Author's Note: I cannot get over how awesome you all consistently are. Thanks for being such great readers, and thanks for following along on this little wacky hijinky family bonding Captain Swan tale. (How many other categories can I fit in there? ;)) I hope you've had as much fun with this story as I have!

Ice cream was clearly going to become Killian's newest little obsession, so much so that Emma had to actively talk him out of ordering a second sundae. Not one to go down without a fight, he gave her the second best rendition of Puppy Dog Eyes she'd ever seen. (Henry's remained the first.)

"Why can't we get seconds?" he asked through an actual pout.

"You'll spoil your lunch," Emma replied, her tone making it clear that the subject was closed.

Henry snorted in amusement. "Uh oh, Killian. She just broke out the mom voice on you."

"This 'mom voice' doesn't scare me, lad," the pirate teased. Emma simply arched an eyebrow at him in response. That made him gulp. "That no-nonsense look in your mother's eyes, however … that does."

Emma smiled to herself while giving Killian a curt nod. Damn right he should fear her no-nonsense look.

After their to-go order was delivered and everything was paid for, the three of them piled back into Emma's Bug for the return to the apartment. "Thanks for the ice cream, Mom," Henry said as he buckled his seat belt.

"Yes, love, thank you for the ice cream," Killian added as Emma buckled her own seat belt and turned the key in the ignition. "I had no idea such a delectable dessert existed."

"Seriously?" Emma turned an incredulous look on the pirate. "It's just ice cream."

"It's not 'just' anything, darling. It's ambrosia."

Emma heard Henry stifle a snicker. When she arched an eyebrow at her pirate, he winked at her. She stifled her own snicker; it seemed Killian was playing up of his new-found attachment to ice cream, probably just to drive her crazy. Sighing, she piloted the car into the flow of traffic. "In that case, you're both welcome. Just remember, not a word of it to Snow or David."

Henry made a zipping motion across his lips. After a beat, Killian teasingly did the same.

Emma bit her lower lip to hide her amused grin. The man was impossible.

The ride back to the apartment was quiet, so quiet in fact that Emma could hear Henry's stomach rumbling from the back seat. She should have known that one ice cream sundae was not at all enough to spoil a twelve-year-old boy's appetite for lunch. The delicious aroma of the food wafting through the car didn't help; one ice cream sundae was enough to spoil her appetite, but her stomach was growling as well.

Soon enough, Emma pulled into her parking space and everyone once again climbed out of the car. As she led the way into the building and up the staircase to the apartment, she hoped against hope that her brother had indeed calmed down for her poor parents.

The absence of baby screams as Emma approached the door made her let out a breath of relief. She turned her key in the deadbolt and pushed the door open slowly. The last thing she needed was to wake the little squirt up again.

All her careful entrance was for naught; her baby brother was awake and apparently as hungry as the rest of the family. He was settled in David's arms and in the midst of hungrily sucking down a bottle. Snow was moving around the kitchen, pulling plates and glasses down from the cabinet to set the table for the family's meal.

"We're back," Emma said a little unnecessarily as she pushed the door open fully and stepped over the threshold.

David looked up and smiled at his returning family members. Snow grinned a welcome as well, stepping forward to greet them. "Oh, that smells so good," she said as she took the takeout bag from Emma's hand. "Thank you for picking this up."

"You must be hungry, Gramma," Henry chuckled. "It smells like French fries."

"Hey, don't knock the smell of French fries, kid," Emma laughed, nudging her son's shoulder.

"I'm not, believe me."

And she did. Food was serious business to a twelve-year-old boy.

She shrugged off her jacket only to have Killian slip it from her hand to hang it up for her. She smiled at him and then refocused her attention on her mother. The slump of Snow's shoulders told Emma that she was exhausted and that even the simple act of setting the table required more energy than she really had at the moment.

Emma remembered that exhaustion, that bone-weariness of caring for a newborn. She didn't actually experience it, but she remembered it. That fact made her brain hurt, by the way. Still the sympathy for her exhausted parents caused an ache in her chest and made her feel a need to help them in any way she could. "You don't have to set the table, you know," she said to Snow. "We can do it."

"Nonsense, Emma, the three of you just brought back lunch. Setting the table is no trouble."

All right, apparently Emma needed to make it clearer than she wasn't giving her mother the choice. "It's no trouble for me, either."

With a wave of Emma's hand, the dishes disappeared from the counter and reappeared on the table, one in each place. A second wave of her hand distributed the glasses in the exact same fashion. A shroud of tiredness had descended on her during the poofing of the glasses but she tried not to let it show. The rest of the utensils and napkins were going to have to go on the table the old-fashioned way, it seemed. "Now," she said, smiling smugly at her parents, "who wants what to drink?"

Henry grinned as he began setting out the food now that the dishes were in place. Killian rested his hand on the small of Emma's back and met her gaze, silently asking if she was all right. She nodded at him with a small smile, letting him know when she was fine.

She could tell that he didn't quite believe her but he took her at her silent word and, after smiling back at her, stepped over to the table to help Henry distribute the food and get the drinks poured. Emma tried to step forward to help them but the tiredness demanded she stay still a moment or two longer.

Snow and David exchanged a glance. Emma still hadn't been figured out their silent language but they must have decided something together because David stood and set a sleepy Neal, now with a full belly, back in the bassinet, which they'd shifted over to the kitchen table. Then he and Snow approached their baby girl at the same time.

Their actions couldn't have been any more synchronized if they'd choreographed it. They both wrapped Emma in a hug. "Thank you for taking care of us," David murmured softly, "but it's our job to take care of you, too."

At first, Emma was surprised by the contact but her father's words stirred something deep within her, something she hadn't felt in a long time, something she'd given up hope she would ever have. She had people to take care of her now. She relaxed into the embrace, squeezing her parents back as if she were a little girl holding onto mommy and daddy.

"We love you, sweetheart," Snow whispered into her ear.

Emma had waited so long to hear those words, so long for those words to actually mean something. And now that she had them, she did not want to let them go. She tightened her arms around her parents and squeezed her eyes shut against the tears that had leaped into her eyes. "I love you, too," she whispered back.

And she did. She really, really did.

They stood in the hug a moment longer before Emma pulled away, remembering that Killian and Henry were still in the room. Snow and David – no, Mom and Dad – smiled at her, and David ran his thumb along her cheek. "Let's eat, hmm?"

Emma smiled back gratefully as she nodded her agreement. The three of them separated then, Snow sitting down at the table and David grabbing the napkins to distribute. As soon as her parents were seated, Killian stepped up to her, once again placing his hand on the small of her back. "You all right, love?"

Oh, she was totally all right. So all right and high on emotion and full of happiness that she raised herself on her toes and pressed her lips against her pirate's. He stiffened in surprise, just as she knew she'd done when her parents had wrapped her in that hug, but just as she'd relaxed into the hug, he soon relaxed into the kiss. He pressed his lips back against hers and brought his hand up to run his fingers through her hair.

He was the one who pulled away this time, keenly aware of her parents and son sitting at the table and most probably watching them. She grinned at him and finally answered his question as to her well-being with one of her own. "What do you think?"

Killian smirked at her. "I guess you're doing all right."

Damn straight she was. At the confirmation that she was okay, Killian crossed the room to the table, sat down, and teased Henry about stealing all the spilled fries at the bottom of the takeout bag before anyone could say anything about that very public display of affection.

Emma hung back for a moment and just watched them. Her son, her mom and dad, her baby brother, her pirate-turned-hero. David still had a fatherly glare turned on Killian, probably due to the kiss, but Killian didn't seem to be worried about it at all. Instead, he played right back with him, giving him little smirks every now and again. Neal was sleeping comfortably in the bassinet, Henry was beaming, surrounded by the love and comfort, and Snow was taking it all in from her spot at the table as well.

Warmth began to flow through Emma, warmth not caused by magic.

Or maybe this warmth does come from magic, Emma thought. Not her internal magic but a different kind of magic, the kind that came from being surrounded by the people one loved and the kind that came from finally finding one's place in the world. The kind of magic that came from finally finding the place Emma could truly call home and the people she could truly call family.