Apologies in advance for any mistakes here. I couldn't stop tinkering.

I'm coming to New Jersey.

Emma stared hard at the short sentence she'd typed into her phone.

The convention in New Jersey was less than a week away, and yet, she still couldn't bring herself to send the damned message. Killian hadn't sent any more since that night and Emma found that she actually missed them. It was crazy how fast she'd come to miss something that until, a few weeks ago, she'd never even had before.

The first time she'd typed out the message, she'd been finishing a late night at the station and had come home to find a note from Neal on the kitchen table that simply read, 'Don't wait up.' It was past midnight, and Emma knew that her friends would already be in bed. She had been lonely, and she'd wanted someone to talk to.

But she couldn't bring herself to hit the send button.

The last thing she wanted to do was come across as desperate. Especially with the second convention booked.

The second time she'd typed out the message had been just after the next episode of Fairytales had aired. Killian hadn't tweeted about it, so Emma found herself discussing it with her fandom friends, on Twitter.

She'd just finished psyching herself up to hit send when one of her friends, had sent her a link to a popular Tumblr page that showed Killian was busy on set, filming.

Emma had deleted the message, telling herself that she didn't want to interrupt him while he was working.

This time, she couldn't really explain why she had been sat staring at the message for so long. There was nothing stopping her from hitting send, except for herself.

"Do you have Killian Jones's nudes there?"

Emma jumped a little in shock, not expecting the interruption.

"Ruby, what the hell?" she asked, spinning round in her seat to see her best friend stood in the doorway to her office.

"Sorry. I was just bringing you lunch," Ruby placated, setting a bag of takeout from Granny's down on Emma's desk. "But seriously, what the hell are you staring at?" She tried peeking over the edge of Emma's desk to get a look at her phone, but Emma pulled it away, hurrying to lock it.

And that's when she saw it.

"No. No, no, no, no, no!"

"What? What the hell is going on?" Ruby demanded.

"How do I unsend a message?" Emma's fingers were flying over her screen, without really achieving anything.

"You can't. Once they're sent, they're sent. Did you finally tell Neal to get lost?" Ruby took a seat on the edge of the desk, looking like she didn't have a care in the world.

Unlike Emma, whose world was currently crashing down around her.

"Ruby! You're really not helping," she snapped.

"Okay. What's going on, Emma?"

Emma found herself shrinking under her best friend's gaze. She had been hoping to keep this side of her friendship with Killian a secret. But she'd be lying if she said a part of herself wasn't desperate to tell someone about it.

"I just accidentally messaged Killian Jones," she sighed, flopping back in her seat and hanging her head.

"Okay… how?" was Ruby's first question.

"Well, I'd typed out a message to send to him, but I wasn't really gonna send it. Then, when you surprised me, I must have accidentally hit send. And now I can't unsend it," she rambled.

"I'm still completely lost here, Emma. How are you messaging him? Do you have his number? Did he give you his number?" Ruby's voice shot up in tone and Emma cringed a little.

"No. Nothing like that. He messaged me."

"He messaged you? Again. How? Stop leaving out half the story," Ruby ordered.

"He found me on Facebook," Emma mumbled. "He messaged me not long after the con, and I didn't really believe it was him."

"So, how did he prove it was?"

Emma sighed and fiddled with her phone to bring up the picture Killian had sent her. She'd saved it to the handset, buried amongst pictures of random items in case Neal decided to snoop through it.

"Holy shit," Ruby gasped, her eyes widening as she took in the image. "Yeah. That's pretty convincing. I'm just gonna forward this to myself."

Emma practically vaulted her desk to get to Ruby, but both women froze when the phone in her hand beeped, signalling an incoming message.

"Who's John K Jones?" she asked. When Emma didn't answer, realisation struck her instantly. "Oh my god. He replied." Ruby looked just as shocked as Emma did, in that moment.

"What? Gimme my phone," she demanded, snatching it out of her best friend's hands. With her own fingers trembling, she pulled up the messenger app and opened their chat.

You are?

That's a nice surprise.

Isn't New Jersey a little far away?

Emma dropped back down into her seat; a small smile working it's way over her face.

"I'm gonna leave you to your lunch. But I wanna hear all about this later." Ruby pressed a kiss to Emma's forehead before she left the station, leaving Emma alone with her phone.

Emma mumbled, "bye," before turning her attention straight back to the screen in her hands.

A little.

Guess I just had THAT good of a time in Boston.

I know that feeling.

So, how many photo ops have you booked this time?

Emma blushed in her chair, even though she knew Killian would never see her. When she'd booked them, it had seemed like a good idea.

Um.

Maybe three?

Are you asking me or telling me that?

How did he still have the ability to make her act like a fangirl from hundreds of miles away?

They seemed like a good idea at the time.

Hey! I'm not complaining.

You need to come up with some different pose ideas this time, though. Or your photos are all going to be hugging me!

I have no problem with that.

Don't you want something a little more exciting?

Maybe you should come up with something.

Emma was so lost in her conversation that she didn't even realise David had returned from his lunch break.

"Someone's happy today. Neal done something nice for you?"

Emma's head snapped up to watch David take a seat at his own desk, before she shook it, to clear it slightly.

"Um, no. It's not Neal. I was just reading." She really hoped she wasn't blushing as much as she thought she was.

"Ugh. It's not filthy is it? Mary-Margret's been reading all this erotica recently, wanting to recreate her favourite scenes."

That definitely wiped the smile off Emma's face. As much as she loved David and Mary-Margret, they were more like her siblings than her friends.

"Eww. Gross. Please never let us talk about your sex life again."

David chuckled but quickly agreed, before he let the subject drop, in favour of finishing the rest of his paperwork.

Emma looked back down at her phone just in time to see one last message flash across the screen from Killian.

If you recall, I believe I already have ;-)

As the weekend drew closer, Emma's nerves were starting to get the better of her.

And they were starting to get to Ruby too.

After three late night calls from Emma, asking various questions from, 'what if he doesn't recognise me?' to, 'what if Neal finds out where I'm going?' she'd finally started turning her phone off every evening.

The morning of her flight, Emma woke to an empty apartment. Neal hadn't even bothered leaving a note before he left, which just made her resolve to enjoy her weekend even stronger.

Ruby had offered to pick her up and drive her to the airport, before carrying on to the cabin for the weekend, and Emma was grateful for that. She was going to miss having her friend for moral support.

"Excited?" Ruby asked, as they merged onto the highway.

"Excited. Terrified. Nauseous. You name it, I feel it."

"You'll be fine, Ems. He likes you. Really likes you," Ruby soothed.

"That's not exactly helping me right now."

"Why not? Look, I know you love Neal. For some reason none of us can really understand, you see something in him. But, Killian Jones likes you, Emma. And even though you've only spent a handful of minutes around him, he treats you far better than that jackass ever has. So, if something happens this weekend, don't feel guilty about it."

Emma didn't reply, instead she chose to focus on watching the familiar Maine roads pass by. Ruby didn't have anything to worry about anyway. Killian Jones had been polite to her so far, but Emma was under no illusions about his intentions towards her. He could have any woman he wanted. He was just using Emma for a distraction while he was working.

"Are you sure you're gonna be okay going alone?" Ruby finally asked, breaking the silence in the car as she pulled up to the airport.

"I'll be fine," Emma assured her. "I'll call whenever I can."

She leaned over to give Ruby a hug, before she opened the car door and slid out, looking much more comfortable than she felt inside. Emma took her time grabbing her luggage, before finally working up the courage to head into the airport alone.

The flight to New Jersey went a lot smoother than Emma could have asked for. It helped to calm her nerves, along with the Diet Cola and rum she'd ordered before boarding.

She'd booked the Marriot hotel once more this time, but her reasons for doing so weren't quite as pure as they had been the first time. While the convention hotel still had rooms available, Emma had opted for the Marriot, hoping that maybe, just maybe, Killian would be booked into it again too. She knew it was a long shot, but it was one she was more than willing to take.

After checking in, and texting Ruby, she decided to take a bath to try and help calm her nerves and prepare her for the weekend. She scrubbed, buffed, shaved, plucked and moisturised everything, before finally leaving the bathroom feeling pampered and relaxed.

With nothing else left to do, and nervous energy racing through her veins, Emma decided to make the walk over to the convention hotel and register. It would save her a job in the morning, and give her the chance to time her journey. She also hoped it would help her calm down enough to sleep that night.

Thankfully, the walk to the convention hotel was both quick and simple, and she soon found herself once more in a room full of Fairytales fans, waiting to collect her pass and tickets. Emma missed Ruby more than ever at that moment. While she wouldn't call herself particularly shy, striking up conversation with the people around her seemed like an incredibly daunting task. One her bubbly best friend would have excelled at.

Fortunately for Emma, the woman stood in front of her in line had no issues with making conversation. Emma was surprised to learn that Ashley was also going to be her seat-buddy for the duration of the event, which gave the two women more to bond over. Ashley even hung behind, after registering, to wait for Emma to finish.

"Do you fancy getting something to eat?" she asked, as Emma was busy tucking her precious photo op and autograph vouchers into her bag.

"I could definitely eat," Emma agreed, her tummy beginning to grumble at the lack of food. She'd been too nervous to eat for most of the day.

"So, where have you come from?" Ashley asked, while they waited for a server to take their orders.

"Um… Maine," Emma replied, a little sheepishly.

"Wow. Long way to come for the convention. Could you not get tickets to the Boston one?"

"Oh, I went to that one too," she admitted. "Guess I just had so much fun I couldn't stay away."

"Well then, I hope we have just as good of a weekend this time." Ashley smiled as the server placed their drinks in front of them. She waited until they were alone once more before she asked, "So, did you get the chance to meet Killian Jones last time?"

"Oh yeah," Emma sighed, her mind already filling with images from that weekend.

"Is he uglier in person?" she wondered.

"Worse," Emma confessed, "He's even better looking in person."

Thanks for reading.