It's not until three days later when she sees him again, while she's out at lunch with Henry and Regina. He and Robin make their way into the diner, both of them smiling at something she was clueless about. She almost felt like sinking down in the booth, not allowing him to see her so that he could keep that smile on his face.

But she was too late, and their eyes met after only a second, as if he could sense her presence. His smiled faded and he shot a death glare towards Robin, who shrugged. Emma did the same to Henry, who gave his mother a, 'really?' look.

"If I hadn't done this, you two would have been too stubborn to fix this." Henry told his mother. "So I am going to stay with mom and Robin, and you two are going to work this out because you are both going to be miserable until you do."

Emma rolled her eyes, because despite her reservations, she knew Henry was right. He and Regina were quick to leave, Regina pulling a confused Robin along with her. Emma was quick to stand, Killian taking a deep breath before approaching her as well.

"Do you want to go back to the house and talk?" Emma asked him, glancing down at her feet.

"I thought I wasn't welcome there." Killian responded in a monotone.

Ouch.

"You're always welcome there, Killian." Emma sighed. "Let's go home and talk. Please."

Killian took a deep breath before nodding. "Alright, yeah."

The walk back home was awkward and silent, both of the standing a foot apart. Emma unlocked the door with a sigh, stepping inside. The lights were off and the house was a mess, but that was mostly because Killian had done all the cleaning and Emma and Henry didn't feel like it while he wasn't there.

"I don't really know what to say." Killian said when the door was shut behind her.

Before she was able to response, they heard the fall of paws onto the floor from Emma's bed, and then the same four paws bounding down the stairs at the sound of Killian's voice. Maya jumped off the stairs and ran to jump up on Killian, clearly having missed her favorite person for the past three days.

Killian smiled widely as he picked up the growing puppy, both of them assaulting each other with kisses. The sight made Emma smile, and she realized she knew exactly what to say.

"I do." Emma told him once he placed the puppy on the floor. "I screwed up. I was angry and stupid and being my own paranoid self. Moving in has been a lot, and I guess I was just overwhelmed. So I stupidly looked for a way out of this, but I've realized over the past few days that I don't want out of this. These past few months were perfect, and I've been more miserable over these past few days than I have since we got together. So I want you to come back and stop sleeping on Regina's couch, because that cannot be good for your back."

Killian bit his lip. "To be fair, I haven't been sleeping on her couch. She's got loads of rooms in that house."

"Not relevant right now." Emma responded, taking a small step towards him.

Killian shook his head. "No, it's not. But what is relevant is that we were both irrational and stupid and said some things we regret. And we were just both too stubborn to admit the fact that were both miserable. But I love you. And our home, and our family. So I would be more than happy to come home."

Emma smiled, wrapping her arms around his neck and leaning his forehead against his. "I love you too."

His lips met hers, and the fighting of the past few days suddenly didn't matter, but were completely worth it.

Needless to say, she'll never look at the stairs the same again.

Their fight, if it does anything beneficial, makes their relationship stronger. The days the spent apart make them want to spend all their time together afterwards, and they do. Killian visits her at the station and they meet each other at Granny's for their lunch break, both of them squeezed into one side of the booth and disgusting all the other customers. But that doesn't matter, because they don't care if everyone knows they're happy and that they love each other, so they ignore the judgmental looks shot their way and eat their lunch in peace.

So when he brings up having a dinner party one Wednesday at lunch, Emma thinks it's a brilliant idea.

Emma sucks at cooking, but Killian has developed quite a knack for it since they moved in. It's odd, how much he loves cooking, but he makes dinner for her and Henry most nights. Occasionally, on the days where he works and Emma gets home early, she makes an attempt to cook but ends up getting take out.

Which is why Emma is watching him make chicken, broccoli and ziti on the Sunday afternoon when they are supposed to host the party. He has garlic bread and rolls in the oven and Regina brining lasagna, and has Emma making a cheese and cracker plate. He's also making some sort of appetizer with peppers and cheese and bacon and the entire thing makes her mouth water.

Placing the crackers on the table, Emma wraps her arms around his waist from the back. The entire kitchen smells delightful, and Maya is sitting at the doorway to the kitchen drooling, waiting for something to fall. "You know," Emma whispers into his shoulder. "You look extremely sexy making dinner."

She could tell he was smirking when he responded, "Do I?"

Emma hummed in response.

"Well, I would do something about it, but I don't think our guests would be very happy about burnt dinner." Killian told her. She stood on her tiptoes to look over his shoulder while he cooked the chicken in the pan, the broccoli steaming right next to it and the pasta cooking on the other stove stop.

Emma groaned. "Or, you could ignore the guests and kiss the woman you love."

"I don't know…" Killian teased. "As much as I do love you, I am particularly excited to see how this recipe turns out."

Emma rolled her eyes before placing a kiss on the back of his neck, one hand running across his back. "Well, you could ignore the dinner and skip right to dessert."

"Your parents are bringing dessert, Love." Killian responded.

Emma made a disgusted noise. "Okay, mood officially ruined."

She made a move to turn around and walk into the living room, but a hand and a hook stopped her by grabbing her waist before she could leave. Killian spun her around and pinned her between the counter and his hips, nose inches away from hers.

Killian smirked as she sucked in a breath, hands moving to where her thighs were exposed by the hem of her red dress. He reached down to lift her legs up and wrap them around his waist, breath ghosting over her lips.

"Ruined now, Swan?" He questioned, dinner forgotten.

Emma bit her lip. "I don't know. Mentioning my parents really ruined it all."

"How about now?" Killian asked, lips ghosting over her neck and shoulder. "Because I've got five minutes before I have to take meal off the stove."

Emma rolled her eyes. "Killian?"

"Aye?" He responded, teeth biting into her collarbone.

"Stop talking about the meal and kiss me."

The dinner party goes exceedingly well despite their short break, her parents and brother bringing a chocolate cakes with strawberries on it. Regina brings her lasagna and Robin brings a box of beer, which her father, boyfriend and he enjoy greatly despite all the children there. Belle and a newly mortal Mr. Gold bring white wine and macaroons, which are delicious despite Killian's initial reservations. Robin's new daughter comes along with them, the baby thankfully looking more like the father than her mother. Killian gladly holds the baby while Regina and Robin eat, and when Belle announces she's pregnant, Emma can't help but wonder having a baby of her own with Killian would be like.

It's a nine months after they move in that they scar Henry for life.

He's nearing fifteen at this point, so Emma and Killian agree to leave him home alone for their date night. It's been a few months since they went out last, and with the chaos of moving and puppies and her brother's first birthday, the forget to celebrate their one year anniversary.

And by forget, they mean they don't celebrate for a few months.

And by a few months, the mean six.

So Killian takes her out to the restaurant where they had their first date, and they both get dressed up, with her wearing a black and white dress and him a button down shirt and pants. She wears her push up bra because it's their anniversary and she may as well, speaking as she has all sorts of plans for him when they get home.

He takes her to his ship which has an official spot at the docks and they dance for a while before he pulls away, scratching at the spot behind his ear and looking down at his feet.

"Killian, what's going on?" She asks him, stepping forward and clasping her hand with his.

Killian took a deep breath. "Well, I had all these plans for tonight. I did all the clichés, like Henry told me. First date restaurant, dancing, and I had this whole speech planned out for this, but now I'm coming up blank."

Emma smiled up at him. "You know, whatever you say, I'm going to say yes."

"Alright then." Killian chuckled nervously. "That makes my job easier."

He scratched behind his ear yet again, the gesture making Emma smile.

"Emma Swan, I love you. And I will always love you. So when I asked Henry about asking you to marry me, he was more than willing to help me write some cliché speech. But I realize now that I don't need clichés, or poetic words. I just need to tell you how much I love you, and that I'll always be there for you, no matter what time, place or realm I have to follow you to. And I want to make it official. I want to marry you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want to expand our family with you. So, my love, will you marry me?"

There were tears in Emma's eyes by the end, and she took another step forward to grab the small box in his hand. Opening the box, she found a silver ring with a ruby gem in the middle. With a gasp, Emma said, "it's beautiful."

"Aye. It was my mother's." Killian smiled. "But you never did answer my question."

Emma rolled her eyes. "What do you think, Jones?" Emma lunged forwards and kissed him hard, the action proving difficult by the smiles on both their lips. "Of course I'll marry you. I love you."

Killian beamed at her, pulling the ring out of the box and placed it on her ring finger, the both of them pulling them towards each other again. "What do you say, Swan?" His devious smirk promised something she knew would come anyways. "How about we get home so I can ravish my fiancé properly?"

"I say that sounds perfect." Emma responded, linking her left hand with hers, both of the running their fingers over the ring.

Once at the door, she was hardly able to focus on opening the door. Killian's hands worked to unbutton the buttons of her coat while his lips moved her neck, making her gasp when he bit down lightly. When the door opened, he pushed her in quickly, pinning her back against the door while he shoved her coat off her shoulders, hand reaching back to unzip her dress while she shoved his jackets off and unbuttoned his shirt.

"I take it the proposal went well?" She jumped away when they heard Henry's voice, reaching back to try to hold her dress up. Her son was sitting up on the couch, likely having woken up when the door opened.

Emma and Killian's faces flushed with embarrassment.

Henry stood up, Maya following him to head upstairs. "Congrats, you two. I'll put my headphones on to prevent myself from being scarred even further."

He ran up the stairs and slammed his door shut, Maya following him in. After seeing his reaction and knowing he could no longer hear them, Emma blushed even deeper, burying her face in Killian's chest. She felt him chuckle lightly before kissing her on the forehead. She pulled away lightly, and although she was still reeling from their encounter with Henry, she let him press his lips to hers and pick her up and wrap her legs around his waist, the two of them making good use out of the bliss that came from being engaged.

They tell her parents a few days later at their house during their monthly Sunday dinner, her mother screeching loudly and embracing her daughter while her father clapped Killian on the shoulder. Snow fawned over Emma's ring while David asked about the details of how Killian asked her, which Killian was quick to provide. Just an hour later Snow was sitting on the couch in the living room and going through wedding plans with the two of them. The couple quickly told her that they had been engaged for a few days and hadn't planned anything yet, other than the fact that they wanted it to be soon and small.

Her mother, on the other hand, wanted seven months of preparation and a wedding with the entire town invited. Emma buried her head in the crook of Killian's neck and groaned, knowing that some sort of compromise would be near impossible.

In the end, Emma and Killian get married-well, to them-that night while they're lying in bed, Killian informing her that his status as the captain of a ship made him capable of marrying people. Although Killian insisted they should wait and hear what her mother had to say, Emma ignored him and told him to marry them anyways, promising him that they could do a ceremony later if he wanted but she didn't want to not be married to him for another second.

So their wedding, in their minds, takes place in their bedroom in their big Victorian house with their now full grown dog lying on the floor while they were in their pajamas and Emma only had a pair of his socks for her something blue and one of his shirts for something borrowed and her red leather jacket for something old with nothing for her something new but she didn't even care because she was finally getting married to the man she would love for the rest of her life.

The only person they tell is Henry, but that's only because he all but guess it a few days later. Killian goes out to lunch with Belle a few days later and tells her they're engaged, and Emma does the same thing with Regina. Killian tells Robin and Emma tells Ruby before she sends a letter to Arrendale to Elsa.

In everyone else's minds, they get married five months later in their backyard, with Emma in a big white dress and with Elsa's blue shoes for something blue and her mother's tiara for something borrowed and old and a necklace that Killian gave her for something new. Her father walks her down the aisle and then runs to stand next to Killian, Robin and Henry while Emma hands her bouquet to Elsa and then smiles at Ruby and Belle, and no matter how beautiful the ceremony was, it didn't matter because technically, they were already married.

(Killian carries her through the door to their home later that night, while Henry and Maya are staying at Regina's so they take advantage of their empty house and celebrate their second wedding night the way it should be celebrated).

(Which is why it's no surprise to anyone when Liam David Jones is born nine months later, filling one of the empty rooms in the big house. The house doesn't feel as small anymore, not with baby clothes and toys strewn all over the house).

(And then when Hope Leia Jones is born two years after her big brother, the other room is filled and not old are Liam's toys all over the house but so are Hope's, and the big Victorian house that they moved into years ago has never felt more like home).