A/N: There is a brief, very vague and circumspect, mention of dubious (at best) consent in the second section. This is NOT between Emma and Killian. I set off the potentially sensitive content with +++++ You can still follow the plot if you choose to skip that section.
Emma Swan had always considered herself to be a strong woman. She was tough; a total badass. She didn't take crap from anyone, and anyone who tried to give it to her soon came to regret it. Yep. Emma was strong.
She had just one weakness. Her six-year-old son Henry. She'd do practically anything to put a smile on her kid's face.
Which is why she now found herself standing in front of his kindergarten class wearing a ridiculous pink bunny suit a la "A Christmas Story".
It wouldn't be so bad if it was just Henry's kindergarten classmates in attendance, but no. Of course that couldn't be the case. She'd walked right into her supposed friend, Mary Margaret's trap, and the trap had shut her fluffy white cotton behind inside before she'd even realized what was happening.
Mary Margaret, who, in addition to being her best friend, was also Henry's kindergarten teacher, had approached her about a week ago.
"So, Emma, I'm planning to have an Easter party for the class on the last day before spring break," Mary Margaret had said casually. Way too casually.
"Sounds like fun," Emma said absently as she rifled through the mail she'd just grabbed from her mailbox. Mostly junk mail and bills. Fantastic.
"It will be!" Mary Margaret said excitedly, "but I don't want it to just be my Easter party for the kids."
In retrospect, Emma knew she should have caught the scheming way her friend said that last sentence. If she wasn't still preoccupied with the skip that had gotten away today she probably would have. Instead she did the last thing she ever should have done. She asked Mary Margaret what she meant.
"You see," Mary Margaret said, "kids that age love it when their parents help out around the classroom. I thought it would be fun to have some of the parents come in and help throw the party. I thought maybe you could come and join in the festivities."
"Yeah mom!" Henry said, nearly jumping up and down in his enthusiasm. "You should do it! It would be so much fun!"
It was the rapt look on Henry's face that did her in. She did the last thing anyone should ever do. She agreed to the favor without asking what it would be.
This morning she'd dutifully showed up at Mary Margaret's classroom at 7:30, just after dropping Henry off at his accustomed before-school care. Mary Margaret had been waiting for her with the pink monstrosity she now wore.
She'd balked, of course; any self-respecting person would have, but Mary Margaret had promptly dialed up the master manipulator skills to about a hundred. "Come on, Emma! What's an Easter party without the Easter Bunny! Think about how disappointed the kids will be if the Bunny doesn't show up? Think how disappointed Henry will be!"
Mary Margaret didn't play fair. She didn't play fair at all.
Emma sighed, taking hold of the bunny suit. "Fine. You got a bathroom or something I could change in?"
Mary Margaret had pointed her in the direction of the little bathroom for the kids near the classroom door.
It was only when Emma re-emerged that she realized just how badly Mary Margaret had out-flanked her. Mary Margaret was not alone. She'd been joined by three other parents-Ashley Boyd, Alex's mom, Michael TIllman, Ava and Nicholas's dad, and worst of all Killian Jones, Alice's dad.
If there was any justice in the world, a rabbit hole would open up at her feet and swallow her whole.
It was suddenly abundantly clear just what Mary Margaret's game was.
Three months ago, not long after the New Year, Mary Margaret had set her up on a blind date with Killian Jones, a single father from Henry's class.
"I think you two will hit it off perfectly!" Mary Margaret had said. "After all, you already have one thing to talk about right off the bat-your kids! Also-and don't tell David I said this-it doesn't hurt that Killian Jones is one of the handsomest men I've ever seen."
Emma had been more than a little skeptical, but she'd decided to humor her best friend. After all, she knew from experience that when Mary Margaret got an idea in her head she was like a dog with a bone.
She'd dutifully gone on the date. It had started well enough. (And Emma had to admit, if only to herself, that Mary Margaret had been right about Killian. The man was hot.) But in the end...well, she'd kind of freaked out, and things had gone beyond sideways by the end of the date. She'd stormed off, telling him their date (and by extension any possibility of a repeat date) was at an end.
Mary Margaret had been disappointed when she heard of the debacle that had been their blind date, but she'd been undeterred.
"Emma, that wall of yours, it may keep out pain," she'd said, "but it also may keep out love. Trust me, love is worth it."
But it wasn't. Emma knew that full well. Neal Freaking Cassidy may not have done much for her-other than give her her kid, that is-but he had taught her that lesson and taught it well. Love wasn't worth the pain that came when it all went to hell.
"Look," Emma had said, "I know you are just trying to help me. I know you and David are ridiculously happy and you want that for me and everything, but with Killian….it's just not gonna happen, okay?"
Mary Margaret was silent for a moment and then she asked softly. "What exactly happened on that date? Did he try to do something to you?"
"No!" Emma said, "nothing like that! He was the perfect gentleman-maybe a bit of a spicy gentleman, but a gentleman. It's just-never mind. It didn't work, okay? Can we drop it?"
For a moment, Emma had been afraid Mary Margaret would refuse, but in the end she''d nodded, agreeing to drop the subject.
Emma had been naive enough to believe her best friend really had dropped it. The moment she stepped out of the kindergarten bathroom dressed in the worst bunny suit in the history of bunny suits and her eyes met Killian's, she knew she was wrong.
Mary Margaret hadn't given up the campaign. She'd only switched from a direct assault to a sneak attack.
"There she is!" Mary Margaret said with a huge grin. "Our own Easter Bunny, Emma Cottontail herself."
She was going to murder her EX-best friend. Slowly.
"I must say," Killian said with a big, teasing grin, "there aren't many who could pull off such an ensemble, but you, Love, have done it."
He punctuated his sentence with a ridiculous waggle of his eyebrows.
"Shut up," she said. "You'd be singing a different tune if you were the one Mary Margaret wanted to pull this off."
His grin turned sinful. "Trust me, darling, after the party, when we're away from little eyes, I'd be more than happy to pull it off for you."
Despite herself, Emma felt her face flame. She wasn't some stupid schoolgirl. No way should a cheesy line like that make her feel the need to fan herself.
There was a quick cough from Michael TIllman, and suddenly Emma realized she and Killian were essentially flirting outrageously in front of not only Mary Margaret, but also a couple more parents.
If she survived the embarrassment that was this day it was going to be an Easter miracle. She refused to look at Mary Margaret. She had no desire to see the huge, delighted grin she knew her friend was donning.
"Shall we get started?" Mary Margaret said after a moment. "We've only got about twenty minutes before the kids start filterning in, so we need to make our preparations quickly."
"Sounds good to me," Ashley said. "Where do you want me to set up the cookie station?"
"Over there in the snack area," Mary Margaret said, "and Mr. Tillman, how about you set up your Easter basket making station over there in arts and crafts. Now Miss Swan and Mr. Jones…"
The calculating look was back in Mary Margaret's eyes. This could bode nothing good for Emma. Nothing good at all.
"Aye?" Killian asked.
"Perhaps you'd like to meet in the cafeteria," she said, an extra special gleam in her eyes. "It'll give you plenty of privacy and space to work through your song and routine...or anything else you need to work through."
Here comes Emma Cottontail
Hopping down the bunny trail
Hippity, hoppity Easter's on its way.
There'll be jelly beans for Henry
Colored eggs for Alex too.
Peeps for Nicholas and Ava
And for Alice a bunny will do.
Emma hated to admit it, but it was pretty clever. She hated to admit it even more, but Killian's voice and the way he strummed his guitar-even when singing a children's song-did things to her.
"Yeah, I guess that'll work," she finally said after he finished singing and looked up at her expectantly. "But that's only five kids. What we gonna do for the others?"
"That's what additional verses are for, love," he said with a wink that messed with her insides.
"So what? We have to come up with new and creative verses for all twenty kids in class?"
He shrugged. "Not necessarily. Children this age love repetition and they love being singled out and acknowledged. I know my Alice will be positively over the moon with our display. Simply repeating the verse but substituting each child's name should suffice."
She felt her heart turn over at the obvious love and joy he displayed when talking about his daughter, and before she could think better of it, she voiced her thoughts. "You're a really good dad, Killian."
He positively beamed at her praise. "It's a simple task when you have a lass as special as my little starfish. It's been only she and I for as long as she's been alive, and I wouldn't trade that time with her for anything."
In spite of herself, Emma found herself curious about Alice's mother, what had led to Killian becoming a single dad, but it wasn't exactly a question one just blurted out. Besides, she thought, feeling uncomfortable, her thoughts and questions were veering dangerously close to caring about Killian and what he thought and she didn't want that.
"So you sing," she said, clearing her throat and returning to the business at hand, "but what do I do, besides stand here and look stupid?"
His grin turned teasing. "You are, after all a bunny," he said. "Perhaps you should hop as I sing. And a shake of that fluffy tale every now and then would not be amiss."
She rolled her eyes, feeling the oddest impulse to laugh at his nonsense. She hated to admit it, but spending time with Killian Jones was almost fun.
"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" She asked.
He tucked his chin and gave her a positively sinful look from beneath hooded lids. "You have no idea." His voice had gone all low and gravely, and her heart stuttered-actually stuttered-before beginning to race.
This day was becoming more dangerous than she could have ever imagined.
"At any rate," Killian said, seeming to sense her discomfort and returning to a more business-like tone, "we know Miss Blanchard has a little Easter basket for each child. Perhaps the song would be the ideal time to pass them out."
They spent the next quarter of an hour working out the remainder of the details, and then things got awkward and quiet. There was really nothing for them to do but wait for Mary Margaret to bring the kids in for the remainder of their Easter party.
"So-" Emma said, drawing out the word and searching for something more to say, something that wouldn't make an already awkward situation even worse.
Killian apparently didn't have the same concerns. He headed directly for the gigantic elephant in the room.
He took a deep breath and slowly let it out and then turned deliberately to face her. "What happened, Swan? What went wrong?"
"What?" she asked, heart beginning to pound again, hoping against hope they weren't about to talk about what she was afraid they were about to talk about.
"With our date," he said dashing all hopes she had of avoidance. "I thought it was going quite well, and then suddenly-it wasn't."
Emma glanced aside, feeling the pit in her stomach grow and widen. How could she possibly explain without coming across as some kind of idiot or coward? "It-was," she finally said.
"Then why did you leave so abruptly and definitively?" He asked.
For long moments she was silent, but if she'd hoped he'd get the hint and drop it, she was disappointed. He simply sat in silence waiting for her. Part of her wanted to lash out, tell him it was none of his damned business, but another part of her, the fair-minded part, knew she at least owed him an explanation.
"Because," she said softly, "we almost kissed."
"Would that have been a bad thing?" he asked gently, turning his head to meet her eyes. "Did you not wish to kiss me? Surely you know I wouldn't press you for anything you weren't comfortable giving."
Gods, she was making a mess of this.
"I did want to kiss you!" she said vehemently, "and that was the problem, Killian. Look, I've never had trouble finding-companionship-when I want it, but it's always, I don't know, impersonal, if that makes any sense. No feelings, just scratching an itch. But with you-I suddenly realized I liked you. I enjoyed our date, and a kiss, well it might lead to something-and I'm not talking about the physical stuff it might lead to. I'm talking relationship and commitment and all that stuff. I just...I guess I got scared."
"Why did the possibility of a relationship with me scare you, love?" he asked softly.
"Because I've done the relationship thing before!" she said. "Henry's dad was a real piece of work. Left me before he even knew I was pregnant. It was bad enough when it was just me, but now I've got Henry to think about, and if I brought a new man into his life and things went sideways...I don't know. I just got scared."
For long moments he simply looked at her, his eyes tender, and then he turned, rested his arms on his legs and stared sightlessly out at the tables of the cafeteria. "Did I ever tell you what happened with Alice's mum?"
She didn't know what she'd expected his response to be, but this certainly wasn't it. "No," she said, "what happened?"
"Eloise Gardener was obsessed with me," he said slowly, almost dispassionately. "I didn't share her regard, but that didn't stop her. One night she managed to get me so drunk I barely knew my own name and then she took advantage of my inebriated state. The next morning, I was disgusted with the whole situation, and let her know in no uncertain terms that that night would not ever be repeated, but she had one more trick up her sleeve. She conceived Alice that night, hoping having a child together would bind me to her. When I made it clear that I would do everything I could to be a good father to Alice, but that there was no possibility of a relationship between Eloise and myself, she did the unthinkable."
Emma wasn't sure she wanted to hear what could be worse than what he'd already told her, and yet she couldn't look away. "What was that?" she asked.
"She abandoned her," he said, voice going hard. "Simply left our newborn daughter at my doorstep and walked away."
"Killian-" she said, tears in her eyes for the raw agony she saw in his, "I'm so sorry."
He turned then to look at her. "I don't tell you all this to garner your sympathy," he said, "but simply to let you know that you are not alone. I know what it is to endure a bad relationship-not that you could truly use that word for what Eloise and I had-and I neither wish to go through the experience again nor subject anyone else to it."
"So...you don't want to have a relationship with me either?" she asked. It surprised her how much the thought stung, which made no sense, of course. Shouldn't she be happy their feelings were aligned?.
He shook his head. "That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that I can't know if a relationship between the two of us would last. No one could know that. What I do know is that I would never ever lie to you. I would never manipulate you, and I know what it is to love a child and wish to shield that child from pain. Saving Henry and Alice from any negative fallout would be my top priority should we attempt a relationship and decide it didn't work."
There was only sincerity in his eyes, no tricks, no guile. He meant every word he said with every fiber of his being. "Are you saying you want us to date, like for real?" she asked, shocked at how much the idea was beginning to appeal to her.
"That hour we spent together on our blind date was one of the best hours I've had in years," he said simply, reaching out to take her hand. "You and I, we understand each other, Swan. I think this could be the start of something beautiful, something that will last if we each have the courage to trust in each other. So Emma, what do you say?"
She was silent for a long moment, debating with herself, and then she suddenly surged forward, crashing into him, taking his lips with her own.
"Ew!" came twenty little voices, as Mary Margaret had apparently picked that very moment to bring her class in for the party.
Her matchmaking skills might be on point, but her timing was deplorable.
Emma pulled away from Killian, keeping her hand in his. She should feel embarrassment at being caught like this, but she simply felt too good for anything like embarrassment to break through. Smile draping her whole face, she got to her feet and faced the children.
"Who's ready to meet the Easter Bunny?"
Notes:
-Happy Good Friday! I can't remember if I've ever written an Easter fic or not-for this collection or anything else, but this idea came to me last week, and it just wouldn't leave, so here you go. Fluffy Fridays updates two weeks in a row!
-Up next: I'm not sure yet. What would you like to read? Canon divergence? Fix it fic? Au?