AN: As long as people enjoy, I think I will continue this story throughout season 3. Of course it will be OOC and I will add my own little bits, let me know what you all think!
Emma couldn't help but notice the tension between her parents; they weren't very good at keeping their emotions hidden. Every time her dad tried to touch her mom, she would flinch away as if someone burned her. Emma never had to deal with parents fighting before but what she could remember from foster care most arguments ended in a divorce. Her parents wouldn't divorce after everything they had been through. They couldn't. They wouldn't. Emma couldn't comprehend her parents not being together, divorce wasn't in those fairytales she read as a child. Emma rolled her eyes, she was getting ahead of herself, first she had to figure out what was going on between the two of them. She knew that her mom was upset her dad didn't tell her about the curse and then about the fault in finding the cure. Her dad could have said something at any point and the fact that he didn't say anything was killing her mom. They were married, their relationship was built on trust and honesty, and you don't keep secrets in a marriage. On the other hand, Emma knew her dad was just trying to keep the focus on finding Henry, trying not to let her mom panic or something along those lines.
Neal was looking exactly at Emma, she had been so lost in thought she wasn't aware that he had spoken, "What did you say? Sorry, I was just thinking about something."
"We have to capture Pans shadow to get off the island, it's the only way I can think to get us off the island." Neal looked around hoping from some support, he knew Emma would find some flaw in his plan.
"Is that all?" asked Emma "We just have to capture Pans shadow? Wow, that is an excellent plan. Except for the fact that we can't get within ten feet of Pan without his say so."
Hook grinned, "His shadow isn't apart of him, he can control it form miles away. All we have to do is find his shadow, we won't have to find Pan at all."
"Do you know where the shadow could be?" asked Snow
"I know where to look," smiled Neal "I'm sure I know where it is, Emma and I can find it."
"I'll be coming along, to make sure that Emma is safe and you don't sell her out again at the first sight of trouble." Glared Hook
Emma couldn't argue with Killian's logic, Neal did have a history of selling her out at the worst possible times. She didn't think he would sell her out to Pan, but she hadn't been around Neal in a long time, too long for her to even think about trusting him again. Emma softly snickered, Killian was jealous and if she were being honest with herself, she loved that. He was undeniably sexy when he was protective of her and the jealous look was even sexier than she could ever imagine.
"How long are you planning on giving dad the silent treatment?" asked Emma kneeling down by her mother, "You should give him a chance to explain himself or at the very least for you to yell at him and tell him how stupid he is, that's always fun."
Snow bit her lip, "You need to be careful and I'm not talking about the shadow. Neal still loves you, I know you're with Killian now but Neal still feels like he has a chance to be a family with you and Henry. Having two guys fight for your affections sounds great but trust me, we all need to work together and not try to one up the other. Just…be careful sweetheart, your dad and I won't make it if we lose you again."
Emma hugged her parents and promised them both she would be careful and would try not to instigate too many fights and that they would. Just as Killian was about to walk away with Emma and Neal, David stopped him.
"I know he pisses you off and I know he makes you want to kick his sorry ass all over this island, but you have to fight the urge." David smirked at the eye roll Killian gave him, "You really don't want to be the one to explain to Henry why his dad is dad…for real this time. Just ignore him and hopefully he'll go away."
Killian smirked, "Thanks for the pep talk mate, I'll try not to murder the idiot and I'll do everything in my power to keep Emma safe."
Not murdering Neal was becoming harder and harder as they continued on their walk. Every time he looked at Emma it was with a look of love and he acted as if he had some sort of claim on her. Emma didn't belong to either of them, she was her own person, but if she didn belong to someone it sure as hell wasn't Neal. He wasn't there for her when she needed him the most, granted Killian wasn't there either but he didn't know her then! If Killian had known Emma back then, there lives could have been much different. Killian wasn't naïve enough to think that they wouldn't have ups and downs; he knew that with good times would come bad. Both of them would rather walk away from a problem than actually deal with it that was something he had to tell her would not be acceptable. If they hit a bump, they would push through the problem, not walk around it or turn back; he couldn't walk away from love when life had given him a second chance at getting it right.
As Emma walked away to get the coconut Killian gave Neal a hard glare, "I can't tell you to stay away from Emma but I am going to tell you to back off."
"Back off?" snickered Neal "Did you forget that Emma and I have a child together? If anyone should back off, it should be you Pirate. You think that Emma is actually going to stick this out with you after we all get off this island? Hook, you have no idea who you're dealing with. Emma has trust issues and even when she does let someone in, it's at arms length. You may not like it, but Emma and I have something and even you can't come between that. Keep in mind Mate, you're a pirate and Emma is a princess. I've read the stories and watched the movies, you don't win."
Emma came back before Killian could wipe the smug smirk off of Neal's face, "Okay got the coconut, now what?"
"Dark Hollow," muttered Hook "it's exactly what it sounds like. It's the darkest part of the island, not exactly the friendliest of places, no one gets out of it alive. Shadows of Pans victims dwell there."
"Of course," deadpanned Emma "why wouldn't the damn place be called Dark Hollow. This is the island where dreams go to die, lets just get going before I lose what's left of my sanity."
No matter how hard he tried Killian couldn't shake Neal's words; he was only stating the obvious. Killian was a pirate and he really didn't know Emma as well as Neal did. They shared a past, not exactly the best past, but it was more than Killian had. Thinking about it, he didn't know the little things, like her favorite color or what she liked to do when she wasn't saving everyone. He didn't know the important things either, like her birthday. Killian had to stop thinking like this; he needed to be on his game to protect Emma, if anything were to happen to his love because he wasn't focused, he would never forgive himself.
Emma knew the minute they stepped foot into Dark Cove it was not going to be a pleasant trip or an easy trip at that. She kept sneaking glances at Killian; she couldn't help but feel something was bothering him. What could possibly be bothering him? She hadn't done anything, had she? Maybe her dad threatened him or made a comment about how he wasn't good enough for his little girl. Then it hit her like a ton of bricks, Neal. Of course, Neal must have said something when she was getting the coconut. Why did she leave them alone? She should have had Killian grab the coconut and then they could have avoided all this awkwardness.
"Can you hurry up Neal?" Emma knew the wind was making it hard, but they needed to get out of here before something came. She could feel something was coming, she just didn't know what it was.
Neal glared, "You think this is easy! I'm trying Emma!"
"Don't snap at her!" Killian snarled, "Just give me the damn thing, I'll do it!"
Before Emma could smack either one in the back of the head, all hell broke loose. Killian and Neal were both pinned to trees by shadows, Emma didn't have time to react before more came sweeping down towards her. She gripped her sword as hard as she could, trying desperately to fight off the shadows. Emma looked up in horror as Killian's shadow was being sucked out of him, his screaming was like a knife to her heart, she had to save him, she couldn't go on without his unwavering support.
"Killian!" screamed Emma, tears were burning her eyes, she couldn't move a muscle, all she could do was watch the love of her life slowly be ripped apart.
Killian clenched his teeth to stop from screaming, "Get our of here love! You need to leave now! Please love!"
"Listen to him Emma!" shouted Neal, "Leave us! Go!"
Emma ignored both of them, she wasn't going to leave Killian here, she would never leave him behind. Leaving Neal had its perks but she could never leave his idiotic self either, Henry would never forgive her and if she were being honest she wouldn't forgive herself either. Grabbing the coconut she focused on finding Henry, saving her son, holding her son and never letting him go, she needed to light this damn candle to save the one person who has loved her unconditionally, her baby.
Miraculously the candle lit! Emma held it up towards Pans shadow; she watched it as it was sucked into the coconut. It felt like an eternity before Killian and Neal were released from the shadows clutches. Emma flung herself into Killian's arms, she didn't care that Neal was just a few feet away, she needed to make sure that Killian was okay, that her mind wasn't just playing a cruel joke on her.
"I'm alright love," Killian, mumbled into her hair, "you did good. Thank you for saving me."
Emma snorted, "I'll never not save you, you're too important to me, like we already discussed, you're stuck with me and I'm stuck with you. Are you okay Neal?"
"Yeah, thanks for asking, maybe we should get moving before you two consummate your budding relationship in Dark Hollow." Deadpanned Neal
Allowing Neal to walk a few feet ahead of them, Emma gripped Killian's hand, "Are you going to tell me what's bothering you?"
"I'm a pirate love and you're a princess." Stated Killian
"Right, and you're a damn sexy pirate at that." seeing that Killian wasn't in a joking mood, Emma continued, "What does that have to do with anything?"
Killian kissed her hand, "You deserve someone better then me love, and I'm just a pirate. I've done some horrible things back in the day and I don't want you to ever settle, especially when it comes to someone winning your heart."
"I made my choice Killian. I made a choice and I chose you, it's always going to be you. Don't think for one minute that you're just some pirate because you are so much more than that to me. You're a good man and I'll spend the rest of my life proving that you are worthy of my heart, don't listen to the doubts in your head. Trust me. Trust us." Emma smiled at the look of happiness on his face; she would never tire of that look.
Walking over to Tinker Bells house, Emma couldn't hold back the smile of seeing her parents standing together and not having her mom glaring at her dad or just ignoring him. Before they could form a plan, Emma needed to speak with Neal; he obviously thought they had a chance that needed to be sorted out right away.
"I need to speak with you, over there," Emma pointed to the path that they had just walked up, "I have something's I need to say to you."
Neal nodded in agreement, when they were somewhat in private Neal spoke first, "One day you're gonna have to make a choice between me and Hook. I just hope that you make the right one, the one that benefits Henry the most."
"You honestly think I have to choose?" snorted Emma "There is no choice Neal! I am with Killian, he is the one that I chose and will always choose. I'm sorry that you think we have a shot at working out, but even if Killian weren't in my life, I wouldn't choose you. Neal, I'm sorry, I don't want to hurt you, but I don't think I will ever be able to trust you with my heart again. Trusting you is a risk I'm not willing to take. And if you think for one minute that I would ever be with someone that would be a danger to my son, you have lost your marbles. We're done Neal, we've been done for a long time now."
Emma knew that Neal had more to say but at this point she just wanted to be near Killian and her parents, she wasn't sure what was going to happen next but it couldn't be worse than Dark Hollow. Well, hopefully.