Lost Ones Sneak Peak:

Killian doesn't realize he dozed off until he feels Emma's hand on his back rubbing slow gentle circles and her hair tickling his cheek as his head rests on her shoulder. He can hear her humming to him, something nice and soothing.

He keeps his eyes shut and his breathing as level as possible to keep Emma close. But it isn't long before he hears Lily and Henry's voices and feels Emma slowly ease herself up from beside him. He "startled" awake.

Emma doesn't even look back at him. She is busy comforting Lily over whatever happened after he'd dozed off. Killian feels guilty for his inability to stay awake long enough to hear the report.

"A beanstalk?" he hears Henry echo, bringing his attention back to the conversation. "Cool!" the boy exclaims. "Do we get to chop it down when we're done?"

From what Killian gathers whatever they are looking for is at the top of one.

Of course, he knows it won't be that simple.

Lily chuckles at Henry, rubbing his hair affectionately. Henry audibly sighs in frustration, attempting to shoo his mother's hand away. It doesn't seem to work.

"I only have enough magic for two," Aurora says sadly. "I wish I could help more."

Lily looks at Aurora nervously, as if she isn't sure how to respond. "Thank you, Aurora! Any help is much appreciated." At least it's civil.

"I guess Emma and I will be doing some climbing," Elsa chimes in.

"How do you figure that?" Lily replies. "What makes you think I want to sit this one out?"

Elsa takes a step forward. "You really trust us enough to leave your brat with me and your dear sister?"

Lily's grip on Henry tightens. "Are you threatening my son?" she snaps. "Because if you are, then who's climbing that beanstalk will be the least of your worries."

Killian can feel her anger intensifying. He stands suddenly, sauntering over and snatching one of the leather cuffs off the table before anyone can stop him.

"Killian –" Emma tries to stop him. She wants to dissuade him from fighting, from fighting to save his own damn life. He knows she's trying to protect him, but right now he doesn't want her protection.

"You want me to fight for my life, Swan? Well this is me fighting. I'm climbing the bloody beanstalk," he snaps. "If you want this cuff, you're going to have to cut off my hand to get it."

Everyone save Elsa looks quietly uneasy with his proclamation. The Ice Queen has no problem voicing what the rest are thinking.

"Aren't you worried you'll fall off? That you'll wear out your pitiful form and drop dead?" Elsa says bluntly. "We all know you didn't decided to take a little nap while Lily was dealing with her sibling issues."

"It's my life. No one is more determined than I am."

Emma crosses her arms and steps forward, green eyes blazing. "Except for me."

Now she cares?

He meets her gaze evenly. "Then I guess we're in agreement, love. You and I will face whatever the hell is up there," he declares, before lowering his voice so only she can hear. "And you can tell me what's going on with you." Because something was going on with her and he refused to be kept in the dark.

She glares at him before snatching the other cuff. "Then we better get going."

XXX

"Still think you can handle it?" Elsa mocks as Killian stands beneath the towering monster of a plant. The beanstalk stretches out for miles above them, making him swallow thickly at the thought of climbing that high. It looks like he could climb forever and still not reach the top.

"Bloody hell," he can't help but curse.

"That's what the cuffs are for," Aurora offers. "The stalk is enchanted to shake you off, but as long as you're wearing those, you'll repel the enchantment."

"Or maybe they'll get us high enough up that we'll make craters when they inevitably fail," Emma hisses at her.

Aurora doesn't flinch. "Those will get you where you need to go." She looks over at Killian. "He doesn't have the time for you to mistrust me."

Killian nods. "I believe her," he tells Emma. "Besides, you can just transport us to the ground if needed right?"

Emma agrees

."Look who's paying attention," Elsa teases.

Killian rolls his eyes. "We better get climbing." he insists.

Emma nods and approaches the beanstalk, considering exactly how to start. She grabs a handful of leaves and pulls. It seems steady enough, and heaves herself up to a foothold a few feet off the ground. Killian takes a shaky breath and begins to climb as well. It's rough going for him at first. He keeps pulling on weak leaves and losing his footing. Emma has to slow her pace as she watches him struggle. But after a few precarious minutes, Killian gets into the rhythm enough to keep a steady pace.

Through it all, Emma doesn't say a word. It's unsettling. "Most would take your silence as off putting, but I love a challenge," he says, catching her gaze to throw her a smirk.

"Concentrating," she mutters, turning her face away from him.

"You're afraid to talk, to reveal yourself," he observes. "But I don't need you to talk. after all we've been through together, you're an open book to me."

That earns him a crack of a smile. "Am I?"

He nods. She is. "Something is troubling you. You're afraid to trust me," he responds, moving himself closer to her as he climbs. "You think pushing me away will make things better, but I promise you, it won't." He thought they were past this already. He thought they both realized this during their time at the Merry Men Camp. "It's proven to only make everything worse."

She considers her response for a minute before answering him coldly, "I thought you were used to people not trusting you."

"Ah yes, the deckhand thing," he says evenly, hoisting himself up a little faster to keep her from pulling too far ahead in an attempt to escape the conversation. "But I don't think it's me you've lost your faith in, Swan. It's yourself."

She stops cold, frozen in an awkward hold on the beanstalk.

Killian knows he hit the nail right on the head. "My mother said something, didn't she? She always had a knack for finding people's weaknesses and hitting them where it hurts the most," he explains.."First time Eric met her, he came back so rattled that he almost quit his job on the Jewel to buy a sheep farm. Please don't let her make you doubt yourself."

Emma looks at him, her expression softening for the first time in awhile. "What if she's right?" she whispers.

"Right about what?" He asks, getting closer to her now that she's stopped climbing. "Let me in, Swan."

"That I'll suck you into the darkness with me," she says after a long pause.

"Sw –" he cuts off when he hears a sickening creak and sees Emma's eyes go wide. The branch she's holding starts to snap and she is moments from falling. Everything seems to move in slow motion before Killian's eyes.

Hell no.

He swings over, grabbing her hand. He's yanked down as gravity tries to take her from him, but he doesn't let go.

"Killian!" Emma yells. He takes a few quick breaths to gather his strength, then hauls her up and against him. He pins her to the stalk with his body, one hand on her shoulder to hold her in place.. She breathes heavily against him, holding on to him tightly.

Bloody hell! She's safe. And now he's got her where he wants her for what he needs to say. He has no intention of letting her go. Right here, or ever.

He loves her.

"Emma Swan, when we first met, you asked me what I wanted, and I couldn't answer you, I was a fool and a coward, but even then you had me enchanted. Well let me make it clear now if it wasn't clear before, I want you. I want the Dark Swan, I want Princess Leia, and I want just Emma. I'm a fan of every part of you." He watches her walls crumble at his declaration.

"And I'm a fan of you," she says softly, hand reaching up to his neck, just where he can feel the throbbing of his poison. "I don't want to lose you, to this, to darkness. I can't."

He smirks. "Then don't. Don't shut me out. Don't let doubt get in the way."

Emma sighs and rests her head on his shoulder, as if she's giving into some long-resisted temptation. He kisses the top of her head. He's giving in to the very same vice. He waited as long as he could bear, but his body was starting to ache. He was dying after all.

"As much as I adore having you pinned to this stalk, love, my arm's starting to hurt."

Her eyes flash open as she remembers where they are. She finds a handhold to support herself, freeing him to use both arms to hold himself up.

"Thanks for catching me," she murmurs.

"Anything for you," he replies with a wink, helping lighten the mood.

With a deep breath and a toss of her hair, Swan regains her usual fire. "Race you to the top!"

"And what does the winner get?" Killian teases.

She looks him over sinfully slowly. "I may have something in mind," she replies, her eyes glimmering.

"Vixen."

I'm back! Although Delayed due to Hurricane Irma...

I thought I'd release a nice sneak peak before I officially start posting the actual chapters.

I now have a beta and we're going through each chapter of Freeing the Witch and The Purple Fairy to clean it up a bit and finally get it on tumblr before I start posting Lost Ones.

Don't forget to review!

~Luna