She was just Emma Swan: orphan, bounty hunter, loner. Not a savior nor a mother. The gap in her memory was filled with what would have happened if on her twenty-eighth birthday, she would have blown out the candle and went straight to bed.

And now it was her birthday yet again, and she did the same thing she did every year - grabbed a cupcake after work, went back to her spacious yet empty apartment, and celebrated by herself. Before lighting her lone candle, Emma changed out of the dress she'd been wearing for work purposes and into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, thinking maybe she'd go out for a drink if she felt up to it. Maybe she could find a guy to occupy a couple hours with so she wouldn't feel quite as pathetic drinking alone on the one day of the year you weren't supposed to be alone.

With a sigh, she used a match to light the candle atop her red velvet cupcake, large enough for practically an entire family to share, and leaned down to stare into the flame for a few moments. It was dumb to make a wish. Emma knew that. Because she wished for the same thing every year, and without fail, those wishes never came true. Alas, she did it anyway. She wished that for once, just once, she wouldn't have to be alone.

After blowing out the candle, she jumped about ten feet in the air at the sound of someone knocking on her door. Who the hell could that be? It was late, so she just assumed it must be a neighbor. Maybe they got a piece of her mail or something.

Abandoning her cupcake, Emma went to the door, wrenching it open without even bothering to check the peep hole to see who it was.

Needless to say, she was quite surprised to find that it was a very attractive man standing on the other side of her door. As far as she knew, he didn't live on her floor or even in the building, so what the hell he was doing there was way beyond her.

"Uh…can I help you?"

Killian landed ungracefully in the grass, shoulder smacking into the ground and making him groan. Thankfully, it was late enough that no one seemed to be around or paying any attention to him as he dropped in out of nowhere. Rolling onto his stomach, he sat up on his knees and looked around, recognizing some of the things that Henry had described to him, and he quickly pulled the piece of paper with the boy's directions out of the pocket of his black leather jacket. Not his long one, of course. They'd made him leave that behind in exchange for something more modern.

He was also wearing jeans, which Emma had tried to get him to wear several times to no avail, but now he had no choice, even if he still wasn't used to the material.

Standing up, he unfolded the paper and tried to make sense of it, wondering if he should just show it to someone and have them direct him, but he would prefer to not come across as the clueless-to-this-city pirate that he was. It took him longer than he cared to admit to get to the building that Emma supposedly lived in, and the name on it matched the name Henry had written down, so finally, he'd made it.

Going straight up to her door and knocking was far from the smartest plan Killian could have come up with, but he needed to see her. He needed to see that she was alright, safe, alive. If he had to wait around for her to appear outside, he would surely go insane.

His heart was hammering in his chest when she answered the door, and then it dropped into his stomach when he saw the look on her face. She really had no clue who he was. And he was expecting it, but it still hurt. The smile she reserved for him was gone, replaced with a guarded expression laced with suspicion.

This was supposed to be their happy ending, and they had been ripped apart, thrown back to the beginning. There was no way this would be easy. Pre-Storybrooke Emma Swan had even more walls up than when he'd met her, and if she wasn't willing to let him in, he was screwed.

"Emma." The name slipped from his mouth before he could stop it.

"Do I know you?" she asked, looking more and more like she was going to slam the door in his face every second.

"Not exactly, but-"

"Then how do you know my name?" Emma crossed her arms over her chest, raising an eyebrow expectantly.

He really should have thought this one through. But he was good at thinking on his feet. He could get out of this without hurting his chances with her. Somehow.

"I heard someone call you Emma, so I just assumed…" Killian tried with a shrug.

"And you followed me home? Were you at that bar tonight?" She'd been forced to make a scene, as usual, when the guy she was after attempted to take off. "Because if you're friends with that guy, I'm sorry, but-"

"No, no, I don't know him." Know who? Killian had no fucking clue, but he would play along. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay." Which was the truth, after all.

Emma's expression softened at those words, like no one had ever said them to her before. He had to keep reminding himself that at this point in her life, she really hadn't. Besides Neal, maybe, for that brief stint before he broke her heart.

"Yeah…yeah, I'm fine," she finally said, her arms dropping to her sides.

"Okay. Well, that's all I wanted to know." At that point, he really didn't know what he should do, so he turned to walk away.

"Hey," Emma called after him, opening her door more, half standing in the hall now. "What's your name?"

"Killian." He turned around, pleased that she hadn't let him leave, but he tried to keep it off his face. "Killian Jones."

"You know, it's, uh, my birthday. If you want to come in, I have this giant cupcake that I really shouldn't eat by myself." She had wished that she wouldn't be alone on her birthday, and this Killian guy was incredibly good looking, had an accent, and showed up at her door just to make sure she was alright. Was she really willing to let him walk away? She'd been planning on going out and seeking the comfort of a man anyway, hadn't she?

The invitation took Killian by surprise, and he did his best to not answer straight away as to not show his eagerness to be in her company.

"I would love to." His voice came out quieter than he expected, and he followed her inside, taking the smile she gave him as a sign that she hadn't just been asking to be polite. She really did want him to come in with her.

He hadn't given much thought to what her place would look like, but if he had, he would have imagined it much the way it was. Empty. It didn't only look empty, but it felt empty. It was quite large and filled with all of the necessary furniture, but there wasn't anything to distinguish it from any other apartment. Nothing that made it hers, like she was afraid to get too comfortable or attached.

Or maybe she just didn't have anything she felt that sentimental about. He didn't know which was worse.

And as he watched her flitting around the kitchen, Killian couldn't help but think that this wasn't how she should be spending her birthday. She should be with her family - her parents and Henry and him. Not like this, not remembering who he was or what he meant to her. But all the same, Killian wouldn't deny her the chance to spend her birthday with him if that's what she wanted.

He wouldn't let her be alone.

"Here," Emma broke him out of his thoughts, handing him a fork. "Dig in."

Truthfully, he'd never had a cupcake before, but he'd had cake at Granny's, so it had to taste similar.

"Thanks," was all he said for several minutes as they both just sat there at her kitchen counter, taking forkfuls of cupcake and using it as an excuse to stay quiet.

Emma was using that time to contemplate what she was doing. Was this guy really some silly birthday wish come true, or was he just a creep that followed her home? He seemed harmless enough, silently inspecting the cupcake on his fork every time he brought it to his mouth, fidgeting in his seat after she'd catch him glancing at her. If he'd planned something sinister, he surely wouldn't look so nervous, right?

"Tell me something," Emma started, breaking the silence at last and almost making him jump.

"Anything," he answered, putting down the fork and giving her his full attention.

"Why are you really here?"

If only he could say.

"If you didn't believe my original response, then why did you let me in?" But she did believe him. He knew she did. She just didn't want to believe that someone she'd never seen before could care about her - that anyone could care about her.

"I just didn't want to be alone," she practically whispered, surprising herself with how vulnerable she sounded. "And for the record, I did believe you," Emma added, snapping her voice back to its usual tone.

Her reply caught him off guard, not having expected her to admit that to him - a stranger - after barely twenty minutes of sharing each other's company. Maybe Henry was right. Maybe the way they felt did transcend realms. Maybe she still felt a connection even when she didn't realize it.

Or maybe she would have reached out to anyone who'd showed up at her door that night. Perhaps there wasn't anything special about it being him at all.

"I'm sorry, that was-" Emma started to say, feeling uncomfortable now that he was just staring at her.

"No, it's okay. I just…you shouldn't have to be alone. On your birthday or ever."

Stupid, stupid, stupid. What was he doing? You don't say things like that to someone you just met. He was going to screw this up. He was going to…

Killian's eyes widened slightly when Emma leaned toward him, closing practically all the space between them. He had about a second to decide what he was going to do.

Turn his head and stop the kiss? Would it be right to let her kiss him? Well, why wouldn't it? He loved her, and if she was going to kiss him, wasn't that a good thing? Wasn't that what he wanted? But she wasn't doing it because of him, she was doing it because she needed to feel something, and he didn't want it to mean nothing, but Emma Swan was irresistible no matter what the situation was.

And so he let her continue to lean forward and press her lips against his. It was soft at first, and he didn't reciprocate because he knew what would happen if he did, but then Emma pulled at his bottom lip ever so slightly, urging him to put more into it. How could he not? Killian left the stool, coming to stand in front of her before tilting her head back and kissing her like his life depended on it.

A tiny twinge of disappointment shot through him when he realized that kissing her didn't bring back her memories, but he knew it wouldn't. Not until she realized she loved him.

Emma grabbed the collar of his jacket, keeping him close as she reciprocated, her tongue seeking entrance and receiving it immediately. She was no stranger to kissing a guy she'd only just met. It was infinitely easier to sleep with someone who had no interest in anything except sleeping with you. No commitment, no attachment, just sex and the release she needed. And Killian had just shown up at her door, so she was simply taking advantage of a very, very unexpected birthday present.

He shouldn't still be kissing her. He should be wishing her a happy birthday and leaving before this went too far like he knew it would. But he was so happy to have her back that it was impossible for him to pull away, even when he felt her hands under his shirt, fingertips roaming over his stomach.

Emma started pulling him by his belt loops as she backed up, clearly intending on leading him toward the bedroom, but Killian still didn't protest, trying to tell himself that this could only help, even if he knew better. She didn't care that it was him. She didn't know that he wasn't just some random guy who couldn't say no to a beautiful woman but the man who loved her more than anything else in the world.

No. He couldn't sleep with her when she didn't remember that she loved him. When he couldn't tell her that he loved her.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled as he grasped her wrists one by one and pulled them away from him. "I should go."

"What?" Emma was clearly confused, eyebrows knitting together and creasing her forehead. This guy had followed her home, and he didn't even want to sleep with her? "Why? You don't want to…"

"I hope you have a wonderful night, Emma. Happy Birthday."

She watched him walk away, toward the door, reach for the handle, and then…

"Wait!"

His hand froze, but he didn't turn, didn't want to look at her because then he'd surely be unable to leave.

"I'm sorry. That was stupid and forward, and you were just being nice." She was by his side a few seconds later, leaning against the wall next to the door and looking up at him sadly, obviously feeling terrible that she'd caused him to want to leave, even though leaving was the very last thing he wanted to do. "We could watch a movie, or if you're hungry, I can order a pizza?"

Emma couldn't explain why she wanted him to stay, except for the obvious reason that she didn't want to be alone. She couldn't explain why she felt so drawn to him, but she knew that she was, and she couldn't just let him walk out without any way for her to contact him again.

"Please, Killian."

The sound of his name leaving her lips was all it took to crumble his resolve. Not to mention, she was practically begging him to stay because she didn't want to be alone on her birthday, and it absolutely killed him because she shouldn't even be there at all.

With a nod, his hand fell back to his side. "Yeah, let's watch a movie."

Killian refrained from kissing her again, as much as he wanted to, and he spent the entire movie with his arm around her shoulders, thinking about all the nights they'd spent like this, whether it was just the two of them or including Henry. She fell asleep on him toward the end, and he didn't have the heart to wake her, so he just let himself drift off as well.

It was not the evening that he imagined; it was far better.

Unfortunately, he was in for a completely different Emma in the morning, and he'd have to let her go all over again.