Disclaimer: Same as always.

A/N: I'm going to go ahead and apologize in advance for the way this one ends. This one picks up right where the last one ended with Killian and Charming finding themselves surrounded by more of Clara's monsters. If anyone can handle this, surely it's Captain Charming, right? Of course, Clara's presence makes things a little more complicated. I went back and forth on how to have them handle this situation and this felt like the best way to go, all things considered. The next chapter will be dealing with the fallout of this one and Captain Swan will be more in the spotlight, so to speak. But for now, here's some Captain Charming fighting together. Something I wish we'd gotten more of on the show!

"Alright, so it looks like we have to kill some monsters," David said. He and Killian were standing in a kind of V formation, keeping Clara between the two of them. "Shouldn't be too difficult. Not for the two of us."

"Aye," Killian agreed. "I think we can take them."

"D-Daddy?" Clara whimpered. "I'm s-scared!"

"I know, Clara," Killian said soothingly, cupping the back of her head with his hand. "But it's going to be alright."

"B-but my m-monsters," she hiccuped. "They w-want to hurt me."

"Don't worry, sweetheart." Fat chance of that happening, Killian thought grimly. This was his daughter's worst nightmare playing out right before her eyes. But he'd be damned if he was going to let these vile creatures hurt her any more than they already had. "Daddy's not going to let that happen. I promise. Neither will Grandpa."

Even in saying that, Killian couldn't help worrying. He didn't doubt his and David's ability to defeat these monsters. He believed that the two of them could indeed handle this. But Clara's presence certainly complicated things a bit.

Bloody hell, it complicated things a lot.

He figured he had two options. The first was to try to battle the monsters while holding Clara in his arms. The second was to set his little girl down in a pit of monsters while he and David fought them. Neither option was all that appealing.

"Uh, Dave?"

"What?" David asked.

"What do you suppose we should do with our girl?" Killian asked, working to keep him voice calm for Clara's benefit.

"What do you mean?" David stepped more to the side to try to get a better assessment of the situation and Killian moved with him. It was almost as if they'd coordinated it ahead of time. "We protect her."

"Obviously." Killian couldn't help rolling his eyes. "I'm just wondering if it might be safer to put her down while we fight. We could try to keep her between us."

"Are you out of your mind?" David asked, though Killian appreciated that his father-in-law was making a point of speaking as if they were having a regular conversation. He evidently didn't want to scare Clara any further either and Killian could only be grateful for that.

"I admit that the thought of putting her down makes my stomach turn," Killian acknowledged.

"No!" He winced. He should've expected that Clara might have some thoughts on the matter. "Don't let go, Daddy!"

"Well, there you have it," David responded, nodding to himself. "Listen, if I can battle the Evil Queen's guards while holding Emma while she was an infant, you can hold Clara while we battle these guys."

"That hardly seems safe, mate," Killian argued, narrowing his eyes as one of the creatures growled at them.

"And putting her down in the middle of a group of monsters does?" David countered.

"No," Killian sighed. "It doesn't. Bloody hell." The fact that he was apparently going to have to fight these creatures whilst holding his daughter concerned him, but he'd just have to figure it out. He shifted her so that she was balanced more on his left side.

"We can do this, Killian," David assured him. "You can do this." Clara's presence concerned him too, but there was nothing they could do about that now. Nothing except do whatever it took to keep her safe. "Don't worry, little duck," he added to Clara. "We'll protect you. Just hold on to your Daddy good and tight, alright?"

Clara didn't answer, but her grip on Killian tightened and she pressed her face back into the juncture between his neck and shoulder. "That's right, little love. I need you to hold on to me. Everything is going to be alright," Killian tried to assure her.

It would be. It had to be. Killian had already sworn to himself that he would not lose his Clara tonight and that was one vow that he intended to keep.

Of course, there was something he needed first. "Uh David?" He said cautiously.

"What?" David asked.

"We do have a tiny little problem," Killian told him. "Another one, I mean."

"Oh? And that would be?" David asked.

"My sword. It's on the ground and it looks like there's a monster standing over it," Killian said.

"Why did you let go of it?" David wanted to know, sounding frustrated.

"I threw it down when I had to rescue Clara from the water," Killian said with a sigh. "I didn't anticipate more of the beasts showing up."

"Alright," David said. "I'll get it. Just be ready for it, okay? Are you ready?"

"Clara, sweetheart? You might want to keep your eyes closed, alright?" Killian felt her nod against him and pressed a quick kiss to the side of her head "That's a good girl. It's going to be alright. I promise." To David he added, "I'm ready."

"Then let's kill some monsters," David replied, focusing in on the creature that was currently standing over Killian's sword. "I think we'll start with you." He informed it, taking a quick breath to steady himself before lunging towards the beast and piercing it with his sword before it had time to adjust. A few slashes and a hard kick later and David was able to swoop down and grab Killian's sword with his free hand.

Just in time too. The other creatures began to swarm in as David thrust Killian's sword into his son-in-law's waiting hand. And the battle began.

"Get away from my house!" Emma snarled, as she hurled a blast of magic at one of the monsters that was hovering outside of Catalina's window.

The women had made some serious headway against the onslaught of monsters. Out of the corner of her eye, Emma saw Mary Margaret fire an arrow and hit another of the creatures right in the heart, sending it plummeting to the ground. A flash of fire coming from the other side of the house was Regina's most recent contribution to the fight.

"Do you see any others?" Emma yelled to her mother, who scanned the sky.

"No," Mary Margaret shook her head. "Regina?"

Regina came around the side of the house. "No more on my side either. I think we got them all."

"Now what?" Mary Margaret asked, looking back and forth between the other two. "What do we do now?"

"I need to find Clara," Emma said, firmly. "Keep an eye on the sky. I'll be right back."

"I'll...deal with them," Regina said bleakly, waving her hand at the last monster Mary Margaret had shot in the yard. There were a few others that Mary Margaret had hit to deal with, but thankfully the ones blasted by Emma's magic or roasted by Regina's fireballs had disintegrated once hit.

Emma gave her a nod before darting back into the house and up to Clara's bedroom to grab Jolly. The broken window gave her pause. She managed to channel her magic and used it to patch up the window before heading back downstairs.

Instead of heading right outside, she went over to where Catalina and Henry sat huddled together on the couch. Neal had somehow managed to sleep through the entire ordeal, but Catalina had woken up screaming at some point during the battle.

"Are you guys okay?" Emma asked them as she perched on the couch next to Catalina.

"Are the m-monsters gone?" Catalina asked. She had what appeared to be a rather tight grip on Henry's arm.

"Yes, baby," Emma told her. "We took care of them. They're all gone. We're safe now." She could only hope that no more monsters would show up and prove her wrong. "I'm just going to go find Clara, Daddy and Grandpa, okay?" She leaned in to kiss the top of Catalina's head. "Everything's going to be okay. I promise." She got back to her feet and focused on Henry. "Take care of your sister for me, okay?"

"I will," Henry promised. "We'll be okay."

"Okay," she nodded, looking back at Catalina. "I'll be back as soon as I can. I love you both."

Upon rejoining Mary Margaret and Regina, Emma pursed her lips as she studied her house for a moment. "A protection spell couldn't hurt, huh?" She spread her hands and lifted them, a soft white light filtering out and around her house.

"Perhaps a double protection spell," Regina offered, lifting her own hands to help. "Let's make sure those monsters can never attack your house again."

"Thanks Regina," Emma nodded at her. "Would you mind staying here and keeping an eye on things? Just in case?"

"I'll stay," Regina assured her. "Go find Clara and the men."

"I'll go with you," Mary Margaret told Emma.

"Alright. Are you ready?" At Mary Margaret's nod, Emma turned her attention to the stuffed duck in her hands. "Okay, Jolly. What do you say we go find our little girl?" She let go, watching it hover it midair for a moment before it started to float away and chased it, Mary Margaret right behind her.

It turned out that using a sword while holding a four year old wasn't quite as hard as Killian had thought it might be. Oh it wasn't easy, by any means. Not anything close to easy, in fact. But he was managing quite well, he thought.

Granted, holding his little girl provided a certain level of motivation. His need to protect his daughter undoubtedly gave him more of an edge which helped him slay the demons. The adrenaline pumping through his system didn't hurt either.

Having David at his side was an enormous help as well. He shuddered to think of how things might be going if David hadn't shown up when he had. They fought well together and David had done a good job of keeping Clara blocked most of the time.

"This isn't so bad," David grunted as he drove his sword into the skull of one of the beasts. It had taken a healthy amount of effort, but between the two of them they'd been able to kill most of the creatures. A few persistent ones remained, however.

"Oh yeah," Killian responded, a snarl on his lips as he slashed at another of the beasts. "I could do this all night."

That was when it happened.

Killian sidestepped one of the creatures and tripped over the tail of one of the others, losing his balance on the mud. He had just enough time to shift Clara as they fell so that he took the brunt of the fall. "Bloody hell," Killian growled, rolling to move Clara away from the monster.

And then he felt one of the monsters sink its teeth into his leg and let out a strangled scream. A second escaping as a claw sliced into his side. He gave a few hard kicks with his foot and shifted enough to swipe back at the monster at his side with his hook. He heaved himself to his knees and swung his sword at the beast, taking care not to hit Clara in the process.

When the creature snapped its jaws at Clara, making her shriek in terror, Killian pounced on it. He rolled with the beast, dragging it away from his daughter.

Clara scrambled backwards on her hands and feet, her eyes wide with fear and panic. She couldn't see her father anymore; he'd rolled as far away with the monster as he could. "Daddy!" She screamed as another monster slowly creeped its way closer to her. Her hand hit a pointed rock as she scooted farther back, slicing her palm. But she grabbed it anyway and flung it at the creature.

It was an instinctive action; one that she didn't remember deciding to take, but that hardly mattered. The rock miraculously pelted the monster between its beady eyes and it hissed angrily in response. The sound got David's attention and he lunged between them, hurling his sword at the creature and delivering a fatal blow in the process. He pulled his sword out of the beast and then stabbed it again to be certain.

David panted as he scanned his part of the shoreline carefully. No more creatures had come out of the water or appeared on the grass on his other side. A shouted curse had him spinning back towards Killian's side and his heart sank as he saw that his son-in-law was currently underneath one of the foul creatures.

But then there was a grunt as Killian drove his hook up into the beast and twisted it. He yanked it back out and managed to shove the dying beast off of him. David ran forward and slammed his sword down into the beast for good measure.

"Ha!" David cried out in triumph. "We did it!" He did another sweep of the area to make sure. "I think we got all of them. We make a pretty good team, don't we Hook?"

Silence.

"Hook?" David turned back to look at him, the smile fading from his lips as he quickly sheathed his sword. Killian was lying on his back in the mud, not moving.

"Daddy?" Clara asked, scrambling over to Killian's side. "Daddy?!"

"Killian?" David frowned as he rushed over to join them. "Killian!"

"Did...did we get them all?" Killian asked, finally. He sounded weak.

"Yeah," David answered, his concern growing even as Killian slowly turned his head to peer at Clara. "We did."

"Clara," Killian breathed. It took just about all of the strength he had left to lift his hand to Clara's cheek. "My beautiful little girl."

"Daddy?" She asked, tearfully. "Daddy, you're hurt!"

"Ssh." Killian caressed her cheek with his thumb. "It's alright, sweetheart. You're safe now." A slow smile spread across his face as he studied his daughter's face. "My precious Clara. You're safe."

"You're hurt!" She repeated, getting more and more upset by the second.

"It's okay, Clara," David said quickly. "Your Daddy will be okay." He dug his phone out of his pocket. "We'll get him help."

"David." Killian tore his gaze from Clara's face to look at his father-in-law. He was fading and he knew it. "I need you to look after Clara." He let out a hiss at the pang in his side. "Take...take care of her for me."

"I will," David promised.

"And Dave?" Killian locked his eyes on David's. "Take care of...of all my girls for me. Please. I need..." He gritted his teeth against another twinge of pain. "I need to know that you'll take care of them."

"Hey, come on now. You're going to be fine," David said, calmly.

"I think we both know that isn't the case, mate," Killian said, weakly.

"You're going to be fine," David repeated, firmly this time. "Your girls and Henry need you and I know that you're not about to leave them."

"Dave..."

"No." David shook his head. "You are going to be fine." He said it slowly, the tone in his voice leaving no room open for debate.

"Aye," Killian said after a long moment. "But humor a pirate, would you? Promise me that...that you'll look after my girls. And Henry."

"I'll keep Clara safe. And I'll always be there for your girls and Henry," David promised. A beat. "I'll keep them safe for you until you get back on your feet. Alright?"

"Thank you, mate," Killian nodded. David returned the nod and then turned to his phone to call the paramedics, turning to give Clara and Killian a little bit of privacy.

"D-D-Daddy..." Clara was crying in earnest now. She knew that something was terribly wrong and she was frightened.

"Don't you cry, my darling," he said, giving her a weak smile. "It's going to be alright. Grandpa will take good care of you. Everything is going to be okay." He brushed away some of her tears with his thumb. "I love you so much. My sweet Clara."

"I l-love you, D-Daddy," she whispered. "D-don't leave me. Please? P-please Daddy! Don't l-leave me..."

"Daddy loves you so much," he told her. "Never...never forget that, sweetheart." Killian's eyes began to droop against his will. "You're going to be okay, my littlest love. Just...just remember that I love you. Daddy loves you, Clara," he whispered. And then everything went dark.

"D-Daddy? Daddy?!" Clara clutched at his shirt, hardly able to see him through her tears. "Daddy, w-wake up! Daddy! Daddy?!"