"It's really getting cold." Robin noted, shivering and tightening the hold she had where she and Alice had looped their arms around one another. "Won't be long before it starts snowing."
"A white Christmas! Isn't that what's in all those Christmas stories?" Alice laughed, curling against her side as best as she could. It really was getting cold and she could see her own icy breath frosting in front of her every time she spoke.
"Most of 'em." Robin admitted. "Personally I'd rather a hot sunny beach side Christmas!"
"Maybe next year." Alice laughed.
"It's a date." Robin kissed her cheek.
Alice grinned and raised an eyebrow at her. "I didn't know you hated snow, though. You always said you missed it in the Enchanted Forest."
"Oh I don't hate snow. I love it! And I did miss it a lot when we never had it, but as much as I love the snow, I still hate the cold!" Robin laughed, shivering as if to prove her point. "It's like; I'm fine with the cold so long as we get some snow out of it. But the dry cold or rainy cold is just lousy. There's nothing good about it, if you ask me."
"I don't know about that." Alice said, resting her head on Robin's shoulder. They were quite close in height, so it was a little awkward, doing it while still walking, but somehow Alice managed it in a way that made it look easy. "Cuddling's a pretty fun winter sport."
"Okay, you got me there." Robin grinned, leaning her head against Alice's in return.
They kept walking through the brisk late morning dew, down the quiet streets of Storybrooke's town as quickly as they could manage while holding onto one another and tightly bundled in warm layers. It really was a chilly morning and they were both looking forward to tucking themselves back inside, but only after they had made a quick trip to see Zelena.
Yesterday afternoon, they had received a call from Robin's mother, asking if they wanted to take some of the families old Christmas decorations for their own house. She and Chad had recently bought a new set with them from their old home, but they knew how sentimental Robin could be over these things and thought she might like a few of her childhood ones before they were all thrown out. And she was right. Not only was Robin unwilling to let so many old memories be simply tossed aside, but between their minimum wage jobs, Alice and Robin could barely afford their rent and other basic necessities, let alone a whole new set of Christmas decorations. And this wasn't even including all the present they still needed to buy everyone. So it was a big relief to be offered everything for free. And Alice was also looking forward to seeing what kind of things Robin grew up with as a child on Christmas.
As they finally approached the house sitting at the end of one of Storybrooke's original streets, the picked up speed slightly, never breaking the hold they had on one another's arms as they did. Even with all their tops, jumpers, jackets and coats that they had pulled on themselves before leaving the house, the two were quickly becoming very blue from the cold air hanging around and noticeably shivered against each other. They were both eager to grab the decorations and get home to their warm waiting house as soon as possible.
"Mum!" Robin called as they approached the door, knocking hard on the surface before they'd even come to a complete stop. She had a key but was far too cold to waste the time fishing it out of her pocket. "We're here!"
A few seconds later, the door swung open, revealing the Wicked Witch of the West herself. Zelena was positively glowing, and had been ever since they returned to the United Realms together. But that wasn't surprising. When Zelena had joined the others, she was forced to make a decision and tell Chad the whole truth – all of it – about who she really was. She had confessed and proven her story to him with magic, and was then immediately shunned while he worked through his shock. Zelena had been depressed during the build up to returning home, and had cried often, waiting for him to return to her. At one point, it seemed like he never would and Zelena's heart ache grew so intense, all her family became seriously worried for her.
But of course, Chad did come back. He returned to her at the last possible second, declaring that the last few weeks were painful for him but he truly loved Kelly, whether she was Zelena or whatever other name she went under, and he would do anything to make their relationship work. Even if it meant accepting a crazy world of magic and leaving his life in San Francisco behind for a whole new land halfway across the country. It was a romantic spectacle and everyone was relieved when Zelena burst into fresh tears, knowing these were ones of joy.
Some people were worried he might change his mind once he saw the full world he had agreed to be part of, or when he began missing the old friends and family he was now forced to lie to and see only on the holidays he could travel back to San Francisco. Regina in particular kept an eye on him, as if daring Chad to leave and break her sisters heart. But in the end he surprised everyone, Zelena included. It took some time, but bit by bit, he grew more comfortable with this new life and with the woman he really married. And soon they were almost like a normal couple again, even if, after all this time, Chad was still adjusting to certain aspects of the United Realms.
"Robin, what took you?!" Zelena laughed, stepping over the threshold and grabbing them. "It's freezing! Get inside, quickly!" She shivered dramatically. "Brrr!"
"We weren't that long." Robin grinned. "Be easier if you just poofed us here, you know."
"Yeah well, Chad's still a little uncomfortable about me using magic," Zelena admitted shyly.
"Oh, I thought he was doing better." Robin mumbled, glancing around the hallway for the man in question.
"He is!" Zelena said quickly. "It's just gonna take time before I can fly home on a broomstick again, that's all."
Robin and Alice smiled at her as they wandered down the hall and into the living room, listening to Zelena talk about how her driving was improving at least. They had just stepped into the doorway where they promptly froze on the spot. "Holy hell mum!"
The whole living room – usually so clean and well kept – was stuffed with an endless arrange of boxes lying side by side and piled atop of one another, filling up any spare the original furniture didn't. The boxes varied from colours of plain brown, to dark red, to old faded black boxes with shoe and clothes still clinging logos onto them. One even had a picture of an old PC on that Robin remembered her mother buying for her when she started high school, now empty and full of brightly coloured tinsel and tree decorations instead. And that wasn't even including the decorations that seemingly didn't fit inside the boxes and had so been left lying on top of everything else.
"I thought you said you had a couple of boxes?!" Robin shouted, gaping at everything lying in front of them.
"Um, I don't think we're going to be able to carry all these by ourselves." Alice noted.
"Seriously! I thought you said you had a couple! Like you were actually keeping some for yourself. Why are you getting rid of all of it?" Robin yelped.
"Well we are keeping the rest." Zelena shrugged.
"What rest?!"
Zelena shrugged again. "A couple of lights."
Robin rolled he eyes and shook her head. "Mum... You're something else. How are we supposed to get all this stuff back home? We'll have to make several trips back and forth at least."
"Well..." Alice held up a hand. "I could always get us all home."
There was a pause. Then: "That's my girl!" Robin beamed. "Why didn't do we that in the first place?"
Alice smiled at her but the smile dimmed when she saw Zelena chewing on the inside of her lip, suddenly looking very anxious about the idea. "I mean, we don't have to. We can just carry it like normal."
"Oh come on!" Robin protested.
"No, no you do your thing, Alice." Zelena said. "I don't want to use magic with Chad but it's not fair to stop others from using theirs. Just... Let me keep him busy so he doesn't accidentally come into it halfway. Okay?"
"Thanks, mum." Robin grinned, reaching over to hug her tightly once more. "You're the best!"
"Yeah, I know." Zelena said, her smile returning now as some tension left her shoulders. She turned quickly and hugged Alice too. "Come round sometime before Christmas, okay? We can have a big lunch, all four of us."
"Will do!"
With that, Zelena turned and hurried into Chad's study to keep him distracted while Alice turned to the rest of the boxes waiting for her. She rubbed her hands together and took a slow breath in and out. She wasn't very much used to random acts of magic these days. Alice had never been crazy about using it for every little thing despite Robin's encouragement. And when she did, her magic was mostly used for helping the gardens grow and taking care of the local animals that wandered by... All in all, she was just worried about being a little rusty in regards to transportation magic.
As if sensing her hesitation, Robin reached over and placed her hand over the top of Alice's shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze and leaning close until Alice could feel her breath on the back of her neck. It was a pleasant feeling and gave Alice all the confidence she needed to go ahead with the spell.
Closing her hands into temporary fists, Alice forced herself to relax and focused on the warm magic she always felt rolling inside of her. She reached out her hands, unclenching her fists at the same time, and waved towards the multiple boxes lining the walls and filling the floor. Barely a moment later, the whole room was filled with a cloud of white smoke that had an soft yellow shine to parts of it. The smoke stretching out from one corner to the next and coating every box and package. It lasted for just a short second and faded just as quickly as it appeared, the smoke vanishing in a dramatic sweep of sudden wind and taking almost everything along with it.
"Uh, Alice?"
Breathing hard from nerves more than effort, Alice glanced up and saw Robin pointing to the now clear and spotless room. Alice looked around but it took her another minute of scanning the area before she finally realised that her magic seemed to have taken all the sofas and chairs along with the boxes.
"Woops." Alice blushed.
"Can you, uh, bring it back?" Robin said, barely managing to hold in her giggles. "I think Chad might notice that much furniture missing."
"Yeah, one second!" Alice said, quickly searching for the magic she had used and tracing it in her mind back to where everything was now waiting for them at home. It was an odd feeling, but despite not using her powers for this type of magic often, Alice found it easy none the less.
A few seconds later, everything had appeared once more in a similar swirl of white and gold smoke. Only it all may have been a little off centre and the girls quickly took some time to push everything around to where it had been originally, working off their memories as best as they could.
"Okay, that's as good as it gets. Let's go before Chad asks how we did it all so fast." Robin said, pulling Alice back to the door. "We're off, mum! Thanks again!"
"You sure you got everything?" Zelena's voice came from the upstairs hallway.
"Yup! Catch up later!" Robin said, stepping outside and pulling Alice behind her, letting the door slam shut on its own. She'd barely taken a step passed the porch and yet was already shivering once more. "Let's get home. Quickly!"
Alice pulled on her arm and stopped her from going any further. "How quickly do you want to?" Alice asked, grinning shyly.
Robin blinked before jumping to stand back beside her, sliding her arms around Alice's hips. "Do it!" She said excitedly.
"Shall I wiggle my nose first?" Alice teased.
"I dare ya!" Robin laughed.
A few playful seconds of inside jokes later, Alice had magicked the two of them back home where all the decorations were waiting for them... Even if it was waiting for them in a ridiculous mess from having fallen over everything else in its way upon arrival.
C*H*R*I*S*T*M*A*S
"Okay, that's the last of it!" Alice said happily.
The two of them had spent the better part of their day, clearing up the mess Alice had accidentally made during her transportation, fixing everything back to how it should be and lining all their new decoration boxes up against the wall on the far side by the window. It still made everything look very untidy, but at least it was an organized untidy.
"So, you ready for lunch?" Robin asked, stretching her arms and pressing her hands against her spine until she heard a satisfying click.
"Yes!" Alice beamed. "We'll eat and then start decorating!"
Robin laughed as she stepped into the kitchen. "Not so fast, Tower Girl. We don't decorate until twelve days before Christmas. Then take it all down twelve days after."
"What? Why?" Alice frowned.
"It's a tradition." Robin shrugged, like that explained it all.
"Why?" Alice pressed.
Robin paused and glanced back over her shoulder at her. "Uh, well... I'm not really sure. But it just is! It's a tradition and we just kind of do it that way now."
Alice began pouting. It seemed pretty silly to her. Why wait so long to do a tradition that they couldn't even remember why they did it for? And they had so many lovely things to put up and admire for as long as possible so why bother putting it off?
But Robin knew more about Christmas than Alice did, and she hadn't steered her wrong yet. When it came down to it, Alice did trust Robin... She was just also very impatient.
Inside the kitchen, while Robin began to root around for something to make a lunch out of, Alice hovered by the doorway and looked longingly towards the boxes piled up, some still not quite closed to hide the beautiful things tucked away inside. She had been so excited when they had gotten the offer to go pick them up and now she couldn't do anything with any of it. It was like taking a kid shopping and letting them pick up their birthday present right there and then but refusing to let them actually play with it until their actual birthday in a couple weeks. It was needless torture!
"Damn, the breads no good." Robin sighed, standing and tossing the last two slices of molding bread into the bin. She looked back at Alice and grinned. "Fancy going out to eat today?"
"Hmm," Alice hummed. "Not especially. Why don't we have some popcorn instead? I'm sure we have a bag leftover somewhere."
"Yeah, but I fancy a proper sandwich." Robin said, already walking for the door where her coat hung on the wall at the side. "If you don't want to come, I can pick you up something from Granny's?"
"Marmalade sandwich!" Alice said immediately.
"Of course," Robin laughed, doing up the buttons and double checking she still had her purse and keys in the pockets. "I'll be back as quick as I can."
"Say hi to Granny and Ruby for me!" Alice said cheerfully.
Robin paused in the open doorway to groan loudly, remembering her last run in with the pair of diner owning werewolves. Even as half human, they reacted to the young female archer the way all animals seemed to; by being on edge and even growling if she happened to surprise them at the wrong time. She didn't go out of her way to avoid them and they didn't hate each other per say, but she certainly didn't cry when they happened to miss one another. Unfortunately, Granny's cooking was just too good to give up on so Robin was going to have to suck it up and see the half mutts every once in a while.
"I'll be back," Robin repeated, heading out and letting the door swing shut behind her.
Alice watched her go in silence before sighing and wandering back into the living room, stepping over to the boxes and peering over them and out the window to watch Robin walk onto the street. She let her hands drift over and rest on top of the closest box for support, waiting until Robin had completely vanished from sight before she looked down at them. There really was so much more than they were expecting. She and Robin hadn't thought they would have enough to fill the main room, but now it looked like they would have enough to do the whole first floor of the house. Alice felt giddy with the thoughts- the ideas of the house they could make, now they had the tools to do so. It would be the most magical thing and Alice wouldn't even need to use actual magic to make it happen!
Now she just needed to wait for the right time for it to happen, which apparently wouldn't be for another week! How anyone could honestly wait that long, Alice had no idea. And she still didn't see the point in it. It would take them so long to put them all up in the first place, and they'd only be around for a short time before they had to take them all back down again. It just seemed like such a waste. Like Halloween. Why bother having so many wonderful decorations up for a single night just to pack them away again for a whole year? Why couldn't they put them all up early and really celebrate the holiday all month long?
But there were a lot of things Alice didn't understand about normal life in Storybrooke yet, and she had long since accepted that. She was just going to have to wait and play by Robin's silly rules like she always did.
With another deep breath, Alice turned away from the decorations and glanced around the room. She and Robin were pretty good for keeping their home clean – Alice loved this building that she now shared with her love, so much that she wanted to take care of it and Robin seemed to pick up on that as well, doing what she could to help. But they weren't perfect and if they couldn't put the decorations up now, then Alice could at least get them ready for when they could.
So with that in mind, Alice drifted back into the hallway closest, collecting a series of sprays and polish as well as some old rags to have a big official clean up. She started by dusting all the shelves and counter tops, shuffling all the little things temporarily out of her way before placing them back again and moving on to the next. Once that was done, she pulled out the larger pieces of furniture and grabbed the vacuum, running it over all the carpets, floor boards and tiles of the entire house until it was as clean as she could possibly get it. Then she returned and cleaned down all the windows and doors and mirrors, just for something to do.
The whole process was meant to keep her busy until Robin came home, but there wasn't that much to clean in the first place. And on top of that, Alice was – accidentally – quite a fast working cleaning and once she got going, she sometimes lost herself in her work and finished much faster than other people might. Which meant she still had plenty of time to waste before Robin got back with their lunch... Might as well squeeze in a quick shower before eating.
As she turned away from the living room, Alice accidentally dropped one of the polish bottles on top of one of the boxes closest to the door. It only dented the lid slightly but it was enough for a shiny gold piece to peek through and catch Alice's attention. She left the polish bottle on the floor and instead, pulled back the lid on the box, exposing the decoration inside. It was a Santa doll ornament, but with a golden coat rather than a red one, positioned like he was sitting on something invisible and holding an odd French horn in his grip. And Alice had no idea if it was random or part of the many more secret traditions she had yet to learn.
Crouching beside the box, Alice placed the cleaning supplies in her arms on the floor and reached into the box, carefully pulling the golden Santa out and holding it in front of her. It was the most ridiculous thing she had ever seen, and yet Alice was indescribably amused by it all the same! Whether it was the bright colours or the cheerful smile on the old face, or the tiny detail such as the little round glasses he wore, Alice found herself grinning at the thing, wondering where it would sit the nicest in their house once they were ready to put it up.
Climbing back onto her feet, Alice wandered towards the windowsill, holding the golden Santa up by the edge to see how he'd look. She remembered Robin saying something about everything having a perfect place, and you just needed to take the time to find it. So Alice spent a few minutes at each location, wandering around the living room before she ended back in the hallway, setting the golden Santa on the shelf by the staircase where they normally kept trinkets from their travels.
There. That was the perfect place!
Alice paused, glancing back through the open doorway where she could see where the open box still sat. There really wasn't much point putting Gold Santa back now that he had a place on the shelf. He might as well stay where he was for now.
Turning back into the living room, Alice wandered over to pick up to cleaning supplies and close the box back up but stopped short just as she began to crouch down. Something else caught her eye. Only this time it was a flash of silver.
Without hesitating about it, Alice once again forgot the cleaning supplies and turned back to the box. Reaching into it once more, this time Alice pulled out a second Santa that was very similarly designed to the first one. She held it up in front of her like the last one, staring at it curiously and looking it up and down. It really was very similar to the Gold Santa now sitting on the hallway shelf, but instead of gold clothing, his was silver and he wasn't sitting down with a leg crossed, but rather standing upright on his two chubby legs. And the instrument that he held in his hands wasn't a small trumpet, but rather, quite a large old fashion accordion.
Once again, Alice was fascinated with how nonsensical it was!
"Well..." She mused quietly. "You look like you're a pair... And it wouldn't be fair to unpack one of you and not the other..."
She doubt Robin would mind if she unpacked just these two.
C*H*R*I*S*T*M*A*S
Getting food from Granny's had taken much longer than Robin had originally thought. It didn't help that everyone she ran into wanted to stop for a chat, including her aunt Regina who was eager to find out what to get her niece for a present this year. By the time she reached the old diner, the lunch rush was at its busiest and Robin was forced to hang around for a stretch of time before Red could finally take her order. She did it with only a slight upturned nose and – to her credit – seemed to want to get Robin out of there as quickly as Robin wanted to leave, leading the young waitress to rush around to make the sandwiches. She even threw in a couple chocolate cookies for Alice, whom she ironically had a soft spot for. But even with Red's rush, it still took Robin far too long to get her food and get out. And then, as if the universe was having a laugh at her expense, she ended up running into Mulan and Dorothy, one of whom she deeply admired, and one of whom she wished she could shove into another cyclone. Mulan barely managed to pry the two of them apart as an argument built up and when Robin stalked away in a huff, she realised it had been a couple of hours since he had left Alice alone!
Doing her best to rush home without destroying the carefully wrapped sandwiches in the carrier bag hanging off her arm, Robin was no longer feeling the cold breeze as something irritating by the time she reached her street. Instead it was a comforting relief against her hot sweaty skin. As she closed the distance to her house, she paused on the corner road, checking the bag to make sure it really was all okay inside. It seemed only one of the cookies had broken in her haste, but Robin would happily have that one for herself. Otherwise it was all good.
With a deep slow breath to calm her racing heart rate down, Robin stood back up straight and continued home, slowing her pace to a steady walk now she was close. As fun as walks through Storybrooke were, Robin had officially had enough of them for today. She was looking forward to kicking her feet up for the rest of the day inside her warm home with her wife by her side. Maybe she and Alice could put on a couple Christmas-...
Robin's thoughts trailed off as she caught sight of the house.
Robin wasn't oddly caught between being a little annoyed and a little amused. But mostly she was just stunned. Because, yes, she had been gone for a couple of hours but there was no way what she was staring at was just a couple hours work. She had to have used magic. Or have gotten help from other people. Or something!
The front of the house had a layer of lights hanging down from the roof of multiple colours like a waterfall, as well as matching lights circling around the front door and bottom two windows. Robin squinted slightly and realised there was a familiar door chime that was hung on the wall where the bird feeder normally was (the bird feeder had been moved to a branch of a tree stretching over from one of the neighbouring houses) and it seemed that Alice had take the fake snow bottles and sprayed it along the edge of the house and over all the window sills. On top of that, the second floor windows had happy elf stickers showing through the glass and there were three plastic reindeer ornaments lining the roof with a child sized Santa holding onto the chimney in front of them. And then there was the front garden, which had a pair of miniature Christmas trees beside the path with leafs that slowly turned every colour other than their natural green – okay, that definitely had some kind of magic involved.
Robin slowly drift through onto the front garden and glanced around to find a series of plastic woodland creatures in winter clothing waiting for her. Zelena used to line them along the staircase, but now they were lining either side of the front path leading to the front door instead. They were directed to face towards the front door as well, as if guiding visitors inside, and each of them had an additional star sticker placed on one of their cheeks. Without a doubt, it was one of the simplest, yet cutest things Robin had ever seen.
"Robin!"
She looked up sharply, just in time to see Alice scrambling out from behind one of the reindeer, leaning over the edge of the roof and panting heavily. She sounded completely tired, but looked as fresh as ever and didn't hesitate to swing her body round and jump off the roof. Robin felt a single flash of panic, which proved to be needless as Alice floated gently down to the ground like a feather, coming to a peaceful stop in front of her.
"I..." She paused, glancing around towards the constant colour changing trees. "I kind of... Got a head start on the decorating."
"I can see that." Robin nodded, feeling her lips twitching and fighting the urge to smile. Guess being amused outweighed her slight annoyance at missing the chance to help her. "Is it just the outside or is there a Wonderland inside as well?" Alice raised an eyebrow at the Wonderland expression – there were only so many of them she could let slide. "Sorry."
Alice brushed it off and put her hands guiltily behind her back. "I may have... Touched up a bit while you were gone."
"I figured." Robin snorted. "Come on. Let's see just how much you got up to."
"You're not upset?" Alice asked nervously, leading Robin inside but watching her face closely for sign of irritation.
Before she could answer, Robin stepped inside the house and was floored and not just by the warmth hitting her dead on.
Robin was sure they hadn't had this many decorations at her old house when they picked them up and was genuinely confused as to where some of it had come from. Almost every shelf had a different snow covered building or snowman or Santa sitting atop if, and there was tinsel in greens, purples and blues lining the rail of the stairs and draped around almost every doorway. The one thing Robin did recognise was the animatronic snowmen, Santa's and reindeer – all wearing skies – set up in the hallway and ready to be switched on just as soon as they were given some fresh batteries. Each of them was a different outer design but once they were up and running, they would immediately sing their matching recorded Christmas songs.
When they wandered into the living room, Robin saw a series of familiar snow globes lining over the top of the fireplace. All of them were depicting a famous place from the Enchanted Forest – presents that her aunt had given her Robin and her mother over the years. There were also half a dozen pictures that had been taken down and replaced with art works of various make Christmas scenes, and ceiling decorations had been hung with obvious care and attention. There were some that dangled in streams, others that were shaped like snowflakes, and some that were twisted into cute little curls of randomness, each of them coming in every colour from purple, blue, green, gold, silver, red and white.
In the end, it seemed that only three boxes had been left unpacked. Instead they had been pushed into a corner that looked oddly bare compared to the rest of the room. It didn't take Robin much time to guess that they were for the Christmas tree they didn't yet have. Otherwise everything else they had gotten from Zelena (and so many things that Robin still didn't recognise) was unpacked and set up perfectly in place.
"This is... Amazing!" Robin laughed, turning slowly. "Where did you even get half this stuff? It can't all be from mum's house."
"Well, I did get a little into it and I found some stuff that looked cute but could have been nicer if it had been in a different position or a different colour. But I didn't want to alter any of your stuff so I just used some magic to transfer some things we already owned into them instead." Alice explained. "It saves us packing it out of the way and we can turn it all back once the holiday's over and done with."
"That's awesome!" Robin gasped, dropping the food carelessly on the nearest chair. "So like, the front trees?"
"Yeah they were fun to make." Alice grinned.
"This is really something, Alice." Robin breathed, still turning to take it all in. "How did you even manage it all on your own? Magic again?"
"I may have used a little magic to speed up the process." Alice continued. "I got kind of excited about the whole thing and couldn't wait to get it done."
"Just a little?" Robin laughed, pulling Alice into her arms and kissing her. When she pulled back, they kept their arms firmly around one another, leaning into each other for support and grinning stupidly. "Guess we need to think about getting a tree then, huh?"
"Oh, I've already spoken to Henry about that. He said he knows someone and Lucy's gonna show me where to find one tomorrow." Alice said cheerfully.
Robin blinked in surprise and let out another laugh. "Alice, I freaking love you!"