A/N: Hi again, friends. So, by some miracle (and an inability to put this story away for longer than a week), we have a new installment of 'Accidentally on Purpose' today. I debated not reuniting Emma and Killian in this chapter for half a second, only to admit the truth: I don't want to wait, and I am sure most of you don't either. Hope you guys enjoy, and thanks for reading!
The end of the school term always brought out the sentimental side in Emma. Ever since she'd started teaching, she felt the dual nature of this time of year. Part of Emma was thrilled at the prospect of a summer with down time and sunny skies and the chance to catch up on some much-needed sleep, but the bigger part of her would miss her kids. She had twenty in her care this year, twenty bright-eyed, happy students who were just starting their journeys in the world and at the end of last week she'd said goodbye to them.
Emma spent months with these kids, day in and day out, sharing so much of herself and them sharing in return. She'd made a special place in her heart for all of them, but now they were off to the sixth grade after a summer of reprieve. They'd be middle schoolers come the fall and Emma would just be a memory for all of them.
If the notes on this final bulletin board Emma was deconstructing were anything to go off of, she would be fondly thought of. She must have read all these 'Summer Wishes' a million times over the last two days, but they still struck Emma as so sweet and adorable. Some of them had even included her directly.
I want Miss Swan to get a puppy. She loved meeting my dog Rex. She needs a puppy too. Also I want another puppy. – Sarah M.
I want to see Miss Swan at the beach. She can tell me more about sand dollars and tell my older brother Billy that seaweed isn't gross. It's good for fish and fish are good for me! – Matt R.
I want Miss Swan to teach sixth grade too. I will miss her! – Allie S.
The sweet and funny messages showed Emma what she already knew in her heart: these kids cared about her, and she only hoped that she helped them all know they were enough. They all deserved to see themselves as worth every good thing and to know that they could rise to any challenge sixth grade and the world beyond would bring.
Yet the greatest pleasure of being a fifth grade teacher didn't come from the kind, humorous musings of her pupils, but from one solid truth – this was a big moment in the life of a child. Emma knew that the sweet spot between ages ten and eleven was often the critical point where a kid either decided they liked school or became disillusioned and uninterested.
It all went past academics too of course, and Emma often found she was just as involved in helping these kids socialize and blossom into the people they would become. All of her students sat on the fence between childhood and their teenage years to come, and it was this last moment of being a kid where they all deserved to feel special the most.
The experiences Emma's students had this year in particular would inform their futures in a way unlike the rest of elementary school and Emma wanted to prove to every pupil in her care that they belonged and that they mattered. She'd had the good fortune of finding Storybrooke and her friends when she was in fifth grade years ago, and she worked all year long to make sure all of her students found their same sense of fitting in. If her intuition proved correct, she'd been successful in that this year, and that was the most rewarding part of her job.
Emma felt tears stinging her eyes, and she wondered at why she was possibly getting this choked up, only to realize that the drama and intrigue of her life outside of these walls was haunting her as it had been since coming home from Vegas. The usual bit of loneliness of summer was only going to be amplified by the loss of Killian.
Much as Emma tried to avoid the feelings and the memories that she and Killian created days back, she was more often than not helpless to the onslaught. In her waking hours over the past few days, Emma's mind wandered endlessly back to the moments they'd shared. She had to work hard to fend them off by distracting herself with work, chores, or friends. At night, when the sun went down and Emma found herself alone at home, it only got worse. She'd faced two nights without him and both of them started with restless anxiety that melded into sleep filled entirely with dreams about him.
The dreams would start off as incredible flashes of the chemistry and pull between the two of them, filled with heat but still sincerity. Killian's steady blue gaze was always locked on Emma, admiring her and seeing past the surface every time. His touch felt just as raw and real as it had in real life, but then the dreams would devolve into the reality that he wasn't here anymore. Emma had run from him, and now whatever might have been between them was nothing more than fantastic remembrances of a could-have-been love story.
Jesus, Emma, pull it together! He's just a man. She tried chastising herself into some kind of control. It was one night with a guy she barely even knew. Why was she wallowing like she'd just lost her only chance at happiness?
The sinking feeling that was becoming all too common in her life came back at the thought. It was steadily becoming a fear for Emma, that her life would forever be consumed by this big what-if. She doubted she'd ever get any sort of closure on Killian but while that was regrettable, it was also reality. Whatever happened that night in Vegas it was over, and Emma needed to get the hell over it.
"Ready for lunch, Ems?"
Belle's voice from the doorway made Emma jump. Emma hadn't expected her friend, wrapped up in her own thoughts as she was. She looked quickly back to the bulletin board, seeing that she'd successfully gotten the last of it all in her box while she'd been thinking of Killian.
Taking one last look around the rest of her classroom, Emma decided that everything was in order and that she could safely close the door on her life here for the summer months. She just needed to bring the last of these boxes to her car and with Belle's help that was an easily completed task.
The two friends made their way from the classroom to Emma's classic yellow bug and packed the last of the boxes away just as Mary Margaret was making her way outside. Luckily for Mary Margaret, she had her handsome, doting husband to carry most of her things. David Nolan greeted Belle and Emma jovially before turning back to his wife.
"I'm assuming that tradition still holds for the end of the year lunch?" Mary Margaret nodded.
"Yup. No boys allowed." David grinned, pulling Mary Margaret closer to whisper something (probably a reminder that he wasn't a boy), which then prompted Emma's friend to blush a little. Mary Margaret smiled and gave David a quick kiss before he waved goodbye and headed out himself.
Emma must have seen a thousand interactions like that over the years between Mary Margaret and David, but today it hurt in a way like she'd never noticed before. In the past, she often felt a little longing or maybe the tiniest smidge of jealousy. They were true love, the kind that didn't come around too often in the real world, and Emma liked the idea of it, even if she never believed it possible.
Now her hand moved to the pocket of her sundress where the ring Killian had given her was safely waiting. Emma wouldn't wear it out in public, because their marriage wasn't real and she had no intention of telling anyone about it, but she couldn't bear to be too far from it. Sad and embarrassing as it was, she'd even worn it the last two nights when she went to sleep. It was the only thing that would calm some of her restlessness.
"Emma did you hear me?" Mary Margaret's voice brought Emma out of her head again.
"Sorry, what did you say?" Belle and Mary Margaret exchanged a look.
"Are you alright, Emma? You seem kind of… lost or something." Emma nodded and gestured around awkwardly.
"Yeah I'm fine. You know how I get at the end of summer." Both friend's considered a minute before nodding and Belle intertwined her arm with Emma's.
"Well maybe a grilled cheese will make it better." Emma smiled, adding that onion rings were needed as well, and the three friends set out to meet up with Ruby and Elsa at Granny's like they always did at the end of every term.
All the while, Mary Margaret regaled Emma and Belle with things they missed while in Vegas over the weekend. Being the wife of the sheriff always came with certain advantages for Mary Margaret, and one of them was knowing all the most ridiculous stories about what kind of emergency calls came in a town with a relatively non existent crime rate.
This weekend's installment included three separate reports about wandering sheep in the grocery store parking lot, a domestic disagreement between old Mrs. Hubbard and her teenage grandson that ended with the old woman throwing all his shoes in the Storybrooke River, and one of the local townies, Leroy, calling the station while drunk to complain about street lights being too bright.
Though it was a run of the mill weekend in Storybrooke terms, Emma found comfort in each story, laughing for the first time since the weekend. And though it wasn't even remotely enough to make her forget her own heart ache, being with her friends did ease the pain, which was all she could really ask for.
….
ETA 10 minutes. The GPS in the car Killian was driving had been steadily guiding him for nearly six hours now and with each passing minute, the time to arrival grew smaller and smaller. It reassured him like nothing else could, and Killian had started to take comfort in the number, despite his growing impatience to see Emma. He might not be there yet, but he would be soon and then he'd get to see his Swan again.
Life had gotten in the way of his attempts to get back to Emma, and though he'd originally planned to find her yesterday, he hadn't been granted the opportunity to until today. Even that had been a stretch, and Killian's hands tightened on the wheel as he thought back to the madness he'd endured to get here.
"Killian are you out of your mind? You married that woman without a shred of information on who she was or what she does? Hell did you even have her sign anything? A prenup, an NDA? Anything?!" Liam's words had been frantic while also carrying a tone of disgust. Killian's older brother could not comprehend any of the good news Killian had shared. Then again, Killian never really expected him to.
"I don't need any of that. Emma's different." All it would take for Liam to understand was meeting Emma, but they didn't have the chance, and the more Liam fought against his choices, the angrier Killian became.
"You've known her a handful of hours, brother. Forgive me for saying this but you don't know a bloody thing about her!"
"I know I love her, and I know there's nothing you're going to say that will keep me from her." Liam gawked for a moment only to throw his hands up in frustration.
"Can you even hear yourself right now? You sound ridiculous. You got married in Vegas. You were drunk, or stupid, or maybe both, but you did not fall in love. No we're getting this annulled before it puts the company at risk. Do you have any idea what this woman could do to us?"
"If you're so worried about the company you can have it. Get the papers drafted and I'll sign it off to you." Killian stood from his chair, finished listening to his brother disrespect him and his wife any longer and watched as Liam just stared at him.
"You're not serious."
"Try me." Then Killian left, and angry and resentful at his brother as he'd been, Killian didn't want to come find Emma. He needed to get through those ugly feelings and to do so he'd sought out his oldest friend, Will Scarlet.
In the end Will had been exactly the person Killian needed, giving him the response Killian wanted in the first place. Was Will surprised by the marriage? Very. But he was happy for Killian because he knew him, and he knew Killian needed more than success and money to make him happy.
Instead of being blinded by working and business as Liam was, Killian wanted more and he'd found that with Emma. Will had then insisted celebration of some sort was in order and made a pretty terrible memory with his brother something of the past. Killian was lucky to have Will, and heeded his friend's advice to drive here to Storybrooke instead of taking the company jet.
It would no doubt take time to convince Emma to come back to New York with him, so he'd packed up some things, found a place to stay with the help of his assistants and set off to find Emma again. He wasn't bringing the excess and the grandeur with him. Instead he was going to make Emma see the man behind what the rest of the world saw. She'd seen him, seen the real Killian, when they were together before. All he wanted was that feeling back again.
When he passed the sign that welcomed him to Storybrooke, Killian felt the hope he'd found with Emma returning again. This was Emma's home, and she was here, somewhere in the confines of this place. Now all he had to do was find her.
One luxury of sorts that a town this tiny provided was the lack of places she might actually be. According to the research Killian procured from Jefferson before his departure for Maine, there were a handful of shops along the main street, the school where Emma worked, and her home. Other than that there were a couple parks and a beach, but nothing overwhelming. Killian would find her, and until then he'd fill the time taking in this place she called home.
New places never really excited Killian in the way that they seemed to animate other people, probably because of the excessive amount of travel he'd had to undertake for his business, but he had to admit, Storybrooke Maine held something that captivated him. It wasn't just that it was the home of his lovely, runaway bride either. There seemed to be something in the air here, something he couldn't put his finger on but sensed was welcoming.
Emma's hometown was small; most people might call it quaint with the way it strayed away from too much modernity. Small houses were congested toward the center of town, but larger homes lurked on the outskirts, and from nearly everywhere there was some kind of view of the sea.
The difference between this little community on the coast of Maine and his home in New York was undeniable, and yet Killian felt something here. There was peace and quiet for one thing, and fresh air, which the city always seemed to lack, but it was more than that. Storybrooke was filled with people who looked happy and genuinely glad to be here. No place he'd ever been could boast the same thing so unequivocally.
Despite his original intention to locate the house where he'd been staying, Killian decided to park on the main street and get a better feel for the place as a whole. He could likely find someone who knew Emma, hell in a town this small they should all know each other, and then maybe he could see her that much sooner. Killian could only hope.
And then it happened. As if he'd willed Emma into appearing, Killian heard her laugh, the one that had been sounding in his head since waking up to find her gone. He turned to see her there across the street, awash in the light of this beautiful day. Emma was with two other women, friends of hers if he recalled correctly from the brief glances he'd spared them on that fateful night, and she looked almost too perfect. Killian froze in the middle of the sidewalk, completely ensnared by the sight of her.
The yellow of the dress Emma had on and the sweater she wore over it to fend off the coastal breeze looked exactly like the makings of a schoolteacher. With her hair tied back and her eyes smiling, Killian pictured her in a classroom, bestowing that same look on the children she taught. He imagined her cheeks would flush with that little tint of pink that came when she was excited, and that her voice would sound the way it had in moments where she was happy but still controlled. God he missed her voice.
They hadn't had nearly enough time to talk on the night they met, but when he did get Emma to open up she'd spoken so much about what her students meant to her. He wanted to know more, to see it first hand and to watch the light in her eyes he had no doubt appeared every time Emma made some sort of progress with her pupils.
From there Killian wanted everything, every part of her life here, and then he wanted to see she always had it. Damn his plan to go back to New York, Emma was happy here and he would see to it that she stayed that way only now with him by her side.
Killian continued to watch her and saw that the smile Emma gave to her friends after her melodic laugh was genuine, if not as full the one's she'd given him in Vegas. Killian suddenly had the urge to bring that same brightness back to life for her. All Emma had to do was let him in.
As Emma and her friends made their way down the rest of the street, closer to him by the second, Killian kept thinking Emma might see him, might look up and catch his stare across the way, but she was led into a retro looking diner and then the world was lacking again. Emma was gone and Killian missed her, even if she was so close.
"You alright there, buddy?" Killian tore his gaze from the door that Emma just walked through to see a smiling man who was wearing a badge and a holstered gun. He must be the sheriff or something.
"Aye." Well technically Killian wasn't alright, but he would be momentarily, just as soon as he was with Emma again.
"You're not lost or anything?" The man asked and Killian shook his head.
"No mate, I'm exactly where I need to be."
"Well alright then." The man's smile grew wider and he nodded before heading off in the other direction. Unwilling to wait any longer Killian stepped forward, anxiously anticipating the reuniting that was about to come.
….
After a few days apart it only took sixty seconds for the friends to fall right back in the thick of their bond. This group of five was so far beyond the pleasantries of less intertwined friend groups, and with barely a greeting and a quick check-in from Granny that they all wanted their regular order, they were off to the races. Before she knew it Emma was holding back a bit of laughter as she so often did with her friends.
"So you're telling me that you have not left the house since we got back days ago?" Elsa asked, shocked at Ruby's claim, as Ruby nodded with a wicked grin on her face.
"Graham missed me."
That was all Emma's best friend said, the rest of them understood Ruby's implied meaning. Two days away meant two days to play so to speak, and since Ruby still had time off from the bar, it was all rather feasible that the two of them would stay cooped up in the house to get reacquainted. In fact, it was exactly what Emma expected knowing both Ruby and Graham.
"And you missed him too, Ruby. Admit it, Vegas was fun but you got a little home sick." Ruby flipped her hair over her shoulder at Mary Margaret's words.
"Why would I deny that? Of course I missed him. You don't marry guys you don't want to be with."
Emma's heart thumped loudly in her chest in an almost painful way. There wasn't really any way to gauge what she'd wanted from Killian. There simply wasn't enough time. Or maybe there was, and Emma just didn't get what she wanted in the end. Emma sipped on her water as a means of distracting herself from the thoughts. It didn't matter anyway. She was just arguing with herself in circles at this point.
"I want someone to miss. My best part of coming home was that episode of the Great British Baking Show on my DVR. Maybe I should get a cat. The unmarried always start up a cat collection." Emma shouldn't have taken comfort in Belle's sad lament, but she kind of had to. It was just a little too funny to ignore.
"You are not getting a cat. If you do we're done."
Now Emma did laugh again. Ruby, despite her usually easy going ways had a few all-time nos. Cats were on that list for reasons no one could really ascertain. She always just insisted she was a dog person and left it at that. And no, she wouldn't actually cut Belle out of her life over a new furry friend, but the words achieved their objective, to make Belle laugh and pull her from her wallowing.
"One of my students wished for me to get a puppy this summer," Emma added casually. Now that she thought about it, it might be really nice to have a dog around. Like Belle said, it would mean someone to come home to.
"Oh shit!" Ruby practically yelled and Emma looked at her friend curiously.
"I know it's a lot of work but maybe -,"
"Your pirate is here," Belle hissed.
"My what?" Then the same feeling Emma had in Vegas came, the one that felt like someone was watching her, and she knew. Killian was here. Only how was that possible?
Emma was the last of her friends to turn his way, but crazy and surreal as it was, he was here, and the sight of him sent her whole body on high alert. Suddenly Emma could feel everything all at once, and all the emotions that had been clinging to her since she met him were all colliding into one. It only got worse when she saw how good he looked.
No good was not the word, because whoever this man was he was not the fancy, suit-wearing gentleman she'd met in Vegas. He was wearing black jeans, a black t-shirt and – damn it all to hell – a black leather jacket. Emma thought she might pass out at the sight. How could he possibly look better right now, and how could he be just as much himself in this outfit as he had been when they met?
"Oh my God he's coming over!" Mary Margaret made a squeaking sound after her stage whisper and Emma felt her mouth go dry.
Killian's eyes remained trained on her the entire walk over and Emma felt like her body was on fire. She couldn't remember a moment where she'd ever been this embarrassed or turned on in her life. It was the most bizarre combination, but she couldn't seem to make heads or tails of what was going on, as if her heart was on the fritz or something.
"Hi." All Killian said was one word but it was the right one. Simple, sweet, and the exact first greeting she'd said to him when they met.
"Well hello there," Ruby said cheekily as Emma kicked her friend under the table and kept her eyes on Killian.
"What are you doing here?" That was absolutely not the cool, calm, and collected response she'd been hoping for, but Killian grinned, and that smile sent her already overworking heart into full-blown spasms. Emma was so ridiculously gone over this guy and when he was here in the flesh there was no denying that.
"Finding you, love."
Emma heard the murmurs of her friends, who somehow had even less chill than she did, but Emma tried to avoid it. She'd get out of the booth if she wasn't sandwiched inside and absolutely convinced Ruby was going nowhere. She could crawl out from under the table, but how much more dignity could she really afford to lose.
"Well you found me. Is there a part b to the plan, or…" Killian laughed and then nodded.
"Aye, Swan. It involves dinner tonight. Just the two of us."
"She'll go!" All of her friends said at once only for Killian to shake his head, his blue eyes still locked on Emma.
"It has to be your choice love." Emma felt how much he meant the words. Killian never seemed to have any problem being honest and just saying what he meant and how he felt. It was intoxicating, and impossible to resist for someone like her.
"Yes." Killian grinned again.
"Excellent. I'll pick you up at seven."
With that, Killian bid Emma and her friend's goodbye, winning them over with his charm and accent and Emma was left gaping after him, still shell shocked from the whole ordeal. He was out the door before she even thought about the fact that he shouldn't know where she lived. Then again he'd found her, clearly he had resources of some kind.
"Emma you totally held out on us!"
"You said it was nothing!"
"A one time thing!"
Emma held her hands up, silencing her friends to the best of her ability as she tried to catch her breath. She needed to fill them in, but the question was how much she should tell them. Before Emma could say anything though Mary Margaret interrupted.
"He's wearing a ring, Emma - a wedding ring. I think you need to call this off." Well now the choice was made it seemed. This was the downfall of having such perceptive friends.
"He's married?!" Ruby yelled, vexed at the very thought.
"He's not really married – at least I don't think." Her friends looked liable to interrupt again and Emma whispered. "I gave him the ring. And he gave me this one."
Emma produced the ring from her pocket and now, for the first time since sitting down there was silence from the lot of her friends. Emma stared at the ring before her, her fingers itching to put it on now that she knew Killian was wearing his, but it still didn't make sense to her. They definitely had not gotten married. She'd remember signing something or – something, right? It wasn't real.
Unless it was.
"You. Got. Married. And. You. Didn't. Tell. Us." Each word was separated by mini spurts of air as Ruby said the sentence, as if her friend was close o hyperventilating, and Emma shook her head.
"I don't think we really did."
"Were there vows?" Emma nodded at Elsa's question.
"A justice of the peace?" Belle asked and again Emma nodded.
"Did you say 'I do'?"
"Yes. But that doesn't mean it was real. It was just one night, just a crazy moment." The words sounded hollow even to Emma's ears.
"Oh my God you're in love with him." Emma winced at Ruby's realization. She looked at her friend and suddenly Ruby was taking her hand, holding tight. Ruby more than anyone knew how absolutely petrifying that prospect was for Emma. She didn't let people in, definitely not men, and yet Killian had managed somehow to get to her.
"I didn't think I'd ever see him again. This wasn't supposed to happen." Ruby nodded, telling Emma she understood as Elsa chimed in.
"But it did, Emma. It happened and he's here now."
"And he clearly loves you. I mean did you see him?" Emma's heart leapt at the prospect.
"I don't know guys -,"
"What's your gut telling you?" That was the question of the hour, and Emma took a second to just listen to her heart and what she wanted. In the end she already knew her answer.
"I trust him."
"Well then what the hell are we all sitting here for? We have to find you a dress in the next…" Ruby checked her watch, "five hours. We got to go!"
Ruby started standing up only for Granny to wave at her from behind the counter and stop that impulse.
"Not so fast. You ordered lunch and it's almost ready. That good-looking man will keep. Eat first, plan later." Ruby sat back down grumbling her disapproval, but they all listened to Granny and Emma's friends filled the rest of lunch speculating about Killian and the date and Emma's future.
Emma didn't hear much of their ramblings. She was trying to understand how her world had changed this quickly while praying it would never go back to what it was before. If Killian was here maybe it meant that he would stay, and the fluttering of hope that came when Emma imagined such a thing could be true was all the sign she needed to know that she really wanted him.
Killian made her wish that for once she might not be alone, and if she just gave this a chance, Emma knew he would make it worth her while. She trusted him, and now she just had to wait and see where that trust would take them.
Post-Note: Easily the most fun part of this story is that I have absolutely no idea how I'm going to go about getting to the end. There will be a happily ever after. It will be adorable and cute and probably smut filled, and yet where I go from here is all up in the air. I have no idea how long or short it will be, but I guess that will become more apparent once I better track the story. I'd love to hear what you guys think and I am totally open for some suggestions. I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and thank you so much for reading!