Broken Hearts

Emma walked through the thick of the forest, alone with Hook. She loved her father to death, but she could tell he was avoiding something, her mother, probably. While she loved Mary Margret, she was going slightly overboard about the pregnancy. Emma didn't mind so much about that; it was safe to assume that even if she had grown up in the Enchanted Forest she would most likely have more than one sibling.

It was what them having another child meant. David and Snow deserved to have a child that they could actually raise. They deserved to get to be parents. It just still saddened her that they couldn't raise her. .

Part of her still wished she didn't ever find out what happened. She loved having so many people in her life now; Henry, her parents, Hook, even Regina. But seeing everyday what she could have had slightly killed her.

She couldn't tell her parents about it though; they had already gone through enough, and felt enough guilt over their actions. And if anyone deserved to be parents, it was them.

Emma watched in amusement as Hook used his namesake to cut through the branches in their way. "You love using that don't you?"

He shot her a smirk, "Somehow Swan, it seems as if when I am with you, I'm always plundering through jungles."

"I thought adventures were your thing?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Ah yes; it seems being with you always involves an adventure. First in the Enchanted Forest, then Neverland, and New York," he said, as he stole a glance at her.

"I thought adventures were your thing. Or are you all adventured out from all the ones you had on your year in the Forest. I bet they were filled with sword fights, and treasure, and everything pirates love," she said, with a slight roll of her eyes.

"Something like that," he said, and his voice sounded slightly off.

She turned to face him, "You're lying," she said, as she looked into his eyes, trying to see what he as hiding.

"Excuse me?" he asked her, sounding incredulous.

"What happened back there? What aren't you telling me?"

"Nothing, Love," he said with a sigh.

"Hook…"

"Emma, that's my tale and I'm sticking to it."

"Well let's just leave it at that and you can say thank you" he said, as he tried to keep her voice confident.

"For my memories? I already did," she said, softly. "Without them, I don't know where I would be right now."

"Would you have married him?" he asked her suddenly, with his eyes burning into hers.

"I don't know, does it matter?" she asked, trying to dodge the subject. She didn't want to have to think about it. Not when she had been hurt again.

"Humour me," he said, his voice filled with a pressing tone.

"Yes, okay? Is that what you wanted to hear? Because I thought I loved him, and that what we had was real. But like everyone else, it turned out he was lying, and I got my heart broken again," she said, her voice cracking. She prayed that he didn't notice.

"I'm glad," he said after a moment, and she almost thought she didn't hear him correctly.

"You're glad my heart got broken?" she asked, her voice rising.

"Because if it can be broken, that means it still works," he said, leaning in towards her. She didn't take a step back, just stayed in place.

"Even though it's killing me that I trusted again, and it ended badly? Even though everything I wished was true, wasn't? That my life is the same screwed up thing it's been for my entire life?" she asked softly, a tear slipping down her face. Stupid, stupid, stupid. How could she let her mask fall down? She's kept her walls up for so long, yet here they were, tumbling down before her.

"Not like that, Emma," he said, as he got closer to her. "Milah was the woman I loved all those years ago. Rumplestiltskin killed her, because she was his wife, and she chose me. He couldn't bear it, and he crushed her heart. When I see you, I have a fear that the same thing will happen to you. I-I can't lose you Swan, especially like that," He said, his voice breaking. "When I said that at least it still works, while I did mean for it to be that you can still love, I also meant that I was glad that you still had a heart."

Her head was swimming with the implications. Hook loved Neal's mother? Well that was an interesting turn. However, she knew she couldn't focus on that; now was not the time.

She took his hand, and placed it right over her heart, so he could feel it beat. "Killian," she said with a breath. "My heart can't be ripped out. Cora tried, when I knocked you out with the compass. It's because of being the product of True Love, or something like that. But it's safe; it always will be safe."

He bent his head down, so his forehead was touching hers. "You have no idea how relieved that makes me feel," he confessed. "I won't lose you the way I lost her. Emma, I need you so badly in my life. And I know you're concerned for Neal, but I need you to know, my feelings for you have not changed."

"Nor have mine," she said softly. "I-I care about you, Killian. I can't say it yet, I'm not ready. But I need you in my life too, and I can't bear not to have you in it."

He cupped her face with his hands and pulled her into a kiss. It was passionate, filled with need and desire. She didn't want to break it again, not like she had the last time. She liked being this close with him, and she liked how his lips felt on hers. So she kissed back, desperate for more.

When they pulled away, he was breathing heavily. "That was-"

"-Definitely not a one-time thing," she finished for him with a smile.

He laughed, before pulling her into another one. "No it definitely will not be."