Author's Note: As I've probably mentioned before, one of my very favorite things about this story is the fact that every year I suddenly find I have some new ship or other to write a Holiday fanfiction about. Emma and Hook have been pretty big for me this year, so here we are :)
And MERRY CHRISTMAS (if you celebrate it, of course), by the way! Like last year, I wanted to post the chapter for my biggest new ship on Christmas Day.
"Emma…" Snow sighed as she caught sight of her daughter sitting listlessly on the window seat of their home. "Honey, why aren't you dressed yet?"
Emma sighed, tucking her sweat-pant-clad legs up into her chest and wrapping sweat-shirt-clad arms around them. Her breath frosted the window, obscuring the heavy snow drifts falling outside. "I guess you could say that I'm just not in the mood for a Christmas party right now."
Snow let out a long breath and went to sit next to her. "Well, if you want my vote, I'd say that means it is the perfect time for a Christmas party."
Emma raised her eyebrow.
"What I mean is," Snow amended, "someone who isn't in the mood for Christmas needs the Christmas spirit the most. And what has more Christmas spirit than a holiday party?"
She stood up again and dragged her daughter up by the arm. "Come on," she urged. "You'll waste the dress you bought just for tonight if you stay home."
Grumbling, Emma allowed herself get corralled into her bedroom so that she could get dressed. She moved through a fog, pulling off her casual clothing and putting on the slim-fit, red velvet dress that Snow had found her yesterday when they'd gone shopping in downtown Storybrooke.
She should be over the moon excited tonight. This was the first holiday anything that she'd celebrated with another human being (much less her family) since she was hopping foster homes. She was going to go eat good food with her parents and her son and her friends.
And maybe that was just it. The holidays had been a miserable time for Emma for as long as she could remember, and now she was being suddenly and aggressively forced into enjoying them. She lived in a town stuffed with fairytale characters; tonight was not going to be done halfway.
Still, she should try to enjoy it. Emma found herself staring blankly at her mirror, dressed and hair somehow done, and shook her head. She had to snap out of it if she was even going to be able to pretend to be good company tonight.
"Emma!" she heard Snow call. "You ready?"
"Coming!" Emma called back, trying to tramp down the feeling that she was still a teenager making her parents run late for a social gathering. She grabbed a pair of heels from the edge of her room and haphazardly stuck her feet into them before hurrying into the main part of the house.
"You look beautiful, Emma," David told her with a wide smile, reaching out to squeeze her bicep. He was dressed up as well in prince-inspired attire colored red and green. Snow was wearing a long, tulle-coated silver dress, and they complimented each other nicely.
"Let's go, let's go!" Snow urged, pushing Emma and David out of the door as if the town Christmas party was a time-limited event and not an all-evening, stop-in-when-you-can affair.
Henry and Regina were standing outside of the apartment, the later rubbing her coated arms with her hands and looking cold. "You look great, mom!" Henry chirped. He was wearing a scarf, as usual, but this one was striped green and red.
"Thanks, kid." Emma felt the first legitimate smile of the evening spread on her face and she put her arm around him as he tilted his head back to catch some snow on his tongue.
"Can we get moving, please?" Regina grumped, her breath coming out in white puffs. "I may have lived in Maine for many, many years, but I am still not used to the cold and would prefer to be inside."
Snow nodded her agreement and took David's arm, the two of them leading the way toward Granny's.
"Is Hook coming tonight?" Henry asked eagerly as he kicked his way through snow drifts. "I told him I'd explain all of our world's Christmas traditions and he seemed pretty excited about it, so I was hoping we could talk tonight!"
Emma felt nerves twist in her stomach. "I… don't know," she admitted. "I haven't seen him in a few days, so we didn't talk about it."
Henry nodded but Snow, overhearing, glanced over her shoulder. "Oh don't you worry, Emma," she said, even though it was Henry who'd brought Killian up. "I sent Hook an invitation a few days ago to invite him and he said that he was delighted to join us."
David pulled a face. "Hook really used the word 'delighted'?"
"He did!" Snow exclaimed. "Well… once he found out that Emma would be there, anyway."
Any snow that had been gathered on Emma's cheeks must have steamed off with the terrific amount of heat that rushed to them. Regina snorted but, thankfully, no one made any teasing remarks on Killian's eagerness to see Emma.
When they arrived at Granny's, they were greeted at the door by Ruby, who handed them each a candy cane. "If you don't want one, please give it back now, because we're definitely going to run out," she told them bluntly.
Regina promptly handed the candy back to her and then the five of them stepped inside.
"Well, look who it is!" Granny cried, opening up her arms wide as if to welcome them all into a group hug. "Don't you all look fine and ready for a Christmas party."
"Not by choice," Regina muttered, and for once Emma was in perfect agreement with her.
Then her wandering gaze landed on a ridiculously attractive young man lounging in the corner of the room. He was holding a glass of rum in a loose grip and was dressed in his usual deep v-neck attire, accented red for the holidays.
Henry followed her glance. "It's Hook!" he cried enthusiastically, grabbing Emma's arm and dragging her over. "Hey, Hook!"
"Ah, Henry!" Killian got to his feet with a wide grin, one that only got wider when his gaze landed on Emma. "And Swan. Looking quite ravishing tonight, I might add."
Emma dipped her chin in acknowledgement of the compliment and struggled to come up with a way to return it. There was something about the color red on Killian Jones that had her completely tongue tied. Or maybe it was just something about him, in general, in any color.
"So, lad," Killian went on, tactfully steering the subject to a new horizon before the silence got too awkward. "You promised me you would regale me with all of the Christmas traditions of this world, and I eagerly await the knowledge."
Henry grinned and hopped into a chair at the table Hook had claimed. Emma smiled at the sight of the two of them and figured she should let them alone for a bit. "I'm going to go get some food, all right, Henry?" she excused herself. "Do either of you want anything?"
She regretted the use of the word 'want' the minute Killian smirked and opened his mouth, but then he glanced and Henry and seemed to restrain himself from an innuendo. "Uh… no thanks, Swan, all I need is some rum and I've already got that."
"In a glass," Emma bantered. "Shocking."
Henry shook his head and Emma walked away to the buffet table. She may not be completely in the mood for socialization at the moment, but at least there was the option of the best food in Storybrooke.
About an hour later, Emma was caught in a very long conversation with Grumpy and looking desperately for an escape. "You know," she said, just as he was about to start in on each of the dwarves' eating habits and how it made the lunch break at the mines nearly unbearable, "I just need to run to the bathroom."
Grumpy waved her away, already turning to a new victim to complain to. Breathing a sigh of relief, Emma hurried towards the back hallway and bathroom area. It was blessedly quiet and empty and she leaned against the wall for a second to catch her breath.
"Swan?"
Emma jumped and straighten up to see Killian coming around the corner, a quizzical smile on his face. "You all right, love?" he asked, making his way towards her.
"I'm fine," Emma told him, and that was the truth. "Just a little overwhelmed."
He nodded, and Emma found herself still talking. "It's just, when you've been alone for so long, suddenly having all these people who legitimately love and care about you is… it's a lot. Add Christmas and all of the unadulterated joy and happiness that normal people feel around that time… well, I just feel like I should be that joyful and happy, too, but that doesn't come easily to me."
"It doesn't come easily to me either, love," Killian told her gently. "But the only way we'll ever get there is by practicing." He reached out and lightly tipped her chin up so she was looking as him. "The fact that you can be in a room with dozens of people who love and accept you is something to be celebrated, not something to run from. Do your past self a favor and enjoy it, because it was something she never had."
He made a valid point. Emma smiled a little, her skin tingling as he moved his hand to cup her cheek. "Killian," she said softly. "What're you doing?"
"Well…" He smirked a little and reached into his pocket, then pulled out a sprig of mistletoe. Emma raised her eyebrows. "Henry gave me the rundown on some of this world's more popular Christmas traditions, and I liked the sound of this one."
"Where did you even get mistletoe?" Emma asked, raising her eyebrows higher.
"From the ceiling in Granny's dinner," Killian told her, shrugging unabashedly. "I promise I'll put it back up when I'm done with it so your parents can have their turn."
Emma shook her head, unable to help a snort of laughter. "And when, exactly, will you be done with it?"
He leaned down and captured her lips with his own, pushing her gently backwards under her back in the wall. Emma wound her fingers through his hair. The mistletoe dropped to the floor.
It wasn't picked up for awhile.
Author's Note: Not my favorite which makes me sad because it's our last one for this year! But ah well, here it is anyway. Thank you guys for a great 2020! I had a lot of fun with this story this year and can't wait to be able to return to it in 2021!