Oh gosh... just how long had it been? A few months ago, maybe, with Walsh. And she cringed at the thought. She had actually engaged in... action with a monkey... with wings.

She shook the memory and instead tried to welcome the morning feel of her pleasantly aching limbs... A ghost of a grin crossed her lips as she drew a deep breath and stretched. "Ow..." Came the soft whisper as her deliciously sore muscles sprung into action. She felt wonderfully used and it was great. Really, truly, magnificently great.

As she settled, she became aware of the sleep-heavy sigh stemming from the chest of the man beside her. He was still asleep.

She turned gently, hoping not to wake him, and her lazily opened lids captured the sight of him as he slept; a face she had seen so many times and in so many different situations had never quite looked this good, so peacefully lax and unburdened, sleeping a deep, peaceful sleep, a soft snore escaping his nose and his abundant black lashes framing the gentle curve of his eyelids. She grinned as she allowed a hand reach for his stubbled jaw line, caressing and feeling each hardened growing hair on the palm of her hand. She contained a soft moan as she remembered the sand-paper feel of it, cruising her skin up and down, on her neck, her chest, her shoulders, arms, face, a prodding tongue easing the rough passing of the sensually gritty kisses... the skin around her lips still felt the aftermath of his rough kisses, desperate, wanting... and loving, in a way she had never really experimented before.

He had all but ravaged her... and it was good.

After a few minutes of her lining the contours of his face and feeling his black tresses between her fingers, the snores slowly turned into mild, waking breaths. Seeing that he was coming to, she grinned and waited to greet his blue gaze into the morning. Soon after, he slowly blinked awake and after a few seconds of lazy fluttering of his lashes, he grinned softly, mirroring her own complacent smirk.

"Good morning..." she sang softly.

He bit his lower lip, also coming into full realization of the achy state of his own physiognomy. "Aye... very, very good indeed." He whispered back as he stretched and settled. She leaned forward to steal a quick, grazing kiss from his still reddened lips and the shadow of the memory of the previous night made her sigh deeply: Skin pressed against one another, sweat trickling from the moistened nape of his head as she repeatedly enunciated his name with every frantic thrust, feeling, touching, riding on a rollercoaster of delicious spasms and involuntary convulsions, the sound of his heavy, lustful and loving breath in her ear, the look of pleasure emblazoned on his beautiful face and the feeling of him reaching his own delightful peak, screaming her name, almost like a heartbeat: "Em-ma! Em-ma!", before falling into her embrace like a gorgeous human quilt, shuddering, heaving, laughing, still conjuring her name like she were some sort of siren whose name needed to be called out for the spell that had his heart racing insanely to break, while her still trembling limbs wrapped themselves around their lover in ecstasy.

Yes; turns out Killian Jones was not just one hell of a Captain, but also one hell of a lay. And he was there with her to stay... So deeply, madly in love with each other... And so damn good to the touch!

He chuckled, a small smirk, so much like his, crossing his reddened lips. "You... are one saucy minx, Emma. Damn, I'm sore..." He spoke, his voice still deep and broken by the effect of the night. "I could bet my weeks rations that your thoughts are still lingering in this past evening's dalliance..."

She bit her lip. "You call that a dalliance?"

"What would you call it?"

"I'd call it the best night I've had in months..." She grinned. "Or more. The last guy doesn't count." She shook her head, regretting the moment she had even opened her mouth.

He arched a brow. "You mean the monkey? The bloke with a tail, sharp teeth and wings, that you were set to wed?"

And that's why she regretted having spoken.

"Shut up. Seriously. Don't even go there..." She hid her face in the pillow before turning to find him grinning mischievously. "You'll be milking this for years, won't you?"

"I might just have an edge over you whenever you behave like a wench."

She laughed. "You are insufferable, Captain."

He tilted his head to the side. "You're no tender poppy yourself, my love. But..." he huffed as he shifted his naked body to his side, facing her completely. "I wouldn't have you any other way."

"As long as you keep having me..." she huffed and rubbed his arm. "Quite a skill you have there."

"You mean..?"

"Yeah, I mean..." She nodded with a grin. "Very satisfied, over here..."

He returned the grin and fiddled with her hair before gently caressing her cheek with one finger. "Likewise, love. Always glad to please a lady... especially you." He leaned in and gently pecked her lips. "Only you..."

She chuckled. "So, here's to the first of many."

"I'll vow to that, if the fates are favorable, love..."

She grinned back. "Screw the fates, Killian, when I like, I take..." She blurted, staring into his eyes. "Besides, I could really get used to your particular brand of action..." She touched the tip of his nose. "But then, three hundred years' experience will probably give you that."

He laughed hard and wrinkled his nose. "Not really love. The only things available in Neverland were wild boars and lost boys. Neither too appealing to me; mind you, some of me crew were quite keen on..."

"Wait!" She stopped with a smile, closing her eyes. "Don't ask, don't tell, I really don't want to know..." She opened her eyes again to find one very amused Killian. "So what did you do, all that time? Go without? Take matters into your own hands? Hand, sorry?"

"You are tactless, Swan."

She widened her eyes. "You're blushing!"

"Ah, bloody hell..."

"Come on!" She smiled, amused. "Just where did you get the Jollies for your Roger, Killian?"

He narrowed his eyes. "Wouldn't you like to know..."

"Perhaps I would..." She replied with an impish grin.

He sighed and took his right hand to her hair, tangling it between ringed fingers. "You're a cheeky one, Swan. Not munch unlike a pirate."

"So? How did you do?"

"You relentless little... You won't let up, will you?"

"Nope."

He smiled and laughed softly. "Fine then, love, but then you'll have to come with a good story, one of my particular choosing. Got it?"

She gave him a quick nod. "You have a deal."

He blinked a few times and sighed, bit his lip and closed his eyes. Slowly he opened them and smiled. "Tink."

Emma's eyes and mouth resembled three large dinner plates. "No! You and her...? You did...?"

He felt a slight tickle on his face, a sign of a sudden flush of bashful reddening. "Look, Swan, I'm human, male, definitely aroused with ease and with three hundred years in a place with nothing other than delinquent children and a lunatic wizard, a dejected fairy with no wings is quite an appealing deal. Believe me, she never complained. I don't believe I score too poorly in the arts of love and the bed in the Jolly Roger may have been small but sturdy enough for two, not to mention a bloody sight more comfortable than her meager tree hut."

Emma still felt the shockwaves of that particular revelation. "So that's why..."

"Why what?"

"She gave you those dirty looks, when we saw her in Neverland. You gave her your look! You did say "After all we've been through together!" GOD! Why didn't I see it?" she sneered in mock horror. "Killian, you... screwed Tinkerbell? Sweet... bubbly... green fairy Tinkerbell? For real?"

He winced. "Aye... Repeatedly."

Another gasp. "You didn't! It was more than once?"

"It was three hundred years, love! What did you expect?" He winced again. "Be gentle with your admonishment, Swan, it's been thirty years since the date, after all..."

Emma gave him a playful slap on his right shoulder. "You are an unbelievable, rotten bastard."

"I indeed was. I stress WAS." He winked at her. "You saw me way back when, Emma, you know what I mean."

"And what are you now?"

"Oh, just a man very much in love with a woman." He ran a finger down her cheek.

Emma grinned and playfully licked her lips. "I hope Tink wasn't as besotted for you as I am or you will have majorly broken her heart..."

"No, not really. We had an arrangement; She'd help me land a deal with Pan to get the hell out of the island, and in exchange, I'd take her with me, back to the Enchanted Forest and, for mutual bolster and wellbeing, we'd occasionally indulge in each other's company; it was a rather friendly arrangement." He grunted and sneered. "Although..."

"Although what?"

He stifled a groan and once again flushed as he scratched behind his ear. "I... might have forgotten to take her along with me when I left Neverland." He silenced her gasp with his fingertips. "But, if it makes you feel better, that's all water under the bridge, darling, Tink and I buried that hatchet and are merely good friends and naught should you fear." He playfully grabbed a pillow and hid his face behind it.

Emma grabbed the pillow and lowered it to display his still squinting blue eyes, ready to receive a mocking blow at any second. The vision made her laugh and she shook her head. "If I hadn't seen with my own waking eyes when we fell into Zelena's portal the fact that that fratboy asshole is no longer you, you'd be in trouble now, mister. But for now..." She lowered the pillow and found a pleasantly large smile waiting behind it. "...you are hereby pardoned... you scoundrel."

"A royal pardon!" He raised his eyebrows. "Even the most intractable, obstinate, bounty-hunting pirate would normally have a hard time finding one of those! So help me, highness, a magic bean might be easier to procure."

"Yeah, well, the perks of sleeping with a princess." She winked.

"You..." he leaned forward in that characteristically lecherous and yet delightful style that was so typically his it hurt. "...are corrupt, milady." He lay on top of her, kissing her neck, his rough jaw once again teasing her with its sandy texture.

"No... not corrupt. Just kind of in love with the perp, that's all." She responded by cocking her head back into the pillow as far as she could and wrapping her arms around his neck.

He pulled back and delivered a shocked grin. "Nepotism IS corruption, princess."

She smiled back. "Well, then... pirate, be glad I'm letting you off the hook."

He chuckled. "And I suppose you think you're dead amusing with a pun like that." He shook his head.

She pressed her lips against his. "You love it..." She breezed between kisses. "Don't lie."

"No, but I love you..." He whispered back as she trailed her kisses to his ringed ear.

Emma sighed deep, her heart rate already increasing its pace as his lips dwelled along and around her neck, his tongue leaving small moist trades of curious exploration as he tasted her ivory skin. "Make love to me again, Killian..."

"Music to my ears, my love..." He breathed into her collarbone. "And I am only too pleased to comply and cater to your every whim..." kiss between breasts. "...every desire..." kiss on her belly button. "..and every single wanton wish you might have, you deceiving, beautiful, hussy..." He trailed down... lower and lower. Emma's anticipation grew fiercer and stronger with every rough-edged, raspy peck as they got dangerously and wonderfully close to her pubic bone.

"Alas..." He jumped back up to her face and settled back down, looking cool as a cucumber. "I believe someone owes me a story of her past and won't seduce her way out of it so easily..."

"REALLY?" She whined. "Aw come on, Hook!"

"Oh, we're back to my old moniker now, are we?" He smiled teasingly.

"You can't get me all hot and bothered and just... back off! What kind of a sex partner are you?"

"You know the answer to that already, my love! And precisely because you do, you'll want to tell me your share..." He touched her nose playfully. "Tit for tat, darling, come along now... Story."

Emma bit her lip. "You are just... mean."

"I am not, my love." He caressed her face. "I just really want to know you... more. I want to know where you come from, who you were, why you were... You tell me and I tell you. Isn't that what love is?"

She studied his face much like she had done so many times before, wondering where the hell he got those wonderful lines and that relentless desire for her. She sighed and smiled. "Ok... I tell you one of my stories and you will... you know... Right? That's the deal?"

"I'm a man of my word." He grinned. "Besides, don't think I wouldn't enjoy every single minute of it... after last night I pledge my life to making love to you as per request. But, you do have a debt that requires honoring, Swan." He settled back and placed both arms under the pillow below his head.

Emma smiled at him fully. She had spent nearly two years fighting, chasing and interacting with Killian Jones on a near daily basis. He had been the one to approach her, asking for a kiss... she had been the one to give it. And from that crazy, impulsive instant, the inner turmoil in their hearts had slowly but decidedly grown into deep, deep love. And she had to admit that despite showing his true nature (warm, loving, a true gentleman and a goddamned hero if ever there was one), she still had a sweet tooth for that rough-edged bad boy side of his. The tease was a welcome gesture.

"Now, Swan, since the anecdote was to be of my choosing..." he bit his lower lip. "I'd like to know a little story..."

Emma sighed, closing her eyes.. "You wanna know what it's like to have intercourse with a monkey, don't you?"

"What? No!" He replied promptly, looking sincerely disgusted. "That's rather noisome to even ponder as a mere notion, let alone something I'd want to know in detail regarding the love of my bloody life, Swan!"

The beautiful blonde was relieved. "I honestly thought you wanted to know every sordid detail."

"Seriously, woman, do you want to see me run off to sicken in your lavvies?" He sneered. "I beg of you! Besides..." His demeanor softened. "Whatever sensual activities this... lovely body of yours undertook before I had the pleasure of ..." he ran his hand up and down her waist and ended its course on top of her hip, as he ran his eyes up and down her face. "...courting, seducing and intimating with it..." He ended his discourse with a run of his tongue along his lips. "I decidedly do NOT want to hear of them, not ever."

He knew what he was doing. Emma shuddered at the sight of him licking his lips, his eyes glowing with desire, fire and love.

"Ok, I can't handle this much longer so... ask away."

Killian grinned and sat up on the bed, leaning his back on the headboard and turning to look at Emma as she canoodled at his side, twirling her fingers on his chest hair.

"Do you remember..." he started. "...that time in Neverland, where I told you I knew what it was like to lose hope?"

"That I behaved like a rude brat? Yeah, I remember..."

"Well..." he held her to him. "Tell me of it."

"Of what?"

"Your despair..." He sighed. "I know so little of you in that area, my love... Tell me..." He turned his blue gaze into her green eyes. "What was your lowest point?"

He held her tight, in case she became emotional.

"My lowest point... hmm..." she thought for a few seconds. "I think it would be the day I turned Henry over to the system." She gulped. "I ended up doing what I swore I'd never do: Put a kid through the ordeal of knowing he was given up by the one person who should have always fought for him." She sighed deep. "It took me days to stop crying. Then I left jail and I swear, everywhere I turned I saw moms here and there, all of them holding their babies and I felt... God, it was like fate rubbing my decision in my face." Her expression fell as she allowed herself to be held in his arms, his hook cold and solid on her waist and his right hand mussing the blonde tresses away from her eyes. "At that point I really didn't have the necessary elements to be a mom, so I just wanted to give him his best shot. But I regretted it. Not a day passed when I didn't." She sighed deep. "I abandoned my son and I still had the nerve to complain about being an orphan..." She shook her head and he caressed her golden head.

"Why wouldn't you?"

"I did it to Henry."

"But he was not an Orphan, my love, he had Regina. He might have felt saddened, knowing you gave him up, but he was never alone nor did he ever want for none." He kissed the crown of her head. "Besides, all's well that ends well; had you not done what you did there would have been no way you would have known of the course, your fate or your magic. And..." he raised her face to his with his finger, greeting her with a loving little smile. "...you and I would have never met. This moment, this... perfect instant... wouldn't have been. I'd still be in the Jolly Roger, simmering in anger and plotting the demise of Rumplestiltskin and you would have..." he raised his hand and slumped it gently on the side of the bed. "I don't know..."

"I would have been trying to make ends meet to feed a child and feeling like my life had to have been something entirely different for the rest of my life..." She pressed herself harder against him, relishing in the safety of his loving embrace. "Wow... you're right."

"It was fate, Emma. Nothing else."

She nodded with a happy grin. "Yeah..." She sighed. "Still, growing up in an orphanage and then in a dozen different foster homes is not the kind of life I would have wished for..."

"Being an orphan is truly no fun indeed..." Killian replied softly. "Had it not been for Liam... I'd have starved."

She looked up into his eyes. "Really?"

"Aye..." He nodded. "I was five when my father left me on that harbor. He deceived me, said we were to embark in a hero's journey of the realms. Last time I saw him..." He paused, sighed and licked his lips, the pain of the memory still somewhat fresh whenever summoned. "...he looked at me and told me to always follow the stars, for they would always lead me to shore. He then said he'd be off to buy supplies..." he chuckled. "Longest shopping spree I've ever heard of. He never came back. Just... left me there, a wee boy, to my luck."

"Jesus, Killian, I didn't know this!" she sat up, frowning and surprised. "How did you...?"

"Liam." He grinned and looked at her. "He was ten years older than I... we didn't share mums but he was still a Jones. Alas, my father was a bit of a runaround. When my father abandoned me I was very much alone."

"You didn't have a mom?"

He shook his head. "No love. She passed away birthing me."

"Holy shit. I thought I had it bad." Emma stared with sad, wide eyes at her love. "How did you cope? After your dad left you there, I mean..."

He shrugged. "Scavenging, begging... stealing... starving at times. And then Liam came in. He and I hadn't ever met until that day; his mother had said to him on her deathbed that he had a wee brother by his father and man of good form that he was, he set out to find me." He grinned at the memories. "From thereon, we simply worked together. And one day, we tried to knick some bread from a marvelous ship, called the Jewel of the Realm. We made it to the kitchen but the king's sailors caught us."

"And then?"

"Well, they gave us a choice: Go to prison, or stay and work in the ship and maybe clear our names..." he winked at her. "We chose the latter. Started by cleaning the decks, waxing the helm and planks... then the captain took us both under his wing. I was still too young, but Liam was of right age, so he became a sailor right away. They were good to us. So as we grew, we became men of honor and a fine pair of naval officers trying to clean up our name. He was captain by the time he was thirty... and I made lieutenant at twenty one, the youngest of the realm."

"You never saw your father again?" Emma asked, legitimately curious and now more enthralled in his story than in the sexual buildup of only a few minutes earlier.

Killian side-smiled and huffed. "Not for a long time... My father became a bloody well known pirate and being his sons did not make our lives any easier." He sighed. "I had sworn I'd never turn to my heritage; I'd be a naval officer forever, make something good of my life, find a decent woman, a courtier, perhaps, or a lady, settle down... Hm." He grinned. "After Liam passed away years later due to our king's cowardice, my father's blood came to the surface and boiled. I became a pirate, just like him." He sighed. "Who knows, maybe that way he'd remember he had two boys named Liam and Killian and he'd at least get in touch, maybe feel... proud of me, pathetic as it may be. I had no one then... But one day, out of the bloody blue, along comes my old man. He had a wooden leg by then and was a far cry from the dashing man I remember..." He shrugged. "I rather have his looks; I only pray I don't wind up losing my teeth to abandonment and rum."

"And what happened?" She looked into his eyes.

He shrugged and chuckled a sad chuckle. "Oh not a lot. He tried to take the Jolly Roger from me, made me walk the bloody plank."

Emma gasped, looking shocked. "Your own father!"

"In his defense..." he raised his hand. "He only knew of me as Captain Hook."

"Wait..." Emma counted with her fingers. "I thought you became Hook just before Neverland, which means your father would have been dead by the time you..."

"I didn't leave for Neverland right away, Swan. Took maybe a year. That was all I needed to get my hook brace done and for the wound to heal in its entirety." He shook his head and ran his hand down his face with a huff. "That was a tough year, that. Milah was killed, Rumplestiltskin took my hand, an event in itself which triggered a series of illnesses that I wish on no one... and then I met my father again." He shook his head. "He didn't even recognize his son, when he held a knife to my throat and saw his own image reflected in my eyes. I swear..." He shook his head. "I may be a pirate, but I never play in such bad form."

"Wow, that's a heavy family feud..." Emma licked her lips. "What is his name?"

"Was, love." He drew breath. "He met his undoing under the cannon of one of King George's naval gems. His ship sank deep and his bloody name became legend amongst pirates. Whenever a pirate goes under the water, he joins that old bastard..."

"Wait, wait! " Emma sat all the way up, covering herself with a blanket. "I think I know this!"

"Bloody hell, don't tell me you heard about him here, too!"

Emma swallowed. "It doesn't have anything to do with... the phrase... "Davy Jones's Locker", does it?"

Killian looked into her eyes and leaned his head back on the headboard. "Aye. That was him, love." He shook his head.

"Your father is... Davy Jones?"

"Was. Yes. Mine and Liam's..."

"Holy crap, just when I thought I knew everything there is to know about this fairy tale life, it keeps throwing curves at me..." She ran a hand through her hair. She looked at him again. "So... how did you make it?"

He grinned and raised his handless arm up so Emma could once again settle at his side. Just as she snuggled and he embraced her with his arm, he resumed his tale. "I swam. Crawled back up on the Jolly Roger, put the bastard on a boat and sent him adrift... or not, there was a cluster of islands nearby, I knew he'd make it. But, as I was setting him up on the boat, I said something to him. I said: 'I want you to look at my face real hard, mate... because you forgot this face once... but you won't forget it, ever again. The name of Captain Hook... is Killian Jones. Your son.' And I kicked his raft adrift. He did stare at me in awe as he disappeared into the horizon... And I never saw or heard of him again, that is until I heard his ship had been sunken while I was in Neverland."

There was a silent hiatus where Emma resumed breathing. She eventually broke the silence. "That's... really some story. Wow."

He grinned and turned his face to Emma. "So as you see, my love, I too know a thing or two about... being alone, losing hope..." He smiled at her and touched the dimple of her chin with his index. "Some of us are born to pirate fathers; others are born to a prince and princess..."

"That sucks..." She exhaled, feeling saddened by his tale, leaning on his chest and caressing it lovingly. "Your early life was pretty gothic, Hook."

"Well, it wasn't all bad, Swan, it had its moments..." he perked up. "I'm sure you had yours as well."

"Of course..." she nodded.

"Go on..." He gave her a gentle tug. "What about a little light in the darkness, eh, darling? A nice story, for a change?"

Emma gave him a playful stare. "I sense someone is trying to avoid his side of our bargain..." she sang.

"Not in the least, darling. Just saving the best for last; besides..." He sat up again and accommodated himself so as to scoop Emma into his arms and between his legs, holding her from behind. "I sense we both need to lighten the mood a tad, wouldn't you say so?"

"Couldn't agree more..." she nodded, leaning back into him and feeling oh so good as her bare back made contact with his chest. "Let's see, a good story... Oh, I have one!"

"Pray tell, my sweet."

Emma smiled as she conjured up the feeling of what was one of a few but precious memories.

"When I was thirteen, I saw how yet another little girl was adopted and sent to live with a loving family. I felt like... no one would ever want me. It was Christmas eve..."

"I keep hearing about this... Christmas..." he frowned. "What's it about?"

"Oh, it's a holiday... spiritual connotation to it although that's no longer absolutely pivotal to celebrate it. It's a happy time, a magic time... mostly a time for..."

"Family..." he sighed, completing her sentence. "...which you didn't have."

"Precisely."

"Oh, Emma..." She felt him squeeze her a little.

"Anyway, I felt depressed. I just wanted to die or to disappear. But there was this girl there, her name was Audrey." Emma grinned. "She and I were not really the best of friends, but we respected each other's space. But that afternoon, she came up to me and said, 'I have something for you, Emma, but you have to promise not to tell anyone.'"

"And?"

"We left our beds in the middle of the night and went down to the common room. There was only the lights of a Christmas tree glowing there and... she had sort of, set up a nice little tea set." She chuckled. "We had tea, she and I, and then she handed me something. I was amazed I was getting a gift from her, we never really spoke too much, but... she gave me a handmade doll, from her crafts class." She chuckled. "She said to me that even if I never made it to a home in my earlier years, I would eventually make my own and be just as happy as I should have been as a child." Emma grinned. "We then said we'd be sisters. We both promised to have this... thing, as soon as we were old enough to leave..." She showed him her left wrist where a little flower tattoo sat.

Killian kissed Emma's shoulder and looked at the tattoo. "Sweet child. And what became of her?"

Emma shook her head. "I don't know... A few weeks later, she was adopted. I remained, as always. But I kept my word, I got the tattoo and just soldiered on. It gave me hope... of one day finding that place."

"That's a lovely story, darling..." Killian whispered into her ear.

"You have any happy tales there to share, Captain?"

"Well..." he sank his lips into her neck. "I do know of one particular tail I can make VERY happy..."

Emma laughed aloud. "That is the most unromantic thing I've ever heard, Killian! Although..." she held his black hair clad head with one hand. "That's actually kind of accurate."

"I just call it like it is, love..."

"Come on... one more story." She tilted her head to him. "THEN we get it on!"

"Fine..." He smiled on her skin, making it rise in goose bumps under the touch of his lips. "There was this sister in the hostel I was staying in while my arm healed... She sort of did with me what Dr. Hopper does for people in Storybrooke... she was the one to hear of my woes and laments, my sorrow for Milah, my tears, my feverish delirium... I was really quite ill. The severing of that particular limb brought along a rather fierce infection that had spread through my blood and I was practically licking the reaper's black cloth. I overheard the medic say that I would be dead within hours. I could feel it, too. It was a sweet feeling, when you have endured such a terrible loss, all you can think of is death." Emma reacted by leaning her head back into him. "But then, the good sister held my hand... and she said something that did not quite make any sense then."

"What did she say?"

He pressed his lips tight and grinned. "She said, 'Do not give in to death. Follow your path, wher'er it may lead you, because your fate is far grander than a lowly grave with no name for a drunken, solitary pirate... You will be a hero, and your life will be the fuel to a love legend that will never die.' Next day, I was better... and I never saw that good sister again."

Emma turned her face to him. "Now you're making that up!"

"On the soul of my beloved brother, I am not!"

"That's for real?"

"Aye..." He winked at her. "You can ask Blue..."

"BLUE?" She turned her face to him. "That was her?"

He smiled and nodded. "Yeh... And it took all the time in Neverland and coming back to see what she had meant." He sighed deep. "I still remember that morning..."

"Which morning?"

"When you, Snow, Aurora and your lady friend fighter, Mulan dug me out from that pile of Carcasses."

She laughed softly. "I could tell you were a fraud from a mile."

He nodded. "Aye, that you did, Emma, but what you did not gather was the first thought that flashed across my mind."

"What was that?"

He leaned back and sighed with a self-pleasing smile. "This is her. There will be no one else. Not ever again." He grinned and nodded. "And that's a happy memory love, because that was the first day I ever thought the good sister might have been on to something. I had hope for the first time in many, many years."

She smiled at him and leaned up to deposit a gentle kiss on his lips, turning her body around to lie on top of his, facing him. "Why me?" She shook her head, tucking strands of his hair behind his ear with one finger. "Why me, Killian?"

He looked at her intently and ran his finger down her forehead and nose, to her lips and back to that little dimple which, apparently, he loved to play with. "I have done everything any mortal man could do to be with you, Emma." He looked lovingly into her eyes, the blueness intensified to the point of her loosing herself in them. "There's not a damn, blasted thing I would not do for you. Why? Well, because without even trying, you turned my life around. You gave me a purpose, a reason to choose others over myself, a choice... and a conscience. You, my love..." he placed a gentle kiss on her lips. "...brought the light back into a life of darkness. I can say that, in the two years I have known you, I have truly been blessed with the need to be around you; you are a beacon, my love, a light of hope. My hope... you, Emma, are my savior too. And for that, I give you my all, my heart, my soul..." he raised one eyebrow. "...my body. If, you're still interested in that latter part, after this hiatus, that is..."

Emma's eyes shone with unshed, happy tears. She smiled and caressed his cheek. "That's... the most beautiful thing anyone has ever said to me."

He smiled and did a funny think with his eyebrows (Emma was still trying to figure out if those had a life all their own). "And I'm just getting started, love... We have a whole lot of time to talk. And I don't know about you, lass, but..." he grabbed his hand and wrapped his lips around the tip of each finger, licking and tasting them. "I myself am quite prepared to share and hear more stories of our lives. I truly want this, Swan." He stopped and looked into her eyes, with a grin that spoke volumes of his emotional state. "I love you, Emma..."

She nodded, swallowed, and without previous warning, lunged herself to his lips, hard, strong, like it had been in Neverland, that very first kiss that, as she had foreseen, he was not able to handle without admitting to himself that he was head over heels in love with this woman. She pulled apart to find a very surprised Killian staring back at her. "Then, Killian, I'll take your oath. Now fulfill it."

He laughed that adorably sensual, cackling laughter of his before turning around, to lie on top of her. "What the princess wants, the princess gets..." he tucked his lips into her neck. "Can this peasant ask for one request, though?" He spoke, muffled by her skin.

"You may..." she whispered, her eyes closed and her hands lost amidst an ocean of black tresses.

He shot his bluer than blue eyes to her. "Might you at some point wear a dress like the one you so befittingly sported during our venture in the Enchanted Forest?" He winked at her. "If only in here? That cleavage of yours under that bodice was bloody astounding, would make any buccaneer go mad. I'd rather like to see that again, if only just once..."

Emma laughed and bit her lip. "You are such a pirate..."

He smiled and kissed her collarbone. "For you, I will be anything, Swan..."

She smiled and kissed the top of his head. "Just be yourself. Unbelievably I've quite gotten to like that" She continued to grin tenderly as she toyed with his unruly hair. "I love you, Killian. God only knows why, but I do."

Killian grinned and exhaled. "So... I await your command, my Princess..."

"Very well then, Captain Jones..." she slid under his body, placing herself precisely under the weight of his hips. "Let's set sail..."

"Aye, aye, your highness..." he smiled back as he plunged into this new, unexplored ocean... one he was more than willing to venture into for the rest of his life.

B