Part 4

It had been a whole week since he'd seen her.

And it annoyed him to admit it, but it had been a long week.

Since that day on his ship she had been studiously avoiding him, and at first he was fine with it. He had no idea what made him act so out of character on the ship but there was no way he was losing it like that again. He was not soft dammit. He didn't give a shit about all that comfortable intimacy nonsense. No he was more a working between the sheets kind of guy. A pirate.

Well that's not completely true is it? You've gone there before…

He started. Where had that come from?

You know exactly where it came from pirate.

What the bloody hell?

Exactly. What the hell are you doing denying it?

He wasn't denying anything. He was most definitely interested in was having Emma Swan tied down to his bed at some point. No denial there at all.

Yes, there's that. But that's not all you want.

Is it?

What the hell else would he want?

You know what...

Frustrated he ran a hand down his face. His own mind was driving him insane!

He hated this and he hated her. She was the one doing this to him. All he asked for was a little gratification, a hot sweaty tussle of too much pent up tension, with the person that had put him in this situation in the first place. And instead? He gets her spurned words, constant rejection, denial of any kind of unresolved sexual tension (which he knows is a lie – he can practically see her brim with the same desire he feels), and a half-cocked apology coupled with an embrace that he never saw coming. A very different type of embrace than he expected, than he was used to. But not unwelcome in the least.

He actually rather enjoyed it.

A hug.

A simple hug from the most complicated woman he'd ever come across in all the realms he's travelled through.

It was most definitely unexpected.

And it only made him want her even more.

In his bed.

In your life?

That's it! He swiftly made his way off his ship. He needed to exert some energy since he was slowly giving way to madness. Usually this situation would be the perfect time to hunt down the blonde saviour and resolve in their usual battle of witty banter. Considering this time she was the source of the headache, that was not going to help in the least.

Pounding through the streets, he kept looking – hoping for any kind of distraction. Where were all those blasted dwarves when you needed them? They were usually good for a brawl. Toss in a few height jokes and he was set. Or that leggy wolf girl. Any other woman and she would be quite fun to look at, flirt with even to pass the time. But this one happened to be the best friend of the legendary Snow White. Just the way she looked at him, as though intent to bite his head off – literally in her case – for sport, no doubt not a fan of him and his prior work. Or maybe even that cricket; he was always fun for a laugh. The wisp of man scared way too easily, always fun to work with that.

Rounding the corner towards Granny's Diner, he stopped.

Right across the way was the one person he really didn't need to see at this moment.

She stood there with her son – Henry, listening to every word that came out of the young boy's mouth, and he knew enough to know that would be a lot. Ruffling his hair, she smiled softly down at him giving him her undivided attention. He'd never seen her like that with anyone, not even her parents. Standing there watching her, her hair swirling in the breeze, her cheeks tinted with the lightest tinge of pink, he couldn't move. He should've turned on the spot and walked away. That would have been the ideal solution. It would save him any further torment at the hands of his own head, and he would likely have been better off for it. And it's not like he didn't have other things to do, he still had a few dwarves to punch after all.

For some reason though, his feet with a life of their own just seemed to head straight for the diner, heading for the door he'd just seen mother and son enter.

The action happened without thinking; otherwise he may have been left to wonder why the hell he was so intent on being around Emma Swan.

"Are you seriously gonna be able to eat all of that?" Emma asked her son

"Are you seriously losing your faith in me now?" He quirked an eyebrow and she had to laugh. He amused her to no end and she couldn't understand how the hell she'd ended up with such a smart kid. Sure weren't my genes. She had been anything but the avid student when she was made to go to school and the kind of smarts she'd ended with in life weren't ones she'd want Henry to have to learn or endure.

"My mistake"

They continued joking around for a few moments until Emma happened to glance up at the door opening, only to see him come through.

Oh crap.

Why could she not get a moment's peace from this man?

Hell she hadn't even seen him in a week and yet he never actually left her mind. She actively avoided him but when she took a moment to relax her mind kept drifting off into dangerous leather-clad pirate territory and it was getting harder to try and control it. And who the hell wears THAT much leather all the time anyway? Sure she liked a little here and there, her mum pointed out she had an infamous number of leather jackets as it is. But it's not like she covered herself in it from head to toe...

...fitted like a glove...

...flaunting every single muscle in her body to the point where other people couldn't help but stare...

Great, now she was staring.

Thank god he hadn't seen her. She immediately started to discretely move down further into the booth. Maybe he'd just get something to go? PLEASE let him get something to go.

"Mum what are you doing?"

She was so startled by the fact that he'd called her mum that she froze. He'd been calling her that for a while now. Ever since the battle was over it seemed he was comfortable enough to, and she couldn't help it but every time he did she felt a warm glow in her chest. It was funny, the first time he'd uttered it she was dropping him off to school. A simple "See you later Mum" and she'd immediately started searching for Regina, assuming the mayor was nearby. Once she realised he'd directed it at her he'd just smiled at her adorably and headed into the building, leaving her feeling overly emotional and spouting tears of joy. She'd never expected him to call her mum, and never thought about it – but now that he did, she never wanted him to call her anything else.

Unfortunately her distraction from Henry calling her had stopped her downward movement and caught the attention of a pirate who'd been searching the room nearby.

Their eyes locked and the most disarming smile took over his face.

Don't even think about.

No sooner had she thought it he came right on over.

God dammit!

"Swan"

"Hook"

"Captain."

They both looked Henry who just shrugged. "What? He is"

Hook immediately decided he liked this boy. "That's right lad, I am"

It was strange, the amount of times he'd crossed paths with Emma in this town and especially during the final fight. And yet this was the first time he could remember actually speaking to her son. He'd seen the boy from afar yet never traded words with the little Swan.

"Here, sit with us" Henry immediately made room for the pirate next to him and asked Ruby to order another of what he was having for Hook. The she wolf raised her eyebrows at Emma as she walked past, who purposely ignored it. Hook himself was surprised at the gesture but he was never one to turn down anything working in his favour.

"So Captain," Henry looked at him with a wide smile on his face and purpose in his eyes.

Oh crap. Emma knew that look.

"What can you tell me about Neverland?"

And there it is.

Seeing the sudden grin on Hook's face she knew there was no getting rid of him any time soon.

"You fought the Chief!" Henry eyes almost popped out of his head.

"Aye, and it was one hell of a fight lad!"

Emma suppressed a groan. This was so not how she envisioned her morning. For the past hour Hook and Henry had been sitting there engrossed in their own conversation, so much so that she wondered if they even remembered she was there.

She felt a little miffed to be honest.

Henry was her son. This was their time. And as soon as some hooked pirate captain walks in, she gets dumped like yesterday's trash in favour of hearing a few wild and crazy stories. She had a feeling Hook was embellishing them all a little, for the sake of her son. In any other scenario, with any other person it would've been cute to see this kind of interaction, but she'd barely managed to get two words in and of all people she'd been trumped by Hook.

Not only does the jerk turn her head all upside down thinking about him, but now he's monopolising her son's time with her too.

Fucking pirate.

Slowly rising from her seat she headed for the counter, rolling her eyes when they didn't even notice she'd gone.

"They seem to be getting along?"

Ruby was over in a second and Emma was grateful. At least someone wants to talk to me. She was sulking like Henry did on one of his bad days and despite knowing that she didn't care. Besides, he did get it from her after all.

"A little too well" Emma scowled, looking at how Hook was gesturing wildly and Henry followed every movement looking at him like he'd hung the damn moon.

"So what's up with you guys anyway?"

"What do you mean?"

"Oh Emma don't play dumb, what's going on with you and Hook?"

Wait…what?

"There's nothing going on between me and Hook" she said slowly and clearly. "Why the hell would you even ask?"

"Oh I don't know, maybe cause you guys seem to spend a lot of time together – flirting, fighting, building up as much unresolved sexual tension as possible"

Emma's jaw hit the floor.

"Seriously I feel like I'm gonna self-combust just watching you two. You need to get on that pirate and just go at it already."

"Ruby are you nuts?! I'm NOT going to sleep with him. And since when did you like Captain Hook?"

"I don't like the guy, but I can't deny that he is hot."

"He's not that hot" she muttered, ignoring the bright neon 'LIAR' sign going off in her head.

"Yeah he is. You know it, I know, hell even Granny knows it" she nodded along seeing Emma's bemused face. "Seriously he comes in and charms her right off her feet. I've even seen her fluffing her hair up as soon as he strolls through the door"

Emma had to laugh. The formidable Granny Lucas who never went anywhere without her crossbow attached to her hip had been charmed by Captain Hook. Was there no woman who didn't fall for his crap?

Oh yeah, her.

And Snow she guessed.

Although her mum didn't seem as annoyed with his existence as she used to be. No apparently Emma was the sole cardholder of that position now.

Damn pirate.

Ruby leaned forward, "look I'm not saying you have to get in a full blown relationship, marry the guy and have pirate babies…although you guys would have really cute kids,"

"Ruby!" she all but growled

"Yeah ok forget I said that. What I meant was you guys clearly have an attraction, and you haven't gotten any since forever (Emma sputtered at that – was it that obvious?) and he is more than willing to take you to bed – I mean the whole towns practically heard the way he talks to you; he's always trying to get your attention. Why not just give in, you know just for one night?"

Emma just stared.

"Let me get this straight. You want me to have a one night stand, with Captain Hook?"

Ruby shrugged giving her a 'why the hell not' look.

"Because he's Captain friggin Hook! He's a pirate, and an ass. He can't go two seconds without making some crude innuendo. And despite what you think he is not that attractive! (LIAR) He's the LAST person I would consider jumping into bed with."

"Ok sure," the she wolf drawled clearly not believing her for a second. "Fine if not him then someone else. What about Jefferson, you did spend the night at his mansion"

"Tied to a chair"

"Kinky"

"With a gun to my head."

"Scary"

"Being forced to make a hat"

"Er ok, maybe not. How about…August?"

"Seriously?"

"Well he's got the rugged scruffy look going for him. And he's got a motorbike. You know what that means"

"He's compensating?"

"He likes taking things for a ride"

Emma laughed at that. If anything Ruby's ridiculous commentary was entertaining. The sad fact what that she had recently been thinking about her love life. Not in an overly sappy romantic wishing-for-her-prince way. Since the battle had been over though, life had calmed down around Storybrooke. And she'd settle in a routine of spending time with her family and her friends, sharing Henry with Regina, and doing her job – which she really did enjoy. And she always felt that was all she needed, that anything more would just be greedy. After all this is the life she'd wanted for so long, she would treasure it now that she had it.

But there was a small, almost minute part of her that did sort of wonder. When she would watch her parents, or read their story over with Henry (he loved to hear all the fairytales again whenever he got sick). Their tale was just so…epic. The way they'd met, how they fell in love, the fact that they always without fail managed to find each other. She almost felt a little jealous. Rumpelstiltskin had told her once that she was the embodiment of True Love, and yet, how is it that she was the one person who couldn't seem to find something like that? In all honesty, if she hadn't seen it with her parents first hand now, she still wouldn't believe that it existed. Being confronted with it on a daily basis kind of put things in a different perspective.

"God, I can't believe my parents are literally the True Love Couple, and I'm their daughter still stuck at one-night stands."

Ruby's eyebrows shot up. "So you're considering it"

"Hell. No. Besides having a one-night stand with a fairytale character – that'd be like handing out drugs at the local school." It just felt like she'd be corrupting something otherwise pure.

"Not when it's with you-know-who"

She walked off at that point confusing Emma as to why she was suddenly cryptic.

It became clear when she felt someone brush up against her back, a hand reaching round her side onto the counter next to hers. A face leaning in close to hers, causing all the hairs on her neck stand to attention. There was no question as to who it was. The air was practically charged whenever he got without a ten foot distance of her. She still had no freaking clue why that was, but for the moment she was trying hard to stare forward resolutely. Not moving an inch, not giving him anything to work with.

Turns out she didn't have to.

"And what prey tell, is a one night stand?" Captain fucking Hook practically purred into her ear.

Ok guys I know that was a pretty short chapter and not as much CS interaction. But it was a needed filler to set up the next few chapters. Hope you're enjoying it all so far though, and don't worry, there'll be LOTS of CS in the next one!

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