Explanations

Present

Scarcely had the words been out of Mary Margaret's mouth when a frantic pounding sounded on the front door.

Both the women froze for a second before the brunette took a breath and handed the ring back to a reluctant Emma. Emma cursed and immediately shoved it deep into her pocket. "It's probably Anna just being excited," Mary Margaret figured, hurrying to the door and wrenching it open.

"Emma," Killian breathed out when he saw her over Mary Margaret's shoulder. "Good, you're still here," he said, stepping past her roommate and towards her, a shy smile on his face.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Emma said, making sure to add a harsh edge to her voice. How could he come here looking like he was in love with her after what had happened last night?

He took another step forwards, reaching out like he was going to pull her towards him. "Just wanted to make sure you were okay with everything, love."

"Umm," she murmured, feeling the ring in her pocket against her leg like a hot poker. "You can leave now, I'm fine" she practically ordered, turning on her heels so that her back was to him. Hopefully now he would get the point that she really didn't want to see him.

Ignoring his harsh intake of breath that made her heart clench, she took another step away from him. "Swan!" Killian shouted, his sweet tone exchanged for an angry one, completely ignoring the silent Mary Margaret's presence.

"Yes, Killian?" she managed to choke out, trying to sound as pleasant and nonchalant as possible as she turned around. Maybe she was lucky and he didn't remember what had happened. "Why are you still here?"

"Give it back!" he hissed, his voice sounding so threatening she almost jumped. It was a complete 360 change from what he had been like when he waltzed into her apartment this morning. It was then that she glanced up at his face, sure that she looked just as ragged as he did this morning. She had seen him looking this upset only a few times before.

"Give what back?" Emma innocently asked, taking another step back from the leather clad man.

Taking a deep breath, Killian reached out and grabbed her by the arm and spun her around so she faced him. "You really don't want to be difficult right now," he murmured, the anger in his voice still present. "I don't like to be made a mockery of."

"Would you like some pancakes, Killian?" Mary Margaret asked as she closed the door and walked back to the kitchen, hoping to ease some of the tension in the room. "I think we still have that blueberry syrup in the fridge that you like."

"I won't be here long," Killian quickly responded to Mary Margaret before he turned his piercing gaze back to Emma. "Please tell me you didn't lose it," he whispered, his tone so sincere despite the harsh edge that Emma's façade immediately dropped.

Putting up her finger to signal a moment, Emma dug into her pocket and pulled out the ring. Holding out the ring to him, she let out a long breath when he immediately grabbed the ring and stuck it back into his jacket pocket. There were several moments of tense silence while Killian rocked back and forth on his feet until she spoke again.

"I assume you remember more than me," she announced, sending a look at Mary Margaret that said that she better not leave her alone with him right now. She would need her friends support right now so she wouldn't do something stupid like cry or kill him.

"Aye," he murmured. "Tell me what you remember?" he asked, a pathetic question in his words. It was almost hopeful.

Sharing a long glance with her roommate, Emma grabbed Killian's good arm and drug him to their couch, prepared for a long explanation. Once he had sat down next to her and Mary Margaret was hovering behind them, she began. "Well we were at the bar last night, arguing as usual," she said, glancing up to see him watching her with a curious expression on her face. "We were having a drinking contest and I remember when I won you told me to go home. But of course I didn't listen and we ended up playing pool. Everything is a bit hazy, but I remember getting kicked out of the bar for being inappropriate," she bit her lip, blushing madly as she avoided both Killian's and Mary Margaret's eyes. "You called Smee to pick us up, but I don't remember seeing him…" she trailed off, not really sure how many details she wanted him to know she knew. "Anyway we were in a taxi I guess and I remember going to some courthouse and…well, you know the rest."

Acting entirely unaffected by her story, Killian spoke up. "I remember it a little clearer than you, love," he said, fumbling with his prosthetic nervously before he spoke again. "I'll start off with Smee. He didn't answer his phone so you called a taxi. It took some time for it to arrive, so we were playing on that blasted playground while we waited. Alas, when the taxi arrived we told him to take us to Boston," he paused, glancing up as Emma tried to avoid his gaze. Mary Margaret, meanwhile, was sitting on the edge of her seat, acting as if she was watching a soap opera. "The first thing we did was find the church in the town and I knocked on the door until the priest woke up."

"Wait, you never told me you were Catholic," Emma interrupted, her outburst earning her a sharp look from her roommate across the room.

Without more than a roll of an eye at Emma's comment, Killian continued. "We started talking to him about how it was true love and it had to be tonight. Anyway, I think he finally married us quickly just so we would leave him alone and let him go back to sleep. We found one of those places that are open all night long and signed the marriage license there as well," he stopped then, waiting for Emma to say something. The accidental marriage was legal then and not something they could just ignore, but she didn't know what to say, so she stayed silent. "We ate at that fast food place you always talk about missing and then drove back here. By then you were mostly asleep, so I dropped you off back at the loft before I went home to sleep it off."

"So you just left then?" Emma questioned, raising her eyebrows. That surprised her, that he would leave her alone quote on quote wedding night. Even more than that Emma assumed he'd be worried about her if he was really that drunk and sleep on the floor like he had in the past.

"I decided you were too drunk and didn't want to risk you throwing up on me," Killian answered immediately, acting like he was always quite the gentleman. Oh, she full well knew better than that.

Throwing him a look, Emma licked her lips and asked another question. "So obviously I was plastered. How drunk were you?"

"You know I can hold my rum better than you, love," he said, leaning in closer to her with a smirk on his lips. How he had the audacity to flirt with her right now was beyond her.

Emma just rolled her eyes, scooting further away from him on the couch. "Obviously drunk enough to go along with the stupid wedding scheme," she ascertained. "Have you called anyone looking into how long it'll take to have a mutual divorce?"

"Came here as soon as I woke up and remembered," he explained, running a hand through his messy locks. "But divorces are expensive. Can't we just pretend it never happened and not tell anyone about it?" he asked, putting on his best puppy dog eyes as he met Emma's steely gaze. "It isn't like you are going to want to get married to anyone else anyway."

"Isn't a marriage null and void if it hasn't been consummated yet?" Mary Margaret interrupted, a grin on her face as she took in both Emma's and Killian's red cheeks.

10 Hours Earlier

"Oops," Killian breathed in her ear as her back collided rather painfully against the brick wall outside of the bar.

"It's okay," she murmured, smiling up at him. Had his eyes always been so blue? "I know you didn't mean it," she continued, fluttering her eyelashes as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him so he was flush against her.

Muttering something she didn't hear, Killian leaned down and kissed her again. She was just thankful for the wall against her back making sure she was upright right now. Because boy could he kiss. And she had missed kissing him, it was that simple.

"I can't believe they kicked us out," Emma giggled as Killian sloppily kissed down her neck. "We weren't disturbing anyone."

Breaking away from her a moment, Killian looked at her with hooded eyes. "No one else was going to use that blasted pool table," he groaned in annoyance. He smiled at her then, a real sincere smile that she rarely saw from him anymore. He wasn't trying to be annoying or flirt with her with the look, he was just happy.

"And my shirt was on despite what Will said," Emma retorted like a five year old, twirling the hair on the back of Killian's neck as she spoke.

Spurred on by her motions, Killian captured her lips with his once more. Who knows how long they would have stayed there if Emma hadn't interrupted him, wrapping her arms around his waist to rest her head against his chest. "It's sort of cold out here," she mumbled, moving even closer to his warmth.

"Well in that case milady," Killian announced, shrugging off his signature leather jacket and putting it around her with a flourish. "Shall we take this back to my place?" he asked with an eyebrow wiggle that Emma was all too familiar with.

Emma wrapped the coat tighter around herself, breathing in his scent before she spoke again. "I have an even better idea if you're down for it," she said, standing on her tiptoes as she whispered in her ear. "We should go to Boston and eat at Steak n Shake."

"But we can't drive," Killian complained, shooting Will a glare as he walked out of the bar and rolled his eyes at the couple. "And it is late and buses rarely come here anyway," he stopped when Emma looked up at him, all tucked up in his jacket with her lip stuck out. "If the lady insists I'll call Smee."

After multiple tries with Smee and many odd voicemails begging him to help a fellow out went unanswered, Emma got a brilliant idea: to call a cab. It may take a while for the cab to arrive, but at least they had transportation. And Emma had announced that she would pay for the cab if he bought her dinner at her guilty pleasure restaurant once they finally arrived in Boston.

Knowing that they had time to kill, Emma had grabbed Killian by the hand and dragged him behind her towards the old wooden playground. She isn't exactly sure why she decided to come here, but she assumed it would be empty. Plus, if she climbed to the top of the castle she was sure she could see when the cab they ordered pulled into town.

"Killy," Emma called out when she finally got to the top of the playground, thinking how short he looked from up high. "Aren't you going to come up here with me?" she asked, surprised when he just shrugged in response and looked down at his shoes. It took several moments, but finally Emma reasoned that he didn't want to come up because he thought the combination of the alcohol and his missing hand would make it difficult to climb the ropes. So, with surprising agility considering how many drinks she had, she climbed down and patted on the edge of the slide for him to sit.

"Don't you think this is a bad idea, Swan?" he asked, hesitantly sitting down on the slide as Emma plopped down onto his lap. The alcohol was clearly affecting him less than it was for Emma.

"Nope," she breathed, nuzzling against his neck that made him want to forget all the reasons they shouldn't be together right now. "We've known each other for like two years. We talk all the time now and it isn't like this 'us' is a new thing."

Killian interrupted her then, pulling her face away from his chest so he could look her in the eyes and see if she was sincere or not. "We just argue all the time about everything," he reminded her.

"So? We always argue, that's just who we are," Emma whispered, looking out into the empty streets. "It isn't like we actually hate each other, we admitted that we didn't a long time ago," she stopped, thinking back to the time that Ariel told her that Killian said he was in love with her when he was drunk even before the accident. "Why can't we both just admit we are still attracted to each other and stop being so stubborn? So what if I hated you the first time we met? I've gotten over it and gotten to know who you truly are."

Putting an arm around her waist to steady her, Killian spoke up again. "So you really don't think I'm an insufferable ass?"

"No, you are," Emma giggled at their old inside joke, pressing a quick kiss to his lips. "But you're my insufferable ass."

At that Killian just started laughing, trying to catch his breath so he could kiss Emma again. And that's how it went for some time, just the two of them running around the playground together acting silly and talking about nonsense.

"Why don't we get married?" Emma asked suddenly, interrupting Killian's story about some pirate stealing a man's wife, all the past teasing gone from her voice.

At her words, Killian's eyes got huge as he suddenly stood up, his mouth in a perfect 'o' shape. "That's my job and I intend to do it properly this time," he huffed in annoyance, getting down to one knee in an abrupt motion. "Emma Swan, I know that we haven't had the most traditional courtship lately," he paused, smirking. "But seeing you is always the brightest part of my day. And I know I hurt you in the past, but I don't intend to let you down now. Will you marry me?"

"Yes!" Emma answered, her hands flying up to cover her mouth in the cliché pose. "Killian, that was so romantic. You know I always am secretly disappointed on those days when I don't see you and I'm so sick of acting like I don't want to be together. I have to remind myself every time I'm around you that things can't go back to how they were. But they can, I've just been too stubborn to realize that," she stopped when she noticed Killian struggling to dig around in his pockets for something. "What are you doing?"

"Aha," Killian announced, finally finding and pulling out the ring. Her mouth fell open in surprise, she hadn't realized he still carried it with him. A blush on his cheeks, he snatched Emma's left hand and smoothly slid it onto her ring finger, the proposal complete.

"But that ring?" Emma murmured, glancing down at his mother's ring on her finger. It looked a lot less threatening than it had before, in fact she decided she rather liked it on her finger and all it represented. "I know how important it is to you, I can't take it now."

"As long as you don't chuck it at my head this time you can," Killian got up off his knee, taking her hand in his and kissing it. "Yes you can, love. It's always been freely given to you."

Remembering how Killian said he would only give the ring to his true love, Emma voiced a crazy idea that was floating around in her head. "I know this is crazy, but do you think maybe in Boston we could get married?" she asked, speaking quickly to make sure she could get the words out. It was all or nothing for her right now. "We'd have to have a wedding here later too of course, but we are going to Boston anyway for Steak n Shake, so why not get married too while we're at it?"

Appearing to consider the offer for several moments, Killian brushed a piece of her hair back behind her ear. "And you won't regret this is the morning?" he asked, the fact that they had both been drinking forgotten. When Emma assured him that she could never regret marrying him, he smiled and responded. "I could never regret you, Swan."

They had barely been able to share their celebratory kiss when the cab driver finally arrived, not acting very surprised when the drunk couple told him that they were going to Boston to get married. Throughout the cab ride they really should have paid more attention to the driver. That poor man had to deal with them making out like teenagers, passing Killian's flask of rum back and forth between themselves, and giggling every five seconds the whole ride there.

"Wait, stop!" Killian suddenly announced as they drove through the heart of the city, causing the driver to slam on his breaks in surprise. Thankfully the streets were far less crowded than usual. "We're going to get out here," he told Emma as the driver pulled over.

"Thank you," Emma said to the cab driver, sending him a large smile as he swiped her credit card before he drove off, probably mumbling about drunken people making dumb mistakes. That part of the journey done, she turned back to her fiancé. Gosh, she just loved saying that.

Killian appeared to be just as thrilled as she was, throwing his arm around her shoulder and pulling her close as he gestured to the large cathedral in front of them. "This is perfect, Emma! We need to get married here" he exclaimed.

"I assumed that we would just do it in a courthouse or something like they do in Vegas," Emma replied, furrowing her brow as she tried to make sense of why he was being so adamant about this location.

"No, love, it has to be here," he explained again, sounding frustrated that she didn't agree with him. "My mother was a devout Catholic and would be turning in her grave if her son didn't get married in a church by a priest."

Nodding her head in understanding, Emma turned to look at the large doors, wondering how they were going to pull this off. It was in the middle of the night and she didn't know the logistics of how to do this.

Apparently her nod all the prompting he needed, Killian began to bang on the door with his hand, not stopping for several minutes until they heard a side door swing open. Out walked an old man, presumably a priest, with a scowl on his face.

"What do you two want?" he asked, clearly having just woken up by their banging. It was obvious he wasn't accustomed to being woken up in the middle of the night.

"Can you marry us?" Killian asked simply, leaning down to kiss the top of Emma's head as he spoke. "Please?"

The priest frowned, clearly knowing that the couple was drunk and assuming that it was a spur of the moment decision. "Can't you come back tomorrow morning after you've slept on it?"

"Come on, can't you cut us some slack?" Killian retorted, scratching behind his ear as he did so. "We aren't from here and we came all this way to get married. I've been waiting years to marry this girl and I intend to do it tonight."

There was a long moment of silence as the priest considered his options. Finally, he spoke. "If you both understand what a commitment marriage is," he muttered, adding something she couldn't hear under his breath.

Motioning them to follow him, he led them into the church, asking them their names and if they wanted traditional vows as they walked. Obviously they gave him the correct answers because before she knew it she and Killian were standing at the altar about to get married. If she was honest with herself the whole ceremony was a blur, Killian's rum was a lot stronger than she was used to. However, she knew she couldn't forget the moment when Killian leaned down and kissed her. It was a terrible kiss, they were both smiling too much for it to be any good, but Emma wouldn't have it any other way.

After a lot of thanking the priest and asking for directions, Emma and Killian were finally at Steak n Shake. They had just signed a marriage license and filled it and didn't have long to eat before the taxi they called showed up to pick them up. Killian sure seemed to be wide awake and happy, but Emma was run ragged by now.

"I told you we could have shared the shake," Emma said as Killian leaned in and took another large sip of her shake. "But that calls for a fry," she announced, leaning over and taking one of the few left off of his plate. It was a bit unnerving how easily they fell back into their old habits, but Emma found it comforting at the same time.

"I love you so bloody much," Killian said as Emma stole another one of his fries and dunked it in her shake.

Even in her drunken state Emma froze, surprised to hear those words come out of his mouth. At one time in the past she would have immediately said the words back to him, but even know when she was drunk she knew what a big deal those words were. The last time he had said them she had told him she hated him. But he sure didn't appear to be regretting her words as he just sat there across from her beaming at her. "I can't believe we're married," she whispered, not knowing what else to say.

"And how is married life so far, Mrs. Jones?" Killian asked, the boyish grin once again filling his face.

"It is wonderful, lovely husband," Emma responded, both of them trading sweet nothings back and forth with each other until they finished their food and their cab arrived.

The combination of alcohol, a grand adventure, and greasy food had made Emma so exhausted that she barely even could keep her eyes open on the way home. She was mostly just aware of leaning against Killian's solid chest as he fiddled with the ring on her finger the whole car ride home. She must have fallen asleep at some point because the next thing she remembered was being jostled as Killian picked her up and carried her up to her apartment, making some joke about carrying her over the threshold. She started snoring practically the moment her head hit her familiar pillow, so she didn't realize that Killian had paused for a few more moments before he left.

"Please don't regret this," Killian whispered as he pressed a feather light kiss to Emma's forehead, reluctantly leaving her bedroom and locking up the apartment before he began the short walk home.