Fluffy Fridays: Take a Chance
CS Genre: Canon Divergence—Emma didn't leave Hook chained to the beanstalk
She made it back to the beanstalk before the guilt finally got the better of her. She still heard him calling her name in the distance, the anger changing to something far worse—disbelief, pain, betrayal. Emma winced, unable to shake the feeling that she was making a mistake of gigantic proportions.
She took another step, jumped up on the ledge surrounding the gigantic vine and took hold of a substantial, leafy branch. She had to get out of here. Now! The man was a pirate. She couldn't trust him any farther than she could throw him. Hell, he'd already shown he was a lying, manipulative son of a bitch. Cowardly blacksmith, ha!
So what if he'd kept his end of the bargain? So what if he'd read her better than anyone had in years, decades maybe? So what if he'd looked at her like she made the sun shine? He didn't care about her! She was a means to an end for him; that was all. She'd heard this song before; she knew how it ended. She'd decide to trust him and then he'd screw her over and leave her to drown in her own tears.
Nope. No way. Not a chance in hell. She wasn't going down that path again.
She took her first step down, the movement causing her injured palm to swear fluently in outrage.
Damn!
Her mind went back to the moment a few hours ago when he'd bandaged it for her. His eyes, so full of mischief. His breath warm on her hand. His straight, white teeth pulling the fabric taut. She felt her breath quicken, her heart swoop into her stomach and back at the memory. Ugh! He didn't even remotely play fair.
Damn!
But what terrified her more than anything other wasn't the blatant flirting, the white hot passion. It was the fact that he noticed her injury at all; that he took the time to tend her wound. The implications of that kind of perception and kindness were too scary to even think of.
Damn him!
Emma sighed and then leaped back onto the stone floor of the giant's lair. Much as she wanted to, she couldn't just leave him here. He had, after all, fulfilled his part of the bargain. Fair was fair.
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"I must say, love. It's a hell of a view from where I stand."
Emma twisted awkwardly to look down at the man who clung to the beanstalk a few feet below her. Her eyes narrowed.
"Hook, are you checking out my ass?"
He shot her a surprised look—that quickly transformed into his customary mocking leer. He made an exaggerated point of training his eyes on that particular part of her physiognomy. "That hadn't been the point of my observation, darling" he drawled, "but now that you mention it, I do quite like what those snug breeches women of your realm wear do to your…assets."
"You do realize that if I wasn't hanging on for my life a good two-hundred feet above the ground I'd be slapping you silly right now?"
He grinned. "And mar my devilishly handsome visage? 'Twould be a tragedy love."
Emma rolled her eyes and took another careful step. The climb down somehow seemed more precarious than the way up had been. She wasn't normally afraid of heights, but they were still above the cloud line, and she was all too aware that one wrong move might result in her becoming a broken mass of dead savior on the ground.
"You needn't worry, love," Hook said gently. "Should you fall, I'm more than capable of catching you."
She glanced down at him once again, shocked at his ability to read her. "You've got one hand. How you gonna manage that?"
A small shadow, so fleeting Emma wondered if she'd even seen it at all, came and went over his face. "Be that as it may," he said, "I'm endlessly resourceful. And as it would seem we're destined to remain companions, I'd far prefer you alive."
"Such a gentleman," she mocked.
"As I said, love, always. Good form and all of that."
They climbed steadily and silently for a quarter of an hour, and with each passing moment Emma's hand throbbed more insistently. Much more of this and she'd be down a hand just as much as Hook was.
"Shall we stop and rest for a moment, Swan?" Hook asked, giving her a concerned look.
"Um, how exactly are we supposed to do that?"
Hook gestured to a narrow ledge about ten feet below. "It's not the most comfortable perch, to be sure, but it will be sufficient for our needs."
Emma eyed the precarious looking mass of entwined branches. "You sure we'll fit on that?"
He gave her a wicked grin. "We'll need to huddle up quite a bit, but aye. It'll hold us."
Emma rolled her eyes, but finally nodded. She needed the rest, and if it meant she had to practically sit in the pirate's lap to get it…well, she'd had to do worse things she supposed.
After a bit of careful maneuvering, the two of them settled on the ledge. Hook grabbed the canteen and extended it in her direction. With a muttered thanks, Emma drank deeply, enjoying the cool crisp liquid against her parched throat. She'd had no idea how thirsty she'd become throughout the trek.
Replacing the cap, she handed the container back and then froze. His eyes were on her, hot and wanting. Emma felt the heat rush to her cheeks as she struggled to hold his gaze. What was he doing to her? She wasn't some young innocent! She could handle the blatant attention of a hopeless ladies' man without turning into a puddle of goo!
After a moment, Hook shook his head and broke eye contact, and Emma could finally breathe again. "So, Hook," she said, desperately trying to get her run away racing heart back under control. "We've got the compass. What's the plan now?"
He shrugged. "Same as before. We pilfer the wardrobe ashes from Cora."
"Sounds pretty dangerous to me," Emma muttered. "Stealing from a powerful sorceress sounds like a recipe for death and destruction."
"Perhaps for most, love," he said with a cocky grin, "but I am more than adept at thievery, and I'm even more adept at surviving."
"So, master thief," she said, "you going to let me in on your dastardly plan?"
Hook was silent for a moment, clearly in thought. "I believe our best course of action is to give Cora precisely what she wants. I'd wager the only way to get close to her—at least close enough for our purposes—is to bring her the compass."
Emma's eyes narrowed. "You want to give Cora the compass?"
He shrugged. "Not give it to her, darling. Merely make her believe that's what we're doing. Perhaps you and I can venture to her camp and practice a little sleight of hand."
Emma eyed him closely. He seemed to be sincere. Her inner lie detector remained resolutely silent, but still…this plan sounded ridiculous.
"How can I be sure you're not going to double cross us? How do I know you're not just planning to screw me over?"
Hook was silent for a moment, and Emma looked over at him. He wore the most sinful look she'd ever seen across his ridiculous face. "Oh, darling, you've no idea how much I'd like to screw you over."
The heat pooled deep in her belly. Seriously? How did he manage to do this to her with seemingly no effort at all?
"Be that as it may," he continued, sobering, "you've nothing to fear from me. Cora is a right nasty piece of work, and what I said before stands. I've no love for her or her schemes. I'll swear allegiance to any who help me achieve my vengeance. As you've done just that, I'd far rather remain in your lovely presence."
She looked closely at him, surprised at what she found. "You're really serious aren't you? You really do intend to help my mom and me get home?"
He smiled at her, the tenderness in his expression surprising her even further. "I swear to you on my vengeance, Swan, I'll return you to your lad or perish in the attempt."
There was no disguising the honesty and the conviction in that statement. Emma was more grateful than she could say. "Thanks."
He nodded firmly. "So what do you say darling? Shall we plan our visit to the nastiest witch this realm has ever seen?"
"Sounds good to me."
Notes:
-Happy Friday! I hope you enjoyed your weekly dose of fluff.
-The title of this update was inspired by the last thing Emma said to Hook before leaving him on the beanstalk: "I can't take a chance that I'm wrong about you." In this story, she came back and decided to take that chance on him after all.
-So, Emma's hand hurting DID have a point in this story—beyond being an excuse to trap them together as they rested on the beanstalk. During the hand bandaging scene, I suspect we were all focusing on…ahem…other things, but I did notice that that cut looked pretty deep and nasty. The injury was never discussed again on screen (probably mainly because it existed for the sole purpose of Hook bandaging it and Colin killing us all with his improvisatorial skills), but I figure it had to hurt like crazy—particularly when she was climbing down the beanstalk by herself!
-I've done lots of different CS "genres", but I don't think I've ever done something that was canon divergent yet. I wanted to branch out a little! In this particular update, I (obviously) wanted to explore what might have happened if Emma had had a change of heart and freed Hook from the beanstalk. Basically, in my mind, most everything goes on to happen in a reasonably similar manner plot wise—only Emma and company have a certain one-handed pirate on their side this time. So, at the end of this story, Hook and the ladies attempt to steal the ashes from Cora, but are ultimately unsuccessful. Cora goes on to send her army of zombies after them and captures Aurora. Cora (rather than Hook) takes Aurora's heart, and then Cora (via Aurora) traps all five of them in Rumple's cell. Rumple's ink still frees them and they head to Lake Nostos—where an epic battle ensues. This time CS is fighting side by side rather than against each other, but hey, I'm sure Hook can still find a place to throw in his sword-related innuendoes.
-I was rather productive this week; I wrote several additional updates to this story! All they need is a little editing. So, for the first time ever in this story, I can actually leave you with an "up next".
-Up next: Deleted scene: The Captain Cobra Swan road trip from New York back to Storybrooke (3x12). This one got long, so it'll come to you in two parts. Part one comes to you next Friday!