Winter was cold, but at the same time, it felt comforting. Holding Regina's hand as the two of you walked to Granny’s Diner for a hot drink had become a daily tradition since winter arrived. Your relationship had taken so long to happen. Regina, because of her past as the Evil Queen, was afraid of hurting you. And you, you were afraid of not being good enough for her. After much drama, you finally ended up together, but no matter how incredible Regina was with you, sometimes, you couldn’t help but feel insecure... it was strange to be truly loved by someone. You felt like maybe she just pitied you, but you buried that insecurity deep within. After all, the fact that Regina seemed to be testing the waters, as if she was planning to propose... she wouldn’t ask you to marry her out of pity, right...?

Before entering the diner, Regina asked you to go ahead and order something for the two of you. Henry was leaving just as you were arriving, so you knew that Regina only wanted a few moments to talk to her son.

The feud between Rumpelstiltskin and your girlfriend was something you knew about from the start. Regina always told you not to listen to what he said, but when he sat down next to you and started talking about the story of how a fairy named Tinker Bell once led Regina to her true love, a man. With a lion tattoo. You felt all those insecurities come rushing back. You didn’t have a lion tattoo, much less were you a man.

His words left you even more insecure. If you weren’t her true love… had Regina been pretending all along? The idea that you weren’t her true love was eating away at you in that moment. You didn’t even notice when Rumpelstiltskin left, and the doorbell chimed as Regina entered and sat beside you, kissing your cheek to snap you out of your thoughts.

“Sweetheart? Did you place the orders?”

She frowned when she noticed that you looked sad. She cupped your face, making you look at her

"Hey, what's wrong?"