Emma is supposed to return to NY with Henry so they can pack up their belongings. Killian ends up coming with her instead. Pure fluff.

So I've determined I can't write short stories. This is way longer than I expected. I blame Killian and Emma though. They seem to take on a life of their own as I'm writing. I hope you like it!

And seriously, you all are the best. When I saw 70 followers and 40 favorites today, I may have broken out into a huge cheesy grin. Thank you so much!

Road Trip

Emma signed a two year lease on the house by the beach. There was an option for six months or a year as well, but her hand moved of its own accord, checking off the box for 24 months and signing her name. Subconsciously she knew it was some part of her determined to put down roots. To stay here forever. To be part of a family again. She forced herself not to think about it too much.

"So kid, I was thinking we could drive back to New York tomorrow morning and pack up the rest of our stuff. I figured we'd just get new furniture here instead of paying for a moving truck. Is that okay with you?" Henry was engrossed in some new video game he convinced her to buy the other day.

"Sure mom." he replied. "Is Killian coming with us?"

"I didn't think to ask. Do you want me to?" An extra hand (she snorted to herself at the pun) surely wouldn't hurt.

"Yeah. I doubt he's going to let you out of his sight anyway." Henry grinned at her.

Emma frowned. When did her kid start spouting off lines like this?

Later that evening, while they ate dinner downstairs at Granny's, Emma asked Killian if he wanted to come along. He appeared extremely relieved to be invited, but Emma didn't press the issue.

Henry was spooning the last mouthful of hot fudge sundae into his mouth when Regina entered to diner. It was obvious she was trying to keep up appearances but she looked terrible, which made Emma feel even worse than she did that night. How was she supposed to know that of all people to be in the cell next to her it would be Robin's wife? Henry immediately picked up on the look on Regina's face, dropped his spoon and went to her.

Emma couldn't make out what they were saying but it gave her a small amount of comfort to see that at least while talking to Henry, Regina was smiling and appeared to be back to her old self. Or less old self? Emma wasn't sure how to definite it. Regina certainly hadn't reverted back to the woman she was when Emma first arrived in Storybrooke but she wasn't as friendly as she had previously been either, with obvious good reason.

"Mom," Henry returned to the table. "She's really upset still over Robin. I tried to tell her to just go talk to him but she won't listen and is convinced that he is spending all of his time with Marian again. I really don't want to leave her like this. Can I spend the night with her instead of going to New York tomorrow? I'll come to the new house on Saturday to unpack and everything once you are back."

Emma wasn't fond of leaving Henry here when she would be so far away, but she didn't feel like she really had a choice either. "Of course Henry. Killian and I will pack up your room."

"So love, looks like it's just you and I tomorrow." he grinned at her.

Oh, and there was that issue. Emma figured with Henry coming along that Killian would keep his distance, so to speak, but now she would be alone with him in her former apartment most likely overnight. Emma gulped.

It wasn't that she didn't want to be alone with him, it was just that she didn't want to be alone with him so soon. She was still hanging onto a few shreds of willpower not to shove the gorgeous leather-clad man against the wall somewhere and have her way with him, but there was no guarantees she could keep this up when they would be completely alone, far away from everyone.

The gulp didn't go unnoticed. "I promise to be a perfect gentleman, love. After all, I am a very patient man. I did wait over three hundred years to exact my revenge on the crocodile, and look how that turned out." he said.

… the next morning…

Killian leaned up against her bug the next morning, holding two cups of coffee with his good hand.

"Well, you at least get brownie points for providing me with nectar of the gods for this trip." she leaned over to open his door.

"Nectar of the gods is rum lass, not coffee. However, since you are driving and I am here to keep you company, I opted not to spike either." he said smiling.

The drive was relatively uneventful. Killian was still not a fan of these metal carriage contraptions nor all of the traffic they had to encounter getting back to her apartment. Miles of these contraptions all squished together on a long narrow road, it practically gave him hives if he thought about it too long. There should be space, room to breath, somewhere to let the sails out, he thought.

Sometimes he was able to forget how much he missed her, The Jolly. Other times he felt nearly as bad as he did watching Swan drive away with her boy a year ago. Maybe if they could just get through a small period of time without villains and curses, he could begin to look for his ship again. Well, once he found a way, not of the time portal variety, to travel between realms.

Hours later Emma pulled up in front of her old building. "We're here." She hopped out of the car immediately and stretched her legs. Killian just watched.

"We'll go to the grocery store around the corner first and see if they'll give us any boxes. I didn't even think to bring any from Storybrooke." She said, grabbing his hand and tugging him down the sidewalk.

Armfuls of boxes procured, plus packing tape and a huge wad of newspapers, they entered her apartment. "Just drop them here." Emma indicated to the foyer.

"Did you really not remember me at all when I first came here for you?" he asked quietly.

"I'm not sure. I mean, I didn't recognize your face, but your voice sounded familiar and I knew there had been something between us when you kissed me, but I didn't really remember you." she said honestly.

"I thought I saw a flicker of something before you so graciously kneed me." he responded.

"Hey! It's not every day a guy dressed as a pirate shows up at your door and kisses you!" Emma exclaims.

He puts his hook on his hip and raises his eyebrows at her. Unless she had suddenly developed a case of amnesia, Hook was fairly certain that is exactly how he had greeted her every morning since getting back from that blasted time portal.

"Well, then it wasn't!" she spluttered. "Come on, we need to get started packing. There's a lot more stuff here than I remember."

They started in the kitchen first, packing up dishes, pots and pans, and utensils. They were down to the final draw when he held up the pineapple corer gingerly between his fingers. "Why are you keeping weapons in your kitchen, Swan?" he asked.

Emma started laughing. "It's not a weapon. It cores a pineapple. You cut off the top of the pineapple and the sides, then you press this down the center and it takes out the core. So you can have pineapple rings."

Killian raises an eyebrow, but places the item in a box, still skeptical. It appears to be much more weapon like than a fruit tool.

They split up after the kitchen, Killian agreeing to pack up Henry's room and Emma doing the living room, which boasted quite a large assortment of DVDs. Killian was surprised to find a shelf full of toys amidst the books and other belongings of the boy. Small figurines of men, a few cars and various other objects all got packed into boxes as he quickly worked around the room. Sweeping a stack of books from the shelf into a box, his eye caught on a small piece of paper sticking out of a book. The paper was very old, quite like the paper he had kept on his ship. Carefully he opened the book, unfolded the paper and gasped.

It was a fairly accurate drawing of his ship! The lad must have stolen the paper when they were on the way back from Neverland, but he had no idea when he had the time to actually draw the picture. He tucked the drawing into his coat, reminding himself to ask Henry if he could have it when they returned back to Storybrooke.

"Hey" she said, causing him to jump. She held a small glass of rum out to him. "We've been at this for hours. I'm ready for a break. Want to have a drink and find some food?"

She talked him into getting something called pizza for dinner. He'd heard of this meal before, possibly even had a less pleasant variety in his stay at the hospital all that time ago. Pizza is different in New York, she explained. As long as you like cheese and bread, you'll love it.

The pizza arrived a short time later. Emma placed two slices on each of their plates and flopped down on the couch. She turned on the magic picture box..err, television and actually squealed while she was flipping through.

"I don't like a ton of romantic movies," Emma told him. "But this one, You've Got Mail, is one of my favorites. It's a story about Kathleen Kelly, a woman who owns a children's book store right here in New York and then a guy named Joe Fox comes in with his mega store right around the block from her and puts her out of business. But they still fall in love."

"She falls in love with a man who takes away her trade? It does not sound very smart to me." he says, finally taking a bite of the pizza. Oh, this stuff is wonderful! Soft and chewy, melty and a touch acidic. He does not mean for the moan to escape his lips, but this concoction is heavenly! Maybe there are some things in this realm more worthwhile than others.

He glances at her, finding her staring at him in amusement with a hint of something else...arousal, maybe? Suddenly he feels self conscious, which is preposterous because Captain Hook would never feel self conscious about anything.

"I told you it was good." she says, interrupting his thoughts. He nods and returns to the slice at hand.

When he finished, Emma had placed his dirty plate on the table in front of them and had curled up against him on the couch, engrossed in the movie. He finds himself running his fingers through her hair.

"You're gonna put me to sleep doing that" she says, eyes already half lidded. He positions them so she is lying in front of him on the couch and wraps his arm around her, still fondling her tresses between his fingers.

He actually finds the movie quite interesting and is impressed that despite the man taking away her trade, her livelihood, the woman still has the ability to fall for him and even dare to hope that it was him. It gives him a sense of comfort knowing that even in these movies life isn't always as cut and dry as it seems.

Hook leans forward to kiss Emma's cheek and finds that she has fallen asleep. The couch is comfortable, but not that comfortable and she have a long day of driving ahead of them. By some odds, he manages to untangle himself from her and the couch without waking her. He tiptoes into her room and finds she has left her bed still made. Tossing extra pillows on the floor, he draws back the blankets, shocked at how strongly her scent still remains on them.

Returning to the living room, he carefully lifts her up and carries her to her bed. He starts to pull the blankets around her when her eyes flutter open. "Sleep here with me." She mumbles.

He hesitates. He could just as easily sleep on the couch, but the last time he actually slept in such near proximity to her was in Neverland and while he has no intentions of more than just sleeping next to her, he still feels as though it is wrong some how.

Her eyes flutter open again, appearing more alert this time and she reaches her arms out to him. "I said get in bed with me, pirate." He chuckles at the impatience shining through her sleep-laced voice.

"Top drawer. There's pants that should fit you." Her eyes are fully open now but he can tell she's still fighting sleep.

Killian crosses the room to the dresser and pulls out cotton pants and t-shirt he thinks will fit him, before slipping into her bathroom to change. Removing his hook, he places it on her nightstand and carefully climbs into bed with her.

Of all the thoughts he's had of sleeping with Emma, this was not the one he expected to happen first. Emma raises his right arm and presses herself against him, letting his arm fall against her back. She leans forward, pressing a soft kiss to his jawline and mumbles "night, Killian" before laying her head on his chest, her arm wrapped around his waist.

"Good night, love" he whispers before eventually drifting off himself.

The next morning he wakes as she tries to extricate herself from him. "Oh." she smiles sheepishly as she finds his blue eyes staring back at her. "You umm...make a good pillow. You probably slept terribly with me draped all over you. I'm sorry."

"I'm not." He smiles at her. "I slept perfectly fine love."

She nods and crawls out of bed. "It's just my clothing left to pack. Do you want to start taking the boxes down to my car and I'll get the rest packed away? We can grab some more coffee before we actually leave."

"Of course, love." He pushes back the blankets and finds her staring at him. At first he thinks it's disgust at his lack of a arm, but he realizes she does not look displeased. Feeling more self conscious than ever, he clears his throat.

"Oh, umm regular clothes." she gestures at him. "First time I've seen that."

He gives her a small smile before gathering his usual clothing and heading to the other bathroom to change, allowing her to get ready at her own pace.

An hour later the boxes are loaded into her bug and they each have a cup of coffee. Emma pauses, looking up at the building one more time. It feels like a lifetime ago that she was here, living what she thought was a normal life with Henry. Shaking her head, she gets in the car and pushes open the door for him.

What did you think? I tried going against my usual dialogue-heavy writing and tried to channel what must be going on in Killian's head. I referred to him as Hook in this chapter, only because I still see him as both and probably always will.