Author's Note: The world totally needs more multi-chapter Captain Swan/Charming Family comfort and sweet silliness, yes? I though so, too, so here we be. :) As per usual, please keep a toothbrush handy. Title comes from the song by Savage Garden, mostly because I'm having something of a late-90s/early-00s music renaissance, which has rekindled my love for Savage Garden. Feedback makes me so very happy! Enjoy. :)
She could feel it coming on, a dull ache in her left temple. Emma Swan sighed as she pressed her index finger into her temple and gave it a quick massage. Tonight was not the night for a headache.
Tonight was the night her parents were finally going out for their anniversary dinner. They'd spent their actual anniversary separated by the greatest of distances: Snow in Storybrooke and David with everyone else in the Underworld. Considering they'd only been in the Underworld at all because they'd followed Emma down there as she mounted Killian's rescue mission, she felt like the least she could do was offer to watch the little squirt for them while they went out to have some married people time.
And so, after much back and forth and Emma threatening to make the reservations for them if they didn't do it themselves, for crying out loud, out Snow and David were finally going for a belated anniversary dinner.
I'll be damned if I'm going to let something like a tiny headache derail my family's plans for the evening, she thought as she finished up her swift head massage.
"Is everything all right?" Snow asked, startling Emma out of her reverie.
"Yeah," she replied with a smile although her mom's voice had kind of torn through her head. "Why wouldn't it be?"
"You sighed." Now Snow was looking at her with what Emma called her Worried Mom expression: a slight concerned frown and a discerning gaze that Emma swore could pick up the faintest of injuries or signs of illness. "And you were massaging your temple and now you're kind of squinting."
Oh, sweet Jesus. "I'm just getting a headache." Emma even shrugged to indicate just how not a big deal her brewing headache was.
It didn't work.
Snow instantly handed little Neal to David and crossed the room in the blink of an eye. She managed to place the back of her hand on her grown-up baby's forehead to feel for a fever before Emma's aching brain caught up enough for her mother's actions to register.
A mildly embarrassed Emma ducked out of her mother's reach. "Mom! It's just a headache! I don't have a fever."
Snow clucked her tongue in disapproval. "We should cancel tonight."
"Why do you need to cancel tonight?"
"If you're not feeling well–"
"I feel fine! It's just a headache!" Emma glanced at her father. "Will you please tell her that I'm fine?"
David's slightly panicked eyes darted from his daughter to his wife and back again. He suddenly had to choose between going against his wife or going against his daughter, and neither option was pretty. "I'm sure she's fine, Snow, but we also don't mind having to reschedule, Emma."
Snow smiled at Emma in triumph. Emma rolled her eyes at her father. How very diplomatic of him. "You don't have to reschedule. I don't know if you know but they invented this amazing stuff called Advil. You just swallow two of them and in a few minutes, bam, no more headache."
Snow exchanged an amused glance with David. "You certainly are your father's daughter," she said to Emma, not even bothering to hide her smirk. "You both get rather sarcastic when you don't feel well."
An exasperated Emma pursed her lips, idly wishing she could bang her aching head against the brick wall behind her. Snow gave her daughter a gentle smile. "I'm sorry, baby, I was just teasing," she said softly as she reached her palm up to briefly cup her daughter's cheek. Emma closed her eyes against the sudden rush of comfort that came from her mother's touch.
All right, her mom getting all overly worried parent on her may have been kind of annoying but Emma couldn't deny that she'd wanted this her entire life. All those years of comforting herself during an illness had left her with a keen desire for a mom to take care of her and offer her comfort when she didn't feel well. And now she had a mom who would do just that and some little part of her swore that Snow's touch was magic.
Some little part of her swore that her mother's touch made the brewing headache recede just a tad.
When she opened her eyes, she saw her mom smiling gently at her. "If you won't let me cancel dinner to stay home and take care of you, will you at least let me get the Advil for you?"
Emma could hear the faint worry lingering in her mother's tone and frankly, the thought of someone else bringing her the medicine and the water with which to wash it down was ridiculously comforting. "Yeah, I suppose I can allow that," she said softly, smiling back at her mom.
Snow brushed her thumb over Emma's cheek a final time before letting go and ducking into the bathroom to grab her daughter's medicine. David, who had his baby boy nestled contently in his arms, took that as his cue to approach his little girl. "I don't want to sound like yet another overprotective parent but–"
"Too late," Emma sighed, though she couldn't quite hide her touched smile.
David smiled back at her. "All I'm saying is we could shift our reservations to another night if you think you're not up for this tonight."
"I appreciate it, honestly I do, but you're both overreacting. I'm not on my deathbed; I have a headache." Emma flicked her gaze from her father to her mother as Snow emerged from the bathroom, Advil and glass of water in hand. "One which will be crying uncle in under an hour, thanks to Mom."
Snow smiled as she handed the proffered items over to her daughter. Emma downed the pills and chased them with the water. "See? I feel better already."
Her parents chuckled. "All right, if you're sure," David said.
"I'm sure. Killian's coming over with dinner in a little bit so I'll have some backup, too."
"Oh, so that's it," Snow teased. "You want to kick us out so you and Killian can have some alone time."
David pursed his lips and shot his wife a mild glare. Although he'd certainly warmed up to Killian, Emma was still his little girl and there were things that he as a father just did not need to think about.
Emma felt heat rushing to her cheeks. "No, that's not it," she said, flustered.
"Hopefully your headache goes away," Snow murmured conspiratorially. "Having a headache during alone time sure dampens the mood."
"Mom!" Emma cried at the same time as David exclaimed, "Snow!"
"Out, the both of you!" Emma huffed, lifting her baby brother from her father's arms.
Snow was practically giggling as she headed for the door. She and David shrugged on their coats and turned to give their babies one last look goodbye. "We'll be back in a couple of hours," David promised, giving Emma a nod and wiggling his fingers in a goodbye wave to Neal.
"We'll call first," Snow said, a smirk on her lips. "Just in case. Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"
"Mom!"
They were out the door before Emma could protest any further, Snow's soft giggles fading with the click of the doorknob.
A furious blush rose on Emma's cheeks as she glanced down at her baby brother and released a sigh. "Our parents are impossible, squirt."
A perfectly content little Neal blew a raspberry. "I'll take that to mean you agree with me," Emma said, smiling.
A smiling Killian Jones climbed the steps to his Swan's parents' apartment, takeout dinner from Granny's firmly in hand. He paused just outside the door and listened carefully for any and all sounds the young royal might have been making. Hearing nothing, he rapped on the door with his hook as loudly as he dared. Emma would more than likely have his head if the knock woke the baby.
He needn't have worried. When Emma pulled the door open, a wide awake little Neal was nestled in her arms. "Look, squirt, Killian's here!" she said by way of a greeting.
The baby gurgled happily.
A touched Killian briefly looked up and caught Emma's smiling eye before returning his attention to the little lad. "Hello, there, lad. It's nice to see you, too." He stepped over the threshold and closed the door behind him. "It's wonderful to see you as well, love," he said, punctuating his greeting with a soft kiss on her cheek.
"Mmm." Her eyes fluttered closed against the kiss, making Killian's heart flutter in his chest. Even after all they'd been through, a simple peck on the cheek was enough to quicken both their hearts. "It's great to see you, too," Emma said when he pulled away, her voice somewhat breathless.
Killian smiled as Emma led him to the kitchen table, where he set down the takeout bag. She'd already set the table for dinner, two place settings across from each other. "Here's hoping tonight will be a bit calmer than the last time we babysat," she said as she tucked little Neal into his bassinet for the time being.
He let out a chuckle at the memory. The time she was speaking of saw the two of them trying to settle an ill and very cranky young royal. His ear infection had made him so miserable that Emma had ended up calling Killian in as reinforcement. "He seems much more content tonight than he did that night, that's for sure."
Emma's smile that time was weary, leading Killian's own to fade slightly in concern. "Are you all right, love?"
"Fine," she replied, shoring up her smile.
Killian nodded but he didn't quite believe her. She looked a little pale and her eyes were somewhat glassy. Still, he let it go, figuring that if she truly felt poorly, she'd let him know.
When he opened the takeout bag, the aroma of the fried potatoes and onions wafted into the air. Normally Emma inhaled deeply – she loved the smell of French fries, she'd said – but tonight she turned somewhat green around the gills.
That certainly didn't bode well. With a watchful eye on his Swan, Killian set his food and Emma's out as she poured them both drinks from the cold box. Then as one, they sat down to eat.
He'd gotten Emma's favorite – grilled cheese with onion rings – so it surprised him when she only picked at her meal. "Is everything all right with the food, love?" he asked.
"It's perfectly fine, I just … guess I don't have much of an appetite tonight."
That caused him to raise his eyebrows. He'd never known Emma Swan to turn down food. "Are you sure you feel all right?"
"I do have a little headache," she shrugged.
Headache, nausea. A look at her proved she was squinting so the light in the room must have been bothering her. Suddenly he was on high alert. "How little is little?"
Milah used to get excruciating headaches when she ate certain foods, headaches that would send her running below decks away from the smell of the salt air and the bright vastness of the open ocean. Killian had learned long ago to recognize the signs of one of her impending headaches and right now, he saw those signs in his Swan.
"It's kinda pounding, to be honest. Right here." She pointed to her left temple. "I took some medicine, though, so I should be fine once it kicks in."
Killian didn't know much about the medicine in this world or how it worked but he highly doubted whatever she took would touch what was brewing. He lowered his voice when he next spoke, remembering how sensitive Milah would become to sounds during one of these attacks. "Did it help at all?"
"Not yet. It actually feels like it's gotten worse."
"Has the medicine had the time to work?"
She frowned up at the clock. "Actually, yeah." She looked up at him, her eyes widening in sudden realization as her aching brain finally processed her host of symptoms as a whole. "Oh, shit."
Despite his mounting concern for Emma, he swallowed a chuckle. Ever eloquent, his Swan. "Aye. Come, love. You need a dark, quiet room."
Quiet, apparently, was not in the cards. All of a sudden, little Neal started to cry. A moan escaped Emma's lips as she pressed her hands to the side of her head. Her brother's whimpers were tearing through her headache.
Though Killian's first instinct was to run to Emma, he knew gentle comfort wasn't what she needed in the immediate sense. Instead slipped his hook from its brace and darted to the bassinet to pick up the fussy infant. "Hush, lad," he murmured softly to the baby as he gently bounced him in his arms. "Hush now."
Little Neal slowly quieted down, and Emma slowly relaxed in response. When Neal was finally calm, Emma lifted her head. Killian could tell just from the pained expression on her face that the baby's fussing had done her in. Her headache had exploded.
She squinted first at her baby brother and then up at Killian. "This evening just got a whole lot more complicated, didn't it?"
"It has indeed," Killian said gently as he darted his somewhat panicked gaze to the infant in his arms and then back to his suddenly ill sister. After the briefest of moments, he set his shoulders in determination. He hadn't anticipated that his quiet evening babysitting with Emma would turn into babysitting the lad while also caring for a sick Emma but he was certainly able and willing to roll with the punches. "Not to worry, though. I didn't get to be an ever resourceful pirate captain without learning how to handle the unexpected."
He waggled his eyebrows at her, hoping to make her smile.
It worked. "I'm holding you to that, captain," she said, a teasing smirk curling on her lips despite her pounding headache. "After all, you've had how many centuries to practice?"