So here's the chapter that I have been the most nervous about writing since I started this fic: The Fairy-Tales are real reveal. I have been agonizing over this for weeks, so I hope it's ok!

Just to get some things cleared up. Killian always wears his prosthetic when he's outside of Storybrooke, and when they first got Katie he didn't want to scare her. Now he switches between them pretty freely. I thought that Katie wouldn't question it, seeing as we had a caretaker at my primary school who had a hook for a hand and no-one really commented on it (expect for a few boys who thought it was cool). And seeing as Katie has seen with the hook, hearing the kid's using the nickname of Hook at school may not have surprised her that much (I don't know that's just in my head).

As always thanks for the reviews/favourites/follows, and if you do have any questions let me know cause I should (hopefully) be able to answer them :)

Emma tapped her fingers nervously on the counter as she waited for a fresh batch of coffee. Her mind was reeling with trying to think of the best way to explain their mess of a life to Katie. One which hopefully wouldn't traumatize the young girl. She'd been through enough already. The blonde was starting to wonder if it was fair of them to bring Katie into this. If the home that they could offer her was worth the magical battles and accidental-realm-crossings. It was too late for that now though. Katie was their daughter. And she wouldn't be able to give her up for anything.

"Alright, love?" Killian came up behind his wife and pressed a kiss to her shoulder. He could feel the tension radiating off of her. His attempt at wrapping his arms around her waist was unsuccessful.

"No, I'm not alright Killian!" Emma snapped as she moved out of his reach. "How in the hell are we going to explain this?" The blonde gestured around them, as if the house was the source of her anxiety.

"I…I don't know, Swan." Killian reached for the book that he had placed on the table moments ago. "But I think this is the best place to start."

"The Storybook." Emma tentatively ran her fingers along the gold lettering. This book was what had led her to believing in the first place. It had been the key to breaking through Henry's false memories. Even the Black Fairy had acknowledged its importance when she had forced Emma to burn the book during her curse. Killian was right. It was as good a place to start as any. "Ok, and then what?"

"I don't love, I was hoping that you may be able to shed some light on that." Killian reached out to take Emma's hand in his own, but she pulled it from his grasp.

"And how am I supposed to do that? I have no idea what I'm doing with any of this." Emma felt her magic start to rush under her skin, and she tried to force herself to calm down.

"Emma, love, we've been over this. I thought that you'd accepted what we all know to be true; that you're a wonderful mother and the very best for Katie." Killian caught his wife's gaze and tried to make her see how much he believed in her. "If you're having doubts, perhaps looking over the literature again will-"

"Oh my god, the books aren't going to help with this!" Emma saw her husband flinch at her raised voice, but she was too riled up to stop herself. "They're not like here's information about raising a child who isn't biologically yours, how to make them feel safe in your home, oh yeh and here's how to tell them that fairytales are real and your whole family is from the fricking Enchanted Forest!"

"My apologies, Swan, I just thought that maybe they'd help with broaching difficult topics." Killian hung his head and nervously scratched behind his ear. Emma immediately felt like one of the worst people alive. Once again she had misdirected her emotions into anger at him, when he was only trying to help.

Emma didn't want to admit it, but she was scared. Katie was moving in with them in just over a week and they were nowhere near ready. She'd thought that she knew the foster system back to front, seeing as how she spent her entire childhood trapped in it. However, it was becoming startlingly obvious that she only knew about being a child in it. Her experience of being shoved from pillar to post, never having a place to call home, was a far cry away from what she wanted for Katie. She wanted to be able to give that girl everything, and hopefully adopt her one day. This she knew next to nothing about.

Killian had developed a way, sort of like a sixth sense, for knowing when Emma was troubled. She was an open book after all. Over the past few weeks, his wife had become more and more agitated. He knew that it was about Katie's impending arrival. But being Emma, she refused to ask for any help about it. She refused to even acknowledge her negative feelings. It was frustrating to say the least.

The pirate arrived home from the station and found Emma sitting on their bed deep in thought. It was clear by the look on her face that she was at war with herself. Luckily, Killian had devised a plan. He was going to put all of his concerns over Katie on the table, so hopefully Emma would feel that she wasn't alone in all of this.

"Hello love." Killian smiled as she jumped at the sound of his voice. As always, his Swan quickly masked her worried features with a less-than-convincing smile.

"Hey babe." Emma pressed her lips against her husband's as he sat down across from her. "How was your day?"

"Alright. I and your father spent most of it dealing with a filing issue." Killian took his wife's hand in his own and rubbed his thumb over her wedding ring. "How about yours?" He felt Emma stiffen slightly before she gave herself a little shake.

"Fine. Pretty uneventful really." Emma went to get up from the bed, but her husband's hand tightened around her own. Her brow furrowed as settled back down. "You ok?"

"I was wondering if I could talk to you, Swan." Killian took a deep breath. Emma nodded her head at him to continue. "I've already told you that I'm worried about being a good father to Katie. That I'm not sure if I can be the man that she needs me to be." He sees Emma go to argue against his points, so he puts his hand up to stop her. "And you have no idea how much it has helped to know that you believe in me. In my abilities to be a good father."

"It's true, Killian." Emma ran her free hand over her husband's jaw.

"Aye, love. I'm not saying this today to ask for your reassurance once again, although I am sure that I will be in need of it at some point in the not-so-distant future." Killian saw Emma blink at him in confusion, but he kept going. "I just wanted to thank you for allowing me to share my fears with you. I know that if I'd of kept them to myself all of this time, that they would surely be eating me from the inside right now." He thought it best to try to subtly approach the subject; give Emma the gentle push she needed to open up to him.

"You're welcome." Emma leant in to press a kiss to her husband's lips. She knew that Killian was hinting for her to talk now, and she hoped that a good kiss would make him drop it.

"Is there anything you would like to share, love?" Killian pulled back and fixed Emma with a pointed stare. He knew what she was doing and, as irresistible as he found her, he was determined to get her to talk to him.

"Nope. Not that I can think of." Emma whispered as her mouth made its way to his ear. She heard him moan as she bit down on his earlobe, and thought that would be the end of it.

"Emma." Killian growled in frustration as he stood up from the bed, putting some much needed distance between them. "Would you stop being so stubborn and just talk to me?"

"About what?" Emma's attempt at feigning ignorance only angered Killian further.

"Bloody hell, Emma! All I want is to know what's troubling you so that I can help you. Why is that so bloody difficult?" Killian a hand down his face as he attempted to keep his anger in check. This was not how this discussion was supposed to go.

"Because there's nothing to say." Emma huffed as she collapsed onto her back on the bed.

"And you're sticking with that, are you?" Killian raised his voice as he saw Emma squeeze her eyes shut. God, his wife was the most frustrating woman he had ever met. "Fine, you know what…just…"

Emma only opened her eyes when she heard the front door slam. She'd really done it this time. She cried silently as it hit her that he walked away from her; something that he very rarely did due to her past abandonment issues. It had only happened a handful of times, when he was so mad at her that he couldn't stand to be in the same room as her. Every time that it happened she felt like that was it. She'd finally pushed him too far and he was leaving her. Every time she curled in on herself and cried about her lost love. And every time, he came back to her.

This time was no exception.

Killian walked back in not even an hour later. He placed a few plastic bags next to her on the bed before going in search of his rum. Emma waited of him to go before she emptied the contents of each bag. They were all full of books. Some were as small as pamphlets, others were huge volumes. There was even a folder filled with print-outs from online articles. And they all had something to do with adoption and the foster system. Emma nearly began to cry again, but this time it was because of how thoughtful her pirate was.

"I thought that just because you won't talk to me, doesn't mean that you shouldn't have your worries and doubts answered." Killian leaned against the door frame with a tumbler of rum in his hand. Emma wasted no time in making her way over to her husband and throwing herself in his arms. The rum sloshed over her top, but she barely even noticed.

"I love you." Emma breathed out as she buried her face into his neck.

"I know you do." Killian pressed a kiss into his true love's hair before taking her hand in his and going to sit on the bed. "I love you too, my stubborn lass."

They spent that evening, along with the few that followed, pouring over the books that Killian had checked out from the library. Eventually, Emma agreed to confide her worries in Killian one night as they lay in their darkened room. He'd listened and made absolutely no judgements, as always.

"No, I'm sorry." Emma huffed as she allowed her husband to pull her into his arms. She blinked back tears as her anxieties still raged within her. "I just… I don't know if I can do this."

"I know you can." Killian pressed his lips to his wife's forehead, before pulling back to cup her cheek. He could see the doubt in her eyes and he wished to erase it.

"What if I can't? I'm not ready for this." Emma looked down in defeat.

"Alright, come here." Killian led her back towards the table and looked pointedly at the seat behind her. "Sit down." Emma sighed, but did as requested, and Killian sat next to her. "There may have been another reason to me borrowing Henry's book. I wanted to tell you a story."

"A story?" Both parent's looked up at the sound of their daughter's voice. Katie had her teddy clutched in one arm as she made her way into the kitchen.

"Sweetie, I thought we told you to get some sleep." Emma ran her hand through her daughter's hair as the girl stood in front of her.

"I umm… I woke up." Katie shrugged as she averted her eyes from her mother's. The truth was she had been asleep, until the raised voices from downstairs woke her. When it went quiet, she came down to see if everything was alright.

"Katie, I really think-" Emma started to send the young girl back upstairs, but Katie turned towards Killian.

"Were you going to tell Mommy a story?" Katie asked as her eyes fell on the storybook. It was so pretty, with the gold lettering and the border around the edges.

"Aye, that I was princess." Killian answered with a smile. He suddenly had an idea; a way to kill two birds with one stone. "Would you like to hear it?"

"Yes!" Katie's eyes went wide as she clambered onto her mother's lap, keeping her eyes on the book.

"Killian…" Emma's sigh was laced with uncertainty, even as her arms went around her daughter. She could see where he was going with this, and she definitely didn't feel ready.

"Ah shush shush shush, it's story time." Killian held up a finger to her lips, before reaching down to open the heavy book.

"Yeh, mommy, shush." Katie's voice was so strict that it caused Emma to bite her lip to keep from laughing. Her eyes meant Killian's, whose orbs were also filled with amusement.

"Ok." Emma gave him a small smile before nuzzling her face into her daughter's hair.

"Once upon a time, there lived a princess called Snow White who fell in love with a shepherd-" Killian had always had a knack for telling stories; his voice was soothing and enticing at the same time.

"No she didn't." Katie giggled as she shook her head at her father. "She fell in love with a prince."

"Ah but you see, lass, that's just what the world thought. He was born a shepherd and only became a prince in order to save his mother." Killian spoke softly as he revealed the truth about Charming's upbringing. "However, that is a story for another day."

"I like him even better now." Katie smiled as she leant back against her mother's chest. Emma would make sure to remember to tell her father that their daughter preferred his story to the well-known version.

"Well that you should because he's a good man. That's why Snow White fell in love with him. The prince managed to wake the princess from a curse with True Love's kiss. However, the Evil Queen vowed to kill Snow White and separate these two." Killian tapped the picture of his in-laws on their wedding day. "But no matter what she tried, they always found each other. So the Evil Queen went in search of a way to take away their happy ending."

"Did she find it?" Katie worried her bottom lip between her teeth. The story she'd always known was the one which ended with Snow White marrying her Prince Charming. And it said that they lived happily ever after.

"Aye." Killian winced when he saw Katie's eyes start to well up, so he quickly added. "Or she thought that she had. It was called the Dark Curse. Its purpose was to take everyone from their lives in the Enchanted Forest and bring them here, to our world."

"Did it work?" Katie stared at the page he father had flipped to. It was a picture of the Evil Queen standing before a cloud of purple smoke which was coming out of a cauldron. She guessed that was her casting the dark curse.

"The Evil Queen did indeed succeed in casting the curse. However, there was one thing that she didn't bargain for. Snow White was about to have a child, a very special little girl who was foretold to be The Saviour. You see, true love can break any curse, and so could she because that's what she was made of."

"She had magic?" Katie asked with bright eyes and a wide smile. She'd always loved the idea of magic and, although she knew that it wasn't real, she allowed herself to get swept up in her father's story.

"That she did." Killian once again turned the page, this time to the image of David putting baby Emma into the wardrobe.

"Her name's Emma, like you." Katie gasped as she tilted her head to look up at her mother. There was a look on the blonde's face that she couldn't quite work out. Emma nodded her head at her daughter as she tried not to show how nervous she was.

"To escape the Evil Queen's curse, Prince Charming had to put their new-born daughter into a magical wardrobe which would take her to our world." He lifted his eyes to his wife's and gave her a reassuring smile. His love had had such a traumatic start to her life, and then had spent 28 years alone thinking that nobody had ever wanted her. Killian understood why the Charming's did what they did, but it still hurt him to know the pain Emma went through.

"She was all alone?" Katie's voice quivered as she sank further into her mommy's arms. She knew what it felt like to be alone, and she wouldn't want that to happen to anyone; especially not the daughter of a fairy-tale princess.

"They did it to give her her best chance." Emma spoke for the first time since the story began. "And they knew they'd see her again. It was prophesised that she would return on her 28th birthday and break the curse."

"That's a long time." Katie was still not convinced. There had to be another way. Snow White and Prince Charming were heroes, so how could they send their daughter away?

"That it is. But they had hope that she would save all of them." Killian flipped through the book until he found the pages that he was after. The pages that Henry had added dictating their time in Storybrooke. "So on her 28th birthday, Emma Swan, the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming had a knock at her door. It was her son, Henry, coming to bring her to Storybrooke to break the curse and bring back the happy endings."

"Her son is called Henry…" Katie stared at the picture that her father had turned directly in front of her. It was of a woman and a young boy, not much older than her, driving in a car. The car was bright yellow like her mother's. The boy had a storybook on his lap which looked exactly like the one they were reading. And the woman. Well she was the spitting image of her mother. "I don't…I don't get it…"

"Sweetheart, all of the stories in this book are true. They actually happened." Emma's voice shook as she cupped her daughter's cheeks in her hands.

"They're… just stories." Katie shakes her head as she removes herself from her mother's arms.

"I know that this a lot to take in, it was for me when I first came here." Emma's heart clenches as she sees the confusion and fear in her daughter's eyes. This was exactly why she didn't want to do this. "Please, just trust us…"

"You're…. you're crazy." Katie feels tears come to her eyes as she buries her face in her teddy's fur. Of course the only people who want her are out of their minds. She thought she'd found a family here, a real one, but it's a fantasy.

"Sweetheart-" Emma stands and goes to reach out for their little girl.

"Stay away from me." Katie cries as she stumbles out of Emma's reach. Her parents actually think that fairytales are real. There are no fairy-godmothers in this world. No wishes on stars coming true.

Emma lets out a sob as her daughter stares at her with terror. She's ready to tell her that they made it up. That it was all a practical joke which they took too far and that they're sorry.

"Princess, remember earlier today? How do you think we found you?" Killian stays seated as he doesn't want to overwhelm Katie. In hindsight this may have not been the best way to tell her, but then neither of them could think of a better one. He is not about to give up though.

"Umm…" Katie thinks back to that morning, when she was lying in the woods. She remembers seeing her scarf flying towards her. But she'd shrugged it off as impossible. Or maybe the wind had picked it up.

"And remember that you'd hurt your ankle? But then mommy fixed it, didn't she?" Killian prodded as he saw the girl's tears dry up. He held his breath as his daughter's eyes flitted between him and Emma.

"How did you do it?" Katie finally asked when her gaze landed on her mother. She took a step forward, and saw both her parents sag with relief. Emma gave her a watery smile before slowly kneeling in front of her daughter.

"With magic." Emma clasped the small hands within her own. Her heart was beating so fast that it was giving her a headache, but she kept her eyes firmly locked on Katie's. Emma knew that the young girl, like her, had a good ability to tell whether people were lying.

"Can you…" Katie's voice was so small, so unsure, that Killian got up to kneel down beside his wife. He took one of his daughter's hands from Emma's, entwining it with his own. "Can you show me some?"

Emma smiled warmly at the question, but she didn't answer it with words. Instead she held out her free hand and made a multi-coloured star appear above her palm. Katie gasped as she stared down at her mother's creation. That was magic. There was no doubt about it. Magic was real. And her mommy had it.

"Wow. That's really pretty." Katie smile as the star became a diamond and then a heart before her very eyes. It finally settled on being a flower, with the petals alternating from pink to purple. Where the other shapes had looked more like shimmering lights, this one was like a real object.

"Every beautiful girl deserves flowers." Emma took hold of the flower by the stem and tucked it behind Katie's ear. The young girl's giggle was music to her parent's ears. "Isn't that right?"

"Right you are, love." Killian beamed as he brought his daughter's hand up to his lips. "Only the best for our princess."

"You're a princess!" Katie suddenly exclaims as she looks at Emma with wide eyes.

"Yeh… I mean… I guess…" Emma shoots Killian a look when he lets out a small chuckle. He knows that, no matter how far his wife has come, she's never felt like a princess.

"That's so cool!" Katie bounces up and down in excitement. She throws her arms around her mother, who hugs her back tightly. The girl's squeal goes right down Emma's ear, but she doesn't pull away from her daughter. "That means grandma's Snow White! And grandpa's Prince Charming!"

"Aye, lass. And you know what that makes you, don't you?" Killian laughs as Katie's head whips around towards him. She shakes her head at his raised eyebrow. "Well a princess, of course." Katie's mouth drops open and she pulls back to look at her mother's face.

"He's right. Granddaughter of Snow White and Prince Charming. You're royalty." Emma nods her head as Katie's smile gets impossibly wider. She uses her magic to conjure a tiara that she places on top of the girl's brown waves.

"All hail, Princess Katie." Killian gives a dramatic bow that definitely belongs to a prince in the Enchanted Forest. Emma laughs as Katie gives a royal wave to her imaginary subjects.

"Daddy?" Katie stops and turns to him with a furrowed brow. "Are you like a prince or something?"

"No, lass, I'm not." Killian feels Emma slip her hand into his and give it a squeeze. She knows how worried he is that their daughter will no longer look up to him once Katie knows that he was a villain. Emma has complete faith that Katie's love for her dad won't falter. "I'm…umm…I'm Captain Hook."

"Really?" Katie looks her father up and down, her eyes resting on his hook. Her eyes go wide as she makes the connection. She always knew that her daddy had a fake hand, it had never bothered her. On the occasions that she'd seen him with a hook instead of a black glove, she'd just assumed that having the hook made certain tasks easier. Katie reaches out to run her finger over his hook, before she bursts into giggles.

"What's so funny, princess?" Killian questions, although he has a pretty good idea given that Henry made him watch the Disney version of himself a few years ago. He has a good mind to sue Disney for the completely inaccurate, and just plain ridiculous, portrayal of himself.

"You looked really weird." Katie comments before she starts laughing even harder. Emma loses her battle with her own laughter and tears start to stream down her cheeks.

"For your information, Katie, I never looked anything like that." Killian huffed as he watched his two girls collapse in laughter at him. He tried to be mad, but seeing them both so happy made a smile appear on his face.

#

They'd talked to Katie for a long time; going through the storybook with her and answering any questions that she had. She'd managed to convince Killian to put on Peter Pan; Emma just rolled her eyes as her pirate turned to putty at their daughter's pleas. The young girl fell asleep not halfway through the film, so Killian carried her up to her bed.

"I think that went rather well, love." Killian slipped into the covers next to his wife and pulled her into his side.

"Hmm, I guess." Emma's response was much less enthusiastic than his had been. Killian wrapped his arms around her, sighing as she snuggled further into him. "I just…I think we should still take her to see Archie."

"The cricket?" They'd discussed having Katie go to him for help with dealing with the change to her reality. "The lass seemed to accept everything pretty well."

"I know, and I'm pleased. It's just… what happens when all of the initial excitement about princesses and magic wears off. I feel like it hasn't sunk in yet what this really means, and I think we should be prepared for when it does." Emma drew nonsensical patterns into her husband's chest hair, enjoying the feel of it under her fingertips.

"Well, if you think that's best." Killian leant down to press to his wife's forehead and he felt her tense ever so slightly. "No, that's not it. Emma, talk to me."

"You're right. I've been thinking about this for a while, what with her panic attacks and her selective mutism I thought it might be a good idea. After what happened today at school. We can't be there to watch over her every minute of every day, as much as we want to be. She needs to learn there are ways out of stuff which isn't running away." Emma rested her chin on her pirate's chest so that she could see his reaction.

"And you think Archie can help her with that?" Killian ran his hand through her long hair. It wasn't that he was opposed to the idea, but this was their baby girl and he needed to make sure that they did right by her.

"He used to help Henry." Emma rested a hand over his mouth when Killian went to argue. "Yes, I know, that was under the curse. But Archie did help him when he was going through some stuff as a young kid. Also I was able to confide in him when I had things going on, and so did you." She moved her hand to Killian's jaw when he visibly softened at her words. "She's been through a lot, can't hurt to talk about it." His eyes stared into her with wonder and she began to feel slightly self-conscious. "What?"

"I'm impressed, Swan. You've come a long way in accepting help when it's needed." Killian leant down to press a kiss to his wife's lips.

"Well you're the one who's always reminding me how important it is to share my feelings." Emma smiled warmly as she settled back against her husband.

"Aye, love. We'll bring it up with Katie tomorrow, see how she'd feel about having a few sessions." Killian reached to turn off the light on his bedside table, sending the room into darkness.

"I'm glad you're on board." Emma yawned as Killian rested his head on top of hers. "Obviously one, if not both of us, would go with her. I'm not sending her in there alone."

"Glad to hear it, Swan." Killian hummed as he pressed a kiss into her hair, inhaling the scent of cinnamon from her shampoo.