A/N: I haven't written in ages (please don't be mad, please don't be mad, please don't be mad) and I'm completely out of practise but those promo pics of the Charming's and Elsa seeing Emma made me want to write something. I'm sorry there's not more Hook in it, but it was about Emma and her parent's reaction kinda… anyway…have I said I'm out of practise?
Also, I haven't had it beta'd and I don't know what I'm doing. Please be gentle, thanks. =D
She was nervous. Really nervous in fact. The last date she'd had had been with Walsh the day he'd proposed. And as chance would have it, the day Killian had come back storming into her life. Surely that had been some weird twist of fate, some magical force telling her that that rugged pirate was going to play a bigger part in her life. Of course, she would never have admitted that back then and she still found it hard to admit it now.
Sure, she'd opened up and told him she couldn't lose him and yes, she'd been the one asking him out but that didn't mean that she was feeling completely ready for this. It scared her. Gosh, it really scared her.
She took a deep breath and looked in the mirror. She was wearing a black dress, her hair still lose around her shoulders but she looked at herself very sceptically.
No, this would not do. Rather frustrated she pulled off the dress again, looking for another item of clothing that she could wear.
This was a proper date. She couldn't just show up in jeans and leather jacket. Then again, he was probably going to show up in his usual pirate-y attire (not that she minded that much really). With a sigh she pulled out a blouse and a skirt. She never was the kind of woman who owned many dresses and the ones she did own just didn't seem very date appropriate; at least not for their date.
There was a knock on her door that made her turn around.
"Who's there?" Emma asked.
"It's me, Elsa," she heard the young blonde's voice from the other side. "Can I come in?"
"Yeah, I could use some help…"
Elsa opened the door and peeked around the corner, smiling when she saw Emma still in her underwear. "I'm sure Hook will like you like that but maybe you should find something else for now," she teased.
Emma gave a grunt and sighed. "I have nothing to wear. I've tried on at least 5 different things and nothing works. I even got some things from my mother. But either it's too black, too lacy or too much not me and I'm out of options. Tell me again why I'm doing this?"
"Because you like him and you haven't been on a proper date," Elsa chuckled. "Would you like some help? We may both not be able to control our magic completely but I have managed to make my own dress, maybe I can work out something for you."
"Seriously? You'd do that?"
"Of course."
The young Queen smiled and started to concentrate, lifting her arms to perform the magic needed.
"Woah, hang on a minute" interrupted Emma. "You're not going to freeze me, right?"
She liked Elsa and she knew her well enough by now that she knew she wouldn't hurt anyone on purpose and she really appreciated that Elsa wanted to help, but she would much rather be alive than freeze again.
"Not if everything goes well," Elsa replied slightly unsure.
"Do you think I can do it?" Emma wondered then. "You said it yourself, you can't completely control your magic but you made your own dress. Maybe I can do it to."
Elsa basically cheered at that. "That's actually even better! Just, let yourself go, don't try too hard."
Emma nodded. She could do this. With a quick look in the mirror, she breathed in, closed her eyes and balled her hands into fists.
She took three deep breaths and let her mind float, let it fill with thoughts of her stupid pirate, let her emotions for him – the ones she wasn't quite ready to admit – fill her and she could feel how the magic in her gave a tweak.
She'd realised in the forest when the Snow Queen had threatened Hook that her magic was very much connected to her emotions and she could feel the truth of that now. Her eyes were still closed but she could feel her magic be released around her, could feel the warmth and when she heard a gasp behind her she knew it had worked.
Hesitantly she opened her eyes. There she was, right in front of the mirror and she hardly knew who she was seeing. Her magic had worked better than she'd thought. The dress was stunning. Nothing she'd have picked out in a shop, but it was absolutely perfect. The colour worked well with her eyes and it was just the right amount of elegant and cute. She met Elsa's eyes in the mirror and saw her smile broadly.
"He'll be speechless," the Queen said and Emma almost beamed.
"I didn't know I had this side of me…it's so pretty and feminine! I didn't know I could do this."
The two women smiled at each other and Emma realised that she had never shared anything like this with anyone before. For the first time she didn't just have a family, she also had a friend.
With a glance at the clock on her nightstand she turned around, looking at Elsa. "He should be here soon."
Her voice had gone dry and she had to admit to herself that her nerves were slowly getting the better of her.
Elsa nodded. "I'll give you a minute."
It wasn't hard for Elsa to spot the nervousness in Emma. Anna would be a bundle of excitement, but Emma was so much more like herself and she knew that she'd need a minute to compose herself so she left the saviour to her own devices.
Emma gave Elsa a thankful look and then turned around to face the mirror once more.
Was that really her? She felt like a princess again.
Sometimes she had to remind herself that she was a princess. But going out with Killian, taking him on a real date (or letting him take her), being dressed up like that, it just felt so much like her own personal fairy tale and she was afraid of what that meant.
"Stop it, Emma," she told herself, stealing her voice. "You wanted this, you can do it."
She and Hook had battled so many things together and this was the first time they would actually have a quiet night, she needed to get herself together and enjoy it.
With a last determined look at her reflection she took another deep breath and then made her way out of her room and downstairs, her heels clicking on the stairs as she took step after step.
She could hear her parents talking to Elsa and saw their heads turning around towards her as she was coming down and she couldn't help breaking out into a broad smile when she saw the look on her fathers face.
"I'm not getting married," the blonde laughed, which did bring David back to reality fairly quick.
"I would hope not…" he grumbled and earned himself a friendly slap on the arm from his wife.
"You look wonderful, Emma," Mary Margaret said happily.
Emma's lips curled up and she was just about to say something, when there was a knock on the door. The atmosphere in the room seemed to suddenly change as excitement swept over all of them.
For David it was mostly excitement mixed with a lot of concern. After all, it was his darling daughter who was going out on a date with a pirate. Given, said pirate had done a lot to prove himself, but he was still a pirate.
For Mary Margaret it was just simple joy, seeing her grown up, wonderful, strong daughter finally give in to some bit of happiness was all she ever wanted.
And Emma had to suppress the nervous shiver and the shaking of her hands.
There was another knock on the door and she realised that none of them had moved to open it so she hastily went to the door, opening it and when her eyes found Hook, she didn't know which one of them was more speechless at seeing the other, him or herself.
He'd cleaned up very nicely, still dressed in leather but in modern clothes and he just took her breath away (the pirate's garb was great but this was a completely new level of great). She felt a little tug in her belly and a flutter in her heart and it was actually like being a teenager in love. She could also read the admiration in his wonderful eyes – always the look of admiration – as he took her in.
"That's a first," she managed to finally croak out.
Startled, he focused on her eyes alone. He felt slightly weak in the knees. Was this actually real? Was she standing in front of him, waiting to go out, waiting to get to know each other in a different way than by running through woods? She constantly took his breath away but tonight was even worse (or better).
"Hm?" he mumbled. "Oh…I…You look… stunning," he added, stammering slightly and it made her chuckle.
"Not quite lost for words then."
He shook his head. He actually felt very much lost for words so instead he decided to show her his big surprise.
Slowly, slightly unsure, he brought forward his left arm, the one that normally ended in his hook. Only now there was a hand attached to it and with it he presented a single, red rose to Emma.
The young woman gasped with surprise, both at the hand and the rose but she took the flower from him, sniffing at it for a second before looking at him again.
"So, what do I call you now? Captain Hand?" she joked and it managed to lift the slight awkwardness resting between them.
"Killian's fine," he smiled contently. "Are you ready to go, love?"
Emma nodded. She could feel the stares of David, Mary Margaret and Elsa on her back and really wanted to get going so she turned towards them.
"We're off then," she stated and Mary Margaret smiled.
"Have a great time, you two," she said in typical mum-style, while David wrestled with himself over making sure Hook would take care of Emma or just being happy that Emma was happy.
Before he could say anything though, Hook offered Emma his arm which she readily took and she then looked straight at David, saying "Don't wait up," before walking out the door with the leather clad handsome young man by her side.
With a sigh, David watched the door close. When he felt his wife's hand on his arm, he turned to look at her.
"You're going to wait up, aren't you," she stated matter-of-factly and he knew there was no point in replying because of course he was.
Outside the apartment, Emma and Hook made their way down the stairs, Emma linking her fingers with his (it was strange, holding his left hand) and throwing a glance back to where they came from.
"He's going to wait up, isn't he…" she mumbled under her breath but of course Killian heard it. "Of course he is. I wouldn't expect anything less from you father, sweetheart."