Chapter 3: … Damned if I don't.
While Emma was on the shore, figuring out where they had gotten, Hook was talking to Tinker Bell.
Tinker Bell had always been a strong-headed, but kind of arrogant woman. He liked her and at the same time he didn't.
He caught her keeping a wary eye on Emma. He concluded that she didn't like Emma from that venomous look. The green fitted her perfectly. Tinker Bell was a like a snake.
"You don't like her.", he said.
She looked at him, not very pleased. "And who told you so?"
He laughed. "I can tell that from your eyes. They always assume the same bilious green colour when something wouldn't turn out the way you want it to."
"If you say so. Might be the case that I just don't like her.", she replied stubbornly.
He nodded. "I thought so."
Tinker Bell looked over at him. "She's stubborn, and extremely self-confident. She tends to think that she's always right and she only fights for herself. She doesn't care what anyone thinks about her, and she tends to believe that she could hunt down everyone with her magic. She might have a pure heart, but she has not got any less evil blood in her veins than everyone else."
Hook thought about that, then he leaned towards her. There was only a short distance left. He spoke in a really low voice. "You might want to take a closer look at her. She's not the woman you think she is."
Hook turned around and left the ship. He spotted Emma under one of the trees. She was in its shadow, eyes closed.
She opened her eyes when she heard the gritting stones under his feet. He was standing in front of her and offered his hand to help her up. She accepted the offer. "Thank you."
"Well, lass, seems like you two get along with each other." He pointed towards Tinker Bell who was still standing on the ship and watching them talking.
"I imagined her differently.", Emma admitted without being responsive to his statement.
Hook looked confused. "She's been in your fairy tale, too?"
"Yup.", Emma answered. Eloquent as always.
Emma and Hook walked side-by-side back to the ship. "Where are the others? Mary Margaret, David, Gold, Regina? Have they gone anywhere?"
"Your parents are searching for another fairy in the forest." She didn't like the way he said your parents. Something about that felt wrong, but she needed to get used to this. "Rumplestiltskin is trying to find out where your lad's sojourn is. Neverland is a large world, it will take time to find him but I promise you that we're gonna find him." Whenever they were talking about Henry he had to remind her that he'd do anything to find him. They wouldn't give up until the day they'd get him back or die trying. "And Regina is still asleep. She needs the sleep to recharge her magic."
"Even your roar couldn't wake her up?", Emma joked.
"Apparently not.", he answered.
"What time is it?", Emma asked more serious now. I can't tell by the colour of the sky. It's been that way since we are here."
"This world doesn't have time. Time not matters at all. Youth and imagination, inevitable interwoven with one another. Nothing does matter here, not even time. Only the imagination and the reality. But never forget that one can't exist without each other. They need another to exist, but at the same time you can't have both." He looked at Emma insistently. "Never forget that, Swan. This world is real and at the same time it's not. You can't say something is real because it might be but at the same time it's not. Time isn't real, either. At least, not here. Be careful…"
A feminine voice over them interrupted him. "…or you're not going to survive this."
They both looked up. Tinker Bell was still on the ship, right over the place where Emma and Hook were standing.
"Don't you know it's bad manners to eavesdrop on people?", Emma asked annoyed.
Tinker Bell shrugged. "Maybe in your world, in our world it's necessary.", she replied in a very overbearing tone. Then she looked at Hook and smiled at him appealing. "You're going for a walk with me later?"
Emma swallowed her anger. She was talking to Hook now, not Tinker Bell.
"Of course.", he replied and smiled back.
Suddenly, Emma felt an unexpected emotion. No, she told herself. No.
"Swan?", asked a familiar rough voice.
She smiled at Hook artificially. "I'm gonna ask Gold if he found something that will help us.", she replied. Then she turned around and went back on the ship.
Hook watched her walking away.
"Look at that.", a voice over him called out.
He looked up at Tinker Bell.
"Seems like she might not want to join us for a walk. How does that come?", she added sarcastically.
Hook rolled his eyes. Instead of replying he followed Emma on the ship and left an angry fairy behind.