A/N: Sorry for the delay as I had work + school, & I had finished the final chapter of this fic! :) I'll soon post details on the new AU/CS fic I'll be working on (probably 1-2 chapters from now).

Thank you all for your reviews! Enjoy some Captain Swan here...

"I still don't trust him," Killian states for the millionth time, glancing behind him with a disapproving look on his face.

"Never said we had to," Emma responds automatically, not bothering to look at him as she stares at the compass in her palms.

They had been walking for what seemed like an hour now, after making sure that Jefferson's hands were tied properly in front of him. Everyone had reached to an agreement that Graham and Eric will be the ones to keep the Mad Hatter in check while Smee stayed close behind them, scouring the back for any potential dangers. Of course Jefferson had no say in this agreement - every time he opened his mouth to protest, he was met with a glare from Killian, who would have been more than happy to murder the bloke.

"Besides," Emma continued, eyes still on the compass. "For the hundredth time, Jefferson can be useful to us once we reach Wonderland."

Killian glanced at Emma as they trodded along. The Princess was deep in concentration as she examined the compass and looked far ahead of her; Killian couldn't help but momentarily admire her will to focus. But as much as he revered her, Killian still wasn't happy about bringing Jefferson along with them, so his scowl returned in no less than a second.

"Tell me again why I always listen to your bloody plans?" he grumbled, unable to retort any longer.

Emma let out a snort. "Because I'm bloody brilliant, remember?"

He scoffed. "I don't recall me ever saying that," he said innocently.

"Oh yes you do," she said with a small smile. The musical lilt in her voice caused Killian to glance at her again, and the smile he saw on her face made him smirk. If the Princess was in a good mood and was playing along with him, then he will take advantage of this rare opportunity.

"Since we're reminiscing," he leaned in towards her ear to whisper. "If I recall correctly, you just admitted in front of everyone earlier that you care for me."

"I don't recall me ever saying that," she echoed his words, a hint of a smirk on her face. Bloody hell, is she flirting with me? He half-expected her to either glare at him or ignore his cheekiness, anything - but not that. It must be his lucky day.

"Ooh yes you do, love," Killian chuckled. "Need I remind you of your own words? 'I don't do well with people who hurt those I care about' - what say you to that, hmm?" He felt his heart jump in delight at the sight of her cheeks slowly reddening at his words. "Admit it, Emma, you care for me. Do both of us a favour and stop denying yourself the freedom of feeling."

To his surprise, she stopped walking, still looking straight ahead of her. Her eyes slowly fluttered towards his own, the pink tint still present on her cheeks, and it appeared as though she was contemplating on whether or not she should continue with what she wanted to say.

"Who says I'm denying anything anymore?" she finally said quietly, giving him a weak smile.

If this was a dream, Killian didn't want to wake up. But he knew it was impossible for it to be a dream, because this was so much better. The words rang through his mind, and he played them over and over again as he gaped at her, wondering how on earth he could be this lucky. Emma was not an expressive woman, that much he knew, so for her to say those words, for Killian to be able to read her very mind as she uttered them from her lips (gods those lips, if he could just grab her right now and kiss them) - it was better than any dream he had ever had of her. Because that sentence meant only one thing, one thing that Killian had been secretly longing for her to do.

She was letting him in.

Emma was finally admitting that she does feel something for him. When she said those words, what Emma was really saying was: I'm giving you a chance. I'm giving us a chance. I'm letting you in, giving you the platform, taking risks - all of the above. And that was good enough for him.

But he doesn't kiss her. Not yet - not when they are in this situation, still in this bloody forest where the others were close behind in full view of them. No, Killian will give Emma the kiss she deserves, a proper kiss - one where it is only Killian and Emma; one that she will never forget.

So when she looks into his eyes and smiles softly, Killian doesn't kiss her (no matter how much he is positively dying to) - he simply smiles back, that smile that he knows she likes to see so much. She may not know it, but that smile is specially for her, and he plans to make sure she has one of her own painted on her beautiful face for a long time…

A green light illuminating Emma's face distracts them from their moment, and they look down to see the compass now glowing bright in her palm. She looked at it with her lips slightly parted in surprise.

"I-I think we're here," she whispered as she looked up to Killian.

"The Hidden Entrance?" he asked, confused. Emma swallowed and nodded, then turned around towards the others.

"Guys, we're here!"

They jogged towards her, dragging a grumbling Jefferson with them as they went, and looked around their surroundings in confusion.

"I don't see anything…" Eric observed, furrowing his eyebrows when only trees came into their view.

"Keep on looking," Emma ordered, walking around the trees as she stared at the glowing green arrow on the compass. It should be here, she thought as she circled around a tree with a rather large, wide trunk. All the signs pointed to this tree: the arrow seemed to glow brighter whenever she neared the tree, and if she walked away, the green light would become duller, so she had concluded that the Hidden Entrance must be somewhere around this tree. She examined the giant tree, trying to see if there were any hidden marks or anything that would hint at a "hidden entrance", but she saw only thick bark. Frustrated, she kicked the tree's trunk and let out an irritated huff.

Wait a second… She kicked the tree in the same spot once more and there it was again - a hollow sound.

"Guys, guys! I found it!" she yelled, kicking the tree several more times. Each time she kicked, a dent was made on the bark, letting her know that there was indeed some sort of hole in the tree.

Graham hurried to her side and started to help her, stabbing the dented bark with his dagger. Soon enough, the barrier collapsed, revealing a rather large hole big enough to fit the average man.

"So it's true," Jefferson whispered in amazement. "The Rabbit Hole. This is the Hidden Entrance to Wonderland!" Widening his eyes in excitement, he looked at the others. "Well what are you waiting for? Someone jump in!"

"Smee! You go first," Killian ordered, eyeing Jefferson suspiciously. He was still skeptical of the Mad Hatter and wanted to make sure this "Rabbit Hole", as he called it, was safe.

Smee gulped and nodded, then walked carefully towards the hole. He slowly put one leg into the hole and gradually lowered that leg down -

"Aaaah! Caaaaptain!"

As soon as Smee dropped his foot down, he slipped to the ground and fell into the Rabbit Hole, disappearing completely into its darkness. All that was heard was his yelling and a loud clutter shortly after, followed by a loud thump and a grunt.

"Smee? Smee! Are you okay?! Can you hear us!" Killian yelled into the hole.

"Aye, Captain, sir!" Smee's laugh echoed as he continued. "Why, it's a slide, sir!"

Killian and Emma exchanged looks of relief. "Well what do you see, mate?" Killian asked.

"Doors, Captain sir! Lots of them!"

"Doors, you hear that? Sounds safe to me. Now who wants to go next?" Killian looked at the others, who were now edging closer to the Rabbit Hole.

Smee was soon followed by Eric, then by Graham who dragged an excited Jefferson down with him. Before Emma could jump in, however, Killian held her back.

"Oh no, love, we're going together," he tutted, giving her a smirk. She gave him an exasperated look and opened her mouth to say something, but Killian wouldn't hear any of it. He jumped into the hole, pulling her along with him into the darkness, and together they slid (in a rather uncomfortable lying position, Killian thought with a groan) down the Rabbit Hole.

"What the hell, Jones?! I'm gonna kill you!" Emma shouted.

He didn't blame her. As they were to soon find out, Killian's idea to grab her and pull her down with him wasn't so clever as they tumbled down the end of the slide together, falling into a tangled heap on the ground. Emma groaned as she fell a heavy object on her chest, preventing her from breathing properly, then widened her eyes when she realized - it was the damn pirate.

Killian changed his mind - nope, this was definitely a great idea as he was now lying on top of Emma facing each other, chest against chest.

"Really, love," he began with a wolfish grin. "If you wanted this all along, you could have at least asked when we were at a more private spot. Ow - What was that for?!"

Emma hit the side of his head and pushed him off, ignoring his pouts as she jumped up and brushed the dirt from her body. When she did, she finally noticed the room that she and Killian and the others had fallen into.

It was mostly empty save a few lanterns and, as Smee had told them earlier, there were doors - five of them, she noted.

"So you gonna use the compass or what, blondie? We haven't got all day," Jefferson said impatiently.

Oh. Right. Emma hurriedly grabbed the compass from her pockets and closed her eyes, thinking carefully about what was her current deepest desire. The correct door to Wonderland, the correct door to Wonderland...

And there it was, soon enough, a dazzling green glow from the compass, its copper arrow pointing directly at the door in front of them. Emma exchanged a look with the others and nodded, slowly walking towards the door.

When she opened it, they were greeted by a swirl of colours and a very strong wind - so strong that Graham had to pull Emma back from being swept in.

"It's a portal but the wind is too strong! We might lose each other! What do we do?!" he shouted over the whistling of the wind.

"Everyone, hold hands!" she instructed, grabbing Killian's hand with her right and Jefferson's tied hands with her left. They nodded and followed suit, with Graham holding on to Jefferson, Eric to Graham, and Smee to Eric. Then they all took a deep breath and jumped into the portal together.

Emma felt an uncomfortable sensation in her stomach as they spun inside the portal, its strong current pushing against them so violently that Emma's grip on Jefferson and Killian tightened.

"Hold on tight to each other!" Emma yelled to the others. "The current is too strong!"

But as soon as the words left her mouth, another strong wind followed. However this one was more violent than the others, as it forcibly pushed them back, causing Emma's fingers to slowly slip from Jefferson's.

He looked at his tied hands in horror, clearly having felt the slip as well. "Jefferson, hold on! Don't let go!" Emma yelled at him.

But the man only shook his head. "How can I?!" he shouted back. "One more strong wind like that and we're separated! I told you that you should have untied me!"

And just as he said it, another violent current visited them, pushing Emma away from Jefferson. Her hands slipped entirely from his from the force, but she lunged forward and grabbed the rope tying his wrists together.

"I'm not letting you go!" she promised. "We're going to be a team now, remember?! I'll help you find your daughter and you help us- No!"

She felt her stomach drop as another current pushed them back once again. She looked back at Jefferson who had the same look of horror on his face as they looked at Emma's hand. The only thing linking them together now was her index finger that was clinging on to the rope for dear life.

"Emma, I'm so sorry," he whispered sadly. "There's no way - one more wind and we're gone. I'm sorry..." He gently shook his hand, causing the finger to slip gently from his bindings.

Emma widened her eyes and looked at him, shaking her head. "No, Jefferson, don't!"

"I've never been asked to be part of a team before," he said quietly, giving her a sad smile. "I hope we see each other on the other end of this portal. Thank you, Emma, for no longer making me feel like a madman. Thank you for making me sane."

And with those words, he gently shrugged the last of her finger off his binding, releasing her from him. Emma yelled and tried to reach for him, but it was too late - Jefferson, Graham, and the others were now spinning away from her and Killian, and soon enough they were engulfed by a strong wind that was now preventing Emma from seeing them clearly.

"Jefferson!" she screamed, still trying to reach out to them helplessly. "Graham! Eric! Smee!"

Killian reached over and held her other arm with his free one. "Let it go, love, they're gone now," he said quietly.

She only shook her head desperately at his words. "But this is a portal right? We should see them on the other side! They should still be with us!"

But before he could reply, a bright light appeared from behind Killian, followed by a strong force that seemed to be pulling them towards the light.

"Emma!" he yelled, suddenly pulling her against him. "Hold on to me! If we've reached the other side, then be prepared to fall!"

She closed her eyes and nodded furiously, and slinked her arms around his waist, holding on for dear life.

And then, just as Killian said they would, they fell.

A/N: Yup, just had to get them alone! (finally)

NEXT CHAPTER - Completely isolated from the others, Killian and Emma land in Wonderland. And to their dismay, they are greeted by something far from pleasant...