"Come on brother. Go on the date for me. I've only met the girl once and I'd like to see her again. But I have to go to a meeting on the base. I can't just cancel. "

"Liam, why don't you just be honest with her and tell her that you have something to do with your position in the military. Surely the lass can't be so self involved that she wouldn't understand that your work comes before a second date. You can't just pass her off to me like she's a pair of sneakers that don't fit."

"It wouldn't make a good impression."

"Seriously, you think she's that bad. Guess she's got you whipped right from the start."

"No, of course not. But a decent impression is hard to come by. I could see her fitting with me I think. Come on Killian. The only benefit of being identical twins is the old switcheroo. Remember when we used to do it in school. So that you could get out of biology and I could get out of math?"

"I do remember that indeed. It's a pity you didn't take the math class. The teacher was quite attractive."

"So is that a yes?"

"It did used to be fun. And it would be interesting to see if the lass even notices the difference between us. I'll have to shave though."

"Why? She doesn't know that I don't grow a beard. Perhaps I just shaved for that occasion."

"You make a good point. Fine. I'll do it."

Killian Jones entered the dimly lit restaurant hoping that Emma Swan, his brothers date from last weekend, would already be there and spot him. Otherwise their ruse would be dead in the water from the start. He and Liam had already covered most of the conversation that he and Emma had had so he was caught up and shouldn't be taken off guard. He looked around the restaurant and smiled in relief when a beautiful blonde woman in a tight red dress waved him over. "Emma..."

"Liam. You look different somehow. I almost didn't recognize you for a minute."

"It's probably the facial hair."

"Yeah, that must be it." She smiled as he sat down and looked at his hands uncomfortably. Thankfully she and Liam hadn't really gotten all that close on their last date. He would have had a hard time thinking of conversation topics if he already knew her back story. "So how was work this week Emma?"

"Really? You want to talk about work? Okay. Work was fine. I had a kind of difficult perp but I managed to get him under control and get him turned in. He was a pretty decent payday so I'm pretty happy. Not most jobs that you can work two or three days a week and manage to still get paid well. How was your week at the job?"

"It was good. Spent most of it down on the docks. Prepping my boat for a bit of a trip."

"You didn't mention last time that you had a boat. Did the navy give you time off for that?"

"No, I'm on leave at the moment. Heading back shortly." She looked down at her napkin and smiled. "May I ask what that smile means Swan?" He could have kicked himself for not saying Emma. She was beautiful and she reminded him of a swan. With that being her last name it just came natural that that's what he should call her. But he wasn't himself. He was Liam. "You didn't call me that last time."

"Well it was the first date love. Hardly a time to be too familiar."

"You are certainly different than last week." His smile faded as he remembered that his only roll was to make sure that she liked her brother. His much different brother. His much more straight laced brother. "What do you mean that I'm different from last week."

"Just that you seem more carefree. If I'm being honest you were a little stiff last week. I was on the fence about accepting a second date but sometimes first dates can be a tough thing to judge on because of nerves."

"Aye love. That's what it must be. Nerves." She put her hand on his knee and leaned forward, giving him a generous look at her cleavage in her low cut dress. "Do I not make you nervous anymore? Pity that ended so soon." Her look was positively sinful. He shifted a little in his seat and his knee hit the table, jarring her hand. "I spoke too soon. Apparently I can still make you nervous." He moved again, eager to move himself from her touch. When he had agreed to take his brothers place it had never occurred to him that he might find himself attracted to the woman he was trying to keep interested in his brother. "So the navy must be an interesting job."

"Sometimes. It can be. The life of a bail bonds woman sounds very exciting as well."

"Sometimes. It can be." A smile lit up her face and he had a hard time thinking straight. He was doing this for his brother but somehow, in an instant, he knew that he was never going to be able to see her with Liam. Still he couldn't tell her that she wasn't him. She would probably be angry and he wanted to enjoy whatever time he could have with her. "What do you say we go for a walk Swan? Down by the water maybe?"

"I should have known that the Navy man would have a thing for the water." How he wanted to tell her that his love for the water came from his job as a captain on a fishing boat, and that he Liam's time in the Navy was surprisingly spent mostly away from the water. "Aye love." He smiled as they left the bar and took off towards the beach about a block away. All the anxiety he felt when before faded away as the water hit the shore. The sounds of the ocean soothed him, like they always did. It had been that way since he was a child. "Liam..."

"I'm sorry. What?"

"I said your name like three times. Where were you?"

"Just listening to the ocean." She smiled, the words throwing her. The man that she met the week before seemed so different. His phrasing was different, his smiled was different, and the way that he made her feel was certainly different. If she didn't know better she would think that he was a completely different person. Then it hit her, a snippet of a conversation she'd had with Ruby during the week. She had been the one to set them up initially and she had been digging for information about the guy she'd gone out with. The conversation on the previous date had been good, but mainly first date talk. Career, friends, and a million other simple topics. During the week though she remembered that they hadn't talked much about family so she asked Ruby about it. She mentioned that his mother had passed away a few years before and that he had grown up without his father, and that he had one sibling. A twin brother. It didn't take Emma more than a moment to realize what had happened but she decided that she was going to play with "Liam" for a bit before she let him know that she was on to him. "So Liam, do you have any family?"

"Aye. A brother. Li...Killian."

"Likillian?"

"No. Sorry. Just Killian." They continued walking side by side down the beach, Emma's shoes now in her hands. "Why don't you tell me about him?"

"Who? My brother?"

"Yes. This Killian guy. What does he do for a living?"

"He captains a fishing boat off the shore."

"So you're both water lovers?"

"In our blood you could say. Before our father left, when we were like eight, he had us out on the boat nearly every day. Then one day he was just gone. The love of the water wasn't though. He had ingrained that in us."

"Do you know why he left?"

"Not a clue. Mother didn't talk about it much. She seemed to have an idea but she never let on with me and Li...Killian."

"There's that Likillian again. Everything alright?"

"Yeah, no worries love. Just not something I usually talk about." She smiled and took his hand. "Tell me more about this brother of yours."

"He's my twin. Identical." As soon as it was out of his mouth Killian felt like he'd made a mistake. She was showing way too much interest in his "brother" and now he'd made it a point to tell her that this brother she was so curious about looked exactly like him. Or exactly like Liam. He was having a hard time keeping all this straight in his own head, something he'd never had a hard time with in the past. "Killian, where's Liam."

"What do you mean? I'm Liam."

"Killian, where's Liam. I know that you're not him."

"How can you possibly know that?"

"Well for one thing you don't carry yourself like the military man that I met last week. Your stance is far more casual. Right away tonight you started calling me Swan and love. The man that I met last week called me Emma, and he didn't seem as though he was the type to give nicknames. You look at the water like it's in your blood. While it makes sense that a navy man would feel that way when we talked about it last week I never saw that pull to the water from Liam that I've seen from you. And you keep calling your brother Likillian. As though you're trying to remember what his name is. Since you two were womb-mates I would imagine you've had plenty of time to practice his name." He looked at her, impressed. He should be scared that she would be angry. Yet he wasn't. He felt drawn to her even more now. He and Liam had been running that scam since they were children. The fact that she had seen through it impressed him to know end, although as she pointed out he had made a number of mistakes. "Liam had a meeting."

"So why didn't he just tell me himself instead of sending his brother in his place?"

"I asked him the same thing. He was afraid that if he canceled on your that you'd think he was making excuses. We've done this for years. Essentially I was just acting as a stand in."

"Then we have a problem."

"What's that?" He knew. She was angry because of the scam that they pulled. She would never want to see him or Liam again. "I've met someone else."

"You have? You didn't mention him to me. I mean we've been out together for hours. It would have been good to know."

"Well I didn't know. I thought you were Liam. And it's you that I've met." He stood before her, slightly shocked. He had expected her to be angry but he never expected that she would want to be with him. "I like you Emma but you were supposed to be out with my brother tonight. How do you propose that we tell him that after going on a date with his stand in you've decided not to see him again?"

"Just like that. I don't date guys that I'm not sure about. I only said yes to a second date with Liam because I thought I'd give it another shot. I've been complaining to Ruby a lot lately that I have a lot of first dates but not many second dates. So when my date with Liam didn't go amazingly my first instinct was to say no. But I decided I'd try one more time. See if it was just nerves that made us unable to connect. It wasn't. I was supposed to be here to meet you. At least I think I was. I'm not a rule follower. I like danger and risk. I like spontaneity. I loved that you asked to go down to the beach. Your brother is a very nice guy but he's too stoic, maybe a little bit too stable."

"He ditched your date. Hardly stable love."

"He ditched our date because he had to work. Are you trying to talk me out of liking you more than I liked your brother? Do you want me to continue to date him? Is that what you're trying to say to me here?"

"Not at all. It's not the same for me as it is for for you though Swan. He's just a guy you went out on one date with. He's my brother. I've never put a girl before him and I never will. Not even you. He's all that I have in the world."

"I respect that. So what do you say we go see Liam and talk this out with him. We'll take things from there."

They found Liam back at the apartment that he shared with Killian, sitting on the couch nursing a beer. When they walked through the door he stood, apparently shocked at seeing his brother and the date he had ditched. "Emma..."

"Hi Liam." A smile stretched across her face seeing the discomfort on his. "Something wrong?"

"Not at all. Perfectly right actually." A smile grew slowly on his face and Killian noticed a twinkle in his eye. One that they usually reserved for when they were working a scheme. "What's going on brother?"
"Not exactly sure. Why don't you tell me? Clearly you weren't able to keep the fact that you're not my a secret as evidenced by my date, who had no knowledge of you, standing here with you."

"She's good. She kept tripping me up."

"And?" An awkward silence landed over the room before Emma finally looked at Liam. "You're a nice guy. I don't want you to think that I didn't like you. I did. But I just didn't really feel that thing, that spark with you. I was confused why I didn't feel it last week when we went out but did this week until I figured out that Killian wasn't Liam at all."

"You just figured out that I had a twin?"

"Well Ruby mentioned it."

"Hmm, I wonder why she did that?" Again that twinkle in his eyes. "What are you not telling us brother?"

"Not so fast. How did the date go?" Killian and Emma looked at each other briefly and quickly looked away as they smiled. Liam noticed Killian grow red in the face. It had been ages since he had seen his brother blush and it made him realize that it was time to be completely honest. "Nevermind. I don't need you to tell me. I can see it, and if I know my brother he made you come back here because no matter how much he liked you he wouldn't hurt me if I wanted you."

"You know him well."

"Killian, you thought you were the one that was scheming tonight but it was me." Killian looked at him, confused by what his brother said. "I knew that you wouldn't go out with her if I just said that I wasn't interested. I knew right off last week that Emma would be far better suited to you than to me. Emma talked about her interested in adventure and it was way more up your alley than mine. So I decided that I needed to find a way to set you two up. I convinced you to play me and I talked to Ruby and got her to drop a few hints, enough that would make Emma start doing a little thinking. Apparently my brilliant plan worked." Emma and Killian stood in shock, unable to process what they'd just heard. "So you wanted me to like her?"

"I knew that you would. She's a lovely girl brother and she'd be lucky to have you." With a firm pat on his back Liam left the room, leaving Killian and Emma alone in the living room. "Can you believe that brother of mine?"

"That was quite the risk he took. What if I wasn't as smart as he thought that I was?"

"I don't think that was a possibility. So what do you say? Do you want to go on a second second date with me?"

"I think I will." She smiled and took his hand. She could tell that this was the start of something new and special. And she had Liam to thank for that.