Okay, so this one was written for the CS Hiatus Challenge on Tumblr, but I ended up being pretty fond of it, so I'm adding it to this collection as well. The prompt for that day's challenge entry was "Enchanted Forest", and I've set it sometime in the future, when all of our "Once" characters have returned to the EF to live.

Hope you enjoy, and as always, I'd love to hear what you think!

"New Beginnings"

By: TutorGirlml (snowbellewells on Tumblr)

This time it hadn't been a curse which brought them all back to their homeland, but a choice. After defeating Hyde, restoring Dr. Jekyll to his real self so he no longer had to be split between his kindly, mild-mannered nature and the uncontrollable brute of his own creation, and setting right all the various characters of the menagerie of untold stories unleashed and helping them return to where they belonged, it had seemed best for everyone to finally revisit the place they had come from. Maybe things would stop being thrown off course at every turn if they were in the realm where most of them truly belonged.

Emma had agreed with the decision, though not without her doubts and hesitations, wanting to see her parents able to restore their kingdom, Henry finally get to be the knight his heart had always deemed him, and Killian free to sail the Jolly on missions for her father, helping heal relations with the other remaining scattered kingdoms, rebuild the Royal Navy (head it up, if the truth be told) and then return to her in a land where for once he isn't the one constantly out of the loop, having to learn and make adjustments to all that he knows. However, now it is she who sometimes feels lost, wrong-footed, like she doesn't fit in. This isn't the land she knows; she may have been born here, but she never lived here, never got to experience it before she was gone; had never missed something she couldn't have…

She is standing in the open, airy room with its intricately colorful walls, brand-new and extravagant toys, and one-of-a-kind handcrafted crib, looking out the window over the harbor and to the sea beyond from the room which should have been her nursery, when Killian finds her, one morning a few months after their arrival in the Enchanted Forest. They have been living in her parents' castle ever since, married now, yet still with plenty of privacy – a whole wing has been allotted to their own little family with Henry – but she is the only one who sometimes wonders off alone as if searching for someplace familiar in this castle she should know like the back of her hand. Lost in her own thoughts, he watches Emma's fingers trace along the smooth wood of the windowsill pensively as she stands at the open casement. She doesn't turn, doesn't appear to have even noticed his presence.

Coming to stand just behind her, not encroaching quite into her personal space, but near enough that if she wishes his comfort she can turn to pull him closer. Setting the steaming mug of cocoa Granny had managed to finally approximate in the castle's kitchens just this morning on the dresser. He lays his hook gently on her shoulder, moving slowly, patiently, even though he had been hurried just moments before. When the Widow Lucas had told him she thought she had gotten the drink to taste the way it had at her diner in Storybrooke, he had eagerly brought the first cup to Emma, knowing she had been missing her favorite beverage. Hand now free, he reaches out to stroke it through the lovely silk of her hair. "Alright there, Love?" he asks.

She turns, drawing in a ragged breath as her eyes come up to meet his, sucking him into her orbit as they always do. Emma doesn't speak, merely nods, but on seeing what he has brought, her eyes light up, despite the swirl of emotions he had just been sensing from her. "I am now," she answers with a growing smile, as she takes his hand and pulls him nearer, burrowing into the warmth of his chest and wrapping both arms around his midsection as their bodies meet.

"Aye, Granny managed hot chocolate in our more rustic surroundings at last," Killian affirms, picking up the cup again and offering it to her. "With cinnamon, I made sure. Have a taste of her first success."

"Thank you," Emma murmurs, bringing the mug to her lips and upon her first swallow, closing her eyes and humming with pleasure at the warm, deliciousness of the sweet, decadent concoction.

He chuckles, bending his head to brush a kiss to the crown of her head and then standing quietly beside her as she sips and they both watch the world going on below them from their window view.

She glances sideways at him from under her long lashes after a few pleasantly quiet moments and asks, "You know I wasn't talking about the hot chocolate, don't you, Killian?" She wets her lips and pushes her hair back behind her ear before drawing in a deep breath and continuing. "I mean, about saying I was better now….that had nothing to do with hot chocolate…it's because – because you're here…" She stumbles a bit on the emotional admission and falls silent once she gets it out, blushing prettily and dropping her eyes, but it makes his heart swell with gratitude and joy.

Pulling her into his embrace once more, Killian whispers huskily into her hair, "Do you regret us coming back here, Swan?" His hand and hook trace tenderly over her back through the layers of dress and corset she wears now, and she feels her breath stutter at the contact despite her tumultuous emotions. Trust him to read her as usual and get right to the heart of her turmoil.

She shakes her head 'no' before finally saying. "Not really – well, not usually anyway. Henry loves it, and my parents belong here, ruling and taking care of their people. They would have never come back without me. I miss my jeans and boots, and my Bug, but I don't so much belong to any place as much as I do with you, and with them, wherever we might be. It's just…this room…sometimes I can't help but wonder. This room is full of nothing but dreams and wishes that never came true. It makes me sad sometimes. I mean, we're together now, everything's fine, but sometimes I still wish for what could have been…you know?"

He nods, knowing exactly what she means. Several possible responses come to the tip of his tongue, wanting to soothe, to heal, to make things better, but he holds them back. He wants to say that they might have never met if it weren't for the way things had gone, that she wouldn't have her lad if she hadn't been elsewhere to meet Baelfire at just the time she did, they would certainly not be together now, he would not even be allowed to touch her, nor would she even give him a second glance if she were the type of princess she might have been. None of those replies seem right though, and he doesn't want to belittle her pain or try to push it away before she is able to deal with it. He wants to say that maybe – someday – this room will not have to stand empty any longer, but he fearsnow is not the time to say that either. He would be happy just to be with her whether that day ever comes or not.

Still, Emma surprises him, putting the cup of hot cocoa aside on her dresser and reaching up to trail her fingertips across his cheek. "It's delicious, but I'd better not have too much," she shrugs when he looks at her in confusion, a question on the tip of his tongue. "I shouldn't have a lot of caffeine."

There's a twinkle of mischief in her lovely green eyes that Killian does not quite understand, and he can't keep himself from asking her what she's on about.

"Let's just say," she muses, trailing her fingers down from his face to play lightly along the open collar of his billowy shirt and the exposed part of his chest, "that I want to be careful to do everything just right, and maybe before long this room won't be unused... maybe it can finally serve its intended purpose…."

Killian's blue eyes widen in disbelief for just a moment before they are flooded with joy and excitement. He has to begin his next question several times before he can voice it sensibly. "Lass, do you mean? Truly? Are - are you with child? Our child?"

She nods happily, looking ready to burst at his exuberant reaction. Laughter peals from her lips as he picks her up and spins her around in his arms. The whole nursery looks different now, and if she needed to come all the way back to her beginnings to have this moment with him, then she is right where she belongs.