Disclaimer: Same as always.

A/N: Canon divergence. Suppose that Zelena had been defeated, but Emma and Killian didn't end up going back in time. But Emma has decided that Storybrooke is her home.

Rating: K+

Emma Swan forced what she hoped was a polite smile on her face. The man she was talking to was named Marty Johansen and Emma had no idea who his fairytale counterpart was supposed to be. Frankly, she didn't care. She'd met Marty when he'd called the Sheriff station because he'd locked his keys in his car and needed help getting them out. Why he should call the station and not, say, the locksmith had been beyond Emma.

At least until she figured out that the reason he'd called the station, and thus her, was because he'd somehow developed a little crush on her. Little might be an understatement. The man seemed totally smitten with her and yet Emma had no memory of ever meeting him. Marty had seen her around town, he'd told her. He was a nice enough guy, she supposed. She just wasn't interested. He'd been so sweet when he'd first asked her out that she'd let him down as gently as she could. There was something about Marty that made her think of a puppy who hadn't grown into its paws yet. It was because of this puppylike quality that she couldn't find it in her heart to be mean to him.

The problem was that he wasn't getting the message that she wasn't interested. Nor was she likely to become interested. Ever. But Marty was proving to be a persistent man. Even when she'd tried to telling him that she flat out that wasn't looking for a relationship right now, he refused to take a hint. Bringing them to the current moment at Granny's. He'd just asked her out for a coffee. "It wouldn't be a date, I mean, we wouldn't have to call it that," Marty said, "It'd just be two people meeting for coffee." He gave her what she assumed he thought was a sexy grin. Bless his heart. Emma had never quite understood that phrase, especially not the way Southerners used it, but she was beginning to. "Of course, there's no telling where that coffee could take us, if you catch my drift."

Oh, she caught it alright. It was with some surprise that she realized that he must have been attempting to borrow some lines out of the Killian Jones handbook. In hindsight, ever since that inital call to the station, Emma had spotted Marty paying attention to Killian. Again Emma found herself thinking, bless his heart.

It wasn't that Marty was a bad looking man. He wasn't in the least. He was what Emma would consider slightly above average. Light brown hair with kind brown eyes that undoubtedly played into his general puppyesque quality. Was that a word? Emma pursed her lips as she considered it. She'd just decided that puppyesque probably wasn't a real word when she realized that Marty had still been talking. Emma shook her head, trying to focus on what he was saying. Only to immediately tune back out again when her eyes zeroed in on the man playing darts across the room.

Killian Jones. Or if one went with his more colorful moniker, Captain Hook. Right away Emma felt that gut punch of attraction fueled by a healthy amount of lust she always felt when she looked at Killian. It had been a while, alright? That was what Emma told herself. Besides, there was nothing wrong with appreciating an attractive man. All that proved was that she had eyes. It wasn't like she had feelings for Killian.

She didn't think.

Okay, she did have some feelings Killian but damn if she could describe what they were, exactly. They'd been on opposite sides once, fighting against each other and all that. But he'd ultimately proved himself to be a powerful ally. Killian had been instrumental in bringing Henry back from Peter Pan. Of course, he'd tricked Emma and her family first, but he'd come back. Killian had come back. Considering that Emma had lived a lifetime full of people leaving, the notion of one coming back had effectively astonished her.

Not that he'd come back for her. His willingness to help them was more likely to have come from Henry being Neal's son. Emma had learned that at one point, Killian and Neal had spent some time together and Killian had hoped they could be a family. Rescuing Henry must have been an extension of that.

Only Emma couldn't deny that her words had seemed to have an effect on him. It was probably safe to assume that she was a small part of why he'd come back. A miniscule part, even. But a part. And in truth, probably a bigger part than she cared to admit.

Ultimately, it didn't really matter what Killian's reasons had been. His return had given them the way to Neverland and his expertise had proven most valuable. They never would have gotten Henry back without his involvement. And then there was the matter of the kiss. He'd flat out dared her to kiss him without ever actually using the words "I dare you". But she'd been feeling good and assuming that he never imagined that she'd actually do it. So she did it.

She still dreamed about that damn kiss sometimes. Even during the year she'd spent in Henry without their memories of Storybrooke and everyone in it, she'd dreamt about kissing a blue-eyed, leather clad man in the jungle. Never realizing until her memories returned that she'd been dreaming about something that had really happened.

Add that to the list of things that Emma was never going to share with Killian. Not ever. She could imagine the fun he would have with that juicy little tidbit.

Of course, after her memory returned she'd had to deal with the whole being engaged to a man that was really a flying monkey in disguise. Just thinking about it made Emma want to take a drink. Add that to the reasons she liked hanging out with Killian. She could always count on him to have some rum he was willing to share.

"Or maybe we could share a bite now?" Marty was saying, as she glanced back at him.

"I don't know..." Emma said slowly, her eyes returning to Killian. An idea was beginning to form in her head and it was a crazy one. Especially given the nature of Killian's feelings about her.

Namely, that he was in love with her. Emma knew he was and that was part of the problem. She'd relied on him so much while they'd worked to defeat the Wicked Witch and there'd been the whole issue of her cursing his lips. The fact that the spell had taken hold had proved that Killian loved her. Emma had known it even before she'd asked Regina if that was the case.

Now the Wicked Witch had been defeated and Emma had come around to the idea that Storybrooke was her home. This is where she was going to stay. With her family. And Killian. Because she couldn't deny that somehow, some way, Killian had become a vital part of her life. She just hadn't been able to determine how exactly she wanted him to fit into it.

Which is precisely what made this new idea all the more dangerous.

"I mean, you haven't ordered anything yet and neither have I," Marty said. "So...why not?"

And that right there was the reason she knew she had to give her crazy new idea a shot. Marty was clearly not going to give up and she still couldn't bring herself to break his heart.

"Actually, you know what? I need to use the ladies room," Emma said, completely sidestepping his question.

"Oh go on," he said. "I'll be waiting."

I bet you will be, Emma thought as squared her shoulders and headed across the room. To Killian.

Killian was annoyed and frustrated. It had been a month since they'd manged to defeat Zelena. At the time, he'd thought that maybe now with the witch out of the way, he could make some real progress with Emma.

He hadn't gotten anywhere.

Not entirely true, he reminded himself. Emma had accepted his friendship. He'd worried that she'd stop wanting to be around him as much once the Wicked Witch had been defeated, but that hadn't been the case. They still spent a fair amount of time together, doing relatively normal things like watch movies and whatnot. They had become good friends.

Which could definitely be a good start towards building something more. Or he might never get her to see him as anything else. What's more was that they were now approaching what people in this land called Christmas. Killian was familiar with Christmas, in theory. He'd never actually celebrated the holiday and found aspects of it confusing. He'd been flabbergasted the first time he'd watched someone carry a tree into their place of residence. Baffled when he started seeing all the decorations being put up around town. Storybrooke was positively full of them. Lights, that could be either one solid color or an array of colors had been placed on many of the bushes and around windows and roofs. The street lights had all been given bows and wrapped in garlands. There were a number of reindeer and snowmen placed all around, along with other strange figurines. Strange to him anyway. Apparently not for anyone else.

Killian had succeeded in making a complete imbecile of himself a couple of weeks ago when he'd drawn his sword at what was apparently something called a dancing Santa Claus. He may have called it a vile festive demon in the process. In his defense, he'd been walking down the street minding his own business when what he had assumed was a regular statue had started dancing out of seemingly nowhere. Killian had believed the town had been the target of some sort of strange invasion and had decided he needed to do something about it. It'd been after he'd gotten his sword drawn and about to behead the creature when he realized that it was, in fact, a Christmas decoration.

He'd been the victim of a great many snickers and giggles after that. Of course, there'd been witnesses. When he'd told Emma about his harrowing tale with the dancing Claus, she'd laughed so hard she had tears in her eyes by the time she'd finally gotten a hold of herself. She'd give anything for video, she'd said. Killian imagined that it must have been hard to get the words out between all of her guffaws.

He'd been most put out at being the source of such amusement, given that it was from him acting like an idiot as opposed to in response to one of his clever retorts. His sense of humor was woefully underappreciated in this land, in his opinion. That said, he couldn't deny that there the sound of Emma Swan's laugh was purely delightful. Perhaps it was that she hardly did it. He had never heard her laugh like that before, hadn't realized that such merriment existed inside her just waiting for an excuse to be let out. He'd promised himself to try to figure out other ways to bring it out. Ones that didn't involve him acting like a buffoon.

Though fate or God or whatever one wanted to call it had decided to even the score a bit when Killian had raised his eyebrow to silently inquire if she was finished laughing at him. For reasons he couldn't begin to fathom, this had set her giggling again. Of all the things. Killian hadn't known whether to be amused or offended that his eyebrows had caused such a reaction. But before he could ponder it any further, Emma had done what he'd believed to be the unthinkable.

She'd snorted. Killian had thought he'd been hearing things and the lass may have gotten away with it if she hadn't instantly clamped her hand over her mouth in horror, her cheeks flushing to a most becoming shade of pink. "I did not just do that," she'd tried to tell him. The incident made him smile whenever he thought of it. So that was one small mercy.

Unfortunately, it was not enough to keep the storm clouds of annoyance and frustration from souring his mood. Everyone just seemed so absurdly cheerful, so happy that it was almost Christmas. So excited at the prospect of getting to spend what they called quality time with their loved ones.

And that was the rub right there. Killian didn't have any loved ones. Just the one that he loved, but who didn't love him in return. Or was too scared to give into any feelings that she might possess for him. Plus he'd rather enjoyed all the time he'd spent taking care of Henry for Emma while she figured out how to deal with Zelena. Only he never seemed to see the boy now that the threat had been removed.

Killian would never admit this to anyone, but the truth was that he was lonely. This wasn't a new feeling. It had been his default condition for the majority of his long life to date. Even when he found himself surrounded by other people, he still felt alone. So far the impending holiday had only served to make things abundantly clear. He didn't just feel alone. He was alone. More so now that he'd traded away his beloved ship. Alone and homeless – he found his room at Granny's perfectly adequate, but it wasn't a home - and for what?

For Emma. He'd traded the Jolly Roger away in order to bring him back to Emma. To bring her home.

As much as he missed his ship, he would do it all over again if he could. She was worth it. There was no doubt in his mind that Emma Swan was worth it. Even though it meant living out his days in a land that still knew so little about, despite all the time he'd now been there. He was the proverbial fish out of water, in every sense of the term. There was so much for him to learn and no one to share his insecurities about that. He knew that people thought that he wasn't very smart. People had doubted his intelligence throughout his entire life. It seemed like everyone forgot that, save for Emma and Henry, none of them had grown up in this land. They'd just been given knowledge about it with the first curse. Killian had not. It wasn't that he was stupid, it was that everything here was all new to him. There weren't dancing statues to be found in any of the other places he'd lived. How was he to know what it was?

Considering that this incident had been a full two weeks ago, Killian should have been able to let it go by now. But he couldn't. Not when it seemed to serve as a stark reminder of his ignorance everytime he walked by it. A stark reminder that he was the only person in town who hadn't known what it was. In a strange way, that vile festive demon served as a reminder of his ever persistent solitude.

It was with this thought that he ended up throwing his latest dart especially hard at the board.

He stalked over to the board to collect the darts, lost in his melancholy thoughts when he caught sight of Emma walking towards him. Perhaps this day wouldn't be so bad, after all. Best not to show how happy he was to see her, he thought. Sometimes it was better to play it cool. So he turned to the dartboard, trying to pretend that he was preoccupied with the game and hadn't even noticed Emma.

"Hey."

Killian had underestimated how close Emma was and the sudden sound of her voice startled him enough that he managed to miss the dartboard entirely. So much for playing it cool, Jones, he thought. He took a brief second to collect himself before turning around to greet her, a lazy smirk on his face. "Swan. To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?"

"I need to ask you for a favor," she said, surprising him. "A big one."

Killian's eyebrow quirked. Oh yes, this were definitely looking up. "Oh? And what's that, love? What do you need?" Other than me. He thought it, but wisely chose not to say it. His Swan seemed somewhat troubled.

"Do you know Marty?" she asked.

"Marty," he repeated. The name did ring a bell, but he didn't know why. Then he remember something. "Oh, wasn't that the name of that kid from that movie you told me I needed to watch?"

"No," she frowned. "Well yes. But no, that's not who I'm talking about. I'm talking about Marty Johansen. It's a guy who lives in town. Brown hair, pretty skinny, kind of resemembles a puppy?"

"I don't believe I know him," he answered. "Why?"

"Okay, see, here's the thing. The other day I got a call to help a guy who'd locked himself out of his car. And I went to help, but I thought it was weird. Why not call a locksmith, right?" she asked.

"Uh, right." Killian had absolutely no idea where this was going.

"Right. So it turns out that this guy has a crush on me and this was his way to get to meet me," she told him. "And he keeps asking me out and I keep trying to find nice ways to turn him down, but he just won't take a hint."

"Well, no wonder, love. You can't be nice when you turn a bloke down," he said.

"Yeah, I know, but you have to see this guy. He's like the human version of a puppy. I can't be mean to a human version of a puppy," she said.

"While I sympathize, what exactly does this have to do with me?" he asked.

"I had an idea. See, Marty's not getting the hint and I don't want to hurt his feeling by telling him to get lost or anything. But I thought that maybe if he thought I was already seeing someone, he might back off," she said.

"And you came to me." Oh, Killian's day had absolutely taken a turn for the better. "You want me to pretend to be your boyfriend."

"I know it's weird," Emma said quickly. "Especially considering your, well."

"My feelings for you?" he supplied.

"Yeah...those," she said.

"Those," he repeated. "Pesky little buggers."

"Look Killian, if you don't want to, I get it, but I would really appreciate it," she said.

"Hmm. Is this Marty here?" he asked.

"Yeah." Emma moved a little closer to him and tried to discreetly point Marty out. "He's the guy in the brown coat sitting at the counter."

"Ah, I do see what you mean, Swan. He does seem rather...puppyesque," Killian said. For reasons she couldn't be bothered to think about, it gave Emma a strange little thrill to hear Killian come up with the same term she had.

"Right?!" she exclaimed. "How can I crush that guy?"

"Did it occur to you that seeing you with another man might crush him anyway?" Killian asked, watching Emma wince.

"Well...no," she admitted. "So I guess that's a no. Okay," she sighed. "I better go back and tell him I'm busy." She started to walk away, feeling deflated.

"I didn't say no." Emma stopped at Killian's words. "Let me think about it, alright, love?"

She turned back to give him a hopeful smile. "Alright."

"Go back to your puppy," he said. "I'll decide."

He was totally going to agree. Killian was already thinking about this intriguing little situation could work out in his favor. It seemed like the perfect way to get Emma to think about moving their relationship to the next level. But it wouldn't hurt to make her sweat a little.

"Everything okay?" Marty asked as he saw Emma approaching. Bless his heart, he seemed to light up when he saw her. That would only make things more complicated if she did end up having to break his heart.

"Uh, yeah, I was just. Well...Look Marty, I," Emma tried.

"Ah, there you are, my love!" Both Emma and Marty looked over to find Killian standing there with a goofy smile on his face. "I missed you this morning."

"Aw, I missed you too. Uh, honey?" Emma raised her eyebrows in question, smiling when he winked. Killian then slid his arm around her before kissing her cheek.

"H-honey?" Marty asked, looking crestfallen.

"Yeah, that's what I was about to tell you. I've been seeing someone," Emma told him. "This is -"

"Killian Jones," Killian interrupted, offering Marty his hand.

"M-Marty Johansen," Marty stammered. "So you're..."

"Her boyfriend. Yes," Killian grinned.

"You have a boyfriend?" Marty asked Emma, clearly not wanting to believe it.

"You're seeing Hook?"

Emma felt her stomach drop as she looked at the newest addition to their little group.

"Dad!"

David Nolan was standing there looking completely stunned and more than a little horrified. Killian could not wipe the grin off his own face. This was going to be better than he thought.

Everything was a little crazy over the next couple of weeks. News of Emma and Killian's "relationship" had spread through town like wildfire. Emma thought it was a miracle that her father hadn't had the coronary she'd been so worried he'd been about to have at Granny's. To say that her father wasn't pleased about this arrangement would be an understatement. Mary Margaret wasn't overly thrilled either, but she'd handled it better. And she'd sufficiently thrown Emma for a loop when she told her that it'd only been a matter of time. Evidently, Mary Margaret had seen that there was some kind of something going on between Emma and Killian.

Emma'd had to stop herself before telling her mother the truth about her and Killian. They'd talked about whether they should let her parents in on it or not and had eventually decided not to tell them it was all for show. Killian had pointed out how quickly everyone had learned that they were "dating" now. All it would take was for one person to blab and that would be over. Emma thought she could trust her parents not to, but had seen his point. So as far as her parents were concerned, Emma actually was seeing Killian. Romantically.

As far as things with Killian, Emma had to admit that she'd been having fun with their charade. They'd been on all kinds of "dates" that included eating at Granny's on regular basis. Which they had done before as friends, just not as often. Now that they were pretending to be a couple, Killian had insisted that they really needed to sell it.

Killian was enjoying their little arrangement far too much, Emma knew. But he had a point. So now they'd be sitting across from each other in a booth holding hands across the table. Emma had surprised Killian by reaching for his hook one day.

"Is this okay?" she'd asked, startled by the look on his face as he looked where her hand and his hook met. He'd seemed oddly emotional for some reason.

"Sure, love," he'd answered. "It's just that I haven't come across too many people who want to even touch my hook. Let alone hold it." They'd seemed to enter into a weird kind of intimate area here, Emma had thought. But she hadn't let go. Not until their food came. It'd only partly been for the sake of their charade.

In any event, aside from the shared meals out in public, they'd spent a lot of time in town. They'd take long walks, holding hands and talking. Emma had convinced him to build a snowman with her one day and there'd been a snowball fight the next. Killian had started that one. They'd become more affectionate since their fake relationship had started. They'd gone into Granny's for some hot chocolate to help warm them up after their snowball fight and Emma hadn't been able to get warm. So Killian had joined her on her side of the booth and put his arm around her, saying that it would look bad for a gentleman to let his alleged girlfriend shiver without offering her whatever warmth he could provide.

In truth, Killian had been worried about Emma and hadn't been able to stand watching her shiver. The fact that it also strengthened the believability of their fake relationship had little to do with his decision. At that point, Emma had been so cold that she may have snuggled with Marty if it had meant not being cold anymore. But she may have lied when Killian asked her if she was feeling any warmer. Partly for the show, but mostly because she thought he'd felt good. She'd ended up staying snuggled up against him the whole time they were there.

It wasn't just when they were in public. Emma had had Killian come over to the loft a few nights where she'd been introducing him to the Christmas specials and movies of this land. Trying to tell herself that it was all for the charade and not because she liked spending time with him. She'd fallen asleep in his arms a couple of times.

Maybe she was enjoying their arrangement a little too much too. And not just because it'd been keeping Marty at bay.

Nevermind.

Emma was seriously starting to regret the whole thing. Somehow Killian had convinced her to go ice skating at the outdoor rink and she'd agreed, like an idiot. For some reason, she had never been able to get the hang of ice skating as a kid. She asked Killian if he'd ever been ice skating before and he'd said he hadn't. That had made Emma feel better about not really knowing how to skate. At least up until the moment Emma stepped out onto the ice and immediately fell down. So all her old skills, or rather her lack thereof, were still intact. Good to know.

Emma might not have been so irritated by her inability to stay upright if Killian hadn't turned out to be a natural on the ice. He'd looked pretty wobbly initially, to the point that Emma had taken comfort knowing that they'd be struggling together. And then Killian had had the nerve to get the hang of it. Emma had been so annoyed, she'd told him to go take few laps around the ice and she'd catch up. It had taken some discussion, but he'd eventually agreed.

By the time that Killian had taken at least three laps around the ice, Emma figured that she had made it approximately ten feet. Ice skating was stupid. "Need some help?" Now she looked over to find Marty by her side. Figures. He would show up when she'd told Killian to go on without her. She should have listened to Killian when he'd try to insist that they stay together. The truth of the situation was that Emma was embarrassed at not being able to get a hang of it and not wanted Killian witness the entirety of her humiliation.

So of course Marty would happen to show up. It had been a couple of days since she'd last seen him and this was when he'd resurface. Yup, ice skating was stupid. "I'm fine, Marty," she said, hoping he'd ignore the death grip she had on the railing.

"I can help you, you know. Especially since your boyfriend isn't around." Emma couldn't help noticing that he'd said boyfriend like it was a dirty word.

"He's around," Emma countered. "I told him to take a few laps without me. I didn't want to slow him down."

"I would never have left you," Marty said.

Exactly why I'm pretending that Killian's my boyfriend, Emma thought. "He'll be back. Don't worry about me."

"Don't be silly. Let me help." Marty reached for her hand and attempted to pull her away from the wall.

"Really, I'm okay," Emma said. As much as she hadn't wanted to hurt Marty's feeling, he was starting to get on her nerves. Couldn't he just leave her alone? And where was Killian anyway?

"You have to bend your knees more," Marty told her, tugging her farther out onto the ice.

"I told you I'm fine!" she snapped, yanking her hand back and managing to throw herself completely off balance. She started to fall backwards, relieved when someone caught her. Someone in possession of both a hand and a hook.

"Careful, love," Killian murmured in her ear, sending an unexpected shiver through her. "I've got you."

"You certainly do," she muttered.

"What was that?" he asked.

"Nothing," she answered quickly, unable to see the smile on his face. He'd heard what she said. Not that she needed to know that.

"Get your feet underneath you," he advised, keeping an arm around her while he skated around to get in front of her. Deliberately skating between her and Marty. "Oh, sorry Morty. I didn't see you there."

"It's Marty," Marty corrected, looking annoyed as Emma latched on to Killian's hook.

"Oh right. Marty," Killian said, winking at Emma and making her cough to hide the resulting giggle. "I knew I shouldn't have left you here."

"Killian!" Emma cried out, feeling her feet starting to slip. Again.

"I've got you," he assured her.

"Ice skating is stupid," she announced, making him laugh.

"You're going to get the hang of it, Swan," he said. "Here take my hand too. We're going to do this together, alright, love?"

"I was just trying to help Emma get the hang of it," Marty put in.

"Well, she's got me here now," Killian said, shooting Marty an easygoing smile as he started to slowly skate backwards, pulling Emma along. "I'll take it from here, thanks." Once he'd gotten them out of the hearing range of a saddened Marty, he said, "I'm sorry you had to put up with him."

"It's okay. I'm happy you showed up when you did, though," Emma said as they continued to move. "I was hoping that he'd move on by now."

"Believe me when I tell you that you a very difficult woman to move on from, Swan," he said.

"Killian," she said, unsure how else to respond to that.

"Works out for me," he went on. "Since I supposed you want to keep this up."

"I do," she said softly. "But maybe we should find a new activity to do for our next date. I'm never going to get the hang of this."

"Emma?" he asked, smirking at her.

"What?"

"Look around." Emma's mouth dropped as she realized that they'd made it halfway around the ice with no incident. "What?"

"You're doing it," he said.

"I'm doing it!" she cried, suddenly delighted. Of course, in her excitement she nearly managed to fall again. "Whoa." Killian let go of her hand to put his on her back and pull her against him as she started to fall back again.

"Dammit," Emma muttered. "I thought I had it. Guess I lost it, huh?" She'd ended up with her cheek against his chest and now looked up at him, startled to find him so close. It seemed like the world had momentarily disappeared as she fought not to lose herself in his eyes.

"Don't worry, Swan," he said quietly. "I've got you."

"M-maybe we should take a break," she said, feeling unsteady for an entirely different reason now.

"Alright," he agreed.

Killian was starting to wonder if agreeing to be a part of their facade had been a good idea or not. On the one hand, he was getting a taste of what being in a real relationship with Emma Swan would look like and he loved it. On the other, well, hook in his case, pretending to be her boyfriend had done a marvelous job of increasing his desire to be with her for real.

On the whole, Killian had decided that the good outweight the bad. Not only had this allowed him an excuse to spend more time with the woman he adored, doing so had helped push back that gnawing feeling of loneliness that had been plaguing him all season.

Perhaps Christmas wouldn't be so dreadful, after all.

He was on his way to meet Emma, his eyes narrowing at he walked by the dreaded dancing Claus. He still hated the blasted thing. Would always hate it, he thought. But his spirits lifted when he saw Emma leaning by the fence to go into Granny's.

She wasn't alone. Marty was with her and evidently talking her ear off. Emma looked at though she wished a portal would appear and cart her off to likely anywhere else. Killian's heart lifted when she caught sight of him approaching and her face lit up. "There you are," she said, sounding relieved before surprising him by jumping into his arms. "Hey, babe." Killian's eyebrow quirked. Babe. He didn't think she'd called him that before. He liked it.

"Hey yourself," he said. "Happy to see me, I gather?"

"You have no idea," she said, making him smirk.

"Hello Morty," Killian said.

"Okay, come on. You know my name is Marty," Marty said, irritated.

"Aye." Killian released Emma and turned his attention to Marty. "Kind of like how you know that Emma has a boyfriend and yet you keep pestering her. Perhaps when you stop doing that, I'll decide to use your actual name. Or not. You know, you really are quite irritating. Emma's just too polite to tell you so."

"Emma?" Marty asked, seeming chastised by Killian's words.

"He's right," Emma confirmed. "I'm sorry, Marty. You're a nice guy, but nothing is ever going to happen between us. I'm with Killian and that isn't to going to change. You need to let it go."

"I...I guess I'll take my leave then," Marty said after a moment. He looked humiliated and while a part of Emma felt bad for it, she was to see him go.

"Guess that takes care of that," Emma said quietly.

"Bloody hell," Killian muttered, suddenly annoyed with himself.

"What?" Emma asked.

"I should've have lost my temper with him like that," Killian said, giving her a sad smile. "He knows there's to be nothing between you two now. So I suppose there's no more need for us to go on pretending."

"Oh," Emma said, taken aback.

"I mean, that was the whole point of this charade, wasn't it? To make him go away?" he asked.

"It was, but..."

"But what?" he asked.

"I don't want to give it up," she admitted, not meeting his eyes. "Not...not yet." Now she looked up and a small smile appeared on her face. "And definitely not right now."

"And why's that?" he wanted to know.

"What do you know about mistletoe?" she asked, pointing to the little sprig of green in the entryway leading into Granny's over her head.

"Is that what that's called? I've seen those around town, but I thought they were just for decoration," he said.

"Like the dancing Claus?" she asked, unable to resist. She'd been teasing, but was surprised to see a cloud come over his features.

"I don't want to talk about that damned Claus," he said.

"What is it with you and that thing?" she asked.

"We don't have anything like that in any of the other places I've lived. It's just a reminder of all I've still to learn about this land," he told her. "It reminds me of how out of place I am here."

"I don't think you're out of place here," she said. "I think you fit in just fine." At his cocked eyebrow indicating his disbelief at this fact, she smiled. "I like having you here, Killian. And I'd be happy to tell you anything you want to know about this land. Ask me about the mistletoe."

"Alright," he sighed. "Tell me about the mistletoe."

"It's a very important tradition around here," she informed him, trying to sound mysterious. "When two people stand under a sprig of mistletoe, they're supposed to kiss."

"Are they?" he asked, sounding intrigued.

"It's supposed to be bad luck for a woman to refuse a kiss under the mistletoe," she added. "So what do you say?"

"Well, I suspect that if I'm going to live in this world that I should partake in its traditions," he said, stepping closer to her. "And I'd hate for you to have bad luck because of me."

"It's only bad luck if I re-"

"Ssh," he said, bringing his lips to hers. They'd made it this far into their arrangement without kissing on the lips and now they were both wondering why in the world they hadn't.

"Killian," Emma said, dreamily, as the kiss ended. "What are you doing on Christmas?"

"I hadn't thought about it," he said. That was a stone cold lie. He'd assumed that he'd be spending it in his room at Granny's. Alone.

"You could come join us at the loft," she offered.

"As your fake boyfriend?" he asked, bracing himself for her answer.

"Actually..." Emma bit her lip before deciding to take the plunge. "I was thinking that you could come as my real boyfriend."

"Really?"

"Yes," she nodded, smiling at him.

"I think I can do that," he said.

"Good. Now come back here," she said, kissing him again.

So Killian wouldn't be alone for Christmas at all. And maybe the Christmas customs of this world weren't so strange. He'd grown rather fond of most of them.

But he still hated the vile festive demon that was the dreaded dancing Claus.