I am not a pet

“What? You’re saying that in your,” he searched for the right word, “timeline, the imp still has her?”

He couldn’t help but feel some anger on his friend’s behalf. Had no one else cared enough to help her? They had a deeper bond than most, but he would not have thought that he would be the only one to show concern for her wellbeing. Instead it seemed she had been left to the Dark One. He pulled out his phone and was surprised when Red answered. They spoke briefly before ending the call.

“Looks like we were too late on that one, but Red is with her. She thinks they managed to keep anyone else from noticing, Killian apparently worked out what must have happened pretty quickly.” He was worried for Belle, but Emma needed him right now, and he trusted Red had it in hand for now. He would call again in the morning to see how she was doing, it hurt to even think of what she was going through right now.

“They’ve broken up a couple of times, but with all of the crises, she usually goes to help and then they get back together in the middle of it.”  Emma couldn’t help but wince and she watched and listened as he made the call.  His pain and worry was palpable and it was clear that he cared for Belle.  Worried over her.  It was tender and she found that instead of jealous she was actually fond of the way he checked on her.

When he’d hung up, she chewed into her lip while he explained the situation before she nodded to his hands.  “Did they say…is Killian taking it okay?  I mean, he’s not going on a bender is he?  I don’t know about this world, but he’s still kind of…he acts like a hard ass, but he’s really sensitive about stuff like this, emotions, and I don’t know how he’s gonna react to suddenly finding out he’s gonna be a father.”

“Red just said your father was with him, but I’m sure David will look after him.” That had been a bit of a surprising friendship, but it was a solid one, so he wasn’t too worried about his friend for the meantime. He was thinking about how to make sure he was there for him as well as Belle through the fallout of this situation until it struck him that Killian wasn’t his friend anymore, Killian would have no memory of him.