This is the modern AU captainswan story that those of you who have read my other CS fics would have heard about. I was watching the film Love, Rosie and realised how beautiful a love story it was and thought to myself, hmm, imagine this as Emma and Hook. So I did, and this was born.
For any who haven't seen the film I strongly suggest it, and suggest even more that you read the book! There will be a lot of quotes from the film in this story and the plot is along the lines the same with tweeked adjustments.
Enjoy!
I'd like to say we gave it a try.
I'd like to blame it all on life."
- Almost is Never Enough, Ariana Grande
Almost was a word that Emma Swan was far too used to in her life. She almost had a family as a baby when the Swan's fostered her - but then they had children of their own. She was almost best friends with the girl she met in the supermarket when she was 12 - but she had turned out to be a liar, they had nothing in common at all. She almost went to university when she was 18 and was ready to move across the ocean from England - but then Neal had happened and everything in her life fell apart. And she almost had the chance to be truly happy when she kissed the love of her life at her eighteenth birthday party - but then life threw her another curve ball and she drank too much and forgot it ever happened. Emma Swan was definitely sick of almost.
Six years. That's how old Emma Swan had been when Killian Jones had entered her life. Just a soft face seven-year-old with a mop of black hair hiding behind his ten-year-old brother, Liam. Not orphans – not like her – Killian and Liam had a father, a fugitive from Dublin who had abandoned the boys in a motel before making his great escape to America, leaving the boys alone since their mother had died nearly five years earlier. Emma – to her knowledge – had no parents, at least none she'd have ever remembered. She'd been left abandoned by the side of a dual carriageway just outside of Bristol and had been living in one of Bristol's foster homes since (Excluding brief periods when people thought she would be a nice addition to her family.).
Now she was a grown woman with a hell of a life. She had friends and more family than she could have ever counted. It was everything the lost little girl could have wished for. But sitting awkwardly in her blue 'best-woman' dress at the wedding of her best friend, her other friend Ruby tapping her empty glass with a spoon to make a ringing sound in her ears, Emma could hardly remember a time when she'd been so miserable.
Killian Jones was getting married. Her Killian, her oldest friend - besides his older brother - was getting married to his teenage girlfriend, Tink, a girl who Emma had had no real problem with while they were teenagers, she was just another in a long line of girls that Killian Jones had slept with, she didn't know him the way Emma did and never would. That was until Emma saw the rock of an engagement stone on her finger. And the icing on this cake? Emma had to make a 'bestwoman' speech infront of the happy couple, their family and all their friends without making a fool of herself.
Take a deep breath, Emma, and start at the beginning. She thought to herself, her hands gripping the cards in front of her. She'd meant to have written this speech weeks ago. She'd had enough notice, but had been procrastinating the task at hand for as long as she could. The idea that this as happening, that it was real, that Killian Jones was really marrying Tatiana Bell was a little too much to handle. But now she was in the green and blue themed wedding, watching with glazed eyes as Killian danced with his new, petite blonde wife and the cards in her hands were more or less empty. A few prompts that were supposed to send her reeling into stories. Stories she didn't want to tell. Tell them how we first me. She thought and remembered once more the soft face little boy with the bright, sad eyes. The boy whose hero had left him alone and had no one to look up. The boy who clung to his brother like a lifeline. Tell them that ever since we shared our dreams. She could remember nights in the tree house they'd composed near the park, in a small wood where people walked their dogs. Honestly, Liam had done the most of it, planning how to make and even asking permission. Ever noble Liam Jones.
She thought of when Killian had told her the truth about his father, both of them looking at the slowly darkening sky. They knew if they were back at the home soon then their social worker would have a fit, but they didn't care. They talked about running away. Killian wanted to see the world, to sail the oceans like his father had when he was young and Emma wanted to catch bad guys, to be a her and save the day – to become someone her parents would regret leaving behind. No. Keep that as our secret. She thought, smiling at all the memories they shared as children, and then again as teenagers, all of it leading up to this very moment.
"Come on, Emma." Ruby urged, tapping her glass again only louder. Emma had been so wrapped up inside her little blanket of nostalgia she'd not even noticed. Tell then that this is – that this has to be –
"Everybody!" Emma called, smoothing her silky blue dress down as she stood, tapping her own champagne glass now. It looked like the ocean, she thought, the almost mesh-like fabric floating weightlessly like the waves of the sea Killian so loved, blues and greens flowing together like the waters he was yet to sail. – One of the happiest days of my life. "Please." She called again, biting back her nerves and managing to sound far more irritated than she was. Frankly if people ignored her this would go a hell of a lot smoother. If she had to ask once more she could sit down and play it all off, pretend she didn't have a speech and never had. Problem solved. No humiliation. No heartbreak. No disappointment. She could leave this city – and country – and go back to England where the rest of her 'family' were waiting. David Nolan and his wife, those who had taken in the terrified eighteen-year-old as she left the system, ready to start her entire life. They were like the parent she always dreamt of, only less than a decade older than her.
As luck would have it, everyone began to move to their seats, looking up at the tall blonde woman expectantly. "For those I haven't had the chance to say hi to properly, I'm Emma." She said with a small, awkward wave. She could see Killian now, sat with his new wife beaming up at his best friend like proud brother, admiration in his blue eyes. It hurt, she couldn't deny that, but he was happy, and that mean that even if she had to sit through watching the man she loved kiss his wife on the cheek, or Tink's beautiful, cherubic face lighting up when he whispered in her ear, so be it. "And this has got to be one of the happiest days of my life."