New York Christmas Serenade (pt. 1 of 4)

CS Genre: Canon Divergence (missing year between 3a and 3b)

A/N: I don't really know what time of year it was when Killian showed up at Emma's New York apartment door, but for the sake of this canon divergence, I'm saying he showed up the day before Christmas Eve.

Emma shouldn't complain; she really shouldn't. She had a job she loved, she had a roof over her head (a really nice roof at that), plenty of food to eat, a son she loved more than she thought it was possible to love another person, and it was the day before Christmas Eve. She should be perfectly happy.

But she couldn't help but think something was missing.

At first she thought she was just dealing with the inevitable melancholy that comes after the breakup of a longtime (well…longtime for her. When you're used to one night stands, having a boyfriend for eight months seems like an eternity) relationship, but that wasn't quite it. Honestly? She'd barely even thought about Walsh since she broke up with him just before Halloween. He'd been okay she guessed, but…well, there was no spark there.

No, it was more than breakup blues. It felt more like loneliness. She glanced over her shoulder at Henry who sat at the breakfast table garnishing their mugs of hot cocoa with both cinnamon and little mini candy canes (in honor of the season), and the guilt hit. She loved Henry, of course she did, but she couldn't help but feel like someone…maybe several someones…were missing.

Emma had just passed a plate of chocolate chip pancakes to an excited Henry when the knock came at her apartment door. That was…odd.

"We expecting someone?" Henry asked, already beginning to dig in to his breakfast.

"No," she said, her brow furrowed. "Just…stay here kid while I see what this is all about."

Emma didn't know what she expected to see when she opened her door, but a pirate in full black leather and guyliner wasn't it. Nor did she expect the look of utter joy—like she'd just given him the best Christmas gift in the world—that crossed his face at the site of her.

"Swan," he breathed, blue eyes lighting up. "At last."

The pirate stepped forward, looking like he was about to embrace her. For a moment, her mind went blank. There was something familiar about this man, although she was pretty sure she'd remember meeting him before. Aside from his odd choice of clothing, he was hot. Not just kind of hot. Like burn-all-of-New-York-to-the-ground hot.

For half a second, she almost let him envelope her in a hug, and then common sense returned. Emma Swan did not just stand there and let crazy guys touch her. She put a hand to his chest, warding him off. "Do I know you?" she asked in a voice she determinedly made hard and unyielding.

"I'm…an old friend," he said. He wasn't being entirely truthful, though he wasn't lying either…not exactly. What was going on here?

"Look, Swan," he said urgently, taking a tiny step forward once more, "I know you don't remember me, but I need you to trust me. Your family is in great danger. They need you; they need the savior."

"Look buddy," Emma said, "I don't know who you are or what kind of delusions you have, but my whole family is right there at that breakfast table. My son is the only one who needs me."

"You simply don't remember, love," he began, "I can help you…"

"It's time for you to go," she said, giving a little push to his chest until he'd crossed her threshold, "go peddle your crazy to someone else."

With that she shut the door in his protesting face.

"Who was that?" Henry asked around a bite of pancake.

"No idea," Emma said.

"Really?" Henry asked. "Are you sure? It's just…something about him seems really familiar."

"Must be a coincidence," Emma said with a shrug as she sat down to her breakfast. "But enough about psychos who show up at our door. Let's talk about the weekend! We've got a lot of Christmas-ing to fit into the next three days that I have off. What do you want to do first?"

Emma tried to forget the handsome pirate, she truly did. She tried to forget him as she and Henry went ice skating. She tried to forget him as they rolled out Christmas cookies and cut them into festive shapes. She tried to forget him while Henry played his video game and she covertly wrapped his presents. She tried to forget him when she and Henry sat down to watch Elf that night. She tried to forget him as she lay in her big, lonely bed.

But somehow mystery pirate man wouldn't leave her thoughts no matter what she did. When she woke up on Christmas Eve morning after having a weird dream where she and the pirate guy were in this weird jungle place and she kissed the living daylights out of him, she gave up. Clearly she was going to get no peace until she found him again and heard him out, found out what the hell he'd meant by "your family needs you".

As luck would have it, Emma didn't even need to dig into her bail bonds person bag of tricks to locate her target. She'd promised Henry she'd take him to the zoo in Central Park that day to see the Christmas festivities. And who should she see sitting on a park bench just outside the zoo's entrance, but pirate man?

The man got to his feet as soon as she was in site. "Emma!" he said in excitement. "Fancy seeing you here, love."

"Seriously?" she asked, adding extra briskness to her voice to counteract the way the butterflies had started to swoop in her stomach the moment she saw him. "You are a stalker."

"Not at all," he said. "It was you who followed me here. Perhaps you, Swan are the stalker here, aye?" Turning to her left, the man nodded at her son. "Henry! Good to see you! Enjoying your Christmas holidays?"

Henry gave the man a suspicious glance and then broke into a smile. "Yeah, it's been great! Three full days with mom before she has to go back to work…amazing! But…do I know you?"

The man ruffled his hair. "I'd wager not, at least not to your knowledge. Killian Jones at your service, lad!"

"Cool! Where'd ya get the pirate costume?"

The man looked down at himself and then shrugged. "I've been wearing this attire for such a long time I don't recall where I acquired it."

"So, Killian, would you like to come to our apartment for Christmas Eve tonight?" Henry asked before Emma could stop him. "We'll light up the tree and watch Christmas movies and hang our stockings and everything."

The man…Killian…shot her a questioning glance. "I don't wish to impose on your family traditions, lad, but if your mother doesn't object I'd like nothing in all the realms more than to accept your invitation."

For long moments, Emma stood in indecision. Her brain was screaming at her to run away as fast as possible. People did not invite strange men dressed in crazy attire into their homes—not unless they had a strange desire to be murdered, that is. But her heart…well, her heart kept (illogically) insisting that not only could she trust this Killian Jones, somehow she actually knew him.

What came out of her mouth surprised even her. "Sure. Come by the apartment around 7?"

But really, no one should be alone on Christmas Eve, should they?

Killian's brows rose almost to his hairline. Safe to say that was not the answer he was expecting either. "I shall look forward to it love."

Notes:

-Surprise, surprise, I'm not going to be able to fit my New Year's fic into a one shot. This one will be a 4 shot.

-Up next: Killian comes to Christmas Eve dinner bearing gifts. He's hoping one of them might jog a certain someone's memory…