Title: Distant Thunder
Summary: "Where the hell did this thing come from?" Emma murmured under her breath. Those clouds were nowhere in the sky when they'd gone below decks to eat and as far as she was aware, there had been no storms in the forecast today.
Spoilers: Up through 5x11, "Swan Song."
Characters: Emma Swan and Killian Jones, with eventual cameo appearances by Snow and Charming. Captain Swan fluff, ladies and gents.
Rating/Warning: T. Captain Swan fluff.
Disclaimer: Once Upon a Time and its characters were created by Eddie Kitsis and Adam Horowitz and are owned by ABC. I'm just trying to pass the time during hiatus.
Author's Note: These two will be the death of me, I swear. Their love story is so sweeping and epic but we don't get to see a lot of the little quiet moments between. Here's one that, though not referenced in the story itself, in my mind takes place sometime after 5B and everything has settled down a little bit. Title was snagged from another track off the Secret of Mana soundtrack (yay 90s video games). Feedback makes me very happy! Enjoy. :)


Killian Jones boarded the Jolly Roger and then turned to face the ramp, a teasing smile on his face as he extended his hand to Emma Swan. Emma hid a smile of her own and grasped his hand, steadying herself against the slight rocking of the ship as she climbed aboard.

"Thank you," she said, prompting him to give her a reverent nod of acknowledgment.

As he turned to lead her onto the deck, she finally allowed her smirk to show. Always a gentleman, indeed.

Emma inhaled deeply, breathing in the crisp and salty sea air. The cool breeze off the water was a stark contrast to the heat of the sun as it beat down on the top of her head. "You all right, love?" Killian asked when she stumbled a little as the wooden ship rocked beneath her feet in the gentle surf.

"Yeah," she replied, smiling at him. "Just finding my sea legs."

The smile with which he graced her in response made her heart beat just a little bit faster.

This wasn't the first lunch date they'd spent aboard the Jolly Roger and Emma highly doubted it would be the last. There was, however, something about the two of them being alone on the sea that made each date feel like the first.

Emma never got tired of it. She never got tired of watching her pirate cast them off and man the helm of his ship. She never got tired of standing at the helm herself with Killian standing behind her, his hand guiding hers as he taught her how to interpret the ship's movements through the water via the differing pressures on the wheel. And she never got tired of the time spent on the open ocean, just her and her pirate, the rest of Storybrooke a picturesque skyline along the horizon.

She disappeared down the hatch to set the takeout bag from Granny's down on the table in the galley. When she climbed the ladder back up to the deck, Storybrooke was already a hundred yards behind them. "Where to today, love?" Killian asked her as he always did.

"Surprise me," she replied as she always did.

He never took her to the same spot twice. He also never took her out of cell range because although she enjoyed the time away, they'd learned the hard way that the savior couldn't relax if she was out of contact for very long.

Since Killian wanted these little getaways to be relaxing for her, he and Henry charted out the distance at which the lad's phone lost signal. Killian simply stayed within that distance whenever he took Emma sailing.

Today was no different. They took off for a random spot on the ocean, the salty sea breeze blowing through their hair as Storybrooke grew smaller and smaller behind them. Killian stood behind her at the helm, his hand over hers as she gripped the smooth wood of the wheel, and steadied their course when she sent the ship too far off of it.

They didn't speak; they simply reveled in the togetherness. And when Killian dropped a gentle kiss to the top her her head, Emma closed her eyes and smiled.

God, she loved this.

Eventually Killian stepped away from Emma so he could lower the sails and drop the anchor. She registered the lost of his warmth immediately. Still, she stood at the helm and watched her pirate slow the ship down and allow her to stop. The Jolly bobbed lightly in the waves, and Emma smiled at the gentle motion as Killian walked back up to her. "Shall we go below decks and eat, love?" he asked, nodding towards the hatch.

Emma's smile grew wider as she shook her head. "Not yet." She had something to do first.

When Killian arched a bewildered eyebrow at her, she grasped the lapels of his jacket and pulled him in for a kiss. A deep, passionate, hungry kiss that left them both a little lightheaded and breathing heavily when they finally broke for air. They brought their foreheads together and as one tried to catch their breath. "If you're not careful, Swan," Killian murmured, "I'll be wanting to take you below decks for reasons other than physical nourishment."

Emma grinned at her pirate as she drew away. "Now we can eat."

"Bloody hell, lass," he muttered as she walked towards the hatch, a smug smile on her lips.


As always, Granny provided a fantastic lunch. Emma's grilled cheese was perfectly crisp and melty and her onion rings were fried deliciousness. Killian's chicken salad sandwich had just the right proportion of chicken to mayonnaise and his fries had just the right amount of salt. And since Emma had worked her own magic up to rewarming food, the fact they were going to sail twenty or so minutes out on the open ocean before eating made no difference whatsoever.

Emma set the food out, smiling when she withdrew an extra cup of ranch. Emma used the ranch for her onion rings but Granny had taken to tucking that extra cup in free of charge after Killian mentioned that he liked his fries much better dipped in ranch than drizzled with ketchup.

"I don't know about you, love," Killian said as he grabbed a couple small metal cups from the cabinet in the corner of the room, "but I'm looking forward to a leisurely lunch today."

"I am, too," Emma smiled. Her smile widened when Killian set the cups on the table and filled them halfway with rum from his flask. Apparently he planned on washing down their milkshakes with something a bit stronger today.

On typical lunch dates, they had to eat relatively quickly so they could be back in Storybrooke before Emma's lunch hour was up. (Not that David cared all that much about her time in and time out but he did have a tendency to get all … dad-like when they lingered over the meal. Emma found that tendency of his simultaneously heartwarming and embarrassing.) Today, though, Emma and Killian were under no such time constraints because the sheriff and savior had managed to garner herself an entire afternoon off.

(Truth be told, David was the one who'd shoved her out of the station, insisting that since Storybrooke was unusually quiet, they were just doing paperwork anyway so she might as well take advantage of the peace and take some time for herself. She'd put up a little fight but he hadn't taken no for an answer. Killian had been thrilled when she'd told him that their lunch date had turned into an entire afternoon on the water together.)

So today, they had time to linger over the meal, and something about that extra time was making this meal in particular feel special. The food was the usual and the venue was the usual but the spark in the air between them was not at all the usual. It was charged with an almost giddy anticipation of time and relaxation and togetherness.

That kiss on the deck before coming down here had helped that spark a lot, Emma was sure.

They ate companionably with Killian telling what Emma called his "whoppers," stories of his adventures on the high seas that were about ninety-nine percent made up. Killian of course knew she didn't believe a single word he was saying but it didn't matter; he found it funny when she rolled her eyes or interrupted him with an indignant, "Seriously?!"

"So there we were," he was saying to her now, "a decent-sized pirate crew against the entire Royal Navy of the Northern Kingdom. Since we'd just had a run-in with another pirate crew, our weapons stores were a touch depleted."

Oh, Emma totally knew where this was going. "If you tell me you loaded the silverware into the cannons, I'm going to call bullshit," she laughed. "You totally cribbed that from Pirates of the Caribbean."

He grinned at her, that shit-eating grin of his that left her a little weak in the knees. "Aye, love, you caught me. You once told me I was a regular Jack Sparrow; I simply asked your lad who that was and he showed me on the Netflix."

She grinned back and reached across the table for his flask. They'd finished the rum in their cups and were now passing the flask back and forth. (Hey, if Emma didn't have to go back to work, she was going to take full advantage of it.)

Since he was busted, Killian moved on to a different whopper, this time about one of his oh so very many quests for treasure. "If we found the chest of doubloons, it would have allowed all of us to live rather comfortably the rest of our ..."

Emma frowned when he let the sentence trail off. He was frowning, too, his brow furrowed and his hand flat on the table as if feeling for something. "No," he murmured, more to himself than to her, "it can't be."

"What is it?"

"I'll be right back, love," he said by way of an answer as he pushed himself to his feet.

Confused and unwilling to let him do … whatever he was going to do on his own, Emma stood and followed him. As soon as he opened the hatch, she understood.

The whipping wind took the heavy hatch door out of Killian's hand and slammed it flat on the deck. The dark clouds overhead were a portent of what was to come. "Bloody hell," Killian muttered, vaulting the ladder and scrambling back up on deck.

A stunned Emma followed him. Once topside, she immediately regretted her decision. The ship was bobbing so violently in the rising waves that she grasped Killian's jacket in an effort to stay upright. The pitching of the horizon before her instantly turned her stomach and she had to squeeze her eyes shut to keep her heavy lunch and the rum from making a second appearance.

"Where the hell did this thing come from?" she murmured under her breath. Those clouds were nowhere in the sky when they'd gone below decks to eat and as far as she was aware, there had been no storms in the forecast today.

It was as if her voice brought Killian back to reality. She felt his hand caressing her cheek and she chanced blinking her eyes open to look at him.

Focusing on Killian's face helped calm her stomach a touch. A tender smile was on his lips and sympathy for her sudden nausea was written across his features but in his eyes, Emma could see the more than capable pirate captain he truly was taking charge. "I don't know, love, but it came on so suddenly that we don't stand a chance of outrunning it now. The safest thing to do is to remain anchored, seal the hatch, and wait the storm out below decks."

If she'd been out here with anyone else, Emma would have been at least a little apprehensive, but with Killian, she knew she was in safe, capable hands. Instead, she ignored the roiling in her stomach and arched a teasing eyebrow at him. "You mean to tell me we're actually going to batten down the hatches?"

His frown of consternation and concern melted away and an amused smile took its place. "Aye, love, apparently we are."