Author's note: Officially on summer vacation!

If anybody has been wondering, Emma doesn't recognize Hook from the hospital because she was drugged and half asleep then. Maybe it's not completely realistic, as I don't know much about the affects of pain meds, but that's what I'm going with.

Chapter 21

"Thanks again." Killian said as he hefted several suitcases through the door. "You have no idea how grateful we are to you."

"Like I said before, it's fine." Emma watched as he went back out to the hallway, where a couple more boxes were waiting. "Really."

Just then, Ava came bounding through the door. Emma's heart filled at the sight of the little girl; she hadn't realized how much she'd missed her. "Hey, Ava."

"Emma!" Ava ran over and hugged her around her legs. "Hi!" Clearly, she was on a sugar high. No one could be that perky that early in the morning.

Emma bent down until she was at the toddler's level. "Miss me?"

"Yeah."

"How was your grandparents?"

"Fun. I had cookies and gwape juice and drawed pictures."

"Oh, that does sound fun." Emma straightened upon seeing Killian struggle with the boxes. "Hold on. I'm gonna go help your dad with your stuff." She strode over towards the open door. "Need a hand?"

"Nope." He grunted, although it was obvious he was failing. "I got it."

"Sure." Emma rolled her eyes. Men. She leaned casually against the doorframe, an amused smile tugging on the corners of her mouth as she watched the box tumble to the ground.

"Are you sure you don't need help?"

He casted her an annoyed look. "I'm sure."

"Well your macho act is clearly just that. An act. Because you're failing miserably." She walked over and picked up one end of the box. "I could do this with one hand."

"Sure you could." He quipped, but grabbed the other end.

"What do you got in here?" Emma said as she walked backwards into the apartment. "Rocks?"

"No." He responded before heading back out to grab the last box.

Curious, she flipped open the lid and popped inside. Expecting video games or sports equipment, she was surprised to find it full to the brim of...books?

"Wow." Emma commented. There were all types of leather bound books in there, from classics that she recognized from being forced to read them in various English classes in high school to books she'd never heard of before. Judging from the dilapidated state, these books were constantly read and treasured.

"What?" Came a voice from behind.

"I just...never pegged you for the type."

Killian shot her an amused glance. "And what type would that be, love?"

"The bookish type." Although now that she thought about it, she could totally see Killian at a bookstore, black glasses perched on the end of his nose, cuddled into a leather armchair by a fireplace. It was not a bad image.

"There are lots of things you don't know about me." He replied. "So...where should I put these? I can't imagine you'd want all of my belongings just thrown about in your apartment."

"Oh. Follow me." She led him down the hall and opened a door. "Here. This will be your room. Well, yours and Ava's. You'll have to share, sorry."

"No, this is more than enough." He protested as he peeked into the simple room. There was a bed, a chair, a small dresser, and a desk. Furniture that she'd actually gone out and rented to make her apartment not look so lonely and empty. "It's lovely, thank you."

"Yep. No problem. So what do you guys want for dinner? Pizza, Chinese…?"

Killian chuckled. "Not really the cooking type, I take it."

"Psh. No." She waved that idea away. "Grilled cheese is pretty much it."

"Well, then. Let me make you dinner."

Emma began to protest, but he interrupted. "Really. It'll be my pleasure. Just a token of my thanks for letting us share your apartment."

"Well. Ok then." She smiled. "It'd be nice to eat something that doesn't come in a takeout container."

"Exactly." He followed her into the kitchen where she opened the fridge. It was empty except for a six pack of beer, a pack of some sad looking mushrooms, and bread. "Damn. There's not much to work with."

Emma came up behind him. "Yeah, I know. Are you sure you wouldn't rather order in?"

He shook his head stubbornly."I'm sure. Now go play with Ava."

"Ok. If you say so." She said dubiously, casting him a worried glance before joining Ava in the living room. The little girl was seated on the carpet, her blocks in front of her, her face screwed up in concentration. "Hey. Watcha doing?"

"Building."

"Really? What're you building?"

"Castle."

"Fun. Can I help?"

"Okay." Ava handed her a couple blocks. "You build the roof."

"Sure." Emma followed Ava's lead, placing blocks where the little girl told her to. "So who's the castle for? Princess Ava?" She teased.

Much to her surprise, Ava shook her head. "Nope. It's for Mommy."

Emma froze. This was the first time she'd ever heard Ava mention her mother. "Oh. That's cool."

"Yeah." Ava replied. "When Mommy comes back me and her and Daddy are gonna live in the castle."

When Mommy comes back. That either meant that she was dead or had left her family.

She studied Ava's face; the girl's expression was placid, but Emma could see a familiar expression in her eyes. It was the same haunting expression that Emma saw every time she looked in the mirror.

The familiar undercurrent of abandonment.

Well, there it was. Ava's mother had left. Had abandoned her beautiful little daughter. Not that Emma was surprised; in her world this sort of thing happened all too often. But it didn't make it any less sad.

"I'm sure your Mommy will love it." She said absently.

Soon enough, a delicious aroma began filling the apartment. Emma was shocked; what in the world had Killian managed to cook from some bread and mushrooms? He was becoming more and more appealing. A guy who wasn't just good looking, but an amazing cook judging by the smell and amazing with kids? Damn.

Remember. Just friends. She sternly reminded herself.

"Dinner's ready!" He called not too long later.

"Finally. I'm starving." Emma stood up. "That smells amazing."

"Why thank you." Killian bowed. Yet another point for him. Who bows anymore?

She shook these thoughts out of her head and grabbed a stack of plates from the cabinet. "Am I correct in assuming that you want grape juice, Ava?"

"Duh!" She replied snarkily as she pushed herself up onto the chair. Just like before, her bear was propped up on the table as well.

"Alrighty." Emma laughed as she poured a cup and reached into the fridge for a beer. "Want one?" She offered to Killian. "I don't have any rum, but this is pretty good too." Then she paused. Why would she even think that he'd prefer rum?

He just smirked at her. "That'll be fine. Thank you."

As she set the table, Killian brought over three steaming plates of delicious looking spaghetti. "Wow." She stared, shocked. "How...what…?"

"A simple compliment would suffice." He said as he sat down.

"How did you even find the ingredients to make this?" She gaped. "Did you use magic or something?"

"Funny, but no. All I had to do was dig through your ridiculously messy supplies. And it turned out you had a package of pasta and several cans of sauce."

"You're amazing, you know that?" She said as she took a bite. The amazing flavors exploded on her tongue. She tasted mushrooms; had he really used that nasty looking pack in such a delicious tasting dish?

"So I've been told." He replied. "Cooking's just something that comes...natural to me. Amongst all of my other skills, of course."

She rolled her eyes but took another large bite. "Seriously, this is so good. You're cooking from now on. This whole moving in thing? It's gonna be the best thing that ever happened to my stomach."

As Killian helped cut up Ava's spaghetti, Emma had the weirdest flash of deja vu, something that had been happening more and more often. She felt like she'd had spaghetti with Killian before. And even odder? In Mary Margaret's apartment with Henry.

It was probably just the beer.

"So." Emma said as she settled onto the couch. "You sure have a lot of books." She gestured to the several boxes that still sat in the living room. Boxes that she'd discovered were all filled with books.

He shrugged, sitting down next to her. "Reading has always been one of my most favorite activities."

"Oh yeah?"

Killian nodded. "It's the perfect way to escape. Besides rum, of course."

"I can understand that."

"Really, now?"

"Surprised?" She took a sip of her drink. "When I was a foster kid, one of my favorite places was the library. I spent a lot of time there, avoiding my foster home and reading about far off places in hopes that someday I'd be able to visit. It was one of the things that helped me cope with my depressing living situations." When she looked up, he had a sad expression on his face.

"I'm sorry." He said.

"Yeah, well." Emma muttered darkly. "Just glad that it's over." She tipped back her head and drained the rest of her beer. "I've never told anyone that before."

"I do make an excellent listener."

"Yes, you do." She agreed.

Suddenly, his face seemed too close to hers, and then he was leaning in. If she hadn't turned her head aside his lips would've touched hers.

Emma sighed. "Killian. I'm sorry. I can't."

"Why?" He leaned back, barely disguised disappointment clouding his features.

"I just can't. I'm...not ready for a relationship right now."

Much to her surprise, he nodded. "Alright."

"I'm sorry." She repeated. "Friends?"

"Friends." He agreed.

Emma smiled and pushed herself up off the couch. "Great. I'll be right back, gonna go take a shower." She headed down the hall; as she did so, she could feel the weight of Killian's stare on her back.

What she didn't hear was him muttering to himself, "Friends? I don't think so. I can be quite charming when I want to."

Author's note: So next up on "For the Love of Swan, we will learn more about Hook and his books, via flashback and in present time.

Jenn (Guest): To answer all of your questions, Neal is just floating around in Storybrooke living his life, I realized that I completely forgot about how Emma would notice that the year was different so I'm sorry but just ignore that plot hole, no she doesn't remember the hospital because she was drugged, Dr. Whale is still in Storybrooke, Hook's wearing his prosthetic hand while he's in Boston, if I ever accidentally made it sound like Hook had two hands then I must've missed those errors and I'll go back to fix them. Thanks for pointing out all the inconsistencies.