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Relationships come with a lot of firsts.
Ruby's never really thought about it before but it's true.
There's the first date, of course, the first kiss, the first, heh, you know. There's the first time you meet the family - which, for her and Regina, is a bit more complicated than normal - and the first time you exchange 'I love you's. It's a lot to handle and a lot to deal with but they've been doing good - really good , if you ask Ruby - so far.
But this, today, is a first of a different kind. And maybe it shouldn't feel any different, maybe it should feel like just another day they've planned to spend together, but it doesn't. Because holidays are special.
Holidays are reserved for families, blood or otherwise, for the people you love and who love you, for the people you want to spend every day with as you grow and change and become even more of who you are. So the fact that Regina wants to spend Christmas with her , it, well, it means a lot to Ruby. Because she loves Regina more than she ever thought she could love anyone, because Regina makes her feel like she's more than her past, more than a monster, more than just the girl with the red hood or the waitress with her head in the clouds.
Which is why Ruby's been standing on the doorstep to Mills Manor for the last half hour trying - and mostly failing - to get her stupid hands to stop shaking so she can knock on the door. Because she really, really wants to knock, to see Regina, to spend this oh-so-special day with her as well as every one that comes after but she's afraid. Afraid she'll say something stupid, that she'll mess it all up somehow, because she's good at that. Gods help her but she's so good at that and it's even worse when she's nervous, like she is now, when her tongue gets tied up in knots and her heart starts racing and the wolf scratches anxiously at the underside of her ribs every time she takes a breath. And she really, really , doesn't want to mess this up.
So, she paces back and forth in front of the door, wringing her hands and chewing on her bottom lip, and gods only know how long she might have stayed there if the door hadn't opened when it did.
She squeaks, whirling back to the door with wide eyes only to find Regina standing there, a beautiful softness in her eyes as she holds out a cup of warm apple cider. "It wouldn't do for you to catch a chill on Christmas," she says in lieu of greeting, pressing the mug into her hands and a soft kiss to her cheek. "Come in whenever you're ready, dear."
Regina smiles, a little impishly, in the face of Ruby's sputtering and eases the door closed, leaving Ruby alone with her thoughts once again.
She gapes at the door for what many would consider an unseemly amount of time before she turns her attention to the steam rising from the cider cupped in her hands. There's something about it, she doesn't know how to put it into words exactly, but there's something about this that makes everything seem clear. Maybe it's that Regina hadn't rushed her, hadn't tried to convince her to make up her mind or put her worries aside. Or maybe it's that Regina had gone out of her way to show her that, even when she has doubts, she's still not alone.
Either way, it only takes her another sixty seconds to reach up with a steady hand and knock on the door.