A/N: sorry again for the ridiculous wait. this chapter was a bitch and a half to write. im still not super pleased with it but whatever. i hop you all like it! (: dont forget to leave a review! i lovvvvve reading reviews!

"KILLIAN CAN YOU MAKE HENRY SOME BREAKFAST? I'M RUNNING LATE" Emma from the small bathroom where she was throwing her hair into a crappy ponytail in hoped of taming her blonde bedhead.

"ALREADY ON IT," She heard from the living room. He was always one step ahead of her. Since he moved in, he had been nothing short of perfect when it came to helping care for her son. Henry was always Killian's first priority, as if the boy were his own son. A few minutes later, she hears Killian call for Henry to come downstairs. Emma listens to the familiar footsteps of the boy lumbering down the stairs like every morning, but they don't come. After hearing Killian call a few more times, Emma peers out of the bathroom and they both look at each other. "Let's check the bedroom."

"Is that an invitation?" he wore his signature smirk and waggled his eyebrows.

"Shut up Jones." She rolled her eyes and a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. They bounded upstairs and into the kid's room only to find it empty

"Where the hell is he? There isn't anywhere to hide in this damn apartment!" Emma wasn't too worried before; she figured he just hadn't heard Killian or was busy or something trivial. Now she was worried.

"Love, he's not in the apartment." Emma turns around and sees Killian reading a note he spotted on Henry's dresser. His face grew dangerously pale. She walks over and plucks it from his hands.

Remember the last time you tried to save someone Lieutenant? Don't bother. I always get what I want.

-P

"Who the hell is 'P'? What did they do with my son? Who is the lieutenant? Do you know anything about this?" she hoped her voice came out angry and firm, but instead it came out shaky and afraid.

After a pregnant pause, Killian finds his voice, "Aye. I know exactly who it is." He rubs his hand on the back of his neck and sits on the bed next to him. "You might as well sit. This is going to take some time." Tentatively, Emma sits down, allowing a large space between them. "I suppose I should start at the beginning. Back before I met Milah, I was a lieutenant in the navy. In fact that's how she and I met, but she is irrelevant to this. My elder brother was the ship's captain." His voice trembled slightly at the mention of his brother. If you didn't know him as well as Emma did, you wouldn't have noticed. "Our king sent us out in search of specific plant on a remote island no one had heard of. We were informed that this plant had medicinal properties; that this plant could remedy any illness and heal the worst of injuries. When we reached the island, we were greeted by a boy, a teenager. The island was completely empty of residents except for him. When he heard what we came in search of, he warned us that the plant was actually a poison, not a cure. My brother dismissed his warning, but I wasn't so sure. My brother dug the plant into his arm and dragged it across his skin to prove the boy wrong. To prove that we served an honorable king. The boy had not misled us. The plant was a poison. And a fast-acting one at that. My brother dropped dead immediately. The boy showed me to an antidote, but said there would be a price to pay once we left the island. I was prepared to pay anything he wanted so long as I got my brother. The antidote revived him but as soon as we left the island, he died once again. That was the time I tried to save someone. And P is the boy, he called himself Peter Pan."

"wait what? Peter pan?! Like the movie?" Emma's somber look she maintained throughout Killian's story vanished, replaced by an incredulous look.

"the very same."

"the kid's fucking crazy!" Emma could not believe what she was hearing.

"after that all happened, I researched this kid extensively. He is, in fact, quite mad. He, among many others, was originally a research experiment. They were thrown onto this island with no supplies. For many years, this experiment was working out quite well. 'The natives', as the researchers called them, all got along and created a Neanderthal-like civilization. Then Peter was born. He was an unruly child and eventually he killed everyone on the island. He obviously went mad. But then he stopped growing. No one knows why. He has been a teenager for a very long time. This experiment was confidential for obvious reasons: it was completely inhumane. But once he became rampant, the researchers lost control of the experiment and all of their work was exposed. He never kills anyone directly. He is quite charming and intelligent. He has a way of discreetly abusing his victims psychologically, causing them to kill themselves. He is, literally, a crazy evil genius." Killian explained.

Killian was no longer looking at her. She should be mad at him. Henry had no connection to this lunatic. Emma didn't. Killian did. Killian loved henry, and this was Pan's way of making him pay. After a few moments of silence, Emma couldn't hold it in anymore. She started sobbing and felt herself being pulled into his arms. She considered pulling away, refusing his reassuring embrace, refusing to let him see her cry. But the realization that she was crying the first moment they met allowed her to succumb to his warmth. I can't lose him. I can't lose him too. I've lost everyone. Everyone I love is gone. I can't lose him.

"We'll get him back lass. I promise we'll find him. I won't let you lose your son." She hadn't realized she had spoken the words aloud.

"do you really believe that? You think we'll find him?" she pulled away and looked into his cerulean eyes, looking for any hope to cling to.

He looked down at her with an endearing smile, "I've yet to see you fail."

The two spent the rest of the day researching anything they could find about the teenage hellion. Surprisingly, they found a lot. They discovered that the exposure of the experiment caused many scientists to go to the island to study. Some returned, and some did not. No one raised a single question as to why they didn't come home. Everyone knew their horrifying fate. Despite all of the information they were able to procure from the returning scientists' studies, they were still at a loss as to how to find Henry. After seemingly endless hours of google-ing and visits to the library, Emma threw up her hands and gave a frustrated shout, "this is bullshit! Absolute fucking bullshit! We aren't getting anywhere! I'm going to bed!" with that she got up and stormed off to her room, slamming the door behind her.

Killian too had begun feeling discouraged, but hadn't given up hope. Throughout the day, while Emma was looking up facts about Peter, Killian had been doing his separate research. His own mind was busy at work procuring a plan that Emma couldn't know a single detail about: A plan to get back Henry and end Peter Pan.

That night, as expected, Emma couldn't fall asleep. After seemingly endless hours lying awake, she went out to the kitchen to take a Benadryl to knock her out. She'll need some sanity in order to find her son. On her way out, she notices muffled footsteps, drawers shutting, and the sound of zippers coming from Killian's room. Just as she was about to knock, he opened the door as silently as he could, with a backpack hanging over his shoulder. He spotted her and a look she was very familiar with spread across his face: the color left his face, his mouth agape, and eyes widened. She recognized this look from everyone she loved, everyone who left her.

"He's a great lad, Henry is. I can see why you love him so much," Killian watched as Henry excused himself from the booth at Granny's to use the little boy's room.

"He's my world. He's all I have left. Every single person in my life has left me except him. I know I'm his mom so he can't exactly leave, but my parents left me. Family doesn't mean anything if you don't want someone." Emma looked down at her nearly empty plate of waffles, chasing a strawberry around with her fork. She'd never revealed anything about her past to him before. Nothing except her past with Neal. She liked to keep her past to herself. She didn't bother to explain her past to anyone; they all left her in the end. There was no need to trust them with her past if she can't trust them with the future.

"At least you have him. Some people don't even have that." He tried to keep his voice light and casual, but there was no masking the gruffness and resentment behind it. She looked up at him, trying to goad him to go more in depth, but he didn't. "Emma I want you to know that I love henry. I wasn't lying when I said I was honored to have your blessing to be his role model. I refuse to be another person to leave you. I will always be here for you" he looked back at her and threw her a small smile watching Henry pull the heavy bathroom door with all of his seven year old might, "and henry of course. I'll be here for you and henry."

"Do you promise?"

"So long as you promise not to leave me either."

"I promise."

"So do I"

"Swan I-"he began.

"You're leaving aren't you?" she interrupted. She couldn't help the brokenness and fragility of her voice as she spoke. "just like everyone else. Dammit Killian you promised! We promised! You promised!" she couldn't hold back the tears protruding from her eyes.

"Lass I can't explain this to you. You have to trust me." He stammered. He tried to make his way past her but she blocked his exit.

"Trust you?! You're leaving me to find my missing son by myself because you can't handle it! That's how it always is! Everyone leaves because my life gets too hectic to handle!"

"Emma I can't take because it is dangerous. I told you your son will be found, and I intend to see to it that he does."

"Bullshit it's dangerous! Everything is dangerous! My own son can't even get ready for school without something happening to him! Everyone has left me Killian! My parents left me! My boyfriend left me! My son left me! I can't lose my best friend. I don't care if it's dangerous! Please don't leave me." her voice was angry at first, but she found herself sounding incredibly desperate while she was begging him to stay.

"Emma darling please understand that this is very dangerous. I can't let you-"

"My son is there! My son is exactly where it is so fucking dangerous! My son!" She began shouting again.

"Dammit lass… alright pack a bag. We leave in the morning at dawn. Pack light." He turned around slowly, defeated, and closed the door. She turned to her room and began packing for their trip in just a few short hours.