LIZ IS HERE.

When Liam was born, there was a sense of tension that somehow didn't take place this time around; Swan was calm and fresh and looking beautiful, like always. But, like with all girls, our daughter seems to be a bit of a priss and decided to make Emma's life a living hell during the last few minutes of her birthing process.

There was a wee bit of drama there, all turned out well, but it could have gotten rather messy.

It just so happens that sweet little Liz decided not to flip into the natural upside down positon and, not just that, but as my Swan started to have her contractions, the child went ballistic in her mother's womb and somehow managed to intricately muddle herself under her own cord.

The Doctor asked to talk to me and wondered what blood type I was. Up until that particular moment I trully had no clue there were even different types of blood; as far as I knew, all blood was red, thick and liquid, and that was about that. But after a long (and quite frankly, quite beyong my scope of understanding) explanation on what blood types are, I agreed to have my own tested. I didn't really question why for a while, but when I did, I nearly toppled on the floor: My Swan was bleeding out and a donor was urgently needed.

Now, there are some perks to this whole "True Love" thing; We were a perfect match. So I agreed to have every pint of blood in me drained if need be… A small bottle sufficed, however. I was weak and wobbly for a few hours after that, which all in al lis not too bad compared to other conditions I've had to endure in my abnormally long existence. Anything for my Emma.

The Charmings arrived, as always, a picture perfect image of family unity, they were: David had Neal on one arm, and his lady's hand in the other. Princess Snow held my boy Liam on her other hand and Henry escorted them merrily behind. I must have looked in a proper state when they saw me because Snow suddenly looked as colorless and doughey as I did.

"Killian, are you ok? What's going on?" she asked, deeply concerned.

"Complications… they said." I replied, fighting not to cry. "They just took a pint of my blood for her… She was bleeding, and so they... complications."

Henry swallowed hard enough that I could see his (rather new) Adam's Apple bounce up and down. He approached me. "My mom?"

Now how could I brave the oceans when I was unable to keep myself together in front of my boy? I drew a deep breath and nodded, placing my hand on his shoulder. "Aye, lad, but you know your mother. Nothing can beat her." He hugged me hard and I held im back. "Don't be chaffed, m'boy. She will make it through, she always does."

David handed little Neal over to Henry (Not safe for me to hold any infant whilst wearing the hook) and went to the front desk to demand information. Naturally there was little they could say.

Ten minutes later, the doctor emerged with a sheet of paper and a pen. He approached me directly.

"Mr. Jones, we managed to stop the bleeding, she is stable, but the baby's life is at risk. We need toperform a c-section on her now." He handed me the sheet of paper. "If you'd like to sign the permit?"

"Wait…" I sneered. "C-section?"

Snow gasped.. "You're going to cut her open?"

"What?! No! Not a chance in bloody hell!" I barked.

"Mr. Jones…"

"Why wold you want to…"

"I assure you, Captain…" The doctor smiled reassuringly. "We know what we're doing, She will be fine, but we need to remove the child right now before it gets worse…"

I must have looked helpless. Snow sighed and bit her lip, nodding in my direction. David swallowed and came over to me, placinmg his han don my shoulder. "They have to do it, man… She'll be fine, She'll just need to recover for a little longer, but hell, we're here, we'll help out."

Henry nodded with a grin. "Look who's chaffed now, dad…"

The heart of the truest believer… I swear that boy's resilience in the face of adversity never ceases to astound me.

I took the paper and the pen and signed my name. David looked over my shoulder. "Wow... that's penmanship for ya..." He joked. "Quite the calligraphy you pull there, pirate..."

I hated the thought of my Emma lying there and getting cut open, so this time (and as opposed to my rather rooted tradition of not becoming involved in the birthing process) I agreed to wear a blue little scrub and hat (completely ruined my devilishly handsome looks, but I'd have done anything for Swan) and joined her in the operating room,

I was rather timorous at the sight of her… she looked slightly drawn. But then, she had just endured considerable blood loss and I probably didn't look much better myself, anyway. I swallowed all my apprehensions (and a batch of tears) and joined her side, caressing her forehead. "How are you coping, love?" I said softly.

She was neither fretting nor in pain. If anything, she looked calm and rather mellow. She smiled at me. "Well! Look who ventured into dangerous waters…"

"I told you… I'm a hell of a captain." I winked at her with a smile. I reached out and grabbed her hand. "You didn't think I'd let them do this and leave you alone to it, did you?"

She sighed. "You didn't stick around the last time."

"Well, the last time they weren't about to cut you open, Swan." I side-grinned. "Never you fear. You will do just fine. It's a minor thing, I am sure it will amunt to naught but a paper cut, tough lass that you are…"

She chuckled. "You… are so full of shit, Killian Jones…. You are scared to death."

I smiled and lowered my head in defeat. "Aye. Won't lie to you."

"You can't. I'd know."

"Emma…" I sighed with a wince, rubbing her hand. "Is this absolutely necessary?"

"This is kind of a common operation, Hook…" She spoke calmly back. "If anything I'm kind of relieved I won't have to be doing any more pushing…. It's kind of nice to be off my feet, actually."

I saw as the doctors lifted some sort of screen between us and her beautiful bulge, and I felt myself swallow a lump larger tan a cannon ball from the Jolly Roger. I began to sweat cold.

"Hey… hey… come back to me, Captain." I heard her voice from miles away. I turned to her, biting my lower lip. My palms were sweating something awful. But she lay there, smiling at me, looking as fresh as the morning. "The doctor told me it was your blood they used… We're actually compatible?"

That brought me back from the perilious journey into panic that I was diving into. "Aye, darling…"

She smiled. "So now I literally have your blood in my veins..."

"It would appear so..."

She chuckled. "I can live with that. Thank you, babe."

I just smiled at her. I love how she calls me 'babe' or 'baby'... I suppose it was this realm's affectionate term of endearment, so I always feel myself soar when she does. "Any time, love."

"Tell me a story, Killian…"

"Come again?"

"You have a three hundred year backlog of memories, I'm pretty sure you can come up with a good anecdote…"

I knew what she was doing… this wasn't so much about me telling her to keep her distracted; rather, she wanted ME to keep my mind off this particular birthing method. Gods, I love this woman!

"Well… just what sort of story would you care to hear now, Swan?"

"Tell me about her… You never talk about her."

"Her? You mean Milah?"

It struck me as odd that she'd want to hear of my old love, one that had taken a large part of my heart to the grave with her. But since my Emma had very much reconstructed the broken cracks and crevices her death had bestowed on me, I rather thought it to be ungentlemanly to treat my new love with stories of my romantic past.

"Yeah…" she smiled. "what was she like?" She must have sensed my apprehension, where she squeezed my hand. "Go on…" She grinned, her voice but a whisper. "I'm ok with it. I want to know what kind of man she met then… and what you guys did together…" She chuckled. "Come on, I've told you all there is to know of me and Neal…."

I sighed and for the first time in ages, I allowed nostalgia to overcome my thoughts, my mind filling up with colorful, vivid images of my first love. "She was…. Beautiful. Vivacious. She had real thirst for life and adventure. A bloody good pirate lady." I chuckled. "And she could beat me at dice any day."

"Henry can beat you at dice any day…"

"Aye, but his dice are loaded, lass…" I grinned, gently tapping her nose with my hook. "Anylord, she looked like a siren. Her hair was dark and long, her eyes were blue, like the sea… And her smile could waken the dead; her laughter carried for miles... She was just so… full of life."

"And just where did you two go together?"

"Oh, many places." He smiled. "We cruised the kingdoms, from the Enchanted Forest to the Magic Woodland and the shores of Agrebah…one by one, we mapped all the oceans… she turned out to be a bloody good cartographer. And she was a dead eye shooter. Not too good with a blade mind you, but give the lass a couple of pistols and she'd hit the mark, the truest aim I'd ever seen with a gun-powdered weapon. We had good times, that woman and I." I sighed.

She smiled a sympathetic smile. "You really loved her..."

I nodded. "Aye. That I did. And she loved me back. But there was always that nagging feeling that something was not right, you know?"

"Bae?"

"There's that... and there was also this feeling that one day, we'd pay for our sins. So we just lived each day at a time... " I sighed deep. "Till fate finally caught up with us." I looked down to the floor. "Rumplestiltskin had somehow acquired the dagger of the dark one and as soon as he enunciated his name, I knew the time had come. I deserved it; I must admit my arrogance and pride of yore were not good, love. I was cruel to him... he only wanted to claim his wife, and I all but humiliated him. I was young and damn all as along as I got my way, you know? So when he finally got to us, he took it all back. Nearly ripped my heart out."

"What?" She widened her eyes. "I didn't know that!"

"Aye... had his hand stuck in me chest for at least a minute. Hurt like bloody hell. But Milah stopped him. She would have died for me." I huffed. "She did die for me. I told her to run, to leave... but she refused to abandon me to death and instead... well, " I grinned. "You know the rest of the tale, darling. But, " I smiled. "We did have some great times together."

"I'm sorry, baby…" she mumbled, with a slight squeeze of my hand.

"Why, my love, you have nothing to do with her demise, why would you apologize to me now?"

She looked slightly saddened and I would have given my heart to have her lovely smile back like it was minutes earlier.

"You…. You're a sea captain." She sighed. "You gave it all up, all that… just to be with me. I sometimes think I'm holding you down."

I frowned. "What?"

"Do you ever just…. Want to go back out there? To the ocean?" she bit her lower lip. "Don't you miss it? Don't you feel like I'm… anchoring you?"

I smiled fully. That silly woman….

"Listen…" I bent over so my face was mere inches from hers. "If you want to know the answer to that, then yes. Yes, I do miss it. But when I ponder on the year I spent far from your side, how miserable and lonely I felt, I am grateful as all hell that I am here now. No other place I'd rather be moored, no other anchor I'd rather tie me to port." I kissed her gently. "I will never… ever regret trading the Jolly for your life, Emma. Enough with this folly now…" I kissed her nose and she replied with a smile. "Now be calm, woman, focus, you're in the middle of delivering a child, there…"

I had no sooner said those words when the doctor interrupted with a smile. "Actually, she's all done!"

He raised his hands and showed u sour baby girl… a princess… still attached to her mother and while moving gently and making odd gargling sounds, not a holler or a cry was heard.

I turned to Emma and kissed her deeply. Very well, I confess, I was a sopping, bawling mess. "We have a girl…" I smiled into her ear. "We have a girl…"

After they cleaned her up a but and clasped her chord, they gently lay my princess on top of… my other princess… and I simply stayed there, looking at both, while Emma welcomed her. I touched the gente, frail skin of my babe as I bit my lip, before turning to Emma (who now looked soppier tan I did). "Now, now, Swan…. Why would I want to set sail now?" I kissed her head. "The Jolly Roger is gone. This is where I am now, my love. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else…"

As if she hadn't been bellowy before, that set her off even more. She smiled, kissed me hard and told me to hold her, which I gladly did.

Unlike Liam, my princess had her mother's golden tresses. And she was so quiet and perfect… perfect.

I emerged a smiling man, announced to the Charmings that they were once again proud grandparents, this time to a lovely wee lass we would be naming Mary Elizabeth Jones. Henry emitted a loud "Yeah!" and the Prince and Princess just sort of held each other tight… before engulfing me in their family hug. Henry joined in… and I have tos ay that if I had been touched before, this absolutely undid me.

I knew at that precise instant, I didn't just have a family…. I belonged in one.

Elizabeth was my mother's name; I may not remember her, but I am still grateful to the woman for her gist of life to me… and Mary was snow's name in Storybrooke (Swan found it rather awkward naming her child Snow Elizabeth or White Elizabeth… and I tend to agree with her on that!).

I've yet to see what dynamics our two babes will develop. Liam is currently on a magical hiatus, but we've still to see where that leads us all. He's a good lad. And now we're five… five under that roof.

I might consider the idea of bigger housing….