Hello, readers! I'm sure this is a surprising turn of events considering how long it took to get the last chapter out XD Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy!

Emerlyn blinked awake slowly as the sun streamed in the open curtains near her bed, groaning slightly as she rolled away from the light that made her blue eyes ache, sitting up slowly and running a hand through her always-tangled hair as she stifled a yawn, feeling the cloth scrape of soft bandages against her lips as she covered her hand with her mouth.

She frowned slightly. She didn't remember being bandaged. The last thing she remembered was tripping on the dock. Why couldn't she remember anything else?

She started to slide from the bed, her feet pressing into the soft carpet as she stood, stretched, and then looked over to find her father asleep in a nearby chair instead of on his bed, still fully dressed in his leather coat and boots. It was pretty clear he hadn't intended on falling asleep.

She carefully walked over to him and started to shake him awake gently. "Papa?" she called softly, shaking her head a little as he hardly stirred. "Papa, wake up." She nudged him a little harder before finally just flopping into his lap.

Killian awoke with a start.

Emer's face split into a grin wide enough to show her slightly crooked bottom incisors. "Morning."

Killian laughed a little as he pulled her closer to him from where she'd parked herself in his lap, hugging her tightly. "Morning, Em."

She blinked in surprise at the tight hug, but returned it nonetheless. "What's this for?"

Her father paused for a moment, like he wasn't sure what to say. He'd forgotten that Zelena had taken away her memory of the curse, of their conversation, and he'd almost forgotten that he couldn't give his daughter a kiss without stealing away her magic. He had to come up with a reason, and rather quickly. And he wasn't sure the truth about what had happened would be the best plan right now.

"Because I love you," he said simply, pushing her hair back from her face gently as he looked at her with a fond expression.

Emer wrinkled her freckled nose a little, but her grin didn't fade. "You're weird," she told him simply.

"You knew that, Em," Killian said with a small laugh.

"I know," she said softly. "But I love you too." But she couldn't help but feel like he was hiding something from her again, and she didn't like the bloom of mistrust starting to grow in her stomach.

Killian twisted a large, bright green apple in his hand as Emer sat beside him, waiting to hear what exactly the newest development in Operation Big, Mean, and Green was. Emer sighed a little to herself. She wished the old Henry was around to come up with a better name than that, she wasn't very good at it, but at least it kept her semi-entertained when she thought about it.

Emma opened the door where the pirate and the former Lost Girl were waiting, spotting Killian holding the green fruit and raising both eyebrows. "I'd watch out for the apples in this house."

"Aye," Killian said softly without looking up at her.

"It was a joke," Emma pointed out as she slid out of her jacket, looking at the pirate with a furrowed brow. "Where's your sense of humor?"

The suggestion, joke or not, made Emer want to take a bite out of the ripe fruit. After centuries of having no adults to boss her around, she had a hard time doing what she was told.

Killian put the apple down and pushed to his feet, offering a hand to his daughter. "It left when the witch arrived," he told Emma simply as Emerlyn took his hand. He still wasn't ready to go anywhere without her yet.

"Well, we're gonna take care of that," Emma assured as she hung her jacket over the back of a chair. "Regina said she has a plan."

"I'm sure she does," Killian said as he pulled out a chair for Emer, and sat in his own after the teenager sat.

"No, we didn't," David said to Mary Margaret as they sat, and the prince turned to the Savior. "Emma, will you please tell your mother that we're not gonna name your brother 'Leopold'?"

Emer bit back a snort.

Killian raised an eyebrow at her when he noticed, smiling and shaking his head.

"Uh, why not? It was my father's name," Mary Margaret protested, and Emerlyn was glad she'd managed to stop the amused sound that tried to escape.

"People will make fun of him," David told her simply.

Snow White still looked very offended. "My father was a king."

"Which is why nobody made fun of him," David explained just as simply as he had the first time.

"Okay, what about 'Eva', after my mother?" Mary Margaret tried.

David sighed a little, thinking as he spoke. "I don't know how well that'll work for a boy."

"It might not be a boy," the pregnant princess said with an almost challenging expression.

David smiled a little, looking every bit the loving husband he was known to be.

Everyone turned at the sound of a door opening, and saw Regina finally entering. "Sorry to keep you waiting," the Evil Queen told them simply. "I was making this special tea."

She poured it into each of the small silver goblets on the table, and David picked it up to look at it, ready to drink it before Regina saw him and stopped him urgently. "No! Don't… drink it."

David looked up at her with puzzled eyes.

"It's a deadly poison for summoning the dark vortex," Regina finished as she poured the liquid into the last goblet.

Emer scooched back a bit from the table, leaning away from the poison-filled cup.

Killian seemed appreciative of her efforts to stay away from the liquid.

David made a sour expression as he put the goblet back down. "I prefer Earl Grey."

"The dark what?" Emma asked, confusion written on her face.

"Zelena came by this morning," Regina began to explain. "While the Dark One was stealing my heart, she was here gloating. She said that my weakness was that I don't know enough about her past, so I've decided to summon someone who does."

Killian raised an eyebrow slowly, hand moving to take his daughter's.

The teenager let him with no argument.

Regina sat and looked over the group gathered around her, focusing mainly on Mary Margaret. "We have to talk to my mother."

"It's a fairly simple ritual, but not often performed," Regina explained to the group as Killian looked more and more hesitant to let Emerlyn stay, but he couldn't make himself leave her alone. He would rather her be here for the summoning ritual than leave her alone where someone could get to her and hurt her again.

Emma looked at her with a furrowed brow. "If it's easy to talk to the dead, why not do it more?"

"Well, because to do it, you need the murder weapon and… the murderer." Regina glanced almost pointedly at Snow, who looked startled and terrified.

David let out a small sigh as Regina lit a match and lit the white end of the dual-sided candle, and then the black side.

"What do we need to do?" Emma asked slowly.

Regina closed her eyes, and held out both hands, palms facing the ceiling. "Focus on Cora."

Emer slid her chair back a little so Killian and Mary Margaret could take each other's hands. She'd never met Cora, so she figured she wouldn't be much help in the summoning circle. She moved a little closer to her father's side, hoping to keep herself close enough for both of them to feel comfortable with what was going on.

Killian glanced at her appreciatively before looking back at the circle of adults. "Welcoming thoughts?"

"Whatever you've got," Regina replied simply as the group closed their eyes and focused, and Emer watched carefully.

"Is it—?" Emma started before Regina cut her off with a sharp Shhh! and the Savior raised an almost challenging eyebrow as she cracked one eye open, but only for a moment as she tried to focus on thoughts about Cora again.

Emer stopped herself from shifting almost nervously in her chair. She'd never met Regina's mother, but with all of the tension seeping into the room from just the thought of her, the former Lost Girl was glad she hadn't. And she wasn't sure she liked where this was going.

Wax dripped from the double-sided candle in the center of the circle of adults, the small flames on each end fluttering as wind began to swirl through the room, curtains flapping in the growing breeze.

Emerlyn felt her heart pick up speed, shivering slightly in the moving air as her blue eyes flicked from the swirling curtains to the melting candles as drops of wax fell off of them in a quickening pace. She jumped when the fire in the hearth died suddenly, stopping herself from gasping aloud by letting out a deep, shaky breath that could barely be heard over the continuing winds. Before she had time to calm herself down, the ceiling opened up in a swirling bluish vortex, and everyone looked up.

Emer was gaping, heart still pounding in her chest.

"We did it," Mary Margaret said in a tone that resembled shocked awe, her eyes wide.

"Cora?" Regina shouted into the dark, swirling void. "Mother, can you hear us? Cora, give us a sign."

Nothing in the vortex seemed to change, and Emer saw her father's mouth twist in something like disappointment, but not like what he was witnessing was something he hadn't expected.

"Do not ignore me now, Mother," Regina demanded, her voice sounding a little more desperate as she continued. "Please. You owe me this."

The table jumped up, and the flames on the candles wavered.

"Oh!" Snow cried out, dropping the hands she was holding.

The vortex closed with a loud whooshing sound.

Emer's heart hadn't slowed from its hard rhythm.

Killian looked around with a sheepish smile, scratching his head a little. "Sorry, love. That was me. I crossed my legs and bumped the table."

Emer rolled her eyes as he glanced back to make sure she was alright.

She gave him a reassuring glance before they turned back to see a nearly distraught Regina as she sighed and looked up at the ceiling one more time, looked back down, and blew out the dual-sided candle.

Killian smiled a little sheepishly again, this time the expression apologetic.

"Do we try again?" Mary Margaret asked as she watched Regina blow out the candles.

"No," Regina said simply. "There's no point. It worked. The portal opened, but… nothing came from it."

Emer didn't think now was the right time to comment on how cool it looked while it was there, even if it had been a chilling sight at the same time.

"She doesn't want to talk to me," the Evil Queen continued, sighing softly. "I guess whatever secrets lie in her past, she wants to keep buried there."

"Maybe Belle will have more luck," David said hopefully as they walked out of the room where they'd tried to summon Regina's mother. "I mean, there has to be something that can help us."

"Right," Emma agreed. "My magic gets more powerful every day. By the time this all goes down, I'll be ready."

"Make… sure you are," Regina said simply, sighing.

Emer glanced at her father for a moment. Something about this didn't seem right.

"Come on, let's go," Emma said quickly to the others gathered there.

Killian took Emer's hand and followed the Savior outside.

Emerlyn followed, David closing off the group as they stepped outside.

Emer sat beside her father in a booth at Granny's as Emma sat at the bar counter, focusing on a cup of hot cocoa with cinnamon until it disappeared in a flash of white light.

"Boom!" The Savior called triumphantly as she slapped the bar counter in victory, the cup reappearing on the table in front of the Joneses. "Granny's to go. I should start my own franchise."

"It's impressive," Killian agreed, though he didn't seem nearly as enthusiastic about it as the blonde woman did.

Emer was distracted by humming a tune until it made the plastic salt and pepper shakers on the table dance with one another.

The sight of that made Killian smile.

"Okay," Emma conceded with a small smile. "That's cool. But you wanna see something really impressive?" She lifted a hand, waved it, and Killian's hook was gone.

Emer fought not to smile at the sight as the adult across the table from them burst into giggles.

Killian, on the other hand, was far from amused, pushing himself up from the table and stalking toward the coat rack where it now dangled. "That's bad form, Swan—messing with a man's hook."

Emer blinked in surprise, her humming ceasing so suddenly the salt and pepper shakers fell onto their sides as their dance died.. She wasn't sure what reaction she'd expected him to have to that, but that wasn't it.

"Okay, seriously," Emma said as she turned to look at him from the booth. "What is up with you?"

Killian clicked his hook back into place, his shoulders tight and his expression almost sour. "I apologize for my rudeness," he said as he sat back down beside Emer. "It's a long story. Too long for now." He opened his flask and took a sip of rum.

Emer's brow creased slightly. She was missing something, she just didn't know what.

"Okay," the Savior conceded softly. "Obviously, something's—" She didn't have time to finish as the door to Granny's opened with the soft jingle of multiple bells that was overtaken by the sound of the door slamming as Belle rushed it, pulling it closed behind her.

"Emma, I found it," the bookworm said breathlessly as she dropped a book on the table and opened it to the page she wanted them to look at. "We have to tell Regina and the others."

"Okay, Belle, slow down," Emma said as she looked between the other woman and the book on the table. "What did you find?"

"Zelena's plan," Belle explained as she continued to try and catch her breath, looking between the Savior, the pirate, and the Lost Girl. "I figured out what she's doing."

Emer watched with wide eyes as Regina fought back the ghost of Cora as she pulled her free from Mary Margaret. Emma rushed forward to help Regina banish the ghost as David ran to his pregnant wife's side.

Killian held his daughter back. Cora might not have been after her, but it didn't make him feel any less protective of the situation at hand. He didn't want the ghost anywhere near his Emerlyn.

Emer wasn't close enough to hear what Snow White was muttering until she and Killian both stepped forward, still a few steps behind Belle.

"Leopold… My… mother… My mother," Snow mumbled as David tried to gently soothe her.

"She's not making sense," Emma said softly, worry filling her eyes as she looked at her father. "We need to call a doctor."

Regina sounded desperate. "If she knows something that could help us—"

"Regina, it's gonna have to wait," David said, his voice so firm and commanding it almost made Emer jump. He didn't usually take that tone.

"It can't wait!" Regina snapped in reply. "If we want to stop Zelena, we have to know what the hell she's doing and why!"

"I can help with half of that," Belle said quickly.

"What?" Regina said, her voice softer as she looked at the other woman in shock.

"She's planning on going back…" Belle explained quickly. "Back in time."

"Are you certain?" Regina asked in shock.

Belle nodded.

"No one's ever been able to cast a spell to go back in time," Regina said, almost sounded wonderstruck at the same time as she sounded wildly disbelieving.

"Well, clearly, she thinks she can succeed," Belle replied almost sharply. "I- mean, brains, courage, a-a resilient heart—those ingredients are in every time-travel spell I've found."

Killian couldn't help but feel a little grateful that the resilient heart she chose didn't come from his daughter. She'd had every opportunity to take it on the dock that night, and chose not to.

Emer looked at him with a puzzled expression when his grip on her hand tightened.

He loosened it slightly when she noticed.

"But why go back in time?" David asked, brow creased in confusion and deep though. "I mean, we have no idea what she's trying to accomplish."

"I do," Mary Margaret said as she lifted her head up from her daze.

Emma looked toward her mother with widening eyes.

Regina leaned forward anxiously.

"She… She didn't…" Mary Margaret tried, voice breathless and eyelids heavy.

"Don't push yourself," David said with soft urgency, hand on his wife's shoulder to support her as she sat up a little straighter around her swollen belly.

"She didn't want to give up Zelena," Mary Margaret continued, seeming to mostly ignore David's worry. "She was forced to by…" The princess made a soft noise of pain and rolled her shoulder before she continued. "...by my mother, Princess Eva. She told a secret… just like I did."

"Wait," Emma said slowly, looking at her mother with a confused and concerned face. "I thought our family were the good guys."

The statement almost made Emer laugh out loud. She might've been young, but she had seen enough and been around long enough to know that very few people were wholly good or wholly bad. It was circumstance, and the choices that were made based on them.

"Life is too messy for it to ever be that simple," Regina said with a sigh.

Mary Margaret stared at the ceiling, exhausted and shocked and pained.

"You're saying if it wasn't for Snow's mother, Cora would've kept Zelena," David said slowly, sounding like he was trying to process the fact himself.

"She would've been tutored by Rumplestiltskin," Belle explained.

"All if it weren't for this Princess Eva?" Killian asked, almost in disbelief at how much trouble one woman caused with one secret she couldn't keep. Then again, he remembered why Regina was out to kill Snow White for so long was the same reason.

"So that means…" Emma started in realization.

"Zelena's going back to kill my mother," Snow said softly, an almost solemn look on her face mixed with the shock still nestled in her eyes.

Emer swallowed hard as she realized what that meant. Snow would never be born, and then neither would Emma, or Henry. Dread sank in her gut as she realized what that meant for her future alone. If Henry was never taken by Pan, she would never escape Neverland. She would never find her father again. Not to mention the countless other lives that would've gotten worse or ended entirely without Emma and Henry's intervention.

Her grip on his hand became white-knuckled as Regina echoed the thought out loud. "You'll have never been born."

"I'm guessing this is where your help ends," Emma said almost coldly.

"Now think it through, Miss Swan," Regina replied defensively. "That means you'll have never been born, and neither will Henry."

Emma looked back down, knowing Regina would never risk Henry's life.

"And on this different path, Regina, you may not be, either," Snow pointed out, her voice still hoarse and almost weak.

"It's a good thing no one has ever succeeded with this time-travel nonsense," Killian pointed out, hoping to be a voice of calming reason despite the panic clenching his chest as he realized the same thing Emer did.

"The baby," David said suddenly, rising to his feet.

Emer looked at him in confusion. "What?"

"That's what's missing," Charming said quickly. "That's why none have succeeded. Somehow, someway, our baby is the key. Zelena went to a lot of effort to get close to our unborn child. That's what she's after."

Snow was still too weak to process most of what David said very quickly. "What is she going to do with…?"

"It doesn't matter," David assured her quickly, hand on her swollen belly. "She's not gonna get it. We're gonna stop her. Since our baby's not born, she's stuck, and we have what we need—time."

Snow rubbed her swollen stomach slowly, looking between it and her husband slowly. "Just not very much of it."

Killian walked home with Emer, trying to be as reassuring as possible, begging her to believe that they would fix this, that Zelena wouldn't succeed in changing the past.

"We don't know how to stop her," Emerlyn pointed out with a sigh. "And we don't know how much time we have left to figure it out. Mary Margaret is due any day now."

Her father squeezed her hand. "Trust me, Em. We'll figure this out. I'm not letting anyone take you away from me again."

Emerlyn let go of his hand and crossed her arms tightly over her chest, unable to stop the tight set that found its way into her jaw, unable to stop herself from thinking a bitter thought of, Unless it's you leaving by yourself. She sighed as she tried to dislodge the thought from her head, still holding onto the sinking feeling that she was missing something vital, something that would bring her faith in him back.

Killian stopped in front of her and tugged her to a bench on the sidewalk, under a bright street light. "Em, there's something I need to tell you," he said softly, "and please don't think less of me because I was too afraid to tell you earlier."

Emer's heart sank. So he was hiding something else.

Killian took a deep, almost trembling breath as he looked at his daughter with soft and sad eyes. "The other day, when we were trying to help Ariel find her prince. It… It wasn't Ariel."

Emer frowned, dark eyebrows knitting together. "What do you mean?"

"It was a trick," he explained softly, his voice starting to shake. "Zelena took the form of the mermaid to trick me into admitting…"

The former Lost Girl's frown disappeared into a look of soft concern. "Papa?"

"I'm sorry, Em," he said after a long moment of silence as he tried to regain his composure. "I know I told you we wouldn't search for anything but each other, focus on rebuilding our family, and I intend to keep that promise, Em, I swear I do, but… Zelena tricked me into admitting my love for Emma. And in doing so, she threatened you and her."

Emer swallowed hard. "Threatened how?"

"She cursed me," he admitted softly, almost inaudible over the buzzing of the streetlight overhead. "Or, rather, my kiss. She wants me to kiss Emma, and take her magic away. It's why I've been so… short with her, and everyone. But it would also do the same for you, Em, and I'm so sorry. I've put you at risk, and now you can't even trust me to protect you. I… I don't blame you. After everything I've done, I deserve not to be trusted, but I love you, Emerlyn, and I will do everything I can to stop anyone from hurting you ever again." He laughed sadly and wiped his eyes. "And now I can't even kiss you goodnight without stealing away part of you. And my heart breaks over that every moment."

Emer bit the inside of her cheek to stop her lower lip from trembling, guilt and self-loathing welling up inside of her chest. How dare she hold her distrust against him for so long that she broke her own father's heart, that she made her father lose all faith in himself. She was a monster for it, a heart blacker than Regina's or the Wicked Witch's or the Dark One's.

Her heart dropped into her stomach and hurt like someone had tried to squeeze the life out of it as she realized that what she had done to her father was the same thing Pan had done to her.

Tears started falling down her cheeks before she could stop them, before she even had time to try. Her calloused hands trembled as she reached to take her father's hand gently, squeezing it in both of hers as tightly as she could.

"You were trying to do what you thought was best for me," she said softly, voice shaking and quiet, but her whirling emotions had the streetlight over their head flickering. "I shouldn't have held that against you this long. I was just afraid, afraid and bitter, and I shouldn't have been. You promised you would come back, just like you promised on Neverland, and you did. I had no reason not to trust you." She let go of his hand with one of hers to wipe her eyes as she sniffled softly. "I just don't want you to replace me with a new family."

"I could never replace you, Em," he said quickly, meeting her blue eyes with his in a gaze that begged her to see the truth buried there, that he loved her more than anything else in the world as he gently moved to hold her face in his hand. "Never. You're my shining star, remember?"

She nodded slightly, sniffling again. "I'm sorry I held that against you for so long," she whispered, trying to blink more tears out of her eyes, but she only succeeded in causing more to fall. "I promise I won't anymore. I love you, Papa, and I always will."

Killian pulled her into a tight hug, clinging to her like she was the anchor holding him on the bench where they sat, barely managing to catch himself before he kissed the side of her head, burying his face in her dark tangled hair instead. "I love you too, Em. Forever and always."