I sat on the bench and stared out at the water again. Emma's call had confused the hell out of me. She'd sounded so upset that I'd almost volunteered to come see her anyway but refrained. Maybe she wanted distance. I could understand that, even though I desperately wanted to be closer to her. She'd just been through hell and back with the Snow Queen incident, and the last thing she probably wanted to worry about was the entanglements our attachment represented.

I looked over at the table that I'd decorated pretty horridly despite having spent a good half an hour working on it. The candlelight danced in the wind, illuminating the expensive bottle of wine I'd purchased that afternoon. Drinking the entire bottle would be nothing new to me. After all, the cliché about pirates is that they drink a lot, and they had to get the idea from somewhere.

Stirring me from my thoughts was a soft female voice. "I thought you might be here."

I turned around to see Mary-Margaret standing behind me, her features soft and inviting. "What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I wanted to talk to you about tonight, clarify the reason Emma's not here."

"It's alright, Mary-Margaret. She doesn't have to explain anything to me. I understand."

"No, you don't," she answered, sitting down beside me. "Emma wanted to be here tonight more than anything. I wanted you to know that. She was just heading to get ready when Henry opened his big fat mouth."

I looked down at the wood panels on the dock. "I know the lad doesn't like me too well."

She shook her head. "No, and he guilted Emma about it. She knew she couldn't have a good time with you if Henry being angry was on her mind the entire time, so she decided to call you. Honestly, though, it broke my heart. Emma didn't want me or David to see, but I know she was crying after she got off the phone with you."

There was nothing worse than the visual of Emma crying in my head. I'd seen her teary and weepy on only a couple of occasions, and in both situations I hadn't said a word, simply held her in my arms as long as she needed me to. I hated that I'd been the cause of those tears, even if it was inadvertent. "Why do you think she was crying?"

"Because Henry's forcing her to make the impossible choice. He's her son and you're her, well, boyfriend, I guess."

"Well, the choice is obvious. Henry's her blood."

"It's not that simple. Having a child is one thing, but having that one person in your life that you can depend upon to be there for you when times get tough, your 'partner in crime,' if you will, that's something you can't replace, either. That's what you are for her, Killian. Whether or not she wants to admit it, Emma is crazy about you. Henry acting the way he did, well, it gutted her."

I leaned my head back. "So, what should we do?"

"You could come back with me and talk to her. I think both of you need to get your feelings out about this."

I shrugged. "Well, if Henry feels so strongly, maybe I should cool things off with Emma. I don't want her to have to make a choice like that. It's not even a fair contest."

"No, it's not," I heard from behind us. I turned around to see David walking up to us, Henry in tow.

"I guess this is a family affair," I said dryly.

"Yeah, it is. Hook, I think you and Henry need to talk some things out," David answered, pushing the boy forward a little.

Oh, bloody hell. It was bad enough that I'd had this conversation with Mary-Margaret, now I had to talk to the lad himself about it. I'd be ripped to shreds. "I'm willing to talk so long as Henry is."

Henry appraised me for a moment before nodding hesitantly.

David said, "Okay, well, why don't we leave to chat and see if we can't find Emma?"

Mary-Margaret stood up, her place soon taken by Henry, who sat as close to the edge of the bench as he could. When he was certain his grandparents were out of earshot, he said, "I don't like you."

He'd told me as much before. This was old news to me. "You've told me that before, Henry."

"I want my mom to be happy, but I just know you're going to be like all the other guys she's been with. The ones who don't stick around, and you're a pirate. You know what pirates do? They leave."

I swallowed hard, knowing I couldn't very well deny that fact. As a pirate, a man never stays in one place for very long, instead living the life of a vagabond. Emma, though, she'd changed me, had me thinking in ways I hadn't thought possible for a long time. I wouldn't dream of leaving Storybrooke now, and as for her, well, I wasn't going to lose her. I fought for the things I wanted, knowing far too well that men who didn't lost the things that mattered most to them.

"You might not believe this, Henry, but I've never left anyone I cared about. When I love someone, that's it. There's nothing else for me at that point."

His eyes perused me skeptically, as if he were deciding whether or not to believe me. "I still don't like you."

"I can't make you, lad, and I don't want to. However, for the sake of your mother, I think we should at least be civil to one another. Now, what happened today?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I told her I didn't like you and she freaked out. She moped around the house for a little while before leaving. I don't know where she went. Look, I didn't mean to hurt her, okay? It's just-"

"What is it?"

"I feel like I'm second place to everyone now. My other mom, well, she's still moping around about Robin Hood, and then Emma, well, she's with you. I know neither of them mean it, and that all of this sounds really stupid. It just feels like I'm invisible."

I closed my eyes. The boy was killing me. Now, even I felt guilty. For as long as Henry searched for Emma, he didn't deserve to lose her attention. Once, I'd been a selfish man who wouldn't have cared. At times, that part of me still came out, but right now, I knew I had to make this right with Henry. I knew now that my relationship with him was just as important as mine with Emma, and that he needed to know he mattered to me just as much.

I patted him on the shoulder. "You're not. I can guarantee that. Even when she's with me, your mother is always talking about you. She loves you, whether you know it or not. I know better than anyone that she is a complicated woman and sometimes doesn't convey her emotions. However, she loves you more than anything and puts you ahead of all things. I'm sorry that you feel like she's been ignoring her since we've been, uh—"

"Dating?"

"Aye, that. I know it was never her intention, and I regret that it came to this. Henry, I know you never really knew your father, and that the closest thing you've had to one is David. I respect that entirely and don't want you to think I'm trying to replace that. That being said, I would like to be your friend. If you would prefer not, I understand that, but I do care about you. You might think it's because I'm with your mother, but that couldn't be further from the truth. You're an admirable young man. The things you've already been able to accomplish at such a young age are incredible. I'm proud of you," I said, patting his shoulder.

"You, proud of me? Yeah, right."

"It's the truth," I answered firmly. "Look, I don't flatter people…wait, I take that back. I do flatter people, but I never lie. I don't say things I don't mean. I may use them when it's advantageous, but I always tell the truth. Not many people can say they've gone to Neverland and made it back alive. No one else I've known has could handle the responsibility of that storybook. Just trust me on this."

"What about my mom? Why are you with her?" he asked, staring straight out into the water.

I blew out a breath, unsure of how to say any of this to him. It was difficult enough to put how I felt for Emma into words at all, let alone to her son that I was trying to win over. I thought about it for a moment before opening my mouth to give him the only rely I could manage, "She's unlike anyone I've ever met. Usually, people do whatever they tell them. Emma defies me at every turn, and I admire that. She's got a mind of her own, and I'm not used to that. Besides that, she kicks serious arse. I've got to respect that."

Henry finally cracked a smile when I said that. "She does give all the bad guys a run for their money."

"That she does, and I do care for her. That goes without saying. While I know you really don't like me, I want you to know I'm doing my best with this. It's been a long time since I've been in love with someone, and it's still a little strange. I know I'm going to make mistakes. I already have. However, unlike in the past, I'm going to acknowledge my mistakes and be a better man. Ever since I met your mother, I've been working toward that, trying to become worthy of her. I know that no matter what I do, it will never be enough, but all I can do is try. That's what I'm doing right now."

Henry looked over at me, again studying me. He didn't say a word, but he didn't need to. His dark eyes told me he was still skeptical even though I'd bared my soul to him. It didn't surprise me, honestly. If I were him, I would likely have been just as wary of my intentions. That didn't make me want to stop vying for her affections, though. I loved Emma, and while it might take some time for the boy to understand that my feelings were true, I wouldn't stop trying to prove them.

"I want my mom to be happy, and I didn't mean to make her cry tonight. I thought she would just roll her eyes and tell me to get over it."

I shook my head. "It's different coming from you. I mean, you're her son. If you don't like me,

+-then it doesn't matter. She's going to put you first, as she should."

"Aren't you going to fight for her? I mean, if you really love her, that's what you'd do."

"Oh, I'm going to fight for her. You can be assured of that. I've seen what happens when a man doesn't fight for what he wants. He loses it and spends the rest of his days in misery regretting that decision. Your mother is the last person I'd lose without a fight."

"And if you did lose her?"

I let out a long breath and leaned my head back. I'd tried never to think about what would happen to me if I lost Emma, while I had my suspicions of what would occur. However, if I was going to win Henry's trust and convince him that I truly loved his mother, I would have to go deep into that dark place I'd tried to avoid for so long. "I'd be no more than a shadow of the man I am now. Losing my first love made me ruthless and thirsty for vengeance. Losing Emma, though, I suspect it would break me. That flask you see me with? It would never be empty."

"It usually isn't now."

"You know what I mean. I wouldn't let it get that way because I couldn't face myself sober."

"Is that really how it would be? You're not just making all of this up to see if you can convince me you're different than I think you are?"

I shook my head. "No. If I was, I can assure you I never would have kept a straight face this long. If you knew the man I was before, you'd never believe I was even capable of love. I didn't think I was after Milah died. I thought that was it for me. I'd have laughed at the way I'm talking right now."

Henry appraised me again. "I really hate to say this, but I'm starting to believe you."

"I was hoping you might," I said, and after a beat of thinking, I added, "I have an even better idea of showing you that I care for your mother. What if we go help your grandparents find your mother and all have dinner together here, all of us? I'd really hate for your grandmother's dessert to go to waste, after all."

Henry thought about it for a moment, then finally cracked a smile. "Okay."

I smiled back and rose from the bench. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go find your mother."