A/N: I'm so sorry that I've been so absent from this story, but I am happy to announce that this story will end before the end of 2021. I've been working on this story since 2017 and it's time for these two to have their end. There is one more chapter and this story will finally be finished. Hopefully, you can all see the happy ending that is lurking at the very end.

Thank you for all the love that has been shown to me during the last five years. I love you all!

This is self-betaed. This story is my baby and I've been editing it from the beginning.

Let me know what you think of the chapter by dropping a review!

Love always,

~starr

Killian rolled onto his side and reached out to find the other side of the bed empty. Turning his head to the side, he noticed that Emma was no longer in bed with him. Puzzled by her absence, Killian pushed himself up and slid off the bed. He scrubbed his hand over his face and furrowed his brow as he walked over to the bathroom.

He could hear the shower running through the door and smiled. Quickly walking back over to the bed, he picked his phone up off the nightstand and scrolled through until he found Henry's name.

K: Today's the day.

H: Are you serious?

K: Meet me at Granny's at 11 to finalize our plans.

H: Who is going to keep Emma busy?

K: Don't worry about that. I've got an idea.

Killian smiled at Henry's excitement. While Henry might have been under a curse at the time, the thoughts that he spoke resonated with Killian to this day. He recalled when Henry wanted nothing to do with him and wished that he and Emma had never started seeing each other. He wanted to make sure that this was something both Emma and Henry wanted.

Killian: Henry. I know you're in there, mate. I need you to come with me now.

Henry: There's no way I'm going anywhere with a dirty pirate.

Killian: Dirty? I bathe quite frequently. Thank you very much.

Henry: I never liked you, and I like you even less now that you and my mom are... together.

Killian: Emma used that word? Together?

Henry: Go!

Killian: Okay. Henry. I need to bring you somewhere safe. Alright. I'm coming in.

As he thought about that last interaction, the dull pain in his lower back reminded him of his fall on the marbles. Someday, he would get Henry back for that little prank. First, however, he needed to spend the time making sure that he was the kind of man that Henry wanted his mom to be with.

He had spent most of his life being the person that everyone hated. He was the man that fathers wanted to keep very far away from their daughters. The kind of man that often found himself being kicked out of places because he made a right arse of himself with or without booze being involved. As much as he hated to admit that was a part of his past, he knew that he wouldn't be the man he was today without what he had done in his past.

K: I need your assistance with something.

S: Does it have something to do with a particular question you've been waiting around to ask?

Killian rolled his eyes before typing a response to Snow. If there were anyone else who would do a better job of distracting Emma for the majority of the day, then he would have texted them. Alas, he asked Henry to help him, and they would also reach out to Regina. That meant that Snow was the best option for distractions.

K: It might.

S: What do you need?

K: I need you to keep Emma busy this afternoon so Henry and I can make some final arrangements.

S: It's happening tonight?

"Charming!" Snow yelled, dashing from the kitchen to their bedroom in the loft. "Charming!"

David rounded the corner from their bedroom. "What's going on? Is everything okay?"

"Better!" Snow replied, smiling from ear to ear. "You'll never guess what's happening tonight."

"Killian's finally going to propose to Emma?" he asked.

Snow's jaw dropped as she cocked her head to the side and looked at him dumbfounded. "How did you know?"

"It was just a lucky guess," he replied, shrugging his shoulders. "And besides, it's the only thing you've been talking about for the last six months."

"Well, excuse me for wanting our daughter to be happy," Snow said, crossing her arms over her chest. "I really thought he was going to propose to her last night with everyone there."

"He said he wanted it to be special. What was so special about dinner last night?" David asked, walking over to her and wrapping his arms around her neck. He pulled her close to him and placed a kiss on the top of her head. "So, what's his plan for tonight?"

"I'm not sure," Snow replied, shrugging her shoulders. "All I know is that he wants me to keep Emma busy today while he and Henry finalize everything."

"How are you going to manage that without making Emma aware that you're up to something?" David asked, raising his brow as he looked down at his smiling wife in his arms.

"I'll figure something out," Snow replied, pressing up on her tiptoes to kiss David goodbye. "Wish me luck."

"You're definitely going to need it," David replied with a laugh as he watched Snow step away from him and make her way to the door.

Tonight was going to change the dynamic of their family. It wasn't going to be a significant change; Killian was already as much a part of the family as Henry or Neal. Tonight was only a formality, and as far as David was concerned, it didn't need to happen. However, Killian was an honorable man, and this was what an honest man did when he wanted to build his family.

H: Is Emma with you?

R: Yes, why? What's wrong?

H: Nothing is wrong. Just keep her busy.

R: Okay?

Regina stared at the message on her phone for a moment before shrugging her shoulders and flipping the phone upside down on her desk. She glanced up at Emma out of the corner of her eyes before plastering a smile on her face.

"Everything okay?" Emma asked, noticing the odd expression on Regina's face.

"Everything's fine," Regina assured her, pointing to the screen. "So this is how you figured out that Jekyll was faking it?"

Emma tossed her head back with a laugh. "Yeah, probably the easiest collar I've ever had. Watch."

Emma hit play on the recording and sat back in the chair, propping her feet up on the desk as she folded her hands behind her head. A smile pulled at the corners of her lips as the scene played out on the screen in front of her. She was thankful for the distraction at the moment since everyone in her life seemed to be acting out of sorts whenever she walked into the room. At least here, watching the tiny screen gave her a sense of normalcy.

Emma laughed as the expression on Jekyll's face faded from pride to pure embarrassment. His skin faded to white as Hyde pointed up to the camera in the corner of the room. "This is my favorite part," Emma chuckled.

"I can see why," Regina laughed, nodding her head. "I've gotta give it to you, Sheriff Swan. I think I've put the safety of Storybrooke in the perfect person's hands."

Emma's cheeks flushed as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I'm far from perfect, Regina. Don't you remember what a disaster my first year of being Sheriff was like?"

Regina tossed her head back with a laugh. "I remember it far too well," she mused, glancing up with a nod. "We miss you, Graham. More than you'll ever know."

"But we're both happier now, right?" Emma said, shrugging her shoulders as she looked at Regina. Her life was so much better now than it was when she first moved to town. She found the family in Storybrooke she had spent her nights in foster care dreaming about. Sometimes Emma found herself pinching at her skin just to remind herself that this was all real.

The soft buzzing of her cell phone in her pocket pulled Emma out of her thoughts. She slipped her hand into her pocket and pulled it out to look at the screen. An incoming call from Snow. "That's weird," Emma mumbled, turning her phone to show Regina who was calling. "She never calls me in the middle of the day."

"Answer it," Regina said, shrugging her shoulders. "It must be important."

"Right," Emma said, pushing herself out of the chair and making her way to the door. "I'll be right back."

Regina slumped into her chair and let out the breath she didn't realize she had been holding. "I'm going to get Killian back for this. I'm miserable with keeping secrets. How I have not told her yet is a miracle," she huffed, carding a hand through her hair.

The office phone on her desk startled her. Regina picked the phone up and lifted it to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Hey, love. How are things at the office?"

"Robin, why are you calling the office phone?"

"Because you aren't answering your cell phone."

"Oh, yeah. That would do it. What's up?"

"Killian needs us to be at the docks by seven o'clock tonight."

"Why does he want us there? We aren't-"

"Henry makes you two family whether you want to admit it or not."

"How did you know what I was going to say?"

"Because I know you. Do you want me to meet you at the house or the docks?"

"Why don't you swing by here? I'm sure Emma's going to be leaving here soon based on the fact that Snow just called her. I bet she wants one last mother-daughter evening with her before everything changes."

"Sounds like a date. I'll see you in a little while."

"I love you, Robin."

"I love you too, Regina."

Regina smiled as she lowered the phone back to the receiver. Settling back in her chair, she kicked her feet up on the desk and looked around at her office. She was one hell of a lucky woman. A beautiful family waited for her at home, and she was mayor of a small town full of people who finally respected her, welcoming them to be a part of their family rather than fear her.

"So that was Snow," Emma sighed, shaking her head as she walked back into Regina's office. "She needs to have lunch with me, and it needs to happen in the next fifteen minutes."

Emma rolled her eyes as she gathered her things before pulling her jacket on. "Do you want me to leave the recording here or take it back to the station?"

"I'll keep it," Regina said, ejecting the disc from her computer. "It'll give me something to get a good chuckle at for the afternoon."

"Sounds good," Emma said, turning on her heel as she made her way to the door. "I'll see you later, Regina." She waved her hand over her head as she disappeared through the door.

R: Swan is on her way to have lunch with Snow.

K: Great, right on schedule.

R: I hope you know what you're doing, Captain.

K: I do too.

Snow tapped her fingers nervously against the table. This was supposed to be the happiest day of her entire life. Her daughter was about to get engaged to a wonderful man who loved her more than he loved life itself. So why was her heart racing a million miles a minute? She shouldn't be nervous; she should be overjoyed. Maybe it was all the secrecy about this whole ordeal.

The bell at the front of Granny's dinner chimed, pulling Snow out of her anxious thoughts. Snow slid out of the booth and made her way to the door quickly. She forced a smile on her face as she looked up at the door and saw her daughter's concerned face walking through the door.

"Emma, is everything okay?" Snow asked, wrapping her arm around Emma's shoulder as she guided them toward her booth.

"Everything's fine," Emma laughed, wrapping an arm around Snow's shoulder.

"Then why do you have such a sour look on your face?" Snow asked, watching as Emma lowered herself into the booth before taking a seat across from her. "It looks like Jekyll escaped, and you have to start all over again. Oh no, that didn't happen, did it?"

Emma's eyes went wide as she bit back a laugh at the expression on Snow's face. The sheer panic on Snow's face was rather amusing, but the fact that Snow could believe that Emma would have still met for lunch if that had happened was even more comical. David would have told her if that had happened, and everyone would have understood how critical the situation was. In fact, the entire town of Storybrooke would have dropped what they were doing just to help out and make certain that something like this never happened again.

"Mom," Emma said, reaching a hand across the table. "Jekyll is behind bars at the hospital in a cell right where he belongs. Storybrooke is safe from that danger."

"Okay," Snow replied, nodding her head slowly. "Then why did you look so distraught when you walked in here?"

"Because everyone is being so weird," Emma sighed, collapsing against the back of the booth. "First this morning with Killian and Henry at the house, and then Regina was being super secretive about her phone - which shouldn't bother me, but it did for some reason. Then you called me out of the blue and demanded that we have lunch together."

"I wasn't demanding," Snow said, pulling back from Emma slightly with a frown on her face. "I'm sorry if I came across as demanding. I just wanted to spend time with you today."

Emma let out a sigh and carded a hand through her hair, offering her mother a smile. "And I appreciate that. I guess it has just been a peculiar day, and I can't shake this feeling in the pit of my stomach that today is only going to get weirder."

Just as Snow was about to open her mouth, Emma's phone started buzzing against the table. Snow glanced down out of the corner of her eye and saw a text from Killian on the screen. A smile pulled at her lips. "You should get that."

Emma rolled her eyes and picked up her phone. A sparkle flickered in her eye as she read over his message. "Looks like I have to go get ready for a significant date tonight."

K: Dinner at your favorite french restaurant. 7 o'clock. Wear something special.