Another Sunday, another chapter! Thank you to everyone who commented, left a kudos or read the previous chapters! Also huge thanks to my beta thejollyroger-write for correcting my mistakes!

Chapter 7: It Wasn't a Good Idea

"What? Leo… is dead?" she repeated, and it was as if the temperature in the room had dropped several degrees.

Suddenly, David's behavior made sense, too. He wasn't angry at Killian, but at the moment, he made the perfect outlet for David to vent his fury. Leo was one of his best friends and… Mary Margaret? Oh, God.

As Killian slowly rose from the floor, Emma jumped out of bed. She needed to find Mary Margaret as soon as possible.

"Swan, where are you going?" Killian watched her with bewildered eyes, but before he could follow her, David stopped him.

"Don't you dare touch her!"

"Alright, then you guide her back to bed before she collapses again and splits her skull on the tile, mate!" Killian halted his steps, his hands clasped stubbornly in front of his chest, and stared expectantly at David.

Meanwhile, Emma successfully reached the door. She didn't mind that David didn't come after her, she felt much better now. Who knew a little water would do wonders.

"Why do you even care? Don't you have better things to do than play nurse? You should have taken care of her—"

"You know, Dave, Emma is a lot more mature than you are. Even a first-grader has more sense of responsibility than you do. And I care, because if I didn't, I would have to deal with your whining if something happened to her!"

Their voices grew quieter the further down the hall she got. But when she heard the last sentence, she paused. She was actually beginning to think that Killian liked her in his own way…

Stupid! Why would he? And it didn't matter either...

Mary Margaret!

She tried to move as fast as she could while still being careful of her steps. It wasn't at all pleasant to walk barefoot on the ice-cold stone, and she had no idea where she could even find her best friend. There was no one around to show her the way through the unfamiliar house. She was just halfway down a spiral staircase when she felt someone running after her. Relieved, she looked up, but her joy was short-lived when she realized it was Killian.

She turned her head back and quickened her steps as much as her strength would allow.

"Emma, stop!" His voice was impatient and slightly annoyed.

"Leave me alone! If I die, all you have to do is to lock David in a room until he calms down, you don't have to babysit him." She threw the words back over her shoulder grimly and tried to speed up again, but Killian leisurely walked after her.

He could have caught up with her in two long strides, but he didn't. He must have learned from the past and feared for his precious body parts.

"I didn't mean…"

"Of course you did! What the hell do you want?" She turned to face him, but he didn't stop.

He walked down the stairs with absolute ease, stopping just a step above her. His chin was still bleeding, but he didn't seem to care. "What do you want?" He raised an eyebrow, and she couldn't decipher his expression. His voice, however, sent a shiver down her spine and raised goosebumps on her arms. It sounded completely different than ever before. There was no trace of the unbreakable harshness anymore.

"For you to leave me alone and laugh at someone else."

"I'm not laughing at you."

She knew he also sensed how childish this little exchange was. She felt like she was back in kindergarten again. And why did she even care what he thought of her? She really shouldn't care... Who was he to her anyway?

No one.

"Sorry, buddy, but I don't have time for this right now. I need to find Mary Margaret…"

"Down the stairs, right hallway, third door," he replied quietly, looking kind of offended and hurt for the first time since she'd known him.

He took a step back, then turned and hurried up the stairs. Emma watched him disappear with her mouth hanging open. She was about to yell after him that she didn't mean it when she remembered that she shouldn't care what he thought of her. She couldn't.

Sighing, she turned and stepped down the stairs. She reached the third room, her limbs still feeling like lead. She leaned against the wall and patted the door with her uninjured hand.

Silence greeted her.

Had Killian led her astray?

She knocked again.

But she received no answer. She decided to just open the door, come what may. Her fingers gently pressed the knob, opened the door and entered the room.

Again, there were no windows, but it was much more spacious than her temporary suite upstairs. Next to the double bed sat two large sofas that seemed rather old but valuable, as well as two armchairs and a small coffee table.

Mary Margaret sat on the couch with her legs up and just stared ahead. Robin was sitting next to her, gently pulling her close to him. The brunette rested her head on his shoulder and fixed her eyes on the opposite wall, her expression blank. Robin's eyes were almost as red as Mary Margaret's.

This was probably the friendliest Emma has ever seen the two. As horrible as it was, grieving the person they cared about apparently brought them closer.

The Hunter looked up slowly and a faint smile slid across his face as he spotted Emma at the door. He let go of Mary Margaret, rose from the couch, and walked towards her.

"I think you understand her feelings the best now," he whispered as he stepped around her. "I'll tell the others not to bother you."

With those words, he left the room, closing the door quietly behind him. Emma rushed over to Mary Margaret and hugged her. No words were exchanged, Emma knew they wouldn't help. She remembered that night clearly, sitting in her living room exactly like that, but now it was Mary Margaret who'd lost a loved one, not her.

"How is she?"

"She's finally asleep," Emma replied, looking into Robin's dark blue eyes.

He was confused and terrified, which Emma understood completely. He loved Leo like one would love a brother, and Emma knew for a fact that he also cared deeply about Mary Margaret, no matter how often they bickered. First Neal, now Leo. It wasn't going to be easy for anyone.

"How are you?"

"I don't know…" Robin's blank expression frightened her. "We will…" He couldn't finish the sentence. He shook his head slowly, then walked down the hall. "Excuse me."

She let out a sigh and decided it would be best to go back to her room, because unfortunately, there was nothing more she could do here. David would offer the comfort her friend needed.

She struggled with the spiral staircase, but eventually made it to her bed without any trouble. She wished for nothing more than a good night's rest and peaceful dreams.

"Killian! You're going to need stitches! You're dripping blood all over the house!" Emma recognized Ruby's impatient and irritated voice right away. She walked straight past Emma's door at the end of the hall.

"You're not going to leave me alone, are you?" Killian sighed heavily.

"Nope," Ruby replied, and Emma realized the two of them just stepped into the adjoining room.

Immediately, she was overcome with guilt. She felt like she needed to apologize to Killian for her bitchy behavior.

She climbed out of bed and crept into the hallway. She stopped in front of the door next to her room and stared hesitantly at the entrance. She couldn't decide if it was a good idea to go in or not. She teetered from one foot to the other for a good ten minutes until the door suddenly opened and Ruby stepped out into the hallway.

"Hey, Ems! I see you're feeling better," she smiled and quickly wiped her hands on her already dirty shirt, but her fingers remained stained with blood.

"Yeah, thanks. Can I go in…?" Emma tilted her head towards the door.

There was a knowing smile on the brunette's face that Emma didn't like, and Ruby's eyebrows almost flew off her forehead.

Emma groaned inwardly.

"I just wanted to apologize to him for something," Emma continued, feeling the need to clarify her presence, and she felt momentarily embarrassed by Ruby's scrutinizing gaze.

"I see," she nodded, then quickly slipped away and headed for the end of the hall.

Emma waited until she'd disappeared around the corner, then knocked on the door of Killian's room.

"Come in!" she heard him shuffling, so she pushed the doorknob and entered the room. She was about to close the door behind her when Killian looked up. He was picking up the bloody rags off the floor. He stared at her in surprise as he slowly straightened up. "Do you need something, lass?"

"I just wanted to apologize," she replied softly, startling him even more.

He didn't answer right away. Killian stuffed the dirty rags into an empty bag and turned back to her again. "Pardon?" he asked, astonished. He didn't pretend to be confused, he genuinely seemed to not understand what she was doing.

"I acted like a total bitch earlier," she nodded, staring at him expectantly.

His polite, confused look made her flustered. "Ah, I wasn't a gentleman either," he shrugged. "But why do you care whether you offended me or not?"

"You were just being honest, and I couldn't face the truth." She shook her head and decided to ignore his question. "It's not the same."

"So you didn't mean what you said," Killian concluded.

"Well… no."

"All right. But I don't understand why you would care about my feelings."

"Well, neither do I," she admitted. "Umm, sorry, I kept you from whatever it is you were doing." She began to retreat toward the door, concluding that it was a stupid idea to come here. Her hand was already on the doorknob when a palm pressed against the oak door, closing it gently.

"You're not keeping me from anything."

"It's okay," she mumbled, shaking her head. "It wasn't a good idea to come here anyway, and now I'm leaving."

"Why?" She had to turn to see his face. He was acting strange again.

"Because…" She didn't know how to answer, and suddenly she couldn't think of a single reason why she shouldn't have come here.

"I'm listening," he smiled, but then let out a hiss. The fresh stitches on his chin tightened.

"Because you should be resting," she replied quickly, putting her hand back on the knob, but Killian pushed the door back again.

"I'm perfectly fine." He shook his head. "But somehow I can't seem to figure you out and frankly, love, it's quite bugging me."

"You don't understand me? It's not me who's acting like a person with bipolar disorder!" She was still clutching at the doorknob, but she was no longer interested in escaping the room. She wanted answers. Real ones this time. "Why won't you let me leave?"

"I..." He started, but didn't finish. He had a strange expression on his face, like he was afraid of something.

"You're the one acting weird, not me. You said just a few hours ago that…"

"You've never once lied before, Emma?" He simply interrupted her as if she hadn't said anything.

"What? How's that relevant now?" She was starting to get really pissed at him. She just wanted to apologize, which was no small thing for her, and he was twisting her every word and confusing her even more.

She stared at him expectantly, and the realization inside her slowly came to life. "Why did you lie?

"It doesn't matter. It would indeed be best if you go now." This time it was he who grabbed hold of the knob and opened the door for her. "You should rest, too," he added hastily, not making eye contact as he ushered her through the door. "And I wasn't cross with you for even a minute, you didn't have to worry about that." With that, he shut the door in her face, turning the key in the lock for good measure, and Emma stood silently in the hallway, blinking in confusion.

He really should see a shrink or something…