Stay this young and beautiful forever

“Mister Rogers, how lovely!” Killian groans as the man makes a few jokes about sweaters and the neighborhood before finally getting to the point. “I’ll make a note of your offer, but if someone offers something higher, of course they’ll likely accept the higher bid.”

Killian knows it would be easier to just ask Kris to sell him the house. But Kris has gone off on a trip with his wife and they’ve been planning to sell for ages. It feels wrong to ask him to take a huge cut in the price just as a small favor. They’re not really friends, just work acquaintances. So he’s got to go by the book.

He spends the next hour at work in a wonderful mood. He’s never been inside the house, but he’s still imagining himself living in it with his Swan, with their pups and their future children and it’s all just…

It’s hopelessly romantic.

Of course, it all falls apart when the realtor calls back.

“Mister Rogers?” he asks, and Killian almost tells him he’s got the wrong number before he remembers that he gave the man a false name.

“Aye, that’s me,” he says, unsure of why the man would be calling him back so early in the day. Hardly anyone would have gone to the open house just yet.

“Um, we’ve had a higher offer on the house, and it’s in cash. I wanted to give you a chance to counter before I accept on behalf of the owners.”

“How much is the offer?”

“The full value. Two-hundred-thousand.” The man sounds off somehow, as though he wants to discourage Killian from buying the house. Killian wonders, briefly, who’s got that much cash lying around.

David, he thinks. He knows the Nolans have a fairly large inheritance waiting for them, that they’ve decided to save it until the moment is right. And this certainly is the right moment. Ah, well. If Emma can’t have the house, David certainly should.

“No, that’s alright.” Killian sighs into the phone. “Accept the other offer. I can’t beat it.”

For the first time in what feels like forever, Killian leaves work early. He’s disappointed in the turn of events and he can’t shake the frustration. So he heads home and cracks open a beer at lunchtime. Normally, he’s a rum drinker, but he doesn’t want to get drunk in the middle of the day. Nor does he want to be drunk when Emma gets home, because he’s quite an emotional drunk and he doesn’t want to be emotional. He just wants to numb the negativity he’s feeling.

He’s just opened the third beer, petting Procella’s head absentmindedly, when Emma comes home. She’s flushed and excited and just, in general, acting the opposite of how Killian feels. He doesn’t want to go out, isn’t up for an adventure or a date or whatever she’s trying to drag him on, but he’ll deny her next to nothing, and so he goes.

The roads they take are suspiciously familiar and they’re halfway there when he starts to suspect what’s going on.

“Swan, where are we going?” he asks. She jumps at the sound of his voice, as though she’d been lost in thought and had forgotten he was even there.

“I bought something I want to show you,” she tells him.

“Emma, did you—”

“We’re almost there,” she cuts him off, and her voice cracks just a bit. Killian second-guesses his assumption for a moment, because she seems upset. And if she’d bought the house, she wouldn’t be upset.

Would she?

They ride the rest of the way in silence.

She pulls up in front of the house and climbs out of the car without a word. Rascal and Procella both follow her, Killian too slow for Procella’s liking. He opens the door and sees the big red SOLD sign in front of the realtor’s face on the lawn.

And then he laughs.

He can’t stop laughing, because of course Emma bought the house. She’s brilliant, his Swan, and he should know by now that they’re more alike than he could ever possibly comprehend. She reaches the house and freezes when she hears him laughing. He jogs across the street to catch up to her, wrapping his arms around her from behind.

“Swan, you bloody brilliant woman!” He squeezes her against him, more in love with her than he ever thought possible.

“You don’t even… what?” She sounds utterly confused and he can’t stop laughing.

“You’re the buyer? I should have known!” He kisses her hair.

Finally, the tension that’s been increasing in her shoulders since they left the apartment seems to recede and she turns around to face him, still stuck in his embrace.

“Were you the first bidder?” she accuses, and then smacks his chest. But she’s smiling, and that’s all that matters to Killian. “I was so angry!”

When Killian finally pulls himself together and stops laughing, choosing instead to stare at his girlfriend with nothing but wonder and adoration, she invites him inside their home.

Their home.

The dogs see themselves off, preferring to sniff the empty corners than to stand in the doorway with Killian and Emma.

“I’m glad you brought me here, Swan,” Killian whispers into her hair. And even more glad I’ve been walking around with this bloody ring in my coat pocket for weeks. “I had big plans for this house, and I thought they’d all been dashed.” He places a kiss against her skin. “But now, hope is renewed.”

“Big plans?” She asks as a shiver runs down her spine. He grins against her shoulder.

“Oh, aye.” He reaches into his pocket. “In fact, now seems as good a time as any, don’t you think?”

Truthfully, Killian’s wanted to propose for months. Long before David proposed to Mary Margaret. Killian would have proposed the moment he realized Emma was his soulmate. That’s how right she’s always felt, from the very beginning. But he waited, because she wouldn’t have wanted that. She would have run for the hills, and he couldn’t have that happen. He wonders, even now, if she’s really ready for this step. But she’s bought the house, and that has to mean something.

Or it has to mean everything.

He steps around her and takes one knee. Rascal and Procella, sensing the importance of the moment, leave the task of sniffing every corner for later and come to join him. Really, they must look ridiculous, the three of them just staring at Emma.

“I feel like we’ve done a lot of things backwards, Swan.” She smiles at the nickname and he presses on. “We met before I even knew I had a soulmate. I thought I’d be alone forever, adrift at sea without anyone for company. But then you and Rascal came along,” he glances to his left at the pitbull who’d once climbed into his lap in greeting. “And you brought me Procella.” At the mention of her name, Killian hears his dog’s tail start swishing against the hardwood floor. “And then, by some miracle, you let me in.” Emma’s truly crying now and Killian’s barely holding back his own tears. A couple of saps, they are. “And you gave me something I never thought I would have: true love. And now, Emma Nolan, I have to ask you a very important question.” He pauses, as though there’s any suspense left in the moment. “Will you marry me?”

She’s already saying ‘yes’ before he even finishes asking. She whispers it once, twice, and then she’s screaming it and he’s standing and he’s holding her and there are a lot of salty kisses to be shared in the living room of their home.

“Well,” he says as he wipes a few stray tears away. “Now that’s over with, show me around, Swan.” He drapes an arm across her shoulders and kisses her hair.

“Well, David and I used to wrestle in the living room, and there used to be a dent over there under the window…”