The Monster Within

Chapter 48

"So, tell me more about these former friends," Arthur says, pouring his girlfriend another round of sparkling water for both.

"They're not friends," Zelena insists, doing her best to keep the water down. Now three, almost four months into her pregnancy, the dreaded morning sickness had continued, leaving her dizzy, faint, sweaty and overall very weak. She was told that it would pass with time, but she's in her third month and it should have stopped by now. The one benefit was that it caused her to lose weight and "glow" according to Jacob. While she kept the confident façade, in reality, she felt miserable and wishing that she'd thought her Robin plan through a little more carefully. If carrying your sister's boyfriend's baby meant being this queasy all the time, she would've changed her plans. The doctor suggested that since her body type was thinner, she might experience more extreme hormone fluctuations and therefore longer bouts of morning sickness, but despite everything, Jacob was there for her. He did not mind holding her hair up as she vomited into the toilet and offered comforting words, not knowing that he'd walked his ex-wife through two pregnancies previously. He knew what to say to get her to feel safe and relaxed in his presence. Plus, he knew that once she hit her second trimester, he'd become a lot more attractive to her. He had yet to see this smoking redhead in the sheets. Right now, he was kept at arm's length, which was perfectly fine for him considering all she did was bitch and whine about her sickness and pretty much everything else. He knew once she started on a rant, she wouldn't stop, which could be used to his advantage to gain some insight.

"That's why I said former," Arthur says.

"What do you know so far?" Zelena asks as if she had a list in her head of all the things she hated about the people who were supposed to be her friends.

"That your sister gets everything, your mother hates you, you manipulated her boyfriend into getting you pregnant... You spend a lot of your time on the subject of your sister, let's change it up a bit. What about this Emma girl? The one you ran into at the hospital the day we met."

"Oh, Little Miss Golden Girl. She has a perfect life. The beautiful home, the handsome boyfriend, the perfect teenage son, the great job, a new baby. It's all roses in the garden for her..."

Arthur feigns ignorance. "Isn't she the one from the papers? Escaped captivity?"

"Gutsy to say the least, but I didn't have a lot of sympathy for her, I mean I would've bashed the guy's face in the first time he'd try to take advantage of me..." Not aware of the irony of her statement. "Instead the inept cops let him get over state borders and he kept her locked up for four months."

Arthur is holding in the laugh, he tries to remain serious. It was rather amazing that he was able to get over state borders with Emma as his prisoner, it was actually funny that the cops had basically made fools of themselves in his and Emma's case.

"And of course her idiot boyfriend nearly got himself killed when he heard that he was trying to get her pregnant."

He bites his lip in satisfaction.

"And what about this boyfriend... Kelton was his name?"

"Killian, very sweet man, bummer that Emma got to him first."

"How tough is he? Could I take him in a fight?"

The lawyer is a little taken aback by the question, but then again, almost all the men she'd dated like to assume their dominance over one another.

"Just in case I ever have to fight for you..." he smirks.

"Oh please, Emma can have him. He's a love-sick puppy dog, following the blonde around and dropping everything if she so much as sheds one tear. A gentleman at heart, he has a dark past of booze and drugs. He has abandonment issues, just like her. His daddy ran away and then he lost his brother overseas."