Crossing Paths

Chapter 10

I rang the doorbell until he finally opened the door. He looked disheveled, much different than a moment ago when he was dropping off the kids.

"Why the fuck are you ringing so long?" He asked with an angry tone and I immediately straightened my posture to make myself feel more confident.

"May I come in?"

"Where are the kids?"

"At home with Ruby."

"Why do you want to come in?"

"Well, you won't find out, until you let me," I said and looked at the house. Even though I couldn't look further than the hallway, I saw that it was a mess.

Just the hallway alone was messy with shoes and jackets everywhere spread on the floor.

Robin opened the door slightly further with just enough space to let me inside.

"I'm not in the mood to fuck," he muttered as we walked to the living room.

I scoffed and sat down on a chair at the table. "That's great, because that is really not the reason I'm here. No, the reason I'm here, is because you've been telling my kids things that I do not approve of."

Robin cocked his head in confusion and walked to the open plan kitchen. "Water?"

He didn't even bother pronouncing the full sentence and it irritated me immensely.

"Why have you been telling my kids I don't love them?" I asked with a stern tone and he immediately turned around to meet with my eyes.

He didn't reply.

"Why have you told them I slept with some guy and left the family because of that?"

He still didn't respond and it was only irritating me more and more.

"Why? Goddamnit?" I slammed with my hands on the table and shoved my chair backwards as I stood up.

He kept his mouth shut and I walked towards him. "Fucking respond, Robin. Why would you do such a thing? Have you lost your fucking mind?!" I was screaming at this point.

All the anger of the past months that had been boiled up, was now exploding. I usually didn't like screaming nor curse words, but at this point I didn't care anymore.

"Because you have everything!" Robin yelled back and I immediately stepped back. I didn't expect him to yell at me like that. He never did that.

And what he yelled didn't make sense at all.

"I have everything? What are you talking about?!" I was still screaming, my tantrum hadn't disappeared yet. "You made my kids turn their backs at me. You made them think I hated them. You made them hate me, don't you know how fucking horrible that is? Jerk!"

Suddenly, he slapped me right in the face. The stinging in my cheek, only added fuel to the fire that was already raging in me and I immediately slapped him back, much harder than I anticipated.

"So, we're using violence now? You're going to hit me, because you have no excuse of turning my children against me?!"

Robin didn't reply and just rubbed his jaw. "The kids adored you. You did everything perfect. Mommy still had her job, mommy still had her friends, mommy wasn't in debt, mommy had everything!" His face showed nothing but anger and he stepped closer to me, thus I stepped back.

"I had nothing except my kids. And I knew that if I wouldn't tell them what happened. You'd tell them and you'd make sure I'd come off as the bad guy."

He spit in my face and this denigrating act earned another slap in the face, turning his skin even redder than before. He hissed in pain, but I didn't care anymore at this point.

"Except that you didn't tell them what really happened!" I had never heard myself this loud before, but I still couldn't care. I felt nothing but despise and hate towards the man in front of me.

He used to be bearable, but knowing he tried to sabotage my bond with my kids, made it impossible for me to act normal around him.

"You made me seem horrible! Roland had been distant to me for the past half year! And especially this last month..." My words evaporated in the air. "What did you tell them?" My tone was soft, yet dangerous.

Robin smirked and shrugged. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"What did you tell them about Storybrooke?!" I yelled at the top of my lungs and held up my arm to smack him in the face again.

He must have told my kids something, because since we moved to Storybrooke, they'd been more distant than ever.

"What?!" Yelling at him was more fun than I thought it would be and I already moved my hand to hit him, when he flinched.

"Wait!" He yelled and ducked as I lowered my hand. "I told them you'd soon get together with your new lover who lived in Storybrooke and that when that moment would come, you'd kick them out."

I hit his other cheek one last time and I could see this one actually hurt, because he groaned. I wanted to yell at him, when the doorbell rang.

"You expect someone in these ragged clothes?" I questioned, my voice was hoarse, but furthermore back to a normal sound.

"No. I'm not expecting anybody."

We both walked to the door and I opened it, ready to rebuff them, but I looked directly at someone wearing a sheriff's badge, so I assumed that was Emma's colleague, Graham.

Having the police show up really was intimidating. On instinct, I straightened my posture and cocked my head.

"Can I help you with anything?" I asked politely and the man stepped slightly back. I noticed a hint of fear in his eyes and even though I didn't mean to scare him, I was quite glad to see that I still held some sort of authority.

"We had a notification of domestic abuse and violence. A witness heard you two screaming and slapping each other, I'm merely here to check if everything's okay."

I smiled politely and stepped outside before I turned to Robin. "Well, I assume everything's okay now and otherwise you'll get another notification soon," I said and couldn't hide the smugness in my tone.

Robin glared angrily at me, but I didn't care anymore. I knew he feared me and even though it was beyond wrong, I needed him to.

There was nothing I hated more than false rumours, especially when he told them to my kids about me.

"I'd like you two to come-"

Graham was cut off by the door that slammed shut. He turned bewildered to me and I smiled politely.

"Don't mind him, he's out of his mind. Could I be of any help?"

Graham still seemed a bit thrown off by Robin's sudden movement. It didn't seem like such a good quality for a sheriff, but who was I to judge?

"I'd like you to come with me to the station to explain what's been going on here," Graham said and I glanced at the house next to Robin's, to see the old neighbor quickly closing the curtain.

At least it was clear who the "witness" was.

I plastered a fake smile on my lips and nodded curtly. "Of course."

We walked to the car and drove over to the station in silence. All I could hope for was that Emma wasn't there, or that I at least wouldn't see her.

How could I ever explain to her that I had been married before? And as soon as she found out to whom I was married, she knew I had children, because she had met them before and Robin.

I probably should've told Emma that I had children, but the right time to tell her, just didn't seem to come.

Or I refused to believe it would come.

For some reason, I felt as though Emma would leave - even as a friend - if I told her I had children. And that was why I had to keep it a secret from her.