Author's Note: This is my first attempt at a OUAT story. Like so many others I did not feel that I could wait until March to see what happens so I figured that I would pass the time by writing my own little story. I hope you enjoy!


The glow of his heart was all that Emma could see as she burst through the door. The fear she felt only intensified as she realized what Gold's intentions were. She immediately tried to conjure up a spell to stop him, but was not fast enough. She was suspended in time, unable to move and would be forced to watch as Rumple crushed Killian's heart.

Suddenly, Belle was there, dagger in hand, giving her husband the commands that would save them all. Emma stood in staring at the place they both disappeared from in complete disbelief.

"What the hell just happened?!" Emma asked in alarm.

"Poor Belle," Mary Margaret said sadly. "We should go after her."

Emma shook her head as she watched Killian rise carefully holding his heart in front of him. Their eyes met and she was flooded with a million conflicting emotions that nearly knocked the breath out of her. She nearly tripped up the steps to get up to him and gripped tightly onto his out stretched arms as he caught her.

As she buried her head into his neck he whispered into her ear, "I am sorry, love. I am so so sorry."

"No. Stop," Emma hissed back. "It doesn't matter."

"Please," he insisted back, "I have to say this. I needed to try to be a better man for you, but I failed. I only-"

Emma pulled back and put her fingers over his lips. "Shh. It doesn't matter."

"Guys," Mary Margaret hesitantly interrupted, "We really need to find Belle and make sure she's ok."

Emma pulled herself from Killian's embrace and glanced down at her mother. Steeling herself against the tide of emotions threatening to overwhelm her she nodded solemnly.

"You're right," Emma said. "I just have to find Regina to figure out how to get that," pointing at the heart in Killian's hands, "back where it's supposed to be."

"Of course," Mary Margaret said as the determined look on her face softened. "You know what," she said after a short pause, "why don't you just go take care of that and I'll go see to Belle. I don't think she needs all of us intruding on her grief right now anyway."

The gratitude that Emma felt must have been written all over her face as she saw her mother flash her a knowing smile and a reassuring nod before motioning for them to join her back onto the elevator that they had just ridden up. As they descended Emma grabbed Mary Margaret's hand and held on tight. In that grip she tried to convey all of her gratitude, her fears and her love. She was sure that she must have been hurting Mary Margaret with the tightness of her hold but she could do nothing to loosen it. Thankfully she did not complain and only broke the hold when the doors reopened on the ground floor allowing them to go their separate ways.


Despite the simplicity of the instructions that Emma had been given by Regina about how to put Killian's heart back into his chest, she had been terrified that she would somehow mess it all up. So when the task had been done and Emma had made her way out to the bar at Granny's where Regina sat forlornly drinking her coffee, she knew that she was in desperate need for something to calm her nerves.

Killian had retired to his room early perhaps sensing that Emma needed some time to clear her mind and process the events of the day. His reassurance to her that he was a survivor had said to her that he had a pretty good idea of what had been spinning through her head since she had found him with Rumple. However, there had been no way of him knowing just how far off the mark he truly was. Emma didn't want to think and process everything that had happened. She wanted to forget. Lucky for her, she was not the only one.

Regina and Emma sat at the counter at Granny's for several hours drinking and talking about everything, but what had actually led them to drink. They were even able to share a laugh or two and while neither of them felt the slightest better when they parted they could probably have agreed that they were, for the time being, comfortably numb.

It wasn't until Emma had stumbled out onto the sidewalk into the quiet of the night that she felt the weight of her worries pressing down upon her again. Thanks to the overindulgence of alcohol she had consumed, she was far less able to rationalize and maintain composure. The tears that she so desperately tried to hold back fell freely down her cheeks until she was sobbing quite uncontrollably. She backed up against her car and slid down the door until she was sitting on the cold ground.

The heart wrenching sounds of her sobbing drifted up to the window that Killian always left cracked open. Without a moments hesitation he made his way down to where she had half sat/half laid upon the ground lost in her own despair. His newly restored heart emitted such a pain from seeing her in such a state that he, for just a moment, wished it were missing from his chest once again.

"Emma, love," he whispered softly. "What is wrong?"

Emma lifted her head to look at him and simply shook her head as if words were too difficult for her to master at that point. With a small sigh Killian gathered her in his arms and held her tight as she was taken by a fresh round of tears. The smell of the spirits gave him a significant clue about the reasoning for her current state of distress.

They sat for several moments like this until he heard Emma mumbling into his shoulder. Gently, Killian positioned himself so he could look into her face.

"I quit," Emma mumbled.

Killian nodded. "Okay. Quit what?"

With a sob she cried, "I quit everything. I don't wanna be the savior," she slurred. "I can't do it anymore."

"Shhh, love," he whispered as he stroked her hair. "Let's not worry about that now."

Pushing away from him, she scrambled out of his embrace and clumsily brought herself to her feet. She began digging in the pocket of her jeans and pulled out her phone.

"No. I'm gonna do this now," she said as she punched buttons.

With a sigh he asked, "What are you doing?"

"I told you," she said in exasperation. "I'm quitting. If I can get him to answer the damn phone."

"Whom are you trying to call," he asked slowly.

"Prince Friggin' Charming. Him & my mother can just find themselves a new savior," she slurred angrily.

Standing up, Killian made his way to her side and gently pulled the phone from her grasp. "Let me, lass. I'm not sure you'd say it right in your current inebriated condition."

He let the phone ring several more times until a sleepy sounding David finally answered, "Emma? Is everything ok?"

"It's me, mate," Killian said. "Your daughter needs you."

"Hook? What's wrong? Is Emma ok?" David responded in alarm.

With a chuckle he said, "She's fine. She is, however, in need of transport home as she is in no fit state to make it there on her own."

"What?! What do you mean?," David said in exacerbation.

"She sloshed, mate. I can not get her home and I will not soil her reputation by having her sleep it off in my quarters," he explained with a sigh. "Especially if she wouldn't even remember it in the morning," he added with a smirk. He did love to push his royal buttons.

There was a slight pause before he replied, "I'll be right there."

Killian escorted Emma back onto Granny's patio and handed her the phone. Sitting down next to her at one of the tables Killian noticed that the tears had stopped. Unwilling to provoke a new onslaught of the waterworks he simply held her hand in his quietly until he heard the now familiar sound of David's truck pulling up.

"Emma?" David asked as he approached the seated couple. "You ready to go?"

Ignoring her father's question Emma turned to Killian, "Did you tell him? Was he mad?"

With a sad smile Killian responded, "No, love. I think that would be a conversation best had when you have sobered up a bit and had a chance to think about everything."

"Tell me what?!" David demanded angrily.

"That I quit! I don't wanna be the savior anymore!" she declared as she stood up too quickly causing Killian to catch her before she tumbled to the ground.

The look on David's face changed from anger to sadness as he began to understand his daughter's distress. He shot a look at Killian who could only shrug his shoulders and look guilty.

"I think maybe Hook is right," David said as he came to her side, "Maybe we should talk about this later."

"No! I'm done! I can't continue being responsible for saving this town if it means not being there for the people that I love when they need me. It's not fair! Is this just going to continue until I am completely alone again? I don't wanna be alone anymore," she finished as she dissolved into tears once more.

Taking charge of the situation, Killian once again took Emma in his arms, whispering words of comfort as he carried her to David's truck trying his best to contain the flutter of happiness that sprung into his chest when Emma inadvertently admitted to loving him. He had barely gotten her situated in the passenger seat when she fell into that heavy drunken slumber that all too often follows a night of serious drinking.

"I'm guessing that all of this was brought on as a result of your recent dealings with Rumplestiltskin?" David asked accusingly.

Killian took a deep breath before responding carefully, "The mistakes I've made in regards to the crocodile may have been the spark that lit the flame, but perhaps the weight of the responsibilities thrust upon her since her birth provided the fuel." Killian paused as he let his words sink in. "I know I don't deserve Emma after everything I've done, but as long as she allows me to be a part of her life I will fight for her in everyway that I can. I see how she struggles everyday just to try to balance the demands to be the person she is expected to be, the person she used to be and to figure out and accept the person she wants to be. Go ahead and blame me, mate, if it makes you feel better, but that won't put an end to any of her concerns."

David said nothing, but just stood and stared at Killian for several long moments before simply nodding and heading to his truck. Killian watched as the truck disappeared down the road and out of sight. Pulling out his flask he made his way back to his room feeling somewhat envious of Emma's current oblivious blacked out state temporarily freeing her from her worries.