A/N: Somehow this chapter snuck in after all the Season 4B spoilers! And Captain Book can only really be fluffy.
The morning after the inaugural Book Club meeting, Belle was certainly feeling the after effects. Not a big drinker usually, the combination of wine and a late night had done its worst.
Made later by the fact she had found herself engrossed in Killian's book until the early hours. It was not her usual fare, to be honest, but he really was a talented writer, painting pictures with his words and phrases that had her living (and loving) along with his characters.
(She was considering leaving the book lying around, a little hint for Will if he would take it. He wasn't much of a reader, but she suspected he could be convinced in this case.)
As she opened the library for the day, she secretly hoped the readers of Storybrooke would leave her alone to nurse her hangover. And perhaps to finish a few more chapters in peace. The flags kindly provided by Ruby told her that was some particularly interesting reading ahead.
She spent the first hour in solitude, a bit of reshelving interspersed with a few stolen moments of reading and a large cup of tea. She found herself exhaling sharply a couple of times as she read, the images so clear in her imagination that she didn't hear the door open or her customer approach the desk.
"Good morning, lass."
His greeting startled her, her attention well and truly focused somewhere else, and she looked up at him slightly disoriented.
"Oh, Killian," she replied, trying to discretely hide the book under the counter momentarily, but then, having a brief flashback to a conversation she had had with Emma last night, she placed it prominently on the desk. She smiled, and Killian noted an unfamiliar twinkle in the eye of his usually quiet friend.
"How are you today, Captain Porno?" she asked jauntily. He was taken aback at her forthrightness, but when she winked cheekily at him he could not help but laugh and take an elegant bow.
"Good thing Swan told me what that expression meant," he joked, "As I am not sure you'd be wanting to explain it to me, lass." She giggled, knowing he was probably right about that.
She leaned towards him, placing her hand on his arm, a genuine smile on her lips.
"It's wonderful, Killian, really. A bit more…graphic…than I'm used to, but you are a wonderful writer." He felt his cheeks colour at this praise from the person amongst all his friends whose opinion probably mattered most to him.
He patted the hand on his arm.
"Thank you, lass, that means the world coming from you."
For a moment, they stood, just enjoying a friendship that could so easily never have happened, circumstances being different.
Belle broke the silence. "So, Captain Fornication, are you here to work, or bask in your own glory?"
Laughing aloud, he bowed again and headed off towards the stacks.