so let's just say that the whole giant thing ended the way it did in 'tiny'. :)

Almost three weeks passed before Regina heard rumors of Gold's return. She and Killian had fallen into a pattern of calling and texting during the day, but avoiding each other in public. Regina would sneak out when her mother was asleep to go to the ship. Usually, their nights were spent talking or making love. Killian had been keeping watch around the town and he told her about the rumors he heard while he was in Granny's. They stood in Regina's kitchen while her mother ran some kind of errand.

"Was he with Emma and Henry?"

"According to the rumors, yes. There was also another guy, presumably Gold's son."

Regina sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "Of course. When has Emma ever listened to me?"

Killian pulled her closer and wrapped his arms around her. "She will protect him from your mother. And since Cora betrayed me, I could 'switch' sides to work with Emma and her parents. That will allow me to be near your son and make sure he is okay."

Regina looked up at him. "You would do that?"

"Of course. I would do anything for you, love." Killian smiled at her.

She kissed him. "Thank you."

They heard the front door open. Regina groaned. "Go out the back door. Be careful."

Killian kissed her on the cheek quickly before sneaking out the back door.

"Hello, Regina." Cora walked into the kitchen. She placed a few shopping bags on the counter. Regina moved to look inside them. "I picked up some things for us to cook. What are 'brownies'?"

Regina bit her lip to keep herself from laughing. "Oh good, I've been absolutely craving chocolate. Grab the ingredients and you will see one of this world's best desserts."

Killian stood at the door to Emma's apartment. He had followed Snow here earlier, so he knew this is where Emma would be if the rumors about her being home were true. He knocked on the door and waited.

It was Henry that answered. "You must be Captain Hook. There are no strangers in Storybrooke, so I figured that you are the one that came with Cora."

"Er, yes. You must be Henry."

Emma came to the door and put her arm around Henry. "Hook? What are you doing here?"

"Hello again, love. I've come to welcome you back to town." Killian winked at her.

"Yeah, sure. What do you want?"

At this point, Snow and Charming came to investigate. They stood behind Emma and Henry. Killian couldn't help but feel nervous under Charming's threatening glare. He held up his hands in mock surrender.

"Alright, alright. I'll admit, I didn't come here to welcome you."

Emma's eyes grew bigger. "Your hook! How did you get your hand back?"

"Ah, right. The waters of Lake Nosotos. I took some before Cora and I departed for this world. It restored my hand." He smiled. "And here I thought kings and queens had better manners. Are you going to invite me in?"

Snow nodded. "Of course. Let him in, Emma."

Emma reluctantly pulled Henry out of the way so Killian could come in. She closed the door behind him.

"Cora and Regina have Rumplestiltskin's dagger. They are going to use it to control him."

The small family looked shocked. Henry was the first to recover. "No, my mom said she was going to be better. She wouldn't work with Cora."

Killian knelt to look Henry in the eye. "She was trying. But Cora set her up for Archie's murder so she would be broken. The way, Cora could swoop in and convince her that she was the only one that Regina had left. Regina is willing to do anything to keep her mother's love right now, because she has no one else."

"But she has me. I never believed that she hurt Archie."

Killian shrugged. "But she never knew that. She believes that you will always see her as the Evil Queen. And now it is too dangerous to see her. Cora will hurt you if you go near her, Henry. I'm sure that your mother would not want that."

"Why would we trust you? How do we know that you aren't here to take Henry and bring him to Regina?" Emma asked as she tightened her grip on her son.

Killian stood again. "Because they betrayed me. I helped lead them to the dagger and Cora trapped me so she could get her hands on it. I'm done working with them."

"So what? You're back on our side until they give you a better offer?"

He shook his head. "No. Like I said, I'm on your side. I'm sick of Cora always telling me what to do. Not to mention, she tried to break her daughter so she wouldn't reject her. I've met some twisted people in my day, but that is something I do not agree with."

Snow and Charming shared a worried glance. Emma just studied Killian's face. "Alright."

"Alright?" Charming asked in surprise.

"Well, yeah. He isn't lying." Emma answered her parents. She turned to look at Killian again. "But if you even think about double crossing us again, it will be the last thing that you do, understand?"

"Understood, m'lady."

"Good. Gold got Regina's message about the dagger."

"And yet he came back? Apparently he is more of a fool than I realized."

"Yeah, well he wanted to make sure that Belle was protected from you. Why would Regina warn him?" Emma asked him.

"I haven't got a clue."

"I told you, she's trying to be better." Henry spoke up.

It was clear by the look on Snow's face that she didn't believe that. Emma looked doubtful as well, but she smiled at Henry and nodded. "Yeah, maybe."

Henry's face lit up. "So, what's the plan?"

"There is no plan, Henry. We just have to keep you safe from Cora." Charming said.

"But what about my mom?"

"Your mom is going to be just fine, sweetie." Snow answered. She turned to look at Killian. "There is going to be a meeting at Granny's tomorrow at 10am to discuss what to do. If you really want to work with us, be there. If Cora and Regina show up, we will know that you are still on their side."

Killian nodded. Snow showed him out the door. He thanked her before heading back to his ship. He found Regina lying on his bed. He quietly stood in the doorway to watch her.

"What did they say?" Regina asked without opening her eyes.

Killian chuckled. He should have known that he couldn't catch her off guard. "They couldn't resist my charm, of course."

"Oh of course not." Regina responded sarcastically. She opened her eyes and sat up. "I brought you brownies."

"Brownies?" He moved to sit next to her on the bed and grabbed the plate she held up. He moved to peel off the wrapping and held one up to look at it.

"It's not going to kill you. I made sure my mother couldn't slip any poison in it." Regina teased him.

Killian smiled before handing her one. She laughed at his reluctance to try the chocolately goodness and took a bite out of hers. He slowly bit into the brownie. It didn't take him long to realize that it was delicious so he quickly finished his and moved to take another one.

"This is delicious. What kind of magic is this?" He asked in between bites.

Regina laughed again. "Perhaps I'll show you how to make them soon."

"You better." Killian winked before putting the nearly empty plate on his nightstand. He pulled Regina into his arms and kissed her.

"Killian." Regina warned as she felt his fingers start to unbutton her shirt.

"What?" He asked with an innocent look on his face.

"The Charmings may have been unable to resist your charm, but I'm afraid that I can."

"What? Are you sick?" He jokingly put his hand against her forehead. She laughed as he moved his hand around. "Actually, you do feel warm, love."

Regina pulled his hand away. "I'm fine. I'm just tired."

Killian studied her face to see if she was being honest. He nodded when he figured that she wasn't downplaying any symptoms. She pushed Killian to lay down and put her head on his chest. He wrapped his arms around her.

"Goodnight, love." Killian kissed the top of her forehead.

He listened to her rhythmic breathing and realized that she was already asleep. He closed his eyes and breathed in the apple scent that he always associated with Regina. He thought about the meeting he was supposed to go to in the morning. Hopefully, they already had some kind of plan to get rid of Cora. Killian couldn't wait for that woman to be out of their life, so they could stop hiding their relationship. He wanted to be able to been seen with her in town instead of texting her throughout the day and waiting for her to come here. For the first time in many, many years he wanted more than just a casual relationship. He wanted everything with Regina.

He fell asleep a few minutes later and dreamt of Regina with a little kid that was the perfect mixture of them.