Prompt: Captain Swan + "Stuck In A Tree" (Written with BlackDragon733)
A Rare Sighting
It turned out that living in England was not enough to dissuade Liam Jones from signing up to all the bird-watching mailing lists focused in Maine and sending his brother messages begging for a few pictures or more of whatever rare bird they were looking for that week.
Killian was choosing to blame the Magnolia Warbler for his forced trip to the park instead of his brother, but that didn't stop a few bitter thoughts aimed at Liam when Killian considered how he was meant to have been spending the day with David Nolan and his family as they prepared for some big family barbeque.
He still wasn't entirely sure how he'd managed to wrangle an invitation to that, as work colleague was nowhere near the same level as family, but David had been insistent.
But instead of marinating meat and drinking beer, he was wandering through the forest with a pair of binoculars around his neck and hoping desperately to find a bird that looked like the picture Liam had sent him at an ungodly hour that morning.
His mood was not helped by the branch that fell on his head.
"I am so sorry." Killian looked up at the apology, surprised to see a blonde woman perched on a high up branch and looking down at him with a wary, sheepish smile. "I didn't see you there. Trust me, if I had, you'd have been given a bit more warning."
"Is it too forward to say that you're much preferred to the bird I'm actually hunting for?" He asked, rubbing the top of his head in an attempt to sooth it, amused by how her expression immediately turned from nervous to unimpressed. "And probably far rarer too."
"Does it look like I'm in the mood for flirting?" She asked, shifting slightly on the branch and wincing again when some debris floated to the ground below her. "I've been here for freaking hours and I still have no idea how to get back down."
"Ah, so you're a damsel in distress?" He stated and the woman groaned loudly and threw a leaf at him. "Fear not, fair maiden, I'm sure I can bring you back to earth."
"No need." She threw another leaf down, and this one landed lightly in his hair. He made no move to get rid of it. "I've called my friend and he'll be here anytime now. So you can just keep on your way and find whatever bird it is you're looking for."
Killian considered leaving, but when he peered up at her again, she was fidgeting anxiously, her knuckles white as she gripped the tree branch. "You look rather uncomfortable, love. Are you certain you'd rather wait when I could help you down right now?"
"I'm not uncomfortable." She spat, but Killian was already scanning the tree for any possible path back down. "It's just a bit precarious up here."
"Just give me a moment." He said, deciding that his best course of action was to climb the tree himself so that the two of them could follow the same path down.
"What the hell are you doing?" she asked as he shucked the binoculars and then began to clamber up towards her. "I can't see how this is at all helpful?"
Killian laughed, realising now that he was climbing up towards her that the woman was sitting even higher than he had thought. "I'm plotting a course for us, darling."
He didn't look up at her again until he was sat beside her, his legs dangling down and the ground suddenly far further away from him than he had appreciated. She'd watched him climb the whole way up, her eyebrow raised and all of a sudden he was struck with the fact that she'd clearly figured out long ago that he too had no idea how to return to solid ground.
"I appears I failed to see how this rescue mission of mine could go astray." He admitted, and she giggled. "Now, my dear, we are both damsels in distress. I do hope some handsome knight will appear to save us from our terrible fate."
Wanting to ensure that he would indeed manage to get down eventually, he sent a brief text to David and just hoped it would be enough to get his friend down to the woods in search of him. He'd probably hear no end of the teasing at the barbeque that evening though, but he'd take teasing over starving to death at the top of a tree.
"You're an idiot." She mumbled, falling silent for a second or two before she carefully offering him her hand, which he took eagerly even if it meant he had to hold on to the branch even tighter with his other hand. "I'm Emma."
"Killian." He replied, their hands springing apart so they could each adjust their balance on the thin branch. "What bring you up this tree on such a fine day?"
She held his gaze for what felt like too long, a grin spreading across his face when she finally rolled her eyes and sent him an amused, albeit slightly exhausted, smile. "Some stupid kid. He lost his frisbee up here and he was the cutest kid I've ever seen so I couldn't say no when he asked for help, but then the second I tossed it down, he ran off and I've been stuck here ever since. My lunch is still waiting for me at the picnic bench just a few yards back down the footpath."
He let go of the branch for a few minutes to unceremoniously toss her the slightly melted chocolate bar he had in his pocket, "My rescue mission may have been a disaster but I don't want you to think I'm the sort of man who would let a beautiful woman go hungry."
"Yeah, yeah." Emma muttered, tearing open the bar without a thank you and then taking a bite, her eyes closing as a look of total delight spread across her face. And he couldn't look away. "So what bird are you looking for? Or was that just a totally horrendous pick-up line?"
"I like to think I'm not the sort of person who takes binoculars with him when he's searching for a woman." Killian admitted and she actually giggled again. "I truly was out bird-watching. My brother back in England seems to think he'll become the envy of his friends if I send him pictures of birds he'd never find back there. And unfortunately, I can't deny my brother anything. Not that I'm regretting this outing now. As I said, you're a much better find than this Magnolia Warbler."
"Would your brother agree?" Emma asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Most certainly." Killian told her, and she shook her head at him. "However, I find it unlikely that you want your face shown alongside pictures of birds as he bores his physics students to tears with a presentation on his latest sightings."
"God, that sounds terrible." Emma said through a laugh, and Killian nodded his agreement. "I mean the bird slides, but my picture being in one of them would be pretty bad too."
He chuckled. The two of them, for another half an hour, they just chatted. They didn't talk about anything particularly personal, the conversation remaining easy and light and full of laughter, but their time together flew by and despite the quiet, nagging worry that he'd tip a bit too far backwards as he laughed and would fall to his death, he was having the best afternoon he'd had in years.
"Emma? Are you up there?" Killian frowned at Emma when he heard the voice, when he heard David. "Because this can't take too long as I have another friend stuck in another tree and I should probably get to him soon."
"Dave?" Killian called down, still unable to see David and assuming he was wandering nearby. "Is that you?"
"Killian?" David yelled back, and they heard heavy footsteps as he ran towards Killian's voice. "Have I gone to the wrong tree? Emma messaged me hours ago and she'll be furious if I get you down first."
"You know David?" Emma whispered suddenly, her eyebrows high on her forehead even as she tilted her head to look down at the ground. "How do we both know David?"
"You're in the same tree?" David sounded incredulous after hearing Emma's voice, as well as far too amused, and if he hadn't been certain about it before, it was clear that David would not be shutting up about this for a very long time.
"Well, I work with him at the animal shelter but I don't know about you." Killian said, waving happily down at David when he finally came into a view below them, a large ladder held under his arm, and then toppling forward slightly. Emma grabbed at him, her grip tight on his sleeve and keeping him from falling. "He looks after the dogs and I have a fondness for the cats."
"I'm his sister." Emma stated, watching as David started to try and find a place to rest the ladder. "He's never mentioned you before."
"Or you." Killian said, leaning back to let Emma crawl over him so she could climb down first. "Clearly, we are both very underappreciated."
"I can hear you both." David called up, and when he rolled his eyes, Killian could definitely see the family resemblance. "Now get down here. Mary-Margaret will kill all three of us if we're late to the barbeque. After she's killed the two of you for getting trapped in a tree in the first place, you morons."
Killian followed Emma down the ladder, sighing in relief when he finally felt firm ground on his feet, Emma appearing to do the same. He picked up his binoculars and then turned an inquisitive look to the siblings. "We'll both be at the barbeque?"
"Looks like it." Emma told him, already leading him and David down the path towards where Killian assumed she had left her lunch. "I'm relieved actually."
"Didn't want to say goodbye to me yet?" Killian asked, and David huffed beside him. "I assure you the feeling's mutual."
"No. I'd just rather not suffer the humiliation alone."
And Liam was bound to be disappointed when Killian told him that he hadn't even really looked for the Magnolia Warbler, but when they skyped a couple of weeks later, Liam could hardly complain when Killian told him he'd managed to find something far more valuable.