Title: Love & Lies

Author: Steph aka CaptainSwanLuver

Rating: PG-13

Pairing: Killian/Emma

Characters: Killian, Emma, August, Belle, Robin, Gold, Regina

Category: Romance/Drama/Humor

Disclaimer: I do this out of a love for this couple. No infringement is intended.

Spoilers: Nope!

Summary: Emma Swan is the star of the failing soap "Love & Lies". Killian Jones is the star of their rival soap. In order to raise ratings, Killian is hired to star on Emma's soap. They immediately clash. Will sparks fly too?

Note: Thanks for the responses to the last part! Hope you enjoy this part! ~Steph

…Love & Lies: Part 6/11…

The following day, Emma knocked on August's dressing room door. He answered it on the second knock.

"I knew it was you," he said flatly, as she walked inside and he shut the door behind her.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I know I screwed up last night. I was just so surprised about winning that I wasn't thinking."

August shook his head. "Do you have any idea how it felt sitting in that audience having to watch you hug Killian and thank everyone under the sun without a mention of me?"

"I'm sure it felt awful," she replied softly.

"If it had been me, Emma, up on that stage, you would have been the first person I thanked. You would have been the one person I would have made sure to acknowledge."

"You have to know it wasn't intentional."

"I do know that. But it speaks volumes about what I mean to you. Or, rather, how little I mean to you."

Emma sighed, as tears began to fill her eyes. August was a good man who had been nothing but loving towards her. He didn't deserve to be constantly made to feel unimportant.

Emma stepped forward and took his hands in hers. "I don't know what else to say except I'm sorry. You mean a lot to me and I am so sorry I ever made you feel otherwise."

August sighed heavily. He could see the regret in her eyes. "I am happy for you, Emma. That win was a long time coming. You deserved it. I am really proud of you."

"Thank you," she said. "Can we please try to put this behind us?"

August slowly nodded. "Okay."

…

Emma stared at her award, which she had placed on her make-up table. She still couldn't believe she had finally won an Emmy.

"Still basking in the glow of your win?" she heard come from behind her.

Emma looked up and into the mirror. She saw Killian's reflection staring back at her. After their almost kiss in the elevator, she had avoided him the rest of the evening. The truth was, she had wanted to kiss him and, if the doors hadn't opened, she would have. She was grateful things had happened the way they did though. She had hurt August enough last night. She wasn't sure she could live with herself if she betrayed him too.

She spun around and faced Killian. Last night, she had opened herself up to him. She had told him things that no one else knew. She had surprised herself with how open and honest she had been with him. But what surprised her even more was that she didn't regret it.

She stood up and walked towards him. "It still doesn't feel real."

"Would you like me to pinch you, love?" he asked, bringing his hand up to caress her bare arm.

Goosebumps immediately appeared on her skin at his touch. Emma took a step back, moving out of his reach. "We need to talk about last night."

"I see. You regret opening up to me," he replied with a heavy sigh,

Emma shook her head. "No, I don't. I'm glad I told you about my past."

Killian arched his brow in surprise. "I understand you better now, Emma. I can see how you became the woman you are today. You're strong and tough, but you're afraid of losing everything. So you get defensive and you lash out at what you deem a threat. I was a threat."

"I don't see you as one anymore," she said. Her voice softened. "But that kiss we almost shared…it was a mistake. We got caught up in the moment and we got carried away. Nothing like that can ever happen again."

Killian took a step closer to her. "You wanted to kiss me as much as I wanted to kiss you last night, Emma. We didn't get caught up in anything. It almost happened because we wanted it to and the only reason it didn't is because those doors opened."

"It doesn't matter, Killian," she said with as much conviction as she could muster. "It was wrong. I am with August and I hurt him enough last night."

"Emma, a couple of weeks ago, you were ready to break up with him. You wanted to be with me."

"And you said you couldn't be with someone you knew would break your heart."

"That's right. I didn't think you were capable of letting me in, of opening up to me. But you did last night. You allowed me to see the true you. You said you didn't regret that."

"I don't."

"Then what am I missing? It's clear to me that August isn't the right man for you. You don't love him," he said, trying and failing to keep the frustration out of his voice.

"But he loves me. And I know he'll never break my heart," she replied softly.

"You can't break something you don't have," Killian whispered, his eyes focused on hers.

"I gave my heart when I was sixteen years old and the person I gave it to broke it into a million pieces," she said, her voice emerging shakily.

"You gave it to the wrong person, Emma."

She nodded. "I did. And I swore I would never put myself in that position again."

"August is safe and he is dependable, but that's what you look for in a car, not a man to spend your life with," Killian replied sharply.

"Killian," she whispered.

He stepped forward and brought his hand up to cup her face, his thumb stroking her jaw. "You know that we could have something incredible, Emma. That's why you're so scared. Love is a risk. I was afraid to take that risk for a long time too, but I'm not anymore. I found a woman worth risking my heart for and I'm looking at her."

"Killian, please go," she said, as she squeezed her eyes closed.

He dropped his hand and stepped back. "This isn't over, Emma. I won't give up on us."

With that, he turned on his heel and left. Emma squeezed her eyes closed and felt the tears burn her lids.

…

A few hours later, Emma heard a knock on the door. She opened it and found Belle on the other side.

"Have you been online yet today?" she asked, as she rushed inside.

"No. Why?"

"You better sit down."

Emma's brow furrowed. "What's going on, Belle?"

Belle held her phone up to her. "This picture is currently plastered all over the Internet."

Emma stared open-mouthed at the picture of her and Killian sitting in the elevator about to kiss.

"Oh my God."

"Didn't you see anyone take your picture?"

Emma shook her head. "We were a little distracted. The doors opened and there were a bunch of fans. One of them must have taken it with their phone."

"What are you going to do?"

"I…I don't know. August was already upset with me for forgetting to mention him in my acceptance speech."

Belle's phone dinged.

"What was that?" Emma asked.

"A Google alert."

Belle touched the screen on her phone. "Oh no."

"What?" Emma asked, her eyes widening.

"It gets worse."

"How can it get worse?"

"Soap Suds picked up the story and they ran an article claiming you and Killian are involved."

"What? They can't do that!"

"They already did. They posted the picture from the elevator. They posted a picture of you hugging Killian after your name was called at the Emmy's with August just standing there with a look of obvious displeasure." Belle paused and shook her head. "Oh, no. Emma, they have a picture of you and Killian at the bar. One of you two getting in a taxi together. One with both of you standing outside your house. And they have one of him leaving your house."

"Some crazy fan must have seen us at the bar and followed us home! But nothing happened. We had coffee and I fell asleep. Then he left. The pictures are misleading."

"The article says that your chemistry has spilled off screen, despite the fact that you've been involved with your on-screen husband for five years."

Emma covered her face with her hands. "August is going to lose it."

Belle sighed. "Emma, the pictures may not tell the whole story, but the article isn't entirely untrue."

"I haven't cheated on August," Emma said defensively.

"You have feelings for another man. How long do you think you can deny that?"

Emma swallowed hard. "I told Killian about my past last night. While we were stuck in the elevator."

Belle's eyes grew wide in shock. "You did?"

Emma nodded. "Yes, and once I started it all just came out. It felt good to tell him. It felt natural."

Belle smiled. "That's great, Emma. That's a huge step. I'm really proud of you."

"And then earlier today he told me he wants to be with me. Now that he understands me better and I let him in, he's not scared anymore."

"That's wonderful," Belle said, her smile widening.

Emma shook her head. "No, it isn't. He understands how badly I was hurt now, Belle. And now I know that my feelings for him are so deep that he has the power to hurt me just as much as Neal did, if not more."

"Emma," Belle began.

"Aren't you needed on set?" Emma asked, as she blinked back sudden tears.

Belle looked at the time on her phone.

"Yes, I have to go." She squeezed Emma's arm comfortingly. "We'll talk more later."

Emma nodded. "Okay."

With that, Belle opened the door to leave the dressing room. She nearly collided with Killian as she stepped over the threshold.

"Apologies," he said, as he sidestepped her.

"It's okay," Belle replied and continued on her way.

Emma squeezed her eyes closed. She didn't know if she could deal with him right now.

"Emma, what's wrong?" he asked.

She held her phone up to him. "Everything."

Killian looked at the picture of the two of them nearly kissing. "Who took this?"

"One of those fans standing outside the elevator." Her voice lowered. "I guess we were too preoccupied to notice. It's all over the Internet."

"Bloody hell," he said with a heavy sigh.

"And Soap Suds is saying we're having an affair," she said.

Killian raised his eyebrows. "I suppose our attraction to one another is rather apparent."

Emma dropped her eyes. "August is going to be furious."

Just then, a knock sounded at the door.

"Come in," Emma said.

An intern poked her head in. "Ms. Mills wants to see both of you in her office now."

Killian groaned. "This is turning out to be quite a day."

"I certainly don't look forward to the tongue lashing we're about to get," she said, as they made their way into the hall.

They entered Regina's office, steeling themselves for her wrath.

"You summoned us," Killian said.

"Yes, I did," she replied. "I assume you've seen the scandal you two have caused on the Internet."

Emma raised her hand. "It's completely untrue. There's nothing going on between us. It was all taken out of context, but I'm sorry we've caused a problem for the show."

Regina laughed. "A problem? There's no such thing as bad press, Ms. Swan. Everyone loves a scandal. People are talking about our show. Fans love when stars of a soap take their romance off screen."

"But I just told you we haven't," she said.

Regina waved her hand in dismissal. "It doesn't matter if it's true or not. All that matters is what they believe. This will be great for our ratings."

"So you're not angry with us?" Killian asked.

Regina shook her head. "Not in the least."

Killian and Emma exchanged a look.

"Now, keep up the good work," Regina said.

Emma and Killian exited Regina's office.

"That was certainly not how I expected that to go," Killian said.

"Me neither." She sighed and then said, "I need to find August before he hears about this from someone else or, worse, sees it himself."

Killian watched her go.

…

Emma couldn't find August anywhere, so she returned to her dressing room. When she entered, she found him sitting on her couch.

"There you are. I've been looking everywhere for you."

He nodded, his eyes focused on his phone. Emma swallowed hard.

"Let me guess. You wanted to tell me that the picture all over the Internet of you about to kiss your co-star wasn't what it looked like."

Emma shook her head, as she took a deep breath. "No, it was. We were about to kiss, but then the doors opened."

August bobbed his head, as he came to stand before her. "The truth. What a novel idea. You're going to tell me it meant nothing though, right? You were just caught up in the moment, right?"

Emma dropped her gaze. The hurt in his eyes was nearly too much to bear. The truth was, it did mean something. It meant everything.

"That's right," she whispered.

"Why didn't you tell me about the near kiss, Emma? I saw the Soap Suds article. I know everything else was innocent. But not what happened in that elevator."

"I didn't want to hurt you anymore than I already have, August."

"What exactly happened in that elevator?" he asked coldly.

She took a deep breath. "I got a little freaked out when the elevator stopped and Killian helped calm me down. I was still shocked by my win and upset about you leaving. We started talking. I…I don't know. It just happened."

"And the only thing that stopped it was the doors opening."

"Yes," she whispered.

"And yet you expect me to believe that you don't have feelings for him."

"I don't," she whispered.

August shrugged his shoulders. "Let's forget about Killian Jones for a minute. I want to talk about us." He paused and asked, "Do you love me?"

Emma lowered her eyes. "You know how much you mean to me."

"That's not what I asked," he replied sharply.

"August."

"You've never said it, Emma. Not once in five years. Not when I asked you to move in with me or proposed several times. I guess that should have been a big clue."

"August, you know I'm not good at saying how I feel. I know I have a lot of walls and I haven't made it easy to be with me. I'm sorry. I know you deserve more than I can give you."

"You're right, I do. The problem is I love you, Emma. I have since the moment I laid eyes on you and I can't just make that go away."

"I don't want you to."

"I need you to be honest with me," he said. "I want to be with you. But I need to know if you'll ever love me. If you'll ever be able to say those words to me."

"I want to be able to," she said softly, not meeting his eyes. "Can that be good enough for now?"

August sighed heavily. "I guess it will have to be."

He then walked past her and out the door. Emma sank down onto the couch. She took her phone out of her pocket and looked at the picture of her and Killian about to kiss. She ran her fingertip across his face.

…

August felt his blood boiling inside of him. He knew, at the very least, Emma was attracted to Killian. He also knew she would never admit it. When he got angry, the only thing that could calm him down was a breath of fresh air. He headed to a door that led to a courtyard.

As soon as he stepped outside, his eyes landed on Killian. He was sitting on a bench studying a script. He knew he should have turned back around and gone inside. But he felt his feet carrying him forward until he was standing in front of him.

Killian didn't notice his presence until August's figure was blocking out the sun. He glanced up at him.

"You mind, mate?"

"Mind what? The fact that you almost kissed my girlfriend? Or the fact that you very clearly have feelings for her."

Killian stood up and faced August. "I won't deny how I feel about, Emma."

August felt his fists clench and unclench at his side. Killian's eyes darted downward, the action not going unnoticed.

"I supposed this is the part where you punch me and tell me to stay the hell away from your girlfriend."

August laughed mirthlessly. "Ah, you know the scene." He shook his head. "But I'm not going to punch you."

Killian chuckled, as he gestured to his face. "Glad to hear it. I'd hate for you to mar my devilishly handsome face. The powers that be would be rather displeased too. This face equals higher ratings."

"You're a smug bastard, you know that?"

Killian nodded. "I've been called worse."

August shrugged his shoulders. "I could tell you to stay away from Emma, but I'm smart enough to know it will do no good."

"You'd be right."

August let out a breath. "Emma has been through a lot in her life, Killian. The last thing she needs is some guy coming into her life claiming to care for her and making her believe that she's more than another notch on his bedpost. I know you probably view her as a challenge because she didn't worship you the moment you met. But Emma is not something to conquer."

Killian's eyes flashed with anger. "You can believe what you want, but my feelings for Emma are real. I don't wish to hurt you, August, and if I thought that your relationship with Emma was based on love, rather than familiarity and security, then I would step aside. But it is not. At least not on her end. You are fooling yourself if you believe she will ever love you."

August felt his jaw tighten. Deep down, he knew Killian was right. But that didn't stop him from hoping that if he could just hold onto her long enough then maybe one day she would return his feelings.

August cocked his head to the side. "Maybe I am. But when you find someone as special as Emma, you fight like hell to hold onto her."

Killian bobbed his head, as he looked August squarely in the eye. "Ah, we finally agree on something."

August opened his mouth to reply, but thought better of it and snapped it shut. Instead, he headed back inside without another word.

Killian watched him go. There was a part of him that pitied the man. He had devoted five years of his life to a woman who would never love him. A woman who wanted another man. He couldn't blame August for not giving up on Emma. Killian hadn't known Emma for very long and his feelings for her were new, but he already knew that he'd wait a lifetime for her.

…

End of Part 6

Thanks for reading! I'd appreciate any feedback you'd like to give! ~Steph