So here we are back again, I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas if you were celebrating.

Let's find out what's going on back in Storybrooke.

As always please review.

Vigiliae, Staying Awake

Killian smiled up at Emma, he felt strange as his heart continued to thump harshly in his chest from the drug that Whale had stuck in him. His whole body still felt bone tired, his limbs felt jittery and uncoordinated but his mind was crystal clear.

"You sure you're OK" Emma asked in a worried voice as she slid herself onto the edge of his new bed.

"I'm more awake than I have been for the longest time" he took her hand in his and gave it a squeeze as he gazed up into her eyes.

"You know that this drug won't last long, we still need to figure this thing out quickly"

"Aye Love" Killian closed his eyes and took in a deep breath of the oxygen that still flowed from the mask over his face but it was uncomfortable, it made his mouth dry and his nose itch "Can you take this thing off me?"

"Not yet" Whale answered off to his side as he stepped forward "Give it another few minutes and I need you take some deep breaths too, it may make you cough which I know will hurt but I need to make sure all the water is out of your lungs, we do not need you developing pneumonia"

Killian rolled his eyes dramatically and looked back at Emma but she just raised her brows at him.

"You heard the man, deep breaths, come on the sooner you get it done the sooner the mask can come off and I can get to those lips"

The smirk that slid onto Killian's face was not planned but he found himself following Swan's lead as she sat in front of him pulling in deep breaths as if he didn't know what one was, he didn't comment he just breathed right along with her. The first couple he managed with little issue but as he dragged in the third he felt a very distinct gurgle deep in his chest which caused him to descend into a coughing fit that had him wishing that he had never been born. It was never ending and by the time it finally passed he hurt from head to toe as he lay panting on the bed gasping for breath again, would this cycle ever end?

Killian felt awful, the coughing fit had sucked away all his reclaimed energy and he could already feel sleep sneaking back up on him, he was just too tired to do anything anymore, too many days with no sleep was just proving too much for both his body and his mind.

"Swan?" he managed to gasp out as he lay back on his pillows completely spent "Too tired... I don't know how much longer... I can stay awake... please... I just need... this to stop... I need to sleep"

"Hook, come on, just open your eyes. Regina and the others are on their way it won't be much longer I promise but you can't go back to sleep, not just yet"

He tried, he really did but his eyelids were just too heavy and he couldn't do it. He heard Emma plead with Whale to do something but the room was fading out becoming muffled to his ears then it happened.

Black Beard's leering grin was right in his face, blade held up where Killian could see it and before he could even form a coherent thought his nemesis moved bringing the blade down, Killian reacted without thought and a scream was ripped from his throat as the sharp edge sliced across his right forearm but before he even had a chance to see the damage he lurched back into the real world with his heart once again slamming in his chest.

Everything hurt, there were too many people and his mind was racing but in amongst all the chaos he could still hear Black Beard's voice in his head taunting him.

"You can't hide from me forever Hook, you will be back and I will be waiting... you cannot escape, you will be mine"

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Damn it the Pirate had fallen asleep again, David had hoped that the adrenalin would have lasted longer than ten minutes but Whale had warned him that it was a short term thing. The Doc was working on something that would work for longer but there were hoops he had to jump through to get permission to use the drug, it wasn't exactly main stream medication. David stood at the side of the bed next to Emma as Whale readied another syringe.

"This is the last one of these I can use, any more could send him into cardiac arrest again but I'm hoping something else will be here soon" He grit out as he stepped forward but this time he slammed the needle into Hook's chest straight into his heart before he hit the plunger sending the drug into the Pirate's blood stream.

Hook's lurched back into reality but the minute he started flailing on the bed David could see that something was very wrong as something sprayed across the bed covering the blankets, David was confused for a split second until his brain finally registered that the spray was blood and it was coming from the Pirate.

"HE'S BLEEDING" David screamed out as he jumped forward clamping his hands over the gaping wound to staunch the flow without thought.

Instantly he was in chaos right along with Hook as his potion infused hand hit the Pirate's skin, images of Black Beard's snarling face hit his brain followed by images of Emma kicking Hook and another of her crying in the street in front of Granny's as Hook tried to comfort her then these ones were gone to be replaced by an image of his very own face as a blade sank into his gut and the emotions were just too much as he felt what the Pirate had gone through in that moment. He could feel both Hook and Snow's emotions battling inside him as Hook's horrors threatened to engulf him but Snow's hope was trying to fight them back, he could feel her reaching out to him.

Another round of images slammed into his brain taking away his breath and he could now feel the Pirate's fear, confusion and hopelessness right along with the vision as the face of a dark haired woman appeared in his mind along with her voice and David couldn't handle it... Morpheus had used Hook's own Mother against him and he could feel what that one simple act had done to the Pirate as a sob was torn from his own throat.

Then Black Beard was back, David's world spun, he didn't know what was happening but he could hear the man's deep voice in his head, taunting Hook. David knew in that minute that Morpheus was just waiting for the Pirate, waiting for him to fall back asleep then he would attack him again using who knows whose face. They had to find a way to beat him, they had to save Hook. David gave one last gulping gasp and then he was finally free as he was yanked away from the bed to fall bonelessly to the hard tiled floor in a heap.

David could hear the commotion but he couldn't concentrate, the tears were streaming down his face again and this time there was no stopping them. He felt Mary-Margaret pull him into her arms right there on the floor and little by little her emotions took over as Hook's faded away, it seemed that his connection to the Pirate was not as permanent as the one with Mary-Margaret and it only lasted as long as he had contact with Hook's skin, a fact that David was truly thankful for as he lay on the hard floor trying to sort himself out.

"David?" he heard Mary-Margaret whisper by his side, he could still feel her worry deep inside him as his chest gave one last hitch against the Pirate's unbearable burdens but he finally managed to open his eyes to see Snow's face haloed by one of the bright lights on the ceiling above him.

"Mary-Margaret?" he choked out as he squinted trying to focus his eyes up at his wife's face

"Come on, we need to get you up off the floor, we are in the way" she grit out already moving and pulling at his arm.

He was on his feet in seconds and pulled out of the way but his legs felt like jello and he had to fight hard to stop himself falling to the floor again. It must have been obvious as before he knew it Henry was guiding him into a chair that he had obviously carried over from the table.

"You OK Grandpa?" the Kid asked in a worried voice.

"I'm fine or I will be in just a minute, can you grab me some water?" David's heart was hammering in his chest and he wasn't sure how much of it was from his own experience or how much was from the Pirate's. His eyes fell back on the bed to see Whale still holding onto Hook's arm tightly as he tried to stop the bleeding, Hook himself was gasping for breath again with his eyes and teeth clamped shut but Emma was there for him, he could hear her soothing the man but David knew that nothing she said could bring comfort, he had seen inside the Pirate's head and in all honesty David wasn't sure how Hook was still managing to not lose his mind completely, hell David was close himself and he'd only had a glimpse at what the Pirate had been through.

Henry returned with the water and after a few minutes David started to feel a bit better as his emotions settled and Whale had finally started to stitch the Pirate's arm after injecting a local anesthetic, the slash ran almost from wrist to elbow and it looked quite deep.

"This is going to need more than a few stitches to repair it but all I can do right now is patch it up as best as I can. Hook, come on, open your eyes." Whale gave Hook a slight shake and the Pirate's eyes slowly opened to give the Doctor a death glare.

"Too tired..." he breathed out closing his eyes again, Whale gave a frown of concern but just then a nurse popped her head through the door taking his attention away.

"Doctor Whale, I have it" she smiled sweetly as she held out a vile to the Doc

Whale excused himself and David was on his feet and walking over to Hook's side in seconds, he lent around Emma and prodded Hook in the ribs knowing that that particular move worked the last time the Pirate had become stubborn.

Hook gasped then gave a long groan but it worked as his eyes opened again but when he stared at David the look in his eye was anything but angry. The Pirate couldn't hide anymore, it was too late for that and they both knew it, David had seen way more than Hook would ever have shared willingly and he seemed to be ashamed by what David knew.

"Sorry" he breathed out.

"Me too" David said quietly but his meaning was double sided

"You shouldn't have had to deal with that" Hook said quietly

"Neither should you" David said right back and he meant it "but you can't give up"

"I don't want to" Hook replied letting his eyes slide shut but he only let them rest for a second before he opened them again with a sigh.

"So don't" David spoke looking straight into Hook's eyes

David knew it was true, he knew that Hook didn't want to give up. The Pirate's worst fears were playing out for him, he didn't want to leave Emma, he had promised that he wouldn't. David had seen it and he had felt that Hook had genuinely meant it when he'd made that promise but most of all David had felt the Pirate's love for his Daughter and he knew it was very real.

Hook opened his eyes again but his gaze moved to Emma's face as she stood by David's side and all David could do was swallow the lump in his throat as a tear finally tumbled down the Pirate's cheek showing the outside world just a tiny part of his inner turmoil.

"Hey, you'll be OK." she said as she stepped closer to wipe the tear from his face but Whale coming back up to the bed had everyone looking up in hope.

"Sorry to interrupt but I think this may help. This is a drug called Modafinil, it's still experimental that's why it's taken so long for me to get it and we only have the one dose. This should give us about four hours before you start to tire again so whatever the plan is I suggest we get it moving quickly."

Whale injected the drug into Hook's IV line and within seconds David could see it working as the Pirate blinked widely trying to clear his mind.

"That has a certain kick to it" he said with a slight shake of his head "but at least my heart does not feel like it's going to burst out of my chest anymore. Thanks Doc"

Hook turned back to Emma and gave her a wide grin, David gave a slight smile, he knew that this was an act from Hook, he knew that there was no way that he was feeling that good it wasn't possible but he'd let him pull the wool over Emma's eyes for her sake.

"I do believe that a kiss was promised" Hook said raising an eyebrow and smirking behind his mask

"Really?" Emma replied coyly

"Aye"

David smiled to himself as Emma stepped forward, she pulled Hook's oxygen mask down around his neck and pecked him gently on the lips before stepping back.

"If you want more than that Pirate you will just have to wait until this is all over and we don't have an audience"

"Bloody Hell Swan" Hook moaned but he smiled at her as he lay back on his pillows still blinking his eyes widely trying to adjust his mind to being more awake.

David stepped back to leave the pair alone for a bit and brought his hand up to pull it down his own face, his mind was just a muddled mess, he was unable to sort out his own emotions from everyone elses but the worst part was that they still had to try and figure out how to defeat Morpheus. He turned away from the bed to find Mary-Margaret right by his side, there was no need for words, she just pulled him into her embrace and held him there.

"It's OK, I feel it too and I know it's overwhelming but if I know one thing for sure it's that you won't give up on him, we will find a way to end this."

He pulled her into a tighter hug knowing that she was right, they would all fight tooth and nail to beat this latest foe and as if of cue the door opened as Regina, Robin and Belle walked into the room.

"OK, who's had enough of this damned fool that thinks he can come to my town and mess with one of us?"

There was a chorus of answers but David's eyes were back on Hook, the Pirate wore a look of pure joy on his face as he stared at Regina's smiling face, he really did believe in the former evil queen and with her next words he believed too.

"Good, because we have a plan that is going to make Morpheus rue the day he messed with our Pirate"