Killian was a veritable flurry of activity, all arms and legs as he tried to scramble over her to get down the ladder. Emma couldn't get out of the way fast enough for him, trying to wiggle under him so they could switch places. She got an elbow to the chin for her trouble.

"Sorry, Swan. Sorry. But we've got to go! We've got to get to the lab. I need to… I can… I can see it! It's all right there! Come on!" Killian reached out a hand briefly to brush over the red mark on her chin, but then he was off again, taking the blankets with him as he pitched over the bed's railing.

Emma heard more than saw the way Killian stumbled down the ladder, having to take three extra steps to right himself before he turned back to the bed and half-climbed the ladder again.

"What are you still doing in bed, luv? Let's go!"

Emma shook her head and laughed, taking his hand and allowing Killian to guide her over the railing and down the ladder. He stepped back from the bottom rung, pulling her with him, his arms wrapped firmly around her waist.

She tilted her head back, letting his nose rest behind the shell of her ear for a moment as she reveled in the warmth, the strength that surrounded her. Emma had half-expected to wake up in the morning terrified to realize she'd pulled Killian into her bed. She'd expected the need to run far and fast from what was happening to overwhelm her.

She didn't expect to want this.

Killian pulled away from her far too quickly, grabbing for her hand again and tugging her towards the door.

"Killian!" she exclaimed, pulling her hand from his.

When he turned to face her, he looked like Emma had run over his puppy with a truck and then backed up to do it again. "Swan? Don't you want to-"

"-I do. Of course I do. Killian, this is amazing. I'm so proud of you. But we'll go in a minute. Once I'm wearing pants! And a…" she gestured wildly over her chest, drawing his gaze down to where his shirt draped over her. "You need a shirt, too. And shoes. Definitely shoes."

Killian finally looked down at himself, bare-chested and wearing only a pair of low-slung sweatpants. His socked feet peeked out from the cuffs, a hole in one toe and the other sock slipped down until the elastic was wrapped around his arch. "Oh. Right."

Emma laughed lightly, giving him a slight push towards where he'd thrown his jacket the night before. "Go get dressed. I'll meet you in the lab in half an hour."

"Twenty minutes?" he asked hopefully, one hand stuck in a sleeve.

She shook her head ruefully. "Fine, twenty minutes. Now go!"

Killian actually giggled as he rushed out the door. Emma had never seen him this happy. A grin broke out on her own face in response and the warmth in her chest was a new feeling. She was so proud of him. Emma cared far more about his project than she'd ever thought she could care about anything, and to see it finally coming to fruition made her giddy.

At least, that's what she thought that warm feeling was.

When she made it to the lab seventeen minutes later, her hair in a messy bun and one boot still unzipped, Killian was already logging into the computer for her. He was wearing the same sweatpants, both of his sneakers were untied, but at least he'd thrown on a Merry Men "JAM" 2015 t-shirt.

Backwards.

"Isn't the tag of that shirt bothering you?" Emma asked in greeting, smirking at how he barely even looked up from the monitor.

"What?" he asked distractedly, tapping his fingers impatiently on the space bar as the ancient machine booted up.

Emma sidled up next to him, wrapping one arm around his waist and the other reaching up to flick the tag where it peeked out against the hollow of his throat. He jumped at the contact and then looked down.

"What?" he asked again.

She shook her head. "Let me do this, you turn your shirt around so you don't make the discovery of your career looking like a vagabond."

Killian reluctantly backed up from the computer and let Emma slide in. She could hear him struggling to right the shirt as she pulled up the theoretical physics program that would simulate his practical equations.

Emma relaxed back against his broad chest as he stepped into her space, his chin on her shoulder and his hands sneaking around her. She thought he was going to wrap her in his arms again, maybe do something a little cheesier than they already were.

He started typing on the keyboard as soon as the program asked for variable inputs.

Emma rolled her eyes, but stayed where she was as the simulation began to run. Even after an entire semester of this, she still didn't really understand - something about capturing a photon and manipulating it so that the string of time bundled up. He'd called it 'spooky action at a distance', and had tried to show her how it would work.

She really didn't get it, but Killian did and that was what was important.

It was far too early on a Saturday morning, and Killian's warmth at her back was distracting, so Emma let the science drift away from her and concentrated on her calm breaths measured against his frantic ones.

Killian started bouncing a little bit on the balls of his feet, and the motion startled her. She reached out and snagged his hand, wrapping their arms together around her waist and beginning to sway back and forth.

He copied the movement immediately.

"Thank you for being here with me, Swan," he whispered, the scruff on his jaw scratching at her ear.

"Hmm," she responded, turning her head a bit to nuzzle into his neck. "Make this ungodly hour up to me later?"

Killian nodded absently, his thumb drawing gentle patterns in her palm.

Then everything stopped.

His thumb stopped moving.

His feet stopped tapping.

His hips stopped swaying.

He stopped breathing.

"It works," he whispered, his voice little more than a strangled squeak.

Emma's head whipped around to look at him, alarmed at how pale he looked. "Killian," she whispered.

The tears that began to track down his cheeks stopped her.

"It works. I can save Liam." He lost some of the choked tone, but he still wasn't really breathing.

Emma felt him begin to shake, and she reached out frantically to find the desk chair and slide it behind him. She had enough presence of mind to lock the tilt feature so that he wouldn't pitch backwards. "Sit down. Killian, sit, come on. Sit down, please?"

He sank down in the chair, still staring at the computer screen. Emma gave it a moment's glance before she turned her attention back to Killian. There was a bright green checkmark across the screen, as if they needed the visual reminder that all his hard work had finally come to fruition.

Killian's eyes were glued to the screen, his mouth half-open as the tears ran unchecked. Emma knelt down at his side, her fingers grasped tightly in his own. His jaw was working, his mouth opening and closing as if he were trying to form words and just couldn't manage something as complex as language.

His chest was rising and falling rapidly, soft gasps of air that weren't really accomplishing anything.

"Killian," she whispered. "Hey, look at me."

She was rewarded with his head tilting towards her, the blue of his eyes accented by the glassy tears that filled them.

Awe. It was the best - the only - way to explain the look on his face.

Emma smiled gently, reaching up with her free hand to trace the scar on his cheek. "You did it," she breathed.

He nodded, and a hesitant smile began to morph his features. Gone was the pain he'd carried, gone were the worries that he'd never make it work - that he wasn't smart enough to save Liam. Killian leaned forward, wrapping his free hand gently around the nape of her neck, and rested his forehead against hers.

It was awkward with the arm of the chair between them and the ache already building in her knees from the tile floor, but Emma wouldn't have moved for all the money in the world.

But a gentle tug from their clasped hands changed her mind immediately, and she followed the summons up until she was looming over him. Carefully, mindful of the wheels, Emma climbed onto the chair so that her knees fell just outside his hips. She draped her arms over his shoulders, her fingers moving to tangle in his hair.

Killian's hands moved automatically to her waist, the warmth of his palms against her bare skin where her shirt had ridden up sending a little bit of a jolt through her. He looked up at her, his eyes flashing a new look, one she hadn't had the opportunity to catalogue before now.

It made her feel different - wanted.

"I did it," he whispered. "I did it because of you."

Emma started. "Killian, I didn't… I mean… this was all…"

He shook his head and cut her off. "No, luv. I can't explain it, not in any way that will make sense. But I know I couldn't have done it without you."

Emma stared at him for a moment, trying to understand. He wasn't lying, he truly believed that she had helped him. She was just Emma, the half-starving college student who could barely tell a proton from a photon. Never mind that no one had ever actually needed her before.

But Killian did.

He needed her and she needed him, and that made all the difference.

Emma leaned forward until their foreheads met, breathing in the same air and just reveling in the feel of him beneath her in the chair. Her nose just barely brushed his, the blue of his eyes taking up most of her vision. She looked for any uncertainty, any reason to stop - to back up and run far from what she was feeling.

"What do you want from me, Jones?" Emma hadn't even realized she'd spoken out loud until he shrugged. The movement shifted them both impossibly closer.

Killian's smile was soft, his thumbs tracing small circles on her hip bones. "Just you, Swan. All I want is you."

That was enough for her.

Emma tilted her head just slightly, letting her nose slide along his until their lips met. She kissed him once, twice, three times, mirroring the first time he'd kissed her. Then, she knotted her fingers in his hair until she had a grip strong enough to demand he tilt his head to her liking.

The last thing Emma saw before she closed her eyes and just fell into the kiss was the astonished look in Killian's eyes. She felt the smile that lifted the corners of his mouth. She tasted the salt of his tears. She smelled the cheap detergent from her sheets that had rubbed off on him. She heard the little whimper at the back of his throat as she traced the seam of his lips with her tongue.

It seemed for a moment that Killian wouldn't let her deepen the kiss, and a lump started to form in the pit of her stomach. Emma had been sure that she hadn't misread the situation, misread his feelings for her. She traced his lips again insistently, her fingers knotting just a little bit more tightly at the nape of his neck.

Killian grunted but relaxed almost immediately, finally moving one hand up under her shirt to rest between her shoulder blades. He pulled Emma closer, his other arm wrapping more firmly around her hips. He let her in, let her tangle their tongues together as they began to explore how things could be between them, following her lead every step of the way.

Emma trailed her hand down along Killian's chest, searching for the hem of his shirt blindly as she tried to avoid the need to breathe. She started to drag the fabric up over his abdomen, her other hand abandoning his hair in favor of the line of-

-the insistent beeping of the computer program startled them both, almost sending Emma toppling out of the chair.

"Bloody hell!" Killian exclaimed, sounding a little out of breath himself. He ran a hand through his hair before scrubbing it over his face angrily.

Emma giggled, startling herself with the sound. She couldn't remember the last time she'd giggled. Getting her laughter under control proved difficult as Killian's eyes darted back and forth between her and the computer screen.

The beeping got more shrill, as if it knew it was in danger of being ignored.

Killian outright growled at the machine, trying to reach blindly for the keyboard with one hand while keeping Emma safely on his lap with the other.

She leaned forward and nipped at his ear, rewarded with a strangled noise that was part protest, part warning. Before Killian could dump them both on the floor and maybe take the computer with them, Emma stood up and moved away from Killian's searching grasp.

"Later, Jones," Emma admonished. "What do we need to do right now?"

The look he gave her told Emma exactly what Killian felt they should be doing at the moment. She smiled coyly, but then turned his chair so he was fully facing the monitor. Almost immediately, Emma saw the 'science gleam' - as she had dubbed the slightly glazed over look that meant he was thinking too hard - come across Killian's features. He took off his glasses absently, scrubbing them with the hem of his shirt as he stared at the screen.

"What do we need to do?" Emma asked again. One hand found its way into the back of Killian's hair, scratching lightly at his scalp as she watched his fingers fly over the keys.

There was a ballpoint pen on the desk that he absently picked up between strings of code and spun it between his fingers. When the computer beeped again, Killian bit the end of the pen and began to type again. "We'll need to transfer these codes across campus to the photon capture lab and see if we can recreate this in real time. But we won't be able to get into that lab until Monday, so for now it's just a matter of cleaning up some of these lines. If you want, luv, why don't you go get us some breakfast?"

Emma leaned over him and pressed a kiss into his hair. "I'm proud of you," she whispered.


Killian stared at the professor in front of him, unable to adequately put into words the red that was swirling around his head. "What do you..." he trailed off, clamping down on his anger and trying to breathe.

"I'm sorry, Killian," Dr. Hopper apologized. "The University just doesn't have the funds to allocate towards a practical application of your experiment. They feel as though your work on the theoretical aspects is still too volatile to waste money on turning it into a physical construction. Time travel is, as you well know, a little too in the realm of science fiction for the accountants."

"Bloody hell!" he cried, raking fingers through his hair and tugging painfully at the ends. "Those bast-"

"-Language!"

"I'm not sorry. They can't pull their heads far enough out of their backsides to see that what I have isn't bloody fiction! I can do this! I have done this!" Killian began to pace, ignoring the burning in his eyes. He wouldn't give Hopper or anyone the satisfaction of seeing him lose control like that.

"I understand your drive for success, Mr. Jones," Archie responded calmly. "But you have to know that the work you've done in the past three years here is far above and beyond what we would expect of any physics student. You've done far more than you need to in order to graduate next year, and you're well ahead of schedule."

Killian's jaw dropped. He knew that he'd never explained to Hopper exactly why he was as driven as he was, but for the man to think that he was only doing this for a grade? The last time Killian had felt this disheartened, his father had told him if he left for the States, he may as well pick a new last name.

"Then there's nothing to be done?" he asked. Even to his own ears, he sounded defeated.

"Perhaps during your graduate school years," Hopper deflected, but it sounded like nothing more than an empty promise. "You still plan on staying here to work on your Master's' degree?"

Killian was tempted to say 'no'. He was tempted to pack up his entire operation and find a new school to work at - one that would provide him with the materials and the support he needed to make his mission a reality.

But there was one thing that kept him from telling the professor to go to Hell.

Emma.

Emma was here, was well on her way to finishing her freshman year with a GPA high enough to ensure that she would be able to keep her scholarships and grants. Emma, who he needed even more than he needed the grant money Hopper had promised him.

Emma was at Storybrooke University, so Killian would stay.

"I have another appointment," he mumbled in lieu of an answer. He didn't really want to say something he'd regret to the man who had mentored him for the last three years. "Can I still have access to the capture lab once a week over the summer?"

Archie nodded. "Of course. And you can keep your slots in the computer lab as well. Perhaps you can find something else to focus on over the next year - something more... concrete, perhaps?"

He was shaking. "You mean something more mainstream, don't you?" he sneered.

"Killian..."

"Forget it," he bit out. "I have to go."

"I will keep trying," Hopper called, but Killian was already halfway out the door.

His temper didn't calm as he rushed across campus. The warm day had coerced even the most stalwart of students away from their books and computers into the sunshine. They caused Killian to bob and weave through the quad, stepping over and around the little nests the other students had made on the lawn.

He didn't calm down as he waited impatiently to be granted access to Emma's dorm. It seemed like the young woman at the desk - he thought he recognized her from his English class - was taking forever to write his name in the book and then fit his ID in the corresponding slot just so. By the time he made it past the front desk, Killian was fuming again. He stalked down the hall to the elevator and punched the button angrily. When the doors didn't open immediately, Killian began to pace back and forth. The floor number lit up above the doors didn't change, and he grew more incensed.

Abandoning the elevators in favor of the stairs, Killian bounded upstairs two at a time, growling every time he passed another giggling freshman heading outside. He forgot, sometimes, that he was the same age as these underclassmen - the ones whose worst worries were whether or not they could cram for their first final while finishing the paper they'd put off for weeks.

They didn't have to worry about whether or not they'd ever get the means to rescue their only real family from a horrible fate.

Killian finally made it to the floor he was looking for, trying in vain to temper his anger with the promise of the face he was hoping to see. He knocked on the door insistently, trying to see through the red and seeking the calm he relied on most days.

Emma yanked open the door, her hair damp and piled on top of her head and a toothbrush in her mouth.

It took him a moment to realize that she was standing there in a towel.

In only a towel.

"Oh," he gulped, closing his eyes tightly and turning away. "I didn't realize... I..."

He felt Emma's smaller hand grasp his own and he let her lead him into the room, eyes still clenched shut.

"Give me a moment," she breathed into his ear, the warm breath making him shudder and nod jerkily. The back of his knees hit something hard and Killian sat instinctively, Emma's hard desk chair taking his weight. He sat in silence, listening to Emma move about her space, pulling out drawers and opening her wardrobe door as she gathered clothing for the afternoon.

The next thing he knew, the slide of her fingers through his hair pulled him from replaying his argument with Archie. He had only just opened his eyes when Emma's lips met his own, coming together in a now familiar dance of dominance and play.

Killian's senses were overwhelmed with her - the red that had clouded his vision on his frantic trek across campus replaced with a soothing emerald that he only associated with her and his equation. Their tongues tangled together and his hands came up to frame her face, the softness of her skin under the pads of his fingers still warm from her shower.

Emma made a noise at the back of her throat and tugged on his hair, the sharp retort of pain at the base of his skull fading quickly into a pleasant buzz that raced under his skin. His eyes fell shut, surrendering himself to the heady feel of her looming over him, directing their kiss as she liked.

When they finally broke apart under the desperate need to breathe, Killian had almost forgotten why he'd come to her in the first place. She carded her fingers through his hair, brushing the locks away from his face. He slowly came back to her, opening his eyes as if waking from a dream, her smile filling his vision.

"Feel better?" she whispered with a wry grin.

Killian nodded, unsure of his voice at the moment.

Emma left a soft kiss on his forehead. "Want to talk about it?"

"They won't fund the build," he whispered back, the sting in his eyes back.

He had been so close. He could smell the success. He could hear Liam's voice in the back of his head, praising his hard work and telling him that he couldn't wait to be reunited. He could practically feel Liam's arms wrapped around him, congratulating him on making his project a success.

But none of that could happen as long as Killian was stuck in the theoretical.

Killian dropped his head backwards so that he was looking up at her. She had a sad smile on her face, as if she knew what he was thinking about. "Did he say there's no hope, or is he still trying?"

He just shook his head. "I don't know, Hopper seemed to be hopeful that he can find another route, but now he's suggesting that I come up with another project for my independent study next year. He wanted me to pick something more... mainstream."

Even the word tasted like something gone sour. Sure, he could spend the next year tweaking his equation while capturing photons to further prove Einstein's theory, but it all seemed so basic. It didn't keep the numbers flying around his head, and it didn't get him his brother. And Killian knew Archie well enough - telling the professor about Liam would only make him less likely to go out on a limb for Killian's project.

He could hear the professor's advice now. Maybe you should use this year to come to terms with your brother's passing. Or maybe, you've never really taken time to yourself, to grieve and learn how to function without your brother.

Killian knew that these things were true. He'd heard them often enough from the psychiatrist his father had taken him to on their barrister's insistence. Killian knew that Brennan only followed the suggestion to keep him under his thumb. It was an expense he wouldn't have put up with otherwise. But it didn't change what Killian knew. That if he had the time and the effort and the funding, he wouldn't need to mourn Liam's death.

He could erase it entirely.

Emma tugged him up so that he was standing, his height no match for the way she stared into him - like she was seeing past all the deflections and the defenses. He'd never really stood a chance with her.

"We'll find a way," she promised. "One of Ruby's friends, Mary Margaret, just started dating an upperclassman in the engineering program. Maybe if you two collaborated, he could use the machine you'll need as his independent study?"

Killian cocked his head to the side and felt one eyebrow raise. He had planned on farming some of the build out next year, of the chassis at the least. But if he collaborated with the engineering department and used some comparable but less expensive materials, maybe he could still make it work. He bent down and rested his forehead against hers. This close, the emerald of her eyes filled his vision and calmed him considerably.

"You're a lifesaver," he whispered, leaning forward a bit further until they were breathing the same air. He brushed his lips over hers lightly, smiling when he felt her lips twitch up against his own - he could see her grin in her gaze.

"We'll figure this out, Killian. You're going to save Liam, I promise."

Killian's eyes closed and he shuddered in relief - surprised that just her words, her vow, could set him that much at ease.

"Now, I'm hungry." She pulled back and tangled their fingers together, leading him out the door and towards the shuttles. "Buy me Granny's grilled cheese, Jones."

He'd buy her onion rings, too, if she'd just stick by his side and keep smiling like that.

They worked like that through finals and into the summer semester. He was routinely successful in the photon capture lab, and his equation continued to produce easily repeatable results. He should have been ecstatic.

Killian was beyond frustrated.

Emma was the only thing that kept him grounded. Her steady presence and her ability to get him out of his own head gave him something to focus on other than how easily he could have gotten to Liam by now if it weren't for bureaucratic nonsense. She was there, and she was strong for him in a way that no one had been since his brother had died. He didn't want to imagine a time when they weren't together. He loved to wake up in the morning and meet at the cafeteria for breakfast. He loved even more the mornings where he woke up with her hair plastered across his face and the blankets they'd crawled under wrapped tightly around her. He loved how patiently she'd shown him what else they could do in bed together. He loved-

Bloody hell, he loved her.

Killian didn't know when it had happened. He didn't know how it had happened without him noticing. He just knew that he loved her and that it felt like he always had.

But he was terrified of how she felt about him.

Emma had told him some of her past, of the people who were supposed to love her and who had failed her instead. He remembered how frightened she'd looked when he'd first asked her out on a date. He saw the look in her eyes every once in awhile, the one that spoke of walls and defenses and a fortress that protected her heart from being broken.

Killian would give anything to be allowed inside that fortress. To be the one she trusted to keep her heart safe. For now, he would take what she gave him. Stolen moments of levity, secret looks that might have hinted at a love returned, his hope on a string being tugged along by the woman he loved.

If she'd let him, he'd go to the end of the world for her. Or time, Killian thought wryly.

For now, he'd just have to show her he was in it for the long haul. The semester was flying by, Emma wrapped up in her classes and him as much as possible, and Killian planning for graduation and his applications to graduate school. Emma had urged, cajoled, and then finally demanded that he apply to other colleges with larger budgets, but his heart was here in Maine - and with her.

He met Mary Margaret when she joined Emma, Ruby, and three other girls in one of the suites on campus. Mary Margaret introduced him to David and then she complained to Emma - often - that Killian spent more time with her boyfriend than she did.

Emma didn't disagree with her.

He was sitting in the common room of Emma's suite, waiting for her to get out of class so they could head to the beach for a picnic, when Ruby smacked him upside the head hard enough to dislodge his glasses.

"You know her birthday's next weekend, right?"

The numbers scattered and his heart rate skyrocketed. Killian's eyes shot up to meet Ruby's smug gaze, and he could feel the way his jaw hung loose. "Wha-?"

She shook her head. "I figured she wouldn't say anything. But you should do something for her, you know?"

Killian nodded mutely, his brain already racing ahead of Ruby to figure out what his Swan would want. Certainly not some big party like they'd had for Ruby's birthday the month before. The odds of getting all of either his or her roommates out of a suite for a night in and alone was too unlikely to imagine. He had no money for a night out, and Emma wouldn't appreciate spending her hard earned money on a pretty dress - as much as he'd love to see her in one.

He turned sad eyes on Ruby, pleading silently for help.

She huffed, exasperated. "Men. Fine, I'll help you, but only because she's my person."

Killian grinned. He wasn't entirely sure what that meant, but he liked the sentiment. Emma was most assuredly his 'person', too.

"All right, here's what you're gonna do, Jones..."

Killian followed Ruby's directions to the letter over the next week, vowing to find a way to repay her as soon as he could. Maybe David could help him out…

But that was a battle for later. Right now, there was a haggard-looking Emma Swan stalking out of her classroom and almost walking right by him. "Em-"

"I just want to go home and sleep, Killian. Do you want to come with me?"

Bloody hell, he thought, she sounded exhausted. He wanted nothing more than to carry her back to her dorm room and curl up in her bed to watch her sleep. But he had plans and Ruby might actually kill him if he didn't follow through. "Humor me, luv? I'm sort of… kidnapping you."

Her eyes cut to his, but he thought he saw a hint of amusement there, mixed in with the drag of the middle of the semester. "You aren't taking me to a surprise party, are you? Because I'm not in the mood."

He called up every semblance of acting skills he'd ever possessed. "Surprise party? For what? Did I miss someone's birthday?"

Emma's eyes narrowed, but she shook her head. "Never mind, I'm just more tired than I thought. Don't mind me."

Killian wrapped an arm around her and pressed a kiss into her hair. "I won't think of it again. But do you trust me?"

She sighed as if he were putting her out, but she smiled nonetheless and leaned into him. "Only if you kidnapping me involves dinner."

He smiled. "Would you expect anything less?"