A shorter chapter tonight but seeing as you got an extra one this morining you really can't complain.

FYI Hook may or may not have to spend another few chapters stuck in that cave and he will face horrors that he is sooooo not prepared for before his Swan finally figures out he is there so all you guys hoping that he is found soon... sorry but not sorry.

Enjoy

x

"Where are you Swan? I need you, I need you Love"

Emma lurched awake with his voice still in her head, hands instantly scrabbling on her lap searching for Killian, where was he?

He needed her but he was gone.

She sat up straight searching the room only to sigh in relief when her eyes fell on the slightly inclined bed in front of her to see the boy lying sprawled over her Dad's chest as they both slept soundly.

A smile rose on her lips at the sight, her Dad really was the best.

Seconds later the door pushed open and Whale crept in, he gave her a smile when he realized that she was awake and lifted Killian's chart slightly to show what he was doing.

"Just doing his checks" he whispered but Emma wasn't sure why he didn't just talk normally, he was just about to wake the kid anyway.

She looked up at the clock and was surprised to see that it was nearly seven, how had she slept so long in that chair?

"Killian" Whale whispered giving the boy a slight shake but the kid kept on sleeping so the doc shook him a little harder causing David's eyes to fly open and he physically jumped at Whale stooping down over the bed before sighing out in relief when he realized what was going on.

"God Whale, give me a heart attack next time" David groaned around a yawn

"I was trying to wake the boy without waking you, next time I won't bother" Whale complained as he again reached forward but this time he shook he boy more vigorously "Killian, it's time to wake up"

The boy peeled back his eyelids squinting against the bright light but instead of sitting up like Emma had expected him too he snuggled in closer to David hiding his face against her Dad's chest pulling the blanket up to cover his head and Emma nearly laughed when she heard his little muffled voice.

"No, leave me alone. I do not like you"

But David wasn't having it, apparently he was more willing to tell off young Hook than his older self

"Come on Kid, that's not very nice. I think you should apologize to the Doc, he's just trying to help you" he said in a sincere voice sitting himself up and pulling the boy off his front and turning him around to sit facing Whale but Killian remained leaning back against David front seemingly unwilling to leave the safety of his presence.

"Sorry Sir" the boy mumbled as his eyes dropped to the covers in front of him in shame.

"You're forgiven" Whale replied with a soft smile

Killian reluctantly allowed Whale to poke and prod him further as his eyes wandered around the room, he wore a furrow across his brow the whole time his eyes were wandering and as Emma looked around too she could understand why. She had been to the Enchanted Forest and it was NOTHING like Storybrooke, everything here must be so foreign to him.

After a few minutes Whale stepped back and spoke.

"How's your head feeling Kid?"

"Fine" he mumbled unwilling to meet Whale's eyes but his brow furrowed again as he turned to look up at David's face and asked "What's a kid?"

David chuckled "Uhm, it's a name we give to children here, it's like when someone calls you Lad"

Killian seemed to accept this with a nod of understanding before he turned back to Whale and pointed at the stethoscope that hung around his neck.

"What's that?" he asked, the fear seemed to have gone and all that remained was curiosity.

"It's called a stethoscope, I use it to listen to your heart. Do you want to hear?"

The boy looked unsure for a second then gave a jerky nod.

"OK, you put these bits in your ears like this" Whale said doing just that "Then this bit goes on your chest"

Emma watched as Whale pulled up the hospital pajamas that they had put Killian in the night before to reveal his very skinny body underneath and she had to fight hard not to gasp at the sight, putting the black and blue bruises that littered his body aside he really was just skin and bones. She had known that he was bony, she had felt it the night before as he had lain in her arms but seeing him now made her realize that the kid had probably not eaten properly in weeks.

She blinked back tears as Whale carried on showing Killian how the stethoscope worked and her heart gave a little pang as a broad smile suddenly split the boy's face and his eyes twinkled, he looked so like Hook in that moment that it took her breath away but in the next second she was laughing

"That's my heart?" he cried out turning to her "Emma I can hear my heart"

"Is that right?" she asked getting up from the chair with a giggle "Can I listen?"

Killian nodded vigorously and immediately moved to pull the ends of the stethoscope out of his ears struggling slightly with the left one with the cast on his arm but in the end he managed and held them up to her. She put them in her ears and smiled widely at him as he puffed his chest out proudly for her to listen but her smile faltered for a second at what she heard, surely this couldn't be right. Her eyes darted to Whale and he gave a slight nod of acknowledgment.

"OK Killian that's us done for the moment. We are going to have to do one more test but that won't be until later. We are going to let you see what your heartbeats look like on a bit of paper, would you like that?"

"Aye" the boy replied with another grin

"Great, we'll do that in a little while then" Whale said with a smile then looked up at David "How about David helps you to use the bathroom?"

"What is that?" Killian asked in confusion

"Come on Kid, I'll show you... this is going to blow your mind" David chuckled hoping off the bed and pulling the boy up into his arms to carry him across the room.

The minute he was out of sight Emma turned back to the Doctor

"What the hell's going on Whale? He's got two heartbeats!"

"I know but I have no clue why, Hook didn't have it the last time he was admitted but let's not panic just yet, let me do the ECG and I'm going to try and arrange for an MRI too but in the mean time I am going to get some food brought in, he is very underweight. By his teeth I'd say he's maybe four or five years old but he is stunted. I presume that back when Hook was that age he managed to find a way to remedy the situation as he showed no signs of childhood malnutrition as an adult"

"He told me that him and his brother had been sent to the Navy at a young age, not long after their Father abandoned them"

"That would explain it, at least he would have had semi regular meals there" Whale said nodding his head then sighing "He really didn't have the best start in life did he? I think I understand him a little bit better now than I did before"

Emma just nodded, she knew what Whale meant.

The Doc left promising that the food would be in soon and Emma found herself worrying for Liam even though she knew that he was gone, to Killian he was very much still alive... God, none of this made any sense, she was worrying for a boy that didn't exist! She sighed heavily to herself, what those boys must have lived through was almost too much to believe but her Dad and the Kid coming back into the room a few minutes later took her attention away from her negative thoughts as Killian giggled loudly, eyes wide in wonder

"Emma, did you know that you can relieve yourself indoors and then magic it away AND you can wash your hands in water that is hot without heating it on a fire?"

Emma couldn't help herself, she grinned right along with him, the boy wore the same look of wonder Hook did every time he discovered something new and it pulled her heart in two different directions. She missed her Killian so much yet he was here right in front of her face showing her that perfect little smile or his.

"I did" she smiled "Just you wait until you see what else this realm has in store for you kid. Now how about some food, you hungry?"

Emma had expected him to nod again but he suddenly seemed to go into himself again and when David sat him down on the edge of his bed he wouldn't look at her.

"Killian, what's wrong? Are you not hungry?"

He looked up at her through his lashes and gave one minuscule shake of his head before looking away again.

"Hey, it's OK" David said sliding himself on to the bed next to him "What's up? You can tell us?"

The boy raised his face to look at David then turned to look back at Emma.

"I am not very hungry, I do not feel too well and..." he paused looking up nervously before rushing out "I have no money, I cannot pay for food and Liam said I must never steal"

The irony of the once fearsome Captain Hook saying that he shouldn't steal was not lost on Emma but she couldn't dwell on that right now, she had to let him know that it was OK to accept the food, he needed it.

"You're not stealing Killian, we told you that we would help you and that includes getting some food in your belly so I don't want you worrying about it OK?"

He gave a slight nod of his head then gushed out "I can work. I am very good at scrubbing the decks even the Captain says so"

David laughed "I would say that you won't find many decks around here but it just so happens that Emma and Henry live on a Pirate ship"

"Really? Are you a Pirate?" Killian's eyes went wide in wonder then he frowned again "Liam said that Pirate's are not to be trusted and that they are just villain's in fancy clothing"

"I'll let him have the point about the fancy clothing" David chuckled pulling Killian into his side "But Pirate's can be heroes too Kid, I know one that has taught me that many times over"

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No one was coming, the tide had receded and returned and still no one had come looking for him.

Killian groaned as he again tried to move but it was just too painful so he found himself slumping back into the sand that he had managed to fall ever so gracefully down onto the last time that he had been awake but his consciousness hadn't lasted long after his tumble and when he had awoken this time it was to find that the sun was now shining back through the cave from somewhere.

He licked his dry lips wishing that he could drink something but the only water was from the sea and that was no use... wait, the pool of water trickled through the rocks, it would be fresh. He tipped his head back in the sand and could see the rocky pool not far away so with renewed effort he managed to flip himself over and haul himself at a snail's pace over to the edge of the water.

His shoulder was screaming at him by the time he was done but it was only joining in with his other injuries so he ignored it in favor of quenching his thirst.

Scooting himself forward he finally managed to lower his face to the cool water sucking in great mouthfuls, he could feel it rushing down his throat to sit heavily in his gut and as much as he wanted to drink more he knew that it was not a good idea so he reluctantly tried to push himself back but he was stuck. Having no other option he had to lower his hand into the water to be able to push himself back and he hissed in a breath clamping his eyes shut as the cold water hit is damaged skin.

"Bloody Hell" he moaned out but after a few minutes the cold water seemed to ease his pain and when he looked down at his hand in the pool of water to was to see that his fingers had relaxed a little revealing the gem still clutched in his palm. He saw red, that bloody gem had been the cause of all of this so he lifted his arm and flicked his wrist causing the gem to fly out from his hand and disappear into the middle of the pool settling down on the bed of pebbles there.

He managed to shuffle himself back a bit and flopped back over to stare up at the sunbeams high above him but could feel the water drying on his hand and as the skin dried out it slowly got more painful so in the end he flipped himself back over and shoved his hand back into the cold water and after a few minutes the pain receded again and he sighed in relief.

Why had no one come looking for him? This hunt was suppose to be fun. This was most definitely not fun and with another sigh Killian let his eyes slide shut, he was just so tired and everything hurt too much... Maybe if he napped they would come for him with the next low tide.