LOVE NEVER DIES

BY M.A. COLLIER

A/N: Hey guys! Sorry it's been a while for my writing. I've had a lot going on in my life right now. My Grandfather had two strokes in the course of a week right before I had finals and it just seems like every time things settle down, life throws me another curve in the road. My muse has been really silent under these stressful times, but I'm on vacation for the fourth, so I'm hoping that I can catch up on some writing while I have time to semi-relax. All that to say if you don't hear from me for a while, I'm not doing it intentionally, I just have a lot on my plate what with work, my grandfather, getting ready for next semester, and other family drama. I'm really sorry that my writing is what gets put on the back burner during these times, but that's how my brain likes to work. Hopefully as shooting starts back up, too, my muse will come back to me.

So this is A/U and based on the "Phantom of the Opera"/"Love never dies" storylines with a twist. I hope you enjoy it!

It had been ten years. Ten fucking long years since she'd seen him. And now, he wanted to just waltz back into her life as if she could drop everything and run away with him, like they had planned all those years ago. As if, Emma thought angrily. She had a life now. True, it was the life that she had envisioned them having, but still it was a life. She was married, and to a good guy. She had a son. She had a job. She had the all American dream. And now here he was, trying to whisk her away. But it was too late. And, dammit, she wished it wasn't.

Once upon a time she had loved him.

Once upon a time, she had been terrified to admit it.

Once upon a time, they'd had a chance.

Once upon a time…

Those few words echoed inside her head as she paced the floor of her hotel room. How had he found them? True, he was resourceful, he always had been. It was a requirement for his job, she supposed. But still, ten years without any contact whatsoever, not even a post card…She knew she had purposefully made it difficult to find them, but when he wanted something, he never did know when to give up.

Just then she heard the door to their balcony slide open with a whoosh. She spun around, already knowing who would be there when she did, but still surprised when she saw him, standing right in the middle of the living area in their hotel suite, half drenched from the storm that was raging outside.

"Killian," she whispered in greeting.

He slid the door shut swiftly before rushing across the space that lay between them and claiming her lips with his in a hungry, all-consuming kiss. It was a kiss of passion, of desperation, the kiss of a man who had been in a desert for many years and Emma was his water. He broke their kiss ever so slightly and rested his forehead against hers.

"Have you made a decision yet, love?" he breathed against her mouth.

Emma closed her eyes and kissed him again, gently this time, gingerly even, and didn't say anything.

"Emma…" He breathed. He knew what she was telling her, he had always been able to read her mind, to tell what she was thinking just but observing her body language. She was telling him she wanted to, but she couldn't.

"Killian, I have a son to think about now. I can't just leave him, and I can't take him away from his father without an explanation. Besides, how can I be sure that you won't just disappear on me again when things get a little difficult?"

"You know I never would have left you if I hadn't thought that it would be safer for you to stay and marry that baboon, Neal. Had I not thought it would make you happier in the end because he was what you wanted and not me?" He argued. "I only ever wanted what was best for you, Emma. I was a criminal, I was on the run. By bringing you with me, I ran the risk of you getting hurt, and more than emotionally."

Emma could feel the sting of tears start to build up in her eyes as memories of the past ten years flashed before her. The hurt and heartache she had experienced after he had left her in the middle of the night, leaving her to wake up alone and cold in his bed. She had planned on telling him that she loved him that morning, she would follow him to the ends of the earth, but instead she was left with her curses falling into the empty air. She had left his hide out and went to prepare for her wedding to Neal that was supposed to happen in two weeks, shame and anger filling her heart.

"Emma, look at me," Killian pleaded, breaking her out of her memories and gently pulling her face back towards his. "I love you. I always have and always will. But you chose him over me once before, how could I have been sure that you wouldn't chose him again after our one night of passion?"

"Because I fucking wanted YOU, Killian!" Emma screamed. "I found YOU that night, I stayed with YOU. I know I made a mistake when I accepted Neal's proposal, but I didn't know how I felt then. I thought that you were dangerous, that you had killed all of those people just because you could, not because they were after you. Neal was my first love, he was steady, dependable, and I had to at least give him a shot. But he was never the one I truly wanted. He never could give me what I needed."

"That's why you should come with me! You know he will never make you truly happy. Run away with me, Emma, run away to a place that we can always be happy and never have to worry about Neal or the police or anything and it can be just us and we can live the life we always wanted."

His voice had taken on an intoxicating tone as he whispered these promises into her ear. She wanted so badly to leave with him, but what about Henry? What would she tell him?

"I'll tell you what, Emma," Killian had begun to use his tone for bargaining. "I'll make a deal with you. If you can resist me for the rest of this week, I will let you, your husband, and your son leave here and you will never hear from me again. But, if I can seduce you before the period of your job is up, then you stay here, with or without your son, it's your choice, and Neal must leave forever."

Emma thought about this, hard. She wasn't sure she would be able to resist sleeping with him, not if just seeing him sent her into a horny frenzy. But if she couldn't resist him, didn't that show that her marriage was a sham and she might as well leave the man she didn't love and couldn't be faithful to?

"Deal," she said before she could help herself. Shit, she thought to herself, Emma, what have you gotten yourself into?

"Let's seal it with a kiss," Killian leaned into her and gave her one more of his dizzying kisses that made him that much harder to resist. The deal was struck. She had a week to make a life changing decision.

"Mom?" She heard a quiet voice inquire from around the corner.

"Come here, Henry, what's the matter?" She said lovingly.

Killian watched as a boy of no more than 10 emerged from the hallway where their rooms were located. He had curly blonde hair and was of slender stature, yet fairly tall for his age. He seemed like an average boy, the type of son he would have expected Emma and Neal to have. What caught him off guard, however, where his eyes. The child had a pair of blue/green eyes, the kind of shade of the ocean, and his eyes were framed with thick, black eyelashes that gave the appearance of him wearing eyeliner. There was no doubt in his mind, after he saw his eyes. There was no Neal in this child.

He had Killian's eyes.