When Emma's breathing evened out and her grip on his shirt front slackened, Killian finally let his thoughts drift. He leaned over the side of the bed and felt for his dagger, tucking it blade-down between the mattress and the bedframe, where he could rest with one arm around Emma and the babe, and one hand on the handle.

Regina and his father had confirmed that the way back to Storybrooke had not reopened with Arthur's death, a fact that Killian had chosen not to share with Emma, though he knew she suspected as much. Back on the Jolly, he had made the excuse of visiting Oona and Mac to paper over the impossibility of returning home. Merlin had cast the spell, and it seemed to Regina that only Merlin could unlock the door.

Trying to think of every possibility, Killian remembered the fairies' promise to research a way around; it was time to pay them a visit. The last thing he wanted was for Emma to face the most powerful wizard in the realms. He had faith she would prevail, but he no longer wanted to trust her to faith and her own resources. She deserved to be taken care of, deserved to have her now extensive family protect her and smooth the way. And, he admitted to himself, he couldn't bear the thought of Emma taking a hit of Merlin's magic while carrying a child; he knew she would find such concern antiquated and condescending, so he didn't say it, but there it was. He had no idea from which direction Merlin might attack, or even if he intended to do so. Did he want Killian? Emma? Gods forbid, did he want their baby? He knew that the thought had already occurred to his father and to Regina: the product of True Love twice over, the baby was quite probably the source of Emma's erratic magic.

He closed his eyes for a moment to concentrate. David, Mac, Snow and Regina could protect this household. He would sail Emma to the fairies tomorrow – a short visit only, nothing to exhaust her - after she had rested and the family had welcomed them back with tonight's banquet. He would go himself, but he knew that his heart was nowhere near pure enough to grant him entry without Emma at his side. Also, he needed the fairies to analyse the baby's magic. He had in his mind that they may need to return to New York for the delivery, if the way back to Storybrooke remained blocked. He did not want to entrust Emma's health nor the babies' to the Enchanted Forest's version of medical care.

Too many possibilities. He didn't like it. He opened his eyes again as Emma shifted in her sleep, rubbing her face into his linen shirt. He knew he should take his own advice and stop worrying for a few minutes, just enjoy having Emma and his child safe in his arms, no immediate enemy to fight and his newly discovered family amassing below stairs for a party in their honour. He did what he had done since childhood, he lay still and listened. He listened to the sounds of the house and the sound of Emma breathing, enjoying the peace and ever-prepared for it to be torn apart.

…

Emma blinked and stretched, feeling Killian still lying exactly as she had left him, unmoving and watchful. The world outside the window had gone dark, and the sound of voices and music drifted up the stairways of the great house. The party had begun.

She slipped her arm beneath Killian's far shoulder and pulled him towards her. She let her hand drift across his face and into his hair, down though what could only now be described as a beard.

"Fuzzy," she laughed, "I rather like it." She continued to let her hands explore his body. "How long before we're truly late?"

Killian shrugged. "Plenty of time. Everyone knew you needed a rest." He unravelled the ribbon that held her shift in place and slipped the material down her arms. He ran his thumbs over her nipples and then lowered his mouth down to the breasts he had been considering for much of the past two hours. She sighed as he rubbed his beard across her breasts and then followed the same path with his lips and tongue. He sucked gently on one nipple and let another hand drag across her stomach, over her hip bone under the back of her thigh. He ran a knuckle between her legs and touched Emma as lightly as he could to still give her what she needed.

Emma wondered precisely when Killian had taken it into his head that she was to be treated with such delicate consideration. She would admit to exhaustion, but she knew it would pass. She did not feel unwell in the slightest. But she was no more or less pregnant than she had been when she'd been dragged down into a dungeon by Sir Kay, or twice into the Underworld by Davy Jones. Or when he'd thrown his jealous fit on the Jolly Roger. Oh, she thought. Oh. He's been scared. Deeply frightened. And now it was all going to be making love and butterflies and rainbows until he got over it. No more pirate. Still, he was working a reverent sort of magic with his tongue now. She felt the whole reasoning process slipping away as he slowly wound her up, her legs unconsciously spreading wider. She threaded her fingers into his hair and tugged for his attention.

"Mmmm. Up here, please, Captain."

He grinned and kissed his way back up her body, sliding in effortlessly as he gathered her up closer to him. He took his time, moving at a pace that would normally have her scratching her nails down his back for more. Instead she let him run the show because he was running it so expertly well. When she started to breathe out little moans that rose in pitch and intensity with every slow, deep thrust, he sped up just a touch. When she started calling out his name, he sped up more. When she screamed out her completion, he allowed himself a few hard, fast, uncontrolled thrusts before he spilled himself inside of her.

Even after he'd lifted himself away from her – none of the crushing weight she loved, he said he worried about the baby – he carried on kissing her, muttering over and over that how much he loved her. Emma basked. She glowed. She whispered it all back to him.

Finally she pushed herself up on her elbow. "Killian, we need to head down to that party they're throwing for us." She swung out of bed and quickly washed up, then wandered the room naked, picking up their clothing from the floor and laying it out on the bed. She shimmied into her shift again and arranged the sparkling blue dress on top. "Can you do up all these laces and buttons for me?"

Once he had buttoned up his shirt and Emma had fixed his cufflinks in place, he laced up her dress, pausing to run his hands one more time over her belly. "You're quite certain we won't harm the baby this way?"

Emma laughed. "I'm going to have to draw all those anatomy pictures for you again, aren't I? I thought you'd Googled all this back in New York?"

"I did, but that was before I could see that he or she is taking up actual space." He shook his head self-deprecatingly. "Now I have more of a sense of him. Or her. I guess maybe you've had that the whole time." He shrugged. "Listen, another thing… I, um, got you a little something. We're going downstairs in front of all these people, and I just wanted you to have a small gift from me to wear." He pulled something of out his jacket pocket that seemed to catch every bit of light in the room, absorb it, and reflect it back at her.

"Jesus Christ, Killian. Are those blue diamonds?" There must have been 50 tear-drop stones of varying sizes, interwoven with delicate silver metalwork. The piece was ornate, impossible to gauge its value, but intricate and architectural and utterly stunning. He stood behind her and signalled that she should lift her hair to bare her neck.

"Not diamonds, they're much rarer and much stronger. A stone that is mined only in Neverland, in a hollow that only the fairies can access." He fastened the necklace around her throat, his fingers lingering over her skin after he fitted the clasp together. He turned her towards the mirror over the hearth. "The stones are meant to protect a faithful love. Do you like it?"

She stood speechless in front of the mirror, letting her fingers move over the stones and silverwork. Killian hugged her from behind, and spoke in a quiet, seductive voice: "I've had the stones for years – by which I mean longer than you've been alive. Of all the things I've, well – let's say acquired – these stones have the most monetary value. When we arrived here on our last trip, I left them with an expert metalworker, and Mac has kept it for me since." He pressed both of his hands onto 'her abdomen, his arms encircling her. "Do you like it?"

She nodded wordlessly, and he smiled: "I'll take that as a yes."

She turned around in his arms and slid her hands up the back of his neck and into his hair. "Thank you, it's absolutely gorgeous, Killian. No one has ever given me anything like this, but then no one has ever given me trust or love or happiness like you do, either." She kissed him, slow and deep. "I love you very much."

"Come along, Ms Swan," he said, twirling her towards the door in time to the music they could hear floating up the stairs. "I have a sudden desire to show you off to everyone we know, and few hundred that we don't."

…

Every floorboard on the ground floor of the house creaked and protested with the weight of hundreds of men, women and children, all dressed in their finery. Emma paused on the stairs next to Killian, unsure for the moment how they would negotiate a space for themselves. All the doors and windows were thrown wide open to the square to the front and the garden to the back, but those spaces seemed as filled with music and laughter and chatter as the rooms inside. Emma took one unconscious step back up the stairs, but Killian put his arm at the small of her back and drew her close. They both hated large crowds - too hard to see an enemy approaching – but Killian trusted his relatives to have kept the party safe.

Regina saw Emma arrive, or rather she saw Emma's necklace arrive. Even with nothing more than candlelight to reflect, if flashed blindingly across the room. Looking at the crowed separating her from her friend, she sighed and magicked her way to Emma in a puff of purple smoke.

Regina whistled low. "Look at that. It's incredible," Regina said, touching the necklace. She nodded to Killian, still hovering protectively near Emma. "Did he give this to you?" Emma nodded, and Regina whistled again. "Well, I guess a pirate would know jewellery. It's beautiful, Killian. And it screams, 'Hands off, she's mine' like nothing else could. Well, nothing short of a wedding ring." Regina grinned and nudged him good-naturedly in the ribs. "Feeling possessive, Hook?"

Killian tightened his grip on Emma's hip. "Extremely." He spotted Mac and Oona talking to Snow and David through the parlour door. He considered drawing his sword to clear a path to them.

Regina took Emma's hand and pulled her down the last few steps, with Killian close by. He still had flashbacks to the last party they'd attended here, which had ended in Emma's blood reflecting off the cobblestones in the square. He wasn't about to let her out of his sight.

David managed to squeeze forward and create some space for them, and Snow fetched them drinks, wine for Regina and Killian and soda water flavoured with a local flower for Emma. "Oona, how many people are here? And why?" Emma asked, her eyes huge.

Oona laughed, a light, free sound. "Oh, word got out, it all went out of control. I'm just shooing people into the square to make space. We're setting up tables of food and drink out there, and moving another band to the middle of the square. That should sort the overcrowding. But they've all come to see the long lost princess and her pirate, and the king and queen, of course," she said, nodding at Snow and David. "Cath Harbour was under King George's protection, but of course his kingdom merged with Snow's after David took over as his heir."

Snow took Emma's arm and squeezed affectionately. "They're all hoping for a big announcement," she said pointedly in Killian's direction. "But they don't need one," she reassured quickly. "That's up to the two of you."

Emma raised an eyebrow and threw a baffled look at Killian. "Announcement?"

David spoke up, gruff and plain. "They expect that Killian will ask you to marry him." Emma chocked ungraciously on one of the little white flowers in her drink. Killian whacked her on the back unceremoniously. David continued: "I suppose as you've already announced your pregnancy, and given your position as princess, there's a certain protocol that people here believe you will follow."

Emma found her voice: "I am not getting married to satisfy some outdated notions of propriety," she huffed. Killian remained stoically silent beside her.

David sighed. "Public opinion is very much that I should have already put Killian to the sword for what he's done."

"Oh, for god's sake, David, I was hardly a victim of his advances," Emma rolled her eyes.

"Yes, Emma, I have lived in the modern realm enough to understand all of that. I am explaining the mores of this realm to you, as it's the one you're currently living in. And in this realm, Killian would never have dared… not without marrying you, and not without asking me for permission to marry you."

"He did do this to me in this realm!"

Snow intervened: "Your father just means that if you had grown up here…"

"…which I did not…"

"…which you did not… but if you had, Killian would never have…" Snow trailed off, blushing.

"He would never have jumped you outside the sanctity of holy matrimony," Regina finished the sentence. "And frankly Captain Hook would never have gotten anywhere near the princess under even formal circumstances, and certainly not under naked circumstances."

Mac and Oona watched the exchange with barely suppressed laughter; it was quite clear that their kinsman had no need to marry Emma: their mutual devotion was evident to anyone with eyes to look.

"That's enough of everyone upsetting my pregnant girlfriend," Killian interrupted. "Emma and I will get married, or not, if she decides that the moment is right. It is no one's business but ours, and there is no proposal forthcoming tonight. Sorry, David," Killian held up a hand to Emma's father, who had opened his mouth to speak, "but you cannot expect to send a baby all alone to the Land Without Magic for 28 years, and then expect her to play by the rules of good form of this realm. By the standards of Emma's realm, I have behaved with perfectly good form. I have no intention of letting the baby grow up without a name and a father and a home. You should know by now that I will take care of her, and she will take care of me."

Emma gave her mother and father a quick hug to settle the argument, but did not contradict Killian. No proposals and no talk of marriage tonight. She took Killian's hand and pulled him towards the garden. People stepped aside and let them pass, except for Mac's family, who pulled them into hugs and asked after the baby. Killian and Emma made their way to the tree at the end of the garden where he had made her scream, as the children had put it. They sat down on the grass beneath the tree, decorated with fairy lights tonight. He leaned back against the tree and she leaned against him, sitting between his legs.

"It's too quiet," she said, straight off.

"The house is packed to bursting, two bands playing, enough food to feed an army and it's a fair bit louder than actual battles I've fought. What the hell are you on about, woman?"

She sighed loudly, unbelieving that she had to explain herself. "I mean we're stuck here and we're doing nothing about it." She turned around halfway and tilted her nose up into his jawline. "What do you know of Merlin? How do we find him? We could wait years… maybe all he wants is to keep us out of Storybrooke."

He stroked her hair and repeated the line of thinking he'd pursued while she was sleeping earlier. "I think we need to consult the fairies again. You're right, we should seek out Merlin. I know you want to get home."

"Where's home, Killian?"

"Pardon? I don't understand."

"Simple: where's home? Where you own property? Cuz that's New York. Where my family lives? Storybrooke, for now, but they're not from there and I feel sure Mom and Dad will want to reclaim their kingdom in the Enchanted Forest at some point soon. Where Henry will feel comfortable? Well, I'm not sure where that is. He grew up in a cursed town. Where your family is? That's right here. Is this home? The Jolly Roger?"

"Home is where we can be together, Emma. You choose."

"Ah! No. I choose when and if we marry, when and where we live? I just want to know what you want, Killian. What you honestly want, and not what you think I want to hear."

"I'd always chose to live at sea, but that's not compatible with you and children and our families. And just so you know, I do want to marry you, and I would marry you at any moment you choose. But I also do not need it. I love you, and I know that you love me, and not everyone has the benefit of fairies telling them it's True Love. I have no doubt of your love."

"Do you still want to be a pirate?"

He thought about it. "Not exactly. But I don't want to never have been a pirate, either. I won't deny that fighting skills and my willingness to kill when necessary have come in handy."

She nodded. "I love that part of you. I can't believe that any version of you in any realm would have asked permission of someone other than me before you had sex with me."

Killian grinned. "Good form or no, I would never have asked Dave for his opinion on the matter." He lowered his head to kiss her, running his hands along her breasts at the same time. One of Mac's brothers chose that moment to take a turn around the back of the garden.

"Ah, I should have known I'd find you two here. That tree again, huh? Just keep the noise down," he laughed and wandered off.

Emma stared after him. "What must they think of us? I will never get used to so many people wanting to know our business."

Killian shrugged; they were both loners and the opinion of others mattered fairly little to him. "So, do you want to visit the fairies, my True Love? Figure out how we take on Merlin?"

"You make it sound easy. How do we get there?"

Killian inclined his head toward her chest and ran one fingers along her ornate necklace. "It's not just a pretty bauble, love. That necklace will find its way home if you will it so. It will take us to the fairy hollow in Neverland."

Emma laced her fingers through Killian's and he held tight to her. She touched the fingers of her right hand to the gemstones and infused them with her magic. A soft, blue-green glow surrounded them and Emma could feel the damp vastness of Neverland behind her eyes.

As the glow intensified, Oona and Snow came out into the garden looking for them. Mac's brother had just reported that he'd seen them kissing beneath their tree, enjoying the relative privacy of the far end of the garden. Giggling, Oona and Snow ran out the tree and pretended to cover their eyes. "We won't look! But come in for a quick toast…" Snow stopped mid-sentence. She rounded the tree twice, and then checked out every other tree in the large garden.

Emma and Killian were gone.