Chapter Forty-Four: Pain in the Neck

Neal and Gold had their three minutes to talk, but it did no good for either of them. Neal's continued animosity towards his father only pushed him further away. He wanted Gold out of his apartment, but Jack managed to convince him to stay a little longer for Henry's sake. If there was one good thing to come from all of this for Neal, it was finding out that he had a son who he could share the day with. Neal decided it was best for him and Henry to go out and grab a pizza. Jack and Gwen accompanied Neal and Henry to the location of the pizza parlor on Neal's invitation; Gold did as well, despite not being invited by his estranged son. When they arrived there, only Gwen went inside with Neal and Henry, while Harkness and Gold stayed outside and waited.

"It's a sad truth that the people closest to us are the ones capable of causing us the most pain." Gold told Jack. "Miss Swan would agree with me…if she were here. She's gonna be awfully despondent when she returns to her happy yet angry son."

"Give Henry some time." Jack remarked. "He'll forgive her the moment she comes back. I can only imagine how he feels – gaining one parent, but still lost with another."

Gold agreed with a nod. "Wish I could say the same for my son. The two of us certainly have a long way to go." After a discouraged pause, he then requested to Harkness, "I need you to speak to him. Try and convince him to come back to Storybrooke with us."

"Whoa, whoa. I am done doing any more favors today. Alright?"

"Not even if it means getting the Doctor back there?"

Jack scoffed, seeing through Gold's deception. "Nice try. Neal doesn't know any way of getting the Doctor back to Storybrooke. Believe me, I checked."

"And you believed him?"

"What would he have to hide?"

"Seeing that this is the man who went through an awful lot to keep himself hidden, I'd wager that he has quite a bit to hide, Captain Harkness. If he told you that there's nothing else the Doctor told him, then he's fooling you."

Jack began to believe Gold's suspicion. "O.K. Say that your wild paranoia is right. Why would he keep valuable information like that from me? I've known him just as long as you or anyone else has. He can trust me."

"This isn't about you, Captain. If you knew the only way to bring someone like the Doctor back to Storybrooke was by going there, knowing that it would entail bringing someone whose life you ruined eleven years ago also, would you really take that type of risk?"

Harkness never considered that fact until that very moment. He sighed, irritated over the idea of Neal refusing to help bring the Doctor back to Storybrooke because of his failed relationship with Emma. It was a selfish act to Jack, who expected better from Neal. If getting the Doctor back meant getting Neal to put aside his past with Emma and see reason, then Jack knew he would have to try harder in order to do it. There was a purpose for the Doctor leading Jack to Neal in his attempt at returning to Storybrooke, and he was determined to find out how the son of Rumplestiltskin could do it.

After he and Henry had their pizza, Neal wanted to show him the Museum of Natural History but first had to go back to his apartment to retrieve his camera. On the way there, Jack took an opportunity in chatting privately with Neal while Gwen, Henry, and Gold walked a few steps ahead of them, out of earshot. He decided on a casual approach, not wanting to make it sound obvious that he was looking for answers from Neal again. "So, uh, looks like we'll be heading back home pretty soon…to our home…in Storybrooke."

Neal was a bit disappointed from this. "When I'm just gettin' to know the son I never knew I had?"

"Well…maybe…you should come with us." Jack made sure the delivery in his suggestion was not too obvious.

"To Storybrooke?" Neal sounded surprised.

Jack realized at that point that the subtle approach was not working. "Look, Neal, let's just be honest here – you don't have a lot going on here in Manhattan."

"Looks can be deceiving, Captain."

"I know that you don't want to help me get the Doctor back because of Emma." This statement brought the two men to a halt just a few feet away from the entrance to Neal's apartment. Neal sighed in aggravation, expecting the subject to have come up again. "Bringing him back means bringing her back and facing your past, I get that. But don't you think what's going on in Storybrooke now means more than whatever relationship you two used to have?"

Neal was about to answer him directly until Henry stepped in. "So, Neal, do you think we can take the subway to the museum?"

"Yeah, sure. Of course." Neal tried his best to sound enthusiastic for his son, but Jack could tell he was put off from their interrupted exchange. "Let's go get that camera." He shot the immortal captain a sharp look that told Jack the conversation was far from over. They followed Henry, Gwen, and Gold into the lobby of the apartment complex.

Jack and Gold waited in the lobby while the others were upstairs. "So…did you talk to him?"

"I'm working on it."

"Well, work a little harder, Captain Harkness."

"Hey, if you have any suggestions, then I'd be happy to—ACK!"

Gold suddenly saw Jack's face register a look of extreme agony and surprise before the immortal fell to the ground with a loud thud. He saw a large gaping hole in Jack's neck, punctured by something sharp enough to tear through flesh. While Harkness lied on the floor and bled to death, Gold soon found himself face-to-face with Hook. The pirate violently shoved him against the front gate and dug his hook deep into his chest. Gold gasped from the excruciating pain.

Killian brought the blood-stained hook back out, positioning it high over his head for the killing blow. "Tick-tock. Time's up, crocodile. You took Milah…my love, my happiness. And for that, I now take your life."

BAM!

Before Killian could bring his hook down on Gold again, he was quickly taken down by a single bullet to his right shoulder, fired by Gwen. Hook fell away from Gold and landed hard on the floor, groaning in pain. Gwen dashed through the front gate, bypassing Gold to end Hook's suffering with a swift kick to the head, knocking the pirate out cold.

Neal, hearing the gunshot, rushed to the scene. "What the hell is going on?" Moving through the gate, he was shocked to find his gravely wounded father slumped against the bars and bleeding from his chest. "Papa?"

"This madman stormed in and attacked your dad." Gwen notified.

Looking over to the unconscious pirate, Neal recognized him instantly. "Hook."

His capability in identifying the attacker surprised Gwen. "You know him?"

"Jack!" Neal exclaimed, seeing the currently deceased body of the immortal captain lying in a pool of his own blood nearby. "Oh, damn."

"Jack will be fine, Neal. He's been through worse." Gwen assured. "We just need to get your father upstairs and away from 'Hook' right now."