Chapter 2: Lies and Dates
Warning Explicit Swearing here and there. Also sorry for grammar and spelling errors! The original copy wouldn't post. :/ I'll most likely go and do a read through again in the morning just to tired to catch it now. SORRY!
Emma rolled her shoulders, the nerves for her date with Killian, and the lack of the hunt for a baddie the past month was causing a good deal of tension to build up. The stiffness she felt from just sitting day after day at her desk actually had her rubbing a muscle cream before bed across her shoulders and neck each evening the past couple nights. Her mom insisted on her going for a spa day but Emma merely stared blankly at her when she presented the idea causing Mary Margaret to drop it with an eye roll. Now Emma was beginning to regret not taking her up on the offer as she moaned with pain at trying to roll her head around.
She glanced at the clock, noting it was finally time for her lunch break. With a quick press of a few buttons on her phone, all calls where now transferred to her and not the station in case she was needed. Not that she would be. The only calls they had been getting since she got back from the Enchanted Forest was some kids causing a little trouble on dares, involving staying out after curfew, and sneaking into R rated movies. Nothing major in her book. Just actual normal small town stuff. Sure there was a few parking tickets here and there, but again, nothing big. Normality, something she craved before when she had no time to rest was now actually putting her on edge. Normality was not Storybook's style after all.
She strolled out of the office turning her phone's volume all the way up, just in case. She mentally debated between Granny's or a lunch at the loft with her parents, and baby brother before going to check out another house that overlooked the Marina before the end of her break. She let her feet decide, which was making her way to the loft, lost in thought about what to wear and where Hook, no Killian. He deserved to be called Killian. He was no longer the pirate he was known for in the past… She knew she would never want to be judged with what happened for Neal after these past few years here putting down roots.
"Ms. Swan?" A gorgeous woman with milk chocolate hair stopped her in her tracks, pulling her out of her reverie.
"Um. Yes. I'm sorry. Who are you? I feel like I've met everyone in town by this point…" She laughed and offered her a warm smile.
"I'm Bridgette, my husband and I tend to keep a low profile, just with everything that has been going on…" She gestured to the clock tower. "And the green witch…"
Bridgette had been smart enough to blend in the past month and listen to those mumbling in Granny's over breakfast or lunch and learned about the Savior and her magical abilities.
"Oh. Well. Understandable." She chuckled feeling somewhat uncomfortable but hiding it. This woman was openly lying, her "superpower" as she told Henry kicking in. "How can I help you?"
"Oh, no help needed, just since everything has seemed to have calmed down lately I just wanted to introduce myself to you and well, everyone. Be apart of the community." She laughed, showing her pearly whites.
Emma flashed back to Regina when she first came to town, putting on a similar façade and fake smile too when she knocked on the Mayors door to return Henry home. The whole reason why she stayed in town in the first place. Her "superpower", plus feeling so drawn and guilty toward having abandoned Henry in the first place despite just wanting him to have his best chance. Just like her parents did with her.
"Well, hello." Emma awkwardly offered her a handshake. "I'm Emma, as you probably know. Town sheriff. Savior, and just normal human being when I can be." She gestured to her badge on her belt that held her gun, phone and walkie-talkie as well. She was trying to say to Bridgette, without words, "don't you try to fuck with my family or I'll be after you".
Bridgette followed her hands gaze and the shiny grin slightly faltered when she saw the gun but she was quick to hide it. Emma didn't miss it though and smiled internally. It had worked. She was a force to be reckoned with if the whole relationship Bridgette was attempting to build with the town was going to be starting out with a lie.
However, Emma momentarily chastised herself, wondering if perhaps there was a reason why the woman was being overtly friendly, and who was she to judge, but decided it was best to stay on her toes until she knew the full truth. She'd been lied to way too much to be openly trusting to a stranger.
"Well it's a pleasure to properly meet you. I'll let you be, I'm sure you're busy being the Sheriff and Savior and all. Just saw you and figured I'd finally say hello." Bridgette brushed her hair to the side of her ear, still grinning a bit to big for Emma's comfort and she made a motion to move past Emma.
Emma moved out of the woman's way, wheels still turning in her head about how it was just not feeling right.
"Nice meeting you." Emma mumbled to her back still not moving forward. Biting her lip, she turned around, facing Bridgette walking away.
"Hey Bridgette. You said you had a husband, what's his name if you don't mind me asking?" She asked, perhaps the two of them where in the book Henry had and that could give her some piece of mind.
"Baron. My husband's name is Baron." Bridgette said turning around herself to face her, now her grin was tight and obviously forced.
"Oh okay. Well I hope to meet him sometime soon." Emma placed on a fake grin herself and waved goodbye, turning around and walking quickly with purpose to the loft.
Bridgette walked away from the blonde Savior, past the Dark Ones shop, her long legs hastily making her way back to her home and more importantly to her husband. For whatever reason Emma had saw right through her causing her great concern.
"Baron?" She burst through the door of the tiny house just on the edge of town.
"Yes my love?" He was playing with a mouse. He kept killing it and reanimating it with the mere flick of his hand.
"That Emma Swan, she knows I'm lying. She knows we haven't been here the whole time." She blurted out, fear washing over her, breathlessly waiting his reply.
He let the mouse go, it squeaked and took the opportunity to run away at the torture it had been put through. He stood up pondering the situation.
"Well. That certainly changes things."
"She's not the enemy Baron."
"No. No she's not unless she interferes with the good old 'Mr. Gold.' If she does-"
"Baron, you know I'm with you, always my love. But you cannot kill the Savior. She's the reason we're here in the first place. Why we have this chance…" She curled up to him, hands running through his black hair.
"I know if we kill her we'll have Snow and Charming to answer to but not much of a threat considering-"
She finished his sentence before he had the chance, "Considering we can kill them all instantly."
"Exactly my love. Exactly." He kissed the top of her head.
"In the meantime, let's not worry about it now, but let's keep an eye on her for now. She won't know who we are. Only Rumple does." He grinned and embraced his wife.
"So we stick to the plan?" She asked leaning in to his hip.
"We stick to the plan. Only now we keep our eye on Swan too."
"Emma!" Her mom exclaimed, hissing, as she burst in the door, slamming behind her wake. "You'll wake Neal! And your father!"
"Sorry! Sorry! Didn't go through the whole raising the kid thing. Forgot…" She whispered apologetically and glanced at the bassinet holding her brother. He was still fast asleep and she glanced at the couch where an unconscious David laid sprawled out.
"It's okay. But are you?" She asked her voice barely higher than a whisper, rising out of her chair and placing the book she was reading aside. It was a rare moment for her to get such silence since the baby had been born.
"Yeah just…" She hesitated. She wanted to tell her mom about Bridgette. But if she was wrong and just in need of a bad guy to chase and worked her parents up when they already had so much to deal with? No thanks. She'd go to Regina first about this if she couldn't find anything in the book when she went to pickup Henry tomorrow after their dinner.
"Just a weird day. I asked Killian out. " She decided that much she could talk about. Plus she did want an opinion on what to wear.
"You did?" She said loudly and clapped happily.
This time Emma was the one to shush her as David rhythmic snoring dissipated at the sound.
Mary Margaret clamped a hand over her mouth and they both held their breath to see if either of the boys would startle. To their luck no one did and David's snore became rhymic again.
"Here, I made lunch and there's left overs. Grab a plate, let's go talk in your room." Her mom mumbled.
Emma grabbed the chicken salad out of the fridge, gently shoving the drawer to the utensils, and walked up with her mom where they could talk at a normal level.
"So how did you ask him out?" Her mom beamed as they both sat on her bed facing one another, Emma forking a piece of her chicken salad.
She chewed and set the plate down, no longer really hungry just happy to talk to her mom about something so normal. Something she never got to do a kid. As long as the conversation didn't turn into the one like before they knew who they were to one another. The one about her mom sleeping with Doctor Whale.
"I just kinda blurted it out when he was walking with me to the station, he found out who Princess Leia is and had to let me know."
Mary Margaret started laughing at that. "Oh boy I bet that was fun of all the names in the world..."
"Is it weird? I know it's Killian. But he did help us get Henry back and he saved Dad from dying…"
"And he did that for you not for me or him." She added sticking out her tongue smiling.
"Mom. Wouldn't you rather like to think it's because he's a different person?" She suggested. Although she mentally thought back to when he confessed giving up the Jolly Roger just to go find her so her mother might have a point. But she preferred to think he had truly changed.
"I would. I just don't know Hook like that. He really only sticks to you if you haven't noticed." She admitted playing with the fringe of the pillowcase.
"He does not stick to me. And I think we should start referring to him as Killian. Or if you want Captain Jones? I don't know. Hook just doesn't seem to fit him anymore."
Her mom pursed her lips in thought before nodding. "Yes. Killian. And he kind of does stick to you."
"Mom-"
"Emma. I'm your mother I watch you like a hawk and I see how he looks at you. It's with a kindness I've never seen before in him. Kind of reminds how your dad looks at me when he doesn't think I'm looking or noticing."
Emma stared at her in horror. She was only thinking about a date not love.
"Stop it. I know what you're thinking by that look. I'm not saying you need to be with him and he's your happiness. I'm just saying, you seem to make him want to be a better person. Despite his ability to be so sarcastic your dad wants to shoot him in the foot sometimes. Or when he flirts with you oh so blatantly and I want to get my arrows."
Emma chuckled at the thought. Almost 30 years old, and had a kid of her own, and her parents were still willing to clean their gun, or in her mother's case, bow and arrows, in front of a potential suitor to show how protective they were.
Her mom continued, "So to answer your question, yes of course it's okay. I'm happy to see you dating after-" She paused, choosing not to continue. Her mind flashed back to Graham and Neal.
"I know. It's okay." Emma said sadly. She had thought the same thing about the ones she had let and ultimately lost for good.
Mary Margaret cleared her throat, not allowing herself to get emotional at how much her daughter had lost. Instead, she got up and opened Emma's closet door.
"So what are you going to wear?" She asked cheerfully. Emma laughed before getting up to join her in the hunt for the perfect outfit.
That evening, after an uneventful day at the station, Emma stood at the kitchen counter of the loft in a black V-neck, sleeveless laced dress and matching black kitten heels. It had been an impulse buy, as during her days as a bondsman, she preferred wedges if she was going to need to run. Her cardigan and clutch was next to her as she drank a cup of chamomile tea to calm her nerves, waiting for eight o'clock to roll around which was actually only minutes away. Her hair was framing her face in cascading curls that her mother had helped her perfect in the back. Emma had fought her mom off from taking pre first date pictures, and her dad from actually putting his gun on the table (Mary Margaret agreed with her on that one, more so concerned the baby might get to it somehow just like he might somehow start walking and open the pantry and drink the dishwasher fluid but at least the matter was resolved).
She grinned at the sight before her, feeling relaxed, watching as her dad played with Neal, her mom picking out a book to read to him for bedtime, and how picturesque the whole thing was. A month ago she would have felt anger at how they were this happy little family with her looking in, but now she was involved and just happy Neal didn't have to go through what she did and for the moments she was having now to make up for the past. She was tired of wasting her time on things she didn't have control over, tired of being angry, and was ready to live in the now. Part of which was all due to the fact she might not have even existed during her and Killian's escapade in the Enchanted Forest before her parents even got together.
Her mom put her hand on her shoulder.
"Want some whisky with that?" She asked gesturing to the cup.
"It's chamomile. It's soothing."
"So is alcohol." David got up off the floor swinging a cooing Neal into a cradling position after a quick tickle on his tummy.
The name still threw her for a loop sometimes, although she was honored her little brother was named after someone who died with a true act of heroism. She'd hear it in passing (Granny would be gushing about how cute Neal was, or Robin would tell Rolland that he used to be Neal's size) and Emma would have to force herself for turning to see if it was her Neal. She was still getting used to it all, at accepting the loss of Henry's father before he really got to truly, truly know him. She could only imagine how Belle was taking care of Gold.
"Yes, but don't you want your daughter to have her wits about her incase the pirate wants to seduce her?" She fluttered her eyes and stuck out her tongue.
"I am so getting my gun." David turned and Mary Margaret grabbed his arm.
"No. Guns." She emphasized with a brisk shake in-between each word.
"Guys I'm kidding. It's just a date. It's not like I'll be staying over night."
David placed Neal in the bassinet.
"That you know of." Her mom mumbled biting her lip.
"Gun." David said again and tried to turn fully around before his wife could touch him to get it out of the lock box on the top closet shelf.
"Guys! Relax I was joking. And Mom. No. No talking about that." She threw her hands up and made a face. "Gross."
"Gross indeed Emma." David answered glaring at his wife. "We should keep it that way."
There was a knock at the door and everyone stared at it like it was going to magically open, the silence deafening.
"I'll get it!" Emma finally squeaked before David could give him a talking to or god forbid her mom did grab the bows.
"Killian." She said opening the door, smiling big.
Killian grinned back holding out flowers and a box of chocolates.
"Swan. You look absolutely beautiful." He said sincerely, taking in her appearance. "The chocolates are for your mum, the flowers are for you."
"Thank you. Please come in. But let's leave very fast." She muttered into his ear giving him a half hug of hello so only he could hear her.
He smiled at her clearly amused, not bothering to question why she wanted to dart away from the loft.
She took the flowers from him but not the chocolates, and nodded towards her mother when he looked perplexed. He nodded back, understanding, and moved towards her mom and dad who where now sitting together opposite side of the kitchen counter.
Meanwhile she pulled a vase out, quickly cutting the ends off. She used the exercise as an excuse to take him in. He was dressed in a navy blue button up shirt, his jewelry all gone except for one ring on his finger, a black blazer and in black jeans and his trademark black boots. She smiled thinking some things wouldn't change but loved how the jeans accented his curves. She cut the last end off of the flowers, which where her favorites (lilies, babies breath, and daisies, how on earth had he known?) into the garbage before placing them into the vase with water.
"These are for you Mrs. Nolan. I'm not sure if you preferred Mrs. White, Snow, Mary Margaret…" Killian grinned clearly enjoying himself at playing the guy taking Emma out.
"You can call me Mary or Snow, whichever you tend to prefer. Thank you Ho- Killian." She caught herself and accepted the chocolates grinning. She mentally wondered if she could snap a photo without Emma killing her.
"And Mr. Nolan how are you this evening?" He bowed slightly towards Emma's father.
David debated about telling him to knock it off, but it seemed as if the guy was honestly trying to be a decent date, and not just a jackass having a few kicks.
"I'm well. And you can call me David. Just not Charming." He cleared his throat and glanced at Snow. She had her lips pursed mentally urging David to be more approving. "Please." He added at the nod of approval of his wife.
That was more like it, she thought.
"Very well then. Mary Margaret and David it is. And how is Prince Neal?" Killian asked walking over the bassinet smiling brightly at the baby.
"He's good thank you for asking Killian. Still not sleeping through the night… But hey at least Emma has Robin at the station now so David can take some naps too." Her mom answered.
"I actually brought something for him if that's okay…"
Emma raised an eyebrow, placing the flowers on the table wondering where he was hiding it and noticed a small bulge in the pocket of his blazer. She picked up her purse and cardigan, deciding she would allow this conversation to play out before making a bolt for it, still concerned for Killians safety after her moms comment about her not coming home tonight.
"That's fine." David said caught off guard completely and seemingly touched.
Killian produced a small rubber duck with an eye patch, and pirate hat on it from his pocket.
"For when the little one takes his baths." He grinned handing it to David.
"Nice pirate theme." He commented with a smirk. "Thank you."
"Well, we don't want him growing up thinking all pirates are bad do we?" Killian answered still smiling.
"That was so sweet of you Killian, thank you." Mary Margret said beaming at him and grinning extra big at Emma.
Emma took the opportunity to take back the attention to herself. She appreciated him being nice to her parents, and bringing the gifts but she was curious to see where tonight was headed.
"So Killian. Where are we headed off to tonight?" She asked offering him her hand to hold.
He smiled as he took it. "Right, well how about you just see when we get there?"
"Sounds like a plan. Goodnight guys. I'll be quiet when I get in so I don't wake anyone." She had already been dragging him to the door as soon as his hand was locked with hers.
"If you come in…" Her mom mumbled as the door shut.
"What did she say?" Killian asked faced scrunched.
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing." She steered him down the steps hoping the redness in her face would dissipate before he noticed.