A/N: So originally I was going to wait to post this part with the victory party scene but my muse has taken a turn towards Irish Swan Trio (Killian/Emma/Graham), so I've been working on that. I'm going to try and work on this story again this week but I felt you guys deserved this scene. If you follow me on tumblr you may have already read it but if you don't then you are in for some feels! Thanks everyone who followed/reviewed/favorited!
Also I'm changing the name to Hearts On Fire so be aware of that change. The title is inspired by the song "Love Like This" by Wild Belle. It's an amazing song. You should listen to it. It made me want to make a fanmix for this story. I've already got some other songs to put it on it!
He can't get her out of his head. All his dreams and fantasies over the past few days have been interrupted by her blond hair and stubborn mouth. He keeps telling himself it's because of the fire, because he's associating both of them with flames that he keeps interchanging the two, but deep down he knows it's more than that. There is something about her that makes him curious, makes him want to know her, and that must be why, for the first time in how many years, he gets himself out of the house for something besides work.
When he arrives, the place is packed. The election for sheriff has been a major topic of interest for this small town and it seems everyone has showed up to witness the debate first hand. Jas finds himself a lone seat between an older gentlemen sporting a white beard and two seemingly twin sisters. The farther sister raises her eyes to his and smiles at him suggestively as he scoots passed people toward the middle of the row. Reflexively his lips turn up crookedly and he catches her bite her lip in response before he takes his seat. It's been a long time; so long that he had almost forgotten that his empty bed is a choice, not a curse . Once he had been a one night stand kind of guy, one that flourished in that particular lifestyle . He had enjoyed being with many women and not caring to stick to any one for very long, but that was before Milah, before he fell madly in love with her. Flashes of his love cross through his mind; her dark raven hair, her piercing blue eyes, her rambunctious laugh, they way she was just as fierce and commanding as him, and they way he awoke to her body in his arms perfectly formed against his own. Suddenly there is a slight clench on his heart as if someone is squeezing it. All his pain rushes back in and his one hand grabs for his prosthetic one crushing his wrist under a tight grasp.
He leans back in his chair suddenly a bit overwhelmed by the crowd of people. He shouldn't have come. What had he been thinking? This was all too much too fast. He needed to get out of there before he completely loses it and exposes the town to the shipwreck of his heart.
Anxious and slightly disappointed he drops his hands and prepares to stand but under his lashes he catches a movement on stage and he sees her, the Swan girl, peeking through the curtains. One strong and loud thud beats in his chest and the pain consuming him a moment ago leaves, forgotten. He can't make out the expression on her face but it doesn't matter, he continues to watch her anyway, a light smile forming on his lips. He decides to stay.
About ten minutes later the crowd settles down and a man nervously makes his way over to the podium..He introduces himself as the candidates step out from back stage, "Welcome everybody. My name is Archie Hopper, and I'll be your coordinator for tonight's debate."
Swan waves to the crowd barely forming a believable smile before taking her seat. As soon as she's seated she starts fiddling with her leather. The movements are small but he see them. He can tell she's trying to hide her nerves but she is doing a crap job of it.
He hears an assortment of whispers and looks over to find the twins with their heads locked together.
"Ugh, I can't believe they are letting that jail bird run for sheriff," he hears one of the two say and his fist clenches in response.
"I know. She's probably just running to keep herself on the outside of the bars," the other responses laughing pathetically at what she thinks is clever wit. He has an urge to invade their conversation and defend her, but he doesn't remembering he barely knows the woman himself and if it wasn't for a discussion he overheard at work he wouldn't have even know she had been in jail. Luckily his angry doesn't have time to fester as their commentary is cut short by the coordinator continuing his introduction.
"Tragedy has brought us here but we are faced with this decision and now we ask only that you listen with an open mind, and to please vote with your conscience. So without further ado I would like to introduce you to the candidates, Sydney Glass and Emma Swan. Glass. Swan. Sounds like someone a decorator would make you buy." The man laughs but the joke receives nothing more than the crowd's silence and Jas's cocked eyebrow.
"Wow. Crickets." the coordinator comments on his failed attempt to be comedic. "Ok, uh," he coughs, clearing his throat, "um Sydney Glass, your opening statement."
For the first time Jas takes a good look at Swan's competition, he had seen pictures of him on campaign posters but hadn't had the occasion to meet the man. The man is primped and prepared like a politician, dressed in a fine suit and wearing a genuine smile on his face that sports an odd mix of innocence and confidence.
"I just want to say that if elected, I want to serve as a reflection of the best qualities of Storybrooke: honesty, neighborliness, and strength. Thank you." Glass gives his statement slowly pronouncing each word delicately, a technique Jas believes he's doing it for emphasis until he realizes the man is reciting the statement from memory.
The crowd erupts, clapping generously as Glass leaves the podium and Jas's eyes reflexively return to her. Any effort of concealment has been removed from her face as he finds she is lost in a thought that is making her share a rather unpleasant expression. He wonders what exactly has got her so worried. Before he had thought she was just displaying the usual jitters one feels before getting up in front of a crowd but that wouldn't warrant the current look on her face. Something bigger must be troubling her.
"And Emma Swan," the coordinator says after the clapping has died down. Swan looks up at the sound of her name and takes a noticeable breath before making her way to the podium. Her hands clutch it's sides as if she's holding on to it as an anchor.
"You guys all know I have what they call a uh, troubled past but have been able to overlook it because of the um, hero thing. But here's the thing, the fire was a set up."
At that moment everything clicked: her horror struck face when he showed her the rope, her frustration at his prying, her sudden urge to run away with evidence, and why she has been a complete nervous wreak on stage this evening. He had been right, she had known who started the fire the instant he revealed the cause.
"Mr. Gold agreed to support me in this race but I didn't know that that meant he was going to set a fire. I don't have definitive evidence but I'm sure, and the worst part of all of this was, the worst part of all of this is that I let you all think it was real."
Everyone in the crowd is mumbling and aghast but all he sees is Swan's lips fall into a defined frown . This confession is breaking her but she is going through with it anyway, knowing full well that it might cost her dearly.
"And I can't win that way. I'm sorry," she says pleading at someone sitting in the front row, specifically apologizing to them.
Amongst the silence, the man he recognizes as Mr. Gold pushes himself up with his cane and makes his way towards the exit. Jas counts his blessings that he's never actually had a single conversation with the man, given all the horrifying things he's heard about him. He knows that he owns most of the town and isn't opposed to using that power to be cruel, but more importantly he knows that the man is not used to being defied and Swan here has just smoked him out. If he hadn't had admiration for this woman before he certainly did now.
The rest of the debate is uneventful. Although Emma can't shake the defeat from her voice, she answers each question without hesitation or pause, demonstrating she is in fact very knowledgeable about law enforcement. Glass's answers are as equally convincing, however, like his opening statement sound recited word for word from a very detailed script.
When the debate comes to a close and the final closing statement is made, Swan decidedly doesn't stick around, practically running off the stage as if she's already lost and is sparing the town her embarrassment.
"Well," the coordinator returns to the microphone after both Swan and Glass have exited the hall. " I believe we have the okay to go ahead and vote. Ballots and pens are being passed around. Please check the box next to the name of the candidate you want to vote for and then place your ballad into the box that is placed up here in the front.
Ballots are passed down the row and the twin sitting to his left passes him a stack with an overly sexual smile, which after her and her sister's comment s makes him feel utterly repugnant. He takes it from her and quickly slips one off the top for himself before handing them over the elderly gentlemen to his right. He smiles down at the piece of paper in front of him and decidedly checks the box next to Emma Swan's name. Delicately he folds the paper in half and follows the man next to him out of the row. It seems the majority of the crowd had no problem making a decision for there is already a long line to the drop box at the front.
When it's his turn he deposits his ballot through the slit of the handcrafted wooden box and steps off the side unsure whether or not he should stay for the outcome. He certainly isn't about to return to his seat, he'd rather do just about anything than willingly put himself back into the vicinity of those two rather judgmental twins. He walks towards the back of the room where there are groups of people are standing around chatting is hushed whispers. There is an empty space on the wall next to a couple who are standing awkwardly next to each other. He leans back shifting some of his weight to the wall and crosses his arms before taking a quick survey of the room realizing that to him practically everyone is a stranger.
"So do you have any other plans for the rest of the evening?" he overhears the tall and muscular man next to him ask the woman he is quite clearly being nervous around.
"Granny said that she is going to hold a victory party in her back room for whoever wins." the woman answers. "I'm going to head over there if Emma wins, and if she doesn't I'll probably head back to the apartment. I want to be there for her when she gets back. I'm a little afraid of what could happen if she doesn't win. When she was fired she destroyed the toaster and well I don't think our appliances can handle any more damage."
"She destroyed the toaster?" he asks.
"Yeah." she laughs. "I can' really be mad at her. She did warn me that she wasn't exactly the roommate type."
Jas notices that the awkwardness between them has faded and he glances over to them to find them much closer to each other. Before he has any time to think further into the drastic change between them, he hears the coordinators voice loudly broadcasted over the microphone.
