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Chapter 16: Confrontation

"I knew it. I also knew it would take you this long to admit it."

"Well I appreciate your enthusiasm." Emma said sarcastically, rolling her eyes at her friend.

"Oh please, you know I'm happy for you!" Anna said, defending herself.

"Alright, alright, I believe you."

"I don't think you do! Emma, ever since I got here I noticed that you had a thing for Hook; I'm glad you finally told him how you felt. Espeically seeing as it was pretty obvious that he had a thing for you too. You deserve to be happy Emma, no matter how much you might have thought that you didn't deserve to be happy in the past."

Emma smiled at her friend, understanding what she was saying.

"Thanks, Anna."

"Anytime." Anna said, winking at her friend in support, "Can I ask you something though?"

"Sure," Emma replied, walking towards her office in the sherrifs station. They had decided to meet at Emma's work before they headed out for dinner at Granny's. She would have liked to take Anna somewhere else, but she couldn't exactly leave Storybrooke. Besides, Granny's lasagne really was to die for.

"Where do you see it going?"

Emma pondered her answer for a while, never really having thought about it in the first place. She was crazy about him, she knew that for sure. He'd already met Henry, and they seemed to be civil towards each other. She knew it would be hard for Henry to have another man in his life, so soon after he met his actual father. But she'd heard stories of how Killian had been with Baelfire when he was just a kid lost in Neverland, and she had no doubt that he'd take on Henry with grace. The hardest thing would be convincing her parents that he was good for her; but she was sure that once they saw the two of them together they would be willing to change their minds.

"I see us taking it step by step. I see us…I guess I see us heading wherever we're supposed to be heading."

"Well, that's not vague at all."

Emma pouted at Anna, and the two burst out laughing. It felt good to laugh, with all the pent up emotions she'd been having for Killian and the stress she'd dealt with lately, it made her feel a lot lighter. As the two friends headed over to the diner, Emma felt completely care free. She was hanging out with her best friend, and she'd already made plans to see Hook tomorrow morning. Killian, she meant Killian. She still needed to get that straight.

Emma and Anna picked a corner booth and ordered as soon as Ruby came by the table. They were both in the mood for a good burger; and it seemed that good food and good company was just what the doctor ordered. She felt so care-free, and she felt that nothing could ruin her mood. Of course, she had that thought too soon. When they had just ordered coffee, Neal walked into the diner. She hadn't seen Neal since that afternoon on Killian's ship; if she was honest with herself, she had kind of neglected any thoughts of him because she'd been so happy to spend time with Killian. Her guilt crept back into her concsience now, and as immature as it may seem, she really didn't know how to deal with the situation. She wasn't mentally prepared for that conversation, and she tried to make herself invisible by pushing her hair in front of her face and sinking down lower in her seat. Anna noticed the technique, and immediately looked around to see what had caused her friend to become so worried. Quickly spotting Neal, her mouth formed an 'O' as she tried to think of a way to get her best friend out of this situation. But she wasn't quick enough; Neal had already spotted Emma's familiar thick blonde hair and headed over towards their table.

"Anna. Emma." Neal nodded in Anna's direction, but his gaze lingered on Emma as he tried to figure out what to say next.

"Hey, Neal, how are you?" Anna asked, trying to break some of the awkwardness that currently hung over the booth.

Neal seemed to ponder his answer for a moment; he was choosing his words carefully in Emma's vicinity.

"Hi, Neal." Emma finally spoke up. She figured he wasn't really here to talk to Anna, anyway.

"I – uh – I just wanted to ask you if it was okay if I picked up Henry after school tomorrow to hang out with him. Haven't seen him in a few days." Neal could barely look her in the eye.

"Of course that's okay, Neal. I'm not going to keep you away from your son. You're a good dad; I've told you that before."

He winced at her last comment, and she realized that she'd said that to him right before she confessed her feelings for Killian right in front of his face. She wanted to apologize, but wasn't sure how.

"Oh, Neal, I'm sorry. I just wanted to make it clear that you can see Henry whenever you want. He loves you, I want you to be in his life."

"It's okay, Emma, you don't need to explain yourself."

"No, no, I do. I'm sorry. I wanted to talk to you sooner but…"

"But you were messing around with Hook. I get it Emma, it's fine. You made yourself pretty clear before. I'll get Henry back to you tomorrow around ten."

He turned away from their table and headed out the door. He slammed the door closed harder than necessary, and the little bell rang furiously. The sound made Emma flinch, and she shot an apologetic look towards Anna before following Neal out the door.

"Neal, Neal! Come on, I want to talk about this." She knew that he had heard her as his head snapped up at the sound of her voice. He came to a halt on the sidewalk, and waited for her to catch up to him. As he sensed her coming nearer, he turned around to face her. Her hair was a bit wild from running and from the light rain falling from the sky. He waited for her to start saying whatever it was she wanted to say; if anything, he was sure it wasn't going to make him feel any better.

"I'm sorry about what I said. Well, no, I'm not sorry for the things I said about you. I really meant them! You are a great father to Henry, and I really want us to be friends at some point. But I realize that it was…insensitive of me to make you listen to those things I had to say to Hook and I'm sorry."

She caught him looking at her, and she could see the saddened look in his eyes. She felt a pang of guilt in her heart; her relationship with Neal was more than over; she was so happy with Hook that she couldn't imagine herself being with anyone else. But Neal was a big part of her life; he would be a big part of her life for as long as she still had it, and she didn't want to be awkward around him for such a long time.

"Look, Emma, it's okay. You're in love with Hook, whatever. That's your decision. Just don't rub it in my face, yeah?"

He turned to walk away again, but Emma cut him off with her own argument.

"I'm – I'm not in love with him, Neal. And it's not like it's a decision I made! I can't exactly help how I feel."

"Sure. I just don't want to hear about it anymore, Emma."

"No, Neal! I want us to be okay! You're Henry's dad, we're going to be seeing a lot of each other. I want you to be my friend. I want us –"

"You want us to what, Emma?" Neal asked, raising his voice. "What? What can we possibly be? Sure, I'd like us to be friends sometime in the future, but it's not going to happen right now. Not when I still have feelings for you!"

"But Neal, please –"

"No! Just, no. I can't deal with this Emma! I get that you want us to be civilized, and I will be, BUT I CAN'T DEAL WITH THIS. Not right now."

They were still standing pretty close to the diner, and Emma was pretty sure that their voices were carrying through the windows. She could already hear the door opening, and she was pretty sure some of the townspeople were coming outside to check if everything was okay. She didn't care though, she needed to get through to Neal. She needed him to see that she was sorry for what she was putting him through.

"I'm sorry. Neal, I'm not trying to force you into anything."

"I know you're not Emma! I GET IT. But I can't keep having this conversation with you –"

"Hey!" Someone shouted in the distance, and Emma was pretty sure it was Killian's voice. She turned around to see him running along the sidewalk towards them. She was worried that it was only going to make the situation worse, and as she turned back to Neal she saw that her assumption was right. Neal had averted his gaze from Emma and was staring in the opposite direction, plotting his eventual escape.

Killian eventually caught up to the pair. "Is everything okay here?" He put his hand on the small of her back, and a shiver ran up her spine. But she could see Neal flinch at the physical contact, and she pulled away from the warmth of Killian's hand.

"Everythings fine, don't worry." She gave Killian a reassuring glance before turning her attention back towards Neal.

"I'm sorry." Emma whispered, looking Neal directly in the eye. He properly met her gaze for the first time since they'd run into each other, and he acknowledged her with a nod.

"I know. I'll pick Henry up from school tomorrow. See you around, Emma."

He turned to walk away, and she followed him with her gaze for a while before reverting her attention back to Killian behind her.

"You okay, love?" He asked, pushing back a strand of her damp blonde hair behind her ear. She leaned into his touch; it was nice to have him here to comfort her. She heard footsteps behind them, and she looked over Killian's shoulder to see Anna coming towards them. Killian turned around as well, smiling when he saw Anna coming towards them.

"Evening, lovely as always." He winked at her playfully, but it had a completely different tone than a comment like that had had before. He had his arm placed firmly around Emma's waist, and he squeezed her in a comforting gesture. Emma glanced at him with a sarcastic smirk, he grinned at her, and Anna smiled at the sight of them acting so comfortably around each other.

"Watch yourself, Pirate. You've got your woman now."

He looked at Emma lovingly, and replied: "That I do, That I do indeed." And he pressed a light kiss to her temple.