"Why?! Why would you do such a thing? Are you insane?" Emma's hair was disheveled and laced with leaves and tangled in twigs while she gripped her gun, knuckles white, her breath shallow and rapid coming out in puffs of mist around her head. Her eyes were as wild looking as the rest of her as she paced back and forth, body tense and jerky, in front of Hook who was also breathing heavy and cradling his hooked arm with his other hand. There was a long scratch up the sleeve of his leather coat, and blood trickling from the corner of his mouth down to his chin. He winced as he wiped it away with his thumb and flicked the glob of blood on to the ground at his feet.
"I might ask the same of you! What the hell were you thinking trying to take that on by yourself?!" Hook shouted back, pointing his hook in her direction. It was covered in the blood of the flying monkey he had just fought off. Between them, the body of said flying monkeylay in a twisted furry heap on the ground. He wasn't about to take flack for helping her when she needed it even if she wouldn't admit that she did.
Emma stopped in her tracks and glared at him, gritted teeth and clenched jaw hardening her features. Neither the look on her face, nor the gun in her hand stopped Hook from limping into her space and piercing her with his stare. His voice was sharp and rocky with restrained emotion as he bit out, "Did you think I would just casually stand by and watch as you were attacked, Emma? Do you think I traveled between worlds to get to you, only to have you ripped away from me before my very eyes? Did you think I wouldn't fight for you?"
"I was going to shoot it!" she bellowed.
"When?! You'd barely pulled your weapon and it was almost upon you. There was no time! You hesitated and I saw an opportunity, so I took it. My apologies for not asking permission, m'lady," he finished sarcastically with an exaggerated bow.
"It could have killed you...I could have hurt you...you...idiot!" she cried. Her face was flushed with anger and her eyes wide with fear.
Hook shouted back, arms open wide, "If saving you makes me an idiot, then, yes! I'm the biggest idiot in all the realms, and I will happily proclaim it and continue to be an idiot for the rest of my life if it means keeping you alive and somewhat safe." Putting his arms back down, Hook lifted Emma's chin with his crooked finger and in a low, serious voice said, "When I told you that I came back to save you, Emma, it wasn't just that one time. It was for all time."
A silent sob wracked Emma as she collapsed to the ground, limbs finally loose, but her face still strained. "I don't know if I can do this," she said in a voice so quiet Hook barely heard her.
He crouched down in front of her and sighed. "Emma, what's really the problem?" he asked softly.
She looked up at him with watery eyes and sniffed. "I don't want to be the death of you. I don't think I could handle that. There are a line of exes in my wake and more than a few are dead, Hook. Being with me is dangerous. I couldn't lose you, too."
"Do you think, love, you are the only one who has lost someone they cared about? Need I remind you that one hundred percent of my former loves have died tragically in front of me?"
Emma shook her head and wiped her eyes before taking an unsteady breath. Hook gently picked a leaf from her hair and tossed it aside. He budged Emma over and sat down heavily beside her with a pained grunt.
Gingerly resting his forearms on his bent knees, Hook looked over at Emma who was avoiding his glance. "Listen, love. Calling me an idiot is not going to drive me away. Neither is pointing out the obvious risks that come with being a part of the Savior's life, nor, even, is revealing the possibility that you snore like a drunken dwarf in your sleep. I'm not leaving you."
"How could you want this life?!" Emma blurted out, gesturing to the dead flying monkey in front of her. "How can you see everything that happens to me and around me and because of me and not run screaming? Hell, most days I want to run screaming!" She choked back a sob and roughly wiped at her eyes.
Hook gave her a few seconds to collect herself before answering her. "Because the alternative is far worse, I'm afraid," he said roughly. With a bitter grin he asserted, "I'm not them you know. Any of them. Not your parents, not Neal, most definitely not Walsh, not anyone else who came in between them. I will never do to you what they did. Or haven't you noticed that yet? None of this," he nodded at scene in front of them, "scares me. You know what does scare me though, love?"
"What?" Emma asked in a small voice.
"Being without you. I've done it for a year now, and I can assure you I did not enjoy it. Not for one second of one day."
"I'm so sorry, Killian," Emma said sincerely, finally meeting his eyes. She searched his face as if trying to find the hidden places he was keeping his pain so she could soothe it away.
He smiled at her and shook his head. "No need to be sorry, love. It wasn't your choice or your fault," he said, putting his arm around her shoulders to comfort her.
She leaned against him, rested her head on his shoulder and sighed. "Just be patient with me?"
Hook chuckled. "Lucky for you, aside from surviving, the other thing I excel at, darling, is patience. I can guarantee you a minimum of 330 years of it. After that, well..."
"I won't take that long," Emma assured him.
"Good," he answered.
