It was very late into the afternoon by the time Emma finally felt well enough to venture out of the apartment. In truth, she had wanted to do nothing stay in bed until her head stopped pounding and the world stopped spinning, but that proved to be impossible with an infant screaming for attentions every hour or so. So she had popped a few aspirin and headed to Granny's for a cup of coffee. This is where Killian found her.

"Morning Swan," he said as he slid into the booth across from her. "Feeling a bit rough this morning I'd wager?" he asked with a grin.

"Ugh. Not so loud if you'd please," she said with a groan. "I don't even remember getting home last night.

"Well that's not surprising since you passed out immediately after I carried you to the truck," he replied.

With a puzzled look she asked, "Wait. You put me in David's truck? What in the hell did I miss last night?"

"It might be easier for you to tell me what you remember and I can see if I can fill in the pieces," Killian stated carefully.

Rubbing her head she said, "The last thing I remember is Regina running out on the tab and me finishing up her drink. When did you come down? The last I knew, you went to bed hours before."

"I did retire to my room, but sleep escaped me for most of the night. I had actually just come outside for a bit of fresh air as you were leaving. I took it upon myself to contact your father in order to get you home safely," he lied uneasily.

Emma looked uncomfortable and asked, "Um..I didn't…make an idiot of myself or anything did I? I didn't…like…throw up on you or anything horrible like that?"

The laughter escaped from him involuntarily. "I can promise you, love, you were nothing but your everyday charismatic self. Absolutely no vomit involved."

"Good," she responded with a small smile. "Now take my mind off of this headache and tell me about Gold's magic hat."

"Are you sure you want to get into all that now? Maybe you should just take a load off and relax for a bit," he replied hesitantly.

Emma scowled at him. "I tried relaxing. It didn't work. Now talk."

Reluctantly Killian explained what he knew about the mysterious hat and guilty described his role in capturing first the old man and then the fairies.

"That was what he was trying to do to me when I wanted to get rid of my magic!" she exclaimed. "You knew what he had been trying to do! That's why you were so relieved that I didn't go through with it!"

"Aye," he whispered. "I was too late getting to you and ran into the crocodile instead. That was the night he stole my heart."

"So Gold never said what happened to people once they were sucked into the hat?" she questioned.

Shaking his head he responded, "Alas, we didn't get a chance to discuss that."

"Well then," Emma stated as she stood and walked toward the door, "Let's go find out."

Scrambling from the booth and hurrying after her, "Where are you going?"

"To talk to Belle," she said as she opened the door and walked out onto the sidewalk and collided with David.

"Easy now," he said collecting himself. "I thought you'd be home sleeping it off."

"Why does everyone keep asking me that?" Emma grumbled. "I'm heading over to Gold's shop to see what Belle knows about that magic hat."

"Well don't bother," David said. "I just came from there and she doesn't know anything. She did give me the keys to the library though. You can come help me look if you want."

Shrugging her shoulders Emma said, "I guess it couldn't hurt. And at least I know it'll be quiet."

The trio searched for almost four hours and was cleaning up when Belle joined them. Emma immediately met her with a hug.

"How are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm all right. I'm just glad I learned the truth in time to prevent anyone else getting hurt," Belle sad sadly. "Do you think that the fairies are still alive?"

Emma looked down before responding, "I don't know. But I can promise you that I will figure it out."

Stepping out from behind a stack of books, Killian tentatively approached Belle with a grim look on his face.

"I'm sorry, lass. I know that you must despise me for the part I played in the messy business with your husband, but you must know how deeply I regret not coming to you when I first suspected the dagger to be a fake," he admitted guiltily.

"There's no need to apologize," Belle countered quickly. "I wouldn't have believed you anyhow. This was something I needed to discover on my own."

"Wait," Emma interrupted, "You knew the dagger was fake?" She paused as she finally understood. "That's how you got your hand back?! You blackmailed him?! Really?!" she finished angrily.

"Emma, I-" Killian began.

"Save it. We'll talk later," Emma cut him off. "Right now, I'm going home to try to get some sleep!"

Emma stormed out of the library and was followed by both David and Killian. They watched as Emma turned the corner to head up the street to her car when David stopped Killian in his tracks.

"Stay here. Don't move," David commanded. "Let me talk to her."

Surprised Killian did exactly as he asked especially when he realized that he was in perfect earshot of the pending discussion. He wasn't sure what the right thing to do was, but his curiosity gave way as he heard them begin to speak.

"I know you're angry, but maybe it would best if everyone just sat down and discussed all of this," David began.

Emma sighed, "I don't want to talk about it. It's bad enough that I feel less and less like a savior everyday and more and more like a therapist running a Villains Anonymous group just waiting for someone to have a relapse and revert back to their former evil selves."

"To be fair," David began, "I can honestly say that I do not believe that Hook was up to anything nefarious at all. As much as it pains me to admit this, I think his only focus has been and probably will continue to be you."

"That just makes all of this worse!" Emma growled. "He put himself in this mess almost winding up getting himself killed because he thought I would care about his stupid hook? I've always just accepted it as a part of who he is yet he thinks me shallow enough to care about it?!"

"Maybe he was the one who didn't want to accept it," he said quietly.

After a contemplative pause Emma retorted, "That doesn't matter either. From the moment I met him, he has been only person in this town who has fully supported and accepted me regardless of what I did or who I was. The simple fact that remains is that he is unable or unwilling to allow me to do the same. And that hurts."

"I know. But that doesn't mean you should give up on him, either," David prompted.

With a puzzled look Emma asked, "Why do you care? I didn't think you approved of him."

"He makes you happy…when he's not pissing you off," he corrected.

Emma snorted, "Fair enough. And I'm not giving up on him. I really just need to go home before I throw up. As much as I love Granny's cooking, the smell of it is wrecking havoc on my stomach and it threatening to revolt. I'm never drinking again."

With a quick hug, David allowed Emma to continue on to her car while he returned to the corner where he had left Killian. He wasn't at all surprised to find that he was still standing there with a woeful look on his face.

"Sorry, I know I shouldn't have eavesdropped on your conversation, but-" he stuttered.

"I meant for you to hear me," David interrupted. "Consider it a thank you. I do see how far you are willing to go for her and even I have to admire you for that. When Mary Margaret and I were foolish enough to doubt her and her magic your faith in her never waivered. That is why I said the things I did in your hearing."

Killian could only nod his appreciation.

"I would be remiss, however, if I did not make sure you know and are very aware of how everything you do will affect Emma. She has come too far to lose anything else she cares about," he warned.

"No need to worry about that, mate. As I have told your daughter, surviving is what I do best," Killian said with a grin.