Our Little Secret

Chapter 13

*Emma's POV*

I was standing on my small balcony watching the city again, the far away bustle beneath always making my head seem less chaotic. I hadn't heard the door but not long after I got out there I felt Killian's hands slide around my waist from behind, a small smile coming to my lips as I relaxed against his chest.

"I hope I'm not too early," he said carefully, seeming afraid of how I was going to react. "I know you said you needed some time."

"Just a few minutes to get myself together," I confirmed with a sigh, letting my fingertips run over his arms. "I'm sorry I yelled at your brother like that."

"He came looking for confrontation," he sighed, squeezing me to him gently and kissing my cheek. "I'm not angry at you, just furious at him. I don't understand how he could take something so wonderful in my life that obviously makes me happy and try to destroy it."

"Makes me wonder what Neal has told him about me," I thought aloud, his following silence worrying me a bit. "Are you sure you want to be with me when I'm causing so much trouble? Liam's your family, you shouldn't be fighting with him because of me."

"We're fighting because of him," he said simply before turning me slightly to meet my eyes. "And the only thing in my life that I'm truly certain of, is that I want to be with you, alright? I don't want you to worry about that."

"Okay," I nodded, my guilt still gnawing at me until he caught my chin and captured my lips with his. In the less than 24 hours since we'd finally slept together we had discovered that we went from 0 to 1000 in the blink of an eye and I couldn't deny that I loved it.

I turned with little prompting, my arms  going up around his neck to bring him further down to me so I could kiss him more deeply. One of his hands moved to tangle in my hair, the other with a firm grip on my backside to press me into him. I grabbed the collar of his shirt and tasted tugging him back to my bedroom.

"Weren't we supposed to have lunch?" He asked with a smirk a while later, both of us bare laying together on my bed.

"Oh yeah," I laughed lightly, my face flushing. I moved to lay my torso on his so I could see him better, resting my chin on his chest. "We haven't been great at keeping our plans the last couple of days, have we?"

"I'm okay with that," he grinned. He went to say something else but then we both looked up when we heard my front door open.

"Emma?" My mom's voice came from the living room followed by jangling keys, and my heart stopped. "You home?"

"Just a minute, mom!" I called in a panic, getting up and quickly throwing my dress back on.

"Your mother has a key," Killian sighed as he sat up. "Good to know."

"I'm so sorry, I'll be right back," I promised, going over to kiss him deeply before jogging out to the living room while the door shut behind me. "Mom, what are you doing here?"

"I was going to see if you wanted to get lunch," she said but then looked at me with concern. "Are you alright, hunny? You're all flushed and sweaty, are you sick?"

"No, I'm fine," I answered simply, trying not to laugh. "But I do have, uhm, a couple things I needed to finish, can I meet you in an hour?"

"Of course," she agreed but still looked worried, which just made me want to laugh more. "I'll meet you at that diner you told me about by your old apartment."

The door closed behind her and a bubble of laugher escaped, leaving me shaking my head as I went back down the hall. Killian had gotten up and was getting dressed but I went to wrap my arms around him before he could button his jeans.

"And where do you think you're going?"

"Well I figured I shouldn't be naked in your bed with your mother here," he chuckled pulling me around in front of him to hold me in return. "I didn't think that would be the best first impression, especially since she already doesn't like me."

"Well, I love you," I said as I leaned up to kiss him. "And it's not you she doesn't like, just the idea of you. They're not exactly happy that I'm getting divorced let alone got a boyfriend before it was final. They'd have to be crazy to not like you."

Killian walked with me down to the diner, pulling me close to kiss me goodbye. He'd meant it to a short, chaste kiss but I held him to me longer to kiss him more deeply. We were both grinning when we pulled away and I could feel his eyes on me until I disappeared inside, my face still flushed when I sat down across from my mom.

"Hey," I greeted her brightly but sobered slightly when I saw conflict in her expression. "Mom, what's wrong?"

"I, uhm, invited someone else to have lunch with us," she started, guilt joining her face. "But now I'm thinking maybe I shouldn't have."

"Who-" I started to ask but stopped when I saw Neal coming over, instantly angry. "Mom, no. Absolutely not."

"Sorry I'm late," Neal said as he sat down, then saw the way I was glaring at her. "What did I miss here?"

"I know you're angry, Emma, but I just think you two need to talk about this," my mom said with a bit of desperation. "You don't have to do something like this on a whim."

"A whim? Are you serious right now?" I snapped. "Mom, I didn't do this lightly, and I'm not angry, I'm pissed. I-I can't even-"

"Mary Margaret," he said calmly while I tried to reign in my temper. "I know you don't like this situation, and I'm not fond of it myself- I was furious and so hurt at first, but then I realized Emma was right. We had been forcing things for a long time."

"I don't understand," she said with a shake of her head. "Why are you just okay with not even trying?"

"I wasn't," he confirmed, glancing at me for a moment and back to her. "But then I talked to someone else. Someone who loves her and, as far as I can tell, makes her happy. She doesn't deserve to be miserable just because I'm stubborn."

"The man I saw you with outside," she sighed, looking down at her lap.

"You saw us?" I asked stupidly, just confused about this entire situation.

"I did," she nodded, looking back up to me. "That's what I was saying before. I don't like this at all, I really feel that you two should work at this more... but I also don't think I've ever seen you as happy as you looked ten minutes ago."

"I haven't ever been this happy," I sighed. "I know you're upset, I do, and it's not that I don't care, I just..."

"I know. And I promised your father I'd never tell you, but," she stopped and took a breath. "He was married when we met. Someone from a well off important family that his family really liked... but then he met me and there was just no denying it."

"I'd really love for you and dad to meet him," I told her a bit tearfully. "I'm sure you'd both like him if you'd give him a chance."

"I agree," Neal added, shocking me into silence. "He's the one who sought me out, didn't even tell her because he knew she'd stop him. But it's not hard to see how much he loves her."

"Bring him to dinner tomorrow, okay?" She told me and I nodded, letting her pull me up into a tight hug when I started crying. "I'm sorry, Emma. We should have just been there for you and supported you. I want you to know that what your father and I want most is for you to be happy."