Author's Note
As someone who only discovered OUAT last year it's been great to read the creative takes people have on the different characters. So in a fit of inspiration this is my first piece of creative writing I've done and my first fanfic. Mostly Killian's boyhood through the early years with his father and brother. As I live at the bottom of the world I do have a slightly different view after all; How did a gentleman and navy officer become a pirate?

Rated T up to Chapter 16 then M for later chapters just to be on the safe side.

I don't own the characters of OUAT.

Killian Jones aka Captain Hook, feared pirate captain, villain, hero and "together" with Emma Swam, gazed up. He was now in tune with the ebb and flow of the once unfamiliar constellations, having realised some were an upside down version of the ones he knew by heart, though others were completely foreign to him. It had never hindered his ability to navigate his way through unknown realms before, so he had studied Storybrooke's night sky with his usual meticulous approach.

He had been able to deduce the relative time of year back in the Enchanted Forest by these new celestial patterns. Some of Storybrooke's braver town folk (who were finally getting over their justified fear of the pirate) thus came seeking his help. Would he be able to calculate when an anniversary was? Would he be able to give a date for this festival or that celebration? He obliged, able to calculate the equivalent date to within a few days and was always gratefully rewarded.

These payments helped him with the new realm's barter system. He being a very conscientious pirate, had buried a fair sized hoard of treasure somewhere safe along the coast, before he and Cora had finally landed that night at the docks. Payments meant fewer trips to the said hoard and therefore less chance of its discovery and also helped cover the day to day necessities. Coffee and food at Granny's was an expense best paid in dollars rather than stolen doubloons after all, for a man endeavouring to return to good form. His help also made people a little less intimidated by "Hook" and more likely to smile at "Killian" when encountering him around the town.

Having worked out a calculation for one of the Merry Men, who had been so excited to obtain a Storybrooke date for one of their traditional seasonal feasts, the man didn't notice the shadow passing over Killian's face. Once alone he checked his calculations again. The date was something he hadn't thought about in hundreds of years and was something he rarely "celebrated" when he had.

With all the changes and shifts (both physically and emotionally) in Killian's life these last few years, awareness of the looming date had left him feeling very out of sorts. With vengeance as his only motivation for so long, its absence had opened him up to all sorts of other emotions; some downright disconcerting to a pirate with his fierce reputation and more often than not at a most inconvenient or embarrassing time. So Killian, not wanting his beloved Emma or her family to be on the receiving end as he felt himself slip into a black mood, simply left a note saying not to worry as he quietly sought some solitude. He could have taken his newly returned ship out but knew its' presence in the harbour would comfort Emma for the few days he'd be gone. He wouldn't be at all surprised to find his bed had been slept in upon his return with the odd stray blonde hair on the pillow pointing to the culprit.

Killian found himself an isolated spot along the coast, a sandy cove where his supplies, a few bottles of rum and the bare essentials for two days of some rough living would suffice him. Lighting a fire for warmth he settled down on his sleeping roll. He had donned his pirate dust coat for comfort. It had provided him with countless nights of protection over the years from the elements. A light rain had started to fall but that didn't bother the captain. Closing his eyes and sighing deeply Killian allowed long forgotten thoughts and buried feelings to wander where they may, as he tried to remember something of his youth and contemplated the tribulation that was his birth date.