Lovestruck Chapter 8
I'd like to thank my new discovery of chocolate digestives with caramel and a cup of tea for this chapter, they helped get me through the angst, but its ok, things are going to get better soon I promise!
As usual, thanks to Irishswanff for being my Beta and for being there to bounce ideas off of, and I'm trying to ensure you get updates more regularly as I'm learning how frustrating it is to wait for an update on a fic between chapters
Thank you to everyone following and favouriting this fic, it's really started to expand out from what I thought would be a couple of chapters, and it's becoming a bit like my second baby now!
Anyhow, enjoy!
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Killian woke up the next morning with a renewed sense of purpose. Robin and Dave had been right the night before, he needed to get Emma to sit down with him and talk this through. He wasn't one for letting what he wanted get away from him, he was taking the cowards way out and avoiding the confrontation. With that in mind he made sure to tidy himself up, having let his scruff turn into more of a beard than normal in the past couple of days, showered away the smell of stale alcohol and put on the tight black jeans he knew Emma always seemed to appreciate.
Looking at the time he realised he'd probably catch her grabbing lunch at Granny's in about an hour, so the best thing he could do was scout out the place and catch her when she arrived so they could have the full hour of her lunch break to talk, and they WOULD talk, he wasn't going to let her avoid this.
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Stepping in to Granny's, he grabbed their regular booth and looked around for the wolfgirl to take his order and noticed her up at the counter talking to – for fucks sake – Alex. He let out a sigh and shook his head; of course he would be in here around the time Emma was due to arrive for lunch. He tried to get her attention, but she was totally focussed on talking to Alex, and by the tilt of her hips, and the look in her eyes, it wasn't the normal social chitchat going on. He noticed Whale sitting at the opposite end of the counter, brooding and glaring daggers at the pair of them. A slow burn started in the back of his head, trouble in paradise there too, he was pretty sure those two had been together, but apparently that pain in the ass was causing problems in their relationship too. None of this seemed right, what was the draw towards this guy? He looked over at Alex again and scoffed, he certainly wasn't anything special. Why did wolfgirl and Emma seem so interested in him?
While he sat there watching the proceedings, the bell above the door jingled and he glanced over to see Emma walking in. She stopped in the doorway and look towards Alex, and he watched her eyes narrowing, was that jealousy? What the hell was going on? He saw her start to storm towards the pair of them and decided to intercept.
"Swan!" he grabbed at her wrist to stop her and spin her around to face him. She looked surprised (and a little put out) as she took in who had interrupted. "Emma, we need to talk about this. I know I've been avoiding you, but you haven't bothered coming to see me either. Please, can we just talk?" He gave her arm a slight tug towards the booth, and with one last glance over her shoulder towards where Alex was still flirting with Ruby, she sighed and nodded, letting herself be led over to the booth.
She took a seat opposite him and silently stared at him, waiting for him to begin. Killian took in the look on her face and realised he needed to just lay his cards out on the table, however painful that might be, he was going to fight for this, she'd let him in and he was going to keep it that way. He took a breath and rubbed his face with his hands, sighing again before he started to talk.
"Emma, I'm sorry about what happened last time we were together, I was hurt and angry, but I overreacted when I threw you out of my cabin. I don't know what went on, or what's going on at the moment, but I thought we had something good going for us. I know I've always said we'd go at your pace, and I don't want you to feel like I'm pushing you into anything, but you have to know I thought we were exclusive, I certainly wasn't expecting you to be thinking of another man in bed. Please, just tell me what went wrong, I want us to work this out, I miss you, I miss us." He reached out to take her hand and Emma let him, but didn't turn her hand to grip his hand back, just left hers still on the table underneath his.
He looked at Emma, expecting to see her walls up, or some sort of reaction to what he'd just said, but his gut wrenched when he looked in to her eyes and saw nothing. That couldn't be right, she was always an open book to him, but her eyes were just blank, like she wasn't even processing what he was saying to her. His brow furrowed and his grip tightened on her hand.
"Swan, Emma, say something, anything. You can yell at me if you want, just tell me what you're thinking."
He watched her, and saw as the expression in her eyes changed, narrowing and hardening as she looked at him.
"I'm fine Hook," he recoiled at the emphasis on his moniker, "what did you expect? You were convenient when I needed some release, but now I have someone more worthy of my time." The look in her eyes was nothing short of cruel as she threw barbs at him. He'd never seen that look from her before, sure she could be angry, sarcastic, irritated, but she was never downright cruel. "How you ever thought you could compete with someone like him is beyond me." A strange reverence entered her voice as she glanced towards Alex and his eyes narrowed. She was gazing at him like he was some present sent from the gods, he felt the jealousy burn in him. What the fuck was this, Hook was coming to the fore again, this man was taking what was his, and he didn't know how or why, but this wasn't Emma, this person in front of him wasn't the woman he loved.
"Dammit Swan, what the hell is going on." He tugged her hand and forced her to face him again. Her hard gaze looked through him and a sneer passed across her face before she tugged her hand out of his. She stood up and made to walk towards Alex but Killian stood up and grabbed her arm.
"NO." he practically roared, grabbing her chin to make her look at him. Everyone in Granny's had gone silent, watching the display in front of them. Alex had turned and was leaning against the counter watching them with a smirk on his lips, arms crossed as he waited to see how this would play out. Concern was written on Killian's face as he looked at her expression, searching her eyes for something, any sign of the woman he knew. "Emma love, what has he done to you?" He shifted his head to nod in Alex' direction.
Emma pulled her arm out of his grip and glared at him. "He hasn't done anything to me Hook, but you aren't what I need anymore, leave me alone."
As he stared at her he thought he saw a glimmer of something in her eyes, was that a flash of gold marring the beautiful green of her eyes, what the hell was that? He watched as she walked towards Alex, but took in the expression on wolfgirl's face, she seemed to be really pissed that Emma was trying to join them. He watched Emma say something to her, her face taking on that cruel expression he'd seen earlier, just as he saw wolfgirl's face contort in anger before she stalked away towards the back of the diner. Looking to Emma, he saw Alex behind her looking at him, a small smirk on his face as he raised an eyebrow in challenge at Killian.
Killian growled low in his chest, anger bubbling up, that guy was up to something, had done something to his Emma, and he was damn well going to figure out what. He grabbed his jacket and stalked out of the diner, he couldn't even go to the rabbit hole for a drink. He realised he needed to do the "hero" thing and talk to Dave. Something was wrong, and he needed a second opinion.
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Victor watched Hook storm out of the diner, an uneasy feeling after watching that display. He'd been coming in to flirt with Ruby for the past few days but it was like he didn't exist anymore. She spent all her time talking to that Alex dude, and by the looks of it, his wasn't the only girl who had had her head turned by this guy. The sheriff and Hook were the golden couple, sure they'd had their false starts, but now… they'd been inseparable until this guy had shown up. His brow furrowed as he watched the interaction between the sheriff and this guy, he'd seen her spat with Ruby, which seemed weird, those two were good friends but they acted like bitches in heat fighting over the same guy. He needed to talk to Hook, something wasn't right, and maybe he knew of a solution, he seemed to always be in with the heroes.
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David walked towards the door of the loft when it started rattling on its hinges from the banging.
"Alright, alright, jeez, what is it?" he swung the door open to see a furious Hook on the other side, fist raised to hit the door again. "Hook, what's happened, you look like shit."
Hook stormed in to the loft and spun around, running his hands through his already messed up hair. "Something is up with that Alex guy. Don't ask me what, but I can feel it, he's done something to Emma, she's not herself." He took a shuddering breath out when he finished, like he'd been holding it the entire walk to the loft. When he looked up, David had to take a breath at the look in Hook's eyes. He looked broken, angry sure, but broken.
"Hook, what the hell happened?"
Hook sighed and shook his head, "I followed yours and Robin's advice Dave. I went to Granny's to have a talk with her finally, but she wasn't herself, she was," he stopped and drew his eyebrows together, looking at David, "she was cruel." He sounded appalled at even making that statement about Emma. David had to agree, that didn't sound like Emma at all, but then again, when put in a situation she didn't want to be in, she could lash out.
"Hook, I know you guys are fighting and you don't like the guy, but you can't immediately assume Alex has done something to Emma and that's why she acted up. You know she doesn't like to feel like she's cornered at the best of times, and when emotions are involved, I'm not surprised she was maybe a bit blunter than normal." He could understand that Hook was upset by the argument, he knew how long he'd been trying to gain Emma's attentions, but this was a bit much, even for Hook. He turned and walked towards the kitchen, grabbing a glass of water.
"Dave, you're not listening to me, this isn't me being jealous, there is something wrong. That wasn't Emma I talked to, I looked into her eyes, and they were blank, there wasn't a sign of Emma in there. Just before I left, they flashed gold, that's not right, he's enchanted her or something." He was frustrated that Dave wasn't listening to him. Of all the people to care for her wellbeing, he'd think Emma's father would.
"Hook," David took a breath, "Killian," that caught Hook's attention and he glanced up at David again. "I know things are rough, but sometimes arguments are just that, arguments. I think you're looking for bad guys where there are just actual emotional issues that you guys need to work through."
Just as Hook was about to respond, Mary-Margaret walked into the kitchen, looking between the two men in confusion.
"Charming? Hook? What's going on?"
David sighed and looked at Mary-Margaret. "Hook thinks that that guy Alex has done something to Emma."
Mary-Margaret looked at Hook and narrowed her eyes, "why would you think that? What happened?"
Hook sighed and reiterated what he'd just explained to David. Upon finishing, he looked at Mary-Margaret expectantly but she just looked confused. However, he did notice something else in her expression that he couldn't place.
Mary-Margaret looked at the both of them, "Well, that doesn't seem right."
"Thank you," Hook waved his hand in her direction, "Someone else can see something's wrong here."
"Yes, something is wrong, I don't know why Alex would want to talk to her, she's not his type at all." She shook her head in what looked like disgust at the concept.
Hook and David stopped and looked at her, you could hear a pin drop that followed her statement as both men took in what she'd just said.
"Snow, what do you mean 'she isn't his type'?" David was looking slightly concerned now.
"Oh well, it's obvious", she rolled her eyes at them. Both men raised their eyebrows waiting for her to continue. "Alex is gorgeous," Killian watched Dave's expression falter in confusion, "but Emma is so closed off; he needs someone who can care for him, make sure he's properly looked after. If anyone has done something, it's probably Emma, I don't see why he'd be interested in her otherwise." Killian suddenly placed the expression in her eyes, jealousy, Mary-Margaret was jealous of Emma. He glanced at Dave to see him stood there speechless, staring at his wife like she'd just grown a pair of horns.
"Ho…Hook, Can I talk to you a minute?" David tilted his head towards the stairs and Emma's room. Killian nodded and followed him up the stairs, glancing back at Mary-Margaret. David spun around to face him as they walked through the door to Emma's room, eyes full of fury.
"What the hell is going on?"
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Duh Duh Duuuh.. ok so stuff is starting to happen. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
As usual, reviews are always appreciated, I love hearing what you think about my drabbles. Mainly though I just hope you enjoy reading the story!
xx
