Title: Ships in the Night

Summary: Killian Jones and Wendy Darling met in Neverland, and formed a close alliance and friendship. Little did they know that that would lead to spending twenty-eight years living as father and daughter in a town called Storybrooke, Maine

Rating: T

Warning: Flashbacks will contain spoilers for season two

Disclaimer: Once Upon a Time belongs to the wonderful Adam and Eddy. Peter Pan belongs to J.M. Barrie. The idea this fanfic stems from belongs to tumblr user bamonbrigade1. Title belongs to Mat Kearney. Basically, absolutely nothing is mine

Here I am, against my better judgement, going down the path of another multi-chapter fanfic. I'm not sure where this will lead. It might be just season one, or I might continue into two and three. We shall see.

Emma awoke with a start, on her first morning in Storybrooke. It took her a moment to remember where she was. She slid out of bed, pulling the curtain away, looking out at the town. The clock had moved, just like Henry had said it would.

She sighed. She needed a coffee.

No sooner had she gotten one for herself than there was a knock on the door. Opening it, she found that the mayor stood there, a basket of fruit in her arms.

"Did you know the honey crisp tree is the most vigorous and hardy of all apple trees?" asked Regina, with a wide smile, in lieu of a 'hello'.

Emma confused, looked from the Mayor to the basket of red apples she held.

"It can survive temperatures as low as forty below and keep growing. It can weather any storm. I have one that I've tended to since I was a little girl. And to this day, I have yet to taste anything more delicious than the fruit it offers."

She plucked an apple from the basket, holding it out to Emma with a fake smile.

"… Thanks," said Emma, taking the apple.

She extended the basket to her. "I'm sure you'll enjoy them on your drive home."

"Actually, I'm gonna stay for a while."

Regina's smile vanished. "I'm not sure that's such a good idea. Henry has enough issues, he doesn't need you confusing him."

"All due respect, Madam Mayor, but the fact that you have now threatened me twice in the last twelve hours makes me wanna stay more."

"Since when were apples a threat?"

"I can read between the lines," said Emma, with a fake smile of her own. "Sorry, I just wanna make sure Henry's okay."

"He's fine, dear. Any problems he has are being taken care of."

"What does that mean?" asked Emma, concerned.

"It means I have him in therapy. It's all under control. Take my advice, Miss Swan, only one of us knows what's best for Henry."

"Yeah, I'm starting to think you're right about that," she said, looking Regina in the eyes.

"It's time for you to go."

Her expression didn't change. "Or what?"

"Don't underestimate me, Miss Swan," said Regina, taking a step towards her, all pretences long forgotten. "You have no idea what I'm capable of."

Emma looked up from the newspaper as Ruby placed a mug of hot chocolate in front of her. "Here you go."

"Thank you," she said, lowering the apple she was about to take a bite of. "But I … did not order that."

"Yeah, I know," the waitress smiled, leaning across the counter. "You have an admirer."

Emma looked over her shoulder, noticing the Sheriff sitting at a booth on his own. She sighed, setting down the paper and picking up the hot cocoa instead.

"Ah," said Graham, leaning back in his seat. "So you decided to stay."

"Observant; important for a cop."

"That's good news for our tourist business, it's bad for our local signage."

Emma shot him a look.

"It's – it's a joke ... because you ran over our sign ..."

"Look, the cocoa was a nice gesture," she said, glancing down at it to avoid eye contact. "And I am impressed that you guessed that I like cinnamon in my chocolate, 'cause most people don't – but I am not here to flirt, so, thank you, but no thank you."

She set the mug down on the table. Graham shook his head.

"I didn't send it."

"I did. I like cinnamon, too."

Emma looked up to see Henry climbing out of a booth. "Don't you have school?"

"Duh, I'm ten," he said, as he approached her, hoisting his schoolbag onto his back. "Walk me."

They left the diner, crossing the street. Emma tossed the apple from one hand to the other. "So, what's the deal with you and your mom?"

"It's not about us, it's about her curse. We have to break it. Luckily, I have a plan. Step one: identification. I call it, 'Operation Cobra'."

"Cobra?" she asked, holding the apple in one hand. "That has nothing to do with fairy-tales."

"Exactly," Henry looked up at her. "It's a codename. It'll throw the queen off the trail."

"So, everyone here is fairy-tale character, they just don't know it?"

"That's the curse. Time's been frozen … until you got here."

Thoughtful, Emma raised the apple to her mouth.

"Hey!" Henry exclaimed. She took it away quickly, shocked. "Where'd you get that?"

"Your mom."

"Don't eat that!" He took the fruit from her hand, throwing it over his shoulder. Emma watched. She had been looking forward to eating that apple.

"… Okay. Uh, all right. What about their pasts?"

"They don't know," Henry told her. "It's a haze to them. Ask anyone anything, and you'll see."

"So … for decades, people have been walking around, in a haze, not ageing, with screwed up memories, stuck in a cursed town that kept them oblivious."

"I knew you'd get it!" Henry beamed. "That's why we need you. You're the only one who can stop her curse."

She stopped. "Because I'm the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming?"

"Yes!" Henry took his schoolbag from his back. "And right now we have the advantage. My Mom doesn't know that." He handed her several ripped out pages from Once Upon a Time. "The part with you in it. See? Your mom is Snow White!"

She looked at the illustration of Prince Charming holding a baby wrapped in a blanket. Her blanket. And then at Henry. "Kid …"

"I know the hero never believes at first, if they did, it wouldn't be a very good story. If you need proof, take them, read them. But whatever you do, don't let her see these pages. They're dangerous. If she finds out who you are … then it would be bad."

"Okay," she said, rolling the pages up. "I'll take them."

They reached the school.

"I gotta go, but I'll find you later and we can get started. I knew you'd believe me!"

"I never said I did!"

"Why else would you be here?" he grinned, running off toward the school.

Mary Margaret, who had witnessed the scene, approached. "It's good to see his smile back."

"I didn't do anything."

"You stayed. So … does the Mayor know you're still here?"

"Oh, she knows," Emma nodded. "What is her deal? She's not a great people person, how did she get elected?

"She's been Mayor as long as I can remember," Mary Margaret explained. Emma remembered what Henry had said about everyone's memories. "No one's ever been brave enough to run against her. She inspires quite a bit of … well, fear. I'm afraid I only made that worse by giving Henry that book. Now he thinks she's the Evil Queen."

"Who does he think you are?"

She scoffed. "It's silly …"

"I just got five minutes of silly," Emma laughed. "Lay it on me."

"Snow White."

Emma sighed as she reclaimed her seat at the counter of Granny's Diner. If Henry was to be believed, then Mary Margaret was her mother. She didn't know quite how to process that.

"Hey," said Ruby. "Do you want your cocoa?"

"If you don't mind," she smiled at the waitress. Glancing over her shoulder, she found that Graham was still sitting at the booth, though now he was not alone.

"I'll drop it down," said Ruby, with a sly smile.

"Thank you."

She approached the table, smiling as the two men noticed her. "Hello."

"Emma. How's Henry?"

"He – he's good," she said, glancing from Graham to the other man.

"Killian Jones," he smiled, offering a hand to her. She noticed that the other was a prosthetic.

"Emma Swan," she replied, accepting the handshake and sliding into the booth beside Graham.

"I've heard a lot about you, Swan," said Killian, with a smile that was more like a smirk.

"Hmm. Front page of a newspaper will do that to you. And, for the record, there was a wolf in the middle of the road. I swerved to avoid it."

"I believe you," he said, in a voice that suggested he didn't.

She spared him a look, before turning to Graham. "Look, I'm sorry for … assuming."

"It's fine, Emma."

"Good," she smiled, as Ruby placed her warmed-up hot chocolate on the table. "Thanks, Ruby. So … how do you two know each other?"

"We met in college … I think," said Graham, his forehead creasing into a frown. "Yeah. We were roommates for a while."

"Your memories haven't failed you, have they, mate?" Killian joked.

According to Henry, they have, she thought wryly, taking a sip of her chocolate. She was worried about that kid.

"Shouldn't you be getting back to work, mate?"

Killian sighed. "Don't remind me."

"Dead-end job?" Emma guessed.

"My chosen career for the last three years, actually."

She raised an eyebrow, taking another sip of hot chocolate. "Doesn't sound chosen. What do you do, anyway?"

"He sells fish at the docks," said Graham. "Certainly not the most glamorous of careers, but Aiden is a good guy."

"Speaking of … I'd better head. See you later, Graham. It was lovely to meet you, Emma."

"Bye."

"He seems …" Emma began, but, unable to find a word, merely took a drink of her cocoa.

Graham laughed. "I know the feeling. He's a good man. Promise."

"I suppose I have to believe the Sheriff," she smiled. "Anyway, I'd better get going too. There's someone I need to see …"

"See you around, Emma."

"Yeah."

Emma opened the door of her room at Granny's for the second time that day. This time, her visitor was the Sheriff.

"See, when you said 'see you around', I thought you meant in a couple days or something."

Graham smiled humourlessly. "Actually, I'm here about Dr. Archibald Hopper. He mentioned you got into a bit of a row with him earlier?"

She frowned. "No …"

"I'm shocked, too, given your shy, delicate sensibilities." The smile was still there. "He says you demanded to see Henry's files and when he refused you came back and stole them."

"He gave them to me."

"Alas, he's telling a different tale. May I check your room? Or must I get a search warrant?"

Emma sighed, opening the door. She made her way over to the bed, gesturing to Henry's file, which she had recently been reading. "This what ya looking for?"

He picked up a page, glancing from it to Emma. "Well, you're very accommodating. But, I'm afraid, Miss Swan, you're under arrest. Again."

She sighed as he cuffed her. "You know I'm being set up, don't you?"

"And whom, may I ask, is setting you up?"

"Regina. She wants to keep me away from Henry."

"Ah. Of course."

"You don't believe me, do you?" she asked, squinting at him.

"Unfortunately, no."

"You know the shrink is lying, right?" she tried again, as the Sheriff took mug shots of her.

"To the right, please." She obeyed him. "Why would he lie?"

"The Mayor put him up to this," Emma replied. "She's gotta have something on him. He's terrified of her, like everyone else in this – town."

"To the left. Regina may be a touch intimidating, but I don't think she'd go as far as a frame job."

"How far would she go?" asked Emma, narrowing her eyes. "What does she have her hands in?"

"Well, she's the Mayor. She has her hands in everything."

She raised an eyebrow. "Including the police force?"

He shot her a look.

"Hey!" called a familiar voice. Henry ran into the station, followed closely by Mary Margaret.

"Henry! Henry, what are you doing here?"

"His mother told him what happened," Mary Margaret explained.

"Of course she did!" Emma rolled her eyes. She looked down at Henry. "Henry, I don't know what she said—"

"You're a genius!" he exclaimed.

Emma stared. "What?"

"I know what you were up to. You were gathering Intel," he said, leaning closer. "For … Operation Cobra."

"I'm sorry, I'm a bit lost …"

Henry turned to Graham. "It's … need to know, Sheriff, and all you need to know is that Miss Blanchard's gonna bail her out."

Emma frowned at the teacher. "You are? Why?"

"I – uh – trust you."

"Well. If you could un-cuff me …" she extended her wrists to Graham. "I have something to do."

"What the hell are you doing?!"

Emma looked up to see the infuriated mayor approaching her. She dropped the chainsaw she had been using to cut one of the branches of the tree. "Picking apples."

"You're out of you mind!" Regina exclaimed.

"No, you are, if you think a shoddy frame job's enough to scare me off. You're gonna have to do better than that. If you come after me one more time, I'm coming back for the rest of this tree," she picked an apple from the ground. "Because, sister, you have no idea what I am capable of. Your move."

She walked away from the house, to find Killian standing there, smiling.

"Nice, one, Swan."

She merely smiled. "Apple?"

"I'd rather not. Who knows what kind of poison there is in that."

Emma laughed, as they walked down the street together. "Henry thinks that too. This morning, he actually took the apple from me and threw it away."

"Well, if she is the Evil Queen, then we should all know better than to accept an apple from her. You know what happened to Snow White."

Emma glanced at him. "You know Henry?"

"Aye," he nodded. "He goes to school with my daughter."

"Oh?" she raised her eyebrows. "They're not friends?"

Killian grimaced. "Henry doesn't really have any friends."

"Yeah …" Emma murmured. "So I've noticed."

Emma knocked on the door of Mary Margaret's apartment, a sense of doubt settling in her stomach. After this, she would leave. But did she want to? She still wasn't sure if Henry was okay – she was less sure than ever, now. And, like it or not, she was making friends. Mary Margaret, Graham … Killian.

"Hey," she said, when Mary Margaret opened the door. "Just wanted to say thank you, and, um, pay you back the bail money." She held out an envelope with the money, sighing.

"You look like you need to talk," smiled the woman, a knowing look in her eyes.

She nodded, and was escorted into the loft.

"Hot cocoa?" Mary Margaret asked, setting the envelope down on the worktop.

"Yes please," Emma smiled, sitting at the table.

"Here you go."

"Thanks." She took a sip. "Cinnamon?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," she apologised, sitting at the table. "I should have asked. It's a little quirk of mine. Do you mind?"

"Not at all," Emma replied. She could hear Henry's voice in her head. "See? Snow White is your mom!" Mary Margaret offered her a cookie. She shook her head. "No, thanks. When you bailed me out, you said … that you trusted me."

Mary Margaret nodded.

"Why?"

"It's strange – ever since you arrived here, I've had the oddest feeling – that we've met before. I mean, I know it's crazy."

"I'm starting to re-evaluate my definition of crazy," she murmured.

"For what it's worth, I think you're innocent."

"Of breaking and entering, or just in general?"

"Whichever makes you feel better," Mary Margaret laughed.

"Doesn't really matter what anyone thinks I did or didn't do. I'm leaving. Thank you for everything, but I think it's for the best. If I stay, Henry's only gonna keep getting hurt."

The schoolteacher considered her. "What happens if you go?"

Emma said nothing.

"I think the very fact that you want to leave is why you have to stay. You care about him. Who will protect Henry if you won't?"

"You're right. I have to stay. Thank you, Mary Margaret. I really appreciate it."

"Where are you going?" the teacher called after her, as she stood up.

"To talk to my son."

Still recovering from Killy being cursed. Don't touch me.

This chapter was very transcript-heavy, but the next will be more original. Promise.

Okay, so, Killian's memories go like this:

He was born in Armagh (Colin is from Louth). His mother moved him and his brother to London after their father abandoned them. He went to college with Graham. After their mother died, he got into sailing. Liam died in a boat accident. After that, he fell into alcoholism, had a terrible relationship *cough*Milah*cough* and was so drunk one night and doesn't even remember how he lost his hand. He got himself back together, and met the Perkinses (Darlings). The three became close, but then they moved to Maine to start a family. A few years ago, he got a phone call telling him that they had died in a car accident and that they had named him Wendy's guardian. Graham helped him to settle into Storybrooke. (Though of course, in reality, he's been there all along).

Aiden is Prince Eric's Storybook persona. Going off the glimpse we saw of him in 'The New Neverland', I'm gonna assume that he was selling fish. Not sure yet if Ariel will be cursed or if she'll be in the same situation as she was on the show.