Nightmares

Finally Home

I'm adding this special chapter just for Hook! Because Emma will stop at nothing to bring him home.

It had been four days since he'd come home. The first thing Emma had done was rush him to the hospital to take care of any lasting injuries. She had healed what she could with her magic. After a shower she could now see just how many marks Hades had left on him. That night they had burned the clothes he had in the underworld. The smell triggered fear within him.

The first couple of nights both him and Emma had refused to sleep in their house, out of fear that the dark events that had occurred there would come back to haunt them. Killian had no problem sleeping on the Jolly Roger but Emma couldn't take another night of her bed swaying. Staying with her parents wasn't an option, she refused to leave his side. The third night she was ready to try to sleep in their house, although perhaps with the lights on. But she hadn't been able to convince him so she endured one more night.

The next day Killian could see the toll her restlessness was taking on her. She had bags under her eyes and was moving about groggily. He knew it was his fault so, for her, he would try to sleep in their house. He thought he could do it with her by his side.

So on the fourth night they ensured the house was lit so that no shadows of their past horrors could consume them. And there they were, Killian wearing only flannel pants and Emma in one of his shirts. Emma introduced him to another modern convenience of this world, a small pill that had the power to lull you into a deep sleep. They both took one an hour before bed, as instructed and found themselves sleeping better than they could remember.

Until about three in the morning. Killian's head was filling with old memories and terrors from his time in the underworld. And Emma was in too deep a sleep to hear him for a while.

At first he was just mumbling as he recalled enduring the merciless beatings at the hands of Hades. When he was chased through endless tunnels by that damned hell hound, he started to twitch and his voice raised. Finally, when it cornered him and Hades walked up beside it, Killian saw his worst nightmare come true. While he was down there, he had no doubt that Emma would find him. But he was also terrified that she would be caught alone and vulnerable. And now, in his dream, Hades dragged a beaten and bruised Emma before him. She was barely conscious, and though in the back of his mind, Killian knew she was safe and sound next to him, he yelled at the top of his lungs when Hades threw her to the beast and Killian rushed forward. But it was too late.

"EMMA!" he shouted, sitting bolt upright. He'd finally awoken the woman sleeping next to him. She too sat up and was immediately alert.

"Killian?! What is it, what's wrong?" She asked, running her hands up and down his back and arms to ensure he wasn't hurt again.

"I apologize, Emma. Everything's okay. Go back to sleep." He hastily told her, not wanting to worry her with his woes. She'd already lost enough sleep on his account.

"Killian, you can tell me anything." She gently told him as he lay back down next to her. She too leaned back but propped her head on her hand. "Please talk to me."

He looked her in the eye and sighed, he couldn't deny her any request.

"I had a nightmare." He admitted, feeling like a small child. Her eyes softened as she wrapped herself around him. It was soothing, knowing she was here and alive, knowing how far she had gone to get him back.

"It's okay, Killian. I'm here, I won't let anything take you away again." She assured him, pressing a kiss to his neck.

He wrapped his arms around her and rested his cheek on her head.

"We don't have to talk about it." She said in a raspy voice. "Just go back to sleep, I'll be here all night."

He relaxed and let her soothing touch release the tensions in his body. She traced patterns with her fingers on his chest and arms.

"I knew you were capable of getting me out." He started, "But I was so afraid that he would catch you off guard and hurt you. He's merciless, Emma."

She turned her head up to look at him again. "Is that what you were dreaming about? That he got to me?"

He nodded. "It was far too vivid to ever forget. He threw you to that bloody dog right in front of me."

"Killian it's okay, he could never do it. There's no way I would let him stop me."

"I know, love." He smiled and held her closer. "If there's one thing I know about you, it's that nothing can stand in your way. You're a fire spit, Swan."

He kissed her forehead. "I've denied you enough sleep."

"I love you, Killian." She mumbled. He could hear that she was slipping back into blissful oblivion again.

"I love you too." He said with the biggest smile on his face.

When he woke up in the morning, she was indeed still in the bed with him. Half of her body was splayed over him as she snoozed away. He didn't have the heart to get up, and he knew if she awoke and found him gone it would send her into a panic. So he laid there and stroke her hair and skin until she stirred under his fingers.

From that day on, they didn't spend a single night anywhere else.