A/N: So this is it- the end. It's been a fun ride. I can't believe this is my second fan fiction of the summer. That's over 120 000 words since the end of June. And that's all because of you guys and the support you've all sent my way in the form of follows, favourites, reviews and PMs. I truly am grateful.

I hope you like the way I chose to end A Woman Like The Sea. For me, just like with The Absence of You, this felt like the right place for the story to come to a close. I really enjoyed this story and I hope I did the characters justice.

I do want to write another story sometime soon so hopefully you haven't seen the last of me. I think my next piece will involve pirate Killian, though Emma won't be a princess because that's been done a lot already. I just think that since I've done two with a similar Emma's story line from the show with Killian's back story manipulated I think it might be an interesting challenge to explore Killian as he's going from lieutenant to ruthless pirate and what happens during that transformation. I'm not really sure about anything else yet so if there's anything you want to see let me know and I'll see what I can do. I plan to start posting sometime early September after I move into my apartment and start back at university.

Lastly, thanks to Apenforaprincess for giving me the idea about internet dating in the first place. I had no idea it would turn into this but I'm glad it did. I hope you are too. Also, thanks to Cocofandicoot for letting me bounce ideas off you and for giving me the idea of putting the Neal confrontation on the stage.

Cheers,

Sarah

Disclaimer: All aspects of Once Upon A Time belong to ABC and the show's creators Adam and Eddie.

Killian followed Emma into the backseat of Ruby's car, seemingly unable to let go of her. Emma turned in the seat so she was facing him and held pressure against his hand. The silk scarf had been ruined and was sopping with blood so Emma pulled a handful of tissue from the box on the floor and packed that on as well.

"You're going to be fine," Emma said softly as Ruby pulled out of the parking lot. She wouldn't have been able to manage much more volume, even if she wanted to. Now that the adrenaline of the attack had worn off she was left dizzy. Her head ached and she was nauseous from the blow. Keeping her palm against Killian's cut she leaned forwards until she was practically lying on his lap. Her head was just too heavy to stay upright.

Killian's good hand carded through her hair. They paused when he felt the giant bump that was growing on the crown of her head.

"Oh, Swan," Killian gasped, parting her hair to see the injury better. Emma cringed and ducked farther into his lap. "Is this what hit off the wall?"

"How did you know?" Emma replied softly. Killian had found her so easily. She knew she should find out how but it was difficult to make herself go forward with it. She just wanted to go to sleep.

"I heard something smack the wall, frankly everyone did, and when I realized you were gone from the party I went looking. This bump is really bad," he added as he ran his fingers over it gingerly.

"Don't worry about me," Emma told him, fighting to keep conscious and continue to apply pressure against Killian's knife wound. Killian was the one with blood pouring everywhere. Despite the fogginess of everything around her she knew she had to keep the blood inside of him.

Killian shifted under her in order to pull Emma further into his embrace. The movement made Emma groan. The more the car rocked over the potholes the worse she felt. Killian's arms tightened around her, holding her steady against his chest.

"You have to stay awake for me, Swan," Killian said, giving her a squeeze. "I think you have a concussion."

"You're the one bleeding out." Her response was feeble at best.

"Then it's a good job we're here," Ruby said from the front seat, worry colouring her voice. It was only then that Emma realized the car had stopped moving and that they had reached the hospital. Ruby opened the door and reached for Emma, grasping her gently around the shoulders and easing her up from her position against Killian's thighs. "Can you stand, Emma?" she asked quickly as Killian got himself out and joined her at the open door.

Emma nodded. She could walk if they went slowly and someone held her upright. One foot in front of the other. Yeah, she could do that. Emma let Ruby pull her out of the car and leaned heavily against her friend as they made their way into the emergency department.

A nurse met them immediately and tried to separate Killian from Emma as they had different issues to be treated. Killian tried to hold onto the wheelchair Emma was set in, insisting that they needed to stay together but the nurses didn't listen. Killian needed to be stitched up and Emma needed an MRI to make sure there was no bleeding occurring in her brain from the hit to her head. Those two things couldn't happen in the same room. It was Ruby who finally managed to convince Killian to leave Emma after promising that she wouldn't leave Emma the entire time and would go get him if something serious happened.

Emma zoned out for the next hour or so, feeling like a mouldable doll as procedures and tests were performed. The MRI was noisy and made her already sore head throb but at least she got to lie down throughout it. It was confirmed that she had a concussion and that that was the worst of her injuries. The doctor told Emma she was lucky, that it could have gone so much worse considering the situation she'd found herself in. But Emma knew that. She'd had worse at the hands of Neal. Not that she told the doctor that. Emma was relieved to find out that she could go home that night if she promised to just rest and have someone wake her up every hour to make sure her brain didn't swell to a dangerous amount. A long pad of gauze was taped over her arm and she was left to rest on a hospital bed with Ruby until Killian had finished with his own doctor.

Emma was pulled from her foggy state when Killian entered her room. She peeled open her eyes as Killian took her in from his position in the doorway. Killian looked weary and drained but also relieved to see that Emma was going to be alright. She felt the same way about him.

"How you feeling, Swan?" he asked as he came closer. Emma shifted on the mattress so he could sit down with her. His hand had been stitched and bandaged but it wasn't as bad as she had expected. Just a light wrapping of gauze and medical tape covered the wound.

"How are your fingers?" Emma asked in return after giving him a little shrug as her own answer. This wasn't the first concussion Emma had ever had, even if her medical record said it was. The hit against the fridge Neal had given her had been harder. She'd had light sensitivity for a week and been dizzy and groggy for two.

Killian held his hand up in front of her face and moved his two working fingers. "No better, no worse, so that's good," he replied. Emma let out a relieved breath then reached up and grabbed his hand, wrapping her last two fingers around his own.

"Are you two ready to head home?" Ruby asked from her position in the chair by the door. She'd been speaking to Mary Margaret on the phone and been told that David and Graham had taken Neal to the station and he had already been placed in a cell. The charges he would be going to trial for, according to Graham, was be one count aggravated assault with a weapon against Emma, one count of attempted murder for what he did to Killian and one count of uttering death threats. Neal was finally gone from her life. Yes, she would have to face him in court to ensure he was put away for a good long time but at least that came with the reassurance that she could finally stop looking over her shoulder for him after the trail was finished.

"Yeah, let's go," Emma answered quietly. She let Killian help her up and slipped her arm around his. Together they made their way out of the hospital and back to Ruby's car, both still ending up in the backseat.

"I'll stay the night with you," Ruby said, getting out of her car once they'd reached Emma's bungalow. Emma didn't think she'd ever been so glad to see her little home than she was at that moment.

"Why?" Killian asked as he led Emma inside. The house was dark but Emma was fine with that. It hurt her eyes less.

"The doctor said she needs to be woken up every hour for the whole night. I figured you'd want to rest after the evening you had. I don't work tomorrow so I don't mind."

"No, I'll do it. I want to do it," Killian replied firmly, tightening his grip on Emma as she swayed a bit beside him. "I can take care of her."

Ruby seemed nervous about leaving but finally stepped back. She knew, just as well as Emma, that Killian would take just as good care of her as anyone else could. "Call me if you need anything."

"Sure, thanks, Ruby." Killian shut the front door. "Come on, Swan, let's get you to bed."

Emma and Killian shuffled down the hallway; arm in arm to the bedroom. Once they were there Killian set Emma onto the mattress and dug around her drawers until he had located a large t-shirt. "I was wondering where this went," he said with a chuckle. It was one of his old university shirts. Emma had taken it weeks ago, right after Thanksgiving. It was comfy like a favourite blanket.

"Can you get dressed on your own?" Killian asked as he brought the shirt back to her. Emma nodded, taking it from him. When Killian moved into the bathroom to change out of his suit Emma slipped off the ruined dress and yanked the shirt over her head, hissing when the cotton rubbed against the bump on her crown. She flopped onto the bed and waited for Killian to come out of the bathroom.

Killian padded over to the bed wearing his favourite grey sweatpants and a maroon hoodie. He'd washed the rest of the blood from his hands while he was in the bathroom and had taken a facecloth with him back to the bed. He ran the damp fabric over Emma's hands, scrubbing at her fingernails to flake off the dried blood. Emma shut her eyes as he worked, listening to the even breathing coming from him.

She must have fallen asleep then because the next thing she was aware of was Killian shaking her awake. Emma groaned and opened one eye. Killian stood over her, a mug of hot chocolate in his hand. He offered it to her after she had pulled herself up. The warmth of the mug did much to make her feel better, as did the sugar that filled the liquid inside of it.

"How are you doing now, Swan?" Killian's lilting voice was gentle, like a caress.

"Fine. Sit with me for a while?" Even after just an hour's sleep Emma was feeling better. She was less dizzy and the painkillers that she had been given at the hospital had taken effect while she slept. She was able to sit up and concentrate on Killian beside her. She offered him a sip from the mug, which he took with a smile.

"You scared me, Swan," he said after a while.

Emma looked into her half empty mug of hot chocolate. "I'm sorry, Jones." She didn't really know what else to say. Even though his hand hadn't been anymore damaged nerve wise, she still felt horrible for bringing him into such a mess. "You shouldn't have gotten between Neal and I. You could have been killed. What if your hand would have been damaged even more? What if you lost control of your other two fingers?" Emma only ever caused a mess. She was reminded of that the more she looked at Killian's bandaged hand.

Killian hushed her and pressed a kiss to her temple. "It would have been worth it, love."

"I'm not worth losing your hand over," Emma replied. She wasn't sure if it was the emotions that were making her head whirl or the concussion but she was starting to feel hysterical as she processed just how much danger she had put Killian in.

"Emma, love, you are worth it. I don't regret what happened to me today. Because it taught me something that I didn't believe since the accident."

"What?" Emma asked breathily.

"That I could protect you if I had to, even if I wasn't in complete working order." Killian wrapped his bandaged hand around hers and lifted it to his lips. "Ever since I learned about your past I promised myself that I would protect you from it, from Neal. And then, when the fire happened I thought there was no way I could do that anymore. How could I fight one handed? I worried that you would come to see me as weak and useless for you, that you wouldn't feel safe with me. I was just waiting for that to happen."

"You're not useless, Jones. I never once thought that."

"But I did," Killian replied, cringing as he remembered the painful moments of self-doubt. "You deserved someone who could keep you safe. I wasn't sure that I could."

"You saved my life, Killian Jones. Don't think like that ever again." Emma made her voice as firm as the concussion would let her. It wasn't as strong as it normally would be but it made Killian nod solemnly nonetheless. "You took care of me when I was fourteen and being beaten by the foster parents I was placed with and you saved me from my ex tonight. Don't ever think you're incapable when all you've ever done is save me."

Killian took the now empty mug from her hands and set it on the bedside table before pulling her into his arms. He placed a feather light kiss to the bump on her head before setting his chin against her shoulder.

"All I've ever done was love you," he replied, the soft voice rumbling against her.

Emma smiled but made a face. It this went any further she was going to do something she wasn't sure was caused by her feelings or her concussion and painkillers. She couldn't even put the urge into words let alone voice it correctly. And if she was going to do it, she was going to do it right. "You're too sappy for my poor head," she groaned good-naturedly.

"Then go to sleep and stop ruining the moment," Killian replied lightly. Another kiss was pressed to her sore head before Killian tucked Emma into the blankets and let her go to sleep once more.

The night continued in much the same way. Killian would shake her awake, give her more painkillers if she needed them and then pull the blankets up around her chin. Sometimes he slept, his phone alarm waking them both up on the hour but Emma was pretty sure by the time it hit eight o'clock and she was allowed to sleep for more than an hour at a time that Killian himself had slept for maybe two hours, three at max.

Emma roused herself at ten o'clock and looked blearily around the room. Killian wasn't there but she could hear voices coming from the kitchen. Emma pushed herself up gently and made her way towards the sounds. The lights in the hallway were too bright but at least her head had stopped spinning ninety mile an hour so she could walk in a straight line unaided.

Mary Margaret, Ruby, David and Graham were all in the kitchen with Killian when she shuffled in. They all sat around the table eating breakfast. Emma glanced at the calendar that hung by the fridge and saw that it was Saturday. It made her feel warm to know that even with all the chaos that had happened in her life recently her friends still came by every Saturday for brunch. When Mary Margaret gasped at her appearance and Ruby started to laugh she realized she hadn't put any pants on and was just wearing Killian's old t-shirt that she had gone to sleep in. She tugged at the t-shirt hem and blushed furiously. Graham coughed a laugh into his fist and studiously started eating the other half of his bagel. Of course Graham would be there to witness her concussion induced indecency. Killian smirked and moved from his seat towards her.

"Shall we leave this kind of outfit for the bedroom, Swan?" he asked, clearly amused. Emma punched his shoulder before turning and stomping back to her room. Once there she flopped down on the bed, burying her face in the pillow with a groan. Killian settled himself down next to her in a much more graceful manner.

"Sorry, Swan. I didn't think you'd be up. They all just came by to see how you were doing. Graham and David were at the station all night."

"My boss just saw my underwear."

Killian chuckled. Emma rolled just far enough from her position against the bed to scowl at him. "In all honesty, Swan, I don't think Graham minded," Killian drawled. "I know I didn't." His voice dripped insinuation but because her head was still hurting Emma didn't act on it. Instead she grabbed the blanket and covered herself, including said aching head. "Aw, come on, love, don't be a spoil sport."

"Don't be annoying," she shot back but it really didn't hold much venom.

"You like it," Killian replied when he'd buried himself next to her under the covers. Emma made a noncommittal sound and nestled in next to him. Everything felt better in the dark under the soft sheets. Killian looped his arm around Emma's shoulders which resulted in his bad hand sitting on her chest. She picked it up, used her knee to tent the sheets around them and moved the burned skin carefully, like she did whenever he had a nightmare. But they weren't having a nightmare- that had been the previous night. Now it was to give her something to do while she processed what she wanted to ask him. What she had wanted to ask him the previous night as well but couldn't get her thoughts coherent enough to voice them.

"Jones?"

"Hmm?" he answered, watching her ministrations carefully. Emma touched the swollen skin around the stitches but Killian didn't even react. Not until she had made her way near the outer half of his palm. She was relieved to find he still had some sensation despite the cut, that he could still feel when she touched him.

"I was just wondering, if you know," Emma stopped, chewing on her lip while she debated how to proceed. It wasn't as if she had ever done something like this before. Just spit it out, Emma. This is Killian you're talking to. "You wanted to move that mountain of clothes to a real drawer." It all came out in a garbled rush but the way Killian tensed under her fingers told her she had been understood.

"Did you just ask me to move in with you?"

"You don't have to. I'd understand if you want to keep your own place, but I just thought that there's more room here and I'm pretty sure all your clothes are here anyways." Killian silenced Emma's rambling with a kiss, rolling over her so he was balanced a few inches above her by his elbows.

"I've been waiting for you to ask me that since I moved in," he chuckled back, searching her gaze to make sure she had meant it. She had.

Emma blushed. "Yeah, I guess there really wasn't a need to ask you."

"No, there was," Killian replied, smiling widely. "You making it official shows you trust me enough to occupy a spot in your life permanently."

"So will you finally move your pants from the corner?"

Killian kissed her again. "Will you finally put some pants on?" he asked in return.

Emma shoved him off her. "I thought you liked me without pants on?"

A knock on the door stopped Killian's reply. "I swear, if you two are in there doing it while we're trying to eat I'm arresting you both," Graham called out.

"Can we at least share a cell?" Killian replied to which Graham groaned loudly and hurried back down the hall. Emma gave Killian's chest a slap before rolling out of bed and moving towards her dresser.

"For that crack, you're putting your clothes away all by yourself." Emma pulled on a pair of leggings and marched out the bedroom door. It took everything she had not to grin like a fool as she entered the kitchen. The idea of Killian being in her bedroom, moving in, left her breathless in a good way. Who would have ever thought Emma Swan, professional lost girl and bad relationship expert, would have found a person she was comfortable enough to live with, who she loved, who loved her right back? If someone would have asked her if she could have found this back when Neal was in her life, or hell, even after she had been reunited with Killian and was still running scared, she probably would have been tempted to shoot the person for their absolute stupidity.

When Emma had seated herself at the table in Killian's abandoned chair Mary Margaret immediately pounced on her, her face lighting up.

"You asked him, didn't you?" she demanded, practically lying across the table to reach Emma's hands. Everyone else looked at the two women with varying degrees of confusion written across their faces.

"How did you know?" Emma asked because there was no point in trying to hide what she'd done from Mary Margaret. The woman had a sap radar. She probably knew before Emma had even left her bedroom.

"Because you look as happy as I expect you would had he proposed and since you're not wearing a ring I know that that is the next most logical answer."

"We aren't ready to get married yet," Emma replied quickly but she still found herself blushing and grinning at the table.

"I like the sound of yet," Killian said from behind her, surprising her. She hadn't heard him come into the kitchen and she blushed more furiously because of what he'd heard. Killian reached around her while she was still blushing at the table then taped on her shoulder. Emma turned to see him down on one knee, holding out a bagel to her. "Since you aren't ready to take a real ring and get married will you at least take this and have breakfast with me?"

Emma took the bagel and shoved it in her mouth as Mary Margaret made delighted sounds in the background. "You're such an idiot, Jones," she said, mouth full. Killian laughed and righted himself, pulling her from the chair.

"But I'm your idiot." And just like how Killian had liked the sound of yet, Emma liked the sound of that.