Only after Emma settled down at the tiny dining table with Killian did she realize there was a slight problem with this little plan of theirs. "You know, squirt," she sighed, teasingly addressing the complaint to her baby brother for no real reason, "it's going to be kind of difficult to hide clues with our buried treasure when we don't have any paper to write them down on."
The stricken expression on Killian's face proved that he and Henry hadn't exactly thought about that. Emma bit her lower lip to hide an amused smile. "Or an implement with which to write them," he agreed. "The lad and I neglected to take that into consideration."
"Apparently," Emma smiled as she shifted a squirming Neal in her arms. "It's all right. We'll figure something out."
The pen was easy enough, she supposed. Snow always had at least one pen on her. Always. Any time Emma had asked her for one, she'd pulled one out of a purse or a tote or seemingly out of thin air. She'd even handed Emma a red pen on more than one occasion, much to her then-roommate's amusement.
Twenty-eight long years of being an elementary school teacher had ingrained the habit in her mother, Emma figured. Old habits die hard, so there was no doubt in Emma's mind that there was a pen somewhere in their belongings.
The paper, on the other hand ... that was a different story. A quick visual sweep of the shack revealed no old magazines lying around or pads of paper in plain view. Well, dammit.
"I'm sure there's some scrap paper somewhere in this shack," Killian said, startling her out of her thoughts.
He started to stand, apparently intent on finding said scrap paper. Emma shook her head at him, stilling him in his tracks. "No, wait. We're not going to go on a scavenger hunt just so we can have a scavenger hunt. Let me try something first."
Though a large part of her simply wanted to save everyone the time and Killian the aggravation of searching for something that may not even exist, part of her also wanted to see if what she wanted to do was even possible. It would solve a lot of potential problems if it was, not just the immediate one of needing a simple sheet of paper.
So far, all the magic she'd done while actually trying to do magic basically just used a framework that already existed. Yeah, she'd lit the candle in Neverland and the fire here but all she'd done was provide the flame. And yeah, she'd poofed small objects from here to there but she'd simply moved them from one spot to another. Even reopening the time portal; all she'd done then was reactivate it using a wand designed to reactivate previous magic.
And yeah, all those things were cool and everything but what she wanted to do was something else entirely, and she had no idea if it was within her capabilities.
Emma squared her shoulders, took a deep, cleansing breath, and shut her eyes while letting the breath out slowly. She concentrated, remembering Gold's and Regina's words when they were trying to teach her. Magic was accessed through emotion, through feeling, and her magic, her innate magic, was pure emotion. It was pure love, pure protection, pure comfort.
And she felt her magic building, starting with a faint tingling in her stomach, almost like butterflies. Butterflies mixed with the falling sensation of going over the first hill on a roller coaster; it was frightening at first but if she tamped down the fear, the magic would grow into a warmth that radiated throughout her entire being. She hated to describe the ensuing feeling as a rush but there was no better word for it. With the warmth came a rush of love and heat and protection, filling her, making her feel special and loved and like she could do absolutely anything she wanted.
And what she wanted right now was to create a sheet of paper. Just magically will one into existence, no hunting or searching required.
Emma hadn't noticed the way her entire body had relaxed against the warmth now coursing through her veins. She hadn't noticed that her head had dropped forward, her chin almost touching her chest. She hadn't noticed that her features had gone from scrunched in concentration to positively serene or that her breathing had evened out to a regular rhythm.
Only Killian had, and he only knew she hadn't simply fallen asleep for two reasons. One, she still had a tight grip on her baby brother, her index finger playing with his tiny ones, and two, a little smile had curled on her lips, a smile of which he highly doubted she was even aware.
In that moment, he knew she was ready. And in that moment, she knew she was, too.
Emma opened her eyes and sure enough, a blank sheet of crisp copy paper appeared on the table in a flash of white. A proud grin tugged at her lips as she met Killian's gaze. "Quite impressive, love," he said honestly before adopting to a teasing tone, "but how am I to write down these clues without a writing implement?"
Since she was already on a magical high, so to speak, she didn't even bother getting up to ask Snow for a pen. She simply flicked her wrist and a ballpoint pen appeared right next to the sheet of paper. "Ask and you shall receive."
"Bloody amazing," Killian murmured as he clicked the pen as if wanting to make sure it really worked. He looked up at Emma and grinned. "Now all we need are some hiding places."
They briefly took stock of the small space, searching for proper hiding places. Drawers or shelves or little alcoves. They decided on six spots, which meant they would need six different clues for six different objects. "We could use one thing from each of us," Killian said, making Emma smile.
Since Emma's hands were full of wriggling baby who had developed a fondness for waving his little hand back and forth through the ends of her hair, Killian took it upon himself to begin writing out the clues. Emma smiled down at her baby brother. "All right, squirt, I'll allow this for now but the second you learn to grab my hair and yank, we're done."
Killian chuckled at that as he wrote, his hand filling the top of the paper with old-fashioned spidery scrawl. Emma watched him with something resembling fascination. She'd never given any thought to what his handwriting would look like but she noted with surprise that it looked vaguely like her father's. David's letters had fewer flourishes to them, though.
Enchanted Forest penmanship? she silently wondered. Snow's handwriting could be spidery like Killian's and David's when she thought about it but twenty-eight years of being Mary Margaret Blanchard and printing with this world's modern penmanship had taken a lot of the elegance out of it. Emma remembered from town paperwork that Regina's writing had a sort of old-fashioned fanciness to it, too, with extra loops on her letters and long lines crossing her Ts. Back before Emma knew the truth, she'd always thought the handwriting was just a sign of Regina being … well, Regina, but maybe the flourishes were simply a habit she'd been unable to break.
She was once again drawn from her thoughts by Killian's voice, though this time he clearly hadn't meant to be heard. "Writing goes so much faster without the need for an ink well," he murmured to himself as the pen flew across the page. Emma hid a smile.
The two of them came up with the next five clues together. When they were finished, Emma noted with amazement that he'd split the sheet into six equal sections completely by eye. "Damn," she muttered.
"What is it, love?"
She nodded her head towards the paper. "I can't do that. I'm pretty sure 'measure twice, cut once' is a saying because of me."
He smiled at her. "Navigational skills have other applications, it seems."
"Apparently." She shifted Neal in her arms to free a hand and slid the sheet of paper in front of her. The only things left to do were separate the clues and gather the "treasure."
Her plan had been to fold the sheet around the clues and then tear it at the score lines but her squirming baby brother in her arms kind of prevented that. She was just about to hand Neal over to Killian when she thought of something else instead. Emma shut her eyes and envisioned the single sheet as six separate ones, all perfectly trimmed around Killian's spidery words.
When she opened her eyes, she found six rectangular scraps of paper staring up at her. A proud grin tugged at her lips as she met Killian's eyes. He was smiling proudly at her as well. "Do you think you could conjure another sheet of paper, love?"
Since she'd already done so once, magicking him some more paper was a piece of cake. She flicked her wrist and a second sheet of crisp white paper appeared on the table. "Why?"
"You'll see." He pulled his thumb ring off and handed it to her. "Hide the objects; I'll be done by the time you return."
Well, he was certainly being mysterious. She narrowed her eyes at him, which only made him arch an eyebrow at her in return. Sighing, she pushed herself to her feet and crossed over to her parents and Henry, who were still seated by the fire. "I need something from each of you to hide."
Without a single question, her family handed over their little objects. Snow gave up the pearl earrings she was wearing and also handed Emma one of Neal's rattles. Henry handed over his phone and David gave her his house keys. Emma had Snow help her take off her own necklace and then said, "Now close your eyes. And Henry, if you peek, so help me ..."
Henry chuckled. "I won't. Cross my heart!"
"Uh huh," Emma said, her tone teasingly incredulous. In their shared fake memories of his childhood, Henry had always peeked during any kind of hiding game. He traced an X over his chest for good measure, making Emma snicker. "All right, fine, I believe you."
Once everyone had closed their eyes, Emma placed each object in a spot she and Killian had discussed along with the handwritten clue that would lead the family to the next object's location. Killian sat at the table, simultaneously watching her and scribbling away on the new sheet of paper. Okay, seriously, what the hell was her pirate up to?
Only after she circled back to the table on her way to hide Henry's phone did she see what Killian was doing. He'd drawn a crude version of the inside of the shack and marked each hiding place with a little X. Her pirate had drawn her a quick and dirty treasure map! "So we don't forget where they are," he explained through a joking smile.
"Oh, is that why pirates draw maps?" she asked teasingly.
"Aye," he replied, though she could tell that he was only half-joking. "You've no idea how much forgotten treasure exists because the pirate couldn't remember where he'd buried it. When one does a great many things under the influence of rum, it helps to leave oneself reminders."
Emma smirked. "And how much buried treasure have you forgotten about, captain?"
"That's an impossible question to answer, love."
She raised her eyebrows. "That much?"
"No, that's not what I meant. If I've forgotten about it, how can I know that I've forgotten about it?"
She came thisclose to sticking her tongue out at him.
His eyes, which had been sparkling with teasing mischief, softened as a smile pulled at his lips. "Not that it matters. All the treasure I need is in this room."
Emma's breath caught in her throat. Did he mean her? He did, didn't he? He totally meant her. She'd never been someone's treasure before.
She had to blink rapidly to break the moment. She couldn't afford to get lost in those honest, blue eyes and in his words with her parents and kid waiting for them to tell them it was time to start the treasure hunt. She glanced at the fireplace, at her parents and kid having a soft conversation with their eyes closed. Then she looked down at her squirming baby brother and up at her pirate.
And then it hit her. All the treasure she needed was right here in the room with her, too.
Killian's face had fallen slightly, as if he was afraid he'd pushed too hard. And maybe yesterday – or, not yesterday, exactly, because they'd spent a couple days in the past … but before their adventure through time, at any rate – that comment would have sent her running, but now … now she could see the honesty and truth in his words. Now she could hear them and let herself feel them without needing to flee from them.
She smiled to set him at ease and said, "Me, too."
He smiled back, simultaneously relieved and touched. He stood and pressed a kiss to her temple before reminding her that she still Henry's phone to hide.
She swiftly did so and then addressed her family. "Okay, you can open your eyes now."
"Finally!" Henry exclaimed, pushing himself to his feet. "Let the treasure hunt begin!"
Killian handed over the first clue and off they went. David, however, hung back. His eyes were darting from Emma to Killian and back again. Emma gulped, wondering for a brief moment if he'd heard their conversation. And then David met her eyes and smiled at her.
What did that mean? Had he heard it? Was he okay with it? Or had he not heard it at all?
David stepped up to her then, causing Killian to excuse himself to "help" Snow and Henry with the search so father and daughter could have a quiet moment together. David's hand instantly found Neal's little one but his proud eyes were focused solely on his baby girl. "Uh, hi?" Emma said uncertainly.
"You're finding your moments, Emma," David said by way of a greeting, "and I couldn't be more proud of you. Don't get me wrong, you're still my little girl and if he hurts you, he'll wish he never left Neverland, but …" He let the sentence trail off, smiling at her instead.
Emma gaped him. What the hell was going on here? Four hours ago, David had been giving Killian the evil eye and now he was all "you're finding your moments" about him? "I don't understand," she said in what must have been the understatement of the century.
He chuckled. "I don't imagine you do, and it's not my place to explain. Suffice it to say I just remembered a conversation I once had around a fire with another prince. The conversation opened my eyes quite a bit back then, and the memory of it has done so again."
"You do know you're making like, zero sense, right?"
"I'm sure I am." He smiled lovingly at her. "Just keep finding your moments, Emma, no matter where and with whom. These moments, these quiet moments just being together and being happy… they're what life's all about."
Though Emma was utterly confused, she found herself nodding, agreeing to take her father's advice. After quickly caressing her cheek with the side of his thumb, David pressed a kiss to the side of her head and then excused himself, joining Snow and Henry on the scavenger hunt and leaving his daughter staring after him.
Killian walked back up to Emma, who still hadn't the faintest idea what had just happened. "What was all that about?"
"Your guess is as good as mine," Emma said as she shifted Neal in her arms. They were quiet for a beat as they watched Henry puzzle out the second clue, then Emma asked, "Are all families as weird as mine?"
Killian chuckled. "I don't think any family is as odd as yours, love, but I'll bet there are some that come close."