A/N: Flashbacks aren't in chronological order!


"I'm sorry for your lost – she was a truly an amazing person."

She must have heard that being said over fifty times. Killian usually said nothing; instead, he'd nod his head solemnly and give them his best smile. It never once reached his eyes.

He hasn't shed a single tear, and she knows he's holding it all in. His older brother doesn't try to be as strong as Killian tries, having broken down at the first 'I'm sorry' said. His younger brother, ten years old though still very small in size, stands on the other side of Killian, holding onto his older brother's hand in his black tux, with tears welling in his eyes.

"I'm just going to get some air for awhile," he leans in and whispers in her ear.

"Do you want me to come?"

"No," he shakes his head. "I'll be alright."

He leans down and kisses Ayden on the top of his head, ruffling his dark curls and whispering a soft and reassuring, 'I'll be back, lad,' when the boy looks up at him confused with his big blue eyes.

He brings their intertwined hands to his lips, and kisses her fingers softly. "I love you."

"I love you too."

She lets go of his hand and he moves towards the back door.

"Em, where's Killian gone?" Ayden tugs on the hem of her dress. He looks puzzled, but all she sees when she looks at the young boy is Killian. She's never been much of a crier, but staring into his soft blue eyes, she can't help the tears that begin to well up in her eyes.

"He'll be back." She squats down and holds her hand out, beckoning him to take it. "Come here." Ayden follows, and holds her hand as she leads him. "Let's get you to Liam, huh?"

She finds Liam in the kitchen, leaning against the counter with a bottle of beer in his hand. He puts it aside the moment he sees his younger brother. Liam pulls him to his side allowing Ayden to hug his waist as Liam strokes his hair softly.

Not wanting to alert Ayden, she mouths 'where's Killian?' and Liam answers by pointing towards the staircase. She smiles and leans in to kiss him on his cheek and he gives her a sad smile in return.

"Is Killian going to be alright? He looked so sad." she hears Ayden ask quietly, as she moves towards the stairs and her heart aches.

"He will," Liam assures him softly.

She finds him in his room sitting on the edge of his bed, elbows on knees and face in hands. He's sobbing hard and breaths are labored.

She moves to kneel in front of him, pulling his damp hands away from his face and holds them both in hers. His handsome face is wet with tears and his nose is red. She kisses his hands repeatedly, accompanied by soft 'I'm right here's.

She's glad he's crying, that he isn't holding it in. It doesn't matter to her that he has to hide in his room in order to do it, because in here, he doesn't have to be strong for anyone.

It's alright to show weakness right now.

She'll be strong for him.


"Yes, I understand, but Mr. Johnson specifically stated in his will that all his property would be split between his children." She's getting annoyed. The man's ex-wife is determined to find a loophole in Mr. Johnson's will, hoping that she'll be able to seize some of his property, but it was pretty straight forwards. "Miss," she interrupts mid-sentence, and she pauses on the other end of the line, "there's really nothing you can do. As of now, your ex-husband's properties all belong to your stepchildren." She pinches the bridge of her nose in frustration – she's just not getting it. "No, unless there's another—"

The call ends abruptly and she's never been happier to be hung up on.

(5) New Messages

Damn that lady could talk.

You're not going to guess which soccer team I'm taking a photoshoot for.

Any guesses?

No?

You guessed it. New York Football Club.

Boy does Killian look good.

He told me about some photoshoot.

Didn't know it's with you.

Small world, huh?

She doesn't reply her, and decides to call Killian up. Though it's been over a week since they last spoke, they text each other back and forth, catching up on the little things.

"Swan."

"Jones," she greets back. The background sound on his end is loud, and it sounds like multiple showers are running. "Did you just finish training?"

"Yeah. Hey!" he says excitedly, "Guess who I'm meeting today?"

"Do I really have to guess?"

"You're such a downer," he says, and she just knows he's pouting. "Liam's in town today!" he answers nonetheless, and she can feel how happy he is.

"That's great! Send him my regards."

"You know he'd love to see you."

"Graham's coming back from a conference tonight. How long will Liam be here for?" she asks, because she does want to see Liam, given the last time she saw him was at his mother's funeral.

"For the next week or so. I think he's visiting to tell us that he's proposing to his girlfriend."

"That's amazing!" she exclaims, and she flinches at how loud it comes out. "I still remember back when he was dating Arielle—"

"Love, he's still dating Arielle," he says slowly, and she just knows he's on the verge of laughing on the other end.

"What? It's been like eight years and they're still not married?"

He chuckles softly, "That's exactly what I told the git. 'Put a ring on her finger or someone else would.' Let's hope he'll do it this time."

She laughs at that, knowing how stubborn all three Jones brothers are, never listening to each other's advice.

"I hear you're doing a photoshoot with Ruby?"

"Done," he corrects. "She looks good. Didn't have much time to catch up with her, though."

"We'll have to get together – the old gang."

"We do." She hears a muffled noise on his end, and he's saying something away from the phone. "For now, I do have to go. Liam does want to see you."

"Tell him I'll see him soon."

"Will do, love. Talk to you soon."


She makes it home by a quarter to seven, just in time for her to start cooking her only known recipe before Graham's gets back. His flight back from Seattle touches down at 7:10, giving her just enough time to boil the spaghetti and cook the sauce before he arrives home at half past seven. It's the only dish she knows to make, having been the only child of divorced parents both her mother and father had spoiled her, not allowing her to lift a finger. Back then, she'd laugh at all her friends that were forced to help out in the kitchen; but now, she sorely regrets it.

She manages to finish everything by 7:20, plates set out, candles lit and lights dimmed. She knows it's stupid to want to celebrate their tenth month together, but (after Killian and he-who-must-never-ever-be-named, a.k.a Neal) she's never been one for long relationships, always finding the guy too boring, or too overwhelming, or too tall, or too handsome as a reason to run out early. She doesn't expect anything from him; just the idea that he's still here is enough for her.

At 7:30, he texts that he's five minutes away and to not 'miss him too much'. (She rolls her eyes)

True to his word, she hears the door opening a few minutes later, his signature 'Honey, I'm home,' dying mid sentence on his lips when he sees the dining table. When she appears by the door of the bedroom, she sees the awestruck look on his face and she feels proud, having never being a real romantic. He turns to face her, a huge smile growing on his lips, and she can't help but return the gesture.

He drops his bag by the door as he makes his way towards her, and he looks as though he's trying to suppress his grin.

"Hello," he smiles, pulling out a bouquet from behind his back and they're beautiful. "Picked up some lilies for you on the way back," he hands the flowers over to her and as she brings it up to her nose to smell, he leans in and kisses her forehead. "Happy 10 months, sweetheart."

"Happy 10 months," she repeats below a whisper, a smile playing on the corner of her lips. "I made spaghetti," she shrugs, "I know it not super romantic or anything but I—"

He manages to stop her with a kiss and she shuts up.

"It's perfect."

And so it was.


Liam and Ayden are demanding dinner with you

She wakes up to his message the next day, the timestamp reading 6:23AM and she's reminded that he's always been one to wake up early – his career definitely not bothered by his routine.

You and the Jones brothers are in real need of some catch up time

I have missed the infamous Jones brothers

I can assure you they have too

Her smile grows at that. She hears the rustling of their bed sheets and Graham pulls her back into the bed.

"Who's that?" he murmurs, voice gravelly from sleep. He drops a kiss to her shoulder and she settles back against his chest.

"Killian. Do we have any plans tonight?"

He hums for a moment, "I might have to go into the hospital today – why?"

"His brother's in town and he wants to see me - they want to catch up over dinner."

When she turns her head to look at him, he looks skeptical.

"He's just asked his girlfriend to marry him," she mentions, though she doesn't really know if he has, "and we were really close back when I was in high school."

"Just the three of you?" he asks, but there's no jealousy behind it, simply curiosity.

"Four," she corrects, and her phone beeps again and she sees it's from Killian. "His younger brother's coming too."

"Alright," she feels him smile, and a second later, her back is flat against the mattress and he has her pinned down.

He kisses a line down her jaw, trailing his lips to her collarbone, and she has to bite on her bottom lip to make sure she doesn't moan. She only bothered putting a bra and underwear back on after last night, and his lips travel down the valley in between her breast, making its way to her stomach. He's going lower, lower, lower

His pager beeps from the nightstand, making them both sigh in unison.

"Fuck."

He reaches over and grabs it, worry lines appearing and ruining his handsome features. He drops a kiss to her stomach, his lips murmuring a soft 'Sorry, love,' against her skin as he jumps off the bed.

He hops into the bathroom and she hears the shower being run - all the while she's lying flat out on their bed, half naked, lip bitten, fingers clenched to the sheets, and completely unsatisfied.

She lets out a long sigh, and props herself up and looks for her phone. She finds it underneath the pillow, reading (2) New Messages.

Most people would take your silence as a no, but since I am not most people, I'll see you at seven

She just knows that a smirk appears on his face as he types this out - he was always one to laugh or smile at his own jokes.

Oh, and Ayden tells me to tell you that he misses you. That git.

See you at seven

Tell him I miss him too. Tell him he's still a 10 year old kid to me.


"Bloody hell, I still can't get over how beautiful you've become," Liam mentions over dinner and Emma would be lying if she said she didn't blush. (Truth be told, she's always found Liam good looking - way before her Killian-dating-days)

"Then you're an idiot, she's always been this beautiful," Ayden winks at her and damn, the kid's got game now.

Killian's not too impressed, granting a not at all subtle eye roll to his younger brother. Ayden shrugs, a smirk growing on his lips, and shit – he's a hybrid of Killian and Liam combined; face shape, and shade of blue eyes more to Killian, while he takes after Liam's curly dark brown hair. The teenaged boy's smile (smirk and grin included) is an exact replica of Killian's. It scares her just how similar Ayden looks are the same as Killian's when he was his age.

"Out of your league, brother."

"If she's dated you, Kill, I'd be an upgrade."

Liam, Ayden and Emma all laugh at that, and Killian glares at all three. Apparently the youngest brother gets his wit from the oldest.

"I'm basically a better looking version of you - it's time you admit it," the younger boy shrugs, nudging Emma with a wink.

"You didn't tell me your brother's got game now," she teases and Killian's looking really annoyed. The rest of them look very pleased with themselves and Killian's annoyance only helps provoke them.

"Still under aged."

"Wait for me, will you, love?" Ayden jokes, and God has she missed this Jones family.

Killian shoots his younger brother another deadly glare, and she finally decides to give him a break, changing the topic of conversation.

Turns out, Liam does propose to Arielle, and the story of the proposal is completely adorable.

Ayden too has quite the love life; taking his older brother's title of high school player. The youngest brother's accent isn't as thick as Killian's, having picked up the American accent quite easily, though he does mention that consciously putting on the Irish accent helps get more girls' numbers. Liam shakes his head at that, his committed relationship to Arielle showing his opinion on monogamy.

The four of them catch up just like it was six years ago (except now, Ayden can actually join in on the conversation).

She doesn't even realize it's eleven until she receives a text from Graham saying he's just finished work and he's on the way home. And when she says she needs to go home, all three Jones brothers offer to walk her back as much as she insists her loft is only four blocks away, but then again, it's New York and it's late.

It ends up as Killian and Ayden walking together ahead of them, while Liam and Emma are paired together behind.

He slings his arm over her, pulling her to his side.

"I've missed you, Swan."

"Missed you too, Liam," she leans into his body. It's comfortable like this with him, he's always been like the big brother figure she never had. Even back in the day when she and Killian got into fights, she'd run to him for advice.

"You ruined him," he hums, and she looks up at him confused. "You ruined him for any other girl." She doesn't say anything, choosing to keep quiet and let him speak instead. "After you, there was Milah. I didn't quite like her, but she was good for him, you know? Made him smile a bit after everything, but he wasn't happy."

"We're not- we're not getting back together, you know that right?"

"I know," he answers confidently. "I'm just saying." He shrugs and squeezes her tightly. "How's your beau?"

"He's good," she smiles, because it really is good, and she doesn't want to mess this one up.

"You're happy?"

"I am."

"Then on behalf of us Jones', we're happy."

She really doesn't mean to get emotional, but she can't help the tears that begin to well up in her eyes. At the exact moment a tear rolls down her cheek, both of the younger Jones brothers turn to look at them to find Emma crying.

"What the bloody hell did you do to her, mate?" Killian exclaims overdramatically as he jogs back to walk in step with them, swinging his arm around her, overlapping Liam's.

"She's a tough lass," his brother replies, winking at her and she laughs through the tears.

She stands in the middle while the three of them argue over God knows what, but she can't seem to find a reason to complain. She's missed this more than she knew she did, and she's can't not smile.

When they reach her apartment, Liam tells her to keep in touch, and that he hopes to see her at the wedding (she promises she'll try); and Ayden gives her a tight hug, she kisses him on the cheek and she swears after all the shameless flirting, he blushes. She hugs Killian goodbye, and he smiles happily at her.

They wait until they see her walk up the stairs through the glass doors until they leave. The Jones brothers are nothing if not gentlemen, she admits.

She sees Graham's boots by the door when she enters the apartment when he calls her name.

"Emma?"

She's shrugging off her dark colored coat as she makes her way towards their room, and she finds him lying on the bed with his laptop in his lap.

"How was dinner?" he asks, shutting the mac closed and placing it on the nightstand.

She crawls onto the bed and leans in for a kiss, "Good," murmured against his lips.

"Yeah? Tell me about it."

"We went to, fuck—," she's interrupted when Graham begins kissing her neck, and she can't focus on her story anymore. "Graham," she moans when he finds and sucks on her pulse point, and she feels his smirk against her skin, "I can't tell you about dinner while you- fuck."

"In all honesty, I can't seem to care about dinner right now."


"Swan!" she hears from somewhere behind her in the hallway. When she turns around to see who's yelling her name so damn loud, she finds a panting Killian right before her.

"Jones," she nods curtly, turning on her heel and continuing on her journey to the cafeteria.

He chases after her, managing to catch up and fall into step with her. "So, I'd say the first date went rather well, won't you?"

"'First date' implies there being more to come." She intends on making it a joke, but she's never been one for humor and it comes out harsher than planned.

His smirk drops at that, a frown appearing on his face. "Oh. I, uh—"

"Oh God, I was kidding! Shit, I need to learn how to make jokes."

"Oh! No, no – that was funny," he smiles, trying to reassure her and she can't help not smile back especially when he looks at her like that.

"Don't lie to me, Jones," she teases.

"I'd never."

(He doesn't lie about that either, two years of a relationship, and he's never once told her anything but the truth)

"So," he grins, "how about that second date, huh?"

(They go out on their second date two days later. He takes her to a nearby diner and though it isn't much, it's everything.)


I could technically get fired for this

But he looks soo good

Ruby Lucas has sent you 2 image(s)

It's Saturday morning when she wakes up to Ruby's several texts, timestamped 3:46AM. She slides her phone unlocked, one eye cracked open to see a picture of Killian and a few other men modeling in dark grey suits. All the men look smart, but admittedly, Killian's the best looking there. The next picture, he's in a darker colored suit, one foot on a soccer ball ('football!' she can just hear him correcting her) and one hand on his tie. He looks straight into the camera, not bothering to even smile, and yet his eyes are bright and sparkling and shit him for looking this good.

Stop texting me about him. Get a life.

Fortunately, this is my life – taking pictures of hot guys

She wants to ask her how she can be up by nine when she was awake that late the night before because Emma Swan needs her eight hours of sleep, or she'd be extremely grumpy the next day. She looks around the room and sees she's the only one there, Graham probably on call right now. She lays back in bed alone and she can feel sleep beginning to overtake her again.

He does look good, doesn't he?

You can admit it

Emma?

She doesn't bother replying Ruby, choosing sleep over her infuriating friend. After all, she's only had seven hours of sleep – she can afford going back to sleep for one more hour.


"Liam's staying for a few more days – just in time to watch a match."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah. Do you- I know football isn't your thing- but I can get extra tickets if you want to come," he stutters throughout and it's adorable, because all he's asking is for her to come and watch his match and he can't even form a complete sentence. "Your boyfriend can come too!" he offers.

"I'll come, I'll come," she laughs, and she can feel his face light up. "I'm sure Graham would like to come too. He loves soccer."

"Football, love. It's called football."

"Right. Forgive me," she smirks.

"Forgiven only if you come."

"Then I'll come."


A/N: Thank you for reading! Reviews, favourites and follows are very very appreciated :)