Chapter Text
Dear diary,
It’s been a few weeks since I last wrote to you, so it’s about time to catch you up. A lot has happened.
But at the same time, the past weeks have been really quiet. Isn’t that weird? I think Red and I have gotten so used to chaos and not staying in one place – or time – for too long that this just feels strange. I mean that in the best possible way, though. I love it here. Red does, too. She seems so relaxed since we decided to stay, like a weight has been lifted off of her shoulders. And I suppose it has; it was too much pressure on both of us, everything that’s been happening.
But somehow, we didn’t crack under that pressure. I mean, we almost did, at times. But we always got each other through it.
Red seems like a different person than when I met her, but I think this is who she always was, deep down. Or at least who she wanted to be. She just never got the chance to. But here, with good people around her and being in a safe place, she can finally just be herself.
And holy shit, is that person amazing to be around. (Although she did rub off on me with her swearing, which is a downside. But it’s the only one I’ve found, so I can live with that.)
Anyway, to recap. Bridget and Ella went on their date the day after Castlecoming, and they’ve been going on dates all the time since then. They haven’t made it official yet, but I think that’s only a matter of time. They already know each other so well. They basically skipped all of the standard first date conversation, so it feels like they’ve been dating for months already. They just seem so at ease with one another, it’s wonderful to see.
Most importantly, them seem happy. I know, after all our time-travel adventures, that you never know how long such happiness will last. I’ve been thinking about that a lot. Maybe it’s still the after-effects of… well, everything. But I don’t want to think about everything that could go wrong. I should focus on what could go right. Maybe we’ll all stay together and live happily ever after. Or maybe we won’t. But that won’t change what we are now.
At least, that’s what Red tells me.
I’m glad I can talk to her about these things. To be honest, it’s been tough to adjust to our new lives. I said I love it here, and I mean that, but we went through a lot to get here. It might take us some more time to really get comfortable here, but I know we’ll get there eventually.
Dear diary,
It’s been a few months since Castlecoming. A few weeks back, I asked Chloe if I could go through the part of her diary where she documented all the days. (Apparently, she kept an entire calendar to document how long we were gone exactly. She’s such a nerd; I love her.)
She gave it to me, and I found something out. So I’m taking her out on a date tonight, for a surprise. I can’t wait.
We also decided something. We know we want to stay here for good; we decided that ages ago. But the pocket watch had been weighing on us. We had to hide it from others, so every time Bridget or Ella came by our room to hang out, we got stressed about that. I even kept imagining that Uliana or her friends would somehow break in and take it. If someone found it, the risks were simply too big. We’ve learned firsthand how dangerous time-travel can be. So to make sure that nothing like this happens again, we decided to break it.
We’re in the best possible timeline, so we have no use for it anymore. And by destroying it, we could guarantee that nobody else ever makes the same mistakes we did for months, continuously messing with the timeline. It was the safest option. We broke it last week.
Anyway, time to get ready. I don’t want to be late.
Chloe opened the door after hearing a knock. ‘’Red?’’ she said, surprised to see her girlfriend in front of the door. ‘’Why are you knocking? You’re aware you live here too, right?’’
Red smirked. ‘’I’m very aware, princess. But I’m here to pick you up for our date, actually. This seemed more romantic.’’
Chloe shook her head with a smile. ‘’Little weirdo.’’ She stepped outside with Red.
‘’But a cute little weirdo, right?’’
Chloe kissed her on the cheek. ‘’Yes. The cutest.’’
‘’Good. Then let’s go.’’ Red offered her arm, which Chloe happily took as they walked outside. Chloe didn’t know where they’d be going, exactly, but she was sure Red had something nice planned. She always did. The former Princess of Wonderland was surprisingly good at planning nice things for her.
After a short walk, they ended up in an open spot in the woods surrounding the school. Red had laid out a blanket, some pillows and food before coming over to pick Chloe up. She could also see a box. But, more importantly, a whole bunch of candles surrounded the blanket, giving them enough light.
‘’Red, this looks amazing,’’ she said, turning to face her.
Red smiled. ‘’You haven’t even seen the best part. Come on.’’
They sat down on the blanket, getting comfortable with a whole bunch of pillows and even a blanket that Red brought.
‘’We can see the stars here,’’ Chloe commented. ‘’Wow, it’s a bright sky tonight.’’
‘’We got lucky, it was perfect timing.’’
‘’Perfect timing for what, exactly?’’
Red sat opposite her and grabbed her hands. ‘’Well, I was wondering something, which is why I needed your diary. I did some research, and as it turns out… today’s actually your birthday.’’
‘’What?’’ Chloe looked surprised. ‘’No, that can’t be. My birthday isn’t until-’’
‘’Your normal birthday,’’ Red corrected her. ‘’In this timeline, yes, it still takes a while. But if you start from the date we first travelled through time, and then take all the days we’ve been away until now, we end up on your birthday. So in our own little timeline we’ve created, you actually just turned 17. So…’’ she grabbed the box that was next to her. ‘’Happy actual-birthday, princess.’’
Instead of grabbing the box, Chloe grabbed Red’s face to pull her in for a kiss.
‘’Hey! I’m not the gift, this is.’’
‘’Oh, I’d say you’re quite the gift,’’ Chloe smiled. ‘’Also, I just really wanted to kiss you. I can’t believe you did all of this for me. You’ve turned into quite the romantic.’’
‘’Are you kidding? I should know when my girlfriend’s birthday is. A little bit of warping of timelines is just a slight obstacle.’’
‘’I love you so much, you know?’’
‘’I do, princess. But please open your gift, because now I’m getting nervous.’’
Chloe laughed. ‘’I’m going to love it no matter what, babe. No need to be nervous.’’ But she grabbed the box, anyway, and carefully opened it.
She stared at its contents for a few seconds. ‘’Oh my god, Red. They’re beautiful.’’
In the box were new shoes, similar to the ones her mom had given her. But instead of diamonds, they were encrusted with… wait…
‘’Are those…?’’
‘’Little pieces of time machine? Yes.’’
‘’How on earth…’’
Red laughed at the confusion on her girlfriend’s face. ‘’Well, after we broke the pocket watch, I wasn’t sure what to do with it. It obviously wasn’t functional anymore, but it still looked good, especially the gold. And with your birthday coming up, I wanted to give you something nice. I know you miss your own shoes, but they weren’t the most… durable.’’ Chloe laughed at that. ‘’And Hook’s shoes were a fine replacement, but I did steal them and all. I wanted to give you your own pair. So I figured, you know, why not keep parts of the time machine? It wasn’t all bad. We should remember the good parts.’’
‘’But how did you do this?’’
‘’I want to say ‘with hard work and determination’, but I do not have the skills for this. Bridget knew a guy, so he did it. I just got them back two days ago, just in time for tonight.’’
Chloe carefully put the shoes next to her and hugged her. ‘’Thank you so much,’’ she said. ‘’They’re gorgeous. And I still can’t believe you did all this.’’
‘’It was my pleasure, princess.’’
For the rest of the evening, they ate the snacks Red brought, cuddling under the blanket when it got cold, and watching the stars. At least, she tried watching the stars, but the view of her girlfriend seemed better to her, so she spent most of the evening looking at Red.
‘’I love you,’’ Red whispered when Chloe nearly fell asleep with her head on her chest.
‘’I love you, too.’’ And though she didn’t know what the rest of their lives would bring, she did know this: in this exact moment in time, she was happy. And that was enough.