With a song in his heart he opened the door to his home after his shift at the bar... their home. Somehow it still felt odd seeing it this way. But this elegant mansion was really where he now lived with his girlfriend, the mayor. And where they would hopefully soon live as a family. He... Captain Hook! He had to chuckle to himself. A part of him was almost embarrassed how soft he had become, even though... no, actually, not at all. He was just too happy, and he didn't care what others thought of him, nor did he care about his reputation. The only two people that mattered to him were his starfish and Regina, the fact that she trusted him and knew how much he loved her.
And since she had drunk the water from Lake Nostos on Christmas Day a week ago, he could feel the change inside her. She was smiling again. She had hope. Hope in a future. And she was definitely serious about her wish for them to make a baby. They had been working towards their goal very diligently every night, and he was hoping that this night would be no different either. After all, such an endeavor needed a lot of practice!
„Love? I'm home!", he yelled as he stepped inside from the cold, taking off his coat, scarf and shoes.
„Hey, honey! I'm in the living room."
He walked in, finding her seated on the couch, cozily wrapped in a blanket in front of the crackling fireplace. He couldn't help but smile broadly when his eyes met hers, he leaned over her to greet her with a long kiss, barely wanting to let go of her lips again. Even though they had been all over each other recently, he still couldn't get enough of her.
„What are you reading?", he asked pointing at the book she was holding as he sat down next to her, gently pulling her into his arms so she could rest her head against his chest.
„Oh... just something Snow gave me. I'm still debating with myself whether it's appropriate for my stepdaughter to give me a book like that, but I assume this classifies as ‚medical advice'? Guess that's what's to be expected to happen when my boyfriend goes around telling the entire town about my fertility issues and our most private hopes to expand our family", she raised a disapproving eyebrow, „Apparently no one here is able to keep a secret."
He sighed. „I'm sorry, love... you know that. But, I simply didn't see any other way. And, for what it's worth: if I hadn't we might not be here right now. We'd have never learned about Lake Nostos. And you... you might still be lost to me. Lost in sadness, darkness and despair."
„Oh, come on! It wasn't that bad!"
„That's what you think! I was... really worried about you."
„Well", she swallowed, „Thanks to your blabbermouth, that's now a thing of the past. I just really don't understand... why she wouldn't just tell me, you know? I mean, after all we've been through. Together. I could even argue that it was HER who drank that potion, as in, the dark and evil side of me."
Killian tucked her hair behind her ear and shook his head. „Don't think about it anymore, love. I know that's hard to do because... somehow she's you and you are her, but then you're not and... well it's still really confusing to me. But the only thing that matters now is", he smirked, „that our baby will be so much cuter and smarter than theirs."
Regina giggled and lay her forehead against his as he pointed at the book, changing the subject back again to their initial conversation. „So what do we have here", he read the title, „‚Let's make a baby – How to conceive your little miracle'?"
She nodded. „Yeah... it's a bit much, isn't it?"
„That, and", he put on his most seductive smile and teasingly let the tip of his hook rum along her thigh, „If you want to know how baby making works... I might be able to give you a lesson or two? I think it's safe to say that I'm kind of an expert in this delicate area."
She raised an eyebrow and gave him a gentle slap with her book. „Idiot!", she still had to laugh though, „But are you though? Because you made a baby with a witch you've just met that day?", she put the book down on the table and came out from under her blanket in order to be able to climb onto his lap, straddling him, letting her hands run across his chest, and he liked where this seemed to be going, „Or do you have any other references to show for yourself, captain?"
He wrapped his arms around her to hold her in place and briefly tried to open the buttons of her blouse with his teeth until he abandoned this plan due to lack of success, pretending nothing had happened, but Regina still threw her head back and had to laugh out loud about how clumsy and goofy he sometimes could be. He didn't show it often, but he did when they were alone, and it was by far her favorite version of him.
With a soft smile she placed her hands in his neck and whispered against his lips before giving him another deep kiss: „I love you so much... you know that?"
„Aye... right back at you, love! And I love the way you laugh, more than you can imagine."
When they head to break apart for air, she let herself drop next to him and snuggle up to him again, reaching for the book to show him a few things that she had found.
„So what does this curious spellbook of yours recommend?"
„It's actually quite interesting! Right now I'm reading all about measuring your body temperature every day to track your cycle and find your most fertile days. And then, there's also ways to support conception during and after the act, actually! For example, they recommend a position where the woman lies on her back, ideally with her pelvis slightly elevated, by a pillow or something", she frowned, than had to grin and pinched him in the nipple, which made him wince, „You can drop that smirk, alright? I hope you know that you'll owe me the same amount of time of me being on top to even things out again once we're pregnant."
She knew he loved being on top. And she loved being on top too. Again, they were just too similar in that respect. Usually, they made it work somehow without letting their lovemaking become too much of a power struggle, but she knew how much he must enjoy this news right now.
„Anyhow", she continued, „afterwards, they write that I should remain in that position, lying down on my back, on the pillow, for some fifteen, twenty minutes or so, to help your little swimmers get to where they're supposed to go. It's just gravity in the end."
„That sounds easy enough... they wrote a whole book about that? Anything I can do? Except for making sweet love to my queen?", he smirked.
„You should lay off hot baths and tight pants. Those can impact your sperm quality."
„Aye, and we wouldn't want to quarrel with my sperm quality now, would we...", he said, leaning in to kiss her.
She chuckled, just before her lips met his: „Exactly!"
Eventually he whispered in her ear: „What do you say, love... we follow the book's advice and put it into practice?"
Over the next days she was trying to figure out her cycle by keeping track of her body temperature in the mornings right after waking up. Unfortunately, her book didn't say anything about what if you drank a magic potion some fourty, fifty years ago, then drank some magic water to reverse its effects, and also, you somehow stopped aging long ago. So she wasn't quite sure what she was doing, but eventually she was pretty confident that she had figured it out. And the best time to have sex and get pregnant was: right now!
Killian was pretty quick to learn the cues she gave him. A clearing of her throat, a certain look, the way she tucked her hair behind her ear. In the beginning, they still tried to be subtle: they excused themselves, one after the other, at Granny's, they canceled appointments because they were „busy", one evening she visited him during his shift at the Rabbit Hole and a literal queue was forming in front of the bar because the bartender had disappeared somewhere in the back with his girlfriend – and even the quickest quickie took some time. But despite their best efforts, there was just nothing subtle about making love on schedule, and eventually everyone had come to know what they were up to, so they didn't even try to hide it anymore.
And thus, after she had seduced him during his shift, she simply walked out of there with confidence, past the entire queue, her hips swaying from side to side, she was wearing her sexiest dress in bright red while she carried her blazer casually over her shoulder and ran her finger over her mouth to fix her lipstick with a smirk. Yes, their mayor had a sex life, and a very active and satisfying one too, and for once she was not ashamed or too proud to show it! They were all just jealous anyway...
One evening, Killian was off and visiting his bar as a guest for drinks with his buddies, Henry, David and the other Hook. When they had started their second round of beers and the conversation just started getting interesting, his phone buzzed. By now, he could tell what kind of message it was without looking at it. He could feel when she needed him.
„Is that your daily booty call from your sugar momma?", asked the other Killian.
He just smiled and put his phone in his pocket, sighing overdramatically. „What shall I do if she just can't get enough of", he gestured up and down his body, „THIS?"
Henry made a face. „Ewww, it's bad enough that I KNOW that you guys are doing it like animals these days, I don't need to hear about it too."
„Sorry, mate!", he smirked.
„No, you're not."
„No, I'm not", he put on his coat, „Not at all, in fact. Alright then, time to make a baby."
David just had to laugh about it. „Have fun! And, good aim..."
„Oh my God, stop it!", Henry had turned a fiery red in the face from embarrassment and slapped his grandfather on the arm.
Back home, Regina was already eagerly waiting for him upstairs in the bedroom and they didn't let another second go to waste.
Afterwards, just as she was supposed to, she remained lying on her back, snuggled into her lover's arms who was looking deep into her eyes and gently placed his hand onto her stomach ever so carefully. It gave him goosebumps thinking that maybe, at this very moment, underneath his hand a new life would be created. Their child. A mini version of the both of them. He could almost see it in her eyes. She lifted her hand and gently cupped his face, smiling. They didn't have to say a word. They knew what they were both thinking.
Which is why, he was almost surprised when eventually he heard her voice break the silence, softly: „What if it doesn't work?"
He just shook his head. „Don't think that. It will! Maybe not now... but, eventually. It has to."
„But what if it doesn't?"
He sighed. „Then I'll love you just the same. And we'll be happy either way. Promise me? Our family is perfect already as it is. With Henry, Lucy, Alice... and all of the others. Please don't think that my happiness depends on this. Because it doesn't. You are enough. You've always been enough."
She nodded. „WE are enough."
„Aye. But for now... I know I don't have magic. But I don't know, I just have a really, really good feeling about this."
A shy little smile appeared on her lips as she placed her hand on his that was still resting on her belly. „Me too."