Emma couldn't sleep. God knows she'd been trying, but it was three in the morning and every time she closed her eyes, she saw visions of Killian's heart being crushed by Gold, the man she loved being brutally murdered by his worst enemy.

She'd had enough. She picked up her phone and she called Killian.

It was probably a stupid thing to do, it was three in the morning, for god's sake, but she needed to hear his voice, to know he was okay.

He picked up on the second ring. "...Emma...?" His voice sounded sleep-heavy.

"Killian... I... I just..." She didn't finish what she was saying, instead a sob escaped her lips.

"Swan, what's wrong?" She heard from the other end.

"I'm fine. I'll be there in a few minutes," Emma said, hanging up, throwing on a jacket and grabbing her car keys.

The door to his room was unlocked when she got there. She wasted no time in opening the door, quickly running over to his bed where he was and plopping down beside him, hugging him close to her and burying her face in his strong chest.

He was awake. He stroked her hair and intertwined their fingers.

Emma sighed, tears starting to fall again. "I'm sorry if I worried you," she whispered.

Killian shook his head. "All's well, love. What's the matter?" He asked, still concerned.

"I couldn't sleep. Every time I tried... Gold, he... Killian, you nearly died today."

"I know..." He said quietly, "I thought I was going to," he admitted.

"How long did he have your heart?" Emma asked.

"The night you almost gave up your powers. He wanted to trap you in that damn hat... I came to stop him... I figured it out because-"

Emma changed her mind suddenly, she didn't want to hear the story of how her pirate nearly died. "Stop. I'm tired. You can tell me in the morning, okay?"

"Mmhm," Killian mumbled, closing his eyes, "Sleep, then, love,"

Emma placed a hand on his chest, feeling the steady beat of his heart underneath. She scooted even closer to him. She closed her eyes, feeling his arms coming around her shoulders and waist.

"I love you," Killian whispered.

Emma opened her eyes to look up at him in shock. Though she knew, she hadn't expected him to say it.

"Yeah. I love you," he said, testing out the words.

Emma smiled and closed her eyes. She was too tired. She nodded into his chest.

After that, they both dozed off quickly. Emma happier than she'd been in some time and Killian relieved that he'd said the words that he'd been waiting so long to say, and that she hadn't run away.
___________

The next morning they woke up quite late to a loud knocking on the door.

Killian groaned and got out of bed to answer it. Emma whined in protest.

"David... Hello, mate," Emma heard Killian say.

Shit.

Her parents probably had no idea where she'd gone.

"Hook, we have a problem. A big one. Emma was gone this morning. She isn't answering her phone. Have you seen her?"

Emma got out of bed and walked over to the door.

David saw her and looked relieved, but slightly angry in a fatherly way.

"Emma!" He hugged her tightly, shooting a glare at Killian.

"I'm sorry. I had nightmares and-" David shook his head, cutting her off.

"It's okay. Leave a note or send a text next time. Things go downhill so fast in this town..."

Emma nodded. "I'm sorry," she repeated.

"I'll leave you two be," David said.

"Wow, Dave, no protective speech?" Killian blurted out.

David narrowed his eyes. "Watch it, Hook," he said, turning and leaving.

Killian closed the door. "Well, that went better than I expected..."

Emma giggled.

Killian leaned forward to kiss her. She looked adorable with her slightly messy hair and plaid pyjamas.

She returned, but broke it a few seconds later.

"About what you said last night... Well, this morning," Emma smiled, "I love you too," she said, more sure of that than anything else she'd ever said.

Killian wasted no time in capturing her lips in his and pressing her against the nearest wall once again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So I wrote this in December and forgot about so here it is!

~Jillchair8e