Fragmented Lies

Chapter 1: Five Years Later

A/N: So the wait is over, hope you like this idea here. And I hope you like the OUAT characters I cast for the "roles" in this story ;) Let me know who your favorite is.

THANKS to snowbellewells for beta reading this for me. I seem to be making longer chapters with this one. Enjoy.

Chapter 1: Five Years Later

"You're late!" Tink's voice chimed in on a slightly high note.

Killian Jones sauntered into the front office, and smirked at the ever flirty, and flighty, Tink. In the past few years she'd done her fair share of attempts to have him ask her out on a date.

"I know," he retorted and stepped up to her desk, resting his hip against the polished wood. He crossed his arms over his chest and gave her a secretive smirk, "but I imagine whatever emergency that M has in store for me next will still be there." He shrugged and did a small mock salute towards Tink.

Tink sighed and admonished, "You'll get yourself into an awful lot of trouble with that attitude Mr Jones."

"Aye, I might." Then he pushed away from the desk and went to the door. Behind him he heard Tink announce to M, via the intercom, that he'd arrived.

From behind the door he picked up the voice of M, who called him inside. Taking one last fortifying breath, he opened the door and plastered on the facade showing his boss that he was ready for whatever mission she needed him in next.

"You're late!" M's voice clipped and showed no quarter in terms of this being even a remotely pleasant visit. This was no surprise to Killian; he knew the woman was a stickler for rules and punctuality. As head of MI6, he imagined it was required.

"Good afternoon, M, such a wonderful sunny day, eh?" Killian nodded to the large windows in the office. Sunlight streamed into the open office space, reflecting the dark wooden panels on the wall and the polished desk.

"Hmm," M was looking at a file spread out over her desk. She collected the pages and finally gave him a pointed glare, "You are needed in the US for this. Mr Gold is doing some serious restructuring of his organisation, and the CIA have reached out to us, asking for our help. They would need your help getting into the mind of Gold; you do have prior experience in his work method." Her eyes bore into him as she looked up at him expectantly, tapped the folder, and said, "I have collected the data here for you to get up to speed on things on your trip abroad."

Killian was grinding his teeth while the woman spoke; he hadn't been to the States since the day he'd been stabbed in his heart, figuratively. His heart skipped a beat when a flash of blond hair and green eyes popped into his mind. When the bloody woman had all but cut out his heart and stomped on it, he hadn't looked back.

"So who's my contact then?" Killian asked through clenched teeth, hoping M wouldn't pick up on his ill mood.

"You'll work alongside your old friend David Nolan. He is the liaison officer you'll be working with from the CIA. I believe they have some plans already set in motion, you just need to be there to pick up the track and help get the bastard Gold behind bars." M stated firmly and sighed, "That man has done a world of horror already. The Croc needs to be stopped, for good this time." She smoothed a hand over her shoulder length dark hair, and her eyes looked almost haunted. This case was obviously very important to her, maybe even on a personal level.

"Well, it's a relief it will be Nolan. He and I work well together," Killian gave her a weak smile, trying to push away all the other memories of his last visit to New York.