Emma had another long day on the set. Another day when she planned to go home, do some more stress baking, have a glass of wine and sit in her house looking out over the city. Alone.

What was the point of having a house if it wasn't a home? What was the point of having a place you couldn't share with someone else? Hell, what was the point of baking cookies and brownies if you had to eat them alone?

Killian had left her place in a huff more than a week ago and hadn't talked to her since. It made her furious. How could he stand there in her house and accuse her of having a real relationship with Neal? It was insane. Unlike everyone else, he knew it was fake and he was still angry. And about what? A stupid dinner?

But a few days ago, she'd cooled off enough to go back and look at the pictures.

Killian was right.

Emma and Neal really did sell that dinner for the photographer. He really did hold her hand. She really did brush her fingers on his cheek. Emma did feel emotion for Neal. He was her friend and his own heart was broken in such a catastrophic way that she was faking a relationship just to help him fix his reputation and save their show.

Should Killian have trusted her? Of course. But did he have a right to be mad? Yes.

Because the things Killian wanted — the romantic dinners in public and the ability to be open about their relationship. She wanted those things too. She wanted to tell Elsa what was going on. She wanted to go out to dinner somewhere and have Killian hold her hand.

She wanted all of it to be open. No more hiding, no more lies. She just didn't know how to do that, at least not yet.

What made it worse is she hadn't talked to Killian since that night he'd come barging in her front door when they fought. For more than a week, no texts, no calls, nothing. Even the emails that were sent from the Jones brothers to coordinate plans with Emma and Neal were sent by Liam. Nothing came from Killian anymore.

Emma dragged herself back to the line of trailers in the parking lot of the studio, wondering what the hell she was supposed to do about all of it. Regina said they had to fake it for a few more weeks until the season premiere. Neal said he would be at her place tonight like he was every Friday night — and he was going to bring bagels. Again.

"Hey, Emma!"

She turned to see Neal walking towards her in that crazy pink suit wardrobe gave him for their '80s episode.

"Did you see the email from Liam?"

She sighed. "No, I haven't had a chance to check yet. What now?"

Neal gave her a surprised look that made her realize she probably sounded more bitchy than she intended. "Uh, he wanted to come over tonight to go over a plan for the next two weeks. You know, to build up to the premiere."

"What time?"

"Seven."

Emma nodded. "OK, so are you coming over then?"

"I'll get there a little before that if it's OK."

She quickly answered with a "No problem, see you then," before heading into her trailer.

She knew Neal meant well and wasn't trying to be a jerk. He was just relaying a message from Liam. But she also knew she was going to have to use every acting trick in the book to get through the meeting tonight. This was frustrating, so frustrating, and all she wanted was to be near Killian so he could help her make this all go away. All the tension, all the pain, all the frustration and anger. She needed Killian, and she couldn't have him.

Instead, she drove home alone to her empty house and changed into a pair of black yoga pants and a long sweatshirt with Misthaven's logo on it. There were at least a few perks to working on a popular television show.

Neal showed up around 6:30 with an overnight bag and bagels in hand. He was looking more depressed than when Emma had left him on the lot a few hours earlier.

"You OK?" she asked.

"Huh?" He looked up at her as if she had pulled him out of some deep thought. "Yeah, yeah. It's nothing, I'm fine." He gave her an awkward smile and walked into the house. "Do you have anything to drink? Like maybe a beer?"

"A beer?" she asked. "I actually do have beer. And brownies. Come on in."

He followed her into the kitchen and she cracked open two beers for them. Then she picked up the plate of brownies she made last night as part of her stress baking over the whole thing with Killian. They both sat down at her kitchen counter and began to drink.

"You know, I haven't had one of these since Comic Con," he told her. "I always got worried someone who see me buying a beer and start asking about my non-existent rehab. All because I got a little too drunk one night and it went viral."

"If they only knew what had really happened."

"If only." Neal took another long sip from his bottle. "Do you ever wish we could get out of this fake relationship thing?"

"I mean, sometimes," she said. "But I'm doing this for the show, and I know it's made a difference in helping your image, right?"

Neal nodded and looked awkwardly down at his bottle. "Yeah, I just… I don't know. Nevermind."

"No, not nevermind. You just what?"

"I saw Tamara tonight on my way over. I went to my usual bagel place and she was there. Alone." He took a deep breath and looked up at her. "I googled her. She broke up with her boyfriend a few weeks after Comic Con."

"Oh," Emma said. "Well, that's good, right?"

Neal shrugged and stared down at the counter. "I have a girlfriend."

"Right."

"Not that I don't like being your boyfriend."

"Oh no, I get it," Emma replied. "I'm not offended. Believe me."

She gave him a small laugh and he smiled back at her.

"Besides, isn't there someone you would want to be with?" he asked.

"Me? I mean—"

The doorbell rang and they both looked up from the kitchen counter.

"I guess it's show time." Neal looked glumly down at his beer before downing the rest of the bottle. "Where can I toss this? Don't want them thinking I could end up drunk in the gutter again."

"Recycle bin is under the sink," she said, handing him her empty bottle.

Emma left Neal in the kitchen to clean up their drinks while she went to answer the door. Liam was the first one there to greet her with a warm smile.

"Hey, Emma!" He leaned over and gave her a peck on the cheek. "Sorry for the late notice, but we were able to finalize some plans and figured it would be easier to just go over all of it in person."

"Also, I brought food from La Cabana." Elsa followed Liam into the house with two take-out bags. She leaned towards Emma and smiled. "I got your favorite enchiladas."

"Thanks."

And then there was Killian. He walked in with barely a "hey," in Emma's direction before closing the door behind him and stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Hi," Emma replied quietly.

She didn't expect seeing Killian again would hurt this much. The way he brushed her off as if she was nobody important to him really stung. Now she knew how he felt when he saw those photos of her and Neal. She got it. She just hoped it wasn't too late for them to fix it.

Neal came out and greeted them with generic pleasantries as Elsa put the take-out on Emma's dining room table.

"Emma said you liked fish tacos so I grabbed an order of those for you." Elsa pulled a silver foiled container out of the bag. "Hope that's OK."

"Yeah, it's good."

Neal gave Elsa an awkward smile and sat down at the table with his food. Everyone else followed his lead, grabbing their containers while Emma went into the kitchen for forks and knives. They exchanged pleasant conversation and small talk over dinner without anyone going too overboard. It wasn't bad enough that they had to stray into "So what about the weather?" territory, but there was a lot of Hollywood talk. The latest movie productions or what Neal did this past summer during the hiatus. Elsa talked about the new shows she was assigned to cover for the network's public relations office. ("I have a feeling at least one of them won't give me too much trouble since they'll probably get canceled after five episodes.") Liam mentioned his past week's Sunday brunch with Killian at a new restaurant in West Hollywood. Killian played along, filling in his brother's story with little details from that morning.

He seemed to be in good spirits, or at least hiding his anger for Emma well now that they were all sitting down together. It was easy for him to play off his brother's story or make a joke about Elsa's work. But he barely acknowledged Emma's existence and she wasn't sure if that was better or worse than when he yelled at her. At least yelling would tell her how he was feeling.

After dinner, they threw their take-out containers in the trash, grabbed a few of Emma's brownies and headed into her living room to go over the upcoming plan with the Jones brothers. Liam pulled out some papers that he passed out to everyone and started talking about what he had arranged for the next few weeks. Emma noticed that Killian was very quiet sitting next to his brother despite the fact that he probably planned most of what was on the itinerary. Another movie premiere. A charity event for a local homeless shelter.

The big event was coming up in two weeks. The network had decided to go all out and plan a huge premiere for the start of the new season. There would be a red carpet and a party with food and an open bar. Everyone was expected to attend to watch the first episode of the season.

But as Elsa and Liam ran through the plans, Emma noticed that Killian was staring down at the paper in his hands, practically crumpling it from the force he was using to hold it.

She noticed someone else's hand was getting tighter as well. Neal had taken her hand in his when they sat down next to each other on her couch, leaning over the paper on her coffee table together, looking like a real couple. But he had also gone silent, his gaze fixed on the page as his hand pulled tighter on hers.

Elsa was in the middle of some logistical crap about limousines when she first heard it.

"I can't do this."

It was quiet, barely above a whisper. For a moment, she even wondered if she had heard anything at all or if it was some voice in her head. But then Neal's grip got tighter and she heard it again.

"I can't do this."

She looked over and saw Neal staring at the page, his foot bouncing nervously. She instinctively put a hand on his knee to calm him down.

"You OK?" she said quietly.

He shook his head. "I'm sorry, Emma."

"Sorry for what?" she asked.

"Is there something wrong?"

Both of them looked up to see Liam staring at them with concern on his face. In fact, Emma noticed all of them were staring at her and Neal with concern — even Killian.

"Yeah, there is."

Emma could feel her body go stiff. She had been able to play off of Neal pretty well since this all began. Sure, it was strange sometimes and totally off the cuff, but they had managed to sell this fake relationship. This time though, Neal's change in attitude was worrying Emma because she had no idea what he was doing or how she would have to act in response. He was going off script and she wasn't prepared.

"Neal?"

He turned to her with the most sincere look she had seen from him since this whole thing began after Comic Con. He gave her a defeated shrug and turned back to their audience.

"Our relationship is fake."

The room went completely quiet as everyone stared at him. Emma's hand went limp and she let it fall out of Neal's grasp, too surprised herself to try and reach for it again. Even Killian seemed to be shocked.

Liam shook his head a bit and finally seemed to find his voice, but it wasn't in his usually confident tone.

"I… I don't understand," he stammered.

"It's fake. All of it," Neal said, waving his hand in the air. "The movie premieres and the dinners and the stupid paparazzi photos. It's all fake. It was Regina's idea to help rehab my image. Emma just went along with it because she's a good friend and a good person who was concerned about me and our show."

He looked over at her, giving her a genuine smile, and she finally broke out of her own shock to give him a warm look in return.

"Emma, I'm sorry," he said. "For all of this, but especially for having you clean up my mess."

"It was the right thing to do," she said.

"Of course you would say that," he said with a slight laugh. Then he put his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes. "You were the best fake girlfriend a man could ask for, and I'm so lucky to have a friend willing to help me like that. But I have somewhere else I want to be right now."

She gave him a tight smile. "I know."

He leaned over and gave her a small kiss on her forehead. Then he stood up and did the same for Elsa, who leaned into him and gave him a supportive smile as he looked down at her. Then he offering his hand to Liam.

"I really appreciate what you did for me, but it's time I stop living a lie."

Liam still seemed to be in a bit of shock as he took Neal's hand. "Yeah, sure. Go and we'll uh… figure out the rest."

"Thanks."

He walked over to the other Jones brother and shook his hand as well, quietly saying "Great work, Killian," before making his way out the door.

Killian sat down and put his elbows on his knees, leaning over with his head down. Unlike Liam, who still seemed to be shaken, Killian seemed to be pulling himself together. A little. Because even though he knew that her relationship with Neal was fake, she suspected he didn't think it was going to all fall apart like this. And frankly, she didn't expect it either.

The house seemed quiet and calm despite the bomb that Neal had just blown up in the middle of her living room. It was a good thing though, helping her clear the fuzziness out of her brain. All of these weeks of faking it, of worrying about a wrong step, of sneaking around. All of that was just gone.

"So uh…" Liam cleared his throat and turned to Emma. "Is there anything else you want to tell us?"

Emma looked at him, wondering what exactly she could say. How did she put all of this into her own words? She could think of only one way, only one fact. And if Neal could speak his truth, so could she.

"I'm in love with your brother."

Liam's jaw went slack. She was pretty sure she broke his brain. All this confessing may have finally pushed him too far.

"My brother?" he asked. "You mean Killian?"

He gestured towards the other Jones who also had the same shocked look on his face.

"Do you have any other brothers?" Emma asked.

Liam's eyes went wide as if he was expecting another crazy revelation to completely knock him senseless. Emma gave him a exasperated sigh.

"Yes, I mean Killian. I'm in love with your brother, Killian."

Elsa let out a little squeal of delight as Killian ducked his head, trying to hide the emotion on his face while Liam stared at him.

"Emma?" Liam asked. "The purse at your place, was that Emma's?"

"Aye."

"Oh! Was it the brown Michael Kors purse?" Elsa asked.

"Yeah," she said.

"You can fit so many bottles of wine in that thing. I'm so envious."

"Elsa?"

She straightened up at the sound of her name from Liam's lips.

"Sorry, but it really is a great purse."

"It was at my brother's apartment!"

Elsa made another squeeing sound in approval as Liam put his head into his hands.

"I'm so confused," he mumbled through the hands over his face. Then he pulled them down his cheeks and just stared at Emma. "That's…it's just…"

He looked to his brother, whose smile was small but so radiant. Then he turned to Emma, and she realized she probably had the same look on her face. Liam sighed and slowly started picking up the papers on the coffee table.

"We should probably head out and rework this plan or blow it up or whatever."

He sounded so dejected, like he was about to toss all of that in a fire and drink a bottle of whiskey as he watched it burn.

Elsa bounced up from her seat and bounded over to give Emma a huge hug. "We'll have to take the brothers on a double date sometime."

"The brothers?"

Her friend just smiled before turning to grab her purse and head for the door. Liam and Killian stood off to the side, quietly talking until Liam put his hand on his brother's shoulder and walked away.

"We'll discuss all this later, Emma," Liam said.

"Sure," she said. "I'm sorry we messed up all your plans."

"Don't be." He gave her a tight smile. "We can handle this. I mean, this is definitely the first time we've had to deal with a case like this, but we can handle it."

"Thank you."

He gave her a small nod, then opened the door for Elsa as the two of them headed out.

Emma turned to find it was just her and Killian, alone, in her house. She stood there for a moment, trying to figure out how to start this or who should start this or just what she needed to do next.

"Emma, I—"

"Nope, I get to talk first."

Killian's face became more serious, but there was still a bit of openness there, encouraging her to go on. He gave her a small nod to continue.

"I looked at the pictures again," she said quietly. "You were right. They did look romantic, and I realized that's because I was thinking of you. Neal told me he was got drunk that night because he couldn't be with the person he wanted to be with. And as I sat with him at dinner, I realized that I wasn't with the person I wanted to be with, and I wished I could have changed that."

Killian ducked his head and she walked over so she could be closer to him. Not so close that she was invading his personal space but close enough that she could really see the blue in his eyes even if he wasn't looking directly at her.

"I'm sorry I didn't say that to you. And I'm sorry I didn't fight for you more. I should have done that because I really am in love with you."

He stared at her without moving, as if he trying to decide what to do next, the silence stretching out between them.

Then his lips were on hers. Warm but determined and exactly what she had to have at that moment. She needed him and she needed to be with him again. The past week was torturous. Really, any of the time she was apart from him since their night together at Comic Con was torturous.

She didn't have to do that anymore. She was where she wanted to be again, in his arms, feeling him close to her. This is where she belonged.

He finally pulled away and looked at her.

"I'm sorry I fought with you," he said. "I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions like that. I was just jealous even though I knew what was really going on."

"You were jealous?" she asked teasingly.

He rolled his eyes. "Yes, I was jealous," he replied. "I didn't like seeing you in photos like that with another man, especially when I wished it was me there with you."

"I wished it was you there with me too." She stood up on her toes and gave him a gentle kiss. "And I'm sorry I didn't try harder to get you back and make you stay."

He gave her a mischievous smile. "Perhaps there's a way we can make it up to each other?"

"Perhaps." She tentatively pulled herself up and wrapped her arms around his neck. He didn't pull back, which she took as a good sign. "I don't think you've seen much of my house yet, have you? Do you want to go on a tour?"

"Would that tour include your bedroom?" he asked teasingly.

"Maybe."

He smiled and then leaned down to kiss her again. "Then let's start there."