Disclaimer: I do not in anyway own Once Upon A Time. ABC, Disney, the amazing A&E and whoever else have that distinction. No profit is being made, and no copywrite infringement in intended.

AN: I'm aware there's really not room for this in the timeline, but I've been having total writers block on my other story... So yeah, this is set during 4B, somewhere between when Emma learns her parent's secret and when she kills Cruella. Just go with it. ;) Cause my muse wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote it. Reviews, both good and constructively critical, are welcome as always.

A Lover and a Fighter

by Lady Callista

Killian had been waiting on deck since her call, and couldn't help the concern that swept through him as Emma came up the stairs and onto his ship. She was still the most beautiful thing in the world to him, but he could see the strain, worry, and lack of sleep that had been dodging her face for days now. His heart ached with the desire to comfort her, to make her forget about all her worries for as long as he could. Yet the gentlemen in him needed to make certain there would be no regrets if the evening went as he dreamed it would. They'd been through so much over the past days, and he wanted to make sure that this was more than just a reaction to all the pain she'd been through.

"You're wearing the coat." Emma froze on the final step, her eyes widening in appreciation as she took in the long pirate coat over what had become his standard dark jeans and dress shirt.

"It seemed appropriate for my first night on the Jolly." He answered with a somewhat embarrassed smile. "I wasn't expecting company, and once you called my attire was the last thing on my mind."

"I do kinda miss it." Emma whispered, her eyes raking over him again as they slowly inched closer to each other.

"Are you sure about this, love?" Killian almost couldn't believe he was asking, couldn't believe that he was giving her the option of second guessing her choice to come to him rather than rent a room at Granny's. The corner of her mouth twitched briefly, and he saw just the hint of a teasing sparkle in her eyes before she deliberately misunderstood him.

Emma took his offered hand and stepped down onto the Jolly Roger, answering softly, "Well, there's nothing we can do till morning, and I just, I need a few hours to relax and recharge, and I don't want to deal with anyone else right now. In fact..."

She released his hand, placing both of hers on the rail, and Killian felt the touch of her magic brush across his skin, raising goosebumps, an instant before her hands began to glow. He watched as her eyes closed in concentration and for an instant everything around him seemed to shimmer.

"What did you do, love?" He asked as she turned back to him, her smile of accomplishment automatically eliciting one of his own.

"Made the ship invisible again." She grinned, the sadness and anger that had been following her ever since her parent's revelation nearly gone from her eyes. "It's just us tonight, Killian, I want to forget about everything else until morning."

He smiled back, he couldn't help it, as he shifted to kiss her softly, putting all the things he wanted to talk with her about to the back of his mind. He'd never been able to deny her, had always gone along with what she wanted, and it wasn't like he objected to the heading she seemed to be on, as long as it was only about them. One last chance. "Are we pillaging and plundering lass, or do you only want to sleep?"

Emma could feel the butterflies in her stomach as he whispered the question in her ear, his lips already ghosting over her neck and causing heat to flood her veins. "Sleep is the last thing I want, pirate."

And with those words her hands fisted in the lapels of his coat, their eyes meeting briefly in acknowledgement of the memory the move made swirl up between them before she yanked him to her in a bruising kiss.

Killian met her beat for beat as as his arms slid around her waist, fighting her for dominance of the kiss even as as his hand slid slowly, testingly, down to cup her ass and pull her hips against his.

Emma broke the kiss with a gasp as she felt his desire for her, and for a long second they remained locked, foreheads resting together even as they panted for breath. When she thought her legs would hold her again, she dropped a light kiss on his lips even as she started to step back from him. She saw the confusion in his eyes even as he immediately let her move back, his hands dropping from her waist. Before that confusion could turn to worry or panic she slid his heavy coat from his shoulders and let it fall to the deck.

"Emma." He whispered the word like a prayer, the heat in his eyes tempered by something softer as his hand came up to cup her cheek.

She smiled at him softly as she shrugged out of her own jacket, too busy losing herself in the deep depths of his eyes to care that it fell back down the stairs. She'd expected to see triumph in his eyes at this moment, this frozen moment in time as it slowly settled into their minds and hearts what they were about to do. They'd both been causal about sex in the past, but had waited this long for each other because they knew there would be nothing casual when they came together. There would be no going back. She'd expected to see triumph, or cockiness, but all she saw was wonder and love.

"Killian." She noted the spark in his eyes brighten as she whispered his name, his arms sliding around her again to draw her slowly back against his body.

It wasn't fast, not like when she'd yanked him to her, but she fell into the spell of his sapphire eyes as he slowly slid their bodies back together, molding her unresisting body to his with only the lightest of pressure. With his hook at the small of her back and his fingers playing with her hair before settling between her shoulder blades, he angled her just slightly backwards, and for an instant she imagined him just lowering her to the deck and showing her the fun he'd promised.

Then his lips met hers and the whole world took a lazy spin. They'd kissed a lot, and in many different ways. Desperate kisses of relief when one of them escaped danger, and warm, soft kisses meant to comfort and heal. Light brushes and nibbles when they were in public and knew they couldn't go to far, and hot and heavy and deep in dark hallways before they parted for the night. And everything in between. Just as he'd once teased her, Emma knew and loved how Killian kissed. At least she'd thought she knew.

He didn't nibble or devour or anything in between, he simply absorbed. Somehow deep and soft and passionate and sweet all at once, his kiss sent the heat that had been trickling through her out in a flood, and it took her overwhelmed senses a moment to realize that the low moan she was hearing was coming from deep in her own throat.

Killian deepened the kiss as he felt every muscle in her body relax, his fingers beginning to play through her hair as he felt her arms slide up weakly to rest around his shoulders. There was none of her earlier haste here, but rather a slow burn that Killian could feel vibrating through every fiber of his being. He felt her knees buckle and tightened his arms even as he gentled the kiss before slowly easing back.

She looked at him with eyes that were burning with desire and what he now dared to hope was love, and he brushed his lips over her ear softly as he murmured, "Come below with me, love."

Emma could only blame her next words on the fact that his kiss had short-circuited her brain. "I'm surprised you don't want to take me right here."

Something flashed in his eyes before they gentled once again even as he raised an eyebrow and a slow grin spread over his face. "Well if that's really what you want, love... but I'd prefer a bed for the first time. I think my princess deserves a bed."

She blushed as he called her his princess, and at the sincerity of the sentiment. And now that her mind was slightly engaging again, even if her legs were still shaky, she realized that while she was fairly certain she had cloaked the ship, they really hadn't checked, and the chance that the spell hadn't worked properly, or wouldn't last, was enough to make her realize going down to his cabin really was the best answer.

"Then follow me, pirate."

Again something flickered in his eyes, but it vanished as he leaned into her, lips brushing over her cheek before he husked in her ear, "I'd follow you anywhere, love."

It was as much a confession as a promise, and she kissed him softly before whispering, "I don't want to run anymore."

He linked their hands together in reply, raising them to his lips and kissing her fingers before he led her down to his cabin.

"I forgot how small the bed is." Emma whispered as he finished climbing down the ladder behind her, his arms sliding around her from behind and drawing her into the warmth of his body. Nerves fluttered in her stomach again, not because she was worried she was making the wrong choice but because she knew just how important the choice was.

"It'll do, love." He couldn't help but chuckle as she shivered in his arms as he husked the words in her ear, and he slid his fingertips under her shirt to trace lightly over her stomach.

Emma turned in his arms and reached up to play with the charms on his necklace even as she slid them back into a kiss, soft sips at his lips even as she slowly began to unbutton his shirt, feeling him tremble and deepen the kiss as her hands slid over his chest, playing for a long moment before sliding the shirt from his shoulders.

It stuck briefly on the brace around his lower arm, and she pulled back from the kiss to untangle it gently.

He gave a soft curse as the sharp point left the slightest line of red on her wrist, and she saw the anxiety fill his face as for an instant both their eyes focused on the tiny scratch. "It's okay." She whispered softly, leaning up to kiss him gently even as her fingers curved around the hook and her other hand linked with his.

She broke the kiss after a long moment, watching the sparks in his eyes reignite as she slowly slid her hands up his chest before letting them both drift to his arm. She held his eyes as her fingers went to the top buckle of the leather straps that held the brace for his hook.

Killian's fingers closed over hers, and he couldn't keep the trepidation from his voice as he said softly, "I know you saw it in the hospital Swan, but this is different..."

"I know." Emma said reassuringly as she leaned into him, kissing his bicep before moving lower even as she undid the first buckle, trailing her lips over the reddened skin beneath it comfortingly. She felt him tremble, and pulled back just enough to catch his eyes again as she whispered, "If it was me that only had one hand, would it matter to you?"

The look in his eyes said it even before he whispered, "Of course not."

Emma watched the realization cross his face, saw both the amazement and disbelief that followed. She used the moment to undo the next buckle, and although she saw the nervousness and shame in his eyes he didn't stop her when her fingers moved to the final buckle.

She undid it gently, leaning in once again to brush her lips over the reddened flesh under the straps and feeling his breath hitch a second before he froze.

She drew back enough to look into his eyes again, her mind flashing back to how patient he had been with her. He'd let her have her masks and her walls, he'd never pushed her when he saw he was up against a true fear, and as she looked into deep, swirling eyes that couldn't quite hide the nerves behind the love, she couldn't help but offer him the same out he had always given her. She slid her hand down to cover the brace on his forearm, but made no move to pull it off. "Killian, if you want to leave it on..."

His fingers came up to brush her cheek a second before his lips met hers in a achingly gentle kiss, cutting off her offer. She expected him to deepen it, to use the physical distraction, but he kept it soft and sweet, and when he pulled back there was a wry smile on his lips, small but reaching his eyes. "You've let me through all your facades, my love, it seems only fair."

Emma trailed her fingers over his bicep once again, fingers both soothing and enticing as she saw the trust in his eyes. She let her own turn teasing even as she slid the brace down his arm, giving him a gentle smile before dropping it on the nightstand. "It's more than that."

Killian's breath whooshed out as he felt her fingers trailing down his arm to softly cup his wrist. It was, of course it was, and it shouldn't surprise him that after all this time she could read him as well as he could her. Yet she didn't press for a further answer, only used her light touch on his wrist to bring his arm up until she could lay a kiss in the crook of his elbow before slowly sliding her lips down, tracing the light scarring caused by decades of leather chaffing against flesh. His heart and soul shuddered along with his body when her lips finally touched his wrist, and hoping that it wouldn't break the mood he whispered with complete honesty, "Much as I never thought...until I met you there hadn't been anyone since Milah that I would have trusted enough to see me without it like this. Although that didn't matter really, as no woman ever wanted to. After all, what's Captain Hook without his hook?"

She heard the pain despite his attempt at humor, the similarity to his words in Echo Cave tugging at her heart as he pulled back from her slightly, reaching out to detach the hook from the brace, examining it with distaste in his eyes.

But the vulnerability in the last sentence caused a sudden rush of realization, and for the first time she fully understood the light that had come into his eyes the first time she called him Killian. Not in New York, not when she had to use it because using Hook around an amnesiac Henry would have been bad, but when she had sought him out after they came back from the past. When she had truly looked at him and seen not the annoying pirate she was afraid to trust - although she could admit now she hadn't actually seen him that way in some time, but the good man who had sacrificed so much for her happiness. And she understood the way his eyes had flickered earlier on deck when she'd used his name versus when she'd teasingly called him pirate.

"Killian." She whispered that name now, half in answer and half in reassurance. She took the hook from him and set it back on the nightstand beside the brace before cupping his face in her hands. "You're Killian Jones, and you're the man I want."

When I win your heart, and I will win it... It will be because you want me.

His eyes closed as he took a deep breath, and when they opened they were beaming with such a mix of love and devotion that she waited for the panic and urge to run to come back. When they didn't, it was her turn to smile at him in wonder, and she leaned up to kiss him just as softly as he had her a moment ago.

TBC...