AN: Here's a quick, fluffy chapter because I am not yet emotionally prepared to write anything that touches on the dagger scene. (Though you can expect about a dozen of Killian-didn't-get-to-say-I-love-you-back fics to come in the following months).
As always, thanks for reading!
She is all green eyes and hair like the sun itself, all familiar lines and curves despite the fact that he's certain they've not met before. (Not in this life, surely).
She tells him that in her world (in what had become his world), they are close. He doesn't need convincing. For how else could he explain the simple way they fall into line together, the way her voice sounds like the echo of a particularly good dream, the familiarity of her gaze and the stories hiding behind her sly smile.
She touches him and he feels her everywhere. His body is ablaze against hers. He can't keep his heart from pounding a hard, rapid tattoo. The sword begins to work with him rather than against; he sweeps the blade in an arc, and it feels as right as her presence beside him.
Blindly, inexplicably, yet completely right.
Their circumstances are the product of a force beyond their control; yet he knows he's falling for this woman all over again on his own accord. She smiles and he wants to never see her any other way. She commands him aboard the ship and he wants to hear nothing but her calm courage for the rest of his days. She teaches him to wield a sword and he will use it to defend her every breath.
She teaches him to be brave, and for her, he will be.
He thinks that loving her is muscle memory.
/
He is all nerves and shy glances, but he is still him, still Killian, and she's so relieved.
She catches herself watching him throughout their journey back to land, entranced by how different this version of her pirate is from the one she knows so well.
There's no smirk or steady assurance, no innuendos or lingering touches.
She never thought she'd call Captain Hook adorable, but this variation of him is, with his stuttering words and fumbling feet. She can't help but tease him, standing too close, moving slowly against him, taking a wicked amusement in his uncertainty. She feels his heart beating fast as she teaches him to handle the sword and allows herself a smirk.
She finds that she kind of likes this Killian. It's like falling for him all over again, in spite of the differences between this lackluster deckhand and her worthwhile pirate. (Yet she knows deep down that he is still himself, knows that any version of her would fall in love with any version of him).
Because, try as he did, there are some things the Author can't rewrite. He can make the hero into a villain, can change the pirate into the deckhand, can turn the courageous into the cowardly- but he can never make Killian Jones into anyone but himself.
And it's for this reason that Emma backs away from her parents, lets Killian step up to save them all. Because at the end of the day, she knows his bravery is a part of him. She knows you can't take the honor out of him, no matter the realm or timeline. She knows you can't remove his capacity to love; his unyielding willingness to fight for those he holds dear. She knows that they will fix this, that no matter what happens, they will be together again.
She thinks that trusting him is muscle memory.