"Hey Mary Margaret," Emma greeted her mother as she entered the loft. She glanced around and found the other woman alone with a basket of clean laundry. "Where's Henry? I thought we'd see what movies are out before dinner."

"Killian was going to teach him some sailors' knots. They're probably down at the docks if you want to find them."

Emma shifted her weight, betraying her unease at that idea. She picked up one of the shirts from the basket and folded it, more for something to do with herself than any real urge to assist. She tossed the garment on top of the pile of folded items ready for the bureau.

Snow raised an eyebrow at the sloppily folded garment, picking it up and tidying it as she studied her daughter out of the corner of her eye. Emma was avoiding her gaze.

"You're avoiding him." Snow observed.

"What? No, I'm just..." Emma caught herself protesting and realized the trap her mother had set. "Why would I avoid Henry, I just said I was looking for him."

Snow rolled her eyes. Emma had known exactly who she was talking about, which meant she had been thinking about Killian. She ignored Emma's attempt at innocent confusion; she wouldn't dignify the lie with a response.

"He's not going to sail away this time, you won't be able to avoid him forever. We all live in this town. I hate to see you push him away after all he's done to help you, to help all of us. "

"You know, in the after school specials the mother is supposed to warn the daughter away from the bad boy with the guitar, not encourage her to pursue him." Emma said, voice acerbic, as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Since when are you such a fan of pirates?"

"I'm not, and I know how often he's taken the wrong side. But after what he did for your father, I owe him so much. And Emma... he loves you. As someone who loves you too, that's all I need to know to believe that he can change."

Emma looked dubious. Her mother was straight out of a fairy tale, the princess of naivete. In the real world, people didn't fall in love at first sight with a perfectly compatible and utterly virtuous partner the way her parents had done. Love didn't turn a villain into a hero. Snow didn't understand her daughter's cynical resistance. After everything she had seen, how could Emma continue to doubt the power of a real connection between two people?

"True Love can change people, Emma. Look at Regina. Her love for Henry changed everything for her. She stopped being evil. She made friends, she even gave her heart to a man for the first time since Daniel." The unspoken words hung in the air. If the Evil Queen could open herself up to love, surely Emma was capable of it as well.

"It wasn't like she flicked a light switch and left the Dark Side. She relapsed. Repeatedly. And she hurt a lot of people in the process." Emma pointed out.

"And you're what, worried Hook will relapse? That he'll go back to seeking revenge against Rumplestiltskin? I have to say I can't see that happening." Snow replied. "And when a person is making an honest effort to change for the better, the worst thing you can do is keep reminding them of their past."

For some reason, the idea of Hook turning did sound absurd when said aloud. Why was that? He had spent centuries fixated on that revenge, tried to use Emma herself to get closer to it on more than one occasion. But she didn't think he could tolerate being in the same room with Rumplestiltskin now if he hadn't truly let it go. Even if Hook still harbored a grudge, with Cora gone and Regina on their side there was no way for him to do any damage. He didn't even have his ship.

Yet she still felt threatened by him. Emma drew a deep breath and forced herself to confront the reasons why. She didn't fear him because he was a pirate, because she thought he would turn evil and endanger her loved ones. She feared him because he endangered her heart. Opening herself up to Henry's love had been hard enough for her but in comparison to this is was the easiest thing she had ever done. Henry was the one person she had never feared rejection from. She'd grown up with feelings of abandonment and rejection. Intellectually she knew now that she had never been forgotten or unwanted, she knew why her parents couldn't be there to raise her. But emotionally it took longer for that knowledge to sink in.

.x.x.x.x.

"You've been avoiding me, Swan."

She had seen him approaching and was turning away when he spoke, turning to do just that, avoid him. Turning back, she stuffed her hands into her jacket pockets. She tried for a nonchalant smile but it didn't quite reach her eyes. His words echoed her mothers and brought back the conversation the two women had had about the man now standing before her, looking earnest and if she was honest very appealing.

"What makes you think that?" she said, trying too hard to sound casual.

"Come, lets be honest with each other, love." His voice held a little impatience "We've worked side by side since your return, but I've not seen you these days. With no immediate threat to your life you've no use for me, is that it?"

"No, I just-" she started but he cut her off.

"Then its something else. have I offended you?"

"No." She said but nothing more, to his great frustration. She wasn't sure what to say, what she was ready to admit. And he couldn't read her silence.

"Then what is it, Swan? Tell me." He stepped closer, his eyes intent on hers, and his good hand grasped her elbow urgently. His brow knit as a thought occurred to him. "Have you decided you can't trust a pirate after all?"

He said the word pirate as if it left a bad taste in his mouth and she was startled at the reminder of how much her opinion mattered to him. The knowledge, and his nearness, left her mouth dry and she licked her lips. His gaze flickered to them and a muscle beneath his jaw clenched but his eyes were soon back on her face.

"No, Hook, its not..." she managed, but that was the wrong thing to say. He released her and stepped back.

Bloody Hook, he thought. He'd spent a year trying to be the pirate he had been before he knew her, the cutthroat she would always believe him to be. It had been futile. Evidently, as were his attentions to Emma. He couldn't go back to the man he was before, and he could never be the man she wanted him to be because it seemed she wanted no man. Had he really ever believed the pirate would be worthy the princess? A part of him wanted to rebel. Emma Swan had trusted him with her life, she had trusted him with her son. Even her parents had expressed faith in him. Killian knew her heart could be won. But would his own survive further attempts?

Emma saw the flash of pain on his face before he turned away. She wanted to reach out, to stop him, to tell him... she didn't know what she wanted to say to him. And that held her back.

As he stalked off, Killian tried not to compare these feelings to the sensations he had experienced before when his father abandoned him, when Baelfire rejected him. Her emotional walls aside, it wasn't Swan's fault that he had a past full of evil deeds that she couldn't overlook. Not the Savior, product of True Love and child of the most wholesome, rosy-cheeked twosome in three realms.