The thrum of a car passing made Emma spin around towards the noise. It took her half a second to notice Gold's car as it drove past, the shiny black Caddy was almost invisible in the dim lighting. Emma squinted her eyes during the brief glimpse of the windows she got, Gold wasn't driving very fast but it was fast enough, she could swear she had seen Belle in there with him. A creeping chill settling into her gut, Emma pulled back open the door of the police cruiser and clambered inside.
She drummed her fingers against the wheel before she gave in and started the car, giving into the chill and heading up the road after Gold. After a few minutes of meandering through the town, Emma's dread was rewarded when he turned and headed out of town. Emma turned off the lights on the cruiser and headed up after him, she was pretty sure he hadn't caught on to her following him before but now she didn't have other streets to creep about in, it was a one way road up there and she had no idea what she was getting herself into.
Emma's suspicions stayed at a firm eleven out of ten as she saw Gold slow to a stop a few yards away from the town line. It didn't surprise her when Belle got out of the other side, she was Gold's girlfriend after all. The pair talked for awhile, their dark figures easily recognizable against the moon's light reflecting off the damp road, and then Gold pulled out what looked like a shawl and shook one of his hands over it. Emma would bet her last dollar that Gold had just shook some sort of magic potion over the shawl, and based on where the lovebirds were standing, it had something to do with the town line.
Gold and Belle stepped closer to the line and something in the trees off to her left caught Emma's attention. She watched attentively, there had been a shape moving in the shadow swept woods, it had looked strange too, all long sweeping sides but walking upright. Emma grabbed her gun and pushed her way out of the car, if there was some monster in the woods she wasn't going to let it eat Gold and Belle while they were on the worst date of the century. She clicked the cruiser's door shut silently and creeped up the road, her eyes glued on the trees looking for a glimpse of whatever had caught her eye before.
Emma was still twenty or thirty feet from Gold's car when she noticed him actually step over the town line. She started to turn to get a better look at what was happening when she saw it. A silhouette that she couldn't mistake for any other stepped out of the darkness and into the faint light glistening on the road. Captain Hook was in Storybrooke. He had a gun and was hurt. Emma could never quite recall what plans whirled through her head at that moment, but they were all thrown aside as her body reacted for her, throwing herself into a run towards the pirate to stop him from hurling himself into an early grave at the hands of Rumple-freaking-stiltskin. One of these days she was going to realize how strange her life had become and get extremely drunk over that fact.
"Hook, stop!" the plea tore free from her lips without Emma realizing she had begun to say it.
The pirate turned his head towards her in shock, the shadows not hiding the incredulity or blood on his face. "Emma?" he started in shock, his voice hardening as he continued, "Get out of here, Swan. I'd hate to have to hurt your boy's dear mother so soon after she got back to him."
Emma glanced to her right and saw Belle and Gold had turned, Gold hesitated on the other side of the town line, Belle seemed frozen with indecision. "Then why didn't you do that in the lake?" Emma countered as she drew closer to the pirate. He was pointing the gun at Belle but his eyes were locked on Emma's. Gold seemed to be allowing Emma to handle it for now, god knows why.
"Not sure what you're talking about, lass, you beat me fair and square. Beginner's luck and all that," he sneered.
"Don't try to pull that with me, Hook. You're a pirate, that was the second time in my life I held a sword. Hell, I charged at you without a sword while you had one plus your hook," Emma admitted with a shrug, stopping just a few feet from him.
"What's your bloody point?" Hook asked her a bit nervously, stupid pirate obviously never wanted that point brought up.
Emma shook her head slowly. "You don't want to do this, you were this bloodthirsty, revenge driven villain you play up, I wouldn't be here," she explained, "I mean, how long as it been since Milah died?"
"Three hundred years, give or take a few decades," Gold called out, Hook's head snapped towards the man. Emma took the opportunity to close the distance and put her hand on the crook of his arm, drawing it down slightly and regaining his attention.
"Killian, stop," she softly implored, cutting off whatever he had begun to say. "I met the real you on that beanstalk and I'm sorry I got scared and left you there. I don't know how to trust very well," Emma confessed, the knot in her stomach relaxing as he let his arm fall the rest of the way. His gaze was locked right on hers, neither of them could break that look. "Storybrooke seems to be a town for second chances. Stay here, take yours. Take it with me," she whispered.
Killian finally broke eye contact with her, but just for a moment as his blue eyes flickered down to her lips before returning to where they were before. He nodded slightly and replied in a quiet voice, "You're the only reason I'd ever try, love."