February 15th

Killian woke to an empty bed, though when he pressed his hand on her side, it was still warm, telling him she hadn't been gone overlong. He listened for bathroom sounds, wondering if that was where she was, but on hearing nothing he blinked his eyes open.

He'd expected her to be on the window seat again like yesterday morning, but that was vacant as well. In a panic, he sat up, his eyes wandering the room. He exhaled with relief when he saw her suitcase was still in the corner where she'd left it, and her clothes were still tossed around the floor where he'd dropped them after stripping them from her body. She hadn't left.

He'd been a little disappointed when she hadn't answered him last night, confirmed to him if she would stay. He loved her beyond reason and he knew she felt the same, at least he hoped she felt the same. He brushed his hand through his hair as he rolled from the bed and headed to the bathroom. Once done, he pulled on his discarded jeans and made his way down stairs.

"Emma?" he called out, still not seeing her, but loving the aroma of coffee filling the air. She'd started the pot, he could get used to that. Then he saw her blonde hair through the window. She was outside.

He shivered when he stepped out onto the veranda. What was it with this girl and her habit of sitting out in the freezing cold?

"It's so beautiful here," she said as he came to sit beside her on the porch swing. He took the mug of coffee she had her hands wrapped around and took a large sip, enjoying the warmth as it flooded his throat.

"You should have a shirt on, you'll freeze," she cautioned as she took her mug back.

"Says the woman who is sitting here in, is that my shirt?"

"Yes, and your throw."

"Where did you find that?" he didn't even remember owning a blanket.

"Upstairs closet," she answered as she shifted on the swing, snuggling closer to him and wrapping him in the warmth of the wool throw she'd found. "It's like your own piece of heaven," she added, referring to her earlier comment.

"That it is, love," he answered but his eyes were on her as she pressed closer to him. Yes, heaven on Earth. "When I bought this place, I wanted privacy and solitude. Now, I want something else."

Emma turned her face into his chest. "I know," she whispered.

"Do you want something different?" he asked her, carding his fingers through her hair.

"I want… breakfast," she said with a smirk. She knew what she was doing to him, and some part of her hated herself for it. She knew what she wanted, she wanted him and the life they could make together, the promise that they would share a happily ever after. But, there was that part of her that was terrified. Scared of taking that leap. In truth, she couldn't understand her fear. In the past she was so used to packing up and moving on at the drop of a hat, but with Neal she had somewhat settled, believed she could make roots and call a place home. Then he had royally fucked that up, and taken a little of her confidence with him. With Killian, she felt a part of herself had returned, but still, her fear of being abandoned again made her hesitate. Though in her heart, she knew Killian wouldn't do that.

"Breakfast," he echoed, disappointed that she had stirred the conversation away, again.

She nodded as she removed the throw and walked, barefooted and bare legged, back into the house. Killian shook his head at her as he followed. The first thing he was going to buy her was some slippers. He knew all too well how cold the wood flooring got out here on the veranda, and if she was going to make a habit of being out here, half dressed… he stopped that train of thought as he followed her indoors.

"You want some cereal?" Killian asked as he pulled open a cupboard.

"I can get my own breakfast," Emma said with a smile as she moved toward the refrigerator. She was in bad need of something more substantial than cereal.

"I could get used to you cooking my food," he said as he closed the cupboard door. "That's what women are…" Killian stopped as Emma shot him a dark look. "I think I'll just get some milk for my cereal."

"Go on, Killian. Don't wimp out now. Say what you were going to."

"I was just being flippant," he said with that blasted adorable smile on his face. Damn him.

"Let me just get one thing straight, Jones. If we do this, I'm not going to be tied to the kitchen sink, cooking and cleaning for you 24/7."

Killian's heart sang at her words. She actually admitted she was thinking of staying. "Did I ever tell you how sexy you are when you're mad?" he said as he stepped up behind her to wrap her in a quick hug.

"I'm not kidding, Killian," Emma warned him even as the heat in her tone changed from anger to arousal as he began to place nibbling little kisses down her neck.

"I know, Swan." He slid his hand down her thigh, grabbing a fist full of her/his shirt.

"Killian," Emma breathed out as she felt him pulling the shirt upward.

"Hmm."

"I thought you were hungry."

"I am, love."

He turned her, trapping her between himself and the refrigerator, sealing whatever else she might have said with a kiss and Emma returned the gentle kiss. When she nibbled seductively on his lower lip, her tongue asking for permission to enter, Killian's heart tripped over itself. Slamming into his ribcage, it began to pump overheated blood throughout his body.

His mouth parted, allowing her tongue to lazily slide inside and stroke the fire burning up his body. The taste of her crashed through his control, eclipsing rational thought. In one heartbeat, the lust that always simmered just beneath the surface whenever Emma was around, overwhelmed him. Taking full control of the kiss, he invaded her mouth as his fingers curled over her mound, touching the hot liquid proof of her desire.

Killian stroked his fingers through her slit, slipping first one, then two thick fingers into her giving flesh. His thumb moved upward to press down on her clit. He rubbed her sensitive nub as he relentlessly thrust his fingers into her.

Emma's entire body jerked as a sudden climax ripped through her, turning seconds into hours. Killian released her mouth as her body went limp against him. He hadn't planned on taking things this far, but he seemed to have no control. Breakfast had become a distant memory as his mouth watered for something sweeter than cereal.

With a growl, he went to his knees, lifting one of her legs over his shoulder, leaving her completely exposed to his questing mouth. He stroked his tongue along her swollen, creaming slit with long, slow licks that made her squirm and arch. Killian lapped at her clit and smiled when she cried out, her hands fisting into his hair forcing him closer.

He continued his teasing flicks until she writhed with her need, her sex flooding with her juices. He knew she was close to coming. Pushing two fingers into her clenching depths, he swirled them, pushing her right over the edge.

Killian knew he had hit her sweet spot when her entire body bowed. Emma screamed and bucked beneath him. Her thigh clenched around his head as she spasmed, the proof of her release flooded his mouth.

Her taste was addictive. Like a drug to his senses, and it made him want to shove his face deeper, gorge himself on every single delectable inch of her pink flesh. Without hesitation, he fucked his tongue past her clenching inner muscles with deep greedy strokes.

Above him, Emma practically sobbed, her hands now trying to pull his head away. Killian could not be deterred and he continued to consume her with greedy, carnal abandon. He coerced another climax from her, this one fast and hard.

He lifted his head, his hands going to his pants as he stood. He fought to get his zipper down between his clumsy fingers and his cock pressing outward.

A breathy laugh brought Killian's eyes back to Emma. She watched his struggled. Her grin made him growl again.

"Need some help?" she asked sweetly.

"You're gonna be the one needing help."

"Not if you can't get your pants down."

"You're in trouble now." Killian's eyes narrowed dangerously now. "Come here."

Emma shrieked with laughter and tried to duck to the right, hoping to make it to the safety of the other side of the island. Killian caught her by the waist and pinned her in place. He ignored her halfhearted attempts to get away, and lifted her up to sit along the edge of the counter, guiding her legs around his waist. Emma arched into him, rubbing her wet center against the thick length of his cock.

He felt her swollen folds divide, allowing his dick to slide along the length of her slit, up against her clit. Emma moaned and repeated the action, becoming more frantic with each pass.

Killian wasn't about to let her get off on her own again. This time he intended to be with her. He shifted, letting his weight sag down on her until he was right where he wanted to be. Her tight little opening pressed against the head of his rock-hard cock.

With one hard thrust, he embedded himself fully into her wet sheath. Emma cried out as one of her hands knotted in his hair. The other pulled him closer, biting into the skin around his neck. The small, stinging pain drove him overboard. Killian set a quick, fast rhythm of deep hard thrusts. Her pussy sucked him in, squeezing him tight. The strong fist of her inner muscles made him growl and pound even harder into her.

Emma turned into a thing of wild need in his arms. Her breathing ragged, her nails scratching him as she clawed at his shoulders. He half wished his shirt wasn't covering her breasts. He wanted to rip it off her, much like she had his, the day before, but he found it beyond erotic that something he wore was keeping his eyes from her luscious flesh while he was pounding into her. Even her teeth took a stinging nibble on his neck as he felt the beginning contraction of her climax milking him.

"Come for me, Emma," Killian demanded.

Emma screamed out her agreement, throwing her head back as the fierce inferno of ecstasy consumed her. Killian's lips pulled back in carnal triumph as he felt her trigger his own release. It shot through him like a blast from a shotgun, driving him deep into her, sealing them together as one.

Killian rested his forehead on hers, willing his heart back to a less dangerous speed. Emma's choppy breath matched his own pants and, for several minutes they stayed like that.

Killian sighed as Emma squirmed for freedom. With obvious reluctance, he stepped back, letting her legs slide down to support her own weight. She fussed with her clothing as he straightened his own.

Killian's hand cupped her cheek and he pressed his lips to hers once more. "Why don't you go and shower and I'll finished preparing breakfast for us. How do waffles sound?"

Emma could only weakly nod her agreement before she turned and staggered toward the stairs. She feared her body would give out with the amount of time she intended to have him between her legs, but man, there was no better way of wrecking herself in her eyes.

A few hours later and Emma quietly left Killian discussing deals with Jefferson in the sitting area of Granny's B&B. She needed to do something and she needed to do it on her own.

She wandered away from the diner, with directions from Ruby written on a napkin in her hand. She only made two wrong turns but eventually she found herself in front of Storybrooke's Sheriff Department.

She made her way through the corridors until she found Graham sitting at his desk inside a small office of the tiny bullpen.

"Miss Swan," Graham greeted with a smile. "What can I do for you? Is everything okay with Killian?"

"Everything is fine," she assured him, resting a hip against the corner of his desk. "So, how about that job?"

Epilogue

An icy gust of cold air blasted through the open door into the warm, cozy sitting room.

"Shut the damn door!" a gruff voice called out.

"Sorry Grandpa," a young male voice answered and the room shook slightly as the wood was slammed back into place.

"Gamma, is it true you met Gramps here?"

Emma wrapped her frail arms around the waist of the young girl, pulling her closer. "Yes, it's true. He was sitting exactly where he is today, with the same flask of rum in his hands."

The young girl giggled slightly as Killian said, "Hey, Swan! Enough about the rum." He smiled at her, giving a quick wink.

"Dad, what have I said about the rum?" A tall, stylish woman entered the room with the stern comment, the very image of Emma at her age, except her hair was a deep, rich, chocolate color.

"Doctor, or not, you're still my daughter, Allison, and not the boss of me," Killian huffed.

"Mom," Allison turned to whine at her mother.

"Killian," Emma warned, and he sighed, giving an exaggerated eye roll as he pushed the flask into his vest pocket.

"Why do you call Gamma Swan, Gramps?" the young girl asked.

"Because that was her name when I met her," Killian answered easily.

The young girl's face pulled into a puzzled expression. "I thought your name was Emma, Gamma?"

"It is, Emily, but my last name was Swan and your Grumpy Gramps had trouble remembering names back then," Emma answered with a wisp of a smile.

"Not how I remember it, Swan," Killian beamed.

"Well, your memory's not to be trusted," Emma replied with smirk.

Killian caught her eyes with his own, striking blue challenging watery green. "I remember everything… Emma."

Emma could say nothing to that. They held the other's gaze, memories of their full life together playing out for them both.

A month after taking the job with Graham with the Storybrooke Sheriff's Department, she had moved out of Granny's B&B and into Killian's place permanently. The following Christmas they returned to the Charmings B&B and during a trip to Frog Pond, Killian had produced a Ring Pop Gummy and proposed right there on the ice. They married in Storybrooke before taking their sail boatdown to the Caribbean Islands for their honeymoon.

Their first child, Liam, was born a year after marriage, then Allison followed three years later, with Jackson being their last. Each of their pregnancies coincided with Mary Margaret and David's growing family.

Jefferson visited often, assisting Killian with the larger projects for the slowly improving large ship. Seven years into Killian and Emma's marriage, Jefferson finally asked Elsa to marry him and they moved to Boston. With Killian's financial backing, he opened his own carpentry business in the city and work on the ship increased.

Three years later it was finished. A ten-year project come to fruition and they celebrated with a vast party, the ship's naming being an important part of it. The Emerald Siren took her second maiden voyage by taking the Jones, Nolan, and Chapeau families back down to the Caribbean.

Time seemed to pass quickly and Liam married the eldest Nolan daughter, Eva, and Allison moved to Boston to get her training at the prestigious Massachusetts General Hospital, before returning to work at Storybrooke General.

Emma retired as Sheriff of Storybrooke, having taken the position decades earlier when Graham passed away unexpectedly from a heart attack. The youngest Nolan, Robert, was now the town's sheriff.

Jackson took over the brewing company, leaving Killian time to run trips on his ship, teaching local children how to sail and holding corporate days for team building projects.

Now, Liam and Eva were taking the reins of the Charmings Bed and Breakfast in Boston, and the large, extended families had come together for one last Christmas before Mary Margaret and David retired to Storybrooke. Killian had gladly relinquished any hold on his cherished privacy and solitude long ago when his own family began to grow, and that is why it wasn't even a question in allowing their dear friends to build a small home on their property by the ocean.

Now the elder Jones' and Nolan's would live side by side for the rest of their days and he was warmed by that thought.

"It's been an adventure," Emma said with a smile.

"That it has, love," Killian said as Mary Margaret and David came to sit on the loveseat in front of the fire. "One I would live again if I could."

"Gee, dad, you're such a sap," Jackson joked from his position by the archway.

"You will be too, when you meet that special girl. How is Garnet by the way?"

"Dad," Jackson moaned, rolling his eyes and looking so much like Emma. Killian turned to look at his wife. Time may have wrinkled her skin slightly, but she was still the most beautiful woman in the world in his eyes.

"Gamma, did you know you loved gramps right from the moment you saw him?" Emily asked.

"Your gramps was, and is, a very handsome man and I knew there was something about him from the beginning," Emma answered.

"But your gamma was being a typical girl and making me work for it," Killian butted in.

"Work for it?" Emily asked, tilting her head in question.

"Dad, do not explain that to my eight-year old daughter!" Liam said sternly.

"You'll understand when you're older," Emma said with a laugh.

"Why does everyone say that?" Emily complained in frustration, flopping her arms up and down before storming off.

"She's very much into fairy tales and true love and happy endings at the moment," Eva said by way of explanation.

"She's eight and wants to know everything," Emma reasoned with a smile.

A crash vibrated through the house, then a moment of silence before the wails of a distressed child echoed loudly.

"Moooooom!" Leo called, Liam and Eva's oldest boy.

"Well, there goes the peace," Eva said with a sigh and struggled from the couch, her very pregnant belly protruding before her, she waddled off in the direction of her obviously hurt daughter.

After a while, she called, "Liam, can you give me a hand."

"She has difficulty in kneeling at the moment," Liam said in explanation as he followed his wife.

"Of course she does," Allison, his sister, called after him. "She can't see her feet!"

"Mom, look, she bleeding," Leo's excited voice floated into the room.

"Leo, stop being over dramatic," Eva chided. "Liam maybe you should sit down."

Mary Margaret chuckled slightly in the parlor. "Allison, dear, why don't you go help them. You know how Liam gets when there's blood around."

"Yeah, he's such a puss…"

"Allison Jones, you will not finish that sentence," Killian warned.

"Whatever, Dad," she mumbled as she stood and followed the noise coming from the kitchen.

The parlor fell silent again, the only sound being the crackle of the open fire. Mary Margaret snuggled closer to David and she sighed. "I'm going to miss this place."

"We'll still visit," David said, wrapping a protective arm around her shoulders.

"But so many of our memories have happened here," she replied softly.

"And we'll make new memories at the new place," David reasoned. "Mary Margaret, we've all been planning this retirement for a long time. It's time to enjoy it."

"You're right," Mary Margaret said, her eyes flickering to Emma and then Killian. "The next stage of our life is going to be crazy awesome."

"You'd better believe it," Emma agreed. "I for one refuse to grow old gracefully."

Killian looked at Emma, that wild and wicked look still evident in his paling blue eyes, and he patted his knee, his cocky smirk pulling at his lips.

"Aren't we a little too old for all that."

"Not in the least, Swan. Now come here and help keep an old man warm."

Emma gave a half laugh and shook her head, but still eased herself from the chair and over to him. She slipped with an ease belying her age onto his lap, an arm snaking around his shoulders and her fingers finding their favorite place in his hair.

"Now, that's better," he sighed.

Emma settled her head against his.

"I love you, Killian Jones," she said simply.

"And I love you, Emma Jones. Then, now, and forever."