Thank to Montana for beta-ing! I hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer; I don't own OUAT
The cold wind was playing with her hair, making her shiver; Emma wrapped her arms around her trying to keep herself warm. Closing her eyes for a moment, she focused on her mission: get Henry and go home together.
"You know love, all you have to do is ask", Hook shouted from the upper deck, steering the ship with ease despite only having one hand.
Emma ignored him and rolled her eyes, because the last thing she needed was a pirate with a passion for innuendos. Henry was her priority, the reason why Emma had asked Hook to take her to Neverland.
But it would be a lie to say that she didn't enjoy being here on the Jolly Roger. Truth be tell, Emma had always felt a pull toward the sea; she could still remember the little girl she once was, dreaming of a little house near the beach with a bedroom that would have a big window through which she'd be able see the sea, the melody of the ocean lulling her to sleep.
But Emma Swan wasn't a girl anymore, that naive girl had had her dreams broken and shattered to pieces; her time in jail had changed her forever.
"What is it, lass?"
She jumped because she hadn't heard him approaching.
It was a thing he did often, appearing next to her when she was least expecting it. Fucking pirate. The very same pirate who was laughing at her right now.
"What?"
"I think I asked you first." His tone was light but his gaze was intense, a fire burning in his eyes, and Emma looked away from him, focusing her attention back on the sea.
Bad choice.
The sea reminded her too much of his eyes.
Bright blue in the sunlight, much like Killian's.
Dark storm blue in the night, much like Hook's.
And yet both were incredibly beautiful.
Emma tried to convince herself that she hated it, but the truth was that both Killian and Hook attracted her.
Stormy eyes and bright eyes.
"You know we'll find him, Emma."
At the sound of her name, she turned around to meet his bright blue gaze.
"Neverland may be a dangerous land, but I know your lad will be okay."
"How would you know that?" She asked but she wasn't expecting an answer; Killian had just told her what he thought she wanted to hear. Henry was lost in a magic land, one of the most dangerous ones, and Emma wasn't blind; she had seen the look in Killian's eyes when she told him about Henry.
She could see all the memories and thoughts passing through his head at that moment.
He knew her son was in danger.
"Well, I might not have met the lad," Killian said and raised his hand to catch a lock of her hair, "but I've met his mother, and I know shed make one hell of a pirate."
Emma tried her best not to look at his lips while he was talking; his voice was something and it was doing things to her, caressing her skin and making her shiver. His fingers barely brushed over her cheek when he pulled her hair behind her ear and it still sent a shiver through her whole body.
"I promised you I'd help you find him, and I'm a man of honor, so we will find him."
And she believed him, like she never believed anybody else before, not even Neal. Just by looking at his beautiful blue eyes, Emma knew Killian would do everything in his power and beyond to find Henry for her.
She realized how true his words had been back in the cell, when he told her he wouldn't have left her.
He would never abandon her.
And it scared her. She had never been more afraid than she was right now; Emma feared for her baby boy's life but she was also scared of the weight of Killian's words and all the meaning behind them. Scared of the feelings growing inside her, scared of how safe she felt with him.
She knew nothing would ever happen to her if he was there.
His palm had cupped her cheek gently, and Killian was looking at her trying to figure out what was happening in her mind. He read her so effortlessly and what he saw troubled him, what he saw made him hold his breath for a moment.
Emma Swan was finally trusting him.
Killian didn't pull her close; she wasn't ready, not yet. He didn't want her to push him away; the pirate wanted it to be her choice, her move.
He wanted her to choose him like he'd been choosing her since the moment he met her, since she had first put her blade under his throat.
Killian was so lost in her eyes that he didn't saw a tiny hand that grabbed Emma from behind; he didn't have enough time to move or scream her name before Emma was already drowning in the sea, a mermaid trying to take her into the deep.
He didn't think for more than a second, and jumped in the sea after them, grabbing the blade he had hidden in his boot, ready to skin the bloody mermaid.
He wouldn't lose Emma, not now, not ever.
Not when they both started to realize what was happening between them.
Emma was fighting, trying to kick, to make the mermaid loosen the grip she had on Emma's leg, but her lungs were screaming, burning from the lack of oxygen. She could feel the darkness coming, her vision starting to blur, and the worst thing was that she wasn't even able to cry or scream. She saw red hair, shining skin and then a bit of leather.
Killian, she thought, her hand trying to reach for the dark form swimming its way toward her.
And then she blacked out.
Her last thoughts were of Henry.
The last thing she saw were bright blue eyes.
"Bloody hell Swan, come on!"
Hot lips on hers woke her up, a wave of warmth spreading through her body, and her eyes suddenly opened to see Killian looking at her with concern.
"Are you okay?" He asked her, and she noticed that he was wet, hair falling in his eyes.
Somehow, they were back on the deck of his ship.
The mermaid, right, she thought, realizing that she had almost died.
"You-", Emma started to say before gasping in pain because her lungs were still burning, and Killian's hand brushed her cheeks as he told her to stay quiet because she had swallowed a lot of water and she needs time to recover.
He saved her.
"Let me get you to a more comfortable place where you can rest."
He gently took her in his arms, his hooked arm under her knees while the other wrapped around her waist. Emma didn't hesitate at all in locking her arms around his neck. Killian was holding her close and Emma suddenly felt warmer, and he still gave her enough space to let her breathe.
He carried her to his cabin, and lay her down on his bed gently. As soon as he pulled away the warmth disappeared and her teeth started to rattle.
"You should take off your clothes… Or I could do it for you, if that's what you want." He raised a suggestive brow, a smug grin on lips as he started to unbutton his own wet shirt, revealing his bare chest.
A soft moan of surprise fell from her lips before she could stop it from happening because she hadn't expected Killian to be this muscular, even with the years of sailing and sword fighting. Emma noticed scars along his stomach, on his right side and above his heart and she found herself to be really curious about the origin of those scars, wanting to know their stories. They didn't make him look ugly in her eyes.
They made him even more fascinating.
"See something you like?" He opened his arms, allowing her to look as much as she wanted.
And the truth was she wanted to look a lot.
"You wish", Emma said, her voice still weak from what she'd just been through.
"You have no idea", he replied with a burning, intense look in his eyes that made his bright blue eyes darken with something new.
Lust.
Want.
Desire.
Need.
"I will let you change, and you can stay here as long as you need to. Enjoy my bed, love", Killian said after a moment of intense soul-gazing they shared and looked away. His smirk grew wider as he put a dry shirt on, a black one of course, and then he left the cabin, never looking back at her.
Emma lay on her back, sighing heavily and massaging her temples with her fingers, trying not to let herself forget about her mission, about the reason for this journey.
Henry.
She couldn't let these feelings get to her.
No matter how much she loved those blue eyes, no matter how beautiful the melody of the sea was.
She couldn't sleep.
It was the first time since they had started this journey, because even though her stomach was tied into knots since the day Henry was kidnapped, she had never slept better than she did on this ship.
The rising and falling of the Jolly Roger on the waves lulled her to sleep, calming her stormy thoughts, preventing her to drown in her fears.
But that night even the slow rocking of the Jolly couldn't help her sleep.
Something had changed since Killian had saved her from that mermaid.
Since she had seen him shirtless.
She had called him Killian and she hated that feeling growing inside her, making her shiver like she never did before. Her fingers brushed her forehead, and Emma tried to put some order in her thoughts, trying to figure out what to do with Killian, Hook- that fucking pirate.
Emma rolled on her side and put a lock of hair behind her ear, reaching for her watch. It read 2:36 a.m.
And she couldn't sleep.
Jumping up from her bed, Emma leaned against the wall next to the window, admiring the calm sea, resting her forehead against the cold glass.
The pirate was getting under her skin, and she could remember every scar she had seen back then, she could easily see every muscle of his perfect form in her mind without even having to close her eyes.
It would be an enormous lie to say he wasn't absolutely gorgeous.
And his eyes… Emma had never seen eyes like his; eyes that read her very soul, terrifying her because what she had seen in them wasn't something she was prepared to face.
Admiration.
Want.
Need.
She swallowed hard, looking down at what she was wearing, a simple white top and shorts; it was not the right outfit to wear on a ship.
The sea was dark blue tonight, and the moon was playing hide and seek with the clouds.
Emma wondered if Killian's eyes matched the color of the sea right now.
She stopped thinking and ran out onto the deck on her tiptoes, passing by her parents' door, hoping that they were deeply asleep.
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