To every single person who has read/followed/reviewed/favorited so far:

THANK.

YOU.

SO.

MUCH.

Now here's the next chapter, enjoy ;)

I do not own Once Upon a Time or any of these wonderful characters.

A year later, Emma's eighteenth birthday would have marked three years since she and Killian had shared their first kiss. Three years since the red dress incident. And on that day, there was a pirate attack on the castle.

Guards running around madly, weapons clanging, armor falling, shouts echoing and chaos bleeding through the walls of Emma's home.

"Emma, stay in your room!" her father shouted.

"Dad, I want to help you!" she retorted.

"No, it's too dangerous, I want you safe. Don't come out until I tell you to."

"But Mom's fighting!"

"She has experience, you, on the other hand, do not."

"I'll never have any if you don't give it to me!" She yelled, frustrated at everything.

"Emma, do as I say. I won't have another word on the subject."

Emma rolled her eyes at him and ran to her room. That's what she got for being a princess. She couldn't help anybody because she was 'too fragile' or 'too ladylike.'

Oh, to hell with being ladylike.

Emma changed out of her princess dress into her tights, boots, and coat getup. This was way more comfortable than her dresses. She grabbed the sword she had stolen from the weapons room when she was eleven, from under her bed.

Just as she was going to push the door to her room open, she heard voices outside. She stayed back for a moment and then heard a clang from her window. Emma swore under her breath and pointed the sword at the window, holding her breath.

She saw a hand and then a hook trying to climb into her room. Emma got closer, a little too close, and watched as the stupid pirate climbed in. Well he was in for a surprise, she thought.

A figure clothed in black fell through her window, gasping and panting. Emma stood by and watched as he recovered his composure. He had a hook for a left hand, a stubbly beard growing in, and hair as black as a night without stars.

"Who are you?" she inquired, surprised with her childish tone.

The man looked up and Emma dropped her sword. He had bright blue eyes, as blue as the sea itself. She stood there shaking as he gaped at her. He then grinned that grin she had fallen in love with.

"Killian. Killian Jones. Now I promised you something and I kept it. Come here, love." He said as he opened his arms for her. Emma smiled right back and ran into his arms and into a hug that seemed to last a lifetime.

"Killian. Oh my goodness, you're alive," she whispered as tears streamed down her face.

"You thought I was dead?" She looked at him and said

"Well that's what the sailors said when they returned a year ago and you weren't on that ship. I've been numb and cold and distant since then."

"Well, truth be told, the second I said I was leaving, I wanted to take it back. And the morning I had to get on a ship? I sulked. I sulked and was angry with myself every night because I couldn't bear to be away from you. And during the first major battle? I faked me own death and was saved by a passerby pirate ship. I became first mate to a captain. Then that captain died and they made me captain. Then I got hand cut off by an imbecile crocodile…"

"Crocodile?" she asked. "Well, I call him crocodile, he's actually rather a nasty man. Anyway, I go by the name of Captain Hook on the ship. But to my darling princess, I'll always be Killian Jones." He kissed her when he finished and she returned the kiss, as she ran her fingers through his soft black hair. He pulled away with grin on his face, his first real grin in three years because he was back in the arms of his princess.

"Wait. So why did you attack the castle?" Emma asked, with an eyebrow raised. "Well… the crew wanted some gold, I wanted to make a big entrance for my return to you." She playfully hit his chest.

"Ow!" Killian exclaimed in pain, "I leave and you grow your nails out like cat's claws and become stronger? Well, I do love the sound of a strong woman." He said suggestively, with a smirk. She rolled her eyes at him.

"There's the eye roll! Oh I've missed it. And I've missed you."

Emma teared up once again with happiness because he was back with her. Missing a hand but hey, he hadn't changed a bit. Except physically. Lord knows what three years can do to a boy.

All in his leather clad glory, Killian had grown a scruffy beard and there was chest hair visible at the opening of his shirt. His left hand had been replaced with a silver hook. He had also become a lot more muscular than the last time she had seen him. Killian's eyes seemed brighter but it was only because of the black lining that had been drawn around them. But he was still her Killian and she couldn't be happier.

"I love you, Killian," Emma whispered. He kissed her, passionately and then stopped and told her he loved her too. The moment would've been perfect if it hadn't been for Charming bursting through the door, finding the princess and the pirate tangled in each other's arms.

"EMMA WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? Get away from the… pirate" Charming spat back that last word with hatred in his voice. Killian chuckled and stepped in front of Emma, taking a bow for the king.

"Your Majesty, I believe you do not recognize me. It's me, Killian Jones." The king pointed the sword at Killian's neck angrily at these words. "How dare you mock the identity of the dead? Killian Jones was a servant boy and a sailor. He died an ho-"

Emma cut her father off and stood between the two quarreling men. "Dad. Look at him in the eyes and tell me that is not Killian. Tell me those are not the blue eyes of the boy I saved from the streets when I was ten years old."

Charming finally looked at Killian and the anger from his face vanished. As if it had never existed. Killian whispered to him "Oh, come on, lad. Can't you recognize a kitchen boy when you see one?" The king chuckled and put a hand on Killian's shoulder and smiled, "I can't with all that eye paint going on." The men roared with laughter as Emma stood next to them, grinning from ear to ear.

"Emma, honey, we'll talk about this with your mother over dinner as soon as I get the pirates out of here. Or are you willing to get rid of them yourself?" Charming asked. Killian made a face and nodded, "I'll get them out. Don't worry, Your Majesty. Hang on a second here, love. Be back in a mo." He kissed her forehead before dashing off to drive his now ex-pirate crew away.

That night during dinner, the Charmings and Killian were reunited for the first time in three years. The young man told of his adventures with great pride. He held back the ones he was ashamed of, such as his near death experience with the mermaids, but knew he would eventually tell Emma as secrets between the sheets.

Charming and Snow kept studying Killian and looking at each other as if they thought the same thing. He was the spitting image of someone they knew, or had known, but they could not figure out whom. They dismissed the idea just as Snow had eight years ago when they took him in, and decided to just be overjoyed with the young man's return. They were indeed thankful for Emma had not looked this happy since she was fifteen.

After dinner, Emma went to bathe and she returned to her room in her nightgown, drying her hair with a towel. She sat in bed and thought about all the events that had happened that day.