The next morning, Ruby and Aurelia sat going through the pictures of the night before, giggling like schoolgirls. Aurelia had completely forgotten about the encounter with her, and if she had remembered, she wouldn't have worried her friend and said anything.
Aurelia had just put on her new outfit she'd bought- a floral high necked top with a burgundy knitted skirt and cute black boots when Ruby called her into the kitchen.
"hey, who's this?" she asked, pointing at a picture. Aurelia looked at the picture closely. She could see herself, dancing with Rumpel "Ew, burn it" she joked, then noticed a figure in the picture.
Black hair, black mask, black tux. She tried to figure the height and weight but as they were lurking in the shadows it wasn't easy to tell.
It looked like Killian.
"Okay, I just remembered something from last night" Aurelia said, frowning and turning to face Ruby.
Suddenly, a crash was heard from outside. The two girls ran outside quickly to see the commotion. In the middle of the docks was a massive ship. Not just any ship- The Jolly Roger.
Hooks ship.
Aurelia froze. People had gathered round, chattering excitedly about what it could mean. The sails were ripped, and some of the wood was breaking off, as if it had been in a storm or something. Aurelia pushed her way to the front of the crowd, raising a hand to shield the sun from her eyes and squinting up.
And then she saw him. Killian.
He was standing, looking a mix of annoyed, bemused and disappointed at his ship. He shrugged, and started to talk off the deck. A few men scurried off board after him.
"Killian" Aurelia whispered. Her heart was pounding so fast she thought it might burst. Every inch of her body wanted to run to him, grab him, kiss him and hold him for days without moving. She wanted to hear his voice, to stare into his eyes, to tell him how much he meant to her and she would never, ever lose him again. Words couldn't describe how much she missed him.
She pushed and forced people out of her way. Hook was talking to Mary Margaret and Emma when Aurelia came up to them. She stood, staring at him. It was actually him.
He turned, looked at her with a grin, then went back to his conversation.
"…landed it Storybrooke again, still don't know what happened exactly."
"Killian" Aurelia said, her voice almost cracking. He turned to her again.
"yes…?" He seemed confused.
"It..why..?" she didn't know what to say, he just stared at her blankly.
"I'm sorry, do I know you?" he said, then looked her up and down "Then again darlin', maybe I should" and winked.
"Killian, do you now know who I am?" she asked, as Emma and Mary Margaret pushed people away and sending them home, giving the couple privacy.
"no, am I supposed to?" he said
"This is a joke, right? Some kind of joke? Killian, it's me, it's Aurelia"
"I'm really sorry love, but I've never met you before in my life. Shame"
"NO" she said, angrily.
"Listen, I don't know why you seem to think you know me, but this is getting a bit old, okay? I've got a banged up ship that I need to sort out, so we might have to do this another time" he said, turning away.
Aurelia fell into Emma's arms, and the two women went back to her apartment.
"I don't understand. How can he not remember me?" she said.
Mary Margret followed, then chimed in "The same thing happened to David and I, I took a potion because I was so heartbroken. Maybe Hook did the same" she suggested.
Oh, the selfish, stupid bastard" Aurelia cried angrily "I'm not dead!"
"Clearly" Emma said drily "Sorry. I don't know what to do. Go to Gold?"
"I don't think Gold will help Hook after their long history" Aurelia sighed. "This is so messed up. What am I supposed to do?"
"We'll figure something out, I mean Lacey lost her memory too right? If she makes a breakthrough that could help us, too" Mary suggested.
"I guess" Aurelia said moodily "It's just so frustrating"
"Maybe you could start over. You didn't exactly have the best relationship. Maybe now…" Emma suggested.
Aurelia lifted her head up. "that's a plan" she said.
Over the next few days, Aurelia casually roamed round the town in the hopes of bumping into Hook, but she barely saw him.
He came into Grannies and she shoved Ruby aside, walking to the table.
"Er- hi, what can I get you?" she said, breathlessly. His beautiful eyes looked up at her, and winked.
"Just a coffee, darlin'
"Sure" she said, practically skipping off. As she made it Ruby bent over serving the table before and she saw Hook gaze not very subtly with a little smile, and her hands shook with anger as she smashed the cup on the floor accidentally.
"Calm down, he thinks he's a single man, he's allowed" She muttered to herself.
Days passed, with basically no interaction. Hook just wasn't interested, he just wanted his ship fixed.
After work, Aurelia took the bins round the dumpsters. She finished locking up, and as she walked down the street, someone grabbed her from behind. She screamed, but they covered her mouth. She elbowed the attacker backwards with her elbow, and hearing a definitely male grunt, she ran, but was rugby tackled down, her face smashing into the ground.
She kept on yelling, kicking wildly with her legs.
She turned, but the attacker was wearing some sort of balaclava covering his face. He sat on top of her, pinning her arms down, when suddenly, a flying figure leapt onto the attacker and pummeled him to the ground. Aurelia leaned up, and saw Hook, his face furious, punching the mans face again and again. However, Hook grabbed a lead pipe the attacker ran off.
Hook turned to Aurelia.
"Are you okay?" his eyes looked concerned.
"Yeah, I'm fine" she said, standing up on her shaking legs. He came out and steadied her.
"You're bleeding" he said quietly, carefully wiping some blood away from her temple. There seemed to be some emotion in his eyes... like love, but maybe Aurelia wass imagining it.
"So're you" she said, looking up at him. They were both silent for a moment, until Killian broke away.
"yeah, you should probably go hospital or something" he said, looking at the ground.
"No, I've had much, much worse. I'll be fine. Oh, and thank you, by the way. Really" she turned away, and started walking off.
"Sounds intriguing" he called after her "You may have to tell me the story over dinner"
"I may have to" she said back, then turned, leaving him staring after her.
Finally, a breakthrough. Okay, she had to get beat up for it, but she wasn't scared. In fact, she was happy.
As she got home, she was surprised to see mother superior sitting at her kitchen table.
"Erm, hi?" she said.
"My dear, you are wounded" the fairy said "What happened?"
"Oh, long story" Aurelia lied. "What a lovely surprise to see you here"
"I came because I heard a rumour you're in need of a memory reversing potion, yes?" Mother superior said.
"Yes, yes I am" Aurelia said.
"Well I just gave you to Belle, and it worked completely. It might take me a few weeks to provide another, but you can definitely have it"
"really? That's so kind of you! Thank you so, so much you have no idea how much this means to me- thank you!" Aurelia said, jumping up and hugging the woman.
After mother superior left, Aurelia sat at the table for an hour or two just thinking. Soon, she would get her happy ending. Everything would be perfect.
It was a quiet night at Grannies and Aurelia was waiting for a couple to finish eating when Killian came in. He sat down, and seeing as Aurelia was the only one working that night, she walked over with a small smile.
"Hi" she said, looking down at her notepad
"Hey" he said "How's the head?"
"Eh, its fine. You?"
"yeah mines fine too. Like you, I've had much worse" Killian said.
"Oh really?" Aurelia said "Well, how about I join you and you can tell me your story. Unless, of course, you're just bragging" she shrugged.
He gave a hearty laugh "Right. Well in that case, I'll have a cup of coffee and a ice cream sundae, and of course, whatever you're having" he said, with a grin.
The couple walked out, giving Aurelia a tip, and she smiled, wishing them a good night.
Aurelia sauntered over, grabbing anything, and sat down opposite.
"Why don't I try and guess about you?" she asked.
"Go for it" he laughed "I'm a very hard person to read"
She looked him up and down. "Pirate, obviously. Goes by the name Hook. Not a very good one, clearly, I mean who smashed their ship up like that? Orphan, perhaps? Tough exterior, you don't like letting people to get close so you push them away with flirting and sarcasm. Trust very few people, but I'd say quite protective of those you do care about" Aurelia paused.
Killian's face remained impassive, then broke into a small smile.
"Fair enough" he said "You must be good"
"Oh not really, just a lucky hunch" Aurelia said.
"So, what's your story?" he asked.
Aurelia thought. "Well, I lived in my village until I was kidnapped by some pir-bandits. Then I made a deal with Rumplestiltskin and was his slave for a year until I ran away, then was slave for the queen for a year until I was rescued- then kidnapped again, got turned into a mermaid, made a deal to find love in three days, fell in love with a man but it didn't work out, I died, came back to life and then I ended up here" she shrugged, taking a sip of her tea.
Hook's eyes were wide as he leant back, giving a low whistle.
"Wow... That's something. You must be quite a tough cookie" he said, his eyes wider, leaning back. "I couldn't imagine working for that crocodile" he shuddered, his face murderous.
"Good points and bad" she said.
"So… A mermaid, huh?" he said, still slightly in awe.
"yup. It wasn't that bad- well, the transition was extremely painful, which is why I have a high tolerance for pain now, but now I'm immortal" she said.
"You won't age?" he asked
"Nope"
"you won't die?"
"Nope"
"That's pretty cool"
"yeah, I guess."
"People sure do like kidnapping you" Hook said. Aurelia laughed at the irony- he didn't know he wass talking about himself.
"just the one guy"
"Did you get revenge?"
"no, I fell in love with him"
Hook looked puzzled. "You what? Is that like a Stockholm syndrome thing or what?"
"No, he was a good person deep down. it just took love to bring it out"
"Wow... You see the best in everyone" Hook said, impressed. Aurelia blushed.
"So c'mon then, what's the roughest scrape you've gotten into then?" she said.
He then launched into an exciting story about when he was out at sea and was at war with another pirates. Aurelia listened intently, but was slightly distracted by the way he said certain lines, the intensity of his eyes, the little smirk, his body posture, his voice, everything. She fell more in love with him every second she was with him.
They ended up talking all night, with Aurelia refilling their cups and Killian help wipe down the tables as they swapped stories and opinions about everything.
As Aurelia finished her coffee she yawned, and Hook glanced at the clock.
"It's nearly 4am" he said casually.
Aurelia blinked. "Wow, you're right. Oops. I should probably lock up and try and get some sleep, I start at 7 tomorrow" she groaned.
"And that is why I don't work" he said.
"Because you're lazy and just steal other peoples money instead?" she retorted.
"I don't steal it exactly, if it' just sitting there…" he shrugged.
As they walked out of the shop, Killian turned to face Aurelia.
"That was… nice" she said, looking down at the ground. "I guess I'll see you around"
"Sure thing, love" he said, strolling off. She didn't see him glance back at her, sighing.
The nights started to repeat. Sometimes Aurelia would be busy so they'd have a quick word, or Killian was working on the ship, but when she worked alone at night he would come in and they would talk. One night, Killian told her about his father, and how they had planned to travel across the realms, but his father abandoned him, because he was afraid of being captured. Aurelia told Hook about the queen killing her village, and how her aunt and two best friends were dead. Sometimes they'd share a bottle of rum, or sit on the docks with their feet in the water, talking about life. One night, he reached over and held her hand, looking surprised at himself.
After that, Aurelia stopped seeing Killian. He never came into Grannies, she never saw him in the street. The other day she was walking along with the mother superior when he caught her eye and ignored her, walking off. She excused herself and went after him.
"Hey, what's up with you?" she said, sitting on the side of his ship.
"I don't have time to chat, dollface" he said "So you can scoot on now, I'm busy"
"Alright…" she said, hopping off and feeling embarrassed. "Didn't have to be such a dick about it" and walked off.
She didn't notice him punch the wall after she left in anger.
After explaining the story to Ruby, Aurelia expected comfort, but got a unpleasant reply of "I'm sorry hun, that's really shitty but I have to go" and walked out the door.
Aurelia moped around all night.
Ruby walked down the streets, down to the docks. She saw Hook and some men trying to fix one of the beams.
"HEY YOU" she called "PIRATE, C'MERE"
He walked down. "Yes?" he said, looking bored.
"What's the deal with Aurelia?" she said "I don't want to be a pushy best friend, but decent guys don't make friends with girls one minute then are complete pricks to them next"
"Maybe I'm not a decent guy then doll" he said, turning away.
"You don't know anything, do you? You have utterly no idea what's going on" she said hysterically.
"What are you talking about? I really don't have time for this" he said.
"oh, I'm glad you lost your memory" she said bitterly.
"Memory? Mines perfectly intact, thank you very much"
"No, it's really, really not. Think about it, where were you last month?"
He frowned "Well, I don't know exactly, probably sailing somewhere"
"No. Why don't you ask Rumplestiltskin what happened? I would say ask Aurelia but vermin like you shouldn't be near her" she said angrily, walking off.
Hook stood there, confused. It made sense. He hadn't told anyone, hadn't asked, but there was a large gap in his memory. he'd asked Smee and some others, but they didn't say something, but he felt they were hiding something from him. Then he started walking.
He knocked at Gold doors.
When the crocodile answered, the two men stood there, glaring at each other.
"I'd heard you came back to town" rumple said, leaning against the doorway. "Not trying to kill me again, are you?"
"Perhaps" Hook gritted his teeth.
"The last time I saw you was with your precious little mermaid in your arms I believe. Didn't work out too well now, did it?" Gold said.
"What're you talking about? Mermaid?" Hook said.
"You've lost your memory too" Gold stated. "Oh, how tragic for Aurelia. It gets better and better"
"Aurelia? Look, I haven't lost my memory? I just want answers for gods sake" he said.
"Like I'd give you answers" Gold said.
"Be careful, crocodile. Be careful" Hook pointed at him, walking away.
As he stalked off angrily, he bumped into mother superior.
"Oh! Excuse you!" she said, getting no reply "Well, someones in a bad mood. Take that foul scowl off your face and come with me" she said, pulling his arm.
"Tea, coffee?"
"Nothing, thank you" Hook said, straining the words "Why have you dragged me here?"
"Coffee it is. Now drink up. I expect things have been confusing for you lately, people telling you you've lost your memory and whatnot" she said.
"I just want to fix my ship and get out of here. I'm tired with Storybrooke" Hook said
"Oh stop being so moody" she said "You're actually not disliked here, y'know. You could make a home here. Family"
"My home is at sea and I don't do families" he said bluntly, looking at his hook.
"Drink your coffee. Well, that's nice" she said, watching him drink.
He took a sip.