A/N: Wow guys. It's been a while! Two years to be exact. Thank you so much for reading this, for every like and comment. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as we enjoyed writing it. When I started writing fanfic, I told myself that I would never write a multi-chapter because I would never finish it. I knew that I would be so mad if I spent all this time writing a fic without a proper ending. So I made myself finish this two years later. I hope you all like it. Thank you again for coming on this journey with Sara and I.

I could make you happy, make your dreams come true.
Nothing that I wouldn't do.
Go to the ends of the Earth for you,
To make you feel my love

She sits across from him, red leather jacket draped across the chair leaving her bare and vulnerable. It always surprises her how warm his ship remains even in the crisp autumn air. He looks miserable, cheeks red with drink and sullen eyes despite the small smile he grants her. It's a testament to how bad things are between them, the awkward silence and quick glances up from fidgeting hands. She can count the amount of times they've had moments such as this on one hand and it hurts. "I'm sorry," she pauses "for how I've handled things lately."

"You've been through a trauma, Swan, and for you - it's in your nature to run when you're scared. You put your walls back up." His words sting, the tone of his voice deep with anger and distress. It's not uncommon for him to fall back on biting words when he's upset, a defense mechanism he's perfected over centuries of pain and heartache - though it's never quite been directed at her so harshly.

"I know, but you of all people don't deserve that." His grunt of protest hurts just as much as the venom that dripped from his words. The pain that she has bottled up shines in his eyes as well and she sighs. All he's done is care for her while all she's done is run. "Regina said you've been researching, trying to figure out what happened between us in the Underworld and...I wanted you to hear it from me."

The roll of his wrist tells her to continue, though his expression is still pinched and his jaw clenched. The words she needs to tell him are caught in her throat, each syllable desperately trying to crawl back down. She wants to hide them in the deepest parts of herself, to keep her walls strong and sturdy in protection. But his eyes flash and his breath seems to come out a little faster, and Emma can't keep protecting herself when the fallout is his pain.

"Hades convinced me of a lot of things, about my parents and Henry. That I was nothing more than their Savior, a replaced dream, that they only loved me for what I could give them. Which, I guess it didn't hurt as much because a part of me has always felt that way. But with you...You were different. You've always made me feel like I matter. Just me, Emma Swan. Not the savior. Even in the Underworld, when Hades had that mirror with my parents saying all those terrible things about me. You were there, still fighting to bring me home regardless of what they said. You just wanted me and that gave me hope. Because I know you'd never stop fighting for us unless I told you to or -" She stops herself, folding her hands tightly together to keep the images, the memories, at bay.

"Did you know Hades can read minds? Find your deepest and darkest fears, ones you may not even know you had and make them seem like the most rational thing in the world?"

Killian's expression hardened, his jaw flexing. "I knew that Hades used fear to break you, but I hadn't known he could read minds." He takes another swig from his flask, before casting his eyes up to meet hers. "But if you believed I would come for you, that we would stop at nothing to find you, what thoughts could he have used against you?"

"It's complicated."

"I think I can figure it out." He recoils into the chair, face pinching in a way so familiar and ashamed that Emma's heart clenches tightly in her chest. The realization dawns on her that he thinks he's the cause of her scars, of the bruises on her skin and the scraps on her wrists.

"No, Killian, you didn't - these bruises aren't from you. I'm not afraid of you physically hurting me, I never was."

"I don't understand. Then what were you so afraid of?" His brows furrow and Emma closes her eyes.

"That I'm not enough. How can I live up to a love that lasted centuries?" Emma swallows, and focuses her eyes on a long scuff mark on the floor. She wonders how long it's been there, if he's even noticed the marred wood that tries so hard to be whole. Closing her eyes, she repeats the words that have been playing in her mind for weeks. "Milah is a far better happy ending for you than I could ever be."

Killian blinks, brow furrowed with confusion. "According to who? Hades?"

"According to you." Emma hesitates but when Killian makes no move to reply, she barrels on. "I know you love her, Killian, and how could I blame you for wanting her? For wanting to be with the woman you loved and lost? If you loved her half as much as I love you, it would be cruel for me to expect anything else. She was your happy ending. And I know that Hades was trying to break me. But, the things he said, the points he made… not everything he showed me was impossible or wrong. I've lived my whole life waiting to be more than nothing, to be more than just someone's second choice. And I know you'd never think of me that way, but maybe I am just Milah's replacement. Maybe I am just the consolation prize you have for you losing your happy ending." The force in which he gets up startles her, has her jumping in her chair as his own hits the ground in a loud thud. He's practically shaking with the fury she knows he must be feeling. She reaches for him, but her arm drops halfway and her words sound just as defeated. "I'm sorry. Please don't be angry."

But then he's running to her, thumb caressing the swell of her cheek as he kneels to pull her into him. He's warm when she's felt cold for long. "Swan, I'm not angry with you. I'm angry with Hades, with myself, that I had no idea you ever felt this way. That the things I did somehow left space for you to doubt to us, to doubt yourself." Her heartbeat quickens at the tender way he cups her cheek, at his words, and she lets her weary heart trust his proclamation as truth from the deepest parts of him. "Emma, you are my life. I love you. I have always loved you. And you are my happy ending. It's always been you."

There are these moments - unfortunately too few and far between lately, though that's for her blame - that he overwhelms her in the best of ways. In simply the way he loves her. In the way he expresses it. That feeling surges back to the surface now - the three little words that they had danced around for so long now echoed back with such a sincerity it should scare her. Yet, it comforts instead. It begins to mend the cracks in her heart left by abandonment and self doubt. And she loves him too, loves the way his stubble lightly scratches at her chin as she kisses him, how they sway together, how his touch, as gentle as it may be, ignites a fire within the depths of her soul. She's his life, and maybe he is hers. "I love you."

Killian entwines his fingers in her hair, fingertips lightly pressing against the nape of her neck as he draws her in closer. She dips lower, lips spreading into a smile long before they reach him. His own answering grin is brighter than she's seen on him in weeks and it nearly hurts, how fast her heart is beating from something other than the nightmares.

"I love you," he repeats. It tastes sweet against her lips and she answers by taking a fistful of his coat and yanking him closer. Her lungs ache but she refuses to pull away, to separate their lips for even a second after so long apart. Only when his laughter forces the kiss to stop does she inhale deeply.

Killian stands, pulling her with him and using his hook to push against her leather jacket. She shrugs to help him, the jacket dropping to the floor with a soft thud. She feels a thousand pounds lighter with his hand, instead of her shield, on her skin.

He takes his time as he sheds the rest of her clothes, sucking red marks and soothing them over with his tongue as new skin is exposed. His lips are tender as they graze her collarbone, working down and settling on the side of her breast.

"I've missed you, Swan."

"I've missed you too" she shudders as his hand finds the inside of her thighs, "but could you pick the pace up a little?"

He laughs again, a small huff as his teeth graze her shoulder, before his lips find hers again.

"As the lady commands."

She makes love to him as if she needs it to breathe, to reaffirm. As if she needs to bury herself inside him, crawl inside until all she feels is sweat and heat and pleasure coursing through her, sticking to her skin as they ride the pain of heartache away.

-/-/-

It's the first time in god knows how long that Killian sleeps through the night. Emma's wrapped around him, her knee tucked between his own and arm strown haphazardly across his waist. He draws the pad of his thumb across her cheek, down her neck, and to the cuts and bruises from the Underworld that mar her wrist - an ugly, violent mixture of purples, reds and yellows in various stages of healing. A physical reminder of the psychological torture suffered. He longs to take them away, heal her heart in whatever way possible, and leans down to kiss her wrist, letting his lips linger over risen skin.

Killian pulls away when she stirs. "Sorry, love, did I wake you?"

"No." Emma whispers, voice heavy with sleep as she curls further into him.

"Going to have to try harder next time."

"Oh, yeah?" Emma laughs. It's big and genuine, and god he's missed this. The way she throws her head back, smiling up at him.

(He tries not to let himself think of how that was almost gone forever. Of how long he's been without her.)

"Did you sleep well?" he asks, moving his stumped arm to steady himself.

"Not a single nightmare. Best sleep I've had in months, actually."

"Really?" He can't help the upturn of his lips, flashing his dimples and licking at his bottom lip. "We should do this more often." He punctuates the suggestion with the wiggle of his brow - a ridiculous feat he's sure, but it earns a smile from his Swan.

"Yes." Emma replies, the sincerity in her voice communicating a thousand unsaid words, of I'm sorry and I love you. But she settles on, "I've missed this."

"As have I, love." He twirls her hair around his fingers, gently tugging it down as his gaze finds the bruises on her arms. He frowns at the sight of them. "Do they still hurt? The bruises?" Killian asks while lightly tracing over a deep purple one near her elbow.

"Sometimes, but most of the pain is from my wrists."

"Will you tell me more about the Underworld? I don't want to push you, Swan, but I'd like to know."

Emma sits up against the wall. "It was dark, not just mentally but there was barely any light, just this one lantern on the wall. And it always seemed to get darker when Hades would come into the cave. I didn't even realize until I got home, that I hadn't eaten or drank anything the entire time I was there. It must have been because I was in a suspended state of alive and dead."

"That sounds awful, love."

"That's not even the worst of it, honestly. The cries of all the souls that were lost, I don't think they ever stopped. Not until I started to think I was one of them. Hades was incredibly convincing. He would tell me that you would just sleep your way out of missing me-"

"Swan, I couldn't even if I tried."

"Yeah, but when you couple that with all the other things he told me, you lose sight of what's really true. It's a lot easier just to believe him."

"What else?"

"Killian, I don't -" She stops mid, sentence, pursing her lips together. This will hurt him, that she knows. But she can't keep hiding and if it's what he desires, then maybe... "Are you sure?

"I need to know."

Emma nods, gathering up the words that she knows will break and heal him all at once. "It's stupid, but," she sighs and focuses her gaze on the pattern of the discarded bedspread, before continuing. "You came to rescue me too many times to count. And as soon as you'd get to me, Hades would offer you an ultimatum - You could save me or…" the name feels heavy in her throat, but she presses on. He needs to know. He deserves to know. "Or Milah.

"It'd be one thing to know you were happy with her...But you, Hades fake version, he told me so many things as he left. That I'm not good enough, a replacement that could never measure up, an all too willing pawn. Fake you told me, that there's a reason you never told me you loved me. That, for a while I helped you forget about Milah, but now that you could have her back...You said it was a far better happy ending than you could ever have with me. God, Killian, you, fake you, even looked straight at me and kissed Milah... All I ever heard was how I was nothing, coupled with actions to prove it and the magic...It's impossible to not believe it after so long."

Though they've talked in circles about tragic pasts before, this vulnerability, this ache, feels different. When she asks about his time when she was gone, he details to her how his own heart crushed with every break in hers, a physical, sometimes paralyzing feeling, he imagines close if not exactly what she felt. He tells of the picture he keeps tucked away in his pocket, it's comforting and anxious reminder to keep fighting when all hope seemed lost.

"You know," Emma says, "I know what you told David back in the Enchanted Forest. I read it in Henry's book the other day."

"What?"

"That you'd go to the ends of the world for me." His eyes light up at that and for a moment, they lose themselves in memories of their time travel. (Of when she first felt herself falling deeply in love with him, though she'd never have admitted it then.) "I would too, for you. I'd go to the ends of the earth for you, Killian Jones. To infinity and beyond." Her grin spreads wide with her joke and into a small quiet laugh. And though he hasn't a clue what's so funny, his smile mimics her own. "I've done a shitty job of showing that to you lately. I don't know how yet, but we're gonna get through this. We'll be even better, stronger."

He pulls her into him, on top of him, with ease. "I love you, Emma Swan."

-/-/-

Their first date since Emma's return is more of day long adventure than anything else. He meets her for breakfast with flowers, a bouquet of soft pink middlemists that match the color of her dress she wore on their first date. Now is far more casual, and she dons dark jeans and t-shirt. "I was thinking we could start the day off with sailing, get away from prying eyes for a bit. I've also got us lunch prepared. The lady Lucas let me borrow her kitchen." he says.

"Mmhm that sounds nice, unless you doing that thing where you try to make me eat healthy."

"Someone has to Swan. You're terribly starved of nutrition."

"It's not my fault nutritious foods don't taste good." she quips, but she can't keep the smile off her face.

It goes on like this, playful banter and stolen kisses, skin pressed against skin as they sail and eat, talking of her family and his friendship with Belle, and making up for lost time. When the sun's heat prespires her skin, she jumps in the water, followed quickly by him. She lets out a deep belly laugh at the splash he makes and despite the waters far colder than expected temperature, she can't help the happiness that overwhelms her.

Later, after the Jolly is anchored and feet are on dry land, he shows her his favorite spot in Storybrooke. It's a two mile hike, and she trips or falls every other minute, but the overlook is gorgeous and she swears she can see all of Storybrooke from there.

"Do you see that neighborhood back there?" she points to a row of nice houses far off from where they are now. "Can we go there next? We can drive, I'm tired of falling."

He laughs at that - the type of contagious laugh that she can't help but echo. "Aye, love. Whatever you wish."

The drive there is quiet, the kind of peaceful quiet that seeps contentment in her bones, so different from the silence that has suffocated her as of recent weeks. Killian's hand is holding hers as she watches the scenery change from her car window. It's another thing she hadn't known she missed while being gone, the nuances of exploring a town made by magic. She finds what she's looking for easy enough, slowing to a stop in front a large, white picket fenced house. "What do you think of this place Killian?"

"It's beautiful." he responds as she exits the car and he follows suit.

"Yeah, well, it's ours." She pauses, taking in the shock on his face. In a matter of seconds it's replaced with a smile and she takes the opportunity to wrap her arms around his neck and kiss him. "I didn't want to wait any longer to start living our happy ending. Actually, I don't like endings. This isn't an ending. It's a beginning. A happy beginning."