These Dreams

Reunion

An insistent pounding finally brought Killian around, and he blinked his eyes a few moments, trying hazily to remember where he was. He'd dreamed of the Jolly again, and it was almost as though he could still feel the deck shifting beneath his feet. He glanced, bleary-eyed at the clock on the nightstand as the pounding resumed.

"Hook! Killian! You in there?"

David's voice brought him instantly awake, so he rolled himself out of bed and in two long strides, wrenched the door open.

"What is it?" he demanded. "What's happened?"

David drew back, turning his head away with a pained look. "Could you put some clothes on, please?"

"Sorry mate, but you came looking for me." Killian stepped back to the bed, wrapping the sheet around his lower half.

"Yeah, but I don't need to see quite so much of you." David turned back around cautiously. "Don't pirates have to be ready for anything?"

"Who says I'm not?"

"Like that?"

"Well I suppose it depends on what you hope to be ready for." He cracked a smile, and it went over like a lead balloon. He had a terrible habit of forgetting that David was Emma's father sometimes.

"What's this all about, mate?"

"Get some clothes on - we're going down to the dock. I'll wait for you in the truck."

Killian reached out, grabbing David's arm. "Is Emma all right?"

David gave him a reassuring smile. "Emma's fine. She sent me to get you. Now get dressed." David started through the doorway.

"What's going on?" Killian called after him.

"It's a surprise!"

###

They pulled into the cannery parking lot, and David turned off the ignition. "We're here."

"The cannery?" Killian looked around. "All I see is big, ugly building. What's all the fuss?"

David smiled a secret smile. "Come on." He crossed the parking lot with Killian following behind, and as they rounded the building, Killian made a face.

"Don't tell me you hired us out as cleaning crew. It certainly smells like they can use it." He wrinkled his nose. "I don't know why you have to be so bloody secreti-" He stopped dead in his tracks, his jaw hanging slack. Emma stood on the dock, smiling ear-to-ear.

"Look who's back," she called out.

And there, moored on the dock, bobbing gently on the water, was the Jolly Roger.

"How? I don't understand? Where...?" he was at a loss for words.

"Nobody knows," David answered. "We woke up this morning, and there she was. No one was aboard, and she appears to be intact."

"I'll be damned," Killian said under his breath - then he gave an exuberant laugh. "My ship! She found her way back to me!"

"It appears so," David said, clapping him on the back. "Why don't you go give her the once-over?"

He hadn't even finished his sentence before Killian was walking toward her, with Emma intercepting him on the way. He picked her up, swinging her around, laughing again and planting a loud, smacking kiss on her.

"Hey!" She called out, good-naturedly. "Watch the spine!"

"Sorry, love." He released her slowly, letting her slide down his body. Emma held his eyes a moment before she stepped back, a little embarrassed with David standing there.