Thank you for all your kind reviews and encouragement, and I hope you enjoy this chapter too. See you for the update on Thursday!
Half an hour before her alarm clock was supposed to go off Emma sits up in bed and gives up on trying to sleep. She rubs her eyes and combs her fingers through her hair, and then she gets up and opens the window just enough so that she can breathe in the early morning air.
In the last decade Emma had refused to open the door to a wide variety of people, but she had never before felt guilty for doing so until last night.
Until Killian.
Emma slams the window closed and forces the thoughts of the intriguing florist out of her head while she dresses and eats, but she keeps hearing his voice in her head as he wished her happy birthday and she curses herself for blurting it out the way she did.
She wishes he had stayed mad at her, but he'd understood why she couldn't open the door and she hates it, hates that he sees her as a weakling now and probably feels sorry for her.
The last thing she wants is people pitying her.
Emma shakes her head and picks up Killian's umbrella from the stand by the door, then leaves the apartment and locks up; she's ahead of her usual schedule, but she's got a stop to make this morning and she'd rather not be late for work.
The morning is crisp and cold, making Emma shiver a little, so she picks up her pace and almost walks by Killian's shop in her haste to get there.
The door is opened so she comes in, her stomach dropping to somewhere around her knees when Killian greets her, his footsteps sounding on the wooden floor as he comes closer.
"Good morning", she says, feeling slightly apprehensive because she's not quite sure what to expect after last night. "I'm returning your umbrella."
"There was no rush", he tells her but takes the umbrella when she holds it out, his fingers only just brushing hers and sending a pleasant spark racing over her skin.
"You might need it soon."
"I needed it yesterday", Killian says, and she's pretty sure that there's a wry smile pulling at his lips.
"I'm sorry about that", she tells him because even though she would do it the same if he showed up at her door today, she does feel bad for not figuring out a way for him to get his umbrella.
"Don't worry, love. I understand why you didn't open the door, and I know that hearing me say I would never hurt you doesn't hold much weight, but… I would never hurt you", Killian says and Emma is astounded at the amount of care she hears in his voice; it seems that it's of the utmost importance to him that she doesn't get the wrong idea about his intentions.
As if she could mistakenly imagine him as some sort of a brute when she knows that he grows flowers for a living.
"I have to go."
"Swan", he says, his accent caressing her last name and freezing her in her steps. "Can I tempt you into taking a flower with you to work?"
"Depends on the flower", she tells him, and smiles when soft petals tickle her nose, her hand closing around the long stem. "What is it?"
"It's a purple iris", he says and she knows for a fact that he's smiling too.
"How much is it?"
"It's free", Killian assures her and adds quickly, "if you like it."
"I love it", she says even though it's an effort not to make a big deal out of this and try to return his gift. "Thank you, Killian."
"Have a nice day, Swan", he tells her and she inhales the pleasant aroma of his shop once more before she leaves; it's a mixture of flowers and fresh earth and him, and she is fairly certain that she had never smelled anything nicer.
In the end Emma manages to get to work just in time, and she stops by the kitchenette where Walsh is busy making everybody's coffee, asking him if he's got a tall glass to spare where she can put her flower.
He sounds casual when he asks her about the place where she got the iris, and Emma doesn't mention Killian, just tells Walsh about the flower shop at the end of the street and thanks him for the vase he manages to rustle up.
"Did something happen? You're never this late", Elsa says as soon as Emma comes into the office and Emma finds it endearing that she cares so much, so she tells her the whole story, starting with yesterday's rain and ending with meeting Killian this morning. "Is this an iris?"
Elsa sniffs the flower that's found its place on the edge of Emma's desk and Emma tells her that it is, then listens to some really furious typing.
"What are you doing?"
"Every flower has a meaning", Elsa says cryptically and Emma rolls her eyes because this is just like Elsa. "I'm googling what an iris means."
"What does it mean, then?"
"Faith, hope, wisdom, valor, and also, "your friendship means so much to me", Elsa tells her and Emma chuckles because she's sure that Killian had picked iris for the way it smells and because he had deduced that she loves purple.
"We aren't friends, Elsa. He's just a guy who sold me a houseplant."
"What if he hopes you will be friends and he has faith in your wisdom and valor to let that happen", Elsa rattles off and Emma laughs, but there's a tiny voice at the back of her mind that wonders if it would be such a bad thing being friends with a nice florist.
"And soon after we're going to fall madly in love with each other and have a lot of babies?" Emma asks her, a sharp pang of pain piercing her heart at the thought of being pregnant.
"Exactly. You just have to let it happen", Elsa tells her but Emma doesn't say anything because she knows that whatever she says, Elsa will just take it as encouragement to expand on the fairytale.
Emma had learned a long time ago that fairytales don't exist.
Killian can't quite keep a smile from his face for the rest of the day as he works on the arrangements for Saturday's wedding, and not even an occasional bruised stem courtesy of his prosthetic hand can dampen his good mood.
Who knew that giving a beautiful girl a flower could make you feel so elated?
Even Granny notices that he doesn't look as gloomy as usual and gives him a suspicious look over the rim of her glasses, but he just grins wider to unnerve her further and digs into his lunch.
When it's Emma's usual time to pass by his shop on her way home Killian watches the door even though he knows that she's got no reason to stop by again, and although he catches a glimpse of her, she doesn't come in.
The disappointment is staggering and he tells himself he should've known better before going back to work on the arrangements.
He jumps when the phone rings, and his good mood evaporates completely when some guy asks him if can deliver a bouquet to Emma Swan's apartment.
"What kind of a bouquet?" Killian asks even though he should be telling the guy that he doesn't do deliveries, but he must be a glutton for punishment so he promises to have "something pretty whatever the cost" ready in an hour. "Do you want a note attached?"
"There's no need for a note", the guy says and Killian writes down his credit card number, fighting the urge to slam the phone down in its cradle.
"You're a daft idiot", Killian tells himself as he walks around his shop and picks the freshest flowers, trying to make sure they smell rightgood as well as look pretty because he knows which one of the two characteristics Emma will favor. "Of course she's got a boyfriend."
But why was she alone on her birthday, a voice at the back of his head asks and Killian pauses, then tells himself that she was probably waiting for her boyfriend when Killian showed up.
The bouquet ends up looking beautiful even despite Killian's clumsiness this late in the day; his arm aches and he just wants to go home, but he'd already charged the credit card and he doesn't have much choice but to make the delivery even if he'd rather have a tooth pulled.
This time he slips into Emma's building after an old lady who looks at him appreciatively, which makes his skin crawl as he runs up the stairs because he's too impatient to get this over with to wait for the elevator.
"Who is it?" Emma asks from behind her door, and Killian curses himself for not bringing a vase because now he's going to have to lay the flowers on the mat.
"It's Killian. I have a bouquet for you."
"You gave me a flower already", she says with a smile in her voice and he gets the weirdest feeling that she's going to be disappointed when she learns the origin of the flowers.
"These are not from me", he tells her and there's long pause before she speaks again.
"Who are they from, then?"
"Your boyfriend", Killian says, trying to relax his jaw so it doesn't sound like he's growling.
"I don't have a boyfriend", Emma says mildly and although that shouldn't please him as much as it does, his grip on the flowers eases a little.
"Whomever it was didn't want to add a note, so I assumed...", Killian trails off and looks up in annoyance because he knows he'd just sounded jealous when he has absolutely no right to be.
"What did he sound like?" Emma asks him and Killian blinks, then tries to really think about it.
"I'm sorry, Swan, but I don't know how to describe his voice", he finally says and debates on whether or not to tell her the only thing he knows about her secret admirer. "He did care about the cost as long as the bouquet was pretty."
"Are you serious? Pretty?"
"My sentiments exactly", Killian says with a grin and wishes he could watch Emma when she takes the flowers in her arms and inhales their scent. "But, you know, what the customer wants, the customer gets."
"But you knew they were for me", Emma wonders and he nods unconsciously, then tells her that he did know the flowers were for her.
"And that's why I picked the ones that smell good and look pretty", he says and mentally gives the finger to his competition.
He might be a man of honor, but nothing is bad form when it comes to love and war.
"I'm lucky then, that he picked you of all the florists…" she trails off and Killian takes a half step closer to her door until his forehead is practically pressed against it.
"Lass?"
"I know who sent the flowers", she mutters and he feels a brief surge of relief because she doesn't sound happy at all. "It's a guy from work. He asked me about the iris I had today and I told him about your shop."
"You don't like him?"
"I don't trust him", she says, then tells Killian that she doesn't want the flowers.
"I'm sorry about that, love, but he paid me. I have to deliver them, but if you want to throw them away afterwards I can't stop you", Killian tells her and Emma contemplates that for a while, then agrees with him leaving the bouquet in front of her door. "Good night, Swan."
"Thank you", Emma says and he lays the flowers gently on the floor, then walks away before he can say something stupid.
He pauses at the top of the stairs, but doesn't hang around when he hears her unlock the door, knowing that she wouldn't appreciate it if he gawked at her.
How he knows that is a mystery to him, but there's something about Emma Swan that resonates and makes him want to get to know her better even if she's keeping him at arm's length and hiding behind closed doors.
Killian supposes she's got a good reason for being like that and it's one that goes deeper then the obvious, but he doubts he's the right person to try and get through her walls.
Not when he had erected so many of his own which he doesn't want to see brought down.
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