The body, wrapped in white cloth, was pushed into the sea by Tristan and Henry as Killian and Mara watched, their arms around each other. Jack's body fell into the water, then drifted off into the horizon. As Mara wiped the final tear from her face, Peter approached her and hugged her, rubbing her back gently.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Mara nodded, "I will be…" she looked at everybody standing on the ship, waiting for her to say something, "I think our adventures in The Enchanted Forest have lasted long enough… let's go home…"
Henry pulled out his last magic bean from his pocket and handed it to Killian.

"Would you like to do the honors?" he asked.

Killian patted his back, "Why don't you do it one last time."

Henry smiled and threw it overboard, watching the water swirl until it created a large portal in the middle of the ocean. The ship slowly sailed towards it, then fell straight in. The water closed up and left The Enchanted Forest as it was before any of this happened. When the ship returned to the oceans of Storybrooke, Mara ran to the edge of the ship, seeing everyone standing there, waving at them. Mary-Margaret was there alongside David and Jimmy holding onto his father's leg.

"Emma!" Jimmy screamed at the top of his lungs once he saw his big sister disembark the ship.

She ran towards her family and picked up her little brother, resting him on her hip.

"Mom! Dad!" Emma said excitedly, hugging her parents, "Thank goodness you're still here."

"Thank goodness we still have memories of you in a princess dress!" Mary-Margaret said excitedly.

"Don't mention it," Emma chuckled.

"Did you have an adventure?" Jimmy asked Emma.

"Oh yeah," Emma nodded, "One you wouldn't even believe."

Mara watched her mother's family surround each other, then she turned around and saw Henry standing there. After regaining all of her old memories, plus her new ones, she realized, not only how awful she was to him, but how hurt he must have felt to lose his father, Neal. Mara remembered what it was like when Emma told her Baelfire had died. Mara ran up to Henry and hugged him tightly.

"I'm so sorry for your loss…" she whispered.

He hugged her back just as tightly.

"and I'm sorry too…" he said back.

The two of them separated and saw each other's teary eyes in the midst of smiling faces. They must have looked so silly compared to the large crowd, so they wiped their faces and laughed.

When Mara finished greeting all the people she needed to greet, Tristan called to her and simply looked at her. They didn't say anything. Yes, they ended on partially awkward terms last time they set foot on this land, and yes, he did manage to fall in love with her all over again during Blackbeard's curse, but he still respected her and she still loved him no matter what. So the two best friends nodded and parted ways, Tristan following after Henry and Tiger Lily.

As Mara watched them, Peter approached her and put his arm around her, watching the same scenario in front of them play out.

"Now that," he said, "That's gonna get interesting."

"Yeah," she nodded, "I don't know how on earth that woman is going to choose. I'm not even sure I know which one is best for her."

"Well the fact that you don't get to be in her shoes anymore means that the fun can begin," he said, kissing her head.

"Hey…" she smiled, "Why don't we head over to Granny's for dinner. Call it a second date of some sort."

"A celebration at Granny's with you?" Peter asked, "Always."

"Mara!" Emma called.

Mara touched Peter's shoulder and motioned him to continue walking as her mother pulled her aside.

"Might I ask how exactly the curse was broken?" Emma asked.

Mara looked from Emma to Peter and bit her bottom lip, smiling. "Oh you know… the traditional way…"

"Of course it did," Emma chuckled, "Go on, go. Your true love awaits you."

With this, Mara blushed, but scurried after Peter and met him by holding his hand as the two of them walked together to Granny's.

The two of them sat in the corner booth, just as they had before, only the diner was completely deserted, not a single person in sight. Nobody was watching over anyone's shoulder to wonder if they were in love or not. Nobody whispered about them or made certain assumptions. After all they had been through, these people simply wanted to be grateful that everything was at peace again. Mara and Peter were especially grateful for this.

"Wait, so tell me again," Peter chuckled, "You sat at the dinner table with noble men?"

"Yes," she nodded, "Just me and Neal eating dinner when all of the them sat there hunched over like monkeys."

"You'd think you'd expect more from men of status," he shrugged.

"Says the man who eats off banana leaves every night," Mara rolled her eyes, "You never really got to eat at the table with the royals."

"Neither did you!" Peter laughed, "but hey… at least I'm eating with a princess now..."

Mara looked down and scrunched the napkin in between her as she felt her cheeks get warm. "Is it bad that I wanted parts of it to be real…? Not the parts without you, of course… but it was nice…"

"I'm sure it was," Peter assured her.

The bell rang and through the door came a stampede of Charmings and Jones', rushing through just as loud and happy as ever. Mara was shocked, but not at all surprised, that this would happen.

"Surprise!" they all shouted together.

"What's this?" Mara asked.

Henry broke through Emma and Mary Margaret, presenting a plate of chocolate chip pancakes in front of Mara.

"Did you seriously forget what today is?" he asked.

Mara looked down at the pancakes. Emma moved her fingers and a fire lit the candle on top. Mara gasped and held her hands to her cheeks.

"It's my birthday, isn't it?" she giggled.

The family around her laughed. Mara glanced over at the group beside her. Her grandparents were standing close beside each other, David's hand rubbing Mary Margaret's back as he was holding Jimmy on his side, who was giggling and looking at Mara with his innocent glowing eyes, leaning on his father's shoulder. The poor kid must have been so tuckered out. In between Emma and Mary Margaret was Henry with his hands in his pocket, his humble smile back on his face. Next to Henry was his mother, Emma. She loved the boy beside him, but she loved the man on her other side more. Killian smiled at his daughter, the spitting image of himself with the confident air of her mother. They were sitting in a family diner together, remembering the good moments that followed the bad ones. Mara wished that Jack could be there, but the love that filled the room made her feel like he was still there. She looked over at Peter.

"You know what?" she grinned and took his hand, "I take it back… I wouldn't want to be anyone else."

Peter smiled and Killian tensed up a bit, "Alright, sweetheart. Why don't you blow the candles out on your pancakes?"

Emma elbowed Killian in the stomach that caused a bit of a grunt to fall from his lips. Mara chuckled, then closed her eyes and blew out the candle, causing a loud uproar to come from the group as they clapped. The family joined in on the celebration and talked for hours and hours about everything they could possibly think of.

When the night had concluded, Mara stepped outside of Granny's and looked around at the town that still survived after all this time. She sat down at the chair and enjoyed the air that filled her body. It was more crisp and refreshing. The bell rang and Killian stepped out. He saw her sitting there and laughed.

"When I was a little older than you," he began, "Well, a little older plus 300 years… I used to sit right here and wait for your mother outside the diner. I'd hold a bottle of rum and wait for her to join me."

"And now here I am," she shrugged, "Sitting here and waiting for Peter."

He looked down at the wet pavement and shuffled his feet against it. Mara stood up and looked at him.

"Dad?" she asked.

Killian looked up and was immediately met with her embrace. She hugged him tightly as though she had not for an eternity.

"I love you," she whispered into his jacket, "I'll always love you."

He breathed and stroked her long black hair, "I love you too, sweetheart."

The bell rang again and Peter walked out. When Killian saw Mara's loving expression towards him, he backed away and motioned towards Peter.

"Walk my daughter home, will you?" he offered.

"Of course," Peter smiled, taking her hand and walking her past the white picket fence and on towards the apartment buildings, "You know something, love?"

"Hmmm?" Mara asked, swinging their hands back and forth as they walked.

He looked down at their intertwined fingers and nearly lost all of his breath at the sight of it, "We've just gone through, probably, the biggest adventure of our lives… I can't help but wonder how on earth we're gonna get through our lives now."

Mara looked at him and flashed a grin at him, "I think the future is looking pretty bright so far." She squeezed his hand and laughed as they entered into the apartment building.

They climbed the stairs and finally reached her door. He let go of her hand for just a moment to let her grab her keys from her jacket pocket, then she opened her door and stepped inside, turning to face him.

"Thanks for walking me home," she said sweetly.

"Until tomorrow?" he asked, leaning in slightly and kissing her nose so she would giggle playfully.

"Of course," Mara said, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," Peter said and turned his back to leave.

Mara was about to close the door, but her hand hesitated. In an impulsive moment, Mara held the door open still. In fact, she pushed it even wider open and ran towards him. She ran directly into his arms and kissed him on the lips, letting him pick her up off her feet. It felt like one of those magical endings to an epic romance movie. Thankfully, after all that had happened, she deserved to have her magical moment, smiling against her true love's lips, happy to even have found him at all. Most people weren't so lucky to get a true love, but she was fortunate that he was here and their love could break any spell.

"Do you wanna come in for some coffee… or something?" she breathed.

He nodded, "Yes… coffee sounds nice… or something."

She nodded back and laughed, grabbing his hands and going back into the apartment and shutting the door behind her.

AN: THE END! That's it!

Thank you guys SOO much for sticking with the second installment of this series. This is, unfortunately, where the story ends, with a perfect happy ending. Thanks for sticking with me through Mara's journey! I promise you, this is not the end of my pirate/OUAT writing. I'll always find a way to come back to it.