A/N: Set the night before SSTR/ASOTM. Inspired by "Medicine" by Daughter. I own nothing.

Pick it up, pick it up, and start again. You've gotta second chance, you could go home; escape it all, it's just irrelevant...it's just medicine.

"For someone with a target on your back, you sure aren't making an effort to be hard to find," Emma said as she stepped onto the Jolly Roger, docked in Storybrooke. Hook was leaning on the railing of the ship, staring out at the nighttime sky and the reflections of the stars in the water.

"Perhaps I was waiting for you to come and find me," Hook replied as he turned to face her, his signature grin intact.

Emma rolled her eyes, "Listen, this is not a social visit. I'm sick of cleaning up your messes. I need you to stop trying to kill my son's grandfather."

"And why would I do that?"

"Because it's destroying this town! How many more people do you intend to hurt on your quest for vengeance?"

"Name a single, innocent individual, who's not tied to the Crocodile that I've harmed."

Emma sighed. She knew coming here and changing his mind was probably a lost cause but she couldn't stand aside and not do anything.

"Please, just take your ship and leave. Now that Gold is here, he's never getting in your way again. Go back to wherever you came from, forget about him and move on with your life."

"I'm afraid to disappoint you, darling, but I most definitely am not going to do anything of the sort."

This pirate was so infuriating. And irritating. Emma didn't know how else to get through to him so she just said the first thing that came to mind.

"Why is it so important to you to get your revenge? It's not going to change anything, Milah's gone and she's not coming back!" Emma yelled, immediately regretting it.

Instead of screaming back at her, Hook calmly looked at the water. Whether he was trying to hide from her or just trying to shut her out, she couldn't tell.

The silence was killing Emma, the tension between them so thick she felt like she could suffocate.

He took a few deep breaths before responding, "She was pregnant."

Emma felt her knees go weak as her heart broke hearing those words. She suddenly felt so arrogant for assuming she understood even a sliver of what he had gone through in his life. Losing someone you love is tragic enough, but to learn that she was with child? Is there anything more devastating?

"She had only realized it a few days prior. We had made port to find some ginger to ease her unsettling stomach. Milah never felt seasick, and once she did, we knew something else was at work."

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean-" she started to apologize but Killian cut her off.

"We were going to go back for Baelfire and be a family once the baby was born," he continued, but drifted off in his own thoughts. Emma didn't interrupt him again. Not that she knew what to say, anyway. She studied his face as it was apparent he was lost in his thoughts and memories. The memories of his hopes and dreams.

"Did you know that I went to face the Crocodile on my own? I was going to duel him and settle the score once and for all. He was going to stop looking for me, one way or another. But Milah showed up and saved me, even though I told her to stay on the ship. Bloody stubborn woman, that one," he recalled, a ghost of a smile appearing on his face.

"I know that nothing will bring her back. I know my happiness died a long time ago. I know killing the Crocodile will not make me feel any better. I know all these things, Emma. But he took everything from me, and I need him to pay for what he's done," he stepped closer and leaned in, his face but a few inches from hers, "What would you do if someone killed your entire family right in front of your eyes?"

"I-I have no idea," she stuttered out the words that were so hard to find.

"Then, my dear Swan, do not tell me of moving on, because I have nothing to move on to," he said and turned away from her.

"What did you do before Milah?"

Emma felt the need to try and help this broken man. She had no reason to but seeing this side of him made her realize that he's not a monster, he's just a man whose family was taken from him.

"No," he shook his head.

"I'm sorry?"

"No," he repeated and looked back at her, "I'm not the same man I was before I met her."

As Emma looked in his eyes, she knew she was looking at an old soul. A soul that had seen and suffered things anyone would wish to forget. You can tell so much from looking at a person's eyes. There are things you can't hide, and if she couldn't read him like he could read her, at least she could see what was written in his eyes.

"I've been a captain for centuries, and as much as I love the sea, I cannot go back to the simple pleasures of taking my crew on adventures and finding long lost treasure. That's a young man's game."

"Then why don't you stay in this world and try to start over. I promise you, it's nothing like your world. It might be boring, but hey, it's a change of scenery," Emma shrugged.

Killian shot her a slightly amused, yet confused look.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Because you can't go on like this anymore, Hook. I can't have you going on like this anymore. You're giving me a bad rep as the sheriff," she teased.

"Aye, not the actions of a gentleman, I must admit," he played along.

"I'm sorry for your loss."

Emma needed to say it. She needed him to know. And he responded with a nod.

"I'm not going to stop trying to kill him."

"I know. But I'm still hoping you'll change your mind," Emma said as she turned to leave.

Little did they both know that tomorrow everything would change.

You've got a warm heart, you've got a beautiful brain but it's disintegrating from all the medicine.