Killian wakes with an unfortunate feeling of being watched. He keeps his eyes closed, the typical chills of knowing that he isn't alone running down his spine. Taking the time to evaluate the situation, he knows that he's not in danger. He doesn't feel the adrenaline pumping. He opens his eyes slowly and remembers that the restraints are still over his arms. He can move them but they keep him locked into the bed. Looking over, he's unsurprised to find a pair of eyes on his. He is surprised to see who is looking at him.
"What's it like to be a pirate?"
Blinking a few times, Killian tries to recognize the boy sitting across from him. He doesn't think he's seen him, although he had been a bit groggy when he first got in. He observes the tilt of his nose, the full cheeks and he nods. "You're Emma's son."
The boy, Henry, nods and leans closer. He sounds entirely too excited. "And you're Captain Hook. Mom and Mary Margaret told me all about you. They told me to stay away but…" He trails off then, shrugging his shoulders and leaning back in his chair.
"But you were curious about what a pirate is like," Killian says knowingly, trying to sit up with difficulty considering his bonds. It ends up being too painful and so he lays back down with a grimace anyway. "I'll show you marvelous things if you give me my hook, kid."
"I'm not stupid," Henry says scathingly and Killian has to laugh at the indignant look on the kid's face. "My mom calls me kid too."
Killian nods, yawns and looks up at Henry. He's surprised that he didn't notice who he was when he first saw him. He looks a lot like Emma now that he notices it. He definitely has the same fire that's in her eyes and Killian has to smile at that. "Where is your mom?"
Henry looks at him again with the same look. "I'm not telling you. It's none of your business. Now are you going to tell me what it's like to be a pirate or should I leave?" Henry stands up, looking just like his mother, Killian thinks down to the expression on his face.
For a moment, Killian is tempted to yell at the kid. How dare he speak to him like that? Killian wasn't the one who had barged into Henry's hospital room, waking him from a very nice dream and then taunting him when he didn't get right to the point about what his life was like. However, although Killian would rather cut out his tongue than admit it, he is a bit bored and lonely. He isn't used to laying in a bed all day and he certainly isn't used to not being surrounded by many yelling and sometimes smelly men. So, he shrugs. "What do you want to know?"
"Did you really meet Peter Pan?" Henry asks, sitting back down and Killian knows in that moment that Henry wouldn't have left either way. He's tempted to ignore the question simply because he doesn't like being tricked.
"Ah, Peter Pan," he says instead, looking at Henry. He can't deny that it's nice to have such a rapt listener. He enjoys telling his tales. And so, he launches into the tale of Peter Pan and the Lost Boys and Neverland and Tinkerbell.
Henry is the perfect audience, gasping at all the right parts and Killian finds himself embellishing details even more than he normally does. When Emma comes in hours later, Killian's throat is sore from talking. He is waving his arms wildly, telling a tale of himself and Milah, trying to escape from a wicked sea witch who tried to lure them in with her, admittedly gorgeous, singing.
"Henry."
Both of the males jump, looking over, one with a guilty expression and one with an entirely unrepentant look. "Mom. How'd you find me?" Henry asks.
"Ah, Henry. You should never ask that. Feign innocence. You can tell her that I kidnapped you," Killian says to Henry, his expression changing as he turns to Emma. He adds as much heat as he can to his gaze while he's still in such pain, a smile playing on his lips. "Emma, love, I only did it so that you'd come visit me."
Emma scoffs, coming up to stand behind Henry's chair. She won't admit that she had found Henry nearly an hour ago and had been listening to the story of the sea witch. There's something about Killian's voice when he talks about Milah, something that makes her go hot and cold at the same time and she does not want to think about what that really means. "Because I'm sure that the great Captain Hook is lonely in here."
"That's the truth. Perhaps you should move me into your apartment. Or even better, your bedroom so that I can get round the clock care." Hook grins, revealing his teeth and there's that damn fluttering in her chest again. It has to go away before Emma screams, or worse, gives in.
When they had been in her mother's land it had been different. She had a son to get back to and she couldn't be distracted, especially when she didn't know where Hook's loyalties had been. Now, here, back it's different. She still has a commitment phobia and she doesn't want to let anybody love her but the way that Hook looks at her sometimes just sends heat straight into her stomach. "Perhaps I'll send you into the psych ward where you'll get no visitors at all. Henry aren't you supposed to be at the stables taking care of your horse?"
"I did that already. Gramps said that I can ride him tomorrow," Henry says and he sounds so proud that Emma smiles at him widely, holding nothing back. He is the only one that can elicit such a smile from her although her mother is reaching that point and her father is trying so hard. She hears Hook draw in his breath and she raises her eyebrows at him but he shakes his head.
"Then why are you here?" she asks even though she already knows the answer.
Henry waves a hand in Hook's general direction and Emma marvels at the fact that Hook has stayed quiet for as long as he has. He seems to be watching them, observing and she wonders just what it is that he's seeing. "It's Captain Hook. I mean, Snow White and Prince Charming are one thing… kinda boring don't tell them I said that. But this is Captain Hook."
"I'm flattered. See, beautiful? Your son here knows how to talk to me," Hook says, lips in a smirk and directed at her.
She pointedly ignores him, resting a hand on Henry's shoulder. "Henry, I don't want you to come back here. Captain Hook is dangerous."
Henry looks up at her, back at Hook and then at her again. "He's completely tied up. What's the worst that could happen?"
"Shall I answer that?" Hook asks and Emma turns to him, glaring with her eyebrows raised. He gives her a cheeky smile before his look turns more serious. "Do you really think that I'm going to hurt your son, Swan?"
Deep inside, if she's honest with herself, she knows the answer to that. Just like, as they look at each other, she knows that he will never hurt her. He is a mystery to her, a liar and one who avoids all her attempts at catching the lies but she knows that neither she nor Henry are in any danger from him. "Regardless. I don't want him getting any bad ideas."
Hook looks up at Emma and she feels like he's looking into her soul. She looks away, down at Henry. "Will you get me something to drink, Henry?"
Henry looks suspicious but, at his mother's nod he heads out of the hospital room in search of a vending machine. "What do you want, Hook?"
"After everything we've been through, you need to trust me," he says. She gasps, jerking back and grabbing at her gun as he pulls his arm effortlessly out of the restraint. "I've been able to get up ever since I was moved into this room. If I wanted to, I very easily could've choked the doctor, got the key, got my hook and left."
Emma looks at him, not letting go of her gun, her jaw set. "So why are you still here? Why haven't you gone after Rumpelstiltskin or Belle or even just gone?"
"What would I do?" Hook asks and she's surprised to hear just a note of bitterness in his voice. She tilts her head to the side. "The portal is closed, Emma. I'm stuck here. I can't go home. The townspeople either hate me or fear me and I don't know my way around the town." The bitterness is masked and he smirks. "Would you like to give me a tour, love? I could be persuaded to leave for you."
"I could give you tighter restraints right now. I can put you back in that handcuff and make it so that you can't leave," Emma says softly.
Hook shrugs, looking much too nonchalant as Emma finally lets go of the gun, her hands dropping to her side again. "Are you going to?"
"Are you going to go after anybody? Are you going to hurt anybody else?"
As Hook sits up, she notices his wince, reaching a hand out but he waves her away. "Guess you'll just have to do what I've been telling you, love. Either trust me or don't."
They both look up as Henry comes in, holding a can of coke with a straw in it. Hook hastily puts his arm back into the restraint, looking at Emma and she avoids his eyes. Henry hesitates at the door, continuing coming in but looking between them with a frown. "Did I interrupt something?"
"No," Emma says at the same time that Hook says yes. Emma sighs, ruffling Henry's hair and smiling when he looks up at her. "Be good."
"Not going to tell me that too?" Hook asks, looking up at her.
Emma isn't sure what possesses her, she isn't sure exactly what she's doing until after she's done it but she leans forward, cupping his cheek gently and looking deep into his eyes. The heat shoots through her, her stomach clenching as she looks at him and in that moment she wants nothing more than to lean forward, connect their lips. It's the thought of Henry that pulls her back and she clears her throat. "I'll be back later to pick up Henry, Hook."
His eyes don't leave hers. "I'm looking forward to it."
"Ew. Can we get back to the mermaid now?" Henry asks, wiggling the coke can as he sits forward, all but pushing Emma backwards out of the way.
Emma nods, waving at Henry as she passes but she leaves and Killian watches her go. "Emma." Reluctantly, she turns around at the door, raising her eyebrows. "Call me Killian, love."
Shaking her head, Emma leaves but Killian is fairly sure that that's what she'll be calling him from now on. He turns back to Henry, trying hard to figure out what he had been saying. "The mermaid," Henry prompts patiently.
"Ah, yes. Well, me and Milah were the only people on board and there was a gigantic wave coming towards us, bigger than anything I had ever seen before in my life," he says, getting quickly back into it, his arms waving wildly. Henry is just as attentive to the conversation as before and he doesn't seem to notice that Killian is just a bit distracted. Neither know that Emma sits in the hallway listening, eyes closing and her head against the wall. His voice makes her feel better than anything she's heard in a while.