I'm so so sorry for the long gaps between these chapters but I've been having health issues and writers block and things are a bit hectic but here is Chapter 6, I hope you enjoy, it's a bit of a long one but hopefully that makes up for not writing for ages :)

I've done some things that I can't speak
And I've tried to wash you away but you just won't leave
So won't you take a breath and dive in deep
'Cause I came here so you'd come for me

- 'Haunting' Halsey

"What's the news then Regina?" Emma collapses into the chair across from Regina's desk, she knows she's being callus considering the circumstances but the longer she's in this town the edgier she feels. It's not her fault. Really, it isn't. The woman in question sits across from Emma with a look of displeasure.

"Emma, a lot has changed since you were last in Storybrooke," Regina hesitates "the people have changed, there's stories you don't know yet so you have to tread carefully"

Emma stares at her friend more closely, and for the first time she notices the dark circles under her eyes and the heavy set of her shoulders.

"What's going on?"

"Emma, I'm going to have to ask you to do something you aren't going to like"

"I never like that sentence" her words are honest, even though Emma can't recall the last time anyone said that sentence to her, they still make her shift uncomfortably in her seat.

"I'm sorry but I can't avoid it Emma, David is the sheriff of the town and you're going to have to work with him" Emma hesitates, it was uncomfortable sure but even she could admit that it could be worse for her. She could be forced to work with...him.

"He's not...still mad is he?" Emma asks quietly, her fear of her friend's disappointment like an ice knife against her heart.

"I honestly don't know Emma, but between you and me...even if he is, he doesn't exactly have much moral ground to stand on after what he and Mary Margaret pulled" the way Regina lifts her nose in distaste tells Emma the two must have done something really bad. She can't help it, Emma leans forwards and ask the question burning on her lips.

"What on earth did David do to deserve that!?" Emma can't deny that she loves a good gossip, what small-town girl didn't? It was practically a part of her genetics. For a moment Regina looks reluctant to say anything but before Emma can push for more she notices the evil gleam in her best friends eyes.

"I should be above the gossip Emma, I'm mayor!" Regina sighs, yet the blonde isn't fooled in the slightest, she grins and makes a motioning signal with her hands.

"David was going to move to Boston with his wife, Kathryn" Emma pauses for a moment, confused.

"I always thought David would marry Mary Margaret" Regina waves her hand to shush her best friend

"Everyone thought that" Regina snaps "don't interrupt" her tone is scolding but Emma can see that the best part is coming. "Anyway, Kathryn wanted to move because she was worried David was getting too close to his old flame." Emma knew what her best friend would say next, she couldn't keep the laughter from bubbling up

"You offered him the promotion to keep him here!"

"He got the job because Graham died" Regina reminds her friend sullenly, the words sober Emma immediately.

"I'm so sorry Regina" damn it, she couldn't even do right by her best friend.

"David decided to stay after what happened, Kathryn didn't like it but she understood. Turned out David's been having an affair with Mary Margaret for about 2 months though. I saw them the other night," Regina snorts in disgust "for a pair who grew up in a small town you'd think they'd be better at hiding it, I caught them in Mary Margaret's front yard"

"No way!" Emma doesn't miss the fact Regina ignores her apology but tries not to let it bother her too much. Emma leans back in her chair, hesitating.

"I don't exactly have any grounds to judge them though, do I?" Emma's tone is soft, she doesn't have to elaborate and Regina doesn't ask her too.

"There's a difference though" Her friend's tone is defensive, just as it was when Emma had first told her what had happened. It brings a small smile to her lips but it doesn't completely remove the acidic self-loathing that burns her up inside.

"There's not too much difference, but look, I'll go head off and meet up with David now. Have a chat to him" Emma stands to go, he feet carrying her towards the door in hopes to escape the conversation.

"Emma!" Regina's voice pulls her back, there's a pause before her friend speaks carefully "I have to warn you about one other thing..." She knew it was coming, how could it not be?

"He's not here" Regina assures her, seeing the fear in her best friend's face "not at the moment, but he's due back" Regina hesitates "I don't know when but I've tried to keep your home coming a secret although in a town like this I doubt it will stay a secret"

"I'm not back" Emma snaps, defensively. Regina holds up her hands in surrender.

"No one is saying you are, but he's going to find out Emma and you're going to have to deal with it"

"Not if I'm already gone before he's back" the words are out before she can stop them and it pains her to see the hurt flash through her best friends eyes. Emma sighs, hanging her head in defeat. She hates hurting Regina, she hates hurting Henry, but she's not ready to face that part of her past. She's not completely sure she ever will be.

"He's stayed here for you, you know" the words are spoken coldly, and Emma knows it's Regina's way of reminding her that she knows just how to hurt Emma in return. The blonde could be mad but she knows her constant running hurts Regina, even more so it hurts Henry and that's the only thing Regina finds unforgivable.

"He's waited almost eleven years for you Emma, despite everything that's happened to him" Her words make Emma's head snap up.

"What do you mean?" But Regina only shakes her head.

"You can ask him" and with that Regina turns back to her paper work, waving a hand in dismissal towards Emma.

She leaves the office in a daze, her thoughts filled with Killian. She can remember where it all went wrong, when it all went wrong. A part of her wishes that she could forget, that she could remove the memory from her brain.

"Killian stop hogging the bottle!" She squeals, almost loosing her balance in attempt to reach the bottle he's holding just out of her reach.

"I think you've had enough lass" Emma notices that his accent is thicker when he's drunk, sexier too.

"you've had just as much as me, probably more" her words are slurring slightly, Emma scrunches her nose, trying to think through the fog of the alcohol.

"I'm Irish!" Killian says it so proudly, Emma can't help but snort.

"What does being a sexy Irishman have to do with it?" Killian smirks

"obviously I can hold my liquor better, everyone knows that" he sways on his feet slightly, leaning towards her.

"Sexy Irishman?" He's voice drops, Emma's breath hitches and she forgets what she was going to say as she stares at his lips. Imagining what they'd feel like pressed against her own.

Her phone ringing breaks the spell and she picks it up. Seeing the caller ID she sighs and turns the phone off. She doesn't want to talk to David right now, she knows his worried but the last thing she needs right now is to be lectured on her drinking habits. She throws the phone onto the coffee table and collapses into the couch where Killian joins her, taking another swing from the bottle in his hand.

"Was that him?" There's a venomous tone to Killian's words, "I swear I'll kill him if he's bothering you" For a moment Emma wonders if he's pretending to be tipsy as Killian launches to his feet with a quick grace. Those thoughts are quickly squashed when he takes a few steps only to tumble to the ground, a bottle of spiced rum in his hand.

"Bloody fuck" he yells as he crashes to the ground. Emma launches over to him

"Killian! Are you okay?" Her hands do a quick run over him

"I'm bloody brilliant, love" he assures her "More than I can say for the rum though" he chuckles, Emma can't help but sit back on her heels and laugh. The practically empty bottle of rum lay empty next to him, broken.

"You managed to spill it all over yourself" She laughs, Killian stares at her with a soft look in his blue eyes.

"I love your laugh Swan" he murmurs, Emma pulls away from him as he reaches out to touch her. She might be drunk but she knows he's with Milah.

"I should get you cleaned up and home to Milah." Emma reminds him kindly as she starts to pick up the broken pieces of the bottle.

"don't do that love, you'll cut -"

"Fuck!" She can feel the glass slice through her palm and for a moment there's no pain, that's how she knows it's bad. The stinging begins and Emma can't stop the curses falling from her lips. It would make a sailor blush. She dashes to the kitchen on weak legs, ignoring Killian all together now.

"Stupid fucking bottle" she exclaims, holding her hand over the sink,

"Here love, let me look" Killian's voice is sure and steady. Again she wonders just how drunk he really is.

"It's nothing" she mutters, Killian ignores her and stands just behind her as he examines her hand over her shoulder, there's a flask in his hand which he pours over her wound, she jerks back, hitting his solid, admittedly wet frame and for a second she forgets her hand but almost instantly the pain is back and worse.

"What the hell was that?" She snaps, annoyed at herself for getting distracted.

"Rum" Killian chuckles, as if the answer should be obvious "and a bloody right waste of it" Emma slides out and away from him, glaring.

"Says the guy who smashed the bottle of rum" she snarks, perhaps it's irrational but suddenly she's angry. She'd been perfectly happy drinking alone before Killian turned up, they hadn't talked about how she'd been dumped, she hadn't mentioned that Neal asked her to run away with him or the fact she refused because she didn't want to leave Killian behind. She was pathetic, she always fancied Neal but Killian had been there for her since day one. Emma snorted, she was like one of those girls in the romance novels Mary Margaret was always reading. Pathetically in love with her best friend who was in love with someone else entirely.

"Emma, I need to tie this" Killian's voice gentle brought her back to the present. Emma said nothing as she watched him wrap the gauze around her hand, just before he tied it off his phone started to ring, but without missing a beat Killian put one end of the gauze in his mouth to tighten the knot as he reached into his back pocket to answer the phone.

"Aye?" He answered without taking his eyes off Emma, who shifted uncomfortably, trying desperately to ignore her growing desire. "She's here...yeah Dave she's safe...yeah yeah, bye" Killian chuckled and hung up.

"you ignored David's call" Killian's voice was soft, and he moved closer. Emma's breath shallow as he leans his head in, his lips inches from her own.

Arriving at the sheriffs department Emma shakes the memory from her mind. She's here to do a job, one that didn't involve drowning in the past. There is no way she can face Killian, not after what she did to him or what he did to her. It wasn't fair on either of them to revisit those mistakes.

She enters the station to find David looking stressed and muttering under his breath. She watches him with a small smile for a moment and she can't help but be reminded of him in high school, the nerdy brother of his twin, always struggling to impress their father.

As if he can sense her eyes on him, he straightens from his position and looks up at her, freezing for a moment before letting out an excited shout. Emma barely has time to compose herself before she's swept up in a giant bear hug.

Of all the greetings she's been expecting from David, this was not one of them but still she finds her arms wrapping around him and hugging him back, tears threatening to build and spill over.

"Jesus David," she chuckles "I wasn't expecting you to crush me" He puts her down and smiles at her with nothing but pure love, she searches for the lingering anger or even hatred but all she can see is love and joy in his expression. A small part of her brain whispers that this is family, this is what home should be like but Emma squashes the voice, knowing she can't stay here forever. Not if she's bound to run into Killian again.

"I'm excited to see you" he explains with a shrug "Regina called when you arrived and let me know to expect you" he grins and it's infectious in the best kind of way.

"I'm sorry it's not under better circumstances" her voice holds a small amount of sorrow, it's probably wrong of her to feel so happy to see David again but she didn't know Graham all that well, didn't know him well enough to feel the same sorrow that Regina and the others might feel.

David's expression sobers instantly but he doesn't say anything for a moment, rather leads her into his office and closes the door, indicating the seat across from him, Emma takes it and waits for David to collect his thoughts.

"Storybrooke is a small town Emma" He begins rubbing the back of his neck "I'm not entirely sure how to deal with something like this, we've never had to deal with anything close to this before" David looks at her and she can see the pleading desperation in his eyes.

"I find people" Emma begins carefully "I'm good at my job but I'm usually only looking for bail jumpers, not killers" Emma leans back and shakes her head. "I can definitely find any missing suspects but not sure how much help I can be in the investigative work. I might be able to call in some favours with folk on the police force..." Emma drifts off, the problem with calling in anyone from any of the bigger cities is they wouldn't understand the workings of a small town...Unless...

"I've already got someone on the evidence and autopsy" Emma raises her eyebrows in curiousity

"Who?"

"Dr. Whale"

Emma nods, it's a logical choice, Whale has worked in multiple areas of the medical profession before moving back to the small town to work at the local hospital.

"I could call in a few favours...maybe get August back into town" David looks curious but doesn't say anything on it.

"Whale and August will work well together, make the call" he nods, as if thinking it through. Emma smiles.

"He's a writer now" Emma informs her friend who laughs

"A cop turned writer?" David shakes his head in disbelief but laughs "Should've known, he was always a creative kid" Emma smiles a part of her happy that David hasn't brought up their past, his focus on the here and now.

"I can't believe she got you here so fast" he admits, Emma's stomach drops. Clearly she'd spoken too soon. "I mean he's been dead less than a week" Emma bites the inside of her cheek before sighing and being honest.

"I was kind of looking to get out of Boston" she admits, hesitating on the smaller details

"Boston?" David blanches "I always thought you'd have been on the other side of the country, not around the corner" Emma can't help her snort, Boston wasn't exactly around the corner from Storybrooke but David was right, it wasn't exactly on the other side of the country either.

"I've moved around a lot" she admits "after things went south with Neal I kinda didn't want to stick around anywhere too long, Boston was one of the few places I almost settled in" She stops herself from saying anymore, knowing that mentioning a pissed off ex would only summon David's protective side. They're conversation moves on quickly and they discuss the finer details of what David had discovered so far.

"So Graham was looking into the disappearance of Eight different people from town" Emma frowns "how does that result in the kind of injuries he was found with, torture doesn't fit that's something you see in larger cities where there's mob activity" Emma frowns "it doesn't make sense" David nods in agreement.

"That's what I thought" Emma could sense there was more than David was saying but she let it go and instead opens the file.

"Do we have a list of the missing?" She asks as she starts to read through the file. When David doesn't answer immediately Emma raises her eyes, sensing the rising tension in the room.

"David?" Emma watches as he shifts awkwardly before looking at her with a mixture of pain and regret on his face.

"One of the first people to go missing was Milah" the name is like a dagger straight through her heart, Emma barely had time to react before his next words slammed into her like a sledgehammer to the chest, stealing her breath.

"She was found alive but later she was killed...Killian was forced to watch" Emma can feel the tears burning her eyes.

"Jesus Christ, David" she has no words to express the pain she felt on behalf of the man who used to be her best friend.

"How could Regina not have told me?" I would have come back Emma doesn't say the words but she doesn't need too both she and David know that even though she ran from him, if he'd ever really needed her Emma would have come back to help Killian in a heartbeat.

"He asked her not to" David takes a deep breath "I'm only telling you now because it changed him Emma. He's not the man you remember, I'm not sure there's anything left of that man." The pain was clear on David's face "Milah and Killian broke up not long after you left, she married another man, had a kid with him" David shakes his head "they found their way back to each other though...but after she died...Killian is obsessed with his vengeance"

"But if he witnessed her death...is the one responsible in jail?" David's expression turns furious in a heartbeat, the fury shocks Emma. It's been over a decade since she's seen him so angry.

"The bastard got off" David growls "If Killian would let me I would have helped him hunt the coward down and-" The phone ringing cut off David, he picks it up and grumbles a response.

"Whale has a report for us" Emma gets to her feet, closing the file and putting it back on David's desk.

"Let's go then" David leads her out to the patrol car and they get in. The ache in her chest doesn't let up, and all Emma can think as David starts up the car is that she should've been here for Killian.

"David..." Her words are hesitant and she wonders if she really wants to know the answer to the question she's about to ask him...

"He's out of town" David assures her, she gives him a small smile. It wasn't the answer she wanted though.

"How long?"

"He left a few days before you got here and before you ask, I don't know when he's coming back." David informs her "We aren't as close as we use to be" Emma keeps her questions to herself, knowing that talking about this subject would only mean revisiting the past.