Happy birthday, kat2609! Another integral part of our group. I'm so happy to know you and share some common bonds with one another. Namely, our love for a certain pirate and savior… I hope you enjoy your day and all the little gifts that come your way. Have fun!


A feeling of gentle pressure on her stomach woke her. Emma imagined what she knew she was going to find as she turned her head to the other side. Her eyes blinked open slowly as they tried to focus on the bright light that was filtering into their bedroom.

"I woke you, didn't I?"

He was a mop of dark hair that stuck up at all angles. From what she could see, his head was bent down over her belly. (Henry had dark hair like his father. She wondered if their baby would, at least, inherit her fair-haired look.) Waking up with her attentive husband against her was sweet, for now. If she continued to wake up with a slight feeling of queasiness, as well as his hand and half of his face all over her, sweet wasn't going to last long.

"Oh, it was definitely you who woke me up," Emma answered softly. She lifted her head as she watched him, swallowing the light feeling of sickness that came with that movement. "What are you doing, Killian?"

His kiss was soft against her pajama-covered belly, a whisper of lips that caressed her lightly.

"I was reading." His hand lifted, allowing her to see the phone that he was holding.

"To the baby?" she asked, only half teasing as her eyes grew wide.

Killian turned his gaze up at her, blue eyes deep and clear. (She wanted their baby to have his eyes. She had fallen in love with those blue eyes so easily.) How long had he possibly been awake?

"About the baby." His smile was soft as his eyes made a path across her face. "I regret waking you in my endeavor at being mystified over our baby."

His apology would have made her roll her eyes. His attempts at soothing her tired soul with flowing words would have been looked at with sarcasm, if…

The wave of nausea hit with a vengeance, her stomach rolling almost violently at not even the slightest of movements to set it off.

"Move." Emma shoved a hand right in his face in her attempt to move quicker out of the bed.

"I regret it now even more, love."

Her hand clamped over her mouth in a vain attempt to stop the feeling. His words, just like standing and running for the bathroom, didn't make the situation any better. If the feeling of her vomiting at any second hadn't been so prevalent, there would have been one thing he'd attempted that did make the situation a little better…

Killian had rolled off the other side of the bed, his feet hitting the floor softly even before her. He didn't run up to her, instead his bare feet took off for the bathroom and beat her there.

The door flung open only seconds before she made it herself. The seat hit the back of the toilet with a quiet thump just as she fell to her knees in front of it.

Emma hated the lurching feeling of barely nothing forcing itself out of her. Dinner had been light, almost nonexistent because of her lack of appetite. The almost-dry heaving was the worst.

The feeling of Killian's hands (she barely had the forethought to distinguish that it was his hand and not hook he'd been wearing) gently swooping up the mass of hair that had fallen forward was welcomed so was the feel of the way he knelt down beside her. What she probably could have done without was his attempt at encouragement and understanding he whispered close to her ear.

"It's all right, love. I'm here with you. I've got you."

Her stomach felt awful instead of feeling better. Morning sickness. She would have been such a content pregnant woman without it.

Emma leaned back from stuffing her face into the toilet. She sat on her heels and felt the way Killian's hand smoothed down her back.

"At least you're possibly halfway through that part of the pregnancy," he offered quietly. "I've read that morning sickness usually ends around the fourteenth week."

That earned him a flutter of eyelids, not that he saw…

"Stay right there, Emma." Killian stood up then, leaving her where she crouched. "I'll bring you some water."

It was subsiding, the pain in her belly. Emma placed a hand over the flatness that barely hinted to a baby at all.

He was back a moment later, the bottle of water that had been in the bedroom tucked under his arm.

"I've got you," Killian whispered, helping her back into a standing position.

"I'm better now," Emma assured him, relieved that it was actually true.

"That's good." His eyes were on her, watching carefully. The bottle of water came up to his mouth quickly, the cap entering his mouth and his teeth gripping at it. (It really shouldn't still be a turn-on to see the way he adapted so sexily when it came to things like that.)

"Thank you." She took the offered bottled and took a sip as the cap fell into his attached hand. Her eyes stayed on him the entire time, watching him watch her intently.

"Did you… want to lie back down… for a while?" There was a hint of concern, a hint of the caring that she knew he felt. "Do you think it'll be possible to go back to sleep?" He grinned, a tooth-bearing beautiful grin. "I promise to keep my research strictly hands off, if that is the case."

He made her smile. She could imagine him trying very hard to keep his promise to keep his hand to himself.

"Maybe for…" Emma sighed, the thought of resting her once again tired body sounded really good. "For a little while."

"Still queasy?" Killian slipped closer to her, his body lining up with hers. His eyes met hers again as his hand fell over her stomach.

She shook her head slowly, debating on and trying to assess the truth. "No, not queasy."

"Well, that's good, too." The murmur had barely left his mouth before his hand was behind her back and he dipped down to place his other arm under her knees.

The gesture of being carried back to bed wasn't one that Emma needed, but she couldn't hold back her smile in any case. She couldn't hold back the sigh as she slipped her free arm around his neck. She couldn't hold back from the smile breaking across her face as he smiled widely at her.

"You're silly, Killian."

"You're beautiful, Emma," he easily countered. His eyes were on her instead of the path back to the bed. Not that it seemed to be a problem at all.

"I love you."

His hold on her tightened. "I love you."


Emma lifted the mug of hot chocolate up to her lips and took a small sip. She blinked her eyes at the slightly unfamiliar taste in her mouth. Even an extra dash of cinnamon, which she reached across the table for, probably wouldn't fix the problem. Her lips pursed and her eyebrows knitted together as she glanced down into the mug.

"Problem, love?"

Killian's deep murmur brought her head back up. He'd been leaning against the kitchen counter in deep thought himself. She wondered how long his attention had been away from the book next to him and, instead, on her.

Emma pushed the mug of hot chocolate away from her at the same time she shook her head.

"Taste buds wreaking havoc on your morning pick-me-up?"

Her eyes fell to the book that laid there on the counter.

"Is that what you read in your baby book?" she asked with only the slightest of smiles and only a hint of teasing.

"Not in one of the baby books," he murmured, shrugging a shoulder. "It was the phone and the internet for research as well."

"Yes, I saw that this morning."

From across the room, Killian's stare became intense.

"You realize what today is, don't you, love?" The quietness and sincerity in his voice gave her pause. Killian was the one that was good with dates and significant moments. He was really good with those details.

"Today is…" Emma bit her lip while she thought on that one. It dawned on her when she caught his gaze falling lower, towards her stomach which he couldn't even see from behind the table. "The seven week mark."

"Seven weeks." Killian nodded his head in affirmation.

Only seven weeks… and his attentiveness was almost beyond her comprehension.

Emma smiled through the flutters rumbling around in her stomach (that were not baby specific). "What did you find out about week seven, Killian?"

With Henry… when she was pregnant with Henry, she'd never put stock into a weekly update, in the stages and ages of the baby growing inside of her. It was different this time. Killian made it different this time.

Killian liked to regale her with baby facts. Some of them were common to her, things that she had lived through and was currently living through again. Then, there were other details that he shared that were new to her. It was fun to look at those ages and stages of the growing little thing inside of her. It was even more fun to be witness to her husband sharing those details, because it was all new to him.

Killian turned away from her facing the counter this time. He leaned against it, stretching out his body.

"It's about a quarter of an inch now."

"Growing fast now, huh? Last week it was only about a fifth of an inch." She was only teasing a little bit as she went back to stirring the awful hot chocolate.

"Aye, growing bloody fast," Killian murmured, stretching his hand out over the counter. "It now weighs more than a quarter of an ounce."

What was he looking at? Emma watched as his fingers flexed, reaching out at whatever his eyes had caught attention to. Tilting her head, she looked at the items that lined the counter.

She could only imagine his eyes since he was turned away from her. She watched as he straightened back up and reached for…. the glass coffee bean container. Dragging it closer to him, he lifted the top and fished his hand inside.

Emma watched with piqued interest as his fingers pinched at just one of those beans and pulled it out. Killian turned his hand over, palm up, and let the bean slip into his hand.

"What… are you doing?" she finally asked lightly. The curiosity of the whole matter was getting to her.

"A coffee bean." He turned back around to face her. He leaned back against the counter and his eyes were still on that bean.

Her bottom lip poked out and she nodded her head. "Yep. A coffee bean."

He looked up at her then. "That's the size of our baby, Emma."

The visual aid sent a chill down her spine. The inhalation of breath was sudden and deep.

"Our baby is, at this moment, very much a coffee bean?" It was supposed to be light. It was supposed to be easy. But, damn it, she could feel her emotions beginning to turn. She wanted to blame it on the hormones. Hell, she had every right to blame it on her hormones. And her sentimental husband who held a coffee bean in the palm of his hand, the bean looking so tiny sitting there (their baby was so tiny inside of her right now), and informing her about the similarities between it and their baby.

Killian was quick to move this time, meeting her at her seat at the table. His stiff hand swept the chair back and he fell down into the seat. The fist where he held the bean began to come apart, opening up as he held in out in front of her.

The need to hold her breath overcame her as she sat there looking at that coffee bean.

"Our baby is very much like this bean," Killian finally murmured.

Emma looked up at him to see that he was already staring at her. There was a softening on his face as he did so, blue eyes warm and his cheeks held hints of pink staining.

"It's also growing its arms and legs out, finally splitting off into hands and feet and everything else in between," Killian said conversationally, tilting his head to the side. The smile in his voice was evident. "It's also forming its mouth and tongue." He lifted a shoulder in a shrug. "Wonder where's he's going to inherit that from, hm."

The thought made her smile. "It's a toss-up. I'd say." Emma moved both hands to lay over her flat stomach, her eyes following. "Coffee bean, huh?" She looked back up. "I like it."

"Well, for this week," Killian reminded her. He moved to place that coffee bean on the table between them. This singular bean…

"We call our baby 'it,'" she reminded him, lifting an eyebrow in his direction.

Killian smiled at her. "We don't know if it's-"

"Right there, see?" Emma asked, sighing.

He laughed this time, reaching out for her hand. "A boy or a girl. It's still early." It was his time to lift an eyebrow as he brought her hand to his lips. "Did you want to think of names? Have a few in mind?"

"I think a nickname would be a good idea," she told him. "One that is not gender specific. Like-"

"Like Coffee Bean?" Killian asked, the teasing now lacing his own voice.

"I like it," Emma told him again.

He placed a kiss over her knuckles, looking up at her.

"I like it, too," he told her quietly. "I like the nickname. And I love our own coffee bean."

Emma tightened her hand over his, holding firmly. Her eyes drifted across the table, looking down at that bean once again. And, yeah, she was going to blame each and every current emotion flowing through her on hormones.

"I love our coffee bean, too." She looked back at him then and sighed. "And I love you, Killian."

His chair came closer as he pulled it along with him. His hand came to reach for her waist, holding firmly there.

"I love you, too, Emma."

Her lips turned up into a smile as she watched him. She watched the very deep blue eyes and the sincerity there. She watched his own smile form on his lips as he watched her closely as well.

She couldn't wait to see how their coffee bean transformed and what traits would show up from both Killian and herself.

Emma sighed again as she moved closer, slipping her hand over his cheek. Her lips fell over his and she kissed her husband softly.


Their son didn't look so much like the coffee bean he was once nicknamed after. That was a phase that hadn't lasted long, although the name had stuck passed his birth ten days ago…

No, not a coffee bean. Emma had been impressed by the sandy brown curls on her son's head. The blue of his eyes weren't exactly the deep blue of his father's, but they weren't her father's either. Killian had given her an explanation to that as he stared down at their baby. Their son's eyes were closer, almost identical, to that of not only his brother Liam, but also his mother. He'd inherited those eyes from his grandmother. The emotion that Killian had spoken those words had spoken volumes to Emma. Those words spoke of a man who had to witness not only the birth of a new generation of Jones, but a rejuvenation of his family.

The way he had looked at her all those times while she was in the hospital. It was his voice, his words, the look in his eyes. Whenever she thought back on those days, it all still affected her. It would always affect her.

"You gave this to me." The emotion was there to be taken as however she saw fit. "You gave me this gift, my love."

Emma folded her arms over her chest and leaned tiredly against the door frame. Her lips lifted in an involuntary smile as she watched just two of the guys in her life- her husband and her newborn son. Killian's voice was only a gentle murmur as he regaled their child with a story, his head turned away from her and unnoticed.

There was something about seeing a shirtless Killian Jones in bed with his newborn son curled up in a ball on his bare chest. It was something else to see the delicate balancing act of keeping the dozing baby there with his hookless arm as well as thumbing through the storybook with his hand. It was quite endearing to see her husband and her child in such a bonding moment.

"Are you going to stand there the entire time or are you going to join us?" Killian whispered, his head turning in her direction.

Emma hadn't expected it, thinking that she'd been quiet in her observation of the two. She smiled again as she pushed herself off the doorframe and walked into the bedroom.

"He's sleeping," he continued just as softly.

Her eyes traveled across the tiny length that was her son.

"He looks perfect," Emma said with a sigh.

"That's because he is." The book slipped out of Killian's grasp so that he could place his hand over his son's back.

The cooing was almost Emma's undoing. She felt the melt of her heart as she slunk down in the bed beside them.

"This seems like the perfect nap time," she admitted, loving the feel of the bed underneath her. "I'm all done in the kitchen and cleaning out bottles. There's a load of bibs and onesies and all of those little things that could be washed, but then again, there's always something that can be done."

"He's asleep, love," Killian said quietly. "So get your rest as well."

Emma could feel the give of the bed as he began to move, sitting up next to her. She hadn't realized how tired she was until she had laid down there…

"So where are you going?" she asked, not quite mustering up a frown.

"I'm going to lay him down in the bassinet," Killian said carefully as he did just that. "Then I'm going to lay back down next to my wife." It was a moment that passed before the bassinet was pulled nearer to his side of the bed and he sat back down next to her. "And then I'm going to read a bit more of this book as I continue to watch over my beautiful wife and newborn son while they replenish their energy with a nap."

Emma smiled, her eyes closing at the same time.

"You know what? Moms aren't the only ones who are supposed to get their rest while their babies are sleeping, Killian. I hope you don't burn yourself out."

His arm slipped underneath her back, and open invitation that she took to cuddle against his side.

"No worries," Killian murmured, his whispered breath hitting her forehead right before his lips left a kiss there. "I'm in good form right now, having everything that I could possibly need."

"So you're surviving off of your love for us, is that it?" Emma teased. She opened her eyes and looked up at him.

"I've survived on a lot less," he reminded her.

This time… this time it was a lot easier to let her wide gaze wander on him.

"Yes, you have," she finally agreed softly. She gave a short nod and cuddled even closer to him. "Alright then. You know yourself best. You know your limitations. So…" She felt the yawn coming only moments before it broke across her face, being smothered against his side. "So… continue your studying. And I'll see you when I wake up from my nap."

Emma felt the press of his lips at the crown of her head the moment her eyes closed.

"I'll be right here," he whispered quietly. Another kiss was planted in that same spot.

It put an easy smile on her face. even in her sleepy state. "I know."

And she did know. She knew how content he was and how proud he was of not only his accomplishments, but their accomplishments they'd made… together. Yes, she knew very well.