Hi everyone! Just a quick oneshot for you all. Hope you enjoy!
Trigger warning: Mild mentions of child abuse, nothing detailed.
Disclaimer: Nope! Still don't own them :P
Emma was in a rush. Hustling out of her apartment as fast as possible. She'd had a tip off about the current location of her latest skip and needed to get to the bar quickly in order to catch him. As she struggled to lock her door behind her, she heard the door of the apartment across from her open as well.
"All dressed up like that for me, love? You know all you had to was ask!"
She sighed internally, slowly turning to face her neighbour who was leaning against his doorframe, smirking at her, and looking far more attractive than he had any right to be in just a t-shirt and jeans. She was wearing the shortest and tightest dress she owned with sky-high heels, but they were certainly not for him.
"You wish, buddy."
He gasped and clutched his chest in mock pain. "Swan, you wound me!"
"What do you want, Jones?"
"Nothing at all, Swan. I just happened to be taking my rubbish out and ran into your lovely self on my way. You've certainly made the trip more ... enjoyable." He said with a smirk, his tongue running along her teeth and making her want.
But this was how it was between them. Ever since she'd moved in he'd been there, an irritating and yet oddly dependable presence across the hall. She'd had her walls up at first of course, but he'd never been intimidated by them. He flirted with her often, but would always help if he saw her juggling grocery bags up their three flights of stairs, or having trouble starting her car, and even watched over her once when she'd had a concussion, courtesy of a felon who didn't want to go quietly. He could be annoying, but she knew deep down he was a gentleman, and they'd slowly developed an odd sort of friendship.
"I don't have time for this tonight. I'll see you around." She started to walk away before she heard him again.
"Oh? Normally I'd guess you got a tip-off but the dress suggests otherwise?"
She turned slowly, for once having an excuse to smirk back at him. "Honey trap. It works every time."
For a moment his eyes darkened with something akin to jealousy, but he covered it up quickly.
"Ah, of course. Best of luck then." And he turned and closed his door.
Puzzled at his reaction, she turned and rushed down the stairs, making sure to be careful in her heels. The three floor walk-up was a pain, but the elevator was so old and rickety that she didn't dare to use it except in the most dire of circumstances.
Emma hobbled slowly back to her apartment building, feeling exhausted but triumphant. This case had taken a hard toll on her emotionally, but she'd got him in the end. The skip had been charged for assaulting his wife, but when she'd looked into his records she'd discovered that the couple had had foster children in their home up until quite recently. There were no charges of abuse in his file, but Emma knew. If he'd hit his wife, there was every chance he'd been hitting those children too, and they were simply too afraid to admit it. Like she used to be. The guy had put up a fight when he'd realised she was a bounty hunter, but her pent-up rage had given her an edge and she'd managed to wrangle the cuffs on him in no time. So now, bruised but content, she dawdled back to her building, looking forward to getting rid of her heels and taking a nice long bath with a glass of wine.
Lost in her thoughts, she didn't notice him approach until he said her name.
"Emma!"
She whirled around, startled, and came face-to-face once again with Killian Jones, concern written all over his stupidly handsome face.
"Jones! What's up?"
"I've called your name at least three times. Are you okay?" He approached her quickly, reaching a hand out for her face and she flinched back instinctively, ghosts just a little too close to the surface tonight. He paused, but didn't lower his hand, simply waiting a beat for her to realise his intentions and then brushing his fingers gently across her cheek. "You're bleeding, love."
Ah. Well she wasn't surprised. She'd won in the end but the jerk had got a few good hits in before she did. She quickly reached her own hand up to brush the blood away.
"I'm fine."
He raised an eyebrow but didn't push, simply falling into step beside her.
"Did you catch the bastard at least?"
She smirked. "You bet!"
He chuckled, glad to have lightened her mood slightly. "I should've known."
They turned at their building, him holding the door for her to slip through.
"What do you mean?" she asked, brushing past him and giving him a questioning look.
He stopped to look her in the eye, wanting her to know he was telling the truth. "Swan, I've yet to see you fail."
He watched as her eyes widened slightly at how suddenly serious the moment had become. She stared for a moment, gauging his sincerity (as he knew she would), before giving him a small smile and turning away. Almost immediately, she groaned at the sight of the stairs. He laughed, allowing her to move on and lighten the moment.
"Come on, love. There's no way you'll make it up all those stairs in those heels, when you're already injured. Just take the elevator this once." She raised an eyebrow at him sceptically, prompting him to add "I'll even go with you."
She sighed, and he grinned at her as she stomped over to push the button. The doors shuddered open slowly and she gave him a pointed look.
"If we die in there, I'm gonna bring you back so I can kill you myself."
"Come on, love. It's only 3 floors, what could go wrong?"
As it turned out, a lot.
The elevator lurched to a halt halfway between the second and third floors, Killian and Emma grabbing on to each other and the nearest wall to keep their balance.
"You've gotta be kidding me," Emma said, looking at Killian uncertainly.
"It's alright, I'll call for help and we'll be out in no time."
After a brief conversation with the Fire Department, Killian ended the call and settled himself on the floor.
"What are you doing?"
"Getting comfortable."
"Why? Aren't they coming to get us out?"
"Aye, love. But there's a building on fire across town. They need to make sure everybody is out of there before they can send someone to retrieve us. Said it shouldn't take more than an hour, but to sit tight in the meantime."
Emma closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to keep her panic at bay.
"Are you alright, love?"
"I'm fine," she said quickly, kicking her shoes off and huffing. "I was just really looking forward to a night in and a bath to stop everything aching."
Killian grinned. It was an opening too good to ignore.
"Well all you need to do is ask and I'll turn that ache into something else entirely."
Emma glared at him, momentarily distracted from their predicament when she saw his eyebrow raised and his tongue run suggestively along his lip.
"Oh my God, Killian, you're ridiculous."
He laughed, and they settled into a comfortable and relaxed conversation.
Half an hour passed by with teasing banter, but still Emma couldn't relax. She couldn't even make herself sit down, preferring to pace the small interior of the elevator and remind herself over and over that she was safe.
"Swan, relax. The Fire Department will be here soon."
"I know. I just don't like being stuck in here."
"Yes, I'd deduced that much myself actually."
"Ugh, you're so annoying! I'm fine. Just don't worry about-" She cut herself off when everything suddenly went dark, all of the lights in the elevator going out and an ominous hum accompanying the power going down.
Immediately, Emma felt her heart start to race as the panic she'd struggled to keep at bay began to take over.
"No," she gasped to herself, banging her fist against where she knew the doors to be, but knowing it would make no difference.
"Emma?"
Her chest began to constrict as her breathing sped up, helpless to stop the panic that had consumed her mind and body. Killian pushed himself to his feet, hearing Emma's heaving breaths and widening his eyes against the blackness in a fruitless attempt to see where she was.
"Emma?"
Memories flashed before her eyes. Her small hands pushing uselessly against the locked door, nails scratching until they bled as she begged to be let out...
"Emma!"
Killian's hand closed against her arm and she shrieked and fell back, pushing herself into the corner.
"No! Please!"
"Emma." Killian gentled his tone, realising very quickly that what Emma was seeing was more than just a dark elevator.
"Emma? Darling, it's just you and me here. You're going to be alright, I promise. Do you hear me, Swan?"
She was slow to recognise his voice, but she clung to it as it penetrated through the haze of her memories.
"Swan, come back. I promise you're safe, darling, I promise. It's going to be alright."
He kept up a steady stream of reassurances, waiting and hoping for a sign that she'd snapped out of her flashback. For now he knew what was happening. He recognised the signs and was kicking himself that he didn't realise it earlier.
Slowly, she pulled herself out of her flashback. It was a struggle, like swimming through deep water and not knowing which way was up, but she followed the sound of Killian's voice until it led her back to reality.
"Killian?" She finally gasped out, and he let out a breath he hadn't realised he was holding.
"Right here, love."
Relieved, Emma shut her eyes tight against the traitorous tears that had gathered in them. Her breath stuttered as she suppressed a sob, and struggled to keep herself in the here and now, rather than getting sucked back into the memories.
"Killian, I-"
"Just breathe, Swan. We can sort everything else out later, let's just get you breathing properly again first. I'm just gonna reach my hand out in your direction, and when you're ready I'd like you to try and take it, okay?"
She nodded, even though she knew he couldn't see her, and struggled with herself for a moment before reaching out and fumbling to take his hand.
"Good! There you are, Swan. It's alright. I'm just gonna put your hand on my chest so you can feel me breathe, and then we're gonna breathe together to get you back to normal, okay?"
Slowly, Killian took a step forward and lifted Emma's hand until it rested flat against the centre of his chest.
"Okay, Swan, it's going to be hard but you need to slow down your breathing. It's still much too fast and it's only going to make you even more lightheaded if you keep it up. Just try to concentrate, okay? Slowly now, breathe in ... and breathe out..."
He repeated the pattern with her over and over, until Emma's breathing gradually returned to something slightly resembling a normal speed.
"There you go, Swan. You're alright now," Killian said, ceasing to coach Emma through her breathing, gently taking her hand again and waiting for her to calm.
"Killian, I ... I'm sorry, I just..."
"You don't need to explain. It's okay." He didn't realise how close they'd become until he felt Emma's head fall forward onto his shoulder, and turn so her face was buried in his neck. Quietly, she continued anyway.
"It's just...I'm an orphan. When I was eight...one of the foster homes I was in, the Dad used to beat on me all the time. I never said anything because it was one of the only homes where I'd been fed three square meals every day, so I didn't want to leave. But he'd come at me every second day or so, punishing me for things I hadn't even done. And some days if it was really bad... if he was especially angry or if I'd tried to fight back, he'd lock me in a cupboard in the basement. It was so dark and stuffy, and I felt like I could hardly breathe but he'd leave me there for hours, and no matter what I said he wouldn't let me out, and I-"
"Shh, darling." Killian cut her off, wrapping his arms around her and pressing his lips against her hair.
"I need to get out of here, Killian. I can't stand it," she said, her voice breaking as she pressed further into his embrace.
He tightened his arms around her. "I know, Swan. It can't be too much longer now. And in the meantime, I'll keep you safe. I promise you darling, I will never let anyone hurt you ever again." His heart broke as he felt a tear splash against his neck, and her body begin to tremble with repressed sobs. Not knowing what else to do, he held her, pressing the occasional kiss to her hair and mumbling reassurances the whole time. Gradually she calmed, and just before the awkwardness could set in they heard a shout from just above them.
"You folks still okay in there? We're gonna pry the doors open and get you out now!"
The elevator groaned as tools were put between the doors to push them open. Killian and Emma broke apart as the light began to stream through, and Killian saw Emma quickly brush her tears away before their rescuers could see.
Half of the elevator had reached their floor, and the firemen put braces between the floor and the roof of the elevator to prevent it moving while they pulled the two out.
"One at a time, come on guys we'll pull you out."
Emma looked at Killian uncertainly and he nodded for her to go first. She stepped forward and he gently braced his hands against her waist to help lift her up and out.
After getting out himself he thanked the firemen, who continued to work on the elevator as he walked towards Emma.
"You alright there, Swan?"
Up close, he noticed that she was still trembling slightly and had a lost look in her eyes.
She looked at him and nodded, before they turned as one towards their apartments. Killian walked her to her door and as she opened it, she hesitated.
"Killian?"
"Yeah, Swan?"
A slight hesitation, before... "Would you stay with me? Just for a little while?"
He smiled softly. "Of course, darling. For as long as you'll have me."
She took his hand, squeezing it, and he followed her inside as the door closed gently behind them.
So what did you think? That was actually my first ever AU so would love to get some feedback. Hope you all enjoyed! Jen xx