault," Emma blurted out, "I just had a feeling that something was off. You know how I get."

"What did you think would happen once you got here? There's still a lot that we don't know about the situation here, I just barely talked to Zelena-"

"We're family, we have to stick together," Will interrupted, followed by quick agreements from Roland and Caroline.

As frustrated as Robin felt, he knew he couldn't argue with his stubborn family. He gave a long look towards the group, Emma, Killian, his children and his brother, knowing they weren't giving in without a fight. "Mom is still resting- the flight was hard on her."

"We have to let her know that we're here at least," Roland said, sounding urgent.

His father reluctantly agreed, aware that he had no other choice. Without words, Robin lead the group to the correct floor and down the long hallways. When they got to room Regina was in, he gave the door a few knocks before peeking his head in. To his relief, his wife was no longer connected to an IV. She looked peaceful with her eyes closed, wearing a blue hospital gown. Before Robin could sound a warning against waking her up, the door pushed forward, and soon the room was filled with family members, all donning concerned expressions.

"You never said she was basically admitted in the hospital," Will was the first to say, eyeing the bruises on her arm with worry.

"It's... not as bad as it looks," he replied, attempting to make the lie sound as real as it could. "They just wanted to make sure that she's alright."

Caroline stepped carefully into the room, brushing past her father and heading towards the metal hospital bed. She reached for her mother's hand, fervently holding onto it. Her touch caused the woman to stir instantly, awakening to find herself face to face with her daughter. Brown eyes narrowed in confusion as she registered her surroundings, meshing two very different worlds together.

"Wh-what..."

"We couldn't let you do this on your own," Caroline interrupted, giving her hand a squeeze.

Instead of the unflinching anger that was expected from everyone in the room, Regina laid her head back in an exhausted heap.

"We have no idea what the situation is like here," she spoke, shutting her eyes as if that would make all of the problems go away.

"And we don't need any added distractions," Robin chimed in, putting his hands on Caroline's shoulders. "I'm going to need you all to jump back in the car and turn right around- I'll let you know what information I find about Zelena."

"Dad, we can hel-"

"I can't believe you two brought them here," Robin stated, directing his frustration towards Will and Emma, "whatever is going on with Zelena is insurmountably dangerous- this is the worst place for them to be right now."

"And we're stronger together than we are apart," Emma replied, holding her ground. "We've all been out of practice from taking down villains, but we've done it before and we'll do it again."

Overwhelmed, Robin backed down and glanced back at his kids, knowing he would have to accept this new reality. "Make sure they're safe- why don't you guys go to the beach in the morning?"

A spark of interest flickered in Caroline's eyes, one that quickly dissolved once she remembered what the real reason behind their trip was. "Sure, once we help Zelena. What's the plan for that?"