Author's Note: This was written as a Oncers Spread Love present for kiliansemma on tumblr. While it was meant as a fluffy Captain Swan oneshot for her, I also wrote it thinking of it as Emma's epilogue of I still choose you. It is only fair that I share it with all of you, who've been with me for this story all along.

They make it home. They all do. It's a miracle - for some of them more than others - and she's determined to not take it for granted.

Regina makes the offer that Henry should stay with 'the Charming little family' (her words) in their apartment for as long as they need, figuring that the four of them need time to be together. It's a kindness she never would have expected from the older woman, but there's no question that Regina seems different now. Neverland changed her too. She asks only that Henry spend a whole weekend with her just as soon as they feel ready for that. Fair, reasonable. They agree that they'll go from there when it comes to figuring out their son's living situation. She figures they'll probably end up with a rotating two week schedule, with time for him with Neal factored in.

After all this time, they've finally accepted it. Henry is a child with two mothers, both of whom he adores, and it's time to actually deal with that.

They're home.

And nothing horrible happens.

After two days, her father actually puts his sword away in the closet. Henry actually goes to school. Everyone starts trying to put some semblance of a normal life back together.

And still, nothing horrible happens.

Their time in Neverland has left scars on all of them, of course. She's not entirely sure that her father has let her mother out of his arms yet. Certainly, he he's barely let her out of his sight.

And that included when Snow went to go take a shower, which she is determinately blocking out of her mind, because ew, she's still their kid.

She can't blame Dad for any of it though. Not after what almost happened. (She has forcefully decided to think about Neverland only in terms of what almost happened, and not - never - in terms of what did happen). The first night they made it back to Storybrooke, she hadn't wanted to take her eyes off her mother either.

They'd all slept in the living room that night. It hadn't been the most sound of sleeps, and they'd all woken up with aches and pains after sleeping on furniture that wasn't meant to be slept on, but it was okay. It was okay, because when her eyes opened that morning, her mother safe and well and working away in the tiny kitchen was the first thing she saw.

Mom had woken up first and made breakfast for them all, French toast - a rather unusual special treat - with more cinnamon than any other family in the world could stand, but that theirs was delighted by.

They'd all eaten together that morning, sitting together at the table. Mom had been more on Dad's chair than her own, Henry had teased them about it, and she'd stared at them openly, memorizing the picture they made.

They understood, and said nothing.

She will never be able to get the image of her broken father holding her lifeless mother completely out of her mind, but she can fight it now with images of them together and happy and more in love than anyone else has ever been.

(She has the magic to prove it).

After three days of nothing terrible happening, they've all settled back into a reasonably normal life. They're all able to leave each other's sight, Dad even managing to leave the apartment to grab some groceries, though he does make it back in seeming world record time. (If only grocery shopping were an Olympic sport). Henry asks about spending time with Regina, so she drops her son off at the other woman's mansion with an easy smile and a wish for them to have fun during their long weekend together.

And then, with determination, she marches her way down to the harbour, and invites herself on board a certain ship.

She needs to talk to him, badly, and it's about damn time they have this conversation, so she pools together all the bravery she has, and bangs on the door to the captain's quarters.

For awhile there is no answer, and she wonders if he's even there, if he'd have left the ship, and she's ready to make herself comfortable on decks to wait for him, when the door flies open.

And she stares at him.

The leather coat she'd gotten so used to, as if it was an extension of his body, is gone, replaced by a blue button-down shirt. He wears dark jeans too, that at first glance appear to be rather spectacularly well fitted. His face is washed clean, no eyeliner to be seen.

She had a whole speech planned.

But the only thing that comes out of her mouth is "nlurghhhhh."

"Emma?" he asks, a slow, sweet smile spreading across his face, and no, not okay, she's dealing with enough right now, she did not give him permission for the grin. "How are you, sweetheart?"

Oh, he is just not playing fair.

"You… look different," she manages, quite lamely.

And now he's blushing, which is just great. She never would have figured him one for embarrassment or sheepishness; still kind of figuring he has no shame. But this is twice now she's made him blush.

Oh God, she makes him blush. And she's pretty sure he's returning the favour.

"I thought perhaps it was time for me to acquire some clothing that stood out a little less," he admits. "Less Captain Hook. More Killian Jones."

She smiles at him. "So you're Killian now?"

"You call me Killian," he says quietly. "That's good enough for me."

Oh.

He'd always had charm to him, unquestionably, but she had severely underestimated his ability for sweetness.

"Then you're staying?" she demands, needing to hear it.

"Aye," he confirms. "I quite like the scenery of your little town."

She manages to grin at him.

"It is pretty here," she agrees.

"Can I get you a drink?" he asks. "I have… some sort of ale, I think?"

She laughs. "What happened to the rum?"

He winces, just slightly. "Trying to kick the habit, love."

What happened, and what did they do to her pirate?

Wait… her pirate?

"Got any water to spare?" she asks, shaken, but she likes to think she hides it well. Maybe not, though, given the way he looks at her.

"Water I can do," he agrees, opening a cupboard and tossing her a water bottle.

She nods a thank you, feeling inexplicably shy, and wanders back out on deck and sits down, waiting for him to follow her.

He does, eventually, sitting down next to her with a water bottle in his hand too, surprising her. She'd expected the beer.

"Well love," he starts, "we could stare out at your town's fine scenery all day if you like, and I shall not complain, but something tells me you did not come here to admire the port."

Brick walls. She's always had brick walls, built so high up and so tight around herself, that the idea was that no one would ever get in.

Not unless she let them.

That was the idea, had always been the idea. But her son, her precious boy had shown up at her apartment door and gone unceremoniously bashing through the bricks, and Mary Margaret had wandered through the hole Henry had created before she'd been able to put up reinforcements. She'd shoved her back out upon discovering her fairy tale truth, started building the bricks back up. But Snow White and Prince Charming, they'd waited, patient and loving and hers until she was ready to open a door and let Mom and Dad in.

And in the meantime? In the meantime, a freaking pirate had bashed his own door in at the back when she wasn't paying attention.

At this point, she figures, there's so much damage to the walls that it's not even worth bothering with the bricks.

She loves her son fiercer than she'd known it was possible to love anything, and she needs her parents now more than she ever could have imagined she could, and the pirate hanging out in the back, maybe she wants him to come sit with everyone in the front.

He loves her, she knows that. The scary thing is the very real possibility of loving him back.

"I'm glad you're staying," she murmurs.

Killian grins that all together unfair grin, made even more rude by the way he looks down, sheepishly pleased, for just a second before looking back up at her again.

"I'm delighted you're pleased, love, but you hadn't known of my plans when you came here originally, so we both know that is not why you're here. Tell me, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company?"

She'd had a whole speech planned, she thinks vaguely, but it had gone out the window, the moment she saw him, so apparently winging it is how this is gonna go.

That's fine. She's been winging it her whole life. No reason at all to stop during one of its important moments.

"You had my back," she finally says, staring at him. "In Neverland. The whole time, but especially at the end. I need to thank you for that."

"Of course," he replies, looking just slightly disappointed for reasons she was unsure of. "I promised you I would."

She sighs. She's got to do a better job of explaining this.

"Everyone did," she confirms. "Everyone came on this ship with the intention of helping me save Henry. And I'm grateful for that, I really am, I'm grateful to everyone, but it's… bigger than that with you. Everyone tried to be there for me. But you, you were the one, the only one, who kept acting based on what I'd want, rather than what was 'best for me'. With Neal, with Henry, you kept doing what I'd have done, what I'd want, even… even if it hurt you to do it. You had my back more than you had your own, and I'm never gonna be able to tell you how much that meant to me."

He looks slightly stunned, but gathers himself well, looking out at the water, before glancing back at her, a fierceness she saw briefly in him in Neverland during the battle flickering back in his eyes, and she swallows against the feeling of her heart in her throat.

He'd looked at her like that when he was gaining strength from her.

He'd looked at her like that, and in that moment she'd realized he loved her.

"I'd be flip and say 'your wish is my command', but this matters too much for that," he admits suddenly, forcing out the words in a rush as if they're hurting him to keep inside. "Surely at this point you must know that I could only ever want what would make you happy, and failing that, what would bring you peace. I only want whatever it is that you want, and if it is in my power - even if it isn't - I would always try to move heaven and earth to give it to you."

She stares up at him, gathers all the courage she has in her, and whispers, "And what if what I want is you?"

There's a terror in his eyes now, fear and hope and longing so strong it scares her too.

"Is it?" he asks with a whisper.

"Yeah," she murmurs. "It kinda is."

She can feel herself shaking, but she makes herself say it anyway. "You, Killian. What I want is you."

He swallows. Nods once, twice, slowly, so slowly, as if he's thinking about it. And then he leans towards her, touches his lips to hers, a whisper of a kiss, the sweetest thing she's ever felt.

He pulls away, barely, a ghost of a smile playing at his lips. "That should have been our first kiss," he whispers.

She can't breathe.

She manages to say what she's thinking anyway.

"And what about our second?"

After, he holds her.

They're wrapped together tight by necessity and want both, and she teases him about having the world's tiniest bed in his precious captain's quarters, and how it messes with his mystique, and he gets her to shut up by kissing her, which works very nicely for her.

Eventually, they make it back above decks, still curled together on the deck. She commandeers that blue shirt she'd admired on him earlier and enjoyed pulling off him even more, and cheerfully informs him that he's never getting it back, it's hers now, enjoy being back to leather.

He laughs at her with a joy that quickens her heart.

It's nice here, all evening sea breeze and bright colours of a setting sun, and she thinks she could quite happily spend many nights right here, not moving from this spot, curled up in his lap, passing a single beer back and forth.

He kisses her shoulder, through the shirt that he'd gotten a solid two hours of wearing out of before she'd claimed it as her own.

"Are your parents okay with this?" he asks softly.

"Oh, Daddy will be coming by any day now to threaten to carve you to death with your own hook," she announces with a cheer that probably scares him even more than the words themselves.

He groans. "He tell you this much?"

"Yeah," she smirks. "Well, I may have added the fine points. He just wants to threaten you within an inch of your life. Not sure if he'll provide details."

He shakes his head. "Wonderful. I've fallen for Prince Charming's kid, and she goes and turns out to be very much her father's daughter."

She has to laugh, delighted by him as she has - secretly - been for essentially the entire time she's known him.

"If it makes you feel better, I think once he's done with the threatening, he wouldn't be opposed to going for a beer. He respects you. Hasn't forgotten how many times he owes you his life. And more than that, he and my Mom both just want me happy."

"And they think that's going to happen with me?"

She nods, hearing what he's not asking - Neal.

"You know my mother told Neal to take me and Henry and run if things got bad?" she asks.

He sighs. "I figured as much, aye."

She smiles up at him. "She also told me she didn't ask you, because she knew you wouldn't do it to me."

He freezes. "What?"

"My parents knew you wouldn't leave them to die. Knew you'd risk your life, let me risk mine, to try and make my way back to them. My Mom knew you'd be selfless. She knew you'd have my back. That's why she didn't ask you."

"You've talked this over with them," he says, softly, a note of disbelief in his voice.

"They love me," she confirms, taking a deep breath. "And they know I love you."

There is no fear in his eyes now, no longing. There is only joy, and desire, and love so intense she never wants to let it go.

There's still so much more they need to discuss, so much they need to figure out.

But for now, for tonight, these are the only words that matter.

"As I love you," he promises.

There was never a choice.

But she still chooses him.

Author's Note: With this, I still choose you is truly complete.

Thank you for joining me on Snow and Charming's journey, and Emma and Hook's fall.

Thanks, as always, for reading.