Finally, the happy ending. This chapter is just fluff, fluff and more fluff, but it's to be expected since it's the last, only the epilogue left for tomorrow. Thanks for sharing this story with me, and I hope you enjoy!
Emma is about to walk into Killian's room when Whale and two nurses push past her and close the door in her face; it's only then that the insistent beeping coming from the inside of the room registers and she presses her face to the window, looking at Killian, watching them try to resuscitate him.
"Please no", she says and grips the window frame tightly, cursing herself for stopping to talk to Mary Margaret, for taking such a long time to muster up the courage to come here and kiss him.
Time means nothing, and she's gasping for breath by the time Whale gives up and shakes his head in Emma's direction before he pulls the tube out of Killian's throat and turns off the heart monitor.
"This can't be happening", Emma says and goes into the room, shrugging off Whale's comforting hand from her shoulder and leaning over Killian, her hands cupping his face, her tears falling on his cheeks like rain. "I love you."
She tells herself that he's just sleeping, and she closes her eyes before she presses her lips to his in a feather-light touch, focusing on all the love she feels for him and believing with all her heart that she is good enough to save him.
The burst of something that can only be magic is something she's not ready for, just like she's not ready for rainbow colors dancing behind her closed lids, but then Killian gasps and she opens her eyes, blinking back tears to clear her vision so she can make sure that she's not dreaming, that he's really awake, that he's really alive.
That she saved him.
Her kiss woke her love up and the happiness is almost overwhelming.
"Hey, beautiful", he says and she laughs and cries, sliding into bed next to him and just looking at him as he wraps his arms around her and gives her butterfly kisses, his hand rubbing up and down her back. "I'm sorry for putting you through this."
"Don't ever do anything like that again", she says softly, but she's so glad he's okay that she can't really be angry at him.
She just wants to hold him and never let him go.
"I won't, love. But you were bloody brilliant", he tells her and brushes his lips against her forehead, holding her tighter, and at that moment nothing matters, the rest of Storybrooke forgotten because he's here, he's alive and he's holding her, and she won't be alone ever again.
By the time Emma and Killian leave the hospital the entire town has woken up, people hugging on every street corner and celebrating their reunions.
"Somebody should inform Madam Mayor that her curse is no longer in effect", Killian says dryly when they pass by Regina's office but Emma is too focused on her destination to care.
"Mary Margaret!" She calls as she enters the station and hesitates in the doorway when she sees David sitting on the cot next to her, their fingers entwined together on her knee.
"Emma", her mother whispers and only then stands up and comes out of her cell, her arms wrapping around Emma while David embraces them both and presses a kiss to the top of Emma's hair.
"You found us", he murmurs and Emma turns around to smile at Killian because she doubts she'd be able to do it without him, or, if she eventually did it, it would've taken her a long, long time.
"We always knew you would", Mary Margaret says and Emma is a little overwhelmed because just like all the abandoned children in her orphanage, she had always dreamed that her parents were a prince and a princess that had to give her up, but she's almost twenty-three and it's hard to accept it as reality. "And you. Come here."
Emma blinks away tears and nods at Killian, who had never looked so uncertain, but he finally moves and wraps his arms around her waist, shaking his head at David when he says that they owe him a debt.
"Don't worry about it, mate", Killian murmurs and Emma leans her head against his shoulder, feeling so wrapped up in love that she feels invincible.
"I'm not your mate, pirate", David says and Killian lifts his eyebrow at him because they are practically the same age.
"Shut up, Charming", Mary Margaret tells her husband gently and brushes Emma's hair behind her ear, and Emma thinks: this is how it feels to have a mother.
In the aftermath of Emma breaking the curse a lot happens in Storybrooke; Regina gets put under house arrest, Gold attempts to flee the town and they end up finding out that nobody who was under the curse can leave unless they want to risk losing their memories, and, last but not least, Killian gets his ship back.
It's actually a funny sight, all those tough as nails pirates falling all over themselves to apologize when Killian, Graham and Charming board the Jolly Roger followed by all the dwarves, Granny, Snow, and Emma.
"What do you have to say for yourself, Mr. Smee?" Killian asks a short man wearing a red cap and Emma recognizes him as the one who had told her he was the captain the day they sailed into Storybrooke.
"You were dying, sir. You weren't fit to-"
"Get off my ship! All of you!" Killian bellows and unsheaths Smee's sword. "The only reason I'm not running you through with my sword is because you've kept it in such good condition."
"It was a pleasure, Captain-"
"Beat it", Killian says and Emma chuckles, ignoring his raised eyebrow and watching the dwarves disembark the ship after Killian's ex-crew, grumbling because "they were promised a fight".
"See you later, Emma", Snow says and takes Charming's hand, tugging him off the ship despite his protests because he's "not leaving his daughter alone with the pirate".
"Your father is not very fond of me", Killian says and wraps his arms around Emma's waist, his forehead resting against hers.
"He's coming around", Emma tells him and they stay like that for a while, and she knows what he's thinking about even though his eyes are closed. "You okay?"
"I have my one true love in my arms", he says, his nose brushing hers before he opens his eyes and looks at her. "How could I be anything but okay?"
"We can come back some other day…"
"Lass, I'm fine. I promise", he says and she nods, giving him a quick peck on the cheek before she slips out of his embrace, and tugs on his hand. "I think it's time for you to show me your cabin, Captain."
"I need to say something first", he tells her and cups her face in his hand, his thumb caressing her skin, his eyes lighting up when he smiles that beautiful smile that always makes her heart flutter. "Welcome home, Emma."
Emma pulls him down for a kiss, smiling into it because she is always home when she's with him.
Every evening Killian and Emma take a walk around town, and it makes her chuckle because it's more fitting for an old married couple than a pirate and a lost princess, but she finds that she likes those quiet moments when the rest of the world is getting ready for bed; she's got Killian's hand in hers and she feels safe and so very happy.
"Tell me about Neverland again", she says, feeling strangely liberated now that she knows all the fairy-tales are real, when she finally believes in happy endings.
It makes her smile because Killian is the one who had made her believe, who didn't let her do everything alone despite what August had told him and what he had offered him in return; sometimes she wonders what another man in Killian's position would do, and she comes to the conclusion that most of them would just leave her in the dirt.
Killian just doesn't know how to quit when he loves somebody, and he loves Emma more than he had ever loved anybody else.
"It's a magical island, with white sandy beaches and thick woods and mermaids lurking in the water waiting to pull you under", he says and Emma swings his arm playfully, her thumb caressing the back of his hand.
"I think I would like to see it", she tells him and he stops walking and turns toward her, giving her an assessing look.
"I think you would like it", he says and closes the distance between them slowly, his hand releasing hers so he can cup her cheek as his other arm wraps around her waist.
Even though he could, he's not wearing his hook, replacing it instead with a fake hand that presses to the small of Emma's back until her hips are against his own.
"Let me show you Neverland", he says, his thumb brushing her cheek before he leans down and kisses her, hot and hard, his tongue slipping past her lips and tangling with hers before he gently sucks on it and draws it into his mouth. Emma hums contentedly, her fingers tangling in his hair as she follows the straight line of his teeth with her tongue, both of his arms closing around her and he lifts her off her feet and twirls her around.
"I like it. We should definitely go", Emma says when they finally separate, both smiling and trying to catch their breath.
"Then I shall take you", he tells her and presses a loving kiss upon her shoulder before he steers them toward the harbor where their home is waiting, gently rocking on the waves.
Sometimes Killian wakes her up because he's dreaming about the firey room and Emma sits next to him patiently, her fingers brushing through his hair; Snow swears that the nightmares are eventually going to pass, but it's hard seeing him like this because when he used to dream about Milah she could at least shake him and wake him up.
Eventually, his eyes snap open and he takes a deep calming breath, sits up against the headboard of their bed and draws her into his lap.
"You okay?" She asks him and tilts her head until he meets her eyes, his hand resting on her stomach, his thumb tracing circles on her skin.
"I'm fine, lass", he tells her the way he does every time he has a nightmare, his lips pressing a kiss against her lips that momentarily distracts them both.
"Someday the nightmares will end", she says and Killian smiles faintly, absentmindedly caressing her knee with his stump, his eyes finding hers before he speaks.
"I don't care about the nightmares."
"You don't?" Emma asks softly and he shakes his head and kisses her again.
"All I care about are you and the little lass", he says and she covers his fingers on her baby bump with hers.
"We're very happy", Emma tells him and as if to confirm that their baby kicks exactly under Killian's hand. "See?"
"You little beauty", Killian murmurs at her stomach and Emma wonders if Charming was like this when she was a baby, a chuckle escaping her because her father and Killian are more alike than they'd ever admit. "What's so funny, love?"
Emma just kisses him, then makes him lie down with his head resting against her shoulder, their fingers entwined on her belly.
"Tell us a story", Emma says and tangles her legs with Killian's, wondering what new tale of marvelous adventures he's going to spin tonight.
"Once upon a time there was a princess, but she didn't even know she was one", he starts and she smiles, closing her eyes and focusing on the sound of his voice and the way he caresses the back of her hand as he talks. "One day she stumbled upon a pirate on the verge of death, and for some strange reason she decided to save him."
"The reason was that they were true love", Emma says and Killian shushes her; their daughter kicks impatiently and Emma lets him tell their story the way he wants.
"The pirate was not very happy that the princess was saving him, but after spending just a week with her he found it very difficult to leave her. Still, she had wanted him gone, so he went, but he couldn't help sticking around in case she needed him, and she needed him."
"I think you should skip the next part", Emma says and Killian mumbles something unintelligible before his chest starts rising and falling evenly, his arm still wrapped around her waist. "You don't even know yet how lucky you are to have a daddy like yours, little baby; he is never going to leave you, no matter what people tell him, just like he never left mommy."
There aren't any more kicks and Emma arranges the covers over them both, then closes her eyes and quickly falls asleep too, lulled by the Jolly's rising and falling with the tide.
She's home and she's safe in Killian's arms on the ship of dreams that's going to take them wherever they want to go, but for now, they are both perfectly content where they are; in a tiny Maine town.
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