Disclaimer: Nope, not mine, darn it. I just write for them because it's fun.
Who else is excited for the Jones Brother reunion? Sort of ties in nicely with this next chapter.
Having said that, enjoy ~
"Your worried, aren't you?" Emma studied her husband as he stood at the wheel during their family voyage aboard the Jolly Roger. Emma had finally returned to work. Not too much excitement occurred while she was on medical leave, but her deputies were happy to have her back taking shifts again. The cruise was the first day her day off synced with her father's. As a result, the entire family had decided on a cruise.
"What is there to be worried about, Love?" Killian tried to cover by concentrating on the open water.
"You tell me," Emma leaned into his side and wrapped her arms around his waist, "You've been hovering over me and the children more than usual. You're not sailing as far...Talk to me, Jones."
"I am worried," Killian finally admitted, "I'm worried about you and the children. I made many enemies over my three hundred years. I have two very prominent ones in Storybrooke alone."
"You're still carrying on about my brakes getting tampered with," Emma realized.
"How can I not be?" Killian asked, "You seem to have brushed aside the fact someone tampered with your vehicle. You nearly met a dead end."
"I'm fine," Emma reminded him as a chorus of laughter from the family and a happy bark from their dog rang out. Leo and Fallon were running away from Max who was giving chase. "Fallon, Henry and Bradyn are fine."
"For now," Killian muttered.
"Hey, look at me," Emma forced his eyes to connect with hers, "If the Darling children are responsible, we will figure things out together just as we have since I found you in the forest."
"Not exactly how it happened," he snorted in mild amusement.
"You were on our side when we were fighting at the lake. You proved it twice; when you caught Aurora's heart and gave it to Mulan and when you let me knock you out after getting my hands on the compass," Emma replied.
"I was so taken with your footwork," he grinned.
"I haven't once bought any explanation you've given regarding your actions of that day," she told him, "You wanted to do what was right, and you did. I'm most grateful because I got home to my son."
"I would have done whatever it took to get you home," Killian caressed her face, "Even if it meant ending my alliance with Cora and never getting my vengeance."
"You still haven't gotten that," Emma pointed out.
"One day I will," Killian glanced away from her, his eyes looking out over the horizon again. "Gold can't live forever, and he has other enemies. Someday one he crossed will come for him. One day someone will succeed, but it won't be me. I have too much in my life to lose. I can't say on the day someone succeeds I won't smile a bit victoriously."
"I guess I couldn't blame you for it," Emma sighed, "He has done a lot of horrible things to a lot of people, some of the worst to your Milah."
"She did love him once," Killian spoke softly, "She spoke about what her husband had been like before they married, just after they were married, and before he left to fight in battle. He was far different from the man he is today. He was more like how he is with Belle, but he was also afraid...afraid she would not love him, afraid she would leave him, afraid she would take away his happiness. That fear crippled him, made him do questionable things he couldn't take back."
"Fear is a powerful adversary," Emma replied, "Don't let your own fear cripple you. We have so much joy and happiness ahead of us."
"Aye, we do," Killian's eyes went towards the laughter on the deck, courtesy of Fallon and Leo. "Henry, lad, how about you take the wheel for a bit?"
Henry immediately claimed the wheel and kept their course steady. He still had the love of sailing. He fleetingly talked about a career as a professional sailor or perhaps joining the Navy or Coast Guard, but he still had a few years yet before such a decision had to be officially made.
"Keep us off the rocks," was Killian's usual warning before he went to help David with a bit of the rigging he'd become tangled in.
"I do love the open breeze," Mary Margaret bounced Bradyn about as a means of entertainment for the young lad, "I dare say this little one loves it about as much as his father and siblings."
"The open waters run through their veins," Emma agreed, "It does weave quite a spell. When Bradyn's a bit older, Killian wants to take an extended trip across the oceans, longer even than the one we took the summer I was pregnant with Bradyn."
"Goodness, what will Storybrooke do without it's sheriff for that long?" Mary Margaret inquired.
"That's up to the voters in a few weeks," Emma replied, "I think our mayor is hoping the townspeople will trust her husband with the duty."
"No one with any sense is going to vote for the husband of the woman who cursed us into living here," Mary Margaret replied.
"Do you ever think about going back?" Emma asked, "If it was possible, I mean."
"To the Enchanted Forest?" Mary Margaret asked, "I don't know. It was home for most of our lives, but after living here for so many years it would be difficult adjusting. Just turning on a switch to have lights is a luxury we didn't have in the Enchanted Forest, and plumbing, goodness, I would miss that."
"If we could have all the creature comforts?" Emma asked.
"If we could have all the creature comforts and my entire family would be there, then yes, I would like to return the Enchanted Forest back to what it was under my father's rule," Mary Margaret replied, "Since there doesn't appear to be any way back seeing as how our mayor likely used the last of the magic beans for her honeymoon, we might as well keep moving forward. I'm happy with my life here. I have my true love and my children. I've gained grandchildren. There isn't much better."
"I think Killian would like to go back," Emma sighed, "This world isn't his."
"But it's yours," Mary Margaret stated, "It's where your home and family are. I don't think his pull to our land is as strong as you think. You have to remember he didn't just sail in my realm. He crossed realms frequently. The technology might be an adjustment, but it's one he happily made."
"He's done everything for me," Emma replied, "Maybe I want to finally do something for him."
"You gave him your heart and two adorable children," Mary Margaret replied, "I think that's more than enough."
Emma gave a thoughtful nod.
Fallon suddenly appeared before her mother with a curious twinkle in her eyes she'd inherited from her father. "Yes, Princess," Emma prompted her.
"Papa says you're being too serious," Fallon relayed the message from her father.
"Well, you go tell your papa to mind his own beeswax," Emma smirked, knowing Fallon would mess up the translation.
Both Killian and David began to howl with laughter when Fallon ran over to deliver her mother's reply. Neither knew quite what the message was Fallon had intended to relay. Playing telephone with Fallon was an interesting game as her innocent thoughts would twist the words nonsensically.
"Papa, put me down!" Fallon shrieked when Killian tossed her over his shoulder and carried her across the deck until he was standing before his wife.
"Tell your mum what you said to me," Killian swung her upside down until she was eye level with her mother.
Fallon hesitated for a few moments, mostly because she couldn't remember what she'd said. "Oh, yeah," Fallon's eyes lit in remembrance, "Mama has bees in her pants."
Emma and Mary Margaret burst out in laughter.
"Oh, Fallon, you are such a cutie," Emma snickered as she maneuvered around her husband to get to her daughter's cheeks to kiss each one in turn.
"What was it you really said?" Killian inquired after returning his daughter safely to her feet. She immediately scrambled off to resume playing with her uncle and puppy.
"I told her to tell you to mind your own beeswax," Emma replied when his arms snared her around the waist. His face was awash with further confusion as he couldn't translate her modern day slang. "It's a nice way of saying to mind your own business."
"Everything about you is my business," Killian responded instantly, "Every smile, every frown."
Emma's insides melted in reply. He'd always been good with the one-liners and being flirtatious, but never in her wildest dreams could she have thought he would be as attentive and concerned with her happiness when he became her husband. He bordered on being the perfect husband, except for his irritating habits she somehow found charming.
Killian stared her down until she relented.
"Do you want to go back to the Enchanted Forest?" she asked.
"Do you think I'm unhappy here?" he frowned in confusion. Mary Margaret stepped away from the conversation she felt like she was intruding upon.
"This isn't your world," Emma sighed, "If the roles were reversed, I'd have thoughts of coming back here."
"What is in the Enchanted Forest for me?" he asked, "What is supposed to be pulling me back?"
"I don't know, but it's your time, your world," she threw up her hands in exasperation.
"This is my world," Killian told her.
"Don't you miss sailing the high seas, going from port to port, pillaging vessels along the way?" she asked.
"When the alternative is what I currently have, no, I don't miss it," Killian replied, "It's the same for you. Do you miss your life as a bail bonds person?"
"No, but that's different," Emma scoffed.
"The only difference is the amount of time I spent being a pirate versus how long you were a bail bonds person," Killian stated, "I would have happily lived my life as the first mate of my brother's ship, sailing the colors of an honorable king, but that didn't happen."
"Do sailors of the line have wives?" Emma asked, "Would you have had that?"
"Perhaps," he replied, "It wasn't in my immediate future."
"Was it in Liam's?"
Killian swallowed hard as a memory stirred inside of him, "Aye."
"He left someone behind," Emma concluded, "A wife? A family?"
"He had a special lady," Killian stated, "He intended to marry her when we returned from Neverland."
"What happened to her?" Emma asked softly.
"She was inconsolable when she learned of his fate," Killian spoke softly. He was lost in the memory now, the memory of telling his brother's fiancée of Liam's demise. "She blamed me for his loss, blamed me for her inevitable fate as a spinster..."
"It wasn't your fault," Emma caressed his cheek to get his eyes to focus on her.
"It still feels like it is," Killian admitted, "He infected himself to prove a point to me."
"Did you ever think he did it to prove a point to himself?" she asked, "Maybe Liam infected himself to prove the king he was sailing for was the honorable man he thought him to be."
"Perhaps," Killian pressed his forehead to hers.
"I'm sorry I brought these painful memories back," she thread her fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck.
"I'd only suffer through them for you," he smiled slightly.
"Papa, I'm hungry," Fallon came running over.
"We can't have that now can we," Killian took her hand and led her to the box of food they'd brought along for their voyage. After picking out a small bag of nuts, Killian returned to Emma's side.
"We'll talk more later," Emma gave him a reassuring smile.
Killian gave a slight nod and returned to the helm to take control of the wheel again. "Thank you, Lad."
"Anytime," Henry gave his stepfather a bright smile.
"So the Enchanted Forest," Killian picked up on the conversation they'd had aboard the Jolly Roger.
The children were tucked in for the evening. Bradyn's baby monitor was on the railing. Killian's arms were around Emma's waist while they enjoyed the night air on their cottage roof.
"Do you ever think about going back to it?" Emma asked.
"Going back means leaving here, leaving the first true home I've ever had," Killian replied.
"What's keeping us in Storybrooke?" Emma asked, "It's just one evil after another here."
"Will it be any different in the Enchanted Forest?" he inquired, "Whatever is out there looking for us will find us no matter the realm we are in. You're still the Savior. I'm still Captain Hook. We don't know yet who our children might be, but they are most definitely important to our story."
"Maybe I want to give Bradyn, Fallon and Henry the childhood I should have had," Emma thought out loud.
"And what childhood is that, Love?"
"The life of a princess and princes," she replied, "Whatever that really means."
"Whatever life we give them, it will be full of love," Killian replied, "That's all any child could ask for."
"We've had several years together in my world," Emma stated, "Maybe it's time we experience your world."
"You're my world," Killian told her, "Wherever we are, as long as we're together is enough for me. This is our home. It's enough for me."
"What if my parents decide to go back?" Emma asked, "We'd have to make this decision then."
"When the time comes, we will make the decision together," he replied.
"I wish you talked about your brother more," Emma conceded to his compromise, "He was so important to you, but I know nothing about him."
"It's a painful part of my past," he swallowed the lump that formed.
"It can't be any harder than when you lost Milah," she was walking a fine line, but she hated how much losing his brother still pained him.
"In some ways it is," Killian admitted, "I owe everything to my brother. He took me under his wing, gave me a life and a purpose. I don't know what would have come of me if he hadn't looked out for me. My love of the sea comes from him."
"What was he like?" she asked.
"Honorable, by the book," Killian began, "He had a way of commanding by inspiring his crewmen. We wanted to do our best for our captain."
"Sounds a lot like the captain I know," Emma nudged him in the ribs.
"I should be so lucky to be as skilled in leading a crew as he was," he gave her a half smile.
"Will you talk about him more?" she requested, "When the occasion presents itself."
"I will try," he nodded.
"I want to know everything about the way you tick," Emma caressed his chin, "He's such a part of you."
"You would have liked him," Killian smiled, "Maybe more than me."
"You've said that before," she smirked, "I still don't believe you. You took my breath away the first time I looked into your eyes."
"Was that before or after you tied me to a tree?" he chuckled.
"I haven't tied you to anything in awhile," she snorted, "Maybe we should change that."
Killian raised a brow in curiosity.
"Let's go to bed, Pirate," Emma tugged at the chain around his neck, "Maybe I'll tie you to something tonight."
TBC…