Peter Pan, the eternal child, decided to visit the camp while everybody were sleeping, probably because he wasn't on the discussion mood, but yet…in the game mood and this time his game was about playing the detective, the explorer to get Henry back, to find Peter Pan's camp and start the real fight (The one Pan was entirely sure he would win) so when Emma woke up, she found a small map with two directions and a little note:
"North and South.
Find the hints and you will be leaded to Henry. No cheats or you won't win the game. Which direction will you choose?"
Everyone came up with a different plan, but Emma's turned out to be the most logical one. They had to split in two teams so one of them would find what Pan was asking for and at the very minute the other team will know by using a magic signal that Regina made. That was all. Simple, but a quite reliable plan.
Everyone was feeling confidence about the plan, everyone but Mama Snow.
"I can't think of a reason why this is good idea" Snow said, crossing her arms and looking at David, expecting for a little bit of support.
"Stop it, Mary Margaret. You're just complaining because you don't want me to go on your team, and allow me to say that going on the Cheesy Team doesn't make me happy either, but (And I hate to say it) Emma is right…we have to split so we can find the hints that will lead us to my son and right now, we are wasting time" Regina responded. She was totally upset because of the time wasted, important time, actually.
"Emma and Regina are right…this is the best plan. On the map that Peter Pan gave us last night it only said North and South and he said that the hints he is asking for are in one of these directions. He wants to play a game with us." Now David was the one who was talking to Mary Margaret, trying to make her understand.
She moved her head, not convinced with those arguments. "How do you know this is not a trick?"
"Has he told us a lie? No. He just wants us to play along with him and if he says we will find these hints in one of these directions, then we will." Emma said, and then she walked near to the worried Mary Margaret and looking into her eyes, with a soft voice, said: "Mom, I know this is going to work. I know you're worried about me, but don't you guys say we will always find each other? Believe that, okay?" She waited for a few seconds, waiting for another denial of Mary Margaret, but her mother smiled at her so she added: "Very well, I will see you for dinner."
Snow, David and Regina started walking to the woods, North direction, while Emma and Hook were going to South.
"Okay, let's go." Emma said and without looking at the captain she got into the forest.
"After you, milady" He answered, while raising an eyebrow, a little bit tired of Emma trying to avoid all kinds of contact with him after the kiss happened.
Emma was leading the hike, walking two meters away from him and without crossing a word with the captain, well…only asking for direction reference when necessary and after one hour of walking, Hook decided to ask:
"Don't you think I should go first, lass? After all…I'm the one who knows the island."
Emma looked at him and frowned when she saw he was drinking rum and all she could think of answering was: "As usual, you're drinking so you're not being very helpful at the moment; this is why I'm leading."
He burst into laughter at that comment.
"Why is this so funny?"
"Because you said I'm not being helpful because I'm always drinking (Which is not a problem because you have never seen me drunk) but here is my question; why did you choose me, then? You could have come with Regina or your parents, but you decided to make team with me, why is that, love?" He was pretty amused and mad at the same time. Emma was so unpredictable to him and yet, he knew there was something else going on since she kissed him.
Emma stood up foot right in front of him, angry at that comment. "Regina and I? You know how that would work. My parents and I? What if we get lost? They don't have magic to find the way back and they don't know the island either. That's why I decided to come with you. That's the only reason, okay? Now let's keep walking, pirate."
"You've been avoiding me, Swan. Why?" He finally asked, waiting for a sincere reply.
The blonde lass kept walking, not looking at him, but answering: "Avoiding you? I'm not avoiding you. I mean…I'm talking to you."
The handsome pirate smirked and said: "C'mon, you know I'm talking about the other day."
Emma shook her head and looked again to the captain. "I told you; it was a one time thing. Now forget it."
"You're the one who can't forget what happened. I mean…you're avoiding me for some reason and that's the reason."
She started walking faster and while walking, turned her head to look at Hook. "You love yourself a little bit too mu-" but she wasn't able to finish the idea, because she tripped with something and fell.
Hook ran to where she was. "Swan, are you okay?" but she didn't answer; she was focused on the thing that made her fell. "What's that?"
"It's…I found it." She answered with a big smile on her face. "I found the hints, Hook" Emma was at some way, surprised. She never thought the mission would last less than four hours.
The savior opened the golden box that made her trip a few seconds ago.
Water. Three flowers, a very strange variety of flowers, and a note on the cover of the box.
"What the hell does this mean? Flowers, water? Yeah, like we're not surrounded by flowers and water at this place…"
"Let me see." Emma handed the box to the pirate, who smirked, feeling quite smart for solving the riddle, map, hints, whatever. "This is a place in Neverland, love. These sort of flowers only grow in there, you have to cross a lake and you may find a cave with thousands of these strange flowers. Pan's camp may be near of it. Hey, don't look at me like that, I can be helpful."
"Where is that lake?!"
Hook looked up the sky and answered: "East." Then, looked down to the cover of the box and repeated the words on the note: "Congratulations, Emma...what's that supposed to mean?"
"It means he knew I was coming to south and we…we have to tell the others right now. Hook, the signal Regina gave us, use it. They have to go back; it's pointless for them to keep looking."
Hook opened the satchel to bring the little purple rock out of it. "Stay away." He warned and then he threw the little thing to the sky, exploding into a million of purple dust, turning the whole blue sky into a purple one for five seconds. Five seconds for both teams. Five seconds to start the returning to the camp, to run away from the lost boys if there was some kind of trap.
"Okay…let's go back. You lead this time so you won't say I'm avoiding you."
Hook smiled for himself, while packing the box in the satchel, he whispered "If the lady insists…"
"We are lost. Wonderful" Emma said, after an hour and a half of going nowhere.
"We are not lost. I mean…we are for now, but I'm finding another way back, just…give me a few minutes."
"Hook. We are stuck. Haven't you been on the island before? Because it looks like you haven't." Emma was getting very frustrated; she was worried about Henry and about not being on the camp before Mary Margaret, she would get worried.
"Like I said before; this whole island is a bloody trap, okay? I'm trying to get orientated by looking at the direction of the clouds." After a few minutes, he finally said: "This way."
"Are you sure this time?" A non usual sarcastic Emma, asked.
That was it. Hook turned around, mad at Emma and yelled at her: "What is your problem, Swan?! Do you want to talk about it?! Because trust me; it would be very helpful so I will know what not to do. I'm tired of the way you've been treating me on the last three days and now you're being all…bloody hell. I'm tired!" Killian was angry and hurt at the same time, his hook was slightly scraping a three. Emma looked at him, with fury on her eyes.
"My problem?! My son is in somewhere of this island and I don't know where he is! My problem?! Kissing you, I should have never done that!" Yelled back to him, shaking her head and looking down with tears starting to roll down her cheeks.
"Oh! It's a pirate thing, right? I get it. You feel regretted of kissing me because I'm just Hook, the captain, the pirate. You said it, it meant nothing to you, it meant nothing to me so now stop making a big deal of it and let's go back to the camp. Don't be a little girl, Swan." Our beloved Killian was trying to sound as Hook (If you know what I mean) by not showing that what Emma said really hurt him.
Falling for the Swan girl…not a good idea and now he was sure of it so he started walking again, but she didn't.
"It's not a pirate thing, Killian." She said, wiping her tears off her face. "I said I shouldn't have done that because I never thought of how much it would mean to me. Because it did mean something…it meant everything, okay? So don't you dare to say it didn't." Killian stopped his walk, but he wasn't able of turning back and look at the beautiful face saying those words. He felt overwhelmed. But he had to, he had to take courage and look at Emma and tell her how he felt about the whole situation, not like he was the most expressive guy on Earth (Well, Neverland…) but the moment was perfect, it was the perfect time.
People say all you need are five seconds of courage and five seconds of embarrassing bravery to get things done, to make things happen and while he was looking at the sky, still not turning back to her, finally said:
"I love you."And in that moment, he felt his chest incredibly lightened. The blue-eyed pirate turned back to face Emma and started walking to her. "That's the truth, Emma."
She only reacted when Hook was enough close to her to feel his breath. The blonde girl stared at him, staring at every single detail of his face. His eyes, the skin, the scar, his beautiful dark hair and his perfect mouth. Emma grabbed his face and kissed him, again. She kissed him with such determination and he kissed her back with such fury, but sweetness at the same time. Exploring the mouth of the other, wanting to be the same person at least for a minute.
Hook pulled her closer to him, feeling how they perfectly fit for each other. He was touching her blonde hair, soft face and waist, not wanting to let her go and she was touching his neck, his chest and feeling his heart, wanting for that moment to be eternal.
But well, as all human beings, they had to breathe as well.
"Wow…that was…" He said, recovering the air.
"… Me saying I'm in love with you." She answered, resting her head on his chest.
Killian smiled, feeling very happy of hearing those words coming out of Emma's mouth and while caressing the blonde hair, he kissed the top of her head, whispering: "I don't want to break this moment…but we still need to get back to the camp, love."
Emma came back to reality, sighing.
"You're right, captain. We have to go back."
"And now we're going for the right path." He added, smirking.
"The right path." She repeated, giving a big, honest and full of love smile. Probably one of the most honest smiles she had given to someone in years.