Some of you want tissue warnings, some would like not to know what's coming, so I'll just stay quiet and hope you enjoy. P.S. Thank you everybody who reviewed this story so far; it means a lot to me, and sorry for the delay.
July 1st 2012. (Emma is 28, Killian is 32)
Killian wakes up because Emma is muttering something in her sleep, burrowing against his chest and knocking her knee against his rather painfully.
"Easy there, love", he murmurs and brushes her tangled hair away from her face, sifting his fingers through the silky golden curtain until she quiets, and then holding her as the sun slowly rises.
The few times they had slept together in his hospital bed she was always gone by morning, so this is something new for him, and he cherishes every second.
"What time is it?" Emma groans half an hour later but doesn't even attempt opening her eyes, just wraps her arm tighter around Killian's waist and pushes her leg further between his, which makes him bite his lip and try to angle his hips further away from hers. "I hate rum."
"It's half past seven, and no you do not", Killian tells her and chuckles when she rolls on her back and throws her arm over her eyes.
"Why is it so bright?"
"Because I never invested in curtains."
"Why not?"
"Because I like waking with the sun", he says and Emma frowns, rubbing her eyes and finally looking at him.
"Hey."
"Hello."
"Maybe you were a sailor in the past life", she tells him and his eyebrow shoots up because this is not the first time Emma had said that.
"You have a thing for sailors, Swan?" He teases and she grins, then winces and presses the heel of her palm against her forehead.
"Maybe I do", she says and brushes her knuckles against his cheek. "Or pirates."
"Perhaps I should dress up as Captain Hook next Halloween", he tells her and when she laughs he thinks how he doesn't need anything more in life now that he's got her.
"Does that make me Wendy?" She asks him and pulls him down for a kiss before he can answer, both of them ignoring the shrill sound of his alarm clock until it becomes almost deafening.
"We should get up", he says, gently disentangling himself from her arms and reaching for his phone to turn the alarm off, gasping when Emma slides her hand underneath his shirt and applies her lips to his earlobe.
"Or maybe we stay in bed a while longer", Emma murmurs, her fingers pulling the string on Killian's pajama bottoms just as his cell phone goes off. "Don't even think about it."
"I have to, love. We have an exhibit opening tonight and it's all hands on deck. I've been meaning to invite you for weeks but every time you returned it slipped my mind", he tells her and gives her a quick kiss before rolling out of bed and answering the call. "Good mor- Yes, Regina, I did. I know. I did. He promised they would. Call him. Okay I'll call him."
Emma throws the covers off her, exposing the long, smooth length of her legs and tiny red panties that make his mouth go dry and his stomach muscles clench.
"Right away, I promise", he says and hangs up, then kneels on the bed and braces himself on his arm above Emma, studying her face and knowing already that he's going to regret leaving her like this. "I am so sorry, Swan. We've been working for this for months and-"
"I understand", Emma cuts him off and he notices her bra on the floor out of the corner of his eye, his eyes immediately zeroing on her chest. "I'll see you tonight?"
Killian swallows and leans down for another kiss but Emma presses her palm against his mouth and gives him an innocent look.
"You have to go."
"But-"
"They need you at the gallery", Emma says firmly and he grudgingly agrees, but still gives her another kiss before he gets up and starts pulling his shirt up over his head. "Now that's just not fair."
Killian throws his shirt at her and her smile turns wicked, her hands slowly lifting the hem of her own shirt, revealing her stomach inch by inch, but Killian backtracks into the hallway before she completely bares herself to him.
"Coward!"
"I'll pick you up at 7 p.m.", he says and goes into the bathroom to have one cold, albeit short shower.
The day rushes by in a frenzy of activity and Killian barely has time to wolf down a sandwich on his way home, so he doesn't worry about whether Emma is going to be there or not until he's already knocking on her door, frowning at the cuff of his only suit because it falls weirdly over his fake wrist.
He had debated on whether he should use the prosthetic hand or not for all of two minutes, then ended up putting it on because he just wants to make Emma happy.
"Coming", Emma calls from inside her apartment and Killian releases a breath because she's here after all, then gapes when he sees her in a pretty pink dress that makes her look like a princess, her hand holding her hair up in a ponytail. "You're early."
"Apologies, love", Killian says automatically because she is a vision in that dress, but there's also something nagging at him, an uneasy feeling of déjà vu that he can't quite place. "You look stunning."
"Thank you. And you'd give James Bond a run for his money", Emma tells him and turns around to show him that her dress is still opened. "Zip me up?"
Killian presses a kiss against the back of her neck before closing her dress while Emma secures her hair, leaving a few locks free around her face.
"Is it new?" He asks and smoothes his hand over the silky material on her waist, thinking how she is never more beautiful than when she blushes; her cheeks go delightfully pink and the long swoop of her eyelashes rest against them when she looks down.
"I wanted tonight to be special", she says, her eyes going wide when she notices his fake hand. "You put it on."
When she reaches out to touch it, Killian's first instinct is to pull back, and he suddenly remembers the moment of the accident, turning the wheel too fast and hearing the metal of his car scream in protest as it tumbles down the side of a steep ditch.
"Hey, it's alright", Emma says and holds her hands up, watching him with concern the way she hadn't done since his first weeks in the hospital.
"I don't know what came over me", Killian tells her and holds out his hand, tipping his head in a motion of invitation because he wants them to get over this and just get going.
"Does it hurt?" Emma asks as she traces her fingertips over the stiff joints, her eyes lifting to his and stopping him from lying.
"Not exactly. It's definitely not pleasant", he says truthfully and shakes his head when Emma opens her mouth to speak. "Tonight is a special occasion, and it's worth it."
"They talked about the exhibit on the radio."
"Not the exhibit, love. Our first date", he tells her and Emma blinks in surprise, then stands up on tiptoes and kisses him so hard he stumbles back, her lithe body pressing against his as he leans against the wall.
"Let's go", Emma says a few moments later, carefully straightens his tie and leads him out her apartment, slamming the door behind them and leaving him in no doubt where she intends to spend the night.
The exhibit is clearly a success but Killian bashfully declines any credit, pointing the occasional journalist in Regina's direction because he's too busy watching Emma admire the paintings.
"I think this one is my favorite", she tells him and leans against his side when he twines his arm around her slim waist, his eyes caressing her profile as she studies a watercolor of the ocean and a lonely ship sailing over it.
"Why that particular one?" Killian asks and Emma tilts her head to the side, then walks closer to the painting and leans forward until her nose is practically touching the canvas.
"There's somebody on the ship."
"Is there?" Killian queries although he knows already that indeed there is.
"Can't you see him?" Emma asks and glances at him over her shoulder, her eyes narrowing when she notices the amused look on his face. "What?"
"You're the only one who noticed", Killian tells her and she looks between him and the painting, an awed look stealing over her face when she figures it out.
"You painted this", she says, completely sure of her assessment even though she had never seen any of his paintings before. "When?"
"Before", he says softly and her face falls a little, but she recovers quickly and beams at him, then turns back to the painting to study it some more.
"It is so beautiful."
"We were one short and Regina managed to convince me to let her use mine", Killian says and waits for Emma's disdain, but she does her best to hide it, smiling and telling him that she's glad he had agreed.
"Can I see the rest of them?" Emma asks and he swallows because he can't believe he didn't see this coming.
"Swan…"
"Did Regina see them?" Emma wonders and he realizes that there's no way of refusing her request without causing her pain.
"They are stored in the gallery's vault", Killian tells her the truth and Emma nods to herself, then wanders off, making another round around the gallery and deliberately avoiding his gaze that follows her around.
The message is clear but Killian postpones the inevitable, talking to a few people and accepting Robin's drink offer before he goes to find Emma again.
"I was afraid you left without me", he says and she starts a little, then shrugs and takes a sip from her champagne glass.
"You don't have to show me the paintings."
"I want to show you the paintings", he says because he really does.
He's just not too keen on the pity that he's undoubtedly going to see in her eyes afterwards.
"You must know about my ability to tell when people are lying to me", Emma tells him mildly and he takes a calming breath, then apologizes and offers her his hand.
"Come with me."
"Killian-"
"Just come", he says firmly and Emma puts her hand in his and follows him through the gallery and into the back rooms, where he punches in the code slowly because it feels awkward doing it with his fake index finger.
The latch releases and Killian leans against the metal of the door with his shoulder, his grip on Emma's hand tightening when she tries to pull away.
"What are you afraid of?" She asks him softly and lies her palm against his chest to stop him from going in.
"Those paintings were painted by a man that I am not anymore", he says and studiously avoids her eyes even though he feels lighter now for having said what was weighing on him for so long.
"That is not true", Emma says and cups his face in her hand, making him look at her, the intensity of her green gaze pinning him in place and making him listen to what she has to say. "Think about it, Killian. If I am both the future and the past Emma to you, then you are still the Killian that had painted those paintings to me."
"Except I have met Emma from the future. You have never met Killian from the past", he says and she shakes her head, her thumb sliding against his scruff in a soothing motion as she picks her next words carefully.
"He's still inside you, Killian. You just have to decide to let him show", Emma says and Killian closes his eyes, resting his forehead against hers and trying to gather the courage to explain why he can't. "Show me the paintings."
"Alright", Killian says and leads her into the vault, the two of them zig-zagging around the canvases until they reach a stack of them leaning against the wall, each one wrapped in a white cloth.
Emma crouches in front of the first one and tugs on the cloth, revealing the painting of the harbor he'd done while he was still in school.
"Do you wanna know what I see?" Emma asks and pulls on his hand to make him kneel next to her, and he can't believe how eager he suddenly is to see his painting through her eyes.
"Yes."
"I see somebody who loves the sea, somebody who has a great eye for color, somebody who had always wanted to have a ship", Emma says and reveals another painting, then another and turns to look at him over her shoulder. "Somebody who prefers early morning to night. Somebody who is passionate and who loves ardently and forever."
"You can see all that in my paintings?" Killian asks her softly and Emma nods, her fingers tangling in his hair when she leans close and kisses his cheek.
"I do. And all that is still true", she tells him, and it's only when he looks down that he realizes that she's holding his fake hand. "You still love the sea and you still prefer morning to night, and I am absolutely sure that you would be able to relearn painting again the way you did drawing."
"You have an awful lot of faith in me, Emma", he says and Emma shrugs, telling him that he had never given her a reason to doubt him. "I will do my best to keep it that way."
"Good", Emma says and they spend a while longer looking at paintings, and when they return to the gallery most of the guests have left, so Regina dismisses him in her usual regal way that makes Emma roll her eyes before she excuses herself to go to the bathroom.
He follows her fifteen minutes later and finds her pretty dress on the floor, his heart sinking because God only knows where she'd gone.
The uneasy feeling returns, but he ignores it, carefully folding the dress and picking up Emma's shoes and underwear before he leaves the gallery through the back door without informing anybody of his departure.
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