Treasure

Chapter 59

One week later... 

Killian slowly steered the Jolly Roger through the cold waters of Arendelle. They would be there any moment now. The deck was silent as his crew was given a morning off since there wouldn't be much to do until they docked. Emma was currently up in the crow's nest scribbling in her journal, something she said she needed to catch up on. He didn't mind though, he was sure she had a lot to share and a lot she would want to remember later... The last week shifted their relationship a lot, luckily in a good way. They started to stay up to watch the stars again, participate in more of the crew's evening shenanigans, and even decided that at least once a week they needed to have dinner alone in their room. Killian had to admit getting a lot of those secrets off his chest felt better than he could've imagined, almost as if an entire weight was gone. His mood improved, his relationship with not only Emma but his crew had improved and he began to have some more fun of his own. He knew Emma could take care of herself and he had to let her. She was not a child, not in his eyes at least, and if anything she deserved that much respect. He could give her that by giving her more space and freedom. Of course the captain would always be keeping an eye out for his princess, but he wouldn't be so overbearing about it, she's had enough of that in her life.

He thought of telling her about how Rumplestiltskin wanted her magic and made a deal with her parents that if they have another child he would take the baby unless she gave up her magic, and ultimately her life, but decided that was something for her parents to reveal. And yes, it was still a huge burden he carried and it was against the promise they made to have no secrets, but he had to keep this one. He would go to his grave with this secret if needed. As long as Emma didn't know of this plan and her parents never have another child, she would be safe. The pain of keeping that secret often lessened when he looked at her... He couldn't imagine taking away the beautiful smile from her face or the sweet sound of her laughter. He couldn't let her risk her life for some vile king who was power-hungry either. She was all he had in the world, the only thing he truly cared about, the most valuable piece of treasure he had come to know...

"Killian?" Emma's sweet voice rang in the air.

"Yes, love?" He asked looking up to find her peeking out of the crow's nest.

"I think I see Arendelle's castle from here." She responded over the morning wind.

"I'll be right up to check." He responded as he made his way over to the nets to climb up, "Stay down in case it's something else." He called out.

Surprisingly she did as asked and he quickly made his way up and took out his trusty spyglass. He looked out into the distance and couldn't see anything moving towards their direction, "It alright darling, you can come up." Killian encouraged, "You were right, it is the queen's castle... I can see the docks as well." He said, handing her the spyglass to take a look. As Emma looked through the spyglass, Killian took out a map from his pocket, "That's odd, their dock should be on the far side of the queen's castle..." He commented.

The princess returned the telescope, "My father told me Arendelle has expanded their docks a few hundred feet for visitors, so maybe that's their expansion."

"Aye." He responded calmly, squinting his face from the morning sun, "We should be there sooner than expected." The captain responded, heading back down to the helm.

    Emma followed behind him, "I hope Elsa knows we are arriving today, their ports are under guard supervision..."

"I'm sure she is aware, Swan." He reassured as he helped her down, "All well-guarded kingdoms have someone watching their waters for ships passing by, she must have heard something by now."