You guys! I finished a multi-chap that I had set out from the beginning and just wow! Thank you to every single one of you who has stuck it out. I love you all to pieces. As ever, I'm looking for that big three digit number of 100 for reviews because I'm weird. But more than that, I hope you all enjoy the last chapter of this fic :)

…

Eight

…

"Mom?" Henry sits down next to his mother on the couch, reaching out to take her hand, "Don't cry."

She gives him a watery smile, "Sometimes it's warranted, kid."

"Does this have something to do with Killian leaving in such a rush?"

She nods, "Everything." She turns her body to face him, "You mother is a selfish person, Henry."

To her surprise, her son smiles up at her, "No you're not."

"Oh, I am."

"No. You have the most unselfish heart. I can't explain it, but I have had dreams about things, memories maybe. You staying behind in a town you don't understand just to be with me. I remember having code names for operations and they were lousy, but you were always there."

Her eyes meet his, the tears blurring her sight, but she can see clearly for the first time in weeks, "You know, don't you?"

"Know that you're Snow White and Prince Charming's daughter? Yes. Know that you were sent to break the original curse? Yes. Know that you have the ability to break this one by kissing your true love? Yes." He ticks them off on his fingers, raising his eyebrows at her.

She smiles, "You are far too smart for your own good."

He leans into her side, offering her an awkward hug that means the world. "I miss them, mom. I think it's time we went home."

She nods, "I'm starting to think so too."

…

She knows the hotel. It's only a few blocks from her apartment, so she forgoes the bug and walks with hurried steps.

"I'm looking for Killian Jones' room, please. He would have only just checked in," she asks of the man at the front desk flitting from one foot to the other in a kind of nervous hop.

"Here you are, ma'am." The concierge hands her a phone and she listens impatiently as it rings and rings.

Her mind flashes to Henry telling her weeks ago that he doesn't even own a phone and she passes the receiver back to the man. "Please, could you just tell me what room he's in?"

"I'm sorry, but it's against the hotel policy to-"

But she's already gone. Knowing the elevator won't work without a key, she spies the emergency stairs and begins climbing them. If Killian had found her in a city of eight million without so much as a map, she can surely find him in this hotel.

She reaches the first floor landing, opening the door and running to one end of the long hallway.

Her knuckles are sore and feel bruised by the end of the first floor and she has taken her fair share of abuse from sleepy and just plain annoyed patrons, but she powers on, taking the stairs again and starting the process all over.

It's not until she gets to the fourth floor that she starts to lose hope in all this. It's a tall building with hundreds of rooms and he may have checked in and left and not even be in the room at all.

Chewing the inside of her cheek to stop the tears from overpowering her again, she knocks on the next door nearly sobbing when it opens to reveal her favourite pirate.

"At last," she whispers, pushing her way inside before he can change his mind. She rushes to the sink in the room, guzzling some water and then turns to Killian who is watching her with curious eyes.

"What are you doing here?" he asks.

The longer she stands here, the more it pains her to think of the possibility of losing him, "If we kiss, what happens next?" Her eyes plead with him to answer honestly.

And of course he does. For her and for him and for everyone he is trying to save. "Because of the way this branch of the curse was constructed, Storybrooke will be rebuilt and everyone will return to this land as they were before the curse, leaving the Wicked Witch in the Enchanted Forest."

She nods – that much she had expected, "And my memories?"

"You will regain them."

"What about this last year? This last month?" she can feel the tears beginning to prick at her eyes again. The thought of losing this happiness is curling around her heart like a fist and she's not sure she can handle it.

"I don't know, lass."

And she doesn't even try to hold it back now, letting the tears fall down her cheeks as fear and anger take hold. She is happy here, she has everything that she can ever remember wanting. Safety, stability, a man who loves her and a son who accepts her love.

"What if I hurt you?" she whimpers, her voice so unlike her own. Vulnerable and scared. She feels like a little girl again.

He shakes his head stepping forwards, cupping her cheek against his palm and wiping a tear from her skin, "Oh Emma, it doesn't matter how much you hurt me, you are in my heart forever."

She can't help that her voice sounds so weak, "Forever?"

"Does that surprise you?"

"Yes." And it does. Because why does this person just keep coming back for her when her experience has always been the opposite?

He leans in, his forehead resting against hers, his breath blowing out against her lips.

It would be so easy to let it all go, to just kiss him and take the chance, but for the first time in her life she has so much to lose. Because while she has always had Henry, she knows that this one kiss will undo it all and while she's never been depressingly unhappy in her adult life, she's now never felt as elated as she does with Killian.

"I wish we could have a trial, so I could kiss you once more and know that I was going to remember you."

His nose bumps against hers, brushing one way and then the other, "Best I can offer, love."

And she knows this is it, standing in a hotel room in the arms of a pirate, she's about to change her whole life. She wishes Henry was here, but knows that no matter what happens, they will always find each other. It's just a sense that she has that she can't put a reason on.

"I love you," she whispers and then closes the gap. A warmth unlike any she can ever remember spreads through her body and out to her limbs, his head tilting with insistence, deepening their kiss, strengthening their bond.

A pulse shakes out from her extremities and into the world around them, the memories hitting her all at once in a bittersweet montage in her mind. Leaving Henry behind crushes her heart and she pulls back from Killian with a jolt, focusing on the feelings rushing through her. But then she feels his finger under her chin, tilting her head up to meet his gaze and a different set of memories course through her.

A beanstalk and a giant, a car and a hospital, a ship in a foreign ocean, a kiss in Neverland, and him. Always him.

"Hook?"

The smile that breaks across his face is something she will remember for the longest time, something that will comfort her when he's out at sea and she's couped up looking after their children, something that will make her smile when all she wants to do is cry.

And then he is kissing her again, strong and true and warm. "I knew it," he mumbles against her jaw, making his way down, "I knew you could do it."

She smiles, wrapping her arms around his neck. It feels weird having conflicting memories in her mind, but this feels right, this feels like it was always meant to.

He spins her in his arms, reaching out behind her to flick the lock on the door.

There will be so much to do, so much to organise and to safeguard and her mind is already racing. But he made her a promise, told her that they could do this, that he would be with her forever. And forever starts now.

They fall back onto the bed, a laugh escaping her lips at the lightness she feels. And for the small amount of time they allow themselves, he whispers a story into her skin. A story that she knows to be true.