And then in a flash, everything came rushing back, like a tidal waves of photos, words, emotions... All of it folded into her brain, aligning itself with the false memories, rushing over them. She saw Henry, Regina, snow and charming... She saw Neverland, she saw Hook on the ship just before she jumped... Then she saw the falsehoods, tinged somehow, like words from a script, two-dimensional. Her eyes flared open. The man standing in front of her no longer a stranger, but like waking from a dream, suddenly she knew exactly who he was, who she was. "Hook."
His face relaxed and his lips parted into a smile. "Did you miss me?"
In that moment, she felt like it was he and she alone and everything around them a stage. They were in a holodeck, and the only two real people there. And in that moment, with her head pounding and pumping through the confusion, all she wanted to do was throw her arms around him, to feel some semblance of home through the only man that had been there with her. She lunged, and felt his surprise as his arms slowly folded round her, one hand resting on her back. "I'll take that as a yes."
Emma released her grip and stepped back, averting her gaze. "Sorry."
"Don't be, Swan." His smile faded, cautious of her. He was never sure of anything around her, and in that moment he wondered if she was ever sure of her actions herself.
"That was intense." She breathed a sigh of relief and looking around to the streets she thought she knew so well, but now it all felt foreign.
"I have no doubt. How do you feel?" Hook asked, certain that they would blow past their embrace as sure as he knew anything about her.
"Confused..." She looked up to meet his eyes. "But also clear as day." Hook wasn't sure how to respond. Emma also, she looked around the street. "Come on, let's go somewhere and talk."
Without another word, Hook fell into step with Emma as they walked towards her apartment.

In less than 24 hours, Emma had gone from a nearly-engaged, normal bail bondsperson to the Saviour with a kid she has to lie to and a monkey for an ex-fiancé. Once upon a time this would be wierd for her, or weirder for her. Now, with her memories back in tact, it was just Tuesday. When dawn broke, Emma was already awake, which made getting Henry ready, lying to him, introducing him to Hook and getting in a car with them much more taxing than it should have been. She had no idea how much sleep she got that night but she knew it was too little. After what happened with Walsh... Despite everything, she still couldn't believe she had been so completely duped. Her superpower, what was it actually worth if she couldn't see past the men she chose to love. She didn't see it with Neal, with Walsh... She glanced at the pirate next to her for only a moment and shifted uncomfortably in her seat.
"The drive already wearing you out, Swan? We've still got many miles to go." Killian said dryly.
"I'm fine." Emma replied, not taking her eyes off the road.
"We can stop if you want, mom. This trip could use some road snacks anyway." Henry said with an innocent smile. Emma smiled sadly. She hated lying to Henry, and she wished she could give him the benefit of the doubt of not thinking she had completely lost it the way he had given her when it was Emma who didn't believe. But kids saying these things is slightly different to adults saying them. Kids get told they're imaginative, adults get locked away.
"I wanna make a bit of headway before we stop, Henry. Say in about another hour?" Emma said.
"Works for me." Henry shrugged. He'd brought one of his books and quickly turned back to reading it with his headphones on; how he could multi-concentrate like that - how all modern kids could do that - was beyond her.
Killian shifted over slightly towards her and in a lowered tone said, "You should know, when we get to Storybrooke... I don't know what we'll be walking in to. I know Storybrooke is back, and that your parents and everyone else is cursed, but none of the particulars."
"I guess we'll find out when we get there." Emma said, still not looking him in the eye. For the next hour, the car was silent. Killian had nothing to share with Emma beyond the information he came to share with her, to save her, to see her... And Emma had nothing to say. She had no more lies to tell Henry, nor anything she could talk to Killian about in front of Henry. This was gearing up to be a long day.

"Hey kid, get me a soda!" She called after Henry as he ran towards the gas station in search of snacks.
"And rum." Hook called after him. Henry turned and looked oddly at Killian, before running into the shop.
"Right, because toning up the pirate image is what we're trying to do." Emma muttered.
"I am what I am, Swan." Killian smiled unapologetically, and widened his arms in dramatic gesture. Emma smiled and nodded her head. She lifted the nozzle into the car, and looked back at the door where her son disappeared into the shop. Killian followed her gaze to the shop door, and back to the woman he had missed more than he would let on. "Don't cuff me and leave me here for a ravenous giant to eat," A comment which earned Killian a pointed smile from Emma, "But how are you holding up?"
For a moment there was nothing but the hum of the gas pump and the zooming of cars going by on the highway parallel to them. Emma looked at Hook; it was strange to see him here, in her world. Stranger still that he was the only one in this world she could talk to about the other one. "I'm fine." Emma replied.
There was a reason she had to grab that one last thing before they left. Her red jacket. She wore it so much in Storybrooke the first time round that it had become part of who she was there: the Saviour. When she wore it, it transformed her. It was her armour, her uniform... It gave her the power to slay dragons, and along with her boots, swashbuckle with pirates. Like they had, longer ago than she cared to remember.
"Of course." Killian took a step backward. Emma was nothing if not guarded, and he understood that she had good reason to be. They met as enemies, and now... After Neverland, he wasn't sure how she regarded him. But he never lied to her, and those feelings had not gone away in the year they had been apart. She wondered if now she had her memories back, whether those months felt as long to her as they did to him. Or whether all that Neverland was, was in fact a one time thing, just as she'd said... Either way, now was not the time.
Henry returned from the shop and threw a soda to his mom. Emma caught it and smiled, "You did that on purpose." Henry just smiled and got back into the car.
"Where's my rum, boy?" Killian asked.
Henry peered out of the car to look at him as Emma just rolled her eyes. "Do I look 21? Because the guy behind the counter didn't think so." And then to Emma, "Here's the change from the gas and snacks."
Killian gritted his teeth, and got back into the passenger seat as Emma grabbed the coins from Henry and strapped herself in. Four hours til Storybrooke.

The night had drawn in, and in the remaining few hours had been spent playing word games with Henry and Killian. If someone had told Emma three days ago that she would be playing word games with her son and a Pirate, a restraining order from a crazy person probably would have been in play. Henry had fallen asleep, and it had become unnaturally quiet in the car, maybe made worse by the sense of privacy that the night induces.
"You're pretty good at word games." Emma broke the ice. Oddly, it was easier to talk to him when Henry was awake. Safety, she guessed. "And with kids."
"Baelfire wasn't the first child in my care, some things just stick with you." Killian replied. Emma squinted, a look which Killian caught. He smiled, "You seem surprised."
"I am. You don't look like the child-friendly type, you know." Emma laughed.
"One of the many things about me you are yet to be surprised about, Swan." Killian smiled. They made eye contact for a second longer than they had in the time they'd reacquainted.
"Look, before this gets as crazy as it's bound to get, driving into Storybrooke and all, I want to say thank you." Emma's eyes were now on the road. The emotional, grateful thing had always been uncomfortable to her, but she knew when it was necessary. "It must have taken a lot to get here, to get through to me." She paused to look at him. "Even when I didn't know you, you knew me, so thank you."
"It only worked because I told you to trust your gut, Swan, and a hell of an instinct you have." Killian smiled.
Emma took a breath. "It worked because I trusted you, Killian. On some level, my gut told me to trust you."
Killian didn't know what to say to that, he guessed there wasn't anything to say. She had hugged him, in a rare moment of vulnerability, she had on some level felt safe in his arms, and that made his heart glow a little brighter. Now wasn't the time or the place to go into it, and there was still so much she didn't know about the last year, about him. No, first they would deal with Storybrooke. Then, he would find a way to tell her about his year.