This fic is for Faith-Kiamn - the best reviewer a writer could hope for, and an inveterate lover of Captain Swan. It picks up right where 3x17 left off. Hope you enjoy :)

A Selfless Plea

'"Hook! Hook, stop! Wait!"

He refused to look back, to break his stride through the forest, but inwardly he cursed.

He hadn't really been thinking when he'd left.

All he'd known, all he'd felt was the shadow that pressed down on him, like the heaviest of weights. Constricting his thoughts, his feelings, his words. He'd been carrying the guilt for close to a year now. The knowledge of who he was and what he'd done.

He'd already known he was poison. Zelena's spell had just given it substance.

So all that had mattered was leaving, was distancing himself from Emma and those she loved. Before he brought her down, too.

It was all he had left to give her.

He hadn't known she'd seen him watching at the diner, hadn't realised she'd started following until it was too late.

Embarrassing, really, to be caught unawares. Again.

"Where are you going?" she puffed slightly, as she attempted to draw level with him. Stubborn wench. Always refusing to give up.

"Away," he answered tersely, increasing his stride.

"Over the town border?" Her voice was incredulous.

He ignored her.

She stopped dead, tugging on his arm, forcing him do the same.

"So... what? You're just going to trust to Zelena's good graces? That for some reason she'll be merciful and let you through?" Her tone had moved from 'incredulous' to 'are you insane?'.

"Believe me, love, that's the last thing I would do."

"Then what? You've got a sudden hankering to be her butt monkey? Because that's exactly what you'll be if you try to cross the town line!" She widened her eyes at him. "Literally."

He refused to look into them, knowing his weakness, his tendency to get lost in them. If he looked too long at her he'd forswear all his good intentions. Lose precious hours, days, weeks by her side; give in to the selfish part of him that made him want to stay... and thereby endanger her.

He had to remember: he was no good to her now. His mouth curved with bitter self-derision. If he ever had been.

That perfect brow was furrowed again. He longed to smooth her cares away. Her mouth opened to speak and he hurriedly cut in:

"I'll take my chances."

Her jaw tightened. "Killian..."

God help him! Why now, now of all times would she start calling him that? Start seeing him that way? As more than a pirate. More than a hook.

More than a one-time thing.

"Killian..." she said again, a little louder. Then: "Killian!" Her voice had risen to a scream. "Look out!"

He looked up in time to see a shrieking winged monkey plummet towards him, claws extended. He tried to slice at it with his hook but it was already inside his reach, wiry arms wrapping round him in a dreadful parody of an embrace as it knocked him to the ground.

The thick leather of his jerkin rebuffed the worst of the scratches, but when its jaws closed round his neck there was nothing to soften the bite.

He screamed in agony.

Suddenly the pressure released, though the searing pain remained. The current of air whistling past his ear followed by an outraged simian screech told him Emma had somehow armed herself and seen it off. Clever lass.

"Hook? Hook!" He opened his eyes in time to see her drop the branch she was holding as she sank to her knees at his side. "Hook?" she said again, voice so small and lost, like the little girl he'd once compared her to.

He tried to smile roguishly at her, tried to ease that look away. "It appears you may have been right to be concerned."

"Let me see. How bad is it?" She leant forward.

He pressed a hand to his neck and tried to sit up. But his strength was draining away at an alarming rate and he collapsed back onto one arm.

Emma winced. He found himself remembering her expression when he'd been thrown by the land vessel and broken his ribs. Even then she'd managed to find some concern for him...

"We need to get you to the hospital. Get Whale to take a look - you might need a shot..."

He kept his gaze steady, waiting for her to realise. But she seemed unable - or unwilling - to put the pieces together.

So, he did it for her. "It's too late, Swan. I was at the hospital - I saw what happened to Robin's cohort. A bite like this only ends one way."

She stared at him. "I'll take you to Regina! Maybe she knows a spell..."

He shook his head. "And risk me turning inside the town lines and attacking someone? What if I bit Henry?"

Her mouth opened; she closed it with a slightly panicked look. Her breathing quickened, voice speeding up. "What if... what if I saved you?"

He blinked. "What?"

"Regina... Regina said how powerful I am... And you said it yourself - the magic I have inside me. You saw how I beat Cora!"

Killian winced at the painful hope on her face. For her sake, he kept his voice lightly mocking. "And do you happen to have a handy de-monkey-ifying spell on you?"

She stared at him, expression stricken.

A particularly painful surge through the wound caused him to stiffen, barely biting back a moan. He'd thought he'd mostly concealed it, but Emma's bitten lip told him she'd seen.

"There is... one more thing we could try." She spoke tentatively. He frowned, confused as to what she could mean... it was the look of repressed terror on her face that told him.

"Emma, you can't! You can't!" He turned his head to one side, in case she got any ideas. But like iron to a lodestone found his gaze drawn back.

Emma was blushing slightly. "Look, I'm not saying it means anything but... It's worth a shot, isn't it? Mary-Margaret says magical kisses can cure any curse. Any curse! It's how I cured Henry."

There was a part of him that wanted to believe what she was saying, that wanted to shout with elation that she even thought it was worth a shot. But the pragmatic side of him was also pointing out she couldn't bring herself to call it True Love's Kiss - that alone told him that it wasn't. Which meant he'd still die and damage the woman he loved. Unacceptable.

He shook his head. "You can't."

Her brows drew together. "Hook..." she breathed, leaning towards him.

"You'll lose your powers!" He spoke in a snap, in an attempt to mask his feelings.

She jerked back, eyes widening in shock and question. "What...?"

"Zelena - she cursed me. If you kiss me, your magic will be taken from you."

Emma frowned, sitting back on her feet.

Unable to bite it back, he emitted a tiny groan. His heart rate seemed to be going at a rate of knots, and with every lurching beat the burning pain was spreading through his body.

She shook her head. "Maybe... maybe it will work, anyway. I'm the Saviour. Maybe the rules are different."

He exhaled in frustration. "Swan, this is exactly what Zelena wants. She's trying to force your hand!"

Emma had gone pale. "I can't... I can't watch another person I... I can't watch you die." Unconsciously, she had started leaning forward again.

"No!" he barked even as he jeered at himself. All he'd wanted for months and now it was finally being offered and he had to reject it. What a grand final jest to play on the good-for-nothing pirate! Somewhere the Crocodile must be chortling... "It won't be a True Love's kiss! Feeling pity for me isn't enough." Urgency kept the bitterness from his voice. He had to convince her. "You have to let me go, Swan. It's the only way you can beat Zelena, and save everyone. Save your son!"

Her expression wavered at the mention of Henry... and he waited for the inevitable. Her love for her son would outweigh any residual stubbornness. But then she shook her head again, jaw visibly firming.

"No."

"Emma... You're being foolish." He mustered a roguish smile, eyes fluttering closed. "I'm dead anyway-"

"Shut up."

He blinked. That was cold. Even for her. He opened his eyes to see she was glaring. Her eyes seemed to flash fire and a breeze had picked up, tugging at her white-gold curls. When she opened her mouth to speak, power rang in every word, the total authority of a ruling monarch, of an all-powerful queen:

"I'm done denying. I'm done being forced to choose between duty and what I want. I'm done keeping it separate. I am the Saviour. I am Emma Swan. I am both."

The fire had spread from her eyes; the breeze became a rushing roar. She was bathed in white light, glowing, incandescent... His breath caught. He'd never seen her so beautiful.

Then moving too quickly for him to stop her, she hauled him off the ground by his collar and crushed her lips to his.

Time stood still... then returned in a rush of feeling from the crown of his head to the tips of his toes.

Killian felt the moment his wounds closed. He felt the moment the poison drained from his lips. He felt the moment the crushing darkness lifted.

But more than this, so much greater than this, was the moment he felt that Emma Swan loved him.

fin