Sorry for the delay real life was actually murdering me. I'm so excited for this chapter.
It's sunny that next day. The air is warm and there's this lightness in his soul, all of their souls. He feels like a weight has been lifted from him.
Maybe it's the fact that they had hot chocolate for breakfast. Maybe it's the look of joy on Alice's face at the wondrous sweet treat. Instead of a healthy breakfast.
"Not as good as marmalade." Alice points out, he eyes are narrowed like she's thinking critically. "But it's still really good." She confirms a small chocolate mustache on her face.
He smiles at her, taking a big sip, ensuring he has one to match.
"Someone's in a good mood." Emma states with a knowing smirk. He returns it.
"You know why Swan." He replies evenly.
"I want to know why!" Alice exclaims from her seat.
Both the adults blush and look away.
He knows it's because of Emma. He knows he feels whole for the first time. He wants to do something; he wants to continue this feeling, this bliss.
"Let's go to the beach." He announces with a grin.
It had been a while since they did that, it was something he reserved for special occasions or days when he knew Alice needed to get out of her own head. Today seems like a good day.
Killian knows he's made the right decision when his girl squeals with glee. She practically leaps from her seat.
"Really Papa?" She asks, she's practically jumping up and down. He nods.
"Go get into your swimsuit Starfish." He tells her, "I'll finish cleaning up and then I'll get ready myself." Alice doesn't need to be told twice as she bolts up the stairs.
"Swimming huh?" Emma asks, standing to help him. He nods. "Have anything for me to wear?" She asks with a smirk.
Bloody hell.
"Well I don't have a red bikini in my drawers love." He says with a chuckle. "But perhaps you can find something to make do?"
She laughs. "I'm kidding. I definitely want to take a swim though." She concludes. "This should be fun." Emma says.
It doesn't take long for their little group to get ready; Alice is dressed in her light blue one piece with a pink skirt and clouds painted on her suit. Emma seemed to have found an old shirt with the sleeves cut off and shorts that seemed to fit her better than some of the sweats. He himself in some swim trunks and a plain white T shirt.
"So how exactly does this work?" Emma asks, hand in his. Killian can see the healing scar on her leg but it appears not to be bothering her much.
"Swimming?" Killian replies. Emma rolls her eyes. She doesn't have time to clarify as Alice is busy bouncing around grabbing Emma's other hand and pulling her out the door, talking a mile a minute about all the things she loves about the beach. Emma laughs, letting go of him to follow Alice out the door.
It makes him smile to see how happy Alice is. Killian, carrying towels and a few snacks, trails behind the girls. He wonders if that's how it'll always be.
He wonders what Liam will think of Emma. Killian already knows Liam would be suspicious of her. He's much more of a sceptic than Killian. He thinks Liam would warm up to her.
"Come on Papa!" Alice exclaims because how dare he take so long.
"Alright, alright Starfish." He responds with a laugh. "I'm here." He added, putting his things down.
He notices Alice bolt for the water's edge and he races towards her, loving her scream when the cold water touches her bare feet. "It's so cold Papa!" She says. He laughs.
"Of course it's cold, it's nearly winter." He reminds her. "Don't worry, it'll get warmer soon." He tells her. The sun was rising and it would heat the water to a more comfortable temperature.
The cold water doesn't deter Alice from getting into the water, just up to her waist so she can swim and laugh and look for things under water. Alice loves the water and would spend every day in here if he'd let her. She's a lot like him in that regard.
"I found another shell!" She says, coming up from under water, thrusting the pink shell in his face.
"That's very pretty." He agrees. He sees Alice glance back at the bank where Emma was sitting on a towel, watching them with a smile on her face.
"Why isn't Emma coming in?" she asks.
"Well she's not exactly in her swim suit." He looks back at Emma. "I don't know.
Especially considering she'd almost died on this beach.
Perhaps today had been a bad idea…
However, as if she could hear them, they see her slowly make their ways towards them in the water. He grins brightly at the smirk he sees on her face.
"This water is a lot colder than I remember it." She says with a shiver.
"I think you were a little busy love."
"Yeah, dying."
"Emma! Emma!" Alice says, jumping and splashing. "Look what I found!" She says waving her shell in her hand. "Isn't it pretty?"
Emma smiles and tells Alice how beautiful the shell is. But what Emma says next surprises him. "Did you know I've been to a beach where the sand is literally pink?" She asks. His daughter's eyes widen.
"Really pink?" She exclaims. Pink is in fact her favorite color, at least this week. Emma nods.
"Just like the color of that shell. The sand is made up of bits of shell so when it gets wet it gets very rosy." His daughter is completely consumed by the story and while Killian is glad his daughter is intrigued, he wonders what in the world Emma is thinking, telling Alice a story of a place they can never travel to?
"Do you think Uncle Liam has been there?" Alice asks. "Do you think when he finishes taking care of the bad people we can go there?" His daughter asks, smile bright and happy. He scratches behind his ear nervously.
"I guess you're going to have to ask him."
Liam was going to kill him.
After splashing around for a bit, Alice declares it's time to make a sand castle. Emma is a good sport and tries to help, but Alice ends up giving her lessons on how to make the best one.
"It's all about picking a partner that knows what he's doing." Alice informs her, glancing at him. He smirks.
"So you're the resident expert here?" Emma asks with a smirk.
"I'm an expert in a lot of things Swan."
They eventually build a large princess castle, one with a moat and a drawbridge made of a piece of wood. Alice declared them to be King and Queen of the castle as she wanted to stay the Princess.
They do some more swimming, and splashing. Alice collects at least a dozen more shells that she could absolutely not live without.
And it's a good day.
"What does Alice mean when she says that Liam is going to bring her new toys?" Emma asks suddenly. It catches Killian off guard. They were taking a walk along the beach now, Alice walking faster ahead of them
"Liam, he's my brother, he brings us things every few months to survive. How else do you think we can live completely isolated like this?" Emma just nods. "Usually I give him a list for next visit, new clothes for Alice, new books for both of us, food, supplies the usual." He continues. "I can give him a list of things you'll need as well."
Emma nods, but again doesn't say anything. He can tell she's really thinking about something, there's a small smile on her face but her eyes have a determined glint in them. She's so lost in thought that she doesn't notice a hole in the ground in front of them.
She topples, and his attempts at catching her just have him topple with her, her on top of him.
He can hear Alice's giggles as he opens his eyes to Emma's curtain of hair spill over him. She sits up first, pushing her hair out of his face. He spits out a few stray hairs and Emma just smiles, it makes her eyes shine.
"Thanks for breaking my fall." She says simply, a smirk on her lips.
He wants to kiss it. He doesn't.
Instead she kisses his nose, making his face burn hot. It's silly really, especially after last night. They'd been far closer than this, done way more…intimate things.
"Emma…" He says trailing off.
I love you.
He doesn't say them. He doesn't dare. But she's just smiling at him and for a minute he thinks…
"I think we should get up now." Emma says simply, rolling off of him.
He thought maybe she would say it. He thought he saw it in her eyes. Maybe it was just wishful thinking.
"Aye, we seem to have attracted an audience." He snickers, seeing Alice making faces at them. "Don't make faces Starfish, or you'll get stuck like that!" He calls.
She laughs. She's making kissy faces at them.
"We should be getting back." Emma notes, "After all it's going to take a while for us all to get cleaned up in your tiny bathroom."
Killian nods in agreement. Emma takes his hand, and he holds Alice in the other.
It's a perfect day, the beginning of a series of perfect days.
Emma and Alice, what more did they need?
/
They do get cleaned up, and Killian makes dinner, a couple of cans of chicken soup. He typically doesn't like the processed stuff, but it's useful when he doesn't feel like putting in the effort.
Alice sits in Emma's lap and they're making the list for Liam.
"What's a poptart?" He hears Alice ask, he turns around slightly, catching Emma's shocked look.
"Killian, you've never showed her pop tarts?" She asks like it's the greatest sin imaginable. Killian shrugs.
"It's just processed sugar and flower." He reminds her.
"Amazing processed sugar and flower. It's going on the list." She declares. "Especially the brown sugar and cinnamon ones." Killian rolls his eyes.
Night time comes sooner than any of them would have liked, but he sees Alice dozing cuddling into Emma as she reads their book, so he moves to carry her to bed when she stops him.
"Can Emma come tuck me in too?"
He stops short, looking back at her. A flash of panic crosses her face, but then she looks to him.
Is that ok? He tries to ask with a raised brow and a look.
If its ok with you. She seems to respond with a light smile.
Emma kisses her in the head, as he tucks her in and for a moment Killian thinks that they're a family.
/
"Do you ever think long term about any of this?" Emma asks; she's leaning against him, her head on his arm in his room. They were both tucked under the covers and pressed together.
"Sort of." He replies. "My brother, he's trying to find someway to keep those after us from hurting us, somewhere safe and protected. He's prepared to fix the whole system if it means we can come home." He replies. It sounds farfetched, a hopeless endeavor by a desperate man, but Killian knows if anyone can do it Liam can.
"What if I had an idea?" Emma admits. He looks down at her, Emma looks hopeful, a grin on her face and he can't help but feel the excitement bursting from her. "I wasn't entirely honest with you." She admits. "I was running, but I was running somewhere." She explains. "Somewhere safe, somewhere I think we can be safe."
They are safe here. Killian wants to remind her, but he wants to listen to her idea anyway.
"There were rumors, of a place, outside society, outside everything, completely off the map, untraceable. It's supposed to be a place for lost souls, people no one else understood." She continues. "An old foster mom I had knows about it; she got me in touch with them. I saw it Killian, it seems just what we need."
He raised a brow. "What we need?" He repeats. Because he thought here was perfect. Perfect enough at least.
"Not that I don't love it here, but it's bigger, it's a little society, families, kids, everything. It's for people like us to be able to live lives without being afraid." She says trailing off.
People like us?
"Are you afraid?" He asks. Because something in the back of his mind doesn't like this, something feels off.
"They already found me once; they almost hurt you and your daughter to get to me." She reminds him. "What's to stop them from coming back?"
He doesn't know. A large part of him just trusts Alice's abilities to keep them hidden; they have a knack for knowing what to do when things go wrong.
"Liam's coming soon, we can go to somewhere else, another remote area." He insists. "This place used to belong to an old uncle of ours, he has a few properties; we can leave tomorrow if you want." But Emma cuts him off.
"This place is special." She insists. "I already made arrangements to live there, they would accept both of you as well; I know it."
"Didn't they make you steal something that nearly got you killed?" Emma nods. So it is the same place. "Wasn't it medicine for someone else?" He adds. Someone who wants you to steal necessary things from others doesn't sound like a healthy environment for Alice.
"It was the initiation or something and I did it, we can go there, we can be safe with people, don't you want Alice not to be isolated like this?" She insists. He does want that. His biggest regret is not being able to provide those social interactions. "People who understand not fitting in to society, people who have to pretend to be something they're not."
Alice. He thinks. He knows that's what she means; it could be a place that accepts Alice for who she is so she wouldn't have to hide. But something still doesn't sit right with him.
It sounds too perfect, it sounds too familiar. He feels his heart hammer in his chest, the urge to take Alice and run becoming stronger with each word out of her mouth. He moves to sit up; he sits in the bed and just looks at Emma.
She sits up too; she's in one of his too big T-shirts, her hand wrapped around his. He can't help but remember Eloise being in that same position, perhaps that same T-shirt when she told him about her "place" the first time.
The place she wanted to build. A place she ended up building and moving to with him at her heels, dragged along with the promise it would still have rum. It was a place that turned out to be more hell than paradise.
"I have a way to contact the leader of this place, she's kind and caring and a protector of sorts, at least, that's what they told me." She confirms. "The person I met, a woman named Gretel says she doesn't meet newcomers until after they get through the initiation."
His blood goes completely cold, his heart stops beating in his chest. He pulls his hand away.
"Gretel?" He repeats in a voice sounds stronger than it does to his own ears.
It's not possible. No. No. This can't be happening. Not again. Not again.
He looks back at Emma, and realizes where all that worry and suspicion came from. He'd been a fool to ignore it. Once again lust and love had been his downfall. Because this time Emma was what was too perfect.
He'd been a fool to believe that someone like Emma could ever care for someone like him, a single father with a drinking problem.
He was a fool.
"Her name is Mother Gothel and I promise Killian once you meet her, you'll understand."
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