A/N: So here we are back with another chapter of 'Some Call it Magic' and as promised we'll have both POVs this time. There's some CS cuteness (as is to be expected) and also a fair bit of meddling (from a couple of sources) because I just love when everyone in creation ships CS and is trying to get them together. Anyway, hope you guys enjoy and thank you all so much for reading!
Easily the best remedy to a racing mind and raging uncertainty was a full day's work.
Emma learned that lesson very early on, and from the time she was a kid she'd tried to find ways to keep busy and keep going. Some people called that tendency 'survival instincts,' but Emma considered it a crucial facet of who she was. In good times and in bad, in joy and in trouble, Emma sought some sort of occupation. There was always something she could do or make or try to ease the thoughts that could otherwise catch up with her, and usually Emma was a master at avoiding and compartmentalizing those struggles away.
But today was no ordinary day, and it all started with another one of those dreams that had been plaguing her for months. The same pinpoints were clear as day in this nighttime fantasy, and Emma had been wading through feelings of contentment and peace, saddled with these little zings of pleasure and hope that eventually receded when she'd stirred with the morning sun. The loss that she'd felt for months at waking up and the longing for something more were both there, and Emma found herself missing something she didn't even actually have: a real and true relationship with a man who not only loved her but was her equal partner too.
There was just one tiny, minor problem: this time the faceless stranger of the past wasn't so faceless anymore. Where she'd once been hazy in the details of what her restless mind was seeking out, Emma now had a new figure imprinted in the folds of those imaginings and his name was Killian Jones. In fact, he'd been so undeniably present that Emma swore she could still feel every touch and hear every word that he'd uttered in the dream and whenever her mind slipped back to thoughts about it, she found herself blushing like a schoolgirl in an almost uncontrollable way.
As if that weren't bad enough, Emma woke up from her inappropriately intimate dream about her new neighbor to find that her garden in the back of the house had nearly doubled in size overnight. The culprit for that newfound forestation was clear: her magic was flaring up again, and while it wasn't a destructive kind of outburst like she'd sometimes had as a kid, it was noticeable, so noticeable in fact, that Emma had to run outside and try trimming away some of the flowers and hedges before her new neighbor had the chance to notice.
The last thing she needed was Killian growing suspicious of something being amiss and then confronting her about it. Actually the idea alone of that had been enough to totally wash away the warmth of that morning's dream all together, and only when she was finished with her incantation to keep the garden from growing in her absence, and had gathered a whole huge basket of flowers to take back in her house, did Emma feel any kind of relief.
Things from there went quickly, thank goodness, with her and Henry running around and getting ready for school and for work. Emma didn't have much time to linger on her worries or her slowly growing hopes too much, but that reprieve didn't last very long, because when Emma was seeing Henry off to the bus, their neighbor finally made an appearance.
"Hey Killian!" Henry had called out happily waving their new neighbor's way as Killian retrieved his morning paper.
"Good morning, lad. Off to school?" He asked and Henry nodded with a sly smile and an already ready quip.
"That's where the big yellow bus usually takes me, yeah."
"Henry!" Emma scolded, not knowing how Killian would respond to the bit of sass, but then her handsome neighbor laughed heartily and Emma was calmed instantly with a smile of her own forming.
Meanwhile, Henry looked back to her with a shrug and a pleased as could be grin as Emma shook her head, urging him to hurry up and get to school. He listened and hopped on the bus, offering a wave to her and to Killian and the look in Henry's eyes, the one that said he was so eager to know Killian, clutched at Emma's heart. Her sweet, sensitive little boy was getting attached and that could very well be a massive problem, big enough that Emma was hours into her shift at the café and no closer to an answer on how to handle it.
"Well someone's going through it this morning," Ruby said from across the kitchen, starling Emma from her reminiscing.
Emma looked up from where she was pouring over a big bowl of brownie batter and slowly losing her mind, realizing just how discombobulated she must look right now. She was usually meticulous and never messy, but in this moment her station and her apron were less than pristine. Her hair was coming loose from the tie she had it back in and her cheeks were probably flushed pink from the way her thoughts had been meandering the past ten minutes while she'd been alone back here.
"Does this have anything to do with the new neighbor you left goodies for last night?" Ruby prodded, causing Emma's jaw to drop just as the wooden spoon she was using thudded in the bowl.
"How did you…?" Emma asked, but she trailed off realizing that there was no point. In Emma's group of friends everyone always knew everything. Whether it was intuition, a vision, or some other sort of magical interference, there weren't such things as secrets in their tight knit circle. Emma had never really minded that because she had nothing she wanted to hide, but this felt different. Whatever thing was happening between her and the intriguing guy next door, Emma wanted to keep uncomplicated for as long as she could.
"Oh come on, Ems. You knew the second Henry brought up that you two met a certain kitten-saving hero next door that we were going to do some recon. That was a given."
Emma actively tried not to groan at the reminder of Henry's song and dance last night. She loved her son, more than anything in the world, but last night he'd been in fine form, giving everyone the details of their newest neighbor while they had dinner at Belle's. Henry had nothing but praise to bestow on Killian the entire time too. He'd been taken with the new Brit next door all afternoon at the café and by the time they were at dinner he was so ready for someone with more expressed interest than Emma that a room filled with his gossip-prone 'aunts and uncles' was his dream come true. To say that Ruby and the others had milked it was an understatement, but Emma thought she managed to keep that special delivery under wraps. Clearly she was wrong in assuming such a thing.
"So what, you had Anna and Elsa in the bushes across the street awaiting my show of neighborly kindness?" It was a joke but not entirely unbelievable either. Emma had seen the sisters in a number of strange and peculiar situations, but they were so likeable and nice it was hard to ever fault them for their weirder moments of attempted espionage.
"Oh that would have been hilarious," Ruby admitted with her hand on her hip and a big smile on her face. "But no, we were tame about it and just used your average, garden-variety looking-glass spell. Totally basic."
"A basic invasion of privacy," Emma grumbled, but it was impossible for her to be angry with her friends and she knew it was coming from a place of caring, certifiably crazy or not.
"Call it what you will but it doesn't change the fact that something is happening. We all feel it so I know you're feeling it too," Ruby claimed with an air of definitiveness that Emma didn't dare to contradict. After all what was she going to do, lie? Something was happening, the problem was Emma didn't understand what the hell it was or what the heck it meant.
All Emma knew for certain was that underneath the newness and the feelings of excitement and hope that meeting Killian had inspired was this nagging sense of doubt bestowed on her by a lifetime of experience. Before she'd come to Storybrooke she'd been more than abandoned, she'd been reviled and feared by people who were supposed to care about her including Henry's father, a man she thought she loved and who loved her back. But all that 'love' ended up being was something fragile and ugly and painful enough to have Emma shielding herself away from everyone again.
Back then, when she'd fancied herself in love, Emma decided to finally take the risk with someone after a childhood spent in hiding and she revealed her powers to Henry's father in the hopes of being totally honest with him so they could have a future together. But the second the dust settled and the truth was out, Neal had run as fast and as far as he could. He wanted nothing to do with her, claiming that magic was terrible and not to be trusted, and a few weeks later when Emma discovered she was pregnant, she knew he'd want nothing to do with her baby either. That had been abundantly clear when he summed up who he thought she was with the single most hurtful word Emma had ever had thrown her way – freak.
"Not every guy out there is like him, Emma. You can't go holding what Neal did against Killian. That isn't fair."
Ruby's words this time were softer and kinder. Her friend knew how hard it had been for Emma and how much baggage she still was carrying from that time in her life. It took a while for Emma to even be secure in her platonic friendships because of those old hurts, and with every new man that entered any of their lives Emma was always the careful one, and the one who hesitated to give her blessing until the proof was irrefutable. Everyone else was prone to believing that good things happened more often than not and that people were inherently good too, but Emma still bore the scars of some people who hadn't been, or at the least weren't good for her.
"Neal has nothing to do with this," Emma rebuffed as she filled the brownie tray up getting it ready to move to the oven. Ruby meanwhile wasn't buying it.
"Doesn't he? If this were anything else in your life you'd be taking note of the signs and following the path that's so clearly being laid out before you. You know that something's shifting in the air, something magical, and it started when Killian got to town, but you're fighting it instead of embracing it."
"I'm not fighting anything. I'm just not going to rush to the conclusion that a new guy shows up and moves next door and that means he's automatically my soul mate or something. Just because you and everyone else hopped aboard that train to crazy station last night because he happened to find a cat which is 'good luck,' Mary Margaret saw three coupled blue birds on a windowsill, and the stars are in the right place for blah blah blah, doesn't mean I have to."
"Oh honey, you are so far in denial. You know it all means something. Why can't you just admit it?"
The reason Emma couldn't give into their logic was two fold. On the one hand she was absolutely terrified that they were right, in which case she might actually have to open herself up to someone and take a risk. That thought was so daunting it had Emma's hands shaking as she waved her hand above the now finished brownie batter to infuse some of her white magic, supplying a little happy kick for anyone who had one of these later. But another part of Emma was scared that they would be wrong. The only thing worse that Killian being here for her was the idea that he wasn't, especially since he was already starting to feel important to her despite their hardly knowing one another.
"Maybe Killian's here for other reasons. Maybe fate has different ideas for him and you're all just so desperate for me to find someone you're jumping to conclusions. Did you ever think of that?"
Emma was going to say that maybe Killian was here for someone else, and that love might be in the air but not for them, but the prospect of those words alone left a bad taste in Emma's mouth. That was ridiculous of course, since she didn't actually have any ties to this man at all, but she couldn't bring herself to even throw that element of the argument out there as she put the brownies in the oven and set the timer to get them just right.
"It's not about what we want, Emma. It's about what you and Henry deserve. Killian could be a really good thing, if you'd just give him a chance," Ruby professed, following Emma as she moved from out of the kitchen to the hall that led up front. "Come on Emma, give me something to work with here. As your best friend I can't just let you wander around the world denying the facts. At least admit he's hot and I'll call it a day, a slow unproductive day, but a day nonetheless."
"Jeez Ruby - Yes he's hot, okay, I admit it. Are you happy?" Emma asked as they moved from the back of the store into the front and Ruby hummed out a sound of semi-agreement.
"I'm getting there. But I'd really be thrilled if you actually told me something – anything – about meeting him. Henry does his best, but he's a kid. He can't give me the juicy details the way you can and the reading we did when you left last night was strong, but you know they never get specific."
Emma rolled her eyes at the fact that there had been even more supernatural sleuthing utilized by her friends last night, but at least she had magic on her side for once. Yes, a reading might have confirmed that there was some sort of charged chemistry between her and Killian, but her thoughts and her words with him, well those were private, and Emma had every intention of keeping them that way.
"That is so not going to happen," Emma quipped, retying her apron and adjusting her hair so she was a bit more presentable.
The time for distraction was done. She was facing today head on right here and right now. So what if she'd been distracted for hours? It wasn't too late to salvage the day and reclaim some control of her life and her mind again. She just had to get back in the right frame of mind and steer Ruby in a new direction to match.
"I guess I'll just have to wait and see you two in person then," Ruby replied with a dramatic sigh.
Emma wanted to tell her that wasn't happening anytime soon either, but before she could that same sense of foreboding that she'd gotten yesterday perked back up again. Emma had this need to look through the store's windows and there, crossing the street and actually heading their way this time, was Killian. Shit! So much for getting herself under control again, or for shielding anything from Ruby.
Be strong, Emma. He's just a man. You can handle this, she thought to herself, but the moment the bell above the front door tinkled and Killian stepped in, all thoughts of resistance fell by the wayside. He was just so frustratingly good-looking, and when his eyes caught hers and he offered that warm, friendly smile Emma felt her walls melting down more and more. Damn it! Why did he have to be nice and hot? That just wasn't fair.
"Move over Henry, there's a new prophet in town," Ruby whispered, but Emma noticed that her friend was distancing herself, pretending to be busy with something off to the side of the café. This perplexed Emma because it was so un-Ruby-like to retreat from any kind of scene, but before she could address what the heck Ruby was up to, Killian was right there standing before her and commanding her attention once more.
"We meet again, love," Killian joked as he approached the counter, his hands coming to grab the edge as he leaned slightly closer to her. They still had a safe distance between them, but Emma was flooded in every sense with him and his presence. The whole aura had changed in here, and it wasn't exactly a bad thing, despite how resistant Emma usually was to change.
"So it would seem. You stalking me or something?" Emma asked, hoping her nerves didn't harden her attempted teasing. Was this how flirting worked? Emma could hardly remember, and she definitely didn't want to consider the fact that her instinct was to try and flirt with this man she hardly knew. So instead she let herself sink into the rich, happy sound of his laugh and the cute way he ran a hand through his hair in a show of slight embarrassment.
"Not exactly. I'm here on a mission. I meant to thank you earlier for the gifts you left me last night, but I was too busy laughing at Henry's well-placed joke to do so. Forgive me for that. I am truly indebted to your kindness."
For someone who prided herself on being sharp and quick in all manner of things, Emma felt caught up in the way Killian chose his words and the foreignness of his phrasing. It hardly seemed possible that there were guys this good looking with accents to match and manners that toed the line between charming and seductive. Emma blinked a few times, trying to combat the haze that his offered apology had left and when she finally got it together she just prayed she made any sort of sense.
"There's nothing to forgive. And I was just being neighborly, so there's no debt to pay," Emma replied more evenly than she thought possible. She half expected that she'd become a bumbling, incoherent mess with him, but it seemed the Universe was kinder than that.
"I find it hard to imagine most neighbors have a skill like yours, Swan. There wasn't an item in that basket that wasn't bloody fantastic, and I admit you might have made an addict out of me. One taste wasn't enough."
Emma knew that he was talking about the treats she'd given him, but the lilt of that brogue of his, and the gravel in his voice made Emma's mind rush to far naughtier and more sinful thoughts. All this talk of tastes and addictions warmed her through, sending her blood humming and her heart skipping a beat, but while she knew there was some things she couldn't help, like the way her eyes had widened ever so much and her cheeks were going pink, Emma was determined not to cave to his attractiveness, at least not with their current audience so diligently studying them.
As if Killian could sense Emma's exact thoughts, his gaze shifted from her to somewhere over her shoulder offering a friendly smile and a nod to the person Emma had to assume was Ruby. She'd been lurking pretty much this whole time, and from where Killian's gaze was, Emma had to guess that she'd cut her original distance in half over the past sixty seconds.
"You must be Ruby," Killian said, surprising both Emma and Ruby with his knowing who she was.
"And you are most definitely Killian Jones. Tell me, was Emma talking me up when you met last night?" Ruby asked, digging in a completely transparent way.
"Actually your husband made the rounds this morning and introduced himself, but I think you knew that already, love."
Killian's boldness in calling Ruby out brought an instant smile to Emma's face and made her laugh under her breath. It was soft, but Killian caught it, and his gaze came back to hers, focusing so intently on her subtle display of happiness that it made Emma fall back into those same feelings of heat and near dizziness. Luckily Ruby was so pleased with Killian's sniffing out the truth that she clapped her hands together.
"Oh you are good! Yes, it's true. I had Graham stop over. I just had to make sure you're not a danger to my girl or my nephew."
And there went the warm and fuzzy feelings Emma had just been succumbing to. Nothing to dowse a moment like her meddling friend being over protective and reading way too far into things. Honestly Emma didn't even know what to say. She gaped at Ruby, wanting to throttle her or maybe to laugh at her audacity, but she was frozen. Thankfully though, Killian wasn't and his voice dipped into a more gentle yet firmly confident tone.
"I'd never dream of causing any harm for Emma or Henry," Killian affirmed, looking back at Emma after he'd said that and finishing his promise. "That's nowhere near my intention."
"Ooh intentions… do tell," Ruby said and at this Emma was really about to die of embarrassment. She moved to chastise Ruby and keep her from pressing in her usual interrogations, but Killian only grinned in that all together too handsome way of his and played it cool.
"At the moment? My intention was to thank Emma and procure some coffee. I haven't had the chance to buy a maker of my own yet and I'm in a slight state of withdrawal."
"Well coffee we can do," Emma said, silencing Ruby with a glare before her friend could say anything else and leading Killian further down the counter, putting space between them and her nosey, infuriating, lovingly protective friend. "Sorry about that. Ruby's mostly harmless I swear."
"It's as you said, Swan, there's nothing to forgive."
Killian said the words with this ease and a charge all at once, and Emma could feel the air around them mellowing out. He had this calming affect on her, yet she felt more alive and alert than ever. It made the motions of getting him the cup of coffee just a little shaky, but there was a feeling of excitement underneath it and a desire to let this moment linger just a little longer. Emma searched for a means to procure that and stumbled on a perfect option.
"We made donuts today. I didn't have any in the shop to send your way yesterday, but people tell me they aren't half bad..." That was a slight fib. People actually told her they were heavenly, but Emma didn't see any need to toot her own horn too much. He could make that call for himself.
"If you made them I'm sure they're far better than 'not half bad.' I'll take one of those as well."
"You know Emma was just working on a batch of brownies. They're probably almost finished if you -," Ruby said from across the way and Emma immediately interrupted, not loving the idea of giving him one of her treats that was magically imbibed given everything else going on. No, Emma thought it would be best to avoid mixing her magic and her love life – or would be love life. Shit, now she was falling into everyone else's insanity. Whatever, as long as she got Killian out of this shop without any sort of charmed cupcakes or spell cast soups it would be a victory.
"No I think those are actually going to take a while, and it's kind of early for a brownie," Emma pointed out, trying to divert him away from that choice without too much more muss or fuss.
"That it is, love," Killian agreed. "Perhaps I'll dabble with such sweets another time."
"You think you'll be back then?" Ruby asked eagerly and Killian smiled, his piercing blue eyes remaining locked on Emma's green ones as he responded.
"Definitely."
Then with the coffee and donut in hand and a sincere farewell that had Emma both totally relieved and a little bit remiss at his going, Killian left and headed back out into the sunny Storybrooke day. As he retreated, Emma made herself look away, but she knew that the damage so to speak was already done. Ruby had more than mere ammo at this point. She had a whole freaking arsenal of bizarre Emma Swan behavior to prove her claim that something was, in fact, going on between her and Killian.
"I am totally going to get you back for this you know that right?" Emma asked and Ruby practically chortled with glee.
"Worth it. Totally completely worth it."
And with that, the two friends came to an unspoken agreement that that was just about enough of Killian Jones within the four walls of Stay a Spell Café today. But Emma did wonder once or twice (or maybe a dozen times, who was really counting?) about whether or not she might just see him again later and if she wouldn't really like the chance to spend some more time with her new neighbor.
….
There were a number of things that required getting used to when moving to a small town, and even though it had only been a day since he arrived in Storybrooke, Killian had already begun to pick up on some of those elements.
For one thing there was the complete lack of privacy despite the wide-open spaces that a small town boasted. It felt like anywhere he went he was on display, and no one bothered to hold back their looks or to appear uninterested. No, it was truly evident that the village's conversation was consumed with their newest arrival, and Killian couldn't so much as walk on the main road without all eyes being on him.
Yet despite that strange kind of quirkiness, there was a real sincerity here. The 'how ya doings' and 'nice to meet yous' still lingered in an ever pleasing way, and though there were some neighbors he found were more forgettable than others, there was one particular person in this town he couldn't get out of his mind day or night.
Emma Swan was a mystery to him, but at the same time she was familiar and important in a way he couldn't explain. There was rarely a moment that went by since Killian had been introduced to his lovely neighbor that his thoughts weren't somehow involving her, and even his dreams had fallen victim to her charms and allure. Last night he'd fallen asleep easier than he had in years, but even sleep wasn't an escape from thoughts of Emma, and he woke shocked at the kind of sincere intimacy they'd had in his dream. It wasn't anything exceptionally lurid or scandalous, but Killian had this feeling deep in his gut that he'd been meant to be with her. The security and rightness that came in those imaginings should have startled him, but they left him restless for the chance to see her again and find out if this sort of premonition might not be accurate.
He'd risen early again this morning, wondering what his neighbor and her bright, excitable son would be up to, and when he cast his gaze outside to their house, he'd been immediately struck by just how much more there seemed to be today. Surely he'd noticed the abundance of flowers surrounding their humble abode yesterday, but today it felt like there was a substantial amount more than there had been. He moved outside to get a better look, but he lost track of those thoughts and that want to investigate the second his beautiful neighbor stepped out of her house, still wrapped up in her robe and wielding a basket.
Maybe it was bad form on his part to hide there in the still shadow cast part of his own back porch watching on, but Killian couldn't help it. At first it was just shock from her being there and so close, but then it felt like too much time had passed for him to announce himself without being weird.
Finally he decided that honor should win out over his own possible embarrassment, but just as he was about to call out to her, the faint sound of her singing something wafted on the winds to his ears, stunning him into silence all over again. He didn't have the chance to hear the words, and the melody likewise escaped him as it tumbled past her lips, but Killian did notice that the sun seemed to find Emma and her garden in this moment, shining it's golden rays on her and her house and lighting up his entire world in the process.
Killian couldn't say how long he'd watched her, but it was too short a time for his heart to be easy, and when she was leaving Killian felt a bit of pain beneath his breast. It was that strange kind of melancholy that had him trying to time the rest of his day around catching a glimpse of her. First he'd managed it by retrieving his paper when Henry was getting on the bus. Then he'd allowed himself the chance to visit her café a few hours after that, and after spending much of the early afternoon exploring, Killian had walked back through town, seeing Emma through the window but denying his instinct to go back inside. He didn't want to come on too strong, despite this bevy of emotions he was feeling, and so he stuck his course, heading instead to the town's bookshop for some much needed literature on what the bloody hell to do with a cat.
"Hello?" Killian called out in the store when he'd entered to find no one inside. It was actually so empty from first appearances that he wondered if it was even manned at this point, but from the back came a faint yell that signaled at life after all.
"Just one second!" a woman called, before there was the sound of shuffling and some muttered cursing as something (Killian assumed a stack of books) fell over. Killian moved to see if he could help, but the next second the woman popped out from the back and made her apologies. "Hi, sorry about that. I got lost in a new shipment of books and the next thing I knew I was trapped in a fort of my own making."
"Don't you just hate when that happens?" Killian offered, hoping to make a joke to ease the woman's discomfort and she immediately laughed and nodded.
"Yeah I do. I really, really do. So what can I help you with? Let me guess – something to do with cat care?" she asked, blowing Killian away for a split second before he remembered how much people in this town liked to talk.
"You must be another friend of Emma and Henry's," Killian said. "Or perhaps David since knows of my new situation as well."
"Try all three," the woman said with a smile. "I'm Belle, and I think I might have just the thing you're looking for."
Killian recognized the name, and he realized this must be the friend who Emma and Henry had visited for dinner last night. He was going to mention that connection as a means of small talk as she helped him locate a book, but it turned out Belle didn't have to so much as leave her station to procure a book on feline parenting. Somehow she must have already prepared for a moment where he might come.
"Henry was convinced when he came over for dinner last night that you'd be in today and I've learned never to doubt Henry when he's got one of his feelings," Belle supplied, her affection for Henry clear in her tone.
"He's an intuitive lad then?" Killian asked, wanting to know as much as he could about Henry and his mother. They had proved to both be endlessly fascinating to him, but he also didn't want to appear desperate for answers. Belle, however, didn't seem to find anything amiss with his quandary and elaborated right away.
"Oh definitely! He's got a real gift and it works in mysterious ways. He'll figure it out someday though. People always do."
The way that Belle made the statement was rather curious. She made Henry's sense of what might happen seem like a certifiable skill as opposed to good guessing. Was he missing something perhaps? Or maybe this woman was just a bit odd. It wouldn't be so beyond reason in this town. Storybrooke seemed to host a number of interesting characters from his experience so far.
"Aye, and he has time enough to do so," Killian agreed with Belle agreeing readily.
"Absolutely. I didn't realize my true path until I was fifteen. He's got forever to figure out which way the fates will take him." Belle said the words easily and without any thought, but then she seemed to realize that was strangely phrased. Killian watched as she went a bit red and started back peddling a bit from the bizarre ideas. "Sorry – I get kind of carried away. Books are my passion and sometimes I forget people don't actually talk like that."
Killian laughed good-naturedly at her explanation setting Belle at ease once more and back into motion to get his order situated. But as she moved to bag up his book, another manuscript across the room caught his eye. It was a beginner's guide to sailing and Killian thought in that moment that it might be a good thing to get for Henry. As a boy Killian had always enjoyed being out there on the seas with his brother, and when living in a place like this, surely there was plenty of opportunity for Henry to give it a try. Besides, the lad had made sure Killian had a book today; the least Killian could do was offer him one in return.
"Oh Henry will love that!" Belle said when Killian reached for the book off the stand where it rested by the window. "You know he's been a pirate for Halloween the last three years? He can't get enough of that stuff."
"How did you – never mind," Killian said, not daring to ask how the woman could know so quickly that the book was meant for Henry. Instead he let Belle bag up both purchases and then went on his way, feeling a bit more confident in his gift for Henry even if he was slightly mortified that his motives had been so transparent. But by the time he was back at home again his musings on whether or not he'd made a mistake evaporated and instead he was focused on the fact that Henry himself was camped out in front of Killian's house.
"Hey Killian!" Henry called from his front steps, and Killian smiled at the boy before realizing what Henry was carrying in his arms – the same tiny kitten that the two of them had rescued last night.
"Bloody hel- I mean heck – how did she get out?" Henry looked a little guilty at the question for some reason but then he pointed up to the open window at the side of the house. "I guess I'll have to be more careful. I could have sworn I locked it earlier. Thanks for looking out for her."
"No problem. So did you go see Belle?" Henry asked, nodding towards the bag Killian was carrying.
"Aye I did. She had just what I was looking for thanks to you, and as a show of my gratitude…" Killian trailed off as he grabbed the book he'd gotten specifically for Henry and handed it to him.
"No way! I was looking at this book last time Mom took me to the shop. How did you know?" Henry asked, his eyes raking over the cover of the guide as he clutched it close, allowing Killian to scoop up the kitten once more. As soon as he did the cat meowed and curled back into him again. And here he'd thought cats were standoffish and aloof. How wrong he'd turned out to be.
"I didn't. But I figured any true friend of mine likely had a similar affinity for sailing."
"We're friends?" Henry asked excitedly and Killian nodded.
"I'd like to think so. I could certainly use some more being new to town and all."
"My Mom could be your friend," Henry offered and Killian felt the pang of want in his gut. Truth be told he'd like a lot more than mere friendship with Emma Swan, but being her friend would be a start, and at this rate he believed any kind of relationship with Emma would be a glorious thing indeed.
"You think?" Killian asked and Henry nodded but then seemed to reconsider.
"Well… maybe. She already has a lot of friends, but she could really use a boyfriend."
Oh Jesus. Was this a test? It had to be some kind of test, right?
"Has she not had many of those?" Killian asked, immediately regretting how interested he sounded, and wondering what the ethical considerations were for talking to a woman in whom he was interested with her son without her knowing.
"Nope. She's picky. But she likes you." Henry imparted that fact like it was a given and not a crucial new piece of hope for Killian that he'd now come to cling to.
"She said that?" Killian asked, not bothering to hide his surprise.
"She didn't have to. Some things you just know," Henry said with a grin before something caught his eye over to the side of the yard. "Uh oh."
"Did you give your Mum the slip again?" Killian asked hoping to get another glimpse of Emma today, but instead he saw one of the women who had been in the window of Stay A Spell yesterday with Elsa and Ruby looking totally worried as she ambled out of Emma and Henry's house.
"Nope, just Anna. She hangs out with me on Tuesdays but she lost me once when I was six so now she takes worried to a whole other level."
"I think you best put her out of her misery then, mate," Killian said standing up at the same time Henry did.
"Yeah, probably. But you should know my mom likes flowers, coffee ice cream, Frank Sinatra, and sunsets at the beach. Just in case you decide to be her boyfriend or something."
The way Henry informed Killian of these select 'favorite things' that his mother had seemed rather rehearsed in Killian's opinion, and it indicated that Henry might have a scheme up his sleeve, but honestly Killian would take all the allies he could get when it came to Emma. Besides, the lad was obviously very fond of his Mum and wanted to see her happy which was something Killian likewise wanted. He was simply growing to hope more and more that he might be able to bring Emma such happiness if given the chance.
"I'll keep that in mind," Killian said with a laugh and a shake of his head as Henry sprinted for the other house, halfway there he stopped though throwing another random fact over his shoulder.
"And she hates raisins! Whatever you do don't give her raisins!" Henry shouted the warning as if men were prone to wooing women with raisins as a common play.
"Raisins? Henry what are you talking about?" The woman named Anna asked but Henry shook his head, pulling her back inside and leaving Killian alone there on the front walk of his house with just his cat to keep him company.
"Well, seems it's just you and me again," Killian offered to the kitten he'd still not named as he went back inside, facing the quiet of his solitude once more. But as he closed the door, Killian couldn't help hoping there might be more brightness and life brought into his world by his new neighbors sometime very, very soon.
Post-Note: I think I can safely say after writing a few chapters of this story that I have really missed writing fics with Henry in them. I just love the added dynamic of meddling he can bring, and in this AU in particular, he's going to be playing a big part of CS finding their happy ending. But more than that I am just really enjoying this strange little world I've concocted. I still don't have a ton of chapters mapped out, but I have an idea of where I think the story will be taking us next. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed and thank you so much for reading and let me know what you think!
