Dealing with Zelena's impact on the town and letting Regina train her in magic was eating up more of her time than Emma had anticipated. She didn't like to leave Henry with whoever happened to be around every day, but there was too much she couldn't tell him. Too much he could stumble upon if left to wander the town on his own. She wasn't sure yet how she was going to explain being late to meet him and her parents for dinner at Granny's. Jogging down the street to the diner she slowed on approach to catch her breath. The sound of music drifted out to her and she recalled it was open mic night again. She'd half expected the attempt to fizzle by now, but at least it would distract from her late entrance.

When she opened the door the noise rose abruptly to a clamor. She stopped in the doorway, taken aback. Throughout the diner most people were singing along with the bard this time. Singing loudly and with varying degrees of skill, many below average. It was like the rejected tryouts for American Idol. Before she could identify the song the voices ended abruptly in laughter and applause. Emma edged around the crowd towards the counter.

"Evening, Emma." Granny greeted her. Emma could swear she looked like she was trying to suppress a smile. "Coffee?"

"Please." Emma said, scanning the diner. "Quite a crowd tonight."

"The boy wasn't wrong about the extra business." Granny said with a snort. "I'm brewing up my fourth pot of coffee , and between the dwarves, the pirates, and Robin's men, I'll have to tap another keg before long."

Her tone was surly but in the privacy of her own mind Granny had to admit she was having fun. She passed over a mug of hot black coffee and Emma nodded her thanks. When she turned to find Henry, she came to face to face with Hook on his way to speak with her. He stood out amongst the townspeople, still glad in his pirate garb. Though he rarely donned the long leather coat, he still stood out from all the locals in their sweaters and jeans.

"Swan." He smiled, dipping his head in greeting. "I was beginning to wonder if you'd be absent from the entertainment tonight."

"Just had a few things to wrap up. Even without me it looks like there is a big enough audience to please any of the performers." She blew gently on her coffee and took a sip.

"Ah, but you'd miss the most entertaining performer of them all." Killian cocked an eyebrow and donned that look of swaggering confidence he wore so easily. "Me."

Emma almost spit her coffee out. She managed to swallow it, more or less gracefully and without choking, but all she could do was regard him in disbelief. He chuckled at the suspicion on her face.

"It's true." He said.

As if on cue, Henry's voice raised above the noise of the crowd.

"Hey Killian, you're next!"

"See?." he smirked at her bafflement.

"I uh...I didn't know you could play." she managed to stammer.

"There's a lot you don't know about me, of course I'd be happy to fill you in anytime you care to get more... intimately acquainted." he said, his tone teasing and his grin cajoling. But the woman was damnably immune to his flirting sometimes. Alas, he'd have to work on that. "Really, Swan. Your land isn't the only one with music. Any sailor worth his salt knows a few tunes. It can get quiet out on the open sea with only the slap of the waves against the hull and the sails snapping in the wind. We learn to make our own instruments from whatever is on hand."

Hook strode off to the corner of the diner and swung on to the stool placed behind the mic. Emma slid into the booth her family sat in. Placing a guitar on his knee, Killian greeted his audience who responded with a smattering of polite applause. Suddenly self-conscious, he scratched beneath his ear. The gesture was so telling sometimes, Emma wondered if he realized he was doing it.

"My thanks," he said to them all, settling the guitar closer to his body and placing his fingers on the fretboard. "Bear with me as I have only just learned this infernal instrument, though we have a few similar things back home. In truth I know many a merry tune from my days at sea but most would not be appropriate for a mixed audience. But if any gentleman here wishes to learn a good wenching song, I shall be glad to trade one for a drink later. But for now, here is a tune I wrote last year on board my ship."

His smile was charming and just a touch self-depreciating as he began to play. At first his head was bowed in concentration watching his hands which, while not particularly adept, were surprisingly good given he only had one whole one for an instrument that tends to require two. The fingers of his good hand moved stiffly but competently over the strings while his other...

Emma blinked. Around Henry Killian had taken to wearing a leather gloved stuffed to the appearance of a normal appendage, so as not to scare the boy. But now in place of either was... a hand? No, she looked again, closer... not a real hand but a wooden one. Jointed wooden fingers held a wooden pick between them. The wood was light enough in color to pass for flesh if you weren't looking directly at it, and the pieces were quite cleverly cut; the grain of the wood looked like the folds and wrinkles that formed around a knuckle.

Henry noticed the direction of his mother's intent gaze and leaned across the booth to whisper,

"Marco made it for him. There's lots of weird old dolls and stuff in his shop. When I told him about tonight he said he is tone deaf but volunteered to help anyway. I didn't know what to use him for until Killian confessed why he hadn't signed up to perform. Neat, isn't it? Marco found that guitar in his workshop too and fixed it up."

Emma made a mental note to ask Killian what story he'd told Henry to explain the missing hand and marveled at the ingenuity of the three men. How long had they been organizing this musical debut? But soon she was distracted when Hook's voice rang out through the diner. It was low and soulful, of average quality but still a perfect counterpoint to the twang of the strings. The tune itself was simple and mellow; she could picture him composing it while lounging in the rigging of his ship, a light breeze tousling his hair and carrying his words off across the waves.

"You know love feels like an ocean," he sang,

"ever changing as it flows.

And a lover is just a vessel

that must follow where it goes.

Trying to learn from what's behind you

and never knowing what's to come

makes each day a constant battle

just to sail before the storm."

The entire diner stopped to watch and listen. They had politely listened to all performers, ceasing their chatter when appropriate or joining in where encouraged, but now all forks were down and all heads were turned. They had all heard better performers, singers with more natural talent, players with more practiced skill. But there was something genuine in Hook's voice as he sang. An earnestness. As he launched into the chorus, the heartfelt lyrics made Snow smile and slip her hand into David's. Through all the years they had known each other other, all the troubles they had faced and separations they had had to endure... every love song still made her think of her prince Charming.

Emma didn't notice the affection between her parents, or nor did she notice anything else. Her focus was tuned entirely to Killian. She knew this song wasn't chosen casually, it was a message to her. Every note, every strum of the guitar strings thrummed through the air and seemed to vibrate down into her bones. It called to her body to move, to sway, but her control over herself was rigid, strong from long practice. Still, she couldn't look away.

Falling into the rhythm of playing Killian gathered his courage and finally raised his eyes from the instrument. They immediate locked with hers. His Swan. The world seemed to shrink around them and he forgot every other soul in place.

"Too many times we stand aside

and let the waters slip away,

letting what happened in our past

keep us from today"

He seemed to be singing to her and her alone. A unique experience for Emma. For so long she had avoided getting close enough to people to inspire any sense of devotion in anyone. People stopped offering affection when she couldn't bring herself to accept it. She who had rarely ever had a second date was now being serenaded by an earnest-looking man.

"So don't you sit upon the shoreline

and claim you're satisfied

choose to chance the rapids

and dare to dance the tide."

Finally as the chorus began again their eye contact broke. He dropped his eyes back to his hands, wondering how much his face had revealed against his will. He didn't get to be a famous pirate without playing things close to the vest. But that was hard with Emma before him, hearing his song. He had fought the memories of her for half a year, trying to scorn love as a weakness, but she was too firmly rooted within him. The song had become a solace and a distraction from the fact that she remembered nothing of him, that they were strangers who were worlds away from each other. Killian had never intended to sing it for any audience beside the wind and waves. But now his voice grew strong; he wanted her to hear every word, to understand.

When he finally released Emma from his gaze, she drew a shaky breath. Only a few moments had passed but it felt like hours she had been held in his thrall. She shook herself and settled back against her seat. She glanced around surreptitiously to see if she had been caught staring like a teenybopper at a boy band concert. No one seemed to be watching her but David look slightly nonplussed and Henry's smile was suspiciously serene. She scrubbed damp palms against her jeans and reached out for a swallow of water to wet her suddenly-dry throat.

Killian's eyes tried to catch hers again but she stubbornly refused to meet them again, surveying the room with studied nonchalance. But she couldn't escape the words and the rhythm seeping into her.

"There's bound to be rough waters

lord knows I've seen some sorrow

but with a good lass as my First Mate

I could make it to tomorrow. "

His playing ceased as he sang the final chorus, accompanied only by his good hand softly tapping out a beat against the body of the guitar. Though sung low, his accented words seemed to fill the room before dying away on the last beat.

"Yes I will sail my vessel

till the oceans run dry

like a bird upon the wind

these waters are my sky."

The applause broke the spell over them both. Killian turned a winning smile on the other diners, one that no doubt won him a few female hearts. Emma, still studiously looking in any other direction but his, noticed Ruby fanning herself with her hand as she leaned against the counter. When Granny poked her in the elbow to prod her back to work Ruby straightened and complied while casting glances at Killian over her shoulder. Suddenly Emma decided she didn't have an appetite after all.

When he set his guitar down a few diners approached him to comment on his song and crowd of chattering townspeople soon surrounded him. When Smee shouldered his way through with a pint for himself and one for his captain, Emma took advantage of the moment's distraction. Mumbling some excuse to her family, she slipped out of the booth and left Granny's. Stepping out into the twilight she inhaled the cool air deeply and it felt like the first breath she had taken in hours. Being around him made her tense. Or was is breathless? Part of her hoped to avoid learning the answer to that question. Life was complicated enough.

Inside Smee offered a toast to his captain's successful performance. With a laugh Hook quaffed his pint. Licking the ale from his upper lip he turned to find his Swan, curious to learn what she thought of his song. A bit nervous as well if he was honest with himself.

Her seat was empty. The others in her booth gave him encouraging smiles; Henry offered him the gesture of two raised thumbs and Hook made a mental note to teach the boy a proper salute. The princess caught his eye and held it. Snow inclined her head towards the door and offered him a sad smile. She knew what it was when a woman pushed a man away. It had taken her long enough to accept Charming into her life. It hurt to watch her daughter throw so many chances for happy moments aside by insisting on keeping others at bay, behind the walls she built to protect her heart.

Killian sighed and scrubbed his face with his hand. The damnable woman really was a headache at times. He longed to chase after her. Force her to react to him in some way, any way, instead of holding him at bay. But after that performance she had the upper hand, and he wasn't sure if he could escape an encounter with her unscathed. He felt oddly exposed, an odd and unnatural feeling for a man of his reputation, he decided. Turning back to Smee, he adopted a carefree smile and lifted his empty glass.

"Another!" He roared jovially and was met with cries of approval from his men.