"It seems that I owe you quite a debt, Baelfire." Killian kicked his feet up onto the desk and fiddled with the point of his hook.

"Don't do that." The other man frowned at him from the other side of the table. "You of all people should know that I don't do debt. If I did, you'd owe me for a hell of a lot more than bringing her back." He nodded over toward Emma, who had made herself quite comfortable in Killian's oversized shirt and was now seated cozily on his bunk, her legs tucked beneath her. "Besides," Baelfire continued. "It's not like I did it for you anyway. I was just trying to find her. It was her idea to even tell you anything. I would have ridden straight out of town, so you can save whatever thanks you're preparing to give there."

"Ah, yes." Hook sipped from his glass of rum. "How is it then, that you two originally became acquainted? I gather it's more than a brief history."

"It was a long time ago," Emma exhaled, then tossed back the contents of her own glass. She held the empty container out toward Killian and he dutifully refilled it as she continued. "I was sixteen when we met."

"It wasn't long after I left Neverland," Baelfire filled in. "A few months, maybe."

"How did you manage that?" Killian had to ask. "I've no plans to return, but I must know for curiosity's sake."

There was a lot of pride in that smirk. "I figured out a way to capture Pan's shadow, and I got it to take me off the island. This is the realm it brought me back to. I know I'm definitely not planning on going back there again. I can't imagine he was too happy about my departure and I know he doesn't forget all that fast."

"That's probably wise, mate."

Baelfire shrugged. "Anyway, I obviously wasn't going to go back to my dad's. I didn't even want him to know I was back in the Enchanted Forest, so I ended up on the streets, and that's when I started running into Emma everywhere." He looked over to her with a level of affection that Hook disliked.

Thankfully, her response was merely to roll her eyes and swirl the contents of her glass.

"We used to think a lot alike, back then." He pressed on. "Whether it was a meal, a payday, or a place to sleep, we both kept turning up for the same things all the time. After a while, we figured it'd be easier if we shared."

"That was before I knew you didn't need any of it," Emma glared at him. "You could have gone back to your fancy palace whenever you felt like it to get a full belly and a warm, cozy bed. Instead, you were out wrestling me for the few scraps that I could find. I didn't have a choice or another plan to fall back on. I was out there trying to survive while you were running away from home to rebel against 'Daddy.' I'm no longer convinced there was all that much likeness between the two of us."

Having the good form and decency to cover the grin that he could not suppress at Emma's vitriol, Killian took another slow sip and averted his eyes as a hurt expression clouded over Baelfire's features. Though he'd once considered the possibility that the boy could have been like a son to him, that boy had grown, and apparently carried a brightly burning torch for the same woman that he did. Therefore Hook couldn't help but feel that Emma's quickness to rebuff Baelfire was a welcome sign that his own standing with her was secure. It wasn't so much that he felt a hint of glee from Baelfire's suffering, but rather he was grateful that the burden of that particular pain was not his to bear. Emma's rejection was not an injury he envied, but he had no qualms about allowing another to face it in his stead, so long as he was spared the misery.

"It wasn't as simple as going and knocking on the front door to ask for a snack," Baelfire retorted. "My father is the Dark One, Emma. Everything comes at a cost with him. In this case, it would have been my freedom." His eyes dropped to his hands, loosely clasped before him, one thumb twisting lazily around the other. "Going back to live under his roof would have been locking myself in a gilded cage and handing him the key. I don't doubt he'd have forced me to do his dirty work for him, either. I wasn't going to sell my soul for a hot meal and a soft mattress." He met Emma's eyes again to show the truth of his words. "It's worth more to me than that."

"And now?" She remained cold. She was not one easily swayed. "I heard your conversation with Clark before you killed him. He said he made a deal with your dad in exchange for me. And then you were the one there to collect. What's that about?"

"I lied to him," he explained away. "He wasn't too hard to fool, to tell you the truth. I overheard him trying to find out where he could claim a bounty. A while back, I learned a recipe for a simple masking potion and I try to keep some on hand when I can. It's useful for getting into places I'm not supposed to be. I drank some, acted like my dad long enough to get him to make the agreement, and had my own face back by the time he showed up with you."

"It sounded an awful lot like you were the one who gave him the potion he used to knock me out." She accused.

"With very specific written instructions about how it should be used, yes." Baelfire nodded, showing a total absence of regret. "If I hadn't, he probably would have knocked you over the head and been done with it. I was trying to make sure you came to as little harm as possible."

"It sounds to me," Hook casually interjected. "Like you had the ability to entirely prevent the abduction in the first place, so I can't help but wonder why you didn't."

"I had no way of knowing if she was safe where she was. I just knew the guy was trying to pawn her off for profit, so I stepped in. I got him to bring her to me instead, and I gave him what he really deserved in return."

"Hold on." Emma's first finger tapped her glass and she licked her lips in thought. "How did you know where to find me and yet not know whether I was safe where I was?" She polished off her beverage once more. This time, she didn't prompt Killian to refill it for her. He did anyway.

"I paid an old local kitchen witch to help me with some scrying. Honestly, I thought she must have been drunk or senile or something, or maybe she wasn't actually any good at it. She didn't get much, and what she did get didn't make a whole lot of sense at the time. It does now that I know you were on the Jolly Roger. You had some heavy-duty protective enchantments around you, working in your favor."

"The ship's enchanted?" Emma turned her focus onto Killian, who nodded curtly.

"Aye, love. Helps keep us beneath the notice of eyes we'd rather avoid during our less-than-legal endeavors." Hook kept his stare intent on Baelfire, though Emma made a far more pleasant sight. "So then how did you manage to locate her with that additional complication?"

"Well, like I said," Baelfire sighed. "The witch got a few glimpses. Knew it was on the water or along the coast. Didn't see any big city life. I started to recognize some patterns and I made some guesses. I knew for sure that Emma would want out of the Evil Queen's territory with all those posters going up, disguise or not. It's not like this was the first place I looked, though. I've taken a lot of trips following a lot of leads that turned out to be dead ends. Guess I finally got lucky. I had to eventually, right?"

"How long have you been looking for me?" Emma wanted to know.

"About a year and a half, I'd say. Since he told me the rest of the story. He kept me locked up for a while first. I didn't even try to escape, I was so numb to everything. Then he told me. I think it was supposed to be to torture me and get some kind of rise out of me, but instead it gave me the motivation I needed to get out."

"I'll beg your pardon," Killian emptied and refilled his glass. "But you'll have to enlighten me as to this story."

"The story of the last time Emma and I saw each other. It got a bit messy."

"That's an impressive understatement." Emma's eyes narrowed. "Baelfire had the bright idea of trying to steal from his father, and he managed to get me to go along with it."

"You just chastised me for not making use of my father's resources. I figured if we could get one good haul, we would be set. We could stop working con jobs and scraping by all the time – exactly like I told you. I just didn't tell you he was my dad."

Leaning forward over the table, Hook asked for clarification. "Do you mean to tell me that you actually planned to intrude on the Dark One's palace and make off with his possessions?"

At that, Baelfire squirmed slightly. "Not my finest moment, but I thought if we were quick enough, and I left him a hint that it was me, then he'd be happy enough that I was alive that we wouldn't have to deal with too much fallout. I knew he would probably come looking for me, but I figured I could shield Emma enough that we could help ourselves a little. He's always been a lousy father, but I never thought he'd actually kill me."

Hook nearly spit out his rum, which would have been a dreadful waste. "Care to run that by me again?"

"It's true," Emma verified. "I had to watch it happen."

"Emma, I swear," Baelfire promised. "I never would have even suggested it if I knew you were pregnant. I didn't know we were taking that kind of risk."

"Now you've well and truly lost me." Hook shook his head in a vain attempt to get it to stop spinning. "You were with child?"

Emma's face was dark, her vision set on the alcohol she held. She drained her glass a third time. Killian didn't move to pour more into it this time, nor did she ask him to. "I was," she admitted. "Rumpelstiltskin ripped it straight from my body when he caught us." Her hand absentmindedly settled on her stomach. "He put his hand right into my belly. Didn't even break my skin. I've no idea how."

"I've seen him do the same thing with hearts," Baelfire muttered.

"How could the baby have survived?" She seemed to return to the present. "It was so tiny."

"Same reason I'm alive." Baelfire cleared his throat. "He kept it in a kind of suspended animation. He's using it as my life force."