Author's note:

Writer's block! So annoying. Also exams…

I realise now that what I was doing to separate Killian and Emma's sections wasn't working… I'm not the most intelligent but I'll do a different thing from now on…

Disclaimer: unfortunately not

Dance of hearts beating love

The day of the ball, her welcome home. They finally got her dress finished, and now Claudia is helping her into it, three hours before the bloody ball even starts. Killian is somewhere else in the castle getting ready as well. They said he had to go change somewhere else as if they hadn't been sleeping together the whole time they've been there.

The dress of greens, blues and golds is getting tighter and Emma is fairs sure if it gets any tighter she's not so sure she's gonna be able to breath. God she hates dresses.

"Claudia, ease up a bit will you? I'm already having difficulties breathing" she says to the girl, staring at her reflection.

"A-apologies Princess, m-my mind is elsewhere tonight" she blushes, stammering out the words.

"And where might you're mind be, Claudia?" she giggles "A young man perhaps? The stable boy?"

Emma noticed a while ago that her maid was spending her free hours with the stable boy, Charles. They're the same age – nineteen- and it's really quite adorable that they thought no one would notice.

Claudia's blush deepens and she continues with the laces, avoiding the subject, and Emma laughs at the girls eccentricities, amused by her sudden shyness.

"I'm almost finished….. Done" she exclaims, tying off the laces.

"Perfect, now I can't breathe. God I hate dresses"

A knock sounds at the door and her father walks in, pausing to take in the dress she's wearing.

"You look beautiful Emma… I… can we talk?" he shifts on the spot from one foot to the other.

"Claudia you can leave now. I'm sure you had plans" she says with a wink and a nod. "What is it father?" she asks once the door closes behind Claudia.

"I'm sorry Emma. I… it's just, you've changed so much over the last three years and… knowing some of the things you've done, I've had trouble adjusting" he bows his head and stares at the floor "I don't want to lose you again though. Please forgive me"

"There's nothing to forgive you didn't do anything, it was me and I know I let the anger control me these days… It's not something I'm proud of, but papa I'm the one who needs forgiveness, I let the darkness in" she sighs

"It's okay Emma I forgive you, we all forgive you. I just keep forgetting you were in pain" he sighs and pulls her into a hug, kissing her hair and holding her tight. "I love you Emma"

"I love you too daddy" she bites back a sob, she's definitely not gonna cry.

"Well, I have to get ready for a certain ball eh?" he says lightening the mood "Gotta look like a king now and that's gonna take a while" he winks and disappears through the door.

Once he's gone she sits at her dresser looking into the mirror and staring at her reflection. The golden curls of her hair, the redness of her lips and the blue, green and gold swirls upon her dress and she smiles. Even with impending doom over their shoulders, she lets it go and let's herself be happy.

Was that really necessary. Making him change in a different room. Too late to argue now, he's dressed and waiting at the bottom of the stairs for Emma, his beautiful pirate princess. Killian hasn't seen her in three hours and he would be lying if he said that he wasn't excited.

He saw her draped in the prototype, the early stages of a beautiful dress, and she was irresistible then, what effect is the finished result going to have on him. His heart is racing at the thought of the woman he's fallen for, his beautiful swan, his enchanting siren in an equally stunning dress.

He feels like his whole life has turned into a big pile of shit, like he never had the pain of losing his brother and that he hasn't spent around three hundred years in pain. Just the mere thought of Emma is healing his once aching heart and he is never going to let that go, as long as he has her, he will never be in pain again. But with that comes the fear, that she is the next thing he's going to lose.

"You okay there, Jones?" he's snapped out of his thoughts and looks up to see Emma's father before him. A raised eyebrow and a frown on his face.

"Aye. Of course. I didn't think you cared Dave" he smirks looking up the stairs hoping Emma will show up soon, he really doesn't want an awkward conversation with the King.

He rolls his eyes and looks to the stairs that Snow and Emma will both be walking down. "She seems to care about you" he says in a low voice.

"It's because I was there when no one else would have been. I saved her from herself and I saved her from a monster and you know, falling in love tends to have that effect" he laughs

"A monster?" he says turning back to him with a raised eyebrow in question.

"Aye, sheriff Vanguard. He was most certainly a monster, he killed her crew, her friends, her… well. He hurt her and undoubtedly many others"

"You killed him?" judgmental much

"That surprise you?" he challenges with an eyebrow raised.

He doesn't get the chance to answer because Emma and Snow appear at the top of the stair case. Killian's breath catches when he sees Emma, she looks like an angel and her dress reminds him of the sea at sunset. The gold, the light on the green and blue waves as the sun dips below the horizon, she is beyond beautiful and if it's possible he finds himself falling just a little further for her.

"Hello love" he says as she reaches the bottom step "you look stunning, Swan"

"Thanks" she blushes, the fearsome pirate Emma swan blushes "you look as handsome as ever" she says with a wink, turning to greet her father.

She gives him a hug, then her mother and turns back to Killian, linking her arm with his and they walk to the ball room. It's filling with guests and Emma's parents have moved to the great doors to greet people, so they head over to get themselves a drink.

"It's not rum but it'll do" she says as he passes her a glass of white wine.

"Fond of rum are ya love?" he laughs and sips on his wine

"Yes actually" she grins and sips on her own

His smile fades as he sees the leers and stares from the men nearby and a flare of jealousy burst in his chest.

"I don't think I'm going to leave your side tonight if that's okay with you Swan" he says not looking back at her.

She laughs and he finally looks back seeing a wide smile and a sparkle in her eyes "you're jealous." She giggles "all because some other men are looking at me, that's adorable" she teases.

"I'm not jealous" she raises an eyebrow and smirks "why would I be jealous when you're mine"

"Ooh possessive, I like it" she quips placing her glass down and leaning up to his ear "you keep that up, it'll make tonight very interesting indeed"

"Is that so?" he bites back a groan, his pant suddenly very tight, she took the moment of closeness to touch him and now he's looking forward to the moment she's out of that dress.

She smirks and starts to wander off through the crowd and he follows her close behind.

She wasn't expecting him to be easy to make jealous but now that she knows, she might just have some fun with that. If someone asks her to dance, well… she isn't going to say no.

So far he's followed her throughout the ball, his eyes fixed purely on her, his hand on the small of her back. She wasn't lying when she said she liked his possessiveness, it's going to be the thing that make the ball that much more interesting, not to mention how he's going to act when they're alone in their room.

She's dragged from her thoughts when Graham walks up to her, a smile on his face but a sad look in his eye.

"Emma…" he bows "care to dance" she nods and turns to Killian, a grin of mischief playing on her lips and by the look on Killian's face, he just figured out what she meant by making the evening interesting. She winks at him taking Graham's hand and following him off to the dance floor

They move in time with the music, one hand on her waist the other in her hand and she's staring into her old friend's eyes, seeing something she doesn't want to be seeing.

"I was going to ask you if I could be your escort you know. But each time I was going to ask you were with him" he says giving her a wry smile.

"Graham…"

"It's fine Emma. I understand, it's just not meant to be"

All her thoughts of the night getting interesting are thrown out the window and guilt takes its place. Guilt over the fact she knows he's going to die, the fact that he's going to die knowing she can't love him back. She sees it in his eyes, he loves her and he's going to die without it being returned.

Yep there goes enjoying the evening, but unfortunately she can't leave. This is going to be a very long night…

I'm going to post the next chapter with the rest of the ball tomorrow, it just felt right ending the chapter there. Reviews will be appreciated. And I fixed the OOC Swan/ charming relationship (I have father issues which is the only reason I fucked it up) no matter, I mean what's a story without character development?