Wow, it's been a long time! All I can say for right now, except I'm sorry for the late update. Also, there may be an argument, but I'm not sure how this chapter is going to go right now.
A little update: This will be the last chapter for a while, because Passover is coming up, and I have a bunch of families coming over, plus there's no electricity allowed, or anything like that. Anyway, thank you to:
fire1
Viktualia
Mandy2407
Gossip Girl 99
Song is "A Mess It Grows" by He Is We
Chapter Seven
Homecoming
"You're love drunk, you're blinded, you've lost the ones who loved you most
This liar's on fire, melted like wax, And you're the one that chose, that's just how Karma goes."
Emma's hand grasped for purchase on the stone wall, trying to heave herself up out of the well. She hooked her fingers around the edge and pulled herself up, tumbling over the side and falling on her back.
"Emma!" Mary Margaret shrieked, and she helped her stand up.
"Mary Margaret," Emma gasped, hugging her mother tightly. "We made it. We're back."
A soft thump disturbed their hug, and Mary Margaret and Emma turned to see Killian standing there, looking down at the ground awkwardly. Emma disentangled herself from Mary Margaret's embrace and walked over to him slowly.
"Thank you," she whispered, and pulled him into a fierce hug. Startled, he barely had time to wrap his arms around her waist before she pulled back.
"You really did help us get back home," Emma continued.
Killian shrugged. "It was nothing."
Mary Margaret joined them. "No, it wasn't. You were amazing back there with Cora. Stopped her from taking your heart and everything. We owe you so much." She, too, hugged him, although not as tightly as Emma. Killian didn't even hug her back, knowing she'd let go just as quick. Not that he could even try. She trapped his arms in her own as she hugged him.
Emma and Mary Margaret walked up to the apartment, arms wrapped around each other's shoulders as they prepared to knock. Emma looked over at Killian and beckoned him closer. He hesitantly joined them.
Mary Margaret raised her fist and banged on the door twice. David opened the door. The moment he saw them, he immediately grabbed Mary Margaret by the waist and crushed his lips to hers in a fierce kiss, hugging her to his chest as tight as he could, as if he was cared if he let her go, she would be gone again.
"Mary Margaret," he whispered into her hair.
They finally let go of each other, and David finally noticed Emma standing there. He slowly walked over to her, with his eyebrows slightly raised, giving her a chance to say that she didn't want him to hug her. But she just nodded and he caught his daughter is his arms and squeezed her just as tightly as he had with Mary Margaret.
When he set her down back onto the floor, he saw Killian. "Who's that?"
Emma looked behind her shoulder, giving Killian a small smile. "A friend," she said simply.
"Killian Jones," he said, offering his good hand to David.
David took it and shook his hand strongly.
"Some people like to call me Hook."
David let go of his hand as if it were a deadly snake. He turned to the girls. "You came back with a pirate?" he asked incredulously.
Emma, before Mary Margaret could intervene, spoke up. "He helped us. A lot. We wouldn't be here at all if it weren't for Killian."
David turned back to Killian. "You kept them safe?" he asked slowly.
Killian shrugged. "More or less. We got into a little bit of trouble at the end there, but, we all made it here in one piece."
"He defeated Cora to help us get back into the portal," Mary Margaret praised.
David looked back between Killian and Mary Margaret and Emma before nodding. "Thank you," he said sincerely. "For getting my family back safely."
"David?" a voice called. "Who is it?"
Emma looked back up at the stairs, her eyes widening as she registered the voice and who it belonged to. "Henry," she whispered to herself. "Henry!"
Henry came running down the stairs, stopping near the bottom step when he saw Mary Margaret and Emma. And then he ran right into Emma's arms, hugging her waist tightly, nearly knocking Emma back with the force of his hug.
"I missed you so much," he whispered.
Emma smiled and knelt down so they were at the same height. "I missed you, too, kid," she said tearfully, wiping a tear from her cheek as she straightened.
Henry hugged Mary Margaret next and looked back at Killian. "He's Captain Hook," he stated matter-of-factly.
Emma's eyes flitted down to the hook poking out of the sleeve of Killian's shirt sleeve and grinned. "Yeah, he is."
Emma sat down on the corner of her bed, looking around her room. It was as if nothing had changed. As if she hadn't been gone at all.
"You okay, love?" Killian asked from the doorway.
She looked up and nodded unconvincingly, crossing her arms over her chest. "It's so surreal. Being back . . . I never thought we'd make it back," she whispered.
Killian sat next to her. "You did."
Emma didn't miss the tightness in his voice as he spoke. She opened her eyes and looked at him. He was avoiding her eyes, looking the other way. "What's wrong?" she asked. He shook his head, and thumbed the curve of his hook. Emma stiffened. "You're going after Rumpelstiltskin."
Killian nodded slowly. "Aye. I am," he confirmed.
"Don't."
He looked over at her sharply. "What do you mean, don't?" His eyes darkened. "You're telling me to just let it go? Let three hundred years of revenge go?"
"Aren't you the one who told me that maybe Milah didn't love you as much as you thought?" Emma cried.
"It doesn't change the fact that I loved her, and she died in the worst possible way." He leaned in closer to her so their lips were almost touching. His voice was hard and cruel and malicious when he spoke next. "Don't tell me that you don't want to kill Regina for taking away your Sheriff?"
She slapped him. Hard.
His head snapped to the side and his cheek was already reddening from the impact. Killian turned back to look at her. Her eyes were blazing like blue fire, and her body was stiff as a board, nothing like the girl he had kissed just a few hours ago. The one who's walls he came so close to breaking down.
"Don't talk about Graham," she warned.
"I can't let him live knowing that he got away with killing the one person that mattered to me."
"Have you ever even tried?" Emma pressed.
Killian squeezed his eyelids tightly shut, trying to find a way to make Emma understand. Or just make her shut up. How could he do that? How did he do it before?
He kissed her, then, fiercely. Hot, and passionate, tongues and teeth and it was like a bloody war was raging through their mouths as they battled for dominance. He moved his hand to her hair, wounding his fingers through it and tugging slightly.
Emma froze for a moment before pushing him back. "Stop!" she hissed. "You can't do that. You can't just-just kiss me and then act like that's going to make everything alright, okay? It's not."
Killian paused, leaning back. "I am going to get my revenge on Rumpelstiltskin, if it is the last thing I do. I will destroy him, just like he did Milah."
Emma let her breath out in a quick rush of air. "Then get out," she ordered.
He stopped. "What?"
"I don't want you near me or my family ever again, if you are so hell-bent on getting your precious revenge on Rumpelstiltskin, for a woman who you even admitted probably never even loved you the way you loved her. So, I'm telling you right now, before I do something I know I will regret, get out of my house, and don't come here." He didn't move. "Get. Out."
Killian stood up, and Emma did, too. She leaned against the doorjamb, hoping that he wouldn't leave, so that she could see there was still something there for the two of them. She almost gave into it when he stopped by the doorway and turned to her. He stood there, staring at her in silence, and then he leaned in, just a little bit, and if she wasn't so used to watching him, she would have missed it. But he didn't kiss her, he only stepped away from her and, with one last parting glance she swore she saw regret in, he left her.
