This started out as just a prompt that I was trying not to screw up too much and it quickly became one of the best (in my opinion) and one of my favorite fics that I've written thus far. Please let me know what you think!
"As if the jungle wasn't hard enough to get through."
They'd been slashing at tree limbs and stumbling over roots for hours in their quest to reach Pan's camp, carefully avoiding all of the Dreamshade that apparently had grown thicker since Killian's last visit to Neverland. He could feel the ever-growing frustration of the collective during the impossibly long trek. The desire to reach their destination and finally save the boy mixed with the fear of what they would find when they got there was all projected into the slashing of their blades through brush and the exasperated sighs that escaped their lips every time they turned a corner to find more jungle before them. But there was one person whose emotions he could distinguish with far more clarity than the rest…and it was her voice who rang out first when the group came to a sudden stop on the banks of a river, foam floating on the surface as rapids slammed into groupings of sharp rocks every few feet.
"I recognize this river. We're fairly close now. We should cross and make camp on the other side," Killian suggested, hoping that the change of pace, and frankly scenery, that the river provided would be enough to provide even a glimmer of the hope that Emma would need for whatever awaited them when they reached Pan's camp.
"Ok, point me to the Bridge of Death, or whatever ridiculous name it has," Emma quipped, leaning forward to scan the river in both directions in search of something that she wouldn't find.
"I would, if there was a bridge," he answered calmly, already anticipating the witty retort that was soon to fly back at him.
"So in Neverland, we're supposed to believe in everything…except bridges. How do you suggest we cross then? Jump in and hope?" Emma asked, dipping the toe of her boot into the water and eyeing the river with a look of both annoyance and fear in her green eyes, her brow furrowing in such a way that added years to her already exhausted expression. Killian stepped forward until he stood directly next to her, longing to reach out and place a comforting hand on her shoulder, but stuffing it deep into his coat pocket instead. Any comfort he wanted to bring her in this moment would only complicate matters further, and the last thing that he wanted was to make her burden any heavier. He told her that he would wait until Henry was safely back in her arms and home in Storybrooke, and that's precisely what he planned to do, no matter how much it pained him to do so.
"The rocks, Love. Do you see those flat ones?" he said, gesturing with his hook to a zig-zag path of flatter rocks that reached all the way to the river bottom, with just enough breaking through the surface for a person to walk…or hop…all the way to the other side. "They weren't placed in that manner because that's the way Mother Nature intended."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Regina asked as she took the lead, Tinker Bell and Neal second and Rumplestiltskin third, while Snow and Charming followed close behind them, the royal couple jumping from rock to rock with ease. Killian felt Emma's eyes on him as he smiled, bowed, and gestured towards the river.
"What kind of gentleman would I be if I went before a lady?" he teased, answered with a roll of Emma's eyes and the hint of a smile lingering on her face as she took her first cautious step out onto one of the rocks, Killian following as close behind her as he could, his hand held out in front of him, ready to brace her if she faltered.
As the space between Emma and Killian and the rest of the group grew wider with every cautious step that she took, Killian could see the tension in Emma's form in every movement she made. Not because of the river, he knew, but because of Henry. Because of what they would soon face. The unknown. He'd come to find in his time spent with this perfect puzzle of a woman that there wasn't much that truly frightened her. Driven, strong, independent. Emma Swan embodied those attributes. But she was also calculating. She was two steps ahead of every possible scenario that was ever thrown her way. Killian himself had been on the receiving end of Emma's calculations a fair few times already. But when dealing with forces beyond comprehension such as Pan, no amount of calculation would ever give proper insight into what was going to happen. He had no doubt that Emma would succeed, with the unconditional love for her child and support of a group of people who would each gladly give their lives for her or Henry, but still he could feel the storm of emotions raging inside her as certainly as if the burden were his own.
"I know that in Neverland time stands still, but I feel as if I'm actually aging back here, darling," he teased, the only way he knew to garner a smile on her face, a lightness in her step. And he was right to do so, he noticed, even without being able to see her face. He could feel it…the way the smile would tug at her lips until she finally gave in and allowed it to create that emerald sparkle in her eyes.
"Shut up," she replied, though the amusement in her tone was obvious. "I'm trying to concentr-AAATE!" The last half of her final word was lost in a scream as she lost her footing on a rock and fell into the river, disappearing beneath the water.
"EMMA!" Killian bellowed, immediately preparing to jump in after her just as she re-emerged, gasping and sputtering. And surprisingly…unmoving, he noticed, as he looked down at the once raging river that was now moving with a gentle current, no treacherous rapids or jagged rocks to be seen. Emma falling in must have broken some sort of enchantment, no doubt placed there by Pan to ward off anyone who may attempt to cross. Killian quickly knelt down, reaching out his hand for Emma to take as she coughed up the last bit of water she swallowed, pushing her soaked blonde locks out of her face. When she finally met his eyes again, her lips jutting out in an irritated frown, he found himself unable to contain a laugh so overwhelmingly buoyant that his ribs ached with it. He didn't care, however, as the relief of knowing that she was all right and the enjoyment of finding something other than pain and stress on her beautiful face peaked in such a way that he felt as if he'd never truly laughed until this moment.
"Shut the hell up," Emma grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest as she bobbed up and down in the water, though Killian couldn't answer her as he blinked away the tears his laughing fit had brought to his eyes. "You think it's that funny, huh? Well, maybe you should try it," Emma said, a mischievous gleam in her eyes as she took hold of Killian's still-outstretched hand and pulled him into the water next to her.
A moment later he burst back to the surface, soaking wet and wearing a fake frown in his best impression of Emma, who finally allowed her own laughter to break free as well. The sound was more beautiful than music to Killian's ears, and so he provided the harmony to her melody, their laughter layering together in a symphony of joyous sound so powerful Killian could have sworn the constant darkness of Neverland lightened ever so slightly, though he must have been seeing things.
When their laughter finally began to fade, it drifted into a peaceful silence as they floated next to each other. The river, in a single moment, had become a refuge from all of the words that had yet to be spoken between them but that would soon erupt to the surface and from the dangers that lay ahead of them and what perils they would ultimately have to face. But in that moment, as Killian's eyes remained locked on Emma's, their gazes speaking volumes that they didn't have to say, he realized that perhaps a choice had already been made, a heart already won. Then, without a word, Emma leaned in closer, pausing for a moment just before their lips touched, their eyes already closed as they breathed in the moment and each other.
"Emma! Hook! Are you all right?" a voice – Charming's voice – sounded suddenly from the riverbank as he finally seemed to spot them floating at the halfway point across the river.
Killian exhaled the breath he'd been holding in just as Emma did the same, a collective sigh shared between them for the moment stolen from them and the reality they now had to return to. Though, their foreheads remained resting on each other for just a second longer, Killian reaching up to push a wet strand of blonde hair out of Emma's face and tucking it behind her ear while she brushed her thumb along the scruff on his cheek, sending a chill running up and down his spine that had nothing to do with the temperature of the water.
"We're bloody fine, mate," Killian yelled back when they finally managed to separate.
"I slipped and fell in. Hook came in after me. We were just about to swim over," Emma shouted, turning away from him and watching as David nodded and turned to disappear back into the jungle again, where they must have started camp.
"So about that one time thing," Killian whispered, watching as she shivered as his lips brushed against her ear. She spun around, eyes narrowed but bright, the tiniest of smirks breaking through the façade she was trying so desperately to reinforce back into place.
"Let's save Henry, get back to Storybrooke, and then we'll talk," she replied, though he could still see the desire in her eyes in the way her gaze drifted down to his lips just before they snapped back up.
"As you wish," he said softly with a nod of his head. Smile growing wider, Emma suddenly splashed him in the face and took off paddling as fast as she could for the riverbank, not bothering to look back to ensure that he would follow her. Because they both knew that he would.