#this is a big day for me. way bigger than beating teen pregnancy or whatevs

[autism-corner]

tranniversary <3

[ivy-stjames]

I’LL TAKE CARE OF YOU → ivy + julien

WHO: @ivystjamess && @julien-schuester WHERE: the shawnee country club pool WHEN:  tuesday morning, july seventh WHAT:  ivy has a big secret and an even bigger mouth. with julien being the only other one around, she can’t help but both literally and figuratively spill her guts. 

possible tws: pregnancy mention, teen pregnancy, vomit mention.

IVY:  THE SKY WAS BURNT A SHADE OF RED THAT ONLY MEANT DAWN WAS BREAKING. if not for her sour mood, she might have enjoyed the pretty shade. tired from a long night of bickering with both julien schuester and her boyfriend, ivy st.james stood slumped and reluctant at the pools edge. she didn't often work mornings at shawnee, yet there she stood, fishing trash and leaves from the pool and preparing for a full and busy day. unfortunately for her, despite their blow out, julien stood nearby, net also in hand. usually ivy really liked work, she liked getting to spend the time with julien, but today she was giving him the full blown silent treatment. that was probably for the best though. julien just looked hungover. and ivy? well ivy was experiencing some nasty morning sickness, but from an outsider perspective, she probably seemed just as hungover as the male besides her. she worked in silence, yawning and tossing the occasional glare in julien's direction as if to silently tell him 'you missed a leaf'. the sloshing of the pool water and the back and forth morion of the net weren't doing much for the overwhelming nausea she felt. ivy felt like she could collapse at any moment. she was sweating way too much for the sun to not be fully out yet. eventually, ivy stopped fishing out any muck from the water as she struggled to get a grip. it was becoming increasingly difficult to focus on anything other than the churning in her stomach and the unmistakable salivation at the back of her throat. with a final lurch of her stomach, ivy's eyes went wide and she broke her silence with an "i'll be right back!" before letting her net sink to the bottom of the pool and sprinting off to the bathroom. Ivy didn't keep track of how long she had been gone. between the tears and the hurling and the absolute miserable attempts to comfort herself, time seemed nonexistent. while, the nausea eventually subsided, a muffled sobbing remained.  she was pregnant. there was no denying that anymore. and god did she feel scared. leaning pathetically against the wall of a stall, she froze as she heard the bathroom door creak open. frantically, she tried to wipe her tears, but by the time the stall door was opened and julien was hovering over her, it was no use. "julien i. . ." she wanted to yell, scream at him to get out and leave her alone, but she did nothing of the sorts. instead, ivy found herself breaking down into tears again and repeating, "im sorry. . ."

JULIEN:  Julien strongly disliked the opening shift at work. He was a teenage boy, so naturally he liked sleeping in. But every now and then he was unfortunately tasked with what Shawnee liked to call the ‘sun rise’ shift. This meant he had to show up extra early to make sure the pool area was clean and ready for the week ahead, especially if there were any swim meets scheduled. Usually only one person was on schedule for the shift, sometimes two. He liked it way better when he wasn’t working alone because then he at least had someone to talk to and goof around with. But Julien’s luck was clearly shot because on this particular Tuesday, his co-worker on schedule was Ivy. On a normal day, this would’ve been ideal. But after their very weird and unwarranted fight? It was kind of awkward. Julien was doing his best not to let the tension get to him, but that was hard given the fact that Ivy had decided they were fully not speaking to each other. Sure, he had said some harshish things the night before and he was paying for them today with his hangover, but this felt like an overreaction. Whatever, if she wanted to be mad, then fine. Julien connected his phone to the bluetooth pool speakers and started playing his ‘songs girls should sing to me in glee club’ playlist as he bobbed around the pool, raking the leaves out of the water. He stole the occasional glance at Ivy, but more often then not she was looking away from him or glaring. Julien was reaching a breaking point and was about to break the ice when Ivy’s eyes went wide as she dropped her skimmer into the water and bolted towards the bathroom. “What the hell, Ivy?!” Julien called out after her, groaning as he ran (breaking the #1 rule) to where she’d been standing and submerged his arm into the water to fish out the pole before the net sank to the bottom of the pool. Was her behavior concerning? Yes. But it was probably something dumb, knowing her. Plus, he’d learned his lesson about checking in on her. But then one song turned to three and then to six and Ivy still hadn’t come out of the bathroom. Okay…maybe something really was wrong. Julien tried to ignore his gut feeling, but it got to be too much to bear. With a sigh, he put his skimmer down along the edge of the pool and cautiously entered the girls bathroom. “Ivy?” he called out, bending down and looking underneath the stall doors for feet. When he caught a glimpse of someone sitting on the ground, knees hugged to their chest, his fight or flight kicked in. With a lot a worry and a little bit of physical force, Julien was able to pull open the stall door only to reveal a fallen apart Ivy on the ground. “Hey…” he sighed out, brows furrowed as he dropped to his knees next to her, “jeez, are you okay?” Julien took one glance at the contents of the toilet and quickly flushed it before he reached for the toilet paper and tore a bundle off the roll. “What are you sorry for, legs? It’s okay,” he said quietly, offering her a tiny smile as he handed her his makeshift tissue. Without thinking twice, Julien sat down and extended his legs in front of him so that Ivy was essentially sitting in between them and wrapped his arms around her. “You’re okay…” he repeated, over and over until the dust seemed to settle and then he asked, “what happened?”

IVY:  IVY COULDN'T EVEN FULLY COMPREHEND WHAT ALL SHE WAS FEELING. humiliated, horrified, heartbroken to name a few. if she could've willed julien out of the bathroom, she would've, but once the pair locked eyes it seemed to confirm julien would indeed be staying. she didn't want anyone to see her like this. she didn't want to see herself like this. pregnant and pathetically crying at her place of work wasn't really good for her image. to make matters worse, julien had to walk in and suddenly it was no longer as simple as a few little white lies to cover up the incident. through muffled sobs, ivy wiped around her mouth and uselessly tried to dry her still falling tears. everything was very rapidly becoming real and ivy wasn't sure how to handle that. she lived in a world where if she wished hard enough, she wouldn't have to come face to face with her irresponsibility, yet here she was, having to look it dead in the eyes. the vomiting sent ivy into an entirely panicked state and while she was better by the time julien found her, it was only slightly. the extent of her heaving and tears had only been seen by the likes of her older sister and that was over a year ago when emory caught her and the very boy who was now wrapping his arms around her. their nonsensical fight hardly mattered anymore. julien's arms around ivy were oddly medicinal and unashamed, she leaned into it. while it aided her pounding heart, there wasn't much she could do about the tears. still, in this frantic haze, ivy found it somewhere within herself to apologize for the arguing that had taken place less than twelve hours prior. "i'm. . . i'm sorry for like being mean in our texts. . ." she stammered only for a disgusting hiccup and sniffle combination to follow. ivy wasn't sure when the tears stopped, but they did. her head rested against julien's chest and she listened to his quick yet steady beating heart to soothe herself. the thumping coming from behind his rib cage combined with the distant music playing and the birds chirping was enough to placate ivy. she didn't dare move from her place in julien's arms as if she would get upset all over again if she so much as blinked it was all okay, julien had said so, right? "can i tell you something?" she asked in a near whimper. the words tumbled out of her mouth before she could think and once she got confirmation from julien ivy instantly word vomitted, "i'm pregnant."

JULIEN:  Julien and Ivy had arguably seen each other in their most desperate states. After everything went down with Emory, they were both distraught by the situation. Julien had never felt that low before and he knew that at the time, Ivy hadn’t either. But whatever was happening now felt…immeasurably worse. With his arms wrapped around her tightly, Julien wracked his brain trying to figure out what was making Ivy crumble like this. Was she hurt? Sick? Did someone do something to her? Had it been Leo? He’d kill him if so. But Julien had no idea. He tightened his hold on her, gently rubbing the side of her arm to try and calm her down. Slowly but surely, the heaving decreased and she was able to speak, albeit not super clearly. Her stammering and stuttering was hard to follow at first, but when he realized she was trying to apologize, he just shook his head. “Don’t be sorry, I was being a drunk jerk and stuff,” he assured her, resting the side of his face against the top of her head as he held her closely. Was she crying because of their stupid fight? No, there was no way. Even though Julien knew that logically, he instantly felt guilty for being so harsh with her the day before. “I’m sorry for being so aggressive yesterday,” he whispered, “I’m sorry.” As her tears started falling again, he tried to keep his movement minimal as he reached for more toilet paper and carefully started dabbing her cheeks before deciding it was useless. He dropped the crumpled up paper into the toilet and assumed his earlier position with both arms wrapped around her. “We’re okay,” he assured her as he crossed his legs at his feet so he was essentially cradling Ivy in his lap. Time always had a way of stopping when they were together. It was like whenever Julien was in Ivy’s presence, she was his focal point and he lost track of everything else. All this to say that he wasn’t sure how long they sat on the ground together for, but eventually the crying stopped, her body stopped shaking, and his own nerves calmed. Despite whatever shitty circumstance had led them to this point, there was a weird safety he felt with her in his arms like this. Whatever she was going through, he’d help her through it however he could. That was what friends were for, right? When she croaked out her question, Julien nodded and muttered a quiet, “yeah, of course.” He was already sitting pretty still, but when she revealed what had her so worked up, he felt the weirdest sense of relief. Julien didn’t know much about teen pregnancy. Sure, he’d had a scare or two in his life, but most of those were born out of paranoia more than actual cause for concern. He’d always been safe, just like his parents and siblings had taught him. But he’d also been taught that if something ever did happen, there were options. Lots of ‘em. “I thought you were hurt,” was all Julien could think to say at first, unable to hide the sympathetic and warm smile tugging at the corners of his lips, “but that’s okay, right? I mean, everything is going to be okay.” As the situation set in, he realized it was still a big deal. He was glad that it wasn’t something worse, but still, Ivy was only sixteen. “Look at me,” he finally said, keeping one arm around her and reaching the other one up to her cheeks to gently wipe away any remnants of tears with his thumb, “I’ve got your back, okay? If you wanna just like sit here and cry and stuff, we can do that. I’ve got you.” And then he wrapped his arms around her again, not wanting to push her too far in any particular direction. He didn’t know if he was saying the right things, but he felt that if he could just communicate to her that no matter what, she would have him? Maybe things would be okay…even if it was just for a moment.

IVY: NEXT TO ELI, JULIEN WAS PROBABLY THE ONLY OTHER PERSON WHO WAS A NATURAL COMFORT TO IVY. and that was simply no small feat. sure, she was bold and open, but she was also sensitive. even ivy st.james had her own secrets. if they were to see the light of day, they needed to be handled with care she needed to be handled with care.  usually it was eli who did, sometimes julien, and more recently leo from time to time. with his arms around her and his cheek atop her head, she felt the safest she had since taking a those tests. that safe feeling came easily, it was innate even, like the first breath of air upon emerging from water or falling asleep after a long day. if she hadn't been so gutted, she probably would've had it in her to laugh as julien uselessly attempted to blot away her tears. as he further apologized, ivy didn't speak. she just slumped into julien even more than she had previously. while his words were appreciated, she couldn't reach deep enough within herself to reciprocate. ivy resented rory, rory resented ivy, that's how it was, but up until last night julien had nothing to say about leo, so she would bite her tongue about julien's girlfriend. it was common courtesy right? even if the thought of rory and julien's relationship made ivy's stomach flip all over again. at his 'we're okay ivy weakly repeated the words and nodded as she nestled into julien. at her confession,  ivy was expecting anger, disappointment even. but in came julien with just the right things to say and a gentle touch that made her feel like the only reason she had to be upset was for not believing she could handle this. the more and more he elaborated, the better she felt, but still, she didnt want to move from her space where she was essentially being cradled. if ivy had this situation go her way, like most things did, she would choose to stay in julien's arms. but they would have to leave eventually, keep working, but right now all that mattered was that she was okay and julien had her back. ivy no longer felt like crying, but her body felt airy, like she was trying to float away from earth and julien's grasp was the only thing keeping her there. when had they formed a bond like that? since emory things had been weird, and apart from last night, that tension had been shed. she didn't reflect on the topic long before blurting what needed to be said. "you like can't tell leo." ivy murmured. though the crying had passed, her voice was tinged with that unmistakable raspiness of a heartbroken girl. "nobody knows." she whispered, remaining still. "just you." as she added those final words, she held up a pinky and looked to julien, eyes wide, brows furrowed, and lower lip trembling like she would crumble any minute. "promise?"

JULIEN:  The day had quickly taken an insurmountably unexpected turn—and all before 9 in the morning. Ivy was pregnant. The Ivy St. James, whether she liked that namesake or not. This was a big deal and the longer Julien sat on the cold tiles of the girl’s bathroom floor with Ivy balled up in his lap, the more he understood that. What did she need right now? Support, of course. Love. Understanding. No judgment. All things Julien was pretty good at giving, no questions asked, especially to her. So he leaned back comfortably against the wall of the stall and kept his arms around her firmly. He was prepared to stay there all day if needed. Was that logical given that pretty soon they’d actually have to go back to work? No, of course not, but still. Ivy was Ivy—strong, bold, full of fire. Seeing her this broken up was unnerving and Julien wanted more than anything to take away any bad feelings she was having. He hated seeing the people he cared about like this. Julien’s playlist eventually ended, so the music that had been playing softly in the background of their intimate moment ceased and was replaced with a comfortable silence. He lost track of how long they sat there for, him holding Ivy and her leaning into him weakly as her tears dried on her cheeks. He took the quiet as a good sign—at least there was no more sobbing. It meant that she was calming down and coming back down to Earth with him. A start. Julien knew there would be a lot more to say and a lot more to figure out, but none of that needed to be handled at this exact moment. All that Ivy needed right now was to know that she had someone who was in her corner, no questions asked. He was happy to be that. When he felt her shoulders tense up again, Julien pulled back slightly to look at her. “What?” he asked when he heard her speak, at first not sure if he’d heard her correctly. And then came the rest. Nobody knows. Just you. He felt a pang in his chest when she’d said it. It wasn’t that Julien felt pressure about being the only person who knew. He was fine with that. But something wasn’t sitting well with him about Ivy not being able to tell Leo. But he wasn’t about to pry…not when she was in this state. So they’d table that discussion for a later date. When she lifted her hand and looked at him with those big, blue eyes, he nodded. “I promise,” and without any hesitation, he linked his pinky with hers and gave it a squeeze.

END

[ayecaptnswan-blog]

When You Need Me, I’ll Be There

Soooo it’s been a while but I have a fic.

PROMPT: Emma goes to a high school reunion with Killian where he finds out Emma had been bullied quite severely so they go to face it together.

The link is https://archiveofourown.org/works/10923549 if you would like to read it on AO3 and I’ll post it just under this.

I don't own anything, I do not own the cast, characters and/ or the plot of the show, that all belongs to ABC and Adam and Eddie; I am just a faithful watcher. I was also deeply saddened to hear of Emilie, Jen, Josh, Ginny, Jared and Bex's departures from the show, but I think they're going to create something great and I do love Colin so much so I'm very glad he's staying. I also adore Andrew West; ever since he was on The Walking Dead I have loved him so I'm very excited to see how he and little Alison will do.

But, as always Captain Swan will always be remembered for me and I hope that the show lets them keep their very deserved happy ending.

When you need me I'll be there

3rd Person

Emma huffs softly at the sight of herself in the hotel mirror.

The knee length black dress that she had brought for the occasion she was going to clung to her in all the wrong ways, and the heels she wore to match made her feet ache in ways she couldn't have imagined. However, this wasn't about her-

(Okay, maybe it was just a little bit.)

-This was about changing opinions, making everyone see her as she is now.

Killian is lying on their hotel bed, playing with his phone, his hook in his overnight bag while his fake hand is in its place. He doesn't enjoy being in New York, not since his last journey's there. However, two months ago when his wife had approached him with puppy dog eyes and the promise that she'd finally clean the storage cupboard with him was too impossible to deny.

Apparently, she has one of those 'school reunion' things or so she said and despite the fact that everything about her demeanor at the time had screamed that she didn't want to go to it, she'd begged him to. That's something he didn't understand.

However, after a quick chat with his mother and father in law, he was informed that his lovely wife wanted to show off. He knew that Emma didn't have much as a child, so he didn't mention the fact he knew she wanted everyone to be jealous of her now quite-spiffing life.

Hearing Emma groan again makes him sit up, quirking an eyebrow at the sight of her. She looks beautiful, as she always has and always will to him, but she also looks very uncomfortable and quite put out. "You alright, love?" He queries softly.

Emma glares a little at him, crossing her arms. "You." She bites out, before gesturing at her abdomen, where the dress clung to her tiny bump, evidence of their true love sitting proudly inside her. "Did this, do you see?"

"That you're pregnant, yes, Swan, I do see." He stands, walking to her slowly like a hunter who doesn't want to spook a deer. "Is that bad?"

Emma pouts, laying her hand on her slightly protruding stomach, turning so that he can see that the zip of her dress is half way up. "My dress doesn't fit anymore, my feet hurt and I couldn't be any more obviously pregnant." She states simply and Killian pulls her into his arms gently.

"I think you look beautiful and there are quite literally seven dresses for you to choose from, love. Two of them being maternity dresses." He reminds her and Emma pouts.

His wife is reluctant to making the switch to maternity clothing as she claims it means she'll be officially in the 'whale stage' of her pregnancy and she doesn't want that, although their little one seems to have different ideas as she's only three months along and her bump was bigger than usual.

"But this one makes me look good." Emma shrugs, glancing into his eyes. "Get the stupid red one." She sighs and he grabs it for her, passing it to his wife gently. "It's not as sexy, but I suppose it'll do."

He kisses her gently, stroking her jaw. "Oi, you're very sexy, besides, you're my wife, and I don't think I want to fight those men for you." He jokes, pressing a kiss to her cheek before sauntering off back to the bed.

"Just pull out your hook, that'll scare them off." She smiles softly before getting changed.

Emma had ended up choosing the red dress, mainly because it was one of the only ones that fit and it didn't make her look like she was wearing a bin bag like she thought the gray one did. Since the pain in her feet became quickly unbearable within ten minutes, she was now in a pair of flats, so she was in quite the sour mood when they walked into her old school building.

At first, she had pointed out her old locker, noticing it still had the tiny E she had carved with a penknife as a grumpy teen, then her old gym room where she'd constantly truant lessons and watch them from a hidden corner while laughing.

However, as lovely as it was that she was telling him these stories, Killian never heard a friends name in them, not one. "Swan, as much as I love this, what did you and your friends do around here?" He asks curiously and Emma just looks ahead of her.

With a shrug, Emma chews her bottom lip. "Nothing much, messed around, stupid stuff as friends do, but anyway, I used to hang out of that window and climb down onto the roof and then I could break out of school." She explains and Killian stops, leaning on a locker with a small but knowing frown.

"You didn't have any, did you, love?" He asks softly and she shakes her head, looking away. "You hate this place… yet you're telling me stories and it doesn't sound awful-"

"It is when you have to break out of school just because of people bullying you." She states harshly, going to sit on a bench nearby, glancing at the hall in which they're supposed to be in. "I was the new, weird, kid with glasses who was too skinny."

With a sigh, Killian goes to sit next to her. "Swan…I'm sorry." He whispers. "I know what it's like to get picked on."

She nods slowly, he's told her about how the kids at school would beat him up just for the hell of it until his father took them away and sold them into slavery where he was bullied every day no matter what, having no safe haven.

"It just sucks being back here," Emma states, biting her lip. "I came here and joined all these clubs, I made the hockey team and I did cross country, I was a really big athlete." She sighs. "But then kids picked on me for my hand me down clothes at cross country so I quit, and when I made Captain in hockey they all hated me, one girl even hit me in the eye with a puck, so I quit that." Emma looks away. "I was the kid that loved English, I loved learning, and I even liked Science."

"What made you stop?" He asks curiously.

"The boys picked on me, called me names, the girls were just as bad, if not worse. One of them even pretended to be my friend, learned all my secrets, but one night we had a sleepover and she put gum in my hair so I had to have it cut off, which meant I was then made fun of even more." Emma tells him, looking away with a sigh.

"That's not it though…" Killian whispers, he knows her, something else happened.

"She then told the entire school my secrets, including this guy I had a crush on, who then told me he liked me, but it was all just a ruse because he got me to send…photos that I shouldn't have."

Killian's eyes widen a little. "Oh…"

"He then showed them to everyone but said he didn't mean to and I was so stupid I believed him, but then he lifted up my skirt in the hall and everyone called me a slut, whore, anything you can think of really." Emma blinks away tears, sniffling as he pulls her close, wanting to kill whoever did that to her.

"Swan…I can't believe someone would do that to you." He whispers, hiding the anger from his tone as he strokes her back slowly, letting her cry into his chest a little. "Why the hell would you come back here?"

She buries her face into his chest a little before sighing and looking up at him, letting him wipe away her tears with his thumb. "To show them I'm not that girl anymore." She admits, stroking his chest, relieved (not for the first time) that his chest hair pokes out from his shirt and ever-so-gentleman-looking waistcoat.

"Of course you're not that girl, you never were, and you're not any of the things those idiots said to you, Swan. Nor will you ever be."

She hesitates, just like every time, calling herself Jones as she knows she'll always stay being his Swan. "I just want them to see that I'm a completely different Emma. I'm married to the love of my life, we have our Henry and I know my parents and I'm pregnant. I want them to know I do have it all. I have the house and the family, the children. "

The small smile he offers is enough to make her swoon but she continues.

"I have the perfect husband, the perfect son, perfect home, we even have the freaking dog and white picket fence!"

With a chuckle, Killian nods, kissing her gently, nuzzling her nose before pulling away. "Then lets us go show them, love. I'm more than happy to show off Emma Jones and kick that man's arse." He states, before thinking. "But is he a big guy cause it's been a few years and I might need my hook?" He jokes.

"Shut up." She giggles, kissing him again.

Walking into the hall, hand in hand like usual, Emma feels slightly lighter after sharing her secrets with him, as she always does. They walk up to the table with all the name tags on it, searching for hers quickly but can't find it so she asks one of the ladies at the table. "Hi, sorry but I can't seem to find my name, I did say I was coming."

The women, who Emma recognizes immediately, quickly look at her. "And you are?" They ask, so Emma sighs.

"Emma Jones, but I used to be Emma Swan." She explains, keeping her calm, despite being offended they don't remember her. "I remember emailing back, but apparently it must not have sent or whatever but-"

"Oh my god, wait! Emma Swan?" One of them asks, smirking softly, leaning back in her chair. "You actually came?" When Emma nods, she laughs chirpily. "Wow…now that does surprise me considering how you used to be, very flighty, I wouldn't have expected you'd come back to, what was it you said to me once, the armpit of the US?"

With a cough, Emma leans on her husband's side gently. "Well, uh, I'm here, so…do I have a nametag or not?" She offers her a smile and the woman takes a nametag with Emma Swan written on it.

"Sorry, forgot you were married." She states, smirking softly as she passes it to the blonde, who just steals her pen and crosses out Swan to write Jones instead.

"Sorry." She points at the woman's ringless finger. "Forgot you were still single." She throws her pen back at her before taking Killian's hand and walking around the hall, breathing slowly. "God I hated her in high school, although it's nice to see she's had no changes."

"Except for the bleach blonde hair?" Killian glances at the woman and Emma nods, giggling softly. "Looks rather like a rats den, if you ask me."

With a hum, Emma links her arm with her husbands just as someone knocks into her, making her free hand fly to her small bump carefully. "Hey, watch-" She pauses when she looks up to see the man who crashed into her. "It." She finishes, glaring.

In front of her stood the reason she always ran away, the reason she skipped school and didn't get the grades she wanted since she was never there. "Chris Myers," Emma mumbled, her grip on her husband tightening a little.

To his credit, the man actually remembers who she is without looking at the name tag. "Emma Swan, uh, hi?" He offers her a hand but she just glares at him so he takes it back, wrinkling his nose. "Well, you're just as I remember, well… not exactly as I remember." He gives her a wink that makes her skin crawl.

Killian's jaw clenches on its own as he stares at the man. "It's Emma Jones and she's my wife." He states, guessing that this was the man that upset his Swan so much as a teen, hating him on sight. "I've heard quite the story about you…although I'm having trouble remembering your name, mate, was it uh…ah yes! Cock womble, that was it!" He exclaims gleefully, making Emma hide her smirk at the look on Chris' face. "See you later, cock womble."

With a smirk, Killian leads her away from the man who quite obviously was embarrassed.

After nearly an hour there, Emma has had several awful encounters and she's only reminded of how much she hated this place, how much they all made her hate herself.

It's not until she goes to the bathroom since she's suddenly needing it every five minutes because of their tiny, yet lovely and wonderful, the baby inside her that has decided to be an asshole today, that she hears the worst of it.

She's closed in a stall, just pulling down her dress when she hears the voices of some of her past school enemies speaking, which normally wouldn't bother her except for the fact they were speaking about her, about Killian in fact.

The girls are people she remembers as Missy James, Olivia Spencer and her old bully, the main one, the worst, Karen Clarkson. All were tall, beautiful, and slim and always had the boys all over them in high school, or from what Emma can remember before she ran away with Neal.

Missy was the nicest of the three, Emma thinks, she was never outright rude to her and even once helped her clean up her books, but the other two were the spawn of Satan, which is only confirmed by what Emma hears.

"Have you seen Emma Swan here yet?" Karen asks, looking at herself in the mirror. "She's just as…Emma as I remember, plain, irritatingly skinny, although I did notice she's got a bit of a belly on her-"

"She's pregnant," Missy states simply, shrugging. "Hardly a belly, it's nice."

"Nice?" Karen scoffs, fixing her hair. "Another Emma in the world, God help us all. I mean…what did she even expect out of this reunion? That we'd all see her pregnant and feel bad for what we did? We didn't even do anything wrong! It was just fun!" She laughs to herself.

"You locked her in a storage room until she had a panic attack." Missy points out, frowning. "You're lucky she didn't report you!"

Karen scoffs while Olivia just smirks, both of them fussing with their hair or makeup. "Yeah, yeah, shut up. But! Did you all see who-"

"Whom," Emma whispers under her breath so they can't hear.

"-She's here with? Her husband, I know, shocking that she's married, but have you seen how hot he is?" Karen asks them with a smirk. "The brunette, kind of tall, smolder on point, blue eyes, gorgeous smile, and beard?" The other two nod.

Olivia hums. "He's hot, what does he even see in Emma? He's…him and she's, well she's her you know? He's out of this world gorgeous, could date anyone he wants, but he chose her? The school whore?"

Missy frowns but doesn't say anything as Karen laughs softly. "I know why." She states like she knows everything. "He's got a fake hand." She points out, making Emma frown.

"Why does that matter?" Missy asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, he's broken." Karen shrugs. "He's got one hand, meaning he's pretty much an invalid, who would love a guy whose only half?" She laughs softly. "I'll bet he's got some pretty ugly scars with it too, I mean only Emma would fall for that. And then he's so desperate for someone to love him that he'd take any whore."

"Karen!" Missy scolds, frowning. "What the hell is wrong with you?! Why can't you just accept that Emma may have actually passed her teens? That she fell in love with someone and they're happy? I mean, if they're happy together then it doesn't matter whether he's got one hand, which I didn't even notice! No one did!" Missy yells, making Emma feel a pang of admiration for the fact she finally stood up for her.

With a scoff, Karen pushes past her with Olivia and leaves, smirking. "Whatever."

As soon as they leave, Emma unlocks her door and steps out, wiping away her tears, and Missy looks shocked that she's there. "Hi," Emma whispers, walking to the sink to wash her hands, sniffling. "Thanks. It meant a lot that you stood up for me and Killian." She bites her lip, drying her hands.

"I'm sorry," Missy states softly, chewing her lip gently. "About what Karen said, she's just bitter because someone loves you and she's getting divorced. But she was having sex with Chris Myers so…I kind of don't blame her husband." She offers Emma her hand. "Truce?"

Emma smiles softly and takes her hand, shaking it once. "Truce. Now, what do you say we go back to my husband, whose probably pacing outside the door with worry." She lays her hand on her bump gently. "He's really protective over bean and me."

Missy laughs softly, nodding. "I can tell, I've seen his hands on your waist or the baby practically since you've been here, he looks at you like you hang the moon."

Emma blushes, nodding. "He does, I'm very lucky."

"So is he, because you look at him in the exact same way." Missy points out. "Now come on, let me meet your lovely baby daddy?"

With a giggle, Emma leads her out.

It's not until a few days later, when Emma is cuddled up into Killian on their couch, listing out baby names, that she realizes how lucky she actually is.

Karen was a bitch yes, but she did make a valid point. Killian could have anyone in the world, anyone he wants, and yet he fought for her and has stuck by her and loves her with everything in him. And it's not because they were always destined to, their love has been hard and they've fought so hard to get to where they are now, it's just because of one simple fact.

He loves her. And that's all that matters.

It doesn't matter to her that Karen said those things or that she was bullied or that she was known as the school whore, because they were just stupid teens (and now adults) who haven't taken the time to know her, didn't speak to her, didn't care about her.

But Killian does, and so it doesn't matter what they think or who they are to her or what they did to her or what they're saying behind her back or whether or not she has awful memories from it.

It doesn't matter because most of them are single and alone or divorced and are unhappy, clinging onto their status as cool in high school and not caring about others, however, Emma has Killian, she has her family.

She's not a little-lost-girl anymore because she has him, so there is something she can bring from that school reunion, something she'll remember forever and cherish the fact she knows it now.

Fuck the past.