Disclaimer: Characters not mine!

It had been a couple of days since they last saw each other, a couple of days since they kissed. A couple of days and Emma's hasn't calmed down yet.

She didn't know what to do, what to think. It was all a jumbled mess in her head. The last she'd heard from him was that stupid pun he'd sent her right after she left his side that night. It may have given her courage then, but now, she was convinced she'd never find the will to leave her bed again, let alone her house.

What was she thinking, for God's sake?

Not only did she know virtually nothing about him, but also the man had a son. A little baby boy. What, was she supposed play house with them and pretend it's no big deal? No, this was a mistake, it would never work.

He probably regretted it anyway. It's not like she'd heard from him since.

What did that mean for her lessons with Liam? Had that gone to shit too?

Ugh. She was losing her mind.


Two days. Two days, eight hours and thirty-four minutes to be exact. Not that he was counting, of course.

Two days since he felt the axis of his world shift on its corners. He wasn't daft, or naïve. He knew it was one kiss – three kisses, technically, his mind quickly corrected – with one woman – bloody magnificent woman, mate – but he felt his world change, nonetheless.

It wasn't strictly about the kiss, it was more that he'd never imagined moving on from Milah so quickly. When they'd first met, he really, truly believed she was the one for him. But God, that was nothing compared to Emma.

Emma.

The thought of her name alone made him grin so hard he was sure his face would split in two. She was beautiful, strong, amazing, yet she was so vulnerable. He could see it in the way she carried herself; tall and proud, but guarded. He could see it in her eyes; it was the look you could only get if life finds multiple ways to kick you while you're down, mixed with abandonment and self-disappointment. It was why he hadn't spoken to her yet. Well, one of the reasons.

Yes, he wanted to give her space, allow her to absorb what happened at her own pace, but he was scared too. He was scared she didn't feel as he did, that it was more of a spur of the moment, one time thing, kiss to her. That they had got caught up in a moment that showed itself just a smidge too early to them. He was scared for Liam. He was afraid Liam would get too attached and find himself screwed over yet again by scorned lo- like on his part. He was scared of busy schedules and pressure and just-

He was scared.


Emma was busy wallowing in her bed, when she heard three knocks on her front door in rapid succession.

"Go awayyy!" Emma groaned out in the direction of her front door.

Knock knock knock.

She turned on her side and buried her head further into her pillows.

Knock knock knock knock knock knock kno-

She really tried to ignore whoever it was in favor of her pity party, but life didn't really care what she favored, now did it?

So she threw her covers off her body, stomped her way over to her front door, and pulled the door open, a bit more violently than necessary.

"What?" Was all she managed in greeting.

"Wow, rude and unkempt! What fresh hell brought this on, Ems?" Emma could hear the worry under Ruby's sarcastic tone.

With an eye roll, Emma just turned around, stomped back to her living room, and dropped face first onto the couch. Ruby, having witnessed this side of Emma before, knew to follow her in and wait for Emma's inevitable word vomit.

It only took Emma twenty-nine seconds to break and tell her friend everything. Every word shared between them, and every thought she'd deny having later.


"I don't…understand," Ruby drawled after Emma's almost hour-long explanation.

"What do you mean you don't understand? Was I not clear? Ruby, I don't think I have the energy to go through it all again…" Emma sighed in frustration.

"No, I get what you said. I just don't understand what the problem is. He sounds like a wonderful guy, who you seem to really like. His kid's great, he's great, you're great. So…. What gives? And let's not pretend this is about some metaphorical future where he screws you over. Be honest Emma." Ruby said as she gave Emma a pointed look.

"That's my story and I'm sticking to it." With a defiant upward tilt of her chin, Emma – attempted – to swiftly put an end to the conversation, but to no avail.

"Listen, Emma, you're a big girl and I know I can't force you to see reason. But I can remind you to have faith in people. Has he done anything questionable so far?" With a shake of Emma's head, Ruby continued, "Does Liam seem happy? Does he seem loved?"

"Absolutely. No doubt about that," Emma vehemently interrupted.

"Okay, so - and stop me if I'm wrong – you have a good man, who is a great father, who has been nothing but nice and kind to you in all the times you've met him. A man who, according to everything you told me, seems really interested in you, who sends you stupid texts just to make you laugh, who trusts you with his son. And you won't even admit your real worries about the whole situation?

"Listen, Ems, I love you, you're one of my best friends, and I'll drop the subject if that's what you want. But in my opinion, you should give him the benefit of the doubt, don't write him off based on douchebags of the past. The thing is, no matter how many times I tell you, or anybody else does, you have to do it yourself.

"So, you pick a movie and I make the popcorn?" The abrupt change in topic threw Emma for a loop. But before she could recover, Ruby was already shuffling around in her kitchen.


Killian had taken Liam to the park under the pretence of playing, when really he just needed some fresh air to help him think more clearly. He needed to decide what he'd do about the whole Emma situation. He needed to know what she was thinking, if she felt as he did.

Right now, though, Liam didn't seem to care for his internal dilemma, he just had his heart set on playing with his papa. So with a heavy heart and a troubled mind, he set out to make sure his son had a splendid day. At least one of them should enjoy themselves.

"Come, lad, I want to show you something." Killian picked up his boy and headed over to one of the shorter, more branch-filled trees.

"Papa?" Liam questioned.

"Aye, boy, when I was a wee one, just like you-" Killian paused to tickle Liam's stomach for a bit. Hearing his boy's high-pitched giggles never ceased to brighten his day. "my brother, your Uncle Liam, and I used to climb trees whenever one of us had a problem. It was nice to have a place where we could both just hide from everyone and everything and figure it out together. It was us against the world. Always."

Liam, bless his little soul, nodded along with his papa's words with a pensive look on his face, as if trying to comprehend more than he actually could.

"I know, I know, you don't have any other siblings as of yet. But soon enough you'll be making friends, best friends even, and I guess, I just want to share this with you while I still can." Even though he was sure Liam only grasped about half of what he just said, Liam must've sensed his father's mood because he leaned up a bit and gave Killian a big, wet, slobbery kiss on the cheek.

"Li wuvs papa!" Liam exclaimed, snuggling into Killian's shoulder.

"Papa loves Li, too. To the moon and back," Killian whispered.

"Moo ah back," came Liam's soft echo of a promise.

With one last kiss to Liam's forehead, Killian set Liam down at the bottom of the tree, sitting on his knees behind him.

"Alright, Li, I want you to reach up with your arms and push with your legs, like this." He directed one of Liam's arms to the nearest branch and used his other hand to push Liam upwards from his butt.

With mutual effort, they managed to get Liam to the top of the tree. It was one of the happiest moments of his life. It was the simplicity of it all that really got to him. How the look of pure joy on Liam's face at his accomplishment transported him back to the days he and his brother had spent on the treetops.

It was everything he could've wanted for his boy. Not the crappy parenting, and the questions of why wasn't he good enough for his own parent's love, no. He wanted his son to have someone he knew he could always count on, no matter what.

He suddenly felt the urge to reach out to his brother, Liam. But they haven't spoken since he up and left his whole world to follow Milah to the States. When he first left, Liam would try to contact him, get him to see reason. But he was always too stubborn, too caught up in his own life to stop and see how it was affecting his brother.

He was even too ashamed to tell him of his divorce, of what Milah had done, of how he turned out to be right. He loved his brother, more than words can say. It's why he named his son Liam; after all, he wanted his son to have the best role model, like he did growing up. But as much as he loved him, he just couldn't face the disappointment that he was. He was a coward.

So instead of calling him like he really wanted to do, he snapped a picture and a video of little Liam on the treetop, in the hopes that one day he'd be brave enough to share his life with his brother once more.

Suddenly, he had an epiphany. It was almost as if he could hear his brother's voice guiding him in what to do with Emma.

Go to her. Talk to her. Don't be daft, little brother.

It seemed fate wanted to put its two-cents in in the form of the ding of his cellphone. He hoped it was Emma trying to reach him, but stopped short at the text from an unknown number that graced his screen.

Hey there, Killian?

I know you don't know me, call me you guardian angel if you will. Emma has been having a rough day. I'm sure she could use your company.

P.S I may have stolen your number off her phone, I'm not a stalker I swear.

P.P.S she takes cinnamon in her hot chocolate ;)

Ruby xx

He knew exactly what he needed to do now.


After the movie, Ruby left Emma to sit with her thoughts. Emma knew Ruby was right, knew Killian deserved better than the way she was treating him.

That was the problem though, Killian deserved better than her.

She's been through this before; it always came down to her and her issues. But maybe Ruby was right, maybe she should trust Killian, see what he has to say on the matter.

That was easier said than done, though. Emma has always been wary of everyone and everything. She couldn't help it, she was only the product of her upbringing, and being abandoned from day one, minute five didn't really aid her skeptical ways.

If she was going to do this, like really go through with it, she needed one hell of a sign. A sign even she couldn't den-

Knock knock knock

What. No way.

Emma stood motionless staring at the door for a few moments. It couldn't be, maybe Ruby just forgot something and she's just reading too much into this.

Knock knock knock

That brought Emma out of her trance. She moved towards the door in slow, calculated steps. Just as she was about to reach for the handle, she heard a faint, "Swan, please."

It sounded more like a plea that wasn't meant to reach her ears, more like a prayer of sorts. But it was Killian.

There was no doubt about it.