A/N: Thank you to everyone who has been along for the ride on this story. I hope this chapter lives up to your expectations as I have been sick and I wasn't really feeling this chapter as much as I should. And a thank you to Stephanie, steph-the-fangirl-925, my beta, who tries to make sure that the chapters hold up for your reading pleasure.

Disclaimer: I do not own the main characters within this story. They belong to the franchise of Once Upon A Time.

Chapter 12:

After the events at the café, Emma was looking forward to a quiet night. Not that she wasn't intrigued to know what would've happened had Killian returned for dinner but she was desperate to read more of the book. Emma sensed that tonight answers were about to be unraveled.

Dinner seemed to take forever to finish. Of course, the fact that most of the conversation concentrated on plans for Lent, allowed time for Emma's mind to roam. She wondered over what she might discover in tonight's reading. Okay, if she was honest with herself, her mind kept flashing back to the café and the kiss she shared with Killian. A restrained Killian who almost seemed on the brink of being the man she remembered. The man she missed terribly.

"Signorina Swan, are you ready?"

Emma jumped at the sound of her name and glanced up to see Signora Assante rising from the table. Emma frowned remembering that she couldn't just run off to listen this evening as much as she wanted to. "It's actually my turn to help clean up tonight. Can we meet after that?"

"I'll help tonight in your stead," the young Australian cleric chimed in.

Emma smiled at him. "You don't have to do that."

"I insist."

"Thank you," Emma told him sincerely.

He grinned at her and Emma felt suddenly guilty at taking advantage of his good will. "Maybe this weekend you can grace me with your presence for lunch in exchange."

Emma was about to come out with some excuse as to why that would be impossible, when Robin said, "She'd love to."

Glaring at him had no effect whatsoever. Robin smiled at her and inclined his head in the direction of the younger man. Emma turned toward the cleric and twisted her lips into what she hoped was a convincing smile. "I'd love to."

His grin was almost infectious as he collected plates and went into the kitchen. The room began to clear out and Emma approached Robin. "What was that about?"

"You need to get out more. Stop constantly worrying about the ring and Killian and live a little."

Emma crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes as Robin stacked plates. "So, now you're going to act like my father now?"

"Actually," Robin told her with a smile, as he turned back toward her, "I doubt David would be pushing you to go out with him but, since he isn't here and doesn't see the kind of stress you are putting yourself under, I am stepping in."

"The guy is a priest," Emma half-heartedly protested.

"No, Killian's a priest. Mr. Matthew King is a seminarian. He hasn't officially taken his vows."

"Well, that makes a difference," Emma said sarcastically.

"Technically, it does. I've learned a lot from staying here. Emma, it's just coffee with a nice guy. Coffee never hurt anyone."

Emma gave a small snort. "Now you're beginning to sound like August."

"Pinocchio? Why? Were the two of you close?" Robin gave her a questioning glance.

"Somewhat. Maybe." Emma shrugged. "I don't know. In a weird way, I consider him my friend. He was there for me, pushing me to believe, just like Henry. If it wasn't for him and Henry, I may have left Storybrooke and never came back. I was so scared that I wouldn't be able to help anybody because never once did anyone give me the confidence to realize that I mattered."

Robin set down the dishes he had been piling up and wrapped Emma in his arms. "You have so many people who believe in you. Regina. Me. Your family. Henry."

"Killian," Emma breathed out with a small sob against Robin's chest.

Robin pulled back and smiled at her. "And Killian. Even now, even when he doesn't know why he should."

Emma's smile wobbled on her face and she brushed back a tear. "Thanks."

"Well, I better go help Matthew before he thinks I ran out on him." Robin waved Emma toward the door. "Go find Signora Assante. While we clean up."

Emma turned to go. She told Robin good-night before she left the room.

Heading for the parlor, Emma sighed. Robin meant well but she wasn't ready to move on. Even if it was just for coffee with a nice guy. She had done the nice guy thing before. He later became a flying monkey, as Killian liked to point out frequently, or died, in Graham's case. She had even done the bad boy thing, aka Neal and Hook. Oddly enough, they were the two who stuck around the longest. And the guys in between? Well, those didn't last more than a night or two.

"There you are."

Emma smiled at the older woman perched on the couch. Signora Assante handed Emma the same pair of gloves Emma had worn the last time.

"You ready to begin?" Emma nodded her assent to the woman's question. Signora Assante began to read from where they left off. It was almost an hour later when the woman stopped abruptly. "Here we are. I looked over the book and this is where the story of the ring technically begins."

Emma sat up straighter on the couch and leaned closer to the book so she could see where Signora Assante indicated. "Whose story is that?"

"Princess Anzola and Prince Nicolo. I grew up hearing it called La Principessa Nuvola, The Cloud Princess. In here the story varies from the way I remember it as a child."

"Seems to be a common theme with these books," Emma commented with some sarcasm. "Henry's book is pretty much the same."

"Your son? He has one like this?" the older woman asked with some interest.

"Yes," Emma told her with a smile remembering Henry's obsession with the book and the curse when they first met. "His revolves around Snow White, the Evil Queen and Rumplestiltskin."

"Remarkable. In your son's book did they have children as well? I was amazed to find that in this book characters and stories link together because the characters go beyond the Happily Ever After and tell of them and their children and their own stories."

Emma laughed. "As a matter of fact, you'd be surprised at how related the characters really are."

"Makes me almost wish that these were true. It would amaze me to find out the reason my great grandmother came to possess such a ring was because she came from the land of fairy tales. That she was somehow a part of all of these stories." Signora Assante ran a gloved hand lovingly over the book, her eyes glistening with unshed tears.

"It could be true," Emma said with some hesitation.

Signora Assante laughed. "Next you'll be telling me you're the daughter of Cinderella and Prince Charming."

Emma blushed. "Actually, Prince Charming married Snow White but I'm his daughter all the same."

The older woman's face paled. "No." She pointed a trembling finger toward the door. "Then who is he?"

Emma knew exactly who Signora Assante meant. "Robin Hood. And, yes, he does have Merry Men. It's a lot to take in, I know."

The grey haired Italian woman closed her eyes and then reopened them. "I knew," she said breathlessly. "I've sensed for some time that there was something different about you. My mother always said that each of us had a gift. Hers was the gift of knowledge. She would know things to happen before they did. Mine is the gift of love. I can sense where one's heart lies, even if the people involved do not. Like with you and Father Killian."

Emma tried to deny it. "I… We aren't…"

"You love him and he loves you. This I know. The two of you may be on separate paths at the moment but love will find its way to connect the two of you." Signora Assante wrapped a hand around one of Emma's. "Love and destiny are oft times intertwined."

"I'm surprised you haven't asked who Killian is."

"Does it matter?"

"Not to me," Emma answered truthfully.

Signora Assante squeezed Emma's fingers. "Then it matters naught to me. Let's continue."

"He's Captain Hook," Emma blurted.

"Ah."

"That's it?" Emma glanced at the older woman confused. "Even my parents had a bigger reaction than that."

"As is their right as parents."

"He's a pirate," Emma said just to see if she would get a bigger reaction.

"As one would imagine the actual Captain Hook to be." Signora Assante shrugged like it was every day that she found out a priest living in her house was a fairytale character and a pirate.

"You don't believe me."

Signora Assante gave Emma a soft smile. "On the contrary, I very much believe you. It explains a lot."

"Why? What happened?" Emma was startled. What had been happening that she hadn't seen?

"That young man has a moral code much higher than one would expect from someone in the church. It bodes him well in his current profession but it does not bind him. To say he is a pirate explains much in the way of his character. Not all pirates were bad. Many found that way of life because their current naval status became distasteful to the crew because of the temperament that was to be found on the high seas. The moral compass of many governments were not quite as true as the men who fought for them. Mostly these men called themselves privateers instead of pirates but they were pirates nonetheless. My own family boasted two such individuals, so I have not room to criticize the choices one makes."

"I don't know his history. He rarely speaks of his past. I only know he served under his brother in the navy before Liam died. The reason I know this is because he told my father, not me."

"Then I would presume grief pushed him to become the man he was."

"Probably." Emma considered this but it was too deep for her tiring brain. Instead, Emma pointed to the book. "Shall we continue?"

"Of course," Signora Assante told Emma and began to read.

A story began to unfold of a young princess who lived in a castle among the clouds, who wanted nothing more than to be loved, something she had been deprived of once her mother had perished. Her father kept the princess cloistered away from almost everyone but her nurse and a few select servants. The only time she was even permitted to leave the castle walls was when she travelled with her father to the adjoining kingdom where the giants lived.

It was on one such journey that the princess asked a young giant to escort her down the beanstalk so she could see more of the world. While they were down there, Anzola encountered a young man who told her tales of the world beyond the clouds. But before she could find out more about the man, the giant insisted they must go before they were caught.

Upon arriving back to the giant's castle, Anzola encountered her father. He and the giants had discussed her and her future. She was to marry a prince from a kingdom below the clouds and join their kingdoms as one. Anzola was too upset to protest. This was surely the end of her ever seeing the young man she had lost her heart to again.

When she went to meet her intended, she discovered the prince much resembled the man she had met before. However, where the man she had spent time with was fair, the prince was dark. Where the man smiled easily, the prince seemed almost stern in his regard. The princess's father explained that Anzola was to marry the second son to the king because the first planned to abdicate the throne to become a sailor under his father's fleet. As papers were being drawn, the firstborn son arrived. Anzola was surprised to discover the prince was actually the man she had met when she had travelled down the beanstalk. The man she had lost her heart to in such a short period of time.

Prince Nicolo, upon discovering the woman he had met and scoured the kingdom for, declared that he would become king if only he could marry Anzola. This angered his younger brother who had been groomed for the past several years for the crown, but their father quickly agreed to the match as he had hoped to always have his firstborn lead the kingdom. Prince Guidio, the younger brother, lashed out and stabbed Prince Nicolo.

Anzola, unbeknownst to all but her father, had healing powers that she had inherited from her mother. Wrapping her hair around the wound, Anzola allowed the power from her hair to heal the prince's wound. Guidio vowed revenge and ran from the castle. Several months later Nicolo and Anzola wed. When the princess delivered twins, she secretly went to the fairies and asked for something for her sons that would allow them to find their own True Love. The fairies denied that it was possible and Anzola left disappointed, only to be confronted by a man covered in a cloak, who somehow knew her name.

The man asked if she was still interested in discovering what she sought. When she told him she was, he offered her a deal. In exchange she must give him her hair. Unsure of what she should do, she asked for time to decide. The man agreed, saying he would meet her again inside the woods by the castle before dusk the next night. Anzola barely slept, staring at her babes. The decision was easy. She must give up her hair if she wanted to assure that her children would be lead to their True Loves. Because True Love was a powerful thing and it was what Anzola wished for the most all of her life.

The next night she met the man and agreed to his offer. He laughed as he gripped her hair, hacking it off in one blow of his sword. Tucking the long, blonde hair inside his cloak, he pulled out two identical rings. The silver twinkled in the moonlight as he pressed them into Anzola's palm. She examined them. They were beautiful but simple. A green gem twinkling along the silver band with raised sides. Anzola inquired if they would work. The man cackled and said that if it led her to her own True Love they would most certainly lead her sons to theirs. With a puff of purple smoke the man disappeared.

Anzola walked back to the castle. As she grew closer the green gem began to grow brighter. And when she found Prince Nicolo alone in their bedchambers, they lit up the whole room without the aid of candlelight. These rings were just what she needed for her sons. Tucking them inside her jewel chest, she went and kissed her sons' heads and went to bed.

Signora Assante looked up from the book. "I grow weary. Can we finish tomorrow?"

Emma almost spellbound by the story, blinked rapidly. "Yes, of course."

The older woman handed Emma the book. "You may find the maps inside helpful. Maybe they can help you find more of the answers you seek."

Emma nodded and took the book. "Thank you. For reading. For understanding. For everything."

"You very welcome, signorina. I am enjoying this journey as much as you are." With a smile, Signora Assante turned and left the room.

Emma tucked the book under her arm and went back to her room. It was very late and almost everyone was already asleep. Yawning, Emma grabbed her cell and debated calling her mom. Instead, she took a several pictures of the pages that they just read, as well as one of the map that Signora Assante indicated might be important. Sending them via email to her mother, Emma slipped quickly into her pajamas and slid into bed.

A loud chiming woke Emma. With half-opened eyes, Emma reached for her cell phone that continued its song and dance across the small nightstand. "Hello."

"Emma. It's Regina. I saw the map you sent to Mary-Margaret. We need to talk."