A/n: Thanks for all your support and encouragement! I'm sorry this chapter took a while. I had some rewriting to do. Forgive me. The next chapters will be back on schedule with an update every 2 or 3 days max.

Disclaimer: I don't own Once Upon a Time.

Apologies for any errors.

Chapter VI: Oh Captain, My Captain…

"What did you do with him?!" Emma demanded to know. Despite Regina and her parents' efforts, she refused to believe that Gold had nothing to do with Killian's disappearing.

"It's not what I did, Ms. Swan." Gold defended with a slight frown. "It's what you did. You're the one that made the deal, and now, it looks like you've paid the price."

Emma thought about what Hades said. 'Don't count on it.' "He took him!"

"I told you," He sighed. "You were messing with powers beyond your control."

Just then, the shop door opened to reveal Regina and Henry. Gold rolled his eyes. "Here we go." He muttered.

Emma rushed to him, locking her son in a death grip. "Hey kid." She breathed, kissing his temple.

"Mom!" Henry laughed, happy to see her again.

"You people come in here, and demand help, without purchasing a damn thing." Gold expressed his annoyance.

"We tried to tell her you were a dead end." Regina glared. "Not that anyone can blame her, given your recent betrayal."

"And yet, you've decided to come here for answers." Gold retorted.

"I need to find Killian." Emma insisted. "There has to be a way to track him. A locator spell, a damn snow globe, something."

Gold thought for a moment, seeing the ring, that was dangling from her neck. "Your parents found each other with an enchanted ring. I suppose I could do the same for you."

"What's the price?" Regina asked, raising a skeptical brow.

"That none of you come to me for help again." Gold gritted.

Emma smirked. "Deal."

"Just like that?" He asked with a scoff.

"I have a feeling, soon it will be you begging for my help." Emma replied simply.

"Not likely." Gold frowned. "Now may I have the necklace?"

Emma clutched it for a moment. Henry put a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay mom."

She nodded, finally taking it off her neck, handing it to Gold.

He turned, grabbing a small vial of liquid, pouring it over the ring. The ruby glowed a soft red, before it dimmed back to normal.

"Now it's up to you, to guide it." Gold instructed, handing it to him.

"What? No, It's supposed to guide me!" Emma objected.

"Yes, when two people are in the same realm." Gold answered. "But seeing as how he isn't, it's up to you to figure out where to start."

"You bastard!" Regina spat. "You knew he wasn't here in Storybrooke! You could've told us when we asked you!"

"You asked me did I have him." Gold reiterated. "Not, if I knew where to find him."

"Loopholes." Emma muttered, wanting to shove his dagger right in his throat.

"Now if there is nothing else," He announced, "Please, LEAVE."

Emma felt her anger grow, but Regina stopped her. "Let's go. It's not worth it."

"Come on, mom." Henry agreed. "We'll find another way."

"Useless!" Emma shrieked as she threw the book off the table.

"Hey!" Regina called out. "These books are old!"

Henry picked up the thrown book, placing it back on the table. "I'm going to get everyone some lunch. Be back in a few."

As the door closed behind him, Emma ran her hands through her hair. "Sorry, it's just…"

"We know." David cut in, handing her a glass of whiskey.

"We'll find him, Emma." Snow encouraged, as she turned the page of one of Merlin's books.

"Will we?" Emma asked in defeat. "It's been two days! Gold gave me a locator spell to find him, but it won't work unless, I find him!"

"Maybe you're looking for the wrong thing." Robin called absently as he sipped his scotch. When he glanced up from his assigned book, everyone's eyes were on him.

"Well," He gulped, "Gold gave you a potion to follow a ring, but it sounds to me like you should just follow your heart."

"As enduring as that notion is, Hook's not to just show up in the Storybrooke lost and found box." Emma remarked cynically.

"That's it! Robin's right, right we should be following your heart." Regina smiled brightly at Robin. "You really do surprise me."

Robin smiled, before returning his attention back to his drink.

"How is following her heart supposed to help?" David asked.

"Because Hook has the other half of it." Regina reminded them. "We can put a locator spell on your heart, to search for its other half."

She rummaged through one of her mother's books, pulling up the page. Snow read it closely. "LOST AND FOUND. Seriously?"

"How exactly does it work?" Robin asked.

"We have to first pull out Emma's heart." Regina said with a wince. "Then we have to connect it with Killian's body. His hair, blood, …"

"Things we don't have." Snow sighed.

Emma shook her head. "Not exactly." She waved her hand, and a glass jar appeared with an appendage inside.

"Is that…?" Robin mumbled coming to the counter. Emma nodded. "Yeah. It's Killian's."

"Are you sure?" Snow studied the hand as if it were a 7th grade science experiment.

"Killian told me that it's Gold's most prized possession. Next to his chipped teacup." Emma rolled her eyes at the reminder of how delusional Belle was. Usually with spell books, she was a much needed resource. But there was no way to include Belle without dropping the dime on Gold.

"You know he's going to know its missing." Regina warned her. Emma met her gaze with an unwavering stare. "I don't care. He said don't ask for his help, so I'm not."

"Well then," Regina lifted a shoulder. "Let's begin."

After about an hour in Regina's vault, the spell was ready. She held Emma's heart in one hand, and the potion in the other.

"Do you have the memory potion?" she asked. Emma patted the side of her jacket. "Yeah, yeah I got it. Let's do this."

"Emma I must warn you." She started, "this potion's purpose is to find random things like shoes and a TV remote. Its power may not be strong enough to survive traveling realms."

"It's a risk I'm willing to take." Emma assured her. Regina didn't say anything else as she poured the liquid over Emma's heart.

It began to pound rapidly, and Emma started to gasp for breath. "Regina!" she gasped.

"I'm sorry, I can't stop it!" Regina explained as the heart continued beat. Emma fell to the floor as she could feel the magic straining to reach beyond its limits.

Then, the pain stopped, and the heart gloved a soft white light, before returning red. "It's done." Regina explained, helping her stand. "You ready?"

Emma nodded, not being able speak, after experiencing what felt like her first heart attack. Regina wasted no time, shoving the organ back into her chest.

Emma fought back a yelp, listening to her heartbeat. "How do I know when it's working?" she asked.

"Uh…" Regina ran over to check the books. "It says it will transport you to where you need to be." She looked up, but Emma was missing. "Emma?"

She walked around the vault before commenting, "Well, that was fast."

Emma rubbed the side of her head, feeling as if she were being pulled from a million directions at once.

Car horns blared, and a faint smell of sewage lingered in the air, along with pollution and hot dogs.

She stumbled a bit as she stood, not fully conscious of her surroundings. Taking a tentative step, she heard shouting. "Are ya blind lady?!" a cyclist hollered as he whizzed by.

Emma groaned. "I should have known…"

Taking out her cell phone, she dialed Regina. "Yeah, it's me. No, no I'm okay. I'm in New York."

So busy in her conversation, Emma didn't notice the 6 wheeler headed her way. A fog horn blared, causing her to jump, but it the truck was too close.

"Easy!" A familiar voice shouted, pulling her out of harms' way within seconds of her death. The force of the pull caused them both to fall to the ground.

Emma winced in pain as she felt a body atop of her own. Her eyes fluttered open…and she froze.

Killian was staring back at her, with the same insanely sea blue eyes, a cocky grin, and a faint scar long his gorgeous face. "Are you alright?" he panted with a small smile.

"I…" she uttered, not being able to compose a sentence. The ring on her finger glowed brightly.

"Say something luv…" He encouraged with a bit of a lass.

"HEY NORINGTON!" A cop hollered from the distance. "PUT YOUR HANDS ON YOUR HEAD! NOW!"

Killian smirked down at her, winking an eye. "Till next time, darling." And then he was on his feet, running from the cops.

"Wait!" Emma tried to yell, but it was no use. A police officer stopped next to her as she stood up. "Who was that man?" she asked as he took a break to catch his breath.

"Crime Lord, and a murder suspect." He breathed. "Did he hurt you?"

"No," She shook her head in disbelief. "He just saved my life."

The police officer stared at her as if she'd just declared she was a goat. "Well don't take it to heart. Derek Norington is trouble. Stay away from him." Was the only advice he gave, before chasing after his partner.

Hook's name was Derek? Emma tried to wrap her brain around the new information as she spent most of the day and night, searching for him.

She was an ex-bail bondsman. It should be easy enough. But as it turns out, Hook was a lot more allusive than she first believed. From the whispers on the streets, Derek Norington was a notorious racketeer, con-man, and mobster. He was a pretty bad person to get in business, and his crew was ruthless.

Emma's cell rang. She opened it after two rings, figuring it was better than driving herself in sane, trying to come up with different scenarios to find Killian again.

"Hey kid." She sighed.

Mom! Mom told me you were in New York, but the phone cut off.

"I'm okay. I found Killian…or rather, he found me." Emma clarified.

"He found you?" Snow's voice chimed in. "That's great. Did he recognize you?"

"No. He saved me from getting hit by a bus. Apparently, the spell isn't very good at landing procedures." She explained, walking in a sea of on-goers. "That was pure coincidence."

"When dealing with magic, there's no such thing." Regina spoke into the speaker.

"Well, whether it be luck or fate, I'm out of both." Emma reported. "He goes by a new persona. A mob boss called Derek Norington. And I have no idea where to start looking."

"Isn't this your thing?" Regina asked. "Finding people?"

"Yeah, but usually I have longer than a day to do my research." Emma clarified. "And this is the real world. I can't just go asking around for a mob-boss without drawing some really bad attention."

"Well, Killian may have a new name, but he can't erase him completely." Regina said.

"I don't understand." Emma said.

"Mom, I did some more research on Hades." Henry told her. "He's manipulating you. He can bring people back from the dead, but he can't create new life."

"He took Killian's body." David revealed. "Since he can't create life, he has to use parts of Killian's old life to bring him back from the dead."

"Right. Since no one took his place, Killian is still…Killian." Emma murmured. "But when I looked into his eyes, he didn't recognize me."

"Maybe not." Snow conceded. "But of all the people in New York, it was him that saved you. There's a connection there. You just have to figure out what it is."

"And the first step to that is finding Hook." David pressed. "When I awakened under Regina's curse, the first thing I did was go to the troll bridge. Maybe it's the same with Hook."

David's right." Robin finally spoke up. "He may not have his memories, but the habits will manifest themselves in his subconscious. According to this book anyway."

"Right." Emma finally agreed. "I think I know where to look." She hung up the phone, and headed to the nearest subway station.

Within 20 minutes, she exited the subway, coming to a old fire station turned into a popular bar for low lives, misfits and illegal gambling.

"The Treasure Chest." Emma read aloud. She eyed the men in front, guarding the door. There was no way she was getting in there that way.

She started to make her way around the back, praying there would be an unguarded door. As luck would have it, there was one door unprotected.

"It's all about the tumblers." She whispered, as she began to work.

A sharp pain suddenly struck her across the head, before she blacked out…

When she came to, Emma came face to face with… "Milah?" she whispered.

Milah raised a brow, but didn't acknowledge the name. "Sorry honey. Milah can't save you."

Emma glanced around to see she was in some form of warehouse. She'd obviously been searched because her phone and gun were missing. Shit.

"You must be a special kind of stupid to break into this place." Milah laughed.

"She's a cop!" One muscled thug insisted.

"I'm not!" Emma objected.

Milah examined the gun on the table. "It's a Beretta 92."

Emma closed her eyes and cursed. Shit. Her Sherriff's pistol.

"And look at this boys!" Milah held up a small piece of metal. "A Sherriff's badge!" Turning back to Emma, she growled, "Remove her head."

"With pleasure." someone sneered, raising his machete.

"It's a costume!" Emma blurted out the first thing that came to her mind.

"Morgan, WAIT." A voice commanded, as heavy footsteps entered the room.

Emma watched as Killian approached, his vacant and lethal stare, much different from the one he'd had at the strip club. "What did you say?" he asked.

"It's a gotdamn costume." Emma panted. "I know you've have seen me before. I…I work at the Treasure Chest."

Killian studied her for a moment, before sitting his gun on the table. "You, work at the treasure chest."

"Yes," Emma nodded. "the pistol and badge a part of a costume…"

"She's lying." Morgan insisted.

"Maybe she is mate." Killian shook his head. "But she isn't a cop."

"And how would you know?" Milah demanded, putting a hand on her hip. "Another one of your conquests."

"I told you that was all behind me love." Killian assured, giving her a small caress on the cheek. Emma could barely hide the jealousy that boiled under her skin.

"Then how do you know she's lying?" Milah asked, the edge in her voice gone. Now she was practically cooing at his feet.

"Because the term sheriff is only used in storybooks and small towns love." Killian reasoned. "And this is New York. If she were a cop, her badge would say, "Chief."

"She's trouble Derek." Milah warned. "I want her gone."

"Consider it done." Killian assured with a soft peck on the lips. She left the warehouse, knowing the tramp wouldn't be there much longer.

Killian smirked at Emma before announcing. "Now, if you lads will excuse me, I think I'll have a little chat with Blondie before I get rid of her."

His men laughed before heading out. Everyone knew what chat Killian wanted to have.

"Shall I prepare the disappearing kit?" Morgan asked, glaring at Emma.

Killian shook his head. "That won't be necessary. We already have enough heat from our last two stints with the law. I'll make sure she doesn't talk."

He watched Morgan walk out of the room, before taking a tight grip on Emma's hair, yanking it back hard. Emma shrieked, but it was cut short as his other hand gripped her throat and squeezed.

"WHY ARE YOU FOLLOWING ME?!" He spat lowly.

A/N: So sorry for the wait. The next few chapters will mainly focus on Emma and Killian. I don't think they get enough alone time in the series, and I'm hoping the next chapters will make up for it in some small way.

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-R.