A/N: I apologize for taking so long to get another chapter up. It has been hectic over my way and I have yet to have a second to catch up anymore. But I thank all of you for being patient with me. A huge thank you to my beta, Steph-the-fangirl, who takes time out of her own busy schedule to do any editing. I hope all of you enjoy. I am currently working on the next chapter and hopefully that won't take as long to update.

Disclaimer: I do not own the main characters, as they belong to the franchise of Once Upon A Time.

Chapter 23:

Emma wasn't exactly sure why but she felt restless. She'd been that way since that morning when she and Robin had left Killian by the fountain. Her conversation with Regina that afternoon didn't ease any of the feelings either.

Regina had found Lily in a diner. She had found her there after almost having an accident in her car. A wolf had run out of the woods in front of Regina causing her to skid and puncture her tire. Deciding stopping to eat was the best bet for Roland while the car was fixed, Regina sat down to order and found a star on the wrist of the waitress. The same star Emma had described for her from her memories of Lily.

There was something off about the woman, Regina claimed, other than the use of another name, so Regina stole into the woman's place later that day while Roland was sleeping. Inside she had discovered maps and photos. They were speculations, and close ones, of where Storybrooke may be in Maine. The pictures were torn out of story books, fairytales to be exact, and had Snow White and Prince Charming's faces exed out and connected to a photo of Emma when she was younger. Hearing all of that made Emma regret that she hadn't been there to go with Regina and try to stop Lily herself. Being a Savior wasn't helping her or her family while she was in Rome and there was nothing she could do to protect them, except to rely on Regina, who was bringing Lily back to Storybrooke to meet Maleficent.

Not wanting to sit and contemplate any more about what she couldn't do, Emma rose from her bed and left her room. Knocking on Robin's door, she had one purpose, to get out of the house alone.

"Emma?" Robin inquired as he answered his door. "What's going on?"

"Killian called," Emma lied. "I'm supposed to meet him at the café."

"Let me grab my jacket. I'll walk over with you."

Emma reached out and grabbed Robin's arm as he turned, shaking her head. "It's only a couple of blocks. I'll be fine. He knows I'm coming."

His eyes questioned hers. "Are you sure?"

Nodding this time, Emma told him she was. Emma hated lying to him but if she didn't get out of there she was going to go insane.

After she left the boarding house, Emma wandered the streets of Rome. The afternoon quickly passed into evening and Emma stopped to purchase some food from a street vendor. As she ate, music began to pulse from somewhere nearby. Fascinated, Emma trashed the rest of her food and followed the sound.

The music was coming from a small bar. Emma slipped inside and sidled up to the bar. Still not being fluent, Emma pointed to a bottle of rum she recognized. The bartender smiled and poured her the drink. This was exactly what she needed. Taking a sip, she winced at the strong bite of the liquor and looked around. It may not be the quietest spot but it was where Emma could forget for a while and she needed that today more than anything else. To silence the thoughts in her head. Thoughts of her parents and Storybrooke. Of Henry. Of Lily and Regina. And most of all thoughts of the man she loved and might never see again.

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"Killian! What are you doing here? Where's Emma?"

Turning from his discussion with Signora Assante, Killian found Robin behind him with a worried frown. It was that expression that caused his own heart to leap in his chest, unsure of what may have happened in his absence. "Isn't she with you? I haven't spoken to her since this morning."

Robin cursed. "She told me that you called and told her to meet you at the café a couple of hours after lunch." Robin began to pace, his hands tugging at his hair as he turned. "Do you think something may have happened to her? I knew I should have gone with her."

"Robin." Killian walked up to him and caught him by the shoulders. "We'll find her. We have before."

"Right. Of course." Relief began to spread over Robin's face. "I just don't wish to have to call her parents and tell them something happened to her. Let alone Henry. All of them are struggling enough as it is." Robin kicked out at the bottom of the kitchen counter. "Regina is going to kill me."

"From what you have told me about the Evil Queen, that's more likely to happen then the conversation with Emma's parents." Killian bit back on his tongue, trying his best to sound calm as he was taught in seminary. He didn't want Robin to know his heart had almost stopped beating when he found out Emma was gone. "Let's get our things and decide where we will each go looking."

It was then that Signora Assante chimed into their conversation. "I will remain close to the phone, Padre. She may come back as you search."

"Thank you, Signora."

"She's mi familia." Signora Assante's hands fiddled with her ever present apron. "I worry too. Go."

It was midnight and Killian and Robin still hadn't found her. The last time they checked in with each other was a half hour ago but neither had even picked up a trail of where she could have gone. And Killian's last call to Signora Assante an hour ago, didn't settle his worried mind, since Emma had yet to show up at the boarding house either.

Every step he took brought him father from the area where they all stayed and that had his blood pressure rising. Would Emma have even traveled this far? And if she did, would she have done it on her own? He just knew he had to find Emma and she had to be safe. Killian had prayed all afternoon for that without even knowing she'd be gone before his return. And had not Father Bastian showed up when he did, Killian might have still remained in prayer for several more hours.

Two days from now he had a ticket to leave Rome. He was supposed to head back to Storybrooke until a replacement was found for his position. In truth, a substitute had already been discovered but Killian had requested a leave of time before the new Father showed. Killian wanted that time to spend with Emma. To know he had seen the woman he loved home to the people who loved her. People who couldn't include him. No, he had already given his heart to his profession and he had to get it back to serve the people he was about to be assigned to in the future. Otherwise, his heart and his mind would be forever linked to her. It was never easy to convince someone to give you your heart back and he had no doubt that this would be the hardest thing he had ever done. But more than that he had to convince himself that he had to stop loving Emma Swan, because whether he had his heart in his possession or not, without cease, he would love her until the day he died otherwise.

Shaking such melancholy thoughts to the side, Killian looked around the strange area of Rome. A part he had never traveled to before. Right now, he had to find her before the demon could. And with that though firmly planted in his head, he headed down one more street. Finding nothing that would draw Emma's interest, he had every intention of turning back.

Or he would have had a silver wolf with one blue and one green eye not stepped in his path. How the animal was even in such a city was beside the point. It looked hungry. Despite the cats that overran the city, the wolf's interest seemed firmly planted on Killian as it approached. Killian retreated further down the dark road he had been travelling. As the animal's lips pulled back into a snarl, Killian's ears heard music. It seemed to be coming from a place nearby. With one last cautious glance in the direction of the wolf, Killian turned and hid in the shadows, using them to skulk to the place where the music emanated.

In a sad part of the city, where locals dominated and travelers dared not go, Killian discovered a sad little brick building containing a tavern. Pushing past a couple of men who were in discussion, Killian entered the smoke filled room. The cloud invaded his lungs and pulled the breath from him. Still, there was something that drew him further in.

As late as it was, Killian wasn't surprised to find the crowd beginning to thin. However, it had sounded much more populated by the sounds that had filtered out to him when he had been outside. With his eyes adjusting slowly to the lighting and his body recovering from the smoke laden air, Killian took in more of his surroundings. He hadn't gotten far in his perusal when the one thing he had been searching for was found. Emma.

Her body was pressed against some man in an imitation of an act better left for bedrooms. However, from the way everyone else around them acted, he assumed it was meant to be dancing. Despite the subtle yellow lighting, Killian began to see a fog of red.

If asked he'd never be able to tell anyone how it happened, but he found himself before her while her dancing partner lay splayed across the floor at their feet. Killian's breaths came out in huffs as if he had come from running a marathon.

"Killian?" He felt her hand on his arm as she tugged at his coat. "Killian!"

With a shake of his head, to clear it, he turned to her. Her eyes though glazed from drink, appeared worried. "Swan, at last."

"Let's get out of here." He allowed her to pull him from the establishment and down the road into a dark alleyway nearby.

When he was outside, Killian realized two things. His hands were shaking and the knuckles of his right hand were bleeding. Killian watched as Emma handed him her coat and maneuvered around inside her sweater. Finally, her white tank top appeared in one of her hands as she pushed them back through the sleeves. Emma took her coat back from him and shrugged it back over her shoulders, fixing her long blonde hair so it hung over them as well.

"Give me your hand," she told him.

"Why?"

"You're hurt." She none to gently pulled his hand up and examined his knuckles. "Of course you never have your rum when we need it anymore. I should have grabbed something before we ran out of the bar."

Emma sighed and began to roll up her thank. When she pulled his hand tighter in her grasp, he winced. She wrapped the white cotton around his hand and tied it. "It's not as pretty of a knot as yours but then you can probably tie a knot with a cherry if you wanted to."

"Why would I do that?"

She smiled up at him. "It's not important. It's just something people do to prove something. Not that you have anything to prove."

"Prove what?"

"Nothing." Emma finished with his hand and let him go.

"Tell me." Killian reached out to her but she stepped back and shook her head.

She hurried to the corner of the alleyway and glanced around before turning back to him. "Seriously, it's not important."

"You've piqued my curiosity." He had no idea why he was chasing this subject that she seemed to regret bringing up. It was probably nerves more than anything. Or relief in knowing she was okay.

"Too bad. We need to go."

Killian walked over to her. "Either tell me now or we won't be leaving."

"Fine," Emma humphed. A blush crept over her face. "It's just that people tie cherry stems with their tongues to prove how talented they are with it."

"The cherry stem?"

"No, their tongues."

"Ah. Hmm."

Emma whirled on him. "What does that mean?"

Killian held up his hands in defense. "Nothing. I was only wondering if you could do such a thing with your tongue."

"No. Happy now?" She propped her hands on her hips. "Now, can we go?"

He stepped toe to toe with her, their breaths mingling in the cool night air. "We can go, Swan."

"You were going to say something else," she whispered.

She knew him too well, which shouldn't surprise him after all he had heard. "I was going to suggest lessons."

"From you?"

He leered down at her. "Perhaps."

"Well, in that case, I'll head back to the bar and see if someone there is willing to teach me. No sense learning from a priest when there are so many more men who should know what they are doing." Emma turned to go back and his bandaged hand shot out to pull her back.

"You'll do no such thing."

His mouth crashed into hers. Her tongue quickly tangled with his own as he angled his head to deepen their kiss. One of his hands settled at her hips as he settled her tightly against his aching body, while his other buried itself into the strands of her hair. He felt her push him back further into the alleyway away from the lights of the street.

"Make love to me," she insisted as she pressed him to the dank brick building behind him. "Now. Here."

Killian heard himself groan as her fingers raked over his chest. He thought he'd explode before he even realized how far they'd gone when her hand slipped under his waistband and cupped his ass.

"Killian?"

He heard Emma call his name and it sounded far from him when it should have been so close considering she was sharing the same breath as their lips sipped air from each other. Wait. He was kissing Emma. She shouldn't even be able to speak.

"Killian?"

He pushed Emma back and searched her face, but she clawed to pull him back to her. His name was called again and his fogged brain began to realize that this wasn't right. This Emma wasn't right. Her kiss didn't feel like it should.

"Don't listen to that. Just feel." Emma's mouth clamped down on his neck as her hands unbuckled his belt.

"Damn it. I thought I saw him come this way, Robin. Where is he?"

That was definitely Emma's voice. Which meant this woman… this thing… wasn't her. He shoved the image of Emma away watching horrified as she fell to the ground. Not taking his eyes off of the faux-Emma, he called out. "Emma. Robin. Over here."

"You just can't listen, can you, Captain?" the woman hissed at him, her voice sounding much less Emma-like. "One day soon, you will be mine."

A tongue shot of her mouth as she licked her lips in a way that seemed to be tasting him. "Umm. You are delicious. It's too bad I had to put on this face to even get a taste." The woman stood up and swayed toward him. Killian began to back away from her, his hands held up in defense. "Good night, Captain. I'll be seeing you soon."

The image of Emma shimmered away before his eyes as footsteps began to get closer. Killian slunk down into a crouch when Emma and Robin rounded the corner to the alleyway.

"Killian," Robin and Emma called out before they ran toward him.

"Are you okay?" Emma reached him first and tried to touch him but he flinched away from her, making her look at him worried.

"I'm fine."

When Robin reached out a hand to help Killian up, he took it. Killian brushed himself off and buckled his belt, ignoring the questioning looks from the other two.

"What happened?" Robin asked. "One minute we watched as you entered the bar. Before we could call out to you, you had knocked some guy flat and were running out with some woman wrapped around your arm."

Killian shook his head. "It's a long story. Too long for now."

"Well, all I know is I had just discovered Emma in the bar and was about to call you when you came in the first place."

"As I said, it's a long story and right now I could do with some rest." Killian cradled his head in his hands for a moment as he rubbed his aching head. It was all too much to process right now. Even he couldn't quite make himself believe he had actually seen what happened.

Emma looped her arm around his and smiled. "It's going to be okay. I'm sorry I worried you in the first place." She glanced between him and Robin. "Let's head back."

Killian tried not to be affected by her touch. It was simple enough, only her arm tucked inside his, not skin to skin contact. She wasn't the monster. It had worn her face, but it wasn't her. The demon was playing with his mind and causing a rift where there shouldn't be one. He had to make sure that the demon wouldn't come after them again, but Killian much rather it come after him then Emma. Killian had to do everything in his power to make sure she was safe, even if it cost him his own life.