Emma and Ariel were packing the princess' bags in silence.
When they were finished, Emma said, "Well, that's everything."
She hadn't given Ariel the details about what had happened with Killian, but based on Emma's quiet mood, the queen could tell it hadn't gone well.
Ariel then quietly said, "I'm sorry things didn't go as you had hoped with Lieutenant Jones, Emma."
"It's alright. Killian's reaction didn't exactly surprise me," Emma began – after she thought for a moment, she continued, "But he still doesn't really know how deep my feelings for him actually are," as she sighed and sat on the bed.
After a moment, Ariel spoke up, "Which is why you can't give up," as she sat down beside Emma.
Emma faced her godmother as she said, "I'm not giving up. I just…don't know what to do next." Ariel smiled at Emma before she got up to leave the room as she said, "Well, I know you'll figure it out. You just have to have hope." Emma only smiled in response.
When Ariel was gone, Emma went over to the vanity and grabbed the letter from her parents. It contained instructions from the Blue Fairy about how to draw the enchantment from the lake to make the trip home. To Emma's relief, the Blue Fairy had anticipated the fact that the princess wouldn't have time to perform the necessary spell the morning of the trip back. So, the fairy also included a guide for Emma to retain enough magic in the pendant for the voyage back to Misthaven as well as the night before the journey. Emma folded the letter and held it tightly in her hand as she walked through the door and down the stairs to make her way to the lake.
As Emma traipsed through the forest, she thought of all of the times she and Killian had walked through these trees. So much had happened between them in the past month and a half. She was still trying to wrap her head around it – despite the fact that she got next to zero sleep the night before thinking about just that. When she stopped to focus on the reason she had come out here in the first place, she realized she was at the lake.
She walked over to the pair of rocks that sat at the edge of the lake in order to perform the necessary spell. She unfolded the paper in her hand, and focused on the words on the page – ingraining them in her memory. When she was ready, she placed her hands out in front of her, and focused on the task ahead of her – which was difficult to say the least. However, Emma managed to clear her head of distractions and recited the spell.
She watched as the pendant – the one she had tossed in the water her first night here – rose from beneath the crystal clear lake and became engulfed with a white light. The lake itself was glowing with the enchantment. Once the light and the glow had faded, Emma was able to transport the necklace the short distance into her hand. She then slipped the crystal around her neck. As she raised her head back up, she caught sight of the field of wildflowers between the trees.
Yet, Emma's mind didn't have a chance to wander to Killian before she felt drops of rain. Within minutes, she was caught in a downpour.
"Really?" Emma said as she covered her head with the hood that was on her cloak. She decided to wait out the storm in a cave that she knew about that was in the woods to the right of the lake.
Before she could even make it out of the clearing, though, she heard a familiar male voice calling her name. She turned to see Killian walking toward her. The princess, however, didn't give him chance to talk as she said, "Let's get out of this rain."
The lieutenant nodded as he followed her toward the cave. When they arrived and walked inside the cave – which was a bit smaller than Emma had remembered – she asked, "Were you looking for me?" as she turned to face Killian.
"Aye, love. I came to retrieve your bags for the journey back tomorrow – we're leaving first thing, and I knew I needed to ask you first," he answered.
It wasn't that Emma didn't want to see him, but it seemed a bit unnecessary for him to walk all the way out here, so she said, "You could have just cleared it with Ariel."
"She and King Eric had an errand to run and weren't available at the castle," Killian explained.
"You could have left a note," Emma pointed out. She sensed there was more to his coming out here when he began scratching behind his ear.
He sighed as he admitted, "The truth is that I actually wanted to see you, Emma."
"Why?" Emma asked.
"I wanted to apologize," Killian replied.
"What on earth does he have to apologize for?" Emma thought, but she simply asked, "For what, Killian?"
"I didn't handle things the best yesterday, and I just kind of stormed off. I'm sorry for that," Killian told her.
Emma began, "It's alright, Killian. I understand why you did," before a smile erupted on her face as she continued, "Besides, it's not exactly the first time you've done that."
Killian smiled sheepishly as he said, "I suppose you're right, love. I guess it's a bit of a habit." After a moment of silence, he returned her teasing, "Just like I seem to always find myself soaking wet when you're around."
Emma couldn't help but laugh before she said, "Well, I am part swan. So, it kind of comes with the territory."
It was then that they both started laughing. Once they stopped, Killian said, "This storm should pass over soon."
Emma gave him a confused expression as she asked, "How would you know that?"
"I've spent more than my fair share on a ship, love. I'm in the navy, and before that, I was a pirate. One of the first things I learned was how to watch the sky in order to navigate a vessel," Killian explained.
Emma nodded as a response before she questioned, "Did Liam or Milah teach you that?" – not fully realizing what she said.
It was Killian this time with the confused expression as he asked, "How do you know about Milah? I never told you."
Emma's eyes widened at his question – she expected him to be angry, but he instead just gazed at her with a question in his eyes.
"Oh, um… Liam told me," Emma began, but she knew he would need more explanation, so she continued, "He basically went overprotective brother on me after you left."
Killian sighed as he said, "I was afraid of that."
Emma didn't respond immediately – while Liam's disapproval got to her, she really wasn't surprised. And she could see where he was coming from, which is why she replied, "It's really okay. He's only trying to protect you." She then reached out and squeezed his hand.
Emma expected him to let go, but he didn't as he asked, "What did he say? About Milah, I mean."
"That she left you in jail to take the fall for both of your crimes," Emma answered.
Killian let out a breath as he said, "Yeah, we had stolen some jewels and gold from a merchant ship that had made port during the night and had gotten caught. Someone had to pay for it, and it wasn't going to be her."
Emma had known part of this, but there was something that didn't quite make sense: "Where was the rest of the crew?"
"Milah hadn't planned on pillaging and plundering that night, so she told them they could go to the tavern," Killian answered.
At first, Emma was confused, but then it dawned on her, "Wait. Was she the captain?"
"Aye, that she was," Killian answered.
Emma only nodded in response. She then considered her words before she said, "At the risk of repeating myself, she shouldn't have left you in there to take all the blame – I still don't think you deserved it."
"Thank you, Emma. For being so understanding."
"Of course, Killian. Now I can truly see why you walked away after you kissed me," Emma said – and immediately wished she hadn't. She seemed to be in a habit of thinking before she spoke today. She let go of Killian's hand, and buried her face in both of hers.
To her surprise, she felt Killian's hands rest on her arms as an encouragement for her to look up. When she did, he told her, "It's alright, Emma. You didn't say anything wrong. I know I can't keep pretending that kiss didn't mean anything. I walked away because I was scared… and I still am. I just need to figure out my feelings, and I'm sure you do, as well, love."
While Emma smiled back at him for the hope he had given her, she was still at a loss. Her feelings were figured out. In fact, just gazing into those blue eyes that were full of trust and seeing his smile - as well as having him open up about Milah - made her fall in love with him even more. Before she could even manage to reply, he noticed the rain had stopped.
"Perhaps I could escort you back to the castle and get your bags, love," he told her.
Emma offered a smile as she said, "Of course, Killian."
As they walked back in silence, Emma thought about that day they had spent together. Not only had he physically taken a leap down the waterfall, but he had also opened up to her. And just now, he was letting her in even more – he had told her about Milah, and admitted that he felt something for her. While part of her was afraid of pushing him too hard, she believed he deserved to know exactly where she stood. As they arrived at the castle and made their way up the stairs, she tried to calm her rising nerves and made the decision to take her own leap of faith.
When they made it to her room and Killian grabbed her bags, he asked, "Is this everything, Emma?"
She nodded as a response. As he turned to leave, she placed a hand on his arm and said, "Wait, Killian."
As he turned back to face her, he could tell she was nervous.
He placed her bags on the floor as he questioned, "Is everything alright, Emma?"
The princess could see that she was worrying him and tried to reassure him, "Of course it is, Killian," she began as she smiled at him. She then took a deep breath and considered what she should say before she continued, "There's just something I wanted to tell you."
"And what's that, Emma?" he asked.
"Killian, I know that you need time to figure out exactly how you feel about me. And I completely understand that. But I thought that you deserved to know that I already know how I feel about you," Emma said.
She could see a light blush was making its way on his face as he shyly asked, "You do?"
Emma nodded as she admitted, "I haven't been able to fall in love again after Neal. I honestly believed I would never find someone else. That is… until I met you." Emma only thought the lieutenant had been blushing before. As he took a deep breath, Emma expected him to do just about anything other than what he actually did.
He brought those blue eyes up to hers and took her hands in his. As he squeezed them in reassurance, he said, "Be patient, love." He then leaned forward and placed a tender kiss on her cheek before he pulled away and genuinely smiled at her. He then turned away from her as he picked up her bags and headed down the stairs.
As Emma turned and headed toward the bed, she thought about how patience was something she hadn't quite figured out completely. But for Killian, she knew she would happily wait a lifetime. With that in mind, she couldn't fight the ear to ear smile that made its way on her face just as Ariel walked in.
"I just saw Lieutenant Jones leave – I take it things went better this time," the queen said with a knowing smile.
"Yeah, they did," Emma answered.
"That's great, Emma. So, there's hope for your curse, after all," Ariel told her.
Emma only stared at her with a confused expression before she asked, "What does this have to do with my curse?"
Ariel's eyes widened at how oblivious Emma was being before she excitedly pointed out, "Emma, your birthday is a couple weeks away – you and the lieutenant will be able to break the curse." Ariel became increasingly confused when she saw panic rising on Emma's face, so the part mermaid questioned, "Emma? What's wrong?"
Emma buried her face in her hands before she looked up to answer Ariel, "I did tell Killian that I was falling in love with him, and while he admitted that he feels something for me, he still needs time to figure out exactly what that is."
"And you want to give him the time that he needs, even if it means you'll have to face Rumplestiltskin," Ariel supplied.
Emma nodded, and Ariel instantly felt terrible. Emma had been so happy, and now she was stressing over her curse and Rumplestiltskin. Ariel gave her goddaughter a sympathetic look before she gave her a hug. The queen then exited Emma's room and left the princess with her thoughts.
Emma had grown so tired of trying to come up with a way to stop Rumplestiltskin those two weeks after she sent her letter that she eventually quit trying and put her focus elsewhere. The thought of Killian being the one to help break her curse had crossed her mind a few times, but she didn't let herself dwell on it for too long – she didn't want to get her hopes up. And if she was really honest with herself, the thought of having a second chance at true love overwhelmed her. It was for these reasons – as well as how Emma felt when she was with him – that the curse was the farthest thing from her mind when she spent time with Killian.
However, now that she thought about it, there was a real chance that Killian could be the one to break her curse. He was the one she had been waiting for all this time. However, she cared about him way too much to put that kind of pressure on him.
She took a deep breath as she thought about how she was really in the same position she was when she made the decision to come to Seabrooke. The difference was that she had even more reason to break this curse. She had no idea how much her life would change when she met a certain blue eyed, dark haired lieutenant, but now she would do everything she could to make sure she wouldn't lose him.