Emma sang a merry little tune as she dusted the surfaces of her new apartment. She was just glad to be alive; she nearly hadn't survived the massive freeze-out, especially after coming face to face with Elsa and Anna's mother, the one and only Ice Queen. Elsa hadn't been too bad; she was just rather emotional. And once she had her sister with her, it was all right as rain and her entire entourage had been safely delivered back to Arendelle.
But... it had almost taken her life.
There had been a brief moment where she was hit head on to her chest by the cold thrash of ice and Emma was without breath for all of ten minutes. Thank god for the lowly pirate boyfriend of hers, or she would have been a goner. She had pretty much taken the hit for him: Being the savior gave her higher chances of surviving, but Killian would not have made it. As great a fighter that he was, he lacked in magical prowess entirely and was far more vulnerable than Emma. Nonetheless, it took a huge kiss and a lot of tears and love on his part to completely defrost her. And the only reason True Love had worked was basically because of her action: Taking a mortal hit is the highest, most unbeatable demonstration of love.
That, together with the heartache he had shown, was enough to bring the chill factor down and Emma regained breath and life.
She sighed complacently; there were still a few snowflakes falling from the sky. It was normally cool in Storybrooke and it would take a while for the massive amounts of snow and ice to completely disappear, but this was something manageable. She grinned as she leaned on the window frame, thinking about him... again.
It was easy to lose herself in him these days. All the more, it was amazing that she hadn't done so before. He was impossible to resist these days. And the bond that had started as just some wise-ass know-it-all's guessing game had apparently evolved into, of all things, true love, strong enough to bring her back from the brink and thwart a frozen heart.
God bless her Pirate Captain.
He had gone out, of all things, for ice-cream. In spite of the cold, he had grown really fond of chocolate chip and mint ice cream and whenever Killian got an ice-cream craving it was rather hard to keep him from quenching it.
He'd bring back one Rocky-Road for her and one Cherry Garcia for Henry too. He never forgot. Not these days.
She drew another heavy sigh and leaned her hand on the back of the armchair, her gaze nostalgically drawn to the top of the clock tower that crowned the library.
She felt on the tips of her fingers what looked like a folded paper. With a frown, she looked in the direction of her hand as she dislodged the creased paper from the back of the couch.
"What the hell?" She whispered, as she unfolded it.
The penmanship was exquisite, like old parchment from another century.
There was only one person she knew who would probably have that particular handwriting; basically the only person in Storybrooke pertaining from over a century behind: Her boyfriend.
She took her time to read the contents of what was obviously a letter, addressed to her.
To my most beautiful Emma:
It is hard to convey in spoken words what I feel; it always has been. You'll understand this, my love, since you are most the same as I in that particular sense. However, it seems to me that the written word serves as a floodgate, where it becomes far easier for me to be a tad more jocular with what resides within the walls of my heart. So here's to the hope that you might never read this and see this wayward pirate of yours to be feeble and dainty, which is what I really am, in spite of my satirical, derisive facade.
I have never before in my entire life, Swan, felt the hollowness of a loss near as terribly as the moment you froze before me, my love. I am no stranger to loss: My darling brother, the man who saw to my health and shelter after our father left us, my only family... that was fairly bad on its own. His death was the trigger that led me into the unyielding fate of piracy. Milah, the pirate lady that stole my heart just as much as I stole hers... only to have it crushed by The Dark One before my very ached gaze... Nameless friends from my crew lost to the whims of time, the ocean and the self-centered vagary of their relentless, revenge-bent Captain. Oh, yes, my darling Swan, I've lived longer than most and have sadly bid far too many farewells, more than any man should endure. But in spite of the deep love I have felt for each person that has left my life, nothing could compare to the minutes I thought you lost.
You were stone frozen, Swan. Solid as a rock. And so was my heart. I begged, prayed for a sudden thunderbolt to take me then, to finish off my pitiful, wretched existence. Without you as the lighthouse that led this wanderlust ship back into the light of love from a foggy ocean of dread and loathsome consumption, I am nothing Emma. You are, and have been from the very first moment I gazed upon you, the angel that guided me back to being Killian Jones the man, and slowly further and further away from Captain Hook the Pirate. But touching your face and feeling the frost crumble off from your gaunt cheeks, lass, that was enough to darken me once more, to put a lid beneath the sun and stop all hope and every dream from taking part in my life.
I thought you dead, my love. And as soon as that thought struck me, I thought me dead as well.
Gladly, not long after, you slowly came back to me, to my arms, to my warmth... and I was once again blessed with another day by your side. Never in the history of humanity in every realm has any man felt such a vast amount of relief flood his soul.
I have fought many tides and outrun many a storm (even a curse, mind you) to be your constant guard, to share the very space you walk upon and to have the privilege of fighting for your heart, like I promised I would. I endured the chilled distance you set between us, Swan, time after time, always in the hope that one day, per chance, you'd see me for a man of honor, a man of his word, and not, as Pan had so eloquently put it, a "one-handed pirate with a drinking problem". In all gladness, I was fated to indeed win your heart and had the honor of bringing down that wall of yours, a wall that tried to conceal what I had long seen in you: The most beautiful soul in this world. And since I am not a man to recant from his word, know this, my darling lass: Should you have remained still frozen and cold, should your life have expired then, rest assured Swan, I would have followed, for it was my promise to be at your side, every waking moment, whether it be in this life or the next. For you see, Emma, I'd sooner die and leave this world by your side than to face another human age on my own. I have tasted the delectable libation that is true love's kiss from the lips of none other than the savior, and I cannot (will not) be the same, ever again.
I write this now, my dear, in hopes that you will never read it and see me as the weakling I felt myself to be that instant, for I know you seek someone who will not falter, who will stand by you regardless of the storm and winds, who will never yield before any foe and who you know you can rely on, regardless of the adversity. I am that man, Emma Swan. I am the one who will never, ever leave your side, unless you ask it of me. Rest assured, there is no small amount of danger enough to keep me from you... for no other man in this universe or the next can and will love you more than I.
Yours in eternal gratitude, love and relief,
Your Killian.
It took Emma a few minutes to see past the tears in her eyes and find the dark gaze of her new love, holding his wares in his hand, his face flushed in reds, gazing awkwardly at the floor.
He swallowed. "I... was supposed to burn that. You didn't have to... You weren't supposed... to..."
"Oh, Killian..." A teary Emma stood and walked to him, holding him tight.
No words were enough to convey the sheer amount of love and gratitude she felt for her captain. He had pretty much stirred the course of her life much as he had stirred hers, but she had never really stopped to think for a second just how terrible those few minutes had been for him. She could see herself in that letter, had it been him. She had, after all, taken the frosty curse for him.
"I know you didn't want me to see that... I just... found it." She sniffed into his chest. "I had no idea... Killian... I."
He sighed and she felt his arms wrap around her, the cold pint of ice cream in a plastic bag hanging from his hook and pressed against her back, sending a cold chill down her spine.
She looked into his eyes, her own wet with tears, and she sighed. "You really think I'd want you to die so you could be with me?"
"I know you wouldn't..." He mumbled sheepishly. "But I wouldn't want to stay behind, either, love. "He shook his head, still feeling terribly embarrassed. "Where did you find that awful letter anyway, Swan?"
She frowned. "Behind the couch... and are your true feelings for me really AWFUL to you, Killian?" She sniffed hard.
"That's not what I meant." He mumbled.
She grinned and hugged him again. "No one had ever written a love letter for me before. I don't care what you say, that was just... beautiful."
He chuckled weakly. "I didn't want you to think of me as some sort of sentimental effeminate."
Emma giggled. "I suppose I could expect a little eighteen century chauvinism, you can't help it, can you?" She squeezed him hard. "I love you to shreds, you know that?"
Killian grinned at the fresh and casual tone she used. "I suppose you won't allow me to burn that wretched letter now..."
"Not on your life."
He sighed and rocked her from side to side. "Don't tell your father."
She laughed hard. "I won't. I wouldn't want to. This is mine."
He grinned and kissed the crown of her head. "If the lady asks... and now, let's just eat this thing before it melts."
"You have a way of melting things... you melted me!"
"So glad that went down that way."