It was around nine by the time they made their way out of the city, it would be ridiculous o'clock in the morning before they even made it to this Storybrooke place and then even later before Emma was able to return home. It was a good job Ryan was her last case that she had outstanding at that moment in time; she was going to need a few days to recover from that evenings happenings.

What a way to spend the night of her birthday. Well, the joke was on her though, because she got her birthday wish at least, so she couldn't complain too badly, even if it wasn't quite what she had in mind initially.

"I'm hungry, do you wanna stop somewhere?" Henry asked excitedly, not even half an hour into the journey.

"A feast would be wondrous right now, lass, I must admit," piped up a chirpy voice from the backseat, his head poking forwards between the two of them in the front.

Emma raised an eyebrow at her kid in disbelief and sighed, trying her best to ignore the unhelpful comments made by the unwanted passenger she somehow seemed to have gotten stuck with. "This is not a road trip, we're not stopping for snacks." That, and they'd already both eaten half of her birthday cupcake each before setting off.

"Why not?" Henry asked, looking a bit put out.
"Quit complaining kid, I could have put your butt on a bus; I still could," she replied, as soon as the words were out of her mouth she was kicking herself…why on earth didn't she think of the bus option earlier? It was far too late for that now anyways.

"You know I have a name, it's Henry."

It was this comment that softened her icy exterior a little, she didn't want to upset him, clearly, he'd put a lot of effort in to get to meet her for some reason, the least she could do was try and talk to him and take him home with the hope that he achieved whatever he came for.

Unsure at how to approach talking to the ten-year-old boy she knew nothing about, she was initially stumped before she saw he had opened his backpack up and retrieved a large decretive old-fashioned book from out of it and was now almost protectively clutching on to it. "What's that?"

"I'm not sure you're ready," he replied cryptically, almost instantly, as if he'd been waiting for her to ask about it.

"Is that the book you spoke of earlier, lad?" asked the ever-so helpful pirate man.

"Ready for some fairy-tales?" Emma continued, yet again doing her best to ignore this Jones man for as long as she could.

"They're not fairy-tales, they're true. Every story in this book actually happened," the kid was persistent at the very least.

"Of course they did," she said dryly, immediately dismissing his words for nothing more than a childish fantasy.

"Wait…every tale is in there?" Jones asked in a quiet voice that genuinely sounded worried. He leant back into his seat again and was quiet then for the rest of the journey, thank god.

"Use your superpower, see if I'm lying," Henry instructed, looking her straight in the face determinedly.

There was a moment where Emma genuinely concentrated and looked at her son, looking for all the telling signs of a liar…but she saw nothing apart from honesty, nothing but pure delusion.

"Just because you believe something it doesn't make it true."

"That's exactly what makes it true!" he insisted adamantly. "You should know more than anyone."

"Why's that?" What on earth did he mean by that? Didn't he realise that she was fresh out of belief in such a thing as a happily ever after? The damn things didn't exist.
"Because you're in this book."

"Oh kid, you've got problems." she sighed, not even sure how she was supposed to react to that statement.

"Yep, and you're gonna fix them."

The rest of the journey was pretty quiet, as the backseat pirate man was seemingly lost in thought and the length and stressful nature of the day seemed to have taken its toll on Henry as he was fast asleep, his head lolled to the side as if he was looking out of the window but his quiet snores were giving away the true nature of his position.

It was very late by the time they all drove through the boarders of Storybrooke, the journey having taken just around four hours. As they passed through the town line, Henry finally woke up, rubbing his eyes tiredly, clearly incredibly ready for his own bed.

"Okay kid, how about an address?" Emma asked after seeing that his was awake.

Henry yawned and closed his eyes again before muttering, "44 not telling you street."

Emma slammed on the breaks of the bug right in the middle of the road, knowing it was incredibly doubtful that anybody else would be around or on the road at this time of night. She climbed out of the car and slammed the door behind her and Henry copied, coming to stand next to her. "Look, it's been a long night and it's almost…8:15?" she finished, looking up at the clock tower in the middle of main street in confusion. It was definitely much later than that for sure.

"That clock hasn't moved my whole life. Time's frozen here," Henry said with a sigh, almost as if he was just as frustrated as she was.

"Excuse me?" Emma replied, wondering what the hell he was getting at now.

"The Evil Queen did it with her curse, she sent everyone from the Enchanted Forest here," he stated without so much as a pause to think about what he was going to use as an explanation.

"Not everyone!" came the shout from inside the car, which both Emma and Henry chose to ignore yet again.

"Hang on, an Evil Queen sent a bunch of fairy-tale characters here?" Emma asked, just trying to make sure she'd understood the load of nonsense Henry was trying to feed her.

"Yeah, and now they're trapped," he insisted, his voice getting slightly hysterical when he realised that getting her to believe what he was saying was going to be almost impossible.

"Frozen in time, stuck in Storybrooke, Maine? That's what you're going with?"

"It's true!"

"Then why doesn't everybody just leave?" she asked him, raising an eyebrow challengingly, he couldn't possibly have an answer for every conceivable question to do with his storybook theory.

"They can't, if they try bad things happen."

Emma was about to ask what kind of bad things would happen when she heard the man in leather desperately trying to climb out of the car, making a lot of noise in the process, clearly fed up with being ignored for so long. He was still trying to climb through between the seats into the front when there was a shout from across the street.

"Henry? What are you doing here? Is everything alright?"

"I'm fine, Archie," Henry insisted as the ginger man with the Dalmatian came almost running across the road to check on the boy. What he was doing dog walking at such a time of day, Emma didn't know, but with her kid suggesting the town was full of fairy tale character, she would take a town full of night-time dog walkers over that possibility any day.

"Who's this?" the man asked all of a sudden, looking at Emma properly for the first time.

She smiled awkwardly, not quite knowing what to say apart from "just someone who's trying to give him a ride home." There. That was fairly non-explanatory, wasn't it? However, Henry had other plans.

"She's my mom, Archie."

"Oh, I see…"

Clearly this man knew Henry had been adopted and his lack of surprise at seeing him with her in the middle of the night didn't go unnoticed by Emma, but what did however, was the sight of the man in her car hiding rather successfully in the foot well to stay out of sight.

Emma sighed awkwardly, folding her arms almost protectively. "Do you know where he lives?" she asked because clearly, she wasn't about to get a straight answer from the kid at any point soon.

"Yeah, sure…just, uh, right up on Mifflin Street. The Mayor's house is the biggest one on the block."

Henry tried to avoid eye contact at all costs as Emma looked down at him accusingly for leaving out such important information.

"You're the Mayor's kid?"

"Uh, maybe…" he muttered quietly, still holding is head low.

"Where were you today, Henry?" Archie asked, clearly trying to change the subject. "You missed our session."

"Oh, I forgot to tell you, I went on a field trip," he said, looking up at the man, trying to seem less guilty even though he was obviously not telling the truth.

Archie looked up at Emma before turning back to the boy and kneeling down so he was a similar height. "Henry…what did I tell you about lying? Giving in to one's dark side never accomplishes anything."

"Whoa oookay, "Emma started, trying to steer the conversation to somewhere less weird than from where this Archie guy had just taken it. "Well, I really should be getting him home."

"Yeah, sure," Archie said with a smile, standing again. "Well, listen…have a good night, and, uh, you be good Henry!" he finished, beaming at them both before carrying on walking down the road with his dog at his feet.

Emma turned back to Henry with her arms still crossed, giving him a look that screamed that she didn't believe a word of all the stuff he'd been trying to tell her before, especially now. "So that's your shrink?"

"I'm not crazy!" Henry replied, clearly exasperated.

"I didn't say that," Emma shot back. "He just…doesn't seem cursed to me. Maybe he's just trying to help you?"

"He's the one who needs help, because he doesn't know."

"That he's a fairy-tale character?"

"None of them do, they don't remember who they are."

"Convenient," Emma laughed quietly under her breath, still not quite sure what to say or do. "Alright, I'll play. Who's he supposed to be?"

"Jiminy Cricket."

"Right, the lying thing. I thought your nose grew a little bit."

"I'm not Pinocchio!"

"Of course you're not, because that would be ridiculous…"

It was at that moment that Killian finally managed to get his way out of the car and he fell out of it face first onto the concrete right at Emma's feet as she threw the door open to climb back inside.

"Hello, love," he said with a wink, managing to try and flirt with her even though he was now covered in mud all over his face.

"Sorry, Guyliner, back in the car," Emma smirked dryly, rolling her eyes. "I have a Mayor's child to return back home."

"Actually lass…" he started, trying to climb back to his feet. "I think I'm going to venture off on my own now. I'm much obliged for the safe passage you provided in your strange yellow vessel."

"No, don't go!" Henry shouted from inside the car, leaning over the gearstick to try and convince the man not to leave.

"Sorry lad, I still have a life's quest to carry out, my centuries long revenge to complete…" he replied with a flourish of his hook and within a second the dark look was back in his eyes, the carefree man from seconds ago gone in an instant.

"Okay, no problem. Hope everything works out well for you," Emma said quickly, stepping round him, climbing in the car and shutting the door before he could change his mind. She was rather glad to be free of the weird guy, even if he had been mildly entertaining for a couple of moments since she'd been unfortunate enough to meet him and his pointy hand replacement.

"No, Emma please! Don't take me back there! Don't leave!" Henry pleaded, deciding that the best course of action would be to try and get out the car and refuse to move.

"I have to. I'm sure your parents are worried sick about you," Emma sighed tiredly, calling to him through the open door on his side of the car, trying to convince him to be reasonable. It had been a long day, that last thing she needed was to have to have a fight in the middle of the street with the Mayor's kid.

"I don't have parents—just a mom, and she's evil! Can't you stay, for just a week? I can prove to you that I'm not crazy," he insisted, turning to yell after the figure who was quickly departing towards the darkness of a side street. "Please Killian, I need your help!"

The man had not gotten far by this point, only to the nearest street corner when he heard the boy yell after him and stopped, only if just to listen.

"Evil? That's a bit extreme, isn't it?" Emma replied, actually feeling sorry for his mother, she clearly had her hands full being a single parent and Mayor at the same time.

"She is. She doesn't love me. She only pretends to."

Emma took one look at Henry and sighed, getting out the car and leaned down next to him on the street, examining his expression. "Kid…I'm sure that's not true."

"Sorry to interrupt, lass, but this is actually quite important," said a voice she'd unfortunately heard too much of tonight.

Oh great, pirate man was back again.

"Look lad…did you just say your mother is Evil? Evil as in…" he looked down at Henry with careful eyes, and in case she wasn't mistaken, Emma was sure she could spot a bit of concern poorly hidden within his expression too.

"Yes, evil as in the Evil Queen!" Henry replied, looking at the man with big eyes.

"Bloody hell…"

"Hang on, as in the Evil Queen that supposedly sent all the fairy-tale characters here to Storybrooke?" Emma asked, trying to make sure she was following what on earth he was saying. Obviously, none of it made any sense, but the fact that this weird leather-clad man seemed to know exactly what Henry was saying and was not only following him, but appeared to actually believe it all too was making her wary and sceptical.

"Aye, the very same. The lad is right though lass, that woman is a monster," Killian insisted, looking at Emma, his blue eyes piercing hers and for half a second she wanted to believe what they were saying.

All this talk of curses and fairy tale characters was far more appealing than going back to her lonely life back in the city. However, there was no way for any of it to logistically be true.

"You can't actually expect me to believe any of this?" she asked, not sure which one of them she was directing her words at. "There is absolutely no proof of what you're claiming."

"What more proof do you need than a real-life pirate standing less than a meter away from you?" Henry exclaimed, his voice getting quite high pitched as he tried to insist with her excitedly.

"Henry, this man is not a pirate, no matter what he seems to think," she replied having to make a conscious effort so as not to look at the man in question.

"I think you'll find I am, love," Killian said calmly, causing Henry to beam back up at him, excited that he was getting some of the help he needed.

"Oh really? Prove it." Emma was quickly getting fed up with this unfairly attractive man with his leather and his accent, what was he trying to play at? Why was he going along with the imagination of a ten-year-old boy he'd supposedly never met before that evening.

"What more would Captain Hook need to prove to you that he is in fact himself when you yourself have felt the cold metal of his namesake across your skin this very night?" he announced suggestively, bringing his hook up to her eye line so she could see it and then he used it to gently sweep a few of her blonde curls back over her shoulder with a seductive grin.

"Don't try to make you attacking me in my own home into something sexual," she said dryly, swatting his arm away from her, getting the hook out of her face.

"What can I say, love. I am a pirate," he winked much to her displeasure.

"I bet that thing isn't even real, just an elaborate costume piece," she replied, gesturing to his hook.

Now that was enough to make his face go cold and drop the teasing remarks.

"I wish you were right, lass, but unfortunately I have been without my left hand for a few hundred years now," he replied, the dark look returning to his eyes.

"Look!" came an excited shout from inside the car. 'Here, Emma! Isn't this enough proof?" It appeared that Henry had climbed back inside whilst the two of them were bickering to go and fetch his storybook. He leapt out the car holding out the book open on a certain double page spread for Emma to look at.

What she saw was enough to make her heart splutter and her eyes to open wide in disbelief.

A mirror image of the man next to her stared up at her from the page in the book from the illustration, leather and all. He looked identical, even down to his eyeliner, scruff and the hook in place of his left hand.

"Would you have believed that I was just as devilishly handsome in real life too, love? If I wasn't stood right in front of you, that is," he piped up again, seemingly getting over his momentary sulk when she'd accused his hook of being a fake.

"So what? An illustration looks a little like you so I'm supposed to believe that it actually is you? Not a chance," Emma snapped at him mainly out of confusion and in defence. There was no way that this could be real. "Now, everybody get in the damn car and let's go."

Without turning to look and see what the other two were doing she turned and climbed back into the driver's seat of the bug, putting her seatbelt on and turning on the ignition. A few moments later Henry scrambled back in the car and shut the door. She felt almost a bit disappointed that he was alone and the man seemed to have ventured off by himself again.

"Right, let's get you back to your mom."

Half an hour later Emma found herself walking back out of the Mayors house down the path to her car feeling a little shook up…Henry was right, the woman was a right hard-ass and Emma could tell that Regina Mills had more secrets than Emma herself had regrets, and that was saying something.

She was about to grab the car door handle to open it when a hook shot out and grabbed her wrist before she could make contact causing her to almost jump out of her skin in surprise.

"What are you doing here?!" she hissed at Killian, trying to remove her arm from his hook.

"I'm making sure the Evil Queen hasn't harmed you or the boy. You don't know half of the terrible things a villain such as that woman is capable of," he replied in a low voice, retracting his hook and stepping closer to her so they were almost eye to eye, like he was trying to examine her. "You were wise to refuse the apple cider, but drinking anything she gave you was a foolish thing to do."

"For the love of god, stop it! Henry isn't here anymore, you don't have to keep pretending!" she snapped, trying her best to ignore all of the crap that he was spouting.

"That's what you think I've been doing?" he asked, pulling back to look at her, almost disappointed.

"Well, isn't it?!" Emma barked back, moving so close to him now that she could feel his breath on her face.

Neither of them said anything immediately, just standing in the street in silence looking at each other. Emma hadn't thought of the circumstances before getting this close to the attractive man in front of her that literally oozed sex appeal. It had been far too long since she'd allowed herself to get near anybody like this, but she could almost feel her body humming excitedly when their eyes met. His were so blue that she could almost believe that this man was in fact out of a fairy tale…he couldn't be real.

"No love, it's not," he Killian finally replied quietly. "Look, you need to come with me, I need to monitor you overnight to make sure she didn't slip you any kind of poison."

"She's the Mayor, not a drug dealer," Emma muttered under her breath. "I can't stay, I need to get back to Boston."

"Oh? Do you have a gentleman waiting for you?"

Emma couldn't help but let out a very unladylike snort and roll her eyes. "Yeah, no…I don't do that anymore thanks."

"I see, then why, pray tell, won't you stay just one night? I promise I can be quite good company," he smirked at her, raising one eyebrow flirtatiously before winking.

"No thanks buddy, the last thing I need is to spend the night with a man who may have wandering hands…well, a wandering hand and hook." She corrected herself and Killian let out a laugh at her discomfort.

She did her best to step round him and get into the car but he went to stop her again, going so far as to put his good arm around her waist to pull her back to him. Not expecting the attack, she stumbled forwards, her hands splaying out over his chest that was barely covered by this shirt and waistcoat.

"Come on lass…your first night with a dashing rapscallion of a pirate Captain? Well, you never forget your first," he winked at her again, leaning to whisper the last part in her ear, making her skin almost tingle from the feeling.

She tried her best to look unbothered by his close proximity and pushed him away from her with another eye roll.

"You know, most men would find your silence off-putting, but I love a challenge," he grinned, not seeming to mind her pushing him away almost aggressively to regain her personal space.

"If I agree to stay will you shut up?" she finally caved with a sigh, realising there wasn't much hope of returning to her own comfy bed tonight.

His returning smile almost seemed genuine, almost relieved. "Aye lass, I shall try my best if that is what the lady desires!"

"Great," she replied dryly. "Get in the car, I saw a B&B down the road."

"What's a 'B&B'?" he replied curiously, nevertheless doing as he was told and going found the other side of the car to get in the passenger's side.

Emma didn't even reply to him just sighed, got in the car, started the engine and drove off. Less than five minutes later and they were parked up outside the old and battered Bed and Breakfast and were walking up the overgrown path to the door, which thankfully was still open regardless to the hour.

As they opened the door the sound of two women arguing immediately hit them.

"I should have moved to Boston!"

"I'm sorry that my heart attack interfered with your plans to sleep your way down the Eastern Seaboard!"

"Excuse me?" Emma interrupted quickly, deciding that it would be better to announce themselves rather than stand awkwardly at the door and listen to them fighting.

Immediately the elder of the two women stopped spun around to look at both Emma and Killian in astonishment.

"Do you have any free rooms available?" she asked, unsure of what to make of the woman's reaction to them being there.

"You'd like a room? Really?" the old woman asked again almost as if she was in shock. Even the younger of the two women stopped what she was doing to look at the new arrivals completely aghast. She didn't give Emma or Killian a chance to respond to her question, almost as if she was afraid they would change their minds about staying. "Would you like a forest view or a square view? Normally, there's an upgrade fee for the square, but as rent is due, I'll waive it."

Emma smiled at the woman and was about to respond when her companion decided to make his presence known.

"A square room sounds delightful, doesn't it, love?"

"Now…what's the name?" the lady asked again, getting out a book so as she could write it down.

"Swan. Emma Swan," she replied, trying to smile convincingly at the women and not physically hurt or maim the man stood next to her who had somehow without her noticing put his arm around her waist again.

"Emma," repeated an unknown voice from the doorway. "What a lovely name."

She suddenly physically felt Killian's hook press hard into her side, almost as if he was having to try his best not to lash out at the greying man behind them.

Confused, she turned to look at the man, muttering out a quick, "Thanks" whilst reaching down to grab hold of Killian's arm to ensure he wouldn't lash out. She wasn't completely sure what he was up to or what was wrong, but she had seen a man posed for attack before and this man had definitely struck up some form of aggression in her companion.

The grey man smiled at her, an unnatural looking smile that didn't seem to sit well on his face and then turned to Killian, who was still glaring at the long-haired man as if he wanted nothing but to tear him to shreds there and then. "You are a lucky man; your girlfriend is a beautiful woman."

That only seemed to anger him even more somehow and Emma was forced to grab hold of his other hand and dig her fingernails into it as a warning as she felt him start to physically shake as she was now trapped completely in his arms.

Thankfully, the old woman took that as the right time to hold out a roll of dollars for the man, her face also reflecting that she wasn't very happy to see him either. "It's all here."

"Yes, yes, of course. Yes, dear. Thank you." He moved around Emma and Killian to take the money and then turned to them again just before he made his way back outside. "You enjoy your stay…Emma."

"Doesn't anybody sleep in this town…" Emma muttered under her breath…2am seemed like a strange time to be wandering around collecting money. "Who was that?" she turned and asked the woman behind the counter.

"Mr Gold. He owns this place, so he makes sure to come and go whatever time of day he wants," replied the scantily dressed younger woman from behind her at the window as she watched the man leave.

"He owns the Inn?" Emma replied, still trying to figure out why it was that Killian still hadn't let go of her and why he seemed to think it was a good idea in the first place to pretend to be a couple of all things.

"No," the older woman said coldly. "The town."

Emma could have sworn she heard Killian literally growl and felt his arms tighten as he stepped even closer to her so that her back was pressed entirely up against his body.

"So…" said the woman, trying to put on a more cheerful voice. "How long will you both be with us?"

"A week. Just a week," she replied without even thinking, not sure why she didn't just say one evening and let it be done with. But something was not right here and she was suddenly adamant not to leave until she was sure of what was going on. This was the place her son was living, she'd given him up for adoption so he could have his best chance at a happy life and she sure as hell wasn't leaving town now until she was sure he was okay. Not to mention the pirate wannabe clinging to her like she was a lifeline…something was up there and for some unknown reason she wanted to help. She had nowhere better to be anyways.

"Great," smiled the woman before handing over a big decorative key. "Welcome to Storybrooke."

Unbeknownst to Emma, that was the moment that the Storybrooke clock started moving for the first time in 28 years.

"The Crocodile bloody owns the whole town?!"

"What do you mean Crocodile? That woman said his name was Mr Gold."

"That's his cursed name! The pompous bastard!"

"Not more talk of this damn curse again!"

"Look, Swan, don't keep lying to yourself. You know something isn't right here!" he finally snapped, turning his fury on the woman who was currently sat on the bed trying to remain composed as he paced around the small room angrily.

"Well yeah, obviously, somethings up, but that doesn't mean it's a fairy tale curse!" she tried to protest, but every time she protested the attempts were getting more and more futile.

"Listen to me, Emma, please! This curse is real. I know it sounds crazy and it doesn't make any sense, but you need to just trust me if any of us are going to succeed in getting what we want," he announced, moving to stand in front of the bed to give her his speech, waving his hook around erratically as if that was somehow going to manage to convince her.

"Put your hook down or you're going to take your eye out wiggling it like that," she replied calmly, turning back to the storybook that she'd been trying to read that Henry had conveniently left in her car for her to find.

"Why won't you listen, you infuriating woman!" he cried, throwing both hand and hook up in the air this time.

"I'm trying to concentrate," she told him in the same chilled out voice, as if she was doing her best to ignore him without completely tuning him out.

"No, you're afraid," he immediately shot back, causing Emma to lift her head and look at him again. "Afraid to talk, to reveal yourself, to trust me. Believe me, things will be a lot smoother if you do."

"Well, you must be used to people not trusting you, Captain," she hissed sarcastically, her walls shooting even higher up around to protect herself.

"Ah yes, the whole pirate thing, which you somehow still refuse to believe…" he replied letting the smallest of smirks appear before moving to sit next to her on the bed, completely invading her personal space again, but Emma refused to back down or move. "Well, I don't need you to share, you're something of an open book."

"Am I?" Emma fired back defensively, slamming the book she had on her lap shut in retaliation, causing him to smirk properly this time.

"Quite," he insisted, leaning forwards to her again. "Let's see, the only reason you agreed to stay tonight is so that you can have the chance to spend more time with your boy tomorrow, even though you claim to just want to go home and forget all of this ever happened," he observed, watching her closely to judge for a reaction.

"That's not perception, that's simply just listening to conversation, congratulations," she sassed, trying to find her place in the book again.

"Ah, but you feel guilty for giving your boy up all those years ago and you're trying to make amends by making sure he's safe and happy now. You don't want to abandon him again now the way you were abandoned," he answered, taking the book out of her hands that were suddenly frozen in shock and immediately finding and flipping to the page she'd been searching for with his hook and then handing it back. "Like I said, love, you're an open book."

"How would you know that?" she challenged, looking at him directly in the eyes with a different expression on her face other than the angry and guarded one he'd seen all night since meeting her. Right then, she looked tired and possibly even a little bit frightened.

"I spent many years in Neverland, among all the lost boys. They all share the same look in their eyes. The look you get when you've been left alone," he explained, preparing for her to go on again about how nothing he said was true.

"Yeah, well my world ain't Neverland," she replied quietly after a second. That was the first time she'd not angrily cast aside his stories of a world different to this one, and this didn't go unnoticed by Killian.

"But an orphan's an orphan," he insisted, trying to see how much further he could push her without her retreating back to her hard-face façade he now realised she was hiding behind. "Love has been all too rare in your life, hasn't it?

She just shot him a look which was more of a warning than anything else, but he could also see the begging in her glance, pleading for him to not dig any further.

"Have you ever even been in love?" he asked and once the words left his mouth he knew he had gone too far.

"No," she snapped, getting up off the bed and away from him, heading into the adjoining bathroom connected to their room. "I have never been in love."

She slammed the door, leaving Killian simply just lay there deep in thought.