Chapter 10

Emma wasn't aware of what happened after Killian fell through the mirror, but somehow her father had taken her from the palace, guiding her all the way back to the Jolly Roger and to her room. It was only when she felt him gently tucking her into her bed that she came back to herself, clutching at the blanket and holding it closer.

Because if she couldn't have him, she at least had this reminder, something she could feel.

And Emma couldn't understand how she could have managed everything else, succeeded at saving her mother, her son, and yet lose him. She couldn't feel any sense of victory, not when it had come at such a price.

"He'll find you." David said, and she felt like a little girl again when he began to stroke her hair, perched on the edge of the bed beside her. "That's what true love does. You can't give up hope, Emma. And it may be hard right now, but you'll find a way to be happy."

"How can I be happy, truly happy, without him?" she whispered, and even as she said it, she was sure that she'd be alright. One day. Because she'd been happy before. Except now that she knew she could have more, feel more, it would be difficult to return to a life without him. "I love him. I've never loved anyone the way I love him."

"And he never loved anyone like he loves you." David said, and Emma gazed up at her father in confusion, wondering if that was something her father had assumed, or if he had been told that. David saw the question in her eyes, and a soft smile graced his lips. "He told me. He told me those exact words when I spoke to him about your future. And he didn't want to tell me. He got very embarrassed. But Hook said that you were the first woman that made him a better person, and that he'd happily be anything if it meant he could be with you. Because you might not have been the first person he loved, but you were the only person he loved with every part of him."

"He said that?" Emma whispered, burrowing deeper into the blankets. "To you?"

"He did. And then he got all embarrassed and just said that whatever he felt was between you and him and wasn't anything I needed to hear, but I think I knew enough by then anyway." David leant down and kissed her forehead, and then stood from the bed. "He might be a pirate, but that man is not going to let anything stop him from fighting to get back to you. So just don't stop hoping."

"I'm just sick of losing people, Daddy." she murmured, and David didn't look like he knew what to say. He just smiled, a sad, understanding smile, and left her in the room she had shared with Killian.

She wasn't alone for long. Emma had only just closed her eyes, wanting to surround herself with the warmth of the blanket, when she felt the mattress dip down next to her, and she peered up to see her mother looking down at her.

Emma had missed her mother so much but she hadn't realised just how much until Snow White was there next to her again.

Snow didn't say much, she just reached under the blanket to take Emma's hand in hers, brushing her thumb gently across the back of her daughter's hand in a gesture that made Emma feel better, because her mother was there and alive and comforting her in a way that only her mother could.

And then Snow felt the ring on her finger, and Emma knew she had because her mother glanced up at her with wide eyes. "That doesn't feel like the ring I gave you." Snow muttered quietly, and Emma let her mother draw their hands out from the warmth of the bed, watched Snow carefully as she gazed at the heavy, ill-fitting ring that graced Emma's finger.

"Oh, Emma." her mother breathed, and it was clear her mother hadn't had the chance to think about just what Killian was to Emma until that moment, and she looked as devastated as Emma felt. "Honey, I'm so sorry."

Hearing the pity in her mother's voice was too much and she couldn't say anything in response, just let her mother bundle her into her arms and hug her tightly.

But she was glad her mother wasn't saying anything, because as wonderful as her father's words had been, Emma didn't want people to keep telling her to have hope.

Because what if she did hope for him to come back, and he never returned? It was better to grieve now, to accept the reality of what had happened, than face the pain of waiting and waiting for a day that would never come.

So after only a few moments, Emma pulled away from her mother and reclined back in the bed, curling towards Killian's pillow, which still smelled of him. She didn't cry, she couldn't cry anymore, she simply lay there.

And eventually, her mother left her alone too and she could hear her parents talking just outside her door, but she didn't care enough to try and make out what they were saying.

She wasn't sure if she could care about anything anymore, but then she heard the door open once again, and Henry was crawling into bed next to her, and she knew she was wrong.

She may have lost Killian, but she still had Henry and that was more important than anything.

She twisted around to face him, wrapping her arms around him and pulling her son close, feeling Henry return the hug. "We did it." she muttered, her voice hoarse but steady. "Grandma's back. Everything's going to be okay now."

Henry didn't reply.

It was decided that the best way to declare victory over Regina was to reclaim the summer palace, so the Jolly Roger never departed from the small docks. Emma kept living on the ship for the first few days, as her parents busied themselves with sorting out the mess left behind by the Queen.

David had taken it upon himself to rid the palace of the vast number of mirrors, Emma refusing to even enter the palace again until all of them were gone. Most had been given away, but David had needed to hide one mirror away in a room, unable to gift a talking mirror to someone, but unsure what would happen if the glass was broken.

Snow White had chosen an even more trying task, returning the hearts from Regina's vault. She seemed to hope that taking on something that appeared impossible would be the best way to make up for everything she had done when under Regina's control, but so far, she had only managed to return the hearts to the servants.

Grace had told them that the servants were marked with a number, ensuring Regina could identify each heart should she need to use them. All the other hearts were unnamed, and as hopeful as Snow was that she could return every single heart to its rightful owner, there seemed to be no other way to identify them other than to take hold of the heart and order the owner to come to them. And Snow didn't want to take away their free will, even for good reason.

The first person to have their heart returned to their chest was Grace, and she had collapsed to the ground and clutched at her chest, the way Baelfire had done weeks earlier. Except it had been even worse, more overpowering. And Emma wouldn't say it out loud, but Grace was a good distraction from the absence of Killian, a grief she felt constantly anyway, especially when she went to sleep in the bed they had shared, surrounded by the pictures he had drawn on the wall.

Because Grace had been barely eleven when Regina took her heart, and she was now past forty, and it had been too long since she had felt anything strongly. Adjusting to emotions again was difficult, but Emma was happy to help, wanted to help.

It was wonderful to have someone to talk to. Someone who wasn't family, but a friend, and it had been a long time since Emma had had any friend other than Killian, and he was far more than a friend.

But Grace listened and tried to understand, and tried to empathise, because she was trying to feel and, as hard as talking about Killian was, it was strangely cathartic to speak to someone who wanted to hear everything and had no idea of what Emma should be feeling, who didn't make her feel wrong for missing him and yet not spending hours crying over her loss.

Because Snow thought she should be crying more, but Emma didn't want to cry, not around others.

She cried when she was under the blankets, wanting to be in his arms, wanting to be with him. She cried when she found his Captain's log and she read it, read the amazing things he thought about her, words he'd never said but had been plain in his eyes.

She cried when she took off her ring to get it resized, because although it was secure with the fabric underneath it, she couldn't risk losing it and so she needed it to fit. But during the days without it, her hand felt too light, her fingers too empty, and it was only those three days where she felt like she'd lost everything, lost even the small amount of hope that she hadn't realised she was clinging to.

She felt more like herself when she had it back on her finger. Even if she would never feel complete again, she could cope.

Emma didn't need Killian. She could survive without him. She just wished she didn't have to. She wished he was still there, that he could have met her mother, that they could have married one day, had that everything she had promised him.

She was playing with her ring one day, twisting it around her finger, when Grace asked if she thought Killian was dead. Emma knew he wasn't, knew with complete certainty that he was alive.

Grace said she understood, told Emma that although she hadn't seen her father in decades, she knew he was still alive. In fact, Grace said that all the hopes she had of him returning to her and taking her back from the Evil Queen had returned with her heart, emotions she hadn't felt the weight of in years.

But she was old enough, wise enough to realise that he wasn't coming back. That he'd gone through his magical hat with a false promise to return in time for tea. That he had never meant to return at all.

And it was as if lightning had struck Emma because of course Grace was Jefferson's daughter. She hadn't realised, had forgotten that because of two decades spent in Neverland with Killian, Jefferson hadn't aged but his daughter had.

She should have thought of him before, because Killian was in another realm, and Jefferson was the one man who could help them find him.

Jefferson would help them.

Grace clearly didn't how to react when Emma told her that she knew her father, that Jefferson and Killian had been searching for her, but Grace didn't know how to react to a lot of things.

When Emma told her father that she knew how to find Killian, David insisted on coming with her, on taking a few days to plan the journey. Although Emma wanted to find Killian as soon as possible, she couldn't help but agree when she saw how eager how father was to help, how much he too wanted Killian back with them.

Because, as David told Snow, Killian was family. And their family always found each other.

The day before Emma, David and Grace planned to begin their journey to Sherwood, to Jefferson, Baelfire came to visit. Henry ran to his father, arms around Baelfire's waist and Baelfire grinned down at him. "I heard you've been on an adventure." he stated, raising an eyebrow at Emma as if asking why she hadn't told him. Emma bit her lip and glanced down, feeling that she didn't have to explain herself to Baelfire. "Because you missed our last meeting. Not that it's your fault. Your mom should have told me."

Emma couldn't deal with Baelfire, no matter how civil they usually acted, not when she constantly felt so close to breaking. She just shrugged and took a seat in Henry's room, Grace perched beside her as usual, and watched Henry play with his father.

Baelfire had brought him another toy ship, an almost perfect replica of the Jolly Roger, and Henry had taken it with a smile and a nod, but refused to play battleships.

He hadn't played battleships since Killian went missing, and Emma worried it was because he thought it would upset her and as much as she loved how thoughtful her son was, she hated how cautious he was acting.

And so, she introduced Grace and Baelfire and waited until they were distracted by conversation to quietly leave them all alone. Baelfire and Henry could talk more without her there, and Grace and Baelfire seemed to find it easy to talk. Then again, she supposed maybe it was easy to bond with someone who had also experienced years without a heart. Baelfire was bound to understand Grace more than Emma ever could.

And that thought overwhelmed Emma with loneliness, because Henry was perfect and wonderful but sometimes she needed adult company, and she didn't really have anyone.

She ran from the palace, to the Jolly Roger, to what she had left of him.

But when she boarded the ship, it felt empty and quiet and different and Emma didn't understand what had changed, other than the fact that it had.

She didn't see anyone as she crossed the deck, but Jukes was bustling around the galley, and Emma exhaled in relief that the ship hadn't been deserted, that the faithful cook was still there. "Jukes?" she asked quietly, and he turned.

She hadn't spoken much to him other than to tell him that Killian was gone, and seeing the grief in his eyes had been too much for her. But seeing him there, apparently the only man left on the ship, she felt a need to speak, to talk about Killian and about everything. Maybe grief was easier shared.

"Swan, what are you doing here?"

"Can you call me Emma?" she asked, needing not to hear that name when Killian had created it, had whispered it sometimes when he was loving her. "Just Emma."

"I can." Jukes abandoned whatever he was making, taking a seat at the old, heavy table, and when Emma took the seat beside him, she could pretend, just for a second, that nothing had changed. That Killian was steering, that she was simply spending time with Jukes as they prepared food for the crew. "Now, Emma, what are you doing here?"

"I needed to be away from the palace." she answered with a shrug. "I never grew up in the palace like my mother did. It's not a home to me, not like this ship. What about you? Why are you the only one here?"

"The others are gone, Emma." he admitted, and she couldn't comprehend what he was saying, so she just gaped at the pirate until he explained further. "As much as we wish otherwise, Killian's gone. These men, they're pirates. They have been for centuries. They don't want to be here anymore, and I wasn't going to let them sail away with the ship."

"Don't want to be here?"

"What is the point in waiting for a Captain to come back, when there's no way for him to return?" It was as if the wound was fresh again, Jukes' certainty that Killian was gone devastating her.

"Then why are you still here?" she hissed, unsure who she was angry at and suddenly feeling less hopeful than she'd felt in days. "Why did you stay if you thought there was no hope?"

"Because I've grown fond of you, lass." Jukes said, reaching out to place a comforting hand on her arm. "Besides, Killian was like a son to me. He'd want to know someone was here for you and I know you have your family, but I wanted to be around the other person that loved him. The crew don't understand our grief, because he was their captain and their friend, but he wasn't their family."

Emma swallowed, her expression hardening as she took in Juke's words. He was right, Killian was family, but he didn't seem to understand that that meant they would find each other.

And Emma cared for Jukes too and she couldn't let him mourn when she knew how to get to Killian. And she could get there faster than a week-long carriage trip. She could get to Jefferson that day, she just hadn't realised before.

She might have struggled to be around Baelfire, but within hours he was going to be magicked back home by his father, back to Sherwood Forest, back to the forest that Jefferson lived in.

If she went with him, Killian could be with her again by the next day.

She left Jukes without an explanation, needing to be back at the palace before Baelfire decided to leave, and she didn't stop running until she was there, was striding along the corridor leading to Henry's room.

They were playing battleships together, although Henry seemed to back away from all his toy ships the minute he saw her, and she needed to talk to him about that, but if Baelfire agreed to her plan, there wouldn't be a need because Killian would be home.

"You need to take me with you to Sherwood." she commanded, Baelfire tilting his head in question. "There's a man I need to speak to and I don't want to wait a week while I sit in a carriage. I want to see him now. Please."

She knew he could sense her desperation when he agreed almost instantly, and maybe if Emma had been in the right mindset, she would have found it endearing how Grace shyly asked to accompany them and Baelfire grinned back at the woman with the same interested expression he had once directed at Emma.

But all Emma could do was tell Henry to promise David that she was alright, that she'd be back soon, and then wait for the time when the smoke would swirl around Baelfire's feet and they would be summoned back to Rumplestiltskin.

When the scarlet mist started to form around Baelfire, she took his hand and it was warm and comforting and familiar, but it wasn't right, and then she felt Grace's arm loop around hers and they were all holding on to each other when they appeared back in the Dark One's castle.

She didn't wait, turning on her heel and leaving immediately. And Grace didn't follow straight away, because she was saying a rather long goodbye to Baelfire, but then she was running and catching and linking her arm with Emma's again.

Emma thought she remembered the way to Jefferson's cottage, but Grace took the lead, leading them straight through Sherwood without appearing to worry about the dangers that could reach them in the woods. Emma felt Grace shaking as each step brought them closer to her father's house, and she wondered if Grace knew how to cope with her anxiety.

"Are you alright?" she asked quietly, and Grace didn't answer for a few moments.

But when she started talking, she spoke of Baelfire and of how he had reassured her that, although it took time, she would eventually feel normal again and her emotions would feel less alien. Emma had to quell a smile when Grace admitted that whatever it was Baelfire made her feel was new and exciting and very different to anything she remembered feeling back before her heart was taken.

Soon, Emma couldn't listen anymore.

Instead, she let herself hope, let herself grow more and more certain with each step that Jefferson would help them, would throw his hat to the ground and lead her through the portal to all the different realms until Killian was back at her side.

Except the cottage seemed empty.

Emma ran to the door and bent to pick the lock, her hands shaking with worry that the hatter was gone, that her hope was all in vain. She opened the door to a dark, dusty room, and she knew it was deserted, that Jefferson wasn't there, hadn't been in weeks. The hat box was on the table, but it was empty.

And she'd been stupid to hope, to place all her faith on a man who had spent years running.

She stumbled, sitting down on the rickety stool that she'd sat on so many months before, and she cried. She felt Grace's arm rubbing her back gently, the woman trying to comfort her even though Emma knew that she had been hoping just as much as Emma to find Jefferson here and waiting for her.

"He was my only option, Grace." Emma sobbed, pulling the hat box closer and resting her head against the leather, as if she could hold it tight enough and wish the hat back. "If I knew where Killian was, I could have used a magic bean. But I don't know where he is. Jefferson's hat was all I had. And it's gone. He's gone."

They put up posters, offered a reward for anyone who knew the location of the hatter, but Emma knew that if Jefferson didn't want to be found, he wouldn't be.

So Emma tried to be as happy as she could be, refusing to let the loss of Killian stop her from living. She was often with Henry, was happy with Henry, and she was determined to convince him to play with his toy ships again, because as much as she missed Killian, she refused to let it stop him from enjoying himself.

But Henry seemed different. He had always believed that she and Killian would be together, a voice of hope when she thought he had left her before. He wasn't like that anymore. Whatever he had believed about true love had changed. Losing Killian had disillusioned him, and as many stories as David told him, he didn't seem willing to believe anymore.

She spent time with Snow. It was hard, though, to spend time with her mother. Snow White hadn't changed, even after everything Regina forced her to do. Emma knew she felt guilty for every death that was caused by her hand, but Snow White still hoped and still believed and still insisted Killian would come back to her, because that's what true love does.

But Snow didn't know Killian, and as comforting as she tried to be, she didn't know what Emma's relationship with him was like. She didn't understand that it was different to the love shared between her and David, how hard it had been for both of them to move on from their pasts and accept their feelings, how Emma hadn't realised what she felt until she felt everything.

Snow White and Prince Charming had a fairytale, but it was different to Emma's. Even though they had been through a lot, at least they had been destined for a happy ending. And even though Snow claimed otherwise, that it wasn't over, Emma couldn't believe that she was destined for a happy ending.

Because after the last few months, she didn't want to have to fight for the people she loved anymore. She just wanted them there.

Fighting was too hard.

She preferred to be with her father, because he seemed to understand. And she thought, maybe, that he missed Killian too because she knew that even if he hadn't admitted it, he was fond of the pirate.

Emma wondered if maybe it was impossible for him not to be slightly fond of a man that had made her so happy.

"You know, Graham, that no matter what happens, my heart belongs to another." Emma told the huntsman, the two of them waiting for her mother to finish breaking the news of Whitekeep's destruction to the soldiers. "It always will. I don't think there will ever be a day when I don't love him. I will never stop loving him."

"Don't worry, Emma." Graham said, and he was smiling, but it was a weak, despairing smile that Emma didn't understand. His eyes were empty, vacant, and she wasn't sure what was wrong. "My heart belongs to another too."

Although Emma had been fine for a week or so, she couldn't bring herself to get out of bed on the day that marked one month since Killian had vanished in front of her.

She knew she had to, as the kingdom was celebrating a month of peace, but she knew she would never be able to rejoice on any anniversary of the day she'd saved her mother, saved the kingdom, and lost Killian.

She hadn't even gotten dressed, having slept the night before in Killian's shirt, something she hadn't done since she lost him and something she had needed to do when she realised how long it had been.

There was a knock on her door, and Emma rearranged the blankets so that she looked decent, and then called for whoever it was to enter.

It was her father and he was smiling. "There's someone who wants to see you." he said, and Emma shook her head. She didn't want to see anyone. "Normally, Emma, I think I'd let you hide away today. But you'll want to meet this person."

And for a second, Emma believed it had to be Killian, except that Killian wouldn't make her wait like this, wouldn't have made her father come to her first.

"If it's that important, send them in." she ordered, sinking back towards her pillow and not caring that it wasn't befitting of a princess to refuse to get out of bed to greet someone.

Her father grinned even wider and then left her alone in her room.

She wasn't by herself for long, the door to her room creaking open and Emma felt her jaw drop when she saw the messy-haired, elaborately dressed Jefferson standing before her, a wide, smug smirk on his face. "Why hello, Princess. I've come to collect my reward. I happen to know where you can find me." he drawled, and Emma couldn't breathe because if he was here, she could find Killian. "So nice to see you out and about."

He hadn't changed at all since she last saw him and Emma hadn't felt as hopeful since the day she found Jefferson's home empty.

He didn't give her the opportunity to speak, to beg for his help. "I hear you found my daughter."

"Yes, I did, but-"

"I have an idea." he suggested, stepping closer and perching on the edge of her bed, as far from her as he could reasonably sit without falling off. "How about you introduce me to my daughter, and I'll let you see your pirate?"

"What?" Emma gasped, not having expected the suggestion to come from him. "What do you mean?"

"Imagine my surprise when I got a very badly-written message telling me that there was a chance he would end up trapped in another world. I thought Hook knew better than to make deals with the Dark One, especially ones involving mysterious portals, but then again, I've always given him more credit than he deserves." Jefferson was rambling, and Emma just wanted him to say, for certain, that he knew where Killian was, that they could find him. "But when he told me of a mirror, I knew where he'd be going. He's lucky I'm such a considerate man, because really, expecting a person to traverse Wonderland on the off-chance that their friend has been taken there is asking a bit much, wouldn't you say?"

"I don't even care, Jefferson, not if you can bring me to him." she said, and her voice was choked with excitement. With hope.

And now she knew why her father had been so happy.

"Do you have so little faith in me that you think I've been missing for a month just for laughs?" he asked with a roll of his eyes. "I've done something even better. I've brought him to you. I must admit, he made returning from Wonderland such a hassle, insisting he needed to be back within a month so that he wasn't late again. A thank you would have been more than welcome."

"If he's here, then where is he? Why isn't he with me now?" Emma asked urgently, scrambling out of the bed and ignoring how Jefferson's eyes widened and he coughed pointedly, looking away from her bare legs. She didn't care that she was barely dressed, she couldn't spare the thought.

"That would be my fault." Jefferson said, shrugging and staring determinedly at the floor. "I may have convinced him that you would be better off being prepared for his return. I can't help having a flair for the dramatic. I did want to make it a trade, you know, your pirate for my daughter but Hook told me that was going a bit too far."

And then there was a knock on the door, and Emma couldn't breath because she knew it had to be Killian and she didn't even have to say a word before the door flew open and Killian was there, his hair longer and messier, but otherwise unchanged, and all she could do was stare at him.

He seemed equally entranced by her, taking only one small step into her room and looking her up and down, licking his lips as he took in the image of her in his shirt and then meeting her eyes once more, and Emma felt as if she was burning, but she didn't know what to do, because this moment had seemed an impossibility until only minutes earlier.

"You sent a letter?" she asked, her mouth dry, watching as he took another step closer.

And Jefferson said something, but Emma wasn't listening, and then the hatter was striding past Killian and out of her room, closing the door behind him.

And Killian was there. Really there. "I'm not late, am I? You didn't want us to be apart for more than a month?"

She hadn't wanted them to be apart at all, not again, but she couldn't be angry when everything was so perfect. "Why didn't you say something? Why didn't you tell me you had told Jefferson to find you? You had time, you could have. I thought I'd lost you forever."

"I didn't know my letter would reach Jefferson, I didn't know he'd come. Not after I abandoned him." Killian answered, taking another step towards her and Emma couldn't understand why he was approaching her so slowly, but she needed to hear what he had to say. "I hadn't even intended to send a message because I believed so strongly that we would succeed. But you got injured, and I panicked. I lost hope, and I had to take the chance that Jefferson would help. I didn't tell you because you once told me that false hope was worse than no hope at all, and I didn't want to give you that when I had no way of knowing that Jefferson would get the letter, or that he would even find me. I needed to take that moment, what could have been our last moment, to tell you I love you, because if we never saw each other again, that was what you needed to know and what I needed to tell you."

"Killian," Emma whimpered, and he looked worried, taking another step closer to her, so close that she could reach out and touch him, know without any doubt that he was real. "It's been so hard."

"I know." he nodded, and he took one last step and he was right there, his hand rising to caress her cheek, Emma's eyes closing as she leant into the touch. "I know, and I'm sorry. But I need you to know, no matter what happened, even before Jefferson found me, I was searching for a way to come back to you. I wasn't going to give up hope, not this time. Not when I had you to come home to."

She could feel her lips trembling, and she had to kiss him, rising up on her toes to press her lips to his, and it was everything because she'd missed him so much, she'd been drowning without him and now he was here, she wasn't suffocating anymore.

He pulled back before she could deepen the kiss, resting his forehead against hers, his eyes closed, and Emma stared at him, memorised him, and she was crying, she could feel her tears on her cheeks, but for the first time in so long, she was incandescently happy. She felt like she'd spent so long pretending to be happy, forcing herself to be happy, that she'd forgotten how wonderful she could feel.

Because no one loved her the way Killian loved her, and she had so many people she loved but no one she loved the way she loved him.

Without him and Henry, she wasn't complete.

"I wish I had never had to leave you." he murmured, gently kissing each tear away from her face, and Emma sagged into him, allowed herself to fall into him so that he needed to hold her up, hold her to him.

He swept her up into his arms, his hand warm against her thigh, and carried her to the bed, laying her down on it and then kneeling next to her bed and gazing at her and Emma just knew, for certain, that this had to be the end of their adventure and the start of their happily ever after, and she felt as though she was the princess he was going to awaken from her cursed slumber with a true love's kiss, except she was awake and it was even better because she didn't need any kiss to know they were true love.

"Do you know what I want?" she whispered, and he tilted his head in question, his hand coming to rest on her thigh, his thumb brushing her too sensitive skin as if he was teasing her. Except Emma knew he just needed to touch her, because she needed the same thing, the back of her knuckles brushing his cheek. "I want what we talked about. And we can have that now. There's nothing stopping us."

His smile softened, his hand inched slightly higher up her leg, sending a shiver through Emma, making her need him, but she wanted this talk first, with him gazing down at her as though she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. "What?" he asked, matching her volume. "You and me and Henry traversing the realms?" She nodded, and his hand moved another few inches, each graze of his thumb torturously close to touching her, to undoing her. "I have to admit that I've had rather enough of realm-crossing, but traversing the seas would be enough for me. As long as I'm with you."

And then he bent over her and kissed her, like in all the old stories she had been told, just pressing their lips together, a kiss she knew was powerful enough to break any curse.

But it wasn't like the pure true love's kisses she had been told of, not when his hand finally caressed the last few inches of her thigh, his thumb brushing between her legs, and she whined, a low, needy sound that made him chuckle. She fisted her hand in his leather collar, pulling him up from her knees, pulling him over her and kissing him when he finally moved his hand, started to tease her, Emma mewling with each gentle touch. She arched her back, rolled her hips into his touch, breathing his name when he began to press hot, wet kisses down the curve of her neck.

And then his hand stilled, and she moaned, so close to falling apart. "Killian, what?"

"I love you." he murmured, leaning down to brush his nose against hers. "And I don't care if we travel the world or if we stay here in the palace. All I need is to have you by my side."

She smiled shakily, letting go of his collar so she could cup his face in both hands, so that she could meet his eyes and see the way they softened, brightened when he looked at her. "Killian," she breathed, raising her head up to slide her lips across his, deepening the kiss when she felt him try to move closer, to lean down. And then she pulled away, and she beamed up at him, at the man she loved with every single part of her being, the man she had no need to rush with because now she knew they had as much time as they needed. "You have that. You'll always have that."

And that's the entire trilogy. Completed. I've been writing this for over a year now, and I want to say thank you to every single person who has read, reviewed, favourited and/or alerted any of the stories in the series. I don't really know what I'm going to do now, but I do have an idea for another multichapter fic, but it really needs ironing out. Because it's a bit complicated.

So thank you all so, so much! There will be an epilogue, because I'm not ready to let these guys go yet. And besides, I'm sure you all want to see their happily ever after!

And thank you to BlackDragon733, who has betaed every chapter and listened to all my ramblings about it (and there were a lot!)