Emma lie awake in her headquarters, staring at the wooden planks above her head. The cabin was hot, stuffy, and all around uncomfortable, not to mention her bed wasn't exactly the softest. She rarely slept and, when she did, Neverland haunted her dreams. She was preoccupied with the notion of wandering up onto the deck, but was held back by the thought of running into Hook. She hadn't fully processed him coming back and, when thinking about it, it made her sick. No one had ever came back for her, let alone cared enough to come back. A lump began to rise in her throat and she swallowed it back. If she didn't even tear up for the loss of her son, or Neal, why on earth should she at the thought of Captain Hook possibly caring for her. She was probably kidding herself, anyways. He most likely came back just to feel like a hero, and perhaps to come out of the dark he had been living in for centries.

But Emma liked it when people found their good hearts along the way. Tears pricked at her eyes, fighting their way down her cheeks, sucking the limited amount of air out of her lungs. She needed to get some fresh air, not the stale, musty, air of the cabin. The things he could do to her. He was dangerous; dangerous to her heart, and for some unfathomable reason, she cared for him.

She didn't want to admit it, especially to herself, but she had too. It had been eating at her for the past few days, causing her to avoid him completely. Well, as best one can whilst stuck on a ship together.

Emma rolled over in her bed, dragging the sheets with her. She placed her feet on the wooden floor, softly as to not to wake her mother in the next bed. She sat in that potion, frozen, listening for the steady breathing of her mother, reassuring her that she was - in fact - asleep. Emma sighed in relief as she heard her mother's snore. Luckily her bed was closest to the door, so she didn't need to make any inordinate noise to get out of her headquarters.

Once she had made her way onto the ship deck, she inhaled deeply. Emma thought that getting a breath of fresh air would calm her down, but that proved to be a failure. She made her way to the side of the boat, looking over at the waves crashing against the ship. The ocean had always seemed to calm her, but for some reason it only made her more anxious tonight. She gripped the rail, her knuckles turning white from her tight grip. Her eyes gazed around the night sky of Neverland. She couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that she never felt complete. "I guess being happy just isn't in the cards for the saviour." she muttered to herself. Emma wondered how much easier everything would be if she just let go. Her vision was blurry from the lack of sleep she'd been getting, and she began to slip into an uncanny state. She felt herself slipping forward, falling over the rail. She couldn't stop herself from going overboard. Suddenly, Emma felt a strong grasp on her forearm, snapping her back to reality and pulling her back.

"Bloody hell, lass. Were you trying to get yourself killed?" "W-what?" she blinked rapidly, doing her best to focus on the face in front of her. Hook. "Were you trying to get yourself killed." he repeated. "No, I-" she realized his hand was still on her arm and it made her heart hammer in her chest. She pulled away from his grasp, glaring at him. "What the hell were you doing?" she demanded, motioning at her arm where his hand had just been. Hook chuckled. "Saving your ass. Don't flatter yourself, Swan." his tone was cold. Emma felt her cheeks turning red. She turned away from him, trying to calm her breaths. After several moments of silence, he spoke. "You should be sleeping, love. Why are you up here?" "Couldn't sleep." she retorted quickly. "Your ship isn't the most comfortable sleeping place." Emma turned around to face him, catching his gaze. He pursed his lips, narrowing his eyes at her. "Would you prefer the water? I hear the mermaids are quite lovely this time of night." She snorted in response, earning a small grin - that could only be described as devilish - from his lips.

"Why are you up here? I'd assume the Captain's Quarters are more comfortable than the guests." "Well, if I were to sleep, who would man the helm?" he questioned in a rhetorical manner. "Why don't you just throw the anchor?" she snapped, stepping back, putting some distance between them. "Perhaps I don't want to." he began. "Don't worry, love. I'd say I wouldn't sleep much even if I wanted to." Hook lowered his eyes, the grin disappearing from his face, his features softening. The large lump found it's way back into Emma's throat when she looked at him. She gulped it down, taking a shaky breath. "The return to neverlands been rough for you, huh?" she questioned softly, the confusion she had felt for him before vanishing for a moment. He gazed up at her from under his eyelashes - making her heart flutter - and the grin returned to his face. "What makes you say that?" "You're an open book." she explained, a smile tugging at the edges of her mouth. "Perhaps that's because we're on the same page, now." He gave her the same look he had on the beanstalk, when he'd integrated her on being an orphan.

The fear and confusion she had forgotten returned, causing her to take a step back. Killian could see - in her eyes - that something was wrong. He swallowed hard, removing his gaze from hers. He wanted answers; answers that would reveal why she had been avoiding him, why the walls he had worked so hard to knock down had gone back up, and why she was so… different. The two stood frozen in silence, taking in what had passed between them. "Why did you come back, then?" Emma whispered, suddenly. Hook tensed at her question, his mind searching for an answer. He didn't know why, was the truth. All he knew was that he came back for her. "Well, I wouldn't pass up the offer to beat Pan." he lied. Emma searched his face. She could tell he was lying, but she didn't know why.

"No, that's not it. Maybe, someday, you'll tell me." she said quietly. She looked over the water once more before turning her back to it. "I'm going to get some sleep. Good night, hook." Killian watched as she walked away, climbing below deck from where she had came. He sighed. "Maybe, someday, I'll know."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Emma found herself wandering above deck - once again - drowning in her thoughts. She played over the events of the night. Every once in awhile she would a have a coughing attack, spitting water out of her lungs. She had taken in a lot of water. Emma leaned against the rail, focusing on the horizon. She wasn't tired and her mind was buzzing. The stars were so insanely bright in Neverland, it hurt her eyes. The sky had calmed sense the storm, the water slowly lapping against the ship. She felt more alive than she ever had before, and she didn't know why. It was about as peaceful of a night as she had ever experienced.

A few days had passed since her conversation with Hook, and she had realized that he had been on her mind since then. She hadn't spoken to him since, besides their toast to Neal. She had felt exceedingly pressured into that. She hated talking about Neal with anyone, especially Hook.

"I see you're up here again, lass." Emma jumped, almost falling over. "You scared the hell out of me, Hook." she snapped. He pursed his lips and raised his eyebrows. "Sorry." "It's fine." she muttered. They stood in silence, staring at the dark ocean that laid before them. "You were quite brave tonight." he said, in a somewhat teasing manner. "Yeah well, none of you were listening to me." she retaliated, a little sharper than she had meant to. Hook tensed at her snide comment. He tried to move past it as best he could, but he felt a lump forming in his throat. "Sorry." He said again. "Can you stop apologizing?" He opened his mouth to say some, but shut it quickly, rethinking his remark. "Do you want to talk about it?" he finally spoke. "About what?" she scoffed. "Why you can't sleep?" "Not with you, I don't." Her words were a slap to his face, and his heart. "Well if you don't want to talk about that, perhaps you want to tell me why you've been avoiding me."

Emma took a step back in surprise. "I'm not." she lied. Hook scoffed. "You've hardly said two words to me since we stepped onto the ship with the exception of our conversation 3 nights ago." "I don't need to stand here and take this." Emma yelled. She stormed off, tears stinging her eyes. She didn't dare look back, for fear that Hook would see how much this hurt her. She heard the door to his headquarters slam shut, stopping her in her tracks. Emma took a shaky breath, then turned around and marched over to his cabin.

She swung his door open in a hasty manner, causing him to tense. "What do you want?" he growled. She glared at him, trying to think of something to say. She didn't know what she wanted. Emma slammed the door, causing a bottle of whisky to come crashing down and break, spilling

all over the floor. "Bloody hell." he muttered, falling back onto his bed and covering his face with his hands. "Relax, I'll clean it up." she spat. Emma grabbed a cloth from his shelf and began whipping up the liquor. Killian sighed, and sat up, his eyes widening when he saw what she was using to clean it up. "Swan, stop." he hissed, jumping off his bed and grabbing her by the wrist. "What? It's just a cloth" "No, it's not." he insisted, ripping it out of her hand. His hands shook as he looked at the soaked piece of fabric. "Then what is it?" Emma asked softly. "What does it matter to you?" he snapped, his tone sharper than he intended. Her body stiffened at his tone. Even when she had left him on the beanstalk, or in New York, he hadn't been this angry.

Killian sighed. "Can you just leave me alone, Emma?" The use of her real name astonished her. That was the first time he had called her Emma instead of "Swan" and it unsettled her. "Y-yeah." she stuttered. She reached behind her - not taking her eyes off Killian - searching for the doorknob. Her heart was pounding in her chest. She was unable to focus on anything but him. Her hand finally made contact with the knob, turning it, and pushing the door open with her back as she did. Emma stumbled out onto the deck, the darkness of the night engulfing her.

xxxxxxx

How could she have been so careless? Killian kicked his desk - out of anger - sending his possessions crashing to the floor. Emma had no right to come into his cabin and ruin the only thing he had left that was Milah's. He felt himself slip into the pass. Killian didn't want to dwell in the past, he wanted a future. He had thought Emma could have been his future, but that option seemed to be escaping his grasp at the moment.

Killian couldn't comprehend why he cared what Emma thought of him, or cared about her at all for a matter of fact. He had given up the thing he had spent 200 years of his life for - his revenge - for her. For some reason, all he wanted to do was go and explain why he had gotten so upset. He had a feeling she didn't want to talk to him, though, so he stayed put. Perhaps he would tell her some other time, when she was ready to hear it.

xxxxxxxx

Emma sat in her bunk, fiddling with the cutlass that Hook had given her. Her mother sat in the bed across from her, eyeing her curiously. "What's that?" her mother finally asked. Emma looked up, her gaze falling on her mother's concerned face. "Hook gave it to me. It belonged to Neal." Mary Margaret's features soften, the worried look disappearing from her face.

Suddenly Hook stood in the door frame, surprising the two woman. "Swan, I was wondering if we could have a word." Emma turned to her mother. "Can you give us a minute?" her mother nodded in reply, and left the room. "I see you're not as pissed as you were last night." she said coldly. He smiled and stepped into the cabin. "Aye." "Why are you here, Hook." Emma questioned, getting straight to the point. She really didn't want him to be there longer than he needed to be. "To tell you something." "and what's that?" Hook took a shaky breath, preparing himself for what came next. "It was Milah's." he said quietly. "What was?" "The cloth that you used to clean up the whisky. It was hers. It was the only thing I had left that was hers. That's why I got so angry." Emma was filled with guilt.

How could she have not seen it? That's why he had gotten so defensive. "I-I'm so sorry. I didn't realize…" her voice trailed off. "I know, lass." he whispered. "I just wanted to let you know." Killian turned around, leaving Emma to her thoughts. "W-Wait." she called after him, subconsciously. He stopped and tilted his head over his shoulder so he could look at her. "Yes, love?" Emma rose to her full height before she answered. "You're right." "About what?" "I have been avoiding you." Hook chuckled, turning around completely to face her. "That much was clear, Swan. What isn't clear is why." "B-because you came back." she admitted.

Hook cocked an eyebrow, a confused look spreading across his face. "I'm used to people abandoning me, and I didn't know how to deal with the fact that you haven't. I didn't want to get used to having you around incase you changed your mind and left." A smile tugged at the corners of Killian's mouth, forcing Emma's heart to flutter. "I promise, I'm not going to change my mind. I'm in this for the long haul." "Thank you." She whispered. "I didn't take you for the 'thanking' type, Swan." The devilish grin returned to his face. Emma rolled her eyes. "Shut up, and take the gratitude." she laughed. Killian's heart danced at the sound of her laugh. It was the first time he'd ever heard her laugh.

"You know that's the first time I've heard you laugh." he began. "I like the sound." Emma smiled, her cheeks turning red. "Well my life isn't exactly laughing worthy." "It could be if you let it, love." Her core buzzed with electricity when he called her love. "Goodbye, Swan." "Goodbye, Killian." He was definitely dangerous to her heart, and she to his.