Chapter 1 – Lies
It had been three days since he had last seen her – the night in the back of Granny's diner – the night she gave him back his heart. He had felt a swell of emotions once it was finally back in its rightful place, the most so among them a deep, deep love for the golden-haired woman in front of him. She had seemed relieved to see him, finally whole again, but she had only graced him with one kiss and a short moment to hold her before she made her way back to the front of the diner to attend to other matters, other people. That was the last he had seen of her.
In the days following, he had made several attempts to see her, but each time was met with resistance. He had stopped by her parents' loft, but Snow informed him that her daughter was resting and she didn't want to wake her. He tried calling her on her talking phone, but was only met with the sound of her voice asking him to leave yet another message. Finally, he resigned himself to the one truth he was dreading to consider – she was avoiding him.
Then there was a knock on his hotel door. When he answered it, he was so overjoyed to finally see her again that it took him a moment to notice the way in which she stood; hands stuffed in her back pockets, nervous twitch in her tapping foot, and a small smile on her face which didn't quite reach her eyes.
"Well, well, I was beginning to wonder if you'd ever stop ignoring me," he said as he relaxed against the door jam. Her smile faltered a little at his words.
"Can we talk?" she finally asked with a small resigned sigh. He opened the door further and allowed her to pass under his arm into the room.
"To what do I finally owe the pleasure of your company?"
"Well, to be honest, my parents and son have banned me from the loft until I agreed talk to you, so here I am." She was standing in the center of his room in that same guarded stance, looking anywhere and everywhere in the room but at him.
"Emma, what's going on? Why have you been avoiding me?" he asked as he came to stand in front of her.
"I just needed some time and space. Everything was so hectic with Ingrid and Elsa and Gold, I just needed a couple days to myself to recharge…and think."
"Yes, and I was much rather looking forward to enjoying those few days with you," hinted with a waggle of his brows as he reached for her hands.
She tilted her head to the side and let out a sigh, finally looking at him in the eye. "Don't do that."
"Don't do what?"
"That."
"What did I do?" he asked, beginning to get annoyed with her demeanor.
"Don't try to make this into some kind of joke Killian. How is this funny? You almost died, don't you get it!" she finally yelled, pulling her hands away.
"That's what this is all about? Swan, I'm fine. I told you; I'm a survivor. Look, here I am," he said with his arms outstretched for her to observe. "I'm fine."
"Yes, now you're fine. But you almost weren't. Do you even realize how close I came to losing you? And do you know why?" she paused to look at him with sadness in her eyes, "because you lied to me." He couldn't help but deflate a little bit at her words, because she was right; He had lied to her. "If you had just stopped for one second to tell me the truth about what Gold was planning, all of this could have been taken care of with a lot less heartache."
"Emma, he had my heart. He was controlling me. Don't you think he would have known and stopped me if I had tried to tell you?" he was grasping at straws now to reason with her, though he was sure that it wasn't working by the look on her face.
"I know that he was controlling you. I know that you couldn't have told me after he got your heart, but you could have told me before. You could have told me about the hat and the old man. Hell, you could have been honest with me when I asked you how you got your hand back. But you didn't tell me Killian. You weren't honest with me. You hid it from me and it almost cost you your life."
"I'm sorry Emma. I made a mistake. You're right, I should have told you." It took all his self-respect not to drop to his knees in front of her and beg for forgiveness, but he knew doing so wouldn't help his case. He screwed up. He withheld the truth from the one person he knew who hated liars the most. Now it was time to face the truth and pray to whatever gods may exist that she would forgive him.
She had begun slowly pacing the room as he spoke and took in his words. She stopped now to lean against the dresser, arms folded, one leg crossed over the other at the ankle. "So tell me now. All of it. From the beginning."
Sighing, he plopped down on the bed and he told her everything.
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Hey guys, so I know this first chapter is a little short, but I'm just getting started and have a lot planned for this story. Please leave a comment with any ideas, suggestions or encouragements. I'll update the next chapter as soon as I can.
