"Well, doesn't this look cozy?" Regina smirked when she walked into her living room to find Emma and little Hook locked in an intense stare. Her smile only widened when Emma flinched and nearly dropped the pirate who had been sitting in the palm of her hand.
"Did you find what we need?" Emma asked ignoring, perhaps avoiding, the mayor's accusation.
"I have been practicing magic since you were a twinkle in Charming's eye, Miss Swan. I know how to put together a simple growth potion," Regina grumbled.
"Robin helped her," Henry offered as he came in with a book and a large cooper pot. "Got all the stuff from the car."
"Just take it in the kitchen, Henry. I will be there momentarily," Regina glared a bit at her son for selling her out.
"Robin and Regina sittin' in tree," Emma began to sing, before Regina slapped the blonde's mouth shut with a flick of her wrist.
"It would be wise not to test the patience of the only person capable of grow-your-own-pirate magic," she growled, stomping off to the kitchen with Emma and little Hook not far behind.
The kitchen started to smell like a swamp, as Regina explained Emma and Henry on how to prepare ingredients.
"No eye of newt?" Emma joked.
"Eye of newt is very hard to come by this time of year," Regina mumbled, focusing on her own task.
"I feel like I'm in Professor Snape's class, Mom. This is so cool," Henry grinned, stirring the concoction with a glass rod.
"I'll remember that when you start chemistry next year and complain about all the homework," Regina chuckled.
"He's really going to have to drink this sludge?" Emma wrinkled her nose, adding minced mouse liver.
"We could let him stay that size, I guess. Seems to cause less trouble that way," Regina shrugged indifferently.
"No, I need him in fighting shape if we are going to take down your sister," Emma insisted.
Regina rolled her eyes, the savior was a fool if she thought her pirate would be any help in the fight against the wicked witch.
"Step back there might be a bit of a bang," Regina warned, moving in front of Henry, before dropping in the feather. With a wave of her hand and a loud pop, the potion became a vivid purple. Conjuring a tiny cup, she filled it with potion and handed it to Hook. When the cloud of purple smoke cleared, full sized Hook sat on the counter.
"Miss me, Love?" he grinned lecherously at Emma, who rolled her eyes, hiding her blush.
"There's a child in the room," Regina groaned.
"Apologizes, highness," Hook said, hopping off the counter. "Good to see you again, Lad. How was life in the land with no magic?"
"It was good, Emma let me eat pizza like three times a week," Henry answered, causing Regina to scowl at Emma, who in turn scowled at Henry.
"What happened to what happened in New York stays in New York?" Emma grumbled.
"We can discuss your lack knowledge in regards to the nutritional needs of children later, Miss Swan. It is getting late, and I have a witch to destroy tomorrow," Regina pointed out.
Henry decided to spend the night with Regina, leaving Emma alone with Hook on the way to Granny's. She expected him to bombard her with innuendo to minute they got in the car, but the pirate was unusually quiet as he inspected his ship, still trapped in the bottle.
"We'll figure out a way to get her back sailing size," Emma promised.
"I know," Hook answered absently.
"Then why do you look like someone just kicked your dog?"
"Do you believe in fate, Swan?"
"Yes," she whispered, surprising him. "I was on my way out of town the night Henry first found me, but I wrecked my car because there was a wolf in the road. There hadn't been a wolf in Storybrooke in 28 years, but the night I was leaving, there was a wolf. It stopped me."
Again they lapsed into silence until they reached their destination. When they arrived, Ruby set Hook up with a room just down the hall from Emma. Slowly they made their way up the stairs, both anxious to be apart but neither willing to admit it. Both laid in bed long after they had parted thinking about fate and finding happiness and cursed kisses and what true love really meant.