Title: When the Sun Rises
Part: 2/3
Author: Roguie
Fandom: Once Upon a Time
Characters: Killian/Emma, Charmings, Henry, Regina.
Rating: K+
Spoilers: Not really. Most of this is its own head canon verse.
Summary: He's known her long enough for three Christmas Eves to pass. All were notable in their own way: good and not so good, yet all a part of their path to happiness.
Disclaimer: OuaT isn't mine. If it were we'd not be on three month hiatuses every other three months. Oh, and Hook and Emma would have long dissolved their UST and be living happily ever after in a little beach house taking over a quiet corner of Storybrooke for themselves. Just saying.
A/N: *yawn*. The third part I'll post when I wake in the morning. Since I didn't intend to write today and my muse kind of ran away with this, you get a 5000 word Christmas present. Surprise! And… pure fluff, not a smut fairy to be seen. Although… give us 30 reviews over the 3 chapters and I'll see if the muse is willing to provide a smutty little epilogue. Yeah, I'm not opposed for begging for my very own Christmas love. ;D Enjoy – and Merry Christmas!
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The second Christmas he spent in the presence of Emma Swan, only one of them would remember and he'd much rather forget.
When Regina had explained to him the depths of the spell she'd cast upon Emma, he'd laughed in her face. Evil Queen she may be, but if nothing else, Snow White and Prince Charming had proved time and again that Regina's magic was nothing when faced with the power of love.
He knew it was love in Neverland. When she'd layered her lips across his, stealing his breath, his energy, his very soul with the gentle press of sweet, soft flesh against him, he'd known in that very moment that his heart no longer belonged to Milah. The sharp pang of guilt he felt the moment he released his long dead beloved from the clinging of his heart was nothing compared to the realization that he'd fallen in love with the blonde, firecracker of a princess who fought him at every turn. Emma had bloody near knocked him to his arse with a single, sweet little kiss that released all the emotion he'd not let his heart or mind acknowledge. He'd said as much on that blasted bridge in front of her family and the man who should have been her true love. She'd taken his words to heart, but given him no hope as to where their paths would lead. Only when he spoke the words his heart demanded as he let her walk away from him, as he let her forget him, only then did she allow him a sliver of hope that she welcomed his heart.
As such, he ignored Regina's warnings that his princess would never remember him, that nothing he could do would break that, and with the help of a lovely mermaid, he traveled the realms between them, only to find himself back in that blasted city of New York. With no ship in harbor this time and only twenty four hours to find his Swan or lose his return trip to the Enchanted Forest, he set out into the cold night on the impossible adventure of finding one person amongst millions.
It was the boy he found first, traveling in a pack of other boys, carrying skates across his shoulder, a bag across his back, and a little bag from an antiques shop in his hand. Killian followed the boys at a distance, envying the freedom of Henry's laughter and the easy camaraderie he'd found with the group of lads as they trudged through the biting wind and fresh snowfall. Relief bled from Killian's body as Henry broke from the group, waving them off, wishing them a Merry Christmas before disappearing through the gates of an apartment building.
He'd found her. Against all odds, he'd found her.
He slipped through the gates behind the boy, following him into the building, creeping quietly up the stairs and hiding in the dark shadows as he watched Henry slip his key into a door and disappear inside. It wasn't until he felt the sharp cut of a knife against the soft flesh of his throat that he realized he'd not been quite as stealthy as he'd thought. His heart beat a frantic rhythm, his eyes lighting up with not fear but pure joy as he breathed in the scent of her all around him.
"Mind telling me why you're following the kid?"
He'd never paid attention to the dangerous cut of her voice in the past and he wasn't about to start now. With a quick flick of his hook he pulled the knife away from his throat, turning in her arms to grin down at his beautiful Swan.
"Pirate, love. I was just following the trail to the treasure at the end."
"Hmm, and I suppose there is a giant black X marked over my apartment door?"
His smirk was lopsided as he drank in the sight of her, the broken pieces of his soul falling instantly into place as he lost himself in the sea of her green eyes.
"Hardly, lass, if there had been then I'd not have had to follow the lad, now would I?"
It was the press of her taser that finally darkened the glow of his eyes, his eyebrows pulling together in confusion as he looked down at the weapon he'd only had the displeasure of experiencing once, but would never forget.
"Come now, Swan, the weapon is unnecessary, it's not as though I'm about to hurt you."
"And I would know that exactly how? Let's walk through this, shall we?" Her grin was cold as she pushed the weapon deeper against his ribs, her finger edging dangerously across the button that would send three hundred volts of electricity through his body. "I follow my kid from a distance because this is New York City and I'm not losing him to the sickos and freaks out there but need to give him a sense of freedom, so he doesn't know I'm there. About half way between the skating rink and our home, I notice a stranger lay eyes upon him, following him the entire way back to our apartment. Now, for a second I can put aside the ridiculous pirate garb, but that hook you're sporting? I see that as a weapon."
"As well you should, love; many a man has seen the sharp end of that hook."
"Not helping your case, buddy," she mutters, pushing him out of the stairwell and into the hallway with not so gentle pressure from the taser. "So, while I set aside the clothing that should be a reason to put you into a padded cell, I can't get past the hook, or the fact that this armed stranger has now followed my son into my home."
"I meant him no harm, Swan, I swear it."
"This complete stranger, someone I've never met a single day in my life, with a hook for a hand, that inexplicably knows my name. This is not putting me at ease, in fact, this is making me more and more nervous, and when I get nervous, my finger gets nervous." She jabbed at him with the taser again, turning in the hallway to put her back to her apartment door.
"Emma, love…"
"Again, not helping, bud."
Killian drew in a deep, slow breath as he struggled to control the frantic, panicked beat of his heart. There had to be a way around Regina's spell, this couldn't be the end of them.
"My name's not bud, Swan, it's Killian Jones and you bloody well know that."
Ignoring the weapon pressed to his ribs, he wound his fingers into her hair, knocking her woolen cap from her head as he pulled her to him, layering his lips across hers, stealing her breath from her lungs and replacing it with his own as he stepped closer, groaning softly into her skin.
He heard her whimper quietly a moment before the world spun around him, white light danced behind his closed eyes, his entire body locking tight with Emma in his arms as he began trembling uncontrollably.
Only when his body fell backwards into the hall did he finally understand what had happened. The sensation that he had first attributed to the blinding power behind true love's kiss spread across his body in an inexplicable radiating agony as she released him into his fall, the still sparking taser in her hand.
"Because it's Christmas Eve, I'm going to let you pick yourself up off the floor and walk out of this building with every body part still attached. Once I close this door behind me I'll be calling the cops. That'll give you about five minutes to get the hell out of my hallway and the hell out of my life before they get here and haul your sorry, perving ass out the door. Your choice, buddy. Merry Christmas."
Knowing Emma as well as he did, he doubted that she would call the local authorities, but rather than tempt fate, he did as she requested, dragging his aching body out into the cold night. Rather than return to the harbor where the little mermaid would be waiting for him to arrive in only a few hours, he climbed the outside of the building next to Emma's, pulling his coat tight around him to ward off the cruel winds, and watched silently through her windows as she and Henry settled down for a quiet Christmas Eve.
He didn't sleep a wink that night, watching over them long after they fell asleep around the Christmas Tree, Emma on the sofa, Henry on the floor, wrapping paper strewn across the room as though a great storm had ripped through the apartment one moment while he'd blinked.
When he returned to the docks the next day, he couldn't bring himself to spare the mermaid a word, just a small sad smile as he shook his head. Her eyes reflected his own sadness as she took his hand and led him into the depths of the freezing waters, but she spared him any comment as she took him back to what would forever be his home.
As he dragged himself aboard the Jolly, running a loving hand along her enchanted wood before disappearing into the cabin that had been his home for centuries, he wondered what it was about this day that people wanted to celebrate. All it had done for him was remind him exactly how alone in this world he truly was.
He rubbed his hand across his chest as his heart ached painfully, reminding him again how battered the poor organ had been over the years, this year just another in a long line of failures to find happiness. A small, sad sigh broke his lips as he laid down upon the familiar bed and closed his eyes against the sunlight that streamed through his cabin window.
"Merry Christmas, love."
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Merry Christmas, everyone, and remember much like magic, all muses come with a price. This muse's price is that little box down below. Please don't make her chase you today, it is Christmas after all. Even muse's need time with their families.