A/N: So here we are again, at the start of a new story and as some of you know I have changed my usual M.O. up a bit this time by writing a number of chapters in advance so I can publish more regularly even though life is currently very hectic in this program. My current goal is to update every other week (with this week being an exception as I post part two tomorrow) and the length of the chapters will also be shorter than my recent AUs. But not to worry, there still plenty of fluff and humor to go around. We will just have to wait a little longer to get there. Anyway I hope you guys enjoy and please let me know what you think!

"Ashley! Ashley, wait!" the good looking blonde man yelled through the torrential rain, but the heroine of this scene kept running, not giving a damn about the fact that the mud on this usually dusty country drive would tarnish the immaculately clean and crisp blue fabric of her flowing gown.

Her footsteps pounded down the path, the slopping of the water already collated on the ground splashing harshly, but it was the woman's face that the camera panned to. It moved in to a glaring close up to display her pain and anguish, the total humiliation of what she'd been feeling, and the regret that she'd ever set foot in that grand house standing behind her to begin with.

"Ashley, please," the man said as he grabbed her arm, pulling her back around to look at him and forcing himself into her space. Now the running was over, but the woman shook her head, not daring to meet his eyes even as the camera zoomed in to encapsulate just the two of them. "Please, you have to talk to me. You can't leave. Not like this."

"I have to!" the girl cried out, finally staring into his eyes that were placed with perfect symmetry on a handsome face stained only by the rains from the skies above. "Can't you see, Thomas? I don't belong here. This – this isn't right, and I can't go on pretending like it is."

"How can you say that?" he asked, fear infiltrating his voice but the sincerity of it slightly lacking, probably thanks to the actor's newness to the screen. "How can you say that what we have is wrong, when it's the only thing in the world that's right?!"

"Because it can't be! We're from two different worlds and –,"

Whatever argument this young woman was about to make was silenced with a kiss so cinematic in scope it had everything right down to a foot pop and a bit of female swooning when the lovers came apart. It was a kiss of passion, weaving a narrative of need in the face of adversity and heart over what would be smart or expected. It was also highly unrealistic given the continued onslaught of rain pouring down on them.

"No one knows what we are except us," the man said as they eventually came up for air. "And just because my family thinks they know what's best for me doesn't mean they're right. The only person who knows my heart is me, and I'm telling you that I love you. I love you Ashley, and I will love you every day as long as I live."

"I love you too," Ashley whispered, her hands coming to cup his cheek, a last flicker of uncertainty springing to light in her wide blue eyes. "But are you sure? It's not going to be easy."

"Maybe not, but as long as we have love, we'll have everything. Nothing can touch us. Not when we have each other."

"Ha! Yeah right," Emma Swan muttered to herself as she shook her head, pausing the scene that she had just watched on her laptop and sitting back in her chair, wondering how the hell anyone thought this kind of over-the-top cheesy and romantic garbage was truly good.

To be fair the movie itself wasn't actually terrible, at least not from an industry standard. Emma knew that this film would do well for the streaming service that commissioned it when all was said and done if it was just given the right bit of tender love and care in postproduction. People would see the typical trope of a guy and a girl who fall in love despite their being all wrong for each other on paper and go gaga for it. But the story's hollowness was all the more evident with this only rough cut of the scenes together and without a score to stand behind it. Things at this stage were choppy and unfinished, and because of that it felt like half of the story and all of the tone and tempo were still completely up in the air.

That was where Emma came in. After years of trying to find her passion in her music and express creativity in a way that would actually keep clothes on her back and a roof over her head, Emma was happy to have any sort of steady income at all. She was still mostly freelance at this point, picking up different shorts and indies to score for as they came her way, but after getting her first big break a few years before, Emma had done everything she could to get the ball rolling and keep her work steady. She'd been an assistant by day and bartender (or any odd job) by night long enough to really get her foot in the door, and Emma was not interested in turning back, even if it meant taking projects she was less than passionate about.

Which is why, even though she knew she would roll her eyes at least a hundred times during the scoring of this project, Emma set out to work straightaway, trusting her instincts and delving into that emotional layer she only ever left for music. Here, in the narrative of another story that needed a melody behind it, Emma could let herself feel the hope and the happy that these characters were clinging to. She could linger in the sadness or the angst of the most grueling parts of the would-be fairytale, and she'd dive into every range of feeling there in between to make sure that the audience got to experience this story the way they deserved. If Emma did her job well, they'd walk away from the film more fulfilled than they would have otherwise, even if it were such a tired and ridiculous trope.

But first Emma would have to bring together the best that her personal musical ability and resources could provide, and in one scene in particular towards the end, of the movie where the hero and the heroine were really meshing their lives into one solid unit, there was an opening Emma knew had to be filled by one of her best friends. Elsa would be able to work some real magic with this kind of emotion-fueled moment, and since Emma knew of no one with more command over the cello or the violin, she immediately made note to call in a favor while also getting her friend a paying gig and a shot to get her name out there too.

Emma remained tucked away in her apartment like this for hours and hours, barely taking breaks so as not to mess with her muse, but eventually the real world did come calling again. It always found a way to do so, but since Emma had taken this would be third bedroom and sound proofed it, she got to avoid it as long as could be until her roommate Ruby eventually stormed inside out of breath and looking frantic.

"Oh my God, Emma, finally! I've been looking for you everywhere!" Ruby said as she ran into the room, leaving the door to the studio wide open as she did.

"Really?" Emma asked, not tracking how that could be possible. After all this was where Emma nearly always was. This was her haven and until she got into a more concrete phase of developing the score where a real soundboard and acoustics were required, she'd handle most everything from their apartment. Ruby should know that since they'd been roommates for so long and her best friend was always apprised of Emma's schedule, but the look in Ruby's eyes said she was sincere in the claims of searching forever.

"You don't know," Ruby said with a sense of awe. "There's no way you could know and be this calm."

"I don't know what?" Emma asked, a bit of dread beginning to creep into her mind until Ruby shoved her phone in front of Emma and Emma looked down trying to make heads or tails of her friend's outburst.

Yet what Emma found staring back at her was something she couldn't comprehend at first. She was looking at a website she'd frequented once a day for quite some time, the one that kept everyone apprised of the happenings in the movie and television industry, and today's updates announced Academy Award nominations. Ruby had already opened to the select webpage for scoring recognition, but there, underneath four incredibly familiar and influential names, who had all inspired Emma in some way or another, was a name that shouldn't have been there – her name. Emma blinked a few times, truly believing it was a trick of the light or some too-vivid daydream, but there it remained, a line boasting her name and the title of a movie she'd helped score that did well on the festival track but wasn't supposed to be getting this kind of attention: Emma Swan, Murder in Misthaven.

"Okay, very funny Ruby," Emma said, not remotely believing that this could be real. This had to be a prank. Things like this just didn't happen and Emma hadn't gotten this far in life by being gullible or easily taken in. If it were a smaller scale award then perhaps she'd have given this some credence, but an Oscar nomination out of nowhere? There wasn't a chance that could happen, not even in the fairytale stories she sometimes had to score. "Let me guess, you got one of those nerdy guys who hit on you in the production unit of that set you were on last week to do this, right?"

"No, Ems, this is real. It's not a joke or a prank. This is happening!"

Emma still didn't believe that at all and she found it pretty comical that Ruby would even try to pull off a con like this. It was ballsy for sure, and a less confident person would have felt badly when it ended up not proving true, but Emma could see the humor in it. Still she did have to give it to her friend. Ruby's acting skills were truly top notch since Emma couldn't gauge a single element of her lying. Ruby's face had no tell and her voice rang out with an honesty that was amazing. But Emma wouldn't cave to such a fantasy. Instead she kept laughing, convinced there was no possible way this could be real. Then her phone started ringing and Emma accepted the video call almost absentmindedly.

"Hello?"

"Ah, there you are! God, of all days to be in that studio with no service! The Wicked Witch is in today and I couldn't get a hold of you to say congratulations, Emma! You did it, honey! You really really did it!"

Emma's other best friend and agent Mary Margaret yelled the happy announcement through the phone and Emma's jaw dropped. Holy shit! This was actually happening? It had to be, right? Because there was no way that Mary Margaret would ever make a joke like this one. She had too soft a heart to mess with someone when it came to their dreams like that, and she'd be the level headed friend who reined Ruby in if she ever got whiff of such a prank happening.

"I did?" Emma asked, still flabbergasted and then Ruby's arms were wrapped around her and Emma could hear the shrieking of three voices, those of her friends and that of herself. She was so excited there were just no words, no words at all. Holy crap she'd really done it!

"I mean we so totally knew this was coming," Ruby said when they'd all reclaimed their breath after the celebratory screeching. "That script could have been written by a five year old, and the acting was just awful, but you made that movie, Ems. It was all you!"

"Absolutely!" Mary Margaret agreed. "The top name on those credits should have been Emma Swan, one hundred percent. But…"

"That's the business," all the friends chorused together and then broke out laughing again at the ridiculous cliché of Los Angeles that somehow always seemed to prove true.

"So what do I do?" Emma asked, still totally shocked. "I mean, like, what happens next?"

"You blow up into a huge star!" Ruby exclaimed with big hand gestures and all the drama of a theater kid. "But you know, like in a sound design way, not a People magazine cover kind of way."

"Thank God," Emma said to herself totally serious. She would hate that kind of life, constantly in the public eye and being hounded by paparazzi. That kind of lifestyle was Ruby's dream, not Emma's, and Emma was glad to leave that lack of privacy to her friend entirely. "But like job wise… how do we think this changes things?"

"Totally and completely," Mary Margaret said before flashing her phone at the web cam she was using. "I've already fielded a dozen concrete offers for you and it's been less than two hours."

"Seriously?!" Emma asked excitedly. Damn, and here she was used to getting maybe five reasonably paying contracts in an entire year. A dozen actually felt like a big time improvement.

"Yup, and this is nothing. According to Ariel on the third floor, the big fish don't come calling for another week. God this is the best day! First Killian Jones gets traded for the year to the Galaxy and then you get a freaking Oscar nomination. I think I'm honestly still dreaming."

"Killian Jones?" Emma asked, not knowing that name in the slightest and definitely not getting how he fit into conversation about her own career achievement. She looked to Ruby for guidance and Ruby gave a dramatic stage whisper in reply.

"He's an admittedly hot soccer player from the UK," Ruby said and that was explanation enough.

If it had to do with soccer, or football as the rest of the world called it (which was super confusing to Emma since wasn't there already a football?), than Mary Margaret was in the know. It was her one real vice, being totally and completely caught up in all the hot gossip and drama of the sport. It was funny though because most people in this town were fixated on the glitz and glam of Hollywood and the stars who flocked here. Mary Margaret, meanwhile, was focused on the world's favorite sport that didn't really track in the U.S. In fact, she was kind of dorky about it but Emma always saw that passion and encouraged it. Everyone should have something they felt that strongly about, and for Mary Margaret it just happened to be watching men kick a ball across some grass.

"He's not just any soccer player," Mary Margaret said firmly. "He's the soccer player. No one's got more talent then him at striker. Literally no one."

"And boy does he know it from what I've heard. Total bad boy, and strangely prone to black leather jackets," Ruby said with a gleam in her eyes. "But he is also totally irrelevant to this moment, Mary Margaret. Focus up!"

"Sorry, you're right. Just - gah! Such a good day," Mary Margaret said before changing gears. "Okay, I have forty more minutes where I'm trapped here but then I'm free and I can drag Belle from that pile of books she's burning a hole through so we can go out and really celebrate!"

"I'll call Elsa and Anna," Ruby said immediately and though normally Emma would have wanted to avoid a big night out, she had to admit that it felt right. What better time to go all out then when she'd been nominated for the highest honor of… well any honor she could ever get? The answer was never, so tonight she was celebrating as hard as she could.

"Is this really happening?" Emma asked once Ruby and Mary Margaret had sorted things out and ended the call, and Ruby immediately smiled at Emma and nodded.

"Yeah, Ems. This is your life – now let's get out there and live it."

Post-Note: So like I said, the chapters are shorter (and as such I'm returning to my old story style) and most chapters will have just one POV from Emma or Killian, though there will be some exceptions. This story is obviously a bit different than ones I have done before too, and I am very excited to write Killian as more of a bad boy (or at least a perceived bad boy). He's not a villain, but definitely a player, until he meets Emma of course. Anyway thanks to all of you for reading and I hope you'll tune in next time to see what happens next!