Note: A huge thank you to everyone who reviewed, liked, followed, etc. I started writing this to distract myself from the endless hiatus, and IT DID NOT WORK. But you guys are the actual best! I hope the ending works for you; apologies that it got a bit sappy.

She woke to the sound of her phone.

Emma's eyes caught on the oversized numbers on her clock: 8:05. For a moment, she froze, wondering if the curse had somehow been broken. This was the first time she'd been awake before 9:20 since the loop started. But a glance at her phone told her that, no, it was still Wednesday.

And Henry was calling.

"Henry, what's wrong?"

"It's my mom," Henry said. "She won't wake up!"

Emma rolled out of bed and pulled a pair of jeans out of her dresser. "Okay, Henry, I want you to call Doctor Whale and ask him to come by. I think I know what's wrong with her, but we should have him check her out just in case. We'll be right there."

She threw on some clothes and brushed her teeth, shoving her hair back into a ponytail on her way downstairs.

"Mary Margaret, David! We've got to go. Regina's in trouble."

To their credit, they immediately dropped what they were doing and grabbed their coats.

"What's going on?" David asked.

"I'll explain on the way."

She did her best to explain the situation in the quickest way possible as she drove, tacking on the story about Mary Margaret's favorite toy just to speed things along.

"A rabbit named Chicken?" David asked.

"Don't judge —"

"She was 4," Emma finished with a sigh.

She was going to be batshit crazy if she didn't stop this time loop soon.

Whale was already there by the time they arrived; as Emma had suspected, he didn't know what was wrong with Regina. He suggested taking her to the hospital, but Tinker Bell shook her head.

"The cause is magical," she said. "I don't know how it's happening, but medicine won't fix it."

Emma stood over the mayor, listening as the doctor left, telling them to call him if anything changed. Regina was as pale as death and breathing shallowly. She looked like she was sleeping, maybe haunted by bad dreams. She kicked herself for wasting so much time; if Regina died, she would blame herself. But she wasn't going to let that happen.

Clearing her throat, she turned to face everyone and explained the mess for what seemed like the thousandth time.

"The only thing we know that might work is True Love's Kiss," she finished. "Henry asked me to try it with Neal yesterday, but I knew it wouldn't work." She looked at him apologetically. "And it didn't. I'm sorry, kid."

"What about kissing Henry?" Mary Margaret asked. "That broke the curse last time."

She shook her head. "Regina and I both tried; it didn't work."

"There is one more possibility," Emma said, taking a deep breath and finishing in a rush. "I'm going to kiss Hook."

"Hook?" David said. "Are you serious?"

"I know love when I see it," Tink said, nodding. "And they have it. It's our best chance."

Emma bit back a laugh as she watched David struggle with this new (as far as he knew) information. He looked like he wanted to argue but finally just shook his head.

"All right. What should we do?"

"I want you two to track down the Blue Fairy," she told her parents. "Find out if she can help, in case this doesn't work. Henry, I want you and Tink to stay here with Regina; if there's any change at all, give me a call. I'm going to find Hook and give this a try."

"No," Henry said.

She sighed. "Henry, I know you wanted Neal and I to get back together, but —"

"No," he said again. "I mean, I did want that, but if the kiss didn't work. … What I mean is, you have to believe it's going to work. If you really love the captain, then you have to believe."

Believing in love — hell, believing in anything — was not Emma Swan's strong suit. Still, she nodded at her son and caught him up in a hug. He was the Truest Believer, after all. She was going to have to trust him on this; believing in magic was his area of expertise.

"Okay," she murmured into his hair. "Okay, then. I'm going to find Hook and break this damn curse, once and for all."

She stood at the door to Granny's, watching her pirate lean on the counter and scan the menu. A legion of butterflies suddenly decided to have a party in her stomach, and she blew out a long breath to try to quell the nerves.

You're the savior, for pete's sake. You can do this.

Taking another deep breath, she pushed the door open, eyes catching his as he turned to see who was at the door. After a short pause, she walked up to Hook and took his hand.

"Hook, I need you," she said, tugging at his hand.

"Why, Swan, I've waited so long to hear those words," he said, grinning. "Perhaps I could eat breakfast first, though. I have a feeling I'll need all the energy I can get."

"You're hilarious," she said, fighting a smile. "Come on, seriously, we need to talk."

He winced. "You know how I feel about that phrase."

"It's not a bad thing," she promised. "But it is something I don't really want to discuss in the middle of the diner."

She shot a look at Granny, who was, naturally, watching the whole scene with interest.

"Ooooh, a private discussion," he said. "Lead on, love."

He talked nonstop on the drive to the docks, trying to get her to give him a hint about what was on her mind. She knew, though, that she wanted to get it out in one fell swoop, not in bits and pieces while she was trying to drive.

It wasn't until they were alone in his cabin — and she'd extracted a promise that he would hear her out — that she started to speak.

She told him about the curse, the time loop and Regina's illness. She explained that he was the first to believe her and the one to suggest that she enjoy some time off without consequences.

"It was the day before yesterday," she said, pacing around the small space. "That's when it all kind of backfired on me. When I realized …"

She stopped and stood right in front of where he was leaning on the table, looking him straight in the eye. As promised, he had stayed silent and let her talk, but his eyes were full of sympathy for her situation. As always, he was only thinking of her.

"That's when I finally admitted to myself that I … I'm in love with you."

His eyes widened, and he stood up. Before he could say anything, she put her palm on his chest. "Wait. Let me get this out. I'm not sure exactly when it happened; all I know is in Neverland you were constantly surprising me. You didn't turn out to be the person I thought you were at all. I thought you were nothing more than a pirate, a villain, but I couldn't have been more wrong."

She took a deep breath. This wasn't like her at all, but she found that once she'd started, the words just kept tumbling out. "We wouldn't have been able to save Henry without you, you saved David's life, you believed in me and supported me at every turn. You put everything on the line to get Neal back. I just … I came to depend on you more than anyone, even my parents. I think part of me knew how I felt for a while, but I kept pushing it way because it was easier than dealing with it. But then I couldn't deny it anymore, and it was awful, because I couldn't even tell you, you'd just forget it the next day."

"Emma —"

She shook her head, pushing him back a little with her hand. "No, listen. I just … I have to break this curse, and the only way we know of is True Love's Kiss. I don't know much about love, I'm not even sure I believe in True Love, but …"

She trailed off, not sure exactly what she wanted to say. Hook drew her hand away from his chest and stepped closer.

"If you wanted a kiss, lass, all you had to do was ask."

He slid his hand up to cup her jaw and leaned his forehead against hers. "I love you, Emma, so very much."

His mouth closed over hers, and it was magic.

Literally.

The instant their lips touched, she felt the wave of magic flowing from them. Hook gasped at the feeling, and she took advantage of that to deepen the kiss; they were both breathing hard when they finally separated.

"That was —" Hook began.

"True Love's Kiss," she finished, sliding her arms around him underneath his heavy coat.

"Did it break the curse?" He grinned suddenly and brushed his lips over hers. "Maybe we should try it a few more times to be sure."

She laughed, jumping as her phone started to ring. It was Henry. "Hold that thought," she said.

"Henry, is everything okay?"

"She woke up!" he said. "You did it! You broke the curse. My mom says she can feel her magic coming back, too."

"That's great, kid!" She smiled at Hook and nodded. "Regina woke up."

"Oh, she's hungry now, so Gramps and I are going to get her something from Granny's. I'll talk to you later," he said. "I love you."

"Love you, too," she said, hanging up.

She tucked her phone back in her pocket and looked at Hook. He was biting his lip and staring at her as though she were a puzzle again.

"Swan, I have to ask," he said, pulling her close again. "What exactly made you realize your feelings for me?"

"Um." She closed her eyes and buried her face in his chest. "I don't kiss and tell."

He gently pulled her away so he could look her in the eyes. "There was kissing?"

She sighed. "Among other things."

"Swan."

"I had this plan," she admitted. "You, me, a whole day of totally amazing, completely consequence-free sex. The next day, boom, you'd forget it all. No messy feelings or anything like that to deal with. Except, at the last minute, I couldn't go through with it. I had to tell you everything. And even though you wouldn't remember …"

He smiled. "I still wanted you."

"How did you know?"

He shrugged. "I always want you, Emma."

She smiled shakily. "You said you wanted me to remember every moment. And I do."

"Ah ha!" he said with a laugh. "So it was all part of my villainous plan to get you to realize your feelings for me."

She slid her arms around his neck. "Well, that's your only villainous plan that ever worked. I hate to tell you, but you were kind of a sucky villain. You make a far better hero, Killian."

He froze at the sound of his real name, then grinned. "I'll keep that in mind, love," he said, brushing a kiss over her jaw before moving down her neck.

"I really wish you could remember," she sighed, leaning into him.

"As do I," he murmured, returning his lips to hers. After a lengthy kiss, he continued. "Is there no way I can convince you to tell me the details?"

She pushed him gently in the direction of the bed. "I prefer showing to telling," she said.

"A woman after my own heart."

It was nearly midnight. Tucked into Hook's way-too-small bed with the pirate spooning her, Emma gripped her cell phone and waited.

After spending the rest of the morning in bed, they had met her parents for lunch. It was about 1,000 percent awkward at first, considering that she felt like she had "I just boned Hook" written on her forehead. Luckily, one thing her parents of all people couldn't argue with was True Love. David may have had to convince himself that the two of them were playing board games all morning, but the epic bromance made a swift return before the lunch was done.

She'd half-heartedly looked for Neal, but he'd left by the time they made it to lunch. She knew she'd have to find him tomorrow and have a serious talk. She didn't want to hurt him, but she wanted to make sure he knew things were truly over between them. She held on to what he'd told Henry the day before, that even though they weren't together, they could all still be a family.

She wasn't even sure what it meant to have a True Love, but so far she had no complaints. And figuring it all out would just be part of the fun.

"Swan, go to sleep," Hook muttered into the back of her neck. "Did I not tire you enough, you insatiable vixen? Truthfully, I'm not sure I'm up for another round at the moment."

She smiled but didn't ease her hold on her phone. "I can't sleep yet."

"We broke the curse," he said. "I know my kisses are always magical, darling … but not like that."

"I know we did," she said, laughing softly. "I know, but I can't go to sleep until I know for sure."

"And how exactly will you know?"

She turned in his arms and showed him the display on her phone. "When this says Thursday, I'll be able to sleep."

"So, this phone of yours is a magical oracle that you trust more than your own True Love?" he asked, smoothing circles on her back and dropping soft kisses all over her face.

"My True Love," she said, sighing. "I like the sound of that."

He bumped his nose into hers, then kissed her, slow and sweet and full of love. It stole her breath and seemed to go on for ages before he pulled away.

"Emma?"

"Hmmm?" she hummed against his mouth.

"What does the oracle say now?"

She looked back at her phone, clicking the light back on to read the display.

Thursday.

Oh, thank God.

"We did it," she whispered.

"Aye. Now may we get some sleep?"

"Mmmm-hmmm." She leaned over and slid her phone onto a nearby shelf before cuddling into his side and humming happily. "Tomorrow, we have to deal with the naked Emperor guy — don't ask — but after that, I'm taking you shopping. There's this great pair of jeans …"