28. THE BLUE OF THE SEA. Part 2.

A smile appeared in Aurora's face when she heard her baby cry. She didn't even feel the pain and a sensation of happiness and relieve extended through her whole body.

"You've been awesome" Killian, who was unable to stop smiling, whispered in her ear and kissed her lips right after that. How proud he was of her.

Still breathing heavily, she smiled widely at him as well and, in spite of the exhaustion that her face showed, he thought she'd never been so beautiful. Her face irradiated a kind of light that he hadn't seen before.

"Here he is... a healthy and really outgoing boy." Whale said as he approached them, with their son on his arms, who had stopped crying and was wrapped in a blanket. "Congratulations" he added. They said 'thank you' at the same time and looked immediately at each other as if one of them had stolen the other's sentence.

When Victor changed his position to give the baby to Aurora, they at last could see his face for the first time. They would never forget that moment.

A pair of big blue eyes looked curiously at everything and, when Victor finally put Allan in Aurora's arms, they looked directly at her, as if the boy had immediately recognized his mother. She couldn't help letting some tears escape from her eyes. She finally had her baby in her arms... and, after the complicated first six months of pregnancy, he was fine, as healthy as a newborn could be; there was nothing to worry about. That was a kind of happiness and love she'd never experienced before. Looking at her son, she felt as if she didn't need anything but her family to be completely happy and that every bad moment and every tear, every travel to the Netherworld and every hour and day spent lying on a bed and all she'd been through during that long day had been worth... and she would go through that a million times if it was necessary, just for him.

Without looking away from Allan, Killian caressed his cheek with one finger, feeling his soft skin in contrast with his own one. He was so tiny, so helpless... and he was his son. He was finally there, fine and in Aurora's arms, and that was the most beautiful sight his eyes had ever seen. His family was safe... and he, after everything that had happened, was there, with them. He felt how his eyes went wet when, for a second, he took that fact into account, but he wouldn't let himself produce a single tear. He smiled instead and kept caressing his boy's cheek.

"Hey, lad, it's nice to see you at last." he said softly. Aurora stopped staring at the baby to look at him, smiling widely. She wasn't the only one: attracted by his voice, Allan looked at him too with that blue eyes of him. The blue of his parents' ones. 'The blue of the sea' Killian thought, at the same time he was feeling how his heart doubled its already quick speed. The world seemed to had stopped for a moment and that speechless former pirate just could stare at his son's eyes, unable to find the words to describe what he was feeling: pride, thrill... the emotions he had inside and surfaced in the form of a wide smile were beyond any name he could think of. "Hey," he repeated "you are really handsome."

"He truly is" Aurora agreed. Allan was the most beautiful creature she'd ever seen, and he was hers and Killian's, what more could she ask for? "He's perfect."

"Like his mother." the princess blushed.

"Don't be silly" she said. He kissed her forehead and, immediately, stared at their son again, as if he was attracted by a magnet. Aurora let her free hand run freely (and carefully) through Allan's dark blond hair and his pink cheeks. When she touched his little hands, he trapped one of her fingers with his own ones. It made Aurora cry again. Killian wiped away her tears with his right hand.

"He looks like you" he commented. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw how Snow went out of the bedroom and closed the door behind her back. She had to be going to tell Jour and the rest the good news.

"It's too soon to know it" she replied, smiling with teary eyes.

"Trust me, I can see it" he said winking at her. She laughed. "I know, I'm so humble..."

"I love you" was the only thing she could say.

"I love you too" he kissed her lips one more time and, right after doing it, he looked at Allan again, without losing his smile, who would do it?

They heard how Snow returned to the room. She approached them and, smiling too, asked Aurora:

"How are you feeling, sweetheart?"

"Tired... but great" she simply answered. Snow's smile widened and Whale, who had been working on a table, approached them too.

"I'm afraid I have to borrow the little one for some minutes." he said. Aurora nodded and let the doctor take the boy from her arms. Allan complained a little for being separated from his mother's warmth. "Just ten minutes." Victor added and, asking Snow to help him, they walked away from the bed. The princess rested her head on the pillows while they waited for the doctor to finish with his work. Finally, Snow told Killian to approach them with a gesture of her hand.

He separated from Aurora's side and went where the queen and the doctor were.

"I'm done with you, boy" Victor said to Allan, who looked at him with curiosity "I'm going to look after your mum now."

Killian took the place of the doctor when he headed to the bed. One more time, he couldn't look to another thing apart from his son. He put a finger on Allan's palm and he held it as he'd done with Aurora's one before. "Daddy's here again" he whispered.

"Alright, now he needs to eat and then we'll clean him up and dress him." Snow explained and, after a pause, she added "Why don't you carry him?"

"Me?" Killian asked surprised.

"Yes, why not?" she answered.

"But I don't know how..." Allan was so fragile that his father was afraid of spoiling something.

"It's not difficult" Snow comforted him. "I'll teach you." she picked up the boy. "Look..."

With the appropiate instructions, Killian finally managed to carry his son in his arms. At first, he felt quite insecure and didn't allow himself to relax even a bit, afraid of dropping Allan if he did it. After a whole minute, he realized that he was really doing it and he could relax. Nothing would happen, the baby was safe in his arms. He let a new smile appear on his face.

"What did I tell you?" Snow asked, not waiting for an answer "There's nothing to worry about."

The queen was right... and her husband was too: 'When you have your son in your arms, you'll know you'll be able to do anything, to face any dangers just to protect him.' Killian couldn't agree more. Standing there, with his eyes fixed on his son, he felt stronger than never. Whoever or whatever that wanted to harm Allan or Aurora would have to kill him first because he wouldn't let them touch a single hair of their heads, no matter what it was: another dragon, Maleficent in any of her forms, a whole army... he felt able to face any of them... and defeat them.

He didn't know how many minutes he spent cradling the boy, unable to look at anything else and registering every single movement, even the slightlest ones. He just knew that, suddenly, he heard Victor's voice:

"Well, everything's over. Time to eat and rest. I'll leave you with Snow. I'll be around here" he clapped Killian's back "See you." they thanked him and the doctor closed the door behind his back.

When Killian approached the bed to give the baby to Aurora, who was comfortably lying on the cleaned up bed, she was smiling widely, delighted to see her two men in that situation. Killian carrying their baby... that was the cutest thing she'd ever seen.

.

The last time someone had looked through the window, the sky had been dark blue, but, on that moment, it had turned to black. Allan, who had already finished eating, was about to fall asleep in Aurora's arms. The princess was feeling the tiredness too, but she wanted to have her baby with her until he finally closed his eyes. But before that happened, there were people who had been waiting patiently to meet him.

Jour, as the newborn's uncle, was the first to enter the room. He went straight to his sister's side and sat in one of the sides of the bed (the one which wasn't occupied by Killian, who hadn't separated from his family for a single second).

"Hey Allan" Jour said smiling "Nice to meet you." the boy looked at him with his eyes half-closed and yawned. His smile widened and he caressed his nephew's cheek. "He looks like you... and me" he told his sister proudly.

"What did I tell you?" Killian asked her.

They spent a couple of minutes talking, until the young king stood up and said:

"I'd better go now. You need to rest and Mulan won't forgive me if this boy falls asleep before she can meet him." he sighed, shaking his head and, kissing Aurora's forehead, he told them goodnight and went out of the room.

Jour had just closed the door when Mulan opened it, followed by Phillip, Charming and Snow, who remained behind her husband and her two friends, not wanting to overwhelm Aurora or the baby. As it had happened with Jour, the group stayed for some minutes, but let them so they could rest. Mulan, Charming and Phillip said goodnight and headed to the door, but Snow still had something more to say.

"Whatever you need, you know where to find us" Snow told them, wondering if Mulan would be so overprotective to stand guard at the door again, but it didn't seem so since the warrior's face showed how exhausted she was. 'Too many emotions for a day' Snow thought.

"Thank you" Aurora said. Killian nodded to support her.

"It's nothing." the queen answered "Tomorrow I'll go looking for Emma. She'll surely want to meet him as soon as possible."

Aurora gave Killian a meaningful glance.

"We hope so" the captain said "This boy needs to meet his godmother." Snow smiled at them, wide-eyed.

"She'll be so excited..." she commented, really happy for her daughter.

"Jour is his godfather, of course" the princess added "But, although we've chosen Emma, you can consider yourself like Allan's other godmother too. You've done so much for us..."

Snow was ecstatic.

"And I'll always do" she said and, kissing everyone's cheeks (including Killian's) she told them goodnight and left the room.

Once the little family had been left alone, it just took a couple of minutes for Allan to close his eyes and fall asleep. His parents looked at how he breathed peacefully.

"I still can't believe it" Aurora whispered.

"Me neither" Killian confessed. After many silent seconds, he spoke again "Give him to me, I'll take him to the crib" the same crib Emma hadn't had the opportunity to use. Aurora kissed the boy's face and, being very careful, she gave him to the captain.

He headed to the crib, which was just a couple of steps from the bed, but, instead of placing Allan in it, he kept standing for almost a minute, as if he were unable to leave his son alone. He finally left him there, lying on his back and tucked him in carefully.

"Goodnight, my boy" he whispered, placing a soft kiss on his forehead.

He returned to Aurora's side, who was preparing herself to sleep too.

"Goodnight to you too" he kissed her "You don't know how much I love you right now." she kissed him again in response.

"Come here, stupid pirate." she said smiling.

"Not yet, I'm not sleepy." he replied.

"Don't be silly, you need to rest." she insisted.

"I'll be fine, don't worry" he didn't want to sleep. He just wanted to take care of her and their son while they were asleep. "I've spent a lot of sleepless nights."

Aurora was too exhausted to keep discussing that subject. She nodded and, after telling him goodnight, she closed her eyes and fell asleep immediately. Killian turned off the light and sat on an armchair. No matter which his intentions were... ten minutes later he was sleeping as well, too exhausted to stay awake.