Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon a Time

Chapter One

Storybrooke, Maine

"So," Henry glanced up at his mother from his spot next to his grandpa, his hands tipping the hot cocoa dangerously close to the open book in front of him, "do we hire movers to bring the rest of our stuff from New York or do we go pack it up?"

Emma looked across the booth at Granny's Diner at her son and then down at her own now cold hot cocoa. "I don't know, kid." She murmured.

Her mother, who was settled next to her with her baby brother, Neal, in her arms smiled softly and said with a knowing glance at Emma and then nodding to the man in all black across the room leaning against the countertop, "I'm sure Killian would help you if you need an extra hand."

Her father, David, frowned, "I'm sure that's all he would help with." He muttered into his cocoa, wincing when his wife's foot connected with his chin.

"Mom?" Henry looked at her skeptically, the fairytale book he'd just been reconnected with now that he had his memories back forgotten, "We are moving back here right?"

Emma had honestly been avoiding the subject with everyone. Well everyone except one very persistent pirate. She glanced across the diner at said pirate, still dressed in his black leather pirate garb, as he sipped on rum from his flask while talking to Robin Hood. Still so weird. What was even weirder was that Regina was by an arcade game Granny had recently acquired laughing with Robin Hood's son, Roland. Her boyfriend was fucking Robin Hood. Emma's eyes narrowed. Was it weird that the Evil Queen was dating Robin Hood? Or that she was, doing whatever, with Captain Hook? Or that all of these people even really existed? What was her life?

"Mom?" Henry's voice cut into her thoughts and drew her gaze from Killian, or Captain Hook, who was graciously ignoring her intense scrutiny for the moment, back to her son.

"I don't know, kid." She answered again.

"Wait," her father frowned and held up a hand, setting his cocoa down, "you don't know if you're moving home? Or you don't know if you should allow movers into our town?"

"Um," Emma hesitated at the question, "both?" She finally replied. At the three stunned looks, she stood up and abruptly, "I'm going to go check on the station quickly. I'll see you guys at the victory party tonight." She leaned down and kissed Henry's head and ran out before he could fire anymore questions at her.

When Emma rounded the corner she finally took a moment to breathe. She would face their questions at the victory party. Another victory party. That was the crux of the problem. There shouldn't be a victory party for defeating the fucking Wicked Witch of the West. The Wicked Witch of the West shouldn't exist. The Wizard of Oz was a movie starring Judy Garland. It was a story. Nothing more. Then again Emma had dated and nearly married and slept with the wizard who the Wicked Witch turned into a flying monkey. So weird. When she lived in New York there weren't evil villains from fairytales that she had to fight. Technically she didn't know Walsh was the wizard turned flying monkey until after Killian invaded her wonderful life with reality. She wasn't the savior and even if she didn't remember her family, it was nice not to have to fight for her life. It was nice not to worry about Henry's safety all of the time. It was nice not to have a fucking pirate following her around hounding her about quiet moments and Netflix and having his lips cursed so she couldn't kiss him if she wanted to. It was nice not to have magic.

"Swan!" She groaned as she stopped in front of the sheriff's station. Speak of the Devil and he doth appear.

"Go away, Hook." She shoved her key roughly into the lock and turned it, throwing the door open and slamming it behind her. She hoped calling him by his moniker would get him to go away. Since their trek through Neverland to save Henry from Peter Pan she solely called him by his given name, Killian. Unless she was mad. And she wasn't just mad, she was fucking pissed off.

Of course that didn't stop the stupid, fucking pirate from following her in, "I take it the lad didn't like the idea of moving back to New York."

"Eavesdropping doesn't suit you." She snapped at him before flicking on the lights, nearly taking the switch off the wall in the process.

"Yes well it was hard not to when I could feel your eyes all but ravishing me in the process." He whispered behind her, his breath tickling her ear making her shudder and lose focus. Damn pirate.

Spinning around she put her hand on his chest, pushing him away from her, "Don't do that."

"Don't do what, love?" His eyebrow rose nearly off his head and she wanted to scream and slap him and kiss him and then throw him over the desk all at once.

"Just stop with the innuendoes and inappropriate remarks. I'm not interested today." She screeched.

"Well when will you bloody be interested, Swan?" His own voice rose, "How long do you expect me to keep chasing you across the realms before you realize that I want to be with you, that I'm here for you, that I've given up everything for you."

"I didn't ask you to do that, Hook. And I don't want to be here anymore." She yelled. "I'm tired of fairytale characters and villains threatening my son and me. I'm tired of fighting and being the savior and for the love of God I just want a normal life. With a normal man."

She saw the pain in his eyes at her final comment. She shouldn't have said. She realized it as soon as the words flew out of her mouth. He had always been afraid he wasn't enough of a man for her because of his past, because of his hook. If she wanted a life surrounded by fairytales he would be enough. But that's not what she wanted. "This is normal." He whispered.

"I didn't mean it like that." She sighed, "I just meant I don't want a man who is a fairytale. I want someone boring a normal. Like a lawyer or a stockbroker or a dry cleaner. I don't fucking care."

"I am normal. I'm a captain." He snapped at her.

"You're fucking Captain Hook, of course you think this is normal. I'm from a world where fairytales are just that, stories to help kids sleep at night." Her own voice dropped.

"No, you're not. You're the daughter of,"

"If you remind me that my father is Prince fucking Charming and my mother is fucking Snow White I will break something. And there's no guarantee it won't be attached to your body." She threatened.

"You're apart of this world too, Emma." Killian stepped towards her, "I promise you this is your home. Now as to whether or not you share the same feelings I do, that's another conversation entirely." He paused, "I promised you I would win your heart with no trickery. If you do so choose that I am not the man for you, I will walk away, but I'll be damned if I let you walk away from your family because it seems like the easier route to run than fight and stay."

"Easy? You think any of this is easy? I don't want to hurt anyone, Killian, but I have to think of what's best for Henry and me. A life without magic is what's easiest."

"You don't honestly believe that? Not when magic is apart of who you are?" Killian stared at her wide-eyed. "Emma, love," he stepped forward and brought her close to him latching his hook onto her arm. She came willingly, which surprised him, "your magic is apart of you. It's a wonderful gift. It makes you even more of a bloody marvel than you already are."

"I don't have magic anymore." She pushed his arms down. "And that's fine because I won't need it in New York." She picked her discarded keys up and threw them at him. "I'm going for a walk. Lock up whenever you decide to leave." She snapped.

Killian stared at the keys in his hand and sighed. It was officially time to drag their majesties into this. Locking the door behind him he made his way back to Granny's.

"Mate!" He motioned to Robin Hood, "Would you mind watching Henry and letting me borrow Regina?" He requested.

Robin Hood looked over at Regina and Roland who were now sitting at the bar devouring a sundae. "Of course." He slapped Killian's back and moved over to Regina, whispering in her ear. She looked up and glared at Killian, who just rolled his eyes and walked over to the table with Henry.

"Henry, lad, would you mind if I have a word with your grandparents and your mum, perhaps you could take your book over to Roland and read to him?" He suggested, tapping the fairytale book with his hook.

"What do you want, Hook?" Regina snapped as she came up behind him.

"Lovely to see you, too, Regina." He muttered as Henry rolled his eyes and moved over to the countertop. "Please sit." He motioned to Henry's recently vacated spot as he drew a chair up from a neighboring table and sat on it, "We have a problem." He began to reiterate his conversation with Swan in the sheriff's station and then explained that it was not the first time she'd insinuated she was going to take Henry back to New York with her now that Zelena was gone.

"She can't take my son away." Regina interrupted.

"She's going to try." Hook told her flatly.

OUAT

Emma wasn't sure where she was headed as she continued to stomp through the park in Storybrooke, but she knew she was headed there. Her breath came out in short puffs, a sign winter was on its way, and her leather jacket wasn't the warmest choice of wardrobe for a walk, but she didn't care. She didn't understand why Hook couldn't just let it drop. She and Henry would come back on weekends and over holidays, but she just wanted a mostly normal life. He used to be normal. He used to be in the Navy, didn't he remember what life was like then? Didn't he miss it at times? And why did she have to be like everyone else in this town? Couldn't she want something different, maybe even something better for her and her son? Those memories of the last year may be manufactured memories, but to her and Henry they felt real. And their life had been good. It had been really good. She didn't realize how much she enjoyed the domesticity of it. Sure she still chased bad guys, but they couldn't hurl a fireball at her. And Henry was kept away from that.

She sighed and suddenly found herself standing in the spot where she kissed Hook and had her magic stripped from her. She let out a deep sigh of resignation. She was going to have to face everyone sooner or later. She might as well do it before the party. Regina is going to kill me.

Turning, her eyes flew fleetingly over the barn where Zelena's time travel curse failed. She frowned at the glow of light streaming from underneath the door. Pulling her phone out of her pocket, her fingers hovered between her father's name and Hook's name. Thinking twice, she returned her phone to her jean pocket and headed to the door on her own. No sense in bothering them until I know there's something worth bothering them about.

Drawing her gun, she opened the door slowly. Her eyes fell on the open portal, "Well shit." She muttered. Pulling her phone out of her pocket, she slipped her gun back in its holster and took a tentative step forward. Glancing at the portal careful she unlocked her phone to call Hook, knowing he'd get the calvary here. He always the 'communication device', as he called it, when she called. He also pressed the 'Emma button' multiple times a day to hear her voice when she wasn't around. She forced the smile off her face and took another careless step forward.

OUAT

The Enchanted Forest

Emma let out a groan and sat up. Rubbing her head gently over a bump, she muttered, "What the fuck?" Glancing around she was in woods that were similar to the ones surrounding Storybrooke, but definitely not the same ones. She'd searched for too many villains in them to not know every inch of the woody terrain. "Shit." She muttered. Reaching in her pocket she groaned. "Of course the cell phone didn't go through." She muttered. Taking a deep breath, her hand landed on her holster. At least she had her gun, "Time to figure out where the fuck I landed." She knew portal travel better than she would care to admit. She also knew she shouldn't have stepped so close to it. She should've closed the door and called Killian right away. He is going to kill me when I get home and then he's never going to let me out of his sight again. Damn pirate.

Stepping forward, she slowly began to pick her way through the forest, looking for any clue as to where she was. Admittedly, she recognized nothing, which was not a good sign.

The sound of carriage approaching made her drop back in the underbrush. Her eyes widened as a woman peered out of the carriage. "The fuck?" She muttered. It looked like Regina, but not the Regina she knew. "Holy shit, I'm in the Enchanted Forest." Just then her eyes landed on a poster with a picture of her mother's face on it. "I'm so screwed." She murmured.

OUAT

XOXO

MAS