Runaway- CaptainSwan AU

• Chapter 18 •

This felt... surreal.

She was wearing brand new, lace-up, tall, brown boots, brand new dark blue jeans, a brand new white long-sleeved shirt, and a brand new red leather jacket.

Maybe weird would be a better word.

She wasn't even wearing her good old beanie like she usually did. All the newness was, well, new.

Leather was Killian's thing; he wore a black leather jacket almost every day. But, goddamnit, Emma couldn't help but take a liking to the red jacket. She didn't know what it was about it, but she loved it.

Don't get her wrong, she loved her old black hoodie. It had gotten her through practically everything she'd been through in life. Her trusty companion.

Sorry, she thought to hoodie as she set it aside and looked into the mirror. She tied her hair up into a ponytail.

She was being given the one thing she'd ever wanted.

A fresh start.

It had been three days since Alice had struck the deal with the Barkleys. Things had gone smoothly so far. The signs were taken down, and the police stopped looking for Emma. And now... it was the first day back at school.

Alice had been incredibly kind and had gone out of her way to head out to the mall and buy Emma nearly an entire wardrobe. She hadn't known what kind of clothes Emma would wear, since she only ever had two outfits, so she'd gotten her a bit of everything.

It was kind of overwhelming.

"Mum, you practically drowned her in clothing," Killian had laughed once Emma had finished trying on all the clothes after hours of modeling them for the little family. Emma had laughed out loud and flopped back onto the bed.

Alice even got her her very own phone. Emma had never had one before, so she had to admit, she loved having a reason to get Killian to sit down and teach her something. He always got so focused when he was explaining things, and then his eyebrows would do little dances without him even realizing.

She loved his eyebrows.

How the hell did I get from thinking about red leather to Killian's eyebrows?! Emma thought to herself with an embarrassed eye-roll as she slipped on her glasses, grabbed her trusty bag, and skipped downstairs to eat breakfast with Killian before school.

That was another thing. Since the moment Alice had found Emma in the basement, she'd practically been force-feeding her. Emma laughed silently. She wondered if Alice only acted that way towards her, or if she aggressively fed all of Killian's friends.

Friends.

Were they just friends? More? What the hell were they? What does one call two people who have kissed on multiple occasions but can't seem to bring themselves to actually talk about it or give their relationship some sort of classification? They hadn't kissed since opening gifts on Christmas.

Maybe they didn't need a title. Things seemed to be going just fine without one, after all. Maybe it was better that way. Or not. It was absolutely plausible that she was completely wrong on that point. Well, on lots of points. Why did she get things wrong so often? And why was her mind drifting this far from civilization right now?

Emma. Move.

She had been standing at the bottom of the stairs for maybe a solid five minutes. Emma sighed, not really knowing what emotion she was expressing, and made her way into the kitchen.

"Morning, love. Sleep well?" Killian greeted her with a smile, pulling out a chair for her as he set bowls and spoons on the table, and grabbed the milk and cereal.