AN: Oh god. Don't kill me please! So I guess I took a little hiatus from updating this story. Sorry about that. But on the bright side, ALL THE CAPTAIN SWAN GOODNESS! I can't wait for their date night Sunday :D Yayyy! Anywho, here ya go!

After they ate their sandwiches, they left to return to the woods. Emma did not bring up the weirdness with Henry again, but she could not stop thinking about it. The girl seemed elated by seeing him, but after he left, she crashed into a miserable downward spiral. She was grumpy and on the verge of pouting, which was even weirder.

"Is the pirate coming with us this time?" she asked suddenly as they approached the turn off to the docks.

Emma was surprised. It was the first thing she had said in a half-hour, and it was about Hook. She knew that the girl was up to something, but she did not want to freak her out and have her shut down again.

"I wasn't planning on it, but we can stop by and ask if you want," Emma suggested.

The girl nodded, and Emma made the turn to the docks. Emma played the waiting game with her, keeping silent and hoping the girl would explain. She was not disappointed.

"He reminds me of my father," the girl finally said.

"And you miss your father," Emma said.

"Yeah."

That was the truth. She heard it in the girl's voice and saw it in her eyes. She missed home and her father. Hook reminded her of him. It made sense. It also explained her strange reaction to him and even the uncanny resemblance to an extent.

Hook was on the deck of his ship, moving something around when he spotted her approaching. A big smile formed on his face, and he descended the ramp to meet her.

"To what do I owe the pleasure, Swan?" he asked suddenly happy to see her.

"I was wondering if you could help us," she said and glanced back at the car where the girl was waiting.

He took a step forward boldly and said, "If you want to get close to me, you just have to ask. No need to use the lass as an excuse."

"Why am I not surprised that you're making this about you?" Emma sighed and bit her lip, nervously. He was too close for her liking, or maybe the problem was that she liked it too much. "She's helping me with a case, and she asked for you to come."

Hook looked taken aback. "Me? Why would she do that?" he asked, confused, and glanced over her shoulder at the car.

"She said that you remind her of her father. He's missing, and that's why she's here. She needs something in Storybrooke, but she won't tell us what or where it is. Maybe having you along will, I don't know, make her feel like she can open up," Emma explained.

"Well, that's the first reasonable plan I heard since this all began." He nodded his head, quickly glancing down at her lips and back up to her eyes. His tongue darted out to moisten his own, and Emma thought for sure he was going in for a kiss. Instead, he brushed passed her and began trotting down the ramp to the car. Emma rolled her eyes and hurried to catch up to him.

The car ride to the woods was quiet. Hook did not comment or ask about the reason why the girl wanted him there, for which Emma felt thankful. She did not want to deal with the fallout from another tense moment between them. It was hard enough wondering if the girl was going to disappear at a moment's notice, but that chance lessoned by having Hook on his best behavior – with the girl.

His behavior was not entirely innocuous though. He glanced at Emma a few times, making a point to look at the steering wheel and even commented about how small her car was. Emma knew what he was doing. He was trying to remind her of the heated moment between them, and it was certainly working. Emma had to swallow down that lump in her throat and made a conscious effort not to shift her body, despite the tight feeling forming in her stomach.

She saw him lick his lips in her peripheral vision and almost crashed the car. She needed to focus on the task at hand, but that was very difficult when Killian Jones was staring at her like that.

They finally arrived at the edge of the woods. Emma parked her car, and the three of them made their way to the last known location of Clayton. Emma directed them to search the nearby area for any clues as to the direction that he had headed. The girl walked slowly away until she was passed a grove of trees, out of sight.

Emma started moving in the opposite direction until she realized that Hook was still next to her.

"What are you doing?" she asked exasperatedly. She put her hands on her hips with the intention of intimidating him, but that failed because it only drew attention to her lower body.

He looked up and grinned that cockily. "Searching for clues at your command, sheriff," he said as though it was obvious.

"Shouldn't you go another direction?"

"I could," he responded cheekily. "Why did you bring me along?" he asked bluntly. His eyes drifted off to the side of her, as if he was trying to conceal something. "You don't have to lie. The girl can't hear us."

Emma shifted from foot-to-foot. He was thinking that it was her idea, that she wanted him there. If only that was not the case, it would be a lot easier to brush off. "I told you. She wanted you to come, and I said it would be a good idea."

"So you allowed her wish to be granted merely because she asked?"

"Yes," she said automatically, but immediately regretted it. "Well, no," she hurried to retract the confirmation, although it was too late. Killian was giving her a weird look, and she was not sure how he was going to use her comment against her.

Surprisingly, he did not say anything. He gave her a small nod and turned around with the clear intention of walking away.

Emma could not let him leave like this. She opened her mouth to stop him, but the sound of her engine starting distracted her. Both of them turned and jogged to the path to see the girl driving away in the yellow bug.

"Damnit!" Emma cursed as she watched her car drive away. "I can't believe this! She played me." She turned and looked at Killian to see him shake his head, but he did not have that mischievous spark in his eye like he normally did.

"There is something about this girl, Swan. I can't put my finger on it, but she seems very familiar," Killian said, stoking his chin absentmindedly.

"Yeah, because she reminds me of you. Are you sure there isn't something you're not telling me?" Emma asked jokingly.

"If you're asking if I've been around lately, you haven't been paying attention," he said seriously, quite upset and even a little offended at the question. "Plus, the girl is too old or too young to be any child of mine.

Emma was taken aback. She knew Hook was not saintly, but it made her upset to think about him being with other women. Which, of course, was ridiculous, but clearly she was not in her right mind at this time.

"I was going to say that she reminds me of you. All pigheadedness and determined to do everything alone," he continued, half under his breath.

She did not want to hear anymore, so she did what she always did. She ran away. Emma walked deeper into the woods, determined to leave him behind. She could hear his heavy footsteps following her, but she refused to stop. He finally caught up to her when she was at the base of the mountain. His hook wrapped around her arm, and he tugged her back into his body.

"Wait a moment there, love. I'm not done talking to you," he growled in her ear.

"Well, I'm done talking to you," she retorted.

"Emma, I'm right here. Tell me what's bothering you."

She shook her head and tried to shake out of his grip. "I have work to do. I can't stand around and talk when there is a man missing and a girl who is a Jane Doe," Emma spat angrily.

"You discovered who she is then? Jane Doe?" he said innocently.

And her heart constricted. He thought that she meant the girl's name was Jane Doe. Of course he would think that. He was a 300-year-old pirate. He should not be here, in this time. He should be in his own world, but he gave that up. He gave everything up for her.

"No," she said quietly. "It's just a name we give to people whose names we don't know," she explained. "I'm sorry. I just- I feel like I can't catch a break," she confessed and glanced down at her feet.

"It's alright love," he said and reached up with his hand, brushing the hair back from her face. "We'll figure this out. Don't worry."

And just like that, Emma smiled. His complete confidence in her was overwhelming. His belief in her never wavered, and sometimes, she thought she would burst from the inside when he said things like that to her.

Emma closed the distance between them and pressed her lips into his. It was just a small, gentle kiss, but she gave him every reassurance that they would be okay with it.

"Let's find this guy, okay?" Emma said and took a side-step away from him.

"I'm afraid we don't have to go very far," he said and pointed up into the trees. Emma followed his lead and looked up into the canopy of the trees.

A body hung from the branches, tangled in vines and twisted into an impossible position. It was Clayton, and he was not missing anymore.