Lily was not all that thrilled to have been left with the bulk of the work over lunch, which she expressed to Emma when she returned to the pub. Not feeling well, Granny had rested in one of the empty rooms and that had left the barmaid to both cook and wait on the few patrons there that afternoon.

"I didn't realize," Emma said, hanging her head at the fact she had not been as helpful as she could have been. "I apologize. I will be more…"

"See to the ashes in the fireplace," Lily barked angrily. "I didn't have time because I was…" Emma did not even wait for her to continue the sentence, as she was already gathering the small shovel and bucket to use on the mess.

"That's enough," Granny said from her seat at one of the tables. "Emma is not here to be your servant, Lily. She's here to assist me and see to my needs. And right now I need someone with far better eyesight than mine to read these numbers and make sure that we are able to pay all out debts." The woman might not have been standing, but her voice carried such resonance that the two younger women both stops in their tracks.

Emma spent the rest of the afternoon performing some of the bookkeeping tasks that Granny admitted she wished she could hand off to Red. However, there was no love lost between the dark haired beauty and the mathematical tasks that seemed unending and a necessary evil.

"You'll truly be walking with us?" Emma asked, confused as to why Granny was wrapping the knitted shawl around her shoulders and handing the leather bound register to Lily. "I know you said you would, but you're not staying the night here?"

"I'll be walking home same as you," the older woman said, her glasses perched at the tip of her rounded nose. "No need for him to join us."

By him she obviously meant Killian, who had upon learning of Granny's plan went in search of a wagon or buggy to carry them. It was Granny who told him it was unnecessary, but Emma assumed he was ignoring that directive since he hadn't returned.

"I think he plans to give Leo a present," Emma explained, feeling the pointed look from the older woman bearing into her. "I could see if…"

The woman turned and stalked over to the door before Emma's sentence even found its completion. Her head sticking out to inspect the nearly empty street, she turned back and looked again at Emma. "Emma, you're playing with fire by keeping company with that man. I tolerated it at first, as he seemed to amuse you and was surely a help to you as you settled into your role here for the time being. Yet he is becoming all too familiar with you and not even the real you."

"Granny, I'm not meaning to lie to him," she said in the small voice she used when her father had found that she had used crushed berries to decorate the armor that he had worn into battle. "I just have not revealed my family to him. It seems cruel, but I cannot risk it."

"Sometimes we guard ourselves for good reason. Emma, there are a great many men and even some women who would do you harm just for the chance to hurt the royal family. They would ransom you or worse to destroy your parents and what they have built. I warned your mother of such before they left, but she assured us that you are more than capable of protecting yourself through any means. So I have allowed it, but I'm not comfortable with your associations with men such as him."

"Men like him?" Emma pondered that for a moment, studying her hands. "Is there something about Killian I should know?"

"I…" Granny pursed her lips, making the glasses slide back down her thin nose. "Emma, you must choose an honorable man, not one who excites you. You must choose a man who will lead with you, not usurp your power. You must choose a man who will understand and respect you, not one who aims to hurt you with his own ambition." She frowned. "I know it is a heavy responsibility. But the crown is quite heavy too."

"And what about love?" Emma asked, her voice trembling. "Am I not to find a man who loves me? A man who looks at me the way my father looks at my mother?"

After muttering about love blinding the most sensible, Granny's expression softened. "You can't truly believe that the man truly loves you. You don't know him and you haven't allowed him to know you. While I'm not telling you to make yourself an easy prey, I'm saying that you can't possibly believe there is anything true between you when you have cloaked yourself as someone other than who you are. Let me ask you this. Would your parents' guards and do about him?"

Emma cast her eyes downward as she heard the woman's criticism. "I asked that they not leave a guard," she explained. "I wanted to feel normal and without the limitations that my life at the palace holds."

Granny nodded her head slowly, gesturing toward the heavy curtain that was between the dining room and kitchen. "Pull that closed."

Obeying the command, Emma manipulated the draperies and returned to the spot across the table from the woman. "Yes, Granny?"

"My family knows what it is like not to feel normal, not to feel as though we are part of things because we don't fit into the little boxes that the town folks think we should." There was a near wistfulness to Granny's voice as she looked at the young princess. "People speak of how it makes them feel to not be included, but they don't know what it can be like for those of us deemed dangerous. Men have hunted my Red, wanted to kill her because they think she can't control the wolf inside of her. It's a scary world to know that those that sit beside us today might turn on us tomorrow." She pushed her wire glasses up her nose. "I imagine you may feel the same, Emma."

Huffing out a nervous titter, Emma brushed a few of the crumbs on the table into her hand. "I'm not a wolf, Granny."

"All the same, I think you know," she said with the same stoic message. "And I think you must not believe that man would understand if you were to tell him who you really are, Emma."

Emma shrugged. "And who would that be? A princess? An embarrassment to her family? I'm nobody, Granny."

"You are hardly nobody, Emma. You are a princess. You are human too, beautiful, kind, and giving, just as your mother. You are strong and fierce, just as your father. But you are also your own person, one who is not ready to trust anyone with the real her because they may not truly understand."

The princess's face scrunched with a perplexed countenance. "I don't understand. You tell me that Killian is not worthy of my trust, but yet you tell me that I cannot truly know if someone is if I don't trust them with who I am. You are speaking in circles, Granny."

"Then let me speak plainly. I see it in your eyes that you have given a portion of your heart to this man because he treats you as though you are a simple villager. But Emma you are special, whether you embrace that or not. You are wise to be guarded, wiser still to not reveal yourself to him or to anyone. Don't let the allure of his words and his kindness toward you make you believe that you can trust him. He is hiding just as much as you."

***AAA***

Granny riding in the wagon had limited the conversation between Emma and Killian, but he had been kind to both women. Helping them in and out, offering his hand first to Granny and then to Emma, he had made sure that he was a gentleman at least in behavior. While Emma looked to Granny as if to say that it was a kind gesture, the older woman remained a bit critical and barely thanked him.

However, Emma's younger brother was a bit more taken with the man's generosity. Leo's eyes were bright and happy as Emma explained that Killian had a gift for him. Half holding her skirts and half bouncing with a hand held outward, he squealed at the sight of the tiny ship. Her hand rested on his back as she pushed him forward a bit with a reminder to be thankful for the gesture.

"It is no trouble, mate," Killian said, kneeling in front of him to show some of the intricacies of the craft. Soon the prospect of holding it with both hands won out over playing shy, as he separated himself from his older sister and paid more attention to the man with the small ship held out to him.

Red was helping her grandmother into the cabin as Emma approached them, both women looking sternly at her. "I thought he would enjoy it," Emma said, her hand gesturing toward Leo and Killian. "My brother has only been on a handful of sea voyages, but he's loved them so much. I hoped that it would give him something to hold onto as I spend my days away from him and our parents are away."

The two women exchanged a look as Granny ducked into the cabin. "I wouldn't trust him, Emma," the younger of the two said. "I know he's charming and dashing, but he's not to be trusted. He's…"

Emma looked over her shoulder at the way Killian was laughing heartedly at something the young boy said. She had been there before herself, hearing her brother's interpretation of life enough to entertain the coldest of souls. "He doesn't seem so dangerous, Red," she said softly. "You and Granny are so cryptic with your warnings about him, but they do not fit the Killian I know. Please speak plainly. I know that I must be careful, but he's so kind and thoughtful. What reason do you have for me not to trust him?"

Red allowed the door to shut behind her grandmother, closing her eyes as she considered the way to explain to Emma. "What does Killian do for a living?" she asked Emma. "Or what does he say that he does?"

Emma peered back at the man with the jet black hair and soft smile of amusement and pride as her brother repeated back the parts of a ship with blazing accuracy. "I don't know that he's ever…Something in the shipping way of work? I first thought he was a blacksmith, as he was leaving there when I met him. And he had smudges of soot on his face."

"That was kohl," the dark haired woman explained. "Killian is a captain of his own ship, one he commandeered from a royal navy as best I can tell from the markings upon it. Not your fathers, but still it was not earned honestly. He's known as Captain Hook, Emma. I don't think anyone but you has ever called him Killian in years. Maybe…well, it's been a long time. He's a pirate, Emma. He has done horrible things to the very men who protect this kingdom. And he's not remorseful in the slightest, parading those actions around as a banner. So as kind as he has been to you, do you think your father would appreciate the association? Or your mother? Do you realize that pirates once stole all your mother had with a promise of a voyage to safety? They left her penniless and alone in this world. Your father was once on a ship taken over by pirates. They left him and others for dead."

"Was Killian…" She clenched her hands into fists, imagining again how her mother must have felt at that stage of her life. No parents or loved ones, a throne taken from her, a stepmother who aimed to kill her, and friends who had forsaken her. How lucky her mother had been to have found friends like Red and Granny, a new family formed out of the desperation. That Killian could be such a man both frightened and disgusted Emma. But there was another part of her who could not reconcile this man who had been so gentle with her and the villain that Red described.

"No, it wasn't him or his crew, but Emma, look at him. Do you really think you can trust a pirate?"

"I will see to his dismissal," Emma announced, her throat closing and her stomach turning. Her skirts dusted the tops of her shoes as she walked purposefully toward her brother, gripping his shoulder and telling him to join Granny inside.

"He's got quite a sharp mind, Emma," Killian said as the boy scampered away. "I have been around men four times his age who cannot remember half the information that boy just recited. He's a marvel."

Emma wet her lips, feeling quite alone as she avoided the clarity of his blue eyes. "Are you a pirate?"

The beaming expression he wore became more distressed. "Aye," he said with no sense of the pride from before. "I had hoped you would not find fault in that title, but I am just that – a pirate."

She took a step backward from him as though this news might somehow leap to her. "That's not a very honorable profession," she said, reluctant to say what she was truly thinking at that moment.

His eyes drifted from her toward the ground, his own movements unsure as he reached over with his hand to rub at the empty brace on his arm. "Honor has not suited me in my life, Emma. I have lost my brother to the supposedly honorable intentions men in power because of the blood that flows through their veins and not the goodness of their hearts. So forgive me if my profession is not palatable to your delicate sensibilities."

She scowled at him, her expression more about his description of her than the fact that he was owning up to his profession. "You said you weren't a danger," she said with a sorrowful shake of her head. "You said you…"

"I said I was not a danger to you, Emma. And I am not. I stand by my word that I would not and will not hurt you." He waited for her to look at him, give some sort of indication that she might understand and believe him, but it did not come. Nodding to himself he turned with a near snap of his body as he headed toward the path back to town. "I apologize, Emma. I will see myself off."

She breathed in deeply, watching his retreating form toward the wagon that still waited. "Killian," she said in a whispering voice. Maybe she was just saying his name to claim she had tried to call out to him. He didn't respond, but who could have heard her small voice over the sounds of everything around them. Closing her eyes, she pictured him there before her with that same kindness she had seen reflected in his eyes. She did not feel the fear of him that Granny and Red seemed to think was necessary. Instead, she felt his understanding and for a moment she wasn't scared of him. "Killian."

His own voice shook her from the reverie of her thoughts, her eyes flying open to find him before her. "Emma?" he asked. "I was…How did I?" His eyes were not clear in their confusion, his hand gesturing wildly as he looked from her to the path he had just been walking down. "Tell me."

"I didn't mean to call you back," she said, not truly explaining the circumstances. "I'm sorry."

"I am the one who should be apologizing, love," he said. "I was not honest with you about who I am. While I cannot apologize for that part of me, I should have been more forthcoming."

She felt a sourness in her mouth as she looked at him, unsure what to do with the information he had given her. "I never asked," she said suddenly, the words rushing out. "I never asked about your livelihood or your vocation. I never asked and so you did not lie to me."

"Except by omission?"

A nearby bird cawed loudly and for a moment Emma turned her face upward in that direction. "You have given me no reason to doubt you when you say you are not a danger to me," she said. "But I will not lie and say that your actions at sea do not worry me some."

He nodded, turning his head once again to the path. "There is nothing I can do to change that, though I wish I could. I should go."

She bit the inside of her mouth, watching his confused state as he tried to reconcile what had just happened with the reality of his life. "I won't need you to accompany me tomorrow," she said, as if it had not occurred to her that he had not offered. "I mean to say that I won't be going into town. Red is planning to work in the pub. And I said that I would help here around the cabin for the planting and with some of the other chores."

His eyes searched hers for a moment, looking for some understanding that he wasn't finding. "I see."

"It is late," she commented, looking at the low hanging sun that spilled an almost orange light through the trees. "The pub won't have food by the time you return. You'll have missed your dinner."

It had been a long time since anyone had worried about where his next meal would come from or if he was well fed. He was not even sure how to respond to that so he just stood there as she backed away from him, not fully turning away as she went to the cabin door and held her hand up to him in a gesture to both silence and stall him. When she walked closer, she gave a sad sort of smile of her own. "There is enough to share if you would like." She wasn't so innocent as to think that he cared about the food, as he probably drank more than a few meals.

"Emma, you don't have to do this. I understand that I have upset you. I apologize for that, but to ask me to stay might be too much."

"You say that you wish you could remove my worry. I am giving you that opportunity, Killian."

***AAA***

Red placed the bowl in front of her grandmother with a loud clattering thump as she heard the door slamming shut in echo as Leo ran from the room toward his sister and her companion. "She's a fool," Red proclaimed angrily. "Snow would never…"

The older woman drug her spoon through the bowl, a piece of bread in the other hand. "Snow would be the first to disprove your theory. She sees the best in everyone, including those who have wronged her. I suppose the girl comes by it honestly."

Eyes flashing and nostrils flaring, Red stared hotly at the woman before her. "So which of us is to explain to the King that his daughter is keeping company with a pirate? I don't wish to see David's face when he learns of this. And you allowing it? You barely let me speak to anyone, let alone a man until I learned I control my changing. It…Why are you not more concerned?"

The slurp of the soup into Granny's mouth was loud, echoing against the crackling fire where the pot of broth and meat boiled and simmered. "She kept company with the Dark One's son. I hardly think his reaction will be much worse that she's with a pirate who she will never see again after she returns to her home. He's enamored with her now, but he'll lose interest."

Red was pacing, the clasp of her cloak reflecting the low light of the room. "Baelfire may have come from a man so evil that there are few who don't fear him, but he was not in his heart dark or evil. He is a man of his circumstances. Captain Hook chose this life. He chose to be a marauder."

"He has not hurt her," Granny declared. "And though I have misgivings, I think that you or I telling her to stay away will only encourage her to be rebellious. So instead I suggest we be vigilant and make sure that she is happy and safe."

"A pirate being kind to a princess?" Red asked dubiously. "I don't see how this will work. If he learns of her high status, he could try to do something horrible."

"His ship is out of commission for the time being. His crew is made up of mostly drunkards. He, himself, was only able to procure a lame old mare to carry her home on because he was worried about her. I hardly think he's going to kidnap her with no viable way to remove her from this village."

"So we should trust him with her because he's too strategic to do anything too vile? We should trust him because he's attempting to shine on about his honor when he's pillaged the treasuries of kingdoms and murdered men at sea? Granny, you have never trusted anyone in your life. Are you turning soft?"

"You, my dear, have lain with far worse than Captain Hook and lived to tell the tale. He's not attempted anything with her that would lead to a hint of impropriety. They walk together and he helped her to peel some potatoes. I hardly think this will be more than a brief memory for her. However, the more we disapprove, the more likely she is to attempt to prove us wrong. Remember, she is her mother's daughter."

"So she's going to see the best in him." Red shook her fist with frustration at her side. "She's a fool and we are fools for allowing this to happen. We should have insisted on guards for her here at the cabin. Snow believes her to be safe."

"She is safe enough," Granny declared. "I don't doubt that if anyone, including the pirate, hurts her that you will rip out their throats for sport."

***AAA***

It was not that far away from that village that a man used to shadows and darkness bolted into the castle where a former queen lay resting after a long day. Her chambers were still opulent, but he was quite used to her austere tastes. She had been that way for years, dramatic and bold with her choices and behavior. However, now a mother and a wife, she had softened and hidden away the urges of her former role.

"What are you doing here?" she hissed when her chocolate eyes fluttered open to find him there sitting in wait for her. "Were you watching me sleep?"

"Merely waiting, dearie," he said, his lips curling up over his not so white teeth. "I have come to discuss your son. And this seemed a good time since your husband is occupied."

Though it had been two years since the bassinet was near her bed, Regina looked toward that now bare area with dread. The boy now who had grown from the baby was just down the corridor with his own nursery of handmade finery. He was none the worse for the attention thrown to him or his mother's spoiling, as he was sweet and loving in ways that she had never been.

"I fulfilled my end of the bargain," she seethed, hoping that he did not notice the way her hands clutched blindly for the covers on her bed. "I gave you…"

"Foolish woman," he said, the sneer sickeningly sweet and settled on his face as though he had never been without it. The few candles in the room reflected and projected off the gold flecks of his skin as though it somehow emanated from within him. But she knew better, knew that nothing but darkness would seep out from the very pores that seemed to glow. "I know things – things that your husband doesn't know. Things he would be quite interested in knowing if told."

"What do want from me?"

His legs hung over the arm of the chair and swung forward as though he might stand. He didn't. "It's not you I want, dearie. It's your son. He will help me."

She wrinkled her nose in an attempt to understand his riddling ways. "He's barely forming sentences," she said as though human development might make for a good argument. She was ignoring that nobody argued successfully with the Dark One. Who needed logic when there was magic? "How could he possibly?"

While the Dark One held so much power that most were terrified of crossing him, he lacked patience. The combination could be lethal. "I don't have to explain myself to you."

"You do when it's my son," Regina added haughtily. "You owe me an explanation."

"I don't," he answered simply. "I just meant to warn you, dearie. I'll pick him up when the time is right. So you best be prepared for it."

In a puff of smoke, he was gone.

***AAA***

"I don't wish to cause you problems with the Widow Lucas or Red," Killian said, balancing the bowl on his lap. He was watching Emma's delicate but steady movements as she assisted her brother with his meal there beneath the budding trees.

"They are protective of us. My Aunt Red has been a great friend to my parents since before I was born." She looked toward the cabin with a worried expression. "I seem to do that so much these days. I disappoint everyone."

"Not me," Leo said, the soup that Red had made, dribbling down his chin.

Emma laughed, using the corner of the napkin to wipe at the mess. "No, I don't disappoint you, Leo."

The young boy seemed thoughtful as he watched Killian struggle to maintain the balance of his soup on his knees and lift the spoon without splashing the contents on himself. There were moments that seemed precarious, but that only seemed to entertain the young prince more. "You're funny," he said with a solid nod that he agreed with himself. "Very funny."

Killian's thick dark eyebrows raised in pleasure as the boy's assessment. "Funny? The lad finds me amusing?"

"You have a funny name," Leo continued. "I like it though."

"I'm so pleased that my name meets your approval," he said, winking at Emma who was quickly telling her brother to mind his manners. "It was my grandfather's name. He was my mother's father. My brother was named after her grandfather."

The little boy was still missing a tooth or two in the front that shone through as he smiled. "I was named after my grandfather too," he explained. "They just call me Leo because I'm short."

The eyebrows raised again as Emma laughed into her hand. "No, Leo. We call you Leo because it is the short version of Leopold. It is not a reflection of your size."

Thinking about that for a moment, Leo considered the name. "I think I like Leopold better than Killian. Killian sounds funny."

Emma giggled as Killian pretended to pout over the word. He had repeated it several times before asking Leo to explain himself. Asking a young child to explain is often a lesson in garbled logic, but to the pirate's credit he listened attentively as Emma gathered her bowl and her brother's to take back to the cabin. "I'll be right back," she said over her brother's head.

She was inside the smallish cabin when her brother dropped the bombshell on Killian. "Did you know I'm a prince? My grandfather was a king."

I've had a couple of questions that keep coming up so I thought I'd address those as best as I can here:

Why have Red and Granny not been more worried about Emma's being around Killian? I hope this chapter explains that a little better. Long story short – nobody would understand what it is like to be labeled as dangerous when you're not than Red and Granny. You're going to see a bit of the struggle for them with that.

Does Emma have magic? Yes, she does. The question is who knows that and who doesn't.

What happened to the baby Emma and Baelfire have? I haven't revealed that yet, but yes there was a big clue to that in this chapter.