Chapter 7

Ok, firstly, apologies for how long it's taken to update. Had a bit of a perfect storm of writers block (thank you Irishswanff for being there to bounce ideas off of), my daughters 4 month inoculations (sheer hell for anyone who hasn't had to deal with that before), hospital visits with her specialist for her medical condition, and visits to family (I don't live anywhere near my parents so it's a bit of a trek to see them when we want to!). Thank you all for sticking with me and hopefully now we're moving forward a bit the words will flow easier for me! I've made this chapter longer than normal to make up for the delay in posting.

Secondly, thank you for all your awesome reviews guys. It's so lovely to receive so much positivity from everyone and to know that you're enjoying my story.

A note to the guest reviewer that commented that this makes zero sense as TLK should resolve the issue; this isn't a curse so it doesn't resolve from TLK I'm afraid. I won't say anything more as it would ruin the story somewhat but please, if you have an account, message me and I will explain why.

As usual, thank you to my Beta IrishSwanff for checking everything through for me and for giving me feedback on everything as I go along, I couldn't do it without them!

I hope you continue to enjoy my story, thank you for taking the time to read it

A.N. This next chapter takes place a week after the previous. Emma has been becoming more and more distracted by Alex as she sees him regularly in Granny's for chats now, and as such, hasn't talked to Killian since the incident.

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Emma walked in to Granny's to see Belle in one of the booths having a heated discussion with Alex over some book that sat between them. As the bell rung to announce her arrival, Alex glanced up and caught her eye, a slight smile on his lips as his eyes looked her up and down. The look on his face made her want to preen. She walked casually to the counter, a slight sway in her hips, as she pretended she hadn't noticed his approval, or the narrowed eyes Belle had shot her way at the silent exchange.

Granny strolled up to take her order, before nodding her head towards the table where Belle was determinedly keeping Alex's attention on her, jeez, she even had one of her hands over his (subtle much?).

"Been keeping him all to herself for the past half an hour, you'd think she'd forgotten all about that husband of hers." She arched an eyebrow at Emma, "not that I could blame her, not really a choice between them if you ask me. I'll get your order sorted now, want a coffee while you wait?"

Emma nodded an affirmative as she focussed on what was occurring across the diner. Someone should really step in before she embarrasses herself. She took the clunking of the coffee mug being placed in front of her as her queue to stroll over to the booth and rescue Alex.

She slipped in to the seat opposite them and gave Belle a bright smile.

"Hey Belle, I wasn't expecting to see you here, I would've thought you'd be home with your husband by now." She made sure to emphasise the word husband while glancing at Alex.

"Emma, hi. Rumple was going over some paperwork tonight so I thought I'd sit in here and read, but Alex kindly came to join me, and it turns out he's read the same book! What brings you here? I would have thought you'd be with Killian?"

Alex sat silently watching the exchange, an amused look on his face.

Emma sighed and took a sip of her coffee, "actually, Killian and I had a fight. I don't think there is a me and Killian at the moment." She looked up at Alex under her lashes. "Tonight, I'm just here on my own picking up dinner before my night shift starts and I thought I could use a little bit of company while I wait." She shrugged and looked back at Belle whose brow had furrowed together at her statement.

"Well, your company is always welcome, my dear." Alex nodded and gave her a small smile that warmed Emma's insides nicely.

Belle watched the exchange between the two of them with narrowed eyes, then cleared her throat and turned towards Alex. "But Alex, we haven't finished talking about Animal Farm yet, I'm sure Emma isn't all that interested in joining our discussion, she's not big on reading like you and I." She gave a light laugh and touched her hand to his forearm to focus his attention back on her.

Alex glanced down at her arm and intoBelle's eyes, before shifting his glance over towards Emma and raising an eyebrow to her, almost challenging her to see what her reaction to the other woman's attentions would be.

Emma bristled at Belle's statement and her show of possessiveness over Alex's attention. "Yeah, sorry Belle, I'm not much for reading, but I'm sure you've already bored Alex enough with all your talk of books. Why don't you run home to Gold, I'm sure he'd be more than happy to listen to you prattle on about your latest stories."

Alex started and glanced back at Belle, "Gold? You mean Rumplestiltskin? Your husband is Rumplestiltskin?" He moved his arm out of Belle's reach slightly and glanced at Emma. Emma noticed the slight look of concern in Alex's eyes as he looked at her for confirmation.

"Yeah, he adores her, super protective even when there are no intentions behind it." She smiled at him, giving a quick glance to Belle whose eyes had opened wide as she realised the reaction the identity of her husband had caused in Alex.

"He's not like that honestly! He's sweet and gentle, he wouldn't mind you spending time with me, and would it matter if he did?" she asked as she slid closer to him, her eyes taking on a predatory glint that Emma had never seen before.

Alex coughed slightly and stood up from the booth, glancing from Emma to Belle. "Belle, my dear, as much as I've enjoyed this chat, I would hate to misleadmyintentions towards you, and I'd prefer not to cross your husband. Free agents are one thing" he glanced towards Emma and gave her a smirk," but married women are another matter entirely. I hope you enjoy the rest of your book and have a lovely evening."

He bowed and started to head towards the door, just as Granny shouted to Emma that her order was ready. Emma glanced up towards the counter and towards the retreating form of Alex.

"Alex wait two seconds, I'll head out with you." She strode over to the counter to nod at Granny and picked up her order before walking towards Alex who was by the door, studying her. She blushed slightly at the blatant appraisal and walked towards him with a slight sway in her hips, enjoying the predatory gleam in his eyes as he watched her move across the room. She didn't see Belle watching through narrowed eyes as they started to walk out the door, towards the street.

"So Emma, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company?" he looked down at her, his eyes boring in to hers and making her want to draw closer to him, feel the heat radiating off his body.

"I'm just being the friendly neighbourhood sheriff. I just want to make sure you get home ok. My shift is about to start so I'm just doing my civic duty. You should be thanking me really." She smirked at him and raised an eyebrow, waiting to see how he'd respond to her flirting. He'd shown interest in the past, and while she'd never felt bold enough before to make it clear how interested she was in him, something was telling her that she should start making it clear.

"What about this Killian that I saw you with and that you've had arguments with?" he was probing for information, she could tell. That was ok, Killian had been avoiding her, it was obvious he didn't want to talk about their argument, and she just had this vibe that the easiest thing was to walk away, Alex was far easier to work with, and he's hot. Who needed that mopey pirate who just kept making demands and throwing strops when Alex was here waiting for her?

She shrugged as she looked at him, "We had an argument, he got really grumpy, and honestly I don't understand what I saw in him. We met during a really stressful period of time, I guess it's like that movie says, relationships based on intense experiences never work."

Alex shifted his face, bringing it closer to hers so that their breaths intermingled. "I'm very pleased to hear that Emma." His eyes sparked and glowed gold as they stared at each other. Emma felt a warm surge go through her at his approval of her actions, a feeling she wanted more of. She started to sway towards him, seeking closeness, wanting to please him more if it meant she got more of that feeling, but he pulled back slightly so that he was out of her reach. His hand went to brush against her arm as he smiled at her.

"I will see you tomorrow then Emma, think of me." He smiled at her one last time before walking away from her. Emma sighed as she watched him go, feeling the loss of his company immediately and leaned against the wooden pillar at the arched entrance to the garden. She stared in the direction he'd walked long after he'd gone, before the cold of the night's air finally started to impede on her consciousness and she shivered. Realising she'd been standing there for a good 5 minutes, she shook her head and walked towards the sheriff's station wondering if David had already left or whether he'd hold on until she arrived for her shift.

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David huffed as he looked at the clock, Emma was late for her shift, she was never late for her shift, or if she was she always sent him a message to tell him that she was running late. The last couple of days had been harder work than normal, the level of domestic disputes seemed to be going up, he wasn't sure what was going on with that, but it did seem odd. He needed the break tonight, Mary Margaret had been off the last few days, but then again, with a baby waking them up multiple times in the night, so was he, there were strains on their marriage that had never existed before, but that was babies for you!

If he started packing up his stuff she'd probably arrive just as he was ready to go. As he picked up his bag to leave, Emma strode in through the doors carrying a bag from Granny's, cheeks rosy from the cold.

"David, I'm sorry, I went to Granny's to get some food and got caught up talking to Belle, I didn't mean to keep you waiting." She ran her fingers through her hair as she tried to pull her focus back on her job. Something told her not to mention Alex to him, he'd probably get all overprotective dad on her, that was the last thing she needed, she knew how bad he'd been with Killian.

"That's fine Emma, just wish you'd given me a heads up that you were running over, I'm meeting with Robin and Hook for a few drinks tonight on the Jolly Roger and I was on the verge of sending Robin a message saying I was running late before you came in." He watched the slight clench of her jaw when he mentioned Hook, so they still hadn't worked out whatever was going on between them, he'd have to see what Hook said when he saw him.

"Well, I'm here now, so you can go and enjoy your bromance with my ex", ouch, apparently he'd hit a nerve, his eyebrows raised as he looked at her in surprise.

"Your ex? Are we officially calling Hook your ex now? And what's with the attitude, you'd have been pleased that we were drinking together a week ago." He watched her reactions to try and figure out what was going on.

Emma sighed and scrubbed her face with her hands. "I'm sorry David, it's nothing, seriously, just go and enjoy a few drinks with the boys, everything else is for Killian and I to sort out. It shouldn't be getting in the way of you enjoying some company."

David kept watching her, trying to figure out what was off, but when she didn't say anything more he shook his head and shrugged slightly, if Emma didn't want to talk about it, there was nothing he could do to force it out of her.

"Ok then, if you need to talk Emma, you know me and your mother are here for you. You can open up to us. I'll see you tomorrow, call me if anything big comes up, I'll make sure I only have a couple."

"Seriously don't worry about it David, everything will be fine, I'm sure it'll be quiet and I'll end up just getting all this paperwork done and doing a quick patrol around." She gave him a small smile and he nodded and waved as he left the building, something still niggling about her behaviour, but it was probably his own tiredness making him see things where there was nothing. He shook his head again, pulled his collar up against the cold and walked in the direction of the docks. He definitely needed a beer or two tonight.

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As David walked up to the gangplank he could hear Robin and Hook talking quietly up on deck, the conversation stopping abruptly as the plank creaked under his weight.

"Dave?" He heard Hook's cautious voice call from deck.

"Hi yeah, sorry I'm late, Emma was a bit delayed showing up to the station and I wanted a quick catch up with her, haven't seen her around the loft much lately." He appeared on deck to see Robin and Hook leaning against the side, both holding beers with a crate nestled up against the side for easy access.

Hook's expression shifted into that of concern at the mention of Emma, "Is she alright? Nothing's happened to her?"

David held up his hands in a calming gesture, "she's fine Hook, calm down, she just seems a bit distracted that's all. She said she got caught up talking to Belle at Granny's while waiting for her order, that's all."

Robin huffed and David looked at him in confusion, "When I went past she was talking to that Alex guy out in front, it all seemed pretty intense." Robin felt Hook tense next to him and looked at him to see him giving his beer bottle a death glare. "Sorry mate, I didn't mean it like that, I just meant that they seemed to be deep in conversation, I'm sure it didn't mean anything."

David looked confused, "Why would she tell me she was talking to Belle if she wasn't?"

"Aye, that is the question isn't it Dave, why would she not tell you she was talking to Alex when obviously they're super chummy." Hook sounded bitter, there was obviously more to this than he knew.

"Killian, she loves you, I don't know what's going on at the moment between you two, but this is just a bump in the road, you'll work it out between you. Maybe you just need to sit down and work things through." Robin gave him a pat on the shoulder before leaning down to grab another beer.

Killian nodded and continued to stare down at his beer, brooding over the past week. Something was off, he'd seen her a couple of times at Granny's and had fought the temptation to go in and confront her over their argument, they'd both needed time to simmer down, it just seemed that Emma had needed far less time, and then hadn't bothered to come and talk to him. The fact she seemed to be hanging around with the guy that had started this whole mess didn't make him feel any better about the situation. Maybe Robin was right, he just needed to sit down with her and talk this through. He didn't know how long he'd been in his own head, but when he refocused he realised that Dave and Robin had carried on discussing things without him. Dave was talking about domestic disputes, he had an idea about what those were but some clarification would be needed for a clearer picture.

"Sorry Dave, what exactly is a domestic dispute in this world?" he caught Dave's look of surprise and raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry Hook, I often forget you don't have any cursed memories. Domestic dispute is an argument between a couple or family," Killian started to say something but Dave cut him off, "more so than the argument between you and Emma, it's more usually violence, verbal abuse, that kind of thing. It's weird, it seems to have been more frequent over the past week or so, and it's the guys that have been calling it in, saying that the women have just been totally off the rails. It's not normal, but I'm not sure what to make of it, Emma hasn't said anything on her shift which is making me feel like I'm making more out of it than I need to."

Hook and Robin looked to be considering his words, Robins forehead creased as he processed everything.

"Sorry for bringing the delicate subject up but have you and Mary Margaret had any issues?" Robin asked carefully, looking a bit sheepishly at David.

David looked confused, "Well yeah, but we have a baby. Show me the couple with a new born that don't have some arguments when they're sleep deprived, stressed and overly emotional and I'll buy you a new crate of beer." Hook grunted a slight chuckle.

David looked at Robin, "What about you and Regina?"

Robin shook his head, "We've been fine, good honestly, and she gets on with Roland like a house on fire. Definitely no complaints about our relationship." When Killian and David look at him with slightly irritated glances, he had the grace to look slightly guilty as he took a sip of his beer, "Sorry…"

David huffed a laugh, "It's no problem Robin, one of us has got to have some stability in their relationship, reminds us of how good things can be once the dust settles." He held out his beer in a salute before taking a swig.

"Enough of all this depressing chat, gentlemen, I believe I promised I would show you how to play Liars dice tonight." Hook reached in to his coat for a bag of dice which made David chuckle, however domesticated he seemed to be these days, he was truly a pirate at heart. He heard Robin laugh beside him as he rolled a barrel over to where they stood for Hook to place the dice on.

Well if nothing else, this would help him take his mind off the happenings of Storybrooke, he'd keep an eye on things, but it was probably his baby-related tiredness, nothing else. If he could get Emma and Hook to sit and talk things through, he was sure everything would go back to normal.

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And there we go guys, I hope you like that things are starting to shift on a bit now….

As I said, I'm sorry for the delay in posting this, but hopefully this will make up for it all a little bit. Things are going to start getting better soon I promise. Killian won't let his woman loose for too long!

Please keep those reviews coming, and let me know what you think!

xx