A/N: Sorry for the delay. Life got busy. School work got even busier. This was originally going to be just one final chapter but I've split it into two so there's one more chapter on the way. Probably (hopefully) coming tomorrow. It's super late, hence the separation of the chapter since I have no more energy and have class at 9:30 tomorrow and wanted to post something. I hope you all enjoy! Let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: All aspects of Once Upon a Time belong to ABC and the show's creators.

After the talk with Mary Margaret Emma debated turning around. She really had. But at the same time the minute Mary Margaret left her the fear crept in. Just as Jones hadn't changed neither had Emma. Going back was risking Mary Margaret had been wrong. She'd already been too hurt in Seaport by Neal. She couldn't repeat those emotions with Jones. No. She just couldn't. She wasn't like Mary Margaret. She couldn't suspend the negative thoughts. It was better for Emma to move on and never look back. Ever.

So she kept the ship on track for Berkley. Back to the ship yard. Back to the life she knew, was used to, was protected in. Back to where she wouldn't be called what she used to be, where people knew her as a captain and not a desperate and orphaned whore. Back to her normally scheduled break in which her ship was repaired. Along with her heart, not that she ever mentioned that. Or ever would.

Emma went back to being the captain she had been before Jones appeared. She ensured no one spoke about what happened, addressing only the issues of the ship when they spoke to her. Once Jones was off The Swan he was out of their business. If anyone questioned what had happened they didn't ask it to her face. She patrolled the deck, manned the wheel and didn't once look back. At least not when anyone was around.

If Emma was good at anything she was good at pushing away painful memories. She locked the memory of Jones's rough stubble against her cheek as she fell asleep in his arms away, the memory of his smirk, all at once sincere and silly and completely, aggravatingly alluring in a box in the back of her mind, never to be opened again. And she never again shed a tear for Jones.

Bae was her priority and she made sure Bae knew that one the trip back to Berkley. She continued to teach her brother to sail, spending hours at the wheel, even when the sun went down. Bae learned the stars just as Emma had learned from David. Bae learned how to work on the deck, scrubbing and coiling rope. And maybe that was selfish of Emma, taking up so much of Bae's time to keep her mind occupied but Emma couldn't bring herself to spending the hours alone.

Though Bae never said it Emma knew he missed Jones. She could tell by the way he always looked at the bed in the captain's quarters that now seemed too big, crawling in halfway through the night, always under the guise that Emma looked lonely sleeping there by herself. Bae missed having Jones tell him stories at night, despite only having that treat for a short time. Emma tried to fill the void but just as her captain duties couldn't fill the hole in her life, neither could her stories in Bae's. And Emma understood that. She got it, perhaps better than anyone else. Bae had gone his entire life alone. And in the last few weeks he'd found a family in Emma and, really, when she thought about it, in Jones as well. If Bae wasn't with Emma he was most likely with Jones. Bae trusted Jones as he trusted Emma and now Jones was lost to him too.

Reaching Berkley finally, late one night, was a massive relief. Now that they were back to port David and Mary Margaret would leave the ship and Emma wouldn't have to be so stoic around them to avoid the lectures of her losing hope and being stubborn. Emma didn't have the energy to fight her friends on that point. She wasn't stubborn. She was being careful. There were only so many ways to say that before her temper exploded. Or she admitted the truth.

Marco and August hadn't questioned her return. Like any time she came into Berkley there was a berth for her ship in the work yard. The work started immediately, her crew once again dispersing with the promise from the captain herself that they would have the full month off for vacation this time. Emma had deprived them of time with family and friends with her stupid trip with Jones. She wasn't going to repeat that mistake again.

Once her crew moved off the boat Bae returned to David's room. At least in pretense. All his clothes moved into the room and that was where Bae got dressed and washed. But that was about it. Each night Bae still slipped into Emma's room, dragging the swan quilt behind him as he climbed onto the mattress and nuzzled into Emma's side. Emma always pretended to be asleep because if she moved Bae got embarrassed and made an excuse about Emma sleep talking or something else. So she always played it off, saving him from having to make such story up. That became their nightly tradition.

Each morning Emma would wake before Bae, who now that he had a permanent home without fear of attack each night, seemed to want to sleep half the morning. Two weeks into their month at port, the sunny Tuesday morning was no different.

Emma pushed herself out of bed, tucking the swan quilt further around Bae's still too-slender body before quickly dressing, padding around the room in her sock feet so as not to wake her slumbering brother. She scrawled a quick note onto a slip of paper, leaving it on the desk. Bae knew where she was if he were to wake but she just liked to make sure Bae knew she remembered him when she woke up. Grabbing her boots Emma slipped up the ladder and onto the deck. Bae would be fine alone while she ran and got breakfast. If any happened, August would be on deck within minutes and Bae knew how to get to Mary Margaret and David's cottage.

Emma secured her hat on her head, keeping the bright winter sun off her forehead as she climbed down the gangplank. Boots crunching against the light snow that had frozen to ice overnight she made her way out of the shipyard and towards the market, after the cinnamon rolls that had first bonded Bae and she together.

The market wasn't particularly busy when she got to it. The cold that had Emma tucking her chin into her coat was probably what had driven the people away. She pushed her chin further into the heavy wool collar, head bowed as she followed the familiar path to breakfast.

Emma could smell the cinnamon when a hand grasped her arm, tugging her to a stop. Emma whirled, expecting one of her crew. She was wrong.

"Looking for these?"