May I?
"It's not safe to go back to the ship now. It's getting dark and there will be more bandits out there" were Hooks first words in a long time as he had instructed the rest of the crew to keep quiet as they had just suffered an ambush from the lost ones. With Emma still clutching on to henrys small frame They slowly crawled out from their hiding place which consisted of huge leaves and clumps of long grass. They emerged from the foliage to find the whole area covered in arrows that had been fired from a higher ridge. The bandits must have assumed the crew were dead as they had disappeared after a few minutes of waiting. The crew were now the only ones for miles.
"So what do we do now, Captain?" Gold broke the silence with a biting tone which due to Hooks previous decision back in Storybrooke, he chose to ignore. He simply answered with...
"We take refuge under the protection of some friends who have owed me a favour for the past 300 years, Crocodile" Hook bit back with the same tone Gold had aimed at him.
"Who are these friends, Hook?" Emma added a disbelieving tone to the word as she found it difficult to believe that anyone could make friends in this place. Hook just gave her is favourite flirty smile and winked at her as if to say they will all find out soon enough. Emma thought about pressing him for more information but as they were all too tired to argue, they simply followed Hook as the skies got darker.
The crew managed with some difficulty to scale the largest mountain to reach the place where Hooks supposed friends lived. The difficult part was Gold and his limp as he had trouble keeping up (which only seemed to make Hook walk faster) but Charming eventually took matters in to his own hands and wrapped his arm around Gold's waist taking some of his weight. This made Gold walk at a much swifter pace and they managed to reach the top of the mountain just as the sky became completely black.
To the crew's surprise, they had arrived at an Indian plain. The area was huge as it covered to whole of the flat top of the mountain. There were tepees in all sizes and the whole area lay in silence until Hook did something that would shock them all. He let out a native Indian call that cracked the silent air and that same second, the top of the mountain echoed with the same call and Indians poured out of the tepees and surrounded them. To crew's surprise, they all seemed to welcome Hook with open arms, quite literally. The men of the plain took it in turns to shake Hooks hand and pat him on the back. The Indian women all embraced him with smiles and a heard of children stampeded and all tackled Hook to the ground. His low laugh was mixed with childish giggles and Hook managed to encase all of them in a hug. This stunned the crew into silence. It seemed Hook was quite a favour to the Indians. Emma couldn't help but smile at how warm and caring Hook seemed around the Indian people. After Hook had spoken to every child, there was a silence among the people and the Indian chief parted the crowd to come face to face with Hook. The Indian chief was a huge man and his face was painted in red. His head held a headdress full of the most beautiful eagle feathers that stood about a foot in height and diameter. Hook and the Indian chief bowed to each other and the chief's daughter, who the crew assumed was Tiger Lilly and who didn't seem over the age of 18, emerged behind him. Hook lifted her off of the floor and they encased each other in a hug as if they were siblings who haven't seen each other in years. This even made Charming smile at Hook even though he was still having trouble warming to him.
After Hook had reunited with all Indians, the crew was given a place to rest. However they needed attending to first as they were all covered in cut and bruises from the ambush earlier in the day. Charming needed stitching in his arm as she had used himself as a block to stop the arrows from hitting Snow and both Regina and Emma needed large splinters taking out of their hands. After everyone had recovered with food and rest, the crew could hear music in the centre of the plain. The Indians were celebrating the return of Hook as it turned out Hook was considered a savoir among the people. This was explained by the chief as everyone was sat round a roaring fire that lit up the night sky. The story was that the chief's daughter had been kidnapped by the lost ones and Hook and his crew managed to save her and return her to her father. Of course this confused Emma completely as the fictional story had been the other way around. But she was slowly learning to accept things for what they truly were and not to listen to the more traditional stories. As the Indians started their ceremonial dancing, the crew were asked to join in. Snow Henry and Charming eagerly obliged but Regina took a little more convincing. Emma chose to sit on the sidelines with Mr Gold until after a few minutes she realised Hook was not there. She thought this was strange as she had only seen him dancing with Tiger Lilly a few moments ago. The Stood up and subtly slipped away from the crowd leaving Henry dancing with the princess.
Emma ventured across the top of the mountain looking for their snarky tour guide until something caught her eye. She noticed she was now walking among green long grass and trees and had left the earthy ground of the plain behind. She carried on a few more feet until the light of the fire had been replaced with a light coming from a large tree trunk. It was the biggest tree out of them all and the light was coming out of the large knots and even larger holes in the bark. She took a few more steps toward the source of this light until she was around 15 feet away from it. She suddenly felt something grab her hand and pull her down until she was kneeling and the grass was taller than her. She then saw Hooks face inches away from hers and he brought his index finger up to his lips to keep her quiet. The then jerked his head towards the tree and they both manoeuvred towards it whilst keeping themselves hidden in the grass. The tree was around 3 metres in diameter and both hook and Emma found their footing in the chunky roots. They managed to observe the contents of the tree by looking through a whole big enough for the both of them to see. Emma was speechless. The light was coming from a colony of fairies. There were thousands of them and the tree was being used as some kind of hall. As they were now by the tree, both Hook and Emma could hear the music being played by the fairies. It sounded like a quire of music boxes and Emma had never heard anything like it. She noticed in the centre of the tree there were two fairies dancing. It was clear they were some kind of royalty and the female fairy looked beautiful. She was dressed in a white gown and her wings were almost as big as her. Every fairy sparkled with gold dust and Emma was so captivated with what she was seeing that she did not notice that the root holding her left foot in place was giving. Hook must have noticed as he wrapped his arm round her waist to keep her from falling. She should have been shocked or gone into one of her rants about personal space but she was far too content. She simply gave him a thankful smile and they both continued to watch the dance.
After a few more moments, Hook brought his lips to Emma's ear.
"The Indian princess first brought me here when I saved her from the lost ones". He whispered to her. Emma turned her head and smiled at him.
"That was wonderful, what you did for her. I didn't think you cared about anyone but yourself" Emma said with a smile on her face as she knew that this was not the case anymore. Hook smiled back and rested his lips against the side of her face.
"Maybe I just needed reminding that I could" Hook said and Emma let out a light laugh. With that Hook released Emma and jumped down from where they had been standing. He turned back to Emma and held his arms out to help Emma down. She obliged and placed her hands on his shoulders. He grasped her waist and lowered her down. He lingered slightly as he spun her around slowly in a circle and they both laughed. He held her in his arms a few moments more and they looked each other with a sense of happiness and desire. Neither of them could see the danger in their true feelings anymore. Henry was safe and everyone seemed content with the idea of teamwork. This meant that Hook and Emma were free to see whether what they had was love.
Hook finally placed Emma on her feet and in a matter of milliseconds the music from the tree grew louder. The light from the fairies suddenly flooded the sky above the princess and the pirate and they both gave smiles of excitement. Hook stepped back a few paces and brought himself up in an attempt to look very proper. He gave a very formal bow ad Emma then got what he was implying.
"May I?" he asked and instantly Emma replied with a nod. She gave her best attempt at a formal curtsey but it made both of them laugh. Emma could tell she wasn't the most graceful princess in the land but she couldn't care less. Hook offered his hand which she took and he placed his hooked arm at the small of her back. Surprisingly, they both moved around with some grace. Emma thought maybe dancing was in the genes. It stunned her at how good a dancer Hook was. But then she thought he had had over 300 years experience. As the music sped up a little, Hook tightened his grip on Emma and they both kept up with the tempo. He then passed Emma under his arm and they both continue to spin. Emma hadn't felt so happy and content with where she was as she truly felt like she belonged here. In the arms of the captain of the Jolly Roger. Under the night sky lit up with golden fairies. This went on for a few minutes until they were both distracted by the stunning lightshow the fairies were performing against the black night sky. They both glanced up but this was a mistake as they both tripped over each other's feet and went plummeting to the ground. Emma was the first to fall but she pulled Hook down with her who landed at her side. They both broke in to laughter and were on the verge of tears until Hook propped himself on his elbow and stared down at Emma. She gazed back up at him and took in the sight of his face lit up by the light of the fairies. The contours of his face were chiselled sharp and his eyes were more striking than ever. Emma could now see the beauty in this man's face without her vision being clouded with anger, worry and heartache. Those years were in the past and it was important to look forward.
Hook brought his hook up to her face and carefully brushed a blonde curl that had landed there from the fall out of her face. Hook took in the sight of her and was speechless. This was the first time he had seen her face not buried with emotion. Her brow was crease free as all the fear and anger that had built inside of her had been doused since they had gotten Henry away from the lost ones. She wore a smile that Hook had never seen before. It was a smile that showed how truly happy she was it wasn't the usual mask she wore to hide her anger of despair. They were both so content with where they were right now. Hook put his weight on the other arm and rested his hand against Emma's face. She held his hand with her own Hook brought his face down towards hers until their noses touched. Hook could have kicked himself because of his next move but he knew it was the right thing to do.
"Shouldn't we be getting back to the plain" he whispered with a tone of sadness in his voice. Emma picked up on that and was grateful that he was being a gentleman. But she was done being a lady. She brought her other hand up to his face and ran it through his raven hair.
"No" she came out with as her smile broadened and she let out an exited giggle. Hook was stunned at first but his body didn't let his mind process her answer. His lips crashed onto hers and they wrapped themselves in each other's arms.
They spent the rest of the night showing their love for one and other until they both fell asleep in the grass. Hook was the first to wake to find that it was not quite light. The sky was a rich light blue but a few stars were still visible. He glanced down to see his true love asleep in his arms. Totally at peace. It would be a crime to disturb her so he smiled and rested his head back on the grass. He watched the sky turn to a burned orange colour as the sun rose until he felt Emma's hand move against his bare chest. He glanced at her again and she looked up to see the man she loved with a smile that outdid them all. He was truly beautiful as the orange light lit up his face. A breeze blew and this caused Emma to shiver. Hook snatched his discarded shirt and wrapped it round her.
"I can't stand the sight of a damsel in distress" he said with his flirty smile. Emma laughed and brought her head up to meet his eyes.
"There are 2 things wrong with that sentence, Captain; one, I am no damsel..." she stated. But hook was more than aware of this. A damsel can't look after themselves or hold a sword. A damsel thinks of only herself and not others and a damsel does not look as beautiful in a fight.
"And second, I am certainly not in distress" she finished. They both knew this as well. Why would she be? She had her son back, she had her friends and her family and she had the man that she loved beside her. They both laughed and shared another passionate kiss. They broke apart after a few moments and rested against each other. They did not see much point in moving or returning to the group. Knowing her loving parents, they would be on the hunt for them at first light. But both Emma and hook decided to just let them find them. After all, they had nothing to hide. And never would again.