A/N: Hi everyone! I am so sorry that I didn't update for the last couple of eons! I was busy and lazy and whatnot! I'm so excited for the Jolly Roger episode though, I grin really hard whenever I think about it. :D Ps: our two favorite idiots are really kidlike in this chapter XD
Emma blinked open her eyes, hearing the gentle patter of rain outside. The sky was dark, but there wasn't any more gigantic lightning bolts crossing through the clouds a couple of days ago.
She was in her cabin, nestled in her berry pink hammock. From the first day in the cruise ship business, Emma had rebuked the bed in her cabin. She was too used to the dank cots in a foster home or the back seat of a car, and she liked being suspended in the air. It reminded her of flying from her favorite story, Peter Pan.
A soft knock woke her up even more, and Emma yawned, sitting up and swinging her feet onto the ground. She had her M&M pajama pants on, and a pink loungey t-shirt that had a silver swan as she padded to the door sleepily.
As the blond turned the knob, she saw her boyfriend standing quietly there, fully clad in his leather jacket with the red hoodie underneath, without guyliner(that was surprisingly disappointing) on. At least he kept the pants and boots.
Emma tilted her head, raising one eye brow at him being fully awake and dressed. "Uh, Killian? It's four in the morning. What are you doing?"
The dark haired man tilted his head back, giving her a charming smirk and replying, "Uh, Emma? We have the four fifteen staff meeting this morning. What are you doing?"
Shock spread through her body like wildfire, and her mouth gaped open. The staff meeting!She wanted to smack herself a million times. "What?!"
Killian grinned, taking off his leather jacket and handing it to his freaking out swan. She looked confused as he grabbed her hand and raced down the hallway.
"Well, no time now! Throw it on and let's hit!"
"Killian!"
"What?"
She was tugging on his warm jacket, zipping it up and saying desperately, "I can't go in with pajama pants!"
The pirate threw a pretend confused look at her, responding as they raced down the dimly lit hallways, "Why not?"
"Because I won't look professional!"
"You don't have to look professional to be beautiful love."
Emma didn't have a response to this, and she was panting by the time they got to the two redwood doors. Then she turned to Killian, worry sparking in her eyes frantically.
"But what happens if I get in trouble?"
Her boyfriend pulled her in for a kiss, and her hummingbird heart slowed down, like it was trapped in sap. This was what bliss felt like behind closed eyelids. He pulled away after a few seconds, grinning and replying with comfort, "Then we'll blame it on me."
Before Emma could do anything, he pulled open the door, and the main people of the staff were all staring at them. Daring to take a glance at the big clock on the burnt orange wall, Emma read 4:20, wincing. Whoops.
Jiminy, Leroy, Ariel, Peter, and countless other staff members gave them either pitying looks, angry ones, or annoyed ones. The smallest fifth of the crew was probably asleep in his room covered with piles of blankets, sleeping to the patter of soft rain. Even the thought of sleep made Emma tired.
Regina narrowed her smoldering gaze at the panting young adults, her brown eyes not even bothering to hide the dislike for them. Robin gave a smiling stare as they hurried to two black plush seats, not really looking people in the eye. Emma's face was beet red.
Ariel smiled comfortingly at her from her left side, having woken up at 3:30(?!) for some swimming before the meeting, like she had told the tired Emma the night before. The red head hated being tired in a room with a grouchy Leroy.
Speaking of him.
The dwarf looked particularly grumpy this morning; well, everyone did because it was 4 am. But he snarled at the kids as they sat down, the hard nevermelting look in his eyes.
"Where were you guys?!" he sneered, a jeering look on his scruffy face." Playing spin the bottle?" Both Emma and Killian started to protest, and Peter opened his mouth to defend his two friends on Ariel's left side, but Robin beat them to it.
"Everyone can be late Leroy. And I take it by Ms. Swan's pajama pants that she slept in, due to the overabundant amount of guests. Now cool it."
Peter snickered, and the broad shouldered man paid no attention to it. Emma muttered under her breath to Ariel and Killian, "Brave man."
Suddenly, Regina shoved out of her seat and whispered something to Robin, shooting glares at the two adults. Emma rolled her eyes secretly to Killian, and he muttered back, "Oh great."
The brown haired boss gave her one of his signature But I'm charming! Smiles, and murmured back into her ear. Leroy, as defeated as he was, couldn't fail his stubbornness and cleared his throat impatiently. Robin shot him a glare, and the angry manager threw a furious glance at Killian, as if it were all his fault he was getting beat on by the boss.
The pirate knew exactly what not to do, but did it anyway. He threw him a smug smirk and mouthed I'm awesome like that. Him, Emma, Ariel, and Peter watched him go through ten different shades of red before he settled on a deep umber with rage.
The kids knew exactly how to get him riled up, even if they could get fired.
Robin finally stopped muttering with his wife, and putting his arm around her sighed, as if he was being forced against his will to say something.
"Now I'm going to give you a long lecture on punctuality…."
A groan rose up from the entire room.
Emma dragged herself back to her cabin, reading her phone as it blinked 5:15 at her. Killian trudged beside her, and Peter had to go to the café for the crazy people who woke up at that godforsaken hour, while Ariel went to swim some more laps.
The adults (and Peter) had endured about 45 minutes of that torture, with the grinning and triumphant Regina, and the (he did it on purpose!) long and droning Robin, who had made sure to seem defeated and boring as he could as he yakked on and on about being on time.
Before the meeting was over, he had whispered to Emma, "Nice pjs." With a smile that meant he had forgiven her, but it earned him a playful slap on the shoulder. Even if she didn't have a dad, Robin substituted for one pretty well.
A small round of thunder roused the blond from her thoughts, and Killian yawned tiredly, "Time to go get 2 hours of sleep. See you at seven love." He added on with a grin, "If you can remember of course."
His girlfriend shot him a playful/sleepy glare as she responded, "Oh, yeah. After that lecture?! I'll be an hour early to everything from now on." She looked down at her pajama pants and made a face as she added on, "And Robin thinks I look cute in these."
Killian laughed as he trotted down the hall to his cabin, cocking an eyebrow at her as he stood in front of his door. He then grabbed her hand and spun her around like they were in a dance, finishing by gently pinning her against his door and pressing his forehead to hers, grinning with his pirate charm.
Emma blushed, a small smile playing along her lips as he closed the small distance between them. The blond was more than happy that there was no one in the hall as she pressed her lips to his, only feeling his warmth and her happiness.
Sudden footsteps roused the two love birds quickly, and Killian muttered a curse as they whipped their heads up, eyeing Robin talking to Regina as they rounded the corner.
They both stopped when they saw the young adults standing side-by-side. Emma's face was still blushing, and she felt heat rise up stutteringly in her cheeks.
The dark haired woman furrowed her brows when she saw them, distaste plain over her face like the sun over the deck. Robin however, just had a little boy grin on his face that was leftover from his talk with his wife.
He nodded at them, then continued his charming talk with the queen of the cruise ship. But Regina turned around, a cold glint hardening in her chestnut eyes.
"I trust you'll be on time next meeting Ms. Swan?" she sneered, and Robin shot her a glance. The blond narrowed her eyes a little while frowning, knowing that she shouldn't argue but did anyway.
"I just overslept a little." She protested, and Regina practically bared her teeth into a snarl. Robin couldn't say anything fast enough before his wife snapped, "Well, next time you'll set an alarm clock. Maybe some work will help remind you."
"Regina-," Robin started but was cut off by the same woman he was talking about. "You can go and shift places with one of the people at the front desk. Tell them they can have the day off." She snarled, and Emma's gaze twisted into a glare. "Yes, Ma'am." She practically had to spit it out.
Killian caught her ugh look, and instantly raised his head and volunteered to be front desk alongside her for the day.
Regina started to protest letting Emma have a loophole in her form of torture, but Robin smiled widely and nodded fiercely. "Of course! How generous of you. Now Regina, where were we? Oh yeah, talking about being late…."
The two marched off, leaving the swan and pirate alone and groaning. Well, only the swan was groaning. The pirate however, was acting cheery.
"Oh don't worry swan! We'll only have to tend people's needs at 5 in the morning!"
Emma groaned again.
"HEY GUYS!" Henry ran full speed to the couple, bouncing up and down like an excited puppy. They were walking down the hallways to the Café, talking about the torture they had endured and how awesome it was to finally have lunch.
Thunder rumbled as Emma greeted, "Hey kid. What's up?"
"WE'REGONNADOCKEARLYANDSTAYDOCKEDFORAMONTH!"
Emma and Killian exchanged shocked glances, already used to the fast talking of Henry but just surprised by his message. Peter came practically skipping up to the trio too, on his lunch break with three rolls of sushi and two red bulls.
"So ya guys heard?!" He exclaimed happily, forest green gaze excited. Killian looked disappointed. "No sea for a month?"
But the son of the owners was already talking loudly and hurriedly with the waiter, each designating their plans in the open. Peter especially looked vivacious.
"This means that you guys can finally meet Grace! She'll be so excited to meet you!" he mumbled around sushi, starting eating even though they hadn't reached the café yet.
Henry instinctively reached for his Red Bull and popped the tab for him, chirping happily, "I'll finally be able to get new knight figures! And I'll be able to walk on ground for a whole month, and buy new toys, and stock up on more candy bars, and get more toys, and-"
Emma looked interestingly at the kid, cutting him off as politely as she could, "Wait, why are we getting docked?"
Henry responded happily as they walked into the café, "I think it's because of the storm! Some passengers are probably scared we're all gonna drown or something, and also just cause."
The blond shot a glance at Killian, but he didn't catch it because he was ranting sadly to Peter. "No more sea for a month! A bloody month!"
The lanky teen snorted with laughter. "Relax, it'll go by too fast. You'll 'sea' your girlfriend too soon." He laughed at his stupid pun, and forwarded a step ahead to talk to Henry.
Emma shot Killian a laughing glance. "Girlfriend? You have two?"
The pirate gave her a mock laughing look. "Yes lass I do." The two chuckled, and Peter glanced back at them, not catching their line, and then back to Henry.
"Do you think they're dating? I mean, they never told anyone they were. Anyone as in us."
Henry shrugged. His little boy face was confused as he said, "Well, I dunno. They did kiss on the float, look at each other all the time, and according to you they had a fight, and came to the staff meeting late. But who knows, maybe they're just really, really good friends."
Peter rolled his eyes and thought in his head, Okay forget that, I need to talk to Ariel.
As if almost summoned, the redhead met them right before they were going to sit down at the glossy wooden counter, hair still damp from swimming. Her eyes were excited.
"So did you hear?" She nodded to Granny with a smile for the usual and continued. "We'll be on the ground for one month!"
Granny slid their drinks onto the table, and Emma nodded with a grin. Peter and Henry bounced up in their seats, starting to tell the 'mermaid' their plans.
Killian looked at them like they were all crazy. "Am I the only one who's not happy about this?"
Emma, Killian, Ariel, Peter, Henry, Robin, and Regina all walked off the ship, or off the plank as the pirate had named it, and onto the ground. They had been on it for about a week, and as much as they loved the cruise ship, shopping at a place without Hawaiian t-shirts would be nice.
Leroy bustled forward, snapping eagerly, "Is the van still here?!" Robin looked amused as he replied, "I'm sure no one stole it Leroy."
The dwarf like manager shot him a slow look that was no doubt relative to the glare as he bustled off to find the vehicle. Killian dropped down his duffle bag on the hot cement and looked melancholy. He truly loved being on his ship.
Palm trees made gentle swishing noises and the balmy sea breeze was soothing as they waited for the grumpy manager to show up with the ride, and eventually he did.
"Hop in." he said unclassy, gesturing towards the rolled open door, and Henry and Peter clambered in happily, squishing into the back with Emma and Killian behind them.
Regina sat in the very back with Robin and Henry, while Peter, Ariel, and Killian and Emma (who doublebuckled) sat in the middle. A pile of duffle bags and suitcases was in shot gun.
"Where to boss?" Leroy grudgingly asked to the chipper man, pulling out of the cruise ship space and past the parking garage, into the streets of Tallahasse.
Robin grinned brightly from the back, replying, "1038 Coconut Hallow Ave."
They plugged it in, and started their way through the twists of the bustling city with honking cars and palm trees. Sunlight shone brightly down as the kids and young adults talked and told jokes to each other, causing even Regina to smile sometimes.
A whistle snapped them out of their regime of laughs.
A ginormous black windowed skyscraper towered above them, glistening in the morning light. People bustled in and out, and Peter's mouth dropped open. Regina and Robin smiled.
"Uh, we're, staying here?" the teenager asked, awed. "I mean, seriously?"
The bosses replied with a laugh, "Yep. We have three rooms, so Henry will stay with us, and the two boys can room together."
"Sweet!" the two younger boys clambered out of the van, going to the front to collect their bags. "Thanks Regina and Robin!" Peter said, and all of the young adults and kids repeated it as they all went inside.
They checked in, and laughed even more as they took the elevator up to their rooms.
Peter gaped at the nice room. Actually, all of the kids did, besides Henry. He just simply threw down his duffle bag and cheered, "Mario Kart!"
Emma yanked on the steering wheel hard, almost crashing into Henry on the beanbag next to her. "Stupid Peach!" she hissed, throwing a bombardment of green shells behind her.
Peter was laughing his head off at Killian, who was steaming because of how far ahead the teen had gotten after sending an oh-so-lovely flying blue shell his way.
"Beware lad, Koopa Kid doesn't allow people to steal from him."
The lanky teen rolled his eyes, laughing some more as he threw a banana peel behind his driver, Funky Kong. "Please, what did I steal from you, a shiny animated trophy?"
Killian took his eyes off the screen for a split second and glared at him. "My dignity."
The boy laughed along with Henry, Emma not joining in because she was too focused. Rosalina, her character of choice, had to hit every single stinking banana peel on the road. It annoyed the heck out of her so much.
"Whoo!" sounded from the screen, and the drivers put down their steering wheels to take swigs of their sodas and survey the scores.
Emma had pulled it into a horrible seventh, Peter first, Killian second, and Henry fifth. They had to go get paint and other stuff soon from Target, but first the two actual adults had agreed that they could play one round of Mario Kart Wii.
"My turn!" Ariel announced, holding out her hand to Killian from the bed she was sitting on. Killian, Emma, Peter, and Henry were each in beanbags with their heads resting on the side of the bed, and the pirate sullenly handed his partner the controller.
He then laid back comfortably and thrust his arm up, raising his index finger up commandingly while shutting his eyes.
"Time to dream about the sea!"
A/N: Review please! :D
