A subtle creak of the door signaled the entrance of Killian Jones into his and Emma's Storybrooke estate. He tried his best to quietly make his way into the kitchen, setting down the grocery bag of items he picked up at the store before coming home from a late night shift at the station. In the crumpled paper bag rest a box of brown sugar cinnamon pop-tarts, some pancake mix, a pack of extra batteries for Henry's Xbox controllers, and last but not least, a bottle of rum.
Making sure to shut off the kitchen lights after leaving the room, Killian then ventured up the wooden stair steps to join his most likely sleeping wife after a long day at work. Gracefully guiding his hand up the banister to the top of the stairs, he stopped in his tracks as he noticed that there was something off. There was faint trace of light softly spilling out from the last room on the right side of the hall. Perplexed by this, being the great detective he is, he then strode down the hall to investigate further.
Pushing the door wider to gain a better view, Killian Jones froze in his tracks yet again as a wide smile etched upon his face at the loving sight of his wife and his five year old daughter asleep in her twin size bed. He stood there for a quick minute trying to keep this memory to look back upon forever. The picture of Emma's long blonde locks spilling over Mara as their sleeping breaths fell into a perfect synchronization was something he would surely never forget. It was somewhat comical that the theme of his daughter's room that she requested when they redecorated her nursery was mainly focused around Disney princesses and a pinch of nautical theming. It was to no surprise that, despite her grandmother's slight disappointment, Mara's favorite Disney princess was Ariel because as she claims 'is the best because she's the princess of the sea'.
Fumbling with trying to get his iPhone out of his leather pants to snap a quick picture of this, he managed to drop it on the carpeted floor. Cringing at the thought of ruining this special moment, he let out a sigh of relief realizing that his little family was still peacefully snoozing away. After making sure he got the picture, he walked over to his wife and gently shook her on the shoulder in attempt to wake her up.
"Killian, is that you?" Emma questioned rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she carefully sat up making sure to not wake her daughter who was still asleep in her lap with their unfinished bedtime story still grasped in her tiny hand.
"Aye love, it's me" Killian said gazing into her eyes as he brushed a piece of stray hair off from Emma's face and behind her ear.
"I'm not quite sure of how to form an exit plan without waking this one up" she said looking from Killian to their daughter.
"I'll have to agree, love; let's wake her up and tuck her back in for the night" Killian remarked as he scooped Mara off of Emma's lap so she could get up from the puffy pink comforter.
"Daddy?" Mara groggily spoke up from entering the embrace of her father.
"Sorry to wake you, love, but your it's rather late and your mommy has to go back to her bed" Killian explained ruffling his daughters already messy bedhead.
Hearing the joyous sound of laughter coming from his daughter immediately warmed his heart as he gave her a quick tickle before placing her back in her bed, this time now under the covers.
"But I'm not even tired, I wanna finish the story" Mara stated to both of her parents before letting out a large yawn and brushing her raven hair to one side of her head.
Emma reached down and picked up the book that had fell on the floor and handed it to Killan. "Oh, The Princess and The Frog. That's a good one lass, but maybe instead of finishing that I can share a shorter; however, more exciting tale" he interjected while flipping through the pages of the book.
Mara bounced up and down and clapped her hands excitedly "Oh yay! Can we do that daddy?"
Emma, in attempt to try to calm her daughter down, sat down next to her and snuggled up ready to listen intently to her husband's story as she was extremely intrigued as well.
With all eyes on him, Killian put The Princess and the Frog book away on the nearby bookshelf and turned to his audience starting his tale off dramatically with "This is the story of how I died."
Just as he was going to proceed, the family turned their attention to the hallway as they were interrupted with a soft knock on the door.
Henry curiously peeked in after hearing noises coming from the room as he was just about to go downstairs to get a glass of water "Uh, hey guys what are you up to?" He questioned.
It was always a treat when Henry would return home from college, and this time he was back home to celebrate Thanksgiving in Storybrooke. Alternating his nights at either Regina's or Killian and Emma's, he was grateful to stumble upon this family moment.
"Hey kid we were just about to hear your father tell an 'exciting' bedtime story. Care to join?" Emma proposed gesturing for her son to sit with them.
"Sure, there's no way I can pass that up" Henry chimed in as he made his way to the foot of his sister's bed and sat crossed legged on the floor paying his attention now to his step father who was standing before him.
"Glad you could join, lad" Killian praised as he patted Henry on the back.
"Ok now where was I?" He pondered scratching the scruff on his chin.
"Oh I know daddy! Once upon a time that's how every story starts" Mara quickly blurted out.
"Aye love it is, but that's not how this one starts. This one is about a cowardly pirate who was quite fond of goats milk and a beautiful princess locked in a tower saved by a noble and valiant young knight " Killian exclaimed giving both Emma and Henry a knowingly look.
Mara was captivated by her father's story. Her green eyes gleamed as she held on to every word. Emma sat there halfway paying attention to Killian's story of their time spent in the heroes versus villains universe, but she mainly focused more on the reactions from her daughter to the story. Not once during this rendition of their past did Emma not sport a smile on her face from looking between her handsome husband and amazing daughter who was such a perfect mix of them both.
By the time the story was almost done, Killian spotted Mara starting to doze off again, even Henry even let out a small yawn which indicted him to quickly wrap it up.
"And it all turned out that it was a basically all dream, but thankfully for the cowardly pirate, not only did the beautiful princess allow him to gain the courage to fight, but she also allowed him to find true love. And they lived happily ever after" Killian finished up returning the prop toy sword he so graciously borrowed from his daughter's toy chest to recreate some of the fighting scenes.
Emma stumbled a tad getting herself up from the bed, as she then reached out her arm to help Henry off of the floor. "Ok gang, I think it's due time we head to bed, don't you say Killian?"
"Aye love, I'd say that 12:30 in the morning is way past this one's bedtime" Kilian said caressing Mara on the cheek.
"Well I'm definitely exhausted, so I'm going to head back to my room. Goodnight guys" Henry concluded as he walked back to the door.
"Oh, by the way, thanks for such a great story Killian. I especially liked the knight he was cool" Henry slyly exclaimed turning around before exiting his sister's room.
"Anytime lad, sleep tight. We'll see you in the morning, I think pancakes are in order for breakfast tomorrow, so be on the lookout for those" he joyously proclaimed.
"Ohhh pancakes yum, I can't wait" Mara sleepily mumbled as her mother hugged her and Killian kissed her goodnight before she flat out crashed from her accumulating tiredness.
Killian chuckled at the fact that despite his daughter's sleepy state, she still had it in her to show excitement about pancakes, which was her favorite food. He then flicked on her swan night light that was behind her tea party table, and escorted his wife out as she turned off Mara's lights.
They both looked back at their daughter, asleep safe and sound, probably dreaming about pirates and princesses right now, and they couldn't help but feel a sense of pride to be able to call themselves her parents.
"I'm so thankful we got this" Emma quietly whispered into her husband's ear as she took his hand in hers.
"And what's that love?" Killian questioned raising an eyebrow.
"Why, our happily ever after of course" Emma stated smiling looking up to Killian.
"Aye love, I consider myself the luckiest man on earth to be able to call you, Henry, and Mara my family, and I wouldn't trade any of this for all the treasure in all the realms" he disclosed before pecking Emma on the lips.
Emma fell into his embrace as she nuzzled her chin into the crook of his neck taking in the familiar scent of him that will always remind her of home.
"Swan, I don't know about you, but I'm ready to call it a night. May I have the honor my lady?" He bowed, being the true gentleman he was, extending his hook to her.
She graciously accepted and the couple finally retired to their bedroom interlocking arms for some much needed sleep. As they fell asleep in each other's arms, they dreamt about the rest of their happy beginning, only to wake up to the sweet aroma of pancakes and hot chocolate with cinnamon made by their wonderful children that awaited them downstairs.