Hi! Merry Christmas queenjmo! I'm your secret santa! This is the first part of my gift for you! I'm so excited to reveal myself so we can fangirl over cs and taylor swift together! This story just kind of popped up in my head and when I went to write it down it kind of took on a life of its own. When we were talking we discovered a mutual love of taylor swift so I wanted to do something with both cs and taylor! I really hope you like it! It actually ended up being very different from what I had intended. So, this was actually based on something that actually happened when I was in high school. I went to an all girls school, and on valentines day my calculus teacher's husband brought her flowers and it was the sweetest thing ever and for some reason I was thinking about it the other day and I thought that it just had to be turned into a Captain Swan AU! So, for the rest of the gift I'm going to post short one shots with references to other taylor songs with as many taylor references as I can get in!
Disclaimer: I do not own anything. If I did, I would probably just put a camera on Colin O'Donoghue, shoot forty minutes of him doing literally anything (preferably shirtless), and put it on TV. I would definitely watch that show.
Emma knew that not one of her students would be paying any attention to her the entire day. She taught literature at an all-girls school and it was the day of the prom. As the girls filed into the classroom, the pieces of conversation Emma caught all centered on the dance: hairstyles, limo pick-up and drop-off times, corsages, after-parties, pictures, the list went on.
Unless she put on a bright red ball gown and asked for hair-style tips, she wasn't even in the running for her students' attention.
Emma was sick of hearing about the stupid dance. It had been the only topic of conversation for the past week and a half. Mostly she was upset by this particular topic because she remembered what she was doing when she should have been going to her own prom. (Stealing a stolen car.)
But, she pushed that thought away. That part of her life was long past her. If only the emotional toll it had taken was completely in the past as well. Sometimes she feared it never fully would be. Of course, on nights when the bad memories kept her awake, she now had someone there to hold her and help her fall asleep through the tears.
As the three-minute warning bell rang out, signaling for students to get into their classroom, Emma realized that the conversation had shifted to another topic of conversation, blessedly free of prom-talk.
"Did you see the guy talking to Ms. Mills outside of the office?" Anne gushed to the girls seated near her desk. "He was so gorgeous! And I think I caught an accent!"
This simple statement had caught the undivided attention of every single person in the room, except Emma. She just chuckled under her breath. Whenever someone with a Y chromosome under the age of forty came within a thirty feet radius of the campus, it was major gossip and all other topics of conversation were quickly forgotten. Emma had thought that prom might overcome that particular quirk of an all-female education, but it would seem this boy was so 'gorgeous,' as Anne had put it, that he out-shined even the prom.
He must really be something, Emma thought with a silent chuckle.
"No way! Spill!" Diane cried with a huge smile and an eagerness only a teenage girl deprived of male contact for eight hours a day, five times a week could have. "What did he look like?"
"Well, I didn't get a great look at him, but he was tall. Maybe six feet. He had black hair and was wearing dark pants and a leather jacket." Anne told her tale with reverence, as if speaking of a deity and her audience was eating it up. "He looked maybe early 30s, not quite. He looked like a movie star!" Cue chorus of giggles.
While Anna lost some of her audience with the mention of his age, she had gained Emma's attention. The description of the man talking to their principal sounded a bit like the man that was in many of the pictures currently on Emma's desk. The bell signaling the start of class interrupted Emma's musings about who this 'movie star' look alike could have been.
"Alright, girls. I know since tonight is prom, your attention is never going to be all on me, so I thought we could just quickly go over the chapters you read for today, and any questions for your final essay which is due by the end of next week."
The already energetic room grew even more animated with this announcement. Julia's hand shot up and Emma called on her. "Ms. Swan, do you know who the handsome man Anne saw was?"
Before she could answer, the door to the classroom swung open and the entire room, minus Emma, gasped. Instead, she simply said, "Killian, what are you doing here?"
"Hello to you too, love." He greeted her in his lilting British accent with a soft chuckle. They walked towards each other until they met halfway between the whiteboard and the door. Killian gave her a quick kiss on the cheek as he always did and the entire class made a collective 'awwwwww.' An involuntary blush colored Emma's cheeks as she pulled away from her husband.
"Does a man need a reason to come see his beautiful wife whenever the need arises?" Emma rolled her eyes at the compliment, as she always did when he complimented her.
He looked around the room at the girls who were looking at him like he was the lead singer of whatever insufferable boy band was popular at the time. A few of the girls tear their gaze away from their teacher's husband to stare at Anne for confirmation that this was the man she saw, and Anne nodded her head furiously in affirmation. At all the attention he was receiving, Killian scratched the back of his ear in a nervous tick that Emma had always found equal parts endearing and adorable. However, she found it rather amusing that her usually cocky husband would blush under the obvious approval of a room of 17 and 18 year old girls.
"It's fine. We didn't have too much planned for today anyway. But are you sure you can take off in the middle of the day like this?" Emma asked, referring to Killian's job as harbormaster of Storybrooke Harbor.
"One of the perks of being your own boss. Plus, not much going on in such a sleepy town." He chuckled. "And I also wanted to give you this." From behind his back, Killian produced a single red rose, the same flower he had bought for their first date (after months of shameless flirting and innuendos). The resulting 'awwwwww' from her class is very loud, causing Killian and Emma to blush further. She was almost furious at him for making her feel this way. "Happy anniversary, Swan." He whispers in her ear so the whole class doesn't hear it.
He was rewarded by a huge smile from Emma, which was something he rarely saw when he first met her, but was becoming more frequent with each day that passed with them together. Emma sniffed the rose, taking in the wonderful scent which always reminded her of their first real date, and set it down on her desk until she could get a vase and some water.
Out of the corner of her eye, Emma caught one of her more outspoken students, Jill, violently raising her hand in the air. Emma took a step back from Killian, as she had unconsciously been stepping closer and closer to him.
"Yes, Jill?" Emma called on her.
"So, this is your husband, Ms. Swan?" Jill asked eagerly and many of the heads in the classroom quickly bob up and down in agreement with the question.
"Aye, that I am." Killian said proudly, making Emma blush harder.
As if to prove that he and Emma were indeed joined in holy matrimony, Killian put his hand up and showed the room his wedding band. Emma's heart did a little flutter whenever she saw that ring. She still couldn't believe that this amazing man had chosen her. She was never the girl anyone chose for anything. But, seeing that ring was a reminder that someone did choose her. And not just anyone. Killian Jones. Killian Jones had chosen her. And she had chosen him.
"Are you chaperoning prom tonight with Ms. Swan?" Another voice piped up, but Emma doesn't quite catch from where, as she was distracted by her musings on the deep meaning her husband's wedding ring held for her.
Killian smiled at the room full of eager eyes. No doubt every single girl was picturing him in a tuxedo, and Emma would be lying if she said she wasn't, too. Although the difference was that Emma actually had seen him in one before. And it was just as good as she had imagined. "I would love to, but Ms. Swan is not a chaperone for tonight's festivities. We have anniversary plans." He shot her a suggestive wink, and she slapped him on the arm. There was a resulting chorus of giggles from the students. Emma would have slapped him harder if this wasn't her senior class, so the majority of the students were over 18.
"Alright, you're going to give my entire class a heart attack if you say anything else." Emma playfully informed him.
His eyebrows shoot skyward as if she had just issued a challenge. But, before Killian can respond with the innuendo that is surely on his lips, Jill speaks up again. "I heard Ms. French is sick, so Ms. Swan is filling in for her at prom."
This was the first Emma was hearing of this. "What?" She was actually quite excited for her and Killian's plans tonight. They were going to have dinner at the restaurant where they had their first date, and then go home and watch a movie. (Or not watch a movie.) It was going to be low key and perfect. The other students nodded their heads in agreement with Jill, and Emma got a sinking feeling in her stomach.
She turned to Killian and said, "Can you watch them for a minute? I'm going to ask Regina if it's true." Killian looked just as nervous about it as she felt, but his nerves were probably amplified by being in the room alone with fifteen hormonal eighteen year old girls. However, he simply nodded his agreement, and the classroom did not miss him checking Emma out as she walked down the hallway.
Ten minutes later, Emma returned with a frustrated expression on her face. She had gone up to the principal's office and Regina confirmed the story. Emma had no choice, since poor Belle had needed an emergency appendectomy and would be in the hospital for another day or two. For her part, Regina had seemed to feel somewhat bad about it, and suggested that she bring Killian along so they could still spend their anniversary together.
While walking back to the classroom, Emma tried to think of ways to get out of it, but came up empty. Both the junior and senior proms were the same night, and it was a miracle that she was able to get out of chaperoning in the first place. (It had required letting Belle borrow her first edition copy of Wuthering Heights that Killian had gotten her for their six month anniversary to agree to do it, as Belle was the librarian and therefore not technically required to chaperone school functions.)
As Emma opened the door and walked into the classroom, Killian was sitting in the front of the classroom, completely absorbed in his conversation with the class. "Yes, but he had the opportunity to kill his uncle when he was praying and he delayed."
"Yes, but then he turned around and killed Polonius ten minutes later! The real root of the tragedy is actually traced back to Polonius's murder, not his delay of his revenge!" Kate responded. Emma hated to break up such a heated academic debate over the Bard, but she needed to tell Killian the news.
Frankly, she was a little surprised Killian got them to talk about anything not made of chiffon or tulle. But, these girls were extremely smart, and loved to be challenged. And Killian always loved a challenge. Plus, it looked like they were whooping his ass in their analysis. If Emma was a sappy person, which she most certainly was not, she might have cried at how proud she was. Maybe a few more minutes. She thought to herself.
"Yes, but his murder of the Polonius isn't the only time he acts impulsively without thinking." She used another point in the discussion to announce her presence, but not stop the debate.
"But it is the most extreme." Killian countered with a crooked smile. The girls continued their debate while Killian walked over to Emma. "Is it true, love?"
"Yeah, unfortunately." She looked extremely disappointed.
"Well, we can make lemonade out of these lemons yet, Swan." Killian smiled despite his own disappointment. He would be lying if he said he wasn't looking forward to that night for weeks. "We won't be home that late. All that's changed is where we're eating dinner."
Emma loved his optimism. While she saw the glass as half empty, he saw it as half full and he always encouraged her to see the same. She loved how he always helped her feel better when she was down. "Well, I'll get to see you in a suit..." She leaned in close to his ear and whispered, "And out of a suit."
Emma watched with satisfaction as Killian's eyes widened and he blushed just like her students. At this point, the discussion had stopped and all the eyes were on them. "I'll see you tonight, love." Killian kissed her on the cheek and walked out of the classroom with a wink.
It took her a full ten minutes, and telling the story of how she and Killian met, to get the class to stop asking questions about Killian and focus on their work.
When Emma got back to her house, the first thing she did was throw off her shoes. They'd been killing her feet all afternoon and taking them off felt like jumping into the ocean on a hot summer day. The relief brought a sigh of pleasure from her lips and her husband appeared from around the corner. "Oh, you know how I love it when you make that sound."
Emma just fixed her husband with one of her patented stares and rolled her eyes. That was when she actually saw what he was wearing. "Seriously?"
His best shit eating grin crossed his face and he looked down at the tuxedo t-shirt he was currently sporting. "You like it? Dave said it was very sporting."
"It's certainly…something." Emma couldn't help but smile at her husband's antics. She knew he was just making a joke and wouldn't actually wear that to her work event. "While I would love to see Regina's face if you wore that, I think your suit is in the back of our closet."
"It's already laid out on the bed."
A few hours later, they were both dressed and ready to go. David and Mary Margaret, their neighbors and best friends, rang their doorbell just as they were about to leave, which confused Emma. The confusion vanished when she saw Mary Margaret holding a polaroid camera and start to snap pictures of Emma and Killian in their prom attire.
When Killian thoughtfully put a corsage on her wrist, she wasn't suspicious. When David insisted that he drive them in his truck and Killian immediately agreed enthusiastically, she wasn't suspicious. When Killian pulled her into the traditional prom pose in front of the backdrop and photographer at the venue, she still wasn't suspicious. When they danced to "Enchanted" by Taylor Swift, which was their first dance at their wedding, she started to have some suspicions. However, the moment she knew wasn't until she realized that it had been some time since they had done any actual chaperoning that she realized what her husband was doing.
He was re-creating the prom that neither of them had ever gotten.