A/N: Wow! I can't believe how great you've all been with the first chapter alone, thank you so much! I'd love to hear from y'all, so please review! I know you're all wondering, so here's exactly what Killian and Emma were up to in their ten years apart, and then we'll get to current day. :)
Killian was drafted into the war after a year, and when it was over in the next four, she had never received happier news. Their whole childhood group of friends, her brother, and her parents were eager for his arrival, but she was in love with the man and their joy could hardly compare to hers. Killian was expected to arrive home within the next week, probably on Friday, so they planned a surprise party.
They pulled out all the stops; giant cake, streamers, blasting stereo, an overwhelming guest list, balloons, it was going to be an amazing party. Emma was sure that Killian would love it, and to ensure that idea, she wore that dress he always liked, that was the color of the sea. Emma hated dresses, but she loved Killian.
Friday night rolled around, and they watched the clock.
7:00 P.M. Surely he'd be knocking at the door anytime, now.
8:00 P.M. Assuring guests that he'll be here soon.
9:00 P.M. Just stay a little while longer, he'll be so happy to see you, all!
10:00 P.M. Okay, drive safely, we'll be sure to tell him you came.
11:00 P.M. Maybe he's one of the guys who won't get home until tomorrow.
12:00 A.M. Emma, you should get some sleep. Killian won't like it that you wore yourself out waiting for him.
Emma did wait, she stayed up the entire night waiting for the familiar knock on the door. Her brother found her asleep in the kitchen chair that next morning at 11 AM, and he couldn't bring himself to wake her. Now, he sat and waited for his best friend in place of his exhausted sister. When Emma woke around 7 PM, it was with a heavy heart that he told her Killian hadn't yet arrived, and to lighten the blow he told her that maybe he'd be home later tonight.
Killian didn't arrive that night, or even the next day, and Emma would know because she waited. Everybody who left came home, except for Killian.
Emma was frantic, and began making calls to government officials in hopes of locating the man. Was he hurt? Dead? Lost? Was he afraid to come home? It was of no help. They informed her that Killian left the service very much alive, but since she was not related to him, they could give her no further information.
In a way, that information was worse for Emma than wondering about his health and safety. If he had decided not to come home, she wondered, was she the reason why? Did he realize during the war that he didn't really love her, and that he didn't want to marry her anymore? Guilt ate Emma alive, and she wished that she could reach out to Killian and tell him that if this is where he was happy, that she would go away so that he could come home. She'd do anything for the man she loved.
Killian never came home. She waited two years for him, and with each day of wondering and missing him, she sank further and further into an all consuming depression. When Neal Cassidy finally approached her and offered her a 'reprieve' from the darkness, she couldn't turn him away. At first, their relationship was nothing but a consumer-producer type full of alcohol and marijuana. The substances helped Emma to forget the smiles and kisses she shared with Killian, and even if it was just momentarily, she clung to them.
Emma developed a desperate need for affection, and for somebody to depend on once more; somebody to make her feel important. Neal was her go-to guy, even if it was never going to be a healthy relationship. Neal enjoyed the attention he received from Emma, and he liked dating somebody who was so well-respected in town, but the drugs and the money he made were always going to be more important to him. After a year of being together, when the cops busted him, he planted the money in Emma's house and framed her for the whole business.
Emma went to jail for 11 months, but not alone. Neal had left her with a gift: pregnancy. The initial plan was to give the baby up for adoption; how could she care for a person who was fathered by the man who had put her in jail? It all changed when she gave birth to the child and held the boy in her arms, and remembered the nights when she and Killian stayed up on his roof and planned their lives together. They wanted to have a son first, and name him Henry.
David and his fiance, Mary Margaret, took Henry in for the remaining two months Emma was due to serve. They brought him to visit his mother every day, and every day she ached to go home with him and hold him in her arms. She ached for Killian to come home and hold them both in his arms.
When Emma was released, she went home and held Henry for the second time, and began to get her life back in shape. The first item on her to-do list was to find a home for them to live in. Although her parents assured her she and Henry could live at home for as long as she liked, Emma had caught on that her mother had grown increasingly unhealthy, and she couldn't impose on her elderly parents when they were already beginning to buckle underneath the weight of hospital bills.
Killian's parents had moved out and permanently taken to the sea a couple years back, and when Emma noticed the 'For Sale' sign in Killian's front yard, she knew that nobody besides Killian should have that house. But if he didn't plan on coming home, then she was next in line, so she bought the place. While the memories of Killian were overwhelming inside those walls, she made new ones now as she raised her son and made it into a home for them.
Her mother passed away two years later, and while Emma did grieve the loss of her mother, her heart was harder now after losing Killian, and she didn't buckle underneath the weight of the loss. On the day of the showing, she took her father out to lunch and held his hand as he cried. Henry was at home with David and Mary Margaret, and Emma was eager to get back to her toddler. When they paid for the bill and finally pulled into the driveway, it couldn't have come soon enough. Emma burst through the door with an overwhelming need to see and hold her son, but was stopped in the entryway.
Sitting at the dining room table was a man who, despite the ten years separating them, she could never forget. Stormy blue eyes met green, and Emma Swan ran.
Killian returned to Ireland with a broken heart and as a broken man.
He had planned on moving back to the small house he and his parents had left behind, but a man by the name of Mr. Gold had taken up residence there. Killian had always had a good sense of people, and the man seemed shady and dangerous, but Killian couldn't quite put his finger on why.
So, he found a modest flat above a local pub, which would prove to be rather convenient for Killian.
He became a heavy drinker, true to his heritage, and took a job offer as a 'pirate' for children's parties. He was phenomenal at the role due to his recently acquired bad temper, love for drinking and the money required to drink, his leather eccentric wardrobe, and his natural talent for making children.
He had always wanted children with Emma; they had talked about naming their first son Henry.
His boss used Killian's missing hand to his advantage, and promptly bought Killian a shiny, silver hook. The children delighted in having Captain Hook at their birthday parties, and it almost made Killian smile to remember the year following Graham's death when he'd stay up with Emma and they'd watch Peter Pan. He was grateful that his boss hadn't encouraged Hook to try out a perm and handle bar mustache.
Every penny Killian earned went towards rent for his flat and drinks at the bar. Every night Killian would drink to the point of not remembering his own name, but even that was never enough because the existence of Emma ran even deeper in him than that. So, he took up the tactic of one night stands. It didn't matter who the girl was or what she looked like; he didn't care. Nobody could measure up to Emma, anyhow.
All he wanted was to ease the pain that Emma's memories caused him, so he did avoid blondes. Like the plague, really.
It was never enough.
Each morning he'd wake up with a raging hang over and women who weren't Emma in his bed, and his bad temper would flare up and he'd all but chase them out of his flat.
There were too many days to count that Killian would clutch at his phone and fight back the need to call Emma; tell her he wants to come home, that he misses and loves her, that he's going insane without her around. Does she miss him too? Would she have him back? Is she okay? But then he would remember the reason why he left her in the first place and try not to break his phone.
Emma deserved a man who could hold her with both hands, not some broken man who couldn't give her his whole self. Not Killian. He planned on never returning to Storybrooke. He knew that if he saw Emma again he wouldn't be able to leave her, ever again, and she didn't deserve that.
That was the plan, anyways, but things never really worked out for Killian. One day he received a phone call from David, and he was about to ask him how the bloody hell he got his phone number, or knew where he lived, but the grief in David's voice cut him off.
Mrs. Nolan passed away the night before in her sleep. She'd been suffering from a variety of medical conditions, and they'd finally gotten the best of her. David wanted Killian to come home and be there for her showing and funeral, and Killian knew that he had to go. Mrs. Nolan had been like a mother to him, and he had once been a man of good form. A man of good form properly grieves the loss of his mother.
He booked a flight to Storybrooke immediately and reluctantly. The plane ride was full of anxiety and a sense of loss, guilt. When he stepped off the plane and finally pulled the rental car into the familiar driveway of the Nolan household, he sat in the car for a long moment, almost scared to get out.
Killian knew that the moment he stepped out of the car, things would be permanently changed. He tried to miss Ireland, but was interrupted by the front door opening to reveal David Nolan. David sprinted across the yard to pull his childhood best friend into a hug, and then lead him inside, where they sat down at the dining room table. David wanted to catch up, and Killian wanted to hide. He didn't want to know how Emma had been, but he needed to know how Emma had been, and that was sure to be one of the most prominent topics.
When the front door opened up once more, Killian believed he had been saved, but stormy blue eyes met green, and Emma Swan ran.
Current Day
Killian's stomach was doing flips as he shot up from his chair and ran after her.
