Chapter 5

Anticipation fluttered in Emma's chest and quivered through her extremities as Killian's mouth slanted against hers, his hand and hook peeling the sleeves of her nightgown off her shoulders now that her robe had been discarded.

"Tell me how you prefer to be touched," he said, the rough feel of his hand palming her breast as his hook continued to drag her garment down until it pooled at her feet.

"I don't… what do you mean?" she panted, as he trailed kisses along her neck.

"You've experienced the touch of my fingers and my tongue," he reminded her wickedly, latching on to a spot below her ear that nearly took her legs out from under her. "So tell me, love," he insisted against the shell of her ear as his hand skimmed over her belly. "Which touch do you prefer?"

Before she could answer, a whimper fell from her lips at the loss of his. Her eyes fluttered open when the heat of his hand was also removed, and she saw him about to remove his hook from its brace.

"No, don't," she said, reaching out to stall his action. "I, uh…" A fresh swell of heat rushed up her neck as she admitted, "I like the hook."

His brow crept an indecent path of intrigue up his forehead and his timbre dropped an octave as he murmured, "Do you indeed?" Clicking the appendage back into place, he ghosted it over her flesh and huskily requested, "Tell me, love. Has my hook been featured in any of your fantasies? The feel of it against your skin providing you with a sense of pleasure, perchance?"

The heat that had begun a scorching path up her neck now settled at her cheeks. Dipping her head, she demurred from his gaze, suddenly too shy to reveal the truth. It was no matter, though. By the sound of his chuckle, her reaction was confirmation enough.

"In these fantasies of yours," he continued on with a seductive lilt, the cold touch of his hook running up her arm caused a shiver to run the length of her body, "where does my hook touch you?"

Her breath hitched when the sharp end of the cool steel lightly caressed its way across her collarbone.

"Tell me," he said with an unexpected bite behind his words. Her eyes snapped up to his, and there, in the deep shadows of his midnight gaze, she could see the burning desire, the nagging hunger, the seemingly unquenchable thirst that made his chest heave in time with her own as he desperately held on to his restraint.

"You…" she began in a parched tone, pausing so she might swallow past the aridness that had collected in the back of her throat. "You run it over my breasts."

A coy smile teased the corners of his mouth, and Emma sucked in a sharp breath when the prick of his hook circled her nipple. "Like this?" he murmured low.

With eyes clamped shut, she nodded. A moan fell from her lips when his pulled her other nipple into his mouth, laving it with the rough heat of his tongue as chilled, smooth metal tormented the other. She had only the bracing of his hand, splayed wide across her back, and the strength of his arm to thank for keeping her upright… Or so she thought. With a startled gasp, Emma grasped onto his arms, her eyes shooting open when his hand left her back. Miraculously, or more likely, magically, she did not find herself crashing to the floor. Instead, her body remained supported, suspended by the very air around her as his hand, hook, and mouth continued their assault of seduction.

"Where else?" he asked, skimming the crook of his hook along her waist and over her belly, his path clear even as he inquired, "Between your legs?"

Relaxing into the trust that his magic would continue to keep her upright, Emma nodded.

"And how does it make you feel? What's it like to have my hook ravish you?"

"D-Dangerous."

"You like a little danger, don't you darling?"

The tip of his hook traced the crease of her pelvis, causing her hips to jerk. A deep chuckle rumbled from his chest, the hot vapor making its way across her neck as his mouth moved along the column of her throat.

"Does the thought of my hook make you come?" he asked in a purely indecent tone.

Emma wet her lips and swallowed past her timidity so she could answer. "It... helps."

Killian hummed. "Well, perhaps I can provide a bit more help."

Waving his hand over the hard metal surface, his hook began to shimmer with enchantment. When the remnants of the casting faded away, Emma noted a trembling as well as a faint sound, like that of a hummingbird's wings, quivering from the appendage. Before she could voice a response, his hook divested her of her remaining undergarments with the sounds of their rending ripping through the air, then he slid the crook of it through her damp folds. The vibrations wracking her core made other, more vocal and visceral reverberations echo through the room as she cried out. The welcome, but unexpected assault made Emma involuntarily snap her legs closed.

"Ah, ah," Killian lightly admonished. "Keep those lovely thighs open for me, Swan."

The volatile shuddering, originating from the hard, smooth steel pressed against her sex, was quickly taking hold of her, expelling all thought, all control, all ability to do anything more than simply… feel. Feel the ripples of ecstasy growing like a tidal wave along her spine, the rough scrape of Killian's teeth as they pulled on her earlobe, the insistent caress of his magic as it forced her legs apart and supported every arch of her back and shake of her extremities, until she surrendered to the weightless sensation of refined pleasure pulsating its way through her entire body.

"That's it, love," Killian praised into her ear. "Don't hold back. Let me hear you."

Emma hadn't even been aware of the sounds she'd been making, but the residual evidence of the guttural groans and screams of satisfaction she'd been emitting rasped at the back of her throat when she heaved a fresh breath into her lungs. A whimper soon followed when his hook, now still, fell away from her. Reaching down, Killian wrapped both arms under her thighs and the magic that had been keeping her upright abruptly vanished as he lifted her up. Instinctively, Emma wrapped her arms and legs around him, her head falling to his shoulder when a tremor of lingering bliss washed over her.

Vaguely aware of his steps, she lifted her head when they began to descend, and for the first time since she entered his chamber, Emma surveyed the room. "There's no bed?" she said, formed in a sort of half question, half statement.

"I do not sleep," he informed her, settling her onto soft cushions and pillows that littered a sunken area within the stone floor. "And I have not had need of one here for… other enjoyable activities, for quite some time."

This was all explained as he peeled down the straps of his suspenders and pulled the wisp of a blouse from his body. Eyes locked onto hers, Killian began to loosen the laces of trousers, his head cocking to one side, weighing a decision while the heated caress of his gaze ran along her lounging form in much the same way hers did as it followed the wake of exposed skin left by the removal of his leather pants.

"I can't decide how I want you," he confessed in a low tone.

Transfixed by the sight of his manhood standing proud and more than a little intimidatingly before her, Emma nearly missed the musing.

"You can't decide…"

"How I want you," he finished for her after she'd left the words hanging. Sinking to his knees, he gingerly cupped the back of her ankle and lifted her foot to rest on his shoulder, skimming both his fingers and lips along the curve of her calf as he continued to consider his options.

"I could take you on your back," he murmured into her skin, the vibration of his words and wet flicks of his tongue causing desire anew to pool between her thighs. "You would be a sight to behold with your hair fanned out like sunshine over the pillows, your breasts rubbing against my chest, nipples hardening from the tickle of my chest hair."

Her heel slipped off the back of his shoulder, and soon the bend of her knee had taken its place. "In that position, I could watch you come again. You're exquisite when you come. Your expressions, the way your skin pinks and dampens from the flush of release. Gods, it's glorious."

Emma could feel her breath quicken the closer he got to her center. The ache had begun to build again, accompanied by a throbbing of want that seemed to sync with the pounding of her heart. Maddeningly, he bypassed the area he had to have known most urgently needed his attention, and instead nipped at her hip bone while gently guiding her leg.

"Or shall I take you from behind," he growled, rolling her onto her side so he could grip her backside tightly before smacking it hard with the palm of his hand. A shocked, gasping cry expelled from Emma's lungs, followed by a deep moan when he rubbed the pained flesh with a soothing touch and placed a kiss upon its sting.

"I could watch my cock disappear into the depths of you while you rock on all fours in front of me. Completely at my mercy as I give you such pleasures you've only just begun to imagine."

On her back once more, Emma felt the cold touch of his necklace skimming over her skin as his tongue laved a languid trail up her torso, circling her erect nipple before he sucked it into his mouth and continued to flick it mercilessly. His hand and hook took hold of her wrists and guided them above her head, holding them in place with a swift flick of his wrist; a devilish smirk pulling at his lips when she tried, and failed, to lower her hands.

"As much as I would love to have you on top of me," he continued, "Your breasts bouncing delightfully as you ride me, taking ownership over your own pleasure, I feel I would be doing you a disservice if I put you in such a position of control while so inexperienced."

On the verge of losing her mind to his teasing, to the feel of his body decadently pressed against hers, his hot, eager member taunting her, making her greedy for the sensation of it filling her, claiming her, taking her, Emma growled in frustration and wantonly whined, "Which one will most likely bring about the result we require to seal this deal?"

The snap of her tone gave him a moment's pause and he peered down at her from behind the fringe that had fallen over his forehead. Shadows of seduction swirled within his midnight gaze and his tongue wet a path of craving over his lips as a spark of cognition glimmered from his eyes. Shifting his weight, he braced himself on his left forearm and removed the enchantment that held her hands with a wave of his own. Her fingers lightly grazed down his back as he ignited the skin along her side with the brush of his.

A quickened intake of breath filled her lungs when she felt the tip of his length being positioned between her legs, and she looked up into his face as he murmured, "Like this, then." Her eyes slammed closed when he began to push his way inside, a groan echoing between them both before he whispered, "We'll have one another like this."

Emma tensed in response to the unaccustomed intrusion, and Killian's advance stalled while he positioned himself overtop of her.

"Relax, love," he encouraged on a haggard breath. "Any discomfort you might feel will be over with quickly."

Trusting in his words, and now distracted by that promised sensation of his chest hair tickling her breasts as his hips continued their roll forward, Emma surrendered herself to the delightful stretch and expanding fullness occupying her center. Each withdrawal and return brought with it a bone deep pleasure as she held on for dear life to the straps of his brace criss-crossing his back.

"So tight and hot for me," Killian rasped into the side of her neck. "And luscious. Ripe and willing to receive, aren't you darling?"

Emma wasn't even sure what he was murmuring on about. All she could focus on was the slide of him inside her, the way his pelvis would hit her just so the deeper he thrusted, how her hips began to move in rhythm with his own, and the now familiar tingle growing in intensity at the base of her spine.

Swiveling his hips aggressively against her pulled a series of gasps from her as pleasure rippled through her, skittering into her nerve endings. When she reciprocated in kind, her fingernails clawing a path down his already scarred back, a growl ripped from his chest and she suddenly found herself on her stomach, his member slipping from her as he coaxed her up onto all fours.

She hadn't even had the chance to voice her displeasure over his cock's absence when he filled her once more from behind. Emma cried out at the heightened sensations this new position afforded her, and Killian continued to surge forward with a vigor that transformed the gentle tingle into a crackling of anticipatory combustion.

Guttural groans and vocalized breaths of pure, primal pleasure reverberated from Killian while Emma struggled to keep breath in her lungs from the pounding force of his exertions. His hook curled over the top of her shoulder, anchoring her in place as his hand gripped her swinging breast, stilling it with a firm squeeze as he kneaded it in his palm. Her nipples were rolled into almost painful peaks before his hand resumed its trek down her body, leaving a wake of raised flesh in its wake.

His breaths were staccatoed, his hips firing like a piston with a speed and energy Emma wasn't sure he could sustain for much longer. She wasn't sure she could, either. Each thrust within the innermost part of her being was like flint striking against stone, sending a cascade of sparks in search of a fuse, or like the swell of a tidal wave, gaining momentum before it hurled itself to crash upon the shore.

When his fingers reached the apex of her thighs, he coerced the pleasure that had grown to its breaking point to restrain itself no longer. As the first tremor of release wracked her body, she felt Killian's hips jerk wildly, his rhythm no longer the metered and controlled pace he'd been sustaining. His roar of ecstasy joined hers, and his hand moved to her waist, ensuring she would not collapse to the ground while also keeping her in place until he had completely emptied himself within her.

When at last the vestiges of her completion subsided, and he too found himself thoroughly spent, Killian gently guided her onto her back once more and instructed her to hold her legs to her chest.

"I am not sure of the validity of such claims," he confessed, twining his fingers through her hair as he laid beside her, "but I have heard such a position afterwards helps with conception."

Emma nodded, sleepily, her eyes growing heavy with both physical and emotional fatigue.

"I hope I was not… that is," Killian began softly, sounding the most unsure of himself Emma had ever heard. "I wanted your first time… our first time together to be-"

Emma reached over and cupped his cheek, her thumb lightly brushing the scar that rested there. "It was perfect," she told him.

A wide grin broke over his face and he stretched up to place a kiss along her hairline.

"Rest," he told her. Urging her to roll over onto her side so he could mould himself to her back, he quipped. "You will need it for our next attempt."

Emma giggled past her yawn and asked, "How many attempts are you planning?"

"As many as it takes," he growled, playfully.

~/~

Emma moaned with pleasure, then groaned at the wakefulness threatening to creep in while she was experiencing the most exquisite dream. Her breath caught at the fresh flush of arousal rippling through her body, and her eyes reluctantly fluttered open. Gazing down, she noted the dark tousles of Killian's hair sticking out at odd angles between her legs, and no sooner had she determined that her dream was in accord with reality than her completion hit her full force, causing her to come over Killian's tongue. Her back arched and she reached down to grab fistfuls of his hair, but was thwarted by his hands capturing hers, entwining her fingers with his as she rode out the remainder of her bliss against his face.

Killian wore a smug, lopsided smile as his lips kissed their way back up her body. When it wasn't supporting his weight, his right hand teased her flesh while his left hand remained fused with her right.

Wait… she thought, descending from her euphoria and regaining her wits. His left hand?

Emma yanked on their joined hands, bringing them in front of her face and gasped, "Is that?"

"Mine?" he finished softly, with a hint of mirth at her reaction. "Aye." Releasing his grip, he clenched and flexed his fingers before revealing, "I discovered it amongst my predecessor's possessions. Seems he kept it as a souvenir."

Emma brushed his hair from his forehead and softly caressed the creases that had formed above his brow, her heart aching for him even as her blood boiled. A souvenir? The demented, evil, repugnant little imp kept his hand as a souvenir?

"It's only temporary," he said with slightly stunted breaths. "I cannot make it permanent."

"Then why?" she asked, threaded her fingers further into his hair, allowing his softening expression to relieve her of her own tormented feelings. "Did you think I would prefer it? I already told you," she quipped, coquettishly, "I don't mind the hook. In fact… I rather fancy it even more now."

Killian chuckled and pulled her into his chest as he rolled them. "I know, love. I just… I wanted to…" He wrapped his arms firmly around her, the fingers of his right hand dancing along her spine as his left splayed wide across her back. "I just wanted the chance to hold you with both hands. If only just this once."

Tears pricked the corners of Emma's eyes and her response got caught in the back of her throat. Not trusting her voice, she remained silent for several long moments and allowed him to do just that. Eventually, his hands began to wander, skimming over her bare back, tangling in her hair, teasing the sensitive skin along her side, and palming the curve of her backside.

It didn't take much prompting to get her to reciprocate, tracing the scars on his back, twirling her finger through the hair on his chest, running her fingertips over his stomach and giggling when the muscles beneath jumped at her touch. When another part of him twitched against her leg, Emma pulled her lip between her teeth and stared up at Killian while boldly gliding her hand further down his body. His eyelids fluttered and a soft moan rumbled in his throat when her nails reached the thick thatch of hair at his groin.

Killian rolled onto his back, giving her full access to his body. Suddenly unsure of herself, Emma started to pull her hand back when Killian wrapped his around her wrist and guided it back down.

"Like this, love," he instructed, wrapping her hand around his hardened cock. "Up and down motions."

His left hand remained over top hers while he showed her how he liked to be touched, and where. Emma's timidity was long forgotten as she concentrated on the way his breath hitched or the muscles in his thighs and belly tightened just before his hips jerked. His voice grew gruffer, his pants more desperate with each new instruction, and soon he let her take over completely. Dropping his hand to the side, he fisted one of the cushions as she pumped her hand along his length, aided by the slick arousal seeping from the tip of his cock.

When her own arousal began to wet her thighs, Emma was reminded of the way he had woken her up with his mouth, which called forth memories of their bath together. She wondered if he would enjoy her pleasuring him in the same way, and changed position so she could wrap her lips around him.

"Bloody hell!" he cried out, his hips bucking at the unexpected sensation, forcing his cock further past her lips and deeper into her mouth.

She tried to pull back, wondering if she'd been wrong, when his hand gripped the back of her head, coaxing her to continue as he begged, "Gods, don't stop!"

Not entirely certain of what to do, Emma continued to take as much of him into her mouth as she could before slowly pulling back until the rim of his cockhead hit her lips. She repeated the action over and over again, his fist tightening in her hair even as he guided her rhythm. Though the repetitive motion soon became quite taxing, Emma delighted in the feel of his velvety member as it slid in and out of her mouth. Her tongue traced the rigidity of his veins as she savored the briny taste his essence left behind with each swipe over his tip.

Taking one of her hands in his, Killian placed it between his legs and urged her to touch him as she had before. His back arched and his head fell back against the pillows when she began to cup and fondle him as instructed. Having the Dark One completely at her mercy made Emma feel powerful in a way she never had before. His pleasure was literally in the palm of her hand (and between her lips), and that knowledge only heightened her own enjoyment of the act.

The pace of her ministrations increased as he began to thrust up into her mouth, and Emma felt certain his completion was imminent. No sooner had the thought crossed her mind when the hand at the back of her head held her tightly against him as hot spurts hit the back of her throat while cries of ecstasy escaped Killian's. Each spasm of his release filled her mouth, and when at last he seemed fully spent, Emma managed to let him slip from her mouth without making a complete mess of things.

Panting, his chest heaving as he gazed down at her, a wicked, if not slightly weary smirk lifted at the corner of his mouth as he informed her, "You're meant to swallow it, Swan."

His words immediately called up the memory of their first dinner together and the oyster he had fed her. With the same determination, Emma swallowed the thick, briny substance and waited for the expectant shudder to roll over her. Surprisingly, he went down much more smoothly than the oyster had.

A chuckle rumbled from his chest as he sat up. Running his thumb over her swollen lips, he praised, "Good girl," then pulled her back down with him, capturing her in his arms once more. "Or perhaps, maybe a bit naughty," he amended with a waggle of his brows. "Not that I mind, even if that attempt will prove fruitless."

They laid there for many long minutes, each distracted by their own thoughts and the other's touch. When Killian's hand skimmed over her stomach and paused just below her belly button, Emma was reminded of their deal and wondered if a new life might even now be forming within the depths of her womb. From the way his thumb continued to caress her belly, Emma knew he was contemplating the very same possibility.

The possibility of a cure from the thing that had plagued him for centuries, a way to break his curse and free him from the Darkness.

But what would such freedom mean? If their efforts were successful and a True Love's Kiss managed to vanquish the Darkness for good, what would happen to all of the outstanding deals?

"You're worried for your father?" Killian murmured, alerting Emma to the fact her musings had not been internal.

"And the kingdom we visited tonight," she told him while wondering if there were other deals left outstanding from his predecessor. If so, what of them?

"The magic would remain," he assured her. "Your father would retain his health, and the goose I cast the Midas curse upon after we returned to the castle earlier this evening would continue to lay golden eggs until the curse died with it."

Relieved that no one else would suffer in exchange for his salvation, Emma moved on to other ponderings. "Do you think it'll happen right away?"

"What?"

"The True Love's Kiss," she clarified. "Do you think it'll happen the first moment you place your lips upon our child, or do you think the child will have to grow up first?"

"I… don't know," he replied, perhaps only just now pondering the particulars himself. "I suppose it could happen either way... if it happens at all."

Emma refused to acknowledge his doubts, not wishing to give any credence to the possibility all their efforts might be in vain. "If it isn't immediate… then the child will have to remain here, so they can grow to love you over time."

"Aye," he answered with a slight hesitation in his voice. "That would be the ideal course of action."

"Then," Emma said, sleepily. "We'll have to make a new deal."

"A new deal?" he said in a strained whisper, stiffening slightly. "What sort of new deal?"

Having not fully registered the change in his countenance, Emma snuggled further into his embrace and yawned into his shoulder, "One that keeps me here as well."

"Keeps you here?"

"I don't want to be separated from my child," she told him, her eyes growing heavier by the moment. "I know our original deal stipulated I would hand my child over to you, but do you honestly expect me to just leave them behind? To leave you to raise a baby, our baby, on your own?"

"But…" he argued softly, "What of your family? Your future? We've no way of knowing when or even if a True Love's Kiss might happen. It could take years. Decades."

"Then I guess I shall have to remain here for years or even decades," she said, another yawn wracking her body with deep fatigue. "We don't have to agree upon anything now," she assured him. "There is time enough to sort it all out." Relaxing into the warmth of his body, Emma released a contented sigh and closed her eyes. "Goodnight, Killian."

His lips brushed her forehead and remained pressed against her skin as he murmured, "Goodnight, my love," while she slipped into a deep sleep.

~/~

Emma stretched, noting the slight soreness in places she wasn't used to feeling such stiffness. She supposed she'd have to become accustomed to that, should more attempts be required. And she most certainly hoped they would.

Never in her life had she fallen asleep so contented, feeling protected and cherished in Killian's arms. Arms that were no longer holding her, she realized, breathing in deeply as she committed to the wakefulness the soft, pre-dawn glow was coaxing her towards behind her eyelids.

The lack of Killian's arms around her wasn't the only thing that felt off about her surroundings. She was no longer lying prone on the soft and supple cushions Killian had worshipped her body on, nor was she atop the mattress back in her own chambers. While the familiarity of the castle was now gone, Emma realized as the notes of her inhale hit her sinuses that she was not waking up in an altogether foreign place.

Bolting upright, Emma found herself back in her old room, in her old bed, in the house that, up until a week ago, had been the only home she'd ever known. The acknowledgment that her family's farm no longer felt like home hit her with a force that nearly stole the breath from her lungs. The urgency she now felt to return to the castle and discover how she had come to be back here prompted her to throw back her blankets and leap from the bed. Killian must be beside himself with worry.

In her haste to get dressed as quickly and quietly as she could, Emma did not see the letter propped up on her vanity until she reached for her hair brush. A foreboding sense of dread prickled over her skin, and for the first time since waking, Emma considered that, perhaps, Killian already knew exactly where she was. Trembling, Emma picked up the letter, her fingers lightly tracing the elegant script of her name as she fortified herself for what lay inside.

My Emma,

Forgive my cowardice. I could not bring myself to say all that which you deserve to hear, for fear of how you would react. For fear you would not allow me to explain. For fear I would not be able to see this explanation through to the end.

You see...

I never thought I'd be capable of letting go of my first love. My Milah. I spent a lifetime seeking vengeance, only to become the very thing that stole her from me in the first place. My thirst for revenge had crippled my capacity to love, and the Darkness all but snuffed it out completely. I never thought myself capable of love again.

Until I met you.

That day in the glen, seeing you stand before me without a trace of fear, willing to beg for your father's life, willing to trade your own for his, you showed me what true love looks like. I remember thinking, if only I had a child who loved me half as much as you loved your father, and then… well, you know the rest.

Except for this.

You made me believe in love again, Swan. You made me believe that a child, my child, might love me enough to break my curse. Then you did the impossible, and made me love you.

I love you, Emma Swan.

I love you, and that is why I must let you go. You deserve so much more out of life than to be trapped with me indefinitely. I know you, Swan. You were willing to give up your life in order to save your father, and are now willing to trade away your freedom in order to remain with your child. Even if it means losing all hope of the life you deserve.

I will not force you to stay here, away from your family, away from those you love and who love you. For I remember now the pain of that longing. The longing I once felt for Milah. The longing I will now feel for you.

You needn't worry about our deal. Should our union last night result in a child, I will see that neither of you want for anything, and I will not force you to part with it. The mere fact that I keep the right to do so will satisfy the terms. Likewise, one day when you meet a man, a man whose love is worthy of you and who is worthy of yours in return, you need not fear if the child you bear for him is the first from your womb. I shall not intervene, and your father will remain well.

As I hope, will you.

Yours,

Killian

Tears splashed against the parchment as Emma read through its contents once more. How? How could he think she would not want to stay with him? Hadn't she told him while enveloped in his embrace and snuggled closely to his chest that she had wanted to stay? Had even suggested they…

Emma gasped and covered her mouth, dropping the letter which fluttered silently to the floor.

"We'll have to make a new deal."

"A new deal?" he said in a strained whisper, stiffening slightly. "What sort of new deal?"

Emma hadn't been cognizant enough in her fatigued state to pick up on it at the time. The strained whisper, tinted with anguish. The way he'd gone rigid in a way that was similar to when she'd asked him to make a new deal at the ball. How could she have been so thoughtless? So careless with her words?

Killian viewed deals as traps; a way to ensnare the despondent and take advantage of desperate souls. He'd had to serve the Darkness in honoring unsavory agreements, becoming trapped by the rules of their fineprint himself. The only deal he'd ever initiated had been carefully constructed so neither Smee nor himself would be bound to it for more than a year at a time. Even with the deal she had insisted upon, he'd left her an out; a way of escape she would never have actually taken, but a failsafe nonetheless. Though, he had confessed only yesterday that he realized the provision he'd left her didn't mean she was any less trapped, and that… he did not want her to feel like a prisoner.

"One that keeps me here as well."

"Keeps you here?"

He thought the creation of a new deal meant she'd only stay because she had to, that she would imprison herself voluntarily for the sake of their child, when that hadn't been at all what she'd meant. Yes, she was agreeing to stay voluntarily because she wanted to, not because she had to. She wanted to stay with him, bear his child, raise that child with as much love as she could pour into them so that one day they might be capable of the kind of love their father would require to be truly free.

Not because doing so would keep her father alive. Not because she had made a deal. No. For even if their every attempt failed to produce a child, Emma would never consider a life spent with Killian wasted, because…

She loved him, too.

Knowing she only had a matter of minutes before her parents would rise to start the day (if they hadn't already), Emma abandoned her brush, slipped on her shoes, and snatched Killian's letter from the floor before creeping over the windowsill as she had when she'd first slipped away to honor her deal. Although she was certain she had heard her parent's startled voices, crying out for her to stop when she reached the treeline, Emma did not look back as she sprinted through the forest towards the clearing.

The closer she got to his vault the more fraught her emotional state became; elated by the confessions within his letter, worried over her parent's reaction when they learned of her choice, anxious in the hope of a future, though uncertain, she'd never been more sure of, and anger. Anger boiling hot within her veins at the Darkness, which for too long had poisoned Killian into believing he was unworthy of love. The closing lines of his letter, and the doubts he'd voiced the night before kept repeating themselves over and over again in Emma's mind as her legs began to grow heavy with each pounding footfall.

...one day when you meet a man, a man whose love is worthy of you and is worthy of yours in return...

"I suppose it could happen either way... if it happens at all."

His belief that he alone was not enough absolutely infuriated her. Even with the Darkness always lurking just below the surface, Killian had proven himself to be a good man; a man of honor who cared deeply and ultimately wanted to do what was right, and should a cure to his curse never present itself, Emma would continue to love him all the same.

Clamouring through the last of the groves, Emma stepped up to the raised dais of the vault and took a moment to catch her breath before calling out, "Killian Jones! I summon thee!"

The wind was blistering this time, a frigid assault gusting around her as he emerged from the mire bubbling up from the vault. When the last of it had dissipated, he opened his eyes and his brows immediately shot up as a startled expression overtook his face.

"Swan? What are-"

Emma threw the crumpled up letter at his chest, wishing it had the weight of her emotions behind it as she yelled, "That's not enough for me!"

His features hardened, the flicker of menace she associated with his curse twitching over his visage as he clipped out, "I gave you your freedom. What more could you want?"

"You!" she cried out. Taking hold of his hand and his hook - affixed once more where his left hand had been - she attempted to pull him down off the dais, but he stubbornly remained planted at its edge. "I want you! I want you to tell me to stay without a deal. Tell me you want the child I may very well be carrying even if it never manages to break your curse! Tell me from your own lips that you love me, because I… I love you, too!"

"Emma," he exhaled on a stunned breath, all vestiges of the Darkness retreating from his countenance as he stumbled off the dais in his rush to gather her in his arms. "Do you? Truly?"

Craning her neck to look up into his face, which she had cupped in both her hands, she declared once more, "I love you, Killian Jones."

His eyes crinkled and a wide, incredulous smile broke over his face. "And I you."

Their lips crashed together and Emma's arms had just looped around his neck when a shock wave, originating from their kiss, nearly threw her backwards from the force of whatever magic had been expelled. Braced in Killian's arms, Emma looked up into his equally confused face.

"Was that…?"

Before he could answer, they held on to one another for dear life as the ground shook beneath their feet. The rumble of splitting stone reverberated through the glen as a deep fissure cracked the vault in half.

When the glen stood still once more, Killian tentatively reached into his coat and unsheathed the dagger from his belt. Emma held her breath as he turned the blade over in his hand, searching for a name that was no longer etched upon its surface. A sheen misted over his eyes when he flicked his gaze up to hers, but their reaction to the astounding consequences of their kiss was once again thwarted by the appearance of Emma's parents, frantically entering the far end of the glen.

"Emma!"

Her mother cried out for her as her father bellowed at Killian to release her. When the arm he still had wrapped around her slackened, Emma tightened her own around his shoulders. Her father's advancement was stalled only by the grip her mother had on his arm, otherwise he would have likely forced them apart with his own two hands.

"Enough, Papa," Emma shouted back, only vaguely aware of her mother crouching down to retrieve Killian's discarded letter, which had blown to the other side of the clearing where her parents now stood.

"Emma, we saw you leaving the farm. Why did you run away again? What has this demon tricked you into agreeing to this time?"

"He isn't a demon," she stated, sharply. "He has never been a demon, or a monster, or any other vile creature the villagers have concocted in their yarns. He is cursed."

"Was," Killian said, softly.

Emma's head snapped back to him, her gaze locking with his as that truth took root. "Was," she repeated with a nod of her head, tears stinging her eyes as she threw her arms back around his neck as his tightly circled her waist.

"What do you mean, was?" David hollered, and Emma almost broke into peals of irrational laughter over her father's petulant tone. "Will someone explain what is going on!"

"Charming," her mother interjected quietly. "Read this."

Emma watched as her father read Killian's letter, her heart pounding so hard she could feel the concussion of each beat in her throat.

"They love each other," her mother told him when her father's wide eyes sought hers after he'd finished reading. "Truly love one another."

"Do you mean? That blast of magic, the earthquake? That was-"

"True Love," Killian marveled, looking not at her parents, but lovingly down on her with disbelief still swimming in his eyes. "Magic powerful enough to transcend realms, and-"

"Break any curse," Emma finished, smiling brightly up at him.

Reluctantly, she released Killian when he made it clear he wished to approach her father, but held fast to his hand as they walked together across the glen. Stopping short of where her parents stood, Emma could feel the trepidation rolling off him and his Adam's apple bobbed heavily before he spoke.

"Sir," he addressed her father. "When last we faced one another in this clearing, you asked what my intentions were with your daughter." David nodded his acknowledgement, his face like flint and his posture set in a wary stance as he waited for Killian to continue. "Would you, and your family, do me the honor of joining me for dinner at my castle, so we might discuss the matter? As gentlemen?"

Emma's mother reached over and took Emma's other hand, all three of them holding their breath in anticipation as Killian held out his hand towards her father. David glanced down at Killian's hand, then flicked his eyes back up.

"No," he said, causing Emma's heart to drop into her stomach, until… he clasped Killian's hand before it could be withdrawn and added, "But you can come to our farm and have dinner with us as our guest."

Emma launched herself at her father, holding him tightly as she whispered in his ear, "Thank you, Papa."

Cradling the back of her head, he murmured back, "Who am I to deny my daughter of her True Love? ...Even if it does come in the form of a pirate."

Killian chuckled, betraying the fact he'd overheard her father's words, which had also triggered a concern she hadn't considered before now.

Turning back to Killian, she grasped his hook and asked, "What about Mr. Smee? He's still in port. We should share the news befores he departs with the Jolly Roger."

Killian swiped his tongue over his lips, then pressed it to the back of his teeth while looking up towards the sun, gauging, "I think we have time to make it to the docks and back again before dinner. I should break the news in person, and… I'd like to visit the old girl now that I can set foot on her without causing her harm. It's been too long since I've felt her welcoming presence, and I'd rather not wait until she makes port again."

Emma caressed his cheek, allowing him to nuzzle his face against her palm before she ran her fingers through his hair, a look of understanding shining from her eyes. "I'm sure she'll be overjoyed to have her captain back." Emma's brows pinched together as another thought struck her. Although she knew Smee would also be relieved that Killian was at long last free of his wretched curse, she couldn't help but wonder, "Do you think Smee will be at all disappointed when he learns you no longer have the ability to keep him young?"

A smile played at Killian's lips as a sly brow crept up his forehead, "I don't think he'll be too fussed once he hears the terms of the new deal I'm prepared to make with him."

"What deal?"

"My ship for a certain goose," he replied with a playful hitch of his brows before they both broke out in laughter.

"A goose?" David scoffed, confusion over their joint mirth etched across his face. "For a ship? Who in their right mind would make that deal?"

The End