"I think I've read this already," August groaned, dropping his head down to the tabletop with an audible thud.

"And this is just the same information we already have but told from a different culture's perspective," Zelena added, gently shutting her book to add it to a rapidly growing stack in front of her.

David reached forward to remove the book and set it down on a shorter pile beside his elbow before turning his attention back to the text he was reading.

Emma hit stop on the treadmill and reached for the half-empty bottle of water on the checkout counter. Her father and her Watcher seemed to be the only people in the room who weren't completely done with the day. August and Zelena had spent most of theirs combing through more of Gold's books, desperately trying to find something new that would tell them more about the Harvest or the Hellmouth, while Gold had explained the whole Slayer gig to her father. When he'd finished, her Watcher had handed Emma a workout regime, and she had reluctantly headed to the girls' locker room to change before coming back to get started on it. David, for his part, had jumped straight into the idea of research when Gold had suggested it. Much like the librarian, Emma's father seemed to feel that knowledge was power, and there was no detail too small that his daughter shouldn't know. Emma had stopped listening after the first fifteen minutes of her aerobics workout.

"I need a shower," she announced, as she reached up to run her fingers through the ends of her ponytail. Her hair had developed a horrible, greasy texture that Emma associated with working up a good sweat – but she wasn't breathless like she normally would have been.

"How do you feel?" Gold asked, as he made his way over to the treadmill to check the stats displayed on the small screen.

"Pretty good," Emma replied honestly. She hadn't exactly enjoyed the fitness routine her Watcher had devised, but she also hadn't hated it either.

"Good. That's good. Your stamina seems to be improving by the day."

"Yes, because that's just what every Slayer wants," she deadpanned. "To survive the deadly beating for a little bit longer before finally dying."

Gold rolled his eyes at her dramatics while Emma's father sent her a dirty look from his place at the reading table. Clearly, it was a little too soon for those kinds of comments around him.

"I was joking," she reassured her father, before draining the last of her water and reaching for her bag. "I'm gonna go and take a shower and grab something to eat. I dunno about anyone else, but I'm starving."

"Is it me, or is Em's Super Slayer Powers making her more hungry?" August asked the room, as she slipped through the double doors and down the familiar hallways.

Inside the locker room, Emma turned on the shower and waited a moment for the water to warm up before she stripped out of her workout clothes and then stepped under the spray. Even though her training session hadn't really exhausted her, she still appreciated the way the warm water seemed to loosen up her muscles. Emma might have spent a little too long under the spray as, by the time she stepped out, the locker room was darkening around her, and she realized with a start that the sun was setting. She'd spent all day at the library with her father, her Watcher, and her friends, and yet, they still hadn't made any significant progress.

Emma pulled on a clean pair of jeans, a simple black sweater, and a pair of tall black boots. She took a moment just to tuck one of the stakes she'd taken to carrying with her into the waistband of her jeans before she shouldered her bag and pushed her way out of the space, headed for the vending machines in the cafeteria.

The moment she stepped into the dark room, Emma knew she wasn't alone. She wasn't sure how to explain to anyone else, but there was a distinct charge in the air that just seemed to scream supernatural at her.

Taking a cautious step around one of the large hexagonal tables, Emma used her new position to scan the room. When she spotted a shadow out of place beside the soda vending machine, she felt every muscle in her body relax.

"Have you been here all night?" Emma asked, trying her hardest to ignore him as she fished inside her bag for some loose change while she made her way over to where he was standing.

"God, no," he chuckled, taking a step out of the shadows. "Hanging around high school cafeterias isn't really my thing."

"And yet, here you are."

"Here I am," he agreed.

"How very Twilight of you."

Killian shot her a confused look, and Emma simply shook her head fondly as she turned her attention back to the machine. After purchasing a drink and some snacks, she turned and made her way across the cafeteria towards the exit.

"How's your training going?" Killian finally asked, falling into step beside her in the long, empty corridor.

"Gold seems happy with it. I'm definitely fitter than I was before. I just wish I knew how to access this strength and natural fighting ability I'm supposed to have."

"It'll come," Killian assured her. "You've only just taken over. Your calling might have been the work of fate, but fate can't just go around handing out superhuman strength to every potential slayer born in every generation. Think of the chaos that would cause."

Emma allowed herself a moment to picture a little girl of around three or four, terrorizing her family with her superhuman strength. "Okay, I can kind of understand that," she chuckled. "I just wish it were like flicking a switch, you know? Like the call happens, and you get it all. It would make my life so much easier."

"Ahh, but then we can't make it too easy," Killian teased. "Otherwise, the vampires wouldn't stand a chance."

Emma gave him a gentle shove through the library doors as the two of them giggled at his words and stumbled into the room. She had completely forgotten the others waiting for her return. She had also forgotten that one of those people happened to be her father. But it didn't matter much. The moment Killian caught sight of his moniker on one of their murder boards, he stopped laughing instantly. Instead, he made his way over to examine their work.

"That's what we have so far," Emma supplied, somewhat unnecessarily as she dumped her stuff down onto the floor beside the chair at the head of the reading table. "It's not much, but it's a start, right?"

Killian said nothing for the longest second as he continued scanning the words on the boards and then turned to look at the books spread across the table between David, Gold, Zelena, and August.

"You don't need him up here," he said, wiping away his nickname and the accompanying facts about his life written below it. "This vampire doesn't exist anymore, but I do have some knowledge you guys don't. Hand me a pen?"

When nobody moved, Emma leaned forward to snatch up the dry erase marker in the middle of the table.

Killian didn't look her way as she placed the pen into his hand. He was already busy uncapping it so that he could add his own extensive notes to the ones that had been made under each of their key research topics.

From his place on the other side of the table, David scowled at the newcomer's back. His eyes flicked between the stranger and his daughter - who apparently couldn't take her eyes off their newcomer - wondering why the man looked so familiar.

Sorry for the delay in updating ANYTHING recently. Life took a bit of a strange turn and I have very little time to do anything these days. I'm hoping it will settle down soon but I'm afraid I can't promise anything at the moment.

Thanks for reading and reviewing.