You Could Have Stayed

Epilogue

3 months old~
  "Hi, baby!" Snow chirped, ever since the twins had started to make noises everybody in the family had brought their baby voices out to play. Snow was making silly faces at Hope in her rocker on the kitchen table while David did the same to Liam next to her.
  Emma stood next to the counter, finally having done some cleaning up around the house while Killian slept because the babies were distracted. Liam was a huge mama's boy and fussed and cried whenever Emma left him alone for more than a minute or two.
  "Emma." Her eyes snapped open after dropping at the sound of her father's voice. "We know it's been hard on you, both of you, so why don't you go sleep too and we can take the kids for the rest of the day."
  "Dad, I don't know." Emma hesitated, she may need some time for a nice, long, hot bath and a long nap but she also didn't want to leave her babies. Their powers had already started to manifest themselves and Snow and David didn't have their own to defend themselves-
  "Emma, we can see the gears turning in your head. If you think about all the things that could possibly go wrong any harder, smoke will come out of your ears." Her mother gripped her shoulders and smiled reassuringly.
  "Oh yeah, that's nice coming from you. You didn't let Neal walk outside the house and out of the stroller until he was 3."
  "The world is dangerous for somebody so small and fragile." Her mother's brow furrowed.
  "Exactly my point!" Emma threw her hands up and walked forward to scoop Hope out of her seat. The little baby gurgled and stared back up at her mother with clear, blue eyes. Killian's eyes. Maybe she should join him in bed, she had been making him do all the difficult stuff like doing the dishes and changing diapers and cleaning up spitup as punishment. He really was exhausted and he had told her multiple times before that now that he had been asleep with her, without her the sleep was restless and short. She had the same issue but she hadn't told him.
"Okay fine, but bring them back before dinner." Emma sighed. She lifted up Hope and kissed her on the forehead before handing her to David and moving to stand in front of Liam. He smiled up at her and waved his arms wildly. She picked him up too and kissed his forehead then handed him off to Snow with a little fuss.
  Emma waved goodbye as they left and once the door closed behind them, she sagged. She didn't know how truly tired she was. She had been thinking about going back to work, but no way could she do that just yet.
She headed upstairs. When she got to her bedroom, she paused. Killian was out on the bed, stretched flat on his back with his mouth open slightly, emitting soft snores. She missed him like this. She crawled into bed next to him, feeling a flash of that ever present anger bubbling up before she forced it back down. Not right now. She could barely keep her eyes open as she laid her head on his chest and fell deeply asleep.

11 months old~
Emma and Killian were sitting on the couch together, watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse with the kids. Hope stood holding onto the couch as she bounced to the music, her brother clapping and bouncing on the floor beside her. This is how it was meant to be, everybody together. Happy and safe. The only person missing was- the door opened and Henry walked in. Emma smiled at her oldest child. Now everything was complete.
  "Henry!" Hope shouted. Emma and Killian stiffened. That was her first real word.
"Hey little ones!" Henry smiled and kneeled down with open arms, he had done this for months now waiting for the kids to take their first steps towards him. This time is finally paid off, Liam struggled to his feet and toddled over to Henry, falling into his arms while his big brother stood shocked.
  "One of them says their first word and one of them takes their first steps. All you had to do was walk in the room lad, well done." Killian laughs, shaking his head.
  "Guess they just like me better than you." Henry smiled widely as he picked up Liam and sat down on the couch to watch the show with his family.

2 years old~
"Mommy..." Liam said sweetly, sitting in his mothers lap and plying with her blonde curls.
"Yes?" She smiled down at him. Hope was playing with a puzzle on the floor at Emma's feet. When she spoke she turned her little pigtailed head and smiled at her.
"I love you." Liam sighed and laid on Emma's chest. She wrapped both her arms around her little mama's boy and kissed the curly top of his head.
  "Me too!" Hope giggled and clambered up onto the couch. She muscled her way in next to her brother, smiling the whole time.
  "And I love you too Hope. I love you both more than anything." She kissed her daughters head too and they all stayed quiet after that, the kids drifting off while Emma tried to remember a life without them.

7 years old~
  "Hey mama?" Hope called from the dining room. Emma left the work she was doing at her desk, she enjoyed sherrifing from home every now and again to spend more time with her magical little monsters.
  "What's up Hope?" Emma smiled as she walked in the room. Already the kids had great control of their magic, they were playing with their fish crackers by making them swim in the air while Killian watched.
She shuddered as she remember a particularly shocking night when she had told Liam that they were out of the crackers and that he needed to eat his vegetables. They weren't out, he just wasn't getting anything important in his diet without them. Everything was seemingly alright after a little sadness but she woke up in the middle of the night to see her sleeping 15 month old with little goldfish flying around his head.
  "We were wondering," Liam started, glancing at his sister, "if you hate daddy?"
  Emma and Killian shared a look. Even after all these years, his abandonment still hung between them like a bad smell in somebody else's home. Something unpleasant you are always aware of but never mention.
  "Of course I don't." Emma said immediately, cleaning up the remnants of their dinner.
  "But he left." Hope said quietly, not even looking at her father. And that was saying something as she had always been slightly closer to him than to Emma.
  Emma almost wanted to question how she knew that. Magic was probably the answer, Hope was especially gifted at it.
  "Yes I did." Killian agreed, straightening up. Hope glared at him, he cringed. "I left because I was scared. I was scared that I wouldn't be god enough for you little ones and by the time I realized that wouldn't happen, it was too late." He glanced up at Emma with that old pain and regret still haunting those baby blues.
  "Yes, but he's been pretty good since he came back right?" She turned her attention to Liam and Hope. They considered for a moment before nodding. "He reads you stories and takes you sailing and lets you have ice cream even when I say no, doesn't he?"
They giggled at that. "Yeah."
"And he's been nice to me too. He gives me flowers and hugs and you little munchkins." She reached out to pinch Liam's cheek as he squeaked and leaned away.
  "So you used to be mad at him but now you're night?" Liam asked to clarify.
  It only took 7 years, Emma thought to herself sarcastically, but she did forgive him. He had made it up to her tenfold. He would never stop punishing himself for it, why did she have to make it worse on him? They were practically back to how it was all those years ago, just with their children now.
  Emma looked Killian in the eyes, his glimmering with hope. "Yes, I have forgiven him." Killian smiled widely, blinding her with his good looks and his elation.
Emma hoped that one day, her children will find their true loved. Surely they will go through some ups and downs but all she wanted for them was to be happy and loved by everybody in their lives.