(This one is set sometime in the not-so-distant future, post-season five finale, and Killian, Emma, and Henry are enjoying their new life together as a family. I don't know that there is too much else you need to know to enjoy this one. I still don't own them of course, I'm just imagining some of the lovely domestic moments that we don't always get to see.)

"Cake by the Ocean"

By: TutorGiirlml

"Oh come on!" Emma Swan's voice rang out in a dismayed cry of frustration over the blaring wail of the smoke detector, even if reluctant humor tinged her words as well. "Seriously, Killian? This is exactly what I warned you about!"

A deep, resonating chuckle followed her as surely as his footsteps when she tore back into their new home's kitchen, grabbed a towel, jerked open the oven door, and began frantically fanning the clouds of smoke which poured from within. "Come now, Darling," he chided gently, his hook stroking lazily down her spine until she shied away from the touch. Though she refused to turn and look, Emma knew her pirate was leering at her. "Let's not pretend you didn't enjoy the distraction."

Huffing out a breath, Emma turned to offer him an unimpressed look, fighting stubbornly to keep from either a blush or the concession of her attraction in her eyes, but instead rolling them at him and conveying annoyance. Whether or not his waylaying her had been delicious fun, he had caused her to ruin the birthday cake she'd worked so hard to make – for him. Baking much beyond macaroni and cheese or Pop Tarts was still a learning process, and she wanted so badly to create something delicious that Killian – or at least the ridiculous sweet tooth of his she'd recently discovered - couldn't resist. However, thanks to his accosting her in their bedroom, what was meant to be moist, rich chocolate cake was now a charred, blackened hunk of garbage.

She turned to look at her erstwhile man, who was much too attractive for his own good and looking inordinately pleased with himself. When he had the gall to wrinkle his nose in distaste at the burnt smell now taking over the kitchen, she glared at his expression and took the intended dessert from the kitchen and strode to the back porch to dump the whole mess into the outside trash bin in a huff. "Don't wrinkle your nose at me, Buddy," she warned, "and no complaints about the smell. If you hadn't been so determined to sidetrack me, we wouldn't have a problem."

Killian arched a brow maddeningly, looking at her with entirely too much knowing confidence and making Emma unsure whether she wanted to smack him or jump him. "Now, now, Love," he purred in her ear silkily, hook rising again to trail along the edge of her wide-necked sweater and making her shiver. "Don't lie to yourself. You were all too pleased just a moment ago when this nose and these lips were trailing along – "

"Oh no, I don't think so!" she interrupted abruptly, pushing away from him and blushing furiously despite her best efforts. Emma wasn't really that angry with him, and she also couldn't deny the sheer magnetism her ridiculously handsome pirate held over her the moment he decided to wield it, but she was just stubborn enough to deny how affected she was, and to want him to show even the tiniest hint of remorse for ruining his own belated birthday treat. "You'd think I was making that cake for someone else, as determined as you were to sabotage it," she grumbled, wiping her hands on a kitchen towel and then turning to him and almost unconsciously resting her palms on his chest, deliciously warm even through the cotton of his shirt; pretending to be cross with him worked about as well as trying to resist him in the first place.

Still, a genuinely sheepish look did cross Killian's face as he stepped closer to her and brought hand and hook to rest on her waist, caressing softly. "Apologies, Lass, truly," he offered in that gently lilting voice she really couldn't resist. "I suppose I simply failed to see its importance to you."

In that moment, understanding flooded over Emma, catching what was really going on in a flash of insight that would probably have been immediately clear were their situations reversed, Killian being so good at reading her it sometimes seemed he was in her head. Her handsome sailor wasn't sure he wanted any fuss about his birthday, didn't think anyone beyond Emma and Henry should care too much, didn't want to put anyone out or cause any trouble; it made sense now why he had been subtly slowing her down and distracting her every step of the way as she had tried to put together a party, invite guests, make a cake, and find the perfect present. Now she saw why it had only been a slip with Henry that allowed them to know his birthday had passed at all.

Looking up into his beloved face, Emma sighed, bringing her fingers to trail along his scruffy cheek. "I shouldn't be messing with all of this anyway, should I?" she whispered, searching his gaze hopefully, and seeing the way it cleared with relieved happiness at her words. "I'm sorry, Killian, this got out of hand and it should be about what you want anyway, not me."

His eyes were so gentle and adoring, and his low, rich voice warmed her as he started to protest, "Oh Lass, I didn't mean to imply that – "

She shook her head, grinning crookedly and taking his hand to pull him after her. "It's alright," she reassured, flipping off lights and making sure everything in the house was off as she lead him to the front door. "Come on, Pirate. Change of plans."

CS^^^^^^^^^CS^^^^^^^^^^^CS

They ended up at the beach, princess and pirate, laughingly huddled together on a large piece of driftwood not far from the water line, a little colder than expected as the brisk New England weather had turned decidedly toward autumn, but laughing all the same, and both digging forks into a cake procured from Granny's.

"We might have known that the formidable Widow Lucas would have some grasp of what a pirate such as meself would most enjoy as a birthday dessert," Killian smirked joyfully, though his usually distinct speaking style was somewhat hampered by a mouthful of the rich, flavorful cake he was so happily enjoying he couldn't seem to wait even a moment to shove another fork full of it in.

"Well, I should have known a rum cake was the way to go," Emma agreed wryly, "if I'd known such a thing existed."

Both of them chewed and savored the sweetly spicy cake, and Emma couldn't help fondly remembering Granny's response when she had called the older woman a few hours back. After she'd explained her kitchen mishap and that she needed a cake for Killian, Granny had sounded so mischievously pleased with herself when she told Emma 'I've got just the thing. Give me two hours and you can come pick it up," that only Killian himself could have rivaled her tone of voice.

"Never fear, Darling," Killian interrupted her reminiscence then as he nudged her shoulder and shot her a wink that made her pulse flutter. "I am certain I would have loved the cake you made me equally well. It is my fault after all that it was ruined, not a reflection on your skills."

The way his lips formed the word "skills" and the inflection he placed on it made Emma shift anxiously on her perch beside him, almost unable to sit still without grabbing onto the edges of his new black vest and hauling him into her to taste the rum and sugar on his tongue. Trying to be satisfied just gazing at his profile for a second, the spell was broken a bit by more innocent affection when he saw that the sugar granules which had been dusted on top of the cake were now scattered in his beard and scruff.

Reaching out to brush it away for him, she grinned crookedly and murmured, "Aren't you the sweet talker?" without any real bite to her words.

"Aye, Love, that I am," he replied saucily, running his ridiculous, sinful tongue over his lower lip and then biting said lip as if he knew precisely what it did to her. "At the moment, I can say that quite literally."

Both of them fell companionably silent for a moment, finishing up their delectable treat from the Diner's wily proprietor and then curling into each other's arms as the waves crashed against the rocky coastline before them.

Humming contentedly, Emma eventually pulled away from her pirate just enough to look up into his eyes with a teasing smile and add, "You know Henry has a present for you too when he gets back from Regina's this evening."

Killian tilted his head in genuinely confused surprise as he returned her happy gaze. "Truly? He needn't have worried about that."

Emma shook her head at him, having known he would feel Henry didn't need to get him anything, but equally entertained by how determined Henry had been to find this man they both loved a perfect gift, and how set he had been on a reluctant Regina being the one to take him shopping. "You won't be able to keep it a secret from him, Mom," Henry had argued.

Emma worried again briefly if her newly teenaged son had too much an idea of Killian's methods for making her talk, but all she said in response, scratching her fingernails through Killian's hair behind his ears was, "There was no stopping him." She paused then whispered with added emphasis, "He loves you, Killian…we both do."

It was a touching, but no longer surprising, sight to see the infamous Captain Hook swallow a clear lump in his throat before he could respond, touched enough by her words that he had to gather himself before he spoke. "And I you," he breathed out, voice a bit soft in awe, "both of you."

Looking down just a moment, he wet his lips, watching their joined hands on his knee as he interlocked their fingers, and Emma waited, sensing he hadn't finished speaking yet. "I am honored your boy would go to so much trouble, Lass. I don't exaggerate when I say an actual age has passed since anyone cared to celebrate my birth…not since Liam gifted me with a sextant on my birthday just before I was made lieutenant and we set off on our ill-fated mission to Neverland."

Emma could not have stopped the tears welling up in her eyes at that moment for any price; just considering again the long stretch of years Killian had lived alone in a burning agony of anger and vengeance, no longer able to see or imagine a way back out to the light. She reached out to brush her fingertips lightly over the faded scar high on his cheekbone soothingly. "Well," she vowed solemnly, her voice trembling a bit with emotion, but her tone conveying just how seriously she meant every word, "you have two people now who can't wait to celebrate birthdays with you from now on. More than that, actually. I mean, did you see how pleased with herself Granny looked when your eyes lit up at the sight of her rum cake? And my dad is really proud of what he and Mom picked out for you too."

Killian's eyes had been suspiciously shiny at the emotions their talk had stirred up, but at this last, they sparkled more mischievously. "Is that so, Swan?" he murmured, that eyebrow of his quirking adorably again. "The Prince picked out a gift for me, did he?"

Shaking her head at his antics, Emma chuckled softly and leaned in to kiss the tip of his nose. "Yes," she affirmed emphatically, not quite ready to give up her seriousness until Killian understood this point. "You know very well that you 'won him over' a long time ago. You're part of our family…You have a family again, Killian."

His face straightened once more as he gazed down at his love with full sincerity. "Aye, though I can barely believe it, I thank my lucky stars every day for that fact."

This time, it was Emma's gravity that dissolved into playfulness once the fraught moment had passed. "Oh, and one more thing," she teased, making every effort to wiggle her eyebrows seductively as he did, even if she probably failed quite comically. "I have another gift for you before we meet up with the rest of them."

Standing, Emma tried to employ a bit of breathy flirtation in her voice as she pulled him after her. Rubbing her curves up against his side for just a moment, she added huskily, "Why don't you grab the rest of your cake and follow me? It's on your ship." She walked forward a few steps, then looked back over her shoulder and had to bite back a giggle at the way his eyes almost bugged seeing the extra sway she put in her hips.

"Is that so?" he asked, voice rasping huskily in spite of the feigned calm in his demeanor. "Will I like this mystery gift?"

She knew she had him then as she continued to lead him back up the beach to the docks, commanding herself to keep up her languid sashay instead of taking off at a run. She threw a wink back over her shoulder before she purred, "Oh, I've been assured that you love every part of it."

Killian's booted feet closed the distance between them in seconds and he was soon wrapping his free arm around her waist and propelling them forward at greater speed, much to her delight. As the sounds of their feet echoed on the rough wooden planks of the dock, he breathed in her ear. "In that case, my lovely little minx, I believe I know exactly what it is…and am already anxious to unwrap it."

She could feel the flush spread hotly from her forehead to her toes as his lips brushed against the shell of her ear. Her knees suddenly quivered with so much anticipation that she merely waited unsteadily for his hand up to help her onto his ship.

He winked at her then, and murmured lowly, "After you, Love." Then he swept his hand out to beckon her forward and followed her to the captain's quarters.