A Neverland Thank You
CS Genre: Deleted scene (between 3x9 and 3x10)
A/N: This story was originally posted as my contribution to the Captain Swan Storybook. See notes below for more info.
Emma turned over once more in her bunk in the crew's quarters. She should be exhausted after a full week of nothing but stress and strain and anxiety as she and her family desperately searched for a way to get her son back. She should have fallen asleep the moment her body hit the comfortable lower bunkbed after a week of sleeping on the ground of that damn island.
And yet, sleep was eluding her.
Judging by the even breathing and gentle snores all around her, the rest of the rescue party wasn't having nearly the same trouble.
After several moments of lying awake, merely staring at the bed above her, Emma groaned and got to her feet. No sense lying in bed just tossing and turning. Maybe some crisp night air as they flew through the sky would clear her head and coax the sandman to pay her a visit.
Emma made a quick stop first to the captain's quarters. Henry was safe, he was well, he was unscathed as far as any of them could tell, but after the nightmare they'd all been through, she didn't think anyone would blame her for being a little obsessive about checking on the kid.
She eased open the door, not wanting to wake Henry if he was asleep.
"Em?" came Neal's sleepy voice from his chair near Henry's bed. "There a problem?"
"No, nothing like that," Emma assured quickly. "Just looking in on Henry. What are you doing down here?"
"Same," he said simply, gesturing to the bed. "I just…I know what Neverland's like. I know the games Pan plays. I just wanted to make sure our kid's dealing with it okay."
"Is he?"
Neal shrugged. "Seems to be. Sleeping like a baby. Look Em, I know you need time to make up your mind about me and Killian…"
"Neal…" Emma cut in.
"Just hear me out," Neal begged. "I get it, okay? I screwed up, and I get that you're still pissed, but I just want you to know that I want to be a father to Henry. I wanna do right by him. I had a crap father, and his father before him was even more a crap father, but I don't want to be that way with Henry. I want him to know I'm there for him. No matter what happens between you and me."
Emma felt a quick rush of affection for her former boyfriend. She didn't know if she could ever fully move past what Neal did to her back in Portland—at least enough to have another go at a relationship with him—but it was clear how much he cared about Henry, and Emma was grateful for that.
"I'm glad, Neal," she said simply. "I'm glad you'll get to spend a little time with Henry now that things are back to normal. He'll enjoy that."
"Thanks, Em."
"Welcome." She turned back toward the door. "I think I'm going to go walk the deck a little, try to clear my head."
Emma made her way up the ladder, suddenly wishing she had another sweater. Neverland might have been a humid, sweltering jungle, but up here in the clouds, it was a different story altogether. It was cold! She shivered as she made her way toward the ship's wheel, noticing Hook standing proud and tall, keeping them steady as they made their way home.
Emma wasn't ready to have "the talk" with Killian any more than she had been with Neal, so she turned quietly, hoping to find a rail on the opposite side of the ship, hoping she could creep away before the pirate saw her.
"Swan? Why are you still awake love? It's likely nearing two in the morning. All is well with the lad, I hope?
"Yeah," Emma said, moving closer to the pirate in spite of herself. "He's fine; fast asleep last I checked."
Killian nodded, then turned back to look at the sky around them. "He's a resilient lad, and a courageous one."
"Let me guess; he'd make a hell of a pirate too?"
Killian turned toward her with a devilish grin. "Oh aye. Without a doubt."
Emma narrowed her eyes and put her hands on her hips. "If you turn my son into a pirate, Hook, you're going to regret it."
If anything, his grin grew even wider. "What punishments do you have in mind for me, Swan? I've no doubt we could come to an arrangement that we would both greatly enjoy."
Emma felt a grin creeping over her face despite herself. "Yeah, that'd kind of defeat the whole point of a punishment, don't you think? Hardly discourage bad behavior."
"Perhaps not," he said softly. "Very well. I shall endeavor to behave myself."
"Good to hear."
For long moments, they lapsed into silence. Emma was amazed at how easy it was with him. There was no awkwardness in their silences, no urge to fill the emptiness with idle chatter, just…contentment. It was amazing really. Captain Hook had turned out to be nothing like she'd thought he'd be. He'd surprised her over and over again during this week in Neverland. He'd been an unfailing help to her—to all of them, and if he hadn't been here, they'd probably still be wandering aimlessly around the island, looking for Henry.
Emma turned slightly and looked at him. Did he know how grateful she was for his help? She thought for a moment, and realized she'd never thanked him (well, other than for saving her father's life). No one had yet thanked him for his actions in getting Henry back. It was high time someone did.
"Hey, Killian," she began.
"Aye, Swan?"
"I just, you know, wanted to thank you," she said quickly. "Without you, I'd have never gotten my son back. Without you, I wouldn't even have made it to this island. Without you, we'd have no way back home."
He looked uncomfortable, reaching up to scratch at that place behind his ear. She watched in amusement as he pulled on his "charming rogue" persona to cover his embarrassment.
"And before you start suggesting a method of expressing gratitude that I told you was going to be a one-time thing," she said with a grin, "just, you know, hear me out."
"And then I can proposition you for a kiss, love?" he asked with feigned innocence.
She laughed. "Nice try, Romeo."
His brows furrowed in obvious confusion, and Emma realized he probably had no idea of the reference she'd just made. It was going to be fun teaching Killian all about modern culture—and classics from her world—over the next few decades in Storybrooke.
Strange how she just knew he was going to stay. Normally, she expected the men in her life to run. Sooner or later they always did. How strange the very idea of Hook doing so seemed ludicrous, laughable.
"Swan?" Killian said. "When you asked me to hear you out, I presumed you had more you wished to say to me."
"Yeah," Emma said, pulling herself from her thoughts. "It's just…I know about what happened to your brother. I know how many bad memories Neverland must have for you. I know it was just about the last place you ever wanted to return, and yet you still offered your ship and your services to help find a boy you'd barely even met. You know full well how dangerous it was to be aligned with us against Pan, but you never wavered in your alliances. Your insights and knowledge about things here in Neverland was invaluable to our search efforts, and you managed to save my dad's life. I just wanted to let you know how much it means to me."
It was difficult to see by the negligible light of the moon, but Emma would swear Killian blushed. "It was the right thing to do, Swan. I failed Bae many, many years ago; I had no intention of further dishonoring his memory—or so we thought was just his memory—by abandoning his son to a similar fate."
"Was that the only reason you chose to help us?" Emma asked, trying to tell herself it was an off-hand question.
"No," he admitted with a grin. "There might have been a certain golden haired goddess of a savior who I didn't wish to disappoint."
They exchanged a quick smile before Killian continued.
"Ever since Liam died, I've been adrift," Killian admitted. "I've felt as though I've alienated myself from every human person who could possibly care for me. You'll never know what it meant to me, Emma, when you offered me a chance to be a part of something—to be a part of the heroes once again. It was a lifeline."
"Well, I'm glad you took us up on it," Emma said, "and not just because it got us where we needed to go. You're not who I thought you were, and…well, I'm just glad you chose to be a part of our group."
Killian smiled at her, a gentle smile, full of sincerity. "For that, and anything else I might have done to aid you and your family, you're quite welcome."
Emma felt a warmth creep up over her skin at the tenderness in his eyes as he looked at her. Impulsively, she stepped up to him and wrapped him in a tight hug. He seemed frozen in place for a moment, and then responded in kind, burying his face in the crook of her neck. "You're so much more than a pirate, Hook. You've become a friend. Don't make yourself a stranger when we get back home."
"Not even Pan's bloody shadow could tear me away, Swan."
Emma smiled against his shoulder, and then stepped back, feeling a yawn rise up. Something about being with Hook eased her mind, let her relax. She didn't want to think about it too closely. Was terrified, in fact, to discover the reason why. For now, she'd just enjoy the night, the victory, the man by her side and this quiet moment in the sky.
There would, after all, be plenty of time to rebuild her walls tomorrow when the next villain inevitably struck.
Notes:
-Happy Friday! Did you enjoy the premiere last Sunday? I certainly did—and I'm intrigued to find out where the showrunners are going with this storyline!
-As I said above, this story was originally written for a hiatus project that flslp87 and I came up with: the Captain Swan Storybook. 30 authors and 8 illustrators/gif makers made contributions to create CS's storybook in the same vein as Henry's famous storybook. flslp87 compiled the stories, and uploaded them into an e-book. Check out the book's Tumblr page ( csstorybook) for a link to the book.
-Up next: Unless something else comes up, I'm planning a canon divergence from 5a based on this prompt: What would have happened if Killian had never been cut with Excalibur?