"I'm only going to say this once, Your-" he clears his throat "-Emma." She laughs at the near slip up all while spinning around on the tabletop. She stomps her heel and taps the front of her boot dancing to the shanties sung by the sailors on leave as patrons nearby cheer her on. "Get off the bloody table. For Gods sake, you look ridiculous."

"And if I don't?" she practically sings as the fabric of her skirt twirls. "Will you make me?" Another drink is handed to her by an older man with a lazy eye. The two clink their steins and simultaneously chug the amber ale. She slams her empty stein down first and throws a fist into the air. "Boom!" The tavern erupts in cheers and Killian has a wry smile as the crowned princess wipes a foam mustache from her face with the sleeve of her blouse. "So lieutenant, what shall you do?"

Killian rolls his eyes and folds his arms. He knows it's useless to argue, and perhaps one day he'll stop butting heads with her, but the gates of hell would surely ice over before that day arrived. "Get you off that bloody table."

"Oh?" She tilts her head back and forth and places her hands on her hips. Her green eyes glimmer with a challenge. "Prove it."

The tavern fills with the sailors hisses when the lieutenant scoops the dancing blonde into his arms. At first she pouts and pretends to curse the Gods above for him robbing her of a good time.

"You brought this on yourself." He waggles his eyebrows and her pouting subsides into vibrant laughter. Gods he loves her laugh.

"Lieutenant, you truly are a stick in the mud." She latches her fingers behind his neck and buries her head into the lapels of his coat. He stiffens as her giggling vibrates through the fabric of his uniform. Every hair on the back of his neck is now erect. Whenever she touches him it's like a clap of lightning.

"Emma." He swallows hard and looks at her beneath his lashes.

Her intoxicating aroma clouds his sense. She smells like wildflowers, the sea, sunshine, and mead. That knot in his stomach is clenching and he swallows once more when those fingers of hers find his cheeks. She traces patterns along the stubble and sighs something wicked against his chest.

"I knew when they caught wind I was gone that it would be you who'd find me." Her breath is warm on his neck; he shivers.

"Did you now?"

She hums. "I am clairvoyant."

At that, he laughs. "Magic you have, m'lady, but even you cannot predict the future."

"I predict that you shall take me home." She announces flicking his nose.

He nods. "Well, thank the Gods. A future we both can agree upon."

Emma pulls on his hat causing him to shift his weight in a haphazard attempt to tilt it back into place. "I predict you shall not tell my father and mother how much I drank tonight."

He lifts an eyebrow. "A future we do not see eye to eye on."

She drags her bottom lip into her mouth. "I predict you shall-" Her voice trails into a whisper. Something incoherent is said as a pink blush builds on her cheeks.

"I didn't quite catch that last bit, m'lady."

"You're quite handsome. Has anyone ever told you how handsome you are? Even this-" she tugs hard on his ponytail and he winces. Emma bites her bottom lip once more. "I like this the most."

"I thought you preferred attacking my hat." He snickers.

"No. It's the hair." Emma winks. "At night I imagine pulling it often."

"What?" He belts out as a red blush creeps up the nape of his neck.

"Red is a good color on you, lieutenant." She moves her head to his ear ghosting over the lobe. "Let me assure you," she whispers and every bit of his body feels as if it's engulfed in a blazing fire, "it's exactly as impure as you think."

Killian's knees buckle. "Bloody hell."

Laughter. She's laughing and he manages to scowl.

"Really?" She rolls her eyes and snaps her fingers and the next thing he knows they're in the woods. Woods nowhere near the castle with the moon as the solitary light above them.

"You know, Princess, whenever I'm sent to find you we always seem to end up in some sort of woods." Killian puts her down and corrects the collar of his uniform.

"How else can we be alone?"

"How much have you had?" He questions, averting his he could handle, but the bold comments she'd been slinging since he walked through the tavern door were making him nervous.

"Now that we're alone…" She smiles completely ignoring his question. "I need to say that I like you."

His heart skips in his chest. "You're intoxicated."

"No. Well yes. But no. Technically yes, but no- this is not me being drunk. This is me being brave."

Killian takes a step back. He needs distance before he does something idiotic. He needs distance before he's down on one knee professing the feelings he's harbored in secret for over a year.

"Where are you going?" Of course she moves forward and it takes everything in him to keep moving back.

"I'm not going anywhere." If he did what he wanted to do since meeting her, his brother would skin him alive.

"You like me." She's not asking. The confidence in her voice is so alluring. "I know you do."

"I-"

"You do right?" She stops. Something washes over her face. Panic. Fear. Embarrassment. "Oh Gods. You don't?"

"No." He puts his hand up as his eyes grow wide.

She sulks. "You don't?" She's shaking.

"No, I do!" He corrects running a hand through his hair. He doesn't even care that he knocked over his own hat and that it now lays in the mud.

"You do?" She peers up at him with hopeful eyes. Even with the faint flicker of light they sparkle.

"I-"

She snaps her fingers and he's now seated next to her in the dirt. There was no more running. Emma made sure of that. For a moment, all that filled the air was the chirping of crickets. Emma's breathing was even, but Killian's was sporadic with sharp long breaths and pauses. She purses her lips and clenches the fabric of her skirt in her palms.

She inches closer to him. "Share an adventure with me, lieutenant."

"The continent where I was born, my king, he sent my brother on a mission to another realm where nobody ages." He closes his eyes. The first thing that came to mind was his greatest fear. "To find a plant to heal the sick and dying."

"What happened?" She blushes wrapping her fingers with his.

"He lied." Kilian felt the heat radiating from her hand. It made his insides flutter. "It was a deadly poison, and Liam, he... there was a boy. He saved my brother."

"A native?"

He shook his head. "No. A demon. For one favor he saved my brother."

"Is that why you traveled west?"She pauses. "To here, I mean."

"Aye. But time passes by differently in that realm. What was just days there were over 200 years in the Enchanted Forest."

She snorts. "How old shall you be turning this year, lieutenant?"

"222."

Emma laughs. "Shall I tell you a story?"

"If the lady wishes."

Emma leans her head against his shoulder and sighs. "I would count days between seeing you. Mother caught me. It was embarrassing."

He laughs. "Tally marks on the wall?"

"Gods no. Tally marks on parchment under my pillow."

Killian gives her hand a little squeeze. "I never turn down coming to the palace. I would want to see you, even if only for a moment."

"I check the docks from my window first thing every morning." She loosens her fingers from his. "Days your ship was there I would scream into my pillow because I was so excited."

"I drew a portrait of you and hid it in my pocket."

She arches her head to look up at him. "Really?"

He nods. "Aye."

"You make me feel magic." She turns to face him and cups his cheek in her hand. "As silly as that sounds, when I'm with you the world is bright and warm and tingly."

"I-"

She cuts him off by pressing her lips against his. Warmth stretches from the tips of his toes to the top of his head. Soon his hands are tangled in her hair. When she bites on his bottom lip his body shivers. She's moaning his name into his mouth pressing against him till he's laying on his back in the dirt. Hands travel from his face down to the buttons of his shirt. She unclasps one and lets her fingers travel up his chest. The way his skin feels sets her on fire.

"Emma." He whispers against her lips.

"Yes?" She whispers back placing a soft kiss on his temple. Then another. Then one more. For a moment they lay there silently speaking through their eyes. She snaps her fingers and they're outside the palace gates.

"I predict I'm going to kiss you again." She says. "Tomorrow."

"Gods, I hope so."

"Well I'm clairvoyant so it's going to happen." She smiles at him before standing on the tips of her toes to place a kiss on his cheek. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, m'lady."