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“Someone has to lure Cora to Lake Nostos. We can’t ask Mulan or Her Highness to risk more than they already have for a quest that’s not even theirs, and you two have families to get back to. On the other hand, Cora believes me to be nothing more than a dirty pirate who’ll double cross anyone to get what I want. She’ll believe that I betrayed you. It will work.” Hook nodded in punctuation.
“Are you sure? Because if she doesn’t buy your story, she’ll kill you. Are you really willing to risk your life for this?” Emma asked.
“She’ll believe me. And even if she doesn’t, I’ve always been willing to die for my revenge. This is my risk to take.” Hook’s eyes were lit with an internal fire that Emma had only glimpsed a few times over the course of their adventure together, and she knew without a doubt there would be no talking him out his choice.
She frowned. This was the most serious he’d been since they first encountered him hiding under the bodies of some of Cora’s victims. For the past few days, ever since her reluctant decision to let him come back down the beanstalk with her, she’d been the focus of his frequent innuendo-laden jokes and sarcastic commentaries. Though she’d been rolling her eyes and wishing he’d shut his mouth once in awhile, now that he was finally serious she realized she wanted the jokes back.
In spite of his insistence that he was doing all this for his chance at revenge, she had a hard time believing that was the whole story. He’d already risked his life for them several times over – helping them dodge ogres, forage for food, evade Cora, and fight off zombies (seriously, could this place get any more insane?). Now he was ready to put himself in a position where his chances of survival were fifty-fifty (or less), and he wouldn’t back down. Would he really risk so much for revenge, or was there more to it? She hoped there was.
After he pushed aside a few meager protests from Mary Margaret and Aurora, they all nodded in agreement. For final confirmation, Hook met Emma’s eyes. He’d been as loyal and helpful a companion as they ever could have wished for from the moment they released him from his bonds at the bottom of the beanstalk onward. She’d been so tempted to leave him up there – to defy her instinct to trust him, because her instincts with men like him had been wrong far too often in the past. Yet now, when he had the chance to fully and truly betray them in the most disastrous of ways, she felt no doubts. He’d never willingly turn them over to Cora. He’d die first.
The strength of her conviction on that point sent a shiver down her spine. How had she come to trust this pirate so completely over the span of a few days?
He raised an eyebrow in question, still holding her gaze, and her breath caught in her throat (though she wasn’t sure whether it was stopped by fear over what Cora might do to him, or by the way his gaze made her feel every time she caught him looking at her – she had no time to indulge either of those feelings). She nodded in answer. “Okay. You get her to the lake. We’ll be waiting.”
They spent the last hour before sundown huddled around their small fire, ironing out the final details of their plan. As the sun drew near to the horizon, Emma sidled up to Mary Margaret and shared a thought that had been pecking at the back of her brain all day. “If he’s going to risk his life for us, we need to tell him the truth about what he’ll be facing in Storybrooke.” Hook still didn’t know that his dreams of revenge against a powerless Gold had already been thwarted. If he survived Cora and made it through the portal with them, he’d be facing an enemy who could kill him in the blink of an eye. He deserved to know the truth. She owed him the truth.
Mary Margaret looked tense. “Are you sure? If we tell him, he might back out. We’ll lose our best chance to get home.”
“I have to,” Emma murmured.
Mary Margaret squeezed her lips together unhappily, but nodded in agreement.
A few minutes later Emma strode over to where Hook sat staring at the fire. “Hey – can we go for a walk? I need to talk to you.”
He smirked as he rose to his feet. “As the lady wishes.” Once they were out of earshot of the others, he added, “I know perfectly well that when a woman says she needs to talk, it means nothing good. So what have I done wrong, now, Swan?”
She shook her head and led him behind a stand of thick shrub growth, and then stopped and turned to face him. “You haven’t done anything wrong. I have. There’s something we haven’t told you about Storybrooke. Something we’ve been keeping from you.”
She held her breath as his expression grew serious. “What is it?”
Emma licked her lips and looked down before answering. “The portal that brought us here – it wasn’t an isolated thing. The magic, I mean. Storybrooke started out as a land without magic, but the morning before we got here, Gold – Rumplestiltskin – used a potion to bring magic to the town. When you get there, he won’t be any easier to kill than he was before. He’s got his powers, Hook. You’re no match for him.”
In the waning light she watched as he clenched his jaw, his eyes looking more somber than she’d ever seen them. After a moment he spoke. “I confess I’d wondered if that might be the case. Cora insisted there was no magic in your realm, but I’ve long since learned not to trust her.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner,” Emma said, surprised at how much she feared losing his – friendship? Was that what this was? “I was just –”
“You thought I might not help you if I knew the truth. Because I’m still just a pirate.” Hook spat out the word like a curse. He took a deep breath, and turned away from her to stare at the last light of the day filtering through the tree branches overhead.
He was only saying what she’d thought to herself so many times during their first two days together, but hearing it now made something inside of her ache. “I don’t feel that way. Not anymore.”
He huffed, and shook his head.
She frowned and stepped closer to him. “You don’t believe me?” After she’d trusted him with her life time after time, she’d thought there was some kind of rapport between them. Looked like she was wrong.
“I don’t know what I believe, anymore,” he said in a soft, weary voice. Then he took a deep breath and turned his head to meet her gaze. “Thank you for telling me the truth. I’d hoped this wouldn’t be the case, but several days ago, as we came back down that bloody beanstalk together, I resolved that whether the crocodile had his powers back or not, I’d still go to Storybrooke with you. I might not be able to kill him straightaway, but I’ll be a hell of a lot closer to my goal in your realm then I am stuck in this one.”
So it really was still all about revenge. She never should have let herself get attached. She folded her arms across her chest. “You know, I’m the sheriff in Storybrooke. If you try to kill Gold, I’ll have no choice but to arrest you.”
His lips curled into his trademark smirk, and he shrugged. “That could be fun for both of us.”
Emma rolled her eyes and shook her head. At least he was back to joking.
“Don’t worry, Swan,” he said, turning so his whole body faced hers. “I won’t abandon you. I’ll do all in my power to see to it that you get back to your son. He deserves the chance to have what neither of us had. A chance to grow up with his mother.” His voice was soft and serious again.
Damn him. Was he a revenge-driven pirate, or a man who’d lived a life not so different from her own – a man she could understand and relate to in ways that made her alternately uncomfortable and eager to learn more? Why did he have to be so damn confusing?
She took a breath and focused on his last statements. They’d rung with truth, and she needed to acknowledge that. “Thank you, Hook. Really. We’d never have made it this far without you.”
Once again the smirk returned to his face, and this time he raised his hand to tap lightly on his bottom lip (she’d spent far too much time glancing at those lips, lately). “Well, perhaps gratitude is in order, now.”
The bastard. He’d never let up, would he? “Yeah. That’s what the thank you was for.”
“Hmm. Is that all a chance to be reunited with your son is worth to you?” He edged closer to her, his smirk turning into a smolder.
The asshole knew exactly how attractive he was, and seemed determined to steer them away from the more emotional territory they’d been venturing into. Fine. Two could play at this game. “Please. You couldn’t handle it.”
He lowered his voice to a sexy rasp. “Perhaps you’re the one who couldn’t handle it.”
He held her gaze for a moment, and she felt heat rising in her core. Fuck it. She needed to get rid of this tension if she was going to focus on the plan tomorrow – might as well go for it.
She reached up to grab the oversized lapels of his vest and yanked him closer, crashing her lips into his. He responded almost immediately, leaning into the kiss, opening his lips eagerly, his short beard rubbing against her cheeks with a delicious burn. She tilted her head to deepen the kiss and felt his hand graze over her hair with unexpected tenderness, and the heat in her core flared into a bright flame.
Shit. Shit shit shit.
She broke the kiss but couldn’t bring herself to let go of his lapels – not quite yet. He leaned his forehead against hers, his chest heaving, his lips swollen, and it was all she could do to force herself to back off and let go instead of leaning in for more. She didn’t have time for this – whatever this was.
“That was, uh…” he whispered, leaning closer, inviting her in for more.
She took another step back. “A one time thing. Call it a kiss for luck.”
He heaved another breath and his eyes hardened. “Aye. If that doesn’t give us a bit of luck, nothing will.”
Emma swallowed hard. Her mind (mostly her body, but her mind certainly wanted to follow) kept tugging her to thoughts of Hook – of what this might mean – of how fucking good that kiss felt. But she had to shut it down. Right now she needed to focus on Henry, and on getting back to him. She didn’t have time to think about an emotionally messed up pirate who was too damn attractive for his own good.
“Okay.” She nodded. “I’ll head back and let Mary Margaret know that you’re still onboard with the plan. You… take a minute. Gather some firewood, or something.”
He inclined his head in a mock-bow. “As you wish.”
She couldn’t help but smile a little as she headed back to the fire. Damn him. She didn’t have time for this. (But maybe in Storybrooke? No. Can’t think about it. Not now.)
She did her best to ignore the serious glances he kept shooting her over their meager dinner, and when she curled up on the hard ground to try to get a few hours of sleep, she did her best to push all thoughts of him out of her head (which meant she thought of him almost constantly), until she eventually fell asleep.
By the time she woke up he was already gone, headed out to collect Cora.
~*~
Emma paced restlessly in the center of the dry lake-bed. It had been longer than they expected. Was Hook even coming? Or would Cora swoop in alone and knock them unconscious with the flick of her fingers?
What if she never saw him again?
She blinked hard at a sudden irritation in her eyes. The last man she’d kissed was Graham, and he’d died in her arms moments later. Was she cursed? Was every man she kissed doomed to leave her or die? A few months ago she’d have scoffed at the notion, but knowing what she knew now, anything was possible.
The sound of crunching sand caught her ear and she spun, her heart leaping in her chest at the sight of Hook’s familiar black-clad figure coming over the rise.
But her heart immediately dropped again when she saw the way he followed along behind Cora with a hard look on his face, as if he’d returned to being nothing more than an evil henchman. Then, as Cora began lobbing threats at them, he met her eyes with the faintest hint of a smile on his face, and nodded. A tiny bit of relief cut the tension of the moment. He hadn’t betrayed them. Her instincts had been right.
Things moved quickly after that as their elaborately concocted lies spun themselves out. Soon enough a portal was open, and Hook made his final move, tossing the squid ink at Cora. The gambit failed. Of course. Because Emma’s life could never be that simple.
The ensuing battle was fast and intense, but ended just as quickly. While Hook and Mulan were busy fending off the monster that Cora conjured to attack them, Emma pushed her mother out of Cora’s way only to feel the woman’s hand plunge into her own chest. But moments later, after Cora couldn’t manage to rip her heart out, Emma felt a strange burst of power emanating from her that knocked Cora to the ground, unconscious.
She held her chest, breathing hard and bewildered. “What was that?”
Mary Margaret grinned and grasped her shoulder. “That is a great subject for discussion. When we get home!”
“I agree with your mother,” Hook said, jogging up. “The portal could close at any time. We need to go.” He drew the compass out of his satchel and nodded.
Emma nodded back.
After shouting a quick thanks and farewell to Mulan and Aurora, they dashed to the edge of the portal. Emma took Mary Margaret’s hand on one side, and Hook’s hand on the other, a giddy warmth and joy spreading through her. They were going home.
Together, they leaped.
And she found herself landing on a precarious stone ledge only a few inches wide, and had to grasp the jagged stone wall in front of her to stay upright. “What the hell?”
Below her she heard Mary Margaret laugh. “The well! We’re in the well. Climb, Emma!”
“We’re right behind you, love,” called Hook. “Go on!”
Naturally they couldn’t have come out in the middle of Main Street, or anywhere else convenient. Still, a laugh bubbled up in her throat as she climbed. They did it. They were home.
Moments later she pulled herself over the wall of the well – and Henry was there and he was in her arms and everything was going to be okay. She felt Mary Margaret’s arms wrap around them both from behind and she reveled in the warmth her family’s embrace (her family!). She blinked a few times and noticed Regina braced against a tree nearby, as if she’d fallen, with Gold and Ruby not far away.
Mary Margaret was the first to speak, asking what happened. Henry looked at Regina, excitement in his voice. “She saved you. She saved both of you.”
The look of mingled sorrow and anxiety on Regina’s face spoke volumes. Emma met her eyes. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” replied Regina.
But the moment of quiet was short-lived. Emma heard two feet landing firmly on the ground behind her as Hook left the well. She could feel without looking the way Hook tensed when he saw Gold strolling away – and a chill ran down her spine when Gold spun back, blinked in surprise, and then glared at Hook with a look of barely-restrained fury.
Shit.
“What the hell is he doing here?” Regina demanded.
“Wait – you know him?” Emma asked, while Henry stared with open curiosity at Hook.
Regina gave a sharp nod. “We’ve had our dealings. None of them pleasant.”
“Well, he’s our ally now,” said Mary Margaret, stepping forward, apparently playing the peacemaker.
Emma kept an arm around Henry, but turned to watch Hook – the anger and frustration fluctuating across his face.
Mary Margaret continued, “Henry, I want you to meet Captain Killian Jones. He helped us stay alive to get home to you.”
At the introduction, Hook finally pulled his eyes away from Gold and looked down at Henry, who smiled. Then Henry’s eyes traveled to the shining silver hook in place of Hook’s left hand, and he grinned. “Wait – are you Captain Hook?”
Hook’s answering smile was tight, and Emma could see what a struggle it was to restrain himself. She couldn’t imagine the internal fight he must be enduring at the sight of the man who murdered his love. Even so, Hook bent and extended his hand for Henry to shake. “Aye. The very same,” Hook said, managing to sound almost jovial. “And you must be young Master Henry. I’ve heard a great deal about you from your mother. She thought of little else.”
Henry shook Hook’s hand and grinned even wider. “This is so awesome. I want to hear everything about…about everything!”
Emma noticed as Ruby approached and hugged Mary Margaret, while Gold – over his surprise – strode away toward the road.
Hook’s eyes flicked toward his retreating enemy, the conflict clear on his face. Emma reached out and rested her hand on his arm. “Let him go for now. I want to talk to you before you do anything about him. Please?”
His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed hard, his eyes still following Gold’s receding figure. But he nodded. “Very well. I’ll let him go. For now.”
“I’m sorry,” interjected Mary Margaret. “But I need to go find my husband.”
Emma nodded, and Mary Margaret dashed off after Ruby. Emma couldn’t blame her – she’d have done the same, if Henry had been the one under the sleeping curse. Hook remained behind, looking pensive and restless. Emma gave him another smile before turning to Regina. “Your mom. She’s a piece of work, y’know?”
“Indeed I do,” replied Regina. Then, with a forced smile, she added, “Welcome back.”
They were stuck mothering the same kid, now, whether Emma liked it or not. Time to try to make this work. “Thanks.”
Then Regina’s smile faded as she turned to meet Hook’s gaze. “Though none of this trouble with my mother ever would have happened if your Captain here had disposed of her when I first asked him to.”
“Commanded – at the risk of my life, I might add – is a more apt description than asked, isn’t it, Your Highness?” Hook shook his head, scowling at Regina. “And you know full well that your mother isn’t easy to kill. I did what I had to do to survive.”
Regina’s eyes flicked back and forth between Hook and Emma. “Yes. You always do, don’t you? Well –it’s time we get back to town.”
“Lead the way,” Hook replied, his expression still dark.
Emma walked beside him, holding Henry’s hand, as Regina walked ahead. Henry began to animatedly tell her about his “Grandpa,” and the adventures they’d had together before David willingly took on the sleeping curse. Emma couldn’t help but smile. This was a new version of David Nolan – one she was definitely interested in getting to know better.
When Emma saw Mary Margaret and Ruby headed to Gold’s shop, she tugged on Henry’s hand and they jogged to catch up. She clutched Henry’s hand tight as she watched her parents reunite with another True Love’s Kiss. (She was still getting used to thinking of them as her parents. Maybe someday it wouldn’t feel quite so weird. But not yet.)
The group of gathered friends began to exit through the back door, headed to a celebratory dinner. When Emma saw Hook hovering in the shadows of the room, she squeezed Henry’s hand and sent him off with her parents. She strode over to Hook. “Hey, we really need to talk about this business with you and Gold.”
“That we do,” he held her eyes with an earnest gaze that made her heart lurch in a way that she really didn’t want it to be lurching right now.
Swallowing her emotions, she continued, “But not this instant. There’s so much going on, and there’s a few things I need to take care of first.” (She needed to talk to Gold – about his manipulative plans, about the magic that seemed to come out of her, and about Hook. God, what might he do to Hook?) “My family is headed for a diner for some food. I know you must be as hungry as the rest of us. Please, go with them. I’ll catch up with you there, and we can talk. Okay?”
He squeezed his lips together and huffed through his nose. “It’s extraordinary the things you’ve gotten me to do for you already. And yet, once again, I find myself willing to do as you ask. Why is that, do you suppose?” His voice dropped to just above a whisper for his final question, and Emma could tell he was sincere.
Her heart lurched again. Why had a vengeance-driven pirate done so much for her, even when it didn’t benefit his own interests? Part of her desperately wanted to know the answer, and another part of her was terrified of what it might be.
“I…” She paused, at a loss for words.
Hook’s lips curled into a sympathetic smile. “It’s alright, Swan. I haven’t figured it out, either. I’ll go join your family for that meal. But I’m holding you to your promise of a talk, later. There are things that need to be worked out between us.”
A pleasant tingle ran through her core. She did her best to ignore it. “Yeah. There are.”
She waited, watching him walk out, until the door closed behind him.
Well. Shit.
This was absolutely not a complication she’d ever planned on bringing home with her. Yet, here he was. And she’d have to find a way to deal with him.