David didn't look up, swirling the amber liquor in his glass, as the one handed pirate sat down on the stool next to him.
"Unless you need something, Hook, I'd rather be alone," He said gruffly.
"Well that's just too bloody bad, mate," Hook said sharply, pouring himself a glass of the whiskey. "Since your bloody fight with your daughter, she'd rather 'be alone' as well. And I'm running out of places to bloody well leave folks alone."
They sat in tense silence for a few minutes, each nursing their drinks, before David sighed again, setting his drink down sharply.
"You know, one minute, she says she understands why we put her in the wardrobe. Why we sent her here. The next minute, she's throwing it in our faces, like she'll never forgive us for it."
Hook chuckled bitterly. "That's because she hasn't. And she never will. Well... not in this lifetime, anyways."
"We did it to save our people!" David barked, before looking around, embarrassed at the people staring at the two of them. "We had to," He said, much quieter. "Why can't she understand that?"
"Oh, she understands, mate. Makes perfect sense after all. She just can't forgive you for it."
David scowled at him over the top of his drink. "Aw, the hell do you know," He growled, throwing back the last of his drink.
"My father… When I was a bit younger than Henry, he booked us passage on a merchant vessel. My older brother and I… We were thrilled. We were so poor, half the time we couldn't afford a sturdy pair of boots. So… when he told us we were going on an adventure, we never questioned it."
Hook's voice was quiet as he spoke. "Then, one night… about a day out of our port… I woke, and my father was nowhere to be found. The captain told me… He said my father was a criminal. He'd earned the wrath of the Evil Queen, and… she had put a price on his head. My father had heard her knights were waiting for us at port, so he… He sold my brother and I to the captain, in exchange for a rowboat.
"I happened upon him, hundred and fifty years later, oddly enough. He… he explained to me that he'd done it… to save us. He didn't want the Queen to get her hands on us. And, in his defense… It worked. The knights searched the ship, didn't find him, and left."
He sighed, taking a generous pull from the bottle. "It made… complete sense. But it didn't change what I'd went through. That I was a slave, beaten for any infraction, for ten years. That I watched my brother die, all alone. No amount of logic and reason could ever change that, David. No amount of… explanations, and 'for the better good' speeches could change what I had to go through. And that's why she'll never forgive you."
He sighed, setting his glass down as he stood, and pat the sheriff on the back. "Sorry, mate, but that's the truth of things. I've got to go; I imagine Emma's done brooding by now."
As he went to leave, David's voice stopped him.
"What happened? To your father?"
Hook turned, and gave him a sad smile. "Well… let's just say I was a different man then, and leave it at that, shall we?"