Chapter 4

It soon became a surprise to Emma that she was willing to wake up earlier than she had to on school days, though she mainly wanted to see the sunrise from her apartment window. During her wait for ten to arrive, Emma decided to revise some of her papers for school, noting how prickly they seemed to be. She realized right then that all these papers were done before she met Killian, that somehow she was dead inside and upon meeting him, found herself coming back by the hour. Emma immediately set to rewriting some papers as a whole due to how stoney they appeared. So she saw to it that the papers were written by a human rather than a Dalek.

By ten, she sent her work in via email and decides to skip her one unimportant class, Economics, to head straight to Lake Nostros for an anticipated meeting. Upon arrival, Emma saw Killian by the sandy shore of the rejuvenating lake. In his good hand was a takeout bag from Granny's and his prosthetic one held two wooden swords. Killian immediately set the items down to embrace his good friend. Soon, Emma reluctantly pulled out of his embrace, inquiring,

"Why the wooden swords, Jones? What are they for?"

"Well, I just thought we could have ourselves a spar either before or after our meal."

With a sly smirk, Emma reached for the wooden sword closest to her and attempted to play attack Killian, only for him perry it with an identical smirk on his handsome face.

"Or we could eat afterwards, to celebrate your inevitable defeat."

They both laughed as they threw in their best in the sword fight away from the lake and towards the hilltops. The actual swordplay ended when Killian easily disarmed Emma, who immediately responded by tackling him to the ground. Together, they rolled down the hills and managed to get a break from rolling to catch their breath, only to have it caught away again at the sight of each other.

The two quickly dismiss themselves of the thoughts to eating their takeout, which was surprisingly still warm. Emma chose now to ask him something that she'd been curious about for quite some time now.

"Killian, how did you lose your hand?"

Killian paused before answering tentatively,

"I lost it in a fight. I don't like talking about it"

"Whenever you're ready to share, you'll share."

"Thanks, Swan. Do you mind if I ask you something on the way back?"

"No, I don't mind, Killian. Ask away."

"Where are you from, exactly?

As they walked back to their respective abodes, Emma told him about how she was found abandoned on the side of the freeway at birth, in nothing but a homemade baby blanket with her name on it. She also tells him about how the Swans had adopted her and kept her until they had their own kid, sending her back to the foster system.

Upon approaching Emma's apartment, Killian asks her one more question,

"Is there a chance I'll see you sometime tomorrow?"

Emma smiles brightly before confirming,

"I can guarantee a chance for a lunch with you tomorrow."

That sets a grin on his face that outshines her own.

Before parting ways, Emma darts up to Killian and presses a lingering kiss on his scruffy cheek, making both of them blush. Emma slowly closes the door behind her, and immediately dashes to her window only to see Killian refraining himself from skipping along his driveway. This sets a huge smile on her face, which leads to a horde of questions from Mary Margaret about her third date, to which she answers all of them. Mary Margaret states that she has a good feeling about how her friendship with Killian is going to turn out. Emma states that she does as well.