Disclaimer: Once Upon a Time and its characters do not belong to me. I am just borrowing them.
Prologue-Coming Home
Emma stopped her yellow bug just beyond where she knew the Storybrooke town line was. It had been more than six years since she had left. Giving into fears she had tried, and failed, to eradicate. Glancing to the passenger seat she looked at the man she had left behind and abandoned. The man who had found her and brought her home at the behest of her firstborn son, Killian Jones was still a handsome man who appeared almost untouched by the passing years. "What will I find?" she found herself asking.
Killian put away his phone once he finished his text message. It still seemed odd to see Captain Hook so familiar and easy with technology. "Your parents and Henry cannot wait to see you. Life in Storybrooke went on: babies were born and grew, marriages and break-ups happened." He shrugged. "You will find out when you get there. How much you learn will depend on what you want to know and the decisions you make once you arrive."
While his tone was friendly enough it did not contain the love and care it had in previous times. Now that she was once again in his presence Emma missed that more than she had since she had fled. She had forced herself not to think about him or the pain she caused him except in her nightmares and sleepless nights. Involuntarily her gaze went to the rearview mirror and the small boy asleep in his car seat. "Will they-"
Killian cut her off before she could get the fear out. "You know your parents better than that. They will love him and Neal will be thrilled to have a nephew close to him in age." He glanced back at the young boy, his expression unreadable but with a touch of hurt. "He was born less than a year after you left."
"Killian," she reached out a hand to him.
Not acknowledging her gesture he turned back to the front. "We had better go, I messaged Regina and David that we were at the town line."
Knowing she had no right to ask for anything more, or at all, Emma took her foot off the brake and drove over the town line. As they crossed the line she thought she saw Killian close his eyes with a look of concentration. But it was gone before it could truly register and she doubted what she had seen. Forcing herself to concentrate on the still familiar road, and not the suddenly intense butterflies in her stomach, she tried to prepare herself.
For good or ill she was coming home.