18.

Emma pulled her yellow bug to a stop outside of her house and turned the ignition off with a deep, heavy sigh. It had been a long and stressful day. Not only was she drowning in unfinished paperwork, but Leroy had been up to his usual self and had been hauled in for being drunk and disorderly, again! A patient had escaped the psychiatric ward, which caused a panic and a town wide search. Only to finally find the patient in question standing naked on a street corner where he was gleefully throwing used underpants at any and all passers by!

And to top it all off, a fight had broken out at the farmer's market out at the pumpkin farm. Chaos had reigned over someone taking the last cabbage, of all things! Resulting in damaged property, a broken nose, a couple of black eyes and other minor injuries. As well as a fresh stack of even more paperwork for all the arrests. For a small town, sometimes Storybrooke residents really liked to test the patience of their Sheriff.

Looking towards home as she unbuckled her seatbelt and prepared to climb from the car, she smiled to herself. Inside would be her adoring husband and her gorgeous baby girl, the perfect antidote to one hell of a day.

"Killian, you home?" she called, stepping inside and closing the door behind her. He wasn't in the kitchen where she expected him to be, making a start on their dinner. She shrugged out of her jacket and looked around. "Killian?"

"Down here, love," he replied, popping his head up from behind the sofa.

"What are you doing?" she wondered, heading towards him.

"Waiting for this little lass to show us her first steps," he replied.

"I think she's still a little young for that babe, she's only 10 months," she pointed out as she joined them.

Killian had pushed the coffee table out of the way and spread a blanket on the floor for Hope to play on. She was sat, by herself, surrounded by various toys, shaking a set of plastic keys in one hand and chewing on her stuffed bunny she was holding in the other as she turned at the sound of her mom's voice with a big drooly grin for her.

"Hi baby," Emma smiled at her as she sat down on the blanket and kissed her chubby little cheeks, making her daughter giggle and chortle with glee.

"Oh, I don't know. I think it's going to be any moment now," Killian grinned at Hope. "Right, little lass? You going to walk for daddy?" Using his hand and the bare wrist of his currently hookless arm, he helped her stand.

Hope squealed with delight as she flung her bunny down, standing all by herself, albeit a little wobbly on her chunky legs, when Killian let go of her.

"Look at her," Emma whispered, proud of her sweet baby.

"I know, she's really got the standing and cruising around holding onto the furniture thing down now, but...I think she's ready to take off," he grinned at her and then Emma.

"Hope, baby. Come to Momma!" Emma called, clapping her hands to get the little one's attention. "Walk to Momma." She held her arms out for her.

Hope looked at her a little warily at first, then giggled as she shook the keys in her hand, smacking herself on the head with them. Which caused her to promptly fall back onto her diaper clad butt.

"Hmm, thwarted by your own toys," Killian murmured, trying to extract them from her.

Hope squealed in displeasure as he prised the keys from her fingers and hid them out of sight behind him. She looked at her hand and then up at her father with injured indignation, wondering how the daddy she loved so much could possibly betray her this way. And then she drew in a deep breath shortly before she let him know of her displeasure as she began to wail.

"Aaw, come here my sweet girl," Emma murmured as she scooped her up and kissed her head. "It's okay, did mean daddy steal your toys?" she asked her. "That's what pirates do, they steal things," she whispered to her conspiratorially.

"Well, I don't think she's going to try walking now," Killian commented to no one and sighed to himself.

Hope looked up at her mom with a solemn, forlorn pout, before smushing her face into Emma's chest and real tears began seeping from her eyes. "Aaw baby, it's okay." she whispered soothingly and rubbed her back, holding out one hand towards Killian for the toy. He gave it back to her and Emma then handed it back to Hope. "Look, here you go sweetheart," she said as Hope hesitantly took they toy back.

Her cries began to subside as she looked down at the plastic keys and realised what she was holding again. She shook them cheerfully and gave her daddy a look of triumph, as if it say 'ha! I got them back you thief!'

Emma chuckled and hugged her baby close, kissing her head and wiping her tears away with her thumbs. "There, all better," she smiled and set her on the floor again, laying down beside her to play with her. "We can try the walking again later. Let her play for a bit," Emma told him and rolled onto her back.

Hope grasped two handfuls of her mother's sweater, using it to pull herself up as she started to clamber over her, with a babble of "Mamamama…" and grinned into her face, making Emma chuckle.

"Oh!" Killian suddenly gasped as his face then appeared upside down above Emma's. "Hello love," he murmured before kissing her softly.

"Hey you," she smiled against his lips.

"I almost forgot," he said with a gentle sigh. This was Killian's customary greeting for Emma whenever they had been apart, for any length of time. Whether they met up at home, at the diner or at the station, he always greeted her with a soft kiss hello.

"We can't have that," she said and fixed her hand to the back of his neck, pulling him down to kiss him again. "Oof," she grumbled then as Hope crawled over her, digging her knee into her stomach. After re-adjusting her, Emma watched as Hope's little fist reached out and grasped hold of Killian's ear, pulling his earring.

"Ouch!" he complained as Emma laughed.

"I don't think she's forgiven you for the great keys robbery," she chuckled with laughter as he fought to unclasp her tiny fist from his earring before she pulled it out. Emma successfully distracted her with a toy to get her to let go.

"You little monkey!" he said as he grabbed Hope, laying her on the floor as he began to tickle her. He lifted her t-shirt then and blew a big raspberry on the babies tummy. Hope broke out into squeals of giggles, big belly laughs as Emma smiled at the pair, their really was no better sound than that of your babies' giggles. Killian then lay down beside Emma and plonked Hope on his stomach. "How was your day, love?" he asked, turning his head to face her.

"Eurgh," Emma groaned. "Hideous. This damn town is really testing me," she said before launching into a tale about her day and the arrests she'd made. "I am SO ready for my weekend off," she smiled as she finished.

Hope, who had become bored without her parent's full attention, had crawled back to her toys, pulling herself up by holding on to her activity table where she was currently stood pressing all the buttons on it. She jiggled to herself, flexing her knees as she bounced up and down, making the features light up, creating musical instrument sounds and tunes, amongst a long string of her own babbles – mostly a mix of 'mamama' and 'bababa' with a few 'gahgoo's thrown in for good measure.

"Dadada," Killian told her, encouraging her to say it.

She just looked back at him and gave him a wide two toothed smile as she repeatedly pressed the favourite button on her table, the one that played the song 'Old Macdonald' and babbled "Ba de gah gu" as she jigged to her music.

He rolled his eyes. "I spend all day with the little monkey and she still won't say dada!" he complained as he sat up.

"Give her time. Besides, she hasn't much of a clue what she's really babbling about yet."

"She says Mama," he sulked. "Anyway," he said with a deep sigh, "what do you fancy for dinner tonight?"

Emma sighed, adjusting her position so that her head was in his lap. "Mind if we order take out? I can't be bothered to cook and clean up tonight," she admitted.

"Fine with me," he shrugged and ran his fingers through her hair. "What will it be? Pizza? Chinese? Granny's?"

"Pizza," she nodded. "But don't call them yet, I want to take a bath and get into some comfy clothes first," she told him, grabbing hold of his hand and stroking the back of it with her thumb before kissing his palm.

He smiled softly at her and leaned over to kiss her again, this time with a little more passion and no painful interruptions.

"Actually," she said as she smiled up at his face, "give me 20 minutes to relax in the tub, then bring this little madam up," she said, grabbing a surprised Hope who was crawling back towards her. "She can have a bath with Mommy tonight. Do you like that idea baby girl?" she asked, raising her in the air with her arms outstretched above her. "Would you like to have a bath with Mommy tonight?"

Hope squealed with glee and reached out for her daddy in front of her as she kicked her back legs wildly. He took her from Emma's hold as she sat up and kissed his daughter as Emma got to her feet and headed upstairs to the bathroom.

Twenty minutes later, Killian carried Hope up to the nursery where he undressed her and cleaned up her butt before taking her in to their bathroom. Emma lay in the tub full of bubbles with her eyes closed and he smiled down at her.

"Here you go, one naked baby as requested," he announced, dangling her over the tub.

"Hey baby," Emma beamed as she took her from Killian and set her down on her lap. Hope immediately began kicking her legs and playing with the bubbles. She loved the water and loved her bath time.

"It's not too hot for her, is it?" he asked, crouching beside the tub and swirling his hand in the water.

"It's fine," Emma insisted, reaching for the drain stopper to let some of the water out so Hope could sit down in it.

"What I want to know is, when does daddy get to enjoy a bath with mummy?" he looked up at her and flashed his expressive eyebrows.

Emma smirked and cupped his cheek with her wet hand. "behave yourself and I'll try to find time for you this weekend," she whispered and kissed him softly.

"Oh, you'll try, huh?" he asked with a snort.

She shrugged. "Shouldn't be too hard."

Killian got to his feet and dried his hand on a towel. "Really? Because I thought you always liked it best when it was hard," he laughed to himself as he left the room.

Emma gasped and watched him go wide eyed. "Your daddy is a dirty, dirty boy, Hope!" she told the baby who merely answered her with a splat of her hand on the water, causing a splash that made her giggle.

"Why do you think I need that bath!" she heard him call back, still chuckling as he headed back down.

Emma was back downstairs, now dressed in simple yoga pants and a tank top, carrying a sweet smelling baby in her yellow spotted onesie just as Killian was closing the door to the pizza delivery guy.

"Probably a bad idea giving her a bath before dinner, but never mind," she muttered as she strapped Hope into the highchair. Emma then sat down herself and flipped the lid of the box, pulling out a slice before Killian had even got plates out of the cupboard and poured them both some wine. "Sorry, starving," she mumbled with a mouth full as he turned back, giving her a disgusted expression.

He rolled his eyes at her as he took a slice, cutting some off and chopping it into smaller pieces for Hope. He added it to her plate that already held diced chicken and some steamed veggies, before giving it to her and she tucked in with gusto.

"I love that you always make sure she has something healthy," Emma commented whilst watching as Hope picked up a piece of broccoli and inspected it carefully before shoving it in her mouth.

"Well, we don't want her growing up with your poor palate, Swan," he teased.

Emma stuck her tongue out at him, before taking another slice of pizza and taking a huge bite out of it.

After eating and cleaning up, they took Hope back to the lounge, giving her time to burn off some energy before it was time to wind down for the evening. They sat on the floor playing with her, rolling balls back and forth, crawling around after her, building block towers that she took great delight in knocking down and singing songs with her.

Emma had to admit that this was one of her favourite times of day, just enjoying her daughter and spending time with her little family. Being able to experience all of this with her husband and just being so happy and carefree as they all played silly games together. Making Hope chuckle or squeal in glee was the most beautiful sound in the world to her.

Emma whizzed one of her plastic toy police cruisers along the floor and Hope crawled after it. But then something caught her attention on the sofa and she stopped. She grasped onto the sofa and pulled herself to standing before she let go to reach for her stuffed bunny that had got placed there. As she got her balance, she turned and showed her parents the bunny, completely unaware that she was standing all by herself.

"Hope, come to Mommy," Emma encouraged, patting her knees. "Come show me and daddy your bunny," she said excitedly.

"Come on lass," Killian added his own encouragement. "Bring us your bunny. Can I see it?" he asked, reaching his hand out towards her.

Hope looked at her bunny as she babbled some adorable gibberish. She looked up at her parents and giggled before she took one uneven step. And then another, and then three more before she fell onto her diaper padded butt.

"Did you see that?" Emma squealed. "She did it! She took her first steps!" She shrieked excitedly and scooped Hope into her arms, covering her face in kisses and making the baby squeal in laughter.

"Aye love!" Killian grinned, joining in the kissing attack. "I saw. I told you!" he pointed out. "You clever, clever little lass," he beamed at Hope and then kissed Emma.

"You amazing baby," Emma clapped her hands together, her smile beaming.

Hope squealed in delight and copied her mother as she clapped her own hands, like she was celebrating her own achievement.

"My sweet little baby," Emma murmured as she hugged her and gave a sniff.

"Are you crying?" Killian asked then, giving them both a tender smile.

"I…" she shrugged and sniffed again. "I'm just so happy I was here to see it, that I got to see it with you. There's nothing more wonderful," she finished, with tears streaming down her face.

"Aaw, love," Killian murmured and hugged her, finding it all adorable.

"We should have got it on camera!" she said then and jumped up to find it. "See if you can get her to do it again," she demanded, grabbing said camera from the mantel.

"Hope," Killian called her name and crept back a little way from her. "Look. I got your keys," he shook the toy. "Come get your keys from daddy."

Hope pushed herself up, not needing anything to hold onto this time and stood for a moment, getting her balance. Then with a little squeal of excitement, she slowly took the few steps towards her daddy, reaching for the keys.

"Yes, yes!" Emma whispered as she filmed it all. "My baby is walking!" she thrust her fist in the air.

They took it in turns then, getting Hope to walk between them, enticing her with toys and even a cookie as they swapped the camera back and forth, still completely enthralled with her new trick and this amazing milestone in her development.

Eventually Hope had enough of this game and was content to lay on her mat, chewing on her keys and babbling away to herself as she pulled at the toe of her onesie in some attempt to get her foot over her head. Emma and Killian lay down beside her, still high on excitement.

Emma laughed to herself then. "Of course, you know what this means, right?" she asked, looking towards her husband.

"What?" he asked, gazing at their baby and rubbing her tummy.

"We're going to have to baby proof the entire house now," she told him with a groan. "She is going to be getting into everything."

"Good job I already have everything we need then," he said rather smugly.

Emma turned her head towards him incredulously. "How did you know what to get?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I google," he mumbled.

"You google," she laughed.

"DaBaDaGoo!" Hope exclaimed then and tossed her keys aside.

"Exactly!" Emma laughed and rolled over, taking both her daughter and her husband into her arms, snuggling them lovingly.