"Killy, hand me the bottle, please," Emma's sing-song voice comes from the living room.
Killian trudges in from the kitchen, baby bottle in his hand, a glare on his face. From the very first time Snow left Neal with them she instructed them to refer to her and David as Mommy and Daddy and to themselves with names as short as possible. The sheriff shrugged, saying that 'Emma' wasn't that long to begin with, before a predatory gleam entered her eyes.
"Killian, on the other hand," she said, a ridiculously pleased grin spreading over her lips.
"You can always go with Killy," Snow supplied helpfully, matching her daughter's mood and giving him a look that was clearly daring him to argue.
Which he would have done, vehemently, possibly violently, if it had been David, Robin, Ruby, one of the dwarves or even Emma suggesting it. Basically anyone but Snow White. But, as his luck would have it, it was the queen that came up with the ridiculous nickname and he was just aware enough of her lingering disapproval of him and of his own desire to win her over, mostly for the sake of Emma's peace of mind, that he managed a cheery, if somewhat forced smile.
"An ingenious suggestion indeed, your Highness."
He ignored Emma's incredulous look and her stifled giggles and thought that the shock on Snow's face alone would be worth this.
He was wrong.
The nickname spread like wildfire and soon enough everyone was calling him Killy, if Neal was in the near vicinity, even if he was peacefully sleeping. It was a small blessing that Henry and Emma were the only ones who actually dared to occasionally call him that when the little prince was nowhere in sight.
Which is how Killian found himself glaring at Emma Swan's smirking face, her hands wrapped tightly around her baby brother as if to say 'I have the baby, you can't touch me'.
"You just wait till-"
"Illy!"
Both of them freeze, eyes flying to the little human in Emma's grasp who is now stretching his little arms excitedly towards Killian. The pirate watches him wide-eyed for a minute before turning his gaze to the bottle in his hand and slowly, as if approaching a skittish animal, moves forward to hand it to Emma.
But the bottle does not seem to be the object of interest to the little boy.
"Killy! Illyyy!" he squeals again, wiggling a little in his sister's hold and trying to reach the pirate.
Killian thinks Emma's eyes might be wider than his own as she stands up in the same carefully calculated fashion in which he approached them. Her eyes meet his when she is standing right in front of him and upon his slight nod she hands him the squirming baby.
Neal giggles in delight the second he is in Killian's arms, little hands coming to rest against the man's scruffy cheeks as he keeps repeating his first word.
"Killy! Killy!" the boy leans forward planting a wet kiss on the man's nose the way he and Emma often did to him before putting him to bed.
Killian swears he's never gonna get tired of hearing that sound and feels his eyes sting a little as he hugs the little lad close, listening to him babble happily against his neck. One look at Emma confirms that she's doing even worse than him in the emotional department.
She leans forward as if in a daze, resting her hand on her brother's small back and smiling down at him.
"Do you love Killy, baby?" she asks lightly, voice breaking a little on the last word.
Neal gurgles happily, before reaching up to tug on Killian's ear.
"I'm sure he gets that from his sister," teases the brunet but he is distracted by the little wonder in his arms and his voice is muffled because he's pressing his nose against the baby's soft hair.
"I don't know," grins Emma, her free arm coming to wrap itself around his waist. "I'm pretty sure he might have gotten it from his father."
Killian's eyes suddenly widen in alarm.
"Bloody hell!" he doesn't even notice his slip in front of the baby. "We are NOT telling your parents!"