The Monster Within

Chapter 10

(This chapter takes place during Henry's date)

Emma begins cooking dinner for just her and Killian as her son is out for the night. She begins heating oil on the stove and has to wipe a few tears from her eyes. She cannot believe her son is going out on a date. It seems only yesterday she and Neal brought him home from the hospital. They were in a bad part of Boston at the time in the tiniest apartment imaginable. Both were struggling to make ends meet and they were basically sharing a pull away couch in the front room because that's where it was warm. Henry ended up sleeping in an old stroller and a used baby carrier for the first few months of his life. That is until Neal managed to get a promotion at one of his jobs, allowing them to move to a safer part of town. The apartment was big enough that Henry could have his own room and they bought a second-hand crib. Once Emma managed to get a more stable job after Henry turned one, they moved again. Emma wanted for them to buy a house so their son could grow up like many young children, but Neal says that would cause them both to declare bankruptcy. When Henry was five, they moved to the apartment they lived in now, which was much more spacious. It became even more so after Neal left.

Emma puts on some chicken to fry and feels the baby kick. She knew that she would have to move, hopefully, this time to a house. Their family was growing. If she was honest with herself, she should have moved a long time ago, a place with more space for her and her teenage son... it's just that she felt so comfortable in the apartment and didn't want to move.

Her mind begins to wander. She wondered if Killian would want to move in with them. He kind of already had, but again, they were still in the very early stages of their relationship. For the longest time, Emma never went past one-night stands and now, she was carrying her boyfriend's baby and he was basically becoming part of her everyday life. It was a lot to process. She had yet to bring this problem up with Archie. Her whole life she'd always been on the move and built up the walls to protect herself from getting hurt, but now she had to start thinking about the future. The future of her son, the future of her daughter and her future... with Killian.

She begins making a stir-fry dish with various vegetables and remains so lost in thought she doesn't hear Killian come in.

He removes his coat and has an urge to surprise Emma with a hug from behind. He swallows and his mind flashes back to the last time he tried that, she screamed and unintentionally slapped him in self-defence. His heart aches slightly and then remembered what Archie told them, to let her come to him. He goes to the fridge and pulls out a bottle of water. He waits for his lovely Swan to turn around. Even the back of her was beautiful. Her hair shines in the light of the kitchen and her entire body seems to glow. Her body was changing to accommodate the baby, but she still had curves that turned and shifted as she moved about the kitchen.

She eventually turns to see him, she's slightly surprised but then she smiles.

"Was he nervous?" she asks about Henry.

"Aye."

"Did you give him any advice?"

"Just to always be a gentleman to her, it goes a long way."

Emma cocks her head to the side. "I had no idea you were so old-fashioned."

"The one good thing that my father taught me was to respect those you love and always be polite when courting a woman."

Emma becomes curious. Even though they were practically living together, neither of them had really told their backstories. She could only recall bits and pieces of his childhood, but not much else. Her mind goes back to what Dr. Hopper suggested about just talking. She swallows. Her life and childhood were anything but happy, being abandoned by her birth parents on the side of a highway, being in the foster system all her life, her life of rejection and crime, her teenage pregnancy with Neal. It all seemed like a mess, something she didn't exactly want to revisit.