Just a little something before Manhattan. (cover image by captaincalahaan on tumblr)
Set after everyone gets back to Storybrooke.
Emma glanced behind her; there was no one. She ducked into an alleyway and leaned against the cold stone wall. A long sigh escaped her and floated before her in the frigid February air. She gritted her teeth, trying to push down all the things that were driving her insane.
She couldn't hold it in anymore. All her frustrations poured over their containers and washed out of her. She screamed, not caring who heard her. Likely no one, she was down by the docks, and hardly anyone was out at this time of night. There were a few discarded wooden boxes lounging haphazardly a few feet away. Emma went to them and stared. She suddenly started kicking and stamping on the boxes, shattering wood all over the alley. She imagined each one with Neal's and Regina's faces. She picked up one crate and threw it against the wall with bellow.
She felt a wetness in her eyes and immediately stilled. She focused every part of her onto forcing the tears back into her eyes, and even stared up into the star-scattered sky. She was so intent she didn't notice the footsteps closing in until the last second. Emma whirled around to see a certain pirate standing five feet away. He still looked pretty hurt; the cut above his eye was still red, as was the mark under his lip. He was slightly hunched, trying to lessen the pain in his ribs, and he limped slightly as he stepped closer.
"Rum?" Hook extended his hand which held the same flask he had used back up in the beanstalk.
"How long have you been standing there?" Emma asked warily. She straightened her posture and narrowed her eyes.
"Longer than you were," Hook said, moving closer to Emma.
"Oh," was all Emma could reply. She eyed the flask before accepting it and taking a long draught.
"Something wrong?" Hook asked casually, as if he hadn't watched her emotional breakdown.
"Of course not," Emma replied. "Just my entire life collapsing before my eyes."
Hook remained silent, gazing at her intently. Emma passed the rum back to him and he took a swig.
Finally, Hook spoke, "Wouldn't have anything to do with a certain newcomer, otherwise known as Henry's father?"
Emma was going to deny it, but the words stuck in her mouth. She looked down at her shoes.
"Everything was going fine! I thought we could finally start getting on with starting a strange, but normal family life. But then Gold takes me off to help him find his son, and it ends up being the man who turned me into the police, seventeen and pregnant. The man who abandoned me and left me with nothing but a son I couldn't even care for! And now I have Henry and we were getting along and I was finally feeling like a real mother and he finds out the truth. That his father is a criminal and not a hero who had died, like I had told him. And now he won't even speak to me, and Regina won't let me anywhere near him. Everyone in my life keeps running away from me and I don't think I can take it anymore." Emma didn't know how all of this came out of her, and why she was confessing it to a suave, untrustworthy pirate. She looked at him, expecting him to look terrified, but he was still staring at her intensely.
"Do you want me to find you another box to destroy?" Hook asked, quirking an eyebrow.
Emma fumed. "I'm so glad that my torment is such an amusement to you." She made to turn around and storm back out of the alley, but Hook caught her hand with his and pulled her back.
"This may seem like hell, but trust me, you'll fix this." His voice was soft and husky. Emma was suddenly very aware of the scarce distance between them. Hook still held her hand in his, his thumb lightly ghosting over her skin. Her stomach clenched against her wishes.
"I thought you didn't have a soft side," she breathed, surprised to find all the air had left her lungs. She didn't know if Hook was leaning closer, if it was her, or maybe both of them, but he was suddenly inches away.
"I don't," He whispered. She could smell the rum on his breath and the sea on his clothes. She tried to keep her eyes fixed on the entrancing blue ones before her, but she couldn't stop herself from glancing at his lips. When she looked up again, she saw he was having trouble looking in her eyes too.
"Good." Emma grabbed him roughly by the collar and kissed him. She really shouldn't have, her brain was screaming at her that this was not good, but its protests were drowning in the moans of pleasure issuing from her body. The pirate was just too damn attractive.
Hook pressed back in equal fervor and Emma's hands tangled themselves in his inky hair. Good lord it was a soft as it looked. Hook slipped his hand and hook onto her hips, and with the cold touch of metal on her skin, sense forced itself back into Emma's mind. She pushed Hook away and brought her hand to her mouth and wiped it. Hook looked slightly dazed, but his eyes were also dark, and he moved toward her slightly, bringing his hand toward her face. She parried it and held it away, breathing heavily. She knew she should walk away right now; this would bring her no good. But God, if made her feel pretty good right now, which was something a lot more appealing than the shit she was drowning in before.
She gave in and moved to pull him in, but he was already at her lips. Emma wrapped her arms around his neck, one hand clawed at his back and the other buried in his hair. She tried to pull him closer, but they were absolutely flush against each other. Hook hissed in pain, and Emma remembered his broken ribs. She broke away to apologize, but Hook didn't give her a chance before recapturing her lips and pressing his tongue into her mouth.
Emma could find no thoughts in her mind. She was purely body, consumed by this need to be close to someone, anyone, even if it was an unsavory pirate. She gasped as she felt the tip of Hook's hook slide under her shirt and trace patterns on her skin. She didn't want to think about how Hook had learned to be so talented with just one hand when it came to pleasuring a woman. His other hand brushed over her breasts before curving around her neck, thumb caressing her racing pulse.
He broke away from the kiss to dip his head to the other side of her neck to press searing kisses from her collarbone to her ear, where he happened upon a spot that made Emma moan. Her brain was demanding she stop now before this went any further. She thought she probably won't have been able to stop if Hook had not moved away from her neck at that precise moment, and she held him from returning to her lips with a hand on his chest.
His hooded eyes spoke to her the same desire she felt deep in her gut and his lips were swollen and slightly open. He was only an inch away and his breath moved over her face, lightly brushing away the hair in her eyes.
"You're not going to tell anyone about this, because it's not going to happen again," she said, trying to add some force to the words, but not sure if it actually came out.
Hook leaned closer, a centimeter away from her lips and tilted his head. "Don't be so sure about that, love." He eyed her lips before looking back at her.
Emma moved away, fully aware of how entangled they had become, and Hook smirked.
"Not a word," she threatened, adjusting her coat and scarf.
Hook snorted, "Course not. Wouldn't want your father to come skin me alive, would I?"
They stood there, awkward silence eating at Emma. What do you say to someone you explain all your shit to, and then shove your tongue down their throat?
"Well…goodbye." She turned on her heel and ducked out of the alleyway without looking back.