"You still do that- ear thing."
Killian jumped a bit, startled out of his reverie by Emma's voice. "Sorry, love?" he asked.
"That little- you still scratch behind your ear when you're nervous," she replied.
Killian felt himself flush. "Oh, yeah. That…" he trailed off lamely, feeling like an idiot for getting caught with his nervous tic.
But Emma's face was lighting up in a grin, and she said, "You haven't changed a bit since high school, have you?"
"Of course I have," Killian said.
"Oh?" asked Emma, her eyebrows quirking.
"I'm much more devilishly handsome," replied Killian, and his heart jolted a bit when Emma laughed.
The thing was, Emma was right- Killian really hadn't changed. He still had an Irish accent, still spoke in a "charmingly outdated" way (at least according to Emma), still wore more leather than was socially acceptable, still felt the sea calling out to him (even though it had caused the death of his parents and brother), and was still desperately in love with Emma Nolan.
It was part of the reason he was nervous- the other part was the fact that he was going to Thanksgiving dinner with Emma's parents and had agreed to pretend that he and Emma were dating. He didn't think it would be hard- until he, Emma, and Henry went back to Boston, all he had to do were things he'd been fantasizing about anyway (kissing her, holding her, looking at her like she hung the moon and stars- so yeah, not hard), and remember the story they'd put together.
As far as stories went, it wasn't too out there- he'd lost contact with her after graduation (true), had bumped into her on the streets of Boston almost a year and a half ago (true), got to know her and her son (true), and had started dating a few weeks ago (not true, but he damned well wished it was).
The truth was, Emma had called him a few weeks ago and asked him if he wouldn't mind going back to Storybrooke for Thanksgiving with her family…and pretending to be her boyfriend during that time.
He'd asked why she wanted him to pretend to be her boyfriend, and she said that she accidentally told her mother that she was dating someone, and after some celebrating (on her mother's part), she'd asked if she could bring her boyfriend to Storybrooke for Thanksgiving.
"So could you please do that?" Emma had asked, sounding unsure if he'd say yes.
And even if he hadn't been in love with Emma, Killian was not someone who turned down helping a friend, so he'd said, "What are friends for, love?" and his heart had fluttered at Emma's joy.
"Would you like to discuss more about our…relationship?" Killian asked when Emma stopped thanking him. "As in, what our story would be?"
"Yeah, sure," Emma had said. "Let's talk about it on Tuesday."
"Sounds good," Killian had responded.
So they'd talked, and hashed out their "relationship", and now Killian was going back to Storybrooke to spend Thanksgiving with Emma's family while pretending to be her boyfriend.
Killian sighed. At least he wouldn't be spending Thanksgiving alone, and he'd be able to see his cousin Ruby and Granny again.
Killian was startled to feel Emma hold his hand. "Hey, it'll be fine," she said.
"I know, but I dislike the thought of lying to our families," he replied. "I just think it's bad form."
"Killian, it's just for a few days," said Emma. "Besides, it's just dating- it's not like it's anything serious."
Killian started to reply, but thought better of it and kept silent. If only Emma knew how serious it was for him…
Besides, it he wasn't really worried about Emma's parents being able to detect the lie. From what Killian remembered, they were lovely people, but if they couldn't tell that their daughter was lying, then they definitely wouldn't be able to tell that he was too. No, he was more worried about Ruby and Granny finding out.
Even before circumstances necessitated him moving to the States, Ruby had always been able to tell when he was lying- she'd claimed that she could smell it- and she knew that he had been in love with Emma for over a decade now. She would probably know that they weren't together, and unless he made her keep it a secret, she'd tell Granny, who was one of the biggest gossips in Storybrooke.
"Looks like we're back," came Emma's voice, startling Killian out of his thoughts. He looked out the window of Emma's car to see the "Welcome to Storybrooke" sign move past him. "Would you mind waking up Henry?"
Killian turned and reached behind him to the backseat, where Henry was asleep, and shook his shoulder. When Henry stirred and mumbled, Killian said, "We're in Storybrooke, lad. Wake up."
By the time Emma pulled up to Granny's Diner/Inn, Henry was wide awake. "Why are we stopping here?" he asked.
"It's where I'm staying," replied Killian. Emma and Henry would be staying with her parents, but not only did Killian not want to intrude, he also wanted to see his family, so he was staying at Granny's. As he was getting out of the car, he heard Emma say, "I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Yeah," Killian replied. He grabbed his suitcase from the trunk of the car and walked up the path to the front of the inn.
As luck would have it, when Killian walked into the inn, Ruby was at the front desk instead of Granny. As soon as he opened the door, Ruby looked up from her phone, and less than a second later, Killian was almost shoved backwards as Ruby launched herself at him.
"Nice to see you too," Killian said after a few seconds. "But I would like to check in as well."
"And I would like to hug my cousin for a few more seconds, especially considering you haven't visited in a few years," retorted Ruby, but let go after she was done speaking. "Which room do you want?"
"The one with the swan painting," Killian replied. "It's got-"
Before he could finish his sentence, however, his phone started ringing. Killian reached into his pocket and pulled it out to see that Emma was calling. "Hello?" he asked.
"I think you butt-dialed me," came Emma's voice.
"Actually, I was hoping you'd hear which room I was staying in, so you could come over later if you wanted," Killian replied in a flirtatious tone.
Killian could practically hear Emma roll her eyes. "Very funny," she said dryly. "I'll see you tomorrow, Killian."
"Bye," he replied with a slight smile, and hung up. He walked over to the counter and said, "Any chance I could get a family discount on the room?"
After he'd paid (thankfully not full price), Ruby led Killian up to the room. She handed him the key and started to leave, but Killian said, "Could I talk to you for a minute?" before she could walk away.
"Sure," she said. "What is it?"
Killian felt his hand move to scratch his ear and flushed a bit. "It's- Emma and I- until we get back to Boston, we're going to be pretending to be together, but we're not actually together," he said. "I figured you'd find out eventually, and I knew if you did find out on your own, you'd tell Granny, and she'd tell Leroy, and he'd tell everyone, so- sorry. What I'm trying to say is, could you keep that information a secret?"
Ruby startled Killian by pulling him into another hug. "Of course I won't tell anyone," she said. She pulled away and looked straight into Killian's eyes. "She doesn't know, does she?"
"She has no idea," Killian replied. "She probably would have asked someone else if she knew."
Ruby didn't say anything in reply. "I think you should tell Granny that you two are together at dinner tonight," she eventually said. "Everyone will know by tomorrow."
"Yeah," Killian replied, nodding his head. "I'll get settled in. Dinner's at 7?"
"Same as always," answered Ruby. "See you then."