Epilogue

Ten years later

"Take this and this and this!"

His daughter was hacking away at the scarecrow attached to the mast with her wooden sword, her long hair braided, a big black hat sitting askew on her head, a hat that was constantly slipping over one of her eyes, and of course she was clad all in leather. What was actually his fault, since he had never been able to wear anything else than leather if it wasn't necessary.

When Caitlin had requested leather pants because she wanted to wear the same clothes as her father for the first time Emma had tried to talk her out of it, but Caitlin had been stubborn like her mother, and insisted. Emma hadn't had a chance when Caitlin had turned on her charm, and he grinned when he remembered all the conversations they had had about the fact that their daughter was so much like him with her blue eyes and dark hair, and the exact same smile adorning her face whenever she wanted something.

"Up!" He looked down to his little son who had his leather pants in a tight grip so that he wouldn't stumble, pumping up and down on wobbly legs. "Daddy, up! Up!"

"Come here, you little rascal."

Liam squealed with delight when Killian leaned down and pulled him into his arms, one hand grabbing the collar of his leather coat while he bent forward and wrapped his little fingers around one spoke. "Me Captain!"

"Aye, Liam. You are the captain."

Killian let him rattle at the helm for a little while, knowing he would lose interest very soon, and a few minutes later he already writhed in his arms. "Down, daddy. Down."

The moment Killian put him back on the deck, he stumbled down the steps, almost landing face first on the deck but gaining balance at the last moment and running towards his sister.

"Cat, play." He said, tucking at the sleeve of her leather coat, and Caitlin rolled her eyes, the way her mother always did, and Killian chuckled as he watched her crouch down to be on eyelevel with her little brother.

"You are annoying, Liam."

"Cat, Cat, Cat." He screamed.

"Caaaaaiiiitttlllin." She said, pronouncing her name carefully. To no avail.

"Cat, Cat, Cat."

She let out a sigh Killian could hear loud and clear before she grabbed her brother's hand and pulled him towards a huge pile of cloth on the other side of the ship. "Let's make another scarecrow. One for you, shall we?"

"Yes, yes, yes."

Suddenly Killian heard the hatch open and turned to watch his wife climb up from the captain's quarter, stretching herself and tilting her head towards the sun.

"Feeling better now." He said softly, and she stepped closer, snuggling against his side.

"Hmmm, hmmm."

"You know this is going to be your last journey with me for a while again."

She stiffened in his arms for a moment, a soft sigh slipping over her lips before she leaned back to look up at him. "I can't hide anything from you, can I?"

"We are married eight years now, love. You haven't had your monthlies for three months."

"I wanted to tell you tonight." She said, wrapping her arms around his waist and hugging him tightly.

"It will get lonely without all of you." Killian told her. "I enjoyed having you with me every few months."

"You can still take Caitlin with you. She is old enough now, and you know she won't give up her time on the Jolly Roger only because her mother is pregnant."

"Probably not."

He had given up his pirating ways, but he couldn't part from his ship, and Emma hadn't wanted him to. She had told him the ship is a part of him, and she didn't want him to give it up for her. Now he was sailing as an honest tradesman, and his family was accompanying him on as many journeys as possible.

"Liam won't like it."

"I know." Emma replied. "But you know him. The moment the sails are out of his sight he will find something else to occupy his mind. Like plowing up the whole garden because a certain someone had told him there might be a treasure hidden somewhere."

"Interesting. Who do you think this certain someone was?"

He chuckled when the back of her hand smacked against his chest, and her body leaned away from him so that he could see her rolling her eyes.

"Killian Jones, don't look so innocent. You know I can see right through you. And ... your son ratted you out."

"Pity!" Killian grinned down at her. "Maybe he will find something one day."

"He will become a pirate one day if you keep putting these ideas in his head."

"No, he won't." Killian shook his head and lifted his hand to cradle her face. "There is too much of his grandfather in him. He adores your father. He is already following him everywhere."

"I know." Emma replied, tilting her head into his touch.

"He will reign over the kingdom one day."

"Yes, he will." Emma stepped back and leaned against the helm, looking over the deck. "But I hope he will treasure the Jolly Roger as well. After all, one day it will belong to him."

"He already claims to be the captain." Killian chuckled.

"If Cait doesn't pull her out from under his nose."

"Maybe she becomes the pirate."

"No, I think she will end up twisting every male occupant of the castle around her little finger when she gets older. She has your looks, and your charm."

"And she is as stubborn and cunning as her mother."

"I am not cunning."

"You escaped the castle to enjoy a few weeks of freedom, and seduced an innocent ship's captain."

"Innocent?" Emma huffed. "You were the dreaded Captain Hook. There was absolutely nothing innocent about you."

"And you seemed to have relished in my innocence very much." He replied and wiggled his eyebrows at her.

"Yes, still relishing in it." She said, her lips curling up into a grin. "Obviously. Since the third one is on the way."

"Aye." He replied, pulling her back into his arms, and she twisted until her back was against his chest, his arms wrapped firmly around her. His fingers were skimming over her stomach as they both watched their children race back and forth over the deck.

"I love you." She whispered, suddenly feeling tears pricking the back of her eyes.

Maybe it was due to the pregnancy that she was feeling so emotional all of a sudden, or maybe it was because of the man behind her. But she realized once again how lucky she had been that she had found him.

"And I love you."

Emma leaned back and tilted her head, already feeling sleepy again. The ship was rocking softly under their feet, their children's squeals of delight were echoing over the deck, and the sun was warming her skin while she was wrapped up in her husband's embrace.

She was happy. Perfectly happy.

Ten years ago she had fled the castle to go on an adventure, stumbling over an insanely handsome man on her journey. It was supposed to be only a nightcap, one night of adventure with a notorious pirate. A notorious pirate she was married to now, carrying their third child, and she regretted absolutely nothing.

She had found the love of her life.

She had found her happy ending.

The End

Thank you all so much for joining me on this journey. It was one of those stories that was supposed to be only a one-shot but evolved into this short novel. :-)

I wish you all a great season. It already looks very promising for us after two episodes. We can look forward to a lot of flailing and screaming, and some angst will be thrown into the mix too of course, and it's going to be glorious.

I hope you enjoyed this little story, and maybe we will see each other again at one of my other stories.

Smoochies! :-)