A/N: So this is the last chapter of this little fic, thank you again for all the kudos and comments if you left them. They really helped to motivate me to write this journey for these two and I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did!
6 Years Later
Emma sat in her uncomfortable plastic seat in her cap and gown as the sun beat down above her head. She knew her parents, Killian and his mother and brother, and Elsa's family were all in the stadium somewhere looking for her tell tale blonde curls peeking out from under her graduation cap. Her tassel hung in her face when she tried to spot Elsa in the crowd, their friendship had grown in the six years it had taken them to complete their undergrad and graduate work. Emma sat with the rest of the Masters of Social Work grads and Elsa in the political science group, the two of them were able to make eye contact and smirk at each other as the keynote speaker droned on about their impending futures. She busied herself trying to spot some familiar faces in the crowd, knowing it was probably useless but she could feel them there; her family all their to celebrate her success and hard work. Emma was shaken from her thoughts when the university president took his turn at the podium, commencement had to be coming to a close soon, she tried to look attentive as the older man spoke and then he said the words Emma had been waiting for 2 and a half hours to hear.
"And now I hereby grant you the degrees of doctorate in philosophy, master of arts, master of science, bachelor of arts, and bachelor of science. Congratulations graduates of the Berkeley class of 2016, you may now move your tassels from the right side to the left!"
Emma laughed as she moved her tassel before throwing her cap up into the air with a cheer, it was over. Next week she would be moving to Boston to start her career in social work, Killian would be coming too as he was going to Boston University for his Phd in Marine Biology. After six long years of long distance dating, they were finally going to live together. They had found a cozy apartment with a distant view of the harbor from their living room. Emma was pulled out of her thoughts of moving into her new place when Elsa tackle hugged her from behind.
"We did it!" Elsa squealed, she had come a long way from the shy girl she was when Emma first met her, Elsa had turned into a confident woman who was on her way to New York to work for an asexuality advocacy organization.
"I know! Only took us six years to do it," Emma laughed and hugged her friend. They set off in the direction of the parking lot, everyone had already decided to meet up at Ingrid's house after commencement was over so they could avoid the mob of people on the field.
Killian launched himself at Emma, lifting her up and spinning her, almost as soon as she got out of the car outside Ingrid's house.
"Congratulations love," he beamed at her as he set her down.
"Thank you," Emma smiled and spotted her father barreling towards her.
"We're so proud of you squirt," David said as he enveloped her in a big bear hug.
"So proud," Mary Margaret echoed as she joined in on the hug.
"Thanks but you're crushing me," Emma gasped, their tight hugs making it difficult to breath. "Come on let's go inside."
Ingrid, Mary Margaret, and Rose had decorated the living room with a large banner saying 'Congrats Grads!' and pictures of Emma, Elsa, and (since his graduation had been the week before) Killian's previous graduations and large trays of food for everyone. Ingrid, Anna, and Kristoff rushed towards Elsa and hugged her as soon as they walked in the door, Emma spotted Rose and Liam coming out of the kitchen with even more food, they smiled at her from across the room, and Emma let all of the love in the room wash over her. She went over to help Rose and Liam set out the rest of the food and drinks, she spied Killian pulling her father aside. She was distracted by Anna quickly absorbing her and Elsa in conversation, her perky energy was nearly contagious as she described her upcoming junior year at Chapman University pulling Emma's focus.
Killian snaked his arm around her waist later in the party, looking very happy about something, "Enjoying the festivities love?"
"Yeah, but not as much as you it seems," Emma answered.
"What do you mean?"
"Just that you seem really happy about something," Emma explained.
"Can't I just be proud of my wonderful girlfriend's accomplishments?" he said before pulling her in for a kiss. Emma knew he was being evasive but couldn't keep asking as she was then whisked away by her parents and Ingrid to take pictures of her and Elsa in their caps and gowns.
It was a lazy Sunday in Boston; they had slept in and made pancakes for breakfast, thankful to have the day together before a busy week of work and classes and the never ending battle with student loans. Killian sat at their kitchen table; books, notebooks, and his laptop strewn all over the surface. His comps were coming up and he spent almost every moment he could studying, Emma understood she got the same one track mindedness when she was studying for her exams at Berkeley. She had decided to get some laundry done since it was starting to pile up and took it to the laundromat around the corner from their apartment building. She heaved the laundry basket up the stairs and through the front door.
"Hey Swan," Killian called from the kitchen, he was getting another pot of coffee going, "Want a cup?"
"No I'm fine, how's the studying?" she asked folding herself into his arms. Even after all the highs and lows of six years of long distance dating, Emma hadn't expected them to fall into domestic bliss so quickly after moving in together. They had made a rhythm for themselves, finding ways to stay in touch with each other even of their busiest of busy days and finding comfort in each other when things got too hard.
"Brutal but I think I've stuffed every last bit of information about various plankton into my head, want some help putting away the laundry?"
"No I've got it, it's mostly my clothes anyway and some of your gym clothes and socks. Nothing I can't handle," Emma shrugged.
"Emma I can't let you handle my socks, what kind of man would I be?"
"Killian it's fine, we've been living together for six months I can handle putting away your socks," Emma said, her internal alarm bells going off.
"No you just lugged all of this to the laundromat, really I can fold and put everything away it's only fair Swan," Killian said a little too quickly.
"Are you hiding something?" Emma scrunched her brows together.
"What? No! Of course not," Killian tried to play it casual. Emma took off towards their bedroom, determined to find out what he was hiding. "Swan wait!" Killian called running after her. Emma wrenched open the drawer, pushing aside the folded up socks only to find a small black velvet box. She gasped and she heard Killian come into the room behind her, she turned to him the box in hand.
"Is this what I think it is?" she asked.
"Open it and find out," Killian said. Emma opened the box, an engagement ring looked back at her, her jaw dropped and she looked back at Killian, "Swan before you freak out just know that I was planning to wait a few months before asking you, but I saw this ring the other day and I knew it was meant for you. Now I understand if you want to wait, we just moved to new city, we both have mountains of student loan debt, you just started a new job and I'm still in school so if you want I won't ask you until you're ready."
Emma looked back down at the ring and swallowed, "I'm ready."
"What?" Killian asked, a widely smile brightening up his face.
"I'm ready, if you wanted to ask me, I'm definitely ready," Emma answered handing him the ring box.
"Good because I've been ready for this since we decided to move out here," Killian said before dropping down to one knee. "So Emma, we've been friends since we were six, dating since we were eighteen, and these past six years have been the best of my life. Even through all the twists and turns of long distance, I knew that I wanted a future with you and I was never going to let that go. Would you consider being my wife for the rest of our lives so that we could have that future together? Will you marry me?"
"Yes of course I will," Emma smiled through the tears that were beginning to prick at her eyes.
Killian's smile grew as he slid the ring onto her finger before standing up and wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing her deeply. Emma wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling herself closer to him and kissing him back with all her worth, ready for the next adventure with him and everything that went along with it.