A/N: I'm going to try to have an update once every other week, but I don't make any promises since my school schedule is kind of busy. I also plan on making a mix to go along with each chapter. You can find those on my tumblr, which is linked in my profile! xoxo enjoy!

Flashbacks and First Dates

I walked through the door with you, the air was cold
But something about it felt like home somehow
And I left my scarf there at your sister's house
And you still got it in your drawer even now.

The curse has been broken for about a day and a half now and Ruby is in her bedroom, looking over the things her cursed self had accumulated. She runs her hands over all the trinkets, remembering the exact time and place each item came from. It was weird remembering all these small things from this life, Ruby's life, and remembering all the heartbreak that was Red's life. Her hand stops on a picture frame. She picks it up and walks over a few feet to sit on her bed. She runs her hands over the cool glass of the frame, they were so young but exactly the same. Ruby's heart swells and aches at the memory of this day. This was their first date. She wished she could go back to that day, she'd stay and never leave.

The bell on the door rang as he opened it. He shivered as he came from the cool autumn air into the warm diner.

"Sit anywhere you like, Ruby will be right with you." The old woman at the cash register ordered without looking up from her papers. He nods even though she's not looking and takes off his jacket before he slides into a booth.

Victor comes to the diner the same time every day without fail. He orders the same thing off the menu, but still gets something different every time. It's one of the reasons he likes coming here rather than the five star restaurant he calls his kitchen. The other reason is walking towards him with a big smile on her face. "Do I get the burger and fries this time?" he asks, eyebrow raised.

The waitress pretends to ponder this as she holds her pencil against her mouth. After a few moments she shakes her head and writes something on her order pad, "No. I think it's grilled cheese and tomato soup for you today, Doctor Whale."

"Whatever you say, Ruby. My stomach is at your mercy!" He smiles as she walks back toward the kitchen to give his order to the cook. They've been playing this game for a while now. He flirts and she pretends not to notice. Who could blame her, really? She was easily the most gorgeous woman in town and could have her pick of anybody within a five mile radius. There's no reason she'd choose him over a much more handsome suitor. He still makes it a point to ask her out every time he comes in though, and she shoots him down every single time. He's positive she'll say yes one of these days.

Ruby grins as she leans back against the wall, going back to filing her nails. She's just placed the good Doctor's order and she's rather pleased with herself.

"Doctor Whale again?" Granny peers over her glasses at her from her spot at the cash register. Ruby nods in response. "You take his order?" She nods again. "What he actually wants this time?" She smiles as she shakes her head. "One of these days he's going to stop giving us his business and it'll be all your fault!" Granny scolds.

"I doubt that," she responds. "He's madly in love with me." She pushes herself off the wall as the cook puts Whale's order on the counter and rings the bell. She slides the plate in front of him with a "Bon Appétit!" and turns to walk away before he calls her back.

"Did you know they're playing movies in the park all day today?" He seems nervous but is trying to come off as casual as possible.

Ruby puts a hand on her hip, shifting her weight to one foot. "Yeah, but isn't that for the kids? Cartoons or whatever?"

He furrows his brows, "Who said cartoons are just for children?" He shakes his head, "No, but they're playing stuff for the grown-ups later." Whale stalls his next sentence by taking a bite of his sandwich, glancing at Ruby as she sits down across from him with a smug look on his face. She knew what he was going to ask, but she wanted to give him the pleasure of asking anyway.

"They're playing American Werewolf in London at 9." He says to his bowl of soup. "We could have dinner at my place and then take a walk there?"

"Take a walk where?" She teases. She's definitely loving this more than the last dozen times.

Victor sighed exasperatedly and looked up at her. "The park? For the movie?"

Ruby laughs and stands up. The look on his face is enough to make her give in this time. "Yeah, I'll go with you. But only because your face matches the red in my hair." She pats his shoulder as she walks pass him, "I'll come over after my shift."

She sees Granny eyeing her from the counter and, after giving the two customers who just walked in some menus, goes to sit on the stool across from where she's standing.

"I don't think I've ever seen that man smile," the old woman says, "what did you say to him?"

Ruby turns her head back to glance at him before answering Granny's question, with a big smile of her own. "I made his dreams come true." Granny gives her an odd look. "Oh my god, Gran, I told him I'd go on a date with him! I'm going to need to get off early."

Granny sighs, relieved. "Okay, but only an hour."

Victor couldn't help but smile the whole way home, and he may or may not have done a celebratory dance when he walked in the door. He couldn't believe she had finally said yes. He had about five hours to kill and most of that needed to be spent prepping for dinner even though he had a full stomach. What do you even cook a girl who works at a diner? What do you cook a girl who probably prefers her grandmother's food over any other? Victor flipped through the family cookbook. The only thing he had all the ingredients for was Chicken Parmesan. Hopefully she liked Italian.

Ruby suddenly found herself feeling self-conscious about what she was wearing. She had taken a shower when she got off of work and had since changed her clothes four times. This was just Doctor Whale, it wasn't like this was a serious thing; she had seen him go on plenty of dates with other women. Why did she tell him yes anyway? Because of a werewolf movie? She groaned and took off the black dress she had put on just moments ago and grabbed a white shirt and a pair of black pants. Maybe the fifth time would be a charm.

The doorbell rings and he nearly drops the pan of newly bathed-in-mozzarella chicken on the floor. He has an inner debate for a moment on whether to answer the door or put the chicken back in the oven first. Door first. He sets the dish on the counter with a sigh before walking down the hallway to the front door.

"You're early." He says as he opens the door with a grin.

"I never said what time I was going to be here!" Ruby answers.

Whale considers this for a moment. "Touché." He steps aside so she can come in, "But dinner isn't done yet so you'll have to wait just a bit longer."

The door closes behind her as soon as she crosses the threshold. "I'm okay with that. I kind of wanted to watch you work magic anyway." She grins and begins to take off her scarf and jacket. He chuckles as he takes the items from her to hang on the hook by the door. "What?"

"I'm making Italian and you wore white." He says as he gestures to the long sleeve white shirt with red flowers that took her so long to pick out. "Hopefully you're not a messy eater." He chuckles again as he motions for her to follow him back to the kitchen.

His house was huge. Ruby was positive that his front room was bigger than all the rooms in the house she shared with Granny combined. The moment she got used to the extreme vastness of space, they had exited the hallway into the gorgeous kitchen with its marble countertop and huge island with a built in stove. She had sat down at the barstool across from his workspace next to the stove and couldn't help herself from looking up at the enormously high ceilings, finding herself admiring the light fixtures, of all things. After a few moments, she realized he was staring at her with a look that expected an answer. He had clearly said something while she was too busy not listening and falling in love with his house.

"I'm sorry?"

He shook his head at her and went back to dicing up an onion. "Nothing. I just saw you admiring my kitchen," he threw the onions into the heated frying pan on the stove, "I modeled it after an Ikea catalog." He popped a green bean in his mouth before throwing a handful in the pan with the onions.

"Did you really?!" She asked, shaking her head as he offered her the green vegetable before throwing another handful in.

Victor laughed, putting the leftover green beans in a bag and putting them back in the fridge. "No. I inherited the place after my father died. I haven't touched a thing since, if we're not counting my bedroom; which I did model after an Ikea catalogue. Though I might've been looking at the wrong page – grown men don't normally have bunk beds, do they?"

She smiles as she reaches over to snatch a piece of a carrot that he just cut before he has the chance to throw it into the pan with the rest of the vegetables. "Well, whoever decorated before you got it did an excellent job."

"That would be my mother." He says emphatically.

They're both sitting at the island now. Whale insisted that they sit there rather than the dining table; the dining table just seems so formal. He doesn't tell her that the last time he actually ate at that table was the Christmas before his mother died. That doesn't really seem like first date material.

Ruby has pulled her hair back and pushed up the sleeves of her shirt in an attempt to prevent any mishaps. This seems to have been done in vain, however, because after a few bites in he hears her whisper a curse and, out of the corner of his eye, sees her reaching for a napkin. He lets out a loud laugh as he stands up and walks over to the sink to wet a towel.

"I can't believe I missed the moment when I became a psychic." He says as he hands her the damp towel. If looks could kill, the glare she gave him would've done the trick, but he can't stop smiling.

Ruby groans as she tries to wipe the marinara sauce off her shirt to no avail. "This is only making it worse!" She throws the towel on the counter. "Whatever, I'll just walk around looking like a slob for the rest of the night." She shrugs as she goes back to eating the rest of her dinner, which she has to admit is so delicious that's it definitely worth getting a million stains on her shirt. Though she'd never tell Doctor Whale that.

Victor leans against the counter across from her. It was weird to admire the way she ate, right? He tells her to sit tight for a minute while he goes to get something. He knew her well enough to know that if she walked around with a marinara sauce stain on her shirt all night, that would be all she would think about and he didn't want that. He returned a few moments later and handed her a black t-shirt.

She raised an eyebrow as she took it from him, unfolding it to gauge whether or not she actually wanted to wear this particular thing of his or not. "Rolling Stones!?" She exclaimed.

He shrugged and told her "You can keep that." before going back to eating the rest of his dinner. She had cleaned her plate already and he needed to catch up if they were going to leave in time for the movie.

"I didn't peg you for a Rolling Stones kind of person," she said as she slid off the stool. She started to walk towards the bathroom only to realize she didn't know where it was and turned back. "Um, where can I change?"

"Down the hall, first door on your right."

Ruby nodded and headed to where he had directed her. She pulled off her stained shirt after she had locked the door behind her and held up the shirt he had given her, contemplating it. She spotted scissors on the counter and picked them up before double-thinking what she was about to do. "Hey Victor?" she called out after she had cracked the door open. "You said I could keep this, right?" She heard him yell back a yes and shut the door again. Right, so there was no way he could get mad if she just cut off the collar.

He's just gotten done washing the dishes when she walks back into the kitchen and he has to do a double take because she definitely looks more gorgeous than she did before they ate dinner and he wasn't aware that was even possible. She's cut the collar off his favorite band t-shirt that he never wears and it's resting just perfectly off of one shoulder. He's noticed that she's put her hair back down and arranged it carefully over her shoulders so her bra straps barely show. He sucks in a breath as she tentatively bites her lip and he wonders if she's doing that on purpose. He has to tell himself that obviously she's not, why would she be?

"This is okay right?" she asks because she notices he's staring and she wonders if maybe she shouldn't have destroyed a piece of clothing that he had so graciously given her.

"Um." He swallows, pulling down the sleeves of his own shirt. "Yes. It's perfect. It fits you perfectly." Whale walks toward her and she smiles at the compliment. "We should get going, though, before I say something that definitely isn't first date appropriate." He guides her to the front door and hands her her jacket before grabbing his own.

"Well now you've got me curious," she says, pulling her jacket on and walking out the door that he's just opened.

Victor laughs as he closes and locks the door behind him, shaking his head. "Do you mind if we walk there? It's not that far and I enjoy walking more than I enjoy driving." He hopes the unnecessary change of subject is enough to distract her.

It wasn't. She teases him relentlessly the entire walk to the park.

Victor tells Ruby to go pick a spot on the grass after her latest badgering, "Is it because you can see my bra? Is that what you were going to comment on? Just tell me!"while he goes to get popcorn. Popcorn was totally his intention because what's a movie without popcorn with so much butter on it that it makes your fingers greasy? But then he spots the ice cream vender selling the ice cream treats that were definitely meant for the children earlier in the day. The kind in the shape of a character with gum for eyeballs and there was no way he could resist. So he gets a large popcorn and two ice creams and goes to find Ruby, who had, surprisingly found a perfect spot right in the middle.

"I got ice cream too," he tells her as he sits down beside her, handing her one of the two in his hand, setting the bag of popcorn between them. "It's Sonic the Hedgehog!" he grins, taking a small bite of the one he bought for himself.

Ruby laughs and shakes her head as she picks out the gumballs and sets them aside. "You are so much more of a nerd than I thought you were."

"Is this a good or bad thing?" He questions, eyebrow raised.

"I haven't decided yet." She shrugs, taking a bite of her ice cream.

A few moments pass and the movie is just about to start. Victor's finished his ice cream and has been chewing on the gum for a few minutes. He's leaning back on his hands, his head tilted to the side, contemplating. Suddenly he stands up and offers to take Ruby's empty popsicle stick to the trash can, where he tosses the gum as well. When he sits back down, the lamps have been dimmed down and the opening credits start to roll.

"What did you think I was?" Whale asks, his eyes staring straight ahead at the movie screen.

"Hmm?" Ruby turns her head to look at him. She's startled by how tense his face looks.

"What did you think I was?" He repeated. "When I kept asking you out, you kept saying no. I want to know what kind of person you thought wasn't worthy of your time." He glances over at her before returning his attention to the movie.

"Oh." She considers her words carefully before she speaks them. "Well I mean, you bring a different girl into the Diner at least once a week…" She's unsure of how to finish her sentence, she doesn't want to offend him. Victor chuckles and his face softens again.

"I take patients out to lunch sometimes," he explains, "the hospital food is atrocious!" He pushes a handful of popcorn into his mouth. "I can guarantee you that maybe 1 out of 10 of those women were genuine dates." He turns to grin at her. "I was saving myself for your yes."

She smiles and brings her knees up to her chest, leaning over to bump her shoulder against his. They watch the rest of the movie mostly in silence. She buries her face in his shoulder when the wolf attacks, and into her hands at the end when he dies. Victor glances over at her more than a few times during the movie. He enjoyed watching her watch the movie more than he enjoys the movie itself.

They walk silently side by side on the walk to her house. He has his hands in his pockets, and she's got her arms crossed to keep herself warm.

"Are you glad you finally decided to give in to my advances?" Whale asks, breaking the silence between them.

Ruby smiles and nods. "Yeah, yeah I am. I had a good time tonight. And I gotta admit," she tilts her head momentarily, "that marinara mishap was the best thing to ever happen to my outfit."

Victor laughs loudly. "I don't disagree," he glances over at her, "my shirt looks good on you." There's an awkward silence as they both process the innuendo of his words.

A few minutes pass and they've reached her place. This is the part where normally Victor would kiss his date goodnight and then be on his way, but something about Ruby is different and he doesn't feel like it's appropriate to kiss her on the first date. So he stands there with his hands in his pockets feeling awkward because he doesn't know what to do. Realizing that he's not going to make the first move, Ruby steps forward and wraps her arms around him and he feels like he could die right then and there. He returns her hug, breathing in the smell of her.

"Thanks again for tonight." She says, pulling away. "I'm definitely not going to say no next time." She says with a grin as she walks up the steps to her door.

"So you're saying there could be a next time?" He smiles.

"Well, I'm not saying there won't be!" She unlocks her door and walks inside, looking back once more before closing the door behind her.

Victor can't wipe the smile off his face the whole way home. He goes to hang his coat up when he gets home and chuckles to himself when he notices something on the hook next to where he put his coat. It's her scarf. His fingers graze the fabric and he decides to leave it there. She'll want it back sooner or later. He hopes for sooner.