A Gentleman's Agreement

"I thought I'd find you here."

As the rustic sound of the foreign yet familiar voice filled the empty quarters, Captain Killian Jones' blood turned cold and his palms began to sweat. Slowly, he turned around, eyebrow half cocked in a vain attempt to remain confident and cool in a situation that by all accounts should have made him fall on his knees sobbing for forgiveness. "Davie, we have to stop running into each other like this."

"What are you doing, Killian?" David Nolan asked, rubbing his temples in frustration, face barely visible in the pale candlelight.

The captain paced to the second unlit lantern and, swiped a match quickly on the sleeve of his jacket, "I'm just stretching my legs, mate."

"At two in the morning on your wedding night…" He stood up and walked so that his face was inches from the 300-year old wanderer's, "To my daughter?"

Killian laughed awkwardly again, putting a hand through his hair. "Now, David, let's not get crazy-"

"Killian, listen to me," Charming interrupted. "You've been dating my daughter for, what, three years now?"

The pirate's eyes grew cold and serious. "Three years, four months, and seven days."

David blinked a moment. "Well, that's not creepy."

"Well, I just want to make sure you have your facts straight before you start accusing me of anything sinister, or rather, of something that you may not understand yourself… entirely."

David took in a breath. "And I'm not saying you're as bad of a person as I thought you were…"

"Oh, touching…"

"You've been there for Emma, and you've been a great mentor to Henry…"

"Both very, very true." Killian smirked.

"So, if all this is true, then maybe you can explain to me why you felt the need to go back to your magical, flying ship the night before you're supposed to get married to Emma, who, if I do say so myself, is the best thing that will ever happen to you and your sad, pathetic life—"

"You think I don't know that?" Killian snapped, turning away from his future father in law. "You think I don't know that Emma is the most amazing thing that's ever happened to me?"

"Then why are you running away?"

"You don't understand!" Hook shouted.

"What's there to understand?" David came even closer, trying to gain a few inches over the pirate, "Can I trust you to be there for Emma?"

"I don't know," Hook hissed, slamming his arm into the wall. He spoke, voice barely above a whisper, eyes raising to meet Charming's. "Are you happy now, David? Is that what you want to hear? I don't know if I can trust myself to be there for Emma. And it's… terrifying."

So, together they stood, the prince and the pirate, joined in a moment of mutual heart wrenching nostalgia. One could only replay the death of the woman he once loved over and over in his mind. The exact moment of when the person he had sworn to love and hold and protect just as dearly as Emma was to him now, being ripped away from him in a moment… and how he was powerless to stop it.

The other could only remember the armful of his baby girl, the smallest glimpse of a child he would never see again until she was no longer a child. But in his daughter's eyes, he still saw those three seconds of the little girl she was, and in that he held on to that same potent love that he felt when he placed her in that wardrobe, and in that, the love manifested in his need to protect her now.

Finally, David took in a breath, searching for some kind of words of wisdom, "When I was about to marry Snow, I didn't really have to worry about this…"

Killian scoffed, "Well, I don't know, you had a Regina, that maybe worse than a father in law…"

"Don't count on it," David warned. "But the night before I married Snow, I couldn't sleep. I knew I loved her, more than anything, more than anyone I could ever possibly meet. But I was worried I wouldn't be able to be the man she deserves…"

"Oh, well, this is touching, isn't it David? Is the Prince of Charm trying to give me some fatherly advice?"

"Well, sorry for trying to understand…"

"Well, no offense, Charming, but you can't. I have a 300 year track record of manipulation and murder under my belt. If our positions were switched, I'd never let my daughter within two miles of someone like me. But, let me tell you this, Davie: Emma has made me want to be a better man. For the first time, I can say that if someone told me I could erase every moment of my past that wasn't her, I would, no questions asked. But I can't." He chuckled, "So here we are, two men on a flying pirate ship, wondering if history or intention will prevail."

"Hook, I can't let you make Emma another of your conquests." David voice's became hard. "I swear if you ever do anything to hurt her or Henry…"

"Then kill me."

The pirate spread his arms in surrender, exposing the breadth of his v-neck shirt and inviting the prince's ire. Charming furrowed his eyebrows, face focused on the blow, yet his hands not moving to his sword. "What?"

"If I ever do anything that means to hurt Emma or Henry in anyway… If I hurt her or betray her or do her any harm at all, then kill me. Because if that ever happens, I'd rather die than live with myself."

So together they stood, one man exposing his soul to the other, the two locked eye in eye in the pseudo-understanding of a half serious gentleman's agreement.

Finally, the sun began to rise over the sea, and David finally took a step forward. "Well, what are you doing here, Killian? Don't you have somewhere to be?"

Smiling, Killian nodded, and his future father in law slapped a toned arm around his shoulder. And as they walked, suddenly Killian found the phantom itch that had called his feet to climb onto that ship only hours before, that love for the sea and all it stood for that had compelled him so, had slowly dissipated, and the only longing that held him now was calling to him in time with the morning church bells.