Thank you for your continued patience with these updates.

"We probably shouldn't be doing this here," Emma mumbled against Killian's lips. But she didn't let go of the fistful of his shirt she had either.

"Why? Ashamed to be seen with me?" he teased, before bending to steal another kiss.

"Never," she sighed. "But I wasn't sure how public you wanted to make this."

Killian pulled back with a groan, as the PA system announced that Emma's flight was now boarding. "I'm not ashamed of you, Emma. If you want this to stay between us, it will. But I'm not going to pretend that you don't exist in my life."

Emma used her grip on Killian's shirt to yank him back in for another kiss, this time allowing her tongue to slip out to trace his lips.

"You should go," he told her, pulling back only far enough to drop his forehead down onto hers. If they carried on much longer, he wasn't going to let her leave.

And they'd probably be arrested for causing a scene in the airport.

"I wish I didn't have to."

"Me too," he assured her, as he slid his hands down her arms to link their fingers together. "But it won't be for long."

"I'll book my ticket for Chicago as soon as I'm home."

Killian chuckled at Emma's words, before he finally pulled back far enough to look her over from head-to-toe. She was a little pink in places, from being out in the Las Vegas sun. But she looked absolutely stunning in that moment; with her hair a little disheveled from his fingers, and her lips kiss-swollen and flushed from his stubble. "You know, we can see each other away from the conventions, right?" he teased. "Ruby tells me Storybrooke is a good place to escape for a weekend."

"You'd really come to Storybrooke? For me?" she wondered. Nobody had ever made an effort to travel to see her before.

"Of course I would, Emma. I told you… I want to be with you. And, actually being in the same room, together, is a large part of that."

"I've um… I've never been to Vancouver before," she admitted shyly, keeping her focus on their joined hands, between them.

"Then we definitely need to rectify that. Soon."

Killian was just about to pull her in for another kiss, when the sound of Ruby clearing her throat caught their attention.

"I'm really sorry, Guys. But, we have to go, Emma. We're gonna miss this flight if we don't."

Emma let out a frustrated sigh, as she allowed Killian to fold her into his arms once more, before he stepped back and away from her.

"Text me when you land? So I know you're safe?" he asked.

"I will. And you'll message me?"

"I'll call when I'm back home," he promised. "Thanks for coming, Beautiful."

"Thanks for not calling the police and having me thrown out," she chuckled, as he let go of her hands to stoop down and pick up her bag.

"I'll see you soon, Emma."

"I think Killian wants me to visit him in Vancouver," Emma whispered, once they were safely on the plane. She didn't think anyone from the convention would be onboard, but she was also taking no risks. She knew that everyone would think she was crazy if they overheard her talking about him in such a familiar way. And with the fandom being her happy place, Emma didn't want to do anything that would jeopardize that.

"Is that a bad thing?" Ruby asked.

"Not bad," Emma explained, "Just… odd? I mean, our whole relationship so far has revolved around conventions. What if seeing him outside of one kills the magic?"

"Trust me," Ruby scoffed, "There's not much that's gonna kill that magic. If people could spontaneously fuck due to sexual tension, you two would have been doing it all weekend."

Emma laughed a little at her best friend's crude analogy, but it did help her to relax. It was nice to know that the chemistry she'd always imagined them sharing wasn't just in her mind.

"So, you wanna come to Chicago with me?"

"Hell no," Ruby protested. "I'd play less of a third wheel if I had to physically act as one for a tricycle. You're on your own there."

"But, you'll still come to the Vancouver event, right?" Emma worried. "I was planning to meet Regina, Belle, and Ashley there. I figured we could turn it into a girly vacation of sorts?"

"I will gladly join you for a convention where there will be other people for me to slip off, with when you and your boyfriend wanna start getting frisky," Ruby agreed. "But, until that time, I'd rather stay home and lament the lack of a man in my own life."

'I'm so sorry, Ruby. I've been completely insensitive all weekend."

"No, you haven't," she scoffed. "You've been falling in love. And honestly, as your best friend, it's beautiful to see. I'm just having some fun with you, Ems. Lord knows you've needed it recently."

"I'm not sure 'falling in love' is an accurate statement here," Emma protested, as she dropped her gaze down to her fingers, in her lap. She needed to keep her mind as far away from that statement as she possibly could.

"I disagree," Ruby replied quietly. "I think you're both falling for each other. Hard and fast. It's why that whole Neal shit hurt as much as it did. But I don't think either of you are ready to face that word just yet."

"Well, I'll call you if we ever are," Emma laughed, attempting to break the heavy atmosphere that had settled over the two of them.

"You're damned right you will."

"Well…. this is you," Ruby explained needlessly, as she pulled the car to a stop in front of Emma's apartment building. "Do you need any help with your bags?"

"Um… yeah," she sighed. Being back in Storybrooke always seemed to bring on an abrupt end to the magic of a convention weekend. It was probably because Emma couldn't imagine a less magical place than the tiny town she called home.

Ruby put the car into park, before she slid out, to help her friend with the bags that were in the trunk.

"Which one do you need me to grab?" she asked, peering down at the space. Emma only had two bags in there, and Ruby knew for a fact that her friend could easily manage them both.

"The big red one."

"Uh… the big red one's mine." Ruby turned worried eyes up to her friend.

"I know," Emma replied slowly. "I thought you were hinting you'd like to move in? Or did I read that completely wrong?"

"Holy shit, Ems. Are you serious?"

"Of course I am. It's like you said… I have a spare room. I'm on my own now, without Neal. And you wanna get out of Granny's. This is the perfect way to do that."

"I will be the best roommate you've ever had," Ruby promised, pulling Emma in for a tight hug.

"Well, you can't be much worse than the last one I had," she giggled. "Now, can we get inside? It's freezing out here."

While Ruby settled into the spare room, already making plans to put her own shine on it, Emma headed into her office, to check her messages. Thankfully David was always great at taking care of the station for her, while she was gone. But the mayor refused to deal with a deputy, so Emma wouldn't have been surprised to have found messages from him in her inbox.

While she was waiting for it to load, she decided to check Twitter, to see what her fandom friends were saying about the convention weekend.

"Whatcha doing?" Ruby asked, poking her head around the doorframe.

"Checking Twitter," Emma answered. "I thought you were unpacking."

"I didn't pack much to begin with." Ruby made her way around the desk for a better view of Emma's computer screen, on the other side. "What's this?" she asked, fingering the large Manilla envelope that was open to the side of the keyboard.

"My collection of photo ops."

"Why don't you frame them?" Ruby slid the pictures out of the envelope to flick through each one. She'd seen most of them before, but a couple were new to her.

She'd be willing to bet a large chunk of her tips, for that week, that the convention photographer suspected there was something going on between Emma and Killian, from the looks of Emma's collection of photo ops. Neither of them were exactly subtle in the way they looked at each other.

Emma lifted her head, to offer some kind of argument as to why they couldn't be framed, when she realised that with Neal now gone, she had none. There was nothing stopping her from framing each of her pictures to hang on her wall.

"Huh. I guess I could?"

"They'd look fab stretching down the length of the hall," Ruby added. "I could get some frames tomorrow when I'm on my lunch break?"

"Sure," Emma agreed. "Just make sure you get enough for yours too."

Ruby turned her attention back to Emma's screen, as her friend scrolled down her Twitter feed, too fast to really make out what had been written.

Emma only paused when she hit a retweet of one of Killian's own messages.

"Holy shit," her friend gasped. "That's you."

She clicked to enlarge the image on her screen, still not quite sure she could believe her own eyes.

But Ruby was right.

Killian had tweeted the message, Thanks for a wonderful weekend, Vegas. We enjoyed making new memories, and had added a picture of her to it.

"Did you know about this?" Ruby asked, already suspecting Emma's reply would be a no, given how intently her friend was staring at the image on the screen.

"He never said anything."

"What are the comments under the picture?" she pressed, reaching for Emma's mouse.

"I don't think I wanna know," Emma replied, pushing away from the desk. "They're gonna hate me. Oh God… I'll never be able to go to another con again."

"That's a little bit of an overreaction there, Ems."

When Emma didn't look convinced, Ruby continued, "Nobody knows it's you. You're not even looking at the camera, and half of your face is covered by your sunglasses."

Emma didn't look like she believed her friend. But, she stayed in the room, as Ruby slid down into the now-vacant seat, to scroll through the replies.

"Okay… most of the comments want to know who you are," she reported back. "Lots of, 'Is she your girlfriend?' questions. Some people replied saying that Killian had hinted at having a girlfriend over the weekend, during his panel. A few wanna know if you got married, in secret, while in Vegas. Some say you're very beautiful." Emma scoffed at that one, but Ruby simply cocked a brow in her direction. "If you don't believe me, come and see for yourself?" she challenged, as she continued scrolling down through the feed. When she was finished, she turned the screen round to face Emma. "I'm not gonna lie… there are a few nasty comments. But I read their Twitter feed, and they're just jealous that this means their own chance with Killian is probably now gone. You know… not that they ever really had one to begin with. Most are curious about your relationship to him, and the others are quite complimentary. But nobody knows it's you."

"You're sure?"

"Absolutely," Ruby reassured her. "Most just wanna know whether you're related to him, or fucking him. I bet they wouldn't believe the answer is neither."

"Shut up," Emma chuckled, turning on her heels to leave the room. "Don't make me regret asking you to move in here."

"Like you regret turning down the opportunity to fuck him?" Ruby teased.

Emma shut herself away in her bedroom for the night, with her phone sat beside her on the bed, as she waited for Killian's call. She was only mildly ashamed to admit that she'd checked his flight details online, to make sure that nothing happened to the plane. Or that he wasn't planning to forget about her, once he'd returned to Vancouver.

Her nerves kicked in as soon as her phone told her that his flight had landed.

They picked up a gear when her phone told her an hour had passed since then. But she told herself that Killian was probably busy grabbing some food, and maybe even unpacking.

Her heart began to sink when ninety minutes, without any contact from him at all, had passed.

Surely it didn't take that long to get to his place, from the airport?

She unlocked her phone numerous times to check the call settings, and to bring up their Messenger exchange. She even made it as far as typing out a quick message to him, asking how his flight was.

But she never sent it.

When two hours had passed without any sign of contact, Emma gave up, deciding instead to take a shower before heading to bed. With David having covered her weekend in Vegas, she had promised to take the early shift, so he could spend some time at home with Mary-Margret and Leo.

And the more time Emma spent staring at her phone, the more she wanted to throw it at the wall.

Or cry.

Is it just a British thing or do all regular convention goers turn their halls into the "Wall of Fame?"

Thanks for reading.