A/N Would you guys hate me and never read this again if I told you that I wrote the chapter after this and this is Part 3 of 4 in the Captain Swan separation? Please don't kill me, it just came out that way. So this is where we meet Neal, Killian and Henry bond and the New York trip ends.

Chapter 24: Reunion of All Ages

Emma stood stock still as she surveyed the situation. Gold was a mixture of confusion and annoyance; he clearly didn't like his reunion with his son being overshadowed by the saviour's reunion with some unknown individual who also happened to know his son. Bailey watched the blonde curiously, turning his head to flick his gaze between her and his friend. And Neal, he was relieved and surprised all at the same time.

He stepped forward towards the door and Emma turned to Gold.

"I'll wait outside."

She turned on her heel, walking quickly down the stairs to the ground floor. She could hear as Neal followed her, his footfalls echoing in the empty building. They were going down the first flight of stairs when she spun around abruptly, looking up at him.

Before she could speak, he cut her off, "Emma, please. Give me a second to explain." Neal walked down a couple of steps, opening his arms beseechingly.

"No. No you don't get that option, Neal." Her words were acidic as she watched the planes of his face. The features she had memorised so long ago – seemingly in another life. He moved down the stairs closer to her so there were only two steps between them.

"Just give me a minute, I can explain it all. I never wanted to leave you," Neal pleaded, looking desperately down at her. She shook her head, temper bubbling violently under the surface.

"What is there to explain, Neal? You let me take the fall for your crime, I went to jail for you!" Emma replied fervently, leaving out the detail of her having been pregnant with his child in jail. Henry did not need to know this asshat.

"I know! I know and I regret letting you go every day but I needed to let you go so you could fulfil your destiny!" The mention of destiny made the woman pause, what the hell?

"What shit are you trying to pull now?" she asked, looking angrily into the eyes she had once sworn were filled with love. Now though, she didn't trust her instincts around him. Not when she'd been so wrong before.

"I'm not pulling anything, Emma. This guy, August, told me –"

"August?" Emma asked, recognising the name of the guy she'd watched turn into an inanimate wooden object. Neal took the window of opportunity to continue speaking.

"Yes, you know him? Well he came to me that night I left you and told me about the curse and your destiny. I had to leave Emma, I had to or you would never have broken it," he explained rapidly, walking down another step closer to her. She noticed his movement and, shaking her head in denial, turned to continue walking down the stairs.

When she reached the ground floor she whipped around to face him, hot angry tears pooling in her eyes. She restrained them, letting the anger boil over in her.

"You knew I was abandoned by my parents! You knew I had a shitty childhood! You could have fought for me!" Emma yelled, irrespective of who would hear them. This was too much.

Neal looked at her imploringly, running down the stairs to stand in front of her. His eyes looked pained but nothing would distract her from the truth this time. This time she wouldn't fall for his lies.

"I couldn't let you go down the path we were on, it wouldn't have been right to keep you from your purpose, it was for the greater good," he said quietly, trying to reach out to the blonde woman in front of him. She swallowed her tears and jerked away from his touch as if it were fire.

"You could have come with me, you could have helped me with it," Emma replied, quiet but still resolute. She looked into his eyes until they dropped to the floor. He knew she was right; there was no excuse for what he did. All that crap about 'the greater good' would do nothing for his case right now. So he opted for another approach.

"I still love you, Emma. I always have…" he said, drifting his eyes back up to her stormy blue ones. She shook her head; those words once would have made her whole – but not now, not after everything she endured because of him. Not now, when her walls were so high and impenetrable that she had trouble letting her goddamn parents in. Not now, when she'd been so cynical that her son had nearly died because of it.

"There was a time when I would have believed that," Emma replied quietly, watching as the dread filled his eyes. They dropped to the hollow of her neck, a spark lightening the melancholy in his pupils.

"Why did you, um," he said, scratching the back of his head, "why did you keep the key chain I got you?" The words were uttered like a soft accusation and she touched the swan resting between her collarbones. Grasping the small pendant, Emma pulled the necklace roughly from her neck and held it out to him.

"To remind me why I can't trust anyone."

He took the chain from her hands, his fingers brushing her hand lightly. The feeling didn't send the electric shock through her the same way it used to. She dropped her hand and silence fell as he tucked the necklace in his pocket. The tension in the room became too much so she walked to the banister and leaned on it. Looking anywhere but him, she abruptly changed the subject.

"How do you know Bailey?" Her voice had changed to the monotonous one of a robot; emotionless and indifferent. That voice was one she'd mastered in her years as a bounty hunter, the one that conveyed purpose and indifference all at the same time. Neal took a minute but eventually faced her, expression neutral with a lot of effort.

"August introduced me to him years ago. We've been friends for a while now."

"How did August know Bailey?"

"He met him through the system, he was one of the boys that August ran away with when they left you alone," he replied, voice quieting at the mention of her abandonment. She winced, thinking about that; the second time she'd been given up and she was only three months old. Emma was a master of control though, and quickly resumed the unaffected façade.

"What were you arguing about, before?" she asked and Neal frowned.

"Are you seriously interrogating me right now?" he asked, slightly angry. What had he expected when she eventually saw him again? Because he had always intended to reunite with her. A cold hard person was not what he had anticipated; anger definitely, grief definitely, betrayal certainly. But this guarded woman with a stoic tone was foreign to him. This wasn't the Emma he knew – she had changed.

"I'm trying to figure some stuff out, Neal. The least you could do after everything that happened is tell me what you were arguing about? We've been looking for that guy all day," she replied.

Neal sighed, running his hand through his dark shaggy hair, "He came to tell me he needed to stay at my place for a couple of days and I told him I was leaving and that he couldn't stay. So we argued, he was trying to avoid someone or something – I'm guessing it was you."

Emma nodded but was stuck on something he said, "Why were you leaving?"

His eyes flicked up to meet hers, "I was coming to Storybrooke to see you. When August convinced me to leave you, he told me he'd let me know when the curse was broken."

She looked to the side, avoiding his gaze. This was too much.

"Why were you looking for Bailey?" Neal asked, curious and slightly jealous. Emma heard the envy seep into his tone and raised a brow.

"That man up there is the reason the curse was made. His father, the guy I'm with, is the most powerful son of a bitch in this realm and I came with him to help him find his son. We found him earlier but lost him and then we came here and… well here we are," she said, gesturing to the landing they were standing on, "Has he ever talked about his father?"

"No… well he's mentioned it. I know it wasn't a clean separation – apparently his father abandoned him, broke a deal or something. Bailey hasn't seen him since he was fourteen."

"Any idea why he'd be so desperate to avoid his dad?"

"You tell me. Before you found out your parents were cursed did you want to meet the people who gave you up?" Neal replied abruptly. The father of her child talking about Fairy-tale Land and curses could have made Emma laugh if she wasn't still so confused about everything.

Footsteps behind them made her stand straighter and turn around. Gold was walking down the stairs, followed hesitantly by the man named Bailey. Calling him Bae would be too weird.

"Miss Swan, we're ready to leave," he announced, happy and sad at the same time. Bailey had obviously agreed to come to Storybrooke but he was still wary of his father; and justifiably so. Emma nodded and turned back to Neal.

Speaking to Gold, she said "Let's go."

Neal watched her walk towards the door, followed by Bailey and Gold. They had all just reached the sidewalk when he came bustling out of the front door, "Wait!"

Emma was the first to turn around and narrow her eyes, "What are you doing?"

"I'm coming with you. I'm coming with you because we need to talk about this," he indicated to the both of them meaningfully, "and this time I'm fighting for you." His words were laced with pride and determination – and she was having none of it. The blonde shook her head at his misplaced confidence. Just because he'd finally grown a pair, didn't mean she was willing to accept him.

"No you aren't."

"Yes he is," Bailey interrupted, looking between Emma and Neal, "he's the only person I really trust. He's coming with us."

"No. He's not," the saviour said forcefully, turning on Gold and his son. The wiry man gave Emma a wry look before waving his hand at Neal.

"Come along then," he said, he turned to Emma and spoke softer, "if this is what it takes to make my son come with us then you will deal with it, dearie." Her blood boiled and she jumped into the cab that Bailey had hailed. Sliding over so she was pressed against the door, the blonde kept her eyes trained outside as the three men entered the vehicle as well. Neal sat in the front and peaked back at his ex every-so-often.

He didn't bring any bags, the decision had been a split second but he figured he could borrow or purchase clothes when they arrived in Maine. The cab trip back to the hotel was silent again, interrupted occasionally by the sound of the cabbie yelling at other drivers.

It was night-time when they reached the hotel. Gold was swift in packing up his items, his son assisting him intermittently with some of the heavy-lifting. Emma packed in silence, rejecting Neal's assistance. She could feel his gaze on her and it kicked at her temper even more. This was too much.

They were back downstairs within twenty minutes, hailing a cab and on the way to the airport.

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"Always keep an eye on your heel and make sure you regularly trim the sails," Killian said, using the nautical terms he had taught Henry. They had spent nearly all afternoon on a small boat that the pirate had conveniently 'commandeered.'

The young lad was a natural, assisting the captain to work the vessel with ease. Pride emanated from him as he watched the boy move around, adjusting ropes, surveying his work.

"Your grandparents would hate me telling you this but I think you'd make a better pirate than prince, lad," he said, grinning at the boy. He returned the smile and walked up to Killian, sea legs already developed.

"Yeah, gramps would probably have a heart-attack if I told him you were taking me sailing. Thanks, by the way. Ever since that guy beat up my Mum they've been hovering over me – I can't do anything," Henry said, slightly bitter as he mentioned the over-protective tendencies of his family. He knew they cared about him but he was still a young prepubescent boy on the cusp of adolescence; that granted him the right to feel hard done by.

The reminder of Talice's presence made Killian growl unintentionally and the boy looked up at him, surprised but not afraid.

"What's wrong?" he asked, watching the pirate's expression intently.

"I just hope they find the bottom feeder that hurt your mother, soon."

Henry smiled lightly, "You really care about her, don't you?" The question caught Killian off guard; he had admitted as much to himself a short time ago before Emma left with Gold. It was still a confusing feeling that he didn't feel like discussing but this was her boy and he was bloody perceptive. He wouldn't be surprised if the young boy could also discern lies from the truth.

"Yes, but your mother is a very complex person, Henry."

"I know, she has a hard time letting people in. But I think she cares about you too," he said candidly, moving away to check on the ropes and sail again. The lad was a good sailor.

"You wouldn't happen to know why she is the way she is, would you?" Killian asked curiously, if there was anyone who would know why Emma had so many barriers it was her son. But he shook his head disappointedly.

"Nah, she doesn't really talk about it. I mean, I know Graham's death hit her pretty hard and my Dad died too so…" he said, letting his thoughts be verbalised.

"What happened to them?" the pirate asked, trying to piece together the strands of Emma's past that Henry was providing. He could understand being hurt by someone's death but her issues went far deeper than that. The trust issue she possessed was ingrained in her to such a level that even her parents were distant. Someone had chosen to leave her.

"Well… my Dad died on the job, he was a fire-fighter. And Graham… when my other Mom was still evil she crushed his heart. I'm pretty sure Emma was with him when it happened."

Killian stopped at the revelation, eyes widening slightly. She had watched someone she cared about die in her arms in the exact way he had. He remembered holding Milah as the last breath of life departed her body, desperately wishing there was something he could do; anything. The thought that Emma had shared that same fate of watching a loved one die, it made his heart freeze in his throat. Sharing that experience made them similar in a morbid way he wished that they weren't.

But something still confused him; that night on the boundary she had basically admitted that someone had left her of their own volition. So how was it that the two people who had died in her life were both accidents? Why should she feel betrayed if there was nothing they could do about it? It didn't make sense, but he didn't probe the boy. Henry didn't know anything else.

Next chapter they're all back in Storybrooke! I love you all for reading this and you have no idea how wonderful it is to see the reviews and to know that you guys actually like my writing. It's crazy and incredibly fulfilling. Get keen for Chapter 25: His Mother's Features – and I pinkie swear that after that chapter they will be conversing and interacting. I just need to get some stuff out of the way and when I did the preliminary stuff it was 3,000 words and I couldn't have a 4,000 word chapter so our lovebirds' reunion is postponed to Chapter 26: Calm Before the Storm.