Hello everybody, I'm back! This story has been simmering for quite some time, so it came out really quickly, and I hope you're going to like all the daddy!Killian feels and the angst that usually comes with my fics. Enjoy, and you can expect the new chapter on Tuesday!

Killian Jones sits in front of the judge with his wrists in handcuffs and his heart heavy, still waiting to wake up from the nightmare that's become his reality.

Milah is gone. He keeps telling himself that he needs to accept it, needs to focus on the here and now and pay attention to the trial that's going to decide what the rest of his life is going to be like, but he can't get over the loss of the only woman he'd ever loved.

His thoughts stray unbidden to their baby girl, beautiful blue-eyed little sunshine that he hadn't seen since they pulled her out of the wreck of his car, blessedly without a single scratch.

Since the day her mother died and they accused her father of Vehicular Manslaughter even though he hadn't had a drop of alcohol beforehand.

Nobody believed him when he told them that Milah's ex-husband had sent people to chase them off the road, and when they showed him a blood test in which it said he was drunk when he sat behind the wheel with his girlfriend and daughter in her car seat, Killian knew he doesn't stand a chance.

Not even his lawyer, a tired, bored-looking man called Sidney Glass believed him, ignoring most everything Killian told him, telling him from the start that he's going to get a minimum of five years in jail.

Sienna would be ready to start first grade by the time he got out and it's breaking his heart to imagine his daughter growing up in an orphanage or one of the crowded group homes he'd spent his childhood in.

And yet, there's absolutely nothing he can do, and it fills him with such impotent rage he wants to jump across the desk and strangle the prosecutor who hadn't stopped twisting the truth to fit the image he's trying to paint of Killian's character.

Glass doesn't even attempt to file an objection and the trial reaches its inevitable conclusion.

Instead of five years, Killian gets seven, and the world narrows to a dark tunnel that leads straight to Hell.

"What's going to happen to my daughter?!" Killian asks, but the judge levels him with a bored stare and tells him he can take it up with his lawyer.

"You bastard! You can't do this to me!" Killian yells, pushing aside Glass in an attempt to get to the judge, but the bailiff promptly tackles him to the floor, jarring his broken ribs and keeping him there with his knee on Killian's neck until the pain is too much and he has to stop struggling against the bailiff's hold.

"This is not how you help your daughter", the bailiff tells him when he hauls Killian back to his feet; somehow, it helps him calm down, and he lets himself be lead from the courthouse to meet his lawyer in one of the visiting rooms of the county jail.

"Well then… that went as well as can be expected", Glass says, his condescending smile faltering at Killian's dark glare.

"I want to see Sienna", Killian demands, his voice breaking on his little girl's name when he realizes that he might not even recognize her by the time he's out of prison.

"That's not going to happen", Glass tells him and takes a file out of his briefcase. "You're not going to see your daughter until you serve your sentence, Mr. Jones."

"What's going to happen to her?" Killian asks, his heart squeezing painfully in his chest because he suddenly knows exactly what's Glass going to say.

"That depends on you."

"What are my choices?"

"Let her get sent to a group home, the wonders of which you've personally experienced, or give her up for adoption", the lawyer says without a trace of compassion and Killian's head drops, an impossibly heavy weight settling on his shoulders.

It's not much of a choice he's faced with because he'd rather endure any pain than let his baby girl suffer, and suffer is all that's waiting for her in a group home. The worst thing is, no matter what he chooses, he's never going to see her take her first step or hear her say her first word, and so he makes the hardest decision a father has to make; he decides to give her the best chance he can.

"Can I see her just one more time?" He asks, both his hands shaking when he signs his name on the paper that says he's waiving his father rights and putting up Sienna Jones for adoption.

A tear drips on the fresh ink and stains the page, and when Killian looks up he finds that Glass might still have some sympathy underneath his rough exterior.

"I'm sorry", the lawyer says and takes the paper from under Killian's hand, slips it into his briefcase and starts for the door.

"Please wait!" Killian chokes out and Glass pauses without turning around as Killian frantically tries to figure out a way for his daughter to someday realize that he had loved her.

He will always love her.

"There's a silver necklace in my belongings. Make sure they give it to whomever adopts my lassie", Killian says, Glass gives a noncommittal shrug, and the door closes behind him with a finality that makes Killian feel like he's drowning on dry land.

He thinks he's going to scream, but all that escapes him is a long, strangled whimper that probably makes him sound more like a wounded animal than a human being, but he's beyond caring.

Gold has taken everything, and Killian wouldn't mind it much if the bastard found a way to take his life and get away with it too.

It's been a decade since Emma Swan gave up her baby boy for adoption, since she was Emma Johnson, abandoned and chained to a hospital bed. She doesn't think she's ever going to forget a single detail of that painful evening; the memory seems fresher today when she's sitting in a bland office waiting for them to bring her the little girl she's adopting, and she can't help feeling for the father who'd given her up even though she's eternally grateful for the circumstances that made him do it.

After taking endless tests, enduring rude questionings, and forcing her way through miles of red tape, after three years of fighting to prove she's doing this for the right reasons, Emma is finally going to get another chance at being a mother, of taking care of somebody's child the way some unknown parents have been taking care of hers.

Emma knows it's not going to change the past, and she knows there's always going to be a hole in her heart where her son is supposed to be, but she's going to love her new daughter more than anybody has ever loved a child before.

Another ten minutes pass and Emma starts pacing the office, her heart hammering and her palms sweating until the door opens and Mrs. Dent comes in with a beautiful dark-haired girl in her arms.

"There we are, dear. Say hi to your new mommy", Mrs. Dent coos to the baby while Emma stands frozen, taking in her daughter's features and furiously blinking to keep tears from blurring her vision. "Emma, meet Sienna."

"Hello, Sienna", Emma says softly, gently taking her baby's hand when Sienna reaches out and gives her an adorable toothless smile.

"Everybody says she's an angel", Mrs. Dent tells Emma as if to convince her not to bring Sienna back at the first sign of trouble, which apparently is a thing that happens, but Emma already knows she wouldn't let go of this little miracle for all the gold in the world. "You can take her, you know."

Emma nods shakily and wipes away a few tears that had escaped before she takes Sienna from Mrs. Dent and hugs her close; she inhales the sweet smell of her skin and tells her that everything will be okay, that she's never going to let anything bad happen to her.

"Her father insisted that the person who adopts Sienna gets this", Mrs. Dent says and holds out a silver necklace with two charms hanging from it; one's a dagger, the other a grinning skull.

"Seriously?"

"I don't get it either, but I should think it means something to him. Either that or he didn't have anything else so give", Mrs. Dent shrugs and drops the necklace into Emma's bag, urging her out of the office and waving goodbye to Sienna.

It feels surreal to Emma that she'd walked into this building childless, and now she's walking out a mother, Sienna drooling on her shoulder and tugging on her hair with her tiny fists.

It's the sweetest pain she'd ever had to endure.

"Hold on, baby girl. We'll be home in no time", Emma whispers against her ear and walks across the parking lot until she reaches her car, then carefully settles Sienna in her shiny new car seat.

The second she gets behind the wheel Sienna starts crying, and Emma smiles to herself, takes her out again and makes sure she's not either wet or hungry before she starts singing her a lullaby that puts her to sleep within minutes.

And then she drives them home and holds Sienna close as she sleeps, studying her face until she can see it even when she closes her eyes.

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