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These were the best sort of mornings. It was early, crisp, the sun was shining through the windows and light beamed through the curtains, illuminating the house and warming his face. The hour was quiet and the ticking of the clock sounded, mingled with the excited thumping of small hands against a high chair table and the gurgling of a baby.
His baby. His Hope.
There were many times he’d catch himself just smiling at his wife and daughter, unable to believe that this was his life after everything he’s been through. After everything he’s done. Killian often felt that he didn’t deserve it and that the few short years of being a hero didn’t counteract the bad deeds he’s done. But he’s slowly forgiving himself for all the things he’s done and is proud of the life he’s got now. Proud of what he’s accomplished and that he managed to change his life around. Emma certainly helps reassure him and the little girl sitting across from him with a banana smushed on her face was something he was always grateful for.
Hope gives him a wide smile, a few teeth starting to come through and blue eyes that she inherited from him staring back brightly, her mother's blonde hair wild and fair in the sunlight. He can’t help but smile back and reach out to wipe the banana off her face, Hope giggling as he does so. She’s always been besotted with him, and something that always worried everyone at first was her fascination with his hook. Although all of the children in Storybrooke seem to stare at it with interest, especially young Neal who even pretends to have a hook himself when they go on trips out on the ship with the family. An aspiring pirate. A good one, obviously, just like him.
His favourite part was when Neal wore the mini leather jacket he got for him just like his, long with large lapels and buttons down the front. Naturally, David wasn’t so sure at first but he plays along now. He wants to get Hope one for when she’s able to walk on her own.
‘Bananas are for eating, love’ he says as he bends down in front of her, ‘not throwing across the place.’
She replied with a laugh and threw the last bit over his shoulder, hitting the floor with a splat. He smiled and stood up straight, touching the top of her head gently as he went to go clean it up. He’s slipped on bananas, grapes, mashed potato and countless other things because of her, especially when he’s been so short on sleep that he isn’t paying attention. Hope can be a noisy one at night which is why Emma needed a lay in today. Let’s just say, she likes attention from her parents.
Not that he minds. Killian loves the early mornings with his daughter, they were precious moments and a treasured memory he’d keep with him for the rest of his life. Just her and him. Father and daughter. Bonding time. He isn’t looking forward to her growing up and leaving home, he often asks Emma if they can live in Neverland in a few years when she’s a little older, which was a joke but he didn’t want her to grow up. Not yet anyway.
‘Shall we get you something else then,’ he suggested as he opened the cupboard door and looked for something healthy that she won’t throw again, ‘but not sweets. I know what those Charmings are like when they have you.’ He glanced over his shoulder at her and added, ‘I call it bribery.’
He rummaged in the cupboard until he felt something behind him and paused, a shimmer of magic in the air and he turned to see the banana skin he left on the counter floating in front of him. Killian raised an eyebrow and glanced over at Hope who had waved her hand a little excitedly and caused the skin to hit him in the face before falling to the floor by his feet.
‘Bloody hell,’ he muttered and ran a hand over his face. He threw the banana skin into the bin and leaned over to pick her up, her short arms tightening around his neck immediately and her head resting against his.
Killian made his upstairs and pushed the bedroom door slowly with his hook. Emma is awake but laying on her side, her eyes gazing out the window and the sun beaming on her face, a small smile on her lips.
‘Swan.’
She rolls over and looks over at her husband holding Hope up in his right arm, her legs kicking against him slightly. Emma sits up and holds her arms out for her daughter and Killian places her down on the bed.
‘Morning,’ she said with a smile, her face relaxed and hair wild from sleep.
‘You’ll never bloody guess what just happened, love.’
He perched on the edge of the bed and watched Hope snuggle with her mother, Emma’s arms protectively wrapping around her. ‘What?’
‘Someone,’ he nodded towards Hope with a smile, ‘just made something levitate.’
Her head snapped up, ‘she did what?’
‘She used magic. Accidentally, of course, but she made a bloody banana skin float around the kitchen and it hit me in the face.’ He said with a chuckle, reaching out and ruffling her hair so it went in all directions.
‘Did she really?’ Emma laughed and looked down at her, stroking her face gently. Hope's eyes were wide and innocent, ‘Hope, you have magic.’
‘Just like her mother.’
Emma smiled widely and leant down to kiss her, ‘I shouldn't be surprised but I didn’t think she’d show signs this early.’
Killian shuffled towards the headboard so he could sit next to them and draped an arm around Emma’s shoulders, resting his head against hers and watching their child excitedly throw her arms around happily, gripping the blankets to put in her mouth.
‘You’ll eat this but not a healthy breakfast,’ he muttered while Emma took the blankets out of her hands and repositioned her between them both. ‘I bet she’ll eat one of those pop tarts you love.’
Emma glanced over at him with a smirk, ‘what can I say, she has good taste.’
‘You haven’t fed her one of those, have you?’ he asks with an eyebrow raised, ‘she barely has any teeth.’
‘Of course not,’ Emma told him, ‘I think she-’
A book went flying across the room and slammed into the wall from the bedside table, the pages opening and a bookmark getting lost behind the cabinet. Hope stared at the book sitting idly on the floor and then back up at her parents, her face startled and confused.
‘Wonderful,’ Killian muttered sarcastically, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth ‘as if raising a child wasn’t tough enough already.’
Emma rubbed Hope's back gently and looked up at Killian, an eyebrow raised, ‘scared?’
He scoffed, ‘why would I be scared? Unless she flings the hook off my arm and it lands in my face,’ Hope lets out a small giggle at that moment and he looks down at her with a grin, ‘glad you find it funny, love.’
Emma leans over to give him a light kiss before picking up Hope and getting out of bed, ‘she won’t do that, but maybe it’ll be worth discussing this with Regina. Maybe she has some ideas on how to make sure she doesn’t hurt herself or anyone else while she’s throwing around unpredictable magic. Like baby-proofing it.’
‘Aye, love,’ he said, getting up too and touching Hope’s nose with his finger, ‘I have a feeling this one’s going to be as powerful as her mother.’
‘Maybe even more,’ Emma said with a grin, bouncing her as they left the bedroom.
‘Well, if I wasn’t looking forward to her teenage years before, I’m definitely not now.’