"You're here on time."

The way Liam's greeting left his mouth made Killian stop immediately where he stood. He'd barely made it through the office door before his brother spoke.

"Why wouldn't I be here on time?" His eyebrows pull together in a frown. "I haven't been late once as of yet. Anyway, I've always been a punctual person."

Liam moved slowly towards the front of his desk just as Killian began to make his way further into the room. This time, he perched himself right there on the corner of the desk, looking quite interested in his younger brother.

"It's probably because I could not get a hold of you yesterday," he explained with a shrug. "I wasn't sure what exactly was keeping you occupied, or if it would spill over into today."

"It was Sunday." Killian took in a deep breath and ran his hand along his belt buckle. "Everything that you could've possibly needed from me, I made sure that I'd taken care of before the weekend even began."

There was a moment where all Liam did was watch him, before the sudden smile appeared on his face.

"It had nothing to do with the job, Killian." There was a definite hint of amusement in his eyes now. "I was only trying to get in contact with my little brother."

Standing in front of him, Kilian lifted his chin.

"You jumped to that conclusion rather quickly." Liam's voice was a murmur as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Is that what you were used to when you worked with Dad? That every phone call on a weekend evening would be about work that wasn't completed from the week earlier?" This time, he tilted his head just so, his eyes wandering across the front of his brother.

Killian gave one shake of his head. "I didn't say that." Because that wasn't factual. Not entirely.

"I'm not Dad, Killian." He smiled again, his blue stare content. "I'm your brother who has recently gotten you back in my life full-time."

Killian found himself staring right back at him. "Okay." He nodded his head briefly. "Well…"

"You spent the entire day with Emma out on Charles River." The subject had change fairly quick all of a sudden. Liam's eyebrows went up in anticipation of the response, a full smile crossed his face. There was still that playfulness in his eyes.

Killian was slow to shake his head, his brother's statement and the reason behind made him unsure.

"It was the first time since I've been back," he reminded him. "I needed to some real time to unwind."

"Must've been nice not to have a judging eye looking over your shoulder as well, aye, little brother?" Liam muttered quietly.

"You could say that," he muttered back.

Of course, it brought thoughts of his father back to the forefront of his mind. Killian didn't want nor need those thoughts clouding his mind. He was truly in a good place now in his life. His work and his career weren't being put on the backburner so that he could live in the moment filled with extracurricular hobbies. There was a balance and that balance allowed for calmer thoughts and a more rational self. He'd needed that desperately. Boston was everything that he needed it to be. Everything… including Emma.

"I rented a gorgeous vessel for the day," he continued. "And, yes, we did spend the majority of the day on the river."

"Just the two of you?" This time, Liam's feet kicked up in the air as he looked innocently at Killian.

Emma had made a remark similar to that yesterday as well…

"It was just the two of us," Killian answered with a slow nod. He had a feeling of where Liam was going with his conversation. "You know what? Next time, you really should join us." It was an attempt at humor, an attempt at avoiding Liam's statement, as he made his way across to the other side of the room.

"Well, perhaps next time you'll answer your phone, hm? It sometimes feels as if all your free time away from work is spent with Emma." Liam slapped a firm hand down over his knee and he offered him a bright smile. "Sometimes I wonder if you remember that she wasn't the only one you've missed out on seeing for all those years."

Killian watched his brother closely, a smile creeping across his face.

"We must… attempt to repair that injustice, I agree," he told him with a sigh. "What are you doing… well, let's say tonight?"

Liam's fingers gripped at that knee this time, his chin lifting an inch or so in the air.

"I'm supposed to see… Elsa this evening."

"Oh." Killian poked his bottom lip out innocently enough. "Oh. Well…" He found himself smiling again. "It seems to me that whenever I even attempt to make plans with you outside of the office, you have plans with Elsa."

Liam's shy smile crept across his face, catching his bottom lip between his teeth to keep it at a minimum.

"Point taken, Killian," he conceded softly.

"I don't know how she puts up with you, really," Killian murmured, moving back towards his brother. "This dance that you two put on is for what?"

"It's funny that you, of all people, would be asking me that." Liam's eyes connected with his brother's, holding firm. "Talk about putting on a dance." He took in a deep breath as he contemplated his next words. "How long has it been with you two?"

Was he talking about Emma?

"Emma? Emma… and I… We're best friends," he reminded him slowly. "There has never been anything more than that between us. We've never even attempted to…" Bloody hell. Killian shook his head and turned away from Liam, feeling suddenly flustered for reasons unbeknownst to him.

The fact that they'd never fallen out of the friend zone crossed his mind. The fact that they were close in a lot of ways did not transcend into something that went beyond friendship. That included kisses on the cheek, hugs, holding each other, or nights together sharing one bed. That didn't mean that Emma wanted anything different or anything more from him than they'd had all of their lives. It didn't mean that she wanted…

Killian stopped himself from letting his mind slip farther down towards those thoughts about Emma's perception of them. He tried not to let his own mind wander on what his own perception of their relationship was as well.

Emma on the boat was an image he shouldn't have conjured up. Because that thought brought back memories of the scantily bikini-clad body laying out underneath him as they teased, taunted, and tickled each other. It brought up memories of kissing her cheek softly and then her kissing him on the cheek. Kisses that made him wish they weren't so chaste and on the cheek, but lingering on the lips.

Bloody hell!

"Nothing between the two of you at all, huh?" Liam asked suddenly.

His question was a welcomed break from Killian's thoughts, which were beginning to spiral out of control. It should have been, at least….

"If I were you, brother, I would try not to think on her or the situation too hard," Liam added with a smile.

It was probably better to ignore that comment, actually….

Perhaps his feelings for Emma had been growing progressively since the moment he'd seen her. It didn't change the fact that he liked their relationship the way that it was. And so did Emma.

"I think we all know the truth," Killian finally voiced to his brother. "And that's all that matters."


Emma picked up on the fourth ring.

"Killian, hey." Even in those two words, she sounded….

"Hello, love," Killian murmured into the receiver, twisting his body around in his office chair.

"Um...what's up?"

Did she sound… hm... distracted? Perhaps.

"You're probably still busy with work," Killian realized. He pulled the phone away from his ear to glance quickly at the clock. Yes, he pressed the phone back to his ear, she possibly was in the middle of something at the moment.

Emma offered up a small laugh from her end. "Well, August is in the office, so what does that tell you?"

The sudden playfulness in her voice made him smile. The effortlessness of it put him, once again, at ease.

"Well, I will leave you to it," he murmured again. "But first I wanted to see what you were feeling up to doing tonight. If you wanted to stay in or perhaps you wanted to go out and-"

"Killian?" She cut him off with a soft question of his name.

"What?" He smiled to himself. "You have an idea already?"

"Mm…" Then he was right. There had been something off in the way she responded to their conversation. "I'm not going to be able to… get together tonight."

"Oh, okay." Killian took in a deep breath. "You've already made plans then." They'd spent nearly every evening together since he'd moved back. "The girls? Mary Margaret and Ruby are tired of me and have convinced you to get together for the evening?"

Emma didn't answer immediately. There was still somewhat of a hesitation from her end. One that was noticeable even from his end.

"Actually." She paused again, and Killian could hear the soft sigh. "Well, it's Ruby. She... "Another significant pause.

Killian felt the instinctive tilt of his head and the pull of his eyebrows as he waited for her to say… something.

"She knows this guy," Emma finally continued, disinterest lacing her voice. "Someone who she thinks that I should meet because we might hit it off. So…"

He wanted to see her face because he didn't know how to read the information she was giving him. There was a cross of disinterest as well as hesitation going on. Her attempt to brush off the whole thing as being nothing at all.

"You have a date," Killian finally said, the words leaving his mouth clearly as he let the idea ruminate in his mind. The frown increased, deepening in the creases of his forehead.

Emma laughed that soft little laugh again. "Yes, a date."

She hadn't…

"I think I hit an unexpected dry spell, which has only prolonged itself since you came back," she told him, almost teasingly. "So when Ruby said that she knew of this great guy, I didn't have a good reason why to pass up on it."

"A...blind… first date," Killian said, the words sounding stilted even to himself. He tried to let her words sink in. He tried to let the idea resonate fully with him. "On a Monday night."

"Hey, are you trying to be my dad and convince me that I shouldn't be out late on a school night?" she teased again, her soft voice just a whisper in his ear.

Killian blinked his eyes over and over. "Of course not," he assured her, letting his thoughts continue to run free. "Of course not." It was just that...

"Good," she whispered.

The line went quiet after that. Killian's own thoughts turned curious. She'd surprised him, that was all. The questions were beginning to fire in his mind, but they all boiled down to one thing. Best friend status didn't lend itself to putting other aspects of life on hold. Of course… of course she had a date.

Of course…

"Oh. Killian. Killian?'

Emma's soft voice in his ear called him back to the present moment.

"I'm going to have to get back to work… before August has a coronary or something," she continued, a smile easily detected in her voice.

It was harder to smile this time. There was a part of him that very much needed to see her face, to look into her eyes as she spoke to him. Instead, he closed his own eyes and tilted his head, and let his imagination conjure up the woman for him. Which may not have been a good thing because he saw something that made him all the more unsure.

"Okay, Emma," he finally told her. "I have to get back to work myself."

"I'll… talk to you later." He thought he heard a small sigh from her end. "I'll call you, Killian."

There was something that he was missing, something that he was supposed to be able to read from over the line. He just wasn't sure what that was supposed to be.

"Until then," he murmured softly. "Goodbye."

"Bye."

Emma disconnected the call first, leaving Killian to pull the phone away from his ear. He gripped at it firmly in his hand as he tried not to dissect his past interaction with his best friend.

She had a date. She was dating.

Killian took in a deep breath, his chest heaving in the process. She'd always dated. Always. Except… since he'd moved back to Boston. Her friends had already accused him of claiming all of her free time. Maybe that was so.

Of course she had a date…

It was his conversation with Liam that happened earlier that day that came to mind just then. It was the fact that Emma was his best friend that entered his mind, trying to kick out whatever other feelings that were simmering deep inside of him.

It was defined as friendship. So why was his mind running wild with questions? There was time to feel… a mixture of feelings in the moment. Still, there were other things that he could be doing. So, for now, he would just accept Emma at face value. He would move on from what she had just shared.


The idea of renting a small boat and hitting the river was a very tempting thought. Killian wasn't sure what exactly was holding him back from acting on the thought. He'd been out of his own numerous times. That was usually his preferred state, actually. But tonight wasn't feeling like one of those nights. Instead, he dropped the bag of fast food down on the bed and soon followed with his body. The night was only going to include Netflix and semi-unhealthy dinner. And that was it. Unless….

Emma hadn't said what time her date would begin. She didn't say what their date would entail. It was entirely possible that it would end rather early and she would come…

Killian shook his head, trying to clear the thoughts that were trying to form. It wasn't a good thing to think about Emma and her date. Not if they were just thoughts on how she would end up with him, because that wasn't going to happen.

He'd been really good at not letting his thoughts go thinking that they could be anything more than what they were. And what they were was best friends. As an eighteen-year-old kid, he had been more successful at keeping his feelings at bay. That couldn't be the case anymore. Their friendship and parameters of their friendship had already been set. It would be disastrous to let himself continue to think of her as something more.

Sometimes… he wanted more.

Bloody hell!

Emma didn't want more. She'd never looked at him as anything more than a friend when they were in school together. Her love for him over the years had been different from anything Killian had ever experienced, but it was that best friend kind of love. So he had let go of those thoughts as well. At least, he had thought he'd let them go. Being with her again was proving something altogether different.

That didn't change the way Emma felt about him though. It didn't.

His mobile- his cell phone- began to buzz from beside him. Picking it up, he slipped his thumb over it so that he could open Emma's message.

Be honest. How do I look?

How did she look? It was utter bullocks, the way she had dressed up for her blind date. She looked bloody gorgeous.

The selfie she'd sent him showed off the carefully made up face, pink lips pouting at him and blonde hair flowing down her back. The black leather dress, although he couldn't see the entire thing, hinted to being on the shorter side. Tight-fitting, for damn sure.

Killian caught himself smiling at that picture.

.

You look beautiful, Emma.

Have fun.

I plan on it.

I'll let you know how everything goes. Cross your fingers for me.

I'm looking forward to it.

No you're not. But thanks anyway.

Talk to you later.

Until later.

.

Killian found himself looking back at the picture that she had sent to him. Perhaps he should cross his fingers for her. Except…. there was something running deep inside of him. Something that… just wouldn't let him muster up that sentiment.