Date. Date. Date date date. The word kept tripping through her mind. What had she done? She couldn't believe she had a date.
When was her last one? Walsh? Did that even count, since it was interrupted, and then he popped the question, and then she left without answering? Besides, he was a freaky monkey beast anyway, so, no – it didn't count. Still, up until now, that was the only time she'd been in a date-like setting with Killian. And she'd been so hard on him that night, after he'd slipped into Walsh's chair. How had he even snuck into that fancy place in his ridiculous coat and hook for a hand? The idea made her smile.
She plopped down on her bed and bent over to remove her boots. Her back and left hip gave her protests as she moved, and she ignored them. Between being flung around by ice monsters and throwing magic blasts at evil ice cream making snow queens, soreness was to be expected. It was hardly a new experience, given her life choices. Thief, bounty hunter, sheriff. Nothing there was without physical demands. Emma Swan was not made for being dainty.
The thieving made her think of Neal, not that he was the only one she'd ever plotted a job with. She touched the swan pendant that hung from the chain around her neck, remembering how it had felt when he'd draped the pillaged convenience store necklace around her neck. She reached back and unclasped it, dropping it into her palm and noting how much of the gold plating had worn off over the years. For so long, looking at this necklace had caused her a pain deep inside that she had clung to, because it was all she really had left of Neal. Well, there was the car, too, but that always felt more like hers than his, since she'd taken it from him right from the first time they'd met. Right now, the necklace only brought up a sense of loss, and regret from what should have been, but never was. She reached down and opened her bedside drawer and dropped it inside.
She moved to shut the drawer, but stopped to look at the thin leather cord twined and knotted around her wrist. Graham's shoelace. She smiled softly, remembering the good hearted, handsome sheriff. Regina's boy toy. How many times had he locked her up in the jail before finally giving her the job of his deputy? Good move, considering how much time she was spending in that building anyway. The knot was tight, and she had to use her teeth and fingernails to loosen it. She unwrapped it, remembering how she'd first taken it from the boots he'd left in the station. He'd given her a second chance – the first man who'd ever done that for her. She reached back to her drawer and put it next to the necklace, and then she shut both items away.
Tonight was new for her. She was walking into something with her eyes wide open. She'd once told Killian that men lied to her and weren't who they said they were. But he was Captain Hook. Funny, how there was no hiding from that fact. And he didn't try to hide from it, either. Little kids reading story books knew who he was. Anyone who met him knew who he was. Sure, he'd tried to pass himself off as some sort of one-handed blacksmith when she'd first met him in the Enchanted Forest, but that had lasted for about five minutes. Since then, it had been one adventure after the next, and he took it all in stride. Hell, he embraced it. They'd robbed a giant together, or at least set out to rob the giant. It hadn't really been necessary after all. Instead of a necklace she'd ended up with a magic compass, which she still had at her office. He was also there to help her hunt down the bad guys, wherever or whatever they happened to be. She'd kept the coconut with the holes drilled in the top to remind her of that. And as far as romantic dates went, maybe tonight she would finally find out where he learned to waltz. She'd never felt more elegant or beautiful than that night when they'd helped Snow find her ring.
She rose and padded barefoot over to her closet, where her new dress was hanging. It was a soft colored pink, with a full skirt, one what would float around her if they went dancing. She pulled it from its hanger and moved to look at her reflection in the full length mirror on the back of her door. Holding it up against her body, she could see that it was perfect for how she was feeling, and she couldn't wait for their date.
Neal had taught her how to be a thief and that her heart had to be protected, and Graham had taught her that hearts could still be good, even if they were taken from you. Walsh had taught her that pretending to be something you weren't sometimes went both ways, and didn't lead to anything real. But Hook…
Hook taught her that sometimes, someone could be there to protect you, even if you didn't feel like you needed it, and that a person's heart could be given away freely and without strings attached, and that hiding who you were was pointless because it really didn't get you to where you wanted to be.
She did a quick, very un-Emma-like twirl with her pink dress, and thought about the infuriating and extremely handsome man she would be wearing it for. The different men in her life had taught her how to be different things, but with Killian she was finding out who she really was. Emma Swan: thief, ex-con, bounty hunter, sheriff, mother, daughter, savior, and, yes, even royalty. Never, ever would she have dreamed that it would be a pirate who would show her she could be a princess.
Strike that – she was a kick-ass princess. With a hot date.