AN: I know this chapter is on the short side, but I wanted to update to let you guys know I'm not abandoning this, I just have no time to update it. I am also trying to decide between the few paths this could go down (and how much I'm going to make you hate me for awhile), so this entire chapter is about the attempt at closure some of these characters need. I'm also going to add another

DISCLAIMER: because I borrowed a major chunk of dialogue since I thought it was handled incredibly in the show.

"Wh-what are you doing here?" Emma's voice faltered.

"We-" August began before Neal cut him off.

"Hook? What the hell, Emma?"

Emma pushed away from Hook and sized Neal up, before shaking her head and shoving him back.

"What the hell? No! You don't get to what the hell me! What the hell are you even doing here?"

Hook stepped in and pulled Emma back a bit from her assault.

"I don't mean to intrude, but how the bloody hell do you know of me? Did I take your wife or something, mate?"

Neal eyed the pirate, "Something like that."

"Something like that?" Emma asked incredulously. "You were married?"

"No," Neal scolded her.

"Then what the hell is going on?"

"What's going on? Emma, that filthy pirate, whose throat you were shoving your tongue down, ruined my life. He made my life what it is. He made me who I am!"

"A thief who abandoned the people he pretended to love?" Emma shouted while holding back tears.

Neal glanced up at her and timidly, "Yes. Except I wasn't pretending to love you, I did and still do."

"No! No. You don't get to show up after eleven and a half years and say you love me. You don't get to just walk in and blame Hook for everything that happened!" Emma lost control of the dam holding her tears.

"Emma, please listen-" Neal went to grab her shoulder.

Emma shrugged him off.

"No! You don't get to barge into my life and tell me to listen. You left me. I loved you. I would have followed you to the end of this world but you sold me out to the cops. I went to jail for you, Neal!"

"Emma-" Neal pleaded.

"No, Neal! Just shut the hell up," Emma stayed her tears and attempted to sound apathetic, but failed. "You don't get to talk. I'm sheriff. You don't get to even be here unless I say so."

Neal was beginning to lose what little control he had.

"What do I get to do then, Emma? Tell me, please."

"You get to leave here alive so long as you drive straight to hell."

"Swan," Hook rested his hand on her shoulder and his hook on her waist. To his surprise, she leaned back, into him.

"Swan," he repeated as a troubling thought crossed his mind. "Wait, is he the lad's father?"

Emma flinched away from Hook and Neal furrowed his brows.

"Whose father?" Neal's voice squeaked out.

Emma glared at Hook as tears threatened again, "How dare you? You had no right!"

Getting defensive, Hook jabbed back at her, "My apologies Swan. I'm simply attempting to determine who the bloody hell this coward is and how exactly I've harmed him."

"How you've harmed me?" Neal pushed past Emma and went after Hook. "You ripped my family apart! You stole my mother and had her abandon me. You made my papa so desperate that he turned to the darkest of magic and abandoned me as well. And then-"

Neal inhaled sharply as his body shook, he tried to steady his voice before continuing, "And then you tricked me into thinking you cared and abandoned me just like everyone else. You sold me out. I thought you were different, but you were just a pirate. Rotten to the core."

"Baelfire?" Hook backed himself against the wall but maintained eye contact with the man. "I- I never wanted to betray you. I wanted to keep you as my own- to be the family your mother wanted. But you didn't want to listen and you left me no choice. If I could take it back-"

"Go to hell!"

Emma had fallen silent and joined August in the corner during Hook and Neal's exchange, but she had finally begun to make sense of what they were saying and interrupted, "D-darkest magic? Are- Are you Gold's son?"

"Emma-"

"No! You played me. You're from there. You played me. He- he's your father – Rumplestiltskin- isn't he? You both played me."

"Emma, no! I want nothing to do with him. If you weren't here- if August didn't say you need help- I would have never come anywhere near here."

"No! Stop it," Emma pressed her fingers to her temple and the dried tears turned to blinding anger.

"Did you know? Did you know who I was, where I'm from the whole time? Was this just some sick, twisted plan? Did you even care about me at all?"

A ball of fire began to grow in her hand.

"Emma, just-"

She grew more frantic, her voice echoing through the hall, "I wanna know. I want the truth. All of it!"

To quiet her, Neal raised his voice, "Alright!"

Emma looked down and noticed the fire in her hand and smothered it out.

He lowered his voice when Emma stopped. "Alright, but not here. August still has his room upstairs. We can talk there."

"I'm not going anywhere with you!"

"I have spent a lifetime hiding from my father. I'm not going to let him find me now. Don't worry. Your pirate can come too. You can both finish your yelling there."

Emma shook her head in submission to the idea. Hook took the small of her back to usher her forward, but she pulled away and followed behind him instead. August followed in behind her.

"So what do you want to know?" Neal asked as the door to the room shut. "Ask away."

"Did you know who I was when we met?"

"No. If I had, I wouldn't have gone near you."

"Come on."

"Come on? Come on what? I was in hiding. I came to this world to get away from all this crap."

"So, if you didn't know, then you were just using me. You needed someone to take the fall for all the watches that you stole."

Hook reached to soothe Emma, but she pulled away again.

"I wasn't using you. When we met I didn't know, but I found out."

Emma's resolve crumbled and she exhaled, sitting down on the bed, out of reach of any of the men.

She stuttered out, "How?"

"When I went to pawn the watches, I ran into this friend of ours," he motioned toward August.

"August told me a story and by the end of it, I knew what I had to do to protect you."

Emma had heard enough. She stood up and yelled in the most broken manner, "You left me and let me go to prison because Pinocchio told you to?"

"Emma-"

"I loved you," she barely got out as her voice shattered the same way her heart had when he left her.

"I was- trying to help you."

"By letting me go to jail?"

Hook reached out for her hand again, but she pushed him away.

"Go Hook!"

"Swan-"

"Get out," tears began pouring out again.

"What did I-"

"Please. I can't do this right now."

His face fell in pain, but he followed her orders and was followed out by August.

"By getting you home," Neal almost whispered once the door closed again.

"So, are you telling me that us meeting was a coincidence? Because how the hell did that happen if it wasn't in your plan or your father's?"

"Think about it. He wanted you to break the curse. Us meeting, that could have stopped it. Maybe it was fate."

"You believe in that?"

"There's not a ton about my father that I remember that doesn't suck, but he used to tell me that there are no coincidences. Everything that happens, happens by design. There's nothing we can do about it. Forces greater than us conspire to make it happen. Fate- destiny- whatever you wanna call it. The point is, maybe we met for a reason. Maybe something good came from us being together.

"No," Emma deadpanned. "Not that I can think of. I just went to jail."

"The boy Hook spoke of-"

"He's not yours."

Emma nervously shoved her hair back, a telltale sign she was lying, and as she turned to leave, Neal caught sight of her necklace.

"Why do you wear that keychain I gave you?" a smirk formed on his face.

Emma turned back to him, grasping at her necklace. Yanking it off and handing it to him she stated flatly, "To remind myself to never trust someone again."

She walked out the door without looking back. Hook tried to stop her in the hallway to comfort her but she pushed past him.

AN: So I know it's not much and not much happened, but I felt it was important before I can move on to people hating me. Hopefully you at least sort of enjoyed it. I don't know when I will have time to update again, but I will. Review please!