In Pandora’s Pain, my most recent Fanfic for Once Upon A Time, we see a visitor arrive in Storybrooke, and she’s plagued by a terrible curse that sends everyone in town back to a dark time in their lives. In this scene, Hook, Emma and Henry are out for a sunset cruise when they realize something has gone very, very wrong:

Killian was right, Emma thought to herself. Henry handled the wheel like he was born with one in his hand.

She reached up to pull a piece of flyaway hair out of her eyes, but Killian beat her to it, curling the strand around his finger and tucking it gently behind her ear. She smiled up at him, leaning back into him slightly as she looked out at the water from her place at the bow. He slid his arm around her middle, and she tried very hard to ignore the casual way his thumb was stroking her belly through the cotton of her tee shirt.

“Better zip that jacket up,” he murmured low in her ear. “Once the sun is all the way down, it gets chilly on the water.”

She looked over her shoulder at him. “What? You’re not going to offer to keep me warm? You’re slipping.”

“I’d be happy to keep you warm love,” he grinned. “I’m still remarkably hot-blooded. But there is a child aboard so I’ve chosen to remain more…circumspect.”

“Is that so?”

He kissed her forehead, and she could feel his smile against her as he did.

They stood in silence for several minutes, just watching the sun sink into the sea. Killian had been right about that, too – it was incredibly romantic. She sighed, lifting her head from where she’d leaned it back against his chest.

“Why the long sigh, Swan?” he asked. “You’re not turning pensive on me, are you?”

“Maybe a little bit,” she confessed. “Just thinking about what life must be like – looking at this every day.”

“And now you know why the sea is any sailor’s first love,” he replied. “I suppose his ship is his second.”

And you gave up your ship for me, she thought. A glance over her shoulder at his face said he was probably thinking the same thing.

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