He doesn't see the fairy at first, as she tiptoes through the soft grass, and he barely looks up when she sits next to him on the decorative bench. They're inside of the garden that Mary Margaret had requested be built when the palace was being restored, far enough away from the castle windows to stay unseen. They had both been invited by the king and queen to attend dinner at their newly refinished home, along with the dwarves, Regina, Robin, Emma, and a few other friends. This is where Tinkerbell had been only moments ago, before subtly excusing herself on the pretense of needing fresh air, but with the intention of finding the pirate who hadn't shown up. Of course he'd be nearby, though. During the year that they'd been separated from Emma, Killian often came to this area when he needed to be alone, though at the time it had been untamed and overgrown.
"Hey." She murmurs. Killian takes another drink from the small flask he holds, before handing it to Tink. She accepts, taking only a small swig of the bitter liquid before returning it to his hand.
"I knew you'd be here." She says, turning to look at him. His eyes are red, like he's been rubbing them. He sighs.
"I thought you'd be at the castle. Why are you here?" He's tired, physically and emotionally, and he's not in any mood to attempt to rebuild the walls he usually keeps up around everyone except himself. Tink always sees right through them, anyhow.
"I could ask you the same thing."
"You know I can't." He answers bluntly, swallowing another mouthful of rum, craving the momentary sting that burns his throat more than the taste of the drink.
The evening breeze rustles through the leaves. It's soothing, really. Tink can easily see the appeal of sitting here alone. It reminds her of one of the few enjoyable parts of life in Neverland; sitting outside in the quiet night with only the wind and the trees for company. But that's a lonely way to live, and being alone with only one's thoughts for too long wasn't any sort of good way to spend one's entire life.
"I know you want to see her." Tink murmurs. "And you should."
Killian shakes his head. He hasn't seen Emma since things had begun to quiet down. He'd hoped that perhaps she'd seek him out, but she hadn't, and he'd stayed away. He'd been mistaken, she had no feelings for him.
"It would be better for me to simply never see her again." He replies quietly.
Tink takes ahold of his good hand.
"Look at me." She says sternly. He does. "She asked about you tonight. Wanted to know I'd seen you, since you haven't been around in weeks."
A faint flicker of hope lights up Killian's eyes, but disappears just as quickly.
"She hasn't bothered to look for me, Tink. Her words to you tonight mean nothing." He pulls his hand away and runs it through his hair.
They sit in silence. The faint glow of candlelight in the castle windows can be seen from where they sit, and Killian is staring at them longingly, wishing things were different. Wishing that the princess inside the stone walls returned his feelings, wishing that she was his True Love.
But Tinkerbell is nowhere near as sure as Killian that Emma is as indifferent as Killian believes she is.
"Maybe you're right." She shrugs her shoulders.
But there's one sure way to find out.
She pulls a small vial from her pocket. It's filled with glittering green powder. Killian notices, and his eyes grow wide with confusion.
"What the hell is that?" he asks. "What are you doing?"
"Nothing." She answers quickly. "I'm going back inside, and it's dark. I need to see somehow, don't I?" She removes the cork from the neck of the glass bottle.
Hook looks at her suspiciously.
"It's barely glowing, how does that help y-"
The vial flies out of Tink's grasp.
"Oh!" She exclaims, as if it is an accident that an open bottle of fairy dust just so happens to fly out of her hands and towards Killian at this exact moment. It lands in his lap, and the powder explodes in all directions, then with a WHOOSH, it joins together to form a long, brightly shining line, that shoots forward. It takes Killian a moment to realize that it's formed a trail from his chest, right over his heart, to somewhere in the direction of the castle.
"Tinkerbell…" Killian says as he jumps to his feet, his suspicions clearly justified. "What the bloody hell is this? What did you do?"
She shrugs her shoulders innocently. And then they hear it, a pounding of horse's hooves and guards yelling as they rush to the castle doors.
Killian glares at Tink one last time before running after them.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
A few moments earlier, inside of the castle, Emma sits at the table, barely paying attention to any of the loud conversations that were taking place. She'd asked David to invite Killian to this dinner as well, in the hope that she'd have an excuse to finally see him again for the first time in weeks. But time had passed, and the dinner had begun, and still Killian hadn't shown up. It shouldn't surprise her. But it did. She shouldn't be feeling this disappointed. But she was. She pokes at the food on her plate with her fork, wishing that the night was over so she could retire to her room and spend another night curled in a blanket, feeling a strange hollow feeling of loneliness in her chest, waiting for sleep to close her heavy eyelids. She glances out of the window and sees the treetops swaying in the wind, and the stars twinkling, and- wait. Those were no stars. She stands quickly and rushes to the window, unable to stop herself from staring. The trail of light rushes towards her, and she doesn't have the time to move before it slams into her, knocking the air from her lungs. Gasping, she turns towards the table.
"Emma? What happened? Are you okay?"
Emma looks down at her dress, finding it covered in millions of tiny, glowing, glittering sparkles.
"What the hell?!" She exclaims, frantically trying to brush them off, but to no avail.
"Did something hit you? What are you doing?" Mary Margaret's concern grows, and she runs to her daughter.
"You can't see it? I'm covered in sparkles! What's happening?!"
"Sparkles? Magic? Do you have something to do with this?" Grumpy asks accusingly, turning to face Regina.
Regina rolls her eyes.
"I've got no clue what it is. I don't see a thing. And I've been in front of you the whole time, there's no way it could've been me."
"How do you not see this? Every inch of me is sparkling, and there's a… trail, leading outside!"
"Grumpy, call the guards! Tell them to secure the area. Until we know what's happening, nobody's leaving." David shouts. Grumpy runs to follow David's orders, and a only a moment later they could hear the guards running through the castle.
"Is this… fairy dust?" Emma asks, to no one in particular, as she leans closer to her dress to examine it. When she looks back up, she realizes that the trail of green was no longer leading out the window, and instead was shifting, now leading out the door. And suddenly Killian is stumbling through the doorway, and both gasp as they realize that the fairy dust is connecting them. Emma's heart is pounding, and she involuntarily steps forward and reaches her hand forward to touch the place on Killian's chest where the sparkling dust stops it's trail. Regina is the first to put the pieces together, thanks to her own past experience with Tinkerbell, and she can't help the laugh that spills out.
"Well, I'm surprised she didn't do it sooner!"
Killian and Emma turn to her simultaneously, confusion filling their faces.
"Do… do what sooner?" Killian asks, glancing back at Emma nervously.
"Why, reveal your True Love, of course!"
Emma stares at her, speechless. Never in a million years could she have anticipated this. She looks at Killian, who is already staring at her, and she knows that the sparkling green dust wasn't wrong. But her parents and over a dozen other people are watching them closely, wide eyed and open mouthed. All except Regina, that is. And quite suddenly it's all too much for Emma. She runs from the room and down a winding hallway, until she can't run any longer, and collapses on the cold stone ground. She wraps her arms around her legs and rests her head on her knees, closing her eyelids tightly to not let the hot tears of too many emotions spill down her cheeks. Killian is right behind her, and he falls to the fall beside her, not daring to touch her. The fairy dust connecting them has faded away by now.
"Emma…" he whispers softly. "I'm sorry, I didn't tell Tink to do anything. She did it without my knowledge. I know you don't return my feelings, and it's alri-"
Emma shakes her head and forces herself to look at him.
"It's not that." She says, and her voice shakes slightly. "It's just… I didn't expect anything like this, and… and…" She takes a deep breath. "I do. I do love you, and it scares the crap out of me."
Wordlessly, he pulls her into an embrace, and she wraps his arms around his neck.
"I just need a little time, to… to get used to letting someone get close to me, again." She whispers into his ear.
He nods gently.
"All the time you need, Emma. I'll be right here, always."
She rests her head on his shoulder and lets the tears fall. She's scared, but she's happy, and she desperately doesn't want to let go.