A/N: This little ficlet is written for Tricia, who's a bit ill right now and in need of some cheering up. I don't know where I'd be without her. She's the Emma to my Killian, the Adam to my Eddy, the best friend I always wanted and I finally had. She puts up with me and my mood swings and we make do with our crazy schedules and always manage to talk every day. I'm just going to make myself cry now with this, and probably her too, and that is NOT WHAT I WANT WITH THIS PIECE.

So, warnings I guess, with in the synospsis thing: Allusions of sex, sexting, a little bit of angst, some heartfelt stuff, also Snow and Ruby, and some mother/daughter tension. IDK this was meant to be fun and humorous and then feels hit.

You'd think that Emma Swan would be dying for a night off. To hit the booze with a couple of friends and let go of the never ending duties as Savior. But there's not much appeal in hanging out with the women she knows. One happens to be her mother who acts like she should still be grieving, with the mommy brain, and the jaded ideas of life – the other, well, she can't really talk to Ruby, she's Snow's best friend after all.

If she's going to go out for drinks, she's going to go out to talk and have a good time – not get bogged down with weighted conversations about why her baby brother is named after her recently deceased deadbeat baby daddy and why she hasn't kicked the pirate to the curb.

Neither Snow, nor Ruby because she follows Snow's lead, ever give Killian even an inch when Emma brings him up. She'd much rather be sitting around having a drink with her father or Grumpy, who at least give him the benefit of the doubt and let her trust her gut.

It's even worse, when they're ragging on Killian's "obsession" as they call it and he's recently discovered the many wonders of a cellphone and she has to shield her phone as she opens up text messages that make her cheeks flush and her thighs press together in a vain attempt to quell the heat they cause.

"Is something wrong?" Mary Margaret questions, her eyes wide and expectant, as though she's waiting for her daughter to read them her text. "Who's it from?"

Emma arches a brow as she types back a message.

I'm going to kill you when I find you.

"It's nothing." She lies and that's really all she can muster up. "Minor crisis, it can wait." It's more like a major crisis because her phone's vibrating in her hand again.

"Seems like it's urgent." Ruby taunts, stirring her drink around with the little umbrella in it.

"Henry." Emma sighed as she slid her thumb along the screen. Jesus fucking Christ.

The pirate had sent a glorious picture of his massive erect cock. The man was endowed, but that didn't mean she wanted it plastered to the screen of her phone.

"Emma?"

Mary Margaret snatched up the phone before Emma could wipe the awestruck expression off of her face. The blonde practically lunged across the table to grab the phone, wrenching it back from her mother before she had the chance to see what was on the screen.

"Seriously?" Now Emma was getting pissed off. It was one thing to completely dominate the "Emma's Night Off" with conversations Emma didn't want to have, but it was another thing to try to invade her privacy.

"I was just wondering what had so much of your attention." Snow retorted nonchalantly, folding her hands atop the table. "You don't have to be so touchy Emma. It's just a phone."

"But it's my phone and my personal texts." This, right here, was a point of contention. They were nearly the same age, but Snow still felt inclined to pull motherly shit and it made Emma want to rip her hair out sometimes.

Ruby tsked, smirking as she sipped her drink. "Given the way you're acting, I highly doubt that was Henry." She leaned her elbows against the table, "Who is he Emma? Someone from New York?"

Emma scoffed loudly. "I was about to get engaged to a flying monkey before Hook found me, seriously, what sort of person do you think I was in New York?"

"Then who is he?" Ruby pressed.

She frowned, glancing down at her phone as he vibrated again.

Killian stop. You're going to blow how cover if you don't knock it off.

She could feel the innuendo brewing from that one and frankly, she couldn't even find any amusement in it.

Emma snatched up her shot of rum, downing it whole. "If there was someone, there's really only one option."

Five.

Four.

Three.

Two.

"Hook!?" Snow's glass hit the table with a resounding clank. "Emma, please tell me you're joking."

Emma narrowed her eyes. "I'm serious as a heart attack." She gritted out, her jaw set so hard she could feel the muscle ticking with strain. "He's a good man –"

"He's a pirate."

"And I made my living as a thief." She snapped, "What's the difference?"

"He's killed."

Emma didn't want to shoot this low, but she felt like there really was no other choice. "So have you Mary Margaret."

That silenced the princess.

"Emma."

She shook her head, "I'm tired of sitting here and letting you smear his name for no good reason. Maybe he's not your choice for me, maybe he's not the guy you dreamed of your little princess growing up and being with – but he's exactly who I see me with. He never complains about the shit he has to go through by being with me, he takes it all in stride. He found me. He traded his ship – his home – for a chance of finding me, of saving me and all of you." She felt tears pricking her eyes and she fought them back. Now was not the time.

"I resisted it, I fought it, I tried to make up a thousand excuses about why it would never work and…" She swallowed around a lump in her throat. "Watching you and Dad fall in love… that's what sold it for me. The looks in your eyes, that's how I feel with him."

It didn't dawn on her, until a moment later, in the silence between the three of them, what she'd all but admitted. She loved him.

"I need to go." Emma said, fumbling with her phone, stuffing it in her back pocket as she stepped away from the table. "I need to find Killian."

"Emma, honey… wait."

"We'll talk about this later." Emma promised, all the animosity fading from her expression as she backed towards the door, "I just… I'm sorry." She turned on her heels, grabbing her leather jacket from the coat rack as she headed out into the brisk winter night.

Emma knew exactly where Killian was. She'd recognized the sheets from his dick-pic. Giving him a key to her and Henry's new apartment had been one of the best decisions she'd ever made.

She was a little bit tipsy and a hell of a lot anxious as she barreled through her apartment door, fumbling to get her coat on the hook and her keys in the little dish by the door, as she headed straight back to the bedroom.

"Killian we need to talk." Emma said as she pushed the door open, not the least bit surprised by the picture she was met with. He was sprawled out on the bed, with his cock in his hand – everything she would have normally jumped right on top of. "Cover up."

"You're scaring me, love." Killian jerked the sheet over his lower half, sitting up against the headboard, making room for her beside him. "Talks never imply anything good."

Emma couldn't help but smile at the pirate, "There's nothing to worry about Killian." She shook her head, laughing softly as she reached out to cup his scruffy cheek. "In fact, what I have to say is actually really really good. But…"

Killian leaned into her touch, his brows furrowing. "But what?"

"You have to promise me that you'll never abandon me like everyone else in my life has."

"I promise you." Killian didn't need to hesitate. They were words she already knew.

"The reason I left you back at the beanstalk was because… from the moment I met you, when we pulled you out from beneath the bodies, I knew I could feel something for you. Something that had got be burned before. That's why I left you, because I was scared… I had to put space between us to protect myself."

She leaned closer to him, pressing her forehead to his. "It took me an obscenely long time to realize this but…" She tilted her head and kissed him, "I love you." The words were mumbled against his lips, but they were perfectly audible, perfectly true.

"I love you too Emma."

"I know." Emma grinned, brushing her nose against his, winding her fingers through his hair. "Now that that is out of the way and you've got me here…. Care to make good on that first set of texts of yours?"

His smirk was positively sinful. "Aye love, I'm a man of my word."