Disclaimer this is an AU. The purpose of this fic is not to glorify abuse in ANY way. But to show how something beautiful can come from something ugly. I enjoy writing gritty AU fics based around the incredible characters provided from OUAT.

"What happened to you, love?"

Emma tensed, glancing over her shoulder at the owner of the voice. She wasn't sure if the rough Irish accent or the fact that anyone was questioning her about her black eye – at the hospital no less – was what made her tense up.

"It's nothing."

The stranger canted his head to the side, "That looks like a lot of something to be nothing."

"Doorknob." Emma lamely replied, casting her eyes to the ground with a shrug of shame. The sad fact was, was that it had been a doorknob that had caused the darkening bruise, it was just the steps that led up to the incident that set her skin crawling.

"Boyfriend?" The stranger stroked his fingers through his hair, a nervous twitch at his lips. He hadn't intended the question to come out sounding like a double entendre, but it had.

"I-"

"Emma Swan?"

Emma turned back to the stranger with an uncertain look, "I.. um.." Her brows creased together and she awkwardly, giving him a slight smile before she followed the nurse out of the waiting room.

"Where have you been?" With her hands on her hips and a disapproving scowl on her face, Killian wasn't at all surprised by the warm greeting he received as he tossed his leather coat on the coat rack.

"I went to talk to Gabe."

"Again?" She retorted coldly, tapping her foot against the floor board with narrowing eyes.

"Look, hun…" Killian sighed, glancing away from her. "I go and I talk to Gabe because I need someone to talk to."

Her whole demeanor changed at the admission, her shoulders sinking, "You have me." She was playing the victim, making him feel like he was the bad guy here. That he had the audacity to have a friend instead of confiding in his girlfriend and only her. "Isn't that enough?"

Killian's lips pressed thin and he shrugged his shoulders, at a loss for words as he brushed past her, heading for the kitchen. "What do we have for dinner?"

"I don't make dinner for cowards." Was the cutting reply she chose to answer with, hot on Killian's heels as she followed him into the kitchen. "Tell me why you keep going and talking to him!"

Killian frowned, glancing back at her. "Because I need someone to talk to her, are you not listening to me? He's got a break during his shift, I go and I talk to him and then I come home. I'm sorry it's such a big deal."

She rolled her eyes, "You better not be airing our dirty laundry to the drunk."

"Gabe's in rehab, he's not a drunk." Killian corrected, attempting to stand up for his friend's honor. It was the first time, in a long time, that his patience was starting to come to an end. "Would you just stop with this right now?"

"No." She crossed her arms across her chest, glaring at him. "Once a drunk always a drunk. Once a coward always a coward."

"I am not a coward." Killian snapped, turning to face away from her. "And if I am, at least I'm not a spoiled brat who acts like she's the goddamn princess of her own mythical kingdom."

She quieted, her eyes narrowing. "Aren't you clever? That wasn't even a dig you self-righteous ass."

"I'd rather be self-righteous than pompous." He gritted, turning to the fridge and grabbing a beer from the shelf. "I'm done with this right now."

"I'm not though." She grabbed the beer bottle from his hand and he huffed in response. "Is this how you behaved when the man tried to kill your lover?"

"Don't bring her into this." His whole demeanor changed, the once aggravated but relaxed man was now suddenly rigid with coiled anger, but it was anger he'd learned to avoid lashing out with.

She slapped him across the face and he took it without a flinch. "I'll bring up whomever I want to bring up, whenever I want to bring them up."

Killian swallowed thickly and nodded slowly, glancing to the floor. "I'm not lying to you, love…" His voice wavered and he shook his head, "I'm really not." Bringing up Milah had felt like a slap to his face and there was none, if there even had been, fight left in him. "I'm going to go smoke a fag." He spoke quickly, already fingering a cigarette out of the breast pocket of his plaid button up.

"Fine." She snapped, crossing her arms across her chest and giving him the death glare as he walked out of the kitchen and towards the deck.

He'd spent four years with the woman that had no become a captor, in a sense. She'd once been, what he had thought was, loving and concerned for his wellbeing, as anyone would be for a loved one. But, he had been gravely wrong. She'd been his rebound relationship, after the death of Milah, his longtime lover who had been seeing him all the while she had been married. She'd had a strong personality, but a docile spirit – the complete opposite of his girlfriend, who had been a docile personality with the strongest spirit he had ever encountered. And not in a good way. She was controlling, manipulative, and toxic – to name a few.

But he always reminded himself that he deserved this. This was his punishment for being unable to save Milah.

Killian's eyes rose in surprise as the blond from the other day stepped into the waiting room. The only seat empty – miraculously– was the seat beside him. He held her gaze for a long moment before he watched her come to sit in the seat beside him. "You're back here again…"

"Yeah." She said weakly with a shrug of her shoulders as she sank into the seat, as if she wished to vanish into the woodwork.

"Are you back here for your eye?" He glanced at the bruising that was barely noticeable under her concealer. "It doesn't look so bad anymore."

"It's healing," She replied, stroking the still tender cheek. She didn't exactly want to explain to the stranger why she was back at the hospital. She never really talked to anyone about her life. But he was a stranger after all, completely unrelated to her life, or the people in it. "Last time I was here," Emma started quietly, casting a wary glance around the room, "You mentioned a boyfriend."

Killian nodded as his blue eyes met hers, holding their gaze.

"The bruise is from him." She frowned, her shoulders shrinking. "He didn't exactly hit me or anything…" Emma bit down on her bottom lip, not wanting him to see the way it trembled. "It was a struggle and I fell and I hit the door."

"I'm sorry." Killian replied quickly, his eyes reflecting the sympathy in his voice. "I'm so sorry."

"Emma Swan?"

"Dammit." Emma swore under her voice as she glanced at the nurse in the doorway, before looking back to her stranger. She had never felt so drawn to someone in her life. "I'm Emma by the way."

"I know." He replied with a chuckle, nodding his head towards the nurse who had announced the blonde's name. "I'm Killian."

"It was a pleasure to meet you Killian." She extended her hand, shaking his briefly before she turned to follow the nurse out of the waiting room.

Emma held her hand up to block the sun as she stepped out of the hospital, rummaging in her purse for her sunglasses.

"Hey… Emma?"

She turned, her eyes focusing in on the owner of the voice. "Oh, hello Killian." Her heart fluttered stupidly in her heart as she watched him snuff out the cigarette in the ashtray before he pushed off of the wall that he had been leaning on. "You're still here?"

"I don't really want to go home." He admitted, with a shrug of his shoulders, "I'm betting you don't want to go home either."

"Not particularly, no." Emma gave a small laugh, her lips pressed together as she studied him for a moment. "Why don't you want to go home?"

Killian let out a heavy sigh, "Girlfriend troubles."

So they both had someone else. Why was it that the people you were most drawn to were unavailable?

"Ah," Emma opened and closed her mouth several times before she finally spoke, trying to find the right way to speak. "Do you feel like-"

"Yes." Killian agreed before she'd finished, "That we knew each oth-"

"Before?" Emma laughed nervously with a wide grin forming on her lips. "It's really weird isn't it."

"I thought I was sort of crazy," Killian admitted with a laugh. He swore that the smile that spread over his features was the first smile he had smiled in years – the first genuine smile. "We should go grab a coffee."

"I'd like that," His smile was infectious, her cheeks aching from how wide her grin had become. "There's one just outside of town."

"That's probably a good idea, just in case." It wasn't cheating; she didn't know why she felt like it was. She was just having coffee with a stranger that she wanted to get to know better. Someone who clearly had their own emotional baggage - someone who would understand.

"I'll meet you there in about twenty minutes?"

"I'll see you there."

And that's how it began.

Little meetings at the coffee shop just outside of town, where no one seemed to know who they were – or cared what their stories were. They met, they shared, they laughed, they cared. They told each other about their difficult relationships; the domestic abuse that she dealt with and the verbal abuse he lived with. Shared parts of themselves that no one else knew.

Killian explained to her the whole ordeal with Milah and the last ten years of his life that he felt that he'd lost to the situation.

"And you're telling me that she told you that you were a coward?"

"Yeah," Killian's eyes widened as he took a sip of his coffee, turning his head to meet the eyes of the woman sitting beside him on the sofa. "It wasn't exactly something I could prevent, you know? I was out of town for work when I got the call that she'd been murdered." He shrugged his shoulders, telling Emma made the pain a little less. Whenever he'd talked to her about it, the pain seemed worse – deeper and sharper.

"She sounds like a royal bitch."

"Oh, she's royal alright." Killian laughed, rolling his eyes, "She acts like some little snide princess who deserves everything." He glanced down at the blond beside him, his eyes flickering to her lips for half a second, before he looked away, sipping his coffee.

"Well, at least you get to come here and not get berated for the littlest things." Emma pointed out with a small smirk, nudging him in the ribs. "Unless you're considering me convincing you to stop smoking as berating you."

"Oh, you had everything to do with me stopping." Killian laughed, casually slipping his arm around her shoulders, feeling his heart flutter in his chest. "I'm significantly less stressed thanks to you."

Emma sat her coffee down on the table before she leaned against him comfortably, "I guess meeting each other was one of those… pre-destined things." She glanced up at him, her eyes fluttering under the look in his eyes.

His breath hitched in his throat as he looked into her eyes, trying not to flicker to her lips, but it was futile. "Emma…" He whispered, leaning in slightly, uncertain about his actions. He didn't want to betray her trust; he'd worked to earn it.

"Yes?" She whispered, leaning closer to him. There were many things that told her not to, but there was a far more overwhelming part of her that told her to do this. To kiss him.

Killian's gaze fell to her lips again and he leaned in, bridging the distance, and catch her lips. He could taste her hot chocolate laced coffee on her lips, but he could also taste that little tingle of something far more intangible. Something intoxicating and… he couldn't even put a word on it.

This moment had had nearly three months of building up to it, behind it. Three months of learning about each other in ways that they'd never let anyone else learn about them. The connection there was undeniable, even more so now.

"Well now…" Emma laughed, her eyes bright as she met his gaze, her cheeks tinted crimson. "Your vanilla latte tastes pretty good." She teased with one eyebrow quirked upwards.

"So was your hot chocolate," Killian drew his tongue across his bottom lip, eyes falling to her lips again. "I'm not sorry that I kissed you."

"Did I say I was sorry?" She smirked at him before she leaned for her cup again, taking a sip of her hot chocolate. "I'm going to leave him."

"Are you sure that's a safe plan?" Killian asked, stroking his fingers over the curve of her shoulder. "I don't want you to get hurt."

"I'm certain. I'll live in my car if I have to." She smiled at him, "I have my fight back."

Killian leaned in and kissed her again, "I didn't tell you this yet… but, I was planning on leaving her today."

"You were?" Her brows shot up in surprise, "I mean I spent this whole time trying to figure out how to tell you that after today I'm going to be living in my car as a single woman."

"Do you want to take this whole thing slow?" He questioned with a warm, gentle tone, "I mean, that's if you actually want to do this."

"Of course I want to." Her words came out far more breathy than she'd have liked them too, but that was beside the point, because she had something incredible to look forward to. "You know…" She started slowly, brushing her hair behind her ear, "That first day I met you in the hospital…I couldn't believe that I was found myself thinking that I'd found a kindred spirit in a stranger."

"I know exactly what you mean." Killian confessed with an infectious grin. This was the start of something new – for both of them. Something that had the potential to be beautiful.

"Hey, love." Killian knocked on the glass of her window, leaning to kiss her as she rolled the window down. "Is the deed done?"

"Everything that was actually mine is in the trunk, what do you think?" She retorted with a hesitant grin, "It's over. I'm free." She turned away from him, leaning over to open the passenger door for him, "Get in you idiot."

Killian moved around to open the door, slipping inside to join her. "Guess who else is free? I mean, she screamed pretty viciously at me, but it's all over." He laughed, "Needless to say I finally called her out on being a bitch, and it only took four years."

"So, now begins the real beginning for us." Emma leaned back against the car seat, tilting her head to grin at him. "The start of something beautiful."

"So you're really going to live in here?" Killian glanced in the backseat with a slight laugh, "It's certainly not very big in here."

"It is plenty big thank you very much." She stuck up her chin and gave him a look as she climbed over the middle compartment into the backseat, "See there's a lot of room back here."

Killian arched a brow at her, laughing, "As much room as a little VW Bug can have."

"Are you joining me back here?" Emma asked with a tilt of her head, scooting over to give him room to join her.

He hesitated for only a second before he climbed back into the backseat with her, "Oh yes there's plenty of room back here." He teased with a sarcastic tone to his voice, eyeing her with a smirk. "So this is your new home?"

"I feel like you're trying to offer me a place to stay with you."

"More like the other way around." He admitted with a nonchalant shrug, "My things are at work, which was where I was going to stay tonight."

"Okay."

"Okay?" Killian's brows crease together and he met her eyes, "I'll sleep in the front seat and you can sleep back here."

"I waited three months to kiss you Killian, I'm really not interested in waiting any longer for this." Emma insisted with a look that he couldn't say no to. She caught his cheeks between her palms, leaning in and pressing her lips against his. She could swear that she felt sparks between their lips. Something different and unusual, but all together blissful. Kissing him the first time had felt similar, but what she felt now had clearly been dampened by the fear of what they were doing. The new waters they were treading on. But now she could see, she had nothing to fear. Not with him.

He brought her close to him, kissing her back, kissing her slowly, trying to keep the desperation at bay until it finally broke. Killian slowly leaned her back against the seat, making do with what little room they had. Her arms draped over his shoulders, her legs wrapping around his hips. His fingers anxiously slid up her shirt, lips pulling away from hers to press kisses down her throat and along her collarbone.

Emma reached down his back, tugging at the material of his shirt, drawing it up as far as she could, without losing the warmth of him above her. "Killian." She whispered, tilting her chin back as his lips trailed along the curve of her jaw bone.

"This car is so small," He laughed against her skin, before pulling back to pull his shirt off, tossing it off of the seat. His eyes flickered to hers, watching as she removed her blouse and then her bra. "You don't think the police will come out here do you?"

"By all means you can drive the car further into the woods," Emma arched a brow at him. "I'll lay back here and wait."

Killian rolled his eyes, "Oh, you're bossy, I didn't sign up for this."

"You love it." Emma grinned, pressing her tongue to the inside of her cheek, her eyes on his. "At least I hope you do."

Killian nodded, his hands skimming along her curves, "I do. Because I look at you, our eyes meet, and we don't have to speak. It's all there."

Emma sat up on her forearms, bringing her face closer to his as he hovered over her, "Who knows, maybe we're soulmates." She never believed in that sort of thing, but with him she was starting to believe in so much more in life. Second chances, love, and beauty.

Her lips claimed his again, her tongue against his as their hands skimmed over each other, fingers seeking out zippers and buttons, material shed, limbs entangling. It was cramped in the back of the car, but it worked. Pressed against each other, basking in the warmth and the comfort they found in each other's arms. Hip rocked against hip, lips parting with moans and sighs.

"Where too?" Killian asked over his shoulder, a smirk on his lips as she leaned over the shoulder of his seat, an infectious grin on her lips.

Emma combed her fingers through her tangled blond hair, "Well, I'd say Neverland but you can't get me there, now can you?"

Killian laughed, "You never know." He turned his head and kissed her cheek, "How about we try for Maine?"

"That's a long haul." Emma bit down on her bottom lip, "That's like three thousand miles."

He grinned at her, "So? We wanted to start over, this is our chance."

Emma slid up into the passenger seat, "I've heard Maine's gorgeous this time of year." She tucked her lips into her mouth, looking to him, "Any particular place?"

"Some small town where we can start over." Killian reached over, taking her hand briefly before starting the car up. "There's something beautiful waiting for us."