Chapter 2: The Room
"He's my boyfriend- or was- not anymore. That was his problem," Emma took a deep breath and looked down at her lap. "I'm sure you noticed he has a major drinking problem. He refuses to accept he's an alcoholic because he says he can stop whenever he wants; he just doesn't want to. When he's drunk, he gets insanely unreasonable and obscenely violent. The amount of times he has been arrested for getting into bar fights with random strangers is ridiculous. The guards at the jail know me by name because of how many times I have had to pick him up." She looked up at Killian and looked back down quickly. She didn't want him to see the tears threatening to fall. She'd had enough crying for one night. "About a week ago, I went over to my friend, Mary Margaret's, house with my other friend, Ruby. They um- they found some bruises he left on me. Well actually a lot of bruises. Not just some." Her voice suddenly became very shaky. "That night they convinced me that I need to break up with him. They tried to tell me to call the police but I- I couldn't. So what you saw tonight was how he took to the news." She couldn't contain them anymore. She felt his arms try to wrap around her. She flinched and pulled away instinctively. Then she allowed herself to fall into him, sobbing into his chest. "I know I should tell the police but I-I"
"Shh lass its ok. I understand. If anyone understands it, I do."
"You do?" she looked up at him and saw his eyes begin to well up.
"Follow me." He grabbed her hand and they walked past the kitchen and through another door which led to a small room, walls filled with bottles of rum, wine, whiskey, wine glasses, shot glasses, any kind of alcohol you can think of. Broken beer bottles and red plastic cups littered the floor. The room reeked of old booze. Wherever there was wall space not filled with alcohol, there were holes. "These aren't mine, and I only live with one other person." He looked to her face to see her put the pieces together.
"Your girlfriend." It wasn't a question. He was in the same boat as her.
He pointed to a small scar on his face. "Wanna take a guess as to who did this? With a broken bottle even" her jaw dropped. "I used to come in here when she was gone. Try to clean up in here and make this room usable. But I just gave up. This room is reflection of her. It's just as much a mess as she is. But at least when she is drunk, actually she is always drunk, but when she is at her worst, she comes in here. She doesn't take it out on me much anymore."
"You need to leave her" he began to interrupt but she stopped him. "No let me talk. Like you said, if anyone understands, I do. I know how hard this is. I know you love her much more than you should. But Killian, she is keeping you from becoming the best you you can be." She reached a hand up and held it against his cheek, "Killian, if I can do it, you can do it. We don't have to be alone. We can go through this together."
"I can't Emma! Milah and I have gone through too much together. We had such plans…" his voice grew more desperate at each word. "We wanted to travel the world. See everything there is to see. We wanted to have a family. We almost did… and she killed him because she couldn't stay away from the damn alcohol."
"I actually have a son. With him! For a long time I wouldn't break up with him because of Henry. I wanted him to grow up with a whole, happy family. Now, he is the reason I left. I can't risk Neal hurting my kid. Please do this. Do it for the son you could've had. Do this for you. One day you'll meet a woman who will show you why it didn't work with Milah. Do it for her."
"I'm supposed to give up everything I've built with Milah for a woman I've never met? Are you kidding me?!"
"You need to give up everything that's been ruined by Milah for the hope this woman could bring you." There was a long pause before she saw written on his face that she had won.
"She comes home tomorrow. I suppose it'll happen then." He turned and walked out of the wretched room and then turned back to look at Emma. "I suppose I've got a long day tomorrow now. We should get to bed. Goodnight lass"
She followed him out of the room and made her way to the couch, "Goodnight Killian."
The next morning Emma was woken up to the blinding sun searing through the open window, directly hitting her face. She stretched her body and let out an intense yawn before opening her eyes. Once she did, it took her a moment to recognize the room she was in. it wasn't her bed, or her room, or her place for that matter. Just then, the memories of the events from the previous night flooded her. She must have fallen asleep with the movie still on because the TV was still on. She got up from the couch and turned it off. As she did, and uncomfortable rumbling sounded from her stomach. Damn when was the last time I ate? She moved into the kitchen to help herself to some breakfast. Some of the bottles from the previous night were still out so she put them where she saw Killian had fetched them.
Since Killian didn't keep normal breakfast food like cereal in the house, she managed to scrape up the ingredients for blueberry pancakes. After about three pancakes had finished cooking, she heard the slow, trudging footsteps of sleepy Killian. "Oh gods what is that glorious smell?"
"Pancakes. You didn't have any typical breakfast foods so I helped myself. It that ok?" she answered
"As long as you make enough for me." He grabbed a couple plates and silverware sets and placed them in their respective places at the small table in the middle of the kitchen. "Sorry I don't have any coffee. I know most of you Americans just adore it, but I can't stand it. Milah and I prefer tea."
"I'm not much for coffee either. Usually the caffeine hot chocolate can give me is enough to wake me up. "Suddenly the door sprang open and a woman with dark brown, curly hair backed into the house dragging a large duffel through the threshold.
"Oh gods I am so tire- who the hell are you?!" she turned and faced the blonde girl invading her home.
"MILAH WHERE THE ABSOLUTE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?! I COME HOME FROM WORK TO FIND YOU HAVE JUST BLOODY GONE OFF AGAIN?" Killian must not have realized how mad he was until he saw her. "Emma lass would you give us a moment?" he turned to go to the back room and Milah followed, stumbling. Just like Neal.
"Of course. I'll be in here." Emma proceeded to finish cooking the rest of the batter as quickly as she could and cleaned up the dishes and food. As she did so, she heard the muffled voices escalate to clear shouts.
"OH SO IT'S OKAY FOR YOU TO BRING HOME GIRLS BUT I CANT GO OUT FOR A FEW DAYS?"
"EMMA ISNT SOME GIRL I BROUGHT HOME. SHE NEEDED SOME HELP FROM HER DRUNKEN SPOUSE! SOUND FAMILIAR? "
"OH WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?"
"THAT YOU'RE A BLOODY DRUNK! WE ARE OVER MILAH! DONE!"
Suddenly the voices lowered into muffles again and Emma commenced with her cleaning. She moved from the kitchen to the living room. She folded her blankets and sheets from the night before and stacked them neatly on the couch. She began feeling guilty for pushing at Killian to end things with her. Why should I care what he does? I don't even know him. Ill likely never see him again. They were just fine before I came along.
But I sure was glad someone encouraged me to leave Neal.
That was all she could tell herself as justification for what she did. In the midst of her moping, Milah came back out from the room with a newly packed bag, shot Emma a killer glare, then left the house. Emma flinched as the door slammed shut. Emma noticed Killian hadn't returned from the bedroom.
"Killian?" she peered around the door and found him sitting on the floor against the bed with his head in his hands. "Are you alright?" She walked in nervously, unsure of what to do. Should she comfort him? Or leave him alone? Or perhaps leave altogether?
"Oh Emma I'm so sorry you had to be here for that. I'm so sorry." he got up and wrapped his arms around her "I'm so sorry. You already had to deal with your own break up and now you were here for mine. Gods I'm so sorry."
She pulled away from his and grabbed his wrists, looking him dead in the eye. "What on earth do you have to be sorry for? I told you to end things with Milah. I have no clue why you listened to me but you did. And it's gonna suck for a while being without her. But it sucks being without Neal for me too. But we just have to power through it. In the end, it's for the best. Neither of us should have to be in these unhealthy relationships anymore. Remember what I said last night? We can go through this together. We don't have to suffer alone."
He let out a deep sigh and hung his head. "Yeah. Yeah you're right. I'd much rather go through this with you than by myself"
"Good. Then let's go eat breakfast before it gets any colder."
"As you wish"