A/N: So this story is shifting from Smut/smut with feeling/smut with a plot, to being a bit more fluffy and romantic. Their friends and family hear about their new relationship status. This includes their daughter Hope. I really hope that I have given realism to it all, within the limited scope I have on how a poly relationship actually works.
I'm super happy to see that people are still reading this, and I treasure every kudos and review I get.
Huge thanks to my beta: booksteaandtoomuchtv for her endless help with this, and her sweet words when she found herself in a puddle of goo reading this chapter. (I fear she might melt away once she reads the Epilogue then *LOL* 😀 )
Enjoy.
Chapter 3KILLIAN POV
SEVERAL WEEKS LATER
Being in a poly-relationship became a natural thing for all three of them, albeit it had been hard to hide the attraction simmering between Rogers and Emma. Killian knew Emma struggled each day at the station, especially the days she and Rogers worked alongside her father.
Today, all four would be at the station for their monthly report day, and Killian could see how Emma fretted even more as she put on her leather jacket.
"Don't worry, love, it's going to be fine." Killian wrapped his arms around her from behind, "Rogers already agreed to show the public that we're in this together." He nuzzled at her neck and he grinned when her whole body slumped against him. "Didn't get enough this morning?"
"Shut up." Emma huffed and pulled away from him, "I had to make the most of it before Rogers left to get ready for work."
"Hmm, I'm pretty sure he'll remember this morning." Killian waggled his eyebrows as he recalled how they'd surprised Rogers with the fact that Emma wanted him to cum inside her. Since they started this, Rogers had insisted on using a condom whenever he would have his way at her cunt. A few days ago, Emma broached the subject of including Rogers fully into their family, beginning with the possibility of her getting pregnant with his child. Killian had been surprised, but after some moments of contemplation he'd agreed, he couldn't see Rogers not being part of their life.
"Next step is asking him to move in with us." Emma mused and opened the door, "Don't you think?"
Killian followed her outside, contemplating her suggestion, "It would make sense for sure." They got into the yellow bug and drove towards the station. "We'll need a bigger car, love."
"I know." Emma sighed, "With an extra adult and another possible baby."
When they reached the station, they saw Rogers' truck in the parking lot, but it didn't seem as if David had arrived yet. Killian followed Emma inside.
Rogers smiled when they entered the bullpen.
"How was the morning shift?" Emma asked and walked over to give Rogers a small kiss, "sorry you had to leave so early."
"Well, you gave me a delightful treat before I left." Rogers grinned and let his hand slip over her arse.
Emma moaned and shifted her hands through his hair, and husked, "That I did. Care for a rerun tonight?"
"I'd love to." Rogers glanced over at Killian, "you're on the evening shift right?"
"Aye." Killian nodded and hung up his jacket.
"So it will just be me and Emma?"
Killian could hear the surprise and wonder in the other man's voice.
"Aye." Killian walked to their ancient coffeemaker and tried to get it to brew a fresh pot. They'd need it for the report meeting later.
"You okay with that, mate?"
Killian looked over his shoulder at Rogers, "Aye, we're all in this, and sure, we've been all together in the last few weeks whenever we've pleasured our lady there. But since we're going to the next step of this relationship, we thought it could work this way too."
Emma nodded, "and to be fair, Killian has had his alone moments before in the past weeks, so it's only fair you also have some alone time with me." Emma leaned down and claimed his lips again.
The slam of the front door had her jumping out of Roger's embrace and rushing to her office to busy herself with hanging up her jacket and straightening some papers. Killian grinned as she clearly was trying to ignore the fact that her father had been seconds away from finding her in a compromising situation with her co-worker, and a co-worker who was not her husband.
"Good afternoon." David said cheerily and slumped into his seat by the windows, "Anything to report from this morning, Rogers?"
"Nope, not a thing." Rogers leaned back in his chair, his hand weaved with his prosthetic behind his head. "Finished the last bit of paperwork so we're all good."
"Fantastic." David said and shuffled around some papers.
"I'll get some snacks from Granny's for our meeting." Emma said and rushed outside not bothering to stay too long in the room. Killian knew she needed some time to cool off and make sure her father didn't notice too much, too soon.
"What's with her?" David asked, looking over at Killian.
"Don't know." Killian shrugged, "woman issues, perhaps."
David nodded and not long after the three of them were preparing the reports for the meeting later on. When Emma returned, she didn't speak much and stayed inside her office.
Hours later, they had finally gone through the month's worth of reports; the list wasn't that long since the town was fairly quiet. Just as they wrapped up, the phone rang and Killian could see on David's face that this might be another dwarf run. The prince's eyes rolled to the ceiling as he jotted down whatever information he received.
When David hung up he sighed, "We need someone to check on some early bar brawl down at the Rabbit Hole."
"I'll go." Emma offered.
"Rogers, could you join her, it sounded like a two-man job?" David asked as he stacked his reports in a neat pile. He never noticed the little shared look between Emma and Rogers, but Killian gave her a small smile and nodded.
Rogers and Emma got ready to leave the bullpen and headed for the door. The front door closed and Killian rose intending to clean the empty mugs from their meeting as David rose from his seat and walked to the windows.
"What the hell!?" David exclaimed and nearly ripped the blinds down as he pulled the string to open them.
"What?" Killian asked weary, David was clearly agitated.
"Eh," David suddenly sounded flustered as he turned to look at Killian, "Emma and you, are you okay?"
"What are you getting at mate?" It was rare to see David so flustered all of a sudden.
David flipped his thumb over his shoulder towards the window, "I just saw your wife give Rogers a kiss. A kiss on the mouth."
"Oh." Killian swiped over his mouth trying to hide a grin that he felt forming over his lips.
"If you need to talk…," David trailed off as if he didn't really want to finish that thought.
"Look mate, we're cool. Emma and I are more than cool with this." Killian scratched behind his ear trying to figure out how to explain this to Emma's father. They had hoped her father would pick up on some small signals shared between Rogers and Emma during the day, but it had taken them actually kissing before David had noticed.
"This, what?" David frowned.
"I know Emma is kissing Rogers," Killian said in a calm voice.
"As in you're okay with your wife kissing another man?" David blinked at him in surprise.
"Aye. Look I… we know it's not exactly common practice here, or anywhere else. But we have included Rogers into our life, in a manner of speaking, when we talk about relations between a man and a woman." Killian kept a close eye on his father-in-law, hoping the man would understand.
David took a few moments to contemplate what he'd been told, his eyes flickered between the windows and Killian, "so no relations between you and Rogers?"
"Bloody hell, no!" Killian exclaimed, then cleared his throat, "we're in this with Emma, she wanted to include Rogers and I went with it and realized that I… I don't actually mind her being with him too."
"Oh." David was silent for a long time after this, and Killian left him to his musings and busied himself with cleaning the mugs.
An hour later Emma and Rogers came back and as soon as she spotted her father's slightly pale face she asked, "What's wrong Dad?"
"Eh?" David rubbed his face with his hands as his eyes shifted between Emma and Rogers.
"Emma." Killian called out and caught her attention, "He knows."
"What?"
Killian pointed between himself, Rogers, and her, "About us."
"Oh," Emma gasped, "Oh shit, Dad, I wanted to tell you. I truly did. I just didn't know how. And I know you might be a little angry, but please don't hurt Rogers- you can't."
Killian walked over to the clearly frantic Emma and wrapped his arms around her, "I think he is still processing." He kissed her temple, "He'll come around."
"Yeah?"
"He saw you kiss Rogers out by the car." Killian explained.
"Oh, yeah well. Oops." Emma bit her lips and glanced over at Rogers, who had stopped in the doorway, watching David warily.
"Think it's safe to come in mate," Killian laughed.
"You sure?"
David lifted his head and looked at the three of them, "I need time to process this, and just to clarify, this won't affect your work here?"
"No." Emma confirmed, "That is what we're most focused on." She waved towards the windows, "the kiss out there resulted from something that happened this morning before Rogers left to get ready for his morning shift."
David lifted his hand, "I don't need to know details, darling." He got to his feet and walked to Emma. Killian stepped back, letting father and daughter speak alone.
"So, you're not angry?" Emma's voice sounded wary.
"Surprised, but not angry. I just don't want you to be hurt." He placed a hand on Emma's shoulder, "If they make you happy, we're happy for you."
"Well, Mother doesn't know yet so…"
"Perhaps you can all come over for dinner tonight?" David asked, he looked over at Killian, "Bring the on-call phone and join us. It's usually very quiet in the evenings."
Killian nodded, "Are you okay with meeting the parents, Rogers?"
Rogers looked shocked and blinked a few times before he answered, "I guess I might as well meet them sooner rather than later."
"I'll call Mary Margaret and let her know."
"Can you wait to tell her about this?" Emma pointed between herself and her two men.
"Sure." David stepped out into the hallway to make his call.
"Well, that went well." Emma sighed and gave them both a smile.
"Aye," Rogers shifted nervously on his feet, "just hope the rest of your family is as accepting as David."
"Well for starters, our daughter loves you, Rogers." Emma asked, "She'll surely miss her Daddy Two if you left our little family."
Rogers took a deep breath, "Aye family." He shared a smile with Killian who saw that the other man had fully understood how much they wanted him in their family.
Killian recalled the afternoons when they'd spent time with Hope alongside Rogers:
At the age of three, Hope was an insightful little girl, one loved by all she encountered. When Rogers came over for dinner one evening, only two weeks after their first night together, they hoped the little girl would at the very least accept Rogers as a good friend.
During dinner, they had placed Rogers next to Hope, and Killian could see that the man had a hidden talent in dealing with children. It wasn't long before Hope babbled on about a new toy or the other kids at her pre-school.
They repeated the success the next week and Hope had squealed in delight when Rogers picked her up and said, "Hello there, little Miss Hope."
Her blond curls fell over her face as she nodded vigorously, "missed you, Mom missed you too."
All three adults gasped in surprise and looked between them all trying to remember if they showed a bit too much affection the last time Rogers had been over for dinner.
"Why do you say that?" Emma asked as she picked Hope from Rogers' arms.
"I sleep in your bed, and you sleep too, Mom." Hope placed her chubby hands on her mother's face, "you said 'Rogers' while sleepy. You said Daddy's name too." Hope laughed.
"Oh, did I?" Emma tried to chuckle too as she shared a look with both Killian and Rogers.
"Come now love, we wanted her to meet Rogers. We can't exclude her from this," Killian said.
"Hope, darling, Rogers is a good friend of Mom and Daddy, okay?"
"Hmm, he's nice." Hope looked over at Rogers, "He looks like Daddy."
"Yeah, he does." Emma agreed and shifted Hope to Killian, "Perhaps, the two of you can explain to our daughter why Rogers looks so much like her Daddy. I'll finish up dinner."
Killian agreed and motioned for Rogers to follow him to the living room. Here, they both told the story of the Wish Realm and how everyone from the enchanted Forest had a counterpart there. Hope had wanted to know if she too had a counterpart; she pouted when she was told that wasn't the case.
The evening progressed with as much success as the first time they had Rogers over for dinner. When it was Hope's bedtime, the little girl hugged her mother and leaped into Rogers' lap giving him a hug, too.
"Nighty night, Roger." She looked up at him with her clear blue eyes, Killian could see how his little girl's mind was whirling with thoughts, but neither of the adults could have been prepared for what the girl said next, "you be my Daddy Two?"
"Eh." Rogers scratched behind his ear, his prosthetic resting on Hope's back, making sure she wouldn't drop to the floor. Rogers looked up at Emma and Killian, who both were at a loss for words.
"Do you want him to be your daddy?" Emma asked and sat down beside Rogers looking at her daughter.
"Maybe." Hope looked at her mother, "You like him?"
"I do." Emma gave Hope a rueful smile, "It's a little complicated all this adult stuff, but I do like Rogers, and perhaps, you can call him Daddy Two, one day." She tugged Hope's curls behind her ear, "But, for now, let's just call him Rogers, okay?"
Hope nodded and hugged Rogers again, "Nighty night."
"Good night, little princess." Rogers rubbed Hope's back and let the little girl scamper over to her father.
"Ready for bed, my little pirate?" Killian tickled his daughter and hauled her upstairs. As he got her ready for bed, she didn't speak more about Rogers or the fact that she one day might call the other pirate Daddy Two. But inside Killian, the idea took root, and he knew that, one day, it would happen. All he wanted was for the world around them to accept this as easily as their daughter seemed to have had.
EMMA POV
Emma tugged nervously at the sleeves of her leather jacket, her eyes shifting between the men walking beside her. This was the moment they'd all both feared and anticipated for some time now. Given that her father had seen her kiss Rogers earlier today, they might as well tell her mother sooner rather than later.
The door opened and a squealing Hope greeted them and down waving at them all, "Mum, Daddy." Her eyes shifted towards Rogers, and she smiled brightly at the other pirate. She paused before saying, "Hiya, Rogers." Emma was relieved at how easily their daughter had accepted Rogers in their life.
"Hello there, Cygnet." Emma said and scooped up her daughter giving her multiple kisses on her cheeks, "Did you behave for Grandma?"
"Yup." Her head nodded, "Neal helped draw a horse."
"Oh, that sounds like fun." Killian said and leaned over to give Hope a kiss, "Can't wait to see that drawing."
Hope grinned and her eyes landed on Rogers, "Will you see my picture too, Daddy Two?"
Emma and Killian shared a nervous look and shifted their focus on Mary Margaret who waited inside. When Emma saw her mother frown at the new name for Rogers, she stammered, "Well you know… it's… you know how kids can be." She gave out a nervous chuckle.
"Darling, why don't we rip off the bandage before dinner and we'll let the cat out of the bag so to speak," Killian suggested and looked at her pleadingly.
"Dad?" Emma called out and waited for her father to enter the hall, "Can you take Hope and Neal outside?" She ignored her daughter's inquiries about why the cat was in a bag.
Emma was relieved when he quickly realized what had transpired. "Sure. Come now, Hope, let's go out and feed the animals."
Hope eagerly squirmed out of her mother's arms and toddled over to her grandfather, who took her little hand and called for his son.
Emma rubbed her hands on her thighs and focused on her mother, who had a puzzled look on her face, much like she'd had when she'd walked in on Emma and Killian one morning before their wedding. The scenario was a bit more complicated today.
"What's wrong darling?" Mary Margaret asked and looked between her three guests.
"We have something to tell you." Emma bit her lip nervously as she felt a blush creep up her neck.
Mary Margaret gasped, "Are you pregnant?" Emma could have sworn stars had lit in her mother's eyes.
"Eh, no, not yet anyway." Emma sighed, "You know we're trying."
"Oh, I'm sorry." Mary Margaret waved her hands in the air.
"Don't be… eh…" Emma looked to her husband, who took her hand, "The thing is…"
"Okay. Well, why don't we go into the living room, I'll find something to drink."
"That will be grand," Killian said and followed Emma into the living room, where he sat down beside her. They heard Mary Margaret rummaging around in the kitchen, glasses clinking.
Emma looked up at Rogers, who still stood at the doorway, "Come, sit." She patted the seat beside her. She took his hand in hers when he'd situated himself on the couch, "It will be fine." Emma had no idea if it was for herself or to soothe Rogers- he looked like he was about to throw up.
"Mate, we're in this together; no matter what happens tonight we're still in this," Killian said and reached for Emma's hand.
This was how Mary Margaret found her daughter, sitting between two versions of Killian Jones, all three of them looking up at her with nervous smiles.
Mary Margaret tilted her head to the side as she took in the scene, "What… why?" She pointed between them, and then at their clasped hands, "What am I missing here?"
"Mom? Don't freak out, and let me first assure you that I'm happy, very happy." She felt both men squeeze her hands, and she felt a strange sort of peace wash over her. "For the past 1½ months, or so, I…we…," She glanced at Killian, "we've included Rogers into our life."
Mary Margaret slowly set down the tray of drinks on the coffee table as she slowly took in her daughter's words. Emma could only imagine what might go through her mother's head right now.
"Oh," her mother clumsily sat down in the recliner chair and folded her hands in her lap, "you mean…"
"Yeah, Mom, I kinda developed some feelings for Rogers, too." Emma shifted her focus on Rogers, hoping he could see the honesty in her eyes, "It sort of grew on its own and we kinda rolled with it. Now, I don't want it any other way."
Her mother's eyes turned to Killian as she mumbled, "and you're okay with this?"
"Aye, very much so." Killian said firmly, "I… well, we all know that it's slightly uncontroversial being in such a relationship."
"A polyamorous relationship." Mary Margaret confirmed, surprising them all with her knowledge of the word.
"How do you know that word," Emma asked.
"I had a little chat with Ruby recently." Mary Margaret brushed off with a wave of her hand, "Seems she took a new interest in Walsh alongside her girlfriend Dorothy."
"Yeah, I know that." Emma smirked, "Well, it's sort of like that, this is something that we all feel will be part of our lives forever."
"Oh." Mary Margaret handed out drinks and Emma was relieved to find that her mother had found a bottle of rum.
"Mrs. Nolan," Rogers said as he took the glass from her, "I'd like to express that I understand your confusion and trepidation about all of this. But let me assure you I have strong feelings for your daughter, love, even." He glanced over at Emma who gaped at him in surprise, "Aye, I can't deny that Emma."
Emma nodded in understanding but let him continue.
"When Killian suggested I'd join them… eh… well, you know…"
Emma laughed, "Don't think you need to go into all the details on that." She took a fortifying sip of her rum.
"I get the idea" Mary Margaret chuckled nervously, "please, continue."
"Ah, well, it was a surprise when Killian asked me, but once we'd been there and shared… eh, at that moment, I couldn't turn back to how my life was before." Rogers scratched behind his ear with his prosthetic hand, giving Emma a sheepish grin.
"And, what about Hope?" Mary Margaret asked, "Does she know?"
"Well, she knows Rogers is a very good friend of ours, and she kinda caught me saying his name in my sleep one night she slept in my bed," Emma explained.
"She called Rogers 'Daddy Two'?"
"Our daughter is far too perceptive for her age." Emma chuckled. "From now on we'll let her call Rogers just that. It would make things a bit easier, in case he, one day…," she glanced at Rogers, "moved in with us?"
"That makes sense." Mary Margaret nodded and sipped her own drink, "We'll get used to the idea, in time." She sighed, "I'm sorry, but you just took me by surprise, that's all."
"We understand that." Killian interjected, "We're taking things slow and easing the news out into the world. So, we'll kinda let everyone realize our new relationship status on their own if you will."
"We think it's much easier that way." Emma supplied, hoping that the people around them would be as accepting as her parents seemed to be. "You sure you're okay with this?"
"Darling, I will not dictate what or how you're going to live your life. You look happy." Mary Margaret tilted her head, "This is good for you."
"Yeah, it is." Emma agreed and settled back on the couch, now that they had crossed the hurdle of telling her mother, she could relax a bit more.
"Well, I invited Ruby and Dorothy." Mary Margaret mused with a smile, "so you can start sharing with them."
"Gods, why?" Emma groaned.
"Well, when your father called about you guys coming over for dinner, I thought why not invite more? It's Friday and it's been far too long since I've seen Ruby," Mary Margaret shrugged and took another sip of her drink.
"Yeah okay." Emma drowned the last of her drink, she would surely need a refill before Ruby showed up. She'd kinda tried to avoid the wolf woman the past few weeks, as she knew how much Ruby could pick up on anything you tried to hide.
Her mother went to the kitchen and finished up dinner, Emma and the guys set the table and talked a bit about how much public display of affection they should show once Ruby and Dorothy came over. Emma didn't want to go overboard, but she suggested letting them keep it a bit low profile at first.
Half an hour later, Ruby and Dorothy came and greeted everyone, Emma hugged her friend and asked, "Where's your man?" She looked between the two women with a smug grin.
"Oh, you know about that?" Ruby waggled her eyebrows and grinned, "Well, I guess, you've spoken with your mother."
"Or, I saw you some weeks ago at Granny's fawning over our good doctor. So, I kinda put two and two together." Emma laughed and gave Dorothy a hug, "well, as long as you're both happy, I'm happy for you guys."
"We're very happy." Dorothy said and offered Mary Margaret help with finishing the dinner.
"Walsh is working tonight." Ruby explained as she followed Emma into the living room, where she did a double take when she spotted the two pirates lounging on the couch. Ruby turned to Emma, "Why am I seeing double tonight?"
Emma grinned, "Well, Dad invited us for dinner and Rogers was at work so I guess he saw it only polite to include Rogers too." Emma hoped her little fake story would be enough to stop Ruby from asking more curious questions. To her luck, Ruby saw the bottle of rum and helped herself to a pre-dinner drink.
Dinner was a fun affair for Emma and her guys. They placed Emma between them and throughout the meal, she'd get several strange looks from her friends sitting opposite of her. Especially when Rogers had slung his arm around the backrest of her chair and began toying with her hair. Every little tiny pull of her hair strands sent a rush of desire through her body, settling as a low simmering heat between her legs.
It was Hope that gave the first big clue about the new status between Emma and Rogers, the little girl giggled as Rogers said something fun, and exclaimed, "Daddy Two, you're silly. Mom, is he not silly?" The girl tilted her head and looked between her mother and the man she'd included in her family life in the most natural way.
"Ah, yeah, Rogers is silly when he makes jokes like that," Emma chuckled and shot a look over at Ruby. The wolf part in the woman had apparently been very dormant this evening as Ruby blinked between Emma and Rogers, seemingly very surprised at what Hope had revealed.
"Are you okay, Rubes?" Emma asked sweetly and winked at Hope, making her little girl giggle then regaled her grandmother about what she'd been doing outside with Neal and her grandfather.
"Oh, I'm fine," she pointed between the three at the other side of the table, "What's going on here? What am I missing?" She squinted her eyes as she looked at them, "Are you…," she pointed between Emma and Rogers, then her eyes blew wide open, "Oh, you're doing the horizontal tango with Rogers, too, and with Killian, at the same time." She slammed her hand onto the table and barked out, "Emma, you sly girl, you got him in, too."
"I wanna do the tango," Hope piped up making the adults chuckle nervously.
"Sweetie, why don't you help me find dessert?" Mary Margaret suggested and helped the girl down, "Neal, you'll help too." Neal, being the petulant eight-year-old, grumbled as he pushed away from the table and reluctantly followed his mother. David saw fit to follow his wife, and Emma was relieved as she wasn't sure she could handle her father listening in on the conversation they were about to have with Ruby and Dorothy. Mary Margaret luckily closed the door behind her and the children, giving them some sort of privacy.
"Spill it." Ruby demanded, "The kiddos are all gone now. What have you guys been doing behind our backs?"
"Well, things have changed quite a bit," Emma started and fiddled with her napkin, she glanced at Rogers giving him a smile, "I had this fantasy…"
"Do tellRuby urged and rested her chin on her folded hands, her large eyes trained on Emma with undivided attention.
"I wanted to include Rogers in… eh… you know…"
"In your bedroom activities," Ruby waggled her eyebrows, "and you had Killian there, too."
"Yeah," Emma grinned sheepishly at her friend.
"Well, let me tell you this, ever since Dorothy and I pulled Whale into our relationship, things went from hot to a burning inferno of steamy passionate sex," Ruby fanned herself and earned a playful shove from Dorothy.
"They don't need all the details, you pervert," Dorothy looked over at Emma shyly, "I apologize, she can't keep her mouth shut." She rolled her eyes, then grinned, "But, she's right, I never imagined I'd be in a relationship with someone as forward and unfiltered as Ruby here." Ruby let out a feigned huff, but Dorothy ignored her girlfriend, "but, this is the best thing happening to me. And, Whale gives it all a nice extra… you know." She waved her hand aimlessly in the air.
Emma nodded and felt her own face heat, she didn't really need to know more details about the other couple's escapades between the sheets.
"So, tell me, gentlemen, are you two…," Ruby pointed between the men and waggled her eyebrows, "are you doing the nasty too?" She howled in laughter when Rogers nearly choked on his drink.
"Bloody hell, woman," Killian growled, "no, we don't engage in any activities with each other." He sighed and slumped back in his seat giving Ruby a hard look.
"Ignore her," Emma soothed, and wrapped her arm around his shoulder, toying with his hair, "She's just curious I guess." Emma knew that the poly-relationship Ruby was in was a bit more all-in for everyone, with her, Killian, and Rogers, it was all her between them.
"Shame," Ruby mumbled with a wink, "but, damn girl, you're lucky having two guys dotting on you when you…," she waggled her eyebrows suggestively, "Good for you."
"Thanks, I guess," Emma said with a smile and relaxed a little now that everyone knew about her and her boys.
"I'll just go check on the kitchen. Let them know we're done talking about the tango." Rogers said and rose to his feet. He leaned over and gave Emma a kiss on her temple before he went to the kitchen.
"Awe, he's so friggin sweet, ain't he?" Ruby gushed and stared after Rogers.
"Hmm." Emma weaved her fingers with Killian's, "I have two very sweet men in my life."
Moments later, the silence was interrupted by the arrival of the dessert makers. Hope had whipped cream on her nose and when Emma asked about it the little girl grinned, "Grandma let me lick the whisk."
"I'm sure she did," Emma laughed and watched as Rogers helped their daughter up on her chair. It was clear that Rogers had fallen for their little girl, as well, and Emma felt her heart flutter at how perfect it all seemed to be right now. Rogers just seemed to fit right into their life.
Everyone enjoyed the dessert and Emma could see how her parents tried to engage Rogers in talking about his life and getting to know him even more. When Killian wrapped his arm around her shoulders, she nuzzled closer and enjoyed the time spent with her family. She reached for Rogers' hand and weaved their fingers together while he spoke with her father about some new ideas he had for the sheriff's office.
The evening dwindled down and Killian carried a half-sleeping Hope to the car; he strapped her into her seat and said his goodbyes to the Nolans, Ruby, and Dorothy.
Emma hugged her mother and whispered, "Thank you for being so understanding, Mom. I was a little nervous."
"As long as you're happy, Darling, we're happy," her mother gave her an extra hug, "Our life has shaped out in a far different way than expected, this just adds another piece to the full picture of your life."
"I know," Emma sighed and followed her men to the car. She squeezed into the backseat and Rogers drove them home. He'd become fairly good at steering her car with his prosthetic hand.
They all agreed it was best if Rogers went home this evening; they would tackle the whole sleeping over while Hope was at home for another day. As Emma and Killian waved goodbye to Rogers, Emma snuggled closer to her husband, "We really should ask him to move in with us."
"Aye. We'll do that soon, love," Killian promised and kissed her temple, his arms occupied by supporting Hope's sleeping form.
Emma followed her husband inside and helped him get their daughter ready for bed; she knew that their life would become very different once they included Rogers fully in their family. She couldn't wait for that moment to happen.