Summary: Hook tells Emma the story behind how he got his hook and his moniker. Slightly AU CS.
A/N: occurs at the end of Season 3. Inspiration came from Colin O'Donoghue's picture of the hook on Instagram and listening to The Princess Bride movie on a long road trip. First attempt at fan fiction!
Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Once Upon A Time or The Princess Bride.
After the craziness of dealing with Zelena, traveling to the past and returning without seriously mucking up the future, and finally kissing Emma, Hook was ready for a little bit of monotony for a few days in Storybrooke. He had taken to surprising Emma outside the sheriff's station every day at the end of her shift, sometimes with a hot chocolate from Granny's (with whipped cream and cinnamon, of course), other times with a flower he picked for her on his way from the docks. Currently, he and Emma were sitting on a bench, fingers entwined, overlooking the docks after eating with her family at Granny's, enjoying the sunset and watching the seagulls fly around the harbor. Just being with her filled his heart with joy that he hadn't felt since before Liam died.
"Emma?" Hook asked softly.
"Mhm?" she murmured, leaning into his shoulder.
"I have a confession." He sat up a little straighter and turned so he was facing her fully.
She sat up, angling toward him, gently running her thumb over his knuckles, a slightly worried expression on her face. "Okay…"
"It's nothing bad, I promise." He said quickly, wanting to alleviate her fears. "It's just…" he inhaled through his nose and breathed out slowly, "Only one other person knows what I'm about to say, and he's been dead for quite a while."
Her emerald eyes met his sapphire ones, encouraging him to continue.
He took a deep breath, looking at the sea before returning to her eyes. "I'mnottherealCaptainHook," he blurted out.
Emma chuckled softly. "I didn't quite get that. Again, but not as fast?"
"I'm…not the real Captain Hook," he repeated slower, looking up at her from underneath his long, dark lashes.
"What do you mean?" Emma's face was confused, her fingers twisting in his.
"I'm not really Hook, lass," he said again.
"I don't understand." She searched his eyes, questioning him as she reached for his hook. "You have a hook for a hand. You have a stump, I saw it when you were in the hospital!"
The tips of his ears turned pink. "Yes, well, about that." He released her hand and began rolling his sleeve up his left arm. He undid the straps securing his brace around his elbow with practiced ease, pulling it off smoothly to reveal his stump.
"See! You have a stump!" Emma exclaimed, reaching out and touching it gently. Hook resisted flinching, a small smile twitching on his lips.
"Just trust me," Hook said, slowly rolling the cotton stockinette covering his arm down towards his stump. He reached the end of his stump, but continued rolling the fabric. Emma stared at his arm, completely confused, because he was at the end of his stump but he wasn't stopping.
"Hook?"
"Just trust me," he repeated, pausing his actions to meet her eyes. He squeezed her hand gently, then continued to roll up his covering past the end of his stump, seemingly over nothing, to reveal his perfectly normal left hand.
Emma gasped, her eyes wide, flitting between his face and his left hand that wasn't a hook, that was very real, that wasn't a stump with jagged scars. "What? How…you have a hand…"
"Yes, love. I have a hand."
"Can I?" she whispered, reaching out hesitantly toward it hesitantly. He nodded, keeping his eyes on her face to gauge her reaction.
She tentatively touched the back his hand. It felt warm and normal, just like his right. He was even wearing huge gaudy rings on three of his fingers, just like his right hand. She gently took it into both of hers, examining it, running her fingers over the skin, feeling his pulse at his very intact wrist. She turned it over, pressing their palms together and slowly lacing her fingers with his. "You have two hands," she breathed, still not completely understanding how that was possible for Captain Hook. "You said that Rumpelstiltskin cut it off! How do you have two hands?! Have you been lying to me all this time?" she stiffened, leaning back slightly from him. "I thought you were different. That you wouldn't lie."
"Yes, well, that requires a bit of explanation," Hook breathed in deeply, gently taking her other hand so both hands were interlaced. "It was not my intent to deceive you. But I was bound by a magical oath to keep it a secret. Please, let me tell you the full story. Will you allow me to do that?" he asked softly.
Emma looked up from their joined hands, meeting his eyes and seeing his honesty and vulnerability. She nodded, gently squeezing his hands. "Okay. I'll listen."
"You know my history. I told you as much as I was able, as much as the oath allowed me to. After Liam died, my crew and I turned pirate." Emma nodded, recognizing that part. "Well, two days after, we hadn't made port yet, hadn't gotten to replace our despicable uniforms with new clothes, hadn't gotten to change the Jewel to make her look different from a Navy ship. We were captured by a pirate ship." He chuckled. "New pirates taken captive by a pirate. We had a lot to learn.
"The captain boarded our ship after his crew had taken our provisions and valuables and forced us on our knees on the deck. I immediately recognized him because of his hook. He was rumored to never leave survivors. I knew I would soon be joining Liam." His voice softened, his tone wistful as he remembered the raw pain he was experiencing in those days. Emma released his right hand and moved her left to his back to soothingly rubbing large, slow circles, knowing how hard Liam's death was on him.
"The captain walked before all of us, pausing and looking into each man's eyes. Finally, he was in front of me. I met his eyes, welcoming his punishment and his sword in my belly." Hook's words were barely a whisper. "Instead, he told me to get up and meet him in his cabin. Amazingly, he let my ship and crew go free.
"I must have waited ten hours or more for him; not knowing my fate, not knowing why he had let my crew go, not knowing if I would be spared or killed as soon as he came in. Finally, he joined me, simply sitting down in his chair and looking at me for a long time. I was completely unnerved; it was like I was a cow at auction, being scrutinized and inspected to see if I was worth something. Finally, I gathered up enough courage to ask him why I was on his ship. He replied, 'You had that look in your eyes. Who did you lose?'
"I just stared at him. The awful Captain Hook, asking me who I had lost? What look in my eyes?" Hook paused for a few moments, taking a few deep breaths to calm himself down. "He waited for me to talk, just sitting there and watching. Eventually, I broke down and told him everything. How my mother had died when I was a baby, how my father had left Liam and me to fend for ourselves, how Liam took care of me and got me a commission in the Navy and on his ship when he became captain, how Liam died," Hook's voice cracked, "because of a corrupt king, how my crew and I turned rogue immediately after."
Emma squeezed his hand, continuing to rub his back and just support him as he told his story, trying to process this new information.
"Captain Hook listened to everything, surprisingly. Then, he told me to go to crew quarters and get some rest in order to be ready for the first shift in the morning. I almost didn't believe him. How could just hearing my story keep him from killing me? I didn't wait for him to retract his offer, though; I hightailed it below deck. The crew quickly accepted me, appreciating my aptitude for navigation. Every night, the Captain told me, 'Good night, Jones. Good work. Sleep well. I'll most likely kill you in the morning.' But he never did. He never killed me." Hook continue to look at their joined hands-large meeting small, rough meeting soft.
"Three years later, I became his lieutenant, his second-in-command. He taught me how to lead his crew, how to be a good pirate, how to show mercy on those who weren't overly combative, just like he did for my crew. Two years after that, he again took me to his cabin. This time, he revealed his biggest secret: his name was Jacob Williams, and he wasn't the true Captain Hook. He took off the hook and revealed his hand, just like I did for you just now."
Hook glanced up at Emma, who was beginning to understand where he was going with his story. She kept quiet, nodding and encouraging him to finish his explanation.
"He explained that he was the fifth Captain Hook; the original had been dead for a few decades, but he had passed on the name to a new captain when he retired. The method encouraged ships to surrender their goods instead of risking capture and death. Now, he was ready to retire, having accumulated more than enough wealth to live out his life comfortably, and pass on the hook to me."
"Am I seriously in a real-world version of The Princess Bride?" Emma muttered. Now it was Hook's turn to be confused. "Don't worry about it now. Finish your story."
He nodded continuing, "At the next port, we acquired a completely new crew. The captain stayed on as my first mate for several months, calling me Captain Hook so that the crew believed the rouse. Eventually, he left and settled into a house on the coast in one of the Southern kingdoms and lived for another thirty years. There was one catch to the whole deal-the oath; I could not tell anyone the truth until one of two things happened: I was passing on the hook to the seventh Captain Hook, or I was permanently separated from his ship, the Jolly."
"So when you traded her…" Emma said slowly, catching on.
Hook nodded. "When I traded her and came back to this realm via the bean, the oath was broken. I could finally reveal my true self. But then Zelena happened and the trip to the past and it wasn't something that I could just tell you in the midst of everything…" He looked up at her, guilty at having deceived her. "Please, believe me, I would have told you if I could. But the consequences of breaking the curse…would have been horrible."
"Hey, hey, hey," she said softly, reaching to grab both his hands again. "I understand. This isn't something you just go around telling random people."
He smiled gently at her. "So you don't hate me?"
She laughed softly. "I don't hate you. This is slightly…inconceivable. But considering my parents are Snow White and Prince Charming, living in a town with magic because a curse transported them here from the Enchanted Forest, I think I can believe you." His face broke out into a genuine, gleaming smile at her words. "I do have a few questions, if you don't mind."
"Of course. I wouldn't expect any less from the Savior," he replied, his smile staying.
"Did he ever tell you what made him take you to his ship?"
Hook nodded. "He said it was the look in my eyes. The look of a lost boy, of someone who had experienced great loss. He had lost his wife and son to a horrible illness while he was away sailing. He understood my pain."
"You said you lost your hand when Rumpelstiltskin cut it off after he crushed Milah's heart. How could he have done that, if you already had the hook?"
"Ah, yes. Well, the majority of that story is true. Milah did run away with me, and Rumple came after us after he became the Dark One. He did crush her heart in front of me," his eyes closed as he relived that terrible scene again in his mind, "but he did not take my hand. Milah had tossed the bean to my first mate, Roberts, who slipped it to me when Rumple was arguing with Milah. Rumple cut off Roberts' hand, believing him to have the bean, before stabbing him to death." Hook was quiet for a few moments, lost in thought, before Emma's voice interrupted him and brought him back to the present.
"How does this work?" Emma fingered the stockinette. "I was able to grab your whole stump. There wasn't a hand there. I could see the scars."
"It's enchanted. Once I roll it on," he took it, made her right hand into a fist, and began to put the fabric over her hand, "the enchantment makes it look like the original Captain Hook's injury, lost hand and all." Emma stared at where her hand should be; now, there was nothing there but a stump marred with scars. She grabbed it, unable to find her hand where it should have been.
"That is so weird." she whispered. "My hand is literally gone. But I can still feel my fingers." She shook her head, meeting his eyes again. "Can you take it off, please?"
"Of course, love." He quickly removed the stockinette and placed it on the bench next to them. "What else do you want to know?"
"How did the original Hook lose his hand?" she asked, lacing their fingers together again.
"I'm not exactly sure-by the time I came along, decades later, the original story had been so embellished that I truly wonder if there was any element of truth to it. But I believe he lost it in an accident involving some rigging-his hand was crushed and the circulation cut off so long that the hand died and he had to have it removed." He subconsciously rubbed his thumbs over her palms, relishing the fact that he could finally take both of her hands in his.
"Didn't your hand hurt, being in a fist all the time? Were you ever able to take it off?"
He shook his head. "Part of the enchantment kept my hand from cramping. I usually take it off at night, but only if I'm by myself in a locked room where someone can't barge in and discover my secret. That would be bad."
Emma nodded, scooting closer and resting her head on his shoulder. He slid his right arm around her, allowing her to keep his left in her hands as she continued to explore every aspect of the newly exposed skin. They sat in silence for a while, simply enjoying each other and the sea in front of them. Finally, she looked up at him, a sly smile on her face.
"So what am I supposed to call you now? Captain Hand?" She grinned at him.
He let out a long, deep, rich laugh, returning her large smile. "I think Killian will do, love."
"Well then, Killian, I have to thank you for sharing your true story with me." Her face turned serious. "I know how hard it is to share part of yourself with someone else. I'm truly honored you trust me enough to open up like this."
Killian's arm tightened around her as he pressed a gentle kiss to her hair. "Love, I would have told you on our journey up the beanstalk if I could have. I trust you. You deserve to know everything about my past-the good, the bad, the ugly." His fingers gently ran over her shoulder and upper arm as he continued, hesitantly. "I hope that in time, love, I earn enough of your trust to be able to share in your past as well; I want to be able to help ease the burden of your pain."
Emma lifted her face to meet his eyes. "In time, Killian, I think you will. You have, already, helped more than I ever could have hoped."
Killian held her gaze, his eyes soft, honest, and understanding. "Thank you, love, for listening, for understanding, for keeping an open mind. Now, I want to do something I've thought about since that first kiss in Neverland." He raised both hands to cup her cheeks, gently caressing them with his thumbs, smoothing them over her skin. He leaned down and softly brought his lips to hers in a tender, chaste kiss, trying to convey how thankful he was that she was here, listening to him, trusting him. He gently broke away, pressing his lips to her forehead. "Thank you," he whispered.
Emma opened her eyes to stare into his, sliding both her arms around his neck. "You know that you were already perfect, hook and all, right? I never thought of you as less than whole. You are perfect."
Killian's lips turned into a wide smile against her forehead. "I know. But no secrets, Emma. You deserve to know the true me."
She kissed him again, running her fingers through his hair. "Thank you for trusting me." she whispered.
He put his arms around her waist, pulling her close. Her head slid to his shoulder, and he rested his head on hers, just watching the end of the sunset and enjoying each other's company.
A few minutes later, Killian spoke again. "So what is this 'Princess Bride' you spoke of earlier?"
A quick laugh escaped Emma's lips. "It's a book turned into a movie. Absolutely a classic. We'll watch it sometime soon, I promise."
"I look forward to it." he smiled. "So what do you think I should do now? Just…show up in town, hookless and with a hand? Would that freak people out?"
She looked up at him. "We just had a green witch come terrorize the town. I don't think people would even blink an eye at the return of your hand. I think Henry would love the story, though, if you're willing to share it with him."
"As you wish, love."
Emma's smile turned into a full grin as she let out a deep chuckle. "We definitely have to watch that movie soon."