Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon a Time or any of the characters. I'm new to this particular fandom – CuriousArcher, MadArcher, whatever you want to call it. I mean, how hard was it to not love Robin and Alice? They're totally adorable! Thanks, OUaT!
Getting to the Altar
By RandomGnome
The Proposal
"Alice and Robin, it's taken some time and some adventures, but you finally made it here - just like we all knew that you would. Being a pirate in my former life, I had never known True Love, nor had I ever really seen it with my own eyes. True Love was for royals or people with better hearts than mine. That all changed when I saw my daughter for the first time. It didn't matter how she came to be, because as I looked down at her, I knew what True Love was for the first time in my life. All that I ever wanted for her was to be healthy and happy and I knew that was finally true the first time I saw the two of you together.
Alice, when you told me that you'd fallen in love, my fatherly instinct was to find whatever young man had caught you and make sure he knew how to treasure you properly. Oh, alright, so maybe there was a sword in there, somewhere - can you truly blame me? When you told me her name, I was overjoyed! I knew Robin and I knew what kind of person she is - not just from your letters, but from what I had seen her do for the Resistance. I could think of no better person for you to fall in love with for the first time. It has been my pleasure to watch that first time love grow into something deeper and more meaningful between the two you.
Alice and Robin, today you have taken the next step in your lives together. Now, I'm not a bloody prophet, just the proudest Papa (and Papa-in-law) in all the Realms, but I foresee a long and happy future for the two of you. Cheers!" – Killian 'Rogers' Jones, Father of the bride
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Alice Jones wandered down the sidewalk on the main street of Storybrooke, towards Granny's Diner, where she was meeting her girlfriend, Robin Mills aka Robin Hood. This was an almost weekly routine for them, since neither one really liked to cook after a long day at work. Robin had gotten a job working at the local high school, teaching P.E. and coaching the local Archery club. It seemed that Robin's past athleticism was still something that was talked about by teachers and students - present and former - alike. When word got out that she was looking for a job, they had reached out to her and asked if she'd like to work with them.
It was, as Robin liked to say, "a sweaty and mostly thankless job', but Alice knew that she secretly loved working with the kids. Robin had the patience of a saint, as far as Alice was concerned, and the kids, no matter how much they grumbled, were all in awe of the former outlaw/hero. It also didn't hurt that her girlfriend was exceptionally attractive and they were teenagers.
It was a good thing that everyone in Storybrooke knew that Robin was extremely taken.
It was also good that nearly everyone who had met Alice was charmed by her almost immediately. It was how she had managed to set herself up as a freelance artist - and made pretty decent money from it. She was so popular, in fact, that the elementary school sometimes called her in to substitute when the usual art teacher was sick or out on leave. Those were her favourite days, because the kids all loved to hear her stories of her adventuring days, as well as the ones she told them about Hyperion Heights, while they worked on whatever project they had for the day. Plus, Alice was also working with Henry Mills - Robin's cousin - on a children's book, based on some of her tales. She was doing all the illustrations, of course, so it might be taking longer than it should.
When she was just about a block from the diner, as she was waiting for cars to pass, she suddenly felt a tug at her shirt. Since it was late spring, the weather was gorgeous and she was only wearing a pair of black cotton slacks, heavy enough to keep her legs warm when the temperature dropped later, but light enough that she wasn't too hot. Her blouse was short-sleeved and was Robin's favourite colour of green. In fact, it might have actually been Robin's shirt. She hoped her archer wasn't too upset with her for wearing it. Alice had been a little distracted when she had gotten dressed to meet up with Robin, earlier.
It was a good thing that Robin had often told Alice how cute she was when she would put on the archer's shirt in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. Maybe she'd think this was cute, too?
The tug at said shirt made Alice look down. When she did, she saw a mop of brown hair, a pair of matching brown eyes glinting with mischief, and a sly smile. It took her a moment to realise that she knew this little boy.
"Hello there, Trevor. How are you today?" She asked the seven-year-old. She knew that he was seven because his birthday had been just last week and she'd been fortunate enough to be subbing that day. He must've told her a dozen times that it was his birthday and that he was seven.
"Hi, Miss Alice," the boy said, enthusiastically. For the first few months or so, it had taken Alice some time to get used to people knowing who she was. After all, she'd spent so long in Seattle as Tilly, where nobody had seemed to know who she was, that she expected it to be the same, for some reason. The boy held out his arm, his little hand clasped around the stem of a single purple rose - thorns removed, of course. "Miss Alice, this is for you!" He declared.
Baffled, but touched, Alice allowed him to deposit the flower into her outstretched palm. "Thank you, Trevor, that's very thoughtful of you. How did you know I like purple flowers?"
"It's not from me, silly. My brother told me to give it to you." He turned and pointed just up the street. A young man was leaning against the wall of one of the businesses in jeans and a Storybrooke High sweatshirt. When he saw Alice look at him, he just smiled. Then he nodded his head once and used his chin to indicate that the woman should look at the flower again. When she did, Alice noticed that a thin piece of string was tied just under the head of the flower. Attached to the string was a small piece of thick parchment. Written on the parchment were two words.
SMELL ME
"Did I do good?" Trevor asked, suddenly.
Unsure of exactly what he was talking about, Alice nodded her head. "Yes, Trevor, you did very well. Thank you."
"Yay!" He exclaimed, happily. Then he turned away from her and ran to where the young man was standing. Alice watched as the teen leaned down and said something to his brother, who nodded vigorously, grinning. Then, he smiled too, and gave Trevor a high five. Trevor looked like he might burst with happiness as they both turned and started to walk away. Alice wanted to run after them and ask just what was going on.
Instead, she turned her attention back to the flower. Which, she realised, wasn't a real flower at all. The stem was made of wood, painted green. The 'petals' of the flower were made of what she thought might be silk. Finally, she did as the note suggested and brought the 'flower' up to her nose, giving it a hesitant sniff.
Familiar perfume wafted – a sweet scent that reminded her of cotton candy - gently to her nostrils, making her smile automatically.
Robin.
Trevor's brother must be one of her students. Gosh, her girlfriend could be so romantic at times! It never ceased to surprise Alice, how sweet and kind and caring Robin was. She'd definitely fallen in love with a good one.
Sniffing the rose once more, Alice tucked it gently into her back pocket, and when the traffic finally gave her the right, she crossed to the other side of the street and continued her stroll to Granny's Diner.
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Robin Mills had never been so nervous in her entire life.
Tonight was the night.
Tonight, she was going to ask her girlfriend to marry her.
It had been a long time in coming and she still had no idea why she hadn't asked the beautiful blonde adventurer years ago. In her defence, she had been taking it slow for Alice's benefit, because she didn't want to overwhelm the woman she loved more than pretty much anything. Her love had had a sort of strange life and while she tended to jump into adventures with her eyes closed, the more domestic things in life could be a little bit much for her.
Alright, if she was being truthful, Robin hadn't asked Alice to marry her when they were still in the New Enchanted Forest because her adventurer had still been looking for a way to cure the poison that was in her father's heart and kept them from so much as holding hands. Robin hadn't wanted that looming over what should be their special day. Plus, she wanted Alice's father to walk his daughter down the aisle.
That problem had been solved some months back when a good friend of both Alice and her fathers had given his life and his heart. Literally. He'd pulled his heart out of his own chest and then shoved it into Killian Jones' chest, saving his life. The man - called by names such as Mr. Gold, Detective Weaver, and his true name, Rumplestiltskin - had done what needed to be because it was the right thing to do. He'd died, then, and everyone who knew him hoped that his final act of pure selflessness had reunited him with his beloved wife, Belle.
Which meant that the problem of a poisoned heart was over. So why had it taken Robin nearly a year afterward to actually get up the courage to pop the question?
As far as the archer was able to determine, it had just been nerves. First of all, she knew that Alice loved her. She was 99.99999999% certain that the former adventurer would say yes. She was even sure that the ring she'd saved up to buy was absolutely perfect.
So, tonight was it.
Tonight, she waited in front of Granny's Diner, where she'd asked Alice to meet her. Robin ran her fingers through her dark blonde hair, letting it fall across her shoulders. Alice always said she liked it when it was down. Robin looked down at the plain khaki pants and her normal leather booths, then regarded her shirt. It was a pale purple button up, with the top two buttons undone. Three-quarters sleeved, it had been a birthday gift from her mother this year, with the buttons being little arrows. Alice had loved it and insisted on Robin's wearing it that day.
Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out the engagement ring that had taken her a little over six months to pay for. It was silver - because Alice preferred that to gold, for some reason - and had a braided band. The central jewel was a plain round cut 1.5 carat diamond. While that was not as large as Robin would have liked, she knew that Alice didn't need big shiny jewels to be happy. In fact, the former Realm hopping adventurer still wore the simple woven bracelet that the archer had given her as a first gift. The simpler, the better, really. This ring was pretty simple as it went. On either side of the diamond was a single, smaller, heart-shaped sapphire. That was it. For some reason, though, as soon as Robin had come across it in the discount store in Brunswick, she'd known it was perfect. It was, however, still pretty expensive on a teacher's salary. Luckily, they'd agreed to let her make payments.
Using her shirt sleeve to polish the ring just a little more, Robin slipped it back into her pocket, sat as calmly as she could at one of the picnic tables in front of Granny's, and waited for Alice.
It wasn't long before she saw the object of her affection making her way down the sidewalk. Alice's blonde curls bounced as she strolled towards her destination. Robin could see that she was wearing a familiar green blouse and had to laugh a little. She never really minded when the other woman wore her clothes - they were close to the same size, with Robin being taller only by a couple of inches. It still amazed the archer how well they fit together.
Alice saw Robin stand up and a bright smile lit her face. She held up a hand, waving enthusiastically, and broke into a light jog the last few yards.
Robin waved back and met her love at the little gateway into Granny's outdoor dining courtyard. As soon as she was close enough, Alice launched herself into Robin's waiting embrace, wrapping her arms around her neck and burying her face in the archer's shoulder. It never failed to fill Robin with an infinite tenderness when she could hold the gorgeous blonde woman close like that. Those were the times she felt the most complete, the most at peace.
"Hi," she said, when they pulled back enough to rest their foreheads together.
"Hi," Alice replied, brightly, giggling a little. "Fancy meeting you here, Nobin."
Robin rolled her eyes at the old nickname, even though she still sometimes called Alice 'Tower Girl'. She pulled back just a little so that she could place a light kiss on Alice's cheek. "Thanks for meeting me here."
"It's cool," Alice replied, grinning. "I didn't feel much like cooking today, either."
"Busy day?"
"Productive."
"Well, that's good, at least. Are you hungry?" Robin asked. They finally untangled themselves and started walking, hand-in-hand, towards the diner's door.
"I could eat." Which was Alice code for 'I was so engrossed with what I was doing, I haven't eaten much, today'. "Oh, and thanks for the flower."
That made Robin grin. So, her plan had worked. When she'd asked Cole, one of her archery students, to wait for Alice on her walk to the diner, she hadn't been sure he would be able to catch her. Cole, who was a fairly popular athlete at school, had admitted to her once that he had seen Robin and Alice kiss and hoped that someday he'd have a love like theirs. He was uncommonly romantic for a boy his age and had readily agreed to deliver the flower when she'd asked.
"Do you like it? I made it myself." Robin stopped walking about halfway to the diner's door, and tugged Alice closer to one of the picnic tables. The blonde looked surprised and reached behind her, extracting the flower from where she'd tucked it into her back pocket. She looked at with respect and then back at Robin.
"It's beautiful, love. Thank you!" She picked up Robin's hand in her free one and brought it to her lips.
"It took a while to get the petals just right. I'm glad you like it." Robin felt some pride in her work.
"I really do. Thank you." She put the piece of art safely back in her pocket. "Shall we go eat?"
"Just a sec," Robin stopped her, "I have something I need to talk to you about."
"Oh! Okay." Alice leaned casually against the top of the picnic table. "What's up?"
Taking a deep breath, Robin smiled as she studied the features of the woman in front of her, as familiar to her now as her own reflection. Alice had the most beautiful blue eyes the archer had ever seen. They were clear and guileless and deeper than a mountain lake. It was those eyes that Robin had first fallen for. Next was the smile that always seemed to make everything around her seem brighter. Pale blonde curls, usually only pulled back enough to keep them out of her face, hung to just below Alice's shoulders. Robin loved to run her finger through the silken tresses. The rest of Alice's body was, as far as the archer was concerned, perfection. When paired with the blonde's keen wit and intelligence, as well as her ability to think outside of the box, made her, in Robin's opinion, the perfect woman for her.
"I love you." When Alice opened her mouth to reply in kind, Robin reached up and put a gentle finger to her lips, silencing her. "I know. And that's why this has been a really long time in coming. I'm sorry it took so long. I had this whole speech memorised, but when I look at you, it seems… not enough. So," Robin lowered herself to one knee and pulled the ring from her pocket in one move, "Alice Jones, will you marry me?"
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Alice stared in shock at the little silver ring with the - what seemed like, to her - large diamond, flanked by two pretty blue sapphires being held out to her. She looked from the shiny object to the face of her beloved and felt that same joy she'd felt so long ago the first time Robin had kissed her. Her stomach flip-flopped and her heart seemed to stutter in her chest. The look in the archer's soft green eyes was earnest and full of affection.
Many things flashed through the former adventurer's mind in that single, frozen moment. Memories from two lifetimes blended themselves into a whole life.
Escaping from the tall, lonely Tower with the help of a Troll that she'd unknowingly created.
Her adventures in Wonderland and other exotic Realms – searching for a cure for her Papa.
Robin, the very first time they met, holding a drawn arrow to her head.
Margot, telling Tilly that all the best people are mad, the night she'd save Tilly from being hit by a speeding car on the streets of Hyperion Heights.
The way that Robin had blushed when she gave Alice the beautiful rainbow bracelet that she'd made.
Robin, smiling at her and laughing at a stupid joke as they walked through the Forest together.
Margot's smile from behind her glasses as she and Tilly talked on the bench next to Rollin' Bayou.
The way Margot looked so relieved when Tilly agreed to their first official date.
Robin's green eyes crinkling at the corners and darkening just a little - her only give away before she'd pressed her lips against Alice's for the first time, underneath the big oak tree in the Forest.
Margot telling Tilly that it didn't matter what kind of day she had - good or bad - she could handle it.
Robin showing up that terrible day, just before the curse took them - just long enough to prove to Alice that her love was True.
Waking up in awful cave, like coming out of a nightmare and seeing Robin/Margot the very first thing.
The first time they had ever been truly intimate and the way they seemed to fit together like pieces of a puzzle.
In that single moment, Alice saw everything that had led up to this point. She saw Robin. Her Robin.
Who was waiting for an answer…
Tears of joy welled in Alice's eyes and leaked down her cheeks. She couldn't help the smile that stretched from ear to ear as she started to nod her head. It took another moment before her lips and tongue could frame the word.
"Yes!"
Her own hands shaking a little, Robin slid the ring onto Alice's waiting finger. Then, she got slowly to her feet and pulled the blonde into another embrace. Strong arms held her tenderly and she felt the familiar sensation of lips on her temple. Alice wrapped her arms around Robin's waist, the feel of the hug both the same and different from the ones before. Her tears dried quickly and were replaced by a feeling of awe.
She was going to get married! She was going to get married to Robin.
Pulling back from her new fiancée just enough, Alice found her love's mouth with her own, sealing their engagement with a fierce kiss.
Robin made the little sound in the back of her throat that she did whenever Alice kissed her. A hand came up to gently cradle the back of the blonde's head, long, strong fingers threaded through her hair, holding her in place. As if there was anywhere else Alice would rather be at that very moment. Well, okay, maybe one other place.
It wasn't a long kiss, and they did a good job keeping it pretty tame - for them. When it wound down, they leaned their foreheads together again, just taking some time to stare into each other's eyes. Love in soft green reflected back love in sky blue. Neither woman said anything for a few minutes, trying to keep this moment going for just a little longer.
"Well, this was unexpected," Alice finally said, her voice a little shaky. She held up her hand and stared at the ring on it. It fit perfectly - neither loose, nor tight. It felt like it was meant to be there.
Robin looked at it, too, her smile a little dazed. "Perfect." Was all she said. Alice couldn't help but agree.
Finally, after a few more minutes in their own little bubble, they eased apart again. Alice's stomach rumbled loudly enough to be heard inside the diner. They both laughed.
"Come on, beautiful, let's go get something to eat." Robin took her hand and their fingers wove together with the ease of long familiarity.
"To go?" Alice suggested. "I sort of want to go home and… celebrate."
The beautiful, romantic, wonderful woman who was now Alice's fiancée grinned. "I do love how your mind works, Tower Girl. To go it is."
Together, they walked up the stairs and into the diner, hand-in-hand.
Author's Note: This is a new little thing that has been rattling around in my brain for a bit – it does not take place along with my others – I have other plans. I'm still working on my other stories, but this one was clamouring for attention, so I thought I'd get it down. There will definitely be more to come. Hope you liked it. Cheers!