Once Upon a Second Chance

(19) - Pirates' Lives

Emma and Killian led the children of Captain Hook up to their house.

"Ye have a white-picked fence?" CJ snorted. "What, the 'Enchanted Forest''s most fearsome pirate doesn't have a ship?"

"No, I have one. I'm certain Harry came across it when trying to steal a boat at the docks. Couldn't miss it, the Jolly Roger."

"So I'm assuming by the get-up, you two are pirates?" Emma asked the two kids as they walked into the house.

CJ put her hands in her pocket and shrugged. Harry laughed. "If ye consider a pirate without a crew a pirate. She sails all by her lonesome. Well, if she had a ship," he teased his sister.

Calista Jane may have been a proud pirate, but on the Isle of the Lost, it was embarrassing that the closest thing she had to allies was Freddie Facilier.

CJ glared, "Not having a crew is better than taking orders from anyone, first mate."

"First mate?" Killian asked, slightly amused. Harry began to get nervous. People on the Isle, mainly his father always gave him trouble due to being the son of Captain Hook and not being a captain.

"Never learned to count, cause I'm number one," he shrugged coolly and gave a crooked smile.

"So who's your captain?" Killian asked. He wasn't disappointed like Harry expected but more surprised. The boy looked just like him and even carried a hook to honor his father's legacy. He had assumed he would also want to take on his position. He swore that if he and Emma had a child of their own, they would raise him or her to be their own person as well as proud of who they are.

"Uma."

"The daughter of Ursula is a pirate?" Emma said, surprised. "Huh."

"The most daring pirate on the Isle of the Lost," Harry spoke proudly of his best friend.

"Well, good for her," Killian said. "It's challegning for women to make it in the pirating world, let alone be a captain."

"The captain of yer dreams," CJ jabbed Harry in the ribs knowingly before he leveled a glare at her. She always liked to tease him about his obvious crush on Uma.

"Are you two always like this?" Killian asked, already tired of the siblings' bickering. Though, he had to admit, it was slightly refreshing. It reminded him of him and his older brother. He smiled fondly at the memory of Liam.

"Okay," Emma said. "Why don't we get you two settled in," she suggested before leading the siblings to two guest rooms and giving them clothes fo sleep in and change for the next day.

The came downstairs to find Emma's son Henry eating grapes and watching television.

"Where are the Swan-Jones?" Harry asked his alternate brother.

"Oh, they got a distress call they had to take. Something about... smoke bombs. So, I'm on babysitting duty," the Author responded.

Harry rolled his eyes—both at Henry saying he was babysitting them and at the mention of smoke bombs. He had an idea who was behind that—shivering as he remembered the showdown at Pirate's Bay with the Core Four, where a certain tech wiz pelted him and the rest of the Lost Revenge crew with smoke bombs.

Though Emma didn't want to appoint Henry as 'babysitter', she knew it wasn't wise to leave Harry and CJ alone.

Killian was a tad skeptical of whether or not it was safe to leave Henry with two pirates who are practically strangers until Emma reminded him that Henry wasn't defenseless. He's been learning how to sword fight from the whole Charming family, and a fast learner, too. 'Just like his father, an apt pupil,' Killian had said, in reference to his mentoring with Baelfire, or Neal when he was a boy.

Emma had a feeling CJ was among the wildest of cards she would meet, but perhaps Henry and Harry could find something in common since they were both seventeen.

"'Babysitter'?" CJ raised an eyebrow.

"Well, Killian phrased it as 'distinguished supervisor'," Henry said, offering grapes to Harry, which he accepted. The last and only time Harry had eaten fresh fruit was in Auradon, when Harry was laughing his ass off at Jay and Gil playing the icebreaker right before they were ambushed by Ben the beast.

As of on cue, the Swan-Jones couple walked through the door along with Snow and David, carrying a couple of bags with 'Granny's' leveled on them.

"Turns out it was nothing serious, just Whale being a tad overdramatic," Emma said, setting a bag down on the table.

"Though the smoke bomb stains are an upgrade from the bleach blonde dye-job," David chuckled, causing his wife to playfully glare at him in disapproval.

"Well, it's Charming family dinner night, and thought you guys might be hungry," Emma said, handing Harry and CJ bags of food.

"...Thanks..." the siblings said simultaneously.

"So, they give you any trouble, lad?" Captain Hook asked his stepson.

"Nope," Henry joked with a smile, "Perfect, well-behaved angels."

(A/N): I know, I know—not one of my better chapters or edits, but I still hope you enjoyed it. Btw, the CJ image in the edit is just an Emma screencap aged down, just incase anyone got confused and thought that was Emma. 😅