Emma always loved watching the night sky, ever since her father had been on his first space mission to the International Space Station. That was 10 years ago, and now she missed him again. It was his second time in space and they had promoted him to the commanding officer for this six-month mission.
She'd slipped out onto the roof beside her bedroom window, its slant so low that it was easy to settle up against the dormer window, a warm blanket wrapped around her shoulders. The ISS would cross over the sky tonight. She glanced at her watch - it would be another 20 minutes.
"Oy, Emma, you up there?"
Emma glanced over the edge of the roof and smiled, "Hi, Killian come on up. The door's open." She watched as he leapt up the steps and knocked on the door, before opening it and calling out to her mother announcing he would be on the roof with Emma. She never heard her mother's reply, but moments later Killian stuck his head out of the window.
"Room for one more?"
"Always."
Killian climbed out on the roof and settled down next to her, another blanket in his hand. "Your mother lent me a blanket -claimed it was chilly out tonight."
"Yeah, it is." She snuggled closer to her friend, who gladly wrapped his arm around her. She and Killian had known each other since kindergarten and had been pretty much inseparable since then.
"How long?"
"Twenty minutes."
"Are you okay?" he asked, nudging her shoulder.
"Nope. I miss him."
"I know, it's been different this time."
"Yeah, last time I was 8 and far too obsessed with unicorns to truly miss my dad." Emma sighed, "I mean, sure I missed him like crazy when he wasn't there to tuck me in or give me my birthday present in person."
"He'll be back before your birthday this time?"
"If all things go as planned, he should be."
"That's good."
"He's so far away, it feels as if I'll never see my father again."
"He came back last time."
"Yeah." Emma looked down at her hands holding the blanket around herself. "I guess it's because I'm older that I miss him differently this time."
"Didn't you Facetime with him last night?"
"It's not the same when I know he can't just hop on a plane and come for a visit. It's different from when he was in Florida for training."
"It sure is a bit more expensive jumping on a rocket and flying into orbit just for a chat." He chuckled at his attempt at a bad joke.
"Haha, yeah not sure the space program will let me on their next launch," Emma mumbled, twisting the corner of the blanket between her fingers.
"But I do understand the desire to seek the stars out there." Killian gazed up at the stars above them.
"You want to become an astronaut, too?" She twisted in her seat and looked at her friend's profile, barely illuminated by the night sky.
"Hmm, perhaps" He looked back at her with wistful eyes.
"I would miss you." She swallowed hard.
"More than your father?" He tilted his head with a small smile.
"That can't be compared. You're my friend and we hang out all the time." She leaned closer and rested her head on his shoulder.
"We can Facetime."
"Still not the same."
"I know."
"We'll be friends forever."
"Aye."
"Oh, look." Emma pointed to the horizon, "It's the space station." She grabbed the small telescope beside her and looked through it. Her insides twisted in knots at the thought of her father being up there. When she was 8 her mother had let her and her brother stay up a little later a few times to watch their father fly over them. Most often, Leo fell asleep before the ISS was visible. But the feeling of missing her father churning inside her was much the same now.
"It will be alright," Killian said when the blinking light of the space station flashed over the sky and disappeared behind the treeline.
"Yeah." Emma took a deep breath and kept clutching the telescope in her hands.
"Let's go back inside," Killian suggested and nudged her shoulder, "Ladies first."
Emma rose to her feet, cautiously found her way to the window and crawled into her room. She dropped the telescope on her desk and the blanket on her bed and took Killian's blanket, too. "I smell hot cocoa."
"Your mother knows when you need it."
Emma smiled, "That's true, it's like she has a sixth sense or something."
They entered the kitchen and, true to the telltale scent of cocoa, her mother had two steaming mugs ready for them - whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon on Emma's.
"So was the sky clear for you to see the space station?" her mother asked as she slipped the mugs in front of them.
"Yeah, it was quite clear tonight." Emma inhaled the aroma of her favorite comfort drink. "Thank you for making this for us." She lifted the mug to her lips and blew on the hot beverage.
"You usually need something to pick you up on a day like this." Her mother glanced at the calendar they made of the dates when they knew the space station would pass over their part of the world. "Only two more months."
"Yeah, it seems like an eternity," Emma mused and took a sip of her cocoa.
"It will go faster than you think." Killian reached over, clasped her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.
"I know." She glanced at the calendar again. "Are we still certain he'll be back for my birthday?"
"That is what Locksley claims whenever I speak with him." Her mother reassured her.
Robin Lockley was their NASA Family Coordinator, and he was the one person who would reach out to them in case something happened to David Nolan while being onboard the space station.
"See. He'll be there." Killian offered her a smile.
"Hmm." Emma settled in with her cocoa. She needed some time to mull over her emotions and knew that Killian would understand if she wasn't speaking right now. True enough, he started a conversation with her mother about his and Emma's last year of high school.
***************'
The next two months flashed by with a few more flybys, where she would watch the ISS cross the night sky. It was her birthday the next month and her family were all heading to Florida to prepare for her father's return.
Killian was staying behind in Storybrooke and Emma missed him beside her as they entered the NASA centre, where they could follow the return of her father's crew.
It was a long and tiresome process, waiting for the spacecraft to reenter the atmosphere - the part Emma knew was crucial for a successful return. Everyone held their breath as they watched the control center guide the crew back down to earth.
They all sighed in relief when they could watch on a TV screen how they pulled the crew out from the floating spacecraft. Her mother hugged her closer and whispered, "See? There's daddy."
Emma's fifteen-year-old younger brother Leo was standing closer to the screen and his eyes glinted with unshed tears. Her brother had taken the last six months the worst, his teenage brain hot-wired to be messed up from missing his dad.
Emma untangled herself from her mother, and headed for her brother, "You okay there, kiddo?"
"I'm not a kid." Leo brushed away the tears.
"I know." Emma wrapped her arm around her brother. "We all missed him, but he's okay and smiling, see?" On the TV screen, they carried the crew inside the ship that had picked them up. All the astronauts waved and smiled, looking as fine as one could be after such a long time in space. It was the next few months that would be the hardest for them all, regaining their body strength and mentally preparing themselves to be part of society again.
"Happy birthday, darling." Her father kissed her temple and pulled out a package from behind his back.
"Thank you, Daddy." Emma smiled through her tears and took the gift. It was one big square one that felt much like a book, so she opened that one first. "This is amazing! Thank you."
"Thought you'd love to read about the women throughout the modern space age." David Nolan pointed to the book with the background history of some of the pioneering women who'd made some breakthroughs in making space travel possible.
"Don't give her any ideas." Emma's mother spoke from the other end of the table.
Emma laughed and gave her mother a reassuring smile, "Don't worry, Mom. I won't lift a foot from this planet."
"That's reassuring."
"It's Killian you guys should worry about," Leo said dryly as he pushed his gift towards Emma, "Congrats, Sis."
"Thanks." Emma took the gift and settled it next to the other one from her parents. Then she frowned, "what do you mean about Killian?"
"Heard him speaking with his buddy Will about going to space and how awesome that would be." Leo shrugged.
Emma tried to shake off the uneasy feeling rushing through her at the thought of Killian ever going into space. Trying to distract herself, she opened the smaller gift from her parents and found a small jewelry box. Inside rested a small oval pendant, encasing a tiny pebble. Gingerly she picked it up and inspected it closer.
"It's a tiny fleck of a meteorite set inside resin," her father explained, with a smile.
"That's amazing." Emma unclasped the necklace and secured it around her neck. "Thank you, guys."
"Now open mine," Leo said impatiently.
Emma rolled her eyes and took the gift from her brother. He was fifteen, so the gift could either be a total gag gift or something cheesy.
Inside was a cocoa mug with a personalized text that said Sister Nerd and a cartoonish image of a woman with blond hair and glasses perched on her nose.
Emma rolled her eyes but smiled at her brother. "Thanks, kid."
"You are a nerd." Leo pointed out, "Who is going to study space engineering in a few years?"
Emma fiddled with the edge of her new mug, "Yeah, I guess." She was never one to boast about her brilliant mind. Her dream of working with space stuff surely came from her father's time in space and all the talks they'd had over the years - talks about what could go wrong, what to improve if it seemed faulty, and what worked.
"Let no one beat you down just because you're brilliant." Her father squeezed her shoulder.
"I won't." She looked over at Leo, "And thanks, I'll take this with me to college, and every time I drink cocoa I'll be thinking about my baby brother slaving away with his high school homework."
"I'm no baby, so stop saying that." Leo grumbled, then sobered, "Though it's going to be quiet the day you're gone."
"I know."
They celebrated the rest of her birthday with a low-key birthday bash, orchestrated with joint forces between her mother and her two best friends, Ruby and Elsa.
When she found Killian amid the party chaos, she pulled him outside to talk.
"Happy birthday, love."
"Thank you." Emma slumped down on the bench "What's with the talk I hear about you going to space? Are you really going to pursue that?"
Killian swiped his hand over his face, "Ah, so you've heard about that?"
"Hmm." Emma folded her hands and rested her elbows on her knees looking up at her friend. "When did that happen?"
"Some time ago." Killian shrugged and tucked his hands into the pockets of his jeans.
"I had no idea you were so serious about going to space." Emma bit her lip. "You know how I went a bit crazy before my Dad returned home."
"Aye, I know, and I would never belittle that feeling you'd have. I know it will always cause some anxiety for those I'm leaving behind - you, my brother, my friends." Killian walked over, sat beside her and wrapped his hand around hers.
"Just promise me we'll keep in touch."
"Always." Killian squeezed her hand, "I'll be taking some extra classes this next summer so I'll be all ready once we graduate. Then going through Air Force training and all that."
"Diving straight into the heart of it all, huh?"
"Aye, never been one for waiting."
"I know."
"What will you do after we graduate next summer?"
"The girls want to travel Europe." Emma shrugged. "But I want to move on with my education."
"Can't keep that brilliant mind of yours idle for long, can ya?" He nudged her shoulder playfully. "You'll be the best space engineer ever."
"Yeah." Emma twisted one of her hands around and wrapped it around his. "Thank you for being my friend." She reached up with her free hand and touched her new earrings. "And thanks for these."
"Thought they would be fitting for the next brilliant rocket builder."
Emma chuckled and nudged the dangling little silver rocket hanging from her ear. They were not tacky but cute and just perfect. Just like the friendship she shared with the man beside her. She hoped they could keep in touch despite their different paths in life.