I'm a day early again because I'm 5 chapters away from completing the first draft, so from now on, new chapter every other day. I hope you keep enjoying this, and thank you for such a positive response so far!


This time Emma finds Killian a few weeks before his 27th birthday and at first she thinks it's immensely amusing that he's actually younger than her, but then she remembers that he's still a 300 years old pirate inside and that she's older than 30, much, much older.

The bar he's working in is in a bad part of town, but she can handle herself fine and she walks in like she owns the place. Every head inside turns her way and she meets the patrons' gazes square on; after a while everybody goes back to their conversations.

Emma settles herself at the bar, shrugging off her leather jacket and ordering whiskey on the rocks, fighting the urge to ask the man behind the bar what time does Killian's shift starts. She doesn't want to attract anybody's attention, least of all Killian's, because this time they have time and she feels like trying to make him come home with her without revealing who she is and who they are together.

It's been almost eight years since she had kissed him last, and she can still feel an imprint of his lips on hers.

She's so lost in her own thoughts that she never sees him coming; one second she's sitting at the bar alone, and in the next he's leaning against it next to her, waiting for her to notice him.

"That dress could get you in trouble in a place like this", he says, and Emma slowly turns her head to look at him because she'd know that voice anywhere, even if his southern drawl doesn't sound anything like his usual accent.

"I can take care of myself", she tells him, sitting up a little straighter and feeling a shiver run down her spine at the hungry look in his eyes.

"Aren't you a tough lady… I like that", he says and winks at her, hopping on the bar and dropping down on the other side. "Still, let me know when you're ready to leave. I want to make sure you get to your car safely."

Emma smirks in her whiskey and takes a sip before speaking.

"What makes you think I'm going to go home alone?" She asks him and he smiles and pours her another drink.

"I don't know anybody in this establishment worthy of your attention… Present company excluded, of course", he says, and Emma can't help chuckling because he doesn't even know how right he is; no matter how lonely she'd get, she never brought anybody home with her because she knew nobody would satisfy her like he does.

It's ironic that once upon a time she only had one night stands, and since she met her pirate she never slept with anybody else but him.

"I guess I'll just have to wait for you to close up so you can take me home", she says and grins lazily at a flash of surprise that crosses his face because he probably hadn't expected for it to be so easy.

"Have we ever met before, Miss…", he trails off and his eyes caress her face like they always do; he doesn't know her name, but judging by the way he's looking at her he must somehow feel that she's somebody special to him.

"Swan. Emma Swan", she says, her voice low so he has to lean down to hear her over the noise in the background, noise that sounds distant and unimportant in her ears because he's here and she'd waited for so long for this.

She realizes that she won't be able to wait for the end of the evening to kiss him if he keeps looking at her like this so she slides off the stool and escapes to the bathroom.

When she returns, there's a full on brawl going on. Glasses are flying everywhere but she ignores them and cranes her neck trying to spot Killian because something's telling her he's probably in the thick of it.

She spots him pummeling some guy and for a moment she can barely recognize him, such rage contorting his features that he looks nothing like the guy who just flirted with her, nothing like the pirate Captain that stole her heart such a long time ago.

"Killian!" His name escapes her mouth as she makes her way to him, ducking under badly judged punches meant for somebody else, the urgency to reach Killian rising with each step. He levels his opponent and looks at her, his expression melting back into charming as he gestures for her to duck behind the bar until the fight ends.

He's so focused on her that he doesn't see a broken beer bottle coming until it ends up buried in his side and Emma can hear nothing except her own scream as he goes down.

Still, she doesn't go straight to Killian, stopping by the bar first and dialing 911 before she finally makes her way to him.

"How did you know my name?" He asks her through gritted teeth the second she kneels next to him and lifts his shirt to see how bad it is.

"Now is really not the time", she says, tearing the hem off her dress so she can press it against his side and try to stop the bleeding.

"Why do I feel like I know you?" He demands and Emma looks at him, feeling so guilty for wanting to play games when she could've just kissed him; they would've been in his bed now, instead of him bleeding half to death in front of her.

"Because you do", Emma tells him, leaning down and pressing her lips against his.

Magic rushes between them and when she pulls away she realizes that everybody around them is standing frozen, looking around and trying to convince themselves that what they had just seen was a hallucination caused by too much alcohol.

"Bloody hell, lass", Killian says and shakes his head, then winces in pain because even that slight movement aggravates his wound.

"Shut up", she says gently, and he smiles because it sounds like I love you.


They keep Killian in hospital for a few days and Emma fills him in on the curse and the lives they've led so far that he can't remember. Both of them are so hopeful, feeling like this time it must be it; after all, they've got over five years to get pregnant and it feels like an eternity compared to what they had before.

Emma picks him up from hospital and his hand on her knee is such a horrible distraction that she almost goes through a red light, braking so hard he winces in pain.

"Sorry! It's your own fault, though", she tells him and he leans back in his seat, breathing through his nose, his left hand never leaving her knee.


Months pass, Christmas arrives, and every time Emma gets her period they both feel like a failure. They don't talk about it because neither wants to voice their concerns yet; they want to keep the faith that they are going to succeed, that this curse is breakable and that they are not trying in vain.

"I don't know how much longer I'm going to be able to take this", Emma says when she comes out of the bathroom with her hand pressed against her sore stomach. Killian is sitting on their bed and he gives her a careless smile before gently tugging her down next to him.

"You heard that doctor; we're both fine and it's only a matter of time. We still have two years", he tells her, cupping her face and pressing his lips against her forehead. "We're going to be okay, love."

Emma tells herself that it's the hormones and not her lie detector that makes her think that he's lying.


They start fighting a lot, over things small and big, over bills and what time he came home from work on Saturday and why she only wants to have sex when their chances of getting pregnant are the best.

Emma cries every time she gets her period and at first he's coming up with the most ridiculous ways to cheer her up, but the closer they get to September the harder it is until he finally gives up and just holds her.

It's almost a relief when September comes and they know for sure that they had failed because having hope that's slowly dying is worse than knowing for a fact that there's no hope left.


Emma wakes up and finds him sitting next to her, smiling the way he used to before all this, before the curse that made them forget that the only thing they need in this world is each other.

"Hey, beautiful", he says, and Emma smiles back even though his words slice her inside because she still remembers finding him on the side of the road back in Storybrooke and wondering what kind of man could call her beautiful after just getting hit by a car; it hurts because now she knows, because no matter what kind of pain he's in, she's always going to be more important to him, especially if she's hurting too.

"Hey, yourself", she murmurs and sits up, kissing him and running her hands under his shirt. To her surprise, he pulls away and catches her wandering hands, pressing a kiss on her nose before telling her to get dressed because they are going for a ride.

Emma is still surprised every time she sees his Ninja because she can't believe that three people as different as his cursed selves could pick the exact same bike over a car. Every time she brings it up Killian just shrugs and tells her that it's something that can't be explained, but she thinks he's got a theory about it that he just doesn't want to share with her.

Killian drives them to an abandoned road outside of town and offers to teach her how to ride his bike. He'd been nagging her for years but she always told him that they don't have time because she was so focused on getting pregnant that nothing else seemed important.

Now it's too late for a baby and she finally lets him show her, lets him sit behind her with his hands on hers as she slowly gets the hang of it. The bike is heavy but she finds that she can handle it, and soon she's zipping up and down the road as he stands on the side with his arms crossed in front of his chest, his eyes following her everywhere she goes.

"This was fun", she exclaims when she finally parks next to him because the fuel is getting low and they still have to get back home.

"That was the point", he tells her softly, coming to stand next to her, tipping her helmet back so he can see her eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"Next time you meet me, I won't remember this life, Emma", he says, and she bites her lip because she can't deal with that today.

"I know", she says, scooting back so he can take the wheel. "Let's go home."

"Not before I say what I need to say", he says, his eyes flashing with well controlled rage. This world's Killian Jones is a study in opposites and his temper sometimes gets the best of him; there had been countless times that he got into a fight at work and it's a steady reminder that he's not just her pirate. He is, just like her parents, also his cursed self.

"Okay, talk", Emma says and he leans against the bike in front of her, resting his elbow on her knee, looking at his feet as he gathers his thoughts.

"Don't let us do it all the same", he finally says, and Emma wraps her arms around his waist and rests her chin on his shoulder.

"I won't", she says softly, and he turns his head to look at her, his eyes so blue in the sunlight she can barely look at them from this close without feeling the pain of losing him beforehand.

"Don't let us get lost in trying to get pregnant and forget that we love each other."

"I won't."

"Don't let us lose hope in the happy ending", he says and Emma closes her eyes because it's a great burden to bear, and they both know she has to bear it alone.

"I won't."


And as it always does, his birthday comes quicker than it should, quicker than Emma can stand because there is never enough time, there is never a way for her to stop the clocks and just keep him for a little while longer; every time his birthday comes she's praying for just one more day so they can make a few more memories, so she can tell him she loves him a few more times and promise that she's never going to give up on them.

And yet, she knows that if she got one more day, she'd only pray for another.

Just like she did three times before, Emma watches the man she loves more than she loves herself take his last breath, his eyes holding her as tightly as his hand is. He tells her that he believes in her no matter what, that someday his 32nd birthday will come and go and they are still going to be here, watching their baby take hers or his first steps in their living room.

Today is not that day, and when he closes his eyes and Emma feels that same pulling inside her, she tells herself that no matter what happens in his next life or the one after that, she is going to honor her promise and make it about their present, not their future.


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