Heart of the Sea

Chapter 4 - Your Move

Lili stepped onto the docks, trying to shade her eyes with a hand. It was too bloody bright. Well..it was noon, and...she was also slightly hungover, but it was still too damn bright. She trudged across town, hands stuffed in her pockets. She nearly winced at the noise in the diner. (Alright. Maybe a little more than slightly hungover.) She sighed. They must be in the loft, then. She opened the door and climbed up the stairs, standing in front of the green door. She heard laughter from inside. She raised her fist, hesitating, before she knocked. There was a lull in the chatter. "I'll go see who it is," came Killian's muffled voice. He opened the door, and a look of pleasant surprise came over his face. "Lili!" He pulled her into a hug and she froze for a moment, nose filled with leather and salt and rum. (With home.) "Oh..well, alright." She cleared her throat, trying not to let it get to her too much. (He was hugging her!! Her inner child was squealing.)

He drew back, examining her in a moment's glance. "How're you feeling, lass?"

"Been better."

He noted the pink around her eyes, the seemingly permanent furrow in her brow. She winced at a particularly loud burst of laughter. "Ah." He paused. "A..am I forgiven?"

A small smile twitched across her lips, and her eyes softened for a second. "Captain, you were forgiven the day you told me." 

Relief rushed through him.

"Hey kid, up for a game of cards?" Emma called, grin on her lips.

"Now what sort of question is that to ask a pirate?" she called back, grinning, all traces of former emotion and suffering of a hangover wiped away instantly. (It pained Killian to see how fast it happened, to know that she'd no doubt done it before many times to have gotten so good at it.)

"Familiar with Uno?" Henry asked, smiling.

"Come again?" she asked as she pulled up a chair in between David and Henry.

"Uno; it's a card game." He briefly explained the rules as they dealt her a hand. (They'd only dealt six cards at the beginning since there were so many of them playing.)

"No gambling, no wagers, no lying, just good clean fun," David added at last, smiling.

"Hm, I doubt that," Lili muttered, looking at her colorful cards. She'd been dealt a relatively good hand, a few of each color. No wild cards, though. She narrowed her eyes.

"Let the game begin," Killian said as Emma flipped over the card to start the game. They were taking turns in a clockwise order, the order being David, Mary Margaret, Killian, Emma, Henry, then Liliana. As they all looked at the blue zero, David put down another blue card; Mary Margaret followed suit. Killian however, had to be different. "Let's change things up a bit. Red," he said with a smirk, putting down a draw four wild card (he was holding his cards in his fake hand). Emma gasped and shoved him with her elbow. He chuckled devilishly as she drew four cards. Henry put down a reverse card, giving Emma her turn back. She grinned at Henry. "Thank you, Henry."

He grinned back. "No problem, Mom."

She put down a red skip.

Killian stuttered in mock surprise as she laughed. "Go, Mom." Mary Margaret put down a red three, and David put down a red five. Lili studied her cards. She had two reds, a four and a two. She also had a draw two which she figured she should save. She placed down her red four. Henry put down a skip, and Killian chuckled. "That's m' boy," he said, putting down a draw two card.

Mary Margaret gasped at him. "Killian!"

He chuckled some more.

David put down a wild card. "Blue."

Damn it! She didn't have any more blue cards! She drew one. Ooh, a blue draw two. She'd save it, hoping the color didn't change. Henry put down a blue seven, and Emma put down another skip, just to tickle Killian's nerves. Mary Margaret and David both played numbers again, and Liliana chuckled. Now she could make her move. She put down a blue draw two and a red draw two, changing the color. Henry shot her a look as he drew four cards. She only had three left. Emma put down a number, and Killian put down a skip. Mary Margaret rolled her eyes at him as David put down a blue card. "Uno," he called. Lili's eyes narrowed. She had three left, a yellow reverse, a red skip, and a green skip. She could figure out a way to use the skips, but the yellow reverse was a different question altogether. She decided to do it. She put down her two skips, calling "Uno" as she did.

"Liliii," Henry protested. Now he would be skipped for two turns. Emma put down a number, as did Killian. Mary Margaret put down a wild card. "Yellow."

Liliana barely contained her excitement.

"Why thank you my dear," David crooned, putting down his yellow one. He'd won the game, and she was so close!!

"Well that's bloody nice of you, David," Lili gritted through her teeth, resisting the urge to throw her card down and let a stream of curses out of her lips.

He laughed. "The game can keep going if you guys want; just play until it gets down to two people."

"In that case..." Lili flipped her card over onto the deck, crossing her arms triumphantly and leaning her chair back on two legs, heels resting on the table.

"Liliana Jones, get y' bloody boots off the table," Killian ordered, giving her a stern look. Extremely bad form, getting scuff marks on the table.

She rolled her eyes and sighed. "Fiiine."

"Oh don' gimme that, Uno," he said, not breaking stride, putting down a card after Emma did.

"Wot does 'uno' even mean?" Lili asked, trying to get the attention off of herself.

"It means 'one' in Spanish," Henry explained, drawing a card after Mary Margaret did, sticking his tongue in between his teeth in concentration as he tried to figure out his next move.

"Because you only have one card left?"

"Aren't you a smart pickle," Emma commented. "Uno."

"Wot's a pickle?"

Emma sighed. "Never mind."

Henry looked at Lili incredulously. "You've never had a pickle?"

She shook her head.

"Pause the game. Don't look at my cards." He dashed to the refrigerator, taking out a jar of pickles and pulled one out, putting it on a plate, rushing back to Lili. One of her eyebrows rose as she took the plate. "Wot, I just eat it like that?"

"I thought you were a pirate, not a princess," Killian murmured, throwing in his last card.

She glared at him. "You wanna test that theory, old man?"

He chuckled. "Even if I'm over three hundred years old and only have one hand, I can still tan your hide until you beg f'r mercy."

"I'd love to see you try." Her arms were crossed again. Trial by combat would be a good test of character.

Killian's eyes met hers, his eyebrow arching. "Is that a challenge?" he asked, beginning to smile.

She felt a smirk creep onto her lips. "I believe it is. Think you still have it?"

"Oh, I know I do. The question is if you do."

She laughed. "Oh, I've had more practice than you know."

"But can you beat me?"

"We'll see." She crunched a bite off of her pickle.