A/N: We are approaching the end and a new season of Once Upon A Time. Thank you everyone who has been reading this story. Only one more chapter left (barring any need for an epilogue). This story has been a labor of love. Huge thank you's go to Aimeeloren, my beta, for doing such a wonderful job. And to Stephanie (Just4FunVids925 on YouTube) for the wonderful video that inspired this story and letting me use it to create this fiction. Both of you have been a wonderful support team.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, as they belong to the franchise of Once Upon A Time.
Chapter 34 – And She Will Be Loved, And She Will Be Loved:
After knocking on the door multiple times, Emma was becoming pissed. She didn't come here to be ignored, especially when she knew for damn sure that he was in there. "Don't make me break into your apartment, Neal."
The door swung open and an annoyed Neal faced her dressed in ratty jeans and a t-shirt, grimacing. "Damn it, Emma. What do you want?"
Emma stormed past him into the apartment. She went straight into his living room and threw the folders she had been carrying on top of his discarded Ipad. "You're going to help me fix this mess between your father and Killian."
Neal gave her a sideways look as he followed her in. He waved at her folders. "What's that?"
Shaking her head, Emma pointed to the couch. "No. You don't get to talk. Not yet. Sit. This is going to take a while."
With a sigh, Neal reluctantly complied. Emma began to pace as Neal sat there with his hands tangled in front of him. "Look, I know you," she told him. "You and I, we were never meant for the long haul. I get that now. Hell, I knew that then." Emma waved behind her. "But, now, I need your help. And you're going to give it to me. You owe me after the way you treated me when we were in a relationship."
Neal gave her a sad smile. "I'm sorry, Emma. I am. I really meant it the other day when I said I'd like for us to try again. I miss you."
Emma humphed and crossed her arms. "You and me? I don't think so." She sat down next to him. "Look, I know I loved you once and, maybe, you loved me once too."
"I do."
Glaring at him, Emma continued. "Stop interrupting. Anyway, I realize what it is like to really be loved and I want that. After the childhood I had, I think I deserve that. I need someone who is willing to put me first and stands by my side while I try to make a life for myself. Killian does that and I hope that I can be there for him as much as he is for me." Emma's face softened and she laid a hand on top of his. "And I want that for you, too. Just so we are clear though, that isn't with me."
Shifting, Emma picked up the folders that sat next to her and handed them to Neal. "Right now, though, I need your help with this."
Neal glanced over the papers, opening and closing the various manila folders. "Where did you get these?"
Emma shook her head. "Doesn't really matter. I have them. I have proof of what your parents did. And these aren't the only copies. They aren't even the originals," Emma somewhat bluffed. She had never had the time to get more copies done as Cora advised, the originals were still in Killian's possession. These were the copies she had made for herself several months ago before she brought the originals to Killian's. "So, will you help me or not?"
Neal glanced up at her. "Do I have a choice?"
She smiled at him and almost felt the need to clap her hands in joy. "Yes, but I'm hoping you'll help me anyway."
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It was after midnight when Emma finally walked through her own front door. Kicking off the heels that she had thought so cute with her outfit earlier this morning, Emma breathed a sigh of relief knowing she wouldn't have to put them back on again.
Tiptoeing to relieve the pain in her arches, Emma approached the kitchen area and saw someone sitting on one the small couch she had in her living room. "Tink! What the hell?"
Tink had turned to face her with a frown marring her features. "Better me than Killian. You remember Killian, right? The man who's so in love with you that called his friend crazy because he told him that you were at Neal's tonight. The very same man that I just assured that he had no reason to doubt your loyalty."
Emma had the grace to blush as she turned on the lights. "It's not what you think."
"I sincerely hope not, for Killian's sake."
"I needed to convince Neal to help me."
Tink rose and glared at her, interrupting Emma's explanation. "Help you what? What's so damn important that you had to go to Neal?"
"Killian. Killian is what's so important," Emma told her. "To save him, and your company, from getting hurt any further from this feud he has with Mr. Gold. To get him, Neal and even Zelena of his back forever."
Tink cocked her hip and gave Emma an assessing look. "What about your other friends? What about Killian's? Me? Ever thought to ask some of us first?"
"Actually, I still need your help," Emma said. "You were next on my list." Emma went to sit on an empty barstool and Tink followed her. "By any chance do you have any experience keeping narcissistic assholes from getting into trouble?"
Tink rolled her eyes and laughed as she sat next to Emma. "You do remember I work with Killian Jones, right?" Tink waved a hand almost as if dismissing what Emma was about to say. "Yeah, that was before you came back. Then there's the whole love makes you blind thing. Never mind. What do you need me to do?"
"Well…" Emma laid out her plans with Neal to Tink. The two eventually curled up on Emma's couch as the conversation spread long into the night. Between the two of them, they came up with a new and improvised plan of attack. Emma quickly learned Tink was a true strategist and someone you definitely wanted on your side.
Eventually, the two fell into an exhausted sleep somewhere after dawn. Emma's lips tilted to the side in a sleepy smile as her eyes drifted closed. The whole damn crazy scheme she concocted might actually work.
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Killian awoke the next morning wondering where Emma was. She hadn't come back to his house to see him or to even exchange cars as he expected her to do. He'd left several messages on her cell and house phones. Never once has she called back. The last knowledge he had of her was when she texted that she had gotten back to Storybrooke and she was going to pop into work.
When David had called last night to ask Killian and Emma over to dinner, Killian had been surprised. Not by the invitation, as David and Mary-Margaret were always trying to convince him to come over for dinner more often, but by the conversation that followed. And, oh, what a conversation that had been.
"Hey, man, what's up?" David asked when Killian had answered his phone.
"Grabbing some dinner, waiting on Emma. What's going on with you and Mary-Margaret?" Killian took a swig from his bottle of Guinness, regretting it the second David spoke next.
"Are you and Emma still together? I thought she might have dumped you for Neal again," David said with some confusion lacing his voice.
Killian's eyes watered as he choked on the rich brew. "Why… Why would you think that, mate?"
"Shit, man. Sorry." Killian guessed that David could hear him choking over the phone line, causing his apology. "Mary-Margaret and I were heading home earlier and we saw her out on Neal's porch before she headed inside with him. She did look upset but we figured she almost always wore that expression whenever the two of them were together."
"Together? Seriously? That the word you are going to use for them?" Killian could even tell his voice rose an octave at the jealousy that rang out through his voice.
David's own voiced still sounded naively confused. "What other word should I have used?"
"Never mind, mate." Killian took a deep breath to try to calm himself down. "It's not important." Killian placed his opened beer back in the fridge. No sense trying to drink any more at the moment. It was a waste of good ale to keep choking or spitting it out. "When was this?"
"About a half hour ago. I'm sure it's no big deal, now that I know that there is nothing going on between them." Killian really hoped Dave was right but before he could say as much, David continued, "Mary-Margaret was hoping that the two of you could come over for dinner this Saturday. I know its late knowledge and you might have other plans but she told me to ask. And I thought to check to make sure all was okay between you and Emma before I did."
Killian slumped against his fridge and ran a hand through his hair. "I'm sure we're fine. No, we are fine. I'm sure she had a good reason to be at Neal's and she just hasn't had a chance to tell me yet. She'll let me know when she gets home."
"Home, huh?" David teased. "Yours or hers? Or are we talking about the same place now? Maybe things are going better between the two of you than Mary-Margaret and I thought."
"Keep your yap shut, mate. We're working it all out. I won't have you mucking it all up." Killian pushed himself off the fridge and sat at the table in front of his cooled dinner. "I still need to eat. I'll call you tomorrow about Saturday."
"Sounds good. Talk to you then."
"Bye, mate. Send Mary-Margaret my love."
"Not going to happen," Dave said with a laugh. "Can't have you turning my wife's head."
Killian doubted that. Mary-Margaret was very much in love with her husband and, frankly, Killian was having enough trouble with Emma if even part of the rumors that Dave was spreading was true. "I have enough going on with Emma. I don't need your wife too."
"You better believe it." With that David ended the call.
Killian had reheated his food in the microwave and struggled to eat the steak and baked potato. It might as well have been hardtack, as tasteless and dry as it tasted. Finishing it off, he began to pace as each minute passed with no word from Emma. Images of her and Neal kept haunting him. Emma wouldn't go back to Neal. She wouldn't, would she? The little green monster of jealousy rested on Killian's shoulders taunting him.
Needing to think of something, anything, else, Killian picked up his cell phone and called Tink. He tried to pretend the call was work related but Tink had known him too long.
"What's this call really about?" She asked after only a minute of Killian's BS. He heard a car start in the background and Killian wondered where exactly Tink was.
"Did I interrupt something with my call?"
"Only a really bad blind date. I was welcome for the excuse to leave. Stop stalling," she admonished with a huff. "What's going on?"
Killian let out a long breath. The last thing he wanted was to admit to any problems between him and Emma to Tink. She had dragged his arse up too many times already. "Nothing. Nothing's wrong. Just wanted to check in with you one last time about the…"
"Killian Jones, don't you dare even try to lie to me." Her voice came out as cross as an elderly school teacher who had been disappointed by her star student. "It's Emma, isn't it? What did you do now?"
"I didn't do a bloody thing," Killian growled. He slammed his hand down on the kitchen table that he found himself once again sitting at.
"Okay. What did Emma do then?"
"David said he saw her at Neal's. I doubt she'd go there without some good reason."
"But you're worried she's there because she still has feelings for him," Tink interrupted. "Oh, Killian. That woman has been in love with you for years. You are such a stupid bastard if you think she would run off with Neal now that she has you. She knows you love her. I truly doubt that Emma would have much to do with Neal after all he did to her."
Killian let out a slight chuckle that he really didn't feel. "When did you and Emma become such good mates that you are defending her?"
"Don't know that we are, but we understand each other. At least as far as you are concerned."
He would have asked her to elaborate if his doorbell hadn't rung. "Someone's at the door, Tink. I need to go. It is probably Emma."
"I'm sure it is," Tink agreed. "Goodnight, Killian."
It hadn't been Emma. Apparently a delivery company had been working late because a box rested on his doorstep. Bringing it inside, Killian carefully opened the small package only to discover a coat inside. A naval coat to be exact. Liam's naval coat to be even more precise. The one that he was supposed to have been buried in.
Killian rushed back to his front door, his brother's coat tightly clenched in his hand. No one was there or even on the road. After he returned to the box, he realized it had no return address. If that wasn't enough, it only had Killian's name written in black ink on the top. Frustrated, he almost threw the coat across his living room. Stopping short, Killian tugged it to his chest and buried his nose in the heavy cotton. It still smelled of Liam. His aftershave lingered, barely, but it was still there after all these years. The coat must have been preserved somehow.
He ran his fingers over the jacket before he folded it back up, placing it inside the box. Killian knew he would have to find out how the hell someone had gotten his brother's jacket off the dead man's back.
Thinking of the coat dragged Killian back to the present. Leveraging himself out of his bed after nearly being lost in memories for almost an hour, Killian wondered if he should call Emma once more. He was worried about her. But after a moment's hesitation, he disregarded the thought. He called her so many times already. He'd give her space until she was ready to call him back, no matter how much it bothered him to do so.
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Emma wished she could call Killian and tell him what was going on. Fumbling with her phone, Emma opened a picture of him that she'd taken a week ago when he had been playing his guitar.
"Stop mooning over Killian Jones or we are going to be late," Tink scolded. "Last thing we need is Neal to back out now."
"Right," Emma agreed shoving her phone back in her pocket. "Here we go."
Emma raised her hand and knocked on Neal's door. He didn't answer that time, nor the three other times she banged repeatedly on the oak panel. "Damn you, Neal."
Reaching inside her coat, Emma extracted the tools she needed to pick Neal's lock. Tink gave her a strange look but Emma just smiled and shrugged. "Private detective."
As soon as the tumblers clicked into place, Emma opened Neal's door with a flourish. Making a mocking bow, Emma said to Tink, "After you."
"Great. I get the first shot at him. I promised Killian earlier when I told him I wasn't coming in today that I'd do him a favor in return. This can be it," Tink grumbled as she stepped into Neal's apartment.
Emma followed and flicked on the overhead lights. Neal could be seen spread out on his couch snoring, still in the clothes he had been in the night before. A bottle of scotch that was nearly empty sat on his coffee table with a glass that had looked like it had seen better days.
"Figures," Emma mumbled. Walking over to him, Emma kicked the bottom of the couch. "Wake up, Sleeping Beauty."
"At least you think I'm beautiful," Neal grumbled as he rubbed his hands over his stubbled face.
"It's a figure of speech, asshole." Emma glared down at the man she once thought she loved and grimaced. What the hell had she seen in him?
He grinned up at her, irritating her more. "You know you still love me."
Emma rolled her eyes and considered kicking the man while he was still down. "You wish." Looking up, Emma noticed Tink staring hard at Neal, her mouth hanging ajar. "Tink, everything okay?"
"Bae? Is that really you?"
Neal sat up straighter as he realized Tink was in the room with them. His eyes travelled over her form, before he once more rubbed his eyes. This time it seemed it was more in disbelief than from tiredness. "I go by Neal now. That whole damn nickname thing people started adopting kinda threw things off," he joked. "But, yeah, I've been Neal for a while now."
"Bae?" Emma asked, her eyes going from Neal to Tink before they settled back on Neal.
The man turned toward her giving her a knowing grin, before he looked back at Tink with a conspiratorial wink. "Told her she loved me. She even calls me bae."
Emma propped her hands on her hips, pursing her lips. She had had enough. She kicked out at Neal's shin.
"Ow!" Neal grabbed his leg and glared at her. "What the hell was that for?"
"You're not my bae. Unless you mean a piece of shit. Now why the hell would someone call you Bae?"
His cheeks stained red, as he continued to rub his leg. Emma was slightly shocked as she had never seen the man blush in all the time she'd known him.
"It's short for Baelfire," Tink spoke up.
"Baelfire?" Emma asked incredulously. "Seriously? Someone named you that?"
Neal shrugged as he rose and stretched. "When I turned eighteen I changed my name to Neal." He glanced over at Tink. "I kept Baelfire as my middle name though. Anyway, Emma, that what the B stands for that you always asked about when you forged my name."
Emma was confused. "You told me it was for Barney."
Tink started to break out in laughter. "Barney? Oh my God. That's almost as bad as Baelfire. You couldn't think of anything better?"
"Shut up, Tink," Neal growled at her as he pulled on a hooded sweatshirt he grabbed from the chair where it had lain. "It was the only B name I could think of at the time."
"Anytime, Bae," Tink shot back at him with a cheeky wink.
"How the hell do you two even know each other anyway?" Emma asked.
"We were neighbors for a short time," Tink told her. "He lived with his mom at the time, but she was never home so I never met her. I never once realized that Milah was Neal's mom. Hell, why would I? I always knew him as Baelfire anyway. I had the biggest crush on him, but he barely noticed me unless I did something stupid. About a month or so later, he left town and his mom moved away."
"Had to get the hell out of here. Between my mom and dad and their constant fights. Mom had moved us to that house for all of two months before she told me she was ready to move somewhere else for another guy, another adventure. Dad wasn't worried about me. He was already on his path to finding more power and wealth. I doubt either one of them really noticed I had even gone missing until they were fighting over where I was supposed to stay the following month."
Tink glanced down at the small gold watch adorning her wrist. "Well, as much as I might love to sit and catch up, we have somewhere we all need to be."
"Right," Neal agreed. "Let's get this the hell over with."
He led the women out of his apartment locking it behind him. Emma felt a touch of regret about forcing Neal to help her. However she couldn't think about Neal's feelings right now, she had Killian's future, and hers, to consider.
Neal plopped into the backseat of the Bug, while Tink rode shotgun. The ride over to Gold's Antique Shop seemed to take hours instead of five minutes.
Tink's hand came to rest on Emma's arm as she pulled over to park. "You okay?"
Emma gave her a hesitant smile. "I will be."
"Are we going or not? Belle said he'd be in by nine," Neal announced.
"Yeah," Emma said as she turned off the ignition. "Let's do this."
"Neal, you stay with me out front while Emma goes through the back."
Giving Tink a wary look, Neal told them, "I need to unlock the door. My dad would know in an instant if the place was broken into."
"Okay, do that. Let Emma in and then meet me back here." Tink stood there with her hands locked on her hips, brooking no argument to her pronouncement. Tink may be small but she was mighty.
Instead of answering, Neal led Emma around the back by her elbow. "What's going on, Emma? I taught you about distraction so don't tell me you don't know what Tink is attempting to do."
Emma shrugged. "We talked on the way over to your place. We thought it might be best if your father came by he'd see you talking to Tink and it would stall him a little longer while I had a chance to get out."
"Or I could go in with you," Neal said with his condescending attitude, "and I could just tell my dad you came with me while grabbed something from the shop like we agreed to yesterday."
Looking up at him pleadingly, Emma let her hand rest on his chest near his heart. "Please do it this way. I may not be in love with you anymore but I don't want you and your father to argue on my behalf. This is my battle, and I thank you for your help, but if I get caught, I'd rather that it only be me on the other end of your father's wrath."
Neal's eyes searched hers before his shoulders slumped and he nodded. He reached around her and unlocked the door. "Fine. Have it your way. I'll be out front with Tink if you need me."
"Thank you, Neal."
"Yeah. Whatever." With that he turned and headed back toward the front of the shop.
Emma went in and found the chipped teacup easy enough on the counter just as Neal had told her. Underneath was the key to Gold's safe. However, trying to get the damn thing to actually open took some work. It seemed stuck, even when it was unlocked.
"It's like the damn thing is protected by magic or something," Emma mumbled to herself, pulling the door harder. It finally budged knocking Emma to her butt by its sudden release. "About time."
"About time for what, Miss Swan?"
Emma whipped around as she stood and stared at Mr. Gold casually standing in the doorway leading from the back to the shop. As usual, he was impeccably dressed in a suit and tie. His gold handled cane clenched tightly in his hand. To most of the world he might have come off as coolly composed, but Emma knew he tempered his anger under his businessman façade. She was in trouble and the law wasn't even half of her worries because Gold had ways of making people just disappear. Luckily, Neal and Tink knew she was in here.
"Emma, there you are," Neal announced as he walked through the front door. "I was sure that you followed Tink and me out, but…"
Tink popped up from behind him. "But I was pretty sure you had run off to the loo and he accidentally locked you in." Tink bumped Neal with her shoulder. "Told you."
Mr. Gold glanced between the three of them, seeming unconvinced. When his piercing brown eyes landed on Emma, she could feel the small hairs on at the back of her neck stand on end. Crap! How much had he seen before he announced himself?
"And Miss Swan just decided to open my safe for what? A key out?" Mr. Gold asked with a snarky air to his voice.
"No. I left it open, by accident." Belle walked in from the back and circled around Gold. "I asked Neal to meet me here before I headed over to the library and I came back because I was pretty sure I forgot to close it. Plus, if you remember, I do keep a spare key in there. I told her that several years back when she was still dating Neal and when she was locked in, she must have remembered." Belle snuggled up to her husband, going on tiptoe to drop a kiss on his cheek. "I'm sure it's not what you're thinking at all."
Gold's eyes lightened for a second as they landed on his young wife, a genuine smile piercing his face. All that faded quickly though when he turned back to Emma, who couldn't help but fidget under his steady gaze. "I'm sure Mr. Jones' girlfriend's motives were innocent, dearie. Just as I am sure that my son would never betray me." His angry accusatory glare landed squarely on Neal. "Would you, son?"
Neal held out his hands in a pleading type gesture. "Of course, I wouldn't." Neal turned and looked at Emma before turning back to his father. "Not normally, but you and I both know we have some things in which to answer for. And, well, I've already admitted my participation. It's your turn."
"And what exactly are you accusing me of, Baelfire?"
Neal settled himself nimbly atop one of the glass counters that held many of Gold's antiquities. "We both know very well what happened. I think Emma has a right to know. Or should I just produce the evidence against you myself?"
Mr. Gold strolled over to his son and poked the younger man in the chest with his cane. "And what do you gain, dearie, from helping the man who stole not only your mother but Emma as well?"
Neal came down from the counter, brushing his father's cane to the side. "Killian did not steal Mom. You lost her long before he ever came into the picture." Neal jabbed his finger into his father's chest. "You drove her away. She wanted more. She always wanted more. And maybe at the time you couldn't give it to her. Hell, I knew her enough to know she was never going to be happy anywhere or with anyone for too long. You really think she was leaving Killian to come back to you?" Neal let out a sarcastic laugh. "She was playing you as much as you were her. She wouldn't have stayed. My mother had every intention of leaving with Zelena and heading to Europe." Neal glanced over to Emma. "You think I don't know you got those papers from Tamara?"
Emma didn't even have a chance to deny it before Neal continued. "Of course you did. Do you know why she had them? Because she was working for Zelena. After my mother died, she went to work for that witch. Tamara started sharing my mother's secrets with the woman. I had enough and I kicked her out. I wouldn't give her any more ammunition to give to Zelena. So, since Tamara couldn't do anything to me, she decided to enlist you, thinking to get back at me. She stole those files the day I kicked her out of the house. The same day I found her in our bed having sex with someone else."
Emma glanced around. Everyone seemed shocked by Neal's pronouncement. But Belle seemed to be the first one to shake herself out of it. "Rumple? Is that true? Was Milah leaving Killian for you?"
Mr. Gold turned away from his son's angry continence and faced his equally angry wife, a guilty look playing across his face. "Belle, I can explain."
Belle stalked up to her husband, her eyes flashing in their anger. Emma had never seen the petite woman so mad in her life. "You told me that Milah was forced away from you by Killian. I helped you stage her accident when I was only sixteen because I thought you loved me and she and Killian were standing in our way. Did you even love me?" Belle's usually sweet face twisted in rage as her hands fisted at her sides. "Do you even love me now? Or am I just a pawn? Someone who you kept close to keep your dirty little secret?"
Emma knew her mouth hung open at Belle's words. Gold had been the one to kill Milah? And Belle helped? As if sensing Emma's thoughts, Belle turned toward her. "I didn't kill her." Belle pointed in the direction of her husband. "He did. I just helped him cover it up so that everyone thought it was some random drunk driver. I picked up the guy at a local bar and had him drive me to the scene. Rumple knocked the guy out and hit Milah while driving the man's car."
All eyes fell on Gold. But if looks could kill the man would have been skewered alive by the strength of Neal's accusatory gaze. "You killed my mother?" Gold began to open his mouth but Neal held up a hand. "You lying bastard. You killed my mother." Neal's voice strengthened and could slice to the bone with his cutting words. "You know you haven't changed one bit. For a second I thought you might have. I started to think that you were worth my time. I guess I was wrong. Now give me your cane."
"Why?" Gold asked clenching it tighter as Neal held out his hand.
"I don't have to trust you, if I know I can catch you without you fighting back."
Time swirled quickly after Gold handed over the cane. The police arrived after Belle called them. And many questions were asked of everyone there. Through it all, Emma's mind kept drifting to Killian. His feud with Gold was finally over. And Zelena was currently on the other side of the ocean. Life might actually return to some sort of normalcy.
Tink came over and sat next to Emma, who perched on the sidewalk outside of Gold's shop. "You did it."
Emma's eyes flicked over to meet Tink's. "Neal did it. I'll have to thank him."
"Probably," she agreed. "What's your plan now?"
"To let him know it might all finally be over. And to tell him I love him."
Tink grinned at her. "I think that is a great place to start."