He'd been waiting for this moment since the end of the fight with the lost boys, when he saw her cringe and clutch at her side, before hiding her pain from everyone, including him. While he admired her strength, he knew it could also be her weakness, and was glad to have finally caught her by herself. "Lass are you alright?" He almost cringed at the amount of concern in his voice; he was afraid she would hear it and realise how deep it ran, but she refused to hear it.
"Yes I'm fine, let me past." Hook moved into her path, refusing to let her go.
"No, not until you show me your wound." She looked at him with shock in her eyes until he explained, "I saw you get hit by that arrow love. Show me." She glared at him for a few moments, and their eyes were locked. Both of them defiant, both determined, but only one set of eyes looked at the other with love, whilst the other looked in fear. Finally she gave in, her own concern set on edge by his.
"Fine. But you can't tell my parents, they can't be distracted from finding Henry. Promise?"
"Yes, just show me."
"I need your word, Hook"
He looked her dead in the eye, "Swan, I am a man of my word, if I promise not to tell your parents, I will do no such thing".
After a moment of contemplation she nodded and raised her shirt. The arrow had but grazed the side of her rib cage, but the poison was spreading quickly, distorting her veins and making them visible to the naked eye. She studied has face as he looked closer, as he struggled to remain impassive. "How long?"
"Not long enough. You need to tell your parents, lass. They deserve to know."
"No, Henry is more important, can't you see that?" As she pulled her shirt down and stormed away, he watched her leave and whispered "No, no I can't, love".
Keeping this promise was one of the hardest things he'd ever done. Pretending that she was okay, that everything would be alright, that watching her die wasn't one of the most painful things he'd ever been through was as much torture for him as he was sure the poison was for her. He knew there was a cure, but he knew the price one had to pay for it, and he wasn't sure he could do that to her, her family, or.. to himself.
"Emma, I need to talk to you"
"Yeah,"
"Not here, come with me"
"Okay". He could see she was hesitant but that didn't matter. They'd been walking a while before he turned towards her. "Emma, you have to tell your parents!"
"This again? No! They can't know! Mary Margaret.. I'm not sure she could handle it, and what's most important here is my son, and getting him home safely!"
"Emma! At this rate you are going to die here, on this cursed island, before you get a chance to see your son again, let alone rescue him and take him back to Storybrooke."
"Well that's the best I've got, Hook, and if that's what it takes to save him, then that's what I'll do" she said as she turned to walk away.
"No, Emma wait! I may know of a device we could use to get home, once Henry's been saved."
"What?! Why didn't you tell me before?! When Tinkerbell first mentioned it?!"
"Getting it will be no easy task love, and I'm not sure you'll survive the journey."
"I don't care, we're going. Lead the way."
"I haven't even told you what it is yet, lass, and don't you want to say goodbye to your parents?"
"You can tell me on the way, and no, I don't." She looked sadly towards the campsite "There's been enough goodbyes in this family already".
"Well you might think that's alright but you're not the one who's going to have to explain why you're dead after going off into the forest with a renowned pirate."
"I'm sure you'll think of something, you'll have long enough journey to think of it, won't you?" And she started walking past him. With a shrug and a sigh he said "wrong way Swan, the sexton's up this hill here", and he watched her with a self-satisfied smirk on his face as she had to turn around and start following him for a change.