Once Upon A Happy Beginning

Chapter Fifteen: The Truth Comes Out

Okay, I don't think I've done an AN at the start of a chapter before, but I just wanted to say that engagement in each story part is decreasing. I'm not going to get disheartened by it because my writing is a hobby first and foremost, rather than a way to count up readers. But if you have any criticism, I want to hear it (and please feel free to be brutally honest) because if it helps me with my writing then it's undeniably useful. 

Emma

Once I wake up, I find that my husband and Robin and our two other companions are already awake and are sitting on some rocks nearby, with water lapping against their ankles. I stand up and walk over to them, wrapping my arms around Killian and kissing the top of the slight beard that has grown out in the past few days, in the part of it by the corner of his lips. He reaches around with his hook, but I jump my hand away burning my hand from the heat of the metal. I reach for his flesh hand instead and sit on his other side. 

"Afternoon, love." He hands over some kind of fruit which has been plucked off a nearby tree. 

"Afternoon? How long have I been asleep?" 

"You were tossing and turning all night, so solidly... about five hours." I rest my head against his shoulder and turn to look at Robin. 

"I think we all have some explaining to do now." 

"Yes... Where should I start?" He thinks for a moment, "You know of course about that Olympian Crystal, doesn't just kill you, it wipes your soul from existence?" I raise my eyebrows in confusion; I didn't know that. I can feel Killian tense up next to me, he didn't know about that either. "It should have been as if Robin of Locksley no longer existed. You should never have remembered me. 'Gina's lion tattoo should have belonged to another man. Roland would have another father. Nobody would be able to remember me."

"But we did..." 

"Yeah. You did. Because my soul never left this or any realm. For someone's soul to truly depart, you need water from the River of Lost Souls. That's in Underbrooke, not Storybrooke. Even the force of the magic killed me, my spirit lived on and Zeus told me that he could send me back through to be myself again. Only, in that moment, Zelena had to believe that I was truly gone, else she never would've killed Hades. So, I decided that saving all of you was more important and asked Zeus to send me to the closest place to Storybrooke he could, and that I'd make my own way back. Which was here."

"You decided to be here on your own, mate?" Questioned my husband. 

Robin looks at him this time instead, "No. I asked if you could join me. If I could get back to my girl, why couldn't you? But Zeus had other plans... and I'm glad that they worked out." 

"Aye. They did."

"And them?" I nod at the stars of Henry's favourite Disney film. "You'll be coming back to Storybrooke with us, but them..."

"We don't belong here," Elizabeth Swann says, speaking for the first time to me. "I need to get back home to my Will, you already know who he is I'm sure. We'll be coming with you until we get back home ourselves. We've been here for too long, all the clothing is so..." 

"Wrong?" Robin fills in, laughing with Killian. "Yeah, you'd never catch Emma here in a corset!" 

"Aye. Not in this realm at least..."

"Not in this time!" I correct. Corsets are the worst. Always. "The only time I've ever worn a corset was what... forty years ago give or take, when we were in the Enchanted Forest?" 

"Enchanted Forest? That sounds so..." 

"Have you called Henry?" I ask Killian. "Called off Operation Cobra Part Four?" I clarify what it was at the curious looks from the other three.  

"If I had signal, love, I'd have called Blue to find out why you passed out and why True Love's Kiss didn't work."

I swallow something in the back of my throat. Of course. He doesn't even know... and wow, I've been bleeding for three days... it's bound to be a horrid mess down there. I try not to think about it. "Walk with me," I say softly, whispering into my husband's shoulder. Best get it over with. 

Killian

"Emma?" I ask, uncertainty rising up my throat with each breath, when we a safe distance along the beach from the others. 

"I - I know why I passed out." She turns to look at me. There's tears welling up in her eyes and since she told me that she was pregnant, I don't think she's ever been this vulnerable. Never. She's had her walls and as infuriating as they are sometimes, they're Emma's and I respect that, even if her parents don't always. It's almost new territory for me. I've never seen a lady to be this open, it's only Emma I've even been with long enough to see this part. I don't really know what to do, I just do what feels instinctual and I pull her close to me and try not to say anything. It kills me to see her this hurt, this damaged, I don't want my wife feeling like this. "I – I lost control, Killian. I just... There's more to all this than we realised." More to what? "I should have been sure before I mentioned anything, before I let myself feel happy. I was just late, Killian. I was just late."

"Late?" I genuinely don't know what she's talking about, but I make my voice sound as gentle and reassuring as possible. 

"My period came late." 

Oh. I cradle her head against me, running my thumb through her blonde hair, trying not to think of the daughter that I hoped we had with my wife's beautiful mane of gold. "It's okay, Em." I tell her softly, it is okay. Emma and I are no strangers to the baby-making activities, it'll happen. It'll happen. 

"I saw the blood and I just broke down... I just lost it... Then, my magic flared up... I'm scared Killian. My magic flared up."

"How?"

"I don't know..." 

"That's it. We're going back tonight. You need to see Blue, Swan. We have who we came for, my priority now is keeping you safe." I tilt her head up so that she's looking at me, "As for the future, we'll have a child. We will. Whenever we're ready. You want to go home and start trying, I won't argue with you on that. If you want to wait a few months or a few years after we've settled into life a bit more, we can do. So long as it's you and me together, it's incredible."

"I... I love you. So much." 

"Aye."