"The time is right, your perfume fills my head, the stars get red and, oh, the night's so blue
And then I go and spoil it all by sayin' something stupid like 'I love you'"

- Somethin' Stupid, Frank Sinatra

Emma didn't like dealing with her emotions, most of the time she ignored them and hoped that they'd get better or go away. But she knew she couldn't bury or ignore Neal. For one thing Henry wouldn't let her. Not that the kid was pestering her to give his father a straight answer, but Henry did serve as a constant reminder – the proverbial elephant in the room.

Staring at her cup of coffee Emma quickly pulled out her phone, punching out a message she hit the send button before she could change her mind. With the message having been sent into the ether and with no getting it back now Emma forced herself to stay seated, as she tried to focus on the task of drinking her coffee. But her thoughts began to stray, unsurprisingly her overwrought brain focused in on Neal.

It was true that Henry's father had done a lot to hurt her, but Neal didn't deserve this treatment. And she couldn't keep him at arms length any longer, forcing him into a perpetual state of limbo. And of all people Emma understood that not knowing was the worst. She couldn't string it out for any longer than she already had.

Suddenly the diner's bell chimed as the door opened to reveal a somewhat windswept Neal. Catching sight of Emma the man shot her a wide smile before making his way towards the table she was occupying.

"Hey," Neal offered her another easy smile as he sat down opposite her.

"Hi," the blonde nodded her head in greeting.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Neal questioned, his face open, relaxed.

Emma inwardly bit her lip, she was about to take a massive emotional dump on Neal, maybe she should have chosen a more private location. She could talk about something else, talk to him another time when they were alone. The blonde clenched her hands into fists underneath the table, her nails digging into her palms as she forced herself to follow through. She couldn't let it slide again.

"I…" Emma paused; her head awash with thoughts but the ability to articulate them was suddenly lost to her.

"It's good to see you," Neal smiled warmly.

Emma's stomach twisted painfully, she wasn't ready for this. She wasn't ready to be confronted with reality.

"It's good to see you too," the sheriff managed.

"So what's up?" Neal asked, his voice light but there was undercurrent of trepidation. "Everything ok with Henry right?"

"Henry's fine," Emma replied quickly, latching onto the subject of her son like a castaway clings to a life vest. "Henry's great even…"

"Then? We haven't exactly hung out much recently; I wasn't expecting you to change that anytime soon." Neal couldn't help but let the bitterness creep into his words and Emma had a hard time masking her wince. She deserved it really, swallowing heavily the blonde looked towards her one time lover.

"Neal, before you fell…" Emma stopped again, her nail scraping at a chip in the mug she was nursing. Taking a swig of the cold coffee Emma tried to marshal her thoughts, she had spent a good thirty minutes in the bathroom rehearsing a speech but the words were lost to her now. "Before you fell I told you that I loved you."

Neal nodded, a frown slowly creeping across his features.

"Emma, I know I left you and didn't look for you. But it's always…"

"Please," Emma held up her hand halting the stream of words coming from the man opposite her. "I do love you, and I always will because you gave me Henry."

"But you're not in love with me." Neal finished, his voice toneless, his eyes suddenly empty of warmth Emma was so accustomed to.

"Right," Emma whispered, her voice breaking. "But…"

"Oh God, please don't tell me there's someone else."

It was if Emma's stomach had dropped right out of her, the overwhelming guilt she had been so busy avoiding surged to the fore. "There might be, I don't know… Its all so messed up."

Neal groaned, covering his eyes with his hands before slowly letting them drop so he could meet Emma's gaze. "Maybe I'm a masochist, but I'd appreciate it if you could tell me who you're getting involved with."

Emma flinched; she was stupid to think she could have avoided this topic. "Its Killian…"

"Captain Hook?" Neal deadpanned. "Christ, Emma, he…"

"I know, the guy helped your mom leave your dad and then took you in but gave you up to Pan…"

"So he's told you all his dirty little secrets then?" Neal sneered. Gritting his teeth the man regained some of his composure before issuing a curt 'sorry'.

"God knows he's done some awful things, but no one's beyond saving, no one's unworthy of a second chance. And Killian helped me find Henry…"

"I would have to if I'd been there Emma."

"You're his father Neal, I wouldn't have expected anything less of you. But Killian helped when he didn't have to, he could have got the hell out of Dodge but he didn't. He stuck around and helped me find our son. There's so much more to him than his story book villain persona, there's more to him than his past and I've seen that."

"There's more to us than our past," Neal replied somewhat petulantly.

"I know. Our child is testament to that. But I'm not the girl I was when I was with you, we weren't good for each other Neal, Jesus, we were Bonnie and Clyde wannabes."

"It wont be like that now."

"No I know that..." Emma breathed out sharply. "But just because we're not going to start knocking off convenience stores doesn't mean that our relationship won't be any less toxic."

"Emma, we were hardly toxic."

The blonde sighed, willing the tears to stay away. "We were… A relationship is supposed to bring out the best in both parties, that didn't happen with us. But even if that weren't the case, even if we were great together it wouldn't matter because I'm in love with Killian."

The admission took them both by surprise, Emma's emphatic words ringing in the air and suddenly the space between them looked impossibly vast - unbridgeable.

"Ok." Neal nodded. "I can't change how you feel and a part of me will eventually realize that I don't want to really – not when you're happy now. I just… We need to make this as easy for Henry as possible."

"I'm not going to tell him… not yet. We haven't been on a date."

"You love him Emma, if you're waiting for things to get serious I think you've probably done it backwards." Neal gave her a wan smile, some of the warmth returning to his eyes.

"I know," Emma laughed. "I still wanna wait a while."

"And I respect that." Neal sighed before changing the topic, "Look, the kid was banging on about some movie that he really wants to watch, mind if I take him this evening?"

"No," Emma muttered meekly. Neal was doing his best to carry on and keep things normal; she owed him to do it as well. "No, that'll be great. It's some movie with giant robots beating up giant monsters, you'll both love it I'm sure."

"Yeah," Neal laughed. "So I'll get going then. We'll have to sit down and organize weekends and things, probably have to get Regina involved as well."

Emma found herself bobbing her head eagerly, "Yeah, definitely. We'll set something up."

"See you around Emma."

"See you."

The diner suddenly felt impossibly empty and Emma felt one lone tear drift down her cheek.

With Henry on a trip to the movies Emma was somewhat at a loose end. Her parents were having a date night and for the moment she didn't really want to spend too much time with them. Not that they'd resent her, but Emma felt they deserved some space alone, especially since they were all still sandwiched into Mary Margaret's loft.

Quite unintentionally Emma found herself wandering towards the docks, she hadn't intended on searching out Killian, she had enough emotional baggage to deal with already but she had simply followed her feet. It was when she found herself approaching the Jolly Roger that Emma had thoughts of turning back.

For one she hadn't attempted the bathroom mirror monologue yet, although that seemingly didn't help her with Neal there probably wasn't any reason to keep up the tradition.

Walking towards the gangplank she stepped hesitantly onto the wood, her hand reaching out to the rope to steady her. She hadn't set foot on the Roger since they'd landed back in Storybrook. Mainly due to her plan of avoiding Hook but the pirate had somehow always managed to find her.

"Hello?" the blonde called out as she neared the top of the gangway, the low lights from the main cabin of the ship winking merrily at her.

"Emma?" Killian's voice drifted down towards her as her emerged on the deck of the ship. "What are you doing here lass?"

The blonde froze just as she landed on the well worn wooden deck, "I was just walking and I kind of found myself here…"

"Do you want to come below decks? It's a little nippy up here."

"Does that line work with all the girls?" Emma teased, her hand brushing carelessly against Killian's arm. And her gaze was suddenly pulled towards his, a soft flush creeping across Emma's cheeks.

"Oh, one look usually does it." Killian replied somewhat smugly, his eyes practically pulsating with an unspoken desire.

"One look huh?" Emma shook her head, a small laugh escaping her lips. "I probably should be careful then."

"You might not be able to stop yourself," the pirate grinned as he ushered Emma into his cabin.

"There you go again," Emma whispered as she closed the gap between her and the captain. "Overestimating your abilities."

"Well, I haven't had any complaints to date."

"Oh I see," Emma nodded. "Getting complacent in your old age."

"Old age?" Hook replied affronted.

"To be fair, you are looking pretty spritely for a centenarian."

"I'll just have to show you what us centenarians can do…" Killian veritably growled into Emma's neck as he ran his lips across her exposed skin. The blonde let loose a shuddering breath as her eyes unwittingly fluttering shut.

"What happened courting me?" Emma managed to rasp out, her hands gripping onto Killian as she wrestled with her conscience.

"I thought I'd skip straight to the seduction." Killian muttered, his lips raking across Emma's neck, kisses bruising her collarbone as his fingers drifted down her body.

"I thought you were waiting?"

Killian suddenly stiffened before he pulled back, "You're right. I didn't mean to presume…"

Emma nodded; stepping away from the pirate she swallowed deep lungfuls of air as she tried to right herself.

"I spoke to Neal earlier today…"

"Oh?" Killian replied, trying to remain as nonchalant as possible.

"He knows about us…"

"Us?" Killian responded. "I am sure he is aware of both our existences."

Emma sighed.

"Has 'us' now taken on some modern meaning?" The pirate questioned, his eyebrow quirking.

"Yeah," Emma smiled apologetically. "He knows that we have a thing…"

"A thing, yes… You are awfully found of euphemisms nowadays aren't you?"

The blonde reached towards Killian but her arm stopped short, "I told him something else as well…"

"Which was?"

"I…" Emma paused, thoughts clamoring for attention, two conflicting schools of thought fighting for supremacy. She either confessed how she felt or she turned around and ran out of the door.

Killian's hand reached for Emma's and he gently took hold of it, leading the blonde towards two wing-backed chairs by his desk. Sinking into the worn leather Emma's eyes met Killian's and she could feel her heart pounding violently against her rib cage.

"There's this song…"

"A song?" Killian sat back, the change in tack throwing him somewhat.

"Yeah," Emma nodded.

"Are you going to tell me how it goes? Although I'm afraid I probably wont know it."

"And then I go and spoil it all, by saying something stupid…"

"Like?" the pirate asked gently, his eyes searching for Emma's but the blonde refused to look up at him.

"Emma," Killian pressed, falling to his knees at the side of Emma's chair his hand reached up to cup her cheek. "What's wrong with you lass?"

"I love you." Emma whispered, her voice cracking.

A wide smile spread across Killian's features, "Then I suppose I'm about to look very stupid as I'm going to spoil it all as well. Emma Swan, you are the bravest, kindest, most magnificent woman I have ever met. I've lived in a world where one true love exists and you Emma are the one person I want to spend the rest of my days with. And I'm so glad you feel the same way, because if you didn't, I would still follow you to the ends of the Earth, but I'd much rather we did it together."

Falling to rest beside Killian the blonde pulled him into an embrace, before whispering into his ear, "I'm tired of waiting."

"But there's the rub darling, I would have waited forever and a day for you."

Emma smiled into Killian's neck before she pulled him onto her, their lips met in a fevered kiss. Bodies pressed together, the longing that had been coursing through them was finally answered.

A/N: And thats a wrap folks! Hope you enjoyed it and please let me know what you think!