Emma was cold.

She was pulled from sleep that was heavy and thick, something uncomfortable rushing her to the surface. A steady throbbing in her head felt like someone was actively hitting it, and it was fricken freezing.

When the cold became too much to stand, burning her face and she could now feel herself trembling in it, she felt herself rush back toward reality.

Even as she did, the pull to fall back asleep was almost intoxicating.

She was so tired.

But she was stubborn as all hell, and something inside her wouldn't stop suggesting that something was very wrong. So, she tore herself away from the pull of sleep and followed that sense of urgency.

"Emma?"

There was a very familiar voice in her ear, though she's never heard that voice with such… such emotion in it. It was a mix of panic and hope. Something shook her gently, different from her body's reaction to the cold, tearing her even more from her stupor.

She tried to find her eyes.

"E-Emma?" came the voice again, even more desperate now. "Emma, love. Please open your eyes."

Her mind sped up a little.

That was Killian.

She could feel a little more now.

She was laying against something soft, yet solid, arms wrapped firmly around her waist.

Something about it felt so…

Safe.

Emma cracked her eyes open.

She winced at the bright white of the room, and confusion quickly rushed in. It looked like she was in some sort of large cave made completely of ice.

That explained the cold.

She could feel more clearly that she was laying against something that was decidedly warmer than ice, and her slow mind finally put together that it was Killian.

"Wh—" began Emma, thoroughly confused. And cold. So cold. "What the h-hell…?"

He chuckled a little, his chest rumbling with it, and she felt more than heard it. But it sounded so… tired. "Swan," he whispered into her hair, her name but a breath on his lips. "Thank the gods."

His voice sounded so weak.

"What…?" began Emma again, confusion waking her up even more. "Where…?"

He held her a little tighter. "You don't r-remember what happened?"

His voice was shaking so much.

Emma felt her heart pick up.

And god it was cold.

Emma hesitated, trying to think through her muddled mind, back to what brought them here. There was the power outage, the ice wall, then she found the woman, Elsa—

Emma's eyes snapped open. "The wall—it…"

"Nearly crushed you," finished Killian.

Emma's brows furrowed, trying to remember the moment.

She remembered something hitting her, she'd fallen, then the last thing she knew, there was something solid and warm over her, like it was protecting her—

"You saved me?" whispered Emma.

There was that little laugh again, but it was barely a shadow of his usual one. "Tried to," he said. "Bloody great j-job I did." She could feel him shaking hard, and he took a shuddering breath. "You were unconscious for what m-must've been an hour," he said hollowly. "The ice witch trapped us in here until your father helps her." His arms tightened a little around her again. "I've been tr-trying to wake you for ages, love."

Emma's chest clenched at the obvious fear in his voice.

He'd been worried sick.

Over her.

Vaguely she remembered the woman—Elsa—say something about wanting to find her sister, Anna.

But for David to find her… before she and Killian froze in here?

Hopeless panic ran through her.

David might be an expert in finding Snow over and over again, but finding missing people was Emma's expertise.

She really hoped it ran in the family.

"Your… your father," said Killian, and Emma could hear his teeth chatter through the words. "He'll… want to hear from you now that you're with us, love." Before Emma could ask, he said, "Beside you… th-the device."

Emma looked down for it, but suddenly realized something.

Why Killian sounded so much colder than she felt.

Her heart stopped.

She was wearing his coat.

He was sitting in this frigid wasteland without a coat.

"Killian," she breathed, voice laced with surprise and panic, his name coming out like a rough, near-hysterical admonishment.

"A-Aye?"

Emma stared wide-eyed at the heavy jacket wrapped tightly around her.

No wonder he sounded like he was on death's door.

She's seen the clothes he wears under the jacket; they would hardly keep any warmth in.

He's been like this for an hour?!

"You gave me your jacket?!" she exclaimed, her breath a burst of white air. "Are you insane?"
He hesitated for a second, like he didn't expect that reaction. "I was g-going for… for ch-chivalrous," he whispered tiredly, voice shaking so much she could hardly make out his words.

Emma wasted no time.

She immediately began to take it off.

"Wh—" began Killian, rousing a little in surprise, tightening his arms around her as if to stop her. "Wh-what the hell are you d-doing, Swan?"

"Killian, you're freezing," she said, the unhinged panic she was suddenly feeling for him coming out in her words but she didn't care. His arms were tight but fatigue had weighed on his strength, and Emma pulled away from him easily. She moved enough away to turn and look at him, paling even more than cold had already made her.

His face was almost colorless.

His lips were blue.

His eyes were barely open.

God, he looked so tired.

Instantly, Emma took off his coat, even when she felt the immediate bite of the frigid air. She gasped reflexively, not having realized just how much protection his heavy jacket had offered her.

Killian's eyes widened a fraction. "Emma—!"

"Gentleman, my ass," she breathed, trying to ignore how her teeth chattered ridiculously now that the jacket's warmth was gone. "You nearly killed yourself, you know that?! If I didn't wake up right now—" She couldn't finish the words, already knowing she'd have woken to him in a state she couldn't even consider.

"Emma," he said seriously, and Emma couldn't help the tightening of her chest at the way his entire body shook with cold. "P-Put it back on."

"Like hell," she managed, opening the jacket again before she quickly laid back against his chest, offering as much of her own heat as she could, and draped the coat like a blanket over them both, pulling it tight over her and him, basking both of them in its warmth.

She watched his eyes shut, a sigh of relief drawn from him. Emma's own fingers were semi-numb, but kept warm from his ridiculously-protective jacket. She immediately rubbed her hands over his arms, trying to warm him up. "You're an idiot," she huffed, "an idiot."

He smiled at that, stiffly wrapping his arms around her again.

God, his hand was like pure ice.

Emma lost her breath when it touched her back, the cold in his fingers seeping in through her sweater. His hand wasn't as cold as the rest of him, since he'd had enough sense to keep his hand under his jacket. But Emma felt fear flit through her, because he could not afford to get frostbite in the fingers of his only damn hand.

Using both her hands, she took his hand between both her palms, trying to warm his frozen fingers. It was like she was holding a block of ice. "You're so stupid," she whispered, her voice cracking, fear and cold shaking her voice, every ounce of her panic flooding her.

"You really kn-know how to woo a man, Swan," he said with a half-hearted chuckle, opening his eyes to give her half a grin. It faded when he said, "I was m-merely trying to keep you s-safe." His fingers, marginally less cold now that his hand was between hers, flexed a little, his thumb brushing over her palm. "I need you to be all right, love." he said softly.

"Well," she huffed, "if you die, I won't be." It was the closest she's ever come to telling him how she feels about him, because dammit, she sucks at the feelings stuff, and she doesn't exactly know how to say it. Hell, all she's done since that glorious kiss from a few nights ago was avoid him.

Killian looked at her then, brow lifting a little as he seemed to hear that admission exactly as Emma had intended it. Something soft, and then something horribly sad, flickered in his eyes. He hugged her a little tighter to him. "I feel the same, love."

Emma let out a breath, her anger with Killian fading, though it was never really anger, she was touched and grateful but terrified beyond belief, and she shut her eyes. "I do appreciate it," she said softly. "Your jacket. What you did for me." What you do for me.

That made him smile, and Emma suddenly wanted to elicit that smile from him for the rest of her life.

When that thought became far too real for her liking, she said, "Is this your idea of getting me alone for a date?"

He gave her an incredulous look, and Emma was relieved to see she managed to pull him back off death's doorstep. "Of course not." That little smirk of his on his face, though it was but a shadow of the one he normally wore, he said, "If this was a date, I'd bloody well not be putting more clothes on you."

The joke fell flat with the way his voice shook, but Emma was grateful that he was even bothering to say it; he still had a fire in him, even if the frozen cave was trying its damndest to snuff it out. His shivers earlier had been jerky, but now with both her warmth and his jacket's, his shivers had lessened a fraction. It was something, and Emma was desperately clinging onto it.

The sudden blast of static from the walkie-talkie made both of them jump. And Emma nearly forgot that Killian mentioned he had it.

"Hook?" came David's voice, sounding breathless, like he was running. And nothing short of panicked. "Hook? Are you two all right? Is Emma awake?"

Emma removed one hand from Killian's, her other having managed to intertwine with his fingers when she wasn't paying attention. She reached for the walkie, pulling it toward her face. Holding down the talk button, she smiled as she said, "Dad."

She could almost hear the relieved smile in his voice. "Emma! Thank god." A brief pause. "Is Hook—"

"Right here, mate," said Killian with that grin of his at David's obvious concern. "Pleased to know you care."

Even in the midst of the dilemma they were in, Emma imagined the eyeroll her father must have given that. "Good. I'm going to get you two out of there. I actually know Elsa's sister, Anna. I met her once. I also know how we can find her; I just need to find wherever the hell Bo Peep is; she wasn't here in the first curse but I think she came around in the second. Anna was branded by her crook; once I get that, I'll find Anna and then Elsa will free you. You'll be home for hot cocoa and cinnamon in no time." His voice was shaking on the last few words, and Emma tried not to hear how much of a hope it was more than a promise.

"Okay," she whispered. "We'll be here."

"Hang in there. Both of you."

Silence fell.

Both of them shivered in the quiet wordlessly. Emma returned her other hand to Killian's, warming her cold fingers on the back of his hand, where the slightest bit of warmth began to return.

She breathed in, wincing as the dry, frigid air burned her lungs, and she let herself curl deeper into him, pulling her legs up to hide her knees beneath the warmth of his long jacket. Emma took the moment to realize he'd even pulled her on top of him so she wouldn't have to lie on the icy floor.

"You really are a gentleman," she said with a sigh, then blinked; she hadn't exactly meant to say those words out loud. She suddenly wondered if the cold air and the mild head injury was making her walls loosen. More than that, she wasn't even a cuddler. Yet, something about him felt so safe. Made this feel so…

Right.

She wondered why she'd never thought to do this with him before.

"I keep telling you," he teased lightly.

Emma let herself smile. That he did. "You know," she said, "if you were like this when we first met, I probably would have warmed up to you faster."

"Where would have been the fun in that?" he said through a shaky grin. "Though, it seems fitting that the one time you truly warm up to me is when you're bloody freezing to death."

Emma winced at the truth in that statement. Her brows furrowed, thinking about the past few days, how she's been specifically avoiding him.

What if David couldn't save them in time, and today was the last time she ever…?

She shook the thoughts away, unable to go there.

"Can we break the wall?" she asked, squinting at the ice, wondering how thick it could be.

He laughed humorlessly. "Bloody tried," he told her. "Hook… barely scratched it."

Emma sighed, hating feeling so helpless. "Magic made it," she murmured. "It must need magic to un-make it." Her eyes snapped wide. "Magic," she breathed. "I can try my magic!"

She saw his tired eyes light up, a little spark in the cloudy blue, and Emma felt that indescribable feeling she always got when she managed to make him proud. "Brilliant idea," he whispered. "You can do it, Swan."

Emma pulled her hands out from under his jacket. They shook harder and burned the moment they hit the air. "I can try to m-make a fire," she whispered. She shut her eyes, tried to concentrate her magic into her palms.

The last time she's made fire was back in Neverland, and she'd only done so on what she believed was a very, very lucky try. Killian and Neal were in danger and it just… happened.

Regina's magic lessons were less than helpful, since she was more concerned with Emma's instinctive reflexes than teaching her to control her magic at will. Emma has since managed teleporting small things over short distances, with plenty of concentration, but Regina had stepped all over her pride at the success by saying it was the most elementary magic. Evidently creating fire was also elementary, and Emma hasn't done that in well over a year.

Needless to say, the minute she and Killian were out of this hellhole, she was diving into some in-depth magic studies, even if she had to go to freaking Hogwarts to do it.

After a few moments of trying, Emma cracked her eyes open, seeing nothing between her palms. They shook hard, her fingers almost completely numb.

She shook out her hands, feeling her whole body shaking more from the cold now, but still, nothing was happening.

Brows furrowed in worry, Emma looked at Killian, who was still watching her, his hope and belief in her making her chest hurt. "I—I can't do it," she whispered, words a fearful whisper of white air. She shut her eyes, feeling them burn. "God, it's f-freezing—"

Killian reached his hand from under his jacket, taking her hands in his, pulling them back under his jacket. It was his turn to rub warmth back into her freezing fingers. "It's all right, love," he said softly, in a gentle voice she's never heard him use before. "Don't fret. It's all right."

No, it's not, thought Emma miserably. She knew how much of a longshot it was that her father will be able to find Elsa's sister in time to save them. "Do you think David will make it in time?" asked Emma quietly, voicing the fear aloud.

"I know he will."

Emma looked at him, seeing the strength in his eyes looking right back at her. "You think so?" she whispered.

He smiled faintly. "He will get her to release us," he repeated, like a vow. "You are going to be just fine, love."

As comforting as he meant them to be, there was something about those words that didn't sit right, but Emma couldn't put her finger on it.