(Hello all! I'm back with another one shot. This is a future fic, but in my mind, it shouldn't really be in that distant a future. All of the things that have happened in show canon so far have happened here, but it isn't too long after the finale, so either Killian or Emma decided not to dawdle any longer and they're getting married. This one is fluffy – maybe fluffier than we'll ever really get to see played out, but I hope not! I still don't own them, but I would love to hear what you think! Enjoy!)

"Sunset on the Water"

By: TutorGirlml (snowbellewells)

He could never in his wildest flights of fancy have imagined this day, this woman, this much happiness, coming to him. Killian Jones, dressed in the proud naval finery he had donned so long ago as a bright-eyed, hopeful young lieutenant, stood at the helm of his ship, Swan's lad at his elbow, minutes from marrying his True Love. In all those years he'd spent lost in Neverland seeking the weapon to make avenging Milah possible, before that in all his years as a pirate, flouting the crown and taking what he pleased, and even longer ago, in his eternity as a slave to Captain Silver, forgotten and worn, breaking his back and scrubbing floors on his knees, beaten, ridiculed, and abused when he was noticed at all, never could he have dared to hope that he would someday win the favor and the hand of a princess.

Henry chose that moment to nudge his soon-to-be stepdad's shoulder, whispering in Killian's left ear with a certain smile in his voice. "I'm glad you finally asked her, Killian," and though it sounded as if the young man were teasing him for the hesitance he had felt, knowing that Emma loved him but not sure whether she would want marriage or not, he also heard the sincerity and genuine love in the young man he considered a son's voice. "I knew she'd say 'yes'… You've changed her, Killian, for the better. And you both deserve to have this day, before something else goes wrong."

A small snort of humorous recognition at the truth in Henry's words nearly escaped through Killian's nose, but he managed to hold back as the music swelled and everyone on deck came to their feet at the first strains of the wedding march. In the next moment, his eyes became irrevocably fixed on the bit of movement he saw emerging on stairs up from the cabins.

When Emma's golden curls wreathed by a crown of flowers as they had been in Camelot, though styled in more structured ringlets that curlicued over her shoulders and down her back, appeared in his vision, she literally stole his breath. Holding tremulously to her father's arm, Emma stepped up onto the deck stunning in her beauty. The dress she wore – purest white and reminding him of the graceful bird her name suggested, despite her arguments against being so fussy and so traditional – was perfect, giving her the look of some beguiling nymph. The neckline was wide, baring her smooth, flawless shoulders, and the long, belled sleeves were mere gauzy confections, as sleek and elegant as the rest of the straight, simple gown which trailed to her feet with only a modest train skimming the wooden planks behind her. He was shocked to see that a few tears had already escaped and dried on her face, somehow having suspected that he would be the overtly emotional one – not his brash, fearless lass.

Unconsciously, Killian nearly moved toward her, eager to wrap Emma in his arms, to soothe and reassure, but he remembered himself in the nick of time, the ceremony already in progress and their loved ones watching. Her father was with her after all, and so he held his stance and his breath, anxious for her to take her place at his side.

In the first row of folding chairs bedecked with bows, Snow White grinned at him as if she had read his mind and approved of the urge to support and to strengthen. Her daughter had been without another to lean on for far too long, and the reformed captain could see in the lovely royal's tear-filled eyes that she wanted nothing more from her daughter's mate than for him to always protect Emma and put her first. Though the bandit queen had been disapproving at first and slow to warm to him, even after Emma had made her choice clear, Snow had long since welcomed him with open arms. In fact, as they had come to know each other better, Killian could see that, improbable as it might seem, he and Emma's mother were quite similar in many surprising regards, just as Emma favored her father in both looks and demeanor and charged forth in her life in a manner which clearly echoed Prince Charming himself. After realizing it, he and Emma had chuckled over the resemblances, hearts warmed by what seemed yet another sign of how well-matched they were, that they had always been meant to find each other and patch one another back together. 'Quite a team' indeed, his mind echoed, flashing back for a fond moment to their very first adventure.

Once her father began to lead Emma forward, Killian could see his love draw a deep breath and straighten her shoulders perceptibly, moving without any more hesitation into her new life – their future. And after that, even if she was clutching Dave's arm, Emma appeared to fairly float down the aisle they had made of the Jolly's topside, and a tingle began under his skin in anticipation of being next to her once more.

The prince and his daughter reached the bow where Killian, Henry, gamely chosen as both best man and man of honor, and Belle, who had read up and gotten licensed online to serve as their officiant, stood. Dave shot him a gently warning yet playfully fond look, and Killian read it all too well and returned it with an eloquently arched brow and a smile of his own. He realized that Emma's old-fashioned, protective father had to find some way to warn the pirate just once more that if he ever broke his daughter's heart, he would make him regret it. Yet, that was tempered considerably by the fact that Killian knew Dave had come to hold him in high regard and by the genuine friendship which had formed between them. He never could have imagined that his nettling statement of winning the Prince over back in Neverland would so fully come true.

The royal gave him a small nod, understanding the look Killian sent back, and carefully placed Emma's hand in Killian's waiting grasp. Then he pulled her in for a fatherly kiss to the forehead, his hand cradling the back of her head protectively as he had both when Emma was an infant and he'd had to put her in the wardrobe and every time she had given him the chance since they'd been reunited. It took a moment before the man released his daughter again, and Killian felt a lump rise in his throat at the watery sheen in Prince Charming's eyes.

That done, however, Dave didn't hesitate again. He merely clasped Killian's shoulder firmly, held his gaze, and then nodded his approval and turned to take his seat next to Snow, after stating with absolute certainty and warmth, "Her mother and I do" when Belle asked, "Who gives this woman in marriage?"

The rest of the ceremony proceeded with the sort of blissful perfection Killian had not believed possible in generally chaotic Storybrooke. The vows washed over him; the thoughts of joining his life together with his True Love, " 'til death do they part, in sickness and in health, as long as they both shall live", no one to come between them, be it curse or villain or simple human misunderstanding, made him almost giddy with a level of joy he could not remember feeling before. It was all he could do to respond sensibly without whooping and hollering his deep delight, sweeping Emma up in his arms and twirling her around before the entire crowd. Instead, he nodded solemnly when Belle paused for his response, answered sure and steadily, "I do", and beamed only at Emma, sure that she at least could see the boundless heights of his exhilaration.

His very own Savior, his brave, bright love, did indeed return his gaze with a knowing, small smirk on her face, and her jade eyes sparkled as if telling him she knew his secret. At least until it was her own turn to return her affirmation of the marriage vows. Her smile did not fade, but her voice quavered slightly, a faint mist of tears in her eyes, and Killian was pierced to the core by the fervency of her emotion when she swore, "I do" as well.

The power of their feelings and their connection only swelled, almost vibrating in the air around them – to Killian's senses at least – as they were instructed to place the rings they had brought onto each other's fingers. The sense of completion that filled his being as Liam's resized ring slipped into its perfect place on her left hand, made it as though everything in his world, all the trials before and the challenges to come, slid into place. This was just where they both belonged and were meant to be.

Similarly, when Emma slid the heavy platinum band, a large aquamarine stone and what appeared as rolling waves engraved on it, which she had worked with the dwarves to design, onto the corresponding finger of his right hand, it was he who fought back tears, nearly overwhelmed and brought to his knees by the beauty and significance of the moment. He wore no other rings on that hand anymore; Emma having finally convinced him that he was the man he had always intended to be – a man of incredible honor – and he no longer needed to carry those reminders and the weight of their guilt and pain. They had discussed if he wished to wear it on a chain around his neck, as she had done in Camelot, or if he wanted to put the ring on the fake hand he could wear in place of his hook, but he wanted such a vial sign of their love and their permanent bond on a real and vital part of him, where it would be always in his sight and visible to others as well. He was hers, just as she was his, and he wanted the world to know.

It only added to the unbelievable sense of excitement and bubbling good humor when he could practically feel Henry snickering quietly over his shoulder and the warmth of their gathered loved ones' laughter and smiles as well. For a moment, Killian wondered almost dazedly if they could all read his mind, or if somehow his feelings were so immense, so powerful, that they could not be contained within and they were escaping to float in the air where all could see and experience them. Then he realized it was much simpler. He hadn't let go of Emma's hand since they'd put the rings on each other's fingers, and without even realizing he was doing so, he had been pulling her closer and leaning into her as well, as inexorably as if drawn by a magnet, until Belle with a playful smile on her lips and a light blush high on her cheeks cleared her throat and said, "Since it would appear our groom is about to do so with or without prompting, I believe I should hurry to pronounce you now husband and wife."

Emma's cheeks flushed an adorably bright shade of pink as the group observing did laugh aloud at Belle's gentle remonstrance and then broke into genuine applause as Killian pulled Emma into his arms and she went willingly, eagerly, every bit as glad as he to at last be pledging their troth, no longer to be parted.

He bent her backward in a deep, graceful dip, making Emma feel like the heroine in one of those romantic comedy movies she'd taken home from the Redbox in another life, after bringing in a particularly tricky skip. She'd watched them alone with a bag of Oreos in her pjs, but never admitted she liked or wanted any part of such romance, and had mocked such tales if they ever came up in conversation, convinced that such feelings didn't exist in the real world. Their lips met and all those around them, the ceremony itself and the deck they stood, on all faded away as she was swept up in the sensation. It wasn't until she felt what seemed like fireworks and starlight popping and blazing that she had to open her eyes, even as a burst of power rocked the boat and nearly knocked her off her feet, making her cling even more tightly to Killian's shoulders.

Blinking, stunned to near disbelief, Killian realized they had just shared that ultimate True Love's kiss that Emma's parents have made famous, and one more look into Emma's wide, awestruck eyes told him she had realized the same.

Henry's voice called out then, as the lad's hand shook his shoulder, pointing out over the rail to a huge, colorfully stunning rainbow arching over the water to the horizon. "Mom! Killian!" he exclaimed, the true believer's enthusiasm brimming in his voice. "You kiss did that!"

And as the waves roll, more strongly than they had before, and they turned to look at their loved ones gathered to celebrate with them for the first time as husband and wife, Killian knew they would always be one, two wounded hearts molded together to heal. When a phone rang as he and Emma started down the aisle, the pirate's eyes quickly spotted Leroy ending his call and already gathering his breath to sound whatever alarm was needed.

Raising his hand, as Emma was holding his hook in her own, he stopped the self-appointed town crier. "Not this time, Dwarf," he growled, only half kidding, as Leroy swallowed hard enough to make clear he knew it. "My wife will not be robbed of her reception, her honeymoon, and all of the wonderful moments she well deserves to have and look back on. Whatever it is, you shall have to manage without us just this once."

To everyone's surprise, Leroy's gruffly offered the smallest of awkward bows and shot him a half-grin in response. "You know, Captain, you've got a point. This one's on us."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hours later, when the cake has been cut and the first piece shared – Emma had smushed hers all around his mouth and even managed to get icing up his nose, while Killian had gently and delicately fed a careful bite to her – the bouquet has been tossed, and the pirate groom had playfully removed the garter with his teeth, swinging it on his hook in victory before tossing it over his shoulder to catch Archie by surprise when it landed right in his barely outstretched palm, the dwarf contingent returns, having set the situation at Clark's drugstore to rights on their own, the newly wed pirate and princess are diligently seeing everyone off the ship. Her parents and Henry, before hurrying to catch up with Regina who waits on the dock, are the last ones to leave, each hugging both Emma and Killian and telling them how happy they are for them.

Despite the wonderful, dreamy quality of the entire day, and how they had enjoyed spending it with all of those they love, Emma feels herself drawing in a breath of relief, so glad to finally have her husband all to herself, and she thrills to the next thought, that she will have him for the rest of their lives. As quiet and peace washes over the Jolly Roger and the water around them, the two of them stand at the helm in the sunset glow, eyes on the horizon, as they set sail for their future.