Chapter 8: Henry

Killian threw the painting in the corner of his room, tossing himself down on his bed and staring at the offending item tossed precariously against the wall. He needed this man to understand that Emma was not interested in him. He felt suddenly possessive of Emma, something he definitely shouldn't be feeling. He only had 6 more days with the woman before the voyage would come to an end. Most likely he would never see her again.

The thought made him feel sick to his stomach. Of course, the fact that he was feeling sick about not seeing her anymore, only caused him more worry. He had only known her for a little over a week, why was he feeling so attached to her?

He closed his eyes, he needed sleep before he was to be on deck again. They would be pulling into another port and he was required to be on the bridge on port days. He drifted quickly into darkness, his body giving in to the exhaustion.

When he woke with a start at 2am he was sweating, the last images of his dream leaving his body on fire and his cock hardened and dripping. He wiped the sweat from his brow, exhaling loudly. "Bloody hell, what is this woman doing to me?" He groaned.

He tossed and turned, trying to get back to sleep without success. Every time his lids closed he was left with the image of Emma, bent over in front of him, her ass in the air while he pumped into her soft center.

His hand trailed down his body, the soft hair on his chest tickling his palm until he was able to grasp himself in hand, pumping firmly, imagining his name falling from her lips as he brought her to pleasure. He needed release, needed to hear her voice, the feel of her surrounding him, squeezing him, bringing him to completion until he felt the warm spill of his cum spurt into his hand, allowing him to finally seek the sleep he needed again.

"Emma, have you seen my sunscreen?"

"It's on the bathroom sink." She yelled out.

"How did I miss that?" she laughed, coming out of the small bathroom with the tube in her hand. "By the way, flowers?"

Emma grinned. "Beautiful aren't they?"

"Walsh?"

"Nope."

"Is this your mystery hook up?"

"Maybe." She said with a smirk. "I'm not telling."

"When we get home are you going to share all the details?"

"I might. Or I might just keep it to myself until I die."

"Not fair. I'm trying to live vicariously through you." Ruby frowned.

"Did you run into anyone interesting during your swim last night?"

Ruby spun around and stared at her in shock. "Wait, did you send him?"

"Yes!"

"Emma, I thought he'd be perfect for you." She whined.

"I know, but I'm already enjoying myself, so please Ruby, if you like him, put the guy out of his misery."

Ruby giggled, "I'm not sure he's the one-night stand type of guy."

"Definitely not, that's why I sent him your way, you deserve a guy that's interested in staying past midnight." Ruby sat down on the bed next to her and hugged her. "Oh, by the way, you're never going to believe who I ran into leaving his room last night with a certain someone on his arm, looking a bit disheveled."

"David?"

"Nope, Will."

"Oh my God, way to go Will."

On cue, there was a knock on their door and Ruby jumped up to open it. "Speak of the devil."

"Oi, what did I do now?" Will walked in looking apprehensive.

Emma wrapped her arms around Will's neck and kissed his cheek. "How you feelin', stud?"

"Oh stop. I'm feeling…ok." He frowned and Ruby looked at Emma and bit her lip.

"I'm gonna go get changed." She said, excusing herself from the room.

Emma turned back to Will. "Ok, it's just us, spill."

"What? I said I'm ok."

"Yes, men don't use the words ok after a night of sex. So, what's wrong?"

He groaned. "It's not her. She was amazing, better than amazing, she's honestly too good for me."

"Well, we agree there, so what's the problem?" She dragged him down on the bed with her.

"I feel guilty. Everything about last night was perfect but now I just feel like I did something wrong."

"William Scarlett, you have nothing to feel guilty about. Nothing at all. You deserve to feel happy, even if you never see her again, if this opens you up to new experiences, then good for you."

"Did you get flowers?"

She glared at him. "Yes, but we aren't talking about me." Ruby came out of the bathroom and Will pointed to the flowers. "Where'd she get the flowers?"

"She won't tell me; I was hoping you'd get it out of her."

"You're holding out on us?" He turned toward her, his eyes narrowing in her direction.

"Ok, I think we are going to be late if we don't leave soon." Emma gathered her things, tossing everything into her bag and heading toward the door, turning back to see her friends staring at the card on her nightstand.

"Who's CJ?"

She walked over and swiped the card from Will's hands. "None of your business, now let's go." She tugged on them both to yank them up off the bed and out the door, meeting up with the rest of their group for their day off the ship.

"So Tink tells me that there is this bar right off the pier that serves the best margarita you've ever tasted."

"Damn straight, best I've ever had." The spunky girl leaned against Robin and smiled.

"Who said margarita's?" Regina joined them at the front desk.

"The gang's all here, I guess I don't have a choice in going today?" Killian grumbled.

"You weren't thinking you could leave me to deal with him on my own were you?" Regina teased and Killian noticed that her teasing came with less bite when directed at Robin this time.

"Seemed to work well for you both last time!" Killian shrugged.

"Ok smart ass, let's go." Regina took off ahead of them, Robin following quickly behind her.

"Those two got something going on?" Tink questioned as they lagged behind.

"Love hate relationship." He murmured.

As they sat at the bar, Robin and Regina wagering bets on who would get a bullseye first, Killian noticed that things had most certainly thawed between the two. As much as they bickered and argued, he likened it more to foreplay than actual dislike. If something wasn't happening between them yet, he was sure that it was leading in that direction, whether Regina was willing to admit it or not.

Tink looked down at her watch, "Shit, I'm due back in the med bay in 30 minutes." She gathered her belongings and tossed down some cash on the table to cover her tab.

"I'll head back with you; I'm getting nauseous watching the two of them." He paid his bill and slipped out the back door with Tink to head back to the ship. Before they got to their destination, he saw a blonde woman, pacing outside one of the shops. He would know the woman anywhere.

Emma.

"Hey, I just remembered I need to get something before I get back onboard." He excused himself, waiting until the woman had left to make his way toward Emma. When he got closer, he could hear her talking to herself.

"Please God, would you just work."

"Emma?"

She turned around quickly. "Do you have a phone?" He held up his cell phone and she grabbed it from his hand. "Dammit, you don't have any bars either."

He realized she had been crying. "Is everything quite alright, Swan?"

"No. Nothing is alright."

"Ok, what can I do?"

"I need to make a phone call right now. I need to call my son."

Son? Killian wasn't sure if he heard her correctly or not, but she was upset and crying, both of which were unacceptable to him and he just wanted to help her.

"I think the phone on the bridge would work, if you want to head back to the ship with me."

"Please, yes." She said desperately.

They walked back to the ship in silence, until they reached the bridge, and he handed the ship's phone to the woman. "Do you have the number?" She recited the number to him, and he dialed, waiting for the phone to start ringing and then watching as she sat anxiously waiting for the person on the other end to pick up.

Emma was frantic when she got a message on her voicemail showing she had missed a call from Henry's camp.

"Emma, if you could please give us a call back regarding your son Henry as soon as possible, we need to speak to you. This is important. Thank you."

Emma tried to get a dial tone, anything to get the call to go out to his camp, but the phone simply would not work. She had walked down four streets, holding the phone in the air, pleading with it, begging through tears to please let her reach her son. Nothing was working.

When Killian showed up behind her, she didn't concern herself with what he knew or didn't know about her, she needed help and he was offering. So, she told him she needed to call her son and he kindly took her to the bridge to help her make the call. She'd deal with explaining the rest to him later. Right now, Henry needed her.

"This is Ashley, how can I help you?"

"Ashley, thank God, It's Emma Nolan. I got a message about Henry, what's wrong?"

"Emma, thanks for getting back to us so soon, I know it must be difficult considering you are in the middle of the ocean, but Henry is fine, I'm sorry if I concerned you. However, he had a rough night."

Emma's heart stopped racing. "Oh no, was it a nightmare?" Henry was prone to nightmares, some of them quite violent. The perils of an active imagination.

"He was very upset; we couldn't get him back to sleep last night. He said you were drowning, and he wouldn't go back to bed again until he talked to you."

"Can I talk to him now?"

"Yes, let me get him."

The phone was silent for a moment and she stared out at the ocean while she waited to hear her son's voice, needing to know that he was alright.

"Mom?"

"Yes baby, it's mom. Are you alright?"

"I thought you were dead. You sunk; the whole ship sunk."

"Sweetie, we talked about this, I told you that wasn't going to happen." She made eye contact with Killian who was staring at her with concern.

"No mom, I know it, something bad is going to happen."

"Sweetie, I told you, the ship is safe, I'm safe. In fact, I know the Captain personally and he wouldn't let anything happen to the ship." Killian's eyebrow raised as he heard her talk about him.

"You know the Captain?"

"Yes, I've talked to him myself."

"Can I talk to him?"

"Oh, I don't know that he has time to talk Henry, he has a lot of responsibilities on the ship."

"But mom, how will I know he's a good Captain if I can't talk to him and make sure."

"Henry." She scolded as Killian smiled at her.

"If it will ease the lad's fears, I'd be happy to assist." He offered.

"Is that him? Is he with you now?"

"Yes, that's Captain Jones, he's letting me use the phone on the bridge because mine wouldn't work."

"So, can I talk to him?"

She passed the phone to Killian. "Hello Lad, I'm Captain Killian Jones."

She could hear her son's excited yet frantic voice through the receiver and Killian laughed loudly.

"Well of course I would take you seriously. How about you tell me your concerns and I'll tell you how we will guard against any of them coming true." He paused, then responded, "I think that's fair, Henry, we have an accord, now start from the beginning."

She watched as he nodded his head, hummed lightly, and listened to everything her son said about his dream. From what she could hear, he was concerned about a hole in the hull below the dining room, which flooded the ship and led to the cabins, causing the ship to fall to the side and sink.

"Alright Henry let's start with that hole you say that will cause the whole disaster to start, first off, even if we did spring a leak, that's just the outer hull. Do you know what that means?" She could hear her son explain that he didn't. "Well, that means that the outside wall of the ship isn't the only wall in her. So even if that one were to get a hole in it, it would just flood a small layer of the girl. But inside of her, there is an inner hull and what we call bulkheads, those will keep the water from rising to a level that would sink her."

Her son was mumbling, and she couldn't make out the words. "Oh my, well yes that would be dangerous, but that's very unlikely to happen considering we are sailing in warmer waters."

Emma was going to go home and throw out that damned Titanic Blu Ray as soon as she got home.

"Ok Henry, lets say the worst were to happen and somehow my girl got not one, but two holes into her walls and all of my bulkheads failed. While I must say that has a very small chance of happening, if all were to go wrong, I have many smaller lifeboats on my ship, and well…" He looked out toward the sea. "Your mother is a VIP on my ship, do you know what that means?"

He laughed, "No, it means she's a very important person, so I would make sure that she got on one of those lifeboats straight away. Yes of course, Will and David too. So, you have nothing to worry about, because I will guard your mother like the rare treasure that she is."

Emma stared at the back of his head, her teeth nipping at her bottom lip as she swallowed.

"It gives me great delight to hear that this has alleviated your fears, lad. I shall let you speak to your mother now." He turned toward her, "Of course, it was an honor to speak to you too."

He handed the phone back to her, a smile on his face before he walked away, giving her privacy with Henry.

"Henry?"

"That was the best thing that's ever happened to me." He yelled into the phone. "I'm going to go back and tell everyone that I know Captain Jones." Her son's excited voice was screaming through the receiver.

"You do that sweetie but promise me that you'll sleep tonight."

"I will mom. I promise. I gotta go tell everyone about this right now."

"Henry." She yelled into the phone.

"Yes Mom?"

"I love you."

"I love you too, mom. See you soon."

The line went dead, and she put the receiver back on the handle as Killian joined her again. "I should probably explain."

"You owe me no such explanation, Emma."

"The other night in your room says otherwise." She said quietly and he quickly ushered them out of the bridge and down the hall until they were on their own on the deck outside.

"I got pregnant when I was 17." She finally got the courage to speak. "Neal didn't want that kind of responsibility, so he took off. I left New York, completely embarrassed and alone, so I went back to Boston to live with my brother. I supposed everyone I came with on this trip has helped raise my son in some way or another."

He smiled at her, and then turned toward the ocean.

"Go ahead, you can say it." She said softly.

"Say what?" He turned toward her to reply.

"How irresponsible it is to leave my six-year-old kid at home while I go on some stupid desperate singles cruise."

"Do you think it's irresponsible?"

"Of course, I do, how could I even think about dating when I have responsibilities, anyone would."

"I don't find it irresponsible at all, Emma. I can imagine it is very difficult to take care of a child with two parents, much less on your own, even with an entire towns support. But you are still a woman are you not?"

"Well of course I am."

"And a woman who has given birth to a child does not cease to be a woman who has needs of their own to tend to."

"Yes but I can't think about that kind of stuff anymore, I have Henry to worry about."

"And who will worry about you?"

"It's the 21st century, a woman doesn't need anyone to worry about them."

"Need no, but want? Do you not want someone to take care of your desires?" He reached out to restrain a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "I think every woman deserves to feel that what they do matters. The way I see it, raising a child on your own, not giving up on them, being there for them, is one of the most honorable things a woman could do."

"Did you have children with your wife?"

He swallowed hard, thinking of his life with Milah. "No, we did not. We were only married for a couple of years and I was deployed for much of that time." He silently cursed all the days he spent away from his wife, months that were lost he would never regain.

"That must have been difficult."

"Very. We had always planned on children, but life is not always the kindest."

"Do you think you'll marry again?"

He paused to look at her, he had never wanted to marry again, he knew eventually he would give in to the carnal desires that consumed every man. But to marry, to give himself to another woman completely, never. However, meeting Emma had stirred something in him. Something he had assumed was lost. Hope.

"Perhaps." He looked back to the ocean again. Life had a funny way of changing everything you thought you knew in an instant. He had lost his wife in seconds and his entire life became one of bitterness and loss. And now in those same seconds, he could see himself finding happiness again. Did he dare give in to that hope?

"Will you have more children?" He asked.

"I never thought I would have Henry. After being abandoned by my own parents, I never wanted to bring a child into this cruel world. But after holding him, everything changed for me. I had no idea what it was like to love something so much more than your own breath."

Her hand was on the rail beside him, he slid his fingers next to hers, letting them lightly skim against her hand. He wanted to kiss her, to pull her into his arms and tell her how much she had changed things for him, but there were passengers going about their day around them, he needed to be discreet.

"Thank you for today." She said softly toward the ocean. "You have no idea what that meant to me that you helped me."

"Just doing my job, Ma'am." He bowed in her direction as she looked up at him. They stood there in front of the balcony, the breeze blowing through them, people passing by in both directions and yet it felt like time was standing still and everything else was a blur.

"Captain, we are ready to leave port."

Killian nodded to the man standing behind Emma. "Duty calls." He said, not moving from his spot.

"Then you should go, because my son is counting on you to get me home safely."

"I do not intend to let the lad down." He nodded and turned to leave.

"The flowers were beautiful by the way."

He paused and turned back toward her, "Did someone send you flowers?" He smirked, sending her a wink, "Someone must think you are a very special woman."