True Love: God Approved

Chapter 18

* Emma's POV *

When I woke up the next morning from a nightmare I had to run to the bathroom, pulling on his shirt as I went and emptying my stomach into the toilet. My stomach heaved even more but there was nothing left, leaving me aching as I stood back up. I rinsed my mouth with mouthwash, holding my stomach and covering my mouth as I walked slowly back to the bedroom.

"Swan?" Killian asked sleepily, sitting up on his elbow to look at me. "What's wrong? Where'd you go?"

"I'm fine," I assured him, crawling back into bed with him. "Just go back to sleep, babe."

"Come here, love," he sighed, pulling me closer with his hand resting on my waist and his other arm under my neck as he laid on his side next to me. I rolled over to wrap my arms around him and he smiled, closing his eyes as he ran his thumb along my skin. "I missed you."

"Shh," I smiled, kissing him softly and keeping my face close to his on the pillow. "Go to sleep, Captain. I'll still be right here when you wake up."

"You'd better be," he warned me playfully, tugging me flush against him. "I'm too exhausted to go running after my girl again so soon, so it'd be much more convenient if she'd just stay in my arms."

I just smiled, nuzzling my face into the crook of his neck and trying to relax again. My nightmare kept coming back to my mind, the images from the last two weeks flashing behind my eyelids. Even half asleep Killian soon noticed how tense I was, holding me tighter and kissing my hair as he rubbed my side gently. His touch brought me back to reality, back to our room where we were happily wrapped around each other. I fell asleep again like that, waking up on my back when the sun was high in the sky and finding him watching me as he lay on his side next to me.

"You're doing it again," I mumbled sleepily as he stroked my hair almost absent mindedly. "Why are you watching me sleep?"

"Because you're beautiful," he smiled, leaning down to kiss me softly. "And waking up next to you is a luxury I've been denied for far too long. I'm never going to give up an opportunity to take in every bit of you that I can."

"You're so weird," I sighed and his smile grew. "I guess we should go see what's been going on, huh?"

"Not until you're ready," he shook his head, running his hand along my waist. "Hyde is exactly where we left him, and the queen apparently made it clear she was waiting for you to make her move. We didn't miss much, and I'm only worried about you."

"I'm okay," I said quietly, the tone in my voice not even convincing me. "Or I will be. Is Henry alright?"

"He's fine," he assured me. "He wrote about your being taken, that's how your father and Regina knew to come, but I haven't talked to him myself so I... I don't know what he knows."

"Okay," I said, taking a breath and swallowing hard. I closed my eyes and shook my head, hating the tears that came to my eyes. He may be just a kid but he wasn't by any means stupid, he knew what kind of thing had been happening to me. "I just want it to be over so I can forget about it."

"I know, love," he sighed and kissed my cheek but when he went to pull away I kept him close, needing him more than I wanted to admit. He moved to lay his head on my chest, wrapping his arms around me and just letting me hold onto him. "But it is over. You're safe and I'm here with you."

"I keep telling myself that," I told him quietly, running my fingers through his hair with my other hand on his cheek. "I just... need to feel it sometimes."

He kissed my neck softly and I sighed, closing my eyes as he started trailing his lips along my collar bone. He slid his hand up under his shirt on me, holding my bare side as he brushed my skin gently. I loved that he knew exactly what I meant, taking it one further as he kissed between my breasts and down my stomach where the shirt was open.