In Loving Memory

The human heart feels things the eyes cannot see, and knows what the mind cannot understand – Robert Valett

Henry perched his oversized Once Upon a Time storybook on his lap.

"Want to read a story from the book for old time sake?" he asked Emma. "Sure sounds like the perfect way to spend the night," she smiled down at him, warmth emanating from her eyes.

Everything in her life was finally settling in to place—it was time to put her energy towards bonding with her son. Nobody could replace the love she had developed for him over the past year. She had been given a second chance to be his mother after the adoption—albeit by fate or circumstance—and was determined to make the most of it. When it came to choosing, Henry would always come first no matter what. He would never grow up the way she had—alone.

Henry flipped through the starchy pages of his favorite fairy tale book. It seemed bulkier than the last time he had held it. "I think this book has grown."

"What do you mean?" Henry passed the book over to Emma. "Feel that…it's heavier."

She lifted the book in a continuous up and down motion. It not only felt heavier, it looked denser. She turned over the cover and flipped through it, taking in the smell of its ancient pages, tracing her fingers over scrawled stories and elaborate drawings of old—her entire family history written in ink for eternity.

As she thumbed through the remainder of the book, she noticed several empty pages near the very back. "Henry look," she said, startled. New pages had magically appeared.

"I'm not surprised. The book is enchanted. I guess as our stories play out, they are also being written. See," he said, flipping to a page with a picture showing Emma and Hook climbing up the bean stock in the Enchanted Forest and another picture of them retrieving the compass from a rather large and perturbed giant. Henry turned over one more page. "And look here…you kissing Hook on the cheek?" he cried out, shocked at this newest revelation about his mother's personal life.

"Let me see that." Emma was stunned. Henry's book was recording events as they transpired or were about to. "Are you in love with Hook?" he asked her point blank. Emma, caught off guard, mustered up the best explanation she could think of.

"Well…I care about him and yes, there are feelings between us." She didn't have the heart to reveal more than that to him just now, not after everything he had been through. "But you my little man, will always come first. You are the love of my life," she added.

Henry just shrugged his shoulders. "I know," he said nonchalantly. Henry knew what he meant to his mom; after all she had saved him with "true love's" kiss after eating Regina's poisonous apple tart. "I'm going to go watch TV in my room." Emma cracked a half smile, curling her lips. "Sure."

She stayed on the couch staring at Henry's book dumbfounded—the book that had changed everything. If she had had any doubts about the magic compass binding her heart to the heart of a pirate, it was now sealed as fate in an enchanted storybook. All of a sudden she felt a strong urge to pay a particular Captain a hospital visit.

Rumple slowly pried open the door to Belle's room, knowing it was not in his best interest to be there. She had been terrified of him after he had healed the gunshot wound on her shoulder, reacting to him as if he was some type of monster. He knew that look too well—of complete disgust—and it torn him apart bone by bone. Baelfire used to look at him the same way after he had transformed into the Dark One.

He approached Belle's bed cautiously, not wanting to scare or upset her. For the last few days he had been warned to stay away from the Storybrooke hospital after charging the emergency room and threatening to kill Hook. However, his growing concern over Belle's condition had been nagging at his heart and he needed to make sure she was in good hands.

"Belle…Belle," he whispered. With her back turned towards him, facing the wall, Belle slowly rolled over until her eyes met his. They flashed a wild glare of abhorrence and repulsion. Belle pulled her entire body up against the back of the wall like a scared cat, as if trying to escape a beast about to pounce and attack her.

"What are you doing here? What do you want from me?" she quavered, petrified, body frozen by fear.

"Belle I just want to talk. I'm not going to hurt you Belle," Rumple pleaded.

"Stay away from me," she begged, her agitation lifting. "I don't know what you are or who you are but just stay away."

"Belle…it's me Rumple…I love you." All Belle could do was release a high pitch scream that echoed down the hallway of the hospital and reverberated off the walls. Within seconds, Rumple could hear the rapid tapping of footsteps on linoleum floor ensuing in the direction of her room.

"I'm sorry Belle…I'm so sorry," Rumple lamented, tears spilling down his aged, weathered cheeks. His lovely Belle was gone. She was gone.

The grief of failing her as he had failed so many others—Milah. Baelfire— overwhelmed him with a deepening sorrow, sending his entire body into convulsions. He had lost so much, more than the townspeople of Storybrooke would ever be privy to. And now it was happening all over again.

"I'll make it right Belle," he promised her, fleeing the hospital. In that instant, one name crossed his mind. Hook.

Emma burst into Hook's room. She was feeling rather high-spirited and giddy until she glanced over and saw his hospital bed abandoned.

"What the hell," she thought.

Immediately she got a hunch something terrible had transpired in the room. Scurrying over to his bed, she desperately tossed around the sheets and blankets, hoping to find some visible clue Hook was still in the vicinity. Nothing. The intravenous he had been plugged into was also detached. Hook was gone. She glided her hands over the bottom sheets, still warm from his body heat. Wherever he had went, it had not been too long ago.

"Don't think the worse Emma," she assured herself, her mind spinning. She charged out of the room and down the corridor towards the main reception area, practically pummeling straight into Dr. Whale.

"Where's Hook," she asked, panic-stricken. "In his room of course," Whale answered as if Emma was asking him a stupid question. "No he's not. He's gone."

"What do you mean gone?"

"His room is empty, his intravenous has been unplugged," Emma reported.

"That's not possible. He's in no condition to be mobile." Whale rushed back down the hallway corridor towards Hook's room, Emma tailing close behind him. He pushed back the door to the room, the bed remained as Emma had left it—empty. "See I told you," she said to Whale. They both looked at each other knowing full well Hook had been taken. And then Emma said it. "Rumple."

Rumple parked on the town line right in front of the Welcome to Storybrooke sign. Pulling his keys out of the ignition, he cut the engine and walked round back of his vehicle to pull a wheelchair out of the trunk. He pushed the chair to the passenger side and unhinged the door.

"Get out and sit in this," he ordered Hook, his voice marred with contempt. "You're going to help me prove a theory, and if I'm right, you're going to undo what you did to Belle."

Hook gagged and groggy from some kind magic Rumple had knocked him out with, pulled himself out of Rumple's car and painfully maneuvered himself into the wheelchair. The night was cold, the air as thick and black as molasses one could practically slice it with a sword. He shivered in his thin blue gown as Rumple placed the wheelchair with him in it beside a painted fluorescent pink line stretching over the expanse of road heading into the quiet, sleepy, Maine town. With his body still weak from his injuries, Hook was in no position to take on the Dark One.

"Don't speak unless I tell you to or I'll kill you right now," Rumple said, sending a slight tremor up Hook's spine. Hook gave Rumple a nod, showing he understood as Rumple removed the gag from around his mouth.

"Now let's see if I am right." Rumple pushed the wheelchair across the pink line—the town's invisible boundary.

"We are going to play a little game called who are you?" Rumple explained to Hook. "Get the answer right and you live, get the answer wrong and you die."

Hook gave the Dark One a blank stare, thinking he must have gone mad or something.

"Who are you?" barked Rumple, pointing at Hook with his long index finger from the other side of the pink line.

"Killian Jones." What kind of stupid game was this anyway?

Rumple pierced his eyes into small slits and slid his face closer in to Hook's. "I asked you, who are you?" Rumple bellowed again, this time snarkier.

"Captain Hook," Hook replied, an uneasiness passing through his stiffening body.

"Getting closer but not the right answer." Rumple eased his position, pulling back from Hook a little and reaching into his coat pocket, retrieved Hook's hook. He then took the shiny metallic hook like a knife and slid it slowly, with exact precision, along Hook's unshaven jawline.

"Who are you really Captain?" Rumple repeated. "I'm a pirate," Hook retorted, desperate. "Getting hotter," Rumple heckled, a coy smile breaking out across his tightened face. "And a coward," Hook shouted.

"Bingo dearie," said Rumple, recoiling and fanning his fingers in the air like a stack of cards. "And now you get to live and save Belle." Hook shuddered. Not since Milah's death had he seen the Crocodile's true colors.

Emma pulled up in her yellow bug to the front of Mother Superior's Convent in Storybrooke. She was hoping the Blue Fairy could help her locate Hook. Nobody had seen Gold in hours, leading Emma to believe he had cast a cloaking spell to disguise his and Hook's whereabouts.

"Mother Superior," Emma called out as she burst through the front door of the convent.

"Emma what is it?" the Sister said concerned, stepping out from a classroom and wiping her hands on a dishevelled tea towel.

"Gold, he kidnapped Hook. I think he plans to kill him for attacking Belle and erasing her memories. I can't find him. Gold must have used a cloaking spell."

"How can I help?" she asked.

"Cast a locator spell and help me track where they are," replied Emma.

The Blue Fairy dropped her head giving Emma a sign she was about to deliver a bout of bad news. "Emma I don't have enough fairy dust to do a locator spell. Our stores underneath the town have practically run dry. Magic is in short supply these days," Mother Superior explained. "I'm so sorry."

"There has to be another way to find them, perhaps not using magic," Emma lamented, determined not to give up. She was running out of options and time.

"If you want to find Gold Emma, you will need magic. He's too powerful to be caught without it," the Blue Fairy advised her.

"Well how am I going to do that if there is no magic left in Storybrooke?" Emma questioned her. The Mother Superior might have been a fairy in the Enchanted Forest but right now she was testing Emma's patience.

"There is one alternative," Mother Superior offered, but not sounding hopeful. "If you are willing to go there."

"I'll take anything, just tell me what it is," Emma begged, her desperation rising by the second.

"Ask Regina."

Rumple arranged Killian's hook and Belle's chipped teacup on a wooden crate. He now had the two objects he needed to conduct a transfer spell. Unlike the rest of the residents in Storybrooke, Hook had not been affected by Regina's initial curse. As Rumple had assumed, the pirate could cross the town line without losing his memories. With a transfer spell, he would be able to use Hook's mind as a temporary holding place for Belle's memories. It would come at a small cost of course—Hook would lose all trace of his. In Rumple's mind, it was the sweetest sense of revenge he could imagine for the pirate who had caused him lifelong heartache.

Rumple released the gag once more from around Hook's mouth. Hook quickly surveyed his surroundings to see if it was possible to make a getaway, instantly recognizing the smell of fish, mixed with crisp salt air which pervaded the room he was being held captive in. They were somewhere close to the fishing docks were Hook had the Jolly Roger tied up. The perfectly square room, with a large rusted boiler located in the corner and four walls of slatted boards running from floor to ceiling, felt like it was about to close in on him. It didn't help his feet were bound in front of him and his good hand and stub bound behind his back with nautical rope. The Dark One had taken no precautions.

Hook tried to loosen the grip of the rope on his wrists by wiggling back and forth in his chair. If only he had his hook to sever the knot, tightening and cutting in to his hands. "Don't try anything fishy," Gold heckled. "Or you will end up in the brink my dear Captain."

It was no use. He was still too weak to do anything about his predicament. Three hundred years of living and surviving the impossible had come down to this; being bested by his arch nemesis in a hospital gown strapped to a wheelchair.

"What are you planning to do to me," Hook inquired, at least wanting to be mentally prepared for what lay ahead. "Oh just a switcheroo spell," Rumple chuckled, his laugh growing more increasingly evil by the second.

"What the hell does that mean?" Hook thought, not liking the sound of what the Dark One had in store. "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth," Rumple declared, speaking in riddles, chuckling. He then turned, glared Hook straight in the face, and growing dangerously quiet, whispered.

"A mind for a mind, a heart for heart."

Rumple was well aware Hook and Emma had been bound to the compass by true love and reveled in using that tidbit of wisdom to his advantage—to destroy Hook and crush any chance he had at happiness.

Emma knew getting Regina's help to locate Hook was a long shot. It wasn't like she was on amicable terms with Her Majesty, the Evil Queen of Storybrooke. She still had a hard time wrapping her head around that one, even more, the myriad of villainous tirades Regina had succumbed the innocuous citizens of Storybrooke to since executing the curse. Thank god that was over now.

But through it all she also knew Regina had one crippling weak spot—Henry. Emma was hoping she might be able to play that card if Regina resisted. She didn't like emotionally blackmailing people, but if it meant saving Hook's life, she would. She knocked on the large front door of Regina's stately mansion and instantly heard the clacking of heels on marble as Regina approached and opened the door.

"Ms. Swan what are you doing here?" Regina asked, her tone self-righteous. Emma couldn't stand that about her.

"I need your help with something," Emma said, hoping she could get out what she had to say long enough for her Evil Highness to listen.

"Why would I help you Ms. Swan?" Regina said. "Especially since you stormed into my town, took away by son and ruined any chance I had at happiness."

"Seriously?" Emma thought to herself. Regina always played the victim, acting as if she was the only one who had ever suffered or been double-crossed.

"Rumple has taken Hook and is going to kill him. I need to find him and stop it. Can you do a locator spell?"

Regina seemed pleased by the news. "Why do I care what happens to the pirate," Regina said, glaring at Emma like she finally had all the power and Emma had none.

"Hook is a villain. He shot Belle. Whatever Gold has planned for him he deserves. And it really is none of my business. I don't mess around in the Dark One's affairs," Regina proclaimed, starting to close the door in Emma's face.

Emma stuck out her hand and pushed the door back. She was so tempted to plant a fist on Regina's jaw right now, but kept her cool. If she hadn't been Henry's adoptive mother, Emma would have taken her out a long time ago.

"Please," Emma pleaded. "If not for me, do it for Henry. Show him you can be a good person, like he believes you can be." Regina heard the name Henry and pulled the door back. "Damn you Swan," she thought. "Why do you care what happens to the pirate anyway? Didn't you just shoot him a few days ago?"

Emma obviously wasn't the greatest at always hiding her emotions. These days it seemed she walked around advertising her heart on her sleeve. And Regina, as diabolical as she was, was also very intuitive, now reading the expression of desperation on Emma's face, the worried pull in her eyes.

"Oh my God, you've fallen for the Captain Ms. Swan," Regina said with a nervous laugh, rolling her head back as if it was a joke. "Fine. Come in." Emma stepped through the door, relieved she now finally had a chance to save Hook. It seemed the Evil Queen was a sucker for love after all.

"You are about to get a taste of your own medicine pirate," Rumple bellowed at Hook. The Dark One was in the process of preparing a magic spell but Hook had no idea what. "You are going to see what it is like to have true love snatched from you just like that, "Rumple added, cracking his fingers.

True love? Hook had no idea what in the hell Rumple was talking about. Noticing the pirate's clueless expression regarding the real power behind the compass made the Dark One's revenge that much more deliciously satisfying.

"Oh my dear captain, how tragic. Love has been bestowed upon you with the Swan girl and you had no idea…I am so sorry," Rumple teased, pushing his face right up into Hook's. Hook shook his head. Rumple really was a maniac. "What are you talking about?"

"The compass my dear Captain, the one you retrieved with Ms. Swan in the Enchanted Forest to help her and Snow get home back to Storybrooke," Rumple explained. "What about it?" Hook asked. There was more going on here and he was determined to get the full story.

"Well the lovely Ms. Swan paid me a visit a few days ago about the compass. As I advised her, the compass is enchanted binding two souls in true love…in this case you and her," Rumple went on. "But fate can be reversed with magic…especially my magic."

Hook's jaw dropped. Everything that had transpired over the last few days collided into a perfect moment of clarity; Emma's unexpected visit to the hospital to see him; her change of heart when it came to returning his hook. And most of all, the tender kiss she had planted on his cheek as an act of compassion…and now possibly love.

Since that day something had begun to slowly shift inside the pirate—a shedding of the old persona, the man known as Hook, full of witty banter and bravado. There was an instinctual need to relinquish his past identity as a criminal and villain all rolled into one, to let the walls of his three hundred year-old ego built from pride, rage and blood thirst, decay and fall away. Revenge had always been a means to an end. Now it was just an end with no promise. It had been replaced by a pull in his heart for something greater and more powerful. He hadn't know it was love until now.

Hook's heart sank like a heavy anchor in his chest—to know love and happiness had been at his doorstep after so long, only to exist now as an afterthought, was the worst kind of pain possible.

"Hurts doesn't it Captain," Rumple said gleefully, witnessing the despair spread across Hook's face. Karma really was a bitch.

"Please don't do this. There has to be another way," begged Hook. "Why do you deserve happiness a second time around pirate," scoffed Rumple. "Because I've changed," Hook continued to plead. "Men like you don't change…you will always be a coward and a pirate." Rumple was not easily persuaded.

"Please…let's bury the hatchet…call a truce…let bygones be bygones," Hook rallied. "You don't really want to do this…I know you have decency in you…the way you love Belle." Mentioning Belle's name seemed to infuriate Rumple more. "Oh but I do pirate…for every despicable thing you've done to me," Rumple heckled. It was exquisite to watch the Captain squirm.

Regina led Emma to a large table in her study with a map of Storybrooke and outlying areas spread across it. "Do you have a personal item belonging to Hook? I need it to do the spell?" Emma pulled the compass from her purse and handed it to Regina. "Will this work?" she asked. "A compass?" questioned Regina. "We found it together in the Enchanted Forest when Snow and I got sucked through the portal," Emma revealed. "Apparently it is enchanted and has bound our hearts together."

"You and the Captain…how noble and romantic Swan," Regina said with a note of sarcasm. She proceeded to place the compass on top of the map. With a swishing motion of her hand, the compass lit up and starting spinning out of control, until it was moving so fast, Regina and Emma could barely see it, eventually coming to a complete stop. Emma and Regina leaned in and noticed the needle in the middle of the compass pointing towards the fishing docks in Storybrooke.

"It appears your Captain is being restrained in the old abandoned warehouse on the docks," Regina said. She handed the compass back to Emma. "Thank you Regina. I owe you," Emma said, as she quickly marched towards the door and bolted to her yellow bug parked on the curb.

Regina watched as Emma tore down her walkway. "Yes you do Ms. Swan…yes you do." It wasn't until Emma had driven off toward the hospital to retrieve Belle that she realized she should have bitten her tongue; one day Regina would come to collect.

Emma finally had convinced Belle to come with her. She hoped Belle's presence would prevent Rumple from hatching whatever plan he had for Hook, including impending death. Emma mentally crossed her fingers, hoping it just wasn't too late. Her tires screeched as she brought her yellow bug to a halt outside the abandoned warehouse on the docks. Emma looked over at Belle and tapped her gently on the shoulder. "Come on Belle we don't have much time," she said. Belle nodded and exited the passenger door.

Emma retrieved her gun from her holster and motioned for Belle to stay behind her. Slowly, opening the front entrance to the warehouse, Emma could hear voices—first Rumple and then Hook. He was still alive. She put her finger to her lips, hinting for Belle to remain as quiet as possible. All of a sudden the warehouse became deathly silent which was quickly interrupted by a terrifying scream, jarring both Belle and Emma in their tracks. It sounded as if someone was peeling flesh off bones. "Hook," Emma yelled. "Hook!"

And then Belle gripped her head with both hands pressed over her ears, dropping to the floor and writhing in pain. The blood drained from Belle's face until she was as white as a sheet. "What in the hell is going on?" Emma thought. Within seconds, as fast as it had come, the pain mysteriously stopped and Belle quickly rose back up to her feet, completely composed. The screams coming from the other room where Hook and Rumple were, also ceased.

"Emma," Belle said, somewhat frantic. "I remember…I remember everything." "You remember who you are?" Emma replied, somewhat in disbelief about the timing of events. It appeared Belle had suddenly awakened from her slumber of memory loss. "Yes…everything…and…my Rumple," Belle said, a smile of joy etched on her delicate face. It appeared Belle had all her memories back.

Emma charged in to the room with her gun cocked, pointed directly at Rumple, Belle in tow behind her. She wasn't taking any chances with him. "Rumple," she called, her voice rippling across the warehouse in echoes. He was directly in front of her, staring at Belle.

"Rumple," Belle said, unable to contain herself, running straight into the Dark One's arms. "Is that you Belle?" he cried in shock. "My dear Belle, it worked...it really worked." Rumple broke down weeping as Belle collected him in an embrace and swept a lock of his disheveled sandy hair from his eyes. "Yes it is me. I'm back and I love you Rumple." Her words were like healing salve on a cut up heart. "Don't ever leave me again Belle. You are everything to me," Rumple cried, pressing his lips firmly against hers and kissing her as if he would never let go. Emma could see he truly did love her. "I will always find you and love you Rumple. It will be alright," Belle said to him, easing his worries.

But Emma could see everything playing out in front of her was not alright. Hook was slumped over in the wheel chair, passed out, feet and hands bound by rope. Emma immediately felt a black swirl of nausea grab hold of her. She stumbled, holding onto the walls for support, as she made her way towards him.

"Gold what have you done?" she asked, horrified at the sight of Hook motionless, limp and possibly even dead. Everything in the room was turning various shades of grey and black—like a nightmare unfolding in waking life. Emma was about to collapse.

"Don't worry Ms. Swan. Your pirate is alive but he won't remember you or anyone else." Emma glanced over at Gold. "You…you…you erased his memories in order to restore Belle's?" Emma retorted, noticing the hook and Belle's chipped tea cup laying on the crate beside Hook. What kind of magic had he used that left Hook screaming and now unconscious?

The room was growing smaller by the minute, suffocating all four of them. Perhaps it was the avalanche of emotion—anger, grief, loss, betrayal, despair—Emma could feel swirl up and twist inside her like a tornado about to sweep everything away.

"Take Belle home Gold," she said, her body trembling, mind reeling. "You've got your revenge now get out of my sight." Though she was completely disgusted by Gold's actions, Emma realized Hook and Gold were now even. The scales had been balanced. She was not in a position to lecture the Dark One on justice, forgiveness or fair treatment, knowing full well Hook had set this all in motion when he shot Belle. Hook's redemption had come a little too late. All she could do now was pick up the pieces.

Emma untied the ropes binding Hook's feet, hand and stub. She then carefully cupped his cheeks with her palms to stabilize his head. "Killian…Killian," she whispered, like a mother cooing a small infant. "Please wake up," she pleaded. "I need you to find your way back." Killian's lids fluttered and twitched as he struggled to open his eyes. He was slowly coming to.

"Where am I? Who are you?" he croaked, his throat parched from the dry heat filling up the room. Emma stared in his eyes for any sign of a memory but there was only a vacancy present in them, a not knowing. "Who's Killian?" he asked. "Who are you?" he repeated. "I'm Emma. I know you are scared. I'm here to help you. You are safe with me," she replied softly, gently stroking the unkempt edges of his hair, trying her best to soothe and pacify his shattered nerves. He appeared so childlike now and to be moving further and further away from her. Emma's heart tightened in her chest. It was agonizing seeing him—the potential love of her life—this way; a man once so full of passion, charisma and purpose (even if it was revenge) now broken down into an empty shell of nothingness. This is probably want Rumple had felt losing Belle.

"I'm so tired…I want to sleep," Hook mumbled, struggling to keep his eyes open and alert. "I know…I know," she continued to stroke his hair, moving gently down to his face where she planted a trail of light kisses along his forehead. He moaned, the heaviness of his eyes, his head, his body, like a weight forcing him under. All he wanted to do was to shut himself off from the outside world and drift.

Hook had been through nine lives in the last two weeks and given his present state, Emma knew she could not take him back to the Jolly Roger. He would have no recollection of his life aboard that vessel or of ever being a pirate with a hook. The pirate with hundreds of years of memories full of adventure on the high seas and an unquenchable thirst for revenge was now a man with no history, a former shadow of himself. He had no context to draw from and nowhere or no one to go to—except her. "Don't worry Killian. I am taking you home. I will take care of everything."

To be continued…