"Mom? Is everything okay?"

Henry's voice carried across the yard. Emma turned slowly, trying to keep her face from showing how awful she felt inside.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Emma took a deep breath and blinked hard a couple of times. "Hey, do you want to try using me for practice? I can swing a sword with the best of them."

"Okay." Henry handed her a sword. "Are you and Hook fighting?"

"It's nothing, Henry. Just a disagreement."

Henry looked at her thoughtfully. "He doesn't like to see you with Dad."

"Henry..."

"What? You're pretty and he likes you. I'm not a little kid, Mom. I get it."

"Great." Emma rolled her eyes.

"Grandpa says he's really changed since we first met him. I think maybe he just got typecast."

"Typecast?"

"As the villain. Like Regina, and Mr. Gold. But people aren't born good or bad. You have to look at their choices."

"You're a smart kid, Henry."She ruffled his hair.

"I think he's making better choices now because he likes you. You're a good influence."

Emma looked away for a moment. "C'mon, let's get some practice in."

"Hold up!" David's voice called from the doorway. He walked out into the yard. "Hey, Henry."

"Mom was going to practice with me, but you can take her spot if you want."

Emma shook her head. "Replaced already. I'll go get some lemonade if you two want to get started."

"Wait, I need to talk to you first," David said. "Why don't you grab the lemonade, Henry?"

They watched him go and then Emma turned back to David.

"So, what's up?"

"Well first of all, how are you? You shouldn't be sword fighting with that shoulder, you know."

"It's fine now. I managed to heal it myself."

"Magic?" David looked impressed.

"Yeah, go figure."

"I managed to find out a little more about the man who attacked you. He's hiding out in the forest somewhere. The dwarves and a few of the townspeople have formed a search party - they'll root him out. According to the barmaid at the Rabbit Hole, Gold beat the hell out of him a while back over some perceived slight against Belle. And he's got a serious grudge against Neal, as well."

"Yeah, I gathered that."

"And while we're on the subject...what were you doing sniffing around down there, anyway?"

Emma tilted her head back and shoved her hands in her back pockets.

"I was checking up on Neal." At David's questioning look, she elaborated. "He blew off his night with Henry and I wanted to know why."

"You think there's someone else?"

Emma looked taken aback. "No. I don't know. I mean, I guess there could be. I just wanted to know what he was getting involved in. The Rabbit Hole isn't exactly known for its sterling reputation. I thought maybe..." She let out a sigh. "I don't know."

David laid a fatherly hand on her back. "You don't trust him, Emma."

"He's a good man, David. He's a good father."

"He is. And you still don't entirely trust him. Not the way you need to."

"No, I guess I don't."

"You ready?" Henry called out. He set the pitcher of lemonade and a stack of cups on the table.

"Sure." David grabbed a sword, and before he could get into his stance, Henry attacked, pushing forward with a series of rapid thrusts and parries that ended with a fast circle that pulled David's sword from his hand.

"Whoa!" David exclaimed. "You've been practicing!"

"Hook's been teaching me," Henry said, panting. "I never thought I'd be able to do that."

"If we ever get back to the Enchanted Forest, I might just hire him to train the royal guard. Nice job, Henry!"

Emma smiled in spite of herself, imagining Hook dressed like some royal dandy. As if he'd ever take a job like that.

"Let's go again!" Henry called out.

"Okay, but this time I'm ready for you." David said, taking a swing at him. Emma headed back into the house, leaving the two of them to their practice. David was right - Henry had come a long way under Hook's tutelage.

She closed her eyes as memories flooded her of a different kind of skill set that Hook employed with the same dedication. She opened the door, and found Mary Margaret sitting at her breakfast bar.

"Hey." She gave Mary Margaret a nod and then threw herself down on the couch.

"You look better!" Mary Margaret came and sat down next to her.

"I healed myself. With magic."

"Really? What a smart idea!" Mary Margaret prodded her shoulder.

"I can't take credit for it. Hook told me to try."

Mary Margaret's eyes shifted up the stairs as her voice lowered to a whisper. "He's not still here, is he?"

"No. He left when Neal showed up with Henry."

Mary Margaret put her hand over her mouth and her eyes were wide. "Oh no. Oh, Emma. Is everything okay?"

Emma bent over, shoving her face down in her hands. "No. No, it's not."

Mary Margaret put her hand on Emma's back, rubbing. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Emma peeked out from between her fingers at her mother. "Neal kissed me. In front of Hook."

"Hook stayed all night?"

"Yeah."

"And...?"

Emma's silence and single arched brow filled in the rest of the story for Mary Margaret.

"I see. And you're having serious regrets."

Emma dropped her head into her hands again with a groan. "No. That's the problem. I don't regret a second of it."

Mary Margaret carefully concealed her smile. "So why did you kiss Neal?"

"He kissed me. And he timed it exactly right. Hook got the wrong idea and stormed off before I could tell him...oh, I don't know."

"You do know." Mary Margaret grabbed Emma's face between her hands. "You just don't want to say it out loud."

"He and I have this arrangement - it was supposed to just be physical. Then he comes over and holds me and it all goes to hell."

"Just physical?" Mary Margaret drew back, her face a mask of confusion. "Hell is exactly the right word. You care about him, Emma. He cares about you. You can't step part-way back from that. You're either all in or all out."

Emma's eyes filled with tears and she blinked them back. "Yeah, well, Hook made it clear this morning that he's out."

"Well then," Mary Margaret said, grasping Emma's hands in her own. "You have a decision to make. Do you let him go - because that would be easier - or do you use the courage that I know you have within you and tell him the truth?

Emma stared at her Mother, but no words came.

###

She'd spent the whole day in misery, second-guessing herself and changing her mind a half-dozen times. Mary Margaret was right - it would be easier to just leave things like they were. More importantly, it would probably be the right thing to do. Hook could go back to his life, she could go back to hers, and eventually this would all blow over.

Eventually.

And then she could spend the rest of her life wondering. And remembering.

Emma put her forehead down on her steering wheel. It was after ten, and she was parked at the dock. Mary Margaret and David had invited Henry over for the night just so that she would be free to do what she needed to do.

She knew that all she had to do was get out of the car, walk down the wharf and up onto the ship, and then knock on the cabin door.

And then she had to face a very, very angry man and tell him she was a coward, something he undoubtedly already guessed for himself, hence the anger.

Damn. Damn, damn, damn. Emma punctuated each thought with a bump of her forehead on the steering wheel. She'd faced a dragon, faced a woman intent on ripping her heart out, faced the absolute destruction of her home and her family, but none of that frightened her like the thought of telling one man the truth.

"You can do this, Swan. You can do this." She opened the car door and made her way down the dock, then up onto the ship. Thirty seconds later, she was standing in front of the cabin door.

Her hand balled into a fist, and she took a deep breath.

And then she knocked.