The Incident on Aisle 9

CS Genre: Canon divergence (sort of?) from 6a, post Dark Waters

Emma lifted one eyebrow and looked at the huge bag of grapefruits Killian plopped beside a similar bag of oranges in their shopping cart. "Killian," she said, "Just how many people do you think are living in our house? That's enough citrus to feed an army!"

Killian shrugged, gesturing vaguely toward the amply-supplied produce section of Storybrooke's one supermarket, The Three Little Pigs. "I believe it in our best interest to sufficiently stock up while we're visiting this establishment."

Emma sighed, crossing her arms. "Killian, it's not like we have to take a two-day covered wagon trip to get to the general store. The grocery is literally a five minute walk from our house! I repeat. Who's going to eat all that fruit?"

"You, the lad and myself, of course," Killian said matter-of-factly. "I've no intention of allowing my family to contract scurvy while I have the means to prevent it."

Emma felt tenderness for Killian swell up within her. Killian may have a good amount to learn about the modern world, but the fact that he loved her and Henry so much and was determined to take care of them in any way he saw possible just brought it home once again how very much she loved him. Raising up on her tiptoes, she softly kissed his cheek.

Killian turned surprised eyes in her direction. "What brought on that delightful public display of affection, love?"

Emma smiled, reaching up to smooth his hair from his forehead. "It just means a lot to me that you're so concerned for Henry and me and our health. But the thing is, Killian, scurvy isn't really a thing we have to be concerned about in our world. Maybe either oranges or grapefruits rather than both?"

Killian looked at her for a moment and then sighed, reaching in to lift out the grapefruits. "As you wish love."

It had been about a week since Killian moved in with Emma and Henry. They'd all settled in quite nicely with only minor hiccups in the process of learning to live together.

The thing was, this was Storybrooke. Never a dull moment around here—and never a spare moment to just do normal, domestic stuff. No sooner did they get started on a task—repapering the walls, finding new furniture, turning the creepy Dark One dungeon into a nice, normal furnished basement, someone (usually Leroy) would come running up to their front door yelling about some new crisis in town.

And of course there was also the whole prophecy of the hooded figure and death and all of that to try to find a way to defeat.

Point was, it wasn't until today, a week into blissful cohabitation, that Emma had a chance to take Killian out grocery shopping. He'd been living in Storybrooke for quite some time now, of course, but he'd yet to step through the doors of The Three Little Pigs.

It was quite the experience grocery shopping with a three-hundred year-old pirate from the Enchanted Forest. He was fascinated and awed at every little thing they came across.

"It's like a bakery and a butcher's shop and a creamery and a fishmonger's stand and an apothacary's all at once Swan," he said in wonder. "Nearly any food one could imagine all conveniently located within one establishment!"

And that was just the outside edges of the store. By the time they started walking through the interior aisles filled with packaged food. Killian had been curious as a child, picking up and looking at nearly every can, box and container they came across. (And there were some extraordinarily uncomfortable questions when they walked past the feminine products aisle.) At the rate they were going a routine half hour run to the grocery was going to last all afternoon.

"Ah, Swan" Killian said, gesturing at overhead swinging sign for aisle 9. "I believe we should make our way down this aisle. It advertises itself as the place one might hope to purchase breakfast foods."

Emma grinned up at him as she maneuvered her shopping cart into the indicated aisle. "Just don't get your hopes up, Killian. Not likely you'll find any boiled mackerel here."

Killian sighed in exasperation. "You've long since disabused me of the notion that mackerel is a breakfast food enjoyed in this realm."

"Just making sure."

Killian looked stormy for another moment, and then suddenly scratched behind his ear. "I had hoped to purchase a box of those pastries you and the lad are so fond of."

"Pop Tarts?" Emma asked.

"Aye, just so," he answered "Though I truly had the lad's well-being at heart, I do believe it was rather bad form to throw his chosen breakfast away. I'd hoped to replace what was lost."

Emma took his hand and squeezed it. "Sounds like a great idea," she said. "The pop tarts are right over there. The kid and I both like the blueberry. Of course he also likes…"

She was cut short by a sudden toddler shriek. "Mommy help! He's following me!"

Emma looked up quickly to find little Alex sitting in the toddler seat of Ashley's shopping cart, eyes wide, and finger pointing right at Killian.

Ashley turned around and gave them an apologetic look. "Sorry!" she said, then turning toward her daughter, "No sweetie. They're just buying food, same as us. And you know Killian. He talked to you about your doggie at Granny's the other day. He's a nice man."

"But he has a hook, Mommy!" Alex said, looking worriedly at the metal appendage.

Emma's heart turned over in compassion for the man she loved. For years, that hook had represented the darkest parts of Killian's nature but now…now it was just another part of him, another part of the man she loved. She reached down, taking hold of his hook, holding it tightly, almost possessively.

"Killian," Ashley said, her face turning a bright pink. "I'm so sorry…"

Killian looked pained for a split second, and then his face cleared. He stepped forward, smiling gently. "It's quite alright," he said before turning to the little girl, adorable in a soft pink dress and two curly pigtails. "I may have a hook, young lass, but I'd never use it to hurt such a lovely little lady as yourself."

"You wouldn't?" she asked, a touch of skepticism lurking in her blue eyes.

He shook his head. "Never," he answered. "But this hook can come in quite handy in other ways."

"How?" she asked, eyes becoming wide.

Killian looked around and spied a little blonde doll at the end of the aisle. Striding forward, he snagged it with his hook, turning and presenting it to Alex with a little bow. "I think this dolly needs a new home, Alex. Will you give her a good home? Take good care of her, aye?"

Alex's little eyes sparkled, and she hugged the doll to herself. She nodded earnestly. "Yes, Mr. Killy! I'll take good care of the dolly! Thank you!"

"You don't have to do that…" Ashley said.

"Nonsense," Killian said, patting Alex's head, and smoothing away a few tiny fly-away strands of hair. "This dolly needs a mum, and I do believe Miss Alex will be a splendid one. Swan and I would love to purchase it for her."

He turned and looked at Emma for confirmation, and she merely nodded, too overcome with emotion to trust her voice. He was so good, so gentle, so loving with children…and it suddenly made her realize something. Her life was good; it was happy; it was so very much of what she'd always wanted…but there was one tiny thing that could make it perfect.

After a moment, Ashley and Alex with her brand new "baby" moved on to the next aisle, and Killian turned back toward the considerable selection of PopTarts.

"Killian," Emma said, and the emotion, the heaviness in her voice must have alerted him to her state of mind. He turned concerned blue eyes toward her.

"Swan? Is something the matter?"

She reached up and hugged him tightly. "Not a thing in the world is wrong, Killian," she said, laughing through tears. "It's just…you were so good with that little girl. You'd really make a great dad."

He shrugged, looking wistful for a moment. "I'd always wondered what it would be like to have a child of my own. Fortunately now I have Henry. He's sufficient for me; I needn't wish for more."

"But…" Emma said, looking firmly into his eyes, "what if I wish for more?"

"Pardon, love?"

"Killian," she said, taking a deep breath. "I love Henry with all my heart, but…well…he doesn't have to be an only child, you know. What would you think about giving him a little brother or sister?"

Killian took in a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "Is that what you want, Swan?"

"I mean, it's something we have to decide together," Emma said, glancing aside uncomfortably, "but yeah. I've been thinking about it for a while now. I wanna be a mom again, and there's no one I want to take that leap with besides you. What do you say?"

Killian was silent for a moment, and then pounced, kissing her long and deeply (causing a little old lady to grumble disapprovingly about decorum and proper supermarket behavior as she passed them by).

When he pulled back, he tossed her a smile of pure joy. "Emma, love, I'd like nothing more than to father a little lad or lass with you."

"Great!" she said, her heart turning over. "How about we wrap up this shopping expedition and then head home? Henry's spending the night with Regina tonight, so we have the house to ourselves. We ought to use our time wisely and maybe get started on making that 'lad or lass'."

Killian leaned down and kissed her again. "As you wish, my love."

Notes:

-Well I was just brimming with story ideas this week! This one was inspired by an actual event. This past weekend I was at the grocery store just trying to buy myself food for the week, and when I turned into the second or third aisle, there was a little girl about 3 or 4 who sat in her mom's shopping cart. As soon as she saw me, she said "Mommy! She's following me!" My first reaction was amusement…but then the muse took over, asking the perennial question she brings up whenever pretty much anything out of the ordinary happens: How can I turn this into a CS story? And that's how this fluffy story was born!

-Up next: I wrote a fluffy little cs drabble on Tumblr last week about Emma and Killian taking dance lessons. I plan to expand that a bit and turn it into the next Fluffy Fridays chapter.