Hook stepped out of the jail attaching his fake hand back to his left arm. As he walked down the stairs he saw her standing there facing the immensity of Central Park.
"I believe the free pass was your treat" He said taking a step towards her.
"Well, I figured I'd give you a chance to finish that crazy story of yours."
"It's not a crazy story, Swan. It's the truth and I'm begging you to listen to me!" Hook's eyes were filled with hurry and desperation as Emma caught herself staring at them as if they could speak the truth without words.
"I promise you, lass. If you drink this potion everything will be back to normal. You'll regain your memories and…"
"Whoa, no way I'm drinking any weird purple liquid, mister!" She pushed his hand back and the potion remained in the air for a fraction of second. His fake hand had no actual use and realizing that at this moment was like having a bucket of cold water being thrown into his face. Hook took a step back and stumbled to get the potion with his good hand. It wasn't until he pressed the tiny jar against the his palm that he could sigh in relief.
Emma was still at her position watching as that weirdly known face struggled to keep the purple liquid. In that moment, she realized that maybe he wasn't so crazy after all.
"Fine. Let's talk. Follow me."
She finale gave in and accepted to listen to whatever it was that he was trying to tell her. The truth is, she wasn't interested in what that was. What she actually wanted to know is how the man that always appeared in her dreams handling her a coconut, climbing some tall wall and many other adventurous scenarios, was standing in front of her.
The pair walked four blocks to a pub where Emma appeared to be very familiarized. She greeted the bartender and made a number two sign ordering what was probably her usual at the place. When they sat, Hook placed the potion between them at the counter and they stared at it for a few seconds until the bartender put two shot glasses in front of them.
"Rum?!" He asked a little surprised sniffing the liquor.
"Yeah, does that surprise you?"
"Not at all, actually. I just imagined that a lady like you would go for something… I'd say, lighter." He said with a crooked smile.
"Lighter never helped. Anyway, always had this strong connection with rum. It just gets me better than any other liquor."
"Why do I get a feeling that this isn't the only thing you feel connected without knowing the reason?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, let's say that I see the way you look at me, Swan. You can ask me what you want. That bloody thing that seems to be stuck in your mind."
Emma frowned as he continued to say the words. She got so scared to realize that, somehow, he knew that she felt as they had already met. Her face went from a frown to a expression of complete surprise. Hook studied that expression for a moment and raised the shot of rum towards her. She understood his gesture as a sign to gain courage and so she did by also taking the shot.
"Why do I feel like I know you?"
"Do you really think so?" He can't help but smile.
"I mean, I don't actually know you because that's impossible but, I've been having these dreams and you're in it and we're in this sort of island and there're coconuts… And then you suddenly appeared on my door and everything got so confused in my mind."
"What if I told you they weren't dreams?"
"Yeah right…" She took her eyes out of his and look down to play with her napkin.
"Emma, look at me, have I told you a lie?"
Emma was more surprised now than ever. How did he know about the lie thing? - She would think. She wasn't blinking anymore, only paying close attention to the words coming out of his lips.
"Those are your memories, love, from the life you had until a year ago. You remember me because we were… fond of each other. Or at least I was. Still am." He leaned closer to her. "You have a family, besides Henry, a mother, a father and they need you."
He wasn't lying. She was sure of it in the moment he mentioned Henry, her son whose name she had never mentioned to him and he knew it even though.
"Okay and how would I do that?"
"First you regain your memories and then we go back to Storybrooke."
"What about Henry?"
"Don't worry, your lad will also regain his memories and shall return with us." Hook displayed a big smile when the thought of the three of them getting back to Storybrooke together crossed his mind.
"Take a leap of faith and trust me, Emma."
He handled her the potion and waited until she held it in her hands. Emma stared at it for a moment and then looked back at Hook. His eyes begging her to believe him, his hand placed near hers at the counter, their hearts pounding. And so she drank it.
Hook was still looking at her when the entire content of the bottle was drained. Steady, he waited for her to move or say something. For a moment, he was scared that it had not worked but he couldn't afford to lose hope, not now that everything seemed to be going to be okay.
"Hook." Her eyes grew twice its size as she opened them to look at him. The memories came back to her in a fast flash, just like the first time she regained them. Her mouth remained open after saying his name as she breathed heavily.
"Aye, love, it's me." Hook smiled at her and released the breath he didn't know he was holding. "I'd assume it…"
She didn't let him finish when she instinctively wrapped her arms around him in a reassuring hug. Her head found comfort on his shoulder as he recovered from the shock of the moment by placing his real hand on her golden hair.
"Thank you." Emma took a step back from the hug to look direct into his eyes, not before stealing a glance of his lips as she, without noticing, used her tongue to humidify hers.
"No need to thank me. I was just bloody tired of keeping my promise in such a literal way." He raised one of his eyebrows. "You see, I'm a man who likes to do things more than only tothink."
There's not a day will go by that I won't think of you.
That was all it took for her to acknowledge that he actually kept his promise, that he probably thought of her every single day until he couldn't bare it anymore and had to come look for her.
This was all still very unexpected to Emma. It was the second time that someone had come to look for her and made her believe in them in order to bring her back to her life, to the life she deserved, surrounded by the people who care for her and lover her. First time it was her son, the only living proof of true love that she had in her life. Until now. Second time it was him, the pirate who gave up his revenge for her, who went back to the place he hated the most to help her get her son back and who, somehow, escaped from a cursed land to find her. She wasn't used to people putting her first but now she had a feeling she should.
Emma and Hook walked the four blocks back to where the bug was parked, near to the jail. Hook opened the door of what he insisted to call "her vessel" for Emma and she nodded in a grateful way. The duo shared the silence in the car even though both of them were caught stealing glances at each other from time to time.
They parked the car in front of Emma's apartment as she couldn't wait to run upstairs to find Henry and tell him that everything was going to be fine, that they could go home now to their family. At this time he had already came back from school and would probably be packing his things to go back to Storybrooke.
"Mom! You're not gonna believe in what just happened to me!" He ran to her as he shouted the words when she finished opening the door.
Right behind her, Henry saw a familiar face that he didn't expect to see.
"Hook? How come you're here? Did you help me get my memories back?" Henry asked confused.
"Aye, mate. I assumed you two were tired of living this oblivious life and arranged to give you your good ol' ones back."
"The two of us?! Does that mean..."
Emma didn't let him finish grabbing her son's face and displaying a growing smile while her eyes would start to get teary.
"Yes, kid. I remember everything too." She moved a lock of hair out of his forehead. "Now what do you say we go back to that little town in Maine?"
They hugged each other for a while until Henry caught Hook staring at them. He let himself free of Emma's arms and walked towards the man in the leather outfit.
"Thank you, Captain. You saved us. You saved both of us."
"I'd do it all again if needed, lad."
Hook winked to Emma and she gently pressed her lips together as if trying to hide a smile.
The next couple of hours were spent with Emma and Henry choosing what to bring and what not to bring back to Storybrooke. They had to decide if there were things from this new life that they actually wanted to keep. Henry picked up a few of his electronics plus some games and part of his wardrobe. Emma felt the urge to pack her stash of leather jackets and the gun she carried while being a bail bondsman, just in case any harm come to them along the way.
As they were finishing filling up the bug with boxes and luggage, Hook couldn't help but being proud of himself. Not only for succeeding in the task of finding Emma and making her trust him, but also for having the patience that love demands. He knew he had to wait long enough living on his misery at the Enchanted Forest until the right time would come for him to find her. At first, it was a constant struggle not to go running adrift screaming her name through the seven seas. It wasn't until Charming put some sense in his head that Hook gave up this pointless idea. The Prince told him that he didn't had to suffer her absence alone anymore because now he was part of something. So when the opportunity came, when the savior was needed once again, it was Tinkerbell's task to convince all the others that Hook was the one supposed to go find Emma and bring her back, assuring everyone that the connection between them was strong enough to at least make her listen to him. With a bit of reluctance from Snow White and Neal, Hook went on his journey to find his dear Swan.
When the sun began to disappear from the sky, the trio started their road trip back home. Henry sat comfortably at the backseat and fell asleep within the first thirty minutes on the road. Emma was laughing as Hook would get confused trying to understand the lyrics and meaning of the songs playing on the old radio of the yellow bug. She shared to him some of the not so personal things about her new life like, favorite coffee shop, places she would go with Henry on the weekends, things she'd probably miss.
As she realized that most of her nicest memories with Henry were fake, a deep feeling of sadness came to her. Suddenly she remembered who she was to him. The mother who was too damaged herself to be able to take care of her own son, who believed that giving him up was giving him his best chance. Now that she lived that fake life for a year, that didn't seem so true anymore. She had never regretted the decision of giving Henry up more than right now.
Hook noticed the change in Emma's expression faster than anyone else would.
"Everything okay, Swan?"
"Yeah… We're just gonna have to stop for gas."
Emma pulled the bug at a small gas station when the moon was already big in the sky. Henry was in a deep sleep at the backseat when she looked back to check at him. She got out of the car and was surprised to see the Hook did the same.
"Long ride, even a pirate needs a good stretch once in a while."
The tank was almost filled when the thought crossed Emma's mind.
"So… When you showed up at my door and you did that… performance… You said something about having to try a long shot. Were you trying…"
He looked down and blushed a little.
"Aye. But apparently I was somehow mistaken on my presumptions."
Emma shook her head slowly and left out a little giggle.
"Does that amuses you, lass?" He felt like she was mocking him.
"Well, it's just that… Whoever put you up to this clearly didn't explain you how these things work."
Hook was paying close attention to the next words that would come out of Emma's mouth.
"Remember when you shot Belle at town line?"
"I'd prefer if we didn't mention some parts of my past, Swan."
"She lost her memories at the time. So when Rumpelstiltskin went to pay her a visit at the hospital, I was called as a sheriff to take him away from her. Apparently he tried true love's kiss and she just went nuts with a complete stranger trying to kiss her."
"What's your point?"
"He told me that he was a fool to try that once he already knew that true love's kiss doesn't work when one of the parts has a case of memory loss. Besides, I also read it on Henry's story book that one time David also tried true love's kiss on Mary Margaret while she didn't have her memory and she beat him in the head with a bough." She opened a big smile.
"So you're saying that…"
"That's why, Killian."
They both stopped for a while as the last of Emma's word sank into their ears. She had never called him like that. Until now, he has almost always been Hook to her. The fierce pirate who had his revenge ahead of anything else in his life. That was changing gradually as they spent more time together, especially from their time in Neverland. Hook showed her that there was only one thing that mattered more to him than his revenge. Now, in that last moment, Emma started to see him for the man who was, Killian Jones, a man of honor who gave up a life choice of three hundred years just so he could be there for her whenever she needed him because that was the only thing that seemed to be the meaning of his life since he put his eyes on her.
"I mean, unless anyone goes under a sleeping curse I guess there's no way to know for sure if it's or isn't true love…" Said Emma trying to get away from that awkward moment that made her cheekbones go all red.
"Oh, I don't need a sleeping curse to be sure of anything, Emma."
He raised one of his eyebrows towards her and went for her lips. She couldn't help but give in to the kiss. The third of their kisses was a complete different one. It was hot like the first but with much more tenderness, much more meaning in a way that this kiss came out as a establishment of a new ground for them to walk.
Emma grabbed the back of his head and slowly pulled them apart. He ran his finger through her hair one last time and she smiled back at him.
"Come on, let's go home now." She was already walking back to the car when he took one last moment to surprise her.
"As you wish."