The new chapter

Part 93 grumpy

"Mommy?" Hope peeked her head around the corner.

"Hope?" Emma had just locked the cell. The drama with Grumpy had gotten out of hand and Emma had decided it would be best if he was kept at the station, since he was drunk as someone could be. Emma glanced at the clock and saw what time it was. 'Shit.' She tought. "I'm so sorry I wasn't there to pick you up. I lost track of time. You didn't get here by yourself did you?"

Hope shook her head. "Auntie Z came to pick Elphie up and I went with her."

***

Zelena run along to the corner where the police station was located. "Elphie?" She looked around and saw she had found her father. She kept quiet and hid behind the corner.

"Daddy, when am I seeing you again?" Elphie asked her father, totally out of breath from running.

Chad crouched down to her height and then looked at Malerie for a quick second who was getting annoyed in the car, he knew she wanted to go home now. "You should ask your mother, she has your schedule. But if you want, you can come home with us?"

"I don't want to be in the car with her. She isn't my mommy." Elphie stated. "You and mommy are my parents, not you and allergy." She secretly loved the nickname her mother had given her fathers girlfriend.

Malerie heard what the little one said. "That's rude!" She snapped.

Chad was irritated by the why Malerie behaved and slammed the door of the car so she couldn't listen along. "Now you have 2 mommy's and a daddy, or does mommy has a boyfriend as well?" He asked. He was kind of curious how Zelena was getting along.

Elphie hung her head. "Mommy misses you. She isn't fun Mommy anymore and is always alone when I come home from Queenie or my sister." She looked up to her dad, his expression said enough. "Bye daddy." She sounded disappointed. She didn't wait for a response and run back to the station.

Chad sighed and stood up again. He looked into the direction his daughter was running, Zelena appreared just around the corner, looking lost in the world. He felt sorry for her but decided to move along and got in the car with his annoyingly girlfriend and drove away.

Zelena saw her sad daughter approaching her and crouched down for a hug. "I'm sorry daddy had to leave so soon, munchkin." Elphie run passed her mother, she ignored her and just wanted to be with Hope. The witch turned in her heels, following her with her eyes until she disappeared into the station.

***

"Hi auntie Em!" The sad girl put on a fake smile she had learnt from her mother.

"Hey Elphie!" Emma said with a small smile. She noticed her daughter looked upset. "What's the matter Hope." She mentioned her over to her.

Hope walked over to her mother. Emma was sitting behind her desk. Hope crawled on her mother's lap. "I don't know, I just got upset because you forgot to pick me up and mom forgot it the other day too."

"Hey princess, mom and I never forget you. Sometimes it's just busy. I'll make sure it never happens again, okay?" Emma kissed Hope on her forehead.

Hope nodded. "Okay."

"It's okay, Hope. Parents are always busy. Luckily you have me." The 5 year old explained her niece.

***

Grumpy scoffed from the cell he was locked in. "Family means nothing, love means nothing." He looked at the little girl. "Stop believing in it."

The little one turned in her heels, ignoring her aunt for a second. "And being grumpy means just that you're mean! And you are!" Elphie snapped. She had learnt from her mom that whenever someone was unkind, she could protect the ones she loves but the truth with young ones is that they don't exactly know where the line is from protecting to hurtful comments. "Family is something you don't have and never will."

Grumpy rolled his eyes. "So what? I know enough about it to know I'm not missing anything special." His words slurred.

"Because you're not special." Elphie frowned her eyebrows. She never liked Grumpy in the first place. "Mommy said you drink a lot. That's not good for you and you'll die."

"We all die someday kid." Grumpy sat down on the bed.

"Grumpy shut up! That is enough." Emma shot at him and hoped it would have some effect.

"Woah woah woah, what's wrong in here!?" Zelena could feel the tension heated up. "Elfreda?"

"It wasn't me! He started!" Elphie played the innocent little girl and pointed at Grumpy. She knew her mother always believed her.

"Grumpy is drunk and being annoying. Though what you said Elphie wasn't that nice too." Emma explained to Zelena

Elphie gave a glance at Emma before turning to her mother. "Mommy, he said family and love means nothing." She gave an innocent look, according to her, what she said was completely normal.

Zelena rolled her eyes, landing at Grumpy. "Doesn't surprise me. It isn't the first attack he had on my family. Just keep him where he belongs Emma. Elphie wouldn't hurt anyone with words."

"I will." She walked out of the room and Elphie, Zelena and Hope followed. "but seriously Elphie you don't tell people that family is something they'll never have, that can really hurt." She thought back of when people used to tell her that when she was younger. "Please keep it in mind." She said softly.

"Elphie, you said that?" Zelena turned her full attention to her daughter.

"No, I didn't." Elphie lied. She looked at Emma and kept surprisingly quiet after.

Emma sighed and looked at Elphie. "I know you did it because you wanted to fight for what you think is right. I'm not mad. Just keep in mind that you can make your point across without hurting anyone."

Zelena was disappointed in her daughter but knowing how Elphie felt at the moment, she didn't want to make her feel worse. "Elfreda, I'm not mad at you but just tell us the truth next time okay?"

"Yes, mommy." She gave her a hug. "Can we go now? I'm hungry."

"Actually, aunt Regina and I thought it would be nice to have dinner all together? If Emma's work let us?" Zelena looked at Emma who seemed really into her work still.

Emma looked up. "Oh yes!" She nodded. "I just need to make sure my dad brings Grumpy a meal later.

Elphie looked at Hope and then to her mother. "Can I stay over? Please? I'll be good and auntie Gina can bring us to school."

Zelena smiled softly. "We'll see okay?" She took her purse and waited until Emma was ready as well.

"All done." Emma put away the last paperwork. "How did you get here?" She looked at Zelena.

Zelena couldn't help but laugh. "What do you mean? Magic of course. Can't live without it."

"Well maybe today you magically decided to go by car today. How could I know?" Emma chuckled.

"After all these years... you know how bad I am at driving the car, only when necessary!" Zelena said. "How are you then? You didn't walk, did you?"

Emma laughed. "No I didn't, I got here by car."

"You basically live 5 minutes away..." Zelena laughed and held the door open for the girls.

"Hey! If I get a call and need to go there I need a car." Emma said in her defense.