a/n: Thank you to florenzu, Rachel, Skyeward MusicLover, SolemnlySwearToManageMischief, followsrabbit, fox24, Kou Shun'u, crazyperson-pop, clokadile, Tandy, ray4ruffles, swishandflickwit, primadonna001, and castlefringereader!

On a scale of one to Rumplestiltskin, Killian's past self was a solid Ariel in terms of people he never wanted to interact with again.

Yes, it was that bad.

If it had at least been his post-Milah past self (or even post-Liam pre-Milah) it would have been easier to deal with. Anything but the wide-eyed lieutenant whose stick-up-the-backside, follow-the-regulations-mentality was little more than a shallow cover, a desperate attempt to be something else, something more, than the deadbeat fugitive father who had left him behind all those years ago.

It was worth nothing, in the end. He had become a pirate after about ten seconds worth of thought.

But Lieutenant Jones didn't know that. Until he lived that decision, he couldn't possibly understand it (not unless Killian revealed Liam's fate, not unless he told him – broke him –).

Then again, would that be so much worse than letting him believe he had genuinely regressed to the role of criminal and thief, no matter how hard he tried to strive for something better?

Emma remained grim and silent as they drove towards the town line, seeming lost in thought. Killian watched her in the car's side mirror, wondering just what was going through her head. It had been a shock, see her young self – almost as much as seeing his own had been. There was something a little heartbreaking about how early her walls had gone up – how very alone the teenaged Swan had seemed.

"There," he said suddenly, breaking her out of her reverie as he pointed. As they turned onto the straight road leading out of Storybrooke, he caught sight of David's truck up ahead.

"Got 'em." Emma floored the accelerator, the little yellow bug jumping ahead. The others were driving fairly slowly, not having noticed they were being pursued yet, and it wasn't long before Emma pulled up alongside them and then turned, swinging the car around to block the path of the truck and forcing them to pull to a halt.

"Dammit!" he heard young Swan shout, through the open window, and couldn't quite help but grin a bit as he followed Emma out of the car.

"Nice try," Emma said, as she pulled open the truck door and yanked out her younger counterpart. "Where exactly did you think you were going?"

Jones got out with a little more dignity, looking almost sheepish at having been caught trying to skip town. His gaze flickered towards Killian before he looked away. Killian made no move to touch him or speak to him, still unsure what to do or say.

"What, are we prisoners here?" Swan demanded, lifting her chin.

"Actually, yes," Emma snapped back, and pushed her jacket aside to reveal her badge. "I happen to be the Sheriff of Storybrooke and you just stole a car, so..."

Swan's eyes went almost comically wide when she saw the badge. Then she began to laugh hysterically, which Killian found rather alarming.

"Oh my God. Oh my fucking God, that's it, that's the last straw, either I'm officially crazy or you are."

"What are you on about?" Emma demanded, and Swan covered her face with her hands, shoulders still shaking.

"The sheriff. As if I find my family and become the fucking sheriff."

"What's a sheriff?" Jones asked quietly, taking a step closer to Killian.

He was a bit surprised the other was actually talking to him, let alone voluntarily.

"Um. A type of lawkeeper," he replied, after a moment of slightly awkward staring.

Emma didn't quite seem to know what to do.

"You need to come back with us," she said finally. "Trust me, we're going to send you back-"

"No," Swan burst out then, dropping her hands. All traces of laughter had abruptly vanished. "No, I don't trust you – I don't trust any of you. And if you're really me than you should damn well know that! All of this," she thrust her hand back in the direction of the town. "Fairytales and being some sort of long lost Saviour and finding my parents, or whatever? It's not, it's not believable. I'm not special, not like that!"

There was a moment of stunned silence.

Swan scoffed again, under her breath.

"The God damn sheriff," she muttered.

"Swan, Emma," Emma began, almost pleading – and she looked upset now, hands hanging awkwardly by her side, staring at her past self with something like nostalgia and something like horror and a good bloody lot like wrecked.

"Don't speak to her like that," Killian snapped, something defensive rising up in him. Both Emmas stared at him in shock.

"Speak to who like what?" Swan asked, "Apparently I am her."

"You bloody well know what I mean," Killian cut in, feeling a bit like a lecturing schoolteacher; at the same time Jones muttered under his breath, "Speak to whom."

Killian spared him a glance before continuing, "If you knew how hard Emma worked to get here you'd not belittle her efforts so easily! No one magically handed her a happy ending on a plate, if that's what you're thinking. She – you – made it on her – your – own." He shook his head, frustrated by how complicated the pronouns were getting. "I know it's hard for you to accept at this... point in your life. But there is no need to take it out on us and there is no need to run away."

Swan stared at him, looking surprised, then speculative. Her gaze flickered between Emma and Killian for a moment before she bit her lip almost petulantly.

"Says the guy who regressed in the future."

Killian couldn't help but flinch. The damage was done because Jones was looking at him now, that disgruntled, suspicious look on his face that he'd had back in the apartment.

"Emma," Emma said, warningly.

"She's right," Jones said, hesitant at first, then straightening up farther. "Given what we've seen... maybe we don't want to live out this future."

"Look, mate," Killian replied, trying hard to sound as flat as possible, to hide the overwhelming hurt and disappointment and worst of all the fact that he couldn't help but half agree with his counterpart, "We know nothing about time travel or what sort of paradoxes and problems we could cause if we don't send you back."

"You can't stay in this world," Emma added, firmly.

Jones looked torn, glancing between Swan with her folded arms and determined pout – and since when had they become friends – and Killian.

"I don't want to become a pirate," he repeated. "I don't want to become a criminal and lose my hand and turn into the sort of person who drinks his problems away." He fixed Killian with a look that was partly unsure and mostly angry. "You know exactly why."

Killian flinched again. The thought that Jones could possibly see their father in him, that he could resemble him in any way–

It's not true.

But hadn't he abandoned Eric?

"Liam is back in your world," he forced out. It was a low card to play, but it was all he had left. "You can't just stay here and leave him."

"Is he back in our world?" Jones snapped, the stress of the situation seeming to get to him, "I'm not stupid. He's not here, is he? He's not here because – because something's happened to him. He would never let me turn into, into that," a jabbed finger in the direction of Killian, "What was it you said? That he travelled to another realm, out of reach of the curse? Why would he go there without me?"

A horrible silence.

Both Jones and Swan were staring at them accusingly now.

"I'm right, aren't I?" Jones demanded. "You haven't been honest with me because you're ashamed. I don't know what happened. I don't want to know, and I certainly don't want to live it."

"You don't have a choice," Killian managed to get out. He could see Emma staring at him with concern. She looked like she wanted to step in but didn't know what to say. "You have to live through it – that's all you can do, then you'll see-"

"I don't want to," Jones repeated, almost like a petulant child. "If I don't go back, if I stay here – I don't turn into you, and whatever happens to Liam, maybe it doesn't happen."

"That's not how it works," Emma broke in, quietly, "You can't change the past like that. You can't mess around with it."

"What's the point of us being here then?" Swan demanded.

Emma flung her hands up, close to frustrated. "There isn't a point! It was an accident!"

At which point everyone began to scream at once, voices rising loudly in the silence of the road, words tangling together to the point where Killian could barely tell what was coming out of his own mouth, let alone anyone else's–

And then the flying monkeys attacked.

One moment, Lieutenant Jones was shouting, letting the stress and anger and confusion of the last few hours out in a rather undignified, unfiltered display of rage that under any other circumstances he might have declared "bad form".

The next there was a ghoulish beast swooping from the sky towards him, and before he could even begin to register what was happening, Captain Hook was tackling him to the ground, grabbing young Swan on the way.

They hit the hard tarmac with a thud, Jones gasping as the wind was knocked out of him. He caught a glimpse of the creature swooping overhead, close enough that he felt it just brush the top of his hair.

"What are those things?" Swan screamed beside him.

Hook was getting to his feet and Jones made to follow, but his older self knocked him back down with a shove of his hand.

"Stay down! You're unarmed!" he snapped.

There was a shout and Jones' head whipped around to see two of the beasts – monkeys, he realised with horror; grotesque, deformed monkeys with wings – approaching from the other end of the road. Emma had a weapon raised, a pistol by all accounts though it looked little like any firearm he had ever encountered – and as he watched she shot a few times at the beasts. One of them disappeared in a burst of flame as the bullet found its mark; the other dodged deftly sideways before it grabbed her arm and snatched her up.

"Emma," Hook yelled, a raw desperation in his voice. Before any of them could react, the monkey had swung sideways and was arcing back into the forest, Emma still struggling in its grip.

Jones scrambled to his feet, Swan holding onto his arm as she followed.

Hook was already running after Emma and the monkey, but he spun around when he heard the two of them coming after him. He had drawn a sword from his belt and now swiped angrily in their direction with his hook.

"Stay here," he barked.

"We can help-" Jones began, but Hook cut in again.

"I bloody mean it. Stay here, do not move, keep her safe!" he ordered, eyes flickering towards Swan.

For a moment Jones was stunned into silence; the other's voice held an authoritative note, a natural sort of command that reminded him of... of Liam, more than anyone else.

Without waiting for a reply, he dashed off into the woods.

"Oh my God," Swan said, and he turned to look at her. Her face was white and she was trembling, seeming almost shellshocked. "Those were..."

"Flying monkeys," Jones replied grimly, "Likely the work of the witch they mentioned!"

Swan shook her head a few times. Jones watched her in concern. If there was truly no magic in this realm, it was likely quite the shock for her to encounter such horrible creatures. Even he, who had seen many things including the terrible ogres from afar, was a little taken aback by the hybrid creations.

Suddenly a loud, animalish screech sounded deep within the forest, followed by a spattering of loud gunshots that made Swan jump.

The soldier in Jones snapped into action. He couldn't just stand here while a fight went on – while a woman's life was in danger. Reaching into his jacket, he withdrew a dagger – Hook had thought him unarmed but was unaware that at the time he had fallen through the portal they had just made port in an unfamiliar city. He'd have been a fool not to at least carry a knife.

"Stay here," he told Swan, heading in the direction of the sounds.

She jogged right after him. "Uh, no thank you," she snapped.

He grabbed her arm. "You don't know how to fight."

"Fuck you, you don't know anything about me. You don't survive on your own in this world without some skills. I can handle a monkey." The bravado in her voice would have been convincing if it hadn't cracked a little on the last word. Jones didn't have the time to argue – and she was right, he didn't know her – before there was another gunshot and he sprinted in the direction of the noise, Swan following.

They burst into a clearing just in time to see Emma falling from the sky. It seemed that with the gun still in her hand she had managed to shoot the monkey that had taken her. She gave a shout of pain as she landed, one leg folding under her as she crumpled to the floor.

Hook was already close by her side.

"Are you alright? You okay?" they heard him ask from where they stood.

Before she could answer there was a flurry of wild screeching and three more monkeys swooped in from the trees. Hook instantly stepped in front of Emma, still sprawled on the ground, his sword raised protectively.

"Come on then!" he hollered, swiping at the nearest monkey. It darted back with a shriek.

He gave an admirable volley of thrusts that lopped the tail of one creature clean off, but the odds were stacked against him. As Jones and Swan watched in horror, one of the monkeys lunged towards him and knocked him clean across the clearing, where he struck a tree and fell to the ground.

"Killian!" Emma shouted.

Jones took half a step forward, dagger in hand, but before he could do anything Emma had thrust out her hand and there was a sudden, blinding flash of white light.

Emma had no idea what she was doing.

She reacted instinctively, the magic coursing through her, coming from some deep well within that burned hot but not painful, streaking through her arm and her fingertips with a curious, almost tingling sensation.

The monkeys were blasted back, a few disappearing in the same flashes of fire that Walsh had, the rest wheeling off into the sky and flying off into the distance with a series of pained shrieks.

She fell back against the ground, panting.

Where did that come from?

It was almost terrifying, the fact that she hadn't been deliberately trying to control it that time. Not like when she put up the barrier to protect Mr Gold, not even like when she destroyed the shadows attacking Neal and Hook back in Neverland.

Hook.

She'd panicked when she saw him get sent flying.

And now she tried to get to her feet, wincing as she fell back down when pain flared through her ankle. She'd landed on it oddly when the monkey dropped her, and it was twisted at best.

"Are you okay?" Jones and Swan had rushed to her side, and she wondered what they were doing there – why they hadn't taken the chance to run off, if anything.

Jones offered her a hand up, and she let him pull her to her feet. God, it was weird, seeing Hook with two hands. Seeing him so young.

"I'm fine. Where's Hook?" she demanded. She took an experimental step and winced. Jones wrapped his other arm around her waist and helped her limp a few paces, Swan hovering worriedly by her other side.

"Here, love," Hook said. She spun around to see him picking himself up from where he'd landed by the tree, rubbing the back of his head. "Just winded. I'm fine."

She pulled out of Jones' grasp and stumbled towards Hook. Her ankle gave out on the last few steps and she half-fell forward into his chest where he grabbed her with a yelp of surprise, catching her awkwardly in his arms.

"Careful, watch the hook," he said, a touch of panic in his tone.

Emma slapped him in the chest. "You idiot, what the hell did you think you were doing?"

"I don't quite follow?"

"Did it scratch you? Remember what happened to Little John?"

He gave a hoarse laugh, pushing her back to hold her at arm's length, waiting for her to meet his eyes before he spoke.

"I'm fine, love, it didn't scratch me. I'm not about to turn into a monkey." His lips twitched and he opened his mouth and she just knew he was about to make a stupid Walsh joke, so she rolled her eyes and got in first.

"Right, well, don't do that again. Moron."

"What was I supposed to do? Run for cover and leave you sitting there defenceless?"

She raised a hand and wiggled her fingers. "Id've been fine. Magic, remember?" Studiously leaving out the fact that she had used it completely accidentally and probably wouldn't be able to do it again if pressed-

Except maybe she would, maybe if he was in danger again-

"Yeah, about that," Swan cut in, and Emma turned towards her. She'd nearly forgotten that they had an audience, and suddenly realised just how close she was standing to Hook, his arm still around her back, supporting her. She abruptly felt self-conscious, but couldn't quite bring herself to move away. Jones was watching them with one eyebrow raised.

"Magic?" Swan demanded.

She sounded... less angry, now. And more scared. For all her annoyance at the girl's earlier behaviour – insofar as she could be annoyed, considering it was herself – Emma felt suddenly very sorry for her, and gave her a gentle smile.

"I told you," she said softly. "Look, it took me a long time to accept it too. But like it or not, I'm the Saviour. I have magic. Hit-or-miss magic that I currently am unable to use very precisely, but..." she shrugged. "I don't... I don't like labelling myself as 'special' either. It just, it doesn't fit. Not after everything. Not after all the foster homes that certainly didn't see me as anything exceptional. Not after Neal – you'll get to that. But all this – after what the last two years have been... Things come together. It's not something you have to be scared of."

Swan looked down. She took a deep breath, shoulders heaving, and seemed to be deep in thought. When she did look up, it was with a small, wry smile, before she glanced between Emma and Hook.

"Well, I have my proof, at least, that in the future there's one person who'd jump in front of a bullet for me. Or, well, a flying monkey."

Hook looked down with that flustered shyness he'd exhibited when David toasted him in Neverland.

Jones spoke before he could. "You saved her."

"She saved herself, mate," Hook said, flapping a hand, "I merely provided distraction."

"You risked your life for her," Jones continued, eyes wide, and Hook was starting to grow quite red.

"Alright, let's not get too excited now."

Jones was smiling a bit, though, and Emma could see the wheels turning in his head. Re-evaluating his opinion of the pirate. Seeing that maybe he hadn't lost all his honour after all.

"Emma? Hook?" David's voice called out, from back through the trees were the truck was parked.

"Over here," Emma hollered back. "We should go back to him." She eyed Swan and Jones suspiciously. "You are still technically under arrest for stealing that truck. You gonna come quietly?"

Swan rolled her eyes. "Sure thing, sheriff," she replied, but it was more teasing than malicious, and Emma couldn't help but smile.

She had to keep leaning on Hook's arm, keeping weight off her ankle as they walked. Swan and Jones traipsed up ahead of them, her injury slowing her down a bit. She glanced up at Hook, saw him watching his younger self. He was oddly quiet, but she fancied he didn't look as... sad, as empty, as he had before.

"Alright?" she asked quietly.

He glanced down at her. His lips twitched, but he didn't reply. Not ignoring her, just unsure what to say.

"I know I told you off but I do appreciate your grand heroic stand against the monkeys," she said with a smirk. "Not the first time you've risked your life for me."

"Doesn't make me a hero."

"Doesn't make you a pirate, either," she said, letting her gaze drift to Jones' retreating back. "I think he sees that. I'm more concerned about you seeing it," she added, emphatically, and nudged his side with her elbow.

He chuckled. "If anyone's a pirate, it's your younger self there."

"Oh God, don't start."

"You guys okay?" David asked as they emerged from the trees. His eyes flew to Emma's limp and widened in concern. "What happened?"

"We had a run in with some of Zelena's monkeys," Emma said tiredly. "Dealt with it, though. I think everyone's ready to go back to town."

"That's good," David said, "Because Mary Margaret and Belle found a way to reopen that portal."

Unwilling to drive with her ankle injured as it was, Emma ended up in the truck with David, while Swan drove the bug back with Jones and Killian riding as passengers. She couldn't help but smile briefly as she wondered what the conversation in that vehicle was going to be like.

"Are you alright?" David asked quietly, when they were halfway back.

She gave a tired sigh, running her hands over her face. "Fine. Exhausted, and I'll be very glad to see the back of myself, but... I'm fine."

He bit his lip, looking over at her. "I didn't realise..." He trailed off, seeming unsure how to phrase it.

She knew what he meant. One of the greatest difficulties in accepting her parents had been the disconnect; the fact that they didn't know her story – hadn't been there to see her growing up, to understand her hardships. That no matter how much they tried to, they could never quite see exactly how damaged the foster system had left her. How much Neal had broken her.

It went two ways, though. She'd seen that in Neverland, all the parts of Mary Margaret's life she hadn't even begun to fathom. She really needed to just sit down and read Henry's book one day.

"It's fine," she replied, softly. "I found my parents, in the end." She reached out and pressed his arm where it rested on the steering wheel, and he gave a small smile.

"Hook though," he said then, a rather obvious attempt to change the topic, and she scoffed out a laugh.

"He'll be okay."

"In the Navy. Who'd have thought."

"He's not just a pirate. Never was." She bit her lip. "This sucked for both of us, but he'll be fine. We'll be fine. And... they'll be fine, in the end."

If anything it was the look on Mary Margaret's face when they arrived back in town that really got to Emma, because the way she looked at Swan – a mix of longing and sadness and self-deprecation – it reminded her acutely of what they'd both missed out on thanks to fate and circumstance and Regina. She pushed it away, though, reminded herself that all they could look to was the future now.

"Good! You're back!" Belle said. She cast Swan and Jones an unashamedly curious glance before pressing a strange looking wand into Emma's hand. "I found this in the store. It should be able to recreate any magic. You just have to work it."

"Uhh, can we get Regina here? I'm not sure I know how," Emma said, pointing the wand vaguely about.

"She's out," Belle replied with a slightly sheepish grin. "You'll be fine, just focus your magic the way you usually do."

Emma stared down at the wand, but she felt suddenly awkward, acutely aware of everyone watching her. Especially Swan, her sharp eyes fixed on her, waiting to see what would happen.

She closed her eyes, trying to channel her magic, but it wasn't working – she'd never done it like this before, without some sort of panic or raw emotion.

Suddenly she felt a hand on her arm. Her eyes snapped open and she turned to see David, smiling at her reassuringly, his hand gently holding onto her just above the elbow. Mary Margaret came up on her other side, slipping her hand into Emma's free one. Emma smiled at them both. Glanced to the side and saw Swan looking at them with something like envy and something almost like hope in her eyes.

She focused again. Didn't close her eyes this time, stared instead at the spot on the road where Zelena had first been messing about. She felt something stir in her, slow like a dull ember. It wasn't until her gaze snapped up and she met Hook's eyes across the street, saw him give a small smile, that it sparked, and suddenly the wand was hot and glowing in her hand, and a small swirling spiral of green appeared in the middle of the road, slowly beginning to grow larger.

"You did it!" Belle said triumphantly.

"I did it," Emma repeated, and Mary Margaret whooped, David grinning and squeezing her arm before stepping back.

"Okay, we don't have much time once that portal forms completely." Belle held up two small bottles. "A memory potion. You two need to take it – you can't remember any of this, or it'll mess with the time line. You didn't give them anything, did you? Nothing from this time that could cause trouble?"

"No," Swan said, and grinned, "No lottery numbers, though not for lack of trying."

Emma laughed. "You be careful back there," she said, and Swan nodded.

Emma half felt like she ought to hug her younger self, but she knew that she hadn't been the hugging type back then – still wasn't, not really and only with select people – so when she pressed the bottle into Swan's hand, she just reached out, squeezed her arm. Still found it strange that it was herself she was talking to when she said, "You'll be fine. I'm fine."

"Good," Swan said, and then to Emma's surprise, pushed past her and walked up to Mary Margaret and David. "Uh, hi. We didn't really get the chance to talk."

"No," Mary Margaret said, looking a little startled but half shy and hopeful at the same time. "No, we, we didn't. I wish we could have had more time." And she looked sad again, then, and now Swan looked sad too, "Emma, I... you won't remember this, but we never wanted to give you up. Know that, at least for these few moments, you were wanted – you'll always be wanted."

Swan nodded, swallowing, eyes shining. She nodded towards Mary Margaret's stomach. "Well, congratulations, I guess." A wry grin. "I look forward to meeting him or her in ten years' time."

Mary Margaret laughed, and looked very close to crying. Emma stepped back and put her arm around her, feeling a little close to tears herself.

Hook and Jones had been standing in silence, darting each other glances now and then. Neither of them quite seemed to know what to say.

"It's not easy," Hook said finally, quietly, "I'm not proud of a lot of it. But you don't... I don't..."

"You don't need to justify yourself to me," Jones cut in, stiffly. "I was... scared, because I looked at you and I saw our father, but I was mistaken. Before, in the forest, that wasn't him. That was Liam and... and me, you don't lose me."

Hook nodded. Clapped him briefly on the shoulder.

"Watch out for crocodiles," he said grimly, and Jones glanced at his hook with wide eyes.

"Oh, hell, is that how?"

"You'll see when you come to it," Hook replied – and Emma couldn't help but feel proud that he was even able to joke about it – Jones smiled briefly before turning to the portal, which was quite large by now. Everyone uninvolved took a few steps back to avoid accidentally being pulled in.

"It was a pleasure meeting you, Miss Swan," Jones said, almost yelling to be heard above the portal's roar.

"And yourself, Commodore," she replied.

"Lieutenant."

"Right, sorry. I guess I'll see you in the future then," she said, with a grin, and Jones nodded, and they both glanced at Emma and Hook with a knowing sort of look that made Emma feel vaguely embarrassed, like being caught out in front of a kid sister.

"Bottoms up then," Swan said, and they both drained the memory potion before jumping into the portal.

It closed behind them almost instantly, tendrils of green dissipating into the road before disappearing as though nothing had even been there, leaving them standing in the middle of the empty street.

"Well then," Hook said, after a moment of silence, "That was eventful."

Emma barked out a laugh, feeling a rush of relief that things were back to normal, that everything was back where it belonged. Belle was smiling, moving off, and Mary Margaret and David had their arms around each other.

Emma swallowed. She'd been caught up in how hard this had been for herself, but after seeing Swan speaking to her parents she realised it must be just as difficult for them – seeing their child as a teenager, a phase of her life when she'd needed them most and they'd been unable to be there for her.

What they needed right now – for tonight – was to be a family.

"Come on," she said then, "I'll pick up Henry and we can go back to the loft. Have a night in for once. I swear Zelena better not show her face after this day we've had."

David nodded, Mary Margaret smiling with something almost like relief, and they headed back towards the apartment. Emma took a step to follow when she saw Hook hanging back awkwardly, half-turning to leave and go back to Granny's. She skipped after him quickly, caught him by the arm.

"That included you, you know."

He turned to her, eyebrow raised, hiding uncertainty under sarcasm, and she rolled her eyes.

"I mean it. Least I can do in exchange for past-me dragging past-you off on a larcenous adventure."

He grinned, and offered her his arm with exaggerated chivalry.

"Miss Swan," he said, bowing his head and brushing an imaginary ponytail back over his shoulder.

She rolled her eyes again, biting back a laugh.

"Lieutenant Jones," she replied, with an attempt at a curtsey that just caused her to curse when her ankle twinged, and looped her hand through the crook of his elbow, and they walked back to the apartment together.

a/n: Thank you so much to everyone who has read and reviewed this story! I hope you liked my exploration of a very silly little idea, most of which was written on the bus. Haha

Reviews and constructive criticism are, as always, greatly appreciated! Thanks again, much love to you all :)