EMMA
"HOOK"
Emma felt, rather than saw Killian wince beside her at the words that tumbled out of Neal's mouth, in clear recognition.
"As in CAPTAIN Hook?" She asked, not able to stop herself from suggesting the very first thing that came to mind. Killian looked at her then saying simply
"Aye".
A rush of emotions flooded through Emma, and as much as this man certainly did not have a wax mustache or seem like a baboonish fairy tale villain, there were small pieces that seemed to click. The gold coin that looked very much like pirate treasure, the way he easily took down four men with excitement instead of fear... the way he had grinned at her last night at that movie, with its not so villainous "dread pirate Roberts" and holy shit! if she was the child of Snow White and Prince Charming as these three claimed, Princess Buttercup... Pirate and a Princess.
She felt denial, anger, shock, all kinds of feelings race through her, and was surprised at the one that surfaced when she went to finally respond. Laugher. She just began to giggle at the silliness of the situation. Tears tinged the corners of her eyes as she laughed at him. A villain. It figures. Such is her taste in men.
"Should you not have a Hook?" She finally managed to ask
"I did love, for a really long time, until I got my hand back, briefly at first from the dark one, and later, from your own magic..." He smiled at her smugly "Not that you ever minded the hook, always thought there was something sexy about it..." Emma looked into his face and that cheeky grin of his and rolled her eyes, but also grinned despite herself. Man, he was a fine looking man, which was saying something as the other two in the room where also not to shabby...
"Hey" Neal interrupted her thought, clearly upset about there interactions "You are telling me Hook -that my father just, what exactly... gave you back your hand one day out of the kindness of his heart? Since when did you stop trying to kill each other?"
"Let just say we called ourselves a truce. We simply occasionally blackmail, steal and manipulate the other, but no direct physical harm is allowed..." Killian said, and Emma could see the tension in him talking about Neal's father. She wondered at there history, and how a pirate could feel, if not exactly pure, then at the very least safe and trustworthy, which was a lot considering he believed himself a character from a children's novel and all...
"Is your ship here? Can we use it in this quest of yours?" Neal asked, and Emma wondered how much about him that she never really knew about. Either they really all were from another realm, or in the alternative, her first love was equally insane as the man beside her that despite herself was, well growing on her. Neal had always been vague about his past, and the obvious hurt he had faced there was part of what bonded them together, drew them into one. She looked over at August then, who had been silently taking it all in, and reminded herself, that all it took for Neal was to be told to leave her be and he had, without looking back. She tried to give him the credit for coming now to help, but the anger and hurt was still too fresh.
"No, I no longer have a ship, as I have traded in my days on the seas for a new life..." Killian stated pointing at the Sheriffs badge pinned still to his chest. " Of course, I will always be a bit of a pirate."
Emma watched the interaction between the men and wondered at their history. The dynamic, the tension was unusual, very difficult to place. From Killian, she got this sense of deep caring about Neal, and he seemed completely unconcerned about any romantic rival, which Emma thought spoke a lot about the solidity of their relationship, his trust in them if jealously was not surfacing. From Neal, she was getting a different vibe, certainly some jealously as he glanced at Killian (she refused to even think of him as Hook) and her hands, still clinging together, as if to face him, together as a team. Had she really only met him yesterday of all things...
"I told you I could change Bae... I would have changed for you, if you stayed, if you were willing to be a family together..:" Killian suddenly said softly, and Emma heard the pain and wistfulness in his voice and suddenly felt very uncomfortable about what type of "family" or history these two men had together. What the hell?
"You betrayed me when you did not tell me who you were from the beginning"
"I was consumed by revenge, but I cared Bae, I wanted us to stay together... to rebuild together..."
"You were too dark, too consumed by desire to kill my father... how could I have trusted that?.."
Emma watched this exchange, feeling increasingly uncomfortable at the tie these men had together. WTF, she thought, were they lovers? What the hell was going on. She was more startled by this than the idea that Killian was a fairy tale villain, which said a lot about her state of mind... she had no issues with bromance, but in this particular case she suddenly felt hot jealously creep over herself as she tried to struggle to understand the exchange. She looked over at August, but he was no help, clearly by the look of interest on his face equally unaware of the history that Emma's men shared.
Killian looked down at her then, remembering her presence, and smiled when he realized her misunderstanding,
"No love, not that kind of family..." he corrected her " I wanted to raise him like my son"
Emma raised her eyebrow at that, which seemed even weirder given that the men were roughly the same age than the conclusion she was jumping to on her own.
"His mother, Milah, was my first love. She left his father for me, and when he finally caught up to us, he ripped out her heart and crushed it in front of me, then cut off my hand. I escaped into Neverland, vowing my revenge, and came across Bae, then just a boy, Milah's boy. I was, like a step father to him, like Henry"
"Whose Henry?" Neal interjected to this and Emma gave Killian a warning look at that one and quickly interrupted to distract from the question she certainly did not want to explore with Neal.
"Your father murdered your own mother?"
"So the pirate claims" Neal said, but quickly sighed and amended it when Killian gave him a disgruntled look at that one, and Emma saw the regret flick across Neal's face " Okay yes, I told you my childhood was a little fucked up, I just left out the part where my father was the crocodile to Captain Hook here... can you blame me?"
"I hate to interrupt what appears to be a fascinating family reunion of sorts, but we should be focusing on the task at hand" August said, arms crossed having been forgotten about in the conversation.
"What do we need to do?"
KILLIAN
"What do we need to do?" August said, clearly wanting to end what was quickly becoming a convoluted and complicated situation.
Killian tried to focus on what he was saying, but he was caught up with the past, and Bae, and memories. He saw so much of Bae in Henry sometimes and he longed to talk to him about his son, and the man he was becoming. Henry was someone to be proud of, with the best qualities of his family. Strong and sure, he brought out the best in Killian, like Emma, the light.
He let go of Emma's hand, and reached across to hug him. He didn't care that Baelfire awkwardly patted him on the back, failing to reciprocate the hug as it wasn't really the point. Killian knew what the future held and wanted any moments that time travel managed to give to him to be warm and positive ones. Bae would be lost to him in the future, and he refused to inflict anymore pain on him then necessary to get home. He stepped back away, turning to Emma, the apprehension on her face mixing with another brick falling off that wall, struggling to let in the light and to just believe. She looked moved at the sight of them, and also a little horrified at the past colliding with what was apparently her future.
He smiled at her and said solidly, with the praise he wanted Neal to have "He is a hero you know, in the future. He helped us in Neverland get home, he helped us find the villain of the moment as well..."
He saw Neal be taken back a little by the words and tried to smile at him encouragingly. He watched his eyes flicker to the hand (and widen at the wedding band on it) and the Sheriffs badge pinned to his chest.
"I am not the only hero am I?" "It looks like you have been busy reinventing yourself." Neal paused giving him the once over. "I want to doubt it, but you are lighter, you feel lighter. He watched Neal's eyes flicker across him again and his far more respectiable appearance.
"I used to have a love affair with leather, jewelry and, what did you call it guyliner?" He said grinning wickedly at Emma. "I look devilishly handsome in tight leather pants"
"Seriously, what it the plan?" August interrupted again, becoming impatient, while Emma just slapped him lightly on the arm in response to his flirtation.
"I have money" Killian said handing the $10,000.00 to Baelfire, trusting him despite his thief past far more than August. "I need you two to go and work together and get three potions to take away Emma and your memories at the end of this while I work on getting the box I stole from Rumple working again with Emma."
"I know the ingredients, but we need someone able to cast the spell to make it"
Killian nodded at Bae, and looked over at Emma. He already had enough on his plate with her to get her to love at the intensity necessary to unleash her white magic into that box. Mixing a potion was another thing entirely, and he would have no idea how to get her to do that. Raw magic in one direction was one thing, spell casting required a finesse that this Emma would not have without the help of Regina or Gold teaching her.
"I know someone in the Far East who can make the potion", August reminded "But even with airplanes it will take over a day, maybe two to get there and back." Killian watched him look meaningfully to Neal and start to move towards the door "We should get going now, to get all this done befor Emma turns 28 and it all begins to start."
Killian nodded, and added
"I am sorry for this mates" He said as sincerely as he could manage. "And I thank you for your willingness to help." "I knew better than to mess with anything Rumplestikin had on his person, even though we are part of the same family now, we still struggle with our history." He grinned at Emma "At least when I get back the future version of you will protect me from his wrath..."
"I'm sorry... what? What do you mean family?" He winced at that, realizing his mistake and looked guiltily at Emma who was giving him a death glare. He signalled her to speak since it was her story to tell.
"Apparently Killian here is my husband in the future" Emma said, shrugging, trying to take the hit off Neal by being as casual as possible despite the deep feelings she actually felt on the topic.
"Which does not explain how that make Hook and my father family" Killian watched the exchange wanting to comfort both of them, disgusted at himself that he has caused this big mess with his carelessness putting them through this unnecessary pain. He could see the hurt flow between them, almost like a wave of energy vibrating across the room. Black and blue in color and bruising them both.
"We have a son, , Neal. When you left me I was pregnant. I gave him up for adoption but apparently he was raised in this Storybrooke which is cursed and he is coming for me"
Killian felt bad for Neal as he watched the anger, regret and confusion dance across the man's face. His face first red in anger and then colourless in his pain.
"His name is Henry"