Just an excerpt of an idea of a small scene that I envisioned after last week. It's angsty guys.

…

He finds her hunched over in his quarters, clad in only her undergarments, and it is a true testament to how concerned he is for her that the only reason his heart speeds up is out of a sheer need to protect and not for any reasons of lust.

"Swan?" he asks tentatively, cursing the fact that his voice sounds so loud in the otherwise still tension of the room.

She turns to him, not saying a word, her hands falling from where they had been clawing at her chest, the skin below red raw with desperation. "I need it to stop," she whimpers, whole body shaking, eyes fearful and wide. "I need the feelings to stop."

It strikes him then exactly what she had been trying to do when he had walked into the room and he thanks whatever entity has prevented it thus far. "Emma, you can't do this to yourself. You can't make it go away."

Her red rimmed eyes flash with anger, "But I should be able to."

It breaks his heart to see her like this. Darkness is unpredictable and careless. It will creep into your soul and leave you lifeless without remorse. It will tear you apart and rebuild you in its own image. It is a demon that no person should ever have to be burdened by, least of all someone who has fought for so much in their life only to have reached dead ends at every turn.

"Ripping your heart out won't make it go away. It will just make you vulnerable to more pain, love."

She shakes her head, "It doesn't matter. Don't you see? Gold has won. He's got what he wanted. I can feel it, Killian. I can feel my heart dying." Her breathing is laboured, shaking hands reaching back up to her chest, trying to press her fingers through the skin, trying to rid herself of her humanity. "If I take it out, he can't have it. No matter what he does to me, he won't touch my heart."

"Emma," he insists, "this is not the answer."

The anger flares again, "How do you know?"

"Because I was in that darkness for centuries. Not moments and flashes, but deep within its grip for too long." He takes a tentative step towards her, holding out his hand, hoping that she will grab a hold and let him take care of her just this once. "And then I met you and light seeped back into my dark world. I found love was creeping up on me and overthrowing the darkness."

Emma watches him carefully, eyes darting from his outstretched hand to his face and back again, trying to read the lie in his words, trying to find the fault in his logic.

Killian continues, taking another step forward, "You breathe light into everything that you touch. It is profoundly unsettling to be the man who is in love with you, knowing that I once held such darkness around me."

A hint of a smile curls at her lips and she wonders if he realises he's just told her he loves her for the first time. She thinks she's known for a while now, but it's something else to hear it. He answers her smile with one of his own and she reaches out to take his hand, allowing him to draw her to his body as he wraps his arms around her and tucks her head under his chin.

She can almost feel the tension leave him as she breathes into his neck.

He kisses her temple and lowers his lips to her ear, speaking with a serious tone, "When the Dark One took my heart, the love I felt for you did not go away, everything that I am did not disappear –it was merely muted, as though I was walking around in a morning mist on the stormy ocean." His hand slides from her waist up her back, pressing her close to him, "If you remove your heart, you will still be fundamentally you and, whether they did the right thing or not, thanks to your parents, you are filled with light. Keep your heart in its safest home."

She curls herself in tighter to him, almost as though she is trying to crawl inside the safety he provides, "But what if I can't fight it?"

He can feel her tears soaking through his shirt and cradles her head against his chest to let her know he doesn't mind, that it's okay for her to let it out. "You will," he says with conviction.

"That's an awful lot of faith you're putting in me," she mutters in answer and Killian wonders if she realises she's just repeated his own words back to him.

It's startlingly clear to him that Emma will always win in the fight against evil. She is strong and brave and sure in her fight. And, even though he is worried sick about the darkness creeping into her soul and what it's doing to her, he knows she will remain in control. So he does the only thing he can – he tells the truth and hopes she can still hear it in his voice, "I know."

…

Thoughts?