AN: thank you so much for the wonderful reviews! I'm glad that people other than me are enjoying this.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, the story, or any dialogue you recognize. Maybe after I win the lottery...
"The Doctor"
The voices around him alerted him that the women he was seeking had finally arrived. He began to move slightly, trying to appear injured and disoriented. Cora had given him explicit instructions, but he completely forgot what they were when a voice he often dreamed about, but hadn't heard in over a century entered his ears.
"Hey, hey look," Emma said, lifting the dead body that he had crawled under. As the other women aided and questioned him about his well-being, he stared at Emma, mesmerized by the sight of her after one hundred years. He hadn't expected her to be here, but he was not going to complain a bit. She was just as beautiful as he remembered. Her golden hair was haloed by the sunlight, and he had to remember that she wasn't an angel or a dream sent to torment him. She was his True Love returned to him. Unfortunately, she didn't know it yet, and he had promised that he wouldn't do anything yet, as painful as it was.
He sat down at the table, and nearly cried out when Emma left. He knew that she wasn't leaving him permanently, not like before, but it was still hard to see her walk away when all he wanted to do was pull her into his arms and kiss her. Remembering to act the part Cora needed him to in order to get them all back, he slouched over and kept rubbing his face to appear worried and self-conscious. Luckily Emma returned quickly, a glass in her hand. He accepted the drink and listened once again to her melodious voice, even if it was full of distrust and questions.
"An island full of corpses, you're the only one to escape. How exactly did that happen?" Emma asked.
"She attacked at night, slaughtered everyone in one fell swoop..." he began his tale. He could tell that Emma wasn't buying it wholeheartedly, but he didn't really care. If she saw through Cora's ruse, all the better for him. His goal had always been to get to Emma, no matter how that happened. Now that she was there, he didn't need Cora any longer.
"I'm gonna let you in on a little secret. I'm pretty good at knowing when someone is lying to me," Emma said, looking deeply into his eyes.
Hook tried to keep his voice even, tried to pretend that looking that intensely at this gorgeous woman was not affecting him more than it should. "I'm telling you the truth."
Emma broke eye contact, and he looked down at his hand, trying to recover from the immense feelings coursing through his veins. If Emma hadn't made him promise not to say anything, he would betray Cora this instant. But that would make him appear too eager, too suspicious to truly gain their trust.
Their conversation didn't catch him until he heard Mary Margaret mention a grandson. "You have a grandson?" he asked. He cast a sideways glance at Emma, assuming that this was the mother she had mentioned before that was currently the same age as her.
"Well, I know this land well. I can guide you..." he offered his services, trying to engender himself to them once again.
"You're not gonna guide us anywhere until you tell us who you really are," Emma said, pressing her danger against his neck. Despite the danger to him, he found himself leaning back more to increase the contact between the two of them, rather than to get away from the knife. She forced him to his feet and pushed him up against a tree. The four women worked together to wrap rope around him, tying him tightly to the tree.
"I already told you, I'm just a blacksmith," he whined, hoping once again that he could gain their trust willingly. He looked straight at Emma, trying to get her to see what he already knew, that they were meant to be together.
"Sure you are," Emma doubted. She placed her fingers in her mouth and a shrill whistle sounded. As he struggled and listened to the one princess speak up for him, he knew that he couldn't let Emma leave him once again.
"Good for you! You bested me. I can count the amount of people who've done that on one hand," he said, finally preparing to play his hand against Cora. Emma and her friends were much more likely to make it to Storybrooke anyways, and going to that land would mean nothing if Emma wasn't there.
"That supposed to be funny? Who are you?" Emma asked harshly. He smiled as he reintroduced himself.
"Killian Jones, but most people have taken to calling me by my more colorful moniker – Hook," he said.
"Hook," Mary Margaret breathed.
"Check the satchel," he said.
"As in Captain Hook?" Emma asked.
He smiled broadly, wishing that she was remembering him, but knowing that it was just a matter of time before she truly would know him. "Ahh, so you've heard of me."
The questions weren't done, and he explained Cora's plan. It seemed like the women weren't sold on the idea, but it was more believable than his previous story. He avoided looking at Emma, knowing that she would get his mind off-track.
"You tell me one thing. And whatever you say, I better believe it – Why does Captain Hook want to go to Storybrooke?" Emma asked, the dagger once again held at his throat. Hook knew that he couldn't tell her the entire truth. As she had already told him, it would lead to a disaster.
"To exact revenge on the man who took my hand – Rumplestiltskin," he said. He had barely thought about the imp in the last one hundred years, but if being with Emma also got him revenge on the Crocodile, he wasn't going to complain.
Emma cut through the ropes, and the five of them rushed away quickly. "Why are we taking him with us now?" Mulan asked.
"Rumplestiltskin is a dangerous man. Having someone with a vendetta against him is not surprising. Also, it sounds like he can actually get us back to our land," Mary Margaret explained.
"Then lead the way, Hook," Mulan said, pressing her sword into his back. Hook kept a quick pace going until they were sure the ogres were far behind them. He had hoped that Emma would walk near him, but unfortunately, she was far behind, and with the warrior woman's blade ready to run him through, there was no way he was going to be able to talk to her.
The group crested the hill and fanned out to stare at the giant stalk rising high into the clouds. Emma stepped up next to Hook, and he hoped that this would be their position for the remainder of their journey.
"We're going to climb that?" Emma asked.
"It's not the climb you need to worry about. It's the giant at the top," Hook replied, gazing at Emma. He breathed in her scent, that wonderous mix of vanilla, strawberry, and some other fruit that he could never name. He held himself back once again from pulling her close to him and kissing her until she couldn't breathe. Soon, very soon he hoped.