Neal was laughing hysterically, tears in his eyes as he sat across the table from Emma. "I can't believe you knocked him out," he choked out between laughed. "I would have paid to see it."

Emma laughed harder as she watched Neal wiping tears as he continued laughing. "You really dislike him that much?"

He nodded as he finally got his laughter under control. "A little bit."

"He's not so bad, Neal," she tried to defend Hook, but she found it hard to be serious. She understood why he didn't like him. She even shared those feelings at one point. The man was selfish and crude and a drunk. But still, for some reason, she couldn't pull herself away from him. Because when she looked past all that, she saw a man who was passionate and honest and a leader. He had all the makings for a good man, but found himself on the wrong path, as she had once.

"Alright, alright. I told you I'd let up, so I will," he grabbed her hand across the table. "Just know that you deserve someone who's going to put you first, Em." She nodded and he smiled at her. When he looked past her, his smile faded.

"What?" she turned around and saw Hook walking in slowly, staring at them. "Hook, what are you doing here?" It was the first time she had seen him in a couple of days. She hadn't expected him to show up while she was with Neal.

"Just feeling a bit peckish," he narrowed his eyes at the sight of Emma's hand on Neal's. Her eyes followed his gaze and quickly pulled her hand from Neal's. "Looks like I'm interrupting."

"No, uh, we were just reminiscing," Neal looked to Emma and then Hook. He stood up. "I should go. Talk to you soon, Em," he turned to leave but found Hook standing in front of him, glaring at him. Before he could open up his mouth to say anything, he felt Hook's fist collide with his jaw. He fell backward, crashing on the table. He wasn't fully aware of the pain in his jaw as much as he was Emma, seething, yelling profanities at the pirate. He managed to hold his head up long enough to see her clip him across the face before throwing a pair of cuffs around his wrists.

When he woke up, he was back in his room. He noticed Ruby sitting over him. "Where's Emma?"

"She arrested Hook. She said she was going to come back as soon as David got to the station."

"How long have I been out?" he sat up, putting his hand on his jaw, feeling the tender flesh that would soon be turning colors.

"Only a few minutes. You hit your head pretty hard on the table. Lucky for you Whale was here. He said you'd be fine. Just not to do any heavy lifting."

"I didn't imagine Emma hitting him did I? Please tell me I really witnessed that," he smiled.

"Oh yeah," she nodded with a smirk.

"She really arrested him?"

"Couldn't do much else, could she? He attacked you in the middle of the lunch shift. If she hadn't all hell would have broken loose. Nobody's really too fond of him. Can't blame them, you know. But she clearly sees something in him," she sighed.

"Ruby, can you call her for me? Just tell her not to worry about coming back. That I'm fine."

"You don't want her to come back?" she raised an eyebrow.

"I just want her to deal with her feelings. Besides, she gave me the best thing I could have asked for by clocking him," he laughed, then frowned at the soreness in his face.


"Emma, come on, love. Let me out of here," Hook leaned against the bars, staring at her. "Haven't you punished me enough?"

She rolled her eyes, attempting to ignore him. She kept her eyes on the report she was filing. She reached into her pocket as she felt her cell phone vibrate. "Hey Ruby, how's Neal?" "Good. Hey, thanks for looking after him while took care of this." "What do you mean David's not coming? I told-" "Why does he think he can just-" "No, anything I told him earlier is officially null and void." "No, I'm serious. After today, there's no way-" "Okay, okay, Ruby. You don't have to be so pushy. You sound like Neal. I'll call you later," she muttered as she hung up.

"Prince Charming not coming to torture me, love?"

"Shut up, Hook," she growled. How dare they make that decision for her. She didn't want to spend time with him right now. She was too angry. How could her father agree to not come down to the station? He hated Hook. He surely wouldn't want her to be around him after he attacked Neal.

"Please, love. Let me out. I promise I'll behave," he gave her a charming smile. When she turned away from him, he continued. "Emma, you're going to have to talk to me eventually or I'll just get out on my own." That caught her attention.

"If you could have done that, you would've done it the last time I locked you up," she walked over to the bars where he was standing.

He laughed. "Dear sweet Emma. You don't really think you held me against my will last time did you?" He laughed harder when she frowned. "I only stayed last time because you were willing to talk to me. Got to know each other a bit. But if you think I'm going to spend several weeks in here without your company, you would be sadly mistaken."

"You can't get out of here," she challenged.

"I can. And should you choose to ignore me, I will. Now will you please let me out so you and I can have a civilized conversation?"

"You lost the privilege to have a civilized conversation when you knocked Neal out."

"You can't tell me he didn't deserve it, love," he reached his hand out to her and frowned when she stepped away from the bars. "Come on now, lass. I'm not holding it against you that you've hit me twice now."

"You deserved it both times," she replied. "Neal did nothing to you to deserve that."

"You were in his room! And then he was holding your hand! You think I don't know what's going on?!" he blurted out before he even thought about what he was saying. He hadn't quite planned on telling her that he knew she was upstairs with him. Or that it had bothered him so much. Of course, he hadn't planned on her hitting and arresting him either. Clearly this was not his day. He wanted to continue when she just stared at him blankly, but for the first time in his life he didn't know what to say.

"I'll send David over later with some food. I'll be back in the morning," she walked out on him for the second time. This time, he didn't call after her. She didn't hear anything. She shouldn't have even been so mad. She wasn't sure why. Maybe it was because she knew he was better than that. He had been so different with her. And even the people who disliked him the most were beginning to come around to having him in the town. She was able to defend him. But now, she didn't know what to say. Or what to think. It was stupid to be so mad. But she couldn't help it. He made her emotions run on overdrive. Perhaps she'd come by later when she cooled off and check on him. Maybe even talk to him. For now, she just needed air.