Epilogue

Emma and Killian only stayed at the palace for a few weeks after Killian's return, letting Snow and David discuss plans for their wedding. Grace and Jefferson remained there too, attempting to mend a relationship that both desperately wanted to fix, but was too different and strange to return to the way it had been before.

But when Grace and Jefferson left, Killian and Emma realised that spending their days in the palace and planning such a huge celebration wasn't what they wanted. Not yet.

So after a series of tearful goodbyes and promises to return for visits, to one day return for good, Emma, Killian and Henry boarded the Jolly Roger, Jukes remaining as the cook, and they decided to see the world.

Because Killian had planned vengeance for hundreds of years, and Emma had planned rescue missions for months and neither of them wanted to plan anything anymore.

They wanted to see where the wind took them.

And they did. They visited the towns they had stopped in on their first journey together, Emma revelling in spending the time with Killian without worrying about hiding under a cloak, showing Henry the colourful towns she hadn't had the time to explore.

Except they had time now. They sailed slowly, with Killian and Henry often at the wheel until Henry knew how to steer alone, and then they took turns, anchoring every night because they were in no rush.

Some days, they arranged to meet Baelfire at port, because Henry wanted to get to know his father, and Baelfire was equally keen to learn about his son. And although it took a few months for Emma to feel comfortable with Henry returning to Rumplestiltskin's castle for weekends, and as much as she missed him when he was gone, she had to admit that it was wonderful to be able to rent a large room at one of the inns in the port and spend days wrapped up in Killian, taking walks along the shore on the rare occasions they managed to leave their room.

And sometimes Grace and Baelfire would come to them, always together, and Emma would watch the boys play, Killian and Baelfire always on opposing teams during whatever game Henry suggested. They would never be close, and it would never make up for what Killian had done decades before, but Killian told her, when they were cuddled together in their bed, that he was happy that he and Baelfire had managed to be friends again.

After a year together, Henry still talked about siblings, about having a brother or sister he could beat at battleships. They didn't discuss it, but they stopped being careful. Emma was ready, they were both ready, if it happened.

And it was almost two years later, two more years of adventures and trips home and meetings with Baelfire, when Emma knew she was pregnant. So when Henry asked again about a sibling, a question Emma knew was coming after the arrival of Baelfire and Grace's daughter, Emma just smiled at her son.

"Soon." she said, and then looked up to see Killian beaming at her, incredulity and joy in his eyes, and she'd never been happier.

They kept travelling until she was showing, and Emma thrilled in how different this pregnancy was, with Killian at her side. And some days, he worried that he wasn't good enough, and Emma had expected that, but she would reassure him. He would run his hand over her rounded stomach, kiss it, draw vague patterns on it, and whenever he did that, his fear seemed to fade and he would look up at her and grin and look so excited.

And Emma had never had that last time.

When they got back to the palace, David and Snow doted on her, and Emma remembered they'd done the same before, when she was carrying Henry, but they still couldn't remember. It was new to them, and although they hadn't overwhelmed her the first time, not when she had no one else, it was irritating some days when all she wanted was to curl up in bed beside Killian and let him look after, let him kiss her and make love to her.

But it was hard to get any alone time once they were back with her family.

And even though Snow seemed even more insistent that they finally marry, constantly reminding them that after three years together, engaged, and with a child on the way, it would be best for them, and for the kingdom, for their wedding to be as soon as possible.

They still didn't get married, telling Snow that it would happen when it happened, the way everything else had, and no matter how unsure her mother was about their answer, they were happy the way things were.

They were very happy.

It was Emma's suggestion to name their son Liam, and when Killian heard it, he had bent down to kiss her first and then their son. He took the baby in his arms carefully, his hook abandoned on the table nearby, and murmured nonsense down to him, an entranced look in his eyes that Emma had never seen before, that was just for Liam.

And when Henry was holding his brother, Killian came and he kissed her again and he told her that he loved her, loved their family, more than he could have believed possible.

David was playfully annoyed when they told him their son's full name, Liam Jefferson, as he seemed to have hoped that his name would be there, but once Henry pointed out that David was his middle name and it would be strange for both brothers to be called the same thing, David let it go.

Despite having a fully furnished nursery ready, Liam spent the first few months in a crib in their room. Emma woke one morning to see Killian perched on the side of the bed, Liam in his arms, and whispering stories to him, telling their son of his adventures. She crawled across the bed to him, feeling Killian shiver when she wrapped her arms around his waist, her chin on his shoulder.

"How's our little pirate?" she murmured, but Killian sighed and turned his head to plant a kiss to her cheek.

"Don't call him that." Killian stated, although he smiled softly when Emma moved her arm so that she could brush her thumb gently across their son's cheek. "He's too perfect. He's too good to be called a pirate. How can we call him something that we would call a villain?"

"Our little prince, then?"

But once Killian had laid Liam back down in his cot, Emma pulled her fiancé back to her, into her arms, and told him, sincerely, that being called a pirate wasn't a bad thing. That she knew, from experience, that some pirates were heroes.

Eventually, they took their first trip together on the Jolly Roger since Liam's birth, the first time Emma and Liam had accompanied Killian and Henry on a small trip, and Henry steered the boat the whole time.

Emma couldn't believe how quickly Henry was growing up, but she was glad he had found something he loved, having told them only days before that he would be joining the kingdom's navy once he was old enough. She did wish that he'd had a choice, but he no longer had the option to be the ruler he had once been meant to be, not since it was taken from him when Rumplestiltskin made the world forget. She liked to think that Henry would have chosen such a path anyway.

And it turned out that calling Liam their little pirate would have been a bad idea, because after only minutes at sea, they discovered he got terribly seasick on even the shortest journeys.

So sailing remained something that Killian only did with Henry, and although he never said it, Emma knew that Henry was glad that he had something that he shared with Killian and no one else.

Instead, Killian told Liam stories, tales of adventures in other realms, the legends behind each star and the constellations in the night sky. Except Liam was only little, had just turned three, and he decided that he liked the tale of the pirate and the princess best.

And Emma was glad about that, because that was their story, and she loved to hear Killian tell it too.

Henry was almost eighteen, Liam four, when David and Snow announced their plans to abdicate and give the throne to Emma. And it was that same day that Emma and Killian led their children, Emma's parents and Jukes to the minister, because Emma wanted all the kingdoms to know that she had chosen Killian to be at her side.

And they promised forever to each other, something they knew they were going to have, something they already had. Killian kissed her before being told to kiss the bride, but Emma didn't care, she just clung to him, kissed him back deeper, and muttered "I love you, sailor" when she pulled back, and he replied with "You too, sweetheart"

David cried and hugged them both. Henry grinned and told them it was about time.

"I'm so glad you finally have your happy ending." Snow White told Emma that evening, as she was sitting and watching Killian and Henry talk, Liam fast asleep in her lap.

Emma didn't reply. She didn't need to.

She'd found her happy ending years ago.

Okay, and now it's officially complete! Epilogue and everything! I don't really know what to do with myself. I hope you enjoy the ending! I am writing another multichapter fic (though it's going to be nowhere near as long as this) which you can find the first two chapters of on my profile. I also have plans for a cursed!Hook AU, but that's quite complicated and I need to sit down sometime and really plan it out.

Thank you, though, for all the wonderfully kind reviews, as well as the favourites and alerts! It's been so much fun writing this, and the first time I've ever completed anything of this magnitude, so it's great to know that people enjoyed it!

And thank you to BlackDragon733 for betaing the entire thing!