Sorry for the delay with this one. I'm gonna try and aim to update it every other Wednesday instead of every Friday, as Fridays are just too busy for our household at the moment.

I also apologise if there are any mistakes with this one. During my last re-read a massive spider decided to make it's presence known in my house, and I am currently trying to decide how to kill it when it comes out of hiding.

Emma was grateful for Zelena's extensive knowledge of the town, as she made her way over to the large mansion on the outskirts of it. She'd never been to that part of Storybrooke before, but she assumed once she took on the full responsibilities of her new title, it wouldn't take her long to get to know it all.

The mansion Killian had asked her to meet him at was unmissable. Its stately form loomed large in the distance, overlooking the only lake in town. It was clearly a beautiful home, at one point in time, but it was obvious the building was now abandoned. The hedges and lawns were overgrown; most of the windows had been smashed, with some boarded up and others left open to the elements; and there were large cracks in some of the exterior walls.

Emma assumed that Killian had picked it for its remote location and space, rather than its visual appeal.

"Hello?" she called out, as she made her way through one of the rotten doors into what was left of the interior. The ceiling had caved-in at some point in time, but it looked like someone had cleared away the debris from incident. "Killian?"

"To your left," he called out calmly, startling Emma a little.

She turned through the first opening in the direction his voice had originated from, and emerge into a large room that appeared to have survived whatever ills had befallen the rest of the house. There was some furniture inside of the room that was covered in large dust sheets, and pushed against the walls. But the main space was completely free, and in the middle of it all stood Killian, wearing a pair of dark jeans and a black vest.

"Nice place," she teased. "Not terribly romantic though."

"Well you didn't seem to enjoy our first date in the cemetery, so I thought you might appreciate this a little more. I brought candles." He finally turned to look her way and Emma swallowed hard at the sight of that cocky smirk tugging at his lips.

"Thanks. I appreciate that." She dropped her bag down to the floor near the wall, before rocking back on her heels. While she'd been looking forward to the promised training session all day, now that she was stood in front of him, she was suddenly feeling a little nervous.

"Has your watcher found out anything that could be useful for stopping The Master's rising?"

"Not yet. He said The Council can't confirm that The Master exists, which makes it hard to find information on who he is and what he wants." Gold had told her much the same thing when she'd asked about their progress earlier that day. Their lack of information seemed to be frustrating him, just as much as it was her.

"Who he is, is not important. It's what he wants, that is," Killian explained, as he made his way over to where she was stood. "He cannot be allowed to open the Hellmouth. That must be prevented at all costs."

"Well, if you have any tips on how to do that, I'm listening," she quipped. When Killian remained silent for a beat too long, Emma added, "Yeah. I didn't think so. Now… how do you wanna do this?"

He looked a little startled by her words, until he shook his head firmly to clear it and then took a step back to put some distance between the two of them. Emma hadn't realized how close they had been standing until that moment.

"I think hand-to-hand combat is a good place to start, Swan." Killian took another large step back to put himself in the center of the room as he asked, "Have you been in many fights before?"

"Before I moved here? No. Never." She took her own tentative step forward until she was stood just in front of him, as Killian's smile widened.

"Don't look so worried," he teased. "If anyone's gonna end up battered and bruised at the end of this session it'll be me. Not you."

"I think you're severely over-estimating my skills," Emma chuckled.

"I think you're severely under-estimating your skills," he countered.

"Again," Killian commanded, as Emma dropped her hands down to her knees.

"Just give me a minute," she panted.

She thought she'd done pretty well the other evening, protecting her friends and slaying a vampire in the process. But when facing off against a much more skilled fighter like Killian, Emma's lack of experience became obvious.

"You won't have a minute if your opponent is a bloodthirsty vampire. Again."

Emma's eyes narrowed as she raised them to meet his, before she pulled herself back up to her full height, and brought her arms up to protect her face. Killian moved first, darting in closer on the tips of his toes as he lashed out in Emma's direction. But she was able to easily block the hit aimed for her abdomen. The second and third came in quick succession, and she blocked those too. However, when she made her own move to attack him, Killian landed a hard blow to her ribs, before following it up by sweeping her legs out from underneath her.

Again.

Emma landed on her back with a dull thud, and a much louder groan of pain. She was going to have a painful bruise when she woke the next morning.

"You're not thinking this through," he chided.

"What more is there to think about than dodging your fists?" she yelled back at him.

"You need to watch your opponent," he explained, offering his hand to help pull her to her feet. "You need to watch the subtle movements they make. That's what will show you where the next blow is coming from. Watch their stance, see which side they favor. Notice those minute shifts that tell you when they're getting ready to move, and how. Don't let yourself be distracted by their extremities."

"The extremities are more likely to hit me," she snapped back.

"Not if you focus on the attacker, instead of their flying fists. You can judge just how skilled and experienced a vampire is, based on their posture. Now, come on, Swan. And focus this time. You can do this. I know you can. Find that place inside of you that already knows what's it's doing. Use it."

"I'm trying to!"

Emma had thought her instincts would kick in the moment Killian had landed his first blow. But either she hadn't fully found that place yet, or he was far too skilled for her to beat.

"Focus, Emma. It's all in there."

He gave her a moment to calm herself down, taking deep breaths in to center herself, before he moved. The first strike caught her shoulder, but she countered pretty well with two of her own to his gut. In doing so she'd thrown her posture off, which enabled him to catch her across her back, forcing her to double over and into the knee he had waiting to bring up into her chest.

Emma stumbled back from the combination of blows, struggling to keep herself on her feet.

"You're not trying hard enough, Swan."

"I'm doing my best," she growled out, as she rushed at him. While the action itself wasn't terribly well thought out, it did result in her desired outcome, and Killian ended up falling backwards with a hard thud, as she landed on top of him.

But apparently their session wouldn't end there, as he wrapped an arm around her waist to quickly flip them over, and then pinned her hands above her head.

"Seriously?" he asked, as he looked down into her red and slightly sweaty face. By contrast, Killian's breathing wasn't even labored, and he certainly wasn't sweating. "Brute force will only get you so far."

"You pissed me off," she shot back, struggling against his grip.

"And you think vampires out to kill you won't piss you off?" He arched an eyebrow down at her and Emma ceased her struggling to glare up at him. "You need to be prepared for anything, Emma. I'm not saying this to piss you off, I'm saying it because I care. If The Master really is down there, trying to open the Hellmouth, then his follower will be here too. They're old, experienced, strong vampires. You need to be prepared."

"I'm trying," she assured him. "I really am. I'm just… this isn't the kind of person I used to be. It's not easy for me."

"It's not supposed to be easy, Emma. But it should be instinctual. This is inside of you. We've both seen it in action. You need to learn how to access that knowledge when you're not in a life or death situation, because by that point in time, it might be too late."

The look of concern that briefly flashed across his face startled Emma, and it was in that moment that she truly understood Killian's motivation behind everything he'd done since she had arrived in town.

"Who are you?" she whispered, as he relaxed his grip on her hands and turned his head away.

"Just someone who's trying to help. Someone who wants to make amends."

"Why me?" she asked softly.

Killian finally turned his head back to meet her eyes, as he opened his mouth to answer her question.

But the words wouldn't come.

Instead, he closed the distance between the two of them to press his lips softly against her own.

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