Title: Finding Home With You
Warning: Contains spoilers from Season 4.
Author's Note: Sorry it took so long to post, I got to go to some family's house for the weekend, so I didn't have access to my laptop.
I hope I can make up for the wait with lots and lots of good old fashioned fluff. And we're back to our lovely Savior's point of view.
Countdown to OUAT Season 5: 24 days!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Once Upon A Time characters.
Summary: (Lieutenant Duckling!AU) What would have happened if Emma and Henry couldn't help Regina get her happily ever after? Now stuck in the story the Author wrote them into, Emma and Henry will have to start a new life in the Enchanted Forrest. With a little help from a timid sailor, Killian Jones. But plagued by the new Evil Queen, the three will have to continuously dodge Snow's efforts to hunt them down and end them.
Word Count: 1,823
"What? How is that possible?" He asks glancing frantically from her shocked face to his (flawless) chest.
Not the time, Swan, she chastises herself as she physically forces herself to stop starring at his chiseled chest by placing her hand over her eyes, attempting to look deep in thought instead of like a hormonal teenager. She lets her hand run upwards, smoothing some loose hairs away from her face and turns to look at him with the calmest expression she can manage.
"I'm sure it's fine, Killian," she soothes, her hand absentmindedly tracing the faint line of a scar where the wound should be. "I mean, it's healed, so that's a good thing. If it was something bad, it would be worse, not better."
He looks at her uncertainly, but she can't blame him. She's still trying to convince herself that it's a good thing.
Henry walks into the room at that moment, carrying a knapsack he hadn't had before.
"Hey, kid, come check this out," Emma calls, watching as her son drops the knapsack next to the door while kicking it shut behind him. Something she'd seen his father do a few times.
Henry walks over to the bed, where Killian is now propping himself up on one elbow in an attempt to get a better view of his absent wound.
"It's just...gone?" Henry asks, looking at his mother for answers.
Emma nods, unable to hide the confusion and worry on her face.
"Guess, half the stuff in that bag is useless then," Henry says, walking over to pick up the knapsack. He dumps the items out on his bed and starts sorting them into piles, the largest one consisting of medical supplies and the other two being made up of food and clothing.
"You don't seem in the least bit bothered by my miraculous recovery, lad," Killian comments, sounding slightly sarcastic in his worry. Emma shoots him a warning look, but she can't help the way it softens when she sees the panic on his face.
"Well, it makes sense," Henry casually answers, continuing with his work.
Emma turns to look at him, bewildered by his response. "What do you mean, it makes sense?"
Henry stops what he's doing to turn and look at the pair on the bed. "I mean, it makes sense. Last night when you were stitching up the wound you got your tears in it," he says with a shrug.
"Tears don't have some kind of magical healing-oh! You don't think-" Emma breathes, looking down at her hands. She remembers the first time she saw them glow with magic, the terror she felt. But she also remembers how lost she had felt the first time she lost her magic, and what a relief and a blessing it was to see her hands glow with magic once again.
They look like her ordinary, non-magical hands at the moment, but it had taken her a while to tap into her magic the first time around. She supposes it could be the same type of deal this time.
That is, if she is getting her powers back. She can't be sure, and she can't get her hopes up.
"What? What don't we think?" Killian asks. Emma can see his head turning back and forth between mother and son from the corner of her eye, but she can't stop starring at her hands, almost willing them to light up with that surge of energy once more.
"It's possible. You did blast grandma and grandpa yesterday," Henry replies to Emma, shrugging and turning back to his sorting.
"B-but how? How is that possible? I tried for years to use it," her voice cracks with emotion, remembering the years of utter torment and solitude locked up in her tower. She had tried so many times to free herself, but it never worked. "I couldn't break the bonds, but I can heal Killian's wound?"
"Heal my- bloody hell, lass, you're that bloody powerful?" Killian says with awe, sitting up completely in bed.
Emma turns to look at him and is swept away by the look in his eyes. She's momentarily transported to Rumple's castle, the room he transported them to, and it's her Hook looking at her with such wonder and adoration. She blinks to shake off the memory, but Killian is still looking at her with so much awe that she can't help the blush that creeps up her cheeks.
"I still don't see how it's possible," she croaks out, by way of ignoring the sudden burn of passion that Killian's loving gaze excites in her.
"Think about it, your magic comes from the power of True Love, right?" Henry prompts, turning his full attention back to his mother.
"Well, yeah, but in case you haven't realized, Mary Margaret and David aren't exactly in honeymoon mode. They aren't even Mary Margaret or David and more. Or Snow White and Prince Charming, for that matter. They're the Evil Queen and her lame henchmen," Emma scoffs, for the first time wondering just what her father's Enchanted Forest name was. Sure her mom called him Prince Charming, but that was a nickname. He went by Prince James for a while, but that was his twin brother's name. For the life of her, Emma can not think of her father's given name.
"You're right. You're not exactly the product of True Love anymore. But you have True Love, mom. You just couldn't access your powers until you found it again," Henry clarifies.
Emma sits down on the bed. Or more accurately collapses with the weight of his words. If she finally found True Love, that means it was Hook. And that means this Hook had grown to love her in just the one short day they had known each other.
That isn't possible. How is this possible?
Hervision becomes blurred and she realizes that her eyes are tearing up. She blinks rapidly, trying to hold back the tears and her chest heaving with barely contained sobs.
She feels a hand on her arm and looks up through the unshed tears to see Killian looming over her. She was so lost in the confusion of this huge revelation that she didn't notice him getting off the bed and striding over to her.
The concern on his handsome face is what sends her over the edge. She launches herself off the bed and into his arms, wrapping her own tightly around his neck and burying her nose in the conjecture of his neck and shoulder. She lets the tears fall as she clings to her one constant in her crazy life, the man she loves.
Killian's arms gently encircle her and his hand runs soothingly over her hair. "There, there, love. What's the matter?" He questions.
Her heart swells at his soft touch and even softer tone. "Nothing's wrong, Killian," she mutters into his neck, before pulling back a bit to smile up at him. Her cheeks hurt with the width of her grin, but she can't contain her happiness. She'd waited years and years for someone to come for her, to welcome her into her family and love her. And then she gave up hope. When her parents' memories finally returned, she felt loved, but she still had that emptiness of not having the childhood she wanted, of living for 28 years unloved and unwanted.
But being loved by Killian was something completely different than being loved by her parents. They were obligated to love her, they were her parents. But Killian chose her, time and time again he chose her. Killian loves her.
"Then why the tears, love?" He asks, wiping a few away with the back of his knuckles.
And she loves him.
"Killian, I-I," she stutters out, willing herself to say the words. She knows it's true. She knows it with every fiber of her being. She's known it for awhile, she's just never admitted it to anyone, not even herself. But how could she tell this Hook before telling her own? How could she say those intimate words to a man who just met her yesterday? "I got my magic back," she finishes lamely, having to put effort into her smile now.
"Congratulations, love," he smiles at her softly, his eyes flickering between hers as if he can see the shift in her mood. "You can return us to the correct reality then, can you not?"
"The wedding!" Emma exclaims, breaking out of Killian's arms and quickly beginning to repack Henry's knapsack with the essentials: food and a change of clothes for all three of them. She holds up the dress with distaste and glares at Henry before shoving it into the pack.
"What? I did the best I could," Henry says sheepishly.
"C'mon, we gotta find Regina and get to that wedding before it's too late," Emma says, ignoring the guilty feeling that settles in her stomach for holding back from Killian.
He's not your Killian. When we get back, that's when I can tell him. When he's the real him.
The three hurry down the stairs and out into the woods that seem a necessary part of the scenery when it comes to the Enchanted Forest. Emma thanks whoever might be listening for the pair of pants she found on the Jolly Roger as she maneuvers quite easily through the branches, fallen logs and overgrown bushes that clutter the small path they're following.
"Lass?" That heavenly voice calls out. She stops mid-stride, taking a sip from her water flask and allowing him to catch up to her where she had been steam rolling in an attempt to forget her emotions. "Do you think I might be allowed a new shirt?"
Emma chokes on her water, some dribbling down her chin. She violently wipes the wet trail off her face and begins digging in the pack to hide her blush. She had completely forgotten that Killian's shirt from last night was torn and bloody, and therefore she had given it to Henry to burn. She feels ridiculous; she had made the man trail behind her shirtless for a good 10 or 15 minutes without even realizing it.
Her shaking hands finally land on the soft material and she takes a breath to steady herself before standing up and thrusting the object at him. "Here, I'm sorry about, well, destroying your shirt," she says shyly, averting her eyes from his handsome figure as he puts on the new tunic. He leaves the top of the shirt untide, characteristically revealing her favorite part of his chest.
Snap out of it, Swan. Your kid's here, for god's sake.
"Right, well," she nods and takes off again, handing the pack to Henry as she passes him, so he can be the one the pirate asks for any other supplies.
Resuming her spot in front, Emma trods off in the direction Henry had claimed led to Regina.