Twenty minutes later, Emma was in dire need of water. All the tears she had shed that afternoon had dehydrated her more than she originally thought. She sniffled and snuffled a couple more times before raising her head from Killian's shoulder. He had surprised her by not running away and staying in the cramped stall the entire time, ceaselessly comforting her in some way or another.

Meeting his gaze, she smiled sadly. He responded in turn with an equally small smile.

"Tuckered out now?" he asked softly. She nodded. "Figured."

He began to loosen his grip on her, removing his arm from her thighs and sliding his arm around her shoulders back towards his body, but she placed her arm on the one that lay across her thighs to stop him. His eyes shot to the movement quickly, looking to her face to confirm that it was what she wanted. He could understand it: in such a fragile state, human contact was the best remedy.

Killian stayed quiet, waiting for her to gather her thoughts and start her story. Emma closed her eyes once more, inhaling deeply while he pushed the errant strands of damp hair away from her face. A gesture like that would usually have bothered her, been too familiar for someone as unfamiliar as him, but he had just coached her through the biggest breakdown of her life. Sy-he reckoned they were on that level.

"I'm scared," she admitted. "I am unbelievably, truly afraid."

A moment passed. When she didn't continue, he nudged her on.

"I think I'm pregnant."

To his credit, his eyes only widened a fraction and his jaw didn't drop to the ground. "How?"

Emma rolled her eyes. "I got a letter from the stork," she said sarcastically. "Did they not teach you where babies come from at home?"

Killian chuckled. "I probably dozed off during that class," he joked. "But you know that's not what I meant."

She sighed and reluctantly carried on. "I may or may not have hooked up with the boy's RA once…" she paused and winced, "or twice…" she winced again, "or more."

Comprehension dawned on his face, followed swiftly by confusion and dread.

"Neal? You mean Neal?" She nodded. He looked at the opposite wall for an instant, then focused his attention back to her. "Are you sure?"

Emma didn't respond at first, but then grabbed her jeans and shook her head. "I took a test about forty-five minutes ago and you're supposed to only have to wait two or three minutes for the results, but I couldn't stand that wait, so I made the really smart decision to drag it out for as long as possible and decided to take a shower, but then I had a meltdown and…" she finally took a breath, her entire body deflating, "now we're here." She shifted a little in order to better accommodate her change in position, causing Killian to modify his as well.

"So you haven't seen the results?" he asked lightly. She shook her head once more. "Would you think it rude if I inquired as to why?"

"I just told you," she exasperatedly said. "I'm afraid. I'm only seventeen, a freshman at a prestigious school. If some bigwig finds out I'm pregnant, I'll lose my housing for sure. Probably my classes and grades as well. Not to mention I'd have to deal with my parents." She was beginning to lose her cool, her voice becoming higher and a tad louder with every passing sentence. Her eyes look straight into his. "My parents still think I'm a virgin, and that I'm not stupid enough to not use a condom. And, I mean, we did use one the first couple of times, but then he ran out or something, some excuse, the last time, so we didn't. Oh my god." Facepalm. "I'm going to have to tell Neal. Oh my god, oh for fuck's sake, I'm going to have to tell Neal and he's not going to want to deal with me anymore, I just know it. He'll send me on my way, kick me out of the dorm, and they'll believe him because it's his third year as an RA, he's a senior, he's got a practically perfect score sheet."

Tears threatened to appear again, and she was beginning to hyperventilate.

"Head between your knees." Killian coax her into that position, stroking her back and shushing her as she breathed, in out, in out, until her breaths became even once more. A strong handle on the top of her towel, she whipped back to a regular seated position, nearly smacking him in the face with her hair.

"What am I going to do?" she whimpered. He curled his arm around her shoulders again and took the jeans she still held into his possession. Pulling her close, he squeezed her knee reassuringly.

"You, love, are going to take this one step at a time." He felt around in her pockets and found the shape of the pregnancy test outlined in one of the front ones. "First, you're going to find out if you've been fretting over nothing. And then, if you are pregnant, you're going to call your parents and tell them the entire story just like you did to me." She cringed at the idea of doing so; her mother would use her signature disappointed tone and her father would seethe at the ruined image of his perfect little girl. Although, now that she reflected on it, he'd probably believe it was all Neal's doing, and would proceed to strangle him.

She could be behind that plan.

"And after your parents know, you're going to call the health center to set up an appointment to check and be absolutely, one hundred percent sure," Killian's voice broke her out of her own mind. "The rest of the cards will fall as they may." He pulled her shoulders even closer to him in a sort of half hug, which was really awkward to both do and experience in a shower stall. He retreated as much as he could before removing his touch. The loss was surprisingly unwelcome, but the sight of Killian digging into her pocket was more unsettling.

"What do you think you're doing?" she demanded. The expression on his face seemed like his actions were completely innocent.

"You don't want to look at the test," he stated, blatancy in his tone, "so I was going to look for you."

Emma was flabbergasted to say the least. Sure, she had been procrastinating at finding out the results that could possibly change her life forever, but that didn't mean he was welcome to interrupt it.

"Uhhh, sorry bud, but no," she stated. A curious countenance came over her facial features. "And who do you think you are, waltzing into the girl's bathroom to counsel me? Were you just hoping that I'd see you as such a gentleman, helping out the damsel in distress, and swoon when you noticed me?" she challenged. Pointing an accusatory finger at him, she growled "I bet you just wanted to get in my pants." Her eyes filled with shock, and she glanced down at her current state of dress. "Jesus, I'm in a fucking towel!" she yelled.

Killian snickered. "I do believe I had that same observation earlier in this conversation."

As menacingly as possible, she stood and snarled, "Get out." He stood as well, more slowly and kindly than she had.

"I came in here because I couldn't bear to hear you in such distress, Emma," he confessed completely straight-faced. "I know we haven't really had much interaction since we got here, but I wanted you to know that I have been keeping an eye on you." He simply shrugged. "You're different than everyone else here. A good different," he clarified when he saw the anger rising on her face. "I just couldn't find the right time to tell you."

She was deeply touched. No one had been that honest with her ever, not even her parents. Of course, now she was beginning to feel the tendrils of regret seep into her mind. He had honestly just wanted to help her because he was a gentleman.

He shuffled past her and out the door of the stall, still holding her pants. She cleared her throat, drawing his attention back to her. He glanced down at her jeans in his hands, then straight into her eyes and soul.

"I know I may come off as a cad at first, but I always put those important in my life first," he said calmly. "You know where I am if you need me. There will always be time for you, lass." He glimpsed down at her jeans before handing them back to her.

She took them from him, all her previous anger draining her body after an already exhausting hour or so. She took in his face once more, adorn with a small smile, but his eyes were trained on her jeans. She followed it to the test sticking out of her front pocket, results side out.

Two lines.

Positive.

And he knew.

Emma felt like she should have been emotional, but there was nothing left for her to give. Her jaw dropped just a little further down than normal.

Told you, the stupidly correct inner voice grumbled.

A creak broke her focus. When she looked up, Killian was gone and the door thunked to a close. She didn't even hesitant a full second. Grabbing her shower caddy and clothes, she hurried out of the bathroom after him, towel getup and all.

He knew, and he didn't rescind his offer to help. That was somewhere to start.

a/n: sorry it took so long to post this. hope you enjoyed it :) if you would be so kind to leave a review or a comment, i would love you forever. have a wonderful week :)