Thanks everyone for the kind reviews. I thought our lovers deserved a prolonged and very steamy reunion scene. Too bad it can't last! Alas, trouble is brewing at sea...and where these two go, trouble is never far behind.

Despite a not unpleasant soreness after the night's activities, it felt damn good to be back in jeans. It seemed that nearly anything went in Tortuga. A woman wearing pants and a leather jacket, while not the norm, didn't cause too much of a stir. She had walked past a woman whose dark skin was entirely covered in tattoos, from scalp to cleavage, and a man with wild hair who had a decorative bone piercing clean through his nose.

A very shabby-looking pirate was leering at her from a doorway, though, as they wandered through the market. Hook walked a little closer to her side and raised his hook to the small of her back protectively. There was a time when she would've minded, but she admitted a small thrill of delight at his gesture. What on earth had happened to her? She sighed resignedly. The mature, independent Emma Swan seemed to have taken an indefinite vacation, leaving a lovestruck teenager in her place.

She'd tried to hide her joy from Regina when she made contact through the mirror that morning. From the expression on Regina's face, she doubted it had worked. Unfortunately, Regina was the only one she could reach this way. It was something of a double-sided connection. She had visualized the mirror in Regina's house, and Regina had been close enough to sense the presence of magic and reached out toward the mirror with her own power. It had been just like making a FaceTime call, only...magical. Regina had promised to convey to Henry and Mary Margaret that she and David were fine, albeit trapped in another realm at the moment and in the midst of a struggle with Ursula.

Or, as Regina had put it, "must be a day that ends with a 'y'". Then she had snapped the connection shut. It was going to take some time to rebuild their fragile friendship. Well, friendship was a strong word. More like truce. But still, they'd come so far, and now...

It was still cold and gray but at least it had finally stopped raining while they ran their errands in Tortuga proper. They were picking up provisions and various items to repair the Jolly Roger. Hook, of course, kept a small reserve of gold coins stashed aboard the ship, but he had whistled appreciatively at the small treasure she'd "borrowed" from the hoard on the pirate's hideaway island. As she'd expected, he'd groaned like he'd been stabbed when she told him about the number of barrels of rum she'd lit on fire to signal for rescue. "At least they were sacrificed to a good cause, lass. But that does hit a man where it hurts."

They found a reasonably clean-looking pub higher up from the main street that had a picturesque view of the port. They settled in for lunch.

"So you came here a lot? To Tortuga?" she asked Hook as they waited for their beers to arrive, trying not to sound annoyed. She'd rolled her eyes at the waitress falling all over him when they placed their orders. Apparently, Sparrow was right: her pirate did have a bit of a reputation with the ladies. She was trying very hard not to let that bother her, but a tiny little spark of jealousy flared in her heart seeing another woman flirt with Hook. He seemed perfectly aware of all this too, the infuriating man.

"Aye. It's a major port of call for all those who traffic in the illicit. And as you can see, it has everything a disreputable shellback could want." Killian's face fell as he said the words. Liam.

She leaned forward and squeezed his hand. "Don't worry, Killian. We'll find a way."

He gave her a grateful look and leaned in for a lingering kiss. "I don't know what I did to deserve you, love."

"You did quite a lot to deserve me last night," she murmured. She gave him a wink as she raised her mug. "-and this morning. Cheers."

"Cheers, Swan," he smiled at her as they clinked mugs, trying, and failing, not to look too pleased with himself.

Emma had the sudden absurd feeling she was on vacation. Relaxing in some exotic port with Killian, not a care in the world. Totally ridiculous. She grinned into her mug and listened to a pair of pirates that were settling into the seats next to them.

"...so then I weighed anchor at Pisces like usual, and made me way to land to pick up the booty where I vouchsafed it not two weeks afore, and you know what I found? Half me casks of rum split open and burnt to a crisp in a big sodding pile on the sand, and me safe full of gold missing twenty pieces out o' fifty!"

Emma choked on her beer. Hook pounded her on the back with a look of concern. Eyes watering, she listened to the exasperated pirate complain to his comrade, head in his hands and eyes wild.

"Bizarre, that is mate," replied his confidante, sounding bored.

"Aye. I canna' figure it out for the bleeding life of me! No one knew it was there, and if someone came up on it by chance, why burn half me rum to vapors-", he sounded on the verge of tears at the thought "-and take but half the gold?"

"No idea, Bartleby. Sounds like your thief weren't much of a pirate, if he stole less than half the plunder and wasted good rum on a campfire."

Hook had finally overheard what they were saying and caught Emma's eye. He grinned at her over his mug and was clearly trying not to laugh. Emma kicked him under the table and turned away. If she looked at him one second longer she would lose it.

"And it were a good quality, too, mate. I swear on me mum's grave, if I ever find the bloody scoundrel who nicked-"

Emma's head spun and her ears were ringing. She pushed herself up to a sitting position. She was on the ground, amid splinters of debris and puddles of ale on the cobblestones. Touching her hand to her temple, her fingers came away bloody. What the hell?

She felt hands, or rather a hand and a hook, grab her under her arms and lift. "Killian?" Her voice sounded faint. Everything was muffled. Was there an explosion? The air was full of smoke.

"We have to get to the ship!" yelled Killian. There was a nasty cut across his cheekbone. She nodded. She felt dizzy. He grabbed her hand and they took off at a run toward the docks. They hadn't gone ten paces before another explosion rocked the ground beneath them. Half of the wooden structures in the market were blown to pieces in a shower of splinters. A better part of the town seemed to be on fire. Alarm bells were ringing throughout Tortuga. Either someone in this realm had invented C4, or there was magic at work here.

They pushed their way through the chaos at the docks. All the sailors were attempting to get their ships ready to sail at one time. Emma could see The Temeraire swarming with crewmen trying to get her underway. As they rounded the corner of their dock and came broadside to the ship, she gasped. The Temeraire had taken a direct hit of some kind to the stern. A huge chunk of her was missing. There was a gaping wound of charred, twisted timbers just below the level of the top deck. At least it was well above the water. A few deckhands were continuing to toss buckets of water on the damage: it must've caught fire when it was hit. She felt a sudden spike of terror for the Jolly Roger. Hook had sprinted way ahead of her while she had stopped to gape at The Temeraire. She ran to catch up. She closed her eyes in silent thanks when she saw the Jolly Roger had somehow escaped damage thus far, though she was still in rough shape from the journey through the whirlpool. Climbing the gangplank, she yelled for David and Sparrow. If they were on board, they were all getting the hell out of there immediately. ]

"Emma! What's happening? We seem to be under attack from the bay but there's nothing out there!" yelled David.

She was about to ask about Sparrow when his voice called down from the crow's nest. "I think there's something amiss out in the bay, but I can't make out what it is, mates!"

Emma peered out over the water but couldn't see anything unusual. A sudden whistling sound pierced the air overhead and moments later, another explosion of fire and debris came from the docks. The air was full of smoke and terrified shouting. Whatever that was, it definitely came from out over the water. She ran over to the main mast and began to climb. When she reached the crow's nest, Sparrow looked surprised to see her. "Impressive, Miss Swan."

She rolled her eyes at him. "What did you see?"

He didn't respond, instead merely pointing out to the bay. She squinted to where he indicated. She wasn't sure what she was looking at. The gray of the water and the gray of the horizon nearly blended together in the watery light. Wait - what was that hazy area just a few hundred yards from shore? It was like seeing a glitch in an old film, when the frames didn't quite line up from one to the next. In her mind's eye, she imagined wiping that area clean, as though she were wearing glasses with a smudge on them. Raising her hand, she spread her fingers wide and focused all her energy on revealing whatever was hidden from her. It was as though there had been a curtain of air and sea pulled up between them and the bay beyond. She could feel it there. With an angry slash of her hand, she pulled it away.

"I thought I'd seen everything, Miss Swan, until I met you," said Sparrow, who was staring out to see with a gobsmacked expression. "I hope you have a second trick up your sleeve, however."

"So do I," she whispered. Honestly, she had no idea what to do next. What her magic had allowed her to reveal was a cluster of a dozen or more ghostly ships gathered in the harbor, under a flag of two skulls facing each other on a field of black. An array of canons was aimed at the port of Tortuga in general, and, it seemed, the docks in particular, firing at will. Davey Jones had come for them again, and this time, he brought his friends.