Chapter 16: On Dry Land

Hook, Emma and Henry followed Regina as they walked down the street. While they went, Hook questioned Regina, "Where exactly do you think our talisman will be safe, and, secondly, why should we trust you with it?"

"Killian," Emma warned, "we can trust her."

"I'm not asking you to trust me, pirate," Regina said before she waved her hand and the four of them appeared outside of her vault. "I'm giving you a place to store it, and Emma is going to protect it with her magic."

"What's to stop you from using your magic to cast a counter-spell so you can use it yourself or hand it over to whoever offers you the highest prize?" he asked.

Regina walked down into the vault, her three companions in tow. Once she and Emma were in the first open room in the vault, she put up a temporary magical wall separating her and Emma from Hook and Henry. As the two boys questioned the need for separation, Regina yelled, "Girl talk."

"Thanks for offering to help," Emma said to Regina, "and for the place to stay for the night. I need to start looking for my own place in the morning."

"It's not exactly altruistic," Regina replied. "I wanted to talk to you. Alone. At first I wasn't sure if it was the chest or you. But now that the chest is over there and you are here, I can tell…it's definitely you."

"What's me?" Emma questioned.

"Where did you get all of this magic?"

"What do you mean?" Emma asked, trying to avoid the question.

"This is one thing you can't hide from me," Regina interrupted. "I've never felt so much magic coming from one person. You've always been powerful, but this… Is this from Zelena? Did you somehow absorb her powers?"

Emma shook her head. In her mind, so much time had passed, and Zelena seemed like a distant memory. "No. It's not Zelena."

"Then what is it?" Regina's tone demanded. "No offense, but you both look like hell. I'm not sure what you just went through, but whatever you're up against must be a formidable enemy. Now, I may be willing to help you, but I deserve to know what I'm getting myself and our son into."

Emma looked around to be sure no one else was with them and then she whispered, "You can't tell anyone. I want a chance to tell Henry and my parents in my own way. And I'm not sure I want anyone else to know."

"Of course."

"I'm pregnant," Emma whispered so quietly she scarcely made a sound.

"What?" Regina asked, completely shocked. She tilted her head, "And it's his? The…pirate's?"

"Killian," Emma corrected. "Yea."

"He doesn't have magic, so I don't know why his progeny would be this powerful. Even your magic isn't really inherited, yours is the result of true love."

"Well…that's the thing. From what we were told, these children are the product of the true love of two saviors and—"

"Hook? Captain Hook…is a saviour?"

"In the place where we just were…yea. He is. You of all people should be able to see that change is possible. He has changed, Regina. Or maybe he hasn't really changed as much as…found himself. He is a good man. Where we just came from, he was their hero. Their saviour. And he's helped us out enough times to be considered a hero to Storybrooke, too. He traded his ship to come back and get me in New York. That's certainly heroic."

"Although I'd suspect he traded his ship to get to you, and not necessarily for the chance to be heroic."

"Even if that's true, it's certainly proof of true love."

Regina responded, cautiously, "Alright. This is definitely unexpected. Typically this amount of power doesn't just appear overnight. It has to grow."

"We've been gone for months," Emma argued. "All I know is, after we came back through Zelena's time portal, one minute we were outside of Granny's, and the next minute we were out at sea on Killian's ship. We had no idea how we got there, or where we were. We were away for months. I don't know if somehow someone suspended time here, or if we went through another time portal to come back, but what seemed like minutes to you was months to us. The last time you saw me, I wasn't pregnant. Now I'm probably two or three months along…I think. I'm still not exactly sure when it happened."

"You've been gone where?"

"A whole different realm. My magic definitely grew stronger while I was there, even before I was pregnant. When I got my magic back from Zelena, I think…I think I could feel the change in me, it helped me notice my magic. But that was a small change compared to this. We found out about this whole other land and a different curse, and then I was pregnant, and suddenly I wasn't just a little more powerful, it was like magic was all through me."

"I can see that," Regina said.

"This shadow, it wants them. It wants to absorb their power."

"Wait…did you say them?"

"There is a prophecy that said we will have twins," Emma answered. "I'm not sure if we changed the future or not. The shadow seemed to think it was still twins."

"May I?" Regina asked.

Emma nodded. Regina closed her eyes and focused, and the room started to fill with the sound of one heartbeat, and then another, the two hearts beating perfectly as one.

Regina acknowledged, "There are definitely two babies. And with that amount of power, the shadow won't be the only one interested in the three of you."

"Well, the original prophecy also stated that one of the twins would die."

"What?" Regina asked, her eyes filling with compassion. There was no denying Regina's soft spot for children.

"The original prophecy said that the shadow would succeed in taking one of the children, a boy, before we are able to stop him," Emma said, fighting back the emotional deluge that even speaking those words brought on. "Anyway, we were told that this talisman might help us defeat the shadow, hopefully before he gets near these babies."

Regina nodded with certainty, "I'll help."

She dropped the barrier between the room and the hall, and Hook and Henry stepped through. "What was that all about?" Hook asked.

"We needed a moment to talk," Regina answered. "Now, tell me what you know about this talisman."

Hook opened the lid, showing it to Regina, "The shadow wanted it to increase his power. We were told that it could help us defeat him, but I'm not sure how."

"May I?" she asked.

Hook looked at Emma, and when she nodded, he held out the chest to Regina. She lifted the talisman and held it in her hands. "It is very powerful, but I've never seen anything like this before. Where does it come from?"

"This other world we were in," Emma answered.

"We couldn't place our exact location from the skies," Hook answered. "It seemed to be a place in between all of the known worlds."

Regina handed it back to Hook and said, "You can store it here. Emma can cast a spell to protect it, even from me. We'll have to research its origins to find out how to use it."

"We could check the library," Emma suggested.

"No," Hook answered quickly. "Belle would know, which means the Crocodile would know."

"I thought the two of you reached a cease fire," Regina dryly said.

"Do you trust him?" he asked.

"No," Regina confessed. "I don't."

"He still hates me," Hook stated. "And now that I have more to lose, he may see the opportunity to hurt me. And I think we all know how much he loves power, no matter what the cost. If he chose his power over his own son, I believe he'd choose power over anything."

"What do you mean you have more to lose?" Henry asked.

Hook lowered his head for a moment and answered, "I've not disguised the fact that I love your mother. He sees that as a weakness to be exploited."

"Henry, I know this is a lot to handle," Emma started.

"No," Henry replied. "It's not. He's right…he hasn't hidden how he feels. Everyone knows."

"Look, I don't mean to interrupt this conversation," Regina interjected, "but I think we should get this talisman protected and Ms. Swan somewhere to rest. You look exhausted."

Regina took the chest from Hook and put it in one of the alcoves in her vault. She guided Emma in a spell that cast a protection around the chest that glowed with every conceivable color before it disappeared. "Where'd it go?" Hook asked with panic, knowing all that they'd done to get it in the first place.

"It's cloaked," Regina assured him. "It's right there. The best way to make sure something can't be taken is to make sure it can't be found in the first place."

As Emma showered at Regina's later that night, Hook stood outside of the bathroom door with his hand on his enchanted sword in case something attacked. He knew Emma and Henry had talked while he bathed and tried to clean up the numerous wounds covering his body. He wore a pair of pajama pants and a tee shirt that Regina had loaned him, which made the belt that he wore to hold his sheathed sword look ridiculous as it hung on his hips, but he was ready for a fight.

Regina approached, preparing a snide remark, but when she saw the concern in his eyes, she could see her own worries, and remembered distinctly how it had felt to lose Daniel and even Henry, and she understood what Hook was trying to protect. "Having trouble adjusting to civilian life, pirate?" she asked with a polite smile.

"I'm not sure when this shadow will come back," he answered straightforwardly.

"So you're going to give up sleeping and guard her around the clock?"

"Do you have a spell for that? Something to help me stay alert. What do you want in return?"

"There are some rules of nature I can't bend. Or if can, it's usually best not to. Magic comes at a price." Regina stood across the hall from Hook and she added, "You know…it's not exactly easy to get into this house. There are ways. It's protected with blood magic, which meant Zelena or my mother could get in, but they're no longer a threat. Other beings…they need to be invited. I have lots of enemies, so I've taken a lot of precautions. "

"You think this shadow can't get in?"

"I'm sure he can't. Unless I invite him in."

"He's disguised himself before. I followed him right to the talisman. Almost delivered it to him," Hook admitted.

"We might want to consider a True Sight spell that will help you to see through disguises. As a precaution, I won't invite anyone in tonight. You have my word. You can rest easy."

He looked at the bathroom door and hesitated. "I'll just wait here."

"If that shadow wants to truly harness all of their potential power…he'll have to wait until after they're born. They'll grow stronger each day. He's not going to come for them prematurely," Regina explained.

"Emma told you?"

"She did. I know it's not much comfort, but Emma and those babies are safe…for now. Once they're born, well…that's when you're going to have to be ready," she said before she began to walk away.

"Regina?" he called at her until she turned back to him. "Thank you for your assistance. This shadow is…"

When he paused, she answered, "You're welcome. I'm sure the two of you will defeat him. Nothing seems to stop her."

After Regina left, Henry peered out of his room. "Hey," he quietly said.

"Did I wake you?" Hook asked.

"No," the young man answered as he emerged.

"So…," Hook began, awkwardly searching for conversation. "Your mother missed you a great deal while we were gone."

"You don't have to be careful about what you say. Mom already told me what happened. She promised not to lie to me a long time ago, and she takes promises really seriously. She told me you were gone a long time, and there's a new villain. And that she's pregnant."

For a moment, Hook remembered how close he'd been with Baelfire before that boy had learned about Hook's relationship with Milah, and everything went wrong. Hook was determined not to make any such mistakes with Henry.

"Ah. Look, Henry, I'm sorry that so much has changed and you had no say in the matter. I'm sure I'm not the man you'd choose for your mother—"

Henry interrupted, "When my dad died, you were the one who really helped me. You told me things I never would have known about him. You gave me a piece of him that no one else really knew about. Maybe you were just doing that to make my mom happy, but it helped."

"I did it for you. I suppose if it helped to win favor with your mother, I wouldn't complain," Hook smiled.

"No matter why you did it, I haven't forgotten."

"That's good to know."

"But I don't need or want any guy trying to act like my father, so can we not do that? No offense."

"None taken. I'm not trying to be your father. There's only one man who's had that privilege, and that's as it should be. What I don't want…is for us to be at odds. As far as I'm concerned, there are two conditions that make for powerful alliances. One is a mutual interest, and the other is a common enemy. This is why you can be allied with someone even if you hate them. We have a mutual interest, we both love your mother. We want to make sure she's safe, hopefully even happy. We also have common enemies. Anyone who wants to hurt you or your mother is our enemy. So, for now, can we agree that we're allies?"

"Definitely."

"Good. Then we've come to a mutually understood arrangement."

"This whole thing is definitely weird, but, just so you know, I don't hate you."

"Wonderful. Because for now we're allies, but someday, even though I don't want to be your father, I do want us to be family."

"Yea," Henry smiled. He yawned and said, "I better go to bed. I hear you're telling my grandparents all about this tomorrow."

"Aye."

"Good luck."

Hook added, "I know that Baelfire, Neal, was extremely proud of you. It's easy to see why. You're a fine young man, Henry."

Hook thought for a moment that he'd crossed a line and said too much, because Henry's expression was blank. Then a smile emerged that the boy couldn't suppress. "Good night, Killian."

"Night."

After Henry was gone, Hook tapped his head back against the wall as he tried to stay awake. A few seconds later, the bathroom door opened and Emma looked at his attire and said, "This is a new look. Is this what all of the guys who want to vanquish evil while they sleep are wearing this year?"

Hook smiled but didn't say anything as he followed Emma to her room. Regina sure knew how to live. In most ways, her mansion was more opulent than the castle they'd stayed in. Emma sunk into bed and then pulled back the covers to make space for Hook, but he sat in a chair across the room. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"I'll be more alert if I stay here."

"Killian, get into bed. I talked to Regina, I really think we're safe for the next few months. We're definitely safe for the night because she has locked this place down, magically speaking."

"If something happens while I'm sleeping peacefully—"

"I know you're worried," she interrupted.

"I faced him, Swan. He's pure evil. I've never looked into the eyes of something like that before, and I've faced the Dark One."

"I know. But the Shadow is not coming tonight. And I don't want to sleep without you. You're so exhausted you can barely lift that sword."

Hook smiled sleepily, stumbling over to the bed and sliding in next to her. No sooner had they gotten comfortable and they both fell asleep. It took seconds, the mere act of lying still in a warm, safe bed was enough to take their consciousness.

Emma woke several hours later to pee. Hook was lying next to her, his hand dangling off the side of the bed, still clutching the enchanted sword. When she returned from the bathroom, she carefully took the weapon, making sure not to wake him. She'd heard the conversation he'd had with Henry. She had been standing on the other side of the door, listening to the two of them. She thought back on the men that she'd dated, and, oddly enough, it was the notorious Captain Hook who was man who seemed like the best father she could find. She remembered when she first found out who he was, and thought it was so ridiculous that Captain Hook was real, too, and now he was the man she was going to have a family with. And she didn't doubt that whatever the relationship between him and Henry was going to be, the bond was going to be strong.

But her mind was full of worry that night. She worried about the shadow, and the dangers that all three of her children might be exposed to. She worried about finding a safe place to live. She worried about the realities of being in a long term relationship with someone who was used to a life at sea in a very different land. This would likely be her first truly 'long term' relationship, as long as he wasn't killed by something or someone. Men in her life had an uncanny habit of dying.

She wanted something long term with Killian, and her mind even pondered the possibility of lifelong implications before she forbade such considerations. They'd have to find their own life together, and the thought of taking her family to a place without magic in order to protect them didn't exactly sound like a bad idea. She wondered if they could really find a place where they'd both be happy. She wondered if Killian would be the one man to survive the fate that seemed to befall all men in her life. And if he did want to find that place in the world with her and he did survive, she started to wonder if she was even capable of being in a lasting relationship.

There was a small, nagging part of her that worried that he'd somehow find her less attractive and more matriarchal now that she was pregnant. She didn't want the love between them to obliterate the desire they shared, she wanted each to enhance the other. Since she'd found out she was pregnant, they went on this quest for the talisman, and that didn't exactly provide them with a lot of alone time together, so it was hard to tell if he saw her differently.

Emma rationalized that hormones were messing with her, and circumstances had been busy and emotionally taxing, but still she couldn't silence the anxieties in her head. They hadn't even been together a year and they were already fighting for the lives of their unborn children. She wondered what kind of strain this would put on them. So there she was in the early hours, worrying about the safety of those she loved, fretting about the future, feeling oddly insecure about her desirability to a man who'd been attracted to her from the moment they'd met, and wondering about how their relationship would weather such a turbulent beginning.

She really wished his eyes would open. She wanted him to know what was going on in her mind. She wanted him to say something reassuringly certain and devoted like he so often did when she was unsure, but he was so deeply asleep that his slow breaths almost sounded like subtle snores.

When he moved a little and it was clear that he wasn't sleeping quite as deeply, Emma hopped up, padded over to the door and locked it. She tossed off her clothes and slipped back into the bed next to him, but even the feeling of her naked next to him and the movement in their bed didn't wake him. His hand was on his stomach, his whole body relaxed. He looked so vulnerable lying there, momentarily free of any of the worries that raced through her thoughts.

She thought of the perfect way to wake him up, a way to remind him of how sexy and sensual his girlfriend could be. She pulled back the covers, opening the tie at the top of his pants and loosening them until she exposed his sex. Kneeling by his side in their bed, she slowly started to kiss his cock. The fact that he wasn't one of those men constantly trying to shove it in her face made her want to do things like this all the more. He seemed to love it every single time she'd taken him in her mouth, but he never requested such a thing.

She wanted to make sure he felt amazing when he finally opened his eyes. Moistening her lips, she moved along the side of his shaft, letting her full lips skim across his smooth skin. Then she lifted his cock, resting it against his belly and, beginning at the base, she licked up along the vein that ran under the sensitive underside of his length. As soon as she started, she felt him grow a little warmer, and with each swipe of her tongue or caress of her lips, his cock grew thicker and longer, lifting away from his body as he was being filled with arousal.

She massaged his thighs and lower stomach, and she could see his even breaths become more ragged. It wasn't long before he was fully hard in front of her, his tip leaking droplets of fluid as what was desire had become all-out need. She could hear a moan in his chest as she wrapped her fingers tightly around his base and she plopped the plump head of his cock into her mouth and laved over the tip slowly with her tongue. His breathy groans grew louder, and she pressed one finger against his lips. She let his cock slip out of her mouth and she whispered, "Shh. You have to be quiet if you want me to keep going."

He tilted his head back, now at least mostly awake as he seemed to hold his breath to try not to make a sound. His hand went to her face, his thumb brushing her cheek for a moment before his fingers weaved back through her hair. As she sucked her cheeks more tightly around him, he hissed and tipped back his head, and then decided that he was done being solely receptive.

She was kneeling at his side, so he reached one arm under her hips and lifted her lower body over his chest without interrupting what she was doing to him, guiding her knees to either side of his head. He wasted no time at all, knowing that he was already so close to finishing. He pushed his nose between her folds to open her before him, finding her already soaked with arousal. Her clit was swollen and pink, and so wet that his lips slid right around it. As he lapped at her beautiful sex, he reached his arms around her waist and held their bodies tightly together.

She started to moan softly, now trying to silence her own voice as well, and with each heavy gasp or almost silent moan, he could experience the vibrations all through his body. He reached for the back of her neck, feeling the way her head bobbed as she pleased him, and his fingers traced down her spine, his palm finally settling on her ass. His hand pressed down on her butt to push her sex against his face, his tongue swiping over her and dipping into her body in time with her own ministrations.

Her hips started to buck, thrusting against his face. She was so incredibly receptive to each attempt to bring her pleasure, and it made him never want to stop. But their peaks cascaded quickly as they often do when partners are so in love and lust. Both of their shouts came out in muffled sounds, and he buried his face between her legs in the hopes of masking any of the noises he might make. She didn't cease her attention on him, even as her body pulsed in rapture. She didn't stop until she'd lovingly drawn every last beat of his orgasm from him.

After it was clear that neither could take any more attention at that moment, Emma swung her legs off him and turned around. She lay on top of him, her head against his chest. His arms were around her body, holding her close, and he was already falling back to sleep. "Sorry I woke you up," she said with a knowing smile.

"You can wake me any time you like," he sighed with complete satisfaction.

He was almost asleep when she said, "I'm sorry this all happened so quickly for us."

"What?" he asked, his eyes fluttering open.

"Kids. Curses. Threats of death. Conversations with my dad about your intentions," she half-chuckled. "So much for the honeymoon phase of the this relationship."

"Oh," he answered, his eyes closing again. "No need to be sorry. I'm not."

"Not at all?" she asked as she placed her hand on his chest and balanced her chin on her hand so she could look at him.

His eyes opened again as he shook his head, "Exactly what do you think I should be disappointed about? After all, I'm an invited guest in the former-Evil Queen's modern version of a castle, lying next to a beautiful woman with whom I've just shared a very enjoyable private moment. Not much I'd change about my current situation."

"Well, we can't crash here forever. I need to look for a place to live. Somewhere safe. Some place big enough for me and Henry and a nursery. And…you?"

"Is that question or a statement?"

"I mean…are you interested in that?"

He scratched his head as he thought, "Might make it hard for me to bring wenches aboard if we're living in the same place." She scowled when she noticed he was teasing. He suddenly looked more serious, and explained, "I want to be wherever you are. You can stop worrying about such things and learn to trust that what I want…is to be by your side. If my life, my future, can be with you, I'll be perfectly happy sailing on dry land."