Survivor
After the Crocodile whisks Belle and himself away, another puff of smoke fills his vision, a golden one this time, and he finds Emma standing over him. At the back of his mind, he wonders how she manages a teleportation spell but he's too relieved to see her to care.
"Emma," he breathes.
He's grinning like a fool, and happy beyond words that she had come for him, but the smile vanishes from his face as he spots her angry glare.
"What's wrong, Swan?' he asks hesitantly.
She doesn't respond to his question and instead addresses Mary Margret…but her piercing hazel eyes never once leaves his blue ones as she talks to her mother.
"Mom," she says tersely, "I'll catch up with you and dad later."
Snow doesn't have time to respond though, as with a flick of her wrists, the two of them are standing in the back of Granny's diner.
"I didn't know you were so eager to get us alone, love," he teases, trying to lighten up the mood but if anything, her glare intensifies.
He says nothing, waiting for her to speak, and for a few seconds, nothing happens, she just glowers at him, as if wanting to crush his heart herself.
The said heart still rests in the palm of his hands, the red glow pulsing throughout the silent room. Without hesitation, he hands it over to her, after all, it was always meant to be with her. He thought she would turn it away, but she accepts it, treating it with tenderness he had never seen her shown except with her son.
Silently, she turns away from him for the first time and gently rests it on a nearby table.
Then, she explodes.
The motion doesn't register in his mind and he wonders how he ended up sprawled over the floor with her standing over him, but the pain in his jaw and her raised fist explains everything.
"Bloody hell, Swan!" he groans, rubbing his aching jaw.
"You!" she screams as she grabs him by the collar, dragging him up and slamming him against the wall, causing the weak wooden frame to shake dangerously.
"You broke your promise!" she shrieks, shaking him harder, "You broke your bloody promise, Hook!"
He doesn't yell back at her, he's too shocked to, because tears are streaming down her face. Emma Swan, the girl who had basically gone through hell and came back, was crying because of him.
"Love," he whispers sadly, sweeping a lock away from her face and she lets go of him and slap his hand away harshly and he tries to mask the hurt he feels.
"Don't you 'love' me!" she screeches and he reels back in surprise, it's the first time he's seen her so riled up since Pan took Henry away.
"Remember what you said?" she demands, "'You Don't have to worry about me, love.'," she mimics, "So what? Getting your heart ripped out of your chest and almost crushed by Rumple-freaking-stiltskin is a normal, daily activity for you?!" she yells.
"I'm so sorr-" he beings but Emma cuts him off before he can get another syllabus out.
"Sorry doesn't cut it, Hook!" she sneers, but her angry mask is ruined by the sadness shown by the tears pouring down her face and the obvious reflection of it in her eyes.
"You promised me," she croaks, her tone suddenly much sadder and timid. With a startle, he realizes that she sounded…broken.
She looks away from him, wrapping her arms around herself as she tries to stop the never-ending flow of tears, "You said I didn't have to worry about you. You said that you were a survivor. But, if we hadn't come at that moment…then you would've-" her voice breaks and before she can continue the sentence, she collapses into sobs.
Immediately, he has his arms wrapped around her in a secure embrace, she doesn't return the hug, but she doesn't push away either and just cries into his shoulder.
"You're freaking idiot, Killian," she mutters into his chest.
"I'm sorry for causing to worry, love," he says truthfully as he kisses the top of her head and she wraps her arms around his waist, "I never meant to. I don't want you to worry about losing me. I'm going to be here for a good long time to bother you," he grins.
He feels her smile into his chest before she slowly pulls away to look him in the eyes and he finds himself so helplessly powerless against her gleaming orbs, but he doesn't care.
She gives him a tentative smile, "I'm just glad you're alive," she breathes as she leans in to kiss him, but, he turns away.
"Perhaps you could be so kind as to return my heart into my chest first, love," he smiles as he nodded to the glowing organ in the table, "Although it has always belonged to you…kissing you doesn't feel the same without it beating in me, and I want to enjoy every bit of the next part," he smirks.
She rolls her eyes, "I knew something was off with your kiss," she mutters more to herself than anything.
"Of course you did, love," he grins, "After all, it's not true love's kiss without a heart," he winks and she rolls her eyes again but nonetheless picks it up gently, cupping it between her hands like she was afraid that if she touched it too roughly, it would crumble to dust underneath her fingertips.
She shifts her weight awkwardly from one foot to another, uncertainty flashing across her features, "I…don't really know how to do this. I mean, I've seen it done before…but I'm worried about doing it myself," she begins rambling, "I mean what if I do it wrongly? What if I accidentally crush your heart instead of putting it back?" she worries as she bits her lip.
He smiles comfortingly at her as he brushes her hair to the side, "I trust you, love," he soothes then steps back to let her do the task.
He smirks at her, "Just be gen-oof," he grunts in pain as she shoves his heart back into his chest…rather painfully at that.
"Sorry," she apologizes, but doesn't look too torn up about it, in fact, she looks secretly pleased, "I just thought that if I did it quickly it would be like ripping off a-" she never got to finish her sentence though, as his lips are on hers before she can get another word out.
He turns her and presses her back against the same wall she had slammed him on not five minutes ago and kisses her hungrily.
When they pulled away, he let their foreheads rest on each other, "I told you, Swan, I'm a survivor."
She smiles at that, but says nothing as she leans in and presses her lips onto his again, "And you better bloody remember, pirate," she teases.
"Wouldn't dream of forgetting, Swan," he smiles and their lips meet again.