Emma came to a stop as she saw Killian leaning against the wall next to the entrance of the station. She furrowed her brows in confusion. He had told her that he'd grab a beer with David and she had expected to see him back at the loft when she got home.
In the next moment Killian looked up and gave her a little smile, pushing away from the wall leisurely. The movement was so casual and normal that it suddenly hit her. He had come to pick her up.
Emma put her things in her little yellow backpack as slowly as possible. Her shabby brown textbook, the cheap plastic pen.
"Could you hurry up, Miss Swan?" came the obviously irritated voice of the teacher standing at the door and waiting to lock up.
Emma's full lips twitched downwards and she dipped her head slightly so that her blonde hair fell over her shoulder and hid her little pale face. She weighed her options for a few seconds before deciding that the last thing she needed was for Mrs Greene to be mad at her. Swinging her backpack over her bony shoulder she walked quickly out of the room and marched down the empty hall with as much confidence as she could muster.
She kept her steady pace until she came outside, stopping on top of the school's steps. The school yard was an intense shade of green under the bright sunshine. It was full of kids running after their siblings, tugging on their mothers' arms and begging for ice-cream or using their fathers' broad shoulders for a piggyback ride. It all reminded her of a hive. Noisy and chaotic and alien to anyone on the outside. And she was always on the outside. There was never anyone waiting for her at the bottom of those steps, no one she could throw her arms around, no one she could babble about her day to.
Emma bowed her head, blocking out the world. She guessed it was logical. She wasn't going home hence there was no one here to pick her up. There was no home. There was no one. She made her way through the yard, trying to avoid the hive so that she didn't get stung.
"Are you alright, luv?"
Killian's concerned voice brought Emma back to the present. She shook her head and tried to blink back the moisture that had gathered in her eyes when she realized that he was now standing right in front of her, a confused frown marring his gorgeous features.
"Yeah," she said, clearing her throat and giving him a hesitant but genuine smile. "Yeah, I'm fine."
"Yeah?" he looked at her in that way, the one that let her know that he was probably reading every thought that was going through her head right now.
She stared back. She wanted him to know. She just didn't want to be the one to tell him. It felt stupid, childish, to get so emotional over the fact that he had waited outside for her to finish work. It was stupid. But that didn't make her feel any less warm inside.
The pirate pursed his lips, as if contemplating whether or not to keep pursuing the issue, but in the end he settled for coming to stand next to her and offering her his arm.
"Ready to go home?" he asked, putting just enough emphasis on the word to let her know that he realized the weight it carried for her. And that he felt the exact same way.
Emma felt the butterflies in her stomach twirl around in pure exhilaration. She had always preferred them to bees.
"Can I get a piggyback ride?" she asked, her voice holding just a hint of hesitation, overshadowed by the barely restrained giddiness, and her lips twitching upwards.
The man beside her lifted an amused eyebrow, cheerfulness and absolute adoration lighting up his blue eyes, before he stepped in front of her. Turning his head around, he grinned at her.
"Giddyup, princess!"