I don't own OUAT

"Cora, she is on the ship. He is on my ship. You can't keep hiding from them." He leaned against the one locked door in his ship, a door that led to the room that he had once treasured dearly. He let out a huff of irritation as the woman lying on the large bed in front of him refused to acknowledge him. "They will find out soon enough!"

"Then perhaps you should not have invited them onto your ship and sailed away to another land! Did you ever consider that we wouldn't have any worries had you not been so foolish?!" She was staring at her fingers, little sparks shooting out of them. The fact that her magic worked was good, she supposed, but this endless waiting was driving her mad. A new weight was added to the bed as he sat on it, running a strand of her hair between his fingers.

"I... apologize. I know you have your reasons." His hand moved lower, resting on her chest gently, a small smile forming as he felt the beating beneath her breast. She moved away from him, his hand falling onto the bed. "No one will find you in this room. I had it locked long before you came here." He sent a longing glance at the wardrobe filled with elegant corsets and outfits for a woman who could only be the captain of this ship. Before this room had become Cora's refuge, he had not been in in centuries. It was not easy to come back to it with all the memories still so present in his mind.

"You must not tell Regina that I am here. She is better off without me." Her tone was so downtrodden, he could not help himself. He lifted her chin and kissed her softly.

"I will make sure she is fine. I promise you that." This time, she was the one who took charge, grabbing him to her, her lips attacking his. It was something she had grown familiar with in their recent companionship. Her feelings had returned for Rumple when her heart had been returned, but something was different. He had moved on, and, she found out quickly, so had she. This pirate had somehow weaseled his way into her heart, and it was something that terrified her. She had run away from this kind of affection with a man who could give her so much more. How could she submit to her emotions for him?

"Thank you." He pulled her to him once more, his arm holding her body close to his, his hook dug into the side of her hip. He laid her down against the bed, following her. Leaning down to kiss her, he was caught off guard by the sound of a throat being cleared.

"I see you still enjoy my left overs." It was, of course, the worst possible scenario. He should have known better than to trust the Dark One to care about a locked door. "I came to see if Milah had so much as thought of our son during her little tantrum. I should have known that you could not be trusted."

"Rumple-" Cora looked at the man she had done so much to in the past, both in the name of love and in the name of power, with only love in her eyes. But it was too late.

"Do not speak to me, dearie. You intended on killing me." So he was still bitter about that? It had seemed like so long ago, and, besides, she had saved his life. He didn't know that it was her plan, though, and she would not tell him that if she didn't have to.

"You did kill me, if you'll recall." He scowled, looking her over.

"And yet, here you are. Thriving, apparently." It was then that they noticed that Hook was still straddling her. He scrambled off, standing beside the bed that Cora still lay on, skin flushed.

"I am quite flattered, though. You broke our little deal, something I know you've done only once before." He let out a low growl.

"What is that supposed to mean, dearie?" She swung up from the bed, stalking over to him.

"I believe you remember our deal. But perhaps this will jog your memory." She pulled him in close, kissing him. He allowed himself to indulge briefly before pulling back.

"Ah, yes. When you gave me the globe." He snickered at the expression on Hook's face. "You need to train your pirate better manners, Cora. I taught them to you."

"He is none of your concern. On the matter of our deal, however... well, a piece of it was that you let us live. How threatened you must have felt to kill me. I never knew you for a desperate man. Not even my best temptations could break your resolve, yet this time... well, it seems I finally found the right companion." He knew that her point was decent, but not one he wished to indulge in at the moment.

"How are you alive?" She let out a cruel laugh that was terrifyingly soft. The most danger in Cora was when she stayed quiet.

"You did teach me about the candle. Did you think I would be foolish enough to show Snow the candle that trades lives without protecting my own first?" He had to admit, it was sound reasoning. And, of course, it was his own teachings that had done it. How had he been so stupid?

"And the pirate was involved how?" She smiled softly, indulging him with her story.

"Snow White is going to kill me." She had said it so casually, as though she were commenting on the weather rather than her eminent death. His head shot up from where it had been, sharpening his hook. He let out a few words that she scolded him for when his hook cut into his palm as he did so.

"What?!" She smiled, looking at his bewildered face. It was endearing, really, to see him so ignorant of the world's secrets. The ones Rumplestiltskin had surely thought to bring with him as he came from their world.

"Oh, dear... You think I do not know your plans to go after him when he leaves Storybrooke? I assure you, I am no fool. I will always find out when you are hiding things from me. If I were against the idea, I would have stopped you. You will indeed wound him severely enough to kill him." All of this was said in the same infuriatingly conversational tone, as though it were the most ordinary thing in the world. "You will not, however, kill him before he returns home."

"What does this have to do with Snow White killing you?" He was still, clearly, not seeing the connection. Well, that was just fine. He didn't have to figure it out, he just had to accept it. Because he was vital to her plan.

"There is a candle that can trade lives, switching one close to death with one who is alive. I showed this candle to Snow when she was a girl, and Rumple certainly has one in his shop. She will use it against me."

"And why would she do that? She doesn't like him any more than she does you." She laughed softly, looking him in the eyes.

"He is Henry's grandfather. And she blames me for turning Regina into what she is today. Quite interesting, actually, considering I refused to teach Regina magic. Rumplestiltskin made my daughter who she is today, and I am the only one who can fix her. But to do that, I will need to break Snow White. She is not yet a killer, but I can fix that. She will turn to her hatred, and she will kill me. It will be my victory for my daughter." He lunged forward, grabbing her by the arm.

"Cora. You can't do that. You promised me that we would kill him. That beast has to die!" She shook him off of her, raising her hand in a silent threat. He sat back down.

"When have I ever given you cause to doubt me, Hook? I do not intend on leaving you alone. That family would eat you alive." He did not like what she was insinuating. He could take care of himself; he had done so for many centuries now.

"So what do you intend on doing?" She closed her eyes, her breathing slowing ever so slightly, and there was suddenly a second version of her beside him, creeping toward him slowly. She sat down in his lap, an arm draped over his neck, legs curled up on top of his.

"Astral projection. Provides a copy of a person that is so close to real..." She leaned in, her lips just having touched his when she disappeared. "Yet not real at all."

"And you plan to use this to trick them into thinking you are dead." His body was itching to capture hers, to give her payback for torturing him like that, but he couldn't. He needed to figure out what she was doing first.

"Not as thoughtless as you act." He stood, coming closer to her with every breath she took. They started speeding up as he drew nearer, picking up his pace to match her breaths. He wrapped his left arm around her hip, resting his hook against her.

"I assure you, your majesty. I think everything through." He leaned down, brushing his lips against hers. When she didn't protest, he captured her lips again, fiercer this time, nibbling on her lip. She pulled back now, her face as cool as always, as cool as if they had never kissed. It infuriated him that he got no reaction out of her when he kissed her, but he would find a way to change that. When she made him her slave, she had allowed some passion to slip through. He knew she was still capable of that passion, but she never let it out. "What do you need me to do?"

"Hide me in your ship and watch out for my daughter. I will know if you do not." He nodded, running his hand down her thigh, hoping for some kind of reaction from the woman standing before him. Others might not have noticed the tiniest little pink undertones that sprang up on her pale cheeks. Perhaps they would have thought nothing of the fact that her eyes darted briefly down before returning to fix themselves on him. But he did.

"Of course, your majesty. If we can make a deal." Her face got noticeably paler at that comment as well, and he found himself cursing himself for bringing up one of the most important parts of the man she had once loved and now was helping him kill.

"And just what deal would that be?" He picked her up, wrapping her legs around his hips. He carried her over to the bed, laying her down on the bed and getting on top of her. What might normally have outraged her seemed to have had the opposite effect. He could feel her wet against him, and he knew that she could feel him against her.

"Quite simple, love. I will do as you ask so long as you are mine to have. Forever." Her mind told her to think this through, but she knew that even if she were to give it full consideration, she would have made the same decision. She needed him to do this for her, and this deal was hardly one that harmed her. A let her voice grow low and husky, leaning down to give a soft tug on his earlobe.

"Deal."

"Was it necessary to tell me that?" Rumplestiltskin looked absolutely sick to his stomach. It was quite amusing, really.

"You did ask, dear." She stepped away from him, closer to the pirate who was still standing by the wall. AS soon as she was within reach, he caught her around the waist, pulling her tightly against him. This beast would not touch her, not like he had touched Milah. Never again.

"What makes you think that I won't just tell Ms. Swan and her parents that you are here? I am sure they would be more than happy to throw you out with the mermaids." Cora smiled, looking him over.

"You could never hurt me, even now. Don't tell Regina. I need to keep her out of this. She needs her son, and he... he wants you." Rumple seemed to be having an internal struggle, and it took him a moment, but he looked back up at her, something akin to regret in his eyes.

"I am not going to survive this. I will never see Belle again. I must have done something right to have you here with me until the end." Hook let out a low growl, pushing Cora tighter still against him.

"I will be staying with Killian." Rumple turned from her, walking back to the door.

"Of course. Because even a pirate is worth more to you than I ever was." He was a wounded animal, lashing out at those who didn't deserve it. But she did deserve it, and she knew it. Her knees grew weak, and Hook, sensing her weakness, caught her, lifting her up into his arms. Her arms automatically draped themselves over his shoulder

"You are worth more to me than he can ever know. I know he is your weakness, but I can help you." He whispered it in her ear as she stared straight ahead, absorbing the pain of the truth in Rumple's statement. She had given him up for Henry, for power, and now she was giving him up for a pirate, the complete reversal of their previous situation. Perhaps he could understand her hunger for power somewhere within him, but how could he accept this? He was right; this should have been beneath her. But, she forced herself to admit, he was different.

"No. He isn't. You are." He was shocked, but far from upset. With her arms still around him, she leaned up to capture his lips in a kiss. This was what she needed, not a chance at being with her former lover who only wanted her as a replacement of his one true love. She was above that, and could not afford to let herself forget it. He was not her Master anymore. Staring into the eyes of the man who truly wanted her for her, she knew that she had made the right decision in accepting his deal.