"And I'm going to try," Rachel said, an ale sitting in front of her as well. She took a breath, trying to gather her thoughts. "The name I was born with is Rapunzel. In the other world, I was known as Rachel. That's who I was when we met. I was still under Rumplestiltskin's curse when you arrived with the Jolly Rodger."

"Yes, I remember the other place," Hook said, watching her. So far she was making sense. So far.

"I'm still not sure how the original curse broke enough to bring everyone back here," Rachel said, absently toying with her ale mug. "But it did. By then we were kind of... courting, I suppose. We fell asleep in my apartment, and woke up in your quarters on the Jolly Rodger. We've all been back in this world ever since, and you invited me to live on the ship with you."

And that was the part that Hook was having problems with. He had told himself he was going to stay away from women, after all. But she didn't sound like she was deceiving him, and he certainly couldn't get her out of his head. So he scowled at his ale.

"We did fight a bit," Rachel admitted quietly, watching him. "Over Milah. But we sorted everything out. I was still under Gold's curse, so I didn't remember much about being Rapunzel, but you didn't mind." Here, she blushed slightly. "Snow and the Prince held a ball, once they finished rebuilding their town. We were all invited. That was the night you broke the curse on me."

It took Hook a moment to realize what that meant, but then he blinked.

"...Really?" He couldn't help but sound a little skeptical.

Rachel nodded, still a bit pink.

"Yeah," she replied. "After that, we decided to go exploring for a while, just the two of us. That's what we were doing when you got cursed on that island." She was quiet for a moment. "I think I know why you can't get me out of your head. Not even a forgetting curse can erase True Love."

While it did sound plausible, Hook was having problems wrapping his head around that. So he shook his head a bit, downing the rest of his ale. "I hope you know how crazy that sounds."

"No crazier than being frozen in time for twenty-eight years," Rachel pointed out. She drank some of her own ale, albeit in small sips.

Hook shrugged, looking into his own ale. "Right." He shook his head. "I think this is harder to believe."

"I can't force you to believe me," Rachel said. She sighed. "You told me about Milah. We've been to Neverland and survived Peter Pan together." Her breath hitched slightly, and her lip trembled. "We've done a lot together, and you don't remember any of it."

Hook shrugged. "There doesn't seem to be much I can do about that," he pointed out.

"I might, if you'd let me take a look," Rachel said, trying to get herself under control. She didn't want to start crying, not now.

"If I agreed to that, what would I have to do?" Hook kept his voice very carefully neutral.

"Just sit still," Rachel said, setting down her ale. "And don't fight me."

Hook watched her, holding very still but also rather tense. He wasn't sure what to expect, after all.

Rachel held out a hand towards him, palm facing him. Her magic shimmered in the air a bit, faintly blue-purple, as she carefully felt out the curse. And it was definitely a curse: she could feel it digging into Hook all around the edges, holding on tightly.

"It is definitely magic," she murmured.

Hook managed not to shift, though he could feel something prickling at his skin. "Alright. Can you do anything about it?"

"I'm not sure," Rachel said, lowering her hand again. She bit her lip slightly. "The best way to break a curse is the kiss."

"Uh huh." Hook eyed her for a few moments. She could be lying and trying to kiss him, but as far as he knew, he couldn't really be cursed or harmed from that. So he could kiss her and she could be lying, he could kiss her and she could be telling the truth. Either way, the worst that happened was he got to kiss a pretty lady.

"Alright."

Rachel was a bit surprised that he agreed, but she didn't want to let the opportunity slide. She didn't want him to change his mind again before she could try to break the curse and get him back. Leaning across the table, she gave him a gentle, chaste kiss.

Hook was a bit surprised at that, but after a moment his eyes went wide, and when she pulled back he swore.

"I'm sorry, love, I'm so sorry," he said immediately.

"Did it work?" Rachel asked hopefully. He seemed like he was himself again, but she wanted to be sure.

Hook nodded, reaching across the table to take her hand. "It worked," he confirmed. "I was an ass to you."

"You didn't know," Rachel said. She leaned over and kissed him again. "I missed you, Killian."