Just a little warning, Killian and Emma's conversation they have back at her place after she gets her memories is going to completely change for my story. I added bits and pieces of the conversation they had on the show, but overall, I changed it. Several of Emma's comments on the show are meant to be a jab at Killian. The way I plan on writing Emma for this half of the season, she won't be as shut off to him as she was in the show.
I took a couple of lines from the Smallville episode "Pandora" and put them in this chapter. Let me know if you find them!
Chapter Twenty Six
3x12 "New York City Serenade"
He kept his distance as he followed Emma throughout the day. He watched proudly as she tricked a guy into thinking he was on a date with her only to end the date in handcuffs. And not the fun kind.
When she pulled in for a second date, he thought it was the same trick. However, from the way she gave him a kiss as a greeting, this man was her boyfriend. He knew nothing of the man, but already he hated him. It was agony watching her smiling and eating with him.
The second Emma's boyfriend stepped away from the table, Killian rushed out of the cab he had been holding. Her eyes had been on her phone so when she looked up and realized it was him, she was not happy.
"You -."
"I can explain," he said quickly.
"You are a stalker!"
"Don't scream. Just hear me out."
She set her phone down on the table, but he saw how she grabbed the knife. It was a butter knife, but still, he knew she was capable of making it a deadly weapon.
How odd he must seem to her. He was still in his clothes from the Enchanted Forrest, although, in New York, people were dressed oddly all the time.
He told her what he thought would get her to believe, but it didn't work. So, he settled for giving her the address to Neal's old apartment. Then she would have no other choice then to believe what he was saying. Or at least she would start questioning what she knew.
He took one last look at her from his cab. The man was now down on one knee proposing to her. However, Killian didn't get the chance to see her reaction because the cab was running again and she was out of view.
cs
He met her in by the entrance for the Zoo in Central Park like he said he would. He didn't follow her that day. She was already freaked out with him. He didn't want to freak her out further if she caught him.
He was hopeful that she would believe him now. What he didn't expect was her to find a camera with Henry's name on it. He heard her mom voice and knew he was in trouble. Emma Swan, no matter what her memories were, would always protect her son. She believed Killian was conspiring with Neal to take her son away. She wouldn't allow that.
So, she had him arrested.
cs
The camera had been the thing that got him in trouble with Emma, but it had also been the thing that helped him. Emma developed the pictures. It was pictures of her and Henry with her parents in Storybrooke. She was starting to believe his words, but she still had her doubts.
"I'd have to give my life up my life here," she said.
"It's all based on lies."
"It's real. And it's pretty good," she said. Her voice was breaking up now. "I have Henry. A job. A guy I love."
"Perhaps there's a man that you love in the life that you've lost," Killian said. Even if she didn't remember him, the look on her face was obvious that she knew he was speaking of himself. "Regardless, if you want to find the truth, drink up. Do you really want to live a life of lies? You know this isn't right. Trust your gut, Swan. It will tell you what to do."
"Henry always says that."
"Well, then if you won't listen to me then listen to your boy."
She took the potion from his hand. She looked at it for a whole three seconds before drinking it. With eyes closed she took two steps back.
When she did open her eyes, she looked more like herself. Or at least, that is what Killian was allowing himself to think.
"Hook."
He hadn't told her who he really was. This was all her. Her memories were back.
"Did you miss me?" he asked with a smile.
"Killian," she said. She practically jumped into his arms.
"Finally," he said. He doubled the tightness of their hug. After all this time spent away from her, he didn't want to ever let her go.
"We need to talk," she said. She looked around. "Not here."
cs
They walked in silence as they went back to her place. He wanted nothing more than to have a conversation with her, but he kept quiet. She just got her memories back. She had a lot to take it.
"How are Mary Margaret and David?" she asked once they were sitting down at her table.
"When I left, they were making plans to rebuild the kingdom with Regina," Killian said. She didn't ask, but he kept going. "I left shortly after we arrived."
"Where did you go?" she asked.
"I needed space. Swan, after you disappeared, I couldn't be around your parents. It reminded me of you and that hurt too much," he said.
"Killian -."
He didn't want her to pity him. So, instead of focusing on how he spent the last year of his life pining for her, he continued his story telling. "I got a message. A message saying there was a new curse and that everyone had been returned to Storybrooke. The message told me that the only hope was you."
"What about Henry? There was only enough memory potion for me. How am I supposed to take him back when he doesn't even remember that life. We don't even know what we're heading into!" she yelled.
While he was glad they weren't focusing on how pathetic he had become, he wished there was a way he could calm her fears. "This isn't your real life," he said.
"It's been real for the past year."
"Don't you miss any of it? Don't you miss Storybrooke?" he asked.
She knew what he was really asking. "Of course I missed you. Well, I didn't but that's only because I didn't remember you and then when I did, you were standing right there wearing that."
They both laughed at the sad truth of what it meant to be cursed. "What? You don't like what I'm wearing?" he asked. He realized then that it was the first time she was seeing him in his pirate clothes. While they were cursed, he was always wearing his red and white work uniform. After the curse, he wore the leather jacket he knew she liked seeing him in. "It's leather."
"Yes, you look good in leather," she said. She knew the little boost to his ego was helpful considering the situation right now. "But you have to change before we go to Storybrooke. Henry's going to wonder why you're dressed like a pirate."
"Because I am a pirate," he said proudly. He caught on to the most important thing she said. "So, you'll go to Storybrooke?"
"I don't know," she said.
"Your family won't let anything happen to either of you," Killian said. That was her main concern.
She got up and poured them each a drink. "We both know that sometimes that's out of their control," she said.
"We both know your parents always find a way," he said. He was about to take a drink of whatever she had poured him, but stopped once he thought of something. "I mean, how many times have they used True Love's Kiss to get themselves out of a curse. Maybe this curse will give them another excuse."
She listened as he laughed to himself, but she wasn't laughing. Mentioning True Love's Kiss made her think of what Killian had tried to do. "You do know True Love's Kiss doesn't work if one of the people doing the kissing doesn't remember the other person, right?"
His eyebrow lifted. For the first time since he had been reunited with her, he felt confident in himself. "So, let's say you were under another type of curse, but you remembered me. Are you saying it would have worked?"
With perfect timing, the buzzer went off. Once he found out it was Walsh, he wanted to send him away, but Emma insisted she owed him an explanation.
"What are you going to say to him?"
"I don't know, but I care about him too much to drag him into all this," she said. She grabbed her coat. "Wait here."
cs
After being attacked by Walsh the flying monkey, Emma took Killian to a store to buy him some modern clothes. There was only two things about New York Killian liked. First, that Emma had been here. Second, stores were open all night long.
Emma had been lied to by someone she loved. She was upset, but Killian tried everything he could to make her smile while they were shopping. He did little things such as grabbing a leather jacket he knew was too small for him just to hear her laugh at his misery.
Eventually she figured out what he was doing and didn't tell him. She added to the pile of clothes he was trying on that was obviously too small for him. When he put two and two together, he acted like he was mad at her, but they both knew the reality. He slept on her couch and snuck out just before Henry got home. The young boy was going to have several questions as it was. He didn't want him asking his mother why there was a strange men sleeping over. In another life, he may be friendly with Emma's son, but this version of Henry was slightly different.
It was for that reason the drive to Storybrooke was quiet on his part. Many of the conversations he would have had with Emma could not be had in front of Henry. He knew Henry was curious about who he was, but after the first twenty string of vague answers, he didn't push further. Then halfway into the drive, he fell asleep.
They were back in Storybrooke way faster than he thought they would be. With everything looking as normal as a place like this could be, Emma left him with Henry while she left to see her parents.
As he watched her walk away, it was finally starting to set in that he was really with her. Sadly, that realization came with seeing that she was a changed woman. Being away for the last year gave her independence. His only hope was that with that independence, she didn't feel like she need to be free of him.
TBC
How am I doing writing a softer Emma? I wanted to find a middle between her frustration (or whatever you want to call what Emma had towards Hook in 3B) with Killian while still showing that she's protective of Henry. Maybe I'll have a chapter from her perspective instead of from Killian's.