#it was nice to see the relatives too now that i'm older n can recognize them or keep track of them better

[rubberbandballqueen]

How was Taiwan?

it was good!!!!

i had my donut stolen by a monkey with its little grabby hands, studied the fonts they use on road signs over there, ate some really good fruit that is either unavailable in the states (蓮霧) or just Not The Same (buddha's head), HAD SOME RANDOM GUY CLAIMING TO BE A JOURNALIST COME UP TO ME AND GIVE ME HIS CALLING CARD AND INSIST I CALL HIM IF I EVER GOT IN TROUBLE WITH THE POLICE??, executed Tumblr Code In Real Life when i met up with a Beloved Mutual for the first time and had like this ginormous smoothie like a whole fucking goblet just a massive smoothie chalice at the cafe we hung out in, rode the train AND the subway a couple times, tried to look up a bunch of music ultimately too obscure to be found by the shazam app, photographed several dozen flowers, and then seem to have left my school ID behind after i had to hang my jacket out to dry the night before we left c':

[panic-at-the-fiction]

Hello Darling pt5

Summary: (y/n) is the Salvatore younger sister, and she is low-key in love with one of the originals. You know which one. The only problem is he is a low-key psychopath and neither of them remember that this isn’t their first meeting.

Warnings: I might be heading in a dark path with this one.

A/N: So like I wrote the first four chapters a month ago and now I gotta get back into writing more often. Though I have been waiting to write this chapter for a while. I’m pretty excited about it. Though I do have to admit I’m not as into our beloved kol as I was when I started this. But don’t worry I will keep writing for our dear boy.

You were woken up by the bright sun shining in your eyes. You rolled over to see your room a complete mess. There were clothes everywhere, things knocked over onto the floor. It was a shock to you. You couldn’t quite remember why your room was such a wreck. It wasn’t until you took a closer look at who’s clothes were on the floor that you realized what had happened.

It all slowly came back to you, the bar, the drinking, the stumbling through your apartment running into things. You couldn’t help but smile at the memory of it all. You and Kol drunkenly making out and laughing as you ran down the halls before stumbling to get your keys.

Kol, It wasn’t until you realized his absence that you heard the shower running in your bathroom. You smiled at the realization of Kol still being in your house. You hated to admit it but you liked him more than you should. Maybe he felt the same. Neither of you we’re the dating types but maybe things could work out for you both. Maybe if you...

A loud knock took you out of your thoughts. It was your older brother Stefan calling for you to answer the door. You quickly grabbed the closest clothes to you and threw them on. You ran to open the door but not before shutting the door to your bedroom in hopes of hiding the events of last night.

You opened the door and blocked your brother from seeing or entering the rest of your home. He looked you up and down taking in your appearance. He stopped, “nice shirt, is it new?”

You hadn’t even noticed that you had grabbed Kols shirt and not one of your own to throw on. You tried to drop it and hoped he would move on. “Hey Stefan, what are you doing here?”

“Oh I'm just on my morning rounds apologizing to people for whatever Damon did yesterday to upset them and of course I also just wanted to talk to my favorite sister.” He tried to peek over your shoulder into your apartment but you moved to block his view.

You rolled your eyes “I’m you only sister Stefan. Anyways it’s great you stopped by, but seriously though it wasn’t needed.” You tried to shut the door but before you could stop him he pushed past you and into your house.

“I see you’ve had some company.” He smiled and pointed at Kols jacket you had tossed onto the couch. “Hope I don’t know the poor bastard.” He smiled and set down. Making himself comfortable by placing his feet on the coffee table.

You pushed his feet down, grabbed the jacket and laid it on one of your dining room chairs. “It was just some guy I met at the bar last night you don’t know him.” Now you could have told Stefan about Kol. You had thought about it. It’s just ever since he’s last blood binge your brother has been different. He was cockier, if anything he was acting more like Damon. You couldn’t blame him. The past few months hadn’t been all that great for him. But things were better now he stopped drinking blood and now he had his humanity back on. Which was great and all but he was only doing good by pushing all his feelings down and redirecting them as hatred for the Mikaelsons specifically Klaus. Either way you knew he would just go back and tell Damon what he saw and you really didn’t want to deal with that.

You turned to ask your brother to leave when you heard the loud screech of the shower being turned off. Stefan turned and laughed at you. “Ohh your boyfriends still here isn’t he?”

You gave him a cold stare for his comment and he took the hint that you wanted him to leave. He got up from the couch and headed to the door. “Guess that’s my cue to go then. If you need anything sis you know where to find me.” With that he walked out of your apartment.

Once he was gone kol stepped out of your bedroom. He’s hair was still wet and he already had on his pants from last night. He smiled when he saw you standing in the living room. “Well I guess I’ve found my shirt then.”

You let out a sigh of relief and laughed. “So I’m just some guy you met at a bar now?” He took a few steps towards you.

“Oh you heard all that. I'm sorry I just didn’t want to tell my brother because in this town everyone will know and then I’ll have to deal with the judgmental police. Elena, Damon, and Caroline will all show up at my door with an intervention sign to tell me that sleeping with you was a mistake and then make a list of why the whole town should be against you and your family.” You couldn't help yourself from rambling on. This town was frustrating. No one in this town makes their own decisions without someone showing up to tell you off.

You were so lost in your own ramblings you didn’t notice how close kol has gotten to you. “ I hope you don’t actually think sleeping together was a mistake” He moves to rest his hands on your hips.

You smiled and looked up at him, trying to enjoy his hand on you. “I don't, I just know how this town works. Everyone’s decisions are taken very personally by everyone else. I can’t pick a brand of milk without Elena Gilbert getting on my ass about it. She’s the worst of the town. Just before you showed up I only had two friends in this town, Matt, whom we both know you have already met and Jeremy Elena’s brother. Three weeks ago Elena had Damon compel Jeremy to leave town and go to Denver to stay with family. I’ve been fighting with the two ever since.”

“I’m guessing my brother had something to do with that then?”

“Oh yes.” You put your arms around his shoulders. “I had fun last night.”

“Me too” he smiled and looked over your figure. “And I must say I love looking at you in my t-shirt, but I am going to need it back.”

You laughed and moved away from him and walked back to your room to get a clean shirt. You took off Kols and put on your new shirt. Kol watched you from your doorway. “I usually would stay longer but my brother needs me for some scheme of his so I have to get back to the mansion.” He quickly put his own tshirt back on and headed to grab his jacket from the chair you had laid it on. “I’ll call you whenever klaus is done using me as his errand boy. Hopefully we can do this again” he’s usually cocky demeanor back in full swing again.

You smiled to yourself thinking about seeing kol again. “I’m free again tonight if you want to meet at the grill again.”

“I guess I’ll see you then.” He smiled before leaving and closing the door behind him. Guess now all that was left was to wait for tonight.

Kols perspective

I left (y/n) apartment and headed back to the house. I couldn’t help but dread it. Thought of having to go back to my insane family and fix what was left after what our mother did last night. It wouldn’t be pretty that’s for sure.

I pushed open the front door of the mansion and walked into the drawing room where Klaus was waiting for me. “Hello Nicklaus”

“Hello Kol, you must have had a busy night. You never came home last night.” He had venom in his voice. I recognized his tone. It's his I know what you did and I’m angry about it voice. “My sources say you went home with the salvatore girl last night.”

“By sources you mean the abominations you call your pack.” I could see the anger bubbling inside him. It was good to know I did that. It’s none of his business what I’ve been up to.

Klaus took a deep breath “Kol I don’t think you should be seeing the Salvatore girl. Her brothers have been trying to kill our family for weeks now and I don’t know if you noticed they actually succeeded last night at killing one of us.”

Of course I knew this Finn was my brother too even if he was a boring suck up. “Really Klaus you're going to shame me using Finn's death to guilt me into something. Come on you can do better than that.” I turned to walk away hoping the conversation would be over now.

“Either way it doesn’t matter now I have something I need your help with Kol.” I stopped in my tracks and turned back around to listen to him. I hated helping Klaus but if I didn’t I knew he would just dagger me again. If Rebecca or Elijah had refused to help he would let it go or at least not stab them in the back, but them three were always together so you couldn’t expect less.

“We need to get the white oak stakes from the Salvatores. They have enough to kill all of us. I have my hybrids ready to kidnap their Bennett witch. I just need something as leverage to get her to cooperate. And I have someone in mind, Elena Gilbert’s brother Jeremy would definitely get the witch to work. I just need to find him. The Salvatores packed him up a few weeks ago so he could be safe. Since you're so close with one of the salvatores, maybe you might know where he is.”

I don’t know how he knew but he must have known about what (y/n) said to me. I’m sure if she knew klaus was looking for the other Gilbert she wouldn’t have told me where he was. It doesn't matter, it was her mistake not mine. If finding Jeremy Gilbert keeps Klaus happy and stops those brothers from killing my family then there’s no reason to keep this information from him, not even for some girl I’ve only met a few days ago. “Yeah I know where the Gilbert kid is. They shipped him off to Denver to stay with relatives.”

Klaus smiled and tossed me a set of keys I hadn’t seen before. “Great then you can go to Colorado and keep an eye on him. He doesn’t know who you are yet so you can report back to me on what he’s doing.” With that Klaus left.

I couldn’t believe he wanted me to go to Denver for his stupid plan. I was furious but I packed my bags anyway and took them out to the car. I didn’t really have much of a choice but to go along with his plan. It would keep me and my siblings alive. It was a smart plan, but why do I feel so guilty? I've done worse before and I’ve never felt guilty about those things. I mean (y/n) is just a girlI met a few days ago and it’s not like I haven’t already betrayed her in those few days. She shouldn’t mean anything to me anyways. But I feel as though I owe her at least an explanation before I go. I can’t explain it,but I feel like I can let my walls down around her as if I’ve known her for years. I have to put that aside. She can’t get in the way from now on I can’t let her distract me from anything.

Readers perspective

You sat at the bar like you usually did every night. You ordered your usual drink and waited for kol to show up like you had planned for. Only he didn’t show. Hours passed before it was starting to get late. 10:00 rolled around and fair enough a mikaelson did walk in the door just not the one you wanted to see.

Surprisingly Elijah took a seat on the bar stool beside you. “Do you mind if I sit here?” He asked ever so the polite one of the family. “I hate to be the bringer of bad news, but my brother kol has left town. Klaus has him doing some errand for him upstate. Before kol left he told me to come here and tell you he was gone and wouldn’t be back for a while.” Elijah turned to face you and he softened for a moment. “I hope you take my advice and stay away from my brother. Our family brings nothing but trouble to the people around us. He’s done this before to you I’m afraid but trust me you don’t want to get involved with any of us more than your brothers already have.”

With that Elijah got up and left you sitting alone. What did he mean by having done this to you before? He must have meant the ball where he attacked Matt but that doesn’t seem right. It didn’t really matter any ways you wanted an explanation from kol.

You grabbed your things and walked outside into the cold air. You pulled out your phone and called up kols number.

“Hello?”

“Really kol you skip town and you send your big brother to tell me you left. Could have just said you didn’t want to see each other again.” You laughed trying to sound like you weren’t upset that he left.

“(Y/n) I would have told you in person but this is something I have to do for klaus. I did want to see you again but it’s just gonna have to wait. I don’t know how long I’ll be gone but something tells me I’ll see you again. So how about I call you next time I’m in town?” He laughed and it all seemed so airy and fake. Not at all like the Kol you had been talking to before. “I have to go now. I’ve got a lot of driving to do. See you soon (y/n)”

Before you could say anything he hung up on you. Something felt off about him and the call. You just didn’t know what. It doesn’t matter anyway now he was just some guy. You had slept with guys and moved on like it was nothing before. You didn’t need some guy distracting you anyways. You would just have to go back to being left in this stupid town all alone again.

I hoped you guys liked this one I’m really glad the stories been doing this well. I’m sorry for the delay in writing. I had to get back in touch with my story and I was busy with Halloween so I was a little behind schedule but I hope that you liked this chapter.

[doodlelolly0910]

Once Upon a Christmas Eve

A/N: Merry Christmas @princesswan I was your Secret Santa this year! I hope you like this little piece I've put together for you and I hope it posts correctly (I've never queued anything before lol). Thanks to @cssecretsanta2k18 for putting together such an awesome event!

*This is unbeta'd and any mistakes are my own*

“It started with a kiss.

Well, to be most accurate, it started a bit before that, as many fairytales do.

Let's just start from the beginning, shall we?

Once upon a time, there was a boy. A man, really. And the man, while devilishly handsome, was very lonely.

Now, the man was very fortunate and he had many friends. He had a job he loved working on a great ship, an older brother who he was very close with, but something was missing. Let's call the man Killian.

It was the start of the Christmas season, not so very long ago, and Killian was feeling especially low. He had just broken off his engagement with a woman who he thought he was very much in love with and, in complete honesty, he was feeling quite sorry for himself. So he decided to meet his friend at the local… tavern. Killian had been waiting for his friend to show up for almost an hour that cold winter’s night and he was beginning to get impatient. He had already drank far too much, er, eggnog that night and he was in a mood of sorts. Killian was sure his friend, the idiot Will Scarlett, had blown him off completely. So he sat alone and drank his eggnog in relative peace.

Killian was sure he was broadcasting his ill aura to all around him, souring the Christmas spirit in the air with his grinchiness, but, as it turned out, he was mistaken. He heard a voice from behind him.

‘Buy you another?’ it said and when Killian turned around, there was a beautiful blonde woman standing behind him. Now, Killian was no shy lad, but remember, he was intent on wallowing in his sorrows this particular evening and he was very much not interested in company. Unless, of course, Will bloody Scarlett had deigned to grace the tavern with his presence so Killian could give him a piece of his mind.

So he told the woman, ‘No, thank you, lass. I'm waiting on someone.’ But the woman was persistent, intent on getting Killian's attention.

‘You have an accent! English?’ she asked in her own accent, Australian, perhaps, but that's inconsequential. Killian was trying to be polite, but he had little patience for anyone that evening. Nevertheless, he was a gentleman, and a gentleman mustn't be rude to a fair lady if he can avoid it.

‘Aye,’ he told her, because he had come from England with his brother, Liam, Scarlett, and his former fiancée about ten years before because the ship of his dreams had gone up for sale in a city called Boston, but he didn't have the money to buy the ship and have it brought to England. So he came to it instead.

‘You're cute,’ the woman told him shamelessly, placing her hand on his arm. ‘Are you sure you don't want another drink?’

Killian looked at the woman again. He could feel how fake his smile was but he just couldn't bring himself to be any friendlier to the poor girl in his sorry state.

‘I'm quite sure, love, thank you,’ he said. ‘I'm still working on this one and, as I said, I'm waiting for someone.’

The woman looked undeterred, perhaps having had too much eggnog herself that evening, and she moved closer to him. ‘You've been alone all night, I don't think she's coming,’ she told him and Killian was beginning to get very uncomfortable. He began looking around the tavern for exits he could possibly make his escape through when a hand landed on his opposite arm.

‘There you are,’ a new melodic voice said and when Killian turned, he found himself stunned into speechlessness, for surely he was now in the presence of an angel.

There before him stood the most beautiful creature he had ever encountered. Her long blonde hair fell in golden curls over her shoulders, hiding the buttons of the form fitting red sweater she wore. She had green eyes, the kind that sparkled with mischief, but were also deep and soulful, like she'd lived a much harder life than most but came out a stronger person on the other side. She was cool and confident, exuding a radiant inner beauty that was only matched by her breathtaking external features. Killian had never in his life seen a more lovely lass than she.

‘I've been looking all over for you,’ she said, her hand wandering up Killian's shoulder as she tucked herself into his side. He was absolutely gobsmacked, be it from her presence or the ru- er, eggnog he'd been drinking, he'd never know, but that didn't stop him from racking his fuzzy brain trying to remember why she might have sought him out. ‘Who's this?’ she asked, nodding her dimpled chin to his other side and suddenly Killian remembered the other woman.

She was a pretty, spritely thing, but she couldn't hold a candle to the angel. The first woman, Killian had noticed, was now upset, but refusing to relinquish her hold on his arm, despite the angel's clear claim being staked.

‘I'm the one who kept him company while he was sitting up here all by himself,’ the woman said, quite nastily. The angel was unperturbed, her hand finding the back of his neck, and he was unashamed to say the simple touch gave him goosebumps.

‘Well, thanks for keeping my boyfriend company, I appreciate it. Can we buy you a drink?’ the angel asked and put her arms around Killian's shoulder, clearly staking her claim. He shrugged and played along with his savior. He allowed himself to touch her for the first time and slipped his own arm around her waist. It felt right, having her in his arms. Like she just fit there.

‘He never mentioned a girlfriend,’ the other woman said.

‘Well, here I am,’ the angel replied. ‘And we are going to go find a table, if you didn't need anything else.’ She grasped the hand Killian had on her waist in her own and began to pull him away. The other woman tugged on his other arm and held him in place. The look that came over his savior’s face, one of challenge and dark amusement, was one he would never forget.

Before Killian even knew what was happening, the blonde avenger had seized Killian by the collar of his jacket and her lips met his. He felt like he'd come alive again, months of heartache melting away as she kissed him. He couldn't help but to kiss her back, completely giving in to the spark that had ignited between them. Beneath the kiss itself, which was earth shaking enough as it was, a glimmer of hope rekindled in his soul.

Killian didn't notice, being too enraptured by his savior angel and their kiss, but the other woman had left without another word. The angel pulled away from him and gave him a beautiful smile, then patted him on the shoulder.

‘You looked really uncomfortable,’ she told him. ‘Sorry if I overstepped.’

Killian was surprised by her apology, having thought his gratefulness had been written all over his face. He needed to let the angel know he appreciated her.

So he told her, ‘Not at all. I wasn't amenable to company this evening and she wasn't getting the hint, clearly. I'm just fortunate that you came along to save me.’

She smiled at Killian again, a dazzling smile that lit up her gorgeous green eyes from within. He couldn't believe how beautiful she was and he thought for a moment the eggnog might have had him hallucinating.

‘You're welcome, then,’ the angel replied. ‘I better get back to my friends, but it was nice to meet you…’

‘Killian,’ he filled in for her. ‘Killian Jones.’

She nodded, that lustrous curtain of golden curls moving with her.

‘Well, Killian Jones, I hope you have a good rest of your night.’ And with that, she turned to walk away. Killian wasn't quite ready for her to go yet. In complete honesty, he wouldn't have minded if she never left his side, which was a silly thought to have about someone you've just met, but he couldn't help himself. So he called out to her.

‘Am I worthy to know the name of my savior?’ he asked. The angel looked over her shoulder as she walked away and said but two simple words that would change his life forever.

‘Emma Swan.’

Killian was sure he was grinning like a fool at just the sound of her lovely name as he cashed out his tab with the bar keep, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

That night, he was absently thumbing through his Facebook app when a friend request came through from a name he didn't recognize. Someone called Ruby Lucas. As one should always be wary of these kinds of things, he didn't accept right away. Instead, he went to do some investigating to try and figure out who this strange woman was that sent him a request.

He went to her page and looked at her profile picture to see if he recognized the lass, but he didn't. She was very pretty, long brown hair, a little too much makeup, but Killian couldn't place her. So he swiped through a few more of her pictures. When he got to about the third or fourth picture, he was shocked to see a face he did recognize staring back at him.

There, in the middle of a group picture that seemed to have taken place at some sort of hen party, was Emma, the angel. He could hardly believe his luck. He scrolled back up and selected the accept button on the friend request, and he absolutely did not drop his phone in his haste. Killian Jones is a calm, collected, rational man.

No sooner had he accepted the request did a message come through, an eloquent ‘hey there’’ blinking at him from the screen. He replied with a ‘hello’ of his own. Ruby asked him if he'd been in the tavern that evening and Killian confirmed he had been. Ruby then replied with just one more thing and promptly logged off. The message said: ‘Rabbit Hole, 12/24, 7:00 PM. Emma will be there. You should come.’

Killian was completely taken aback by this turn of events, but he could only jump at the chance to see the angel again, so he made sure his schedule was clear. He wasn't due at his brothers until Christmas Day, fortunately and that left him wide open for whatever it was that Ruby had requested him for.

The night of the Christmas Eve came and Killian was very nervous. He had changed clothes at least a dozen times and checked the clock at least a dozen more. After he was finally satisfied that he had stalled enough, he made it to the tavern in record time. As not to seem too eager, he decided to sit in the car until 7:00 rolled around.

Now, Killian could definitely say he knew his way around a woman, but Emma had thrown him off so completely that he started having doubts about himself, not that he would let her or anyone know that. When Emma kissed him, it had thrown his world off kilter, but what if she didn't feel the same? What if it was just a kiss to her? What if she was upset that he was there again? As he sat contemplating the situation in his car, a soft tap sounded at the window. Killian looked up and was rendered immediately speechless, a novelty for him, to be certain. There staring at him through the thin separation of the window glass, a gorgeous, albeit laughing, smile on her lips, was Emma.

Killian smiled back, opening the car door and getting out of it immediately. He didn't know what to do or say, but that didn't stop an outlandishly flirtatious ‘hello, love’ falling from his lips. From across the car park, a woman that Killian recognized from her Facebook picture as none other than Ruby Lucas called out some slightly inappropriate encouragement to her friend.

‘So, you're the surprise,’ Emma told him and it took Killian a minute longer than he would have liked to admit to catch her meaning. It wasn't his fault that the second he turned back to look at Emma he was lost in her sparkling, jade colored eyes. It was an eventuality that he’d lose his head around her at some point during the evening.

‘I suppose I am,’ he replied when he had gotten his train of thought back on track. ‘It is lovely to see you again, Emma.’

‘It's nice to see you, too, Killian Jones.’

Killian had a very vivid memory of the night he met her, and he may or may not have looked at the pictures on Ruby's page a time or two in the days since her friend request, but Killian was still struck by Emma's beauty. Snow had begun to fall around them, and with the backdrop of the street lights behind her, she truly looked every inch the angel he initially had thought her to be.

‘You look stunning, love,’ he told her.

‘Thanks,’ she replied in her simplistic way. ‘You look…’

‘I know,’ he said cheekily when she fumbled for a compliment of her own. Her eyes narrowed at him but the corner of her mouth was lifted in amusement. Killian took that as a good sign. ‘Did you want to go inside?’ he asked, not wanting her to stand out in the cold longer than necessary. She agreed and they walked in together.

Once they made it through the door, Emma was greeted by a large group of people. The tavern was decorated in reds and greens, twinkling lights strung all around in the festive spirit of the upcoming holiday. Emma quickly introduced Killian to her friends and her brother, who was only just a tad overprotective of her. Killian has grown on him quite a bit since then, but that's another story for another time.

Killian didn't feel out of place once during the whole evening thanks to Emma. She was guarded, to be certain, but there was an underlying level of comfort amongst her friends that extended to Killian as well. He could tell right away that this was not a courtesy that was extended to many, and it made his heart swell with gratitude and he was just that much more enamored of her.

The activity in the tavern had dwindled down close to midnight and Emma's very merry brother, David, should have been cut off several… eggnogs before he was. But that didn't stop him from threatening Killian as his lovely wife tried to wrestle him out the door.

‘She likes you, Jones,’ he said. ‘And I'll admit you've grown on me, too. But if you hurt her I'm gonna have to declare a duel for her honor, sir. Don't you forget it.’ Killian would have been infinitely amused by the man's threats if he wasn't so elated at his revelation. Emma liked him. And it was all he could have wished for. He spotted Emma from across the floor as she stood bidding farewell to the infamous Ruby Lucas. Their eyes locked from across the room and Killian knew he was done for.

She smiled. He smiled back. Ruby laughed out loud and said something to Emma that made her turn several different shades of red. Killian's feet began to carry him across the room of their own volition. He had tunnel vision on Emma, his angel savior, and he vaguely heard something along the lines of ‘go get ‘er, tiger,’ as Ruby walked past. Before he knew it, he was standing in front of her again.

‘Hi,’ she said.

‘Hello, love,’ he said back.

Emma looked up towards the ceiling and Killian followed her gaze. There hanging from an exposed beam was a sprig of mistletoe. Now, if grown men got butterflies, Killian may have had a swarm of them in his stomach, but he would liken what he felt in that moment closer to a school of particularly violent fish swimming in his belly.

‘Merry Christmas, Killian,’ she whispered, her green eyes bright and so full of hope.

‘Merry Christmas, Emma,’ he replied, and took full advantage of the mistletoe tradition. This kiss was much gentler than the first, but no less life changing. The world began and ended with Emma in that moment and he knew that he needed to know her better, wanted her to stay in his life as long as he could keep her. When they broke away from one another, Emma's beautiful eyes fluttered open and Killian couldn't help the smile that was surely plastered all over his face.

‘Do you want to go get some coffee sometime?’ Emma asked. Killian couldn't agree fast enough. Little did either of them know when they walked into the Rabbit Hole that evening that they would be taking the first step towards their happy ever after.”

A soft gurgle and a coo sounded from the small bundle wrapped in Killian's arms. He smiled, his heart full to bursting, and he ran a knuckle over his newborn daughter's ruddy cheek. The babe yawned and squirmed before settling once more.

“A fairytale, huh?” a voice said from behind him. Killian turned to look at his wife with a grin. Emma was propped up on a mountain of pillows in the hospital bed where she lay, tired but happier than he'd ever seen her. Her hair was knotted in a messy bun on top of her head, her body clad in the standard green hospital gown, tubes sticking out of both arms, and she had never looked more radiant. His love for her had seemed to grow unendingly throughout the entire day, and this moment was no exception.

“Aye, love. My favorite fairytale and my second favorite Christmas Eve. I think this one tops it easily, but that day is a very close second,” Killian agreed. Emma hummed a sigh, her eyes fluttering closed once more and a soft smile on her lips.

“‘Snot the 24th anymore, though,” she said on a yawn. Killian glanced at the clock and saw it was after 1:00 in the morning. He chuckled and walked gingerly to her bedside so as not to jostle the infant in his arms and leaned down to press a kiss to her forehead.

“Happy Christmas, my darling. I love you both so very much.”