Pauley: Pseudo-Incest & polyamoury.
"Killian?" Emma asked quietly as she moved into his room. She knew she wasn't meant to go in his room after bedtime, she'd get in trouble if she got caught, but Mary Margaret slept like the dead, and she was scared.
She hated being this scared at this age. They'd been with this family for three years now, she knew she was safe here and still she had nightmares, still she needed her big brothers protection.
"Em? What is it love?" He asked, sitting up and flicking on his bedside light, reaching for his prosthetic and securing it to his wrist.
"Another nightmare?" Was his next question as she moved towards the bed, still shaking. She nodded and he reached out, pulling her in close, settling her on his lap.
"It's okay Little Bird." He soothed, stroking her hair with his prosthetic hand as his still intact hand rested upon her legs.
"We're here and safe, remember? I never let anyone hurt you before love and I won't start now." He made the same promise every time she came to him after nightmares. He knew she needed his protection. And he hadn't been able to in the past, but he could now.
"Sleep, Little Bird." He reached and flicked the light off, laying down with her and setting the alarm on his watch before removing his hand again.
"I'll wake you before we get in trouble." He promised again, kissing her head gently and rubbing her stomach as one would do a child.
She fell asleep quickly and he not long after, though his sleep was light as he held her as close as he could, burying his nose in her soft hair. It smelt of strawberries, he noted with a smile. Which, of course, meant that Mary Margaret would smell of strawberries too soon.
And Emma would smell of something different next time. She wouldn't smell of strawberries again for a while.
So he used that time that he lay with her to enjoy the scent of strawberries from the blonde strands before him.
They'd always been together, for as long as he could remember. He was two months older than Mary Margaret, who was four months older than Emma.
They'd been separated more times than he could count, but they always came back together. They had a treehouse outside their first home and no matter where they got sent, no matter how far, they'd always run back there if they weren't put together.
So they had been placed together. With these people, for three years now. With two women. Ruby and Belle French-Lucas.
His alarm bleeped against his wrist, vibrating gently. He blinked himself out of his barely there slumber and smiled at Emma, gently kissing her head again and sitting up. He shook her shoulder, chuckling as she grumbled and swatted at him.
"Come on, Little Bird. You need to get up if you don't want us to get into trouble." He whispered to her, still shaking her till she sat up, rubbing at her eyes.
She leant up to kiss his cheek before sliding out of the bed and heading back to her own room.
She clambered back into her own bed, glancing over at Mary Margaret with a smile. She slept on still, and Emma knew she'd sleep until she was ready to wake, unless there was food.
The thought of food made Emma's stomach turn and a pang of hunger hit her, but she ignored it. She always ignored it.
She'd make herself a protein shake when she got up. A new bottle of milk, as it always was, and some powder from her locked box. She was the only one with the key. She didn't even trust Killian or Mary Margaret with it.
She lay back, her head hitting her pillow as she closed her eyes. She didn't want to sleep more, sleeping alone always brought on the nightmares. But she didn't know how to explain that to Ruby or to Belle, so she said nothing and more often than not snuck into Killian's room and slept with him.
She loved Mary Margaret, but Killian made her feel safer when she was scared. When her dreams tortured her.
Add on Mary Margarets ability to sleep through anything and really Killian was her only choice.
She draped her arm over her face, just to stop herself staring at the ceiling and she waited for the sounds of Belle getting up to start breakfast. Ruby didn't do mornings very often, as her job meant she worked late. So it nearly always tended to be Belle that made them breakfast before school.
She reckoned Belle knew that she was often awake before everyone else in the house, but since neither of them brought it up, she didn't mind so much.
She didn't know how much longer it was when she heard Belle's gently footsteps go past her door, but she reckoned about half an hour.
She sat up and stretched, moving through to follow her down the stairs.
"Morning Emma." Belle greeted as they reached the kitchen.
"Am I making you breakfast this morning?" She asked every morning, despite the answer always being the same.
"No thank you. I'll make my own." She said, reaching for the key around her neck.
"Do you have a fresh bottle of..." She didn't even get chance to finish her question before Belle produced an unopened bottle of milk from the fridge, holding it out to her with a soft smile. Emma liked Belle's smile. It was kind and caring. She'd never actually seen Belle get angry.
"Thanks..." She muttered, grabbing her special box from the pantry and unlocking it, making her shake with careful precision, her eyes never leaving what she was doing, just in case.
She lifted the cup to her lips, smiling at the taste of chocolate. This was her favourite one, the chocolate one. Though the banana one was nice too. She wasn't the biggest fan of strawberry, unless it was in her hair.
She liked it then, or maybe she just liked the fact that Mary Margaret then smelt of strawberries for the next few weeks.
"Did you sleep okay?" Belle asked as she flipped pancakes expertly. Emma shrugged as she put her cup down on the table, though she covered the top with her hand as she looked at Belle.
"Yeah I guess." She lied. Or well, not exactly lied, because once she had gone to lay with Killian she had slept well.
"Do you want to go wake Mary Margaret up? You can take this first pancake up to help." Belle offered, holding a plate out to Emma in offering. Emma eyed it for a moment, weighing the options. She wasn't being asked to eat it, she didn't even have to touch it, just hold the plate and take it up. She could do that, that was easy.
"Sure." She agreed, standing with her mug and holding her other hand out for Belle to place the plate in.
"I'll see you both in a few then." Belle smiled as Emma walked away, heading back up the stairs and into her room.
"Mary Margaret. MM, it's time to wake up." Emma whispered as she set the pancakes down on her bedside table, shaking the girl.
"Come on, MM. I brought you a pancake. There's more downstairs." She urged, panic settling in as it did every morning. What if this time she didn't wake up. What if this time she wasn't sleeping. What if...
Mary Margaret shifted and rubbed at her eyes, before sitting up and smiling at Emma.
'Food?' She asked and Emma held up the plate, offering it out to her. Mary Margarets face split into a grin as she grabbed at the food, easily placing it in her mouth. Emma couldn't understand how she could do that, but she smiled anyway and sipped her drink again.
"Belle's made more, they're downstairs." Emma explained, standing and kissing Mary Margarets head and heading back down the stairs.
"Killian!" She greeted him, as if she hadn't seen him just hours before, and she rushed at him, wrapping him in a tight hug.
He laughed and squeezed her, lifting her up slightly before setting her down.
"Hey Little Bird. You gotten our stubborn sister up?" He asked as she sat, putting her drink down.
She wouldn't be drinking any more of it. It had been out of her sight. Anyone could have done anything to it.
"Yeah. She's eating a pancake and then she'll be down. Way she always does." She chuckled as Killian took his own plate.
"You trying some this morning?" He offered her out some and she eyed it, her stomach letting out a quiet rumble.
She shook her head quickly, pushing his arm away.
"I'm good. I've had mine." She said with an attempt at a smile in his direction. He sighed and patted her knee, popping the bite in his own mouth.
"We'll get there one day Little Bird." He said gently, pulling her in to kiss her head again, before returning to his breakfast. She chuckled as she sat back, watching Mary Margaret stumble down the stairs blearily, rubbing at her eyes.
At first she sat herself on Emma, frowning in confusion at how strange the chair felt before realising what she'd done. Pressing her lips to Emma's cheek for a moment, she stood again and sunk into her own chair.
"Morning MM." Killian greeted and she raised her hand to him in a half wave as Belle set down a stacked plate before her. Her attention was immediately drawn to the food and she grabbed her cutlery and started to eat.
Emma felt her stomach turn again and she swallowed thickly.
"I'm gonna... go get dressed..." She mumbled, unable to watch Killian and Mary Margaret eat any more. Killian frowned as he watched her go, wanting to follow her. But he knew it wouldn't help, not right now. She had been getting better, but then something had happened and now she wasn't. He wondered if it had been the move. Emma wasn't a fan of change and they'd done their best to make it easy.
He knew that Ruby and Belle had worked so hard, one of them driving out here to paint Emma's room so it matched her one in their old house, tried to make everything as the same as possible. They'd start changing things, once they were settled.
But Killian knew the signs. Emma had been set back, she was waking him up again, and wouldn't touch something after she'd put it down. It hurt him, to watch her suffer, to not know how to change it. Not know how to help her.
Mary Margaret watched Killian's face as he stared after Emma. She shared his fears, knew how terrified he was, for Emma. And Mary Margaret was scared for Emma too. And for Killian. And for herself. She'd been afraid for them all since they were very young. She felt like she'd always been afraid, when they weren't all in the same room. She still was. Now, knowing that Emma was in another room, knowing she couldn't see her, Mary Margaret was very afraid.
Anything could happen to her when she was out of their sight. Anything at all and they'd never even know.
She grabbed her plate, and Killian's hand, pulling him from the room with her.
His eyes widened in surprise as he followed behind the silent girl, but he didn't complain. They all knew each other, knew all their fears and panic inducing triggers, and they all went along with one another, that's how they worked.
Emma was careful, with her clothes. It wasn't as bad as food, or soap, or anything else that someone could slip something into, but she was still careful.
Slipping on a t-shirt, she smiled to herself as she smoothed her hand over the material. It was a brand new one, new packet, which always made her happy. New things were safe.
A pair of old jeans, though, which made her heart spike for a second before she pulled them on and waited to see if anything would happen. Nothing did, and she breathed a sigh of relief.
She heard the footsteps thundering up the stairs and she prepared herself for the other two to come bursting into her room, which they did a moment later, Mary Margaret still carrying a plate of breakfast.
Emma couldn't help the chuckle as she moved to hug the other girl gently.
"I'm okay, see?" She assured her, even twirling slightly to prove the point. Mary Margaret breathed a silent sigh of relief and sat upon her bed to finish her breakfast, much to Emma's distate, though she didn't voice it.
In reality, she didn't want to be far from either of them today really.
It was their first day in a new school and that never went well. Teachers often tried to split them up, make Mary Margaret talk, make her eat, question Killian about his hand.
They had finally settled in at their old school, the faculty all knew them, knew their limits and what they could and couldn't do.
This was new... and new was always bad.