I'm sure that whatever happens on Sunday will make this story completely AU, but this story has taken a hold in my head and I'm planning to forge ahead with this plot line regardless. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 2: A Plan

He sat on the lakeshore, watching the water fall down the side of the rocks. He had barely moved all night – he knew sleep would have been impossible. He was furious at her, or, at least, trying to be. Anger was an emotion he was much more comfortable with than hurt.

The sun was just starting to rise when Regina appeared out of the trees. "Ah, here you are. I take it things didn't work out so well for you, Hook?"

"Oh, it went bloody wonderful."

She shrugged. "I told you not to say anything. Come on, I was sent to bring you back to the camp so we can get moving on what is now our double-rescue mission."

Hook fumed as they walked. "This right here is bullshit. I end up doing the right thing and now they all hate me for it."

Regina smiled sympathetically. "If it's any consolation, Emma didn't tell them you knew. "

"It's not." He hoped Regina didn't notice the strange comfort he took in that knowledge. "Wasn't expecting forgiveness to be in the cards for me."

They walked in silence for a moment before Regina spoke with a sudden vehemence. "It is bullshit, you know."

"What is?"

"With people like us, self-preservation is as natural as breathing. I know that Snow White is always going to make the good, selfless decision instinctively regardless of the circumstances. Good for her. But when I make a decision, I'm not blind to how each choice would affect me, as well as others, and I need to think it through and find a balance. I know you're the same way."

"Aye."

"If anything, we deserve more credit for deciding to do the 'right' thing. But, that's not how they look at it. If you take even five minutes before you decide to do something selfless, you might as well have never made the decision. You're a villain because of those five minutes, regardless. I mean, why even bother?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out, love."

"There you are!" Snow rose as they entered the clearing where the campsite had been before she covered their tracks. "What took you so long?" Neither answered. "Nothing you want to share?"

Hook laughed. "Can't think of anything, other than that you and your charming husband provided us all with quite the entertainment last night. Want to give it another go, perhaps with me closer by?"

Emma glared at him. "Stop being disgusting. Let's go."

He made a concerted effort to avoid meeting Emma's eyes; he didn't want to see the disappointment there. But he couldn't afford to show any vulnerability if he was going to make it through the rest of this journey.

Charming shook his head. "Here I was toasting you for your heroism last night and you're back to being a lecherous, lying…"

Regina laughed. "Oh, get off your high horse, Charming. Like you have any right to call anyone here a liar."

He froze.
Regina moved closer. "Oh, he didn't tell me. It was rather obvious, but I figured, if you have some idiotic death wish, who am I to interfere?"
"David, what is she talking about?" Snow touched his arm. He remained silent.

"Oh, you don't want to share how you got yourself poisoned and knew you were dying, but decided not to tell any member of your family? Or how Hook actually needed to trick you into going to get a cure for yourself?"

Snow looked horrified. "David? She's lying, right?"

"Well, I… I didn't want to slow you down, so…"

"I'm guessing," Regina interrupted. "That you are going to be even less happy after he tells you how the cure works."

Emma stepped forward. "What is she talking about?"

"The cure only works for as long as I remain on this island."

The ensuing silence was broken only by Snow beginning to sob softly. David moved to comfort her, but she pushed him away. "I can't believe you. Didn't you think that your wife and daughter deserved the chance to say goodbye. How could you?" She backed further away. "You know what, don't answer." She turned away, trying to regain control of herself.

Charming shot deathly cold look at Regina, then Hook.

"Hey, I had nothing to do with this, mate."

Emma glared at both of them. "Great. Great job, guys. We are now in a wonderful position to be rescuing Henry – and Neal, too. Anything else you two wanted to bring up? Any other buried secrets? Cause this seems like the perfect time."

"No, I think we're good, love, thanks. Unless you had anything you wanted to share…"

"Shut up. And let's go, all of you. Snow, Charming, you can have this argument along the way. Right now, we need to move."

"Move where, dearie?" She whirled around to see Gold, now standing directly behind her. With a deep breath and impatient tone, she asked what he was doing back.

"I have decided that we do need to work together, after all. See, I have some new information that changes everything. Baelfire… " He paused dramatically and finished with a dramatic gesture. "Is alive!"

Emma looked unimpressed. "We know."

Regina glanced at Hook and murmured, "See? If you just would have waited three hours…"

"We know. No thanks to Hook."

He returned her glare with a smirk. "Actually, love, it's entirely thanks to me, isn't it?"

Gold stared. "So, what exactly are you planning to do with that information? Not that you walking in aimless circles through the woods is less than entertaining, but I would like to find my son and grandson in a somewhat timely matter."

"And we're going to. " Emma raised her voice to ensure they were all listening. "We are all going to work together and do just that."

Emma hoped she sounded more confident than she felt as she made her declaration. She was still trying to get over the shock of the difference between the man she had been with last night and the drunken pirate with the cold eyes who had greeted her this morning. Had it all been pretend? Just an attempt to get her where he wanted her? But, then, why would he have told her about Neal? Then again, why had he waited?

There was no time to sort it out now. Her parents were no longer speaking, Regina was snippy, Hook was back to being obnoxious, and Gold had showed up out of the blue with questionable motive. It was clear that this wayward party needed someone to lead it as a cohesive unit and it seemed no one else was stepping up to the plate right now.

Gold was looking at her incredulously, just stopping short of rolling his eyes. "And what exactly is your brilliant plan, dearie? Because seeing the state of this group, I' thinking maybe I should go back to getting things done on my own."

Regina laughed harshly. "All you did was get an additional person kidnapped. A person, by the way, who just so happens to be our only way of getting off this island."

"It wasn't my fault! He left my protection on his own when he found out about the prophecy that Henry would be my undoing. So Bae thought I was going to murder my own grandson! But, why would I? I was there to rescue him – I had nothing left to live for."

Hook raised his hook. "Why are we assuming 'undoing' necessarily means death?"

"Shut up, Hook." Regina eyed Gold suspiciously. "Wait. So if Baelfire is alive and can get you back to Belle, doesn't that mean you do have something to live for again? And that you're going to murder our son."

"No! No. I mean… no."

"You're a monster."

"Oh, I'm the monster?" He raised a hand threateningly and Regina was preparing to retaliate when Emma inserted herself between them.

"Guys, stop! This is exactly what Pan wants – all of us squabbling and distrusting each other and being generally useless. We need a plan. And I think I may have something. Regina and Gold, can you create a cone of silence around us so that anyone who might be listening couldn't hear?"
Regina exchanged a glance with Gold. "Yes, but they'd hear the silence. Pan might know something was up."

"I'll be quick."

They all gathered in a tight circle as the spell was cast. When Emma spoke, her voice bounced off the invisible barrier, creating a disquieting echo. "Okay, everyone. We need Neal if we want to get off this island."

Hook snorted. "Yeah, I think we knew that before the cone of silence. What are you going to do, go ask Pan nicely and he'll just bring Neal to us?"

"I'm not going to ask nicely. But I do think we may be able to get Pan to bring him to us. The kid's all about mind games, right? Pitting people against each other, making sure we're never a united front? Because he knows that, if we were, we'd have a solid shot at defeating him. Pan needs us fractured. So, I'm thinking that if he knew that having Neal back would accomplish that, he might just bring him here. Right, Hook? You have the most experience with him."

"It wouldn't be entirely inconsistent with his methods."

There was silence a moment as the group exchanged glances. Snow started hesitantly, "Well, maybe that could work, honey, but how would we go about convincing him of that?"

"Well, you two, it seems you're still working through the lying issue."

Snow raised an eyebrow. "You think?"

"Right. So, you act like you're getting over your fight, but Neal is a sticking point because he believed in lying for his family's own good. But, at the end of the day, you patch things up saying, Neal is dead. No need to make a judgment on him, let's just move forward. And then you do."

Snow and Charming looked at each other uncomfortably. "I'd be willing to pretend to make up with you," he ventured.

"Great!" Emma interrupted before Snow could answer. "Now, Gold. You make sure that you keep saying that, without Bae, you have nothing to live for so you'll help save Henry, and…"

Regina cuts her off. And I say, great, but what if he's alive? Gold says he'd rescue Baelfire before anyone else. I respond that I don't think he'd approve of that."

Gold glared. "Well, that's not his call."

"You should let it be, because I swear to God I will kill him before you put his life ahead of Henry's."

"Exactly!" Emma interjects with false enthusiasm. "You pretend to have just that argument and then I'll be like, hey guys, we don't need to figure this out now. He's probably dead, anyway, so let's just move on. And then you do."

No one responded.

"Come on, guys. Pan will see that if he gives us Neal, you two and you two will go off at each other, Neal will be angry and in the middle, someone may end up killing someone else… Its exactly what he wants."

"Fair enough." She was surprised that it was Gold who answered first. "But, what about you, dearie? Seems like you're leaving out the most important piece of this particular puzzle."

"Well…" She felt herself blushing and hoped it wasn't apparent to the others. She knew exactly what she had to do and she wanted to continue putting off the uncomfortable mix of emotions the idea produced in her. "For me… Since Neal and I still had been hoping to work things out, and… and Pan wants to make Hook here as miserable as possible… You know…"

"Oh, you can just go ahead and say it." Hook rose and spread his arms theatrically. "We are going to pretend to be falling each other, happy in our newly budding romance, and when Pan sees that he'll realize that if he brings back Neal, he'll be angry and she'll feel guilty. And I get to be miserable and alone. Again. Lovely."

"Well, it's…"

"It's exactly what he wants. Quite a brilliant plan, actually."

It took her a moment to realize that he was serious. "Thanks."

Snow stepped forward, looking concerned. "My biggest concern with this plan is that it needs to be completely believable or he'll know we're up to something. And, David and I are really fighting but want to make up, and Regina and Gold really do hate each other but are forced to work together. But, you… Do you think you can pull it off, honey? Acting like you're falling for…" She lowers her voice. "Him?"

"I am standing right here, you know."

Emma ignored him. "I had to act like I was in love with plenty of thieves, murderers, and worse to be successful at my old job. So, yeah. I should be fine."

Charming looked at Hook askance. "And him?"

"Hook can just be himself, I guess, but maybe a little nicer?"

"Oh, I'm plenty nice. I've offered multiple times to provide you with entertainment for the evening."

"How could a girl not be charmed? Anyway, that's the plan. Are we in agreement to at least give it a try?"

"I am," Regina replied confidently."
"As am I," said Gold.

Snow smiled at her. "We're always with you, dear."

They all looked at Hook, who shrugged. "Why not? Where are we off to?"

"Let's head towards where Pan's camp is marked on my map. I know he keeps moving it, but it's less important that we get there than that we look like we're making some progress."

The barrier came down and the group broke up to prepare for another day's hike. Emma felt Hook watching her as she studied the map. She met his eyes and, for a moment, could have sworn that she saw genuine feeling there. But she blinked and it was gone, and he was rechecking his supply of rum. She thought about what could lay ahead felt a ball of anxiety beginning to form in the pit of her stomach.

What have I gotten myself into?

Up Next: Emma works on pretending she is just pretending when the plan is put into play. The group gets Peter Pan's attention in an unexpected way.

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