Author's Note: You guys are the best! This one was the result of some out-of-the-blue feels.
Emma sits on the porch with a glass of lemonade in her hands and a smile on her face. Her husband has taken it upon himself to wash the Bug and this time, he has a very special apprentice.
Hope reaches her little hand into the bucket and withdraws a soapy sponge. She giggles lightly at the foamy mess as Killian shows her how to wring out the excess water. They wash the car together, Killian running his own sponge over the roof and the windows and four-year-old Hope focusing on the doors and wheel wells, which are as high as she can reach.
A morning like this is something that for a long time, Emma never thought possible even in her wildest dreams. But now, as she watches her husband and her daughter soap up her car while also "accidentally" flinging foam at each other, she's struck by how real it is.
How perfect it is.
And how, in just one moment, she can make it even more perfect.
Setting the glass of lemonade down on the wicker table, Emma slowly descends the stairs and tiptoes up to her husband and daughter. Killian has tossed the garden hose aside while performing soaping duties, a fact which Emma uses to her advantage. She picks up the hose, aims the nozzle at Killian, and squeezes the trigger.
The spray takes both him and Hope by surprise. "Bloody hell!" Killian shouts, shivering from the blast of cold water. Hope looks from her shocked father to her grinning mother and shrieks with laughter. "Do me now, Mama! Do me!"
Emma happily turns the hose on her daughter, spraying her with a gentle mist that has the girl giggling in the sun. So focused is she on spraying Hope that Killian easily snatches it and turns the spray on her.
Hope's laughter echoes through the morning as her mother and father chase each other through the yard, spraying each other and her in succession.
In no time at all, they're soaked. "White flag," Emma cries, waving her hands in the air.
Killian smirks and looks down at their daughter. "What say you, little love? Shall we offer the enemy amnesty?"
Hope pretends to think, her blonde pigtails dripping. "Aye, captain."
"Very well, then," KIllian grins and turns to Emma. "We accept your surrender, on one condition."
"And what condition is that?"
"You have to kiss both of us."
Emma smiles. "Then I surrender willingly."
