A/N: I do not own Once Upon a Time or its characters. I also have no idea about the process of enlisting, so I kind of took some liberaties there for the sake of the story. If I messed anything up majorly please let me know so I can attempt to fix it.
Killian was exhausted. In fact, he couldn't remember the last time he had felt so tired. At this point all he wanted to do was go back to his apartment, crawl into bed, and sleep for days.
Unfortunately, all he had time to do was to make a quick stop at the apartment, check the mail and grab something to eat before he had to be at work again. He also was planning on meeting Emma after his shift tonight.
Killian had never been more thankful that he had completed his GED program three weeks ago. That was one less thing for him to worry about. He had sent all of the paperwork over to the Navy recruiter as soon as he had gotten his results. Since he had already taken the physical and enlistment testing, now he was just waiting for his official boot camp placement to come in. They had said it would only be a couple of weeks.
His birthday had officially came and gone last week. He had celebrated with a quiet get together at Victor's house with Emma, Ruby, Victor, Will, Belle, and Elsa. They had a small bon fire seeing as it was a nice spring night.
Killian only wished that he had more alone time with Emma. They did their best, but it was a little hard with him working so many jobs and Emma still insisting they wait until she was 18 to tell her parents.
Not that he didn't understand why Emma wanted to wait, he did. He was just ready to come clean about everything. He hadn't been in trouble in months. In fact, Killian had stopped getting in trouble at all since he had met Emma almost a year and a half ago.
He was trying to turn his life around and with Emma's help he had succeeded. Emma was just scared that her parents would only see the person he used to be, not the person he had become. So he would follow her lead, as he always did.
Besides all he really wanted was to be with Emma and all of these changes were to ensure their life together.
Finally arriving at his apartment, Killian parked his bike in a parking space and hopped off. He checked his phone to see how much time he had before he needed to leave again and noticed a text from Emma.
i can't wait to see you tonight. have a good night at work. i love you.
Killian smiled to himself and sent a quick text back saying he would text her as soon as he finished work tonight. Grabbing the mail as he unlocked the apartment, Killian went right in and walked toward the kitchen.
He quickly grabbed some left over mac-n-cheese, his favorite, and heated it up. Leaning against his kitchen counter, Killian ate his food while looking through the mail.
Most of it was junk, as usual. Toward the end of the pile, Killian noticed a letter from the United States Navy. He stopped eating as soon as he saw it.
This was it. All of his hard work came down to what was in this letter. The recruiter said that he should have no problem getting in, but Killian's life had never gone to plan. It would not be a surprise if something had went wrong here also.
Killian placed the letter onto the counter. He couldn't open it right now. He had to go to work and if that letter could possibly end all of his dreams he didn't want to go into work with that on his mind. He would be useless.
After he finished his food, Killian placed the bowl into the sink and walked out of the kitchen. He would clean it when he got back after he met up with Emma.
Taking one last look at the letter on the counter, Killian shook his head and turned to walk out of his apartment.
Emma Nolan looked up from the movie she was watching with her parents to look at the clock on the wall. It was now 9:00 pm and Killian would be off in a half of an hour. She quickly pulled her phone out and sent off a message to Killian.
hey. meet at ur place at 9:45? i have my key i can let myself in.
Sounds perfect, love. I will pick up some dinner and then be right over.
Emma placed her phone into the back pocket of her jeans and got up from the couch. Her parent's attention focused on her instead of the movie.
"Time to leave already, Emma?" her mother asked with a smile.
"Yeah, I told Elsa and Belle I would meet them at the bowling alley at 9:30. That is still okay, right?"
"Sure, honey," replied her father, "what time do you think you will be back?"
"Um…maybe around one if that is okay?"
Her father turned and looked at her mother and smiled. Her mother nodded in agreement and her father returned his look to her.
"One is fine, Emma. It is a Friday night so you can stay out a little later than normal. You girls have fun."
Before turning to walk out of the room, Emma offered her parents a quick thank you. She then walked over to the table next to the door and grabbed her car keys and walked out of the house.
Her yellow bug was sitting in the driveway where it always was. After getting in the car, Emma started it and pulled out of the driveway.
Her one thought while driving was that her parents were acting a little weird when she had told them her plans for the night, but maybe she was reading to much into it.
Killian arrived at his apartment almost ten minutes late. Granny's had been slammed and he had to wait forever for their food to be ready. When he arrived, Killian noticed Emma's car was already in the parking lot.
He quickly shut off his bike, grabbed the food, and made his way inside.
"Emma, love, are you home?" He yelled as soon as he entered the apartment.
"In the kitchen."
Taking off his boots and shrugging off his leather jacket, Killian made his way into the kitchen.
Emma was sitting with her back against the counter. She was holding something in her hand. She was holding his letter from the Navy.
She didn't even look up as she spoke, "So this is it?"
"Aye, my swan," Killian agreed as he sat their food down.
"Why didn't you open it?"
"Bloody hell, I don't know. I was nervous. I wanted to wait for you. What if they don't take me, love. What will we do then?"
"None of that matters, Killian. No matter what, I am in this for the long haul. Yes, you getting into the Navy would make things much easier, but it will change nothing. I want to be with you. I love you."
Killian's arm reached up and his hand scratched behind his ear. As usual, Emma saw right through him. Of course he was worried she would leave. How much harder would it be to explain their relationship to her parents if he had no future plans?
It would be impossible. They would never accept him, even after all the changes he had made.
Killian barely even noticed Emma walking up to him until her arms came to rest around his neck. He sighed and leaned his forehead down until it was touching hers.
"I love you too, my swan."
"Open the letter, Killian," she said while placing the letter in his hands.
Killian looked at the letter again before turning it over and ripping open the envelope. He quickly scanned the fist paragraph of the letter before letting his hand fall to his side.
"Killian? What did it say? Did you…"
Killian interrupted her questions by pulling her into his arms, his lips finding hers. He kissed her with everything in him. Her hands found their way into his hair while his ended up at the base of her back under her shirt, rubbing small circles into her skin.
Breaking away from the kiss, Killian again let his forehead rest against hers. Emma took a moment to take a breath and then tilted her head up so her eyes would meet his.
"Good news, I take it?" she asked.
Killian gave her a huge smile in return.
"Aye, my swan. Here read it for yourself."
Killian handed the letter back over to Emma. Emma quickly scanned over the letter while a 1000-watt smile graced her face.
"You got in, Killian. You did it! You got into the navy!"
Within seconds she was back in his arms. Killian had never felt happier than what he was feeling right now. Everything was working out in their favor.
He had got into the navy. After a year and a half of cleaning up his, act he had finally achieved his dream.
"I owe it all to you, my swan. If I had not met you at that party so long ago, I would be on the same path. Thank you, Emma for being the light in my darkness."
"Don't be ridiculous, Killian. You did this all on your own."
Killian just shook his head to her response. If she only knew how much she and their love had changed his life. He really did owe everything to her.
Grabbing the letter from Emma and placing her hand in his, Killian moved them from the kitchen to the living room. His apartment was a small one bedroom. When Liam was still alive he would sleep in the living room, while Killian took the bedroom.
The living room didn't have much. Killian couldn't afford cable or a TV for that matter. It basically just contained a small used futon and a coffee table.
Killian sat the two of them down on the futon. Emma quickly curled into his side.
"When do you leave?" she asked.
Killian looked over the letter again before answering her.
"Three weeks. I have to report to Chicago for boot camp. That will take about nine weeks. Then, I will be able to come home before I have get to my station."
"I am going with you."
Killian stopped and turned his body toward Emma in surprise.
"What do you mean, love?"
"I am going with you. When you come back home. I had planned to tell you later but I can't wait. I want to go with you Killian. I can stay here while you are at boot camp, but after… I want to be where you are."
Killian placed his hand on Emma's cheek and she leaned into him.
"What about your parents, love?"
"Well you are going to leave before my birthday, so we are just going to have to tell them now I guess. They won't change my mind. I have been thinking about this since your first meeting with the recruiter."
"When do you want to tell them?" Killian asked.
In all honesty, he couldn't believe that she was ready to tell them. They had fought about this very issue only a month ago and she was dead set on waiting until she turned 18.
"How about this weekend? The sooner the better, I guess. That way we can deal with the backlash if there is anything. I don't want to hide for the next three weeks before you leave."
"This weekend? Really, truly, love?"
"I think it is time. I will ask them tomorrow if we can have dinner on Sunday and I can come clean then."
"Sounds perfect, my swan."
Killian settled the two of them back into the futon. Emma was once again tucked into his side with his arm around her shoulders. The letter lay next to Emma.
Things were starting to come together and now they were going to finally tell Emma's parents. He was nervous about that. It was his hope that they accepted him and the dinner went smoothly. He didn't want to think about the alternative.
Killian reached for the letter and placed it on the table. He pulled Emma further into his arms and kissed her hair. They were ready for the next step. He was ready to meet her parents.
Hopefully her parents were ready to meet him.