Chapter 2

The following morning, Emma walked over next door, only to find herself surprised by the person who lived there. The person that stood at the doorframe was a fit young man who appeared to be her age. He bore an image of windswept ebony hair as well as eyes that were as breathtaking as the clear blue sky itself. His smile was simply dazzling through his thin layer of black scruff. It didn't help Emma's case anymore than it already did when the man said, "Hello there," in a British, possibly Irish accent. At the moment, she didn't know or care which it was, only that it was too smooth for his own good.

Shaking her head, Emma cleared her throat and said, "Hello there. I was wondering if you'd lost this." With that being said, she handed him the unfolded note. The man stared at it for several seconds before looking at her with a knowing grin, saying, "Not at all. It's a gift that I wrote for someone." He then raised his prosthetic hand up to keep Emma from interrupting him, "I can assure you, Swan, that i made no mistake in giving it to the wrong person." Emma was about to speak again when the man continued, "Now before you falsely accuse me of being a stalker, I must say that it's hard to forget the student whose promise was that she wouldn't fail SU."

Emma sighed with relief before blinking several times before remembering Freshman Orientation. It was Storybrooke U tradition that before the start of a new school year, each freshman stood on a platform in front of the school, stated their name, and proclaimed their promise as well as their goal. When Emma was a freshman, she stated her name as well as her promise that she would not fail Storybrooke University.

She was about to ask him what his promos had been, but instead asked, "How come I've never seen you around campus before?" "Maybe it has to do with you being buried deep enough into work that you hardly take the time to look around for all that Life has to offer," the man suggested, who then laughed gently. "Only teasing, love. i haven't been around campus much because I'm no longer a student. I chose to quit SU because I wanted to spend whatever life I had left seizing as many opportunities that Life has to offer me. Now I can't really do that when I'm trapped in four walls and a roof all day, everyday. Schools to me are nothing more than wasted years and endless torment."

Emma stared at him and queried, "What prompted this?"

"Prompted what?"

"Dropping everything for no reason whatsoever?"

The man replied defensively, "Only I just gave you the core reason that I did so, milady. There's a significant difference between dropping academics for the sake of indolence and dropping academics for the desire to make a more meaningful impact in this broken world."

Emma inquired nearly breathless at the man's passionate speech, "Just who are you, sir?"

"Killian Jones, at your service, ma'am," the man answered before taking her right hand softly kissing the back of it.

Blinking several times, Emma cleared her throat before correcting her question, "I meant, just who are you, Jones?"

Wouldn't you like to know," Jones responded, wiggling his ridiculous eyebrows at her.

Suppressing a grin, Emma stated, "Perhaps I would."

With that being said, Jones grinned winningly as well as in shyness and asked, "Do you know where the giant oak at Misthaven Park is?"

Emma nodded as she spoke, "It's smack dab in the center on the largest hill, why?"

Killian answered excitedly, still grinning, "Well, meet me there tomorrow before dawn."

"Before dawn?!"

"Aye, there's something I want to show you. What would you like me to bring you tomorrow," he asks enthusiastically, handing her the note back.

"A hot cocoa would be just fine, thanks," Emma retorted.

"Right, see you before dawn, lass," Jones says, winking at her while closing the door.

With a heavy sigh, Emma walked back to her apartment, where she was greeted by Mary Margaret, who playfully demanded in a serious manner to know all the details of her meeting the man next door. After rehashing the entire story to her roommate, Emma went to bed with the unhelpful encouragement from her roommate to set her alarm clock very early and see what it was that made Killian Jones so excited about waking up before sunrise.