A/N: Well... a lot of things came up. Like... school and work and birthday fics for a lot of my friends. But I have not abandoned this story. And I hope to upload the next chapter very soon because this is a baby bit of a chapter, and things pick up next time.

"Sit down, please."

There was a sternness in his father's voice as he paced the floor of the living room.

Killian sat down next to his mother, whose eyes held a hint of worry.

"This may come as a shock, and I am sorry for that." He stood tall and resolute in front of his family. Killian felt a pit of dread form in his stomach. This wasn't his father standing in front of him, this was Donovan Jones CEO. He was all business and Killian wondered what he needed to discuss with them, what could come as a shock.

It could have been anything, couldn't it? From his father? Yes.

Killian stayed quiet, his lips kept together as he waited for him to continue.

"It's been three and a half years…"

Three and a half years? What had been three and a half years? It could have been anything. Or perhaps not… Three and a half years ago, they'd…

Killian felt the set of his jaw, his nervousness growing.

"I uprooted our entire family from our home and the world that we knew. America has allowed us to prosper in ways that we never knew."

From beside him, Killian could feel his mother's gaze on him. It was silent, but it was there.

"I'm proud of all the accomplishments that we made," he continued. "I'm proud of my two sons who have embraced life in just the way I wanted and expected. Liam's away at college, majoring in business." He nodded. "You'll be on your way as well next year, Killian."

So what was this about? He didn't ask, but the question was on his face within the raised eyebrows and lifted chin.

"That is why I'm telling you this now, Killian. To prepare you for your future." He looked from Killian, to his wife, and then back again. "At the end of your school term- after graduation-" It was so resolute. It was said as if it were set in stone, so no need to question any of it. "We're moving back to London."

Killian watched as everyone who had sat in the hour-long meeting began to drift and disperse from the conference room. He kept the need to shake his head inside, knowing that there was no need to show an outer dislike for the business end of things, especially with his co-workers watching.

This was what he had been groomed for his entire life though, right? When his father had joined EMID, it was a relatively small shipping company. One that grew, over time, to become some worldwide venture. And Donovan Jones had found himself somewhere amidst the top of it.

It was the reason America had been calling. It was the reason why the Jones' had picked up their lives and moved a continent away for four years. It was the reason Liam had come back and tried to emulate what their father had done. And, as the weeks passed by, Killian was able to see that it was truly happening.

Liam Jones was Donovan Jones in many aspects. Thankfully, there were also some striking contrast between the two men. If not, then Killian was sure he would find himself lost in the family dynamic. Where Donovan told him what to do, Liam listened to what Killian needed. Where Donovan pushed, Liam swayed. Where Donovan ruled because he was his father, Liam guided because he was his older brother.

As the room emptied out, Killian walked slowly across the expanse of the floor. Only his brother was left, hunched over the table with a file folder laid out in front of him. He already knew that something would be falling from his mouth at any moment. It was just the content that he wasn't sure about.

"Killian?" His head lifted and his eyes connected with his brother's.

"Aye?" It left his mouth as a sigh.

Those eyes held firm.

"How are you feeling?" It was soft. "Because if I can only judge by what you've done in here…" He was slow to shake his head. "Then I would say that you're… feeling great."

EMID was an established and profitable company. It employed hundreds of people. There were numerous families and individuals who looked at them as providers for their livelihoods. Killian was expected to be one of those people who made it all work. He was supposed to be one of those people whose ideas business acumen made the company, at whatever branch, a success. What Liam had just hinted to only said that he was in agreement with his father.

"Regurgitating fact checks and spewing out numbers is easy," he assured his brother with a lift of his shoulder.

"If it's easy-"

"Do you really have to ask?" Because he knew. And Liam should have known as well.

His lips pursed for the briefest of moments. "No, I don't have to ask."

Killian nodded his head and moved closer to the table that was in front of him.

"Killian?" Still, it was soft. This time, it had a hint of carefulness to it. "We've never, in our entire lives, wanted for anything. Both Mum and Dad provided for us and prepared us for the real world."

His corners of his mouth lifted just slightly. "Never have I said anything different."

"You know why he's the way he is with you." Liam raised a hand before Killian even had the chance to interject. "He wants you to be happy."

"He wants me to be happy by being what he wants me to be. He wants us both to be successful in the way that he's been successful," Killian finally added.

Liam's eyes roamed across the whole of his face. "I think that you can be successful in anything that you put your heart and mind into. I think he believes that as well."

"Well, just as long as those choices manifest into what he wants in the long run."

It was Liam's turn to smile. "You're good at your job."

"I'm good with statistics and numbers and charming those who need it."

This time, he shook his head. "Little brother…"

Liam didn't call him that often. It was only sometimes. It wasn't meant to be condescending.

"What is it that you want to do?"

It was a question that his father never would have asked him. And didn't that speak volumes for their relationship and the man that he was? Liam had asked. Of course, Liam had asked.

"I want… the ability to… move as freely as I want," he told him quietly, yet firmly. "I don't want the hassle of being told that I have to climb the ladder of success at the same rate that he did or the same rate that you are."

Liam watched him silently for just a moment. Then he nodded.

"Killian." His name fell from his lips just as firmly as Killian had approached him. "You're here now. With me. It's going to be up to you to decide what you want in terms of making your mark on this company." His eyes narrowed on his. "I mean that. So forget what Dad has said. You've spent too many years of your life stifled." He shook his head. "Too many years fearful of the outcome of your choices. I don't want you to do that anymore. So don't do that anymore."

Fearful was a strong word. He wouldn't have said fearful. But he understood what Liam meant. They were different men. They had been different lads while growing up. They had diverged onto two paths that had left Killian… more susceptible to certain things. If it hadn't been for…

Killian blinked at him, looking across at the man. He may have taken after his father when it came to appearance, but it was Liam that took after him when it came to mind and vision.

"Then," he whispered, standing tall in front of his brother, "I won't do that anymore."

Liam was a lot like their father, but, as Emma had said countless times, he wasn't his father.

"Then I'll hold you to that, little brother." He raised an eyebrow. "And what I will expect from you is that you'll find your place. Not only here, Killian, but in this world."

He was another influence.

"Aye." Killian broke the eye contact then. "I will."

4:00p.m.

Tell me that you are getting off of work at a decent hour and that all you want to do is catch up over an early dinner.

You don't know how much I want to be able to do that.

Decent hour sounds about right. Just not as decent as I'd probably like.

Damn

Late dinner?

Slightly.

My place?

Your place.

Got a minute to talk if I call?

I got a minute.

The phone in his hand rang no more than ten seconds later…

"How's your day been going?"

"Actually, I'm having a really great day."

If he thought he'd known ease when he'd seen her text, actually hearing her voice in his ear was a magnification of that. Especially when that voice spoke true to her words. It had a way of putting a smile on his face that he had yet to experience that day.

"Tell me about it, love."

"Well, how about a brief synopsis?"

"Sounds like shop talk to me," Killian murmured into the phone.

It was her throaty laugh that turned the corners of his own mouth up. He could imagine her, in her office that was only miles away from him, sitting there comfortably behind her desk and partial books in front of her.

As he listened to her tale, her brief synopsis, his mind had a way of putting them together. He imagined that instead of those pesky few miles separating them, she was actually close enough to see and to experience. Their evenings had been filled with shared space on a couch. He saw the easiness of this conversation being held in that same scenario. It put a smile on his face, because he knew that it was a possibility. More than a possibility. They had been experiencing each other, their lifelong friendship, this way for weeks now.

There was something about her. That something made his fingertips smoothly rub together as he listened to how she told him about August. How he was a nervous wreck when he didn't need to be, because Emma had all the confidence in the world in him. Killian's head tilted just slightly as she spoke, with excitement, of the new manuscript for an unknown author crossed her desk and how much fun it was to dive into that project. His lips curved into a smile as she stopped suddenly, quietness filling the line for just a moment.

She was his best friend, Emma Swan.

"I've gone on and on about my day," she finally said softly. A sigh crossed over the line. "How has yours been going, Killian?"

It was a day of planning and strategizing and impressing people. It was a day where he was stuck inside of a building, looking at numbers and wondering about cost effectiveness and how to expand on not only by-sea sales, but also by-air sales as well. It was a day where his brother tried to convince him that he could be happy here in Boston while getting everything he ever wanted.

Killian smiled. "My day has been going well, Emma."

"Really? Because-"

"Really and truly and without a doubt," he interrupted. "But I can't wait to see you, Emma. I can't wait until this work day is over and I get to see you."

Best friend. Best friends. Best friends.

"I'll be over tonight," Emma whispered into the phone.

"Right. Then I should let you get back to it," Killian told her.

Her laugh was soft and light. "Okay then. See you tonight." A short pause passed before her next words. "Love you, Killian."

Yes, it was easy. That was because there was only the rarest of days that those words didn't fall from either one of their lips. Still, it put a smile on his face as he listened to her say it this time. Why did it feel really good to hear this time?

"I love you, too." There was something about having this and her in his life that was more than just special. "Bye."

Killian let the phone slip from his fingers, letting it fall to the desk in front of him. She was on his mind. She would probably be there for a while, reminding him of his past. Their past. Their intertwined lives...

He didn't even call her. Didn't even want to do it over the phone. It had to be in person. And it had to be now.

Killian knocked at the door, tampering the need to bang on it in his desperation.

It took a full minute. It had to have been a full sixty seconds before she came to that door and opened it. When she did, with curious eyes and a damned lollipop sticking out from her mouth…

"Emma." He attacked her with a hug, wrapping her arms around her and pushing inside of the house.

"What?" Her arms were around his neck instantly. "What?" There was even a bit of anxiousness in her voice, already knowing that something was wrong.

"We're-"

"What's up?"

The sudden addition of another voice made Killian open eyes that he hadn't realized were shut so tightly. That voice made him grit his teeth as he clung on tighter to Emma before he pulled away from her. It made him look up and down the length of…

"Neal, something's come up." Emma turned around, slipping her body against Killian's in the process. "So… you know." Her hand blindly searched for and grabbed his. "You're going to have to go."

Neal's face had a sort of pinching quality to it as he looked from her to Killian.

"Really?"

She didn't like him. She was never going to like him. When was he going to stop the chase? Killian would always question her choices of who she gave her first kiss away to.

"It's important, mate." He wished his accent hadn't weaved itself in those few words. Especially when he saw the light dance in Neal's eyes.

"Well if it's important, mate…" He looked back at Emma. "I guess I'm out of here." He moved then, making his way closer to them and closer to the door. "I'll call you, Emma."

Her sigh was small. "Goodbye, Neal." She turned around in Killian's arms and then slipped to the side.

His eyes closed again as he listened to both of their steps. He waited in silence, with his back to them, as Emma got rid of her company. It wasn't until the door clicked shut that he turned on his heel, facing her once again.

Emma's back was against the door. Her eyes took a path across his face.

"Hmm." It was nothing but a brief sound from between pursed lips.

It hit him then. Emma. She was the first person who he wanted to go to with his news. Seeing her only made him realize what this move was going to mean: he would no longer have Emma. His best friend. His confidante. His rock.

"Emma." Her name escaped his mouth shakily, the emotions behind their meeting rising to the top.

For the first time, the move had more significance than just being pulled back to a place that he still knew as home. But… Boston had become home. Emma… had become family. No matter what those mixed feelings had been.

"What happened, Killian?" She pushed herself off of the door and moved towards him once again. There was worry in her eyes, just like there should have been.

Six months wasn't a lot of time, but he realized that it was the only time he had left with her. Three and a half years passed through his mind in a flash.

He'd never known acceptance the way that she gave. Not before her. He'd never known a type of love that wasn't guaranteed through blood and through family. Not until her. And it was love. A love that made him question over and over again what his true feelings were. He never wanted to mesh realty with crushes and feelings that would ruin them. Because what they had was beyond measure. But sometimes… Sometimes he wondered if it wasn't a mistake to admit that what he felt for her was beyond friendship and surpassing the familial. She was his family, but in another sense.

Killian opened his mouth, thought about closing it shut, but formed a word on his lips instead as he stepped closer.

"We'll always have one another, right?"

Emma's head turned to the side as she moved closer to him.

"No matter what. Always." This time, her hand slipped over his arm. "What... happened?"

His lips turned up into a smile because… of a few different reasons.

"We're leaving for London after graduation."

He watched her eyes widened and her mouth form an O. Still… it was telling.

"What?"