Author's note: Finals wk is coming up so unless I majorly procrastinate (which is actually pretty likely) this will be the last update till the quarter's over.

Chapter 15: Broken Beyond Repair

"When I was 17, I escaped the foster system." Emma began. "I was on my own. Stealing, sleeping in random places, running from cops."

"Sounds like you would've made a great pirate." Hook commented.

She half-smiled. "One day, I stole this car. It was just sitting in an alley, abandoned. Not in the greatest shape. I was driving it, and then this guy just pops out from the backseat. Turns out he'd stolen the car too. I'd stolen a stolen car."

"And then we began our life together." Her voice shook slightly. "Exactly what I'd been doing before, but for the first time, I-I wasn't alone."

"We fell in love." Emma continued. "It was the best feeling ever. To have someone care about me, to have a partner in crime."

"But I take that it didn't last?" He asked.

She shook her head. "No. H-he wanted to stop the Bonnie and Clyde act. Find a place. I remember pointing to a map with my eyes closed. Tallahassee." She smiled sadly.

"I don't get it." Hook butted in. "Just how exactly is that bad?"

"And then one day, he tells me that he's wanted for stealing watches. He was going to escape to Canada, but that would mean that Tallahassee would be out. I-I couldn't bear that. Bear the fact that I'd be alone once again. So I decided to steal the watches for them and fence them. Then we could get fake IDs and go to Tallahassee. But of course it didn't work out that way."

"And then?" Hook prodded gently, placing a hand on her knee.

"And then he sent me to jail." Her eyes glistened with tears. "I took the fall for a crime he committed. He broke my heart. The first person I loved. Turned out to be a game, a joke. I saw him again today. He told me why he'd done it. August had supposedly told him to because I had to break the curse. I went to jail because Pinocchio, of all people, told him to make that call. If he'd truly loved me, he wouldn't have done so. How twisted is that?"

"And that's not even the worst part. I realized I was pregnant when I got to jail." Emma whispered.

"Henry." Hook realized.

"At first, I thought about keeping him. At least I wouldn't be alone, right? But then I realized, who was I kidding? I couldn't be a mother. Couldn't give him the life he deserved. What kind of life could I give him? I was in jail and penniless. No one to turn to for help. I had to give him, my son, up for adoption. And that's when I realized I would always be alone." A single tear made its way down her face.

"I spent my entire life wondering why my parents gave me up. Was there something wrong with me? Was I that awful, that unlovable, that even my own parents didn't want me? When I met Neal, I thought that maybe, just maybe, everything would be alright. That maybe it there was something wrong with my parents instead of me. That maybe it was their fault. And then I was proven wrong."

She was crying openly now. "I realized that there must be something wrong with me. My parents may be fairytale characters, with their happy endings, but I will never have that. I will never have anyone."

"You're wrong." Hook argued. "You found your parents."

"My parents sacrificed me, their newborn baby, to save their kingdom. Because that's what they do. But what about me? Did they ever stop to think about what that would do to a baby? Sending her to an unknown world, where she'd be abused every single day for years. Was their kingdom more important than their daughter? They say they care about me, that they did that to protect me from the curse, but was that really true?"

Her words struck a chord inside him, for he'd been abandoned by his father as well. "But you reunited with your son." Hook pointed out.

She looked at him sadly. "After today, I'm pretty sure he hates me."

"That's not true." He tried to argue.

"You weren't there. You didn't see the look in his eyes as he realized that I'd lied to him about his father." Tears started spilling down her cheeks. "I was just trying to protect him."

Without another word, Hook reached out and wrapped his arms around her, feeling her tremble violently as she was overcome with sobs.

"I'm nothing." She said, her voice thick with tears. "I will always have nothing and be nothing. I don't even know why I try anymore."

"You're wrong. You've just had a bit of bad luck."

"Bad luck?" She gasped. "Bad luck's when you stub your toe. Not when your parents send you away to save everyone from a-a curse. Or when the first person you ever loved breaks your heart because a fairy tale character told him to. I loved him so much." She cried.

"And that's why you say that I'm 'afraid of love'" Emma finished. "Because my entire life, love either hasn't existed or it's brought nothing but hurt. Seeing him today, it was like being sent to jail all over again."

"He was unworthy of you." He replied.

"Or maybe I'm just unworthy of love." She said tonelessly. "You know it's true."

"But it's not." He argued. "You're so much more than that, darling. Don't let a few bastards get you down."

"Everyone I love keeps leaving. My parents, Neal, and now Henry." Tears began to stream from her eyes again. "He doesn't understand that I was just trying to protect him. Protect him from the ugly truth. I never thought I'd see him again, so what's the harm, right? But of course everything has to come back biting me in the ass."

"He will." Hook insisted. "As soon as he's calmed down. I've seen the way the lad looks at you. He loves you. He'll come around."

"He's been lied to his entire life. And now I'm no better than Regina. In fact, he said I'm just like her."

"Listen to me, love." He placed his hands on either side of her face and brought her eyes up to meet his. "You are nothing like the queen. You are so much better. You're brave, beautiful, and strong. I know you better than anyone. Like I said, open book."

"You're wrong-"

"I'm never wrong." He interrupted. "It's part of my charm."

"Ha. I'm sure it is." But despite herself, a small smile crept across her face.

"Got you to smile though, didn't I?" Hook winked.

"Fate sure has a twisted sense of humor." She laughed ruefully. "Out of all the people in the world, he had to be Gold's son."

Alarm bells rang in Hook's head as he processed what she'd just said. "Gold's son?" He gasped. "As in…Rumplestilskin?" The bastard who'd broken her heart was the son of the monster who'd killed his Milah?

Emma nodded. "Yeah. That's why we came. To look for him. And here I'd thought I'd never have to see Neal again. Crazy, huh?"

It took all of Hook's self control not to storm out and search for the bloody Crocodile's cowardly, spineless son. But Emma needed him right now. "Once a coward, always a coward."

"What?"

"Nothing." He said, realizing that he'd just said that aloud. Adrenaline coursed through his veins and his heart pounded rapidly as he tried to wrap his mind around the fact that the boy he'd rescued from the sea, the boy that he'd once considered caring for, was the boy who'd reduced his beautiful Swan into a horrible, crying mess. "I understand more than you think. You're not the only who's been left alone."

"Really?" She said, intrigued. "Milah, wasn't it?"

"Aye." A jolt of pain darted through him as he imagined his ex-lover's face. But unlike before, the pain felt a little less intense, a little more manageable. "We sailed the seas together for many years. But then she was taken from me."

"What happened?"

His expression grew dark. "The Crocodile. You see, Milah had actually been his wife and I'd stolen her away."

Emma nodded as she processed this. To her credit, she didn't seem horrified or disgusted.

"He tore her heart out. And I was powerless to do anything to stop it." He finished.

"Who was the crocodile?"

For some reason, he didn't want to reveal the truth. "Doesn't matter. There have been many other women ever since, but none have matched up to her. I've traveled the world for centuries, trying to figure out a way to get my revenge."

"I'm sorry." She said.

"Well, don't be." Hook replied. "I've moved on." He said, surprised that he actually meant it.

Emma blushed as he raised his eyebrows expectantly, realizing that he had been referring to her. "Thank you." She cleared her throat. "For, um, listening to all of this."

"Of course." He reached out and pushed a stray lock of hair out of her face. "I will always be here for you, darling."

"Why?" She protested. "I'm a mess. Broken beyond repair."

"Because I love you. And I believe in you. Someday, you'll come to see that everything I know about you is true."

"Except why? You can't love me." She said stubbornly.

"Why not?" He pointed out. "You may not feel the same way. But that doesn't change how I feel about you. I love you, Emma Swan."

Author's note: Awwww. A little on the sad side, but at least it ended in a positive note. But how's Cora gonna react when she finds out?

Hope you enjoyed the ch :)