Season 5b is going to be the death of me. I already know it.

But in other news, this chapter is Emma starting to get settled in Storybrooke. She is going to have to start facing some of her past demons pretty soon, so stay tuned. And now for some review responses:

fox24: I am glad too. It is so hard for Emma, but as we saw in season 1, she was willing to give people a chance. It is when they get to close that she had a problem. Hope you enjoy this chapter!

fanfic333- So happy you enjoyed. Let's see if you like this one too!

andria-Thanks! Their catching up will be a bit spuratic, as they have not done too much yet. But don't worry, some major conversations lie ahead. Enjoy!

Chapter 18:Days Break, Nights Change

Emma's first day on the job had been, well, uneventful. David, her deputy showed her around the office-explaining their way of doing the paperwork, parole and the like. He showed her her office, which was more of a glass room with no privacy, but Emma had worked in worse. David explained that the old Sheriff, Graham, for some reason liked it that way. No one knew why though.

David Nolan was a nice man, tall and large with blonde hair. He had a charming personality to him, making him a clean cut figure through and through. He was twenty-five and had apparently lived in Storybrooke most of his life, only leaving to attend college in Portland. He married his high school sweetheart, a petite woman named Mary-Margaret. The woman had jet black hair in a short cropped haircut with a delightful smile and happy presence. Mary-Margaret worked at the local elementary school, teaching third grade. From the pictures Emma had seen of her on David's phone, she seemed to fit the part.

One of the benefits of her new job was normal hours. She was no longer working through the night-or at least not consistently. She could have holidays off and had someone with whom she could share the work. Emma was not good with working with other people, but she would just have to adjust.

Not ready to plant any roots in this small town, Emma had decided to rent an apartment for a while before making a long term decision about whether or not to stay. The little loft was cozy, with a little kitchen nook and even a second floor. Emma was not used to all the room, having little possessions as her past did not leave any room for being sentimental. The price was great though, so she could not argue.

The past week in this town had been somewhat peaceful. Emma had the opportunity to meet quite a few of the townsfolk. Ashley and her daughter, Alex, were always walking around town while Emma would take her late morning jog. Belle worked at the library and her husband Robert, who was known throughout town as "Gold" for his love of money worked at the pawn shop. The mayor, Regina, scared Emma a bit, but apparently that was normal.

Emma and Killian had only had a few interactions since her arrival in town. He, knowing her better than she knew herself sometimes, gave her some space to figure out how she wanted to go about things. It was strange seeing someone that she had not seen in almost ten years. They had been best friends as kids, or as close as either of them could come to that, but a lot had happened since then. Emma was not the same person she was at fourteen. She had seen her fair share of pain, heartbreak and suffering. Her past left her broken and she could not risk Killian hurting her too.

Settling down on her couch, one of the few pieces of furniture in her loft so far, Emma remembered the conversation she and Killian had when he was showing her around town.

"These are the docks." Killian stated as they walked by the water.

Emma chuckled. "Pretty sure I could have figured that one out."

Killian raised an eyebrow, pretending to be hurt. "Well, I thought you might like to know in case you ever wanted to visit me at work."

Emma smiled, but did not respond to his joke. She knew that was all it was- a joke, but she could not bring her mouth and mind to work together to say something that would actually resemble a response.

"It was a joke, Swan. A foolish one of my part, but I was trying to lighten the mood." He said as they continued walking.

Emma shoved her hands in her pockets and bobbed her head. "Right, I know. I'm just-I'm not really good at this."

"At what?" Questioning, he turned his head to face her.

"This." She was proving her point. "Small talk and all that. I'm not really used to the whole 'friend' thing."

Killian hummed, keeping his eyes on the road on which they were walking. "I don't expect anything from you, Swan. Whatever we become, it is up to you as much as me."

"And what do you want to become?"

"My feelings have not changed in the past year nine years." He stopped walking and turned his entire body towards her.

"That does not really answer my question." She ran a hand through her hair, a small smile playing at the corner of her lips.

"I know." He had that smug smile that she knew so well. "I don't want to push you away with whatever answer I give. We have a fresh start now."

"Fresh being a relative term, right?" She teased.

"Right, Swan." He laughed. "Let's just take everything a day at a time, okay? Work on being friends again and see what happens after that."

"Okay."

Emma could remember the hope in his voice when he told her they would work on being friends. He believed she could do it more than she did. After mulling through that conversation in her head, Emma had realized that when he said his feelings had not changed, he was referring to one of the last things he had said to her, when he said he loved her.

Love was a powerful word Emma did not do well with in any sense. Surely, at seventeen, Killian did not mean he was in love with her, but that he cared for her deeply and wanted her to be happy. But what about now? Did he just care about her and want to be friends or did he secretly hope things would develop into a romantic relationship.

Emma did not do romance. Everyone would always leave her and hurt her. Killian would be no different. There was something inside of her that drove people to leave. That made it so that they could not stay. She had some type of default in her that drove away anyone that got to close. Emma learned that lesson young and knew the only way to avoid heartbreak was to never let anyone anywhere near your heart.

Seclusion was a sad price to pay for her to get what was left of her heart broken.

"Swan, are you avoiding me?"

Emma mentally cursed herself for coming to Granny's for lunch so late today, when everyone else in town would be here, but paperwork had been through the roof this morning. Apparently some short man named Leroy could not stay out of trouble long enough for Emma to finish the paperwork from his last arrest.

Emma swiveled in her seat at the counter, setting down her grilled cheese she had quickly become fond of. Killian stood next to her, not taking advantage of the seat open right there.

"I'm not avoiding you."She turned back to her food. She could hear him hum in unbelief and knew he was probably raising his eyebrow like he always did. "I'm just dealing with stuff. There's a lot going on right now."

He let out a sigh. "There will always be a lot going on. Perhaps you should live your life during it all, otherwise you might miss it.

"Killian-" She was not whining. Emma Swan did not whine.

"Swan." He gently sat down on the seat next to her. "I don't want to push you, but I can see it in your eyes. You are running. Not just from me, but from everyone. Don't do this to yourself, love."

She wanted to give some type of smart remark, to say something that would make him give up and leave, but he was trying and doing the best he could.

"Okay."

It was not a promise to stop running, but it was all she could muster.

Thankfully, girls' night was starting out slow. Instead of Ruby's suggestion (demand) of the Rabbit Hole, they settled for some cheap wine and music at Mary Margaret's apartment. David was on patrol that night, giving them enough time to enjoy themselves.

Emma was not sure how she felt about the whole "girls' night' thing. She had never really had friends-not as an adult or as a child-so this was all new to her. The women were nice enough, but she did not know that many of them that well. She had only been in town for about two weeks.

Mary-Margaret was by far one of the sweetest women she had ever met. She obviously was born to be a teacher, with a nurturing attitude and more patience than Emma thought was possible in any human being.

Ruby, on the other hand, was the polar opposite of everyone else in the group. Emma still did not understand how her personality meshed with the others. She had a fiery spirit, a wild side for adventure, but still, a good heart beneath all that.

Belle confused Emma. She did not really understand Belle's relationship with Gold, but apparently no one did. No matter how much that relationship boggled her mind, they seemed to be good for each other, especially her for him. She was a sweet, soft spoken woman, until spurred, when she could be your worst nightmare. She was tough-her greatest weapon her knowledge.

Emma had not spent much time with Ashley and Aurora, but they seemed to fit in in well to the group. Both new mothers, they appreciated any excuse to get out of the house and leave the babies with the men, with what they considered a minimal amount of phone calls to check on their children.

The women sat around a table in the kitchen. Mary Margaret was pouring more wine in Ruby's glass-because of course Ruby would be the first to finish.

"Philip did the cutest thing this morning." Aurora squealed, probably drinking her wine to fast for someone who had not had it in close to a year.

"Aurora." Ruby complained. "We've been hearing about Philip for years. Give it a rest."

"I meant my son." Aurora corrected her, trying to sound angry.

"Alex just started holding her head up." Ashley stated proudly. "Sean got the whole thing on tape."

"Ladies." Ruby all but shouted. "This is girls' night. We are not talking about babies."

Belle leaned over to Emma and whispered. "Ruby is just angry she can't play her favorite game of trying to get the most phone numbers from strangers at the end of the night."

"I try to keep my options open. I'm not hitching' my wagon to anyone yet. I'm at my prime." Emma, assumed, and hoped, that this was the alcohol talking.

Mary-Margaret rolled her eyes. "So, Emma how are you enjoying Storybrooke?"

"What she means is?" Ruby cut in. "You find any cute guys yet."

"That is not what I meant." Mary Margaret scoffed. "That's what you would have meant by it."

The women turned their attention back to Emma. "It's great here. I like my job at the sheriff station and everyone is really nice."

"So, now my question?" Ruby ignored whatever Emma had just said.

Emma groaned. "No, Ruby. I've only been here for two weeks."

"What about Killian?" Ruby said, as if she had been prepared for this conversation and knew exactly what to ask.

"He mentioned you two knew each other?" Belle hesitated.

Emma did not know how much Killian had told them about her, but trusted him enough to let her divulge into her own story. "Yeah, we went to a year of high school together." It was not a lie, really. They did go to school together for six months.

The women seemed to be content with that answer, so Emma kept talking before they could question her more. "He's really just been showing me around town and things like that. No big deal."

"I think he likes you." Ruby stated matter of factly, causing Emma to almost choke on her wine. Ruby, with a smug look on her face, continued. "He's never looked at a woman the way he looks at you."

"So, what, he looks at me different?" Emma's walls started shooting up.

"Ruby, leave her alone." Mary Margaret insisted.

Ruby shrugged and proceeded telling everyone else about the cute new doctor at the hospital, effectively taking the spotlight off Emma, for which she was glad. But for some reason, Emma could not get Ruby's comments out of her head.

"I have a favor to ask and you are probably going to hate me for it." David walked into work Monday morning, not even bothering with a hello.

Emma turned in her chair. "That is always a great way to start out."She chuckled. "What?"

David took a sip of his coffee. "Every year, the elementary school Mary-Margaret works at has this career day where people from the community come in and talk to the kids about what they do. The station always goes."

Emma raised an eyebrow. "That's it? You were worried about asking me to take a day off and go hang out with some kids?"

"Well, when you put it like that."

"What do you think I am? Some heartless monster?"

"I wouldn't say heartless-"

"Ha ha, very funny." Emma turned back to her desk to continue the paperwork she had been doing. "Tell your wife we will do it."

"Emma, you are the best." He smiled, pulling out his phone.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. But I better get a bear claw out of this."

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