A/N: We've actually reached the end of our journey here, friends. I'm sorry if this seems abrupt, but just know that this was the way I had always planned to end it. I might write about the other realms I had considered visiting in this fic one day, but for now I am happy and proud to call it a day. My focus is wandering again (Reylo is trash, I am trash) and I don't want to go on another two year hiatus while I get my head back into Captain Swan. Thank you for your support, I appreciate it more than I can say. This will likely be my last update on this site, but you can find me on tumblr and archiveofourown under the username below_the_starry_clusters_bright.

Thank you one more time, and I hope that you enjoy.

Fancying herself something of an expert at (unintentionally) travelling through portals, Emma could say with confidence that there wasn't much difference between the ways magic flung you through universes. They were all kind of unpleasant, all came with a pressure on the lungs, and all felt a little like drowning.

She should have been more specific about where the spell should drop them, she realized as she struggled to her feet amid a sea of cascaded books.

I'm back in Storybrooke! was her second, more reasonable thought. All the aches and pains vanished in a rush of elation that erased the hardship of the last few days. Or weeks. How long had it been? She should have checked a calendar before traveling back in time.

"You okay, Swan?" Hook grunted somewhere to her left. He climbed to his feet and cast a deeply disdainful look around the library.

"Yeah," Emma replied. Her grin returned and, with it, a breath of laughter. "We're back."

"You sure?"

"Uh huh. This is the library."

"Figured as much, love."

"I meant," she said, unable to stop her half-amused, half-exasperated glance at him, "that this is the Storybrooke Library. I killed a dragon here."

Hook blinked. "I have to say, that wasn't how I was expecting that sentence to end."

Emma barely heard him. The high from finally returning home was hardening into a resolve to fix everything she had come back for.

"We need to go," Emma said. She gained confidence from how simple her plan was, although the nerves knotted in her stomach would likely stay there until she knew she would be successful. "The portal opens in City Hall but not for another couple of hours. I want to give us enough time to get into position."

"And what position is that?" At Emma's sideways glare, Hook sighed. "For once, meant without innuendo."

"Figured we'd just hide in a closet or something and then jump out to stop Mary Margaret from following me into the portal." Simple. "And we really need to not be seen," she added. It would cause too many unnecessary questions and delays that they couldn't afford. At worse, it could rip a hole in the space-time continuum, or whatever it was that people usually freaked out about in time travel movies.

They clambered over upturned shelves and splayed books to make their way to the, thankfully still unlocked, doors. Sneaking through the town was a risk, but Emma was in no mood to get trapped in the labyrinthine tunnels which sprawled beneath.

She hadn't expected seeing Storybrooke again to hit her so hard. She'd known there would be relief, happiness, excitement – all the usual homecoming reactions. What she hadn't prepared for were the tears. They welled in her eyes, blurring her vision of home as a small, confident voice in the back of her head reminds her that she belongs here.

She blinked the tears away and pulled her focus back together. Her job wasn't done yet.

"Nice place," Hook said, taking a moment to admire the storefronts.

"Yeah." Emma grabbed a handful of his leather coat and dragged him onwards. "I'll give you the tour later. Follow me, I know the back alleys."

"I'll bet you do."

"Shut up." Emma dug an elbow into his side. "I know how to get around town without being seen."

Hook chuckled quietly at her indignation. He followed her without question, keeping close enough for Emma to hear the whisper of his coat against his legs as he walked. She was supposed to feel uncomfortable around him now, she reminded herself, but she couldn't commit to the idea. The weirdness with the poppy would have to wait until the weirdness with the time travel had solved itself.

"What do you think of Storybrooke?" she asked as they leaned against a fence, waiting for a group of people on Main Street to pass by.

"From my clandestine tour? It's very quaint. What?" Hook asked, taken aback by the black look Emma shot him.

"People say quaint when they want to insult a place but don't want to sound rude," Emma said, still glaring.

Hook scoffed. "Yes, because I am the very model of decorum."

He had a point. Still, Emma didn't like the thought of anyone insulting her home. When it became impossible to only tread hidden streets, she slipped from one sidewalk to the next, praying that she wouldn't run into anyone who knew she wasn't supposed to be there. When it came time to pass by Gold's shop, Emma almost forgot to breathe. The name shouldn't have any significance to Hook but there was always the chance that Gold would choose the exact wrong moment to look out of his shop windows and see a centuries-old enemy. Not for the first time, Emma wished she could remember specific times from the first time she had lived out this day. Her other self might be in Gold's shop right now, or she could be on the way to Gold's shop, or she could be nowhere near at all. The suspense of not knowing had Emma frantically on edge.

She breathed slightly easier when they reached City Hall without detection. She kept her head down and forged ahead, not making eye contact with the few clusters of people who had gathered to try and find out just what the hell had gone on in Storybrooke recently. Hook drew more than a few glances, but thankfully no one stopped them as they slipped into the main room.

Emma took a moment to glance around it. The last time she had been here, she had been suckered into a whole new life. As grateful she was for some things it had brought about – her head turned infinitesimally towards Hook – she was determined to make sure it didn't happen again.

There were no nearby closets to hide in – Emma wasn't sure why she'd thought there would be, on reflection, aside from blind optimism – but there was a small meeting chamber connected to the main room. It was locked but that didn't stop all-powerful mistress of magic Emma Swan from entering. She picked the lock.

The door had a frosted windowpane which Emma positioned herself beside. She would keep out of sight until past-Emma, Mary Margaret, David and Regina entered, and then hope they all were all too preoccupied to notice a doppelganger peering at them from the other side of the door.

Hook busied himself with poking around the towering metal cabinets and rifling through whatever he found in them. Emma was only half-listening to the rustle of paper and so didn't think much of it when it stopped.

"Emma…"

That, she paid attention to. Hook's voice scratched with uncertainty as he said her name in a cadence which no one had ever uttered it in before. It promised, threatened, and pleaded all in one. She found she was too afraid to turn around.

"The poppy, back on Asgard," Hook continued, regardless of her refusal to acknowledge him. "I wasn't sure it would work."

Emma still didn't look at him. She didn't know what the spell accepting Hook's symbol of love meant and she didn't much care to find out. It terrified her that it could actually mean something. Maybe if she acted disinterested, she could avoid the conversation.

"Uh huh."

"What I mean is that I haven't…" Hook trailed off, his breath quickening in frustration as he tried to find the words to explain himself. Emma really wished he would just shut up. "This hasn't been something I've been secretly holding onto. I'm just as surprised as you are."

"I don't think now is the greatest time to do this," Emma said, keeping her eyes determinedly forwards although there was still a good hour to go before her past-self was supposed to appear.

"I get the feeling that you're going to avoid it otherwise," Hook said, his flat tone not hiding his perceptiveness. "Besides, it's not like we have anything else to do in here."

"Thought I saw some requests for planning permission in that stack over there. Maybe you could read those."

"Emma."

There was that tone again. Emma sighed and turned around. "I don't know what you want me to say. I don't know why I need to say anything. It is what it is, let's just leave it at that."

She didn't miss the disappointment flash across his face, and she didn't miss the twinge of guilt in her chest to know she had caused it. Neither were enough to prod her into having the conversation.

"Alright," Hook said, resigned. "When you want to talk about it, I'm here. In any capacity."

Emma nodded her thanks and returned her focus back to the windowpane.

"And I'll do whatever it takes to earn another kiss from you," Hook continued, his tone lighter.

"Shutting up would be a great start."

"My lips are sealed. For now."

Emma rolled her eyes, but far from the vitriol she would once have felt was a cautious bud of affection instead.

"Thank you," she said, watching the words she'd been meaning to say for awhile mist against the window. "I never could have found my way back home without you."

"Likewise. Now, let's never do it again."

Emma grinned. "Agreed."

She grew tenser with every passing minute, wondering if she'd somehow missed the wraith and the portal. Doubt sowed its seeds with an increasing lack of sense, causing Emma's fingers to tap against her legs in an uneven rhythm.

"Relax, love," Hook said quietly.

"But what if – ?"

As though fate had heard her and was waiting to prove her wrong – its favorite trick, it seemed – the doors to the hall opened and faint voices carried through.

"Hold on," Emma murmured to Hook. "It's going to get kind of weird."

"After everything we've seen, I hardly think –" The ground beneath them shook as a rumbling sound that boiled into a roar blasted through the room beyond them. Hook swallowed. "Kind of weird, got it."

Emma knew exactly how things would play out, and yet she was still frightened by the noises coming from the other side of the door. The frosted design of the glass obscured the scene playing out but Emma didn't complain. She could hear everything well enough and would be able to work out her cue. Plus, it was already really, really weird watching a blurry version of herself run around. If she saw everything in 20/20, it would probably mess her up. As flames from David's lit broom spread along the banisters Mary Margaret had coated in alcohol, Emma prepared herself. It wouldn't be too long now.

"The room's on fire," Hook said, nudging into Emma's side as he stepped over to see what was happening through the glass. "Are we worried about this?"

"Nah." The wraith screamed in fury and swept overhead, its black tattered cloak trailing behind it as it passed close by the door. "That's what we're worried about."

"Now would be the time!" David shouted above the noise.

Emma forced herself to breathe. She was so afraid of missing her shot. "The portal's opening."

"It's coming!" David cried.

"It's going," Emma muttered, watching as the wraith was sucked into the portal. "And so am I."

The first time it had happened, there hadn't been time for her to be afraid. She'd felt the tug on her ankle and then she'd been falling. Now, watching from a distance with the knowledge of all that lay ahead of her, Emma panicked for her past self.

It lasted for a second. This was her moment.

Three, two, one…

Emma burst out of the side room with a yelp that was supposed to be "Stop!" but ended up as a half-strangled sound of warning. It worked; everyone turned to look at her in alarm.

"Emma?" Mary Margaret squinted at her. "But you –"

"Yeah, it's a really long story but please, trust me, do not jump in after me!" From the looks the group shot her, they were wavering on the precipice of disbelief. Emma needed to prove herself to them. "Okay, uh, my name is Emma Swan, I'm twenty eight years old, I just found out that you two are my parents and I'm not totally cool with it yet but I think I will be one day, Henry is my son and I just saved his life with true love's kiss and then Storybrooke kind of fell apart."

As David nodded in a You're not wrong way, Mary Margaret's uncertain gaze slanted towards Hook.

"And who's this?"

"Captain Hook," Regina snarled.

"Your Majesty," Hook replied with a sardonic half-bow.

Emma waved Mary Margaret's question away, as well the ones forming in her own mind as to how Hook and Regina apparently knew each other. "Not important. I mean, the answer's not important to the situation right now. He's important."

Shut up, shut up, shut up.

"We traveled back in time to stop you from jumping in after me," Emma continued, still frantic.

In front of her, the portal shrank in on itself and sank into the tiled floor. Her panic ebbed away with the realisation that Mary Margaret was safe. Even if the other woman didn't believe her, she couldn't jump into any portal. Emma thought she might collapse from relief. Or just collapse. She was exhausted, more tired than she could ever remember being before. Hook wavered at her elbow, ready to steady her if she began to sway on her feet. Maybe she already was.

"You should lie down, love," he murmured.

"We've got her, thanks," David said, moving forward to place a protective hand of Emma's shoulder. A long-lost fatherly instinct must have reminded him to keep his daughter away from attractive leather-clad men wearing eyeliner, for he shifted Emma closer to his side. "Captain Hook?"

Hook returned the stare with an even look of his own. "Aye."

"He's a pirate," Regina said, glaring at Hook.

"He's a good man." Emma gently moved from under David's grip to stand closer to Hook. "We can trust him."

Regina's harsh laughter was pretty rich, given her status as a mass-murdering monarch, but Emma wasn't about to point that out right now. If it came down to a fight, she didn't have a chance in her current condition.

"I still doubt we can trust either of you," Regina said, her mirth fading into a hard look. "Time travel isn't possible."

"It really is," Emma said. That, she would fight Regina on. "Met your mom, by the way. She was super nice until she tried to kill us."

Mary Margaret huffed. "Sounds like Cora."

"You – my mother?" Regina stared at her, horror spreading over her features. "Where were you?"

"Everywhere," Emma said, keeping her answer as vague as possible. "We went through portal after portal. The Norse gods are real, by the way," she added. "They were sort of jerks but they helped us get home, so maybe we should build an altar or something."

They all stared at her. David shook his head, looking as though a migraine was coming on.

"The Norse – Emma, what happened to you after you fell into the portal?"

"You look like hell," Regina supplied. Emma was pretty sure it was only partially said to be mean. Her hair was a tangled mess and she hadn't changed clothes since the 1800s so, yeah, she probably looked kind of rough.

"I still don't understand," Mary Margaret said, her forehead creasing in confusion and concern. "Emma, what happened to you?"

Emma sighed. She knew she had to explain everything but right now, recounting the journey she still couldn't quite believe was over seemed like way too much of an effort.

"Let's talk it over at Granny's," she said. She wanted to eat something that no one in the group had had to catch and skin themselves. Cheeseburgers didn't have to be caught and skinned, Emma recalled. "Call Henry and have him meet us. It's been weeks since I've seen him."

David frowned. "It's only been – oh, time travel. Right."

"Yeah," Emma said with a weak smile. "Takes some getting used to. Now, food?"

With Regina informed on no uncertain terms that No, you can't come with us to the diner, I don't care that you want to know what happened, this is still all your fault, I don't care if Gold summoned the wraith, you're the reason we're all here in the first place it was left to Emma, Mary Margaret, David and a reluctant Hook to settle into a booth at Granny's.

"This feels like a family affair," Hook muttered once he and Emma were alone. David had ran to fetch Henry, while Mary Margaret was ordering as much food as Emma could stomach. "I don't wish to intrude."

"You're not intruding," Emma assured him. "I want you here."

It was the truth, with a few side notes. Part of the reason she wanted him with her was so that he wouldn't run off at the first chance he got to challenge Gold to an extremely ill-advised duel. The other, more bizarre reason, was that she had spent so long by his side that it now felt natural to be in his company. The former reason was more reasonable than the latter, so that was the one Emma focused on the most.

"Besides," she continued, "do you know how stoked Henry's going to be to meet Captain Hook?"

"Very?" Hook guessed. At Emma's nod, he laughed. It had more than a touch of bitterness to it. "At least somebody in this town will be glad to see me."

"You mean Regina?"

"Aye. Your father wasn't terribly stoked to see me, either."

Emma tried not to smile at how he spoke the very American slang with his clear English accent. He needed reassurance right now, not her laughing at him.

"He doesn't know you," she said, trying to soothe him.

It didn't work. With growing agitation, he said, "Regina does."

Emma reached over to cover his hand and his hook with both of her hands. "If I thought you were the same person you used to be, I never would have brought you back with me."

Hook swallowed at her touch. It struck Emma that he wouldn't have dared to show her his insecurities a few days ago. She had his trust, and he had hers. He might not have had any other part of her yet, but with each smile and protective instinct and display of quick wit, he was chipping away at the castle wall Emma had hidden behind. For once, she didn't feel like launching attacks from the battlements to try and claim her lonely victory.

The door to the diner opened and a casual, "Hey, mom" floated from it.

Emma's head jerked up so quickly that her neck cracked. She launched herself from the booth and over to her son, bending over and holding him to her so tightly that he squirmed.

"Henry, I missed you so much," she breathed into his hair.

"Yeah," Henry said with a bemused laugh. "David said you'd been through some kind of time travel thing. I would've missed you too, if I'd remembered you were gone."

Emma half-laughed, half-sobbed. She'd known what it meant to be a mother when she'd seen Henry lying in the hospital bed after eating the apple turnover, and now the reminder came back in full force. It was love, it was sacrifice, it was doing anything and everything to keep close to your child. She would never leave him again, willingly or unwillingly.

Sniffing, she pulled back and gave her son a watery smile.

"Henry, there's someone I want you to meet."

She led him over to the booth where Hook sat, as interested in Henry as Henry was in him. It made sense; Emma had dragged Hook through an awful lot to get back to the boy, so Hook was bound to want to know more about him.

"Henry, this is Killian Jones." Emma paused and waited for Henry to notice what lay in place of Hook's hand. "Captain Hook."

Henry's eyes went wide. He stared at the hook for another moment before turning to Emma.

"As in…?"

"As in," Emma confirmed with a nod.

Hook offered Henry a slight smile in greeting. "You're lucky to have such a mother, lad. She moved heaven and earth to get back to you."

"Yeah, she's pretty cool."

"Pretty cool?" Emma repeated, pretending offense as she ruffled Henry's hair.

"You've done it now," Hook said, raising his eyebrows at Henry. "She'll have us go back to Enchanted Forest so you'll have the chance to miss her this time."

"You went to the Enchanted Forest?" Henry gazed at his mother, who sensed an onslaught of questions. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw David and Mary Margaret hanging back, waiting to speak to her. "I sure did, kid. You should ask Hook all about it."

Emma moved over to her parents, ignoring Hook's slightly desperate "No, wait." She took a moment to simply look at them, memorizing their features and trying to pick out her own in them. She looked more like her mother, although she had more than a few of her father's traits. Now they were standing in front of her, she realized how much she had missed them and how much there was still left to say.

She took the cup of coffee Mary Margaret offered out to her and took a long moment to inhale it. Tasting it would be her reward, she decided, for getting through the next few minutes of explanations.

"You don't remember it," she said to Mary Margaret, "but in the timeline I came from, you jumped into that portal after me."

"I would have done it again," Mary Margaret said, her insistence pricking tears into her eyes.

David nodded. "As would I."

Emma smiled sadly. The transition from strangers to friends to parents was one she still found odd, even after all the time spent with Mary Margaret in a future which would now never happen.

"We landed in the Enchanted Forest. It's not completely destroyed, although parts of it look pretty rough." She paused, knowing that her next revelation would be a difficult one. "I saw your castle. The one I would have grown up in, if…"

David put his arm around Mary Margaret's shoulders as her face tautened to keep her tears at bay. Emma cleared her throat, not unaffected herself.

"We talked a lot. About things. Stuff that I hope we can talk about again, now that you'll actually remember it." Stuff and things. She was doing a great job of trying to communicate her feelings. Maybe it was time to try a little emotional honesty, as terrifying a thought as it was. "I know that you would have kept me, if you could." The words spilled out in a rush, riding the crest of Emma's wave of courage. "And that doesn't erase my crappy childhood, or growing up thinking that I had been abandoned, or any of it. But it's not nothing. I've seen where I came from – who I came from. You're heroes."

Mary Margaret folded her into a hug. David joined, pressing his lips to Emma's forehead and cupping the back of her head with his hand. Emma let herself be held for a moment before pulling back and smiling at them both. Building up this family of hers might take time, but it seemed like it would be worth it. Her eyes slid over to Hook, and she smiled again at the sight of Henry animatedly chatting to the indulgent-looking pirate. She wondered if Hook fit into the category of scary things that would take time and patience but would ultimately make her life richer. She thought that maybe he might.

"I know Hook will take a little getting used to," she said, looking back at her parents, "but I wouldn't be back in Storybrooke if it wasn't for him. Give him a chance."

Mary Margaret's keen eyes flicked between Hook and Emma. "Are you two…?"

If you put stock in magic flowers, then yeah, Emma thought.

"He's a good man," was all she said aloud.

David in particular didn't look convinced, but Emma wasn't worried. She wouldn't put a label on what Hook meant to her – she wasn't sure herself – but a small voice, unheeding of her cautious logic, told her that he could be something significant. If he was as contented to wait for her as he had said, then Emma guessed she would one day find out.

She returned to the booth and slid in beside Hook, basking in the presence of her family and her town. She felt half-dead from exhaustion and she really, really needed a shower, but she couldn't keep the smile from her face. She was home.