Disclaimer: Is this necessary? The show would be on HBO if I had control.
Warnings: Death. Semi-graphic description of pregnancy.
A/N: Don't hate me?
David does not, in fact, kill Hook.
He does worse.
Every single family dinner (Thursday nights at her parents loft, weekly and non-negotiable. She had missed one after a persistent flu knocked her on her ass and woke to Hook assuring her parents, in hushed tones in the foyer, that she was alive and well. There had been tears in her mother's eyes.) he toted loudly about "making things legal" and the "joy of calling the love of his life his wife" and "how glad Neal has [his] last name". Seriously, Emma wouldn't be surprised at this point if she found a white dress waiting for her hung on the shower the next time she went to pee.
(Which was way too frequently for her taste. Truly, did the brat have to step on her bladder every hour?)
It was early enough that Emma had insisted on only telling the need-to-know folks. (Henry, her parents, embarrassingly enough, Regina) and refused to let him buy the stuffed bear with a pirate hat he ogled at the grocery store last week.
("Killian, buying that is the same thing as me prancing around with a shirt that says, 'Knocked up'."
Puppy eyes. Damn those dimples. "Swan, why must we engage in subterfuge? It will hardly last another month when-"
"Hook, I swear to god that you do not want to mention how fat I am going to get right now. Understood?"
"Aye love. Whatever you desire.")
At seventeen, it had taken months for Henry to show. However, her mature body seemed much more reluctant to mold the weight into a passable non-baby shape. At three months, there was a small but distinctively firm bump curving her lower abdomen. It had pissed her off a bit because Emma had been many things in her lifetime but overweight was never one of them. But Killian had seen her frowning one day before their bathroom mirror, her hand on the bulge and his eyes fucking lit up.
One hand on her abdomen, Hook had chattered on excitedly about "finally seeing the little lad or lass" and "Is he moving love, can I feel him?" Followed quickly by, "Love, are you in discomfort? I can take your shift with David and you can stay here."
Yup, he was just as unbearably sweet as her mother predicted months ago.
("Killian, what the fuck is this?"
"Tofu cheese, my love. Your mother told me it was a wonderful substitute in your sandwiches for the baby."
"Killian?"
"Yes darling?"
"Stop gossiping about Mary Margaret about fetal nutrition and make me a real goddamned grilled cheese."
"Swan-the baby-"
"I lived on prison food when I was pregnant with Henry. There is probably nothing worse I could ingest than that and he turned out pretty bright. Plus, I'll just hit you and walk to Granny's if you don't behave."
"...Yes Swan.")
And while his mollycoddling sometimes made her skin itch in discomfort, the uncomplaining hours he spent thumbing her swollen ankles, putting up with her increasingly irrational moods-
(Last week she had cried at the sight of buttercups in the market. Poor bastard had simultaneously offered to buy them all or burn them all at her pleasure, if she would just smile.)
-and keeping them well-stocked with whatever weird concoction she was craving more than ingratiated him to her. David, however, was going to end up with broken teeth if he didn't shut his mouth this instant.
It's Thursday and everyone is gathered at her parent's loft and Regina is sniping playfully at Hook, who is truly too concerned about what she puts on her plate to snipe back; she's just over four months and feeling fat and hormonal, wearing billowing shirts to hide the more noticeable swell and her father will not drop it.
"I mean, I know I'm just a guy but white seems to suit you so well Emma. I remember in Camelot when you wore that dress-"
"Grandpa, you remember we were fighting darkness then, right?" Bless her kid.
"-Of course Henry. But that dress made me think of what a lovely bride you would be one day Emma and I know Granny loves to throw a party-"
"David, we're trying to get her to avoid Granny's!" She was still nurturing a grudge against her mother for the baby books she slipped to Killian. As if the man could get more overprotective.
("Drink this love."
"Fuck, Killian. What the hell is that?"
"Your mother called it Chamomile. She said it would help your stomach calm."
"It's morning sickness. It happens and nothing tasting like that is going to make it better."
"Well the books said we should avoid rum and milk, but I can fetch down to the store and get you juice if you like Swan."
"Books, what books have you read Hook?"
"...Er, Swan-"
"Nevermind, Killian how many baby books have you read?"
"...You know I meant to ask you about the last time you indulged in marijuana."
"Damnit, Killian, does the new librarian know I'm pregnant?"
"She quite silently suspects so. Or she thinks I'm having an affair."
"Hook-"
"Twenty-seven. I have read twenty-seven books on child-development in this realm.")
Neither one of them called the new librarian by her name for reasons they never discussed.
("Hey Killian"
"Yes love?"
"If it's a girl, how do you feel about Belle?"
"...It's a lovely name for a lovely lass."
"More time?"
"Aye.")
So they hadn't determined the gender of their kid and hadn't decided on a name. They hadn't told anyone not in their immediate, slightly strange family. But Emma knew Granny suspected because her grilled cheese always had spinach slipped into it, and the librarian knew because of all of his books, and Ruby could probably smell it somehow and this town was goddamn grating and if her father did not shut it this instant about her being a pretty bride-
"David, shut the hell up. We're not getting married because I don't want to get married. Killian died for me and I went to the Underworld for him and we passed the test of true love, so you know, I'm not too worried about him walking out. I didn't marry my first kid's father and he turned out just fucking fine."
"Mom, the swear jar."
"Thank you Henry, I'll put dollar in as soon as I get home. Never say that word. Anyways, I don't want to get married, dad. I have no desire to walk down some aisle in some church of god I don't believe in, wearing white like the virgin I am most definitely not and promising to obey my husband, which I most definitely won't. Henry doesn't have my last name, I don't have yours, and this kid will be fine with whichever we pick."
"Whichever we pick-Swan?"
"Jones is way too popular, but whatever Killian. We'll discuss it at home. David, butt out. Hook would marry me tomorrow if I asked him and everyone here at this damned table knows it-"
"Mom-'"
"Three dollars in the swear jar."
"Noted."
"-So why don't you let us decide what we want in our relationship and keep your mouth closed." Emma was panting (and a few dollars short) by the end of her rant and silence descended around the table. Henry looked amused. Hook looked awed. Regina looked...Regina. But her father looked…
"I'm sorry Emma, I just-I just really wanted to walk you down the aisle. I'll stop, I promise."...at his fork.
Her anger deflated like a popped balloon and she felt her heart clench at his expression, somewhere far-off in a time when he got to raise a princess and teach her to dance at balls and warned off men.
Really, David was too endearing for his own good. Damn hormones.
She sighed. "Look, dad. I'm not angry. Okay, I'm a little out-of-whack these days, but I'm not really upset. It's just...I'm not like you and mom. I don't want to get married, but that doesn't mean that Killian and I love each other less."
David nodded." I know sweetheart."
"And if I did get married, you would walk me down the aisle but...could you just make me pancakes instead?" David's face broke into a true smile at her words and her mother shot her an appreciative wink.
Regina looked appalled. "Emma, we're eating risotto. How the hell does that go with pancakes?"
"Mom-"
"Money in the swear jar, I know. You're making quite the cache tonight Henry."
"I don't know Regina. You argue with the fetus. All I know is that I want blueberry pancakes."
"Ugh, I'm so glad I never had a child the natural way."
Henry's nose crinkled. "Ew, mom. I try not to think about that."
And though he would never admit it, Emma saw Hook's ears redden at his words.
All and all, however, Emma counted it was a successful night as she patted her slightly engorged belly while they walked home. There was no more talk of getting married. Her parents were happy. Her kid had earned some bucks, and she got pancakes. Solid night.
"Swan," Hook said, still keeping her hand enclosed in his.
She glanced up and saw his shirt still half-buttoned, convinced he must be cold in the wintry night as he had all but foisted his coat on her when she asked to walk home. "Yeah?"
Killian swallowed, her tracking the movement of his throat. "What you said about last names in there...love, what did you mean?"
They had reached the docks by now and Emma sighed as she slid onto the bench. She was warm enough in both his and her coats, laying her feet in his lap without any hesitation when he slid into the bench beside her. A lazy smile curled on her face without consent as his fingers probed her calf for straining muscles.
"I meant what I said. I'm not overly attached to my last name but I have a feeling that you might like to call the kid a Jones."
He kept his face turned on her leg, moving up the calf to the sensitive skin under her knee, ticking it for a moment before gently massaging the skin on her thigh. "I had assumed, love, that with your decision not to wed the child would be carrying your name. A fine name, at that."
She nearly rolled her eyes because while the compliment warmed her, it couldn't keep the longing out of his tone. Emma knew she was right. With the loss of Liam, the patricide he had committed, and the discovery of his half-brother, he was quite keen to breathing new life on the Jones line. Old man.
Her fingers went to his cheek without any thought, scrubbing against the hair. "Last names really don't mean anything to me, Killian. I mean, mine is from a family that turned me over when I was three-"
Hook's brow darkened and she knows he's about to threaten the Swans again
("They returned you? What the bloody hell does that even...Emma, I begged Bae to let me keep him. How does...a child is not some parcel to be gifted back!"
A classic Emma-shrug. "She got pregnant. New thing in, old thing out. I've always been difficult to love, I guess."
A firm hook turning her to face him. "You are incredibly easy to love, Swan. It' just very hard to get you to accept love."
"..."
"You wouldn't, by any chance, happen to know how to find these other Swan people, would you?"
"Hook, no. You are not harassing an old married couple because of something they did over twenty years ago."
"Why would you imagine I wished them harm? Perhaps I simply wanted to check in on your first caretakers."
A snort. "Yeah, buddy. I can see you mentally sharpening your hook right now. Nice try. If I hear you went anywhere near the Swans, you're sleeping on the couch for weeks.)
so she cut him off. "-But I think it means something to you. And our kid would be proud to carry your name. You are technically a hero, you know?"
Killian's eyes were shining as he moved up the bench until her leg is forgotten and she is cradled against his chest. Such raw, open affection touched her from his gaze that it's a battle not to weep.
"I love you Swan, you know that?"
Emma snorted into his chest. "Kinda guessed it with the whole true love shit."
He refused to bow to her humour and simply kissed her cheek, still holding her and unbearably sincere. "Thank you, my love. Thank you."
So days go by, and Emma puts up with Hook and her father nagging her about being the Savior and the sheriff.
("Emma, I handled it when you and your mother met Hook. I can handle it now."
"I'm pregnant, not an invalid, David"
"I mean, it's just what with all this running around and your visions-"
"Everyone believed I could fight this and now I believe it. Trust me, dad."
"Love, what your father said-"
"Killian, I am not benching myself until I'm too fat to run. I still have magic."
"Your hand is twitching."
"It does that. Shove it, pirate.)
But she does reluctantly eat Killian's ever-increasing healthy recipes and she stops trying to fight him when he enters the bathroom to soothe her nausea. She grins when Henry shows her how he moved all of his video games out of the spare bedroom and helped Hook paint the walls blue, and even allows Regina to hug her once.
("This is weird."
"I agree with you. We'll never speak of this again."
"Agreed.")
She stops loathing the swell of her stomach and Killian learns to handle her hormones remarkably well.
("I can't believe you let me hit you with that fork. You're bleeding, Killian."
"Well love, it seemed easier not to fight your wrath."
"You ate ice cream. That hardly warrants me making you bleed all over the damned floor."
"Language, Swan. Also, I'll clean the floor, never fret. And I will endure any and all of your ire as you are, as you pointed out, doing the heavy lifting when it comes to carrying our child."
"...I'm not going on a five-month maternity leave, Hook. No matter what you or David says."
"I know. We just worry Swan."
"I'm fine. He-She-it's fine. I'm still the Saviour."
"That's the part that worries me darling."
"Love you."
"Aye, love you too. Let me unknot your back now, aye? You haven't been sleeping enough."
"Ugh, Killian!")
Henry handled everything so perfectly. ("I get to be an older brother? Awesome.) And her pirate was already so in love with a little person who didn't even exist that most days, Emma had to suppress her tears of joy and gladly put up with peeing an insane amount and near constant upchucking for this pure joy.
Then the Evil Queen struck.
It was Tuesday after the dinner when Sneezy's desperate cries for help radioed into the sheriff's station. Hook and her father were off on another case so it was just Emma who took the call, who loaded into the Bug and sped off into the woods. She was alone, fending off fireballs while trying not to harm the woman as it would inevitably hurt her kid's other mother.
("Seriously, let's never talk about this. It's the most awkward hug of the year."
"I get it Emma. Just stay well or I'll give Hook a news article about Zika."
"That's cold, Regina. Even for you.")
She doused the pine when they caught fire and threw another harmless barrier until the Queen, for lack of a better term, got bored and fled. Killian's voice echoing loud in the clearing over her walkie-talkie and with increasing desperation, as he and her father must have realized where she had gone. The moment she was alone, she snatched the antiquated technology from her belt and pressed the button the radio in that she was fine and they were worrywarts.
Instead, however, a low moan of pain was sent to the other end as she felt a familiar tingling in her abdomen.
Emma ignored her father and Hook's frantic voices on the other side of the walkie as she looked down at her belly. It was too early...
Another sharp clench and she cried out and dropped the device altogether, falling on her hands and knees to the forest floor. Emma grit her teeth as another wave of pain made her stomach muscles undulate and she spotted the growing red stain on her jeans.
Oh no. No. no. no.
"Emma!" Hook screamed into the receiver and while she didn't think she could make the crawl over to it, she did fish her phone out of her jeans pocket. Another stabbing wave of pain. More blood.
Thank god he was on her frequent caller list. It took just a press of a button to dial his number.
"Swan, what the bloody hell is-"
"Killian I'm here by Zelena's farmhouse in the woods. I need-fuck!"
She couldn't continue, the pain crawling from her abdomen up her arms until they dropped her to the forest floor. Emma groaned, hands clenching against dirt. She felt bloated and wet and just wanted-
"EMMA!" Killian's face made her open the eyes she hadn't realized she had shut and Emma wasn't sure if she was dreaming. Frightened bright eyes went over her form, narrowing down to the blood saturating her jeans. She watched with detached interest as he bobbed his throat until another wave crested over her, a whimper fleeing her mouth without her permission. It seemed to rouse him, Hook shaking his head and grasping a hand, fitting fingers between hers. Her free hand went to probe his face, ascertaining his solidity.
Killian squeezed her fingers back, half a gaze still on the blood gathering in her lower half. "I'm here love. It's me. I've got you Swan."
Maybe it was the cadence or maybe it was the familiar nickname, but the moment he spoke Emma felt safe. The adrenaline clawing at her throat waned and she let her head sink to the ground, weariness overcoming her. Killian was here. Everything was alright.
"Swan, Swan-Emma. Stay with me love." The distress in his voice caused a muted tug of her heart. He had brought his knees about to cradle her head, rocking her slowly in his grasp. There were tears in his eyes and for the life of her, Emma couldn't figure out why. There was just too much pain and the blackness was so welcome.
"Sweetheart, please. You're going to be fine. David just went to signal the ambulance and they will be here soon. Just stay awake. Stay awake with me Swan-SWAN!"
Sorry Killian, was the last thought she had until she submerged under the darkness, pain taking her to blessed unconscious.
They were back in the room Belle and her child died, but this time it was her on the table. Her belly was swollen with nine months of pregnancy and the hurt lancing through her was her child attempting to escape.
The fluorescent lights cast the room in the same eerie glow. Hook was beside her, seemingly indifferent to her discomfort as he grinned and urged the child out of her. Gold, strangely, stood beside him, a twisted smirk on his face.
"At long last, I will hold the product of true love in my grasp."
His words sent a jolt of panic down Emma's spine and she began thrashing against the hospital bed, legs propped open by Whale.
"No, Killian he can't get our baby. Stop him!"
Whale's head popped up from between her thighs, sporting an identical, too-wide grin with Killian.
"It's all good lass, let's see the little one."
No, Emma thought desperately as she felt her muscles clamping to push her child from her. This was wrong. Something was wrong. She gave another cry as she tried to hold her baby within her despite the contraction, losing the battle as it forced him out. Emma felt empty and weak, her head lolling as she panted for breath. Whale held her child in his arms, the still-wrong smile plastered on his face.
"Congratulations, Dark One. It's a girl." He handed the bloody bundle to Gold.
NO! Emma tried to scream but she was too weak. Killian was smiling along with Whale. Her heart beat across her ribcage as she tried to snatch her child back from the man. Gold sneered at her.
"How lovely. She'll make a great cup of tea."
"Stop," Emma screamed. "Killian stop him!" The pressure increased between her thighs and she glanced down to see that she was still bleeding, crimson pouring out of her until it flooded the room. It kept pouring, making her weaker as it inched over Hook's thighs, up to his chest.
So much blood.
"Look Swan," Hook was still smiling too widely, even as her blood rose to his chin. "It's our daughter."
The bloody, squirming being in Gold's arms didn't cry.
"EMMA!"
She jolted awake suddenly, ears filled with loud whining and beeping and eyes blinded by unnatural light until she groaned and leaned back down, slamming her eyes shut again.
Emma collected herself, feeling her chest heave with her own gasps. The room was filled with noise. She heard footsteps and strange voices above her, the mechanical whirring slowing but not stopping. The sheet under her bottom was scratchy and she abruptly realized that she was naked save for the strange smock tied at her neck. Her entire body ached and all Emma wanted to do was sleep, but the dream left her wary and the strangeness of environment was too odd for even her blurry mind not to raise its hackles. Through it all, she detected a familiar lilt.
"Bloody fuck, what the blazes was that? Is she alright?" Killian. Thank god, it was fucking Killian.
A foreign, clinical sounding voice female voice. "She will be. It must have been a bad dream spiking the heart monitor. Her vitals are all stabilized now."
A dream. It had just been a dream. Emma forced her eyes open against the obtrusive light, searching for the man behind the voice, needing to register his solidness against the horror of her nightmare. "Killian-" It came out rough and hoarse. She frowned. She couldn't recall using her voice in the past few hours. In fact, she could not recall the past few hours or how much time had passed at all. What the hell happened?
Apparently, however, her whimper was enough because there was a hook and the waistband of faded jeans suddenly in view. His hand took one of hers, cradling it in his grasp. "You're okay love. I'm here. I won't let you go."
His tone was lilted and soft, but echoed the exhausted screams of terror. It made her frown, trying to figure out what had scared him despite the hurt all over, the fogginess in her thoughts that she distantly registered as morphine. "Killian-what?"
Ocean blue eyes met her own and the hook came up to caress her hair in a soothing motion. Hook gave her a small, broken smile. "Sleep Swan. You're safe and we can talk in the morning."
She wanted to protest. Where were they and what the hell had happened? However, the call to slumber was beginning to pull her under. Emma squeezed his hand desperately fighting it, half terrified to fall into another nightmare, half terrified to leave him alone with whatever sorrow lining his face. "You'll be here when I wake up?"
The voice was small, too small, but Killian heard it regardless, bending to kiss her knuckles. "Aye love, I'll be here when you wake. Always."
Chatter of the foreign presence went foggy as Emma felt sleep tug her under, still grasping her pirate's hand. The last conscious thought she had before the morphine drugged her was
-Were his eyes lined red?
Emma woke gasping a second time, monitors complaining and a gentle hand suddenly squeezing hers.
"Darling, calm down." It was Killian. Killian, who turned his ship around for her. Killian, who found her in Neverland. Killian, who fought darkness and death to be with her.
She could hear her heart rate slow. "Killian?"
His beard looked darker, but he gave her a sincere smile before scooting his chair over to kiss her cheek lightly. "'Welcome back again Swan. Tis me, love. I'm always here."
The comforting sound of his voice made her sag, and the harsh feel of bars made her suddenly realize where she was. "I'm in the hospital."
"Aye sweetheart."
She ignored him momentarily to take stock of her surroundings. She had an IV of god-knows-what shoved up one wrist, and the fingers of the other were plugged to the monitor that had been screaming a moment ago. She was indecent, the hospital gown shifted to uncover her left breast until Hook's gentle hand skimmed over to put her to rights. Emma felt the grease in her hair and an uncomfortable flakiness between her thighs and would have kicked a baby for a shower.
A baby.
Oh.
Killian watched as realization hit his love and had his arms banded loosely around her in a second. "Swan."
"I lost the baby." Her words sounded hollow but it was the only thing that made sense. She had vague recollections of bleeding out in the woods and now here in the hospital..
"Yes."
"Oh." She felt dirty, pulling back once from his grasp only to have gentle hands turn to steal around her.
With undermined lightness, he laid his head against her crown. "We almost lost you too sweetheart."
There's a faint trembling in his touch and Emma suddenly understands. She miscarried. And almost died. The pumping of her own blood seems too loud and she's gasping for air, but Hook doesn't relent as he turns her head and meets her gaze.
"I-"
"Did nothing wrong. It was just an act of nature Swan. Nothing you did caused it." But he still won't let her go.
"I almost-"
A strangled sound escapes him and Emma distantly registers it as a sob. "Please don't, Emma. I can't bare to think of it anymore."
Anymore, because Whale had probably forced him to consider her death for the past few….(days, weeks, hours?) while she lay in the bed.
Killian's halfway on her bed, crying against her shoulder until she pulls him fully up with a sharp yank despite the persistent ache in her bones. He molds against her body, touching as much as he can even as he keeps wetting her hair.
It keeps creeping up on her. Killian with his tears and sitting under the overbright lights of a hospital while she lay with a scratchy blue smock. The sudden emptiness registered low in her belly, where life had once pressed. The painted blue room and the crib they had commissioned from Marco
They lost their child.
Emma feels her own eyes fall heavy and swallows, stroking his neck with one hand while the other presses him impossibly closer. "I'm sorr-"
"Don't apologize Swan," He retches against her, back heaving in relief and sorrow and fear. "You have to know this was out of your control. Sweetheart, please."
She's weeping by his last word, trying to curl her tired and worn body into itself but met by Killian's gentle touch as he warms her muscles, opening her back up, a restrained franticness in every touch. "Sssh, Emma, no. The fates were merely unkind to us. Darling, come back to me. I need you."
"I-Killian-our kid-o-our child. How?" The sob that expels from her is a soft, painful, exhausted thing. As if her body couldn't summon the energy to grieve.
Emma whimpers and tries weakly to pull away, but Hook isn't having it. He keeps her cradled close to him, thumb swiping moisture from her face. He kisses her cheek. Her nose. Her sternum. Tender whisper of kisses meant to blanket her in his affection, warm her on this cold day. "I know. I know love. I miss her too, but you must listen to me. I will not let you carry the burden of guilt over our babe."
He choked up again, swiping his forehead on her shoulder until moisture pulls in her collarbone. His voice is wrecked. "You lived. I needed you to live. Swan, gods there was so much blood and the bloody alarms kept blaring and the nurses surrounded you and forced me away..."
Kilian lifts up his head to catch her eyes now, his own just as shining as hers. The utter heartbreak in his gaze makes her ache, a keening hurt erupting from the emptiness in her belly. His hand is caressing her, as if terrified she will fade like smoke
"They took you away from me, Swan. You were bleeding and there was shouting and our babe--they took you away."
His tone is broken, and Emma's throat closes for him. Her beloved pirate, watching her die mere minutes after her miscarriage. Helpless to stop it.
It was Liam again. It was Milah.
God, when would this man stop losing? Stop having people being taken from him?
There are deep shadows marring his face and a kind of sorrow lining one cheek that she suspects will never fade, but thank god she came back to this man.
"I love you."
"Ah, love you too Swan." He doesn't let go, even when the nurses enter. Just shuffles back to the seat he's spent (whoknowshowlong) in and keeps holding her hand, crying.
Emma is granted a clear bill of health and the miscarriage labeled as freakish but incidental, unlikely to happen again. They have a private ceremony to bury the little girl they never got to meet but never give her a name. They hold each other when the guilt burns at night and walk side-by-side to try and capture some happiness by day. She hugs her son and greets her parents at Granny's, one arm latched around Hook. They defeat Hyde's friends and scour for clues. They babysit Neal and take Henry sailing. They do everything that makes them them and happy.
Until Emma eyes the circle on her calendar that means they're cleared for sex. Then things get complicated.
"I want to use sheaths, Swan."
"Killian, we've been having unprotected sex for months. What the hell are you-"
"I want the bloody, sheaths, alright!" He never yells at her. Neither of them seem to know what to do with his outburst because she yells and he listens, not the other way around.
"Condoms, Hook, they're called condoms."
"Swan I-Love I-Please let me hold you." He nearly sobs the request out so Emma acquiesces without thought as she murmurs nonsense and stokes through his hair.
"Emma, I can't. I almost lost you and I already loved her-I would not survive it again. Please love, can we-?"
Emma understands with a bolt of clarity and kids are off the table as suddenly as Hook's tears are on her shoulder. Belle's death was hard on him, but he cannot handle her death. This beautifully fragile man would not withstand the weight of another lover on his conscience, however unwarranted. It's in the slump of his shoulders and the trembling of his touch, this is too much for him. Emma gets it and agrees.
So months go by, and neither regrets the decision because they have Henry's teenage-angst and each other to deal with. They go to Thursday night dinners where her parents still tease and Regina makes an off-handed quip. Granny never asks and Ruby never asks and the damned librarian never asks until Emma is unspeakably thankful for all the people she has rooting for her in her life. (Even Whale never mentions a damn thing. He gets a Christmas present for it too.)
So month go by in peace and happiness and Emma has an implant that lasts (years Hook, seemed best) and they love life and their house and their little family all up until Emma comes home one day with a strange pamphlet sitting on the kitchen island.
It is entitled, "Adoption & You".
She's going to kill him. She's going to murder whoever gave him the pamphlet (Ruby) and put this stupid idea in his head (Regina). She's going to-
Read every page twice while her heart twinges until her pirate deems it safe enough to come out from hiding.
"Swan, it's just-well, I can't stand the idea of what happened last time but I do want a family with you so I thought with both of our histories…"
"It's a great idea."
"...I mean, us both being orphans and all and-pardon, Swan, did you say you liked the idea?"
"No, I said I loved it."
"Ah...my apologies darling. So you want to-this is…"
"First thing in the morning, Killian. We'll go to Boston first thing in the morning."
And they do.
