Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon a Time or any of the characters. I'm new to this particular fandom – CuriousArcher, MadArcher, whatever you want to call it. I mean, how hard was it to not love Robin and Alice? They're totally adorable! Thanks, OUaT!

Part I - The Plan

Prologue

Once upon a time, there was a young woman called Alice Jones. She was the daughter of the fearsome pirate known to all as Captain Hook, and a powerful witch called Gothel. Her story begins, as all stories do, with the fateful meeting of her parents, in a lonely tower in the middle of the Enchanted Forest. It was not the kind of place, nor was it the type of meeting where one expects to meet a beautiful young woman, but sometimes, even Fate can have a sense of whimsy.

Alice's mother, a powerful witch named Gothel, had once been a pure-hearted creature of nature, a tree nymph. She had been destined to become the next Mother of Nature, however, her own curiosity got the better of her. Gothel was led astray by humans, and was unwittingly the cause of the destruction of her home and the other spirits of nature. For many centuries, Gothel enacted her revenge upon any human she could - trapping them in a lonely tower in the woods and playing with them until she grew bored. One day, however, a woman desperate for help found her and begged her to save her daughter, who was close to death. Gothel agreed. Before she could take the girl into her tower, the grieving mother tricked her and the magic backlashed, locking Gothel within her own creation.

Alice's father, Captain Hook, was once known as Killian Jones. He was the fiercest, bravest, most ruthless pirate to ever sail the seas. So well-known was he, that even spotting his ship, the Jolly Roger, was enough to have most people shaking where they stood. It was said that Hook's ruthlessness came from seeking revenge on the monster who had taken his left hand and left him with a hook. It was in service to this revenge that he came upon the Tower in the woods.

Hook had been informed by a mostly trustworthy acquaintance - honour among pirates being what it is - that the magic he sought in order to vanquish his "crocodile" lay within the Tower. With his second in command in tow, he searched the Enchanted Forest until he found the object of his intent. With revenge in mind and hope in his heart, Hook scaled the Tower and climbed in through the only window.

Inside, he expected to find an old and powerful witch to somehow defeat. Instead, his eyes fell upon a beautiful, young blonde woman. Her braided hair was longer than any he had ever seen and meandered away from her head and throughout the tower room. She had eyes of soft blue and lips like pale winter berries.

Hook was… intrigued.

After their initial surprise as seeing one another, each wanted to know what the other was doing in the tower. After Hook explained that he was seeking vengeance against a demon who appeared as a helpless boy, only to lure other children to their eventual slavery, the woman told him that she had been tricked by the very witch he was searching for. Now, she was a prisoner in the Tower and only the magic he was looking for could help her escape.

The idea of locking up the dreadful, immortal demon-spawn in a cage that he could never escape from, made Hook nearly giddy. And if he could help a lovely lady escape from her own unjust prison, then why shouldn't he? So, the pirate captain asked the woman if she knew how he could get his hands on this magic.

When she told him that it was a magical golden flower that needed to be plucked from the garden of the witch, it seemed too good to be true. Not only that, but the witch had been absent from the realm for many years, so the garden was only guarded by a single warden. The woman couldn't tell him precisely what awaited Hook and his man, but she warned him that it would be fearsome and magical. She also told him that the flower was hidden and would only reveal itself to a song.

Hook laughed at that. A song. Well, he'd heard much stranger things, so he put the information away and asked if she knew how to get to the garden. She did, of course. Hook had many other questions, but decided to leave them for later - after he had acquired the flower. So, he bid the woman farewell and he could tell by the look in her eyes that she did not expect him to come back. He wasn't sure he would, either.

It was a pity - she really was quite beautiful.

The pirate and his man found their way to the garden without issue, and Hook was a little surprised that the woman hadn't led him astray. The gates to the garden hung on to a rock wall, but looked as though someone had tried to rip them of their hinges and had mostly succeeded. There was no guard. That was odd, indeed.

Inside the garden walls, even Hook could feel the magic there and he was almost as magic-blind as a person could be. There was a cute little garden gnome statue near the centre of the space that Hook carelessly kicked over. What did he care if he broke an absent witch's decoration? Once he and his man stopped, the captain explained what the woman in the tower had said about music. He tried singing an old Pirate chanty and only succeeded in triggering the garden's defence.

The little garden gnome? It was suddenly no longer little and it carried a heavy stone shovel. It also moved faster than statuary - even bewitched - ought to. While running for his life and dodging the growling, stomping monstrosity, Hook managed to conjure up a tune he hadn't allowed himself to think of in years. It was a lullaby that his mother had sang to him when he was just a lad.

A glow began in a corner of the garden mostly hidden by wild growing vines and moss. The gnome noticed it at the same time Hook did. He sprinted across the uneven ground and got to the plant only moments before the gnome. The statue raised its heavy shovel over its head, ready to smite the captain. Hook made a grab for the flower, caught it about the fragile stem, and pulled.

In seconds, it was over. He had his prize and the gnome had crumbled to pieces before his eyes. He grinned and inhaled, puffing his chest out. Victory smelled sweet. Or maybe it was the pretty flower he'd plucked. Or maybe it was rush that came at realising he would finally be able to get his revenge. He gently tucked the flower away and he and his man left the garden in high spirits.

As the two men headed back to the port town, they'd left the rest of the crew and the ship in, Hook suddenly got an idea. The young woman would be waiting for him and while he was a pirate, he did have his honour. He hadn't said aloud that he'd be back, but she had entrusted him with the remainder of her life and it seemed to him a shame that she should be forced to live it trapped in that Tower. Perhaps she would even join him on the Jolly Roger.

Hook sent his man on ahead to make sure that the ship was ready to sail at a moment's notice, and that his crew of bilge rats were sober enough to sail her. He returned to the Tower and scaled its height once again, climbing into the window. The woman was shocked to see him, but pleased at the same time. She was even more pleased when he produced the golden flower. She was so happy with him that she invited him to her bed. It had been a long time for them both.

The next morning, when Hook woke, he smiled to himself. Well, that had been unexpectedly pleasant. He dressed in the small alcove of the tower that contained the woman's - whose name he had learned was Rapunzel - bedroom. When he emerged, buckling on his sword belt, she was waiting for him all smiles. He smiled back and swaggered over to her, intent on giving her a kiss as a thank you for the previous night.

He was stopped halfway across the Tower by the cry of an infant. Equally confusing was how Rapunzel's form suddenly changed and he was face to face with a completely different woman. She gave him a truly wicked smile and strode across the room to where he suddenly noticed a baby cradle was sitting.

Inside was a baby that looked as though it couldn't be more than a day old.

Two things came to Hook in the same moment as he saw the woman pick up and cradle the child to calm it. First, this was obviously the witch from whose garden he had stolen the magic golden flower. Second, the baby had most definitely not been there on his first visit, nor had it been there the previous night. So, where the hell had it come from?

Putting the now quiet child back in the cradle, the woman smiled at him and named herself Gothel. She was, indeed, the witch that he'd been warned about. The child? Why, it was a little girl and had been created in the 'usual way' - a result of their night together. Hook gaped at her, unable to find words.

Gothel explained that she had created the tower to hold someone else, but she'd been tricked and stuck within her own creation. Now, though, with the birth of the baby, she could be free. She assured him that there was still enough of the flower left after she'd used it to speed up the pregnancy and birth, for him to complete his revenge. In fact, since he'd been so kind to her and made her freedom possible, she volunteered to help him with his demon trapping.

Hook looked between the witch who called herself Gothel and the sleeping baby. A daughter. He had a daughter! And her mother was simply going to leave her, alone and helpless, trapped in a tower. She would never survive, of course.

The pirate captain was angrier than he'd ever been in his life. He raged at the witch, but she seemed unaffected. Instead, she gave him one last smile and jumped out of the window, not bothering to climb down. Magic. Magic! Crossing the room, Hook stood next to the cradle that held his peacefully sleeping daughter.

She was the most beautiful, perfect baby he had ever seen! He knew in that moment that his days of being a pirate were done. He now had something much more important, much more fulfilling to do with his life. His need for revenge drained from his heart and he bent down to tuck the blankets more snuggly around her.

On that day, Hook, the most feared pirate captain that ever sailed the realms, disappeared… Killian Jones, loving, doting father, was born. He stared down at his daughter and he promised that he would never leave her and meant it from the bottom of his heart.

He only hoped that she would sleep until he returned from town to collect what was his from the Jolly Roger and return to his new home. He ran as fast as he could and when he returned, dumping his gear at the foot of the tower and climbing it once more, he found her still asleep. Smiling, he picked her up and cradled her in his good arm, very careful with his hook.

He named her Alice - after his mother - and then he sat down in a chair in front of the fireplace and sang her the whole of the lullaby that he'd begun in the garden.

In her sleep, Alice smiled.

Author's Note: So, here is the start of how Robin is going to find and save Alice. It might take a while. Plans like this usually don't happen over night. I mean, how are they going to get her out of the book? And yes, I realise that this seems like it's taking exactly after the show, but hey, they have to start somewhere. Besides, the whole point of Alice's cursed book, as Charming said, is to keep her isolated and alone, to break her down. There will be more on that later, though. At any rate, stay tuned for the next chapter. Cheers!