He knew he shouldn't be walking out in the forest alone, without any of the others knowing. Pan's plan hadn't turned out with quite the disastrous effect the sprite would have hoped. Although damage was most certainly meted out, it was not enough to rip apart the group. A plan was already concocted and he had no doubt that Pan would know soon enough (if he didn't already) that they were still a threat.

But he couldn't sit at camp anymore and watch Emma and him. He had to steel his again broken heart if he was going to continue here with the group. He had to find a way to win her. So he left to wander in the woods near camp and to contemplate the revelations of the evening.

She had said she would always love Neal.

And the feeling that blossomed at those words was the worst he could ever imagine. In all the losses he had sustained; all the deaths and betrayals of his loved ones and friends, his heart had never hurt, his lungs had never clenched so badly as at that moment.

But she was his Happy Ending, his only Happy Ending. He was sure of it. He had to win her heart. Fate must intervene here. He would fight for her. He would fight for them.

He heard their voices before he saw them. And he moved quietly toward them to listen, to watch.

They sat side by side on a rock, their backs to him. They didn't touch and were far enough apart that they wouldn't be able to blame a touch on accident alone. Both of their backs were stiff and their shoulders held tension. They both stared straight ahead, not chancing a glance at the other. "I need to know how we got here," she said. "I need to know everything."

And so he told her everything. Every misdeed, every crime, every loss, every love, and everything she meant to him and how they came to be.

And then it was her turn. She told him about every failed foster home, about the spark of hope in her heart when Henry found her and how she tried to douse it but failed, how Storybrooke and Henry gave her a sense of purpose and fulfillment in a way nothing else ever had. And she told him that it wasn't enough.

He turned towards her then, taking her hand in his. "I love you. And I love you so much more for what you've lived through. You deserve so much more than I could ever give you, so much better than what I've given you in the past. But I can't give you up."

He pulled Emma towards him and pressed a short, chaste kiss to her lips, so short, the man hiding in the bushes couldn't tell if she had reciprocated or not.

"Good," she whispered, turning her body to face him. "I don't want you to."

Relief seemed to flood through both people sitting on the rock at the admission.

"You, love, are my happy ending."

Emma smiled, perhaps the first genuine smile since they had arrived on the island and pulled his lips down on hers.

Neal snuck away from the scene with his heart shattered as the pirate kissed his princess.