God dammit. God fucking dammit. He ran again. She told him Henry was his son and Henry knew who his father was and that he was alive, she trusted him with that and what did he do? He fucking ran. Gold held her to her deal though, and she went after Neal, dragged him back to Gold and handcuffed him to a chair. Then she'd taken Henry and left, the poor kid wasn't doing well at all. He was putting a happy face on everything but Emma knew, she'd been on the receiving end of Neal running away from people but she couldn't imagine how hard it must be for him considering the man was his father. So she took him to Central Park and they just walked, Emma tried to get him to talk, but he wasn't in the mood, so she just let it go. After a few minutes he slipped his hand in hers, nearly crushing her heart in the process, and she squeezed it.
They stopped at the boulder on the little hill they'd both seen in a ton of movies and shows. Both of them sitting quietly until sitting quietly got unbearable, so she grabbed Henry's backpack and unzipped it, unsurprisingly finding his storybook tucked inside, she pulled it out and set the backpack aside, flipping the book open on her lap. Where once she had denied the resemblance of Prince Charming and Snow White to David and Mary-Margaret, now she couldn't help see them...and calling it a resemblance was kind of unfair to the artist, she had to admit. Flipping the pages backward to the first one she took a deep breath and started reading aloud.
It was strange reading about people she knew in real life out of a book of, what she once thought, were fairy tales. But it was an escape that she needed, and Henry apparently did too since wound up laying down across her lap underneath the book and listened to her read. The poor brave kid had been through so much and was still so spunky and happy, he must have inherited her parent's strength because he was a hell of a lot tougher than she was. Hopefully he didn't get any of his traits from his father, though. No, she wasn't going to think about that prick, she was done with him. Completely and fucking utterly. So she read on, instead filling her mind with the story about how her mother had befriended Red and tried to help her live her life, only for tragedy to strike. She could see that friendship, that unshakeable bond between two people. That thought coupled with her determination to be done with Neal somehow made her think of Hook, about him being done with her and then just a few days later calling her beautiful. She mentally snorted a laugh and just wondered how dumb was she, thinking there was anything behind that other than him flattering her for one reason or another.
They stopped for a few minutes and got up to get something to eat, Henry chattering animatedly about the stories and she, unbelievably to herself, was responding back. They got themselves a pretzel each, some popcorn, and split a hotdog all while talking about the story of Jiminy Cricket and how awful Nova and Grumpy's story was. And of course how they were never going to mention to Leeroy that he was in that book unless they found out it was resistant to angry dwarves.
Walking back to the boulder Henry was quiet, just when Emma was about to ask him what's wrong, he pipped up. "Y'know, today's been a pretty great day. Even with, y'know, this morning."
"Really," Emma inquired, her eyebrows rising, "Why's that?"
"Well, I got to spend the whole day alone with you, and you are reading me all the stories out of the book," he said as it was the most normal thing in the world, not realizing the impact his words had on her. She stopped stock still and just stared at him, after a step he realized she had fallen behind and turned to look at her with a curious expression. She just stood there for a moment longer before leaning down and pulling him into a hug, press her face into his hair.
"I'm so glad you found me in Boston, kid," she whispered against his hair.
He hugged her tighter before he replied, "I'm so glad you promised to stay for a week."
"Let's go finish that book, huh?" She stepped back and ruffled his hair, before taking his hand and they walked back to the boulder.
It was a long while before anything else intruded on the two of them sitting there in the same positions as they had before lunch, and that intruder was her mind snapping back to Hook. They had just read the story of how Snow White had taken a potion to erase her love of Prince Charming to ease her pain and how angry it had made her, and how she had tied him up to a tree and he yelled after her. She couldn't help remember, the scenes played out almost the exact same that it was eerie. She shook her head and continued on, trying to ignore how other little parts of her parent's love story reminded her of moments with Hook. They had just finished the part of the book where Snow told Rumplestiltskin her daughter's name when they were finally interrupted. Henry shook her leg and pointed at a shadow cover figured standing under a tree not far away. She couldn't see his face and he didn't seem that remarkable, but the silhouette of that coat...no, he had two hands, it couldn't be. Except that coat was unmistakable.
"Hook?" she called out, completely incredulous, Captain Hook in Central Park? It was too weird.
He looked away for a few seconds, shifting his feet, she could swear that he was actually abashed over having been caught. He wound up striding forward however, coming halfway up the boulder before giving a theatrical bow, waving his ungloved around while his gloved one remained unmoving. Then she stupidly realized it must be a prosthetic of some sort, her face grew a little hot when she realized she had his hook tucked into the inside pocket of her jacket.
"What are you doing here? How are you here?" she managed, her mind still trying to accept the fact that he was here.
"Looking for a crocodile that happens to have it's magic skin taken away and can die like a normal beast, but instead I found myself a swan and her little cygnet," he smirked at her.
"Who are you," Henry asked, clearly more confused than Emma.
"Killian Jones," he responded at the same time Emma said, "Captain Hook.
Hook smiled widely at her before turning back to Henry, "And you must be the Henry your mum was so ferocious to get back to."
"Uh-huh. What's a cygnet? And are you really Captain Hook? You have two hands," Henry pointed out, literally.
"Oh this," he chuckled as he raised his left arm, "Is just a fake, my hook as it were is," he gave a little wink in Emma's direction, "in someone else's possesion. And a cygnet's a baby swan."
"Since when are you well versed in waterfowl, Hook?" Emma quipped.
"Love, I'm well versed in so many things I lose count unless I practice.
The salacious tone he applied almost made her blush, but Henry looked over with eyebrows raised because of the love comment, "I'm not your love, Hook."
"Deeply sorry for the presumption, lass. So what has you and the lad out here in the middle of this, uh, forest?"
Emma was silent, the memory of this morning rushed back into her head, and she locked her eyes on him as his shoulders slumped. Hook could sense he said something wrong but had no idea what.
"We met my dad today...he...he ran away," Henry sounded close to tears and before Emma could make her body obey her, Hook took two steps forward and clapped Henry on the shoulder.
"And you shouldn't let a fool's actions make you feel poor, eh lad? I've known you all of a minute and I find you quite worth knowing. Your mum finds you were worth fighting witches and ogres and giants to get back to, so I think that such a high opinion from such a brilliant woman should not go unheeded, what d'ya say?"
Emma stared at Hook, completely dumbstruck but her eyes filled with gratitude she didn't know how to express. This man standing in front of her, comforting a boy he barely knew about his father being an asshole, was someone she wasn't even sure she'd met before. Or it had been only in brief moments.
Henry looked up at him with a mixture of admiration, wariness, and his trademark curiosity, "You're not much of an evil pirate, huh?"
Hook stepped back as Emma finally got up and stepped forward, "I'm hurt, lad, you don't think I can be fearsome?"
"Oh I didn't say you couldn't be fearsome, I just don't think you're a villain. You're way cooler than that," Henry ventured with a smile.
"Careful Henry, you might tear down his entire reputation. And a man's fake reputation is all he has," she smirked at Hook and was rewarded with a laugh.
"Oh I'll have you know, love, I earned it honestly, which is more than I can say for how I do other things." Oh my god. He was flirting with her in front of her son.
"So what kind of things have you stolen?" Henry inquired, thankfully missing Hook's flirt, "Like, really cool things."
"Oh I've stolen many a wondrous thing, but my biggest prize is my ship. I stole it from a king before he could get it. And I did it with style," he finished with a small flourish.
Henry's laughter was lost to the sound of Emma's phone ringing, she backed away from the pair and let Henry badger Hook with more questions as she answered it.
"Emma Swan."
"Ms. Swan, I felt I should inform you that I'd suggest you return to the Hotel now, I'm about to buy tickets and our flight will leave in just over an hour and the five of us should get going." Gold sounded oddly pleased.
"Five of us?"
"Yes, Bae and his fiance Tamara will be coming with us to Storybrooke."
"No, Gold, I was confused by the fact you would think for a single, solitary second that we would be going back to Storybrooke with you. In case you didn't notice but he ran away, literally, when he found out he had a son. In front of his son. And you are insane if you think I am going to make Henry go near him again," she spat out, she could feel Hook watching her, then Henry came up and hugged her from the side. This kid was going to melt her heart at any minute.
Gold was silent for a minute, "I understand, thank you very much for helping me, Ms. Swan."
He disconnected and Emma lowered the phone to her side, Gold's politeness had diffused a good sum of her anger, Henry's still ongoing hug dealt with the rest. She sighed and pulled the kid closer with one arm, tucking the phone away with the other, her hand brushing against the hook in her pocket.
"So, love, I heard from...whatever that was on that thing, that you seem to be stranded here," Hook mused as he stepped around her into her field of vision.
"Not exactly stranded, Hook, just have to wait for a different flight."
"Another...oh sod it, I don't want to know right now," both Emma and Henry laughed at him then, earning them an indignant look, "And if you don't cut that out, I may decide to not offer you a ride home."
"A ride home on what?" Henry asked, his voice slightly muffled against Emma's jacket.
"On my ship," still indignant, "How else did you expect I got to this blasted city?"
"You brought your pirate ship here?" Emma wondered, impressed and confused, "What about the coast guard?"
"No one was guarding the coast against me. Plus it helps when your ship is currently invisible."
"You have an invisible pirate ship!?" Henry's attention was certainly focused, "Where's your crew?"
"In Storybrooke, curse took them. Cora enchanted the ship to respond to my commands, however, and I can sail the beauty quite fine alone," he replied, clearly quite impressed with himself, it didn't hurt that both Emma and Henry were both impressed.
"What about your revenge, Hook? Gold's still here for a few hours? Isn't it what you wanted, him powerless and it to be a fair fight?" Emma inquired, doubt pushing her forward, doubt given to her by Neal.
Hook met her eyes, their clear blue ringing with honesty, "I've had more than enough revenge than I should have taken, I hurt someone who I shouldn't have. And there are more important things in life. Better things to fight for."
There are few things in life that could have struck Emma as stock still as those words from Hook's mouth. Hearing the revenge obsessed pirate telling her he would give up his revenge to give her and her son a trip back home. But even more monumental to that was him saying that she was worth fighting for, she wasn't sure she would ever hear that in her entire life from a man, maybe from David but that wasn't the same. She reached back into her jacket and withdrew the hook and held it out to him.
"Well, Killian, we wouldn't want you captaining about without your full uniform, would be?"
He gave her the widest smile she believed ever crossed his lips, pulled off the fake hand, and reached out and took the hook from her, inserting it and locking it in with a click, "Aren't you afraid I'll make a scene, love?"
"Who gives a damn," she shrugged.
"We're going home on a pirate ship!" Henry finally released her and jumped in the air, "This is going to be awesome!"
All Emma could do was smile at her boy and her pirate, and they just smiled right back at her.