Under the Mistletoe

2x4 Canon divergence

Emma looked around her, feeling her frustration rise. This room was massive, and it was filled floor to ceiling with junk. Finding one lousy compass was going to take forever.

She didn't have forever; she needed to get back to Henry. Now.

She turned to ask Hook where he thought they should start their search, only to find him fingering a gold coin, bringing it to his nose and then turning it over and over in his hand.

"They hoarded all of their greatest stolen treasures in here. Piles of jewels and every room filled with coins," he said.

She rolled her eyes. Great. She should have known bringing a freaking pirate on a treasure hunt would be a mistake. It would be like bringing a kid to a candy store and then telling him to focus.

"Let's get to it, the compass," she said brusquely.

He shot her a rakish grin, and totally against her will, her stomach swooped. Bad enough she was stuck on this adventure with a pirate. Why'd her body have to betray her too? Of course the real Captain Hook was hot as hell, because of course he was. That's just the way her luck ran.

"What's your rush?" he asked languidly, continuing to eye the treasure around him.

That snapped her out of whatever hormonal response she was having to him. She was so not in the mood for his nonsense.

"How long do you think magic knockout powder lasts?"

"I've no clue."

"That's my rush."

He smiled at her again, this one looking less flirtatious and more genuine. Setting the gold piece back on the pile, he strode forward with purpose. "Too right, lass. Come; everything we need is right in front of us."

They hadn't been searching for ten minutes before Emma's frustration bubbled up again. Not only was this stupid giant's treasure room filled to capacity, it was also a total wreck. This search was going to last forever.

"They kill all the giant housekeepers too?" she asked. "Where we gonna find a compass in all this mess?"

He winked at her, and her traitor of a stomach swooped again.

"By looking. Start searching."

For an hour they searched in silence, and Emma had to give it to Hook. He really was a help in this endeavor. He was systematic in his search, picking a pile of junk, looking through each item, and then stacking it neatly before moving on to his next pile.

His presence was unsettling, though. It was...too much. He made her feel things, and not just the typical "wow, this guy is hot and I'm not gonna lie; I want to do something about it" feelings. Those she could handle. What she couldn't handle was this totally illogical feeling that they understood each other, that in some weird way they were the same.

She'd been burned before when she succumbed to feelings. She wasn't doing it again. Once burned twice shy and all that.

Emma groaned softly under her breath. She wasn't doing this-not the feelings, not the thinking, not even the never-to-be-resolved sexual tension. She was up here for one reason and one reason only: to find the damn compass and get back to her kid.

Probably best if she put some distance between her and Hook. Moving to the other side of the room, Emma, began sifting through a dusty pile of what appeared to be decorations-candles, brightly colored bows, streamers, and in the back-was that a Christmas tree?

"You guys have Christmas here in the Enchanted Forest?" Emma called over to Hook.

He stopped what he was doing and ambled over in her direction. "Of course we have Christmas, Swan." She could hear the smile in his voice. It made him seem younger somehow, more innocent. "Some of my best memories as a lad involve Christmas morning."

"Yeah well our giant seemed to go all out for it," Emma said. "Take a look at that tree! I didn't even know they grew them that tall."

He looked in the direction she was pointing, and then his expression changed to one of concern. "Swan be careful! Look out for-"

He reached her side, and she suddenly heard a sound like the tinkling of bells. A fine mist of dust smelling faintly of evergreen settled over both of them.

"-mistletoe," he finished dryly.

Emma looked up to see that, of course, there was a healthy sprig of the stupid weed directly above her and Hook. She rolled her eyes, moving to brush past him.

"Well, shall we get this over with then?" he asked.

She scoffed. "Good try Hook, but I didn't come up here to make out with a hot pirate."

His grin turned wicked. "A hot pirate, am I?"

She felt her face flame in spite of herself. What was it about this man that made her feel like a teenager with a crush?

"You know what you look like," she said, giving him a wide berth and moving on to the next pile. "I'm not stroking your ego...or any other part of you."

She expected another round of innuendo, but instead, he stepped in front of her, stopping her searching with a hand to her arm and a concerned look on his face. "You can't seriously be thinking of ignoring what just happened. You know full well that mistletoe can't be ignored."

"What are you talking about?" she asked, hands going to her hips.

"Don't tell me you don't have mistletoe in the Land Without Magic!"

She growled. "Yeah, obviously we do. Stupid weed and even stupider tradition."

"It's far more than a tradition in this land, Swan," he said. "It's a deadly poison. The couple who is caught below it's tendrils is cursed, the only antidote being a kiss."

"Seriously?" she asked, feeling her ire growing. They had a job to do and all he wanted to do was hit on her. It was getting old. Really, really old.

"No one born and bred in the Enchanted Forest would joke about mistletoe," he insisted. She had to give it to him; she couldn't detect a single lie in what he was saying. He really believed this crap.

"Okay, fine, I'll bite," she said, "what exactly happens to a couple if they refuse to kiss?"

"They slowly go completely mad," he said simply. "Most infirmaries in this land have an entire ward dedicated to mistletoe poisoning."

Now that he mentioned it….she did have this strange urge to kiss him. What would it be like? Would he be a good kisser? He looked like he'd be a good kisser. For a moment Emma was tempted to give in, to find out the answer to those questions for herself.

But then reality reasserted itself. She'd only given them ten hours before Mulan would cut down the beanstalk and strand them up here forever. Turning away, she began searching again.

"Look, I don't know if that mistletoe poison story works on other women," Emma said, "but I'm not falling for it, and I'm not wasting anymore of our time on this stupid conversation. And if you even think about trying to steal a kiss-"

He stepped in front of her, looking absolutely sincere. "Swan, I've never once forced my attentions upon a woman, and I don't intend to start now. I simply warn you that the longer we delay the inevitable, the more uncomfortable we'll both become."

"Yeah, well I'll take my chances."

Within a quarter of an hour, Emma was starting to rethink her stance. His story about mistletoe poison was ridiculous, of course it was, but she had to admit-whether it was due to the power of suggestion or something else-her urge to kiss him hadn't gone away.

If anything it had grown.

Her heart began pounding, her palms becoming sweaty, her breathing fast and shallow. More than once she considered just doing it, just getting it out of her system once and for all, but something stopped her.

She knew, could feel it deep within her soul that a kiss with Hook would be no simple matter. She'd kissed-and done far more with-several hot guys in her life, and it had never been more than a quick scratch of an itch, but she was drawn to Hook, almost as though he were a black hole and she was approaching the event horizon. A kiss would change everything, and she didn't know if she'd be able to come back from it.

Emma took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She would not lose control; she would not give in. Best she focus all her energy on the search.

Of course that would have been a lot easier if Hook wasn't searching right beside her.

"Did you know that there is one more tradition regarding mistletoe?" Hook asked, his voice tight as though he were gritting his teeth.

"Yeah? What's that?" she asked in spite of herself.

"Oftentimes couples seek it out in order to determine if they are soulmates," he continued.

"Soulmates? Really?"

"Aye," he nodded before turning back to his pile of junk. "It's said that if two people are soulmates, when they kiss under the influence of mistletoe poison they get a glimpse of their future and then promptly forget it-any of it-ever happened."

"Convenient," she deadpanned.

He looked as though he wanted to say more but resolutely shut his mouth, and the two of them returned to the task at hand.

After half an hour, the desire to kiss him had gone from uncomfortable to almost painful. After an hour it was close to unbearable. After Emma caught herself standing stalk still and imagining a full on makeout session with Hook, she finally gave up.

She was wasting precious time that they didn't have. Maybe he was right after all. Maybe they needed to just get this stupid kiss out of the way so they could get on with their search. Hardly believing what she was about to do, she walked purposely toward Hook and tapped him on the shoulder.

When he turned toward her, she stood on tiptoe and kissed the living hell out of him. It was obvious she'd shocked him by the way he stiffened as her lips made contact.

But he recovered quickly, and soon he was kissing her back just as fervently as she was kissing him.

She'd meant it to be a quick peck, just a way to disperse the "poison", but once she started kissing him, she couldn't stop, tugging on his collar, running a hand through his hair, turning her head to deepen the kiss. When the kiss started to slow, to turn into something soft and gentle and thorough, rather than quick and hot, Emma finally forced herself to pull away.

She looked into his thoroughly gobsmacked eyes, and suddenly her vision blurred. In her mind's eye she saw herself. She was wearing a white dress, her hair in soft waves around her shoulders. She was in some sort of castle's great room or something.

It looked like Mary Margaret was about to put a crown on Regina's head.

What the hell?

Emma looked more closely at the scene, and her heart began to pound. She wasn't alone. She held a baby in her arms and beside her stood Hook. He had his arm around her, and he peered down at the baby with such love it brought tears to her eyes.

Emma gasped, coming out of the trance or whatever that was to find herself once more looking at Hook in the giant's treasure room. Suddenly there was a burst of light, like some sort of rainbow tinted shockwave, and she shook her head as the memories quickly fled.

She shook her head, looking around them. Had something just happened?

Emma closed her eyes and took a deep breath, realizing the almost unbearable urge to kiss Hook had finally gone away.

She scoffed. Mistletoe poison her ass. She should have known Hook was just trying to get into her pants.

Killian watched as Emma went back to searching with renewed vigor, but for a long moment he found himself rooted to the spot. The fact that he and Emma had been caught under the mistletoe was indisputable and yet his desire to kiss her was no greater than the normal pull of a hot-blooded man to a beautiful woman.

It could mean only one thing.

They'd succumbed to the mistletoe and been proven soulmates.

"Hook get your ass in gear!" she growled at him. "This stupid room isn't going to search itself!"

Killian shook his head and went back to the task at hand. This was quite the development. Maybe-maybe after his revenge was accomplished, there was hope for a life after all.