A/N: For my CS Secret Santa, Maggie (accio-ambition). This is a feelsy fic that was originally intended to be a one-shot but I just couldn't help myself. There's a lot of Captain Charming and Captain Cobra because I can't get enough of them in canon. Side effects may include tears and the occasional squealing. You've been warned ;)

Ps: Not all ten days until Christmas will be included since, just as in real life, some of them are pretty uneventful.

This is my first multi-chapter, so constructive criticism and reviews are more than welcome!

Thank you for reading and enjoy! xx

8:47am - 9 days before Christmas

Darling hold me in your arms the way you did last night,
And we'll lie inside a little while here
I could look into your eyes until the sun comes up,
And we're wrapped in light, in life, in love

Emma stirs in her sleep as she hears these words playing in a soft melody she's sure she had never heard before. She reaches out to the other side of her new bed before opening one eye, feeling a familiar panic creep into her stomach when all her fingers find are cold bed sheets. Killian is not there.

11:53pm - 10 days before Christmas

It was her (or should she say their?) first night in her new place, and after hours spent on cleaning around, unpacking bed linens and opening up the packages of her new furniture, one very tired Henry had left them to deal with the rest of it alone as he went off to spend the night at Regina's. And then some more exhausting minutes passed before Emma had finished putting together an Ikea bookshelf, whilst Killian couldn't help but stare flabbergasted as though she had mapped the seven seas all by herself.

Emma let out a heavy sigh before spreading her legs out in front of her as she sat on the cold floor. After Killian tilted his head to the side and looked at her with such tenderness in his eyes that she felt like her body was about to start melting on to the hardwood, she finally gave in to her sore muscles and decided they were done for the day.

"You are bloody brilliant, lass." Killian said as he helped her up to her feet and offered her one of his devilishly handsome grins along with his hands. Emma could have told him it wasn't really that complicated, that anybody with a brain could put together an Ikea bookshelf if they were just bothered to read the instructions sheet, but she thought better of it.

"You've told me that before, you know." She said, the corners of her mouth curving upwards tentatively. She had recently decided she quite liked the utter adoration that beamed from his eyes and enveloped her in a fuzzy warmth whenever he looked at her like that.

"Aye, that I did. And I still haven't changed my mind about you one bit, love." He said with so much sincerity that Emma was almost overwhelmed by the meaning behind his words.

"I really hope you won't." Emma said in a barely audible whisper, the words tumbling from her lips before she could stop them. She felt all of her her fears and insecurities from the countless times she was left alone building up in her chest and squeezing the air out of her lungs. She refused to close her eyelids and let the traitorous tears that had quickly prickled the corners of her eyes roll down her cheeks though, choosing instead to avert her gaze to Killian's collarbones and his ever-showing cloud of chest hair.

"Emma..." Killian whispered back, running his fingers along her jaw and stopping them in her chin, tracing that little dent he was so fond of.

"Look at me, love" he said before gently turning her face up and looking into her eyes with a genuine concern that made her slightly week in the knees. And in his eyes she found a calm ocean of blue gently washing away every single one of her fears - as paradoxical as it may seem, his was a sea she knew would never drown her, but rather would constantly bring her back to shore, relentlessly back and forth however many times she felt like she was submerging and needed desperately to breathe.

"As much as your mother loves to say all happy endings begin with hope, I like to think we're a bit past that stage, love." He said with a soft smile, his voice sounding like another promise he intended her to hold on to. Emma's lips parted of their own accord, but no words came out this time. This sounded a lot like his words to her in Neverland, words she knew she would never be able to forget.

(When I win your heart...)

(not if, when, as if he'd known all along somehow).

She was suddenly very glad he gave her a minute to prepare herself for his words when she realised her hands were shaky on his shoulders. As if he'd noticed it at the very same second she did, Killian's arms wrapped tighter around her waist, anchoring her to him.

"I want you to know that I will never change my mind about you, Emma. I want you to know all I want is to never leave your side, which is where I'll happily remain for as long as you'll have me."

Whether it was the way his voice did not falter one bit as he said that, or the way she insistently tried to find any hint of a lie crossing his eyes and failed, or perhaps the fact that, for the first time in forever, her instincts were telling her to just trust somebody and quit questioning it, Emma simply smiled. She let out a deep sigh and realised she'd been holding her breath all that time.

"Good." Her hands slided up from his shoulders and along his neck until they cupped his face. She looked deeply into his eyes trusting him to find there all the words she was still unable to say, but knew he would understand it all the same.

She'd never been more glad to be an open book for him than when he smiled in response, kissing both her palms before she gently pulled herself up to meet his lips. The kiss started gently as they were both afraid to overwhelm each other even more after that heartfelt talk. Then it quickly escalated and became more passionate as their bodies were set ablaze - urgency and desperation and everything flowing between them as they violently reassured one another of just how much they both needed to finally be together.

Killian pulled away first and rested his forehead against Emma's, breathing heavy, trying to reclaim the air back into his lungs. She felt her insides fluttering nervously in the most delicious way as she played with the hairs in his neck and he bumped their noses together. He was leaving a trail of kisses all over her face and god, she was grinning and chuckling like an idiot but she couldn't care less.

"I guess I should probably be going then, love. I'm afraid Granny still tries to enforce her bloody curfew, and I'm already breaking it by a over an hour." Killian said, kissing her cheek once more and curling an errant golden lock around his finger.

"Well, you really don't want to anger Granny, otherwise god knows what she'd put in your pancakes." She said smiling sheepishly at him. Killian chuckled and nodded, and moved to put some distance between them when she abruptly gripped the collar of his jacket forcing him to face her again.

"So... what if you didn't break the curfew tonight?" Emma asked lifting one eyebrow. Killian stilled and did nothing but blinking at her three times and searching her face, before he could bring himself to say something.

"Emma... are you sure?" Killian looked like he couldn't believe what was happening - or rather was too afraid of believing it in case this was just another one of his dreams.

"Aye, captain. Unless you're no longer interested in that coffee I offered you some time ago." She said with a cheeky smile and raising one eyebrow up suggestively.

Emma rested her hands on his shoulders once again and watched him give her the biggest smile she'd ever seen in that damn dashing face of his, dimples showing, nose scrunching and absolutely everything about it making her heart squeeze with sweet anticipation.

"I'll be damned if I ever find it in me to deny you anything, lass." And then they were kissing again.

Emma walked them backwards towards her room and their lips didn't part for a single second, her hands were feeling the leanness of the muscles in his chest through the soft fabric of his shirt, his arms darting to her lower back, his hand tracing the hem of her shirt and making her skin burn under his touch, liquid heat starting to pool low in her belly, and she knew the very first touch of his lips on that spot in her neck, just below her earlobe, had already been enough to set her entire body on fire.

8:50am - 9 days before Christmas

With your body next to mine our hearts will beat as one,
And we're set alight, we're afire love

Emma stops registering the music coming from outside her bedroom. Her stomach starts twisting into knots as old fears get the better of her one more time. She sits up in her bed and she's about to start looking for her phone to check if he had at least texted her before leaving when a sweet smell assaults her nostrils.

"Morning, beautiful." He says closing the distance between them and kissing her cheek before placing a mug of hot cocoa in her hands. She arches one eyebrow up at him.

"Hot cocoa? Really?"

"With cinnamon, of course." Her smile grows wider and she tilts her head to the side.

"Since when do you know how to make my family's favourite hot drink?"

"I'm a man of many talents, love. And Henry taught me how to make it when I brought him back to your parents's place the last time we went sailing." He says shrugging, as if the fact that he genuinely enjoys spending time with her son doesn't mean the world to her.

Emma crosses her legs beneath her and he sits next to her. She sips on her drink and hums in appreciation - how was it even possible that he had made her hot cocoa with cinnamon for the first time and it tasted just like her mother's?

"Apparently you're also a fast learner, this is delicious!"

"I'm glad it's to your liking." He smiles and places a lock of her hair behind her ear. "Now, if you'd allow me to treat my lady after the best sleep I've had in all my three hundred years of existence, what do you say you bring your mug to the kitchen and I'll make you breakfast?"

Emma is stunned for a moment when she realises she'd never had anyone to make her breakfast, not even Neal since they were always in such a rush to get moving and start on their daily thieving. She lifts one hand to trace the scar across his right cheek and gives him a watery smile before pressing a soft kiss that tastes of chocolate and cinnamon to his lips. She gets up and leads him by the hand towards the kitchen, using the opportunity for a change of subject that would divert his already-showing concern from her sudden emotional state.

"Hey, what's that song playing?"

The look on his face tells her that he is well aware of what she's doing, but also that he would, as always, respect her limits and let it go without questioning the reason for the tears threatening to take shape in her eyes.

"I don't know what it's called but I quite like the rhythm, plus the bloke's got a nice voice, so I thought I'd leave the radioactive music box at that station. Do you want me to change it?"

She hardly tries to stifle an outburst of laughter at his overcomplicated name for the musical apparatus he was apparently just starting to get acquainted with.

"No, I like it, leave it on. It's just called a radio and I assure you it's not radioactive - where did you even hear that word? And since when do you know how to operate a radio?"

"Henry taught me a few things about this realm and its technologies during the times we spent together. And I heard the word in one of those news programmes your father seems to watch regularly. When Henry told me the device's name I assumed that's what the man in the fancy suit meant."

He's looking down at his own feet and scratching that spot behind his ear - he looks actually embarrassed so Emma opts for another change of subject in her characteristic lack of subtlety.

"I wouldn't have thought you'd be one to like romantic music, though. Imagine what your crew would say if they learned the fearsome Captain Hook likes his sappy love songs."

"Oi! My crew knows their Captain's likes or dislikes only concern them if it relates to how clean my deck is. Besides, Swan, I'm only recently discovering some parts of this old pirate I thought were lost forever." He says as he shuffles his feet - that silly, endearing trait of his she can't help but adoring - moving into her personal space and wrapping both his arms around her waist, looking at her like he is contemplating the sea glinting in the sunlight through her green siren eyes.

"Let me guess, that is until you met me?" She beams at him with a cocky smirk on her face.

"Aye, precisely." Killian moves down to place one arm beneath her knees whilst keeping his other arm secured in her back and lifts her off her feet, kissing her senseless as he carries her back into the bedroom - breakfast completely forgotten.

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