AN: So, here is the follow up to "Cleaning This Gun," that was requested. It's Snow/Hook interaction on the brewing Captain Swan. Obviously, this is AU after 3x04 as Charming can leave Neverland and Pan never told Hook about Neal. Thank-you to everyone who gave me such a warm welcome with the previous story, and I hope you enjoy this as well.
Mother's Intuition
Despite what Charming might think, Snow is very much aware of what Hook and Emma were doing in the jungle. She's nobody's fool after all, and she remembers how Emma interacted with Graham all those months ago. As much as Emma tried to hide it, she lit up around the previous Sheriff.
She lights up around the pirate, as well.
And Snow would love to put a stop to it, to step up and say that a pirate is not appropriate for her daughter, only… Snow spent more time as a bandit than she did as a princess or a queen. She doesn't know how Killian Jones became Captain Hook, but she knows that there is probably a boat load of history there. After all, even the Evil Queen had begun as simply Regina, the Dark One as a cowardly spinner. There is always a story, even behind the villains.
Not that Snow is so positive that Hook is a villain anymore. He saved Charming, after all, and for that Snow owes him more than she can say. So, she holds back and doesn't hold an arrow to Hook's throat and demand that he stay away from her daughter. Instead, she hangs back and observes.
She watches the quick glances between Emma and Hook, shot when they think no one (including the other, in Emma's case) will see. She watches her daughter fight against the attraction, while Hook remains steadfast. Oh, he still throws out innuendoes, but there is a look in his eyes that Snow is very familiar with.
It's love. Killian Jones, Captain Hook, is in love with Snow White's daughter, and looking back on how the pair first met, Snow wonders how it's possible for her to be so blind-sided by this revelation. She remembers Emma besting the pirate, as he would say, and the way that Hook had watched her, even then.
And isn't it deja vu, because hadn't her relationship with Charming started with that same antagonism? Isn't it only fitting that her daughter's relationship with her true love start out by knocking him out and tying him up?
One could say it's a family tradition.
Still, Snow doesn't know Hook, and while he's starting to prove himself more hero than villain, Snow is still wary. Emma has been hurt far too many times; by their abandonment of her, by Neal, by a lifetime spent feeling she was never enough. Snow knows that Emma is far too old to need a mother at this point, but that doesn't mean Snow can simply stand back and watch her daughter get hurt.
Except that, when Neal joins them with Rumplestiltskin alive and well, that is exactly what happens.
It begins with Neal rushing up to her, pressing a kiss to her lips and Emma, in what Snow can only assume to be shock at the revival her dead one-time love, returns the embrace.
Snow's eyes dart to Charming in that moment, but her husband isn't looking at Emma and Neal. No, Charming's eyes are on Hook, and there is worry in them. When Snow turns her own gaze to the pirate, she can understand why.
Love doesn't come easily, and Snow can remember once being so low that she was willing to forget Charming, just to make the pain go away. Snow thinks that, if Hook had some of that potion, he would happily use it in that moment. Because the look in his eyes? That's the look of a man whose heart has broken.
It doesn't matter that later, after they make camp, Emma and Neal disappear for a good half hour, only for Neal to return looking anything but happy. Emma follows minutes later, her face a cool mask and Snow can see that her walls, walls that were slowly fracturing in Hook's presence, have gone up once more. Hook does his best to ignore both parties, and while he does a spectacular job with Neal, Snow notices that his eyes dart to Emma often, and as soon as they hit her they are filled with bleakness.
And so it goes for a week. One week spent putting up with Pan's taunts, a complete lack of contact with Henry, and Hook trying his very best to pretend he isn't dying a little more inside every time Neal makes an attempt to bridge the cold distance Emma has very carefully placed between them as she throws herself even more wholeheartedly into the quest to find Henry.
Snow might have thought that was the end of it… only she still catches Emma looking at Hook every now and then, and for that brief, raw moment Snow sees the same heartbreak that fills Hook's eyes echoed in her daughter's.
And that is unacceptable.
So, Snow decides it's time to do something about it.
"We should go fill up the water skins," Charming says as they set up camp. "Hook, wanna give me a hand?"
Since Charming is the only one around whom Hook seems to find any sort of enjoyment around these days, he immediately joins the prince, but Snow has been waiting for a chance like this since the previous evening, and she's not about to let it slip away.
"You're the best at starting the fire, David," she says, getting to her feet. "I'll help Hook with the water."
Both Hook and Charming seem taken aback, and perhaps even slightly disappointed, at her words, and Snow has to fight back the urge to roll her eyes at the two. Is their bromance really that epic? Still, Charming, bromances aside, is Snow's true love, and he doesn't need words to understand that Snow wants a word with the pirate alone, so he give a hesitant nod, and moves towards the fire pit.
"Don't be too hard on him," Charming murmurs, stooping down briefly so his lips are by her ear, and Snow still shivers at that sensation, no matter how long they've been together. "He's hurting."
"I know," Snow replies. And really, she doesn't plan on being hard on Hook… but in the end it will ultimately be up to him and how tough he makes what is about to happen on himself.
Snow joins Hook, and the pair wander into the jungle, Hook leading the way to a stream located nearby.
"I assume you had something you wished to say," Hook says casually. His next words, however, take on a bitter note. "If you wish to tell me to stay away from Emma, don't bother. Your husband already gave me that speech, and in case you haven't noticed, these days I have been."
"I've noticed," Snow replies. "After all the innuendo you used to throw her way, the complete one eighty is kind of hard to miss. I wanted to tell you to stop avoiding her, to be honest."
"That's a new one," Hook drawls. "Normally mothers wish their daughters as far away from the terrible Captain Hook as possible."
Snow feels bad for the pirate at his words. She hasn't been ignorant to the dirty looks Neal's been throwing his way, or how quick the Dark One's son had been to condemn the pirate as an evil villain, the man who had destroyed his childhood family. Since Hook had spoken of Neal with nothing but a sad fondness, Snow did have to wonder what had happened between the duo, that they had such conflicting emotions about each other."
"You saved my husband's life. You saved all of our lives, more than once since we've gotten here. And Emma hasn't smiled since Neal returned and you started to avoid her," Snow replies, putting off all pretense of going to the stream and halting Hook's movements. "You know, when I met Charming, he was engaged to someone else."
"I imagine that someone else didn't have a child with him," Hook responds impatiently. "So you'll forgive me if the pep talk is failing, your majesty."
"Henry?" Snow asks, somewhat incredulously. "This is about Henry?"
Hook pauses, then give a quick, jerking nod of his head.
"Not entirely, but partly, yes. The boy has been around Pan far too long. He'll need his family whole, if he's to come back to them," Hook begins to walk again, forcing Snow to quickly play catch up. "The other part is Baelfire. He's not entirely wrong, when he says I destroyed his family. Oh, I didn't kill Milah. That was all the crocodile. But I did take her away from the boy."
"Oh? And did you throw her over your shoulder and carry her off to your ship to force her away from her son?" Snow demands, and the hard, insulted look Hook gives her is answer enough. "I didn't think so. What happened to Neal? That's on Rumplestiltskin and Milah. When a woman is unhappy, truly unhappy, she'll find a way to get away. As for Henry… he met Neal just before he was brought here, Hook. Yes, they're working on building a relationship, but if you want to be really technical, his parent is Regina. She raised him. Yes, Emma is stepping into a parental role, but he still calls her Emma more than he calls her Mom. And he's strong. He's the truest believer of us all. I don't think he'd want Emma to be with Neal if he wasn't really her true love."
"Isn't he? Ten years and Swan still loves him." They reach the stream and Hook begins to fill the skins. "Sounds like love to me."
"It is love. But true love? If there's one thing I learned with Charming, it's that true love is hard, but you always find each other. Neal left Emma because he was too afraid to face his father. Emma looked for him for two years, then stopped. You don't stop looking, Hook. Not if it's that strong." Snow accepts the filled skins and hands him the ones she's holding. "I remember someone else leaving as well. Only he came back. Why is that?"
Hook refuses to meet Snow's eyes as he stands up and corks the skins.
"She reminds me that some things are worth fighting for. I lost sight of that, somewhere between losing Killian and becoming Hook. She makes me want to go back to the man I used to be. The one who fought for the right reasons."
"Someday you'll have to tell me the story of how you became Hook," Snow responds, following the pirate back towards camp. It's just as they reach the outskirts, that she recalls something the pirate had said earlier. "Wait a second… what did you mean when you said Charming had already given you the stay away from Emma speech? When did that happen?"
Hook chuckles and shakes his head.
"That, your majesty, is a tale for your husband to tell."
The pirate steps back into camp, Snow right behind him. He stops at the edge of the site, and Snow skirts around him to join Charming at the fire. Emma sits across from him, staring moodily into the fire. Regina has disappeared, probably into her tent, and Rumplestiltskin and Neal are across the site, murmuring to each other in voices to quiet for Snow to hear. She looks at Hook, who is looking at Emma, who is trying very hard, but failing, not to glance back at the pirate from the corner of her eye. Hook hesitates a moment longer, then strides across the site to join Emma, smiling his pirate's smile and offering a water skin, even as he sits next to her.
"Looking a little parched, Swan," is all he says.
It's enough though. A tiny smile quirks Emma's lips, and some of the light that has been missing in her eyes since Neal's return sparkles to life. She reaches out for the water skin, and Snow pretends to ignore it when she sees their hands brush and linger just a second too long. She knows that Charming notices, but all he does is smile a secret little smile, much like the one on Emma's face, and kiss Snow's cheek. Obviously, whatever had lead him to threaten Hook once is no longer an issue, because she had never seen her husband smile like that during one of Neal's interactions with their daughter.
As for the daughter, she removes her hand from Hook's, but Snow notices that her position next to him causes their arms to graze whenever either of them move. Emma holds the skin up in a toast to Hook.
"Thanks."
It's a simple exchange, and the pair doesn't say any more to each other. But later that night, Hook will make an innuendo laden comment that will cause Emma to laugh. Neal will glare at the pair, but they will ignore him.
And Snow will think that there's never been a prettier sight than the first blooms of true love.
AN: So there it is. And you got a tiny bit of actual Captain Swan interaction! And some Captain Charming tossed in, because they are my BroTP. I love the Charming family. They're so much fun to write. Please let me know what you thought. Also, let me know if you have any OUAT prompts for me. You can do that here, or over on my tumblr: .com