This is my gift to my CSSS giftee mezzanottecafe. She wanted a Train AU and told me she loves tropes. Since I also love tropes I threw some in. :-)

Special thanks goes to ilovemesomekillianjones for doing an emergency beta read for me on this one. She's amazing!


Sometimes Emma hated to live so far out of the city. The commute was harrowing most of the time. But when she stepped into her apartment she was always reminded why she'd decided to do it. In Portland she could have only afforded a shoebox for the same amount of money. And it wouldn't have been in such a quiet and safe neighborhood. Not that she didn't always keep her pepper spray handy anyways when she walked home from the train station. The ninety minutes also gave her time to read, not to mention indulging in another of her favorite pastimes. People-watching. It was fascinating to see all those different types of people and their mannerisms.

Sometimes there were even some gems to observe. Like the very handsome man who also seemed to have a nine to five job like she had. Almost every day she saw him sitting in the same seat in the morning and evening. Though it wasn't only his good looks that made her look twice when she spotted him for the first time. No, it was the fact that he'd been reading a book. Like a real paperback. And it even had been from one of her favorite authors. She couldn't keep herself from looking for him every day and when she realized that he switched between his e-reader and paperbacks quite frequently, she wondered if one of his guilty pleasures might be matching hers. There were just some naughty and kinky books she didn't need the world to know she liked.

They never talked, never even made eye-contact. At least not when she was looking, which wasn't that often, since she did use her commute to shorten the very long list of books she wanted to read. But one day she actually stepped onto the train eager to start reading the newest book from Colm Toíbín. She loved reading books about Ireland and she looked forward to reading about Wilde, Yeats and Joyce's relationships with their fathers. It promised to be a quite interesting read. When she sat down, her eyes searched for the dark-haired stranger and she smiled when she found him; with the same book in his hand that she was holding. And then he looked up and met her eyes for the very first time ever and her heart skipped a beat. She held up the book and her heart actually started to flutter in her chest when his mouth curled up into a gorgeous smile.

From that day on they actually greeted each other every day, but it never got further than "Good morning", "Have a nice day" or "Good evening". Sometimes they just held up the books they were reading and gave a thumbs-up or thumbs-down to let the other know if it was good or not. Granted, the whole thing was kind of strange. But Emma liked it. There was no pressure, no fear to say the wrong thing. It was just nice.


"Ladies and gentlemen, due to the blizzard the rails in front of us are not passable any longer. We're gonna take a detour over Storybrooke and hope we get through there."

Emma should have listened to the radio hosts this morning and stayed at home. Well, not much she could do about it now. Her eyes found her reading partner's eyes over the aisle. She'd given him that name after she realized that calling him handsome stranger all the time in her head didn't sit right with her. He cocked one eyebrow and shrugged his shoulders.

Half an hour later the same voice as before gave them more bad news through the loudspeakers. The train couldn't get any further. They were stuck in Storybrooke. A town she'd never even heard of before. Gathering her things slowly, she waited until all the other passengers had exited the train before she stepped out in the bitter cold. Snuggling into her coat, she took a look around, wondering how to get to the closest hotel from here. All the other passengers had already disappeared, apparently taking the train personnel with them. Figures that she was stuck here alone now.

"Hey," someone said from behind her and she might not have heard the voice saying more than four words at a time before, but she knew who stood behind her before she turned around. Her gorgeous, blue-eyed reading partner.

"Hi," she replied softly, somehow glad he'd stayed behind and waited for her.

"My name is Killian, by the way. Killian Jones."

"Emma." She grasped the hand he held out and shook it, trying to ignore the jolt that went through her fingers when they touched. "Emma Swan."

"Looks like we're stuck here for the night."

"Seems so."

He shot her a brilliant smile as he pushed his hands back into the pockets of his coat, causing butterflies to fly around in her stomach.

"Then let's find some rooms for the night, shall we?"

He held out his elbow for her to thread her arm through and she slipped her arm through it without any hesitation.

"We shall."


"I'm sorry. But I only have one room left."

"Shit," Emma mumbled under her breath, looking over her shoulder to meet Killian's eyes.

"Don't worry, love," he assured her in his lilting accent. "I'll find other accommodations."

"You won't have any luck with that, sir. We're the only bed and breakfast in Storybrooke."

"Bloody hell," Killian cursed quietly, threading his fingers through his hair so that it stood up in all directions.

His obvious distress made Emma anxious as well. She liked him. Really, really liked him. They'd spent the short walk from the train station to the B&B with a vivid discussion about the newest Gaiman book. It was just so easy to talk to him. He didn't seem to be a stranger. It was as if they'd known each other for a very long time. Emma would push the blame on that feeling as she contemplated a slightly insane idea. She wouldn't let him sleep on the streets. So even if the idea was insane, it was the only thing she could do.

"We can share the room," Emma said without giving herself time to think it over.

The startled look on Killian's face told her that this particular idea hadn't even crossed his mind. "You sure?"

"There's only one bed in the room," the old woman behind the counter said. "But it's a king-size."

"I can sleep on the floor," Killian offered, obvious relief about not trudging back into the cold in search of a room washing over his features.

"Then let's take it."


This was ridiculous. The less than stellar heating in the room made Emma shiver even under the thick blanket. The heat of another body in bed with her might help with that particular problem.

"Are you as cold as I am?" she whispered so not to wake him if he was already asleep.

There were a few seconds of silence and she'd already made peace with the fact that she might not sleep well, when his quiet voice reached her ears, "Need me to come up?"

She shivered again, not sure if it was because of the cold surrounding her or a reaction to the gravel tone of his voice. Not that it really mattered since she desperately needed a source of warmth. "I'm freezing."

She heard rustling coming from the spot he'd made his bed on the floor and a moment later she saw him standing up.

"Scoot over."

A small voice in her head tried to keep her from letting him into the bed with her, but another shudder went through her body and she mentally showed the voice the bird as she held up the blanket in a silent invitation.

He slipped under the blanket but kept his distance from her, a little of his body heat reaching her. It wasn't nearly enough. She still shivered every few minutes, but she wasn't forward enough to ask him if she could snuggle up to him.

"How about sharing some body heat? You're apparently still cold." He turned around to face her, not that she was able to see much in the dark, but his voice was soft as he said, "I promise there'll be no inappropriate touches."

She was just so damn cold. She just wanted to get warm. So when he lifted his arm she just closed the gap between them and lay her head on his shoulder.

"Oh my God," Emma sighed when she snuggled up against him, his body almost too hot for the first few seconds. "You're a living furnace."

Killian's deep chuckle moved his chest under her head and she smiled as his arm wrapped around her shoulder to keep her close. She probably shouldn't sleep in the arms of a man she hardly knew, but the needs of her body won out. Now that she was finally warming up the exhaustion hit her hard and only a few minutes later she fell asleep.


Emma woke up to a warm body pressed against her back. It took her a few seconds to remember where she was. Her brain told her to move out of his arms while he was still asleep, to avoid any awkwardness, but her body had other ideas when she felt something hard poke her back. She knew it was probably not because of her, just a normal occurrence for a man in the morning. But it made her wonder. Wonder about things she shouldn't be wondering about.

She wiggled carefully in his arms, swallowing down a moan when he shifted behind her, a short burst of heat shooting right between her legs. The shifting behind her increased and she held her breath, hoping he would stay asleep. His fingers slipped under her shirt, caressing her stomach slowly and she almost combusted right then and there. But then the arm he'd thrown over her waist tightened and his body stiffened behind her. His fingers stilled and the rocking of his hips stopped. A soft curse reached her ears and then he scrambled backward and stood up, throwing a mumbled apology over his shoulder. "Sorry about that, love."

Before she could say anything, the door of the bathroom fell shut behind him and she let out a sigh. Of course, Killian had definitely made the right choice. Stopping them before they did something they might regret later. Though her body didn't like to listen to reason right now. Especially when the bathroom door opened again and Killian stepped out, looking even more handsome with the very pronounced five-o'clock shadow covering his cheek and his hair still slightly disheveled from sleep.

He gave her a shaky smile before walking over to the window and looking outside. "The storm seems to be over. Snow looks good." When he turned around again his mouth curled up into a mischievous smirk. "How about a small snowball fight after breakfast?"

He looked adorable when he waggled his eyebrows at her and she was just glad that Killian had decided to just ignore what had happened a few minutes earlier in bed. She liked spending time with him and didn't want to waste even one second to awkwardness. So she grinned back at him and accepted the challenge, "You're on."


A snowball hit her hard in the chest and Killian's loud laughter ignited a spark of anger. She had gotten in a few good hits, too. But even though Killian obviously didn't throw the snowballs with full force at her it still hurt a little when he hit certain spots. It was time for some revenge.

Emma charged towards him, barreling into him headfirst and taking him down with her. Scooping up a handful of snow, she pressed it against his face and rubbed it all over it, shoving some snow down the collar of his coat with her other hand. Killian just kept laughing, letting her have her way for a minute before he closed his fingers around her wrists and pulled her arms apart until she was forced to lower her body so that their chests were almost touching.

She'd landed atop of him, her thighs spread wide over his hips. She hadn't paid much attention to the intimate position she'd put them in until Killian's laughter faded and his eyes suddenly changed color. She just couldn't resist. How should she? So she just leaned down and pressed her lips against his. For a split second she believed she'd gone too far, that she had misinterpreted the look in his eyes. But before she could pull back his mouth opened under hers on a groan and his tongue flicked over her bottom lip. That small touch was her undoing, she practically devoured his mouth, kissing him as if her life depended on it. But Killian definitely didn't complain. He tightened his arms around her and rolled them around, his hard body pressing hers deep into the snow. Not that she really cared when snow slipped under the collar of her coat. Kissing Killian was heating her up just fine. The cold touch of the snow actually helped her to not combust into flames.

Eventually they needed to come up for air, but she was still breathless when she stared up at him, his eyes blazing with heat, the proof of his arousal pressing into her.

"Should we take this inside?" she whispered, threading her fingers through his hair as she rocked her hips upwards. Fortunately, they'd been informed that they wouldn't get out of here for another day, so they had all the time in the world to take this further.

Killian's head dropped to her shoulder, a growl rumbling out of his chest as he pressed his hands against her hips to keep her from moving. His lips brushed over her neck until he reached her ear, the touch of his teeth around her earlobe shooting a shiver down her spine, not to mention all the things his gravelly voice was doing to her body as he rasped right into her ear, "We probably should."

This time around there were a lot of inappropriate touches when they fell into bed together, but it was just to keep Emma warm, like Killian told her with a cheeky grin on his face. Emma definitely didn't mind how he went about keeping her warm all night.


They were standing wrapped in each other's arms at the train station the next morning, waiting for the train to take them home. Emma looked forward to a much needed change of clothes. After she'd taken a long hot shower. Then maybe some much needed sleep since a certain someone had kept her up almost all night. She couldn't keep the goofy smile from curling her lips upwards when she thought about the last two days and all the great things that had happened.

"Happy?" Killian asked her, dropping his chin gently on her head.

Emma tightened her arms around his waist, pressing her lips against his neck. "Very."

"Me, too."

She could have kept standing there in Killian's arms for hours, but she could hear the sound of an arriving train in the distance and with a sigh she leaned back to meet his eyes.

"We'll come back, won't we?" Emma asked, hoping what had started between them here in Storybrooke would continue for a very, very long time.

His hands came up to cup her cheeks, his thumb brushing over her mouth a moment before his lips pressed a soft kiss on hers. When he drew back, the smile on his face stole her breath away and she felt tears prick the back of her eyes when he whispered, "Aye, love. We will."