On Waxed Moustaches and Perms
CS genre: Deleted Scene (4x19-4x20)
"Ready?" Emma asked as she slid behind the wheel of the bug.
"Yeah, can't wait," Lily said with a scowl as she slumped down in the passenger seat and crossed her arms.
Emma sighed and pulled out of the gas station parking lot and back onto the highway. This was turning into one of the longest road trips of her life. This woman who had once been her friend… well it was clear she hated Emma now and all the rest of her family. Emma understood; she really did, but the surliness was getting old.
"Look, I know this sucks. All of it," Emma began. "You have every right to be pissed, but things can change. You have a mom now; you can make a fresh start and…"
Lily slashed the air with one hand and rolled her eyes. "Save it, alright? No hope speeches. You might have your perfect little life with your perfect little family, but I'm cursed. Nothing'll ever go my way. Because of your parents, in case you forgot."
Emma sighed once again. She'd tried. Hopefully one day she'd have another chance to rekindle the friendship; make up for the wrong her family had done to her first friend. But it was clear that right now was not that time.
Making a point to ignore the muttered complaints beside her, Emma fished her cell phone out of her jacket pocket. While the conversation inside the car might be lacking, there was another conversation she could have that she knew would be anything but.
Keeping one eye on the road, she scrolled through her contacts until she found the one she was looking for. She smiled, caressing the photo of her boyfriend. She pressed the "call" button and put the phone to her ear.
"Swan! Are you alright, love? Have you found your friend?"
Emma's smile grew and she felt her heart swell at the sound of his soft accent. Had it really only been a day since she last saw him? Felt more like a year. She should probably be concerned about how important he was becoming to her, but she couldn't find it in herself to rebuild her walls. Truth was, life was better with him in it.
"Hey," she answered. "Yeah, everything's fine. We found Lily and we're heading home now. Be back in about two, two and a half hours."
"I'll be waiting for you when you return. Did everything go…as planned?"
She heard the question he wasn't asking. Had she succeeded at resisting the darkness? "Yeah," she said, hastening to reassure. "I…I almost gave in, Killian. I almost did something it would have been really hard to come back from, but…Regina helped me remember what I was really fighting for. I remembered what you said to me; thought about the people I care about, the ones keeping me in the light. Henry and you, mostly."
Emma heard the sigh of relief he breathed on the other end of the line. "Brilliant, love. I knew you were stronger than the darkness. I knew you could overcome it. Never doubted you for an instant, my darling."
Emma felt the tears rush to her eyes. What had she ever done to deserve a boyfriend like Killian? A man who believed in her with all his heart and soul; a man who would stand by her side no matter what might happen to or around them. She felt the love swell in her heart. Yeah, she loved him; had for quite some time. Telling him, saying it aloud, risking the amazing perfect thing they had…well she wasn't ready for that. But whether she said it to him or not she felt it—a love stronger than she'd thought possible. What would she ever do without him?
Emma sniffed, trying valiantly to disguise the tell-tale sign with a quick cough.
"Are you alright there, swan?"
She laughed. Should have known she couldn't fool him. You're something of an open book. "Yeah, I'm fine," she finally said in a thick voice. "Just…thanks for believing in me. You have no idea how much that means."
"On the contrary, love," he replied, "I understand perfectly. Your faith in me…your belief that this vengeance-fueled villain could become something more…nothing in my long life could compare to that."
"You're not that man any more, Killian," she said vehemently. "Haven't been for a long time, and you know what? There's no other man I'd rather have in my life."
He seemed to be speechless for a moment; all Emma heard over the line was ragged breathing. Finally he cleared his throat and changed the subject. "So you've found Maleficent's daughter. Was the queen's quest equally successful? Did she succeed in saving Robin from the clutches of Zelena?"
Emma snorted. "That's way too complicated for a phone conversation. Let's just say Regina's bringing Robin, Roland and Zelena back. Zelena's been hard at work trying to screw Regina over yet again."
"Rough luck for Robin, that, I'd wager."
"Yeah," Emma laughed. "You could definitely say that."
They were silent or a moment, and then Killian finally spoke again. "I must let you go for now, love. I'll alert your lad to your coming return. Safe travels, and I eagerly await your return."
"I can't wait to see you again either," Emma admitted, a bit amazed at how easy it was to admit; how much she didn't want to run from her feelings. "Only a few more hours now. Maybe if we're lucky things'll calm down a little now that I've successfully not gone dark. Maybe we'll have time for another date night; seems like we haven't had any alone time in forever."
"Most assuredly," he said, and Emma heard the smile, the hint of mischief in his voice. "Come home to me, my love, and I shall be sure to plan us a bit of that 'alone time' that will make you forget we were ever apart."
She laughed. "I'll hold you to that. Goodbye Killian."
She was still smiling as she disconnected the call and tossed her phone back in her pocket.
"So, who's this Killian, guy?" Lily asked. Emma looked at her, saw genuine curiosity in her face. Maybe her old friend was starting to thaw after all.
"Uh," she answered. "He's my boyfriend."
"Yeah, I got that," Lily said dryly. "That whole bit about 'date night' and wanting 'alone time' was a dead giveaway."
Emma chuckled. "Yeah, guess so."
What I meant," Lily continued, "is who is he really? He's in Storybrooke, right? Means he has some weird fairy tale alias, doesn't it?"
Emma grinned and shot her friend an amused look. "Yeah, still weird to think about, but yeah. He's Captain Hook."
Lily snorted. "So waxed moustaches and perms are your thing now?"
"Hardly," Emma replied. "You'll find a lot of the old fairy tales….well aren't exactly accurate. Killian is nothing like the Captain Hook you're used to."
"So what is he like?"
Emma thought for a moment, fond smile draping her face. "Well, for one thing, no waxed moustache or perm. Knowing him, he wouldn't be caught dead looking like that. He's…well, there's no other way to say it; he's hot. Like 'take your breath away' hot. But beyond that…he's one of the most loving, supportive people I've ever met. He makes me feel like I matter. Really matter, you know? Like I'm the most important person in the world. Like he'd do anything for me."
For several moments the only sound within the bug was the soft music coming from the radio. "So you have that too," Lilly said bitterly.
"I have what?" Emma asked, looking over at the woman beside her who's scowl had decidedly returned.
"A guy who loves you. One you're head over heels for too."
Emma startled and then chuckled nervously. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Not sure about using the 'l' word."
Lily rolled her eyes dramatically. "Come on. That conversation you just had was so sickly sweet I probably got tooth decay. I may not know all that much about love, but yeah, you're in it."
Emma felt the heat creep up her neck and cover her cheeks. "I mean he's a great guy and, yeah, I care about him a lot and everything, but I mean…love's a big word."
Lily laughed humorlessly. "Okay, whatever. Keep telling yourself that. Whatever works for you. Love, happiness, all of that—it's not in the cards for me anyway, so what do I care how delusional you choose to be?"
The bitterness fairly came off of Lily in waves. Emma chose to focus on that rather than…well the other part, the love part. "Look, I get it, okay?" she said. "I felt the same way you do for a long time, but you know what? I got all of it. My son, my family, a boyfriend I'm crazy about. Life in Storybrooke…well it's kind of psycho and crazy most of the time, but it's good. If I can get that, then so can you. You just have to open yourself up to it."
Lily snorted. "Yeah, of course you got it. Perfect Emma. The little girl whose parents gave me all her darkness. Easy for you to say. Life's never gone my way; never will."
"Here's the thing," Emma said. "Fate's…a bitch, but it isn't everything. You can either let it control you, or you can take control of your own life. You can take what it deals out or you can stand your ground and say 'No; this is who I am.' Your choice. What my parents did, yeah, I know it sucks; big time, but I promise you I'll do what I can to change things back to how they should have been. It's my job to bring back the happy endings, and I'm gonna do that for you too. Just…you need to do your part too. You need to fight."
For a moment, one short moment in time, Lily looked…hopeful. Then the surly mask fell back into place. She grumbled under her breath, and Emma could have sworn she said something along the lines of "Damn straight I'm gonna fight; just not gonna be fate I get my revenge on."
But before she could confront her on it—and remind her yet again that if she still had any ideas of killing Snow and Charming out of revenge, she'd have to go through Emma first—they crossed into Storybrooke, and they were there waiting, all of them—Maleficent, Snow and Charming, Henry and Killian. Her family; her reasons to fight; her reasons to resist the darkness.
She was out of her bug the second she put it into park and killed the engine. Next thing she knew she was hugging her guys, holding on for all she was worth. Lily was still a lost soul, wandering around in the darkness, but there would be time to change that. There would be time to make all of it right later. For now, she'd take the happiness presented to her.
Killian kissed her softly, running his hand through her hair. "I missed you, love. 'Twould seem your father and the queen have the situation here well in hand. What say we head to the Jolly? Take advantage of the quiet moment presented to us?"
"Sounds perfect," she said. "Lead on."
Notes:
-Happy Friday! 1 month of the hiatus down, 2 to go!
-So todays story was written based on a prompt by mnewlife on ao3: Based on Killan' s conversation with Gold in the diner, I assume he was talking to Emma on the phone during her road trip with Regina. I have this head canon that one of those phone calls happened on the way back to Storybrook in the car with Lily. I would really like to see Lily's reaction to the news that her old friend is dating Captain Hook (I doubt she would be picturing someone like Killian Jones!) I also think it would be cute to hear Emma describe Killian to someone who doesn't know him.
-Up next: I've been re-watching season 3 during the hiatus because it was a good season (and the rewatch helps with the withdrawl). I have a canon divergence idea for early on in the Neverland arc.