I just want to say a big thank you to all the people who reviewed, I would love to give shout outs to Hellfire000, lindakaye, siriuslylovehp and SorryLoveButIDon'tReallyCare for giving such wonderful reviews, you all helped me out a lot on continuing to write for this story.
Something SorryLoveButIDon'tReallyCare asked:
'Have you considered if the Liam Brothers are going to be in this story?' Whether it's canon or not will be a spoiler. However, younger Liam I hadn't really thought about but after this reviewer brought it up, a little plot bunny appeared and I can guarantee younger Liam will appear in this story and much earlier than he did in the show.
They also asked:
You what I'd love to see that I don't believe was in the show? Someone, maybe Ruby, being over protective of Killian.
Ruby is someone I want to feature more in the story than she gets in the show now and also I always intended her to be the big overprotective sister of Killian. I honestly can't wait until a little event is finally fleshed in word which will fully show how close Ruby and Killian are.
If any of you guys have any questions about the story or want to suggest something please go ahead. There are certain things which are already in place about the storyline, however, as you can see suggesting things can add to the story.
Please enjoy the next chapter!
It retched at Emma's stomach. The guilt that she had all these years intensifying like a blizzard wrecking inside her. She was torn now. Between staying or leaving. Her brain told her to leave. It was logical, it was smart. Leave and you won't get hurt again. She wanted to leave knowing that it would be easier for her to do so. But when she thought of Henry… Henry wasn't okay and he certainly wouldn't get better by staying with Regina. So here Emma was. Standing outside Granny's Inn arguing with herself. When she left Regina's, she had been angry and she would argue that she still was. She thought taking a breather and letting her thoughts work it out that she wouldn't feel so bad about the conversation. But she just couldn't get over what Regina had said. It would be later on in her life that Emma would think back to the reason why she would choose to stay in Storybrooke and she would realize it was because of Regina. Regina's words more so about Henry. She pushed Emma over the edge and now she was going to have to put up with it. It was always going to be because of Henry. And maybe, just maybe, it was that strange connection she felt towards that damn librarian. But she was planning on ignoring that. She was.
Miss Swan, you made a decision ten years ago…
She had. She had chosen to give Henry up because she wasn't ready then. And she wouldn't change her decision, even if… even if she could have kept Henry because what kind of life could she had ever provided Henry. Certainly not one that he deserved.
Don't mistake all this as invitation back into his life
She could never expect to be invited back into Henry's life. She didn't deserve that much. She just wanted to leave, as soon as she possible could. She consider this behaviour from Regina to be the behaviour of that of a frightened mother that was concerned for her child. But something was also telling her it was something else and that was the part that was telling her that she had to stay. She couldn't leave Henry.
You may have given birth to him, but he is my son.
It was the truth. A truth Emma couldn't ever deny. She could never claim to know more about parenting than Regina did. Emma wouldn't even know the first thing about child care. Emma was just one more stranger in Henry's life to move on, Regina was the mother of Henry. Not her.
You tossed him away…
She had, hadn't she? Emma hadn't even looked at Henry when he was born and decided to give him away. When she 'tossed him away'. How could she not even look at him before she gave him away? Was she any better than her own parents?
Do you love him?
She had asked.
Of course I love him.
Regina had replied.
Emma had made her decision then. Her lie detector didn't go off because Regina wasn't lying. In her twisted way, she did love Henry. But the way Regina had said that she loved Henry, is was the way someone says they love their new centre piece. Regina may love Henry, or believe that she loves him, but it wasn't the warm motherly love that you usually have. It was possessive. It wasn't right and that was what concerned Emma. She knew what being possessive could do to a person. She was afraid about how far Regina would go to 'protect' Henry.
She now had to decide. Now left standing at the end of the footpath which trailed up to Granny's Inn with a war raging inside herself. If she entered the inn, than her decision is final. She would ultimately become attached to this location. It would be like Tallahassee all over again, except this time with Hen- with her son. Yes, her son. But if she leaves, well than she doesn't have to get attached again. She doesn't go through that pain she went through all those years ago and that was something she never wanted to go through again. But if she chose that path, than she will lose the chance to be with him, to find a family. For a strange reason, her mind was also factoring in Jones. She couldn't help it, no matter how much she wanted to tell herself that there was nothing there. After all, love at first sight wasn't real.
Both ends were battling it out. On one end, she remembered seeing Henry smile. Smile at her. She couldn't help but have her heart flutter at that memory. And she remembered how Marco talked about family, how he lost his opportunity to have a child of his own. But she could have that chance, she could have her chance for a family with Henry. It was something she has always wanted her entire life, so why was she fighting it now? Because it was risky. If she took that risk, then she could end up hurt if it all went wrong in the end. But if this all goes right, if she actually got the family she has always wanted, than she could be happier than she has ever been. She straightened up, yes she could do this, and she could be brave. After all, this was all going to be for Henry. He needed to be put first.
When Emma had reached the door of the Inn, she could hear the muffled voices. Okay, not so much muffled as she could hear them shouting. She hesitating at entering, not wanting to walk into another drama. She had had enough of that with Regina today already, but she entered anyway. She didn't fancy sleeping in her bug tonight. She stopped instantly when she saw the two women heated in the middle of an argument and also it didn't take her too long to notice Jones standing in the background. He looked as though he was trying to shrink away from the two women, obviously hoping not to get in the crossfire of these two. There with him was also that cat. Were the two a matching set or something? She almost casted her eyes down when she noticed Killian smiling at her and she felt her cheeks involuntarily flush. Goddammit, she needed to get a hold of herself. She was acting like a hormonal teenager.
"I should have moved to Boston!" Ruby yelled at the older woman, her heels clicking with her ferocity.
"I'm sorry that my heart attack interfered with your plans to sleep your way down the eastern seaboard," Granny snapped at her, matching the younger ones anger. Neither of them seemed to notice that Emma had entered the room, the only recognition that Emma had received was from Killian but he didn't seem willing to interfere with the two women at the moment. Emma couldn't really blame him either.
Emma took a hesitant step forward, "Excuse me? I'd like a room."
When both the women heard this they stopped their argument, turning to look at Emma as if this was the first time someone had ever come into this Inn before. It was the old woman, Granny, Emma presumed, that first quickly moved from her stunned silence.
"Really?" Granny asked, the surprise evident in her voice, "Would you like a forest view or a square view? Normally, there's an upgrade fee for the square but, as friends do, I'll wave it."
"Square is fine," Emma nodded at her.
"I didn't quite catch your name," Granny said.
Killian and Ruby had taken to conversing in the back but Killian's eyes still hadn't left Emma and Emma couldn't help but steal quick glances back at him. There was just something about him, something different that she couldn't quite describe.
"Swan," Emma replied to her. When Emma looked towards Killian, noticing that his conversation had abruptly stopped, she was startled. He wasn't staring at her anymore, instead looking directly behind her. And… he wasn't Killian anymore. That playful aura he had around him seemed to have evaporated. He looked cold. Like a darkness had surrounded him. Emma would describe him as being void of anything, like Killian had been sucked out but his eyes… his eyes burnt with fire. It shocked her because it was a look that she decided she never wanted to see on him again. It was raw danger, "Emma Swan."
"Emma," A man spoke, this caused the rest of the people in the room to look to where Killian was staring, "What a lovely name."
Emma gave him a glance over carefully, "Thanks."
This man… there was something wrong about him, wrong like she felt around Regina but more sinister. She didn't know whether it was because Killian was staring at him with such- well Emma couldn't describe the emotion but she somehow understood now and took it as a precaution. While Killian was sarcastic and generally taunted Regina, with this man there was nothing but hatred. He looked ready to kill this man. It was as if another man beside the town's local librarian Killian Jones was standing in Granny's Inn.
Granny quickly passed this man a roll of bills, "It's all here."
The man took a quick look at Killian, it was fleeting, if Emma wasn't staring at him she probably would have missed it. He stared at Jones with the same amount of hatred, if not more subtle before he reached nonchalantly for the roll of bills. "Yes, yes, of course it is, dear."
The man's attention immediately turned to Emma and it didn't leave, it might be the reason why Jones slowly made his way over to Emma's side, holding his gaze at the man. "Thank you. You enjoy your stay… Emma," He exited the Inn with one last look towards Jones. Emma didn't like anything about that man.
"Who's that?" Emma didn't like the vibes she was getting around that man, nor the way he looked at her or Jones for that matter. The room around had gotten stiflingly quite at the presences of that man, both the women seemed afraid of him but Jones seemed to openly despise him.
"Mr Gold," Jones grumbled out, only just taking his eyes of the door.
"He owns this place," The young girl said seriously.
"The Inn?" Emma asked.
"No, the town," Granny told her, "So, how long will you be with us?"
"A week," Emma replied, "Just a week." It was just a test run. She wouldn't make anything final. She took what Jones had said into account. She was going to give Henry that week and hopefully by then, things would work out.
When Killian had realised that Mr Gold was gone, he felt Librarian Killian Jones take over again. He honestly didn't know when he had started differentiating between himself and whatever took over when Gold was around. He also realised that he was now standing next to Emma. He didn't know when he had moved next to her, only that he didn't like the way Gold looked at her with too much interest. Slimy bastard.
"Great," Granny smiled, grabbing a key from the back wall and handing it over to Emma, "Welcome to Storybrooke."
Mr Gold left the Inn. Emma. That indeed was a lovely name. A name he had been waiting to hear for, oh… twenty-eight years he would guess. A smile slowly crept on his face as his fingers curled around his cane. With his memories now restored, he could finally commence his work and maybe, just maybe have some fun with their local captain. But first things first, just how to break this curse still remained to be seen but he certainly was seeing some developing options for the future. In fact, if he were a betting man, he might start making those bets on the odds.
Emma nodded towards her, turning, "So you decided to stay?"
Emma looked at him for a second, "I'm giving it a chance." Emma looked back and Granny and Ruby and even though they looked as though they were busy, Ruby was reading a page upside down and Granny was sorting through an almost empty draw. Killian caught what she was looking at and sighed.
"Well, just don't break his heart." Before Emma could make any kind of comment back at him, he walked over to Granny and Ruby. "You know neither of you two are convincing," He gave both of them a look which they tried to return with their most convincing confused faces, "Goodnight."
"Night, old man!" Ruby called back after he left to one of the back rooms.
What Killian had said to her was irritating her. He knew nothing about her. But she shook it off, she'd just have to deal with it tomorrow. Tonight she was just dealing with one thing at a time, and that was how she was going to help Henry.
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