I don't own any of these characters, they belong to OUAT and ABC!
Emma heard something knocking what felt like moments after she had closed her eyes to sleep. She groaned and pulled the blankets over her head, but the loud knocking continued.
She let out an irritated groan, "Go away!"
She heard the door open slightly and pulled the blanket down to see an irritating grin on Killian's face as he looked in at her, "Come on love, Granny's in a mood and Ruby won't get up."
She pulled the blanket over head, curling up into a warm ball, "What didn't you understand about the words go away. I'm tired!"
"Your funeral, love. Well, actually it'll be yours and Ruby's."
Emma sighed and emerged from the bed, throwing Killian an irritated expression as he leaned against the doorframe, "Fine. I'm coming. Now, GO AWAY!"
He gave her another irritating grin before shutting the door. She grumbled to herself as she looked through her closet, not actually caring what she wore.
She climbed down the stairs a few minutes later to the loud sounds of customers and looked up at the clock on the back wall. Christ, it was already 1:00. She sighed as she made her way to the kitchen, catching an irritated glance that Granny threw at her before pushing into the back room and grabbed her apron and pad. She did the rounds of her usual tables, refilling drinks and taking orders. She stopped at the bar on her way back from dropping off an order, where Killian was sitting, talking to a regular about how busy the pub had been recently. Emma held the tray against her side and grabbed the man's glass, filling it with a dark ale.
"There are so many people in here recently, that I have to wait some days for a seat!"
Granny walked by and smacked the man on the head, "William, you never have to wait for a seat and you know it."
The man's face reddened and he called after her, "Yeah, well, if you didn't know me I would!"
Killian grinned and turned to Emma, who was placing the glass in front of the old man. "You're looking radiant this afternoon."
Emma glared at him, "Yeah, sure I do. But, I would look a bit more radiant if someone had not woken me up." She glanced around the pub, "Speaking of which, why isn't Ruby down here, or am I the only one that you like to irritate?"
He chuckled lightly, a spark of amusement flashing through his eyes, "I wouldn't go near Ruby today if Granny paid me, she's not the most pleasant when she's hungover."
Emma raised her eyebrows in question at him, "And why exactly aren't you hungover then? You had more to drink that both of us combined last night."
"It takes a bloody hell lot more than that to get me hungover."
Emma eyed him and turned to the man who was still grumbling to himself about the crowds, "Need anything else, Will?"
He shook his head and turned back to his plate of food as Granny came to stand next to her, "Nice to see you've joined us, Emma."
Emma scrunched her nose in guilt, "Sorry, Granny."
Granny gave her a smile, "Well I can't be too mad. Killian helped me with the early lunch crowd since neither you or Ruby decided to grace us with your presence."
Emma glanced at the door as another few customers entered the pub before standing up. "I better go take care of that." She turned to Granny once more, "Sorry again, Granny!"
The lunch traffic began to wind down, and around three, Emma glanced up from the table of men she was chatting with the see a groggy looking Ruby descend the stairs in a pair of large sweatpants and ratty shirt, her long hair tied up in a messy bun. Emma suppressed a giggle as Ruby sat down unceremoniously on the stool next to Killian. Emma walked over to the bar, and rummaged under the counter for some aspirin.
"You look like shit, Rubes."
"Why are you here? More importantly, why are you so loud?" She lifted a hand to her temple and massaged it as Emma straightened and set the bottle in front of Ruby.
"I'm here because I'm such a great friend and saved both your asses from Granny's wrath this morning."
Ruby laid her head against the counter and closed her bloodshot eyes, "Just… shhh."
Emma set down a glass of water in front of her, "Drink this. Do you want anything to eat?"
She didn't lift her head or open her eyes, "If you bring me any form of food right now, I will throw up all over you."
Emma shrugged and eyed Killian suspiciously, "Why are you still here?"
He grinned over at her, "For your wonderful company, of course."
She rolled her eyes and turned back to Ruby, "Seriously Ruby, drink the water or you'll feel shitty all day."
Ruby finally lifted her head and popped four aspirin in her mouth before grabbing the tall glass and drinking the entire thing. Granny walked over and looked Ruby up and down, a look of amusement crossed her face at Ruby's disheveled appearance.
"So lovely of you to join us, this afternoon." The last word dripped with sarcasm.
Ruby glared at her before letting her head rest on the bar once more, "Can you all just be quiet, it feels like my head is splitting open."
Killian grinned and hopped off his stool, "Well, I have to leave, I have rehearsal in an hour and need to shower first."
Ruby made a noncommittal grunt and Granny hugged him, "Thanks for the help today, love."
He grinned down at her as he returned the hug, "Anytime, Granny." He turned to Ruby's slumped body, "Later, Rubes. Don't throw up on anyone."
She raised her middle finger in his direction as he turned to Emma, "See you later, love."
She raised her hand in a small wave, "Later, Killian."
Granny and Emma watched him exit the front door before they both turned back to Ruby, Emma giving her a pitying expression, Granny an amused one.
"Alright dear, eat something and then go take a shower, you'll feel better."
Ruby groaned, "I already told Emma, no food."
Granny shrugged and pushed her off the stool, "Then go shower, I need your help with the dinner crowd and you sure as hell aren't going to be serving people looking like that."
Ruby mumbled something under her breath as she stumbled across the room and the stairs.
An hour later, a less bedraggled looking Ruby emerged from the staircase, although there were still dark circles under her eyes, and she was much less bouncy than usual. She slid onto the stool next to where Emma was seated, filling the salt and pepper shakers.
Emma grinned over at her, "Feeling better?"
"No, I just want to go back to sleep."
Emma laughed lightly and glanced over at her, "Oh, I was talking to Granny earlier and she said we can take next weekend off to go down to Wexford. You want to come with?"
Ruby smiled, "Sounds fun. Saturday?"
Emma nodded and glanced up as Granny strode over to them
Emma woke to someone bouncing up and down on her mattress. She groaned and covered her face with the large pillow next to her when Ruby's excited voice exclaimed, "Get up! We're supposed to be at Killian's in 15 minutes."
She groaned again and pulled the pillow down slightly so she could see Ruby's smiling face over the top of the pillow, "Why are we leaving so early?"
Ruby grabbed the blankets and pulled them off, allowing the cold air of the room to find her, she wriggled around pulling the blankets back up, but the warm cocoon she had been sleeping in was ruined. She sat up as Ruby threw clothes at her from the closet, "Here, put these on."
Emma sighed and grabbed them, stepping onto the cold wooden floor and making her way to the bathroom.
She heard Ruby's muffled voice through the thick door, "Since I'm such a good friend, I made you hot chocolate this morning."
Emma opened the door and grinned over at her friend, "Cinnamon?"
"Yep! Now, let's go!"
Emma slipped on a pair of dark brown boots and followed Ruby downstairs, grabbing the warm cup of hot chocolate and a piece of toast that was sitting on the bar before following Ruby out the door.
Emma stared up at the large brick building; it was old and industrial looking. She walked through a large steel front door and up a couple flights of rickety old metal stairs.
There was a large industrial sized steel door with the C11 painted on it and she knocked hesitantly. A minute later a tired looking Killian slid it open, wearing only pajama pants. Emma's eyes wandered down his toned stomach to the line of coarse hair plunging into the waistline of his cotton pants. She snapped her eyes up quickly when she heard Killian's voice gravelly from sleep.
"Enjoying the view, love?"
She rolled her eyes, a blush creeping up her neck, and Ruby pushed past him into his apartment, "Were you sleeping? We're supposed to be there in two hours! We're going to be late!"
Killian gave her a crooked grin before sliding the door open and allowing Emma to step in. She followed him into his apartment and glanced around, taking in as much of the apartment as she could. It was large and open, the windows on the opposite wall reached almost from the floor to ceiling. The walls were old red brick; and a small kitchen was to the left of the doorway, with a large island sitting adjacent to the kitchen, four metal stools under the counter. The living room had two black leather couches and a metal coffee table situated between them, a large bookcase covered most of the wall adjacent to the windows, and was filled with hundreds of vinyl records, three guitars were sitting on stands against the tall glass window. There was a couple of steps that led up to a small area filled with an unmade king sized bed and another large sliding metal door that was open, to reveal a large closet. Finally, Emma glanced over to see there were hundreds of charcoal sketches covering most of the wall to the right of the door.
She watched him walk up the couple of stairs and into his closet, "I'll be ready in a second." He stuck his head out and glanced at Ruby, who was sitting on one of the stools, spinning slowly, "Start some coffee, love?"
Ruby gave an exaggerated sigh before grinning and hopping off the stool to start a pot.
Emma watched his head disappear into the closet before she walked over to the wall covered in sketches and stared up at them, amazed. There were hundreds of drawings of different buildings and views of the ocean, but the majority of the sketches were of people. Old, young, happy, sad, beautiful, plain, groups of people, and people by themselves. Emma traced her fingertips over a picture of a young girl staring out into the ocean with a look of utter excitement on her face as she pulled the arm of an adult standing behind her and over to a picture of an old man, gazing up at the sky as he sat alone on a bench. The sketches were marvelous. Emma felt the emotions of the subjects when she looked at them. Her fingers traced over the different subjects and she finally came to a sketch of a silhouette, standing on a rocky peninsula extending out into the ocean. Her breath hitched when she realized it was her messy hair that was blowing in the breeze, her leather jacket being hugged close to her body. She leaned closer to look at the detail of her curls, whipped wild by the wind and the curve of the waves crashing around her feet when another sketch caught her eye. It was a sketch of her and Ruby, she was sleeping in the grass and Ruby was sitting cross-legged next to her, hands placed in the grass behind her, laughing at something. She glanced over to see Ruby sitting on the stool once more, a bored expression on her face as she waited for Killian, before standing on her toes to look closer at it. It had to be from the day they had gone cliff diving. Even in charcoal, the details were amazingly accurate. He had captured Ruby's bright personality and wild laugh in a single moment. She gazed up at the drawing of her sleeping face in awe, her mouth was tipped in a slight smile as she slept, her face soft and free from tension and stress. She felt a blush creep up her neck at how accurate it was, he'd captured the details of her face perfectly; the small, faded, almost imperceptible freckles that splattered across her nose, the way her eyebrows arched into a soft point in the middle, the soft curve of her ears.
Emma let her fingers fall from the sketch of her face and walked over to look out the large window. She looked out to see a breathtaking view of the ocean, watching the dark waves crash into the rocks. She looked out onto the horizon to see dark storm clouds roll in, towards the city. She hugged the loose grey sweater she was wearing closer to herself and smiled. She'd always loved stormy weather, even when she was a child; it had calmed her to hear thunder rumble and lightning crackle across the sky when she was lying in uncomfortable beds in foreign houses. There had been something comforting about the power those storms held; more powerful than the people around her. She walked over to the bookcase filled with records and fingered through them, finding some of her favorite albums, bands she'd never heard of, and albums she'd never expected Killian to own. She raised an eyebrow as she pulled out the white brick covered album and chuckled softly to herself.
"Something funny, love?"
She jumped when she heard Killian's voice across the room, she turned to see him jump down the stairs, wearing a black shirt and dark blue jeans, hugging his hips in an irritatingly attractive way.
"Oh, it's nothing, I just really love this album."
He walked over to look at the album in her hand and lifted his eyebrows in surprise, "The Wall? First Zeppelin, now Floyd? I wouldn't have taken you for a classic rock fan."
Emma turned to slide the album back into the bookcase before walking across the room and sitting down next to Ruby, "There's quite a lot you don't know about me."
He raised an eyebrow and grinned widely, "Is that a challenge?"
Ruby's irritated voice interrupted them, "Are you ready yet?"
Killian grabbed a travel mug from a cupboard and poured coffee in it as he grinned over at Ruby, "Yeah, yeah, I'm almost done."
Emma glanced up at Ruby, who was humming along to the music as she drew black lines on her eyelids. Ruby's met her eyes in the mirror and smiled before shutting the mirror and pushing up the visor. She turned around and looked back at Emma, "What time did you tell Graham we'd meet him?"
Emma glanced down at her wrist, twisting the watch absentmindedly, "I told him we'd probably get there around noon."
She looked up and saw Killian's eyes narrowed back at her in the rearview mirror; she raised an eyebrow at his reflection. His eyebrow mimicked hers, an indecipherable expression on his face before he broke eye contact and looked back out the front window.
Emma pushed the doors open and saw Belle across the room, her nose buried deep inside a book, when Ruby exclaimed and excited "Ohh!" at the large wolf logo painted on the doors, she looked up and smiled.
Emma grinned back at her as they made their way across the tile floor, "Hey Belle, how are you?"
"I'm good! How's everything, the car working again?"
Emma grinned, "Nope, Granny's still deciding if she wants to even bother getting it fixed, we took Killian's Jeep today."
She glanced over to the two standing slightly behind her, "Shit, sorry, this is Granny's granddaughter, Ruby," she pointed in Ruby's direction before turning to Killian, "and this is our friend Killian. Guys, this is Belle."
Belle smiled shyly at them before turning back to Emma, "Do you want me to show you to Graham's office again?"
"Nah, I think I can find it."
Ruby and Killian followed Emma through the maze of hallways until they reached Graham's office. Emma knocked on the large wooden door and heard Graham's muffled voice, "Come on in."
She pushed the door open slowly and smiled over at Graham as he typed furiously on his computer. He glanced up at them, "One second, I just have to finish this invoice."
Ruby pushed past Emma and sat down on the large brown leather couch that was sitting against the wall, picking up a wooden carving of a wolf and inspecting it closely. Emma felt Killian press up behind her as he moved to shut the heavy door. Goosebumps rushed over Emma's arms and she moved so quickly to sit next to Ruby causing her to look up from the sculpture as she raised a quizzical eyebrow. Emma shook her head imperceptibly and Ruby shrugged before turning back to the carving in her hands. She felt the cushion next to her depress slightly as Killian lounged on her other side.
"Sorry about that, I didn't expect you for another half hour."
Emma grinned, "Yeah, well, Killian has no apparent regard for any kind of speed limit, so we got here faster than I expected."
Killian chuckled, "Just because I don't drive like a crippled elderly person does not mean that I have no regard for the speed limit."
Emma turned to him and shot him a look of feigned indigence, "An elderly person? Excuse me, I drive like a sane person."
"Mhmm, whatever you say, love. All I'm saying is it took us like an hour longer to get home last weekend than it took to get there."
Emma punched his arm lightly, "Whatever, Jones."
He reached out and grabbed her fist, "It's not very nice to hit people, Swan."
She had a sudden urge to stick her tongue out at him, but refrained, knowing that she would never hear the end of it. She pulled her hand from his, a small flutter shuddering through her stomach, which she decided to ignore.
Ruby interrupted their bickering as she set down the wooden wolf and looked expectantly up at Graham, "So, what exactly are we doing today?"
Graham smiled down at them, "I thought we could go to lunch and then maybe I'll show you guys around?"
Ruby jumped up, a smile splitting across her face, "Sounds good!" She reached down and pulled Emma up by the arm and they followed Graham out his office door.
"Do you guys just want to follow me to the restaurant?"
Emma opened her mouth to reply when Ruby cut her off, "I'll come with you and Killian and Emma can follow in his Jeep!"
Emma closed her mouth and narrowed her eyes in Ruby's direction; a mischievous smile was spread across Ruby's face.
"Sounds good to me, it's actually not too far from here."
Emma just nodded, shooting one last glare at her friend as they exited the large front doors.
Emma watched Ruby slide in the front seat of Graham's old pickup, already telling Graham some story with elaborate hand gestures, and then turned to climb into the Jeep. She glanced over at Killian who was turning the key in the ignition, "So, you ever been down here before?"
"Wexford? Yeah, I had a couple of gigs here last year, but I've only been to the clubs that we were playing in."
Emma nodded and turned to watch Graham pull out of the parking lot and onto the deserted road. Killian reached for the radio and turned up the volume, so that the Rolling Stones were thundering through the Jeep, she turned to him and raised an eyebrow.
He shrugged, "What? I like this song."
She grinned and leaned back, putting her feet on the dashboard and humming along to herself.
"Aren't you going to sing for me again?"
She rolled her eyes, not even turning to look at him, "In your dreams, Jones."
"I told you the other day, you're always in my dreams, Swan."
She reached over to punch him in the arm, "Keep talking like that and that's the only time you'll see me."
They pulled into the parking lot of a large cream-colored building sitting on the edge of the rocky cliff, looking out over the ocean. The building had hints of old Irish architecture, laid into a modern design, and the result was stunning.
Emma jumped out of the Jeep and looked over at Ruby, who had an excited expression on her face, she grinned over at Graham before almost running over to Emma, "Can you believe this? He's taking us to Béllo! This place is impossible to get into!"
Emma gave her friend a bemused look, shrugging slightly, "Never heard of it."
Killian came up behind her, a mocking tone lacing his words "Well isn't Mr. Brewery just so fancy."
"Be nice!"
She pushed her elbow backwards until it made contact with his stomach, but he had clenched his muscles in anticipation, causing a tingling sensation to run up towards her shoulder when her elbow hit his hard stomach. She turned around and glared at him, rubbing her upper arm, "That wasn't fair!"
He beamed down at her, "What did I say, Swan? It's not nice to hit people."
She glared at him for a second longer before Graham walked up to them, "Ready?"
Ruby laced her arm through Emma's still tingling one and pulled her after Graham beaming, "Yes! I still can't believe you're taking us here."
They walked through the front doors and a pretty hostess smiled at Graham, "Hey Graham, how's it going?"
"Not too bad, how're things over here?"
She smiled and rolled her eyes, "How they always are, Regina's always freaking out about one thing or another."
He chuckled, "Yeah, I don't think that woman knows how to relax."
"I'll show you guys to your table."
He smiled and they followed her through a crowded room filled with cheerful conversation and the clinking of glasses and dishes. The woman pushed open a door that led out onto a large balcony, which was almost completely empty. There was a bar on the far left side and a large Tuscany style oven behind it. Vines with pale white flowers climbed the walls and the few beams that crossed overhead. There were small white lights that were strung throughout the vines, and a small white stucco wall on the very edge of the balcony, a blue fire running along it. Emma heard Ruby gasp in excitement as they sat down at one of the empty tables; a waitress came over with ridiculously expensive bottles of chardonnay and merlot. Emma raised her eyebrows in question to Graham, who grinned and shrugged, "I know a lot of people in the food industry."
Killian scoffed and Emma kicked him under the table, she let a small smile cross her face when she heard his grunt of pain.
Ruby reached up to touch one of the soft flowers on a pillar next to her, "This place is gorgeous, my roommate in Boston would love it here, she's getting her master's in architecture."
Killian lifted his eyebrows in question, "Mary Margaret? I thought she was doing interior design?"
Ruby shook her head, "She switched over to architecture our sophomore year."
"She still dating that charming veterinarian?"
Ruby rolled her eyes, "Yes, and he actually is pretty charming, you know. You just don't see it because he doesn't like you."
Killian gave her a look of mock offence.
Emma grinned, "Oh, someone who doesn't like you? There's a shocker."
He returned the grin, "I may have come off as a bit cocky."
Ruby grinned, "You may have come off as someone who was hitting on his girlfriend."
He gave an innocent smile, his hands raising in defense, "I didn't know they were dating!"
Ruby rolled her eyes as a tall elegant woman, with dark black hair and a tight dark blue dress walked over to them, a bright smile on her face, "Graham! It's good to see you."
Graham smiled back, "Hey Regina, how are you?"
"Pretty good, stressed, but everything is going well."
Graham nodded to the three sitting with him, pointing to each in turn, "These are some friends from Dublin, this is Ruby, Emma and Killian. They're visiting for the weekend."
Regina smiled down at them, "It's very nice to meet you all."
Emma smiled back, "This is such a lovely restaurant, I love this balcony, everything is so breathtaking."
The woman returned a soft smile, "Thank you, I put everything I have into this, and it's nice to hear that from someone other than this one." She jerked her finger in Graham's direction and gave him a smile, "I should be going, I have a million things to do today, it was very lovely to meet you all."
They all gave her a small wave as she departed.
Emma glanced over at Graham, "Are you a supplier here then?"
He nodded, "She mostly serves more high end wine than beer, but she keeps a few of my high quality brews in stock."
"How long have you been supplying her for?"
"She was actually one of my first clients, so almost 8 years, I think."
Ruby turned to look over at him, "Is she American?"
"Yeah, she moved here after her fiancé died of a heart attack, I don't think she ever really got over it. I think she just kind of chose a place at random and moved there after it happened. I don't think she had much left in New York, she doesn't have any family left, at least none that she talks to."
Emma squirmed in her seat and her face became pale, the familiarity of that sentence made her feel extremely uneasy.
Killian glanced over at her, a concerned expression on his face, "You okay, love?"
She gave a weak smile and stood up, "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just going to use the bathroom real fast."
She pushed out her chair and almost ran to the door, stepping inside and leaning against the wall for a minute before following the signs to the bathroom. She stepped inside and almost laughed, the room was nicer than her room at Granny's. It had a dark red couch leaning against the soft cream walls, the stalls were a ivory granite, encrusted with gold and the marble sinks had large plush towels to stacked high. She sat down on the couch and leaned her head back, breathing deeply. She heard the door opened and looked over to see Ruby enter.
"You okay?"
Her friend's face was softened with sadness, and she sat down next to her, wrapping her arm through Emma's.
Emma smiled, "Yeah, just got a little freaked out."
Ruby smiled softly, "Yeah, Killian and Graham were a little worried, so I told them I would come check on you."
"Did you tell them anything?" Emma had told Ruby about most of her past, but she wasn't sure how she felt about Killian and Graham knowing. She wasn't ashamed of who she was in the past, but people tended to pity her when they found out, Ruby and Granny being the wonderful exceptions.
Ruby shook her head, "Nah, I figured if you wanted them to know, you could tell them."
Emma smiled gratefully, "Thanks, Ruby."
Ruby smiled and hugged her tightly, "Anytime, Emma."
A/N: Hey guys, I am so so so sorry that it took me this long to update, it's been a crazy month (working two jobs where everyone thinks you're their personal assistant is NOT a fun way to spend your summer, on top of taking three summer classes). ANYWAYS, I hope you guys like this, I finally have *some* idea where this story is going, so that's good! I'll try to update as soon as possible again, but life is still kind of crazy right now.
Your reviews are all so lovely, thank you so much for being so nice about this story, I love you all!
Also, thanks to both Anne and Liv for giving me some really great comments, I appreciate them more than you guys know!
