Hello all! I wanted to take this moment to inform you that Captain Swan is a dangerous thing. But you already knew that. This story is something that was inspired by the thought of Captain Swan fluff month and then grew to larger proportions. I have no clue how long this will be, but I'm more than willing to follow it through.
Note: This story is rated 'M' to err on the side of caution. My mind tends to go south more often than not. (Prepare yourselves.)
For every chapter there will be a new recipe, so if you want to see something in particular feel free to shoot me a request!
Disclaimer:
I hold no claims over Once Upon A Time and all of its characters.
Chapter 1: Cinnamon Hot Chocolate
Required Ingredients:
4 cups of Milk
(Or, if you prefer:
2 cups of milk
2 cups of half and half)
1 cup of Semisweet Chocolate Bits (Milk Chocolate works too)
1 or 2 sticks of Cinnamon
Optional:
2 tablespoons of Vanilla extract
1 tablespoon of Ground Nutmeg or Hazelnut
Whipped Cream
Ok you can do this, it's just hot chocolate. Not like you have to slay a dragon or anything.
Again.
Ha.
Saucepan first, go ahead, pour the milk into the little pan. There we go! Now, the heat has to land somewhere between medium and hot…bingo. While we wait for the milk to warm up, let's start crushing the chocolate bits into even smaller bits.
Go ahead and sneak a few, nobody's going to notice.
Now, measure out a cup worth of bits and pour it into the milk. This is the kind-of tricky part. Make sure to stir the milk-and-chocolate constantly. Keep a close eye on it to make sure that nothing gets burnt.
Oh…well by all means feel free to finish off the last of the chocolate shavings. Not like you could use it later or anything.
Look! The milk is looking all chocolate-y. Fantastic. Now, take one of your cinnamon sticks and begin stirring the hot chocolate with it. It should start melting, and once it gets too small for you to hold go back to stirring with your spoon. Feel free to add the vanilla and nutmeg right about now.
Unless you don't want to.
Whatever.
Time to pull out the cups. Ha! Your favorite blue M&M mug is fresh from the dishwasher. Pour the hot chocolate into the cup, but not too much. Whipped cream time! After you have artfully applied your whipped delight, take the second cinnamon stick and put it in the cup just so….
Nailed it!
That whipped cream is looking awfully plain, too bad you ate the last of the chocolate bits.
Time to enjoy your cinnamon hot chocolate, just the way you like it. It's been too long since you've done something like this. Maybe now that things are calming down you can pick up baking again? The holidays are coming up you know.
Hmm….
Emma Swan was not a morning person by any means. When she was a little girl being bounced from house to house (because honestly she had never had a home until Storybrook) after she found a safe place to sleep, she was out until someone came to drag her away from her bed. Even when she was running around in Neverland a year ago searching for Henry, she would be one of the last people awake unless she was given the last watch.
So when she woke up at exactly 7 am in the morning on a Saturday, she knew that something big was happening that day.
She squinted her eyes at the bright red numbers of her alarm clock on her side of the bed trying to remember if she had planned anything. It wasn't Henry's birthday…it wasn't anyone's birthday. Thanksgiving wasn't for another two weeks. A tingle vibrated at the back of her head like a word stood on the tip of someone's tongue. It was like she knew, but didn't at the same time.
Behind her, Killian stretched in his sleep before rolling onto his side and bringing his right arm around Emma's middle, drawing her closer to his naked chest. The warmth from the larger body behind her sank into her back like thick soap during a hot bath and Emma let out a contented sigh, lacing her fingers with his and pulling their joined hands up and over the place where her heart was.
Screw whatever was happening. Henry was still asleep in his room down the hall, Snow and David were out on a camping trip in the nearby woods, and she was warm and comfortable next to the man that she knew would never leave her.
Life was good.
Not even minutes after she closed her eyes, they snapped back open.
She had to pee.
Son of a bitch.
Holding back the groan that wanted to escape into the quiet room, she gently lifted Killian's hand and started shuffling her way off the bed, unwilling to simply stand and move. Finally, finally her fluffy sock clad feet hit the floor and she stood.
With her eyes only half-way open, she continued her shuffle. She may have to go, but by the gods she was not going to move faster than she had to. Absently, she noted that her body seemed a bit heavier than it had yesterday and her oversized t-shirt seemed a bit snug in the chest area.
Stupid Halloween candy, she thought.
Finished with her business, she stood at the sink drying her hands with the small red towel that Mary Margaret had bought in an attempt to bring more color into the apartment. She was awake enough to admit that returning to sleep wasn't in her cards on this particular morning. She sighed.
She was about to leave the bathroom when she paused. Turning back to the mirror, she lifted her shirt to see the damage ransacking Henry's Halloween candy stash had done to her body. Her belly seemed a bit fuller than it normally was, but other than that, Emma felt like she was in good shape.
Nothing a little walk or three couldn't cure.
She tugged the shirt back down, hissing a little when a dull throb seemed to pulse through her breasts. A small frown graced her lips as she eyed them suspiciously. The only time they ached like that was when she was about to have a particularly nasty period. That small tingle was tickling at the back of her head again, as if trying to point something out.
Walking back into the room she shared with her pirate, Emma smiled. The infamous Captain Hook was spread out on her mattress, his head tilted back slightly and his lips parted as he breathed through them. His hair was more messy than what he normally allowed for and his scruff was looking especially scruffy in the early morning light. His hook glinted from the nightstand next to his side of the bed and his stubbed arm was wrapped tightly around the pillow she had been using earlier, snuggling it closer to his side.
A-freaking-dorable.
Emma smiled and walked around to his side of the bed, placing a light kiss on his forehead before walking the extra steps it took to get to her sweatpants that were hanging from the side of a blue hamper. Mission accomplished. Emma smiled at the sleeping form of the man that she had come to love one last time before quietly closing the door behind her as she left the room.
She had an intense hankering for cinnamon hot chocolate.
The tingles came back with a vengeance the same time a cramp made her pause next to the couch. Her brow wrinkled in aggravation. She couldn't remember the last time she had cramps.
Continuing on to the kitchen, she began assembling the ingredients while humming a small tune. She may not be the most carefree spirit around, but Emma couldn't hold back her laughter as she slid along the tiled floor. Mornings were horrible, but damn did she enjoy feeling like she had the place to herself.
Still humming, she made to open the refrigerator when the calendar on the door caught her attention. Little stars that Snow had brought from school littered random days during the month. Emma didn't know what they were for, but they made the month seem more lively. Henry had even gotten into the practice and had placed a sticker of a plump turkey on Thanksgiving Day. Another cramp sat low on her abdomen.
"When was my last period anyways?" She grumbled, rubbing the area soothingly. Suddenly, everything stopped. Even that kind-of annoying bird that was singing outside the window ceased to exist. She couldn't remember.
When the hell was her last period?!
Giving up on the idea of hot chocolate for the moment, Emma made a mad dash for Snow's bathroom. She and David had been trying for a baby ever since things had begun to calm down in the small-ish town. They hadn't had any luck yet, but Snow made sure to keep a steady stock of pregnancy tests in the bathroom. Emma swung the cabinet open, her dark green eyes zeroing in on the innocent blue and white boxes sitting to the left of the storage space. She grabbed one, before thinking about it and grabbing a second. Just to be safe.
She could buy more later.
She tore open the boxes with more force than was necessary, quickly skimming the directions before setting to work.
Making sure the tips of the two tests had changed color; she crossed her arms and stared hard at the innocent tests. Now, she had to wait. For three minutes. She checked the timer she had found buried in the back of a drawer in the kitchen.
It had only been thirty seconds.
Fuck.
Shooting the tests one last look, Emma made her way back to the kitchen with the timer and began making her hot chocolate. The movements were familiar and methodical, calming almost. She remembered when she made it a point to try to make something in the kitchen at least once a week. It was a habit that she had picked up from one of her last foster families. The wife, she had liked to be called Mama, was a southern woman with a love for baking. She had truly wanted what was best for the children in her care and had been the one to introduce Emma to cinnamon hot chocolate in the first place.
She had died from a tumor at the base of her brain stem, and her husband couldn't seem to function without his wife by his side so child care services had taken the three children, including Emma, and shoved them into the next available home.
The chopping sound the knife made as it began cutting the chocolate bits into smaller pieces seemed too loud in the quiet room. Emma paused and turned the on the small radio that David had left behind in his hurry to leave for the weekend with Snow. Making sure the volume was low enough to not disturb the sleeping boys just up the stairs, she set back to work on her hot chocolate.
It wasn't until she was stirring the chocolate into the milk that her brain seemed to regain function. 'I'm probably over reacting,' she thought. Besides, how would she take care of another kid? A baby at that? Hell, Henry was eleven years old and Emma still had moments when she wondered if she was really a good influence on her boy.
What would Henry think?
Emma bit her lip as she absently added a cinnamon stick to the hot chocolate. If she was pregnant, and that was a huge if, she didn't want Henry to think that she was trying to replace him. She loved Henry, he was her boy, her kid. It would break her heart if he thought that she didn't love him, didn't want him.
And damn-it, what would Killian say? They had never talked about children before, simply enjoying the act of being together, of taking things slow. Would he even want children? He never said it aloud, but Emma could see the way he looked at Henry sometimes, like he was the most precious being in the world. He had nearly cried when Henry had called him 'dad' one night as he was falling asleep. He had stayed next to Henry for the next thirty minutes, stroking his only hand through the boy's dark hair and calling him 'his boy'.
Just the thought of that night made Emma's heart give a little flutter.
The tiny timer began to beep rapidly, shocking Emma from her thoughts. The white square kept slipping through her fingers as she frantically searched for the 'off' button. Fingers smaller than her own deftly snatched the device from her and calmly turned off the not rapid-fire beeps. Henry sleepily smiled up at her through shaggy bangs before he walked forward and snuggled himself into her front.
"Mornin' Mom," he said. Emma smiled and wrapped her arms tightly around the little man in front of her.
"Morning Kid. Want some cocoa?" Henry nodded against her chest, causing an uncomfortable feeling that didn't quite reach pain to bloom in the area. Jeez that hurt. Emma prided herself in the fact that she didn't show her discomfort. "Go ahead and get the cups down then. It's almost done." She turned back to the cocoa, determined to ignore what the beeping meant. Apparently, Henry didn't seem to pick up on that little fact.
"Why did you set the timer? You never needed to use one before." Damn his inquisitive nature. But, if life has taught her anything, it was that honesty was the best policy when it came to Henry.
"That's because I was timing something else." Was all she said as she focused on pouring the hot chocolate into the mugs. To be honest, she probably didn't need to give the task that much attention…
It was quiet while Henry deposited generous amounts of whipped cream on the hot drinks. Emma placed an extra cinnamon stick in her mug and extra chocolate shavings on the top of Henry's. All was well as mother and son sat next to each other, enjoying the soft tunes that drifted from the small radio. Emma looked at Henry from the side. Why had he let it go so quickly? His large brown eyes caught her gaze and he gave her a large smile. She narrowed her eyes even more. More silence until—
"Can we have a movie marathon today?" The question was asked so quickly that it took Emma a moment to process the words. From the way he had been shifting in his seat the entire time they were at the counter, she had thought that he had done something that he knew he shouldn't have. What could be so bad about a movie marathon?
Emma continued to eye him critically. "That depends on the movies." She finally replied, fishing for something that would give her some kind of hint as to what his plan was. Henry simply smiled and took her empty mug from her hands, placing it in the sink with his own.
"Well, I wanted to show Killian the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Do you think he'll like them? I know he wasn't too thrilled about the Peter Pan movie from last week." Emma smiled at the memory of the two most important people in her life, next to her parents of course, throwing popcorn and boo-ing at the cartoon version of Peter Pan. She really needed to invest in a video camera or something.
"I don't see what the problem with that is. Just don't let Regina know that I let you watch those movies. She's already been accusing me of trying to turn you into some kind of pirate." Both laughed at the thought before Henry said that he was going to run to the restroom.
It wasn't until the door shut that Emma remembered that she had left the pregnancy tests on the sink. Maybe he wouldn't see them? Henry came back out roughly ten seconds later, his hands on his hips and his right eyebrow raised. The stance alone was such a perfect balance of 'Emma' and 'Hook' that Emma had to wonder for a second if Regina's fears were well founded. Nothing good could come from that look. Emma continued staring at her son, feeling more and more like a cornered animal the longer the silence stretched between them. She had opened her mouth to say something when Henry suddenly broke out into a huge grin and ran up to her to hug her gently.
Emma's brain short-circuited. Again.
Um…what?
Henry began talking a mile a minute, his words flying right over Emma's head as she tried to process what just happened. His hand had grabbed hers, and he was tugging her in the direction of the bathroom.
"Mom? Emma? Are you even listening to me?" Henry waved his hand in front of his birth mother's vacant face. Her eyes snapped back into focus once he began to snap his fingers. She raised an eyebrow at him, as if asking him what the heck he was doing, but Henry honestly didn't care. "I said that this is going to be great. I mean, I always wanted to be a big brother. But—"
"Whoa, whoa! Slow your role kid. Big brother?" Henry took a moment to look closer at Emma. She looked as shocked as he felt when he had first seen the tests sitting on the sink and the boxes in the trash. And then he remembered the timer and blanched. She hadn't seen the results. She didn't know.
Oops.
Henry met her gaze again and tried to give her the smile he had seen David use to get out of trouble with Snow.
Emma glared.
Well, there went that plan.
Emma ran her suddenly shaky fingers through her hair. Well at least she knew where Henry stood if she was truly pregnant.
It was still a big if until she saw the tests with her own eyes, damn-it!
She allowed Henry to tug her into the bathroom, her eyes immediately searching out the two innocent sticks that had the power to change her life forever. Her gaze settled onto the little plus signs that stood out on the two tests. A strange sort of emotion filled her at the sight of the affirmative results. It took her a moment to realize that she was happy that the tests were positive. She was excited even. She hadn't even realize that she wanted this until it actually happened. A large smile broke out across her face and she turned to see a similar smile on Henry's face.
She was going to have a baby.
She was going have a baby with Killian.
Killian…
Killian!
How the hell was she going to tell Killian? Mother and son shared a look in the small bathroom, both thinking the same thing before Henry squeezed her hand a little tighter and tilted his chin in such a determined way that he could have only gotten it from spending time with both of his mothers.
"Mom, I think I have an idea for our next mission."
I'm not sure how I feel about this particular chapter, but here we go.
Don't forget to review!
Much love!