Chapter 4 - Revelations
Killian kept himself busy over the next two nights by staying late in his office, hoping to see Emma in the church again. Tonight, he was thumbing through the Bible, hoping to find some inspiration for his next sermon. When he heard the side door of the church fall shut his heart skipped a beat, expecting to find Emma when he stepped into the sanctuary. Instead, he chased away the stab of disappointment when he saw the sheriff sitting in the first pew staring blankly at the altar. Chastising himself for being so foolish as to expect Emma, he straightened his back and walked slowly towards David. One of his parishioners was clearly in distress of some kind. And he was here to help anyone who needed it.
"Father Jones," David greeted him when Killian slipped into the pew.
"What brings you here in the middle of the night, Sheriff?"
The sheriff stayed silent for a few minutes before he turned his head and let out a long sigh. "Mary Margaret has told me about Perpetual Adoration. How it helps her center herself. I thought I might try it out."
A furrow appeared between David's brow. The intuition Killian had honed over the last years as a priest told him that something heavy was weighing on the sheriff's mind. Maybe the case that bothered Emma had brought him here, but Killian thought it was something else. Being a priest had sharpened his observational skills considerably. He'd seen the glances David shot in Mary Margaret's direction whenever the sheriff thought no one was paying him any attention. What Killian couldn't figure out was why David didn't try to talk to the woman about his feelings. Killian knew about the sheriff's divorce, so he wasn't bound to another woman anymore, at least not in the eyes of the law. Of course, only God could sever the connection between a woman and a man. But Killian knew that sometimes love changed and two people forcing themselves to stay together even if they didn't want to be together any longer wasn't the best course of action, even if the Bible said otherwise.
"The middle of the night might not be the right time for confessions, but if you need to talk I'm here to listen."
"I…" David trailed off, opening and closing his mouth without uttering another word.
"I wasn't always a priest, Sheriff," Killian said when he saw the sheriff struggling with voicing whatever was on his mind. Making himself more human had always done the trick in the past when a parishioner thought their problems were too mundane to tell a priest about. "I once loved a woman. Very deeply."
"What happened?"
"I lost her," Killian replied, feeling the familiar lump form in his throat. Even after all these years, thinking about Milah still cut deep. He knew he had never truly recovered from the loss. But that didn't mean he was the example everyone should follow, at least not in that regard. "There is nothing wrong with finding love more than once in life. If you're lucky to find it twice, you shouldn't throw it away."
"You believe in true love, Father?" David asked, cocking his head to the side. "In that one person that is your other half?"
An image of Emma flitted through his mind and he grit his teeth. "I believe that people are more resilient than they give themselves credit for. I think even after losing one love…" Killian gulped hard, his own emotions in complete turmoil as he tried to find the right words for David. "Aye, I believe you can find it again. I'm just not certain if such a thing as true love exists. One person who is your soulmate."
"But they might exist?"
"They might."
"I think I found her."
"Then what are you waiting for?" Killian asked, pushing the sheriff just a little bit, because how foolish did you need to be to throw away your second chance at love? "Tell her. And if she does feel the same way...never let her go again. No matter what obstacles you might face on your path together."
David stayed silent for a few minutes, the still-present furrow between his brows clearly indicating he was mulling over everything they talked about. But then he suddenly straightened his shoulders and a determined expression settled on his face.
"You're right, Father. Love is always worth fighting for."
"Here you go," Ruby said as she put the frosted pitcher of strawberry margarita on the table.
"Thank God," Emma replied, reaching for the pitcher and pouring herself a big glass.
Leaning back against the couch, she closed her hand around the cold glass, enjoying the contrast of the icy feeling against her palms and the warm blaze of the fire burning in the fireplace against the rest of her exposed skin. Letting out a sigh, she closed her eyes, wiggling her toes and just letting the stress of the last few days slip away. It wasn't always as easy to give herself a break, but a girl's night with great food, great drinks, and great conversation always did the trick.
When she opened her eyes Ruby grinned at her, held up her own glass of margarita and clinked it against hers before taking a huge gulp. Emma turned her head and smiled when she saw Mary Margaret cuddled in the armchair beside the couch, a blanket pulled tight around her as her lips closed around the straw sticking out of her glass.
This was what Emma had looked forward to all week, relaxing with her two best friends without having to be anywhere or having to think of anything serious in the next twelve hours.
Taking another sip of her cocktail, she turned her eyes to Ruby again. "Mulan doing all right?"
Ruby didn't answer her immediately, opting to finish her cocktail off first. Considering that her glass had been half full before she'd put it to her mouth all Emma's internal alarm bells started to ring. Even Ruby's voice sounded strange when she finally answered Emma's question, "Under the circumstances, she's doing okay."
"Why did you just hesitate?" Mary Margaret asked, clearly also picking up on Ruby's evasive answer.
"I didn't hesitate," Ruby exclaimed a little too forcefully, not even making eye contact with either of her friends.
Emma almost snorted a sip of margarita up her nose as she tried to suppress the laugher bubbling up her throat. "You're not fooling anyone here. Spill it."
"I...we…"
Emma took a double-take when Ruby started to stutter. Did her friend actually blush?
"Now I need to know everything," Mary Margaret blurted out, leaning forward in her seat, her eyes shining brightly with anticipation.
"Me too," Emma added, leaning back in the couch again to enjoy the juicy tidbits that would probably come out of Ruby's mouth. Ruby had never disappointed her on that front. Over the past few years, Emma had lived vicariously through some of Ruby's outrageous escapades.
"We had a long night at the diner a few days ago. Mulan was there and we started talking. One thing let to another and…"
"And?" Emma prodded, already knowing where this was going from the red staining her friend's cheeks.
"We might have kissed."
"Oh." Mary Margaret's eyes were round with surprise as she just stared at Ruby, clearly incapable of saying anything more.
"Well," Emma said cautiously, suddenly remembering that her friend was currently involved with someone else. "What about Victor?"
The blush in her friend's cheeks deepened, telling Emma that the next part of Ruby's story would be juicy.
"He caught us in the alley."
"Did he go on a rampage?" Emma asked, knowing that the doctor could be quite temperamental.
"Not quite," Ruby said, taking another huge gulp of her cocktail, her eyes flickering up to meet Emma's for a second before she averted her gaze to her lap again. Emma had never seen her friend so timid. Normally the juicier the story the more animated her friend got. But not this time. This time she put her cocktail glass on the table to buy herself some time before intertwining her fingers so hard that her knuckles turned white.
"Are you all right, hun?" Emma couldn't keep herself from asking, getting worried about the obvious distress Ruby was in.
"Yeah, I'm all right. It's just…" Ruby gulped hard before she straightened her shoulders and looked up again to face her friends. "He actually joined us."
"Wow, I did not see that one coming." Mary Margaret slumped back into her seat with a loud thump.
"Well, me neither," Ruby said sheepishly, a wary expression still lingering on her face.
"That's not all that happened, is it?" Emma asked, knowing there was more since the tension in Ruby's shoulders hadn't even eased a tiny fraction.
"No, we got…" Ruby's face was bright red by now, her voice barely more than a whisper when she said, "We got carried away and…we ended up in bed together. All three of us."
"Oh my goodness," Emma exclaimed, torn between letting out a whoop or shaking her head. Ruby was having sex with two people at once? She clearly needed some time to wrap her mind around that.
"Exactly," Ruby said, most of the tension leaving her shoulders as her mouth curled up into a smile.
"What happens now?" Mary Margaret asked her, a frown appearing between her brows.
"I have no clue. It was...God, it was indescribable. We just clicked. As if we were destined to be together." Ruby put her face in her hands and groaned out loud. "Oh my God, that sounds so corny."
"But you're all happy? You all want this?" Mary Margaret leaned forward, putting her hand on Ruby's in silent support. The last tension left Ruby as she turned her hand around and squeezed Mary Margaret's.
"We haven't really talked about it yet, but we've spent the last three days together. And nights." Ruby practically glowed by now and Emma felt a short jab of envy. But that didn't last long when her friend's eyes zeroed in on her. "But enough about me. Let's focus on someone else."
"My life is boring," Emma told her, leaning forward to fill her glass from the pitcher again. "Nothing to tell."
"So a certain priest isn't tuning your motor yet?"
"Ruby!"
"You're sleeping with our priest?" Mary Margaret blurted out, clear disapproval stamped all over her face. It figured that their school marm of a friend would be scandalized not by her friend involved in a threesome, but by the idea of Emma having sex with a priest.
"No," Emma stated vehemently, shaking her head in emphasis. "I'm not sleeping with the priest. Or anyone."
"But you want to," Ruby said, not even bothering to voice it as a question.
"No, I don't want to jump our priest."
"Liar, liar, pants on fire."
"Emma," Mary Margaret said softly in a concerned voice. "You know that can never happen."
"Of course I know that. Nothing happened between me and the priest, and nothing ever will," she said resolutely, wrapping her fingers tightly around her cocktail glass before deciding that diverting the focus from her would be a great idea. "So what about you and David? Explain to me once again why you two still aren't burning up the sheets together?"
Mary Margaret shot her a disgruntled look, raising the glass to her mouth and mumbling against the rim, "He hasn't asked me out yet."
"Maybe you should put on your big girl panties and make the first move? We're living in the twenty-first century. You're allowed to make your wishes known to the person your heart desires most."
Ruby looked at her suspiciously before eyeing the almost empty pitcher on the couch table. "How much margarita did you have? I can't remember the last time you waxed so poetic."
"Shut up," Emma growled, deliberately slurping up the rest of the drink in her glass, ignoring the dizzy feeling that wrapped around her brain and blurred her thought process.
"Another one?" Ruby asked as she stood up from the couch, swaying just slightly when she leaned forward to snatch the pitcher of the table.
"Yes," Emma and Mary Margaret both shouted with enthusiasm. Emma might end up with one hell of a hangover, but it'd be worth it. This girl's night was definitely turning out to be the best break she could have had from the stressful last few days.
And maybe the copious amounts of alcohol would prevent her from dreaming about a certain priest.
Killian almost let out a scoff when he went into the church an hour later and found another man sitting in the front pew. Must have something to do with the phase of the moon.
The sound of his shoes clicked against the tiles of the center aisle and echoed loudly through the otherwise silent church, but the man didn't startle. He just sent a quick look over his shoulder before returning his gaze to the altar in front of him.
"Father," he said softly when Killian sat down beside him.
"Mr. Locksley," Killian greeted him, opting to not say anything else. In his experience, people always started to talk when they were ready. He was certain that the man had a lot on his mind, considering that he'd appeared out of nowhere with almost all his memories lost. He didn't have to wait long before Robin broke the silence.
"I hope you don't mind me being here," Robin spoke up, his shoulders tensing for a second before he let out a low sigh. "It's just…"
When Robin didn't continue right away, Killian said, "The church is always open for people who seek answers."
"What makes you think I'm seeking answers?"
"Isn't that why you're here?"
"Maybe." Robin shrugged his shoulders, a furrow between his brows as he clearly struggled to put into words what was going through his mind. "I just...you ever thought about why you're here? I mean not herehere. Though in my case that's also a very valid question."
"I always thought that God put me on earth for a reason," Killian replied, remembering how turning to faith had saved him. "I hope that I'm able to help all the people who get lost on their way."
"That's why you become a priest?"
"Aye, one of the reasons."
"I don't belong here, Father. I can feel it in my bones. This...it might sound completely insane, but I don't think this...world is mine."
"Go on," Killian prompted, shifting in the pew so that he was fully facing the man beside him.
"It doesn't feel right," Robin said hesitantly. "Me being here. I feel like I should be somewhere else. That I need to be somewhere else. But still…"
"You're staying with the Mayor, correct?"
"Yeah, I am." Robin shook his head and chuckled softly. "And...she's driving me crazy. How can one single woman be so irritating?"
"Irritating how?"
"She is a perfectionist. Everything has to be done just so. I really think she doesn't want me in her space, but when I told her that I should maybe find other accommodations she nearly jumped down my throat." A small smile pulled Robin's mouth upwards, another chuckle slipping from his lips as he turned his head and looked at Killian. "But sometimes she's different. When she lets herself relax just a little bit, she's a very interesting woman. Irritating most of the times, but also quite...captivating."
Over his time as a priest, Killian had learned to read between the lines to be able to really help the people the way he wanted to. The man sitting beside him clearly showed all the signs of developing feelings for someone, feelings he might not want to have. Considering his situation, denying those feelings might be the wiser choice but not necessarily the right one.
"Sometimes we need to fight our feelings for various reasons. But sometimes, we fight them only because we're afraid to face those feelings." Killian smiled at Robin, watching conflicting emotions flitter over the man's face. "Which kind of fight do you think you're fighting?"
Robin stayed silent for a very long time before he responded, his voice so low that it was barely audible. "The latter."
"Maybe God sent you here for a reason? To find something you didn't even know you were seeking?"
"But I just met her. How can I…" Robin trailed off, a muscle in his jaw jumping as he gritted his teeth. "These feelings can't be true, can they?"
"Only you can answer that particular question," Killian replied, pondering where he should take the conversation. Robin was a stranger in this town, his memories scrambled, his origin unknown. But maybe Killian could help him see the light at the end of the tunnel. "Would it be so wrong to find the good in being here instead of just focusing on the bad?"
"I guess not." Robin pulled his bottom lip between his teeth, before letting out a deep sigh, his eyes meeting Killian's as he asked, "You think I should stop fighting?"
"It's not my decision to make."
Robin stayed frozen for a few seconds, kneading his fingers until he suddenly straightened his shoulders and jumped up.
"I need to go," he said hurriedly, stepping out of the pew. "Thanks for the talk, Father."
"It was my pleasure."
Killian suppressed a smile as he watched Robin hasten towards the exit. He was quite certain that Miss Mills was in for a hell of a surprise tonight. Judging by the determined look on Robin's face when he'd left the church, he was ready to act on his feelings.
When had he become such a matchmaker? If his gut feeling was right, two new relationships might bloom from the conversations he had this night.
Killian ignored the heavy feeling that tried to settle in his stomach when he again realized that he was fighting his own feelings for the right reason. He was a priest. He wasn't allowed to pursue a romantic relationship with a woman no matter how much he wished he could.
Many thanks as always for the favorites, follows and reviews. You all rock!
And about the slow burn ... we're gonna dip our toes into naughty territory at the end of the next chapter. Well, Killian will. :-)