Hi so here is another chapter-for some reason throughout all the stress of the exam season this story seems to do the most to control the stress.

Wow, thank you all for being so vocal about the last couple of chapters-It warms me that your all so protective over Liam and Killian and on some levels I agree with you all and your opinions but this is the arc were going down but like always there will be a happy ending. So as I thank you for all the reviews I am going to realise a couple of spoilers for future chapters.

Kanas will be a big chapter for Liam and Killian and Emma and brings the conclusion to my Zelena arc to an end.

Will and Belle aint gonna happen-so if you like the pairing I am warning you in advance, I am to much invested in Rumbelle and Will/Anastasia

Emma will acknowledge that she is behaving wrongly in these chapters- she will get her sought of comeuppance in later chapters when she realises Liam isn't really hers and is given some home truths about her behaviour and is forced to confront her own issues.

This chapter is mostly about Killian self loathing and angst but the next one will longer and go into more detail.

Next Chapter-Bleeding Through-A conversation with the dead, more angst, and a runaway six year old (And Killian looks for a new place)

Disclaimer-I own nothing.

Please read and review.

The Pirate's Son

Chapter 36-The Jolly Roger

Killian desperately attempts to fight for his son, Emma makes a decision that is met with universal disapproval, and a heart-breaking realisation is made.

Giving up his ship to get back to his son was easy. Well…that ship had been a part of Liam's life for the better part of…well all of it and Killian had sold it to Blackbeard on the man's word alone that it would get him near his son.

And it had.

Of course this wasn't his Liam. This was Emma's Liam, this was the boy that she had raised or had convinced herself she had raised. Killian might be selfish by nature but he wasn't stupid enough to assume that when he saw Liam it was all going to be sunshine and rainbows. He knew it was going to take hard work to worm his way back into Liam's life, and even then it might never be the same as it was before and he had known that.

And yet it still felt like someone was clawing his insides out with his own hook whenever Liam looked up at him with those wide blue eyes and didn't seem to recognise him past Emma's friend. And it was getting more and more difficult to pretend that it didn't bother him.

More and more difficult to pretend that Emma's game plan was to take the boys back to New York when this was over, Liam included and that Killian was never going to see him again.

But in the darkest moments he knew this was what he deserved. Because he was Captain Hook, he was a villain. He didn't deserve the happy ending. He didn't deserve Liam.

And he'd known that from the beginning but still it hurt.

Emma had come to visit him after he had dropped the boys of back at the diner the next day. Liam and Henry were stood to the side both of them sleepy.

"Took me a hard time to wake them up this morning" Swan commented.

"Whatever you did last night sure as hell worked; if you don't mind watching them while I go practice my magic with Regina then I'll doubt you get any trouble out of either of them"

He nodded. It had become strained with him and Swan, the two of them caught between what they wanted for the same person, she had the only thing he would beg for right now and Killian knew on instinct that he had to play her game to get it.

"Well at least your back to learning your magic again" he said as way of prolonging the jilted conversation, "Yes" Swan nodded "Once this is all over I can get the two of them back home and in their own beds and back to school"

Killian didn't hear much past the 'taking them home' part.

"Excuse me?" he said something inside him cracking and shattering when he heard those words, he had been so good…obeying Emma completely when she told him to stay away, preparing himself to make do on whatever he could get, making allowances and constantly checking when and how he could get access to his son and he had managed to keep his temper and pain to a mere manageable level.

"I'm planning to take them back to New York" Swan said without beating around the bush, "This…" she gestured to all around them "Hook…I think…Every second they are here they are in danger…I told you I'd keep him safe and I can't do it here"

The 'With You' remained unspoken.

"You know" he said in a vague unspoken way of remaining calm. "In case you may have forgotten Liam is still my son" Swan blinked like the thought hadn't really occurred to her "My son" she said quietly "He doesn't know who you are Hook"

"He should" he pointed out "Not the whole truth…but Swan would it hurt anyone to tell him I'm his father, I mean what does he think…that his father abandoned him or something?"

"Yeah" Swan said flatly "I didn't really have much more to go on other than that remember?"

Killian didn't even flinch at the reminder.

He was rather proud of himself at that achievement.

"I won't beg just because you kept him safe" he said through gritted teeth, "And if the curse does eventually break, if he gets his memory back…" it was a fleeting thought that he didn't let himself dwell on but now when everything seemed to be coming together. That was normally when life blasted him apart.

"If the curse breaks…" Swan continued "Maybe but even then what are you gonna do when the next monster comes?" Killian let out a harsh laugh.

"I looked after him in the seas of Neverland for five years Swan" he hissed "I had half of the Navy after me, I kept him safe from the first curse, I fed him and clothed him and I loved him, I can keep him safe, I have kept him safe. I don't need telling how to do it." He pointed a trembling finger in the direction of Liam who was still leaning against Henry who was watching them both with an interested expression.

"I love that boy more than anything and you don't get to stand here and say you're going to take him away from me again" he paused coming to the crux of the matter "Not until he knows who I am-that in some wrapped version of his memories he knows he has a father that loves him"

"Yeah?" Swan said scathingly "How do you think it would go Hook? Do you think he would just jump into your arms and say hello Daddy?

It stung, it burnt, and undeniably it was the truth.

"You intend to take him back to New York with or without my consent" he said without even questioning the answer.

"Yeah" Swan said her voice tight with what seemed like a lack of emotion-if that were possible. "You…" she paused "Did you honestly think that you…didn't you know how this was going to end?"

No apparently it seemed he didn't.

Pity that he was only learning now-always the hard way.

But he was a villain.

So what really did you expect?

I know this is really short-but I wanted to focus on the Killian angst this chapter and not the Ariel stuff.

Yeah i'm mean and I broke my own heart and probably everyone else's writing this but I will update soon to put you out your misery.

Quicker reviews, quicker updates