3X18: Bleeding Through

Hook was grumpy.

He spent all of last night attempting to write down the secret about his stolen heart; he tried telling it to nobody in particular while recording it on his phone device; he tried cutting out words from a newspaper and composing the message; but nothing worked, the curse on his heart stopped him before he even got the first word out.

And now, he couldn't find Emma. It was a special skill of his, nay, a superpower, to be around whenever she needed him. So this morning, he looked for her in Granny's diner, where apparently she had picked up two coffees to go, then at the police station, where according to David she never arrived because she was working on something with Belle, then at the library, which was closed, and then finally at Gold's pawnshop. Needless to say, by the time he found her, he was even grumpier.

Why was he doing this to himself? Why did he follow her like a dog almost every day? Was he growing tired of it because his heart was missing and his feelings were growing weaker, or was it because he was realizing that he had never been worthy of her to begin with, but especially now, without a heart?

"We're closed – oh, Hook. Come on in," Belle said. He imagined an air of judginess in her tone and answered with a sneer.

"Hook! Are you here to join us for research? I remember a certain someone saying you had a talent for it," Emma gave him a welcoming smile.

Oh, right. That's why he bothered.

He managed a weak smile in return.

"What are we looking for, love?"

"Well, Regina and I took a good look at her heart this morning. We have two theories why Zelena wants it: either she needs a heart that's mostly black, or she needs the heart of a blood relative. So I decided to go through Gold's spellbooks and look up this kind of ingredient in combination with someone's courage and maybe even a brain. I'm hoping this new magical thinking or whatever will help us find the right spell."

"But we could always use help with index searching," Belle added gratefully.

See, she's a sweet girl. Don't vent your bitterness on her.

"All right, then, where's my pile?"

~~#~~###~~#~~

They found it. They actually found it: Zelena was attempting a time travel spell.

In hindsight, Emma thought that Belle could've come to the same conclusion on her own, but Belle assured her that it would've taken her forever.

"Such few clues and you still found it. You're a bloody genius, Swan," Hook was ready with his compliment. She was surprised that he wasn't getting tired of giving them. She was also surprised that they still made her feel so good.

"Well, it doesn't exactly win the game for us," she said with a blushing smile. "We still need to figure out whose brain she wants as her third ingredient. Until then, I guess we could make some sort of a magical prop that looks like Regina's heart and let her steal it. Yeah, that could work."

His face fell as if she said something sad. What was going on with him lately?

"Let's call my parents and Regina to Granny's and tell them. We could also use a shot of something to celebrate and switch off for the evening."

"Umm, it's around closing time, actually," Belle objected.

"I'm sure Granny will make another exception for us."

"Actually, I...don't really drink. Um, I think Lacey had a bit of a drinking problem, so I'm trying not to encourage it," Belle admitted while squeezing her hands in embarrassment.

"That's fine, you don't have to order-"

"You know what? I could go and tell Snow and Charming on my own, and you two could go have that drink," Belle uncharacteristically interrupted Emma in the middle of a sentence.

Emma tilted her head. Was Belle playing matchmaker? Getting Hook alone to talk was nevertheless exactly what she wanted, so she played along.

"Sure, we can do that. Thanks for all the help, Belle."

"One step closer to saving Rumple," she shrugged.

"We'll walk you half the way."

~~#~~###~~#~~

"Boom! Granny's To Go. I should open a franchise."

"That's impressive," Hook said, but he didn't sound impressed at all.

Come on, what was up with him? He'd said he liked her magic. She was trying to make him smile here. She was beginning to feel like the court jester in front of a depressed queen, but here she went:

"You wanna see something really impressive?"

She twisted her hand and giggled when he noticed that his hook was dangling off of a coat hanger.

"It's bad form, Swan, tempering with a man's hook," he snapped at her.

Emma tried to keep her voice light, but inside she was growing worried.

"Okay, seriously, what is up with you?"

She couldn't remember the last time he was this negative. Towards her, he'd always been the playful one, even when they were enemies.

He faced away from her while he reattached his hook.

"I apologize for my rudeness. It's a long story, too long for now," he brushed the issue off, but Emma could feel her spider sense tingling.

He was lying. He was keeping something away from her.

"Is this about the past year? Hook, whatever happened, whatever you're keeping from me – I've realized that it doesn't really matter. You don't have to tell me everything."

Maybe being serious was what he needed.

Hook gave her a pained look.

"It's not about that, it's..."

"...It's what?"

He took a breath and opened his mouth, but the only thing that came out was a frustrated sigh. Was he frustrated with her?

"Nothing."

Emma tried to think of an explanation that wasn't 'he's giving up on you', but what else was there?

"Obviously, something's going on," she tried again.

"It's nothing!" Hook barked. "Forget it, ignore me, you know how to do that," he grumbled and then occupied himself with finishing the bottom of his glass and carrying on with his own flask.

Emma felt panic rising up in her throat.

"All right, is this about New York? You've been weird since the moment I made that offer," she came out with her only hypothesis.

"What?"

"If...I mean, if it's too late for that, I'm sorry, and – and I absolutely won't hold you to that answer you gave me..."

She was hoping that Hook would've corrected her by now, but he was just staring at her.

"I just hope that we can still be friends," she wanted to sound all composed and ready for his refusal, but instead, her voice skipped an octave and her hands were shaking.

She sounded pathetic. Great.

Hook's expression changed from blank to agonized.

"No," he grabbed one of her hands. "No, no, that's not it at all. Please, don't ever think that."

Emma stared as he pressed her hand to his lips, kissing her knuckles without really kissing them.

"It's...If only I could find a way to tell you...I..."

Instead of finishing that sentence, he closed his eyes, squeezed her hand and gave another frustrated sigh. They stayed like that for a few seconds.

"Regina," he said so suddenly it made her jump. "Maybe she can...That could work. Come with me."

He let her grab her coat and dragged her out into the night.

He never let go of that hand.

~~#~~###~~#~~

"What's this about? Why were you so mysterious over the phone?" were Regina's welcoming words.

"I have to tell you..." Hook stumbled over his own words.

"What?"

"I can't. But maybe I can sh..." Hook stuttered yet again. He gave an annoyed growl. Then, he grabbed Regina's hand and put it against his chest.

"Excuse me?" she tried to pull away, but he held her wrist tight and repeated the gesture, eyes imploring her to understand. "Whatever sentiment you're trying to convey, I'm pretty sure it's not reciprocated," Regina said.

"Wait," Emma spoke up, her eyes pinned to the place Regina's hand was resting against.

Her brows knitted and the gears in her head began to turn. Her magical vision came into view and she could see Regina's power; she could see the empty space inside her chest; and she could see a similar cavity inside Hook's.

"His heart," she gasped. "Reach inside for his heart."

"Why?"

"I don't think it's there," Emma whispered fearfully.

Regina raised an eyebrow and did what Emma asked. She didn't do it as carefully as she could have, making Hook wince in pain. After a couple seconds of searching, her hand came out empty.

"You're right. Are you being controlled?" the queen changed her pose, ready to strike him with magic.

Hook tried to shake his head, but his body froze.

"Are you tongue-tied?"

His lack of response seemed to be exactly what Regina wanted to see.

"Yes, you are, I recognize the spell. Was it cast upon your lips or heart?"

Again, Hook didn't reply in any way.

"Well, that's the first thing we need to figure out. If it's on his heart, it's practically impossible to undo unless we get it back. But there may be other things we could do."

~~#~~###~~#~~

"There. The ointment is ready."

"So you rub it into your hand, put that hand inside Hook's chest and you'll be able to see and hear the surroundings of wherever his heart his?"

"Better yet. You will," Regina smirked.

"What? But I can't take hearts," Emma blurted quickly. She wanted to have no part in this.

"I'm sorry, do I spend every waking moment with Mr. Black Leather Fetish here? If we want to spy on Zelena, we need to do this regularly. Besides, it's about time you learned that trick."

"Don't worry, Swan, it's not that difficult. Even I learned how to do it. You won't hurt me, I promise," Hook mumbled close to her ear. How he managed to get so close to her without her noticing half the time, she had no idea.

"Well, doing it with black magic is on the easier side. The white magic way is more about…emotional connection…empathy…or something to that effect," Regina shrugged nonchalantly.

It's intimate, Emma learned. It took her half an hour of trying before she figured it out. She kept staring at his chest, her eyes almost burnt a hole into his leather waistcoat and later, when he took it off, into his black shirt, but it still didn't work. Sweat dropped down her temples, she was clearly accessing her magic, but she couldn't find the connection that would grant her entry. Then, he surprised her by putting his hand over hers. She looked up, their eyes met and he gasped.

"You're doing it," Regina said. "Keep doing what you're doing!"

So she kept looking into his blue, blue eyes that were opening up to her more with every second. And then she felt it, a tug on her mind, and she could still see Hook's face but she could also see darkness and hear silence.

"It's dark, it must be inside a box or something," she said.

"You have to draw back, further away from the heart. But not too far, or you'll lose the connection."

"How do I do that?"

"I don't know, just feel it. There's no joystick for it," Regina was probably rolling her eyes.

"Come on, Emma, you can do it," Hook whispered. He was still gently holding her wrist while the rest of her hand was deep inside his chest.

"Okay. Okay. I think I've got it. The heart's inside a square box. There's also...a round box with a piece of David's sword and a hexagon one in the same chest."

"The third box, is it empty?" Regina asked.

"Yes, I think so. There's no one around, no one talking. I'll try to draw back as far as I can..."

Emma regained her normal vision and both gave an exhausted sigh as she pulled her hand out of Hook's chest.

"Was it at her farmhouse?"

"Can't say for sure. I lost visual too early. All I could see was a brick wall, a slanted ceiling, and an old wardrobe. Are you all right?" She turned to Hook.

"I'll be fine, love."

"Maybe we shouldn't do this too often?"

"He's fine, he's fine. You can do it as many times as you want," Regina waved her hand dismissively.

~~#~~###~~#~~

The next day, they all met again at Regina's, this time to 'summon the dark vortex' and find out exactly where the Wicked Witch might want to go with her time travel spell.

At the end of the day, after thinking they failed first, they found out that Zelena probably wanted to change the past by killing Snow White's mother, Princess Ava, before she could tell Cora's secret and thereby force Cora to give Zelena away.

"Where's Henry been all this afternoon?" Hook asked while leaving Regina's house.

"With Ruby and Granny. Henry made Ruby promise to teach him how to bus tables. It's a typical first summer job for teenagers, so he might need it one day."

"Oh, by the way...I, uh, I've rented a room above Granny's diner. I figured it's closer to all the action than the docks, and, um, whenever we want to spy upon Zelena, the Charming's is rather crowded..." He scratched the back of his ear nervously. The missing fisherman's boat he appropriated after arriving to Storybrooke was never comfortable to sleep in, anyway.

"Right. Wanna try again before I go pick up Henry?" She asked with that matter-of-fact tone of hers.

"Certainly."

She seemed to be trying her best not to acknowledge the awkwardness of their situation. Moments later, she took three seconds to scan his room, took her coat off and asked: "So, shall we?"

"You'd prefer to do it standing?" The double meaning wasn't even intentional this time.

She blushed a little bit.

"You're right, let's sit down."

Of course, the only place they could sit next to each other was on the bed.

"Would you mind taking off your waistcoat-doublet thing again," her voice went a little high as she said that.

"As you wish."

She took a minute to rub the special ointment into her hand and to focus on the magic inside her. Then, with a deep breath, she opened her eyes and put a hand over his heart.

Lovely. If only they were here for a different reason.

"Okay, I think I'm ready. Are you?"

"I'm ready for you," he replied huskily.

She looked up, probably to admonish him for those double entendres, but the moment their eyes met, her hand sunk into his chest and her sight glazed over.

"I'm there. Ow. I see Gold's face, really close up. Zelena's holding him by his hair, pushing his face into the chest. She's got the dagger, too. She's saying something...

"I hope you enjoyed the taste, because that was the last time...If you try anything like that again, I might just change my mind and take your brain instead of Emma's. Would you like that? Blah blah blah...Feel free to open that box – that's all it takes. Imagine the long centuries you would have to spend blind.

"That's it. She closed the chest and told him to go back into his cage," Emma gave an overwhelmed sigh and disconnected from Hook's heart. "You all right?" she checked again.

"Aye. Are you?"

"Yeah, I just...We kind of hit the jackpot with this one. I need to write everything down before I forget it."

"I heard something I won't forget. Zelena wants to steal your brain."

3X19: A Curious Thing

"It makes sense. The ingredients are supposed to be a hero's courage, a resilient heart, and a wizard's brain. Or, you know, the brain of a magic user."

Snow White and Charming nodded their heads in understanding.

"Oh, come on!" Henry could be heard from upstairs.

"What was that?" Hook worried.

"Level 21," Snow sighed.

"Apparently, it's a bitch," Emma added.

Hook still didn't get it.

"He's playing a game on his phone," Prince David explained.

"Oh."

"So, what do we do now? Pull some sort of a mirror at her when she tries to attack you? She could end up taking her own brain," David suggested.

Hook's idea was: "How about we gather a few volunteers who can't do any magic whatsoever and put some sort of a spell on them that makes them look like you? While you look like someone else?"

"Or, let's look at it this way: Zelena plans to use your courage, your heart, and your brain," Snow pointed at David, Hook, and Emma respectively. "Maybe there's some sort of a protection ritual or white magic counterspell you three could do?"

"I have no idea if that's even possible. Let me take a look, who knows, we could be magically connected already," Emma said.

She took a moment to activate her special vision and used it to scan Hook...and then David...

"What the hell is that? Is that half a heart?" she interrupted herself.

"What?"

"That's-"

"I don't-"

Before anyone could make any sense of it, a wave of some sort of magic crashed into them.

"Aah! Crap!" Emma covered her eyes and screamed in pain.

"What is it? Is it Zelena?" Hook jumped to her defense. He looked around but he saw no trace of the Wicked Witch or her hexagon box.

"No, it's okay, it's okay," she laid a calming hand against his chest.

"The curse. Someone just broke the curse!" Snow realized.

Then, as always when anything significant happened, she and David hugged and kissed.

"It was true love magic. With magic vision on, it almost burnt my freaking eyes out," Emma explained.

The Charmings then revealed themselves as the perpetrators of the curse and explained that Zelena's only weakness was white magic. They began to wonder who could've broken the curse other than Emma.

Suddenly, Charming tensed up.

"You lied," he dared to look Hook straight in the eyes and accuse him.

"Sorry, mate?" Hook said through his teeth. Were this a couple years ago, Hook's sword would be out of its sheath already.

"You said you brought Emma to Storybrooke..."

"Because you received a message from us!" Snow remembered as well.

"Aye, what of it?"

"We didn't send you any message."

This can't be happening.

"Well, I bloody got one!" Hook snapped and looked at Emma, sure she would defend him.

She hesitated for just a second and he hesitated with her.

"He said he only assumed it was from you," she said.

"Exactly. Everything pointed to you: the bird, the plea, information where to find Emma, the memory potion – who else would do all that?"

"Do you have proof?" Snow pressed on.

Hook was outraged.

Emma was silent.

"Do you still have that letter?" the prince asked.

Hook ignored him, his eyes on Emma. Her response was the only one that mattered.

"Well, do you?" she asked quietly, gently.

"Yes, it's in my room above Granny's."

"Let's go then."

"What about Henry?"

"We'll take him with us. So act normal," Emma gave her parents a small glare.

On their way out, Regina called.

"It was you?" Emma gasped into the phone. "But how – and without your – and Henry's upstairs – I mean, who did you kiss? An unnamed gentleman," she repeated her answer while rolling her eyes. "Well, congrats. On, you know, the curse breaking, and that unnamed gentleman. Let's regroup at Granny's and compare your new memories with what we know about Zelena's plan."

"I thought Regina didn't have her heart," Hook wondered while Emma hung up.

"She doesn't."

"But the curse can only be broken by a true love's kiss..."

"I guess people are capable of it even with metaphorical organs missing," Emma shrugged.

~~#~~###~~#~~

Maybe Emma should've seen it coming.

Hook had been strangely quiet on their way to Granny's.

He walked in silence while holding a hand over his chest.

When she asked him if he was okay, he gave her a genuinely surprised: "I think I am, love."

Then, Zelena attacked.

"Mom...?!" Henry exclaimed, pointing at the flying monkeys.

"Get the boy!" Zelena commanded.

With the joined effort of Emma, Mary Margaret, David and Hook, however, the monkeys had no chance.

"Doesn't matter," Zelena growled and focused on the one that was the furthest from the huddle around Henry, Captain Hook.

Her hand glowed green as she made a pulling motion that tripped him and dragged him towards her until that hand was secured around his neck.

"I'm sure the Savior would make a sacrifice for any of you. Come here, Emma, and open this box, or he'll die. Don't worry, you'll only lose your sight...more or less."

Emma saw a familiar hexagon shape in Zelena's other hand.

She expected Hook to shout the typical 'Don't do it, Emma! Save yourself!' but instead, his eyes were glued to the box as much as his neck was glued to Zelena's grasp.

"Don't even think about trying to use it on me, pirate. Warding myself against this box was the first thing I did when I got my hands on it," Zelena spat.

Hook looked at Emma.

Then, he smirked at the Wicked Witch.

Then, he put his face in front of the box and opened it.

Emma screamed something, a word or maybe even a name.

Zelena shouted a very clear NO.

Sharp light streamed out of the box, through Hook's eyes and into his head, where it spent some time bouncing around, which must've been painful judging by the sounds he was making. It left his head and slithered heavily back into the box, obviously taking something away with it.

Emma watched with morbid curiosity, masochistic guilt and immense anger.

She was angry at him because he didn't leave Storybrooke when he had the chance.

She was angry at herself because he kept doing these huge things for her that she had no way of repaying except for giving him her heart which would be terrifying.

But mostly, she was angry at the Wicked Witch. She felt a burst of magic building up within her, she wasn't completely sure whether it was white, but it was certainly white hot. She aimed it all at Zelena.

Smoke rose from her burning skin and Zelena shrieked. A thought occurred to Emma and she refocused her magic to do something useful apart from causing a whole lot of pain. In seconds, Zelena had no choice but to teleport away in a puff of green smoke.

~~#~~###~~#~~

It hurt more than he thought it would, but so did most painful things he had done over the last three centuries. At last, the light was done scraping the inside of his skull. As he expected, it left his eyes altered – filled with a nebulous haze that rendered him virtually blind.

The rest of his senses slowly returned and he could hear Zelena's screams and smell her burning flesh, followed by a peppery scent of green smoke and silence after battle.

"Was she – for a moment – was she naked?" the prince stuttered.

"Yeah. I burned her clothes off," Emma's voice, cold and bitter, was getting nearer.

"Why?" Snow White asked.

Emma stopped next to where he was lying on the ground and dropped into a crouch. She acknowledged him with one hand on his shoulder while the other rummaged through the hissing remains of Zelena's clothes.

"Because I figured...she'd always have it...somewhere on her person," she mumbled. Then, she made a smug scoffing sound.

"Rumpelstilskin's dagger," Charming gasped.

"Are you in pain?" Emma started another, much softer conversation.

"Not right now," Hook whispered back.

Before they could say anything else, Henry's voice cut in.

"What the hell was that?! Why does he have a sword?! What was that box?! How did you do that thing with the...?"

3X20: Kansas

Mere seconds after he went blind, Hook already felt like he was missing out – because Emma got her hands on Rumpelstiltskin's dagger.

"Do something so that Zelena won't know you're missing and come here," she whispered into the blade.

He could hear her quick exchange with Rumpelstiltskin, during which she came up with the idea to create a copy of the dagger and leave it in the pile of burnt clothes for Zelena to find, so that he could work as a double agent. Rumpelstiltskin followed Emma's suggestions as if they were law.

"You'll give it back, right? After she's gone," his voice grew anxious.

"I'm pretty sure I will," was probably the best answer Emma could honestly give him.

She touched Hook's elbow and he turned towards her, even though he couldn't see her.

"Can you do something about his eyes before you leave?"

"Not really, not when his heart's missing, too. You'll have to wait till you get the ingredients back."

"Well then. Go."

Hook really wished he could've seen her dominate the Crocodile like this.

~~#~~###~~#~~

"Eight, nine stairs. Now two steps to the left and we're at the door."

Holding his hand, she led him into the Charmings' apartment.

"The doorknob is here, the door opens inwards," she hoped she wasn't making him feel like a child with all this.

"I remember this much, love. It's the inside that might be a problem."

"Should've invited you over more often. Okay, we're in. You've got attic stairs on your left, the dining table on your right, and behind the table, the couch. If you take a few more steps ahead...Now you've got my parents' bed on the left, the kitchen on the right, and even more to the right, the bathroom. You'll be sleeping on the couch, so let's go there."

"As if this place wasn't crowded enough," the pirate sighed.

"Hook...Thank you for not fighting me on this. I know it's gonna be tight, but I need to know that you're safe."

"I understand."

"Good. Welcome to our magical safehouse for pregnant queens and memory-impaired teenagers," she quipped.

"And one-handed pirates with no brains or..." He tried to joke back but couldn't finish because he still couldn't talk about his missing heart.

She held his hand a little tighter in support.

"Okay, so the couch is just a few steps away from the bathroom. You can tell the bathroom walls by touch, they're from this milky glass, see? The door is over here."

"Swan?"

"Yes?"

"Are we going to discuss...what I did? I assume you're angry."

"A little, maybe, yeah."

"I assure you, I had many good reasons for that decision."

"Really."

"Of course. One, I am no wizard, so the hexagon box might be useless to her now."

"Hook...But you can take hearts. That's magic."

"...Right. Then how about two: collecting two ingredients from the same person might sabotage the ritual?"

"I don't remember reading about that..."

"Then I shall contend myself with three: it was the only thing I could do that would keep you safe." He kissed the hand he was holding.

She let him do it, but she didn't say anything, which made him frown in confusion. She winced. She should be using more words now that he was blind. Otherwise, her silence could feel like punishment to him.

"Emma? I'm sorry, I should've probably waited until you were less angry with me..."

"I might me a bit upset, but I'm not thankless, Hook."

Her hand yet again squeezed his.

"Thank you," she said with gravitas.

A lopsided grin appeared on his face: "I seem to remember a certain way you've thanked me before."

Emma scoffed and paused. She wanted to.

His face became serious when he realized she was considering it.

But then she remembered something and gasped.

"I can't kiss you, Killian," she whispered.

"Why? You afraid I'll turn into a flying monkey?"

"Worse."

"That I'll betray you and abandon you? I'd never do that, Swan."

"Still worse."

"How could it possibly...?"

"I've kissed a cursed man before. He died. His name was Graham. I kissed him, his curse broke, and then he died."

~~#~~###~~#~~

Emma practiced white magic with Regina. Her father worked at the sheriff's station. Hook's days were filled with talking to Henry and Snow White, listening to the movies they watched, bumping into furniture and feeling useless. Emma was in only shortly in the mornings and then in the evenings, when she had to divide her time between her son, her parents, Hook, and, apparently, Rumpelstiltskin.

On the third night, she went to see the Dark One around midnight and came back a good hour later. Hook was the only one who stayed up that long.

"Any news?" he whispered.

"Yeah, I'll tell everyone in the morning. I'm dead on my feet."

Hook grinded his teeth and shifted his weight. Killian Jones, don't you dare snarl at her, he told himself. Find another way to vent.

She must've seen his frustration, because she walked over to him and took his hand.

"Come on, let's talk outside."

He didn't really need hand-holding around the apartment anymore, but he liked it when she touched him, so he never said a word.

"How was your day?" she asked as soon as the door closed behind them.

"Same old. Your mother and Henry went through more than fifty pages in that fairy tale book of theirs. I provided colorful commentary," he smirked as he sat on the stairs.

"Is he still doing good?"

"Considering that he doesn't remember any of the things he's reading, yes. He's very sharp. What did the Crocodile say?"

Emma gave a heavy sigh.

"That bad?"

"It's not just him, it's everything. I know you're probably the last person I should be complaining to, but..."

"I want to hear it."

"Okay. Gold was going to replace the three ingredients with replicas today. But it turns out we wasted our time making them – the boxes won't let go of the originals. The only way to release them is to start the ritual. Or, I'm thinking, any ritual that includes courage, heart and brains."

"Oh."

"I know. That's why I took so long. We were trying to figure out a way around it."

"Have you?"

"Not yet."

"Perhaps there is none."

"Then I'll have to make one. I'll get it all back, I swear," she said with determination.

"Oh, I know you will. Zelena will be sorry she crossed you."

He put his hand on the jean-clad knee that was resting next to his, and she let him.

"You said there was more than one thing bothering you," he reminded her.

"Yeah. It's...I'm beginning to realize that the New York thing is pretty much out of the question. I kept thinking about Henry and me, and I completely forgot about one really important person."

"Who?"

"Regina. She will never let him out of her sight again."

"Do you still wish you could go?"

"Yes...but you're right. It's not the city I wanna go back to, it's not the job or the apartment, it's the life we had when our memories were different. I mean, for the first time, I felt home. And my life wasn't perfect, but the problems I had were normal. I don't think I'm ever gonna have that as the Savior..."

She fell silent.

"I don't think I'm ever gonna have that," she repeated on a broken whisper.

"Emma," he squeezed her knee a little tighter.

He could tell that she was trying to pull herself together, so he chose his words very carefully.

"I agree that you may never have a normal life. But you can still have happiness."

She covered his hand with hers and held it for a minute or two before she got up and led him back into the apartment.

"Thank you, Killian. For everything," she said instead of good night.

~~#~~###~~#~~

"Morning."

"Morning, love."

Emma chuckled into her coffee.

"Anything funny?"

"Um, how long have you been sitting here?"

"Short of an hour, why?"

"So you were here when David got ready for work, and when Mary Margaret was making breakfast, and when Henry was eating it...And none of them told you you have a terrible case of bed hair?"

Some muffled sniggering could be heard from the next room.

"Splendid," Hook grumbled, trying to pat his hair down.

"Come on," she got up and dragged him into the bathroom. "Am I allowed to use products or should I just try with a comb and some water?"

She was rarely this cheerful in the mornings, and he wanted to play along.

"Products...?"

"Hair products. They smell nice," she coaxed him.

"Righty-ho, then."

He didn't expect her to stand so close to him, so that was nice. He could swear his hand and forearm had a life of their own because they somehow rested on her hips, but she didn't seem to mind. Were they even closer now, after last night? Personally, Hook liked their heart-to-heart very much. He felt a little guilty for feeling good about a moment when Emma felt bad, but he was mostly glad because she admitted something she needed to admit to herself and because she let him be there to support her.

He liked the feeling of her fingers in his hair. He tugged her a little closer. She let him. He rubbed his thumb over her jeans and she leaned into him a little. She would've let him kiss her right then, he was sure of it, his instinct was almost never wrong about this.

And he wanted to. Gods, he wanted to.

But he remembered her fear of killing him and he imagined how upset she'd be with him and herself for letting the kiss happen once it was over.

So he didn't do it. But he needed to do something else to compensate, and he considered sneaking his hand an inch under her shirt to touch her bare skin or kissing a trail up her neck or cupping a feel or saying I Love You or...

"Mom? Mom! I think Mary Margaret's water just broke!"

~~#~~###~~#~~

Everything happened so fast.

Mary Margaret went into labor.

Emma grabbed everyone in the apartment and drove them to the hospital.

David wasn't picking up his phone.

Regina arrived and helped Emma set up a magical barrier around Mary Margaret's hospital room.

David still wasn't there.

Zelena attacked.

Zelena failed.

To her credit, she did come prepared – her monkeys had managed to subdue David and take him hostage. She knew she wouldn't be able to cross the barrier, so she brought something to bargain with. Luckily, Mary Margaret was never asked to decide between her husband and her child, because Rumpelstiltskin chose the perfect moment to backstab her. With Regina and Emma around to take care of the flying monkeys, his job was done in a matter of minutes.

David rushed to Mary Margaret's side.

Emma's brother was born.

Zelena was depowered and detained.

Rumpelstiltskin went to get the three boxes.

Belle arrived with a spellbook containing the most innocent ritual she could find, just like Emma asked – a small blessing spell for a newborn.

Rumpelstiltskin returned. They set up a small circle of candles in a waiting room and performed the ritual for Emma's brother. The courage, the heart and the brain were released out of their boxes.

Hook got his sight back in time to remark that his heart seemed redder than he remembered it.

Regina broke Hook's silencing spell.

Emma joked that with his heart and brain powering the blessing ritual, Hook was now as good as her brother's godfather.

The next day, Zelena would seemingly commit suicide in her cell.