For the reviewer who wanted Lily and Killian interacting. Lily wants some help expanding her search for her father's identity, and asks the well-traveled Hook for some ideas, using the Internet as a fact check. Semi-crackish. Not speculative, just crackish humor.

Takes place in yet another semi-AU where Emma is still in Storybrooke after 4b. I'm interested in what'll happen with her as the new Dark One, but can you tell I'm not happy about Emma being M.I.A?

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Lily slammed yet another book shut, the echo of the volume matching her frustration at hitting yet another dead-end. There was nothing here she could use. No amount of digging through dusty books was going to turn up a list of every dragon that had ever existed in the Enchanted Forest, and she didn't feel entirely confident she would even recognize such a list assuming it existed at all.

Trying to find information in the town library seemed like a no-brainer, but Lily was quickly finding that any books that might have been helpful to her were either too old to be safely handled, written in some foreign or vaguely fantastical language, or just didn't exist.

She huffed in frustration, and let her gaze wander across the library, hoping for some kind of miraculous inspiration, but all she saw were shelves and more shelves filled with the same books she had just decided were practically useless to her. And then there was the ancient looking desktop computer perched heavily by the front desk. The thing was still turning itself on almost thirty minutes after Lily had pressed the power button, still beeping and ringing and clicking in a way that Lily used to find melodious as a kid, but now found irksome as an adult. The contraption had to be at least twenty years old and time had yellowed the panels of the machine just like it did many of the books. Lily wouldn't have been surprised if it had never seen a repairman or any kind of technical care since it's magical placement in the library at the town's creation.

After several more minutes of blindly flipping through unhelpful books, the beeping stopped and Lily stood up from the aisle floor to stand behind the desk, checking the computer's progress. Had she been anywhere outside of Storybrooke, Lily would have immediately used Google to find some clue as to her father's identity. But being in the magical and technologically impaired Maine town meant books were turning out to be a faster option than technology was proving to be, much to the dismay of Lily's 21st century search habits.

By some miracle the computer had finally turned on, and to her great surprise it didn't take quite as long for the Internet to start up and decide to connect. Typing in a basic search for dragons in fairy tales Lily sent up a silent thank you when a somewhat promising number of results popped up, only to audibly curse when said results turned out to be utterly useless. Articles about Smaug from The Hobbit littered the page next to links for paintings of Saint George Slaying The Dragon and scholarly articles about the metaphor of dragons hoarding princesses in cultures across the world. She tried another search, this one for dragons and Maleficent, only to yield even fewer helpful results that focused almost entirely on the Angelina Jolie movie, although there was one oddball result that linked to Puff The Magic Dragon.

Dear god, she hoped that last one wasn't a real creature.

More searches with more variants of the words fairy tale and dragon led to even worse results, and Lily grew more and more frustrated at the lack of progress. She grew so involved in her Internet search that she barely registered the sound of the door opening and shutting, letting someone into the library. It was only when she bothered to turn her head that she realized Emma's pirate boyfriend had wandered inside and was currently scanning the shelves with a decidedly single minded intent.

An idea struck Lily then. If her father were a dragon from fairy tale land, then the best person to ask for clues about him would probably be a well-traveled fairy tale character.

"Hey Jones, you've kind of been around the block, right?"

The man jolted to awareness and but quickly regained his composure and turned toward her with a raised eyebrow. "I've been all around this town, lass, not just the neighborhood block, though I suspect that's not what you're referring to."

Lily rolled her eyes at him. "I mean you've traveled to a lot of places?"

"Aye," He answered, wary. "I apologize lass, I'm not certain what this is about. I was meant to be grabbing a book Belle suggested. You haven't got The Hobbit hidden over there have you?"

Lily ignored his question in favor of furthering her own. "But you've met people and seen things and, uh, creatures?"

The pirate's eyes lit up in understanding and he moved toward her with a knowing swagger in his step. "Ah, is that what this is about then? On a quest for a certain dragon and family relation?"

She shifted where she stood behind the desk, glad to have the barrier between them and just wanting a straight answer from the man. "Well, so what if I am?" She answered defensively.

Jones leaned against the other side of the desk with a nonchalance that reeked of ego and Lily found herself wanting to hit the man. "I've run across a few, aye, but my apologies, I try to actively avoid them when possible. Fire-breathing and wooden ships are not the best of combinations even for a captain as skilled as myself, you understand."

"But you've seen dragons? Where?"

"All sorts of dragons in all sorts of places. Some of which were decidedly less hostile than others, interestingly enough. Sadly, your mother was not one of those," He intoned, hand running over the curve of his hook in a distracted manner. "But what good would that do you? I realize you're searching for your father but what good will learning the names of countless dragons be if you've no other clue than an eggshell? It'd be rather like searching for your father if your only clue was to know he had blue eyes. It's certainly not a common trait, I'll give you, but it's hardly a distinct searching point."

Lily felt her temper start to flare and tamped it down. "It'd be a start," She insisted. "I don't know dragons. The only ones I know are from Game of Thrones and The Hobbit, and I think I can safely rule out Smaug as my father."

"Smaug?"

"Seriously? You're about to read the damn book and you don't even… Whatever. Can you help me or not? I just want a list of dragons I can cross off, at least rule out a few and feel like I'm going somewhere with this search, you know what I mean?"

Jones was quiet for several moments and his entire demeanor changed. His posture still held the same nonchalance, but there was seriousness to him now that silently reassured Lily he actually was taking her request seriously. It considerably lessened the urge to hit him. "I think we can safely remove Neverland as a possible realm of origin, perhaps Wonderland too, but who knows. You'd need Will Scarlet or the Hatter for a better list of that realm's inhabitants, if you truly wish to brave either of their company," He suggested.

The Hatter had to be the Mad Hatter, so that made sense, but why the hell would she want to talk to one of Robin Hood's Merry Men about Wonderland? And since when was Wonderland even a real place? Was every fairy tale that she knew actually part of the Enchanted Forest?

Her confusion must have shown on her face because Jones paused his vocal musings and spoke directly to her instead. "Perhaps part of the problem is the narrowed range of your search, lass. You're limited by your realm's knowledge of the inhabitants of other realms, but people travel within and between realms more often than you realize. I certainly did."

"So someplace like Neverland is it's own realm and you're not actually even from there?" She asked in disbelief.

Hook looked mildly horrified at that. "Gods no. No one is actually from Neverland, not even Pan, that bloody demon. Emma tells me that in this realm, the stories of people from other realms are restricted to single tales, as if they could only ever exist within a singular world separate from all others. I'm afraid the reality is both more and less intertwined than you likely realize."

"So what you're saying is, I should just search for dragons from every single individual story and hope for the best? That searching for a general list of dragons in all fairy tales isn't gonna cut it?"

"Not unless you could somehow magic such a list to come into existence," Jones sarcastically suggested, but Lily just raised an eyebrow at him in confusion.

"I don't need magic," She stated obviously. "I've got the Internet. I just need the right key terms for a search, which is why I'm talking to you."

The pirate visibly shuddered at her suggestion and his posture was suddenly less confident and more fidgety and wary than before.

"What? Don't like the internet?" She asked.

"The magic box and I are not on the most agreeable of terms, I'm afraid," He said vaguely, eyeing the computer as if he had every intention of digging his hook into the screen.

"Why not? Computers and the 21st century go together like pirates and buried treasure. I refuse to believe that Emma got you to use a phone but hasn't tried to teach you to use a computer."

Even though he was standing nearly next to her, the way he mumbled in apparent embarrassment under his breath meant Lily could only catch his every third word or so. He muttered something about 'hypnotic cat videos' and 'pages of lies' that just left Lily more confused.

She huffed at the man and lifted her fingers back to the keyboard, ready to type in her next fruitless search. "Just tell me about one of those dragons you saw. Where was it?"

The pirate shifted against the desktop to face her, keeping a small distance between him and the computer. "My crew and I once ran into a dragon whilst traveling to Agrabah with some, uh… 'Acquired' goods," He started to say. Lily rolled her eyes at him again.

"You're a pirate, I get how 'acquired' goods work. Just tell me about the dragon," She interrupted, deciding it was better not to question the apparent reality of Agrabah and maybe characters like Jafar and Aladdin being real.

Jones shot her a bemused look before continuing. "The beast was more of an overgrown serpent than a dragon, truth be told. No wings that I could see. It may as well have been a sea serpent though, the way it dove and swam through the sand dunes. And it was decidedly venomous, so unless you suddenly develop a propensity for spitting venom, and given the rumors surrounding your apparent affinity for fire, I'm of a mind to think that you're father was not of the venomous variety."

Lily snorted at his story, fingers ceasing their flight across the keyboard. "Well that story is a fat sack of useless, so unless you've got any other bright ideas or tall tales I'm just gonna keep searching on my own."

"Dragons come in all forms, winged and otherwise. You asked for dragons to be crossed off of a proverbial list, lass. I'm merely doing my part. And now you can likely remove any poisonous dragons from your future queries." He answered far too smoothly for Lily's liking, but she saw his point. That was exactly what she had asked him for help with, so she really couldn't get mad at him for doing what she asked.

Lily decided to type in some new clues about her possible father as she and Jones came up with them. For now, she entered the words 'dragon' and 'fire' into the search bar, not hitting enter just yet. "Fine, so dad's not poisonous. Whoopie. What else do you have?"

"I should like to assume your dragon form isn't an exact copy of Maleficent's, so it's likely that your father had wings of his own but that's not necessarily absolute." Lily almost typed in 'wings' or 'flying' but refrained. Jones took several moments to compose his thoughts, thinking out loud as he did. "Could likely rule out a sea dragon. And he's not likely from Wonderland, or Neverland, and perhaps not Oz or a frozen kingdom like Arendelle," He muttered, scrunching his forehead up in thought and then shrugging his shoulders. "The kingdom of Camelot has a great number of stories about dragons, although most of them pertain to the slaying of the beasts, I'm afraid, so I'm not certain…"

"Wait a second, Camelot's real too?" She asked, incredulous.

Jones smirked at her. "Ah, so you've heard of it then?"

"Who hasn't?" Lily answered.

"I've heard rumor of the sorceress Morgan Le Fay turning into dragon form, although those might be unfounded." Something in Jones' expression shifted and he leveled her with a curious stare. "You've not heard of a man named Merlin, have you?"

"Heard of him? Obviously. Everyone knows the wizard Merlin just like everyone knows about the fairy Tinkerbell. Why? Is he a wizard slash dragon now?"

His features shifted again, this time to a softer, less inquisitive gaze. "Not that I've heard lass," He answered, briskly pushing the subject aside. "Perhaps your father was a guardian dragon? I've heard tales of dragons, griffins, and other creatures that keep watch over certain families."

Lily watched the pirate for a moment, wondering just why he was so eager to move the focus away from Merlin and Camelot all of a sudden, but not knowing how to broach the subject.

"A guardian?" She asked, skeptical.

"Aye, it's a possibility."

"So, multi-generational family watchdog, but with magic?"

"Not necessarily magic, but again, it's just a possibility lass. Several royal families in the Enchanted Forest have images of their old family guardians emblazoned on their royal crests. Some of which are dragons that I happen to know are quite long-lived."

"Uh-huh," She replied, skepticism still etched on her face. Lily typed in 'family guardian' into the Google search bar, just for kicks.

"Well let's see it then. Who does the magic box tell you your father is?"

There was really nothing new for her search, but with the terms 'dragon', 'fire', 'family guardian', Lily pressed search anyway, and was soon staring at the screen in disbelief. "Mushu."

Jones' eyes narrowed in confusion and he leaned forward to look at the screen over her shoulder. "Who? No, hang on, I know that name… Give us a moment, lass," He struggled.

"Fucking Mushu?"

Jones snapped his fingers together in realization. "Mulan! That's it! That's whom I heard the name from! That was the dragon Mulan mentioned aided her and her family."

Lily twisted to look at the pirate in disbelief. "Mulan? Hell no, there is no way she's real too, and there's definitely no way she's a fairy tale character. She's a legend from China for fucks sake!"

"Now you understand part of my displeasure with this magic box. It's full of lies and falsehood. But I assure you the warrior is quite real and she has quite the sword arm. Just ask Emma," Jones laughed at her.

"But fucking Mushu? That little snake-dragon thing?"

"A snake? I wasn't aware he was a snake. The way Mulan went on about him he sounded like a rather clever beast, or at least that lucky cricket did…"

She had asked for a list of dragons that she could cross of her potential dad-list, but instead, came to the very unfortunately real possibility that her dad may actually be a tiny snake dragon that sounded like Eddie Murphy. Something about that just didn't sit well with Lily.

As she stood there, staring at the computer screen, desperately trying to come up with some other search term to try and pull her mind from the dangerous path it was traveling down, the door to the library opened once more. The thump of a pair of heavy boots echoed along the floor but Lily didn't turn her head to find out who had come inside until Jones called out happily in greeting, "Swan! What're you doing here love? I wasn't expecting to see you until lunch?"

Emma stepped surely toward the pirate, a grin on her face almost as bright as the one now stretching across Jones' features. Taking his hand in hers, she dropped a kiss onto the corner of his mouth, lingering for a satisfied moment.

"Henry said you were gonna grab a book and I thought I'd grab one too," Emma said. "Which one did Belle suggest for your next meet up?"

"The Hobbit. Although, it seems strange to be reading it now having already read through the Lord of the Rings books, but it comes highly recommended." Jones shifted closer to Emma, and further away from the computer, Lily noted absently. "And there's talk of dragons in this book." The pirate's gaze shifted not so subtly to Lily and the computer and Lily silently cursed the man for clueing Emma in on why she was standing at the computer.

"Is that right?" Emma answered him knowingly, green eyes shifting toward Lily. "Are there any other dragons I should know about? If there's gonna be a family reunion involving dragons it might be good if the sheriff's department knows about it beforehand."

Lily should have taken their moment of greeting to close out of the search results she was still looking through. Or should have at least switched to a different set of results, but no, she still had the results page up from before and if Emma's widening eyes were any indication than she had caught sight of it too.

It didn't help Lily's sense of self any that Emma burst out laughing at the results. If anything, it made her more defensive and pissed her off.

"Haha! I'm sorry Lily, I am, but it's just… Hahaha! Mushu? Haha!"

Lily's arms crossed in front of her, in a vain attempt at guarding herself. "Well la di dah," She replied, sarcasm dripping from her lips.

Emma's laughter continued even as she worked to rein it in. "Lily, I know it's- haha! I know it's probably not him but the idea that… Hahaha! That your mom and a little snake guy voiced by Eddie Murphy…"

"Emma love, am I meant to know this Eddie Murphy bloke?" Jones asked in confusion.

The laughter had finally subsided into a series of continued shakes of her shoulders, but Emma had managed to steady her voice enough to speak. "Not yet, Killian, but I think we need to educate you. Come on. I think you'll wanna see this movie. Actually, Henry will probably wanna watch it again to…" She tugged on his hand, pulling him toward the door.

"What about the book love?" He asked, worried. Lily didn't think she had ever heard someone so genuinely concerned about not getting a book before.

Emma waved aside his concern. "We'll come back for it later, don't worry." She paused when they were most of the way toward the door. "Hey Lily," Emma called out, pulling Lily's attention from the traitorous computer screen. "Do you wanna…" Emma shrugged and trailed off, feet fidgeting and hand squeezing her boyfriend's nervously.

Some kind of silent understanding must have passed between Emma and Jones, because he picked up right where Emma had left off, filling the empty library with his lilted accent and Emma's inquiry. "Would you like to come with, lass? If this moving picture is anything like the others I've been shown then it's certain to be full of commentary from yours truly."

Lily watched another shared look pass between the two, before she found two bright pairs of eyes trained on her.

"Killian's right. There's not a lot that's funnier than watching a cartoon about someone you met, except maybe watching that cartoon with another character," Emma said, finding her voice again.

But Lily was hesitant. "I don't know…"

"Please?" Emma asked in a small voice.

That caught Lily off guard. In all the time she had known Emma Swan the blonde had never been small in her actions or words. Defensive and wary? Sure, but never small. This sudden smallness was vulnerable and partially open and Lily didn't know how else to respond except to say "Ok."

Emma's smile was less bright than the one that had greeted Jones before, but it was deeper somehow, more relieved, and Lily tried not to read too much into it.

They waited for Lily to close out of the Internet and start the long and tedious process of shutting down the computer. Lily decided to let the computer's beeping and ringing fill the noiseless vacuum of the library as it turned off, not wanting to wait around to see if it actually shut down. Earlier the noise had annoyed her, but now, it didn't bother her quite as much.

She made her way slowly toward the door where Emma and Jones were still holding hands, and followed behind them as they left the library.