A/N: I'm so sorry for taking too long to update anything, I just haven't been in the right mindset lately. Updates to all my fics will still be slow.

Disclaimer: The only thing I own is my mistakes.

It was supposed to be there, the apple tree from her dream—nightmare, vision, whatever the hell it was.

It was supposed to be right where the shed was. But it wasn't. There was no evidence to indicate it'd ever been one either.

"You heard the old man, Regina. He lived by the mansion his entire life and he'd never seen an apple tree in the backyard. And this shack looks decades old!" Robin complained, coughing up the dust gathered inside it, fingers tracing the decaying wood.

But that was it, though.

The incident could've occurred decades before the man was even born. Before the shed was ever built. No one could know for sure.

"And if something as big as murder, as you claim, happened here," Robin added with a click of a tongue, "I'm certain the town would know something about it."

He was right about that, as much as she hated to admit it. If a murder did take place in the town's most haunted house, there would've been legends pouring out of every person's mouth, stories and assumptions about it. But there was nothing. No one knew more than what they've already told them—a woman and a child, both haunting the place.

Something so big wouldn't just cease to exist. A pregnant woman couldn't just cease to exist.

"Yeah…" Regina whispered defeatedly, her hand mindlessly brushing over her arm. "I guess it could just be my mind playing tricks on me."

"Could be," Robin agreed. "Or it could be whatever is in this house that's messing with you. You know how dark entities tend to be."

That was possible. Very possible, in fact. The bruise she woke up with should be enough proof that something didn't want them on the property and yet, she wasn't a hundred-percent convinced that was all to it.

Whatever she saw felt too real to be nothing.

"I don't know, Robin—"

"We could ask other people," he quickly suggested, and that put a smile on her face. The fact that he didn't dismiss her worries as if they were nothing, even when he didn't believe in them himself. "We won't be losing anything by doing that."

She nodded. "It'll mean a lot to me."

"Just…just don't get too attached to this, Regina," he warmed, worry evident across his face as he reached for her elbow when she turned to exit the shed, a gentle grip stopping her from leaving. "You know better than to—"

"I know," she interrupted. "I'm not attached to this. I'm just…sure there's a story behind this place, and as a curious human being, I wanna know it."

Emma and Graham stayed behind to document any unusual movements in the mansion, and Regina, Robin, Tink and Ruby asked around town for any information about it. No matter how little or useless it would seem, Regina wanted it all.

Unfortunately, the day ended with them returning empty-handed.

Most people knew nothing other than it being an old mansion with passed down stories about the creepy things that allegedly happened inside it. Tales they've been told by their parents, who'd been told by their parents. Others didn't really want to talk to them. They avoided them like the plague, rushing past them on the streets before the group of friends could utter a single word.

"I didn't find anything about it in the town's library," Tink said with a shrug, lips pursed in disappointment.

"And everyone I talked to only knew it as the haunted house on Mifflin street," Ruby supplied with a frustrated sigh. "Even the old lady from that diner knew it as that, nothing else!"

But that wasn't it. It just simply wasn't.

"There has to be more." Regina huffed, shaking her head. No way was she settling on it just being a haunted house that scared the townspeople for generations. A house wouldn't simply be possessed by a clearly dark presence without a reason.

Something happened. The fire happened.

"We'll look again tomorrow," Robin promised, his hand enveloping hers and squeezing for comfort. "As for tonight, what do you plan on doing?"

"I don't know," Regina murmured. "What more can we do?"

"BooBuddy?" Ruby suggested.

"The teddy bear?" Regina scoffed. "That useless thing you got for three-hundred bucks?"

"It had great reviews!" Ruby defended with an eye roll. "And it's cute."

"It's just a fancier version of an EMF," Tink stated matter-of-factly.

"Thank you!" Regina exclaimed. Finally, someone standing on her side.

"It's actually more than that," Robin butted in. "It detects changes in temperature, movements, and all sort of things. It responds—"

"Of course it does," Regina murmured. "Because sleeping in a haunted house alone isn't scary enough, adding a talking stuffed toy would make all things better, right?"

Both Ruby and Robin rolled their eyes, and Tink shrugged when Regina looked over at her for her opinion.

"We won't lose anything if we give the bear a try," Tink said. "It's a teddy bear, it might attract the kid spirit."

Well…that was a thought that hadn't crossed her mind.

She had a point. Children loved toys, BooBuddy might just attract the kid. It was perfect.

"Alright," Regina gave in with a defeated sigh, waving in the direction of the teddy bear. "We'll use it."

It was complete silence as they switched on the teddy bear and watched as it beep, coming to life as his belly lit up, an indication of it being activated. Just as the instructions stated, BooBuddy conducted the baseline, taking less than a minute before his paws stopping blinking, giving them the green light to proceed.

"Camera?" Regina mouthed Emma, and Emma nodded to confirm that it was recording.

Everyone in the room stared at the teddy bear intently, waiting for anything from it. Some were curious as to whether or not it would actually work the way they were promised it would, others were simply intrigued. Regina was the former. She doubted it would work, let alone, work the way it was advertised to.

Hi, I'm BooBuddy. What's your name?

Regina's eyes widened, but Robin shook his head, knocking down that bit of hope she felt bubbling inside her. There was no change in their environment, nothing to get excited over.

It went quiet again, for longer this time.

And then—

Perfect. Thanks for making it warmer.

"Holy shit," Ruby whispered, and despite being a firm nonbeliever of the device, Regina's heart began pounding.

Do you want to be my friend?

His paws lit up, indicating a change in the electromagnetic energy, a rather strong one, too.

Aww. Thanks! I like holding hands with you.

All of them shifted their attention to the bear's paws. Both seemed untouched, still in their original position. There wasn't a force tugging them down, nothing of the sort pointing to the possibility of them being held.

"It doesn't mean someone's literally holding its hand," Robin explained, "it just means that it detected a motion or a vibration around the room."

"Right…" Emma drawled.

Do you have any brothers or sisters?

They agreed not to say anything during the session, let the bear speak for them, ask the things it was programmed to say. But Regina couldn't help it. Whatever was in the room wasn't responding to it through the EVP recorder and, well, curiosity got the best of her.

"What's your name?" Her voice was low, tone soothing enough to put anyone at ease. Hopefully, it was enough to get some kind of a response from whoever was around, be it the child or the woman, or the dark presence that attached itself to her. Anything would do at that point. "If you're here, if there's anything you wanna tell us, anything we can help with—tell us," she pleaded.

"No!"

A child's voice echoed through the EVP recorder, just as the teddy bear spoke again.

Whew…it just got warm in here.

"It's really warm," Tink agreed, a frown settling over her features as she uncomfortably tugged at her sweater.

"Yeah," Graham muttered, rolling up the sleeves of his button-down shirt with a huff. "Aren't haunted places supposed to be, like, freezing?"

What was that? Could you please say it again?

Regina jumped out of her seat with a loud, audible gasp, her hand flying to her bare shoulder. "It stings!" she grunted out, and Robin got up from where he sat, rushing over to her side with his phone in hand, using the light it provided to see in the darkness they were in.

"Oh my god, Regina…"

"Robin…" Emma whispered, her eyes bulging, her hand flying to her mouth as she came closer to them.

"What is it?" Regina asked, her voice wavering despite her best attempt to stay calm. How the hell was she supposed to be relaxed when everyone was gaping at her?

"Graham, the holy water, now!" Robin demanded.

"Robin—"

"It's a scratch," Robin cut in, finally answering, and Regina's eyes grew twice as big upon hearing that. "I've seen scratches before. Hell, I've had them before, but that…Regina, that looks awful." She could hear the worry in his tone. It was bad. It was very bad. And it fucking hurt. It burned, like her skin was on fire. "Stay still," he requested, twisting open the small bottle of holy water they carried everywhere with them. They barely used it, in fact, if she recalled correctly, they only ever used it once before.

She grimaced when he dampened her skin with a few droplets and rubbed it along the angry red line that formed over her shoulder, then tugged her shirt down her arm to check if it stretched all the way down it, too. Fortunately, it didn't. It was a wide scratch, but a short one. Nevertheless, it was agonizing.

"You're okay," he soothed, pressing a kiss to her temple as he wrapped his arms around her, and she sought his comfort, burrowing into him. She needed it. "You're okay, darling."