The Nanny

Autumn

They started work on the nursery right before Halloween. Everyone was then relegated to the first floor during the day as the contractors did their work, knocking down walls and making sure that the new room was suitable for their babies. Robin went back to the people who had built his house and they agreed to help with the redesign since they knew the building the best, even consulting with the architect he had hired to design the house in the first place. All agreed it would only take about two weeks to get the room ready for the next step—decorating—which didn't seem too bad. At least, that's what Regina reminded herself whenever a power tool gave her a headache or everyone felt just a little too cramped, even with how spacious Robin's first floor was.

Robin was able to escape to his office during the week and Will had his room in a separate wing of the house. Henry had started a new round of treatments which wiped out his energy, so he was able to asleep through the work. Emma just put on noise-cancelling headphones and Regina just found ways to keep herself busy, usually by researching classes to help her refresh her knowledge of finance and prepare her for a future job.

At first, Regina thought that Roland was the only one struggling with the temporary changes to his routine. Her cuddly, sweet boy who loved to have stories read to him was nowhere to be found. He was surly and withdrawn, giving her one-word answers whenever she tried to engage with him, not even wanting to go swimming or to the gym with her. Roland was cold to her and she grew concerned as the week wore on.

She watched him carefully and soon realized it wasn't the construction that made him so grumpy. His sour mood was only directed at her, which confused her. She and Robin had decided that it was best to tell him about her not being his nanny until after everything was done with the nursery. After all, it wasn't as if anything was really going to change. Regina still lived in the mansion and took care of him. It's just she wasn't being paid to do it anymore...but he still didn't know any of that, so that didn't explain his new attitude.

Her next clue came one afternoon when Roland was being especially rambunctious and ended up throwing some of his toys around to amuse himself. One ball almost hit Regina's stomach but she was able to bat it away in time. She frowned, telling him to be more careful because there were other people in the room and he didn't want to hurt anyone. Emma then jumped in, adding that he had to be careful around his mother or else he might hurt the twins. "You don't want to do that, right?" she asked him.

"I don't care," he said, pouting. "The twins are stupid."

His words surprised her but she recovered quickly enough. She put him in the timeout chair, reminding him that they didn't call people or things stupid. "Five minutes," she told him.

As he pouted in the chair, she motioned for Emma to follow her into the hall. Once out there, she asked: "Did you hear what he said?"

"I did," Emma replied, frowning as she crossed her arms. "He's certainly singing a different tune about the twins after being all excited for their arrival."

Regina nodded, feeling concerned. "I wonder what happened. Did we say something? Or do something? Or not do something?"

Emma shrugged. "You're going to have to talk to him once the timeout is over. Maybe he'll tell you something."

"I hope," Regina replied. She took a deep breath as she checked her watch. "One minute to go. Let's head back inside."

She walked back inside and saw Roland still sulking in the corner. After checking her watch, she went over and pulled a chair over to sit across from him. "Okay, do you want to tell me what's going on?"