ofswansandcaptains's 2014 Christmas Presents [4/4]
You asked for little!Killian and little!Emma getting married. I had great pleasure delivering.
They are four when they meet for the first time.
He is sitting at the edge of the sandbox, clearly miserable, digging a pointless hole and throwing the sand whichever way, moping over the fact that Liam went off with his skateboard and that he still doesn't have one because, supposedly, he's not bloody old enough.
The fourth scoop of sand he carelessly throws behind himself brings a very offended, and quite brassed off, 'Hey!'. Next thing he knows a little blonde with her braids flying wildly around her is in his face, jabbing her finger in his chest and demanding to know what was he thinking, throwing dirt at people!
If Killian Jones has been taught one thing by his big brother and his mum, it's how to be a gentleman thus the sputter of apologies that follows the girl's outburst. He almost reaches out to brush away some of the sand that is still in her hair but then thinks better of it, drawing his hand back and eyeing her carefully.
For her part, Emma Nolan gives him a quick once-over, making Killian squirm uncomfortably under her green eyes that are noting the fact that he is alone, very much bored and very much not throwing dirt at people just for the fun of it.
"I'm Emma," is all he gets as an indication that he is apparently out of the doghouse he accidently got himself into as the blonde plops down next to him, eyeing his pathetic looking hole for all of five seconds before declaring that they are climbing the nearby tree and heading there without waiting to see if he will follow.
He does.
/
They are five when he gets a bike for his birthday.
He is a quick learner and after two weeks under Liam's pseudo-exasperated tutoring he is already whisking past her house at what seems to him lightening speed, calling out her name and taunting her to come and catch him, if she can.
She resists the temptation for about fifteen minutes (twenty, if Mary-Margaret has just made hot chocolate) before getting outside with her most bored expression on. It's already too late. He knows Emma Nolan never turns down a challenge.
He spends the next half an hour showing off, riding up and down the otherwise deserted street like a freaking peacock on a freaking bicycle (which he has named the Jolly Roger of all things because, to quote Emma, he is an idiot obsessed with Peter Pan and yes, the kid is a pain in the ass but Captain Hook is not that cool either). She alternates between running after him, sitting on the curb with her chin resting on her little palm and throwing fallen chestnuts at him (one gets him right in the forehead and he pretends to be unaffected even as his bike swivels and misses the trashcan to his left by a millimeter).
Half an hour is the best he can ever do. The next two hours are dedicated to teaching Emma how to ride his bike, not being all that successful in avoiding trashcans and sighing dramatically over her dying swan imitations (the nickname sticks and she pretends to hate it about as well as he pretends that he's never letting her ride his bike again).
Mary and David get her a bike a month later and Emma rides it like a pro from day one.
/
They are six when he has to have his tonsils removed.
He spends 42 minutes in surgery. She times it, sitting in her uncomfortable plastic chair the whole time, back straight and hands clenched in front of her. Her parents are beside themselves, repeating over and over how Emma hasn't sat still for more than five minutes unless asleep since she was an year old. She would roll her eyes at them, if she wasn't too busy worrying about the fact that Dr Whale is currently in there somewhere doing god knows what to Killian (she can suddenly recall with perfect clarity that day they scratched Whale's new car – totally by accident!).
He spends 2 days in the hospital. The first day the nurse doesn't want to let her inside his room because she is not his sister or anything. When Emma, her most serious face on, tells her that they're going to get married and have babies and go to Disneyland for all their anniversaries, the woman doesn't even crack a smile, just rolls her eyes with a 'sure, honey' and a 'you still gotta wait for his parents'. When his mom comes back she does laugh at Emma's indignant explanations and the blonde is left with a deep wrinkle between her brows, not understanding why nobody is taking her seriously (her and Killian have planned everything in great detail and she is pretty sure they know what they will do with their guest bedroom better than her parents do). The second day nobody stops her when she makes to run into his room and she is not yet mature enough to resists turning back at the door and sticking out her tongue at the stupid nurse watching her with narrowed eyes.
He spends 12 days at home, confined to his bedroom. They play cards and Hang man and Monopoly and every other thing that she can come up with that doesn't require him talking. They watch 14 Disney movies and she resists eating popcorn 13 times because he can't have any (he falls asleep around the middle of Beauty and the Beast and she takes full advantage of it).
On the 13th day he is allowed to play in the backyard and she comes over with a couple of wooden swords and wraps a blue and yellow scarf around his neck.
/
They are seven when they get married for the first time.
It's been two months since Killian's stay in the hospital and Emma has shared every bit of her experiences with the nursing staff and their own parents with him and they have concluded that people just refuse to take them and their carefully thought-out plans seriously (all she received from her parents were a couple of chuckles, an 'awww' sound from her mother that almost made her cringe and a 'you better not or he'll be missing more than a couple of tonsils!' from her father).
Killian and Emma have both always preferred actions to words anyway (according to their mothers that's the very reason why they are always in trouble).
So on a fresh Friday evening in the middle of May Emma sneaks out to leave two of the four handmade invites her and Killian worked on all day. They decided that they wanted a small wedding – just family. Well, actually, they wanted to invite every single person they knew but they had almost ran out of yellow crayon by the time they were done with the third invite (which was, of course, when Killian declared it stupid that they had painted the whole pages yellow before putting the text in blue when they could have just left them white as they were – boys! they weren't even married yet and he was driving her crazy!). So, due to shortage in stationary, it was going to be just her parents, his mum and Liam.
When David and Mary 'receive' their invites, she doesn't get what's so funny about the way Killian has written marrige (he actually has a rather pretty handwriting – for a boy) and why wouldn't she announce it as the wedding of Captan Killian Jones and Warrior Princes Emma Nolan? It's what they always play at! But she is willing to let her parents' display of bad taste slide since they come up to her room 10 minutes later to tell her that they'd love to come and ask whether there's a dress code and a register for presents with those huge grins of theirs. Now that's the attitude Emma is looking for! Yes, as a matter of fact, she and Killian have their eyes on that one awesome trampoline.
Her parents don't get them the trampoline and neither does Killian's mom but Liam gets them a world map with all the Disneyland parks marked on it with big red crosses and their parents bring the ice-cream cake for the reception after the ceremony so they are pretty satisfied. Killian tells her that it's not about the presents anyway and does that cute thing where he ducks his head and scratches the spot behind his ear and she just rocks on her heels (which are not real high heels, despite the lies her mother has been selling her) and grins at him as her long white dress swishes around her (which is waaay too long actually because it's Mary-Margaret's - but how was she supposed to know when it barely comes below the knee when her mother wears it?!), her straps keep sliding off her shoulders and she's blushing and that's when Liam yells for them to get their annoying little asses out there(and is immediately hushed by all of the adults because 'language, Liam' and have they never actually heard of TV?!).
Liam gets a couple more 'language, Liam's during the ceremony.
Emma vows to always tell Killian when he has mustard on his t-shirt and to re-watch Peter Pan with him even when they have just seen it and to go to Disneyland for their first anniversary and to never cook bologna for dinner and to let him play the sheriff and be the deputy herself at least once a week.
He vows to always make her hot chocolate before dinner even if it spoils her appetite and to always brush her hair when she's too lazy to do it herself and to never tell anyone that she still sleeps with the plushy duckling he gave her and to always carry her books even when she tells him that she can do it herself and that he's an idiot and to let her name their first kid as long as it's not Peter.
They both think it's super weird for a guy to wear a ring so the only ring that comes into play is a plastic one with a big blue stone on it for which Killian got sick on chocolate eggs two times yesterday before finally finding one with a ring inside it (she still doesn't get why he actually had to eat all of them after opening them and what did 'it's a question of honour, Swan' even mean?!)
They wipe their mouths right after pecking each other on the lips because they have to make it official but kissing is weird.
/
They are eight when their parents take them to Disneyland for their anniversary.
It is made crystal clear that's the present for both of their birthdays and they know they would have gone willingly even if it cost them Christmas too.
/
They are twenty-four when they get married for the second time.
It's the middle of May and according to their wedding planner their invites are tuscan sun in colour with royal blue inscriptions in Pirate Island font.
Their invites are fucking yellow with blue writing on them (like they were 17 years ago) in a font Killian chose because of its fucking name (her ridiculous dork) and got her full support on his method and Emma is this close to firing the she-devil and what kind of a company name is Planned Apples anyway?
Liam gets them a bloody trampoline and Killian can't decide whether strangling his brother is worth having to look for a new best man in the last minute. Emma tells him that it's not about the presents anyway, rocking on her 4-inch heels, soft silk brushing her ankles, and does that adorable thing where she bites her bottom lip and looks at him from under her lashes and all coherent thoughts leave him, nothing but the feeling of falling and flying at the same time and Emma, Emma, Emma.
The ring that she has never once taken off in the last 17 years is her something old and something blue even if the blue is all but chipped away from following them through all of their adventures since the time they were stepping on overturned crates in front of Liam who had borrowed one of David's coats that almost made him look like a real mini-sized priest.
Emma says that she has kept her vows quite well, thank you very much, and is met with five secretive smiles (even if all she sees is his) and all she wants to add is that she would never let him do anything alone even if he decided to sulk in a corner, digging holes and throwing dirt at people. That gets her another secretive smile (it's his).
He says that he's still not letting her name their kid Peter even if that last version they saw on TV last week was pretty good and all he wants to add is that he would follow her everywhere even if she decided to climb a huge ass tree that had a huge ass eagle in its branches ('For Heaven's sake, Killian, it wasn't a goddamn eagle!')
They exchange rings and keep it a secret that they got sick on chocolate eggs the previous night just for the hell of it (because when they offered the jeweler to pay him in that currency he almost threw them out on their asses).
They kiss long enough that her father clears his throat and his brother whistles merrily.
Everyone cheers when they are pronounced husband and wife and they just look at each other, shrugging a little because they have been married for 17 bloody years. And they are looking forward to the next 17, and the next 17, and the next, and all the Disneyland visits inbetween.