WARNING: THIS IS PRETTY. TOO PRETTY. I MADE MYSELF CRY WITH MUSHY, HAPPY, TOUCHY FEELS.
AND… MILD PILLOW FIGHTING. (GROWN UPS CALL IT HEAVY PETTING, LOL, THINGS ARE JUST FINALLY GETTING SMUTTY… AT LAAAAST!). NEXT CHAPTER, I AM CHANGING TO "M" HARR HARR.
THAT BEING SAID, THERE. ENJOY THE CHAPTER!
Passing crutches through customs, as it happened, turned out to be more of a hassle tan Emma had contemplated.
"Are you kidding me? You'd think I'm carrying a bazooka…" She muttered at the customs officer, eyes like daggers.
"Ma'am, the crutch goes on the conveyor belt…"
"Really?"
"Ma'am, do as you're told, and place all other metal objects in the tray please…"
"You DO realize I can't walk without that damn thing, don't you?"
"Won't say it again, ma'am."
Emma would naturally replicate; it would definitely not be the first time she ran into trouble with the law, anyway. It just seemed absurd that she'd have to literally hop her way barefoot across the metal detector, one arm in a sling and one leg still in plaster.
"Lady, do you see this?" She used the arm that was not in a sling to point at her cast-covered leg. "Or do you want me to place my cast on the conveyor belt as well? It's absolutely ridiculous that I should have to pl…"
"It's fine, officer, it's ok…" Killian came in and took Emma by the arm the moment he saw the stern-looking agent take her hand to her radio to call for backup. "I'll walk you through, Swan…" He took her arm. "It's only a couple of yards…"
"It's insane, Killian! Why the hell should…"
Killian hissed into her ear. "Don't make a scene, love, the woman's only doing what she's been instructed to do." He smiled a forced grin at the agent as he gently tugged Emma along. "Come on love…"
"It's stupid!" Emma moaned as she crossed the metal detector, having placed her walking aid on the conveyor belt.
"I know it is, darling, but the last thing we need right now is to have the entire customs personnel hold you back and for us to miss our flight." He whispered again. "It's fine, I got you."
Although she was decidedly unhappy with doing so, Emma complied with a grunt, and clung to Killian's arm as they passed through the detector together, followed by a very embarrassed Henry and a kind of oblivious Megan.
As soon as she recovered her crutch, she shook her head at her boyfriend. "These homeland security airport rules are totally out of hand."
"And they will come to their senses eventually, love, come along." Killian replied as he collected their carry-ons.
Megan reached over to grab her father's hand while Henry assisted his mother, carrying her backpack over his shoulder. "Seriously mom, just let it go. We'll be doing the same stuff on the way back."
Emma drew a deep breath as she nodded. "Ok… Ok fine. You're right. NOT gonna do it. I am on holiday. Screw them."
Killian smiled. "That's the spirit." He turned around. "So… Anything you'd like to see at the duty free, Emma?"
"No, just…" she shook her head. "Let me sit on the waiting lounge…" She turned to look at him. "Why don't you take the kids, though? Maybe they'd like something…"
The kids… the sound of that made Killian grin.
"That's a thought." Killian nodded. "Henry?"
"I'm game!"
"Great, lad. Meg?"
The girl seemed to think for a while. "Mmh… maybe I'll just sit with Emma. Can you get me something?"
Killian crouched down to her eye level with a grin. "What will my princess want? A perfume? A bottle of rum? A large packet of cigarettes?"
Emma rolled her eyes with a grin. "God, Killian…"
"Daddy!" Megan grinned, reprimanding her dad.
"So, what will it be, my love?"
Megan thought again. "Maybe… a bracelet?"
"Ha! Jewelry!" Killian stood straight. "Spoken like a true royal!" He turned to Emma. "And you, love?"
Emma grinned. "No, babe, I'm ok."
"Babe?" Killian raised an eyebrow with a smirk. "Is that what I am, then? Your 'babe'?"
Emma chuckled and kissed him gently. "I can think of other things…"
Henry and Megan groaned. "GUYS!"
"Ok, all right." Killian pulled away with a smile. "You're right, no scenes, we had agreed…" He placed his arm around Henry's shoulders once Emma had sat down on the lounge. "Come along, m'boy, leave the ladies to their resting spot and their musings and see what you fancy at the shops…"
"Awesome… mom, will you be ok?"
"Sure kid… unless a monster appears and kills me." She shrugged.
She saw with a smile how her boyfriend and son walked off, talking excitedly (and she silently appreciated the growing possibility of Killian becoming her and Henry's happy ending).
"So…"
Megan's little voice drew Emma out of her daydream. She turned sharply to the girl and smiled. "So! Excited to go back home?"
"England hasn't been home for a long time. I hardly remember anything."
"Really?"
Megan shrugged. "Well, a few things." She grinned a sad grin. "I remember my mom."
Emma gulped; she knew that sooner or later, she would have to tackle the obstacle that was talking with Meg about her mother. Maybe now was as good a time as any. This trip represented her spin-top chance at seeing how they would function as a brand new little family.
"What was she like, sweetie?" Emma asked softly. "Your mother…"
Meg looked at her and shrugged. "I… don't know. I remember her being soft spoken, very kind and the opposite of dad."
"How so?"
Megan smiled. "My dad was always buoyant. He lost that for a long time after they died, mom and my little brother… but he was pretty much the way he is today. Mom was very quiet, peaceful, caring and really kind." She looked down. "I remember her face from photographs and stuff, but I'm forgetting the sound of her voice and how it felt to be around her in general…"
Emma's heart crunched in her chest and tears came to her eyes, but she blinked them back; the last thing Meg needed then was to see her get all broken up with her story; she desperately needed the little girl to open up to her, to trust her and to believe she would be there for her, no matter what.
"You know…" She replied. "Maybe this trip will jog your memory and bring back some pictures of her in your mind."
"I hope so…" Meg said, leaning into Emma.
The blond woman held her breath as the child's head fell on the side of her shoulder and she swallowed tears once more as she placed her cast-covered arm around her shoulders.
"Emma…"
"Yeah, honey?"
"Do you remember your mom? What was she like?"
Emma closed her eyes. The sudden, hollow feeling of being an orphan her entire life suddenly caught her by the throat as she tried to swallow the knot in there long enough to find words to explain her life to Killian's daughter.
"I… really don't know, Meg. I never knew her."
"What?" Meg frowned as she sat straight. "How?"
Emma grinned softly. "I…. I was an orphan. My parents left me as a baby on the side of the highway, covered only in a little white fleece, less than an hour after I was born. A little boy found me and his family reported me to the authorities and…" She shrugged. "Well, I was never adopted. I kind of… found my own way, my whole life. So I'm sorry, sweetie, I… cannot really answer that question."
Megan's gaze was, short of another description, one of sheer horror. "I… I am so sorry, Emma, I didn't mean to…"
"Oh, it's ok." Emma smiled. "I'm fine now!"
Megan seemed thoughtful for a minute before she once again leaned on Emma. "So I guess I'm lucky."
"Lucky?" Emma furrowed her brow. "Lucky, how?"
"My mother died. And all my life I have thought it was the most terrible thing that could happen to a little girl… but… I was wrong. You must have been so sad. So I'm really lucky that I didn't just meet my mom… but I got to have two."
The sharp, sudden intake of breath Emma took at Megan's words was pretty notorious.
"It's ok…" Megan looked at her with a teary eyed grin. "You can cry. It's ok to cry, that's what my daddy says…"
"Oh, Megan…" Emma said, her lower lip now trembling and the tears finally rolling down her cheeks, as she placed her other arm around the little girl, holding her hard. "You have no idea how much that means to me, honey…"
"You don't have to be alone, you know…" Megan replied, also holding her back. "I like you. And my daddy's really happy."
Emma laughed softly and cleaned the tears off her own face. "Yeah, well, he makes me happy too."
"Emma…"
"Yeah?"
"Are… you and my dad gonna… share a bed now?"
Emma cleared her throat. This kid was ahead of her years, so she figured a direct, adult approach might be better. "We… might do. Does that bother you?"
"Nah…" She shook her head. "Slumber parties are always fun."
Emma chuckled. Yes, definitely the adult approach. If Killian was far too embarrassed to grab the bull by the horns and tackle the whole "birds and bees" topic with his daughter, maybe it would be a good time to have that girl-to-girl chat regarding 'pillow fights' and 'adult slumber parties'.
"Well, Meg, erhm…" Emma scratched her own neck (much like Killian always did; seemed it was rubbing off!). "Maybe you should know that… adult slumber parties are… not quite like the slumber parties you might have had with your friends."
Meg raised an eyebrow way up. "How is it different?"
"Whoa, boy…" Emma smiled, the back of her neck sweating. "Ok, look, I don't know how much your dad has told you about… well, how adult men and women like to… be together when they are grown-ups in love?"
"No… I just know they go out on dates and kiss and hug and…"
"Have pillow fights, yeah, I get it." She bit her lip. "Darn it, Killian… ok… look…" She drew breath as she began to explain. "When a man and a woman are… very much in love, they feel very attracted to each other. Physically."
"Yeah?"
"…and they want to be very, very close together."
"So you hug?"
Emma gulped. Hard.
"Well… yeah… but we want to be even closer…"
Megan frowned and shrugged with a chuckle. "How is THAT even possible?"
Ok. Here we go…
"Whew…" Emma nodded. "Well, you kind of… take of your clothes."
Megan's eyes widened. "Wha… in your underwear? Adults like to hug in their underwear?" She sneered. "That's… kind of gross."
Emma laughed. "Well, even the underwear has to come off."
Megan went from stunned to horrified. "No… really?"
"Yyyyyup." Emma nodded with a tight grin and a scarlet face.
The little girl tried to understand what she was being told. "But… what's the point?"
"Oh, god…" Emma hissed. "Well, we adults like to…. Do something called, erhm…" Gulp. "Making love."
Megan laughed. "That's silly! How does one MAKE love?"
About ten heads turned in her direction and Emma turned sharply to Megan. "Shhh, honey, lower your voice!"
"Why?"
"Well, it's... a delicate topic of conversation! It's private."
"I don't get it. How does one MAKE love?" Meg whispered. "It's ALREADY made!"
Emma sighed. "Well, it's… it's just the way we call a certain activity we do when we're together… with our… clothes off."
Megan had shifted modes; she now looked terribly interested. "Ok… so what is it?"
Emma nodded again. "Ok, so… all the clothes are off, and there's a lot of kissing and touching and… well, it's a nice feeling, you get… kind of excited because the closeness is kind of pretty, so… the man and the woman kind of… come together and… well, the man sort of…well he has a…"
"Wait, wait wait!" Meg suddenly raised her hand and sneered as she shook her head (that sassy dad-sarcasm had also kind of rubbed off on her too). "Are you talking about sex, Emma?"
Emma's eyes widened and she turned to the girl, her jaw dropped. "Wait, you know about…?"
"Oh, my god!" The little girl swallowed as she averted her gaze. "So, when adults have 'pillow fights'… they are having SEX?"
"Megan! Why didn't you tell me that you knew about this?" A flustered Emma replied.
"Because… I... really did think adults had private pillow fights! I thought adults only had sex when they… wanted to have babies, and stuff!"
Emma laughed and huffed with relief. "How do you know about this?"
The girl suddenly rolled her eyes and looked at Emma from under her brow. "Really? Emma, I'm ten, and this is the twenty-first century…"
"Ok, fair enough!" Emma laughed. "But where did you get the whole thing about… pillow fighting?"
"Oh, god…" Now the little girl was embarrassed. "A friend of mine in school told me that her parents ALWAYS had pillow fights at home and that they make a lot of noise and lock the door and…" She looked at Emma. "So… when they tell her they are going to have a pillow fight… they're… going to… have sex?"
Emma laughed heartily. "I'm afraid so, honey…"
"Why would they tell her that!?"
"Well, because… look at you!" Emma shrugged with a little smile. "Your friend would get really flustered, plus, I think her parents, in my opinion, should be a little more discreet with that and not just… do it randomly and when she's around to listen, poor thing…"
Megan heaved.
"And all the times… I told dad to… and I told you to… Oh… my god!" She threw both hands to her face.
Emma hugged her again as she laughed. "Don't worry, it's ok. I suppose you just sort of… had to know somehow."
"So… adults are trying to have babies ALL the time?"
"No, no…" Emma shook her head. "Most of the time is because we kind of like to be really close together, like I told you."
"For fun?"
"Yep, Pretty much." The conversation now felt natural and neither Emma not the girl were blushing at all any more.
Megan gulped. "Doesn't it… hurt?"
Emma's mouth lifted to a side in thought. "Well, the first time does, but… if you're with someone who really cares, it shouldn't, or at least not as badly." She frowned. "Do you… know the mechanics of it?"
"Yeah, yeah, PLEASE don't get into detail about that, I beg you!"
Emma laughed softly. "Ok, I won't…"
That… was a relief.
"Ok…" Megan sat straight, wide-eyed. "I might just… pretend to be asleep for the rest of the trip. Don't mind me." She closed her eyes. "Jesus… dad."
Emma turned her face around to look into her eyes. "Hey, it's ok." She grinned. "Sometimes, you need a girl to talk to you about those things. Your dad might have felt a little… embarrassed."
Megan studied Emma's face; she was easy to read, like an open book, and the kindness on her face made her smile. "Ok…. Ok, I can handle it."
"So… are you still ok if your dad and I share the bed?"
Megan tensed up again. "After knowing what I know now, you mind if I take a raincheck to answer that one again?"
Emma giggled. "Yeah, take your time…"
"Jesus…"
"Hey, we keep this chat between us girls, ok?"
"Yeah, what am I, dense?" Megan swallowed. "You're right, we keep it between girls." She gave Emma a wry look. "And you'd better keep your pillow fighting to a minimum, Emma, because I'm a child and my sensitivities are waaaay too fragile for this kind of stuff…"
Emma laughed aloud and hugged her. "You are something else, Megan Jones…"
Megan finally smiled. "Yeah. Well, again… thank god for you. I don't know WHEN my dad would have had the guts to deal with this subject…"
Emma kissed the top of the girl's head. This was looking really good!
And… She was totally sharing a bed with Killian.
And playing nudie pillow fights with him if her plastered limbs allowed it.
After they kids were asleep, of course.
Deeply.
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Liam Jones finally rested his head on a more familiar pillow.
Greta lay beside him. "Home…"
"Yes."
She looked at him, his mind obviously musing and thinking. "Liam… your brother is fine. We did everything we had to do…"
Liam turned to find his wife staring at him with kind, blue eyes. "I know. I just… I can't help but wonder… what might have happened if we hadn't gone and if Tanya Bell and that other Italian bastard had gotten their way and…"
"Why are you tormenting yourself, Jones?" she leaned on an elbow. "Killian found his way, the girl is gone now and he and Emma are off to England… together. What happened is now in the past, no use dwelling on it."
Liam nodded. "I know that as well, but…" He sighed as he turned to face her. "Killian is my family, and I am his. We are all we have, really and… the thought of something happening to him again, I…"
"Liam…" Greta grinned and caressed his face. "You can let him go now, love. I know you feel somewhat responsible for him. He's your little brother and you have somehow always felt responsible for his wellbeing. After your father died, you pretty much raised him. But he's his own man now, he has Emma, she's doing a lot better and it's easy to tell they're head over heels in love with one another, so… he will be ok."
Liam smirked at his wife. "Hey, I'm the therapist here!"
She smiled back. "And you sound like you need some therapy, yourself…"
Liam swallowed. "I should, my love… As a matter of fact, I might need to book a session soon." He4 sighed and rolled to his back. "It is just so good to be home again… and not have Killian in the back of my mind at all times. It's… new."
Greta chuckled. "So, am I to assume that your current musings are due to... a lack of musings?"
He turned a bemused face to her. "Rightly so! God, will you just… stop studying me, woman!?" He suddenly pounced on top of her and kissed her deeply.
"Well!" she smiled as she held his hair between her fingers. "Seems that Emma Swan is doing ALL of us a favor now, getting Killian out of your head…" She allowed him to kiss her neck. "Mr. newly-emancipated Jones…"
He looked into her eyes. "Aye. And actually…" He grinned. "Maybe we should… follow suit?"
"What are you on about?"
He swallowed. "Killian had a family that he lost. Tragically. He's on his way to having a family again and… well… Greta, what would you say to maybe… having one of our own?" He shrugged. "We've dwelled long enough. You and I wed a year before Milah and Patrick passed away and six years later, here we are…"
Greta's eyes shone. "I… thought you didn't want to…"
Liam nodded and blushed. "I had a little brother to mind for. Even then. Especially then. But now… We've got nothing to worry about. I have a clear mind and for once"
Greta smiled. "Oh, Liam… yes. YES, YES, YES!"
He grinned at her and wiped the tear that fell from her face from her temple with his thumb. "Well… want to get started, Mrs. Jones?"
She sighed contently. "Oh, might as well, since I have nothing better to do…"
"Oh, shush!" He laughed as he caved into her neck.
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"So you told her about it?" Killian whispered to Emma, turning back to confirm that the children were indeed asleep in the seats behind theirs.
Emma shrugged. "She kind of… figured it out. Your daughter, it seems, was not entirely oblivious to the concept of reproduction."
They had been flying now for four hours and neither Killian nor Emma had been able to sleep at all; there was a certain sense of awkwardness in trying to sleep in the not-so-comfy coach seats. Especially with Emma being in a cast and a sling.
He sighed. "Well, at least that's out of the way..:"
"Coward." She smiled as she nuzzled groggily into his neck.
He leaned on her head and sighed. "Pillow fighting… how clever." He laughed softly. "Great way to get away with shagging while their children play with their x-box in the living room."
"Are you kidding me?" she looked at him before settling down again. "Poor girl, she's gonna be traumatized for life when she figures out that all the times she heard her parents screaming and moaning had nothing to do with pillow fighting." She laughed. "Sigmund Freud himself wouldn't be able to undo THAT knot."
"No love, especially in light of the fact that the man is long dead."
"Oh…" she smacked his chest. "You're so… you know what I mean!" she giggled as she settled down on his shoulder again. "Dork…"
"You'll have to get used to my lousy sense of humor."
"Typical British sense of humor."
"Well, I can't bloody help it, can I?"
"And you shouldn't." she leaned up again and kissed his cheek. "You're really quite adorable the way you are."
He grinned at the feel of her lips on his cheek. He turned and grazed his lips on her forehead. "why are you… god in heaven, woman, why do I love you so much?"
"You keep asking me that… And it's because I'm irresistible." She giggled playfully.
"I'll agree with you on that one." He kissed her forehead again. "So much in fact.."
She raised her face to him again. "In fact?" she smirked.
He gulped, looked back to see the children again, and then turned to her with a dark, sensual smirk. "Might I perhaps interest you in a… slumber party?"
She giggled playfully. "Will there be any… pillow fighting?"
"Oh, quite certainly…" he raised an eyebrow and then shrugged. "Gentle pillow fighting, since you're still not… quite in full pillow-fighting form, Swan. I am a gentleman after all."
Emma smiled and kissed him softly. "We'll see… I'd better warn you, I wield a mean pillow…"
"Bloody hell…" He gulped. "You'll just have to keep the battle cries to a minimum, love, we don't want to traumatize my daughter and your son any further, they have enough to deal with as it is…"
Emma nodded. "How do you fare at pillow fighting, Captain Hook?"
"Are you seriously asking that question? Swan, I'm a pirate…"
"And I'm a waitress, so what?"
He laughed. "Wouldn't you like to know…"
"Perhaps I would…"
"Please, Swan…" He smirked cheekily. "You couldn't handle it."
"Perhaps YOU'RE the one who couldn't handle it…" She slowly reached her hand down over his pants, to the place where the talk alone had begun to build up in his anatomy, and made a gentle grab.
Yeah, he wanted it, damn pirate.
"Wha… SWAN!" He hissed.
"I warned you…"
Killian bit his lip. "Whe... I…"
"Shhhh…" she pulled a blanket over them and went back to her ministrations, caressing over the fabric where he was fast hardening more and more.
Killian gulped and leaned back, his eyes closed. "God… woman…"
"What's the matter… Captain?" She wrinkled her nose. "Can't hold your… rum?"
"You little…" He turned to her sharply, his eyes dark and his grin completely lascivious. "Not only can I hold it…. But I can carry it, RIGHT OFF THE GRID…" He gnarled the last few words through clenched teeth as he unbuckled his belt and turned completely to her, pulling the blanket over her body as well.
The rest of the passengers around them were sound asleep. Both he and Emma occasionally turned back to verify that Henry and Megan were still snoring. Their hands wandered and touched and felt. While they maintained a modicum of decency (if they could even begin to call it that), simply feeling each other over their clothes was a clear indication that this would most definitely work wonders: tissues hardened, soft buds peaked hard, temples released droplets of sweat, folds moistened and lips swelled red while heart rates doubled.
This was… dangerously good.
Neither of them found a release. Just a frustrated pair of groans when the passenger next to Emma turned half asleep and frowned as the couple suddenly pretended to be asleep, like two horny teenagers almost getting caught by their mom and dad during a party.
The woman went back to sleep and Killian and Emma sat there, breathing hard, blank stares and hands now on their laps. "Rain check?" He whispered.
"Oh, yeah… and I'm collecting it as soon as we get a chance, buster… With interest."
"I'm counting on that."
She looked at him and again, kissed his rough, bearded cheek before sighing deep to get her heart rate back under control. "I love you, Killian…"
He leaned his head on hers. "I love you more…"