It all happened when Emma took an unanticipated walk home during lunch time. The morning had been rather uneventful at the sheriff station, but the copious amount of paperwork had kept her ass glued to that godawful armless chair – they really needed to buy new chairs – until Killian and her father graced her with their presence, freshly returned from their patrol. She almost jumped out of her seat when Killian, ever the loving husband, offered to finish the paperwork for her. The sound of a sloppy kiss against her pirate's stubbled cheek had her father rolling his eyes in mocking annoyance until she disappeared into the station's hallway with a hurried step.

Of course this hadn't been the first time she had forgotten something at home. While she loved her family and wouldn't trade it for anything in the world, the chaotic mornings were… tense. Between breakfast, making beds, quickies in the shower, trying to find clean clothes to put on and preparing her teenage daughter's lunchbox (even though Hope kept insisting that she was too old for that), it was only natural that she ended up forgetting something. Today it had been her phone. She was pretty certain that she had left it in Hope's bedroom, having dropped it on her desk when her 17-year-old daughter struggled to put her necklace on and ended up asking for her help.

A frown took over her face when she opened the house's front door and realized she had forgotten to lock it. God, what was her problem? She really needed to take a break or something, because she didn't remember ever being this irresponsible. Not wanting to waste any more time, she ran upstairs towards Hope's bedroom, anxious to finally get her hands on her damn phone.

Her brain took a while to process the shrill scream that echoed through the house once she pulled the bedroom door open, but eventually a small gasp escaped Emma's lips when she found her daughter's startled blue eyes staring back at her. Emma's gasp turned into a pained grunt when she realized that Hope wasn't alone. Lying right next to her on the bed there was a shirtless Theo, his suddenly shaking hand still groping her daughter's left breast.

"Hope?" Emma mumbled with a mix of reprimand and surprise. She knew that Hope had been dating Theo – or rather Theodore Blackbeard – for about eight months, but nothing had prepared her to find her daughter and her boyfriend in bed, half-naked. Part of her wanted to throw Theo out the window, but another part of her wanted to know just for how long they had been engaging in... well, that.

"I'm so sorry, Mrs. Savior," Theo's voice was shaking as he got out of the bed and frantically searched for his shirt, lost somewhere on the floor. "I mean Emma… I mean Mrs. Swan…Jones."

Emma fought the urge the roll her eyes at Theo's awkwardness. He was a good kid and he was nothing like his pompous asshole of a father, but right now she was not in the mood to deal with his bumbling ways.

"I think you should go home," Emma told him in a stern voice before her gaze fell on Hope, who pretended to be looking for her shirt, too ashamed to meet her mother's deep stare. "Put your clothes on and then meet me in the kitchen."

After grabbing her phone and putting it in her pocket, Emma left the bedroom. She could feel the insistent beat of her pulse pounding in her head, her fingers trembling as she clutched the handrail on her way down the stairs. What the hell would she do now? This had never been an issue with Henry. He had had his fair share of girlfriends, but she had never caught him in bed with any of them. She slightly shook her head as she got to the kitchen, trying to get the images of Theo's hands all over… Ugh, she couldn't do this. Should she wait for Killian to have this conversation with Hope?

Fuck.

Killian.

He wouldn't be pleased with this. It had already been a hard task to calm him down when he had learnt that his daughter was dating none other than the son of his oldest rival, Blackbeard.

She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. Unfortunately for her, she couldn't wait for her husband. She needed to have a conversation with Hope right now, and make sure that she was at least being responsible and doing things the right way.

The sound of Hope's footsteps brought her out of her daze and she let out a sigh when Hope slumped into one of the kitchen's chairs, her eyes always avoiding hers.

"I'm sorry, mom," Hope broke the silence, sincerity seeping through her voice.

"Shouldn't you be at school?" Emma wondered as she took a seat opposite her, but not eben that was enough to make Hope look at her.

"There was no class."

"You can look at me, you know? I have no heat vision," Emma tried to lighten the mood, and a wave of relief washed over her as Hope reluctantly pulled her eyes from the table and pulled her eyes up to hers. "Has this happened before?"

"Yes."

"How many times?"

"Three."

Emma assented as she processed that piece of information. "So I take it you and Theo have already… you know…"

Hope swallowed the gulp in her throat, her eyes darting away from Emma's once again. "Yeah… We have."

"Please tell me you used protection."

"Of course we did," Hope replied quickly, trying to ease her mother's worries. "You and dad were always very insistent on that for me not to remember."

Emma couldn't help the sigh of relief that escaped her lips. At least all those sex talks they had had with Hope hadn't been in vain. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"I was embarrassed."

"Why? We have always told you that sex is nothing to be embarrassed about."

"I know, but it still feels a bit weird," she said with a shrug. "Besides, I knew what I was doing, I didn't want to worry you."

A small, gentle smile eased over Emma's features. She couldn't believe that this moment had finally arrived and that she was having the first time talk with her daughter. It wasn't exactly how she had imagined it happening, but her eagerness to know if Hope was alright was just the same.

"How was it like?"

"Mom-" Hope protested, scrunching up her nose.

"I'm asking because my first time was a disaster," Emma cut her off, and Hope realized in that moment that her mother was simply trying to make sure that she hadn't gone through the same thing. "I know how traumatizing a bad first experience can be."

"Was it with Henry's dad?"

"No… It was with a guy named Nathan. We were in the same foster home, and I had a huge crush on him, but we were way too young and we had no idea what we were doing," Emma's lighthearted laugh triggered her daughter's own bout of chuckles. "Anyway, it hurt a lot and I promised myself I would never have sex again."

Emma didn't say it out loud, but Hope could read the "I don't want you to feel that way" written in her mother's loving stare.

"I mean… it hurt a bit, but I guess it was okay," Hope ended up admitting. It hadn't been wonderful, but it certainly wasn't so awful for her not to want to do it again. "Just please don't tell dad."

"Sorry, kiddo, but you know how we work. I can't keep this from him," Emma told her determinedly as she got up and went to sit on the chair next to Hope, putting a soothing arm over her shoulders.

"Ugh, he's going to be pissed."

"I don't think he will," Emma tried to comfort her, tucking a lock of her daughter's blonde hair behind her ear. They stood like that for some minutes, with Hope not moving an inch, reveling in the tenderness of the moment she had just shared with her mother. She had missed this, and how warm and safe she had always felt in her mother's arms. It was only when Emma pulled her phone out of her pocket that they pulled apart.

"You have no school tomorrow afternoon, right?"

"Right," Hope answered reluctantly as she curiously watched Emma dialing some number on her phone.

"Good. I guess we're going to the gynecologist tomorrow then."

"She what?!" Killian's suddenly high-pitched voice broke through the silence that had settled in their bedroom seconds after Emma told him everything that had happened earlier that day. He had known about Theo for some time now, but judging by his reaction, he definitely wasn't expecting them to already be sleeping together.

"Calm down, I already talked to her," Emma said, trying to keep his temper in check. "They've been careful, they've been using protection."

"Hold on…" Killian whispered as he whirled around. "It happened more than once?"

Emma could only nod in response, her hands reaching out to him as he groaned in frustration.

"Well, she is our daughter," she said, chuckling and trying to ease some of the tension out of him, but he wasn't in the mood for jokes.

"In her bedroom?" Killian asked, jerking his head towards the door.

"Yeah… Oh c'mon, don't make that face," Emma lightly slapped his shoulder when she saw his jaw clenching and unclenching. "You seemed to have no problem having your way with me in my parents' loft all those years ago."

"We were adults, Swan."

"And what difference does it make? You tell her she can't have sex at home and she'll do it somewhere else, like a car, or the back of an alley…" Emma said, trying to pull him down to sit on the bed. "If she's going to do it, I'd prefer that she do it here, in the safety of her home."

"Aye, love, you're right," he finally agreed with her, taking her hand in his as he let out another huff of frustration. "I'm simply… trying to wrap my head around it."

"You should talk to her. She thinks you're going to be pissed at her."

When he finally gathered the courage and the composure to talk to his daughter, he only had to wait about two seconds after knocking on her bedroom door for her to give him permission to come in. He found her sitting on the bed, reading one of the books of her favorite series. Her look of concentration was the same as Emma's: forehead puckered with frown lines and lips pursed in contempt.

"I take it mom has already told you," Hope said, closing the book and putting it on her nightstand.

"Aye, that she has," he closed the door behind him, feeling her eyes on him as he pointed at her bed. "May I?"

Hope moved her legs to one side of the bed in response, making room for him. She had been smiling softly at him, but then her face fell and she looked at her feet as she started talking.

"I told mom I was sorry, so I guess I owe you an apology, too."

"There was no need for all the secrecy, Hope," Killian said in his most dad voice ever. "I think your mother and I have always encouraged you to be honest with us, no matter the circumstances."

"And you have. I just…" Hope hesitated for a second, but still scooted closer to him. "I was embarrassed… and afraid you'd be angry."

"Why would you think that?"

"I don't know, maybe because you hate Blackbeard?" her voice came out a little more bitter than she had intended. She knew all about her father's past with Blackbeard, and she more than understood why her father hated her father-in-law, but she couldn't help but wish that they would sort out their differences.

"I do hate Blackbeard, but I love you," his tender voice matched the soft way he pinched her nose, something he had been doing since she was little. She giggled then, not needing anything else to know that her father loved her no matter who she dated. "I know your mother has already talked to you, so I'm not going to repeat her words, but there are questions that I still need to ask."

There was a moment of silence then, with Hope eagerly waiting for Killian to start inquiring her.

"Does he treat you well?"

"He does," she answered with a smile that was just as revealing as her words. He knew his daughter. He knew when something was afflicting her, whether it was nervousness about an upcoming test or the usual anxiety caused by her lack of control in her magic. He knew that the wide smiles were reserved only for her parents and close family – and lately, for Theo as well. He knew how much the boy meant to her and he could only hope that he would never shatter her heart. He would kill him, and then he would kill Blackbeard, but before that he would be there for her and help her pick up the pieces.

"Does he make you happy?"

"Yeah…" Hope's giggle warmed his heart and it was hard for Killian not to smile along with her. He put one arm around her shoulder and pulled her in for a hug.

"Then that's all that matters to me." He couldn't believe that his baby girl was all grown-up. When had she grown up so fast, he wondered as a ripple of nostalgia ran through him. It felt like yesterday that he had held her in his arms, her cries and coos echoing around the concrete walls of the hospital room as her tiny fingers wrapped around his thumb. Now she was a woman, feisty and brave like her mother, sweet and charming like her father. But to him, she would always be his little cygnet, and he would always be there for her.

"I will not spend Thanksgiving with that man in my house, Swan," Killian muttered as he set the silverware on the table. Emma and Killian had invited Theo for lunch, and while Theo's father had not been invited, there was always a chance that he would escort his son to their house.

"Babe, we've had plenty of dinners with Rumplestiltskin sitting opposite you. I think you can handle Blackbeard," Emma laughed as she put the meat in the oven. "Just maybe not both at the same time."

The loud clink of metal against wooden tiles had Emma turning her head back to Killian, only to find most of the silverware splattered all over the kitchen floor and her grumpy husband cursing to himself.

When the doorbell rang, they exchanged a silent, knowing look. Theo was here. And possibly… that thing known as his father.

"Can you go there? I'm kind of busy here," Emma mumbled as she moved to the sink and started draining the pasta. Taking a deep breath, Killian walked to the front door and tried to keep any annoyance away from his features. For Hope.

Theo's shy smile was the first thing he noticed as he took the boy's outstretched hand and shook it firmly. When it was no longer possible to ignore the other person standing on his porch, Killian's eyes finally met Blackbeard's. He was barely aware that his hand was now balled into a fist, his deadly glare set on the sorry excuse of a human being who also happened to be the father of her daughter's boyfriend. Blackbeard returned the glare, the two of them awkwardly standing there until his rival broke the silence.

"Hook."

"Blackbeard."

Their staring contest only came to an end when Hope joined them at the front door, pulling Theo by the arm and dropping a kiss to his lips. Killian and Blackbeard immediately looked away, trying to find anything to focus on and that didn't involve their offspring sharing spit.

"My eyes," Blackbeard grumbled once Theo and Hope went inside.

"My thoughts exactly," Killian replied absentmindedly, suddenly forgetting just who was standing beside him. They looked at each other for a moment before they took a step back at the same time, hating the small moment of agreement that they had just shared.

"Let it be known that I am as opposed to this as you are," Blackbeard was quick to add. "My son could do so much better than your daughter."

"The only reason why I won't slit your throat in this exact moment is because I respect my daughter's relationship with your son," Killian barked in response, the vein in his forehead about to pop out. "Now bugger off, you vermin!"

From the living room window, Hope and Theo watched the exchange between their fathers. They were used to all the empty threats and cheeky provocations that never led anywhere, and they ended up laughing at the two reformed pirates.

"I think deep down they like each other, but this is the only way the know how to show it," Theo said, sticking his head closer to the window. Hope didn't know if her boyfriend was right. The only thing she knew for sure was that this year's Thanksgiving had just gotten more interesting.