Here as promised is the second update of the day... YAY, our Pirate is finally on the mend, don't worry there is still plenty of story to tell and perhaps our good Captain is not as healed as he would like everyone to think .

Killian awoke some time later, he felt better than he had that morning but a dull thud in his head still pounded in time with his every heart beat. His skin no longer felt like it was on fire, he still ached all over but he supposed that was only to be expected with everything that he had been through. He opened his eyes to find that it must be night as the cabin was in near darkness, only one lamp was lit to bring a small amount of light into the room for which he was grateful, the small light was bringing enough pain to his sore head, he didn't want to imagine what more would do to him. He turned his head to the side to find Emma smiling at him.

"Hey Beautiful" he croaked out, Gods his throat was dry, he gave a small cough and it was enough to have Emma sitting up in the bed, she reached over the side and came back with a bottle of water.

"You want a drink?" she whispered

"Aye, thank you Love"

Within minutes they were both settled back down against their pillows but Killian's back was sore, he had obviously been lying in the same position for a long time so he pulled in a breath and managed to get himself onto his right hand side before scooting back on the bed a bit. It was hard work and it hurt but finally he managed to open his eyes and look back at his Swan.

"I could have helped with that" she admonished

"Aye Love I know but I managed just fine" he breathed back, he could already feel sleep tugging at him again but he wanted to stay awake, he wanted to look upon Emma's face for longer than a few minutes. The ache in his head flared for a second and he closed his eyes against the pulsing pain that thumped against his eyes.

"You OK?" Emma's voice was full of concern

He opened his eyes again and met her gaze "I will be Love... You know this is not how I imagined our first time alone in my bed?" he gave her a mischievous look and she grinned back but it was short lived as David's disembodied voice suddenly sounded from somewhere close by.

"Still in the room" he cried

"Bloody Hell Mate, how to ruin a perfectly good romantic moment" Killian griped

David popped up next to the bed, his hair was a mess and he had a pillow crease up the side of his face.

"Well to be fair, less that six hours ago you were at death's door and my Daughter needed me but now that I know that you are well enough to be making googly eyes at her again I am going to go and find a more comfortable place to sleep. I do not need to be hearing any of this" he flailed his hands out waving them towards the bed before he pulled himself up from the floor.

"David" Killian spoke quickly before the Prince could leave, the Prince turned back to meet his eyes and Killian gave him a sincere look "Thanks Mate"

"Yeah well, I couldn't have you breaking my girl's heart now could I" David replied with a smirk "Besides we couldn't let that Sea Witch win now could we? This whole thing is her fault and by the time we are done with her she is going to wish she had never come back to town"

"Not her fault" Killian breathed out, sleep was tugging at him again and as much as he wanted to fight it he couldn't.

"What? Of course it's her fault" Emma cried "She threw you in the water, she is holding us here"

"No more than I deserve" he managed to get out but he was too tired to go on, he would just need to explain in the morning. How could he blame Ursula when she was right, he was the reason that she was the monster that she was today and not the sweet mermaid that he had once tried and failed to help. He would put this right, he would return her happy ending, he might just need a little help to achieve it.

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"What did he mean by that?" David yelled out

"Shhhhhhhh" Emma berated him

"Don't you shush me. He can't just say something like that then fall asleep" David was beyond confused, what had Hook done to Ursula?

"We'll find out tomorrow Dad, it's not like we could do anything about it tonight is it?"

He had to agree, it was nearly two o'clock in the morning and dark outside, yeah they'd have to wait but he was going to be back in this cabin EARLY, he needed to know what Hook had meant and he was probably not going to get much sleep between now and then!

David bent down and grabbed his pillow and blanket up from the floor before heading towards the cabin door.

"The MINUTE he wakes up you call me, we need to get off this ship and he is the one that holds the key to doing that"

He pulled the door open and headed towards the bunk room but he stopped outside the door, he knew he was too wired to sleep and didn't want to disturb the others that were already sleeping inside. He sighed then kept walking and before he knew it he was standing on the deck looking out into nothingness. He didn't know why but he found it oddly calming being up here, he could understand why Hook loved this ship so much.

He looked about him for somewhere to settle himself down and his eyes fell on Ariel up on the quarter deck. What was she doing up here? He made his way up the steps towards her, she must have heard him coming as she turned and gave him a smile.

"How's Hook?" she asked straight away

"He's doing better. His fever has finally broken and he even woke up for a short while"

"Good" Ariel breathed a sigh of relief

They both stood staring out into the night in silence for a few minutes before a sudden thought hit David, he turned to the mermaid.

"Do you know what happened between Ursula and Hook?"

The mermaid looked surprised for a second.

"No, not really, sorry. All I know are the stories I heard as a child."

"Tell me, maybe there's some truth to them" David said hopefully

"I doubt it, I think they were only told to us to stop us from misbehaving but I'll tell you anyway." she turned her head towards him and gave him a sad smile before carrying on "Legend has it that Ursula was once a mermaid just like me, it was told that her Father was Poseidon, King of the Sea. Ursula LOVED to sing, you see, to her it was a link with her Mother but when her Mother was killed by Humans her Father tried to make Ursula use her voice to lure sailors to their deaths on the rocks as they sailed on his seas. Ursula didn't want to use her voice to harm anyone so she tried to escape from her Father's grasp by stealing a bracelet that let her walk on land. I'm not really sure of the details but somehow Ursula ended up losing her singing voice, there were many stories of her being betrayed by a Pirate but I can't remember the details just that she was so distraught over it that she became the monster that we know today. I don't know how Hook was involved or if it even was him but she disappeared for a VERY long time, until recently I believed that she was just a legend. I thought that I had met her once but found out later that it was in fact the Evil Queen pretending to be Ursula, that was when I came to know Snow back in the Enchanted Forest"

"Hmmm... well it's something to work with" David pondered over the story. "Why don't you go and get some sleep? It's late" he added

"I don't really need to sleep like you do, I think I'm going to head out into the water for a while, stretch my tale now that I know that Hook is going to be fine. I'll head to town in the Morning and let them know the good news. Anything you want me to tell Snow?"

"Just that I miss her and as soon as we've figured this out we will be home. Thanks Ariel, for everything, Hook wouldn't be here right now if it wasn't for you" He gave her a genuine smile and she blushed.

"Who am I to stand in the way of true love?" she grinned before pulling herself up on to the rail and diving over the side into the black sea below.

True love? Was that really what was going on with his Daughter? A Princess and a Pirate... he could live with that, if the Pirate would just maybe stop being so Piratey. Hell, who was he kidding? Hook would never stop being a Pirate, he managed to carry it on even with no ship to his name. David smirked to himself, what a family he had.

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Morning dawned and Emma woke with a start, her heart racing again as her nightmare still played in her head. She still felt tired but knew that she was not going back to sleep when she looked at her watch and realized it was nearly ten. She had woken a few times since her last chat with her Dad and had not slept well in between, she would be glad when this was all over and she could crawl into her own bed and sleep for a week with her Pirate at her side.

She looked over at the still sleeping man beside her, he looked better, he wasn't nearly as flushed as he had been the night before but his hair was a mess, the salt water had made it stick up in all direction but he looked so sweet lying there with his bed head.

"What are you grinning at Swan" his croaky voice startled her for a second, he obviously wasn't as asleep as she had thought he was.

"You, I'm just glad that you are getting better" she said leaning across and kissing him sweetly on the lips.

He broke out into a wide grin and his eyes twinkled brightly, she sighed deeply, she could get lost in those eyes.

"Come on, I know that you must need to pee by now and I'm sorry but this time I am NOT leaving you to your own devises" she raised her eyebrows at him waiting for him to argue but he didn't

"It's nothing you have not seen before Love, I don't care"

He really trusted her enough to help him do this, her heart swelled with love in that moment but it was all quickly forgotten in the task of helping him sitting up at the side of the bed.

When he had finished she moved to grab his sweatpants back up off the floor but when she realized that there was a blood stain on the back where the branch had punctured his skin she quickly dismissed them. He watched her as she moved over to his closet and pulled it open.

"What are you looking for Swan?" he asked, he currently sat with feet on the floor and the blankets over his lap but she knew that he needed pants on, what if Henry came into the room?

"Oh my God Hook, do you have anything other than leather pants in here?" her voice echoed in the small space she currently had her head jammed into.

She heard him laugh from behind her but it turned in to a pained gasp and she swung around to see him trying to grip his ribs and wearing a look of agony on his face. After a few seconds he opened his eyes again and smiled at her concerned face.

"I am fine Love. Try in the bottom drawer over there, Milah once tried to get me to wear bed clothes but she did not have too much success" he pointed towards a chest of drawers on the corner.

"TMI Hook" she retorted quickly

"What?" he sounded baffled but she was too busy to explain that she didn't really want to hear about his sleeping habits with her own Son's Grandmother... her life was so complicated!

"Never mind" She said as she finally came up with some soft linen pants, they looked ancient but they would just have to do.

She helped him get into them and then lay him back on her side of the bed, she wasn't going to be getting back in so it would be easier for him to be closer to the edge.

"I'm just going to call my Dad, hang on" she brushed the hair from his forehead before she stood from his side.

"Trusting me to be left by myself Swan?" he asked with a grin

"Not even sort of" Emma smiled before pulling the door open and screaming at the pitch of her voice for her Dad.

"So genteel Swan" Hook chuckled, that was not a word that anybody would ever use to describe her.

"You wouldn't have me any other way" she laughed back

A few minutes later David ran into the room.

"What? What's going on?" he breathed heavily, a look of concern on his face.

"You wanted to know when he was awake, now you know" she pointed to Hook lying on the bed and the Pirate only added to the situation by lifting his hand and giving a little wave.

"Emma! I thought something was wrong, don't do that to me. You have legs, you could have just come and found me"

"What and leave him alone? I don't think so, we all know how that ended the last time with Captain Dramatic over there taking a dive into his own pile of puke"

"Hey!" Hook protested

"What? Are you saying that you didn't fall face first into your own vomit? Because I think you'll find that you did and we both saw it so unless you want the whole town to know I suggest that you hold your tongue."

She meant business now and the two men knew it, she could see it on their faces. She bent down and grabbed the chamber pot.

"I am going to empty this and when I get back we are all going to sit down together and figure out how to get home, got it?"

"Aye"

"Yes"

"Good" she nodded her head and walked from the room a smirk appearing on her face. It was good to have her family back to how it should be.

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Killian felt awkward lying at the bottom of the bed, there was nothing for his pillows to rest against so he had to mostly lie flat which made the pulsing pain in his head worse than when he was upright.

"Can I not move back up to the correct end of the bed Mate" he asked David with some hope. "I cannot see what is going on from here"

David moved over to the table and came back with a bottle of water and some pills.

"If you can prove to me that you can take these and drink this I can move you"

Killian was confused, what did that have to do with anything but he threw the pills down his throat and took the water from David after the Prince had removed the lid and gulped it down as quickly as he could. It felt so good going down his dry throat, he hadn't realized how thirsty he was until he had started drinking. He finished the water and handed the empty bottle back to the David as quickly as he could.

"Good" was all David said before putting the bottle on the table then settling himself onto the edge of the bed and taking hold of Killian's hand

"What are you doing?" Killian asked in surprise

"Don't worry I'm not about to propose or anything" David said with a grin "I just need to unhook you from this"

Killian looked down at the tube that was attached to his forearm, how had that gotten there? He narrowed his eyes as he tried to think, an image of David working by his side popped into his mind and his eyes flew wide

"Did you do this?"

"I did, with a little help from Whale and Mary-Margaret" he added with a sly grin

"What? How? Where are they?" Killian was so confused, his head ache muddling his already confused mind.

"Not here you idiot, you think I would have had to do this if Whale was here" the Prince looked annoyed as he worked at disconnecting the tube from his arm but his face changed when he looked up and obviously saw the confused look on Killian's face.

"Sorry, I sometimes forget that you didn't come over with the first curse and didn't get Regina's download of information. I used the radio to speak to them back in town and Mary-Margaret may have used a trick or two to make me believe that I could do it. Once I thought I could it was actually not as hard as I thought it was going to be. There... all done" he gave a triumphant look

Killian looked back down at his arm to find something still attached.

"You missed a bit Mate"

"No, Whale told me to leave that in. You are not out of the woods yet and if you have a relapse I do not want to have to try and put another one of those things in so you'll just need to put up with it for a while longer"

Killian studied his extra attachment for a minute as David moved away from the bed, he didn't understand why they had pierced his skin with a tube but didn't want to ask, the Prince thought he was stupid enough without him asking further questions but David must have caught him looking perplexed as next thing he knew he had sat himself back down on the edge of the bed.

"You had a high fever right?"

"Aye"

"You basically passed out, we couldn't even get you to wake up never mind drink anything. If we had just left you, you would have died. The only way to get you better was by getting fluid back into you along with something called "antibiotics". They would help to fight off the infection that was causing your fever. In this realm we use this system" he pointed at Killian's arm before carrying on. "I connected up a bag of water with other things in it to this tube and ran it straight into your blood. I know it sounds weird but it works, now that you are awake and can take the pills and drink for yourself again it is safe to remove the bag. You'll need to keep taking the antibiotic pills for a few more days and the pain meds for longer but you are making good progress, don't look so worried"

Killian's mind was racing, how did this even make sense? But his confusion was short lived as the Prince pulled back his blankets and helped him to sit up.

"Nice pants" David shot out with a grin

"Do not mock me, these WERE a gift from Milah, be careful what you say" Killian shot back and was happy to see the grin slide from David's face.

It had been awkward as hell and the room had spun dramatically for a split second while he was on his feet and right now he was pretty sure he would have been face down on the floor if it had not been for the iron tight grip the Prince had upon his person but eventually Killian was settling back at the top end of his bed with a sigh of relief. He was tired again and could easily have just closed his eyes against his thumping headache but knew that now was not the right time for sleep, the Prince was waiting on his tale and he needed to tell it. He closed his eyes and waited for Emma to return, he did not want to have to tell this story twice.