This AU was written by welcometostorybrooke (knopeitswan on Tumblr) and myself for her Tumblr Secret Santa. @welcometostorybrooke wrote as Killian (Part II) and I wrote as Emma (Part I). The entire story was edited by my real-life best friend and fellow fangirl, Leah. Leah - sorry we were up until 1:30 working on this. I still love you!
{Emma}
Gravel crunched under the tires of my old VW Bug as we pulled up to Walter Vichesky's two-story suburban home. Neal turned the key in the ignition, and the rumbling of the engine ceased. I looked out of the passenger side window at the warm, brightly lit windows. Silhouettes of joyous people flickered in and out of my line of sight.
"On a scale of one to ten, how awkward do you think this holiday party is going to be?" I muttered sarcastically.
Neal paused with an over-exaggerated expression of thoughtfulness plastered smugly across his face. "A solid eight," he concluded. "It makes it worse that Walt said this was sort of a high school reunion."
"But I hated our entire class," I whined, stressing the word 'entire' as I give him a sly smile. I turned around to face my boyfriend of five years.
"Emma," he put his cool hands on each of my shoulders and looked me dead in the eye, "I know socializing is hard, but you can do it, I believe in you." Amusement twinkled in his eyes and a smile played across his lips.
"Oh shut up," I said, shoving his hands off and removing my seatbelt. The door latch clicked and I stepped out into the frosty evening air. The first stars were just beginning to appear overhead and the crescent moon came into view. I heard Neal's door close and his footsteps approach where I was standing at the base of a stone walkway leading to the front door. He took my smaller hand in his larger one and gave a reassuring squeeze. Together, we walked to the stone porch and rang the doorbell.
Classic white Christmas lights wound around two brown pillars on either side of the three stairs and draped the surrounding trees and bushes. A burst of warm air hit us as Walt opened the door, wearing a bright green sweater and holding a red Solo cup.
"Neal, Emma, come on in!" he yelled festively. We stepped over the threshold into the kitchen.
"Walt, how are you?" Neal greeted him heartily. "I feel like I haven't seen you in years!"
"That's because you haven't!" Laughter erupted from the dozen or so people standing around a cheese plate on the island in the center of the room.
"Emma!" An excited shriek came from behind me. I jump at the sudden outburst and turn around slowly, finding myself face to face with a wide grin and a mess of somewhat bushy brown hair.
"Lily?" I said with no trace of familiarity.
"Um, yes?" She sounded legitimately concerned that I didn't recognize her. I smiled mischievously.
"You're still so short!" I exclaimed, scooping her off the ground.
"Emma Swan you will put me down right now or so help me I'll stomp on your nice heels with my tiny little imp feet!" She glared at me with a playful ferocity that only short people have.
"Alright, alright!" I relented. "For someone wearing an ugly Christmas sweater with a cross-stitched image of an old cat lady, you're pretty bold."
"And for someone wearing an ugly Christmas sweater with a picture of a frail little poinsettia on it, you're really strong," she countered.
For a few tense seconds, we were locked in a stare-off.
"I've missed you, you stupid bitch!" Lily shouted, hugging my waist.
"I've missed you too."
"Come on," she said, grabbing my hand. "Everyone's in the living room." I followed her, and was greeted by a chorus of 'hello's' and 'Emma!'. I picked up a mug of hot chocolate with cinnamon and grabbed a spot on the couch parallel to the crackling fire. Sipping my lukewarm beverage, I sat back and enjoyed the gossip.
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Ship in a Bottle
Fanfiction~A collection of CaptainSwan One Shots and AU's. ~ I wrote all of these unless otherwise stated. ~Most are split into two parts. These often represent different points of view. ~I wrote these when I was just starting to write, so they're not perfec...
