The Simple Pleasure of Reading

Emma had never been big on reading until Henry came looking for her. Now she read comics and fairy tales so she had plenty to talk to Henry about. At least that's how it had started. She read thrillers and mysteries in the weekends so she could forget the multitude of paperwork she had spent the week doing. Strangely enough she found it relaxing.

When she and Killian has first begun seriously seeing each other she hadn't really had time to read. But when they moved in together she discovered he liked to read the classics when they had, had a practically trying day. Usually he read in bed while waiting for her to join him and sometimes in the weekend.

She wasn't sure when she had started taking note of what he was reading so that she could also read it. It wasn't a conscious move. In fact she didn't even realise that was what she was doing until Henry commented that it must be a good book because Killian had been reading it the week before. All it did was expand her range of reading material.

Henry's tastes in reading material seemed to be influenced by Killian as well. He had begun reading books on sailing and charts, as well as astronomy. This may or may not have been aided by the weekend sailing trips they took. She figured that Killian had become the father figure that Henry had never had but desperately wanted and had not had enough of.

Once she had worked this out she organised Girls Days Out so that Henry had Killian to himself. Sometimes she just enjoyed the quiet and caught up with her reading. She couldn't deny to herself that she missed them both when they were out sailing.

Her favourite evenings were snuggled up to Killian when the rain was hitting the outside of the house with a book each. Sometimes Henry was stretched out of the carpet reading a book of his own. Sometimes he was with Regina.

Emma and Henry weren't the only ones who had expanded their reading choices. It appeared in an effort to get onto Snow's good side, Killian had taken to reading up on the local plants and wildlife. To get on Snow's good side was to get on Charming's good side. He really was trying to fit into her world.

For someone who had always wanted a family but had always felt alone, this was something they could do together but still be unique. Anyone who thought that reading was a dying art didn't know what they were missing.