The rock of the Jolly Roger was as gentle as a mother's hand on her child's cradle and that is exactly what it was; lulling her keepers to sleep. But Emma couldn't sleep, not with the clock ticking loudly in her ear as an ever constant reminder. Killian, on the other hand, was dead weight beside her. Lips slightly parted and his warm breath wayfaring across her shoulder and into her hair, his arm draped protectively across her middle. She turned and smiled at the sight of his seemingly ageless face. He looked so at peace while he slept, like the boy he was while traversing Neverland for so many years, only to return as a broken man. He had so much buried pain inside of him and yet his capacity to love went to unreachable fathoms. A pirate that loved without bounds. Who knew?
Her pirate. With eyes the color of the sky and would forever hold the scent of the sea along with her heart.
Emma brushed her fingers through the top of his hair and pressed a kiss to his forehead before gently lifting the arm that held her in place and rolling away from him. Killian grumbled her name in his sleep and turned over, his lips quirking upward.
Even in dreams, she decided, he was just as forward.
She grabbed the long neglected leather coat from the back of the door and slipped it on, tightening it around her body, relishing in the missed scent of his leather. She quietly closed the door behind her and wandered down onto the main deck.
They had decided to drift down away from the harbor a little ways. Not enough to be on anyone's radar but just enough so it felt as if they had gotten away from everything for an evening. They sailed until Storybrooke was merely a speck on the mainland and dropped anchor for a night among the stars. She had hoped it would help clear her mind, give her a fresh start on where to start with this Gold debacle; but it was only making things worse. And now she was getting a headache to boot.
Emma leaned against the railing, her fingers tracing the lines of the woodwork.
"What am I going to do?" she whispered aloud.
A warm wisp of wind wrapped around her and hummed through the sails.
"You really are a little bit of a traitor aren't you," she chuckled, giving the railing an affectionate pat. "Us girls have to stick together after all, I suppose."
She went back to staring down at the gentle waves that were gently pressing into the ships side as they swayed, the moonlight's reflection rippling with each movement.
"Emma?"
"Hmm?" She turned to see a disheveled Killian standing behind her. Hair awry, shirt open and his pants weren't even buttoned. She chuckled and closed the distance between them and fixed the button on his jeans.
"Everything, all right, love?" he asked, running a hand down the back of her hair, his eyes hooded and still full of sleep.
"Fine," she assured him. "You on the other hand look like you could use another forty years sleep."
"What can I say? My bed, on my ship with my Emma grants for a very nice sleep indeed," he smirked, blinking himself into a more coherent state. "Is that my coat?"
Emma dusted her hands down the lapels. "What this old thing?" Emma took a step back and did a spin causing the back to twirl out and she grinned. "Oh, I just found it lying around, looked like it needed some attention."
Killian took a step toward her, "Looks good on you, Swan." He licked his lips and drew the bottom one between his teeth. His once sleepy gaze turning predatory.
Emma froze. "Wait a minute." Her hands grabbed at the sides of the leather about to shed it from her body when he stopped her.
"I quite like it," he enunciated, hands sliding down to her hips and beginning close her up.
"How many women have been inside this coat, Jones?" Emma asked sharply with an accusing eye.
Killian chuckled, "Oh, Emma, green however, is not fetching on you." He brushed her nose with his before pressing a light kiss to her lips. "But to answer your question…none."
"Really? At all?"
He knew the question had been directed at Milah and how Emma could be envious of a dead woman he would never understand. He might have loved her but she wasn't his true love the dynamics of their first kiss alone was enough to settle that. The current that came with it, that flowed through his body and filled him as if he had been incomplete until that moment. He never had that with Milah. What they had was a hurried crash of lips in the alleyway behind a tavern away from prying eyes. Hastily done and full of drunken giggles. Fun yes, sparks, no.
He took her hands in his once she was all done up and pressed a kiss to her knuckles. "You, Emma Swan, are the first and last lass that will ever be in that coat." He pulled her to his chest, one arm slipping around her back while the other held her hand and he began to rock her gently back and forth, gently coaxing her into a familiar dance. "Perhaps, one day with nothing underneath," he teased, giving her a spin.
"Pirate," Emma chuckled.
Killian winked and pulled her back in, kissing her soundly before falling back into rhythm, humming softly, Emma listening to the vibrations echoing in his chest. This was another thing she missed greatly, their star infused dance sessions. What had started out as a simple swaying middle school dance had evolved to an intimate waltz around the deck. Another fact about Killian Jones: he could dance, and he enjoyed the intimacy it entailed. Light touches would guide her body where it needed to go, when to spin out and if he was feeling especially frisky when he was going to bend her into a dip. He used to whisper wants of whisking her away to Neverland to dance amongst the stars not just beneath them. To see her shimmer with stardust in her hair. She would have been lying if she said she secretly didn't want just that when the time was right.
Killian nuzzled the top of her head with his cheek and pressed a kiss to her temple, pausing his humming for only a second as he did so. She breathed in the lost scent of the leather and rum, closing her eyes as he gently glided her along with ease. The walls that she threw back up the moment he left crumbling down to rubble in the wake of their steps.
She just wanted everything back to normal, or at least as normal as things got in Storybrooke. Her broken family under one roof living out their happily ever after. Killian never asked to play the fathering role in Henry's life, but he had stepped up to it gallantly. Whether he wanted it or not.
Did he, though? Did he want it?
"Killian?" she beckoned softly.
"Yes, love?" he replied with a whisper in her ear.
She didn't reply, deciding not to bring the subject up now and shook her head against his chest. "Nothing, never mind."
Killian stilled their steps and looked down on her with concerning eyes. "What's wrong, Emma, love? What is it?"
Emma smiled softly running her hand down his chest, "It's nothing."
Killian's eyebrows knitted together and his lips pursed. "This is not the time to be building walls, darling."
Emma breathed a light laugh tugging him over to a crate and urged him to sit beside her. She took a breath and laced her fingers with his.
"Henry knew. You said as much when you told me and maybe if I paid attention I wouldn't have been such a wreck. He was upset, but he kept telling me not to worry. That good things have a way of working out. I suppose he couldn't out right tell me Gold was to blame, who knows what I would have done."
"He's a brilliant lad, your Henry. Perceptive, just like his mother." Killian rubbed the scruff on his chin and looked out to the sea. "Can't wait to see what adolescence looks like on him."
Emma grinned. The two of them did have an instant bond and she had secretly loved that they had taken to each other so well. David was all but heartbroken when Henry had asked to take up sword lessons with Killian when David hadn't the time to keep teaching him.
"He loved you as well, you know. With Neal back in New York you were the closest thing to a father figure he had." Her voice dropped off at the end. He was who he was after all, and three hundred years plus of piracy didn't just disappear in the span of a few years. No matter what he felt for the pair of them the family aspect had never come up in conversation before.
"I know."
Emma blinked at the sound simplistic answer he provided and stared at him with mouth agape. She wasn't sure what she was expecting, but it sure as hell hadn't been that.
Killian chuckled at her response and closed her mouth with his finger. "Honestly, lass, don't look so surprised. Henry is every bit of you all wrapped up in a tiny package, just bursting for an adventure. Or at least he was, I'm sure he's grown quite a bit by now. But still, how could I not fall for something as precious as that." He pulled her in and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Worrying me like that, Swan," he sighed, "it's enough to drive a man mad."
So maybe family life with her pirate wasn't such a stretch of a dream after all. Now she just had to figure out a way to get them safely in the same home, without having to fear for their lives daily.
"We should talk to Regina, maybe she can help."
"Perhaps I spoke too soon," He grumbled. "That woman tried to kill you as well as your parents, Emma," Killian countered. "Do you really think that wise?"
"No." Emma agreed shaking her head and maneuvering herself out from his grip and standing from the crate. "But we can't keep sitting here and doing nothing, Killian!" She ran a hand through her hair, letting it fall down and hit her thigh with a slap. "If Gold goes after me it's going to affect Henry, which in turn is going to affect Regina. Maybe, just maybe she will help. For his sake."
"But you have control over your magic now as well, no? Why not take care of the Crocodile yourself? Hmm?" Killian pressed his hands into his knees and stared at her through narrowed eyes.
He was joking right? He had to be joking. There was no way he would suggest such a thing. Or was this just his sick way of getting her to fulfill the revenge that he never got to partake in. Her heart clenched at the thought and Emma stumbled backward.
"You're not serious," she breathed out in a barley audible voice.
Killian's dark eyes never strayed from hers as he stood and approached her, stopping at an arm's length away. He nodded. "Aye."
"I can't believe you!" she snapped. "How could you even suggest such a thing?! Christ, Killian!"
He went to make a grab for her arm but she turned and jerked out of his reach. "Emma—"
"Don't you touch me!"
Her words stung like the venom they were issued with, ripping their way through his soul. "Emma, love, please. Listen to me." His eyes had softened but he kept his voice as firm as he could. How could she not see the danger this man presented to her and Henry if he was allowed to keep dangling their lives above them on a proverbial wire?
"Is that what you were hoping all along, Hook? To waltz right back into my life, win me over and then have me finish out your unresolved revenge?" Emma pushed the building tears away with a hard blink.
"What? Emma, no!" Killian argued, eyes flashing wide before he took a step towards her only to be stopped by the palm of her hand.
"You never changed. You just found a new way to finish things out. Fucking pirate." She stared at him momentarily, wondering if the hurt in the creases of his face were real or imaginary. He'd been the only person who had ever been able to almost successfully lie to her. On more than one occasion. She wet her lips and shook her head in disappointment, turning and heading up the steps to the helm.
"Dimmit, Swan!" Killian tugged at his hair and followed after her, grasping onto her elbow and refusing to relinquish his grip when she struggled in his hold.
"Let me go, Hook."
"No," he growled through clenched teeth. "Now you listen to me, princess. The only thing I was hoping to do was to keep you and your lad safe without having to leave you again. And since that…man…enjoys threatening your lives the only option I saw was to eliminate said threat. Savvy? So yes. I'm a fucking pirate. I'd like to think a bloody good one at that. And when someone intends on taking what I love from me I fully intend on putting a stop to it, with whatever means come about. So sorry, that I put your abilities up for auction; I saw an opportunity and I took it. Pirate." He yanked her closer and dipped his head so it was level with hers, his breath ghosting over her lips and his now stormy eyes locked onto her slowly breaking gaze.
"I meant it when I said I believed in us, Emma, but this game with my trust is going to have to end. I'm not leaving. I'd die for you if it came down to it. Trust in that." He released her with a slight shove, brushed past her and entered his quarters with a rough slam of the door.
.
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A/N Yeah...so...that took a rough turn, yeah? Don't hate me and do leave a review if you please!