#cs spec

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“Hook isn’t going to like this.”

Emma looked up from where she knelt by her daughters’ bed and gave Tiger Lily a wry grin. “Well, too bad. He’ll get over it.” She rose, giving both girls a feather light kiss across their brows, and turned towards the window. “Killian will forgive me; he always does. My stubbornness is one of the reasons he fell in love with me, after all.”

Tiger Lily chuckled as she joined Emma at the window. Emma hugged her arms to her chest as she regarded the dark-haired woman who had become a dear friend. She took a deep shuddering breath, and Tiger Lily seemed to sense her apprehension.

“Hey,” she encouraged, resting her hand on Emma’s elbow, “just because I know Hook won’t like it doesn’t mean I think it’s a bad idea.”

Emma gave Tiger Lily a half-smile in response and a brief nod. “I’m casting the spell, but I’m relying on you for protection. We can’t have just anyone wandering in.”

In answer, Tiger Lily threw her arms around Emma’s neck. “I would die before I let anything happen to Hook’s girls.” She drew back and the two women exchanged smiles before Tiger Lily turned and descended the stairs.

Once she was gone, Emma turned to the window. She gazed out for a long moment, then lifted her hands.

“I’m sorry, Killian,” she said as a blue mist shimmered and then began to descend around the castle, “but I can’t let them grow up without you, either.”

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Officer Rogers rubbed his stubbled jaw as he read back over the case file on his desk. He didn’t know why he kept thinking that he had missed something. He had gone over all the physical evidence in the locker downstairs with the proverbial fine-toothed comb. He had read over witness transcripts dozens of times. And the photograph . . .

He picked up the glossy five by seven of the missing four year old twins and gazed at it for what felt like the millionth time. Everyone else in the precinct told him he had to let it go. The girls had been missing for far too long; most likely they were dead. Even if they were still living, it was the FBI’s case now, not there’s. But Officer Rogers couldn’t let it go. Something about those faces . . . every time he looked into the two sets of eyes in that photograph – one a bright blue and the other a sea green – an urgency rose up in him to find those little girls.

They were out there, somewhere, and he had the oddest sense that they were waiting on him to find them . . .

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“A sleeping curse!”

Tinkerbell flinched at his red-faced outburst, but Tiger Lily stood calmly. “I told her you wouldn’t like it, but you know how Emma is.”

“Bloody hell,” Killian muttered, running his hand through his dark hair agitatedly. “You mean to tell me they’ve been suffering in that fiery red room for the last eight years?”

Tink rolled her eyes, and Killian clenched his fist in frustration. Did these fairies not see the seriousness of the situation?

“Please, Hook, do you really think Emma would do something that would harm the girls? This sleeping spell came from light magic, not dark. They’ve been peacefully slumbering with pleasant dreams awaiting your kiss –“

“Then the sooner I get there the better,” Killian cut the fairy off as he strode to the stables. It would be but a few hours ride, but he didn’t want to waste a single second. The fairies scurried behind him.

“Take the white one,” Tiger Lily instructed, “it’s more romantic.”

Killian rolled his eyes, but saddled the white stallion anyway.

“And your clothes are all wrong,” she continued as her eyes examined his dark wash jeans and leather motorcycle jacket. She produced her fairy wand and waved it at him. He was momentarily enveloped in a cloud of smoke, and when it cleared, he was wearing blue velvet breeches and a white and gold doublet with a blue velvet cape. “That’s better,” Tiger Lily said with a satisfied nod.

“No, that’s completely wrong,” argued Tink. She wrinkled her nose at Killian’s princely garments. “Emma won’t like that at all.” She waved her own wand, and this time when the smoke cleared, Killian was wearing his old pirate duster, leather pants, and a leather vest with wide, ornate silver buckles.

Killian glanced down at the familiar clothes then locked eyes with the blonde fairy. He nodded and gave her a smirk. “You know me so well, Tink.”

Tink crossed her arms and gave Tiger Lily a satisfied look, but her brunette compatriot only rolled her eyes. Killian mounted his horse and galloped out of the stables and towards the castle in the distance.

“Think I should have told him about the dragon?” Tiger Lily mused as they watched him ride off.

Tink gave Tiger Lily a mischievous smile. “Nah. It’s about time we had a little fun at his expense.”

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Killian wasn’t surprised to find the castle surrounded by thorny vines; Tiger Lily had explained her protection spell. If it worked correctly, the vines should part for him. And only him.

He slid from his mount and hastened towards the drawbridge, but before he could cross, a shriek split the air and he heard the familiar heavy, flapping sound of leathery wings.

“A dragon,” Killian groaned, “of course there’s a bloody dragon.”

He pulled his sword as the dragon landed heavily on the other side of the moat. All David had to do was gallop down the road and traipse through the forest to kiss his true love. But he and Emma? Oh no, they had to have deadly thorns and fiery dragons thrown into the mix.

The moat was bone dry as if it hadn’t been filled with water in many long years. Killian took advantage of that fact and scrambled down its banks. The dragon roared as it circled about, clearly unsure about where Killian had disappeared to. Once Killian scrambled up the opposite side of the moat, the dragon’s back was to him. He swung with his sword, and though the steel barely made a dent in the giant beast’s armor, the creature still reared up on its hind legs and howled in pain. Killian raced around to the dragon’s front, hoping for a clear shot at its chest, but the reptile had anticipated this. Its chest filled with fire, its head rearing back, and Killian ducked down, waiting for the blast of fire.

He heard the dragon release a stream of flames, but he felt nothing. At first he thought maybe his body was numb in its last moments before death, but then he lifted his head hesitantly. The fire streamed around him, as if he were encased in a force field of magic. He grinned suddenly, thinking of Tiger Lily, then he stood to his full height.

The flames ceased, and Killian still stood there staring confidently at the dragon. The beast sat back on its haunches regarding him with cool, glittering eyes. The fierce eyes seemed to soften, and then the creature curled in on itself, its wings covering its body. Before Killian’s eyes, it seemed to shrink, then shift. Then the wings fell away, and standing before him was a woman.

Killian blinked and shook his head. “Lily?”

The woman smiled as she walked forward. “Yeah, it’s me. Sorry about all that. Tiger Lily asked me to help her protect the castle. Said I wouldn’t be able to hurt you even if I tried. Glad to see she was right.”

Killian chuckled awkwardly as he reached out his hand to shake hers. “And I apologize for attacking you – for the second time.”

Lily shrugged, then leaned towards him conspiratorially, “You would never have beaten me anyway, pirate.” She straightened, then turned to gesture towards the castle. “Well, it’s all yours then. Tell Emma sorry I didn’t stay to chat. I got a date on Lonely Mountain.”

With one last wave and a parting wink, Lily jogged across the drawbridge, transforming as she went. Then she was in the sky, wheeling on the breeze with a loud shriek.

Killian re-sheathed his sword and turned towards the castle. The wall of thorny vines surrounding it were at least six feet deep, but just as Tiger Lily said they would, they parted automatically at the slightest touch of his hook. He grasped the heavy ornate door knob, but he barely had to turn it before the door swung gently open.

The room he stepped into was eerily quiet and covered in a layer of dust and cobwebs. The wall sconces and chandeliers were rusted and hanging at precarious angles, all of it speaking of death and decay. Except for the exquisite, angelic creature laying on a dais in the center of the room. A shaft of light shone through a skylight, bathing his Swan in its light.

He approached the dais slowly, reverently, and gazed down upon Emma, who slept with a peaceful smile upon her face. She was dressed in a long, shimmery white gown, and a circlet of pearls rested atop her golden tresses.

“Emma,” Killian breathed as he bent over her, his knuckles softly caressing her cheek. The minute his lips brushed hers, light pulsed outward from the contact. Then Emma’s eyes flew open and she surged upward with a gasp. She turned to him, smiling brightly.

“You found me.”

“I told you I – “ but Emma broke his words off with a kiss of her own. It was much like their kiss in Neverland, her hands fisted around the lapels of his jacket, her lips pillaging his hungrily, and he responding in kind.

When they parted they gazed at each other in ecstasy for a moment – one brief moment. Then Emma looked around her, scowling.

“What the hell? This isn’t how I went to sleep!”

Killian chuckled as he helped her down from the ornate dais where she had spent the last eight years slumbering. “I believe this was Tinkerbell’s contribution to the spell. She and Tiger Lily both insisted on a maximum amount of romance.”

“But the girls are all the way upstairs in the tower!” Emma exclaimed, pulling him by his hook towards the stairs.

“The girls!” Without another word spoken, Killian raced after her.

When they reached the top of the spiral staircase, they both had to shove the door open. The bed Emma had originally gone to sleep in was wedged against it.

“You wanted me to shove you to the floor in order to get in?” Killian asked her wryly.

Emma rolled her eyes, “Mama bear always puts herself between danger and her cubs, okay pirate? I’m going to kill Tinkerbell. Romance my ass!”

It didn’t take long for them to get the door open and burst into the room. Tink had done a number here, too. The girls were sleeping atop satin sheets, and a gauzy sleeping curtain surrounded them. Killian pushed the curtain aside and fell to his knees beside the bed. Emma hurried to the other side and knelt as well.

Killian brushed aside the blonde hair that fell across his daughter’s forehead. Across the bed, Emma did the same to their other daughter’s dark hair. Their eyes met.

“Together?” he asked. Emma nodded.

“Leia, I love you,” Killian breathed as he bent to kiss the child’s forehead.

“I love you, Lizzie,” Emma whispered on the other side of the bed.

The sleeping curtain rustled sharply as the wave of magic burst forth. Killian watched as Leia’s blue eyes fluttered open. She looked up at him with a small smile and a tiny wrinkle in her forehead.

“Daddy?”

Killian’s grin threatened to split both his cheeks at the sight of his little girl. She jumped up and threw her arms around his neck. He held her tight, marveling at how much he had missed her even though he had no memory of her as Officer Rogers. On the other side of the bed, Emma caught his eye as she embraced Lizzie, a beatific smile upon her face.

Lizzie turned and squealed, “Daddy!” and then all four of them were tumbling upon the bed in a giggling mass of hugs and kisses. At one point, Lizzie grasped her father’s face in her little hands and pressed her tiny nose to his. Her green eyes bore into him as she gazed at him seriously. “I dreamed I was a princess, Daddy, and you were my prince.”

He locked eyes with Emma again as tears threatened to spill over. “Well,” Emma managed to say, voice thick with emotion, “I would say that dream came true, sweetie.”

Lizzie showered her father’s face with kisses as Leia began to jump on the bed. The child suddenly stopped, scowling down at her lace trimmed, satin dress. She reached a hand up to touch the diamond-encrusted tiara atop her head.

She wrinkled her nose in a perfect imitation of her mother, and then said in a saucy voice, “What the bloody hell am I wearing?”

Emma and Killian laughed at that until their sides ached, and then each rose from the bed, gathering a twin each. Emma flicked her wrist towards Killian and Lizzie, changing their clothes back to those of the Land Without Magic. Then she did the same to herself and Leia.

“Well, Joneses,” Emma said with a tilt of her head, “I’d say it’s time to go home.”