This is my CS Secret Santa gift to thebiggestbookworm on tumblr. I hope you enjoy this little New Year's AU one-shot!


Emma turned her cart around the next aisle and stopped in front of the frozen dairy products. Her eyes scanned the different kind of flavors of ice cream looking for her favorite kind. Vanilla, Rocky Road, pistachio, strawberry and so on. Her eyes stopped when she saw the cookie dough ice cream and opened the door to the humongus fridge and took out a carton and deposited it next to her other purchases.

It was New Year's eve and Emma had planned on doing nothing and seeing no one. It's not that she didn't have any friends, she did, but this year she didn't feel like celebrating.

What did she have to celebrate? Being dumped and cheated on? Being fired? Having no family of her own?

No.

This year she decided to avoid big crowds of people and stay home where she'll be happy, comfortable, and avoid the questions like: What are your resolution for this year? She had an endless list of things but why would she want to share that with someone if like everybody else she is going to stick to that resolution, for what, a week at most.

Her friends had insisted that she come along to a couple of parties scattered around town, but she had declined them all. That was another of the reason why she didn't want to go. Every year – every goddamn year – her friends made plans for the last day of the year and put so many expectations on that night, some of them putting pressure on others to dance, drink and do stuff, and that irrated her.

She never understood why people out so much emphasis on that night, as if magically at the sound of midnight your fairy godmother would come and grant you your wishes for the next year. Life wasn't a fairytale, not everyone had their happy endings and life sucked.

Granted, this year Emma was a bit more bitter than usual, but she still didn't feel like doing any of those things. Instead she bought herself a frozen pizza, chips, ice cream, and wine. That would be her feast.

After paying for her purchases, she braved the cold weather and walked towards her new studio apartment. She had found the apartment on craiglist the next day after she caught her boyfriend sleeping with another woman in their bed.

She had left their apartment running and sought refuge over at Elsa's. The next day she had decided to look for an already furnished apartment, since she didn't have enough money to buy new stuff and wanted to leave as soon as possible. It was small, but at least she had a bed to sleep on and that was everything that she needed.

Finally reaching her apartment, Emma went to put her groceries in their places and then went to have a long, hot bath. She closed her eyes as she felt the water warm and relax her muscles. Her phone stared buzzing next to her, as it rested on the chair next to her tub. She dried her hand on the towel draped on the back of the chair, and looked at the caller ID.

Emma sighed when she saw Elsa's name on her screen, the buzzing of her device insisting that she pick it up. She slid her index finger through the answer button and instantly put it on speaker.

"Hey."

"Emma! What are you doing tonight?" Elsa chirped through the speaker, her voice echoing in the bathroom.

"Um, I'm staying at home, why?" She already dreaded the rest of the conversation, knowing that her friend will be asking to come to some party.

"You can't stay at home it's New Year's!"

"That is the reason why I'm staying at home."

"Emma, I know that this year has been a bit…" Elsa paused as she tried to find the right word.

"Awful, sucky, horrible, I could go on, you know." She heard a small sigh at the end of the line.

"I know that it wasn't the best year, but still, I think it would do you some good to come out and clear your head about everything." Emma could hear the small plead in her friend voice. Even though she didn't want to go out, she knew that her friend was being insisting because she was worried about her.

"Ugh, I don't know." She answered, hesitating on either staying at home like she originally intended or go with Elsa to whatever she had planned.

"I'm going over at Anna's, she recently just finished moving in her new house, and Kristoff and her decided to host a party for tonight. Come over just for a little while, and you can leave after a couple of hours if you are bored. I really think that leaving your appartment a bit will do you some good." Emma felt herself resign and complying to her very caring friend advice.

"Fine... what time?"

"I'll pick you up at eight!" Elsa replied, enthusiastic on the fact that she had just agreed to go out with her.

Emma had just enough time to get out of the bath and get ready for the party. She decided to go casual and opted for a pair of light blue jeans, a black shirt with white polka dots and three-quarter-length sleeve. She braided her hair to the side and chose to wear a pair of gold roses earrings. Shortly after she finished getting ready, her friend arrived and both left towards Elsa's sister's and husband house.

Throughout the ride, she couldn't help to ask her friend who would be there. Elsa reassured her that the person that she was dreading to see wasn't going to be there, if he was invited she wouldn't have asked her to come. The answer made her relax a bit, but still was tensed on going over there.

The evening was going on smoothly despite that the house was quite packed. The newlywed had invited pretty much everyone they knew. She was quite pleased when she saw that Kristoff had invited the Nolan's, a very nice and charming couple. David Nolan was a very old friend of Kristoff and got married to his high school sweetheart Mary Margaret a couple of years back. Emma really liked being in their company, they made her feel like one of their own, David always acting like the brother she never had and his wife being somewhat like a motherly figured. They presence added to the small family she had created for herself with Elsa and Anna (which she considered as family, more specifically like sister and they always made her feel that way too).

Emma had greeted everyone she knew quickly before heading to the kitchen to pour herself a glass of Anna's punch. She poured a bit in her red plastic cup and put the ladle back in the bowl and took a tentative sip to test the drink. It wasn't bad, it was a fruity drink and needed a bit more of strong alcohol in her opinion. She poured more into her glass until it filled at least three quarter of it and went to browse the bottles of hard liquor that were on the counter.

As she tried to choose which alcohol to add, someone came to stand beside her. She turned her head, her breath stopping for a second as she took the very handsome man standing before her.

He had brown hair that was so dark that it was almost black, thick eyebrows contrasting with the very blue eyes of his. His very defined jaw was covered with facial hair, adding to the mysterious look he had. Her eyes traveled down with their own accord, her mouth parting as she caught a glimpse of his chest that his V neck shirt was exposing.

She blinked a couple of times and when she realized that her mouth was still open, she closed it as fast as she could and looked back in front of her, pretending to still be trying to figure out which bottle to take.

"Fancy a bit of rum?" Of course the very attractive man had to have a sultry, lilted voice. She looked back at him questioningly, his lips curving into a lopsided grin.

"For your drink." He cocked his head to the side as a way of pointing to her red cup. "You have been staring indecisively for a moment now."

"Uh, yeah sure." She mumbled still a bit unease. He took off the cap of the bottle and poured the gold liquid into her cup until she told him to stop. He then grabbed an empty cup and poured himself some rum. And nothing else. She was about to take a sip of her drink but before she could he tilted his cup towards her, silently asking her to tap their drinks together, and then proceeded to actually taste the liquid. The rum really added a kick to it, a very enjoyable one.

"I'm Killian."

"Emma." She simply answered, avoiding his gaze and then walked out of the kitchen leaving the handsome stranger standing there.

She went to find her friends that were standing in the middle of the living room, all engaged in a very animated conversation. Her steps faltered and she looked at them for a minute and realized she didn't feel like engaging a full conversation with a group of people. Deciding instead on exploring the house she walked over the hallway and saw the light of a room seeping out on the hallway.

She entered the room to find out that it was a big room, the walls filled with books. She smiled and happily ventured inside and went to deposited her drink on one of the wooden small table. Her fingers brushed the binding of the books as she explored the volumes that were being collected. She grabbed a big, brown leather-bound book of fairytales and opened it on a random page and started skimming over it.

Suddenly, a voice came through the other side of the room, making her jump like a scared cat.

"Do you like fairytales?"

Emma recognized the voice belonging to the British man who had shared his rum with her earlier. She turned around and saw him sitting on one of the leather chair on the other side of the room, with a opened book in hand. Was he there all along? She wondered. She stared at him briefly before looking back at the book she had in hand.

"I do. Even though they are a bit unrealistic." She finally answered after a long silence between them, filled with the sounds of the party on the other part of the house. Emma's eyes stayed fixed on him as he got up and deposited his book on the chair and walked over her with his drink in hand.

"Mmm, which part?" He interrogated her as he took a sip of his rum.

"I don't know, there is something about finding True Love that I find a bit unnerving. These stories give out hope but what about those people who don't get to have one of those types of romance where the man will do anything for the woman he love, and be true to her and the same goes for the woman. I just feel that it gives you false hope." She inspected him as he took in her depressing his speech as he nodded pensively, his eyes fixed on her.

"Love as been all too rare in your life, hasn't it?" His question came out of nowhere and felt as a punch to the gut.

"What makes you think that?"

"The bitterness of your comment. Bad breakup, I gather, another person making you feel that you are not worthy." His eyes were set on hers, and she felt nervousness fill her body, wondering how he managed to see right through her. She always prided herself on being an expert on having a very impenetrable mask. But he figured her out in a matter of minutes.

Which scared the crap out of her.

His gaze too intense to handle, she looked back at the big leather book she was still holding and closed firmly, the sound of the thick book closing together making a loud thump.

"That's none of your business." She shot back dryly and put back the book in it's place before turning around and went to grab her drink and made a move to leave the library.

"Wait!" His voice raised behind her, and she felt his fingers brushing her wrist and as she turned to face him he intanstly pulled his hand back.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry, really. Care to start all of this over again?" His voice sounded sincere as he cast her a pleading little smile.

She had the urge to tell him no, to get lost for making her feel this vulnerable. But despite the fact that he seemed to look at her and read her as an open book, she couldn't help but feel drawn to him, as if he had a sincere interest in her, something that she never thought she would feel. Emma kept debating and finally came to the conclusion that it was better to stay here with him, than being where the party was.

An hour or two passed and Emma was actually glad that she had decided to stay with him and started to talk about a less personal subject.

They touched on pretty much every superficial subject: where he was from (London), what was he doing here (visiting his brother, who was getting married), favorite past time (sailing), favorite hobbie (reading, hence why he was in the library), and so on.

He had made her laugh, a lot, and she can't honestly remember the last time she had laughed this much. She kept asking him questions about him, she found him intriguing and the more they were talking about him, the less they'll touch the subject of her.

"So how did you end up at this party?" She asked as he refilled her cup with more rum.

"My brother's fiancée is friends with, um, I think her name is Anna. And she insisted that my brother and I tag along to celebrate the upcoming year. It turns out my brother got the flu and he didn't want Tink to come here alone, so here I am." He shrugged, casting her one of his boyish smiles, and she would be lying if she said it didn't do anything to her. She didn't what to admit it, but she had started to have this little crush grow for him.

"So you're hiding here like a hermit?" She teased as he feigned being hurt.

"What about you? I saw you ealier talking to a lot of people before secluding yourself with said hermit." Well he got her there. Emma sighed in defeat which made them both laugh a bit (as to why they were laughing at the slightest thing beat the shit out of her, but it was probably due to the fourth glass of rum he had just poured her).

"I was kinda forced to come here. I originally planned to spend the night at my apartment eating pizza and ice cream, drinking away this shitty year with a bottle of wine before passing it out on my couch." Wow, that sure did sound depressing she thought, and didn't paint a nice portrait of her.

"Well that sounds like a lovely evening." She huffed at his comment making look at her in confusion.

"No need to sound so sarcastic. It's pathetic, I know."

"It's not. I was sincere when I said that it sounded like a lovely evening. I would rather be doing just that, then being in a house of host I don't know, filled with strangers." She locked her eyes with his blue ones, and saw no hint of lie. Only honesty.

"I guess we are more alike than I thought." She cast him a shy smile, which he returned. Her cheeks got hotter and hotter as they stayed in silence, their eyes not tearing from each other.

The air between them felt suddenly heavy, thick with tension. Emma wondered if she was the only one having this emotions twirling inside her. Her breathing quickened as she realized that they had been staring at each other in silence for far too long, and was thinking of a way to steer them back into a conversation. She was about to open her mouth and making a comment on the time (they were fast approaching midnight) when they safe haven was found by Elsa.

"Emma, there you are! I was wondering where you have been. I almost thought that you may have gone back to your place without saying goodbye." The icy blond haired woman told her quite relieved by finding her there.

"I know I didn't want to come here, but I still have some manners." She replied to her friend as she got up.

Elsa looked behind her and noticed the man with whom she had spent the past few hours. She glanced quickly at her quite intrigued and went to present herself to him. A second after she did, she told Emma and Killian to come to the living room since everyone was getting ready for the big countdown. The three of them walked down the hallway and the moment they waltzed in the main room, a petite blonde grabbed Killian by the hand and dragged him at the other side of the room. He looked over his shoulder with an apologetic look, and Emma felt the loss of his presence instantly.

As weird as it sounded, she really got used to his presence in such a short time, and felt kind of sad to see him go all of sudden. With another woman. She chastised herself for feeling this twinge of jealousy settle deep inside her. It was ridiculous, she had just meet the man, but couldn't help but feel that way.

Emma went to join her group of friend, every once and awhile glancing where Killian was standing with another group of people, the blond still latched on his arm. She gulped hard, trying to swallow the lump that had settle in her throat. It was stupid, but she kind of hoped on sharing a customary kiss from him at the count of zero. Shaking her head a bit, she tried to get rid of those silly thoughts out of her head. Of course it was impossible for her to keep the company of a genuinely good man. She sighed and faked a smile throughout the mandatory celebration as they yelled in unison the countdown.

Her personal space was then invaded several times while her friends hugged her and wished her a 'Happy New Year' and wished her the best. She did the same, trying the best she could to fake enthusiasm. A moment later, Anna gave her flute of champagne so they could cheer all together, and Emma told herself that after she chugged the bubbly drink she would head back home. She still had time to have the evening she had previously planned. Minutes passed and she finally managed to deposit the empty glass on the table and went to bid her goodbyes to her friends, which surprisingly didn't try too hard to keep her there, which she was grateful for.

Emma walked over the entrance and opened the closet and grabbed her red coat and slid her arms into the sleeves. As she was putting her shoes on, she felt a presence next to her, and she lifted her head a bit and saw Killian standing next to her.

"Already leaving?" She could swear she heard a hint of disapointment in his voice, but reminded herself that she might be delusional.

"Yeah. I fulfilled my end of the bargain to my friend, I have nothing else to do here." Her voice came out more coldly that she had intended to, but still it didn't matter.

When she finished on putting her boots on, she raised herself from the bench and realised how close he was standing. She glanced quickly at him and saw the hurt on his face which confused her.

"It's late. Let me walk you home."

"I'm a big girl, I can manage myself."

"Please. It'll be bad form to let you go back home alone this late." His eyes were locked on hers, and felt her will weaken, and huffed before telling him a defeated 'fine'.

The walk over her place was silent, the only sound being heard was the sound of their boots sinking in the fresh snow, and the sound of parties on the houses they walked by.

"It was my brother's fiancée." He told her as he broke the ice when they reached her apartment. She looked back at him puzzled, even though she kind of knew who he was talking of.

"The blond with which I left earlier." They stopped when they reached her door and she turned around to face him.

"It doesn't matter okay, I mean we just met each other and you don't owe me anything and I certainly don't owe you a thing."

"I know, but…" He stopped, as he licked his lips nervously. "It might sound crazy, but I thought this connection between us earlier and I don't want you to think that I was seeing anyone. I like you. I think you are breathtakingly beautiful, smart, strong, maybe a bit prickly but you are nonetheless amazing. I would love to get to know you better." Her breath caught in her throat, her heart beating in her ears as she heard his confession.

"Do you want to come inside for some pizza?" Emma asked him her voice small and unsure. She saw the slow smile that crept on his face as he nodded, as he replied a soft 'aye'.

They spent the first hours of this new year eating pizza as they watched B-list movies, and then switched to watch videos on YouTube. They finished drinking her bottle of wine around six in the morning, as they both were still laughing at some video Killian had shown her. An hour later, he was standing in front of her door, coat and boots on as he was ready to head back to his place. Killian had just inserted his number in Emma's contact list and they were both quite unease, not knowing how to say goodbye to this strange turn of event. They hugged a bit awkwardly and Emma promised him that she would call him, appreciating that he had left the ball in her court.

After he had left she fell on her bed, her limbs sprawled. The corner of her lips tugging upwards as she thought that maybe this year wouldn't be so bad as she thought it would.

And she couldn't have been more right, when the end of that year, ended with an evening tucked under the blankets on her couch, the firm warm body of Killian next to her, as they kissed each other at the sound of midnight.