Summary: Pan is defeated, the Nevengers are settling into life in Storybrooke, and Emma has to make some choices. Please her parents and her son by reuniting with Neal, or follow her heart? (and what does her heart even want?) One huge heartbreak or a lifetime of small ones? (or no heartbreak at all-- but that choice takes courage) And what will she do when Killian decides he needs to protect his own heart? (Post 3A with no second curse.)

By the extremely talented @profdanglaisstuff​ !

Rating: M

On Ao3

Semi-canon secret relationship with impeccable characterization. If you haven’t read this yet, you are missing out!

This one always makes me smile. Amas Veritas by emmaofmisthaven (it looks like she either no longer has a Tumblr or has changed her name and I don’t know what it is).

“What’s your price?”

He opens his mouth, but no word come so he closes it. He tries a second time, “I don’t know. Isn’t the first born a thing or…?”

Emma makes a face. “No, gross. Something else.” She pouts, then she adds. “How about your happiest day? Does it seem like a fair trade to you?”

Or... a kind of Practical Magic CS story where Emma is scared to love Killian because of a ‘curse’ and takes his happiest day in the most lovely way.

I’d like to highlight one of my very favorite authors in the fandom today for @csficrecmonday!!!

@seriouslyhooked

I remember telling her years ago that I was seriously hooked on her fics. Her tumblr handle made it very easy to remember her! She is my go to when I want CS falling hard and fast, over the top fluff, no angst, hot smut, and the best of happily ever afters!!! I have read all her CS work and they are all absolutely FANTASTIC!!! Most of it is on fanfiction, but some has made its way over to ao3. My absolute favorites, in no particular order are:

The Lady In Red

Originally part of her Mixtape, that I also heartily recommend, this one is mine. As in I asked for it, and boy did she deliver!!! I’m so glad Emily moved just it to ao3, because I have no idea what chapter it is on the mixtape. Prompted from the song by Chris De Burgh.

Hope Springs

Emma Swan never expected life to be this good: her kid is happy, she has the best friends anyone could ask for, and she's living her dream working with horses on a ranch. But all of that changes when her best friend Ruby comes home married to Liam Jones, because Liam's brother Killian is the kind of man that makes a good life an amazing one. All Emma has to do is give him a chance.

Souvenirs

Modern AU where Emma has grown up in Maine her whole life and runs a store with Ruby and MM called Three Fates Treasures. Killian Jones is the new guy in town, who moved here to buy the local bar. Only Emma and Killian have met before, and now she can't help but wonder if their past has influenced his plans for the future. Includes tons of fluff and a happily ever after.

Scoring Your Love

Modern AU where Killian is a world famous soccer star who has hit rock bottom and been sentenced to the place where ‘football’ legends go to die – America. While here he crosses paths with Emma, an up and coming musician and film scorer who challenges everything he thought he knew and makes him want more than the game he’s always loved.

Wedded Bliss and Asterisks

Emma Swan is a self-proclaimed enemy of love who just so happens to be an up and coming wedding dress designer. She's convinced that true love is nowhere in her future but then she meets Killian Jones, a handsome and charming man whose magazine is covering the opening of her new boutique. Suddenly Emma finds herself drawing up new plans for her life, ones that seem to all be leading towards her own form of wedded bliss. Includes falling in love on trains, lots of friend fun, and all the CS cuteness your heart could ever want.

Within Your Ocean Eyes

AU period piece set in our world where Killian is a pirate in the early 1800s and Emma is a local girl, who though an orphan is beloved by the people of her small town of Storybrooke Maine. Emma is a school teacher and Killian is the Captain of his ship. They fall madly in love despite staggeringly different ways of life, and become the stuff of legend.

Accidentally on Purpose

Emma Swan is a small-town schoolteacher who thanks to a friend's bachelorette party has been dragged to Vegas. The city of sin isn't exactly Emma's speed, until she meets Killian Jones. They agree to one night but sort of get married accidentally (on purpose). Now Killian must convince Emma this thing between them is real despite how it began. Includes smuff and a CS happily ever after.

Lifted by Love

I believe this was the first of Emily’s works that I ever read. And it still holds a very special place in my heart!

An 8 part series that follows Emma, Mary Margaret, Ruby and Belle on a girls' vacation in the white mountains. Killian, David, Graham and Will also happen to be in the same complex. Thanks to some typical male stupidity, the groups cross paths and sparks fly as a result. One part per day of the trip and eventual epilogue.

And finally,

Lost Souls and Reveries, her CSSNS fic for last year.

Killian Jones is a wolf shifter without roots, without plans, and without a pack. He’s a rogue, someone humans should avoid and shifters should be wary of given his lineage. But one night years back set him on a path he didn’t realize he was taking, a path leading to the future he was destined for. That future is tied up in one woman – a human named Emma Nolan. Together Emma and Killian will find not only answers but a love that’s truly fated. But will love be enough to set both of them free, or will past demons win out in the end? (Answer: love always wins – I am writing this so despite some tiny pockets of angst it’s basically a fluff-filled insta-love fest).

Massive thank you to the organizers of @csficrecmonday for giving us the chance to do this!

I would like to give a massive shout out to the author of the fic I am recommending - @hollyethecurious - and not only does she write some of my favourite pieces of fanfic, but this particular fic inspired me so much, from a mere thought, that I made art that Colin O’Donoghue himself has seen, talked about and signed. So huzzah.  

Hollye, I am so excited to be able to meet you in June so we can take a REAL selfie and set it as my husband’s wallpaper.  The least I can do for you in the meantime is tell the world how awesome you are as a writer, friend and how I have never met anyone who has such a strong gif game. It really is incredible.

So without further ado, I present to you all, one of my all time desert island fics, The Legend of Captain Killian Jones

Summary: Cursed three hundred years ago to take on ghost form and haunt his family estate, Killian Jones receives a reprieve once every hundred years to take on corporeal form in order to try and break his curse.

A renowned restorationist, Emma Swan takes on the project of bringing the three hundred year old Jones Manor back to its former glory. A manor that is reportedly haunted by the notorious Captain Killian Jones. Good thing Emma doesn’t believe in ghosts.

Rated M (for sexy times in Part 2) / Also available on ff.net and ao3 / Line breaks indicate a change of POV / scene

One more time.

So remember when we were gonna go down to the freakin’ UNDERWORLD to go save Killian?

What kind of emotions filled you? Excitement? Fear? Anticipation? Dread?

Well in my choice for @csficrecmonday, pirateowl’s “The Ungracious Guest: Killian Jones Annoys the Underworld,” Killian’s trip to the Underworld is instead played as a straight up comedy!

AND IT IS GLORIOUS!!!

You know, for as much as I love romance and bits of angst here and there, I LOVE comedy in fics! I love crazy premises that take unexpected and funny turns in the story and all the banter between characters that follows suit!

It was written before the Underworld Arc so it’s not canon compliant, but I love that it doesn’t pretend to be. That absurdism is allowed to go unleashed and the story is so much better for it!

The comedy here is so great! Killian’s escape attempts are so crazy and out there that they remain endearing even to the ever frustrated likes of the Ferryman and Hades. ALSO, Hades is with Persephone here, so props for adherence to Greek mythology! There are actually a couple of callbacks to Greek mythology here!

But as I said before, the comedy in this fic is where it’s at and it truly does excel at that! Hades’ dry wit gels with Killian’s so well, especially as Killian’s escape attempts grow increasingly more numerous and ridiculous. XD

So it’s been so long since I have made a rec list but @csficrecmonday is the perfect oportunity to rec one of my all time favourite fics! 

So I present to you Off Limits by @hooklineandswan

She had always been like a little sister to him. Until the day she came back from college and everything changed. Best friend's sibling AU.

This was one of the first fics that I read when I got into fanfic.

Emma doesn’t like her neighbor, Killian, but then they get trapped in an elevator and he proposes a little game while they wait.

“The game's simple, really. In fact you, my love, don’t have to do a thing,” he ends with a click of his tongue, his silky accent sending shivers down her spine.

“Don’t call me that,” Emma warns him, but honestly her heart is thumping and her interest is highly piqued, “but please do go on.”

“It’s called Ten Minutes. You give me ten minutes to do anything I want to you—touching, teasing, kissing, biting, whatever I want. You so much as moan or make any sound of pleasure, you lose.”

Emma bites her lip at the idea of him doing all those things to her and feels heat creeping into her cheeks. “And if I win? What do I get out of this?”

“If you win, I will never bother you again.”

A grin spreads across her lips. “Okay, you totally made this game up, but sure, I’ll play along,” she decides confidently. She has no doubt she’ll win, so why not? Emma sits up and places the bottle on the floor, glancing over at him again. “You’re on, Jones.”

So I thought I’d read most of @welllpthisishappening one and two shots, but I apparently missed this one. And it was amazing.

The World You Must’ve Crossed

It makes sense. Really. Emma's made sure of it. So, it's kind of weird, this agreement she's just stumbled into. But it's a rent-free apartment, with two bedrooms and a really good Thai place next door. And, so, ok, she's not supposed to go into one of the bedrooms, but that's fine.

It is.

Until books start falling on the floor and she's maybe, sort of...seeing things.