A/N: Here is the second chapter (had to repost it due to a glitch with FFnet).

Thanks for reading! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I wish they were mine, but sadly, no!

Chapter 2

Ava Jones was nervously pacing the room in which she had been told to wait for Killian when her phone rang.

Glancing at the caller ID, she silently prayed that Killian wouldn't walk in before she was done with her conversation.

"Hi mom!" she answered.

"Ava, am I calling at a bad time?" Emma Swan asked her daughter.

"No, no! Not at all! I'm just… grocery shopping!" she lied.

"Oh honey! I hope you're not planning anything extravagant for tomorrow, are you?"

"Tommo… Oh!" Ava caught herself just on time. She had totally forgotten that her mother was coming to spend the weekend with her. "No, don't worry, just regular stuff, like pop tarts and hot chocolate!"

Emma laughed heartily. Her daughter knew her too well. Mother and daughter chatted for a few more minutes, confirming the time of Emma's arrival at Ava's apartment the next day.

"Listen mom, I gotta go!" Ava suddenly cut her mother's chitchat when she saw the door open. "I'll see you tomorrow, love you!"

Ava hung up quickly, taking a deep breath and trying to brace herself for what would come next. She had no idea if Killian would believe everything she told him or if she would end up with a restraining order by the end of the day.

"So," Killian started, as he came to stand merely two feet from Ava. "We need to talk."

Ava nodded, taking a moment to look deep into the eyes that were currently studying her face. She knew she had his eyes, her mother had always told her so. She could see he was confused, probably even hurt at finding out he had a grown daughter.

Gesturing for her to sit down on the settee, Killian silently sat down next to her and opened the photo album she'd given him. With shaking fingers, he went through the first couple pages where he witnessed pictures of Emma and himself when they were 16, pictures with of the two of them with his and her parents during their time at each other's house. Then he got a first peak at a pregnant Emma. The date on the bottom right of the picture said August 29th, 1997. Above the picture, someone had written First dr. appointment – 16 weeks – first baby bump pic.

The next page showed an ultrasound picture of what was very clearly a baby: he could see the cute little button nose, and even a tiny little hand with all five fingers spread out. It was titled Sept. 19th - Ultrasound at 20 weeks. I'm a girl!

Then he saw a few more baby bumps pictures, marveling at how beautiful Emma looked with her rounded belly.

When he finally came upon the page where Ava's and Emma's hospital bracelets were taped, Killian felt himself believing more and more about Ava's story than he cared to admit.

Turning the album's pages, Killian was able to witness different parts of Ava's life growing up, from birth to age 12, when she'd put it together for a school project. Closing the album, Killian looked at her, sighing heavily.

"If, and I emphasize on the IF, it's true, what is it that you want exactly?" he softly asked her.

"I'd like to have your version of the story, as to why you didn't want me," Ava replied, choking back a sob.

"What do you mean, I didn't want you?" a very perplexed Killian shot back. "Up until 3 hours ago, I had no idea you existed!"

"Ugh, please!" Ava scoffed. "I already know that you told my mom to have an abortion, so you don't need to keep THAT from me. I'm an adult, I can take it! I just want to know WHY!"

Killian was completely dumbfounded. Emma had told her daughter that her father didn't want anything to do with her? That he'd wanted Emma to have an abortion? They might have only been 16 when they'd fallen in love, but Killian knew that, had he known, he would have done everything to be by Emma's side, whatever her decision was!

"Look Ava," he started, running both his hands through his hair. "I truly didn't know about Emma being pregnant. She stopped calling and writing almost as soon as she went home after the student exchange was over. She didn't even have the guts to tell me that what we'd had was just a fling when I would have done anything to be with her despite all the distance!"

Ava listened to him silently, trying to put together his version with everything her mother had told her through the years.

"Your mother was my first everything. My first kiss, my first girlfriend, my first love, my first…" he stopped, blushing to the tip of his ears. "I loved her, so very much. It took me almost two years to get over her."

"Why didn't you call or write her?" Ava asked.

"You think I didn't? For the first two months after she left Ireland, I wrote to her every single day. Then, seeing that she wasn't replying, I slowed down and only send one letter a week for the next two months. Then, as I was trying to understand what had suddenly happened for her to ignore me like this, I wrote her a letter in November demanding an answer. That was the very last time I tried to contact her. She broke my heart very badly, and thinking about her today, well it feels like the pain is still there, somewhere."

Ava stared at him with a look of disbelief.

"But… She said she sent you a ton of letters and called you several times, and she never heard back from you! She said the last time she wrote you, she told you about being pregnant and you wrote back that you didn't want me, that it'd be best if she had an abortion!"

Ava could feel the hot tears running down her cheeks. She wasn't sad. She was furious! Furious that Killian was trying to blame her mother, who'd given up her teenage years to raise her single-handedly. Her mother, who'd managed to give her everything she could have desired, who'd worked her ass off to ensure that Ava could go to college without having to take out student loans that she'd take years to pay off. Her mother, who'd never asked anyone for anything. Her mother, who'd made it clear to Ava that if she wanted to seek out her father, that she do it only once she'd turned 18 so that he wouldn't be obligated to pay child support.

"Ava! I swear to you! I had NO IDEA! I don't know what your mother told you, but I know for sure that this is my version and I'm sticking to it!"

Seeing Ava's face drenched in tears broke Killian's heart. He knew that it had taken a lot of courage for Ava to have come to meet him today and to tell him about herself. He knew that he shouldn't blindly believe everything she had told him, that sooner or later, he'd need to speak to his lawyer about Ava's confession. He also knew that, eventually, he would have to see Emma again, and that, he wasn't sure his heart could take.

Tentatively, Killian's hand cupped Ava's cheek, trying to get her to look at him.

"God, you look like your mother!" he whispered. Then he pulled her into his arms and did the very first thing that crossed his mind: he started to rock her, humming gently, like a father trying to soothe his child's heartache.