Here it is! Another chapter of Awake and Alive. I am so happy with the feedback I get every week when I post a new chapter and I am very very glad you are liking the story (Awake and Alive is now my most read story on AO3 and I don't have enough words to tell you how happy I am).
We are halfway in and this chapter marks the end of the Neverland arc and the start of the "full time" Storybrooke arc. That means that yes, Milah is back and so are Killian and Emma and yes! They will meet very very soon!
That being said... enjoy the chapter and don't forget to let me know what you think!
As consciousness came back to Emma, she started to feel a burn in the arm she hurt yesterday since she forgot to take proper care of it the night before. She hissed, not wanting to open her eyes and prayed that the pain would go away. But as the minutes passed, it became obvious that the pain was there to stay, so she gave up on trying to sleep.
Slowly, she opened her eyes and the first thing she noticed was that the room was still dark. She was confused for a moment, not recognizing the room but then she remembered the events of the previous night. She smiled, closing her eyes as she brought the blanket closer to her chest. As she moved, though, her arm burned her even worse than before and the pain forced her to open her eyes. She rose to a sitting position in the bed and looked towards the place Hook fell asleep the night before but to her surprise, the place was empty. She looked around the room but found he wasn't there. His clothes weren't on the floor anymore and even her clothes were carefully arranged on the table.
As she sat on the edge of the bed, the door opened slightly. She looked at it, praying that it wasn't one of her parents and smiled when she saw Hook's head appear.
"You're awake," he said with a smile.
"Yes. And so are you. How long have you been awake?" she asked, making a gesture for him to come inside before anyone else could see him.
"For an hour or two," he said, coming into his cabin and closing the door.
"I didn't want someone else to wake up before us and then question where you slept last night."
"And? Was anyone awake before you?"
"Yes, Tink, since she was the one who sent me to sleep last night." Seeing Emma's confused look he explained to her. "She told me she would watch over the ship while everyone slept and that I should rest too. She was still there this morning. When I woke up, I told her to take a break, and not long after that, David appeared. He asked me, quite suspiciously, if I knew anything about where you were, so I told him that you slept in my room. He almost killed me until I told him that I was on deck all night," he explained, winking at her.
"Thank you," she said putting her head on his shoulder.
She was still naked, save for the blanket that was covering her and she felt the cold from his leather coat when she touched it with her skin.
"How early it is?" she asked raising her head and looking at him.
"Not that early, but since we are still flying, that's why it's still dark outside," he explained.
Emma looked towards the window, amazed that they were in the sky. She was wondering now if she would have seen the stars last night if she would have stayed outside for longer. But at the same time, she didn't regret that she sneaked into Hook's cabin and waited for him to arrive.
"We are close to Storybrooke, though. We will be there in a few hours," Killian said, interrupting her thoughts.
"Perfect." She smiled at him and then realized that she was still naked. "I should get dressed and go see how Henry is," Emma said, standing up with the blanket still around her.
"Do you want me to leave while you are changing?" he asked her.
"Really? You saw me naked last night and now you are questioning if I want you to stay in the room while I change or not?" she asked, looking over her shoulder at him.
"One can never know for sure," he answered with a grin.
"Stay. But no funny business," she warned him with a smile.
"I wouldn't dare."
For the next few minutes, as Emma rose from the bed and moved to get her clothes, she felt his eyes roam her naked body; especially after she let the blanket fall on the floor and moved to put on her underwear..
"You're staring," she told him as she put on her bra, turning her head to see him.
"You are beautiful," Hook told her.
She felt him rising from the bed and coming up behind her. He put his arms on her shoulders and kissed her behind the right ear.
"I said no funny business," Emma told him, turning and brushing his nose with his.
"No funny business," he whispered into her ear.
He moved his hand and hook down her arms, but when she felt the pressure of his hand on her sore arm, she hissed from the pain.
"Are you okay?" he asked, worry present in his voice.
She turned to face him and started to talk.
"My arm is still hurting from yesterday when I fell in the forest. I didn't really take care of it when we came back here."
"You should ask your parents or Regina to take a look at it," he said, worried.
"It's fine; none of them are actual doctors and I don't think it's actually broken. Just sore from the moment I fell. I'll go to the doctor in Storybrooke if it doesn't get any better."
"Okay, fine."
"Now, I really need to get dressed," she said as she stepped away from him.
"Okay. I'll leave so I don't disturb you," he said.
"No, you won't," Emma said, while closing her bra.
"I don't think anyone would be happy to know that I'm here while you are changing," he teased her.
"Yes, because you did not see more than this," she said, gesturing to her half dressed body.
"I'll leave, though, before I distract you even more. I'll see you in a bit," he said as he left the room.
Emma finished getting dressed and then searched around the room for something to use to brush her hair. She found a mirror and went to it, happy to see that in front of it was a comb; his, most likely. After that, she took a look around the cabin since she didn't have time to the night before; not before he came to the cabin and definitely not after that. Then, making sure that she didn't leave anything behind, she left and went to Henry's room.
She knocked twice at the door to his cabin before the door was opened and her kid appeared.
"Mom!" he exclaimed, making room for her to get in.
"How are you today, Henry? Where's Regina?" she asked, putting a hand around his shoulders when she entered the room.
"I'm fine. I slept like a baby. It's good to finally be able to rest. And Regina left earlier. What about you?"
"I'm great. Happy that we are finally close to Storybrooke," she said, smiling at him.
"We are?" Henry asked with happiness on his face.
"Oh yes! I talked with Hook earlier and he said that we will be there in a few hours."
"Cool!"
"We should go on a holiday after this whole thing, Henry. Do you want to?" she asked her son.
"Yes!" he said excitedly.
"Good. Because we both need it."
Emma looked out the window of the room and saw that the darkness from outside was almost gone, making room for the morning light. She looked at Henry to ask him if he wanted to go on deck when she heard his stomach growl. Henry turned to look at her and started to laugh.
"Do you want to go and see if there is any food left?" Emma asked, laughing as well.
"Yes please!"
They exited the cabin together and climbed the stairs that led to the deck. Everyone was there already, save for Tink who, most likely, was asleep, and Rumplestiltskin. Hook was at the helm, Regina was looking overboard with a serious look on her face, and Mary Margaret and David were together talking in a corner. When they saw Emma and Henry, Mary Margaret came to Emma and hugged her.
"Morning, Emma, Henry," she said with a smile.
It was clear to her now where Henry got his non-stop happiness from because it wasn't from her and it definitely wasn't from Neal. Mary Margaret on the other hand, much like Henry, was always happy and full of hope.
"Hi," she told her and David, who joined them as well.
"Hello, Emma. Did you sleep well?" David asked her.
"Oh, yeah!"
"I heard you slept in Hook's room," David said, earning an eye roll from Emma and an elbow in the stomach from Mary Margaret.
"Um, yeah I did. I didn't have anywherere to sleep, remember? He offered to give me his room for the night."
"And what about him?" David asked, still suspicious.
"David!"
"Dad! He was here all night!" Emma said, remembering the small lie Hook told to her father.
"Mom. Do you think Hook would teach me how to sail?" Henry asked her, saving her from her father who was prepared to ask her something else.
"You could ask him," Emma answered her son, moving her attention from her parents to him.
"Can I ask him now?"
"Of course. Let's go ask," Emma said, thankful for the distraction her son offered. But then Emma remembered her son's wish to eat, so she turned back to Mary Margaret.
"Do we have any food left? Henry's hungry," she told her.
"Of course! I'll go get some," Mary Margaret answered and disappeared to get food for Henry.
Hook POV
After Hook left Emma to change in his cabin, he went back on the deck to make sure that everything was how it was supposed to be. But as hard as he tried, he couldn't stop thinking about Emma and the night they spent together. Earlier that morning, he woke up with her head still on his chest, blonde locks spread on him and her hand hovering over his heart. He would be a liar if he said that he didn't want to wake up like that for the rest of his days. He hated to leave her, but had to do it before anyone else could wake up and start asking questions. And he was right. He knew David didn't truly believe him when Killian told him that he was on the deck the whole time Emma was sleeping in his cabin, but he didn't regret anything.
After he came back on deck, Regina was already there and as soon as she saw him, she started questioning him about when they would reach Storybrooke. He gave her the same answer he gave Emma: they were close. She seemed to like his answer because she nodded and retired to a corner, looking at the clouds and thinking. Not long after that, Emma's parents came up to the deck. David looked at him suspiciously and then said something to his wife. Killian saw her rolling her eyes and then they started to talk about something. But the longer they talked, the more it looked like an argument between the two of them and if the looks David were sending his way were any indication, they were talking about him.
Then Emma and Henry appeared on the deck, and he did everything in his power to not stare at her as she was crushed in a hug by her mother, but it was hard. When he saw her earlier, her hair was a beautiful, tangled mess from the activities they partook in the night before. But now, her hair was falling carefully in a golden cascade down her back. He moved his eyes to her face and he could see that whatever David was telling her, she wasn't comfortable with it. Then Henry looked at him. Killian smiled at the lad and Henry smiled back, then turned his head to talk to Emma. The mother and son talked for a bit and at one point in the conversation, Emma looked at him and then again at Henry. She smiled at him, put a hand around his shoulders and both of them started to walk towards Hook.
"Good morning, lad," Killian told Henry.
"Hey," Henry saluted him with a smile.
The boy looked at his mother as if he was waiting for her to say something. Emma blinked twice and then started to talk to him.
"Henry was wondering if you could show him how to sail," Emma told him with a smirk.
Killian raised an eyebrow at her words and then looked at Henry.
"You want to learn how to sail?"
"It looks cool. And Neal showed me once how to do it, but it's been a few weeks since then and I don't remember too much."
"When did that happen?" Killian asked, looking confused at Emma.
"Um… when we went to New York to find Neal and you came after us?" Emma said, somehow looking ashamed.
"Ah. Alright then," Killian said, remembering very well the moment they took his ship and left him in the strange city.
"Sorry about that?" Emma said with a small smile.
"Aye. Well then lad," Killian said, moving his attention to Henry. "Why don't you come and take a look?"
"Really?"
"Of course. How else could I teach you?"
As Henry came to stand in front of him at the helm, Killian looked at Emma. She nodded at him with a smile on her face that he took as a thank you, and he smiled back at her.
He spent the next few minutes teaching Henry how to sail while Emma was watching at them. Henry was more like his father than he would ever know, especially when it came to sailing. He was a fast learner, Killian only had to show him twice what he had to do and then the lad was able to do it all by himself. Killian spent the rest of the time telling Henry stories about the time Neal spend aboard his ship and at one point in the story, Emma moved closer to hear what he was saying. He left out the part where he gave Bae to Pan and the Lost Boys, knowing that neither Emma nor Henry would want to hear that. He also left out the part where Bae learned about his own story with Milah.
"Will you teach me more about sailing when we get back to Storybrooke?" Henry asked him after he finished a story about how Bae challenged a member of his crew to duel on his fourth day on the ship.
"Of course I will. If you mother will give you her permission, of course," he said, looking hopefully at Emma.
"I don't see why not," she said, smiling at them.
"Is that Storybrooke?" Mary Margaret said as she came over, holding a plate of food and giving it to Henry.
Emma, Hook, and Henry looked in the direction Mary Margaret was pointing at and indeed, there was the town. Only it had something that looked like a shield around it.
"What is that?" Emma said, pointing at the exact thing he was looking at.
"It's a protection spell," said the Dark One, his voice coming from an open door on the deck.
"Can we get through it?" Emma asked him.
"Yes. I can take down the spell easily," he said, pulling a face that Killian wanted to punch.
"Then do it!" Regina snapped at the Dark One from the other side of the deck.
With a flick of his hand, an opening appeared in the shield and the ship passed through it without problem.
Killian guided the ship as it made its landing back in the waters of the town. The rest of the distance to the docks passed in a blink of an eye and faster than anyone could believe, they were dropping the anchor (Regina did it with her magic) and were preparing to get off the ship.
As they docked, Killian could see that the docks were starting to get full of people, all of them being there, without a doubt, to welcome everyone back. One by one, starting with Mary Margaret and David, everyone started to get off the ship. Still on the Jolly, Hook could see Mary Margaret and David being hugged by the owner of the diner while the wolf girl was hugging Emma and Henry. Then they changed places, the old woman was hugging Henry and then Emma and the wolf girl was hugging Emma's parents. Everyone was hugging someone, except for him and Regina. Even the Dark One was met with a warm hug from his love. All Killian was able to do was to look at them, since the only person who cared about him was currently squashed into another hug by the cricket.
When the hugging ended, some of the people from the crowd started to leave. The only ones that stayed on the docks were those who were friends with Emma's family and he heard them finally making plans for a big dinner and party at Granny's later in the day. He didn't want to intrude, not being sure if anyone actually wanted him at the party - though a part of him hoped that Emma will want him to be there with them - so he stayed behind. But before anyone could leave, Emma turned to look at him. Hook smiled at her and she smiled back, starting to walk towards him.
"Are you coming?" she asked him.
"Where?"
"To Granny's," she said as if it was an obvious thing.
"Do you want me to come?" he asked back.
"Of course. You deserve to celebrate just as much as we do," she said, coming closer to him, taking his hand in hers. He looked towards her family but none of them were looking at what Emma and him were doing.
"Come," Emma said again with a smile, tugging their hands closer to her.
"Okay," he said, finally being able to smile back.
He expected Emma's hand to drop as soon as they started to walk, but it didn't; not immediately. She let his hand down when they were in front of her family. Everyone was ready to walk back into the city when Killian heard his name being called from behind him.
He turned, not knowing who might be calling after him, and he could have sworn his heart stopped for the second time in the last forty-eight hours. He felt the need to grab something and hold onto it, and the closest thing to him was Emma's hand.
"What's wrong?" she asked, panic evident in her voice.
"Do you see that woman?" Killian asked Emma, not being able to take his eyes away from the woman standing in front of him.
He was sure that he was seeing dead people. This couldn't have been real. No way was it real or even possible in any realm. Should he expect to start seeing his brother? His mother? Or even his father? Was he going to start seeing the people he killed in the last 300 years? Was this his punishment for dying and then cheating death again by being awoken by Emma's kiss?
Before he could think more, Emma started to speak.
"I do. I see her. Killian, who is she?" Emma asked, even more worried.
"Killian?" the vision in front of him said his name again. His real name, not his moniker, the name no one else had used in the last 300 years. The name Emma started to use from time to time when it was just the two of them, alone.
"Milah?" he finally said. Saying the name out loud after so many years shocked him even more.