Here's the next chapter! Hope you guys enjoy and please remember to review! They make my day =)

Disclaimer: I do not own OUAT

Chapter 8: Shock and Surprise

Emma had lain awake for a long time last night. After her somewhat awkward dinner with her ex, her son, and her old friend, she had needed time to process everything. Neal had been so kind to her, and understanding. It made her remember why she had fallen for him in the first place. But she also knew that the lack of - let's just call it tension - when their hands had touched meant something. Maybe it meant she was finally over him. Maybe she was ready to just be friends with him and have that be the end of it. They could have a civilized relationship for Henry's sake. The answer seemed so obvious, and Emma knew deep-down that wasn't what had kept her awake all night. She knew that she had felt someone staring at her from the other side of the diner. But everytime she looked around and tried to see who it could be, she couldn't find anyone. It had frustrated her and she couldn't shake the tingling feeling it had given her.

After she had dropped Henry off at school, she made her way over to the diner again in her yellow bug. She was about to pick up David so that they could head over to the station together. She was looking forward to spending more quality time with him. The last time they had talked, his advice had actually made her feel better. Maybe he could shed some light on her uneasiness.

Just as she was pulling up to the diner, she heard a scream, seemingly coming from inside the hotel. She quickly pulled over, and got out of the car, as she saw David and Mary Margaret rushing out the diner. As she jogged over to meet them, she noticed Hook and…Tinkerbell? Running out of the diner as well. As they came over to meet them, a strange surge of jealousy overtook Emma that she didn't even know she was capable of. As they finally reached each other, Emma couldn't help the next few words out of her mouth.

"Were you guys just…?" She couldn't bring herself not to ask.

Simultaneously, Tink indignantly answered "No!" While Hook, with a mischievous glint in his eyes, clearly said "Perhaps."

Emma, confused at the situation, and confused at what she was feeling in her gut, was shaken out of her own swarm of thoughts as they heard another scream coming from the hotel. As the entire group ran up the stairs and through the door, they all gasped as they saw the scene in front of them.

Granny was lying on the floor, Ruby sitting down next to her. Ruby had tears streaming down her face, and Granny didn't seem to be responding to anything she was saying. Emma quickly called for an ambulance, and ordered Mary Margaret to go get Mr. Gold. Gold may not be the world's most selfless man, but she knew now that Bae was around and he had Belle back in his arms he would be a little more giving.

"Quick, let's get her up on the couch."

As the group picked up Granny and moved her to the couch, she stirred a little in her unconcsious state. As they all breathed a sigh of relief and turned towards the oncoming sound of the ambulance, Emma wondered what the hell could have happened. As the paramedics were coming inside she gently brought Ruby to the other side of the room to ask.

"Ruby, what happened? Why did we hear two screams?"

Ruby sniffled a little, and Emma put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "It's okay. Take your time."

Ruby smiled, and answered the question. "Well the first scream, I guess was Granny's because it was what woke me up. When I went to see what had happened…and I found her at the bottom of the stairs…The second scream was – was mine."

"So you didn't see what happened, how she fell down the stairs?"

"No, no, I didn't. I'm sorry Emma. If I remember anything, I'll tell you, but is it okay if I go with the ambulance to the hospital?"

"Yeah, yes, of course, Ruby. Let me know how she's doing, yeah? I'll come visit you later."

Ruby smiled a small smile towards Emma, and rushed out the door.

Mary Margaret came up to Emma and asked if Ruby had said anything about what had happened.

"No, no, she didn't see anything. We'll just have to ask Granny when she's feeling up to it. Are you feeling okay?"

Mary Margaret put an arm around her daughter's shoulder. "Don't worry about me, Emma, I'm okay. I'm just worried about Granny, and Ruby for that matter. That's all."

"Look, Mary Margaret, I'm just going to head over to the station and write up an initial report. You stay here with David, ask him to ask the hotel guests if they saw anything? That way he can write up his own report when he's done. I'm going to walk to the station for now, just use my car to drop David off?"

Mary Margaret looked at Emma uncertainly. "Are you sure? We could just go get the truck and drive over in that."

"Yeah, yeah, it's fine. I need time to think." Emma received an understanding look from her mother, and turned away to walk to the exit. But before she walked out the door, she glanced back at Hook, who was looking at her with a curious expression. Once again, she could feel that surge in the pit of her stomach. She shook her head, trying to shake the feeling, and walked out the door.

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Almost at the station and lost in her own thoughts, Emma yelped in surprise as she felt something sharp poking into her shoulder. Turning around swiftly, she was ready to take down whoever it was. Throwing a punch, she was shocked as it was blocked quick and hard, and she gasped as she felt a sharp pain go through her arm. Finally looking at her assailant, she sighed in a mixture of irritation and pleasure as she realized it was Hook, and his silver hand-replacement had been what had poked her in the first place. Rubbing furiously at her arm, she sneered at him.

"What was that for? You scared the living daylights out of me."

Killian, with his ever irritating yet gorgeous smirk, chuckled. "Nice to see I still have an effect on you miss Swan. Might I ask where you're headed?"

"Where do you think I'm headed? The station of course. If I remember correctly, you were at the hotel at the same time I was." Emma tried her best to look indignant, but somehow knew she was failing miserably judging by the amused look on his face.

"Emma, love, you're memory never fails when it comes to me and my charming personality."

He then looked her right in the eyes, and Emma could feel her heart fluttering a little as his exceedingly blue eyes looked into her bright gray ones. As if he knew the way he was making her feel, he stepped a little bit closer towards her. Not so close that they were touching, but close enough that she could feel that the air inbetween their bodies was quickly dissipating. She gulped without realizing it, and he smiled at her. Not wanting to break the closeness but at the same time knowing she had to, she looked up into his eyes one more time before taking a step back and trying to cough away the intimacy of the moment. Hook chuckled to himself yet again, much to Emma's irritation, and she set her facial expression back to all business.

"Hook, what are you doing here? Are you stalking me now?"

"Oh, Emma, darling, I don't need to stalk you to get your attention. But deep in your heart you already know that…don't you love?"

Everytime he called her love het stomach did a little flip-flop. She would literally press her hands to her abdomen trying to stop her stomach's acrobatics with sheer force of will. Hook looked at her hand on her stomach curiously, with a glint of something else in his eyes, and she noticed that he swallowed rather obviously as well. She enjoyed that she was seemingly having the same effect on him as he was on her.

"Listen, Hook, this is all well and good, but I really need to get to the station now. I need to write up an official report and I still have a load of papework to do and on top of that Regina said she needed to meet up with me about some town business so –"

"Swan, I understand that you have business to attend too. Don't worry, I'll let you go."

Surprised at his willingness to co-operate, Emma said her thanks and moved past him. She didn't know if she had purposely brushed her arm against his again but she could feel herself shudder. As she continued walking down the street, Killian wouldn't let her leave without saying one last thing to her.

"Swan, I forgot to mention. You looked quite beautiful at Granny's yesterday evening."