Killian Jones is fighting a losing battle with his vice and hiding it behind his music persona. Emma Swan is the cop who arrests him for it. But that isn’t the first time the two of them have met. After Emma impulsively offers him her apartment to recover away from the tabloids, it also won’t be the last. For her it’s just giving someone a chance she never had. But can it be more? Read more here.
Warning: This chapter contains mentions of alcohol abuse and past child abuse and vulgar language.
Emma still really couldn’t believe how the weekend had gone. It had actually gone well. No major snafus besides the two food mistakes. Leo still hadn’t stopped talking about Mr. Killy three days later, which for a child with a goldfish’s memory, was pretty impressive. No one had been slapped. David hadn’t pulled his gun. No one got food poisoning or alcohol poisoning. It was pretty much normal. Which was totally not normal for Emma and she was trying to not let that freak her out.
What did it mean that she could be normal with someone?
That no matter how fucked she was things were still okay?
That they could accept each other and move on?
Go on an adventure together?
Fuck, that scared her.
She and Killian had texted each day since the day but that was it as their schedules were too busy for them to meet again. But honestly, the space had been enough for Emma to calm down again, keep trying to play it cool and not think about how easy the weekend had been. Emma had gone back to work, busy tracking down little shits breaking the windows of local stores through her stint of nightshifts and sleeping most of the day after dragging her exhausted body back to her apartment afterwards. David had followed her one of the days, too exhausted to drive home. What had been just a regular check had turned into a foot chase after they ended up in the right place at the right time and found the delinquent teens. Killian worked an opposite schedule to Emma, recording Chipped Tea Cup during the day and filling Regina’s social media presence requirements during the evening.
Someday, if things worked out, Emma knew she’d have to become a part of the social media storm. Someday she’d have followers for no other reason that she was Killian Jones’s significant other. And because she was attractive and there were creepy people out there. Emma tried not to think about those ones, or what they might do while eating Zoodles and looking at her Instagram. Because there was no way Emma could avoid it if they went public (if Killian wanted to make this public). Not with Regina holding the reigns until the last CD contract was up. People would find out about her. About her shady past and still questionable present. Because people who wanted to bring them down, those Internet trolls who just liked to see people suffer, would find that. And spread it all over the media. And push it in Killian’s face, as if he were the stupidest person alive for being attracted to Emma.
It All Starts With a Dance 