not too long of a wait for you all, i hope? i did hope to get this out sooner, but if you follow me on tumblr you'd know that i've been moving, and it's taken me a couple of weeks to get the internet, and i get no signal where i live which sucks, ugh. anyway, updating should be back to normal again now.

however, just a warning that i move into university on the 17th of september, so there may be a few days, where i don't update, and i'm not around much, but it won't be for long, i promise. even if updating may be slightly slower, when i start. anyways, i hope you all like this one!

- shauna! xo

By the time Emma has finished her story of that night, she's stopped crying, the silent tears halting and that's not the only thing that has halted. Her, Ruby and Mary Margaret have found themselves pausing in their stroll, and near the lake on the camping grounds. There's a few big rocks to at the side of them, where they'd stopped, and Ruby has taken to sprawling across one, with Mary Margaret resting lightly on a slightly smaller one.

"God," Ruby groans dramatically before she wipes a hand over her forehead, making the other two roll their eyes. "Have we been walking forever?"

Emma snorts.

"Barely," she mutters. "About an hour and a half. How unfit are you?"

A sinful smile crosses Ruby's red lips, and her eyes light up with mischief.

"I'm sure Victor would attest to how very fit I am," Ruby tells her, and Emma groans in response.

Emma lets that settle as she climbs up onto the highest rock, and she sighs deeply to herself as she sits herself down, her arms wrapping around her knees tightly and hugging them to her chest, her lips pressing tightly together. When she looks up, she finds two pairs of eyes on her.

Mary Margaret seems to be soft, whilst Ruby's seem to be hard.

"Emma," Mary Margaret begins, her voice purposefully soft. "Have you talked to him?"

Emma shrugs, because what is the right answer to that?

"Sort of," Emma tells her. "We spoke some on the way here."

"And you still haven't resolved it?"

"There's nothing to resolve," Emma tells her firmly, her tone hard. "We kissed, once upon a time, and he thought the worst when he saw me with Neal the next morning. Nothing more, and nothing less. It's not like we ever dated. We never even went on one date."

Ruby's eyes have turned to the floor, and her eyes seem to be burning into the grass.

"I knew he was an asshole," she mutters.

Emma watches as Mary Margaret's head snaps around to her, and Emma's eyes narrow in response, too, and she wants to jump into Killian's defense too. Although, between what has happened between them, she's not entirely sure why.

"Ruby," she hears Mary Margaret hiss.

Ruby's head snaps up, and she raises an eyebrow in response.

"What?" the brunette bites back. "He is, if what I'm hearing is any indication. I've never truly liked him, no matter how pretty his blue eyes are."

Emma's eyes narrow, but it's not in Killian's defense. Rather, it's at the last comment. She's not blind, she knows Killian's hot, but the way the sentence is said, makes her think that something more had happened between Ruby and Killian. Maybe she's wrong, but she feels a churn of jealousy stirring in her stomach. She bites that back, and presses her lips together as she stares back at Ruby, her eyebrows raised in question.

"And it sounds as though Emmas is just as much to blame," Mary Margaret points out. "You should not judge him, merely based on those actions alone."

Ruby's eyes narrow and she glares just as Emma murmurs, "Excuse me?"

Mary Margaret's eyes roll, as she twists back to face Emma.

"Maybe he did jump to conclusions," she is saying, slowly, and her eyes are wide, her tone careful, as she stares at her friend. "But can you deny that you would not have done the same, in his position?"

And Emma has to give her points for that, for knowing her so well, because she probably would, and Mary Margaret knows that. After everything she's been through, it makes it hard to trust anyone, and the only reason she trusts her small group of friends, is probably because they've been around so long, and proved that she can rely on them, time and time again.

So, Emma presses her lips together in response, humming underneath her breath, as her eyes drop to the floor, though she still feels Mary Margaret's eyes on her.

"And to me, it sounds as though you are just as much to blame for everything that has transpired since then," Mary Margaret continues, and she can't disagree with that, Emma supposes. "You could have spoken to him, and you were the one that suddenly turned nasty after that night, even if you didn't fully understand why he didn't show up, just as late."

Emma's eyes are cutting as they glare at her friend.

"Just as he could have said something too," Emma accuses.

Mary Margaret nods, and Ruby remains uncharacteristically quiet.

"Absolutely," she agrees. "But my point being you could have, also. And can you blame him, for immediately jumping to conclusions? When the two of you barely knew each other, then, and a lot has happened since then, and a lot of not particularly nice exchanges have been made. Unnecessarily, as it turns out, and you are completely not innocent in that, as you know."

"Neither is he." Honestly, she feels like a little child getting scolded by her mother, but she can't help but point it out.

Mary Margaret pointedly ignores her and continues speaking, "I'd like to think that you could remain friends. Be civil to each other, at the very least, and since the two of you will be spending some time around each other, you could at least pretend to get along. And who knows? As you get to know each other more, you may find that you like him, and he you."

Emma pauses, as she lets that settle, and her fingers curl in on themselves, her fingernails digging into the soft skin of her palms. When she looks up, she finds Ruby's eyes on her.

"Outside the bedroom that is," Ruby tells her, with a malicious grin.

Emma's eyes narrow.

"I told you," she tells her between gritted teeth. "We never went that far."

Ruby hums, "So you say."

Emma glares at her friend, and she pauses before she adds, "We never even went up to my room."

Ruby smirks, and looks as though she's about to add more, before Mary Margaret buts in.

"At the very least," Mary Margret is saying. "You could try to get along for the weekend. We are all going to be stuck together for a while, as it is."

Emma lets her lips twists up into a small smile, and she's about to but in before she sees Mary Margaret's head swipe around to face Ruby once more.

"And you," she says in a tone that is reminiscent of a mother telling off a child, as she turns to face Ruby with a slight glare to her face. "You will not make this any worse, between the two of them, and you will not be tormenting Killian."

Ruby's eyes widen, and a look of false innocence crosses her face, her lips pursing as she stares up at her friend.

"Me?" Ruby asks, her eyes purposefully wide. "Never."

Mary Margaret smiles slightly, but her eyes are still slightly narrowed, as she stares.

"I mean it, Ruby," Mary Margaret tells her, though her tone is soft. "All you've heard is from Emma. You don't know his side, and you most certainly do not know what he's been through. If you saw Victor with his ex-girlfriend, wouldn't you jump to conclusions?"

Emma watches as Ruby's jaw tightens and she begrudgingly nods, though the cords in her neck are stiff.

"I guess," Ruby mutters, though Emma can tell it's forced.

"Exactly," Mary Margaret nods. "And you have no idea what he's been through, and if what David tells me is true, Killian is just as damaged as the best of us."

Emma's head snaps to the side.

"And what exactly has David told you?" Emma asks, her question soft.

Mary Margaret's eyes catch hers and she bites her lip, as she seems to hesitate, before answering softly.

"Not much," her friend admits. "Whenever I ask, David merely says that Killian has been through a lot in his years, and that he reminds him of you in that respect, but he's never gone into much detail. He says it's Killian's business, and if wants to tell anyone he will do so himself."

Emma's lips press together, and she nods slightly, at Mary Margaret's smile.

She thinks they're done, so she stands up off the rock, and makes a move to walk forward, but a call of her name has her turning around.

"Emma?"

"Yeah?" she hums, as she twists around.

"Go easy on the guy," Mary Margaret tells her, and she finds Ruby nodding.

"Excuse me?"

Mary Margaret shrugs.

"I have a feeling he's really into you, and you can be rather... difficult, sometimes, even if you feel the same, which I suspect you do."

Emma sighs deeply, and she lets her eyes drift up as she murmurs, "I do."

Ruby grins once more.

"I knew it! I knew you had the hots for Killian," Ruby tells her, her smile cutting into her cheeks.

Emma rolls her eyes.

"I thought you didn't like him?" Emma asks.

Ruby shrugs. "I'll not deny that he's a bit of an asshole, but a hot one, nonetheless, and one you seemingly have a thing for."

Emma hums, and let's that settle, shaking her head slightly.

Ruby speaks up again, though, "So what are you waiting for?"

"I don't know," Emma sighs. "I really don't."

Because she doesn't, not anymore. Because, seriously, what the hell was she doing anyway? Staying away and sending out hurtful responses wasn't helping anybody, and by the looks of things, it had hurt Killian as much as it had hurt her, and maybe, just maybe, it was time to leave the past in the past.

When she looks up, Ruby's eyes are back on hers, though there's a softness that wasn't there before, as her head tips to the side.

"So, don't."

Maybe she won't.

She smiles, her lips twitching, and she lets out a long breath.

"Okay."

-/-

The three of them decide to head back to where they'd decided to camp not a few minutes later, and it doesn't take them very long, with Ruby finding a short cut, thank the heavens, all of them muttering about how they'd hoped the tents were up.

Ruby rolls her eyes.

"My expectations aren't very high," Ruby muses, shaking her brown hair slightly. "They're all useless at anything like that."

Emma laughs quietly, because she would have paid to see them trying to put the tents up. She'd never seen Killian or Victor trying to put one up, but she knew David would fail miserably.

Five minutes later, and they're there to find the sky turning dark. They must have been gone longer than Emma had realised, and the boys are all sat on different logs, circled around a fire, and honestly, Emma's almost impressed at that. She watches as Ruby and Mary Margaret share a secret smile and Mary Margaret murmurs something in her ear, before she goes to join David, and then she joins Killian on a log, a smile pulling at her lips, as she goes to sit beside him.

She immediately goes to intertwine their fingers, tugging on his hand slightly, a smile pulling at her lips when she sees him inhale sharply in response, shock clearly radiating from his features as his head snaps in her direction.

"Hey," she manages to get out, coming out more breathy than she intended.

She smiles slightly, when his lips twist up into a smile when he looks down at their hands.

"Hey yourself," he murmurs back.

She smiles back, which widens, when he shoots her a grin.

She sits back slightly, shuffling into his side, in what she hopes is subtle. She knows he's hesitating, wanting to say something, before he speaks up once more.

"You do realise we're sharing a tent, don't you?" He asks her.

She smiles, at that, her head twisting so that she can get a good look at his face, because even now, after everything that was said, he's still trying to be nice. A perfect gentleman, as he'd once claimed that he was. Emma always saw him for more of a rascal, but she can't deny that he has good form, at the very least.

"Yeah," she sighs, and she runs a hand through her messy blonde curls, because Mary Margaret had mentioned it on their stroll back, as Ruby had sent her a lingering smirk, and a wink. "Mary Margaret let it slip. Ruby wasn't happy that she did, she's still convinced that I'm going to go home, but then I had to find out eventually, as Mary Margaret puts it."

Which was true. Ruby didn't exactly want her to know, as they'd walked back, but she'd eventually shrugged, and said that if she wanted to jump Killian's bones, it was for the best, since she didn't want to see that.

He nods, once.

"And you don't mind?" He asks.

She could seriously kiss him for how thoughtful he's being. Honestly, and she feels butterflies in her stomach. Even if she won't admit it. On the outside, however, she shrugs, and lets her shoulders drop, feigning ignorance.

"We did share a bed last night," she reminds him, though her tone is gentle. "What's two more nights?"

Because even now, she can't admit that she wants him. Not now, and not here. Not with so many lingering eyes and ears, and she's decided she is determined on giving this a chance now, on giving him a chance, but it's the two of them. It's Killian and Emma, but she wants it to remain private, between the two of them. She doesn't want anything to get between them.

Emma watches as he presses his lips together, his jaw ticking slightly as his eyes snap over the fire, to Victor and Ruby.

"Would you like to join them?" He asks, and that shocks her slightly, because is she not being obvious enough? Or does he not want her anymore?

"No," tells him firmly, and his head snaps back to her.

She twists her body around until she can face him properly, though she's still pressed tightly against him.

"I'm right where I want to be," she says, and she means to sound reassuring, because he almost looks insecure as he stares down at her, his wide eyes open and honest, even if she feels like she's the one that needs reassurance.

Se doesn't think she's ever seem him smile so widely, and she knows that she's made the right decision but that soon drops when she twists her head back to him, her own eyes widening, as her lips purse.

"Can we talk?" she asks.

His forehead crumples slightly in response.

"Of course," he answers immediately.

Things turn silent for a few moments, and he peers down at her curiously, clearly waiting for her to start, but she shakes her head firmly.

"Not here," she almost whispers to him.

"Oh," he mutters, before he stands, and when she looks up, he's got an arm outstretched, his fingers waggling at her slightly, as he waits for her to take his hand. His eyebrows raise slightly in response, when she doesn't move. "Shall we, then?"

She smiles, her fingers wrapping around his as she stands.

"We shall," she murmurs, as she tugs on his hand, and she grins when he smiles back at her, peaceful and genuine.

She looks around for a few moments, and she hesitates, before she looks to her left.

"This way?" she points.

He rolls his eyes.

"Only if you'd like to go back onto the road," he tells her as he tugs her in the opposite direction. "We'll have to go this way, towards the lake."

This time, she's the one rolling her eyes at his all-knowing tone.

"Shut up," she mutters underneath her breath.

He snorts, and he looks down at her, his blue eyes intense and soft all the same, as he gazes.

"You'd be lost without me," he murmurs.

She pauses, as she lets that settle, and she finds herself agreeing, all the same.

"Yeah," Emma sighs softly. "I would."

-/-

Emma's not sure where they end up, to be honest. If it was down to her, she'd say they're lost, but Killian seems to know his way about, walking with determination, so she figures that he has a better sense of direction than she does.

It remains silent as they walk, and honestly, Emma's just trying to work up the courage to speak to him. Though, it's harder than she thought.

She will talk to him, though, when they stop. She's determined now.

Their arms are swinging loosely by their sides, and his forearms brush up against her, now and again, making her shiver, and not just from the cold, too.

Killian seems to come to a sudden stop, however, and then he's twisting around to face her, with an expectant look on her face. She takes an unsteady step backwards, at the sudden abruptness, confusion flitting across her face.

"Killian?" She asks, carefully.

His head is angled down, and she can't quite catch his eyes, when he sighs loudly.

"What is this about?" Killian mutters, and his head twists upwards.

Her eyes catch his, and she bites her lip at the unfamiliar look she finds there. She finds she just can't quite read him today, and she doesn't like it.

"I wanted to talk," she tells him.

He raises an eyebrow in response.

"That much I gathered, love."

Emma presses her lips together at that, and she hesitates slightly, her mouth opening and closing a few times. Killian as always, seems to take his queue perfectly, as he stares down at her, his eyes scrutinizing, and his head tips to the side. He must find what he's looking for, because he's suddenly stepping back from her, and a loud sigh is escaping him.

His hand reaches up so that he can scratch that damn spot behind his ear, and she can't help but find it endearing.

He takes another purposeful step backwards, and Emma feels her heart clench.

"Perhaps we should walk back," she sees him mutter, and he almost looks disappointed, when his gaze drops to the grass below.

Maybe she hadn't been as secretive as she'd wished to have been? It did make sense that he would be upset, that she couldn't come out with it after all.

When he doesn't get a response from her, he nods once and he turns around.

"Wait," she lets out, and she rushes forward to grab onto his wrist, her fingers curling around his leather jacket.

He pauses, turning around to face her, and her face flushes with how nervous she is.

"I wanted to talk to you," she repeats.

Killian raises an eyebrow, as though to say I'm waiting.

"We got interrupted last time, when we arrived, and we weren't done talking, I don't think," she says it in a rush, her eyes dropping down. "And I wanted to talk to you, about what happened before. As you said, we owe each other that much."

Killian's lips press together, though he doesn't answer her, like he knows that she needs to get this out.

"A lot has happened between us. Including that night, and a lot since then, and a lot of it didn't need to happen, I know that now. But I was hurt, that you'd just walk away, without an explanation, and I don't know, I guess my walls came back up rather quickly," her tone is almost hard, as she speaks, but she knows she has to get this out.

She pauses, as her hands itch with the urge to cover her face and run, but she stands tall, and her eyes are unblinking as they stare back up at his face, her eyes catching his equally soft ones. Her eyebrows furrow, when she feels pressure on her hands, and she looks down to find Killian tugging on one of hers. Her eyes flicker back up to his face, and he nods once, peering down at her softly.

That suddenly gives her the courage to continue.

"And maybe, I want to talk to you," she says quietly. "Maybe, you were right, and I do like you, and I do want to give this - us - another go. Maybe we do owe each other that much, since it was all technically a big miss understanding, and we do run in the same circles. It would be hard not to be at least civil."

Killian is still looking down at her with those soft eyes of his, but he's barely reacting, so she suddenly backtracks.

"Of course, if you just want to be friends, that's cool too. In fact-"

Emma is suddenly cut off, and she's propelled forward, until she can land into a hard chest. A hand is curling underneath her chin, and her head is tilted upwards. She catches a flash of blue eyes, before there's a pair of lips pressing softly against hers. She gasps in reply, her mouth parting slightly. Killian takes full advantage, and his tongue is pressing into the hot cave of her mouth.

She feels his arm snake around her waist, pulling her more firmly into him, and she groans into his mouth when his fingers slip under her jacket, and tank top, his cool fingers sending shivers down her spine.

Her own arms reach up to curl around his neck, and her right hand settles at the nape of his neck, her fingers tangling in his dark locks until she can tilt his head to the side, getting the angle she wants. He plunders her mouth, until she's a hot, breathy mess, and they both can't breathe any more.

Killian pulls away with a gasp, though he doesn't move far. His forehead presses against hers, and her eyes slowly flutter open. She finds his own blue eyes, wide and open, radiating his honesty, and staring at her. She feels her lips twist in response, as she calms down the beating of her heart, her chest slowly calming.

Damn, that was definitely a hell of a kiss.

"So," she sighs, as she pulls away more firmly, so that she can see him properly.

He grins in response, and she feels his fingers curving around hers, until their entwined together. She smiles slightly at that.

"Yes," he says abruptly.

Her eyebrows shoot up.

"Excuse me?"

He shakes his head, grinning down at her, and his left dimple protrudes.

"Yes, Emma Swan, I'll court you," he says, with this sense of innocence, that has her giggling.

"God," she laughs, shaking her head. "You're such a nerd."

His smile doesn't falter.

"And so old," she tells him. "Who even speaks like that?"

"Me, clearly," he says, cheekily. "And don't deny that you don't love it, Swan."

And she finds that she can't, so when he pulls her towards him, his lips meeting hers enthusiastically, she knows that she doesn't want to. And if they stay thre, pretty much all night, caught up in their own bubble, they find they don't care much.

Maybe everything isn't fixed, but she knows they'll be able to recover from this, and that, in the end, maybe everything will be.

so, there this one is. a happier ending than usual, i suppose, so i hope you all like it!

what did you think? love it? hate it? did you have a favourite part or a favourite line? let me know in a review, i'd love to hear back from you.

- shauna! xo