The Way Back Home

by CuteMcBeauty

Years after defeating the black fairy, Killian and Emma take their daughter Lizzie sailing when a sudden storm rips their vessel apart. After much searching, they assume she is dead. Killian and Emma deal with their grief while Lizzie Jones desperately seeks to find her way back home to her parents and family, all the while discovering the powerful magic within her.

5. Chapter 5

THANKS FOR THE FOLLOWS AND REVIEWS GUYS! THE STORY WILL FOCUS MOSTLY ON LIZZIE'S STRUGGLE TO GET BACK HOME, BUT BEAR WITH ME (AND DON'T KILL ME) BECAUSE THERE WILL BE QUITE A BIT OF CS ANGST, BECAUSE THEM GRIEVING FOR LIZZIE IS PIVOTAL TO THE HAPPY ENDING OF THE PLOT, SO… TRUST ME!

HOPE YOU KEEP ON ENJOYING THIS STORY!

CHAPTER 5: LETTING GO

A WEEK AFTER THE ACCIDENT

Granny's.

That had always been the loction of choice for family reunions. Not that the old woman's cooking was too spectacular, nor was it the ambiance that resembled a 1950's diner. It was just the closest thing to home that the Charmings had known since the first curse. Granny was familiar to them, as were the usual customers who often visited the tiny restaurant.

It was also a place for the heroes to meet and plot.

Emma refused to touch the onion rings before her. And much as Killian tried to instigate her to have at least one bite, he too was completely deprived of his appetite. The couple looked fatigued, dark circles uncer their eyes and expressions dour.

Regina closed her hands on top of the table. "Emma, you KNOW you have to do this. You know you need to know what the hell happened." She reached into her coat pocket and produced the little vial. "I've the tracking potion right here. Say the word, and we will ALL follow the trail."

The Savior remained somberly silent and regina huffed in frustration.

Snow reached out to touch Emma's hand, her fingesrs splayed out on the table. "Emma, Regina's right. You and Killian need to know for sure. That way at least you will be able to take the next step forward."

"Question is, where to?" She spoke, almost unperceptably.

David sighed and looked into hisn daughter's ashen face. "Wherever that may be, it's a step neither of you have to take alone."

Emma finally raised her eyes to her father. Dry, red-rimmed and heavy lidded, she pressed her lips hard. "What if I don't want to know?" Her eyes began to shine again.

Killian grunted.

"What if…. What if I completely lose my mind and… and there's no coming back from that? What if all I get, is the confirmation that my daughter is dead because her mother wasn't able to save her and I have to live with that for the rest of my life?"

"Would you rather spend the rest of your life not knowing?" Regina quipped. "I know it's hard. But you need to…"

"What, I need to what, Regina? Move on?" Emma suddenly snapped. "Like, forget I ever had a daughter in the first place? Just accept that she is dead and that she is never coming back? How am I supposed to acccept that, how is ANYONE supposed to accept that?"

Killian's jaw clenched and he rubbed the bridge of his nose between his figers. "Emma…"

"Am I supposed to just say, 'Oh well, yeah, the trail leads to the water! Happy trails, Lizzie, now it's time to watch the simpsons'? I gave birth to her! I BROUGHT HER INTO THIS WORLD TO LIVE! Now I'm supposed to just… aceept that she… that… that she…"

"THAT SHE DROWNED, SWAN! SHE BLOODY WELL DROWNED AND THE SEA TOOK HER! SHE DID! SHE IS GONE!" Killian suddenly blared and stood up in a fit of rage. "I can't do this anymore! I can't just sit here idly, every bloody day, watching you wane and suffer while we are all waiting for your say so to cast the sodding curse so we can finally get on with our lives! This is a nightmare, Emma! And it's a nightmare from which you refuse to wake us both from! IT'S ENOUGH! IT'S BLOODY ENOUGH!"

He stormed out of the diner, stomping and slamming the door behind him. Emma was left sitting and shuddering.

David sighed and stood up. "I'll go talk to him."

"No. Wait." Emma closed her eyes and sighed deeply, before turning her shining eyes to her father. "He's right. I'm stalling. And I'm dragging him into this… mess. It's not fair on him. On either of us." She gulped and stood up. "Regina, keep the bottle ready. It's time to locate my daughter."

She stepped outside and found Killian sitting on the table where they had shared their second kiss, and the first real kiss between them. He was face down, hiding his face behind both his arms. She inhaled sharply at the sight of him, all leather clad… all broken. As she approached, she placed her hand on his choulder. "Killian?"

The man didn't even look up, but didn't flinch away either.

Silently, Emma sat beside him. "Killian… you're right. I'm … I'm sorry I've taken so long. I just… I don't want to…"

He raised his face to her slowly and she saw his saddened gaze, deep and dark, as it met hers. "No, love, it is I who should apologize." He sat up traight and reached with his right hand to hers. "I never should have shouted at you thus. It's just that…." He pressed his lips tight together and shook his head. "I'm also afraid, Emma. I am petrified that this… this spell will be the door that closes behind our daughter's demise." He gulped at the thought. "But at the same time… I just, well… we both need to know for sure, Emma. I asked you before. Should we not find her, we should prepare to let her go. I can tell you, I've lost countless people to the whims of time, and it never gets any easier. Especially not when its someone you love. But your father is right." He squeezed her hand. "We are not whatever the outcome… we will face it together, like we do all things." He then caressed her face. "Forgive me, Emma."

She managed a small, sad grin as she nodded. "Come on, Hook." She pulled him. "Let's go find our daughter. Wherever she is."

When they returned into the diner, the Cahrmings and regina were already on their feet. Emma sighed and reached into her inner jacket pocket, to produce a feeding bib from when Lizzie was a baby. She grinned sadly. "I… I kept this handy. For when the time came." She handed it to Regina. "Do it."

Killian nodded at the Queen as well.

Regina sighed and reached to squeeze Emma's hand gently, before taking the bib from her and pouring the clear liquid onto the tiny piece of cloth. The bib glistened in apearlescent glow for a couple of seconds, and before long, it took flight.

Hesitantly but with a firm step, the family followed the trail.

When they reached the shoreline and the bib dissapeared into the waves at the beach. Emma's knees buckled, and she only remained standing because Killian held on to her. Wherever that bib had gone to, they could follow no further.

Nothing else was said. Killian held her head to the nook of his neck, cradling it as he too, shed tears that silently fell down his face. Soon enough, they were all embracing in a family hug, the only sounds to be heard from miles, the waves crashing on the shore and the loud sobs of the saddened clan.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

LATER THAT NIGHT

"I came as soon as I could." Henry huffed, putting his heavy backpack on the floor at Regina's. "I had a paper to hand in and a deadline for a grade, so it was kind of hard for me to convince the Dean to let me off the hook for a week. Law school is unyielding." He straightened up and smiled at Regina. "It's good to see you though, mom."

Regina grinned sadly and simply embraced her son. "Oh, Henry, I've missed you so much."

When Henry pulled back, he huffed and pressed his lips together. "Anyway, Storybrooke will be Storybrooke. I figure that's the urgency. Who are we fighting against now?"

Regina gulped and pulled Henry to the living room. The young man frowned, but said nothing as he let his mother lead him onto the living room. She sat and he followed. To see regina Mills get ready eyed as she rubbed her hands and looked for words was, to say the least, terribly foreboding, and Henry began to feel the brunt of anxiety. "Mom? What is going on?"

She looked up into his eyes. "Henry… I called you because… well, there was an accident. Last week… Emma and Hook took your sister sailing and…" She shook her head. "Well, there was a storm. They capsized. Hook and Emma made it to the shore, but…"

"No… no, not my sister." Henry paled.

"They have looked relentlessly for a week, and earlier today we… we finally cast a locator spell. It led to the water, Henry… and it sank." Henry's eyes filled with tears and Regina's heart clenched in her chest. "I'm… I'm so sorry, Henry."

He stood up and paced around the foyer. "Where are Mom and Killian?"

Regina shrugged as she followed him. "I don't know. They wanted to be left alone by the beach earlier, we all just left them to grieve." She shook her head. "I hate to say this, but it was about time too."

Henry turned in anger, swiftly picked up his backpack and stormed out of the house, despite Regina's plea.

How could this have happened? Wasn't Killian Jones supposed to be a "hell of a captain"? And wasn't Emma the savior? His sister, his "Lizzard" Jones was now dead because neither Killian nor Emma could uphold their end of the bargain, and he was going to make sure he got a word in about it.

Thumping hard on the door one hour's walk later, Henry stood huffing angruly by the porch of his mom's home. But all bravado to speak his mind fizzled as soon as he took one look at Killian. This was nothing like the self-confident pirate captain with a happy, flirty glint in his eye he had come to love as a father. This was a broken up man, a shadow of pain, who simply looked back at him with eyes as pools of sorrow. "Henry?" He managed to sigh.

Instead of anger, henry melted into grief, and he reached to the pirate for a hug, which was very happily returned. "Henry… you're home…"

"I didn't know… my mom just told me." Henry finally began to sob, and Killian's embrace tightened. "Killian, why?"

"Because I failed you all…" The captain wept back. "Oh, Henry, I'm so sorry, I failed you all…"

The embrace was broken by Emma's soft whisper from the stairs. "H… Henry…"

Again, the boy ran to his mother and simply held on as she once more broke down.

He refused to leave them that night… and all the nights after that until whatever services for his sister concluded.

Xxxxxxxxxx

FOUR DAYS AFTER THE ACCIDENT

The sound of seagulls stirred the cold little girl awake… only for her to find out that the crupled old sail where she had huddled up for the night was no longer the setting of her bedding. Instead she lay in a room, one that much resembled the Captain's quarters of the Jolly Roger. The distribution, however, was different.

"Bit of a witch then, are we?"

Lizzie turned her head sharply to find the young captain sitting, his legs spread over a chair and his arms resting on the back of it. He grinned sideways in a way that was too familiar to the girl, but still not familiar enough. She rolled her eyes, remembering that cloaking spells don't really last all that long.

She bolted up and gasped, fear in her eyes. "Please don't hurt me…"

He laughed softly. "And why on earth would I want to do that?" He stood up. "Perhaps a couple of years ago you would have been the means to an end; but now, you're just…" He shrugged. "… family." He turned and poured water from a pitcher. "Tredging trhough the woods at night all by yourself is an uncanny fete for a little girl your age, what are you, six?"

"Seven."

"Ah, my mistake." He smiled and handed the water over to her. "Here. You must be thirsty."

Lizzie eyed the elaborately cut glass in his hand and then looked back up at him, squinting her eyes. "How do I know that that's not poison, or a potion of some sort?"

The manshrugged again, took a sip, and handed the glass back to her. "There. If it were a black hearted beverage, I might've died or turned into a toad by now. It's plain old water."

Lizzie accepted the water and drank like there was no tomorrow.

"Why are you here, Elizabeth?"

The girl frowned. "Wh… how do you… know my name?"

The man sat back down in the same position and sighed. "I've eyes and ears in almost every realm. Not to mention I'm quite well acquainted with your father, Killian."

Lizzie trembled. "B… Blackbeard…"

The man laughed loud. "Seriously, do NOT mistake me for that gutter rat. The only pirate I've any respect for other than myself is your father, and that's given the fact that he's no longer one, but a sheriff in your home of Storybrooke."

Lizzie gasped and walked up to the man. "You know Storybrooke! C… can you get me home?"

The man side-grinned once again, a calm gaze in his eye. "It's not all that simple, Elizabeth. We're talking crossing realms here, you don't just jump into any random hole and sail through it. Not to mention…" He looked around with a grimace. "…this ship does not have it in her to withstand such a journey."

"But… you speak of Storybrooke, you must have been there!"

"Yes. Yes I have. I was first mate ina vessel that sort of stuck around Storybrooke for a while." He sighed. "The vessel we sailed into the town in, however, was made from a far sturdier mateiral than this ordinary wood."

"My dad's ship can cross realms."

"The Jolly Roger, yes." He nodded. "A ship coveted by many, and one of it's kind. Word has it, the reason there are no more enchanted trees in the woods is because they used them all, or almost all, to build that ship. The last tree left was used to send your mother off to your land without magic."

Lizzie took two steps back and sat back on the bed. "You seem to know an awful lot about my parents."

"Not as much as I'd like." He sighed. "He is someone I thought I hated until… well, until I got to know him better." He shook his head. "I should be able to be in a place where I can see my older brother at least once a year."

"Wait, wait… your brother?" Lizzie stood up and approached him. "You're… my uncle Liam?"

He nodded gently. "Liam Jones the 2nd." He held his hand out. "A pleasure to meet you, Elizabeth."

Ease finally taking over her, Lizzie smiled fully and shook his hand. "Call me Lizzie. Everyone else does."

Liam chuckled. "Uncanny. You've the hair and eyes of my brother, but you are the spitting image of your mother, Emma."

Lizzie's face fell. "Yeah, well… maybe his eyes and her face is all I'll ever have to remember them."

"Come come." He shook his head. "Why would you even say that? I understand, you are looking for passage out of Shoreman's Cove to find a way to get back home, or at least get in touch with mom and dad to let them know you are well, is that correct?" He licked his lips. "Because I can asssure you, so long as you remain in this Island, you are completely cut off and no magic can come in or out."

Lizzie frowned. "But… uncle Liam, my dad told me you were sailing in the Nautilus with Nemo!"

Liam looked to the floor. "Yeah, well, a few years back, your dad was kind of locked into the Nautilus with us and we were sent away together. We crashed into a reef and the vessel was damaged, we had to abandon ship."

"It was never fixed?"

"It was. But it took a while and things were never smooth after that. By then, I was needing to head off on my own. Nemo gave me his blessing and then… I made my own way in the world."

"As a pirate."

"Why so scornful, lass?"

"Well, can you blame me?" She shrugged with a grin. "It's not too often that a respectable sailor suddenly goes rogue."

He nodded with a chuckle. "I suppose it runs in the family." He stood up and walked to sit next to Lizzie. "As you may well know, Lizzie, there are all sorts of pirates in this and every world, and not all of them are bad. Your dad turned out quite good in the end."

She smiled. "Yeah he did."

Liam's face suddenly turned very serious. "Ok, Lizzie, look… " he held her by the arms and spoke directly to her face, blue eyes eactly like her own. "I understand Blackbeard seeks you. Like I said, there are good and bad pirates and he, I have to say, is a bad and as rotten as they come. It was just fortunate that I happened to be in Shoreman's Cove when I heard of your arrival. If what little I know of my brother is true, he and his lady, your mother, must be sick with worry over you. Now, if we manage to avoid Blackbeard, I can get you out of the Cove long enough that you may be able to contact them, but alas, I currently don't have the means to cross the realms."

Lizzie thought for a moment. "Ok. But, do you know of anyone who does?"

Liam thought for one minute and then smiled. "Actually, I do." He rolled his eyes and sighed deep. "The irony is everywhere."

"Why?"

Liam leaned in and lowered his voice. "Lizzie, the same man who has warranted a ransom for you is quite well accomodated with magic beans. All we need is to relieve him of one, and I can escort you back to Storybroooke myself."

She gulped. "But… he wants to use me to hurt my dad. And you know…" She shook her head. "… he won't trust you. You're my uncle."

"Accurate enough. He is more than likely on his way here, he'll probably figure that my ship would be the first place to shelter you."

"So how do you intend to…?"

"I've no idea, Lizzie. But we will figure something out." He grinned. "For now, my crew have sworn loyalty to me and I am a fair enough captain that they will sooner die than betray me, no matter the ransom. However, I need to find a place to conceal you, one where Blackbeard would not think to look for you." He frowned thoughtfully. "If I can keep him distracted long enough, my men can easily enough visit his vessel and retrieve a bean without anyone else looking."

"Sounds dangerous."

"That it is. Extremely. But…" He smiled at her fully. "…you're family. I once swore to destroy your father, but after I met him and offered him a second opportunity, I realized that he was as much my only real blood family as I was his. And forgiveness became the greates lesson of my life. Nemo was proud." Liam side-grinned again. "I will do anything in my power to get you back home, Lizzie. Hopefully it will give me a chance to visit my older brother, too."

Lizzie smiled and hugged him suddenly. "Thank you uncle Liam."

Liam hugged her back tight and sighed. "Family goes first, Lizzie. All the time. Now… let's think where we can conceal you in this rathole of a town, shall we?"

Lizzie bit her lip and suddenly spoke up. "Where doe Blackbeard anchor?"

"Usually on South Port, why?"

"Becasue that is his territory." She smiled wyly. "He probably thinks that is the last place anyone would…"

"..ever hide from him." He nodded with an amused smirk. "Hidden in plain sight. He'll sooner look anywhere else than right in front of his nose!" He smiled fully. "Well, well, Lizze! Quite cunning! You are indeed a Jones!"

"Poudly!"