A/N Thanks for all the reviews! I hope you guys like this chapter and I promise you'll LOVE the next three after this. Enjoy! P.S. This is the last chapter that has no Captain Swan interaction. Next chapter has lotsa feels!

Chapter 25: His Mother's Features

The sun was just rising in Storybrooke when the 1980's Cadillac pulled up outside Gold's Pawn Shop. The plane trip back from New York had felt longer, the awkwardness palpable in the air. Neal had thankfully chosen to sit next to Bailey with Gold unwillingly allowing his son the space he wanted, sitting next to the saviour instead. The time had passed silently, and sleep had evaded Emma as thoughts swarmed her mind, overtaking any possibility of rest.

The rain that had marked their departure was gone, replaced by impossibly blue skies. The second the car stopped moving, Emma jumped out and went to the boot to retrieve her bags. She didn't want to be around these people anymore – she wanted to go home and hide under her covers for a good slice of the day. More importantly though, she needed to find Henry – with Neal here there was a much larger chance of them running into each other and she'd rather her son hear the truth from her than his deadbeat dad.

Gold released the lever allowing the boot to open and she snatched up her bags. Slamming down the lid, Emma walked from the car briskly towards the station where her own yellow bug was parked. Neal, unfortunately, didn't have any bags and, after assuring his friend they would see each other later, was sprinting after the blonde.

"Emma! Wait up!" he yelled as he closed in on her. She had just put her bag in the back and opened the driver's side door when he reached her.

"Neal, I don't know why you're here. I really don't care to find out the whole story," she said lividly, keeping her eyes trained on him.

He bit his lip, "So you're not even going to give me time with my son?"

Emma reeled, "What? How do you even know about him?" She hadn't mentioned Henry to him since their reunion. Neal looked back sheepishly at Gold and Bailey entering the pawnbroker's shop.

"Gold told Bailey you had a son and he told me on the plane," he explained.

"What makes you think he's yours? I might have moved on and had a family by now," Emma said defensively. This bastard was so conceited; he thought she'd been so distraught by their break-up that she'd never love again. While he was correct because she hadn't had a relationship since him, it still pissed her off. For some reason, Killian's face popped into her head and she recalled the feelings he was stirring within her. Disregarding the thought, she pulled herself back to the present.

"Really Emma? He's eleven years old and you're going to tell me that it's just a coincidence that we were together twelve years ago? I know you didn't cheat on me either, so don't lie."

He was right; using simple subtraction it would have been easy to deduce Henry was his son. There was no other way she could have become pregnant in an all-female prison – she would sooner have beat one of the guards to death than sleep with them.

"It doesn't matter because he doesn't know you exist. I told him his father died a hero," Emma replied, sitting down in the driver's seat. Neal wedged himself in the door so she couldn't shut it, looking down at her with dismay.

"Emma, I know you're still angry with me but I deserve to meet my son. I didn't even know he existed until a couple of hours ago." His eyes delved into hers, begging her to see his point of view. Objectively, he deserved a chance, after all Emma was the one who originally gave the boy up and her not allowing him to see Henry was kind of hypocritical. On the other hand, she didn't want Henry to become attached only to have Neal disappear. The mixed feelings made her pause.

She pushed his body out of the way and slammed the door, talking to him through the opened window, "I'll think about it. Until then, stay away from Henry and stay away from me."

His silhouette became smaller and smaller as she drove away towards her apartment.

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As she reached her apartment, a long sigh escaped her lips; home, sweet home.

Emma dropped her bags, immediately heading to her shower and enjoying the warmth it provided. She let the water wash away the worries of the last two days, relishing in the emptiness. Her thoughts mellowed and the steam fogged up the glass and the mirror.

Running her fingers through her blonde hair, she took a deep steadying breath. Emma needed to categorise her thoughts and organise them by importance. The first thing that came to mind was Talice and the need to find him and the subsequent need to protect her family.

She didn't know how to locate him and she also didn't know where to look. Without that knowledge she would simply have to keep Henry with Regina until such time as he appeared and she could end him. As for her parents, they were safe-ish. Emma trusted her father to protect the both of them but she felt like more was needed. Perhaps tomorrow she would visit and apply the same protection spell she had put on her own residence.

The saviour's thoughts moved on to Neal and Henry. How could she tell her only son that she'd lied about his father and that the real one was here? She knew Neal well enough to know that he was going to find Henry eventually and tell him himself if Emma didn't, even if he didn't stick around afterward.

She would have to tell Henry. The realisation of what that would mean dawned on her, she would have to notify Regina and her parents would have to know about it as well. This would require a lot of talking, she should probably start tomorrow. It pained her to think about reciting the events with Neal to her parents – because she knew she would have to.

For some reason her thoughts drifted on to the pirate captain. Her lips tingled and a shiver ran down her spine as she recalled their kiss before she left. It was an insatiable exchange that had ended too abruptly. But now, with Neal and Gold and Talice and everything she wasn't sure she could deal with him at the moment. Her feelings were so vague to her, only fleeting moments of clarity provided insight into the twisted relationship she tendered with Killian.

Emma definitely cared about him; that was undoubtedly established when she dropped everything to go with Gold to New York. She also knew they had an understanding of each other, even if it was warped by the events they had both survived.

He could read her so easily, clearer than her parents or her son or Neal ever had. He could discern her lies from the truth, pick out what she was feeling and when. He had saved her physically more than once. And in turn she could see through him, through the charming bravado to the heartbroken man who'd lost his true love to violent ends. She could get through to him when nothing else could. And it scared her.

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"How am I supposed to tell him?" Emma asked, staring at her parents across the little dining table. Desperation had seeped into her voice. She had just finished explaining the real story of Henry's father, how she'd lied to the young boy and how the deadbeat reality had arrived in Storybrooke hell-bent on seeing his son.

Mary Margaret reached over the table and gave her daughter's hand a reassuring squeeze, "Whatever you do, we'll support you. To be honest I think you just need to sit him down and explain the situation to him. He's a smart boy and while he'll be upset… I think he'll understand."

David nodded in agreement, "It'll be hard because obviously he's going to be angry that you lied but as Snow said, he's a good kid and won't hold it over you forever. Just make sure you tell him before Neal does." Her father's voice dropped a decibel at the mention of Neal. Even though she'd told them his version, her parent's still looked murderous when she recited how he'd left her to the wolves.

"I just don't know what I'm going to say. He still sees me as this flawless creature, the saviour. I'm just scared how he'll look at me when he realises I'm human and not this great perfect hero he's always seen me as." Emma's words were small, this was the most vulnerable she'd ever been around her parents. It heartened them to know she was letting them in, even if it was only for a short time.

The silence in the room became too much for the blonde and she stood up, softly pulling her hand out of Mary Margaret's grasp.

"I need to go; I have some things to sort out. David can you take the rest of the shift at the station?" Emma asked, moving towards the door. Her parents were still seated at the table and her father nodded. With one last tight smile aimed at the both of them, she left the little house.

She'd been there since lunch time and it was about two o'clock. The first half of the day had been designated to sleeping after the long exhausting trip with Gold and Bailey and Neal. She'd gone straight from the shower to her bed and immediately been taken under by fatigue.

Walking out of her parents' little Victorian house, Emma felt satisfied with her accomplishments. Before she'd knocked on the door when she'd first arrived at their home, Emma had set up the protection spell the way Gold had taught her. Now though, she felt no desire to go home.

So she started walking to Granny's.

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Killian was walking towards Emma's apartment when he saw the middle-aged man leaving the pawn shop. The pirate had heard of her return from a kind folk at the local tavern. While it didn't serve the ale he had desired, it had served an alcoholic beverage of suitable standard. As he rounded the corner and saw the man, he stopped in shook. The man's face showed confusion and Killian forced himself to do a double take when he observed the man's features. He had dark brown hair, curled slightly so that it framed his face elegantly. His eyes were a dark green, almost brown, and soft, his cheekbones angular. They were Milah's features, the features he'd memorised so perfectly when she died.

The man looked up and saw Killian staring. Unsure recognition bared in his eyes and he looked closer at him. The man walked towards him and stopped a metre away.

"I know you…" he said curiously, staring at the pirates face.

"Who are you?" Killian asked, trying to discern how this man could be related to Milah and what he was doing in the crocodile's shop. Any relative of Milah's who knew what that monster did would not be leaving without blood on their hands.

"My name's Bailey Smith," the man answered, hesitating slightly before saying his name. The desperation to know who this man was overtook his common sense and before he could stop himself, Killian asked.

"Are you by any chance related to a woman named Milah?"

Bailey's curiosity peeked and he stared at Killian.

"She was my mother."

His thoughts stopped spinning as realisation dawned on him with all the impact of a mammoth wave.

"So Rumplestiltskin is your father?" The revelation made no sense and yet the pirate believed him; this man looked about the same age as the crocodile, how could he be his son? Bailey saw the confusion on Killian's face and laughed half-heartedly.

"It's a long story."

Looking at this man, the pirate felt a connection to his lost love and he wasn't too keen on losing it just yet. Smiling fondly, he replied, "I have a lot of time."

"Who are you?" Bailey asked, the wheels in his head spinning rapidly as he tried to place the handsome face before him.

"Killian Jones, I… I knew your mother," he answered, looking sadly into the eyes that his love had passed on to her son. In that moment he missed her more than anything, she should have been alive to see this boy grow up. Bailey shook his head but his expression lightened.

"I heard there's a nice place down the road called Granny's, I'll explain it there." Killian nodded in agreement and the pair proceeded to walk down the main street towards Granny's diner. They entered and immediately took a seat at the bar. The dark-haired waitress came over to them and, upon spotting Killian, her face dropped.

"What do you want, Hook?" Ruby asked dejectedly, ignoring the stranger.

"I came to get a drink with this fellow, two pints of rum thanks," he replied charmingly, putting on his most endearing expression. She rolled her eyes and walked away to get their drinks.

"So how is it that you are the same age, if not older, than the man you claim is your paternal father?" Killian asked, leaning his elbow on the bar.

"Well, my father told me all about the curse so I'm betting you know all about Fairy-tale Land?" Bailey asked, raising a brow in mock suspicion.

"What! You mean I've been living with people who are out of books? What is this trickery?" Killian replied sarcastically, drawing a laugh out of the man opposite him.

"I take that as a yes. Well, you see he did this all to come here to find me. You know how he's the dark one?" Bailey asked matter-of-factly and the pirate nodded, keeping his expression neutral at the mention of his mortal enemy, "Well, when he first became like that I wanted to… reverse it? Yeah, sort of reverse him to his old self because I didn't like where he was going. Anyway, so a fairy gave me this bean that opened a portal that would lead me to a land where there was no magic and he wouldn't be the dark one there."

Killian nodded at the appropriate intervals as he continued talking, "My father made me a deal and he said that if I was able to find a way to reverse his powers he would do it. So when I told him and I opened the portal he had second thoughts… I went through and he didn't."

He was always a bloody coward, even when his own kid needed him, Killian thought bitterly but didn't let the despise show on his face.

"So I've been living in New York my whole life and then yesterday when I'm at this café I hear my name, my real name and I see this blonde girl walking towards me. I mean, she was hot but I couldn't just… I don't know but I ran and I went to a friend's place. Apparently, my father used some kind of talisman to find me and he just turned up at my friends' apartment with the blonde girl… Emma, I think her name was." The pirate's eyes shot up at the mention of his swan, he didn't particularly like how this man had described her like she was an object. If he only knew her he would understand why 'hot' was definitely not an accurate description of her.

"My buddy knew her from somewhere and they went downstairs to talk… or rather she ran down there and he followed her. But I heard them yelling so… I'd say she's an ex or something, I don't know." At the mention of his 'buddy', Killian's gaze darkened for a fleeting moment.

"But when they left my father convinced me to come here and… well, I guess you understand how the curse worked, right? Frozen for twenty-eight years and all that?" Bailey watched as the man opposite him nodded, "Well while you were all frozen, I was growing up in the real world. And that's why I'm the same age as my father."

"It makes sense," Killian replied, trying to sound interested. Bailey looked curiously at him for a moment before blurting out the question that was buzzing around his mind.

"What was my mother like?" he asked.

Ruby arrived with the drinks and the pirate took a long swig, using it as a distraction to gather his thoughts.

"She loved you… a hell of a lot, mate." It was a lame and overused gesture but it was all he could think of. How could he describe the young-hearted free spirit that had stolen his heart and then crushed it all the same? How could he do that without revealing his real connection to her?

"I wish I'd known her," Bailey said, taking a swig reminiscent of his drinking partner's earlier action, "I wish I could hunt down the people who took her from me…"

Killian's ears perked up and he took the cup away from his lips to ask, "What do you mean?"

"My father told me she was killed by pirates that had docked in our town, I wish I could have just a moment of their time," he replied menacingly and the pirate next to him almost choked on his rum. That bloody invalid had lied to his only son, and in a way that placed Killian as the main suspect should Bailey ever discern his fairy-tale identity.

"More like a bloody crocodile," he muttered angrily, bring the amber liquid back up to his lips. Bailey stopped the movement with his hands, pushing the glass back down on the counter as he stared at his drinking partner.

"What did you say?" he asked, sensing that there was something he was missing.

"Nothing… I just," he scrutinised the man who held Milah's features and knew that even if he was a bastard pirate he wasn't going to drop this on Milah's son, "maybe you should ask your father if that's the truth."

He may not have been morally able to force himself to tell Bailey but he would be damned if the crocodile slithered his way out of this one. He deserved to know the truth about what happened to his mother.

"What do you mean? Do you know something?" Bailey asked angrily, pushing down the glass again as Killian tried to take a sip. This was getting quite irritating now.

"Listen, it isn't my place to tell you anything. Just make sure you got the full story…" He said vaguely, standing up and pulling a note of cash out of his pocket, "Thanks Ruby," he called at the dark-haired girl before exiting the restaurant, leaving a very confused Bailey Smith.

YOU MADE IT! What did you guys think of Killian bonding with Bailey? Do you like Bailey? I've nearly finished the next chapter but I've got them all planned out! P.S. Do you guys have any questions you want answered? Keep an eye out for Chapter 26: Calm Before the Storm where our babies see each other again!