Taking Back Neverland—pt. 2
CS Genre: AU (actors who "hate" each other)
"You really should check out this script, mate," Robin said, "it's bloody perfect for you."
Killian took a swig of his rum, grinning to himself. "Let me guess…it's a Regina Mills production?"
Robin grinned back, taking a healthy swig of his beer before continuing. "It may be my fiancée's current project but that makes it no less perfect for you. I know you don't have any pressing projects at the moment. What would it hurt to just check it out?"
"Alright, I'll bite," Killian said, "what exactly is so perfect about this particular script?"
"It's got action, adventure, a bit of whimsy, and romance," Robin answered. "You'd be taking the role of Captain Hook."
"A villain?"
"Well, perhaps more of a reformed scoundrel," Robin allowed. "He is the male romantic lead, after all."
Killian was silent for several moments, warring with himself. The sounds of the bar, The Rabbit Hole, washed over him. Finally, he reached up, scratched at the spot behind his ear and spoke again, refusing to look at his mate.
"You know full well I haven't taken an action role since…it happened," he said, taking a fortifying swig of rum. He held up his slightly-atrophied left hand and stared at it in derision. "Not much place in action movies for a bloke who only has one working hand."
Robin clapped him on the shoulder. "We've been over this. You could act circles around half the leading men in Hollywood right now even with their two hands."
"I'm not so sure of that," Killian said under his breath.
He flexed his left hand, the motion weak and taking painfully long, and his mind went back to the accident. The moment his life changed forever. Not only had he lost his love, his Milah in that automobile crash, but his hand had been crushed. After extensive surgeries, the doctors had managed to save the hand (it had been touch and go for a while, the doctors all preparing him for the possibility that amputation may be necessary), but they told him he'd never get more than minimal functionality from it again.
"Well I am," Robin said bracingly. "And besides. Your disability will be no factor in anything that's required of in this particular film. If you'll recall, Captain Hook came by the name after a crocodile ate his left hand."
Well, that did provide some interesting possibilities. He couldn't deny he missed starring in action-heavy roles. They had been his staple before the accident. He'd made quite a name for himself. Since it had happened…well, he'd spent most of his acting time playing the protagonist in rom-coms. He'd been blessed with good looks, and he'd acquired more than his fair share of female fans thanks to those roles, but he hungered for another role of real substance.
"Very well," Killian said, pushing aside his tumbler of rum and preparing to settle his tab, "I'll give it a read."
~c~s~c~s~c~s~c~s~c~s~
Read it he had, and he'd promptly fallen in love. This was the role of a lifetime. Quite a fresh and imaginative take on the tale of Peter Pan, with Hook the romantic hero and Pan the bloody demon. It hit everything that made a story great—action, adventure, romance, witty dialogue, and the happiest of happy ending (particularly for Captain Hook and the protagonist Anna Swan).
Robin was right; this was a role he simply couldn't turn down. Truth be told, it was as though the part had been written for him. He saw himself in the resilient fighter Captain Hook was, the melancholy hero who had endured far too much loss in his life.
The theme of a rather lonely little boy reconnecting with his birth mother likewise touched something deep inside. There was something healing in reading about that little boy's healing—and the way he healed his mother—that soothed (at least in part) the wound Killian carried from his own father's abandonment so many years ago. True, Anna Swan had given up her infant to give him his best chance while his father had abandoned him and Liam out of nothing but sheer selfishness, but an orphan's an orphan.
The very next morning, he'd called Regina Mills directly (there were certainly perks to being best mates with the fiancé of one of Hollywood's biggest directors) and expressed interest in the role. She'd immediately called him in for an audition—a process she'd assured him was nothing but a formality. Killian had made quite a name for himself over the years, and Regina had assured him the part was his for the taking.
~c~s~c~s~c~s~c~s~c~s~
And so it was that two weeks later he found himself striding into the studio for a chemistry test with the female lead, Emma Swan.
He knew very little about his on-screen love interest. He'd caught a few episodes of her television show, but a man can't very well get a read on a person based solely on her performance as an actress. He could tell that she was bloody gorgeous and had more than her share of talent, but as to the rest? Who was to know?
He fervently hoped they hit it off. As the two of them were scene partners in nearly every scene they were involved with, they would be spending long, grueling hours together over the next few months. Far better to spend that time with someone he genuinely liked than someone who got on his last nerve.
His agent, who insisted he call her Tinker Bell for some unaccountable reason, had playfully suggested maybe the two of them would not only get along, but get along. She'd nudged him, winking playfully, asking if he knew what she meant.
Aye, he knew exactly what she meant, but it wasn't going to happen. No matter what this Emma Swan may be like, his heart had been broken so definitively it would never be mended again. For the first few years after Milah's death, he'd buried the pain in rum and passionate nights with as many anonymous women as he could find.
But eventually he realized how utterly empty his life had become. He'd loved Milah with a burning passion, and their life had been good. Losing himself in meaningless encounters with women did nothing to mask the pain, only made him realize how pointless his life had become. Truth be told, he was no longer interested in meaningless sex. If anything, he wished for a real, true, meaningful relationship.
But that ship had sailed when his love had died. No use wishing for something he would never again allow to be his.
The studio door opened, cutting short Killian's melancholy musings, and then she walked through, and every thought in his head suddenly fled. He knew Emma Swan was beautiful; he'd seen that clear enough when he'd viewed her TV show, but nothing could have prepared him for the punch to the gut seeing her live and in person gave him.
She wore her long, luscious blonde hair in an artfully messy ponytail high on hear head. Her green eyes sparkled. And there was just a certain, indefinable something about being in the same room with her that made him tingle with awareness.
Love at first sight, Tink would have supplied in a sing-song voice. He definitively shoved that thought aside. Where he and Emma Swan were concerned, the only "falling in love" that would happen would be of the on-screen kind.
He took a deep breath and let it out, trying desperately to get ahold of himself. He was going to keep this professional if it killed him. When he finally felt like he could talk to the goddess without making an utter fool of himself, he walked over to her, keeping his expression pleasantly friendly.
"Hello love; my name's Killian Jones."
He offered his hand, and she looked at him suspiciously for a moment before taking it and shaking it tentatively. "I'm Emma Swan."
He smiled at her like an idiot. This whole "remaining professional" business was going to be a fair bit more difficult than he'd expected.
~c~s~c~s~c~s~c~s~c~s~
Emma glanced away, desperately needing to put some distance between them. A woman could drown in those blue eyes of his.
No wonder he's had nearly every woman in a 100-mile vicinity falling all over themselves over him, she thought to herself. And that was enough to bring back reality. She wasn't, absolutely wasn't going to be just another conquest.
So, she straightened, and looked down at the script again while they waited for the casting director (a rather bad-tempered man named Leroy) to signal that they were ready for the chemistry test.
She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the scene Leroy had pulled out for them to read. She'd been afraid he'd pick the scene—the big, passionate kiss that changed everything for both Emma and Hook (although it took Emma a considerably longer time than Hook to admit it). Stage kiss or not, no way was she ready to lock lips with Killian Jones. She was going to have to psych herself up for that.
Luckily, that wasn't the scene picked, but one a couple of acts later. This one was all dialogue. Romantic and emotional dialogue, yes, but strictly dialogue none the less. Not even a stray brush of hands in the script for this one.
She'd be fine; just fine.
"Alright, let's get this show on the road," Leroy said from his seat just beyond the stage. "Haven't had breakfast yet, and if Granny's runs out of bacon before I get there, there's gonna be hell to pay."
"I'm quaking in my boots," Killian said under his breath, only loud enough for Emma to hear.
She smiled in spite of herself. "You should be," she whispered back. "He looks like he means business."
"Hey, break it up!" Leroy growled. "Save the flirting for the stage!"
Emma felt her face flame. Leroy thought she was flirting with Killian? Ugh! Making this film was going to be the longest couple of months of her life.
"Right," Leroy said again with a nod. "So in case you're not that familiar with the context yet, your scene comes a couple hours after the Echo Caves confession. Hook and Baelfire are both sniffing after Anna and she just wants to get to Henry. Bae just took the cutlass and went off looking for Dark Hollow. And that's where you two love birds pick it up."
Emma closed her eyes, pictured the scene to come, imagined the emotions running through Anna at the moment—fear for her son's safety, a strange mixture of relief and panic at Bae's return, desire—and maybe the starting of something more—for Hook. She still felt a bit overwhelmed about how much her life had changed over the past few months.
So, sky-high walls. She could do sky-high walls.
Emma opened her eyes and became Anna.
Anna shot Hook a suspicious look, putting her hand out to stop him from stepping past her and following Bae.
"What was that about."
Hook looked aside, clearly uncomfortable. "I assumed he'd heard my secret. I also assumed you'd told him of our shared moment."
Of course he'd go there, Anna thought to herself. She rolled her eyes. "Why would you assume that?"
He stepped forward, his deep, deep blue eyes boring into hers and not giving up. Emma felt her heart pound at his nearness. "Because I was hoping it meant something."
Anna wasn't going there. She wasn't going anywhere near there. Best to change the subject. "What meant something was that you told us that Bae was still alive. Thank you. I realize you could have kept Pan's information to yourself."
"Why would I have done that?" He sounded as though he genuinely didn't know the answer.
She shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe Pan offered you a deal. Why else would he tell you?"
"It was a test," Hook said, his voice softening—even as it shone with sincerity. "He wanted to see if I'd leave an old friend to die, even if the old friend happens to be vying for the same woman I am."
"And you chose your friend?" Emma let a hint of breathlessness enter her voice.
"Does that surprise you?"
Uh, yeah, it did. "You are a pirate."
"Yeah, that I am." Killian looked down, and Emma's heart twisted at the hint of self-deprecation she saw in the gesture. This guy really was good.
And then he turned on the intensity, and Emma found it difficult to think at all. "But I also believe in good form. So when I win you heart, Anna, and I will win it, it will not be because of any trickery; it will be because you want me."
He stepped even closer; so close that she could feel his breath against her face. His eyes held hers, shining with sincerity. She felt like a moth in the presence of the flame. She wanted nothing more than to sway into him.
Well why not? Anna's supposed to be falling in love, isn't she?
She let her face show how much 'Hook's' words affected her. She saw his eyes darken in response, and it took way, way more effort than it should to pull back and let Anna try to put some emotional distance between them once again.
"This is not a contest, Hook."
He gave her no quarter, no lessening of his particular earnestness. "Isn't it? You're going to have to choose, Anna; you realize that, don't you, because neither one of us is going to give up."
That was way, way too much for her. "The only thing I have to choose is the best way to get my son back."
He smiled proudly. "And you will."
Emma knew enough about Anna to know she was not used to anyone putting her first; she wasn't used to anyone having faith in her. She let a touch of wonder enter her voice. "You think so?"
"I've yet to see you fail," he let his smile turn playful, flirtatious. "And when you do succeed, well, that's when the fun begins."
For several moments after the scene wrapped up, Emma and Killian continued staring at each other. That was…that was…intense.
She didn't realize she was effectively staring longingly into Killian Jones' eyes until Leroy chuckled. "Oh yeah. I don't think chemistry is going to be any problem between the two of you."
Emma blinked, and then felt the heat creep up into her cheeks. How was she ever going to survive making this damn movie?
She did what she did best. She stormed away.
"Yeah, well," she said over her shoulder as she walked away, "what can I say? We're really, really good actors."
And she told herself it was the truth. She'd just managed to really get into character; that was all that had happened out there on that stage. It was Anna's emotions she was feeling, not her own. Not anywhere close to her own.
Notes:
-Yay! No more hiatus! I can't wait for 5x13 this weekend. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Emma and Killian will actually be reunited by the end!
-Mostly from Killian's perspective here. He obviously doesn't have as much against Emma personally as she has against him, but he was burned by the pain of what happened with Milah, so a relationship is the farthest thing from what he plans. We'll see how long those plans last, lol.
-I chose the scene from Dark Hollow because I think it's really incredibly romantic—and it really makes Emma and Killian's chemistry shine. Obviously the dialogue from that part is not mine.
-Up next: They start rehearsals and filming. Sparks fly—but will either of these wounded, stubborn people let themselves acknowledge them—let alone act on them?