A/N. Here's the 2nd part of 3x18. I don't know if it'll be a little confusing to read, if you want to let me know what you think, you know what to do ;) Ps. I've included a reference to BBC Sherlock, I couldn't help it, I love that series :) Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me!

8B. BLEEDING THROUGH (PART 2)

Flashback- Enchanted Forest

The morning after Zelena's 'friendly' visit, Snow had summoned the seven dwarfs to ask them to look for any clues to defeat the Wicked Witch. They'd only had to wait a couple of hours when Grumpy came back, representing his brothers. He found the Charmings reunited with some of their friends: Regina, Robin, Belle and Hook, who had separated from Aurora's side, leaving her sleeping (in his earlier visit, Doc had advised her to take as much rest as possible as a preventive measure, but it seemed that the baby was fine - they'd even heard his heartbeat with the help of that stethoscope of the dwarf's, which had made Aurora let out a couple of tears while Killian smiled widely by her side). They'd cast a protection spell on her bedroom, just in case Zelena appeared again to finish what she'd started.

The dwarf approached the group and sat in one of the chairs around the table.

"Grumpy, tell me you've found something." Snow told him.

"I've been to Blue, Tink... all the fairies. Nobody knows what to do." he explained "They've promised to look for enchanted items to destroy her, but they want you to know that it could take them ages, that witch's too powerful, they say."

"Then, waiting is the only thing we can do." David commented.

"I can't wait." Snow replied "I'm giving birth in less than six months." Her husband tried to calm her down:

"We have enough time."

"What if we don't? You've heard Grumpy, Blue is the most powerful source of magic we know and she doesn't know what to do."

"Aye, I agree with her highness," Killian said "that bitch..."

"Such language" Snow told him off.

"...can return any second to take her revenge on my family. As much as I love risks, I refuse to take this one. So, the sooner we defeat her, the better." Belle nodded in agreement. She still didn't trust Hook completely, but seeing how the captain had been by Aurora's side, taking care of her hour after hour, had made her realized that he should be given a chance.

"Thanks." Snow told them "I don't want any evil sorceress to threat the future of my child... again."

"To be fair, the first time, I was threatening you." Regina commented "Everyone else just became collateral damage."

"Remind me again why we forgave her." David asked his wife.

"Because I'm helping." Regina replied. "Frustrating as it is for me to remember, Snow, you had a head start to defeat me last time."

"How?" Robin asked.

"We were warned." Snow explained "By Rumplestiltskin."

"Well, maybe he can warn you again." Grumpy suggested.

"Wait. You want to sneak into Rumple's castle, where he's being held captive by the Wicked Witch?" David asked him, wide-eyed.

"Name's Grumpy, not stupid." the dwarf defended himself.

"You're right." Snow told him, surprising everyone. "It's crazy, but for our child, we'll do whatever it takes."

"Heartwarming" Regina commented with sarcasm.

They agreed to do it, taking Belle as a guide and Robin as a specialist on breaking into that particular castle. Of course, Killian wouldn't go with them. After discussing the plan, Snow was the one to finish with the meeting:

"There's no time to lose." she said "Take whatever you need and I'll see you all at the main door in twenty minutes."

Flashback - Rumplestiltskin's castle

When, on that afternoon, the Wicked Witch came into the castle, she immediately knew that something was wrong. And, when she was going to undo the protection spells she'd put on the door leading to the room where Rumple's cage was, she discovered that someone (and she had a very close idea about who they were) had already broken them. With determination and a mixture of anger and worry inside her, she came into the room and walked straight to the cage, where Rumplestiltskin was absorbed on his spinning wheel.

"What's happened here?" she asked aggressively. "Who has broken into?"

"I spin the madness away, I spin the madness away..." the man answered, his eyes fixed on the wheel.

"I will ask you one more time, what the hell's happened here?"

"Everyday like the one before, everyday like the one before," Rumple repeated like a mantra "Everyday like the one before... hearing voices in my head, spinning the madness away..."

"You're not leaving me another option" she said and, taking the dagger from inside her cloak, she used it. Immediately, Rumple left his task and stood up, looking her in the eyes "Now, you're going to tell me everything you know about this."

"She's the light in my darkness... light in my darkness" he mumbled.

"Who?"

"Belle came, came to see me."

"Belle... who else?"

"Regina... Charming couple... leader of the thieves... Belle called my name... I listened..."

"Yeah, yeah, very romantic." Zelena replied, losing her patience "What did they want? What did you tell them?"

Rumplestiltskin approached her, holding the cage's bars, his face just five centimeters from hers. Then, he whispered one single word:

"Glinda." Zelena got totally enraged.

"You've told them, you damn imp!" she said, throwing Rumple against the other side of the cage with a movement of her hand. "They won't succeed, I'll do whatever it takes to stop them from finding her." then, it started to rain. The witch hid the dagger again and walked towards the exit, wanting to spend some time alone, thinking about the new situation and how to overcome it. On the other hand, Rumple returned to his spinning wheel, singing a little song:

"It's raining, it's pouring, Zelena is boring" that only contributed to worsen the witch's bad mood.

"Shut up!" but he didn't listen and repeated the song. "Do what you want, I'm leaving anyway."

And, slamming the door, she left the wizard there. She walked upstairs until she reached one of the towers. She approached a window to watch the rain fall and, a minute later, she saw one of her winged monkeys flying towards where she was. Zelena opened the window and let the creature in.

"Oh, hello my beautiful," she greeted it "What do you have for me?" the monkey gestured and produced a chain of sounds that Zelena listened carefully "Oh, so that sleeping princess' brat has survived... point taken, my dear sister" she mumbled. The monkey pointed to itself, articulating more sounds "You want to finish the job? No, my dear, that would be disgusting." suddenly, an idea popped into her mind "Maybe it's better this way, let's let that child live, the father will pay the price, I'm coming to a plan." the monkey 'spoke' again "A new friend for you? Why not? But not him, I've got something else in mind, something more useful... and funnier."

She remained silent during at least five minutes, thinking about that new plan.

"Yes... that's brilliant... Take a rest, my pretty" she told the monkey "I won't need you for the moment. When I've done what I'm plotting, that pirate will come to me."

Present- Storybrooke

Killian had been at the docks, but he hadn't been thinking about what to do with Zelena's curse. In his mind there was only room for the argument he'd had with Aurora and how to act after it. Finally, after a whole hour of thinking, he'd decided to return home.

He found her sitting on the couch, watching how, by her side, Allan played with a teddy bear, which meant he was biting every part of the toy he could reach.

"Hi" he said, taking off his coat.

"Hi." she answered, moving to face him "How's the spiritualism session gone?" her voice was low and monotonous, as if she was afraid he would get angry again.

"A failure." she nodded with an 'oh'. He approached them and sat on the table, facing her. "Listen, I've come to apologize. For everything I've done and said this morning. I've behaved as a real moron."

"It's my fault too, I should have been more patient, more understanding." she said.

"No, no, you had all the right to behave as you did. You're a fighter and that's something I like about you. So stay like this, don't become a submissive woman." she smiled a little.

"But I can't expect you to tell me everything after all those years working alone." she added, taking his hands, the real and the fake.

"It's not that." he said "If I don't tell you what happens it's not because I don't trust you or... or my selfish ass doesn't allow me."

"Killian, the baby." she told him off without raising her voice.

"Sorry." he looked at Allan, who was too busy with the toy to pay attention to his parents "The thing is that, if I don't tell you about it, it's because I don't want you two to get affected by it. You understand it, don't you?"

"Yeah. Just tell me that it's something you can handle."

"It is, it's me who we're talking about, I can deal with anything" he winked, feeling not so sure about it deep inside.

"You know I'll be here if you change your mind and want to share something."

"I do" he agreed "Come here" he put his arms around her and hugged her, not daring to kiss her, too afraid of his cursed lips. The hug lasted for at least twenty seconds, until he broke the silence:

"Now I need to go and deal with everything."

"But it's almost lunchtime." she said, separating from him and taking his hands again.

"I'm not hungry." he shook his head "But I'll take something to eat just in case... and something else..." he stood up and walked towards the bedroom. When he returned, he'd replaced his fake hand with the hook. Aurora looked at it with a worried expression "I don't want you to worry about anything, alright?" he said, guessing her thoughts "This is only for safety, there's a wicked witch out there."

"Alright" she said with a sigh "Just take care."

"I will" he said, putting on his coat again. "When everything's solved, I'll be with you two all the time. You'll be desiring to get rid of me."

That made her laugh a little. Killian approached them and caressed his son's cheek with one finger as a goodbye. He resisted the temptation to kiss him or Aurora, who he hugged briefly before leaving the loft. When he'd closed the door, he sighed and his mind started working immediately on his problems. Maybe with his familiar ones solved, he would finally be able to come to a decision.

Flashback - Enchanted Forest

First, there was the migraine, nothing to worry about according to Snow, but that had been just a warning to tell them that something wasn't right with Aurora. Then, the next day, the princess somehow caught a virus which made her throw up everything she tried to eat, with the consequent weakness. That illness lasted a whole week in which Aurora lived between the bedroom and the bathroom, without enough strength to do anything else. Killian was always by her side, trying to hide his worry as best as he could. The maternal Snow spent a lot of time with her too (she refused to let the princess return to her castle in that state), along with 'nurse' Belle, taking care of Aurora following Doc's advice.

Everybody thought that it was only bad luck... until something else happened to Aurora. When she hadn't recovered completely from the virus, she woke up in the middle of the night, unable to sleep because of the fever and, hours later, such fever turned into a cold that made her shake out of control, something inexplicable because it was summer. Wrapped in blankets, she suddenly needed to get rid of them a couple of hours later, her temperature rising again until reaching too high levels.

They called Doc immediately, but the dwarf couldn't find any explanation, so it had to do with magic. The castle's inhabitants reunited to talk about what was happening to the princess.

"Can it be a side effect of Zelena's spell?" Snow asked Regina.

"Impossible." she answered "This is something my dear sister is sending. I'm sure she's having fun."

"Why her?" Hook asked, unable to contain his frustration "What does she want now?"

"I don't know" Regina said.

"What could she want to achieve by torturing her?" Snow asked again.

"Maybe, as her baby was saved, Zelena wants her to pay the price one way or another" David suggested.

"Maybe" his wife sighed.

"But we have to do something to stop her" Killian spoke again.

"We're looking for Glinda" Snow told him "We'll put more efforts in finding her as soon as possible."

"It's not enough. There must be something we can do now." the captain insisted.

"I'm sorry but there isn't, and you know it." Charming replied.

"I can't stay here doing nothing but watching Aurora suffer." that was something he couldn't bear. The prince spoke again:

"We know, but what else can we do? Zelena's too powerful."

"I keep searching on the books" Belle said, hoping to calm Hook down a little.

"Fine" he said, wanting to finish that frustrating conversation "If anyone needs me, you know where I am."

And, without saying anything more, he walked towards the bedroom where Aurora was.

.

The drop that made the vase overflow came the next day, in the afternoon, when Aurora traveled to the Netherworld again. That was more than what Killian could bear. Right after his princess fell asleep again, he asked Snow to take care of her and went out of the bedroom. Mary Margaret thought he needed some time alone and didn't ask him anything, but his intentions were very different: he was going to act. That witch could bleed, couldn't she? And if she could bleed, she could die too. The only thing he had to do was taking her by surprise. He took his sword and walked until he got into the forest, his fury guiding his steps towards Rumplestiltskin's castle... Then, an unexpected voice made him stop:

"Where do you think you're going?" great, if there was one person who could make everything worse that was Philip, who approached him, still wondering if his visit to Snow's castle was a good idea.

"What are you doing here?" Killian asked in response.

"I've come to see Aurora. I heard she was attacked by that Wicked Witch and that she's not well... I've just come to see how she is." the prince explained. "You should be with her, why aren't you?"

"I'm not fleeing if that's what you're wondering."

"Then, what are you doing?" Philip asked again. Their voices showed that they weren't precisely friends.

"I'm going to kill that Wicked Witch."

"Does anybody know about it?" the prince asked suspiciously. Killian shook his head "Why would you take such a risk?"

"I'll tell you the short version: That... person is torturing Aurora from the distance."

"Oh..." he blinked "But that doesn't justify this, it's suicidal, what if something happens to you?"

"Better for you...Now you care about me or what?" Killian asked ironically, raising an eyebrow.

"You wish, but Aurora chose you" Philip answered "And that means she won't be precisely happy if something happens to you, and you know it."

"I do." but he couldn't think about that, he had to do something.

"By the way, if the rumors are true," the prince continued "you're looking for a good witch, what was her name?"

"Glinda."

"Yes, Glinda. Why don't you wait until she's found? Everything will be solved then."

"You're forgetting an important part: that woman is in the north of the forest... the Infinite Forest, Philip, it can take them months... I can't wait so long... my family can't wait so long."

"No way, end of the story, you're coming with me to stay where you're meant to be now, there'll be another solution." Philip started walking but Killian stayed where he was. "Come on." he was running out of patience.

"I won't, thanks for worrying but I won't. You can go and see Aurora, she'll be thankful to you, but if I learn that you've reproached her something, you'd better start to run."

"Who are you to threat me?"

"Don't start, Philip, don't start... Well, have a nice day" Killian turned his back to him and started walking in the opposite direction.

"Maybe this is what she wants." Philip said, making the captain stop and turn again. "That Zelena, she wants you to go looking for her."

"So what?" he replied "Do you suggest a better idea apart from waiting? If something happens to me but Aurora and the boy are safe, it will be worth."

Then, suddenly, a voice came from behind a big tree:

"Ohhhh, how cute. Who's the prince and who's the pirate?" the Wicked Witch appeared in front of them, smiling proudly. Killian and Philip drew their swords and the captain approached her, threatening her the same way he'd done with Blackbeard. "Come on, let's see if you can even scratch me."

"Leave Aurora alone" Killian groaned.

"I will, my pretty, I will" she put an innocent face.

"What kind of game is this?" Philip asked her.

"Nothing of your concern" she showed her devilish smiled again and, waving her hand, she turned the prince into a flying monkey, who flew away from there. "Now..."

"What do you want from me?" Killian asked her, his sword still pointing at her throat.

She didn't answer, instead, she disappeared in a green cloud to appear again behind Killian's back. Before he could react, she put her hand into his back and ripped his heart out.

"This is what I want" her eyes were wide-open because of her satisfaction and her smile showed all her white teeth. "Now, my new pet, let's go home."

Present - Storybrooke

Hidden in a deserted alley near Granny's, Killian was observing the twilight's sky. He'd been moving from one place to another for hours, trying to arrive at a decision, but it had been impossible and his nervousness and frustration had made everything worse. A lot of possibilities had crossed his mind during that afternoon: telling Belle, telling Regina, stealing the dagger and ordering Rumple to kill Zelena, attacking the Wicked Witch by himself, taking Aurora and Allan and running away from there... nothing seemed like a good idea, in fact, the latter ideas were directly stupid, very stupid. For God's sake, he was a smart man, why on earth couldn't he think about an intelligent plan?

He let a frustrated groan come out of his mouth and turned to look for another place to hide when Emma's voice sounded behind his back.

"Hook! Where have you been?" she asked.

"Busy" he simply answered, turning to face her. On that moment, a small voice started speaking into his mind: 'You're alone with her in an empty alley, kiss her and end with all this shit. She'll understand if you explain her right after. She would have done the same... just an I'm sorry Swan and you do it, it's easy' For some seconds, he was tempted to obey that voice, but his body seemed unable to move from the spot, his lips unable to produce any sound. 'Not now' said the voice 'think about it'

"I was going to Granny's" she explained, unaware of his thoughts "It's not like I have something better to do. Why don't you come with me? I'll invite you to a drink" he tried to say something but Emma didn't let him "I can show you my new abilities too... if you don't have anything to do."

"Okay" he surrendered and let the blonde guide him to the diner.

The place was empty, except for Granny's presence behind the counter. Once they were there, they sat at one of the tables and Emma asked for their drinks. When the owner had just left them on the table, Emma stood up, took her mug of cocoa with cinnamon and put it on the counter.

"Look at this" she told Hook and, focusing on the mug, she closed her eyes. The drink was teleported to their table again.

"Boom!" she screamed with joy "Granny's to go, I should open a franchise." she reunited with him with a wide smile.

"It's impressive." he agreed, just to please her.

"Do you want to see something really impressive?" she asked and, before he could answer, she waved her hand and his hook appeared hanging in the coat stand.

"That's bad form, Swan" he complained, standing up and taking the hook "Tampering with a man's hook..."

"Okay, sorry." the smile didn't fade away from her face "I just wanted to have some fun, I know this is not precisely the best day to play a joke on you."

"Don't worry, it's fine." but his voice didn't show that.

"How are the things with Aurora going?" she asked.

"We've talked." he answered with an attempt of smile. "We're better."

"That's good. But, if you two are better, why are you wandering out there with such a bad mood and wearing the hook?"

"The wicked witch's out there. I can't stay home doing nothing."

"Liar." she looked him in the eyes. There wasn't any trace of a smile on her face "Aurora told me you're worried about something, and I'm seeing it with my own eyes."

They couldn't continue with the conversation because, on that exact moment, Belle entered Granny's with a book in her hands. She explained them what she'd discovered: that the Wicked Witch wanted to travel back in time and that, for that, she'd need four things, three of them already in her hands: the symbols of courage, brains and a heart but she still needed the most important ingredient: Snow and Charming's baby.

Emma called David and the four of them headed to Regina's home. When they arrived, they saw the former Evil Queen getting rid of a ghost (Cora's spirit, who had locked the two women after the rest had left the house) who just a second before was possessing Mary Margaret's body.

Then, after everyone had told their respective stories about Zelena and Cora and they'd made sure that Snow was fine with the help of Dr. Whale, Killian decided he had had enough action for the day. He knew he was running out of time but his brain was lazy for the moment. Maybe with the new dawn he would be more inspired. So, he said goodbye to everyone and, refusing David's offer to take him home, he walked out of the house.

.

There weren't any lights on the loft when he reached the building. When he reached the second floor and opened the door, he knew why. Aurora was already sleeping, surely so tired because of the sleepless night she'd spent because of him that she'd fallen asleep right after leaving Allan in the crib. 'Better' he thought. He wasn't on the mood for speaking with anyone. He looked at her for some seconds, how beautiful she was. Then, he went to the kitchen to find something to eat and, after taking a look at the baby and checking he was perfectly fine, he went to bed early too, hugging Aurora carefully with one of his arms. The last thing he thought about before falling asleep was a reminder: his first priority was to protect his family.