Emma convinced Sophia that she at least payed for the first few nights at Granny's and were now heading to her room. Sophia told Emma about her life so far in the system. It felt good to tell someone who would understand.

"How old are you?" Emma asked as they walked up the stairs.

"Today I turned 16."

"Wait, your foster parents wanted to send you back on your birthday?" Emma asked in disbelieve. Sophia just shrugged and turned her gaze to the ground.

"It happens more often than you think," she gave Emma a sad smile before stopping and standing before the door of her new home for the time being. She opened the door with her key and entered. Emma followed but stopped in the doorway.

"Get some rest, it must have been a long night," Emma grabbed a piece of paper from her pocked and gave it to her, "here's my number, call if you need anything."

Sophia took the paper, "I don't have a phone."

"Oh, well, I'm sure you can use Granny's phone if you need to," Emma gave her one last smile before turning to leave.

"Emma?"

She stopped in her track and turned her head to look at Sophia, "yes?"

"Thank you"

Emma smiled at her, "any time."

Emma woke in the in the middle of the night. She heard someone walking on the deck. After they sat sail Emma and Snow helped as much as they could on deck. Which surprised the captain even more to Emma's delight. After the sun had sat Emma and Snow went below deck and settled for the night.

Careful not to wake up her mother, Emma slipped out of the bed. She opened the door just enough for her to get through and closed it again behind her. Trying not to disturb anyone she silently tiptoed to the upper deck. Looking around she was surprised not to see anyone, she could have sworn she heard someone. Taking a few steps, she now saw a figure standing with his back to her at the railing of the far end of the ship. A glimpse of metal shining in the light of the moon told her it was the captain. She turned go back and give him his privacy.

"Everything alright, Swan?"

She stopped in her track and turned back toward him, "Uhm… yeah, just woke up by some noise from deck. Thought I'd check what it was."

"My apologies, I didn't mean to wake you," he said, still with his back turned to her.

She shuffled on her feet, "why are you up?"

"Couldn't sleep, that's all."

Somehow she knew there was more to it but she didn't push it. She walked up to him to stand beside him. He gave her a side glance but didn't say anything. They stood there for a while, looking at the waters with the reflection of the half-moon and the stars. Only the sound of the small waves crashing against the ship to break the silence.

"It's beautiful," Emma said after a while.

"Aye"

"Must be nice to have the opportunity to watch the ocean every night."

He nodded and turned his attention to her, "where are you from, if I may ask."

"Misthaven, you?"

"To be honest, I don't remember," he gave her a sheepish smile.

"How can you not remember where you're from?"

"300 years spend in Neverland can make a man forget"

Her mouth fell open just a bit, he didn't look like he was much older than her, "you spend 300 years in Neverland? Why?"

Although she couldn't see his face very well in the dark, she could make out the frown that sat on his face as he clearly thought about a painful memory, "that's a story for another time," he said as he gave her a fake smile, "perhaps it's best if you go back to your cabin now, get some more rest."

She nodded and turned, but knew she couldn't sleep for the rest of the night. Still she walked back, gave him one last glance before disappearing below deck.

Emma left Sophia's room. She still had to go to Arthur's office. What had Arthur done to Sophia's family? She knew he wasn't the perfect man but still, he didn't look like someone who would tear a family apart. She admits that when she first came to town, knew no one and was just released from jail, she had a small crush on him. That was until she met Graham.

Graham. The first man after Neal she fell in love with. Her heart tightened at the thought. She lost him, just like everyone else. It seemed so long ago, 6 maybe 7 years? She didn't know. Now that she thought about it, she could remember the time she spent with Graham, but not the details. Like their first date, did she wear her favourite blue dress or the cute pink one? And what did he wear?

She frowned as she stopped her thoughts. Much happened this morning, she was probably just tired. She walked out of Granny's too her yellow bug. She would stop by Arthurs office and then had back to the station. She still got paperwork to do. But before she did any that she stopped before a bakery. You can't celebrate a birthday without cake, right?

They've been traveling for a week now. They were going to port in a few hours. Hook had been avoiding Emily as best as he could. After the almost kiss and the night she came to stand next to him while looking at the sea he knew he had to keep his distance. She would distract him from his revenge, the reason he went to Neverland.

First he thought it was just her beauty that attracted him. He had never been so wrong. Of course she was beautiful, but there was more to her that he admired. Like how she carried herself through life, how she worked, how she didn't take shit from anyone. She would make one hell of a pirate.

But after this they would part their ways and probably never meet again. He didn't know what he thought when he asked her to come with him instead of Blackbeard. Everything would have gone different if he hadn't ask her and her friend to come. Although his best attempt to avoid her they still spoke now and then. She once asked him what kind of man he wanted to be. They talked about how her mother always tried to find a suitor for her and how she always asked them the same question. He, of course, made a snarky comment but the question still repeated itself his mind al night, what kind of man did he want to be? What kind of man did she want…

He stopped himself there. He shouldn't care what she wanted, but for some reason he did care. His train of thought was interrupted by a sudden hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Mary Margaret standing next to him. He hadn't paid her to much attention in the past week, to busy fighting his own thoughts.

"You know that you've been staring at her for a full 10 minutes now, right?"

"I, uh, I was jus-"

"Don't lie to me, I know that look. Just make sure you don't hurt her," with that Mary Margaret walked off, leaving Hook with his mouth half agape. Was it really that obvious? He knew he felt a spark when he caught her a week ago on the docks, but that he looked at her in a way that others could see what he denied to feel…

He really was in big, big trouble.

Sophia woke up in the middle of the night. She turned her light on to see that she had slept from midmorning to midnight. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. Out of the corner of her eye she saw 2 boxes on her nightstand. One smaller than she other with wrapping paper and a bigger one that looked like a pastry box. She grabbed the bigger one and opened it. Inside was a single cupcake with a blue star and a note beside it. She grabbed the note and unfolded it.

Happy Birthday Sophia,

Make a wish.

Love, Emma

A smile spread across her face as she read the note. She grabbed the second smaller box and unwrapped it. Her eyes widened when she saw what it was. A phone. A new phone. No one has ever given her such an expansive present. The rest of the night she spend figuring how to use her new phone and send after discovering how to text she send her mother her first message:

Thank you

-Sophia

A/N: thanks for reading and tell me what you think could happen next