The Good Moments

CS Genre: Canon Divergence (3x23)

A/N: This story first appeared on Tumblr as the fulfillment of a prompt by looby130: "Could you write something with that final kiss of captain swan turning into her telling him she's pregnant or proposal and then possibly a bit of smut! I'm dying for Mrs and baby swan jones fic! Thank you!" As I'm sure you know by now, I don't write smut, (although you're free to interpret their plans at the end however you want, lol), but I tried to do justice to the rest.

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The thing about Emma Swan's life ever since she'd learned the truth about who she was and where she was from is that she rarely had a spare moment to process…anything, everything—all the villains and monsters and curses and portals to other lands, and death and loss, and separation, and pain. Or even the good stuff—the family and joy. And love, true, aching, overwhelming, life-changing love.

Her life was one big blur, moving from one crisis right into another without a moment in between.

So it was odd during the drive back from Storybrooke to New York, to find herself with seven hours of quiet—and effective solitude.

Oh, she wasn't alone in the yellow bug, of course. Regina, Henry and Violet were there with her. (She'd hoped to make the trip back with Killian at her side, but her dad had insisted his best mate ride with him, coming up with some ridiculous excuse about everyone traveling back in the groups in which they'd come)

But for all the company those three were—Henry and Violet seemed completely absorbed in each other in the backseat, and Regina stared forlornly out the window, her recent loss evidently rushing back over her now that the latest crisis was averted—Emma might as well have been alone.

And alone with her thoughts, Emma had gone over everything that had happened to her, to her family, to Killian during the past few weeks. The alternate universe storybook where she was forced to watch as her father stabbed the man she loved to death. Taking on the darkness to save the town. Watching Killian bleed out from Excalibur's wound. Turning him into a Dark One. Watching him give in to the darkness and crush Merlin's heart. The former Dark Ones being resurrected and almost destroying her family. Being forced to drive Excalibur through Killian's chest and hold him in her arms as his life bled from him. Finding him in the Underworld only to be forced to leave him behind once again.

Feeling as low and guilty and miserable as she'd ever felt, standing in that graveyard, looking on the casket of her friend's true love—only to hear her own name breathed by the last voice she'd ever thought she'd hear again. Running to Killian, wrapping her arms around him, kissing every inch of his face she could reach, letting the tears flow freely. She couldn't even begin to describe the feelings rushing through her as she held her true love in her arms once again. It was like a dream, a beautiful, perfect dream from which she never had to wake.

But of course, given the life she led, she couldn't even bask in the joy of Killian's return for more than five minutes before Gold decided to start in on his next "take over the world" scheme and then Henry ran away to destroy magic.

It was a lot to process, and as the endless miles of unexciting highway passed, Emma let herself process it, feel all the emotions, experience what she'd gone through.

And when she'd come to the end of her reflection, one thing stood out above all others: Killian, the man she loved, her god-approved True Love was back and she was never, never taking a single moment with him for granted again.

Emma let the bug coast to a stop a block away from Granny's, set the parking brake and hopped out, waiting for Gold's Cadillac, driven by her father, to similarly come to a halt.

Emma grabbed the chain around her neck, letting her fingers run over the ring she'd worn since the moment Killian had given it to her back in Camelot. Her heart pounded, the nerves—and even fear—rising up as she thought about what she was about to do.

But she was done letting the fear rule her life. Done hiding behind walls. The days and weeks while Killian was dead had been pure hell—far worse than anything Hades had ever thrown at any of his lost souls. She wasn't going to let another moment go by without making it one hundred percent clear to Killian just what he meant to her.

Killian stepped from the car and tossed her a tender smile, making her stomach swoop. He was so beautiful, so loving, so beloved. And so, though they'd only been apart a few short hours—even less, as the two groups had met up for lunch at a small diner along the way—she stepped up to him, wrapped her arms around his neck, and hugged him as though he'd been gone for a month.

He, for his part, didn't question it, merely held her tightly to himself, burying his nose in her hair in a gesture of love and care that secretly thrilled her.

The others wandered off toward Granny's after having decided to grab a quick dinner together before dispersing to their respective homes. Killian reached down, lacing his fingers with Emma's and made a move to join them, but Emma held back.

Killian shot her a quizzical look. "Swan? What is it, love?"

She shrugged. "There's something I wanted to say."

His brow furrowed. "You're not still feeling guilty about Regina, are you?"

"No." She shook her head quickly. "That's not it. It's just…I wanted to say something now when we're not dealing with a crisis and neither of us is in danger. When everything is just normal."

A small grin turned up the corners of his lips, and he nodded slightly, the gesture telling her she could tell him anything.

Emma took a deep breath. "I love you."

His face lit up like a Christmas tree. Emma found that since the moment she'd fully given her heart to Killian, she could read him as plainly as he always read her. She knew exactly what he was thinking as he took in her declaration. He could tell how difficult it was for her to say the words, to take that leap of faith, and he was proud of her.

Bending down, he kissed her softly, gently, little more than a brush of his lips against hers. "And I love you, Swan," he breathed, mouth still against hers.

When he pulled away, she reached up, cupped his cheek, caressed him, enjoying the pleasing feel of his stubble against her thumb. She felt the ring heavy against her heart and knew this was by far the perfect moment for what she planned to do.

"There's one other thing I wanted to…discuss with you, Killian," she said, hating the slight quaver in her voice as the nerves took over once more.

"Aye, love?" he asked, his hand reaching up to tangle in her hair. "And what is that? You know full well you can tell me anything."

"Yeah," she answered with a smile, taking a small step back, drawing the chain with the ring up over her head. His eyes followed her movements, and she saw the confusion in his features as he peered at his own ring.

"Killian," she began, "I love you…but then I guess I've already said that."

He grinned. "Not to worry, Swan. It's unlikely I'll ever tire of hearing those words fall from your delicious lips."

She smiled again, and then swatted his shoulder. "Would you just be quiet for a minute? I'm trying to…do something, and your interruptions are about to make me lose my nerve."

"Wouldn't want that, love," he said. "Very well, I shall keep my lips sealed.'

"Thanks," she said with another grin. She was silent for a moment as she tried to figure out the perfect words. Killian was the one with the silver tongue, after all. Finally she nodded and began again. "These last few weeks—months really, have made me think, made me realize that life is short; none of us know when something terrible is going to happen to rip us all apart—especially in this crazy town. They've also made me realize that losing you—well, it's like losing half of my very self. I may be able to survive and exist, but I doubt I could ever again live without you."

"Swan," he said, his hand idly caressing her arm, "of course you could. You're the strongest, most resilient person I know."

She smiled. "Maybe, but the fact remains that losing you showed me just how much you mean to me, and it made everything crystal clear in a way it's never been before. Kilian, I just want you to know…I want it, all of it. I want the white picket fence life. I want the house you and Henry chose for us. I want the three of us to be a family living and loving and finding joy together. I want us to make good memories in that big house by the sea rather than the painful ones from the time we were both Dark Ones."

Emma grasped the ring, holding it up for his inspection. "Back in Camelot, when you gave me this, I kind of freaked out. You were quick to assure me it wasn't what it looked like; you weren't proposing. I was relieved, because I wasn't ready for that step yet; the fear was still too strong."

"Aye, love," he said with a nod. "I was well aware. I loved you then as I love you now, but I wished only to help you, give you a talisman to help you hold the darkness at bay as you went to confront Nimue."

"And it did that, Killian," Emma reassured. "When I felt the darkness rise up within, I held onto that ring, remembered you, your love, your kisses, and I was able to hold the darkness at bay long enough to get the spark from Merlin's crazy girlfriend."

"I've never been prouder of you than I was then, love, when you returned with that spark," Killian said, running his hand down her arm and linking his fingers with hers. "I'd never doubted you; not for a moment, but seeing the proof of your triumph—it was glorious."

"Yeah, well," Emma said, her heart suddenly pounding so loudly she wondered if they could hear it all the way in Camelot, "my point in bringing the whole thing up is this: I wasn't ready then, Killian, but I am now. I want to become your wife. I want us to live the rest of our lives together. I want to fill that ridiculously big house with kids. I want to have it all—but only with you. Always with you. So, I guess what I'm saying is…Killian, will you marry me?"

He was still for a beat in time, and then he swooped down, capturing her lips in a kiss for the ages, bringing his arms around her and lifting her in the air. She wrapped her own arms around his neck, letting the tears fall freely as she kissed him back with equal fervor. The embrace went on and on, both using their kiss to speak words, emotions they could never put into words.

At long last, Killian set her gently back onto the ground and pulled away, but only far enough to rest his forehead against hers. "That's not even at question, my love," he said, his voice gravelly with emotion. "Of bloody course I'll marry you!"

"Good," she said, leaning in for another slow, tender kiss. "So what do you say we head back to our place and see about starting in on some good memories to replace the painful ones?"

He leaned toward her again, grinning. "I say lead on, Swan. As always, I'll follow you anywhere."

Notes:

-Okay, so I know last week I said I was taking a break from Fluffy Fridays this week, but it would appear I lied again (I'm getting into a bad habit of that, lol). I received a prompt on Tumblr and the resulting story was nice and fluffy, so voila! New Fluffy Fridays chapter!

-Up next: I have no definite plans for next week other than the fact that I think it's time to write a "deleted scene". Is there any particular missing scene from seasons 2-5 you'd like to see? (Remember, deleted scenes are canon compliant.)