I had to go back and edit this chapter at the end as I flubbed some continuity. Sorry if there's any confusion!

Two more weeks went by with no word from Killian. Mary Margaret was walking around on eggshells. David was avoiding our apartment. I felt like crap. It seemed preposterous that he could be in love with me. We'd been with other people the whole time we knew each other. That kind of crap only happened in the movies or stupid, romantic television shows. Real life did not work that way.

Real life did, however, throw curveballs. I had been offered a promotion at work, but it required a bit of a location, to Tucson. I hadn't told anyone about it, but it was quite an offer. The job included a lot of travel and a nice paycheck. It would also get me out of Boston and away from the angst and drama of the last month. A fresh start.

Mary Margaret got home late that night. I was sitting on the sofa, drinking a glass of wine, just staring at the wall.

"Hey," she said, looking at me like I might shoot her in the face just for breathing.

"Hey," I said with a smile. I felt like I hadn't smiled in a year. It hurt my face, but it felt good to smile. "Want some?" I asked, holding my glass up.

She smiled back at me, beamed, really. "I would love some."

She walked into the kitchen to grab a glass, walking back to sit beside me on the sofa. I poured her some wine, and we clinked glasses.

"How's it going?" she asked. She was tentative, trying not to push. It was weird. She was usually as tenacious as a tiger.

I took a decent sip of my wine, setting the glass down on the coffee table. "It's going pretty well. I kind of wanted to talk to you about it, actually."

She turned on the sofa to face me, all smiles. I could tell she was hoping it was something about Killian. I hated to see that hope in her face, knowing I was going to ruin it. "I'm all ears," she said.

I wanted to scream. This was so hard, and I felt so guilty. I was running. I knew I was running, but I needed to do it. "I got a promotion at work," I said, smiling back at her.

"Oh, Emma, that's wonderful," she said, pulling me into a big hug. "You must be so excited."

I pulled back, smiling again to ease the sting of my withdrawal. "I am, but there's a catch." I watched as she tensed and the hope left her face. "The new position is in Tucson."

She took a deep breath, relaxing back into the sofa, taking a drink of her wine. "Emma, I know you're running. I know you're hurting, and you feel like you need to get as far away from all this as you possibly can…"

"Yes," I cut her off, but she jumped right back in, spoiling for a fight, it seemed.

"And I understand," she finished, her eyes filled with her love for me and, most amazingly, her acceptance. "David and I have been wondering when you were going to pack up and run. We were both hoping and praying you'd still be around for the wedding?" The last was more a question than a statement.

I took her wine glass and sat it on the table so I could wrap her in my own bear hug. "Mary Margaret, of course I'm going to be here for the wedding. I wouldn't miss it for… well, for anything." When I pulled away, we both had tears in our eyes.

"You're my maid of honor, you have to be there." We both smiled and sniffled at the same time, laughing at ourselves. "Are you going to be ok with K… with the best man?" she asked, stuttering a little to avoid his name.

"I'll be fine. I promise. I'll behave myself and everything."

Mary Margaret and I were at the dress shop for our final fittings as we had two more weeks to go before the wedding. Mary Margaret was so happy and beautiful in her dress. She looked like a fairy tale princess. I was the maid of honor, and Ruby was the only other bride's maids. It was going to be a simple wedding, just Killian, Ruby, another friend of David's, and me standing up with them. I was not looking forward to the wedding.

She had picked out a beautiful deep purple color for our dresses but didn't care what they looked like. The dress I had picked out was a strapless column gown with a wide ribbon sash that wrapped around my chest to my hips, spilling down in a beautiful drape. It really was a beautiful dress. I could even wear it again, and with the new job, there would be more opportunities. Mary Margaret loved it. Neal had liked it, too, but that was water under the bridge.

We left our perfectly tailored dresses with the shop for cleaning and pressing and headed off to the stationary shop to pick up the Thank You notes. They had been printed with the wrong return address on the envelopes, so they'd had to reprint them. After that last stop, it was lattes at Starbucks. I had been avoiding the bar, knowing the chances of running into Killian were high.

I had staunchly refused to talk to Mary Margaret about what had happened between Killian and me. She knew it hadn't been good, because Killian had also been out of sorts. David said he was grumpier than a bear who missed out on the season's hibernation.

I had spent the last weeks packing and getting ready for my move to Arizona. The moving truck would pick up my stuff the Monday before the wedding. The company had me setup with a hotel until I found a place. My stuff would sit in storage until I got settled. David and Killian were moving Mary Margaret over to his place that Wednesday. I was just glad I had to work. It was keeping me sane, more or less.