a/n: I'm the worst author to ever exist, because I should have updated Rough Skies a century ago (more like a week though but anyway) and DAMN YOU WRITER'S BLOCK. (yes you can still get a writer's block with a story like mine but thankfully I could at least come up with this one-shot)
Anyway, please review even if you hated it! I appreciate constructive criticism (and if you did like it, your review will make someone extremely happy lmao)
Killian is outside, playing with a four-years-old Neal, and obviously his girlfriend couldn't resist watching them through the large window in the kitchen as she washes the dishes, a boring task that has become ten times more entertaining in a matter of seconds.
Neal is laughing, she can tell by the look in that adorable face of his, and so is Killian as he chases him, trying to run as slow as he can manage so their little game can last more than two minutes. His blue eyes have a certain glow, one that Emma has grown to adore over the years (and has seen so many times, especially when he's with her, that she can notice it even from this distance).
She stops for a second and looks around the cozy room. As an effect of staring outside the window for so long, it is at first a little hard to see clearly, but after a couple of seconds she is able to gaze adoringly at the small kitchen.
Eventually, Emma decided to move in with Killian into a beautiful house far away from the drama in Storybrooke, but not far enough for them to not be able to drive to the specific area in town where potential villains could be hiding. It is comfortable, modern — even after Killian's complaints — and everything she's ever wanted in a home.
She smiles when she remembers the day they moved in this house, as they carried heavy cardboard boxes and he struggled with technology. And when her eyes spot the family portrait laying atop the marble countertop, her heart skips a beat.
In the picture — taken the day Neal turned four years old — her parents are hugging her brother, beaming proudly at the camera, and Henry is right next to Mary Margaret whilst holding hands with Paige Grace, who has been dating him for two years now. (And his grandmother is already jokingly planning their wedding.) Emma is standing by David's side and Killian's left arm is wrapped around her as he looks at her with love and happiness crystal clear in his eyes.
They look extremely joyful, an expression she didn't think she could see right after fighting Maleficent, Ursula, Cruella de Vil and Mr. Gold himself for the second time, who had done a lot of damage to the small town. The worst part was that her little brother's birthday was merely a week and a half after defeating them, and she had expected everybody to be sad and probably still mourning over the ridiculously big amount of dead people. Oddly enough, the birthday party was an utter success, instead of the debacle she thought it'd become.
Especially because that was the day when Killian asked her to move in with him.
He was extremely nervous and she couldn't — can't — help but find it adorable. By the time he started rambling, Emma shut him up with a kiss and then said that yes, she'd love to move in with him, which seemed to cause the blissful expression in his face in that picture.
What she still can't believe, though, is that he waited so long. They had been dating for exactly four years, and truthfully she had expected him to ask the question earlier.
But of course Killian knew her better than she knew herself by now, and he could tell Emma had been dreading this moment for the first two (or three? That was harder to tell) years they'd been together. She still hadn't gotten over everything awful that ever happened to her, and he knew it, and she was beyond glad.
Immediately, her mind goes back when she was standing in a hotel room with her ex-boyfriend Neal. They wanted to find happiness somewhere in Tallahassee, and when she later realized they couldn't, it was like having her happy ending ripped away from her. Then he found her again, and yes, she was mad that he found Tallahassee with someone else, and just when it seemed there was a slim possibility of them being together again, he passed away and she was seventeen and broken all over again.
Just remembering that makes her smile fade, but she looks up and her sadness vanishes as though it's never been there at all.
Sunlight is slightly blinding her again, the grass is a light shade of green and Killian is tickling her brother senseless. The man who has fallen in love with her despite all her flaws (and the fact that she pushed him away so many times) is grinning at the little kid in a loving manner. He is, surprisingly, quite good with children, and it makes her heart flutter.
She tries to continue washing the dishes, but her eyes are glued to the backyard and how adorable the whole situation is, and thus she breaks one of the expensive plates Mary Margaret gave her as a present to "make the house look pretty" because apparently her plain white ones weren't enough.
Screw it, Emma thinks, and decides to leave dishwashing for later as she saunters out of the kitchen, opens the door in their living room and wonders why the hell she didn't come here sooner.
The view is much more pleasant from here, their laughs are audible and of course they can see her smiling proudly at them.
"Swan!" Killian shouts. "Come and help me with this little lad."
She shakes her head, laughing, not wanting to be in their little game since she knows he will turn on her and Neal will follow. He raises an eyebrow, whispers something to her brother — who smiles mischievously in response — and out of nowhere they begin chasing her. Emma eventually surrenders when she's feeling too tired and, more importantly, Neal is exhausted, resulting in Killian tickling her until she bursts into giggles.
"Maybe you should have taken me up on that offer, love," he says with a small smirk. "But I love you so I'm going to let you go," Killian gestures to Neal, "besides, I've got someone else to deal with."
She laughs as he stands up and starts chasing Neal again. While she lays like this in the green grass, feeling relaxed and careless and blissful, Emma looks at her boyfriend playing with the four-years-old boy and swears to herself that she'll never let him go — voluntarily, at least.
And right after that she wonders whether Killian will be chasing any child of their own anytime soon, and she can't help but smile a little at the thought.