"You sure you don't mind dearie?"

Anna giggled and insisted, "Yes! You and Belle deserve a normal night. Have fun, I'll take care of everything."

Mr. Gold half grinned at her and leaned in to kiss her on her forehead. "You are a blessed child. I promise I won't be out late, and be sure to lock up in an hour."

She nodded and gave a half wave at her employer before he smiled at her, shutting the door behind him.

A bell jangled as the door opened to Mr. Gold's shop. Anna, engrossed in her newest novel, was jarred out of her fantasy and quickly closed the book. "I'll be with you in a moment." She hurriedly said as she placed Peter Pan near the cash register and smoothed her long, vintage dress down.

"There's no hurry darling…" a deep British baritone voice chiseled the air causing goosebumps to crawl all over her pale skin. Anna stopped what she was doing suddenly and looked up to see a man with dark tousled hair, piercing blue eyes and a shiny hook for a left hand. He was dressed as if he just left the Black Pearl. But that wasn't the reason she was staring at him. His other working hand rested on a hilt of a long sword.

Anna broke away from her staring, and once again met his eyes. A smirk was etched on his face as if it had always been there. She swallowed thickly, feeling as if she should be afraid of this stranger, but instead she felt strangely drawn to him.

"Can I help you find something?" She asked, proud of keeping her voice steady. He quirked an eyebrow as his smirk transformed into a full-fledged grin as he approached her behind the counter.

"Well I should certainly hope so, love." He huskily answered as his eyes trailed up and down Anna's form. She cocked an eyebrow, knowing what he'd see. A tall smallish figure, with not much curvature to it, light brown hair, blue-green eyes. She was certain there was nothing remarkable about her looks but she couldn't help getting annoyed.

Folding her arms and narrowing her eyes she said, "If you're looking for the butcher shop, I'm afraid you've come to the wrong place…"

Chuckling, the stranger continued his unabashed appraisal of her and replied, "Beautiful and clever… how is it that your Mr. Gold procures such females, do you think?"

Anna continued eyeing him, trying to figure out what he was after before realizing what he had come for. Blinking a few times she answered smoothly, "Mr. Gold isn't here at the moment…" then realizing her mistake she righted quickly and followed with, "but he should be here at any moment. You're more than welcome to wait here for him until he returns."

The pirate smirked once again and made his way closer to the counter, rounding the corner until he was a yard or two in front of her.

"Oh I'm not here for him, lass…" His eyes, while carrying an impish tint to them, suddenly took on a dangerous, almost malevolent undertone at his words. Anna could feel the color drain from her cheeks. He hadn't asked if Mr. Gold was there to see him, he had asked if Mr. Gold was there so that no one would see what he would do to her.

Anna swallowed again as she maintained her composure. He continued slowly approaching her, like a feral lion creeping on a wounded antelope. She commanded herself not to appear cowardly, though she was tempted to inch away from him. His gaze never wavering as he said pointing his hook at her, "You're Anna, are you not?"

Anna nodded and said, "I am. And you are?"

"Oh, how rude of me. Allow me to properly introduce myself." With a gallant bow, he declared without breaking eye contact, "I am Killian Jones, however you are more than welcome to call me by my more popular nomenclature… "

"Hook." Anna finished before he could continue. His eyebrows lifted in surprise and a wicked smile appeared on his face. "Correct…so my reputation precedes me I see."

For an unknown reason, Anna wasn't afraid. Though she knew, without a doubt, that this man would cause her harm. She wasn't frightened of him.

He continued his approach until he was a few inches from her. The smell of gun powder and sea air filled her nostrils; a scent that was intoxicating to her. Captain Hook was a few inches taller than she was, and she noticed that his lips came to her forehead as she watched him speak. His eyes still held a sharp glint as he continued to search her eyes for any spark of fear.

"I won't insult your intelligence with idle chatter—" his hand came up to her cheek and pulled several strands of hair out of her face. It housed two silver jeweled rings on his fingers, and a tattoo on his forearm that she didn't have a chance to read. "so I'll just get on with it…"

He grabbed a small, metallic glock from behind his back and wedged it between Anna's ribs, pushing her back against the wall behind the register. Anna felt the hollow barrel and didn't even look down to see it. She knew doing so would convince him of her own fear. Instead she held his gaze, and examined his entire face as if he were someone she hadn't seen for a long time.

Captain Hook hovered in front of her; Anna noticed that his expression began to dissolve slowly as she remained steady and composed in front of him.

"From what I'm told, you mean a great deal to Rumplestiltskin. One could say you're almost like a daughter to him."

Anna licked her dry lips and shrugged. "I'm not sure if I'd go as far in saying that… he's the only guardian I've had in a long time. I'd hope he thinks of me in that way, but it's hard to tell."

Hook chuckled and grazed his hook against her cheek. Anna shivered against the feel of cold steel on her skin. "You're too modest, darling. I know for a fact that he cares greatly for you. Almost as much as he does Belle."

"Why come here for me then?" Anna asked curious.

Hook stared at her for a moment before answering, "You were more…easily accessible, I suppose."

He tsked as he memorized her face and murmured, "So lovely… such a waste."

He jabbed the gun barrel further into her skin, until a small issue of pain tore from her lips. And still she never broke eye contact. Hook's gaze became inquisitive.

"You're not afraid of me are you?"

Anna didn't respond.

"And you aren't going to barter for your life?"

Anna thought for a moment before she replied, "It won't do me any good will it? You knew before you came in here whether or not you were going to kill me. You decided that before you even saw me. I won't spend the last few moments on this earth sacrificing my pride."

Something changed in his countenance as she spoke. The hard glint in his eyes softened considerably and the pressure of the gun in her side lessened substantially as she went on.

"Besides, you're a pirate. You follow a code that you place on yourself. Nothing I do or say will change your mind once it's been made up. If I'm going to die, I'd like to die courageous."

His expression was now completely crippled, and Anna honestly didn't know what he was thinking at the moment. Suddenly, the gun was no longer jabbed in her side, and was now stowed in the back of his trousers.

Anna almost breathed out a sigh of relief at the feeling.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Don't sound so disappointed, love. I could still change it back you know." He half smirked but Anna knew he wouldn't. The hard glint in his eyes was replaced with something completely different now.

"I don't understand…"

"It's quite simple really; I'll require something else from you entirely." He leaned in closer to Anna, inhaling her scent, running his nose along the side of her jaw.

Anna began trembling against him as his hand trailed down her side to her waist pulling her to him tightly. She swallowed nervously as her quaking grew worse and worse the longer he held her. He chuckled against her skin and lifted his face to hers once more.

"Remarkable. I hold a pistol to your ribs and not even a change in heartbeat—"he said as his hand moved from her waist and touched her chest where her heart flailed wildly. "and yet, I touch you and you tremble like a leaf in the wind… fascinating…" he murmured as his eyes went back and forth between her lips and her eyes.

"Hook, I wasn't going to beg for my life… not with you. Please don't make me beg for my dignity. If you're going to let me live, I ask that you leave me my dignity. I can suffer you taking one or the other, but not both…"

Anna's teeth chattered together as her tremblings continued. She closed her eyes against the oncoming tears, willing herself not to cry in front of him.

When she opened them once more, a severe look appeared on his face as he said, "Madam, I may be a pirate… but I am not a monster."

She was silent for a moment, trying to process what he just said.

He leaned away from her slightly and continued, "I am only willing to… steal a woman's virtue when she is willing to allow me steal it. That is one thing I'll never take without permission."

His eyes almost pleaded with her to believe him. Anna felt her body's shaking lessened as she calmed down.

"You are far more intriguing than I thought you'd be, Anna… possibly the only woman I've met that doesn't fear death. It's almost as if you welcomed it."

A look flashed across Anna's eyes that Hook must have caught. He asked amazedly, "You wanted me take your life, didn't you?"

For the first time, Anna couldn't look at him anymore. Her gaze turned from his as she focused on a magnifying glass on the counter. His hand pulled her face back to his as he asked again, "Why? Why so eager to end your life?"

She swallowed and left his grasp. Trying to regain her self-control, she turned to him again and asked, "Is that so shocking? My entire life I've lived in a cage. In a place where I've been trapped with absolutely no hope of anything better. After several years…any option starts to sound appealing…" Her eyes grew teary and her voice cracked. She stopped mid-sentence trying to gather herself once more before continuing, "I'd never be cowardly enough to take my own life. I couldn't justify it. My life isn't miserable enough. But I wouldn't fight it, if ever it chose me…"

Hook seemed to be hanging on every last word.

"All I wanted, all I ever wanted was an adventure. Was a chance to see everything there is to see and learn everything there is to learn. I wanted a fairytale." She half smiled as she finished, "instead I got thrown into a tragedy. And a badly written one at that."

She stood a few feet from Hook watching him internalize everything she had just told him. Suddenly she felt foolish. Why had she just divulged everything that had been weighing on her heart for the past several months? A complete stranger? Captain Hook?

Her embarrassment was put on hold when he said, "That was quite possibly the most honest thing anyone has ever said to me."

"What?" Anna asked confused.

Hook grinned as he walked towards her until he was only a few inches from her face. He looked down at her, giving her a smoldering look and said, "After experiencing as much betrayal as I have the past few weeks, you have no idea how refreshing true honesty is."

Anna was still stunned as he spoke. This did not sound like the Captain Hook she'd read about in her book.

"I'll tell you what love; I'll make you a deal." He traced his fingers down her face to her cheek. His calloused thumbs sent ripples of shudders through Anna's bloodstream.

"A life for a life. I wanted either you or Belle or ideally Rumplestiltskin dead. But now, I can see you are much more valuable alive than not. If you come with me, I'll spare both their lives."

Anna's eyebrows furrowed. "I…are you asking me to…?" she couldn't finish the sentence.

"Leave Storybrooke. Forever."

Anna was slack-jawed. She shook her head and asked, "But Mr. Gold? Belle? My friends—"

"They'll all live." He finished for her. "But—"his face hardened slightly as he moved closer to her menacingly. "If you double cross me or if you leave. I'll be sure that they die slowly and painfully. And I'll make sure you're there to witness the entire charade."

Anna was amazed at how quickly his face took on darkness and light. Almost as if there were two different men inside him in a constant battle to take control. He closed in on her and backed her up against the opposing wall waiting for her answer.

"Alright."

"Now, to be clear. This is forever, lass. You'll never see them—any of them—ever again."

Anna could almost hear her heart shatter in her chest at the words. Although she had mixed feelings about Storybrooke, and although she loathed being trapped in the same place, she loved Gold and Belle and Emma and nearly everyone there. To leave forever without any of her friends, people who may as well had been her family, would be the worst form of torture anyone could have imposed upon her.

She looked up at Hook, tears in her eyes and whispered. "You have a deal."

A wolfish grin appeared on his face as he eyed her up and down once more. "We leave tomorrow at day break. Meet me at the docks with everything in order. Do not be late."

Anna nodded slowly.

Hook grabbed her waist and pulled her close to him whispering in her ear seductively, "It's been far too long since a beautiful woman was on my ship. I'll confess, this'll be more enjoyable for me than it will be for you…"