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"Emma are you sure about this?" Killian asks after cracking a beer and propping his feet up on their coffee table.
"It's fine," Emma says, pausing her packing long enough to kick at his legs to get them off the table. "How many times do I have to tell you to fucking take your boots off before you come in here?"
"Yeah yeah," he grunts, but leans forward to take them off anyway. "It's just that you've never met her and now you're taking her for a bachelorette weekend, I just have to check. Can't be imposing on my favorite sister now, can I?"
"Well that's never stopped you before, has it?" Emma jokes. "You're drinking my beer right now. But seriously, if you love her, Ian, I'm sure I'll love her too, and it's hardly a bachelorette weekend. I've got work and I thought it'd be a good time to get to know my future sister-in-law."
"In Vegas."
"I can't help it if that's where the conference is."
"I know, and honestly it's great, Em. She doesn't have a lot of friends, y'know, and I want you to like her, so this will be good for you both. I can't believe I'm getting married," he says with a laugh. "Can you?"
"Not at all. Especially considering you've known her two weeks! How do you know she's not some... crazy person or whatever?" Emma asks as she makes her way into her bathroom to gather her toiletries for the trip.
"What can I say, I kissed her once and it felt like true love!"
"You're an idiot."
"Love you, too, sis!"
*
After the disappointing Red Sox game, Killian leaves to go back to Regina's, leaving Emma home alone yet another night. She finishes up her packing and then falls into bed, exhausted and not ready for the 6 hour flight to Vegas in the morning. She thinks about the stranger joining her on the trip and wonders what she looks like. It's decidedly un-Killian like to not instantly introduce Emma to a girlfriend and all she has are the ramblings of a lovesick fool to give her a mental image. They've always shared a similar taste in women, though, so whoever she is, she's bound to be a pretty one. If nothing else, that will at least get her through the weekend trip.
Emma shakes her head, still not able to believe that Killan can trust in someone so easily considering their history. They had both come up in the foster system and met at a group home when Emma as 13 and Killian was 15. They were the oldest kids in the home and bonded instantly over that fact, but as all the younger kids came and went while they remained, too old to adopt, they made a pact that they would always be there for one another. When Killian aged out of the system, he went off to community college and couch surfed, always making sure there was a place for Emma until she was old enough to leave as well. Three months after Emma turned eighteen, they'd saved up enough money to get a small apartment together and upon Emma's graduation from college, they moved to Boston.
She desperately tries not to think of what Killian's sudden marriage will mean for their relationship, but she can't help her pessimistic side from showing it's ugly head, assuming hew ill move on, like everyone always does. Even with the empty apartment doing nothing but fueling her fears, she tries to keep an open mind, because if this Regina person is as great as Killian insists, she would have to understand their dynamic.
Right?
*
"So where's your girl?" Emma asks as she slides into the booth across from Killian.
"On her way. Last minute packing; you know how girls are," he says with a smile. Emma glares but then he pushes a cup across the table and says, "whipped cream, extra cinnamon."
"You're the best," she says before taking a sip of the cocoa to test the temperature. She kicks him under the table for the comment anyway.
"Ow," he says, scowling and rubbing his shin. When he looks up, a wide grin breaks across his face. "Hey, there she is!"
Emma turns to look and has to fight to keep her jaw from hanging open at what she sees. Several yards ahead is a woman in a black pea coat and dark jeans, walking down the sidewalk like she was a queen. Emma could practically feel the confidence rolling off her in waves, even from that far away. "Her?" she asks turning back to Killian. "You managed to score that?"
"That's the one," he confirms. "She was wooed by my boyish charms."
"You have no boyish charms, Ian."
"My ruggedly handsome face?"
Emma shakes her head. "Nope, but damn. You've done good, bro."
"We have always had fantastic taste in women," Killian notes before standing and going to meet Regina.
Emma slumps into her chair, pout on her face, and mutters into her hot cocoa, "I am so screwed."