Chapter 1
New York, the town that never sleeps or so they say, she for one knew that crime was the only thing that never slept. Here she was waiting in her yellow bug for the man she was pretty sure that she loved to return, what he was doing was beyond her all she knew was that he needed her at 3 in the morning. As she sat in her car, she looked around and began to get nervous, what could possibly be taking Neil so long to get whatever it was that he had to get.
"Common Neil." She mumbled under her breath as she sat as patiently as she could. There were about a million voices in her head that were screaming for her to run and to leave him, yet she ignored them all. Wouldn't he get her into trouble, right? He loved her, didn't he? Soon he came running from behind a building and pulled off what looked like a ski mask as he opened the driver door making her move over to the passenger side.
"We gotta go! Man, what a bunch of idiots! We are going to live like royalty babe, never have to live off the streets again." He started the car and jammed it into gear as he floored it and made a getaway.
"What the hell did you do Neil?" Emma was in absolute shock as she went to look in the bag he had thrown into the back seat.
"Don't worry about it babe, I'm taking care of you." Neil grabbed her for a kiss before she had the chance to really look.
"I'm afraid that I really don't understand, and why are we heading to the pier?" Emma noticed where he was headed and this wasn't like him what so ever. This really wasn't what she had planned when she started dating Neil.
"Don't worry about it, babe." Neil was less than helpful. Emma looked out of the windshield as the pier became closer and they began to slow down.
"Neil, did you just rob that store back there? What are you thinking?! You are going to get us both in trouble."
"Yes I did but everything will be fine, no one seen anything"
"I don't care! I'm not going to be a part of this. Let me out and I am going home and pretending that this never happened!"
"Emma common be reasonable"
"Neil pull over!"
"Okay, okay" Neil pulled over, Emma grabbed her purse and got out of the car as fast as she could and waved him to leave. She couldn't believe what just happened. It was a little hard for her to wrap her head around everything that just happened, not only was it early in the morning but she was at the pier and was miles away from anywhere. She couldn't even call anywhere home at the moment since she lived with Neil at his place. She walked over to a bus bench that was right outside of a little pub; she was guessing by the smell that those who docked their ships at the pier also docked their butts in the pub. As she sat on the bench she dug through her purse to see if she even had enough for a bus fair to get her somewhere closer to home, he heard footsteps, which wasn't odd for the area but was at this time at night.
"Bloody hell, really the pub isn't open." The man gave an aggravated sigh; she heard the thick Irish accent that flooded his voice yet she wouldn't look up to see how it was. "So what brings you to this side of town, love? You don't look like someone who would regularly be here"
"I have mace and I'm not afraid to use it." She was bluffing she never carried mace. Of course, she wasn't ever in this type of a situation. Sure she was an orphan but that didn't mean that she had to be one of the bad ones now did it? She did everything in her power to get out of a bad situation earlier.
"Easy there, love. I'm not here to hurt you; I'm just a sailor who was looking for a drink and a nice conversation. I'm Killian Jones by the way." He extended his hand to her, to try to show that he wasn't going to hurt her in any way.
"Emma Swan." As she said her own name she finally looked up at the stranger to see his pitch-black hair, scruffy beard, and brilliant blue eyes. She honestly couldn't believe a guy could be this beautiful, well besides the fact that he was completely in a pirate's outfit complete with leather pants and what she hoped was a fake sword hanging on his hip.
"Oh, it's quite real, love. Say why don't we go back to my ship for a few drinks?" He flashed her a grin that made her heart flutter. She couldn't believe what he said but her eyes must have lingered on his sword a lot longer than she should have.
"No I must be going, its last and I have to get home." She stood and grabbed her purse tightly.
"Now I can't let a beautiful lass like yourself wonder off into the night without suggesting she didn't for her own safety. That would be very un-gentlemen like of me. Please, come back to my ship for the night. You can sleep there and in the morning you can leave and go about your day like this never even happened. I promise I will stay on deck the whole night and keep watch." Killian once again offered his hand, he really was quite charming, to Emma's surprise even though he had no idea who she was he was still willing to help her stay safe. Unlike someone else she knew. The thought alone mad her mad again.
"Okay, but answer me this. Why does a pirate want to come to a bar to have I'm guessing rum when he should have a full storage on his ship" Emma put a hand on her hip.
"Well I don't want to deplete my stock but it looks like tonight I am going to have to break that rule. By the way Swan, you look like you could use a few drinks yourself." Again he smiled and made her heart jump.
"What makes you say that?" She began to walk with him.
"Let us just say you are a bit of an open book, Swan."
"Oh really" Emma tilted her head, Killian gave her a nod and led her back to his ship.
"Welcome to the Jolly Rodger" Again he gave her a heart-stopping grin as he helped her aboard his ship, they both shared drinks and some stories through the night. Emma may have drunk more than she would have admitted to having but she didn't care and wanted to forget the night.
~5 years later~
"Common Henry time for school." This was her normal routine of calling her five-year-old as she packed his lunch. Her life had been rough the past five years but she wouldn't have changed the choices she made. Neil was locked up for his crimes and the pirate never showed back up, Henry asked about where is father was almost weekly and she was frankly running out of ways to tell him she didn't have the slightest clue. Soon Henry came out from his room, his shirt backward and his shoes on the wrong feet. She smiled and sat him on the island counter to fix her son's clothing disaster before she headed off to work.
"Mommy, why do I have to go to school?" Emma smiled at the small brown haired boy, this was another daily question.
"So you can be smart like mommy. Fight bad guys and be a superhero." This answer always made Henry happy, after Emma set him on the ground he ran to get his little Power Rangers backpack and ran for the door. Emma grabbed her coffee, work folders, their lunches, and her purse as she followed Henry to the door.
Shortly after playing 20 questions on the way to Henry's school, Emma was able to head to work. She was a little late like normal but they gave her a break being a young single mother. Ironically she had become a bounty hunter and was the one who put Neil away for his crimes, if he wasn't so predictable she wouldn't have found him. She went to turn in her reports on her past captures and went to retrieve her new assignments. Only one folder laid on her desk, this caused her to tilt her head and look at the Captain.
"Only one? Is this a punishment or just a huge test?" She held up the folder expecting a good explanation.
"Read the file Swan, I think you will find it most interesting and not want to take any other cases for a while." The Captain went into his office and closed the door but continued to watch her from his desk through his large glass window. Emma looked down at the file and opened a rather stuffed manila folder. Her face turned pale as she seen the picture and name as she opened the file.
"No fucking way." She couldn't believe her eyes. Killian "Hook" Jones was her suspect. His features didn't really change but the one thing that did was he had a hook where one of his hands use to be. She had been looking for him for years and no one had even heard of the Jolly Rodger or Killian or the past 5 years; until now. "Where did you get this?"
"The boss said it was sent from Maine. No clue but he looks like someone I wouldn't want to tangle with unless I as having a good day." A deputy in the next desk looked at her.
"Thanks for the help Graham." Her sarcasm was thick as she grabbed her red leather coat and the file and headed out of the station. She had gotten a little beat up yellow bug car, which was all that she could afford at the time, and headed to the pier. She stopped so that she could see the ships and look over the file as she sipped on her coffee. Luckily no one on the docks really knew her and wouldn't suspect why she was even there, all she had to do was look for his ship, go to sit and wait. She quickly called in a sitter for Henry in case this job took a little bit longer than usual, she was hoping it wouldn't but who knows how long the pirate would take. He also had a lot of explaining to do.
Emma got out of her car and started down the pier in look for the familiar ship that he called the Jolly Rodger. Luckily it was the last ship at the dock, sadly this also meant he could get away easily if he saw fit. Killian had been a thorn in her side for 5 years, and now she was able to confront him.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here." A short fat man came off the Jolly Rodger and headed towards Emma. "The Captain isn't expecting any company today."
"Tell him to make room in his schedule." Emma wasn't afraid of him, he was short and fat and seemed less than threatening even on a bad day.
"Smee, don't harass such a beautiful lass." That Irish scent rang from the ship, bingo found him. "Obviously, she's here to admire the "Hook"." He grinned as he polished his hook.
"Absolutely." In her years of experience, she knew how to play along. She sent a smile at Killian as she boarded his ship with Smee hot on her tail.
"Come with me love, let us have a drink." Killian lead her to the captain's quarters leaving Smee to watch over the ship. He grabbed a couple glasses and poured with a heavy hand into each glass.
"So you're going by Captain Hook now huh? What Killian wasn't good enough for you?" Emma stood by the door, blocking it, her arms crossed and her eyes cold and unwilling to fall for his tricks again.
"So, you do remember." Hook drank his glass, looked at Emma and drank her glass for her. "So how long have you been looking for me, love?"
"5 years." He was taken aback the sharpness in her tone.
"Why is that? Couldn't get enough of me the first time?" He smirked thinking her figured her out.
"Let's just say I have a wonderful little reminder every day of 5 years ago."
"I see." Killian poured himself another drink and contemplated what she could have been talking about. He didn't remember a thing from back then, of course, all he was sent on was getting revenge on the man who took his hand.
"I also have a warrant for your head. So either come quietly or we can do this the hard way." Emma prepared herself for a fight that always happened, no one else took the easy way.
"I see. How about this, let's make a deal. I'll go with you but first, you have to have dinner with me. I have a feeling we have some catching up to do love." He looked at her and took a shot of rum.
"How can I trust you won't leave as soon as I do?"
"Common Emma, you are going to have to learn to trust me. Besides a pirates promise is his bond." Hook took a few steps closer to her and brushed a hair out of her face with his hook.
"Just this once." She stuck a tracker under the handrail on the stairs before she turned and left. This way she would know where he went if he did run. She was beating herself up all the way up the pier about letting him go but she needed some answers.
"I'll see you soon Love! At Sundown!" Hook called after her, he was once again smiling after her and looking at the other girls walking by the harbor. Emma hated that smile, it made her heart flutter but she wasn't about to let the world see that.