A/N: *big cheesy grin* I love reviews! Let's see if I can drop s'more plot clues. :) Oh.. Detective Friendly. He gets a slightly bigger part here, so.. I just decided to pick a model to 'play' his character. Actor Daniel Di Tomasso is my choice, but since this is a rather late addition, no hard feelings if you already have a mental image. (And since Holly is based on a real person, I chose a substitute for y'all if you want, Olivia Holt) Happy reading!

-The Long Monday-

She'd been successfully avoiding... him all morning, having only spotted him once, in the parking lot, when she arrived on campus. As soon as she looked up, their eyes met like in a cheesy romcom flick, and she made a mad dash for the building where her first class would take place - which she was on time for, thanks to her Saturday spent on campus, though the mad dash did keep her from getting a coffee at the coffee cart first thing. The campus was so different when it was full of people, though. She could easily hide in the throngs, milling about, dashing as she had.

Now that her classes were over, and it was time for lunch according to her stomach, she spotted him again. He was with the pregnant woman, walking together, so she figured his business here had something to do with her. Why were they here on a Saturday?

You don't see me. Don't come after me. Just walk away.

But there he was, looking up, spotting her too, looking every bit the dream pirate she thought of, commandeering her thoughts, looting her daydreams.

She picked up speed, taking the tiniest of looks back - God, he was heading toward her.

"Emma!"

She never told him her name, how the hell -

6:00 am

Fucking alarm -

It took her a moment, before Emma woke, sitting straight up. How the hell - she was just on campus - unsuccessfully avoiding Not-Killian -

She looked at the time on the clock, then at the date and time on her phone. No… Gah, she already lived this day. Hadn't she? But there it was, plain as the nose on her face, it was Monday morning. She hadn't taken any classes yet. Had zero opportunity to duck him. Hadn't even left her bed.

Least, this time, (the real time?) she woke up on time.

These dreams are becoming a nuisance.

She took the advantage, rushing to her shower, not at all surprised the water wouldn't go past luke-warm. At least it wasn't frigid like it had been in her weird ass dream.

She made her coffee - surprised when the carafe broke in her hand when she pulled it out to measure the water.. Just like it had in the dream. She had completely forgotten that little moment, but swiftly took the time to clean it up this go around. She didn't want to leave it for later, imagining a scene of forgetting (again) and getting glass stuck in her foot or something.

She knew she could get her fix at the coffee cart on campus that she had seen the previous Saturday. Not to mention the other two carts she saw in her dream, that she had a feeling were also very real.

Her day paralleled her dream almost perfectly, to the point of creepy. Traffic was, again, lighter than she expected. She pulled into the same parking spot at the campus as she had in the dream. She was starting to wonder if maybe her dreams were glimpses of the future. How would he find out her name, though?

That was, logically, not the most worrisome bit from her dream, but it was the one that weighed the heaviest on her mind. (She wouldn't allow herself to muse on the possibility of some of her dreams being real in relation to that massive, six year long dream. She wouldn't be able to deal if she got her hopes up, only to lose it all again. She refused.)

When she finally got out of her car, she avoided looking around. She did not want a repeat performance of locked eyes across the parking lot. Not that she really minded locking eyes with him, but that led to places, and getting together with a married man was not worth the heartbreak.

Hadn't she said something like that to her dream-mom? God, that dream was stupid sometimes.

Her morning continued to parallel her dream. She had four classes, one at 7, one at 8:30, one at 10, and one at 11:30. Each lasting an hour, give or take a wordy professor, and afterward, she had about half an hour before her next class, if she were lucky. She had plenty of time to navigate the campus between classes, sometimes even stopping and grabbing an extra coffee at one of the carts.

She got a tea this time, though, just to rebel against her dream self. It was petty, and stupid, but it made her feel a tiny bit better.

When she was through with all her classes and ready to leave, though, she decided not to head directly to her car. If the dream really was accurate, she could watch him for once. Like he was a skip. And she, his stalker. But she only needed to watch to avoid him and his - wife? - so, was it really stalking?

She hurried over, ducking into and staying in the building closest to the parking lot she had parked in, sipping on her second tea from her position at the window, watching for him - them. Knowing which direction to look helped, as she soon spotted them.

They were strolling casually. They did not hold hands. Which meant nothing, really, plenty of couples didn't walk hand-in-hand. He escorted her to an Audi, which made her scoff. That was a nice car. She eyed her bug a little self-consciously. She knew she needed an upgrade, but she'd never been able to afford it. And it was a decent car, it always kept her safe, warm, and on the road. Hell, she even slept there from time to time, and it rarely broke down or had any problems.

She watched, sipping her straw, as he opened the passenger door for the woman. In Emma's mind, that cinced it. Her dream man - as in, man from dream, not.. - She rolled her eyes at herself. She couldn't even think straight. But surely, a man wouldn't open the door for just any woman.

She wondered if it could be his thing to open doors - or if it was because she was pregnant - but that was grasping at straws, trying to find an excuse to allow, in herself, the hope that he was still single. She hated hope, with a passion. Hope only led to pain.

When he moved around the car, about to open the drivers side door, he looked up, directly at Emma. Rather, the darkened window she was staring at him through.

For a long, dragged on minute, she thought he would abandon his task, and move towards her. She waited with bated breath, wondering, squashing down the hope she absolutely did not feel. Instead, he shook his head, and swiftly got into the car, backing out slowly, and joined the line of cars worse than traffic, all trying to leave at the same time.

When his car had finally moved enough that he wouldn't see her in his mirrors, she moved toward the lot, to her own car.

12:55 PM

After her lunch, she decided to get to her new part time gig a little early. It was in the mall, which made parking a little tricky. Luckily, they'd told her the lot to park in, and had sent directions to navigate the employee hallways. She rarely saw another person while walking down those, which was nice. She didn't feel like navigating the busy mall anyways.

When she finally got there, she was greeted by the manager, Scarlet (also known as Ruby if she remembered her dream correctly), who helped her get her employee account set up, before training started.

It was a meticulous, boring job. Every few minutes, Emma found herself refolding something she's just folded, or moving clothes from the dressing room back onto hangers or folded them to take to the floor, trying to find where the hell everything went.

She found she was relieved when her shift ended. A few hours a day, a few days a week, she could manage. God, she would never disrespect another store employee again. That shit sucked. She just kept reminding herself the employee discount was 40%, and that would keep her from quitting. For now.

By the time she left the mall, it was close to 4, so she decided to stop at the shop for a new skip - it was still her bread and butter, and she needed to keep up appearances. After finding a new rat to chase, and avoiding Joey's newest attempt at flirting "Hey sweetheart, wanna come to the back room?", she made her way to her favorite sushi place, and ordered all of her favorite things. She felt she deserved a small celebration, for not only trying new things, but for successfully completing the first day of her new schedule.

Operation New Leaf Emma was going.. Surprisingly, not bad.

She ate her food on the comfort of her couch, with a hot chocolate topped with whipped cream and cinnamon.

She was cleaning up her dinner when she was surprised by a knock at her door. Checking her phone, noticing it was after five, she wondered who the hell would be knocking on her door. She wasn't expecting any deliveries, or people. The only person who would show up randomly would be Holly.

God, what if it was.. No. Knowing her name in whatever dream she'd concocted and actually showing up on her door, were two massively different things.

She steeled herself.

It was Detective Friendly. And he was holding a toolbox.

How ridiculous was it that she felt disappointment?

"Hi…" She managed to breathe out, mentally kicking herself for opening the door in the first place.

"Hey." He looked a little sheepish. Serves you right.

"Um." She pointed at the toolbox. "That's not for me, is it?"

He chuckled. "No, not exactly. I wanted to try to convince you to let me fix your doorknob." Right. The note he left.. "I saw your bruises, the other night, and couldn't get this door off my mind."

"Those were from skips.."

"I know. You're a tough one. But in the middle of the night, while sleeping, anyone can be surprised."

"It's sweet, Russo-"

"Gil, please."

"Gil.. but-"

He lifted a paper bag she hadn't noticed before. "I brought a bear claw?" he was smiling so earnestly, so vulnerably, a hopeful glint in his eyes, and a sliver of dread at the edges of his face like he was expecting her to just slam the door in his face.

She should just slam the door. But... bear claw.

Damnit, chief. "Does everyone know I like these?" She grumbled, grabbing the bag, moving aside to let him in.

"Only the entire department." He followed her in with a grin, stopping just inside to set his toolbox down. "You got a little heated one of the first days you came to our department. The bear claw helped."

She eyed him warily. If she remembered right, he was talking about the first day she arrived at precinct 42. The first day she had met Russo, the chief, and the day she chose to keep bringing her skips there. That day, Russo was only too eager to take her skip while she argued with the officer she had originally met with. Eventually, Not-David had arrived, opening a box of fresh doughnuts, and she warily took the bear claw and allowed him to talk her down, before he fixed the entire situation.

"You remember that?" She asked. She wasn't surprised, not entirely.

He turned a shade of red that probably indicated he would overthink all this later. "It's difficult to forget a fiesty blond woman, dragging a burly man in by his ear, and making a scene when a junior officer won't let her hand him off."

"Well, when you look at it that way..." She smiled despite herself, though she knew it was awkward and tight, not at all reassuring. "I'll.. let you.." She shrugged, motioning toward the door.

He smiled genuinely at that, and knelt down to work on the security risk, opening the door enough to work the knob from both sides. Damnit, he wasn't bad looking. Especially when he smiled. He had a kind smile. Kind eyes. And he was absolutely not married, or taken, in any way.

Noticing she hadn't moved, watching him work, he patiently explained what he noticed about her doorknob the other night, and how it could be a problem for her security.

It wasn't fifteen minutes later that he was done, showing her how it was more secure, and she offered him a warm smile, surprising herself that it was genuine, and offering a beer in thanks.

He looked like she had given him the moon, and graciously accepted. She had just handed him the bottle when her phone rang.

It was Holly.

With an apologetic look to the tall, dark, and handsome, she answered.

She probably shouldn't have answered.

"Thank God, Em."

"What's going on?"

"Can you watch my baby?"

"You have a baby?"

"Please. I've shown you pictures."

Emma didn't remember that.

She glanced at the man in her living room with an apologetic sigh.

"Can you bring your kid here? I'm closer to your work."

"Yes! I'm actually headed that way now. You are a lifesaver!"

"Don't thank me - wait, you trust me with your kid?"

"I have no one else, Em. They called me in to work at the last minute, and I can always use the extra cash. This is a massive favor."

After making arrangements, and hanging up, Emma forced herself to look at Gil.

"Apparently I'm on babysitting duty tonight." She felt awful. He looked like she'd stolen his candy.

He smiled past his own turmoil, handing the unopened beer back. "Raincheck, then."

Crap. Now she'd have to give him some kind of date.

"You can chill here until Holly arrives…" She offered, knowing how utterly stupid she sounded.

"I don't want to step on any toes -"

Holly must have really been on her way, because she arrived just in time for her knock to interrupt him.

"That was fast." Emma murmured, on her way to the door.

Holly's sudden arrival wasn't the only surprise.

The small baby Holly was holding, who looked less than a year, also looked just like the one Emma had with Killian in her dream.

Well, Monday may not be over per say, but.. I can't resist leaving the cliffhanger.. Questions? Thoughts? Any ideas on my plot yet?