When Killian and Emma emerged from the Captain's Cabin, they found Snow White talking down a furious looking Prince Charming. while Rumplestiltskin looked on gleefully. If it weren't for the fact that her parents were almost certainly discussing her and her recent tryst with the captain, Emma probably would have collapsed laughing. Her musings were interrupted when her father broke away from Snow White's hold and came striding towards the pirate. Fortunately, Killian, now used to being on the business end of the prince's fist, ducked just as David swung a punch at the pirate's face.

"I think your parents know, love!" Killian piped up, as he ducked a second time. Gee, you think! Emma thought sarcastically.

"Whoa! Dad!" Emma shouted as her father brought his hand back again to take a another shot at Killian's face, "Dad, stop it! Daddy, no!" Her last exclamation caught her father's attention, and the prince turned to face his daughter.

"Emma," he began in a warning tone.

"No, Dad. I'm twenty-nine years old. I can sleep with whomever I want!" David cringed at the thought of anyone sleeping with his daughter. The saviour continued more quietly, "I know you kinda missed out on the whole 'protective father thing,' and I appreciate that you are trying now. But now is not the time to channel your fatherly instincts and beat the crap out of the man who is helping us find Henry."

The prince looked at his daughter, almost as if he was seeing her as an adult for the first time. He placed his hands on his hips, breathing a heavy sigh as he looked down at the deck. When he looked back up at Emma, her eyes pleading with him to understand, he sighed sadly and nodded. "He makes you happy?"

"Undeniably so," Emma exclaimed proudly.

The prince nodded again before turning and leaning in closer to the pirate. "You and I are going to have a little chat later, just to make a few things perfectly clear in regards to how you treat Emma. Let's call it...going over the ground rules for courting my daughter. Do we understand each other?" David said quietly so that only Killian could hear him, leaving no room for argument. The prince clapped the pirate hard on the shoulder, in a gesture that looked friendly but left Killian fighting a pained grimace.

"Alright then," Snow White drawled, looking apprehensively between her husband and the pirate, "Now that everyone has been sufficiently embarrassed for one day, let's move on to the more important subject of getting Henry back. Gold, what have you found out?" The princess took charge and directed everyone's attention to the golden skinned wizard.

Rumplestiltskin inclined his head to Emma's mother, but just as he opened his mouth to speak a high pitched squeal and a flash of light fluttered through the Roger's sails, landing directly in front of Emma and Killian. Tinkerbell raced forwards and flung her arms around the saviour and the pirate, squealing and giggling as she went.

"I knew it! I knew it! I knew it! I just knew you two would figure things out and get together!" the fairy squealed happily, as released the couple and proceeded to jump up and down in excitement. "Oh and that flash of magic last night! I tell you, I haven't seen anything light up the night sky that brightly since the time Ariel found those fireworks and burnt down half the jungle not knowing what they were!" Tinkerbell gushed, laughing at the memory.

Emma and Killian looked at the fairy in horror as she continued to babble excitedly about their romantic exploits. Tinkerbell carried on, completely oblivious to her less than amused audience. "Have you said you love each other yet? Did Killian say it first or did Emma? I want to know—no!—I need to know everything!"

"Uhhhh..." both the pirate and the saviour stammered out simultaneously. Their identical expressions and tone only fueled the fairy's enthusiasm, and she let out another deafening high pitched scream of excitement.

"Really, dearie! If you keep that up, you're likely to deafen all of us!" Rumplestiltskin bellowed over the fairies screeching, his hands clapped protectively over his ears. Tinkerbell stopped mid-squeal to scold the man for interrupting her excitement, but the words died on her lips as she caught sight of the golden medallion around his neck.

The fairy's eyes narrowed and she let out a cry of rage as she flew at the Dark One. Rumplestiltskin disappeared and reappeared on the other side of the ship with a giggle. Tinkerbell sent a blast of light at the Dark One as she shouted obscenities at him.

"Thief! Traitor! You wretched fool! Do you know what you have done?!" the fairy cried furiously as Rumplestiltskin dodged her attacks.

"Of course I know what I've done, dearie! That was sort of the reason for doing it!" the Dark One chortled.

"Shouldn't we do something? She's liable to kill him!" Snow said worriedly to her fellow human spectators.

"Let her," Killian mumbled happily under his breath, but schooled his features into a less gleeful expression at Emma and David's warning look.

Emma huffed in annoyance and turned to the pirate. "You know if she keeps missing him, she's going to hit the ship. You remember the scorch marks I made when she taught me that trick," the saviour pointed to the lightning rays the fairy had begun to shooting.

Killian nodded soberly, his eyes wide in understanding. "Alright Tink! That's enough! You've had your fun! Now, stop throwing things at my ship!" The pirate beseeched as he strode over to the irate fairy. Tinkerbell stopped throwing her magical attacks at the Dark One but kept her blue eyes trained on him.

"You don't understand, Killian. His actions cannot go unpunished. I would rather die than let him get away with what he's done!" the fairy vowed, preparing to send another blast of energy towards the Dark One.

"The crocodile has done a lot of things, Tink. You are going to have to be more specific." Killian advised seriously.

Tinkerberll sucked in a breath. "He took a fairy's heart."

"He what!?" the pirate rounded on the Dark One, as David drew out his sword and Snow gasped in shock. Fairy, pirate, and prince began to stalk towards the Dark One, who merely raised an eyebrow at the advancing party.

Emma, sensing that a fight was about to ensue, put her fingers to her lips and whistled sharply to gain their attention.

"Alright! That is enough! Everybody needs to shut the hell up! I want somebody to explain to me how taking a fairy's heart is any different than all the other times Gold has taken a heart. And then I want to know how Gold taking another heart is relevant to getting Henry back!" Emma bellowed, startling everyone with her assertiveness.

"Emma," Snow began slowly, "Taking a fairy's heart is one of worst crimes imaginable. It's said that to do so, means sacrificing a piece of your soul."

"When you take a fairy's heart, you take the source of their energy. The fairy dies slowly and painfully, as their magic is drained from them," Tinkerbell continued darkly, "Fairies are born from a child's first laugh, out of the purest magic. To destroy something so pure...it's unforgivable." The fairy shook her head. Emma looked upon the group in silence, torn between joining them and trying to keep the peace.

"In case any one cares, I didn't kill the bloke," Rumplestiltskin confessed, looking unamused. Everyone turned to look at him, and the Dark One shrugged unashamed. "I took the sprite's heart, but I got to him in time," he pointed to the rose on his lapel, " I needed to make my magic work here, otherwise there's no way I can help get the boy back." At Tinkerbell's unconvinced look, Rumplestiltskin hastened to add, "Of course I'm not going to keep the heart once we have the boy. Think of the fairy's heart as being...on loan. Once Henry has been safely returned to his family, I'll change the fairy back, return his heart, and we can all have our happy ending." The Dark One said the words "happy ending" in a sarcastic tone.

There was a pause. The Dark One looked upon the group challengingly, waiting for one of them to react negatively.

"Okay," everyone turned to look at Emma and Rumplestiltskin gaped at her. "You like making deals so here's one for you. Judging from how Tink reacted to your crime, I'm guessing the other fairies aren't going to be too happy with you when and if they find out about the heart. So here's the deal. We offer you protection for when the fairies come after you—and I can guarantee they are going to come after you—and you give the heart back to the fairy the moment we have Henry back safely." Emma offered.

"Best make that deal a bit more specific, darling." Killian mouthed quietly.

"As soon as Henry is safely away from the Lost Ones and is no longer a Shadow." Emma clarified.

"And we're not being shot at!" David interjected quickly.

"What Dad said," Emma confirmed. She returned her attention to Rumplestiltskin, "So, do we have a deal?" The saviour held out her hand for the Dark One.

"And just what sort of protection can you offer me?" Rumplestiltskin questioned.

Surprisingly, it was Killian who answered. "You'd be surprised how far my word will go with the fairies in Neverland." the pirate said cryptically as Tinkerbell nodded in agreement.

"And if you don't agree to this," Emma added, "We will send the fairies after you right now. So you have a choice, Gold. You can either agree to our terms and help me find my son, or you can get out of my way."

Rumplestiltskin hesitated for a moment, then appeared directly in front of Emma. "You, Princess Emma, have got yourself a deal," he giggled out, shaking her hand. Emma frowned, both in annoyance at the moniker and in surprise at how quickly Gold agreed to their terms, but she had more important things to think about.

"Okay. Now that that's been dealt with, can we please focus? If we are going to find Henry, we have got to start working together." The saviour received nods of approval and an enthusiastic "Aye!" from Killian. "Alright. So, I think the first thing we need to do is find Regina and bring her up to speed. We can't leave without her anyways, and finding Henry is just as important to her as it is to me."

"Regina? As in Cora's daughter Regina?" Tinkerbell asked the saviour, eyes wide.

"Yeah, she's kind of Henry's other mom. It's a long story...a very long story. How do you—"

"Leave finding her to me. I can find anybody in Neverland." Tinkerbell cut the saviour off and shot into the air without another word, flitting off in search of the Queen.

"Well that was...different now wasn't it, dearies," Rumplestiltskin voiced what the rest of the Roger's crew was thinking.

After a moment, Emma broke the stunned silence. "Say Gold, who—or what—is Pan anyway? You seem to be the expert here." Emma mused to the Dark One.

"Well, I don't know if you could call me an expert, dearie, but I certainly am well versed on the subject."

Emma sat on the steps leading up to the helm. "Start talking. We need to know what we're up against."

The Dark One let out another irritating laugh and the others followed Emma's example, as Rumplestiltskin began his tale.


Author's Note: so here's another chapter! Hope you enjoyed it! Let me know what you think by submitting a review, and I'll see you lot later!