Heart of the Sea

Chapter 24 - Gut Feeling

Hey guys! Hope your February is going well. :) Here's a new chapter. Hope you guys enjoy, and please don't forget to vote and comment. Thanks so much!! Have a great day/evening.

- Chelli

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After dinner, Lili picked out two fluffy feather pillows and a sheet and comforter set with a dark grey damask pattern against bright turquoise blue. (Emma hadn't thought the turquoise was her style, but apparently there was more to the pirate than met the eye.) Once they'd put everything in the cart and Emma was fairly certain she'd need to ask Regina for a raise, they checked out, buying everything at once, including the mattress and bedframe.
"Well, I think that's about it," Emma said, not sure she could think of anything else as they walked out to the car. "You guys ready to get home?"
Everyone nodded tiredly, and they drove off in the little bug, delivery truck following.

Once everything had been put in Lili's room and the little family had set up the bed, Lili thanked them for their help.
"C'we do anything else lass?"
"I think I've got the rest, thank you Captain."
He nodded, giving her a small smile. "Just let us know if you need 'nything."
"Will do." She returned the smile, and they left her to her own devices, Killian closing the door behind him.
The young woman let out a breath of relief, hands on her hips as she observed the task before her. She pulled the sheets out of their package, brow furrowing at the one with the funny rounded corners before shrugging. She'd figure it out. The other sheet looked like a normal one, and the blanket was bloody poofy and nice. Well, here went nothing.

After about twenty minutes she'd made the bed to her satisfaction. She flopped down onto it, cheeks flushed from all the work she'd been doing, and she sighed, her breath easing out of her as her eyes closed.
Damn this was nice.
This was so bloody nice.
She couldn't remember a time when she'd had a bed this bloody comfortable, and...she'd no idea how she was going to repay them. This was worth at least a hundred, no, two hundred meals, and..would she really be here for all of those?? She didn't quite want to think about the future just yet, leastways not the long-distance one. Short-distance could take some attending to though.
She'd probably need to start her community service hours tomorrow. It would be good form to be there bright and early, and, though she doubted Granny to be the softening-up type, she hoped she might go a little easy on her if she made a good first impression, worked diligently, came early. Maybe stayed late. She wasn't sure just yet how much commitment she was wanting to put into this. But it had to be done.
"Hey Lili!" Henry called.
She sighed at having to get up and poked her head out of her room. "Yeah?" she yelled back.
"Wanna join us for a movie??"
"Um..sure, why not."
She came out of the bedroom, looking it over one more time before turning the light out and joining them in the living room. "What're we watching?" she asked.
"A different version of Peter Pan," he grinned.
"It's better than the lahst one, right?"
He nodded. Both he and Emma had convinced Killian to watch it, saying that this Captain Hook was much better looking than the one in the animated movie, which convinced him it was at least worth watching if only to appease them.
The next two hours passed with some good teasing, ribbing, thrown popcorn, and laughter all around, and everyone was content as they headed to their beds.
Lili pulled on her new pajamas, examining the anchors on the white and blue-striped pants and shirt she wore as she sat on her bed before she got up to turn out the lights and get under her new covers. She groaned as she sank into the mattress a little. Surely this was what it felt like to go to bed as a queen. She was barely able to turn over and get in a few thoughts about the day before the comfort of her new place lulled her to sleep.

"Lili. Lili wake up, come on."
"Nnn. Fife more minnits," she grumbled into her pillow.
"Sorry lass. You told me t'get you up; I'm not leaving 'til y'do."
She let out a longer complaining groan before her eyes slid open to see her captain's face lingering there before hers. She muttered a few indiscernible curses and punched her pillow before whipping off the covers and shooing him out of the room, muttering some more. Killian managed to keep from chuckling as he closed the door.
Clearly she was not a morning person.

In about ten minutes she had emerged, buttoning up a new light blue shirt over a tanktop, wearing her usual skinny jeans and boots, her curls mussed and sticking out this way and that, flat in some places where she'd slept on them.
"C'n I get you anything before you go?" he asked politely, moving about in the kitchen as he prepared breakfast for Emma and Henry, who were not yet up.
"Some bloody peace 'n' quiet," she returned, sitting down on a stool before the counter, having finished buttoning her shirt. She wiped her forearm across her eyes and sighed before untying the cord from around her wrist and binding her curls back with it, an oath slipping out as she pulled a little too tightly. She knotted the bow and sniffed. "A piece of toast wouldn't be bad," she said after a moment.
"A piece of toast it is. Anything on it?"
"Butter 'nd..sugar, if you've got it."
"We do indeed." He scraped some butter onto the piece of bread, popping it in the oven for a few quiet minutes before getting it out, a shanty running through his head, which he nodded the beat to occasionally. Once he'd got the toast out and put it on a plate he sprinkled some sugar onto it and slid it over to her, the plate stopping just shy of the edge of the counter.
"Bon appetit."
"Bon appeti'," she replied, munching the piece of toast with as little energy as she could, still in the process of waking up. By the time she'd finished her eyes were a little brighter, a little more open.
"C'n I get anything else for you?"
"D'you have any eggs?"
"Aye, plenty."
"C'ld I have some? Sunnyside up."
That's ironic, Killian thought. "How many?"
"Uum..." she thought for a moment, gauging her hunger. "One, I think."
"Alright, one sunnyside egg. Anything else?"
She was quiet for a moment. "D'you have any oats?"
"Just so happen to have got some yesterday, lass."
"I'd appreciate some oatmeal if it's not too much trouble."
"None at all. I was going to have some myself."
And so Killian continued making breakfast, Lili's mood brightening as the sun rose further, shedding more light into the fluorescent-tubed kitchen, the silence between them growing a bit more amiable as bacon and sausage sizzled in a pan, water coming to a boil for the oatmeal.
"Thanks f'this, Captain."
"It's my pleasure lass. Really." He tossed a look over his shoulder as he flipped the bacon with his hook, his sleeves rolled back. Soon he'd cooked the oats and spooned some into a bowl for her. "Anything on it?"
"Butter and honey'd be great, thank you."
He added a generous portion of both, tasting it before passing it to her. "And here you are." He slipped a spoon into the bowl, which she took gratefully, beginning to eat up hungrily.
"Than'g you," she got out around her food.
"Of course."
"Damn that's good!"
He chuckled. "Well, I do my best."
She glanced at the clock and swore, burning her tongue as she hurried to finish the rest, grabbing her jacket from her room.
"What's the matter?"
"I told myself I'd be early f'my first day!" she called, the door slamming behind her as she rushed out, halfway into her jacket.
Killian's eyebrow rose. He'd figured as much, but..apparently she was taking it quite seriously. Well, at least she'd a good sense of good form.