CS genre: Deleted scene (3x12)

All in all, it was one of the strangest road trips Henry had ever been on. Don't get him wrong he loved it! He and his mom hadn't truly been on a road trip in a whole year. Ever since they moved to New York from….where was it they'd lived last? That was strange. You'd think he'd remember where he lived just one year ago.

Well, wherever it was, spending more than seven hours on the open road with his mom, getting to skip school, stopping for fast food, starting a new adventure. It was all awesome! And the weird guy that was coming with them wasn't too bad either. He was definitely…different…but there was something Henry liked about him from the beginning, and the guy seemed to like him too. The guy almost seemed to know him, which didn't make any sense at all, but whatever. Grown-ups were weird like that sometimes.

Henry loved puzzles, loved trying to figure things out, especially things grown-ups thought he was too young to understand. And this road trip was definitely a puzzle. Everything about it was just a little bit…off. For one thing, his mom never took him with her on cases. She insisted her line of work was way too dangerous for him to be involved with. Normally, if she had a case where she had to be away overnight or longer, she left him with Mrs. Morris down the hall. He hated staying with Mrs. Morris. She had the meanest cat he'd ever seen, her apartment smelled funny, and she insisted on telling him…in great detail…about all the medical complaints she had.

For another thing, Henry just couldn't figure out what was up with mom and the weird guy. What was his name again? Something Irish sounding. Killian? Something like that. Henry had never seen the guy before in his life—he would definitely remember a guy walking around New York in full on pirate gear. But Killian and his mom acted like they knew each other. Like they knew each other well. His mom didn't give the pirate the same polite but distant and tough treatment she normally gave her clients. It was like….it was like she really liked him but didn't want to, if that made any sense. And Killian…well, every once in a while when mom wasn't looking, he gave her this smoldering look like he wanted to kiss her or something.

Killian, himself was another mystery. There were all kinds of things he didn't understand. Normal, everyday things. It was like he'd been living under a rock for the last three hundred years or something. When they'd first started out, Mom had flipped on the radio, and he'd shouted in surprise, swiveling his head from side to side.

"It's a radio, Killian. It's not attacking you," his mom had said with a roll of the eyes.

Killian had taken a deep breath, and then grinned over at her. "Perhaps not, love," he'd drawled, "but who in his right mind would like to listen to such a cacophony as this? Is this what passes for music in this realm?"

In this realm?

"Yeah," Mom said, "It's called rap. Some people actually like it. This is Henry's favorite station, although I don't let him listen to much. Some of the lyrics are just plain nasty…not for a twelve year old at all."

Killian huffed and crossed his arms. "Well, I can assure you, Swan. I am not 'some people'. If we are to be stuck in this vessel for long hours I'd like to request a change of musical selections."

Mom had shrugged and then pressed the button that turned it to her eighties station. "Love song" from The Cure started playing.

"This better?" Mom asked.

Killian listened for a moment and then nodded. "Aye. This song speaks to me."

By the end, he was singing along. When he got to the last chorus, he turned his body so he was fully facing Mom, his eyes intense on her.

However far away; I will always love you. Whatever words I say; I will always love you. However long I stay; I will always love you. I will always love you.

Mom had taken a quick, indrawn breath and turned to look at him. She stared into his eyes for long moments until….

"Mom! Watch out!" Henry shrieked as they drifted across two lanes and almost into oncoming traffic.

Mom, yanked hard on the wheel, overcorrected, and finally got them back in their appropriate lane, breathing hard and moving one hand to cover her heart.

"Damn it, Killian!" she'd growled. "We could have been killed."

"I wasn't the one who had a duty to keep my eyes on the road, love."

Mom growled in frustration and then turned stony eyes back to the road.

Henry sat through three or four eighties tunes (all of which Killian seemed to really enjoy) before he'd had all he could take.

"Oh my gosh, you guys!" he'd whined. "Do we have to listen to the oldies station all the way to Maine?"

"Well we bloody well aren't returning to that drivel we first listened to," Killian said, turning around to flash indignant eyes at Henry.

"Alright guys, enough," Mom said in the tone Henry knew from experience meant business. "Since you two are obviously going to argue like five year olds unless I intervene, I'm going to pick the music we listen to. Killian grab my case of CDs there at your feet."

"CDs?" Killian asked, a frown of confusion on his face.

Who didn't know what CDs were?

"Yeah, those little round discs. They play music when you put them in that little slot above the radio."

"Which would you like me to play, love?" Killian asked solicitously.

Mom shrugged. "Doesn't matter to me. Just pick whatever looks interesting to you."

Killian flipped through her CD case in silence for a moment, and then chuckled low in his throat.

"What?" Mom asked, shooting him an irritated glance.

"Nothing at all, Swan," he said, laughter evident in his voice. "I merely find your taste in music…enlightening. This CD in particular is most interesting."

Killian pulled the item from its sleeve and held it up for their perusal: "Pirate songs and Sea Shanties."

Henry laughed. "Figures she put that in her 'road trip music' CD case! Mom's kind of obsessed with pirates and the sea and pirate music and that sort of thing. Ever since she started having those dreams about a pirate in black leather."

"Henry!" Mom shouted, her face turning as red as her leather jacket.

"Well, you have," Henry said defensively. He turned toward Killian, who seemed avidly interested in the conversation at hand. "I always knew when she'd had one of her 'Captain Hook' dreams, 'cause she always woke up sad. She said they almost seemed real and she didn't want to wake up from them."

"Oh my God," Mom said, slapping a palm against her forehead. "Can the earth just open up and swallow me right now?"

Killian's reaction had been…strange. The teasing, slightly mocking smile had slid from his face, to be replaced with that same look of intensity. That same 'I want to kiss you' look.

"Truly, love?" he asked gently. "You dreamt of Captain Hook?"

Henry laughed, not understanding the strange tension that seemed to creep into the car. "She always wants to watch Peter Pan on our mother/son movie nights, although we rarely make it too far in. She laughs too hard every time Hook shows up. Says he looks ridiculous. Not like himself at all. Whatever that means."

Killian had laughed, the sound breaking the tension once again. "Well, lad, this is most interesting. You'll have to inform me of the other dreams your mother has," Killian's voice dropped in timbre until it was more of a growl, "unless of course, love, they are of the sort that you've kept to yourself, as they're inappropriate for innocent twelve year old ears?"

Emma groaned loudly. "Don't you dare tell him another word, Henry," she warned, "or you're grounded for a month."

Killian continued chuckling until they stopped for gas ten miles later.

(to be continued…)

Notes:

-It's Friday again, so it's time for your weekly dose of fluff!

-There is one certain CS situation that we have a glaring lack of canon info for—the trip back to Storybrooke in 3x12! There have been plenty of people who have written stories to fix the oversite—from angsty to romantic to fluffy. Some dealing with CS emotions, others dealing with Killian in the modern world, still others providing us with Captain Cobra Swan family feels. I wanted to try to find an original take on the situation—thus this was told from Henry's (rather clueless because of the removed/changed memories) POV.

-Emma wore a confused look on her face when she opened her door to Killian at the end of 3x11. It was more of a "why do you seem familiar?" confused look than a "why is there a stranger at my door?" confused look, imo. My head canon is that he seemed familiar because there was some part of her that remembered him, at least in that vague, déjà vu sense. Thus, in this story, I decided she'd had dreams about him throughout the "lost year".

-One thing has to be said: Henry Daniel Mills how dare you make me feel old by calling the 80s station the "oldies" station! ;p

-This was partly inspired by one of the recent cons the cast attended (I don't remember which one). Colin was asked what song Killian would sing for Emma. He said something about Killian choosing classical music, but he would go with "Love Song" from The Cure.

-Like I said last week, this one-shot got long, so I broke it into 2 parts. Up next week: Henry gives Killian a very protective son "you like my mom, don't you" talk while Emma is otherwise occupied during a stop at a rest area. Killian, of course has a typically beautiful answer.