"What if they don't come back?" Killian hadn't spoken since he had burst through the door and announced his children time traveling and risking their lives, and his voice cracked on his words. Since announcing the current, almost three hours before, he had been sat on a chair with his head in his hands and a look of desperate devastation on his face. The others had tried working out a plan, maybe creating a new portal, but had concluded that to take too long. If they were going to act, they had to do it fast. Snow put a hand on Killian's back, and rubbed soothing circles.

"They will, Killian. We can't lose hope just yet. They haven't changed anything so far, so we can still get them back." Snow's words were calm, but went unnoticed by Killian.

"I couldn't even keep my own children safe. I shouldn't have left them after… I should have been there. Emma would hate me," Killian muttered quietly, mostly to himself, but everyone around him couldn't avoid hearing. They exchanged concerned looks over his head, no one knowing what to say. Truth was, there was nothing to say to make it better. They were all helpless, forced to wait and see, unable to do anything about the outcome.

All their gazes flittered to the roof and the remaining clan of "children" residing upstairs. The remaining youngsters had protested when they had been sent upstairs, but they were safer kept away from all this. With Liam and Hope's lives on the line and Henry already in the hospital, they were all the more protective of their remaining children.

Wilma, Daniel and Neal were awfully quiet, though the distinct tapping of Daniel's pacing soothed them all. The sound a confirmation that their remaining children were safe and sound upstairs.

"Killian, don't. She wouldn't hate you and you know it. They are both practically adults, and this was their own choices. The only thing we can do is try to help them back."

Killian snorted. This was his fault, and if Hope changed the future as she planned or he never saw his children again, he would forever blame himself. And he'd know. Even if Hope's plan succeeded and he no longer remembered her, he'd still know.

Suddenly the ground shook, making the windows rattle and everyone in the room exchange looks.

And so they all knew. It was too late: it was out of their hands now.

"She is rather much like her mother, isn't she?"

Emma had followed Hope, Regina and Robin had taken Henry to work on a way for Liam and Hope go back to their own time, and Snow had taken Charming and Neal to Granny's to get everyone something to eat. That leaving Liam in a room, with only Killian.

Liam felt tense, he was not naturally an outspoken person like his sister, and mostly kept quiet and to his closest family. He would say that he had a good relationship with his father normally, though sitting like this with a younger version of him and after what had happened between them in Liam's own time, he felt uncomfortable. Liam didn't realize he hadn't answered until Killian spoke up again.

"Have I ever told you about my brother? The one you got your name from?"

"Which one?" They both chuckled and they both raised a hand to awkwardly scratch their necks, only to both stop mid action when they saw they were mirroring each other, and then drop their hands. Another chuckle escaped them both, equally as awkward about the situation. It actually made Liam feel a little better seeing his father so out of words and awkward.

"Okay, good point, lad. However, it's the older I'm referring to." Killian leaned against the desk behind him, sure tale of him preparing to tell a story. Liam hid a knowing grin behind a hand and took a seat by the other desk.

"You see, my brother, he was a right out idiot at times, but he was good. He was impulsive and he was stubborn, but all the same he believed in good form."

Liam had to force himself not to roll his eyes. Good form was a life lesson that had been taught one too many times in Liam's years. In his own time, he would've rolled his eyes at his father, but in this time his father's attempts at making things better and talk was so amusing that he couldn't not listen. He had heard this speech so many times that he knew what was coming, and his father's next words proved him right.

"Do you know who that reminds me of?"

"My sister, presumably?" Killian nodded his affirmation.

"But you as well, Liam. Your sister is quite obviously very stubborn and very impulsive, but with all good intentions. And so are you." Liam didn't respond, merely looked at the young Killian before him in question. Never before had someone seen him as either stubborn (okay that's a lie. Every time he had a fight with either of his parents or Hope, he was always 'stubborn' according to them.) or impulsive. It had always been Hope who were impulsive. She did things without thinking beforehand, and he was always the one who had to stop her, hence him being where he was.

Killian seemed to have caught Liam's train of thought and smiled, clearly amused.

"If you weren't impulsive, Liam, you wouldn't be here."

Liam swallowed. He couldn't really argue that. Instead he just gave his father a small smile and a nod.

"Yes, by the way," Liam said instead, smiling to Killian, who raised an eyebrow in question. "She is exactly like mom." Killian smiled brightly, and was just about to say something further when they heard two sets of footsteps in the hallway.

"Don't flatter yourself, Liam. I am my own person." Hope rounded the corner with Emma at her heels, face hard but her words missing some of their usual sting.

She walked up to Liam and put her head on his shoulder, her arms coming around him slowly. This was her way of saying sorry for everything, at the same time making sure he knew she wasn't angry with him either. He responded with wrapping his own arms around her. It was a silent apology from both of them, and a way of telling the other they would do the rest together.

Their parents' penetrating looks made them pull apart and an awkward tension set in the air. Killian looked at them with fondness in his gaze, and Emma mirrored his look with just the tiniest bit of panic in her gaze.

It was Liam who spoke up first, attempting to break the tense atmosphere.

"So what did you say? Are we going to end Hope so we can have you back?"

His audience did not appreciate hos joke and he was met with three penetrating stares, almost enough to make him cave if he hadn't been so use to them.

"Don't say that. Obviously we wouldn't allow that," Emma said; Killian nodding along next to her and Hope rolling her eyes next to Liam.

"But we'll find a way. We always do." Killian put his arm around Emma and his nose to her temple. It was an innocent act made intimate. Hope and Liam both knew they were scared; Killian for Emma and both of them for their children. They tried not to show it, but knowing their parents since basically forever, Liam and Hope could tell. Killian would fight to save Emma, no matter in what time, and that calmed Hope. She didn't have to fight this alone.

"First of all we need to work on how to get you home," Regina's voice pierced through the room as she entered, heels clicking and books in her arms. Snow and Charming walked in with takeout bags in their arms and Henry was at their heels, with more books. Robin showed a few steps behind, carrying little Roland in his arms. Liam and Hope smirked at one another, each thinking the same thing. Not only had they got to meet the young version of their big brother and the babyversion of their uncle, but also the little version of Roland.

Roland was a traveler back home. Henry had taken him traveling after he graduated high school; to get him to see more than the streets of Storybrook. They had travelled Europe; visited Lake Garda in Italy, the coast in France, Stockholm in Sweden and London in England. It took Roland all of two months after they had arrived home to get out on the road again. He came home now and then, but mostly just travelled. Finding jobs along the way and moving on to the next place when he was satisfied.

Babysitting Liam and Hope had been one of Roland's first 'jobs'; one he took very seriously. Therefore, they had spent a lot of time with him and, just like all their other cousins/uncle and so on, he was very dear to them. And they would tease him endlessly about the adorable way he in the past time leaned against Robin's shoulder, struggling to hold his eyes open.

The heavy books in Reginas arms made a loud thump as she dumped them on one of the desks.

"All the time travel magic I could find. Rumple doesn't have the wand you two used to get back when Zelena opened the portal a while back anymore. So we have to do this the hard way. Why couldn't you just know how to time travel. That would save us so much time. How did you even get here in the first place?"

"We do know how to time travel. That's how we got here."

Hope's words were met with seven pair of staring gazes and one sleepy, their chins almost hitting their chests. Hope shrugged and Liam sniggered next to her.

"Perks of being the product of true love," Hope tried to explain. It didn't seem to work, since everyone kept staring at them confused. Emma was the first to recover, and looked skeptically over at Hope and Liam.

"That doesn't make sense. I am the product of true love, and I can't time travel, can I?" She almost looked like she was trying, staring at the ground like it would appear a portal to another time right by her command.

"We don't actually know why we can time travel. You have tried to find an answer for years, Regina, but so far there are only speculations. One theory is that we are second generation true love, which according to the books have never existed before. Another is that since our parents time traveled, we have it in us. Like an illness that is passed down to the younger generation, but in a good way. It might be a combination, we don't know."

It was quiet for a few long seconds, everyone processing the information handed to them.

"How did you find out in the first place that you could time travel? Have this happened before?" Snow sounded both worried and awed. Liam and Hope exchanged a look.

"Not exactly. Liam found out first when he was about three, but it was only small things. Like a few minutes back and forth here and there. You kept getting confused, but didn't do anything about it then. One time he even scared you by traveling back to the middle of the night, waking himself and then walking in and standing by the side of your bed 'til you woke up. Dad still says he has never been so scared as when mom woke him screaming that night, and found two versions of his son beneath his bed. You put a stop to it after that. Made him learn to control his magic. When I was born you wondered if the same thing would happen, so you started as early as you could, helping me understand my magic from the very start. So I didn't find out I had the ability until I actually tried it. But we know the consequences, and never use it. Except now."

"Oh, bloody hell. We're in for a run with you two, aren't we?" Killian looked almost pale as he leaned on Emma's shoulder. He didn't look regretful or anything, just accepting that hard parenting days were ahed him.

Regina looked exasperated where she stood and it looked like she struggled for words for a good couple seconds before she found them.

"So you mean that you can travel between time however you want?" She asked, her eyes almost burning Liam and Hope alive. They both nodded slowly, Liam answering her calmly.

"Well, yes. It's a little more complicated than just however we want. But sure, almost." His words almost seemed to aggravate Regina even further and Hope would honestly not have been surprised if she would have stomped the floor with her sharp heel in anger.

"So, you are honestly telling me that you have come all this way, meaning to end your own existence because you felt guilty for your mother's death, when you could have just gone back and stopped yourself from interfering in the first place?"

The room was completely silent, only Roland's heavy breath from his place against his father's shoulder audible.

"Well, I didn't think of that." Hope's words was chocked yet too loud for the deathly silent room. She slowly looked at her brother, and judging by his expression, he hadn't thought of that either. Hope could feel the embarrassment rise in her chest along with the color on her cheeks. She saw some shuffling out of the corner of her eye, and felt her mother's arm wrap around her shoulders and hold her together.

Hope almost chocked on the emotion that hit her. That was her mother on every level, and that was just one of the things she couldn't live without. The constant support and knowledge about what Hope needed without her needing to say anything. She would never again take her mother for granted if she could have her back. She would never again yell or fight her mother, because she was everything, and she was always right and Hope would never do anything to counteract her mother's wishes again.

(Okay even Hope knew that was a stretch, but in that moment, she didn't care. In that moment she really meant it.)

That was why she had done all this.

Hope looked up at her mother, beautiful and so caring she wiped a tear that had fell unnoticed from Hope's cheek.

"We'll fix this," she whispered softly.