All a Matter of Timing – Chapter 5

Blake was happy.

Which wasn't to say that she had been unhappy before, she had been alright. She had enjoyed her life, despite the setbacks in similar vein to her crippling fear of one of the most common household pets. But in this moment, she was truly happy, as she walked down the street side by side with the girl who worked at the clinic. Even with the sun only starting to begin its decent, the coffee she had procured earlier remained a relaxing warmth as they walked in comfortable silence.

Or, it was silent until she squeaked in surprise at the feeling of a hand slipping into her own and entwining their fingers. A glance revealed that Ruby was grinning, enjoying this as much as she was, if not more. The younger girl's boldness was refreshing, eliminating all thoughts of what standing their relationship might have been on since yesterday. Ever so slowly, she felt her gaze trace the lines of Ruby's body until she set her sights on the cute profile of the brunette's face.

She did not realize that she was staring until they stopped at a crosswalk, and argent-colored eyes widened and slid over to regard her as if to ask what it was she was looking at. "What?" A nervous laugh came from the younger girl, followed by a worried frown. "I don't have something on my face, do I?"

"Heh, no." Shaking her head as she spoke, Blake could not help but grin at the way Ruby had been seconds away from desperately wiping at her face. "I'm just trying to think of a way to thank you. You've been so great to me already, especially with how you calmed me down yesterday and got me to pet Drei. I don't think you realize how huge that was for me."

A slow blink was all the answer she got, prompting her to continue with a degree of nervousness that had simply not been present before. Had she insulted the girl, had Ruby finally hit that point where she was just too weird for her? "A-Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for calming me down and pushing me to be.. Better. How did you know how to do all that, anyway?"

The lack of emotion on the shorter girl's face began to give way into a wide smile as she watched, washing away all doubts as Ruby spoke to her. "I actually learned it because it was used on me when I was younger. I saw a therapist almost all the years I was in middle and high school."

This candid fact was dropped freely, with no sign of hesitation on the girl's features as they continued walking. Blake admired that. She had tried to go to therapy. Social stigma and a lack of confidence ensured that a few visits was all she could muster before giving up entirely and feeling doomed to a life of this fear. She had been fine with it, or so she had thought.

But meeting Ruby, learning what the gorgeous young woman did for a living, what she could do, had invigorated Blake. She felt better about herself than she had in a long time, and the strangest thing was that her time spent with the other brunette could be measured in hours. They knew little of one another besides where they worked, and yet it felt to her as if she knew more than enough to place her faith completely in this person before her.

So enraptured by her own thoughts and her study of just how well the red dye mixed with Ruby's dark hair, Blake failed to compensate for her limp as their feet travelled over an uneven portion of the sidewalk. The impact pitched her forward a few steps, sloshing a bit of coffee through the top of her lid but otherwise generating no ill effects. This happened often to her, in times when she forgot that her scarred leg had a bit of trouble keeping up with the other.

"Sorry." A meek smile was all that she could offer in addition to the apology, upon noticing Ruby's worried expression. Eager to move on from her own clumsiness, she rapidly latched on to the last topic of conversation and tugged at it to change the subject, not bothering to truly wonder if it was such a good idea. "Um, can I ask why you went to therapy? You seem so.. Put together."

"I'm glad you think so, Blake." Ruby seemed to accept her misstep for what it was, and gave a shrug of slender shoulders before leading her by the hand to continue on the way to the girl's apartment. "But I wasn't always so upbeat."

She remained silent, letting the other girl sort through thoughts as they continued on their way, giving a squeeze of the smaller hand in her own every now and again, a quiet reminder that she was here if she was needed. When Ruby finally did speak again, it had been long enough that Blake nearly jumped. "My mom died when I was young, an accident. With what happened between him and Yang's mom, my dad kind of shut down after that, and my sister took care of me."

"At first, I didn't think anything was wrong. I smiled, I laughed, I made jokes. It took a lot of looking at myself to realize that I was doing what I thought a happy little girl should do, not acting how I really felt. Moments when I knew I should have been happy, like birthdays, just felt.. Empty." A soft increase in the grip Blake had on the other girl's hand was to let Ruby know that she was here, and she was listening as they walked, even if she was staring at the ground.

"Honestly, I went a long time thinking it was normal. That everyone else was just faking like me. But Yang noticed it eventually, called me out on it. She set it up to have me talk to someone." Silver eyes flashed over to her, accompanied by a bright smile that let her know Ruby wasn't letting the topic bring down the mood. "Turns out I was depressed. Instead of facing my feelings from losing my mom, I was shutting them down, just pushing them away and becoming numb to everything."

"Anyway.." Blake found she really enjoyed the way her companion had a tendency to lead her through the various crowds they nearly bumped into on the sidewalk. It made up for the lack of attention she was giving their journey, as engrossed in listening as she was. "I picked up a few things from the therapist I talked to, though I don't know how much help it would be to you. Pretty sure the only reason you let me talk you into petting Drei is that I'm cute."

When Ruby looked back at her with a wide smile to let her know she was just joking, Blake returned it with a quick wink, one that cause pink to bloom over the pale surface of the other brunette's cheeks. "You know it, Rose." As they came to a stop near the entrance to the apartment, she used the handhold she had on the other to bring the girl around to face her. "I'm sorry, about your mom."

"I miss her still, sometimes. When I think too much or.." Blake felt her other hand be taken in a soft grip, and the temperature in the air between them increased as Ruby took a bold step forward. "When I'm alone."

With a thought that it shouldn't amuse her so much that the younger girl had to reach tiptoed height to kiss her crossed Blake's mind, but was summarily ignored as she decided it was just too damn cute. Her lips locked with a soft pair, gently descending until they both stood on even ground. It lasted only a few seconds, as the sound of footsteps drew them apart in embarrassment.

A man in a black business suit with a red tie walked by them on the sidewalk, offering them the briefest glance and a nod of greeting as he noticed their stares. No words were exchanged as he continued on, and Blake's gaze was drawn back to Ruby as quickly as she could manage, finding silver eyes waiting for her. "Let's continue this inside?"

A question like that, she couldn't even begin to disagree.

A week seemed to be a much smaller measurement of time now, for Blake. Ever since she had met Ruby, it seemed time was beginning to roll by faster and faster. It didn't really seem fair to her, as each day that quickly zipped by should go slowly. It should allow her the chance to truly savor the relationship she had struck up with the girl who had now become her girlfriend.

It had been two weeks since she had first walked into that the Clinic, seeking out the girl she had seen in the cafe days earlier. Two weeks and over a dozen trips to the messy apartment later, Blake had gotten a little more comfortable around the massive dog that Ruby kept. But still, just entering the Clinic proved a challenge.

She hesitated inside the open doorway, holding a tray containing four coffees meant to be a treat for the lunch break of those that worked at the Clinic. What she hadn't counted on was that no one would be present at the entry desk when she arrived, or for the five minutes she spent standing on the sidewalk, awkwardly sidestepping strangers.

But patience had run out, and Blake was now halfway through a step into the Clinic, biting her lip in frustration of her fear. Her thoughts turned inward, and turned to the soft cadence of Ruby's voice. It always soothed her, to think of her girlfriend walking her through the steps to achieving a calmer state. With that, she was able to push through and step into the room, moving quickly to the receptionist's desk.

Velvet was nowhere to be found as she sat the coffee down on the counter and moved to pull her cell from her pocket. A loud bang as the front door swung shut caused her to jump, but what truly sent fear coursing through her heart was the chorus of barks that started up from the back, and the double doors that were thrown wide open.

They revealed a large dog with a ferocious looking face that charged through with wild abandon, heading directly toward her with a gait that could not be mistaken as anything but aggression. She recognized the breed instantly, having been bitten by a similar one in her youth, and instinctually cowered back. The area between the reception desk and the wall seemed to shrink as her back slammed into a hard surface and she sunk to the ground.

A row of sharp teeth snapped close just a few inches from her legs as the pit bull was roughly dragged back by someone holding the collar, and Blake's gaze followed the slender arm to the face of her savior.

She could count on one hand the number of times she had seen Ruby's features arranged into anything other than a form of smiling. This moment would be added to the tally, as the expression that dominated the younger girl's face was one of anger as she cried out. "Yang!"

Within seconds the dog was pulled away from Blake's view, a flash of blonde hair telling who had been the one to truly wrestle the dog back into the back room. Not that she saw the doors open, so busy attempting to bury her face into the space between her chest and her folded knees. In her terror she had not noticed the tears searing at the edges of her eyes, but now that she was able to truly examine the situation a sense of embarrassment grew only larger when she felt a soft hand being laid on her arm.

"I'm sorry!" Ruby's voice was so close, and she could feel the heat of the girl's body as she quivered in the aftermath of her reaction. "I'm so sorry, Blake, I didn't know you were coming, and we just got another rescue from that dog fighting thing, and-" Silencing the girl by sliding her arms around the slender neck of the younger girl, Blake pulled her as close as she could so that she could bury herself into that warmth and forget.

It took a few minutes for her mind to return to a point where she could actually focus on creating a coherent thought, but Blake tried her best to claw back there. She forced her thoughts not to the ferocious dog that had taken a run at her, but to the warmth and softness of the chest she had buried herself into, even managing to smile at the awkward position she had pulled Ruby into.

It worked wonders on her nerves, soothing the ones that were still raw and returning sanity to the pathways of her mind. Fear was an insidious, savage foe. But she had the lucky luxury of having one of the best repellents of that vicious emotion sitting halfway on top of her. "I'm sorry for freaking out."

Her words were spoken into a shirt, coming out muffled in a way she wasn't sure the younger girl had heard her. "There's nothing to apologize for, Blake. It was my fault." The reassurance was softly said next to an ear, and lips gently grazed past that organ and pressed against her forehead, at the edge of her hairline.

"No, I-"

"Phew!" A new voice joined the fray, causing them both to start and stare up at the gorgeous blonde girl that had joined them. "That was a close one, sorry about that." Lilac colored eyes studied them. The way they were holding one another, the tears that stained Blake's face. But there came no tease about her fear, no remark on how she should grow up. "Oh, you must be the girl that my little sister never stops talking about."

Letting herself be practically pulled to her feet by Ruby, she glanced at her girlfriend to find the other brunette was living up to her name, with cheeks that were blazing red in a furious blush. Her amusement lasted only a second as her gaze was snapped to the hand that was extended toward her. "Blake, right? I'm Yang, sure you've heard of me from little sis."

Taking the hand and shaking it, she kept her other hand tightly snaked around the back of Ruby's waist. "It's good to finally meet you, Yang. Or rather, again.." Silver eyes glanced in her direction with an expression of curiosity dominating them. "I'm pretty sure we bumped into each other the first time I came in looking for Ruby."

A loud laugh came from the blonde, a happy sound that filled the room for a moment. "You remember! You looked so nervous, almost as much as Ruby was excited talking about you!"

All three shared a laugh at that, one that continued on for a few moments before dying down into chuckles and finally, silence. A few glances around determined that a hint was taken by Yang. "Oh yeah, I need to go finish up. Ruby, I've got things handled here, why don't you two get going?"

"Are you sure?" Ruby's tone conveyed that she desperately wanted her older sister to be sure, so much so that a grin took over Blake's lips.

"Yeah, go get Blakey a nice lunch." As purple eyes turned to regard her, one closed for a moment in a wink, leaving her wondering just what it was that the older sibling was implying. Nonetheless, she didn't mind the nickname. "Nice to meet you, Blake."

Smiling softly at the taller girl, Blake felt a hand around her waist grip a bit tighter as she was steered toward the entrance. "Likewise, Yang."

Ruby tilted the bottle just a bit more over the pan, waiting until the liquid was announced with a harsh sizzle as it mingled with the food. Placing the sauce to the side, she stirred the mixture of vegetables before dumping it into a pan containing the meats that had just finished browning. "Blake, it's almost ready!"

There came no answer as she worked the dials on the stove to turn the heat back down, taking a moment to listen before shrugging and returning to her work. Before long, there were two plates filled with a modest helping of the food she had spent the better part of the last hour cooking. It was a bit heavy for a lunch, but it was one of her favorite recipes, a speciality of her mother's she had spent years perfecting.

She was sure Blake would love it, and that thought set a happy hum in her chest as she carefully balanced the plates and carried them through the apartment. She found her girlfriend, and the reason there had been no answer to her call, in the living room where they had shared their first kiss.

Slumped against the back of the couch with a lazy hand draped over the neck of a massive dog, Blake was fast asleep with Drei just as out of it in her lap. It was all Ruby could do not to squeal in happiness, having known from the start of working on the older girl's fear that these two would eventually be the best of friends.

Careful in her efforts to lay the plates down on the table, as to not wake either of them, she pulled her cell from her pocket to take a quick picture of the sleeping duo. Once she was satisfied this moment was solidified in time, she leaned down to kiss the very tip of Blake's nose. The first time garnered no reaction, so she moved to the right cheek, and the form beneath her stirred.

She moved to the left cheek, barely managing to pull away as a massive yawn overtook the girl who was now waking up and staring at her with a confused expression. "Hey there, sleepyhead." Ruby giggled at her own joke, grinning from ear to ear. "Lunch is ready."

Pools of shimmering amber shifted down to regard the dog that was draped across Blake's lap. But there was no freezing, no widening of the eyes, no fear. Only a hand that reached up and scratched at the fur along Drei's floppy ears.

Blake's gaze snapped up to her after that, sharing in a grin as Ruby leaned down to kiss her girlfriend once again, this time on the lips. She pulled back after a quick moment of bliss, jerking a thumb towards the table. "You know the food-" She was interrupted by an arm that wrapped around her shoulders and pulled her downward, into another deep kiss.

Words that had been meant to be said were lost in a soft moan as she melted into the embrace, and slid down to the closest open position on the couch. Ruby was careful not to pinch Drei in between them, but the dog had no such problem, having been awakened by the delicious smell that was wafting through the room.

It was the sound of a dog yawning that broke the kiss, causing both of them to stare at the animal as he stared back at them and licked his lips. After a long moment, both girls broke down into giggles at the situation, their mirth only ending when Ruby turned to score another lip lock. Blake pulled back from her, donning a mischievous grin as she was held back from her prize. "Let's eat."

Author's Note: Let me just go ahead and thank everyone who followed, favorited and reviewed this story. You guys have all been great! I hope you enjoyed my first foray into fluff and you'll check out some of my other stories, but for now, All a Matter of Timing is finished. I've been chomping at the bit to get back to Roses & Thorns, so I think I might be headed back to that after this. If any of you out there would like to pick up this AU or anything of that sort, please do go ahead, all I ask is that you let me know so I can read it! Thank you again and I hope you all have a fantastic day! -Fox