Emma and Killian walked out of the Storybrooke Town Hall, both calling out their goodbyes to their friends and waving as they walked away from the crowd that had gathered to help awaken Snow White and Prince Charming from the Evil Queen's latest sleeping curse. Even though Emma had missed her parents fiercely, she was more than ready to have the rest of the evening to herself with her newly returned pirate captain. To say she was relieved to have him back was an understatement.
They briskly walked arm in arm for several minutes, neither breaking the silence, too lost in their thoughts about everything that had happened and too tired from the emotionally trying day (or week, or month, but who's really counting?) to say anything.
They had just turned on their street when the silence was finally broken.
"Emma, I want to apologize to you."
Emma stopped walking and looked over at her True Love, with whom she had just reunited with no more than an hour before after saving him from the last remaining Lost Boys of Neverland. If someone had told her back during her first trip to save Henry that she'd have had to return once more to save Killian, she'd have laughed and refused to believe it. There was no way she was ever planning on returning, fully understanding why Killian had referred to it as a hell masked as paradise after everything that she went through to get her son back. But here she was, walking down the street after saving her parents (and most importantly, him), her arm wrapped around her fiancé's, as they walked back to their home. The home that he had picked for them and for which she had fought so hard to keep alive for their future.
Seeing Killian nearly burned at the stake by savage boys with a grudge really put the pettiness of their fight about his attempt at destroying his memory of killing her grandfather into perspective. Perhaps his trying to destroy the memory wasn't that big a deal after all.
Killian paused, searching for the words to convey to her just what it was he had realized after his ordeal. "I wasn't very fair to you, love. I held you to a standard, and once the tables were turned, I failed abysmally to reach that same bar. I can only hope you are able to forgive me."
Emma nodded her head thoughtfully and turned to continue walking down the street. They weren't very far from home at this point. They walked for a few moments before she responded.
"I can forgive you. To be honest, I already have."
"I'm glad to hear that. There's not a day that went by since Gideon trapped me on the Nautilus that I haven't regretted how I acted. How I accused you of not trusting me, and then went and refused to trust you." Killian shook his head in disgust at his behavior. "I was a coward."
Emma huffed a deprecating laugh. "You were no more a coward than I was. I was the one who tried to deny my visions. I was the one who kept them from you."
They fell into a silence as they both walked on, contemplating all the ways they had screwed up this relationship hurdle. The two of them finally reached the front porch and slowly climbed the front steps. Emma took out her keys and unlocked the door as quickly as she could. Once inside, she quickly shed her coat and hung it up, but before she could turn back to Killian she felt his arms wrap around her and pull her to him tightly. She twisted in his embrace until she was facing him, returning the hug just as tightly as he was holding her.
The two of them stood there in the entryway of the home that symbolizes True Love, hope, future, trust, desire, permanence, and they both held the other, neither wanting to let go and end the moment much too soon.
As Killian nuzzled his nose into Emma's hair, breathing in her scent, he became aware of the sensation of coming home, the feeling that all his worries had just lifted. How could he have ever contemplated not trusting in their love? Emma had come to the Underworld to save him rather than give him up. Her belief in them was what led them to this very moment.
Reluctantly, they both began to pull away at the same time. Killian flipped on the light switch and Emma wandered into the kitchen for a bottle of water. Killian watched her from his vantage point in the room, mesmerized by the way she moved.
"Emma?"
"Hmm?" Emma responded as she took a long drink. "What is it babe?"
Killian scratched his ear. He hoped she didn't take his question the wrong way. He didn't want to destroy the atmosphere they had established since their reunion, but he did genuinely want to know the answer. "Why didn't you tell me about your visions?"
Emma slowly worked the cap back into the bottle as she thought about how to answer him. "I guess," she started with a sigh, "that it was because I didn't want to believe it. I couldn't believe that everything was going to end this way. For me. For my family. For us. So I guess it was just easier to push it away, to shrug it off." Emma shrugged. "For all the good it did us in the end."
Killian nodded. "I understand. But darling, you don't need to run from us anymore. We're all here, no matter what happens."
"I know. Old habits die hard, I guess."
"I just hate that you suffered alone."
Emma's face pinched in confusion. "I didn't though. Not really. I talked to Archie about it a little bit."
Killian fell silent for a moment as he processed her words. "You spoke to Archie?" He repeated slowly. "When did you do that?"
Emma shrugged. "I don't know, sometime after the first one? I honestly thought it was just stress or something. I went to him because it felt like I was losing my nerve, like some sort of panic attack or something."
Killian clenched his jaw, the muscle in it spasming as he looked at her in disbelief. So the cricket had known nearly all along, and yet she hadn't said a word to anyone else.
Killian turned abruptly on his heel and began pacing back and forth as Emma eyed him warily. "So all that about not needing your armor with me, and yet you go to him and tell him that you're going to die? You kept your armor up and kept me out!"
"No! Killian, that's not it at all!" Emma cried, standing straight from where she had been leaning against the refrigerator. "I didn't believe the visions at first! I went to him because I thought it was anxiety, or maybe post traumatic stress disorder! I thought it was from being the Dark One for six weeks, and then the Underworld after that, and then from all the rest of the hell we went through with that ordeal, literally!"
Killian stopped his pacing and ran his hand over his face. He looked at her, confusion and hurt written on his face. "Post dramatic stress disorder?" He asked incredulously. "What the devil is that?!"
"Post traumatic stress disorder," Emma corrected. "As in after trauma. It's a response to those types of events. You can have behavior changes, or sometimes it can mess with your mind."
Killian stared at her in confusion. "I've never heard of this. Is this common in this realm?"
Emma shrugged one shoulder slightly. "It can be. A lot of soldiers who go to war will often have it. It can cause horrible dreams or flashbacks. Sometimes disturbing thoughts. Archie thinks that my childhood raised my risk of developing it after what happened with you, and Excalibur, and then facing Hades." Emma moved to stand in front of him within an arm's length and looked up at him.
Killian's brow furrowed as he thought about what she had just said. "And so you went to him because you thought it would help?"
Emma nodded. "Yeah. It's generally treated by either taking medication or undergoing therapy. Archie's actually been trying to get me to commit to the therapy."
"Trying, Swan?" Killian quirked an eyebrow in that way that she loved.
Emma smiled softly. "Turns out I'm not very good at being vulnerable. Besides, he thinks the visions are a result of PTSD. I know better, though. So, yeah, you can imagine the amount of progress we've made," she laughed deprecatingly.
Killian raised his hand and hook and placed them on each of her arms, rubbing them softly. "So you confided in him thinking that he could help you with 'PTSD,' yet you didn't confide in me or your family because…?"
Emma blushed slightly. "Would it make you madder than you already are if I said it was because I'm still not completely used to having people who worry about me?"
Killan shook his head. The two of them really were so damn much alike it hurt sometimes. "No, that doesn't make me mad at all. I know exactly how you feel. The fact that your father can forgive me for what I did, embrace me like he did tonight.. I just…" Killian cut off what he was about to say, too overcome with emotion to put to words what he felt and thought about the situation. He shook his head slightly to clear his thoughts (and to dislodge the lump in his throat that had appeared).
Emma shook her head fiercely in response to his, and she placed her hands on his chest. "He knows you're not that man anymore. And he definitely wouldn't do something to push me away. Not forgiving you would cause the biggest rift between us, and he doesn't want that. He knows the power of True Love more than just about anyone. Of course he would forgive you!"
"It's a lot to forgive, Swan. I'm not sure I'm worthy of such consideration."
"You absolutely are! I just hope one day you can see it for yourself." Emma wrapped her arms around him and rested her head against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed the crown of her head.
"Perhaps I should continue my visits with the cricket as well. Maybe he can help me move past my deeds and into forgiving myself."
"I fully support that. I don't want anything like this to ever pull us apart again. Especially if I have a limited amount of time here."
Killian hissed. "Don't say that, love. There's no way we could be here together now after everything, only for you to die. I refuse to believe it."
Emma nodded. "I have faith in us. We'll figure this out."
"Together," vowed Killian.
"Together," Emma repeated, looking up into his eyes. He moved his hand to her face and traced her cheek with his thumb. Emma moved into him, head tilted, her lips searching out his as his lips met hers halfway. The kiss was soft, tender, a vow of renewal, a reaffirmation of the commitment that led them to choose each other time and time again. For the moment, neither felt the urge to deepen it, to take it to the level of passion and desire that had always, always flickered between them.
They alternated between kissing the other's top and bottom lips, softly swaying as they held the other close. Killian's hand moved to bury itself in Emma's hair as his hooked arm tightened its embrace on her lower back. Emma's hands moved to cradle his face as she moved closer to him in response to his tightened grip on her. Neither could get close enough.
Killian's hand moved down Emma's head to trace along the line of her neck as the heat rose between them. Emma, breathless, pulled back slightly and looked into his eyes, twin mirrors of the lust coursing through her body.
Emma lunged in quickly, her tongue tracing the seams of his lips, and unhesitatingly Killian opened to allow her in. Her tongue caressed his with increasing pressure as she fell more into his spell. Killian's hand drifted down her back and to her ass, cupping it and using the motion to pull her hips into closer contact with his pelvis where she could feel he was already half-hard and growing.
Her right hand fell from his face to cover his heart as he began thrusting minutely against her and as he kneaded her ass, hook moving down to her thighs to lift her higher in his embrace. Emma let out a soft moan as Killian broke their kiss, trailing butterfly kisses along her neck. Her left hand trailed down his front to the buttons on his vest, fumbling as she tried to undo each one.
This action seemed to break the haze Killian was under. He broke apart from her abruptly, drinking in the sight of her, wrecked and wanting, and knew that he didn't want her like this, that a romp in their kitchen wasn't what they needed after their time spent apart.
"What say we move this to our bedroom before we get carried away, love?"
Emma nodded frantically as she gulped a deep breath of air. "Lead the way, sailor."
Killian took her hand and pulled her after him. Once they reached the steps he turned abruptly back and pulled her to him, grasping the back of her neck and crushing his lips to hers. They spent several moments in a battle for dominance, desperation fueling their movements. Killian reached for her shirt and tugged it up her body, leaning down once he got it above her breasts to suck the top of one into a bruising kiss.
Emma moaned softly and said, breathlessly, "I thought we were taking this to the bedroom?"
"Hmm… needed you," Killian murmured back, moving his attention to her other breast. Emma felt a shiver go through her at the low timbre of his voice, his accent even more pronounced in his desire.
"If you keep this up, we won't make it past this bottom step," she warned, arching her back to encourage him to move his mouth lower to where her nipples were hard and aching for his touch.
Killian reluctantly pulled away. "Too right, Swan. Let's go." He turned to resume climbing the steps, but paused and looked back at her when he realized she wasn't following.
Emma was still at the bottom watching him climb up. She had a soft smile on her face and hearts in her eyes as she watched him. He smiled softly in return, and she quickly shed her shirt, grinning when she saw his eyes darken. She bounded up the steps after him and he turned as well to finish ascending to the second story.
Once they both cleared the stairs, Emma was back in his arms, pushing him against the nearest wall and kissing him fiercely. His hand trailed up to her left breast and cupped it softly through the material of her bra, squeezing and rubbing his palm against the front. Once Emma began whimpering into his mouth, he pushed the cup down and took her nipple between his fingers, lightly tugging on it. Emma broke the kiss and leaned her head back as she gasped. Killian took the opportunity to duck his head and capture the rosy bud between his lips, suckling gently as he looked up at her.
Emma's head was tilted back, the moonlight from the nearest window falling onto her skin and illuminating the expression on her face. Her eyes were hooded and her hair cascaded back from her ponytail. Killian reached back behind her and tugged the elastic band out, wanting to see her golden locks, finer than any treasure he had ever seen, tumbling down her back as he pleasured her. He bit down on her nipple and she shuddered in her pleasure. Raising his head, he pulled the other cup down and proceeded to lavish the same treatment on her other breast as he had the first.
Not content to just receive, Emma reached down and cupped him through his trousers, causing him to buck him to her hand. She timed her caresses with his licks and sucks, relishing in the moan coming from the back of Killian's throat. After several strokes, she reached to undo his belt buckle and unbutton his trousers, needing to feel his hot heaviness in her palm. Pulling the zipper down and spreading the placket with one hand she reached in with the other and grasped his cock, pulling it free and stroking it lazily. Killian let her breast pop free from the ministrations of his mouth and closed his eyes, relishing in the sensations coursing up and down his spine.
In unison, they both began moving to their bedroom, hands exploring and teasing on the way there. Emma quickly shed her bra in between gropes and caresses, dropping it onto the floor haphazardly. Just before the door, Killian swept his hooked arm under her knees and lifted her into his arms bridal style. He carried her through the door and over to the bed, laying her gently down on top of the quilt.
Emma bent one of her legs up to take off her boot, but Killian grabbed her hand with his hook and moved it away. Catching on to what he was nonverbally saying, she laid her hands on her stomach and watched as he took her boot off, holding her ankle with his hook, removed her sock, and began massaging her foot. She closed her eyes and moaned, relishing in the sensation. After a moment, Killian switched to her other foot and repeated the actions on it.
Slowly, he began working at her ankle, and then her lower calf, echoing the motion on her other leg with his hook. Emma shivered from the cold sensation, the combination of the heat of his hand and the ice of his hook piquing the arousal coursing through her veins.
She raised her hips in an unspoken invitation. Killian smirked, and biding her wishes, moved to the waistband of her jeans. He quickly had them unfastened and pulled off, returning to her legs and continuing his massage unimpeded by clothing. He bent his head and placed butterfly kisses on her skin, following his hand and hook.
Once his hand and hook reached the waistband of her underwear, he used the hook to lightly rub along the edge, placing the tip of his hook under the hem as he did so. He looked up at Emma and met her eyes, mischief and love mingling in his gaze.
She smiled in return and raised her hands to her underwear, slid her thumbs into the waistband, and slid them down. Killian reached with his hook and helped her, sliding the curve against the cleft of her folds as he did so. Seeing Emma gasp at the contact, he finished removing her underwear with his hand and raised his hook to tease at her outer lips, coating the curve with her juices. Emma rocked her hips against it, seeking more pressure and friction, something that Killian was all too happy to give her.
She rocked her hips faster as Killian watched in amazement. It never failed to impress him how unaffected by his hook Emma had always been. While most people had always shied away from it, Emma never had. To see her so lost in the throes of her passion as she got herself off on his hook touched his heart in ways he couldn't even begin to hope to express.
He watched in awe as Emma's moans began to grow louder and more continuous, but he knew this wasn't what he wanted. He wanted to taste her, to make her fall apart on his tongue, and then his cock, so he withdrew his hook and laughed as she shrieked in indignation as sensations ebbed.
"Why did you stop?" whined Emma, her voice breathless in her desire. "I was so close!"
Killian moved in to kiss her, which she barely had time to return before he was moving to slide down her body, his half-unbuttoned shirt and vest hanging open over her.
"Patience, love. It's been too long since I've had a taste of your nectar, and I am not doing anything else," he said as he arranged her legs over his shoulders in the way he liked, "before I do."
With that, he licked a stripe up her slit, and Emma's hands tangled themselves into his hair. He thrust his tongue into her as her hips tilted to give him better access. One thrust, two thrusts, three. He pulled his tongue out and licked a path up to her clit, focusing on swiftly licking back and forth over the tip.
Emma moaned under his assault, a bit surprised that he was going for it so soon; her pirate loved to tease her senseless first. She supposed that this was just a remnant of their forced separation for so long. Her moans grew in pitch as he sucked her clit into his mouth and kept sucking without releasing it. She felt the heat begin in the base of her spine, little tingles beginning to shoot from her clit throughout her nerves. Killian released her clit and focused on licking back and forth over it, increasing the pressure on her tip with each lick. Emma was panting in earnest now, thrusting against his tongue in small, quick lunges, desperate to finish. The heat continued to grow, and grow, and grow, until she was right on the edge, holding on and trying so hard not to let go, to prolong the exquisite sensations Killian was giving her.
Sensing she was trying to resist giving in, Killian raised his hook to her right nipple and raked the tip of the appendage over it just hard enough to to be on the right side of painful. Emma let out a loud keen, nearly continuously at his ministrations. Killian reached up with his other hand to tug on her other nipple, and as he pinched it, bit down lightly on her clit. The combined sensations finally pushed her over the edge, shockwaves pulsing through her body as she screamed. Killian continued licking and sucking her clit, trying to extend his love's high as long as he could. Her hips were rocking in earnest now as she enjoyed the feelings tingling through her body.
Once Emma started to calm, and before he could begin building the sensations to persuade her body to climax for a second time, she fisted her hand in her hair and yanked him up to her. He followed her unspoken order, the pain of her pulling his hair going straight to his cock. She kissed him, her tongue colliding and swirling with his, her taste lingering on his tongue and driving her to near distraction.
Emma gently pushed him off her after a moment and gasped out, "How the hell do you still have your clothes on?"
Killian smiled. "I was a bit preoccupied. A needy princess warranted my attention much more than my clothing did," he teased.
Emma rolled her eyes. "Well, It's time to rectify that, pirate."
She pushed his side to roll him onto the bed, and once he was lying in the middle, she straddled his hips. She finished unbuttoning his shirt and ripped it away from his chest. He sat up as much as he could and shrugged it off his shoulders as she pushed the sleeves of both shirt and vest down his arms. He shed the garments off his hand and hook and reached for her, hugging Emma in close and plundering her mouth. Her hands stroked over his chest, following his hair down to his trousers, where they hung loosely open. She reached in and stroked his cock, kissing him hungrily one last time, before breaking the kiss and shifting down, grabbing his trousers and pulling them down his legs as he shifted to lift his hips to help her.
Emma tossed the clothing carelessly to the side, more concerned about Killian's cock than about the state of the tidiness of the room. She took him in hand and gave him several long hard strokes in the pressure she knew would have him on the brink. But she wasn't satisfied with just that. Just as he had wanted to taste her, she also wanted to taste him. She wanted to feel him in her mouth, wanted to watch as his face showed just how wrecked upon her shoals she always made him, wanted the reassurance that, in this way at least, she had saved him and returned home with him, triumphant in disrupting whatever nefarious plan Gideon had had in store for them.
She leaned down and licked the tip of his head, smirking as Killian's hips rose minutely off the bed. She swirled her tongue around the head and took him as deep into her mouth as she could. She looked up at him as she bobbed her head and caught his lust-fueled gaze. He watched her for a moment, sighing as she hit the rhythm he knew she knew he liked. He let his head fall back after a particularly vigorous suck, and then raised up and pulled her off.
Emma pouted. "I was enjoying that!" she exclaimed. "Turnabout is fair play, you know."
Killian smiled softly. "I know, my love, but I don't want to come in your mouth tonight. I want to make love to my fiancée."
Emma smiled brightly, her hair shining in the moonlight that illuminated the shadows of their home. At that moment, Killian didn't understand how he could ever love her more than he did in this moment. (He would, of course; he would actually find that it was possible to love her more and more each day, though each time he wondered at it he would find it hard to believe that his love would continue to grow. Such is the way that love works, after all.)
He leaned in and kissed her softly, rolling them until he was on top, limbs intertwined. Emma spread her legs further to accommodate him, and in a mutual movement, he thrust into her in one motion until he was buried to the hilt. They didn't break their kiss as they began to move in unison. Her hands moved to grasp his hand and hook. Killian laced his fingers through hers and moved their arms to rest on the pillow by her head.
They moved together in tandem, the rhythm as old as time itself, each moment bringing them closer to the crescendo. Their mouths never parted for more than a moment, just long enough to breathe in before meeting again in a tangle of tongues that danced as sensuously as their bodies. No words were needed for this moment, for both were too lost in the other to even think of uttering anything more than "I love you." Even this vow couldn't be uttered because they were both too caught up in the seriousness of the moment, the renewal of their devotion to each other, their coming home.
Killian rocked his hips leisurely into her, taking comfort in their gentle sway. Like the peace he felt being rocked by the ocean in his bunk in the Jolly Roger for all those years, this was a contentment that went far deeper than anything he had ever felt before. He found solace in it, and he found solace in the fact that, for the first time ever, his inner lost boy had found his lost girl and brought them both home.
Emma rocked with Killian, for once not wanting anything more than the pace he set. Usually, she was impatient, always wanting more-faster-harder, but their usual frantic pace couldn't satisfy her tonight. She wanted to be loved and cherished, to be rocked by her True Love in the most elemental of dances as a way of bringing comfort. She wanted everything he could give her, everything that he was. Storybrooke could light up in flames, and she wouldn't care, for so long as they were together, nothing else mattered. She found home in his embrace, and she reveled in the comfort of being reunited with Killian. For the first time since that awful evening when she caught him about to burn his memories, she felt complete. She felt perfect and unbroken. Though her own beat whole in her chest, she felt as if the other half of her heart had finally returned.
No matter how much he wanted this moment to drag on forever and never stop, Killian soon felt the tell-tale tingling and tightening in his balls that radiated up his spine. He let go of her hand and reached between them, wanting to stave his own climax just long enough to help Emma reach hers. Emma was close enough that it just took one stroke, two strokes, three, and she was flying, a myriad of colors enlightening the world beyond her eyes, the blue of Killian's gaze meeting hers being the most predominant color of all.
Emma's climax triggered Killian's own, and they fell together, just like they have done everything else for so long. Neither stopped thrusting, wanting to ride the aftermath for as long as possible. Finally, they both could move no more, and came to a halt, panting heavily and holding the other's gaze.
After a few moments, Killian pulled out and laid beside her, gathering her in his arms as he did so. She cuddled close to him, waving her hand lazily to clean themselves up. Having her magic was awesome at times like this. They both watched the shadows dance on the ceiling above, content to just be after their coupling, with Killian tracing patterns on one of Emma's arms and Emma stroking his chest hair.
"Do you forgive me for not telling you about my visions," asked Emma softly, not wanting to disturb their peace but also needing to know.
"Of course, Swan. Do you forgive me for how I reacted that day? For accusing you of not trusting me, I mean?"
"Yes. But you were right; I didn't really trust you."
Killian scoffed. "I was wrong. Being scared isn't the same as not trusting someone. I didn't trust you with finding out I was the one who killed your grandfather," he reminded her. "Now that is not trusting someone."
Emma shook her head vehemently. "No, you were scared too," she replied forcefully. "That's not a trust issue either."
Killian sighed. "I think this is one instance where you and I will have to agree to disagree."
"Maybe," Emma replied reluctantly. She thought that that was going to have to be something they would hash out with Archie in therapy. Maybe they could even start couples sessions together.
"At any rate," Killian continued, "I never want us to go through this again. I was so afraid of losing all that I had, all that I held dear, that I nearly cost myself everything anyway. If that's the price of doubting myself, and you, and our love, then that's a price I don't want to pay."
"Me neither. I don't know what tomorrow will bring, but I do know one thing." Emma sat up to look him in the eye, propping herself up with her elbow with her head supported by her hand. Once she made eye contact for a moment, she continued, "If there is even the slightest chance I could die soon, I'm not going to go without leaning on my loved ones. I've come too far and worked too hard to build a relationship with Henry and my parents, to build friendships in this town, and to build a future with you to give into running away from it all now."
Killian smiled. "At least you didn't try to run to New York this time."
Emma laughed. "No, I just ran to the town shrink."
"A big improvement then."
They both laughed together for several moments.
"I love you," Emma said softly as their laughter died.
Killian kissed her softly before responding, "I love you, too, Emma."
They both gazed into each other's eyes, content in the knowledge that they had come out of this fiasco stronger than ever, though maybe a little worse for the wear. Even though the threat of Gideon loomed, along with the Black Fairy and whatever else was waiting for them in the near future, they knew they would both be there by each other's side, for death couldn't stop True Love; it simply delayed it for a while.
"Okay, I think it's time for round two," Emma stated, and Killian burst out laughing as she clambered on top of him, eager to continue their more enjoyable activities until well into the night.