A/N: Well, here it is, the final chapter in this story that I started FOREVER ago. And since it is the end, it is appropriately, the longest chapter in my story. I hope you enjoy it.
Oh and as always, I do not own the characters at all. (I forget to do that all the time)
Emma's brain started working before her body could. She knew that she was laying down, she knew that she was warm and she knew that Killian was next to her., though how she knew that last one was beyond her. She tried to open her eyes, but just couldn't. Groaning, she tried again and felt her body shift sideways.
"Oi! Dave, she's waking up"
She heard the scuffle of feet coming towards her, but she still couldn't make her body obey her. It was almost as bad as being in the block of ice. Thinking about it made her shiver. Well at least I can do that she thought.
"Emma Love," she heard Killian's voice. "Emma open your eyes. I know its hard, but you can do it. Let's not make your mother any more crazy alright?"
She giggled a little to herself, but then processed what he had said. She started clawing inwardly towards body control and she was able to open her eyes slowly. She saw 4 very relieved faces surrounding her.
"How long have I been out?" she asked afraid of the answer.
Henry threw himself at her answering as he did, "Only a few hours, but nobody else frozen by Elsa had that kind of reaction. We were all really worried about you. I'm so glad you're ok! You are ok aren't you?"
"Yea Kid, I am," she said hugging him back tightly.
She noticed Killian moving slowly out of the bed, and she just could not have that, so she grabbed his hand and twined their fingers together, keeping him near to her.
"What happened?" she asked as she got more comfortable in the bed. She didn't plan on leaving it for a good long while.
"Well, the Crocodile and I made our way across the line. We walked for just a moment before we headed back around. That is why Robin was standing where he was. He was acting as a guide for us. Gold used a potion to basically tether us to him so we could get back into town, or Gold anyway. I've never had that problem not being part of the original curse. We made out way back and saw you all frozen. Gold and Elsa fought with their magic, while Robin and I used another potion that Gold had prepared, to melt the ice."
"And, what happened to Elsa?" she asked almost afraid to know.
Snow came and sat on the bed next to her, touching her hair gently before responding, "We sent her over the town line. We had no choice. She couldn't let her revenge go and we couldn't have that here in Storybrooke."
Emma noticed the unease in the adults and knew there was more to the story.
"Hey Kid, can you get me a hot chocolate? I'm still feeling a little chilled."
As soon as Henry left the room with a huge grin on his face, she looked to them and waited for them to talk.
"Well, you seen Elsa had decided that if she couldn't kill Hook or Gold to exact her revenge, she would do the next best thing," David started.
Emma noticed Killian fidgeting, and did not like where this conversation was going.
"She said she would take the most important people to us away," Killian stated lamely. "Namely you and Belle. Which got the both of us upset. I've never seen him use so much magic so quickly and I may have lost my cool and gone after her as well."
"With what? Your sword?!" Emma nearly shouted.
"Umm, yes," was all he could say. He wouldn't meet her eyes, terrified of what he would see there.
Snow cleared her throat and began, "Quickly before Henry gets back...It was a good thing he did Emma. She couldn't keep up with the two of them coming after her and honestly after she tried shooting that ice into your chest too, I nearly went after her myself. Regina and Robin had to hold us back for a moment."
Shocked, Emma looked at them all. She saw the strain in their faces behind the relief that was so obvious. She had really worried them.
"She shot at me, but didn't hit me?"
"Not exactly Love. Regina actually knocked the ice off target, but it kind of..." Killian looked to her parents for the right word.
"Shattered," Snow said. "It shattered over you, so we didn't know what it would do, how you would react. If Regina hadn't looked over when she did..." There were tears in her eyes, and Emma knew how serious the situation had been.
"What about Belle? Is she alright?"
Everyone nodded in unison as they heard the door slam closed downstairs. Henry barreled up the stairs with Regina and Robin in tow.
"When they heard you were awake, they wanted to come too," he explained before anyone could ask.
"I'm glad you are alright Emma," Regina said. "You rather scared us with that sleeping beauty stunt of yours."
"Thank you for," Emma paused, looking at Henry, "everything."
Regina just nodded at Emma, understanding that nobody had told him everything that happened. Emma noticed that Robin and Regina were standing very close to one another, and Robin's eyes were glued to Regina. She didn't think a reunion was far off for the two of them. Marion or no Marion, the man was clearly in love with her. She smiled at the two of them, thanking them for coming to see her, but she was getting tired again and needed to rest.
Robin and Regina took their cue and excused themselves. David kissed her on the forehead and took Henry downstairs to play a game with him as snow patted her arm and went to check on Neal. Clearly her parents could take a hint. Again Killian tried to move away from her and she kept their fingers wound together tightly.
"I'm beginning to think you dont want to be in bed with me," she said with a smirk.
She noticed a tinge of pink climb up his cheeks. Killian was starting to blush and Emma couldn't help but laugh.
"Oh my! I've made the notorious Captain Hook blush with a little innuendo. The world must be coming to an end," she said dramatically and with a smile. "Why do you keep trying to get away from me?" she asked gently.
"I didn't want to presume anything Swan. We've not discussed our feelings much beyond the fact that they are there, and we attempted to go on a date, but that has yet to happen. I'm not sure how courting works here in this realm."
She smiled at him and held their linked hands up to him before responding, "This means I want you to stay with me, and I love you."
He grinned and relaxed into the mattress after she said her piece. She rested her head on his shoulder and asked him to tell her the rest of it.
"Of course Love. Elsa went after you and Belle at the same time. The Crocodile stopped the ice from hitting her and vanished her out of harms way. Elsa was...enraged, I think is the best word. She started to turn into ice herself, and we knew it wasn't going to be good. So The Crocodile and I went after her, he attacking with magic, and I with my sword. We kept her pretty busy and Regina blasted her with fire, over the town line."
"Do you think she'll come back across?"
"She can't. The Crocodile re-enacted the spell he had Belle do when we went to Neverland. She was standing there, but couldn't see us, hear us or get back to us. Robin Hood was our tether to get back over the line. I'm not really sure how, just know that it was magic. That's why he wore Baelfire's scarf. He wasn't sure if the original curse's magic was back in place and he knew he couldn't forget what we were about."
"Oh."
"Yes, and I think it was a good thing too, since once she went across she looked confused. She didn't look like she had any idea why she was there, or what she was doing. I just hope that she is able to make her new life ag ood one. One without anger and revenge constantly on her mind. I know I did this to her. It is upsetting that you lot couldn't make her see that she could go back to Arendale and her sister."
"Yes, it is," Emma replied glumly. "I know that I said that might be the best option for her, but it must be awful to not have any memories. She didn't have an alter-ego over here, so she has nothing."
"Yes, however, there is a bright side to that. She can start over completely. There will be nobody after her, or telling her what to do. Nobody will be trying to usurp her position or use her magic. She literally can do whatever she wants. I'm not saying it will be easy by any means, but she has a fresh start."
Emma looked at him, smiling. She knew that he was really reassuring himself because he blamed himself for her situation. He regretted those particular actions more than most decisions he made as Captain Hook.
"Speaking of fresh starts, I know how perceptive you are and was wondering if you noticed how closely Robin and Regina were standing when they came to visit," Emma said.
"Even the most unperceptive person would have noticed that Love. Between that and the way he looked at her, they're definitely on the mend. He went to Rumpelstiltskin and asked what he could do to help since Regina told him he couldn't help. She had no idea and was quite incensed when she found out about it later. After we made sure Elsa wasn't coming back across, the two of them left together, talking about an argument he had with Marian, but I couldn't really hear it and was quite upset over your unconscious state."
"Glad to know I rank pretty high on your worry list," she said snarkily with a grin.
"Oh you're up there pretty high on the list Emma."
He didn't often actually call her Emma, and when he said her name, she shivered. She knew exactly how high she was on his list.
The atmosphere in the room changed dramatically. There was no playfulness in the air, just tension, but the good kind. The kind that Emma had always run from because it meant things were serious.
"Killian," she started. "I'm in this for the long haul too. You're going to have to be patient with me though. I haven't ever really felt like this before," she paused taking in his facial expression. Realizing he was going to interrupt, she kept on, "Neal was different, we were a lot younger and I did love him, as much as I could at the time, but it is very different from what I feel with you. This is not adolescent puppy love, this is..." she paused again looking for the right word.
"More?" he suggested.
"Yes," she responded breathily, "much more."
"I can deal with 'much more'," he responded gently as he used his hook to carefully push some strands of hair out of her face.
"So how about a re-do on our date?" she asked to lighten up the mood.
"I think that can definitely be arranged Love. I'm pretty sure your parents would kill me if we didn't let them have the experience of our first date, or at least your mother would. I hear it's something of a big deal in this realm, the man coming to the door and being stared down by the father while the mother takes photos. Do I have it all?"
"One, my parents wouldn't kill you. Threaten? Maybe. But kill? No. Two, my dad stares you down whenever he sees you already. And three, I'd like some pictures of us, so she can snap away with her camera."
"Well, alright then. After you are healed up and ready, we will have a re-do of our long past due date."
He looked at her, with a slight smirk on his face and in that moment Emma knew she was never going to be alone again.
Well, there you go folks. I hope you enjoyed my story. It became so much longer than I had anticipated. I didn't actually sit down and plan in all out from the very beginning and had to do it later to keep it from getting even longer than it was now. I'm sorry about how long it took to finish and the actual lack of action in the story, but every time I tried to write it, it just came out sounding forced and just bleh. Obviously that is something for me to work on in my writing.
Thanks to everyone who followed, favorited and reviewed this.! You guys made this so much more than I thought it would be. Maybe I'll keep this writing thing up. I've been thinking about doing a 30 day writing challenge, that I saw on Pinterest and there are a ton of pairings I would love to write about.