Every chance he could, Killian would make sure to be available to greet Mara off the big, yellow school bus. Emma and him set up schedules at work for at least one of them to be home once their young daughter arrived home from school, so this meant that every other day Mara would joyously spring into the embrace of her father's arms as soon as she stepped down onto the sidewalk that lay a block ahead of their house.
This day; however, Killian noticed that something was on his daughter's mind as they strolled hand-in-hand back to their Storybrooke home. Usually, she was quite talkative as she would excitedly chatter away about her always eventful day at school. Now, with Mara being in Kindergarten, the conversation topics mostly ranged from painting birdhouses to what games she had partook in during recess with the other children.
Killian could not stand the strangely silent walk home any longer, so he took it upon himself to inquire what was the matter with his daughter.
"Had a good day at school today, Love?" He asked, adjusting his view from the bitter cold February scenery in front of him to his small daughter.
"It was okay I guess." She hesitantly stated as she continued the journey home at her gradual pace, never even looking up from the thin layer of snow under her steps.
Killian took some time to think of what could be wrong with Mara's day at school. For all he knew it was a Friday and they were scheduled to make cookies as a class. He definitely knew his daughter loved baking and eating sugary treats, so why was her current expression so solemn? He thought to himself as he just listened to the wind wisp through the bare tree branches and the crisp crunch of the snow under both of their boots as they made their way home.
To his surprise, Mara interrupted their silent journey, she spoke up while they climbed the stairs leading up to the large white entry door.
"Today we learned about Valentine's Day in school and we have to do a special project for homework." She finally admitted as she brushed off her boots on the colorful welcome mat outside their door.
"Aye, lass is that so?" Killian quizzed while taking out a silver key from his black leather jacket pocket and turning it in the lock.
Before he knew it, upon opening the door, Mara kicked off her sparkly silver boots, threw her purple jansport backpack and pink coat onto the floor, and then raced into the kitchen.
Killian could sense her avoiding anymore of his questions about her day, and now he is worried why she feels so uneasy about Valentine's Day.
He meticulously hung Mara's coast on the coat rack, placed her, now dripping, snow covered boots on the mat, and began to take off his own winter gear before joining his daughter in the kitchen.
Mara was found to be creatively attempting to reach a mug in the cabinet as he noticed that she had somehow managed to climb onto the counter from the nearby barstool. Her being too little to access the mugs wasn't going to stop her apparently.
Killian rushed over to his daughter in a mid-balancing act as she pulled her weight up into the tall cabinet and reached out for a red ceramic mug.
"Whoa, Mara, be careful there. What do you think you're doing?" He quickly demanded as his protective fatherly instincts immediately took over.
She abruptly stopped what she was doing and innocently replied "I just wanted some hot cocoa, daddy."
He carefully began to lift her off of the kitchen counter and placed her back onto the floor before saying "Mara you know better to climb up here. You could have fallen and gotten yourself hurt. Next time ask someone to help you. I was coming in right behind you, so you could have asked me instead of doing it all by yourself." He said sternly making sure his daughter learned from this experience.
"Sorry daddy" Mara apologetically responded as she faintly swayed back and forth in place.
"It's fine now, Mara, but next time remember to ask an adult" He advised, but reluctantly tended to her request of hot cocoa, he began to make himself and her a batch.
After lifting Mara up onto the island barstool, and placing two mugs in front of them, he poured them some warm, delicious cocoa and did the final touch of sprinkling some marshmallows and cinnamon on top.
After the father-daughter duo were both content from drinking their hot chocolate, Killian decided to bring the Valentine's day homework assignment up again.
"Mara, so what exactly is this special project that you must do for Valentine's Day?" He quizzed, after setting his now empty mug down on the counter.
"I have to make a box to hold Valentine's cards and candy and it has to be decorated too." She answered back inbetween the last couple sips of her beverage.
Now, he knew all about Valentine's Day as Emma had taught him about this new custom and they shared the holiday together in the years following their marriage, but he was unaware of what schoolchildren were required to do and make for this sort of special holiday box.
His thoughts were preoccupied with ideas of how to obtain a worthy box to be used for this Valentine's day celebration at Mara's school. He could go out and buy one at the store, he could raid his and Emma's closet to she if she had some empty shoe boxes laying around, but then he thought of the perfect idea.
"Lass, I think it's your lucky day! I have the best idea for this Valentine's day box. Follow me." He enthusiastically beamed, as he took his daughter's hand and began to lead her outside into the backyard.
"Where are we going, daddy?" She curiously managed to ask just as they were finished racing to their destination.
"It's a surprise, you'll see soon enough. Wait patiently my dear Mara." He vaguely answered as he began to turn the combination lock that was around the little wooden shed's double doors.
Inside the shed was adorned with dust and cobwebs, as Emma and him had not entered this shed in awhile and it was mainly used for storage of tools, things from the Jolly Roger, and other objects.
Killian had entered the shed first and batted away all the cobwebs in his path to make Mara a clean trail. He was looking for something in particular and was on a mission to find it in all of the surrounding mess.
"Ah ha! I found it." He excitedly exclaimed as he pulled out a small wooden chest from under a stack of miscellaneous tools, and an old gardening hose, from inside a broken, rusty red wheelbarrow.
"What's that?" Mara asked, marveling at the object in her father's grasp.
"This, my dear, is your dad's old sea chest. It has accompanied me during many of my past journeys on the Jolly." He recounted, remembering his old seafaring days across the realms.
"It's so cool! Can I use it for my Valentine's box for school? Pretty please daddy?" She politely requested, failing to hide her excitement.
"Why, of course, Love! I couldn't see a better use of this then being your Valentine's Day box" Killian pointed out, as he then transferred the small, wooden box into the hands of his, now-delighted, daughter.
After locking the shed back up, the father-daughter team went back into the much needed warmth of their house and sat down in the living room by the fire to work on transforming the plain wooden sea chest into a pink and glittery Valentine's Day box.
Mara left Killain for a second, as she eagerly bounded upstairs into her room to grab all the arts and crafts supplies as she could. She managed to collect a plethora of pink, red, and white construction paper, heart stickers, washable markers, and various colors of glitter glue before heading back downstairs.
After about an hour of working on the box, both Mara and Killian thought it looked quite acceptable to be a decorated and functioning Valentine's box. Killian was very impressed at his daughter's craftiness as he had let her take this project on the way she wanted. He admired their creation which was completely covered in pink paper, decked out with different sized red and white hearts, and splattered with silver and gold glitter glue.
His sea chest was completely unrecognizable which was quite humorous. All Killian could think of was how embarrassed and upset his past self would be at defacing his beloved sea chest, but now that he had Emma and Mara, a true family, nothing else mattered to him but their happiness.
He proudly took the lovely sight in of Mara in such a blissful state after being happy with the end product of their labor.
Mara looked up at her father, she must have noticed him staring, and she tilted her head slightly out of curiosity before asking a certain question.
"Daddy what does having a Valentine mean?"
This question had caught him off guard as he had already thought that the kids in her class had learned about this holiday earlier this week, but apparently he had been wrong.
He nervously fidgeted in his seat on the couch, as he began to think of how to even explain the holiday of love to his young daughter. However, he eventually gained the courage and began to speak.
"Well, Love, Valentine's Day is all about celebrating the people that you love. For example, your mother is my Valentine, and we usually spend the whole day together and then I make her a special dinner with candles, flowers, chocolates, and a bunch of yummy food that I know is her favorite. I believe the lore is that there's this little flying baby that shoots people with magical love arrows, but no need to worry about that because it's just a myth." He jokingly assured.
She spent a minute to take everything that her father had to explain about Valentines Day in, but she was still a tad unsure about it all.
"So, do Valentines have to be a mommy and a daddy?" She innocently inquired, after all, this question seemed logical to any young child.
"Oh, of course not, little lass. A Valentine can be anyone." Killian correctively assured his puzzled daughter.
She remained quiet for some time after, but to Killian's dismay she still seemed rather down.
"Why, what's wrong now, Love? I didn't upset you, did I?" He calmly expressed as he reached out to rub her back.
"Well, I don't even have a Valentine, so I can't do Valentine's Day then." She shakingly replied, almost on the verge of tears.
"Hey." He said, tilting her chin up, "Can I be your Valentine? It would be my honor." He announced before getting off the couch and bowing to ask his little princess this special question.
"Really?!" She grinned, bouncing in her seat.
"Why of course, I'd love to! Plus, I'm sure if you ask your mom once she gets home from work, she would gladly be your Valentine as well." He added trying to lift Mara's spirits even more.
"Good idea, daddy! Now I will have two. I'm going to make you guys cards right now!" She happily exclaimed before taking her craft bag back upstairs to her room.
Killian beamed as he watched his daughter rush upstairs, he sure couldn't think of any person who wouldn't be Mara's Valentine. What worried him now was the thought that had suddenly popped into his head...Oh boy, what am I going to do that Valentine's Day when Mara grows up and gets a boyfriend? But, thankfully, he regained his calm composure, as he then realized that day would be many and many of years in the future if he could help it. The only thing now that he was concerned with was that he should start planning his special Valentine's date for both of his Valentines: Emma and Mara, as it only is just a couple days away.
(A/N While I was writing this, I found out the news that OUAT is cancelled. As much as I am sad to see the show go, I'm still grateful that it had such a positive influence on my life and I consider it to be one of my all-time favorite shows. Thanks to things like fan fiction, shows that are no more can be brought to life by the fans, and that is exactly what I plan to do, as I will remain to continue writing and reading ouat fics. I'm so thankful for the ouat community, you guys rock! RIP ouat, you will be missed.)