"So…what do you think?"

"It's a lot bigger than my ship's quarters."

"It's a heck of a lot smaller than our castle."

"That'll be because you're no King or Prince in this realm, mate," Killian said cheerfully, slapping a very disgruntled David on the back. "I'm afraid you'll have to rough it like the rest of us commoners."

"The only commoner here is you, Hook," David growled in response, glaring at the pirates' retreating form as he disappeared into the kitchen again, mesmerised by all the appliances in there that he'd never seen nor heard of before.

"Your words wound me, mate. Truly, it's a pain that could rival even the agony I experienced when losing my hand," he called back sarcastically from out of view, his voice being accompanied by the sound of the tap being turned on and off repeatedly.

"Well I think this place is pretty great—if we decide we want to stay in Storybrooke permanently, that is," Emma commented before either of the boys could continue to argue.

"What do you mean 'if we decide to stay'? Of course we're staying," David announced firmly, turning properly to face his daughter. "Why wouldn't we stay?"

"Because I have a life in Boston that I should be getting back to!" she replied defensively, crossing her arms over her chest.

"A very lonely life though, Swan," Killian called from the kitchen, whilst opening and closing all the drawers one by one.

"I don't need to defend my life choices to a pirate!" she snapped, following where his voice had previously come from and catching him with his whole head inside the fridge. "You don't exactly have a long line of devoted friends and family queuing up at your door either!"

"I'm over 200 years old, love. Why bother making friends if they simply continue to die," he replied calmly, trying not to rise to her level of irritation.

"Incredibly morbid…" David muttered almost inaudibly to himself, deciding to go and explore the bathroom tiles whilst the other two fought.

"I learnt very early on that you can't trust anybody," Emma finally admitted after the two of them held a heated gaze for longer than should have felt comfortable.

"What does that have to do with any of this though?" Killian asked carefully, finally closing the fridge door and walking over to her.

"Because how can I be sure all of this won't go to shit and leave me where I started – back on my own again – either way!"

There it was—the real reason for her indecision. If she was going to be alone again, she'd rather it be on her own terms. She'd already had more than enough abandonment and rejection in her twenty-eight years of life and she didn't fancy having to go through anymore heartache.

"Swan, you don't honestly believe you'd be able to get rid of your family, do you?" he asked in disbelief, looking at her and seeing the first sign of her protective walls coming down and revealing underneath just how scared she was.

"David was able to do it before—even if it was for the greater good. Who's to say that if a similar situation arose again he wouldn't do exactly the same thing," she sighed, moving to sit herself at the kitchen table. "If he could put a new-born baby in a wardrobe, knowing they would be apart for decades, why wouldn't he be able to walk away from a fully-grown adult he barely knows?"

"Emma, he's already threatened my life should I be ungentlemanly towards you seven times this morning. He's not going anywhere," Killian pointed out, joining her at the table whilst keeping the door in his peripheral vision should the protective father come rushing back inside, wielding a toilet brush, ready to duel him to the death for getting too close to his daughter.

"There are things in my past that I can't have him knowing, Killian…" Emma admitted after a minute. "I have made so many mistakes…I'm not the little perfect Princess he wanted as a daughter…how can I possibly be anything other than a massive disappointment?"

"Everybody makes mistakes. I'm willing to bet you that I have done far many worse deeds in one year than you have in your whole life, love," he replied, a dark look filtering across his face, clearly seeing ghosts from his past that he would never truly be free from.

"You're Captain Hook, though…I'm sure the things you have done are appropriate for a pirate. I hardly think shoplifting and a scandalous teenage pregnancy is appropriate behaviour for a Princess."

"But when a scandalous teenage pregnancy ends up creating a lad as special as Henry, how can it ever be considered a negative thing?"

"But it's not due to me that he's as special as he is. Regina has done a wonderful job with him…"

"Emma," he interrupted her quickly. "Don't go down that thought process. You are his mother, no matter who raised him. He's definitely your boy."

"I think he'd be better without me in his life…'

"So that's why he went through all the effort of finding you, is it? Because if he was so much better without you I doubt he would have bothered."

"You think I should stay, don't you?" she said after a moments silence to process what he was trying to indirectly tell her.

"Truthfully? Aye."

"I'm not exactly mother material though, Killian," she sighed, thinking about Regina – the Mayor, for Christ sakes – and her fancy-ass pant suits and massive house compared to Emma's red leather jacket and her small flat that she could barely afford to pay the rent for as it was. There was no way she'd be able to provide Henry with anything that Regina didn't already give him.

"You're already great with that boy, Swan," he insisted, looking at her intensely with almost a hint of desperation in his eyes. "The Evil Queen is not exactly prime mother material either. Do you really want the woman who deprived you of your childhood to help form your sons? Do you want him to spend his whole life calling her his mother when she took away yours from you? Swan, that woman took away your whole life in one way or another. You can't let her keep Henry from you."

That was all it took. With a few choice words, she had made her decision.

"Like hell am I going to let that bitch win. I'm gonna phone Gold now, 7 West Street just got itself three new tenants."

Then it was like a powerful earthquake hit the house, making everything rattle and shake for about five seconds and then it stopped suddenly.

"What the hell was that?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, love."

"Hey, guys! You've got to come check this out!"

Emma and Killian gave each other one last searching look before standing and moving over to where they'd heard David's voice travel from in the house. They found him standing in one of the upstairs bedrooms that had windows facing out over the docks. He was looking out over the sea and had his eyes fixated on one thing that stood out like a sore-thumb amongst all the fishing boats.

Emma walked over to stand next to her father and barely held the gasp of shock when she realised what David had seen. She scarcely needed to look at it for half a second before she was walking over to Killian and dragging him from where he was stood at the doorway over to the window.

"Is that…?"

"Bloody hell…how has the Jolly Roger managed to end up in the Storybrooke harbour?!"

Just when she thought they day couldn't possibly get any weirder, Emma found herself walking across the deck of the apparently invisible centuries old pirate ship, captained bY none other than the attractive, hooked man who had been excitedly bounding around the vessel for the past hour as if he was trying to ensure himself that it was real.

Whilst the man-child had skipped around, David had taken it upon himself to 'keep watch' even though they soon realised they were the only people in town that could actually see the ship at all. It was a fricking humongous pirate ship taking up half the harbour, yet nobody even spared it so much as a glance from on shore.

This whole magic thing was going to take a while to get used to.

"Just look at the old girl! She's in fine shape!" Killian exclaimed excitedly, running his hands down the polished wood fondly.

"One might even say 'shipshape'," Emma shot back in her best attempt at an English accent, having to try incredibly hard not to roll her eyes as well as make a sarcastic comment—that may have caused more upset than she wanted to deal with.

Yes, the Captain was a very dangerous man, but it was clear that he could hold a grudge and could probably sulk forever if he saw fit.

"Very funny, lass," he replied with a laugh. "Joke all you want, but this ship means a great deal to me and I honestly never thought I'd see her again. I never thought I'd know the feeling to stand behind the wheel again."

"Well, this is all well and good," David announced suddenly, "but how the hell has this massive boat—"

"—ship—" Killian interjected, looking thoroughly offended at his pride and joy being put in the same category as the small vessels bobbing on the water down below the Jolly in the harbour.

"Okay…how the hell has this massive ship managed to get here? And how on earth is it invisible?" David asked, looking between his two companions, hoping that one of them had an answer that would explain everything.

"No idea, mate," Killian said after a second. "Do you have any suggestions, Swan?"

"Henry said things had started changing since I got into town…" she suddenly recalled, turning away from the boys and looking up at the clock tower—which had magically started working again as soon as she'd stayed the night. "I just decided to stay in Storybrooke permanently…that counts as a milestone, doesn't it?"

A wide grin slowly spread across David's face at her words. "So, we're staying here in town?"

"I can't let Regina win," Emma replied fiercely.

"She won't," he assured her, just as passionately, wrapping her into a hug, cradling the back of her head with his hand. "That woman won't do anything else to hurt this family."

"Will you tell me about you and Mom?"

Emma wasn't sure where the question had come from, but it was too late to take it back now. David pulled back out of the embrace slightly and smiled down at her with only a slight hint of sadness reflected in his blue eyes.

"I never knew it was possible for someone to be both a fierce warrior and yet also a delicate Princess with a heart of pure gold at the same time. I always knew she was my True Love, ever since that first meeting."

"Didn't she steal from you and then hit you in the face with a rock?" Emma replied sceptically.

David laughed and pointed to his scar. "She sure did. But when did the course of True Love ever run smooth?"

"Isn't that the truth…" Killian muttered, deciding to go down below deck and give them some time to themselves.

"She challenges me and yet completes me at the same time," David continued to explain, clearly trying to ignore Killian's remark.

"Unfortunately, that sounds awfully familiar…" Emma sighed quietly, watching the pirates retreating form.

"So, you're sure he's your True Love? Captain Hook?" he asked after making sure the man in question was out of earshot.

"I don't know what other explanation there is. I'm just trying not to rule anything out at this stage. One things for sure though, I think him being my True Love would be one of the only things right now that actually does make sense."

"Why's that?"

"He's the only one that seems as messed up as I am."

"Ahoy up there!"

David and Emma spun around to look overboard back at the docks so fast they almost gave themselves whiplash.

Standing there was a man in leathers leaning back on a motorbike that had a large wooden box strapped to it, wearing an incredibly smug smile on his face. More importantly, however, he was staring up at them as if they were clearly visible.

As in, clearly visible and not standing on an invisible pirate ship.

"Is the good Captain home?" the man asked again, the smirk still not leaving his face.

"Depends on who's asking," David replied with a scowl, clearly not wanting to trust the newcomer who clearly had a limp as he came hobbling over towards the steps to climb aboard.

"You could say I'm a fan of his work."

"I find that hard to believe." Killian came strolling out onto the deck, eyes transfixed on the other leather wearing man aboard his ship without permission. "Who the bloody hell are you?"

"I'm the man who's ass you managed to save by bringing Emma back to Storybrooke and making her believe."

"Whoa…what?!" Emma spluttered aghast. "Who the hell are you?!"
"An old friend," he smiled. "It's good to see you, Emma."

"Yeah, I can't say I return the sentiment seeing as I have no idea who you are."

"You must know by now that not everything is as black and white as you once believed. Just try your best to be open minded and things will start making sense soon enough," he said cryptically. "You may be a believer, but are you an acceptor?"

"What does that even mean?!"

"You may believe in magic and curses and in your past, but you need to come to terms with it. You need to accept it; you need to accept who you are."

"You sure are an ambiguous bastard," Killian growled, stepping closer to the man with his hook held out threateningly. "I suggest you start being a lot less mysterious and more cooperative before I'm forced to spill your guts all over the deck."

"Ew gross…" Emma wrinkled her nose at the thought and stepped forwards, grabbing hold of Killian's hook and lowering it before he ended up injuring himself or anybody else. "I don't fancy watching you turn a man inside-out thanks—even if he is being…difficult."

"Swan, he could be dangerous!" Killian insisted, raising his arm again, doing his best to shove her off him.

"What? With that dodgy leg—no offence," she insisted, turning to give the newcomer a tight-lipped smile.

"None taken," he responded with a shrug, self-consciously trying to make it less obvious that he was injured and leaning more on his bad leg with a wince of pain.

"I don't think he's going to hurt us, are you?" David asked, also stepping forwards so that he was next to the other two again, not wanting to let Hook get any closer to Emma than was necessary.

"Of course I'm not here to hurt you. Like I said, I'm here to say, 'thank you' to Hook. If you hadn't been able to convince Emma to believe, it would have had really dangerous circumstances."

"Like what?" Emma replied in a low voice that was almost a growl, fed up of him talking around in circles and avoiding the important stuff.

"Well, I, for one, would be in a pretty tough situation—and I still might be actually if you don't hurry up and break the curse as soon as possible."

"What do you know about the curse?" David asked in confusion. "Everyone else in town has lost their memories."

"Oh, I'm not from Storybrooke," he answered quickly with a smile before turning to walk back off the ship. "Let me know when you've figured out who I am. Then we can talk."

He mounted his bike, checked the box was still securely strapped onto the back, turned on the ignition and then he was gone without another word.

"Okay, can this day possibly get any weirder…" Emma grumbled under her breath, almost afraid to jinx it in case the next thing to happen would be that Captain Jack Sparrow would appear from out of nowhere and challenge Killian to a duel to the death for his beloved recently reacquainted ship. "I don't know if I could bear anymore surprises."

"Famous last words, if ever I heard any," Killian replied with a stony expression on his face. "Don't tempt fate, Swan. It can be a dangerous thing."

"It's not fate I'm worried about messing with. Fate has already long been screwing with me and my life. A magical curse, however? That's fairly new and so far, that has been pretty destructive all on its own without me assisting it," she said with a sigh, turning her back on the two men and heading back towards the dock.

"Where are you going?" David called after her as she jumped the last few steps back down to the wooden platform.

"To see just how far I can push my fate," she replied without turning around to face her father or Killian. She didn't need to see their faces to know they were both sharing a look of concern as she disappeared from view.

"Hello?" Emma called as she walked into the shop with the sign 'Mr Gold Pawnbroker and Antiques Dealer' hanging over the front door. It was just around 5pm in the evening and she wasn't sure if the small shop would still be open at this time of night, due to Storybrooke being a very quiet town; but sure enough, the 'open' sign faced her as she pushed the door open.

The inside of the deserted shop was weirdly terrifying, full of the strangest selection of goods such as two wooden dolls, swords, clocks, a windmill garden ornament and then the item Emma found herself stood in front of, her fingers itching just to reach out and touch: a glass unicorn mobile.

She was barely milometers away from touching the nearest blue dangling unicorn before she suddenly felt the presence of somebody else in the shop and had to do everything possible to prevent herself from visibly jumping in surprise at the intrusion.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I guess so," she replied with a shrug, turning to face Mr Gold who seemed to have almost magically appeared in front of the cash register as if he'd been there the whole time.

"I take it you've come to a decision about the house?" he inquired with a small smile that Emma couldn't quite decipher.

"Yeah, we'd like to accept your offer. It's the perfect place for us," she replied to him, giving him a smile of her own.

"That really is good news. Is tomorrow a good day for me to come around so you can sign the official documents?"

"Sure, tomorrow works for us."

"Wonderful. Have you told your boy yet that you intend to stay in town?" he pried suddenly, a strange satisfied look filtering across his face.

"Not yet, no. But I will."

Gold nodded understandingly. "You'll have to be wary of Ms Mills though, Miss Swan. There's more to her than meets the eye."

"Believe me, I'm more than aware," she replied without even thinking about what she was saying before it was too late.

The look Gold gave her afterwards was more than enough evidence to tell her that not only did he know about the curse, he was awake from it and he now knew that she too was also aware of what was going on.

Emma was about to speak again when the door to the shop was thrown open furiously and Regina came storming into the shop, missing Emma completely as she stormed past her and straight up to Gold at the counter.

"You knew!"

"Knew what exactly?" Gold replied, putting on a confused face that clearly neither of the women in the room bought as innocent.

"The child that you located for me in Phoenix, his mother was found in the woods outside of Storybrooke twenty-eight years ago!" Regina snapped, furiously slamming her hands down on the counter.

"What a startling coincidence," Gold replied trying to look shocked and failing miserably.

"That's one way of putting it," Emma announced, stepping out into sight.

"What is she doing here?!" Regina almost growled, taking one step towards Emma.

"Nice to see you too, Madam Mayor."

"How was your morning with Henry?" she said calmly after a second to compose herself, even managing a very strained smile.

Emma was stunned to silence at her sudden personality change and didn't even know where to start to reply to the woman who had raised her son.

"That's right, I know everything," Regina carried on, almost smug. "But relax. I don't mind."

"You don't?" Emma replied, not hiding her shock at the Mayor's words, not being able to resist giving her own non-genuine smile in return that seemed more intrigued than anything else.

"No, because you no longer worry me, Miss Swan."

"Oh really?" Emma couldn't help but interrupt, incredulous that she would make such a statement after her reaction to seeing her mere moments before.

"You see, I did a little digging into who you are," Regina carried on, ignoring Emma's little outburst as if it never happened. "Most of what I found out was quite soothing. It all comes down to the number seven."

"Seven?" Emma repeated questioningly.

"It's the number of addresses you've had in the last decade. Your longest stint anywhere was two years. Really, what did you enjoy so much about Tallahassee?"

"If you were wondering, I did find a place here in town," Emma found herself snapping in retaliation, the mere mention of Tallahassee making her stomach turn and a deep repressed panic set in.

"Oh really? And who would offer you and your 'boyfriend' a property after being in the town less than a week?" Regina responded sceptically, putting particular emphasis on the word 'boyfriend' since she obviously knew exactly who the leather clad man was.

"That would be me," Gold announced suddenly, reminding both women of his presence as he stood and watched them both with a small smug smile on his face.

"You? You offered them a house?" Regina growled angrily at the man.

"Yes, I did. It's nice to see some new faces in town. Don't you think Madam Mayor?" he replied, throwing Emma two spare sets of keys. "I took the liberty of getting your boyfriend and brother each a set of keys too. Don't forget I'll be around tomorrow for the paperwork."

"Thanks. See you tomorrow," Emma nodded back at him before turning to leave before he called after her.

"Ms Swan? The Unicorn mobile. It's yours. Take it as a…house warming present," he said slowly with a sly smile and if it would have been possible, Regina would have had smoke pouring out her ears and nostrils in fury.

Emma smiled back at him and unhooked the mobile from the hook carefully. "Thank you, it'll look great in the kitchen."

With one final glance at Regina, she turned and left the shop, not looking behind her as the door swung shut.

Emma dropped into Granny's diner on the way back from Gold's shop and went in search of the elderly woman to let her know that they would be checking out that evening, but seemed to find herself being smuggled into a booth with a hot cocoa in front of her before she could even deliver her news.

Ruby was obviously trying to repress a laugh at Emma's shocked and almost affronted expression as she was handed the mug and told that it was on the house.

"What is it with the people in this town sending me cocoa?"

"It's from the Sheriff. He said you needed bribing every time you come in."

Clearly Graham was desperate for a deputy and had resulted in trying to buy her favour.

"Oh, well thanks Ruby. Is Granny here anywhere?" she said with a shrug, deciding she'd be crazy to turn down free things when they tasted as good as Granny's hot cocoa did.

"Yeah, she's just out back. Do you want me to fetch her?" the scantily clad girl replied, gesturing to the kitchen doors.

"No need, just tell her we'll be around later to settle the bill and check out. We've found a more permanent place to stay in town."

"So, you're staying? That's great! I'll go pass the message onto Granny." And with a smile she was off.

Emma sighed to herself and sat back in her chair, happy to have the time to herself to relax. She had barely had five minutes to herself ever since Killian had his hook pressed to her neck back in her kitchen in Boston.

For a person who had been pretty much alone their whole life, suddenly not being able to find time to be alone in her own thoughts was very strange but less overwhelming than she would have believed it to be. It felt natural to have surrounded herself with these people, almost as if something deep down inside of her knew that she'd found her home.

This was the first time she'd ever been around people she felt like she could trust ever since the whole incident back when she was seventeen and stupidly in love with a man who she should have realised immediately was no good for her. Slowly but surely her walls were coming down.

Killian was right— she'd never be alone again now she'd found her family, she didn't have to worry anymore.

Well, she did have things to worry about, but that wasn't one of them.

Regina was a big worry, and so was this damned curse that nobody had any idea how to break.

One thing was for sure, they had a lot of work to do. Hopefully Henry had a few more ideas than she did though, because she had no clue how to move forward and approach the situation.

Suddenly the doorbell rang to signal that somebody had entered the diner and then she looked up to find that 'somebody' sliding in her booth with her.

"Mind if I sit here?"

"Um, no, of course not."

Mary-Margaret smiled and shrugged off her coat and ordered her 'usual' from Ruby as she walked past. A few minutes later a hot cocoa exactly the same as Emma's was placed in front of her, cinnamon and all.

"You like cinnamon on your cocoa?"

"Oh, yeah. It's always been my favourite."

"Mine too."

Emma couldn't help but feel incredibly nervous around the school teacher—knowing that she was her mother made everything incredibly confusing as it was ever clearer just how powerful the curse was, as Mary Margaret didn't even look like she suspected a little bit that the two of them were related.

"Sorry Henry was late to school this morning, he snuck away from his Mom to come and see me," Emma found herself saying, desperately trying to make some form of conversation with the woman who gave birth to her, but didn't remember a second of it.

"Don't worry about it," Mary Margaret smiled, "it's good to see him smiling again."

"Did my brother, David come and say hello when he dropped him off?" she asked, trying to pry for information on how the meeting had gone between the two, as David hadn't said an awful lot himself when he returned later that morning.

Much to Emma's delight a delicate blush appeared across the other woman's cheeks as she looked down at her cup and took a long sip at the mention of David, before replying.

"Yes, he did. I didn't realise you had family in town."

"Neither did I, until I found him in the hospital the other night. He's been in a coma for years," Emma explained, trying to keep the conversation about David.

She felt like she was playing matchmaker for her own parents. She was basically her dad's wing-woman at that moment and the thought of that almost made her choke on the sip of her cocoa she'd taken a second before. How weird could things get before she just lost the plot?

"It's wonderful that you two found each other again after all this time," Mary Margaret smiled. "So, does this mean you're staying in town permanently now?"

"Yeah, actually, me, David and Killian just found ourselves a place in town."

"That's wonderful! It'll be so good for Henry to have his birth mother around on a permanent basis!"

"It may be good for Henry, but Regina doesn't seem very happy that I'm sticking around," she said with a dry laugh.

"She'll come around eventually, she'll realise it's the best thing for Henry, you'll see," the dark-haired woman declared with a happy smile that basically made her entire face shine. There was no denying that this woman was Snow White, even if she was cursed and had no idea of her true identity.

"Let's hope so, but I seriously doubt it." Emma finished her cocoa and stood up out of the booth. "It was nice talking to you."

"You too, Emma. See you soon!" Mary Margaret replied enthusiastically.

"I'd better get back to the boys before they burn our new house to the ground before we've even moved in properly."

"Just be careful not to speed on your way home," Mary Margaret joked with a laugh. "Don't go giving Regina any more excuses to try and get you to leave!"
"Why would me getting a speeding ticket affect her in any way?" Emma asked, confused. "Wouldn't it just be down to the Sheriff?"

"Ms Mills basically owns the police force in town, the Sheriff is wrapped around her little finger, just like everybody else is," she explained with a sigh. "Graham is lovely, but he can't do anything without her knowing."

"He offered me a position as his deputy," Emma realised slowly, "surely Regina wouldn't have given him permission to do that?"

"No, definitely not if she wants you out of town," Mary Margaret agreed. "It sounds like Graham is really sticking his neck out for you and taking a massive risk doing so."

"Yeah…I guess it does…look I really have to go, but I'll see you around?" Emma said, suddenly in a rush that had nothing to do with her father and a pirate being left on their own together for a long period of time.

Emma heard Mary Margaret call after her with a wave saying goodbye, but she was already half way out the door, her phone in her hand and a number half way dialled. She pressed enter and immediately it began to ring before a male voice answered on the other side just as she reached her car.

"Hello?"

"Graham, it's Emma," she replied immediately. "I was thinking… is that deputy job still open?"

"Absolutely," he replied enthusiastically.

"Then I'm in," Emma smiled to herself. This was going to get interesting pretty fast. "Regina gonna be okay with this?"

"I don't care. It's my department."

What utter bullshit, Emma found herself thinking, but she refrained from commenting.

"I'll see you Monday morning," Graham carried on, completely unaware of Emma's thoughts.

"I'll see ya." Emma grinned, hanging up the call before she wasn't able to hold in her laughter any longer.

She put her phone back in her pocket and climbed in the car.

Don't challenge me, your majesty; you may be able to throw fireballs, but this time, you're going to be the one getting burnt.

A few hours later, Emma, Killian and David had successfully moved everything from their room at Granny's into their new house, had checked out, had dinner and were finally settled in the living room with the television on.

Emma had obviously watched TV before, but David and Killian had not and the two of them were completely mesmerised by the 'magic picture box', as they had named it. They'd been utterly captivated by the news, of all things, and both were sat on the edge of their seats, trying to get as close to the screen as possible.

At one stage Emma had actually been forced to grab hold of Killian by the scuff of his jacket before he genuinely fell off the sofa head first.

Just as the weather forecast was being read out by a man with a neon pink tie, the doorbell rang. After taking one look at how exhausted Emma looked and realising getting her to move anywhere at any time soon was highly unlikely, David stood up to go and answer it.

When he didn't come back after a few minutes, Killian stood up to look out the window to see if he was anywhere to be seen and consequently spotted both David and Mary Margaret's retreating figures walking together along the path down to the beach.

"I don't think you father will be back for some time, love. He appears to have a rendezvous with a princess," Killian said with a smirk as he put the curtain back, after establishing David's whereabouts.

"Wait, really?" Emma asked, amazed that the other woman had been forward enough to find their new address and come around later the same day.

"I suppose that true love really knows no boundaries," Killian replied with a shrug, moving to sit back down on the sofa next to Emma, a lot closer to her this time, however, seeing as her overprotective father was no longer in the room with them ready to launch heavy objects at him should he misbehave.

"Do you really think she can fall for him again? Never mind this fast! She's technically a different person, don't you think she'd want something different with this new alter ego?" Emma asked, still shocked that she seemed witness to literally what must have been love at first sight.

"He's her True Love, regardless of who she is in this world. They will always find each other, no matter what," Killian replied, clearly trying to do his best to not make eye contact with the blonde sat next to him

"You seem to know a hell of a lot about True Love for a pirate," Emma said, turning to look at him closely, almost as if she couldn't believe how romantic he actually was—definitely not the fierce, bloodthirsty Captain he had a reputation for being.

"I have been in love once, you know. I thought it was True Love at the time, but now I know it couldn't possibly have been," he admitted, still refusing to make eye contact.

"The woman your tattoo is after? Milah?" she asked, deciding that she wanted to know more about this man and she wanted to know his past as best as she could, all of the many decades of it.

"Yes," he replied slowly. "She was taken from me still very early into our time together by her husband."

"Gold?"

"The Dark One…Rumpelstiltskin."

"The Crocodile, right? Man, Disney got it so wrong…"

"Disney?"

"Never mind, I'll show you another time."

"Anyway…" Killian carried on explaining, "her husband didn't approve of her leaving both he and their son to run away and live a sordid life at sea with a pirate and his crew, as the only woman on-board."

"When you put it like that I can kind of see why he was pissed off," Emma said after a second, pulling an apologetic face at Killian. "She just left? No goodbye or anything? Not even to the kid?"

"No. According to the crocodile, the boy grew up believing she'd died. He, himself, believed she'd been abducted against her will."

"Jeez…that's rough. Poor kid, bet that scarred him for life. Well, that and having a really dark evil wizard lizard guy as his dad…"

"Milah always wanted to go back for Baelfire, but the time was never right…in the end we were too late. He ripped out her heart and crushed it in front of me."

"Wow, I'm sorry…that's…that's really dark…"

"I suppose that'll be why he's called 'The Dark One' then."

"I guess so…it's just hard to believe, you know? Mr Gold just seems so refined and well mannered. I guess whatever this curse did to him was quite thorough."

"No, not at all," Killian said immediately without even pausing for thought. 'He's awake."

"I had kind of suspected that when I spoke to him earlier…I wanted to ask him, but didn't want to risk it in case I was wrong," she explained, thinking back to the weird situation she'd been in earlier in a room with both the Dark One and the Evil Queen.

"He's most definitely aware of everything. I know because I actually went to see him the other day," he admitted, looking down at his hook and stabbing each of his fingertips on his good hand on the sharp end, one by one, in a way that was probably meant to seem absentminded, but only succeeding as coming across as apprehensive.

"You did what?! Do you have a death wish or something?! If he really is awake and aware of what's happening that means he also knows exactly who you are; he could have killed you!" Emma found herself shouting, jumping to her feet and starting to pace nervously around the living room.

"He's without his magic here though, Swan. He's no more dangerous than a normal man," he explained, trying to calm her down. "And anyways, we reached an agreement of sorts."

That stopped her pacing immediately.

"What kind of agreement? Please tell me you didn't make a deal with him because they're dangerous, Killian! Have you even read the book?!" she yelled, stopping right in front of him so he was forced to look up to make eye contact.

"I've lived the book, love," he tried to remind her gently to calm her down, "I knew what I was doing. And anyways, it wasn't a difficult deal to make as it was something that I was already planning on doing mostly, regardless."

"Oh? And what's that?"

"Help you break the curse," he replied, but Emma could tell that he was only telling her half the truth.

"Okay, yet another person who is urgently wanting the curse to end…what was the other half of your deal. What else did you promise to do?"

"I have to help him find his son."

"Oh…why can't he find him?" she replied in confusion, sitting down on the chair opposite him so she could try and keep calm.

"Because he can't leave town, nobody can other than you, me, Henry and possibly that strange man we saw earlier. His son is somewhere in this world outside Storybrooke, but he doesn't know where yet. I made a deal that if I help you break the curse and find his son, he'll not harm you or your boy at any point in the future, regardless of the situation and whether it would be beneficial for him to do so. You're both safe."

Emma was stunned into silence and it took her a good few minutes to fully process the gravity of the situation and what Killian had said.

"You gave up your revenge for me?"

"Aye. I needed to make sure you and your boy would always be safe. I can't have you taken from me too, Emma…it wasn't a completely selfless decision," he admitted, sheepishly scratching the back of his head.

"I thought your revenge was the most important thing in the world?" she whispered back, still partially in shock.

"It was... I never thought I'd be capable of letting go of my first love, my Milah. To believe that I could find someone else. That is until I met you. This world is dangerous, the Evil Queen is dangerous—I needed to know that there was someone that would be able to give you protection if I should ever fail. I hate the crocodile, but I know he's powerful and he stands by his deals. I won't lose you, Emma," he said fiercely, looking at her with so much emotion her breath was taken from her and she didn't know what to say.

"You barely know me…but you sacrificed your revenge to protect me and my son? I'm not worth it, Killian… I'm damaged goods," she replied quietly, sinking back into the armchair and hugging her knees up to her chest with a sigh, suddenly unable to look at him and address the situation.

"And you don't think I'm damaged goods too?" he shot back incredulously, holding up his hook and looking between her and it disbelievingly. "You and I, love…we're right for each other—good for each other. You see that, don't you?"

"I do, but it's complicated…I'm complicated. In case you hadn't noticed, I have walls up higher than I can see over that are also impossible for others to get through either. I don't…like talking about feelings and stuff," she admitted, clearly feeling really out of her depth but suddenly filled with the urge to try and let him in, let him understand.

"It's a good job I'm quite skilled at climbing then," he said with a wink and a smirk, clearly trying to lighten the mood with a joke, but only succeeding in receiving a dry look from Emma. "If you had truly been a more traditional Princess in a castle back in the Enchanted Forest, I'd have been very competent at scaling the height of your ivory tower to be by your side noon and night, milady."

"What makes you think we'd have been well suited still if I had grown up in the way my parents wanted?" she questioned, an eyebrow raised, silently glad however for the topic change. "Wouldn't the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming be set to marry a Prince or something?"

"Don't forget what I said about your parents falling in love still in this realm, we'd find each other in every world too; True Love knows no bounds."

There. One of them had directly addressed the truth and the elephant in the room and had actually spoken the words out loud instead of edging around them..

So, naturally, Emma did the thing she was best at and shut down by making a dry and witty comeback.

"I knew I should have had more damned security measures against strange men in my apartment… one break in and suddenly I'm stuck with you permanently in any world or realm for the rest of time."

Killian laughed and winked at her again roguishly. "Regretting not hitting me any harder with that magic torch yet?"

"You mean my lamp?"

"I don't bloody know what the damned thing is called."

"Don't worry, I'll turn you into a modern man yet, just you watch," she laughed and rolled her eyes, standing up from the armchair and moving to sit next to him on the sofa again, allowing her head to drop down to his shoulder and letting out a small sigh of contentment as she felt Killian's arm wrap around her and his hand move into her hair.

Killian smiled a genuine smile at the happy noises coming from Emma and held her close against him, reluctant to ever let her go. They clearly still had a very long way to go in order to fully understand and adjust to the situation they had found themselves in, but it was evident that Emma had started to warm up towards him and trust him—which was the most important thing, as he knew how hard trusting people was for her.

Just one step at a time.

She knew how he felt and she would decide on her own feelings in time. He certainly wasn't about to push and rush her into anything, not that she would allow him to bully her into anything anyway.

She was as stubborn as an ox and definitely not a woman to mess with, and that made her all the more attractive to him.

He had spent a large majority of his life surrounded by women that would do anything to please him, even if it meant degrading and shredding themselves of any dignity they had remaining; Emma was not like that at all. She was strong, independent, opinionated and confident—every part the royal she claimed not to be.

She may not be a typical fairy-tale Princess, but she would make a fierce Queen one day, once this whole mess with the curse was over, and he hoped he would still be by her side throughout it all to see it first-hand.

The pair of them both fell asleep on the sofa together with the television blaring out in the background and were still there when David arrived home later. He debated poking Hook with the remote to wake him up after using it to switch the magic box off, but after realising how content and relaxed Emma finally looked after a stressful day, he decided to just let them be.

So, he grabbed a fluffy blanket and threw it over them both so they wouldn't get cold in the night, before making his way to bed, leaving the Princess and the Pirate to dream together.