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Christmas is quite stressful, as it turns out.
His upbringing never really allowed for it, but this is he and Emma’s first real holiday as a… couple, he supposes. And the art of gift giving isn’t, at this point in time, a skill of his.
“It has to be something fantastic,” Killian says, and Dave’s eyes follow his pacing. “Something to make up for the dreadful year we’ve had. What with becoming the Dark Ones and all that.”
“Kind of a tall order, Hook.”
“It is. That’s why I need you.”
“That’s why you need Belle,” David replies. “Look, I suck at this stuff. I once gave Snow a Valentine’s Day card meant for someone else.”
Killian raises an eyebrow. “Bad luck, mate.”
“In my defense, I was cursed.”
“Is that the excuse everyone uses in this town?” he sighs. “C’mon, Dave, help me out here.”
“Alright, alright,” he raises his hands in defeat. “Belle and I will come up with something.”
And thus began the quest, with the three of them having secret meetings in the library.
“Big present, right? Something really special?” Belle is a force to be reckoned with when she’s determined, something Killian admires greatly.
“That’s the plan.”
“What about a dog?” she suggests.
“Or a cat,” David chimes in. “I think Emma would like to have a pet.”
He hadn’t thought of that. She’s told him more than once that she’d never really been able to form an attachment to any pets as a child. Any she’d had were temporary. “How would I go about getting one?”
Truth be told, he’d never had a pet, either. His childhood was certainly rocky, and the opportunity for that type of companionship just wasn’t there.
Belle smiles. “I volunteer at an animal shelter nearby. I can show you around, see if you want to take one home.”
“I’ll come to help, Killy.”
“Remind me to never tell you of my nicknames, Charming.”
Belle has a favorite dog at the shelter, and her excitement to show them is infectious.
“He’s a golden retriever and lab mix, and he’s only about four months old,” she says, shoving the cage door open. “I’ve nicknamed him Chance, but you know, that’s just tem-“
Her words are abruptly cut off by a sharp shrill from the small pup, demanding her attention. Then she’s lost in petting his belly and talking to him, and Killian and David are left to observe.
Killian has to laugh. “Sure you don’t want to take this one home yourself, lass?”
She looks undecided, which isn’t entirely surprising. She clearly has an attachment to the little guy.
“I want to,” she strokes his side. “I was the one that found him and brought him in. He was tiny then, couldn’t have been older than a week. Poor thing was starving, so his mother must have died. Feeding him was hard, and it was touch and go for a while.”
She speaks with such love that Killian feels touched.
“I thought about just keeping him then,” she continues. “But… a lot was happening at the time.”
His eyes narrow. “The bloody Crocodile can go-“
She whips her head around, shooting him a warning look.
He coughs. “Right, then. Carry on.”
He’s sending mental signals to Dave to stop the snickering, but it can’t be helped.
He wanders around the cages, taking peeks at the furry animals. One catches this eye – a striking, one eyed, black cat. Their green eye is stunning and peers at him curiously.
“Now you,” he grins. “You’re my kind of cat.”
The holiday spirit is in full force within the Swan-Jones household. Come the twenty fifth, the tree is bright and decorated, the stockings are hung, the fireplace is warm, and the music is festive. Everyone had helped to some extent – David, Mary Margaret, Henry, Belle, Regina, Robin… even Roland put the angel on the tree. Having the house so full felt natural. The way it should be.
The only problem is that he’s in a bit of a situation when it comes to gift giving. Or rather, the responsibility that comes with said gifts. He might’ve – just maybe – bitten off more than he can chew. It’s debatable.
“So what’d you get me?” Emma asks from her spot on the couch. “Doubloons? An eyepatch?”
“Says the person who gave me yet another one of those,” he waves his hand indifferently, “infernal talking devices I don’t know how to bloody use.”
“That one was old, babe. You can get used to an iPhone,” she pats his arm.
“Suppose that makes me prehistoric, love.” He stands up and reaches for her hand, taking a moment to place David and Belle and give them a conspiratorial wink. They scurry to the kitchen – an area he’s convinced Emma to avoid entirely for the night. “But if you’re oh so curious, I think it’s time for the reveal.”
She grins and hops off the couch, and he promptly ignores the nervous twitch in his gut.
David and Belle come out rather dramatically, if he does say so himself, with an impressively sized box. Emma looks between the three of them like she isn’t sure how to fit the puzzle pieces together. He can’t exactly blame her – the picture is odd.
Instead of making any sort of introduction, they open the box and let the three animals inside tumble out.
Emma’s eyes widen.
“Um,” Belle starts, rubbing Chance’s back. “Just so you don’t freak out, this guy’s mine. I brought him over to see how they would get along, and it turns out, pretty splendidly. A bit like dysfunctional siblings, really.”
“I – I don’t know what to say,” Emma stutters.
“It’s a lot, I know,” David says, with a quiet confidence. “But Hook felt a connection with her. And he thought you would, too.”
David picks up the black cat, the one Killian hadn’t yet tried to name. It seemed wrong, somehow, like Emma should help decide that.
“And this one?” Emma raises an eyebrow at the slightly smaller cat scratching at the carpet. Hues of black and white run across her fur.
He scratches his neck with his hook. “Aye, that one. Persistent little thing, meowing at her cage door and practically begging me to pay attention to her. She’s the sibling. Didn’t seem right to separate them.”
“Oh.”
Killian furrows his brows. “It doesn’t have to be permanent, if you don’t wish for it. I can always find another home for them…”
His sentence trails off. Just saying the words tug at his heart in a way he doesn’t particularly like.
Emma’s eyes dart to his face. “What? No, no! I – I just didn’t know how to say it.”
“Say what?”
She gives him a smile meant only for him. “That this is really, really sweet. I know I would’ve wanted to take these two home, and I wouldn’t have been able to take only one. It means a lot that you… get it. All of it. Thank you.”
He grips her hand tighter. “Merry Christmas, darling.”
As she leans up to kiss him, he thinks – if this is what Christmas is supposed to be, he could spend many more just like this.