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Emma took in the scene around her, hardly able to believe they were finally having a moment like this. Sitting on the dark couches she had picked out, in the house by the sea that he had chosen, and they were watching Netflix.
"Swan, this show really is just unbelievable." He gestured with his hook to the television. "To think, all this time, the world believes that Peter Pan was a hero, and I-" he pauses, taking a moment to watch the Captain Hook on screen whining about the crocodile to Smee, "A cowardly, childish, hideous villain! They even got the crocodile in there but somehow changed all the information. Explain that to me Swan."
He turned to look at her for the first time in his rant, only to see a huge grin on her face. He moved his arm from around her neck and picked up a handful of popcorn.
"Killian-" she started, but he had thrown it at her before she could even finish. Her mouth dropped in surprise and laughter as she took the rest of the bowl and dumped it in his lap.
He growled at her with his eyes and Emma jumped up off the couch to run, dashing through the hallways of the house her and Killian finally shared together. He jumped out at her, having come the other way around into the kitchen, and pushed her against the wall, arms on either side of her head.
"Any last words, villain?" He asked her playfully, already biting his lips in anticipation of a kiss. She absentmindedly toyed the ring Killian had given her, still around her neck, sliding her finger around the delicate designs, the other hand on his chest. She found herself touching the ring to settle herself. Her pirate was home, he is a survivor.
"I love you." She smiled, even though it was still hard to say those words. Knowing all the times she had said them as a goodbye, and all the times she should have said them before, hung over them every time she said them now.
"And I, you." He grinned each moment she told him she loved him. He leaned down and touched his lips to hers as a thousand little stars danced all over her body.
...............
"We're going to need to find a weapon against The Evil Queen," her dad said to her as she bit into a grilled cheese half, the leather of Killian's jacket rubbing against her wrist as she moved. He told her to wear it to help her feel close to him after several nights of nightmares.
"Obviously," Regina said, her heels clicking the floor as she paced the sheriff's office, "the only question is what is going to hurt her?"
"And what will happen to you in result of that," her mother, Snow White (a fact that was still hard for her to believe), said as she leaned against the desk Emma was sitting at and stole a French fry.
"Exactly," Regina said again, still pacing the floor. "Just because we separated and I crushed her heart, doesn't mean I can survive if we actually get rid of her."
"Until she's taken care of she's a danger to all of us," her dad added. Emma's hand immediately shot to the ring that never left her neck. She didn't even seem to notice the movement as she stared into space, contemplating their dire situation. It had to be one of the worst situations they have been in, which was saying something.
Her fingers twirled over the ring, rubbing the stone keeping her heart from racing. She was distracted from the conversation, it became a low hum in the background as she chanted a mantra in her head: "He's safe. He's a survivor. He's here. He's safe. He's a survivor. He's here."
It was several moments before she realized everyone in the room was staring at her. The look of pity in her mothers eyes made her stand up, dropping the ring.
She walked out of the sheriffs office, mumbling a quick "Gonna get some air."
It only took a few moments for her dad to follow her outside.
"Emma-" he started.
"Don't. Can we not do this please?" She really didn't want to have this conversation. "I really don't want to have this conversation."
"Emma, your mother and I have spent our whole lives finding each other."
"I know that, but-"
"But that means we had to lose each other over and over too. To death. To curses. To villains. To our own stupidity-" he chuckles at a distant memory, "for every happy moment there is one of complete heartbreak."
"What's your point? That even if I lose Hook again, I'll find him? That you guys found your happy ending and we will too?"
"No Emma. My point is," he reached out for her, putting a hand on either shoulder. "That we still have nightmares. We still feel the pain of all those losses, and we mourn them together. I will never forget how it felt to be ripped apart each time I wanted to hold your mother and she wasn't there because of our circumstances." He looks her in the eyes as he's speaking, and she grimaces at the flash of pain she sees there. "It's okay to be scared. It's okay to want to cling to him. Just be careful that it doesn't keep you from being with him while you have him."
Emma nodded, tears welling up in her eyes, and her dad pulled her in for a hug, one hand cradling her head.
"I'm so scared to lose him. It feels so impermanent. He could leave, or be killed, or anything... at any second."
Her dad just held her tighter as she cried into his shoulder.
...............
"Where are we going?" Regina was leading her along. They had spent the day researching how to beat all the villains in the town, it seemed like there were more and more problems for them to solve each day.
"Stop whining," Regina snapped. They stopped in front of Granny's. "We're just getting something to eat."
The lights were off as they stepped inside. Emma's heart began to race as she took in her surroundings.
Every table was filled with lit candles. All around her stood all the people she loved, grinning at her. Regina walked up to her and handed her a pink rose, urging her on. She looked at each of her friends and families grinning faces. Each of them holding a pink rose.
The seven dwarves came next, handing her a rose and urging her through to the next person. Then came Ruby and Granny, Zelena, Belle, Archie, all the people she loved in town each handing her a pink rose and moving her along to the next person. Following the other came both of her parents at the same time. They both looked at her and hugged her as they added their roses to the growing pile in Emma's arms.
Finally, the group of people ended at Henry. He stood there, and then hugged her before her took all the roses from her hands.
"What's going on?" She asked him, smiling.
"Mom. I brought you here to bring back the happy endings, it's time you found yours."
"What-" just as she began to speak, Hook walked out of the back room Henry was standing beside.
"Swan," he smiled, and there was so much love in his eyes she could feel it on her skin making heat roll between them. He walked closer to her and grabbed both her hands in his, his hook toying with his leather jacket at her wrists.
"Killian, I-" she began, but he stopped her.
"Please Swan, just this once." She nodded, the grin never leaving her face.
"I have lived long enough for several lives, most of which were filled with darkness and a thirst for revenge. I have loved and lost. I was a villain. A being only wishing to cause the pain I had been feeling for so long. I had happiness taken from me over and over again, and thought that i was doing others a justice by showing them that their own happiness wouldn't last." He stopped to take a breath and squeezed her hands.
"And then I met you. And I knew from the moment I laid my eyes on you, that you would be the end of me." The corners of his lips turned up. "I felt a connection with you immediately. My soul saw yours. And though it took your lips on mine in that cursed forest of Pan's for me to realize the depth of my heart, of my feelings for you, I have only grown as a man, a man in love, since. I have loved you. I have lost you. I have said goodbye too many times." He grabbed her left hand, dropping the right, as he fell to one knee.
"Killian-" Emma began again, unable to help herself. His bright green eyes had tears in them, though none were falling. She was sure hers were the same.
"But I vow, that you will never have to say goodbye to love again. If you'll let me be the man to protect your heart. You are my happy ending Emma Swan. And you're the reason I'm the kind of man who deserves one in the first place. Do me the honor of becoming your husband," he reaches up, yanking the ring he gave her so long ago off her neck, and pressing the ring to the edge of her finger, "and we can survive this terror filled world, as we shall do everything... Together."
Several heartbeats passed and Emma smiled.
"Yes."
He stood and and pulled her to him. Her friends and family clapped around them, and for the first time, she felt peace.