[The Enchanted Forest Captain Killian Jones]

Killian loved Milah, he did, but his love never burned bright. He was loyal, and he never wavered from her, but sometimes his thoughts would wander back to time with a woman who had emerald eyes and sunlight in her hair. Emma.

No matter how his heart whispered the name, it always felt like a prayer that could never be answer.

But he was content, happy even, with Milah. Milah who wanted to see the world. Milah who wanted to escape her nowhere life, with a husband she didn't love.

Milah who left a child behind because she couldn't be his best chance. Milah who could no longer pretend to love her husband for her son.

She wanted him to grow up knowing love and she wasn't a good enough example for him.

But she thought Rumple could be. The man who wounded himself to be with his child.

But still, Killian knew she missed him all the same.

Killian didn't tell her about Emma, but he knew she suspected that there was someone else. Someone she could never place in all the ports they've been too, because it was impossible for her to be anywhere.

So he reassured Milah that she was the only woman he loved, whispered it like a prayer at night in their bedsheets.

It's a shame that it couldn't drown out the praying of his heart.

Emma. Emma. Emma.

He did his best to make Milah happy.

He didn't realize it wasn't enough until she was already gone, dead in his arms.

Then Killian understood that everything he had ever done was never enough.

He couldn't make his brother proud.

He couldn't stop his brother from dying.

He couldn't love Milah the way she deserved.

He couldn't save her from her maniacal husband.

He couldn't stop himself from thinking about Emma Bloody Swan.

He couldn't see her again.

And he could never hate himself more.

He was angry. He was hateful. He was Captain Hook.

And he channeled everything that he could never do, and could never be, into Rumplestiltskin.

Time to skin ourselves a crocodile.

"What's the name of the place we're headed, Captain?"

His hook gave a terrifying click when he put it in place.

He gazed out at his crew over it as the portal opened up before them.

"Neverland!"

[Storybrooke]

"Good morning, Swan. Ready for our day of adventure?" Emma could not believe that the man before her now, leaning against his car and smiling at her, was also Captain Hook. Who was Killian Jones. Who was an awkward and shy teenage boy the last time she saw him.

Two hundred years.

For Emma it has been ten years and a lot has happened. She could not even begin to guess at everything that has happened to Killian in two hundred. But there were two things she was certain of:

That Killian lost a woman he loved, and

He lost his brother at some point before that.

There was one thing that she was uncertain of, but fairly confident: That she was the reason the storybook said his heart was never completely Milah's and she wasn't sure how to feel about that, or if Killian resented her for it.

"Good morning, Jones." Their exchange was painfully familiar to how they addressed each other all those years ago. Emma wondered if somewhere, deep in his mind, James felt it too. "I think I've had enough of adventures for a few days, how about a nice car ride instead?"

He laughed at that, "Whatever the lady desires." He threw his head toward the passenger-side of the patrol car, "Get in."

When she slid into the car Emma handed over a to-go cup of coffee. Years ago, Killian hated the bitter drink, but he was so exhausted at the time that he didn't care. Emma decided to find out if that's changed.

"Ahhh, coffee. A woman after my own heart." And he took a gratuitous drink.

Well, that answered that.

"So, where are we going?" She gave him her full attention, looking for any other difference in his appearance. She noticed a scar on his right cheek that wasn't there before, but other than that everything else exposed looked largely the same, minus the hand, hair, and beard.

"Well, my patrol takes me around the business part of town, through the residential, out by the school, and back past the docks, ending at the station around noon."

"Wait, that's four hours. Is this town so big that it really takes four hours to drive around?" Emma hadn't seen much of the town, but from her exposure yesterday she couldn't imagine that it required four hours to patrol the entire town.

Killian shrugged at her, "You stop every once in a while, and wait a bit before continuing on to the next part of town."

Emma nodded in what she could only assumed looked at least a little judgmental in manner. "Alright, seems pretty stupid to just sit and wait for someone do something right in front of a patrol car, but okay."

"I agree, a thief probably isn't going to do something right in front of a cop car, but that's the orders." Now that sounded strikingly similar to the lieutenant she used to know, always trying to walk the line. However, now that Emma knew he had become a pirate captain, and a fairy tale villain at that, she couldn't help but question if the real Killian Jones would agree with that notion.

"Do you always follow orders, Deputy Jones?" Was that part of the curse? To take away his sense of autonomy by having him serve on the police force?

"Do you always question orders, Ms. Swan?"

"Sorry, but if you're going to use a title 'Captain' is much more fitting."

"Captain Swan?"

Usually Emma is wary when telling someone she was in the military, never certain of the response, but with Killian, James, she hoped it might spark something. Anything.

"I was a captain in the military, so if you're going to sass me using formality you better get it right."

They ended up sassing their way through the business part of town.

Emma didn't know where a damn thing was.

And she didn't even mind.

"So, Deputy Jones, got any family anywhere?" They were sitting down the road from the school, waiting until it was time to move on to the docks, and Emma had been trying to politely but unsuspiciously pry information.

She wasn't really getting anywhere.

Most of his responses involved an iteration of the phrase "for as long as I can remember."

As long as I can remember.

Emma concluded that the curse didn't really give them any specific memories, it didn't completely restructure their lives.

It erased who they were and gave them new identities, which made them complacent and unwilling to think about how they've been doing everything for as long as they could remember.

At least that's her conclusions for now, she hasn't finished the storybook.

"Nope, Swan, no family. Just some friends."

"Oh yeah, who?"

"Graham."

"That's your boss."

"So? What's wrong with that?" The Killian she had known was shy, but he wasn't a loner. He was too bright and fun for that.

"Nothing if that's enough for you." He looked away from her, out the window, and she could see the muscles in his jaw tensing. "Is that enough for you?"

"It's just fine, Emma." Lie.

She thought about Ruby and Granny fighting last night and the sweet melancholy of Mary Margaret yesterday. Was that part of the curse? To keep everyone dissatisfied, but subdued enough that they didn't do anything about it?

If part of the curse was to keep everyone isolated and unhappy, then part of unwinding it would be to bring people together. She couldn't help the whole town, but she could assist those around her.

Maybe starting small will help make the cracks show.

She really needed to finish the storybook.

"Emma. Emma, hello?" In the time since James' last comment Emma had drifted away both mentally and physically. While her mind had wandered onto the topic of the curse, her eyes and head had turned to the window away from James.

Apparently, he had said something to her.

"Hm? What? I'm sorry, I missed it?"

"I asked if you had any family or friends back in Boston? Anyone from the military that you still talk to?"

Emma never had any family growing up, and the closest person she had to it died years ago on one of their deployments. Everyone else had families, they had loved ones to be a part of and to be with, and despite all their invitations, Emma could never make herself get involved. When she tried, it always felt like she was wearing an itchy second skin to force herself to fit in with families and friends that didn't really want her.

That isn't true.

But it felt like it.

"No, I don't have anyone, but I'd like to try to start changing that. I'm just not very good at it."

"I'd say you're off to a good start, Swan."

Before Emma could reply she heard the school bell ring and saw a flood of children running out for late morning recess

In that moment Emma understood why they were waiting around for so long.

Henry.

He's giving her a chance to see her son.

"Go on, luv, see the lad."

Henry hadn't seen the patrol car sitting down the road, so when Emma walked up to the bench he was sitting on he was surprised, and elated.

"Emma! You're here!"

"Hey kid, how you doing?" Emma sat down next to him, James hadn't given her a timeframe but she hoped it was long enough to have a conversation with Henry. Looking at him, she could see the bags under his eyes. A ten year old should not look this tired.

"I'm alright, where were you this morning? I didn't see you at Granny's."

"I was in my room, reading the storybook. I didn't think I would have the chance to see you in the morning."

"I catch the bus outside of Granny's, you can see me every morning."

"Oh… I didn't realize. I will be there tomorrow."

"Good. So, how far have you made it?"

"Well, I just found out that our deputy is Captain Hook," Emma motioned over to where James stood with Mary Margaret, holding a bag from the back seat of the patrol car in his hand. "Which I was not prepared for."

"That's really him? The lieutenant?"

Emma looked over at James for a long moment, he must have felt her eyes on him because his turned to her, and smiled.

Emma gave a small smile back before turning again to Henry.

"Yeah, it's him. Now, I have a question about the curse. What exactly did it do?"

"It took away their happy endings. Everyone who should be together was separated and even if they got to stay together, like Ruby and Granny, their personalities have been twisted to make them fight all the time."

"So what do we need to do is bring people together?" While Emma had already come to this conclusion, Henry has been working through this much longer. Even though he's only ten, she understood that Henry is smarter and his insights would be invaluable to moving forward.

"Yes, exactly!"

"And where do we start?"

"With you. First you need to finish reading the book, and then we can start Operation Cobra."

"Operation Cobra? That has nothing to do with fairytales"

Henry grinned and leaned in to whisper, "Exactly. It's a code name to throw the Queen off the trail."

"Alright, I dig it." Emma looked at Henry and smiled, but there was still something that was bothering her. "Henry…why me? Why you? Why are we in this mess?" Maybe those aren't question a person should be asking a ten year old boy, but to Emma he seems to be the only one with any answers. "And please don't tell me that I need to finish the storybook. Just tell me."

Henry stared at her, uncertain. "Are you sure you want me tell you? That you don't want to find out on your own?" When Emma shook her head at him he continued, "You're here because you are in the book, Emma. You're the key to everything. You're the savior."

"The savior? How? Why?"

"Because you're the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming."

"I'm the what?!" In her shock and astonishment Emma spun herself off of the bench they were sitting on and ended up kneeling on the ground in front of Henry. Her hands were grasping at the air in front of her, wanting to reach out and grab Henry, but unwilling to have contact with anyone at the moment. Her parents? She doesn't have parents. Emma Swan has been alone her entire life, and it was incredibly difficult to believe that the answers to her questions have been in a cursed town, in the middle-of-nowhere Maine, her entire life.

Henry grabbed her hands that were grasping in the air and held them, "Please, just read the book. It's all there, I promise." He was staring at her, silently trying to reassure her that everything was going to be alright.

Thankfully for Emma she didn't have to try to respond because Mary Margaret and James decided to walk over in that moment.

"Hello lad, how are you today?" Henry didn't miss a beat and went straight in on telling James about his day, like he had a well practiced speech already prepared. Living with Regina he might really have one ready.

Emma stepped away, hoping for some space from Henry's reveal and the woman who was supposedly her mother.

"Hi Emma, I'm happy to see you."

"Uh, hi Mary Margaret." They stood in silence for a moment, Emma was trying to think of an escape when Mary Margaret continued

"It's good to see his smile back." She was looking at her like Emma had something to do with it and Emma wasn't entirely sure she could disregard that notion. I believe him.

But still she felt, "I didn't do anything."

"You stayed."

You stayed.

"So, does the mayor know you're still here?"

"I haven't seen her since yesterday, but I'm sure she knows. What's her deal anyway? How did she get elected?"

"She's been mayor for as long as I can remember. No one's ever been brave enough to run against her. She inspires quite a bit of, well, fear. I'm afraid I've only made it worse for giving Henry that book. Now he thinks she's the Evil Queen."

"I wouldn't feel too bad about it, it seems to be helping him through a difficult time."

"Yeah, but his therapist says that book has made him disillusioned."

"I'm sorry, his therapist said what now?"

"Dr. Hopper said–"

"Is this coming from Dr. Hopper or did Henry tell you this?"

"Dr. Hopped told me."

"Do you understand how wildly inappropriate that is?" From her expression Mary Margaret clearly hadn't thought about. "If I were you, Ms. Blanchard, I wouldn't be listening to an asshole who obviously doesn't respect or care about his patients enough to keep their conversations confidential. Especially conversations with a ten year old boy. He should be protecting Henry, not gossiping about him."

"You're absolutely right, I've never thought about it before. It's just that…" Mary Margaret was looking at the ground, her head slowly shaking as she looked up at Emma. "It's just that he's always done it with Henry. He never talks about any of his other patients, only Henry. Why would he do that? Unless…"

"Unless Regina is forcing him to do it."

"But she's his mother, she should be protecting him."

"A lot of the people who should have been protecting him have fallen short, apparently."

"And I'm one of them. That book I gave him only made him more unhappy and caused him to create this whole alternate reality where we're all fairytale characters. That isn't–"

"Impossible."

"What"

"You said so yourself. Regina has been the mayor for as long as you remember, but what's the age difference between you two? Ten years at most? How can you remember only her being the mayor?"

Mary Margaret didn't know how to respond to that, looking every bit as uncomfortable as the curse could make her. Emma took the opportunity to turn back to Henry only to find him nose deep in comic books.

"Emma! Look at the stuff James got me!" They spent the next few minutes together looking through his new books before James told Emma that they needed to get back on patrol.

She left with a promise to Henry that she would see him in the morning.

Back in the car Emma told James, "It was nice of you to give him all of those books."

A blush spread across his cheeks, tinting his ears, "Yeah, well, the boy seems to be going through a rough spot. Thought giving him some of my favorite comics and graphic novels might help, at least a little bit." There it was, the famous Killian Jones nervous tick resurrected from her memories so it could be displayed before her today.

That stupid, adorable, ear scratch.

James went back to his narrating of the town, going back through the main part of town before hitting the docks. He pointed out the abandoned library and the pawn shop, and this time Emma caught that almost everything in the town was owned by one Mr. Gold.

"Have you met him yet? Mr. Gold?"

"No, I haven't."

"Well, I'm not the person to introduce you. He doesn't seem to like me very much."

"How come?"

"Not sure exactly."

Emma let the conversation slip away after that, filing those details away for another day.

If Snow White was her mother, then where was Prince Charming?

"Come on, let me show you the station." James didn't leave much room for negotiation.

They walked in to find a frustrated Sheriff Graham Humbert.

He was having trouble getting a program to work on his ancient computer.

Emma watched for a few minutes as Graham, the Huntsman who is missing his heart, and James struggled with the machine. She finally stepped in when the sheriff started smacking his hand against it.

"Here–just–move." She shoved her way between them, highlighted all of the files, and clicked "run." "You didn't have anything selected, that's why it wasn't working. You have to tell it what you want it to do first." It was the most basic use of a computer, and yet it seemed to be the most impressive thing they have ever seen.

Graham and James stared at her in astonishment, like they've never seen someone who knew how to use a computer before.

It's probable that they haven't.

"You're hired."

"Wait, what?"

"If you're staying in Storybrooke, you need a job and I need a person who knows how to use a computer."

"So I'd be what, your secretary?" He was right, Emma would need a job, but she didn't want one as a secretary.

"No, you'll be a deputy with Jones here." Now that is something she could live with. It would help get her foot in the door with the town, help make connections and figure out who is separated from who.

"Regina going to be okay with this?" Regina wouldn't want her in the station, so Emma figured that this had to be purely Graham's idea. Just how much does Regina control him with his heart? She can't get too close to Graham, if he finds out too much then she might lose some ground with the Evil Queen.

"I don't care. It's my department." Is it now?

"When do I start?"

"Tomorrow morning."

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow. Later Jones." She brushed past them, making a mock salute with her hand, as she made her way out of the station, invigorated and ready to go.

"Wait!" It was James and he had wheeled around to face her, his eyes had widened and his blush was back, as well as his nervous tick. Hand at his ear he asked, "Do you want to get some lunch with us to talk about the job?"

She smiled at him, "I think I heard enough for now on the patrol today, Jones. Besides, I promised Henry that I'd read something for him and I'd like to finish it tonight." He nodded his head in understanding."

"Have a good day."

Step one: finish the storybook.

Her plan was to go straight to Granny's.

Her plan was not to run into Archie Hopper, the therapist who gossips about a ten year old boy.

Her plan was also not to be offered the files of her ten year old son who has a right to his privacy.

And finally, her plan was not to yell at him.

But yell she did.

"Do you know how inappropriate this is?" Archie tried to talk, but fuck him. "He is your patient. Everything that goes on between you two is confidential and you're offering me his files? He is supposed to be able to trust you Dr. Hopper, and you repay that by gossiping about him? By making people think he's crazy? You're an adult, he's a child." She wanted to shove him, to push him with every point, but if she touched him this became an assault and Emma didn't need that right now. Henry didn't need that.

"You're supposed to be protecting him, but all you're doing is demeaning him and his beliefs, telling people he's disillusioned when it is none of their business. He's a child and you," she was in his face now, finger centimeters away from his face, "are taking advantage of him. What are you doing? Pushing Regina's agenda? Is that why it is only Henry that you go around telling people about?" His face was red with emotion, but whether it was anger, embarrassment, or shame Emma couldn't tell.

And she didn't care.

"He's supposed to be able to trust you, Archie, and all you are doing is only hurting him more when he needs you the most."

At that last statement he flinched. Now, he had nothing to say. He could only look embarrassed and ashamed.

"I can't stop you from seeing Henry because I have no legal right, but I can tell you to get away from me. So, Dr. Hopper, get the fuck away from me, you manipulative piece of shit." Emma didn't wait for him to walk away, instead she stonewalled his shoulder as she continued on to Granny's, knocking him out of the way.