I'm gonna marry her anyway

Can I have your daughter for the rest of my life? Say yes, say yes, 'cause I need to know
You say I'll never get your blessing till the day I die
Tough luck my friend, but the answer is no!

Why you gotta be so rude?
Don't you know I'm human too
Why you gotta be so rude
I'm gonna marry her anyway
(Marry that girl) Marry her anyway
(Marry that girl) Yeah no matter what you say
(Marry that girl) And we'll be a family

[Rude - Magic]

If just a year ago, anyone ever told Killian Jones that he would have been asking Rumplestiltskin's permission to do something, he would have called them crazy. But in the meanwhile he had fallen in love with Regina and Regina found out to be the Dark one's daughter, so here he was, nervously standing in front of the pawn shop.

"Hello. I'm here to talk to you, crocodile" he started off, pushing the door open and then closing it again on his back.

Probably not the best start, especially for the choice of the epithet.

The other man didn't seem to notice though and just looked up, while an unfriendly smirk immediately appeared on his lips.

"I though I didn't say 'come in'... Have you heard that?"

Hook just shrugged at the half joke and passed for a moment his only hand on his mouth, thoughtfully. The next moment, a little box was pulled out of his pocket and placed on the counter, right to be seen.

Mr Gold raised an eyebrow a bit confused and slowly took the box, bringing it closer to his eyes. It didn't take a genius to figure out what it was, but still he turned it for some moments in his hands, hesitating in silence before finally opening it. There it was: a golden refined ring with a heart-shaped diamond in the middle. One could never expect such a good taste from a pirate, well he certainly never did.

"I am fluttered, but uninterested"

"It's for Regina" Hook cut him abruptly "I will ask her to marry me tomorrow night"

An invisible weight seemed to be lifted from his shoulders saying those words, and fall instead on the other man's ones. Any possible trace of irony or amusement vanished in an instant and all that was left was a heavy asphyxiating silence.

"You will not" the sorcerer finally said, the intimidating look in his eyes betraying the calmness of the tone used.

The only answer from the former pirate was a laugh.

"Oh, but I didn't come here for your permission"

"Then, what is the reason why I am honored of your presence?"

"Just to let you know... I'm making you a favor actually"

Gold slowly nodded, while the usual smirk, now more evil than before, was again on his face, as to anticipate his next movement. In fact, in a sudden twitch, he came out from behind the counter and came face to face with the unwelcomed and uninvited guest. The cane raised in his hand wasn't making the situation more friendly.

"I'll make you a favor as well... Stay away from my daughter or I will finish what I should have finished a long time ago and..."

Hook raised defiantly his look, not hesitating much before interrupting that threatening hiss.

"And what?" he asked, taking one more step toward his long time enemy "Will you kill me? Will you take my heart and crush it... Like you did with Mila, like it happened to Daniel"

At the mention of his daughter's first love, the sorcerer winced as a flash of the events liked to his tragic death played in his mind. Almost immediately he let down his cane and in that exact moment, he knew that he had lost. He could never end up like Cora: he would have ruined his already slim chances to win Regina's affection and never been able to forgive himself. No, he could never be the one to destroy her happiness, not even if that happiness seemed to be Captain Hook.

"I love Regina" the Captain continued, his voice softening a bit at the blunt confession "And we will get married and be happy together, as happy as Villains can possibly be... Either that you want it or not"

Gold closed his eyes as to make those unbearable words stop. He couldn't kill him, but he could still menace and fight him.

"I just want to protect her!" he exclaimed, in a sudden urge to defend himself and the only way he knew to do that was changing the subject of accusation "You are a mean careless pirate unable to love... I can't let you anywhere near Regina... She is already hurt and broken without your intervention"

"Exactly!" Hook quickly exclaimed with a hinted of irony "She is already broken... And guess whose fault is it? You and her mother had destroyed her since she was born, pushing her into your twisted plans..."

It was the captain's turn to threat now and the weapon raised up in the air was the hook instead of the cane. Rumplestiltskin swallowed hard and finally took a step back, silently admitting his failure. Because that was the truth after all: strangely as it seemed and painful as it sounded to him, every action of the pirate had just proved so far his love for Regina.

He himself had been the one to destroy her, the pirate was just trying to fix her.

"I'm not asking you the permission to marry her, I'm asking you to let us be and don't interfere with our happiness... Or I guarantee you that you won't have a place in Regina's life..."

That was the worst thing that Killian could have said and he knew that. As predictable, as the words followed each other out of the Captain's mouth, sense of guilt and despair slowly replaced completely anger on Rumplestilskin's face.

Because there was one thing only that could break the infamous Dark One and that thing was family.

Hook took that reaction as an agreement and finally stepped back as well, deciding that moment as the best to leave. And so he did, with a simple last glance but no goodbye.

And Mr Gold followed him after some moments, but only to reach the door and change the sign from "open" to "closed". In the dark and silence, the real quarrel for him began, the quarrel with his demons, his mistakes and his sense of guilt and all that was left to fight was the sudden unusual urge to cry.

Killian Jones was nervous, strangely, unusually, desperately nervous. It was funny to discover now that the unfriendly talk with the crocodile had been the easiest part. He had not prepared something extremely romantic or sweet, but still that little but of romance he had planned was making him feel nervous. Just a dinner out at the port, the ring he had carefully chosen and a short but intense speech he had repeated almost constantly for the last week in his mind.

Nevertheless, as soon as he looked at her making her way to him in the darkness, also those words vanished. She was simply stunning in her silken blue dress, but that was not the reason of his sudden loss of words. He was because now they sounded almost fake.

"Hello... Can you explain me why on Earth you made me come here?"

That was how she greeted him, her arms crossed to her chest and an annoyed expression on her face. The image made him smile immediately, and shake his head. He could have told her that she was his true love, that he wanted to make her happy and wash away her sorrows or maybe even some crappy things like I will always find you. But still Hook didn't say any of that and just kept on smiling, actually smirking.

Because he would have meant every single word and sweet act, but it just wasn't like them.

"Oh sorry, your Majesty, I just wanted to ask you to marry me" he replied almost nonchalantly.

Regina's first reaction was to widen her eyes in confusion and surprise, but then disbelief won over and she just chuckled a bit amused.

"Very funny... But stop joking, Captain"

Killian just shrugged and suddenly kneeled down in front of her, showing the little opened box he had in his only hand.

"If it is a joke, I can assure you it is a quite expensive one" he finally said after some moments, smiling again.

And there it was the proposal, in the possible most unromantic way but nevertheless in the most Regina-Killian way.

Her eyes widened again at the sight and the chuckle soon faded and turned into tears; she silently cried for a little while, refusing to say a single word.

"I know the idea of the heart in the middle is hideous... I've been thinking about an apple but they didn't have it..." he said, still on his knees "Anyway considering your past as heart-breaker, I think it could still be proper... Try not to break this one though..."

That umpteenth joke had the wanted effect. Her tears soon stopped, as she rolled her eyes and sighed almost in exasperation.

"No need to be sorry... I always knew you have a bad taste..." she replied with a little smirk, finally recovering from the shock of the moment.

"Especially for women I may say..." he added, pushing it a little bit forward.

And that was when the romance officially went to hell.

And that was when Killian decided to completely call it in.

"I love fighting with you, but I would ask for a truce now..." he started, shifting uncomfortable in his current position "I could say a lot of things right now to convince you to marry me, but I will only tell you this: I love you. I can't promise you a happy ending, but if you give me a chance what I can promise you is a new once upon a time. So, my queen, my love, will you marry me?"

Tears started to fall from Regina's eyes again but this time a big sincere smile was also on her face. She said nothing, but just showed him her hand, that he was quick to take to put the ring on her finger. Then, still smiling widely she moved her hand to his arm to help him stand up. Once he was right in front of her, she pulled him in for a long passionate and loving kiss that could express all that words couldn't.

"Now Rumple will kill you for real..." she suddenly whispered with a glimpse of pure amusement in her eyes.

Hook simply smiled knowingly and placed another kiss on her full lips.

"Trust me... He won't"

From a certain distance two people were watching carefully the scene; Killian and Regina were just two moving figures to their eyes, it wasn't possible to understand the words, but the big smile on the mayor's face and the way they were embracing lovingly each other was unmistakable. The reaction of the two observers was different though: the young woman was almost close to tears of joy, but her husband didn't seem as pleased.

"What are you so happy about?" he asked, sounding a bit annoyed.

Hearing that question, Belle gave a last glance to the couple, then slowly turned her head to look at him.

"It's not me. They are so happy, maybe they can finally get their happy ending..." she simply answered with a soft smile.

Mr Gold slightly shook his head and sighed clearly skeptical about it.

"Do you really think that? We are talking about Captain Hook!"

"Yes, and about the Evil Queen" she quickly added with a trace of amusement in her voice.

Slowly, she approached him more and let their arms interlace in a loving gesture. They remained like that in silence for a while, until the two figures they were watching started to walk, heading to the captain's ship. Only then Gold sighed again and finally spoke.

"I just want to protect her now... I have done so wrong and now I just..." he tried to say, even if expressing what he felt turned out to be very difficult.

It didn't matter a lot though, because Belle had learnt to understand him anyway, or better, to read him literally like an open book.

"I know Rumple, I know" she interrupted him with a gentle smile "But the best you can do is let them be... She would never forgive you if you don't"

He sighed again and slightly nodded. His eyes were once again on the port, but this time his face showed more determination than rage or despair.

"He'd better take care of her, or my cane will take care of him"

Belle stared at him with a raised eyebrow for some seconds, but then, contrary to all the expectations as a reaction to that evident threat, she just chuckled and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

Because after all, the implicit meaning of that scary sentence was that he was starting to accept the thing. And hopefully, finally bury the hatchet.

I was listening to Rude by Magic and immediately got this idea! I've written it during the breakes between lessons at the University and the travels by bus... I confess that I reall would have liked a dinamic like this: Hooked Queen and Regina and Rumple as daughter and father! I hope you enojey it as much as I enojoyed writing it! See you soon, hopefully ;)