Disclaimer: I do not in anyway own Once Upon A Time. ABC, Disney, and whoever else have that distinction. No profit is being made, and no copywrite infringement in intended.

AN: Thanks to all who favorited and followed, and a big thanks to those who took the time to review. Hopefully everyone will continue to enjoy. This chapter is still filling in around the episode and will remain completely cannon compliant, so I'm setting up the next episode scenes cause something like this definitely had to have happened. And if you have a moment when you're done reading, please let me know what you think -especially of the non CS scenes- most of these are characters I've never written before.

Picking Up The Pieces

by Lady Callista

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"We all at certain times in our lives find ourselves broken. True strength is found in picking up the pieces."

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Chapter 2:

"I'm so glad you're here, Regina." Emma sighed in relief as she and Killian entered Granny's and approached the counter. Their hands were still linked, his pulsing heart held almost reverently in her other hand.

They both stopped short as Regina spun on her stool to face them, immediately seeing the pain and despair rolling off the formerly evil queen.

"What happened? What's wrong?" Emma went on alert immediately.

"Nothing that requires your meddling, Ms. Swan." Regina's voice was curt, her gaze shifting pointedly to the heart that was so clearly not where it was meant to be. "And I hardly think my love life should be foremost in your mind at the moment."

Emma's eyes widened even as she quickly glanced around the diner, searching through the crowd of people for Robin Hood and not finding him. Her mother had told her about her conversation with Regina the other day, and Emma had been relieved that it seemed bringing Marian back from the past hadn't destroyed Regina's happy ending after all, but now... The heart in her hands pulsed as if emphasizing Regina's second sentence, and Emma put yet another thing on her 'things to deal with later' list. It was becoming a depressingly long list.

"You're not even going to ask how this happened?" Emma tried to gauge just how depressed Regina was at the moment.

Regina shrugged. "As you're calmly standing here with him, I'm guessing you fixed the situation. And I'm really not in the mood for small talk at the moment. I assume you want my help."

"Can you put it back?" Emma asked simply, her eyes flicking down to the heart and then sideways to Killian before meeting Regina's gaze again. "And maybe put that shield on it like you said you did with Henry?"

"You're perfectly capable." Regina replied. "Just hold it over his chest, call up your magic, and push. Hearts want to be where they belong; putting them back is much more simple than taking them. Just imagine it back where it should be, envision it in his chest, and see it as protected and permanent. Believe it's shielded, see it being immovable, and it will be."

"It's that easy?" Emma couldn't help the skepticism that entered her voice.

"Putting it back is easy, shielding it is harder, but your emotions still greatly influence your magic." Regina tried to sound imperious, but Emma knew her well enough to see the cracks in her composure. "Even with no training in this particular aspect, any shield you put up will be infinitely stronger than what I could do for him."

Emma heard what she thankfully didn't say, a slight blush rising to her cheeks as she realized Regina meant that her feelings for Killian were what would make a shield she cast over his heart impervious to anyone trying to steal it. She took a deep breath, trying to figure out how to respond to that, when Regina spoke again.

"Should I be asking what you did to whomever stole it from him? Do we need to prepare for a counter-strike?"

Emma scoffed immediately, "No, and don't tell me you don't know exactly who did this."

"Gold." Regina replied immediately, the grief fading from her eyes briefly as she forced herself to think. Forced herself to be the queen again, the mayor, to work the problem and put her own problems aside. "He told me earlier he was going to take his happy ending, although he told me nothing of his plans, present or future. I have no idea what part the pirate's heart played in it, although I'm going to assume you here with it now means you stopped Rumpelstiltskin from doing whatever he was going to do."

"We did." Emma said simply, knowing Regina didn't care about an explanation at the moment. "I knew you would know right away that it was him. You were more skeptical about him changing than the rest of us."

Killian cleared his throat in protest, a clear ah-hum reminder that he had told her flat out that while he wouldn't try to kill the crocodile anymore, he would never believe he had changed or ever trust him in the slightest.

Emma rolled her eyes at him, turning back to Regina as the other woman began to speak.

"That's because I know him better than you do, but really, it wasn't that hard to figure out as he and I are the only ones in town that know how to do this - although I thought that little vendetta had been put aside. The only other option is that our town is being invaded by another force of evil."

"Don't even joke about that." Emma said at once.

"And we don't know what happened to the bloody crocodile, the last we saw of him his wife was using a very special dagger to order him to drop my heart, and then take both of them to the town line." Killian spoke up for the first time since they had entered Granny's.

Regina's eyes widened, and for a moment the grief in them almost spilled over. Her focus was no longer on Emma and Killian, or the room around her, as she whispered, "If you cross the line you can't come back."

"Belle knows that, we made sure everyone knew." Emma said, confusion coming to her eyes. Although Regina had been allied with Gold at various points, there was no reason anymore that him being forced out of town, if that was even what Belle intended, should bother her this much. Still, her first instinct was to reassure, "I don't think she'd do that to him anyway, it's Belle and she always forgives him, but..."

"I wouldn't care if she ordered him straight to hell." Regina clipped.

"Regina, what's wrong?" Emma couldn't help asking again.

Regina cast her eyes disdainfully on Killian, who for once didn't make a quip at her. He simply raised the hand still holding Emma's, laying a light kiss on her fingertips before releasing her hand. "Thank you for the assistance, your majesty." His mocking half-bow to Regina was at odds with the sincerity in his voice. He moved off down the counter, ordering a glass of rum and joining in a conversation some of the other townsfolk were having.

"Isn't it bizarre for you sometimes, modern, jaded, independent woman that you are, dating the old world gentleman?"

Emma blushed again, thinking of how long it had taken her to get used to the romantic gestures and words that were so much a part of who he was. She saw the delay for what it was, but answered with a small smile, "What's bizarre is that he didn't get the modern-world-info-dump everyone else did from your spell. I still forget that at times, then he does something to remind me."

"Robin and his men didn't get it either, it wasn't a part of the second curse."

"That would explain why they're still more comfortable in the woods." Emma mused briefly, trying to give Regina the time she needed to tell what had happened. But there were so many things that needed to be done today, so many answers to get and so much fall-out to deal with, some more important than others. The heart in her hand pulsed again, as if agreeing with her, and she asked yet again, although gently, "What happened?"

"He chose me." Regina answered this time, the bitter, angry chuckle of her words completely at odds with the words themselves.

Emma cocked her head in confusion. "There has to be a but..."

Regina proceeded to explain as briefly as possible, about the remnants of the spell on Marian, and how the lack of time to find a better solution had meant Robin leaving town with her and Roland.

Emma pretended not to see the way Regina's hands were shaking around her drink as she spoke, feeling her guilt at saving Marian spring back full force. She couldn't really regret saving the woman who had refused to betray her mother, yet even as Killian's comforting words about her saving a life and reuniting a family drifted back to her she felt her heart go out to Regina. She couldn't apologize for the act itself, but said quietly, "Regina, I'm so sor..."

"Don't bother being sorry, Ms. Swan, it doesn't fix anything." Regina's eyes flitted down the bar to where Killian was now speaking to David. "Your pirate and I had a talk months ago about how villains don't get happy endings. Apparently no matter what I do, how much I change... it's just fate. So don't bother feeling bad for a fate I brought on myself."

Emma's thoughts briefly entertained what that could mean for Killian, yet once again the heart pulsing in her hand distracted her. She looked down at the bright, shining red object in her hands and flashed back to a conversation she had had with Mary Margaret when her mother's own heart had begun to darken. She looked deeper into the heart for a long moment, looking for that tell tale sign of darkness and finding none. It was that, more than any feelings she had for Killian, that made her say softly, "I don't think I believe that."

Regina scoffed. "He was a scoundrel, Emma, a pawn. On my scale of villainy he would barely register; my list of sins far outweighs his, both in number and heinousness."

"Everyone, no matter what they've done, gets a second chance, Regina." Emma said heatedly, "I don't know how, but..."

"Oh, spare me, Ms. Swan." Regina gestured irritably to the heart. "Just leave me alone, and go put that back where it belongs before you drop it."

Emma held eye contact for a long moment, then nodded and clipped out, "I'll be back." She saw Regina's scowl as she turned away, moving down the bar and coming to a stop at Killian's side, reaching out without thought to lay her hand lightly on his back. "Ready?"

He looked down at her at once and nodded, although his eyes flicked around the crowded diner before finally settling on Regina. "She going to be alright?"

"Eventually." Emma said simply; it was too long a story to retell at the moment. She noted how his eyes continued to flick around the diner even as he nodded absently.

"Perhaps a bit of privacy is in order though, love."

She wasn't sure if it was his awareness of her father beside him or simply his nervousness at the town in general seeing him in such a vulnerable and painful moment, but his voice was completely lacking the teasing innuendo he would have normally used to deliver such a line. She smiled at him softly, her hand sliding down his back to take his hand again even as she turned to David, "Could you excuse us for a few minutes?"

David nodded easily, "I was just telling Hook that Snow and I were going to head home, check on Neal. Aurora has to have her hands full with both him and her Philip. She's had them both all night while we were running around doing clean-up, and helping Elsa and them get home, and... well it's just been a long couple of days. Your mom was thinking of taking a round-about way home, trying to find Belle and make sure she's okay."

"I'd like to accompany you on that, I owe the lass." Killian spoke up before Emma could say anything.

David gave him a searching look, but something passed between them that Emma didn't understand and then the prince was nodding.

"I want to help too, but I really don't think I should leave Regina alone at the moment." Emma said softly, making sure her voice didn't carry beyond the three of them.

"What happened?" David asked at once, brow furrowing as his eyes glanced down at Regina just as she ordered another glass of wine.

Emma shook her head, then let out a sigh as she remembered Regina mentioning that Robin's merry men -and that thought would never not be weird, even if she'd learned to not say it out loud anymore- had been at the town line for the goodbye as well, and there was no way the story wouldn't spread. She dropped Killian's hand long enough to pick up his glass of rum and drain it in one long sip. To his credit, he didn't protest in the slightest, although he did regain her hand as soon as she set the glass down. Emma sighed again as she gave them the bullet point update on the Robin, Regina, and Marian triangle, promising to fill in the details later. "And now, pirate, let's get your heart back where it belongs. That's one thing that needs doing that I can actually do at the moment."

Killian only nodded, releasing her hand as David moved in to hug her.

"You did an amazing job, kiddo. We never doubted you." David whispered into her hair as his arms came around her, conscious of the heart between them.

Emma let her eyes shut as she hugged her father back, feeling the warmth flood through her as she felt his hand come up to cup the back of her head, the way he always hugged her. It made her feel so safe and protected now; now that she'd gone from being uncomfortable in his arms to simply relishing the feelings of love and family, the feelings of peace and strength.

"We'll say our goodbyes, make it clear we're heading home." David said to both of them once he had released his daughter. "You should maybe head out the back Hook, when Emma walked in holding your heart people started pestering Snow about what had actually happened - she hadn't mentioned that part. So you should get out soon unless you want to answer a lot of questions."

Emma nodded, but replied softly, "Before you head out, tell Granny to spread the word for everyone to leave us alone today, Regina too. We'll, hell I don't know, we'll hold a press conference or whatever you want to call it tomorrow. But there's a lot to deal with still, and a lot I don't know yet."

David nodded briefly, his eyes flickering from Emma to the heart in her hand, then to Killian before resting on Emma again, curiosity evident in his gaze. But he knew she was right, and the stories could wait until the first round of mop-up was officially done. "Granny will keep everyone in line." He managed a real grin as he said it.

Emma nodded, hugging him again briefly, then her mother as well when she walked up. They all said their goodbyes, David even shaking Killian's hand and Snow giving him an awkward almost hug, then Emma took Killian's hand again, pulling him towards the door that led to the rooms above Granny's even as her parents began to make one last round of the room.

Killian couldn't help the smile that came to his face as they began to ascend the stairs. Even knowing there was so much healing yet to be done, even knowing how fast Emma might try to run away from him once he confessed what he had done, he couldn't be anything but happy in this exact moment.

Although he had been telling the absolute truth that he didn't mind his heart being in Emma's hand, -it was there in every way that mattered anyway, why not physically as well?- he still felt a thrill at the thought of it being back in his chest where it belonged, of being able to bloody feel everything he should once again.

He loved Emma so much that even without his heart those feelings has remained, dim echoes and faded images that he knew had once been so much more vivid, so much more alive. His head had still known he loved her more than anything, would do anything for her, and even without his heart agreeing he had somehow still known it to the marrow of his bones.

It had been that love that had allowed him to warn her, to break through the words the crocodile was feeding him for brief seconds, to grasp her arm in an urgent warning. No matter what happened to him, he simply could not allow her to be harmed. He had thought that even with that it would be too late, but somehow miraculously once again he had survived.

And so his smile grew as each step up the stairs brought him one step closer to having his heart back where it belonged.

The first thing he was going to do was kiss Emma like she'd never been kissed before.

TBC...

A quick note because someone asked: No, this does not go with my other CS stories, not even the ones that have remained cannon friendly. Although parts of them are kinda head cannon and may sneak in, you do not have to have read any of them. (Although I would love it if you did.) Reviews are as ever appreciated.