Disclaimer: Same as always.
A/N: This is an AU. Today's prompt was matchmaker. I made Emma's dog a golden retriever in tribute of a golden I had and lost very unexpectedly a few years ago. The name is different - mine was named Luna. Yes, after Luna from Harry Potter. But aside from that, I very much wrote Leia with Luna in mind. I've been missing her lately and felt like doing a tribute of sorts. Hope you enjoy it.
"Leia, come back!" Emma Swan cried as she chased after her golden retriever. She'd taken her dog out for a what she had hoped would be a nice leisurely walk for both of them. Work had been stressful lately and she'd wanted to take some time to unwind. It was chilly out; it was fall in Boston, for heaven's sake. But it was a nice day otherwise, so Emma had decided to walk to the public garden. Maybe walk around the pond.
The walk had started off leisurely enough, but then a crazy person on bicycle had zoomed past her and Emma had tripped in her attempt to get out of its way. The leash had slipped out of her grasp as she fell and Leia had taken off running like an absolute lunatic. So now Emma had a banged up knee and a dog to chase after. So much for any kind of relaxation.
"Leia!" Emma yelled as she approached the pond, spotting her dog running up a man with a camera. "Leia!" She knew her golden had heard her, but she'd apparently decided that she would much rather make a new friend than pay her owner any kind of attention. Leia barked at the man with the camera, who set it down and looked at her.
"Well, hello there!" Emma heard the man say as she drew closer. He had a pleasant speaking voice and what sounded like an Irish accent. Possibly English. "Are you friendly?" The man asked, offering his hand to Leia, who promptly began licking it. "I guess so," he laughed. "And just where did you come from?"
"Leia!" Emma called.
The man turned at the sound of her voice and Emma could've sworn that her heart skipped a beat. He was one of the most handsome men that Emma had ever seen. He had thick dark hair, a trim physique and quite possibly the bluest eyes she had ever seen in real life. And, as she found out a second later, a friendly smile.
In other words? He was hot. Ridiculously so, in Emma's opinion. And her dog had made him her new best friend.
"Is this your dog, then?" he asked.
"Uh, yeah," Emma said. "That's Leia."
"It's nice to meet you, Leia," the man said to Leia, who was now sitting down. "Do you know how to shake?"
"Oh, she's still learning," Emma said. "She's still a pup-" The word died in mouth as Leia lifted her paw for the man to shake. "Are you kidding me?" At the man's puzzled look, Emma went on. "I can never get her to shake!"
"Ah well, that's because the two of you are already acquainted," the man said, grinning at her. His grin was better than his first smile had been. "But she's only just met me so she wanted to introduce herself. And now that I've met her, might I have the pleasure of meeting her owner, as well?"
Emma stared blankly at him for a few moments before it occurred to her that that was his way of asking her for her name. Get it together, Swan, she thought to herself. "Uh, I'm Emma," she said, finally.
"It's a pleasure to meet you as well, then, Emma," he said, now offering her his hand. "Killian Jones, at your service."
It had been a week since Emma had had to chase Leia down. A week since she'd met Killian Jones. The two of them had chatted for a while longer. Emma had learned that he was still relatively new to the country. He'd come over from Ireland a few months prior and had been staying with his older brother, Liam, who had moved to Boston about a year ago. He'd mentioned that he'd been looking for his own place which had led to Emma mentioning that there were a few vacancies in her own building.
Emma generally wasn't quick to share where she lived with strangers, but she'd found herself telling him about her building in spite of herself. She'd wondered about the wisdom of this move later. Then again what were the odds that he'd end up actually moving into her building? He'd been on his way to check out an apartment that afternoon and, for all Emma knew, maybe he'd ended up taking it.
In any event, she'd caught herself thinking about him off and on throughout the week. He was undoubtedly trouble. She knew that because she'd been instantly attracted to him and nothing good had ever come from that. But then again, it wasn't like Boston was a small town. She'd probably never see him again.
A pity, really. Because the probability of him being bad news aside, he was quite fun to look at.
It was with some surprise when she was walking Leia down the street and her golden had suddenly started tugging on the leash like a crazy animal. Emma was stunned to see her heading directly for one Killian Jones. Apparently, Leia had spotted him and decided that she simply must go say hello.
"Hello again, Leia," Killian greeted her, laughing when she jumped up on him. Getting her wet paws all over his nice coat.
"Leia, get down," Emma chided, giving Killian an embarrassed smile as he scratched Leia's ears. "I'm so sorry!"
"It's quite alright," Killian assured her. "I love dogs." That was a definite point in his favor, Emma thought. "It's nice to see you both again."
"You too," Emma said. "How's the apartment hunt going?"
"Not well," Killian admitted. "Liam says I'm far too picky. I'd just as well find a place I like."
"Seems perfectly reasonable to me," she offered.
"I'll be sure to tell him you think so," Killian said, his eyes twinkling. It should be illegal to have eyes like that, Emma thought dimly.
"Well, I don't want to keep you," Emma said. "I, oh!" She'd taken a step to leave, not realizing that sometime during the time she'd been pondering the legality of a man having such blue eyes, Leia had managed to wind her leash around Emma's legs. Emma had taken that one step and found herself falling forward.
Right into Killian's arms and, holy crap, he smelled good. Emma supposed that her first thought should have been that she should apologize, but then she'd been assaulted by the intoxicating scent of his cologne. "Alright there, lass?" He asked.
"Uh, yeah," she said after what felt like far too long. Unless you count the fact that I'm currently trying not to melt into a puddle of hormones, she thought. Emma couldn't quite understand the effect this man had on her. "Sorry, again."
"It's perfectly fine," he said, laughing.
"I'll just untangle myself here," Emma said, working to unwrap Leia's leash from around her legs. "It was nice seeing you again."
"You as well," Killian said, his smile warming. How many different smiles did this man have, Emma wondered. This newest one was a panty dropper.
And Emma seriously needed to get a hold of herself. So she'd run into him again. Didn't mean it would happen again.
It was nearly December and there'd been no further incidents. Leia had not managed to find Killian again and Emma had lost hope that she would.
Not that she cared about seeing Killian for a third time. Not like she'd continue to find him drifting into her thoughts every so often. It just wasn't often that you met a hot Irishman, that was all. Not to mention one who loved dogs. Not that she needed an Irishman in her life, hot or otherwise. Not that she needed any man in her life. Her last relationship had crashed and burned quite spectacularly just after New Year's. Emma had been single ever since.
That was the problem, right there. She'd been single and it'd been months since she'd set foot in a club. She just couldn't seem to drag up the energy to go clubbing anymore. She had a great job at an advertising agency and that kept her busy. That and she was getting older. She would be thirty next year.
It seemed like Emma was far more content having a nice, relaxing night at home than going out these days. A fact that seemed to frustrate one of her best friends, Mary Margaret Nolan, who insisted that Emma should go out and find herself a nice man. Emma had tried to tell her that she wasn't looking for a relationship and that was the truth.
Nor was she looking for a meaningless hookup. Emma just wasn't interested in finding a man right now. Was that such a crime? She didn't think so. Besides, she'd just learned that she was up for a promotion at work. This was hardly the time to add a man into the mix.
Still, Emma found her thoughts beginning to drift towards Killian every so often. She couldn't seem to help herself.
Emma was shaken out of her reverie as she headed towards her apartment, grocery bag in hand. The door to the apartment across from hers was partway open and Emma remembered hearing that someone had finally moved in. She would miss the sweet couple who lived their previously, but they'd recently moved out of the building and into a house after finding out that were having triplets.
Emma should probably think about introducing herself to her new neighbor at some point, but right now she needed to get inside and put her groceries away. She unlocked her door and went inside, kicking at the door with her foot to close it. Not realizing that it didn't close all the way.
"Leia, I'm home!" she called, going to set her bag of groceries on her counter. "Leia?" Emma turned around just in time to see Leia dart out of the apartment. "Oh, for crying out loud," she muttered, hurrying to follow her. "Leia!" She saw her dog disappear into the apartment across the hall and cursed under her breath. "Leia! Come back here!"
"Why, Leia! What a pleasant surprise this is!"
It couldn't be.
"Emma?"
It was.
Emma's jaw dropped as she watched Killian Jones come into view. Looking as handsome as ever. What was it about this man that took her breath away? "Is this your new apartment?" she asked, stunned.
"Aye, it is," he nodded. "I remembered you telling me that there were some vacancies and since I was having no luck elsewhere, I decided to come check it out."
"And you obviously liked it," Emma said.
"I did, yes," he said. "I never imagined that we'd be on the same floor."
"Uh yeah." Emma jerked her thumb back at her apartment. "That's me. Sorry Leia broke in."
"It's fine," Killian laughed. "She's making herself at home on my couch," he added, making Emma's eyes bug in horror.
"Tell me you're kidding," she said.
"Come in and see for yourself," he said, gesturing for her to come in. Emma hesitated for a moment before coming in and looking to where Killian was pointing. There, right in the middle of his very comfortable looking couch, was Leia. Looking quite please with herself.
"Leia!" Emma groaned, wincing as she looked back at Killian. "I'm so sorry."
"No need to apologize," he assured her. "I don't mind. Truly."
"She usually doesn't break into people's apartments," Emma said, quickly. "I don't know what's gotten into her."
"Why, we've become friends, of course," Killian said, surprising Emma by sitting next to Leia on the couch and petting her. "She was just welcoming me to the building, weren't you girl? Yeah, you just wanted to say hello, yes you did," Emma watched as Leia's tail wagged while she started licking his face.
Emma wouldn't mind licking him herself.
It was with that wildly inappropriate thought that Emma realized that she needed to get out of there. "Well, I better get Leia out of your hair. She hasn't had her dinner yet."
"Very well. I do hope you won't be a stranger," Killian said.
"Me or Leia?" Emma asked, making him laugh again.
"Both of you," he said. He stood and walked back to her, Leia promptly jumping off the couch and following him. Killian surprised Emma by grabbing her hand and lifting it to his lips. "It's so nice to see you again, Emma. I look forward to the chance to get to know you better."
"Welcome to the building," she said, breathlessly. "Come on, uh." Emma frowned as she tried to think. The feel of Killian's lips on her hand seemed to have temporarily short-circuited her brain. "Leia! That's her name. Leia. Uh, come on, Leia." She gave Killian and awkward wave and headed back to her apartment, Leia in tow.
Upon reentering her apartment, Emma leaned back again the closed door and closed her eyes. She'd actually forgotten her dog's name in front of the hot Irishman she hadn't been able to stop thinking about. And who now lived directly across the hall from her.
Smooth, Swan, she thought. Real smooth.
Over the next couple of weeks, Emma would run into Killian every so often. In the hall. In the elevator. Every single time, Leia saw him she would have to fuss all over him as if she hadn't seen him in years. Leia was a typical golden in that she seemed to want to be friends with everyone she met, but she seemed to have a special affinity for Killian. If Emma didn't know better, she'd say that Leia had a bit of a crush on him.
Or maybe that was just her.
Emma kept trying to remind herself that the last thing she needed was a man, but she couldn't deny the way her stomach always seemed to fill with butterflies whenever she saw him. It didn't help that he was always so friendly and he seemed to really like Leia.
Emma wasn't going to delude herself into thinking that Killian was interested in her. He seemed to like her well enough, but she seriously doubted that it was much more than that. But then one day, she'd decided that she wanted to get a small Christmas tree.
She hadn't thought about how annoying it would be to carry said tree home. She'd been trying to avoid hitting anyone with it when she heard a voice calling her name. It was Killian. He'd been on his way home when he saw her struggling. He'd helped her get it up to her apartment and set it up. Leia had been over the moon to see him - ignore that she'd seen him when Emma had left to take her on her morning walk. But she'd immediately started jumping all over Killian while completely ignoring Emma.
That was when Emma had decided to ask if Killian felt like helping her decorate her tree, too. It wasn't because she wanted to spend more time with him. It was that she knew that it would get done so much faster if she had some help. At least that's what she told herself.
Killian agreed and they'd had fun decorating her tree. At some point, he suggested ordering a pizza and that had sounded good to her. They talked quite a bit as they worked and ate and later, Killian even joined Emma and Leia on their evening walk. Much to Leia's delight, Emma was sure.
Maybe much to her own delight as well.
Killian was just a friend. Emma kept having to remind herself of that. They hung out every so often and were forming what Emma thought would be a solid friendship. He was funny and interesting and Emma found him very easy to talk to after a while. When she could ignore her insane attraction to him, that is. Their friendship had progressed to where they'd each given the other their spare key to their apartment in the event of an emergency.
But they were just friends. It wasn't anything more than that.
It wasn't.
Really.
And then something happened.
Emma had come home after walking Leia to find a package waiting for her. Only when she looked at it, it was really meant for Killian. She took it upstairs for him, thinking she might as well. She tried knocking on his door, but he didn't answer.
When Emma would look back on this incident, she would have just taken the package into her apartment and given it to her later. But she'd been worried that it might be something important, so she decided to use her spare key. Her plan was to leave it just inside his door.
In hindsight, the other thing she would have done differently was to put Leia in her apartment first. Because of course Leia would trot into Killian's apartment while Emma made the fatal mistake of loosening her grip on the leash as she was setting the package down. "Leia, come back here!"
Emma sighed as she followed her dog, watching as the golden headed into a room. There was the sound of a surprised curse, followed by laughter. And then Killian had walked out of what was apparently his bathroom. In a towel. Evidently, he'd been taking a shower and that's why he hadn't come to the door.
Upon witnessing Killian in this state, Emma's first thought was something along the lines of hot damn. Her second thought was more along the lines of holy crap.
It was probably a good thing that Emma had already set the box for him down before he'd shown up because otherwise she would have dropped it. With her luck, there would be something breakable in there.
"Hello," Killian said, sounding surprisingly cheerful for a guy who had just had a golden retriever barge in on him in the bathroom with no warning.
Suddenly, Emma didn't know where to look. "Um, there was a package for you waiting for me. They...they got the apartment numbers mixed up and I tried knocking, but you didn't answer. So I decided to just leave it inside, by the door, but then Leia had to come in and surprise you. And I'm so sorry." The words came out in a rush. "For, um, breaking in and, um, for Leia barging in while you were, well. In there," Emma pointed vaguely in the direction of the bathroom, still trying to look anywhere but at his bare chest. "And I'm just going to go. I'm sorry."
With that she turned to go, missing the grin that had appeared on Killian's face. "Uh, Emma?"
"What?" she asked, positive that her face must be beet red by this point.
"Forgetting someone?" he asked.
"What?" Emma turned around and he nodded towards Leia. "Oh! Leia, come here." She patted at her thigh, relieved when Leia actually came to her. "I'm, um, see you later, Killian. I'm sorry again."
With that, she hurried out with Leia in tow. "We seriously need to have a chat about your manners," Emma muttered to her golden as she unlocked her door and went inside. "You gotta stop breaking into Killian's apartment. Okay?"
And I have to stop finding new ways to make an idiot out of myself, she thought.
Emma made a solid effort at avoiding Killian in the days following that. She just didn't know how she was supposed to look him in the eye without seeing him in that damn towel. Especially since seeing him in said towel had led to some rather steamy dreams. She didn't know how she'd ever be able to look at him again without blushing.
There was a time when Emma would've just gone for it, but she couldn't afford to do that now. A decision was about to be made regarding her possible promotion and she had to focus all her efforts on that. Not on trying to strike up a romance with the guy across the hall.
Leia, on the other hand, had plans of her own.
Emma and Leia had just gotten off the elevator and were heading to the apartment when who did they see? Killian. Of course.
"Hey Swan," he said, brightly. "And hello Leia!" Killian leaned over to scratch her ears as she jumped on him. "Haven't seen you two in a few days."
"We've been busy," Emma said, studiously avoiding his gaze. "Look Killian, I really am sorry about what happened the other day. I had no business just barging into your apartment."
"Emma. Look at me." Crap. Emma bit her lip before forcing herself to look at him. Willing her cheeks to stay their normal color. "It's okay. There was no harm done. You don't need to keep avoiding me."
That was a matter of debate, she thought. "I'm not avoiding you," Emma argued. At his eyebrow lift in response to this, she sighed. "Maybe a little."
"Well, you don't have to," he assured her. "It's fine."
"You're awfully easygoing, you know that?" She asked after a moment.
"Only when it comes to a lasses as beautiful as you," he said.
Crap.
"Yeah, well. I'm still sorry," she said. "I...whoa!"
Somehow Leia had managed to get behind Emma without her realizing it as she was talking to Killian. And because her golden had gone completely insane, Leia had decided it would be fun to jump up on Emma. Shoving her directly into Killian.
"I seem to be having a strange sense of deja vu," Killian joked.
"Yeah," Emma agreed, hating how breathy the word had come out. "Me too."
Somehow getting pushed into Killian had broken the ice, in an odd way. Emma decided that she needed to grow up and stop avoiding him. Lest her golden decide to shove her at him every time they happened to see him. Besides, they'd started laughing about how Leia seemed to enjoy getting them into awkward situations. So when Killian asked Emma if she would stop be the next day to help him decorate his Christmas tree, she agreed.
She could do this, Emma thought. She could ignore her, frankly, enormous attraction for him and just be his friend.
Only when she went over to help him with his tree, they'd ended up talking late into the night. In fact, they ended up fallen asleep. Emma, with her head on Killian's shoulder. And Leia, because of course Leia had had to come over too, had fallen asleep by Killian's Christmas tree.
The next morning, Emma had woken up to find herself curled up on his couch with a blanket over her. And a note for her left on his coffee table saying that he'd taken Leia out for her morning walk so Emma could get more sleep. She'd just been deciding what on earth she should do now, when she heard his apartment door open. It turned out that Killian had returned, not just with Leia, but with some coffee and donuts.
He'd confused Emma's look of astonishment with concern. He'd assured her that he'd made sure that Leia's leash had been properly tied to a lamppost and he'd kept an eye on her while he was getting their food.
Not realizing that Emma hadn't even thought about where Leia would've been while he was doing that. Instead, she'd been hung up on the idea that Killian would think to bring her back coffee and donuts. And come to the conclusion that was developing real feelings for him.
She'd known he was trouble the first time she met him.
Emma was in a fantastic mood. It was a few days before Christmas and she'd just found out that she'd gotten the promotion. She'd tried calling some of her friends to tell them the news, but none of them answered. So she'd decided to knock on Killian's door to tell him.
That was when she ended up making her most idiotic move to date.
She'd been so excited about her promotion and Killian had seemed so genuinely happy for her. Before she knew what she was doing, she'd grabbed him and planted a kiss on him. She simply hadn't been able to help herself.
She'd pulled away to find him looking utterly stunned. And instantly began asking herself just what the hell she thought she was doing. She'd made a complete fool of herself.
And probably just ruined her friendship with Killian.
It was Christmas day. Emma had spent part of the day with the Nolans - Mary Margaret, her husband David and their son Leo. They were some of her oldest friends and she enjoyed being with them. Emma didn't have a family of her own and the Nolans had more or less adopted her into theirs.
She'd said her goodbyes, gave them all one more hug and headed back to her apartment. Now she was talking Leia out for her evening walk. She headed towards the park, to the place where she'd fallen trying to avoid that bicyclist. She'd just been thinking how nice it was that there weren't any crazy bicyclists around when she slipped on a patch of ice. Seriously?
History would choose to repeat itself, Emma thought, annoyed as the leash fell out of her grip and Leia took off. For crying out loud. Emma managed to get to her feet and took off after her dog.
"Leia!" she called. "Leia,come back!"
Once again, Emma ended up by the pond. And once again, she watched her golden retriever approach a man. It couldn't be.
It was.
"Hello Leia," he cooed to the errant golden retriever, picking up her leash. "I've missed you."
"Killian?" Emma called, hesitantly, as she walked up to him.
"I was hoping you'd show up," Killian said, looking at her intently.
"You...you were?" Emma asked.
"Aye," he nodded. "I know you usually walk her around this time. I was hoping I might catch you."
"Oh," she said, stupidly. What was she supposed to make of that?
"I really wish you hadn't run away after you kissed me," Killian said, taking a step towards her.
"I shouldn't have done that," Emma stammered. "I just got caught up in the moment."
"And here I was hoping that you might have feelings for me," Killian said, softly.
"What?" Emma whispered.
"I said," he began, taking her hands in his. "That I was hoping that you might have feelings for me."
"You...you were?"
"I was," he confirmed, stepping just a little bit closer. "Because I most certainly have feelings for you."
"You," Emma gulped. "You do?"
"I do."
"So, um, what do you want to do about them?" she asked, surprising herself.
"This." Killian let go of her hands to frame her face with his. He looked deeply into her eyes before lightly pressing his lips to hers, pulling back after a moment as if to gauge her reaction.
Emma couldn't stop the smile from spreading across her face and he returned it. As they both leaned in for another kiss, Emma absently thought that that smile he'd just given her might just be her new favorite of his. She felt his hands slide into her hair while she let herself sink into his sweet kiss. For a while it seemed as if time had stopped and that they were the only two people left in the world. Emma wrapped her arms around him and relished in the way his lips were moving against hers. Somehow along the way it began to snow, but she barely noticed it. There was only Killian and his kiss.
And Leia.
Christmas Day, 2 Years Later
Emma and Killian had been a couple for the last two years, ever since they had shared that magical kiss on Christmas. It had been a wonderful two years.
Now Emma was curled up next to him on the couch in the apartment that they now shared. "Hey, where's Leia?" Killian asked suddenly.
"Uh, I don't know," Emma said, frowning a little. "Leia? Come here, girl!" The golden retriever appeared a minute later. "Here she is, she must've..." Emma trailed off as she noticed something fastened to Leia's collar. "What's that?" She gave Killian an odd look.
"I don't know," he said thoughtfully, patting his thighs to get Leia to come over to him. "What's this, then?" There was something tied to the collar and now he untied it. "Oh, yes, I remember now. It's your last Christmas present." He held it up to show Emma and she gasped.
"Killian..."
It was a diamond ring.
"I've something that I need to ask you, love," Killian said.
"Killian," Emma repeated, breathless now.
"But first, I need to tell you a story," he said, pretending like she hadn't spoken. "About a man who found himself in Boston. One day, this man was at a beautiful park taking pictures when he was approached by a friendly golden retriever named Leia. And Leia was owned by the most beautiful woman that the man had ever seen."
"Killian." Tears were rolling down Emma's cheeks as he spoke.
"Leia apparently knew something that the man and woman did not, for she kept finding ways to bring them together. Almost as if she were a matchmaker set on making a most perfect match. And that's what she did. And so it seemed only fitting that she be a part of this." Killian's eyes were shining as he continued. "Emma Swan, will you marry me?"
"Yes," she whispered. "Yes, Killian, yes!" Emma waited for him to slide the ring on her trembling finger before dragging his lips to hers. This Christmas kiss was even more magical than their last. Once more, there was only Emma and Killian and their kiss.
And Leia.
Their mischievous matchmaker.
