Chapter 7

Emma slid out of the bed as soon as Killian stepped out the bedroom door and went into the bathroom. If she was going to meet Killian's sister while sick, then she needed to clean up. After washing her face and brushing her teeth, she looked at herself in the mirror: the week of being sick had considerably paled her skin. There were dark circles under her eyes and her lips weren't as pink as they usually were. She pulled a brush through her long hair and then did it into a loose side braid.

She was stepping out of the bathroom when there was a light knock on the bedroom door.

"Emma, may I come in? It's Rose."

"Oh! One second!" Emma grabbed a medical mask from the box on the nightstand that she assumed had been given to them at the hospital and looped it around her ears as she got back in the bed. "Come in!"

The door swung open and revealed Rose. Despite only sharing a father, Rose and Killian were practically each other's twin. The main difference being that Rose was blonde, her hair up in a bun, where Killian had his own mother's dark hair. But her eyes…her eyes were the same color blue as Killian's, unnerving Emma just a little.

When the sudden image of a little baby girl with her hair and Killian's eyes swam in Emma's mind, a little bit of both of them, she gasped because it was too much. She did her best to push the thought of something that would never be out of her mind.

"How are ya feelin'?" Rose plopped down at the foot of the bed and stared Emma straight in the eye (which didn't help with the cleansing of her thoughts).

"Tired and hungry." Emma sighed and looked down at her hands. "And somewhat embarrassed that we had to meet this way Rose." She looked back up at the other woman who waved a hand in dismissal.

"Please, call me Tink and it doesn't matter. We've all been pretty sick and disgustin' at some point in our lives." Emma laughed to herself.

"But it's not every day you meet your b—um…his family, so…" She thanked her lucky stars that despite Tink catching her slip up, she doesn't mention it. "On top of which, I have to wear this ridiculous mask. I look like an idiot." Neither had noticed Killian slip into the room with a tray carrying Emma's lunch.

"Nonsense Swan, you look beautiful." She blushed behind her mask and gave him his signature arched eyebrow and Tink laughed.

"You've been spending way too much time with this bloody fool."

"Oi, watch yourself or I'm kicking you out little pixie."

"I hate you."

"No you don't, you love me."

"'Course I do."

"If you two are done-" Emma looked between them, "-then I'd like to get to my lunch."

"We're not stopping you, love."

"I have to take this mask off to eat so you need to either leave or back up." Killian hesitated.

"I'll just leave you two girls to talk and I'll be downstairs with August." He gave Emma wink and left the room. Emma eyed Tink,

"I'll go sit on the other side of the room, shall I?"

"I just don't want you to get sick Tink." The petite blonde went to a loveseat on the other side of the room and Emma removed her mask.

"So, what are your intentions with my brother?" Emma practically choked on the bite of her sandwich.

"Excuse me?"

"What. Are your intentions. With. My brother?"

"Um…" Emma couldn't think of what to say. Should she tell Tink that she wanted to spend every waking moment with him, that he made her feel safe and that she thought she'd love him soon if she didn't already? "I don't know."

"He's been hurt a lot. Our da wasn't the best person. He didn't just leave Killian, he left me too. We don't know where he is now, probably dead and neither one of us could care less. I was lucky, I had my mother after the man left us and then Liam and Killian found out about me and I had them too. My mother died when I was a teenager, but I still had my brothers. By then, Killian was already acting and Liam was in the Navy. I was with Killian when he met…her."

Emma knew immediately who Tink was talking about.

"You know her? You knew Milah."

"Right from the start, Liam and I knew she was no good for him. We just knew and we told him and he wouldn't listen. She was older, as I'm sure he's told you, that's what tipped me off. He bought her a ring and that's when I realized he had his doubts."

"Wait, he bought her an engagement ring and that made you think he wasn't serious?"

"Yeah. Before he died, Liam gave Killian a ring of their ma's. I think it was his way of testing him. Killian gave it to me." Rose got a bit closer to where Emma sat and pulled a silver chain from under her shirt to show her, a beautiful ring hanging from it: the band was either silver or white gold, with small diamonds on the band leading up to the most beautiful (and biggest looking) cushion cut ruby Emma had ever seen. She didn't know much about jewelry, but she could tell that it had to be at least a carat.

"It's gorgeous." Emma ignored the fact that rubies happened to be her favorite jewel. Tink put it back under her shirt.

"He told me it to keep it safe and that maybe he'd come back for it one day." Tink went back to where she'd been sitting and Emma tucked into her lunch. "After Liam died and Milah left because she'd met some guy, he lost himself. He drank rum by the bottle almost every night, and did just about any girl who talked to him. He was visiting me in London one weekend and got drunk like usual while sitting on the balcony of my third floor flat. For some reason, he suddenly got the urge to sit on the railing and as drunk as he was, it was not a good idea."

"Oh no."

"Oh yes. He was about to pitch over the side, the fall would have killed him, but I reached up and grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him down. I took him to rehab the next day. Didn't want to stay at first. Told him I'd never speak to him again, that he could consider himself without a sister, if he didn't stay."

"I'm glad he stayed."

"As am I Emma. Killian is all I've left, so you can understand why I'm wondering where you think this is headed. If you're just after some fun, I suggest you drop this now because it will kill him."

"No, no. If there's anyone who understands, it's me. I promise, I'll tell you my story one of these days."

"You don't have to Emma, I just wanted you to know." With that, Tink stood and gave Emma a smile. "I'll let you finish your lunch in peace. I'm going to go annoy the boys some more. When you're better, we'll go shopping, you and me."

"I'd like that." Once Tink left the room, Emma quickly finished her lunch and set the tray outside her door. She tossed the mask in the trash again and went back out to the balcony, sitting cross legged on the lounge chair she'd been occupying earlier.

The conversation with Tink started playing through her head. She wasn't after fun, but this…whatever Killian and her had, it wasn't going to last. Once filming was over, they were over. He had a life in Ireland and she had a life in New York City. He wasn't going to want to leave his home and his only family for her. She'd leave before he had the chance to. But, until then, she would allow herself to be happy.

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A few days went by and Emma was finally declared to be okay enough to leave the bedroom (and the house) and not have to wear something on her face. The morning her sentence was redacted (the way she thought of it), she woke slowly. She felt like she was wrapped in a warm and comforting blanket she never wanted to leave. As she blinked the sleep from her eyes, she heard a small snore and felt tickling along her shoulder. Blankets don't snore or have scratchy beards she thought to herself.

Emma looked down to find an arm draped across her waist and then to her right to see a dark head of hair against her shoulder. Killian was nestled against her and sleeping soundly. She hadn't even registered when he'd gotten in the bed, but it was probably sometime in the very early morning. She reached over and pushed some hair off his forehead and thumbed the scar on his right cheek, which made him sigh contentedly. Turning softly so as to not wake him, Emma scooted down and placed her back against his chest and she felt his arm wrap tighter around her. Seconds later, she was asleep once more.

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The next time Emma woke up, it was to feather light kisses trailing on her shoulder and up her neck, ending just behind her ear. His arm was still around her waist, but she could feel his fingers touching the skin of her stomach where the Beatles shirt she wore to bed had ridden up. Emma sighed happily.

"Good morning darling." She felt his lips move right over her ear.

"Hey yourself." She turned around to face him to find him wearing a big grin. He leaned in for kiss but she pulled up the bed sheet to cover her mouth and his lips landed on the sheet. "I haven't brushed my teeth yet!"

"I don't care."

"But I do so you're gonna have to wait a few more minutes before you can kiss me."

"Well, seeing as how I've waited already, a few more minutes won't kill me I suppose." He kissed her with the sheet in the way once more and Emma crawled over him to get out of bed and hurried into the bathroom. Killian slipped out of bed after her and leaned on the doorframe to watch her clean up. Emma watched him in the mirror as she brushed her hair and put it into a ponytail.

He sighed when he saw her squeeze cream out onto her hand and proceed to cover her face with it.

"Hey, cool it buddy. This skin isn't awesome just because, I have work hard to make sure it looks this good. Not all of us can afford top dermatologists like you", she said as she quirked an eyebrow at him in the mirror to which he smiled.

"I seem to recall that I was promised a kiss Swan. I have no idea what this has to do with skin."

"I have a routine. Hair, then face, then teeth…" Emma scrubbed the cream into her cheeks as he watched her.

"And what, pray tell, comes after teeth?" She didn't answer as she leaned forward and rinsed her face off. After applying some moisturizer and laughing at Killian rolling his eyes at her, she squeezed out toothpaste onto her brush, got it wet, and stuck it in her mouth.

"Don' fink I should tell ooo."

"I've no idea what you've just said Swan." She waved him off and finished brushing her teeth. As soon as she had dried her mouth on the towel, Killian grabbed her around the waist and pulled her into her arms. "I ask again, what comes after teeth?"

"Well", she said as she wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled, "Normally it's breakfast, but for you, I think I'll make an exception." He leaned in and kissed her, all the pent up worry and passion from the past week spilling into the kiss. She felt his hands trail from where they'd been splayed on her back to her backside and then down to her thighs where she felt him squeeze, and she understood what he wanted.

Not breaking the kiss, she hopped up and wrapped her legs around his waist as he walked them back to her bed. He dropped her down lightly and she scooted up the bed as he crawled after her. Emma couldn't help breathing hard after that kiss and sighed as he kissed along her collarbone. She was content to spend part of the late morning kissing Killian while in bed.

But when she felt him start to pull her shirt up, she placed her hands on his chest and pushed him away.

"What is it Swan?" He looked so adorable with his hair sticking up every way possible and his lips all kiss swollen (she must look the same to him). "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. I just…I don't think now is the best time."

"What do you mean?"

"It's not that I don't want to. It's just…I'm still not a hundred percent and I think…um…" How was she supposed to say that if she was going to be with him intimately, she'd like it to be a whole lot more special without sounding like a prude?

"Say no more Swan. I totally understand and totally agree." How did he even…? Oh right, open book.

"Thanks." He moved to sit against the headboard of the bed and pulled her to his chest, placing a kiss in her hair.

"So, since you can leave the house now, I thought we'd take the day for you and me and sail on the Jolly."

"The Jolly?"

"Yeah. She's my sailboat. One of the first things I bought when I made enough money."

"You love the water, don't you?"

"Very much. I probably would've joined the Royal Navy with Liam had I not gotten into acting. I love spending time here at this house, with it being on the water and all."

"Well, if we're going to go sailing, I need to get dressed. So you sir, need to go away." Killian stuck out his bottom lip, pouting like a child. "Don't even with that. Now go, or I'm staying in and watching Netflix all day in that kick ass media room you have. I mean it…I'll marathon Dr. Who or Supernatural."

"Fine. I'll ask Mrs. Potts to prepare us some things for lunch then." He gave her a quick kiss and left to go downstairs.

Emma got dressed, making sure to dress warmly in dark blue jeans, black Converse (she has a pair in just about every color), black t-shirt with 'STAR WARS' in yellow outlined text [think the font it's written in for the title crawl of the movie] on the front and 'I have a bad feeling about this…' on the back, and her red leather jacket. She decided to leave out her contacts and instead opted for glasses, so she packed a small bag with her phone, camera, cases for glasses and sunglasses (she had prescription sunglasses that she'd wear while outside), and a small change of clothes should she get drenched. It wasn't a cold day, but it wasn't warm and she wasn't going to risk getting sick again.

Emma headed downstairs and found Killian in the kitchen with August and Tink.

"No, Miss Rose Bell, you are not going sailing with Emma and me today!" he argued. Emma hung back and giggled (What was the man doing to her?! She was giggling now!) as she watched the tiny blonde stand up to her much taller brother.

"I will to be going! I've not been out on the Jolly in a long time! Come on brother, please?" Emma saw her use the puppy eyes and pout that Killian usually used on her and knew that he'd be a goner.

"No, you cannot use that look on me Rose! I perfected that look!" Emma couldn't take it anymore and laughed out loud as she walked into the kitchen.

"Emma!" Tink abandoned her argument with Killian and ran to Emma, pulling her into a hug. "It's great to see you out of that room!"

"I'm happy to be out of it and very much looking forward to sailing." She looked over Tink's shoulder and winked at Killian, who rolled his eyes and gave a defeated sigh.

"Bloody hell. One of you will be the death of me, I swear it." Tink let Emma out of the hug, but left her arm around her shoulders.

"Have either of you seen my brother by the way?" Emma asked the room.

"He left this morning, said he had to take care of something important." Tink shrugged.

"Well then", Killian clapped his hands together, "Mrs. Potts has filled this lovely basket with delectable things for us, so let's get a move on, shall we?"

Killian picked up the basket with food in it and offered Emma his free arm and led her outside.

"I'll be right there!" Tink called as she ran up the main stairs. "I've got to get something from my room." Killian steered Emma towards the garage where the door was up revealing shiny Evergreen Range Rover. It was obviously an older model, but Emma looked over at Killian as he beamed at it with pride and it suddenly clicked for Emma when she saw the custom license plate: CAPTJONES.

"It…was Liam's, wasn't it?"

"You are correct." Killian dropped her arm as he walked around to the back of the car and opened it up, depositing the basket inside next to some blankets and towels. "It was his pride and joy. I was honored when he left it to me in his Will." He opened the passenger door (on the left and Emma had forgotten they drove on the opposite side) and offered a hand to help her in. Tink burst out of the front door with a black bag slung on her shoulder.

"Couldn't go on a sailing day without my camera." She hopped in the seat behind Emma as Killian got in the driver's side.

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Emma was so excited to be out of the house after being cooped up, so she stared out the window the entire 15 minute drive to the marina where The Jolly Roger was moored. Killian greeted the guard at marina's gate and the gate swung open to admit them. Killian made a left and parked off of the second to last pier. He was out and opening Emma's door before she could finish undoing her seatbelt.

She was extremely glad she'd thought ahead to put on her sunglasses because she was sure that if Killian could see her eyes, he'd know something was wrong and she didn't want to have to explain what had to happen when their work was done later in the year. Yet…

"You okay love?" There it is.

"Of course! Why would anything be wrong?"

"Open book." Oh…that.

"I'm just excited to be going on the boat is all."

"No, there's more to this than that, isn't there?" His voice was quiet as he placed a hand on her face and ran his thumb over the apple of her cheek.

"August. He wouldn't leave without telling me where he was going."

"I'm sure it's alright Swan. I informed him last night that since I'd be taking you sailing today, I planned on letting you sleep in a bit. He probably just wanted to let you sleep and I'm sure that he'll call you. Now is the time to enjoy the quiet moments and right now, we've got a quiet moment." He leaned in as if to kiss her when they were interrupted by Tink sticking her head outside the passenger window.

"Did you two forget I was here?" She got out and placed her hand over heart in mock hurt. "Frankly, I'm insulted. Just try to keep it in your pants for this trip big brother."

"Shut up Tink." Emma was sure she couldn't blush more violently than she did in that moment.

"Whatever!" She secured her camera and ran down the pier to a slip near the end where the Jolly sat bobbing in the water.

"I'm sorry about that Swan."

"It's fine. It's a younger sister's job to tease her big brother. I can relate."

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August pulled his jacket tight around him as he walked out into the blistery cold weather of Boston in January. He'd just arrived in Boston after a seven hour flight and was looking for his ride. Finally he spotted the car his contacts had described to him: an older model Jeep station wagon with wood paneling and an apple antenna ornament. A petite woman with black hair and a tall blonde man stood next to it, waving at August.

"Hi. August W. Booth." He shook hands with the woman and then the man.

"It's nice to finally meet you August. I'm David and this is Mary Margaret." David's face lost the jovial smile he wore only seconds before. "We understand you know our daughter, Emma."