I hadn't been able to stop myself from thinking it. I wouldn't have if I had been able to stop myself from thinking it. Look up, Love. Look at me. Please. As if she had heard my thoughts, she tilted her head up and over.

Our eyes locked. Hers widened at the sight of me. Her pale pink lips whose touch I remembered so well from our one and only kiss parted to form a small "o." I could have almost felt the softness of them against my own at that very moment. Her breathe hitched ever so quickly and quietly that it would have been easy to miss if I hadn't been watching her so intently.

My lips tingled and burned as my eyes drifted back to her lips. It reminded me once again why I hadn't allowed myself to see her since the night my life virtually went to Davy Jones' locker. My words to Ariel on the deck of the Jolly Roger echoed through my mind. Love is nothing but wasted years and endless torment. David may have thought she loved me and my attempt at true love's kiss failed only because she couldn't remember but I still had my doubts.

"Emma. What are you doing here? I thought you were having a magic lesson with Regina," David said with surprise clear in his voice.

"I'm on my way to Hogwarts right now. I just came to get Henry's old storybook first. I'm going to drop it off at my place for later."

"You really are going to do it then."

"Yeah. Mary Margaret's still at the diner with him and Archie. Should know Archie's suggestions on how to tell him and minize the freak out and run. It's too dangerous for Henry to run with the Wicked Witch still on the loose. It'll be better and easier for him & us protecting if he really knows what's going on. And, he needs to know," Emma replied. Her eyes came to mine. "He doesn't just have a right to know the truth. He deserves it. Our home is here. We can't go back to New York and pretend this isn't real. I don't want to and Henry should know all of his family."

"Why the book, though?" David asked.

"He figured it all out on his own with the book last time. This time it's going to be a little different. Tell him then let him have the book. Have him read it and see for himself that it's all true. We haven't been very good at keeping it from him so I don't think it'll take him long to figure it out. The Blue Fairy and Tink are also looking it a way to break the memory spell. Regina's very happy about that."

"Let me go get it," David offered.

As he left, he gave me a pointed look. He was expecting me to tell her while he was fetching it. I hadn't been sure whether I could.

"You've been avoiding me," Emma accused. There's wasn't any anger or recrimination in her voice. It wasn't even sad or hurt. I chanced a look at her. She just patiently stood there waiting.

"Why do you say that?"

"I'm not the only one whose an open book."

"We do have a Wicked Witch to worry about."

"You turned down dinner at the diner after...everything. You know, Henry told me something. He said that you wanted to be with...us. You wanted to make your home with us. You were how you were that morning when I left Henry with you than you did a 180 that night. That very night. People don't change that quickly, Killian. They damn well don't in less than twenty-four hours. Not unless they weren't really want they were showing themselves to be. You're not like that. So, something happened. Don't try to tell it didn't."

"I thought you said you didn't care what happened the past year."

"I don't," she replied with a sigh. "I'm not going to lie. I meant what I said. But, I'm also still curious. I do want to know. I really do because...I just do. But, it's only because I want to know. If you tell me, I'll be happy. If you don't, I'm fine with it, too."

"Let's just concentrate on the witch, lass," I said with as much conviction as I could muster. I had nearly broken down at her flinch as I called her lass. It was strange on my tongue and to my own ears. I hadn't called her that for quite some time and we both knew it.

"Lass? That's what I am now?"

She walked over to the other side of the table. I stiffened. I couldn't be sure I could keep a clear head with her so bloody close. I did admit to myself one thing. It was a good thing a table separated us. I knew I would have lost it if she had came to stand right next to me.

"Swan..." I pleaded.

"Killian, cut the crap. Ever since you came back into my life you've been different. I've let it go about the last year but this isn't the past. This is now. It's happening right here and now and I care about that. Especially because it concerns...I just care, damn it."

Her hand twitched and her fingers folded in onto themselves creating a fist at her side. Had she wanted to...no. I shook my head slightly to rid myself of the thought. No matter how much I wanted it, it wasn't like my Emma. I wouldn't have been able to handle it if she suddenly changed and did something like that. Please...you couldn't handle it. Too right, love. I hadn't and I wouldn't be able to now.

"It doesn't matter other than the witch will try to harm everyone you love."

"Why?"

"You know why."

"Because I'm the savior. That doesn't make any sense."

"But, she hasn't killed you. She can't for some reason. But she can hurt and kill the ones you love and she will."

"How do you know this?" Her head fell slightly to the side and her eyes crinkled in confusion before turning to questioning. My ever inquistive, perceptive Emma. I could almost see the wheels turning inside that beautiful head of hers. Bloody hell.

"It doesn't take a genius to figure it out."

"You're lying. You didn't just figure that out all by yourself."

"Swan..." I sighed heavily. It had been either that or groan.

"And why would she go after the people I care about if I was such a threat to her? She kicked my ass. How could that make her see me as a threat to her? How would that provoke her to go after everyone I love? There's something you're not telling me."

"Emma, please...trust me," I beeseched her in almost desperation.

"I do."

My head shot up. Her seas green eyes sparkled with emotion as she held my gaze.Her eyes held no lie or platitudes. She meant it. I couldn't help it and shove it down before it began to take a hold of me. Could it have been? Could I dare to allow it to well up again? It was what I wanted with everything in me. As soon as the thought blossomed, the witch's voice rang in my ears. The next time your lips touch Emma Swan's, all her magic will be taken. Everything that makes her special. That makes her powerful. That makes her a threat. Will be gone. Kiss Emma and remove her powers or everyone she loves dies.

"The savior is needed. Your magic is what's needed and that's what's important. Nothing else matters," I replied.

"That isn't the only thing that's important. Not to me."

"Right now it is."

"Not. To. Me."

Her arm moved from her side. I watched almost in slow motion her hand reach out towards mine. Her fingers came within millimeters of mine before I remembered myself and pulled them back off the table.

"If you want to keep the witch from killing your family than it is," I replied in the attempt to keep the conversation away from that.

"I can't when they won't tell me what's wrong and what she's done to them."

"I'm not...she hasn't..." I stammered. Why had she been like that? It wasn't the Emma Swan I had became accustomed to. It had been like seeing some strange creature but still found myself helplessly wanting to see more.

"You're lying."

"Damn it, love. Leave that alone and just focus on being the savior and your magic."

"That's why I'm learning how to control it. That's why I'm letting Regina basically shove me off a cliff head first. Hell, she already collasped a bridge out from under me to force me to use my magic and save myself because I use it in instinct. Believe me, I get how serious the situation is or I wouldn't have been in that position in the first place."

"She did what?" David and I shouted in unison. I was going to gut Regina. I was going to find her and gut her slowly with my hook. From the expression on David's face, he would hold her down while I did it if he didn't do it first.

"Please. She was suppose to have mended it back together. Instead, she made a platform from the destroyed pieces. She got it done. Not the way she was suppose to but she did it. She survived like I knew she would. I had faith in her and her abilities. Why don't you two?" Regina asked from the doorway.

"Regina," Emma said sharply turning towards her. "I thought you were going to meet me at the diner."

"This has nothing to do with faith in her or her abilities," David grounded out. "This is about putting my daughter in danger like that."

"We don't have the time for handholding!" Regina snapped at David ignoring Emma.

"You could have found another way," David said through gritted teeth as he handed the book to Emma.

"Greenie's not going to wait for the more gentle approach. She means business and she isn't pulling any punches. Neither should we. Emma needed to do it and she needed to have it drilled into her that she was wasting her potential. She needed to accept who and what she is. She got the point of the lesson and now I know how much raw power she has."

"Ok, you two," Emma sighed. She looked down at the book in her arms and blinked. "Wait a minute."

"What?" I asked. I knew that look on her face. I just wanted to hear and experience it again.

"Zelena's the Wicked Witch. Her story in this world is called The Wizard of Oz. I know the stories told here aren't exactly right when it comes to the details but the people in them are. The Wizard. He would know more about her because he would have dealt with her. She also wouldn't have killed him. He would be too powerful and too important for her to do that. She would've brought him over with her curse. If we can find him, he might be able to help us."

"Yes, that would be very helpful," Regina drawled. "If any of us had ever been to Oz and actually knew what he looked like. As you just so insightfully mentioned, he would've known her longer so the one year memory loss spell wouldn't have done much good on him. And, as you just said, he's too powerful and important for her to just let him walk around the town free. He's more than likely one of her flying monkey monsters which means he won't be much help to us."

"Well, what do you suggest?" Emma fired back.

"I looking into another idea. I'll tell you when it's ready," Regina replied over her shoulder as she began walking out the door. "If you're done with your boyfriend and Un-Charming here, we need to get to practicing your magic."

Emma rolled her eyes towards the ceiling and an exasperated sigh escaped from between her lips. When she returned her eyes to mine, they were steady. They spoke louder than if she had actually said the words. This isn't over. I'm not letting it go.

"Thanks," Emma said to David gesturing with the book.

"It'll be better that Henry knows."

"Yeah, it will. In more ways than one. I'll see you later."

She had thrown me a pointed look before heading towards the door and left. Silence settled throughout the apartment for a long moment. Neither David or I moved. I stared into my glass once again beginning to get lost in thoughts of Emma and what had been said. A war was raging inside of me with no clear victor.

"You didn't tell her," David stated drawing my attention.

"It's harder than you think, mate."

"And Regina calls me and Mary Margaret idiots," David muttered. My eyes widened and David shrugged. "What? You think we didn't figure she did? She doesn't actually keep it a secret from anyone including us. We're not completely the idiots she takes us for."

"No, I guess not," I chuckled.

"You're fitting right in with the group then."

"I guess so."

"Stop being an idiot."

"Hey! You just said I was fitting in with the group."

"Stop being such an idiot then."

"I'm trying."

"Try harder."