Chapter One

Lifting her hair off her hot neck, Emma wished more than anything that she'd brought a hair tie with her from the ship. The weather in Neverland was unpredictable: when they'd left the ship a few hours ago it had been slightly cloudy and cool, but in the short time that they'd been away those clouds had disappeared and the heat from the sun was merciless.

'If you're too hot darling, feel free to relieve yourself of a few layers,' came a chipper voice from behind her. 'Please, don't suffer due to modesty on my account.'

Emma stopped for a few seconds, letting Hook catch up to her so that she could give him a glare and kept walking, now pretty much side by side. He'd foregone his vest and wore just his baggy black shirt and his leather pants. She couldn't imagine how stifling it still must be for him in those colours. 'If I removed a few layers I'd be nude,' she told him bluntly.

His smirk only widened and he waggled his eyebrows at her. 'Just looking out for you, love.'

Rolling her eyes, Emma pulled at the bottom of her shirt to let some air in. 'I'm not stripping for you, Hook. We're almost there.'

They had spent the afternoon stocking up on supplies, taking what food they could from the island before they set out on their next journey. It had only been a few days since they had saved Henry from the clutches of Peter Pan's shadow and although they were still weren't quite home, Emma was finally starting to relax. She couldn't remember the last time that things felt like they were clicking into the right place - she finally had her parents, and she had her son back. And even though they didn't quite have a way to get home yet, Hook thought he knew who would. After all, he'd left Neverland before.

All they had to do was find Tinkerbelle.

Finally the trees thinned before them, with perfect timing, too. The Jolly Roger was anchored a little way away from the shore and Hook had advised against leaving the rowboat on the beach, even if they'd hidden it, so David had rowed them to shore with a promise to return in a few hours. Emma could see him not too far off and knew it wouldn't be too long before he jumped out and walked through the last bit of shallow water to reach the sand. Seeing Henry beside him in the boat only made her smile. She didn't know whether it was excitement to see her or just to be doing these strange things like rowing boats back and forth from a pirate ship, but she was glad for his excitement, glad to be able to see him smile again.

Steeling herself, she stopped before they left the edge of the trees. Hook continued for a few steps before realising that she was no longer beside him. The concern on his face when he turned to see what had made her stop only made her feel right in her thoughts. 'What's wrong?' he asked her, his voice low.

Feeling awkward as hell and trying not to show it, Emma twisted the hem of his shirt between her fingers. 'Nothing's wrong,' she said, smiling when he narrowed his eyes at her doubtfully. 'I mean it, I'm fine. Great, actually.' Taking a deep breath, she let go of her shirt and took a step toward him, knowing that they didn't have much time. 'I need to thank you. If it wasn't for you, I never could have gotten my son back. We couldn't have done any of this without you.'

The suspicious in his eyes was gone, replaced by a soft look that she was beginning to see a little bit more of lately. 'You don't need to thank me, Emma. You know that.'

'Yes I do.' Stepping forward again so she was now standing directly in front of him, Emma tried and failed miserably to ignore how her skin tingled just at the thought of being close to him, of him touching her. 'I needed to thank you properly while we still have a moment to ourselves.'

That spark caught in his eyes again. 'You know very well that we can find a few moments to ourselves once we're back on the Jolly.'

Feeling her cheeks flush, Emma looked away, unable to match his gaze with their close proximity, even knowing that she'd caused it. She felt afire and not just from the heat, and knew that if she kissed him now she wouldn't be able to stop easily, and both Henry and David could probably see them now. Memories of their shared moments filed her memory, of bickering and desperation and loneliness that had led to quite a few passionate kisses as she struggled to deny her attraction to him. The last time, she'd given up trying, and they hadn't spoken about it since. She was surprised he hadn't taken the chance and brought it up today. 'Yes, well... we need to talk about that...'

Hook pressed his hook against her waist and his right hand against her cheek, forcing her to look up to meet his gaze. The intensity in his eyes should have surprised her, but she found that it didn't. She knew they read each other well. 'Emma,' he began.

'Dad? Dad!'

The shouts were followed quickly by a loud splash and Emma pulled away quickly, rushing from the shelter of the trees out onto the open beach, panicked by Henry's shouts. The first thing she saw was David standing ankle-deep in the water, the rope attached to the rowboat hanging loosely from his hand as he stared off to her left. Following his gaze, she saw Henry running - not kidnapped, not hurt, just running, but not to her. Hearing Hook come to a stop not too far from her, she turned to see what Henry was running towards, his cries only now just starting to decode in his mind.

Dad?

The first person she saw was... was that Mulan? It looked like her, but she was just a little too far away to tell, especially since the girl had discarded her heavy warrior garb and wore instead simple breeches and a light, loose tunic. And a few metres in front of her, running to meet her son, was...

Neal.

'Oh my god,' she whispered, feeling frozen to the spot. Dimly she was aware of David and Mulan nearing her from their opposite directions, but it seemed that for all intents and purposes her brain had flat lined. As Henry jumped into Neal's arms Emma felt her heart pull.

He was alive.

Seeing but not really understanding, Emma watched motionless as Neal held onto Henry for a good minute before setting him down and looking around. When his eyes found her she felt herself come back a little bit to herself and took a step toward him, two. 'Emma!' he cried, running toward them, Henry coming up behind him.

'Neal!' When he reached her his arms went around her waist, lifting her much like he had Henry and spinning her a little. Her hands grabbed at his shoulders to steady herself.

'I can't believe I found you here. Thank god you're safe.'

'I'm so glad you're alive.' Emma felt tears she hadn't known had been waiting spill down her cheeks. Neal set her down on the ground and took her face in his hands.

'I love you, Emma,' he told her fervently, bending his head and pressing his lips against hers.

He kissed her desperately, pulling her body close to his and wrapping his around her tighter. Still stunned from - well, from everything - Emma let herself be kissed, trying to piece together too many things at once. Before she could get too far she felt another pair of arms wrap around both her and Neal. Neal broke off his kiss and wrapped his other arm around Henry, the three of them standing with their arms wrapped around each other. Emma closed her eyes and pressed her forehead hard against Neal's shoulder, feeling herself trembling.

Taking a deep breath, she looked up - and felt her breath catch in her throat.

David and Mulan were staring at them with expressions mixed of shock, confusion, joy; pretty much what was going through her mind. She barely noticed them, however.

Hook was standing a little way behind the others. He stood so stiffly, and his good hand was curled into a fist. He was watching them, and when their eyes met a cool, careful expression took his features.

But she was sure she hadn't imagined the hurt and confusion in his eyes when she'd first seen him.

AN: So... I hope you liked, please let me know what you think, if you can. Next chapter is from Hook's point of view, and a bit angsty. It's half written so hopefully I'll get that one up soon. I'm not really sure how long this will end up, but it shouldn't be more than 10 chapters. Hopefully writing this will entertain me until Once and my other favourite shows start again.

I've had this idea in my head for a while now, and decided to finally get it out. I did a bit of planning before I started writing, so I have ideas for a few chapters. It's mainly the interactions between Emma, Hook and Neal that I'm writing this for, so there will be gaps in the storytelling between the bits that I want to get out, but I'll make sure it makes sense, either by summarizing it between chapters or having the characters recall it etc.

I'd also like to specify that this is a Captain Swan fic, and although I know it would be described as a love-triangle type plot, that's only because at the moment I feel like this would be a realistic way for Emma to deal with finding out that Neal is alive.

Also, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to name this. All Over You is a song by the Spill Canvas, and is a part of the playlist that I'm taking inspiration from for this fic. If there's a particular song that relates to the feelings that I'm putting into each chapter I'll try and let you know.