LONG STORY SHORT ~ Emma Swan and Killian Jones

THE THING YOU LOVE MOST

Storybrooke, Maine.

A quiet town, always the same people, always the same routine. Nothing ever changed. Then, all of a sudden, Emma Swan appears one night and the next day, the clocktower starts working.

No one new had ever come to Storybrooke, and that clocktower has never worked.

Josie could tell something was different, in the air, in the town. It washed over her, a deep rooted sense of something. But then again, Josie typically had mislead feelings.

"Graham!" Josie greeted, rushing up to him in Granny's diner. He had a cup of coffee already reached out for her, and a muffin in a bag for her as well. "Sorry, i'm late, Bayard was being difficult."

"That dog is always being difficult." Graham replied, Josie glaring at him in return. "I'm just saying, Josie." He lead them out of the diner, nodding up towards to the clock tower once they got to the road. "You see it's started working? What do you think caused that to happen?"

"Times a mysterious thing, Graham." Josie told him, taking a sip of her coffee. "Has a mind of its own."

***

"Eion?"

Jo called, peeking in through the cabin window. "Eion, it's Jo! The girl who stole from you once." She knocked on the door to the Cabin, groaning when there was no response.

"I remember you." Eion said from behind her, amused at the short girl getting up on her toes to look in his windows. Jo jumped and turned to face him. "A girl like you would be hard to forget."

Jo blushed, looking down as if to hide it. He took note of that. Eion walked up the stairs to join her on the porch, rubbing his hands on his pants to get the dirt off. Jo picked at her nails, waiting for him to say something.

"What can I do for you?" He asked, leaning against the railing in front of her. "Back for more of my belongings?"

"Back to return them, actually." Jo corrected, reaching a sack of his belongings out to him. "You were very kind to us, letting us go, you deserve your things back." She nodded, mattering of factly.

Eion took the sack, opening it to see, in fact, all of his missing belongings. He looked back to the girl expectantly, like there was going to be some catch, some price for him to pay, but Jo just shrugged, gestruing to the sack.

"It has been quite some time." Eion noted. "Why bring them back now?"

"My morality tends to come late." Jo replied, and Eion looked at her for a second longer before walking towards the door.

"Would you like to come in, Jo?" He asked, opening the door to let her inside.

Jo froze for a moment. She was just returning his things, then making the trip back to Will and Penelope. That was the plan. Return his things and then return home to her siblings. Her siblings were all she knew, all she had ever known.

Jo took the few steps to fill the space between them, glancing into the cabin then back to the man to her side. Was she allowed to want to go inside?

***

"Hey, Emma!"

Josie greeted, the blonde walking up to the booth in Granny's Diner where Graham and Josie were sitting.

"So you decided to stay." Graham noted, leaning back in the booth to look up at Emma.

"Nothing gets past you, does it Sheriff?" Josie teased, and Emma and Graham both sent her a look. "Nice to see you, Emma." She clicked her tongue, taking a bite of the muffin her and Graham had been picking on that morning.