A/N: Now that I've noticed it, I'm going to try and keep my accidental schedule of posting Wed/Fri as I work on the latter chapters.

~Dangerous Territory~

In the moments right between dreaming and waking, his touch brought images she'd never allow herself to imagine had her conscious mind been in control. In her mind, they were in that moment of their first kiss. Instead of pulling away, she leaned back in, kissing him intently. He kissed her back, their tongues doing things she'd only ever heard about. She imagined his kisses trailing down her neck, her fingers running over that chest of his -

"Emma."

She heard her name, but it was outside of the dream. She felt his presence there, too. She felt his hands on her shoulders. Was he shaking her? Her eyes opened, the fantasy gone, a glare immediately plastered on her face. She had not wanted to let the dream world go.

"What the he-"

The look he gave her scared her, cutting her thoughts off. If she didn't know any better, she would have thought he meant to hurt her. But she did know better.

Once sure of her silence, he motioned with his head in the direction of the treeline, where she focused her gaze.

"People.." He barely breathed the word out, putting a finger to his mouth to confirm her silence.

She could just make out the sounds from the direction he had indicated. It took only a second for her to register the sounds she heard, rustling in the foliage, the shouts of a man. These strangers weren't far from them at all.

Her head jerked toward Killian. She was not expecting visitors, and was ashamed to admit, even to herself, that she was afraid. She only hoped it was dark enough that he couldn't see the fear behind her eyes. She didn't appreciate this new, unexpected, insight into herself. She always thought she'd be as brave as her parents always were, and her mother had been raised a princess too.

She stood as quietly as she could, forcing any uncertain thoughts from her mind while donning her weapons and grabbing the canteen, while Killian kicked dirt into the fire, effectively killing the last of the flames. She poised her bow in a position to fire, though it pointed down, as she backed into the shadows of night, following Killian. He was moving away from the sounds of civilization, his hand on the hilt of his sword.

Several meters from their spot, he knelt, down to the ground, pulling at her elbow, silently pulling her down to his level.

He nodded at the large bush behind them, directing her attention to it. She looked at it, then him, questions filling her face. He simply answered with a grin, before laying down and scooching under the limbs of the bush. She blinked in surprise as he effectively disappeared behind the branches.

She didn't move for far longer than she should have. She knew she needed to crawl, in the dirt, to follow his lead. But the task surprised her far more than she would have guessed.

The sounds of the men moving closer effectively pulled her from her second-guessing. She found herself diving into the dirt, crawling on her stomach to make it under the lowest level of thorny branches. Once her head and shoulders cleared the space, she realised the bush was similar to a willow, though the branches were thicker, less flexible, and tangled so tightly that they wouldn't move as easily as those on a willow, meaning they would be well hidden,

Finally looking at him, she saw his back pressed into the bark of the bush to create as much space for her as humanly possible. His hand and hook were reaching for her, and she took them without second thought. He pulled her toward him, quickly, but effectively. He maneuvered his legs, one knee bent, his foot flat on the ground, the other leg entirely in the dirt. He was making space for her, she understood.

She realized just how close she was to him already, and how much closer she was going to get in order for her to hide her own legs. It wasn't as tight a squeeze as she thought it would be, though it wasn't exactly ample in room for the both of them. After the dream, she was not prepared for such close proximity. She didn't have much time to consider her limited options, but hearing footsteps and shouts growing even closer, she simply pushed herself up, bringing in her legs. She tried not to think about the fact that they were touching.

There wasn't enough room for them to sit side by side. She angled herself into his lap, pulling her legs further the bush to his side. Cringing when the back of her head hit the thorns of the leaves, she involuntarily moved opposite the offending thorns - which was Killian. Her head landed on his shoulder.

She tried not to enjoy the position as much as she did, taking a deep breath of salt, sea, leather, rum, and rosewood. The same as it had been the day he thawed her with his touch. As much as she tried, this was not a situation where she could avoid all the thoughts she shouldn't be thinking.

They had managed to keep quiet the entire time they had positioned themselves. She wondered how he knew this space had existed. She imagined he already knew this type of bush existed from his previous travels to her realm, and noticed this one while keeping watch.

"Why are we hiding?" She asked barely above a breath, conscious that her lips were barely an inch from his chest.

"We could be largely outnumbered." He barely breathed back. "I'm a survivor." he gently reminded her, giving her elbow a reassuring squeeze.

"Is that all?"

He motioned toward their, now vacant, campsite with his chin, causing her to turn enough to look. The scene beyond the willow bush branches was already difficult to see, especially with her position on Killian's lap facing away from them, but she could still make out three figures who had reached the spot they just vacated. One was shouting in no particular direction that they had found something.

"Dammit. He won't be happy." One said.

"We'll find her, have patience." Said two.

"She's just a princess! Shouldn't be this difficult!" One replied.

"She's with that pirate." Three spoke up.

"All that matters is he wants her." One shouted at the other two.

A few more men joined, and the conversation suddenly dropped. They were looking for tracks, Emma knew. But why were they here? Who would be mad? What did the proverbial he want with her?

Even more men joined, enough that she lost count, but the group seemed to be at a loss. Finally, a man on the back of a horse came into view. By the way he was shouting both orders and reprimands at the men, Emma assumed he was the leader. He was clearly not pleased that his subordinates had disturbed the campsite, and likely, any trail that had existed.

Emma's eyes grew wide when she realized her horse, as well as Killians, were still ground tied not far from their present location. She tapped him wherever she could reach, then pointing in the general direction of their rides. His acknowledgement was a sharp release of breath.

She took a deep breath and focused all her energy. She wanted the horses to head home as fast as they could travel.

In a moment, they neighed and she heard galloping hooves, followed by the sounds of water splashing. The horses were leaving, causing a distraction. She felt a prick of victory before it dawned on her that they were now stranded.

"They're still here!"

Thunder sounded overhead.

"After them!"

Most of the men ran off after the riderless horses. The leader on horseback did not. He turned his horse around slowly, looking toward the ground for some imagined clue. Eventually, his eyes landed on the bush they were hidden in. She closed her eyes, held her breath, and waited.

Finally the man trotted off in the direction he came from. Not long after, he raced past the site with other men on horseback. She only counted four of them, but was sure there were more from the noise they were making.

They didn't dare breath until the sound of the hooves had vanished, plus several minutes after.

"We should move before they circle back." He was still whispering, though not as softly.

She had moved just enough that they were facing each other again, nose to nose, their eyes meeting. She saw a dark blaze within him. Not something to fear, no, this was more like something to anticipate.

Part of her wanted to get closer, to feel his lips again, and her gaze flickered down to his lips, betraying her thoughts. She mentally cursed herself, tightly closing her eyes.

Focus.

She shook her head, releasing herself from any thoughts that might spell trouble. As gracefully as one could, she crawled out and began to dust herself off.

He appeared beside her, not once looking her in the eye. He began moving in the direction of their quest.

She tried not to let on how upset she was at having lost their horses, like the pampered princess she knew she really was. She just followed him instead.

"Now what?" She muttered, unable to keep from sounding sour.

"Now, we walk." He breathed in a long, slow breath. "It'll be good for our souls." He was grinning again. Would nothing discourage his spirits?

"You need sleep." She reminded him, making it to his side, finding her step in line with his.

"Aye. As do you. But right now, we need to distance ourselves from this site. There could be more men in this area, and I don't believe either of us wish to battle a platoon just yet."

She knew from her self proclaimed princess lessons that a platoon was 20-50 armed men that could be broken up into smaller groups.

"You think there were enough men here to quantify calling them a platoon?"

"You're familiar with the terminology." He nodded in approval, his signature smirk never wavering. "Aye. We witnessed, least, fifteen men."

"It could just be one squad."

"Aye, I suppose. But in my experience, there's always more than those you actually see. Considering their weapons of choice, and the fact that they are all wearing the same uniform is a strong suggestion that there could be many, many more. I for one am looking forward to never correctly identifying them."

"How much longer will this trip take now that we're walking?"

He scratched behind his ear. "With horses, it would have taken another day, day and a half. Walking should take an extra two days more."

"My parents will be thrilled."

"C'mon then, love. Another hour or so, and we can stop again."

Thank you for reading!