Tapping her fingers repeatedly against the counter, Emma glanced around to make sure the coast would remain clear. Her attention was once again drawn to her hands when a bottle of Tequila was shoved in front of her.

"Thanks," she mumbled, placing some money for the waiting bartender.

Another swift scan of the pub, and Emma tentatively took a sip. Ooh, that was good. It practically burned away her nerves. Until she caught sight of him.

Immediately, Emma stumbled off her stool. No way was she going through another public embarrassment like she had had to cope with for the past few weeks.

Many people gave her dirty looks as she barged through them, all the while trying to find a way to disguise herself into the shadowy corners.

"Emma!"

Oh no. He caught her. Adrenaline pumped through her veins with the little amount of alcohol that she had taken in. Maybe if she didn't look at him, he would think he was mistaken. Just a random blonde woman, not the one he was looking for. Unfortunately, he was persistent and probably learned from previous experiences that she was prone to ignoring him.

"Emma, come on!"

Come on? To what, her senses? Because that was exactly what she had been doing this whole time. The moment she ran into him in New York was the moment she knew that this 'starting over' business would come up. No, there was no way to get rid of him. Turned out that her parents, his father (Rumpelstiltskin, of all people) and her son—or their son, as Emma had now grown accustomed to being Henry's parent with two other people—wanted them together. The problem was, she really didn't.

More elbowing through raucous people, more calls from Neal. To the worst of her luck, she collided right into someone.

"You seem to have a thing for this, Swan,"

How she could get even more unlucky was beyond her. She managed to break free of his arms which had circled her the same way he had when she had tried to stop him from tripping over right into a trap on the beanstalk.

"Hook, not now," she snapped over the chattering and low music.

"Emma!"

"Trouble in paradise?" Hook smirked.

"What paradise?" she replied, ducking from him and continuing her attempt at an exit plan.

As she continued to struggle through the sweaty crowd of loud people, she pondered on how Neal could have tracked her down here. The Rabbit Hole wasn't a common place for a member of the Charming's to go, so she had hoped that here she would be secluded from all their suffocating dating encouragements. Apparently, that wasn't the case.

"Emma!" Somehow, Neal pounced out of a cascade of chuckling people. Right in front of her.

"Go away, Neal!" she snarled.

"Look, Emma, I know our past was hard—"

"You abandoned me without a second glance!"

They had the attention of the whole pub now.

"I was fulfilling your destiny!"

"Maybe you should have left that to be my choice. You should have told me,"

"You would have thought I was crazy!"

"Wasn't that a risk you were willing to take?"

A pause, where a few people coughed in the uncomfortable silence. Emma didn't miss the amused gleam in Hook's eyes from where he stood a few feet from her.

Neal had the decency to look ashamed.

"Besides, it doesn't matter," A sudden idea had rose in her mind as she caught sight of Hook's smirk. "I'm dating someone anyway,"

Seemed like the people of The Rabbit Hole enjoyed a good piece of drama. Their murmuring buzzed like bees in a hive.

Neal's face contorted.

"Who?" he demanded.

Without a second thought, Emma reached out and pulled Hook beside her. Before the pirate could object, she stamped her foot on his.

"Hook,"

"Hook?" Neal spluttered incredulously.

"Sw—" Hook's protest was cut short by an elbow in the ribs from Emma.

"Yes, Hook," She gave a tight-lipped smile.

"What?! Emma, just because you may have shared one drunken kiss does not mean that you are together!"

Already, he had made an assumption. A story was quick to form in her mind so her retaliation would be rewarded with satisfaction.

"We've been meeting for weeks, Neal," she insisted, using an acting skill in which she prided in. "We've been keeping it a secret because I wasn't sure how to tell Henry or my parents or you. But now I need to tell you. It isn't fair otherwise, to all of us,"

Gaping at the two, Neal turned to see if his bewilderment was shared by any other person in the pub. Most had gotten bored and were now minding their own business.

"So…" he cleared his throat. "Congratulations, I guess,"

With that, he left. Emma might have felt guilty had she forgotten the day he left her in jail for his crimes. Though, if she had known it was that easy to get this problem off her chest, she would have done it sooner.

Unsure about the damage she had done, Emma turned to glance at Hook. If looks could kill, she would be a slithering mess on the floor.

"Hook," she started.

"What the bloody hell are you playing at?" he hissed.

"It's temporary, okay?"

"Do you expect me to pretend to be your boyfriend?"

"Yes. Only until Neal gets bored and finds someone else,"

When he still didn't look convinced, she sighed.

"Let's get some drinks and talk about it. Please, Hook, I'm finding this whole 'get back together' thing really tedious,"

A moment of silence where Hook considered it. Finally, he answered with a smirk.

"I knew you couldn't resist me, Swan,"

Well, she was getting somewhere.

Finished the first half of season three, watched a couple comedies and this is what comes out.