Title: The Waif Wife
Paring: Killian Jones (Captain Hook) X Reader
Warnings: angst, fluff, comfort, gossiping Leroy likes to gossip, breastfeeding (just warning you if that's a thing to warn you about) but mostly just angst.
Spoilers: Just for season 2 ep 4 (which I've just realised released in 2012? god my memory is bad)
Author's note: I'm so sorry for not updating for two whole weeks! I've been plauged by writer's block and a hella lot of adult things in my life and ugh guys don't grow up you have to pay taxes
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As someone who made quite a few bad mistakes in your lifetime, you considered your largest and most costly mistake to be a miracle. It had been a dark night, twenty nine years ago. You had been wary, and working the later shift at the seaside tavern you earned your keep serving in. It was the night you met the man with eyes the colours of the sea, and a smile surrounded in enough darkness for you to see the light within. He was the seaman Captain Killian Jones, known to his pirates and the gossiping Enchanted Forest as Captain Hook.
The mistake you made did not seem to be a mistake. It had been quite a good mistake, in fact, and it was that you were head over heels in love with him. Every night, you would curl together in his private bunk, and the sweet nothings he whispered seemed like sweet every things. Until one storm, it was perfect; a bubble of perfection, of love. But this storm was unlike the others that had rocked the boat before; the water sprayed all like a wild thing, and before you could scream, you were cast from the deck.
With your luck, it was a miracle that you were cast out so close to a town, the sea town Prince Eric and his fishermen governed, and grabbed you from the hands of the ocean. They saved your life, and in return, you pledged yours to work for the prince as a maid in his castle. It wasn't until you had grown ill that you realised that after all that time that had passed, your lovers seed had been planted in your garden; and almost a year later, in your arms you held a small child with midnight hair, and the same bright eyes of his father. That day, you named your son Ronan, son of Killian and _______, and everything went dark.
The day that the news reaches you, you are sitting in Granny's Diner, trying to breastfeed in peace at the rear of the cafe. No matter how many times Red tries to convince you to sit at the front, you deny; you're still the shy barmaid at heart, no matter what the false memories as a daycare keeper. But the news reaches you, and it seems, it shatters your heart a little more.
"Did you hear? The evil Queen's mother and that pirate Hook are in town," Leroy rolled his eyes and coins across the counter to Granny herself. "I'll have a black coffee with a side of your opinion."
Granny snorts. "Gee, what's that worth any other day?" she laughs. "Besides, they're just a pair of bad guys. Aren't they, ________?"
You feel your face burn, and looking up, you see the pair of them eyeing you. Quickly, you adjust your shirt, and placing your son into the pram, you shake your head. "I wouldn't know, I've never met Regina's mother," you reply.
"But surely you've heard of Hook -," Leroy huffed.
You shake your head. "I'm sorry, I have to go."
The old avalanche feeling of your past mistakes seem to overtake your thoughts, and the next time you catch your breath, you're sitting in your living room. It's no co-incidence that you share a flat with Dr. Hopper; the rent in town is quite expensive for a single parent living alone, and he's a fantastic roommate. But your apartment is empty of Archie, and as you settle into the armchair with Ronan settled calmly in sleep across your chest, you feel the anxiety you felt from the diner fall away.
He never looked for you.
There's a hand on your shoulder, and it isn't until your eyes open that you realise you've fallen asleep, and it isn't until your eyes focus that your heart stops.
"Don't touch me!" you hiss.
Standing there, is Killian Jones. He wears the same clothes you recall him in in the times of your passions, and his hair is the same windswept perfection you fell in love with, the same grey-blue eyes that stare at you as if seeing a ghost.
"_________?" he whispers. "You're -,"
"What are you doing here, Killian?" you raise your hands to cradle your son, and sitting up, position yourself better. "I thought you were off gallivanting the world and collecting too much gold to remember your poor little waif wife," you grit out.
Killian's eyes widen. "I thought you dead, _______!" It isn't until he utters your name you realise a few things. He sounds as if he's seeing a ghost, and that the pallor has blanched upon his face and even the way he takes a step away, it all means the same thing. "I dedicated so much of my life to finding you, and the curse hit; I thought I'd lost you forever."
You feel your heart drop. In your arms, you son squirms in his sleep.
"And you go off and find another man, is that how you remember our love, dearest?" he gestures to Ronan with his hook. His nose is scrunched, eyes narrowed.
You grip him tighter. "No."
Killian's head cocks. "No?"
"No, I didn't find another man to move on from. I dedicated my life until the curse working for my life, for his life," Slowly, you unfold yourself from the armchair, moving to stand. "And I wake to remember your name after the curse has broken, and I remember you never came to find me, and I remember that I - I never -," you feel your shoulders shudder, vision blurring. Slowly, Killian approaches you, just the way you remember his embraces being. "Careful, he's fragile."
Killian pauses, "Is he by chance...my child?"
You take a deep breath, and gradually, you wrap your spare arm around his waist. "Well, I've not slept in a bed with another man since or before you, Killian. His name is Ronan. Ronan Jones."
He smiles, placing a kiss upon your forehead.
"How did you find me?" you whisper, taking a step backward. "I had wards placed around the place to be infallible to tracking spells, of any kind. The Blue fairy - I mean, Mother Superior helped me - how Killian?" you feel your heart race.
Killian places his hands in the air, surrender. "I watched your return home from the diner," he confesses, "...and I followed you. I'm not that witch, Cora, I swear on my life."
You hesitate for a moment, inspecting him. "I believe you." You bite your lip, and quickly add, "And don't just think you're coming into my life like you did the first time to sweep me off my feet again. Ronan and I need stability, no bad guy things, no trouble. It's hard raising a son by myself, I -,"
"Will never have to do it again," he interrupts you, silencing your words with a kiss. "I'm here to stay, _______. I'll never leave you, or little Ronan again."