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Sitting at one of the round tables that had been settled on the beach, I smiled realizing how happy I was. I was sitting barely a few inches from Killian, who was on my left, but my parents, Henry, Regina, Robin, Elsa and the children were settled all around us. While eating the simple and yet so delicious meal that had been served in porcelain dishes, I was absent-mindlessly listening to my mom giving speeches supposed to explain how happy she was for us. I glanced around me to look at my friends, who were all joyfully chatting with each other, settled around the other tables, the one I was sitting at forming the center of them. The dance floor was a few feet away from the buffet, but as we were still eating, it was still empty. A low music was ringing between the noises of the conversation, giving to the scene the feeling we were in the middle of a romantic comedy. An outsider could have thought we were in a perfectly common town, just enjoying the normal wedding of an ordinary couple.
I put my fork back on the table and discreetly stretched before leaning against the back of my chair. Almost instantaneously, Killian wrapped his right arm around my waist to pull me closer to him, and I met his gaze as he was gently smiling at me. I completely lost myself into the blue of his eyes, and grinned back at him. I ended up placing my head on his shoulder while he was kissing the top of my head, as if we had forgotten we weren't alone on the beach. It's my dad's voice that made me startle and drew me back to reality. I hadn't even noticed my mom had stopped talking, too lost in my little bubble of happiness in the arms of the man I loved.
"You two are so cute together."
"You finally admit it." Killian joked before pressing another kiss on my temple, his fingers tickling my side in a gentle stroke.
"I never denied it." David defended himself while raising his eyebrows. "I just didn't trust you. And you can't blame me for that, you're a former pirate after all. I just wanted to protect my daughter."
"I can take care of myself!" I protested, what made my entire family laugh.
"And you're both stubborn as hell."
"Dad!"
"David!"
My mom and I had screamed at the exact same time, and we both burst out laughing at our reaction. I saw my father looking down at his watch, and he suddenly seemed very focused. I was about to ask him what was the cause of this sudden mood swing, but he got off his chair and gestured toward Killian, who broke our embrace to get up as well. Perplexed and not wanting him to go away, I reached for his wrist to hold him back and said :
"Where are you going?"
"You'll see." He answered with a purposely mysterious smile, before leaning forward to press a little kiss on my lips.
I stared at him heading for the dance floor, my eyebrows frowned in confusion, feeling a new surprise coming my way and not knowing if I was liking this sudden twist or not. I tried to quietly ask my mom what was happening, but she was looking down at her plate and was trying not to laugh, what made me think she knew exactly what was going on. A bit worried about what was happening once again, I looked back at my dad and Killian to finally discover the truth. Hook smiled at me when he noticed my questioning look, and I immediately relaxed, seeing his expression. Whatever he had planned, it was going to please me. He was knowing me so well.
"Your attention, please." My dad started in a solemn voice, and I smiled as he was holding a mic in front of his mouth.
They were now both standing in the middle of the dance floor, and the silence filled in the beach as every guest were staring at them. Killian reached for his ear, as always when he was feeling a bit awkward, and I noticed he was searching for my eyes to reassure himself. I smiled at him to comfort him and show him everything was okay, and he winked at me, already more confident. I saw Liam's eyes widened in awe when he saw Hook standing in front of all these people, and I leaned to whisper to his ear :
"Look, baby! It's daddy!"
He didn't answer anything, and I smiled when I saw how adorable he looked. I playfully fluffed his hair, but he didn't even seem to notice it, too busy looking at his father. Our son was already admiring Killian so much, he was trying to act like him, and I was ready to bet that, in a few years, he would be the exact picture of his dad.
"As you know." My father continued, what drew my attention away from my son. "It's a tradition for the groom and the bride to share a dance in this world."
I felt my eyes widening in fear and stopped listening to my father, who was resuming his speech, frantically shaking my head in their direction. If they were expecting me to dance alone with Killian right there, while everyone was looking at me, they were so damn wrong. I hated being the center of the attention, and I was already way too famous because I was the Savior. I didn't need that at all. I just couldn't do it.
I however saw Hook giggling when he noticed how panicked I looked, and he took the mic in his hand, glancing at it a bit suspiciously :
"Don't look at me like that, love. I know you don't like that kind of things. You're all invited to join us on the dance floor."
I sighted in relief, placing my hand on my stomach as the baby was kicking, as if it was also glad to know we didn't have to stand there in front of all these people. I didn't want to refuse their offer, but I just couldn't stand there alone while everyone was looking at me. I should have known I was wrong, actually : Killian was knowing me better than anyone. He would never have forced me to do something I wasn't comfortable with, he was loving me and respecting me way too much for that.
He gave the mic back to my dad, and approached me to reach for my hand and help me get up, his eyes sparkling with pure love. I let him take me to the dance floor without being able to stop smiling, knowing that their surprise wasn't actually stopping there. Killian placed his hook on the small of my back and pulled me closer to him as I was breathing him, a little pinch of happiness forming just underneath my heart.
And indeed, as I had expected it, once everyone was standing in the middle of the dance floor, my mom and dad, Anna and Kristoff, Robin and Regina and several other couples joining us, a music coming from god knows where started to ring above the noises of the waves crashing on the beach. I needed a few seconds to realize what was happening, as I was too astonished to convince myself of the reality of what I was living. As everyone was slowly starting to move around me, I looked at Killian, my lips parted, and stuttered :
"How did you…?"
The song that was playing was the same that had rung in the castle while we were sharing our very first dance, Killian and I, all those years ago. This moment had been a magical parenthesis in our quest to come back to the present, and I felt a wave of old emotions rushing over me as tears were filling in my eyes because I was feeling so touched by this gesture. Killian glanced at me with a gentle smile and whispered to my ear :
"We've never had the chance to finish this waltz the first time, so I thought it was the prefect moment to do so. I hope you remember how it works, princess."
And without waiting any longer, he gently took me against him and I started to slowly move at the slow pace of the music. I could recall the dance perfectly : I had to admit this waltz was forever etched in my memory. This moment was so important to me because it was there that I had stopped protecting myself when I was with him, and it was such a special moment in our relationship. I had understood in that moment that I didn't have to wear my armor with him, and accepting that had completely changed my life. I could still recall how his hand had felt in mine as an unknown force had made me unable to look away from him. Exactly like things were right now.
"You're amazing." I whispered as we were gracefully spinning around the dance floor, his hand in mine and his hook placed on the small of my back.
"I know." He said with a shrug, what made me giggle through my unshed tears.
"Where did you find this music?"
"I have my sources." He said with a little smile without really answering my question.
I looked deep into his eyes as he was smiling at me, and we resumed dancing in silence, mostly because I was feeling too moved to say something consistent. When the music stopped, I put myself on my tiptoe to kiss him breathlessly, and he wrapped his arms around me to pull me even closer to him. We stayed for a long time cuddled against each other as the music had changed to play songs coming from this world. After a few more minutes, I ended up pulling away from him and cupped his cheek, still smiling as a lump was forming in my throat. Knowing how moved I was, he pressed a kiss on my forehead and took me against him again before gesturing toward a corner of the room with a little laugh :
"Look at Liam!"
I obeyed to notice that our son was waddling on the dance floor with the other kids, giggling in pure joy. He was looking overexcited, and I burst out laughing, saying :
"It's crazy how much he looks like you."
"I dance like that?" He asked, what made me giggle, and I poked his shoulder while shaking my head.
"Of course not, you idiot. If he has the same humor you have, I don't know how I'm gonna survive."
"And if he becomes as sassy as you are, I'm gonna be mocked all the time."
I smiled and kissed his neck to erase his falsely outraged look. He immediately regained his smile, unable to pretend to be mad at me, and I gently started talking again :
"Seriously, though. I'm sure you were his exact picture when you were a little boy."
"I honestly can't remember." he said with a shrug. "I remind you it was 200 years ago." He added and I giggled again.
"Sometimes, I would have liked cameras to exist in the Enchanted Forest." I confessed with a pout. "Pictures in Henry's book are beautiful, but it's just not the same."
"I know, darling. If it can make you feel better, I promise you we'll take pictures of the little ones all the time from now on." He said, and I smiled at him as he was still looking at Liam. "You say he looks like me, but he has your eyes."
"And he has your smile." I replied, tuning my head to stare straight into his eyes, gently placing my finger on his lips.
He kissed my hand, and I stayed quiet for a few seconds, shivering at his touch. I wrapped both my arms around him as he was suddenly looking a bit absent, lost in his thoughts. When he met my questioning gaze, he smiled at me and ran his fingers down my spine, saying :
"I can't even tell you how happy I am to be here with you."
"I'm so happy too." I answered with half a smile, my heart fastening as I heard his statement.
"You know what, my love? I propose we enjoy this night until the very end. We'll only live this once, and I don't want to miss one second of it."
And without waiting for an answer, he took my hand and made me spin as I was giggling in happiness
The party ended much later, and it was 4 in the morning when we came back home. Liam had ended up falling asleep in my mom's arms, exhausted by all this agitation, and all the kids had gradually started to rest against the grown-ups, what had made us laugh a lot. They were all looking so peaceful while the party was still going, and it was so adorable. Everyone was looking like they had spent a great night, and I was so glad to see our friends as happy for us as we were.
It had been decided that my parents would take care of Liam for the night, and the house was thus ours. Killian, as the good gentleman he was, opened the door for me, but he barely gave me the time to take off the light sweater I was wearing above my dress as I was walking in the hallway, and started to kiss me passionately. I giggled, amused by his behavior, but the truth was I was pretty happy by his eagerness and the twist the night was taking : maybe it was the hormones, but I had to admit I'd had to force myself not to jump on him several times during the party.
My back hit the wall behind me, and he ran his hand through my hair and in my neck, tying my bun down on his way. My hair fell in blond curls on my shoulders, and I stopped our kisses for a second to take off the necklace my mom had given me, as his hand was still gently stroking my back :
"It was my mom's mother. It's just weird if I keep it while we're doing this." I explained, seeing his questioning look, as I was carefully putting the jewelry on the chest of drawers in the hall.
"The dress was your mom's too." He relevantly replied with a little smirk.
"It's only a replica, it's not the real one. And something tells me that I'm not going to wear it for much longer." I answered, trying not to start laughing at my own comment.
He chuckled and, as if he wanted to show me I had been right, he helped me take off the dress, that fell on the floor with a muffled sound. I stepped away from it and started to kiss him again, feeling the cold touch of his hook on the small of my back, and enjoying the gentleness of his hand against my naked skin. I moaned when he slightly bit my lower lip, and, without pulling away from each other, we walked up the stairs to join our room. When we arrived, with a little push on his chest, I forced him to lay down on our bed and knelt above him, my kisses going lower and lower on his stomach as a sight of pleasure was escaping his lips.
The noise of someone knocking at our door startled me, and I woke up with a little groan, burying my face into the crook of Killian's neck to try and escape this unpleasant sound. We had spent a pretty eventful night- which was not very surprising, I had to admit it – and we had only fallen asleep around nine in the morning. I felt Hook starting to move next to me, as his arms were pulling me even closer to him, and I mumbled :
"… the hell?"
"Shh, perhaps they'll go away if we don't make any noise." Killian whispered, and I giggled.
And indeed, after a few seconds, the knocks ended up fading, and I sighted in relief, happy to be able to sleep a little bit longer. I turned to look at Hook with an amazed expression on my face, as his fingers were gently stroking my side :
"This worked surprisingly well."
"I have experiences in that field." He said with the smirk he always had when he was kindly teasing me.
"You're an idiot." I replied without managing to stop laughing.
I had fallen asleep against his chest, his arm around me, our naked skins against each other as we hadn't even put on some clothes after our quite enjoyable activities. Happy to have been able to make our visitors leave, I cuddled a little bit more against Killian with a little sight…
… That got interrupted by my cellphone ringing. Deeply annoyed, I rolled on my back under the protestations of Hook, who tried to pull me back against him, and I reached for my phone that was laying on the night table, picking up with a frustrated grunt :
"What?"
"Emma, is everything all right?" My mom's voice started in my ear, as she didn't seem to mind the fact I had almost yelled at her.
"Yeah, why?" I said, rubbing my eyes, still half asleep.
"Because it's 3 p.m. and you haven't given us any news since we left you last night."
"What?" I choked, sitting on the bed and glancing at the clock that was indeed indicating a pretty late hour.
I would never have imagined we would sleep that long, and I threw a gaze at Hook who, one of his arm under his head to look at me more easily, was looking like he was finding all of this really funny. I gave him a falsely annoyed look to show him I wasn't finding that amusing at all, but his smile widened even more.
"You were still sleeping?" My mom guessed with laughter in her voice.
"No!" I shouted, not wanting my mom to know when we had fallen asleep because I really didn't want her to have this kind of information in mind. "Not at all, we're up for hours!"
Hook burst out laughing next to me, and I threw my pillow at his face to make him shut up as I didn't want him to alarm my mom. It only made him laugh stronger, and I myself started to feel it hard to keep serious as I was asking :
"Why were you calling us?"
"We have something to tell you."
"Do you want us to go to Granny's?" I asked, wondering what was happening.
"No need, we're already at your door."
I almost dropped the phone on the floor, hearing these information. Hook, who could hear our conversation, pressed his lips together in order not to start laughing again as I was looking at him with a panicked expression on my face. My parents were in front of our house, and we weren't even dressed. I didn't want them to know what was going on, because I knew I would never hear the end of it. Worst than that, my sons were quite certainly with them, and if Liam was still too young to know what was happening, I didn't want Henry to learn the truth. I jumped out of the bed and grabbed one of my jeans in the wardrobe to dress the quicker possible, gesturing to show Killian, who was still smiling, to do the same.
"Okay." I said in the calmest way possible as I was jumping on one foot, trying not to fall on the ground while I was putting on my jeans with only one hand. "Give us the time to take care of a couple of stuffs, and we'll be there in two minutes."
I hung up without waiting for an answer and threw my phone on the bed, finally managing to put on my jeans. I grabbed a long and red shirt in the wardrobe with a little wince, but I was in such a hurry my gestures were somewhat awkward, and I dropped the clothes on the ground with another frustrated groan.
"Did you really just tell them we would be there in two minutes?" Killian mocked me, putting on a tight and black t-shirt.
"Shut up." I replied, and he laughed at my comment. "If they discover the truth, we will never hear the end of it."
"And you really think we can make them believe we woke up hours ago? Because it's not very credible, you know." He stated, raising one of his eyebrows and referring to the fact we were both looking exhausted.
"I can tell them I'm tired because of the pregnancy. You can say you're hungover."
"I barely drank, last night!" He protested as, finally dressed, we were heading for the bathroom.
"I see your reputation is quite important for you, captain." I scoffed, running a hand through my hair.
He didn't answer anything and looked at me in a falsely outraged way while reaching for the toothpaste. I smiled seeing his expression, and looked at my reflection in the mirror while brushing my teeth. My amusement turned into a wince. I was looking exhausted, what was not that surprising, but now that I had told my mom I was up for hours, I had to face the consequences of my words.
As I was hastily going out of the bathroom, Killian reached for my wrist and kindly made me face him. I looked at him with a questioning look, one of my eyebrow raised, and he pressed a gentle kiss on my lips. I enjoyed his strokes for a few seconds, letting go of a little sight of pleasure against his lips, but I ended up pulling away with a giggle :
"That's not what's going to make us go faster, you know. It will even quite certainly slow us down."
"Relax." He answered with a kind smile. "Your parents know we're not eight anymore."
"That's a fact." I said with another giggle, intertwining our fingers together to drag him behind me in the staircase. "But I still don't want them to have proof of this statement. So please do as I say, if you don't want to hear about this until the end of your life."
It made him smile, and he gently stroked my hand with his thumb as we were walking down the stairs. Once in the hallway, I winced once again seeing my wedding dress and Killian's tuxedo still laying on the floor. I stepped away from the clothes and walked toward the kitchen, saying behind my shoulder :
"Very well, you put the clothes upstairs, and I make us some hot cocoa and something to eat, all right?"
"You're planning on giving me orders now that we're married?" He said from the hallway with laughter in his voice.
"As if I wasn't doing it before." I laughed, putting myself on my tiptoe to grab mugs in the kitchen cupboard. "And stop complaining, sir, or you won't have anything to eat."
I heard him laugh from upstairs, and he walked back into the kitchen as I was finishing preparing a peanut butter sandwich. He helped me get the hot cocoa ready, and he handed me one of the two cups, leaning forward to press a tender kiss on my cheek.
"Ready?" He asked, grabbing one of the sandwich I had made.
"Ready." I nodded with a chuckle. "We're such a good team, don't you think?"
"You're only realizing it now?" He scoffed as we were walking toward the front door to greet my family.
I smiled and looked down for a few seconds to drink a sip of the hot cocoa with cinnamon, what completely woke me up. When I looked up, my entire family was already standing in the hallway, joyfully chatting with each other. I raised an eyebrow seeing that my baby brother and Elsa were in the room as well, in addition to my parents and my sons.
"You brought the entire tribe?" I asked with half a smile after hugging my mom.
She shrugged, looking quite amused by my comment, and the happy group headed for the living room, guided by Killian. Henry was the only one to hold back, and I understood at his smile he knew all too well I hadn't said the truth to my mom when she had called me earlier.
"So you're lying to your parents, now?" He laughed, poking my shoulder with a giggle.
"You would have done the same thing," I replied with a falsely annoyed look.
"Yeah, except you can tell when I'm lying, and that's not fair at all." He said with a little pout that made me lose my serious look.
"That's a quite useful superpower I have there, isn't it?" I laughed, gesturing so he would follow me to join the others in the living room
Still exhausted by our eventful night, I almost collapsed on the couch next to Killian, and put my half empty cup on the coffee table. As soon as his eyes met mine, Liam, who had stayed surprisingly calm until now, got off my dad's arms to run toward us. He fought to climb on the sofa, and cuddled between the both of us with a big smile on his face :
"Do you want some, sweetheart?" I asked, showing him my sandwich I had barely started, my maternal instinct taking over me once again.
He enthusiastically nodded, and I was about to give him half of my breakfast when Hook stopped me by putting his hook on my wrist. I looked up to him with a questioning look, wondering what he had in mind, and he cut half of his own sandwich to give it to our son :
"You need to eat for the baby." He explained with a little shrug, what made everyone smile in the room because he was always so sweet with me.
"Why are you eating your breakfast only now?" My dad asked, what made me wince because I was aware they actually knew about my lie and they were going to tease me about it for days.
"Because we're hungry." I quickly answered, trying to change the subject as Henry was quietly laughing. "What did you want to tell us anyway?"
"Oh, yeah, about that." My mom started in an overexcited tone, what worried me a little bit. "We came to tell you to make your bags. It's already late, and…
"Make our bags?" I cut her off without understanding what she was trying to tell me. "Are we going somewhere?"
I was beginning to think my family was so sleep deprived they were going crazy. They were all acting quite strangely, and this last sentence said by my mom was making me pretty perplexed. What idea could she have in mind again?
"That's what we wanted to talk about" My mom resumed with a huge smile.
I glanced at Killian, completely confused, as he was looking pretty lost as well. He raised an eyebrow, what made me chuckle because he was looking very funny. I ended up looking back to my mom, and said with a little bit of impatience :
"Could you give us more information or do we have to guess ourselves?"
"I'm going to tell you everything." My dad intervened, realizing my mom was way too excited to announced the news in a comprehensible way. "We have a surprise for you."
"What, again?" I asked, starting to ask myself some very important questions, because I had the feeling I had received dozen of surprises from my parents since the wedding announcement. "Guys, you know I appreciate it, but you really don't have to do all of this for us, honestly..."
"You're our daughter, Emma, and as I've already told you, we have 28 years of surprises to catch up." My mom said with a little sight.
I shared a quite concerned look with Killian. I had the impression they were feeling forced to offer me gifts, as if they wanted to apologize for abandoning me as a child, and it was making me quite uncomfortable, mostly because I had never been used to so much caring. Killian guessed that I was a bit upset, and he smiled at me in a comforting way, quietly telling me that I didn't have to worry. He then looked back at my parents and asked :
"Very well, so what's this surprise?"
"You know it's a tradition for the married couple to go on a honey moon after the wedding, in this world but also in the Enchanted Forest."
"… so go make your bags, because you're leaving for New York tomorrow morning!" My mom shouted, interrupting my father without even realizing it.
I felt my eyes widening in surprise, uncertain I had heard correctly. I had probably misunderstood her. It couldn't be. They hadn't gone that far for us. It was way too much. I needed some explanation, fast, because all of this was confusing me beyond words.
"Wh… what?" I stuttered, utterly confused as Hook was staring at them with his lips parted in surprise.
"Before you panic, let me explain everything." My dad laughed, amused by our reactions. "We have thought that after everything you've been through lately, maybe you would like to spend a few days just the two of you. The trip will only last a few days, and we'll take care of Liam for you. We have decided not to make the trip longer because Liam is still very young and we weren't sure he would stand being separated from his parents for very long, and also because you are pregnant. But if you wanna go elsewhere with the kids when the baby will be born, we'll gladly offer you a new trip."
"Wait." I cut him off, not managing to believe in the reality of what was happening, my heart pounding really fast in my chest. "Are you really telling us you're offering us a honey moon… In New York?"
"We thought it was a good idea because it isn't too far away from here, and you already know the town, Emma." My mom explained, panting a little bit because of her excitement. "We wanted to give you a few moments alone. You deserve it."
"You're taking the bus tomorrow at 6:30 in the morning." My dad explained with a huge smile, looking so proud of this idea. "The return is booked for Wednesday evening. We'll take you to the bus station, we told ourselves it was better for everyone because taking the plane or the yellow bug would have been too exhausting for you as you are pregnant, Emma..."
I stayed quiet for a few seconds, and turned to look at Killian, who was looking at my parents in awe as if he couldn't believe what was happening to him. It was completely crazy. Three days, just for us, in the town in which I had lived for a year. Three days during which we didn't have to worry about anything, not villains, not magic, not even a potential problem coming our way. Three days during which we could finally be a normal young couple.
"You're insane." I ended up whispering before getting up to embrace my parents in a quiet thank you.
The rest of the conversation happened in an overexcited blur. Everything went really fast. My mom calmed me down because I was feeling really anxious at the idea of leaving Liam, telling me that I could call them whenever I wanted to. She also reassured me about the fact I was finding all of this too big, telling me that she wasn't feeling forced to offer me gifts, and that she just wanted me to be happy. They had planned everything : The hotel, the trip, the money for the meals, and they didn't want to listen to us when we told them they didn't have to pay for the food in addition to all of that, telling us it was our honey moon and we didn't have to worry about anything.
Elsa was also in the room to say goodbye, what saddened me a bit between all this happiness, because I really didn't want my friend to go away once again. But as Arendelle's Queen, she was forced to go back to her land, and I was getting that perfectly. She however promised me to come back very quickly to meet the new little one joining the family, what made me smile again because I realized we wouldn't have to stay apart from each other for long now that we had the apprentice's wand.
And, just like that and after thanking them for the umpteenth time, we found ourselves alone in the house again, our sons staying with us. We explained to Liam what was going to happen, as Henry was watching us with a big smirk, finding all of this really funny and offering us to help us getting ready for the big departure. Guessing we wanted some time to discuss about this alone, Henry took his brother with him upstairs to beginning the preparation, and we heard them talking with each other while Liam was joyfully babbling at his brother's questions.
I turned back to Killian, who was still looking so amazed by what was happening, but who seemed pretty happy by the last news. He gently grabbed my waist to pull me closer to him, understanding that I was still feeling a bit confused, and I said while shaking my head :
"Do you think they've gone mad? It feels a bit too much, doesn't it?"
"It does." He admitted with a chuckle. "But we're certainly not going to complain about it."
"No, we're not." I said, giggling at his comment. "I just don't want them to feel forced to offer me anything because they haven't raised me..."
"They don't feel forced to do anything, darling, I can promise you that." He kindly reassured me. "They were both looking so happy about their surprise."
"You're probably right." I shrugged, before looking up to him to offer him a big grin. "Three days just for us, can you imagine?"
"I can't wait to spend all this time with you, love." He said, looking so glad by the twist our week was taking. "I couldn't be happier. It's going to be the best vacations of our lives"
And, without waiting for me to answer as I was about to tell him I loved him, he leaned forward to press a gentle kiss on my lips, offering me a preview of this trip that was going to be better than what I could ever have imagined.
So as you've probably guessed, the next few chapters will be about the honey moon! I hope you liked this chapter, and see you Friday! :)