Emma currently found herself standing outside the airport, suitcase in hand, feeling oddly refreshed after her in-flight nap. Her only dilemma would be to find Killian in this city. Sure it was smaller than New York, but she'd also found Will completely by accident. She didn't know the first thing about this Killian guy except that death wanted him, well, dead. She doubted he'd actually be going by that name even, but it was worth a shot, maybe she could find some information on him.
But tracking people down was really more of Ruby's thing, definitely not Emma's forte as she was always the one to actually catch anyone. Where better to start than Google? Emma shrugged to herself as she stepped off the curb, catching the bus to get her rental. She pulled out her phone and tapped away at the screen, hoping something would come up.
Which did happen, with a bit of searching. She found a news article dated May 23rd 2014. She quickly scanned through it, finding his name buried within it. The article seemed to be from a cruise line announcing their new ship and stating that Killian would be the captain of the ship. It wasn't really detailed, but it did feature a nice posed photo of a rugged man in his 30s if she had to guess. His five o'clock shadow had grown into becoming more like a ten o'clock shadow, complimenting his use of thick black eye liner and pierced ear. He seemed more of a biker than a ship's captain, but to each their own right?
It wasn't much but it was something. Maybe this was the right Killian, and maybe he still worked for this same company. Houston she supposed would be accurate as it was a port city. Now to find out if he was still the captain of that ship.
Emma pulled up a new tab, thinking to check Facebook, maybe he'd be on there and have some more information. She had a picture, now she just needed to match it, and hopefully he'd be there. It wasn't like he was too ancient, okay, well maybe he was, he had eluded death for an unknown length of time. Long enough at least to make it on death's most wanted.
She smiled to herself as she realized that maybe renting a car wouldn't help her as much as booking a cruise. The bus had pulled to a stop outside the rental place and had pulled Emma from her search temporarily. As she disembarked she decided having a car ready may not be such a bad idea as she didn't know when she'd be leaving exactly, or even if the cruise would be soon enough – if he was even still the captain of that particular ship.
She made the decision a couple days couldn't hurt, she still had research to do on this Killian guy and would need some way to get around until her research was done. Emma had never been one to enjoy the helpless feeling that came without having any mobility. Relying on others was not something she liked, it spoke back to the darker days of her life where she felt entirely helpless following the accident.
Gripping the keys tightly in her hand, Emma walked back out of the building and into the blinding sunlight. She raised her hand holding the keys to block out the sunlight, blinking rapidly and squinting. "Now to go find this thing" she muttered under her breath and stepped off the sidewalk out into the lot in search of her vehicle.
Thankfully it wasn't too hard to find the black BMW coupe she had rented for the remainder of the week. She would at least drive in style while she could. Loading her suitcase into the small trunk, she thought longingly of her yellow bug, still back in Boston, and almost felt as though she was betraying it for a moment. Emma slid into the driver's seat and ran her hands along the steering wheel, enjoying the feel of luxury for a few moments before starting it with the push-button it was equipped with. That would take some getting used to she thought before pulling out into the street. Now to find her hotel, once more. Emma laughed to herself as she thought about how funny it would be if she happened to run into a certain brunette again. She really would have to accuse her of stalking then! But that also seemed to be how Emma's week was going, what with running into Regina all over the place. The flight was yet another weird coincidence, though Emma could only hope that would be it.
She pulled up to the hotel, one of those luxury ones, something Emma had never been able to even walk into growing up, and found herself anxious as she stepped up to the counter. She had to laugh at herself though as she was able to afford this place, but her nerves were still on edge as though she'd be accused of stealing something and asked to leave.
The old woman behind the counter gave her a gentle, reassuring smile as Emma began to nervously, ask after a room. She'd managed to book it online, though that didn't help, she could only imagine the woman questioning where she'd managed to steal the credit card from, and paying extra close attention to all the details, just in case there would be any crimes later.
Emma didn't think she looked like a common thief, but she did feel extremely out of place here. If her family had managed to afford vacations before, which was hardly ever, they never managed to stay at a hotel and instead ended up couch surfing for a weekend if that. She remembers one time they took a trip to the beach a couple hours away and ended up sleeping in the car that night simply because they wanted to stay an extra day but couldn't afford a hotel or the money for the extra trip out if they drove home.
Emma smiled as she realized she could now help out her aunt who had helped her so much growing up and tried to give her everything she possibly could. It was Emma's turn to give back now. Just the thought of giving her aunt some solace left her with a smile that she realized probably seemed out of place to the other woman as she was snapped from her thoughts with a clearing of the throat. Emma looked down to see the room keys had been placed on the counter in front of her and the kindly old woman was still smiling at her.
"Is there anything else I can help you with dear?"
"Uh, no, I think I'm just gonna go to my room for now. Thanks."
"Alright, well, if you change your mind, I'll be here all night."
Emma grabbed her keys and turned from the counter, looking for the elevators. She looked down at the paper envelope holding her keys and noticed it said she was in room 815. Looking back up as she continued walking towards the elevators (of course they were on the other side of the lobby and down the hall a bit, because why them near the doors where it would be convenient she mused to herself) she spied the brunette from earlier and let out a shocked "Seriously?"
Emma realized she must have said that louder than she had first thought as Regina looked up and locked eyes with her. "Now dear, I must be the one to accuse you of stalking me."
Emma blushed slightly and looked down. "Not like I'm trying to."
A disbelieving "If you insist" was all that followed from the brunette and Emma took that as her cue to keep moving when she looked back down at the newspaper she held in her hands.