ANGST... WHAT WOULD FAN FICTION BE WITHOUT A LITTLE OF THAT SPICY ANGST? DULL, THAT'S WHAT. SO THERE'S ANGST HERE... BEWARE. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.

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The Wicked witch of the West, the woman who supposedly melted with a bucket-full of water… "Oh, what a world, what a world…"

Emma tried hard to study about her, to strategize… but all she could think of was her baby daughter…. Was she well? Was she fed? What would happen to her? She could be cold. She could be ill…

She could even be… No, she wasn't. She would have felt it. All mothers know.

She shook her head and looked back to Killian who sat in the corner after finishing his third flask of rum in a day… otherwise, he was wasted. A real pity, especially in light of the fact that he had actually kicked the booze for two months, since Lilly arrived in his life.

Emma swallowed hard. She felt his burden. She didn't just feel it… she had made sure he had, in a bout of anger and despair, after Lilly had been taken and after she had almost lost him as well.

"Why the hell didn't you at least try?"

"Because I didn't bloody have time! One second I was pulling the plug and the next I was bloody drowning! Try fighting the Dark One when you've no bloody magic of your own and you can't breathe, Swan!"

"You could have at least tried!"

"And what the hell makes you think I didn't? You weren't here!"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Just that! I was alone with her, and it happened in an instant! Had you been here…"

"Yeah, had I been here, no one would have taken her at all! Had I been here, I would have done my job right and protected her, which is what you were supposed to do! She's gone because you failed, Jones! You had one job. ONE JOB!"

"Swan…"

"Oh… god… Killian, I'm sorry…"

"Forget it…"

"Killian, wait…"

She had found him the next day, curled up on a bench by the dock, and had literally begged him to come home, to dry up from the cold, rainy night, to work with her… And as always, he did what she asked. But his heart was frozen to stone. Lilly was gone and the damage was done.

He knew she was sorry for her words, and time had proven to him that no matter how much time passed, he'd always forgive her for hurting him. But he also knew she had been right. And that hurt much deeper than what Emma Swan could have ever thrown his way. What good was he now, when he was apparently so unfit, so incapable of even saving his baby girl? Prince Charming had fought seven black knights with one arm while holding his daughter in the other. So what sort of man was he?

A useless coward… And also, no thanks to him, Emma was devoid of the only magic capable of defeating the woman who had stolen their most precious treasure.

God, he was a lump… on so many levels. He wept as he drank, and Emma's heart shrunk at the sight of her once proud pirate, now broken to shards.

Emma sighed and stood from the table, walking over to her boyfriend. "Hey…" She caressed his head. "You wanna share that flask or are you also gonna finish it on your own?"

He raised his sorrowful eyes to her. "The latter sounds appealing…"

"Killian, this has to stop. We have not heard from Zelena in two days… We have no idea where she's keeping Lilly, and…"

"No thanks to me, savior."

Emma closed her eyes and hated herself for having hurt him so deep. "Look…" She slid down next to him. "I was just so… angry, so desperate…"

"You think I wasn't, love?" He grinned a sad grin before taking another swig of rum. "It wasn't your words or your anger that ached my soul, Emma… It was the plain fact that they are all true. I'm no good now…"

"Killian, no…" She felt herself weep, leaning her head on his shoulder. "I was wrong, very wrong, you're so important…"

He grinned and leaned his head on hers. "I'm not." He chuckled sadly. "I could hear her screaming, Emma, as the witch took her from her little bassinet. But you were so right, love. It was my duty. I swore no harm would ever come to her or Henry… or you. And what has transpired?" He shook his head. "The lad got attacked by flying monkeys, you lost your magic in exchange for my sorry arse and Lilly…" His voice cracked and he simply stopped to imbibe more and try to drown his pain and his overwhelming grief. "I am so unfit to be at your side, Emma. I've failed you. I've failed you all…" He hung his head and heaved, breaking down completely.

Emma's heart was crushed. She leaned into him and held him. "You're killing me, Hook."

"See what I mean?"

"No, just… shut up, ok?" she started to sob. "Just stop! You are my life, my home…" She kissed his shoulder. "We will get Lilly back, Killian, please… don't you dare lose hope on me. Don't. Not you, of all people." She took the flask from his hand and gently placed the cork back on. He simply looked into her eyes and sighed as she spoke, tears silently sliding down his face. "I never should have allowed myself to say those things to you, because they're lies. There's nothing you could have done against the magic of Rumplestiltskin and Zelena, they're… really damn strong. Truth is… I was mad at myself because I wasn't here. Because I knew that if I had been there, she wouldn't have dared approach. She took advantage of the fact that you were alone, Killian. You didn't fail… I did." She caressed his cheek, his scruff feeling damp from his tears. "Here's where your magic comes in…"

He frowned. "But… I have none…"

She chuckled sadly, running her hand down his cheek. "No, you don't have any… you ARE magic."

He swallowed. "I don't follow…"

She nodded. "I drew my power from you. From what I felt for you. From your strength of spirit, your constant support… Killian, no one believes in me and my inner power like you do; no one encouraged me to find it, to use it and make it my own, like you did, all the time. You came back with that bean in your hand and ever since that day, you've been by my side." She held his face between her hands. "You remember what you said, back in Neverland? Were those wonderful words just that? When you said, "I've yet to see you fail", did you mean it? Because you know what, pirate?" She smiled through her tears. "I could really use that beautiful guy right now…"

Killian returned her gaze and slowly raised his hand, to touch her face. "D… do you really believe that?"

She tilted her head to the side. "Do you believe in me still?"

He grinned. "Every bloody second."

"Then I believe in you… and I believe in us, and what we have here."

Killian smiled fully and sighed, before looking down at the flask in Emma's hand. "I just… miss her excessively…"

She nodded. "I do too. We WILL get her home, Killian; we have to believe it."

He sighed and licked his lip. "Aye… aye, Swan." He caressed her head. "That's all we need, to believe it."

She sighed. "One good thing's come out of all of this…"

"And what might that be, darling?"

She leaned in with a grin. "I can kiss you again…"

Killian chuckled and found his hand twirling between the golden strands of her hair. "I do love you, Emma Swan."

They kissed intently and instantly they both felt themselves float into a mild oblivion… just float off and away and…

"S… Swan…" He grinned, mid kiss.

"Mhh…"

"Look down, love." He whispered into her lips.

When Emma did, she found that they really WERE floating. She gasped and stared, jaw slacked, at the floor that sat at least three feet beneath them, before turning her stunned expression to Killian. "What the…?"

"You got your magic back."

Slowly, they descended back down to the floor and Emma smiled broadly. "No…" she looked into his eyes, tears slowly drying up and hope returning to bot their hearts. "It never left. It was right here, with me, all the time."

"So, it is me?"

He nodded, smiling. "Yeah."

He felt himself sober up in a near instant and he smiled wide and long. "Very well, Swan. We have a daughter to retrieve." He stood up and held his hand to help her up, pulling her to him. "Let's go hunt that bastard witch and get our Lilly back, shall we?"

Emma nodded. "Backup?"

"The prince, the bandit, the queen, the pirate and the savior?"

"Yep."

"Yes indeed. Strategy meeting."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Do you know what this is?" Zelena smiled, showing a rather sizeable pin to the man he kept in a cage. "This hair pin contains the spell of a potion made by Regina. I retrieved it from her back in the enchanted Forest. She intended to use it on herself." She looked at the pin. "I suspect it has a sleeping potion. Always partial to melodrama…"

"And just what, might I ask, do you intend to do with it?" He asked.

"Well it's rather simple, my pet. I am no barbaric harlot. Retrieving the innocence from the little Jones girl will be painful both to her and to her mother… not that I care much about the Swan girl, since she can't very well hurt me now. But I feel for that little one. I really don't want her to suffer as she yields her life for my revenge." She turned and walked to the cage behind her. "You…" She spoke to Rumple. "Will do the honors."

Rumplestiltskin looked Zelena in the eye. "You are asking me to put the little girl through a sleeping curse so you can kill her off without her noticing?" He shook his head. "Like a dog… How very thoughtful of you."

Zelena giggled. "Yes. I am rather full of surprises, am I not? Besides…" She paced alongside the cage, dagger in her hand. "This is the child of your long-standing foe, the pirate, the man who took your wife and left your son without a mother. I would think that making her fall into a deep sleep and then seeing her die would at least provide a small modicum of pleasure to you. Consider it a gift."

"Mind my words, Zelena…" He gritted his teeth. "You may control the Dark One. But a deed as evil as the one that you are scheming will not go without pay, and hear me now when I say that the price of your actions… will be steep. The life of a child is magic far too precious to fiddle with it."

"Now it turns out Rumplestiltskin is a decent man with a heart…" she chuckled. "Might it have something to do with the little baby being the sister of your grandson? How sentimental. But, since you didn't even have the opportunity to attend your son's wake, I can't blame you for your emotional tide."

"Yes. It's all about family… Something you know nothing about."

Zelena swallowed hard and pressed her lips tight together before turning and leaving him to his tears and mourning. "Tomorrow we have the full moon. Tomorrow she dies… and tomorrow, I fulfill my plan! So eat up… dark one."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"So…. She's planning to open a time portal, to return in time, kill Snow's mother so OUR mother can become queen… and she would be the heir, without even a thought…" Regina sneered. "She likes complicated methods!"

"It does say here…" Belle nodded. "That babies are used for multiple purposes in magic, but that the extraction of innocence is the most wanted. " she looked at Emma. "Innocence is a very priced ingredient. It represents pureness and chastity, something black magic lacks entirely. "

Emma swallowed and felt herself tumble slightly into Killian's embrace.

"So, what happens to my granddaughter?" David huffed.

Belle sighed and turned a few pages of the book. "Well, when a baby is born, its essence is his or her innocence; extracting innocence from a child is quite like extracting their soul." She looked up at David. "She has Rumple's wit, so she does sort of have his brain. That fight you had with your fears in the woods, she took a piece of your courage…" she looked at Regina. "And she has your heart. All she needs is innocence… and I regret to say that that will cost the little girl her life."

Emma gasped and leaned into Killian, who simply held her and tried hard not to allow fear take over his own heart; bit he'd have been lying if he said he wasn't scared out of his mind. Emma could feel him shake.

"The hell! If she as much as tries, I'll rip her from limb to limb." Killian spoke through gritted teeth.

"And I'll help you with that, buddy." David added, getting a knowing nod from Killian.

Robin nodded. "So how do we confront this… sorceress?"

Regina turned her face to Emma. "The savior has magic…"

Emma sighed hard and stepped forward. "It'd better work. If we fail, we all die, basically…"

"You'd cease to exist." Killian sighed. "You, Henry, Lilly, and your mother…" he tilted his head to the queen. "…and quite possibly you as well, your majesty."

Regina stood up and looked at the book. "This portal can only open during a full moon. That's tomorrow." She looked at Emma. "Miss Swan, if you want to get our little girl back, we'd best start now."

Robin nodded. "You have my crossbow, milady; we shall get your child back, have no fear..."

He then turned to Regina and they exchanged a grin, and everyone else a knowing look.

Emma huffed. "Saving people is what I do. Now… where do I go for my daughter?"

David stepped forward. "Belle, do you have anything that belongs to Rumplestiltskn?"

"Wh…. Yes, of course." She shook her head. "But why…?"

"A tracking spell." Regina nodded and raised a brow at the prince. "Not bad for a shepherd boy!"

"Wherever the Dark One's at, so shall Zelena, and where Zelena is…" Killian added.

Emma nodded at him. "So shall our daughter."

Robin nodded. "Well, we have this day and this day alone. Tis a full moon tonight."

Emma pressed her lips together and squeezed Killian's hand. "I'm ready."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Rumplestiltskin stared at the little baby as she whimpered, teary-eyed, before him on the dinner table. Despite everything, Zelena had managed to at least keep her clean and fed; basically because she needed her to remain as healthy as possible… but no one said a damn thing about keeping her happy.

He swallowed deep and hard as Lilly whined and slowly broke into a full-wail cry. "Seeing her die would at least provide a small modicum of pleasure to you", she had said.

She was the baby of Killian Jones, Captain Hook… the man who had almost killed him in New York, who had chased him relentlessly and who had helped orphan Bae from his mother. Yes, it should be good to do away with his offspring.

But no, it did not.

Lilly's eyes, blue like the evening sky and looking terribly like the pirate Captain 's, looked into his own… and Rumple's own eyes welled with tears.

She was such a beautiful little darling thing… innocence and purity were qualities that his darkened existence often craved for and seeing the little Jones babe there, so helpless, wordlessly begging him not to deliver that pinprick that would make her fall into a deep slumber, hurt the very core of his heart.

But she had the dagger. "DO IT!" She shouted.

And sniffing sad, Mr. Gold caressed the little girl's head. "I'm sorry, dearie… I truly, truly am. Should your father come after me now, I shan't fight back. Darling, innocent little girl, I am so sorry…"

He grabbed her little hand, toyed with the little fingers…

Lilly screamed amidst her tears.

Until she fell silent after the needle touched her tiny index. Her face was lax, the epitome of the sleeping babe, serene, quiet… cursed.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Emma Swan was loading her gun with bullets…. And she suddenly heaved… hard. The very air left her lungs as she leaned her hands on her desk, anguish and fear and something else, something far more painful, registered in her face. "Lilly… no…" She whispered, panting.

Killian looked at Emma, and their eyes met and locked.

One thing could be said about them: They usually didn't need to verbalize what they had in their hearts. Killian had always read her like an open book… and just one look was enough for his hand to grip his cutlass hard and grit his teeth, gnarling a loud "NO!", as he ran for the door. Shaking and definitely feeling deeply anguished, Emma followed, making way with the team to put an end to Zelena's plan once and for all.

And praying she'd be wrong, that her perception was out of whack… that her little baby girl was safe.