Killian Jones expected the last moments of his life to be spent in agony, the pain in his chest tearing him open from the inside as he collapsed in the middle of the street by the town line. He expected to meet his end alone, as that was how he had faced most of the last three hundred years of his life.
The last thing he expected when his heart was about to be crushed by the Dark One was to see Emma Swan. Immediately fear washed over him; fear for her safety, her life. He tried to call out to her to leave him and save herself. Rumpelstiltskin squeezed his heart in an attempt to silence him and a fire ignited in Emma's eyes as he fell, clutching his chest. Killian watched in amazement as she fought for his heart, and he couldn't help but think she looked like an avenging angel with her golden hair streaming behind her and her eyes burning.
With one final blow, the Dark One fell, losing his hold on his precious dagger. Emma surged forward to grab it where it fell, and at last was able to control him.
"Give. Me. His heart." It was all she said, holding the dagger in front of her like a shield. Rumpelstiltskin reluctantly placed Killian's glowing red heart in Emma's outstretched palm and if looks could kill, she wouldn't have stood a chance.
Emma turned away from him and handed the real dagger over to Belle, who was silently crying. Emma placed a reassuring hand on the brunette's shoulder before walking over and kneeling in front of Killian.
She held his heart in her hands, unsure exactly how to go about putting it back in his chest. Regina walked over to the pair.
"Just place the heart over where it should go, and push. It will slide right into place," she instructed calmly, as if this was a normal occurrence.
"Regina, maybe you should do it…" Emma said, unsure of herself as usual. It pained him to know that even though she had just singlehandedly overpowered the Dark One, she still doubted her abilities.
"No, Emma. I want you to do it. I know you can," he said, trying to get her to meet his eyes.
Instead, she focused her full attention on his heart and inhaled deeply before pushing it back in his chest. Killian gasped suddenly and felt every hollow emotion suddenly fill him and crash over him in waves. Regina silently moved away, allowing the pair some space. He looked up, seeking out the eyes of the woman he knew he was completely in love with, relishing in the fact that he could feel that again, but she still wouldn't meet his eyes.
"Emma, love, look at me," he whispered, even though she was the only one close enough to hear. "Please."
When at last she looked at him, he inhaled sharply at what he saw. Her eyes were shining with unshed tears, filled with hurt and anger and something that looked like betrayal. She stood silently, and walked to her car without a backward glance at him and drove back into town.
Of course she would be hurt and angry. He had lied to her, done horrible things and even though he hadn't been able to control what he had done to the fairies, he had been fully in control of himself when he had punched Will, when he had held a man down while the Crocodile sucked him into that hat. The same hat that he had tried to use on her when she had unwittingly trusted him. She had every right to be angry at him, to never want to see him again.
Emma's father, David, walked over to him and helped him stand from his positon on the ground where he hadn't moved. "Give her time," he said, clapping Killian on the back as they walked back to his truck to return to Storybrooke.
Emma was fuming. That stupid pirate, coming into her life, and slowly winning her heart, daring her to trust again and slowly breaking down the walls she had built up. And she did trust him. She trusted him more than almost anyone, because they really did understand each other. He knew when she needed space and when she needed to be told the truth no matter how hard it was for her hear. He knew when she needed someone to just be there when she was upset and when she needed encouragement that she could, in fact, prevail. She had come to depend on him, and she reluctantly admitted to herself that she had taken it for granted that he would always be there.
And then he almost wasn't.
She had come so close to losing him. And for what? So he could get his hand back for their date? As if that mattered to her at all, and she became angry at herself for making him think that it did, and also for not realizing earlier that something was definitely wrong, choosing to believe him rather than her instincts, to trust him more than she trusted herself.
The first night after she had defeated Gold she woke up in the middle of the night from her nightmare covered in sweat, gasping for breath. She had watched him die, watched the light fade from his eyes, the blue turning grey as the life left his body. She had turned over and tried to sleep a couple more hours, but every time she closed her eyes the image of him dying swam before her and she spent the rest of the night fitfully tossing and turning.
After three nights of this, her father decided enough was enough.
She walked into the sheriff's station late, with dark circles under her eyes and her hair disheveled because she hadn't bothered to do anything with it in her rush to get there.
"Emma, you need to go see him," her father said, standing up to get her a cup of coffee. "You can't keep going like this. I know you're having nightmares and you haven't slept well in days. You need to talk to him."
"It's complicated, Dad, you know that," she deflected, taking a long sip of the coffee.
"What I know is that you haven't been acting like yourself for days. You miss him, admit it."
"Why do you want me to go talk to him so badly? I would think you of all people would be glad I wasn't spending as much time with him," Emma countered.
David sighed and reached for her hand. "I may not approve completely of him," he started, "but let's be honest, what father is overly thrilled at the idea of his daughter dating?" Emma let out a small laugh. David continued. "What I do know is that since he brought you back from New York, you've been different. He makes you happy. I'd give anything to see that smile on your face and if he's the one that puts it there, then I guess I'm just going to have to learn to deal with it."
Emma looked down, not meeting her father's eyes, and took another drink of her coffee. "Why are you suddenly so approving of him?" she asked warily.
"Because I remember a conversation I had with him before you were ever born, back when I thought he was Prince Charles. He said he would go to the end of the world for you and I believe him."
Emma sighed. "Fine, I'll talk to him tonight after work."
David smiled.
