A/N: I took a short break from the internet there last month and my motivation suffered... So I figured producing nothing was better than producing shit. But hey, big chapter now!

The first days of camp flew by until Killian couldn't distinguish one from the next. He and Victor tag-teamed their responsibilities, switching off their breakfast monitoring duties and manning the rock wall during free time periods. He found that they got along well and had similar working habits—always good characteristics in a partnership.

Slowly but surely he got into the swing of the camp lifestyle and ways of doing things. Some things still tripped him up randomly though. Like when all the kids started screaming in unison and banging their silverware on the tables in the mess hall during meals.

"What in the bloody hell is going on?" he had asked no one in particular when it happened the first time.

"It's a stupid game they play," Philip answered bemusedly. "They all secretly watch a boy and a girl they think like each other and then do this—" he gestured to the general raucous "—when they finally look at each other."

"Basically preteen shipping." Ruby grinned at him from across the table before joining in on the yelling.

"And who, may I ask, are they 'shipping'today?" Killian asked.

"Looks like Caroline and…" she craned her neck and raised herself off the bench to see over to the far wall where the voices were loudest. She laughed humorlessly. "Henry."

Philip scoffed. "Idiot kids don't know what they're talking about."

"Everybody knows Henry has a thing for Grace." Ruby answered his unspoken question and smiled her trademark feral grin.

Truthfully he hadn't noticed anything of the sort, but then again he hadn't really been paying much attention to the love lives of the campers. He had enough of his own problems in that department. He and Emma were self-labeled friends now, but that didn't seem to actually mean much beyond polite surface interactions during the occasional cohabitation of the same room. Emma usually found some excuse to flee soon enough and Killian was beginning to bemoan his honorable intentions.

Peering through a break in the crowd, Killian spotted Henry lightly punching a couple of his mates on the shoulders and rolling his eyes. Definitely not the reaction of a boy actually caught in his crush.

Philip sighed wistfully. "That's how Aurora and I started dating."

"Yeah, that was fucking annoying." Ruby scoffed and took a giant bite of her burger.

"Whoa, there! Just because we're not all so—how can I put this delicately? Forthright—in our affections as you and Vic—"

"Ha! Talk about forthright, now all you and Aurora do is fuck each other with your eyes," Ruby said around mouthfuls of hamburger, making her words somehow even more vulgar. She swallowed and turned to smile broadly at Killian, little bits of hamburger bun falling out of her mouth. "How about you Killian? What's your style for getting the girl?"

Killian's eyes widened fractionally but he recovered straight away. "Oh, the usual, I suppose. Roguish good looks. The accent doesn't hurt either, I've found." He wiggled his eyebrows.

Ruby just rolled her eyes, apparently unaffected by his charms. Her smile was just a little too condescending, a little too knowing, for his likes. "Sure, Romeo. But have you got your sights set on anyone lately?" Oh god, she knew.

Phil looked up from tray interestedly. "Yeah, Killian. Everybody loves a good summer romance now and again."

"Jeeze, you lot are as bad as the kids over there!" Killian knew he was getting defensive but telling the truth was out of the question.

"What's this I hear about romance?" Victor clapped him on the back as he sat down in the seat next to him. Killian buried his face in his hands in muted anguish.

"Killian here was just telling us about his crush," Ruby supplied helpfully.

"Oh, leave my probie alone!"

"Thank you, mate—"

"Besides, we all know it's Emma."

"Oi! Some friend you are…" Killian grumbled as he slouched a little more in his seat.

"Interesting development…" Philip eyed him curiously.

"Is not. Now shut up, all of you," he huffed.

It made no difference though, Ruby had already started a low chorus of "Killian and Emma sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes love, then comes marriage…"

He stormed off from the table and their howls of laughter, which were thankfully quickly overpowered by the continued roar of the lunchtime rush.

"Hey, Swan, mind if I join you today?"

Emma jumped; she hadn't noticed Killian casually leaning against the wall beside her. To calm her racing heartbeat, she briefly rested her forehead on the planks of the boat shack and pleaded for patience.

"Why do you have to sneak up on me like that?"

He grinned and began stretching, reaching down to touch his feet. "Gotta keep you on your toes, love."

Emma narrowed her eyes at him. "Is that supposed to be funny?"

"Well I thought it was quite clever."

She crossed her arms and stared at him as he stretched. "I never said yes, you know."

"Ah, but you were about to!" He looked up at her through his eyelashes and winked.

She considered him for a moment. Usually Emma preferred to run alone and use the time to clear her head. She'd blocked out the hour after lunch in her schedule just for that purpose—well, that and because the staff had all agreed that kids going into the water on a full stomach just ended badly for everyone within vomit range.

Emma knew that Killian had this time free also (the ban on after-lunch activities was extended to all exercise-related stations), and she had, until this point, managed to evade his leading questions and casual reminders that he wasn't busy after lunch. Even with their slowly burgeoning friendship, she still felt the need to distance herself somewhat from Killian. Spending too much time together gives the wrong idea to people—both those inside the relationship and outside it. But, Emma though wryly, she could actually use his help today.

She resumed her warmup and stretched out her shoulders. "Fine. But you're gonna have to work, too. I left a few kayaks on the other dock across the lake this morning and we have to bring them back."

Killian actually looked surprised that she'd agreed so readily before quickly replacing his cocky grin. "See, you need me!"

"Keep telling yourself that, buddy." Emma reached her arms down until her hands were flat on the ground, keeping her legs straight. And okay, she may have angled it so her ass was on full display for him. But hey, sometimes she likes to see him squirm.

And squirm he did. She heard him cough and suddenly the glass pane of the window on the boat shack was very interesting to him. He spent a full minute holding his left elbow out in front of him to stretch the shoulder, while he completely forgot the other side.

"So." She stood up fully and began swinging her arms to loosen them up some more. "Since we're only going halfway, we can take the longer path to the other dock. I've never actually bothered to figure out how long that is, but I think it's somewhere around 3 miles. Then we'll tie the kayaks together in two groups and tow them back over here. That sound okay to you?"

He nodded. "Sure thing, love."

"Good. Let's get going then, shall we?" Emma pointed to the trailhead that was just beyond the far wall of the boat shack.

They began jogging at an easy pace to warm up and soon she felt that soothing quietness that comes from sustained exertion seep into her bones. She hadn't even noticed that she'd been frowning slightly until her face relaxed, unfurrowing her brows along with it. Killian allowed her to set the pace and she found herself steadily going faster until they were running at her normal speed. The light filtered in through the trees lining the path and she caught glimpses of sunbeams rippling on the surface of the lake. She'd been using this trail for years and it was by far her favorite in the world. Hardly anyone even knew about it, mostly just the other staffers and a few adventurous campers, and of those, none went on it regularly except her.

Just as they reached the halfway point from the other dock—a scraggly willow that's bent almost all the way into the water—she chanced a look over at her running buddy. He was breathing heavily, but not hard enough to signify discomfort, and gazing at the earthen ground ahead of them. His eyes were focused and there was a determined set to his jaw that had Emma wondering what he was thinking about. She looked at Killian for barely a second before she snapped her eyes back on the path, but somehow he noticed. He laughed breathlessly, but he didn't call her out on it or do anything else, and she unconsciously increased the speed of her footfalls.

Emma finally realized they were practically sprinting when they fly by the mouth of a stream that means they're almost to the dock. She could just make out the faded orange paint of the kayaks bobbing next to the dark wood. Not wanting to be completely out of breath once they get there (and realizing that there's actually no reason to push herself now, they still have to tow the boats back, after all), she slowed her pace until they were both jogging only a smidge faster than when they started out. They came to a rest in front of the shabby dock and Killian immediately bent over and rested his hands on the tops of his thighs, panting heavily. He rolled forward in what she hopes is a controlled fall, and settled loosely cross-legged with his arms propping him up from behind. It has to be at least a full five minutes before he'd calmed down enough to speak, and when he did his voice was a husky growl that would cloud her vision with lust if she wasn't still winded herself. Even so, she stills her harried pacing and turns to stare at him.

"How is it that I always find myself in a race at this camp?" Killian closed his eyes and turned his face to the sky, basking in the warm sunlight. He inhaled through his nose for the first time since they started running and she forces herself to do the same. "At least this time I have a much prettier opponent."

She laughs at that and the corners of his lips twitch in response as he cracks an eyelid open to watch her. "What, Vic isn't your type? He'll be crushed."

When he doesn't reply any further she nudges him with the nose of her running shoe. "Get up, lazy bum. Come on, there's a potable water tap back in the trees we can drink from."

Sighing melodramatically, he flopped over onto all fours and he slowly brings himself to a standing position. "Lead the way, my lady."

It's cooler under the cover of the trees and she shivers as the sweat on her skin abruptly turns icy. Thankfully that also means the water is cold and she greedily slurped from the faucet. Once she'd had her fill she steps back to let Killian drink. The water droplets clung to his beard and Emma had to physically stop herself from reaching up to wipe them away when he stood up and grinned stupidly at her. She settles for pointing and laughing.

"Bad form to make fun of a humble man, Swan," he said, though his smile only grew wider at her giggles. "I believe you said something about some kayaks that needed attending to?"

It was her turn to sigh now, and she made a face as she reluctantly stepped back into the direct sunlight.

"'Kay, you can take three and I'll take three. Make sure to tie them with secure knots." She began untying several of the kayaks that she'll be taking and left him to do the same.

"And you were going to bring all these back yourself?"

Her brows furrow as she registers his incredulous tone but she doesn't stop working at the knot with her fingers. "Mhmm. What, think I couldn't do it?"

"No, it's not that… Just impressive, is all. I'd imagine these create quite the drag behind them." Emma looks over to see him bent over the edge of the dock, working on untying one of the ropes. She shrugs.

"I'm used to it." Emma goes back to her own work but soon feels the inexplicable need to share more with him and she resumes talking. "I don't get outside all that much during the year so I like to get as much exercise as I can in during the summers."

"And what is it that you do normally? No offense, but I can't really see you as a teacher like most of the other counselors."

She shakes her head and scoffs. "Ha. Yeah, no. I'm a recruiter for a high school study abroad program. I decided long ago that while I liked working with children, teaching was not for me. But I like what I do. I travel a lot—sometimes overseas, but mostly within the states."

Killian peered over at her. "Sounds kind of lonely."

She shrugged again. "It can be. But I have a partner on trips usually, and when I go to a city that one of my friends from camp lives in I can stay with them and hang out. I get to talk to kids about what they want to do with their futures and help them make plans to see the world. It's nice."

He looked over at her like he wanted to say something but went back to work on his knot instead.

"Got it!" She tied the last of the kayaks together and quickly dropped herself down into one to begin the paddle back to camp. "Last one there has to wash the lifejackets!"

"Not fair, Swan!"

She cackled gleefully all the way back to the other side of the lake, and then again as Killian was dunking the smelly lifejackets into buckets of soapy water with a scowl on his face.

David paused in his rummaging through his fanny pack and looked over at her with a frown. "Sure you'll be okay?"

Emma sighed exasperatedly. "Yes! Everything'll be fine. I'll hold down the fort, don't worry."

"But you said you're not feeling well…"

"I said I was feeling a little sluggish and I'd just sit this one out. We go on camping trips every week, it's not like I'm missing much. And you don't need every counselor along to keep everybody in line."

David still looked skeptical but nonetheless he continued searching his bag until he found the tube of cortisone that he'd been looking for. "I guess…"

"Look," she said, holding his shoulders with both of her hands. "I'm fine. Granny and Leroy will be here too, so there's no reason for you to worry about me. Go, have fun. Be the boy scout you always wished you could be."

He looked a little offended by that, but reluctantly agreed. "Okay, but keep your radio on you at all times." Emma rolled her eyes but nodded anyway. "We'll be back around noon tomorrow because we have to hike back—"

"Dude, I've done this trip a million times too, ya know. If you say one more thing about it I'm gonna tell everyone about that time at Ruth's brother's house when you—" David clapped his hand over her mouth and looked around furtively for anyone within earshot. He gave a satisfying yelp and jumped back when she licked his hand.

"We're going, we're going!" He wiped his hand on his jeans and then turned to the large group assembled behind them with their backpacks. "Okay everybody, let's get going! Robin's the last one out, everybody get a move on!"

And with that they slowly filed away in a semi-organized blob into the woods. Chuckling to herself, Emma turned away from the clearing and walked back to her cabin. Truthfully she felt like crap. But she wasn't going to tell David that much and risk him getting all worked up about nothing. Emma knew how to take care of herself when she was sick and she did damn fine on her own.

Once she reached the cabin she immediately stripped herself of her clothes and settled beneath the covers of her bunk. Ever since she was little she could always stop herself from actually getting sick if she just allowed her body to sleep through it. She supposed it was a natural defense built up from years of having no one there to nurse her back to health when she fell ill. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth or potentially jinx it, Emma tried not to question it too much.

She really was quite tired and so she snuggled herself deep into her blanket and soon drifted into a hazy unconsciousness.

When she woke it was dark and the shadows from the moonlight seeping in through the open windows looked threatening. Emma tried to sit up and find a drink of water but stopped when the blanket slipped down her torso and she shivered violently. Covering herself up again, she tried to weigh her options.

Everything hurt. Her throat felt like it had a softball in it every time she tried to swallow and her limbs felt useless. There was an incessant ringing in her ears that was quickly transforming into a killer headache. Emma didn't try, but she knew that she wouldn't have the energy to stand, much less walk anywhere. She felt like there was some key piece of information that was just out of her grasp but try as she did she couldn't figure out what it was that she was missing.

Ultimately she decided the only thing to do was to go back to sleep and hope that whatever this was would work itself out of her system. She pulled the too-thin flannel blanket up to her ears and willed her body to relax.

When she next opened her eyes she hadn't even realized that she'd been sleeping before. This time she was sure that something had woken her. Emma stared up at the wood ceiling above her and tried to get her vision to focus.

Just then a resounding crash echoed out through the room and she screwed her eyes shut at the force of the sound. The next thing she knew a warm hand was touching her forehead and her eyes flew open at the contact.

"What the hell?" Or at least that's what she tried to say—her voice was terribly raspy and it actually came out as more of a high-pitched wheeze.

Killian's hazy face frowned down at her. "Lass, you're burning up. You've got a fever."

She squinted her eyes at him and shook her head slightly. "'M fine."

His frown deepened and through her headache she saw the glint in his eyes shift from worried to pissed off. "No. You're not. You don't have any water in here—I checked. And you had the windows wide open so the wind was coming straight in. It's cold in here and you're sick."

He sighed and stood up from his kneeling position at her bedside. Time seemed to be working strangely for Emma because it seemed like he was gone for no time at all before he reappeared in her line of sight holding a first aid kit.

"I'm going to take your temperature now, love. Open your mouth a bit." He stuck the thermometer in through her parted chapped lips and she tried not to gag at the feeling. When it beeped (shrilly, might she add) he took it out and pulled a face when he read the numbers on the screen. "103. Emma, you're really hot."

Abstractly, she realized that his lack of implied innuendo in that statement meant that he was actually serious and she should probably be concerned.

Killian sighed and looked behind his shoulder at something she couldn't see. "Look, I've already closed the windows but it's not getting any warmer in here for a while." Emma didn't quite know what he was getting to, she already knew the weather was abnormal. She was under a goddamn blanket in the middle of June, for Christ's sake.

"I'm going to take you back to my cabin. It's warm there."

Emma's eyes widened. "I'm fine, Killian! I swear, I j-just need to sleep this off… I've had way higher temperatures before." she croaked and pulled the blanket a little tighter around herself.

Killian's frown deepened until his whole face was scrunched together. It probably would have made Emma laugh if the thought alone of laughter didn't make her exhausted.

He stared at her squinting eyes for a few seconds. "You know that doesn't actually make me feel any better, right?"

Killian didn't give her a chance to respond or protest before he tucked the edges of the blankets underneath her more securely and slid his arms beneath her back and her knees. He lifted her up in one smooth motion and she squeaked in surprise.

"What are you doing?" She tried to sound harsh but it ended up sounding more breathless than anything.

"I told you, taking you to my cabin. I figured you were too weak to walk on your own so I'm going to carry you." He stepped through the door and kicked it shut with his heel before carefully walking down the stairs to the path below. Emma shivered when a breeze whistled past and she unconsciously tucked her face into the crook of Killian's neck.

"It's not actually that cold out. It's pretty normal for this time of night," he mused, not deterred when he didn't get a response. "I guess Granny and Leroy went into town for supplies and David couldn't get through on the phone lines. He sent me back to check on you when you weren't answering your radio. He would have come himself but Mary Margaret convinced him that he was needed at the campout."

"He worries too much," she grumbled from his shirt collar.

"Aye, I suppose he probably does," Killian said softly. "But when you care about someone, you do whatever it takes…"

Emma was drifting in and out of consciousness by the time they reached the entrance to his cabin. When he kicked the door open she started and almost punched him in the gut by accident. Luckily her punches didn't carry much weight at the moment.

"Easy now, Swan," he murmured, laying her down on a mattress. It really was warmer in here, she reluctantly admitted to herself. That didn't mean that she could stop herself from shivering violently though. Killian carefully tucked another blanket on top of her and stood back up. "I don't want to put anymore blankets on you in case you overheat."

"S' c-cold…"

Killian frowned again and looked around the room to try and find something else that could help warm her up. Coming up empty, he shrugged and toed off his hiking boots.

Hearing the twin thuds on the floor, Emma looked over to see Killian undressing. "What-what are you d-doing?" she spluttered.

"Relax, Swan, I'm not fully nude." He winked and patted his boxer-clad thighs as proof. "Nothing you haven't seen before anyway. But the fewer layers between us, the better for heat transfer."

"K-killian, I—"

"Shh, Emma. You need to break the fever and the only way to do that without suffocating you is if I help." He smiled at her and looked extremely proud of his idea.

"I'm…not—"

Paying no mind to her babblings, Killian strode back over to the bunk and carefully adjusted her so there was room for him to fit on the bed too. He quickly lifted the covers and before she could do more than gasp at the sudden cold air, he nestled in close to her. She felt the heat radiating off him immediately and it was the warmest she'd felt all night. He hissed when her cold fingers and toes made contact with his skin but made no move to retreat. Without even realizing what she was doing, Emma molded herself to him and greedily leeched off his body heat.

"Erm, love…Not that I'm complaining, but are you wearing any clothes?"

"Just underwear. Tried to tell you…" His cocoon of comforting warmth was quickly lulling her to sleep and her eyelids drooped heavily. Just before she was pulled under she felt the deep vibration of his laugh under her cheek where it was resting on his chest and then the softest brush of his fingers through her hair.

For the third time in who knows how many hours, Emma woke disoriented. Although this time was for very different reasons than before. Because while she still felt a little muddled, she knew that she wasn't sick anymore. However, her surroundings greatly confused her. This wasn't her cabin and this was definitely not her bed.

But the most surprising thing was the hand on her boob. The very male, very warm hand. On her boob. Which was only covered by a bra. Thank god at least she was wearing a bra, she supposed.

Becoming more and more aware, Emma quickly realized that she had awoken because she was too hot. The blankets had long been kicked off, but the human furnace of a man spooning her from behind was apparently not so smoothly discarded.

"Killian!" she hissed while attempting to angle her neck so she could sneak a glance at him. He just mumbled nonsense at her and pulled her even closer.

Well screw waking him up gently. This time she forced her voice to normal conversation volume. "Jones, wake up."

At first she was rewarded with more deep, even breaths and she thought she'd failed, but after a few seconds Killian stiffened and she felt him turn his head from where it had been resting on her hair.

"Emma?"

"Morning, cupcake," she replied dryly. "Mind removing your hand?"

"My hand—oh!" He quickly pulled his arm back and rolled away from her, apparently too quickly because she heard a muted thump when he hit the floor. "Ow."

Emma breathed a sigh of relief once his overbearing warmth wasn't surrounding her. She slowly sat up and leaned against the wall behind the bed. She chuckled as she saw him rubbing his head, messing up his hair even further. It reminded her of when she first met him; she'd woken him up quite suddenly then, too.

Killian glanced up at her sheepishly. "Um, how are you feeling?"

"All better," she said with a small smile.

He nodded and rubbed the back of his neck. "Excellent. That's really…good."

Emma looked up at the clock that was above every cabin's door. "6:05," she read aloud. "There shouldn't be anyone around still. I'm gonna run back to my cabin before anyone sees me."

Killian stood up at the same time she did. "You can't go outside like that! You'll catch another cold."

"Seriously, I'm fine. It's not that far."

He padded over to a dresser on the far side of the room and opened a drawer. "Here, at least take some of my clothes." He tossed her a dark blue t-shit and some sweatpants before she could answer.

She unfurled the t-shirt and examined it skeptically. "Royal Navy?"

The tips of his ears reddened noticeably and he shrugged. "My brother."

She raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything more. The shirt was incredibly soft so she relented. When she began to dress he pointedly looked away, which she thought was hilarious since not two minutes ago he was groping her in his sleep.

"Um, thank you. For…" she searched for the right words but couldn't find the ones to appropriately match the situation. "Taking care of me, I guess."

"It was my pleasure, love." At her raised brow he hastily continued, "I mean, I'm glad I could help. And that you didn't get brain damage from your fever."

"Please, it wasn't that bad." She waved off his concern and plucked up her blanket from the floor. "Well, thanks, Killian. You should get some sleep before the campers come back this afternoon. You probably didn't sleep that well last night with my elbow in your ribs, right?"

"Actually I slept quite well." Again he seemed to realize only too late what he had implied and swiftly moved to the door to open it for her. "But you're right, I could probably do with another couple hours before the munchkins return," he said, yawning for effect.

Emma headed past him out the door and onto the dewy grass outside. Still walking forward, she turned around and waved the blanket in the air. "See you later, Jones!"

Long after she'd crossed the lawn and reached her own cabin, Killian flopped face-first onto his bed which now smelled like Emma Swan and groaned loudly.

"She's going to be the death of me."