A/N: Just a tiny thing. Mentions of WishHook and mentions of Alice, but they're not part of the story itself.
"What about James?"
"James, as in the name of your father's evil twin?"
"I mean, he did go by James when he met my mother."
"Ah, yes. When he was pretending to be his evil twin."
Emma groans, throwing her arms up in exasperation. They're squished on the couch this morning, her head resting on the arm and Killian somewhere down by her stomach with his face resting against her very pregnant middle. Her due date is still weeks away but they're struggling to agree on a name for their child. Despite all her cajoling about modern medicine and gender reveals, Killian insisted they not find out. So it's to be a surprise, and maybe they'll have a name by the time the baby is born.
"We can call him Jim or Jimmy," she adds, her hand absentmindedly trailing down to sift through his hair, scratching her nails lightly against his scalp. He hums, but it's not the usual sound of contentment she's used to hearing from the motion. Instead, it sounds like he's perturbed by this development with the name.
"You've just made the baby sound like a weird pet. Too close to our friend, the cricket."
She's this close to kicking him off the couch at this point.
"Fine, message received. No Jim, Jimmy, or James. Any suggestions? How about a girl's name?"
He sighs heavily, otherwise remaining quiet while he props up on his empty wrist, his hand warm on her stomach. She loves to see him relaxed like this, and no amount of years will change that. In the mornings, there's only a slice of time where she gets him dressed down in sleep pants, his slippers discarded by the coffee table so he can fold his legs over the other arm of the couch. He leaves his brace and hook hanging on the bathroom door knob until after he's gotten dressed for the day.
Seeing him like this makes it sometimes very difficult to imagine that Killian is much older than he appears, that he used to be a ruthless pirate captain, that he was the Captain Hook when she met him (after he stopped pretending to be a blacksmith). He just looks like her husband, her true love, loving step-father to her son and soon-to-be father of his own child with her.
She places her hand over his, letting her eyes slip shut while the peace of the day washes over them, because this is the life they lead now. This is how they can spend their days if they wish. No realm jumping or fighting bad guys, no need to be the Savior every single minute of every single day. With the silence stretching longer, and when he doesn't have an answer, Emma lets herself ask a question she's been wondering for a while.
"What do you think his daughter's name is?"
"Hmm?"
She opens her eyes to see that his are closed, his fingers linked with hers and his body almost entirely relaxed if not for the way he's propped up.
"Whose daughter?" he asks, finally peeking his eyes open and looking up the length of her torso to meet her gaze.
"That other Hook's. The other you - from the wish realm. He told you about his daughter, said that he was trying to find the way to save her. You're...him. Somehow. What do you think he named his daughter?"
He's quiet again for a moment, his face pensive and wondering. "I suppose, if it were me - I think I'd name her after my mother, Alice."
"Alice," Emma says, trying it out. It's been ages since he told her about his mother, so the name feels new on her tongue, but so right for a daughter that some other Killian has somewhere. She tries imagining what a daughter with Killian's features would look like. It's rather difficult to do when she doesn't know who the mother is.
Soon, her thoughts drift into what their child will look like. One half her, and one half Killian. Whose eyes? Whose hair color? Will he or she be a fighter or a pirate, or both?
"Where's your mind gone, Swan?"
A sublime smile spreads across her lips, her thoughts happy and hopeful and ready.
"I'm just excited to meet our baby," she says, tears gathering at the corner of her eyes. "And I hope Henry is having adventures with that other version of you. Is it weird to know there's another you running around out there?"
"So bloody weird," Killian confirms, chuckling as he says it. "About the name…"
"Yeah?" Her voice holds just a tiny bit of trepidation, only because this conversation has taken place over weeks or days, and not all of them have been as calm as this one.
"Well, I see it like this. If it's anything like opening my eyes after you kissed the bloody hell out of me in Neverland, we'll just know it when we meet our child."
She recalls slinking away, remembers trying to get as far away from his lips as she could, because she knew if she kissed him again there was very little chance she'd stop. So yeah, she can see him being right about that. "You already knew?"
"Aye. Told you so in the Echo Cave. I knew you'd be my next great adventure, even if you fought me every step along the way."
She takes care to cup his cheek fully, smiling at the way he tilts into the embrace. "It was all worth the wait."
"And so is she."
"She?"
"It's a hunch I have," he says with a shrug, his fingers dancing over her middle again.
"Uh huh, and how much do you have riding against Granny for that bet?"
He doesn't answer, instead lithely lifting himself off the couch and leaning down to kiss her solidly on the lips before he shuffles back into his slippers. "How about pancakes this morning, my Swan?"
The baby kicks and shifts, which Emma takes as a good sign. "Baby says yes. And so do I." She takes her time lifting herself off the couch in order to follow him to the kitchen.
A name will come to them, just like he said, and until then, they've got time and each other.