The Underworld

One Year Ago

"That is...quite the story," Graham managed, after Emma had given him the condensed version of why there were there.

"I know." It sounded fantastical to her own ears, so how would Graham, who remembered her only by her walled-off persona, be able to reconcile the tale with the Emma he knew?

If he had any further reservations about her explanation, though, he kept them to himself. "Unfortunately, Emma, I haven't seen anybody of that description." Peering at her beneath his mop of hair, Graham asked hesitantly, "Are you completely sure he's here?"

"Yes," Emma said without hesitation. She didn't want to profess it aloud, especially not with Gold there, but...

She could have sworn she felt it. Killian was near. He was close to her. Somewhere.
Graham looked down at his clasped hands. "I don't mean to sound cruel, Emma, but...It's possible he moved on."

"Moved on?" David repeated, searching for clarification.

"Yeah, this place is for those who have unfinished business," Graham stated. "They have to figure out what it is before they can move on – you know, to the ending they've earned – either for good, or for bad."

"Then why are there so many people here?" Emma wondered. "I mean, shouldn't more have-"

The huntsman grimaced and stared at the apartment's window, through which filtered the Underworld's ambient red light. "Because he won't let us move on."

"Hades," Emma muttered, recalling what he'd told her earlier. "Why won't he?"

"I don't know. Even for as long as I have been down here, I still don't know anything about him. He's not exactly sociable." Rising from the couch, Graham went to the kitchenette and poured a glass of water. "Anybody else want one?"

Emma, David, and Gold each shook their heads.

"I do this out of habit, you know. We can't really eat or drink; not like we could before." Graham glared into the glass before taking a sip. "In any case, I know a way to tell if your – If Killian is still here or not. We have to go to the graveyard."

"A graveyard?" Alarmed, Emma stood. True, this place seemed to be modeled after Storybrooke, and Storybrooke did have a cemetery, but having one in the Underworld seemed redundant, to say the least. "Why? What's in the graveyard?"

Rumpelstiltskin grinned. "Your boyfriend's headstone, naturally. Very clever idea, Huntsman. Allow me to pick something up from my shop along the way, and I will meet you there."

"I don't think so," David warned, heading off Gold before he could reach the front door. "We let you go out on your own, and you'll be on the next boat out of here. Nice try, but you're not leaving unless Hook is on that boat next to you."

Gold gesticulated with his hand towards Emma. "You have quite supportive parents, given that they're so willing to defend you in your kidnapping of me."

Emma scoffed. "If you're kidnapped, then Maleficent is a gecko. Puh-lease."

"Regardless, the item I need to procure will allow you to contact Hook directly. Is that not what you want?"

Emma thought it over, weighing the desire to find Killian against the probability of Gold lying. Killian won.

"Fine. But if you don't show -"

"Oh, I'll be there, Miss Swan. You can count on it."

Storybrooke

Present day

When Swan returned to the constable's facility, it was clear to Killian that something significantly vexing had beset her during her errand.

Clutching a flimsy paper bag, she came rushing into the building, straight to her child, and Killian debated asking her what was wrong.

Unable to recover Ariadne from Graham fast enough, Emma pressed the infant's cheek to her own and cradled her head with her free hand, as if trying to hold her as close as possible. "Dad," she croaked. "Graham. I think I screwed up. Really bad."

Interest roused Killian from the cot. This was not Emma's devastation of earlier in the morning, when the memory potion didn't work on him. This, he could tell, was sheer horror and uncontrollable panic.

A giant was incapable of stymieing Swan. He couldn't imagine what could induce this kind of reaction.

"What happened?" The ever vigilant David moved to her side and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Emma? Talk to me."

"Did the Da-" Graham interjected with a note of concern; then, squinting through the bars at Killian, revised his question. "Did the...dog escape?"

The deputy's hand, Killian saw, was going back to his belt for the device which he'd earlier wanted to use on Blackbeard. Killian didn't know precisely what it was, but instinctively felt sure it was some kind of weapon.

The man was that concerned about a mere dog? Unlikely.

Eyes squeezed shut, obviously trying to regain some composure, Emma shook her head. "Um, no, Graham. He didn't. But something happened...with him."

Laughing dryly, Killian remarked, "Are we talking about a normal dog, or Cerberus?" They were deliberately speaking in pseudonyms, and for his benefit. What were they trying to keep from him?

"Ironic you should say that," Graham breathed, whilst the Prince chastised, Not now, Hook.

"We need to talk about it, guys," Emma told her colleagues. "Right now, I...I don't know how to fix this." Nodding towards a cordoned off section of the room, Emma went on, "Let's go to the office."

At least, Killian reflected, the office in question was conveniently constructed with several large windows; and though he wouldn't be able to hear the conversation, he could observe them.

"Sounds good," David agreed. "Want me to take Adi?"

Uncomfortably, Emma stammered, "That's okay, Dad. I got her."

More confused than slighted, the Prince asked, "Are you sure? You seem awfully upset."

"I just kind of want to keep her close right now." Still troubled, she approached Killian's cell, shifted the baby, and offered Killian the bag she had brought with her into the building. "Here. I know you didn't get a chance to eat breakfast because of Blackbeard. It's not as good as Granny's hot meals, but you always were crazy about her cheese danishes, for some reason. I grabbed it when I got my bear claw. I'll be back to let you out in a couple of minutes. I'd release you now, but I need to talk to you before that happens, and this -" Her attention fell to the little one in her arms. "This is more important right now."

Whatever Swan's fears were, they were surely related to her child, and somehow he couldn't be angry with her for that. "Well, at least now when you lock me up, you're warning me beforehand. I suppose that is a step in the right direction. Perhaps next time, you won't imprison me at all," he commented, neither arguing nor condoning her decision.

Ariadne vocalized shrilly, stretching her pudgy hand in the direction of Killian's necklace. Before he could evade the curious fingers, she had snatched the chain and a good portion of the hair on his chest.

This alone stung enough to almost bring water to his eyes. But then she pulled.

"SwANN!" He would never have admitted his voice rose several octaves on the last half of the name; but all the same, he was glad Blackbeard was not conscious to hear it.

"Adi, let go!" Emma carefully pulled her daughter's vise-like hand away, digit by agonizing digit. "Killian, she's sorry."

Ariadne didn't look sorry – in fact, not an iota of apology was to be found. She was dimpling up at Killian, little indents in her cheeks promising that she had not forgotten her prize, and would endeavor to claim the necklace again at a more convenient time. "She's a menace. A pirate in training."

"I won't argue that," she replied, distracted and obviously still distressed. "Eat your danish."

The bag was stuffed unceremoniously into his hand, and then Emma gathered her associates and withdrew into the office.

Killian consumed his baked treat as he watched them. The morsel had far more sugar than the fare to which he was familiar, but delicious nonetheless. Swan had chosen well.

As he had predicted, the walls of the room chosen for her conference were thick enough that he was not privy to the trio's actual conversation, so he had to rely on their gestures and facial tics. Emma seemed to be trying to convince the men of something; and they, in turn, appeared to be both reassuring her and trying to persuade her of something else.

"What, oh, what, are you all trying to hide from me?"

Killian was in the midst of rather admiring the fact that Swan did not look to be backing down from her position, when the entrance to the station crashed open and sniping, bellicose voices began reverberating through the building.

Through the glass, he saw Emma frown, hand the baby to David, and then march out of the office to confront the intruders.

There were several of them. As they spilled into the main room, he recognized his crew. Morgan, appointing herself leader, shoved a small card in Swan's face with the same aggression of one challenging a duel. "I don't why you imprisoned the Captain, but we're here to bail him out."

"How did you find out so fast? Never mind," Emma groaned. "First of all, you wouldn't pay the bail to me. In fact, bail hasn't even been set. Second of all, where and how did you get a credit card? Third, you don't have to pay anything, anyway. I was just letting him out."

"Is that Blackbeard?" wondered Jukes, pointing at the left cell, but nobody bothered to answer.

Emma collected the cell keys from her father and opened Killian's jail cell. For a moment, they each stood where they were, taking one another in. "Well, Swan, I am sure I will see you again, sooner or later." In fact, he wanted to make sure of it. She hadn't been hiding the source of her fears from him for nothing.

"Right." Absently, she toyed with a swatch of his hair, just above the ear. At the very least, she was pleasanter about it than the baby. "You got a haircut last night."

"That's courtesy of Mr. Smee, after the celebration of my return. Thankfully he was sober enough to trim it properly."

"Mmm," Emma agreed, and stepped back, allowing him to pass by her. "Any ideas as to how it could have grown that long between when we were climbing the beanstalk, and now?"

"Frankly, not one," he confessed. He didn't want to dwell on it, or on what the sum of all these discrepancies he'd noticed might total. He had one mission, and nothing was going to make him lose sight of it.

Killian continued in the direction of his crew, but suddenly Swan's hand was on his arm and she was turning him back towards her. Lifting her face to his, she kissed him.

She tasted as sweet as the confection she'd brought him, and his resolve not to allow it to happen again was swept away as easily as a spot of dust. Unthinkingly, his arms went about her waist. This was not the unrestrained passion of her kiss on the Jolly Roger; it was chaste, gentle, and loving.

Loving?

He disengaged, though their foreheads remained together. "Swan, I told you -"

"Just – try to stay out of trouble tonight, all right?" she said, with the most diminutive of smiles. There was longing in her eyes, a silent plea for him to stay.

"Captain?" Smee prompted. "We should go, sir."

Killian had completely lost sight of the fact that his crew were in attendance. "Right you are, Mr. Smee." Giving Swan a half bow, he intoned, "Until next time, my Lady."

Sorry the chapter is so short, guys! I had a serious case of writer's block, but hopefully it's over. Also, I wrote this while watching the football game (we won, but only because the defense came to play...TWO touchdowns on interceptions. I'll take it, though) so it might not be as focused as the other chapters. Apologies. Also, I had not planned for Emma to kiss Killian again for a while, but apparently she does what she wants. I hope to have at least one (maybe two) more chapters up before we start season 6 (can you believe it's only two weeks away?!) One more thing, a brief note on the underworld - I don't plan for Baelfire/Neal to make any appearances, even from 'the better place'. I rather like him when he's with the rest of the characters, but I don't care for the way he interacts with Emma. (I'm sure you guys are horribly disappointed, lol)