I'll Miss This One This Year

Autumn

"You've been adamant all along that there's no story to tell and then you hit us with that!" Ruby exclaimed.

She, like Mary Margaret, was also on the edge of her seat by this point. They had bypassed all the details she had been told about prior to leaving for the cruise-which-never happened. This was new, fresh stuff for her, and she was lapping it up.

"But nothing came of it," Emma shrugged it off, trying to play it cool.

In truth, she was freaking out a little on the inside. She had never shared the revelation she'd had that night with anyone, and she had no idea why she thought it was a good idea to share that with the two people who kept insisting on setting her up.

Poor Killian was going to wind up getting hunted down and dragged to Storybrooke against his will by the two women if she wasn't more careful. She wasn't entirely against the idea, thinking about it, but, as deputy of the town, she certainly couldn't condone kidnapping.

"That's not the point!" Ruby retorted. "You like this guy, Emma. It's obvious! And you practically admitted it."

"At this point, I just don't think it's meant to be," Emma replied honestly, letting out a light sigh.

"You can't say that!" Mary Margaret gasped.

"It's just not working out for us," Emma pointed out.

"Then you make it work!" Ruby offered encouragement.

"Don't you think that's what we've been trying to do?" Emma challenged me. "He even got me two free tickets, who knows how, for a cruise and that plan got tore to hell too! None of our plans ever come together. The last two times we've tried, someone has wound up in hospital! It's like we're cursed!"

"Hospital?" Mary Margaret questioned.

"Yes! Henry back in the summer," Emma started to clarify, "and then there was Halloween…"

Emma knew that Autumn was known for its windy weather, but she'd had enough of it. In one afternoon at work, she'd dealt with four fallen trees blocking roads, three runaway trampolines and two overturned boats out on the water.

All she was missing was the damn partridge in a pear tree.

The wind had subsidised for the time being, something Emma was extremely grateful for. She needed a break. The weather report made it clear, however, it was only a temporary respite. They weren't escaping it any time soon, either. The week ahead was filled with stormy conditions. Regardless, the temporary drop in wind should quell the calls for help in the immediate future and Emma hurried into the station for a well-earned break.

Graham had the day off so she was fully expecting an empty station and a much-welcomed silence. Her expectations were not met. Sat at her desk, murmuring excitedly between themselves were Mary Margaret and Ruby. They both heard her as she entered and sent her huge smiles.

"Hey guys," Emma greeted them. "What are you doing here?"

"Halloween party, Sunday evening, we're going," Ruby filled her in with short, simple sentences.

It left Emma with a few questions, "Since when?"

"Since I told Mary Margaret about it and she agreed," Ruby replied.

"I haven't agreed," Emma pointed out.

"Come on, it will be fun!" Mary Margaret encouraged her. "We need three people for the costume idea to work."

"Not just any person. It has to be you!" Ruby insisted. "The idea won't work if it isn't you."

Talk about pressure!

Emma glanced between them, "Whose party is this anyway?"

"Liam's," Ruby answered.

"The guy you hid from at the airport?" Emma clarified.

Ruby gave a quick nod, "My boss, yep. He's practically inviting the whole town, so you have to come!"

"Date I ask what the costume idea is?" Emma reluctantly asked.

Mary Margaret and Ruby both cheered, taking that as her agreeing to go with them.

"We are going to be the Three Musketeers!" Ruby shared their plan with her excitedly. "All for one and one for all!"

It wasn't the most horrendous idea Emma had ever heard. It had also been a good while since she'd been to a good party.

"Fine, fine, I'll do it," Emma agreed.

Her words were greeted by a further eruption of cheers from Ruby and Mary Margaret. Emma laughed at their enthusiasm.

Her two friends stayed for a coffee and a brief catch-up but left pretty fast once their drinks were finished, planning the costumes amongst themselves. Emma was more than happy to leave them both to that. Costumes weren't here area. She'd wear them, provided she didn't look utterly ridiculous in them, but she certainly didn't attempt to try her hand at making them.

She was just settling down to return her focus to work when her phone went off, the ring echoing around the station. She glanced around, expecting to see something that Ruby or Mary Margaret had left behind. One of them was always forgetting something. The time, there was nothing that she could see so her theory that it was one of them was ruled out.

She picked up her phone to be met by the sight of Killian's name on the screen.

"Giving away more cruise tickets?" Emma spoke in greeting once she accepted the call.

"I'm afraid you've no such luck, Swan," he retorted. "But it's nice to know that's all you think me useful for."

"What other use could I possibly have for you?" Emma shot back with a small smile to herself.

"Hmm, I couldn't possibly imagine," Killian responded, his tone dripping in sarcasm.

Emma let out a dramatic sigh, "Neither can I."

"Then I suppose there's no point in us continuing this call," Killian proposed then mimicked her dramatic sigh, "I guess I shall have to find some other woman to accompany me to a party…"

"Well… if there's a party involved…" Emma dragged out, trailing off and pausing for a moment, "oh, go on then, you've twisted my arm!"

Killian laughed, "Thought that might."

"This is really making me realise I need to start inviting you to things more often," Emma commented.

Maybe then they'd eventually get around to that first date they'd been missing out on for the last ten months.

"Ah, you're forgetting! First date is my pick," Killian reminded her almost instantly. "Now, you mentioned Boston in one of our prior conversations. How plausible is it that you can make it to Maine for a party?"

"I actually live in Maine," Emma told him, taken very much by surprise that – of all the places in America – the very state the party happened to be in was hers. "Portland way."

She expanded to narrow down the area for him. She didn't bother telling him the name of the town. No one outside of Storybrooke had ever heard of it. Portland was the closest place she could think of which he would have a chance of recognizing.

"Huh, small world," Killian commented with a light chuckle. "That should make things a lot easier."

"Are you going to share any details about this mysterious party?" Emma asked him impatiently.

"Right, yes, of course," Killian sounded like he had totally forgotten about that part. "My brother is having a Halloween party on the night of Halloween. I was thinking we could go together. Well, either that, or you can stand me up for him to notice again."

Emma couldn't believe her damn luck when it came to making plans with Killian. If he had called half an hour earlier, she would have immediately agreed to go with him. Instead, he had to call right after she agreed to go to a party with Ruby and Mary Margaret on the same night.

She was few up of things getting in the way of spending more than a few minutes with Killian. There was only so much they could get to know each other over phone calls and texts. Equally, however, she'd seen just how excited Mary Margaret and Ruby had been about their whole Three Musketeers plan. She didn't want to let them down, but she could always find them a substitute Musketeer. She wondered what Ashley was up to that night…

To hell with it! She decided to be reckless, to go with her heart, and to sort the problem out when Killian wasn't awaiting a response from her.

"I would love to come with you," Emma eventually answered.

"Perfect!" Killian responded. "I'm going to be helping with the set up but I can come pick you up or you can make your own way, whichever you'd prefer."

"I'll get there myself, that way it won't impose too much on you," Emma decided.

"You would never impose," Killian told her immediately.

"Just send me the address and other details closer to the time," Emma suggested. "That way I'm not going to risk losing them amongst a storm of other messages."

"Sounds like a plan," Killian approved. "I look forward to seeing you then. It's been far too long."

"It has," Emma agreed and then a thought suddenly hit her, "ooh, is this a costume party?"

"What kind of question is that?" Killian shot back at her with a small laugh. "It's a Halloween party! Of course there's going to be costumes!"

"What are you wearing then?" Emma asked him.

She hated trying to sort out a costume on her own. With Ruby and Mary Margaret, it was easy because they pretty much always decided her costume for her. Should she try and match with whatever Killian was wearing? Was that going too far? Was it too couple-y for a first date?

"Roland is beside himself with excitement about this party," Killian informed her. "The lad put himself on costume-assigning duty. He's adamant his dad has to be Robin Hood based solely on nothing other than the fact that they share a name. He's got an obsession with Peter Pan so he'll be dressed head-to-toe in green. And his nickname for me has been Hook ever since he's been able to talk so I'm sure you can guess where that one is going."

"You're going as Captain Hook?" Emma clarified with a laugh. "You've got to include the waxed moustache and perm!"

"No. No way!" Killian pushed the image out of her head before it had a chance to settle. "If I'm doing it, I'm doing it my way."

"Where did that nickname come from anyway?" Emma asked.

"I blame the cruise ships," Killian told her. "Particularly the family cruises. We do these fancy dress events which the entire crew get involved in. My go-to is Captain Hook. It just makes sense. I'm the one-handed Captain, after all."

"And you don't mind people knowing that?" Emma questioned.

It had stuck with her since Florida, the way he had used his lack of his left hand to escape the handcuffs, without a care as to what anyone else may think.

"Not at all," Killian answered. "At the end of the day, it's part of who I am. I could moan and complain about how it isn't fair until I'm blue in the face but what would that achieve? It wouldn't change anything. It would just make me miserable."

"You take a more positive outlook," Emma commented.

"I try my best," Killian responded, hinting to her that it wasn't all plain sailing. "We get kids on board sometimes who are amputees for a whole variety of reasons. I like to think I can help to show them that they can still achieve anything that they put their mind to."

Emma smiled to herself, realising as she listened to him that it was the first time since he had briefly mentioned his time in the foster system that he had opened up to her about something so personal to him.

"I digress," Killian realised, getting himself back onto his original point. "Robin works on the cruise ship with me. He's part of the entertainment team. He's a magician, specialising in sleight of hand and all that. He's taught me a couple of tricks over the years. Point is, Roland has grown up on the ships. He's seen me dressed as Captain Hook a number of times and that's always been what he calls me."

"It's sweet," Emma remarked.

"Right, because 'Hook' is definitely a sweet nickname," Killian responded and Emma was convinced, though she couldn't see him, that an eye roll accompanied his words. There was a muffled voice in the background. "Oh, speak of the devil! I'm going to have to go, love. Peter Pan is sneaking aboard the Jolly Roger as we speak."

Emma grinned as she heard a playful squeal, followed by a laugh and eventually a, "That's not fair! You can't just lift me up. You have to use the sword!"

Figuring that 'Hook' had gotten too distracted to hang up, she quietly hung up from her side. The sheriff station was in complete silence for the first time since she returned to it, and she was finally able to shift her focus onto her work.

It was two days later when Emma was awoken to an incessant banging on her apartment door. There was no pause to give her time to get to the door. It was just continuous. And damn well annoying.

She dragged herself from her comfy position on the couch and walked over to the door. Trying her best to cover up the displeasure written all over her face because her lazy day was being interrupted, she pulled open the door.

Mary Margaret and Ruby stood on the other side, huge smiles on their faces and arms filled with clothes and… were those prop swords? And prop muskets?

Oh crap!

Emma had completely forgotten to tell them about the change in her Halloween plans. She was initially going to tell them immediately but then she had remembered how excited they had been and decided to give it a day. Then she had forgotten.

"What's wrong? Don't you like them? You haven't even seen them properly yet!" Ruby mush have noticed the panicked look on her face.

"No, I'm sure they're lovely," Emma responded as she ushered them in and pushed her apartment door shut behind them. "It's just… I'm a terrible friend."

The costumes and props were dropped onto the couch.

"What are you talking about?" Mary Margaret asked, the concern in her voice only adding to Emma's guilt.

"I made plans to go to a different Halloween party that night," Emma admitted, deciding to come straight out with it and rip the band-aid straight off.

"Wait, what? When?" Ruby asked.

"Not long after telling you I'd go with you," Emma confessed. It sounded bad in her head. It sounded even worse saying it out loud. "I know it's bad but you two are always the ones trying to set me up-"

"It's a date!" Mary Margaret exclaimed, her unreadable expression suddenly bursting into happiness. She didn't miss a trick when it came to Emma's dating life.

"That's great!" Ruby became just as animated, jumping to her feet. "Hold on, but what are you wearing? Is it a ball gown type party or is it a costume party? Either way, you can't go on a date dressed as a Musketeer!"

"I'm going to need a costume," Emma replied, looking between the two of them for ideas. She had been thinking about it for two days straight and came up with nothing.

"Do you know what he's going as?" Ruby pressed for more information but Emma could already see she was working through some ideas in her head.

"His… nephew…" Emma began to reply hesitantly. It was only in that moment that she realised Killian had never explained the connection between himself and Roland. He spoke about his brother a lot, and the name Robin came up often, was it too much of an assumption to put the two together? During their first meeting, Killian had hinted that Roland had spent Christmas morning in the same house as him. It seemed right. "His nephew is going as Peter Pan and is getting him to go as Captain Hook."

"Oh my God!" Ruby gasped.

Her exclamation interrupted Emma right in the middle of the conversation she was recalling. Though, she suddenly realised, Ruby and Mary Margaret had both been there and knew all the details for themselves. She was getting far too into the whole story-telling thing.

"I didn't realise that date was with Killian!" Ruby went on.

"You're only just getting that?" Emma laughed.

She had been talking about it for a good ten minutes at least. His name had been mentioned a ridiculous number of times for Ruby to only just be catching on.

"I knew about Killian then! Why didn't you tell me it was him?" Ruby pestered.

"I was trying to keep it lowkey," Emma explained, "in the hope that it wouldn't all fall apart. Again.

Ruby leaned forwards across the table, placing a hand on her shoulder, "Bad luck."

"But what actually happened?" Mary Margaret pushed for more details. "I know you didn't go to the party in the end but what went wrong this time?"

"Well…"

Emma stood in her apartment bedroom, in front of the mirror, fixing her hair. Her costume had been simple in the end. She preferred simple.

Ruby had originally almost exploded with this idea of a green dress with wings and glitter and something to act as pixie dust.

Emma had vetoed the suggestion the very second it escaped Ruby's mouth.

She was not going as Tinkerbell.

In the end, they had stayed with the Disney theme which Roland had formed for himself, Robin and Killian. A nice blue dress with a pinafore made for an easy Alice in Wonderland costume. It seemed apt, since she was about to delve feet-first into a party filled with people she didn't know.

Just like she still didn't know where the party was. Or what time Killian wanted her there. She had told him to text the details to her closer to the time, but she wasn't expecting him to leave it so late.

She took her phone from the side, finding Killian's number under the 'recents' heading pretty easily, and clicked on it. She lifted the phone to her ear, listening to the dialling tone as she waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Killian's voicemail eventually kicked in but Emma hung up before the beep. She didn't like leaving voicemails, if she could help it. She reasoned that, should Killian look at his phone, he would see her missed call and remember about needing to send the details.

In the meantime, she tried on the ruby slippers that Ruby had encouraged her to borrow from her. They seemed comfy enough but Emma wasn't entirely sold. She did not want to suffer from blisters throughout the nigh.

A few minutes later, whilst she was still trying to make up her mind about the slippers, she got the call back from Killian that she was waiting for.

"You know, if you don't want another no show in front of your brother, you should probably give me some of the details," Emma prompted him.

"Listen, Emma…" Killian started.

He paused and Emma wasn't sure she wanted to hear the rest of it. He sounded stressed and like he was having difficulty finding the right words. Had they taken too long to get around to their first date? Had he found someone else? Someone closer in location? Someone without a kid who could adapt more around his crazy schedule.

"The party isn't happening," Killian eventually told her, his voice completely emotionless, drained – she'd go as far as to say tired.

Was that an excuse? Was he too afraid to be honest with her?

"I'm at the hospital," Killian elaborated.

Oh shit!

With the relief that came with that sentence also came a whole load of guilt and concern.

"Are you alright?" Emma immediately asked.

She decided to avoid the 'what happened' question for the time being. He would tell her if he wanted to.

"Aye, I'm perfectly fine," Killian assured her though the tiredness and stress in his voice told her otherwise. He went on to correct himself, "Well, that's not exactly true, is it? Physically, though, I'm absolutely fine. It's my brother. In his own bloody stupidity, he thought it was a good idea to put Halloween decorations up on his house in this weather."

Emma glanced out the window, immediately seeing the trees getting battered by the strong winds. She knew Killian's brother lived somewhere in Maine. Maybe the wind hadn't been quite so bad in the area of Maine he lived in for him to even make the attempt.

"He had a fall," Killian went on. His voice shook a little as he added, "I don't know how bad it is. The medics were concerned about his neck and back. I'm waiting on news from the doctors. It's been hours."

"Is someone there with you?" Emma asked.

He sounded terrible and she could only hope that there was someone there to make sue he looked after himself. She remembered when Henry had been in the hospital with pneumonia. Mary Margaret, David and Ruby had been there loads, encouraging her to eat, drink, sleep, talk a walk and get some fresh air. Without them, she probably would have made herself ill.

"No. It's just me," Killian answered.

"Right, tell me which hospital you're at," Emma demanded as she pulled the slippers off her feet. She wasn't turning up at the hospital looking like Alice. "I'm coming."

"No," Killian denied.

"Killian, you can't go through this alone," Emma argued, placing him on speakerphone before she started taking off the pinafore.

"I promise you a Halloween party not… this," Killian countered.

"Let me be there for you Killian, please," Emma pleaded.

"Emma, please, I get to choose the first date, remember?" Killian used the damn stupid wager against her. One he had very much cheated on. "It looked bad. It's… it's going to be bad. This isn't what I want our date to be. I won't let it."

"Killian… I don't know what to say," Emma admitted, feeling terrible.

"You don't have to say anything," Killian responded gently.

"But you did," Emma pointed out. "When I was in the hospital with Henry, you knew exactly what to say. You showed more concern than Neal and then you provided me with a distraction. You got me to laugh. No one else had managed that in five days.

"Emma, if you want to do something for me-" Killian began to propose.

"Yes?" Emma prompted enthusiastically, hanging on his every word.

"Go out. Go to a party. Enjoy your Halloween," Killian told her. "I sure wish I could."

Emma glanced across the room at the Musketeer costume Mary Margaret had told her to keep with the vow that, one day, they would all wear it. Killian's brother's fall suddenly freed her up for Liam's party. It's didn't feel right, though, not when she knew Killian was on his own.

"It's fine. I'm not that big on Halloween," Emma told him. "I can stay on the line with you, at least until the doctor comes with news."

"You really don't have to," Killian maintained.

"I know," Emma replied, "but I want to."

"You sure are stubborn," Killian observed.

"You've only just learned that?" Emma remarked. "Normally people see that within the first meeting."

"Oh, I certainly did, love," Killian assured her. "There was no way your lad was convincing you to go down that slope one final time."

"In fairness, he'd already convinced me to 'one final time' three times by that point," Emma admitted. "Henry's learned some tricks, over the years, to get past my stubbornness."

"I know who I'll be going to for tips then," Killian commented.

Emma chuckled.

Damn. She should be the one making him chuckle.

"Oh, looks like your time's up," Killian suddenly said. "The doctor's here. Now, go and have some fun."

He didn't even give her a chance to respond. Before she'd even processed his full statement, the phone was beeping in her ear to tell her the call had ended. She took the phone from her ear and immediately swiped over to the text messages, clicking on the chain she had with Killian.

'I hope your brother's ok. Send me updates. Make sure you eat, drink and sleep. Take care of yourself too.'

She hit the send button and placed her phone down then looked over at the Musketeer costume once more. Killian had told her to go, and there wasn't much she could do for him moping around her own apartment.

She'd go, she decided, but she was going to be keeping a close eye on her phone throughout the night.

By the time she got to Mary Margaret's front door, dressed as a Musketeer, she still hadn't received a response from Killian. She couldn't work out if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Was he talking away and laughing with his brother? Or was he having a long, horrible conversation with the doctors about his brother's condition? She wanted an update desperately but she was not able to hound him with text messages demanding one. That would be insensitive.

He would get back to her when he was ready to.

She shoved her phone back in her pocket as the door opened, lifting up the prop musket in her hand.

"All for one and one for all!" Emma exclaimed.

Her eyes fell on Mary Margaret stood in the doorway, wearing her own casual clothes and holding Leo in her arms. The toddler was instantly fascinated by the prop gun, reaching out a hand and grabbing at it.

"Emma?" Mary Margaret said in surprise, staring at her like she didn't quite believe what she was seeing.

"Emma's here?" Ruby sounded just as surprised, jumping up from the couch and running over to the door. She, too, was dressed in her casual clothes.

Emma was confused. Why was she the only one dressed as a Musketeer when, up until recently, she was the only one not going to Liam's party?

"Why aren't you on your way to your date?" Ruby exclaimed.

"It was cancelled," Emma told them. "It's a long story. Why aren't you two ready for the party?"

"You haven't heard?" Mary Margaret asked. "The party's been cancelled. Family emergency. There's all kind of rumors."

Two parties cancelled in one night. Emma couldn't believe her bad luck.