Thanks for sticking with this story.
The Friday of the event was rather relaxing for Emma. Ashley had agreed to meet with her for coffee before the afternoon's activities began and the two enjoyed a light lunch before heading for the main hall. Emma found herself enjoying the panels, laughing along at the behind-the-scenes antics the supporting cast were more than happy to discuss.
When the day's panels had finished, Ashley pulled her aside before they could leave. "I'm not really a karaoke kind of person," she admitted.
"Oh thank god, me either," Emma chuckled. "Fancy grabbing some dinner instead?"
"Definitely. If you're up for it, we could pop to the cinema too? Maybe see the new Marvel movie?" Ashley suggested.
"I would love that."
Emma spent the rest of her first full day in New Jersey enjoying the latest Avengers movie with Ashley, while the two of them bonded over their shared love for Killian Jones and Sebastian Stan.
Waking up Saturday morning was a whole other issue.
Emma was starting to regret not bringing Ruby along with her, for the simple fact that she had absolutely no idea what to wear for the day. She'd packed a number of different outfits for the weekend and now the choice seemed too vast.
She even tried calling Ruby for some advice, but the call wouldn't connect. Getting service up at the cabin was always difficult.
In the end, she settled on a pair of dark jeans, a red sweater and her black leather jacket. She thought she looked pretty good, she just hoped that Killian would feel the same way.
Ashley was waiting for her again outside the panel room, with a coffee in each hand. "Wow, Emma. You look great," she complimented, handing one of the cups over.
"Thanks. So do you," Emma returned, taking in Ashley's dress for the day. Now she wished she'd picked the dress she'd packed instead.
"I'm a little nervous," Ashley confessed. "I don't wanna puke all over his feet."
"Trust me, I know exactly how you feel. I think I'm even more nervous this time than I was the last," Emma sighed, resting her back against the wall behind her.
The two women stood in silence while they waited for the panel room to open, both stuck in their own heads, picturing the worst-case scenario for what would follow that day. Thankfully, it didn't take too long for the doors to open, and they were soon busy finding their seats, and settling in for the morning.
"He's on first, right?" Ashley asked, glancing around the half-empty room nervously.
"Yeah. Gold panel bonus," Emma chuckled. "It's worth the price increase for his accent alone."
"Don't tell me that's sexier in person than it is in YouTube videos."
Emma simply nodded her head as Ashley groaned in frustration next to her.
It didn't take long for the rest of the gold patrons to fill their seats, and before Emma knew it, the MC was taking to the stage.
"I'm not ready for this," she whispered. Ashley shot her a sympathetic look but didn't say anything. Her attention was already fully focused on the stage and the one empty seat, waiting to be filled.
When the MC finally announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Killian Jones," Emma drew in a deep breath and held it.
A loud cheer went around the room as Killian made his way out on to the stage, looking as gorgeous as ever in a pair of simple jeans, a red and white plaid shirt, a black jacket, and a pair of black Converse.
"I'm so fucking screwed," Emma whispered to herself, the words lost in the noise of the room.
He took a moment to set his coffee down, remove his jacket and drape it over the back of his stool, before he turned his attention to the crowd gathered in front him.
"Good morning," he smiled, and Emma listened as Ashley's breath hitched beside her.
Killian picked his coffee back up, and took his seat on stage, as he scanned the crowd. "How is everyone this morning?" he asked, and the crowd grumbled out a mixture of replies. "Karaoke party that good huh?"
Emma's own breath caught in her chest when his eyes finally landed on her, and widened ever so slightly. The corners of his lips quirked up into a small smile, before he pulled his gaze away, and turned to the people gathered at the side of the room waiting to fire off their questions.
The entire moment lasted no longer than a second, but Emma couldn't shake the feeling it gave her for the rest of his panel.
"Wow. I'm not sure I'm gonna survive an up-close meeting with him," Ashley sighed, when Killian had left the stage.
"He's so beautiful," Emma agreed. "I think I forgot how beautiful he was. Is that even possible?"
"Totally," Ashley nodded, standing up and stretching out her limbs. "I'm gonna run to the bathroom quick. Do you mind watching my bag?"
"Of course not."
Ashley had booked more photo ops for the weekend than Emma had, so while her friend was off, having them taken, Emma decided to message Ruby and try calling Neal.
Neal was not in a particularly chatty mood. Emma could hear the distinct sounds of the Rabbit Hole in the background and she knew that calling him later that evening wouldn't be possible. By that time, he'd already be too drunk to answer his phone.
Thankfully, Ashley was never far away for too long, which meant Emma wasn't left alone with her own thoughts for too long.
Killian's photo ops had been scheduled for after the lunch break, but neither Ashley nor Emma could face the thought of food. Both were far too nervous to even look at it, and instead opted to find a place to sit outside, in the sun.
"How many photo ops do you have with him?" Ashley asked, picking at the grass she was sat on.
"Um… three," Emma admitted, a little sheepishly.
"Nice." She looked up at Ashley's tone and smiled. "Trust me, if I were creative enough to think up poses for three, I'd have brought more."
"Shit. I haven't even thought of that," Emma admitted. Her mind had lingered a little over Killian's handcuff suggestion, and she'd quickly stuffed them into the inside of her jacket when she was dressing that morning. But she wasn't sure she had the balls to actually suggest using them.
"Well, three hugs would be good enough, to be fair. At least you'd get longer in his arms."
"Yeah," Emma sighed, dropping back down to lay on the field they'd chosen to rest in. Images of the last time he'd had his arms around her flashed through her mind.
"Okay… this is torture," Ashley laughed, a little hysterically, as the line for Killian's photo op crawled forward.
"Cruel and unusual torture," Emma agreed. She'd done her best to make sure they were the end of the line, just in case Killian remembered her in person, so the wait for his photo op was taking far longer than any of Ashley's others that day.
"At least we get the responsibility of leaving a lasting impression," Ashley pointed out.
"Oh God, now I wish we'd been first."
Emma's foot tapped restlessly as the line moved closer and closer to the area that had been set up for photo ops. When she was finally in sight of Killian, her breath caught in her throat once more.
He really was so beautiful in person.
She watched with Ashley as he spoke briefly with each person in line, before happily agreeing to their hugs, or poses for the photos.
There was one moment where he stopped to take a quick drink from the bottle of water that had been sat on the floor for him. Emma wasn't ashamed to admit that she wasn't the only person in the room who groaned in frustration when he bent over to pick it up.
Finally, after what seemed like months of waiting, Ashley was ushered in for her picture. Emma watched as she smiled shyly up at Killian, and allowed him to pull her in for a hug, before she made her way out of the room, looking just as dazed as everyone else had been before her.
When the volunteer gave Emma a gentle nudge in his direction, she took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and made her way forward.
"Emma, hi," he beamed, as she got close enough to hear him over the music. "Three this time, right?"
"Yeah," she croaked out, still a little shocked that he'd remembered.
Killian pulled her into his arms for the first one; a hug that was much tighter than any of the other women had gotten. When the flash went off he leaned down to whisper, "Still didn't quite believe it was me, huh?"
This time, Emma was the one laughing a little manically. "The picture you sent was quite convincing," she reassured him.
"So, did you bring them?" he asked, his eyes lighting up with the familiar mischief she often saw on Hook's face every Sunday evening.
"Bring what?"
"Well, the handcuffs, of course," he teased.
"Um…" The words Emma had been looking for were yes, what would you like to do with them? Instead, what came out was, "Am I doing you or are you doing me?"
"Well, for the right person I'd be happy to switch."
And of course, he felt the need to punctuate that statement with a wink.
Emma willed her legs to keep her upright as she fished inside of her jacket pocket for the cuff's she'd stored there earlier in the day, and held them up between the two of them, dangling from her index finger.
"You know what, I think this works," he told her. "Hold that." He turned back to face the photographer once more. Emma wasn't quite sure what was going on, but she saw the flash of the camera, telling her that her second picture had been taken.
"So, if I put these on, are they gonna come off?" he asked, taking the cuffs from her.
"Yeah," she croaked out. "I have the key with me."
"Excellent."
Emma had never seen a man so excited to slap a pair of handcuffs on himself before. She watched as he fitted them loosely to each wrist, before looping his arms around her once more, and pulling her back into his chest. He gave a slight nod to the photographer and Emma hoped like hell that she'd remembered to smile.
"Thank you for that. It's not every day a guy gets to experience being cuffed by an actual law enforcement officer." He beamed down at her, as he held his arms out in front of his body. It took Emma a beat longer than it should have to realise he wanted her to remove the cuffs for him. She did so with barely shaking hands, which she was actually rather proud of, before slipping them back into her pocket.
"Shall we?" Killian asked, snagging his water bottle from the floor and gesturing with his arm towards the doors leading out of the room. Emma had completely forgotten she was the last in the queue.
"Sure," she agreed, nodding her head and instantly regretting it. She probably looked like an idiot.
Killian waited until they were out of earshot of anyone else, his handler keeping a respectable distance, before he leaned down a little to whisper, "You look great today."
The words caught Emma off guard and she stumbled slightly. The only thing that stopped her crashing into the floor was Killian's arm as it shot out to wrap around her waist.
"Thanks," she mumbled, her cheeks already flaming.
"No worries." He pulled the door open for her to exit through first and she had never been so disappointed to see Ashley, who had been leaning against the wall, waiting for her.
"Oh my God, he's really pretty," Ashley sighed, moving to Emma's side.
"Thanks," Killian laughed from behind them both, making Ashley jump and squeal a little in surprised embarrassment. "See you later." He winked again for effect and Ashley's knees buckled a little too.
Emma was relieved to know it wasn't just her he had that effect on.
"Oh God, how am I ever gonna face him again?" Ashley wondered, as Emma guided the two of them to the bar on autopilot. They were both in need of a stiff drink.
It was only when they were sat round a small table, a glass of Diet Cola and rum in front of themselves, that Ashley finally asked, "You kinda took a while in there. Did everything go okay?"
"Yeah…" Emma trailed off, her mind racing as it tried to come up with some kind of plausible excuse for her delay. "The camera malfunctioned."
She had a feeling she was going to be using that excuse quite a lot at conventions in the future.
Thanks for reading.
For those asking, yes – I am exactly like Emma every time I'm at a convention. It leads to some interesting interactions!