Emma stood on the dock in front of the Jolly Roger, biting her lip and weighing her options. She could hear Killian whistling but he wasn't on the deck. Coming here, she had been all brash bravado but now her courage was waning and she couldn't help but think she must be a martyr. Why else did she get herself into these situations?

Killian's whistling ended but she heard his boots on the stairs and she braced herself to face him. She couldn't believe it had only been six days since he had proposed they be friends again at Granny's. That she had been avoiding him on purpose was irrelevant to Emma at that moment as Killian slowly came into view and immediately spotted her.

Emma felt herself start to blush (why was his gaze always so intense?) but decided to leap forward anyway. "Killian! Hi! I hadn't seen you in a while, and I was starting to think you had changed your mind about trying to be friends." Emma winced internally at how bad that had come out but honesty had always worked best between them. And she couldn't take her words back now and start again.

"Swan, hello. I wasn't avoiding you purposely, if that's what you're implying." His gaze was as steady as ever but his face lacked his usual charm.

"No, of course not!" That was what Emma had been doing, but it felt repetitive to bring that up now. "I just wasn't sure what to open this conversation with and since that had been the last thing we talked about…" Wrong, definitely wrong. Emma had been thinking about Killian's offer for almost a week now and she hadn't been able to hold it inside anymore.

Killian smirked, an eyebrow raised to suggest he didn't quite believe her, but thankfully he decided to move on. "So…were you seeking me out, or did you just happen to be in the area?"

"Um, a bit of both. I was in the area, and then I decided to seek you out." His mouth opened as if to ask a question, but Emma rushed on, "I'm going through permits. For the boats. At the docks. Well, really I've been wading through permits for the whole town now for weeks. I just finished the permits for the 300 block of town and now its on to the docks. I still think this is really the mayor's office job but somehow Regina was able to convince me that this was something the sheriff's office needed to do."

Emma sucked in a big breath and the flush that risen in her cheeks at the beginning of this conversation spread to her ears and neck. "Sorry, I didn't actually come over here to ramble at you."

Killian snorted disbelievingly, but asked, "So why are you here? Talking to me, exactly."

"I have to go through boat permits and fishing licenses with every owner. Take down the permit and license numbers, inspect the equipment and operations to make sure everything matches up. So I'm going to be down here at the docks a lot and well, I wanted you to know that I'm not going to ignore you."

Killian's face transformed from its passive mask into one of blatant shock. "You…aren't going to ignore me? So, you want to try being friends again then?"

Emma breathed in deeply. Her gut reaction initially had been to ignore him. It wasn't like her to run back to her ex in any capacity; once Emma Swan was done, she was done forever. But Killian had made a good argument when he pointed out how small Storybrooke was and their inevitability of continuously running across one another. If Emma truly wanted to be done with Killian she would probably have to move away (even at her most irrational she recognized that she couldn't make Killian be the one to leave town instead). But Emma had built a life here, with her friends and her son. She even had a sort of extended family in her co-parent and even without her own partner, Emma was really happy with Killian. So she decided to give a friendship with Killian a chance; she could always move away later.

Of course, everyone else thought she was completely off her rocker. Emma knew how unlikely the odds were for exes to maintain any kind of platonic relationship. But Emma and Killian had faced worse odds before and they could handle a simple friendship. Emma truly believed they could overcome any obstacle that came their way; they just had to work as a team to avoid them. Mary Margaret and Ruby had been especially explicit in voicing how much they doomed the idea. Mary Margaret's words? "You're setting yourself up to fail and worse, to end up getting even more hurt. Ruby's words? "You are a fucking idiot, Emma Swan."

Emma had just rolled her eyes and assured them that she knew what she was doing. She had been looking out for herself her whole life and she was sure she could protect herself from forming any residual feelings. Emma had already been through the ringer in every possible relationship scenario, and the break up with Killian had only just barely made the top five. She could handle anything Killian related, especially just-friends-Killian.

Of course, there was maybe a small part of Emma that wanted to prove how much their break up hadn't damaged her. If she could swiftly move from wallowing in a tub of ice cream to totally nonchalantly being friends with her ex, she would prove herself to be unbreakable. So what if Killian had broken her heart when he had cheated on her? Killian was just a casual friend now, so what? Emma couldn't care about all that drama anymore.

Now, Emma met Killian's eyes. It was amazing how much they still calmed her, and her resolve to make this new friendship work hardened.

"I'm ready to be friends."