13

It had been over a month now that Storybrooke was Elsa-free. Some thought she had taken off and some said that she'd died. Emma knew that none of these wonderful thoughts made any sense. When she first met her, she tried to kill her but failed, luckily. Did it have to do with Emma's magic? Or did she show mercy at last? There was no point whatsoever in trying to figure that out but that moment when she started to explain her past, almost sobbing about how she'd kill her sister, she saw a little hope in her. A weak spot. What was a far less amusing thought was that the weak spot was way less weak when her heart was frozen, which Emma still thought was a bit an overreacting. She turned and twisted in bed. On the left she'd throw her leg out of the side and let her body cool off, and when she turned to the right she usually hugged Killian for a bit, just so she wouldn't feel alone anymore. But he wasn't there, again. For over the past week, Killian left almost every morning, midday and evening. Where he was leaving, or why was what Emma's eyes kept open. She really didn't mind him leaving for a bit to hang out at the Inn or walk along the beach side but she felt that this time he wasn't doing any of that. He snook out of bed and when she asked where he was going he coolly said 'Nowhere, don't worry 'bout it.' . He also left her at home a lot and when he returned from his 'trip' he'd look awful and tired. One time she even heard him sob next to her in the middle of the night and when she wanted to comfort him, he moved away to the other side of the bed, like she'd hurt him.

Apart from the side that there was obviously something wrong with her boyfriend she was having a lovely time in the town. Belle had forgiven Rumple after having a huge fight about the fact that he'd switched the daggers. So now she went happily with Belle to the diner where Regina and Robin were happy to welcome her every day, unlike Killian whom she sometimes spotted at the bar completely sinking away in thoughts –and rum -. She had also visited Aurora's Shop often. She would buy herself the most beautiful clothes and together with Snow and Ruby she'd show them at dinner. Without Killian. Every time. He hadn't even looked interested when she bought the new red and black lingerie and showed them to him in the evening, he had simply nodded and turned his back to go to sleep. She really started to worry he was seeing someone else, which at the beginning seemed to be something he'd never do but after the horrible and lonely week, it was the most likely thing. What she still couldn't explain was the box he always took with him. It was a small wooden box that Emma couldn't even look at without him snapping at her. And she was determined to find out what was in it.

She sauntered to the kitchen and made her and Henry some French-toast. "Henry is at least here every day" she thought to herself when she happily put one on his plate, which immediately disappeared into his mouth.

"What are we doing today, mom?" The smile on his face brightened.

"Actually, I'm going to go on my own today, kid. I have some... unfinished business with … someone."

"You finally going after Killian?" Emma looked up from her toast.

"How do you always know that stuff, you're ten!"

"I've heard him taking off in the morning and I thought you might be interested in where he was going. Which you obviously always are."

"I am not stalking my boyfriend through information of my own son, absolutely not!" Henry didn't say anything; he just waited for her to finish her sentence. She couldn't resist that. "But you could, like, tell me where he was going because I am your mother and I have the right to know that, young man!" Henry rolled his eyes at her motherly tone.

"He went to the well."

Emma didn't ask more and rushed to the coat-stand to get her coat. She ran out and stopped in mid-run, turning her head to her son slowly.

"Wait a sec, how do you even know that?"

"Grace told me. She was playing outside when she saw him pass. She called me this morning on the intercom." He blushed a little at that. "Oh and mom, can you drop me off at her place? She asked me to make a snowman with her outside!" His face sparkled with pride and he also took his coat and appeared in front of his mother. Without even answering she let Henry follow her outside and got in the car. She was quite happy when she dropped Henry off and saw little Grace rushing towards him, Jefferson stood in front of the window and was smiling at the joyful pair running in the snow. Emma was actually happy to see him not worrying like that; the repeating robberies in his house frightened both him and Grace, but he obviously didn't let it get to him.

She parked her car at Jefferson's and walked the rest of the way to the well alone, so she could easily sneak up on him without being seen. She already thought this was a ridiculous action of hers, the typical jealous girlfriend who always thought he had someone else. And she didn't want to be another one of those because –apart from the last week- Killian had never done such things and Emma would've never thought she should be doubting him. Noone would give up his ship to get a girl and then leaving her without a reason, and especially Killian wouldn't. Maybe that's why she was actually doing this, because there was something else going on. Something involving going outside everyday with a little mysterious wooden box.

When she finally reached the well whose rope was stuck in place because the water on the bottom was deeply frozen, she saw nobody. No Killian, no other woman and no wooden box. She didn't understand. Why would he be going to the well in the first place? And if he ran into the forest towards the well, but wasn't anywhere near it, where else could he be? Did he cross the town lines? He could, of course, because the curse didn't take him. But why in hell would he do that? She decided to turn around and forget it. It had been a stupid idea in the first place. But suddenly she noticed something. Something the snow showed her clearly; there were footsteps. Several large feet had walked up here and stopped at the well. But that wasn't what drew Emma's attention. Other footsteps had just appeared out of nowhere, like they had fallen from the sky without coming from somewhere. Heels. The feet weren't far apart from eachother, actually, they were a few centimeters apart. Just when she wanted to follow the small path of the heels, feet appeared in front of her. Large, black shoes stood in the snow and a cold Killian was attached to them.

"Swan, what are you doing?" He sounded angry.

Emma got up to her feet and looked into Killian's eyes. Suddenly she didn't feel so sure about him cheating on her.

"D- Doing some research. Jefferson's got r-robbed again last…night." The last bit seemed not to come over convincing.

"Don't lie to me." He just answered, very cold.

"Then you shouldn't lie to me!" She screamed louder than she intended to "You just take off everyday, leaving me all alone with Henry. And you don't even show up at work anymore. Smee called me a couple of times, wondering where you were and how you were, you've been acting weird lately and I'm not liking it, Killian. I thought the problems were over now that Elsa disappeared, but you decide to just be an ass and treat everyone like crap!"

"Look, Emma, I really don't have time for this. Why don't you ju-"

"Oh, great, now you want to leave again? Well, fine, and make sure you never come back! And before you go, I have the right to know something…" The tears in her eyes froze when the cold breeze blew her hair over her shoulder. Killian just stood there, motionless, gazing at what Emma had to say. But something was wrong, he seemed to almost cry and his fists clenched, while he was just coldly staring her in the eyes, as if something was holding him back on telling the truth. Emma looked down at the box he was holding and stepped closer to Killian.

"What. Is. In. The. Box." Killian stayed quiet and put. His fists trembled and as if he was fighting himself, he opened it slowly. It was a piece of clothing. Blue and almost transparent but surely a women's. His hand gently took the cloth out of the box and hid it in his vest. Then he held out the box over the well and dropped it in there, with his eyes still fixated on Emma. And then he just turned around and walked off deeper into the forest, leaving Emma with even more questions then before. And leaving her lonelier than she ever had been. Furious as she was, she shouted something at him.

"I trusted you! You asshole!"

Killian stopped in the middle of nowhere and turned around. His fists were tightly clenched again and his expression was pure sadness.

"Emma, I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry." And he walked away until Emma couldn't see him anymore and was left alone. Alone in a white forest.

The next day was lonely. She didn't feel like seeing anyone. Not Ruby, not Aurora and surely not Killian. After having the worst night sleep she had had in years, she drowned herself in her work. She told David to took a day off and also did his tasks. She didn't mind. It got her thoughts off of Killian for a while, and got them onto the robberies at Jefferson's and the water complaints. She just signed the complaints and sent Leroy and his friends to fix it. But the robberies at Jefferson's were what kept her working. She had read the files over and over again, wondering who'd it had been. And why it was Jefferson again. The weirdest –and freakiest- part of all was that it weren't just ordinary robberies. They happened day and night, at random moments; sometimes when Jefferson had gone to the Inn and sometimes even when he was home. But he never saw someone creeping in and stealing everything. But what scared her the most was what got stolen. It weren't jewelries or money. It started with his hat and continued with everything that Grace possessed. From clothing to some of her stuffed animals. Emma let her head fall into her hands and sighed deeply. How could it have changed from rainbows and sunshine to daylight robberies and losing her boyfriend? She read through all the files a couple of times but gave up and went home. Henry was staying a Regina's so she had the house to her own which she thought was a good thing since she just wanted to watch sad movies and eat ice-cream all evening.

She opened the front door of her place and threw her coat over the stand. She turned around the corner and stood with her eyes wide open. It was Killian. He had a look of regret in his eyes and walked over to her. He placed a soft kiss on her cheek and sighed.

"I'm so, so sorry. I won't leave you again." She threw her arms around him, happy to feel his touch again.

"Promise?" She asked.

"Promise." He answered.

xin chào ! I'm in Vietnam at the moment, enjoying my holidays. But I was too thrilled to write again and instead of laying at the pool all day or getting pricked by mosquito's, I wrote. My vacation is going wonderful! I drove a quad and fed monkeys (who are now officially my bff's) and I made a habit of reading Harry Potter on the beach :) Your reviews are reeeaaaalllyyy kind and I want to answer to a few anons 'cause I can't really reply :)

First of all to the 'guest' who somehow loves my music taste (weird to hear that since nobody had told me that before but i love to hear that) : I am going to watch Classic Who, don't worry :) And I kinda wanna hug you and listen to music with you on the 23rd so we can watch the new DW together !

Then to the 'guest' Jessica: I kinda explained what's in the box in this chapter so if you didn't understand = It's Elsa's cape which Killian remembered from the time they 'spend time' together. What is the secret behind it and why he's carrying it, will be explained later :3

And then to everyone I forgot or didn't leave a review but still likes my story: I LOVE ALL OF YOU PLEASE COME VISIT ME IN BELGIUM SO I CAN HUG THE CRAP OUT OF YOU !

Hope you kinda liked the chapter (and sooooo sorry about all of the then/than mistakes and all of the other misspellings i made, I just type faster than a Nimbus Two Thousand and One flies so yeah... Be happy my keyboard doesn't catch fire while I'm writing!) and feel free to unleash hell on earth in the reviews or be nice and make my day ^-^

âm nhạc (music) : Fix You by Coldplay, Summertime Sadness by Lana Del Ray (dunno why just stuck in my head :p ) and a weird one: After Ever After by Paint (it's a Youtube Channel but the song is hilarious and kinda fits with the fairytale stuff)

I'm going to tan at the beach and probably return as red as a lobster now.

x