HELLO ALL!

I AM TERRIBLY SORRY FOR THE LONG ASS WAIT HERE, I HAD TO UNDERGO SURGERY AND IT HAS TAKEN ME QUITE A WHILE TO RECOVER. I AM A LOT BETTER NOW!

ON WITH THE STORY! THANKS FOR THE FAITH AND THE COMMENTS! KEEP 'EM COMING! (REMEMBER THAT COMMENTS AND ENCOURAGEMENT ARE MAGIC INK FOR ANY WRITER!)

CHAPTER 6: HER INNER SONG

LIZZIE'S SEVENTH BIRTHDAY

Emma was always surprised whenever she heard Killian sing. For a man of over two hundred with a dreary past and a backlog of memories and stories to tell, it always caught her by surprise when she heard him sing, whether he was in the shower, pruning the hedges (he did kind of have a green hook, after all), or even the times she secretly caught him singing his little girl to sleep when she was a baby.

But she was a baby no more, at least not by Lizzie's standards. Today was the 7th birthday of the princess, and among the many things Emma Jones was looking forward to that day, one of them was hearing her handsome husband sing "happy birthday" to his daughter. He would probably also share a few songs with David in the garden during the party. It seemed that in his heyday as a sea coasting terror of the seas, Captain Hook had been known to love a good melody. According to his old crew, at least, the one thing that seemed to deter the Captain from his moody quest for vengeance, if only temporarily, was the sound of a good melody. More than once, he had been keen on playing an old bandoneon and singing on the deck of the Jolly Roger, to have the whole crew join him in song, and according to Smee himself, few things, if any, ever made Killian Jones happier than those fleeting instances, where the darkened gazeof brooding eyes would sparkle with joy.

When Lizzie was brought home from school by her grandfather, she was welcomed by the sight of balloons decorating the front porch at the Jones home. She beelined to the back garden where many of her freinds from school had somehow arrived before she had. Since magic ran rampant in her family (and her own blood), and any Disney princess was technically either family or at least an acquaintance, the party theme this year was a hawaiian-styled luau for kids. Emma herself had taken to wear a draped blouse that displayed a nude shoulder over a shredded hula dance kilt, while Killian (ever the more serious and reputed pirate slash deputy slash hero in leather) drew a line at a flower lei around his neck.

The party was hugely succesful and Lizzie Jones (who was actually becoming more and more proficient with her magic) threw her own firework show, much to her mother's delight and her father's undying admiration for what his beautiful women could do with their magical skill.

Once the noisier guests had left and only family remained, the party was taken indoors, where they all sat around the huge kitchen table, sharing what was left of the cake and ice cream.

"So sis, did you like your present?" Herny grinned through rough facial hair (Emma and Regina were still not quite accustomed to his goatee, because, well, he was still eleven like, yesterday). "I looked pretty hard for that one."

Lizzie frowned, wrapping her mouth around a huge chunk of chcolate cake. "Which one was yours again?"

"Lizzie, honey, I've told you not to talk with your mouth full like that." Emma tilted her head. The little girl shrugged and took a gulp of milk to wash the massive bite down.

"The globe. The one with…"

"Oh the one that has Pongo in it!" she smiled. "Yeah it's cool, Henry." She pressed her lips together. "Is it really true that outside of Storybrooke people think that we are all characters out of books?"

"Oh yeah." Henry nodded. "If I had to tell anyone that my grandparents are Snow White and Prince Charming, that my adoptive mom was the Evil Queen and that my stepdad is Captain Hook, I'd probably be commited."

"I actually was, once." Emma sighed. "It was the black fairy's thing, but even I thought Henry was off his marbles, so I suppose that's how people would think out there. I used to think that way too. " she mussed the stubborn black strands off her daughter's forehead. "There was this one time, Henry and I were in new York, and I didn't remember anything, and your dad showed up and… Well I thought he was off his rocker and kicked him in…" She gulped. "Well, I wasn't too nice to him."

"I can attest to that." Killian nodded with a chuckle.

"But why? Why can't people just know that we're not fairy tales? I mean… it's all real! Look!" The little girl grabbed her arm . "Flesh and blood!"

"Yup." Snow cut it as she stood up and took her plate to the sink. "And I for one am definitely not even half as prissy as my movie doppleganger, that's for sure."

"Well, to be fair, you do sing and talk to birds, Snow." David smiled, an eyebrow cocked over his brow.

"Not to mention…" Regina interjected. "… that you did once conjure a wishing spell that had us all singing for weeks." She shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Wasn't that a nightmare…"

Lizzie looked up to Regina. "Wait… what?" She smiled. "My grandma had… YOU singing?"

"Ugh, and dancing and prancing around like Julie Andrews on a stupid hilltop." She laughed before she took a gulp from her cider.

That brough laughter to the table. "I can also attest to that!" David added with a nod. "We saw her do it!"

Lizzie laughed out. "You all sang?"

"She had the entire realm singing, Lizzard." Henry laughed. "Except for Rumple."

"Aye, well, crocodiles have no vocal chords, lad. Cold blooded animals." Killian shrugged as he drank some rum from a tumblr.

Emma rolled her eyes to him. "Killian…"

"What! It's true!" He defended himself. "Every single bloody fairy, dwarf, king queen and princes suddenly woke up singing like bloody misntrels! Alas, the Dark One did not."

Lizzie looked at her father. "Did you sing daddy?"

Killian was about to deny it when David cut in. "Oh, boy did he ever."

"Mate…" Killian glared at David.

"Oh get over yourself Hook, you sang and danced and walked on tables. It was epic." David laughed. "Snow, do you remember that?"

Snow was washing the dishes. "Oh yeah." She chuckled. "Revenge revenge revenge!"

Killian blushed and scratched behind his ear. Regina turned with a sarcastic grin to him. "Well well well… the pirate has a musical heart. So what did you sing?"

Killian frowned. "Bugger off."

Emma turned to him and reached to touch his arm. "Oh come on, Killian! I wanna know too! What was your song?"

"It was the song of an angry, woeful man who seeked revenge that has nothing to do with the man before you now, so… let it be." He smiled back at Emma and darted a dark glance at Regina.

"I say you sing it out for us Hook." David Crossed his arms.

"Revenge revenge revenge…" Snow sang from the sink.

"Milady, don't!"

Lizzie smiled. "I wanna hear it too daddy! It's my birthday! Please?"

The whole table joined the plea as Hook closed his eyes and huffed. ""All right. I'll have you know that the one reason I do this is because it is my young daughter's natality celebration, and not for the delectation of you lot." He stood up and stepped out of the house, headed for the garage, returning with his old bandoneon.

"What the hell…?" Emma smiled. "Where did you have that stashed? I've never seen it?"

"That's because up till last week it was still in the Jolly Roger, my love."

Emma pressed her lisp together in a tight grin. "You totally planned to sing today, dind't you?"

The pirate blushed again. "I did not!" Then he turned around to wink an eye at Lizzie, who giggled as she stood and walked around to her dad.

"Go on daddy! Sing!"

"All right…" He stretched the tiny accordeon and then turned his eyes up to the ceiling in thought. "It was quite some time ago… Let me remember." He began to play, and soon after he found his key. "All right… this was it…"

He broke into his song and soon after, even Regina was singing along to the very catchy chorus of " revenge, revenge revenge is gonna be mine.". Once he finished, everyone else was in the mood to sing their own song, with Killian's skilled bandoneon accompanying the melodies as best as he could keep up.

Later that night, after everyone was gone and Lizzie was in bed, Killian could still hear Emma sing the chorus of his old song in the shower. The sound of water cascading in the shower stall sounded like an echo of the rain stor that had started only ten minutes earlier.

As she exited, drying her hair, she smiled at the image of her bare-chested husband looking at her. "You sing like an angel, Emma."

"You don't do too badly yourself there, captain." She smiled. "That's a pretty awesome song, we could write a musical and live off the royalties with what we heard tonight."

"Mhm…" Killian nodded as he sat on his side of the bed. "Well, I also remember you having a song of your own, one which you didn't share with us tonight." He looked at her. "The one that you used to break the first spell the Black Fairy cast on us so she coudl force us all to watch you die…" He shuddered at the thought. "It was a beautiful lyric, Emma… why didn't you share it with us all today?"

"I don't really sing like an angel, that's why."

"That nonesense is just that, Swan." He smiled at her and stood to walk to her side of the bed, kneeling before her. "Sing it."

"What?"

"Your song. Sing it… for me."

Just as Emma was about to find a suitable excuse not to sing, a clap of thunder startled them both, and not ten seconds later, a shaky little girl was standing by her parents' bedroom door. "Mommy! Daddy!"

Killian raised his face to his child and promptly stood up. "Are you well, angel?"

"It's so loud!" Lizzie began to sob. "I can't sleep! I'm scared!"

"Oh, my love, it's but a storm. I've sailed through far worse in the Jolly Roger. Come on then." Killian smiled as he picked her up, emmiting a strained huff. "Bloody hell, Lizzie girl, you're getting heavier…" He carried her to the bed.

Emma turned to her daughter. "You ok, sweetie?"

Lizzie turned to her mom, teary eyed. "What if this is some bad thing that's about to happen? Some witch or sorcerer or villain?"

Emma turned to her daughter and again cleared the dark strands of hair from her forehead. "Then it's a good thing you are in here with us, isn't it?"

"Aye, love. Your mother is the savior, and I may not have magic but I am fairly good in any fight." He kissed the top of his daughter's head.

"We won't let anything happen to you, Lizzie." Emma said softly.

"Promise?"

"Yes baby." Emma smiled and kissed her cheek. "I promise. Now, go to sleep." Emma looked up to Killian. "Do you want your dad to sing you to sleep tonight?"

Lizzie opened her eyes and looked into the eyes of her mother. "Actually… can you sing for me tonight, mommy?"

Emma would have wanted to strangle Killian for the bemused look on his face, one eyebrow cocked way up. "Yes Swan, can you sing something for your daughter? She's fearful of the storm and what better way to soothe a child than a heartfelt song from her loving mother?"

Emma sighed and shook her head. "Fine. Just settle down sweetheart. Ok?" She cleared her throat as Lizzie snuggled up to her (and also as Killian lay back on the bed with a proud beaming grin, placing his arms behid his head and looking at his wife with an adoring smile).

"Once I lived in darkness, out there on my own….

Left to brave the world alone…

Everything seemed pointless, no chance to break free,

Couldn't hear the song inside of me…

All those years of running, no not any more.

I know what I'm living for.

I'm no longer searching, turnsout all along,

The answer was inside me with a song."

Killian swallowed a knot in hsi throat and Lizzie opened her now sleepy, heavy-lidded eyes, very gently. "Mommy… do I have a song in my heart too?"

Emma smiled fully. "Well, your daddy and I made you with love. So yes, Lizzie. I am sure you have a song in your heart, more powerful than anything." She kissed her little head. "More powerful than this storm, or any other dark magic. You're stronger than you think. And you are loved. Believe me, that is all you need." She raised her now teary eyes to Killian. "That was all I ever needed too."

Killian smiled at his wife as he stood from the bed, carrying his daughter. "I think youre set to brave this and any storm, Lizzie girl. Say good night to mommy now."

"Good night mommy." Spoke the groggy child from her father's arms.

"Good night sweetheart. Happy birthday…"

Soon after, Killian returned to their room, and to his wife's loving smile. "See there Emma? That wasn't too bad."

Emma nodded with a grin. "Thank you Killian. It still gets a bit hard sometimes to remove my armor, even with those I love."

"Well…" He reached out to kiss her hand. "I can see well past those walls of yours by now, love."

"Killian… do you think…" Emma frowned. "Do you think you and I have put a song in her heart? Will she ever need it?"

He shrugged. "This is Storybrooke, Emma. We won the final battle, or you won it, rather. But we do still all come from a kingdom where dark and light magic loom large. Who's to know? But, one thing I know for sure… She has a song in her. Just like her beautiful mother always did." He moved over on the bed and gebtly undid the lace of her pajama bottom. "And that will see her through any sort of trouble…"He leaned in to kiss her breastbone. "I am sure of it…" His voice muffled by the kisses on her milky skin.

Emma sighed and leaned back on the bed, flicking her hand up to lock the door and allowing her loving pirate to make love to her as he always did: with tender, adoring devotion, always showing her that indeed, she was and never would be alone.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

SEVEN DAYS AFTER THE ACCIDENT

Lizzie tried to no avail to enchant the mirror in the captain's quarters, hoping to be able to contact her mother. But in this island, she felt completely powerless. While her concealment had worked, she soon discovered that what Lian had told her about Shoreman's Cove was accurate and that her magic her ewas at best, very unpredictable; she was able to light a candle, but unable to poof away, and the next minute she poofed but ony reappeared back in the room.

She remembered what the witches had said about her mom and dad giving her up for dead, and hated the idea of them suffering so badly; if only she could only get a message across! All she needed was to be a decent aount of miles away from Shoreman's Cove to be able to talk to her mother, or maybe Regina or anyone else magically doted who would care to be listening!

Liam walked into the cabin with a basket of breat and cheese, a couple of apples and root beer for his niece. "I'm sorry if this meal does not equate to a homecooked dinner at home, niece, but it will keep you sated. You need your strength, we set sail to the South Port today."

Lizzie nodded. "I can help. My dad taught me well."

"I'm sure he did, Lizzie, but I'd rather you stay down here. "

With a scorn that was so Jones it made Liam chuckle, an indignified girl sneered. "What? Why?"

"Lizzie, can you guarantee that you'll be able to magically transport yourself away when and if we should encounter The Queen Anne's Revenge? My priority through this mission is to keep my brother's child safe, so please, remain below deck. You can help me more that way." As Lizzie huffed with a pout, Liam put the basket on the table and then placed his hands on her shoulders. "I understand you're frsutrated and miss home, but trust me. I have learned to mann this vessel well, my men are capable, we will find a way to get you back to my brother, or we will die trying. But I have to know I don't need to worry about you getting caught and captured. Please… Promise me you will do as you're told."

As much as her stubborn Jones blood hated the notion of concealing herself, without a shot at heroism she knew that Liam had a point. It would be terribly easy to poof away or send a magic burst in the direction of any attacker, but there were no guarantees that her magic would work as desired. The girl huffed and roled her eyes. "Okay, fine."

"Good. Now, we are raising anchors in only a few minutes, you may be able to be on deck intil I tell you to hide. Shoud there be any real danger, I will use this whistle, like this…" He blew into the maritime whislte three times. "That will be the sign for you to go into the cargo hold. In there, you will find a large cabinet."

"Let me guess, hide inside?"

"No child… there is a sliding door behind it, with a very secret compartment. Move the cabinet, get inside that compartment and then reposition the cabinet over the door. We have smuggled more than men in that hold completely undetected, it should conceal you well enough. Are we clear?"

Lizie nodded. "I just hope it doesn't get to that."

"As do I, niece. Now… Eat some of this. It will be a day's journey to the south port and we will make no stops to hinder us."

Lizzie grinned and nodded. "Thank you, uncle Liam."

The young man nodded with a grin and made his way back out, shouting random orders to his crew above.

Lizzie could hear the sound of hinges and pulleys and the ship bobbed suddenly as the weight of the anchor was lifted. She was more than familiar with the moveents and the sounds of these old wooden vessels and it made her even more homesick thinking about the times she had spent sailing with her dad on the Jolly Roger.

She sat and ate some cheese. It was old and hard and she wondered if this was the kind of meal that sustained Captain Hook for over two hundred years, amazed that he had managed to live so long on that kind of repast.

She felt the ship slowly move out of port and the unmistakeable sound of sails suddenly swollen by winds put a smile on her face. She felt happy, for the first time in days, the mere memory of her sailing days enough to warm her heart.

A quiet hum left her lips, a little melody that seemed to leave her chest with ease. But as she chanted the tune, the candles began to flicker and her hands sparked. She shook her head in startlement, and as soon as the humming stopped, so did the sparks.

"Wait a second…" She frowned. Once again, she began to humm and flicked her hand towards the candles, instantly and succesfully igniting them.

"My song…" She huffed with a smile, and stood again, standing before the mirror, humming her tune louder and louder, her eyes closed and her thoughts focused on one thing: Show me my mother… show my my father… I want to see them, please show me my family….

The mirror immediately began to show a haze of clouds, and the image before her was not what she had hoped to see.

Her mother looked at least ten years older than what she remembered her, dark circles beneath her eyes, her stare vacant and drained, her hair in a pony tail and a demeanor that portrayed what Lizzie knew her to be feeling: despair, angst, fear of the worst. It had been a week since the accident and Lizzie didn't have to be a genius to figure out that by then, both she and her dad had probably thought for a few days that their daughter was probably dead. Emma sat on a sofa, flanked by Regina and her Grandma, both holding her hands. They were probaby at Regina's place, from the look of it. Henry was not around. But if her heart was wrenched upon seeing her mother, when her Grandpa and her dad came into the room, it crumbled to pieces. Snow stood up to join David. Regina turned to Emma and gently squeezed her shoulder… adn then Killian sat beside her, not touching her, simply leaning back into the sofa. His eyes were rimmed from crying and his hair looked like he hadn't washed it in days. He also looked tired, sleep deprived, and devastated. Emma seemed mad at him, both remaining seated next to one another, but not touching or talking. Suddenly, Killian hung his head and looked at his hand, more specifically, at the wedding band on his finger.

"Ive lost you both…" He said sadly.

Emma rolled her eyes over to him and as his shoulders began to shake and convulse, completely beaking down, her hardened gaze softened as she wrapped her arms over his shoulders. If anything, she seemed to break down herself after seeing the man she loved so completely broken. "You will never lose me…" She spoke, ver voice near a whisper."

Killian then held her back and cried loudly into her shoulder. "Oh, Emma… Emma…. Our baby…"

"I know…"

"I failed."

"I did too."

"Oh Lizzie, forgive me. Forgive me!"

With that, Lizzie stopped humming. Her song had been replaced by haggard sobs.

Now more than ever, she was determined to find her way back home to them.

She lay on the bed and turned around, crying for her mom and dad, who were shredded after losing her at sea. She fell asleep and gratefully only awoke when her uncle Liam told her to ready herself because they were about to reach the south port.

Xxxxxxxxxx

THE NIGHT AFTER THE FUNERAL

"Emma, please, you have to eat something." Snow begged.

The beautiful blond shook her head. "I'm not hungry."

Snow White huffed and shook her head. "You still have another son, Emma, he needs you. Killian needs you. I am pretty sure Lizzie wouldn't want you to just…"

"Mom, I am just NOT HUNGRY!" She snapped.

The pale-faced mother of the savior closed her eyes and placed the bowl of chicken soup on Emma's bedside table. "Ok, I'll just… leave this here, for later." She pulled away and emma suddenly turned to her.

"Mom?"

"Yes, sweetie?"

Emma swallowed. "H… how did you do it?"

"How did I do what?"

"Cope. After dad put me in that closet and you thought you had lost your entire family. You didn't know. You had no way of knowing. I could have landed in the middle of a highway and gotten killed by a truck, or fallen into the sea, who knows… How the hell did you cope with losing your baby?" Emma began to sob.

Snow sighed and paced back to her daughter, lying beside her on the bed and hugging her tight. "Well, it's odd for me to even say this, but I didn't have a lot of time to grieve, Emma." She spoke softly. "The curse hit. I must have cried maybe for about thirty minutes before I was suddenly Mary Margaret Blanchard and didn't remember even having a baby, let alone holding what I thought was my dead husband five minutes before." She shurgged. "In a sense, Regina spared me that pain."

"But… those thirty minutes…" Emma heaved. "Did you feel this?"

"What is "this", Emma?"

Emma sniffed. "Did you feel like… like you have had all your guts ripped out in front of you? Did you feel like life itself as you know it is nothing more than a whisp of pain? Like… like the walls were falling all around you and that you hurt so, so much, you can't understand how you are still breathing?"

Snow's eyes filled with tears and she struggled not to let herself break down, She inhaled sharply. "Yes. Yes, that's exactly how it felt." She held on tighter to her daughter. "I held you Emma, I kissed your head. But then, I let you go. I saw your father take you away and then… I fell to pieces. Alone. My baby was gone and I didn't know if I would ever see her again. Heck, I didn't know if you would live. Then I saw your dad on the floor, bleeding… And for a few seconds, I thought, 'she beat us. She won'. I lost hope. For a few seconds only, but I lost hope. And that is the worst I have ever, ever felt in my life, Emma." She squeezed her daughter to herself. "I am here for you. We all are. We love you."

"I can't believe she's gone… mom, you got to kiss me goodbye, I don't even get that, it's so unfair, it's unfair!"

"Yes, yes it is, baby."

After that, Emma just cried and cried until she was asleep. Snow remained there, caressing her daughter's golden hair, weeping for her granddaughter and for the pain of the daughter she loved more than life itself.

Xxxxxxxx

"Dad, I found him." Neal announced to his father. "He's out in the garden, looking at the sea."

David looked up from the kitchen table. "Ok kid." He stood up and walked to the direction of the back door. "Listen, Henry is going to need some help with the paper work. You think you can lend him a hand?"

Neal shurgged. "I'm ten. What do I know about paperwork?"

David chuckled. "Good point."

"Trying to pawn me off with my way-way-older-than-I nephew won't make me forget that Lizzie died." Neal pouted. "I miss her too, I am also a part of this family. I wanna help."

David looked at his son and smiled sadly. "Yeah kid, you got a point. Listen, I know how you can help." He placed his hand on Neal's shoulder. "If I know your sister, she's probably refusing to eat and giving your grandma a hard time."

"Yeah that would be her."

"So you go up there and try making her eat something ok? She ight listen to you, you're her little brother and there is nothing she wouldn't do for you. It's time to return her the favor."

Neal smiled and hugged his father. "Is Emma gonna be ok dad? Is Killian?"

David sighed. "It's gonna take a while, Neal. Your mother has lost a great deal of people, and so has Hook. They just lost their daughter, it will not be easy for them. But we won't be leaving them alone now, will we?" The little boy shook his blonde head and his dad smiled at him. "Now, go see to your big sister. I need to have a man-to-man with Killian."

Neal nodded and darted to the stairs as david made his way out the garden. Sure enough, Killian stood there, flask in hand, staring at the sunset over the woods.

David stood by the pirate and reached out. "Is there enough there to share?"

Killian silently handed him the flask. "Have a sip and be done with it mate, I am in no mood for a pep talk."

"Well that kind of sucks becasue you're getitng one." David took a swig from the flask and handed it back to Killian. "It come swith being in the family, you know that."

Killian chuckled. "I might have known."

David stared at the sunset before them as it . "That is magnificent. Makes you wonder how anything could possibly go wrong with something as grand as that."

"Aye." Killian sighed.

They both remained silent for a few seconds before David broke the silence.

"Hook, look… I can't presume to know how you feel. We sent Emma away, but with her, there was always the hope that she would come back to us. So I have no clue how you are feeling, and I just wish I… I wish I had more to offer than just company."

Killian grinned and nodded. "I know mate. I can't ask for more from you." He turned to him and shook his head. "But it's Emma I worry about now. Our daughter is gone. And shattered as I may feel over the incident, I am not a mother, I cannot imagine how emma is feeling and that…" he shook his head. "I am helpless. She refuses to eat, she doens't sleep… I fear she may want to join our Lizzie." His eyes shone. "I would not survive if I lost Emma as well, mate. For the first time in centuries, I feel trully vexed. I do not know, for the life of me, what to do or what to tell my own wife." He looked back at the distant sunset. "She knows I am here for her, regardless of the outcome. I vowed to always remain by her side, no matter how bad things got. But it seems to me like… she doesn't want anyone by her. I cannot help her that way. I don't know what to do, David, and it's killing me."

"Aye, but I do."

The voice that came from behind made them both turn.

"Bloody crocodile, if you don't leave my sight right this moment I will gut you bare-handed!" Killian gritted his teeth, adn david had to hold him back from hurling himself at Gold.

"Actually captain, I've not come here to quarrel or even… gloat." He paced towards the captain. "You may not believe this, but I have come here to offer a sincere condolence. Probably the most sincere one you'll recieve from anyone since, unlike the prince her, I may be the only person you know that knows exactly how you feel. From one grieving father to another."

Killian's dour expression softened. Despite his malignant choices in life, he did know that rumplestiltskin had made the worst choices in hopes of finding his son, only to have him die right before his eyes. He shook hismelf free from David's grasp. "Mate, leave me to parlay with the Dark One. I need to hear what he has to say."

"Are you sure?" David replied, wery of Gold's reaction.

"David, I can wring the neck of the pirate with a thought; one would think that after more than two hundred years of feuding, if that had been what I really wanted to do, I would have done it years ago." He looked back at Hook. "No. I only want to have words regarding this event. No more… no less."

David nodded. "We will be in there Hook, if you need us." He paced away, launching a distrusting glance at Gold before dissapearing into the house.

Killian huffed and turned his gaze back to the now fading sunset. "So… what will it be?"

Rumple alos looked in the direction of the horizon, his hands resting on the head of his cane. "Oh… not a lot. Just a friendly exchange, is all."

"Since when have any of our exchanges ever been friendly?"

"Good point. But believe it or not Captain, I am here to offer my help."

Killian chuckled. "Your help? I think I may do far better without." He gave rumple a sarcastic grin. "But the gesture is greatly appreciated, regardless."

"What if I was to say that the kidn of help I have to offer is not for you… but for your missing child?"

Killian shut his eyes. "I'd bleed your eyes were I not so tired, for what you just said." He turned to the man. "My child is dead, Gold, not missing. And even for you, mocking a man who has just lost his daughter to tragedy and is close to losing his wife as well, that is a new low."

"It surprises me that none of you came to seek my aid in finding young Elizabeth's remains. I may have been able to produce results way faster than anyone."

"Aye well we all know better than to make deals with the Dark One by now. Especially when the parties interested have tasted the lure of darkness firsthand and even went to hell for it. Now leave me to my grief."

"Captain… if I leave now, you will not learn the truth about what happened that morning. The truth behind the storm that swallowed your vessel and claimed young Elizabeth."

Killian stared darkly at Mr. Gold. "What are you talling about?"

"You're an experienced seafairng man, Hook. You ought to know that storms don't just suddenly appear out of the blue. And you know that this one in particular, pretty much fits that description." Killian stood face front and listened intently. "I think you should know… that storm was not a storm, but a conjurement. Aimed to selectively claim a person. In this case, your daughter, Elizabeth."

Killian froned, stunned. "Wh… who would want to kill my daughter?"

The Dark One looked back to the sun. "Now that, is the puzzle that you may have to solve. All I can do for you and miss Swan is figure out rfom which realm the conjurement was cast. It might shed some light into the little one's dissapearance and might even land her remains back home for you to put a decent marker over them."

Killian gulped. "What's your price, Crocodile?"

Gold sighed. "My only demand is for you to allow me to help you and your wife, unhindered and unquestioned." He pressed his lips and his gaze softened. "You and I have quarreled for years over a woman who no longer even lives. But I think that in this, we have finally found a common ground." He turned to look at Killian. "I saw my boy die. I missed his wake when Zelena held me captive. You stood in and mourned the son of your worst enemy, and despite our abhorrence for one another, I have always held you in gratitude for that. You gave my boy a home when I, his own father, betrayed him. You saw him buried. And this moment, we can both say we know what it is to lose your child. That is enough for me to offer my aid in discovering where your little one is resting. If only to bring her back home to the town that saw her come to life. Back to Storybrooke."

Killian narrowed his eyes. "The Dark one offers his aid… without a catch?"

"No deal on earth will bring her back from the dead, captain. Yours was a fluke, a godly gift too big even for the Dark One. My boy died, and I know the pain you and Emma carry. Allow me to do this. If only to do right by my own son. I may never be able to repay him completely for my constant betrayal of his memory, but I can start by helping the woman he once loved find the mortal remains of her child."

With a weary stare, Killian agreed with a nod. "But I shall inform emma and the others. I will not conceal secrets from any of them."

"Agreed. You say what you must. I will be back by dawn with an answer. And captain…" He looked down at his hand and then back up at the pirate. "For waht it is worth… i am trully, trully sorry for your loss."

Killian looked down. "Thank you."

It gave Killian a certain amount of inner peace when, upon entering the house to share what had just trasncurred with the others, he found his Emma sitting at the table, reluctantly but firmly eating the chicken noodle soup her mothr had made. He joined her in the meal before he spoke to all about Rumple's offer.