Neal Cassidy was a dead man.
He might not know it; he might be walking, talking and lying through his teeth like usual, but his time was near.
Just as soon as Emma figured out how to get away with murder.
She hid in the corner, hands in painfully tight fists, watching as her asshole of an ex-boyfriend leaned across the table in The Rabbit Hole and spilled his guts (and her exclusive scoop) to The Enemy, one Killian Jones.
She wasn't sure which of them to punch first.
Before she realized she was doing it, she marched up to the table, barely resisting the urge to dump Neal's beer in his lap.
"You rat bastard," she hissed, not sure which one she was talking to, since it applied to both.
"Ems," Neal said, grinning like an idiot. "Babe, I can explain."
"I take it you two know each other," Jones drawled. His voice sounded bored, but she didn't miss the way he watched them with interest.
"Like you didn't know you were stealing my source," she snapped. Dismissing him, she turned to the other jerk at the table. "And you, don't ever call me 'Babe.' You promised me a story, and we both know you owe me."
Neal sighed. "I know what I said, Ems, but you don't understand. This is huge. Like Woodward and Bernstein huge."
"Who wrote for a newspaper," she hissed. "They were actual reporters, not TV figureheads."
"Hey!" Jones objected. "I am an actual reporter, and I'm damned tired of you disparaging my profession."
"I guess since I made it clear you couldn't steal my story, you decided to swipe my source instead?" She knew she was being a bitch. She knew it, but she couldn't stop herself.
"Love, it's a free country. I hardly think he belongs to you."
"Ha!" she said. "I own his ass, unless he wants his boss to find out what I know."
"Emma —" Neal began, huffing and sitting back when he realized neither of them really cared about him at the moment.
"Extortion, Swan? That's bad form."
"Actually," she said, "it's blackmail, and it's also none of your business."
She turned her glare back on Neal. "So what's the deal? Are you going back on your word?" Not that that should surprise her at all. Honesty had never been Neal's strong suit.
"Emma, this story is dangerous, more dangerous than I thought," he said. "I'm just looking out for you."
"Seriously?" She imagined her face must be a lovely tomato shade, because she felt like she was about to have a stroke. "You're stiffing me on this story for my own good? Gonna protect the little woman from the scary story? And, what? Jones is the big strong man who can handle it?"
"Swan, you say the nicest things."
"Look, Emma, I know I said I'd help, but this is big," Neal said. "I couldn't stand it if you got hurt."
She laughed. "Well, it's a little late for that. Enjoy explaining that whole 'watch misunderstanding' to the mayor. I'm sure he'll love knowing that his special assistant has some very special — and illegal — skills. Hell, you might even get a raise!"
She flipped him off, very maturely stuck her tongue out at Jones and stormed off. Once outside, she paced in front of the bar cussing under her breath.
Way to make a fool of yourself, Emma. Very professional.
"OK, think," she muttered. If Neal was going to screw her over, maybe there was another way to get the information she needed. There was no way she was going to let the two of them win.
The door opened, and the gruesome twosome came out, talking in low voices. They shook hands and parted ways, Neal heading across the street and Killian sauntering over to lean on the building next to her.
"Swan, look," he began.
"Save it, Jones. I could not be less interested in what you have to say." She watched Neal walking toward his car, imagining a target on his head.
"Lass, I only thought —"
She didn't hear the rest of what he said as she watched the headlights zooming closer to Neal.
She thought she yelled his name, but the whole thing happened so quickly that she couldn't be sure. The dark-colored SUV came up fast and sped off after hitting Neal, leaving him crumpled on the side of the street.
Emma and Killian sat alone in Granny's Diner poking at their food and very much not talking.
Emma took sip of her hot chocolate, trying not to picture Neal's bloody form being wheeled into an ambulance. By the time they'd given statements to the police and waited for news at the hospital, it was 1 a.m., and they'd headed to the diner on an unspoken agreement.
Neal was going to live, but he had yet to regain consciousness. Assuming that he woke up, he would have a long road to recovery ahead of him.
After watching Killian push eggs around his plate, she finally broke the silence. "They tried to kill him."
"Swan, it was an accident," he said, though it sounded more like a question to her.
"He knows something big about the murder of the mayor's future daughter-in-law. He meets up with WSTB's star reporter, and then suddenly he gets nailed by an SUV in a hit-and-run. That's an accident?"
He sighed. "Fair enough. Perhaps it wasn't an accident. Cassidy said he thought James was guilty of killing the fiancee, but there was something else going on he thought would be a big scandal. He said he had some proof he was willing to hand over, if …"
"If?" She started to take a bite, then realized what he was saying. "If you paid him? That bastard was looking for cash! You were going to pay him?"
He shrugged. "I was going to talk to Regina about it. Personally, I would pass, but she is my producer, so I thought I should discuss it with her first."
Of course. If Neal saw the chance to make a money off the information he held, that could explain why he changed his mind about being her source.
"It must be something implicating the mayor in some way," she said.
"How do you figure that?"
"He'd get fired if I told the mayor's office what I know about him. So if he was willing to risk his cushy job for some quick cash, something tells me he wasn't expecting to even have that job for long."
Killian nodded. "It's possible. What's the story with you two, anyway?"
She met his eyes for a moment before looking away. "We dated, freshman year of college," she said. "Things happened, and I realized I couldn't trust him. I never expected him to end up working for the mayor. I have no idea how it happened, but he's a born con man, so I guess I'm not that surprised. He's a natural at politics."
"What 'things' happened, Emma? What did he do to you?"
She realized she'd been leaning in toward him and jerked herself back. How the hell did she forget who she was talking to?
"File that under none of your business, Jones," she said, sliding out of the booth. "Thanks for the food, but I don't have much of an appetite."
He stood up with her and caught her arm before she could slip past him. "Wait. Swan, wait a moment. I think we should work on this story together."
She huffed out a laugh. "Is that a joke?"
"No, listen, if you're right about what happened to Cassidy, neither of us should do this alone. There's safety in numbers."
She shook her head, yanking her arm away. "I don't know if I think it's arrogant or pathetic that you actually believe that I'd be dumb enough to trust you ever again."
She didn't sleep much, since every time she closed her eyes she saw a vision of Neal being turned into roadkill.
The guy was a dick, but once upon a time she'd actually cared a lot about him, and watching him nearly die on repeat in her head was not her idea of a good time.
When she wasn't replaying that horrible moment, she was thinking about Killian: the way he invaded her personal space, the feel of his fingers on her arm, the sincerity in his eyes when he suggested they'd be safer working together.
She wanted him to be telling the truth, and wasn't that when her internal lie detector always malfunctioned? She'd let her feelings for Jones run away with her common sense once before, and she wasn't going to make that mistake again.
From the start, the next day seemed cursed.
Her phone went dead, since she forgot to charge it; her alarm didn't go off and she was running late. For some reason her landlord was unable to explain, she had no hot water and had to take a frigid shower. Worst of all, she had gotten so caught up in work that she'd neglected to buy groceries and was completely out of coffee.
And that was the good part of her day.
She knew she was screwed when she spotted Regina Mills, impeccably dressed and without a hair out of place, pacing around Gold's office. Regina was the lead producer at WSTB; her mother Cora Mills was the station's general manager, and rumor had it that Regina was constantly trying to prove herself to her mom.
A moment later Emma spotted the perfect mess that was Jones' hair sticking up behind a chair in the same office. As pissed as she was, she had to swallow a laugh when she realized he had his feet up on Gold's desk. Her editor kept stealing annoyed glances his way in between apparent arguments with Regina.
"What happened last night?" Mary Margaret rolled her chair over to Emma's desk. "David said he heard Neal Cassidy was in a hit-and-run and you were a witness?"
Emma groaned and dropped her head into her arms. She gave Mary Margaret the highlights, speculating that Gold was getting them from Regina at the same time.
It was only a matter of time, of course, before she was called into his office.
"Miss Swan," Gold said when she joined them. "I've just been informed of the events of last night." Unspoken was his disappointment that she hadn't told him herself. She knew she'd hear about it at length later on. "In light of these events, we believe it's best — for the moment — for you to team up with Mr. Jones. See what you can dig up and get back to myself and Ms. Mills."
She shot a poisonous glare Jones' way before nodding to her boss and returning to her desk. Ignoring Killian as he followed her and leaned on her desk, she crammed a notebook and her half-charged phone into her purse and headed for the exit. He followed again, way too close.
"So, partner," he began.
"What is your game, Jones?" She pulled him into an empty cubicle. "Why are you doing this?"
"This?"
"Insisting we work together," she hissed. "Seriously. You're a … perfectly adequate reporter with more resources than I have. You don't need me for this story."
"Perfectly adequate? Swan, you just made my heart skip a beat." When she just rolled her eyes at him, he sighed. "I meant what I said, it's too dangerous to hit this angle of the story alone. You know Cassidy, and you're also a perfectly adequate reporter. I think we should be adequate together."
She shook her head and turned to go.
"So, where are we going?"
"I don't know where you're going," she said, looking around to make sure nobody was near. "But I'm going to break into Neal's apartment and see if I can find this mystery evidence. On second thought, you'd better come with me. If we get caught, you can distract them with your pretty face while I make a run for it."
She heard him chuckle behind her as she headed for the door. "All these compliments, Swan! Be careful, or I'm going to start thinking you're in love with me."
She smiled brightly at his yelp as she let the door slam in his face.