Emma ran down the stairs and out into the night intent on finding Killian so they could sort out this mess. As the night air hit her face she shivered. It had gotten really cold since she walked into the loft. It must have dropped at least 15 degrees, and it had started snowing.

"I didn't think it was supposed to snow tonight," she murmured to herself. "Henry will be thrilled. He and Regina can build a snowman in the morning."

She smiled thinking about her little man, and what a little man he had become. He wanted to make sure Regina was alright, and he was the only one who could have done that tonight. She really hated that she had ruined Robin and Regina, but there was nothing she could do about it. If she could go back, she would do the same thing again. She couldn't condemn an innocent person to death, no matter what the cost. She would take whatever Regina dished out because she had ruined something for her, and she needed to lash out.

Emma shook her head, clearing away any thoughts of Regina. Right now she needed to find Killian. Since she had originally found him at the docks, there were only 2 places he could possibly be now.

"Well Emma, The Rabbit Hole or Granny's?" she paused for just a second thinking, then decided he'd have headed for Granny's. That's where she would be if their situations had be reversed.

Standing outside his door, she paused for a moment, trying to clear her head. How was she going to start this conversation with him.

From inside she heard a moan of pain. Without thinking, she kicked the door in and searched the room for him. He was laying on the bed under the blankets, curled up like a child. He sat up immediately and grabbed his sword. She just stared at him for a moment, trying to decide where the moan of pain had come from. When she met his eyes, she realized she knew exactly where the moan of pain had come from...from him. He was hurt.

"Are you alright Swan?" he asked cautiously.

"Ummm, yes? Are you?"

"I think so. Why are you here?"

"I heard a moan from your room. It sounded like you, or someone, was hurt. I just wanted to make sure you, or whoever it was, was ok."

"That is very courteous of you Sheriff," he replied a little stiffly. "Tell me now, who else do you think would be in my room?"

Emma knew this was going nowhere and going nowhere fast. He was hurt, she had hurt him by pretending she was indifferent to him for months, and then again when he had been trying to talk sense into her while they were battling it out with Zelena, not to mention her inability to say anything to him tonight during their conversation on the docks. She could tell him anything else about herself. Why couldn't she just say she had feelings for him? She just had to say it.

"I'm not sure. You're a handsome guy. Maybe you got tired of waiting for me to..."

The look on his face made her stop mid-sentence. She had just hurt him again, and hadn't even been trying to.

"What I was trying to say,"

"I know what you were trying to say," he mumbled. "I'm a pirate, and therefore I cannot possibly mean it when I say that I'm in it for the long haul, or that I truly care about someone. I'm just.."

"Oh shut up Hook!" Emma yelled. "That is not what I meant by that at all. I know you care about me, and I want to talk to you about that."

He looked at her in surprise. "Well you wanted to talk? Let's talk," he said as he sat all the way up.

Lord help her. He wasn't wearing a shirt. She stared openly at his chest, unable to look away. His chest and abdomen were well muscled from years of working his ship. His arms, usually hidden by his shirt, were well toned and practically begged to be touched. He had a smattering of freckles on his shoulders she'd never had cause to notice before. He arched his brow at her, but she still couldn't look away. He scratched behind his ear and cleared his throat, which finally brought her eyes back to his face. She could feel her cheeks flame, but knew if she didn't do this now, she would regret it.

She looked around the room for somewhere to sit, but found no chairs. Clearly she and Henry had the best room at Granny's. She walked closer to him to sit on the edge of the bed. As she moved closer, she noticed him pull his legs closer to himself so that they would not have reason to touch on the bed. It hurt her that he didn't want to touch her. She paused, thinking about what he had been saying when she walked up to him on the docks...something about never touching her again. That was just out of the question. She surprised him and herself a bit, by kicking off her shoes, pulling up his covers and getting under them with him.

"Bloody Hell Swan! What are you doing? You're freezing!" he yelled as he scooted away from her.

"You made a grand gesture, so I thought I would make one too, though not as grand as yours. I don't want you to never touch me again. I've sort of come to rely on your touch to keep me tethered to the here and now," she rushed out.

"Um, alright Love. I can keep touching you, if that's what you want," he said without the slightest bit of innuendo. He slowly started inching back towards her on the bed.

"I went to talk to my mom and dad after I left the docks," she looked at him and saw that he was giving her his full attention. "I was visibly upset after what I thought was you rejecting me and I..."

A strangled sound stopped her mid-sentence. She looked at him, and met his eyes.

"YOU THOUGHT WHAT?!" he yelled at her.

"Let me finish pirate. I have a lot to say."

It warmed her considerably, that he was upset because she thought he had been rejecting her. She jumped back into their conversation, explaining what her parents had said. As she was explaining, she moved closer to him until they were touching each other shoulder to shoulder, hip to hip, thigh to thigh. It was comforting to be sitting like this, but she knew she had to keep going and tell him what she really wanted to tell him.

"I have more than trust when it comes to you. I have respect...admiration...fondness...I don't just trust you. I genuinely like you. I have feelings for you. I care about you. I want you in my life as more than just my friend babysitter and confidant. I can't say I love you, because I'm not sure of that yet, and I won't say it unless I absolutely know it to be true, but there are feelings."

She sat there in silence, waiting for him to say something or do something. He just sat there looking at her for a minute.

"So what I'm hearing from you Swan, is that you like me but aren't sure if you love me. Do you think that you might love me one day?"

Without hesitation she responded, "Yes."

"Well, that, that I can live with," he said, as he oh so tenderly cradled her head and kissed her. Emma felt it in her toes and she sighed into him. He pulled back from her slightly.

"Now what do we do?" he asked her. "I don't want to assume anything here Love, and I don't want to cause you embarrassment, so where are we exactly?"

She smiled at him, and said, "Well we could go on a date, and see what happens from there. That's what normal people do in this realm." Seeing his confusion, she explained, "A date is when 2 people go out together to have fun and get to know each other better. From what I understand, it is similar to what you may call courting, but in this realm, it's a little different."

"A date hmm?" he winked at her, "it sounds to me that we've already had several of those, starting with the beanstalk, then Rumpelstiltskin's prison, Neverland, New York, here in Storybrooke... "

"I was talking more along the lines of dinner in nice clothes, maybe a movie, or a walk or something, where it is just us, with no villains chasing after us."

"So now what I'm hearing Swan, is that you want to make yourself more attractive for me and be alone with me?"

"Don't make me regret coming over here Pirate. Are you in or not?"

"Oh Love, I'm always in when it comes to spending time with you."

"Good, you can pick me up at 6 tomorrow from the loft," she said as she got out of his bed and put on her shoes. "Oh, and Killian, wear something nice. I don't kiss on the first date, but maybe you can change my mind about it."

She walked out grinning ear to ear. His face when she told him to wear something nice was priceless. Almost as priceless as his face when she said she didn't kiss on the first date. This was going to be fun.

I think that these two are going to be a little awkward at first until they get a firm foothold on where they actually stand with each other. I kept going back and forth with how I wanted this conversation to go, and I think I finally struck the right balance of uncomfortable relationship conversations and teasing banter.