Soft conversation swirled around Emma, and for the first time in her life, she allowed herself to bask in it. Her story had kicked off a kind of ghost story contest between Killian and Henry, though they were both very clearly making theirs up. David even got in on the act, weaving a tale of a long ago stay at a supposedly haunted castle, which Snow listened to with a barely suppressed smirk.
"He's completely bullshitting, isn't he?" Emma murmured to her mother after David described a seemingly disembodied despairing wail echoing through the castle's corridors.
Though she again winced at her daughter's way with words, Snow nodded. "Completely."
Emma smiled, leaned her head back against the couch, and shut her eyes, letting her father's words paint the picture in her mind. Snow tightened her grip around her shoulders, absentmindedly running her thumb up and down the side of her arm.
It was such a motherly gesture that Emma had to swallow hard to dislodge the lump that had risen in her throat.
They stayed like that for a while. Emma allowed herself to drift on a sea of words and stories until there was more yawning going on than talking. She opened her eyes just as Henry admitted defeat. "Mom?" he said wearily. "I'm tired."
That seemed to spur everyone into action. Snow squeezed Emma's shoulders and rose from the sofa to get Neal bundled up and settled in his car-seat-turned-cradle for the night. David stood a moment later to feed a couple more logs into the fire to fuel it for the next few hours and stoke it to make sure it was good and strong. Emma immediately registered the loss of warmth now that they'd both left her side. Goosebumps emerged on her arms as she got to her feet, working with Henry to remove the cushions from the couch.
She and the kid had the couch pulled out in less than a minute. Killian stared at the transformed piece of furniture, utterly fascinated. "What?" Emma asked teasingly. "You've never seen a pull-out couch before?"
He shook his head. "I've seen bunks built into walls and bunks that fold down from alcoves but I've never seen a bunk hiding in another piece of furniture like that."
"Whoa, wait a second," Henry said, blinking at the pirate in fascination. "You've seen a fold-down bed? Like in the cartoons?"
Killian frowned at him. "What is this 'cartoon' thing of which you speak, lad?"
Henry started to tell him but it soon became apparent that Killian didn't comprehend how drawings could possibly move without the use of magic. "Never mind," Emma said because she was far too tired to try to deal with the explanations. She'd have to make sure she showed him a cartoon someday soon; maybe when she showed him Back to the Future.
A quick rummage in the small closet by the front door turned up a couple of extra pillows for the pull-out. She carried the pillows over to the bed and handed one to Henry. He accepted it with a smile and shrugged on one of the extra sweatshirts that Killian had retrieved from the car.
It was a testament to both how tired and worried Henry was that he actually let Emma tuck him in with the picnic blanket. She'd expected him to shrug off her ministrations because, as a twelve-year-old boy, he sometimes felt like he was too old for being tucked in, especially in front of everyone. "You warm enough, kid?" she asked as she eased down on the side of the mattress.
"Yeah," he nodded. "Are you coming to bed, too?"
"Not just yet," she said softly. She, Killian, and her parents needed to discuss sleeping in shifts but she didn't want to do that while Henry was still awake. Judging by the concerted effort he was making to keep his eyes open, she wouldn't have to wait long. "We just have to make sure everything's locked up tight and then I'll be along, okay?"
"Okay," he said, his eyes sliding closed. "G'night, Mom."
"Good night, kid." He was asleep before she finished kissing his forehead. She smiled, pulled the blanket more tightly around his shoulders, and stood.
Her parents and Killian had crossed to the other side of the shack to set up the bed. The second she stepped over to them, she shuddered. Holy crap, it was freezing over here!
On a normal night, a fire in the fireplace was probably more than enough to radiate warmth throughout the entire shack. But this was not at all a normal night, and the heat just was not reaching this corner of the room. The broken window in the bathroom probably wasn't helping. It was patched but not sealed, and even though they'd sealed off the door as best they could, Emma could still feel cold air seeping through the cracks and into the shack proper.
Her parents were wary. Killian was, too. She could see it in their eyes, all three of them. And if they were worried, that meant things were serious. "Um, guys?" she said, squinting at them in the dim orange light. "I hate to say it, but I think the bed might be off-limits tonight."
"I think you're right," David said, sighing heavily. "Sleeping arrangements just got a whole lot more complicated."
"No, not really," Snow gently argued. "Two people can fit on the couch with Henry. That leaves two of us on watch, which is fine because I think we're at the point now of needing two people awake and keeping an eye on each other."
Everyone agreed. It was too cold; if only one person was awake and began succumbing to hypothermia, they'd all be in a world of trouble.
Emma glanced at Killian, who nodded at her. It wouldn't strike her until much later that she'd once again asked him a silent question and he'd once again just as silently answered her. "Killian and I can take first shift," she said to her parents. "Why don't you two try and get some sleep?"
Snow shook her head. "Emma, you're still exhausted. You were half-asleep when we were sitting together." She shifted focus to Killian. "And you trudged half a mile through eighteen inches of heavy snow earlier. You're just as exhausted as she is. Let us take first shift–"
"The squirt's going to have one or both of you up in a few hours anyway," Emma interrupted. "You should sleep while you can. We'll be fine for a little while."
Snow once again opened her mouth to argue but David grasped her hand, stopping her before she could say another word. "There's no way for us to win this argument, is there?" he asked his daughter, deciding to cut to the chase.
She smiled. "Nope."
He smiled back at her, unable to stop himself from running a gentle thumb along her cheek. Her eyes involuntarily closed against the comfort. That must have given David courage because before she had a chance to pull away, he pressed a soft kiss to the side of her head. "Take care of each other," he whispered.
"We will," she assured him just as softly. She opened her eyes to look into his. "And we'll take care of you guys, too."
"I know you will," he said, a proud smile on his lips.
He ran his thumb over her cheek a second time before turning away. Activity in the shack now turned to getting everyone settled for bed. David grabbed the pillows from the bed for him and Snow before crossing the room and climbing under the covers with Henry. Snow set Neal's car seat beside the couch so she would hear him if he fussed, shrugged on one of the extra sweatshirts, and climbed into bed beside her husband.
Emma made sure the picnic blanket really did cover all of them. Thankfully, it did. It was a tight squeeze with all three of them in the bed, but that was probably a good thing; they could share body heat that way. "Night, guys," she whispered.
"Good night, sweetheart," Snow whispered back.
"Wake us up if you need to," David instructed. "You don't have to wait for Neal to do it if you're having trouble staying awake."
"We will," Killian assured him.
They settled down to attempt to sleep, and Emma and Killian took seats in front of the fireplace to stay warm while on watch.
For a long time, the only sounds in the shack were the crackling of the fire, the wind still whistling outside, and the rhythmic breathing of her parents and kid. Emma could sense more than see Killian shifting closer to her but she didn't understand why until he asked, "Are you all right, love?"
It was then that she realized she was shivering. "Yeah, I'm all right," she said, drawing her knees to her chest. She just needed to warm up a little, was all.
In a split second, his hand was on hers. "No, you're not." He stood and grabbed both one of the extra sweatshirts and the blanket he'd retrieved from the station wagon. "Put this on and wrap up in this," he instructed, indicating first the sweatshirt and then the blanket.
She stared at him, her mind sluggish. Good God, she was tired.
"Swan, the cold is getting dangerous. Your hand is like ice. Please just do as I ask."
Something about the tone of his voice broke through her sluggishness. She put on the sweatshirt while Killian did a skin-to-skin temperature check on everyone else. The shirt was David's; it was a couple sizes too big for her and the comforting scent of his aftershave still clung to the cotton. The lost little girl inside of her wanted nothing more than to pull the cuffs over her hands, hold the sleeves up to her nose, and surround herself with the scent that, for some reason unknown to her, made her feel safe and secure.
For once tonight, the little girl did not get what she wanted. Before Emma even had the chance to pull the cuffs over her hands, Killian returned. "Everyone's fine, love. Even your baby brother." He wrapped the blanket around her shoulders as he eased back down next to her. "Is that better?"
"Yeah, thanks." Then her mind focused enough to realize that she was hogging the extra layers. "But what about you?"
"Leather," he reminded her. "I'll be all right for the next little while, at least until you warm back up."
Still, she shifted closer to him, closing the gap between them. They could share body heat, if nothing else.
Now that everything was quiet, the danger of the situation was really beginning to settle. How long would they be stuck out here? How long could they survive in the cold? What if it never warmed up? What if the groundcover froze over and they couldn't get Snow's car back onto the road even if the plow could reach them? What if the temperature dropped even further? They only had so many supplies on them … only so much food and so much warmth.
There was only so much they could do.
"What are you thinking, love?" Killian asked softly.
It was a testament to how tired she still was and how slowly her brain was moving that she actually told him. "Even if we survive the night, Killian, how long can we keep this up?"
He frowned at her, somewhat confused. "As long as we have to."
"But–"
"Swan, I know you're worried. Frankly, I am, too, but we don't have a choice. We survive, any way we can."
She didn't say anything, and the confusion on his face morphed into concern. "What's really going on? I've seen you handle greater obstacles than an uncomfortably cold night in the woods without so much as blinking. You know you can do this. Why the hesitance now?"
Emma tore her eyes from his, unwilling to voice her real concern. Unwilling to admit it, unwilling to speak it aloud lest it come to fruition.
"Emma, don't do this. Don't pull away from me now. Please tell me the truth."
The truth? The truth was her life was following pattern. The truth was the savior was not allowed to be happy.
"Emma, love, please."
He rested his hand on hers, and for some reason, that did it. She whirled on him. "You want to know the truth? It's that this always happens. I get something and then I lose it. It happened all throughout my childhood, it happened with Neal, it's happened I can't even tell you how many times since I came here. Just when I think everything's okay, the other shoe drops. Don't you see? I finally have it, Killian; I have everything I've been searching for my entire life. Home and family and someplace to belong and people I love, and because of one stupid magical snowstorm, I could lose it all. All it would take to wipe us all out right now is for the temperature to drop a few more degrees."
She finally caught herself and shut up. Left unsaid was how utterly terrifying the thought of losing them was. She didn't think she'd survive losing any of of them, she really didn't think she would.
Killian's hand tightened around hers in an effort to calm her. "You won't lose it all, Swan."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Because you won't allow it to happen." He smiled somewhat sardonically at her. "You, Emma Swan, are the most stubborn woman I've ever met. You are not going to let one magical snowstorm take your family from you. And I also know that neither of your parents nor your lad nor I will allow one magical snowstorm to take you from us. We're going to make it out of here, love, all of us, because there is no other option." That sardonic smile turned gentle, reassuring, and completely confident. "I've still yet to see you fail."
Tears brimmed in Emma's eyes as she let his words settle. After a beat, she smiled almost sheepishly. "Thank you."
"You're welcome, love."
She held his gaze a moment longer before standing to check on everyone herself. She needed to see with her own eyes that they were okay.
Her parents and son were sound asleep, cuddled up practically on top of each other underneath the blanket. All of them were clearly seeking warmth. None of them were shivering, though, and a soft touch of everyone's foreheads proved that they were warm enough. A little bubble of relief flitted in her stomach as she straightened the blanket around them and then crouched down to check on the squirt. He was squirming a bit under his blanket but a gentle caress of his little forehead calmed him. He stilled with the tiniest of sighs, making a smile curl on Emma's lips.
They were okay. They were all okay.
Relieved, she sat back down next to Killian. "You all right now, love?"
"Yeah." And she knew now that she would be, they all would be.
Sensing that she needed a joke, Killian allowed a lascivious grin to curl on his lips. "You know, Swan, since we are, for all intents and purposes, alone, I can think of a few ways to keep us both warm."
A embarrassed flush colored her cheeks. Her parents were right there, for crying out loud! Yeah, they were asleep but that was somehow beside the point. "Yeah, keep dreaming, pirate," she teased.
He waggled his eyebrows at her. "Gladly."
Emma rolled her eyes while hiding a smile. The man was absolutely impossible.