"Wait!" Liam sticks his arm out - halting their movements through the forest. "We can't just go walking through town without a plan. I mean, nobody will recognize us here because… well, we don't exist yet - but we should still get our story straight about our aliases" he says, gesturing to his sister.

"Good point, lad" Killian adds. "Ideas?"

"Ron and Ginny?" Eva offers, but Liam quickly interjects.

"Seriously?"

Eva shifts her weight and pops her bottom lip out a little in a pout, "So I like Harry Potter. The names are common enough."

"I'm sorry I'm lost. Who's Harry Potter? What's wrong with those?" He looks to Liam for an explanation.

"Look - we don't have time for this. We can be Jack and Kate. We're from the Enchanted Forest, our father was a blacksmith, mother…" Liam's words trail off - his sudden burst of decisiveness snagged on the thought of his mother.

"A baker." Eva adds with a tone of finality before looking to her father. "You don't know this yet, but mom makes the most ahhhhmazing cupcakes."

An unbidden smile crawls from Killian's heart to his lips as he imagines his Swan lightly dusted in flour and sugar, humming while whisking away at something in the kitchen. It's a welcoming thought.

"Maybe it's just fatherly pride here, but the resemblance is pretty striking" he says looking to his kids, "do you think we can get away with this? I mean, two strangers coming to Storybrooke is bound to turn heads regardless - let alone…" he can't find the words to finish his thought, but they understand him well enough.

"Well, maybe we'll start with Grandpa and see if he believes the story." Liam offers. "You said you were on your way to meet him at the library, right?"

"Aye."

"OK, so we'll meet him there with the Jack and Kate story. They're bound to have seen the portal anyway - there's no denying someone came over," Liam says.

With their plan settled they set off a little more confidently - Killian's mind awhirl with the many questions he doesn't know how to phrase. He wants to know what their life is like. What he is like.

Well, no. He doesn't just want to hear it - he desperately longs to have lived it with them already.

Determined not to waste what little alone time they have - he starts throwing all of the questions he can think of their way. Birthdays, favorite memories, where they live, favorite books, what they like to do in their free time.

By the time they reach town he's learned an awful lot about something called soccer - he doesn't really understand it, but he liked listening to them talk about it nonetheless. They have to keep their conversation to a minimum as they cross the street to the library to avoid unwanted attention.

"Finally, Pirate - I was just about to give up and head home," David calls out from among the shelves upon hearing the bell tied to the door handle chime.

"Yeah, sorry about that, mate" Killian responds, scratching behind his ear. "I take it you didn't see that portal then?"

"The what?" Dave's question has barely left his lips as he turns the corner and sees the two strangers. "Oh - sorry. Didn't realize you brought someone along" He says, taken aback.

He extends his hand to Eva first, with a winning smile deserving of his moniker "David."

"Nice to meet you, David. I'm Kate" she says in return. "And this is my brother Jack."

David turns a little to shake Liam's hand - a solid, confident handshake that makes him take a second look at the stranger.

"You two look familiar, have we met before?" Dave's eyes narrow slightly, now taking them in with more discerning eyes, trying to place their features.

"I don't believe so, no - I've just got one of those faces," Liam says, hoping the offhand tone will be enough to downplay his suspicions.

"Right." David says slowly - clearly not deterred by Liam's comment, but choosing to leave it aside for now. "You mentioned a portal?" He turns to Killian.

"Aye. In the woods. Same type Swan and I went through when the witch was about." Killian's words falter a little at the mention of Emma, but he swallows hard and forces himself to continue. "I saw it as I was heading to meet you here - so I went to investigate" Dave raises and eyebrow and cuts him off sharply.

"Alone?! Jones, you can't be reckless like that anymore. Emma would kill me if I let anything happen to you."

Killian can see the latent worry in David's eyes, even though he's clearly fine. It's a little unsettling, if he's being honest. To have someone genuinely care about whether he lives or dies. For many years no one did, not even himself.

"All I'm saying is, you need to be careful."

Killian simply nods in response, realizing it was indeed a little foolish to just go running off into the woods.

"As I was saying," Killian continues, "I was out in the woods and came across these two. If you recall, the witch's portal took Emma and I to the past."

Dave's eyes widen a little as he puts together the pieces.

"They're going to help us get her back," Killian says - a little more hopefully than he thought possible.

David's mouth hangs open a little in surprise, brow furrowed as he tries to sort out the situation.

"You're from the future?" He says slowly - the words sound forced leaving his throat.

He shifts his glance to Killian, "And you trust them?" It's more a statement than a question, but Killian answers just the same.

"Aye. That I do."

"Well, I suppose that's good enough for now," David says - his words highlighting that he knows he doesn't have the full truth, and his face showing the subtle signs of concern he's still harboring.

Liam clears his throat, eager to move past the awkwardness of the "introductions" and get to the business of finding his mother.

"So, fill us in on everything - what happened when he disappeared?" Liam says.

Both David and Killian wince slightly as the memories flash quickly in their minds.

It's with a sympathetic look to Killian that David starts in on the explanation.

"Well, the darkness was kind of - floating around. It was this - I don't know - like a cloud or something, but more menacing. It headed for Regina and it was starting to take hold. We didn't know what to do. Before we could think of anything, Emma stepped up and before we knew it the darkness was all around her." David is practically choking on the words now - trying to get them out, but struggling to maintain composure.

Killian took over from there. "I ran to her. She was crying. She took my hand and placed it over her heart. She told me…" Despite his best efforts he can feel the tears stinging his eyes. "She told me she loved me. I begged her not to do it, but the darkness only became more fierce around her. She pushed me backward and raised the dagger up to the air and…" his eyes grow distant as he recalls the despair that overtook him at that moment, "and then she was gone."

David continued, "The dagger fell to the ground. I don't know why it stayed behind, but we gave it to him. It didn't seem right for anyone else to have it."

As they finished recapping the events of that evening, Killian felt David's reassuring hand land on his shoulder - and for the first time in a very long time - he didn't mind the gesture.

"And have you tried to use it yet?" Liam asked Killian.

"I'm sorry?" Killian was so out of sorts the question didn't even make sense to him. Use it? For what? Chopping bloody vegetables? Suddenly it dawns on him that they could use the dagger to call her here. He could see her anytime he wanted. "No… I hadn't thought…"

Eva reaches out instinctively to her father, clearly distraught by the emotional onslaught of the memories he's just recounted, and the realization that there was a simple solution right in front of him - but she stops short - they're supposed to be strangers after all.

"It's good that you haven't tried to used it to yet. We don't know what kind of state she's in - and dropping the Dark One in the middle of Storybrooke without a plan would be dangerous," Eva says.

"Hold on, if you're from the future, do you know where she went?" David asks Liam and Eva.

"Yes. We know where she is, but I'm not sure it would be wise to say just yet. With this time traveling stuff, the less you know, the better. It'll decrease the chances of us inadvertently changing things that we really don't want to change." Liam says. "I want to try and keep as few people involved as possible, but let's see if we can get her over here."

Eva nods in agreement before adding, "Killian, get the dagger. David, you'll probably want your sword - and definitely your shield. We don't want to hurt her, but we really don't know what we're up against here and we need to be able to defend ourselves in case she throws a curveball our way. Meet at the town line in 10?"

"Aye," Killian says before turning on his heel and jogging to the door.

"OK," David holds the door open for them and gazes so intently that for a moment Eva is sure that he's figured it out.

Eager to break the prying eye contact she quickly adds, "Good. See you soon," and grabs her brother's hand - pulling him across the street as David head's back to the loft to gather his things.

Once they're alone again Liam flops down on the curb next to his sister, running his hand through this thick hair - leaving it stuck up at funny angles.

"Do you think it'll work?" It's half question half sigh.

"No. Not really, but I guess it's worth a shot." She says before leaning her head onto his shoulder.