Emma bent down to retrieve the pink flowers she was gathering for her bedroom back in the castle. She held the flower up to her nose, sniffing it when she heard the breaking of sticks close by. Dropping the flower, she pressed her back to the large tree she was by.

"We won't rest until we find her!" A deep voice sounded from the distance.

Emma's heart beat wildly in her chest. Her parents are always sending the knights out for her because she refuses to sit still in the castle all day for her birthday. Every year it's the same. She never listens and the knights are always hunting her down. The carriage slows down as they near the tree she's hiding behind.

Inching away from the tree to make a run for it, she runs towards the water. A hand wraps around her bicep and just as she's about to call out for help, a hand clamps down over her mouth. The body holding her hostage smells like rum and the sea. It's an appeasing smell. One Emma has always had a craving for. It wasn't often Snow and Charming let Emma travel near the sea port. They said it was crawling with dirty pirates and thieves. Even though her mother was once a bandit herself.

As for rum, it was something Emma could never have. Only the best wine for the royal family of the Enchanted Forest.

Emma began to thrash wildly and then decided to bite down on the gloved hand. The man let out a curse as he dropped his hand. Emma ducked from his clutch as she did so, she stared into the bluest eyes she had ever seen. Her eyes travel up to see a man with dark hair, blue eyes and a…hook on his left hand. Her mouth drops open slightly as she backs away from him.

"Captain Hook," Emma states in awestruck. He's nothing how she pictured him. From all the stories she heard, she didn't expect him to be as attractive as he is. So tall and muscular and beautiful.

"Ah so you've heard of me," he says.

She nods her head slightly, swallowing hard. "Everyone in the Enchanted Forest has. You have quite the reputation, Captain."

He gives her a smile that makes her weak. She's acting like a love struck girl instead of a dignified princess. She straightens herself to act more like a princess and less like she's about to fawn over a pirate. Her parents would disapprove.

"Well, so do you. Tell me, Princess Emma, what is it you're doing hiding from your knight and shinning armors?" His deep, accented voice asks her.

She brings the basket of flowers closer to her chest. Talking to him could be dangerous. She's heard many stories about the fearsome pirate. Stories about Neverland. Her eyes dart back down to the hook. However, she has never heard the stories about how he got a hook for a hand. Nobody has. It's one of the mysteries about the Captain of the Jolly Roger.

"None of your business," she snaps at the pirate. "I have every right to throw you into the prison to be executed."

He quirks and eyebrow at her as if challenging her. Stepping closer, he stares into her eyes. "Well, princess, maybe you should turn me in."

Sensing the teasing tone in his voice, she suppresses the urge to slap him in the face. Snow has gone over this with her multiple times that a princess shouldn't go around slapping people. However, Emma thought differently. And man, would she love to do so right now.

She takes a step closer to match him. "Don't challenge me, pirate. You have no idea what I'm capable of."

Hook steps away from her as the yell of her name resonates throughout the forest. Her eyes widen as the voice get closer and he chooses this as the perfect time to disappear. Before Emma can say anything else, the pirate is gone. She looks around for him, but he's nowhere to be seen. Sighing, she stands defenseless as the guards usher her into the carriage.

"Emma, dear, we've gone over this before," Snow crosses her arms over her chest.

Charming walks in with Henry at his side. Henry's dressed in a knight's uniform in preparation for the knighting ceremony. "Mom."

Emma walks over to her son with a proud smile on her face. "I am so proud of you. And so would your father."

Snow walks over to her grandson with the same smile on her face. She grasps Henry's shoulder. "You look handsome."

"Thanks, Grandma."

Snow leads Henry out of the grand ballroom leaving Charming and Emma alones. He ushers for Emma to sit down at the table. She does and she's told, not one to defy her father.

"Emma you have to stop going out of the castle without a knight at your side. It's dangerous out there with the Evil Queen on her quest still," Charming tells his daughter.

Emma suppresses the desire to roll her eyes at her father. He was always the more protective of her parents. She was definitely a daddy's girl. "Dad…"

"They knights had said Captain Hook was prowling around-"

Emma tunes out her father as he begins to tell her about Hook. There was something about that pirate that bugged her and intrigued her at the same time. Not to mention how blue his eyes were. Almost as blue as the sea. She becomes lost in her daydreams of the pirate until her father cleared his throat to bring her attention back to him.

"I know, Dad."

"What do you mean you know?" he presses.

Emma reverts her eyes back onto her father. "I know to be careful of him."

Charming pats Emma's hand lightly, holding onto it for a bit. "Good. I want you to be safe, Emma."

Emma watched as her father walked out of the ballroom. She looked out through the window at the night sky growing darker. In just a couple hours, the ballroom will be filled with hundreds of people she doesn't know to celebrate her birthday. A birthday she doesn't even want to have. Not when there's so much more outside of the castle.

Her minds goes back to Hook and how free he must be on the open sea. Oh how she wishes she could explore more of what the land has to offer. She lays her hands down flat onto the table as she gets up from her seat. Tonight, she decides, is when the real adventure begins.