(This little one shot was meant to be for a group prompt a few weeks back, right before the end of hiatus, where David catches Killian and Emma in a compromising position. I got it started, then got interrupted, and am just now finally finishing it and getting it typed. I thought it ended up pretty cute though, and I still wanted to post it, so I hope you will enjoy. Better late than never, I guess!)

(Clearly, I still don't own them. More of this fun, fluffy stuff would get to be seen onscreen if I did…)

"Caught Off Guard"

David Nolan, the Enchanted Forest's Prince Charming turned deputy sheriff, whistled happily as he climbed the front steps to his daughter's new home, enjoying the crisp autumn morning and looking forward to the boys' day out he has planned, and for which he has come to pick up his grandson and best mate. He raps his knuckles once sharply on the door, but doesn't pause long enough to notice if anyone calls out a response or not – they should be expecting him and the door is unlocked, so he turns the knob and steps into the foyer. He can smell the warm, welcoming scent of fresh coffee brewing and hear cabinets opening and closing, along with the sound of pots and pans clanging in the kitchen. Chuckling to himself good naturedly, he heads in that direction, intending to help Emma, who has to be the one making that much noise. As amazing and capable as his daughter is in almost every other area of life, she is a disaster when cooking. If she is up trying to make a big breakfast to send her boys off, maybe he had better see if she needs a hand.

However, as he rounds the corner and the kitchen comes into view, the smile freezes. His feet halt in their tracks and the happy greeting he'd been ready to speak dies in his throat as David nearly swallows his tongue instead. Right in front of him is his daughter, sleep mussed and tousled hair piled up on top of her head, one side of her shirt slipping of her shoulder to show an expanse of skin, and legs bared all the way up to mid-thigh. Too late to retreat, a shocked wheeze escapes him as she turns, sees her father gaping at her and grabs at the barely buttoned front of the black pirate shirt she's wearing as an entire outfit. A shirt he realizes in turns of horror, anger, and embarrassment that he has seen before, on someone who isn't his only daughter. She's wearing one of the pirate's old shirts – and it's barely covering her at that!

"Dad!" Emma gasps, a blush staining her cheeks and spreading down her neck and more exposed chest than he really needs to see. "What are you doing here? Don't you knock?!"

The prince stammers in his own shame, "Well, um…I…I did…once? Sorry…I just figured you guys would be ready…since Killian and Henry are going with me."

"That's tomorrow morning!" she yelps, sounding deceptively like the petulant teen he never got to meet. "Henry's not even here!" She flaps a hand nervously, until she realizes it raises her hemline even more and jerks it back down, turning an even deeper crimson as she does and studiously avoiding his eyes.

Just then, as if the moment needed to get even more awkward, footsteps sound on the stairs and Killian Jones' voice calls out mere moments before he appears in the kitchen as well. "Swan, what's all the yelling?" he asks, rubbing his hand sleepily in his sleep-disheveled hair which is already standing up everywhere in dark tufts. A lazy smirk stretches over his face as a wicked twinkle lights his eyes. "Daydreaming about the Captain awaiting your return upstairs and catch the food on fire again?"

He clearly hasn't noticed his mate's presence in the room yet, at least not until Emma only responds with a pained squeak and Killian's gaze slides over to see her father's eyes bulging wide enough to look as though he is having an apoplexy. "Oh…hello Dave," Killian offers much more quietly, flushing a bit himself.

With what piece of Emma's brain is not completely flooded with embarrassment enough to think, her heart is almost warmed by the amount of chagrin Killian seems to feel, not quite meeting David's eyes and clearly not wanting his mate to think less of him or to inadvertently make the situation worse. She had half expected him to tease or 'poke the bear' so to speak, roll his tongue salaciously against his cheek in that positively indecent way she loves, puff out his chest, smirk, arch that eyebrow, and basically send her father into a breakdown. However, her pirate is clearly more focused on not wanting to make the royal rescind the welcome he has been granted into Emma's family. "Didn't see you there," he nearly mumbles, rather unnecessarily, eyes now glued to his shuffling bare feet with a shy evasiveness Emma has rarely seen from him.

By the same turn, Emma's eyes flick back over to her dad's face, seeing him visibly trying to bring his reaction back under control and stay calm. She is honestly torn between wanting to cross the room toward him, pat him on the shoulder sympathetically, and put him out of his misery, and to heed her desire to flee the room, run upstairs to change, and not show her face again until she is completely covered in her usual jeans, turtleneck, and red leather jacket.

Killian does throw a slightly chagrined comforting smile to the side, as if to say, 'It's going to be fine, Swan. We'll laugh at this later,' and it allows her to take in a deep breath and press on.

"So…" she tries, hoping to help them move past their uneasiness and into something a bit more normal. "Are we okay here, Dad? Do you want to have some eggs and pancakes with us before we go into the station? I'll go get dressed while Killian dishes thing up, if you want…"

David shakes his head gently, clears his throat, runs a hand over the back of his neck for a moment uncertainly, hesitating to cause offense, but not wishing to stay in this uncomfortable moment, lingering and extending it any longer than necessary. "Ah, I ate before I left home. Snow had to be at the school early and left a ham and cheese casserole she'd made for me. Maybe I'll just let you guys get back to your meal, and I'll see you later?"

Emma nods, relieved that her dad isn't going to drag this out and is trying to carry on normally, as though nothing has changed. "Sounds good," she offers simply, braving a tiny smile at him for his effort.

Just as David turns to go, however, a little of Killian Jones' insouciant nature seems to return to the pirate. Stepping fully into the room and right up to Emma, playfully slinging an arm around Emma's shoulders and smacking a purposefully sloppy kiss to her cheek, he then waggles his eyebrows cheekily at his friend and offers, "Good to see you, Dave. Come again any time."

David glares at him, really taking the pirate True Love of his daughter under detailed consideration for the first time. A 'harumph' of displeasure rumbles in his chest and his crosses his arms grumpily, looking ready to dig in his heels and fire back a response. Emma can nearly read the expression on his face as if he has said out loud, 'Really mate, since when are you Master of this Domain?' but then David's face blanches, his gaze focusing on a new detail.

The Prince's eyes pan lower to take in the comfortable flannel lounge pants Killian Jones wears low on his hips. At first, the deputy finds himself wondering at the tough sailor wearing cozily checked, blue-and-red sleepwear and where Captain Hook would have even gotten such pajamas. But as he looks a bit closer he realized he's seen those sleep pants before – they're old castoffs of his! Realization hits that Snow must have donated them to their daughter's pirate instead of Goodwill the last time he'd cleaned out his dresser. Before he really thinks it through, David takes a step forward, gesturing wildly before finally sputtering out, "What are you doing with my old pajama pants, Hook?!"

Killian looks down at himself, teasing grin sliding from his face and reddening blush staining his skin, nearly dark enough to match Emma's, then slides his eyes over to meet Emma's questioningly.

Shrugging, Emma offers sheepishly, "When Killian first returned to life, I really wanted to get him some comfortable, modern clothes, but it's not like we really got time to go out shopping in the real world with Hyde and Gold and all that chaos happening – as usual. Mom gave me some old things for him to wear around the house that she said you didn't wear anymore."

"Oh yeah," her father mumbles, now the one shuffling his feet a bit and not meeting Emma or Killian's eyes. "She's right…that's fine."

"Okay, then," Emma says, clapping her hands once as if dismissing the matter and putting brightness and authority into her voice as she steps forward to usher David toward the front door while Killian moves to salvage the breakfast she had begun and then nearly let burn in her distraction. "So, I'll see you in an hour or so?"

Dutifully, her father turns and walks ahead of her back to the entryway, clearly about ready to escape the private moment he walked into. Turning at the front steps as he opens the door, he looks over his shoulder and offers his grown daughter a wistful smile – all the time he lost with her, but his love for her and his joy at seeing she is happy as well showing in that expression. "Though I wouldn't have chosen to witness the details," he offers, lips quirking up a bit further on one side, "I'm glad you've found love, Emma…that both of you have. You deserve to be happy. You deserve your True Love. I'm glad you've found each other."

Impulsively, Emma throws herself forward into her father's arms and hugs him to her tightly for several long moments. Finally pulling away, her smile back at him is a bit shaky with emotion, but the embarrassment pretty much gone as she whispers, "Thanks Dad," with fervent gratitude.

Then he is gone, down the front walk to his pickup truck, and Emma closes the door to pad barefoot back into the kitchen where Killian is waiting. Leaning with intentional ease against the counter, one leg crossed over the other, arm braced on the countertop behind him and his maimed limb rubbing at the back of his neck, the one thing that gives his discomfiture away despite the playful wink he sends across the room at her.

"Well, Love, shall I be facing your father in a duel at high noon?" he asks, his bashful concern showing through the playful bravado in his blue eyes as he gazes up at her from under those handsome dark lashes. "Now that he knows for certain I have besmirched his daughter's honor?"

She shakes her head at him in fond exasperation and moves closer on silent bare feet. "Really?' she asks with arched brow just before slipping into his open arms, pressing her nose into his bared throat and humming in comfort at his welcome embrace.

"Yes, Swan, really," he continues, lips murmuring into the hair at the crown of her head. "It's one thing for him to know that we are together. I dare say he has even come to accept me as your fitting choice, but I had never quite meant to flout our connection so obviously in his face." She can feel his bare stump running lightly up and down along her spine, whether intentional or not making the hem of his old shirt ride up even higher on her hips and sending potent shivers running along her skin.

Catching the shortened arm in her grip, she brings it up to the generously gaping neckline of the shirt, guides it inside and along her skin with her own hand. Mouth tilting up in tempting invitation, she whispers back at him, "Don't worry, Pirate. Remind me to tell you later about the time Henry and I interrupted him and Mom making tacos. Let's just say he was long overdue a similar uncomfortable moment."

"As you wish," Killian husks, voice deep and rumbling and his rough stubble scratching along her neck where he bends his head to nuzzle along her skin. Their conversation derails after that, neither feeling capable of forming words over touching and connecting in other ways. The pancakes Emma had mixed up and never finished cooking, as well as her father's ill-timed visit, are both forgotten while they get back to the delicious slice of normal life they have finally found a moment to savor.