A/N: Some more lovely bliss and the aftermath no one has been asking for. None of y'all will be thankful for me today! See you Monday with Chapter 8! More M rated material at the start of this chapter.
When Emma wakes again, it's just before morning, and Killian is just starting to shift and stretch. Somewhere in the night, he'd turned to his other side and she's now effectively wrapped around him from behind. There's no room for embarrassment though, not when he lifts one of her hands to his lips to kiss the back of it.
It doesn't take long for her to remember how those lips felt kissing her and she lets her hands wander down to grasp his cock, leading to a satisfied noise coming from Killian as he turns his head.
"You know," Emma says, moving to look at the clock on her nightstand, "the studio isn't booked until late morning. Want to get in some early morning dance practice?" To emphasize her point, she squeezes the base of his cock and gently bites at his shoulder.
He partially rolls back so he's facing her, grabbing a few loose strands of her hair and tucking them behind her ear. "Swan, that is the best dance invitation I think I could ask for."
They keep most of the lights off in the studio, turning the stereo on low as they find out more about their new rhythm, and when he crowds her against one of the floor length mirrors along the wall, she gets to watch up-close how her face looks when he takes her from behind. She gets to watch how she follows his lead and widens her stance to give him better access, dropping her hips so he slides in easily. She thinks finally as they watch each other fall apart this time, her hands braced against the mirror. He places his own hand next to hers and she admires the twin handprints that are left behind, making a mental note to wipe that down before her first lesson in a few hours.
He leaves her cabin just after dawn, his clothes from last night back in place and his jeans from the day before tucked under his left arm. They still both look around carefully, checking to make sure they really are alone as Killian kisses her once more before leaving.
They've decided to keep up the pretense of dance lessons, because she has plenty of others that attend all summer long, and Snow and David can't really assume anything is going on between them. She worries, just a little, about what could happen, but their second week together she brings up that fear as they listen to the night sounds just beyond her cabin walls.
"What do you think they'll do if they find out?"
"It's hard to say. I'm family, and they've always let me kind of do my own thing, but I've never broken this rule before."
"No other handsome men promising to learn an entire dance routine and then unapologetically crawling into your bed afterwards?"
Emma chuckles, because he knows there hasn't been. He's the first dance client (if that's what they can call him) that she's ever slept with, period. Everyone else has been a fellow instructor or unrelated to her profession.
"You're one of a kind," she says, and she doesn't just mean in their situation. She means the whole package that is Killian Jones.
"As are you, love." He says it quietly, and his face is so serious, that she can't help the way she clings to him as she kisses him again and again. "I'll set my alarm for five, just to be safe," he tells her when they finally break apart, and she watches as he sets the time and places his phone on the nightstand next to hers before he wraps himself around her once more.
It's been ages since she's worked with a partner that isn't Ruby, but he fit with her so well when it came to the performance. The same goes with the way they fit together at night. Emma can't even remember the last time she let someone spend the night in her bed but with Killian, they just work.
The sound of his alarm jolts her awake, but Killian reaches for his phone and silences it before she can sit up. He encourages her to remain sleeping, kissing her temple once and happily obliging when she pulls him down for a mouth kiss without even opening her eyes.
"I'll see you later," he whispers against her cheek before he rises from the bed and dresses quietly. She's asleep again before he's even out the door.
The next time she wakes up, it's to Ruby damn near knocking down the door. "Emmaemmaemma," comes the quick chanting of her name and she struggles from sleep and has enough sense to slip on her clothes before finally wrenching the door open to look at her friend. "Oh. Oh hey. Why were you sleeping so late? Never mind, don't tell me. I just need to share this news with you." With that, Ruby opens the screen door and pushes Emma all the way back in the cabin until she's sitting on the edge of her bed.
It's only then that Emma's eyes go wide and she hopes to all higher powers that Killian's t-shirt isn't, you know, on her body, and that they remembered to throw away the condom and wrapper from last night.
"So I rode with Mulan into town today and checked the email account. Bright and early this morning there was an email from Regina asking us to come in for negotiations and to sign a contract. Next month. We got the job!"
The end of the sentence is all pushed together and higher pitched than she's heard Ruby in a long time and it takes Emma a whole ten seconds to register what Ruby just told her. But when it does all compute through her sleep-addled brain, she's up and clutching Ruby's hands and just as loud. "We got it? Holy shit, we got it!"
For a moment, they're teenagers again, jumping around and screaming their excitement to the beams of her ceiling. They're both breathless and laughing by the end of it and Emma worries for just a moment about her friend's ankle, but Ruby seems to have aced her physical therapy and is moving with no problems that she can see.
"Regina said that your stand-in partner was great, so any time you wanted to dance with him, she'd be happy to sign him on, too," Ruby says, an over-exaggerated wink accompanying the information.
Emma just laughs, letting go of Ruby to spin once around the room. "Also, how's your ankle?"
"Doing great. I was actually in town to see the foot and ankle specialist at the hospital and we ended up going super early so I could see Granny. Everything looks back to normal! I've just started walking again to build up more strength and I'm stretching everything every day. Victor said to come down once a week for the rest of the summer just to keep an eye on it, but he was the one that told me to go to SBH to get the all-clear."
"That's great! After we figure out what we'll be working, we can figure out which routines and start on all that. When is the lease up?"
"You really want to do it? You wanna relocate and everything?"
"Wasn't that the whole point of this?"
"Yes, I just… I didn't know if you'd have some better reason to stay in Boston, now." The look Ruby gives her is innocent, but her eyes dart to two different locations and Emma shifts to see that yes, while Killian's shirt may not be on her, it's definitely on her floor, and an open condom wrapper is about three feet away from where she threw it off the bed last night.
"Ruby…"
"Nope. The less I know is better for now. Just don't get caught. You can tell me all about it when the summer is over."
She could take the out. She could walk away from the conversation right now, but suddenly it becomes so heavy and she needs to share just the tiniest piece with her best friend. "Red, I think I like him. A lot."
"As in?"
"I won't say that much, yet. But I care about him."
Ruby's look softens considerably, and she reaches over and pulls Emma into a tight hug. "I've got your back if you need me," she reminds her. "Okay, I'm going to start making a list of everything we need to take care of. I know that's usually your thing, but since you got us the job, I figure it's my turn. Regina did say the job wouldn't start until October so we'll have plenty of time to get it all figured out before then."
"I'm going to have to get into the studio for a lesson in an hour, but we should grab lunch when I'm done."
"Won't you be with a certain Mambo partner? Mambo-ing? In your bed?"
"He has lunch with his brother, you pervert. Now go on!" She shoos Ruby towards the door. "I have to shower and clean this place up. I'll see you for lunch!"
With another parting shot that Emma snorts at, Ruby is out the door. Emma turns and looks at the cabin, letting out a relieved breath that it was only her friend instead of her brother. With that thought hot on her heels, she moves around the room and finds anything that could out her new romance. Relationship? What is this, anyway?
Emma thinks about what Ruby said about moving away from Boston and she wonders if it would work when she gets back home. She also wonders if it would work if she moves to Portland, but it's so hard to say how any of it would go when she doesn't even know what to call this. With a shake of her head, she hides away the trash in the very back of her closet; she'll take it to Storybrooke with her if that's what she has to do. For now, she needs to get into the shower and get on with her day.
She decides that the first thing she'll do when Killian gets back later is program his number into her phone, and hers into his, so that at least that lane of communication will be open.
Ruby surprises her after her lessons with a full picnic spread from the main lodge. They make their way to a spot behind her cabin, hidden away from all others and all ears. Only then does Ruby break and pry into all the details.
"When did it start? Wait, wait. No. How did the performance go? Let's start there. I can't believe I haven't been able to talk to you sooner!"
"It was great, obviously, if Regina suggested my other partner comes to dance sometime. I wish you could've seen it. I wonder if she taped them all. Maybe I can ask when we meet with her. He was just so on during the whole thing, Red. You would've been impressed."
"I already am! Okay, now the good stuff."
"After we got back, you know they cornered us, right?"
"Yeah, unfortunately. They came to me when they couldn't find you because his brother couldn't find him and left his cell phone here."
"Dammit, Killian."
"Yeah, mostly just shitty luck. You guys almost made it!"
"Well, the funny thing is, it didn't start until then. I may have, um, switched our garment bags. He brought mine back to me, and well, he didn't leave." Despite the fact that she and Ruby have been through so many post-mortems on dates and other kinds of adventures, Emma still blushes as she tells Ruby this. "This all feels completely different, Ruby. I don't know what to do now, or when we leave, or what comes next."
"You guys will figure it out. Somehow. I have faith that this will all work."
"Since when did you become an optimist?"
"When I started dating Mulan."
Emma holds her hand to her throat in mock exasperation. "You let me spill all my secrets and held all your cards to your chest? Unfair."
"Yeah, well, mine is about a thousand times less scandalous, so."
They spend the rest of their lunch talking about Ruby's new relationship – much less nerve-wracking to talk about on camp grounds – and what will happen in the weeks that follow. It's all new, all exciting, and Emma never could've guessed this was what would happen when they came to Camp Hope this year.
"You gonna tell David and Snow about the job now?"
"Soon. For now, I have to think about how to politely tell you to start teaching your own classes again after this week."
Ruby throws back her head and laughs. "Yeah, I guess I can start pulling my weight again. After all, you got us a shiny new job."
Lessons for the rest of the day go by quicker than she expected they would, which means that when Killian walks up the short staircase right when she's finishing up cleaning the studio, she's actually startled by how the day has flown by.
"I wasn't sure if you'd gotten to the main lodge to grab dinner, or if you had anything left in your kitchen," he tells her, holding out the carefully wrapped food.
She can smell the toasted bread before she even lifts one corner of the napkin and greedily hurries to find the grilled cheese he brought her. When she opens her mouth to thank him, he produces a bag from behind his back, looped over his hook. She reaches out and slides the plastic from the metal, almost nostalgic to see that instead of the faux flesh hand that he's been wearing in preparation for the performance.
Her own thoughts cut short when the smell of the onion rings reaches her nose and she damn near tells him she loves him. She doesn't, not yet, not right now, but it's a close thing when he's bringing her food and standing in the doorway looking so good. Something about her willingness to say it to Killian, the man she's been dancing with for a month and a half but sleeping with for less than a week, should tell her that this is different than anything else she's experienced. For now, she ignores that fact in place of her mostly empty stomach.
The campgrounds are still active, so they both accept that they can't even so much as kiss each other in greeting. Instead, they drop down to the floor next to the mirrors, and while Emma eats they tell each other stories about their lives in Boston. They keep music playing in the background almost out of habit from the first several weeks they spent together.
"I have good news to share," Emma says when the food is gone and he's helping her back to her feet. As habit, they walk through a couple steps. "But I'll share it later if you'll be stopping by?" She asks, because although he's spent more nights with her than at his own cabin, she doesn't want to overstep and assume he'll be there again tonight. She also wants to invite him to the idea that he's welcome any night he chooses, because the idea of sleeping without him is starting to feel weird.
"I'll be there," he tells her quietly, giving her a quick dip and chuckling at her noise of surprise.
When he brings her back up, Emma can see someone on the walkway leading to the studio so she straightens. "Hey, dance," she tells him in a hurry, and Killian automatically mirrors her hold. They pick up a random spot in the choreography that just barely matches the song that happens to be playing, so that when the door opens and she turns to greet the newcomer, it all looks as natural as they can make it.
"Can I help you?" Emma calls out as Killian stares at their feet and pretends to struggle for a moment.
"I've heard great things about the dance program here," a man says from the entrance.
Emma looks closer to see that it's a man that's come to camp before, one that Emma sincerely hoped wouldn't be back again this year. Thanks to what she views as the unfortunate last name of "Nottingham" he likes to be called The Sheriff, despite not having any ties to law enforcement. There was an incident last year with inappropriate code of conduct, and she really thought David said he wouldn't be allowed back. Which means he likely appealed to Snow's sense of second chances and wormed his way back.
And now he's standing in her studio, leering at her figure before Killian suddenly turns them so he's nearly shielding her. "Whoops," he mutters, half-heartedly and with a wink only she can see, but she's more impressed by how easily he's able to read her emotions. Then again, he kind of always had the ability to do that.
"I'm in the middle of a lesson right now," Emma says, only leaning enough to see over Killian's shoulder and still giving the best smile she can muster up. "My partner has a group class tomorrow at noon if you're interested in learning some basics."
"I've dabbled in some classes over the years," he drawls, looking almost bored as he glances around the studio space.
"Of course he has," Killian says under his breath, still doing remarkably well at looking like he's a beginner.
"I was thinking something more along the lines of one on one instruction," Keith continues.
Killian tenses, and Emma tightens her hand in his so he won't say or do anything stupid. She needs to cut this guy off now and get him out of here before this becomes a thing.
"You can sign up on the scheduling computers in the main lodge. My available times will show up as the green blocks. For now, I'd like to devote my attention to my current lesson," Emma says, very pointedly turning so she can fix the guy with a look that brooks no argument.
"I can only hope I'll be so dutifully attended to in our class," he says, his smile spreading slow and sleazy as Emma can feel Killian's hackles rising. She forces one polite smile again in dismissal and breathes a sigh of relief when the intrusion is over and the path is all clear. Only then does she sag against Killian, resting her head against his chest as she fights to even out her breathing to match his.
"I can sit here and keep an eye on him, if you'd like," Killian says after a minute. His heart is still pounding from what she can tell but he's no longer quite as tense as he was.
"You can't. I'll get Ruby to be here. Hell, I'll insist we have our lesson in the main lodge if I have to. But it can't be you. Besides, nobody saves me but me."
Finally, Killian sighs, his body relaxing against hers. He wraps his arms around her and presses his lips against her temple. "Aye, so I've seen."
It turns out, she has no one there when the lesson begins. Because he books the very first lesson spot she has available the next day. She's groggy and barely functioning as she unlocks the studio, only to find Keith entirely too close behind her as she tries to convince the key to work. Maybe she would've noticed him sooner if she and Killian hadn't spent a little too long celebrating the news about the Mills Regency the night before.
She shoots off a text to Ruby, praying the service will actually function in her favor for once. Then, as she would for any other client, she puts on her professional smile and does her job.
"So how much do you charge for a little extra instruction?"
It's been less than three minutes. All they've done so far is review the basic steps for a waltz and she's explained how they'll add in some flourishes, and he's already propositioning her.
"If you're talking about what I think you're talking about, I don't provide those services."
"No, no, of course not. I just meant if I wanted to see you after hours."
"Again, that's a no."
He gives some noncommittal noise at that, following her instructions (and poorly, she might add) for a couple more minutes. And then his hands start wandering.
"Sorry I'm late!" Ruby's voice booms through the studio as she barrels up the steps. "How's it going? Oh geez, who taught you that form?" She asks, aghast. He had been in better form, but because he'd stooped to try palming her ass, he was a little out of shape.
As soon as she gets the chance, Emma mouths a thanks to Ruby when Keith can't see. Much like Killian did, she winks when he isn't looking and starts calling out extra directions, eventually taking him aside and physically putting his limbs into the proper placement until Emma can step back into it.
By the time the hour is up, Emma and Ruby are both trying to hide their exhaustion. This has been one of the worst lessons either of them have ever done, and Emma has lost count of how many sexual advances he's lobbed at either one of them. If his hands had strayed again, she would've gone straight to her brother with an actual complaint to file, but mostly he was just obnoxious when it's all said and done.
"Thanks so much for stopping in, Keith. Hope you enjoy the rest of the week," Emma says, her smile and voice so falsely bright that he has to see and hear it. He still tries to linger, maybe hoping Ruby will leave, maybe hoping he can talk them both into some "extra lessons," but either way, she and Ruby turn towards the stereo and start talking about the rest of the schedule they've got lined up for the day. When he finally leaves, they both let out explosive sighs of relief, and they both sag to the floor.
"You've gotta go to David with that shit," Ruby says with a groan. "I really thought his borderline exposure to Belle last year would've been enough to keep him out. How does he keep coming back?"
"Snow believes there's good in everyone. Maybe if she hears it from both of us she'll finally stop letting him in. I don't care if he does pay for two weeks while he stays for one. I'm done with that shit."
"We are all done with that shit," Ruby echoes, and they make plans to go at lunch to talk to her brother and sister-in-law.
But when lunch comes around, they both get caught up in other things. Emma helps Tink with a quick set-up and stretch while she deals with a scheduling issue and Ruby is stuck waiting for Victor to see a guest patient before she can talk to him about her final clearance.
The next day fades into the next, and because she's managed to dodge having any other open classes, Emma forgets about it for the time being. It's a non-issue. It's something she can talk to the Nolans about when the summer is over and the four of them can sit down to discuss the whole situation. Besides, she has to also tell them about the new contract she and Ruby will end up signing, and the fact that they have officially decided to uproot and move to Portland.
She's put it so far out of her mind that, by the time Henry delivers a message that David and Snow want to talk to her a week and a half later, she's surprised; she wonders if Ruby had a chance to pass along some of that information and didn't tell her. There's only two weeks of regular camp activities left. Labor Day weekend endcaps the summer with the final performances. She and Ruby have started on a new dance, ready and excited to share it with the whole camp.
More than that, just a little over three weeks from now, she won't have to sneak around with Killian anymore. Even though she's moving, there's still a chance this could be something more. They haven't talked about it, but it easily could be. She just needs to make it through this last couple weeks and then they'll figure it all out. Perhaps if she wasn't so hyper-focused on all of that, she would've felt that uneasy sensation in her stomach as she made her way across camp to the Owners' Cabin. Instead, she walks in with a skip in her step and a big smile on her face.
It's a Saturday, and with fewer lessons popping up on her schedule every day, she has more time to finalize the closing number with Ruby and more time to spend with Killian. She's just about to call out a bright greeting to the occupants when she sees them already waiting for her. Their faces, if she was forced to describe the expressions, are grim – maybe just as grim as when she ran away with Neal. Maybe just as grim as when they buried Ruth. This time, however, it's directed at her.
"Emma, we received a tip that you're… seeing Killian. Intimately." David looks decidedly uncomfortable, and she can't tell if it's because of the subject, or him imagining his little sister with a man. As if he still thinks of her as a virginal sanctuary.
The smile immediately drops off her face as she takes in the information. Before she confirms or denies anything, she has to know one thing. "Was it that Keith guy? Because he low-key sexually harassed me for almost the entire lesson I gave him. Ruby can vouch for me on this. There was almost an unwanted ass grab."
"That's not the… well, yes. Okay. It was him. But he also showed us a picture of Killian leaving your cabin one morning," Snow says as gently as she can. "And you're kissing him."
Any hopes she had of finding a way to talk herself out of trouble are gone with that revelation. She needs to redirect, and fast.
"I haven't – I haven't been this happy since Neal left me in a holding cell in Tallahassee," she admits, hoping it will count for something. "I'm sorry it's breaking your rules but I will not apologize for the way I feel."
"You know we have to stick to these guidelines, even if you're my sister. I'm sorry, Emma, but we have to suspend you. You're still on for your final act, but we've called Granny and set up a room for you at the inn until then."
She was being kicked out? As in, kicked out kicked out?
Opening her mouth to say something, she realizes she has nothing. Snow reaches for her hand but she snatches it back quickly. "No," she stresses. Backing away towards the door again. "I promised I would never throw this back at you but I want to remind you that you were the original rule breakers. You were the ones Ruth caught having sex in the boat house. You are the reason that rule exists."
She points at both of them as she hurls the accusation, knowing that it was something she always swore she would never speak of again. For a long time, it was easy, and it was easily smoothed over because she came back with her own baggage and sob story and everyone brushed that thought to the side. Snow had turned 18 three months before Emma did, but she was accompanying a foster outreach program, much like Emma had been a part of all those years ago. She was technically a guest, and David was a senior counselor at that point. But all of this had been locked down as the "family secret" and never spoken of again.
Until today, of course.
Snow looks genuinely wounded by the words, and David looks like some combination of ashamed and angry, but she doesn't let them say anything else. They've already made up their minds and for all of Snow's "second chance" and "hope" speeches, this is technically Emma's second chance; she used up the first when she left with Neal a month before she officially turned legal and they didn't call the cops. They left straight from camp and didn't stop until the gas ran out, and only then did she contact her family to let them know where she went. That was Emma's first strike.
Pushing through the door, she doesn't turn when they both call her name again, and she just starts walking. There's a part of her that recognizes that she's moping through the camp, but mostly she moves on autopilot until she's knocking on the door to Killian's cabin.
Liam is the one to answer, and he has a smug grin on his face like he knows why she's here until he sees the expression on hers.
"I need to talk to Killian. Do you think you could give us some privacy?"
"Of course, lass. Is everything okay?"
Just like Killian said, he is such an older brother, and she holds back tears as she tries to decide whether she should shake or nod her head. She just kind of shrugs, instead, which Liam takes in stride as he calls into the cabin for Killian before pushing his way out the door and holding it open for her. He places a tentative hand on her shoulder, giving her some kind of look that might be for reassurance but just makes her feel worse. Just as the door swings shut behind her, Killian exits his bedroom. As soon as he sees her, his eyebrows draw down and he reaches out for her.
"What's wrong, Swan?"
"I have to leave."
There it is, out in the open, and her stomach finally drops just as the tears finally start to fall. She can't cry in front of him. Can't say goodbye like it means so much more than she meant it to. Because she'll go back to her corner and he'll go back to his, because that's how this goes, right? They never figured it out beyond the now, so maybe this is a sign that this is how it ends. She doesn't get to keep the good things, or the people she loves deepest. And how the fuck did she end up falling in love with him? When did that happen?
So she kisses him, she kisses him as hard as she can, telling him everything he means to her without saying the words - being too afraid to say them, primarily – and then she repeats it.
"I have to leave. I can't – I can't thank you enough, Killian. For everything. Goodbye."
"Swan?" His voice is a tinge desperate, and he reaches out for her hand again when she moves away but when she flinches from it, he immediately stops. He always was really good at following her lead, after all. When she reaches for the door, he tries one last time. "Emma?"
It stops her this time, the way he says her name, like he's questioning their entire time together, and she can't ruin that. She can't let him walk away from this without knowing it was all real: the weeks of dance instruction, the three weeks of being together, all of it. So she turns around and walks back to him, grabbing his hand and placing it against her heart. She forces a weak smile onto her trembling lips. "I love you," she tells him, touching her forehead to his and absorbing the way she feels to accompany every lonely night she'll have after this moment as she tries to figure out what to do next. Because he does deserve to know. He's too stunned to stop her this time as she turns again and leaves.
Emma at least makes it back to her cabin before she breaks down.
Within an hour, she's packed what she absolutely needs and leaves a note in the studio for Ruby with her camp key ring tucked inside. Her friend can handle it; she's a phenomenal solo dancer and naturally draws the audience in, anyway. She'll know Emma didn't abandon her. And she'll understand.