The sensation of his touch should've left me stumbling, even uncomfortable, considering the newness of the relationship. The warmth radiating from his hand as he rested on my shoulder had stabilized me rather than what I'd expected.
I'd expected one surprise, but Killian had ensured a second.
Emma and Killian stood on the dock lost in conversation.
Emma leaned into Killian, her arm around his waist. Killian's good hand held her closer to him as it rested on her shoulder.
"Two for one deal, huh?" Ian joked, his voice free of the past emotions of the morning.
The loose atmosphere of emotional freedom had added humor to the moment.
I'd only turned to Ian for a few seconds. Down below us, Emma and Killian were lost in their own world, never noticing the audience above that turned away.
Us.
He'd cleared his throat, the discomfort of our voyeurism showing.
Ian used his peripheral vision to confirm the all clear.
In a moment of whimsy, he lifted my arm and spun me around, stopping when we'd had a clear view again.
"That's a lucky man down there." Ian announced, his eyes fixed on my grandparents, "He has everything that matters in his life."
Change the wording by one word and he would've been reading my mind. Everything that ever mattered in this life, Emma had found. She had a son that loved her despite her choice as a teenager. She'd found a man, albeit a pirate, that loved her and accepted her for everything she was or had been. She had an infant son and an energetic daughter with her father's handsome looks.
Wasn't that all anyone could ask for in this life?
If I'd learned anything from them as a teenager, it had been that having someone that truly loved you in your life had been treasure enough. Anything more, in the material sense, would hardly matter in the end.
"Right now," Ian twisted my body ninety degrees, "I'm second only to Killian. I got you to look forward to, even if it isn't for long. That's so much more than I asked for."
He leaned his head against mine, stroking my hair. I soaked in the way his eyes shined whenever they latched onto mine. I memorized it. If this turned south, I'd have this moment to remember how it felt to be treasured by someone other than family.
"Right now I don't know if I should celebrate or be scared. Fear says one thing but hope says another. Is it just me?"
Ian's hands dropped to my waist.
"No. All we can do is follow where it takes us. I'll just take this a day at a time, a moment at a time. I'm in no rush."
If I hadn't known better, Ian had been a mind reader. My fears were silenced, for the moment.
Ian grabbed my hand and led me down the hill to the ramp. The joy and satisfaction on his face when he turned around brought out mine.
Emma whispered something in Killian's ear that brought out a smile that made the sun seem dim.
Killian whispered something back to her that brought her closer to his side.
Emma stepped away from Killian and opened her arms wide.
Ian let go of my hand to let me fill the space between them.
"From that smile on your face and the way you two looked from down here, I'd say that our intervention hadn't been necessary after all."
My only way to confirm her hypothesis had been to hug her with a slight squeeze.
Killian approached me from the other side.
"Lucy love, it appears you never really needed me at all. You just needed each other."
"As usual, yes. Thank you." I agreed wrapping one arm around Killian and the other around Emma.
Ian's arms opened after I'd stepped away from my grandparents. His arms wrapped around my waist, his breath warming my scalp.
Killian's face took on a fatherly expression that I'd come to appreciate. It had always meant that useful advice had been on its way out of his mind and into mine…ours.
"Lucy, Ian…This feeling you two share now won't always be there. You won't always get along and you'll misunderstand each other. The difference is in how you deal with it. Come back to this and it will pull you two back together."
Emma reached for his hand.
"If my Emma taught me anything, true love is the rarest treasure anyone can find in this life. Once you've found it, never let it go."
Killian focused on the wedding band on his hand that had been abused by time and hard work, yet it still shined.
"This wedding band, for me, is the reminder of how much treasure I have. Treasure I have no intention of ever letting go of."
Marriage hadn't been in either of our minds, not when you're only 17. Still, I had my reminders of how rich I was, at least for the moment.
Emma changed the topic.
"About the Happy Endings Eve event…"
The butterflies that had settled down in my stomach flapped back to full flight. I had to smile despite the disguised nerves.
Six more days. The longest, most difficult wait would be over with.
The way Ian's arms tightened for a second meant I never had to look up to see that same smile on his face.
"Yes…Happy Endings Eve. Emma has arranged for Granny to fix a basket of Emma's favorite meal and some sparking cider to celebrate." Killian followed her lead.
I think we both had to strain to catch the itinerary because we had been each other's distraction. There was no mistaking the message in her eyes and in her smile. Ian had her approval.
"Be here before sundown…about 3 in the afternoon on Saturday." Killian reiterated.
Ian exchanged a glance as if to share an inside joke.
"You mean 2:45." Ian answered.
"Aye, Ian, my boy. On time is late." Killian chuckled.
My hand never left stayed connected whole way home. Instead of a kiss goodbye, our foreheads joined.
"This is going to be more difficult than I thought." Ian stroked my hair.
"But it will be the most worth it." I placed my hands around his neck, the gravity of temptation pulling at me.
In almost complete unison, our hands dropped waist level and captured each other.
It had been Sunday.
School would come the next day.
"I may have to wait to kiss you but I'm always happy to hold your hand. We'll shut them up when they see these hands attached to each other." Ian stepped back but never let go of my eyes.
The new energy that circulated through every corner of my mind.
"I can live with that."
Footsteps behind me, two sets of footsteps that is, had arrived undetected.
"You must be Ian." My mom's voice called from behind the screen door, destroying any of the remaining privacy.
One hand may have dropped when he'd straightened his posture, but one had held its grip.
"Aye ma'am, that would be me Mrs. Mills."
I loved the sound of his accent each time he'd let his accent come out.
If my dad had been endowed with the gift of heat vision, Ian would've been running down the street at world record speed. For some odd reason, his protective stare on our joined hands increased my grip.
"Ian, this is my dad, Henry Mills, acting mayor of Storybrooke." I gestured to my dad.
Dad accepted Ian's handshake with a strained expression, a strangely amusing hybrid of strained composure in the form of a smile and a warning glare.
The sweat of Ian's hand in mine betrayed his awareness of what I'd seen.
"Lucy Lo…Lucy is a treasure." Ian stammered, stopping short of my nickname. "You are a lucky father."
Mom dug a strategically placed elbow into dad's ribs.
My mom had never been the greatest at subtle, a good thing for my dad at times.
My words had come out stuttered in my mind, clear as day when they escaped my lips.
"Dad this is my boyfriend, Ian Hawkins."
Dad's jaw locked in a way that I'd never seen before that moment.
Mom had the same elbow cocked back, aimed at the same spot as before.
Ian turned to me and then to my dad.
"I promise Mr. Mills. Your daughter will always be in good hands when I'm around."
The right side of his lip twitched, skepticism written all over his face.
A brief glare of afternoon sun had offered us an exit from a potentially awkward conversation.
The sun had been inching towards the horizon, I hadn't noticed until then.
It had been too momentous of day for my dad to accidentally ruin it with his justified, but unnecessary show of protective-dad force. I wanted to remember it for the highlights, rather than an embarrassing second of time.
Mom grabbed dad by the arm and shut the door behind them.
Mom winked at me just before curtain moved back into place.
Ian reached for my other hand.
"I know what you're thinking. You're his princess. Any father worth his salt would have done the same. I've heard from teammates of worse things done in their presence. No need to apologize."
It hadn't scared him away, good!
"Goodnight, Ian. Thank you for a day I'll never forget."
Ian accepted the cue with the kind of grace, I suspect, had been lesson courtesy of Killian.
"Goodnight, Lucy love. You already know where I will be waiting for you."
Ian navigated the one stair step and the sidewalk, all while walking backwards. He turned his back to me after he'd reached the sidewalk.
I watched from that step until he'd disappeared from my sight.
What a strangely, scary satisfying day.
Mom had prevented the lecture I knew had been coming.
"Get ready for dinner, Lucy." Mom dismissed me.
Nothing more came up for the rest of the night about Ian or what had happened at my door.
That night had been the best sleep I had in over a week.
Memories are better than dreams…their real.