Killian's last day in Storybrooke was quite eventful.
The clashing of clean dishes going in cabinets, thanks to Mary Margaret, had Emma opening her eyes, sunlight harshly streaming over her body. She was on the couch in the living room, Killian asleep just below her on the floor and Graham sprawled out on the chair nearby. She barely remembered how she ended up here. Last she knew, the three of them were watching the Bourne movies.
Guess we fell asleep.
It wasn't long afterwards that the noise, still unapologetically loud, caused the boys to stir. When they roused, Graham stood quickly and made his excuses, My mom's gonna be worried sick, kissed Emma and her mother's cheeks and patted Killian on the back before leaving.
After Graham's departure, Emma finally levered herself off the couch and into a counter stool, watching her mother stare down the door.
"It was nice to see him again," she said almost wistfully.
Killian agreed, adding "'S a cool guy" as he took the seat next to Emma. Like most mornings, they were slow to get going, casually talking over waffles and cleaning up the dishes. It wasn't until Mary Margaret reminded Emma of an OB/GYN appointment later that day that they kicked into gear.
"Oh shit," she mumbled. Mary Margaret glared at her. "Shoot. Oh shoot. I forgot."
"I'm not surprised," her mother commented. Emma glared at her until she explained, "You've got other things on your mind, I'm sure. Pregnancy is never conducive to memory."
Groaning, Emma rolled her neck to face Killian. He was drying off a plate, pretending to be a wallflower of their conversation. "I totally meant to tell you about it."
"Worry not," he assured her.
"I've got to go to this," she continued, "but it shouldn't take that long, I'll meet you in town."
"I can drive you there," he said quietly.
Both Emma and Mary Margaret stared at him. "Excuse me?" Emma finally said.
"With you," Killian clarified. "I mean, I can't drive, but I'll go with you and then wander around." He scratched his ear, his nerves getting the better of him. "Or walk, however you're getting there. I'll go with you and I'll sit out on the curb and wait for you."
"Killian, you're not a puppy. I'm not going to leave you outside," Emma chided him. She rolled her eyes started up the stairs to change into clean clothes. "Why don't you just go down to the harbor and I'll meet you there when I'm done at the doctor's?"
"Emma," he said. It wasn't much, just her name, but it had her stopping halfway up the steps and turning to face him at the bottom. "Just let me go there with you. I'll find my way back in due time."
She was hesitant to say the least. He wasn't her boyfriend, wasn't the father of this child, was only just around because…well, that wasn't a door she wanted to open right now.
"Promise not to come in the office?" she asked.
"Only if it doesn't rain," he reasoned.
"Fine." It was a simple enough agreement. She continued upstairs without another word.
That whole experience wasn't something she wanted to put him through, nor is it something he should willingly want to do. Visiting the OB/GYN was something of a special experience, Emma thought, saved for parents-to-be during the months of preparation. But it was their last day together and he wanted to spend as much of it just as that: together.
The fact that he wanted to be with her, no matter what she was doing, spun the wheels in her head faster and faster the more she thought about it.
Don't overthink, don't overthink.
0000
Air conditioning blew at her face when she opened the door to the doctor's. The receptionist told her Mulan had had some unforeseen emergency come up, so her assistant Aurora would be helping her out today.
"Okay, that's fine," Emma told the receptionist. She was willing to do whatever just to get her in and out of this appointment and back to Killian.
But when Aurora called her name and brought her back to a room, Emma wished that Mulan was back.
She's judging me so hard, Emma thought.
"We haven't had a patient this young since Ashley," the assistant innocently said as she pressed the buttons on the ultrasound machine, turning it off after assuring her everything was fine.
Emma was surprised the parallel hadn't been made sooner, especially in as small a town as Storybrooke. Ashley was in Graham's year, had gotten pregnant on homecoming her senior year and managed not to fuck up little Lexi in the two years since she was born. But she hadn't been able to leave town, lived in an apartment not far from her parents' with her boyfriend and daughter. She worked at the local inn as a maid while Sean worked at the cannery for his father. Ashley had so much potential, had been accepted to the country's best dance schools and even received an offer from the New York Ballet, all just dreams she had to give up now because of little Lexi.
That was not the life she wanted. However, it was shortly becoming reality she just had to deal with.
"Do you know what you're having?" Aurora interrupted her thoughts.
"Excuse me?"
"The sex of your baby." She searched the folder, flipping back and forth between pages. "Mulan hasn't made a note. Has no one told you yet?"
"No."
"Huh. You're past the halfway point," she muttered to herself. Aurora looked back up at her. "You could've found out a while ago."
Emma shrugged and pulled her shirt back down. "I don't really want to."
"Don't you think you've already had enough surprises?"
It wasn't the words themselves that made Emma grimaces, but the tone they were uttered: judgmental and nearly pitying. It nearly sent her over the edge. This woman didn't know her.
That was why she had no issue with the venom in her voice when she told Aurora, "One more won't hurt."
0000
Contemplation. The drive back home, the walk down to the harbor, both filled with thoughts swirling in Emma's head. Killian had apparently gotten bored and walked from the doctor's to who knows where. She'd figured he would – he is a little bit like a puppy in that respect, has the attention span of one – but finding him was another issue.
"Oh, good, you're not napping." She heard his voice to her left and couldn't help but smile. Looks like the search is over.
"Ha ha," her voice dripped with sarcasm. "You're soooo funny."
His grin was goofy as he caught up to her. "What'd the doctor say?"
"Healthy, the both of us," Emma informed him. His arm laid across her shoulders and pulled her body into him. "Judged me a little for not finding out the gender, but meh."
Killian was a little taken aback. "You've not found out what you're having yet?"
Emma shook her head. "Don't you think I would've told you already?"
"I don't know," he shrugged. "You tell me a lot, but I assumed there'd to be some things you keep to yourself."
It was a fair point. She should keep more secrets, did keep a lot of secrets, until they met. Now, it just seemed natural to share her life with him.
That can't be good.
"You're going to find out anyways, and you're invested in this just as much as I am," Emma said, skipping over the inner conflict rattling about in her head. "I don't see why I wouldn't tell you everything. Open book right?"
There was a moment where his eyes flicked away from hers, almost like he was guilty. It confused her, but then he was saying, "That you are," and both the moment and look is gone.
Threading her arm through his, they silently made their way down to the docks. It was nice. Boats bobbed about, gently knocking into the planks of the moorings. The blue water met the blue sky met the blue in his eyes. Blue is rapidly becoming my favorite color.
"Why don't you want to know?" he asks softly.
Emma laid her head on his shoulder when she shrugged. "I don't want to be disappointed."
"Do you have a preference?"
She shrugged again. "I'm kinda leaning toward a boy."
"A son?"
"Yeah." It something she hadn't said aloud, or even really thought, but once it left her mouth and entered the world, she knew it was how she felt. "I don't know. I don't want a girl to have me as her role model. I'd be afraid I'm not the best person to base their life choices off of. I mean," she gestured to her stomach, "look where I am." Emma shook her head sadly. "I wouldn't want to screw her up."
"Your child will be nothing less than amazing, Emma." He stopped them, turning her by her shoulders until she looked him in the eyes. "Because you are nothing less than the same."
It was a confidence booster, to be sure, seeing the undeniable truth he felt reflected in his eyes, but it didn't change her opinion in the slightest. Killian must have seen it in her expression because he looked away and continued their walk to the water, changing the subject. "You've got a name in mind?"
"Not quite yet," she said, thankful for the distraction. "I think I'd want to make his middle name David though."
"For your father?"
"No, for the guy I had a crush on in high school." The sarcasm in her voice was obvious, her words slowing and elongating it for the sake of the joke. Then she hit the elbow her arm was wrapped around. "Yes, for my father."
Killian humped. They were quiet for a little longer, just admiring the views in their waning hours together, before he leaned over and whispered in her ear, "I bet you have a girl."
Emma heard the smirk in his challenge. "Prepare to lose."
0000
The night before Emma drove Killian to the airport proved to be the most important of all. Two life-changing things happened, leaving Emma's cheeks hurting from smiling so much as she went to bed.
Just as they sat down for their last meal together, the loft desktop binged with a new email notification. Emma stood from the table, simultaneously laughing at the slapstick her father and Killian were performing and shoving a piece of cucumber in her mouth, to turn the sound off, but the subject of the email caught her eye, so she took a seat at the desk and clicked on it.
Don't overthink, don't overthink.
Don't hope.
"Emma, honey, we're eating," her mother called for her. "Come to the table."
But she was too busy reading the email from the University Senate. Too busy skimming the words on the screen, her eyes lingering on the likes of injustice and discrimination, apologies and council. Her breathing sped up unconsciously, her face getting closer and closer to the screen, trying to inhabit the screen that was giving her a second chance.
"I've got a hearing," she said quietly.
"You're not hard of hearing, love," Killian rebuked her. "Don't try and pull that wool over your parents' eyes."
"No," she corrected him with a laugh. It bubbled up and overflowed from her body, alerting the rest of the house to her happiness. Emma muted the sound on the computer and stood up. "I've got a hearing. For school. They want to hear me out and hopefully reinstate me as a full-time student come August."
Everyone else stopped moving and looked at her. After the show she put on at her last hearing, she swore she'd be living at home next semester, taking care of the baby at the expense of her parents in her childhood bedroom, probably while working at the local diner or something. But she could change that, would change that at this new hearing.
A second chance.
Killian was the first to react. It wasn't much at first, but he smirked at her laughter and soon joined her. Her mother moved next, placing the serving bowl of spaghetti she was carrying on the table, and rushed to hug her daughter.
"That's excellent news, Emma!" her father boomed. He slapped Killian on the shoulder, Emma's victory becoming a celebration, a family affair. "Do you have any details?"
"Yeah, yeah," she muttered, still stunned by the development. "It's late next week. Thursday morning at 10."
Mary Margaret was still by her side when she nodded and said, "We can drive down."
"Mom, you don't have to come," Emma replied, "I can go by myself."
"Swan, maybe it's best your mother goes with you," Killian suggested. The rueful look she sent him had his lips tilting up at the corner. "Remember what happened when you went alone last?"
She begrudgingly accedes: "Fair point."
"Ohhh, but it doesn't matter, this is still so exciting!" her mother shouted. "Come on, let's eat. Food's always appropriate for all good things, especially when it's hot."
Laughter was infectious and never-ending at the dinner table. They passed it around like it was another plate with food on it, to be shared and fawned over in light of the mood.
There were times lately that Emma considered the moment the happiest in her life so far. This meal – with her parents and Killian surrounding her, good food and a growing child in her stomach, in the wake of such wonderful news – quickly surpassed all of them for the top spot.
After dinner, Emma and David took seats alongside the other on the couch, Killian and Mary Margaret finishing up the dishes.
"So what's up?" he asked her, faking casualness.
She gave him a side eye. "Not much. What's up with you?
"I mean what's up with you?"
"Nothing. Why do you ask?"
He chuckled. "You're a smart kid, princess. Read between the lines and know that's not what I meant."
Emma shifted in her seat. "I don't think I do." But her voice was softer, a little less sure of herself, because she knew exactly what her father was hinting at.
David leaned in closer to her and shushed his voice. "Emma, princess, I love you, I do, but you've never so much as invited a class group home to work on a project. This guy's spent an entire week at home with us and I don't think I've seen you this happy since…" he struggled to think of a time, but he floundered like she knew he would. "I honestly don't know. So I'll ask you again: what's up?"
"Nothing, Dad," she said, stronger and more sure of herself. Although I'm not actually sure how sure I am. "Really. I just…" There was no real way to encompass what was up, so she just told him what she knew. "I just didn't want Killian to go home quite yet. I'm used to him being around now."
Her father's eyebrows raised. "Is that so?"
She nodded and began playing with her hands, twisting her fingers around each other, letting them skim across the skin at her stomach.
"Well then," he stated matter-of-factly. "I feel a little bit better about this then."
"About what?" This conversation kept getting stranger and stranger. Her father was susceptible to bouts of what she frankly viewed as ineptitude, but this one was new. Emma still had no inkling what even the topic of this discussion was and, by this time normally, she would. She was formerly flopped against the back cushion of the couch, but this uncertainty has her scrounging around and scrambling to sit up properly and face him. "About him staying? Dad, you couldn't have stopped that regardless. And I don't see why you're trying to see what's up with it now."
"Not him staying here, Emma," he expressed calmly. Shifting about in his seat, David reached under his butt and removed a piece of paper from his back pocket. "About this."
Cautiously, she took the offered paper from his hand and read it to herself.
Boston Logan International (BOS) to London Heathrow (LHR)
"Dad," she breathed. "What is this?"
"Adventure."
Another quiet moment passed.
"You're coming to mine," Killian enlightened her from the kitchen. Emma twisted around to see both him and her mother standing on the precipice of the rooms. "Just for a week."
"We thought it'd be nice for you to get away before you can't really get away anymore," Mary Margaret added.
It was silent again until Emma broke it with her puzzled "I'm sorry, what?"
After placing a neatly folded towel on the counter, Killian strolled over to the opposite side of the couch and sat next to her. Taking her hand and resting theirs together on his knee, he said, "You invited me to your home, now I'm inviting you to mine." His one eye winked. "Just like I promised."
"But what about," she began, her eyes flitting between him and her parents behind her. "I can't go like this. I'm pregnant."
"You'll have to double check with Mulan," Mary Margaret said, "but you should theoretically be able to fly until late July." She, too, made her way to the couch, but instead sat on the arm, balancing herself with the help of her husband's shoulder. "It'll be a little more uncomfortable than normal, but I think it'll be worth it."
"Really?" she posed skeptically.
David laughed, his hand reaching for his daughter's knee and squeezing it for comfort. "Yeah."
"I'm going to London?"
Her parents' nodded in tandem.
Meeting Killian's gaze, Emma practically screams, "I'm going to London!" Her first thought was Killian. Not anything specific, save that she wanted to share her joy with him. Her arms go wide and Killian filled them, hugging her the best he could, given the situation. Then she turned to her parents and opened her arms to them, too. "Thank you so much, guys."
There was more laughter, even some tears shed between Mary Margaret and Emma. But the night's climax, at least in Emma's mind, was a conversation held in hushed tones while she was 'distracted' by her mother's musings. David had pulled Killian into the kitchen doorframe and pointed at Killian. Speaking in what she was sure he thought was a whisper, Emma heard her father say, "If you hurt her, I will punch you in the face."
She smiled when Killian caught her eye and answered. "Trust me, sir. I have a feeling she'll beat you to it."
0000
"I'm sorry I can't be here for your hearing next week," Killian apologized as they lay in her bed that night. As the week went on, the air mattress he had started his stay sleeping on lost air and it became more of a hassle than if they just shared a bed. Granted, he was a bit of a bed hog, but he also had her stomach to contend with, so, in the end, Emma figured it evened out.
"Don't be," she whispered into the darkness, "you haven't been home in so long. I totally get it." Her fingers traced shyly up his forearm. "I mean, it's not like we're going to be apart for that long."
"I know." His fingers drummed against her arm before he booped her nose. "I'm quite excited," he confessed giddily.
She nodded her agreement. "I'm just glad we got to hang out like this."
"As am I." He sighed, his fingers returning to her arm to draw unnoticeable pictures atop her skin. "Your parents are incredibly charming, and Storybrooke is so quaint."
"You're leaving tomorrow, it's not like you have to sweeten me up so you can stay here," she giggled nervously. "You don't have to compliment it if you don't like it."
"I'm completely serious. Cross my heart." He propped himself up so he could look directly at her. "Emma, this week has singlehandedly been one of the best in my life. It's nice to be away from school and city. Plus, it's been so long since I've felt like I've had a family."
"Does your brother not count?"
He chuckled softly as he resumed his position, his face inches away from hers. "He's a prick, but he's nothing compared to your parents. You'll see. Your mother's cooking or your father's laughter. Your mother's concern or your father's protection." Even in the dark, Emma could see his eyes slide shut. He breathed deeply. "Your parents took me in and were so kind to me." His eyes opened again, blue meeting green in a way that still made her breathless. "I'm going to miss them second only to you."
It was her sniffing that made Emma realize she had gotten emotional. Not the itching of tears waiting to fall or the fact that her 'friend' (still have no idea what's going on here) said he was going to miss her parents. Nope, her sniffing away sobs.
Stupid hormones.
"You stupid boxer, hitting me with all the feels."
He snickered again and pulled her closer, letting the shakes of his body rock hers. Killian pressed his lips to her forehead, then settled down into the mattress. She was nearly asleep when she heard him mutter something about her being a pirate and stealing his heart. It sent her heart into overdrive, something not favorable to sleeping with a very attractive guy laying right next to you.
Don't overthink, don't overthink.
a/n: yayyy another update before the month is out! this one is really special. it's been a year to the day since i published the first chapter of this story. i know, its been a long time. an entire year and i still havent finished it. i know, trust me, im trying.
i just want to take this time to thank all of you whove read this story. whether youve been with it since the beginning or hopped on somewhere along the way. this is the first mc ive ever written and, if you couldnt already tell, im still trying to figure out the bumps as they come. doesnt help that i tried to tackle this sort of plot line with zero planning ahead. you live and you learn. thank you for making my first real foray into writing, in my mind, a huge success. every single one of your favorites or comments or follows or whatever makes me smile like a fool. i dont think i can ever thank you enough. :)
as always, feel free to leave a word. until next time :)