A/N Hey guys, short A/U this morning, I have just got off of a ten hour shift, and am going into one again right after I post this. hope you guys enjoy

disclaimer: I don't own OUAT or any of its characters

The transition into their new life, was harder than they anticipated. It was easier when they were just Emma and Neal, but add in Henry, and everything changed. A toddler made travel cross country difficult. They couldn't just sleep in the car, because if anyone got word of that, someone would take their son away. So, while Neal promised not to steal, they had to find a way to pay for motel rooms, even though they had no money.

The trip to Boston took longer than anticipated, Neal picked up odd jobs along the way. This way, he kept Emma and Henry warm and fed. It was the longest on record, that he had gone without breaking a single law, but every time he felt that urge. The urge to take that easy way out, he looked at Emma, curled in their hotel bed, arms protectively around their son, and he felt a resolve build in him.

Yet again, he found himself at the desk at the motel that they were staying in, and he sighed, running a hand through his hair, as the owner came to the desk.

"Can I help you sir?" He asked, brushing the dust from his hands. "You and your family, aren't checking out yet?" He asked, his eyes flicking to the bug, as though thinking he would already has his family packed away. "You paid for the full night. I do not do refunds."

Neal chuckled. "Nah, I was actually going to ask." He fidgeted a little. "We're, well, we're a little short on cash, and I'd be willing to do some odd jobs. I won't ask for handouts. You can pay me, what you think I've earned."

The owner bit his lip. "So you've come to ask for a job? I thought you folks, were on your way to Boston?"

Neal nodded. "We are, but I got just enough, to put a down-payment on an apartment… The kid's gotta eat, and I can't let my wife down again."

After another moment, the owner nodded. "I think I can find some things that need fixing. You are good at fixing things, right?"

Neal beamed. "Sir, I can do whatever you want me to do" he confirmed.

"Another condition. You and your family, you will not stay in that room. I have a spare apartment in the back. You will pay for it, with your work, and when you leave, you will owe nothing to this old man."

Neal nodded. "Whatever you want sir. Thank you. You won't regret this"

The owner smirked. "I better not. Now go, I am sure your wife misses you."

Neal took his leave of the man, going back to the room they were renting, unsurprised, to find Emma awake.

"What's going on? Where were you?" She asked tiredly, from her place, still wrapped around Henry.

Neal smiled. "I was talking to the owner. He gave me a job, Boston will have to wait a little while, but I promise, before the year is through, we'll be home." He promised.

~~If I Never Leave~~

Neal was right, it wasn't long. A month after taking up residence in the little apartment, Neal finally had enough for them to make it the rest of the way to Boston.

Emma had been thinking hard about what she wanted to do with her life. She had briefly considered becoming a social worker, to help kids like them in the system, but in the end decided that no social worker had actually ever helped her. Only sent her to another bad home, and blamed her when it didn't work.

Then she looked into becoming a Private Investigator, but really didn't want to only end up doing work, where she was trying to find a cheating ex. Then just as she lost hope, she was on their computer, the one that Neal had bought for her, as a birthday present, a month after they moved to Tallahassee, she found it.

"Hey, babe." She called. "I think I found a way I can make money, and possibly find something on my parents."

Neal sighed, he knew she never gave up hope, that they were out there. He also knew they were out there. Cursed to not even know what they had to give up. He had hoped however, that after Henry came, and they began to build a family of their own, she would let go of the one she never knew.

"How's that?" He asked, curiously. He wasn't sure what sort of job would give her the access to any information that they might have on the parents that in this realm, didn't exist.

Emma looked up and smiled. "A Bail Bondsperson" She told him. "flexible hours. Meaning, you can literally work whenever. I get to grab no goods, that leave their families, and skip bail. I would also be able to set my own schedule, and I also get access to all kinds of documents that I wouldn't get otherwise."

She seemed so excited, it almost hurt, to think of the fact that she would never find anything on her parents, unless the curse put them into the databases, but he very highly didn't think so, but she seemed so bright eyed, that he just knew that her heart would break when she found nothing.

~~If I Never Leave~~

Soon enough though, they made it to Boston, and everything began to fall into place. Emma discovered the best way to keep Neal in line, was the fact she now worked with the law, and promised to take him in herself. She became the apprentice for a Bail bondswoman. While Neal got a job, helping at a landscaping business. Henry continued growing swiftly. Neal saved up every dollar he could, and took Henry and Emma to Martha's Vineyard, for Henry's second birthday.

The little boy loved splashing in the waves, and he could never get tired of the sight of Emma helping Henry collect shells on the beach. He would always remember this trip, he thinks, as he lays back on the hood of the bug, Emma beside him, Henry dozing peacefully between them, as the sun dips into the waves. The last rays glinting off the water making it glitter beautifully.

"Thank you for this." Emma whispered, nuzzling her head into his shoulder.

"For what?" Neal asked softly, in an attempt not to wake the little boy sleeping between them.

Emma was quiet for a moment, and Neal was wondering if she would ever answer, when she sighed.

"All of this?" She responded, her voice barely audible, she turned to face him. "When I was growing up, I was always alone. I thought my entire life that would be the way it would be. Then when I found you, I thought that it wasn't going to last. I thought you would leave me, just like everyone else." She ran a hand through Henry's downy brown hair. "Then when I found out I was pregnant, I thought you would leave again. I have been so afraid of being alone, that I keep feeling surprised, when I wake up and you're still here. I suppose, I'm saying… thank you. Thank you, for not being like everybody else. Thank you for showing me, that not everyone will leave. Thank you, for helping me raise this perfect little boy."

Neal was struck for a moment. Emma could never know. She could never know, how close he came to doing just that. To leaving her, to causing her to be alone with Henry. He thought about what Killian had told him then, she would have given Henry up. She would have thought she couldn't raise him. He held them a little tighter. "You never have to worry about me going anywhere." He promised. It was one promise he intended to keep.

"Good." Emma stated, as she looked back out at the ocean. "Because I would hate to have to hunt you down, and kill you." She told him, mater-of-factly.

Neal smiled, wrapping his arms around the two most important people in the world, and sent a thanks to someone that he might never see again. Because without this second chance, he didn't think he would ever have been able to see the beauty in the world without the beauty laid out beside him, in his little family.

He never thought he would thank the man, who had killed his mother, but without Hook, he wouldn't have any of this. Without Hook, he would have let Emma go.

~~If I Never Leave~~

When they returned from Martha's Vineyard, Neal was at home alone with Henry, and the little boy was being obstinate.

"Story!" the little boy demanded.

Neal sighed. "I already told you, three stories, Henry."

Henry crossed his arms, and did his best glare at his father. "'Nother story!" he demanded.

Neal shook his head. "I said no! That is final!"

Henry's lip quivered. "Pwease, daddy? Pwease? I wanna hear Spinner story!" he whined, tears rolling down his cherub face.

The older man felt his resolve begin to crumble, as the two-year-old began to cry. "Okay, okay." He caved. Neal knew what Henry wanted. "Come on, Spinner." He said, holding open his arms. He called Henry his Spinner, because he was a broken record. He would only take stories from his father, because he was the one with the 'Spinner' story. He would sit on his bed, shaking his head, when Emma tried to tell him a story, shouting over and over. 'Spinner! Spinner!'

Henry ran into his arms, with a happy little exclamation. Henry carried his son to the bedroom, and sat them in the rocking chair in the corner. This had become a regular setting in the Cassidy home. Henry loved his stories, and since the first night, two years before, they had sat in this chair and he told him about the sad Spinner, who loved his family more than life. "Alright, Spinner. I'll tell you a story. I told you the one about the Spinner and his wife last night. How about I tell you…" he tapped his chin thoughtfully. "I'll tell you, the story of the Spinner and his son."

Henry clapped his chubby little hands together. "Yay!"

Neal shook his head. "I'll only tell you, if you promise to try and fall asleep."

Henry nodded. "I promise, daddy."

The older man smiled, ruffling his son's hair, as he pulled a blanket up, and tucked it around the two-year-old. "Once upon a time" He began, as he always did, Henry was rapt with attention. The irony wasn't lost on Neal, that Henry's favorite stories, were his family history. "There was a crippled Spinner, and his son. They lived very happily. Well, as happily as you could, as outcasts from the people. They lived a happy life on the outskirts. That is, until the Spinner's son, came to the age that he would have to go and help fight in the Ogre's war, as his father had before him."

Henry yawned, a wide o. "The Spinner couldn't let his son go to that war. Nobody ever returned from the Ogre's war, save those that never made it to the front." Neal continued. "The Spinner would do anything to protect his son, the way he never could for his wife. He had heard tales of a great sorcerer, one that could put an end to the war. The only problem was, that a treacherous king held the one thing that held power over the sorcerer. The Spinner made plans to try and take control of the sorcerer, but first he had to find out where the item that held power over the sorcerer."

Henry had popped his thumb in his mouth, as Neal spoke, and already seemed to be drifting off to sleep. "The Spinner searched for the secret of the Dark One, determined to rescue his son from the grasps of the Ogre's war. When he finally found the weapon, a dagger that bore the true name of the sorcerer, and could control him. The Spinner snuck his way into the palace, and stole the dagger, setting the palace aflame." Neal paused, and Henry looked up at him, proving his theory wrong, when he believed the boy had fallen asleep. "The Spinner stole into the woods with his prize. Once he was far enough away from the palace, he used the dagger, and called the Dark One to him. There was one thing he didn't expect from the feared sorcerer, and that was the fact the man seemed despaired. He had been the Dark One for so long, that he sought freedom. He offered the Spinner a deal. Rather than stop the Ogre's war for him, he offered to teach the Spinner how to end the war himself. How to become the hero, his wife always wished he would be."

"The Spinner wanted to know how this could be possible, and the Dark One told him the one thing, that would change his life forever. He told the Spinner 'If you take my power, you will be able to fight this war for your son.' The Spinner would do anything for his son, so he took the deal the Dark One offered, and he took the darkness from the man, and became a grand sorcerer." Henry had dozed in his arms, but he continued to rock. "Only as the Spinner would learn. All magic comes with a price. Some prices are bigger than others, as the Spinner would soon learn."

Neal stopped rocking, when he felt gentle hands on his shoulders. He smiled up at his wife.

"Hey there. What sort of adventures did the Spinner have tonight?" Emma asked, as she gently lifted the sleeping toddler out of his arms, and expertly deposited him into his crib, tucking his blankets around him.

Neal smiled. "He went on the scariest adventure of all. He stopped a war." He explained.

Emma shook her head. "You should write those stories down. You could get rich." She told him. "Children's books are big sellers."

Neal chuckled. "I only care about one kid's bedtime story." He told her, withholding the fact, that even if he wanted to, he would never put his childhood out there for everyone to know. It was Henry's history. He was the only one that had to hear it.

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