“Don’t worry, I believe you.” He knew Killian had gone through a serious organisation to get him the caretaker. He knew the polices insurance paid for them, so he was sure she was a real deal. “Besides, I can’t get anymore unlucky than I already was. Being executed the day your niece is born, has to be some record, I think.” Liam pointed out.

She shifted in light embarrassment on her spot, nodding lightly while looking to the ground. This was really nothing she expected. “Yeah… it’s me.” She said, trying to smile a bit. “I swear I’m really your caretaker… I changed completely when getting out, sorted out my life and all..”

Killian was a bit confused with the situation unraveling in front of him, a puzzled look on his face. “You two know each other?” He asked, to what Andrea nodded lightly.

“We… we met before.”

Liam hated his situation more than anything. The thick bandage around his head itched, having to have oxygen attached to him through a nasal tube almost all the time sucked almost more. Not being able to hold his niece on his own or walk to the toilet, now that was the killer of it all. He couldn’t even support the babys head properly. Upon his insistence the two finally got him a caretaker. He was glad to not have them have to take care of him, too so they could focus on their newborn.

The girl though, surprised him. “Andrea?”

@forpeaceandglory

Ever since she got out of prison, she decided to turn a completely new page in life. Andrea was an orphan turned criminal, even messed with drugs in the past, and that eventually got her into prison where she was for three years, but once out, she went to evening school, finished a course for a caretaker and even got her first job almost right away. 

She was supposed to take care of a policeman who was recently shot in the head and had forgotten to do some basic things like walking and writing, or so she was told, so Andrea went to the given address one morning, knocking on the door. The door was opened by a young man, almost still a teenager, with a baby in his arms, and he showed her in and into the living room, where she experienced quite the surprise. She was supposed to take care of no other than the policeman who partly was the reason why she decided to change her life. 

“Oh goodness….”

@theroseofnaos

Liam liked helping out at the prison, usually. He knew some of the wards were right bastards, so he liked to show the women kindness. Some only needed a bit of hope to be brought back to a better direction for them. Liam was carrying one of the trays to the cell where he knew a young girl was locked up.

Going in, he placed it in front of her. “Your breakfast. Also you do have mail today.”

“We sure seem to have a lot of those.”  Liam replied. Emmas help. Him being ressurected, her surviving. They sure as hell were full of miracles. They were having another baby. “You, Missy, need to go home and rest!!!”

“I am. And we are.” Andrea nodded, a small smile appearing on her face again. “For the past couple of weeks I wasn’t feeling well after you’d go to work so I visited Whale. He did a check up and made an ultrasound.” She motioned at it, where it was on the desk. “He says it’s a miracle. This baby is a miracle, Liam. Our little miracle.”

“You’re  really pregnant?” He repeated, still truggeling to grasp all of it. She was expecting a child. She was expecting their child. They were having a baby, a small little baby. Another one. “We’re having another baby!”

“I’m pregnant…” She repeated, the smile faltering and eventually vanishing from her face, being replaced by a look of uncertainty. She assumed that Liam would be shocked, but she didn’t expect such a reaction. “Are… aren’t you happy?”

“What?” Liam asked shocked. How was this possible? They were said to be true love, yes, but how could true love cure infertility? And now they expected a child of their own? Liam was frozen

“I’m just fine.” She replied, smiling almost sheepishly as she slipped inside the office and sat across from him. “I wanted to tell you this when you’d come home but I couldn’t wait. You know how Whale said that I can’t get pregnant? Well… I think our True Love did the thing.”

There she pulled out a small ultrasound picture and slid it over to him. “I’m pregnant.”

Liam sat at the desk, going over the concepts of a new part of the marina that they needed and wanted to build. They wanted to fish without overfishing and the one way to do that was to repopulate the fish and they needed room for that. Liam was planning that as Andrea came in.

“Yes, sure. You okay, hun?”

@forpeaceandglory

The smile simply couldn’t vanish from her face. It was more than obvious that she was practically glowing as she was walking towards the marina and to her husbands office. She had talked to Emma, shared the news with her as well as her insecurities, though the blonde assured her that nothing could go wrong, at least not now. So Andrea went to Liam, needing to share the news with him as well, hoping that he would be just as overjoyed as he was. She gently knocked on the door once she got to the office, then peeked inside. “Liam? Do you maybe have a bit of time?”

“I’m calling Andrea.” If this was Emma and if this was getting worse, than he had to call his wife. His brother had a high pain tolerance and this was almost bringing him to his knees. There was no doubt that it was bad. Maybe Emma couldn’t help herself right now. And then the girls, her twin girls, what if something bad happened and they were around. No he had to alert his wife to this. Or get an explanation. Pulling out his phone, he dialed, only to have her hang up on him.

“Son of a biscuit she hung up on  me!” What should he do? He tried once more, but again, hung up on. Damn it. But that meant she had something better to do. Maybe she was already with Emma. He had to hope. “Come, we’ll turn the Jolly around. We have no time to loose!”

Only one thing that Killian knew would definitely cause this was Emma being pregnant. That was his first thought, but it was also just a speculation. They were careful about this, used protection and everything else that went with it. It was impossible. So it had to be something else, right? He shook his head only as a response to Liams question, now holding onto him instead of the wall. The pain still surged through him and by the minute it felt worse and worse.

“Bad…” He managed to press out after a while, taking deep breaths to try and calm down as much as he could, though it did little. He was full on panicking, because of the pain and especially because he had no idea what was going on with Emma. “It’s bad. Really bad. And it’s getting– Ah!” Another strong surge of pain rushed through him. “It’s getting worse.”

Liam was up early. The Jolly - formerly the Jewel - was remodeled to hold the family now, turning a part of the cargo hold into a room he could sleep in with Andrea, leaving the captains quarters to Killian and Emma of course. The crews quarters remained for the children, together. They held playpens and beds now, keeping them safe and happy. The deck looked mostly similar. Liam had checked the weather first thing and then made his way back down. Henry was hanging half from his bed - as usual. Neal was nestled into one corner, never taking up much space, no matter how big the bed was. Sophie was a bit restless in her sleep, kicking, but all around she was okay. 

He returned to his brother then, hanging by the stairs, waiting for him. “Get into gear, lazy. You used to get up timely!” he teased him. But something was wrong. He had seen it since the previous day. It escalated this morning. Liam shot forward, grabbing Killians arm to steady him. “What do you mean? Is it...?” Damn it if Killian felt it, it was bad news, really bad news. “How bad is it?”

@forpeaceandglory liked for a starter!

The sailing trip was quite successful so far. The kids enjoyed themselves greatly, the little ones especially, who simply enjoyed to play pirates up on deck, even though Sophie wasn’t exactly impressed that she always had to be the kidnapped princess. Liam, too, from what Killian saw, enjoyed being out on open sea, and he couldn’t blame him one bit. Killian, though, would every now and then feel his heart hurt, and it came in waves, sometimes weaker, sometimes harder. He thought nothing of it though, he knew it was coming from Emma’s side, as she endured quite a lot in the past few weeks.

It was getting worse though. Worse than usually. With the kids still in bed that morning, as it was early, Killian was getting ready for the day, Liam already with him in the cabin, waiting for him to finish so they could go up on deck. But something was wrong. His heart hurt more than usual, so much that he let out a small yep, reaching out for the wall to keep his balance. “Something’s wrong… Liam, something’s wrong with Emma.”

“Of course she will be fine.” Liam agreed. He had seen Emma fight, even against him once upon a time. He had seen her stand against the villain, all but broken, she still fought him. And it cost her so dearly. She had to make it through. Liam had no idea what to do with Killian and his daughter should Emma not make it. The girls were too young. One day Killian would wake up and find that his precious princesses wouldn’t even hold a single memory of their mother. And Liam just knew he would forever blame himself, thinking that she could have gotten better care, if they didn’t have to rescue this tiny life, his daughter.

He felt his breath hitch at the mere thought. Without a word he turned away, the images of finding Emma there... he couldn’t get rid of them. Killians scream. he had to gather himself, because he didn’t want his daughter to be hurt by how upset he was.

She looked so small, so fragile. But she already fought so valiantly for her precious little life. Andreas heart fluttered at the mere sight. Even though way too premature, she was here, their daughter. And all thanks to Emma. She had been their savior, she offered them to be the surrogate mother to their child and this precious baby was the result of it. Still, Andrea felt a knot in her stomach, she wasn’t at ease as she was supposed to be. She worried still, for the baby, but mostly for Emma. More than anything, she wanted both to be fine.

At Liams suggestion, she managed to put on a small smile, hand gently reaching for the babys. It was really so small, but she felt the tiny fingers move around hers, which only made her smile brighten and tears to appear in her eyes. “Hi, baby girl,” she whispered to her daughter. “Do you hear that? You’ll be just fine in no time. And your auntie will be fine too, I promise.”

Liam stayed with the little darling. She kept on triggering the respirator, kept on showing off how strong she was and how she could fight. She was a little fighter already. Now all they needed was for her aunt and surrogate mother to wake up from her coma. Liam had made his way to Killian for a moment, held him, allowed him to cry on his shoulder before returning to the little one, once more holding her hand. He was there, the tear stains still on his shoulder, when his wife entered.

“Small, but strong.” He agreed. “Look at her. This tiny human is telling this entire machine what to do. She’s super stable, too. At the moment Whale thinks she’ll make it through without any trouble. Even better: She might get to go home earlier. “Come on, take her hand, I bet she can’t wait to meet you.”

She was about to reach for the door knob when Liam had told her about Emma. Her heart sank to her heels, hand reaching for the nearby wall to keep herself on her feet. “Oh Gods…” she whispered, a few tears running down her cheeks.There was a chance that she might lose her best friend, her sister in law. She could have lost her entire family that day. “The… the doctors managed to save her… so.. so she might wake up, right? She has to, Liam.”

This was a huge shock for her, she’d lie if she’d say it wasn’t. Though she had faith, thought positive. Emma would be just fine, just like the baby girl Liam was watching over right at that moment. “If our daughter will be fine in the end, so will Emma. I believe in that. And I’ll phone Grany right away, then meet you at the hospital. Keep me updated if something happens, okay? Love you.” She hung up with that, finally exiting the house and phoning Granny while locking the door.

The old woman was kind enough and agreed to watch the girls for a while longer, at least until she and Liam would pick them up for the night, then Andrea made her way to the hospital. She knew they would have to take care of most things now, be there for Killian at all times and take as much responsibilities off his shoulders, for Andrea knew he would most likely want to stay with Emma all the time.

She arrived at the hospital moments later, immediately asking where Emma’s room was so she could visit later, then made her way to the infirmary part of the hospital. She was anxious and excited at the same time, and one of the nurses directed her to the right section where, while passing by towards the door, she could see Liam and a tiny baby through the window. Andrea entered slowly, approached the small bed and leaned against Liam. “She’s so small..” she whispered.

Liam turned to properly look at her, ignoring the pain for the time being. He still felt like slowing down would mean he would fall asleep on the spot. This was the most comfortable bed he felt in decades and the other one was only better because he was in the safe arms of his mother, his baby brother resting right between them. 

“Neither.” Liam replied. In truth he probably was, but the pain was drowning out most other feeling. It couldn’t be helped. Sleep was the most overwhelming need right now. His body needed rest to heal. “Just...  the break you’re granting me right now. How’s Killian doing? He’s not causing trouble, is he?”

On the way to the castle, Andrea spent most of the time calming the younger one down. Killian, as she learned his name was, explained exactly what happened, that his older brother had taken his punishment on him, that this wasn’t exactly the first time his brother had done that to keep him safe. What shocked her though was that they were slaves on that ship, with very little options to ever get out of it. What she thought would be a simple rescue turned out to be something much bigger and she was so glad she went to get her father to pull them out of that hell.

Once in the castle, Andrea made sure that Killian got a proper meal and a bath, as well as fresh clothes and a room assigned to him where he could rest. His brother in the meantime was brought into one of the larger bedrooms of the castle where Andrea herself, along with the help of the court physician, took care of his wounds. Something though held her from leaving, so instead of doing that, she remained by the door, waiting for him to regain conscience. Once he did and when he spoke up, she gave him a smile and came closer. “I only did what was the right thing to do. I couldn’t let something like that happen again.” She shivered from even thinking about it. “You wounds were taken care off and your brother got settled in the castle as well. Are you perhaps hungry or thirsty? I can call in a maid to get you anything you need.”

Killian, as usual when Liam took over his corporal punishment, was frantic. He didn’t bring him under deck but towards the crates on deck - unsafe as that was. Killian roughly tried to clean Liams back. He put his shirt back on, but they both knew it would cause a lot of pain for him. It had to be done however. Liam winced and whimpered. Suddenly everything changed. Both brothers looked up. The king! The king of Naos was here, with the girl he saw. Could she be the princess? And it seemed like they came here with a mission, the mission to get them out of here apparently. Liam felt no joy. Despite the mens attempt to be gentle, it hurt and hehad to focus to keep walking upright. His legs eventually failed him, ending up with the men half dragging him along.

To the castle. Never in his life had Liam seen such a room. It was huge, the bed on which he was placed - on linen! - was huge and so soft he was tempted to just close his eyes, if it wasn’t for the pain. He looked around, thinking he saw the woman in the doorway. “Thank you.”

It was supposed to be yet another day where she would sneak out of the castle to mingle among the common folk, where she would watch how people lived and worked outside the castle. Though what Andrea didn’t expect to see and hear was a whipping, which she saw even from the docks where she was standing. She had been warned about that ship, she remembered it clearly, as the captain was everything but kind, so she kept her distance, but with each cry, each sound of the whip against flesh, she winced. It wouldn’t let her be, Andrea simply couldn’t leave like this. This was wrong! The princess, determined, came closer, close enough to lock eyes with the young man being whipped for a second before he had collapsed on the ground and she was shoo’d away by the crew.

Andrea didn’t leave it at that, however. Upon returning to the castle, she had told her father what she saw, said everything what happened aboard that ship and the king, even though less than impressed that she had snuck out of the castle, decided to hear out his daughters pleas and intervene. Along with Andrea and a dozen soldiers, he moved down to the docks, the sight in front of him making him frown and angry at the same time. The king shot a glare towards the captain of the ship, to what Silver only cowered away from, before turning to the two lads in front of him, seemingly brothers, if he would judge how the younger worried about the older one. “The boys are coming with us,” he said, his tone leaving no space for arguments, then motioned for the soldiers to take the older of the two up to the castle and for the younger one to follow.

CS AU:

When Emma thinks that she lost the election for the new Storybrooke Sheriff, she went to Rabbit Hole instead of Granny’s. There she meets two bickering brothers who might just lift her spirits.  

Liam sank to his knees. He had screamed until his voice broke, each lashing making it weaker as it ripped the skin on his back open with every single one. He tried to hold his brothers gaze, but the pain made it impossible. Finally as they released him, he sank to his knees and for a moment he saw a woman, a beautiful girl. The poor girl shouldn’t be there. He had an idea what his back looked like, if you could see anything underneath the blood. Liam reached out for Killians hand.

“Not a damn word.” He hissed to him, knowing Killian would protest against Liam having taken his punishment. “Lets get down.”

@theroseofnaos

“There is worse than someone thinking I’m in a relationship with him.” They had been discriminated at a young age, had endured a lot together, mainly because his guardian was not even off age himself. Teachers could be cruel too.  “Thank you for that compliment, too, honey. And don’t worry. No offense taken at all. Hell, if I was into men, I’d probably be into guys like Killian.”

Brother. She thought of everything but brother first. Andrea could almost feel the how the heat rose in her cheeks, her face flushing red from embarrassment as she looked away, avoiding looking at him now. “I… I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have assumed things like that and rather ask about it… Don’t say you’re dorky and old though! You’re very attractive as well.” Oh good Lord. She spoke before her brain even registered it. “I… I’ll just shut up now..” She muttered, face probably beet red by now.

“My life partner?” Liam asked again, then grinned. That was adorable and so open. “You think I could woo someone as attractive as Killian? Me a dorky old professor? Nah. He’s my little brother. Thanks for the compliment, though, honey.” He winked.

“That is very impressive!” She had no idea about that, but it really was impressive. This was a whole new side of her professor she discovered - no wonder he had such great knowledge about ships! Once he pointed towards one of the pictures, to the man named Killian, the one next to him, Andrea nodded again before looking at him. “You must be really proud of your life partner.”