It had been a few weeks since Emma moved her family to Vancouver, she was starting to get her bearings, Henry had joined Liam's nursery and was registered to start school with him in August. She had come to enjoy her afternoons with Kathryn while the boys were away, spending time exploring her surroundings visiting parks, walking along the harbour watching the boats, and checking out the library and local bookstore. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming, and then there was Killian, she didn't see him too often, he worked long hours and in his free time liked to take Liam out during the day and meet his friends in the evening. He had taken Henry along with Liam occasionally, much to Emma's surprise, and as a result Henry was besotted with him! The few times Emma and Killian were alone were nice, usually involving a glass of wine and sitting out by the fire pit at night, Emma would ask him about his day, insisting on no spoilers, and he would tell her about the pranks he and other cast members would do or funny requests he got from fans, or wardrobe malfunctions, and she would tell him what adventures, or misadventures as the case was sometimes, Liam and Henry got up to. They laughed a lot and were fast becoming good friends, neither had said much about their late spouses yet, they were enjoying the distraction each other provided and besides, there was plenty of time for that!
One afternoon in mid-April, after a week of heavy rainstorms the sun had finally returned and shone gloriously. The scent of fresh, dew kissed flowers wafted through the air, the birds started singing again, and Vancouver was coming back to life, vibrant as ever. Emma had just dropped the boys off at nursery and decided to enjoy the change in weather and take a stroll through town while Kathryn slept peacefully in her stroller; she walked past a convenience store and idly scanned the magazine stand by the door, a picture caught her attention, "Is that...?" She said out loud to herself, "Oh my God!" On the front was a not so flattering picture of Killian leaving a pub with the heading "Late night antics of Storybrook's resident alcoholic", Emma grabbed the magazine and started reading, it spun a sordid tale of Killian shouting abuse to fans, harassing women, and getting into brawls. A few unflattering pictures accompanied the article but no pictures or witness quotes to back the allegations. Emma studied the picture, she remembered that night, he went out with Robin and Regina to celebrate Regina's promotion to police detective. He was home by 11pm, they stayed up for about an hour talking, she had no doubt he'd been drinking but he was definitely not drunk! She checked the journalist's name, Richard Gold, Emma felt the anger building inside of her, how could they get away with printing blatant lies? Her eyes narrowed with determination and she did the only thing she could think of to try and fix it.
That night Killian was shooting until 1am, it wasn't usual for him to work late into the night, having a love interest who was a werewolf meant shooting a lot of night scenes! Emma waited up for him, she heard the front door open and the sound of him shuffling round the kitchen raiding the cupboards, she took a deep breath and walked towards the kitchen.
Killian opened the door as quietly as he could, wincing as it squeaked slightly, he was conscious that it wasn't just him and Liam living here now, he always tried to be quiet as not to wake Emma on these late nights, he made his way to the kitchen, stomach growling, he would kill for a warm meal, he opened the fridge and found some left over dinner, he smiled and whispered "good lass" to himself; Emma always made enough for him to heat up when he got home, she was thoughtful like that...and it was far better than the ramen or left over pizza he'd grown accustomed to while it was just he and Liam…he thought about Emma as the microwave hummed, she had fitted into their life so seamlessly, she'd only been working for them for 3 weeks and already he didn't know what he'd do without her. The microwave beeped and suddenly he was aware of someone in the room with him, he spun around, "Emma...?! What's wrong? Are you ok? The kids...?!" He wasn't used to seeing her up this late, and was already juggling different worse cases scenarios in his head.
"The kids are fine, we're all fine" she assured him, she picked up a tote bag and pulled a magazine out and set in on the table, "who the hell is Richard Gold and how does he get away with writing this shit about you?" Killian rolled his eyes and exhaled loudly, "what has he written now?" His eyes darkened and his jaw clenched as he skimmed the article, "Gold has had it in for me for years, Emma, this isn't true..."
"Killian, you don't have to explain, I know it's not, it just makes me angry that he can get away with writing complete lies! I feel like going to his office tomorrow and telling him exactly what I think of his...are you laughing at me?!"
It was all Killian could do to keep it in, "no, I'm not laughing at you, it's just, you sound like an angry mother who's just heard her child was called a name by the school bully."
"THIS IS YOUR REPUTATION KILLIAN!" Emma was losing it, why was he being so calm? Killian stopped laughing and walked up to Emma smiling affectionately, he placed a hand on each of her shoulders so he could look right at her, she could feel the warmth of his hands spreading from her shoulders down her arms which made her shiver, he was looking at her with such compassion, "I'm touched you care, I'll get my lawyer on it first thing tomorrow. It's the dark side of being well known and I don't like it but sadly I'm used to it, on a positive note the article is just targeted at me not any of my friends or family this time." He put his thumb on her chin and lifted her face up until she was looking at him, "Emma is this why you stayed up? To show me this?"
She was instantly aware of his touch, he reached out to her so causally, like it was instinct and she immediately asked herself if it was crossing a line, if she should step back from his touch…probably, but she couldn't bring herself to do it, instead she just continued, trying to ignore the butterflies taking flight in her stomach and the colour rising to her cheeks.
"I was angry...and worried, I didn't know what to do when I saw it so..." She looked over at her tote bag which was bulging; Killian followed her line of sight, he dropped his hand from her face and asked, "Emma what's in the bag?"
Emma sighed, walked across the room, picked the bag up and turned it upside down and out fell about 20 magazines, she blushed, looking at the floor feeling slightly embarrassed and said, "I didn't want anyone reading those lies about you so I bought all the magazines"
Killian bit his lip to stop himself from laughing again, "oh Emma" he walked over and threw his arms around her, Emma's eyes shot open, not expecting that kind of affection from him. He squeezed her tightly, "Thank you for having my back, you're a true friend" he pulled back and looked at her, "though I'm not sure making his magazines sell out is the best line of attack" he smiled.
Emma blushed, "I suppose you're right, next time I'll hide them! I'm sorry...I just reacted...I didn't really think about what I was doing" she admitted.
Now it was Emma's turn to laugh, "You must think I'm an idiot!"
"Not at all, love!" The way the last word rolled off his tongue was intoxicating! "I'm lucky to have you in my corner!"
He picked up the magazines and threw them in the pile of old newspapers for the fire. "But for now I think we could both use some sleep!"
Emma nodded in response and they headed upstairs, they came to Emma's room first, she opened the door then paused and turned around, "goodnight Killian" she whispered, as she entered her room when Killian whispered "Emma?"
She turned back around, "yeah?"
"Do you want to go out for dinner tomorrow? I finish work at 6; I can be home for 7, ready to leave for 7:30? I could get a babysitter?"
Emma stood there for a second rerunning the question through her mind to make sure she didn't imagine it; no Killian Jones definitely just asked her out! He looked uncertain and the longer she stood there the more insecure his expression became. Finally she put him out of his misery, "I'd like that" she bit her bottom lip, God she was adorable when she did that.
He let out a small sigh of relief then smiled, "great! Goodnight!"
Emma shut her bedroom door then leaned her back against it panting, she only realised now she's been holding her breath. She wasn't expecting her body's reaction to his touch. As a fan she always thought Killian was attractive, let's be honest, smoking hot! But once she got to know him she pushed all that aside, after all she is working for him, their friendship, though strong, was still relatively new and she liked it, she liked being his friend, she had no interest in jeopardising it...but the way he looked at her, and when they touched did he feel it too? Did he really just ask her out?! That completely floored her; surely it was just as friends...I mean friends eat together all the time...right? Emma slipped out of her clothes and into her pyjama pants and vest, she needed to try and sleep, she rolled her eyes at herself, good luck with that!
Killian walked into his en suite and switched his shower on, turning the dial back to make it cold. He had a shower at work but he needed to cool down. He wasn't expecting to see Emma tonight, he wasn't expecting her to be so upset about the article and he certainly wasn't expecting to feel that energy pulse through him when he hugged her. This whole night had taken him by surprise. The dinner invitation just slipped out, he'd been thinking about it for a few days, wanting to spend some more time with Emma getting to know her. However tonight he felt something, he wondered if she felt it too? Dinner between friends is a normal thing, right? He'd gone out for drinks with Regina before, and he used to grab a burger with Ruby before they realised it just fuelled all those romance rumours. Dinner with Emma was a completely normal thing for friends to do (he tried to justify himself)...although it seemed like she hesitated...he would need to play this right, the last thing he wanted to do was scare Emma away. He winced as the cold water hit his body.
