A/N: Thank you so much to those who followed or left a review! I hope you enjoy this next chapter! Also let's not hate Emma, she has her reasons. (A note to those who have read the book: So my plan/plot for this story will ultimately end up being drastically different than the book, but in these first few chapters you'll definitely recognize a few scenes.)

Green eyes and soft smiles are all Killian can think about as he maneuvers the hallways that lead to his quarters. He can't help the smile that seems to have become a permanent fixture on his face since he'd left that party. More than once he has to catch himself before he nearly makes a wrong turn. He had talked to this girl for all of five minutes and she already has him so flustered that he can't even remember the way to his own room. Not that he minded though.

Emma. He tries her name out a few times silently to himself, not yet daring to test it on his lips. Considering she hadn't actually told him her name herself, he doesn't feel it would be proper to say it aloud.

But he thinks it, and he likes the way it sounds as it echoes inside him.

Once inside his room he slips off his shoes and flops on to his bed fully clothed. There is one relatively small window on the far wall that has quick become his favorite part of the ship. From it he can see the stars, and the steady rhythm they create as they whiz past has an almost magical calming effect on him.

The ability to travel amidst the galaxy was something that had been discovered when he was a small lad. An innovation that came about from man' s own ingenuity, which was a little surprising if you thought about it for too long, considering it was not unheard of to come across someone in his realm who possessed magic. Though there are ships whose main purpose is to explore and discover other realms, majority of travel through hyperspace is done in luxury spaceliners such as The Swan.

This particular one is owned by the royal family, and its sole purpose is to be a vacation of sorts. The Swan spends about a week traveling through hyperspace at intense speeds with only a few predesignated stops at various points in the galaxy. These stops have become Killian's favorite moments aboard the spaceliner. It's in these moments that the stars stand still and he can spend the entire day in the observation room surrounded by constellations he's never seen and colorful nebulous clouds he never knew existed.

There is another scheduled stop in two days, and he hopes that by then he will have run into a certain blonde and convinced her to accompany him.

With more anticipation for the new day than Killian had felt in a while, he closes his eyes and lets sleep take him.

-CS-

Emma is only half listening to Ruby and Elsa's conversation as they wander through the central garden court. Her own thoughts drifting lazily between images of home, her parents, and Lieutenant Jones. She's honestly been trying not to think of him, but he has a way of sneaking into her thoughts without her noticing, and pretty soon she finds herself trying to remember the exact shade of his eyes.

She refuses to let her thoughts linger on him for too long though, convinced that if she doesn't think about him it will be easier to keep him at a distance if she runs into him again. However, not thinking about him is proving to be a much more difficult task than she imagined.

"Hello, Emma?" Ruby's exasperated voice pulls Emma out of her own thoughts.

"Sorry," Emma gives her head a little shake and turns her attention towards her friends, "what was that?"

"I'm trying to tell you that your lieutenant is over there, and I think he's coming over." Ruby gives her a sly smile and tilts her head in the direction opposite of where they'd been walking.

Sure enough when Emma turns to look he's there, and there's no doubt that he's making his way over to them. She can feel hear heart fluttering against her rib cage and she suddenly feels nervous at the prospect of talking to him, because she just can't do this.

"He's not my lieutenant," she whispers quickly at Ruby. Elsa lets out a soft chuckle in response, looking much more amused at the prospect of her and the lieutenant than she had last night.

"I'm sure he'd love to be yours if you'd give him the chance, in fact I bet he—"

"Good afternoon Lieutenant," Emma quickly cuts off Ruby from continuing, hoping that Killian hadn't been close enough to overhear.

He smiles before offering a soft "Hello, love."

Elsa and Ruby excuse themselves and turn to walk a short distance away in order to give them some privacy, but not before Ruby can raise her eyebrows at Emma in a look that clearly states her enthusiasm about this whole thing. She takes a deep breath in through her nose before turning to look at Killian who's shifting his weight nervously.

"Apologies for interrupting your walk with your friends."

"They're fine, they don't mind waiting a moment." Emma responds, finally lifting her eyes to meet his. She has no idea how she ever managed to forget their exact color, she's never seen anything quite so blue. They hold eye contact for a little too long and Emma has to blink a few times and look away to clear her head.

"Right," he lets out on a breath. "Well, I'm here to ask if you are still interested in seeing the observation room. I know you said you hadn't been there yet, and I am more than willing to accompany you on your first visit." He's smiling tentatively and Emma feels her stomach drop at what she plans on doing.

"Listen, Lieutenant—"

"Killian," he reminds her, smile widening, "and here you know my name, but I have yet to properly learn yours."

He really doesn't know. It's such a refreshing thought that Emma feels the slightest bit of her resolve crumble.

"Emma," she lets out a quiet sigh, "my name is Emma."

"Emma," he repeats her name back to her almost reverently, and she wishes she didn't love the way it sounded coming off his lips, but she does. She needs to get this over with and fast, she needs to push him away before this can move any further than a conversation. He'll be disappointed, but he'll get over it. They'll go their separate ways, never see each other again, and no one's heart will be broken in the process. It's better this way.

Just push him away.

"Swan," she watches his reaction carefully as she gives him her last name. "Emma Swan," maybe if she can make him despise her, he'll feel relieved that this didn't go any further. Playing the entitled princess card might just do that.

"Swan?" She can practically see his brain putting the pieces together behind his eyes. "You're the—"

"Princess, yes," she tries to inflect her tone with as much conceit as possible. He flinches back ever so slightly at her change of tone, and she has to swallow before continuing. "Listen, I'm just not interested and I'm sorry if I gave you that impression. So thank you for the invite, but no."

She watches as his jaw clenches and the brightness leaves his eyes. The confused dejection that flashes across his face before he collects himself causes an ache in her chest that she wasn't expecting.

It's better this way.

She just needs to keep telling herself that.

But is it? This feeling in her chest is saying otherwise.

"Apologies your highness, I did not realize," his tone is rigid, expression reserved. Such a stark difference from the easy smiles she'd come to associate him with. "I did not mean to disrupt your afternoon." He gives her a stiff bow and then takes his leave without glancing at her.

She watches him go, eyes lingering on the place of his exit long after he is out of sight. She is not surprised when she hears Ruby behind her.

"What happened?"

She's not sure she wants to explain it.

"You pushed him away didn't you?" Ruby asks with a frustrated sigh. Emma closes her eyes and takes a deep breath in response, she doesn't feel like talking about this right now.

"Oh Emma," she's a little startled to feel Elsa's arms wrap around her, but it's comforting, which immediately makes her feel guilty and a bit confused. She shouldn't be needing comfort, considering she's the one who had essentially shoved him out the door.

Elsa releases her and gives her a sad smile, "Not every guy is going to be like Neal you know."

Emma raises an eyebrow at her, "I thought you were against the idea of me and Lieutenant Jones."

"I just want you to be happy," Elsa's words are soft and sincere, and Emma has to blink away a sudden wetness in her eyes.

Ruby grabs her hand, "Come on let's go get ready for the gala tonight, I think you should wear that one blue dress you brought." She lets Ruby pull her along, glad that her friends so often know what she needs, and right now that's a distraction, a striking blue dress to forget a pair of striking blue eyes.

-CS-

He is such an idiot, a complete fool. How did he not recognize the princess? The princess of all people. He's a lieutenant in the King's navy for heaven's sake, they very king whose daughter he had just been speaking too. What kind of naval officer can't recognize the princess when he meets her?

He feels like a complete and utter fool.

He wants to be angry with her and he wants to blame her for leading him on, but he's not even sure if she had been. Of course she wants nothing to do with him; the whole infuriating ship is named after her family. What's a simple lieutenant when compared to royalty?

He'd just been so distracted by green eyes and sunshine hair that he didn't notice she might not want anything to do with him.

But when he thinks about that first night and the way her eyes had shined, the way her smiles had come so easy, he can't help but feel like this hadn't always been one sided.

He needs to clear his head and let off some steam, so he spends the next hour or so wandering the ship and wishing there was something more productive he could do to release his frustrated energy.

On his way back to his room Killian is practically thrown into the wall when the floor suddenly lurches beneath him. He staggers, righting himself and is confused for all of three seconds before he realizes that the ship is shaking. It's settled down to small tremors but it hasn't stopped since that first heave. The noise level in the hallway is picking up. People are turning to each other with distressed faces, trying to figure out what had just happened.

The next large quake doesn't take Killian by surprise, he widens his stance and braces his hand against the wall to remain steady. The atmosphere around him is one breath away from panic, and he doesn't blame them. The Swan as always traveled with pinpoint stability, it is normally nigh impossible to feel any sort of movement. If you couldn't see the stars flying past you'd assume the ship wasn't moving at all.

"Attention all passengers, you may feel some slight tremors as the ship undergoes some routine maintenance. It is nothing to worry about and we thank you for your patience."

The voice floating from the speakers sounds calm, but her voice catches slightly at the word tremor, and Killian wouldn't call them slight. In fact the next one rocks the ship so hard that it looks like a wave is surging down the hallway. People scream as their knees buckle and they grasp onto anything they can to stay upright.

What happens next is chaos.

The throngs of passengers are frantic as they try maneuver around each other, but it does them little good. Killian pushes his way through them until he reaches the door that leads to the stairs that will take him up a level and to his quarters. He takes them two at a time and twice he has to catch himself on the railing as the ship's shakes become more violent.

By the time he pushes his door open there are alarms bells screeching, and the voice over the intercom is back. Her voice no longer holds any semblance of calm, but is thick and tense.

"It seems as though The Swan is experiencing some difficulties as a result of dimensional displacement. We are trying to keep the ship from being prematurely yanked out of hyperspace, as a caution we ask that everyone please calmly make their way to their assigned emergency escape pod."

The panic coming from the hallway is deafening. However, as a lieutenant this isn't Killian's first crisis. He quickly reaches under his bed to grab the emergency bag he's grateful he'd had the forethought to pack. It's filled with everything he might need if his survival were at stake.

Killian takes one long, deep breath before stepping out of his room into the maelstrom.