A/N: Here we go, the companion fic for my gifset that I promised! I hope you like it.

"Pancakes?", the still sleepy male voice echoed through the apartment, only to be answered with a much younger one.

"Yep! Flowers?", he asked, getting back a chuckle as an answer, followed by an "Aye!"

This was a typical morning conversation between these too. Killian would ask what Henry wanted for breakfast and Henry would ask in return if he should care for the flowers while his father was cooking. They actually didn't even need to talk about it – their routine was clear – and yet, they did it every morning.

Killian strolled into the kitchen that was open to the living room, watching how Henry was watering the plants they had in their little cottage while he started to make their breakfast.

Their life was simple, really. They shared a three-room cottage – two downstairs, one upstairs – the living room was connected with the kitchen, and they also shared a big bathroom for such a small cottage outside of the sleepy town. But they didn't really care much about it because what they had around the cottage was much better. There was a forest and a sea behind their yard and they could see the clocktower from their porch.

They had built several hideouts in the woods during the years, including a huge treehouse, which was their best so far, where they had been hiding from monsters, bad guys, and sometimes even aliens as soon as Henry was old enough to build things. It warmed Killian's heart to think about how great his son had been growing up, even without a woman in their lifes. Milah had died before Henry could remember her so he had to use pictures and stories but the more time had passed, the less the lad asked and they had settled down on the silent agreement that they wouldn't need a woman here.

Killian had noticed that when Henry needed female advice he would ask his teacher, Mary Margret Blanchard. She was a lovely woman and he didn't really mind. He had seen how big his boy smiled after class when he had picked him up from school. Normally Henry rode his bike, but sometimes Killian took the time to pick him up, mostly when it was raining, snowing, or storming. In those cases, the bike would either stay at school or lay in the bed of Killian's pickup.

"Done!" Henry said with a huge grin and put down the watering can, looking towards Killian, who was turning around with the pan in his hand.

"Same," He grinned at the boy and watched how he sat down while Killian put the last pancakes on a plate before moving to the wooden table He smiled at the kid in front of him who didn't look like him but was so much like him anyway.

"I'm sorry, but you will never be able to have kids, Mrs. Jones." The doctor's voice was calm but inside of Killian was raging a storm when he heard the words, placing a hand on his wife's shoulder immediately. After a few seconds Milah started to sob, burying her face in her hands and he pulled her into a hug, pressing her against his firm chest.

They had been trying for so long and now they knew the reason. They had been expecting that it might be something like that but never really believed in it until now. After their marriage all they wanted was a child on their own, to start their own little family but it seems that nature would deny them this luck.

"Please, don't hate me," she sobbed against his shoulder and he huffed, shaking his head and only pulled her closer.

"I could never. It's not your fault." He shushed her and stroked her back up and down, trying to soothe her but it was in vain, she just kept crying. The doctor had left the room to give them some time.

Ever since they were a thing she had talked to him about kids, one or two and he had always loved the idea but now? Now that dream was crumbling to dust.

On their way out the doctor stopped him and he frowned, sending Milah to the car.

"What is it?" he asked, his forehead in frowns until the other man pressed him a few pamphlets into his hand.

"You might think about adoption."

"Dad!" Henry said loudly causing Killian to look up in confusion.

"What? Sorry, I was thinking," he mumbled as an answer before he started to eat his breakfast, getting a chuckle from Henry.

"Yeah, I noticed. I just wanted to remind you that you need to sign my papers for the museums trip. You promised." The boy patted on a sheet of paper he had put in front of the table while Killian had been lost in thought.

He laughed at the boy and grabbed a pen from the counter. Henry had been excited for this trip for days while other kids had been groaning and grumbling about visiting a museum. He liked this kind of stuff.

The man read over the paper quickly before he signed it and folded it, shoving it back to Henry while nipping on his coffee. "There you go," he said with a grin when he saw the happiness in the lad's eyes. No matter how bad he felt from time to time, seeing his boy happy always cheered him up like nothing else. Henry was his everything, and, without him, Killian would probably drown in loneliness.

"Now get your stuff before you're late," he reminded his son with a glance to the clock. Henry shoved the last pieces of breakfast into his mouth before jumping up and running into his room, getting a brief laugh from Killian. He would never understand why someone would give up such a great kid or, really, any kid at all. Children are wonderful, sometimes stressful, but wonderful.

A gift.

"You would really want to adopt?" Milah asked him in disbelief when he had told her about the doctor's idea a few days later when she had calmed down. He just nodded with a small smile on his lips. He would do everything for her and he wanted his own little family too.

"Aye, if you want that," he answered and before he could say some more, she was already throwing her arms around his neck, pulling him into a kiss while tears were pricking behind her eyes, but this time, tears of happiness.

"Shall we look at the pamphlets and maybe the internet together? For information?" He didn't even get an answer, she just grabbed his hand and dragged him over to the couch to sit down in front of their laptop. He gave her the leaflets while he was looking through several websites that would give them information about how adoptions worked and where they could go to get their questions answered.

Killian took the last sip of his coffee before cleaning the table right in time. Henry came downstairs, fully dressed and backpack over his shoulder. He had the only room upstairs. When Killian had got this place for him and the boy, the upstairs room had been an attic but he wanted to make sure to give the lad his own little place so he had spent months to turn it into a child's room. After Milah's death he just had to get out of their old place and decided to move into this sleepy town and he didn't regret his decision at all.

Some people of this town had been suspicious of him in the beginning, being a single dad and all but after a couple of weeks they had warmed up to him and his son and turned out quite nice and helpful. He got many offers as a florist and he took Henry with him as he was too young to leave him alone. After making some friends, for example with the lady who owned the diner and her granddaughter, they had offered him to watch Henry for a couple of hours so that he could get some time on his own. In the beginning, he had hated to leave the baby behind but he also noticed how much he actually needed the alone time.

He had always been there for his son, had changed his diapers, had been around the whole day and night when the baby had been sick and he had been exhausted to often but it had been worth it.

When Henry slipped into his shoes, Killian couldn't help but smile when the memories where flashing in front of his eyes, how this little baby he had taken care of had turned into this young man in front of him and he couldn't wish for a better child. He was proud to be his father but he also knew that the time would come where he had to tell Henry that he was adopted, that they didn't share the same blood. He just hoped the lad would understand that blood wasn't important if it came to family because family didn't end with blood. It was about love and mutual respect.

"Bye dad!" Henry yelled, almost out of the door before Killian coughed and raised an eyebrow until the boy turned around and smirked at him before running back and hugged his middle.

"That's my boy," he said with a grin on his lips and kissed the top of his head before ruffling the boy's hair as soon as he let go of him. "Say ‚hi' to Mary Margret for me."

"Will do. Don't forget Granny's flowers!" With that, the brown-haired kid was out of the door and on his way to school.

Killian just laughed softly and shook his head. "How could I?" He just knew that if Granny didn't get her flowers, she would be pissed at him, in a playful way, but he had learned to fear the old woman when she was angry. It was rumored among the townspeople that she had a crossbow, and he wouldn't want to be the first one to find out.

The day they had called them from the office and had told them that their application was accepted and they could adopt a child, was probably the happiest day in both of their lives. Killian had been so happy he had grinned the whole drive while Milah had been trying to sit calmly in her seat.

But now they were here, waiting for the baby. The man had asked them a few more questions but nothing too bad until he had confirmed that they would be able to get a child. It was a closed adoption through, they wouldn't be able to contact the birth parents and Killian had been wondering why it was closed but didn't ask more questions.

When the nurse finally brought the baby boy inside, he couldn't help but smile at the small creature. Milah took him into her arms and a single tear was rolling down her face while talking to the little man. Killian chewed nervously on his bottom lip, she was great with kids and he was so happy that everything had worked out, after all this weeks of waiting and hoping.

"Do you want to hold him?," she asked him with a huge smile on her face and he looked up from the baby to her eyes, scratching behind his ear.

"I'm not really sure if I—" He had no chance to finish that sentence because his wife had already placed the baby in his arms and he froze for a second before he started to rock the tiny human back and forth slowly. „He is so beautiful."

"Do you have a name for him yet?," the clerk asked them while watching the whole scene and Killian looked towards Milah. They had a lot of discussions about names but in the end, her choice had won.

"Henry," she said with a soft smile on her lips and Killian nodded.

He had finally become a father and he swore to himself that he would be a better one than his own.

Killian grabbed his axe and went outside to chop some wood for their fireplace.

He prefered the warmth of a fireplace more than a heater, and sitting together with Henry in the winter, having a crackling, warm fire while playing video games was the best thing he could imagine.

Henry loved those games and Killain couldn't resist to join him sometimes, relaxing from work and the day. It happened quite often that both of them fell asleep on the couch while playing. He mostly woke up a couple of hours later and carried Henry into his bedroom but sometimes he would just stay on the couch with his son, covering them with a blanket and turning the TV off before falling back to sleep.

He chopped the wood, watching a train pass by before he carried it inside, placing it next to the fireplace before he moved into the greenhouse that was connected to the cottage. He had built it himself for his job and was rather proud of the outcome. All the flowers were inside there so he wouldn't have to do his work inside of the house.

A quick glance over the list with orders told him what Granny would like to have today and he was happy that he did most of the flowers yesterday already with Henry's helping hand. When he still lived back in Chicago he had his own little flower shop and it was also the place where he had met Milah for the first time. She had been coming back, in the begining only once a week and then almost every day before they finally had a real conversation and he invited her for a coffee.

After her death, he closed the shop, grabbed all he had and moved over to Storybrooke with his son. Opening a new shop wasn't one of his options anymore, he wouldn't have enough time for Henry, so he decided to become an independant florist, a thing this town didn't have until he came along.

Henry loved helping him whenever he could. He was a curious boy with many questions that seemed to absord any kind of information and it didn't take long to teach him the differences of the flowers, their names, their habitat and things like that. Killian loved spending time with his son, no matter what they were doing. Hiding from monsters in the treehouse, finishing a job or simply playing games or having dinner.

He was just glad that Henry wasn't one of those kids who stopped caring about their parents as soon as they got older. They only had each other and the boy understood that. Sure, they had friends in town but in the end, it was only the two of them. They were a team, as Henry liked to call say. One more reason why he was afraid to tell the lad the truth about his adoption, but he knew it had to be soon. If he got into full puberty the chance that he would run away or do something stupid was way too high and he would blame himself for the rest of his life if something happened to the boy.

Killian still hadn't stopped blaming himself for Milah's death.

"Watch out!" She yelled, but it was too late, the truck already crashed into the side of their car, pushing them down the hill.

It had only been three months after the adoption of Henry. The beginning had been hard, getting up in the middle of the night but they managed it and as soon as they had gotten used to it, it was a wonderful thing to have a little family. He had been such a proud father and Milah had been such a good mother. On the day of the accident they had been out to visit some of her friends and on their way back it happened.

It had been raining and it was dark and he actually had no explanation why it happened. The truck just crashed into their side and everything faded into black. Only the cries of his boy woke him up again. He was in pain, everything was hurting and blood was running over his face. He looked to his side to Milah, shaking her shoulder but no response. He tried to open the door but it was stuck and he needed all his strenght to open it, hurting his shoulder in the progress.

"Shhh lad, it's going to be alright," he whispered as he got outside, taking Henry from the backseat and looking over him with a quick look but he didn't seem to be hurt. He placed him on the side and could already hear sirens from the top of the hill, someone had already called the ambulance. He sprinted over to the other side of the car, pulling Milah out of the car, her face covered with blood. Only then he noticed that he could barely move his left hand, groaning in pain.

"Love, come on. Wake up." He shook her a few times but she didn't respond and he noticed that she wasn't breathing. Panic was raising inside of him, his head started to spin and everything that happened afterwards was just a blur.

People were coming down the hill, the ambulance had arrived and they were carrying Milah away while Killian just picked up his son out of the car seat, rocking him back and forth, like he had done the first day he'd held him in his arms, before getting into the ambulance himself.

It was only a couple of hours later when they told him in the hospital that Milah hadn't made it.

After finishing the flowers, he packed them into the back of his truck before driving into town and stopping in front of the small diner. It always felt like everyone came here, given the fact that this was the only diner, almost like the center of the town. Quite the cozy place, if he was honest and he liked spending time here. Granny always gave Henry a free hot cocoa with cinnamon and Killian could always shake the head at the old woman's behavior. She loved that kid quite a lot, had seen how he had grown up during all these years.

(He never told her that he lowered the price for the flowers she bought from him.)

"Hey Killian," Ruby singsonged while she was cleaning some tables outside and he smirked, waving at her before lifting the boxes with the flowers out.

"Into the back as usual?" He asked her and she nodded before she kept cleaning the tables. They had become great friends during all this time. In the beginning she had kept hitting on him and he wasn't completely reluctant to it but he always had Milah in the back of his head and he never took the opportunity, only always thought about his son.

He made his way inside and saw Granny already waiting there with a small smile on her lips.

"Hello my boy," she said and patted him on the cheek like she would be his own grandma.

Killian just laughed softly and shook his head. "Hey Granny." He placed the flowers to the usual spot, Ruby would put them out later. He wiped his hand on his clothes to get the dirt off before turning back to Granny who was already handing him the money.

"How is Henry today?" She asked him with a smile while he took the money and put it into the backpockets of his pants.

"He's great. They have this museum trip today, and, you know how he is," he answered with a smile on his face. The kids were probably still in the bus on the way to Portland's museum. Storybrooke had its own, but it was rather small and he had been there with Henry a thousand times.

"Oh yeah, he told me about it. He was so excited."

Killian just nodded in answer and was about to turn around when the old woman placed a hand on his arm and he stopped. "Come inside, just for some coffee. Take a break."

He opened his mouth to say something but when he saw the look on the woman's face he knew that every resistance was in vain, so he nodded and followed her into the main room, shrugging out of his jacket and sitting down in one of the booths.

Granny brought him a cup of hot coffee and smiled at him before she returned to the other customers. While nipping on his drink, he took out his phone to see if he had any new messages but only one missed call from David.

David Nolan had been very suspicious of him in the beginning, being the sheriff of this town and everything, but, in the end, they had become something like best friends. He was also the boyfriend of Mary Margret, and Killian already knew what this call would be about, so he called back and only had to wait a few seconds until the other man answered.

"Killian! Thank god, I thought you died or something. Listen, I need your help!"

He just laughed to the almost desperate tone in the voice of his mate before he took another sip from his coffee.

"I'm sitting at Granny's, come down here for a while? I'm sure nothing is going to happen in the station while you're gone."

For a moment the other one was silent before he agreed and hung up the phone, appearing in the diner only a few minutes later, sliding into the booth, sitting opposite of him.

"Ok, here," David said and pulled out his phone, showing him two pictures of rings. „Which one do you think she will like more? I can't decide and the woman in the shop wasn't very helpful."

Killian laughed before he leaned closer to look at the rings. The blonde man had been planning to propose for quite a while now but he never got the balls to actually do it until he had told Killian about it and he had immediately kicked his ass but now he also had to play the helping hand whenever David needed help. He could still remember how nervous he had been back then when he had proposed to Milah and how relief shot through his body the moment she had said yes.

"The right one," he simply answered before taking another sip of his coffee, poking at the screen with his free hand where the angry scar was visible now that he was only sitting here in a shirt. He didn't put any effort in hiding anymore, not after all these years he had been living here.

"Your guardian angel did all it could do. You're lucky you didn't lose your hand," the doctor told him while bandaging his wrist.

It had been several weeks since the accident and a couple of operations later that he was fully able to use his hand again but the angry scar would always be a reminder of what had happened. In the beginning they had told him they couldn't save his hand, then they said he wouldn't be able to move it anymore, another doctor said he may only be able to move one to three fingers but now, now he was able to move his full hand like nothing had happened.

Just a routine check-up in the hospital, Henry sleeping at the front desk while the nurse was watching him. He had no idea how he would have been supposed to take proper care of the boy with only one hand, it would have been a nightmare.

"Aye, that she did," he said with a sad smile on his lips, knowing that Milah was somewhere above them, watching him and the little boy and that she would protect them. It was a stupid, childish thought but it was soothing him in a way the words of doctors and friends couldn't.

"You can take off the bandage in around three days and should be fine. In case it starts hurting again you just come back, alright?"

Killian simply nodded and got up from his chair, running his fingers over the bandage for a moment before saying goodbye to the doc and returning to the front desk to pick up Henry.

"It's still a wonder that the little man didn't get a scratch," the nurse said and Killian nodded. She knew the story about what happend, had been there when the little family came in that night. While Milah had died and he had gotten this scar on his wrist, the baby hadn't gotten a scratch and he thanked all the gods in the world for that.

Henry was all he had left now.

"You think so? I mean, what if she likes the left one more?" David asked anxiously and looked up and down between the phone and Killian's face.

The brown haired man just laughed and shook his head, taking another sip from his coffee. „Listen, mate. If you propose to her, she won't really care what ring you chose. She will love it, no matter what because it's you and she's crazy in love just like you are with her. Make it sweet, make it romantic and just give her the ring." He smiled at his friend, hoping he would understand the message.

David looked at him for a long moment before he nodded slowly and started to grin for a few seconds before his features showed panic again.

"Oh god, I have to go! What if someone got the ring already?!" He exclaimed and Killian hushed him. If Ruby would hear them, Mary Margret would know the whole thing within seconds. David clasped a hand over his mouth and nodded.

"Keep calm, mate. It's going to be okay." He smiled at his friend and got a nod back. Before the blonde man left he patted Killian on his shoulder and went outside to the parked sheriff's car.

Killian just chuckled to himself and shook his head slightly before emptying the cup and getting up, putting a few bucks on the table. "I'm going. Bye Granny", he said and waved towards the counter but the old woman just waved towards her and he sighed slightly, she never wanted to let him go.

"What is it?" He asked and tilted his head slightly when she put a big box in front of him.

"I have some lasagna left from the lunch special. I thought you and your boy might want to have something warm tonight," she answered with a warm smile on her lips.

Killian was at loss of words for a moment before he smiled back at her. She did this often, giving him the leftovers of lunch specials or things like that, always without wanting something in return and no matter how often she did it, he was always grateful. Sure, he could cook himself and did it but to know that there are kind people who liked to help a single father was always a nice thing.

"Thank you so much. Henry loves your lasagna," he said and grabbed the box before he thanked her again and got outside into his car, driving home.

The rest of the day passed slowly and he kept himself busy with some more flower orders before he took a break and was watching some TV until he heard the front door. He glanced at the clock and smirked when Henry came inside, throwing his backback in the corner and jumping over the back of the couch right next to him.

"It was so cool!," he said, slightly out of breath as he just got here with his bike and Killian laughed, ruffling his hair.

"Breath, lad, and then you can tell me."

For some time, they sat on the couch and Killian listened to Henry's stories about history and art, before Killian went over to the kitchen to get the lasagna out of the fridge, putting it into the microwave. The boy also got up and started to set the table without Killian having to ask and he smirked at him because the kid didn't stop talking while carrying plates and cutlery.

Killian took the lasagna out of the microwave and filled their plates, watching how Henry's eyes got bigger at the sight of Granny's lasagna but he was still completely into talking about his trip. Only when they both sat down and had their drinks, he finished telling every little detail he had seen today.

"Sounds like the hell of a trip, lad. I'm glad you enjoyed it," Killian said, grinning as he shoved the first piece of lasagna into his mouth, groaning happily at the taste.

"Oh, and Mary Margret wants to talk to you at Granny's tomorrow after school. Not sure what it is about," Henry said and shrugged while eating. The lad only called her Ms. Blanchard when he was at school.

Killian frowned for a moment, trying to figure out what his best friend's soon-to-be wife would want from him. "Did you do something?" He asked teasingly and Henry shook his head quickly before they both started to laugh.

He took his phone out and texted Mary Margret quickly when and why before returning back to his food, telling Henry about his day that wasn't all too interesting. When his phone buzzed and he read the message he frowned slightly.

'Around 4pm, it's about Henry. Nothing bad, don't worry.'

"Bad news?" Henry asked and tried to lean over the table to read the message but Killian just held a hand out so the kid was pressing his forehead against his palm for a second before he pulled back grinning.

"Nope, everything is fine. Oh hey, Pirates of the Carribean is on later, I figured we could watch it," he said, looking at his son with a grin who just started to nod.

"Pirates over everything!" Henry exlaimed and grinned at his father who grinned back at him.

"Aye!"

They had seen that movie plenty of times but they always ended up joking and laughing about the adventures of Captain Jack Sparrow. When Henry was younger, the time after a pirate movie had always ended up in Killian being the Captain and the boy being his first mate, going on adventures. Sitting in the bathtub and sailing the seven seas or sword fighting each other with wooden toys Killian had got them a while ago.

But today, Henry was dead tired as soon as the movie ended and he all but collapsed in his bed. Killian draped the blanket over his son and gave him a soft kiss to his head before closing the door behind him with a soft sigh.

Even though he had Henry, in the nights when his son was safe in his bed he couldn't shake the feeling that he was lonely.

He still missed Milah and he had overcome her death a few years ago but she didn't stay out of his mind. The single mothers of Henry's classmates looked at him quite often as he was the only single dad in town now that Jefferson was from the market and they were impressed that he was able to handle all this so great.

But, so far, he hadn't let any other woman get close to him, his son was always his first priority. The feeling of wanting someone to hold came around from time to time; he missed the feeling of waking up next to someone.

He quickly shook his head to get the thoughts out before he walked downstairs to get a shower and some sleep.

A/N: Already, first part done, second one is in the making. I hope you enjoyed the daddy!feels ;)