Year and five months

Bloody Magic.

I believe my boy is more a Swan than a Jones in his blood. Turns out the bairn inherited his mother's gift of magic and has yet to harness its use. He's quite good and moving around now, sometimes with the aid of a walker and others just running like a little madman around the flat. So in most other aspects he's quite a regular little chap... except one day, I was (As always) doing my feeding task and he was... well, indisposed and basically in a very foul mood, due to lack of sleep. His porridge apparently wasn't much to his liking, so after I insisted one time too many, he flicked his little hand and the saucer with the oatmeal flew into my face.

As expected, Emma and Henry found it hilarious enough to laugh a steady hour; naturally, they would. They weren't the ones to have to wash a perfectly good new shirt. Although I must admit that, had it happened to either one of them, no one, I believe, would have been able to lift me up from the floor for hours. All the same, I told Emma what had transpired and she seemed somewhat put off by the notion that her little boy might be as much of a wizard as she was.

A week later, he threw another tantrum when the Swan trying to put him to sleep; his nap time is rather rigorous, but the wee one is a little bit of a spitfire and sometimes will very adamantly oppose the status quo (I'm afraid he takes that from his pirate Pater). Sleepy as he was, he noisily objected to being placed in his pen for his naptime, and when Emma finally placed him down, a plush toy from his drawer cabinet flew into her head. It wouldn't have hurt her, but when she turned, she claimed she saw him sniveling and frowning in her direction.

Now I do not object to magic in my household; lords know I was the one to encourage my Swan to embrace that side of herself and live out to her full potential; but the truth is my Liam is but a babe and has yet to learn how to get his skill under control. As far as we suspect, he still has no clue what he's doing.

Swan and I adamantly took him to Mr. Gold, who was apparently rather delighted in his skills. "Son of the savior..." he said, "AND also a product of True Love himself? You do the math, Miss Swan."

That's Mrs. Jones, Crocodile...

"All the same, it is best for all if the lad starts to practice early, or before you know it he'll be casting spells and curses all over the place without him knowing..."

"How?" Emma shrugged. "This is way out of the usual Gymboree stuff, Mr. Gold, I have no idea how to..."

"Do it together." He nodded at her. "You adn your boy." He turned to Henry. "That boy."

Henry looked stunned. "Wait... what?"

Gold walked to Henry. "Go on, Lad... hold out your hand. Palm up. Focus." He spoke to him. "You have the Heart of the Truest believer, also son of the Savior and grandson of The Dark One. You're BOUNF to have it. "

Henry focused on his hand for a while, under Gold's guise... and after a minute, a rather sizeable ball of fire emerged on the palm of his hand. To say he was elated is rather an understantement.

So between Henry and Emma they were supposed to mold and teach my boy...

I suppose I must have looked slightly downtrodden, because Gold turned to me. "And what seems to be the problem there, Captain?"

"Well, I have an extraordinary family of magic bearers and I am just... a one handed sailor." I shrugged. "What part do I play in this?"

"Killian..." Emma looked at me compassionately, touching my arm.

"Oh, you are plenty important, pirate." Gold nodded. "You are the other half of True Love. What makes you think that only elemental magic is important? Magic of the soul is a key ingredient." He nodded. "Take the savior, here... not even I would have foreseen that YOU, of all people, my long time foe, were the key element to her finding her magic. You, Mr. Jones..." He said, pacing to me, "...might not possess magic as such... because you ARE the magic."

I had to swallow hard to process that one. Swan smiled and grabbed on to my arm to kiss my cheek. "There you go, whiner..." She grinned.

"Can we expect the same from the next one?" I signaled over to my wife's (now very prominent) belly.

"Chances are, dearie... chances are..." He nodded with a side grin. "And maybe more so because of the child's gender..."

Swan and I hadn't wanted to reveal the sex of the child, but now we were dead curious. So when we both pushed to know, the man grinned coldly and nodded. "A princess is coming your way."

Glad. Very Glad.

In spite of their words and the Crocodile's assertions, I still felt rather out of place: I was the rogue, one-handed blaggard whose only real battling skill was the fist and blade and who was about as magical as a tangerine. My wife, bless her hero heart, was extraordinarily generous to me that day. Since we were once again in a no-sex policy (which is incredibly lethal, I can tell you), she actually tried to gratify me of her own account, selflessly, later that night. I hated not being able to comply and return the favor, but she is indeed the kindest, most loving soul in the world. Time will come where I will do all in my power to take her to see the stars and sun without expecting anything in rturn.

Jotted down and sealed as a promise.

Since that day Henry has taken to practicing magic with both Regina and Emma; he's quite skilled and has more than once taken to a little teenage mischief, not unlike his mother who either still teases me by swiftly flicking her wrist to misplace my hook (I still insist it's bad form) or by tickling me from a distance (sometimes in places only she should be able to tickle… and usually in public conveyances to test my resistance and skills of simulation… not a good thing when I am in the midst of a season of abstinence, I have to say).

Liam has also learned how to speak a great many more words. He never forgot Bloody Hell, which is sort of my pride and joy and makes Swan roll her eyes every time he says it. He asks for things, he can actually make himself quite clear when he wants specific things and will quite often resort to the use of his charms to get his way, the little sod.

Like father like son.

Henry, on his part, announced to me that he now has, indeed, a love interest. Seems in the end he went for one called Lillian. Showed me the photograph of the pretty young lass in his cell phone and, I have to say, I had to commend him for his tastes. Lovely redheaded young lady… Good for him to start getting his bearings, I say. Emma still doesn't know and I am currently strategizing a way to make it known. It will be henry's birthday soon and we have both schemed for her to show up and just make it clear that… well, that's how it is. The lad is fifteen soon. Very proud of my boy…. And I am sure Bae is looking down at us from some place, grinning proudly himself. And since he's now such a man, I actually have something planned for him, a rite of passage, so to speak. Swan will never agree, but it has to be done: a weekend in the ocean, on a boat, just the young sir and me, much like Liam took me out to sea when I turned fifteen and he was twenty-five. The boy is actually quite excited about it.

I draw the line at him bringing the young lady along though… fooling around far from home is bad form.

I'm a pirate, I should know.