Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-1962215-20140316231135/@comment-1293767-20140317070714

If they’re really sisters and Zelena didn’t use Regina’s blood from the monkey, my theory is that Cora having had a child pre-meeting Rumple was part of the reason she agreed to his deal: Cora was cunning, so she may have agreed to giving him her firstborn as a catch only to reveal when he came to collect that she’d already given up her firstborn and then he’d be out of luck and have to go find said firstborn. But before it ever got that far, he fell in love with her (or thought he did) and she amended the agreement to their child. Either way, she was going to betray him and get out of the deal, but the second way involved her not having to reveal anything about an out-of-wedlock offspring (knowledge that had the potential to be used against her) and gave her the opportunity to break off her romantic relationship with Rumple at the same time.