It had been a year since they left for Neverland. Well, a year in her world. Of course, time works differently in Neverland. Sometimes there would be days between sunrise and sunset. Sometimes only hours. So while they'd been gone for a year, on the long days, it only felt like weeks, months at most. On the short days it felt like years.
On the long nights, Emma would wander up to deck. She'd never been a good sleeper, but now, with her son missing and her former love dead, she found sleep with increasing rarity. Most nights she found Hook, his hand resting on the wheel of the ship, staring out over the clear waters. Some nights they talked, revealing more of themselves as their walls broke down, crumbled. Other nights she stood by him in silence. Some nights he held her while she cried, while she gave in to the fear that she'd never see her son again. Other nights they'd fight, him determined to be the dirty pirate, her with her walls 20 feet high. Those were the nights she feared most, not because she hated fighting with him, but because it was then that they were at their most passionate. It was those nights that they understood each other the best, and it was those nights she feared she'd finally give in to that rare feeling that had been coiled deep in her gut since they climbed the beanstalk together.
It had taken them roughly eight months to find Henry. He's been taken by the Lost Boys shortly after Greg and Tamara brought him through the portal. The Lost Boys spent most of their time hiding and running from the Lost Ones and the Shadow, (the Lost Boys and Lost Ones being two very different groups, "Make no mistake on that, lass," according to Hook,) and thus successfully evaded Emma and her group as well. But after many misadventures, including almost being drowned by mermaids, (Emma,) mauled by strange creatures, (Regina,) and strangled (Gold,) or poisoned by the plant life (Snow,) everyone made it to Skull Rock in one piece, (if not a little worse for the wear,) where it was last rumoured that the Lost Boys had set up camp. And of course it was Hook that found Henry, who almost got himself killed rescuing her son. She could have kissed him if she hadn't been so livid.
It took about another four months to find their way home. Hook had somehow (Emma didn't want to think exactly how,) convinced the faeries to help make a portal to send them back to their land. Magic beans, hats, pixie dust, realm jumping seemed way to common for Emma's comfort. Neverland, Wonderland, the Enchanted Forest. What was next, freaking Narnia? She didn't even want to think about it. She hugged Henry close to her at the ship approached the portal. She remembered that it was a rough ride, and there was no way she was letting go of the kid ever again.
—
They'd barely been back an hour. Of course their first stop was Granny's, to let everyone know that they were back, unharmed, and they had found Henry. Emma was nursing the first hot cocoa she'd had in over a year, enduring the welcomes and pats on the back from the townspeople, when the bell above the door chimed, and the room fell quiet. Emma looked up from her mug, and was shocked to see Neal standing inside the doorway.
"What the hell?" Emma said under her breath. She'd finally come to terms with him being dead. She was finally ready to move on with her life. Her grieving, not just over his death, but over the ten years preceding it, over his abandonment, was finally over. And here he stood, living and breathing. Looking at her as though he was stranded in the desert, and she was a glass of water. A look that she resented, honestly. He abandoned her. He doubted her. All the things she'd learned of love, of true love, since finding her family, she knew that those things were not it.
"You're back," he said, relief evident in his voice. He made his way to her, the crowd clearing a path for him. "D'you - Can we talk?" He asked, glancing around the room, indicating that maybe elsewhere would be a better place to talk. She nodded, and rose from her seat. She walked out the door, and a few steps away from the diner's door, and hopefully away from prying eyes and ears. He followed her out and came to a top in front of her, jamming his hands in his pockets and kicking the ground before looking up at her.
"So, you're alive." She probably could've found a more tactful way to phrase it, but hell, she'd been in the company of a pirate for the last year. Who needs tact?
"Yeah. The portal dropped me in the Enchanted Forest. Mulan, Aurora and Philip found me." Emma raised her eyebrows at the mention of Aurora's prince, and wondered how that happened, but she let Neal continue with his story. "They took me to a healer. It was touch and go for a while, but I pulled through. They helped me find a way back here. To Henry." He took a step closer to her. "To you."
He put his hand on her elbow, and ran it down her arm to clasp her hand. She went into full on deer-in-headlights panic mode, completely froze. He came closer to her, and she knew he was going to kiss her, and she couldn't get her body to cooperate with her brain. Then his lips were on hers, and her panic spell was broken. She pulled away from him, frowning, and took her hand away from his. She knew already that she wasn't in love with him anymore, but this surprised her. She felt absolutely nothing, not even residual feelings, not even nostalgia. It had been like nothing, like kissing a ghost.
"I'm sorry, Neal, I can't - I don't - I'm not," she stammered, unable to find an easy way to put it. His face fell, and she felt guilty, if only for a moment. "I care about you, Neal. You're Henry's father, and you'll always be part of our lives. But I'm just not - I don't love you anymore. Not like that." He opened his mouth to protest, but she put her hand up to stop him. "And it's not because of before. I had a lot of time to think, in Neverland, and I finally made my peace with that, with what you did. I don't agree with it, and I wish you hadn't done it, but I forgive you." It was the first time she'd really admitted it to herself, let alone said it aloud, but she felt the truth of the words as they left her. She couldn't move forward if she was hung up on the past. And she was finally ready to move forward. "I have to go." She turned on her heel, not heading his calls after her. She had something she needed to do.
—
She walked up the gangplank onto his ship. The Jolly Roger. She smiled at the familiarity she felt on the ship. She'd only been gone less than two hours, but after a year, she found she missed it. She surveyed the deck for Hook, glanced up at the crow's nest, but the pirate captain was no where to be found. She made her way below deck, and heard slamming and shuffling coming from Hook's quarters. The door was only mostly shut, so she nudged it open slightly, unnoticed by him, and watched him storm about. He appeared to be attempting to tidy up, but in his obviously foul mood he was making more of a mess than anything. He was muttering to himself occasionally, and Emma frowned when she heard him say "Swan." She pushed the door open the rest of the way, making her presence known. His back was to her, but his shoulders sagged. She knew that he knew that she was there.
"Everything okay?" She asked, entering the room and leaning against his desk, still littered with maps of Neverland. Hook only grunted in response, and moved to the desk himself, stacking the various papers and refusing to make eye contact with her. "Hook." No response. "Killian!" She half shouted in exasperation. Oh, that did it. His gaze whipped up to her, and he was pissed.
"What, Swan? What?" He slammed the book he'd just picked up back on the desk, and she winced. "What do you want? What more could you possibly ask of me?" He was yelling, but Emma was determined not to back away. She stood from her lean and turned to face him fully. If he wanted to fight, she would rise to his challenge. "I helped you find your boy! I brought you and yours back here. Your family is reunited!" He braced his hands on the edge of the desk, and all the fight went out of him. His voice dropped, barely above a whisper. "What more could I possibly give you?" He turned to face her, read the confusion written on her face. How could she not understand what she was doing to him? What she'd been doing to him since the moment they met? Changing him, making him something he never thought he'd be again. A good man. "I saw you with him." Emma's eyes widened. "Baelfire." Hook dropped into the chair next to the desk, scrubbed his hand over his face. "Lovely how you've all reunited. You've all found each other. Isn't that your family motto?" He gave a wry laugh.
"First of all, it's rude to spy." She moved to stand in front of him. "Second of all -look at me goddammit!" He lifted his head and saw the rage on her face, but also something else, something he wasn't sure was meant for him. "Second of all, you didn't see the whole thing. Yes, I was with Neal." Hook flinched, almost imperceptibly, but Emma noticed. She pressed on. "And yes, he kissed me, and I'm sure that's the part you're freaking out about. But I pushed him away!" It was Hook's turn to look confused. "I told him, and I'll tell you. I'm not in love with him. I don't want him." She dropped to her knees in front of him. "I don't love him, Killian."
"Emma. What are you doing here?" Hook asked after a moment of silence.
"You stupid fucking pirate. You were right that you reunited my family. But my family is not Neal. Not because of whatever history we share, or because he's Henry's father. My family is about choice. And I choose you, Killian." She put her hands on either side of his face, and pulled him forward. Their lips met in a kiss that was much more tender than Emma had expected, yet was nothing short of perfect. Her skin sparked as he wrapped his hand around the back of her neck. If she didn't already know magic was real, this kiss would have convinced her.
"Gods, Swan, you have no idea how long I've been waiting for that." He laughed, and placed a kiss on her forehead, her nose, her chin.
"Since the beanstalk?" She asked. Hook grinned in response.
"Maybe longer." He kissed her full on the mouth again. She pulled back and looked him in the eyes.
"Killian, I - " She began, but he stopped her, putting a finger to her lips. He knew exactly what she was going to say, and she deserved to hear it first for a change.
"Emma, I love you." She smiled at him, and his heart felt like it would burst. "I think I loved you from the moment you found me in the Enchanted Forest. I've been so hell-bent on my revenge against the Crocodile for so long, it took me a while to recognize my feeling for you for what they were. I didn't believe I could feel love again. But you saved me, Emma."
"I love you, Killian." She wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him again. Maybe there could be happily ever afters in this land, after all.