Chapter Three: I Love You Because You Have Given Me No Choice

"You scared me half to death, pirate." Emma whispered, shoving his chest back with a laugh before running her hand over her hair in relief. "I thought you were.." but she trailed off, looking away. "Well, I thought you were someone else" she said simply

"You thought I was Baefire." he said, his words not a question but an absolute statement.

"Regardless, you shouldn't sneak into a persons home at" she glanced at the clock behind him hanging above the tv. "1:30 in the morning and scare the hell out of them." she exclaimed in a hushed voice, taking his wrist and leading him away from her room and into the spacious bathroom.

"Is there a reason we are in the loo, darling?" he drawled in confusion as she closed the door.

"Yes. My room is right next to Henry's and I don't want to wake him. He needs his rest." she said responsibly.

"Did you plan on us doing something together that would cause quite a bit of racket?" he smirked, taking a chunk of blonde waves between his fingers, his fingers grazing her cheek as he did so.

Emma swatted his hands away, taking a step back until she was backed up against the sink. She held her hand out, palm up in front of herself. "Don't. You are not allowed to come back after 6 months and act like you never left. You did leave and I'm not going to pretend like you didn't." she snapped, anger in her eyes.

"I didn't think you would be so bloody cross about it." he snapped back. "Far be it for me to do the right think and try to give you what you wanted." he said calmly, leaning back against the door.

"You never even asked me what I wanted. You just assumed you knew everything and made a decision based on falsities. A decision that hurt me!" she whispered harshly, pulling her hair back into a messy ponytail that fell to her shoulder blades. She sighed, frustrated at this seemingly endless day, her shoulder slumping forward as she looked down, leaning against the sink.

"You should really put some ice on that one. It looks worse then any love-bite I've ever seen." he said firmly, gesturing with his hook towards her neck. It was an angry shade of red, teeth marks cut into her flesh clearly.

"It's hardly a love-bite." she said rolling her eyes. She turned around against the sink, looking at her reflection in the mirror above it. She gasped softly, earning a hard frown from Hook.

"Shit, that does look worse then before." she muttered, opening the mirror and grabbing a small bag from inside She shut it quietly and examined the mark again, unzipping the bag and taking out a few bottles of makeup. She opened her powder and set it on the sink before dabbing a generous amount of foundation on a sponge and rubbing it on her neck.

"Worse then before? This isn't the first time you've been bitten like a bloody vampire?" he exclaimed in a whisper, still minding young ears not far away. "What's the matter with you, Swan. You're stronger then this." he said angrily.

"Did it ever occur to you that there might have been a reason behind my pessimism towards falling in love? Why I was slow to let myself get even remotely close to you." she asked, annoyed at the higher standards he seemed to hold her to above anyone else.

"And here I was thinking it was because you hated me." he said casually, not to keen on opening up as well.

Emma laughed genuinely for a moment, dabbing the brush coated in powder over the patch of drying makeup.

"Hated you?" she laughed again, her words tumbling out of her mouth before she could think of the implications.

"Killian, I loved you." she said lightly as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Her face changed slowly as her brain caught up with her words. She slowly set her brush down on the sink before turning around cautiously to face him.

"Hook, I-" but before she could say anything else, any words that would erase the truth she just spoke, he stopped her. He took two long strides towards her and pressed her back against the sink, his lips crushing hers with a desperation he'd never felt before.

Emma gasped in surprise, the sound escaping her mouth into his own. He kissed her urgently, willing her to let go of her emotional walls of self preservation. And she did. The blonde savior ran her hands up his arms until her fingers were laced around his neck, pressing her body against his as she nipped his bottom lip with a smile.

"I thought we established this was a one time thing." she teased as he hoisted her onto the sink by her bottom. She tossed her head back with a laugh as he trailed small kisses up the uninjured side of her neck. It tickled her sightly as shivers ran up her spine at his gentle touch.

"By all means then, love. Tell me to stop." he dared, rubbing her cheek softly with his thumb before kissing her lips with a tenderness she wasn't use to. She smirked against his lips, ready to say something witty. But before she could, she suddenly found herself saying exactly what he dared her to.

"Stop." she whispered urgently, wrapping her arms back around his neck, letting him help her get down from the sink silently. She put a finger over her mouth, signaling him to keep quiet. She glided over to the bathroom door, pressing her ear against it. She heard the front doorknob being shaken and pushed. Someone was attempting to get inside her home. And she knew exactly who that someone was.

"Neal." she muttered to herself. Before she could put together a safe,practical plan of action, Emma threw the bathroom door open and stormed over to the entrance of her home, still keeping her steps quiet for Henry's sake. Hook was following at her heels.

Her fingers gripped the handle before Hook pulled her arm back gently. "Emma." he whispered, pulling her body back against his chest as he moved them back away from the door. He rarely called her by her first name and when he did, it filled her with a sense of reality. It felt as if all her emotions that had just been heightened; whether it was fear, anger, sadness. It was as if the calm tone of her name from his lips brought her back to a tranquil state of mind.

She took a deep breath, leaning her head back against his chest, nodding in agreement. He couldn't get in and she knew that. Hook was a brilliant pirate, and if she was being honest, a skilled thief. Neal was just a man who thought rage could break down her door. And lucky for him, he was wrong. Because had he broken down that door, he wouldn't have been met with the detached, fragile blonde woman from his past. He would've been met with a one handed pirate with a drinking problem. And an angry one at that. One that was ready to protect the woman he had been hurting as well as her son.

As if they were his family.

Should I keep going? Review please