Morning Glory
When he had woken up to find her gone, for not the first time, Killian felt something heavy and uncomfortable settle in his heart; a wanting, a need, for her to reappear from thin air.
Needless to say, he was no magician, such magic was beyond him and so he rose quietly, rubbing his eyes with a rough hand and reattaching his hook – something she insisted he took off, even divesting him of it herself on occasion, once they settled for sleep, sleep being something he'd only recently persuaded her to do at his side, her previously being eager to leave in the aftermath of their intimacies. He prided himself on how quickly he'd managed to change that and not through lack of hard work either.
Blasted woman couldn't seem to accept when somebody, when he - Killian, Hook, all of him - had a true, honest, bared-for-all-to-see interest – attraction, affection – for her.
Killian heaved his pants from the floor and pulled them on but when he got up and went to where he last placed his shirt to find it gone and yet all of Emma's belongings in its place he sighed and chuckled, as the heavy weight in his chest began to dissipate and realized that whatever was happening between him and her wasn't something he was prepared to let go of.
He headed up to the decks of the Jolly Roger with a new sense of hope, something not new around her, and paused when he spotted her at the head of his ship; her arms wrapped around herself, her hair flying with the wind and his shirt gripped to her skin, stopping at her thighs, just low enough to keep her modesty intact.
The breeze flew by her in waves and he noted her shiver against it as the sun steadily climbed to its height in the sky. Killian had watched many a sunrise but none had had him as enamoured, nor satisfied as the one before him at that very moment.
Glad he had forgone any shoes he quietly made his way from the doors of his cabin towards her, watching for any change in her unusually relaxed demeanour that said she knew he was there. When he was close enough that he could reach, Killian cautiously reached out to Emma, his hand slowly reaching around her waist.
Emma stiffened for just a second as he grew centimetres closer and then, as if she hadn't noticed he was there, she relaxed again. With his chest to her back, Killian fought against the triumphant beam that threatened to break when she, with just a slightest of hesitance, leant back, allowing him to take her weight in his arms.
When his hooked hand joined his other around her waist, underneath her crossed arms, he did permit himself a smile when her hand wrapped around his hook in a show of intimacy he had only seen from her in the shadows of night.
Emma and Killian watched in silence as the sun rose further, a refreshing air of freedom settling around them and Killian could almost feel another of her walls crumbling at their feet. Whatever was happening in her head, right in that moment, he could feel it letting him in just a little bit further.
He could feel how tangible of a challenge it held with it, urging him to run, to leave and to forget.
As the thought reeled through his mind, she looked up at him just briefly, a prepared hardness in her eyes. He could run. He could end this now and forget her. He could block her out just as she did to him before, but things had far evolved between them since their adventure on a beanstalk and he didn't want to leave.
Moreover, he didn't want her to leave him.
Killian looked back at her and with a small smile, he nodded once.
He could see the fight in Emma, and he could see it leave her, as her mouth lifted just slightly into an equal smile. She nodded back and then relaxed again just a bit more into him, her head rolling back and lying upon his shoulder.
They were silent a minute more before Killian finally kissed her temple and said, "How's life at the helm, Captain Swan?"
Emma laughed quietly but fully and replied, "I am no Captain."
"Don't you think 'Captain Swan' has a nice ring to it?"
Emma looked up at him then, a slight pinkness to her cheeks, "Not as nice as Sheriff Swan. I think I'll stick with that for now, you can keep the Captain, Captain."
"If you insist but I will have my way with you yet, my girl," Killian grunted slightly, quietly, as Emma turned in his arms, a friction from body to body.
"I'm counting on it," She replied alluringly and leant up on her tiptoes, kissing him softly on the lips.
Just as she was to pull away, Killian pulled her close, the weight of his hand at the small of her back, holding her close, closer, as close as he could, not even a slither of a gap between them.
Emma's hands rose from where they lay on his bare chest, moving across his skin and leaving goose bumps in their path, before pushing up to his neck and into his hair as she pulled herself against him, her body melting against his.
Tongues danced and lips devoured as they absorbed each other's energy and power, need and want, and just the intoxication of each other.
Heavy breaths passed between them as they pulled themselves apart just enough to look at each other, dazed and frenzied.
"Killian..." Emma sighed, content.
Killian chuckled, himself just as sated, "Hmm, yes, love?"
"I have to get home," And the mood shifted just slightly, a sense of responsibility falling to them, as he remembered the lives they had outside of each other.
"No," He whined slightly, tugging her close again for a brief brush of lips, his head coming to rest upon hers.
"Yes," She replied, somewhat reproachfully, "I promised Henry that I'd take him for breakfast at Granny's this morning and I want to get back before my parents are up."
Steadily, and reluctantly she pulled herself out of Killian's arms and gave him a sorry smile.
Before she disappeared into the cabin to change a suggestion came to Killian's mind and he said it before he even had the time to think, "You know," She turned at the baritone of his voice, "I could always come with you; to breakfast."
Emma's brow rose in incredulous questioning, arms folded, "You want to come and have breakfast with my family?"
He scoffed and grew closer to her once more, "A pirate has to eat too, you know?"
"Oh, right, of cour-"
"And I want to have breakfast with you," He smirked lightly, "And your family are a part of you, so..."
Killian watched as her tongue rolled against the inside of her cheek in thought, Emma eying him.
"Come on, love, what's the worst that could happen?"
"You and David killing each other over who gets the last slice of bacon," She replied monotonously, though a smirk was beginning to grace her lips too. She sighed and added, "You really want to do this?"
"I want-" Killian paused for a second, and narrowed in on Emma again, a hair's breadth between them, as he said something quite unlike him, "I want to make you happy."
He kissed her then, short and sweet but reassurance all the same.
"David and Mary Margaret are going to be... awkward, at best."
"I think I can handle your parents just fine. I know when to bow in the presence of royalty."
"Being an ass won't help you," She grumbled in frustration.
"It'll help me. I don't know about them," He acquiesced.
"You're just doing this to make me suffer, aren't you?"
"Never, love."
They eyed each other in a battle of wills for a moment, the sound of the ocean all to be heard.
"You know Henry is going to have a million questions, right?" She finally unfolded her arms and relaxed once more.
"And I will do my best to answer them in the most honest and mature way that I can," He replied, the voice of sincerity, the face of impish mischief.
"Oh god!" Emma's eyes rolled as she turned around and headed for the cabin once more, "My kid's going to be the most corrupted 12 year old, ever."
Killian swung his arm around her shoulders and kissed her on the head, "Don't worry, darling, he's got the best teacher."
He chuckled as she lightly hit his chest, "Yeah, like that's a great reassurance."
As he returned to the cabin, side by side with her, Killian felt the complete opposite to what he had not an hour before. He felt freakishly light and free and happy, and in the hundreds of years since he'd lost Milah, he had never been privy to such things but he recognised then that these feelings had been brewing since the moments that they met. She'd stirred something in him he had thought long gone and he couldn't be more grateful.
He didn't know what the future held. He didn't know what the bizarre world that they lived in had in store for them but for the first time he was hopeful of whatever his future was because he was pretty sure that she was it and right now, as they kissed in a tangled mass of clothes, laughter and everyday grumbles, he couldn't imagine it being otherwise.
Emma didn't like to panic, rather, Emma didn't like to look like she was panicking – she didn't like to look like anything, in all honesty, because it gave too much away – and yet, it seemed she had a very easy-to-read face.
At least, Killian found her easy to read.
"Will you stop fidgeting?" They came to halt at the corner before the apartment, "I'm beginning to think you're coming to regret this."
"No!" She replied hastily, her hand on his chest, "No, I'm not regretting it. Not at all. I just..."
"Look, if you want me to go, I'll ju-"
"I don't want you to go! I don't," She insisted, a grip forming on his coat, "I'm just nervous, I guess. I've never done this before."
"Done what? Had breakfast? As strange as you are, love, I find that hard to believe," He replied sarcastically, raising an eyebrow.
"I mean I've never-" She sighed, "I've never taken any body home to meet my parents before. I never had the chance and now it is happening and I don't know how this is supposed to work."
"The worst thing that can happen," Killian said, after a moment, "Is that Daddy Dearest has as mean a left hook as I do-"
"Oh, ha, ha. Very funny," She griped.
"-And then," He continued as if she hadn't said anything, "Things can only get better after that."
Emma sighed again and allowed her other hand to lie on his chest too, his hand coming to rest on her hip at the motion, "Just... try not to provoke anything, please?"
"It's all on him," He replied, Emma choosing to ignore the wiggle in his eyebrows.
They nodded at each other and Emma kissed him briefly for courage before leading the way to her building.
When they reached the door, Emma turned to him and asked, "Do you want to wait here or-"
"Start as we mean to go on, I say," He replied.
"Right," She smiled and opened the door, holding it open for him to come in.
"David, hey!" She said, seeing him at the kitchen counter.
"Morning, where did you g- what is he doing here?" David's pleasantries were cut short once he spotted Killian meandering by the door.
"Morning to you, too, Your Royal Highness," At the glare he received from Emma and David alike, he smirked and sent a repentant shrug her way.
"Emma! I wondered where you were!" Mary Margaret's voice carried down the stairs as she came from the apartment's upper level but the pause in footsteps made Emma turn towards her, "Hook?" Mary Margaret half-smiled, half-grimaced as she carried on over to David and addressed Emma, "What is he doing here?"
"He's coming to breakfast with us and Henry," Emma answered, appreciative of her mother's attempts at trying to be pleasant.
"No, he isn't-"
"David, wait-"
"Yes, he is," Emma spoke over her parents. She watched as David and Mary Margaret shared a look that said a million words and then as David rubbed at his forehead, "David, I invited Killian and he's coming."
"Killian? He's Killian now?" David's frown deepened.
Emma eyed the pirate – who was sniggering to himself – briefly before looking back at her parents again, "What else am I gonna call him, Peter-Pan?"
"She's right, David. Don't be petty," Mary Margaret commented in between as she busied herself with some cutlery.
Movement upstairs made Emma aware that Henry would be coming down soon, "If it bothers you that much, then Henry and I will go with him on our own."
"I don't think that's such a good idea, I mean-"
It was Killian who interrupted David this time, and said, quite vehemently, "Now, I don't mean to be rude, mate, but I can promise you this, I have absolutely no intention of causing Emma or Henry any harm, is that clear?"
"Forgive me if I doubt that, considering the last time we were in each other's company, I was left with the lump the size of a second head for damage," David argued, moving around the counter and towards Killian.
"David, don't do anything stupid," Mary Margaret warned, coming to stand by him as did Emma.
"Can we please just not do this? Henry is in the house," She reminded them, eying both of them with a glare, "Don't think I wouldn't put you both in cells."
"It was nothing personal, honestly," Killian drawled, a hint a carelessness about him but Emma knew, even if David didn't believe it, that that was as good an apology as he was going to give.
"Emma is right, David," Mary Margaret spoke quietly to her husband, "Not around, Henry."
"What's not around, Henry?"
The four turned to the voice at the bottom of the stairs to find Henry stood there, ready for the day and watching the adults with curious eye.
"Nothing for you to worry about, kid," Emma neared him, taking over his view of the scene, "Are you ready to head out?"
"Sure. Is he coming too?" He pointed haphazardly towards Killian, who was just pulling himself away from a staring competition with David.
"If you don't mind, I thought Killian could join us," Emma smiled hopefully at him and then Killian, who was now behind Emma.
Henry looked towards the pair and gave them the smallest of nods before speaking to Killian, "So, do I have to call you 'Captain'?"
Killian grinned, "I think Killian will do, won't you?"
Emma backed away from the bantering pair with a sense of satisfaction that was quickly scuppered when she saw David still watching Killian warily.
"I don't trust him," David said.
"I know but I do."
"You care about him, don't you?" Mary Margaret asked.
It took all of Emma's strength not to smile like a child on Christmas morning, "Yeah, I do," And with that, some of the doubt and insecurity that she'd been carrying since she was a child began to dwindle because she was talking to her parents about a boy that she liked.
Emma let out a heavy breath before, in a move that she herself found peculiar, she placed her hand on David's crossed arm, "Please, can you at least try to be civil with him. For Henry," She gestured to her son but when she still saw the hesitation, she added, "For me."
With just those two words, Emma saw David's mood shift just slightly, "For you."
Emma did beam then, "Thank you."
"That doesn't mean I'm happy about it."
"David, don't keep going on," Mary Margaret chastised as they, Emma, David and herself moved towards the still nattering Killian and Henry.
"What?"
"Honestly, I'll take what I can get," Emma conceded.
"You will be nice, won't you?" Mary Margaret asked.
"I promised civil, not nice," He grumbled but at the glares from his wife and daughter he added, "Fine, but if he starts anything-"
"He won't-" -"I won't..." Emma and Killian said simultaneously before Killian added, "Grandad."
"Says the three-hundred year old, pirate," David snipped back.
"Woah, three-hundred?" Henry gasped with a wonderous smile.
"Come on, can we go?" Mary Margaret chirped over the commotion, reaching for her coat as Emma helped Henry into his.
As David's disgruntled moans and groans reached her ears, Emma sighed, a sense of feathery buoyancy settling inside her, something that had been bubbling since the moment she opened her eyes that morning and a number of mornings before.
It had been during those mornings, waking up beside Killian, where the worries of the world hadn't been pecking away at her, that she'd been slowly coming to terms with the facts of her life.
She had parents that loved her.
She loved her son and she would always and forever do anything for him.
Captain Hook was just a character from a story and Killian Jones was his creator.
Killian Jones was a good man. He loved with an intensity that could carry decades, a trait she both admired and envied, not of him but of the person those affections had been for.
Killian Jones cared about her.
And she cared about him. More than cared, she thought – knew, but perhaps that was a realisation for another morning – and she was almost desperate to cling on to that.
As she walked out the door, with Killian's back around her, she admitted, just to herself, that she wanted this to be her life. Gone was the loner girl, who cut out anyone who tried to come close, destroying herself in the process, and didn't let any man within a mile of her have any hope in hell, and here was the girl who relished the notion of family and hope and, now thanks to him, potential.
She no longer had any fear. Fear of herself, fear of the future, of settling. In all honestly, she couldn't wait for it.
She wanted this life, the life where she woke up to the morning sun with a smile, and she wanted to share it with Killian Jones.
A.N. Another Captain Swan fic for you, that slowly turned into a Captain Swan + Charming family fic.
Thoughts are much appreciated, as always.
Jessica.