Author's note: LAST NIGHT's ONCE EP. OMG I CANT EVEN BEGIN TO DESCRIBE HOW AMAZING IT WAS. NEXT SUN NEEDS TO COME SOONER.

Thanks to my bff MonkeyLovr for her help on this ch!

Chapter 8

"Daddy!"

Hook smiled as he approached the counter, where a waiting Ruby stood with Ava early the next morning. It was a cold, yet bright day, perfect in every way possible except…well you know.

"Thanks for taking care of her." He said as he lifted the squirming toddler out of Ruby's arms.

"Of course." She shot him a smile. "How's Emma doing?"

"Better." After last night, he was now full of hope again. It was apparent that deep down Emma still remembered him on some level, and it would only be a matter of time before her memories came back and everything could go back to normal.

"That's good." She replied. "I hope she," Ruby lowered her voice. "Remembers soon." She finished, casting a quick look at Ava, who was luckily babbling happily to herself without any indication of having overheard. "Poor Ava's been asking for Emma for a while."

"Well with any luck her memories will come back." Hook responded.

"Bye." Ruby waved to Ava, who waved back cheerily as Hook left the diner, hoping that the next time he came it'd be with a fully recovered Emma.

He held Ava close to his body, inhaling her sweet baby scent. Suddenly, he remembered how much he'd missed her. How could he have not wanted to pick her up? She was everything to him.

"Did you miss me?"

"Yeah." Ava smiled widely, showing off the adorable gap in her teeth. "Missed Daddy."

Something warm flooded through him as she placed a small hand on his face and laughed at the rough texture against her skin. "Where's Mama?"

Hook's insides suddenly froze; he'd been expecting this question but hadn't thought it'd come this fast. "Daddy missed you too." He said quickly, trying to change the subject. "We're gonna have so much fun. How would Ava like to go to the park and feed the ducks?"

"Yay!" Ava squealed, clapping her little hands together. "Ducks!"

Hook breathed a sigh of relief; clearly her short attention span would be of great use.

"Ava sweetie, hold Daddy's hand."

"Up Daddy." Ava said, holding her arms out.

"Ok." Hook smiled taking her into his arms. "Lets go feed those duckies!"

Once they reached the pond, and Ava spotted all the ducks, she held onto Hook tighter.

"No Daddy." She whimpered. "Go back to slide."

"Why sweetie?"

"Duckies scawy."

"They're not, they're cute." Hook soothed. "Here, let me show you." Hook set Ava down next to him and pulled a piece of the loaf of bread.

"Ava, look at Daddy." Hook ordered. He threw the piece of bread, and watched as the duck approached it. "See?" He turned to his daughter. "Duckies are nice." He smiled. "Why don't you try?"

Ava nodded and moved closer to her father. He handed her a small piece. "Throw it Ava."

She did as told and giggled as she saw the ducks approaching it. "Look Daddy." Ava squealed. "More."

Hook laughed and gave her another piece. They were both having so much fun, they didn't notice the time ticking away. It was easily the best day Hook had had in a while; he could feel his tension from the past several days disappearing with every note of Ava's laughter. Soon though, Ava started getting a bit fussy.

"Come on princess, it's time to go." Hook told her once he noticed her starting to fall asleep.

"Why Daddy?"

"It's getting late and you're tired."

"Ava not sleepy." She said stubbornly, holding back a yawn.

Hook laughed as he took her in his arms. She looked so much like Emma when she insisted she wasn't tired as well.

"Come on."

Not five minutes later, Ava was fast asleep in his arms as they drove home. He was so thankful that the day at the park and feeding the ducks had eased his mind and been a distraction for Ava. She hadn't asked about Emma at all anymore, which for the moment was all he wanted.

Hook pulled her blanket, one that looked much like Emma's baby blanket, up around her chin. "Good night, princess." He pushed back her unruly blond strands, and with one last glance, exited the room.

Emma bit her lip as she stared down at the small object in her hand. No, no, no, no no. She was hallucinating. She had to be hallucinating. Right?

One of these things may lie, but five didn't. She was pregnant again.

Not that she hadn't had any suspicions, but she'd been hoping it was just a bad case of food poisoning.

There was a knock on the door. "Emma? You in there?" It was Mary Margaret.

Crap!

"Uh, yeah." She said, her voice taking on that high pitched quality it always did when she was lying. "Just taking a shower."

"Without water?" Mary Margaret teased.

Double crap.

"Is everything ok?" Her mother asked. Emma's eyes widened in horror; the doorknob started to turn. Looked like she'd forgotten to lock it.

"Yeah, don't come in…" She started to say, scrambling to clean everything up, but it was too late.

"Haven't you ever heard of privacy?" She snapped, awkwardly repositioning herself against the sink, hoping her back would hide all the evidence.

Mary Margaret raised her hands up in surrender. "Ok, sorry. Just wanted to make sure that food poisoning isn't back."

"It's not. If you'll excuse me." Emma surreptitiously crunched up the little white sticks in her hands behind her back. "I have to get to the station." She stuffed them in her back pockets. "Bathroom's all yours." She said as she shuffled past her mother.

Whew, she'd done it. Made a clean getaway. Although she hadn't been planning to go the station, she'd figured she'd go anyway. At least it'd be a quiet place for her to think and regroup.

"Emma?" Mary Margaret called. "I think you dropped something."

Uh oh. Emma turned back to see Mary Margaret holding up one of the little white sticks, eyes wide, her face a mask of surprise and humor.

"Great." Emma sighed. "You caught me. I'm pregnant." She winced inwardly; just saying it aloud made it sound so real. She flopped down onto the couch, arms crossed.

"Well don't sound too happy." Mary Margaret sat down next to her.

"I'm not."

"Why?" Her mother asked. "A baby's a wonderful thing!"

"Yeah, maybe for you." Emma snapped. "You're good with kids. But me? Not so much."

"What are you talking about? Henry loves you."

"In case you haven't noticed, I didn't exactly raise him. I can't do this. I can't be a mother."

"You're a mother to Henry."

"Barely."

"Emma." Mary Margaret raked her hand through her daughter's hair. "It's going to be ok."

"No, it's not." Emma squirmed out of her grasp and turned to face her mother. "I can't have a baby. I-I'll mess it up. God." She sank her head into her hands. "This can't be happening. This is exactly why I gave up Henry. Because I can't be a freaking mother."

"You're wrong. You're a wonderful mother to Henry and he loves you very much. And this isn't like last time, Emma. You have so many people to help. Me, your father, Hook."

At the sound of Hook's name, Emma groaned. "Oh God. Hook."

"I take it he doesn't know yet?"

"I didn't even know up until twenty minutes ago."

"You have to tell him."

Emma sighed. "I know. I just don't know how he's gonna react. We haven't exactly...discussed this."

"It's going to be fine." Mary Margaret replied. "He may be many things, but I know that he loves you very much and will support you no matter what happens."

Emma nodded, but it was apparent she was still unconvinced.

Twenty minutes later, Hook sat nervously in a booth at Granny's. Emma had texted earlier that she needed to talk, that it couldn't wait until their date later that night. He fingered the small box in his coat pocket, both excitement and fear jolting through his stomach as he did so. If all went according to plan, the box's contents would soon be hers tonight.

"Hey." He looked up as she approached. "Got you your favorite." He nodded at the mug of hot cocoa with cinnamon already waiting on the table in front of him.

"Thanks." Emma smiled, but she seemed distracted as she sat down and knotted her fingers tightly in front of her.

Oh, no. Had she found out about his little plan? Was that why she'd texted so urgently? He inwardly cursed himself for telling David all about it. Sure, it was customary to get the father's permission, but since when did Captain Hook abide by tradition?

"We need to talk." Emma began.

Bloody hell. She did know, and was telling him that it was over.

"I've found that when a woman says that I'm rarely in for a pleasant conversation." He joked in a rather blatant attempt to lighten the mood.

But she ignored him, nervously fidgeting and staring at the tabletop, hands wrapped around the mug. Was that...fear? What was she so afraid of?

"Emma." He reached out and touched her hand. "Is everything alright?"

"Not exactly…" She muttered.

"Whatever it is, we'll get through it together." He reassured. "You can't get rid of me that easily."

"I'm pregnant." She blurted. Her eyes darted up to his face and then quickly back down to the table.

Hook was stunned into silence as her words rang through his head. Pregnant? That meant...a baby?

"H-how did this happen?" He found himself choking.

"Seriously? If you need me to explain, you're mentally deficient." She snapped back.

Pregnant. She was going to have his baby. He was very glad he was seated, or else he probably would've collapsed. Fear darted through his heart. How was he supposed to raise a baby when for the past God knew how many years he'd only been responsible for himself?

And then, despite himself, he felt a large, silly grin cross his face. It didn't matter how he was supposed to do it. All that mattered was that he was going to have a child.

"Emma. That's...that's wonderful, love."

"Really?" Her eyes met hers and for the first time Hook realized what she'd been so afraid of. His reaction. "I-I know it's too soon, and we haven't exactly talked about this…" She said shakily.

In a fluid motion, he stood up and crushed his lips against hers, effectively shutting her up. "I admit it's a bit unexpected, but I have never been more happy."

Her entire body seemed to relax, sinking into his touch. However, as he sat back down, the worry was back on her face.

"It's just…" She began. "I don't know if I can do this. Be a mother."

"Of course you can." He said encouragingly. "Need I remind you that your lad looks up to you like some sort of hero?"

"Yeah, but…" She said uncertainly. "That's different than a baby. I've never even touched one before."

"And never have I." Hook responded. "There's no way you could be worse than I am."

She laughed. "I guess."

Although Hook had been planning on waiting until tonight, he found his hand snaking its way down into his coat pocket. If this wasn't the perfect moment, he didn't know what was.

"Whatever happens, I'll be right by your side." He reassured. "And I'll make bloody sure of it." Here goes. He brought up the small box and deftly popped it open. Hook watched with nervousness as surprise, quickly followed by an expression of pure joy crossed her face.

"I-is this what I think it is?" She said shakily, tears already making their way down her face.

"Aye." He replied. "Marry me, Emma Swan."

A small crowd had gathered around their corner booth, people whispering fervently amongst themselves.

"I-I don't know what to say." She stammered.

"A simple yes would suffice."

Hook could see the familiar, barely disguised fear in her eyes. Had it been too soon? Had he not successfully broken down her sky high walls surrounding her heart?

Finally, she smiled. "Yes."

As the crowd cheered, he slid the ring onto her finger, her lips already finding their way to his.

Author's note: What did you think of Ava?